yes i do all right great questions from the you want something yeah i just looked online too we
Questions from the, you want something?
Yeah, I just looked online too.
We are also next to like CMX 3 as well.
are also
We're pretty close by.
Yep, yep.
All right.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Chair.
No, Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Mr. Chair, I have Mr. Charles Richardson with his hand raised.
I have allowed him to speak at this time.
Good morning, Mr. Richardson.
Good morning, Mr. Chairman.
Your name, please, and spell for the court reporter.
Charles Richardson, C-H-A-R-L-E-S-R-I-C-H-A-R-D-S-O-N, Office of Councilwoman Cindy Bass, room 508 City Hall.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, sir?
Proceed.
Councilwoman has no opposition to granting the variance.
Thank you for taking the time to call in.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
No further answer, Mr. Chair.
Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair Bergman, Sarah Bond, Philadelphia City Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends a zoning map change to residential single family.
The proposed use is consistent with documented prior use of this property.
The City Planning Commission recommends that the Zoning Board grant the variance.
Thank you.
MI 2022-003-505-1500 West Tioga Street.
I vote yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shahid.
You broke off, Ishmael.
Ishmael Shahid.
Ishmael Shahid.
My vote is yes.
You broke off again, Ishmael.
Can you hear me now, Chair?
Go ahead, try now.
No, Shahid.
My vote is yes.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Nocklinson.
Thank you very much.
Next one is number six and 16.
We'll hear together.
MI 2022-003-196-232 West Penn Street.
Richard DeMarco is the attorney.
um there's a letter of support from the 12th Ward Democratic Committee letter of opposition
from Solo Germantown with some suggestions for provisos and Councilwoman Bass has not
opposition to the granting of this and 16 is MI 2022 003 195 230 West Penn Street
um same issues with the opposition and support mr demarco uh good morning mr chairman uh members
of the board uh my client is yair friedman who is the owner of both lots all right could you
just for the record spell your name for the court reporter mr demarco last name d-e-m-a-r-c-o
right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
Yes, I do.
Our vice chair has just a few questions, sir.
Right.
Good morning, counsel.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to his accuracy?
I do on both cases.
Thank you.
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits to proceed with this case in five days in advance of this hearing?
I did on both cases.
Thank you.
Please proceed to share your screen.
Thanks so much.
Mr. Chairman, while I was joining, I missed part of what you said.
We do have a letter of support from the coordinating RCO and a letter, an email of no opposition from Councilwoman Cindy Bass.
There's a letter of opposition from another RCO.
A solo Germantown, but the letter opposition also has recommendations for, in case it's granted, provisos.
Yeah. So, I mean, this, so I'll get to the opposition in a minute, but the cases, let me go ahead and share.
my screen. The case is really a single, let me shift this bar, the joys of virtual. Okay.
The single variance, these are twins. It's two lots. You're hearing both cases together.
The properties mirror each other. The sole variance being requested, as you see here,
is a side yard variance, five feet versus eight feet. I want to be clear that, and I'll have my
client verify my statements at the conclusion, but the five yard side variance is consistent
with the properties on the block. Okay. All right. The homes, if we were to have
OK. All right. The homes, if we were to have complied with the eight foot side yard, you would basically have a less than 12 foot wide house, which is unlivable and unbuildable.
Thank you.
Therefore, we feel obviously that this is one of the strongest cases for a dimensional variance and unnecessary hardship, as you will see.
and the Hertzberg case announced by the Supreme Court years ago was clearly applicable since we
are only proposing that which is permitted, which is a single family home. So we did meet with twice
with the community. We made some alterations to the facade at the request of the neighbors
and we did extend the front porch. Let me see if I can show you that.
Here are our photos we posted. It's a vacant lot. Currently, let me rotate my
clockwise. This is the revised plan. We're showing both properties together.
Let me go ahead and expand so you can see exactly what we're dealing with.
you can see here the five yard side variance here and here on either side i'm indicating
with my portrait we are matching the neighboring property side yard um we did extend the front
porch we have a revised plan proviso form we'll ask you to stamp one page on both cases the
parking is required and the streets department has approved the curb cut we did try to address
a concern with the neighbors. They wanted us to put the parking driveways on the outside of the
lots. That was untenable because if you see the turning radius here, we would have a problem with
placing the driveways at the outside on the 230 West Penn lot because it would impact our neighbor's
sidewalk. So that was deemed to be untenable. We did consider it, but that was a request. We were
unable to do that. But we did extend the front porch and we included a mansard roof and some
more brick on our facades. And that is where we are and why we got a letter of no opposition from
the coordinating RCO and the councilwoman. I guess, lastly, the opposition concerns
a argument, which is really not appropriate, that the property should be combined and do one house.
That is untenable. The lot exists as two houses. The property, the block is developed as predominantly as twins.
There are multiple twins on the block. So this development is in complete context with the neighborhood.
So subdividing the lot is not combining the lots of not appropriate argument that would result in a haphazard approach to development.
and you have to take your property as it is
with regard to zoning law.
So really that's about it.
I'll call, hopefully Yair Friedman is on the call.
I'll ask him to raise his hand virtually.
Hopefully he's with us.
He didn't respond to a text,
but if I could ask if Yair Friedman is on the call
to raise his hand virtually, please,
to verify testimony.
I'm allowed to speak, sir.
Sir, could you state your name and spell it, please, for the court reporter?
My name is Yair Friedman Ben-Hurid.
Yair, Y-A-I-R.
Friedman, F-R-I-E-D-M-A-N.
Right.
Do you swear?
Yeah, I swear.
All right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed, counsel.
Mr. Friedman, did you hear my factual testimony to the board today?
On both cases. You are the owner of both 230 and 232 West Penn, correct?
Correct.
And are the statements that I made true and accurate?
And are you actually a licensed architect in the state of Israel?
Exactly.
Okay. You're qualified as an architect in that country, correct?
Okay. And do you agree that if you were to comply with the side yard requirement on each lot, you would have an unbuildable property? Is that fair to say?
Yes, yes. It's going to be too narrow inside.
Too narrow, right. And do you adopt my factual statements as true and accurate for your testimony in both cases?
Okay. So, Mr. Chairman, with that, we would ask you to grant both variances. We have revised proviso plan forms, one page on each case.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chair.
No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Yes, sir. I have a hand up from Alethea Irwin. I've allowed them to speak.
Sure. Good morning. Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
Certainly. My name is Alethea, A-L-E-T as in Tom, H-I-A. My last name is Irwin, E-R-W-I-N.
right um hold on do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the
truth yes i do are you a neighbor i am a neighbor i live at 214 west penn street proceed okay so
i had not seen these revised plans this is the first time i'm seeing them so i had a couple of
questions and one is is that i understand that the owner is an architect did he draw these plans or
Or were they drawn by an architect certified in Pennsylvania?
Do you want me to answer, Mr. Chairman?
Why don't you answer that, Mr. DeMarco?
Yes, it was.
It's right here on the corner here.
Glenwood Engineering.
And then the, and I realized there are some houses on the block that don't have the exactly
that eight foot clearance, but almost all of them do.
I don't know what you were measuring because I went out and measured.
It's just not accurate.
Well, do you have your measurements?
Because what happens is when you make that alleyway narrower,
and I don't understand how three feet makes the difference in the tenable width of the structure.
If there were two structures there before, and they complied with those side walls, then it meant that those were the sides of those houses. And there are houses in Philadelphia that are 12 feet wide, and people live in them.
So I don't quite understand what makes that untenable.
I don't know how you would live with it. Well, look, I'm not going to cross examine, Mr. Chairman.
So, ma'am, here's the issue. Are you for or against the project?
I am against it.
Okay. Thank you for taking the time to call in. We appreciate your input.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
Mr. Charles Richardson, with his hand raised, I will now speak, sir.
Good morning, Mr. Richardson. You've already been sworn. Just state your name for the record, please.
Good morning again, Mr. Chair. Charles Richardson from the Office of Councilwoman Cindy Bass in 508 City Hall.
Proceed, sir.
So, we had a couple different meetings for this property. And the consensus was that there was something that's going to be built there, looked at the context of the properties in context with the other properties on the block,
and came up with what ended up being a decision
by the RCOs, two of the, three of the RCOs
as opposed to the fourth one, which is in opposition.
This is one of the better designs
that could have come out of this
based on what was already put forth.
So the councilwoman really has no opposition
to granting the variances for these properties.
Thank you, Mr. Richardson, and thank you for taking the time to call in.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
I see no further hands, Mr. Chair.
Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair Bergman, Sarah Bond, Philadelphia City Planning Commission.
The proposed side yard dimensions are consistent with nearby properties.