accuracy? I do. Have you emailed the exhibit packet with the required documents consisting
of proof of ownership, tax compliance, a copy of the refusal or referral, photos under 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, in all respects, I have a letter of support from her. Okay,
Yes, in all respects, and I have a letter of support from her.
Okay, great. You may proceed and please share your screen.
Okay, great.
You may proceed.
Thank you. So I am here to present 3445 West Westmoreland. The property is being developed by Argo Property Group. Obviously, they have an entity of 343 W Westmoreland LLC.
but Argo Property Group is well known in the Philadelphia region for this type of design of
clean architecture and single-family use and that's what they're trying to do here with this
pretty substantially sized lot to divide into into three single-family houses each with off-street
parking. So we'll go through our presentation notice refusal our letter of support from Ross
Civic Association, directly address the refusals, showing nearby properties with comparable lots,
and we'll explain why later. Property history showing curb cut in parking, again, goes towards
our refusal. Maps of the area, photographs of the property of the surrounding area, our plans and
drawings, our RCO meeting notice showing that we mailed a community meeting notice to the affected
properties and proof of mail in that notice. Our deed to the property showing that corporate entity
owns the property. Our application for appeal to his EBA and our certificate of tax clearance
showing that that entity is in good standing with the city of Philadelphia. And again, at the
conclusion of my presentation, David Ross, one of the members of the corporate entity, will adopt
my testimony and then we'll be more than happy to take any questions from the boards. So our notice
refusal. So this is an RSA by property. And what we're looking to do is take a 3,400-square
footstruck vacant lot and divide it into three single-family homes and into a parcel C, D,
and E with off-street parking. And we have four refusals for each. First of which is for each
of the properties, we have a refusal for off-street parking. And you'll see from the drawings that
this property has curb cuts already, has been used in such a way over the course of its history,
and we have Google Earth photographs since 2000, I believe, seven or eight, which shows at different
intervals that are occurring. Then we have three-dimensional refusals, the width. While 16
feet width is required for RSA 5 zoning, we are proposing slightly less than that, and you'll see
that we're not out of character because the properties on that block there nearby are of
equal or comparable size. The lot size were required as an RSA 5 property to have a lot
size of 1,440 square feet. You'll see that we do not meet that minimum requirements, but that the
properties nearby do not as well. So it's not outsourced what we're asking for. And third is
the front setback. While 0% is required, 20 feet is proposed. Again, we want to set these properties
back. We're at the end or at a cul-de-sac, we're providing more light and air feeling for that
cul-de-sac. The property that's to the right of us, you'll see at 3443 West Westmoreland,
we have an alley that gives light and air to that property. But more importantly,
that property goes straight, basically from front to back, almost full lock coverage. So
sending that property back the way we are, we're still not as far back as that property building
structure is. So we're not affecting their light in there. So we'll go over that as well. And
that's consistent that those four refusals for each of those parcels. So the letter of support
uh from raw uh they voted overwhelmingly in support of this project uh argo property group
does a lot of uh work in this area of philadelphia and they have a very good reputation in this area
of doing the work product and respecting their neighbors nearby comparable lots so here we are
at 3445 west westmoreland if you see like and we'll show it um we have you know visually but
You'll see that the lot size widths are comparable.
The lot sizes are comparable.
And those are two of the refusals and you'll see.
So again, our proposed lot width is 14, 852,
14, well, almost 15 feet.
Here, we would be the largest lot width
of comparable properties nearby from us.
The lot size. For parcel C, we're 1,078. For parcel D, we're 1119. And for parcel E, we're 1160. We fall well within the parameters.
and for parsley we're 1160. we fall well within the parameters of the lot sizes nearby to us
so in comparison what we're offering is not out of sorts if we were required to comply with the
code that would be out of sorts we would have a substantial lot which would not make sense
for this for this community and then the history of showing curb cut and parking so this is a
picture from google earth in 2019 you can see there's an existing curb cut right here again
we're at the end of a cul-de-sac you can see a car is parked you know on the sidewalk so one of the
things we wanted to do is to is to push our building structure you know deeper so that would
prevent that type of use of people parking on the sidewalk and then here's 2018 to have a better
view but again it shows again a curb cut here and 2012 a curb cut and then 20 2008 also a curb cut
again someone parking on this on the actual curb cut itself and on the sidewalk which was you know
not supported um by the community and that's why we're pushing the building structures back
the maps of the area again we're at west west moreland and north uh 35th street it looks like
There's actually a private street right here, but we're really, for all intents and purposes, at a cul-de-sac.
And then this is from a Google Maps perspective as well.
And then photographs of the property.
As you can see, we're still at vacant lots.
We've been at vacant lots since 2008.
We're looking to develop that lot.
And you can see West West Moreland, so right in the property, and that's kind of where the cul-de-sac is.
West West Moreland, so left of the property.
north 35th street from the front of the property and then our plans and drawings again we're just
trying to like line up this cul-de-sac area and by pushing these building structures there it's
going to provide more ability for the children in the neighborhood uh to kind of play outside
where there's not a lot of traffic here and to provide more laying air honestly for these
these properties uh which face us to the rear and then as you can see here is here's our building
structure set back but three four four three west westmoreland you can see the building structure
goes much deeper than ours so we're not like affecting their light in there and we purposefully
have a side yard or an alleyway area where there's an easement uh to um to provide more light in there
for 3443 West-West Maryland.
And then just our simple floor plan for all these,
you know, we have a garage, front-loading garage.
We have a flex space where we anticipate
people who purchase this property
is going to create that as an office.
You go up a flight of steps,
it's an open floor plan,
living room, dining room, kitchen with a half bath.
And then we have two bedrooms,
a laundry facility,
and a full bath on the third floor.
And then on the fourth floor is the master suite, again, with a roof deck up top.
And then we met with the community on April 28, 2022 at 5.30 p.m.
62 addresses were notified of this meeting.
Again, well attended.
I believe it was like over 20 people in support and three not in support.
These are listed the addresses, proof of mailing of that notice, our deed to the property showing that my client owns the property or my client owns the property.
our applications for appeal to the ZBA and our Certificate of Tax Clarence.
With that being said, I would ask that Mr. Ross virtually raise his hand to adopt my testimony,
and then again, we can take questions.
Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
Sure. David Ross, D-A-V-I-D-R-O-S-S.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
yes proceed counsel uh yes mr raj you heard everything i stated today
yes is it true and correct yes and do you adopt as your own testimony yes i do all right thank
you questions from the board no mr chairman no no message thank you ish questions or comments
from the virtual audience?
I see no hands, Chair.
Planning Commission.
Mr. Chair and members of the board,
Mason Austin representing the Planning Commission.
This lot has been designated for commercial,
sorry, for single-family residential use
in the comprehensive plan,
and its RSA 5 zoning matches that designation.
The proposed lot size would be by right, if not for the presence of an overlay that was
The proposed lot size would be by right,
if not for the presence of an overlay
that was opposed by the Planning Commission.
opposed by the Planning Commission.
The unusual partial shape and railroad adjacency represent material hardship to creating rear
access driveway for parking, with a lack of a sidewalk on 35th Street limit the impact.
The remaining variances are for lot width and are de minimis.
As a consequence, PCPC staff has no objection to the granting of these variances.
Thank you.
MI 2022-001678, 3445 Westmoreland Street.
I vote yes.
Harold Tenere, my vote is yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shahid, my vote is yes.
Thank you, Mr. Nachamson.
Thank you.
Have a great day.
Have a nice day.
We're going to, let's everybody take a five-minute break, and then we'll back out, and we'll knock out the 330 list, okay?
Good afternoon. My name is Bill Bergman and I will be chairing this afternoon's ZBA hearings.
With me is Carol Tenere, our vice chair.
Present, Mr. Chair.
Ismail Shahid, our board secretary.
Present, Mr. Chair.
Thomas Holliman, our board member.
He should be on shortly.
James Snell our board member. Present Mr. Chairman. Also here is our Executive Director
Tanya Sunkett and our Board Attorney Hillary Emerson. Before we begin our virtual format
be advised these proceedings are being recorded. By participating you acknowledge your agreement
to be recorded. A video will be available by contacting Tanya Sunkett at phil.gov.
For the benefit of our court sonographer, we ask attorneys and witnesses to identify themselves before testifying.
If you are 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 last, please note the question and answer box on the screen is not for testimony or comments.
Any comments should be directed to Tanya Sunkett, our Executive Director.
Let's look at continuances for this afternoon's hearings.
Number three, MI 2022-001-056-2223-29-North 31st Street.
That's continued. And number seven, MI-2022-001-928-6830 Ogons Avenue. That is,
case is continued. Are there any other requests for continuance?
I see no handshare. We're going to go to number one case, MI-2022-000-764-1157-South
12th Street. Letter of non-opposition from Pashong Square Civic Associate with Proviso.
Mr. Josh Horvitz is the attorney.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman and members of the board.
Hi, could you spell your name for the court reporter, please?
Sure. It's Joshua Horvitz, J-O-S-H-U-A, H-O-R-V as in Victor, I-T-Z.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client and their relationship to this property?
Sure. My client's the applicant and the owner of the property, Andy Dinn.
Thank you. And our vice chair, Carl Tenere, has a few questions.
Hi, Mr. Harwitz. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership, tax compliance, 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?
We emailed the exhibits, we met with the RCO and we have a letter.
Okay, great. You may proceed and please share your screen.
Thank you. Will do.
So I'm going to share my exhibit packet here.
And at the end of this, I'll just ask my client, Andy Dinn, to join and adopt my testimony.
So Mr. Dinn bought this property.
I'll show you the deed here, my exhibit packet.
It's the first of our exhibits.
We have the tax clearance certificate and all of the prerequisites.
Just to tell you the little story here, it's a very simple matter.
He bought this property as a triplex. It had a zoning permit and a building permit for a triplex in February of 2021.
He bought this property as a triplex.
It had a zoning permit and a building permit for a triplex.
And when he went to L&I to get the rental license, they said the prior owner never picked up the certificate of occupancy.
And since it had been 10 years, there was no alternative but to restart the zoning process.
So he got the tax clearance and posted them. And we met with the RCO and they understood here in their letter.
It says that they appreciate the new owner was misled into believing the triplex was
legalized and that the prior owner made those investments, three water heaters, three separate
electric meters and hardwired fire alarm and separate electric heat for each unit.
So they agreed, you know, they understood where we were coming from and we're basically
just asking for the same use that this board already granted.
here we have a granting of the variance on June 11th of 2012. And so we're just asking for that
same variance. Everybody thought it was a triplex for the last 10 years until my client bought it