Thank you. Good morning, everyone. My name is Frank DiCicco. I'm the chair of the Zoning Board
of Adjustment. We have a quorum. I'm officially calling this session to order. In attendance is
our vice chair, Ms. Carol Tenere, our board member, Mr. Thomas Holloman, and our board
secretary, Confessor Plaza, along with our city solicitor, Sharon Saleta. As you're probably
aware, today is our second day holding virtual hearings. While we may have to make adjustments
along the way. Our plan is to call each case and basically proceed as we would have in a live
hearing. We ask that attorneys for applicants or other interested parties identify themselves for
the record when the case you'll be participating is called. We will then hear the applicant's
presentation followed by any presentation by attorneys representing other parties,
interested parties and members of the public not represented by council will
be then be given an opportunity to testify. We will finally hear the
recommendation of the Planning Commission. At the hearing's conclusion
the board will either vote the matter immediately or hold it for discussion
in executive session. Any case held for discussion will be voted on at the
scheduled July 21st morning session. Pardon me. A couple of changes related
to the virtual format. First, we will be administering oaths to individual
individual participants prior to their testimony rather than to the room as a
whole since we do not have a room. Second, for the benefit of anyone
participating by phone, we ask that attorneys and witnesses identify
themselves prior to speaking, and we ask that you spell your first and last name
for the benefit of the stenographer. Third, we'd like to ask everyone that is
in this proceeding...
Thank you. Third, we'd like to advise everyone that this proceeding is being
recorded and that by participating you acknowledge your agreement to be recorded so um i think we're
let me make make sure i didn't leave anything out if anyone wishes to testify after um the the case
has been hurt during if anyone wishes to testify you have to raise your hand and step right am i
correct, Tondra? You're going to have to raise your hand. Yes, as soon as the case is called,
raise your hand if you wish to testify regarding this case so we can find you and allow you to
speak. And if I could add one more thing, as regards all that who attend the hearings via
telephone, we do have a number that you can call in and record your appearance statement.
The phone number for that is 267-270-5548. That number will now be populated on all posters.
So anytime you call in through the phone, please make sure at the end of the session,
you go to that number and record your information so we have you at with an apparent statement.
Thank you. And can I add one more thing too? Mr. Chairman, we have to acknowledge that Tanya
Sunkit is part of this. Okay, Tanya Sunkit is part of this. Well, no, I mean a little more
professional. All right, I also would ask those of you who are not speaking to make sure you're on
mute until you have to speak because sometimes we get feedback. Can I add one thing, Frank,
please? Yes. Just that if you are an attorney and you are presenting exhibits that you would
like to share on the screen, you will be permitted to share the screen and present them yourself
rather than going through the host. And before we begin, there is a continuance in the morning
list for calendar number 39643. 53 North 52nd Street will be continued. That date will be
given out by Tanya Sunkit. The continuance date will be provided by Tanya Sunkit. Am I correct,
tanya yes chair okay carol please call the first case
carol can you unmute yourself please
thank you thank you tanya calendar number 39229
Thank you.
Thank you, Tanya.
Calendar number 39229, 310 Moore Street.
The attorney is Henry Clinton.
Morning, Mr. Clinton.
Henry, are you there?
there he goes
chairman henry clinton here hey good morning henry uh do you swear and affirm to tell the
truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth no i also agree to waive the reading
of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy.
Thank you.
Please proceed.
Mr. Clinton, do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate?
Carol, he already said that.
He did?
Yes, he did.
You can ask him if you want.
I would love to have that question.
Do you know what?
Just put your name and address on the record, please.
Henry Clinton, 1313 South 33rd Street, Philadelphia PA, 19146.
With me is my client, Ben Song, to my right, which I hope you can see on the camera.
And he is, we're socially distancing, and he also has a mask on.
This project concerns 310 Moore Street.
It is currently an industrial warehouse.
It's been there for many, many years.
It's just west of Oriana Street, the 1800 block, which is a dead-end street.
This is a single-story warehouse.
It has three existing curb cuts and one large roll-top garage door.
It's about 4,000 square feet, and the proposal is to demolish the existing garage slash warehouse
and to build four single-family homes on the property.
Each home will have a garage,
and we are using two of the existing curb cuts,
one on Moore Street and one on Oriana Street,
and we're proposing one additional curb cut.
So it's an existing lot.
We're asking that it be subdivided into four,
and then we're building four single-family homes.
Each home will have a basement.
The first floor will have a garage and an office.
There will be a second, third, and fourth floor with a rooftop deck.
There's no issue with regard to height.
All the properties are under the 38 feet maximum height restriction.
I have submitted my evidence binder, which includes a table of contents, which has exhibits A1 through A12.
12. And in that packet, I don't want to go through a whole 12, but it has been previously
submitted. And at the end, I'm going to ask it to be submitted into evidence. The houses range in
width from 17 and a half to 19 feet, eight inches. The depths range from 30 feet to 38 feet.
There are rear yards on every property.
One or two are seven feet, several are nine feet, and unit four is 13 feet.
There's three bedrooms in each property, and the square footage of each property, each single-family home, is roughly about 3,000 square feet.
We did revise one plan, Z1, was a zoning plan to show that there is a means of egress from the rear of each of the properties.
so they basically created an alleyway so you can get out to Oriana Street from each of the
properties. There's an elevation attached as A10 to my packet, and you can see from the elevation
that each property has a front-loaded garage, nice brick scape on the front, and kind of fits
in with the neighborhood. This hearing was originally scheduled for March 18th. Prior to
that, we had met with the community group, which is Pennsport, in early January, around January 7th
or so. At that meeting, we presented the project, and there is a letter of support in the packet
at A8 from Pennsport to support the project because it's really getting rid of an eyesore,
And it is zoned, the area is zoned RSA 5. So the garage slash warehouse is in pre-existing non-conforming use. So our use will be conforming as these are all single family residences and all within the height requirement and with why.
and all within the height requirement and and with wise we also conform. So I can go through
the floor plans if anyone requires that. I have my client here with me I'm going to ask him
Mr. Song have you heard my testimony? If you had the opportunity to testify would you have
adopted as your own and as true and correct? Thank you Henry. Is there anyone else who wishes
to testify on this matter.
I'm delaying it a little bit because we need time
if someone else wants to get in.
So, all right, seeing none.
Yes, we do have a hand up.
Kim Ahn.
I just have a quick question.
Excuse me, your name again?
My name is Kimberly Ahn.
Kimberly, do you swear and affirm that your testimony
will be true?
I apologize.
I'm rusty you swear a firm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but
the truth yes thank you and spell your name for the stenographer please
Kimberly k-i-m-b-e-r-l-y last name on a is an apple H is in Henry and is a Nancy
okay please proceed I just have one question so I'm a property owner and I
have a garage on Oriana. So I just wanted to know when you guys are, if this gets approved and
there's construction, is the, like, are we still going to have access to our garages on Oriana?
Yes, definitely. This is Henry Clinton speaking. I just conferred with my client and the answer is
yes. I know that Oriana is a dead end street. I know that there's probably five or six full top
garages there and that question was also asked at the community meeting and we
agreed at the community meeting to provide full access because we
understand that there are many businesses in Oriana Street so the answer
is yes it might be helpful if your client would provide some of the
neighbors with a contact number in case they need to block it off or any
particular you know part of the construction period might be helpful we
we will do that. Thank you. Questions from the board. Planning Commission.
This property is indicated for residential use on the city plan. We have no objection.
Thank you. Thank you, Ron. Calendar number 39229310 Moore Street. My vote is yes.
with revised plans what i'm sorry with right was it one page yes with revised play page one
revised plan one page my vote is yes with proviso yes with proviso yes with proviso
Thank you. Thank you, Sharon.
Next case is calendar number 39227, 4828 Greenway.
Mr. Clinton, do you agree to waive and stip?
Yes, I do.
Name and address for the record, please.
Henry Clinton, 1313 South 3rd Street in the Queen Memorial Building, Philadelphia PA, 19146.
With me is my client, John Cassidy, who will testify.
Do you want us both to be sworn in?
Yes, please state your names for the record.
This is Henry Slinton.
I can't hear him.
Could you ask him to spell it?
It's C-A-S-S-I-D-Y, John.
John, do you swear and affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Henry. Please proceed.
Good morning again, Mr. Chairman and members of the board. Henry Clinton, on behalf of John
Cassidy, this property is 4828 Greenway. I have submitted my evidence binder, which includes
exhibits A1 through A12, which I ask to be admitted into evidence. I'm not going to go
through and list every item that is in the table of contents because it's
self-explanatory. By way of background, this property based on my research has
been vacant for at least 15 years and probably longer. It is in a RSA 3
residential zone which has prompted several refusals which I will get to. The
property is unique in that it's 20 by 80 so it's fairly wide and fairly deep but
in an RSA 3 zone that requires an eight-foot side yard it also requires
that requires an eight-foot side yard. It also requires off-street parking. If we conform with
Australia
RSA 3, our house would only be 12 feet wide, so since the lot is 20, and the off-street parking
would require a curb cut. I have aerial photographs attached to my exhibits, which indicate that
in this section of Greenway Avenue, there is no off-street parking, even though that whole area
is zoned RSA 3. So it's basically a physical impossibility to conform with RSA 3. However,
we are conforming with RSA 5 as our proposal is a single-family two-story home and all the homes
on that block are two-story to conform with what is on the block. It is again a single-family home
and if you look at the elevations which are attached as A12 you can see that we tried to
match the house next door which has a nice front porch with a little roof over the porch and then
it's a two-story structure with windows on the first and second floor. The house basically is
17 wide with a three-foot side yard instead of an eight-foot side yard and the depth is 49 feet
leaving an ample rear yard and actually there's even space in the front because when you walk up
to the home, it requires an approach of about 15 feet or so. So there's ample open space
in the front and in the rear. We did meet with Southwest Philadelphia District Services.
As the board may recall, this project was to be presented March 18th. The city went silent just
about March 16th or 17th. So our hearing never took place. We had met with the community group
in January, January 21st. At that meeting, we presented our original plan, and the community
feedback was that they did not want a roof deck, and they did not want a pilot house.
At that meeting, we agreed in writing to remove those two items from the plans. So the plans have
been revised, and there's three pages, and we have removed the rooftop deck, and we have removed the
pilot house. If you look at the elevation, you can see that it's sensitive to the
surrounding houses and does fit in with the neighborhood. I also have, obviously,
floor plans attached, aerial photographs attached. The aerial photographs, you
know, indicate that it's there's trees on the property and does conform to my
representation that it has been vacant for a minimum of 15 years. The floor plan
is pretty straightforward. I can go through that if the board wants me to. If not, I'm going to
ask my client if he adopts my testimony, and then I'll do a short summary. Tom, do you have any
questions regarding the floor plan? You have to unmute. No. No. Okay. Thank you. All right,
Mr. Henry. Mr. Cassidy, have you heard my testimony?
Did you hear his response? He said yes, he had.
If you had the opportunity to testify, would you adopt my testimony as your own and as true and correct?
So just in summary, this is a unique situation in an RSA 3 zone, which requires an eight-foot side yard.