can vote on this case.
Thanks, Hillary.
Carol Tenere, my vote is yes.
Thomas Holliman, my vote is yes.
With provisos.
With provisos.
I apologize.
James Snell, yes, we're provisos.
Ishmael Shaheed, yes, we're provisos.
Thank you.
Number four, MI 2022-003-645-2071 Auburn Street, Henry Clinton is the attorney.
letter of support from Somerset
Neighbors for Better Living
non-opposition from
Councilman Squilla
Chair, Mr. Clinton is coming back in
as a panelist now
Hi, this is Tanya
I might be a little confused, Chair
but were we going to do 7 first or no?
Let's do whatever
and I'll get to 7
i know but i'm just saying i mean i'm not fine
morning mr chairman members of the board
hi state your name and spell please mr clinton
you're henry clinton h-e-n-r-y clinton c-l-i-n-t-o-n
do you swear for him to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i do all right we're going to incorporate the record and testimony from a prior hearing
hearing is going to be limited to the presentation of evidence and testimony
not offered at the prior hearing could you identify your client in the relationship to
the property sure my client is mark and request h-e-n-r-i-q-u-e-z
and request h-e-n-r-i-q-u-e-z mark m-a-r-c and he is on the call all right our vice chair has a
few questions mr clinton do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its
accuracy i do have you emailed the exhibit packet with 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, to all of the above.
Okay, great.
You may proceed and begin sharing your screen.
Is that visible?
It is.
All right.
Good morning, Mr. Chairman, members of the board.
Henry Clinton for Mark Enriquez.
And as the chairman indicated, there was a prior hearing.
I did not participate in that hearing.
that was March 30th, at which time I believe my client had technical difficulties and could not,
according to what he told me, present fully what he wanted to to the board. I don't want to be
redundant with what happened in the past, but I would like to go through briefly through this
presentation if that's okay with the chairman. That's fine. Just try to avoid much with the
pass, Henry. I will. The issue really is simple. This is an RSA 5 zoning district, and the request
is for a duplex on this block. What I don't think was presented the last time was the fact that he
had a letter of support from the Somerset Neighbors for Better Living, which is attached
to my packet, and that was issued February 16th of 2022, and also he had a letter of support from
the councilman. The other thing that I don't think was brought up to the board was photographs of
the block. There's only about eight to ten houses on this block. In fact, my applicant's mother
lives on the block, and she's the block captain. And since there's so many empty lots on the street,
I think the feeling of the community was, let's see if we can get a little development going,
perhaps with a duplex as a start, and this may generate other interest on the block.
And if other applications come before Somerset, and they want to limit it to single-family,
family, which is this area zone, then that would be their opportunity to do that at that
But right now, as you can see from the photographs, there are very, very few houses on this block
of a residential nature.
So there are two issues that were not presented to the board before, and it's also been a
long vacant lot according to my client who can adopt my testimony of approximately 10
years or so.
So with the fact that the community group supports it, my client had technical difficulties. There's many, many vacant lots on the property. A duplex, which would be a two-family dwelling, would be more accommodating to the block at this time.
And at later times or later hearings, I can understand where the community group may decide to stop the progression of duplexes. But in this instance, we believe it's warranted.
So, and sorry about this confusion with back and forth on the presentation packet.
So, basically, Mr. Chairman, in conclusion, the request is in harmony with what the neighborhood wants.
It's in harmony with the code in general because it's going to provide residential to a residential block.
The block is long-blooded in the sense there's no development on the block.
this property will be a two-family dwelling and hopefully we can get some more foot traffic
and individuals on the street and with that I would rest and ask if my client could adopt my
testimony and see if there's any questions from the board or from the chairman
I could you state your name please and spell for the court reporter
mr clinton what is your client's name mark henriquez h-e-n-r-i-q-u-e-z
mr henriquez can you unmute yourself and wait for the chair please
hi could you state your name please and spell yes state your name and spell for the court reporter
Hey, my name is Mark Henriquez. It's M-A-R-C-H-E-N-R-I-Q-U-E-Z.
Right. Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Thank you.
Mark, you heard my testimony during this presentation?
And did we bring to light some additional facts that you weren't able to bring forward when you presented in March 30th of this year to the DBA?
of this year to the DBA? Yes, and the reason they denied me is that you can't do a multi-family
Yes, and the reason they deny me is that you
in an RSA 5 neighborhood, but they allowed two multi-families that's three blocks away from you.
Right, but today's hearing is really limited to additional information that wasn't presented the
first time around. Yes. Was my testimony correct that there were only about eight to ten houses
on this block in the entirety? Yes, correct. And is it also correct that this lot has been
vacant for at least 10 years maybe about 20 okay is it also true that the neighborhood group was
looking to spur some development on this block with the approval of a two-family dwelling yes
i have nothing further and mr arriquez if you had the opportunity to testify would you adopt your
my testimony as your own and as true and correct true thank you mr riquez thank you mr chairman
with that i rise hi thank you questions from the board no mr chairman no mr chairman
questions or comments from the virtual audience
i see no answer this time chair planning commission morning chair bergman
ian hegarty for the philadelphia city planning commission all right do you swear affirm to tell
the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes sir i do proceed thank you sir good
morning board members the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the residential single
family zoning on this block in both the initial hearing on march 30th and in this hearing the
applicant has failed to support their hardship claim with evidence of unique physical conditions
of this 885 square foot lot that would prevent it from being used in conformance with the zoning
code. Letters of support are not conditions of approval for zoning variances, nor are the
presence of empty lots. We need evidence that the lot cannot be developed as a single family dwelling
because of some unique physical condition. City Planning Commission therefore recommends that the
board affirm its prior denial of this use variance. MI-2022-003-645-2071,
Auburn Street, I vote no. Thomas Holloman, my vote is no.
James Snell, my vote is no. Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is no.
Thank you, Henry. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
number seven we're going to go out of order here mi 2022-001-090-241476 avenue
jasmine schlay is the owner pro se um letter of support from the 50th ward executive committee
Hillary Emerson will recuse herself for this case, and Drew Aldinger will be our attorney.
Good morning, Mr. Chair. This is Jason, and I will be temporarily serving as the co-host.
Good. Jasmine Shillet, please.
Okay, sir. Ms. Shalai has been promoted to panelists to be rejoined shortly.
Hi, can anyone hear me? Good morning. Good morning. Could you state your name
and spell it for the court reporter, please? Good morning. My name is Jasmine, J-A-S-M-I-N-E,
schley s c h l e y do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
yes i do okay um uh our our board secretary just has a few questions for you ishmael sounds good to
me. Did I lose you? No, no, you're here. Ishmael? Yeah, hold on, I'm just pulling everything out.
Okay, thank you.
Hi, Hillary.
hi chair this is tanya ishmael if you're having technical issues time might be available
yes i will do it go ahead thank you did you email all of the exhibits and documents as required
such as proof of ownership tax clearance copy of the refusal or referral pictures or drawings of
property five days in advance of this hearing and did you meet with the RCO and do you have a letter?
Yes and yes.
Yes and yes. Please proceed and share your screen.
Please proceed and share your screen.
Okay, let's share.
All right.
I think I hit share.
Can everyone see?
we can okay so i bought the property and i'm looking to turn it into a legal duplex
when i bought it the utilities were already split it already had separate entrances it already had
people living on both floors and i believe there might be a couple other duplexes at the ends of
the blocks they might not be legal um but i do believe there are a couple others um i met with
RCO. I have the letter that they are in support. The property has a large basement, and that's
just something that I plan to use for personal storage. I can go through the pictures or answer
any specific questions. I don't know. Let me just run through a couple of your photos first.
Sure. So this is the front of the property. It faces 76th Avenue. The intersection is 76th and
Ogontz. It's right at the end of the kind of row of houses. Like I said, when I bought it,
it already had these two separate entrances that you can see right here. This one on the left is
the first floor. This one on the right goes up to the second floor. Don't know how long it was
being used like that as a duplex, but that's how it was when I purchased it.
So this is the back of the property. A little dusty, but I try to keep things nice.
We have the inside of the property. This is the first floor. The first floor has
two bedrooms. This is just when you first come in. Nothing fancy going on.
Still on the first floor, we have the kitchen here. This is the second floor of the property.
have the kitchen here we're looking at one of the bedrooms uh if i scroll down this is
the bathroom on the second floor one of the bathrooms uh
and actually no that was the first floor sorry this this is the first floor bathroom excuse
me but these are the second these other pictures are the second floor um this is all second floor
These are the bedrooms. This is one of the bathrooms. There's one bathroom and a half bath.
Still on the second floor, this is the second bathroom. It's like a half bath kitchen, the other
bedroom up there. And this is the basement. Like I said, it's a large basement.
it. I just intend to use it for storage.
Questions from the board? No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman. Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Sir, I see a Mr. Dillon Mahoney with his hand raised. I have allowed him to speak.
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Hi. Good morning. Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, Dylan?
Dylan Mahoney, D-I-L-L-O-N, last name M-A-H-O-N-E-Y, from the Office of Councilwoman Parker.
Hi. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir.
Proceed.
Again, from the Office of Councilwoman Parker, we have received the letter of support from the 50th Ward Zoning Committee, and the office is also in support of the variants. Thank you.
thank thank you very much any other comments from the virtual audience
sir i do not see any more planning commission thank you chair bergman ian hegarty for the
philadelphia city planning commission members of the board of the comprehensive plan recommends no
change to the existing rsa 5 single family zoning on this block however the applicants demonstrated
that the proposed use is consistent with the existing physical configuration of the building
City Planning Commission recommends that the board grant this variance thank you MI 2020
city planning commission recommends that the board grant this variance thank you
mi2022-001-090-241476 avenue i vote yes thomas halliman my vote is yes
james snell my vote is yes ishmael shaheed my vote is yes
thank you all right that was easy have a great day everyone oh thank you
Thanks. Number five, MI 2020, 002-336-2222 North Front Street. Letter of support from NARA Square Alliance.
I'm ready, Chair.
Okay, thank you, Ish.
Mr. Mulvihill?
Mr. Chair, Mr. Mulvihill put a note in the chat and asked if his cases could be pushed to the back of the list because he has to be in court until about 1030.
So we can move on.
All right, thank you. That's fine.
Yeah. So we can move on to number 10.
Number 10, MI 2022, 001-066-4731 Walnut Street.
Robert Greenbaum is the attorney.
Walnut Hill Community Association has a letter of support.
mr greenbaum good morning mr greenbaum if you're in the virtual audience please raise
your virtual hand so that you may be um promoted and sworn in
mr greenbaum will be rejoining as a panel sir thank you
i'm mr greenbaum could you state your name and spell for the court reporter please
yes good morning mr chair my name is robert greenbaum i am counsel for the property owner