is for L&I.
Well, we appreciate your call.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
No further hands, Mr. Chair.
Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair Bergman.
Board members, Ian Hegarty for the Philadelphia City Planning Commission.
In 2017, the zoning map was amended in this area
in accord with the recommendations from the comprehensive plan.
We don't believe the adequate hardship has been presented in this appeal.
the appellant did not provide evidence that accessory off-street parking is necessary
to enable viable economic use of the property. Accessory off-street parking is also
uh to enable viable economic use of the property um accessory off-street parking is also not a code
requirement in the rsa5 district so this refusal is a result of the appellant's decision to include
off-street parking in this development accordingly the city planning commission recommends that the
board, deny the variance. MI 2022-005-195-1331 North 2nd Street. I vote yes.
Thank you, counsel. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Number 13, MI-2022-005-146-4952-D Street. Rachel Pritzker and Brandon Savin are the listed attorneys. Letter of support from new 42nd Ward RCO and letter of non-opposition from Council Member Lozada.
Mr. Saverin's panelist, sir.
Good morning, Mr. Chairman.
Good morning.
Could you, just for the record, state your name and spell it, please?
Yes, my name is Brandon Saverin.
That's spelled B-R-A-N-D-O-N.
Then S as in Sam, A, V as in Victor, R-A-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Could you identify your client in relationship to the property?
My client is Versailles Ventures, LLC.
That is a sole member LLC led by Vladimir Versailles, who is here to adopt my testimony today.
Our vice chair has just a few questions for you.
Good morning, Counselor.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to his accuracy?
Yes, I do.
have you emailed all the exhibits five days prior to this hearing uh yes
thank you please proceed and share your screen thank you very much mr vice chair
okay um good morning um members of the board so i am here to um present an appeal for variances
for 4952 D Street, which is shown on the zoning map on your screen. This property is a block below
Roosevelt Boulevard in the 42nd Ward at the corner of D and Ruscomb Streets. This is a relatively
recent, I think within the last couple of years, photograph of the exterior of the building showing
both of the frontages. This is a corner property again, as you can see. I will come back to some
additional photographs in one moment. Let me first take you through the refusal and actually
tell you a little bit about the client. So as far as the refusal, as you saw in that photo,
there is an existing chain link fence that my client is no fan of. But in order to replace it,
he needs a variance, which is one of the variances that we're seeking today. So this application is
for the removal of that existing fence and for the erection of a new fence to be six feet in height
and for change of use throughout the existing structure to two-family household living.
The property in terms of zoning is currently permitted such that this floor and this floor
are commercial spaces. This was last permitted for and used as a barbershop on the bottom level
and the middle floor was for offices and storage. The top floor of this building was historically
one apartment unit with three bedrooms and a kitchen and bath. So just to go back to the
refusal to finish that out, basically our two refusals are for the fact that we would like
the replacement fence to match the existing fence in terms of height because that is what all four
corners in this location have. So we'd like to keep a six-foot fence for security. That's two
feet too high under the zoning code. That's a dimensional refusal. And then the use of the
building, which is really to convert it from a mixed-use building to a two-unit building,
that's not permitted in the RSA 5 district. So real quickly, just to tell you about our case,
My client, Vlad, is a young man who bought this property when his stepfather unexpectedly passed away from COVID in the height of the COVID crisis.
His stepfather and mother owned the property.
And in fact, Vlad lived there with them as a child on that top floor that I mentioned from 1993 to 1999.
The family moved right across the street around.
The family moved right across the street around 1999, but retained this property as an investment property.
So it's been in their family for decades at this point, 30 years.
The Vlad then actually worked in that barbershop that I mentioned as a teenager.
So that barbershop closed, Vlad estimates, around 15 years ago, and there has been no commercial tenant in that space since.
And that space, as I mentioned, is most of the building.
So the building was highly underutilized when the barbershop closed with only the third floor apartment remaining in active use.
The building has no history of single family use since at least 1961, having gone through the zoning archive and just to show you one permit, there are various permits evidencing mixed use in the archive.
This is the most recent one of Ladd's stepfather pulled this in 2001, basically just traces what
I've already called out, one apartment on the top floor, an office in the middle floor, a barbershop
on the bottom. So let me just spend one more second on that photo and then I'll move on to
floor plans. As you can see here the bottom level has a couple direct entrances, one on the corner,
one on the middle of the Ruscomb Street side. And then the second floor has a direct entrance
to D Street with stairs where my cursor is here. So plenty of access to the building.
There was a change in the proposed layout of the building since we filed our appeal. And why is
that. So unfortunately, the building suffered catastrophic flooding after we filed our ZBA
appeal due to a nearby water leak. So that just exacerbated the situation, which is that this
building now requires basically a full gut. Not even that top floor is really usable in its present
form. So I wanted to call that out very carefully and take you through the floor plans because
that was not the case when we filed our appeal. So our appeal paperwork and our memo of law does
not mention that. It sort of assumes that the third floor is still in good condition. It is not.
So moving on, here is the letter of support that we have from the RCO, the 42nd Ward.
and I'll just briefly read through it because it actually does a good job sort of summarizing what
our proposal is. So as I mentioned, the owner, Mr. Versailles, purchased the property from his
parents in 2020. The property was zoned as a single-family dwelling slash commercial property.
Just moving on a little bit, the upstairs consists of a three-bedroom unit and downstairs would be
a two-bedroom open concept unit. There will be separate entrance exits for both units with
motion lights around the property. The fence would not only provide security, but would be
aesthetically pleasing. He would use a property manager, his brother, to oversee and manage the
property, who organically would have a personal interest in ensuring the property is well
maintained and up to code. This is Mr. Vladimir's first investment property, and he expressed
with passion, his desire to revitalize his neighborhood and community, not only by enhancing
this property, but by starting programs that give back to the community and continue to invest
further. So in summary, my client is not a developer by trade. This is someone who needed
to take over this property after a family emergency and following the flood I mentioned
is doing his best to stabilize it and put it back in active use. And we feel that the proposal,
which I'm going to show you now on the floor plan, is the minimum necessary relief. We also
have a letter of non-opposition from the Office of Councilwoman Lozada, which is shown on your
screen now. So here are the proposed floor plans. Essentially, the ground floor would be its own
unit. So this would have that corner door that I showed you would remain, would serve as sort of
an emergency exit from one of the bedrooms. And that's why it's important to have a security
fence here since there's direct access into someone's bedroom. Although of course this
would have new door hardware, you know, be double locked, et cetera, et cetera.
etc, etc. But it's important to have a second means of egress. So we'll have two bedrooms in
But it's important to have a second means of egress. So we'll have
I love it.
that bottom unit, and the entire basement is basically above ground, rather. A living area
in the middle with an open concept kitchen and one bathroom, and its own washer dryer down there.
And then this is the middle floor. Because of the damage that occurred, even on the upper floors of
the building from that flooding. We're now proposing to combine the middle floor and the
upper floor into one apartment. So we're not being greedy and going for a unit on each floor.
The sort of final floor plans here have no bedrooms on that middle floor and basically
use the front of the building as a walk-in mudroom and a living room with a very large kitchen. So
then the bedrooms would be on the top floor of the building. So that would end up being a three
bedroom, two bath unit. This is a rendering that my client paid for. It shows the extent of the
fence and what he would like the building to look like after renovation construction.
So this is the corner showing, excuse me, the other three corners of our street corner,
pardon me um here's what i just wanted to say quickly about the surroundings um so uh three
of the four corners of our intersection were formerly commercial um like our like our building
was on the on the bottom two floors but none of them are commercial today so having putting
commercial use back in this building would be out of context and the neighborhood association was
not in favor of that idea. Further, putting new commercial use in our building would probably
require a variance because Ellen and I would likely say that our prior zoning permit had lapsed
because there's been no commercial down there for over a decade. So without the desire of the
community or the practical ability to do commercial downstairs, the minimum necessary relief is to turn
that downstairs space into a second dwelling unit. That's what we're proposing. I have worked
with Vlad on the acquisition of this property and financing for construction. I can tell you that
his lender that he has lined up would not be willing to lend for construction here if this
was either a single family home or a commercial with one apartment. The two units is basically
what was necessary to enable this property to attract construction loans.
And I'll just quickly mention, there is another two-unit, I believe, with a commercial, so two-unit
plus a commercial, at least per its permitting, directly next door at 4951 Boudinot Street.
There are also duplexes elsewhere on our block at 4901, 4923, and 4928 D Street.
and my client was able to gather over 100 form letters from community members in support of
his revitalization proposal. The last word I'll have is just on the fences and that's why I have
this image in front of you. As I mentioned, all corner properties in this location have very
similar chain link six foot fences for security purposes. So although it may be irregular to have
a fence as the one we're proposing on a corner property. It's replacing one that's already there.
It's in context with the corner. The RCO is relieved, in fact, that we're going to have one.
And it is a hardship to require only a four foot fence as with minimal effort,
it can be jumped over. It really doesn't serve an adequate security purpose. But at least our
fence is semi-transparent. So it's not as though we're building a wall there. It's going to be
like a cast iron, quite an upgrade over what's there now. So I will stop sharing my screen and
ask that Vladimir Versailles raise his hand and be promoted to adopt my testimony.
Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
Hello, everyone. My name is Vladimir Versailles. That's V-L-A-D-I-M-I-R, Versailles, V-E-R-S-A-I-L-L-E-S.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth is nothing but the truth.
Proceed, counsel.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Vlad, were you able to hear the full extent of my testimony this morning?
Was it true and accurate to the best of your knowledge?
Would you therefore be willing to adopt it as if it were your own testimony?
Yes. Okay. Thank you very much. And just stay on in case the board has any questions.
Okay. Thank you very much. And just stay on in case the board has any questions.
Before I give it to the board, the fence is for security purposes?
Yes. That's right, Mr. Chairman. And I can bring that rendering back up.
No, I mean, I saw it, but it'd be strictly security purposes.
Yeah. In consultation with the RCO, we created that rendering. I don't want to cast shade on
the neighborhood but again all four corners on this intersection have a situation all right
questions from the board no mr chairman ish no mr chair questions or comments from the virtual
audience i see no further answer mr chair planning commission thank you chair bergman
Ian Haggerty for the Philadelphia City Planning Commission. Board members, the comprehensive plan
recommends no change to the existing RSA 5 single-family zoning at this location. The proposed
use for two dwelling units is consistent with the existing building layout, which includes two
separate spaces, and the proposed fence height variance is minimal and does not conflict with
the purpose and spirit of the zoning code. City Planning Commission recommends that the board
Thank you.
MI 2022-005-146-4952 D Street, I vote yes.
Thomas Howell, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you very much.
Is there anyone in the virtual audience whose 930 AM class cases have been not called?
Mr. Chair, I do not see any hands.
Okay. Thank you, everyone. Be back at 2.
Thank you.
Good afternoon. My name is Bill Bergman, and I will be chairing this afternoon's ZBA hearings. With me is Vice Chair Ismail Shahid.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you. Our board member, Thomas Holliman.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you. Our board attorney, Hillary Emerson, is here, and also Lakeisha Dandy, our ZBA hearing supervisor.
Before we begin, here's our virtual format.
The proceedings are being recorded.
By participating, you acknowledge your agreement to be recorded.
The video will be available by contacting TanyaSunkett at phila.gov.
Benefit of our court stenographer, we ask attorneys and witnesses to identify themselves before testifying.
If you're participating by phone, if you wish to testify, press star 9 to raise your hand and star 6 to unmute.
To enter an appearance statement, call 267-270-5548. Leave your email and the address
of the property in question. And finally, the question answer box on the screen is not for
comments or testimony. Any comments should be directed to our Executive Director, Tanya Sunken.
Let's look at continuances that we have for this afternoon.
Number three, MI 2022-005-080, 1529 Reed Street. Is the owner of the property Alex Klein present in the audience? Or the attorney for the property?
good afternoon mr chair this is jason handed and not seeing any hands raised at this time
so mi 2022 005080 1529 reed street that case is continued are there any other requests for