if she's having a technical problem,
we'll stipulate you being an officer of court
that she would adopt your testimony.
Give her another minute,
but if not, we'll adopt the testimony.
Josephine, are you on the call?
all right well we'll again we'll stipulate that your client would adopt your testimony
any questions from the board no no no would anyone else like to testify in this case please raise your
hand. See no hands at this time, Mr. Chair. Thank you. Planning Commission. Good afternoon.
My name is Greg Waldman, Planning Commission staff. You're already sworn in, so just
testify. Just trying to find my recommendation. Okay. The properties are indicated for commercial
mixed use on the comprehensive plan the planning commission appreciates the applicants revisions
to reduce the number of units at two and remove all street parking accordingly we have no objection
to the granting of the variance thank you very much MI 2020-002256 1837 South 10th Street my
vote is yes with the proviso revised plan one page stamp today my vote is yes with proviso
yes with proviso yes with proviso yes with proviso thank you Mr. Chair and members of
the board have a great afternoon likewise thank you calendar number two uh strike that calendar
number 1312-2117 South 66th Street.
I have a Ms. Tracy Salver with a hand raised. I'll allow her to speak at this time.
Thank you, Jason.
Good afternoon, Chairman and members of the board.
good afternoon can you please put your name and address on the record and spell your last name
and could you speak a little bit louder or move the microphone closer to you yes tracy soller
address 1019 south 8th street philadelphia pa 19147 do you
philadelphia pa19147 do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i do have you emailed strike that as well do you also 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 refusal and or with referral photos and or plans five days in advance of this hearing
and have you met with the RCO and do you have a letter yes thank you you may proceed
we're here today on the property 2117 South 66th Street I'm sorry
um Jason can you promote her to a panelist
and done
okay Ms. Haller please proceed
Ms. Schaller?
She's muted.
Ms. Schaller, please unmute.
You've made a panel.
Can everyone hear me?
I hardly hear you.
You need to raise your volume or get closer to the mic.
For some reason it just
canceled my camera. If you don't mind, if I can leave, I can get back in with another computer.
Thank you. While she does this, this is Sharon Saleta. We had an email from the 40th Republican
Republican Ward RCO, they support the project with a proviso that a certificate of occupancy
be obtained within a specified time.
Thank you.
if she's having a hard time getting back on we can come back to her we can do the next case
calendar number one four three three four one four south 20th street
this could be lengthy no it's not going to be okay
what's hearing
number six
Mr. Michael Phillips has his hand raised. I will promote him to panelists at this time.
Jason, if possible, could Richard DeMarco and Leonard Reuter also be promoted?
Sure, Sharon. Hold on a second. I'll promote them right now.
Thank you.
Okay, so both of those guys have been promoted to panelists.
Good afternoon, members of the board.
Good afternoon.
Name and address, please.
I'm sorry.
If I could just mention Chair Tracey has appeared.
Okay, Michael, hold off, we're going to go back to the prior case.
Hi, Tracey, you may proceed.
Hi, thank you for your patience. So this property is a single-family home, currently zoned as a single-family home in a RSA 5. We are seeking essentially a legalization of a use for a two-family home of this property.
If I may share my screen, I have the packet here.
If, if I may share my screen, I have the packet here.
Can everyone see that? Okay. Yes. Okay. So this property
is actually set up as a two-family home and as far as we know it has been used as a two-family
home since before 1985 and at that time someone had sought a variance for legalization of the
use as a two-family home. As you'll see in the history the zoning history which I've included
in my packet here a variance was granted back at that time and I'm not sure why
what happened or why they didn't get the permit at that time, but that was granted back in 1985.
As far as I know, it's continued to be used as a two-family home since that time. I have included
four-year reference on plans of the property, which show how it's laid out. As you'll see,
it is set up currently as a two-bedroom, one-bath on the first floor, and if you go up to the second
floor, it is a one-bedroom, one-bath apartment upstairs. If you'll notice in the photographs
of the interior of the property, this is a well-taken care of property. It is currently
tenant-occupied on the first floor and was when my client purchased the property just a little
while ago. We did meet with the RCOs in the local community and did receive a letter of full support
from the RCO and they submitted that letter this morning I believe. So I don't have a copy of that
here with me but that should have been submitted just saying that we have full support from
from them for this legalization. I also have included in my packet two notices that went
out to the community advising them of a meeting that we had over Zoom on Friday the 29th
which are here, as well as a copy of the deed, the notice of refusal. If you'll notice, there is one
change that would have to be made. It should be already in the ZBA's records, but the current
owner of this property is Dan Tran. At the time that this initial application went in, the parcel
owner was Dang Gam. So that would be the only adjustment from the original refusal that was
here. We did make note of that prior to sending out the notices to the community, and we also
made note of those changes on the posters that were posted at the property. I also have included
a copy of the deed. This is the new deed from recorded on November 4, 2020, and a tax clearance
certificate showing that the taxes are all paid as due. So it seems as though there is a need in
this community for apartments of this size and set up and laid out this way. The community didn't
have any issues. I know that they did ask that a proviso be included, just essentially providing a
deadline for my client to get a use and occupancy certificate or at least apply for one in the event
that the variance is granted. At this time, I can open it up if the board has any questions.
Okay, any questions from the board? No.
And then I do have my client, Dan Tran, present. Dan, if you could raise your hand.
Mr. Tran, good afternoon. Please identify yourself for the record and spell your last name.
Mr. Tran, it's been about to speak, sir.
Hi, my first name is Dan, last name Tran, T-R-A-N.
Mr. Tran do you swear and affirm to testify swear and affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth I do thank you Ms. Sauer thank you Dan did you hear my testimony here today
I do and is it accurate and do you adopt it as your own yes thank you okay questions from the
board no would anyone else like to testify in this case please raise your hand
Thank you.
Mr. Chair, I have a Michelle Cimeno. I won't allow her to speak at this time.
Good afternoon, ma'am. Please identify yourself with a record. Spell your first and last name.
Give us your address, please.
Is this pertaining to 420 South 20th Street?
No. Yeah, that's why I don't know why they're calling me.
That's the next case.
yeah anyone else like to testify
mr craig meladosian has his hand up good afternoon craig please identify yourself
with the record spell your full name
craig c-r-a-i-g last name meladosian m-e-l-i-d-o-s-i-a-n ward 40 republican rco coordinating rco
P.O. Box
Philadelphia
I just essentially wanted to
Let me swear you in Craig
You swear and affirm to tell the truth
Nothing but the truth
Basically wanted to confirm the outline of
Council's presentation
Some of the RCOs
Went into the area of code
Enforcement
We've raised in the past our concern out here for fire safety, life safety issues.
Two Fridays ago, we again had another house fire on the 6700 block of Woodland.
So it's approximately a block and a half from this.
So to assuage those fears, a recommendation, as we've done with you in the past, is that
a certificate of occupancy be applied for.
you would determine the time frame and we would anticipate that would trigger an inspection by
l and i to confirm there are no life safety issues on the premises otherwise the property
seems to be well maintained and it would give us an additional quality housing unit in the area
thank you thank you for taking the time anyone else
no other hands at this time mr chair thank you cleaning commission
Good afternoon. Greg Waldman, Planning Commission staff. This property is part of a rezoning
bill that rezoned the property to single-family residential in 2019. However, due to its proximity
to transit routes along the Woodland Avenue commercial corridor, we have no objection
to the granting of the requested variance. MI 2020-001312 2117 South 66th Street my vote is yes
with the proviso certificate of occupancy to be obtained within nine months. My vote is yes with
proviso yes we're proviso yes we'll revise though
okay i guess we're ready for the uh next case again i'll call calendar number 1433
412 south 20th street
i believe that we were going to have this case was going to be limited
i think if i'm not mistaken there was a request by mr demarco uh having questions for the
landscaper i believe it was uh yes chair jichico not to speak for uh mr demarco but uh we you were
ready to uh close the case this is an appeal against a zoning permit um or uh michael excuse
me just for interrupt let carol swear you win oh sorry name and address please michael phillips
1500 Market Street, Suite 3400, Philadelphia, PA, 19102, here on behalf of RLDL, 20th Street, LLC.
Okay, do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
In the interest of time, Mr. DeMarco, name an address for the record.
Hi, good afternoon, everybody.
Richard DeMarco, 2005 Market Street, 16th floor, Philadelphia, PA, 19103.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Okay, you may proceed.
Is Mr. Reuter wrong?
Hi, yes, this is him.
Hi, Leonard Reuter, Senior Attorney for the City of Philadelphia.
And do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Thank you.
So, go ahead.
Yeah, as I was saying, although you were ready to conclude the hearing last time, I know Mr. DeMarco wanted to examine and ask questions of the property owner's civil engineer, who we agreed.
the property owner's civil engineer, who we agreed in, I think, the second of the, you know,
the now four hearings that we would be calling in our case in chief. And so, you know, that was
the sole witness left to testify. I have approximately three questions for the engineer.
And then, you know, I don't know how many questions Mr. DeMarco will have.
And I believe the engineer should be on the line.
His name is David Plant.
Mr. Chairman, yes, I agree somewhat.
I would remind the board that we deferred a lot of our own testimony back in when the
hearing.
I know it's been a long time, and so things are stale.
But, you know, I don't have a ton.
But, you know, part of this was because we were told both at the original hearings that
would have an opportunity to question the engineer and so you know i'm going to be as efficient as
possible and i don't think we'll need a ton of time but yeah i would call i would remind the
board that we were promised this last year we understand we understand thank you go ahead mike
May I share my screen?
This time I'd like to call David Plant.
And just to quickly reorient the board, this was, again,
the buy-write permit for ground floor commercial with fresh food market
four units above with four commercial parking spaces in the basement that were accessory to
the commercial use. The fresh food market bonus and moderate income bonuses were utilized for this
permit. Questions were raised. One of the questions after we got through all the quiet
title issues at the first hearing and issues about the constitutionality of the fresh food bonus
There were issues that were raised by Mr. DeMarco and one of his witnesses about the ramp, the parking ramp leading into the basement for these four accessory spaces.
So David Plant here, just to put some brief testimony on about that ramp, there's also a letter that's Exhibit 9 that Mr. Plant prepared, setting forth information about the ramp.
we have a plan um that's been approved by streets department regarding the ramp that's also in