what's this hand raised before
he's he was one of the architects and he was promoted to to panelist we're okay all right so
uh planning commission good morning chair ian hegarty for the philadelphia city planning
Commission. Last name spelled H-E-G-A-R-T-Y. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth,
the whole truth, nothing but the truth? Yes, sir. Proceeding. Thank you very much. Good morning,
board members. The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the residential single-family zoning
at this location. The proposed dimensional variances are consistent with surrounding
properties and related to the small size of the lot. So the City Planning Commission recommends
that the board grant the variances.
Thank you.
MI 2022, 004-445-1005 Lombard Street.
I vote yes.
Thomas Allen, I vote yes.
James Snell, I vote yes.
James Snell, I vote yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed.
Thank you.
Thank you, Porter, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you.
Good luck with your project.
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Number two, MI2022-004-428-2110, Titan Street, Pasquale, Calavita is the attorney.
letter of support from Point Breeze Community Development Corporation.
Mr. Colavita.
We were joining as a panelist soon, sir.
Good morning.
Good morning.
Could you state your name, please, and spell it for the court reporter?
Pasquale, Colavita, P-A-S-Q-U-A-L-E-C-O-L-A-V-I-T-A.
Right.
Do you swear?
Go ahead.
I'm sorry.
I was just going to say my client is on.
I didn't know if you wanted to swear both of us in at the same time.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Identify your client, please, in the relationship to the property.
Keshav Patel, owner.
Our board secretary has just a few questions for you.
Good morning, counsel.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to his accuracy?
Have you emailed all the required documents into our offices within five days of this hearing?
I have.
Please proceed and share your screen.
For a moment.
Screen dot at the bottom.
Got it.
I'm just trying to find the actual.
Okay, here we go.
We're good.
Okay, trying to.
And all of these documents have been submitted.
You're viewing the table of contents.
We're going to mark and admit A through L into evidence.
The deed's been presented, real estate tax clearance shown, architectural plans.
And I actually have one additional set of updated photographs of the location, which gives it a much clearer view as to what this property actually looks like versus what we previously had submitted.
This is the present property.
Okay. So what my client is the owner of this property, but that's not the one in question.
This is the restaurant that he owns and is seeking outdoor seating. And I can show you
on the architectural plans that's being shared. Are you able to see these? Yes. Okay. And this is
the uh plan of the property that is directly behind as you can see there's a three foot alleyway
behind the actual property and his uh he also is the owner of uh the proposed space and the the
property in question and if you look below at the renderings of what it is intended to look like
So it's just seating and nothing more.
There's no other use other than an accessory used to an existing building, an existing business to its west.
So this property in question is on Titan Street, and the other is on the corner.
um we've received we we met with a uh typically uh difficult and uh not difficult but probably
not the proper word uh that a they look at things very closely let's put it that way as well as the
uh uh surrounding groups it was nearly unanimous we had only one dissenter amongst
uh the entire panel it was uh heavily uh attended uh everyone uh so we got a letter of support from
from the uh the community group and we just asked that uh you approve this project as everyone seems
uh you approve uh this project as everyone seems to want this in the neighborhood right
council one one of you uh have your client come on and adopt your testimony
sure uh mr patel you available has he been promoted yet
patel's been allowed to speak sir hi could you state your name please and spell for the court
reporter? Mr. Patel? Mr. Patel, if you're still available, please unmute yourself.
Yes, I'm here. Sorry. That's fine. Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court
reporter sure keshaw patel k-e-s-h-a-l tell p-a-t-e-l right do you swear or affirm to tell
the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do proceed counsel mr patel did you have an
opportunity to listen to my presentation of the project yes would you adopt my testimony as your
own yes okay sufficient yes questions from the board um no mr chairman hi questions or comments
from the virtual audience don't see any hands mr chair planning commission
thank you chair bergman ian hegarty for the philadelphia city planning commission
board members the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing single family residential
zoning on this parcel. The appellant did not testify or provide evidence that there's
no possibility that the property can be used in conformity with the zoning code and that
variance is necessary to enable viable economic use of the property. This is a requirement for
establishing hardship, and so we don't believe that there is a hardship in this case, and the
City Planning Commission has to recommend that the board deny the variance.
Counselor, you have any response?
As far as can we build a single family property there?
I presume yes, but based upon the present condition of being it on an alleyway and have an accessory to the restaurant,
It seems that the cost basis of it is probably extremely high in comparison to what is presently being recommended.
Okay. All right. Thank you. So MI2022-004-428-2110-Pyton Street, I vote yes.
Thomas Tolloman, my vote is yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
all right counsel thank you thank you i have one other i don't know whether it's on your list next
or uh i think you're a little bit further down i got a couple things ahead of you okay i tried
all right you did you did very good thank you mi 2022 004 395 805 diamond street zenjin is the
attorney. Letter of support from APM. Mr. Jinn will be rejoining as a panelist, sir.
Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Counsel, could you state your name, please,
and spell for the court reporter? Yes. Zen Jinn, Z-H-E-N. Last name is J-I-N. 1617 John F.
Kennedy Boulevard, Suite 1838, Philadelphia EPA 19103, here on behalf of the applicant.
All right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client and the relationship to this property?
The client is Glass Estates LC. They are the owner of the property and a representative for
the company is here. Okay. Our board secretary has a few questions.
Good morning, Counselor. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to his accuracy?
Have you emailed all the documents that were required to continue with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
I have.
Please proceed and share your screen.
Thank you. I'm going to share with the board the package we have previously submitted with relation to this property.
This is 805 Diamond Street. A copy of the refusal, support letter, and related documentation were previously submitted.
The application is based on the property being a CMX2 zoned property.
a CMX2 zoned property. However, based on the conditions of the property surrounding this one
However, based on the condition...
and the viability of commercial spaces in the area, we're asking for a variance to use this
property exclusive as a residential property. As such, the refusals are directly related to
converting the required commercial space in the 30-foot depth into an additional residential
unit. We met with APM and notified the neighbors and obtained a letter of support from APM.
There were really no neighbors that made an effort to attend. APM's committee, for the most part,
came with another, there was another RCO present as well, and there were no negative feedback from
any neighbors or the community itself. We are proposing a three-story structure,
a new construction at this site. Again, the site is zone CMX2. However, this is actually not a
corner property. As you can see, this is the property that is in the middle. There's a corner
property next to us that is still vacant, and then there are residential properties on the other side.
Although across the street, there is what looks like a park.
I'm going to jump to the photos here.
There is what looks like a park across the street from the location, or I'm sorry, a
commercial use of sort across from the location.
Majority of the block is actually residential in nature.
The area predominantly is REM1 zoned, and the uses surrounding the area, there are very few
ongoing commercial activities. As you can see, almost everything in sight, including corners
that are built, are all residential in nature. So we believe that a full residential use would
make the most sense here until, in fact, this is, again, this street and its location really isn't
conducive to any kind of larger commercial activity. And the lot itself is a standard
row home width, making most commercial uses very difficult to fit into the space.
In addition, as you can see, the look of the building, if constructed as a residential,
would actually better fit what is already in the neighborhood. The proposal is simply a
three-story structure with cellar to be used as three units. These two units would have been
Otherwise, by right under CMX 2 and the first floor would have to have a commercial space.
We're simply asking the board to permit the first floor to be used as an additional residential unit.
So that is essentially our request before the board.
We asked for a favorable consideration in this case due to the hardship of putting a viable commercial use at this location.
Thank you.
Counsel, is your client here?
Yes, my client should be present.
Have your testimony adopted, please.
Yes. Thank you. Mr. Gitterman, can you raise your hand and be identified?
Yes. Good morning, everybody.
Hi. Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
My name is Joseph, J-O-S-E-P-H, and the last name is Gitterman, G-I-T-E-R-M-I-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Good to see you, counsel.
Thank you. Mr. Gitterman, you have seen my presentation and heard my representation
before the zoning board?
Can you verify what I have stated is true and correct
and adopt it as your own testimony?
Yes, I do.
Thank you.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I'm sorry, I have Mr. Charles Dices with his hand raised.
I will allow him to keep your time.
Hi, could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
Charles Deitches, D-Y-C-H-E-S.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Are you a neighbor?
Yes, I am.
Well, proceed, sir.
I've been living in the community since 1974.
Members of the community didn't know about this zoning meeting today, and nor did we know about 8 p.m. having a meeting to vote on it.
So we would ask for you to table it and for us to have a meeting and do a vote ourselves.
and that area is the 8th and Diamond Advisory Commission
and that's that area, APM, is further down.
So we will ask you to allow the citizens of this community
to vote on this before you pass it through.
Mr. Chairman, we did the notifications
according to the requirements of the code.
The APM also was the coordinating RCO.
I don't know if Mr. Deiches represented a different organization
that wasn't listed on my notification list,
That wasn't listed on my notification list, but I was not aware of any neighbors, and I was not aware of the situation, in fact, until today.