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