she was in another meeting, but that she would be willing to speak with me at noon. If you have a
light enough caseload, I can come back this afternoon and see if I can sort of get her to
recognize that she has mistaken me and my client for a different developer, which I am really sure
is the case here. But if there's not time for that, I guess I'd have to ask for a continuance
at whatever the board. Mr. Saverin, can I ask, could you present the rest of the case and then
come back this afternoon just to put her position on the record? I can. And Sharon, the one thing
i'll add is i'm not sure um she is going to be willing to provide anything but i'll keep my
fingers crossed and work on it um i i think the architect is still on and we can quickly go
through the plans if you'd like um sure would that be okay with you madam chair i know it's
gets very confusing today he's sworn to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth if he really
believes there is confusion i i do madam vice chair on the can we take that as a word yes and
i can confirm that um when i questioned whether um he had the rco letter earlier that both he and
Ms. Pritzker said no, they tried repeatedly to get it, and they were anxious to get it because
the RCO had been in support at the meeting. So this is consistent. I, too, was surprised when
we received the letter and it was in opposition. So can we go with that and hear the case this
morning and not have him come back this afternoon? Of course, your choice, yes.
where is this chairman okay you can continue brandon okay thank you very much um so let me
share my screen um and just give you a brief overview of the property so um this is an
And just give you a brief overview of the property. So this is an RM1 zoned property. Here's the outside. My client bought it, I think, about recently, maybe about a year ago. It's been vacant. There's a vacant structure license you can see here that was put on the property in 2016.
16 so it's been um vacant and boarded up for some time and my client would like to develop it
um and it's a deep property it's it's excuse me excuse me uh miss madam chair yes i'm going to
recuse myself from this case um okay
um i'm sorry this is the court reporter who was that that just said that i apologize
That was Thomas Holloman. Thank you very much. And Brandon, is the property you're speaking
about the blue drawer? That's right. I think, Ms. Tenere, the property might actually be served
by both of those doors currently. And the architect can address whether or not that
will be the case going forward. I don't believe so. Okay. So continue. Sure. So it's a fairly
deep property. It's almost 60 feet deep, 18 feet wide. Square footage, therefore, of the lot is
1,050 square feet. And that is actually the basis of the refusal. If I could just bring that up
real quickly here. So we are applying to put an addition in the rear of the home and use the
property for three dwelling units so we would need to have a lot area of 1080 square feet um
rather than 1050 so we're 30 square feet short that's why we're here um sort of a you know very
tight uh window we missed there to have this be by right and um as the architect will show uh we're
going to put on sort of this modest rear addition we'd still be left with a 15 foot deep rear yard
uh for you know recreational and storage purposes so large property um and if i'd ask if um is ken
johnson um on the call that's the that's the architect and if not i can walk through the plans
myself but there he is yes hey ken mr johnson can you put your name on the records by your last
name and i'll swear you in yes my name is kenneth johnson j-o-h-n-s-o-n do you swear for him to tell
the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes okay he's all yours brandon thank you madam vice chair
um hey ken um thanks for hanging on this whole time despite the confusion there um so i have
the zoning sheet up and the owner might be on too okay and i'll bring him on at the end thanks
for letting me know. Just tell the board a little bit about the project. I have the zoning sheet up
and I can go to the floor plans next if you'd like. Okay. If you look at the bottom of the sheet,
we have the elevations and detail number six. Detail number six is the existing
masonry facade. And our plan is to keep the existing masonry facade as is. We're going to
cleaning up tuck point is required. The doors are both of those doors are the property are on that
property. The main door where the stairs are at is how you get into the first unit and the smaller
door on the side is the egress side alley and it goes straight to the back of the red lot of the
of the yard and then you come across as you can see on the side you have the the main building
where the walls the wall is on the side of the side alley that's it's a masonry wall and then
you go in the back and then it sets back a little bit and we're going to cover the alley so that
you can continue to go to the rear yard and as you get to the the rail elevation number eight
you can see that um as i mentioned before in the front that that door goes all the way through
the property to the rear yard and you just have the windows and a new facade in the back where we
rebuilding because the rear portion of the building has collapsed and you go to the floor plans
sure thanks ken gonna bring them up right nope there we go okay so let's get to the basement first
Yes. So you have the basement and the basement is just utilities. We're not.
Yes. So you have the basement and the basement is just utilities. We're not underpinning. We're not excavating anything in the basement. We're probably going to have an unfinished, well, we're going to probably finish the walls, but it's going to be the laundry and the utilities only for the basement.
then you get to the first floor and when you come into the the door on your right
uh there's the door the main the door to the main building and once you can come into the door
you turn to your left that's the first unit there's a bedroom there's a kitchen there's a bath
and then there's a side door to get through the uh the egress uh side door to get to the to the
rear yard. And if you're on the first floor, that small door that's already there that you see on
the elevation, it just goes straight through and it's covered for a portion. And that's the existing
building. And then the addition goes back and it's still covered over the top, but then it's
access to the rear yard. And then you go to the second floor, you come up the stairs and enter
the second unit and the second unit has a bedroom in the in the back a bedroom in the front a
bathroom laundry utilities a living area and kitchen and if you continue up to the third floor
you hit the third unit and the third unit has a bedroom in the front uh bedroom uh in the located
towards the back the kitchen area your laundry utilities a bathroom and living area and there's
no roof deck and error and as you can see that dash line everything above that dash line is in
addition to the existing structure thanks ken um board have any questions for ken um i do not
is there anyone in the virtual audience with questions
madam chair we have kayla franks jenkins okay
kayla can you hear me yeah i don't i think i raised my hand at the long time one second
oh are you do you want to speak about cross key street yeah i wanted the witness it wasn't so
much a question about his plans. Okay. Can you put your name on the record? Spell your last name
and I'll swear you in. Okay. It's F-R-A-N-K-S-J-E-N-K-I-N-S. Do you swear for him to tell
the whole truth and nothing but the truth? Yes. Thank you. You may proceed. So I was at the RCO
meeting. We did have positivity there. People that were in attendance from the community did agree
that his rents were fair that we did like his layout the issue that was more or less um brought
up after the meeting which he wasn't privy to because he was asked to leave so that we could
come to a vote was that the problem is not the three it's the zoning for the three units i
apologize i have braces on um that was more or less the issue we do welcome him developing
in the two units that were already approved. It was the concern of three. I went out after the
meeting and I spoke to people in the community that could not attend. And one person that lives
closest to that, her main issue was about having more people impact that top of the block area
because of the density. They have already had people have police called because it has gotten
out of control with the attitudes so that was the only person that was like in fear of her safety
um and that was what was had that was what was said at the meetings
hey Kayla it's Brandon thank you so much I appreciate you coming out today and thank you
for confirming that um I did attend the meeting I completely respect the right of of all the RCOs
to have discussions in private without the developer present. And I have no problem with
that. I think that I wish you guys would have gotten in touch with me. And I think that part
of the problem here may have been that over time, Miss Bennett sort of forgot about this and
confused us with some other project. And maybe that's why she never communicated to me. So
um i i guess uh you know i i don't look the one thing i i'd want to uh sort of counter with there
um with with all due respect to miss bennett and i am glad she's here um is i just want to show
the board the block so it's it's an interesting block i mean
the board, the block. So it's an interesting block. I mean, you do have, I think this is
called Bentley Hall. This is a sort of like a senior citizen housing facility. But there are
nonetheless a lot of vacant properties here. As you can see, there's sort of like five in a row
from 1725 up to 33. Others further up the block on the other side of the street. Here's more. So
a sizable percentage of the block is vacant. We have really a proposal here to take a building
that is in need of some love and get it back into service. I'm a little honestly confused as to what
to do. I don't want to put the board in a position of sort of taking a, you know, he said,
she said, getting in the middle of an argument there. But this, I really, I mean, I don't have
a meeting summary. I don't have confidence that the person who wrote the RCO letter is really
aware of what who we are and what the project is so um brandon this is how i feel you're an attorney
you took a note um you said you would tell the whole truth and nothing about the truth
you're saying you did attend the meeting it was you and not a female correct so does the board
have any questions can i speak sure so i understand what he's saying about i can't even control his
screen. So if you look where it says 1727, that's not vacancy. That's actually what the church
uses, New Salem Baptist Church. That's what they use when they congregate. That's the area that
they use for parking. That's not vacancy. The only place that we have true vacancy currently
is 1705 through 10. That's where Wharton Center used to be. That person that owns that is Joe
he plans on using it and if he can scroll down a little bit to like the lower end of the block
the opposite way i'm sorry towards montgomery sure okay keep going uh stop so 1765 is vacant
uh 2222 this um a developer owns that the land bank owns the 1751 and 1759 another developer
hit 1753 and then 1739 that's privately owned so it's only really and i'll take that back and then
the other ones where it says 1750 through 1754 those are all developer owned and those are like
the only true vacancies most of the people in that block are long-time homeowners we do have i want
to say one house that is PHA owned and the other ones are either privately owned or they have
renters in there currently and Bentley Hall has 150 people so the block is already heavily dense
I can't speak for Ms. Priscilla Bennett I do think she's on this call so if she can it would be nice
if she could raise her hand so she could speak to exactly what went on to earlier I wasn't privy to
that conversation but i feel like it's um she's also on the phone and i can tell you for sure
that darnell deans which is the vice president for the saving elizabeth's rco is also on this call
okay um if you are can you raise your hand
miss bennett she will have to mute herself and please wait for madam chair
mr charity want to take this over no i missed the large portion of this i was having
major computer problems i just got on as you can see so i won't be participating in the vote on
this case okay all right thank you sorry about that that's okay
yeah it's miss bennett and i just spoke on the phone so i would expect her to be available if
She is there.
She's been allowed to speak.
She has to unmute herself.
Hi, Ms. Bennett.
Can you put your name on the record, spell your last name, and I'll swear you in?
Today's a technology day.
If she's on the phone, would you give her the unmute instructions?
She's not on the phone.
Oh, okay.
Ms. Bennett, can you hear me?
Is she still muted, Tanya?
I can't see.
Yeah, she's still muted.
We do have Darnell Deans who had his hand up.
Darnell, do you still wish to testify?
If not, we have to move forward.
no one's available to continue to testify madam chair you can proceed as you wish okay i'm just
No one's available to continue to testify, Madam.
going to go to planning commission planning commission
thank you madam chair ian hegarty for the philadelphia city planning commission
members of the board in 2014 the zoning map was amended in this area but this parcel was
intentionally not changed it was left as rm1 just so the board understands the proposed
variance is fairly minimal. There would only need 30 more square feet of ground area to get to that
third unit being allowed by right. And we feel that the use doesn't conflict with the surrounding
uses or the purpose and spirit of the zoning code. This is a de minimis variance in our opinion. The
City Planning Commission recommends that the board grant the variance. Thank you. Is there anyone else?
Oh, no, I already asked that question. Okay. Calendar number 2629, 1713 North Krosky Street. My vote is yes.
Confessor Plaza, yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
Mr. Holloman has recused himself and there were technical problems for Mr. DiCicco, Chairman DiCicco.
okay thank you very much madam vice chair sure
i believe that was the last case your belief is correct
okay uh any unfinished business on the 9 30 list
no mr chair thank you again apologize uh i know sharon's having having difficulties also
So, all right.
See everyone back here at two o'clock.
Thank you.
And Jim, you may not be here, but you'll know if you're not here, I'm just putting it on the record that you may be catching up sometime after two.
Yeah, definitely, Frank.
I appreciate that.
And I'll text you.
I'll keep you in the loop.
Thank you.
Thanks.
I appreciate it.
We are live.
Thank you. And Tanya and or is it Fatina still going to be the administrator?
Yes, Chair. And we're ready to go.
We're all ready. Oh, great. Thank you.
Good afternoon, 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 vice chair, Ms. Carlton Airy.
Present.
Our board secretary, Confessor Plaza.
Present. And our board member, Mr. Thomas Holloman.
Present. Board Administrator, Ms. Fatina L., and our board attorney, Ms. Sharon Saleta, are also in attendance, as is our zoning board administrator, Ms. Tanya Sunkett.
For those of you who haven't yet participated in one of our virtual hearings, I'll go through some of the basics of what you can expect.
First, we will be administering oaths to individual participants prior to their testimony.
Second, we'd like to advise everyone that this proceeding is being recorded, and that by participating, you acknowledge your agreement to be recorded,
and that the recording will be made available to the public
by contacting Ms. Tanya Sunkett at tanya.sunkett at phila.gov.
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.