Thank you.
good morning everyone my name is bill bergman and i will be sharing this meeting of the philadelphia
of Zoning Board of Adjustment. With me is our Board Vice Chair, Tanetta Graham. Present, Mr.
Chairman. Our Board Secretary, Shel L. Gaston. Present, Mr. Chairman. Board Member Michael
Johns. Present, Mr. Chairman. Board Member Ty Wynn. Present, Mr. Chairman. Board Member Ryan
McAdams. Present, Mr. Chairman. Also, here is our Board Attorney, Hillary Emerson, our Zoning Board
Director, Ian Haggerty, and our Board Administrator, Lakeisha Dandy. Recording of the hearing will be
posted on the website cba website by participating you consent to be recorded this is an in-person
meeting with remote capabilities whether remote or in person if you're called to speak you must
state and spell your name and then wait to be sworn in once you've been sworn in please state
your name each time before beginning testimony any person may enter their appearance to become
an interested party there are three ways you can identify the case address on your zoom webinar
you can see a staff member or you can call the ZBA appearance line by the close of business
tomorrow call 267-270-5548 leave a message that includes your email address and the address of
the property of the appeal case the following guidance is for our remote attendees when
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you'll be prompted to join as a panelist. Please accept the request and turn on your camera.
The webinar Q&A is for questions about the hearing. Do not comment on the Q&A.
And if you're participating by phone, press star 9 to raise your hand and star 6 to unmute.
And then our in-person attendees, please refrain from talking, eating, or drinking during the
hearings. Verbal and physical aggression will not be tolerated. Restrooms are across from the
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reporter. In the event of an emergency, please follow the directions given over the public
address system or by the staff. The main exit is through the double doors at the rear. The nearest
stairwells to the left outside the door. In case of an evacuation, the rally point is Love Park
directly across Art Street. Please remain here so that we can account for you. Let's look at our
schedule for today.
Number four.
003-594-917
East Pachunk Avenue.
This case
is continued until
until 4-8-20-26 at 9.30 a.m.
And number five, we have no exhibits for this,
and also there's a request for it continuance from the 13th Ward.
MI 2025-003-596-4556 Wayne Avenue.
Smalls Investment Group is the listed owner.
Mohamed Jackat is the listed applicant.
This is the first listing.
We have no exhibits, and it's the 13th Ward in the audience.
Good morning, Chair.
This is Jasmine, and I will be your co-host this morning.
I see no one in the audience with that name.
So MI 2025-003-596-4556 Wayne Avenue.
This is continued to 48-2026 at 930 a.m.
Is there any other requests for continuances?
I see no hands in the virtual audience. Thank you. So here's a few cases we do not have exhibits for.
Number two, MI-2025-003579, 918 East.
MI-2025-003-579, 918 East Chelten Avenue.
This is the first listing and we have no exhibits.
Lakeshore Real Estate is the LLC listed owner.
Libio Matos is the construction company.
Is there anyone in the audience from there?
I see no hands at this time, Chair.
So MI-2025-003-579-918 East Shelton.
This case is continued to 48-2026 at 930.
Mark must be heard.
Number two, MI-2025-003-588-5720 North Marvine Street.
This is the first listing.
We have no exhibits.
Valerie Crawford is the listed owner applicant.
I see no one in the audience by their name, Terry.
Okay, so number three, MI 2025, 003-588-5720 North Marvine Street.
This case is continued to 48-2026 at 930.
And number seven, MI-2025-003-639-843-North 42nd Street.
Sarkis Dalanton is the listing owner.
We have no exhibits.
This is the first listing.
Sarkis will be promoted to panelist.
hello can everybody hear me i can sir could you please could you have your video could you turn
that on thank you sir could you state your name and spell for the stenographer my name is sarkis
S-A-R-K-I-S
D as in David
O-V as in Victor
L-A-T as in Tiger
Y-A-N as in Nancy
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth
the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir.
Sir, we do not have your exhibits for the case.
I did not
submit the
exhibits needed. I did not receive any
email or where to
send it to.
Okay, so what we're going to do is we're going to continue your case, and please get a hold of the office prior, and we'll make sure that you know exactly everything you need to have, okay?
Okay, who do I need to contact?
Sorry to interrupt.
Who do I need to contact?
um it'll be there you can cut sir you can contact rcozba at phila.gov or you can call our office at
215-686-2429 rcozba at phila.gov and what was the number one more time for me please 215-686-2429
I just want to repeat the telephone number, 215-666-2429.
I'm going to repeat it one more time. 215-666-2429.
The three middle numbers, you got disconnected. I can hear the three middle numbers.
6-8-6.
6-8-6. Okay, thank you, Ian.
All right, so number 7, MI-2025-003-639-843 North 42nd Street.
That case is continued to 48-2026 at 9.30 a.m.
And number 13, MI-2025-003-720-6169 Oxford Street.
This case has been dismissed, has been withdrawn, I'm sorry.
And number 14, MI 2025, 003-780-2917 North 22nd Street, this case has been withdrawn.
Going to go to our add-on list first.
number one mi-2025-005-528-3017 susquehanna avenue i vote yes michael johns my vote is yes
um i'm recusing tanetta graham i'll recuse from this case
girl gas and my vote is yes i win my vote is yes ryan mcadams my vote is yes
thank you number two mi 2025 002 848 5900 rising sun avenue this case has been withdrawn at the
5900 Rising Sun Avenue. This case has been withdrawn at the request of the applicant.
request
Number three, MI 2025, 003-570, 1630 Willington Street. I vote no.
Michael Johns, my vote is no.
Daryl Gaston, my vote is no.
Tynetta Graham, my vote is no.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is no.
Iowan, my vote is no.
we're going to go to our regular list number one mi 2025 002 663 28 to 30 west hayne street
isaac and jordan holland townsend are the owner applicants
sure come on up
whatever you're more comfortable with how's that sound
Could you turn on the mic
And make sure it's close to you
Do it again
Testing
Yeah right
Sir could you please state your name
And spell for this stenographer
Isaac I-S-A-A-C
And last name Howland Townsend
Last name
H-O-W-L-A-N-D
And it's hyphenated
Townsend, T-O-W-N-S-E-N-D.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir.
This application is for use as a visitor accommodation in one of the structures, with
existing two-family household living to remain in the existing structure as previously approved.
The proposed use visitor accommodation is prohibited in the RSA 5 zoning district.
The proposed use visitor accommodation creates multiple principal uses on the same lot, which is prohibited in the RSA 5 zoning district.
The board, West Germantown Neighbors, requested a two-year variance, okay?
Our vice chair has a few questions for you, sir.
Good morning.
Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, I actually submitted them within the five days, but I contacted and was told it was fine.
Okay, and the chair just read the refusal for you, so do you waive the reading of this refusal again
and stipulate to the accuracy of the refusal?
Okay, thank you. You can proceed with your case.
okay so here are my exhibits um we we have that we have all the exhibits you were supposed to put
it into okay so you can go right through it okay um yeah i'm as far as my case um i'm a
licensed architect and i'm you know why don't you do this why don't you as you speak why don't you
show your uh photographs okay okay yeah i'm sharing my screen okay so as far as the physical
you know extents of the property this is the frontage being shared on screen um the primary
um dwelling is the left three-story structure 28 west hains which is my home address me and my wife
reside there um then there's an eight about an eight foot alleyway and the subject um premises
of this the proposed change of use is um to the right side behind the tree 30 west haynes
would be the house number um and this is looking south on southeast on west haynes street
um here's the frontage here's my zoning notice in the window um another one and here's the in
the interior which this is the restroom and this is the about four 350 square foot interior which
is just a studio, which is currently occupied by a relative and has previously been used
as monthly 30 plus day midterm rentals through the Airbnb platform.
And this is essentially, we're just hoping to utilize this variance to achieve nightly
you know under 30 day um stays through that platform through that rental um through that
means of renting the property um just for additional income support um covering the
mortgage expenses of the property it's quite simply it you have any other photographs there
um yeah additional angle looking back looking towards the rear sort of from the front entry
towards the rear and the restroom um yeah i think that concludes the photographs i do have a
site plan at the end um why don't you put your site when you put your site plan out so yeah here
is like so yes again the left side being a three-story house um and the right side being the
one-story studio dwelling um and then a pretty expansive rear rear yard um that is shared between
expansive rear yard that is shared between the two so the right where the red text is is this
the two.
would be where you know the use change would be taking place with no physical work okay questions
from the board does the left right side have access to the yard yes yes and all of the yard
or like in this diagram which sections of the yard do they have access complete everything
um that may be the one but yeah essentially through that rear entrance about the rear doors
here at this area where my cursor is and yes you can proceed out into the whole yard so if you
offer that as uh airbnb are the uh the patrons allowed to use a yard or is there kind of
restrictions on a time frame they could use a yard so forth and so on yeah we would we would
just request you know any we've i believe in our text we just requested like notice of if they want
to use it just heads up but not yeah and I'm pretty sure we put like you know no ruckus after
follow city ordinances etc. Is it your plan to manage the whole property yourself or are you
gonna hire a property manager? At this time that is the plan um and thus far it has went you know
it's been manageable um if that were to you know become over extend you know become a burden i
would potentially seek that um yeah if expenses allow have you talked to your neighbors at 26
west hanes or 32 west hanes i've i have a um 30 west yeah or um i believe it's 34 or 32 yes um
um the the occupant not the owner as much on that side and they're you know they seem fine with it
um the other side i believe is a gentleman who owns the remainder of the block to germantown
avenue i've met him but haven't spoken at deep in detail with him about anything but i would hope to
in the future and were there any complaints from neighbors or any issues
when you had the monthly tenants prior uh not at this time
questions from our attorney hillary emerson
not at this time mr chair questions or comments from the virtual or the current audience here
yes chair i have a hand up by the name of charles richardson i'm going to promote them to
Tina, Liz. Good morning, Mr. Chair and board. Good morning, Mr. Richardson. We don't usually
hear from you this early in the morning, so please state your name. It's spelled for the
stenographer certainly charles richardson r-i-c-h-a-r-d-s-o-n office of councilwoman
cindy bass room 508 city hall you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the
truth i do please proceed the councilwoman has no opposition to uh granting this variance it
sits directly across the street from a police station so i don't think there'll be any issues
with regard to ruckus or anything along those lines so uh she has no opposition thank you
very much for taking the time to call us is there anyone else in the audience yes chair i have a
hand up by the name of suzanne posen i'm going to promote them to panelists
good morning can you hear me could you please susan could you please state your name and spell
for the stenographer. Yes. Suzanne, S-U-Z-A-N-N-E, Ponsen, P as in Paul, O-N-S-E-N, Ponsen.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Please proceed.
I am president of West Central Germantown Neighbors, and we held two meetings.
um we had we notified all the neighbors and made sure that everybody was aware of the situation
and uh we're we're uh happy to allow this variance to go into place uh but we're asking for a two
year variance thank you very much for taking the time to call so is there anyone else in the
audience i see no more hands up planning commission thank you chairman and good morning
david effecto f-e-c-t-e-a-u with the city planning do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole
truth and nothing but the truth yes sir i do please proceed thank you sir chairman and board members
the comprehensive plan recommends a change in zoning at this property from its current rsa-5
rsa 5 residential single family attached to rm1 residential multifamily there is no unique
residential single-family attached to rm1 resident
physical condition or circumstance of this property that will prevent it from being used
in conformance with the zoning code a 2020 zoning ordinance passed by city council which regulated
short-term rentals did not change the basic rule prohibiting full-time use of a dwelling unit as
short-term rental this type of absentee management where the owner does not live in the unit has been
illegal since the first short-term rental zoning regulations became effective in 2015. What's
changed since the passage of the 2020 ordinance is that there is now a licensing and enforcement
mechanism. The City Planning Commission recommends that the Board deny the requested
variance for visitor accommodation. Thank you. MI 2025 002 663 28 to 30 West Hane Street. I vote yes
with a temporary variance that expires 12-12-27.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes with proviso.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes with proviso.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes with proviso.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes with proviso.
Ty Owen, my vote is yes with proviso.
Thank you, sir. You have your votes.
Number six.
Thank you.
MI 2025-003-629-6218 Pine Street.
Ronald Mitchell is the owner applicant.
Ronald Mitchell, if you are in the virtual audience, please raise your hand.
Oh, come on.
Come on.
Come on up.
good morning sir could you please um state your name and spell for the stenographer and
get closer to the mic if you would
hello okay yes my name is ronald mitchell spelled r-o-n-a-l-d-m-i-t-c-h-e-l-o
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
I do. Right. The application is used as a group living in an existing structure, whereas to propose used group living requires a special exception approval in the RN1 zoning district.
There is a letter of opposition from the third board executive committee.
There's a letter of opposition from the generalist of Philadelphia Cops Creek RCO and a letter of opposition from the Cops Creek resident, Joyce Lynn Nars.
Our vice chair has a few questions for you, sir.
Good morning. Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, ma'am.
And the chair read the referral. Do you stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, sir.
Oh, yes, ma'am.
That's okay. That's all right. You can begin your case.
Okay, so just to give you the breakdown of my case.
Do you have your computer with you?
No, sir. I got a phone.
Wait a minute.
Are you able to, you're on the Zoom with your phone?
Yes, ma'am, I was.
The board will need to be able to see pictures, the pictures that you submitted.
So if you're able to, have you been promoted to panelist?
Yeah, it looks like you have.
So you should be able to share your screen and show photos.
I don't know if you had plans or anything like that.
he kicked me out the zoom so just one moment please okay
thank you
can I click on the link one more time
because for some reason
yes you can go back into the zoom
oh you mean the QR code
because if you registered before
you should have received a link in your email
you can just click back into.
ronald why don't we do this ronald listen to me why don't you go i have one more pro se
Ronald, listen to me.
Why don't you go?
I have one more pro se.
Let me handle that and I'll come back to you, okay?
Okay, I just got into the link.
Okay, let's see if you can do it then.
So do I have to raise my hand, I guess, to put the...
So my hand's raised.
Jared, this is Ian Haggerty.
If it helps me sing along, I have
Ronald's documents ready to
share from my aunt too.
You can share it there, Ian?
Yes, sir.
Why don't you start?
We have your documents, okay?
Okay, because I have them also.
Sorry for the delay.
He'll put them up in a minute.
Why don't you start by telling us what you
want to do okay so um currently um i'm a veteran um a military veteran served injured in line of
duty um honorably discharged came out of the military i was in bad situation mentally um
try to find my place in the world got lost became homeless um lost my family um five kids and a wife
I was on the street for a long period of time.
My wife, she came into my life, back into my life.
I was able to get back into a group, a home,
where they helped me get access to the resources that I needed through the VA.
From there, I got on my feet,
got the help that I needed, the resources, access to the resources that I needed in order to get
back on my feet. I'll make a long story short.
I've been trying to figure out what I want to do in life, you know, trying to give
back. So why not do something that can help other people
that was in the situation that I was in? You know, veterans. We serve our
country. We sacrifice a lot. And those people do
deserve help. They deserve the resources and help. So what I want
to do is I want to open up a group home that will actually help veterans that was in my situation,
give them access to the resources that they need, support, give them hope, you know. So I currently
run Airbnb. I ran for the past three years, had no incidents whatsoever with my neighbors besides
maybe someone leaving trash. And they called me up, give them my number, call me up, and I, you know,
take care of the business that needs to be taken care of. So that's just.
wanting to show us the building i mean all right so you you can see here can you see the computer
look up yes okay oh yeah so these pictures are i can see it on my phone okay good pictures are
basically showing that i had uh displayed you posted it yeah yes sir i had noticed uh several
different uh several different weeks throughout the uh this period um also i have pictures of the
interior of the property um this is what it looks like um of course i would do a little bit of
adjustments you know as far as bedrooms wise you know so that they can you know accommodate each
and every person um it's currently how many bedrooms do you have currently four bedrooms
three bathrooms also has an entertainment space for entertainment and another space for just like
office lobby area as well so my whole thing is to basically it's a small small by design
And the reason why is so it doesn't feel like a facility. A lot of times people go to a facility and they get caught up in just a number. Whereas though, with our home, it's actually a home, six residents, you know, that can comfortably fit in there.
and what we want to do is we want to basically give them the attention that they need by being
small we can give them that attention it's more like a home instead of a facility that's why
they're in the community because we want to re-acclimate them back into society not feel
like a number not feel like they've been processed through a system that doesn't care about them
so our setting is family it's a family you have four bedrooms will you be there too at all times
uh if i'm not there we also have people in place so we have staff there will be 24 hour staff
in place right so they will be monitored and a couple of bedrooms will be doubled up
yes sir okay questions from the board do you already have a state license to operate
a veteran's home uh no i don't have a state license that's why i'm here right now um as far
as licensing i have to go through the city um well that's the property i'm talking about for the
those wraparound services part i'm sorry so sorry again please for the to operate the group home
those wraparound services part i'm sorry so start it again please for the top
aren't you trying to offer sorry wraparound services to your tenants what do you mean by
wraparound like the it sounds like you want to do referrals to the va and counseling and other
sort of large support mental health i'm i'm not i mean i'm not administering mental health or
i'm just taking them to the resources which is like that they have appointments with da
So the VA is the ones who will actually facilitate the mental health and medication, anything that they need.
We're working together with the VA.
So what's your plan to sort of identify potential tenants?
To identify potential tenants?
Well, we go through the VA.
Because I'm a veteran, I can go strictly through the VA and deal with case managers from the VA who will refer the veterans to us.
They will give us the whole breakdown.
we only we're not trying to take in just anybody we want certain people that
basically want help that are already in a system at the VA they already have in
place the mental health the medicine with doctors so they're just looking for
a place like a transitional home to get to their next destination so that's all
we are we're just like a pit stop almost to help them get to the next level so
could you walk us through how the how the property will sort of operate like
Like, give me a fictionalized timeline of, like, the VA refers somebody.
What is the next step like for them in your program?
So I did, I don't know if you have this, but we have a system in place where we welcome people in.
And it takes about 72 hours to bring them on board.
That's because we have to go through all their files.
We have to understand their needs and how to address them.
So until we get to a good place, it takes about three days for us to really get to know the patient, the resident, sorry, and just to find out what they need and how to address them.
So what are some of the common needs that people have?
Common needs that people need is, first off, a place to stay, you know, somewhere where they feel like they're stable, because if they're not stable physically, they're not stable mentally.
So we want to basically give them a stable environment and also connect them to the VA.
Like I said, if they have appointments, we want to be in direct contact with their counselors
because a lot of them have like a counselor.
They have someone who basically case managing them with the VA.
I mean, the reason I'm asking is it sounds to me like assisted living.
Versus them being completely independent.
They're not completely independent.
We don't want them to feel like they're completely independent.
So, yes, we are trying to.
And you don't need any type of state licensing to do assisted living?
No, not that I didn't come across any state licensing for what we're trying to do.
You mentioned staff.
So who is your staff and how many staff?
So we want to have at least six people in place.
um a director um you know just people who's going to be there um 24 7 um those are the
the counselors that overlook and oversee uh the uh the residents so um
yeah we just we definitely have a system in place that there's going to be people there like i said
i'm an administrator i'm going to be there um i'm looking to also hire other people like i said to
be there 24-7. I also need someone that also is like working with case managing who deals with
the VA on a daily basis so that they can, you know, we can all be in communication and know
how to function correctly for the veterans. Have you had conversations with the VA
and any preliminary commitments from the VA in terms of residents?
So as far as communication with the VA, I haven't had any direct conversations with the VA.
First and foremost, I would have to get licensing to move forward.
But I am aware of the system and how it works.
I'm also going through SAMS.gov, which is basically certifying my business as a veteran-owned business.
So once I get that certification, I'm able to have direct access through the VA system, and they will, you know, I have a preference.
I have a question.
So what do you understand as opposition to your proposal, right?
What is your understanding of the opposition, and what is your response to the opposition?
So as I went through, we had the meeting on November 11th.
As I went through, we had the meeting on November 11th, which was on Veterans Day.
I explained everything to the neighbors.
And the main thing, the main concern that I heard from all the residents that did oppose, because everybody didn't oppose.
There was maybe like 10, it was 25 people there, maybe 10 people opposed out of the 25.
and their main concern was they don't want these people around here and the reason why they say
they didn't want these people around here because they say that they have problems they they're
they're mentally challenged and they're drug they have drug problems this is what the residents
was saying so to me that sounds discriminatory because number one i'm a veteran and i'm not a
drug user I was in a bad situation but because someone didn't give up on me and they showed
they gave me hope so that's what I plan on doing and I feel as though we can't turn our backs on
these people because they're vulnerable and they should be protected because these people have
disabilities they're veterans and that doesn't seem like just because you don't want these people
around here doesn't seem like a legitimate complaint to me so let me ask you did you talk
to either side of your neighbors yes i did actually i did um after that meeting i actually
went to um all my neighbors homes and i actually knocked on everyone's door to meet them to let
them know what we plan on doing and just to find out if anyone else opposed the meeting because
again I sent out a hundred and about 180 mailings to my neighbors and out of 180 25 people maybe
showed up out of the 25 people that showed up 10 people opposed it and because they were the loudest
voices in the meeting it seemed like I guess everyone was opposed but they weren't okay after
I walked around I seen that a lot of people were for it instead of against it all right questions
or comments from our attorney?
Not at this
time, Mr. Barrett.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience or the current audience here?
Come on up.
Why don't we go one at a time? Is that okay?
Why don't you get it and turn it on, have it nice and close to you?
Is it on?
I believe it is on, yes.
Sir, could you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer?
Damien Stewart, D-A-M-I-A-N as in Nancy, Stewart, S-T-E-W-A-R-T as in time.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Sir, are you a neighbor?
Please proceed.
First of all, I come in.
And by the way, you have two minutes.
So let's get to it. I commend I commend Ron and everything he's trying to do.
The neighbors, we respect veterans. We honor veterans. We want them to get what they need.
We do not feel as though that this is the place that it needs to happen.
This is currently zoned as residential. It would have to be rezoned as a commercial property.
um my mother and i went around to the neighbors we have a petition here that says uh people do
not want this to happen the majority of neighbors do not want this to happen on the immediate block
people do not want this to happen i was also at the meeting that ron is referring to
where the 25 neighbors showed up out of the 25 neighbors that showed up um there were
22 that were in opposition there was one or two people that were for it and it
was one person that didn't give an opinion because they wanted to think
about it so he misrepresented what happened at that meeting and the
neighborhood is just against it of course you know I'm hoping you know this
is the move the former move situation block and the neighborhood has been
through a lot and um there are certain aspects of this veterans home that ron is trying to do
that makes the neighbors uncomfortable as well as the fact even today some of the questions that
you guys have answered have asked him have not really been answered thank you very much for
your testimony is there anyone else does your mom want to testify all right
right there our attorney good morning good morning could you get closer to the mic
you don't have to it'll pull towards you you just bend it down that's it please state your
name and spell for the stenographer my name is sharon stewart s-t-e-w-a-r-t right do you swear
or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes i do um one of you
yes I do um why don't you testify where you are and if there if there's anything different than
testify where you are and if they're
what your son has said okay all right um I live directly beside him at 62 16 and he stated that
he contacted the neighbors to let them know what was going on he did not contact the neighbors
until maybe a week or two weeks before he was scheduled to have the meeting.
So we got together, we got a petition,
and we went around and we asked each neighbor what did they think.
And the majority of the neighbors were completely against it.
As my son stated, the move situation, you know, that played a lot into it.
But at the meeting, him and his wife were asked to leave
after everyone stated what they asked.
And in the midst of that,
they asked us how many neighbors were for this.
Not one neighbor raised their hand, not one.
So the neighbors are just,
and like my son said,
it's not that we're against veterans.
Neighbors just feel as though that this house
is just not the appropriate place at this time.
Thank you very much for your testimony.
Is there anyone else in the audience?
Ma'am.
Come on.
Yep, sure.
Good morning.
Good morning.
Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
First name is Asha K-A-S-H-A-K-I.
Last name is Mitchell, M-I-T-C-H-E-L-L.
All right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Could you give us your testimony and you have two minutes?
I'm the better half of Ronald Mitchell.
Well, I guess we'll accept that testimony.
Thank you.
And all I would like to say is the whole point of us doing this is because of our story and
what we went through.
As we stated, we had an Airbnb for three years.
So it's not like we can't do anything with the home or, you know, sell it or anything.
We chose to do this to give back. As he stated, he was homeless for years, but until he got his
mental together, I was able to come back. He's went through being homeless. So a lot of things
that he told me inspired us to open it up. When we were at the meeting, what we constantly heard
were negative, you know, things towards veterans. And it really bothered us because, again,
they're not the only ones who have issues or mental issues and as I try to explain to the
neighbors when you do the Airbnb you don't know who's coming in our home at least these people
that are coming into our home we can be there with them 24 hours and help them through when
you do an Airbnb you got to open your door and leave and that's not what we want to do we want
to be there for them and help them through the situation. We did provide a nuisance policy,
and we gave the book up front. It's actually on page 20, because that was their biggest issue.
How will you handle nuisance? So we put a policy in play to make sure there's steps. If it's
something major, automatically they have to leave the house. But if it's something that, you know,
a fallback and we can get them through then we will thank you thank you very much is there anyone
else in the virtual audience i see no hands at this time any commission i mean i'm sorry
attorney hillary emerson i did okay planning commission thank you chairman and good morning
david vector with the city planning commission chairman and board members the comprehensive
plan recommends a change in zoning at this location from rm1 residential multifamily
to RSA 5, Residential Single Family.
This neighborhood still carries its original 1933 zoning.
The appellant has shown that the proposed group living
will have no detrimental impacts beyond what might be expected.
The City Planning Commission recommends that the board grant
a proposed special exception for group living.
Mr. Mitchell, I appreciate your testimony
and also the testimony of the neighbors.
We're going to take this under consideration.
We will vote next Wednesday morning.
We'll come out here at 9.30 a.m. and vote.
thank you for your testimony thank you okay number 12 mi-2025-003-714-3062 richmond street
antonette williams is the tenant applicant
good morning members of the board
Okay. Why don't we sit down and get close to that mic for us?
okay why don't we sit down and get close to that mic for us i appreciate it thank you
I appreciate it. Thank you.
Just for clarification, my name's Angelina Williams. I'm the attorney for the applicant.
Oh, you represent her. Okay.
Good. All right. Spell your name for this.
Angelina, A-N-G-E-L-I-N-A.
This is better.
A-N-G-E-L-I-N-A, last name Williams, W-I-L-L-I-A-M-S.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
And identify your client and the relationship they have with the property.
My client is Antoinette Williams.
She's the CEO of Kids Play for Days.
It's an indoor playground that provides developmental support.
Right.
And I see there's a letter of support from the Port Richmond Civic Association and also a letter of non-opposition from Council Member Squillett.
Our vice chair has a few questions for you, okay?
Thank you.
Good morning.
Have you submitted your exhibits and documents five days in advance of this hearing?
And do you stipulate to the referral?
A way the reason that the referral is stipulated to is accuracy.
All right, thank you.
You can proceed with your case.
I'm going to apologize.
This is my first time here, and the technology is a little, I have a bit of a learning curve.
I don't know how to share the screen.
So there should be a green button, right?
You see a green button at the bottom somewhere?
Oh, here's our expert of everything, not just technology, everything.
Thank you so much.
absolutely oh yeah
so you're going to have to be
I'm going to handle this
I'm going to handle this and then
Ian I have
okay yep
All right, so now that you're in as a family,
I just lost it.
I'm sorry.
So now that I want to just do it.
I think this is just sharing.
okay i just did i just did okay i apologize for that i'm going to try and find here it is kids
for days okay um we have the why don't you get closer you have to get because we can hear you
okay i apologize okay so we did have the hearing as you noted on september 10th
and it was support by
i apologize so we have all your documents so what i would do is if i were you
i would show us some photos any plans you have right what it looks like and um we have we have
copies of the letters okay from the from the rco so that's that's the outside is that what you're
that is the exterior um the posting the posting zoning notice is posted here
this is another exterior photo okay apparently they like exterior photos um this is an interior
bathroom and this is the facility and the front where the ground paper is that's the entrance
And then all the way here is another exit.
That's out the rear?
That is the rear, yes.
So why don't you try and explain to us what takes place here?
It's an indoor playground for children.
It's a safe environment, and it provides development.
It's not like a daycare?
No, it's not.
Children come in on a three-hour period.
They do certain activities to stimulate developmental needs.
It's usually for children between the ages of 3 and 10.
And the application for a special exception is just to allow them to have events there, such as a tea party or a birthday party.
Right. And what hours of the day will the place operate?
Between 8 and 6 p.m., 8 a.m. and 6 p.m.
Okay. And, okay, questions from the board?
Is there going to be a kitchen on site?
is there going to be a kitchen on site no no kitchen on site none at all no and then is there
No, no kitchen.
going to be any type of like uh i guess what's the trash plan for when there's a pen of it or
so there is a section to the side that is exterior and the trash will be placed there
it's not in the play area where anyone would go and trash will be picked up by a private
sanitation company they have access to the rear yard for play also or is it not at this
time. There will be a time, we hope, as things go on and progress, that there will be an exterior
usage. Questions from our attorney? I just wanted to confirm. Excuse me. I'm sorry. Question.
uh so what the spaces and when you say play area what is going to be
in there that these children are going to play with or on or it'll be um
i'm sorry no i mean how how is this going to work i mean all i'm seeing is an empty space
So the question is, this is going to be an indoor playground, as you said.
So what's going to be in the premises for the children to play with, play on?
How is this going to work?
At this time, the plans are in the back.
There will be three arcade machines for the children to play with.
As you move a little forward, there's going to be a section, a playhouse section, just general structure, not something huge or heavy.
and each one will have a different theme one would be for a veterinarian the middle one is
for entertainment theater and the other one is for construction zone there's a little section
where they have the dress up and they can do the dress up there there's also going to be a section
for shopping such as supermarket and that will be to the side as you move forward there is going to
be a small large um equipment area not large equipment but large plate area and the equipment
will be less than five feet in diameter because it's circular um and as you move forward
there is i don't believe there's anything for it at this point in time and then there's a section
for parents to be seated at in the reception area i'm sorry the middle section would be for
the parties if they were permitted. Okay. And how many children are we going to have in here at any
given time? Less than 30. We do not expect to have any larger than that. I don't think that
the capacity will permit it. And what's the square footage? I'm sorry, I had that. I don't
have it in front of me right now. If you give me a moment, I can look it up. Sure. Thank you.
Does this variance that is being requested, and I guess this may be to Hillary, allow
us to restrict the age group?
I that would probably be very difficult from an enforcement perspective right I thought I heard
the ages were like three to ten right correct I'm assuming that they'll they'll be the groups
will probably be kind of age segregated if you will like you wouldn't have the three-year-olds
necessarily in there with the 10 year olds but i'm not sure no you are correct we do not want
to create a hazard i i know you're looking for the square footage um is this by appointment
or is it just walking by appointment they will have to pre-register okay so they're they're
registering like not every day just once in a while or is this an everyday thing for
after school or whatnot or that's preschool some of them obviously but exactly for the
after school children it would be um in afternoons or on the weekend of saturday
okay and and it's difficult drop off right there too so is there a plan for uh loading unloading
the children well in that area there is on street parking most of the children are in a walking
area walking distance as i recall there are three um schools in the area two public one catholic in
there's one down the street that's being built. Thank you. And also there are other community
thank you and also there are other community um centers in that vicinity so could you estimate
the square footage i'm going to say 1400 i tried to look it up on philadelphia atlas and i cannot
find it okay cheryl any more questions uh no thank you all right our attorney hillary emerson
So, did you want to bring on your client to adopt your testimony?
Yes, I would. Thank you.
I think she left. Oh, there she is. There she is.
I apologize.
Make sure the mic is on. You'll see the little green button, and then get it as close as possible.
Hi, could you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer?
Could you do me a favor? Is that one?
Okay, yeah.
Antoinette Williams, A-N-T-O-I-N-E-T-T-E, Williams, W-I-L-L-I-A-M-S.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth.
Yes, I do.
Counsel, please proceed.
Did you hear my testimony today?
Okay. And was that testimony true, to the best of your knowledge?
And would you adopt my testimony?
Okay. Do you have any additional comments?
I wanted to actually further describe the indoor, some people call it a playground, some people call it a play space.
What it is, is a recreational activity for children, to parents to bring their children and for children to have an alternative.
It's called sensory because we actually have a lot of autistic children in that area.
A lot of parents are looking for a place to bring their autism children.
There are not a lot of places for autistic children.
So what we do is we do provide classes.
And when I mean classes, they're 60 minutes of sensory activity.
We bring play therapy.
We bring occupational therapists.
We bring physical therapists.
They will be allowed to come in there for that allotted time that their students are assigned for.
We also have what she was describing, the Imagination Village, which is actually part of children.
Again, you have three sections of a house where there are, as she described, the construction, the theater, and there is the veterinarian, where, again, children are using the imagination.
There is no technology in this location because, again, I'm very, very determined to get these children to start being more creative and to be more imaginative with their thought process.
We have a lot of sensory because, again, children are so used to technology that they cannot understand the five senses that we have.
So this is why we are adamant as trying to open up a facility, and I mean recreational place, for giving these parents another alternative for these children.
We do have, I heard you mention about parking.
We have already discussed possibly to have a parking sign where parents can go to the Cambria.
There's a Cambria section where parents can park there.
um as far as the tea parties um you know sometimes parents want it's a cold day you
want to take your children to an activity we provide that where it's a safe environment
parents can interact with one each other you can see children and you are safe in that environment
and i can go on and on but i'm going to conclude with that thank you very much i appreciate your
testimony yeah i just wanted to verify one other thing this the proposed space and because it's
only part of the building it's unit 1f is that correct that this is proposed in yes just uh
first floor okay thank you thank you questions or comments from the coordinating rco
i see no hands chair district council person i see no hands chair anyone else in the audience
i see no hands at this planning commission
Thank you, Chairman, and good morning. David Vecto with the City Planning Commission.
Chairman and Board members, the comprehensive plan recommends a change in zoning at this location from CMX2, commercial mixed use, to RM1, residential multifamily.
The City rezoned this commercial corridor in 1973, and a Council-supported map change.
The ground floor space does not appear to be large enough for an assembly and entertainment use, and it is mostly in a residential section of the Richmond Street corridor.
we would suggest the appellant look into applying for an event assembly use instead which has lower
impacts than the larger assembly and entertainment category if this use were to go vacant the
assembly and entertainment use would allow other types of large gatherings given the character of
Given the character of the immediate block face and the lack of space in the ground floor of the building, the City Planning Commission recommends that the Board deny the proposed special exception.
the immediate block face and the lack of space in the ground floor of the building the city
Okay. MI 2025, 003, 714, 3062, Richmond Street, I vote yes with a proviso. Use limited to Unit 1F.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes with proviso.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes
with proviso
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes with proviso
Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes with proviso
Iowen, my vote is yes with proviso
Thank you both
Thank you so much
So MI2025-007-116
1701 Market Street
Adam Laver is the attorney
good morning mr labor good morning mr chairman and you please um okay i'll wait till you get
set up there thank you moving as quickly as i can here we are
very good all right could you please state your name and spell it for this stenographer
Yes, Chairman Bergman, Adam Laver, L-A-V, as in Victor, E-R, of Blank Rome LLP, on behalf of 1701 Market, LLC, an Altera property group entity.
All right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, Mr. Chairman, I do.
So, Mr. Laver, we know a great deal about this case from your prior testimony.
so if you would keep the point
knowing that we know most of what you're talking about
and try to get to what you think is important
and our vice chair has a few questions
Hillary, is that okay?
Good morning
Have you submitted your documents and exhibits
five days in advance of this hearing?
Good morning Ms. Graham, yes we have
And do you waive the reading of the refusal
and stipulate to its accuracy?
We are not able to waive and stipulate
Okay. All right. Thank you. You can proceed and explain that further.
Thank you very much.
There we go.
Excellent.
This will be a little of deja vu, but I will try to go through it quickly.
As I mentioned, we have the privilege of representing the owner of 1701 Market Street, Altera Property Group, and its co-founder and managing partner, Leo Adamondo.
Joining me today in the hearing room itself is Jared Kern, Director of Mixed-Use Development for Altera Property Group.
Also joining us virtually from Altera Property Group is Mark Cartella, who is the Senior Vice President of Development and Construction.
construction. We're looking here at an aerial photograph of the subject property, and where my
cursor is would be the entrance to the apartments that the board is familiar with. You know that
this was formerly an office building. You know that this is in the heart of the Center City
uh district you know that uh this is cmx 5 zoning which i'm showing here on the um uh presentation
and that zoning permits for the conversion of the property were approved entirely within
the parameters of the zoning code
moving forward advancing through some other testimony mr chairman and members of the board
here you can see the new entrance to the residences located off of market street along the western
facade of the building residents have started to move into the rebranded 17 market west
apartments, but no building identification signage is there due to L&I's interpretation
regarding table 14904-1 of the zoning code. Here are the conceptual renderings of what
Altera has proposed, a day rendering and an evening rendering. What you saw were three
flat wall signs grouped together to include the building logo and identifying the building
as 17 market west very similar to any other apartment building in the city of philadelphia
in terms of having identification to the entrance what is dissimilar however from those buildings
What is dissimilar, however, from those buildings is that this is located in a sea of office towers where there are not other residential buildings.
is that this is located in a sea of off
The Notice of Refusal cites Table 14904-1 and reads, whereas the maximum sign height is the lower of the roofline or second floor windowsill, and the signs extend above the second floor windowsill.
We've had testimony which has been incorporated on this topic.
I won't go into that. There are no refusals, however, regarding signage size or quantity
or illumination. That's really significant for the matter before the board today. No refusals
regarding signage size, quantity, or illumination. The sole issue before the board concerns this
interpretation on maximum height being lower of the roof line or the second floor windowsill.
The entrance to the building is the lobby.
You can see an interior photograph of the lobby showing a high ceiling, single-story space with bands of glass.
The lower-level windows that observers would see from the exterior are ground floor glazing in a banded style.
And here you can see the site plan that has submitted showing the proposed placement in the upper left-hand corner of that signage,
which, accepting for purposes of the hearing today L&I's notice of refusal, otherwise meets
all code requirements in every respect. There are three components to the signs.
Component one is 48.15 square feet. Component two is 72.66 square feet. Component three
is 60.22 square feet. That's what's in the small type on the screen in front of you.
The elevations show the lobby area, the proposed placement of the signage.
This is relevant to the issue before the board.
It is proposed for between 24.5 inches off the ground and 44 feet 6 inches off the ground.
This is just above the lobby and along the exterior of the existing parking levels.
And here you can see some existing additional, rather, additional signage detail.
I'd like to get to something that we have not gone into great detail on before, which
is very important, and that's context.
And the photographs that you're about to see, I've taken these photographs walking along
Market Street.
I wanted to make sure that I fully understood this issue really in every way possible, considering
the complexities involved.
So here we are starting at the PNC Bank building at 1600 Market Street, a block over, and you can see the type of signage, similar signage, that is at that property.
Let's go across the street to the north, and you can see KPMG accounting above Fulton Bank at 1601 Market Street.
Closer to our property, 1800 Market Street, the Sinesta, which is also home to Ruth's Criss.
And the Ruth's Chris signage that is very similarly situated, although it's much larger, you can see here right on Market Street, for example.
Moving to 1818 Market Street and Wisfis Bank Place, here are a couple photographs of the context again for you.
We are not talking about rooftop signage.
We're not talking about above skyline signage.
either. Now, here's one that I just looked at this morning, although this photograph is
from before Thanksgiving, and I took it too. This is 1835 Market Street, Planet Fitness.
And up above Citizens Bank, to the left and to the right, you can see signage. And I observed
just this morning, you can't see it so well in this photograph, but just under 1835 Market
is that second floor story where people are working out at all hours. Another photograph
of that building. And then here in the upper left-hand corner, you can see the Motto Hotel,
which is roughly 35 South 19th Street, being just south of Market Street. The subject property is
also yards away from the urban experiential signage, a different issue in the code, but again,
relevant for context. We're looking now at the former Stock Exchange building, which would be
1900 Market Street, and you're seeing banded Independence Blue Cross signage. I mean, that's
changing signage, but here you have another example of that across the entire building.
But here you have another example of that across the entire building, the Stock Exchange
building.
And then we see to the northern side, the IBC building, just again for context, what
the scope and scale, what the feeling of the central business core is like.
And once again, in an effort to revitalize, in an effort to reach Mission 30,000,
bring housing in to coexist and to have people actually getting out of their beds getting out
of their pajamas and into their offices they are now living in this building and able to actually
walk into the buildings of center city to patronize the businesses etc
just a couple other photographs i'd like to get to some support that we have in conclusion for
the project logan square neighborhood association i believe that they're here virtually they'll
speak for themselves but they have submitted a letter of non-opposition noting quote that the
proposed signage is tasteful well executed and would not negatively impact the surrounding
community or residents end quote and their vote was 21 to 0. the center city district perhaps the
foremost organization helping to revitalize and preserve and promote our downtown business core
provided a letter of support noting that the entrance to the new residential
repurposed building is not easily identifiable in a sea of high-rise office towers that the
proposal will quote be compatible with the central business core and surrounding uses end quote
there is no other authority like the center city district when it comes to the health of
a strong center city Philadelphia. But the near neighbors are important too as we know and here
is a letter of support from the near neighbor the owner of the office building at 1760 Market
Street completely distinct from my client no ownership interest at all writing quote as a
near neighbor and perhaps the most impacted neighbor in relation to the view corridor of
proposed new signage we write in full support end quote there is also a letter of support from the
near neighbor being the owner of 1801 market street just a few yards away as well so in sum
mr chairman and members of the board the proposed signage meets the criteria for the granting of
reasonable variance relief that in this case would help to further important city policy objectives
I can add additional if you wish. Mr. Kern is here to adopt and affirm, and I do believe there
are those in the virtual audience. So why don't you have your testimony adopted?
Okay. Mr. Kern, would you please state your name for the record?
Yes. Jared Kern, K-E-R-N.
All right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Counsel?
Mr. Kern, you can put your hand down. Thank you. You've been present for the
a pendency of this hearing correct uh correct yes and would you adopt and affirm the testimony
that i've offered as your own yes thank you questions from the board
questions from our attorney hillary emberson not at this time mr chair
question or comments from the rcos that's what i see yes chair i have a hand up by the name of
rich liebach i'm going to promote them the penalties okay logan square neighbors association
thank you you know that forgive me
good morning can you hear me i can could you please state your name as spelled for the
stenographer great my name is rich leinbach l-e-i-m as in mary b-a-c-h do you swear or
firm that tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do there could uh could you give
us your testimony you have the two minute limitation great uh i'm with the logan square
neighborhood association and as uh i'm the author of the letter that that adam had presented on the
screen and you know at a at a board meeting we voted unanimously to not oppose the sign because
we felt that it was done in a very tasteful and well-executed manner and poses no negative impact
on the community and the residents in the area. Thank you. Thank you very much for taking the
time to call. Is there anyone from the other RCO members in the audience? I see no hands at this
time, Chair. Anyone from the district council person? I see no hands, Chair. Anyone at all else?
i see no hands here anyone at all else i see no hands at this planning commission
I see no reason.
thank you chairman and good morning david vecto with the city planning commission
chairman and board members the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the cmx5 commercial
mixed-use zoning in this location this is the city's most permissive zoning district
the prior building tenant or owners appear to have had a sign that complied with the zoning code
and the appellant has not shown that they cannot install a sign
that is code compliant, the City Planning Commission recommends
that the board deny the proposed dimensional variance for sign placement.
Thank you.
MI 2025-007-116, 1701 Market Street, I vote yes.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes.
Daryl Gaston, my vote is yes.
Teneda Graham, my vote is yes.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes.
Iowa, my vote is yes.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you, sir.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the board.
Number eight.
I think that's where, yep.
So MI 2025-003-644-5114 Ranstead Street.
Zen Jin is the attorney.
good morning good morning counsel could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
yes my name is then gen z h e n last name j i n right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth
the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do could you identify your client relationships
with property yes my client is the property owner uh norla shot okay and uh we do have a
letter of unanimous support from walnut hill community association our vice chair has a few
questions good morning have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of
this hearing yes and do you waive the reading of the refusals and stipulate to their accuracy
i do thank you you can share your screen and proceed with your case thank you i'm going to
share with the board what was previously submitted as exhibits can the board see my screen on theirs
It's coming up.
Yep, we have it now, sir.
Great.
Thank you.
So good morning.
Once again, this is an application for use of this property as a duplex use.
This is a property in the RSA 6 zoning district.
Therefore, it triggered two refusals, one for the proposed use and one for the proposed height.
RSA 6 having a restriction on height to 25 feet.
We actually met with Walnut Hill, who reviewed our plans and also the property and voted in favor of our request.
The primary reason for the support, and I believe the existing changes on the block also influenced the view of the neighbors and the community, is that this is a property that has been dilapidated and is in dire need of renovations for some time.
My client acquired it and has plans to essentially fully renovate, remove some unsafe condition violations that are currently ongoing with the property, and put it back to a good, useful condition.
The community is not against the height or the use, partly because existing new constructions in the area, in fact, further down the block, are three-story and are also duplex uses.
So it is something that's already been happening on the block.
The community generally is in favor of having these developments because this area is in need of additional housing and development.
And therefore, we received full support from the community.
With regard to the actual plan of the property, the condition of the property is that it is in bad shape.
but my client's proposal is to keep the existing first and second story structure that are still
sound. And then it would be reinforced, repaired, and then an addition would be made to the property,
making it a total of three stories. And this would then be split into two units with the first floor
and basement as one unit and the second and third floor being the second unit. The proposal is to
have a wreck area and a finished basement area with a powder room and the utilities, HVAC,
HVAC, heaters, and washer and dryer in the basement. Then the first floor would be the
heaters and water washer and dryer in the basement.
living area for the first unit, including the bedroom in the back. The second and third floor
is a more dense unit with living area and kitchen and one bedroom on the first floor,
and then the additional bedrooms above with a master suite set up for one of the bedrooms
on the upper floor. There is also a proposed roof deck for the upper floor. This is, again,
consistent to other units in the area that were recently built and would not be out of,
it would not be unusual or out of, I'm sorry, the word is escaping me at this point, but
it would be consistent with the other properties that are recently built in the neighborhood.
it. The property has a rear yard for the first floor unit. And again, the roof deck provides
open space for the second floor unit. There is a washer and dryer for each of the units as well.
And HVAC is independent to each unit with the trash storage being managed through the backyard
for the first unit and, if needed, temporarily using the roof deck as the exterior storage area
for the second unit. With that, I would request the board's a favorable review of this application,
and I'm certainly happy to answer any questions, and my client is here to verify my testimony.
Why don't you bring your client on first, and then we'll open it up to the board.
Sure. Mr. Shad, can you raise your hand virtually to be identified?
Your client will be rejoining as a panelist.
sorry about that my first time on zoom meeting okay uh could you please state your name and
spell for the stenographer yes my name is nuralla shot uh my first name and nuralla n-o-u-r-a-l-l-a-h
last name is shot s-h-a-a-t do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and
nothing but the truth yes i do please proceed you can lower your hand uh mr shot uh good morning so
can you uh verify that you uh heard my testimony and saw my presentation before the zoning board
yes i did uh can you verify that what i have represented is true and correct
and adopt it as your own testimony yes thank you thank you you're welcome questions from the board
yeah question for you how does this uh facade align with the adjacent properties and i know
you have a vacant lot i believe next to you but there are two other property properties adjacent
to the to there so how does the facade align with those property lines and the porches so the um
The way the property is now, we're trying to keep the porch style facade as well as the existing.
So the prior owner at one point did get a variance to remove the porch.
We're actually going to put the facade back to a more consistent look to the other houses on the block
that are with the porch, with the bay window style.
The difference is that we're actually going to be three stories instead of two.
We're also not doing the flat front surface,
as you saw in the picture of one of the other new construction.
This is actually more consistent with what are already on the block.
Yeah, I see that.
My question is, how does that align with the porches that are adjacent?
My question is basically, is the front of this porch at the same plane as the front of the adjacent porches, and is the main building consistent with the front of the main buildings of the houses that are near that have the porches?
That's my question.
Mr. Shad, I believe the answer to that should be it is.
You are more familiar with your architect's proposal.
Can you verify that for me?
yes we will keep it there we'll keep the porch like the the the way it was before before we
removed it and extend it to the front so there's it will be in line with other properties existing
on the block with regard to the porch and the facade yes it will be thank you my question thank
My question, thank you.
you any other questions yeah what's the trash plan
Any other questions?
Yeah, what's the trash plan for the units?
Thank you.
So, again, the one unit would have the trash stored in the back.
Mr. Shad, the second unit above would have their trash normally stored internally until pickup, unless it absolutely needs to be outside, correct?
Yes, it will be.
Probably they will store it in a rooftop
and then take it down the night before trash day.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
Other questions?
Do both tenants have access to the rear yard?
I believe only the first floor would have access to the rear yard.
Okay, and then could you put the plans again?
I missed the plan for the basement.
Sure, I will put the floor plan back up.
Okay, so what's the intended use for the basement?
Again, I mean, I know there's a powder room down there.
It is open.
How do you plan or do you intend that the tenant will use it?
So, Mr. Shad, it's the intent when you build the basement for the lower level to be used
Is it some sort of rec area?
Rec area, living room
slash family room,
entertainment area.
Your plan is to finish that
so that it's actually a finished basement?
Yeah, it will be finished basement.
Completely finished basement.
Completely finished, so you're going to do
insulation?
Insulation, all of it. Yes, completely
finished.
Questions or comments from our
attorney, Hilary Emerson?
not at this time mr chair questions or comments from the rcos i see no hands chair district
council representative i see no hands anyone else i see no hands planning commission
thank you chairman uh let me turn on my camera sorry
thank you chairman and good morning dave vecto with the city planning commission
Chairman and board members, the comprehensive plan recommended that this property be zoned RSA 5, residential single family, prior to the creation of the RSA 6, residential single family zoning district, and a 2022 zoning map change.
The city changed the zoning of this property to RSA 6 by community request.
There is no unique physical condition or circumstance of this property to prevent it from being used in strict conformity with the zoning code.
Despite the presence of several duplexes, this is a primarily single-family block face.
The City Planning Commission recommends the board deny the proposed use variance for two dwelling units and the proposed dimensional variance for maximum allowable height.
MI 2025-003-644-5114 Ranstead Street, I vote yes.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes.
Carol Gaston, my vote is yes.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes.
I win. My vote is yes. Thank you. Zen? Yes. Could you, I think you have one more case this morning. I believe I have two more. Two more? Yes. Okay. Yes. Okay. Why don't we just leave you here and then we'll get to the next one in the next. Okay. So number 10, MI20250036563314H Street. Just for the record, state your name.
Yes, Zen Jin on behalf of the applicant.
All right.
Could you identify your client, the relationship to the property?
My client is, the corporation is 3314 H Street LLC.
Mr. Guillermo Verona is the representative of the LLC.
And we do have a letter of support with unenforceable provisos from Impact RCO.
Our vice chair has a few questions.
Good morning.
Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
And do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Thank you.
You can begin your case.
Share your screen.
Thank you.
I'm going to share with the board what was previously submitted as exhibits.
Can the board see my screen on theirs?
We do.
we have all your exhibits. Thank you. Good morning. This is an application for a use change at
3314 H Street. This is a RSA 5 zoned block. My client proposed to have this property used as a
duplex. The property itself is located on the corner of the block. And when it was first acquired,
first acquired. I'm going to use the photos to show the property. It's better to see it from
I'm going to use the photos to show the property.
that, the photos itself. So when my client acquired the property, it has gone through a few
hands. It was originally owned and then it was taken back by Didian Liu. Then it was sold to him
in a rather dilapidated condition. At the time he acquired the property, it has been separated
into two units with a exterior stairway leading to the back second floor unit. The stairway
itself, our plans will show that we intend to make a change to put the stairway on the inside
as those exterior stairways are rather dangerous. But the essential problem is that the property
was converted to some degree already into two separate units. My client acquired the property
And as you can see, the property has been partially framed out.
And that is the condition it is in now.
The proposal is to change the property layout according to the plans.
The exterior would be kept the way it is.
This photo shows a little bit about how the property actually looked when it was some time back.
this is a stock photo from a while ago and then the there was work done to kind of update the
exterior and then now our proposal is to complete both exterior and interior renovations so it would
be used as a two two unit with regard to one being a bi-level both units actually being bi-level
units. The first unit would be accessed from the front on the main street and H Street. And then
the second unit would be accessed from the side on Cornwall Street. The upper floor, as you can see,
would be the back half would be the part of the second unit, while the front half would stay
as a part of the first unit. So you would have your access living kitchen step up to the upper
floor, which contains essentially a living room and master bedroom with a smaller bedroom in the
lower floor. The back unit would be access through the side with the living room kitchen
and the upper floor would be the bedroom. These are not densely designed units. They're meant
to be one bedroom or two bedroom at the most. And this is a layout that I believe would be much
better as a duplex than the existing layout with an exterior staircase. We met with the community.
they do they're aware that this is a corner property they're aware of its history
and they did provide us support given that the property would be fully renovated and put back
to use so with that i believe my client is here to verify my testimony and i'm happy to take any
questions from the board what's your client's name please it is uh jermo
and he should be
I don't want to mispronounce the first name
Guillermo
can you raise your hand virtually to be identified
I believe I filmed your client
they have been promoted to panelists
thank you
Mr. Verona, can you
unmute and also turn on your
oh, I see you on the other, okay
Good morning, sir. Good morning
Could you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer
Guillermo Verona, first name
G-U-I-L-L-E-R-M-O
and last name Barona, V-A-R-O-N-A.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth,
the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, counsel.
Thank you.
Mr. Barona, did you see my presentation
and hear my testimony before the zoning board?
Yes, sir.
Thank you.
Can you verify what I have represented
to the board is true and correct
and adopt it as your own testimony?
Yes, sir.
Thank you.
Questions from the board.
Can you go back to the second floor plan?
I just want to say something.
Okay, so.
okay so on the second floor on the front unit you've got this yeah i'm sorry i'm trying to
make the zoom a little better here you go no that's okay i just want to see how that uh so
the living room one for the first front unit is on the second floor essentially yes two full
bathrooms okay just a little odd okay all right thank you that was it can you go back to the
first floor plan, please? Sure.
And then just a question I have is
I'm looking at the actual physical conditions of the property
and it doesn't look like you've accounted
for the existing egress stairwell
on the exterior of the property that seems to go to the second
floor unit.
He's taking it out. That's going to be removed.
You're taking the existing stairwell out.
Yeah, so there will be an internal stairwell built for access to the upper floor.
I understand that.
It's a heavy metal stairwell that looks like it was recently installed.
So I was trying to make it make sense.
And then what's the plan for the basement?
There is no basement.
Mr. Rona, is there a basement?
Because there's currently, it looks like a walkout egress well.
There's a basement that had an existing access, but that is just to put the mechanical units and the water heaters and things of that nature.
So there's zero plan.
So who's going to have access to the basement and how will you retain access to that basement?
Is that going to be through?
I'll have the access.
From where?
Like how?
Are you going to come in through the central?
From the outside.
Yeah, there was an existing, I don't know what those double gates are called.
Belco doors.
Belco doors there that were kind of dilapidated.
I'm going to be the only one with access down there because it's essentially where all the mechanicals for the basement.
No, I understand that.
I understand what you're saying.
I'm saying that your plans currently do not show how you would get to that basement.
And there's an existing, there's three access points to the basement.
that already exists and they're all shown on this plan with so i'm trying to just understand
how this is changing because right now based on your plans i would assume that the only things
that is new construction is the red and it looks like things are being removed that already exist
and some things look like they're staying yeah there's not going to be any access to the basement
from the inside of the property.
It's only going to be from that exterior
access point.
You have which exterior access point?
It's on the side of the property.
Can you point to it on the plan?
Because you have two shown...
Sorry, there are three current accesses
to the basement in real life.
You have eliminated two of them in this plan.
well this just is this this access point here is it where so that's that's not a bill code door
which is why i was asking so you're retaining the exterior staircase and the walkout to the
basement and you as the property owner is going to retain control and access to that to that
basement space yes ma'am okay um all right i understand now i will say these plans are
interestingly laid out i think you have a lot of spaces that don't make a lot of sense i think the
dining room passageway to a bedroom when you've now put the living room on the second floor makes
absolutely no sense i would have moved the bedroom upstairs and left the living room downstairs and
done two bedrooms upstairs i also think your new bedroom that is seven feet five wide is insane
because you have almost no place
where a bed would fit in that space.
So I do think I would highly suggest
you reconfigure and look at this,
but I at least understand a little bit better
how this is trying to work out.
I agree completely.
There you go.
Questions from our attorney?
Not at this time, Mr. Farron.
Question from the coordinating RCO?
no hands chair questions from uh anyone else there's no hands at this time planning commission
thank you chair and good morning david fechto with the city planning commission
chairman of board members the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the rsa 5
Chairman and board members, the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the RSA-5,
residential single-family zoning at this location.
The city rezoned this neighborhood in 1973 in a council-supported map change.
A prior owner appears to have converted this property to two dwelling units without the benefit of permits.
City Planning Commission recommends that the board deny the proposed legalization of two dwelling units.
MI 2025-003-656-3314, 8th Street, I vote yes.
Uncle John's, my vote is yes.
Carol Gaston, my vote is yes.
Sonetta Graham, my vote is yes.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes.
Diane Wynn, my vote is yes.
Thank you.
Counsel, one more, right?
So MI 2025-003-660-660-38 East Seltzer Street.
Zen, could you just state your name?
Zen Jen, here on behalf of the applicant.
Could you identify your client, the relationship to the property?
Yes, my client is 28 Seltzer, LLC.
Mr. Verona is also the owner of that business.
We do not have an RCO letter, right?
And, Hildrey, we do have the proof of the...
Yes, Mr. Sherry, I just want to put on the record,
while we understand there is difficulty scheduling the RCO meeting,
we believe that the applicant has met requirements for posting
as well as mailing to the near neighbors and we have received proof of that. Thank you. The Vice
Chair has a few questions for you, Mr. Jin. All right, good morning. Have you submitted your
documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing? We did initially and then we updated
as late as this morning with additional documentation. Okay, and do you waive the
reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy? I do. Okay, you can proceed with your
case. Thank you. I'm going to share with the board the latest submission. Can the board see my
screen on there? We can, sir. Thank you. So there's been extensive communication between the
our office and the RCO. I'm going to not rehash that information, given Ms. Emerson's statements.
This is an application for a use of an existing property at 38 East Seltzer Street, also as a proposed duplex.
This is Zone RSA 5 and therefore was refused for that particular use.
The property is located between Somerset. It's located off of Seltzer Street with 8th Street, Somerset Street being the nearest streets.
It is on a residential block and is a property that is an existing three-story structure.
Again, it was partially renovated.
My client, again, purchased this as a potential investment property.
His plan with this property was to build out two units and allow it to be used as rentals
for a local area hospital, which actually has people that have reached out to him with
interest to rent apartments in the area.
the proposal is to have
the space fitted out into two separate units based on the three stories that exist
so this the basement uh is for hvac mechanical electrical the first floor would be the first
unit with the living room and kitchen with the bedroom. The second floor and third floor is the
second unit with two bedrooms, I'm sorry, three bedrooms total, a family room and the living
spaces in the, I'm sorry, it's bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and family room on the second floor
and then additional bedrooms on the third floor.
There is an existing roof towards the back half of the third floor.
There's an addition being proposed that is going to be part of the back part of the property.
However, the addition itself is not a refusal matter as it is within the dimensional requirements.
So this property, my client and my office tried to reach out to the RCO.
We did not ultimately get a meeting.
However, we have notified the neighbors and we have not had any outreach in opposition.
had any outreach in opposition. And it is my understanding, my client has done outreach and
And it is my understanding, my client.
has generally been met with favorable responses from the neighbors. So essentially, this is to
rehab a property that has been vacant for a long time. And we would ask the board's favorable
review for the proposed use variance as a two-family dwelling. My client is here again to
verify my business. If you would, could you talk about the rest of the block and the area?
Sure. The property is located on a residential block. Let me see if I can pull up the photos again.
so the property is located on a residential block uh there are some vacant properties and
there are also primarily residential properties it is zoned rsa5 it's a residential block
there are other properties that look like they're duplexes however we're not sure if they're legal
or not. Again, with the block makeup, my client has met with some of the neighbors, so he's aware
of the block makeup and the neighbors are aware of his proposed use. And again, based on feedback
from the neighbors, we believe that they're not in opposition to our proposed use of this property
as a duplex. Bring your client on, please. Sure.
Mr. Verona, can you raise your hand again to be identified?
I no longer see your client in the virtual recording.
That's surprising.
think okay here they go okay great
i'm sorry i don't know sorry you won't listen to me you've already been sworn just for the
record state your name i'm sorry can you say it again because you've already been sworn in
could you just state your name for the record? Yes, sir. Guillermo Verona. Okay. Counsel,
please proceed. Thank you. Mr. Verona, were you able to see my presentation and hear my
representations to the zoning board earlier? I did. I think I missed the last 15 seconds
because my screen blacked out and I had to log in. Okay. Can you verify what you did here and
what I did represent already to the board is true and correct and adopted as your own testimony?
Yeah, about, you know, turning it into a duplex with the bi-level apartments.
I don't know if you told them I spoke with the neighbors on the block, the homeowners and the block captain and everybody had no opposition.
They're willing to sign, you know, anything that the board might ask for on my behalf.
Mr. Colonel, what's the rest of the block look like for multiple families?
Well, honestly, there's a couple of properties on there. I don't know if that's legit or not, but they do have like two mailboxes, like for apartment one, apartment two, apartment A, apartment B.
Okay. All right. All right. Questions from the board.
Trash. What would the trash be stored for your units?
uh well two two ways uh the first floor have access to the back so they can store their
trash in the back um i could do a uh a roof deck on the back because the structure is three stories
but the back is two stories the third floor is set back yeah i'm sorry yeah i'm sorry so do
either a roof deck or a closet
you know just for that
in the hallway
on the second floor
to be clear that would be off the kitchen right
on the second floor
questions from our attorney
not at this time Mr. Chair
questions
to the virtual audience
is the RCO present
i see no hands chair is there anyone else besides the rco
nope chair no hands at this time planning commission thank you chairman and good
nope chair no hands at this time planning commission thank you chairman and good
morning david effecto with the city planning commission chairman and board members the
comprehensive plan recommends no change to the rsa5 residential single family zoning at this
location the city rezoned this neighborhood in 2018 in accord with recommendations in the
comprehensive plan this property received a rental license for one dwelling unit in 2004
uh or sorry 2024 and residential building permit in january 2025 for a second story addition
there is no unique physical condition or circumstance of this property that prevent
it from being used in strict conformity with the zoning code this is a primarily single family
block face the city planning commission recommends the board deny the proposed use variance for two
dwelling units mi 2025 003 660 38 east seltzer street i vote yes i vote johns my vote is yes
cheryl gaston my vote is yes tenetta graham my vote is yes ryan mcadams my vote is yes
i am with my vote is yes thank you thank you council
Yeah, number nine, MI 2025 003649, 6325 Palmetto Street.
Isaac Slepner is the attorney.
There is unanimous opposition, 80 votes against, from Longcrest Community Association.
isaac slepner will be joining us as a panelist
good morning uh mr chair and members of the board council could you please state your name
going to spell it for the stenographer? Sure thing. Isaac, I-S-A-A-C, Slepner, S-L-E-P-N-E-R,
counsel for the property owner today. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth,
the whole truth, nothing but the truth? Yes, I do. Do you identify your client and relationship
to the property? My client is 6325 Palmetto LLC, which is the owner of 6325 Palmetto Street.
Our vice chair has a few questions.
Good morning.
Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, I did, except that I had technical issues with one of them, and I submitted the correct
item this morning and was in contact with Mr. Hegarty about that earlier this morning.
And thank you.
And do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, I do.
All right. Thank you. You can share your screen and proceed with your case.
All right. Will do.
All right. And here we go.
So everybody can see that it's coming. It's up now. Yeah, we have.
OK, great. So this is just my index of exhibits.
So exhibit A is our original application for appeal project info form notice of refusal, which we already stipulated to and read.
and the sort of mailing address list and the letter of my notice to neighbors so
I'm just gonna quickly scroll through this is the sort of mailing as you can
see right number of addresses this is our address list and notice to
neighbors informing them of the RCO meeting which was held on 1113 Exhibit
Exhibit B is the deed in favor of 6325 Palmetto.
They purchased the property in about two years ago at this time, December of 2023, and recorded
the deed on 12-13 of 2023.
I'll just scroll all the way down.
There you can see the full copy of the deed.
Exhibit C is a photo taken, I want to say it was 11-19, because that was 21 days ago,
of the orange poster on the front door of the subject property, 6325 Palmetto Street.
And you can also see a good frontal view of the property.
Now, exhibits D and E, I want to take you through, and this is going to be a bit of a walkthrough.
Exhibit D are the original building plans, and exhibit E are some updated building plans.
So I'll kind of walk everybody through the building plans.
This, as I said, are the original building plans to the property.
The original plan was for five dwelling units at this property.
One of them was originally planned for the basement.
We have ultimately decided that we're going to concede on that one and remove that one from the plan, but we'll go.
concede on that one and remove that one from the plan, but we'll go on into why in just a moment,
but I want to give everybody kind of the physical layout of the place and show the photos as well.
So this is the front porch. This is Palmetto Street right here, and this is the main entrance
to the house. This is the door to Unit 1. That's the door where you previously saw the orange
poster. This is a separate door that goes up the stairs to Units 2 and 3. So Unit 1 is at ground
level. It's an open-plan kitchen living room. There's a small laundry room, the
bathroom, and one bedroom with a closet. Unit 4 is also at the rear and Unit 4 is
a bi-level. Unit 4 is accessed from ground level but at the side of the
house off of one half of the driveway. Unit 4 is also accessed here to rear
windows. Unit 4 is accessed and it's another open plan, living room and kitchen. Then there is a set
of curved stairs that goes up to, you can see over on this side, this is second floor. This is Unit 4's
two bedrooms, hall, bathroom, and some closet space, and then the stairs back down to the ground level
of unit four. The stairs up from the entranceway, this is the second door at the front entrance at
the front porch. These go straight up, and they go to a hall up here, and then this is unit two.
So unit two is the front half of the second floor of the house. Living room, bedroom, closet,
another bedroom or some more open space, bathroom, bathroom and closet, and a third
small bedroom could be considered an office space. Stairs, these stairs continue going up.
This is the entrance to unit three. You've got, it opens into the main space. You've got another
room over here. You've got a double door out to the roof deck over here. You've got a bedroom at
the front and bathroom. My understanding of all of these is that they all have in-unit laundry,
but I'll call my client to testify to that. So exhibit E is the updated plans. After we had our
meeting with the RCO, they seemed very upset about the basement unit and we decided to eliminate
that as a dwelling unit and repurpose the basement for just a storage unit. So you'll see
on these plans we've got the basement marked as mechanical room slash storage. Otherwise the
layout is the same for units one through four. Counsel, counsel, can I ask the question what
how is it used now? Right now it's been built out. My client purchased it and it had already
been built out as these five units. They were brought on and they purchased the unit and have
intended to get the CO for it, which of course first involves getting a zoning permit. We had
a meeting with the community in which they did not respond very positively to us. They voted 30
votes against us. However, we went back to attempt to work in good faith with them and I'll show you
those communications, I've already sent those through to the board, but I'll show you those
again, in which we offered, and we're going to anyway, remove the use of the basement unit as
a dwelling unit. It had been planned as like a caretaker on-site maintenance dwelling unit,
but we're going to eliminate that entirely and just have it be mechanical and storage at that
basement level. There is egress but the community did not seem to look very
kindly upon it. I have photos of the interior and exterior of the property
next that I'd like to also take a look at. So exhibit F is my property photos.
Here is again the front, that's the door to unit one, this is the door to units
two and three. Around this, these driveways are both unique to our property. They are not shared
driveways with the properties on other side. 6329 Palmetto, by the way, and I'm going to go through
this in a moment too, appears to be a multi-unit that was actually never permitted. 6323 to the
other side appears to be a single family but regardless both of these driveways are unique
to our property. This is one of the units, this is unit
This is one of the units. This is unit four, actually, that's accessed from around the side at ground level off of the driveway.
This is the kitchen living room area, and these are the steps to a bedroom that is up here but is not, can only be accessed from this unit, from unit four.
This is a photo of unit one that is at the ground level.
There's the back bedroom of unit one, bathroom, laundry room, kitchen, and living room area.
This is the upstairs bedroom of unit one.
And this is one of the bathrooms in one of the units.
This is another bathroom in one of the units.
This is how you access Unit 4, which is the bi-level that's accessed from, like I said, this driveway here, which is, again, the driveway unique to the property.
That's where the basement is accessed, and, again, that was a concern of the neighbors, and that's why we're going to be forgoing requesting that as a unit.
This is the roof deck that's accessed only from Unit 3.
It's at the rear of the property, and it has some nice views and just some nice open space for the third floor unit to use.
This is the paved rear space that would provide at least four parking spaces.
And this garage, my understanding, is the ownership intends to ultimately take that down and provide additional flat space, possibly parking for one more vehicle.
So we would have four units here with four individual parking spaces, which means that the parking ratio would be one to one, which for what it's worth is what's required in our RSA three, which is what this property is zoned.
Here's a picture from ground level looking up at the rear of the house.
And again, you can see the two driveways, which again are both unique to the property and do not are not for the use of any other neighbors.
This is Exhibit G, which is the letter from the RCO from Longcrest Community.
We did meet with them on 11-13.
They did vote 30-0 against us.
As a result of their vote and their input, we went back, we revised our plans to remove the use of the basement unit.
Okay. Exhibit H is I had some correspondence with Philip Grutzmacher, who is the RCO chair of Longcrest Civic, and I had informed him that we're going to remove the basement unit.
We would like to come and present it to their RCO. His response was that they would welcome us to come back to them, but that they would be very unlikely to change their vote and their opinion.
Their main concerns in their letter, and they did write this in their letter, was one, the parking.
They expressed a concern about on-street, I'm sorry, lack of on-street parking.
It's true, parking is a problem everywhere.
However, like I had shown the board and described, our plan for providing parking to the eventual residents of this property is at a one-to-one ratio of one parking space per dwelling unit, which is the requirement in RSA 3.
The fire safety issue, the units are sprinklered but I understand that the
main concern was the basement unit and we've eliminated the basement unit from
any request that's ongoing here. The hardship is again my clients purchased
this property as is and it had been billed out by the time they purchased it.
They are now seeking to get certificates of occupancy for the properties.
I also wanted to point out that the community expressed concern about the density of our property.
So I did a bit of a map, a bit of a neighborhood walkthrough, if the board will allow me here.
So this is a map.
The green one is our property, 6325 Palmetto.
And all of these little red flagged ones are nearby properties within a two to three block radius of multifamilies that I have located and noticed and I walked the neighborhood myself, took some photos, did some research and found a number of multifamilies.
So if you would, I'm just going to walk you through.
This is 6403 and 6405 Bingham Street, just about a block and a half away.
These are each three units.
They do not have any zoning permits or variances.
All of these properties, by the way, are zoned RSA 3.
This is 551 to 53 Hellermann.
This is 551 to 53 Hellermann. It's a corner property. It's got one, two, three dwellings that I was able to observe.
It's a corner property.
Again, no permits, no variances. 548 to 50 Hellermann, directly across the street.
This is a two-unit. You can see by the two mailboxes here, and there's some stairs going up that look to an exterior door there.
543 Hellermann, directly across the street, two units. You can see the two electric meters, two satellite dishes.
541 Hellerman, same thing, two units, two meters. This is 6451 Palmetto, about two blocks away from
the subject property. This is at least a two unit, one, two. 6417 Palmetto, another block and a half
away, two units, one, two electric meters. Again, all RSE3 didn't see any permits in my search of
Atlas. Here is directly next door. 6329 Palmetto. Two units. One, two. No permits, no variances.
538 Robbins. I see three doorbells. That would lead me to believe three units. I certainly didn't
go knocking on anybody's door, but I walked around and took photos. Council, look, I think
you've made your point. I mean, we need to go through the whole neighborhood. Understood.
understood mr chair um in any event uh that is my my testimony and i let me ask you this question
how about the property next door is a single family home have you have you knocked on that door
uh i have not but i um and how about the the one the one the other side is just a duplex am i
correct correct and did you knock on that door at all and talk to them i did not um my understanding
is that my clients have some some relations with their neighbors and I my
understanding is that they've spoken with them and I would like to call my
client to adopt my testimony thank you there's anything I'm going to call my
client George Groves who is out there to adopt testimony all right George will
will be joining us as a panelist and i'm going to unshare my screen at this time unless anybody
has well why don't you leave that there just in case people i'll leave all right okay george
just trying to get him on the scene here
chair he is a panelist he just needs to unmute okay george could you unmute please
hi george could you please state your name as bell for the stenographer
George, you need to unmute.
George?
Hello, sir.
Hi, George, could you please state your name and spell it?
George Groves.
G-R-O-V-E-S.
All right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir.
Please proceed, counsel.
Thank you.
George, are you a primary member of 6325 Palmetto LLC?
And 6325 Palmetto LLC is the owner of 6325 Palmetto Street, correct?
And did you hear all of the testimony and see all of the exhibits that I showed and offered to the board today?
And was all of that testimony true and correct to the best of your knowledge?
yes but i'd like to say something mr chairman yes the single family home next door belongs
to the church and he uses it as an office okay thank you okay and um george would you adopt
all of the testimony that i offered today as though you gave it yourself yes thank you um
Counsel, let me ask you a question. None of this work was done by your client. It was all done prior to the purchase.
That is correct. OK, questions from the board.
Yeah, I have a question. Oh, go ahead, Mike.
I just wanted to say I don't know that presenting a number of the multifamily or duplexes that aren't legal kind of help.
I think it maybe is a call to L&I to go out and take a look at this stuff, right?
um uh so so that's that's all i really had to make a comment on for the moment
So that's all I really had to say.
understood i was you know i was trying to stress that we're trying to do things the right way
yeah i have a question it so it looks like your client purchased the property in 2023
is that correct correct yes and it's looking like if i go and i look at listings of this property
from 2023 it says that it was originally listed and marketed as a single family home
with four bath four bedrooms and two bathrooms
i mean i i'm also saying wait i'm also saying an lni history of violations for unpermanent
construction work and a number
of easy permits pulled that
seem to match a lot
of the work that has been shown in the photos
where there was additional
wiring, additional plumbing
and a bunch of demo
of non-bearing walls.
Could you walk us through,
understanding that you're saying that this is how
it was when you purchased it,
what work have you done since
2023 when you purchased it?
I'm going to let George show up that one.
So, Mr. Chairman,
we purchased the property it was finished we applied for the roof deck permit and we invited
it up and i into the property to look okay the inspector was inspector porter i knew the violation
and that's when we filed everything that we needed to file
george going back when you purchased it did you purchase this as a single property
with the idea or that
real estate thing was wrong?
We realized it was
wrong and started
to legalize to correct it.
Obviously, Mr. Higgins
is paying.
Mr. Groves, can you pause and repeat your answer?
We can't understand what you're saying.
Your audio is a bit garbled.
You're freaking out.
Okay. We
purchased free and we
started to legalize it. We're the ones who invited
it out into the property to
look at it i could i could barely hear it but i'm thinking he's saying and he bought it as a single
family but it already had been changed this way so they were seeking to legalize it that's what
i'm did i would i hear that right yes sir yes sir okay
okay but so when you bought it what was what was your process to try to legalize it
I'm sorry, Mr. Chair. This is the report.
I know. I know. I understand. George, we're going to have to figure out. We're having a hard time hearing you, George.
if I can if I can add on and confirm so ownership purchased it as it had been marketed apparently
marketed as a single-family but the work had already been done for the large part they went
and hired a consultancy to draft up these building plans and begin to apply for the building permits
from lni uh they were rejected because they needed zoning and which is why we're all here today
but i'm saying that the first zoning permit was filed in 2025 this property was purchased in 2023
and you've had a number of construction related violations since i'm trying to like in a timeline
you would have applied for zoning first to legalize or you would have applied for building
permits and gotten denied and it's
looking like a lot of work was started
and then it was caught
and then they went back and tried
to... It was not caught.
It was not caught.
It was not caught. So you're saying your consult
so you... Okay, we're
here. We're here. Okay.
So I'm just trying to like follow
the timeline. So you purchased the property,
it was already converted,
you hired this consultant
and then you tried to go and legalize it
and then I guess we landed on
you needing to refile for zoning
a year.
And what happened with the previous
consultant?
He filed the paperwork.
It's George.
We can't hear you.
Your audio is...
You can't hear me?
Your audio is cutting in and out.
Like, if you were driving through a dead zone?
i'm not doing it just keeps coming off too
I'm not in a dead zone.
It just keeps keeping me off.
we couldn't understand any of that i'm sorry hijack you can you answer these questions
your sound is your sound is very um garbled yeah it's getting choppy so my my understanding is that
The consultants have been trying to fill the gaps that were incurred by the prior owners prior to my client and get proper building permits for each portion of this thing, including the plumbing, the electrical, etc.
the fire suppression and they're on their way to doing so but they keep getting bounced because
they need zoning so they're kind of at a bottleneck if you will and and that's why we're here today
okay so can again can we talk through what constructions or minor alterations
have happened at the property since it's
purchased in 2023?
Nothing.
We didn't do anything since
2023 that was there.
The only thing...
I was the one to call L&I.
I was the one to invite L&I out to
the building so we could go through
and figure out what needed to happen
to make this
legalize the property.
This isn't my first time at the rodeo,
so it's kind of hard when you buy
something that's already done.
When you purchased it, did you have title insurance and did you run title?
Lawyers did that. It was handled through Andy Miller.
Okay. I have a question.
Did council say that the RCO, when you went back to the community, that they didn't approve
of the three units either? I mean, the four units either?
Right. So that's what happened. Essentially, we tried to go back to them. We offered to come back to them with our amended plans.
They said, you know, we don't have a date until February and we're willing to host you, but we're probably going to vote the same way.
And I and at that point, I said, then we'll go before the board with what we've got, because we're willing to remove that basement situation.
But if the RCO is going to vote the same way, regardless, then we may as well come to the board.
But so obviously the RCO is not happy with four units.
That would seem to be.
And my last question is, in terms of just receiving the mail or packages, that rear unit, all the mailbox is going to be on the front because that unit in the rear.
How would they get their mail?
the mailbox on the front porch
it'll be the package box there for there are four boxes actually five boxes on the front
porch if everybody can see that photo right there okay all right i think this is a general comment
i think that a few of the units those bedrooms don't really work so i understand that's an
existing condition but i think there's a lot of density here with not a lot of uh like ways
to remedy this easily unfortunately okay all right um questions for our attorney
yeah i just mr slepner i just wanted clarification because you mentioned about
parking i didn't see it referenced on the refusal this is just a change of use application is that
something that's being done through a separate zoning application? No, because it's all on the
site. This is just a rear flat lot. I was talking about it more so because the RCO specifically
mentioned it as an issue at the meeting, certainly, and in their letter to the board.
So I wanted to just address that. That's not going to need to be a separate application
because this is all on-site um would be all on-site parking right but i'm just saying i don't
know if that that's legal on-site parking is what you're what you're proposing and it's not part of
this current application it's a change of use only it's not parking okay correct you're probably
going to need to yeah and i think the examiner unfortunately did not reference the required
parking and the refusal because you should have received a refusal for that so i see yeah for the
record all right um that's you know that's fine understood uh questions or comments from the rcos
i see no hands chair questions or comments from anyone
i see no hands at this time planning commission
i see no hands at this time planning commission can i ask that can i ask one more question just
one quick last question or the attorney when you because you mentioned all these other multi-families
in the neighborhood right did you ask in the community you know you've got a problem with
this but you don't have a problem with these other ones like was that ever asked well we did we we
We we knew that there were. OK, part of five. I brought that up at the RCO meeting.
I said, listen, there are other multi-unit properties in your neighborhood.
Like what did you ever have a problem with them? And they didn't really address it.
So, yeah, thanks. Planning Commission. Thank you, Chairman.
And good afternoon. David Fecto with the City Planning Commission, Chairman and board members.
the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the RSA-3 residential single-family zoning at this
location. The city rezoned this neighborhood in 1975 in a council-supported map change.
An owner appears to have converted this property into multiple dwelling units without the benefit
of permits. This is a primarily single-family block face. The City Planning Commission recommends
The board denied the proposed use variance for four dwelling units.
Thank you. MI 2025, 003-649-6325 Palmetto Street, I vote no.
Michael Johns, I'm going to vote yes, I think. Yes.
Sterogaston, my vote is no.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is no.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is no.
Taya Nguyen, my vote is no.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you.
Number 15, MI 2025-003-833, 623 North 44th Street.
Meredith Verliger is the attorney.
There is a, let's see here.
There's a recommendation of support from West Belmont.
Well, it was 20 in support, five in opposition.
And there's a letter of neutrality from Council Member Gossier.
Upon learning of the applicant's alterations to the proposed plan, the council member now has adopted a neutral stance regarding 623-44th Street as a revised plan to adjust the proposed four unit to three.
Office recognized both sides have merit.
We acknowledge the community's stance on remapping and the applicant's sincere effort to establish a consensus.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, members of the board.
It is the afternoon I forgot here.
Okay, please state your name.
Am I last again?
Please state your name and spell for the stenographer.
Meredith Ferliger, F-E-R-L-E-G-E-R.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
I certainly do.
Could you identify your client or relationship to the property?
My client is 623 North 44th Street, LLC.
That is the owner of the property represented today by Michael Matlin.
Our vice chair has a few questions.
Good morning, afternoon.
Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
I did.
And do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, I do.
Okay, thank you.
You can proceed to share your case.
Meredith, before you start, are we straight with tax on this, Hillary?
we we should be the taxes were paid i do have evidence in the packet it might not have been
reflected on the website uh but it is the the amount that was showing due is i have a receipt
up on the screen okay so yes the website is still unclear it looks like there's still taxes owed in
2023 um it may be that we just we need to hold the vote on this just to get a tax clearance
certificate or to see if the um the the property what tax website shows a zero balance um because
there is a it is still showing like there's a tax is owed and that there's a lien on the property
okay it's very very frustrating that their website does not update in real time when they're when
they're paid um yeah and unfortunately the payment didn't indicate what years it was for
so that's also it's hard for us to tell what what was what was paid and what it was applied for so
um but we i think understood if we just i think if we just hold this for a week we'll probably be
fine okay noted uh all right so with that issue uh handled uh as you know the case in front of
you concern 623 North 44th Street in the city's West Belmont neighborhood. The exhibit packet in
front of you has a total of 16 total exhibits. Just by way of some preliminary background,
Just by way of some preliminary background, this case was in front of the board in late 2024, early 2025.
this case was in front of you.
Both the density and the design raised significant concern among both community members and this board.
As a result, and as shown at Exhibit 9, we withdrew the case and my client took some time to go back to the drawing board.
This application was filed anew later in the year, new and improved, and as you can see and as mentioned earlier on, garnered an overwhelming vote in support from the community with only five members of the community in opposition.
As a reminder, and as one of the fundamental hardships facing this property, my client did purchase this property in 2022 as an RM1 lot that would have permitted the application before you today.
Almost one year after its purchase, the lot was rezoned in a community-led remapping to RSA 5.
In terms of some basics, again, we dealt with the tax clearance issue at Exhibit 2.
And again, you'll see at Exhibit 3 that the owner purchased the property on February 17, 2022.
The zoning map at Exhibit 5 shows that although the property was rezoned to RSA 5,
this property does sit on one of the several blocks that served as a point of division
between the new RSA-5 to the east and the retained RM-1 to the west.
And you can see fairly dense RM-1 and RM-2.
By way of some area context, I have included some aerial exhibits at Exhibit 10.
623 North 44th Street is a corner property right at the corner of 44th Street and Wallace Street.
From this first image, you'll see the context of the particular block, which really only has a couple of structures facing 44th Street.
There's two attached structures, and then there are a couple of other structures further up the block that were developed by the Housing Authority probably about 10 years ago.
to across the street as you can see in the image here is a very dense senior housing complex with
well over 100 units as well as a nursing home directly diagonal to the rear you can see in this
image is a school which is owned and run by the archdiocese so it's a fairly fairly open block
here. From the photographs here at Exhibit 16, you'll see that there are only two other attached
structures on the block. The blue one in this image is a single-family home, but immediately
next door, the property at 625 North 44th Street, its last registered use dating all the way back
to the 40s was as a three-family dwelling, although members of the RCO did seem to indicate that its
current use may be actually a boarding house. So it's a little bit unclear exactly what it is used
for, but the last registered use was as a triplex. One thing to note just in terms of the design,
as you can see here, both adjoining structures have elevated front porches, one with the overhang
awning structure, one without. The vacant lot that is at the corner is the one that is before
the board today and has been entirely vacant since the 1940s so there has been no development on this
lot either under the prior rm1 zoning or under the current single-family zoning and again from this
corner you can again see the single-family homes that were developed by pha a little bit further
down the block. And again, across the street here, you can see the apartment complex. This area
benefits from some fairly dense vegetation, so it's hard to get any really good photos. But you
can see the apartment complex across the street here. And then just in terms of Wallace Street,
although 44th Street is mixed in terms of use and structure character, Wallace Street contains
predominantly two-story single-family homes. And of course, we did include photographs of the
required posting, which was timely posted. The zoning plans are shown up on the screen at Exhibit
6. I do have some before and after comparisons, but just in terms of the density, the original
proposal that was presented to the community last year and this board was for a four-unit dwelling
that was really more predominantly oriented towards Wallace Street, not 44th Street.
that was really more predominantly oriented towards Wallace Street, not 44th Street.
That design would have had two egress wells on Wallace Street, as well as two pilot houses to
access two private roof decks. Admittedly, the original design was contrary to the Planning
Commission's determination that 44th Street should be the primary frontage. Now, the proposal before
the board today is for three units consistent with that last registered use of the immediately
attached structure. A front porch which is consistent with the two adjoining structures
is now also included and I do have renderings but just in terms of the basic elevation you can see
that front porch here. One of the pilot houses has been removed as well as the egress wells on
Wallace Street. You'll see on the zoning plans here that there is a designated trash storage
area in the rear behind a fence that can be efficiently accessed directly from Wallace Street.
The structure has also been designed to align with the front setback of the adjoining structures
and also is intended to align with their adjoining heights at just over 30 feet high and three
stories. The building has now also been elevated out of the ground by four feet and the prior
design that was also not the case. Let me skip through the floor plans just momentarily and
bring up the rendering. Of course corner properties also have the unique benefit of providing ample
windows for residents which you can see reflected in this image. The applicant here also intends
to work with Parks and Rec to add street trees that are lacking from this corner, despite the
newly constructed sidewalk. And it's unclear, I assume it was the streets department that did
this sidewalk to replace the ADA ramps. This would have been done with this development, but
obviously it will be extended in front of the property as well.
Floor plans are included at Exhibit 7, and these have also been modified.
The prior design included some bi-level units, whereas this new design is for one unit per floor.
We do also have the architect in the audience to the extent that there are any questions. Plato
Maranakis is with us today. The first floor unit is over 2,000 square feet and includes two bedrooms
and three bathrooms. The second floor unit, I'll zoom in a little bit for you, is a unit of 881
square feet and is two bedrooms, two bathrooms. And the third unit on the third floor is also
two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and is just under 1,100 square feet. This unit will have access
to a private roof deck. This was one of the changes that was precipitated by this board's
feedback in that the prior units were designed not only as bi-level units, but were designed as
three-bedroom units, which was perceived as being significantly too dense. All of the units will
have in-unit washers and dryers and ventilated trash storage areas. At Exhibit 8, I do have a
before and after comparison to the extent that that is helpful. I won't go through it in detail
unless you have questions, but you can see here just on the floor plans the original bi-level
design. And then just in terms of even the rendering, you can see that it being elevated
out of the ground will now align it much better with the two adjoining structures. So this would
have had a front porch that was lower than the two adjoining structures. And for the RCO's benefit,
I did also mark up a zoning plan with some before and after changes. I did address those to this
board already, so I can bring this back up to the extent you have questions. But again, namely the
front porch, the front steps, removal of the egress wells here on Wallace Street, removal of a pilot
house and addition of the rear stairs since it has now been elevated. With respect to the
community, we did first present it to West Belmont back in November of 2024. They were unhappy with
both the four-unit design and layout and did also express a common preference for single-family
homes. Even before the project was represented to the community with a better design and less units,
my client was also able to secure a petition of support from 23 nearby neighbors expressing support even for the prior four-unit design.
Now, all of this is also supplemented by an official letter.
Now, all of this is also supplemented by an official letter of support from the RCO.
Now, regarding the refusal, as you know, we received one refusal for the proposed multifamily dwelling.
As I referenced, this case presents a hardship on several grounds.
Most importantly, and as I mentioned early on, the applicant did purchase this property with the specific goal of developing a multifamily project.
The applicant's investment in the lot was specifically based on the then-buy-right
three-unit dwellings.
The remapping bill is included in your packet at Exhibit 11.
It was not until the bill actually became effective around February of 2023 that the
applicant was made aware of what had transpired, fundamentally frustrating its investment in
the property without recourse, other than, of course, seeking relief before this board
today.
We would submit that it is of fundamental prejudice and hardship to a property owner to have its expected investment squashed by a rezoning when there's no feasibility of buy-right development, which is evidenced by the lack of any development on this lot for the last 85 years.
Furthermore, despite the rezoning, the area surrounding this property is mixed with single
family, multifamily, and some commercial uses, including a school, which is just a mere 90 feet
from this property. The fact that the rezoning line was drawn basically down this street
accentuates this hardship, with one side of the block being significantly dense and the other
side, remaining as it is. While we were unable to verify the exact use, as I mentioned,
directly adjacent to the property is either a triplex or a boarding house. So either way,
not a single-family home. The only single-family homes developed on the block or in the immediate
neighborhood were done so with subsidy through housing authority development.
Furthermore, the only new developments on this block have been four similar triplexes at 709, 733, 741, 753, 755 North 44th Street.
607 North 44th Street is also a multifamily dwelling.
Even beyond 44th Street, the only instances of new developments have been for single similar multifamily dwellings in this West Belmont neighborhood.
As you probably saw in the photographs, prior to my client's ownership, this lot was also subject to significant blight and trespassing use and was also subject by repeated visits by L&I to cite the former owner for lack of maintenance.
In addition to the history of vacancy and blight, the intervening rezoning of the property, and the overall consistency with surrounding character, we submit that the board has ample evidence to find that the property suffers from a unique hardship.
We also submit the proposal represents the lease modification to provide relief from the code, given that the entirety of this proposal would have been permitted at the time the applicant purchased the property under the prior RM1 zoning and would be consistent with similar RM1 zoning and the use of the immediately adjacent structure.
The proposal will not contribute to congestion, impair light and air, or harm the neighbors.
No dimensional variances are requested, and the structure is below the code allowable 38 feet and three stories with the elevated front porches to align with the existing structures and really close out a missing gap in this block.
simply put the application will ensure that the lot sees a modest development which history has
shown will be impossible if relegated to a proposal that is by right under the current
rsa 5 classification in addition to these reasons we submit that we comply with all of the standards
outlined at 14 303 8e of the code as more thoroughly outlined in the memo of law that
I've submitted to the board at Exhibit 12. I would ask if my client Michael Matlin is in the audience
to adopt my testimony. And Chair, he's coming back in as a panelist. Thank you.
can you hear me good morning sir could you please state your name and spell for this
Good morning, sir. Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
stenographer
My name is Michael Matlin, M-I-C-H-A-E-L, M-A-T-L-I-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Counsel, please proceed.
Thank you. Michael, you've been present and have heard all of the testimony and evidence that have been offered in front of the board today?
And would you agree that that testimony was true and accurate,
and would you adopt it as if you had had the opportunity to give it yourself?
We're happy to take any questions.
Questions from the board.
Questions or comments from our attorney?
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments from the RCOs?
um okay i'm not sure which which one is the rco but um i have a robert mitchell
that the rco would be david pickett yeah all right let mr mitchell come on please
and Mr. Pickett is not in the audience
okay thank you
Mr. Mitchell
do we see Mr. Mitchell
Mr. Mitchell, can you please unmute yourself?
Okay, Chair, we have a
Toya, you can unmute yourself
Good morning
is there anyone from district council member's office online
no chair or do we have anybody available to testify
toya you are muted
okay we have a new rob
who's that
yes new rob hi new rob sir could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
no n-u-e-l rob o-r-b right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but
the truth yes i do are you a neighbor yes i am please proceed uh yeah i was initially concerned
uh i was at the last rco meeting but um they told us they were going to make some uh
changes and correct the problems that we had uh concern with so i told them you know if they did
that i would still stick around and see you know if it's done and you know vote in favor of them
if they did what they said they were going to do.
And I said, I see that they did that.
All right.
Mr. Rob, thanks for taking the time for calling.
We appreciate it.
Is there anyone else in the audience?
Yes, Chair.
I'm going to try Toya Pate again one more time.
Toya, if you can hear us, please unmute yourself.
Okay, Chair, we're going to move right along.
Okay. Planning Commission.
No, Chair, we still have other hands.
Okay. Who do you have for me?
Kelston, if you can unmute yourself.
Jeremy?
me hi kelson could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer please kelson
k-e-l-s-t-o-n-a-l-e-o-n-g last name do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing
but the truth i do kelson are you a neighbor i live directly behind that all right please proceed
all right please proceed well for one thing they keep on misrepresenting that that area has been
well for one thing
abandoned for 40 years it was a well-maintained garden before the person that owned the house
adjacent to it passed away and his daughter sold that property and the bank split it up
and it was maintained for quite a while the tent on that the tent that you see in that picture
was from some neighborhood kids who had a dog pound and left it there that's why
hell and i kept on coming out and okay giving them stuff like that all right i was part of the vote to
change this in a single family dwelling when it happened and i'm still in favor of single family
If you walk on Fairmount Street, you'll see a bunch of multi-up apartment buildings where the garbage is not kept up.
Garbage is all over on the front.
No one maintains that area.
And that's my biggest concern with apartments where they say we have trash that could be kept out of sight.
The tenants do not maintain the property because there are temporary tenants.
there's nothing here
they don't own anything to say
okay I'm going to maintain this because I like
my neighborhood clean and that's
the biggest problem with these apartments and with that
apartment the end block is going to be
chaos when it comes to garbage
when it comes to noise
levels because I'm quite sure
it's going to be massive amounts of
people coming and going from those
places and once
again across the street
that is a totally different
zip code and they have parking. So that has no bearing on
what's on our side of 44th Street.
Okay. Kelston, thank you for taking
the time to call us with your concerns. Is there anyone else in the
audience? Yes, Chair. We have one more hand.
Robert Mitchell, we're going to try to unmute you one more time.
Mr. Mitchell, if you can unmute yourself.
it should be start nine to unmute if you're on the phone
okay chair you can move on all right planning commission
thank you chairman and good afternoon david fecto with the city planning commission
uh chairman and board members the comprehensive plan recommends a new change to the rsa 5
residential single-family zoning at this location the city changed the zoning maps in this
neighborhood in 2023 and a community requested map change the property at 625 north 44th street
is a legal triplex and while there are single-family homes on the east side of 44th street
the character of this block face is primarily multi-family the city planning commission
recommends that the board grant the proposed use variants for three dwelling units thank you um
council as we've spoke earlier we're going to hold this till next wednesday at 9 30 a.m and
hopefully by then we have the tax issue straight we can do a vote okay thank you sounds great
thank you is there anyone in the audience whose case has not been called from the 9 30 list
i see no hands chair okay everybody see everybody two o'clock and cheryl looked forward
how's the what's the audience
how many in the audience look from
good afternoon chair we have 44 virtual people in the audience thank you good afternoon everyone
my name is bill bergman and i will be chairing this meeting of the philadelphia zoning board
of adjustment with me is our board vice chair tenetta graham present mr chairman our board
secretary cheryl l gaston present mr chairman board member michael johns mr chairman board
member Taya Nguyen. Present Mr. Chairman. And board member Ryan McAdams. Present Mr. Chairman.
Also here is our board attorney Hillary Emerson, our zoning board director Ane Haggerty, and our
board administrator Lakeisha Dandy. Recording of this hearing will be posted on the ZBA website.
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Let's look at our schedule for this afternoon.
3. MI 2025-003-858, 510-28 South A Street. That case is continued until 3-4-26 at 2 p.m.
Number 14, MI 2025-005216, 7133-43 Germantown Avenue.
That case is continued to Wednesday, December 17th, 2025 at 2 p.m.
Are there any other requests for continuance?
Good afternoon, Chair.
This is Yvette Benton.
I'll be your co-host for today.
Okay, thank you.
One minute, Vern.
Let me hold up for you.
We have David Orfanides in the virtual audience.
He has been unmuted and allowed to speak.
Hold on a minute.
Tell David to hold up a minute.
We have one in the room.
Mr. Anastasia was first.
okay so this street okay all right could you state your name and spell for this stenographer
please right there thank you hillary good afternoon mr chairman members of the board
verne anastasio uh on behalf of judith bachman the owner of 757 south 5th right do you swear
or firm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do could you give us
the status of this case? Yes, sir. We have an RCO meeting, follow-up meeting this evening,
and as a result, I'm asking for a continuance. Okay. This case will be continued to 3-4-2026
at 2 p.m. Thank you. And you have one more case, right? I do. Oh, thank you. We'll get to that.
Mr. Orphanides, please.
he should be popping back in as a panelist
good afternoon mr chairman members of the board
good afternoon could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
certainly my name is david orphanides my last name is spelled o-r-p-h-a-n-i-d-e-s
right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
I understand you represent case number MI-2025-004-494-9247R, East Roosevelt Boulevard, and then the second case is MI-2025-004-495-9249R, East Roosevelt Boulevard.
You have two cases, am I correct?
That's correct.
Could you give us a status?
Sure. We had a community group meeting with the Northeast Civic Community
Sure. We had a community group meeting with the Northeast Community, Civic Community Council or Association back on October 28.
After sending out notices, first class certified of the meeting, only one person showed up.
That person didn't have an issue, but apparently there were communications with the community group with some neighbors privately following the meeting that day.
and they expressed some concern, which resulted in a letter of opposition from the community group
and from Council Member Driscoll's office.
I spoke with the community group leader today, was advised to believe that the issue was the residential component of both of these projects.
My client was willing to remove those, and we were thinking that we would proceed today.
However, the leader of the community group preferred that we come back to the community group for another meeting.
advertise again or send out the notices again and see what and confirm that the removal of the
residential component does eliminate any community opposition to the project so that they can
hopefully revise their letter and the council member can then revise his letter so we respectfully
request a continuance thank you i might suggest that we'd be maybe be an attorney moving party
i'm not sure when they're going to meet i think maybe in january but i'm not sure
Okay. So, number seven, MI-2025.
I think Executive Director Haggerty actually has a date that would make more sense than attorney moving.
Okay. That's fine.
Thank you, Hillary, and thank you, Chair. Hey, David, how are you doing?
So, we've got nothing open in January right now. I think we have a resumption date that's being held, Chair. Is that in February?
2-3-2026.
So why don't we put you on for 2-3-2026 at 930, and you can have this cleared up by then, hopefully.
Yeah, I think they meet at the end of January, so that would be plenty of time. That'd be great. Thank you very much for the accommodation.
So the record, so for the record, MI-2025-004-494 and MI-2025-004495, both cases are continued for a resumptive hearing on 2-3-20-26 at 2 p.m.
Thank you.
Just to clarify for the record.
No, I'm sorry, that's in the morning, yeah.
Yeah, well, neither, but it won't be, and it won't be resumptive, technically, we'll be, we'll start the hearing over, but yeah.
So 2-3-20-26, I guess that's 9-30.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Any other continuances?
I see no hands at this time, Chair.
Okay, thank you.
Number two, MI-2025-002-368-4821 Garden Street.
Al Nockmson is the attorney.
There he is there.
oh no i'm sorry yep we we have one more no exhibits mi 2024 006 752 45 18 old york road
third listing we have no um no uh no exhibits whatsoever
Elizabeth Johnson is the listed owner.
Martin Boyd is the listed applicant.
Did not appear the last time.
I see no hands, Chair.
Thank you.
So MI 2024-006-752-4518 Old York Road.
Third listing, no exhibits.
I vote to dismiss.
Michael Johns, my vote is to dismiss.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is to dismiss.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is to dismiss.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is to dismiss.
And we have a couple of add-ons I want to go over. Number one, MI-2025-004-256-753-North 44th Street. I vote no.
Michael Johns, my vote is no.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is no.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is no.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is no.
Ty Owen, my vote is no.
Number two, MI 2025-004-388-421-North Preston Street, I vote yes with proviso.
Maximum of three dwelling units.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes with proviso.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes with proviso.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes with proviso.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes with proviso.
Iowa, my vote is yes with proviso.
Number three, MI 2024, 006748, 4283 Viola Street, TA63838, I vote no.
838, I vote no.
Michael Johns, my vote is no.
Michael Johns, my vote is no.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is no.
Tannetta Graham, my vote is no.
My own, my vote is no.
Okay, so Alan, do me a favor.
Give me, give me, I got a quick case here I got to do for yourself.
I know, I saw you walk in and I, you know, I got you right away.
I never lead off.
Number four, MI 2025, 000025, 6617 Algar Street. Kevin Valentine is the attorney. It's a request for reconsideration.
That's just a vote on the request, Mr. Chair.
So I vote no to reconsideration and rehearing.
michael johns my vote is no to um reconsideration and be hearing
charles gaston my vote is no to reconsideration and rehearing
okay tayo in my vote is no to reconsideration and rehearing
and i mcadams my vote is no to require reconsideration or rehearing and now we'll hear mr
knock them soon
i think i did the last time now you want me to recertify on didn't vote on that matter before
no but i thought i'd recertify that i'd read it no i heard it no we wouldn't have because
we didn't vote on it yeah so we'll just re-vote that quick yeah okay thank you
a lot of pages here boys
mi 2024 006748 4283 viola street ta 633838 i vote no and i certify hold on here
i certify that i watched a video recording of the february 26 2025 hearing in this matter
Michael Johns, my vote is no.
And I attest that I watched the video and I can't remember the date.
September 16th.
Right, 16th.
2025, yes.
I attest that I did watch that.
In fact, this morning before all of our hearings.
And my vote is no.
Cheryl Gaster, my vote is no.
Sonetta Graham, my vote is no.
Hi, Owen. My vote is no.
Do we have a short one I can do real quick?
Here he is. Here he is.
mr knockamson we'll go again mi2025 002 368 4821 garden street would you state your name
is spelled for the stenographer alan knockamson a-l-a-n last name knockamson n-o-c-h-u-m-s-o-n
do you swear or firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do to identify your
client and relationship to this property uh my client is 1934 diamond estate llc the owner of
the property and to my left is one of its members uh gentian cadrew and our vice chair has a few
questions good afternoon um have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance
of this hearing i have okay and do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its
accuracy i do okay thank you you can share your screen and proceed with your case and just for
point of information your unanimous opposition from bridesburg community councilman driscoll
state representative hohenstein senator christine tartaglione and um numerous other people have
send in opposition yeah so accidentally when I uh when I shut my computer you know fold it down
it just disconnected me so just give me one second sure you know and I and I I know that there's
opposition although I do believe there's grounds uh for this variance request um let me just get
get back on here for two seconds and I am back so I just got the elevated to a panelist I am
thank you
all right let's get to the right screen
Hi, I'm going to share my screen.
I'm going to share my screen. Along with my client, Mr. Kadru, I also have Chris Karakoff
with Studio C, who's the architect for the project. He'll walk us through with a lot
of the architectural drawings. So I don't think that's working today.
It's not working. Okay. Yeah. And I understand we might hold this for something here.
Yes. And that was the other thing. I was going to do some housekeeping. I just want to make
sure you can see my screen yeah we can okay so this is 4821 garden street so we have updated
our our plans significantly for this project um and we'll go through that but right now it's a
three-story apartment building that we're proposing 24 units of residential use three commercial use
units and 57 parking spaces which increased so we decreased the amount of units and increased the
amount of parking, as you'll see. So during my presentation, we'll first review the notice of
refusal, the original one. We had a placeholder for the revised one. We've been begging L&I to
give us an updated refusal, but I'll tell you what we have in terms of how the changes are going to
be, and we would ask that the board hold the vote for the updated notice of refusal.
Then we have correspondents from Bridesburg and other groups. I don't know if the council
member sent the letter i did i didn't get it so i didn't include my packet maps of the area
photographs of the property surrounding area our plans and drawings which we'll go over with chris
our rco meeting notice or application for appeal deeds of property and certificate of tax clearance
so as you can see here um we are an icmx property we are a lot size of almost 30 000 square feet
um and what and you know my client purchased this property a few years a few years ago this
property was on the market for some time um you know he'll testify to the fact or he'll at least
adopt my testimony that this there's no use for this property as icmx like there's another property
to left of us which is also icmx but what's surrounding us is residential and while the
community may be opposed to this configuration of the residential use. Maybe they want to have
single-family homes. I don't think there's a dispute, and maybe I'm wrong about this,
that this should be a residential use of some sort on a 30,000-square-foot lot.
But what you would see from this refusal is this. There were 48 dwelling units. I don't know if I
stated the right amount before, but 48 residential dwelling units and three commercial dwelling units
after we heard from the community how upset they were with the density we half that to 24 we and
you'll see from the refusals we were doing a height as if icmx of 60 feet high we decided to go more
in line with the community what's surrounding us is rsa5 and our height is 35 and a half feet
we also increased the amount of parking spaces we went from 54 parking spaces to go to 57 parking
spaces. So if you have 24 residential units and three commercial units, that's 27 units. You have
57 parking spaces. That's more than a two to one ratio. We're not creating a curb cut out of thin
air. This is we're repurposing the curb cuts that's currently there. So if you look at this
refusal, the only thing that's going to remain on the new refusal is the multifamily household
living. And again, 24 residential units and three commercial units for a 30,000 square foot lot
is really a de minimis request under the circumstances. And again, my client is going
to be one of the commercial units. He's going to propose to have office built. He's going to have
his office there. And the other one, the updated refusal is going to say, specifying that the
commercial use will be for business and office use only. But the other refusals are these,
which will be eliminated. The height of the property, it's more of a technical refusal of
68 feet. I think we're at 55 feet from the roof line, but now we're going down to 35 feet, six
inches. We're also reducing the size of the pilot house where we are going down to 60 feet
in the area of the pilot house from 165 feet. We're getting rid of that refusal. And the final
refusal is about a front setback for a roof deck we got rid of that roof deck because you know the
community felt that was inappropriate because the roof deck was really facing i think it was one of
the residential units um or the residential property so we got rid of that so the only
thing that remains is essentially the use we're in a we're we're embedded in a residential
neighborhood we're trying to build a residential apartment building so then you know obviously we
have a placeholder here where we were expecting to have the refusal but we don't have it in time
and here's the correspondence and you know they lay out the legal standard of like why they're
against it ultimately again this property has been vacant for some time it was
um ultimately again this property has been vacant for some time it was on the market for some time
we think an appropriate the appropriate use is residential given that and have a mix right and
to have the least impact on the community we're repurposing a curb cut and we got rid of the height
issue that's not out of character and we're providing 57 parking spaces for 27 units which i
like again i don't know many developers who would do that this play a first i've done the two-to-one
parking ratio so again communities against it i think the two and i think the two reasons well
two reasons i understand it to be i didn't handle the community meeting mr goldberg from my office
did two reasons was they were concerned that the previous use of the property was icmx
they're concerned that there was an issue in terms of whether the site's dirty we have a phase one
report it's too big for me to like well it was like a thousand pages i have it but the phase one
came up clean so that's not an issue and you know i think we'll be responsible in terms of
construction and then the second issue was the width of garden street they felt that it was too
narrow to have the amount of 24 units there even with the off-street parking again previously there
was off-street parking there it was an icmx building so and the truck the vehicles you would
see from an icmx which is next door to us are more pickup trucks and bigger trucks so it's actually
going to be a lighter load for the community in a lot of respects because we're just having
very regular consumer vehicles of a sort and the street itself is 20 feet wide is it the ben
franklin parkway right here no but is it a reasonably wide street it is and we're not
affecting the community by providing 57 parking spaces so that you know they have a opposition to
this and then you know we got the the letter from the state rep as well you don't have the
letter from the city council member and again you get to see we're just off the water here
and we are really surrounded by these rsa5 properties and this is garden street as well
this used to be i think a paint manufacturer so i think that's the how we got the inspiration
the name and we'll go over that but this is the property at the front of it
from different angles but you can see there's a lot of parking uh back there but you can also
see there's lots of trucks not from us but by the next door neighbor i would presume this is our
hearing notice this is garden street to the right of the property and to left of the property and
then these are our plans so i would just ask that mr karikoff come on be promoted as a panelist
and then he could be sworn in and then he'll go through the plans with you i'm here can everyone
hear me hi yes you can sir could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
yes sir uh christopher karakoff uh it's c-a-r-i-c-k-h-o-f-f do you swear or affirm to
tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do counsel all right so um chris i figured
while we have the front rendering up here.
Why don't you just go over the materials
that you're using for this proposed apartment building?
We wanted to kind of work with the fabric of the community
as far as the materials are concerned.
There's a lot of brick on the surrounding buildings.
You could see on our proposed structure,
we're proposing a brick for two stories
along the front facade to kind of align
with what what the streetscape is the majority of it um on our third story uh we and and some of the
remainder of the building we're kind of uh giving a nod to the industrial roots of the of the area
um with the uh corrugated metal you're seeing that on some buildings that that surround as well
So we've intentionally set that back, at least on the front facade there, so that, you know, the street escape, the height of the streetscape is kind of consistent everywhere.
We also have the entire building set back with a front yard.
So we're really trying to kind of, you know, be, not be invasive with our building.
And the building makes kind of an L shape.
we have surface parking as you can see some covered some uncovered towards the
rear it's actually covered parking so you could see here Garden Street is
towards our northwest in this view so yeah the building is in an L shape we've
Yeah, the building is in an L-shape.
We've been sensitive to, we did light studies to make sure that we weren't going to be affecting the surrounding neighbors with our building and our mapping.
been sensitive to we did light
Chris, we're over those shadow studies, but specifically from a design perspective, you moved the building away from, our building, proposed building, away from the residential buildings that, if you're facing Garden Street or to the right of us.
Is that correct?
That's correct, yes.
And then there is a side yard setback.
And do you remember how wide it is, the setback we are, from the property to the right of us?
The property to the right of us, I believe there's a mention on there.
I think we're close to 35 feet or so.
I actually looked at it beforehand.
I believe it's 41 feet, right?
Okay, yeah, that sounds about right.
Where the building code requires eight feet.
Correct.
So we just want to be mindful of the fact that we are next to residential properties, but we figured that we're not impacting the ICMX property in any way.
Is that correct?
That's correct.
All right.
So let's go over here.
You kind of were going to where the parking is and that we're covered here.
So there are some spots under here that you couldn't see from the rendering.
Is that correct?
Yes, that's correct.
I'm sorry.
Okay, yeah, so the portion on the left, you can see there's kind of a dashed line.
That indicates the footprint above, so those spaces would be covered.
We also have Class 1A bike storage up against the building, kind of tucked out of sight for security, and it's covered from the elements.
And that's right here, the 19 parking spots, right?
Correct.
And it's two-way parking here.
Do you remember the width of the parking aisle?
We're 22 feet, whereas the minimum allowed is 18 feet.
So we're in compliance.
And then right here on point down, I don't know if you see my screen.
I can see.
So what's this here?
So that's our landscape buffer, our required landscape buffer from the residential zone.
So we've followed the requirements of the landscape requirements and are providing the shade trees and shrubs that are required in that area.
But most importantly, providing a buffer to that residential property, that's the right of us.
That's correct, yes.
And do you remember how wide it is, like towards the most extreme portion of our lot as we go back?
We're a little over 30 feet in the wider part.
okay uh and then so let's just let's drive through here um so we would see parking you know both
ways a few handicapped spots right and you know and where where's the trash beans then this is
the first story of the building so if you know if you park here uh there's a little walkway too
right in front of the building correct yes there is there's a there's a a sidewalk that runs along
the front of the building um yeah from a safety perspective then it's good because someone is not
just going to go run straight into a lobby there's actually a walkway for for pedestrian access
that's correct all right and then here's the lobby and here's the mail room and you know you
have three commercial units here one two and three and this is where the mechanicals are
Do we have basement use here?
We haven't determined that yet.
There won't be any use down there.
It'll depend on what the geotech report comes back with when we get to construction documents
to determine whether we do basement or crawl space.
Okay, but the point is there's no living in the basement.
Correct.
Absolutely not.
Yes, and we would agree to a proviso of no living in the basement so the board can feel
comfortable with this type of project.
and then here's the trash room as well right correct and then yeah we i'm sorry we relocate
as a you know in hearing some feedback from the neighbors we we had originally had it in that
parking zone um for access uh in the parking lot however uh it sounded like it was preferred by
the neighbors to bring an interior and then a maintenance crew will will bring them out we have
a 40-foot loading area that we show on the plan there where a trash truck would pull up against
the curb, collect the trash. Gotcha. So this loading area right here is for temporary loading
for the trash. Okay. And then I guess this is a better view. I probably should have done this
first. But we have also the front yard too, right? To provide a little bit more greenery in the front,
right that's correct hi uh did i miss anything in here i don't think so and then you know this
and then you know this is the second level of the building with the apartment and again according to
is the second level of the building with the apartment
my records there and i think you have a breakdown somewhere i i have it here if you want me to
mention it would you say it and we'll go and we expand it's really hard to say so you have every
version of the floor plans we have on a separate page so we can go through them but um what's it
how many one bedrooms so yeah we have we have a mixture of one bedroom and two bedroom mostly
two bedrooms um the two bedrooms we have 16 total uh they're roughly about they average about 800
square feet so they're they're nice size two bedrooms um the one bedrooms we have eight total
and they are closer to 500 square feet gotcha and then each floor has its own trash room too right
that's correct all right and then there's there's a janitorial closet as well because we expect some
type of on-site management or access right correct and then you have two you have three sets of
staircases one two and then three right correct yeah and then what's i can't read this what i'm
pointing here i it's so small what what's an elevator elevator shaft that's right and by the
way we have a only a three-story building with an elevator too um so even though originally we had
five stories you know based on the previous configuration this project the owner is keeping
the elevator as part of this project right correct all right so again if you have an elevator and
it's built basically on grade the first floor unit actually never strike that um all right so and
then this is the third story and then we can kind of go through like the actual apartments themselves
and there's uh the roof deck right is is it for living is there is it for the residents or not
no we've removed that as part of our um response to the rco there's no community communal roof
deck it would be you know mechanical access only so we do have one stairwell extending up but that
would be for maintenance use only gotcha all right and then uh just for the board to know like
So this used to be a manufacturer of painting materials, and it was the Keystone Refining Company.
And that's why we're calling it Keystone Flats, just so they understand.
And this is part of your inspiration, too, in terms of the materials, right?
Yes, that's correct.
These are some nearby buildings.
The original building that's still on site on the top left, so the shape and form of that we've kind of used in our facade.
and then the materials you're seeing are some neighboring houses
and commercial buildings that have corrugated metal
and then the bricks that we used and incorporated.
And this is the rendering we saw before that kind of puts it all together.
Correct.
Yeah, and in terms of safety and light in there,
the intention is to have like a metal gated type of like fencing
with interspersed with some columns, brick columns, right?
that's correct all right and that's uh just i guess from across the street angle of what
you're saying there yep and then same thing just a little further uh all right and then this is
more of an aerial view kind of showing how we're setting ourselves back in terms of landscaping
and i believe again this is 41 feet here where eight feet would be required we're trying to be
landscape be respectful of the other prop residential properties here um and again to hug
the other commercial industrial property here rather than getting anywhere close in terms of
building structure is that right that's exactly right yes all right and then you did do a shadow
study to see what shadow effect this three-story building would have and is this study based on
the five-story building or the three-story building this we revised it for the three-story
um so uh on the top the top three models are in the extreme uh summer solstice time frame where
the sun is highest and uh azimuth is the highest um so you see an 8 a.m 2 p.m and 6 p.m example
6 p.m having the longest shadows um you could see they they they uh shade away from the the
nearby residential home so it will have no effect on their landscapes or gardens or anything like
that. So the only thing you're shadowing essentially here in the 6 p.m. is the parking lot?
Correct. And then what about the winter? Yeah, so the winter is a slightly different sun angle.
We have the same time frame. We didn't go to 6 p.m. We have 4 p.m. because by 6 it's dark as we
know now as we're in the middle of winter. But you can see the shadows that are similarly
ineffectual to the neighboring residential. The 8 a.m., you can see actually
their shadow is almost almost hitting our building and then 2 p.m it's directly behind
2 p.m. it's directly behind our building and then 4 p.m. it's even further behind our building so
our building and then 4 p.m it's even further behind our
gotcha all right and then these are just some interior shots of what you think the
the property is going to look like i mean yeah we wanted we wanted to give some idea of the quality
and and um finish level of the the apartments we want these to be nice high-end apartments for
people and then that's just another angle of what is going on here and then these are just basically
the building's heights like the elevation showing that we're now going to be 35 feet
six inches um and uh i guess just a different look of it compared to the neighborhood
and same thing here and i guess same here all right so now we're going to go through the floor
plan how let me ask you how much longer do you think you have because we're going to do a
resumptive hearing for this and i have a lot of people that's in the audience so how about this
if we're going to do a resumptive hearing
I don't think we have to go over the floor plans
we can
we ask the board members
what they want to see
so Hillary what my thoughts were
how many people in the audience are here to testify
Hillary what I'd like to do is
maybe the board when we do the resumptive hearing
ask their questions
and then we'll go to the audience now
for the two minute piece
and that way we'll at least keep fairly good time
all right well let me just try to get my client yeah sure yeah yeah i can step aside you could
do that thank you all right yeah maybe sworn in would you please state your name and spell for
the stenographer all right do you swear or i'm sorry here part part of the microphone all right
i hear you i hear you but all right good one more time my name is gentian kadriu g-e-n-t-i-a-n
last name k-a-d-r-i-u right do you swear or firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but i
do so uh mr kudru you heard everything i had to state so far about your zoning matter
is it true and correct yes and do you adopt this your own testimony yes all right thank you very
much um people in the audience could you put up your hand and we come up and we'll we'll try to
take as much testimony as we can i got about another 10 minutes for the case
pardon me
I know but I don't think I'm going to get to that Hillary
hi could you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer
good afternoon chairman and board members my name is Michelle Minch
it's M-I-C-H-E-L-L-E
Minch M-I-N-C-H
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
yes I do
and are you a neighbor
yes I am
so what we do is we try to give you
two minutes and try to get all your thoughts out. Then we're going to try to get as many people up
here as possible. I did send a letter. We have it. Okay. I just wanted to use then, I guess,
my two minutes to bring up points that Mr. Newscom just brought up that I don't think are entirely
true. One, his photos are not to scale. It's not a two-lane street and there's only parking on one
side. It's made to appear a lot larger in his photos than it is. Two, the phase one study that
said for environmental that was like over a thousand pages it's not it's like 116 and on
the first page it says they did absolutely no environmental testing was done no soil samples
no paint samples they actually did like a walkthrough no actual testing was done that was
noted as one of my major concerns as it was a lead paint factory and the building based on its age
probably has asbestos in it and also had a hazardous material license since 1973 which is
now expired the other thing i want to bring up is the property is currently in use and operating
under his business starlight electricity i've been in touch with ellen i about it and that is
inspector henry santiago um their licenses for their splinkers fire alarms and hazard material
is expired. L&I has been trying to gain access to the property to inspect. So I understand he
bought it and he wants to use it. He's currently using it as it's zoned ICMX, which we the neighbors
have no opposition to. We have no problem at saying zoned as is and him running his electric
business out of the property. The other thing is it was, I mentioned the Richardson paint company
since 1973 with lead paint and hazardous materials. So the demolition, since as you've
their drawings they want to knock down all the existing buildings demolition is number one
concern to many of the neighbors since we're a family community we all have children we're all
concerned about our health and our environment um the other thing is there was no infrastructure
study done on our pipes and our street so to add this accommodation for even the cut down of 24
units they're going to have to dig in the street and the pipes the infrastructure of all that
THE INFRASTRUCTURE OF ALL THAT, THERE'S BEEN NO TESTING, NO ONE'S BEEN OUT DOING THAT,
there's been no testing no one's been out doing that and i
AND AS WE'VE SEEN WITH DEVELOPMENT IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD, ON OTHER STREETS WHEN THEY BUILT
ANOTHER APARTMENT COMPLEX, NEIGHBORS IN ADJACENT AND ACROSS THE STREET HAD CRACKINGS OF THEIR
SEWER LINES AND WATER LINES, WHICH THEN COST THEM AN EXPENSE AS A NEIGHBOR, SO THAT'S MY CONCERN.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR TAKING THE TIME. NEXT PERSON.
Good afternoon. Could you get closer to the microphone please? Sure. Could you please state
your name as spelled for the stenographer? Margaret Aguirre, M-A-R-G-A-R-E-T. Last name
is A-G-U-I-R-R-E. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir. And you're a neighbor? I am. Please take, if you would, give us two minutes of what
you think is the issues. The same things that Michelle was saying on top of emergency vehicle
access to this property or or block in general we cannot get emergency vehicles down here already
um the piping is a big concern because the underground sewage and piping is a big concern
because of how big this property is going to be this is a single family dwelling or a
icms i believe it was called that only had people there part of the day so the plumbing has not been
been where the any of the underground plumbing has not been excess uh also the epi report it
they said it was a thousand pages it was 121 i have it on there and as michelle stated
the first five pages it says none of the testing was actually done and i have little ones that i
am concerned when they demo this i did submit documents also i did not receive an email that
they were accepted but i have reported what philadelphia claims in our in on the philadelphia
website with lead paint every building sold or rented has to have a notification that this
property could contain lead paint and when they are demolished there's a risk of the dust
contaminated contamination with lead and that's a big concern for our families all right thank you
very much for coming down here next person please anyone else want to testify
yeah on the wall let's see yeah let's all right go to the zoom list
Chair, we have Kenneth Hartnett. They have been unmuted and allowed to speak.
Hello?
Hi, Kenneth. Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Yeah, my name is Kenneth Hartnett, K-E-N-N-E-T-H-H-A-R-T-N-E-T-T.
Do you swear or firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Kenneth, are you a neighbor?
I'm right around the corner on 4790 Richmond Street.
Kenneth, you have two minutes.
Could you tell us, and try not to repeat what we've already heard.
My concerns is about if the building goes on fire.
Engine 33 already wrote a letter.
When the Razio's went on fire, which is next door to that, in 2015,
they could not get the emergency vehicles down the street to put the fire out.
And the other thing is right next door to the Boys and Girls Club,
where little kids go every day
and all the construction
and everything what's it going to do to them
thank you for taking the time to cause
we do appreciate it is there anyone
from any of the
district council person's office there
Chair we have four hands up
but I don't know if any of them are from the district
council's office
give me the next hand
The next person is Barbara Jackowitz.
They have been unmuted and allowed to speak.
Hello, my name is Barbara.
Barbara, how are you?
Could you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer?
My name is Barbara Jackowitz.
That's Barbara, B-A-R-A, Jackowitz, J-A-C-K-O-W-I-C-Z.
Do you swear a friend to tell the truth told you is nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
okay um you you've heard a lot of testimony is there anything different that you could
offer to us and are you a neighbor um basically it's the same um okay concerns
um you know i'm concerned about the remediation or whatever has to be done there you know again
someone else said earlier um the safety issues with the children um at the boys club okay girls
all right we we have your name and we we know your position next person please
yeah the next person is rachel commenzio they have been unmuted and allowed to speak
good afternoon hi rachel could you please state your name and spell for the sonographer
yes i'm detective rachel commenzo r-a-c-h-e-l commenzo c-o-m-e-n-z-o right do you swear or
commenzo c-o-m-e-n-z-o right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing
firm to tell
but the truth yes i do rachel could you give us two minutes up and and and try not to stay on the
on the same subject is there anything different you can offer i absolutely i know we've clarified
the environmental impacts and dangers of health um we've gone over that but to compound on top of
that. I would say that if this builder is truly trying to create a community, that they should
take into consideration the community that has existed there long prior to them. And I don't
feel that they're doing that with the dishonesty in these reports, not being forthcoming, exaggerating
amounts of pages of things. That's number one. Number two being this particular block of Garden
Street is, for lack of a better description, it's an urban cul-de-sac. It ends at the river. It ends
with the Boys and Girls Club. There is no good way to get in and out off of these tiny one-way
streets. The pictures, again, are not to scale. We've had issues on this block before, including
the Durazio fire. There are many, many reasons why. And plus, I haven't heard any reasonable
description to construction issues, how they're getting these trucks in and out, how that's going
to affect the existing community that has lived there and tried to raise our children healthfully
there for years. So the disappointment and the dishonesty from this builder is the biggest thing
that makes me want to vote no against this project again the existing business is fine with me but
this project is not is not sustainable and it is not suitable for this particular community
i absolutely say no all right thank you very much for your your time how many more hands do we have
here we have four more hands okay um um give me two more and then we're going to break
okay we have kathleen bryant she has been unmuted and allowed to speak
hi kathleen hi it's actually caitlin bryant okay caitlin could you uh spell your name for
the sonographer yes it's k-a-t-e-l-y-n-n bryant b-r-y-a-n-t do you swear or firm to tell the
truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes caitlin um are you in favor of the project or
against i am against i own the property katelyn listen to me is there anything you can say that
we haven't already heard because we've we've heard a lot i would like to just reiterate some things
about the pictures i've seen they also placed a fire hydrant there um the cars are facing the
opposite way that street actually goes outward okay um and with the boys and girls club it's not
just the kids are there they walk down that street every day all summer long right appreciate you
taking the time to call us. Next hand. Here we have Yvonne Stevens. They have been unmuted and
allowed to speak. Ms. Stevens, please unmute yourself. Thank you. Hi, Ms. Stevens. Could you
please state your name and spell it for the stenographer. Yes, my name is Yvonne, Y-V-O-N-N-E,
Stevens, S-T-E-P-H-E-N-S. Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth,
nothing but the truth? Yes, I do. Are you in favor of this project or against?
No, I'm not. I run this RCO for the neighborhood of Bridesburg.
Okay, good, good. And, you know, I know we have a letter from the RCO.
Yes. Let me ask you this. Is there anything that you can offer that we haven't already heard?
Yes, we've gone back and forth with our community.
And even though I just want to get this out, even though the mayor has current intensive for more housing in the city, the housing development should not be built in this area where the need is the greatest.
This is not really a brides. This is this is not really the Bridesburg neighborhood.
Traditionally, we always have more than we have single family homes.
Just for our recent experience with adding multifamily developments, we have one large complex that's completed that was completed in 2021.
And when we check with the manager of that development in September of this year, there were only half occupied there.
So out of 46 units built there, they only have 23 rented.
That's only 50 percent occupancy.
That's not justified that the need for another multifamily project that has just a few blocks away from a smaller one with more intensity populated parts of the neighborhood with narrow ones one way streets.
Also, there are currently plans approved for another 25 unit multifamily development in the neighborhood on Orthodox Street.
That project plans to take advantage of the green of the city green roof and affordable housing grant.
green of the city green roof and affordable housing grant to add more units that one is more
to add more units.
open and accessible area we should be looking responsible safe development this project on
garden street has no rear assets either so they can't get out the back i don't know what kind of
display he's trying to put there and is going and yet i'm just saying that in general and this is
going to be logically a nightmare for anyone living there and the current long-term bridesburg
residence in that corner of the neighborhood. Okay. I please ask you to take consideration of
all the letters that we have sent and all the details that he has put in those plans that are
not true. Okay. Um, one more person. Chair, the last hand is Dennis Mooney. They have been
unmuted and allowed this. Hi, sir. Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Mr. Mooney, please unmute yourself
D-E-N-N-I-S
M-O-O-N-E-Y
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth
told truth, nothing but the truth
Yes, I do
Mr. Mooney, are you a neighbor?
I live right across the street
Are you in favor of this project or against?
I'm against it
And Mr. Mooney, is there anything at all you could offer?
And I don't need you to go back over it.
Is there anything you could offer that's different?
No, the girls pretty much said it all.
Listen to me, we have one in the record now that you're against it, but go ahead, please.
No, the neighbors pretty much spelled it out.
Thank you very much.
We appreciate it.
Thank you.
Mr. Chair, we did have a hand raised from the council office.
um uh stance stan swinski i don't know yes and stan he still wanted to speak it was up just a
minute ago all right all right well well you know he can always when we come back so this is going
to be a resumptive hearing and we're going to use two three twenty twenty six that is fine at nine
thirty eight mr chair can i just respond to so i i i i don't i mean you're going to have plenty
any time to respond? Well, I just think while it's fresh in my mind. But you've got five minutes,
Alan. No, no, no. I just want to respond to the community comments.
We're going to have another. We have to come back for another hearing. Yeah, in February. We're not
voting today. He's changing a lot of things that he had. The neighbors will get a chance to
respond, I guess, to anything that's been different than today, right?
Correct. So a resumptive hearing just means we're coming back for a part two of this hearing.
okay all right go ahead all right so in terms of the width the photographs that we get we get them
off we get them off google street view we just take the pictures we plug them in uh whatever the
last known you know picture is from a date perspective that's all we do we don't manipulate
the photos all right wait can i okay yes secondly i actually measured on atlas the width of the
property i was like well let me see how much how wide it is and according to my calculations when
i did it it was 20 feet so that's where i got those numbers okay um in terms of the epa i asked
mr goldberg i said did we do we have any in a phase one he said yes i was like oh how did it
come up clean he said yes i did not look at i said he's like oh yeah that's a long one he said a
thousand i probably should have looked at it but we shared it apparently so i apologize for saying
it was a thousand but it wasn't intentional it was more so i took it like it was a long document
But we did share with the community all the other issues that they're mentioning are not zoning-related issues, which obviously would have to be Delta Building.
Thank you very much.
You have the date, right?
2-3-20-26 at 9.30 a.m.
Thank you.
Thank you both.
MI 2025-004-513-1012 Carpenter Street.
counsel you've already been sworn so just for the record state your name
and i understand you have another meeting that's why we're calling you thank you i
appreciate that. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, members of the board, Vern Anastasio on behalf
of Ms. Amy Vanney is my client. Okay, and just for a point, we have a letter of opposition from
Bella Vista, Council Member Squilla, some Protestants, several letters of
opposition, and our Vice Chair has a couple of questions for you. Good afternoon. Have you
a couple questions for you hey good afternoon have you submitted uh your documents and exhibits
submitted your documents and exhibits.
five days in advance of this hearing i did and do you waive the reading of the refusal and
stipulate to its accuracy i do all right thank you you can proceed with your case
hey mr chair a part of the record should also be 22 signatures in support that were submitted to
the board yep okay thank you
do we have that on 22 signatures it's it's part of the binder i can um okay send it again
I CAN CONFIRM WE HAVE THAT DOCUMENT.
THANK YOU.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, members of the board.
Mr. Chairman, members of the board, this is a pretty simple case.
We're looking for one safe, secure, and streets department-sanctioned rear parking space behind a single-family home within Ms. Vanny's property.
That's it.
This home, you'll see evidence today that the property is, in fact, has a unique physical condition. It runs street to street from Carpenter to Kimball on the 1000 block.
99% of the homes on this square block have either put parking structures in the rear, built houses in the backyard, or subdivided and built houses on small lots.
By the way, each and every one of them had to come before this board, and this board approved each and every one of them, parking structures and homes and people's backyards.
My client wants to keep the uniqueness of the property so that it runs 10, 12 carpenter runs from carpenter all the way back to Kimball.
She doesn't want to build anything on that big backyard.
All she wants to be able to do is that replace ugly concrete block wall with an elegant parking pad that they'll be able to access within her property.
It'll be safe, secure, rear off-street parking accessory to a home.
That is not unusual here on this block.
You will see much of the north side of this very street has rear garages and parking pads that back up to tiny little Hall Street, which is even smaller than Kimball.
The board also approved, by the way, rear parking on the 900 block of Hall, on the 800 block of Delhi, and on the 900 block of Delhi just a year ago.
All of these are well within 600 feet of this particular property.
Now, we attended an RCO meeting, six, six residents representing four houses, four of the over 100 within the catchment area and the most impacted, four, decided to attend this community meeting.
They opposed it, and they had their reasons respectfully, and it's fine.
we then went and met with the neighbors who did not attend the meeting
they did not attend they tell me because they never thought such a proposal would
ever be controversial by the way this would be by right if it weren't for the overlay the
center city district overlay so these 22 residents by the way they live on carpenter street too
1,000 block, 900 block. They also live within 500 feet on Hall Street and Montrose and South
10th, just a couple feet away. They could not believe, they couldn't attend, they didn't attend
because they thought, again, that this wouldn't be controversial. So they signed support petitions
that have been given to you. Now, one might ask, as the 22 neighbors did and as I do,
Well, why on earth, given the conditions that I've just explained to you, and I will show you in evidence, why on earth would anyone be against safe, legal, completely confined within a property, accessory off-street parking, when there's, by the way, there's no.
Accessory off-street parking when there's, by the way, there's no legal parking allowed on the 1,000 block of Kimball Street.
It's not like we're taking away a parking spot.
Well, it turns out, and there's plenty of evidence today that you'll see, folks who are opposed happen to have something going on back there.
It's illegal. It's unsafe. It's dangerous to pedestrians.
children who play in the nearby pocket pocket pocket pocket pocket pocket park just a few feet
away and they have something that's completely unauthorized by the philadelphia streets department
there's even a lawsuit that's been filed to break up what's going on back there
but as it is that's why we're here that's why a handful of residents oppose the only
the one safe, secure, off-street parking spot
that's being proposed on that block today.
It's because I think they fear
that whatever it is that's been going on
with the illegal parking might be in jeopardy.
I've assured them at the RCO meeting.
I've assured them since.
We have no interest in doing anything
but getting a safe legal spot for 1012 Carpenter Street.
ron could you start showing us some photos it'd be a little bit easier if we yep i wanted to start
with my uh with my uh opening statement now let me start i'm sharing my screen i'm assuming you
could see it we see okay great this is the refusal for the creation
and just for the record i wanted to put this in as far as hardship is concerned the property as
I said, is one of only three on the entire block. This is what we're working on. As you can see
here, my cursor will show you there is one concrete wall, two concrete wall. Number two
is outlined in red. That is the subject property. And immediately to the east is three concrete wall.
and here is what we're proposing.
Take the concrete wall down,
put beautiful, elegant bifold gate
with lighting and landscaping,
also cameras for safety.
Here's a photo of the bifold gate
to give you some idea of what we'd like to do.
It will increase air.
It will increase light.
it will certainly increase sight lines from the rear a lot more than a concrete cinder block wall
can i'm going to pull out here so you can see the plot plan this is the existing single family home
as you can see the backyard is rather large there's a reason why 99 of the homes use the rear
for additional homes. We call them backhouses back in the old days, and also for garages or
parking pads in the past. It's because there's a 14,000-square-foot community garden,
literally 15 feet away from my client's backyard. Huge, 14,000-square-foot community garden. In
addition to that, to the east, just 30 feet away, is a beautiful pocket park that has a bocce court,
that has trees, beautiful beds. My children and my dog have played there for years.
It's a wonderful space. You don't need a large backyard like that,
which is obviously evident by most of the houses, either putting garages back there or building
rear homes. I'll show you some more additional photos now.
This is the rear. This is the 1,000 block of Kimball Street.
Again, this is my client's property right there where my cursor is.
And I'm going to show you some of the homes.
Oh, by the way, here are all the legal parked cars on the garden lot.
See right there? That's a sidewalk.
walk. This is a cobblestone footpath. Can't get down. A child playing with a butterfly
from the garden, a person in a wheelchair can't use that side of the street because of the illegal
parking. Here's a picture of the property in question. There again is a beautiful shot of
There, again, is a beautiful shot of all the cars lined up. There's actually a legal garage on the block, by the way, right where my cursor is. We're going to be showing that soon, too.
all the cars lined up. There's actually a legal garage.
And there's the front of the property in question.
And they're renovating now the house.
my client um inherited this home from her aunt my client lives in the neighborhood too her entire
life as you can see uh here's cars that are blocking the entrance to the garden it goes
all the way down there's proof of posting
here's the letter that was sent out to everyone
proof of mailing 137 households were mailed
proof that the taxes are up to date
here are the 22 signatures again on carpenter 10th montrose and hall
and if you'd like if you allow me briefly i'd like to show you up just a brief video
it's uh it'll take no time whatsoever thank you two three minutes not even
Oh, there it is.
We're driving down
Del High.
Here's the garage that's already been approved
on the right.
And here comes the illegally parked cars.
all along the right side of the street.
But you're on the left side, right?
We're on the left.
Yeah, our turning radius,
even with the illegally parked cars,
our turning radius is approved by the streets department.
We're going to have Vince Mancini,
who's the architect, testify to all of that.
He personally took care of that.
It's all sanctioned by the streets.
But we wanted to show you this lot,
it's supposed to be for community garden been entrusted by the neighbor who lives at 1010
carpenter to curate a community garden they ended up doing some private deals on the side
for neighbors to park here the same neighbors who are sitting right behind me opposing a parking
spot that is going to be safe and legal as you can see none of that is safe none of that is legal
the streets department would never approve or authorize this look there's a car parked
parked right in front of the gate of the community garden there you go so you've seen that
let me go back to my binder
i've also included a copy of the the lawsuit that uh has been filed uh because of the health and
safety issues as a result of those. Who is it against? The occupant of that garden who they
put together this parking scheme with neighbors to park there. There's zero evidence of a use
permit for parking, zero evidence of a streets plan approved for parking over there. Nothing.
right now you're going to say well how did that happen right so i'm going to show you how it
happened yeah but i i guess the point is you just said that parking is not going to bother you if
you had this deterrent not at all but here's our property right here where my cursor is
and you can see the long line of of cars that are illegally parked uh what happens is this land here
where my cursor is, the large garden, it's owned by the Neighborhood Gardens Trust.
They've leased the land to the garden group. As my graphic shows you, the leader of which lives
at 1010 Carpenter Street, husband of whom enters into a private agreement with neighbors to allow
them to park. Apparently, that's what he said at the RCO meeting. And that leads to illegal
off-street parking for up to 10 cars, violating not only the lease, which by the way, the
The Neighborhood Gardens Trust has been notified this morning.
They're going to be terminating Bell Arbor's lease, but also violating the zoning code.
But they're here in opposition anyway.
And for the record, as my last page shows you, the neighbors who attended the RCO meeting,
six individuals, four homes, 1010 Carpenter, 1014 Carpenter, 1015 Kimball, and 1007 Kimball.
That's it.
22 immediate neighbors support this streets department approved it.
And as you can see now, let's take a look one more. I think it's important that you take a look at the
And as you can see now, let's take a look one more.
I think it's important that you take a look at.
I think the most compelling visual
If I may
Yeah, here it is
Let's take a look at the entire 1000 block of Carpenter Street
That's here
Where my cursor is
I'll shrink it for now, but I'll be happy to zoom in later
Here's the north side of Carpenter Street. As you can see, most of these properties have been built out with parking or garage.
This is Carpenter Street itself.
Here's the south side. Almost every back rear has been filled with a home.
Here's my client's car in blue, proposed with the turning radius.
and here are all the illegally parked cars
that I guess there's some sort of private agreement
that they've arranged for themselves that are in red.
Again, we're not looking to do anything
with these illegally parked cars.
We are shocked that there's any opposition
to a safe and secure parking spot back there.
But nevertheless, that's where we are.
And that's all I have for now.
I will rebut it.
Are we going to have your testimony adopted?
I call to the stand, Amy Vanny.
Hi, could you state your name?
Is your mic on?
I think so.
All right.
Could you state your name and spell for the synopsis?
My name is Amy, A-M-Y, Vanny, B as in Victor, A-N-N-I.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, told the truth, nothing but the truth.
Yes, I do.
Counsel?
Ms. Vanny, did you hear my presentation to the board this afternoon?
Is it true and accurate to the best of your knowledge?
Do you adopt it as your own testimony?
Thank you.
I have nothing further, Mr. Chair, with this witness.
All right.
So I have two more witnesses to call.
We'll call them, please.
Thank you.
I'd like to call Mr. Vincent Mancini.
Mr. Mancini, please state your name as spelled for the stenographer.
My name is Vincent Mancini, V-I-N-C-E-N-T, Mancini, M-A-N-C-I-N-I.
I'm a principal at Landmark Architectural Design.
Do you swear we're a firm to tell the truth, hold truth, nothing but truth?
I do. Please proceed.
Thank you. Mr. Mancini, would you like to add to the testimony and presentation this afternoon?
Yes, briefly.
Thank you for allowing me the moment to state my professional opinion on this application.
As an architectural firm, I've worked in Philadelphia for many, many years,
and it has exposed me to many applications regarding Wall Street parking.
Unfortunately, when we have an application for all street parking, many times it seems that there's simply a reaction and there's not a consistent review or respectful review of what the application is and how it could benefit the neighborhood or the opposite.
In this particular case, I would like to state for the record as a professional that all the characteristics of this application is appropriate, well-planned, well-conceived, and also it's beneficial to the Kimball Street side.
it does add additional relief to the you know the ongoing parking problem and
in addition to what Adverna stated I wanted to add that the rear yard of this property
constitutes 42 percent of the property so there's 42 percent of open area this is not a confined
space. This is not a space that actually would be encumbering to the Kimball Street.
The requirement for spaces for open air is 25% in this district and this one has 42%.
And when I say it engages with the Kimball Street, there were comments at the Neighborhood
Association which were counter to what the result of the vote was. Some of the neighbors on Kimball
Street had mentioned that they want to engage and they want the property to have homes and
so that there's an engagement with the neighbor of the street onto the Kimball Street. This
actually does. By having the rear access to the property on Carpenter Street, it actually allows
the Carpenter Street neighbor to almost connect to the Kimball Street neighbor.
almost connect to the Kimball Street neighbors. So because it not only will provide an access for
So because it not only will provide...
the rear vehicle, which is ample space, but it will also allow the owner of the Carpenter Street
property to exit and enter, you know, by way of walking into their property and almost create
a rear entrance that engages Kimball Street. So that's exactly what I heard that the neighbors
wanted to do. In that respect, I think this application accomplishes a lot, and I say that
with my professional background, and I hope that this application is approved. Thank you.
Thank you. Who's your next one? I have one follow-up question for you.
In your opinion, is there a parking crisis in this particular pocket of this neighborhood?
absolutely thank you who's your next witness then my next witness is a dina shaheen expert
witness as a realtor she is uh joining us virtually she'll be coming back in as a panelist chair okay
dina good morning hi could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
diana shaheen d-e-a-n-n-a-h-s-h-a-h-e-e-n do you swear for him to tell the truth
told truth, nothing but the truth? Yes. Counsel. Thank you. Deanna, could you please tell the
board what you do for a living and your credentials? I work for Compass. It's a
center city rural estate brokerage, and I've been a full-time realtor for seven years.
Thank you. And have you done any work in the Bella Vista area specifically around this
particular spot? Yes. Okay. And were you not a resident of this particular area just a little
more than a year ago? Yes. Thank you. In your professional opinion, will adding this parking
space be a net positive for the community as far as adjoining property valuation?
Yes. I mean, not only the subject property, but obviously the neighborhood as well,
specifically the neighbors on that street. Yes. So in your professional opinion,
the properties adjoining our particular property at 1012 will all enjoy an increase in valuation
as a result of this amenity. Is that right? Absolutely. I think it'll also attract for
families to be interested in that neighborhood as well. Is that a big deal to have the off-street
parking in the rear for families? Definitely. Okay. And you've taken a look at the plot plan
and the property itself in depth. Is this property, are there any unique physical conditions or
features to this property as it relates to the other properties on the block?
Yeah, you can see in the plot, it's only one of three that runs street by street to street,
but offers no parking or no structure for parking
or no, even the homes that were built behind it.
Understood. Thank you very much. I have nothing further.
Questions from the board. I have a question. Is there any
place on the street that has a sign that says no parking?
I don't know. We're saying that parking
is illegal, but is there any street markings
whatever it says no parking allowed in the street right there's there's two walkways and there's
that uh i showed you the video there's just that that 15 foot uh path for the for a car moving
forward that's it yeah but i don't think there's any no because the legality of the parking was
addressed i'm just wondering if the city is saying that the street is officially a street with no
parking that's correct the streets department has not sanctioned parking uh this particular
property is not zoned for parking there is no evidence of a use permit a variance or anything
else this is on cmx 2.5 and it was specifically leased for gardening not a de facto parking lot
what what does the street card say for the for the cart width the cart width and the in the
walkway width what what does it say what does what say i'm trying to understand if that's not a
defined um is it a defined pavement is it a defined where the folks where people are parking
so what is this what is the you know the street cart i could have mr mancini come back on since
he's he's the uh the member of the team that worked with the streets department it is part
of the walkway um but if you want to have mr mancini come back on you're happy to do that
But if you want to have Mr. Mancini come back on, you're going to do that.
You're going to see a portion of it is concrete sidewalk and another older portion is cobblestone.
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. See that. But but there's also like a curb cut.
To answer your question, the cartway is seven foot five inches.
The sidewalk on our side of the street is six foot nine.
the sidewalk on the opposite side of the street at least adjacent directly across the street from
our property is one foot six okay there seems to be yes there's a very limited amount of a cartway
not cartway a limited amount of a sidewalk on directly across the street so it's one foot six
seven foot five for the cartway six foot nine for the sidewalk and the turning radius is 25 feet
24 plus or minus. Okay. And that's what the cut card says from the street.
That's right from the cartway into the property without jumping the adjacent curve or anything.
All right. And no parking is allowed on that block. Is that right, Mr. Mancini?
Well, it's only a cartway. So if someone decides to stop, they would essentially block the street.
Other questions from the board?
yeah given that so many of the neighbors seem to be concerned that this is now the only curb cut
on that side of the street what's going to be the plan with the fencing and the new curb cut
to sort of make sure that there's still accessibility and accessible path well we are
not uh encroaching on the sidewalk at all there's going to be some landscaping some lighting there's
also have asked mr mancini's shop to also put in some safety mirrors uh so there'll be absolutely
unlike the other side of the street there will be zero obstruction okay well let there will be
zero obstruction yeah to anybody walking on that sidewalk with the with the new fencing that opens
because it's like the bifold bifold is it folding into the property that's correct okay yep i think
one of the visuals had that but yeah it folds in it's not out it will nothing will encroach on the
phone and then for the turning radius i saw the turn in because it's a one-way street going in
one direction to get out of the parking space is it the same radius to back out
mr mancini raised his hand he'd like to answer that
yes we give that a little bit of thought this property can be entered front and back out with
the same radius or it could be entered uh like many of the parallel or or perpendicular parking
scenarios on the street of philadelphia where they actually back into the space
which seems to be safe for the safer option and then forward out of the space um
at both of the same turn turning radius to answer your question okay and i'm assuming that the
mirrors and the lighting are there to make sure that say they're trying to get in or out and it's
after dark and there's a person, say, exiting the gate from the garden, that they'd be able to see
a pedestrian on the other. Absolutely. And if I may, I would also like to add that this is not
a restrictive garage door when you have a restrictive entranceway. Vince, why don't you
wait until the lawyer asks you a question instead of just blurting out, okay? No, that's okay.
I was just going to say that we have had discussions also. There are these audible
sorts of warnings that you can also install on gates so that people who may be passing on the
sidewalk will hear them prior to the gate opening and while the car is going out. We've also talked
about putting that in there. We have no problem doing that as well. With that said, Mr. Mancini,
if you had something to add, please do. The only thing I wanted to add was regarding the visibility
of entrance and exit the entire 16 feet of the property is essentially open so
the the the line of sight extends out from you know the car 16 feet the you
know which is is is a lot better than having a garage door where the door is
maybe eight foot wide and you have a limited cone of vision questions from
our attorney not at this time mr chair okay how many people in the audience want to testify
okay so why don't we do this why don't we start coming up okay and each person has two minutes
and i and i see you have an awful lot of stuff in your hands
yep well why don't you give it to our attorney i haven't seen anything okay
could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
could you please state your name and spell for
good afternoon my name is ashley de caro um a-s-h-l-e-y-d-i-c-a-r-o right um do you swear
or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do now ashley we have
your letter here each person here has your letter so why don't you um start your testimony sure i
I think I would like to start by going back to the intent of why we're here in the first place in terms of the overlay and what it's trying to prevent.
Our street is a very charming, very small, narrow street.
It only has one sidewalk. You heard testimony from the lawyer.
And it has zero curb cuts on that side of the street.
So there's one access point, and what we're trying to preserve here is the walkability and the charming nature of this street, and to prevent it from becoming an alley, one like Hall Street, which the attorney pointed out on the other side of the block.
So there's not a single curb cut on this side of Kimball Street, on this side of 11th Street, and the south side of Carpenter Street.
Zero curb cuts today.
um i wanted to share this drawing today because it really illustrates the context of this
particular proposed parking space um it is steps down from the bartasino park entrance
across the street from the belle arbor garden entrance and there's only sidewalk on the north
side so really this is impeding the only pedestrian access to both of those community assets
my husband is the commissioner of the local bocce league there my neighbors are all gardeners there
I am on the waiting list, but hopefully I will be there soon.
And during the summertime, more active months, there's constantly folks walking from the garden to the park, down our street, walking their dogs to very active, pedestrian, small, narrow, charming street.
I also wanted to share the other drawing that I created, which is really illustrating the character of that block.
All of us really love that garden environment.
It's why we moved into a block that has a community of garden across the street.
we all maintain small garden boxes and beds and it's a really lovely block and so adding a parking
space here is not about anything that he had mentioned it's really a detriment and the
walkability and the beautification of our block um lastly i'll just point out and i wrote this
in my letter that this is a terrible precedent to set as the lawyer stated each property on either
side of this particular parcel has the same parcel configuration so if you were allowed to
you are to allow a parking space on this particular parcel you're essentially allowing it for three
and that would really create the atmosphere that this is an alley and not the street that it is
today and I know that I am short on time but um I did want to address this kind of new argument
about the parking on the south side of the street there is no any funny business there um the the
garden parking has been there for decades it has never been legalized we did not know that
it is shared community parking. There is no assigned spots. It is just parallel parking on
our block. It is much safer than a perpendicular spot because you're backing into that particular
space. You're not turning into anything. So to argue that it's either dangerous or that we're
trying to preserve that parking is frankly ridiculous. We as neighbors are prepared to
legalize that parking. We did not know it was illegal. We learned of the lawsuit that they
slapped on the neighborhood gardens trust this morning um it's frankly upsetting and um we're
happy to come back before you as in support of legalizing that parking but really it's just
shared parking by the neighborhood nothing else all right thank you you have any questions or
i do ma'am are you a traffic engineer um i know i know you're a planner but are you a traffic
engineer you just said that the the tip-to-tail parking uh all the illegal parking on the south
side of the street is perfectly safe for kids and people who walk from the pocket park to the
garden. Are you a traffic engineer? I have degrees in landscape architecture and sustainable design.
I am a practicing city planner and urban designer at a private firm that does transportation
planning. So the answer is no. Okay. By the way, you said that there's lots of folks who activate
the pocket park and the garden and go back to and fro. How do they navigate? Let's take a look
at the photo that i have posted how do they navigate it with all those cars and i don't know
that she can see that right well here you go how do they navigate it with all those cars blocking
the entrance this literally blocked that car there is literally blocking the entrance to the garden
so that is actually my car oh there you go um it is parked there is a post there so it actually
does not block the gate it is parked next to the gate we saw a video that showed it blocking the
gate actually earlier today pull up other photos i'm happy to share where the garden gate my question
pull up other photos. I'm happy to share where the garden gate entry is. My question was,
was it actually if my client
if my client's safe, secure, completely within her own property line, one auto looking. Are you
done questioning her or you're just talking about it? Just asking how they navigate it. How do
little children navigate? One, the garden entrance is exactly where the dot is on the map that I
provided. You'll see cars parked right next to that. So that entrance is always left open for
the community. Folks walk on the sidewalk to get to either of those places. So he's pointing out
that the parcel line on the south side has cobblestone blocks. That's actually not a public
right-of-way. I think someone mentioned that the street measurement is one foot six inches.
If this were legalized in some way, I printed this. There's a parcel line that shows where
the parcel and for the gardeners. Okay. It could never be pedestrian access way anyway. Okay. So
you agree that the parking back there that you all enjoy is illegal, right? It's been there for
decades. I asked you, you agree that it's not zoned for parking. It's not a legal parking spot
a lot, is it? Well, I'm not an attorney that can speak to that. Okay. Well, she testified already
that they would get it. Well, I think she just testified. It's always been there. She,
yes yes okay all right next person please
hi good afternoon
could you please state your name and spell it for this stenographer oh sure my name is
allison mcmenneman it's a-l-i-s-o-n and mcmenneman is m-c-m-e-n-a-m-i-n right do
you swear or firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth. I do. I see the
letter from you and your group. Why don't you start your testimony? Sure. So I, you know, agree
to keep it brief. Each of the neighbors were going to talk about one of those points that we
covered in our letter, but I'm going to focus on the idea of the kind of walkability and pedestrian
safety here. So Kimball Street, as we've gone over, is a very narrow street. It from curb to curb
measures seven foot two inches. It's the kind of street that people, often relatives, don't really
want to drive their car down. It's rather narrow, right? And, you know, there's only a sidewalk on
the north side of the street there. I worry about the proposed parking site being able to safely
make that turn. There are small children that live by, and as others have said, we have
Barnaschino Park and the Belle Arbor Garden right there. So it's a high traffic area used by the
community, and this is incongruous with that use. And just to speak to me personally, I'm worried
about my own property value with this, treating Kimball Street like an alley. It's a beautiful
street. Thank you very much. Do you have anything you want to ask? Okay, next person, please. Thank
Thank you for your testimony.
Good afternoon, sir.
Could you please state your name as spelled for the sonographer?
Hi, my name is Joseph Manning, J-O-S-E-P-H, last name M-A-N-N-I-N-G.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Do I have a letter from you?
I'm part of the group that's kind of...
Okay, good, good.
So why don't you start your testimony?
I wanted to touch on the hardship case here.
My understanding is that in order to have a variance approved, you need to have a hardship.
This property dates back to 1895 and has never required or had an off-street parking space in the 125 years of use.
To me, the long history demonstrates that off-street parking is not necessary for the functioning of this property's residence.
And frankly, I feel that the request for a variance now is not resident driven, but rather speculative.
The owner is currently flipping this house.
As Mr. Anastasio said, she inherited it from a relative.
Many neighbors inquired about purchasing it, and they were told, no, we're going to be renovating it and selling it for profit.
So obviously, it will be worth more if it has a parking space.
And I understand that, and I can appreciate that, but it will still be worth quite a bit even without that parking space.
And I don't think the ability to sell for more money constitutes a hardship.
Conversely, so the variance would only serve speculative financial gain, not some sort of residential need.
The property fronts Carpenter Street and the proposed curb cuts on the back of the property would negatively impact the 11 smaller homes that face Kimball Street.
effectively boosting the property's resale value at the expense of their less affluent neighbor.
effectively boosting the property's resale value
at the expense of their less affluent neighbors
on Kimball Street.
All right, thank you very much.
Thank you.
If I could just say one more thing.
You know, Vern mentioned that they have 22 signatures
from community members in support.
I didn't hear him mention any signatures
from anyone on the block where this parking lot would be.
In fact, I believe you have letters submitted
from a majority of the block in opposition.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Do you have any questions?
Just a couple.
Sir, you mentioned that several neighbors
uh offered to purchase this property were you one of them i was not okay and how do you know about
that we're a very close-knit community i see and but do you know that my client respectfully
rejected and declined um everyone's offer to purchase right i don't know that okay do you
know that my client lives around the corner with her mother and her family and her children do you
are you aware of that i was not aware of that okay and that perhaps she's renovating the house that
she can occupy with her own children to finally have her own home uh for the for the first time
in 50 years is that a possibility did you know that well that's not what was told our neighbors
when they asked okay thank you all right thank you next person please how many more do we have
testify two okay thank you why don't you come up you're closest hi sir could you please state your
name and spell for the stenographer lawrence lindsay l-i-n-d-s-a-y right do you swear or
firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? I do. Why don't you start
your testimony? I am the immediate neighbor of 1012 Carpenter Street. My house is 1010 Carpenter
Street, and our backyards adjoining each other. Indeed, when we first purchased my house,
the two backyards had no fence between them. I agree with everything.
oh sorry okay you can pull it near here it'll come right to you right okay i urge the board to
keep your eye on the question here which is really whether or not the applicant has satisfied the
ordinance this ordinance is meant to protect streets exactly like kimball street where the
front the fronts of the houses face onto the street creating an exception to that by the way
of a sawtooth effect or a gap in the street is particularly damaging to the other properties
on the street. I happen to be a house that faces onto Carpenter Street. There are no other houses
on Carpenter Street which has backyard parking on our side of the block. This block, Carpenter,
shares the space with the houses on Kimball Street which face onto Kimball Street. So what
the applicant is asking is an exception to the rule that there shall be no
backyard cars and so it hurts the block including my house because i come out of my backyard
and to make a left turn into the garden share the the community space in the back of the house i use
my back entrance as much as i do my front entrance when i'm talking about accessing the sociability
of the street and the community.
My house has a backyard brick fence
which adjoins the cement fence that they have.
And I have a gate which opens on the Kimball Street interior.
I am particularly hurt.
I don't want this parking
because I don't want, at this time of year,
cars turning into the back of their parking area, turning into their backyard, making a left turn
across the sidewalk and shining lights, making noise as the light comes into my back kitchen
and also disturbs my back patio, of which I have some photos. I'd like to show those photos to the,
I submitted a letter with photos to the board,
and if I may, I'd like to show them to you.
Is that possible?
Sir, were they already submitted?
Yes, they were.
Okay, so then we do have them.
Okay, can I demonstrate the photos?
Are you logged on?
No, I'm not.
I'm not logged on, but someone with my group is logged on.
in any event yes this particular end of pimple street where the applicant seeks to make for an
exception for backyard parking is the most pedestrian friendly part of the entire block
it not only impacts the houses on the rest of the block but it it interferes with the social activity
the social activity um secondly i would like an opportunity mr chairman because i was personally
Secondly, I would like an opportunity
accused of some things up well i i know listen to me this is not you're not on trial here and i'm
not i'm not going to get into what he said and you you got a lawsuit going on sue and so i don't
have a lawsuit so there's no well somebody does mr bergman i think it would really help the board
if you understood that that parking
on the Garden Street side of the street
is public parking.
They're not assigned to anyone.
I understand what everybody's trying to...
Listen to me, look at me.
I understand what everybody's saying.
And we understand what you're trying to say.
We understand what he's saying.
And we're going to go through everybody
and we're spending a lot of time on this.
But I understand.
I agree, we're spending way too much time
on something which is wrong.
But the property line,
that parking is on the community garden property so sir sir listen to me so all right so listen
you your two minutes are up and i i really don't but i just can't keep going on so the next person
please and thank you for your time brief cross please just very brief burn you got is this going
on forever you're good i'm sorry i have to yeah okay mr mr lindsey did you off uh isn't it true
you offered to buy this property for your son when my client uh inherited it yeah there's several
That's right. And did she and did she respectfully reject the offer?
She refused to sell the several.
I understand. You testify that one car lights backing into her own property would somehow be a disturbance.
What about the 10 cars that are 10 feet away from your backyard that park there and pull out every night and every morning?
Do they not bother you? Would it only be the one legal car next to you?
you have to answer the 10 other cars that are literally
faced right there in front of you there is a big difference between a car on the other side of the
street which pulls out and continues down the street and do i like the fact that they're they're
there not necessarily i remember the garden we'd like more garden space but our garden has a fence
there right okay people have but um it having a car come across the sidewalk in directly into my
area and then parking three or four feet away from my picnic that my okay all right
you have another question no that's fine next person please thank you sir
sir could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer sure my name is wilfredo
rodriguez w-i-l-f-r-e-d-o right r-o-d-r-i-g-u-e-z do you swear we're a firm to tell the truth the
truth nothing but the truth i do and you a neighbor sir i i am 1014 carpentry street so i am directly
to the left of that problem.
We're going to give you two minutes
and see if you can do something
maybe that we haven't heard.
All I can do is to affirm
that I am opposed to this parking space.
And I have some objections
to some of the things
that had been said by the attorney
about some, if I recall correctly,
he said that the people on Kimball Street
had developed property, had added to their property,
that there were parking spaces that are to that property.
I'm not sure I understand what it was that he was talking about.
There has been no construction or any additions to any property on Kimball Street,
nor to the ones that go from Carpenter to Kimball,
of which there are only three properties, 1014, 1012, and 1010.
All right. Thank you. Do you have any questions for me? Just brief cross, Alfredo. It is your testimony then that this property that we're speaking of is just one of three on the entire block that goes street to street. Is that right?
That is correct.
Okay, so it is a unique physical condition.
It's like that since 1900s.
Very good.
All right, good.
And one other question.
Was it your belief that my client was to fund the relocation of your solar panels as a neighbor-to-neighbor courtesy?
Was that something that you had expected her to do?
Is that right?
I'm sorry.
Could you repeat that?
Was it your expectation that my client would pay to have you relocate your solar panels as it relates to the construction not related to this variance?
She certainly had offered to pay for half of it.
half of it uh was it uh in in writing no but you had asked her to do it yeah i'm sorry did you
Was it in writing? No.
you had asked her to do that is that correct uh given the fact that they had an addition
on their property right that that absolutely i'm not sure what your point is sir thank you
okay the question is done sir question is there anyone else in the virtual audience
i see no hands chair um planning commission
amy board with the planning hold hold on one minute um verne that's just a very brief
let's brief 90 seconds go ahead thank you mr chair in closing this case is pretty simple i think
i explained to you the unique physical condition of the property and it was affirmed by even the
Protestants. I explained nearly every other lot has rear parking or another home behind it. I
explained the plan to replace a solid, ugly concrete block with an elegant gate that will
allow air, light, and increased sight lines. You have heard how this benefits the community at large
from our expert witness. You've heard how the streets department thinks it makes sense by our
architect. You've seen 22 immediate and near neighbors express their support for this parking
variance. You've seen pictures and videos of the illegal parking plan developed by the
protestants in this case you've seen the lawsuit file for the dangerous conditions created by the
protestants in this case you've seen the adjacent neighbor's suggestion uh that is up on the screen
right now that if my client's variance doesn't get approved well she could always go to him
for uh parking uh at the across the street all right hold on no no no he's just just relax every
person who testified in protesting this uh variance today is part and parcel of the parking
racket back there okay all right and only in philadelphia all right only in philadelphia
everybody only in this town mr chairman can you find a handful of neighbors who knowingly violate
the zoning code then show up here and try to prevent someone from doing something legal okay
thank you all right thank you very much planning commission amy boyd with the planning commission
a y b o y d you swear or firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i do go ahead the comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning at this location from the
existing rsa 5 residential single family the appellant has not shown that there are unique
physical conditions or circumstances of the property that would prevent it from being used
in conformance with the zoning code the planning commission recommends that the board deny the
requested variance for off-street parking okay so mr chair there's a parking crisis uh right now
there's a parking lot right down the block i think you had you had testimony about that from
your expert that there's a crisis there is there's a there's a waiting list of over a dozen homes okay
so all right and and the de facto evidence of that crisis is the parking okay that's not supposed to
be happening your testimony stuff we've heard a lot of witnesses i've outstayed my welcome a lot
of witnesses a lot of testimony we're going to vote on this next wednesday morning no wednesday
afternoon but we will take this to executive session wednesday morning and we'll evaluate
everything we've heard thank you all and thank you all for sitting here we appreciate it thank you
okay all right um
now i'm going to try to get a couple more we're okay i'm going to go with um
um where's my quickly
be right with you
I'm going to do that
firehouse one here.
You saw him in.
What up? Yep.
This is the
it's the
Lewis, right? Lewis? Yes.
Everybody knows her.
Everybody knows.
See what I say?
so number mi2025-005-890-9189 torsdale lewis balese is the attorney sir could you please
state your name as spelled for the stenographer lewis l-o-u-i-s balese b as in boy a-l-l-e-z-z-i
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
I do. Could you identify your client and the relationship to the property?
Yes, Mr. Chairman. My client is Philly Firefighters and Paramedic Union, LLC.
Yes, Mr. Chairman. My client is Philly Firefighters and Paramedic Union, LLC, which has an equitable interest in the property pursuant to a pending agreement of sale.
With me today is Michael Bresnan, who is the manager of the appellant and also president of the affiliated union, International Association of Firefighters.
You have a report from the Sixth District Council Office, right, who have facilitated a meeting with 25 in support and 40 in opposition?
That's correct. That's the letter of support from the RCO.
And our vice chair has a few questions for you.
Good afternoon.
Have you emailed all your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, we have.
And do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, we do.
Okay, thank you.
You can proceed with your case.
Share your screen.
Thank you, members of the board.
Sorry, have I been granted access to share my screen?
do we have access for him here we go invitation should be showing shortly
sure thank you thank you
sorry people had to wait a while we had just a couple long cases and
I was just kicked out
I'll rejoin
I'm sorry, Mr. Chairman.
I was kicked out of the Zoom.
I'm rejoining now.
All right.
Mr. Chairman, we're-
We're-
Yes. We're here today seeking a use variance for this property.
My client would like to use the property as its new union headquarters.
The uses would involve office space as well as meeting rooms for the union,
offices for the union's health plan, a fitness center and gym for the union's members,
as well as a members-only lounge and a banquet hall.
And I'd note that the union constitutes a fraternal organization under the zoning code,
which is part of our application.
This image here shows the property in question and its setting within the neighborhood.
I would note that the allocations for the specific uses may be subject to change.
We've received some additional suggestions.
However, this shows the context of the property.
Of the proposed uses, office use is already permitted as of right under the existing zoning of I-1.
We're therefore seeking a variance for the uses that are commonly attendant to union offices.
a um in our application here meets the requirements for a use variance specifically
to deny the variance here would result in an unnecessary hardship as you can see the vicinity
of the property is surrounded by a large residential neighborhood and um across
torsdale avenue are uh is jacob's park jacob's playground as well as uh as fields for for sports
to the rear of the property is i-95 which acts as a barrier separating the property from any
other true industrialized uses in the area and one block away both down linden avenue as well as
torsell avenue there is icmx zoning and i would note for the board that each of the uses that we
are seeking under this variance are permitted as of right under icmx zoning the adjacent zoning
classification the hardship here is created by the unique circumstances that affect the property
specifically being bordered by 95 as well as being surrounded by non-industrial uses it's not
surprising that the most recent tenant at the property Lincoln Tech has actually vacated the
property as being unsuitable. The variance here is necessary therefore to allow for a viable economic use.
The variance here is necessary, therefore, to allow for a viable economic use of the property, and it will not alter the essential character of the neighborhood.
In fact, it's in keeping with the neighborhood's character, because, as I mentioned, the uses that we're seeking here are allowed as of right on neighboring parcels.
Finally, I would note that a dimensional variance could not cure the situation, given the nature of the hardship.
We've received, as the chairman noted, overwhelming support from the RCO that coordinated the meeting for this variance.
and we're seeking the minimal relief necessary here again the all of the uses are allowed as
of right under the adjacent adjacent variance I'm sorry the adjacent zoning characterization
there are three key points that I would note for the board that again all that all of these uses
are permitted on neighboring parcels they're in keeping with the existing uses within the
neighborhood and there's based on the layout of the property there's no reasonable expectation
that there could be any impacts on neighboring properties either as to use of property or light
or air the variance here because of our intended uses compared to what's what the property has
been used as before would not increase congestion on the streets or endanger the public it could
not substantially or permanently impair anyone else's use of property nearby or their access to
light or air and it would not substantially affect any adopted plan similarly because there's no
reasonably expectable increased burden on any infrastructure compared to either any of the
neighboring uses or the most recent use. The variance here would not affect transportation
in a negative way or burden other infrastructure. And finally, it would not create environmental
damage or increase the danger of flooding. We're not looking to... This is an existing structure.
Exactly. Exactly. I would now ask Mr. Bresnan to join me. Well, why don't you go through the...
Do you have a couple of things here to show us some?
This is an aerial view of the property.
You can see that there's a large existing parking lot,
which provides more parking spaces than will be necessary under any of the intended uses.
There are two entrances to the parking lot,
one here on Torresdale Avenue where I'm moving my cursor,
one here on Linden Avenue.
We do not intend to request any changes to the curb cuts or changes to the property layout.
This is really just repurposing the existing structures, as the chairman mentioned.
I could also show you, this is a screenshot from Atlas.
The subject property is this dark purple shape right here.
You can see from the Atlas view that the surrounding area is largely residential to the north and east.
The screen space here is park and playground, and the magenta or brighter purple is all of the ICMX area that I was mentioning.
was mentioning so if this property had already been zoned icmx we wouldn't be here today everything
will be allowed as of right it's really to bring it into conformity with the existing use that
we're seeking of variance right um the is what's inside it has to be fit out is that what you're
saying that that's correct go through that real quick sure sure it was most recently a lincoln
tech and you can see these were images we submitted uh to the board this is the current
interior of the property um it's not in the greatest of condition but we will be refurbishing
it before for additional uses right um this this is part of the large main structure uh these these
show it as well there's there's a secondary structure in the rear which is shown in the
aerial view uh this is where we intend to put the the fitness center gym and these images show the
current inside of that it's a rather industrial setting do you have what the plans look like in
the future or we don't have uh existing architectural plans yet because this as i
I mentioned the sale is still pending, and we're seeking the variants first.
Why don't you bring your client on and adopt your testimony?
Certainly.
Sir, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Oh, no.
Yes, sir.
Mike Bresman, B-R-E-S-N-A-N, like Nancy, Andy, Nancy.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir.
I want you to tell people your position.
I'm the current president of International Association of Firefighters, Local 22, Philadelphia Firefighters and Paramedics.
Okay. Counsel, please proceed.
Mr. Bresnan, did you hear my testimony today and my description of your intended uses for the property?
Yes, sir.
Did I accurately describe your intended uses to the best of your knowledge?
Yes, sir.
And do you adopt my testimony as your own?
Yes, sir.
Questions from the board?
questions or comments from our attorney
not at this time Mr. Chair
questions or comments from the virtual audience
any witnesses
I see no hands
hold on
but I mean
do you have any testimony relative to this
Do you have any testimony relative to this?
My opinion, because I passed by that area.
Well, come on up.
Come on up and testify.
Hi, could you please state your name and spell for this stenographer?
Get a little closer to the mic.
It'll pull towards you.
It'll come right to you.
There you go.
Deborah Sparks, D-E-B-O-R-A-H.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Your testimony?
I pass by that area every day when I take my grandchildren to and from school, to and from Tarsdale Boys Club, which is a block from them.
I frequent Dagwood's, which is catty corner from them.
I think that it would be a great thing.
The Philadelphia Fire Department is on State Road.
I know it will give their firefighters access to congregating together.
It would be a use for them.
and for the boys.
Thank you very much.
You're the shortest witness we had all day long.
Thank you very much.
Is there any other comments from the audience?
Planning Commission.
Yes, no hands, Sheriff.
Planning Commission.
Amy Boyd with the Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change
to the existing I-1 light industrial zoning
at this location.
The existing building,
which is proposed to remain
is a former high school and not currently configured for industrial use.
The appellant has therefore demonstrated that the proposed use
would not have detrimental impacts beyond what might be otherwise expected
for this location.
The Planning Commission recommends that the board grant the requested variances
for fraternal organization, assembly, and entertainment,
sit-down restaurant, and personal services.
MI 2025-005890-9189, Taurusdale Avenue.
I vote yes.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes
Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes
Iowyn, my vote is yes
Have your votes, thank you
I'm sorry we kept you so long
MI2025
004696
1412-22
Lehigh Avenue
Andrea Solomon is the attorney
i can't we're sorry we uh kept you here as long as we have and um could you please state your
name and spell it for the stenographer that's okay chairman it's even though it's dark it's
still the afternoon andrea solomon a-n-d-r-e-a s-a-l-o-m-o-n right do you swear or affirm to
tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do could you identify your client in
relationship to the property yes my client is the owner of the property philadelphia suburban
development corporation with me today is john peruto the vice president and our we have a
letter of support from swamp poodle neighborhood parcels association and also a letter non-opposition
from council member young our vice chair has a few questions good afternoon have you submitted
your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing yes with the exception of the
letters of support. We received the letter of support from Swampoodle today, and the coordinating
RCO actually submitted their letter to us, also a letter of support, on Monday, late Monday night.
I didn't hear that as part of the, what Chairman Bergman stated you received, but I have it as part
of our exhibit package. Okay, okay, and do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate
to its accuracy? Yes. Okay, thank you. You can share your screen and proceed with your case.
okay um this application is for the establishment of a unity of use of two abutting lots uh 1412
to 22 west lehigh ave and 1424 to 40 west lehigh ave and a special exception approval for the use
the proposed use is non-accessory parking for 70 spaces as we discussed we received a letter of
support from the swamp poodle neighborhood parcels association it is in support they requested three
provisos which i can go through quickly but there won't be any trash and recycling stored within
the property there will be maintenance done periodically but nothing will be stored there
there's also no bicycle parking as part of this proposal
and the landscaping is already provided for and in conformance with the code
we also received a letter of support
from the all in the family group they also had a proviso that we did discuss security
from the all in the family group um they also had
issues at the community meeting they requested we implement security cameras those are not part of
what is planned they're not part of the zoning nor we think enforceable but the property owners
also own the parking lot across the street there have not been any security concerns and
as we'll testify this parking is only daytime parking it'll be um operated and if the security
concerns come up uh it will be reassessed but at this time no security cameras will be part of it
uh the lot is split zoned most primarily cmx2 that's why we require the special exception
approval for the non-accessory parking this is an aerial image of the site the two lots are
currently vacant and so we'll just be bringing them to a better higher use with the proposed
parking which is also a critical concern and parking availability was something that
the RCO agreed is needed in this neighborhood existing photos of the of the two lots
this is from lehigh avenue and this one is from 15th street
this is the proposed plans i'll try to zoom in here
70 spaces including the required ada spaces
this is the circulation plan
and the landscaping plan which has been approved by planning
as i mentioned the referral letter we're seeking the special exception for the parking
and we have as part of the exhibit package the application for appeal the project information
form, the RCO notice and certificate of mailing, the notice and the posting photos on all street
frontages of the two lots the ownership documentation
and proof of no outstanding taxes these are the ones that are due for 2026 which
haven't come due yet um with that i'll ask that john b sworn in come on up when they come up
could you please state your name and spell for the sonographer
john peruto j-o-h-n-p-e-r-u-t-o do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth i do counsel john you saw my presentation in its entirety
and it's true and correct to the best of your knowledge yes it is
and do you adopt it as your own testimony yes i do thank you questions from the board
yes is this utilizing an existing curb cut to allow cars to turn in and park that let me
move to the plans but it did go through streets already and i do believe it's existing curb cuts
is that correct it is i don't think we changed anything yeah yeah there's the existing curb cut
on 15th street and
can we do something for you a couple years ago it's a gas coffee shop it was a starbucks
starbucks right is that there now no starbucks unfortunately yeah i remember doing that you
starbucks right there is that right okay and then i think my follow-up question is i know
you said that it's no overnight parking is the intent that this is going to be like a parking
ride. Cause I know that you do have the regional rail and you have the Amtrak stations, not too
far from there or. No, this is actually private parking for our commercial office and social
service tenants in our existing buildings nearby. Okay. The building across the street
yours too, right? Correct. Well, um, the one catty corner, catty corner. Yes. Yes. The
the plan it doesn't look like there's
anything barring people
from parking here when your office is closed
well the gates will be locked
gates will be locked at night
all my questions
is there any landscaping
okay is there any uh landscaping uh any kind of beautification plan for the area
or any kind of beautification plan for the area
yes those are part of the exhibit package and uh they were approved by the by planning already
so that includes the dry vials and the correct okay and what did you say this was supposed to be
this parking was for again for commercial office and social service tenants that we
have in our office building caddy corner to the property okay all right and 70 spaces correct
okay thank you questions from our attorney
not at this time mr chair questions from the virtual audience
see no hands share planning commission sorry i did have one comment um if your exhibit packet
that you showed was updated from what we
have most recently in the upload tool so if you could
please upload
what you showed the board today by close
business tomorrow that would be greatly sure to include
the letters of support right yes
thank you very much
planning commission
Amy Boyd with the
planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends
a change in zoning at this location
from the current CMX2 commercial
mixed use to CMX3
the proposed use is allowed under special
exception in the current and recommended zoning districts. The appellant has shown that the
proposed use will not cause detrimental impacts beyond what would reasonably be expected.
The Planning Commission recommends that the board grant the requested special exception for
non-accessory parking. Thank you. MI-2025-004-696-1412-22 West Lehigh Avenue. I vote yes.
Michael Johns. My vote is yes. Cheryl Gaston. My vote is yes. Tanetta Graham. My vote is yes.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes.
Ellen, my vote is yes.
Thank you very much.
Thank you, everyone.
All right.
All right.
All right.
What do you do, Ellen?
Are you okay?
Do one more.
I know we'll take a break.
All right.
Ellen?
We'll do one more.
Thank you.
so mi 2025 004 427 9231 convent street alan knockamson is the attorney there's a letter of
non-opposition no position from northeast community civic alliance also the applicant
has three forms of letters, two from neighbors to the block.
Could you, just for the record, state
your name, because you've already been sworn. You were here a long time this morning.
Oh, no, it was the afternoon. I'm sorry. It feels like it was the morning. Okay.
Alan Ockamson. Mr. Ockamson, could
you identify your client, their relationship to this property? My left is
Eberton Garcia. Okay. Our
Our vice chair has a few questions for you.
Good afternoon.
Have you mailed your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
I've downloaded them.
I was like, I'm going to go old school.
And do you waive the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
All right, thank you.
You can proceed with your case.
Thank you.
All right, let's do this.
Let's see.
I will try to make it as brief as possible.
oh okay look at that we're staring at alan there i know that i i jumped i hit the wrong button
all right um here we go uh so this is my client uh everton uh he's not a developer
this is his home he uh got building permits you know for this he got a co he um and we'll
go through the presentation he put like basically a trellis on the top here I'll just go show you
the picture let's see here's a picture where's the trellis picture I feel like oh here is what
he did or what he wanted to do and when he was getting his co the inspector was like well I'm
going to give you the seal for all your permits you really need to go back and supplement this
because this is going to require an additional permit so that's how we got here today let me
just go now starting forward let me backwards to just our you know the refusal so the refusal is
this because it's considered a roof like there's a setback requirement and the setback requirement
is 25 feet we propose four feet we have updated our drawing since then uh to kind of set back
or give more depth to uh you know that trellis where it's now i believe 17.
to that trellis, where it's now, I believe, 17 feet of a setback.
So much closer to our house, further away to neighbors.
My understanding is that the people behind me are the neighbors to left and right
who are supportive of this project.
There are some issues with the people in the back,
but again, I think they have more issues in terms of the deck itself,
which is legal as of right.
So we met with the community.
they originally my office said there was a letter of non-opposition when i read it was a letter of
no position so i just wanted to be accurate but it was so i would say to mr goldberg i asked him
so how how the meeting go and he said well pretty much it was good people rose to raise their hands
in support i think the letter does not accurately state that there were more people that raised
their hands in support than they were not in uh support um again really the people who were not
in support with the people in the back and i think they had more concerns with just the deck in
general which is legal under the code and the code provision here and actually probably should he i
printed it out i don't actually have the code provision like the actual citation but i i printed
out the page it should have the whole section but it is legal at least according to what we reviewed
So, again, in response to what the people behind us, not behind me, those people in support, but behind us physically had issues with just the trellis essentially going too close to their property line, we agreed that we were going to make the setback even further, which, again, we didn't have to, but we want to show that at least we're trying to make a compromise here.
So if the board feels so inclined to grant the variance request, the setback would go from 4 feet from the rear to 17 feet from the rear, which, again, goes closer to the conformity of the code.
Let's see.
Another thing to note is that we have letters of support from these two neighbors physically behind me right now.
um i did provide the zoning permit showing that what we did this renovation was all legal and i
also took a screenshot this morning to show like and i assume the word complete means that they're
closed out and complete you know so you have a zoning permit a building permit a plumbing permit
of some mechanical fuel gas permit and electrical permit all closed out legally again it was a
surprise you know to um everton you know that he needed a permit for the trellis and that's what
we're trying to do here today and then aerial views of the property so again we're required
to have a setback of 25 feet the people that behind us i was like well they look a little
bit close to us so i know the code is constantly changing it's organic they're they're this is
their setback 16.3 feet 22.41 21.8 so they're non-conforming properties too you know we are
conforming in in this uh in this you know right now our building structure in our deck we're just
adding that trellis which is considered a roof according to the philadelphia zoning code and
then maps of the area we're single family house he's living there and then photographs of the
property proof of posting uh cup convent which i get from google street view to the right of
the property to the left of the property and then um i i'll ask uh everton if this is current photos
or not so we'll find out um but again this deck is legal because it's the same height as the first
floor that makes it legal because i had a question i was like wow that's pretty close you know to the
the fence now the other thing about the fence is that everton actually put the fence within his
property line he didn't put it at the property line so this fence is five feet closer to his
property line. So he conceded five feet away. So just put that in perspective. And this is the
revised drawings, which shows, again, we're going to be seven, we're going to have a rear yard setback
of 17 feet. And I don't know if there's anything that's worthwhile here. Oh, this is basically
showing that how we put our fence five feet into our property so just you know again it was
important to kind of give some breathing room also for us in a way
now rco meeting notice proof of mailing of that notice our application for appeal
deeds of property showing that everton owns it and certificate of tax clearance with that being
said i would just ask that everton be sworn in i am could you please state your name and spell
for the stenographer it's everton garcia e is an echo w is whiskey is an echo r is romeo t is a
E is an echo, W is whiskey, E is an echo, R is Romeo, T is a tangle, O is an Oscar, N is November, G is golf, A is an alpha, R is Romeo, C is a Charlie, I is India, A is an alpha.
Tango was an awesome.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir.
Counsel?
Everton, you heard everything I had to state today about your zoning matter.
Is it true and correct?
Yes, sir.
And do you adopt this your own testimony?
Yes, sir.
All right, thank you.
Questions from the board?
yeah just trying to reconcile the photo with the drawing because they're different
is the photo more recent or the drawing is more recent so the photo is the the recent
i put as the surveyor document as well so i had a uh old fence installed but i i when i remodeled
my house i didn't want to bother any neighbors so i didn't i didn't know like the the other
fence behind it was mine but i just built another fence where your current was that's why i lost
like it was five feet.
Well, you didn't lose it. It's on your deed.
What? So you didn't lose it.
It's on your property.
You did, yeah.
From a functional standpoint.
Functionally, but not legally.
That's right. I'm just saying functionally.
I think my question is, in the photos
it looks like the deck is L-shaped
and that the trellis goes
all the way to that fence line.
Yes, is that... But on the drawing
it looked like
that the
that the deck was only one rectangle
and that the fence only covered half of that rectangle.
So I was trying to, that's what I'm trying to reconcile right now.
All right, well, let's go to the drawings and see.
Did I pass it?
All right, right here.
Yeah, that's the current plans.
You mean right here?
So this is the addition, not the L-shaped.
Like where these doors come out?
This is just the roof.
Yes, the deck itself is this L-shape as well.
It is L-shape.
Yes, which was on the blueprint before.
There was a green.
But then the roof was covering up.
All the way, so you're pulling the roof back.
I pulled the roof all the way to cover the deck
because the back neighbors were complaining
because the deck was all the way in the back,
which is up to cold.
Got it.
But right now, in this drawing, for example,
but you see where the red fuzzy circle is?
Are we extending the deck to cover that?
No, I think that the...
No, we're eliminating.
So the photo shows that filled in.
Yeah, no, we're going to have to...
Drawing is going to be the most updated.
Yes, yes, that's why we have revised drawings.
That's right.
If you guys are okay to leave the roof like this
or if you guys think that it's better for me
to cut the deck, the roof on 14 feet
to be like 16 feet.
That's like what I was thinking
because my back neighbors,
they're not getting that.
The deck itself, it's up to cold.
So they were complaining before
they didn't have privacy.
That's why I built like this roof
and I put like those green stuff,
the privacy wall,
so I cannot see like none of the back area.
So that's what they are not getting.
How high is your deck off the ground?
29 inches.
And how high is the fence?
And the fence, six feet.
Six feet.
How high is their fence?
My house is uphill, so their house is downhill.
Downhill.
And then did you have to remove any of the trees that were shown in any of the images?
I had three trees before, and I had to remove them.
You did have to remove the trees.
All right.
Other questions?
Not a question.
Comment.
Decks.
There are two prohibitions when it comes to decks.
one and the one that applies here is that decks cannot have a permanently affixed roof
so i don't know why you didn't get a refusal for this whole thing because um decks cannot have a
permanently affixed roof or stairs there are the only two prohibitions when it comes to decks
and you are violating the one that matters the most in that the um reason why is because next
thing you know there'll be windows next thing you know this will be an addition it won't be just the
deck that's how there's the creep you know people start with the okay now we have the deck now we
put the roof on the next thing there'll be windows next thing this will be an addition and not just
a deck with
a roof. Now you can have
an awning, you can
have anything that
isn't permanently affixed
but what you're asking for
is something that's specifically
forbidden
forbidden shall we say with respect to tax well and i don't think it was intentional he got
shall we say.
permits for everything else i think he added that on not knowing the gravity not intentional
idea is no i know i get it and that's what here when you just do things to you you know this is
what happens that's exactly right and and he didn't get a violation he worked with the inspector
The inspector said I was going to give you, correct me if I'm wrong, this is my understanding, from Mr. Goldberg, you had a conversation with the inspector, he gave you the CO, he said, file for zoning to legalize this, otherwise I will give you a violation. Is that correct, Everton?
Whenever she said, for me to stop doing whatever I was doing, just saying, I'll get the zoning barrier. You've got to have to apply for zoning barriers. Because zoning itself, it's not going to allow. You've got to talk with barriers.
Exactly.
Yeah, and that's why we're here today.
And if it's that bad, if you guys can help at least,
just for me to cut the roof like half,
like to have just like 14 feet, that will help a lot.
I put more like because of my daughter and my son
for them to be outside and having something.
But it's...
Is it common to this neighborhood to do that?
Or is it yours like the only house that has that done?
With the roof?
the roof there's my back neighbor they have like a roof but they don't have a deck
they have just like the roof itself i have a picture like in my phone they like both of them
like my other back neighbor they have he has like the addition that it goes all the way there but
it's covered up but it's like whatever like he was saying like the measurement was like 12 14 feet
away from the fence now my back neighbor is straight up he has just the roof going out there
it might be like 14 feet as well like away from the property line yeah so what we did was measure
like we see the building footprint on on atlas we just take a measurement from their property line
and those numbers were all non-conforming i can't say whether it's illegal or not
i didn't look into that all i'm saying is they're non-conforming structures um and you know obviously
we're trying to work through this and the people tell left and right who would you know be impacted
as well like looking to left and right who are behind me right now have no issue with that they
sign they are the people to left and right right left yeah okay it's fun to make sure that's why
my understanding but they also sign letters of support they have no issues they would be impacted
as well questions for our attorney
um i just wanted to know if the board does approve this we do need a full set of the revised plans
like one page was submitted but it was a four page set that was submitted to lni so we need
a complete set of what okay if the board does approve okay and we can do that you know as soon
as you know yeah questions or comments from the audience all right money money let her sit down
please you already stated your name uh you were sworn in before just state your name again deborah
Debra Sparks.
Do you
support this project?
Yes, I do. Thank you.
Do you want to testify, too?
That's it. That's all I need.
You support it.
Sir, could you please state your name
and spell it for the stenographer?
Kenneth Owens.
K-E-N-N-E-T-H
O-W-E-N-S.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Are you in favor of this project?
Yes, I am.
Thank you very much for your testimony.
Is there anyone in the virtual audience?
Can I ask another question, please?
It says here that there's, is there no RCO letter or summary?
There is.
They just wrote, they said, I'll share it again.
Here, I'll.
Is that the updated?
They took no position.
They took, it was a, yeah, they just took no position.
So you see here, non-opposition, no position.
Yeah, and all I can say is that Mr. Goldberg
handled the community meeting.
I asked him today, like, what the temperature of the room is,
and we reviewed the letter together,
and he indicated to me that more people raised their hands,
they took the vote in front of him,
more people raise their hands in support than in opposition so um planning commission
amy board with the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no
The comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning at this location from the existing RSD-3 residential single family.
change in zoning at this location from the existing rsd3
The appellant has not shown that there are unique physical conditions or circumstances of the property that would prevent it from being used in conformance with the zoning code.
The Planning Commission recommends that the Board deny their requested variance for a rear yard setback.
MI 2025-004-427-9231 Convent Avenue.
I vote yes with proviso.
Revised plans, four pages,
stamped by ZBA on December 10th,
Michael Johns, my vote is yes with proviso.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes with proviso.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes with proviso.
Iowen, my vote is yes with proviso.
Thank you.
We're going to take a five-minute break, maybe six minutes.
you look like you're rich when people came
Number four, MI 2025, 004-398-10012, Santa Meyer Lane, Isaac Slepner is the attorney.
Thank you.
good afternoon chair and members of the board good afternoon counsel um you've already been
sworn earlier today uh just for the record could you state your name yes my name is isaac i-s-a-a-c
last name slepner s sam l larry e elvis p peter n norman e elvis r robert s-l-e-p-n-e-r
Counsel, could you identify your client, the relationship to this property?
Yes, my client is Mariam Star LLC, which is the owner of 10-0-1-2 Sandmeyer Lane.
And with me is Zakeed Rasool, who is a principal of that LLC.
And I would say that there's a letter of unanimous support from the Somerton Civic Association with 37 positive votes.
Our vice chair has a few questions for you.
Sure. Good afternoon. Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, we have. And do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, we do. OK, thank you. You can share your screen and proceed.
All right. Here we go. All right. Can everybody see everything there?
it's coming up right now sir yep we said okay great so this is a copy of the
notice of refusal that we just stipulated to and had read so I won't
belabor that this is a copy of the deed to the property in favor of my client
Mariam star LLC purchased deed was executed on 4 17 25 recorded on 4 21 20
The property is a commercial condominium, so my client owns it, and he intends to open a food market and bakery, and we'll get to his plans for it in a moment.
This is our initial application for appeal from the Notice of Refusal that we applied back in June of this year.
Again, we're only seeking variants for use.
This is the project information form that I also filled out and submitted with the application for appeal.
This is a certificate of mailing to quite a number of neighbors.
I want to say about 90 of them, all near neighbors that were identified by the Planning Commission's address list plus the RCOs and Councilman O'Neill's office.
This is a copy of the address list as you can see and this is the actual letter to the neighbors
advising them of the RCO holding the public meeting and just describing the refusal and
describing what variants we were seeking.
variants we were seeking. This is, as Mr. Chairman, you previously mentioned,
This is, as you
the letter of support from Somerton Civic Association dated 11-30-2025,
recapping their vote of 37 in favor and zero opposed to the project.
So now I will get into some photographs and I'll describe to you what we intend to do here.
My client, as I mentioned, owns this unit.
This is a photo of the entire strip center there.
Now, this is zoned I-2, and this has been zoned I-2 for decades because it all used to be part of the old bud plant.
And even when the bud plant was directly behind it, now it's a golf course.
Golf course is still zoned I-2 for what it's worth.
This strip center is also zoned I-2.
The one that currently says healthy habits is ours, 10-0-0-1-2.
and as you can see there is a pizza shop some catering there's a little skin and
body spa here and some other food establishments this is my clients you'll
notice there's already a pizza shop in here and because it is zoned I too this
pizza shop at some point had to go through the same process and procedure
that we're here on today as I mentioned my client intends to convert this space
and this is a photo one of the interior. It used to be kind of a health spa sort
of a establishment and it's been left mostly empty. Here's a second shot of the
interior. Here is a third shot of the interior that's from the back of the
place looking forward. This is a certificate of tax clearance that was
issued on 11-21, so it's still valid for today. This is, I'm going to show you four
photos of the orange poster having been hung on 11-19. Here's a close-up being
hung inside the glass front door. Here's a very close close-up. Here's a mid-range
shot showing the entire frontage of the property within the strip center. And
and this last one is sort of a mid-range shot.
So as I said, my client intends to open a market, a takeout food market and bakery,
no dine-in, no tobacco license sought, no liquor license sought. It would be just very simple
dishes from his homeland of Uzbekistan I believe I don't want to misquote myself
on that so I have my client testify but in any event it will be a deli market
and bakery with that I would like to have my client adopt the testimony and I
I call my client, Zakeed Razul, who should be on this call.
Zakeed, you're out there?
Mr. Razul is coming back in as a panelist now.
Oh, thank you.
Isaac, these places have basements too?
That's a great question.
Didn't I see a picture of stairs going up, so it had to be the basement, right?
Well, you know, that's actually a good question.
You would think.
You showed him where there was stairs going up.
Well, I think there is a basement, and I think that he intends for the basement just to be storage,
because I don't believe there's going to be a kitchen or anything down there.
Is he going to bait there?
There's a key.
Hello?
If we can swear him in, I'll have him adopt my testimonial license.
Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
My name is Zohid.
Last name, Rasul.
Z-O-H-I-D.
R-A-S-U-L.
Do you swear or affirm that tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Proceed, counsel.
So, Zohid, you're a member of Mariam Star LLC, correct?
And Mariam Star LLC is the owner of 1001-2 Sandmeyer?
Yes, sir.
And did you hear all the testimony and see all the exhibits that I offered to the board today?
Yes, sir.
And was all of that testimony and all of those exhibits true and correct to the best of your knowledge?
Yes, sir.
And would you adopt all of that testimony as though you had given it yourself?
Yes, sir.
So I just wanted to ask you a couple other questions.
I know the chairman had asked about a basement.
Is there a basement in this place?
And do you intend to cook, or is it just sales of prepared foods and bakery?
And do you intend to cook or is it just sales of prepared foods and bakery?
No, just preparing.
So is there intended to be a full kitchen?
No, basement, just preparing zone.
Where would the baking be taking place?
Upstairs.
And I'm sorry, you've got to correct me if I'm wrong.
You are from Uzbekistan, right?
Yes, I am.
I just didn't want to mischaracterize you because I know that the Uzbek food is delicious.
I've been to some other Uzbek spots in the Northeast, and I just didn't want to mischaracterize.
So thank you for clearing that up.
I don't have anything further for my client.
Questions from the board.
Did I hear correctly?
Is there going to be baking, not going to be baking?
How is this going to work?
So, Zeyd, do you intend to put in a full bakery oven in there, or how do you intend to go about this?
Yes, it's going to be upstairs.
We are trying to make a setup of a hood and a preparing zone upstairs.
Basement doesn't allow to, you know, set up kitchen.
Just preparing zone of a basement.
so the basement would be limited to storage and prep that's correct okay and you're not
i'm sorry go ahead go ahead oh i was going to ask you're not going to have um tables no dine-in
correct no just take out okay so what kind of menu are we talking about sandwiches uh sandwiches
Is there a layout plan for the retail space that shows the kitchen versus the rest of the space use?
I don't believe we had submitted that. I'm not quite sure that I have one.
And if that's something that the board would ultimately want to see before issuing a decision, I completely understand.
But let me look in my files.
If I had one and didn't send it, then that was an oversight by me.
But I don't actually see one in my materials.
Yeah, I think I'm just trying to understand.
You've all been talking about it.
It sounds characterized more as a bakery and takeout restaurant, and the request is for sales of food, beverages, and groceries, which usually I think of more convenience.
So I was just trying to understand the layout of the space.
Understood.
Like putting in an order.
yeah and i just i just want to note that sometimes these these uh like a bakery will
get characterized by lni as retail sales of food beverages and groceries or could be a prepared
food shop could be takeout restaurant so it does vary a little bit how it gets characterized by
lni and i know he said he wants to add a hood so i've i'm really interested in like the layout
of the kitchen and the right i'm assuming the vent is everything's going to be vented through
the roof that would uh that would seem to be the case yeah or out the back and then that the
basement is only dry dry goods yeah dry and storage okay and did i hear something about
prep prep some sort yeah in the basement um that yeah you know that seems to be the intent right
now but that can always you know the layout can always change of that if if need be
i really i really think flexible yeah so we we really need to see something because you know
you need to have um uh yeah you need to have commercial equipment you need to show you know
what you're going to do about whatever this baking is if there's going to be an oven what
vending is going to be and if you're talking about food prep you need to you know show us
where you're gonna where you're gonna do that yeah understood i think my last question is really
around trash it does look like there's a drive aisle right behind the building that surfaces
all of those the storefronts and i can't really tell from aerial views where the other food
businesses in the strip mall are storing their trash yeah and it's like another road parking
at the rear there's parking at the front and see you're there fairly frequently
you could probably speak more to this there's parking at the front I would
have to imagine there's a commercial hauler that all the all the units at
Imagine there's a commercial hauler that all the all the units at the strip use or the association hires.
the strip
Is that correct, Z? Yes. OK, so there's commercial hauling and all the trash is what dumpsters at the rear.
That's correct. OK. And as for the as for the parking, it's you know, it's already a strip center.
So they've got a parking lot at the front. Yeah, it just looks like the neighboring property,
which appears to be the what the collision center has a role of parking that's next to this drive
aisle at the rear which is why i was sort of asking about their venting i see yeah yeah zeed
have you begun yeah the pizza shop would be vented through the roof i would zeed would you be venting
through the roof or out the back uh it's a roof because uh pizza shop and uh you know indian
catering also they did uh on the roof okay so you so there's a precedent there for for there
having been um venting out the roof yes two business uh doing it on the roof okay
already do we want to make this a uh resumptive i mean if the board would like to see i mean i
think we have to see something okay yes we can we can do a resumption that's fine we can use the
date there yeah um why don't we see uh why don't we go through the you know door see if there's
anybody is there anybody in the virtual audience with comments about this i see no hands here
planning
good evening chair michael gall with the philadelphia city planning commission
m-i-c-h-a-e-l-g-a-l-l do you swear or affirm to tell the truth told truth nothing but the truth
i so affirm please proceed sir the comprehensive plan recommends a change in the zoning for this
location from i2 medium industrial to cmx2 commercial mixed use the proposed use would
be allowed by right under the proposed zoning and is consistent with the configuration of the
current structure planning commission therefore recommends the board grant the requested variance
for retail sales of food and beverage so hillary will have to go with the february date all right
so we're going to have a resumptive hearing for this isaac understood february 3rd
I'm guessing that's a Wednesday
but I'll look at my calendar
so just to be
just to be clear it sounds
to me that the board would like to
see some sort of an interior
floor plan and site plan
of a particular place
and answer the questions
where is he going to vent and things of that nature
got it
thank you very much
We will. Sorry, Chair. Sorry, Chair. This is Ian Hegarty. Isaac, the the date will be a Tuesday date.
That'll be a resumption hearing day Tuesday morning, 930 a.m.
Thank you. But it's a 0203 to three 2026. All right. Very good.
We'll we'll be there on the 930. Yep. Number six.
MI 2025, thank you, Isaac.
Number 20, MI 2025, 004-491-1614 West Erie Avenue.
Henry Clinton is the attorney.
He has two more, too.
Mr. Clinton is coming back in as a panelist now, Chair.
Thank you.
Good evening, Mr. Chairman and members of the board.
Hi, Henry. I'm sorry we got to you a little later tonight.
That's fine.
Could you state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Sure. Henry Clinton, H-E-N-R-Y, Clinton, C-L-I-N-T-O-N.
Right. Could you identify your client, their relationship to the property?
Sure. My client is Eleanor Mack, M-A-C-K, and she is the owner of the property.
There's a letter of support from Nicetown Tioga Improvement Team.
Our vice chair has a few questions, Henry.
Good afternoon.
Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, Ms. Graham.
And do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Okay, thank you.
You can share your screen and begin your case.
is that visible mr chairman it is sir okay good evening mr chairman members of the board again
here on behalf of eleanor mack who is on the call with me uh this is a request for a three-family
This is a request for a three-family dwelling in a rather large home on a block that has many multifamily, and it's on a wide street, Erie Avenue, that we're all familiar with.
dwelling in a rather
Table of contents, A1 to A10, as well as zoning records of the multifamily that exist on the block already.
It has to be admitted into evidence.
Refusal, again, is a use refusal.
request is for free family dwelling. This property has been vacant for a minimum of 10 years. And
when you see the outside, I think you'll agree it's a need of some tender, loving care.
We do have an RCO letter of support.
Photographs. So we've marked up the plan, the aerial plan with the multifamily that exists
on the block the one without the marking is the subject property so on this particular side of
the street the even side of the street the south side of the street there's two triplexes on the
block and just across the small street there's another fourplex or quadplex rather than a couple
multi-family across the street photographed for the front of the house
really has a nice front elevation.
This MAC is going to keep everything
and restore the front to its former grandeur.
This is an old photograph.
I can show you a more recent photograph
where the front has been cleaned up.
This is the interior photographs.
I'm just showing you the dilapidated condition
of the property.
rear yard that's looking toward the front of the building to the rear this is the basement
posters indicating that we posted the property so you can see now the front yard has been cleaned
up somewhat but still you know the exterior needs to be addressed and i do have elevations
of what it's going to look like at the end of the presentation.
The plans I'm going to go right to rather than showing the framing plans
and everything else.
These plans are called updated plans only because Ms. Mack,
because the community group asked for it.
They wanted to see where the fire rated drywall was going to be,
and so she did what we call an updated plan.
But the interior or the footprint of the property has not changed since we submitted it to Nicetown.
So I'll work from left to right.
Basement is going to be mechanicals.
There's not going to be any living quarters in the basement.
These are three one-bedroom apartments, which the community was very thankful for.
Rather than having three or four bedrooms, you could have three different individuals or couples on each floor.
And one apartment per floor.
You enter the front door to go into the first level apartment with the kitchen in the rear,
access to the rear yard for trash.
You can see we have a utility closet as well as living and dining toward the front of the house.
The entrance to the second floor, you would go up the other door that's on the front porch,
come into the second floor.
I can blow this up a little bit.
so we go up to the second floor and again it's a repeat a little bit of the first floor in terms of
of the the footprint but this time we have the bedroom in the rear and we have a galley kitchen
here we have a utility closet for uh storage and or trash probably trash because it is close to
the kitchen and then you continue up the steps to the third floor and again uh we'll have one
bedroom on the third floor. There's going to be a small addition to the rear of the property
to make that third floor a livable condition.
We have an L-shaped kitchen living in the front room
leading to the back
bedroom. And we also
have another utility closet here. A little bit of a walk from the
kitchen, but still an area to put trash in.
This is the layout of the kitchens and the baths, which a community group asked for, and Ms. Mack accommodated.
This is the front elevation, really a sharp-looking building.
I'm going to open up the porch. It's closed in right now, as I showed you at the very outset,
and just restored this building to what it looked like back in the day.
This is the rear elevation.
The only change we have in the rear elevation is the addition on the third floor is going to be stucco and not the existing brick that's there right now.
The addition on the third floor is going to be stucco and not the existing brick that's there right now.
Side elevation, again showing the addition on the third floor for that one extra bedroom.
Some interior renderings of the various kitchens on the first floor.
Second floor is the galley kitchen, and then on the third floor.
The remaining documents, the application for appeal, we have the tax.
It's not a clearance, it's just indicating that there's a credit on the real estate taxes for the property.
Zoning map, again, RSA 5 across the street is CMX 2.
The deed indicating that Ms. Mack did purchase the property in January of this year.
She has a lot of work ahead of her, but she's up to the task.
notice letter indicating mailings to over 200 properties.
I went by that kind of quick.
Over 105 properties, excuse my mistake there.
The other documents are the zoning records,
which now mirror the aerial photograph that I showed you,
outlining the number of units in the various properties.
Now, this is a rental license.
It is inactive, but there are three units there.
It's our understanding.
This is an active rental license, three units on the same side of the street, just two doors away.
1622, four units.
Again, all candor to the tribunal.
This is an inactive license.
This is a zoning permit indicating four dwelling units at 1632,
which is further down the block, a little bit more west.
Now we're across the street.
There's a daycare across the street.
It's 1603.
1609 is a two-family.
1611, two.
1613, two.
1615, two.
1627 is restored at the very end.
So just in conclusion, we are not impacting the later or heir of any adjacent property.
We are in harmony with the code.
We're harmony with the block, harmony with what the community group would like to see.
We are not really impacting the development of any adjacent property.
And my client will certainly restore this vacant property to what it once was.
And with that, I conclude the presentation and ask Ms. Mack, can you unmute yourself?
Elinor Mack is coming back in as a panelist now chair thank you
miss mac are you on the call yes i am hi miss mac could you please good afternoon
could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer yes my name is eleanor mac
Mac. It's E-L-E-A-N-O-R, Mac, M-A-C-K. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth,
the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Yes. Mr. Clinton. Thank you. Hey, Ms. Mac. How are you
this afternoon? I'm doing well. Thank you. Good. And you were on the call when I presented your
project to the board? Yes, I was. And if you had the opportunity to testify, would you adopt my
testimony as your own and as true and correct? Yes. Is there anything that you'd like to add
that I may have omitted? I think you covered everything. I just want to say that I am looking
forward to restoring this building. I think it's a beautiful building. I do interior design, and
I think it's such a shame that the building was left there in that condition, and so I'm hoping
I get approval to move forward. Thank you, Ms. Mack. Questions from the board? Yes, can you bring up
the third floor again and just to confirm where there's an addition so there's going to be
construction and the structure will be altered yes okay right right here where my cursor is
can you zoom in yes let me do that i'm sorry it's the bedroom and that's not the full extent of the
building okay yeah right here is the addition then i think my second question is i'm just
trying to understand this so for the third floor unit how you'll get there is you'll come in the
door off the porch on the left you're going to walk up the steps is there a switch back at some
You're going to walk up the steps. Is there a switch back at some point?
point yes if you go
Yes. If you go to the, on the second floor. Yeah.
When you get to the landing upstairs, you turn to your right.
And that's their Henry. And then the other door.
So that's going to be their locked door to their unit. So they're correct.
That's going to be a lot to their unit. Internal. Yes. Yes.
That's what I was trying to clarify. Thank you.
All the questions from the board.
It's good to see that there's no, that you don't go through a bedroom to get to the backyard.
Thank you for that.
Thank you for that.
And no living in the basement, correct?
Correct.
Thank you.
That's a proviso from the nice town.
Questions from our attorney?
So, Board Member Wynn raised something I was a little concerned about.
um this is a change of use application so there's no construction so if you do the addition
after you get the variance and you're going to have to come back and get a variance to do the
addition to extend the three or two or whatever the board approves if they approve it to that
new part of the building yes that is the plan okay so i just want to make sure you're clear
if the board today grants you know something other than single family at this home if you add
an addition the your lni is going to make you come back to the board to approve that use in
the new portion of the building yes i i i understand that okay i just want to make sure
you're henry henry is that your understanding yes okay all right all right thank you questions or
comments from the virtual audience?
There we have Charles Richardson. He has been
unmuted and allowed to speak.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chair and Board.
We only heard from you once early this morning. I mean, I'm a little
I don't know what's going on. The rest of my cases were either
continued or dismissed. Could you just state your name and
spell it for the stenographer certainly charles richardson r-i-c-h-a-r-d-s-o-n office of
councilwoman cindy bass room 508 city hall please proceed the councilwoman has no opposition to
granting the variance thank you very much planning commission good evening chair michael gall with
the philadelphia city planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends a change in zoning
at this location from its existing RSA-5 residential single-family attached to RM-1
residential multifamily. The proposed use would be allowed by right under the proposed zoning.
Therefore, the City Planning Commission recommends that the board grant the requested
variance for multifamily use. Thank you. MI-2025-004-491-1614 West Erie Avenue. I vote yes.
with Proviso. No household living
in the basement. Michael Johns,
my vote is yes with Proviso.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote
is yes with Proviso.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Ray McAdams, my vote is yes
with Proviso. I win, my vote is yes
with Proviso.
Maybe just stay there, right?
So I have,
just so we're clear, I have two more with you
in the two o'clock
list. Correct. And I want to go
and get ready for the 3.30 list
and you're the only one
that'll be heard on that, okay?
Okay, sorry for keeping the board.
So here, so we're going to do this.
We're going to hear them both together
but vote separately is what we have, okay?
Understood.
So MI 2025-004-750-227 Fairmont Avenue,
TB 263-537
and then 13 is
MI 2025
004-751-227
Fairmount Avenue
TA 263-537
The letter of support from Northern Liberties
Neighbors Association
Could you identify your client and relationship
to the property? Sure, my client
Mine is Fairmount Residences, LLC, and the principal of that LLC is on the call.
His name is Mayer, M-E-I-R, Badush, capital B-A-D-U-S-H.
Our vice chair has a few questions.
Good afternoon.
Have you submitted your documents five days in advance of this hearing?
I have.
And do you waive the reading of the refusals and stipulate to their accuracy?
Okay, thank you. You can share your screen to begin with your case.
Okay, thank you.
You can share your screen and begin with your case.
Thank you.
Is that visible, Mr. Chairman?
Okay. So there's two proposals before the board today, two applications, 227A and 227B. I'll do B first, but the testimony for B would also apply to A. And when we get to A, I would ask that the testimony submitted for B be included within A.
Okay, so this is a demolition of existing garages and the replacement of those existing garages with a front facade of a garage and parking spaces behind it.
And I'll explain that as I walk through.
Table of contents, A1 to A10.
That has to be admitted into evidence.
And here's the refusal.
So demolition of an existing fence.
It's really not a fence.
their garages, and the erection of a new fence wall, which is really not a fence,
it's a front facade of a garage, and the inclusion of two accessory surface parking spaces,
accessory to two single-family homes, both of which we have approval for.
And I'll explain this as we go forward.
So the one refusal has to do with the height of the so-called fence is 12 feet high and has no opacity,
whereas a fence is supposed to not exceed four feet in height
and be 50% opaque.
The second issue is accessory parking has to be accessed
from a shared driveway, alley, or a rear street.
And when I show you the photographs and the renderings,
there's already existing garages there with curb cuts.
And again, we're removing the garages
and putting open-air parking spaces with a front facade that looks like a garage.
We do have a letter of support from Northern Liberties Neighbors Association for both 227A and 227B.
All right, here's the photograph, so let me give you some context.
This is Fairmount Avenue where my cursor is, and to the right or to the east is American Street.
This is an overgrown area.
The trees have been removed, and there's two single-family homes going up on each of these addresses.
And the idea is these lots, and I'll show you site plans, are kind of shaped like L's,
and the L ends up on American Street, and that's where the parking's going to be.
So again, I'm looking westbound.
This is American Street in the front.
Existing garage is here.
the lot literally will go west and then turn
south. And there's two homes where these trees are.
Another shot, just to give you context, American
Street and Fairmount Street on the front. These are the garages.
Now we're looking southbound on American Street. These
garages are going to be removed. And these are the
two single family homes that I talked to you or mentioned earlier on on Fairmount Avenue.
Now, you can see the rear of the two homes that I just showed you on Fairmont Avenue.
And when I show you the actual site plans, I think it will all come into context for you.
All right, so here are the plans and here are the lots.
At one point, and I'll show you the lot consolidation plan, at one point there were five lots within these two existing lots.
They were consolidated into two lots.
Both lots are shaped like L's.
off of Fairmount Avenue or the single-family homes,
and then to the right or to the east will be the two parking spots
and then the front facade of a garage.
Again, Fairmount Street here, existing house,
already have a zoning permit for that,
and I had that at the end of the presentation for both 227A and 227B.
The lot then goes north and then eastward, and the two parking spots for 227A will be here, and then 227B adjacent.
And American Street is right here.
So this line, this gray line that you see, that is going to be the front facade of two open-air parking spaces.
We included the floor plans of the house just to show you what the outline was.
But again, I guess the most pertinent plan would be the first floor, which shows, you know, living, dining, kitchen area.
plan would be the first floor, which shows, you know, living, dining, kitchen area, and then
access from the rear sliding doors to a rear yard, and then another walk area to the parking space.
Space is two of them. So here's what it will look like. If you walk by the front of this property,
you're going to think it's a garage, but it's really not a garage. It's just a, and that's why
The refusal indicates that it's a fence because it's not a complete structure.
The L&I examiner looks at it and interprets this, rightly so, I think, as a fence.
And it is 12 feet high.
It's a roll-up gate.
This is what it will look like, you know, in the evening with some lighting, decorative lighting, looking down on all three sides of the front.
And again, in the back, you can see that the homes to which this garage is attached and this garage is attached.
And it really isn't a garage. It's an open air parking spaces.
We do have streets approval for the turning radius for the two accessory parking spaces.
And this is what I alluded to at the outset. And I'll blow this up a little bit for you.
So at one point, these were five lots, three on American Street, two on Fairmount.
They were consolidated to now look like the two L-lots, which I showed you on the other plans.
There was a curb cut on Framount Avenue.
We're eliminating that, and there are existing curb cuts on the garage.
Garages, plural, on American Street.
Again, this is a shot looking east on Framount Avenue.
Application for appeal, project information form, tax, clearance indicating no taxes are due.
Zoning map, again, you can see the five lots, one, two, three, four, five.
Again, not to be redundant, but they were consolidated, single family home built,
and we're looking for two accessory parking spaces for each of the homes.
the deed indicating ownership on my client notice letter sent out to 224 residences
all the addresses and these are just the prior zoning records to put everything into context
for you that we did get planning approval for the two single family homes as well as a lot line
relocation, and we also have zoning permits for 227A
and 227B, and I can walk through those.
This is the original zoning plan for the two single-family
homes, and the lot line relocation, we do have approvals
from the City Planning Commission.
Lot line relocation permit,
here's the five addresses, two on Fairmount, three on North American,
And here are the two single-family permits for the two homes on Fairmount Avenue.
And this is the street's approval.
I showed you the plan before Stamp by Streets, but this is the actual document with the street's approval for the two accessory access points.
so we in summer we have a situation where we had parking with curb cuts on american street
with a full garage we're basically duplicating the parking spaces but without the full garage
you might ask yourself why are you doing this why you know why don't you just have a full garage
i want to take you back to the to the site plan
And one of the reasons is because of the nature of the lots.
Clients just thought it would be more open area, more space in the rear of the home rather than have a garage and bunching up the yard and bunching up the rear of the property.
And again, we're duplicating basically what was there without a solid structure.
We're not impacting light and air.
We're actually bringing in more light and more air to the properties that are adjacent as well as to the subject properties.
We're not impacting the development of any adjacent property.
We're basically in harmony with what the community supports and in harmony with what was there before, i.e. curb cuts and parking.
And with that, I would ask that I could bring my client, Mr. Boudouche, if you could raise your hand and be on mute it.
Mr. Boudouche, please state your name and spell it for the stenographer.
please state your name
and spell it for the stenographer
yes my name is
M-E-I-R
last name B-A-D-U-S-H
do you swear or affirm
to tell the truth
the whole truth
and nothing but the truth
I affirm
counsel
Mr. Pradesh
were you on the call
when I presented your project
to the board
yes I was
and if you had the opportunity
to testify
would you adopt my testimony
as your own
is true and correct correct yes you have anything you wanted to add or that i omit it
um no i think you're doing a great job thank you thank you mr madosh henry he has both right
yes both 227 a and b questions from the board yeah what's the separation what's i'm sorry what's the
separation between the the properties at the bottom and your your your parking that's going
be a six foot high fence i can show it to you on the plan mr johns okay uh let me find that
okay so it's so there's so you've got this sort of brick yep so what is that a state fencing or
Or is it just like a chain link fence?
On the plan here, because I looked at that earlier, kind of anticipation of your question.
And the architect is on the call, too, Ryan Salomeo.
There's reference to a six-foot-high fence, if I can only find it.
Here it is.
Six-foot-high fence at property line.
So it just doesn't say the material.
I got, I'm just, cause you spent, you know,
they're spending some, some significant funds
on that sort of exterior.
And, you know, hopefully it's not a chain link fence.
It's, I guess, what I'm trying to get to.
Right.
Well, I would, Ryan, are you on the call?
I don't think Mr. Padush you're going to put
a chain link fence on, are you?
No, absolutely not, no.
All right.
Give me something nice, decorated,
something that the neighbors,
our neighbors will appreciate as well.
All right.
Thanks.
other questions yeah i had a question about the lack of opacity at the garage door
and what's the justification for doing solid garage doors if it's open air
uh let me let me go back to that
as opposed to having clear light
i didn't hear i missed one i didn't hear you on that one i'm sorry anything with a higher
transparency yeah i just thought i think it's done for privacy i mean if you had a if you had
a fence there uh or box fence or something like that um you would still have some privacy for the
yard and i think that was the point for this and to make it i mean it's brick uh it's it's
It's kind of rich for a garage front, but we thought this would go over better, frankly, with the neighbors and a community group.
Any other questions?
Questions from our attorney, Hiller Emerson.
No questions, Mr. Chair, just a comment.
I think based on hearing the testimony, we can vote these two matters together if the board wishes.
Thank you.
All right.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
planning commission and i'm sorry chairs no hands okay thank you i'm surprised mr everett's not on
but go ahead michael gallitz philadelphia city planning commission the comprehensive plan
recommends no change in zoning from the existing rsa5 residential single family attached zoning at
this location the curb cut off american street is an existing condition however the appellant
has not shown the compliance with fence requirements would cause economic detriment
planning commission therefore recommends the board grant the requested variance for curb cut location
but deny the requested variance for fence height and opacity okay thank you um we'll go both
together. Number 12, MI2025-004-750-227 Fairmont Avenue, TB263537. And number 13, MI2025-004-751-227
Fairmont Avenue, TA263537. I vote yes for both. Michael Johns, I vote yes.
for both.
Cheryl Gaston, I vote yes for both.
Cheryl Gaston, I vote yes for both.
Tanetta Bram, I vote yes
Tanetta Bram, I vote yes for both.
for both.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes for both.
Tywin, my vote is yes for both.
Thank you.
I'm going to end the preamble for the 3.30 list, so just hang around a little bit, okay?
All right, sure. Thank you very much.
Sure, sure. Good afternoon, everyone.
My name is Bill Bergman, and I will be chairing this 3.30 meeting of the Philadelphia Zoning Board of Adjustment.
With me is our board vice chair, Tanetta Graham.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Our board secretary, Cheryl L. Gaston.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Board member, Michael Johns.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Board member, Ty Wynn.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Board member, Ryan McAdams.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Also present is our attorney, Hillary Emerson, our zoning board director, Ane Haggerty, and our board administrator, Lakeisha Dandy.
Recording of this hearing will be posted on the ZBA website.
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So let's look at our schedule for this afternoon.
Number one, MI 2021-004-365.
4501 to 03 Belgrade. This case is continued until 4-8-26 at 3.30 p.m.
Must be heard. Must be heard. Okay.
Number two. Well, let me go right down the line here. Number two, MI 2023-006-895-2873 North Lee Street.
Michael Ruth is the listed owner, the applicant pro se.
We have no updated exhibits.
This is the fifth listing.
It was continued 12-10-25.
Exhibits were submitted on 6-11-25.
Mr. Ruth.
Mr. Chair, I just want to note for the record that in September, the deed for this property was transferred out of Mr. Ruth's name.
Right. So we don't believe he has standing any longer to pursue this appeal.
Thank you very much. So, MI 2023-006-895-2873 North Lee Street, I vote to dismiss.
Michael Johns, my vote is to dismiss.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is to dismiss.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is to dismiss.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is to dismiss.
Iowa N, my vote is to dismiss.
number three mi 2024 002 779 6907 to 11 torsdale avenue this case is continued to 418
26 at 3 30 p.m and mark must be heard
number four mi 2025 002 448 1506 cambridge street henry clinton is the attorney
good evening mr chairman just for the record mr clinton could you state your name
sure henry clinton could you identify your client their relationship to the property
sure my client is 1901 spruce family limited partnership and the general partner john roderick
r-o-d-e-r-i-c-k is on the call and mr clinton we have a letter of non-opposition from council
member young and it recommends for support from united france and phil civic association
The vote was 10 in support, 5 in opposition, 4 in non-opposition.
And our vice chair has a few questions.
Good evening.
Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, Ms. Graham.
And do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
And do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Okay, thank you.
You can share your screen and begin with your case.
Is that visible, Mr. Chairman?
It is, sir.
All right.
Again, good evening, Mr. Chairman, members of the board.
I'm here on behalf of the 1901 Spruce Family Limited Partnership.
This is kind of a unique project, kind of interesting.
So we're asking for a single-family home to be constructed upon an existing garage, which is a custom woodworking shop, and with multiple decks, porches, on a lot that's 100% lot occupied by the building.
And the big issue is we have exceeded the height limitation of 38 feet by about 8 feet or so.
But hopefully, if I explain this properly, you'll understand why.
Table contents A1 through A10, which I ask be admitted.
Here's the refusal.
So erection of an addition above an existing attached structure, that's the woodworking, custom woodworking shop, with two roof decks for use as a single-thombie household living.
So because of the configuration of this lot, we don't have a rear yard, and we're 100%
lot coverage.
There's really nothing we can do about that.
So we're kind of stuck with that.
Since we couldn't go back, we went up.
And when you look at the height of the building in context to the duplexes that are next to
it, it really doesn't look overwhelming as one would suspect if you just hear, oh my
God, it's almost 47 feet high.
We do have an RCO letter of support, and Mr. Chairman, you did outline what the vote was.
So here are the aerial photographs.
To the right are six duplexes, and when I get closer, you can see that there's three meters on the front, one for each dwelling and then one for the common usage.
Here is the one-story building in between, and there's Multithami on the left also.
A closer view, just to give you more context, this is the view from the back.
This brown or pan area is not my client's property, nor is the area where the trees are.
There is a rear door leading out there just for fire escape or for whatever to get air into the building, but is not owned by my client.
My client has tried to purchase it, but it has not happened because he really can't find the owner.
Again, some more contextual shots.
This is the front of the building, so we're going to maintain this.
It also used to be, from what I understand, and Mr. Roderick can address this more,
an area where they would bring in pieces of trolleys and have them repaired.
And that's why this area here above the door is an I-beam that's pretty long.
Obviously, it spans the whole building, but it's two feet tall.
And Mr. Roderick can also attest to that.
This window, we're going to keep it, and we're going to keep the opening to the front door.
But we're going to put in addition, hopefully, on top of it.
To the right, this is an older photograph.
This used to be a church.
This church was knocked down.
It was just a brick structure.
I actually was involved in that about 10 years ago.
This has been demolished, and all the duplexes that are there that I showed you in the aerial photographs are there now.
There's an alleyway on both sides.
There's a four-foot easement on the right-hand side to get to the rear.
And I'll show you that on the site plan.
We're now looking west on Cambridge.
You can see the three meters for each of the duplexes.
plans i i do have a proviso form because we changed the look of the roof it was a a gable
roof excuse me it was a mono roof and we changed it to a gable and i have a rendering to show you
that so here's a here's a side view of what it originally looked like it was a you know a mono
a mono roof really not without any detail and as a result of the community meeting and just
going back and forth with the client, we changed that. But I wanted to show you the site plan
and blow it up because you really can't see the dimensions. It's only 21 wide by 34 deep. That's
what this brick structure is right now. And as I said, there's an easement on the right-hand side
to get to the rear. There's also an alleyway on the left-hand side. The area in the back is not
owned by my client. You can see the properties on both sides really, really dwarf the subject
really dwarf the subject property. We're going to have roof decks front and back again,
property. We're going to have roof decks front and back again.
because we don't have any outside space. The client thought it would be best to try to take
advantage of whatever you can on existing footprint. And when you do that, obviously,
you're losing living space and that accounts for the extra height in the building.
So, this is a rendering of the front of the building.
I have some color renderings that really show what the building is going to look like because
I think it's a little bit difficult to discern with this whole roof structure going on.
But as I said, we're going to have the garage door that's going to stay there.
There's a curb cut existing, windows on the left, windows here, and some paneling in between,
and then a porch slash deck on the top floor.
So, again, let me show you the renderings, and then I think that will be more impressive than what I'm showing you here.
So, this is the gable roof that we're now proposing.
Again, the height is still at the 4610, but it makes for a better project.
The client thinks so, and I believe the community group thinks so also.
So, I'll go through the floor plans.
Excuse me, first floor.
There's no basement here.
First floor, it's going to be a flex room, maybe like a little office, a bathroom, and then a parking space.
Second floor, pretty straightforward, kitchen, living area, the porch.
Third floor, two bedrooms.
Fourth floor, a primary bedroom with a roof deck.
And also there's some light and air here coming in on the third floor.
So this is a rendering without the roof.
I do have a rendering that shows you the roof, but this is a look of us maintaining the garage door, opening up that boarded-up window, and keeping the door here.
You can see that there's alleyways on both sides.
And this is the rear of the property showing decks on all three floors.
Again, the height contextually.
I have a view that's going to show. Here it is. So this is the roof, and these are the pilot houses
on the duplexes that are next door. The duplexes are 38 feet. They were within code. I actually
was involved in that project too, but the pilot houses are about 10 feet. So when you look at
The overall context of the houses to the west, our roof is probably a little bit less in height than if you count the pilot houses.
I wanted to see if I, yeah, so this is a shot I wanted to show you.
with the pilot houses next door,
our building is slightly less in height
than the pilot houses.
Now, grant you, you know,
our facade is going to appear higher
from the street level.
But when you step back
and you look at what's next door,
we're not really that much out of context.
And again, that's subject to interpretation, obviously.
uh remaining documents are the pro forma documents that you we typically see project
information indicating uh this document tax center no taxes are due sony map again you know we are in
rm1 district uh i think it's difficult to put a single family home on this lot never mind a
a duplex so i i don't i don't want to say it was an impossibility of performance but it really is
not a lot where you could put a multifamily.
Deed indicating ownership to the limited partnership.
Zoning notice out to
99 individuals.
And that's the presentation. So I have the client,
the clients that are occupying the property right now, as I say,
they're custom millwork. John Roderick is a
the general partner of the limited partnership
that owns the property.
He's worked in this building for a number of years
and he can give you a better description
of the interior than I can
if there's any questions about that steel beam
and why is the height so much?
We have 14 feet on the first floor
so we're already starting at a high level
and to get ample bedrooms in the property
necessitated us doing what we did
and to share this presentation with you.
So, Mr. Roderick, can you unmute yourself and jump on this call?
So Mr. Roderick, can you unmute yourself and jump on this call?
Hi, President here.
Hi, Mr. Roderick.
How are you, sir?
Could you please state your name as Belfort, a stenographer?
John Roderick, J-O-H-N, Roderick, R-O-D-E-R-I-C-K.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, sir?
Counsel?
Hey, John.
Good evening.
John, you were on the call, the entire call, when I presented your project, correct?
Correct.
And if you had a chance to testify, would you adopt my testimony as your own and as shown correct?
Yes, sir.
John, can you tell the board what you're using and have used this property for over any amount of years you've used it for?
Yeah, for almost 10 years, I've been doing custom woodwork out of there.
It's also been storage for a general contractor as well.
So we've been utilizing the space for just about 10 years now.
John, I mentioned this beam a couple of times.
Can you tell me what this building used to be used for and why there's such a heavy structural aspect to it?
Our best guess was maybe an auto repair shop of some sort.
We had a phase one environmental done, which turned up nothing significant.
but overhead right where the lintel for the overhead garage door is about 12 inches up from
that is the underside of a large I-beam which carries across the span and there's two of those
in the building and they're about 16 inches high so the parapet the very front of the front facade
that parapet wall is actually quite quite short to where the roof is
um so for us to start our um first floor uh it's it's actually not much lower than the extent of
the front facade you see there is there are there any comments or explanations you want to make with
regards to the renderings or do you think it was explained adequately i think you did a great job
I MEAN IT'S A VERY INTERESTING LOT SORT OF FULL OF DESIGN CHALLENGES I THINK YOU DID AN ADEQUATE
JOB OF EXPLAINING HOW WE'RE TRYING TO INCORPORATE MAKING A SINGLE FAMILY HOMEWORK HERE THANK YOU JOHN
QUESTIONS FROM THE BOARD YES SO CURRENTLY THE STRUCTURE IS THE ENTIRE FOOTPRINT OF THE LOT
correct okay so the door at the rear what is it exiting to right uh that was one of the first
questions i asked when when i came upon this project john i'll go to an aerial photograph
john but you can you can speak to that i mean i understand what is there i actually lived around
the corner from there for 10 years so i know the physicality but like legally you're currently
showing an exit onto a property you don't own. Right. And that was existing. So, John, you've
actually, you know, if you want to go out and get some air, you actually use it. But when the time
comes for construction, you're probably going to have to close that up. Correct. Yeah, that's our
understanding. And we reached out, we tried to reach out. Our understanding is that the row home
with frontage on 15th street uh is the now rightful owner um but it was kind of confusing
for a while when sister mary scullion did the the uh development to the rear like it seemed possibly
that it was deeded to project home at one point so i had reached out prior to her passing um and
then they sort of said like we don't have any record that it's ours so that was the extent of
she's still alive oh she oh i'm so sorry yeah i was talking to her the other night i said oh my
god she came back to be honest it's it's getting late and i hear my kids screaming in the background
but i i'm so sorry i mean may she live long i think she retired is what she did yeah yeah i
think you're right that yes she she retired in a professional sense not in a different type of
that okay i'm sorry i mean i think like my main comment i i think you know i think the like
footprint all the refusals make sense to me for the but this is a it's a lot of height and it's
a very tight and compact space and i'm wondering with those single stairwell what's your what's
the plan if you know to get people off the fourth floor you don't have a lot of space there and then
And I think my second question for you is really about trash storage.
Yeah, I think I think our plan for trash is likely it would be in the garage and it would be wheeled out.
As far as egress, I mean, we haven't put any thought yet into any additional considerations aside from.
We haven't put any thought yet into any additional considerations aside from, you know, co-degress, but it is, there's a lot of verticality there for sure.
There's a lot of verticality and there's a lot of luxury amenities.
There's a lot of like outdoor spaces that don't address sort of trash and laundry.
Is there a laundry unit in here?
Yeah, there's laundry.
um yeah there's laundry in a drop zone for laundry okay right there's washer dryer and
off the hall there okay and this one i would argue you know by having so many open areas
roof decks and porches that you know if there is a situation i mean it certainly would be easy
easier to access for all the inhabitants and and or you know a fire ladder if that ever became
you know situation but i understand your point but just wanted to understand what the plan was
for the people that are going to live here okay thank you the questions no i think overall for a
tight lot i think you came up with a decent enough plan i mean it's a to put anything on that site
is pretty difficult and to sort of make a a single family dwelling uh work and get those outdoor
spaces, I think
is commendable for
this tight space. Although you still
throw that door out to the lot
that's not owned, but
you've got to deal with that
on the ground level. Yes.
Thank you. I think
the height does not look bad when you compare
the duplexes to the height.
It just really blends in nice.
Okay, other questions from the board?
Questions from our attorney, Hillary
Emerson. Not at this time,
Mr. Chair. Is there comments from the virtual audience?
I see no hands, Chair.
Planning Commission. Michael Gall with the Philadelphia City Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommended no change to the former CMX2 commercial mixed-use zoning at
this location. In 2018, the parcel was intentionally remapped from CMX2 to RM1,
residential multifamily proposed rear yard depth reflects the existing conditions the appellant
has not demonstrated that there are unique physical circumstances or conditions of the
property that would prevent it from being used in conformance with the roof deck setback
requirements of the zoning code the city planning commission therefore recommends that the board
grant the requested variance for rear yard depth but recommend the board deny the requested variance
for roof deck setback okay thank you um mi 2025 002 448 1506 cambridge street i vote yes with
proviso revised plans one page stamp icba on december 10th 2025 michael johns my vote is yes
with proviso cheryl gaston my vote is yes with proviso tenetta graham my vote is yes with proviso
I am McAdams. My vote is yes with Proviso.
I am Wayne. My vote is yes with Proviso.
Thank you, counsel. That's
four in a row we did with you today.
Thank you very much. I really appreciate it.
All right.
Is there anyone in the
audience whose
330 case has not been called?
I see no handshare.
Thanks, everybody. Great deal of work
and we're done almost an hour
earlier than we were last week, if anybody's
interested. Thank you.
thank you take care good night all good night