You're live. Thank you. Good morning everyone. My name is Frank DiCicco. I'm the chair of the
Zoning Board of Adjustment. I'll be participating in today's hearing along with our Board Secretary
Mr. Confessor Plaza and Board Members Mr. Thomas Holloman and Mr. James Snell.
Board Administrator Tanya Sunken and Board Attorney Sharon Saleta are also in attendance.
For those of you who haven't yet participated in our virtual hearings,
I'll go through some of the basics of what you can expect. First, we'll begin this morning's
session by reading a list of cases to be continued. If you believe any announced cases being continued
in error, we will give you an opportunity to respond. After reading the continuance list
and receiving any feedback, we will take any additional continuance requests or withdrawal
request. Then once we've confirmed which hearings are being continued, Mr. Plaza
will begin calling the remaining cases listed for this session. When a case is
called, we ask that attorneys representing applicants or other
interested parties in the matter identify themselves for the record. We
will then hear the appellant's presentation followed by any
presentation by attorneys representing other parties. Interested parties and
members of the public, not represented by council, will be given an opportunity to
testify. We will finally hear the recommendation of the Planning
Commission. At the hearing's conclusion, we will either vote the matter
immediately or hold it for discussion in executive session. Any case held for
discussion will be voted at the next scheduled Wednesday morning session.
Please note the following changes to the virtual format. First, we will be
administering oaths to individual participants prior to their testimony.
Second, for the benefit of anyone participating by phone, we ask that attorneys and witnesses
identify themselves prior to speaking or testifying. Third, we'd like to advise everyone
that this proceeding is being recorded and that by participating you acknowledge your agreement
to be recorded. Fourth, for anyone participating by phone, if you wish to testify, you must
raise your hand by hitting star nine and then star six to unmute yourself. I'll repeat, for anyone
participating by phone, if you wish to testify, you must raise your hand by hitting star nine
and then star six to unmute yourself. Finally, to enter an appearance statement, call Google
267-270-5548 and leave your email address and the address of the property at issue.
And I'll repeat that again. To enter an appearance statement, call Google 267-270-5548
and leave your email address and the address of the property at issue. With that said, we can
begin. But before Confessor Plaza calls our first case, we'd like to announce the
following matters that are being continued. Calendar number 39065-317
Spruce Street. Calendar number 39040-350 West Oak Lane is being
withdrawn calendar number 39023 428 north 53rd street i have a notation sharon and tanya possibly
being withdrawn do we get any clarification i believe we are waiting for a letter to confirm
that but for now it should leave it as it continues yes okay so calendar number 39023
428 north 53rd street is being continued unless otherwise notified calendar number 39697
3895 Richmond Street, calendar number 39465-9509, Whale Pump Drive, Whale, W-H-E-E-L,
Pump Drive. Case being withdrawn is calendar number 39407-56 East Haines Street. Also being
continued are cases MI-2020-000869, 2037 South 56th Street, MI-2020-000777,
2035 South 56th Street and MI-2020
And MI-2020-000871, 5536 Paschal Avenue, MI-2020-000872, 5534 Paschal Avenue, is also being continued.
So at this time, we'll ask if anyone believes that a case was called in error.
to be continued or withdrawn, please raise your hand at this time.
Or if you wish to ask for a continuance or withdrawal,
please raise your hand at this time also.
We have a head up, Madeline Cartwright.
But Ms. Cartwright, you have an older form of Zoom.
so you're not able to talk.
I will promote you to panelists just for the audio to discuss a continuance.
Ms. Cartwright can you hear me I can see you Ms. Cartwright but I can't hear you
Is there a way maybe we can get her to call in by phone and hear what she has to say?
Yes can you call in by phone Ms. Cartwright and your assistant can you call us by phone?
Because we can't hear you it only shows that you have video.
Do you need the number?
Okay, if you want me to see if I can chat with her some kind of way.
yeah she can call hers is her um what i'm sorry her question in the uh q a box is why okay now
she's connected to audio hello hi good morning good morning good morning miss cartwright would
you please spell your name for the stenographer c-a-r-t-w-r-i-g-h-t and your address six three
the property address or my address property address four two eight north five three 53rd
street okay um that was a case we called to be continued why we're in a firm to tell the truth
the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes um there's a request to have the case
continued do you own that property i own the property and you didn't make the request for
continuous? I did not.
Karen, do we have any information as to who made that request?
I believe we did not receive exhibits by the five-day, by Friday.
Oh, okay. You know what happened is the CVA, is his name the CVA?
SRO, you know the community RCO, sent me his letter on Thursday
And as soon as I got it, I sent it.
I even called down there.
Ms. Cartwright, you were also required to submit a deed,
a copy of the refusal, photos of the property.
Yeah, I sent all that.
I sent all that.
I sent that before Thursday.
You sent it to my email address as well?
I had two email addresses, an email and a CC.
I sent it to both.
I am seeing a photo of the refusal that was received Saturday, and then there were additional
I am seeing a photo of the...
documents received on Thursday.
the letter from mr from the beautiful rcl um can i suggest that we put this back a case and if i'm
able to go through and verify that all the required documents are there that we move forward with it
we do that all right miss cartwright sharon's going to work to see if we can get you have
your case heard this morning all right thank you so much thank you anyone else tanya
that's all chair all right so uh confessor i believe the first case will be the garrick
garrick street case yes calendar number three nine nine seven five two three five six garrick
street 2356 garrick street attorney is vince defino
mr dofino you're out there yes i just promoted him to panelists mr dofino you can unmute yourself
share your screen as you wish and this is sharon saletta mr dofino submitted revised plans and a
revised plans for him this morning uh should the board vote to approve the appeal these are
plans, the changes
are plans that can be made by revised plans.
Mr. Dufino, you
swear and affirm to tell the truth, the whole
truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do. Okay.
And do you agree to waive the reading of its refusal
and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes. Thank you. Please identify
yourself with a record.
Yeah. Vincent Anthony
Dufino. That's D-E
capital F as in Frank, I-N-O.
2541 South
Broad Street.
Please proceed with your testimony, Mr. Diffino.
Okay, I'm trying to get the screen right over here.
I don't want to X that out, right?
Uh-oh.
So 2356 Garrett Street, the southeast corner, 24th and Garrett in South Philadelphia.
uh point breeze uh cdc is the uh is the actual rco this is a 750 square foot lot and it's zoned
cmx1 vince vince we're not seeing any of your uh exhibits okay yeah i'm gonna
you seeing them now yes okay yes but i would ask if you could right maximize thank you there we go
i got it now i'm cooking with gas all right so this is the property here as you can see it's
an abandoned property located at the uh southeast corner of uh 24th and garage streets uh this the
bigger side of the property is on 24th Street and this is the rear of the
property here and as you can see there's a there's a series of trees growing in
the alleyway which basically take up the whole almost a whole block I think
there's two or three trees down there and that's the back of the property
i'll go back
this is the uh surrounding neighborhood here i gotta turn it around
nicole i need my assistant to help me here but anyway this is the uh surrounding neighborhood
this is the property next door here it's a barber shop and it's a couple different
apartments there uh there's our property
and uh if you click on view you should be able to rotate it yeah nicole how do i rotate that i need
to rotate i need to rotate what do you hit control what do you hit control shift plus control shift
okay so this is the adjoining neighbor it's it's a it's a barbershop on the bottom and
it's it's a it's a barbershop on the bottom and a couple units on top there's
our the rear of our property here this is the Garrett Street side of the
property here as you can see there's the trees in the backyard that are overgrown
this is looking northbound from from south of the property
and this is looking northbound north of the property so that's pretty much the neighborhood
there uh basically our refusals are we're cmx one where we proposed originally one commercial
and two one bedrooms one on the second floor and one on the second third floor roughly 700
square foot i'll get to the plans for i'll get the original plan for you
this is the original plan of the flooring um i'll get you the elevation plan first though
and this is the here's the elevation plan
basically it's three floors one would have been commercial the second would be about a 700 square
foot apartment the third the same thing and there was bays on the front of the property
and the side of the property um and the neighbors had issues with a couple couple things number one
uh they had issues with the commercial unit um we met with the block we met with the the board
the board first like wanted the commercial unit and then they wanted us to meet with with the
block so we met with the block and the block vehemently it seemed vehemently
opposed the commercial use on the bottom for several reasons for several
reasons the neighbor that the nature of the neighborhood there's several other
stores in the area and parking is brutal in that area so this was the original
plan and then we met with the board on several occasions the board uh you know they were there
was intense discussions with the board the board was very cooperative with us that we were going
back and forth on a number of issues and uh basically uh what the board did is when we met
with the neighborhood we we discussed it and uh you know we ferreted out several of the issues
and their major issue one of our major issues was an affordable unit
uh committed to below market rate so uh tiffany white with kenyatta's office we're going to
discuss that we're going to make an agreement to have that done the second issue was rounded bay
windows on 24th street they didn't want the bay windows protruding outward so i had the new plan
for that and then to remove the bay on garrett street because they want to be able to look up
and down the block without having an issue with the bay protruding also there was alley trees
which i'll show you which i showed you from the picture but i could show you from a an aerial
shot so my client is agreeing to remove the alley trees and he has to hire an
arborist to do that the proper way so that we could free up people's backyards
from the overgrowth of the shrubbery and then the neighbors wanted to remove the
commercial space and have three residential units and then a new
sidewalk so we agreed with with everything there and we also agreed to
a height under 30 36 so we put it under 36 because what one of our major issues
was that they didn't want it they didn't want the bays they didn't want an
an overcrowding they wanted to fit into the to the neighborhood so we revised
the plans and I can show you the revised plans so here's the revised plans and
here you see the rounded base so it takes away a lot of the blockage over
here and on the front it's going to be flat there's not going to be any
there's not going to be any protrusion from the property of a bay.
there's not going to be any protrusion from from the property of a bay so we did that
let me try to get you
this is the aerial shot here and
You can see the two trees that are growing in the alleyways.
So they'll be removed also.
And my client met vigorously with the nearby neighborhood,
and he had petitions signed somewhere on here.
so we have we have petitions of all the adjoining neighbors and he actually went out to the block
on the night of the neighborhood meeting so that they could have computer access
and to to the zoom meeting with with the rco who was uh by the way very cooperative very
on to detail and you know we basically had about 10 encounters with the rco prior to
our meeting with the neighborhood so that we were in line with what they wanted also so
basically that's it now there's also one more refusal which was a um the setback required was
nine foot and we propose four i don't think they have it they don't have an issue with that
because they they know that the apartments have to be a certain side size
so basically do you have any questions for me so what is what is this is for a triplex
originally originally it was for commercial space and two residential two residential
And we were fine with that, you know, that purpose.
And then the neighbors wanted the, they wanted it all to be residential.
And so is it for three units then?
Yeah, it's three units.
Five grand is for three units.
And one of them will be affordable.
Market rate, below market rate.
What is the square footage of those units?