ZBA Hearing - October 15, 2025

we we we don't really we struggle with the max trying to get them yeah if i could then request

a short turnaround we'll we'll come in in person and present to the the board in person i i would

say i would say you're going to have to check with the staff first you'd have to call in here

and they'll see about when in fact they can reschedule us okay i can't i can't do it right

now understood all right and and um thank you for trying we appreciate it and uh um we'll we'll the

staff will do their best to get you back in here i thank you for your uh understanding greatly

appreciate that thank you anyone in the audience whose case has not been called from the 9 30 list

i do not see any hands raised mr chair thanks everybody for uh hold up hold up

which one hillary

i believe it's miss adrian fernandez yeah that's right she's been about to speak

hello hi adrian can you hear me okay hi you have a case today um yes i'm sorry i missed

continue this morning um is 1925 was somerset was that continued or some other action

mr fernandez that case was continued until april 15 2026. okay thank you sorry i missed it this

morning you can always call us after the hearing as well thank you thank you okay all right all

thing um all right i see everybody at two o'clock and uh we all live through the fire uh drill thank

you

how many people

all right thank you oh here

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 secretary cheryl l gaston

president mr chairman our board member michael johns president mr chairman our board member

tya winn and our board member ryan mcadams president mr chairman also here is hillary

Emerson, our attorney, our zoning board director, Ian Haggerty, and our board administrator,

Lakeisha Dandy.

Recording of the hearing will be posted on the ZB 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,

then wait to be sworn in.

Once you've been sworn in, please state your name each time before beginning your testimony.

Any person may enter their appearance as an interested party.

there are three ways you can identify the case property 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 following guidance is for remote attendees when directed you must raise your

virtual hand in order to be recognized to speak. If you're called to testify, 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 cases in the Q&A.

If you're participating by phone, press star 9 to raise your hand and star 6 to unmute.

For our in-person attendees, please refrain from talking, eating, or drinking. Verbal

and physical aggression will not be tolerated restrooms are across from the elevator a water

fountain is just down the outside the room to the right when speaking on the record you must speak

directly to the microphone in order to be heard by all attendees and the court reporter in the

event of 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 doors. In case of evacuation, the rally point is Love Park, directly across from

Art Street. Please remain here so we can account for you. So let's look at our schedule for this

So let's look at our scheduler for this afternoon.

afternoon.

Let's see here.

Number one, MI 2025, 000452, 1804 Bainbridge Street.

This case is continued, attorney-moving party.

number 7

MI 2025

003209

3427 North 6th Street

that case is continued

are there any other requests for continuance

good afternoon chair

this is Yvette Benton I'll be your co-host

for this afternoon

I see no hands at this time

All right, so the date for number 7, 3427 North 6th Street, is 2-11-26 at 2 p.m.

Number 3, MI 2025-000-696-8030 Frankfurt Avenue.

We have no updated exhibits.

This is the second listing.

um mucoyne beauty company current owner shiana daru this is the second listing

we also believe there's an attorney needed to proceed is there anyone in the audience

i see no hands share okay

okay so this is the second listing so mi2025 000 696 8030 frankfurt avenue

No, I vote to dismiss.

Michael Johns, my vote is to dismiss.

Cheryl Gaston, my vote is to dismiss.

Ryan McAdams, my vote is to dismiss.

Iowan, my vote is to dismiss.

And number five, MI 2025-003-193-421 North 9th Street.

No exhibits.

This is the first listing.

Adam, Exu, and three-time investment, LLC.

see i see no hands chair so sorry we have no exhibits right come on up

well council one of you one of my book account council why don't you state your name and spell

for this yes uh john mccreash mccreesh right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole

truth and nothing but the truth uh yes i counsel to this is the first listing no exhibits were

sent in did you send in the exhibits this is adam zoo he's a property owner adam could you please

state your name and spell for the stenographer yes adam a-d-a-m adam shoe a-d-a-m last name x-u

i'm the property owner right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing

but the truth yes i do so counsel we don't we don't have any of the exhibits did you put in

the exhibits the lease and things like that excuse me this is the reporter i'm having difficulty

hearing okay so why don't you both sit down please and talk into the microphone sure

okay uh adam what what did you say what did you send in who did you have to speak into the mic

please okay uh uh there's a at the same level i stop by and i send drop all the paperwork to

to the staffs over there are you referring to the municipal services building

It's right here.

It came all the way up to me.

Okay, so exhibits have to be submitted electronically,

and they have to be submitted online.

So I don't...

The exhibits aren't...

You can drop off your application when you file the appeal,

but the exhibits are not submitted here.

They're submitted electronically.

Okay.

You want to continue it then?

Yes, okay.

All right. So sorry about that. And, you know, if you get a chance, just call and we'll tell you how to do it. OK. All right. So M.I. 20, 25, 0, 0, 3, 1, 9, 3, 4, 21, North 9th Street. Cases continued until 2, 11, 26.

At 2 p.m.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, sir.

we're going to go to our add-on list number one mi 2025 002 910 4351 peach and street the vote

in this matter has been rescheduled to wednesday october 29th at 2 p.m number two mi 2024 007

282-10784 Lockhart Road.

2-8-2-1-0-7-8-4

Lockhart Road.

I vote yes with proviso.

Per refusal, dated 10-1-25.

Michael Johns, my vote is yes with proviso.

Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes with proviso.

Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes with proviso.

Ryan Wynn, my vote is yes with proviso.

Okay, we're going to try to stay in order a little bit here.

Number two, MI-2025-000492-6515 Ridge Avenue.

Richard DeMarco is the attorney.

There's a letter of support from Roxburgh Development Corporation,

a letter of non-opposition from Council Member Jones.

Here, Mr. DeMarco is coming back as a panelist now.

Also unanimous support from Ridge Park Civic Association.

There apparently is also a CBA.

Pardon me?

Yeah.

We see Mr. DeMarco's hand.

He's coming back in as a panelist now, Chair.

Thank you.

Sorry, Mr. Chairman.

I joined really slow.

Good morning.

Good afternoon.

Hi.

Good afternoon.

Could you please state your name and spell for this sonographer?

Yeah, sure.

Richard DeMarco, D-E-M-A-R-C-O, last name spelled.

Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

Yes.

Could you identify your client, their relationship to the property?

Yeah, the client is an LLC, 6515 Ridge, LLC.

Right, and our board secretary, Cheryl L. Gaston, has a few questions for you, sir.

Sure.

Good afternoon, counsel.

Good afternoon.

did you submit your exhibit packet to the zoning board five days in advance of this hearing

yes and do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to his accuracy yes thank you

you may share your screen and begin your presentation thank you

uh mr chairman members of the board we're here uh excuse me let me bring this up there we go

Can you see my screen okay?

The building was built, but what happened during the process is L and I kind of shifted their reading of one of the code provisions relating to surface parking.

And even though the garage, the proposed garage was open to the elements, it was deemed to be a closed garage.

And we were unable to include the garage with the original project, which was approved almost four years, more than four years ago.

But what we did was, since parking is a requirement, we're in the CMX, I have the refusal up, so you can see we're in a CMX2 district.

Since parking was a requirement, the code actually does allow you to include parking within 1,000 feet on another lot, as long as it's 1,000 square feet and some other bells and whistles.

So there is actually, was accessory parking including with the original, but it was off-site.

All right. So we have now returned to the board for indoor parking. The code has undergone, and then by the way, there's an overlay here, the Ridge Park overlay, Mr. Chairman, members of the board, which has been a work in progress to say the least.

But the garage is now permitted within the structure, but we ran afoul of the access, the curb cut, being what's considered a side street.

But there is no rear access. I'll show you when I get to the site plan in a moment.

There is no rear access point. It's the rear yard, basically.

And it's against another property.

So the only feasible access that would be allowed by the streets department would be on Gorgas Lane.

So let me get right to that.

And as you already announced, Mr. Chairman, we engaged in a process with the Ridge Park Civic.

I want to commend them for working with us on this.

We made a pretty detailed agreement.

The agreement has already been signed.

You know what, I'm going to use a better copy of this because it's, yeah, let me blow this up so you can see the interior parking.

the interior parking. So basically the highlights of the CBA are we agreed to pursue

So basically the highlights of the CBA.

two-way parking on Gorgas Lane up to this point here, indicating with my cursor.

So this was actually a not two-way parking, currently is not, but we're working with

Ridge Park Civic, the other RCO, the RDC, and the councilman's office, Councilman Jones,

who is also not opposed to this variance, and the councilman's office, through everyone's effort,

secured a preliminary approval from the streets department for the two-way, which was something

that was very important to the neighbors. It's really the key factor in the approval, and there's

some other landscaping elements, which I don't need to go into full detail. I'll show you in a

moment, but Streets has preliminarily approved this two-way parking and some additional signage,

and there's a proposed no left turn sign that we're also working with Streets on and the

councilman's office and our Ridge Park Civic, but I believe that is also going to be approved.

So those are really the highlights of the CBA. This is the layout of the interior garage.

There's obviously the handicapped spots and bike parking as well.

There's also going to be a very large no right turn sign here so the people coming in and out of the building will not turn down Gorgas Lane where we have the residents.

So let me go back.

Let me just show you that this is the CBA.

This has been signed and executed by all parties.

And again, this really was a collaborative effort.

I give a lot of credit to the councilman's office and to Ridge Park Civic for working with us on this.

Obviously, the increase of on-site parking is going to be a much better scenario than people having to park elsewhere and then walk to the building.

There's 100 units in the building.

So obviously, we feel this is a good common sense variance.

And again, Mr. Chairman, the only variance that we need is that side access variance, which was really meant for those row home neighborhoods that wanted to encourage rear access parking on the row homes.

And this is a very large, as you can see here, I'll go back to a very large mixed use structure that really is not what the variance, the code provision was intended for.

But here are the highlights of the CBA, the no right turn sign, the two-way traffic.

And let me just show you, there are landscaping and fencing provisions that we will, of course, abide by.

And those were obviously what led to the unanimous support, unanimous vote of the neighbors for the variants.

Obviously, they weren't happy that the original building was approved over the counter.