Thank you.
so really what I wanted to do is give you a little visual I'm talking about this here is a picture
of the property this is actually the property this is 1733 Fillmore Street in the back you can
see there's a garage and that's the rear of Fillmore Street. It used to be 1733 rear.
We combined the two lots so now we have the empty front lot on Fillmore Street, the garage
in the back of the house. Commissioners, we built a one-story addition on the garage which we are
trying to legalize with this application. In addition, we'd like to build a house on the front
of this property in the region right here. I'm going to scroll down a little bit and show you.
That's a little better. I'm looking at the property, but I'm going to scroll backwards here
if I can show you the plan. Here was a one-story garage on Selma Street. The applicant addition
on this and we're asking to legalize a one-story addition family dwelling on the top
of the rear garage. Additioners, the front of the property which faces film is currently empty.
What we like to do is build a three-story new building on the slot for a one-form family
dwelling. When we originally put this application in, we asked for a foiling here and a two-family
dwelling in the back. We met with the Civic Association and did get a lot of backlash
in regards to the density of the project. So initially, six units to four, and then we went
from four units to two units. Commissioner, I want to show you a little bit of the history in this
area just to show you are requesting it's not something that has not been done in this area
here's a zoning documentation from across the street which is 1740 film at one point in time
i don't believe it's still present there but they had the same thing they
when they had a car garage, again, I'm sorry, excuse me, the court reporter, the court reporter
can't hear what you're saying. Sorry. The last thing I heard was, here's an example of the
application across the street. So example of the documentation across the street, which is currently what we're trying to do now.
across the street, which is currently what we're trying to do now.
The four-family dwelling, and in the back of the dwelling,
they had a private two-car garage.
In this particular case, the applicant built an addition to the garage
which we're trying to legalize, and we're just trying to get approval
to build a one-family dwelling front.
I'm going to scroll down now to the pictures to what we're talking about.
So this is the current lot. You can see it's and that there is a garage in the back.
Another picture basically showing you the same thing.
Here is a picture, though, of the rest of the block.
You can see how the single-family dwellings, 7th Fillmore Street, and we'd like to put a single-family dwelling hole right here.
So there'd be a single-family dwelling and one apartment in the rear?
One apartment in the rear, Commissioner.
And you originally wanted six units.
We originally wanted two units. We wanted to put four new constructed buildings to have two units in the rear. That wasn't working for the community. Basically, they weren't having it. We came back and reduced it to two units in the front and one unit in the rear, and the community wasn't in the rear also.
So we brought it all the way down, Commissioner, so we could actually use our property and locks, where now we're just asking for one family dwelling in the front and to legalize the location in the back for one family.
Now, I took some pictures of the neighborhood just to show you how it is.
Very, very mixed neighborhood with very eclectic looking buildings and period of uses.
You can see you have a big, almost tight garage next door with a roll down door.
They have some space on the top.
I'm going to scroll down a little across the street here.
You have a dwelling.
If we scroll down a little bit more here, you can see how the block looks and where that
That black gate is currently is our vacant lot, which faces Fillmore Street.
The picture of Fillmore Street looking in the other direction, you can see on the left
hand street on the end of the block, there is a huge dwelling there.
street. There's an empty vacant lot. I think there's like mobile place that operates out of
this property. Here is the rear of the property. And this is the garage in the one family dwelling
that currently we are trying to. Again, this is directly across from our property. It's some type
of order place where they store stuff they have a sense and blocking off so you can't really
this is the corner of Fillmore Street the same side in 33 and here is the initial notice we met
with the community in February we presented two sets of plans that they were not agreeable with
we came back and met again in july uh we reduced the we all the way down to uh two units as um
stated in the uh fly uh we uh discussed the property with the community and uh frankly
the community wasn't in support at that time of even um having a two unit a commissioners uh
I do have the architect on the line, if anybody wants to ask, but I would like to say this overall.
The owner, the applicant, Mr. Villatora, he did receive a violation.
He did put that second edition on that property illegally.
He did receive a violation, and that's really what brought us to zoning here.
He has taken all the steps to correct it, but would like to be able to use the entirety of his property.
It was a good thought, a good design to put a front house in the missing place there on 1733 and have the garage in the back and to use it for a one family dwelling.
and to use it for a one-family dwelling.
and that is
And that is my presentation.
If anyone has any questions, I'm more than willing,
and so is the architect, to answer any questions.
Just quick, so will there be an entrance to the garage?
The entrance to the garage, there's a rear alley in the back.
Okay, all right, okay, thank you, thank you.
There's an alley that runs along the back of the property
and almost ends at Mr. Villa Torres.
All right. Thank you. Could you, would you want to have your testimony adopted?
Mr. Villatora, are you on the line today? Ruben?
I see no hands at this time.
Okay. You're an officer of the court. We will accept your testimony.
Commissioner, I did speak with my client this morning. Several is supposed to be on the line.
I don't know if he's having technical difficulties or not.
Okay, so you're an officer of the court. We'll take your testimony.
Thank you very much, sir.
Excuse me, Chair.
This is the court reporter. Can I get the spelling of the applicant's name?
You can. You can. Go ahead.
His name is Oliva, O-L-I-V-A, R-U-B-E-N, Villatora, V-I-L-A-T-O-R-O.
Thank you. Thank you. Questions from the board? No, Mr. Chairman. No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman. Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Chair, we have Sloan Folks. Good morning, Mr. Folks. Good morning, Chairman Bergman and DBA board.
My name is Sloan Folks, S-L-O-A-N-E, F as in fire, O-L-K-S, 7th District Council Office,
room 516 City Hall.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
I do, sir.
Rasheed.
Thank you.
First, I'd like to address the issue of the RCO letter.
It is my understanding, but from hearing that the ZBA did not receive an RCO letter,
does it have an RCO letter on hand?
That's correct. Okay, our office is in receipt of an RCO letter dated July 18. And I will forward that to you immediately. This is and that is that is that is post the second meeting that the community had with the applicants.
um the uh our office um acknowledges that the applicant has met with the rco uh and with
residents and uh in a vote of uh nine to zero has garnered a letter of opposition um the residents
um and the residents and rco um denied their request due to the following um the the legalization
of the legalization of the of the of the rear property that was built um it caused that is
the residence state that this caused distrust between the residents and the applicants um that
they would continue to do the right thing by the residents in the community um the there's issues
regarding the density with the property, specifically the second floor rear apartments
built on top of the garage. These issues cause great distrust and distress with the community.
Our office acknowledges these issues and wants to support the residents.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Is there any other requests or comments from the virtual audience?
I see no hands, Chair.
Planning Commission.
Good morning, Chair Bergman.
Ian Hegarty for the Philadelphia City Planning Commission.
Last name spelled H-E-G-A-R-T-Y.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir, I do.
Thank you. Good morning, board members. In 2014, the zoning map was amended in this area from multifamily to single family, and this was done in accord with recommendations from the comprehensive plan.
We think the appellant's hardship is primarily self-created in this case. However, given the unusual lot shape and the prior existing structure and the proposed building at the front of the lot, which we believe conforms to the shape and use of adjacent properties,
the city planning commission recommends that the board grant these variances with the proviso that
no more than two dwelling units be permitted. Thank you, Ian. MI 2021-003-785. Excuse me,
Mr. Chair. I believe there's a member or two of the community that wants to speak on this case.
I keep seeing a hand come back up. Okay, sure.
i keep seeing a hand come back up okay sure uh mr yes mr williams yes good morning mr williams i
i think i already swore you in and i yes can you could you state your name for the record again
my name's carl williams and mr williams do you live in the area yes i live directly behind the
the garages that they claim is one garage is actually four garages that they took over mr
mr wade mr wade start your testimony proceed okay the number one they took over it was like
four garages back there they built one single uh family unit over top of four separate garages
illegally and i sat and listened to them five o'clock in the morning when you're not supposed
to be doing construction work sundays everything against uh l and i when i think we know sir we
know that we know about the building all right so now i have a i have a yesterday why i was just
this stuff was just brought to my attention uh that they were having a new meeting which is today
the zoom meeting and they they scheduled this meeting where not the residents couldn't get to
it uh mrs carol she just started a new job working for amtrak you can't and so the residents really
couldn't get to this meeting so i'm speaking on behalf of the residents we totally we disapprove
of the whole ordeal okay and we don't want it done okay thank you okay thank you for calling
in is there anyone else in the audience chair we have lillian ferguson okay
Good morning. Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
Ms. Ferguson, please unmute yourself.
Hi, could you state your name, please?
She's still muted, Chair.
Okay. Hi, Ms. Ferguson, could you unmute your phone?
Okay. Is there anyone else in the audience?
I see no other handshare. Okay. Thank you. MI 2021-003-785-1733 Fillmore Street,
parcel a i vote yes with proviso maximum two units thomas holliman my vote is yes with proviso
james snell my vote is yes with proviso ishmael shaheed my vote is yes with proviso
thank you counsel thank you very much commissioners have a good day
okay okay number seven and then yes mi 2021 001 675 614 north 64th street leo movahill is the
attorney letter of opposition from the neighbors of the overbrook association
mr movahill is coming back in as a panel
good morning chairman members of the board hi mr mobile could you state your name please and
spell for the court report of course name leo leo last name is multi hill that's m as in michael u l
v as in victor i h i l l address 943 east westmoreland street philadelphia 191
two oh pardon me one nine one three four right do you swear for him to tell the truth the whole
truth and nothing but the truth i do could you identify your client the relationship to the
property yes uh my client is the owner of the property the principal of the company is alan
a-l-l-e-n last name borovitch that's b as in bravo o-r-o b as in victor i-c-h
Board Secretary Ishmael Shahid has a few questions.
Oh, I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
Thomas Holland.
Good morning.
Good morning, Counselor.
Good morning.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Did you email all of the exhibits and documents as required, such as proof of ownership, tax clearance, copy of the refusal or referral, pictures or drawings of the property,
five days in advance of this hearing you meet with the rco and do you have a letter yes thank you
Do you meet with the RNCO and do you have a letter?
Thank you.
Please proceed and share your screen.
One moment as I'm trying to get my screen share to work.
Just give me a slight computer issue here.
Hold on for one moment, please.
all right here it is there we go sorry about that everybody so members of the board good morning
again this is leo mulvihill i'm here on behalf of city block acquisition 10 llc the principal
of which as i mentioned before is alan borowich um today but everybody should see on my screen
right now is my presentation packet just making sure the members of the board can see that
yes we're fine great so we have the refusal appeal of project information form at page
one we have area zoning maps at seven deed at nine commercial activity license at 15.
uh the original tax clearance for this was at 16. this is an old packet i do have an updated tax
clearance. Zoning notification letter at 18, RCO letter at 21. We did have subsequent attempts to
try to work things out with this community group, but unfortunately we weren't able to reach
consensus for this project. Leo, we're still on the one form, right? You're not going through
the forms. I'm just on the first page, that's correct. Okay, all right, okay. Photos of the
property at 23, plans at 69. So now members of the board, we're looking at our refusal.
So we're located at 614 North 64th.
It is an empty lot in the middle of a block, basically right off of Lansdowne Avenue.
We are seeking to build a semi-detached structure.
These lots are generally speaking twin houses on this block.
We are going to have a front porch matching the adjacent structures for use as multifamily household living,
three overall dwelling units as shown in our plans.