We go live DPZ Zoom.
I'm sorry.
Thanks.
Am I on to start?
If we could wait maybe two minutes to allow all to come into the Zoom room.
Thanks, Tonya.
Madam Chair, we currently have 80 participants, you can now proceed.
Thank you.
Good morning, everyone.
My name is Carol Tenere, and today I'll be, this morning, I will be the Acting Chair of the Zoning Board of Adjustment.
I will be participating in today's hearing along with Board Secretary Confessor Plaza and Board Members Thomas Holloman and James Snell.
Also in attendance will be Board Administrator Fatina L. and Board Attorney Sharon Saleta.
For those of you who haven't yet participated in one of our virtual hearings, I'll go through some of the basics of what you can expect.
First, we will be administering oaths to individuals, participants prior to their testimony.
Second, we'd like to advise everyone that this proceeding is being recorded and that by participating, you acknowledge your agreement to be recorded.
This is also available to the public on the web or otherwise.
Third, for anyone participating by phone, if you wish to testify, you must raise your hand by hitting star nine, then star six to unmute yourself.
I will repeat that. If you wish to testify or if you are participating by phone, you must raise your hand by hitting star nine, then star six to unmute yourself.
To enter an appearance statement, call Google, strike that, call 267 -270 -5548 and leave your email address and address of the property at issue.
The number again is 267 -270 -5548.
Fourth, the question and answer box is not for testimony.
Any comments are to be directed to Ms. Tanya Sunkett or Ms. Bettina L.
Are there any continuances this morning?
If there are, please raise your hand.
And you'll be called and you'll be asked to put your name on the record.
Excuse me, Madam Chair.
Would you read out those where we have already received the continuance request first?
I sure will.
Calendar number 2021 -000118 -2361 East Allegheny Avenue.
This case is continued.
calendar number 0693 4733 leaper street this case is withdrawn
now are there there's i'm sorry to keep interrupting this is sharing again that's okay
if you could also read out number five as withdrawn please i sure will calendar number
Number 0232 -2404 Lehigh Avenue is being withdrawn.
And now, are there any requests for continuances?
Madam Chair, Mr. Barton Levy has his hand raised, I won't allow him to speak at this
time okay can you hear me uh yes i can hear you uh i cannot see you and i see your hand raised can
you put your name and address on the record please and spell your last name certainly my name is bart
B -A -R -T -L -E -V -Y. I'm an attorney in Pennsylvania. My ID number is 204800. The address of my office is 1500 Market Street East, 12th floor.
the address of my office is 1500 market street east 12th floor the property in question is one
one one second do you swear our firm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i do okay and the property address 120 north 53rd street
it's calendar number 0131 120 north 53rd street this shows that you have no exhibits
your uh madam chairman we would just um retain in this matter and we've advised our client that
they will first have to do a meeting with the rco and that's what we're trying to coordinate now
we humbly ask for a continuance uh to complete this work
okay this is the first listing this will be continued and uh miss sunk it or miss
Does this become a must -be -heard?
Not necessarily, but I think there might be someone from the councilwoman's office who wanted to speak on this as well.
Okay. Is there anyone here who would like to speak?
Please raise your hand.
And that would be Andrew Goodman if he is in attendance.
Thanks. Good morning. Good morning, Mr. Goodman. Yep. Can you put your name and address your name on the record and spell your last name? Absolutely. Andrew Goodman, G -O -O -D -M -A -N, here representing the office of Third District Council Member Jamie Gaudier, Room 586, City Hall.
Thank you. Do you swear if I'm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Okay. There has been a request for a continuance.
Yes, we support the continuance so that the RCO meeting can take place.
Okay, great. Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Is there anyone else who would like to testify?
Madam Chair, Mr. Vern Anastasio's hand is raised. I will allow him to speak right now. I'm not sure if he's speaking to his case or another case, but all the same, I will allow him to speak now.
Good morning, Madam Chair.
Hi, Mr. Anastasio. Name and address, please. And are you speaking on 120 North 53rd Street?
no i'm speaking on 7968 caster street verne anastasio a -n -a -s -t -a -s -i -o 1315 walnut suite
1006 -19107 i represent the okay one second what i have to do is officially continue another case
oh okay and then i'll then then you're next mr levy yes ma 'am your case is continued
thank you do you uh do you have any uh range of time that we could have to do the meeting
sometimes no you'll have to speak to ms sonkett the board administrator
okay um mr anastasio yes thank you
do you swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i do in the case you're referring to is 79 56 caster avenue 68 i believe it is 79 68 caster
what number is that
on our list we have number 13 on the 9 30 list and we have 79 56
dash 68 okay and madam chair i believe um someone from council in o 'neill's office is
also here who may want to speak if they could raise their hand absolutely madam chair i just
would like to withdraw this case you're moving to withdraw the entire case i am
okay i i would still like to hear from someone from councilman o 'neill's office
i'm sorry i have a number of him of hands up to whom am i uh giving permission to speak
um i believe alice yudovich
i'm sorry excuse me the councilman is in attendance so councilman brian o 'neill please
a councilman he's been allowed to speak now thank you okay councilman o 'neill yes madam chair
Yes, Madam Chair. Hi, how are you? Do you swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
hi how are you do you swear to tell the whole truth and nothing
Yes, I do. And I would just request that this be withdrawn with prejudice. This case has been
around a long time. And these neighbors have been worried about this. We've been pressing
for a week to let people know if this case was being withdrawn. And found out last night that
it was uh and i would just ask that it be um withdrawn with prejudice i think the neighbors
are entitled to that i have to object madam chair uh withdrawing with president you know my client
has not behaved in any way form or fashion that would warrant that uh that it'd be withdrawn with
prejudice he you know he consistently acted in good faith made every intention of working with
the council office and the community and by the way any new development plan would be subject to
the same RCO and the same councilmanic review as as this particular plan did so there's no I mean
withdrawing it with prejudice is just unwarranted itself there's obviously something wrong because
the civic association is in opposition councilman O 'Neill is senator John Sabatina is Sharon can I
do this with prejudice if i make it if i make the development one second bern sharon can i do this
with prejudice um you can it's the board's call okay i think it's a little much you know um i can
make a development six inches small shorter than we have right now and we could come right back in
the process so dismissing it with prejudices withdrawing it with prejudice i just think is
overkill uh maybe it's for some sort of showmanship but i have to object okay thank you um i'm going
to um rule on this calendar number unless you have something else to say councilman
no i'm fine okay uh calendar number zero zero two one 79 56 castor avenue this is withdrawn with
prejudice thank you madam chair thank you thank you i'm sorry um if i could ask dpc zoom are you
there yes i am i'm sorry could you make me a co -host please oh okay sorry chair i had to go
and come back in it's okay
are there any other requests for continuance
okay madam chair i have mr zen jin with his hand raised i will allow him
to speak at this time okay good morning
Good morning, Mr. Jin. Can you put your name and address on the screen?
Yes. Zhen Jin, Z -H -E -N -J -I -N, 1617 John F. Kennedy Boulevard, Suite 1838, Philadelphia, PA 19103.
Okay. Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
And you are here on 2361 East Allegheny Avenue, calendar number 0118.
Actually, I am raising my hand regarding 2848 South Elder Street, which we have made a request to withdraw. That is 2021 -000117.
Where? And what is the name of the street?
I'm sorry, it's 2848 South Elder, ALDER Street. I have a calendar for this morning, that's why I raised my hand.
We don't have that on the 9 .30 list.
Okay, that's not a problem then.
What I'll do is I'll check again where it falls in the list
and maybe we did send in a request to withdraw this matter though.
Ms. Hsu -Chin, could you call me offline?
Thank you.
Thank you.
Madam Chair, if we could also call number seven.
I believe there is someone here for this.
There are no exhibits.
okay sure calendar number zero one three zero thirty seven forty three aspen street
the owner is nicholas coombs
madam chair you said uh nicholas uh nicholas coombs yes i have uh hugh coombs with his hand
raised. I'll have to speak at this time.
Yes. Good morning. I'm so sorry. I'm a teacher. I'm not familiar with. Excuse me. Excuse me. Can you put your name and address on the record, please? I'll wait to be sworn in. Okay. I'm sorry. I apologize.
Yes. Good morning.
I'm so sorry.
Name and address.
It's Nicholas Coombs, 3743 Aspen Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104.
There are four. Okay. Do you swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Yes, ma 'am. Yes, madam chair. Okay. All right. Can I proceed?
Yes, you may proceed. Excuse me. I'm sorry. Mr. Coombs, I noticed had a question in the chat as
to whether his hearing was going forward today. Because there were no exhibits,
he would have to um it would have to be continued and he would have to submit those five days in
advance of the next hearing date okay mr coombs we're going to continue this case because we need
all of the exhibits in five days before the hearing so madame chair i'm sorry i thought the
rco was supplying uh the i i gave them like the drawings and everything and it was already approved
by DRCO and Mr. Combs can you speak to the head here you will contact the RCO ZBA email box for
further information case is continued Madam Chair you can move on okay this case is continued
calendar number 0130 3743 Aspen Street are there any other requests for continuances
Madam Chair, I have Mr. Sloan Foulkes with his hand raised.
I will allow him to speak at this time.
Thank you.
Good morning, Madam Chair.
Good morning, Mr. Foulkes.
How are you?
I'm well, ma 'am.
Thank you.
Name and address, please.
My name is Sloan Foulkes, S -L -O -A -N -E, F as in fire, O -L -K -S, representing the Office
This is up, Councilwoman Maria Quinones -Sanchez,
room 508 City Hall.
Okay, you may proceed.
No, do you swear to tell the whole truth
and nothing but the truth?
Yes, ma 'am, I do.
Okay, shoot.
We're requesting continuances on two cases.
The first case is calendar number 00098516162nd Street.
um the uh applicant has not met with the uh the coordinating RCO which is uh South Kensington
Community Partnership this is their third listing if no one is here to represent them we would
request that this case be dismissed okay there are no exhibits yes Sharon go ahead I'm sorry I
was just going to point out no exhibits third listing but if we could call to see if anyone
is here representing them. Is there anyone here representing North 2nd Street?
I see no hands, Madam Chair. Okay, calendar number 0985 -1616, North 2nd Street. This case is
dismissed. Thank you, ma 'am. The second case is dismissed. Excuse me, we need everyone to vote on
that? Dismissed. Dismissed. Okay. Okay, Mr. Folks, go ahead. Thank you, and I apologize.
The second case is calendar number 002039, number 11 on your list. We request continuance of the
applicant. We're working with the applicant to set a meeting up with the RCO, the coordinating RCO,
and we'll try
to work into a system
process. This is a church.
Okay. Is there anyone here on this case?
5070 Whitaker Avenue
calendar number 2039.
If you're here, please raise your virtual hand.
I see no hands, Madam Chair.
Sharon, is this a continuance or a dismissal?
Mr. Foulkes, do you have a position on that?
Yes, we would like this to be continued.
They are new to the process.
They reached out to our office,
and we're just working to set up this meeting with the RCO.
Okay, great. Thank you.
It must be heard.
Calendar number 2039, 5070 Whitaker Avenue.
This case is continued and it's a must be heard.
This case is continued and it's a must be heard.
Is there anyone else requesting a continuance?
No further hands at this time, Madam Chair.
Okay, so we're going to case number one.
Calendar number 006.
Excuse me, Madam Chair, I believe you're voting the add -on first.
You're right.
Calendar number 3420 -2143 Christian Street.
My vote is yes, with revised plans consisting of one page.
Yes, for proviso.
Yes, for proviso.
Yes, for proviso.
Thank you. Now we're going to the regular list, calendar number 0065, 1014 North Marshall Street.
The attorney is David Orfanides.
Mr. Orfanides has been promoted to panelists.
I'm waiting to see him. Mr. Orphanides, can you put your name and address on the record,
please, and spell your last name? Certainly. My name is David Orphanides. The last name is
spelled O -R -P -H -A -N -I -D -E -S. I'm with the law firm Orphanides & Toner at 2 Penn Center, 1500
John F. Kennedy Boulevard, Suite 800, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19102. Thank you. Do you swear
a firm to tell the whole truth and I'll think about the truth. I do. Do you agree to waive
the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy? Yes, I do. And have you emailed an
exhibit packet with the required documents consisting of proof of ownership, tax compliance,
refusal or referral, copy of the plans, photos, five days in advance of this hearing? And have
you met with the RCO? And do you have a letter? It's all yeses. Yes. Okay. Yes.
You may proceed.
All right.
May I share briefly?
No, I can't say yes to that.
I'm not sure I can say yes to that, but I'll try my best.
You know that.
So may I share my screen?
Yes, you may.
Thank you.
Can everybody see my screen?
going to move back up to the top. So again, my name is David Orthonides. I'm here this morning
on behalf of Philly Construction Company, LLC. It's the owner of the subject property, 1014 North
Marshall Street. I have with me in, we're in our conference room here in our office, and I have
with me my clients, Eran and Ila Albuher. They are the owners of Philly Construction Company, LLC,
the owner and then they're also the tenant and operator by a lease dated 9 -22 -15 open space
studio LLC so they they own it and they lease to that they own it and with their own entity and
they lease it to another entity that they own okay what we're here for today is as we're here
for a special exception so this is you know let's start out right from the beginning this is not a
variance case. I have included in the exhibit materials that I forwarded previously and that
I have up on my screen at tab 15. I can go through that a little bit about what the standards are
just to remind the board very quickly how this should move forward and what the standards are.
But this matter involves an event space. It's a very small event space. I can show you some
photographs of it really quickly and here you see it's a photograph of open space and it's a one
story building um the cellar or basement was previously permitted for a music recording
rehearsal studio um basically that my client uses um he's a musician and um that was previously
permitted by right prior to, I think that was back in 2015, August 5th of 2015, a permit number
629849 for the seller. Back in 2016, I came before this very board and a calendar number
26612 for to permit to secure a special accept
uh for to permit to secure a special exception for the event space on the ground floor
it's the same thing that we're here for today because the result of that hearing was that a
three -year temporary was granted and again that was a calendar number 26612 notice the decision
was dated 210 -2016 the permit that was issued in connection was that with that uh granting of the
special exception by the zoning board was issued on february 22nd 2016 and that permit number was
646272 okay so the upstairs of open space is an event space it's an event how many people maximum
so i can show you on the plan so it's 99 people so and it's 99 on the ground floor and then there
some bathrooms to meet the bathroom requirement the rear of the cellar but other than that the
ground floor the cellar is just for the recording studio okay so here's here's a floor plan and and
you know you look at it and you say you know where's where are all the details but um really
the whole front space and i'll show you in a couple minutes what it looks like um it is open
um the back you have a kitchen and i can zoom in here a little bit and i can show you what the
photographs to the rear to the back you have a kitchen you have two bathrooms and then again
the stairs that lead downstairs to the to the additional bathrooms and again we you know we
went we established the criteria for the granting of the special exception back in 2016 and again
the board granted that granted as a temporary I think the idea being because Mr. Albuher has
my clients have functions that at times, and we're going to get into that, involve 50 or more people
where there may be live music or DJs. This is technically a nightclub or private club under
the zoning code. And that's why back in 2016, it required the granting of a special exception.
the recording studio in the cellar. And then again, here's the permit that was issued back
in 2016 by special exception for the nightclub private club, technically what it is, because
on occasion it does have that. Although that's how it was deemed at that time to be a nightclub
and private club, because we weren't sure how the, this was, it was brand new, it was
proposed. And what's interesting is, is that I'm going to show you the definition of a nightclub
and private club and it talks about an operation that regularly has 50 or more people live music
and or and djs um and you'll hear from my client or i'll state for the record um that he does we
don't meet that standard or that threshold of regularly because as you would know from a night
club or private club they're generally open every single weekend weeknights they always have live
music they always have 50 50 or more people they always have djs and that's not the case here not
only in terms of the frequency of events which we're going to get into but also how many of
those events tend to have 50 or more people live music or djs so now when you say the number excuse
me 99 do you mean the music studio the recording studio and the private club would equal 99 or
there could be 99 on the first floor 99 in the basement no the 99 no I mean the recording studio
if you see the pictures it's really for Mr. Albuquerra and his friends but it is permitted
for that but as you'll see here at tab 14 I have the actual certificate of occupancy that was issued
uh November 10th 2017 and that and that was for the ground floor and again the plans I can I can
provide you the actual plans but the floor plans that I'm showing you are based off of the plans
that were permitted with the certificate of occupancy which is just for the ground floor.
But if I were to show you just so we're clear what we're talking about even though again
that was that's permitted by right this is CMX2 zoning district and that's permitted by right I
can show you the interior photographs here's the upstairs from the back towards the front
from the front towards the back you're going to see these sound panels that we're going to talk
about a little bit more as we go along the kitchen which I showed you was towards the back
one bathroom handicap bathroom another bathroom and then the stairs to the cellar and this is
and this is the recording studio i you couldn't it's not massive i mean i know you know your music
the recording studio. You couldn't, it's not massive.
and i know you've probably been in your fair share of recording studios i'm sure
um just by the picture on the back behind you you can see the stones back there
so um but yes it's small it's not you know it's not generally used by the public it's it's really
really just intended for mr and his friends so it's not something he markets um and so in terms
of the occupancy of that space it's not something that uh that affects anybody either at the
property or outside of the property and this is all the seller and seller storage area for the
operation what would the days and hours of operation be so i mean so when we went we went
through previously, and I thought it was in my exhibit book, but with the permits, but so
originally the community group that had jurisdiction over this property back in 2016 was West Poplar
CDC. It's now the 14th Democratic, the 14th Ward Democratic Executive Committee. At that time,
they provided hours that was seven days a week, 10 in the morning to generally 10 a night, 10,
11 o 'clock at night, and with occasional special events that you would go to no later than 2 a .m.
And this was not in my exhibit book, but this is from the zoning archives, and I can show you that
letter. And just so you know, like to answer your question, we've complied with this. You can see
the days and hours. By the way, this letter is referenced in the permit that I showed you,
that result that came out of your last hearing on this. You both, your notice of decision and
the permit references this specific letter and in this letter it says up to seven days per week
10 a .m no later than 11 except in the case of special events will should not be the norm
special event hours we know later than 2 a .m okay so we we've maintained that
and i mean to cut to it a little bit in terms of making establishing the standard again that we have
for um for for the special exception case uh if you just give me one minute
so in terms of a special exception i'm just going to scroll to the relevant section of the zoning
code one minute mr rafanidis do those hours include upstairs and downstairs that's this is
that's just about the upstairs because the only thing before the community group was and before
the zoning board back in 2016 and today is the is the the event space downstairs is permitted by
right um okay and it's not the subject of this matter and it wasn't subject then there was a
previous you know i referenced the permit from 2015 permit 629849 it was granted it's allowed
in CMX2, I can show you in the table right here. Here's where nightclubs, technically nightclubs
and private clubs are a special exception. And then if I go to right down here, you can see,
let me switch to a hand, or I can take a box and draw a box around it. You can see here where
radio and television, you can see where I've circled it now, is permitted by right. And that
was that permit so we are we're not here about that at all um we're here simply about to get a
special exception um again for the nightclub and private club uh that's on the ground floor okay
where's trash going to be stored the trash is stored in the rear there's the rear of the property
and there are trash cans to the rear um that's on our property to the rear it's not visible from
the street. It's stored in the back and then brought out to the front. We are permitted under
the city code as a commercial operation to put out x amount of trash on the sidewalk and we that's
what we do and we do it in an orderly fashion when there are events. But back to real quickly
back to just like Ken. So the criteria for the special exception says the applicant should have
the initial duty of presenting evidence and the burden of proof that the proposal proposed use
meets the definition for the use permitted by special exception, that all dimensional
standards are satisfied. We're not talking about changing the height or area of the building
and that it complies with specific use criteria. And then it talks about initial burden being
establishing the following criteria beyond that which normally might be expected from the proposed
used, being a nightclub or private club. Again, this is even a nightclub and private club as it's
presently operating. But we're going to move forward as if it is. And I can talk about whether
it is or isn't. You can make that determination. But we're going to move forward as if it is.
we're going to move forward as if it is. And that talks about congestion in public streets or
And that talks about congestion in public streets or transportation systems.
transportation systems, overcrowding the land, impairing inadequate supply of light or air to
adjacent property, which here, obviously, we're not changing the building as it isn't applicable.
Burdening water, sewer, school, park, or other public facilities, there's going to be, there's
nothing here that would do that. Impairing or permanently injuring the use of adjacent
performing properties, again, beyond that which normally might be expected from the proposed use,
endangering the public health or safety by fire or other means there's there's we meet all codes
regarding fire safety and then the inconsistency with the comprehensive plan of the city of
philadelphia once we establish those which we're going to get into then it shifts over to the any
opposition to go through these things and talk about again that any here we are beyond that which
might normally be expected from the proposed use.
I've already talked about how nightclubs generally -
Excuse me, Councilor.
Can you summarize?
All right.
And Tony, can you speak a little bit louder too?
Oh, okay.
So there's an echo here.
If we understand the code and all of that,
I agree with Mr. Holloman.
The only reason I'm going to this length
is that there were some neighbors
that came to the community group meeting.
We did three 14303 notices for the community group meeting.
And I'm just concerned regarding the record in the event of anything here for you and for you to make the right decision.
My client is here. He can speak to it himself.
But in summary, he has the number of events that he had in 2018, 2019 and 2020 are fairly limited.
And I can run through what they were real quickly, just so you get a sense of the operations.
Can you just give us the number?
So actually, 43 events in 2018, 64 events in 2019.
And in 2020, obviously, with the COVID and the shutdown, he only had 19 events.
So if you look at that, I mean, in 2018, his first full year of operation, he had less than one a week.
in 2019 he had a little more than averaging one a week and obviously in 2020 I mean it's hard to
gauge that but obviously clearly he's had like a third of it now what's interesting is Mr.
Albuquer I asked him the question and again he can adopt my statements in 2018 I asked him I said
of those in 2018 of those 43 events how many of them had 50 or more people music and or DJ his
answer for 2018 was four his answer for 2019 was eight to ten and for 2020 it was none um in addition
to all that Mr. Albuqueron included in my exhibit book has been continuing to work on soundproofing
his property um and so he has a sound compressor attached to the sound system he has a sound meter
at the site. He's, he has replaced the front windows in 2020. He added acoustical panels in
2019. And then there's a proposal that I've included. Where is it? There, here it is. He
has a proposal to have additional work done. There you see the $3 ,200. And then another one
for $2 ,400 to have additional soundproofing done, which he's in the process of having completed.
So back to the definition of a nightclub. I mean, first of all, again, as I mentioned,
it talks about regularly. And I would put to this board that this doesn't even, you know,
the amount of events that he is having, that he has had to date, and we don't know what's
going to happen in relationship to COVID, that it's even questionable whether this is a nightclub
and private club if we are and we're fine with that characterization you know we don't necessarily
you know we don't want to make an issue of that we feel that um there has it doesn't meet we've
satisfied the burden the initial burden which is a fairly low burden that we don't create any of
those issues beyond which would normally be expected or associated with a nightclub or
private club. I think we've all seen those, and we know what those are like, and this is not that.
I will, I'd ask you to take a look at the letter of support from the community, which is a tab two.
Oops, I'm sorry. Tab two is actually the - Well, let me interrupt you. The RCO,
14th Ward Democratic Executive Committee, Westgerard Progress, is the RCO?
You're breaking up. Now you're frozen.
Can everyone hear me?
can everyone hear me yes okay he has a letter of support as we know with provisos
and none of them are enforceable by us other than um how we vote this
so you'll see a tab three the meeting we do see your your letter of support
with provisos none of which are enforceable by ellen i miss um soletta
Yes, Mr. Orfanides, can you confirm, I believe the RCOs said that these provisos that they were requesting are going to be incorporated into a community benefits agreement, is that correct?
That's correct. So you'll see, this is the letter that I believe that Diane Monroe sent to the full board.
She subsequently sent a letter to me and to Mary Jones, which is the same, except this right here, it says below provisos are hereby agreed upon.
And then where she says, recognizes to grant it, special exception, to discuss and finalize a community benefit agreement once she comes home.
Regina Farrell, who we were dealing with on this project, went into the hospital over the weekend.
We were engaged in discussions to finalize a CBA at the end of the week.
Last week, I called her on Saturday after my son's softball game.
She was literally getting CAT scans.
I mean, she was amazing enough to answer the phone.
But that's when Diane had to pick it up.
We had conversations.
I have forwarded an email to Mary Jones and that was a conversation between my client and I
where he confirmed and agreed that we would do a CBA for these conditions these provisos
and I forwarded that to Mary so that she had evidence of that Mary and I did speak yesterday
about this matter and she I told her verbally she has it in writing in an email from both my client
and me that we will do the CBA with these provisos that are included in the letter because we do
recognize that they're not enforceable they're not appropriate for the zoning board and they're
not enforceable okay can you ask your client to adopt your testimony i can can i just say one
last thing and then i'll stop i promise one last thing letters of support we have at tab two um
there are i think 20 some letters from immediate property owners 23 letters from property owners
residents on the on the block um between poplar and gerard by the way we are just a couple
properties south of gerard avenue all the business all businesses to the north of us
um right to the south of us of where residences start although there's a cmx1 and then there's
63 letters included in there um at 2b that are from other people users of the event space
who don't necessarily live in the immediate area
but have felt
and benefited, have felt the benefits
of this operation and benefited
from it. If you could
identify or have
Mr. Albuher
brought online
so he can adopt my statements.
What's that?
Just, yeah, raise your hand.
You have it as
Mr. Albuher.
has been allowed to speak can you all hear mr abuher
mr abuher name and address please and spell your last name
is your video on
sorry to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth
Yes, I do.
Okay, Mr. Fernandez, you're up.
Thank you.
Mr. Albuquer, first of all, you are one of the owners of Philly Construction Company,
LLC, the owner of Subject Property?
Yes, I do.
And you're one of the owners of the tenant and operator of Open Space Studio, LLC?
And did you hear the statements that I made to the board this morning regarding our case,
regarding your operations, regarding the evidence that I've submitted?
Yes, I did.
And are they true and correct, to the best of your knowledge?
True and correct.
And would you adopt all of those statements as your own?
I adopt it as my own.
Okay, thank you very much.
And understanding we have time limitations here, I am open to answering any other questions,
and I move for the introduction of our exhibits and our testimony into the record in this matter.
Thank you.
Is there anyone here who would like to testify?
But if so, please raise your hand.
Madam Chair, I have a Ms. Regina Farrell
with her hand raised.
I will allow her to speak at this time.
Thank you.
Look at her, her trooper.
Good morning.
Good morning. Can you put your name and address on the record, please?
Good morning.
Can you put your name and address on the record please?
Yes. Regina Farrell, R -E -G -I -N -A, F as in Frank, A -R -R -E -L -L, 1238 Wallace Street, W -A -L -L -A -C -E, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19123.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Okay. David?
this is your witness she's not my witness I think she was raising her hand to participate
which I'm okay I'm amazed by it's tremendous I hope you're well Regina okay you you may proceed
thank you I am actually the co -chair of the 14th board I am the person that he was referring to
I'm actually calling from Pennsylvania hospital oh my gosh yes we are in full support of the project
and um the provisos were um we did talk about doing a um cba in conjunction with the provisos
unfortunately as he explained i had gotten ill and wound up in the hospital in the midst of doing
this and our chair diane merrill wound up finishing it for me um and in addition to the
provisos and the CBA. We just wanted to stress that. We wanted to stick to the original hours
that was originally set forth by the original
plan that was set in force when they originally came up with it. But other than that,
we are in for support of it. Okay, thank you. And I hope you're feeling better.
you are a trooper yes thank you thank you are there any other witnesses
it will thank you or people who would like to testify
madam chair i have a miss michelle chan with her hand raised i will allow her to speak right now
thank you
hi um my name is michelle chan um i actually am a neighbor oh can you put your can you put your
you just put your name on the record but can you spell it and give us your address please and then
i'll swear you in okay um you said my name first sorry yes my name is michelle chan
and you said to put my address in yes and to spell your last name and spell my last name sorry um
c -h -a -n okay and your address it's 1010 north marshall street philadelphia pa 19123 okay do
you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing about the truth yes thank you you may
proceed hi um so i'm not this is my first zoning board meeting and um what i was concerned with
because i am a resident of this community um i did attend the first meeting publicly um sorry
i have a class going on right now um so um the noise was my issue um because i'm we shared that
alleyway and half the time the last three years I didn't know what his property was about and you
know it was just concerning that um the music at night when I was trying to sleep and like you know
I have a full -time job and stuff like that so it just makes it hard um so I wasn't sure of how to
go about this but I I don't know if you got my document I submitted in the by email this letter
i think i i wrote it to the roc zba and i wasn't sure if that was the appropriate spot
did you copy me on it um the email address would have been s -u -l -e -t -a -z -b -a at gmail
um z -o -z -r -c -o -z -b -a
at phila .gov okay no then i would not have a copy manager so i sent it to the wrong person
no no it's that i you um should copy me as well but okay um can i get i guess i'll get that contact
later um let's see sorry when was that maybe you could just let the board know what is in the email
or letter okay and first of all when it was submitted maybe too hold on
Give me one second.
give me one second
Sorry, can you come back to me while I find this or is that not possible?
all right um so
um so i also wrote up something about our neighborhood it was a petition
um because i didn't know like how to send this or whatnot um we actually you know uh it says
the neighborhood of the 10 000 block of north milshire street has ever been changing what was
once a block full of commercial buildings and stores have now changed the mostly residential
neighborhood it comes to our concern that open space has become a detriment to our neighborhood
we are frustrated and fed up because we don't know what else we can do to preserve the neighborhood
as residents we the neighbors constantly have to suffer with loud music loitering trash parking
issues that open spaces cause we know that there's other you know we can't just pinpoint
on open space but there are other commercials as well however you know it's our great concern
that granting this will cause over counting of purposes leading to loitering trash issues as
well as congestion on the street with parking already limited also improving this permit will
not just continue to disrupt the peace but exaggerate the current issues already listed
that making it incompatible with the hazard of health safety and welfare of this neighborhood
so that's a summary of what we did say um this to somebody then sorry
so you're opposed to this yes and i wasn't sure like who i was supposed to talk to or not
and you know i did talk to a few of my neighbors and there's at least 20 of us
that also agree and i did submit you can only speak for yourself oh okay yes okay is there
anyone else out there in virtual land uh who would like to testify
and i just hope eventually a chance to respond real briefly to some of these
I swear it will be less than a minute or two.
And also, Ms. Tenere, I believe there are a number of people on the line who are in support of the project,
and I don't think we need to have them all go and speak.
But if at some point you could ask the question to ask them to raise their hands and be identified,
and then we can count those hands and note for the record how many people are actually here on the call today
have taken the time out of their day to support this application and the granting of this special
exception i would greatly appreciate it okay is there anyone else here
who would like to testify in opposition
ma 'am i have a jeffrey c30 with his hand raised
hi good morning um good morning can you put your name and address on the record please
and spell your last name yeah my last name is uh c -h -e -n
weren't you just on i'm sorry weren't you just on michelle no i was not okay
address uh 942 north marshall street okay um do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth
and nothing but the truth yes i do okay you may proceed yeah so i i've also been uh a resident
here for uh the past four years um and uh i i guess i just wanted to kind of comment on a couple
uh things i know i realized that there was a lot of support uh for open space um and i just want
to mention that um a lot of the surrounding built many of the surrounding buildings that uh mr
Albuquerque, he actually
he he actually owns he's owns a lot of the surrounding building so I I believe a lot of
owns a lot
of the surrounding buildings.
those um supports should be kind of discounted and I don't think that's I don't think that's
very fair um to have that many support with you know again I'm going to eject I'm going to check
can you speak to why you're opposed to this yeah sure um yeah I have the I have a lot of the same
issues that uh michelle brought up um you know there there's there there's there's constantly
there's constantly loud parties there um during weekdays i mean you know us resident us residents
there you know we we we have to go to work the next day and and sometimes you know we we can
hear the music from you know down the block it's it's it's it's it gets pretty crazy and then
Also, after the events, the loitering is a huge issue because a lot of event goers, you know, they, you know, they, they, they just fill up our street.
And then after the events, you know, a lot of times I'm waking, waking up by, you know, loud cars.
They, they, they blast their music and then they have, they almost have their own little parties outside on the, on the sidewalks.
Okay. Can I interrupt you? Can you give me your address again?
It's 942 North Marshall Street.
Okay, go ahead.
You may continue.
Thank you.
Yeah, so, I mean, it's, I think there needs to be some kind of restrictions put into place.
You know, I'm all for the events that they have, you know, I know they have some art exhibits sometimes and some cultural events.
like but when it just becomes like an hour outright nightclub and party it you know given
the fact that it's a residential area you know it there's a large disruption that that they cause
um and it's it's very concerning to me as a neighbor okay thank you
sure and can i i mean can i ask another question i guess
okay yeah so i mean i i guess i just had a question like what what like because i know
in the presentation i i know you mentioned uh special events uh what like what is defined as
a special event is like uh someone's birthday a special event or it's got to be a holiday or or
what like that would that would seem to be a special event a birthday a holiday an anniversary
so a special event is essentially anything is what is what uh any anything that that would
hold an event would be a special event is that is that is that my understanding i'm not answering
that okay i mean um i mean that's kind of the question i had there there were 18 events
or 43 events in 2018 64 in 2019 yes yeah and that's it's not a lot of events well and also
miss tenary let me give you the breakdown real quickly 2018 of the 43 12 baby bridal showers
i know they get pretty rowdy um you know uh four kindergarten and kids graduations those kids
No, they cause a lot of trouble. We have seven art exhibits, eight clothing brand pop -ups, so that's 15, five adult retirement dinner celebrations. Those people, they get crazy when they retire. It's their last big push. Three business and school workshops, one wedding, two repasses, and one New Year's Eve party.
2019 to 64.
Excuse me, Mr. Afanidis, can I interrupt for one minute?
If there are going to be general hours of operation prescribed,
it seems like most of these things would not need to be categorized as a special event
since they will fit into the, is that correct?
Yeah, the special events are holidays and then rare occasions.
I mean, they're literally at most like one or two a month.
You know, like I said, it's those are not the things we represented the community group that almost virtually all of the events are done by 10 o 'clock and some go to 11.
okay the problem is that saying that they will be rare isn't specific no i understand that
perhaps come up with a um for however many times a year and on major holidays something that would
be understandable by and actually enforceable by l and i hold on one second let me let me
can i consult with my client and just real quickly before i go off well i'll address
and just real quickly before i go off well i'll address everybody's comments in the middle
everybody's comments in the middle.
hold on one second
so i mean we would i just talked to my client he would he would limit to an average of two a month
You know, you have a, you know, often you have a holiday once a month and then one other event that might be something special.
And could that be limited to weekends and holidays?
Yeah, weekends and holidays. That's fine. Yeah. I mean, weeknights, we're sensitive to that.
And it's not, there aren't events that run till two o 'clock on the weeknights.
So it would be maximum two per month, one per month or two per month, limited to weekends and holidays.
An average of two per month on weekends and holidays.
It wouldn't be an average, though.
It would be two per month.
So if there are months when you think there are going to be more, then maybe do it by year.
I mean, listen, without going through the calendar and knowing some months might have two holidays, some months might have more, particularly, you know, when you get in the fall.
But let me say this in terms of the restriction on the hours.
And, you know, we're trying, you know me, we try to work with the community, we try to work with
the board. In terms of placing this type of restriction on this business, and again, I'm not
doing this to try to cover up something and say, this is what we do. I want to be clear. However,
first of all, the people that have an issue with this operation haven't met their burden.
The first woman, Michelle Chan, says they couldn't pinpoint it to open space these issues.
and mr i understand you're getting into the legal merits but my only concern is that if
the board should add an hours of operation proviso that it be something that will be
understandable and enforceable by lni i i understand i just want to say that i don't
feel that they've met the burden to require that and also cmx too so you could have a bar restaurant
here by right that can be serving liquor open the two o 'clock 356 days in a year i think
so your position is that you are requesting that no proviso as to hours be yes and if there needs
to be one it would be two i mean again we're being reasonable we think it's never going it's
not going to be more than that you know we don't we don't think it's warranted in this case we
don't feel the testimony warrants it but i don't want to give the wrong impression that this is
what we're about it's not okay thank you so the correct hours would be 10 to 10 it's 10 to 11 i
I mean, there's a couple that go to 11, but I said, generally speaking, my clients state,
and again, I'm not going to have to have them adopt my statements, is that generally they
are 10 to 10.
There are some that go to 11.
By the way, and Ms. Farrell might speak to this, by the way, she checked with the police
and now it doesn't mean that people didn't call in a complaint.
Like we don't know how many times, they never stated how many times these things happened.
And clearly, they couldn't have been more than the 43 or 64 times, as Ms. Canary pointed out.
But if Ms. Farrell is still on the line, she can speak, not to say that people didn't call it in,
but she checked with the police and they had no records of any complaints.
So I'm a little worried that this turns into, you know, like at 11 o 'clock, at 1101,
that like somebody is still walking out the door or whatever, and all of a sudden we're in violation
of our, of whatever the proviso is. And I feel that even in listening to the statements that
have been made by Ms. Chan, who's two doors down in the CMX1 building, when the open space sign
was already on front of the building when she bought the property. And Mr. Chan, who's further
down the block, and by the way, this block used to be all CMX2. I probably got a variance for his
house, I believe, years ago when it was all granted CMX2. I came in and got when it was all
CMX2, not CMX and RM1. I came before this board with a lot of variances to get them to be
residential. But this end of the block is commercial. They're up against commercial
properties. And I don't think that they've met their burden that my client should have to worry
that somebody for a couple of events, again, they have not met their burden that this is worse than
any other nightclub, worse than any other private club, anything that's worse than it's associated
with them. In fact, I think it would be clear that it's much less just by the sheer number
of events. And if you take out baby showers and kids' birthday parties, that it's not warranted.
And I think you're setting my client up for a lot of problem and a lot of harassment
by a few individuals who've moved in a little later
by a few individuals who've moved in a little later.
after other businesses were already in operation
at this end of the block.
And now that they've moved in
and they want to say, we're now residential,
we want to change it.
By the way, across the street, it's not all residential.
So, you know, and this end of the block is very commercial.
So again, I'm not trying to say, I want to be clear.
I'm not opposing this because I'm saying,
this is what we do.
i'm worried about how that could be that type of limitation could be abused and my client could be
harassed out of business that's what i'm okay no okay is there can i still speak right now
sure okay yeah i mean i mean to say that we're trying to push like harass your client
to push them out is i i mean i think it's a little crazy all right
first of all i object to that characterization and i think we've heard enough because actually
based upon the community group meeting it felt very much like that how many times tell me how
many times my turn to speak go back and forth one at a time one at a time all right then i
reserve the right to cross mr chen when he's done mr chen briefly tell us why you're opposed
what was this next yeah the so the next thing i was i was going to say i i just felt i just felt
what he said was a little bit unfair because we we as a neighborhood where we are we are trying
to just have specific restrictions put into place we're not trying to push the business out and i
i even said earlier in my statement i specifically said we are perfectly okay and we actually
welcome the i know they do have some art exhibits and and some other um things during the day which
which are great you know i i there's nothing wrong with that it's it's the noise and and the the the
you know the nightclub that that occurs during at nights which you know disrupt the neighborhood
um you know they they cause they cause it causes a ton of issues with parking it's you know we get
waking up at the middle of the night because, you know, uh, just loud music or, you know, uh,
the patrons loitering afterwards. Um, and, uh, I mean, so I guess, so my, my, so the biggest
thing for us is, is I think is the noise, right? So I understand that, uh, in the presentation
that, uh, there was additional measures being put into place, but I guess my question, my question
is is there a way that we can um constantly track this type of of noise because according to the
sir that that would be up to you but do you know that the neighborhood uh the rco has supported
this no i i i did not know that but i mean um i think you've made your your point very clear
And if I may, I think there are other people out there in the virtual audience who would
like to testify, but I don't know what concerns are.
Pardon me, Chair.
Something new and different, please.
Yeah, Mr. Plaza and Madam Chairwoman, if I could just ask Mr. Chen two quick questions.
I mean, I really don't want to get into this, but, you know, I'm worried about, I think
the things that he's bringing up make make us feel a little more like there's the potential
for harassment and and so let me before you do that david let me go into the virtual audience
i think there may be 20 people fewer or more who would like to testify
can you raise your hands and can someone count the hands of those of you who are in support
i don't want to go one by one by one no so if he's while he's counting just so you know i
know how many of these people are included within the 23 letters of support from the block in
addition to the 63 outside um who have experience here but the 23 from the block letters of support
that we have at two attitude i just i don't know i just want to be clear on the numbers i can't say
if it's the same people or different people additional people all right uh madam chair
Mr. Orphanidis, I have at least seven people with their hand raised.
And all of those are in support?
And all of those are in support?
I believe so.
Ms. Sunkett, is there some way we can get one person to speak on behalf of all seven?
If we could see if someone is able to represent them.
I'm not sure if we have that one person raise their hand, if there's some agreement with that.
um but if that hasn't been prearranged we might not cheer and because they would only be seven
they generally are only able to speak for themselves that might right okay so we will
prevent duplicitous duplicative testimony if um okay so the first person who has their hand up
Jason, can you promote them to be able to speak?
Yes, Madam Chair.
That's Charlotte Brown.
Thank you.
Charlotte Brown has been allowed to speak.
Charlotte, can you hear me?
Please let me hear you.
Hello?
Hi, can you put your name and address on the record
and spell your last name, please?
Yes, Charlotte Brown, B -R -O -W -N. Address, 6636 Musgrave Street.
Okay, do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing about the truth?
Okay, and your position on this project is?
Yeah, I am for it.
Okay, I think there are other people there who also would like to testify.
Jason, can you promote the next person? Thank you very much for coming out.
All right. The next individual is Nathaniel Levi. I will allow him to speak.
hi can you hear me yes i can can you put your name and address on the record sir and spell
your last name and then i will swear you in sure netanel levy netanel spelled n as in nancy e t a
n as in n c e l last name levy l -e -v -i the address is 1319 north 6th street philadelphia pa
19122 do you swear for him to tell the whole truth and nothing about the truth
i do what is your position on this i'm in support i'm in support okay thank you very much next person
all right madam chair i have array to sarah's i shall allow him to speak at this time
sir can you hear me
sorry mr caceres if you are available please unmute yourself and wait to be sworn in
yes I'm available okay name and address for the record please and spell your last name
yes it's Ray Caceres C -A -C -E -R -E -S I'm the owner of 1015 North Marshall Street across the street
from open space I'm the broker owner of the real estate company and we've been there since 1998
sir do you swear for him to tell the whole truth and nothing about the truth
yes i do and are you in support of this project yes we are in support and actually utilize their
services thank you um next person miss canary can i just ask him a real quick question since
he's across the street just can he substantiate any of the claims by the other miss miss chan
and Mr. Chen? No, sir. I see more traffic from Pretty Girls Can Cook who parked and blocked the
street pretty much all day long. That's what I see. It's pretty clear. Thank you. Okay. You don't see
any of the issues that Mr. Chen and Mr. Chen spoke of coming from open space, correct?
No, I do not. And I've actually been to a few events. I've actually bought clothing from some
events for my wife and other art in the past you never saw any of these types of conditions that
Ms. Chan and Mr. Chen spoke. He said no. No sir no sir. Thank you next witness
yes madam chair I have a Yaniv Rodney
Yes, Madam Chair, I have Yaniv Radley. I will allow him to speak at this time.
Thank you, Jason.
Yaniv Radley, if you are available, please unmute yourself and wait to be sworn in.
we can move on okay to the next witness
right this last hand we have right now is miss alicia vandenberg i will allow her to speak
Thank you.
Hello.
Hello, can you hear us?
Name and address, please, and spell your last name.
Of course, Alicia Vandenberg, V -A -N -D -E -N -B -U -R -G.
And your address?
123 South 23rd Street.
okay do you swear for him to tell the whole truth and nothing about the truth
yeah and are you in support of this project i am okay thank you very much thank you is the
other person uh who had their hand up available now
i'm no madam chair but i have a christopher davis whose hand is raised i shall allow him
people. That's okay. Okay. Christopher, can you hear me? Yes, I can. Name and address for the
record and spell your last name, please. Sure. Christopher Davis, D -A -V -I -S. I'm at 542 North
12th Street, 19123. Okay. Do you swear for him to tell the whole truth and nothing about the truth?
I do. Are you in support of this project? I'm in support. Okay, thank you very much.
Can you have your client adopt your testimony, David? Additional statements? Sure. Ron, again,
since you last adopted my statements, did you hear the statements that I made to the board?
Yes, I did. Okay, are they true and correct to the best of your knowledge?
Yes, they are.
And would you adopt them as your own?
I would adopt them as my own.
Does the board have any questions?
Yes, Vice Chair.
Thanks, Tom.
I'd like to know if the establishment has off -street parking or valet parking.
Mr. Almond, it's a very good question.
What you see on the site plan right here is the extent of our property.
So as I mentioned, there's an area in the back where we keep the trash.
Then there's a walkway to the side.
So there's no location on site for off -street parking.
And again, if we ever had less than 50 people, if we were establishment and never had more than 50 people, we wouldn't even be here.
But we do have a letter of intent with a nearby property, North 5th Street.
And that is one of the things that, aside from the provisos that are in Ms. Monroe's letter, we have been discussing with Ms. Farrell, having that in certain circumstances, the possibility of valet parking.
But again, most of our events are smaller. Most of our events are local. And as you heard Mr. Caceres mention that in terms of the impact on traffic in the street, and I'd like to get back to Mr. Chen. Again, I'm trying not to belabor this, but nobody seems to have been able to identify, clearly identify.
you have somebody that's saying there are other businesses that are into the block that are
causing these issues. And you have two neighbors, one, Mr. Chen, who's pretty far down the block.
And admittedly, Ms. Chan is two doors down. Ms. Chan said herself, I can't pinpoint it to open
space. And you have Mr. Chen, who's further down the block and says he gets woken in the middle
of the night. Again, I don't know what event, whether, you know, how many times, what days of
the week, things of that nature. But if you're in bed, I think it'd be pretty hard to come out and
find out when you're halfway or more than halfway down the block that whatever problem is, is coming
from my client's property. So in terms of valet, we remain open. We're committed. My client is here
We're committed. My client is here in the neighborhood. Somebody stated that he has
in the neighborhood. Somebody stated that he has own properties on the block.
own properties on the block. He's committed to this block. He's been there before when this
block was dreadful and he's committed to the block and he's committed. And my word to Ms. Jones,
my word to Ms. Monroe, my word to Ms. Farrell, my client's words were we will continue to work
to address any reasonable issues that are brought to our attention to the best of our ability. And
I don't disappear. I'm here in the city. I stay involved. My client is on the, he's there at the
business every day. So he's going to continue to try to improve this and make this better because
he draws from the community for his business. It's counterproductive for him to want to make
everybody upset. So in terms of valet parking for like you heard somebody say, it's the property
next door. We're considering it. We've already entered into, we have a letter of intent with
a nearby property for when we think we're going to have like larger events and because we don't
want it it's a problem for our people too if they can't get to it so the answer is we have a letter
of intent we don't have it up and running right now we're continuing to discuss that we brought
this up nobody asked us about this we proactively brought this you know we've been working on this
and we'll continue to work on that with the community to try to address anything that is
specifically related to our property that's you know really a problem and it's not so there so
there is valet no no that's what i'm saying we have a letter of intent we haven't set it up yet
we're still working out whether the details under what circumstances for what events but we've we've
forwarded all that information to the community and we're in current conversations about that
but we can't say like we're ready we don't have it right now but we're already working on it because
we've heard from the neighbors and has as Iran and his wife have done they work to address the
reasonable concern so they proactively are already on this okay even in the middle of that even in
the middle of a pandemic Mr. Holloman do you have any other questions no I'm vice chair okay
anybody else on the board with questions no planning commission
thank you madam chair ian hegarty h -e -g -a -r -t -y for the philadelphia city planning commission
thank you do you swear from the tell the whole truth and i'll think about the truth
i do okay you're up all right the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing
commercial mixed use zoning at this location i would know for the board it's a special exception
case and this proposed special exception would not cause detrimental impacts to the neighborhood
beyond what normally might be expected for this type of use the city planning commission would
therefore recommend that the board grant a special exception okay calendar number
there are no conditions to their support in terms of hours or days or anything
calendar number zero zero one second
calendar number zero zero six five ten fourteen north marshall street my vote is yes
my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes
thank you for your patience thank you for your tolerance i
tried my best to get through quickly thank you you sure did calendar number zero one one eight
2361 East Allegheny Avenue.
This is case.
I believe there was a request for it.
That was continued.
Calendar number 0 -1 -1 -5 -2814 Salmon Street.
the attorney is bill o 'brien
mr o 'brien if you're in the virtual audience please raise your hand
mr o 'brien has been promoted to panelists thank you mr o 'brien can you hear me
I think he's popped off for some reason.
I know.
Can you hear me?
Now, yes, I can hear you.
Can you put your name and address on the record?
please and spell your last name yes good morning madam chairwoman william o 'brien o -b -r -i -e -n
Yes, good morning, Madam Chairwoman William O 'Brien, O -B -R -I -E -N,
Manioc Law Office, 4322 Main Street, Philadelphia 19127.
Thank you.
Do you swear for me to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Okay, you may continue.
I'm here on behalf of Annie Lee and James Thomas, husband and wife,
who are the owners of 2814 Salmon Street.
Okay, stop.
Now, do you also agree to weigh the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership tax compliance, a copy of the refusal or referral, photos and or plans of the property five days in advance of this hearing?
And have you met with the RCO?
And do you have a letter?
All the materials have been uploaded and we have met with the RCO and we have a letter.
Okay, great.
Thank you.
sorry for interrupting you, but I wanted you to be able to get on who you were representing,
so you may proceed. Thank you. Madam Chairman, I'm trying to start my video,
but it's not working. I don't know if it's my end or whether I'm not
blocked. I mean, I can continue without video if that's all right.
i think we need video sharing you can go for it without video but you can share your screen
and um that will be fine okay let's see
okay so um okay great the uh annie lee and james thomas are the owners of 28 14 salmon street
the property goes from Salmon Street through to Tilton Street it's a let me go first to the
refusal the proposal is to put a second story on a detached garage that faces Tilton Street
if I can bring this there we go so it results in one refusal once the second floor goes on
the detached garage, it becomes a second principal building on the lot. We've met with the Southport
Richmond Civic back on March 10th, I think it was. Yes, March 10th. And we received their
letter of support on March 17th. That's exhibit two. Let me go through some photographs real
quickly. This is the front of the house. It's a modest two -story home on Salmon Street.
There is a passage next to the front door that takes you to a courtyard. That courtyard is
between the two -story home and the one -story garage in the rear. The second picture shows
that one -story garage. This is the building next door, the three -story building. You can't see the
house constructed by the garage. This puts the garage in context on Tilton Street. You can see
a two -story structure next to it, a three -story structure with roof deck next to that, and then
finally the rest of the block on Tilton Street are all two -and -a -half -story homes. So the addition
of a second floor on top of the garage will not be out of scale with the existing structures on
tilton street uh next you also have a letter of non -opposition from councilman scuola i did not
know that i do does the board have any questions no no no i'm sorry for that drilling that you're
hearing if you're hearing it planning commission um thank you vice chair janari the integrity for
the philadelphia city planning commission comprehensive plan recommends no change to
the single family zoning here however the applicant's property as you can see is a through
lot with frontages on two streets given that the proposed structures would be similar in height and
density to two single family homes similar to configuration of other homes on the block the
City Planning Commission recommends that the board grant the variance. Thank you.
Madam Chair. Yes. My clients are participating and I just wanted them to introduce themselves
briefly and adopt my testimony as their own. That would be great. And I know I have to ask
if there are any people here. Thank you, Madam Chair. Okay.
I see no hands at this time, Madam Chair.
If Annie Lee can raise her hand.
Ms. Lee has gone up.
Ms. Lee, can you put your name and address on the record?
Yes, I can.
And spell your last name.
First name is Annie.
Last name is Lee.
My last name is spelled L -I.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing about the truth?
uh miss lee did you uh participate in the hearing from the beginning yes and did you hear my
testimony i did uh is it truthful and do you adopt it as your own it's truthful and i adopt it as my
own thank you thank you thanks everyone thank you is there anyone else out there
mr o 'brien that you know of i don't believe so okay are there any other people who would like
to testify on this case if so please raise your hand
i know you said there were no other hands jason so i didn't know if that included other witnesses
no ma 'am there's no other chair no other hands at this time
okay um calendar number zero one one five twenty eight fourteen salmon street my vote is yes
my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes thank you good luck thank you may i be excused
yes you may thank you madam chairman calendar number zero one three seven forty three zero six
Parkside Avenue. The attorney is Joe Consul.
The council has been promoted to panelists.
Excuse me, Chair. This is Sharon Saleta. I understand that there is an attorney representing
a group of near neighbors who would like to begin by requesting a continue that this matter be
continued so perhaps you could call her as well okay is there another attorney
present on this case and if so can you please raise your hand
4306 parkside avenue and could i ask that all others lower your hands unless requested to raise
them her last name i believe is hayman h -e -i -m -a -n
we have a brian harris um jason can you unmute and see if that's the individual
he's not the attorney he's the rco uh chair
so i'm assuming that i'm sure i got miss uh hayman uh with her hand raised do i promote
it a panelist or uh yes yes promoted a panelist
Ms. Heyman, please raise your virtual hand again, so you may be promoted.
Ms. Heyman has been promoted to panelists.
Thank you. Ms. Heyman, can you hear me?
Hi, can you put your name and address on the record and spell your last name and wait for me to swear you in?
sure uh stephanie hyman h -e -i -m -a -n -n 7225 devon street
do you swear or firm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i do uh i just wanted to clarify that i'm here representing a group of neighbors for 6717
true avenue and not not this case not this case oh i'm so sorry i i i had a text message and
thought that it related to this case. This is the case where, but I can say that we have
the case summary has changed that the RCO, I sent you the RCO, the coordinating RCO's letter,
the coordinating RCO actually opposes the proposal. And that's on the other case?
No, that's on this one. The RCO opposes this one, and you may call Ms. Heyman again when you call
you avenue one question there is there are two letters of support but the non but they're
non -coordinating yeah we had never received i'm asking i'm asking miss saletta i apologize
that's okay the coordinating rco is the letter that i emailed you the um they had a meeting i
I believe the vote was 41 opposed and maybe 13 in favor, but you have the numbers.
uh, maybe 13 in favor, but you have the numbers. Um, the letter that was in the exhibit packet
is, is not the RCO. Okay. We had not received that letter. Um, but we did get a call from the
RCO about 20 minutes ago, uh, seeking to, uh, negotiate with us, which is what we had been
trying to do for the last seven weeks or yeah, seven weeks. Uh, and we, we want to do that. Um,
However, this is an expedited appeal and there's some time sensitive issues. So is it is a 30 day push possible because also Andrew Goodman for the council person's office wishes to do the same.
And we would like to speak to both of them because we have a ton of support. We want the RCO on board. This is this is where we're at.
Okay. I don't know if we can accommodate that. Ms. Sunkett would have to
respond to that.
This was a continuance or request or resumption. I'm sorry. It would be a continuance. It would
be a continuance. No, no 30 -day. Okay. So you're trying to
compromise and um i guess proceed with your case we'd like to we have a case to present um we believe
it's a strong case we had a meeting on the 24th of march with the rco we never received the letter
from them apparently it came directly to you guys uh we've been reaching out to them to try to uh
to talk about it and work through some of the issues that had not been successful we just got
a call that they want to do that uh so here's here's where we're at i don't know if a resumption
hearing is more appropriate i don't want to prejudice anybody here with with what we do
okay continue with your case uh so is that a yes on the resumption or
i you know i i don't know how is this a lengthy case
uh 15 minutes maybe okay we have two letters of support the coordinating rco is opposed to it
yes that's so so present your case uh tanya if this continues do we throw this into a
presumption a resumption hearing so we could do a resumption hearing and i can schedule it for
sometime in late June, but as far as the continuance for the full case, that will go
at our typical scheduling, which is September. Okay, so we'll hear part of the testimony today.
We'll work with the June date. That works. With which date? The resumption date in June
with us presenting our principal case -in -chief right now. Okay, great. All right. You may proceed.
All right. Sharing my screen. Did I get my packet up?
It's up. Thank you very much. So I don't believe I swore myself in, but Joseph Consul, Consul Madison, LLP, 1 West 3rd Street, Suite 204, Media, Pennsylvania, 19063.
here for meeting ID 2021 -000137. This is 4306 -08 Parkside Avenue. The developer is 801 North 40th
Street, LLC. I have German Yakubov with me as representative of the developer. So starting
Starting off and I will take everyone's time into consideration here.
This is a CMX 2 zoned property. It's at the corner of Belmont and Parkside.
The developer is seeking to use the space as 15 residential units with a commercial unit on the first floor.
So commercial mixed use as envisioned.
We're seeking to put a flagship commercial tenant on the first floor and 15 residential units above.
We have four refusals, density, number of units, the proposed height, as well as inadequate rear yard space and occupied area refusals.
Briefly, before I get into the meat of the application here, I'm just going to run through a history of the space, this space at the corner of Belmont and Parkside.
um we've got this uh ymca athletic field in the 1930s and 1940s was called the 44th and
parkside ballpark it was an athletic field and ballpark in west philly from 1903 to the early
the 1950s. It was built by the railroad. However, in 19 -
It was built by the railroad.
However, in 1933, the Negro League team, the Philadelphia Stars, played their home games at this park, pardon me, from 1936 until 1952.
They were a Negro League team from Philadelphia.
They were founded in 1933, and they were around in one form or another until the league itself collapsed in 1952.
In 1936, they started playing at the ballpark at 44th and Parkside, and they played the majority of their home games there.
So in 1998, Philadelphia's West Parkside community established a historical marker at the corner, which is across the street from our property at 4306.
This recognizes the Negro League in Philadelphia, and specifically what occurred at the park on this spot.
17 years after placing the marker, the Memorial Park itself, the space around the marker, was opened.
That was in April of 2005.
This is relevant because the Business Association of West Parkside, whose support we have for this project,
brought together a large coalition of residents, businesses, city and state officials, Major League Baseball,
and the Phillies specifically to convert this space into a park for the community.
The memorial itself was a combination of both the park and also the mural across the street,
which is on the southwest corner of the intersection.
We have the parks in the southwest corner of the murals on the southeast corner.
The mural exists behind the lot that we're here talking about, 4306 Parkside Avenue.
Heretofore, that's been an empty lot, and the mural has been in plain view.
To build on this lot would necessitate covering up the wall, and therefore the mural, and
going into the project, the developer was clear with me that he intended to approach
the project with a desire to preserve the mural and was willing to incur significant
financial loss to do so.
The developer met with the Mural Arts, whose support we also have, and they determined
It will cost approximately $90 ,000 to move the mural across the street to the park itself.
This would encompass Mural Arts and the developer building a wall and effectively moving piecemeal and reapplying the mural to that wall.
The other side of the wall is the Philadelphia Discovery Charter School and the developers and talks with them, as well as the Philadelphia Horticultural Society to beautify and create a green wall on the other side of what will become the mural space.
Meeting with the neighbors, we learned that they value this mural. They don't want it gone. But in order to make the cost of moving and reapplying feasible, the developer tweaked the density on the space.
And so, that's what we're here for, those variances. So, specifically, moving on to the refusals, the first two are easier to deal with. They are the rear yard depth and the open area refusals.
The lot is irregular. It's not a square lot. It's triangular shaped, as you can see on here on Atlas. So the backyard is not able to be added. And if it is, it would cut significantly into the space for the actual units.
this generated both the open area and the rear yard refusals moving on to the to the other two
refusals we have height and density we're seeking I'll pull up our rendering we're seeking 15
residential one commercial unit as I said the lot is mostly in a multi -family neighborhood
and street. Let's see. What we think is relevant here is that while the property has a Parkside
address, only five feet actually front Parkside Avenue, the rest majority of the frontage faces
Belmont Avenue, which is a commercial and industrial corridor. Both Belmont and Parkside
are very wide 60 -foot streets, and they have 20 feet wide sidewalks. While zoned CMX2,
This lot is adjoining multifamily zoning. We believe CMX3 zoning would have been more appropriate, but that's irrelevant. It would have allowed us to build what we're trying to build here.
As the commercial space on the first floor goes, we didn't think that a commercial store type of business would be viable here or an office would be viable as a commercial space.
We're seeking to build something more along the lines of the community style.
We're seeking to build something more along the lines of a community -style cafe with a retail area.
And the developer is foreseeing and working with the folks that are in support of us to build a coffee shop and retail space that will sell memorabilia and honor the park itself and the history of the league in Philadelphia.
you. All right, so moving on. So the issues of parking and trash, I'm just nipping them in the
bud. All the properties between 4264 and 4304 Parkside Ave have a private garage accessed by
a private driveway, which is on the screen right now. This wouldn't be infringed. In fact, as an
olive branch to the neighborhood. We are offering to repave the shared driveway as it's in rough
shape. The 30 neighbors this driveway serves have been trying to get the funds together piecemeal
to do this, but it's been difficult to do that, and the developer is going to handle that.
Moving on to the issue of trash.
We have it set up so that each floor of the building contains a trash chute.
So every floor of the building would have access to a waste room.
that waste room would empty directly into a first floor waste room accessible by commercial trash
pickup, which we would schedule for three to four times per week. The developer has been building in
this neighborhood and is on a mission to remediate light and improve the neighborhood. And this is
what they're focused on now.
All right, moving on
to our support letters.
Well, starting off, we already talked about this, but we met with the East Parkside
Residential Association on March 24th.
At that time, we felt the reception was kind of cold.
We attempted to work out a resolution for for the last few weeks,
and we believe we just made some headway today, and this was despite multiple neighbors stating
that they wished to meet again and attempt to find a compromise, and we're very happy that
they have reached out to us about trying to do that. We have spoken to and received emails from
many neighbors in the community who feel that the RCO wasn't in this decision representing their
interests and um there's been some emails back and forth the council uh men's rep was the council
person's rep was copied on that uh we also understand that the office of jamie got the a
are encouraging us to meet again with everybody and bring them in the into the discussion which
is something we support um but we feel it's appropriate to put our proofs here as we have
strong letters of support from the business association of west parkside and the mural arts
folks um as well as having some folks here on the line who wanted to voice their their support
okay there was a mention of an issue regarding uh the philadelphia gas works being overly taxed in
that area and we wanted to just get ahead of that and say this is going to be an all electrical
building and that won't be of concern and i'll just briefly bring up the letters of support
the first one is from the business association of west parkside it's an rco that's responsible
for facilitating not just the memorial park itself that we talked about uh and the mural
but also hundreds of millions of dollars worth of development in this part of the city and uh
it counts both councilman curtis jones as well as pa senator vincent hughes as members of that group
their letter states that they feel the project will not only improve the area but enhance the
visibility and recognition of the memorial nationally and therefore they wholeheartedly
appreciate and support the developer. You guys have that letter, so I'm not going to read the
whole thing. And then finally, we have support of the mural arts folks. Again, you guys have that
letter in your packet. The takeaway from that is they've lost dozens of murals over the years
because developers don't reach out to them and they just get built up upon. And so there has
seem to be a lot of internal support over there for Mr.
Yakubov and his company because of his attempts to figure out
how to actually preserve this mural, which is in line with
his build strategy in this part of the city. Anyway, that's
Anyway, that's sort of the end of my principal presentation. I'd like to call German Yakubov to speak regarding the development.
sort of the end of my principal presentation. I'd like to call
Thank you.
Mr. Yakubov has been allowed to speak.
Good morning or afternoon.
Good morning. Can you put your name and address on the record, sir, and spell your last name, and then I'll swear you in?
Sure. Dermon Yakubov, last name's Y -A -K -U -B -O -V, 614 South 4th Street, Unit 510, Philadelphia PA,
19147. Thank you. Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
I pseudo affirm. I do so affirm. Okay. Mr. Consul? Good late morning, Mr. Yakubov. Did you hear my
presentation so far? I did, I did. Do you agree with everything I said and adopt it as your own
testimony? I do. All right. Is there anything you would like to add? Yeah, just, you know,
we've been in the neighborhood for about since 2015. We've redeveloped some of the historic
buildings that are currently on the block that have been blighted. We've converted them to
good use. We've rehabbed them. We have, you know, in our opinion, have been good neighbors
during Christmas. We do toy drives outside on this corner, turkey drives for Thanksgiving,
we donate to to a lot of the organizations in the neighborhood to you know we're not just kind of
building to leave this place we've we've made a significant investment in the community we're
currently rehabbing a body shop on Belmont Avenue and converting it into a 22 unit apartment building
and you know we we've we're very sensitive to this mural it means a lot to us and this is why
we reached out to the community as well as the councilwoman's office and the mural arts program
last year last summer actually last june i believe um and we've had several meetings um throughout
that time we've met with the artist david mcshane who uh created this mural and he created a new
mural that would go across the street so we've we've invested a lot of time and expense in in
this project um it's unfortunate when we met with the community um in march it wasn't as well
received uh as we would have loved it to be um but the the couple takeaways that we did get was um
that you know the driveway in the back was was an issue so we we kind of uh wanted to take care of
that also trash was an issue so we we're more than welcome more than fine with agreeing to a proviso
to have commercial trash pick up however many days that would make the community comfortable and we
want to continue having that conversation with the community to bring them on board and get their
support because ultimately you know i don't want angry neighbors i would i would like to do this
in partnership with with everybody and and uh have the least amount of upset people as possible uh
so that's that's kind of why we're we're here and you know trying to do everything we can to get
this thing built thank you very much joe do you have another witness i believe there is two there's
two members of the neighborhood um a make sure i i don't and mr carl wheeler and uh um and mr
salim um if they could raise their hands then the board can call them at their at their leisure
madam chair i have a miss lorraine gomez with her hand raised at this time i can allow her to speak
if you wish okay is that your witness mr it's it's not that not that i'm aware of um mine was
mr wheeler and mr salim is mr wheeler or mr saline there
getting a bit getting a bit confused because there's two people with the name of a german
yakubov off um off the lower hands and assets they raised their hands again
Could Mr. Wheeler raise his hand
if everyone else has lowered it?
Is this Mr. Wheeler?
It said raise my hand, so I'll just press it, right?
Okay, I can hear you.
Can you hear me?
Mr. Weaver, are you still available?
I apologize. We can move on to...
We can move on.
Okay, so we can't seem to connect with your witnesses, Mr. Consul.
We can't seem to connect with your witnesses, Mr. Consul.
Who else has their hand raised?
Hello?
Yes, sir.
What is your name?
Salim.
So, Mr. Consul, he's your witness, correct?
Can you put your name and address on the record and spell your last name, and then I will square you in?
okay how do i do that uh just speak the way you're speaking now okay my name is salim
last name lucas um i own the body shop no no no you're no spell your last name
okay lucas l -u -c -a -s okay and now your address uh 1224 if they don't mind avenue
okay and do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth
Yes. Okay now Mr. Consul will speak to you. Mr. Lucas, could you speak briefly to the board
about your opinion of this project? I'm in support of the project. I've been watching
Jeremy for like the last few years. He's been doing a lot of good things for the neighborhood,
building it up. I felt like it's going to bring good energy to the neighborhood. I feel like it's
going to help the other small businesses that's in the neighborhood, bringing new tenants to the
neighborhood. I'm just all the way around supporting the project. I went out to a couple
of the meetings with the neighbors, pretty much hearing what they had to say and what their
concerns was, and I watched Jeremy pretty much try to do everything in his power to make the
community happy. I feel like it's going to be something that's good for the neighborhood,
bringing new talent, new younger people, just all the way around the board. I feel like it's
going to be good for the community. Thank you very much. Briefly, Mr. Lucas,
could you explain to the board what you do? I'm sorry, I didn't ask you that originally.
All right. So I own a few different companies in the neighborhood. I own some repair facilities. I own a tow company. I own two daycares. I'm just actively involved in the neighborhood. I'm actually investing into the neighborhood as well. Just trying to bring the neighborhood back up to how it was pretty much back in the day. It was a really, really nice neighborhood.
and how long have you been active beautiful neighborhood how long have you been active
in the community mr lucas for like seven eight years um i invest all my money into the to the
neighborhood i'm like every time i get some extra money i'm buying houses i'm trying to fix them up
i'm working with the local businesses um i support like the senator the uh senator hughes
um curtis jones i'm just in the neighborhood i'm trying to like if you go back and you watch the
history of this neighborhood from like they have like websites like in the 1900s these these were
beautiful homes parks out it's like really really nice and the fact that someone's coming in and
wanting to bring it back to life and cleaning up and and investing their money i support it because
it's something that we need for this neighborhood thank you thank you okay you're welcome unless
mr wheels available that'll be it for my my witnesses is there a representative of the rco
present
madam chair i have a miss uh jihad ali with the hand raised i can allow them to speak if that is
okay i believe the rco rep was on on the call earlier and i don't believe it's it's jihad um
it was a brian oh i have mr brian harris with his hand raised i'll allow him to speak
okay allow him to speak can you hear me hello yes yes yes sir can you hear me i can thank you
okay can you put your name and address on the record and spell your last name and then i'll
swear you in thank you very much my name is brian harris h -a -r -r -i -s
your address 4286 parkside avenue philadelphia pennsylvania 19104
okay do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth
yes i do thank you
you may proceed thank you good morning madam chair my name is brian harris as i just stated a 30 -year
I'm a resident of the Belmont Parkside area.
I'm also the RCO committee chair.
And I've talked to all my neighbors
and everyone within 250 feet of the development
within 250 feet of the development and even beyond have expressed a unanimous decision
and even beyond have expressed
that they're opposed to a 15 -family, six -story, 68 -foot building being placed in that small
triangle area. You guys just saw a picture of the lot. You see how beautiful it is. Well,
Imagine a building that's twice as tall
as the existing mural.
And then beyond that, we look at the code
and we look at how the zoning code limits the apartments
to just four units on a 2 ,800 square foot lot.
it's clearly over development putting 15 units on a lot designed for four units is clearly clearly
clearly over development so when we look at the height and then we look at the number of units
we see why the zoning code prevents uh that kind of usage and then in addition to that
uh the zoning code does require a nine foot rear yard well here we have a structure that's going
going to go from Belmont to Parkside, which means it's going to prevent the neighbors
from being able to view up Parkside Avenue as they've been able to do for the last, whatever,
100 years. So we've got a structure that's going to be twice as tall with three times
as many units, and that's the center of our contention. Now, of course, trash is going
to be an issue, traffic's going to be an issue, parking's an issue, infrastructure, the neighbor's
homes are already 100 years old, so this new construction is going to be an issue in terms
of undermining the structural integrity of the block. There's so many issues here that
are going to be impacted by this decision. And so, you know, we're open to working with
the developer. We approve almost everything that comes before us. We're certainly still
willing to do that with this developer. We just don't want a 69 -foot building with 15 families in
it. There's got to be something less than that, some compromise, which the community and developer
can coexist. Okay, sir, and what RCO are you with? Thanks for asking. East Parkside Resident
Association. There's two other RCOs, both of which support all the things that I just said.
Centennial and Viola Street RCOs agree.
Okay, so Centennial is also part of this?
Centennial agrees with the fact that there's too much development, too many units, and too tall a building for that small space.
I don't think you can speak on behalf of them.
Right.
And thank you, sir, for your words.
And Mr. Consul, the Business Association of West Parkside, did someone already speak on that?
I spoke on it, and we have the letter presented in our packet, the letter of support.
And like we said earlier, the resumption hearing would be to work further with Mr. Harris here, because that was our intent all along.
um so excuse me mr council having heard what the objections are that um they oppose the height and
the density the number of units is there a possibility of compromise on those issues
because if not the resumption hearing would seem unnecessary oh yes there is certainly okay thank
you okay are there any more witnesses
I have a Ms. Paulett.
There's someone else
that's being marked
under a German Yakubov.
I'm not sure if it's Mr.
Yakubov or if it's
someone else.
but how about we allow mr goodman to go next please thank you thank you mr goodman let's move
him up hi good morning andrew good morning you're still under can you put your name and address on
the record please and spell your last name yes absolutely andrew goodman g -o -o -d -m -a -n here
representing the office of third district council member jamie gaudier room 586 city hall
Okay, you may proceed.
Yes, so we have more lengthy testimony,
but since there seems to be mutual agreement
on a resumption hearing,
we just ask that the record be left open
we just ask that the record be be left open and we will you know we'll give further testimony at
and we'll give further testimony.
the resumption hearing date okay do i get a recommendation from planning commission now
if it's possible that the plans are going to be revised
it would probably be better to wait until the next hearing okay do we have a date for resumption
hearing and does the board have any questions uh yes madam vice chair i have two questions
okay tom the first one is on the permit the commercial space on the first floor is just
called vacant commercial space do you have any problem in defining that space
i'll lean on mr yakubov to respond but i believe the answer is he just will not
so chair chair we do have other hands up it's your call um but i do have a resumption date of
june 23rd at 9 30 a .m okay can we hear is it recommended that we hear those people
at the resumption hearing or today because i know they've they've taken time out of their day
if they would like to testify briefly now that would be acceptable in case they can't make it
back okay could we first have german um respond to mr hollman's um sure are you available german
mr jacobal please raise your virtual hand
you'll have to speak thank you uh yeah we have no problem defining that space the the goal was
after getting some input from the business association and the people that were behind
the mural and some of the neighbors. The goal is to have a neighborhood coffee shop that would be
themed in the All -Stars League and given some memorabilia as there are some neighbors
that are still old enough to know or have known some of the players that played. So it would be
cool aspect to bookend the historic block. Thank you. My second question is, will your
residential be mixed income? So, I mean, we were planning on doing market rate,
but the market in that area varies. So we have no problems with limiting the rents on a couple
the units to appease or to complement the neighborhood and incorporate some of the
tenants that are currently resigning in the neighborhood to live in a brand new apartment
for under market rate. Would you restrict a deed to that? We'd have to talk to our lenders,
but if they're okay with it, we have no issue with it. Thank you.
Tanya, what is the resumption date?
Madam Chair, June 23rd at 9 .30 a .m.
Okay, so Mr. Consul, this case is going to go to a resumption hearing on June 23rd, 2021 at 2 .00.
9 .30.
930. And the hearing would be limited to feedback from the RCO, the Councilwoman's
office, and also consideration of any revised plans that have resulted from your talks.
Understood. Sorry, Madam Chair, I could also ask that the City Planning Commission testimony
be added to the resumption hearing. Absolutely.
i apologize ian would you prefer to speak now or after um it's determined whether there's
going to be a compromise uh we can speak to the merits of the case that's been submitted
okay well why don't you do that then okay thank you um
Madam Chair Ian Hegarty for City Planning Commission. The comprehensive plan recommends
no change from the existing commercial mixed -use zoning at this location. While the triangular
lot shape supports a claim of physical hardship with regard to open space and yard requirement,
the degree of the proposed variances exceed the minimum variance that will afford relief.
In particular, we're looking at the dwelling unit count and the height, which we think don't have
any rational nexus with the physical hardship that's present and are simply an overuse.
And so the city planning commission recommends that the board would deny this variance as
submitted. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Okay.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Consul.
Thanks, everyone.
Thank you, everyone.
I need to know where we are.
Calendar number 0183514 North 10th Street.
The attorney is Zen Jin.
He has been promoted to a panelist, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Han.
Good morning.
Hi, Mr. Jin.
Can you put your name and address on the record and spell your last name?
Zin Jin, Z -H -E -N -J -I -N, 1617 John F. Kennedy Boulevard, Suite 1838, Philadelphia PA 19103
here on behalf of the applicant.
Okay, you're still under oath, but do you also agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
I would only indicate that it's a referral, not a refusal, but otherwise we will stipulate.
Thank you.
Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership, tax compliance, the refusal, strike that, the referral, photos, or plans of the property, five days in advance of this hearing, and have you met with the RCO, and do you have a letter?
Yes, to all questions.
Okay, thank you. You may proceed.
Thank you. I'm going to share the information of this case with the board.
As you can see, we have submitted to the board the referral, support letter from the RCO, photos, plans, tax clearance, and related documentation.
This is a referral as this matter is in a CMX 2 .5 zoning district.
we're asking to add hot food services to an existing food, beverages, and grocery on the
first floor of the building, and therefore is a special exception. We have met with PCDC,
Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation, and obtained their support in this matter,
because again, my client has been operating the existing grocery. He is the owner. It'll be the
same owner operating. Part of the reason he's asking for an expansion of services is because
during the pandemic, he has found that the only services that are really able to keep the business
going has been takeout food. And therefore, based on that need, he wanted to add proposed kitchen
to handle this particular addition. Now, Kellogg Hill Neighbors Association also sent a letter
and they also support this conversion the existing property is as you can see here a
convenience store and the plan is to kind of add a kitchen hot food kitchen into the existing
facility making it more of a takeout restaurant style service than a grocery store and again
this is a special exception the property is zone cmx 2 .5 the facilities are available to fully
handle the addition of hot food and venting and related items will be available per the plan
and venting will be up to the roof so that there should be no issue for smells or trash management
because most of the business is from local customers there should be no impact on parking
as well so that this business should not have any greater impact than what is normally expected of
business like this in this particular area. So we would ask for favorable consideration from the
zoning board for this request for special exception. I'll be happy to answer any questions or
show the board any other exhibits I have available. We do have letters of support from Philadelphia
Chinatown Development Corporation, Callow Hill Neighborhood Association, and a letter of non
opposition from Councilman Squilla. Does the board have any questions? No. No. Planning Commission?
Thank you, Madam Chair. Let's see. In 2015, the zoning map was amended here from CMX 3 to CMX 2 .5
in accord with the comprehensive plan. The proposed special exception will not cause detrimental
impacts to the neighborhood beyond what might normally be expected for this use and so therefore
the city planning commission recommends that the board grant the special exception
if i may madam chair if i could just have my client uh verify my testimony briefly
for the record absolutely thank you uh mr john can you raise your hand it should be a 10
which is T -I -A -N -C -H -E -N -G, last name Z -H -A -N -G.
Last name Z -H -A -N -G.
I see his hand raised.
I see his hand raised.
He's been allowed to speak.
Okay, wait.
Madam Chair?
My client is ready to be sworn in.
Okay, name and address, please.
And please spell your last name.
And my name is Tian Chen Zen.
Last name is Z -H -A -N -G.
Okay, sir, do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Okay, you may proceed.
Thank you.
You've heard my testimony and saw the presentation before the board.
Mr. Zhang, can you verify that my testimony and presentation is true and correct,
and adopt it as your own.
Thank you.
I'm sorry, Madam Chair.
Do you mind if I ask a quick question of the court reporter?
Not at all.
Court reporter, I just wanted to make sure you were able to capture that information just presented.
Yes, ma 'am.
Thank you very kindly.
You can continue, Madam Chair.
Thank you.
Mr. Jin, is there anything else?
No further presentation at this point, Madam Chair.
And I did ask the Planning Commission, correct?
This is an unusual day.
I'm sorry, Madam Chair, if I could interrupt again, I apologize.
But if it's okay, could we ask the community if they can weigh in?
Is there anyone else who would like to testify?
If so, please raise your hand in the virtual audience.
Madam Chair, I have a Ms. Paulette Fields.
I will allow her to speak at this time, if that is okay.
Thank you.
Wait, it's saying that,
I'm sorry, it's saying that allow the talk
is not available because the person is using
an older version of the Zoom.
Mr. Hand, for this purpose,
you can promote her to a panelist.
I ask that Ms. Fields keep your screen off
and please wait to be sworn in by the chair
to give your testimony.
Thank you.
Understood.
Is she promoted yet, Jason?
I just promoted her to panelists, Madam Chair.
Polite, can you put your name and address on the record
and spell your last name?
She has to unmute herself.
Seals, if you are still available,
please unmute yourself and wait to be sworn in.
This is really a shame. Something happens in between that getting promoted and us losing them.
Ms. Fields, are you still there?
No, it appears as though she's not there.
Okay. Is there anyone else, Mr. Jin?
Not that I'm aware of, Madam Chair.
Mr. Hand, anyone else?
No, Madam Chair, not at this time.
Calendar number 0183514 North 10th Street.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
Thank you. Thank you. Have a nice day. Calendar number. Thanks. Calendar number 1 -862 -6717 Chu Avenue.
Madam Chair, this is Sharon again. This is the case that Ms. Hyman was asking that she be promoted
and that she be permitted to cross -examine witnesses and present her own witnesses.
Great. So I'm going to call both of them.
Thank you.
Sure. The attorneys are Herk Grigos and Stephanie Hyman.
Hi, Mr. Grigos. Can you put your name and address on the record and spell your last name?
Hi, Mr. Grigos. Can you put your name and address on the record and spell your last name?
Hercules Grigos, G -R -I -G -O -S, 1835 Market Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, representing 6717 Chew Avenue.
Do you swear for him to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed the exhibit packet with the documents consisting of proof of ownership tax compliance, the refusal, photos, and or plans of the property, five days in advance of this hearing, and have you met with the RCO, and do you have a letter?
We do, and we have.
Okay. Ms. Hyman, name and address for the record, please, and spell your last name, and then I'll swear you in.
Stephanie Hyman, H -E -I -M -A -N -N, 7225 Devon Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19119.
Thank you. Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing about the truth?
Madam Chair, if I could interrupt one more time, it appears as though we have Lena Reuter from the City Law Department also available for this case.
okay mr reuter can you put your name on the record and spell your last name uh thank you
madam chair members of the board leonard freuter r -e -u -t -e -r senior attorney for the city of
philadelphia i am not here as a party but my understanding is that there may be some
examination and or cross -examination of a city witness and i'm i'm really just here for that
portion of the case, if it even gets to that. Okay. And do you swear from the tell the whole
truth and nothing but the truth? I do. Okay, great. So, Herc, you may proceed. Great. Thank
you very much, Madam Chair. As I said, representing 6717 Chu Ave, LLC, owner of the property located
at 6717 Chu Ave. We're here today with an application for construction of a multifamily
building with accessory parking i have with me today jonathan thomas developer as well as david
plant from regiro plant land design project engineer i will be calling them as witnesses
if we could promote them at some point or at least asking them some testimony okay
property is uh approximately 14 000 square foot lot located at 67 17 chew avenue and if i may
I'm going to try to share my screen and can everyone see that so this is a zoning map of
the property you can see my cursor the site is on CA1 it is an approximate 14 ,000 square foot site
bounded by Chew Avenue to the south, Slocum Avenue to the west, the Pleasant Playground
to the north, and then the backs of some homes on Vernon Street to the east.
As you can see, there is a lot of different zoning classifications on this area of Chew Ave,
RSA -5 residential, RM -2 multifamily, RM -1, and then your CMX -2 as you go down the block,
which is, as you're aware, is your mixed -use multifamily.
Here's a close -up of the site. Current condition of the property is a vacant auto repair shop.
It's been vacant for many years, fallen in disrepair. And I think if you note from the
photos of the property.
Properties, as I said, been vacant, I would say, as a blight on the neighborhood.
And really, the goal here is to redevelop the property.
One of the issues that you hear from my client is the existence of considerable contamination
as a result of the historic use, environmental contamination.
My client will testify that estimates are a minimum of $250 ,000 to remove underground storage tanks, contaminated soil, monitor groundwater, among other remediation, and take the project through Act 2.
This issue, along with the demo, creates an impediment for development.
This is at the site zone CA1.
However, it's surrounded by a number of different uses and zoning districts.
when we were looking at how to develop this property and what made sense um in the first
guide we went to was the philadelphia uh planning commission uh 2035 plan uh which called for the
site to be mapped rm1 and i have that in the packet i'm happy to scroll through that but
in the packet i'm happy to scroll through that but that is in your packet um and the but the uh
that is in your packet um and the
Thank you.
the proposed remapping is rm1 so with that and with the adjacent residential uses and adjacent
multi -family that exist my client proceeded to develop a project consistent with rm1
we originally proposed 37 units with ground floor amenities let's scroll to a plan here
for everybody that sends some photos.
Zoom this out.
so the original plan called for 37 units ground floor amenities a green roof to manage storm
water 21 parking spaces and a height not to exceed 38 feet occupied area was 63 percent
where the maximum rm1 is 80 percent the project otherwise met the dimensional standards of rm1
21 parking spaces which as you know no parking is required norm one so the the project was designed
to meet arm one and did that um you know and really that's that's what we thought made sense
we had set back from the park and one of the original plans was to have traffic come in and
out through slocum and chew as a result of meetings we made some changes but under the ca1
zoning you know variance was really for use because as you know multi -family is not permitted
in ca1 even though that condition exists across the street and the zoning
districts exist on Chu Avenue. The maximum occupied area in CA1 is 60%.
We're proposing 63%. So although it meets the RM1, we think it's the minimus change from the CA1.
No variance for height. And of course, there is a variance for parking because under CA1,
which is an auto -oriented district, you base parking off square footage.
in a residential district like this um as we're designing toward there would be no parking
requirement so there is a variance for parking but that's based on your audio auto oriented ca1
and you'll hear from david plant of how ca1 uses a much more intense um uses are much more traffic
intense and generate much more car traffic trip chat trip generation um so i want to go through
the procedural history, and then I can walk everybody through the plan. But we originally
met with the community in November and December. We had two meetings. Our original zoning date
was scheduled for January 6th, and we were surprisingly met with some pushback.
um the comments were um really concerned about um uh traffic storm water and how we impacted
the park um and so what we did was we looked at um you know how could we how could we redesign
the project how could we meet with everybody how could we look and see what we could uh accomplish
here. So we've had a meeting with near neighbors and a committee, I believe that was in early
February, and the suggestions they made and the feedback was they wanted an expansion of Pleasant
Playground. They believed that this should be public land and should be part of the playground.
And if not, an urban agriculture community garden, farmer's market. We even got requests for
just straight retail, dog park, rain garden. I think I even saw one for a rehab center and a
safe injection site. But nevertheless, we engaged our design team and we looked at the CA1 uses
and we looked at and we spoke to brokers and said, what is viable and what will work here?
um we looked at a number of different iterations of plans in the ca1 um some you know you know
match the height different different iterations and we looked at what what was developable
after reviewing and speaking with brokers and speaking with folks in the market it was
determined that there really isn't a market on this area of chew avenue for um a ca1
for a CA1 use. And some of the feedback that we heard from the community was sort of
use. And some of the feedback that we heard
counterintuitive because they were concerned about pedestrian access, children, access to
the playground. And these CA1 uses that are permitted, which include restaurant, doctor's
office, convenience store, 7 -Eleven type uses, would have much more traffic and much more of an
impact. So with that, we tried to engage and looked at the different uses, and we decided to
reduce the number of units. We went from 37 to 34. We changed our traffic pattern to have all
traffic come in and out of Chew Avenue, and we removed our dumpster enclosure from an exterior
to an interior trash room and if i may i'll just walk everybody through the plans
we also added a potential ground floor either non -profit meeting area office or something
but here's here's the plans a number of mixed of multi -family i'll give everybody the elevation so
can see here's the rendering and the massing and really here's here's what we're talking about
you know typical RM1 building up against the street on Chu Avenue all access through Chu Avenue
we added some activity on the ground floor we would consider if there was discussion we could
engaged. We were considering, you know, if retail would work there, we think it would be a loss
leader, but we would try it or see if there was discussion. But really, the neighbors didn't want
to engage. There was discussion of how it impacted the park. We set the building back considerably
from the park and the pool, and see that in the site plan. So all of these things were taken
in consideration. Additionally, what we added was 10 % of affordable units that we would add
at 60 % AMI. And, you know, finally, because we understand the desire to support the playground,
my client is proposing a donation in the amount of $6 ,000 a year to the playground, to parks and
recs for the next 10 years. However, at the follow -up meeting, there was no debate or desire
to engage. The sentiment was, it was actually at the February meeting, we were told to withdraw
our zoning case and start over and have a discussion, which we thought was sort of
disingenuous. I mean, I think as my experience is, and as the board knows, my experience
were were often amenable to the push and pull and trying to work through a project but
the the desire and the demand was really to see this as um as really an extension of the park
and while we appreciate that concern um the reality is that in order to viably
develop this property there's a lot of impediments that exist on the site
so you know in order to to do that and figure out a project that works we chose the planning
commission's recommendation of rm1 which we think for massing density and height etc is consistent
with where the neighborhood is going what exists rsa5 across the street similar massing and density
CMX2 down the block similar mass and density so let's talk about the variance and the physical
impediments to develop in the site we've said the main variance is for use multifamily is not
permitted in spite of the fact that there is no CA1 use in the immediate corridor is not part of
a larger plan we think that this was really corrective remapping I mean I think there was
some existing there's an auto repair shop down the block and there's some existing you know old
existing convenience stores or other but this is not a highly trafficked commercial corridor
so you'll note as I said the multi -family across the street and really contemplates you know
retail and office really we didn't believe worked. So I have John Thomas here if you can
affirm and speak. But the first thing that we found was really no demand for users in the CA1.
The first thing that we found was really no demand for users in the CA -1.
That was medical office or convenience store restaurant.
John spoke to at least two urgent cares and said the immediate area was saturated.
If they wanted to come in this market, they'd look for a more vibrant commercial corridor.
But assuming my client was able to build a CA -1 building on spec,
John ran the performance and the cost of construction, cost of infrastructure,
And the cost to remediate the site with the proposed rents, which we received between $12 and $20 a foot, produced a negative return.
And we looked at this on 4 ,500 -square -foot buildings and 9 ,500 -square -foot buildings with various heights, various parking layouts.
Making the building larger was possible.
Theoretically increased the revenue to overcome the large cost of the remediation.
However, it makes it much more difficult to rent in this environment.
um so john is this is john on and he he's been promoted but if he can speak to that
mr thomas has been allowed to speak mr thomas please wait to be sworn in sir thank you
um so john have you heard my my testimony in terms of one second one one second mr
john are you there i am yes ma 'am can you put your name and address on the record and spell your last
name and then I'll swear you in yep Jonathan Thomas with an office at 4936 York Road Buckingham
PA 18912 uh Thomas is spelled T -H -O -M -A -S thank you do you swear if I'm to tell the whole truth
and nothing but the truth I do okay Mr. Griegos so John you just want to um you heard my testimony
or my representation of the economic infeasibility of a CA -1?
Do you want to confirm that and elaborate on that?
Yes, I do adopt that.
As Shoe Avenue, the nature of it, it's more of a secondary market for commercial and retail
with the surrounding residential from it.
And as you know, with the pandemic and the world we live in today,
the primary market, such as Germantown Avenue,
which is just a little bit to the south of this, those areas are getting impacted with vacancies
and lowering of rents. And so a secondary market such as this one is just not feasible for
any sort of rental stability. And John, you have a quote from 2019 for approximately $175 ,000
environmental remediation, and most recent quotes in 2021 were upwards of $250 ,000. Is that correct?
That is correct. The $175 ,000 quote came from the environmental firm Brickhouse, which was done
from a previous owner, receiving our quote of $250 ,000. That has a little bit of contingency
for when we if we run into groundwater issues where we can't clean up the groundwater when
you start removing the soil and the underground storage tanks there could be additional wells
that are required for the quarterly monitoring by the DEP and then extra soil may need to be
removed and offloaded off site. So even if even if you're able to develop the site and let's
to say it's even the lower number of 175, and you're able to get a tenant, you know, rents,
does the project work as a CA1? It does not. Even if we're able to rent it at the market rate that's
going for in that area, with the cost of construction, the cost of development,
we would not have any sort of positive return. Okay, thank you, John.
um and i just have um david plant um i have some questions for david plant as well if we can okay
hello yes sir can you put your name and address on the record and spell your last name
yes david plant p -l -a -n -t -e 5900 ridge avenue philadelphia pa 19128
thank you do you swear or firm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth
yes i do okay mr grigos david when if you recall um after we had the initial
with the pushback you were you were engaged by John and his team to look at
see one uses is that correct correct and you ran a number of different
correct and you ran a number of different potential scenarios i did and some of those
had a 38 -foot building is certainly possible and the medical office building would be feasible on
the site you see a one zoning dimensions i'm sorry can you repeat that last in other words the height
the height of the building you could you could build a three -story 38 -foot building would be
that's right we we looked at a couple different scenarios and and one of them um one of the i
would say two or three most likely um is a three -story uh medical office building yes
and typically what you would have in that is the ca1 um auto oriented is building set back from the
street parking field in the front that's right that's typically what retailers or other users
would want and and that would have a bigger impact on say the park in terms of approximately
building shadows that correct that's right so an arrangement like that most likely would be
similar to some of the other properties for example the convenience store that's just a blocker or a
block and a half to the south and that's a parking lot in front access from chew avenue and then a
loading area and trash enclosure in the back so we would need to service any kind of retail we'd need
a service area in the back and that would be accessed from slocum street and you know that
That would, in your opinion, would have certainly a bigger impact than the current proposed
building on the park and meeting the neighbors.
Yeah, that would have much more impact, and there would be much more activity.
And as I think you touched on before, a use like that, you know, we looked at a couple
of different uses but at the extreme end a convenience store would generate uh it would
be approximately a 4 500 square foot building and that would generate approximately 20 times
as much traffic as a 33 unit apartment building so that would really be
obviously a very significant impact compared to the apartment building
And I raise this just because one of the comments from the community was safety, walkability of 2 Avenue, and traffic.
And I just want to confirm, David, that your opinion as an engineer, that the CA -1 use has a much larger impact on those.
Really, all of the other realistic CA1 -compatible or compliant uses would generate much more traffic than the multifamily use.
And how about one of the other comments was warm water.
Did you talk about the warm water management?
This is a green roof, a green roof building.
Is that correct?
That's correct.
so you know this should this should certainly have a significant upgrade of what is existing
in terms of storm water management that's right that's right there's no storm water
management on the site and the site is is mostly paved today the green roof is not required we
don't trip the requirement for um for storm water management but it's provided to comply with the
um rm1 uh bonus density bonus arrangement as though we were uh in in the rm1 district
um but so you didn't you didn't um trigger stormwater magic but you're doing additional
is to improve the project i think maybe maybe the punch line that i was trying to get to there
is that if this was um developed as a ca1 compliant property no stormwater management
would be required or provided great so so this is actually this project actually addresses the
concerns that's right um thank you um and um i'll just turn this over to the board for any plans
and i'll reserve um a time for a closing if that's okay but um we also have an evidence
2035 i have some letters of support which i will get to
get to, apologies. I look forward to seeing everyone in person soon. Oh, I know. Can you
make that a little larger? Yes. So this is a letter of support from a neighbor three blocks
away um and um you know one of the things they say is um you know a lot of the neighbors are
sort of been uh reluctant to come out because of an aggressive campaign with few local neighbors
so i'll leave the board to review that letter for what it's worth an additional letter of support
um from a neighbor two locks away um uh and how they believe that redevelopment of the site would
be an improvement. I also have in your packet for review just a letter from our broker who
looked at the site and said that CA1, it would be very difficult to place CA1 tenants or CA1 uses
at this site. And finally, I just want to just add that we had four meetings. We really
We were hopeful that there was discussion, but the discussion was really that residential was a non -starter and multifamily was a non -starter.
um um and you know when we tried to to engage and um you know even speak with the councilwoman's
office who said you know maybe maybe there's a density and we reduced the density but um you
know the the answer was was really that um the campaign was this is this is commercial use at
the pleasant playground that we're going to um we're going to build up against the pool and put
the pool in shade. And, you know, we're targeting the neighborhood, you know, opposition to how
this was going to impact the pool and that we're going to shade the pool. However, you're going to
see even from the opposition's shadow studies, it even shows that, you know, the pool is not in
shade, especially the three months of the year that the pool is open. You know, I would say that
any project probably in December would cast shade on portions of it. But this was sort of what we
were up against. I even reached out, I was happy to continue the discussion, but the discussion
has been really, it's either a park, it's hydroponic garden, or we're going to oppose
this multi -family use. So with that, I'll turn it over to
Council for their presentation and we'll reserve time to close if that's okay.
Oh thank you. I just have a couple of questions on Cross for your witnesses.
I'll start with Mr. Plant. Mr. Plant, did you visit Chu Avenue, the Chu Avenue property?
yes i did okay and um did you create a report of your findings the findings that you testified
about uh i have not i we've prepared um various sketch studies for the alternative plans and of
course the plans that have been submitted okay and did you provide the neighbors with any of
those sketch studies? I have not. Okay, thanks. And that means you also didn't provide the
neighbors with any kind of report since you say you didn't, you didn't create a report. Is that
correct? Okay, thank you. And then my next set of questions is for Mr. Thomas.
Mr. Thomas, can you hear me?
yes i can okay great um you were testifying earlier about a brick house environmental report
uh yes did you did you provide that report to the neighbors i believe that was in the
supplemental package um that you provided to the zoning hearing board
i'm sorry say that again the the brick house report um was from a previous
uh gentlemen looking to purchase the property um where that report was uh produced so no okay um
and then all right so i'm gonna um
well was the condition of the lot uh factored into the sales price when you purchased purchased it
Was the condition of the lot factored into the sales price when you purchased it?
And the location was also factored in, wasn't it?
Now, you deal primarily in residential real estate.
Is that right?
That is not correct.
So what is your primary business?
Sure. So my experience in the city of Philadelphia goes back about 11 years. I worked with a company, PRDC Properties, in various portions of the city with David Perlman and developed probably over 50 projects, ranging from residential apartment buildings to commercial properties to office buildings to larger developments of homes.
with each property, we look at what is the best use for that property and what's going to be the
most sustainable for that as well. Okay, but the company that you're working with that's
seeking this variance is Audax Homes LLC, is that right? That's correct. And that company, Audax
homes specializes in uh residential real estate isn't that correct uh yeah i own um many different
companies um we have audax properties audax homes we have uh we're just talking about audax homes
for right now so is that correct that's correct audax homes isn't isn't a isn't a party here but
keep going okay um so you've concluded that a commercial use on this property is not viable
right correct okay but you're aware that there are several other commercial businesses operating
within two blocks of 6717 Chu aren't you I am okay and um you're familiar with the quick stop
food market at Vernon and Chu yes okay and that's been there for over a decade right
i don't know that but i could come to that conclusion okay and um hong's laundromat
are you familiar with that yes business and that's also been there for over a decade right
uh yes okay and um emmanuel johnson funeral home
not familiar with that no okay um and today on two avenue between hoarder and sharp knack we have
wellness zone medical weight loss alexander foot care learning laughing and growing child care
academy pizza and steak master and harris hair salon all one next to the other correct yes
okay so how how would you define not viable yeah i would say uh historic use
as old as some of those are, are not the same as supporting new construction for a new
use on a property. Lots of different factors have changed. Cost basis has changed. Construction
costs have changed. So historically, I don't know if some of those places are making money
or if they're not making money. I can't attest to that. Okay. So you mentioned making money.
you're aware that evidence that a zoned use being less financially rewarding than a proposed use
is insufficient in and of itself to justify a variance, aren't you?
Objection to legal conclusion.
So noted.
All right.
I will rephrase the question.
um when you say not viable for new construction are you speaking from a business perspective
i am okay all right those are all of my um questions for this witness can i just redirect
a couple things um john just to be clear um even if there's historic uses uh down the block
in your opinion with your experience in construction could you develop this site
and I'll use the language of the code to make it economically viable economic use of the property
in today's conditions and that's my first question we cannot and are you aware of any
new construction ground up retail commercial or office uses within a two or three block radius
of the site? Not on a secondary market such as this. Thanks. Are there any other witnesses who
Are there any other witnesses who would like to testify?
would like
Is this for their case or our case?
Madam Chair, I have Janet Mills. Janet Mills, who has her hand raised?
No, pause for a second, Jason.
Ms. Hyman, I'm assuming you were finished.
yes i'm finished when i cross thank you okay
but going down to sunken
oh no i believe madam chair was do we have other witnesses for the attorneys
that's yes that's what i did ask i'm sorry are we speaking about our witnesses or or the
um mr mr greco's witnesses we have we have a case to present should i should i present that case now
that would be good okay thank you um all right uh my name is stephanie hyman i'm an attorney
representing four clients who are near neighbors to the property at 67 17 shoe they're kevin smith
uh at 30 301 vernon road stephanie reed at 307 vernon road laverne faxson at 329 vernon road
and Bonnie Suckerman at 6708 Shoe Avenue.
We are asking that the variances be denied
because the applicant has not met its burden
and Pennsylvania appellate courts make clear
that it is a very heavy burden to demonstrate
that it has the sort of substantial, serious
and compelling reasons for these variances
that the law requires.
And we'll now outline through testimony and evidence
that first, the applicant does not demonstrate
an unnecessary hardship exists
that warrants use variants to allow a 33 -unit multifamily residential apartment building in the
CA1 district. The applicant has indicated to my clients that pollution from the property from a
previous gas station there presents cleanup costs that are so wildly difficult and so wildly
expensive that the only way this property can be viably developed is by allowing for this
33 -unit multifamily residential apartment building, and that's simply not the case.
the cleanup costs are totally overstated.
We'll show that the applicant knew or should have known
about the pollution when this property was purchased,
and we'll present an expert report to show
that the pollution is isolated to a small portion of the property.
It's not a threat to neighboring properties.
And far from worsening or even remaining static,
it's actually improving and resolving over time.
And the estimated cleanup costs are modest
and have been grossly overstated by the applicant.
And you heard me say that these are modest costs and they're also optional.
And that's because any and all cleanup costs taken on by the applicant are not mandated by any statute or regulation or any authority.
and you'll hear me discuss Act 2, which is the statute that governs this cleanup cost and is
geared towards granting a liability waiver. So you'll hear me present evidence about how Act 2
is purely optional, voluntary, and is actually quite rarely used by property owners in the city
and has been rarely used over the 26 -year history of the Act. So the purported hardship by the
applicant is a hardship by choice. It's a hardship that the applicant can opt in and out of at its
choice, and no one requires this property to undergo a penny of cleanup. Further evidence
will also show that the applicant cannot demonstrate that this variance is the least
modification necessary to address optional hardship costs. And we'll also show that the
33 -unit apartment building is going to harm the adjacent properties at Vernon Road, the single
family uses, the single family homes there, and the Pleasant Playground. I'll be calling three
witnesses, Bonnie Zuckerman, Kevin Smith, and Robert Dixon. And I'd like to begin by calling
Ms. Zuckerman, if she could be promoted to panelist.
Does she need to present something?
Jason, is her hand raised?
Sorry, Madam Chair.
Sorry, Madam Chair, I'm unable to make panelists at this time.
I had to go out and come back in.
My internet was going to screw.
My bad.
Okay, I'll take care of it.
She's been promoted to panelists.
Okay, great.
um bonnie your screen with the exhibit packet
uh so let the chair swear her in first hi can you hear me yeah i can hear you hi can you put
your name and address on the record and spell your last name and then i'll swear you in
Yep. My name is Bonnie Zuckerman, B -O -N -N -I -E. Last name is Z -U -C -K -E -R -M -A -N. I live at 67082 Avenue.
Pull it off. Yeah. Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Yeah, I do.
Okay. Miss Hyman?
um i would like to share my screen but it says that i cannot while another participant is sharing
thank you
hi uh okay here's our exhibit
okay great
hi i'm ready all right all right great um so can you share with the board where you
live and how close your home is to the 6717 Chew Avenue site? Sure. So my address is 67082 Ave.
I'm on the same unit block as the site. So I'm about five or six homes away. You can see it,
you know, from my front steps or from my driveway, the site. And I'm south on Chew, so down towards
um the commercial buildings like to market the laundry and how long have you lived there
um since the fall of 2017 I moved in um and there was an environmental survey conducted for 6717
shoe avenue during 2017 to 2019 right yeah that's correct okay and was there a um a report produced
following that environmental survey uh yeah so there were three report reports there's a phase
one phase two and a phase three and who produced those reports um the first two reports were done
by environmental management group um so that's phase one and phase two and then um brick house
which we talked about a little earlier,
I prepared the phase three report in 2019.
Okay, great, great.
And did you review those reports before appearing here?
Yeah, yeah.
So I just like to enter those three volumes of reports
into the record.
Now, why do you have the reports in front of you?
Yeah, so exhibit one, two, and three are the reports.
so from pages 3 to 304 are those three reports.
I'm just going to object to this.
I don't think these reports are certified
to Ms. Zucker or anyone else, so I'm not sure what capacity,
but I just want to put that on the record.
Continue.
And so I'm going to ask you about the content
and the conclusion of these reports.
um so in volume three on page one uh the final sorry second paragraph in the final sentence
can you explain sort of the standard that was used to evaluate pollution levels
yeah so they say um that they use um right here um that the levels exceeded act 2 rmsc which
stands for the residential thresholds, this R right here. So residential are more strict than
commercial. So in this report, they were using the stricter of the thresholds. Okay, and this
property is currently zoned as commercial? Yeah, it is currently zoned as CA1. Okay,
um and what is act two sure so um act two is a voluntary program i i object
i mean this is a neighbor testifying to to environmental
This is a neighbor testifying to Environmental, I don't know if she's an expert.
That's a piece of public legislation.
Have you reviewed the Act 2 statute?
Sure, in detail, and I've spoken with multiple people from the Department of Environmental Protection.
Excuse me, this is Sharon Saleta.
I believe the witness would have to testify, have to be qualified as an expert to continue testifying in this respect.
um okay so all right i i will move on um can you describe the uh studies done by the by the
environmental firm uh yes um so they do uh groundwater wells where they drill down to
groundwater, and then monitor the water, and then they also use soil.
Okay, what is the objection?
We're going to have a neighbor testify to you. You put the report in. It's not certified to the
neighbors, but it's fine. You put the report in, um, and then testify to the, uh, the content of
the report. I don't know. I just think that's, um, it's just the content of the report.
Either way, I would, I would think it would need to be an expert
and highlighting certain sections of the report. Again, if she has no, if she is not qualified as
an expert, I would suggest that you move on from this line of questioning, please.
Earlier at their, during their testimony.
Stephanie, you're frozen. I didn't hear that.
um this same series of reports was referred to earlier by the applicant
and if you have an expert who can reply to that you may have them testify on the issue
okay um okay i'll move on then um okay can i interject at one o 'clock
this case is going to be continued the staff is required to have breaks and i just want to give
everybody here a heads up okay um all right so i'm going to move on from the report um
Madam Chair, if we have a time issue, I would ask for a resumption on this if we're not
going to be able to finish it, it doesn't seem like we will.
Do we have a resumption date and Sharon, can you weigh in along with Tanya?
The ZBA could accommodate us.
June 30th at 9 .30.
and in this case it would simply be a resumption hearing not limited to any specific testimony
okay we yeah you would be okay with that yeah it's it's kind of far out um it kind of impacts
us but i i understand if there's anything we do sooner i would appreciate it okay so
So we will end the testimony now and cross -examination until, what was the date again?
June 30th at 930.
Okay, so that will be the resumption hearing.
Does it make sense that we could finish this testimony in 20 minutes and have an opportunity to cross?
and then finish at one o 'clock is that possible um that would be up to you
can this be done i'd like to resume since i i mean i'd like to wait for the resumption date
since i was told that i need to um get an expert witness for this
well how much longer will bonnie
be testifying
um yeah i can't i can't say can i speak to the zoning effie and do
the 2035 plan or am i not allowed to speak to that at all
well if there yeah if there are no objections to that then she can speak to mr grigos do you
she can speak to mr grigos do you object to her testifying to 2035 plan yes i'm just you know
object to her testifying to
frustrated that we i'm not going to have an opportunity to cross her um but
and you know they came without an expert and we're happy to wait until the um the resumption date
okay so this case will be resumed on june 30th it's obvious this can't be accomplished
okay thank you madam chair sorry mr grigos
thank you thank you madam chair this uh leonard defroder for the city of philadelphia may be
excused yes you may
and may i also be excused yes you may
sorry thank you very much bonnie um excuse me madam chair there was one other thing that you
were going to read into the record yes i do know that thank you okay calendar number mi -2021
021 -000117 2848 alder street this case is withdrawn okay can i ask one more request madam
chair and sharon if we're going to do a resumption of the event is there an opportunity to submit
more evidence or are we going to go based on the records of the evidence in the list yes i i think
for this resumption hearing.
The record is simply remaining open.
Thanks very much.
That concludes
this morning's hearings.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Court reporter, we'll see you back at 2 p .m.
as well as the rest of the DBA staff.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Should I just use that same link that you sent, the newer one, since I had trouble with that?
Yeah, use my link for now and on.
You can use it for the time being.
You'll use my link, and next week we'll try to get it straight for you.
And if you have any issues, concerns, or want to take a small break, just make sure you make us aware at the 2 o 'clock session.
All righty?
All right.
I will.
Thank you.
I appreciate it.
No problem.
Thank you.
All right.
Bye -bye.
My name is Confesso Plaza and I'll be the acting chair for this afternoon session.
Zoning hearings along with me are board members Thomas Holloman and James Snell.
Also participating is the board administrator Tanya Sunkit and board attorney Sharon Saletta.
uh before we begin i'd like to uh note the following changes related to this virtual
format first please be advised that proceeding these proceedings are being recorded and by
participating you acknowledge your agreement to be recorded second for the benefit of anyone
participating by phone we ask that all attorneys and witnesses identify themselves prior to speaking
or testifying. Third, for anyone participating by phone, if you wish to testify, you must raise
your hand by hitting star nine and star six to unmute yourself. Before calling the first case,
we will hear any requests for continuance or withdrawals. But before we do that, I would like
to read some of the continuance from this 2 p .m. session. Okay. MI 2020 -003288, 1225 North
3rd street is being continued calendar number mi 2020 0 3 3 5 5 12 31 north 3rd street
Calendar number MI 2021 -000740 -1720 -North 22nd Street, MI 2020 -003256 -1702 -Altra Street.
It's being withdrawn. Calendar number MI 2021, 739 -1714 North 22nd Street. It's being continued.
north 22nd street uh it's being continued
uh mi 2021 000 784 1744 north 22nd street it's being continued
MI 2021 -000783, 1750 North 22nd Street. It's being continued MI 2021 -000779, 2000 Spring Garden
Street. It's being withdrawn. MI 2020 -002 -711 -5138 Gainer Road. It's being withdrawn.
I believe that's all I have. Anyone here that would like to continue a case or felt that
any of these cases are read as being
an error.
Please come up. Please raise your hand.
Mr. Plaza, I have a
Kayla Franks Jenkins with their hand
raised. I will allow them to speak at this time, sir.
Thank you, Jason.
Hello?
Yes, can you please identify yourself with a record?
My name is Kayla Franks Jenkins.
I'll spell your first and last name
for the stenographer, please? K -A -L -A. Last name is F -R -A -N -K -S -J -E -N -K -I -N -S.
Is your firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, for nothing but the truth?
Yes. Okay. You may proceed. So I am referring to the properties that are located on North 22nd
Street. Okay. I do understand that they want a continuance. Is it possible that the community
know exactly the reason for the continuance? I don't have that in front of me right now.
All I know is that all these cases are being continued. Okay. Excuse me. This is Sharon
Saleta. My understanding is they want an additional time to work with the community. Okay. Thanks,
Um, so the community had unanimously voted no in our RCO meeting.
And could we suggest, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you, but, um, we could, this is the first listing and generally those are granted a continuance.
However, the board could add, um, a condition to that, that it be, must be heard, meaning that they would have to be heard at the next hearing date.
we'll do that so all these cases will be continued uh must be heard okay so this is my first dba
meeting so my apologies i guess my next question is ma 'am we're not uh listening to these cases so
we really can't get any testimony to go that's fine but when will it be held i guess is my next
question? You can check the online ZBA calendar. All new dates are posted on the online ZBA
calendar. And if you are already pre -registered for this particular hearing, you will get
notification through the email. And I believe the property will also be reposted. Is that correct,
Tanya yes it will thank you uh anyone else
chair before you go on to the um unless there are more continuance requests if there aren't
before you go on to calling the first cases i wanted to point out we've had some um emails this
afternoon on MI 2021 -000741 -3600 Grant Avenue. This is a case that requires CDR. The applicant
has completed the first CDR hearing, but that was yesterday, and they requested that he return for
a second hearing. I believe that Mr. Whelan, the applicant's attorney, is here, and he is requesting
that he be permitted to go forward he can explain the reasons why he would like to go forward
and do a resumption hearing however the board's administrator Ms Sunkit has agreed to reschedule
this for June 2nd which would be no no later than the resumption hearing would be scheduled
so if you could call Mr Whelan to um testify to his request please thank you uh calendar number
testify to his request, please. Thank you. Calendar number MI 2021 -000741 -3600 Grand
Avenue. Mr. Whalen, good afternoon. You swear to affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth,
for nothing but the truth? Yes, I do. Thank you. Please identify yourself for the record.
Certainly. Sean, S -E -A -N, Whalen, W -H -A -L -E -N from Vintage Law, 6 Coulter Avenue, Suite 1000, Ardmore, PA, 19003. I am the attorney for the project at 3600 Grant Avenue here on behalf of the owner and the applicant.
Okay. So you heard what our counsel has just stated for the record?
Yes, yes, I do. And just very briefly, I will say that this is an extraordinary circumstance.
I understand that, you know, our CDR must be concluded. We did hear did proceed before CDR
yesterday. They had three comments, none of which would lead to substantive or can lead to any
substantive changes. And they did request us to come back. The issue here and what's extraordinary
is the project has been deemed the property as it stands has been deemed imminently dangerous
and in working with the community and the councilman's office and i believe someone
from councilman heenan's office is on uh on the meeting and may want to testify as well
there's been extraordinary pressure to keep keep going to get this done so that we can
remove the imminently dangerous structure that is um you know been there for too long at this
point and is very dangerous to, uh, this property is wide open and sort of, uh, dangerous to
trespassers and so forth. Um, however, in, uh, speaking with the zoning board, we are willing
to, I would like to continue to push forward. And I know the councilman would like us to push
forward today with our hearing, but given as, uh, Ms. Saleta stated, my understanding is that if we
were to press forward today we would need a resumption hearing after the June 1 CDR meeting
that we're going back to to conclude CDR anyway so therefore if the board does reschedule us for
June 2nd we would be willing to accept that as a as a compromise and move forward on June 2nd
with the hearing with the understanding that CDR will be concluded on June 1st and therefore there
will be no no more impediments for us moving forward right i was thinking the same thing too
you know being as though that we need a cdr to conclude on this so yeah for that reason um we
will continue to the date that miss uh sunk it uh got for you okay i think it's june 2nd uh sharon
um june 2nd miss second what time was that would that be two o 'clock yes ma 'am thank you
June 2nd at 2 p .m. And I just wanted to make sure Stan Sawinski from the councilman's office
was intending to be on. I didn't want to cut him off if he had anything that he wanted to add to
the matter. Okay, he can. Anyone here from a council person's office? Please come forward now.
Good afternoon. This is Stan Sawinski from Councilman Heenan's office.
Good afternoon.
You swore to affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, for nothing but the truth?
Will you please spell your first and last name for the sonographer?
S -T -A -N -L -E -Y.
Last name is Cywinski.
C -Y -W -I -N -S -K -I.
Thank you.
Please proceed.
The council member absolutely supports Mr. Wheel's position.
We are extremely anxious to remedy the dangerous situation with this property.
you know so the sooner we can get this these proceedings concluded the better for our
constituents that's correct will do thank you for coming out thank you thank you very much
all board members you're welcome have a nice day anyone else on any continuance requests
i have miss rachel pritzker i will allow her to speak at this time
hold on one second please
hello yes how you doing rachel please identify yourself for the record
sure i i just might i had some technical difficulties r -a -c -h -a -e -l pritzker p -r -i -t -z -k -e -r
i just wanted to um sure and affirm to tell the truth the whole truth for nothing but the truth
yes thank you go ahead i just wanted to make sure that um the 22nd street matters were continued
the 22nd street matters were continued um that's correct same with uh 3rd street 12 31 and 12 25.
um that's correct
yep they were all continued okay wonderful and then i just had one more
um oh no that was all three of them so i just wanted to make sure chairman okay have a good
one thank you so much you're welcome anyone else
I'm sorry, Mr. Chair.
No problem.
I thought I saw someone else's hand up or someone wants to speak, but I may be mistaken.
No further hand at this time, sir.
Thank you, Jason. I believe first one up, Sharon, real quick, these add -ons, do they go first?
I think you should skip the add -ons for now, Sharon.
I think so, too. Thank you very much.
So I believe first one up is number eight, MI2021 -000744 -2006 -08, Samson Street.
Is Meredith around?
Neil Skarnloff has been promoted to panelists, sir.
Thank you.
Can I be heard?
Yes, are you hearing this matter?
Good afternoon, sir.
Please identify yourself for the record, please.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Mr. Chairman, members of the board, Ms. Leda, Ms. Sanket. My name is Neil Sklaroff with the law firm Dilworth Paxson, 1500 Market Street, Suite 3500E, Philadelphia 19102. I'm here today to represent.
Mr. Osler, real quick, do you swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, for nothing but the truth?
And do you agree to waive the reading of its refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, I do.
Also, have you emailed an exhibit packet with the required documents, proof of ownership, proof of tax compliance, copy of the refusal or referral, photos and plans five days prior to this hearing?
Yes, I have.
Thank you. Also, have you met with the RCO and have a letter?
Thank you. Please proceed.
And with me today is Mr. Vinh Chaw, who is a longtime manager at DemCorp 2.
We also represent Sampson 33 Realty, and we have a letter of authorization.
This is a simple request.
We have an application for a variance to allow an apartment, which is a single -family residence under the CMX -4 requirements.
Thank you. Sorry to touch you all, Mr. Scarab. Do you have anything we can see up on the screen?
Yes, I'm just going to ask to share the screen. Hopefully, I'll get this right this time.
Now, where's the sharing?
Look for your green button at the bottom of the Zoom, Mr. Scleroff.
Now I just got to find the right, here we go.
We got it, Mr. Scleroff.
Yeah, I'm just trying to enlarge it.
Here we go.
um this is an application for the third floor uh at 2006 to 08 samson street in philadelphia
um this is a long time use at the facility i'll go through the exhibits quickly this is a rather
simple application um the first exhibit is the tax clearance certificate and we have my
authorization from Sampson 33 Realty LLC to allow to represent them today. I am the attorney for
DemCorp II. In February, DemCorp II conveyed five properties of which 2006 to 2008 was included,
and we have a copy of the deed, and we'll go through this because we really don't want to
Linger. We'll show the postings on the upper left corner. You will see the two buildings, 2006 -2008. That's, again, part of five buildings.
2008. That's again part of five buildings which we'll see in just a moment and we see the postings
both on Sampson Street and to the rear of the building on Moravian Street.
These are the two buildings again. This is a somewhat complicated history in that the
The rather long documentary history and permanent history in the L &I archives are under 2004, Sansom Street, and the addresses are commingled from time to time.
This is looking west. 2004 is to your left over the barbecue place, all the way down to the five buildings, down to the restaurant, Melagrano's.
Looking at it the other way from Melagrano's looking east, where I have the pointer is 2006 -2008.
This is the rear of Moravian Street and showing three of the five buildings that were part of the conveyance in February.
This is an aerial view of the property. While it says 2006 is at this first point, that's actually 2004. 2006 and 2008 are the ones where I've pointed them out here.
This is a copy of the Eclipse when we made the application. Doesn't come up real well. Here's the notice of refusal.
Again, we're looking for a single family household living. It's the only type of residential living that's not permitted in the CMX4. But as I will show in a minute, it has the historical approvals and was never abandoned.
it. Here's our application for appeal. And this is a portion of a permit application and grant of
a permit. And I'll show you the full part, but you'll notice it says on the first and second
floor, the typesetters. And on the third floor, it says, and one family dwelling. That's the bottom
of this 1949 application, which is stamped that no permit is required.
This next application at the bottom here shows an apartment, both on the second floor and on
the third floor. Again, the address here is 2008 Sansom Street. Again, the records are commingled.
the folks from L &I may be able to determine what year this was it is unclear it certainly
is much earlier than 2018 but again a permit was not required. Here is a 1998 application
and this is where the difficulties arrive because in explaining what was on the third floor
it says vacant for 2006 -2008. On the back of the application, this would have been the fourth page
in the C applications that we have. Again, it's repeated as a vacant building, and that may have
constituted an abandonment of the use. We would argue no, but that's why we're here for a variance.
We also show you a 1958 housing approval, which for both 2006 and 2008 show single -family residents on the top floor.
This is a photograph of one of the most recent tenants, obviously appreciated art, but maybe did clean the kitchen as well.
But we show these to you to show that it's fitted out for that purpose.
This is a diagram of all five of the properties, with the exception of, I left off 2004.
This is the third floor.
The rest of the third floor is not there.
It's only two stories at that point.
That's the roof.
And here we have the one -story third -floor apartment, as it has been used for a long time.
2010 to 2012 also has a single -family apartment on the second floor, and they're both accessed by this stairwell that comes from 2010.
This is the second floor, which are commercial uses for the most part.
commercial uses for the most part. The application calls for a first floor
the application
restaurant use, and that is because if we look at the first floor, there was a time at which
the owner of the restaurant needed to rent some of the space in the rear of 2008
and accessed the dumpster to the rear, and therefore there was a variance granted to
breach the wall. At no point were the lots consolidated, but that's why we have that
restaurant use on the first floor in the application and the refusal, but we're really
here just for that third floor. This is a basement, which is not too relevant here.
We sent our letters to the RCO. The identified RCO as coordinator was the Center City Residence
Association, and we received this letter of non -opposition from CCRA. That completes our
exhibits. We ask that this exhibit package be made part of the record, and we'd be pleased
to answer any questions. Thank you. Does the board have any questions? No.
Now, is there anyone else here that would like to speak in this matter?
I see no hands at this time, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Planning Commission.
This is Ron Bednar, City Planning.
Ron, how are you doing? You swear to affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, for nothing but the truth?
Thank you. Please proceed.
property is indicated for center city commercial fixed use on the city plan given the documented
history we have uh we recommend that the request of variance beginning thank you calendar number
mi 2021 -000744 -2006 -08 samson street my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes
Good luck.
Thank you.
That completes our business before the board.
Have a great day.
Likewise.
MI 2020 -0032302144 North Darien Street.
Excuse me, Mr. Plaza.
I didn't list the attorney on that one.
I believe it is Rich DeMarco.
Thank you.
Mr. DeMarco has been promoted to panelists, sir.
Thank you, Mr. DeMarco. Please identify yourself for the record.
Hello, everyone. Can you hear me okay?
Oh, good. How are you? Yes, Richard DeMarco.
I just 2005 Market Street, 16th floor, Philadelphia PA, 19103. I'm here for the applicant.
Thank you.
You swear to firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, for nothing but the truth?
Do you agree to wait to read in of its refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed an exhibit packet with the required documents, proof of ownership,
proof of tax compliance, copy of the refusal, or referral,
voters and plans five days prior to this hearing?
I did.
Thank you.
Have you met with the RCO and have a letter?
We do, and we have a letter.
Thank you.
It's a letter of no opinion or non -opposition.
I see.
I'm sorry, Chair.
If I could just request Mr. DeMarco
spell his name for the record, please.
Absolutely.
D -E -M -A -R -C -O, DeMarco.
And I have, you should be able to see on your screen
Raj, R -A -J, Soin, S -O -I -N.
He's the applicant.
He should be promoted to panelist.
I will go ahead and go through the exhibits and I'll share my screen if that's okay with the chair.
Please proceed. Thank you.
I'm sorry, Mr. DeMarco, you said promote to panelists. Does he need to present something?
Oh, no, I'm sorry. I meant allow him to participate.
Thank you very kindly.
All right, you're back. I'll share my screen.
Mr. Chairman, members of the board.
be able to see
to be able to see the refusal on your screen yes this is a this is a property that is actually
zoned multi -family it is rm1 it is an existing structure it was existing as
it is an existing structure it was existing as a duplex we are asking the board to legalize
the duplex that's existing at the property why we received the refusal as you can see the property
is unusually small and the rm1 has a certain uh for a lot area requirement for the second unit
we missed that by about 140 feet. But the property, there is a hardship as the property
is unusually small. This is a fully RM1 block. Therefore, the property is so small that we
receive this variance. Also, the board should know that this block, and I'm going to go to the
overheads, you can see how many vacant lots exist on this block. It is a challenging block.
there are some blighted properties. I'm indicating with my courser. That's our property there. And
you can see all of these are vacant lots, vacant lots here, here. It's only a handful of existing
properties. They are all multifamily. The only new construction on the block is a new multifamily
where the reason, I'll show you the permit here, the reason why they got the permit is they
consolidated two lots in order to be able to have the three units. That's how they got three units.
As you can see, this is an RM1 block. When I researched the prior permits on the block,
I found many archive documents were missing because this block is, again, a challenging
development area. I'll show you some photos. These are poor, the condition that the property was in.
I'll ask my client to speak in a moment, but as you can see, the property was in a gutted
condition upon purchase. You can see the hot water heater on the floor, on the ground. My client had
to actually spend significant funds merely to bring the property into a safe condition.
We met with the RCO.
Well, passed their letter. Here's their letter. There was only one person on the call. He had no
opposition. He's reported there. We did the required mailings in advance. I did check in
with the council person. He has no position. President Clark has no position on the table.
Let me just speak with Raj. This is a petition. We did get some signatures of people in the area,
but again, there's very few actually active properties on the block. I'm going to ask Raj
to unmute himself. Raj, are you with us? Yes, I'm here. Raj, please allow yourself for the record.
Go ahead. First and last name? It's Raj, R -A -J, last name, Soin, S -O -I -N. Thank you. You swear
for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, for nothing but the truth? Yes, I do. Thank you. Please
proceed. Mr. Soin, did you hear my factual testimony a moment ago? Yes, I did. Do you adopt
that as your factual testimony and that it is true and accurate yes correct okay to mr chairman
back to i put the plans up um there is actually a side alleyway um along the left side of this
property which will provide access to rear storage for the second floor tenant and the first floor
tenant has direct access to the rear yard for trash storage great basement yes sir can you see
No, no, go ahead.
Yeah, I see.
I'll show you the, it's actually a very small carriageway, I believe is the architectural term.
There's an opening along the side of the house that runs to the backyard.
I'll show you that in a photo in a moment.
There is some rooms in the basement, but it's mostly, there's storage and utilities, and the unit has walkout access at the first floor, and we're not proposing any bedrooms in the basement.
Great.
Raj, you purchased this property as a duplex, correct?
Yes, when I saw the listing as an RM1 and the layout was a duplex, correct.
And the work that you did was to make the property safe
and to rehab only what were existing conditions at the site, correct?
Yes, like in some of the pictures that you showed, we had to secure the roof
and we had to put in a new roof because of many years of water damage.
And that was a significant cost to you, was merely to bring the property into some compliance.
That's correct.
Although there's no violations, though, right?
Correct. No violations.
Okay. Go back to the plot. And you have trash access for both tenants in the rear yard, correct?
That's right.
And you're okay? There's no basement bedrooms, correct?
Correct.
Chair, that's all I have. I would tell you that this property is meant for RM1 multifamily use.
Here, that's all I have. I would tell you that this property is meant for RM1.
It's a dimensional issue that requires the variance and the property has, the block is very challenging.
So we believe this variance is appropriate.
Thank you.
I'll move my exhibits into average.
Thank you. Board has any questions?
Is there anyone else here that would like to speak in this matter?
see no other hands at this time mr chair thank you planning commission uh ron bednar city planning
um this property is uh indicated for residential use on the city plan we recommend that the
request advance beginning. Thank you. Calendar number MI 2020 -0.
Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Confessor Plaza and I'll be the acting chair for this
zoning hearing. Along with me are board members Thomas Holloman and James Snell.
Also participating is board administrator Tanya Sunkit and board attorney
Sharon Saleta are also in attendance. Before we begin, I would like to note the following changes
related to our virtual format. First, please be advised that this proceeding is being recorded
and that by participating, you acknowledge your agreement to be recorded. Second, for the benefit
of anyone participating by phone we ask attorneys and witnesses to please identify themselves
prior to speaking or testifying third for anyone participating by phone if you wish to testify
you must raise your hand by hitting star nine then star six to unmute yourself before calling
the first case, we will hear any requests for continuances or withdrawals. Before we do that,
also, if anyone here presenting the case today hasn't met with the RCO or hasn't emailed their
exhibit packet five days prior to this hearing, your case will be continued. But that being said,
Let's go and continue. Calendar MI 2020 -000841 -1041 South 53rd Street is being continued. Calendar number MI 2021 -000303 -1240 Harrison Street.
There were no exhibit. So this case will be continued. Must be heard. Also, calendar number MI 2021 -000132 -1630 Fitzwater Street. There were no exhibits. It will be continued. Must be heard.
calendar number MI 2020 -001. I'm sorry. Excuse me, Mr. Mazza. Could we also, once you've read
those, ask if anyone who was continued for not having exhibits, if there is anyone here for
Right, right. I'll do that. You're welcome. MI 2020 -001 -513 -3642, North 21st Street. It's continued. Also, MI 2020 -000118 -4715, Green Street. It's continued.
must be heard. MI 2021 -0001 -29 -5221 Haverford Avenue will be continued, must be heard.
There were no exhibit as well. Is there anyone else here that would like to continue the case
or withdraw a case or felt that one of these cases I've read was due or an error? Please
raise your hand. Come forward now. Mr. Chair, I have Mr. Patrick Jones. I will allow him to speak
if that is okay. Thank you. Mr. Jones, can you please identify yourself for the record?
yes my name is patrick jones um applicant 4715 green street
uh can you uh please spell your last name for the stenographer
uh can you uh please spell your last name for the stenographer jones j -o -n -e -s thank you you
swear for the truth the whole truth for nothing but the truth yes sir uh i also wanted to note
that um i'm not the owner i'm the expert for the owner i do have the owner on a call okay um
green street you said 4715 green street yes sir okay mr paulsa um mr jones didn't have a deed he
did though submit the deed today um can you confirm the name of the owner mr jones gajah
james and she's on the call it says here exhibits were submitted sunday we didn't have a chance to
uh review the the exhibit for that reason we're going to continue this case all right understood
thank you sir thank you have a good day all right um chair this is tanya hey tanya um if i could
um let mr jones and his and the owner know that because of that minor flaw we could handle this
um in a earlier manner for continuance if they reach out to me i can accommodate
based on the fact that they provided everything else thank you tom
anyone else
no further hands at this time mr chair thank you first up is calendar number mi 2021
000040 1323 south south street
i see you don't answer that sir uh rachel i believe uh she's not available rachel pritzker
mr stephen potts have uh raised his hands okay
is he to be promoted
go ahead
maybe let's see if that's
for this case
he can speak for right now
if he has a relationship with this case
sir are you here for this case
Mr. Potts
can you unmute yourself sir
yeah i'm the i'm the architect uh for the project and i i know rachel's intending to be here so i
wonder if we could would it be possible to thank you thank you next one up it's mi 2021
1121 -000039 -1609 West Norris Street.
Mr. Jin has been promoted to panelist, sir.
Thank you. Mr. Jin, can you please identify yourself for the record?
Zen Jin, Z -H -E -N, J -I -N, 1617 John F. Kennedy Boulevard, Suite 1838, Philadelphia EPA 19103, here on behalf of the applicant.
Thank you.
Can you spell your first and last name for the sonographer, please?
Z -H -E -N, last name is J -I -N.
Thank you.
You swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Thank you.
Do you agree with the reading of its refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Thank you.
Have you emailed an exhibit packet with the required documents, proof of ownership,
proof of tax compliance, copy of the refusal or referral,
photos and plans five days prior to this hearing?
I have.
Thank you.
Also, have you met with the RCO and have a letter?
Yes, I do.
Thank you.
Please proceed.
Thank you.
I'm going to share with the board the information relating to this case.
This is an application in a RM1 district for multi -family use of three units.
This particular application falls under the NCP North Central Philadelphia overlay, subarea C,
and we also have a dimensional variance requesting a smaller than the 25 % open space.
As the board knows, the NCP overlay increases the minimum square foot of the lot required per
dwelling unit to 425 square feet, and therefore making some of the lots that are borderline much harder to meet.
and therefore making some of the lots that are borderline much harder to meet the triplex by right requirements.
We have met with the 32nd Ward RCO. There were attendees in the area, and in the end, after working out a community benefits agreement, as well as a sanitation plan, we have received non -opposition from the RCO.
So this is currently a vacant lot. It is in an area that actually has a variety of different structures, including a school across the street, similar tall buildings that are more row home style, plus what is single family style housing going further down the other way on the block.
So while the design itself is not uniform with the rest of the block, it certainly fits the RM1 use, and the area certainly has a variety of uses.
The light and air impacts are minimal with the existing properties because they actually are separated by a driveway as well as having pretty extensive open areas behind the building where the slight additional depths will not directly really impact the neighboring property.
As you can see, the neighbor also has a driveway that extends along their property line, so there's a separation between the two buildings as well.
The proposal here is a triplex building. I'm going to zoom into the floor plan so it's easier to see.
Oh, I'm sorry. Let me close that.
So as you can see, the proposal is to have the first floor unit as one unit,
and then essentially bi -level units that actually runs front and back of the property for two
additional units. The layout itself have the bi -level units. There are actually three levels.
The bedrooms are on the two levels and the living room and kitchen areas on the second floor of the
property. Then you have third and fourth floor basically being living spaces. The first floor
unit has a single bedroom with living room, kitchen, basements for laundry, utility, and
storage. So again, the lot itself is relatively large, making it a pretty substantial property
to build. A duplex actually would be harder to lay out because of the large interior space that
would be available. As you can see, this is a 46 -foot deep house that's being proposed. There
is an interior court being proposed, as well as the nine -foot rear yard that is normally required
by code. So we, again, has worked with the community to come up with a community benefits
agreement to kind of make sure that trash is managed, make sure that construction will not
impact the neighbors, and as a result, we again have non -opposition from the community. The actual
square footage difference of the property isn't that great. The lot itself is short
by a de minimis amount in essence for the by right use of triplex. It is a large lot. As you
can see, it is 16 foot by 65 feet deep. So it is not a matter of having a 800 foot square
square foot lot we're trying to push three units it's actually a very large lot that just barely
falls short of the by right use so I would ask for favorable consideration from the zoning board
I am happy to show any specific exhibit to the board and answer any questions. Thank you. Does
the board have any questions? No. No. Thank you. Is there anyone else here in this matter? I believe
my client should be here um asthma um asma she should be in the audience or abdel uh would be
the other if you could raise your hand to let the board be able to identify you oh here we go
ma 'am can you please identify yourself for the record spell your first and last name
Yeah. Hi, my name is Asma Lerani.
Spell your first and last name, please.
A -S -M -A, last name L -A -I -R -A -N -I.
Thank you, sir. Affirm and tell the truth, the whole truth for nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir.
Thank you. Please proceed.
Thank you. Ms. Lerani, were you present during my presentation to the zoning board?
Ms. Walani, were you present during my presentation to the Zoning Board and have you heard my
and have you heard
representation? And if so, can you verify that it is true and correct and adopted as your own
testimony? Yes, sir. Everything is correct. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else?
i see no further hands mr chair thank you planning commission
ron bednar city planning thank you ron you're still on the road please proceed
this property is indicated for multi -family residential use on the city plan we recommend
that the request of variance be granted. Thank you. MI 2021 -000039 -1609 West Norris Street.
My vote is yes. My vote is yes. My vote is yes. Thank you. Mr. Jin, you're all right. Next one
And it's MI 2021 -000 -318 -2216 North Marshall Street.
Yes, that's mine as well.
You're still under oath.
Do you agree to waive the reading of its refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed an exhibit packet with the required documents, proof of ownership, proof of tax compliance, copy of the refusal, or referral, photos, and plans fought based prior to this hearing?
I have.
Have you met with the RCO and have a letter?
Yes, we did.
Thank you. Please identify yourself again for the record.
Sure. My name is Zen Jin, Z -H -E -N -J -I -N, 1617 John F. Kennedy Boulevard, Suite 1838, Philadelphia PA 19103, here on behalf of the applicant.
I'm going to share with the board the information related to this case.
This is an application, again, in a CMX -2 commercial mixed -use district.
The refusals are related to each other in the sense that in the CMX -2 district, a maximum
of two dwelling units is permitted based on the lot size plus a commercial unit.
What we're really asking for here is for the commercial unit to be waived and to be allowed
to be used as an additional residential unit. Part of the reason this is being requested is
because this property is not really located currently in a situation where a commercial
use would be really viable. If you look at the entire block, it is extensively vacant with what
part of the block that is built around us being somewhat residential in nature. And that makes it
very, I'm sorry, that makes it very difficult for a freestanding small commercial space to be used
in a viable form. The RCO supported our position and voted unanimously in support of this
application. We met with the 37th Ward RCO. We explained the situation. And again, there were
15 attendees beyond the board and no one had any objection to the proposal. The plans are
pretty straightforward. It would be a three -story structure being set up essentially as a
three -family dwelling, each floor being its own unit, and then the basement being a family room,
exercise room and the upper floor having two bedrooms each or an office in a bedroom depending
on how you want to lay it out there's a small deck again very small for purpose of storage trash
for the top floor a small balcony style deck that does not extend beyond the building line for the
second floor outside storage of trash and the first floor has access to the rear yard so ultimately
all three units will have exteriors trash storage and can bring it out at time when trash needs to
be picked up. So this again was met with support from the community given the situation on the
block and given that situation we would ask the board's favorable review of our request to waive
the CMX2. I'm happy to share any other exhibit I have or answer any questions from the board.
Okay, thank you.
Does the board have any questions?
Is there anyone else here in this matter?
I believe Mr. Joseph Gitterman should be present on behalf of the applicant.
Mr. Gitterman, can you please identify yourself for the record?
Spell your first and last name, please.
Yes, how are you, everybody?
My name is Joseph Gitterman.
First name Joseph, J -O -S -E -P -H.
last name is Gitterman
Last name is Gitterman, G -I -T -E -R -M -A -N.
G -I -T -E -R -M -A -N
thank you
Thank you.
you saw
So are affirmated to the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
from itself
Yes, I do.
Please proceed.
Thank you.
Mr. Gitterman, were you present during my presentation to the board?
Thank you.
Have you heard my presentation and my representation, and can you verify that they're true and correct and adopted as your own testimony?
Yes, I do.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Anyone else here in this matter?
no further answer this time mr chair thank you planning commission
ron bednar city planning property while this property is currently indicated for neighborhood
commercial mixed use on the city plan we recommend that the request of variance begin
Thank you. Calendar number MI 2021 -000318, 2216 North Marshall Street. My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
Thank you. Thank you. Have a good evening.
Likewise.
was okay back to rachel mi 2021 dash zero zero zero zero four zero 1323 south street
good afternoon good afternoon rachel can you please identify yourself for the record
Sure. Rachel Pritzker, R -A -C -H -A -E -L, Pritzker, P -R -I -T -Z -K -E -R, 1635 Market Street, Suite 1600, Philadelphia, PA -19103.
And can you swear to affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
And do you agree to wage the reading of its refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Thank you. Have you emailed an exhibit packet with the required documents, proof of ownership,
proof of tax compliance, copy of the refusal, or referral folders and plans five days prior
to this hearing? Yes. Thank you. Have you met with the RCO and have a letter? Yes. Thank you.
Please proceed. Can we just add Steven Potts to this? He is the architect and client,
So just for efficiency, just to have him on would be helpful.
You may begin, Rachel.
Okay, thank you.
So this is 1323 South Street. This project proposes the use of this existing building, which I'll show in a minute, for vacant retail space as permitted as in CMX2 zoning at space A at first floor in the same building with business and professional office at space B from the first floor through second floors in an existing structure.
The only variance we are requesting here is a use variance for the vacant retail space and business and professional office.
This is an existing structure. It's on the screen on the 1300 block of South Street.
And Stephen and his company, an architectural firm, are going to be utilizing the second floor of this,
the first and second floor of the space for business and professional offices for their architecture firm.
And then we're going to be hoping to secure a retail tenant for the ground floor, hence the vacant retail and space as provided for in CMX2.
For the boards, just for the boards of formation, here are some pictures of the interior of the space.
Obviously, once the, if the variance is approved, we will move forward with submitting for the alterations to turn this into a professional office for this architecture firm.
The site is currently zoned RM1, which doesn't permit any ground floor commercial or any office space either.
However, this is on South Street and has been an existing mixed -use space for a long time.
The vacancy has been vacant for a bit, and so I think the neighborhood was excited to have a use
and was believed that the request for vacant retail and also for office space was the lease
modification of the code to grant relief. These are just some images of the architecture firm
provided and we also have a letter of support from the Washington Square West Civic Association,
which I believe is in the packet, and a letter of support from the councilman's office as well.
I have Stephen on who is the owner and architect. I just want to have him.
I have Steven on who is the owner and architect. I just want to have him state his name for the
record and agree to my testimony and then happy to take any questions that the board
may have just trying to get down to the RCO letter support. Here's the RCO letter stating
non -opposition for this matter from washington square west and then um we have a letter from
uh councilman squilla as well a letter of non -opposition uh for this matter happy to take
any of the question uh any questions that the board may have and also wanted to just get my
client on as well yep does the board have any questions no thank you is your client available
uh rachel he should be um if not a little while ago yeah i'm here great how you doing but uh can
you please uh identify yourself for the records uh your first and last name please stephen potts
s -t -e -p -h -a -n -p -o -t -t -s the truth the whole truth for nothing but the truth i do thank you please
proceed. Stephen have you heard my testimony today in front of the board and do you adopt it as
accurate and your own? I do. Thanks. Stephen's available if the board has any questions otherwise
we rest our case. Board have any questions? No. No. Is there anyone else here in this matter
that would like to speak?
I see no further hands, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Planning Commissioner.
While this property is indicated
for residential use on the city plan,
we support the granting of the variance thank you sorry we didn't get your name in that uh
thank you sorry i guess you were still muted i'll go again just identify yourself yes okay
run bednar city plan thank you buddy uh anyone else no questions board is okay
okay calendar number mi 2021 that's 000040 1323 south street uh my vote is yes
my vote is yes my vote is yes okay thank you you're welcome um sharon tanya is that does that
conclude or um chair the only question is whether you would like to vote the case on the add -on list
14 15 north seventh now or wait until all board members are present yeah but i think we're going
to hold on to next week so everybody else here is present yep okay thank you thanks sarin uh does
that conclude um as far as i'm concerned chair but if i could make a request that we ask the
virtual audience if there are any cases or anything that was not presented that should
have been done so today. Thank you. You're welcome. Is there anyone else here that
feels as we missed a case or have something to say? Mr. Chair, I have a Justin Eltz with his
hand raised. Okay. Thank you. Justin, please identify yourself for the record. Hi, Justin
else, owner of 1630 Fitzwater Street. I have a meeting ID, MI 2021 -000132. Okay, what property
use? Yes. I'm sorry, Mr. Elfs, this was continued because I have no record of having received your
exhibits. I say, yep, that makes a lot of sense because my first time in this process, I didn't
understand that I had the requirement to submit this, so how do I get rescheduled?
It will be continued. You'll get a new date. And we did receive a letter from SOSNA in support.
Okay. Great. Thank you.
You're welcome. Anyone else?
Mr. Chair, I have a Jihad Ali with his hand raised. I will allow him to speak.
Thank you. Mr. Ali, please identify yourself for the record.
hello good afternoon mr presser and the members of the board my name is jihad ali
i was uh i wanted to ask about your first and last name for the synagogue firm
j -i -h -a -d -a -l -i okay you're firm to sort uh you're firm to tell the truth the whole truth
for nothing but the truth i absolutely do thank you please proceed so i was uh i had a question
So I had a question about MI -2021 -000137, 4306 Parkside.
about MI 20, 21, 0, 0, 0.
At the time, the chair didn't acknowledge that.
Excuse me, Mr. Ali, this was on the two o 'clock list, I believe.
And I think it is scheduled for a resumption hearing, if I'm not mistaken.
oh i'm sorry it was on the 9 30 list i'm sorry you're absolutely correct and they did they what
if you just allow me counselor the chair at the conclusion of when she went into the resumption
they didn't acknowledge that there were people to uh to have their hands raised and it wasn't
explained to us as citizens you got to remember there's a there's a there's a citizen part of
this and it wasn't told that we would be able to present testimony at the resumption here
you will be
we apologize for not being
clarified on that okay but you will
you'll have a chance
thank you so much you're welcome have a good day
anyone else
no sir that is all I see
no further hand
everyone have a nice night
stay safe everyone
confessor
I'm a court reporter.
Did everything go well for you today?
It did.
Thank you for all your help.
It was good seeing you guys.
It's been a few years since I've seen you.
I'm so glad to have you back.
So I'll make sure you get the correct link next week for whomever Jennifer is going to assign.
I appreciate it.
Thank you.
See you guys.
Have a good one, everyone.
Thank you.
Great job, confessor.
Thank you.
Have a good night, everyone.
I just wanted to say, confessor, thank you very kindly.
Oh, you're welcome.
Okay, have a good night, all.
Likewise, everyone.
Take care.