exactly the way I've presented. And I appreciate that correction and I stand
correct that you are correct. These are these are the lots on Susquehanna.
Thank you. Questions from the oh I'm sorry Henry. Yes Mr. Chairman I just want to ask that my
presentation binder be admitted into evidence and that in summation that this is a combined
commercial residential lot because of the the code requirement that the least restrictive applies
The refusals that we got with regard to this lot, all concern this particular partial as a residential situation.
This lot has never been used as residential that we're aware of.
It's been used for a used car lot. It's been an eyesore in the neighborhood.
There's overgrown trees there, but now all the vehicles have been removed.
We've met numerous times with Norris Square.
we went so far as to discuss putting together a benefits agreement that we would certainly sign
after the hearing and we just see that this is a plus for the neighborhood
and we just see that this is a plus for the neighborhood.
The commercial use on the first floor,
we understood because Susquehanna was a wide area,
wide berth, and there's other commercial here
that some stores would be nice for the neighborhood,
and we've even gone as far to say
that this 4,000-square-foot first floor,
that we would either make that one store
or a series of stores for smaller businesses
in the neighborhood if that's what the community wants so we're open to all those ideas and with
that i rest and i ask that the board look kindly upon this request for variance thank you questions
from the board no no anyone else who wishes to testify in this matter please raise your hand
Chair, we have Sloan Foulkes from the council's office.
Mr. Foulkes, we swore you in earlier, so you're still under oath.
Yes, Chairman DiCicco, ZBA, good afternoon. The applicant for this variance has reached out to
the community through the RCO process uh beginning in um late 2019 and through I'm sorry I'm sorry
can you hear me could you yes but could you put your name and I'm sorry I'm sorry record thank you
I'm sorry uh Sloan folks SLO ANA uh folks F as a fire OLKS office of councilwoman Maria
canyone sanchez room 508 city hall 19107 thank you okay again uh the the the applicant for this
request has has uh reached out to the community through the rco and met uh with apm who at the
time was not the coordinating rco uh we we worked with them to reschedule a meeting with the
coordinating RCO, who is North Square Community Alliance. They met with them where I was in
attendance at the meeting in February of this year. After that meeting, there was an agreement
that they would come back and meet with RCO to discuss the project and possible
community benefits agreements. Through this process and through COVID-19, the RCO and the
applicant have had discussions. The RCO has not, has taken a position at this time
to have a non-position on the project, on the variance request. Our office requests
that there be a two-week holding here on this process, primarily just to give the RCO one more
opportunity to to respond to the uh applicants in good faith thank you thank you any other
individuals want to speak on this case please raise your hand
no hands chair uh planning commission
chairmen and members of the board these properties are indicated for a combination of residential
multi-family and single-family uses in the comprehensive plan staff is not opposed to
the granting of the variance for multi-family at this location staff is also not opposed to
the provision of parking and given the number of units staff does oppose the commercial space
given that the corridor is not commercial and legacy commercial zoning was removed in a 2017
remapping bill. Germantown Avenue, a commercial corridor, is also a mere block away. Staff does
not support the dimensional variances and encourages open space be maintained at this site.
open space
can you be a little more specific about that
the variance does not provide the proposed use does not provide much of the open area required
for the rm1 zoning we recommend that there is some open space provided given the number of units
even with the acquisition of the adjoining properties that will become somebody's moving
their cursor around in that area is 15 is that 15 517 and 519 correct mr chairman that would be
open space correct correct all right so it's not part of the application so i can understand that
All right. So it's not part of the application, so I can understand that. All right.
all right uh either
Either way, Mr. Clinton, you heard Mr. Folks, I would like to propose that we hold this hearing be resumed.
We'll see you next time.
If we can get a special date in a couple of weeks, at which time we will only consider any feedback from the from the Councilwoman's office.
Understood and agreed.
Okay, Tonda, we have a date.
okay cheers so we have the september 17th if we could put it on that date for limited testimony
which is a thursday morning or afternoon that would be 9 30 in the morning but bear in mind
we have a special and another case listed right i don't i think this will probably be done in a
couple of minutes but thank you all right so calendar number 36729521-531 West Susquehanna
Avenue and 2209-15 Fairhill Street this hearing will be resumed on September 17th at 9 30 a.m
at which time we will only consider any feedback related to the councilwoman's office
councilwoman sanchez's office
thank you very much thank you excuse me chairman de chico just repeat the time
and september 17th at 9 30 a.m thank you
Okay, calendar number 39469, 3503 West Clearfield Street.
i would ask that the applicants for that case raise your hands
3503 west clearfield street
John Sanborn and Ariel Gould, you can promote your screen as necessary and unmute yourself
and wait to be sworn in it's gold will you be testifying also yes okay so why don't we start
with you uh please spell your name for the stenographer a r i e l l e gold g o l d
Address?
3503 West Clearfield.
Do you swear and affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Okay, is Mr.
There's no attorney present, correct?
Correct.
Okay, this application is for a three-family dwelling in an existing structure.
The proposal is refused for the following.
For multi-family dwelling prohibited in the RSA 5 district.
mr sanborn will you be testifying yes okay please put your full name on spell your name
for the record john sanborn j-o-n-s-a-n-b-o-r-n address
3503 west clearfield 1132
do you swear and affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
yes i do so i'm not sure if you or miss gold will be testifying whoever is please proceed
i'm sorry could you repeat that who will be testifying both of you i will okay so please
proceed okay um i just have to figure out how to share my screen really quick
you are the owner yes okay okay ariel go to the bottom of your screen you're using a computer
yes ma'am i think i got it okay oh that's not it hold on you got it you have it um
there's a lot of um things sorry so we're looking at
there's a lot of um things sorry so we're looking at 3503 clearfield
yes okay your tax cert so that's it can you see that yes okay great um
so we are applying for right now it is zoned as a duplex
and we are applying to make it a triplex. When we purchased it, we were under the impression
that it was properly zoned as a triplex. If we go to our
zoning archive on page 19,
it has that this was a triplex back in the 40s but when we purchased it we didn't realize that
that zoning variance had lapsed so it has been used as a triplex since probably like 80 years
at this point and we went and met with the community at the community center for this area
they gave us their full support to rezone it and once we get rezoning passed
we're gonna get rental licenses for it and everything up to code you have any
photographs or floor plans yes you can share with us that would be helpful
Sure. We had this drawn up for the meeting. This is how it currently looks. We didn't
change anything about it when we purchased it. We just redid the interior flooring.
Can you maybe enlarge that just a bit?
Let me figure out how, but I can do it. Hold on.
You're going to hit the plus sign at the top next to the percentage.
So this is the existing property and this was the same as what it looked like when we purchased
So I'll start on the left.
That's it in its vicinity.
The side elevation, front elevation, and the aerial view of it.
do you want to see anything in closer view i don't know anybody on the board tom do you want to see
anything else no that's good okay all right moving along questions from the
board no no thank you anyone else wish to testify in this case if so please
raise your hand here i have a stephen d'agostino stephen you can unmute your mic and wait to be
sworn in mr d'agostino when you get on please spell your full name and give us your address
s-t-e-p-h-e-n d apostrophe a g-o-s-t-i-n-o
and i'm also an owner at 3503 west clearfield
you're swearing a firm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
testimony i just want to echo everything she said we we were very careful to not change anything and
the community fully supports us. So I'm an owner, so I just wanted to be present and
show that we care about upholding the community and keeping things as they are.
Thank you. No other hands up, Chair. Thank you.
thank you
chairman and members of the board this property is zoned for single family
residential in the comprehensive plan the commission does not have does not
oppose the granting of this variance
oh sorry about that calendar number three nine four six nine three five oh three west
clearfield street my vote is yes
my vote is yes
confessor
um i voted yes okay it's three we have three yes fine good luck to you
It seems like we may have lost confessor, so I'll call the next case. MI-2020-000800-2406
north howard street
hi alan occamson hi you're still under oath uh just identify
yourself good afternoon alan occamson of
knockamson pc 123 south broad street suite 1600
philadelphia pa 19109 mr knockamson do you agree
uh to wave and snip i do thank you please proceed
um in front of you is a packet of uh materials which include eight exhibits the first is the deed
to the property showing that v2 properties owns the property the second exhibit is showing that
B2 Properties is tax compliant with regard to its obligations to the city.
The third exhibit is the Notice of Refusal.
So this is a 1,700-square-foot lot that goes from North Howard to Waterloo, and we're being
refused for two reasons.
The first of which is the lot size of 859.5 square feet for lots A and B for this proposed
subdivision.
And the second one is the front setback with regards to North Howard Street.
You'll see in the map that we're going to provide you that it's not uncommon to have one property or one building structure facing North Howard Street and another single-family building structure facing Waterloo.
You'll see my application appeal to this board as well as the project information form.
But again, here we are on the 2400 block of North Howard Street, and you'll see that, again, the properties to the left and right of us are actually subdivided, and all these as well are subdivided, where there's building structures, single-family structures facing on North Howard, and then there's single-family structures facing order low.
you'll see photographs of property we keep the property in good repair it's a vacant lot right
now and you know again the only reason why we're here is that you know this property next to us
is set back but you'll see there's a diversity of property some being set back some of them not
if we were set back we would also have a refusal for rear yard setback so the choice is which
variance is more important. We think having a property that has usable square footage or space
in the rear for a yard is a better use of the property than having a front yard where there is
not much use other than, you know, walking to the front door. As you can see, this person to the
left of us, you know, doesn't even use that that well. You'll see the plans. Again, this is a B2
property single-family structure with an open floor plan on the first floor, second
floor there's two bedrooms, and then the third floor is a master suite. We did
meet with Norris Square Community Alliance. They did not take a position
because even though we sent out notice to you know to let me see how many
um you know to um let me see how many people we sent to 104 addresses no one from the immediate
people who sent it to 100.
community showed up um i will say this that they they stated in their letter that um you know they
would leave it up to the board uh to decide uh and here's proof of mailing a little bit about v2
properties i've presented v2 properties on multiple occasions uh in front of this board
V2 Properties is one of the largest home builders of single-family homes in the city of Philadelphia.
They have been recognized by the Philadelphia Inquirer for 2018 and 2019 as Developer of the Year.
They are looking to start doing work in the North Square area of Philadelphia where this property is located.
And they're looking to build, you know, single-family homes on, you know, fronting North Howard Street, as well as Waterloo, which is, again, not out of character for this portion of the neighborhood.
And as such, we're seeking a de minimis variance with respect to that.
Bill Archer, can you virtually raise your hand?
can you hear me now yes yep i'm here hi uh bill can you state your full name and address for the
record sure bill archer 130 clover lane it's in perkyomanville pennsylvania 18074
Mr. Archer, do you affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir.
Thank you. Proceed.
Bill, you heard everything I stated today.
And is it true and correct?
And would you adopt this in your own testimony?
Yes, I would.
The only thing, again, I would point out is that the lot size is well over 1,700 square feet.
we're simply looking to subdivide it and put a single family structure one facing north howard
street one facing waterloo which is not out of character with the neighborhoods