Okay. Is there anything that you want to add with regard to the use and plan for the property?
Uh, nothing I need to add, I think, uh, I think you guys covered it pretty well. Uh, I do have
a number of properties in that area and, uh, you know, talking with my tenants, they were all
asking, you know, a cafe would work good in that, in that location. So figured, you know, let's do
that and develop the other side as a single family home and really get rid of the eyesore that's been
there for quite a while, if people in the neighborhood know. So, I mean, that's all I
can add or taken to add right now. Thank you. I would also add, as a final note, that
the letter from the RCO is attached also to our application. We met with them in July. I think it
was fairly well attended. All the letters went out. And they were in support of it. Not only did
they not object to it they were in support of our application so I think that's worth noting
and with that um I think we can wrap up and open it up to any questions are there any questions
is there anyone in the virtual audience who would like to ask the question
Madam Chair we have one calling user please unmute yourself and please wait for Madam Chair
Hi, Tiffany Green, Concerned Citizens, Point Braves.
Tiffany, wait up one second.
Can you put your address on the record and then spell your last name?
Tiffany Green.
G-R-E-E-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Thank you.
Good morning, Madam Chair.
Good morning, Madam Chair.
I just we did have a chance to speak with the developer. It was an oversight. He said he didn't. I did not receive the actual notification for the meeting, but that was fine. You know, you know, right now with the pandemic, that's fine right now. But I did want to address our concern is, you know, the cafe, the community, if that's what they want, that's fine with us.
These corners are four corners, two-story.
They've been like that for 80 years.
A lot of the people in the area are homeowners whose generation passed down.
And we have a real concern.
Yes, the CMX2, he is allowed to build up to 38 feet.
However, we want to put on the record that the local residents do not have the right at this point to address the height issue.
So, therefore, that is a matter of by right.
probably 2203 we felt should be built to code the Philadelphia zone code city recommends a set
the eight-foot setback this was the promise that was made by the city officials to address
uh local residents concerned about three-story houses on two-story blocks to protect against
privacy height I mean uh skyline and light and I think that the eight-foot setback should be
uh acknowledged and honored here um most this is the main untouched area that has not really had
any um little three stories in the area and by all four corners mean uh two stories to have two
buildings sitting right there would be quite a change in the character as well as the feel of
the neighborhood and so we will hope that the the code the uh plan the zba would at least honor the
code to for the eight foot setback uh which would still be uh in line with the rest of the block
which is mainly single-family homes, and to, at that point, you know, at least provide the long-time residents with at least some type of relief from having three, two, three-story houses right, platter right back on the, right there on the corner.
Tiffany, are you speaking about both 2201 and 2203?
Right. Well, 2201, he is a bywriter. He can build up to 38 feet on the corner, as he stated, and he has the right to do that. Okay. But we're saying 2203 is still a two-story. It's aligned with the rest of the block.
And we are asking the ZBA to honor what the city has stated, build a code, which is an eight-foot setback.
We're saying that was the promise made to long-term residents to guard against privacy and light and skyline and that type of thing.
So until they're able to put together their own preservation plan.
So we're saying that we would like to start seeing more honor of the eight-foot setback.
Okay, and when you say we, who are you referring to? Because we have a letter of support from East Pachonk neighbors.
okay and when you say we who are you referring to because we have a letter of support
Well, I'm saying at this particular point, we did not receive notification from the RCO.
Who is we?
We did not receive.
Ms. Green, who is we?
I'm saying our RCO, which is this is part of our boundary areas.
Okay, and what is your RCO?
concerned citizens appoint breads oh okay okay we did not receive notification from the rco or the
developer about the meeting actually that is a violation of 14303 code however we were not going
to push that and we're just saying that since we were able to have a conversation with the uh
developer i mean the applicant and his lawyer and we're saying that based on what we've gathered
it from the community and based on residents we know in this area uh because we would at least
sent them over there to that meeting we're saying that this is the uh promise made to local residents
that live on two-story blocks they live on two-story block that the eight-foot uh setback
would be there to guard against privacy and blocking light and air and we're just saying
that there's no hardship here to not build to code.
There's no hardship here at all.
He's still going to have a single-family home.
It's still RM1 and everything.
And at this particular point, we're saying we're asking the DBA to honor the code.
Ms. Thomas, have you met with the concerned citizens of Point Breeze?
We did have a phone call.
I don't know what happened.
They were on our letter list and our notice list,
so I'm not sure if there was an email error, but in any event, we did, and they, so for the
initial meeting, they've informed us that they didn't receive the initial email regarding the
meeting. A couple hundred letters did go out to the required surrounding neighbors. We did meet
with our RCO on July 22nd and the Point Breeze group was sent the letter of approval on July
22nd. I think we've heard from the Point Breeze last week that they were not aware of this. So
yesterday we did have a meeting with them, um, with Tiffany and a couple of other members, I
believe. At our RCO meeting in July, we didn't have any neighbors there with any, you know,
concerns. I respect, you know, they're saying on the phone right now, but we didn't, you know,
we had this open to all the surrounding neighbors and we didn't have anybody come out and object to
this. So I would also like to state that with regard to 2203, the hardship is that it's an
existing structure, we can't push back what is already there. The zoning does allow in one year
if we build 2201 up a third story, it will allow 2203 to be built a third story by right. We feel
that it's a better, less disruptive to the community. It'll look better if it's done at
one time rather than waiting a year just to get in by right, that it just works out better for
everyone with construction on that street at one time and a consistent facade with the same
products, the same age, everything. So in the long run, we believe that we will have a second story
regardless on 2203 and it would look better and be more cohesive and less disruptive for
the neighborhood if we were able to do it all at one time. Thank you. Does the board have any
questions no vice chair no is there anyone in the virtual audience who has any questions
or who would like to testify please raise your hand
i see no hands madam chair planning commission
thank you madam chair ian hegarty for the philadelphia city planning commission
um so uh the comprehensive plan with regard to 220 sorry 2201 comprehensive plan uh recommends
a zoning map change to cmx1 at this corner parcel with regard to the rear yard dimensional refusal
the applicant has demonstrated that the dimensional requirements of the zoning code would impose a
financial burden because of the necessary location of the stair and with regard to the special
exception for takeout food, we believe that the use will not cause detrimental impacts to the
neighborhood beyond what would normally be expected. With regard to the refusal for 2203,
With regard to the refusal for 2203, there's a single-dimensional refusal.
there's
The applicant has demonstrated that the dimensional requirements of the zoning code would also impose a financial burden
and that the totality of the project, given the development concurrently of 2201,
would lead us to recommend that the board grant the variance for the setback as well.
So the City Planning Commission recommends that all the variances be granted.
Okay, thank you.
i do have one question for 2201 jackson is there going to be a takeout window
um i i guess i can let um your architect but uh if i'm incorrect but uh at this point no
there is no takeout window okay thank you and the board still has no questions
Correct, Chair. Okay, thank you. Calendar 1828-2203 Jackson Street and calendar number
1827-2201 Jackson Street, my vote is yes on both. James Snell, my vote is yes to both.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes to both.
calendar number 1780 327 south smedley street
there are no exhibits for this case and miss saletta you'll be able to inform us if otherwise
exists i have not yet received i did not receive any exhibits i believe this is the first listing
Is Russell Weigley and Emma Seifert in the virtual audience?
Madam Chair, we have a Brendan Kelly with their hand up. I'm going to unmute them.
Mr. Kelly, can you hear me?
Yes, I can.
can you put your name and address on the record spell your last name my name is brendan kelly
k-e-l-l-e-y my address is 2115 pine street in philadelphia 19103 sir are you an attorney
no i'm the owner um it seems that in some city records it's still showing uh the prior owners
um the names you just mentioned russell weigley and emma forget her last name um but they we
purchased my wife and i purchased this house in february of this year and in some cases it's still
showing the prior owners excuse me this is sharon saletta mr kelly if you had submitted the deed
it would have been correct on the summaries that we send the board i don't have any record of
having received exhibits from you, did you send them in?
I believe they were sent by my architect,
Peter Elsbeck, who is on this call.
Do you know when they were sent in?
Hi, Madam Chair, this is Tanya Sanka, the administrator.
If I could request that the architect is here
with his hand up with clarification about the exhibits that would be great
hi this is this is peter elsbach the architect thank you can you spell your last name and put
your address on the record e-l-s-b-e-c-k and my address is 877 north beechwood street
philadelphia pa 19130 do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth
yes ma'am i do okay you may proceed so i i'm i'm i'm not sure why there are no um exhibits we
submitted them on august 31st 2021 uh at 12 20 p.m eight days ago um the one exception
in that was that we were having technical difficulties likely due to the ownership
issue with the tax clearance form, which Brendan was able to subsequently acquire in person at the
MSB. We shared that back a little bit later on. I'm sorry, sir. Again, this is Tanya Sunkit,
administrator who did you submit or email the exhibit package to um let me see rcozba at phila.gov
brendan kelly uh it's s-u-l-e-t-a-z-b-a i'm sorry my email is not showing me the um
um at gmail.com and then pc pc.zoning um at
um at gmail.com and then pc pc
villa.gov um okay chair could we in that case move this back um a bit for me to try to locate
those documents and mr elsbeck would you mind also resending them to me just forwarding the
emails? Yes, of course. Thank you. That's to S-U-L-E-T-A-Z-B-A. That's right. Yes, please.
Sure. Thank you. I'm going to move forward with number eight,
calendar number 1773, 3617 Helen Street. Jennifer Bozillo is the attorney.
on this case we have a letter of support from harrogate civic association and councilman
squilla has sent in a letter of non-opposition jennifer are you there yes can can you just say
you had a letter of support from harrogate correct you it was cut out letter of support
from harrogate and councilman squilla has sent in a letter of non-opposition great all right i will
try to keep this fairly short then and share my screen name and address spell your last name and
i'll sure sure uh jennifer bazidlow b is in boy a is an apple z is zebra y d isn't david l is in
larry o is an oscar 4500 worth street suite d202 philadelphia pennsylvania 19124 do you swear
for him to tell the whole truth and nothing about the truth i do do you agree to waive the reading
of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy? I do. 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?
Yes, to all of that. You may proceed. All right. As I said, I'm Jennifer Bezidlow. I'm here on
behalf today here today excuse me on behalf of uh Tara Buendano I'm sorry I butchered that last
name and her partner Julio Lopez um I've submitted a packet we'll just go through here briefly
um with the refusal which we'll get back to the deed good stuff here uh proof that the property
taxes have been paid. See the zero balance. The RCO letter from Harrogate Civic of unanimous
support. It was fairly well attended. There was 15 people there. Copies of our notification letters
that went out to all of the required local addresses and the civic groups. There's the proof
of mailing, zoning map. Let's see. We also have aerial views. We're going to get to some of this
aerial views of the property, an archival image of the property, and other photographs.
So let's just get to the photographs so I can start talking to you about the proposal.
Okay, so there's our zoning posters that got put up. All right, so this is 3617 Helen Street.
It's an approximately 1,550 square foot RSA 5 zone parcel. It's located, Helen Street is a small
dead-end street that's accessed off of Venango. It's between Jasper and Emerald Street in Harrogate
just kind of to orient you where we are. And our proposal today is the legalization of an addition
to the existing structure for use as Mr. Lopez's personal single-family home. And the application
also includes three off-street garage parking spaces as an expansion of a previous use
where there was only one garage space. And also this front balcony is also included. This proposal
creates four refusals. The first is for a roof deck. As you can see, there is no roof deck.
This balcony is what is being considered as a roof deck. And since it's not set back five feet,
it generates a refusal. But it is not adding to the height of the building or creating any visual
disturbance it's not a safety issue considering it's only one story up where you would normally
find a deck if it was in the rear of the property there would be no no refusal and most importantly
the neighbors do not object to it um the other uh is the expansion of the parking um so let me just
go back to what this building looked like before the addition which is here you see that there was
a one car garage, if that was approved back in 1959. When the
addition was added, there's two additional parking spaces that
there's two additional parking spaces that are in the depth of the property. I will go to the plans.
are in the depth of the property.
Sorry, one second, let me
and then just reduce this a little bit. One second, sorry.
All right, so yeah, so there's just three garage spots but they are stacked.
So there is only, this is where you access the garage, there's only one curb cut, it's the existing curb cut, there's no additional curb cuts or expansion of that, it just creates more space to put more cars, which is important when we go to the character of this street.
Well, let me just get back up to, sorry, the plans are different.
I couldn't fix this one. So you can see the street here. Helen Street is basically all garages
for other properties. And some of them are just single family or single standalone garages. But
this is Helen Street. There's 38 parcels, there's only four single family homes on it,
two multi-families one vacant four rears of properties on emerald and a total of 28 garages