Questions from our attorney?
Yes. I just wanted to clarify. So what's on the floors above? Because there's not
any reference to that on the refusal um so i believe if please give me one moment sure
i believe there's a residential unit above that's what it says right yeah yeah i just wasn't sure
if it was if it was just one or or two because looking at the zoning history there were two
previously it has two units it is two okay so so what i would actually recommend in this case
so what i would actually recommend in this case because the the refusal doesn't mention any of
because the refusal doesn't mention it.
that um in those and because of this the well the rm1 zoning it should be the you should be fine
subject to the um the lot area so i think we might want to amend the refusal and just indicate that
those that this thing uses the remain right exactly so um and they can just check the lot
area and verify that um so i my suggestion would be to hold and just amend so that because of the
way it's written i'm just a little concerned that it's not counting the other uh other uses so are
these that are there yeah hillary should we continue 1-0 and then just close it except for
that right yeah exactly virtual audience please chair i do not see any hands raised for the matter
planning commission planning commission morning michael gov with the philadelphia city planning
commission the comprehensive plan recommends a change in zoning from at this location to cmx
5 commercial mixed use in 2018 this parcel was remapped from its previous zoning of rsa 5
residential single family attached to its existing rm1 residential multi-family designation
the local community also undertook a comprehensive remapping in 2024 that covered this area but opted
not to remap this individual property that said the proposed business and professional and business
support uses would be compatible with the local corridor as a number of similar compatible uses
exist along ridge avenue in this area therefore the city planning commission recommends the board
grant proposed variances for business and professional and business support uses thank
you uh we will wait till we have the amended refusal and but everything is closed okay thank you
Thank you.
6151 Market Street.
Joseph Consul is the attorney.
There's unanimous support
of the project,
but I think we're going to be here and hold.
Am I correct?
I think there's a tax issue.
Oh, yeah.
I think with this one, yes.
is there a tax issue hillary i didn't see that in my notes and sorry to talk out of turn you're
right oh no no you're you're fine no i think i think the this is an instance where the wrong
tax clearance was submitted so when we looked there is a balance on the property okay all
right I'll address that with my client when I call him so could you please
state your name and spell for the stenographer yes Joseph console that's
J O S E P H last name is console C O N S O L E do you swear or firm to tell the
truth the whole truth nothing but the truth I do could you identify a client
in relationship to the property yeah it's a six one five one market LLC the
The owner, Daniel Harvey, is on the call and our vice chair has a few questions.
Good morning.
Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
And do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
All right.
Thank you.
You can see your screen and proceed with the case.
All right.
Good morning, board.
Joseph Consul here representing 6151 Market Street, LLC.
As mentioned, Daniel Harvey is on the call with me today.
As you can see on the refusal, this property is zoned CMX2, commercial mixed use.
We're here respectfully requesting a use variance to permit a vacant commercial space on the first floor
and a multifamily household living for four dwelling units above.
The city issued this refusal based on the lot area calculation.
We have just over 1,200 square feet available, which does not permit four units by right.
However, this is not a new development proposal.
We're not adding density nor expanding the footprint.
This has been physically and legally operated with four residential units for over two decades.
We have proof of that.
Although, as I'll show you in a second, the file got muddied when the property went vacant.
So we're here hopefully to restore the official zoning record to match the long-standing reality
of this property so my client can legalize it and pull rental licenses.
So I'll pull up some of the old files now. If we go back to 2001, the archives show use registration permit issued in May of that year, approved of commercial on the first floor, two apartments on the second floor, and two apartments on the third floor.
So I'll pull up some of the old files now. If we go back...
So what happened between then and now, we believe we know. There was a vacant property license pulled in 2004, which, as the board knows, negates previous approvals.
and that held in place until 2014 the property remained vacant after that the owner who had
purchased it got a approval for what they could get by right this is what we believe happened so
they got a food and beverages grocery on the first floor and two dwelling units above there's no
evidence in any records that they did any structural work or anything at this time to
bring the number of units down. And as you'll see in the photos, the property has the requisite
number of meters and things like that, that would lend credence to the fact that the property was
never actually internally down-zoned despite this approval. So when my client purchased the property
in 2023, L&I actually issued him a four-unit rental license, which matched the physical
reality of the building. There it is on the screen. However, my client applied for a fire
alarm permit after he had gotten this use permit, and L&I audited that record. They noticed the
vacant property license and the gap in the four-unit licensing history, and because
it wasn't by right, they told my client that they had to revoke his four-unit license and
he had to go through zoning to get it approved. So what we are calling administrative paper
gap is the reason why we're here before you today. And my client can attest that as he
understands and as the community understood, there was no down zoning on this property
internally. So that's kind of my background spiel. There's our refusal. It says only two dwelling
units are permitted by right. We have the letter of support from the community.
The community notes in their letter they're appreciative of these improvements on the
Market Street corridor and they feel confident because the applicant is a member of the community
who has several sites like this around this area and he is someone that invests in this part of
the city. In addition to that, we had submitted a long set of petitions from various neighbors on
around north and south 62nd street robinson street hearst and market street itself this includes um
the next door neighbor which is a vacuum store and another business across the street which is um
peerless chemical products so that's all in the packet all of our petitions of support um
and the rco was pretty diligent in checking up on those to make sure they were all valid
uh so go back to here proof of mailing
photos there's the exterior of the property uh the last uh permitted use of that commercial
space was a salon you'll see now it is a white box space so it looks like when the shutters are up
Here's the commercial space interior.
Do-do-do-do, got one bathroom.
Exterior rear.
It's the basement showing all the meters.
Unit 2B.
i'll show the plans in a second too but just to give everyone an idea of
the condition of the property which is quite nice
it's no boutique hotel to reference a comment from earlier
pretty good joe thanks man
I think it's just good.
Again, all the petitions are here and I'm, you know, we've got the deed to my client
from 2023.
And then obviously we have to address the tax clearance, which you do when I call my
client in in um in a moment why don't you bring your client one yeah all right uh daniel can you
raise your virtual hand the person will be coming back in shortly as a panelist
good morning good morning could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer sir
sure daniel harvey d-a-n-i-e-l h-a-r-v-e-y you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
and nothing but the truth i do counsel good uh morning mr harvey did you hear my testimony just
now regarding your property at 6151 market street llc i did do you adopt what i said as your own
yes uh and is it true incorrect that this building upon purchase was already physically set up for
the four apartments in one commercial space that is correct okay and regarding the tax clearance
issue um if the board holds its vote today will you be able to clear all um any existing tax issues
with with that property to allow them yeah that's been done the trash fees were paid yesterday and
i set up a a a payment arrangement with the city okay i have nothing further for my client
we're gonna see it right okay questions from the board
what is the uh trash removal and storage plan for the property uh we we have someone on our team
that that goes around and you know places the trash out our tenants brings out brings the trash out
and our guys go places them on on the curb um and then cleans up after the trash truck leaves
that's just a weekly weekly routine that we do so you historically haven't had any issues with
tenants putting trash out prior to their trash day not that i'm aware of and i know the owners
on both sides so I haven't heard any issues all the questions what just for
clarity these are all intended to be one bedroom apartment that's correct yes I
apologize I didn't I didn't walk through the the as-built plans but they're on
screen now and then what's the plan for packages with the salon on the first floor
the slam i mean i would imagine they're there when the packages come but outside of that i don't
there's no you would imagine that the tenants are there when the packages come
oh i thought you said the uh for for the commercial on the first floor
what's the plan with four units for packages i don't have a plan for for that
because there's not much of a vestibule i just think that's something you might want to
and then are the the tenants are coming in through the front door uh the front left side that's
correct yeah there there there is a vestibule when you step inside uh there's a gap between
where you walk inside and the steps going up so the the sorry the patrons of the hair salon are
going to come in through a separate entrance because it does look like it has access to that
vestibule no it's separate it has its own if you stick on that side yeah so so so that has its own
door that goes straight straight straight into the commercial space okay
is that roll down grill there and that was in the other picture is that gone now and it's
just a glass and glass door or is it the roll down grill there the roll down grill is there
that was oh this is before the roll down grill that's correct that's the before
that's current
well that just took a dive down with the road that
well that just took a dive down with the road that grill yeah that was yeah
all the questions questions from our attorney so is is there a proposed commercial use now because
the the refusal says vacant no it's just vacant right right now we're just getting getting get
to the very right because we i was hearing things about a salon and so that personal services would
be by right in this zoning district i mean you would need to go get a separate you need to get
a separate permit for that because it's not included in this application that was the that
was the last use in this space hillary i'm sorry if i misspoke okay okay that's where i was getting
a little confused all right no problem questions or comments from the virtual audience i see no
further hands mr. chair planning commission the comprehensive plan
recommends no change to the cmx-2 commercial mixed-use zoning this
property is on a main arterial street a block from a transit hub surrounded by
multifamily conversions and has a documented history of multifamily use
dating back to at least 2001 the proposed use would not cause undue harm beyond
what might otherwise be expected at this location therefore the state
all right so i understand hillary we have to hold this until we actually see the uh right we just
need proof of tax completely right it sounds like if that's already taken care of we should be able
to vote this next week i didn't say we're going to vote for this next week next wednesday at 9 30
a.m once we have the tax clearance okay and the records otherwise it's closed everything's closed
all right i'll have my team pull it now and send it over thanks everyone thank you
all right number 11. for for the record uh for the record uh i did hear the case on south broad
street and my vote was no just so you have that thank you thank you michael yep so i got kicked
out for some reason i don't know what happened so number 11 mi 2025 006 751 812 south 49th street
mirth furlicker is the attorney there's um
let's see the letter of unanimous non-opposition from cedar park
good morning council or almost afternoon good afternoon i have to say ian's estimated time was
12 0 6 and it is 12 0 4 getting better and better every day just remarkable
all right so could you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer
meredith ferlinger f-e-r-l-e-g-e-r do you swear referring to tell the truth told you
nothing but the truth yes i do um could you identify your client and relationship to the
property sure my client is mm AG properties LLC and that is the owner of
the property represented today by Anton go on who is right behind our vice chair
has a few questions good um afternoon have you submitted your documents and
exhibits five days in advance of this hearing I did and do you waive the
reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy I do to both all right
thank you you can share your screen and proceed with the keys thank you mr.
chairman members of the board i do also have our architect alex duller with fusa designs
here with us today uh just in case there are any specific questions on the application itself
all right the property before you today is 812 south 49th street in west philadelphia cedar park
neighborhood simply today's application is to legalize three dwelling units in the property
where the zoning history indicates a use over the years of between two and four units.
Specifically, there is no question as to the legality of two of the units, and a valid
rental license for two of those units has been maintained on file for at least the last
20 years to current day.
This request only pertains to one unit, which was occupied by the former owner prior to
my client's ownership and is part of the reason we assume that there is a discrepancy in the unit
count as board chair mentioned we did receive a letter of support from cedar park neighbors
association and just administratively our tax clearance is in the exhibits at exhibit two
and the deed to the property showing my client purchased it uh in august of 2015 is shown at
Exhibit 3. The property itself is located on South 49
the property itself is located on south 49th street between florence avenue and warrington avenue