The neighbor across the street, Northlake Community Center,
of all respect, the community center that was founded in 1936.
Krista Widener, the executive director, sent a letter in support.
That is part of the package on page four.
The immediate neighbor, the other half of the semi-detached structure,
also sent his letter in support.
This is the building.
That's the view from Green Lane. It's a three-story structure.
The next picture is looking towards Green Lane, showing the side of the building.
And another view from Green Lane looking back.
These are interior photographs showing the area on the first floor that is being used
to support the photography business.
This is, here's the front door.
It's off of an enclosed porch.
This is an area that is used by some of his associates,
Mr. Jejunis' associates.
It is used for editing photographs,
editing videos, scheduling things with clients.
No client comes to the office.
There's no photography or videography that's done in the office.
The next room on the first floor is the owner's office that he uses, again, for client contact, administrative matters, and scheduling.
And then the room after that is the kitchen of the first floor, which he and his associates use for coffee and lunch.
I included the zoning archives. As I said, the current use was granted by VARIANCE in 1986. It's a two-family dwelling. It is still configured as a two-family dwelling.
And the prior use that was granted by VARIANCE was a doctor's office on the first floor and a one-family dwelling on the second and third.
um i don't know that i have much more to offer um be happy to ask answer any questions
why don't we have your testimony adopted mr o'brien uh i could ask mr dejunas to raise his hand
i'm here hi could you state your name please and spell for the court reporter
yes joseph gijunas j-o-s-e-p-h last name gijunas g-i-d-j-u-n-i-s as in sam
right do you swear for him to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
Yes, I do.
I see counsel.
Mr. Juggins, did you hear the testimony that I just offered to the board about your business and your home?
I did.
Was it truthful and accurate?
Yes, it is.
And do you adopt it as your own?
Yes, I do.
Questions from the board?
no mr chairman no mr chairman mr chair i just have a quick question mr o'brien is this the
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Chairman.
property being configured at or will be used as two-family household living plus the office or
the office replacing one of the dwelling units well the configuration as i indicated uh has not
changed uh it is still configured as a two-family dwelling the first floor is complete with the
kitchen full-service kitchen that has not been dismantled in any way and a bathroom so under
existing pennsylvania law a non-conforming use is abandoned if there's if there's a demonstrated
intent to abandon and that is usually shown by changing the configuration of the non-conforming
uh use so as i said nothing here has been the configuration has not changed it is still
configured as a two-family dwelling it's just that two of the rooms on the first floor are being used
to support this home-based business so in that particular department he has his office too is
what you're saying yes he uses the i can this is the office that the owner uses on the first floor
to support it and then his associates use this area the first room off the front door uh to edit
and uh to edit photography the rest of that first floor is also apartment living yes there's a
kitchen and a bathroom and okay hillary is that good uh i think i believe that's fine yes thank
you all right uh questions from the virtual audience
no further hands mr planning commission it's uh ron bednar city planning first name ron
r-o-n last name bednar b-e-d-n-a-r you swear affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing
but the truth i do proceed ryan while this uh property is currently indicated for residential
on the city plan given the documented use history we have no objection to the granting of the
variance thank you mi 2022 005 172 180 green lane i vote yes thomas holloman my vote is yes
ishmael shaheed my vote is yes
that's your votes mr o'brien thank you thank you mr chairman may i'm excused yes you can
have a great day all right number five mi 2022 005 118 27 13 east huntington street
mr knockamson is the attorney we have letter of opposition from old richmond civic association
letter of opposition from council member squilla the applicant provided a
petition signed by 38 people in favor
we were joining as a panel sir okay
good afternoon mr chair members of the board now right mr knockams you already been sworn could
you identify your client relationship to this property? Yeah, it's 2713 E Huntington Street LLC
and the virtual audience is Diana Abdo Rockmonova, who is the member of that LLC.
And our vice chair has just a few questions. Good afternoon, counsel. Do you agree to waive
the reading of the refusal and stipulate to his accuracy? I do. Excuse me. Have you emailed all
the required exhibits five days in advance to this hearing oh yes we have thank you please proceed
and share your screen thanks all right so i'm here to present 2713 east huntington street
we'll go over the notice of refusal the correspondence from the old richmond civic
association i'll note that it was not a well-attended community meeting only three
individuals participated in it um you know we'll in exhibit four i'll skip over we made a concerted
effort to to meet members of the community and we have a petition which was well circulated and
signed by members of this community uh we'll also view uh nearby multi-family variances this board
has granted on east huntington street maps of the area where you'll see that this is not solely a
single family street. You'll see that there's commercial nearby as well. Photographs of the
property in the surrounding area. Of particular note, you'll see photographs of the interior of
this property. Similar to my presentation this morning, unfortunately, when a client
Unfortunately, when a client or someone purchases a property, when they do further due diligence and given the situation with dilapidated properties, they discover more issues with those properties.
or someone purchases a property, when they do further
And here is a similar situation in addition to the fact that we have exorbitant construction material costs that have gone up over the years, plus rising interest rates.
it just would be not it would not be feasible to to make this a single family uh house and we'll go
over that uh we'll review the plans and drawings uh our rco meeting notice or proof of mailing that
notice uh again not a very well attended event only uh or meeting only three people voted and
you'll see uh their reasoning why they are not in support of this project or application for
appeal or deeds of property and their certificate of tax credits. At the conclusion of my presentation,
I would ask that my client's corporate representative adopt my testimony. We'll go
into a little further testimony or confirmation of some aspects of it regarding how much my client
has paid for it, how much it would cost to convert this or to use this single family home versus
is how much she can sell it for or rent it for. In addition, I have her contractor as well,
Kadir Sesla, a licensed contractor in the city of Philadelphia and in Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,
who will confirm the numbers that he gave her, which we'll rely upon. So first things first,
this notice of refusal, 2713 East Huntington Street. This is an RSA by property. It's
rather large in size from a lot size perspective, 1,190 square feet. So we're not talking about
a tiny lot here. Originally, my client was looking to simply renovate this property.
But then she discovered that there were issues with the foundation where whether it's single
family or multifamily, she would have to demolish the building structure. And it just would be
cost prohibitive to make this into a single family. But the proposed use is a demolition
of the property and two household family living. Again, you'll see from maps of the area and the
surrounding area that it's not uncommon what we're asking for. And then we did meet with the
old Richmond Civic Association. It was an in-person meeting. Sometimes with these in-person
means it's more difficult for people to get there nowadays um but again they stated from you know
three people voted only uh not in support of it uh the you know their reasoning had nothing to do
from a zoning related standpoint uh it was a it's a simple letter but we'll focus on uh papers uh
sentences two and three they believe the residents who did both they believe it was it will attract
residents who are not invested in the neighborhood we are looking to make these into condos so i'm
not sure what what they mean by that um again our intention is to sell these units and to have a
diversity of housing where uh people could afford housing uh in this neighborhood um and they would
become residents invested in the neighborhood this the last letter the last sentence the letter said
they also worried that the demolition the existing property will create problems for their own
property and structure next door whether it's single family or multi-family unfortunately given
the the integrity issues with the building structure nothing this property can't be renovated
um and it's going to have to be torn the building structure is going to have to be torn down
um and you know we try to discuss that with the residents giving them some comfort trying to make
them an additional insured giving more information but um i don't know if they understood and maybe
in the virtual audience now um what we're trying to do and you know how it would be no different
whether it's a single family structure or a two unit dwelling uh again only three individuals uh
voted um at this meeting which had 20 attendees there were other projects there there's a one
only one other project there uh which was obviously you know so 17 other people were
for this other project only three people were for our project uh so clearly there was not much
interest from this community regarding our project and then just give me an example of uh multi-family
structures in close proximity this property on salmon street is a half a block away from us at
2672. As you can see, the zoning board granted a similar two-family dwelling there under calendar
number 2878. Also, I was part of a project on that same block at 2653 Salmon Street, which was
an eight-family dwelling, which the board also granted multifamily use there.
which the board also granted multifamily use there.
So there are multiple instances close by of multifamily.
And then you can see my client really made a concerted effort.
So we have 33 addresses, one of us.
And you can see that we really did try to focus on the affected area.
So addresses within a 250 square foot radius.
And we have 32 addresses that signed in support of this project.
And then these are the underlying petition with those signatures.
And then maps in the area, you'll see from the Google map perspective a little bit better.
But East Huntington is not solely residential.
There's a charter school that's across the street.
You'll see here, there's a shopping center close by, a couple blocks off.
And then you'll see also that we're not that far from the 95 Okra Pass.
So this is not strictly a residential neighborhood.
And, you know, because of that, we're asking.
And you can also see Salmon Street here where those multifamily structures I discussed previously.
So this is not strictly a single-family area.
And then you can see from here, there's a big shopping center here. There's a shopping center here. There's the school here. There's a business across the street. So East Huntington is not just solely a single-family area, and there's close-by multifamily as well.
and then photographs of their property as you can see here this is the building structure
unfortunately it's going to have to come down one way or the other just the issue is my client's
not going to afford to build anything here because of the marketing conditions here's the proof of
posting up for today's hearing and then i just want to give you context here this is east huntington
across the street as you can see here this is the charter school and then east huntington to
left of the property and then just give me your photographs of the interior of the property as
you can see there's this is a property that has been vacant for some time
and then my client is uh you know a developer that focuses on putting together a nice product
I always like to give examples of bathrooms, kitchens, things like that.
So you have an idea of what hopefully you'll be looking at once this project is complete.
And then our plans and drawings.
We have no dimensional variances here.
And we're very mindful of keeping in line from a dimensional standpoint with the character of the neighborhood.
so we're not trying to overuse the property anyway even though we can build 38 feet in height
we're only trying to build 30 feet six inches there's also a breezeway here that gives the
benefit of garbage storage and removal from the back to the front of the property so that's a
responsible way for trash storage and management and then again it's simple floor plan there's
two by two by level units unit number one is on the first floor and lower level unit number two
is on the second and third floors and then again this is our hearing or community meeting notice
136 addresses were notified only three people showed up to this community meeting but we've
received over 30 signatures within that 136 addresses and these are the list of the addresses
addresses uh proof of mailing of those addresses and then proof of email to uh the coordinating
RCO and other parties that were required to send notice to and there are applications for appeal
that is sent that was filed by 2713 East Huntington Street LLC along with the notice refusal
the project information form of deeds of property showing that they are the owner of the property
And it proves that they owe no money. Well, they owe money, but for 20, 2023, which those taxes are not due until March 31st of 2023. With that being said, I would ask that Diana virtually raise her hand.
Can I ask the question first? On the side of the street, 2713 is on. Are there other multiple family houses?
No, there is not, Mr. Chair. But I did see that in 2016, this same board granted a duplex for 2727 East Huntington Street on January 12th of 2016 under calendar number 25869.
under calendar number uh 25869 i looked at atlas it didn't i'm not 100 sure that building structure
was built there's no rental licenses but this board under similar circumstances did grant a
variance uh and there is a commercial property next door to us uh or at the corner and next to
us there's a garage all right all right thank you you're welcome you got your owner there coming
So, Diana, can you virtually raise your hand?
And if you're still in the virtual audience, please raise your hand and wait to be sworn
I know I spoke to her earlier today.
I know that it's a 3.30 listing.
So is Kadir Cecily in the virtual audience?
he's the congeneral contractor yes he's raised to send i've allowed him to speak
could you state your name please and spell for the court reporter
but dear cesley k-a-d-i-r-s-e-s-l-i
okay do you swear for him to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yes i do sir proceed counsel uh yes mr cesley um you're a licensed uh contractor
in the city of philadelphia as well as the commonwealth of pennsylvania right yes and what's
the name of your company rs23 llc okay and you had a chance to visit the property in question
yes i did okay uh and my understanding originally the project was supposed to be a renovation
project is that right yes that's right i been to the property with diana and they wanted to do
renovation in there and we've been to inside and unfortunately the roof was damaged and then it was
vacant for a really long time so there was a lot of water damage and it make a big damage on the
structure and it was really building old times and then the foundation of the property was not