Good morning, my name is Bill Bergman and I will be chairing this meeting of the Philadelphia
Zoning Board of Adjustment. With me is our Board Vice Chair, Tanetta Graham. Present, Mr. Chairman.
Our Board Secretary, Cheryl L. Gaston. Present, Mr. Chairman. Our Board Member, Michael Johns.
Present, Mr. Chairman. Our Board Member, Taya Nguyen, who should be walking through the door
any minute, and our Board Member, Ryan McAdams. Present, Mr. Chairman. Also here is our Attorney,
Hillary Emerson, our Zoning Board Director, Ane Haggerty, and our Board Administrator,
Lakeisha Dandy. Recording of the hearing will be posted on the ZBA website. By participating,
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so we can account for you um before we look at our schedule for the day i would uh announce that
there are a group of penn law students they've been here what last couple weeks we've had penn
law students am i right you know day after day they must like it here i don't know we'll see
all right so here's our here's our schedule for today
Number one, MI 2024-006-086-777 State Road.
This case is continued until 7-8-2026 at 9-30.
Number two, MI 2024-006-090, 2038 Hain Street. This case is continued until 7-8-2026 at 9-30.
7. MI 2025-004-186. 1932 Cecil B. Moore Avenue. This case is continuing until 7-8-2026
at 9.30 a.m.
At number 8, MI2025-005051, 3523 North 24th Street.
This case is continued until 7-8-2026 at 9.30 a.m.
And number 13, MI 2025, 0053752005 South 4th Street.
This case is continued until 7-8-2026 at 930.
at 9 30. are there any other requests for continuances
Are there any other requests for continuances?
okay um
doreen do we have anyone no chair there are no hands thank you and number three mi
2024-006-134-6067 Old York Road we have no updated exhibits and this is the
third listing listed owner is James Ferreira consulting and the firefighters
is Investments LLC. There are no hands up here. Say that again. I don't see any hands up. Okay.
Thank you. All right. So this is the third listening. So MI 2024 006134 6067 Old York Road.
i vote to dismiss michael johns my vote is to dismiss cheryl gaston my boot is to dismiss
tenetta graham my vote is to dismiss ryan mcadams my vote is to dismiss iowen my vote is to dismiss
we're going to go to our uh uh our add-on list number one mi2025 002 368 4821 garden street
I vote no.
Michael Johns, my vote is no.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is no.
Teneda Graham, my vote is no.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is no.
Iowan, my vote is no.
Number two, MI 2025, 001-202, 4810 Aspen Street, I vote no.
I'm sorry, sorry, Mr. Chair, going back to the last one, my apologies.
there should have been a proviso for an amended refusal for garden street so queen brie voted
with the proviso yes per amended refusal dated 2226 to what 2226 2226 2226 okay
so number one mi2025-002-368-4821 garden street i vote no with proviso amended refusal dated 2-2-26
michael johns my vote is no with proviso cheryl gaston my vote is no with proviso
tenetta graham my vote is no with proviso ryan mcadams my vote is no with proviso iowen my vote
is no with proviso so number two mi 2025 001 202 4810 aspen street i vote no michael johns my vote
is no cheryl gaston my vote is no tanetta graham my vote is no brian mcadams my vote is no tyowin
my vote is no number three mi 2025 004 968 303 avon street my vote is no michael johns my vote
is no cheryl gaston my vote is no snetta graham my vote is yes ryan mcadams my vote is no iowen
my vote is yes number four mi 2025 004 255 5601 hunter street i vote yes michael johns my vote is
yes cheryl gaston my vote is yes tanetta graham my vote is yes ryan mcadams my vote is yes
Taya Nguyen, my vote is yes.
And number five, MI2025-005-131-2101 West Ontario Street, I vote yes.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes.
Taya Nguyen, my vote is yes.
Okay, we're going to go to our regular list.
Number 14, MI 2025-005-380-1429-35 Parris Street.
Adam Laver is the attorney.
Good morning.
Good morning, Mr. Laver.
Could you please state your name?
You said?
I was just saying good morning, Mr. Chairman.
Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Yes, Chairman Bergman. Adam Laver, L-A-V as in Victor, E-R.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, Mr. Chairman, I do.
Yes, Mr. Chairman.
Could you identify your client relationship to the property?
Of course.
Blank Rome represents People for People, Incorporated, the owner of the subject property at 1429-35 Parrish Street.
And I would note that there's a recommendation of support from United, Francisville Civic Association,
and a letter of non-opposition from Council Member Young.
Our Vice Chair has a few questions for you. Thank you. Good morning. Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing? Good morning, Madam Vice Chair. Yes, we have. And do you waive the reading of the refusals and stipulate to their accuracy? Yes, Ms. Graham, we do. All right. Thank you. You can share your screen and proceed with your case. Thank you.
mr chairman and members of the board
uh it's appropriate i think as we wrap up black history month to to mention that i have the
privilege of representing people for people incorporated which is a 501c3 non-profit
organization founded in 1989 by the late reverend dr herbert h lusk dr lusk and many in his flock
had a vision to bring lasting transformation to north central philadelphia and beyond
primarily through education mentoring entrepreneurship and community development
this legacy is carried forward today members of the board through the leadership of reverend
robert mcfadden who is sitting here in person to my left reverend mcfadden serves today as ceo of
people for people also with us virtually i believe is ian smith of ian smith design group architects
who has appeared before the board before you can see on the monitors before you and those
who are observing on the screen an aerial view of the subject property which is located
very close to north broad street to the right on the screen and the subject property is delineated
in red. Here are some street view photographs showing that the subject property, as depicted
in this picture, fronts on Parrish Street. It runs along North Carlisle Street.
that's north carlisle and uh beyond is ogden street uh at the rear of the property now shown
on the screen before you uh you've probably gathered from the photographs that i shared
that this property looks like a garage and indeed lni archives reflect that this board previously
granted variance relief for a truck garage and auto body repair shop within the existing structure
going back many years followed by the more recent use of the building for general storage purposes
perhaps not the highest and best use although the structure itself has interesting integrity
uh in the brick uh building and uh for what it is as people for people's footprint within this
community has expanded over the years its need members of the board for parking has increased
people for people believes that the restoration of this former garage for parking will allow it
to more effectively carry forward its mission for both the good of the community which it serves
and as the record supports the record shows the community has supported this
i'd like to share with you some interior photographs of that garage showing the
underutilization of this space people for people is bursting at the seams responding to needs in
the community whether it's education community development faith-based initiatives and
And it's been so busy that this former garage has not been used for the best purposes.
The garage itself is located within the RM1 residential multifamily zoning district.
This is what brings us here today.
because an application has been filed to document the use for proposed non-accessory parking for
45 cars which requires zoning board of adjustment variance relief the proper
which requires zoning board of adjustment variance relief the property uh itself and
i've been out there but the photographs show it too uh demonstrates uh clearly that it was built
as a garage it has existing curb cuts on parish on ogden at the rear two along north carlisle street
uh with this proposal we believe that we can help to alleviate a need in the community
to safely and securely take cars off the street to work in a professional way which people for
people is known for in doing that in conjunction with the community with the community an added
benefit though to the proposal is that the two existing curb cuts along north carlisle street
would no longer be needed returning parking to the street returning a enhanced pedestrian experience
for those in the community the zoning site plans are not uh this is not a complicated
proposal right because we're taking an existing garage and showing um striping for the uh off
street parking that i mentioned for 45 cars including ada and bicycle parking as as meeting
code requirements the proposal reflects off of paris street at this front one way into the garage
and then through an existing curb cut and one way out at the rear onto ogden street through
an existing curb cut also with pedestrian entry door off of parish street so here is a zoomed in
image more like a floor plan of what i just described showing parish street on the left
the vehicular traffic coming in and then going straight out to ogden street on the right of this
screen and i will share with you if i may some conceptual renderings not because it's a new
structure but to give the board and those in attendance a sense of the overall revitalization
of the property as part of the community around it whether it's street trees lighting delineated
in and out so that it's clear for anyone walking along the sidewalk that there's the one curb cut
in and the one curb cut out security etc this is all quite important I should note regarding
security that people for people has a state-of-the-art security system for all of its
properties in the community has a very hands-on presence and it will be wonderful to have the
chance to add this property to that here you can see an image in conceptual rendering in off of
parish street by the way i had mentioned the pedestrian door it's right over here you see
glass to make this not a fortress but clean crisp lit up safe befitting any neighborhood
here we can see along north carlisle street again removing those two curb cuts creating a
enhanced pedestrian experience another view of carlisle wrapping around to ogden street
and here we see at the rear of the ogden for exiting out
once again back to the front on paris street to give the board an example of the commitment
that people for people has to doing this the right way and one more maybe it's overkill but
but uh this is this is how they're approaching it
united francisville civic association has been a tremendous partner in working with people for
people uh and us on this plan and has uh embraced what's being proposed the coordinating rco noted
in our meetings the benefits of the adaptive reuse of a historic resource with a lowercase
h because this is not part of the historical commission but it really speaks to the fabric
of philadelphia's past uh and that this would fulfill a long underutilized commercial space
uh nearby neighbors in addition to the district council members non-opposition nearby neighbors
have been briefed many times directly by the reverend and others who are part of people for
people and there are pages and pages of uh support but more than the support more than
but more than the support more than a check mark it's about the interaction uh one-on-one
and a check mark, it's about the interaction.
so i won't go through all of that with with you board members but in closing i'd like to state
for the record that the authorization of variance relief will not alter the character of the
neighborhood or district uh in a detrimental way it will be an improvement uh and that the
The proposal fits into the surrounding neighborhood as evidenced by this board's past granting
of variance relief for far more intense commercial uses.
But more than that, the coordinating RCO support and other expressions of support do speak
to the appropriateness of maintaining this structure and adaptively reusing it for good.
The proposed variance would represent the minimum variance necessary to afford relief
the least modification possible of the regulations at issue it will not substantially increase
congestion in the public streets increase the danger of fire or otherwise endanger the public
health safety or general welfare the plans represent we believe the highest and best
use for this site appropriately respecting the legacy of the structure while furthering
neighborhood stakeholder visions for a vibrant mixed-use community
um people for people uh works with uh professional management to oversee its properties we can go into
details either with uh reverend mcfadden or questions on architecture thank you board
members so reverend could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
there you go thank you reverend robert james mcfadden and could you spell it please for
the stenographer r-o-b-e-r-t james j-a-m-e-s m-c capital f-a-d-d-e-n do you swear or affirm to tell
the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes sir counsel could you have your testimony
adopted yes reverend mcfadden thank you so very much for being with us today you i know have been
here to hear my testimony would you adopt it as your own sir yes sir thank you questions from the
board yes who is going to be parking in the facility is this going to be just
parking for related uses for people for people or is it going to be people in a
neighborhood it's going to be a combination based on what we presented
to the RCO and because we've had some neighbors that are interested in
parking and because the way parking is there in the community we're going to give you some of them
access and live in the neighborhood i don't understand yeah so precisely for that reason
miss gaston we really want to maximize in a in a low impact way okay so will this be
are you going to have um what do you call it like subscriptions or something for
parking people for people works with parkway corporation to manage and uh i included it in
the materials that i shared with ms emerson but i didn't want to take up the board's time
there's other there are there are some surface parking lots that people for people maintains
very close by that are in really fine shape take take a walk if uh in in your neighborhood as i
know and so uh the intention is is likely to work with uh parkway for the best practices in that way
they they have um apps that can be used for for safe in and out okay and such and we discussed
that with the community too all right and i guess my other question is about um i know for exterior
parking lots they have rules with respect to drive aisles and uh landscaping things like that
for interior lots like this um is this do the same rules apply are we I didn't think so but
at least in terms of like size of parking spaces and things like that yes to that to that Ms. Gaston
absolutely the streets department and the Philadelphia code have requirements that we've
met in terms of um typical parking space size aisle depending on whether it's one way or two
way and in this case it's one way uh ada parking which uh we meet and uh there is also um van
yes and room for bicycle one uh a one a uh class 1a parking which is there too to fulfill the code
requirement even though i don't know how much that will be used in this installation it will be there
okay all right uh thank you sure all the questions was a parking stuff i mean i'm sorry
was a traffic study done for this development um i'm just looking paris is one of the thinner
I'm just looking. Paris is one of the thinner streets in the neighborhood, and right now the primary entrance is off Paris Street, and there's like six other parking lots and other car oriented businesses within like a one and a half block radius.
streets in the neighborhood and right
So just wondering if any conversation had been had about the impact an additional one might bring to the surrounding bus.
There has been conversation, Ms. Wynn. There has not been a traffic study. We've spoken with, you know, and Reverend McFadden can speak to this if desired, but we've engaged in discussion with the community and interesting, not surprisingly, there are differing thoughts on best ways to manage traffic because people for people is part of the community and is such a presence in the community and cares about the community.
reverend mcfadden stated publicly several times that people for people would be pleased to work
arm in arm if you will with the community should there be a desire to have a meeting say with
council member jay young with representatives of the streets department because in some instances
as the board knows as development changes neighborhoods there can be better ways sometimes
it's changing a direction of traffic on a street or or traffic calming measures and then I think
the oh go ahead Parkway has consulted us on all of our parking which has and because they have
consulted most of the parking lots that you're referring to they've kind of given us some insight
and instruction in terms of the flow of traffic and thought it was you know favorable I don't
know if that helps but at least because of their experience and controlling most of the lots in the
area um we were kind of comfortable with trying to move forward with this opportunity okay i have no
further questions i have one quick question so i know you talked about the pedestrian experience
and looking at the rendering to see benches and trees which is really great but just in terms of
safety and the moving of the vehicles what type of uh interventions will there be for pedestrians
as they're walking down the street because there are residences all around the parking lot so you
know what other interventions will there be for as well a pedestrian know that a car is coming out
or about to enter so signage lighting whatever and other interventions well what we've decided
is not only parking there's also some uh mirroring mirroring that's being set up so that people can
have a visual as they're walking through um because that was one of our concern even with
park cars coming out of the parking lot. Everybody needed a visual to see what was going on.
So with Ian Smith, when he looked at what would be necessary, he thought the mirroring would be
a good approach so that people would always have a visual whether they're coming in or walking
past through the parking lot area. Do you know that that technology, I'm told, goes back to
Benjamin Franklin. Really, the mirrors, those particular types of mirrors. Other questions?
Yeah, I guess the other thing is the, what is it, the sound that you can have to, I don't know
whether you guys have thought about that. Yeah. It has been thought about. That's one of the
things that you speak to one neighbor, and they like it, and another is concerned about it.
that's not the noise right so right now in full disclosure there's not a plan to do that and
because there was some pushback on on that idea when we were brainstorming together about safety
measures it doesn't mean that together there it could end up doing it or maybe there's a
newer technology for a slightly softer or more pleasing sound I don't know Ms Gaston but I but
in full disclosure to the board that is not part of the proposal at this moment understood okay
thank you questions or comments from our attorney not at this time mr chair questions or comments
from the virtual audience i see no hands chair planning commission
good morning liz fusillade on behalf of the philadelphia city planning commission
Just for the record, spell your name.
Yes, sir. Sorry. I always forget to do that.
L-I-Z, last name is Fuseli, capital F-U-S-E-L-I-E-R.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, told truth, nothing but the truth?
I do, sir.
Please proceed.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the RM1 zoning at this location.
The proposed 45 space non accessory interior parking garage within a predominantly residential community is not within the purpose, nor the spirit of the zoning code. The planning commission recommends that the board deny the requested variance to create a 45.
the planning commission recommends that the board deny the requested variance to create a 45 space
interior parking lot mr chairman and members of the board rather than belabor the point i just
like to underscore that the city records show that hardship has been found at this location
previously we have an existing structure and for the reasons previously stated we respectfully
submit that the use of this uh for the purposes of a uh well-respected 501c3 is appropriate thank
you thank you mi 2025 0 0 5 3 8 0 14 29 to 35 paris street i vote yes michael johns my vote is
yes cheryl gaston my vote is yes tenetta graham my vote is yes ryan mcadams my vote is yes i win
my vote is yes thank you reverend i like the way you use the glass in the on the exterior too it
gives it a little bit like you go down and you see a garage it's all brick you go like it's
creepy looking i mean i gotta say it too so it's really nice thank you mr chairman members
of the board have a good day thank you so much have a blessed day okay here we go i need a
with. That's what I need on this day. Here we go. Number four, MI 2025 001 344 2267 East
William Street. Alexander Perry is the attorney.
alexander perry is coming in as a panelist thank you
good morning mr chairman good morning uh could you please state your name and spell for the
sonographer yes sir alexander perry a-l-e-x-a-n-d-e-r last name perry p-e-r-r-y i'm joined today
by dr meadows the owner as well as adib mahdi the architect all right do you swear or affirm to tell
the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes sir so i i see there's the letter of
support from the south port richmond civic association and a letter of non-opposition
from council member squilla um our vice chair has a few questions good morning
good morning submitted your uh documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing
yes ma'am okay and do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy
yes all right thank you you can share your screen and proceed with your case
there we go trying to make it as big as possible for you guys thank you um we have all your
documents so okay this is the uh letter of refusal we are trying to build a three-story
home in a residential neighborhood it has a unique zoning district it's RSA 6
which is primarily for two-story homes and we're trying to build a three-story
39-foot home in this area which is similar to many of the homes that have
been built in the last few years this block is underdeveloped and many of the
homes that are still there that have been renovated have bought two or three
side lots to use as yards. So we're trying to make the highest and best use of this space.
Here's the application for appeal for Dr. Brian Meadows. He is the owner of the property.
He bought the parcel as a vacant lot about three years ago. The refusal notes that in
the RSA 6 residential zoning district, the height limitation is 25 feet. The proposed
structure is 39 feet, three-story with roof deck. We have a tax clearance. There
were about $650 outstanding which have been paid. Here's the payment and here's
the deed from 2023 to Dr. Brian Menos. I'm going to zoom in on this for you. The
proposed home is a three-story home along the sidewalk. We're trying to keep as
home along the sidewalk. We're trying to keep as much brick facade as possible. That was the
feedback from the Neighborhood Association. They really wanted it to be a standard row home look,
none of this industrial steel that we're seeing in some of the neighborhoods now,
and the owner and architect are going to work to do that. There is a overhang, a second story
bay window basically that's been approved by the street department previously the only application
for appeal before the board is just the height limitation 25 feet in this neighborhood and it's
going up to 39 feet rather than the 25 foot again this is similar to the other properties in the
neighborhood which I'll show in a few minutes. This is the adjacent property
which this this house right here has been rehabbed recently within the last
five years and they purchased the the three lots to the uh i believe it's the south of the property
to use as a yard and parking which is similar to the next house my client's home is proposed on
this vacant lot right here which has been vacant for for years again here's a picture of the
adjacent parcel which is about three properties to the north and next to that is another rehab
which bought two parcels also to use as parking and a yard.
Further to the north, you can start seeing the recent development along the street,
all of which are three-story houses with roof decks.
Here's seven here, and there's an additional three or four behind the parcel as proposed.
Here's a zoom in of those seven new homes that have been built
within the last two or three years along the block we posted the property 26 days
ago in the snow and there it is there's a zoom in and posting for all the
neighbors of the hearing date today again here's here's the block as it looks
when we posted it you can see the adjacent house and the undeveloped side
yard that's being made use in the neighborhood, with the exception of the three-story homes
that are being built, similar to ours proposed. And here's our notice of mailing. I'm joined
by Dr. Meadows and would take questions from the board after he adopts my testimony, if
that's okay, Mr. Chairman.
Dr. Meadows, can you raise your hand?
Dr. Meadows is coming in as a panelist thank you
good morning good morning Dr. Meadows could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
uh brian meadows b-r-i-a-n last name is m-e-a-d-o-w-s you swear or firm to tell the truth
the whole truth and nothing but the truth sir yes please proceed counsel thank you mr chairman
uh dr meadows did you hear my testimony before the board today yes can you adopt that testimony
and uh provide uh affirmation that is true to your knowledge and uh understanding yes
okay do you adopt the testimony yes your own thank you members of the board uh we're here
and we're here with the architect as well if we can take any questions for you questions from the
board okay uh my question is okay so you're 25 feet is allowed 39 feet is being requested
so you said that there were other properties that were built there
on the block? What kind of height are we talking about for those properties?
Thank you, Ms. Gaston. I will share my screen again. These are the homes along the block
that are built, I believe, to the code of 38 feet, same as in RSA 5 jurisdiction. I didn't
get my measuring tape out to measure them, but they're consistent with our property within
about a foot. They also have this setback roof deck. Every single one that's been built on the
Every single one that's been built on the property recently fits into this criteria, which would have fit into the RSA 5 zoning code, I believe.
the property recently fits into this criteria.
Our architect designed it with an extra foot in the basement, I believe, which is what put it over the 38-foot mark.
Could you show us the interior design, too, please?
That was my next question.
There you go.
Well, I knew you were going to do it.
Mr. Chairman, give me one minute to try to pull that up. I don't know if that was submitted with
the other documents, but I will try to find it for you right now.
It is designed as a single-family home, and we're not asking for any change from that
with two bedrooms on one floor and one bedroom on the third floor, I believe.
But let me pull that up. Give me one minute.
Or if the architect is here, I believe he has that too.
What do we bring? Is the architect here?
Mr. Adeeb are you here do we see the architect's hand
oh bye I have it I will share my screen right now okay thank you
Mr. Chairman and members of the board can you see this a little hard to see maybe you can
Yeah. Blow it up a little bit. Okay. I will do that right now.
Okay. Here we go. I will start with the basement and proceed upstairs. Okay. The basement
is proposed to have a bedroom or other room with a bathroom and a family room.
The first floor is raised up a few feet because of the basement space and it's a living room.
can you see this I'm sorry a living room and a kitchen space with access to the
rear yard the third floor again is it's listed as bedrooms but it's two bedrooms
or other office space with a shared bath and then the third floor would be the
master bedroom with a walk-in closet and master bathroom it is designed to be a
single family home with a basement a usable basement and two bedrooms or a bedroom in an
office and a master bedroom on the third floor with access to the roof it's set up similar to
the other houses on the block and it's not intended to be a rental unit for multi-family use
questions
can you go back to the basement plan again please
Yes. Here we go. Here's the basement plan. It's going to be a finished basement. And again, the extra foot on the plan that might be different from the adjacent parcels is because they lifted the basement from, I believe it was the seven foot to the eight foot.
What's the depth of the slab below grade?
That would be a good question for the architect.
Do you have a section, build a section?
I will try to pull up the other documents to see that.
Excuse me, what was your architect's name again?
His name is Adib Mahdi, M-A-D-I.
Hello, everyone.
Members of the board, here's the previously shown cross-section of the front.
And as shown, the basement slab is nine feet, nine feet below.
nine no no no no no can't be nine feet below grade i don't i hope not no is it
no no it's well it's nine feet below the first floor so you're so you're like
five eight feet it looks like yes exactly you're nine minus nine minus three
It looks like, yes, exactly.
Nine minus three is right.
Nine minus 3.3 looks like five and a two-thirds foot, sir.
So why do we need to have a bedroom in the basement if you've already got three bedrooms on the second and third floor?
That's a good question. The bedroom on the basement, I don't know if it will be used
as a bedroom or not. It's just listed as a bedroom on the architectural drawings. But
it is a finished basement, which is consistent with a lot of other uses. It could be any space.
There is a bathroom in the basement, which I believe anyone who's needed a bathroom would
appreciate. Many, many of the three-story homes have a finished basement with a bathroom.
maybe finished basement but not an extra bedroom i mean that's a little different okay all right
um i'm sorry uh my question is uh do you have the support of the neighbor the adjacent media
adjacent neighbor because that will require uh you to go down a little bit in the ground
um i think it's to the right i'm not sure the address did he have their support
i i don't know if they got their support or not i didn't reach out to the immediate neighbor
We did go to the meeting, and we got a letter of support from the Neighborhood Association.
How about your client? Is your client now?
Dr. Meadows, are you still there?
Yeah, I saw him.
Yes, sorry. I just apologize for being on mute.
So to answer the question about the basement, it is a flex space just to provide additional entertainment space
that could be used as a bedroom if you had extra guests over,
because it will have the laundry room and the actual bathroom in the basement so
so dr meadows i think the question was to your to look look at the property to the right the
property that you'll be adjacent to have you talked to them about the project we have not directly
talked to them okay all right do do do you know if they attended the the rco meeting
no one at the rco meeting uh expressed to me that they were the immediate adjacent neighbor i didn't
ask if the immediate adjacent neighbor was there okay but you did have support okay and and you're
doing a single family dwelling so it's not like you're asking for multi-family or anything okay
yes sir and it's other than the the last foot which uh there was pushback on at the meeting
from one neighbor or from one member of the community, the primary issue brought up by
several members of the community was just not making it look like a industrial, you know,
metal slab in front and keeping as much brick as possible. But we are here with the variance
requested will be for height consistent with the RSA 6 neighborhood that requires anything over
25 feet and the seven eight nine ten properties that have been built on that block uh in the last
few years are consistent other than that last foot which is going into the basement
right sure thank you questions from our attorney
not at this time mr chair should your comments from the virtual audience
i see no hands here planning commission good morning liz fusillade on behalf of the philadelphia
city planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the rsa
5 residential single family zoning at this location the city rezoned this block in 2021
from rsa 5 residential single family to rsa 6 residential single family to accommodate
a turn the key project the turn the key homes were allowed additional height because they
included affordable dwelling units as allowed in rsa 6. absent the turn of turn the key homes there
is only one other three-story structure on this block face the appellant has not shown that they
cannot derive value from the property by building to the allowable 25 foot maximum height the city
planning commission recommends that the board deny the proposed dimensional variance for additional
height so so mr prairie we're going to vote on this next wednesday morning at 9 30. i'm going
to have the executive session next week and just go over a couple issues that have been raised okay
but we will definitely vote for this next week all right thank you mr chairman thank you thank you
very much. Number five, MI-2025-001-461-4622 Hawthorne Street, Elman, Giamatti.
4622 Hawthorne Street, Elman Giamatti Salaguro is the owner occupant.
They have been promoted.
Good morning.
person with the first name Elman you're allowed to speak
must be having some difficulties chair okay so what we'll do is we'll we'll come back all right
and then we'll come we'll come back and check again all right we're going to move on to number
six mi 2025 001 462 2245 north 7 t street bern anastasio is the attorney
Vern Anastasio has been promoted
good morning Mr. Chair
good morning counsel could you please state your name is spelled for the stenographer
You're Vern Anastasio, A-N-A-S-T-A-S-I-O, on behalf of Mr. Rudy Tafani.
All right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
We do not see an RCO letter, but there's a letter of opposition from Council Member Young.
Our vice chair has a few questions.
Thank you.
Good morning.
Good morning.
Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
I have.
And do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, to both.
Okay, thank you.
You can share your screen and proceed with your case.
Thank you.
2245 North 17th Street application is for a three-family dwelling.
And the property is currently, the lot is currently zoned of RSA 5.
and we are here seeking relief because the property has never housed a single-family home.
In fact, and I'm going to move the history of the property into evidence as part of the exhibits.
The board proved, saw that there was a physical hardship because of the nature of the block
and approved a five-family dwelling at this very location.
We want to make the units more it's a three story building because the few homes on the block buildings on the block are, in fact, three story.
And what we'd like to do is make them ample enough so that there's one floor of one unit per floor, as you can see here in the photo.
So it's one parcel that is part of a larger series of parcels, vacancies.
Immediate next door is another vacant property, and vacancy and disinvestment is a pretty big problem on this block.
We did meet with the neighbors, and as a result, we removed the basement bedroom.
We did a conversion of the full basement bathroom into just a powder room.
We removed the roof deck as requested by the RCO, and we did add trash closets on the second and third floors.
That'll be vented.
So we did take the input from the neighbors, and we were able to make adjustments to these plans.
If approved, we'll be submitting the proviso plan.
As you can see here, the basement will have a laundry room and a mechanical room.
just a powder room, and it'll be basically flex space, a playroom if the first floor unit is made up of children.
The first floor here, as you can see, unit one has a nice size.
The first floor here, as you can see, unit one has a nice size living room, eat-in kitchen, a full bath and two beds.
There is sliding glass doors that will go down to the back.
Second floor is pretty much the same with a nice size living room, eat-in kitchen, full bath and two beds.
And the same here at the top floor.
Each with the trash closets installed as part of the discussion with the RCO.
And the roof now is just a plain flat roof.
We were advised that the block and the neighbors don't consider themselves a roof deck community.
So we took that out, took that amenity out.
As part of the materials, we do have a quote that was my client received $145 per square foot to renovate and trying to do, I'm sorry, to build and trying to do that and make this a single family home.
the numbers just don't add up because of the size of of the property in order to construct
afford occupy and maintain most importantly a brand new single-family home from the ground up
on this particular block will be impossible so what we are proposing is a three-family dwelling
two bedrooms per floor. The exterior will, in fact, match the rest of the block. Again,
the few houses that are there. Here's the notice that went out to all the neighbors
immediately impacted. We did have a community meeting quite some time ago. 243 households were,
in fact, mailed. Here's the property history that shows that a five-family dwelling was
in fact, deemed appropriate for this lot at that time.
Been many years, of course, the property went from a five-family dwelling to then being
vacant for quite a long time and then finally demolished.
Here's a good bird's eye view of the amount of vacant lots that we're dealing with.
There's several here.
Our lot is right here where my cursor is, and it's one of many more.
next to it and then we've got empty lots further down 17th street both here where my cursor is and
here as well and then chadwick right behind is still is dealing with a series of vacant lots
as well so as far as congestion is concerned it's not necessarily an issue this is not a very dense
block compared to other blocks of course in the city and in this neighborhood there are all the
addresses that were mailed. My client is well aware that the property will be required to have
sprinkler system because it would be a three-family dwelling. And I'm going to go back to the plan in
case there's any questions about the layout. Otherwise, I'd like to call my client, Rudy
to fanny to adopt my presentation as his own thank you from what's next door to what how many units
in that place next door it's vacant it's it's sealed up right now okay yeah there are other
the few homes that are on that block on that side of the block
they have been converted not necessarily all legal but to two three and four family dwellings okay
Tofani is coming in as a panelist.
Good morning, everyone.
good morning could you please state your name and spell before the stenographer
for john tafani r-u-d-j-a-n and last name is t-a-f-a-n-i right do you swear or affirm to
tell the truth told truth nothing but the truth yes could you please turn on your video yes
proceed counsel thank you mr tafani did you hear my presentation to the board
yes true and accurate to the best of your knowledge yes and you adopt it as your own testimony
Yes, you were part of the RCO meeting and we did tweak the plans according to the feedback that we received. Is that correct? Yes, correct. Thank you, Mr. Chair, because we've made every effort to accommodate the neighbors concerns and issues.
Mr. Chair, because we've made every effort to accommodate the neighbor's concerns and issues regarding roof deck and trash, because we've the long history of this property and this board recognizing a physical hardship, granting a five family dwelling in the past.
And because of the disinvestment and vacancies on this block with approachable brand new housing products, we respectfully request the granting of the variance.
Questions from the board?
two things uh one uh you know what i'm going to say right the access to the backyard through a
bedroom uh to me is just untenable um what's the and it still says bedroom in the basement by the
way um noted on your drawing um and what we've agreed no no no basement bedrooms yeah and i know
but you said you edited the they edited they made the changes but they didn't change the note
they took they took the bed out they took the bed yeah yeah this is not going this will be
well we did it okay okay yeah that'll be storage that should be storage that's that's scrivener's
we call it scrivener's error uh as far as the uh the architect is concerned but yeah okay uh what's
the depth of the basement below grade? Mr. Tafani,
how deep is the basement, the ceiling, below grade?
Approximately six feet.
So you're six feet below grade. I always have a concern with
the depth of the basement below grade beyond four feet
because look at the last two storms that we've had.
People can get buried with snow in those basements.
God forbid something happened. So those are my comments.
Thank you.
Other questions?
Yes. Question. Who has access to the basement?
The first floor unit.
Okay. All right. Thank you.
Other questions?
Is there a yard? Because this drawing is not showing a yard. Is there a rear yard?
Mr. Stefani?
Yes. There's going to be a rear yard.
how how big is the rear yard um and who will have access to it the first floor unit
there's no dimensions on the plan mr tifani how deep is the rear yard
um he's not the big rear yard is uh i'll say seven feet behind the the property thank you
and it's uh 16 wide i believe it's uh 16 wide yes correct
okay um questions or comments from our attorney um mr anastasia you mentioned something about
um revised plans um and i did and i did hear you say removing the roof deck was something that was
contemplated by your client in response to community concerns um are there any other
changes to the envelope of the building that are proposed no everything else would be no basement
bedroom and the trash closets okay and those are in interior all interior issues yep okay all right
so just to note to the board um i i don't think if all they're doing is removing the roof deck
we can just indicate that via proviso we don't we don't need to do revised plans if we are granting
okay thank you thank you questions or comments from the virtual audience
there are no hands chair planning commission good morning liz fuselay on behalf of the philadelphia
city planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the rsa5 residential
single-family zoning at this location the city rezoned this neighborhood in 2014 in accordance
with recommendations in the comprehensive plan at that time this block face was zoned rm1
residential multi-family we are aware of several of two and three unit buildings but the majority
of homes on this block face are single family the city planning commission recommends that the board
deny the proposed use variance for three dwelling units. Mr. Chair, I respect the Planning
Commission's input, of course, as always, but the fact that there's a vast number of not only
vacant lots but vacant former single-family homes is prima facie evidence of a hardship on this
block that's brand new single-family does not work. Thank you. So, Fern, you heard some comments
from the board is there any chance that you'd be interested in following those comments absolutely
following those comments absolutely uh you know it's brand it's new construction so we can do
you know it's brand it's new construction so
anything right so mr johns wants to see uh no well not what mr john i mean well if he wants to see
that basement different we can make that happen yeah he wants to do what's right so what we could
do is we could do a resumptive hearing for this that'd be great thank you come back and present
where you stand um so tweak the plans and come back thank you i see a resumptive date of 4 7 20
26 at 9 30 a.m we'll see you then thank you all right thank you mr chairman yes i'm trying to do
what's right that's i like i wasn't what i like it's not what i like i mean you don't you don't
do things because you like you right you think it's the right thing to do i mean and we're willing
to adhere to it for sure thank you all right thank you all right so i think we're number nine right
MI 2025-005-057, 114 South 51st Street.
Joseph Consul is the attorney, and this is a request for a hear and hold.
Am I correct?
That is correct due to tax issues that are being resolved.
Joseph Consul is coming in as a panelist now.
good morning good morning mr console could you please state your name and spell for this
stenographer yeah joseph console j-o-s-e-p-h last name console c-o-n-s-o-l-e do you swear
a firm that's all the truth the whole truth is nothing but the truth yes could you identify
your client a relationship to the property yeah um my client uh is mr dane davis as one of the
owners of the property for uh owns was a dab re investments llc and he's in the audience okay and
there's a letter of unanimous support from walnut hill community association or um and and you heard
this is going to be here and hold mr council i did and dane can comment on um his tax okay
situation but yes but our vice chair has a few questions good morning have you submitted your
documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing i have and do you waive the
written of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy i do okay thank you can share your
screen proceed with your case okay all right i got one right after this so i'm hoping do i have the
right one up? 114 South 51st? Yep. Okay. All right. Joe Consul for Davis Chronicles LLC. Pardon me,
that's the name of the LLC. With me in the audience today is Dane Davis. We're here
regarding the property located at 114 South 51st Street, seeking use variants to allow for two
family dwelling within the existing attached structure it's RSA 5 so we got the refusal
however we're going to demonstrate today that this does not exactly reflect the reality of
the specific block granting the variance will not alter the character of the neighborhood
as the block is 50 percent at least multi-family home approved so on the screen is the notice of
refusal. As mentioned, we had unanimous support at Walnut Hill Community
Association. We met with them in November. Showing our exterior photos. And my client
has approved permits for some rehabilitation work, so you'll see that
the property looks much nicer from when those photos taken to do the deed okay as mentioned
and my client my client can speak about it he is dealing with some tax issues not related to
any outstanding debt on the property but with something for his LLC.
It's a deed again. Here's the plans that were submitted that generated this work. We have a
basement with no living space in it. We have a first floor unit which contains one bedroom.
There's large entrances in the front and back with a porch in the back.
as large
entrances in the front and back.
Second unit on the second floor is two bedrooms and a living room.
We can talk more about those plans, or my client can.
Dan, is he in the audience?
Could you step up, Dan, or just get closer to the front?
Oh, I can.
Okay, sure.
could you state your is your mic on sir could you please state your name and spell for the
sonographer how you doing my name is dane davis d-a-n-e davis d-a-v-i-s do you swear or affirm
to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but truth yes all right please proceed counsel okay
Good to see you, Dean.
We have some pre-construction plans.
He's worked together with architects to submit all the plans we saw.
And that's what generated the refusal that we're at today.
So it's not hypothetical.
The work's done that he's approved to do and he's waiting on approval for the second unit
to be able to actually finish this project which he can speak to and some interior photos
other properties on this block that have approvals for two or more units 120 south 51st street which
is right next door there's an active rental license for two units 110 south 51st two unit
rental active. 106 South 51st is an active two unit rental. 104 South 51st is four units.
And those that have been approved but aren't currently licensed 108 South 51st has a zoning
archive showing as a duplex and across the street at 117 South 51st has a zoning approval
for a duplex as well though neither one of those appear to have active rental
licenses. I'll call my client, Mr. Davis. Hey, you've already been sworn in. Did you hear my
testimony just now regarding your property at 114 South 51st Street? Yes. Okay. Do you adopt
it as your own yes okay um submit for any any questions with the board sure questions from the
board where's your trash going to be held for uh both units i'm sorry your trash plan for both
units trash plan yeah trash like where the unit is going to handle your coach yeah so let's take
step back um i i own a construction company so i have a team of demo and people that can dump
no for the units when they live there say if you get approved and you have two tenants
where are they going to store their trash oh out right out right where the lawn is out front
i'm going to turn that into cement so it'll be two trash cans out out there so um is there
any objection to you storing it in another place instead of having it out in the front no no i'm
talking i'm asking you because when tenants tend to have trash in the front it tends to make the
neighborhood look kind of trashy oh well i was going to provide trash bins but i understand what
you're saying um yeah i always provide trash cans for my for my units and there's any other possible
locations you can put them in for in order for them to store it i understand like when it's
trashy you bring them out front but yes can they store it somewhere instead of being in the front
yes absolutely i can put it in a common area when you first walk in there's going to be a
common area both floors have access to the basement no just the first floor okay what's
the what's what's this common area you're saying you're going to put the trash in i have the plans
update the vest of you well yes it's going to turn into like if if this is approved of course
it's going to turn into like a hallway and then you can yeah but you you don't listen to me you
don't have any room to put trash cans there. That really wouldn't work too well. I think,
I think, you know, the, in, in the first floor, clearly there's location within the unit or in
the rear yard space where the trash cans can go for that unit or you provide a, a, a trash closet.
I don't know the second floor can you show the second floor yes you know these
are these are decent sized units fairly decent sized units so you've got ample
fairly decent sized units so you've got ample space to be able to store the trash for the
space to be able to store the trash
tenants to store the trash somewhere inside with a closet dedicated closet with exhaust
yes on there's an hvac closet on the plans that we can store the trash yeah with and and have
and have right of course it need to be enlarged or whatever but and of course vented so i think
what we're trying to really speak to is you know all these rehab apartment units they end up with
these tread the tenants end up with these trash cans in front of the houses in front of these
units and you see the neighborhoods they look horrible and so you have the opportunity to do
something that as a a step up from what the ordinary is um so so okay that's that's that's
the desire i'm sorry this is new information to me i never even knew well well that turn so well
that's why we're talking yes yeah right yeah i'll definitely make the contribution for that all right
yeah um anyone else questions or comments more attorney not at this time mr chair questions or
comments from the virtual audience there are no hands here the second floor first questions or
comments from the uh our planning commission good morning liz fuselay on behalf of the philadelphia
city planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the rsa5 residential
zoning at this location the applicant has shown no unique physical conditions or circumstances to
comply with the existing zoning the city planning commission recommends the board deny the proposed
use variant for a two-family home at this address thank you can i say something yeah but yeah that's
right all right so for me oh go ahead at least he wanted to speak i'm sorry so i was just listening
to what i'm sorry you're planning the planning commissioner was talking about um this is actually
my childhood home. I grew up in this home. My grandfather passed away in 2008 and my dad
assumed the property and he was dealing with a lot of hard times to the point where
fast forward to now, I've been in construction for the past six years. I've been doing
nice things around the city, building different homes and what have you. And I think the fact
that when 2026 came or 2025 i'm sorry the roof got so bad where i had to i had to make a move
and fix the roof and my dad is still going to be currently living in the property on the first
floor so we're only going to be the duplex is only for the second floor unit but my father is still
going to live in the first floor um i i this is just something for a passed down air like you know
from my grandfather to my father to me so i just had the opportunity and understanding that you
know take on construction so now i feel like i'm in a perfect space to you know fix our childhood
home so that's really what the main focus is on that right well thank you very much for giving
us information so uh we're going to hold the vote on this until we hear from council relative to
the tact am i correct dory yes that is correct mr chair we won't set a date no we will not we'll
quote on it as soon as we get the tax information as soon as the taxes get straight we'll bring you
back in or you'll you'll hear us well okay sounds good thank you thank you dan mr consul stay there
please you got it number 10 mi 20 25 005060 21 48 master street mr council could you just state
your name you're you're okay yeah it's joseph consoled all right you've already been sworn
mr. councils this is tourniquet it is okay um could you identify your client a
relationship to the property yeah my client is Chivetta property group Mike
Tomasetti is on the call somewhere out there and our vice-chair has a few
questions good morning have you submitted your documents and exhibits
five days in advance of this hearing? Yes, with the exception of an RCO letter. I mean,
the meeting went really well. I know that at least Attorney Emerson is on the back and forth
with Doris. There seemed to be some confusion about why the property address on the actual
notice is 2144, but the address on the plans is 2148. And that has to do, again, we'll discuss it
about the subdivision but the point being um she has not submitted her letter yet so i don't know
has not submitted her letter yet so i don't know we followed up again this morning after
we followed up again this morning after
several follow-ups but we haven't got it as far as i know okay thank you for that information
and do you waive the read another refusal and stipulate to its accuracy i do okay thank you
you can share your screen and proceed with your case or can we go on i i think we're i think
we're fine excuse me okay all right so uh is that my my new presentation uh joseph okay
joseph consul for chivetta property that's 2144 yeah yeah that's where we're at yeah
um mike thomasetti's here representing chivetta uh this is 2148 master street uh referenced in
your system as parent parcel address of 2144 Master Street. This is parcel A of
a larger subdivision. So let's see if I can find it. Here is the evidence of the
subdivision. I'll give you the before. It was sort of weird how this corner
property, which becomes parcel A on the right, was part of the sort of lower
property here. And so what my clients did with the property that they received from the Philadelphia
Housing Authority was create the single family lots that you see in front of you now. And we're
here regarding what this calls Parcel A, the corner of 22nd and Master Street. The corner
property, like all the corner properties here are located in CMX2. So we have a refusal
because what my client is going to do is build a single family home. And we're not able to
provide the necessary commercial space on the first floor. We believe the hardship exists.
We're in contract with the Philadelphia Housing Authority. And in order to provide this housing,
we'd be unable to provide that commercial space.
On top of that, a more traditional type of hardship is
if we're looking at the other approvals,
we've got other one corner, two corners, three corners.
There are no commercial spaces that exist in this area.
So we don't believe that anyone wants to see one placed here.
So those are kind of the two pillars of our argument.
that's the subdivision. It's going to be a three-story home. As you can see here, this is the
one plan for that. I'll go through just quickly the three plans that we have.
It's another showing the elevation. Coming in at, doo-doo-doo, there's the roofline.
other plans so that you know the Chiveta has a couple of different models they always match the
facades of the surrounding buildings and this is one of their three-story models there's the deed
of confirmation data subdivision that is how this property got split prior to coming through this
zoning process. Already showed those. They're proof of mailing, proof of photos,
gives you an idea what the lot looks like in February.
Sit from the side.
Here are other properties in the same subdivision, so you get an idea of what this property is going to look like.
These are in progress.
And there's the deed again.
So I'll call my client, Mike Tomasetti, to adopt my testimony.
I understand if we have to wait for the RCO, although I don't anticipate that being at all negative.
Yeah, Mike, are you available to raise your virtual hand?
Michael has been promoting.
Hey there, Mike.
Michael Tomasetti, can you unmute yourself?
Michael Thomas said he can you unmute yourself.
Yeah, you hear me? I, Mr.
So, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer? Yes, my name is Mike Thomas. Setti T. O. M. A. S. E. T. I. you swear affirm to tell the truth told truth. Nothing but the truth. Yes, I do. Would you turn your video on please? Sure.
All right, Joe, is that your cue, bud?
Normally I'm cued. So, Mike, did you hear my testimony just now regarding your property at
2148 Master Street? Yes, I did. Do you adopt it as your own?
Absolutely, Joe. Okay. We have nothing else to add except,
uh michael we did meet with um doris and the brewery town shardswood community association
in december that's correct correct okay only haven't heard from them yet i have nothing
further for my client all right questions from the board
questions or comments from our attorney hillary emerson not at this time mr chair questions or
comments from the virtual audience there are no needs here planning commission good morning liz
fuselay on behalf of the philadelphia city planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends uh
no change change from the cmx2 commercial mixed use zoning to rm1 residential multi-family at
this location the appellant has shown that the proposal fits within the existing neighborhood
context and granting the variance will be in harmony with the purpose and spirit of the zoning
code the city planning commission recommends the board grant the variance for no active ground floor
active use um hillary we'll wait for the rco um we can do that mr chair um i would um set the
that give a date for it right why don't we do two weeks is that okay okay that's fine that would be
march 11th we'll vote in 9 30. 9 30 a.m march 11th see if we can't get that right and the record is
uh otherwise closed except the rco letter and any response from the applicant all right thank you
thank you joe thank you all right number 11 mi 20 25 005 130 25 32 north 18th street
karen wise is the attorney corinne wise um
partner wise is coming in as panels sure
good morning mr chair members of the board hi could you please state your name and spell for
the stenographer yes corin wise c-o-r-e-n w-i-s-e right um do you swear or affirm to tell the truth
the whole truth nothing but the truth yes sir could you identify your client the relationship
to the property i represent alex palmer he's the administrator for the estate the estate owns this
property the state of henry nailer uh alex palmer should be in the audience and i ask him to raise
his hand all right right and our vice chair has a few questions good morning have you submitted
your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing yes i have and do you waive the
reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy yes i do you can thank you you can
share your screen and proceed with your case thank you
let me try that again
okay you should be seeing my exhibit packets yes okay so this property is 2532 north 18th street
this is 18th street up above cumberland street um and hunter den
and here's the refusal the application is for a variance for a duplex two-family dwelling
it is zoned RSA 5 presently this is the deed as I stated earlier the owner is the
This is the deed. As I stated earlier, the owner is the estate of Henry Naylor. And this is a 1998 deed. This property was a subject of litigation after Mr. Naylor, who was the prior owner, passed away. And it sat for many, many years after being deeded to the estate itself.
this is a photo of the facades let me flip this here we go sorry this was a color photo it's
scanned in black and white um but you get the idea where we 2532 is this property in the middle and
to give you a little bit of history uh i i am an attorney i've been before the board many times i
also uh do renovate and manage rental properties and my experience with this property 2532 started
next door 2530 where the llc i was involved with was involved with renovating this it was a fire
damaged property because uh starting in 2017 um i became involved with uh finding distressed
properties in in somewhat blighted and distressed areas and and bringing uh homes back to these
blocks um obtaining renovating and managing properties that otherwise might be uh continue
to be vacant or ultimately be demolished we were renovating 25 30 next door when our basement kept
flooding and we looked next door and we found and this was one of the first properties so
uh i was naive at the time i never really looked next door but we we come to find next door um let
flip this photo so we it's kind of confusing to see the perspective this is a photo i'm taking
this photo i'm standing you can see the banister here i'm standing at the top of the steps on the
second floor this is the second floor it's collapsed in let me move to the next photo
and sorry let me orient this one because what's up is down okay so this is me standing in the same
place let me reduce this a little bit all right so this is me standing in the same place there's
the front window on the second floor i'm looking up to the roof so the roof of this property was
collapsed now we know why the basement was flooding and the second floor was collapsed into the first
floor this is a photo of 2532 back this is back in 2018. this is the roof on on the top side of
roof there's not supposed to be a hole there right uh so this whole roof since 98 there was like i
said there was litigation over this property relatives were fighting for some reason and then
they did nothing and the uh property sat for for 20 years or so and um it essentially collapsed in
on itself uh being the next being next door and renovating the property next door um i reached
out to the owner at that time in the state of henry nailer who had a uh administrator at the
time named annette phillips and i you know voiced my concerns i hope they make repairs
uh we didn't get anywhere no repairs were done so what i did um was employee act 135 and i was
appointed the or i should say the llc i was involved with was appointed as the conservator
of this next-door property, and I had established standing as a conservator since I was involved
with 2530 next door. You see this is the order we're looking at August 31st, 2018, where the
address is 2532 North 18th Street. The petition is granted, and the LLC I'm involved with, Philly
Deeds, is appointed the conservator. And here you see in paragraph four, the court orders us to
make obtain a make safe permit replace the roof remove the debris and foliage and clean out the
interior so we did set upon doing that here's a photo of uh the roof where all those roof joists
had to be replaced um and this is the underside of the new roof this is the top of the new roof no
more holes um and that's the uh let me flip that apologize and there's so now you can see now the
second floor all that collapsed debris has been removed and the property's stabilized and no longer
flooding the neighbor's uh properties and it's a stabilized property at that point but still
vacant here's the second floor you can still see floorboards and some some of these joists are still
still rotted in nature but it was stabilized and the hope at that point back in 2018 when we
stabilized it and reduced the blight was to renovate this property as well and the way we
renovate this property as well and the way we do that usually is to seek bank bank financing um
do that usually is to seek bank
and i want to i want to uh at that at that time bank financing so so mr weiss let me you know
would be easier if i understand this so you did the place next door after a fire correct right
did you create a duplex there that's a single family there was fighting that was a single
family and you're requesting a duplex here correct because okay yes thank you at the time
financing wasn't available because the values on this block hadn't really appreciated to the point
where a bank would finance this one as a single family here's a photo of the rear um so we we set
that aside we moved on to other photo I'm sorry other um properties and I'll show you some of the
projects where we um kind of followed the same program where uh here's 5851 addison street where
this was also structurally yeah i understand that but i think what we should do instead i think we
should concentrate on the property you're talking about i understand all the work you've done but
tell us about this property so the property sat in the meantime uh mr def Phillips the administrator
passed away. So an administrator was substituted in Mr. Alex Palmer. Here's the decree appointing
Mr. Alex Palmer as the administrator to the estate of Henry Naylor. And we're working with
Mr. Palmer and the estate to bring this property back to occupy it, get some occupants in there
on the block and save it from, continue saving it from demolition. Here's the plans we're
proposing interest rates the market have not have not cooperated over the number of years that have
passed and the financing still isn't there so the hardship on this block it was mentioned earlier
by mr anastasio which was a property next nearby the 2200 block of 17th street this one's a little
further north and a block over um where the uh there's a number of vacant properties there's a
number of vacant lots. What we've done is propose a duplex with one-bedroom units, two of them.
Here's the first floor. Here's the second floor. Similar, identical, I should say, layout where
you have a good-sized living room, a good-sized kitchen. There's a door existing here in the
kitchen. There's also that ever-present door in the rear on the first floor. And we are proposing
one bedroom it's a huge bedroom this is is going to be a nice upscale unit this you can see the
dimension here is about 11 and a half feet wide and this dimension here from the front of the
kitchen to the bedroom is 25 feet but the bedroom occupies more than half so this bedroom is about
12 or 13 feet deep with a closet so it's a good large bedroom with a comfortable bathroom
um very nice kitchen with uh wraparound counters these will include trash storage and and trash
cans there's also washer dryers posed in the units and uh this a lot of times we see this
can be used as a office space here um no no living space in the basement no underpinning
no excavation in the basement just two units one bedrooms where we have found over the properties
we've renovated and managed.
There's a great need for smaller units,
one-bedroom units for single people,
maybe a couple.
So this brings a variety of housing stock
to this area and gets this property
back on its feet and occupied.
Most of our longest-standing tenants
are actually single folks
that have been in these properties
six, seven years.
Here's the RCO.
So, notice that was mailed to 220-some addresses.
We did reach out to the neighbors on the block, and let me flip this, I'm sorry, and spoke
to neighbors on the block of 18th Street, which did not oppose renovation to two apartments
there.
Most were happy that something would be done with this property.
Here's the posted notices of today's hearing.
this is the tax uh for this i don't know why the uh cert wasn't available but you can see here in
the tax records where the taxes have been paid only taxes do where the 2026 balance is which
the one that you redid for the fire is a single family home right correct the other side of this
property what is that uh this property is um miss uh miss barbara smith who's a long time was that
miss barbara smith who's a long time is that a single family home too she's a single family
a single family home too she's
yes so you have two single family homes and you're redoing this one and you want a duplex
correct there's other duplexes continue okay um
yeah uh there's just there's vacant vacant lots up the block and and uh this is what we were trying
to avoid this this property being demolished here's the block faces um a couple uh parcels there and
i just wanted to show this is the service of the if of the rsu notices if that's of interest
but um
the, yes, the various requests is for duplex, which, as I said, the hardship of this lot is
the extensive repairs. Since the, many of the joists that are still there are rotted, have to
be taken out. There is also some structural work that still needs to be done. So the extensive
of work that's required to renovate this property and the financing that's available and the value
of the property after it's done prohibits the financing to be to be issued and allow us to
renovate it like we did next door. Interest rates have only increased and material prices have only
gone up. But let's go back. You just said you want to renovate it like you did next door,
but that's a single family home right well well next door had limited fire damage in the rear
kitchen um this one has extensive damage throughout okay so right that's why so here's the fire
damage in the kitchen at 25 30 and it only had a hole in the roof where the fire department cut in
but the rest of it was good to go and so there was no structural work to do the the difference
between 2530 and this one 2532 is that every structural member in this property is rotted and
needs to be replaced and so you want to you want to do duplex because of financial reasons
right the the hardship on the block is that the value uh to the value the ARV they say after repair
value uh essentially the budget too all right so when I do this why don't why don't we let let a
couple of our uh board members questions on the board
hmm it's it he owns it all right he's the lawyer no but he's going to do it so i'm working with
mr wise who do you work for right now is this your property yet so no it's it's it's the title
owner is the estate of henry nailer all right is there anybody originally anyone that can adopt
your testimony yes alex palmer is should be on the call okay he's the administrator of the estate
that owns the property sure i i am the administrator of the state of henry nailer
having been appointed by the register your name please and spell for the stenographer
alexander palmer uh p-a-l-m-e-r do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing
but the truth i do um yeah thank you mr palmer have you heard my testimony and is it true and
accurate to the best of your knowledge it is yes and do you do you adopt it as your own for the
record today I do all right questions from the board
what's your plan for trash and where are the mechanical units yes uh the trash
um let me find the plans so these are one bedroom units all the the cabinetry will include uh trash
storage uh in the one in the first store unit uh we've done uh trash uh enclosures in the back in
the second floor unit we can we can incorporate trash storage uh in the unit and i just we also
include trash garbage garbage I'm sorry in this thing the garbage disposal thank you sorry
which so a lot of the food waste will go down down the drain and not into the trash can so
with one person maybe two people trash should be pretty limited but we'll incorporate storage
either in the cabinets or in the utility closet as far as utilities there's a in the plan there
was so we we we put the plan we there's there's a closet for washer dryer heat will be electric
heat will be um electric uh many will be splits um and water heater will be uh on a on a uh in
will be splits
that closet problem uh up above so or it could be in the basement utility as well utility the
the you said there would be what you're saying splits mini splits is that what you're proposing
yeah that's that's uh that's we've done we've done splits which are efficient and and um take
up very little room we also have the basement that can house utilities uh if we decide to go
with uh heat pumps or um if if there's gas service that's needed other questions
questions or comments from our attorney
not at this time Mr. chair questions or comments from the virtual audience
no handshare planning commission good morning Liz Fusilly on behalf of the Philadelphia City
Planning Commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change from the RSA 5 zoning
district the city changed the zoning to RSA 5 in 2014 in a city in a city council supported map
change. There is no unique physical condition or circumstance of this property or a hardship
exhibited to allow additional dwelling units. The City Planning Commission recommends the
board deny the requested variance for two-family residential. MI 2025-005-130-2532 North 18th
Street, I vote no. Michael Johns, my vote is no. Cheryl Gaston, my vote is no. Tanetta Graham,
My vote is no. Ryan McAdams, my vote is no. I am in. My vote is no. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Moving on to number 12, MI 2025-005-261-7308, Caster Avenue. Isaac Slepner is the attorney.
um mr chair we also have um an arabic interpreter um for this matter um i do need to clarify with
mr slepner if the applicant wanted the entire matter interpreted or the interpreter is present
so he can so the client can adopt and answer questions just bring the interpreter on
um Arabic yes okay could the interpreter please come on too uh that's Salim Ammar
what was the interpreter's name again Salim Ammar A-M-M-A-R
Good morning, Mr. Chair and members of the board.
Counsel, could you state your name and spell for this phonographer?
Yes, my name is Isaac Slepner.
First name Isaac, I as in India, S as in Sam, double A as in Alpha, C as in Charlie.
last name slepner s as in sam l as in larry e as in elvis p as in peter n as in norman e as in
elvis r as in robert do you swear referring to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the
truth yes i do trying to get on the uh the interpreter he's right there you sir yep
interpreter could you please state your name is spelled for the stenographer
my name is salim amar which spells s as in sam could you you're gonna have to raise your voice
little bit okay sorry about that so my name is salim amar spells s as in sam a is an apple
l is larry i is an image m is in mary salim my last name is amar which is a is an apple m is in
mary m is in mary a is an apple r is in romeo amar right do you swear do you swear affirm that you
will interpret accurately and completely and partially from english to arabic and from arabic
the english to the best of your ability i do thank you counsel you want to proceed sure um good
morning uh mr chair members of the board i represent jamal awad who is the owner of 7308
castor avenue and i'm going to go ahead could you just give him a few questions hold on one more
minute good morning um have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of
this hearing i have um except for the tax information uh which i did submit yesterday
because i had to i had a little bit of a back and forth with um hillary emerson on that but they
have all been submitted okay yep we received them and do you waive the reading of the refusal and
stipulate to its accuracy yes i do all right thank you you can share your screen and proceed
all right thank you you can show your screen and proceed and mr slepner um i knew you had requested
And Mr. Slepner, I know you had requested a
the interpreter for your client um does your client want the entire proceeding
um translated or did you want the interpreter so that he could adopt your testimony and answer
questions i will ask my client to adopt my testimony and answer questions um that was
yeah that was the kind of the purpose behind the interpreter okay all right thank you for
clarification so i guess i'll have to go a little slower but that's okay if if if your client would
like the the entire proceedings interpreted we can do that and you would just yes break it
break it into chunks okay well let's bring your client on let's bring yeah let's let's bring on
um uh mr awad are you out there why let the interpreter could you look for him please
and mr marf you can just keep uh keep your volume up as much as possible so we want to make sure
we can we can hear you and and the stenographer as well thank you okay i will just uh call back
your client said i would i see him in the virtual audience jamal awad
can we try to promote him to panelists and see if he'll accept yeah go ahead
hello hello hello can you hear us
so so mr sleptman that's mr ahmad right your your client um yeah so my client is the owner
jamal awad he's the owner of the property his son is also there with him but uh who does speak
english but um i i wanted to obviously have the board appointed interpreter because that's the way
all right it should be done um i i've been also working with danny awad who is it was jamal awad's
son um who is actually the owner of the business that is at this property but mr awad is the record
owner of the property so he's my client and he's the one that needs the interpreting service
but i just need him to i need you guys to put your um danny if you can put the camera on as well
all right so let's let's swear mr awad in right yes so could you have jamal awad
state his name and spell for the stenographer
we're really having a hard time you got you got to get closer to the mic or do do something here
isaac why don't you have it why don't you have him just tell him to state his name and spell for
stenographer. Mr. Awad, can you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer?
Sorry to interject, this is Ian Hegarty.
Staff, can we please promote Jamal Awad to a panelist so they can put their video on
and testify?
Thank you.
and mr i'm trying to do it now mr mar i don't know if you're able to get any closer to your
your microphone so we can hear you any better can you hear me now it's a little better even
if you get even closer that's great thank you
He keeps denying the request to be promoted.
Mr. Awai, you have to accept the request to be promoted.
Translator, would you be able to let him know that he needs to accept the request, please?
i i'm getting some feedback from my from danny wad over here saying there's no button so i don't
I'm getting some feedback from my
know if they're having technology issues or what so why don't we do this let me go on to our next
case uh-huh would you see if you can work through danny to get him straight and an interpreter will
be right back okay all right all right yeah thank you okay okay number 15 mi 2025 005 486
6400 calton street bernard anastasio is the attorney
bernard anastasio is returning as a panelist
DARYL FOXMANNELLA.
Good morning, counsel.
Just for the record, state your name.
Vern Anastasio, A-N-A-S-T-A-S-I-O.
On behalf of Mr. Alan Smith.
DARYL FOXMANNELLA.
There was a letter of support from HMMC Squared, RCO.
Our Vice Chair has a few questions, Vern.
Good morning.
morning um have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing
yes ma'am um and do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy
i do all right thank you you can share your screen and proceed with you yeah
6400 carlton this is um from several decades ago interior layout is part of the history of
the property. First floor was a bar, and the second floor was a dining room at one point.
At some point throughout the history, the first floor remained commercial, while the second floor
was, in fact, a residential unit. Prior to my client purchasing the property,
That former commercial space that was the bar became a residential unit.
He purchased the property, thinking that it was legal, and then finding out that he needs to go through this process.
These are photos of the property, both the exterior and interior.
As you can see, there's three electric meters, as there have always been.
we went before the rco the proof of mailing attached it was an in-person meeting it was
very well attended and the neighbors did in fact agree with granting of the variance
given the history of the property
I'm moving all of this into evidence as well.
And now let's take you through the plans itself so you can see how the property is laid out.
There's an entrance in the side for the first floor unit.
That was traditionally the bar entrance.
It comes into a large living, dining, kitchen space, very ample, with a full bathroom and a bedroom.
In the rear of the property, there's an entrance that goes up the stairs,
and it takes you into the existing, long-standing, one-family dwelling on the second floor.
You see a living room, table, kitchen, a bedroom in the front and a bedroom in the rear, but the full bath right off of the bedroom.
And that is the property.
because of the long-standing history of it being two separate units, although commercial
in its most recent history, because there really is no commercial activity on this block
currently, and because we enjoy the full support of the neighbors represented by the RCO,
which we have here, I respectfully request the granting of this variance.
And with that, I'd like to call Mr. Alan Smith to the virtual stand to be sworn in and adopt my presentation as his own.
Alan Smith has been promoted.
good good morning sir could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
Good morning, sir. Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
alan smith a-l-l-a-n-s-m-i-t-h good morning good morning do you swear or affirm to tell
the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes counsel thank you mr chair and members of
board during the community meeting it was asked that we make sure that trash only comes out
during trash days and that all trash be stored in the interior we of course agreed to that
there's also an additional storage area that can be used for trash
right here that's attached to the second floor so then there's a door here that both units can use
So I just wanted to make sure that that was clear and I pointed it out on the plan.
Mr. Smith, did you hear my presentation to the board this morning?
Yes, I have.
True and accurate to the best of your knowledge?
Do you adopt it as your own testimony?
I have nothing further, Mr. Chair.
Questions on the board?
Questions or comments for our attorney?
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
questions or comments from the virtual audience
there are no hands here planning commission good morning liz fusely on behalf of the philadelphia
city planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change in the cmx2 zoning at this
location the proposed use is consistent with documented prior use and will not injure the
uses of adjacent properties the city planning commission recommends the board grant the
requested use variants for two family residential. MI-2025-005-486-6400
Carlton Street. I vote yes with proviso. Trash stored inside.
Cheryl Gaston. My vote is yes with proviso. Tanetta Graham. My vote is yes with proviso.
Ryan McAdams. My vote is yes with proviso. Hiya. My vote is yes with proviso.
Thank you. Thank you. Hillary, I'm going to go back to number five real quick.
So number five, MI 2025, 001-461-4622 Hawthorne Street, Elman Salgario.
elman is coming in at the panelist thank you very much you're welcome
elvin do you speak english no um okay um so elman
um we're going to have to reschedule this case and then we're going to have to
bring an interpreter in for you okay
but can you try i can try maybe you guys understand me
mr elman do you feel comfortable explaining why you are before the board today um to explain
what what you're seeking to do at your property yes okay i mean we can okay all right so
so do me a favor state your name and spell before the interpreter elman a l m a n
e l m a n all right arianos a r e l l a n o s right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth
the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes so i'm going to say this slow this application
is for use as a two-family household living in an existing structure the proposed use two
household two family household living is prohibited in the rsa 5 zoning district but you have a letter
of support from the frankfurt cdc and a letter of non-opposition from council member lazada okay
yes and our our vice chair has just a few questions for you yes good morning
have you have you submit your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing
have you have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance
yes and the chair just read the refusal so do you uh stipulate to its accuracy
yes okay all right thank you you can share your screen and proceed with your case
okay so here so elman this is what you should do tell us what you want to do
i want to have the permit to have a two apartments okay and and what is it currently
currently is that a single home or is it a duplex already it's duplex already okay so
i think what we should do is we have all i believe we have all your documents
could you show us photos of the property and also your plans yes i will show you everything now okay
yes we'll show you the the plans
okay um so there's the basement plan the first floor and the second floor plan am i correct
yes okay so and picture okay all right just go just a little bit slower for us okay
okay so why don't you go back to the plans first it's easier to look at the plans okay
so the basement all you do is store things in the basement there's no one living in the basement
yes nobody there and here's your first floor apartment right yes all right and there's two
apartments yes all right and tell me about the third this what would be the second floor what's
on the second floor second floor is one bedroom apartment okay um do you have photos too and then
we'll come back to the drawings later show us your photos this is is that the second okay that's the
first floor to second floor this this is the the first floor first floor okay i will show you the
second floor sure this is the second floor this is the kitchen yep right and show us what do you
have anything else on the second floor where's that the first floor this is fourth floor okay
first floor this is the the this is the second floor but okay
is it first floor well that's the basement and that's the basement for storage am i correct
and there's separate heat and utilities yes okay
applies to is the front the entrance to the building of that so how do you and how do you
get to the second floor it's just opening either the steps going to the second floor
Okay, so when you go in, there's steps to the second floor and then the apartment's the other way, right?
And how long has it been like this?
I bought it like that.
And I can also show you the last permit was a duplex.
Right.
Before.
And I bought it like a duplex.
But when I try to have the rentalizing, they say I have to go to the zoning permit.
All right.
Sir, Elman, could you tell me, is there other duplexes on the street?
I think it's on the other side.
It's a duplex.
i don't know how the address all right um questions from the board
hi what what is your trash plan for your tests you can see the fence is is a door so it's backyard
the first floor have a uh have a they can open the back door and the second floor is coming to
the side of the building and open the side door so i can put the trash there and uh we have a
i have a plan like a the days put the trash out each standing is going to put the
the cycle and the trash every tuesday out standing responsible for that they put in seven
tuesday 7 p.m the trash out and then those those trees aren't in the yard those trees were beside
the yard correct the picture that she showed the trees were beside the yard not in the yard
The trees were beside the yard, not in the yard.
the trees are prone okay
The trees are prone.
Or the trees are the neighbor house.
So both tenants have access to the yard to store their trash.
Thank you.
Other questions?
Questions or comments from our attorney?
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
there are no hands here planning commission good morning Liz fusely on behalf of the Philadelphia
city planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the RSA 5 residential
single-family zoning at this location the city rezoned this neighborhood in 2014 in accordance
with the recommendations in the comprehensive plan at that time this block face was zoned RM1
residential multi-family this property has a documented history of two dwelling units
the planning commission recommends that the board grant the proposed use variants for two dwelling
units thank you mi 2025 001 461 4622 hawthorne street i vote yes michael johns my vote is yes
thank you cheryl gaston my vote is yes tenetta graham my vote is yes ryan mcadams my vote is yes
i win my vote is yes okay let's go back to number 12 mi 2025 005 261 7308 caster
mr slepner interpreter and hopefully jamal
isaac slepner is rejoining at the panelists thank you
good morning again mr. chair members of the board I'm trying to click my video
but it says it's disabled by the host all right well we'll figure that out for
you okay thank you how are we doing there we go start my video I've got my
client that they are set up on a computer um they should be able to accept the board's invitation
okay um and we can uh get started interpreter please all right mr interpreter are you back out
there what's the name selim ammar and mr slepner do you know what name your client is under
my clan should be under Jamal Awad okay if he's not he's out there under Danny
Awad but either way yeah oh I think I see so I like Saud Awad if it's Saud
Awad that's that's him yes okay they have all been promoted
okay great I just need the interpreter no yes sir I'm here
can you hear me this is the interpreter you got Salim you got to speak up okay this is the
interpreter yes sir oh that's okay good you know what a good very good thank you we'll keep that
close now could you could you call jamal awad for us yes uh mr awad jamal awad
you've been invited uh as a panelist please uh go ahead and click okay
can you hear us yes you're gonna need your camera on though please
I don't see what it's asking. It's not asking us.
We're hearing you, but we're not seeing you.
Hold on. Where's the camera?
It appears that the camera's on. It's just something's over it.
It might just be covered.
Okay, we covered.
All right, now we're on.
Here we go.
All right.
Okay, so first thing, interpreter, could you have Jamal Awad state his name and spell it?
Jamal Awad, J-A-M-A-L, the last name A-W-A-D.
the last name a w ad and then um do you i'm going to for yeah he may understand this do you do you
swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do okay um so so isaac
here here's here's where i think we need to be yes instead of using an interpreter the whole time
what he doesn't understand if he gets to the point he doesn't stand something we'll have the
interpreter come on okay i i think that is reasonable yes thank you and have you talked
all right why don't you start your presentation all right will do and isaac isaac let's say first
if there's anything you don't understand uh jamal yes let us know and the interpreter will speak to
you okay all right yes all right thank you very much go ahead thank you i think that'll work
i'm gonna go ahead and share my screen um let's get to my screen it should be this one
and sharing there we go all right um so this is our notice of refusal which we have already
stipulated to so i'm going to start with this is the deed to the property in favor of jamal awad
recorded on march 7th of 2020 so mr schlepner we have all your paperwork okay so i think what
what you need to do is um show us plans of what you want to do and photos absolutely so the refusal
was only for um the the grocery taking up more than 2 000 square feet at the ground floor of a
cmx1 so i do have many uh photos and also a full set of plans i'm going to show you the plans
first this is a full floor plan and bear with me while it
blows up the size of the plan there we go
so over here is the floor plan uh as it currently exists so this is actually
uh the rear door this is
actually i can't
no that's the front door this is the front door this is caster avenue right
here this is the front door at the ground level this is a future site of a bakery
this around right here is the site of the butcher counter then aisles of stock
over here are the produce racks freezer aisle rear of the store cashiers desk is
right about here these are a ramp that goes up to the exit at the rear where
there is a small private parking lot. This is the basement plan, which is largely just storage
and a powder room. No, there's no basement, Isaac. Oh, is that a second floor? No, there's no second
floor. There's no basement. Oh, okay. I'm just looking at this as to whether to... I guess one
is it furnished and one is it unfurnished. But all right, let me show the photos because this
has been an operating market for several years at this time. And again, the only refusal was for
overage of the square footage. So I will start with, in fact, Mr. Awad previously in August of
24 obtained a zoning permit for use as a grocery at this property. I'll show the
board the posting of the orange poster that was posted on 2426 at least 21 days
ago. That's a close-up. It's not orange. It was printed in white. This is the front
window of this of the grocery and then this is the Castor Ave front door of the
grocery with the poster posted there. This is a frontal view on a less snowy
day of the market. This is the interior of the front door looking out to Caster
Avenue. This space right here is intended eventually to become a bakery. Some
storage and some stock in the front of the store. This is the freezer aisle that
goes most of the length of the store back towards the back and some produce
case, and over here are some more stock shelves. Over here is a shot of the interior from the rear.
This is the checkout counter, some more stock, and then aisles one, two, and then there's a third aisle.
That window, that's the Castarev entrance side. This is sort of the same view, but more of just
the aisle. This is another view of the interior in the middle two aisles and some end caps.
that's again the window and the front door out to Caster Avenue. This is the
this is the interior looking from the Castor Avenue front door inside the
interior looking from the Caster Avenue front door inside.
store this is the future site of the bakery some more stock and then over
here's the butcher shop produce case produce case here's the butcher shop my
wife bought a whole pound of nice lamb and made some stew with it last weekend
this is the rear door going is a bit of a ramp going from the floor of the store
out towards that door there and then this is outside a view of the rear door
and this is a small parking area that's also part of 7308 caster
um isaac just to be sure yes it's your client is there anything he doesn't understand yet
uh mr awad is there anything you didn't understand would like the interpreter to interpret
it no i understand i do okay great all right all right um so mr awad uh i would ask i would ask you
you did hear every all the testimony that i offered to the board just now yes and it was it all true
and correct to the best of your knowledge yes that's correct and would you adopt that testimony
as though you had given it yourself yes thank you mr wad um so one isaac just could you address the
issue of this the the square footage yes so the property is cmx1 which does allow by right a
grocery store but it only allows 2 000 square feet uh to be devoted to the grocery store
This store is about 4,200 square feet, 4,500 square feet.
4,585.
4,585.
And that is the reason for the refusal.
The refusal was generated because Mr. Awad applied for a certificate of occupancy and was denied because of the notice of refusal.
All right.
All right.
Questions from the board.
so will the bakery part of this be part of the 4585 or are we is that included in the 4585 or
or the potential bakery how how is that the 40 4585 square feet is the square footage of the
interior of the store currently so that would be included in the 4,585 okay even
though we're not operating that yet is that correct the bakery is not
currently operating okay but this would give him the option to have the bakery
and that's correct okay and then how much okay um my other issues about all
this signage um does he have permission for all these signs i i understand he has permission for
the grocery store and what have you but it seems like this is a lot of signage and i can my question
is had it ever been permitted in the past is is that what you're asking i'm asking if it's
permitted at all well um my understanding of signage is that there may need to be a permit
obtained but uh yeah i mean you've got from the pictures i saw there's a open sign which is
flashing in the window so that requires a huge sign on the roof too yeah and then the there's
the sign on the top which is the huge like yeah two sides line and then you've got in the back
there's a whole nother big panel um so my question is um do we have any permission
for all this signage that's on the property i'm i'm looking at the property history right now
but there are well electrical but that wouldn't necessarily be a sign permit and September of
2024 commercial building permit and that was for interior work so it I'm not seeing it Mr. Awad
had you ever obtained permits for the signage either at the front door or the rear door?
it's there it's been there the sign at the front door and the sign at the rear door yes okay
The sign at the front door and the
is there a sign on the roof too hang on i'll show i'll get my screen back up here sorry
what i'll say is that you know you're you're allowed a certain amount of accessory um signage
true but you still have to ask for it and you've also got all of this stuff in the windows which
is considered to be signage the stickers yeah all that writing on the windows and things like that
those are all yeah yeah you you're allowed a certain percentage but I I would think that
there would be so so Hillary um say we went ahead with this could we make a proviso no signs approved
with this so if they're not and sorry let me just go back to the language of the refusal if they're
not on the refusal that they're not within the scope of what's approved yeah so you would need
to get separate permits for signage I don't sorry I'm just looking to see if this oh yeah so this
this refusal actually said no sign on this application so it's art it's clear on the
the scope but i just did want to note um for um for the owner mr awad that there um there's
provisions in the zoning code that specify how much of a window you can have covered with signage
or stickers um so your attorney can probably help you find that but you can't cover more than a
certain percentage of the window um so just want to clarify that we can talk about that after we're
done here um today we're talking that roof sign and then the ones in the back where you've got the
big sign and you've got something on the building i mean we're and there's other yeah there's more
of that um at that uh at that i think that's the rear so you've got you've got quite a bit of
signage here oh hillary go back if we approve this thing should we provide those signs approved
so all that is before the board is the use greater than 2 000 square feet um no signage is before the
board so they will need the any explicitly states on the refusal that there is not signage as part
of this application so right okay fine any other questions yes do you have like a dumpster or like
where where's your your trash for the business um i know they have a contract with waste management
they have private haulers but where is the dumpster located out back yes in the back okay
And that's in the parking area. Correct? Yes. Yes.
Other questions.
Questions or comments from our attorney.
No additional comments questions or comments from the virtual audience.
I see no hands here.
planning commission good afternoon liz fuselay from the philadelphia city planning commission
the comprehensive plan recommends a change in zoning at this location from cmx1 commercial
mixed use to cmx2 however the property was remapped in 2022 from cmx2 to cmx1
with the planning commission voting against the bill the proposed active use occupation of the
ground floor would be allowed under the proposed zoning the planning commission recommends the
board grant the requested variance for ground floor occupancy so mi2025-005-261-7308 castor avenue i
vote yes michael johns my vote is yes charles gaston my vote is yes tenetta graham my vote is
yes mcadams my vote is yes i own my vote is yes um council will you please tell your make sure
he understands yes um mr wad the board has just voted to grant the variance um unanimously six
to zero so uh mr translate uh interpreter you may want to relay that to my client as well
okay all right thank you uh thank you members thank you thank you interpreter thank you very
much for helping us mr interpreter thank you uh mr wad thank you board thank you i'll give you
uh mr wad thank you board thank you thank you everyone have a good day right is there anyone in
Thank you, everyone. Have a good day.
the uh audience whose case has not been called no hands here okay see everyone
Thank you.
Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Bill Bergman. I will be chairing this meeting
of the Philadelphia Zoning Board of Adjustment. With me is our Board Vice Chair, Tanetta Graham.
Present, Mr. Chairman. Our Board Secretary, Cheryl L. Gaston. Present, Mr. Chairman. Board
member michael johns president mr chairman board member tya wynn president mr chairman board member
ryan mcadams president mr chairman so here is our attorney hillary emerson our zoning board director
aane hagerty and our board administrator lakeisha dandy recording of this hearing will be posted
on the zba website by participating you consent to be recorded this is an in-person meeting with
remote capabilities whether remote or in person if you're called to speak you must state and spell
your name then wait to be sworn in once you've been sworn in please state your name each time
before your testimony any person may enter their appearance you can identify the case property
address in your zoom webinar you can see a staff member or you can call the zba appearance line
by the close of business tomorrow call 267-270-5548 leave a message that includes your
email and the address of the appeal case following guidance is for remote attendees
when directed you must raise your virtual hand in order to be recognized to speak
if you're called to testify you'll be prompted to join as a panelist
please accept the request and turn on your camera the webinar q a is for questions about the hearing
do not comment on cases in the q a and if you're participating by phone press star nine to raise
your hand and star six to unmute for our in-person attendees refrain from talking eating or drinking
during the hearings verbal and physical aggression will not be tolerated restaurants restrooms are
across from the elevator water fountain is just outside the room to the right when speaking on
the record you must speak directly into the microphone in order to be heard by all attendees
and the court reporter in the event of emergency please follow the directions given over the public
address system or by staff the main exodus through the double doors at the rear of the room
the nearest stairwell is to the left outside the doors in case of an evacuation the rally
point is at love park directly across heart street please remain here so we can account for you
so let's look at our schedule for this afternoon
number four mi2025-005-400 7789 craig street that case is continued to march 11th at 2 p.m
number five mi 2025 005 417 1110 wagner street that case is continued until 6 10 at 2 p.m
and number 10
Number 10, MI2025-006-493-4700 City Line Avenue. That case is continued. Attorney moving party.
Are there any other requests for continuances?
No hands at this time, Chair.
thank you we're going to go to our add-on list number one mi2025-006-25
Number one, MI 2025, 006253, 230 North 53rd Street, my vote is no.
I'm recused from this.
Oh, Cheryl Gaston, my vote is no.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is no.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is no.
ION, my vote is no.
Number two, MI 2025-006-277-907 North 43rd Street.
The vote on this has been moved to 3426 at 9.30 a.m.
That's at 2 p.m., Mr. Chair.
Okay, I'm sorry, 3426 at 2 p.m.
and number three mi 2025 005 892 1341 east oxford avenue i vote yes
michael johns my vote is yes cheryl gaston my vote is yes tenetta graham my vote is yes
ryan mcadams my vote is yes hi owen my vote is yes we're going to go to our regular list
MI 2025, 004191, 338 to 50 North 65th Street.
John Warzarek is the attorney for the owner.
They're being promoted to panelists here.
He's right here.
Don't say that.
Or is it pretty good here?
could you please state your name is spelled for the stenographer uh good afternoon board
members my name is john wazorek w-i-e-c-z-o-r-e-k and i'm here on behalf of the city all right do
you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes i do and
there's a recommendation of support from h mc squared the rco our vice chair has a few questions
Good afternoon. Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing? Yes, I have. And do you wait to really know the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy? Yes, I do. Okay. Thank you. Can you see your screen and proceed with your case?
and yeah I think I need to be promoted oh there we go
Is that big enough for the board? Yes.
So i'm gonna cut the chase cut to the chase here.
This involves granahan recreation center it is in the Haddington neighborhood of Philadelphia.
We are going to and hoping to demolish the exact existing recreation center, which you'll see the pictures of what its current state is, and we're hoping to expand the footprint slightly make a new larger building to improve, you know, the programming that is available to the community members who frequent this recreation center.
Thanks, Hillary. So, as part of our refusal, the city was required to include a parking spot at the recreation center because we were increasing the footprint.
And so we are seeking a variance as we'll show that would be a hardship for the city to put in the parking spot.
And so I'm going to show you the presentation that our architect prepared that we presented to the RCO.
this is city exhibit c1 here are and i'll zoom in on these for the board the existing site this is
the granahan recreation center the parcel is 338 to 50 north 65th street the building that's
involved in this request is highlighted here in yellow we'll see more pictures of it the scope
of this project does not include you know this court here playground and this is a skate park
in the corner that you'll see we're really focused on this specific recreation center building
here's another angle of the parcel
here is the current building that the city's hoping to demolish and rebuild
demolish and rebuild as you can see it's in the Community mentioned us this to us it is quite small, you can see there's.
As you can see, it's in the community.
It's not being kept in the best shape, and so we're hoping to kind of improve this and help revitalize this recreation Center.
And so here's an overview the site plan.
if the board can see the main piece of this project will be this at the upper part of this
plan here the expanded area of the building is really attributable to this area and that's where
we will have hopefully programming for after school programs the community was very interested
in hosting their own senior programs and this is really about giving us space for the community
to have you know safe inside space at this recreation center and somewhere for the
community to meet that's also you know as part of this larger parcel with the field the playground
and the skate park as well the refusal the city received was because of the expanded footprint
we would be required to add a parking spot as we will show that this parking spot would be a
hardship and that really relates to and I'm going to go to some of the current site photos for this
if you'll see
here so this is the recreation center this is the view from
uh cowhill street so this is the recreation center here i'm going to talk about why this
is the case but the only place to put that parking spot on this parcel would be right
next to the recreation center over these uh stairs here it would involve having to regrade
the street cut out those stairs and put the sole parking spot here which again there's
no existing parking spot at this parcel and one of the things that's important to note is
and I think there are some more site photos that will demonstrate this there is a retaining wall
essentially around the whole parcel this is the sole ADA accessible entrance it is on
Callow Hill Street and 66 I believe and this is the sole part of the parcel that is street level
the rest of the parcel we'll have some more photographs for the board to see
is has this retaining wall around it and so it actually on the other side of this parcel it's
even much higher than it is here and so this is the current access and if you'll recall those
little steps that you can see here next to the recreation center that's where we would have to
put this parking spot which would therefore cut off the ada accessibility from this corner of the
parcel well i mean we don't want a car where the kids are playing anyway right i mean correct seems
to yeah that's the city's intention this has not had a spot ever it's it's a park there's all these
recreation facilities we don't think having to put a we believe that putting a spot here
and again having to regrade essentially the whole sidewalk the whole street figure out the how to
make this ada accessible that would be a hardship on the city to have to comply with the zoning code
and we believe not requiring this uh zoning requirement and just saying we we don't need the
parking spot would be the least modification necessary yep and i can show you more pictures
the current site this is just to the retaining wall around the parcel this is kind of the
opposite corner you can see how high this is and why putting a parking spot anywhere else would
really be uh not feasible for the city again here's more pictures uh here's some renderings
of what we are hoping uh for the new recreation center to look like the car probably wouldn't look
nice reel there right personally i don't think so but that's the board's judgment uh and one thing
i just want to mention is that the the rco talked about kind of safety in terms of the entrance of
this park there are gates that will be able to close off and seal this entrance uh and again
they were very excited about this expanded area over here which will be able to host you know
team meetings, other programming for both children and adults of the community.
So I think you've really made your case about parking a car on the property.
So why don't you have your testimony adopted?
Sounds good, Board Chair.
Please state your name for the record.
Could you please spell it for the court stenographer?
could you please spell it for the court stenographer
i'm sorry chair the microphone is not on this is a reporter all right all right
all right my name is andrew ferrari that's f-e-r-r-a-r-e-l-l-i right do you swear or affirm
the tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes counsel uh mr ferrari did you hear
my testimony before the board today yes i did is it a true and accurate depiction of what your
testimony would be on this project yes that is correct you adopt it as your own yes questions
from the board yeah i have a question so where do people normally park when they do visit the
recreation center uh so generally just street parking all around uh the parcel so there is no
interior parking in the yes for this parcel there is uh granahan park across the street that again
is not in scope of this project but yes for this visiting this spot it would just be street parking
around okay and so what would um happen in terms of like deliveries or service vehicles um do they
have access to um getting into the area where would they go so to access this parcel with the
recreation like in case something had to be serviced correct so there is no current access
for vehicles into the park they would have to be outside and then come in correct okay
other questions yeah just a just a comment i'm just i drive past here all the time it's
very familiar with this site glad to see something being done um with the rec center is highly
utilized day and evening um you always see kids out there and when they have activities people
People park completely around the site, and there seems to be adequate parking on the street.
So I think glad to see something happening here.
Questions from our attorney, Hillary Emerson.
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
No hands at this time, Chair.
Planning Commission.
Amy Boyd with the Planning Commission, A-M-Y-B-O-Y-D.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Please proceed.
A comprehensive plan recommends a change in zoning at this location from the current R1 residential multifamily to SPPO, special purpose parks and open space.
The property is currently a park with a recreation center and no parking.
The proposal is to replace the detached building.
The Planning Commission recommends that the board grant the requested variance for no parking.
mi2025004191 338 to 50 north 65th street i vote yes michael johns my vote is yes
cheryl gaston my vote is yes tanetta graham my vote is yes ryan mcadams my vote is yes
iowen my vote is yes thank you thank you board members appreciate it so number two mi2025005105
5427 Wayne Avenue.
Dorothy Ann Hamill is the attorney.
There's support, a letter of support from Penn Knox Neighborhood Association.
They're being promoted to panelist.
A letter of non-opposition from Solo Germantown.
They're being promoted to panelists.
Thank you.
good morning members of the board good afternoon council
oh yeah um could you please state your name and spell for this stenographer in that day
um dorothy hamill d-o-r-o-t-h-y h-a-m as in mary i-l-l surlin lesser and benson do you swear or
affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do our vice chair has a few
questions good afternoon good afternoon have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days
in advance of this hearing i have and do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its
accuracy i do okay thank you can share your screen and proceed with your case okay thank you
Mm-hmm.
Okay. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, members of the board. I'm here regarding the property
5427 Wayne Avenue, Children of the Future Learning Center. I was actually here before
the board uh about three years ago uh on the same property for the same use uh similar use i should
say uh the premises is currently licensed for operation of a child care group child care which
is under 12 children um we've applied for a variance to change the use from that to child
care center which allows up to 30 children that is not permitted in the zoning district
uh the prior use was not permitted as well we obtained a variance for that and have a current
use permit for that use i've included council council we don't see any of your documents yet
we just see the the large flower i guess it is uh okay hold on since i'm sharing let me see
Yeah, go ahead. Thank you.
There you go. I guess we see a deed.
Okay, great.
So I've included in my presentation, I have my deed prior was my zoning application.
Deed showing ownership of the property, which has not changed.
I've included a summary of the proposed use.
Currently, as I've mentioned, it's a 12 center, 12 children center.
We're looking to increase to 30 children, which will also, the space is also going, is also larger because she's taking the entire first floor.
Right now, she only has a portion of the first floor.
She's done very well since she's opened.
She's been an active member of the community.
The center has been well received.
She provides 24-hour daycare, which has become useful and important in the community because
the building is not too far from a local police district, and there are a number of people
who have overnight shifts.
That third shift, so we are having, right now, I think there are probably about three or four children who are needing the overnight, and others have expressed interest.
child care center has safety protocols cameras installed around the Cox security and you know
they offer transportation if children can't be dropped off they offer transportation by
licensed drivers they accept subsidies and everyone who works at the center is safe serve certified
the tenant currently has a six-year lease which will expire in 2030 you know this is sort of an
unusual space which is the request for hardship it is it has been a number of things over the
years. I think there was a hair salon at one time, I think there was furniture at another time.
It's sort of partly, partly above ground, partly below ground. The
and an antique store. The premises in total for the child care center is 2,600 square feet,
property surrounded by other apartment complexes, triplexes, quadruplexes. There's some
other apartment complexes triplexes quadruplexes there's some single family homes and a corner
supermarket um across the street and about a block away i've included the existing zoning permit
for the current use of as a group child care attached as the blower pictures of the outside
premises and below is pictures of the interior of the premises there's a small
kitchen no cooking is done on site but it they provide snacks juices fruits they
have a small microwave. There's a play area. I've included pictures of
both sides of the property showing the interior. There are interior bathrooms. There are three
bathrooms inside. I've included additional pictures of the exterior showing directly
across down the street from where the property is located. I've attached a diagram showing
the total square footage and the layout of the spaces within the building.
Attached is also the certificate of compliance which shows that the state has certified the
property for its current use and has been approved. The operator has also spoken to the state regarding
expansion they've already come in and done a preliminary inspection reviewed the space the
layout the size the state has confirmed that um that it meets the qualifications that it needs
to have in order to extend the um extend the use to accommodate up to 30 children
I have provided tax clearance, evidence of tax clearance.
The letter of support that we received is also attached from Penn Knox.
And I've included all of my proof of mailings to all the neighborhoods.
So we're asking, this has been a benefit to the community,
and there has been expressed interest for the operator to expand to be able to accommodate
additional additional children and so we asked the board to approve the variance request and
there's two units there c1 and c2 correct and that was like you were shown both sides is what
you meant correct yes could you bring on your your client and have your testimony adopted okay erica
i think you're you're muted erica
okay hello okay i reckon could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer yes my
name is erica williams miller e-r-i-k-i-a williams w-i-l-o-i-a-m-s miller m-i-l-l-e-r
i do swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yes i swear counsel please proceed miss miller you've heard my testimony in regard to this
application to expand the existing child care center correct yes yes i do and do you adopt
my testimony do you confer confirm that it is true and correct and you adopt my testimony as if it
was your own yes i do thank you all right questions from the board can you go back to the the floor
the plans because they kind of breeze through them quickly oh i'm sorry yeah so so first firstly i
just i wanted to say that i appreciate the fact that you're going to
i wanted to say that i appreciate the fact that you go into the state and have gotten a provisional
review of the of the facility um which i think is the first time i've ever seen that come up
which is a good thing um but it's hard to tell from your plan how the how is this a two-story
so this is two story it's not it is side by side oh so okay side by side side by side okay so if i
go back to my picture um so it's both wings of the of the of the correct so if i show you okay right
so if i show you right here it's you know you see this okay so so there's so so how are the children
separated because you have to go in order to manage this thing you have to go out go in one
building and then you have to go out and go into the other building they're not interconnected
correct the two erica i thought is there is there a like a way from the one to the other
inside and not have to walk outside yes i believe that that is correct but i'm eric could you
Can you unmute, Erica, please unmute. Erica, you've got to unmute your phone.
Erica, unmute.
Okay. Hello?
Hi. Thank you, Erica. Can you explain the two sides of the space and are they interconnected?
How do you get from one to the other?
you come outside and go across to the other one okay okay so they're not interconnected okay no
so how will the children be separated right between the two spaces so the children you said
how will they be separated yes the council person wants to know who will be in each side and how
are you going to manage that okay so i would do from zero to three years old on one side
And then on the other side, I would do from three, from five and up.
What about the four euros? So zero to four?
I'm sorry, from zero to four on one side and then from five and up on the other side.
okay and there would be certified staff correct there will be certified certified personnel on
each side yes okay do you have other questions uh not count not a council person
I don't want to do that that way, but no, that's what's to come.
Other questions?
I'm sorry. I'm picking my grandkids up.
Okay. How many, how many bathrooms are on each side?
It's one bare foam on each side. On one side,
um it's two um it's one bare foam with two toilets and on the other side where I will put
the smaller children it's a bare foam with just one toilet okay so it'll be three
commodes shall we say yes 30 children yes well it wouldn't be it wouldn't be 30 all in one space
and on the one side where the smaller children are they'll be the children as just um pampers
and potty training then once they move to the other side that's where the two toilets are
okay and that's okay with this statement yes yes the state approved it it's 15 children per toilet
it's 45 really yes wait one interesting okay but again as we said there's not you know obviously in
the one space you're gonna have you know you have a lot of younger children most of whom are right
in diapers for pampers and you said 24 hours so that's seven days a week yes um some some parents
require overnight it's not every day that they get it but some um like um some hours change for um
different nurses um they have um the six to two and then they have the three to eleven and then
they go from the eleven to seven so it it switches up so it's not like it's every night or and it's
not seven days a week either and i rotate my staff gotcha so you you operate basically like
operate basically like three shifts as well is that what yes yes and how many staff members do
three shifts as well is that what yes
you have right now i have three okay and were you planning to have more when you have more
yes i'll have i'll i'll have um actually right now i work with a program from um you may have
heard of volks middle school they have um a volunteer program once the children once the
students getting to the 12th grade um they have them volunteer and um they can actually stay on
with you but i actually have some of those volunteers as well and they you can um keep
them on you know for work as well but they are there now training and they volunteer and they
work with my staff now so i have three of those as well oh okay thank you yep one quick question
So the RCO, one of the RCOs, one of the proviso that you will have the dumpster service at least minimum five days a week.
Is there any issues with that?
We've done that.
And this has been because of the location of the property.
Trash, you know, not going to shy away.
Trash has been an issue because, you know, it's close to the bus stop.
there's a lot of um a lot of people dumping who don't aren't at the shop at the apartment complex
but we have trash pickup five days a week we have a gate with a lock and we've also um
engaged a resident at the apartment complex who is also now um
monitoring the trash and notifying the building engineer if there's an issue or if it's overflowing.
So we're trying to attack it on all fronts to make sure that we're keeping it in check.
Okay, thank you.
I have a question about sort of layout in the space.
I saw the general spatial layout of the building itself, but are you going to need to do any construction or any partitions?
to set the space up for operations no it's actually oh go ahead Erica feel free oh no every
everything is all set up and I can separate areas like with um bookshelves and stuff like that like
the little bookshelves I can separate the areas so then what's going to be the plan for overnight
shifts when you if you have I guess kids are that are going to be going to sleep at different
times or you might need to have lights on for the staff to be able to sort of operate
while the little people are sleeping well we can dim the lights so we can still have light on
and um we do have like for the children that do stay the fold up mattress and um have some um
some more lights they can tap on the tap lights so i have several of them as well
okay so all of the just to clarify all of the actual fit out work was done at the time the
first space was open the landlord just did all the work at the time and that's how you can see
why all the, you know, carpeting, painting, bathrooms, all of that
was done. So there's not additional work that has
to be done to the units, either unit at this point.
Questions or comments from our attorney?
Hillary, what would we use for a temporary date?
Well, if the lease goes to 20, 30,
yes, that would be four years, just because she's two years
into her six-year lease I think if I could mr. chairman I believe that when
we met with the pen knocks and the other communities organizations they had
requested that the variance be limited to six no actually what they had said
What had come up in the meeting is that the variance would be limited to only so far as Erica Miller operates in the, operates the daycare center.
So somebody else.
No, no.
We can't.
We can't tie a variance to a business.
We're going to come with a date.
Yeah, variance.
Variance is run with the land.
They can't be tied to leases or businesses.
I totally get it.
three one okay all right uh questions or comments virtually
31 okay all right uh questions or comments virtual audience
planning commission
amy boy with the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change
to the rm1 existing zoning at this location i'm sorry rm4 the proposed child care center
would be compatible and complementary to the current use and would not likely enjoy the use
of adjoining property the planning commission recommends that the board grant the proposed
use variance for child care center okay so mi2025-005-105-5427 wayne avenue i vote yes with
proviso temporary variance which will expire 3130 and trash picked up uh six days a week
Michael Johns, my vote is yes, with Proviso.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes, with Proviso.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes, with Proviso.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes, with Proviso.
Iowyn, my vote is yes, with Proviso.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you.
So number three, MI 2025-005-234-6740, Germantown Avenue.
Steve Masters is the attorney.
they're being promoted to panelists okay
mr masters could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
good afternoon mr chair members of the board steve masters steve ma s t e r s do you swear
or firm that tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do could you um identify
your client a relationship to the property uh my client is um a a part of philly office retail
it's called cajun properties llc they are the owners of the property and we have letters of
support um from uh several rcos and there's also a a petition but i do see there's a a letter of
opposition also from someone okay so our vice chair would like to ask you a few questions
okay sure good afternoon um have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance
of this hearing yes and we've um had some amendments so that we just submitted those
earlier today. Okay. Thank you. And do you waive the refusals and stipulate to their accuracy?
I do. Okay. Thank you. You can show your screen and proceed with your case. Okay.
All right.
good afternoon again members of the board uh we are um we are here for a uh a project that was
is very thoughtfully created uh by uh philly office retail ken weinstein as the principal
owner of the firm. This is two parcels that were separated. One parcel is a historic designated
former bank. It was recently the Santander Bank, but it was a bank from, I think, almost 100 years
ago uh before and this area that we're that we're addressing today is was just a empty parking lot
um the much of the um of the issue that we're going to be discussing today has to do with the
the zoning designation of this uh of this parcel which is ca1 ca1 is a parcel is a designation
that is considered by the planning commission to be outdated in along the the corridor for
in Mount Airy and in Chestnut Hill there are very few CA1 districts still left in in northwest
Philly but this is one of those so I'll start with our refusal
uh our the the lot subdivision was done by right um we're here um for just premises b and what
we're doing is we're we're we're um converting the empty um space to 10 condos with
converting the empty um space to 10 condos with seven parking spaces um the number of parking
spaces is a is consistent with the ca1 zoning district but um if it was a cmx 2 or cmx 2.5
it would only be three parking spaces so it's quite a generous amount of parking spaces
they're also the size of the of the condos are quite a bit smaller than many other condos that
are being built in the monary and chestnut hill area that was designed intentionally to be more
to fit in more with the surrounding area and the character of the of the homes in the area
we have two refusals here one of them is that because it's a ca1 that's only for commercial
high intensity traffic uses you can't put housing you can't put residential in there and the second
is that the maximum allowable area is 60 percent and and we exceed that because we're we're doing
infill for enough of the of the condo so that it would it would make a real difference for the for
the commercial corridor um we have uh these are gonna be hard to look at or to see not hard to
look at but hard to see um we have uh petitions signed by uh it is 82 petitions um in support
and many of them uh because this was a petition format where people could do it online
many of them have very detailed comments
as to why they are so strongly in support of this project.
So for example, we are desperate for additional housing
in Mount Airy, especially in places
that can serve many retirees.
They like the attractiveness and the ideas
and it goes on and on.
This is quite, I've never seen a petition called,
that has this kind of like rich amount of information in it.
The, at the RCO meeting all,
there was a number of different RCOs.
They all unanimously voted in favor of the project.
The main RCO, the coordinating one
was the West Minority Neighbors.
Um, they, uh, they showed support, um, of, uh, of, uh, 23, uh, they had opposition of
seven, uh, 12 are neighbors in favor of seven against, and then all four of the board members
for we man voted yes um and they they go into quite a uh quite quite a a basically what the
concerns that were raised um and and they explain why uh that they that they are strongly in support
of this but in addition to we man we also have a letter of support um from the monterey business
improvement district um and that's important because this is along the commercial corridor
uh and uh and and this shows that uh the the project with with the residential condos um fits
in very nicely to uh to the plans for the commercial corridor to keep it being its vitality and to
to expand on it.
Plus the Mount Airy CDC wrote a strong letter
of support as well.
Then there was an individual who couldn't make it today.
He's traveling by air at the moment.
He's a close neighbor and also an attorney.
And he wrote a very thoughtful letter
going through all the different point by points
that some of the neighbors had raised
and showing why this design is so really,
it's met with so much approval by the organizations
and by the neighbors.
I'm going to show, we have three levels of plans here
and then I am gonna be calling on Ken Weinstein
to kind of walk us through the whole the whole um idea of how he designed this project and and why he
why he's created uh the project in these ways um and but here we have um this is
THIS IS THE SITE PLAN SHOWING THE TWO PARCELS THAT ARE DIVIDED.
the the site plan um showing the the two parcels that are that are
THIS IS PARCEL A, THE HISTORIC BANK, AND THEN THIS IS PARCEL B THAT WE'RE HERE FOR TODAY WITH ALL THOSE PARKING SPACES.
and this is
more of the zoning
for the
These are the elevation drawings for the condos.
One of the things that you'll hear from Mr. Weinstein
is that there was a lot of attention paid
to not putting balconies that would overlook
neighbors on either side.
The balconies overlook the streets,
but don't encroach on the quality life
life of the, of the, of the very few, um, other residential buildings that are, that
are in the immediate area.
This is, um, this is the renderings, um, that, um, we'll, we'll go into some more detail.
So here is the historic, uh, bank building.
This, this is the rendering of the new condos.
So you'll see the balconies are, like I said, facing the street, but not facing the neighbors to the north.
We also do have our design team, our architects from Design Blends that can be happy to answer questions from the panel too.
uh we have the the first is your client going to go over these yes so i guess i should have
but i mean why don't we let him yeah okay does that make sense yeah so let me just
skip ahead briefly just to show you the rest of the of the exhibits
uh this is well we have some some photos um from the exterior since this is a parking lot
and the photos of the posting for the for today's hearing
there are two there were two um facades that were posted
uh germantown avenue and i believe it is pelham
we have a tax clearance we have a deed showing that cajun properties is the owner of the parcel
our appeal our application for appeal speaks to the unique circumstances for hardship here
As you'll see in a moment, the Planning Commission in the 2035 plan called for the complete
elimination of CA1 throughout Northwest Philly, and specifically called for having more multifamily
residential dwellings along Germantown Avenue.
So we were basically in the priority areas for what is the future for this area.
And we also, I'll show you in a moment,
we have a, well, these are the letters
that were sent to the neighbors.
We also gave them renderings
and photos of the entire project
and quite a bit of information that we shared with them.
and then at our proof of mailing to 73 households.
So these are excerpts from the planning commissions on 2035 plan.
And in terms of zoning to advance the plan in section H,
they are calling for CMX to CMX 2.5 and IRMX in the area that we're talking
about here. H is this area here along Germantown Avenue.
H is this area here along Germantown Avenue, the corridor.
And there are priority recommendations
from the Planning Commission that specifically called
for directing multifamily housing development
to commercial streets and train stations
to increase the number of people using public transit
and shopping at local businesses.
Finally, in Exhibit L, even though I lost this case,
this was Cindy Bass and a community group in Eastmont area.
The court in that case was dealing
with a similar CA-1 zoning project.
And in that case, there was a proposal
for residential dwellings in place
of the intensity of a CA-1.
And the court said, notably,
the permitted CA1 uses such as a restaurant doctor's office and 7-11 type uses have much
more traffic and much more of an impact on the neighborhood than with the developer's proposed
project which was going to be a large number of residential buildings so we have and this
and this case is from 2024 it's very recent saying that the courts have recognized that the CA1
zoning is not just antiquated and obsolete but it's actually harmful to the to the surrounding
area into the commercial corridor because there would be cars going in and out quite a bit more
times during the day than than typically a residential dwelling where you leave and come
back uh maybe once um so uh and i'm going to uh pause call for um mr weinstein to to join us
they're weinstein
they're being promoted to panelists okay
yes hi uh can everyone hear me sir could you please state your name and spell for the stocks
Yeah, Ken Weinstein, K-E-N-W-E-I-N-S-T-E-I-N.
Do you swear or firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Counsel?
Ken, before we go into your presentation, I just have a couple questions to ask you.
Were you listening to my testimony a short while ago?
I was.
Do you agree that it was true and accurate, and do you adopt it as your own?
Thank you.
So let's go to the schematics and the renderings so that you can kind of walk the zoning board
through what the design features are and why you chose certain design features.
Great. Well, first of all, yeah, my name is Ken Weinstein. I'm the president of Philly
office retail. I've been a real estate developer for 38 years now. Also, I am co-founder and chair
of the Mount Airy Business Improvement District and have renovated and restored dozens of
properties along Germantown Avenue over the last couple decades. And do you have a specific focus,
Mr. Weinstein, on preserving historic buildings and historic areas? Yeah, my company does mostly
adaptive reuse of buildings, many of them historic, just like the Santander Bank building.
In this case, we're doing ground-up construction, which is not our norm, but I believe strongly in
infilling properties in order to increase density along commercial corridors.
All right. Are you able to see the photo that is being displayed right now?
Okay. Let's have you walk us through these photos so you can indicate what are the important features that you want to bring to the board's attention.
Sure. Yeah, as you already said, Steve, we're proposing new ground-up construction of a three-story building on a currently unused parking lot next to the historic Santander Bank building.
After completion, it will be 10 residential condos, including two one-bedroom, four two-bedroom, and four three-bedroom units, and these will all be for sale in roughly $200,000 to $450,000 range, depending on market conditions.
There will also be a 900 square foot commercial space along Germantown Avenue in order to increase the vitality of Germantown Avenue.
of Germantown Avenue. That looks like in the pink area here, right? That is correct,
That looks like in the pink area here, right?
That is correct.
about around 900 square feet. In the rear we will have seven parking spots,
including the handicap spot as you can see. There will be elevators to the second and third floor
and we will not have a roof deck. There will also be a small basement for storage and utilities.
As Steve already said, there will be a total of six balconies, four in the rear and two in the front.
And we purposely did not put balconies on either side of the building in order to decrease the impact on neighbors.
We will be using the existing driveway and curb cuts along Germantown Avenue to enter the site, and then cars will exit the site on Pelham Road, again, where there's existing curb cuts.
so there will not be any additional curb cuts. Where the parking lot currently enters, we will
be removing that curb cut and therefore adding approximately two more parking spaces to the
street. In terms of landscaping, we'll be hiring a professional landscaper to design and implement
attractive low maintenance landscaping. We will be particularly focusing on the north side of the
building where there's a five foot setback between the building and the first house to the north
in order to create as much of a buffer as we can. We'll also be planting at least four new trees
and adding several planters to the site. In terms of security and lighting,
the property will include appropriate exterior lighting designed to enhance safety and
attractiveness while minimizing light spillover into neighboring properties. And in terms of the
trash and recycling that'll be stored in the rear of the property and picked up from a fully
enclosed area out of public view towards like I said towards the rear of the property.
Thank you. Can you comment on the on the facades and and the design that features that that are
meant to be compatible with the historic building next door?
Yeah, knowing that this sits between brick residential buildings and
limestone bank building, we purposely use decorative CMU to replicate the limestone
from the building and fiber cement board and also brick again to take in the
houses that exist to the north. The building we're designed is 34 feet high
which is less than 38 feet allowed and I believe CA1 or CMX2 which is what we
believe it should be. There will be some vinyl siding in the rear not visible from Germantown Avenue.
Can you comment on some of the concerns that were raised in the RCO meeting by some of the
near neighbors who were concerned about having something erected very close to their homes?
Yeah. We will certainly work with neighbors, and I've been in touch with them via email
to talk about it and talk about how to work together during construction,
and we will be as sensitive as possible during that. There was certainly concerns about parking,
But like I said, we're providing seven spots.
There is a zoning overlay along Germantown Avenue that requires three spaces per 10 units.
So we're actually supplying more than double of what's required by the zoning overlay.
And we also believe that some residents will be using public transit.
we there's two septa train stations within walking distance this site is 0.4 miles to
the carpenter lane train station and 0.7 miles to the stenton train station and then of course
and 0.7 miles to the Stenton train station and then of course it sits on the 23 bus line being
Germantown Avenue. There will also be two EV charging stations among the seven parking spaces.
If you didn't decide to build these condos and you decided to construct something that was
CA1 compatible, would the footprint and the dimensions be any different? Because there
were a few neighbors who were close by neighbors who thought that it seemed like any construction
of any building would be detrimental to them. Would there be any difference between a CA1
compatible building and the design that you're doing today? No, we're doing the five-foot
setbacks required on the sides of the property, as would be required in CA1. In addition, we're
actually have allowed for 17-foot setback in the rear, where there will be some open parking area.
So if anything, we're allowing for more setbacks than is required, is my understanding.
and just to confirm you're building this building lower than you could be entitled to build it
correct uh to be honest i don't know that for a fact but i know that there's been a lot of five
and six story buildings uh proposed and built along germantown avenue we purposely kept it at
three stories because i think that's uh much more fair to uh area residents
thank you i have no further questions um is that your case yes okay um unless the the board wants
to talk to our architects yeah well questions from the board and your architect will be available if
we need to talk okay questions from the board questions or comments from our attorney
Not at this time, Mr. Chair. Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Chair, we have a hand up from Laura. How many hands are up? I have one hand from
Laura Starachekis. Okay, why don't you bring her on? All right, they're allowed to speak.
hi there i'm not sure if you can see me or not hopefully i can't see you but we sure can hear
you could you try to put your as your video on um i don't actually have an option to
all right so why don't you do this why don't you state your name and spell for the stenographer
she left oh chair she's joining you as a panel oh hi how are you here i am hi hi there hi could
you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer sure it's laura l-a-u-r-a
starcheski s-t-a-r-e-c-h-e-s-k-i do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the tooth i do and laura are you a neighbor yes i'm a near neighbor please proceed
thank you so much um i really appreciate the opportunity to speak um and i appreciated the
presentation um i'm one of the near neighbors that uh helped to gather signatures for a petition
opposing this plan okay um what what were we collected 18 signatures and what we're asking
for is for the zoning board to continue with their denial or at least grant a continuance
so that the developer has some time to work with the near neighbors to address our concerns
i just noted as mr masters was scrolling through the materials that it looked like it was noted
that the immediately adjacent neighbors were in support of this project but we spoke to them and
they've signed our petition and they're not in support of the project so I just wanted to note
that um I also Laura let me ask you this so um you're you're saying you want time or you're
against the project you're not you're not against the project you just wants more time
what we are asking uh we're against the project we upload we oppose it as the plan is currently
Sorry if I'm not using the exact proper language.
No, no, no. That's fine. Thank you very much.
Okay. Does that help?
Yeah, that's fine. Yep.
Okay, great.
So I can just review what's in our petition that we submitted.
petition that we submitted um our concerns are well laura laura we have the petition
Our concerns are...
Well, Laura, we have...
oh great yeah so everyone yeah we have the petition okay great so our basic concerns are
you know we would like affordable units as part of this plan okay um parking is a major concern
i heard mr masters refer to an empty parking lot but if the bank building is going to become
a commercial space there's going to be another commercial space um a storefront space and we're
talking about uh 22 bedrooms i don't believe that seven parking lots is enough although i hear that
technically this is um this is meeting the requirement for parking uh parking's already an
issue and there are two daycares across the street on germantown there's no crosswalk it's just going
be a lot more traffic and everyone uh we spoke with who signed our petition was really concerned
about parking um another concern is just the is the concern is the concern in your letter
um this one isn't i don't think it's spelled out in the exact i don't think it's spelled out exactly
in this letter but um a couple of the near neighbors that we spoke to were really concerned
that this is this this proposed building is the only one on the block that would go right to the
sidewalk everything else is set back all the homes um all the way up uh to the in intersection i
believe with mount with mount pleasant um uh sorry with pleasant in germantown um so that's a that's
another concern is just that the design isn't actually in keeping with what's immediately
adjacent all right yeah all right all right um so thank you for taking all the time we appreciate
it um thank thank you i just have sorry i just have two other two other quick quick notes do
me a favor we we only usually give you a few minutes when you call in like this so why don't
you just go over it really quick for us is that okay i can i can definitely be quick i just want
a note that that everyone who signed this petition is a near neighbor so within 250 feet um and uh
of the the near neighbors that um mr masters and mr weinstein cited as signing who voted in favor
at the rco meeting nine of 12 of those are actually business tenants of mr weinstein and we are you
know people who actually live right adjacent to this property so we appreciate the attention to
the historic building and appreciate the need for housing we just are requesting some changes
to the plan thank you very much thank you so much right is there anyone else in the audience
no hands at the time planning commission amy boy with the planning commission the comprehensive
plan recommends a change in zoning at this location from the current ca1 commercial auto
oriented to cmx2 commercial mixed use the proposal would be allowed by right under the proposed
zoning as in character with the surrounding neighborhood the planning commission recommends
that the board grant their requested variances for multi-family household living in occupied area
okay um steve what we're going to do is we're going to vote this next wednesday at two o'clock
okay we're just going to talk about a little bit we heard a lot and you know we just want to digest
what we heard and we will vote for this tuesday wednesday at 2 p.m can i just have my um my client
respond to what the what the issues were and how steve how long do you not not sure no yeah yeah
um mr weinstein can you um can you comment on um some of the the issues that were raised by um
Ms. Stachewskies, I think that's how you pronounce her name.
Yeah, I heard parking and affordability, which are two issues we did discuss at length at the RCO.
Again, in terms of parking, we are providing double what's required in the zoning overlay for the district.
And then in terms of affordability, the economics of this project just doesn't work in terms of what it costs today to do new construction per square foot.
And I'm certainly in favor of more deeply affordable housing.
I am hoping to provide that in other communities in Philadelphia.
But at this location, the economics just doesn't work for deeply affordable housing.
What about the setback issue that that you're building is the only one that is right on the set that has no setback from the street?
Yeah, I would disagree with that. Most buildings along Germantown Avenue are built right along the street. I know that's.
And buildings along Germantown Avenue are built right along the street.
I know that's required in CMX to build right along the sidewalk, and we're consistent with that.
And the last one was, was everyone who showed up to vote in favor of this at the RCO meeting, were they shills for you and your tenants, or were they just also neighbors?
Yeah, there was residential neighbors who supported us.
There was business owners who supported us.
commercial property owners who supported us. Maybe two out of the 12 were tenants who I also
happen to know and who believe deeply in revitalization, but certainly not nine out of
12 now. Thank you. Thank you very much. And we'll vote on this next Wednesday. And thank you,
Mr. Weinstein. Thanks for your consideration. Sure, sure. So number six, MI-2025-006-270,
9701 busselton avenue dylan beltrami is the attorney
they're being promoted to panelists here okay he's here
good afternoon council
is your mic on the mic the light can you hear me yeah yeah it looks like it's on all right could
you sure could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer sure my name is
dylan d-y-l-a-n and my last name is beltrami b's and boy e-l-t-r-a-m-i right do you swear
or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do could you identify
your client a relationship to the property yes so our client is an authorized member of the llc
um aesf real estate llc which is the owner of the property oh and by the way welcome
thank you all right okay and our vice chair has a few questions sure good afternoon um have you
submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing yes we have and did
you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy yes we do okay all right thank you
can show your screen and proceed with your case hi chair is the appellate logged into the zoom
it looks like it kicked me out so i'm just rejoining right now okay all right
it ain't no good
Thank you.
all right I should be in now I apologize sure no it's not a problem
no problem you're being promoted to panelists thank you
it takes you a couple minutes once you get in there
don't worry Alan always has a problem with this too if you're interested
all right i'm going to share my screen now
there you go
great so the property that you see um before you is in oh i'm not sure why the uh full screen
views popping up there with that little can everyone see it on the zoom no no i'm gonna
try it came to disappear yeah i'm gonna all right okay give it one more go
let's back up great there we go so the property you see before you is um
an rsd1 zone property that has been used as a professional business office for many decades now
um as far back as 1994 the property that you see has remained substantially unchanged from the
outside it was used as a doctor's office and an accountant's office and we're looking to continue
with the zoning peel before you today to continue to use this as a business and professional office
and i could i could tell you too that the uh greater busselton civic association
the unanimous support of 25 votes and councilman o'neill is also in favor yes so as you can see
unanimous support of 25 votes and councilman o'neill's also a favor yes
the refusal here um as we just stated the refusal was for the attempted use as a business and
professional office in an rsd one zone property um as the chairman just noted there was unanimous
support in favor of this project um 25 to zero and councilman brian j o'neill also um sent in a
letter of non-opposition to this project so it's a little difficult to see here but right where my
mouse cursor is you can see that in 1994 as far back as then this property was being used as a
business and professional office so as I noted it was being used by a doctor and his wife his wife
was an accountant and the property was being used for their professional offices directly across the
street from the parcel on 9637 bustleton av is another rsd1 zone property which is being used
as a business and professional office for a personal injury law firm right around the corner
on 9636 bustleton avenue another rsd1 zone property that's being used as a law firm
on 9630 bustleton av another rsd1 zone property being used as several business and professional
offices and then there's new construction on the main thoroughfare on 9614 through 22 busselton
avenue since this construction is new we're not yet certain what this project will end up entailing
but it's very likely they may be before you as well for a similar type of variance here's an
aerial view of the property of 9701 busselton avenue so i would indicate that the off-street
parking is all legal and will remain unchanged. There are 13 parking spaces there. There's one
handicap spot, which is available. Our client, the individual who's seeking to open the law
firm here, runs a small practice. She has about nine support staff. There are three full-time
attorneys. They're typically not all going to be in the office at the same time, and they don't all
drive to the office on a given day. Very frequently, they will use public transport or other means to
get to the office and notably her office only accepts appointments so there won't be clients
to showing up and coming and going and when they do show up for an appointment a lot of times
they're just there to sign documents and leave so they're there for short intervals and for those
reasons we suspect that the parking lot will never really be at full occupancy but there is street
parking available on fulmer right there if that does end up proving necessary and you can see
right here my mouse cursor is to the rear of the property that's where the trash would be taken out
and picked up by the city she indicated to us that she usually will only ever have two receptacles
picked up once a week one for office supplies and then one for waste from her employees
here's another view of the property and the zoning map you can see it's rsd1 zoned
a google maps view and then here's a picture of the front of the property i would point out
again where the cursor is a sign so the sign is still out in front of the property today
and it shows the last use of the property as a business or professional office that's the sign
for the doctor's office and the accountant's office that was previously in the building
and then going as far back as august of 2007 you could see the same sign you could see the property
looks substantially unchanged and i would also note for the board that our client does not
plan on performing any type of construction or modifications to the exterior of the property
then here you can see the parking lot with an entrance from falmer street so you can see there
is one way in over here and then you can't see it in this image but to the right of where those
trees are located there's an exit so people will not be coming and going out of the same
means of ingress and egress here is the multiple pictures of the notice posting here
this is to the right of the property on busselton to the left of the property i would point out you
You can see the law firm in the RSD1 zone property directly across the street, then to the right of Fulmer Street, to the left of Fulmer Street, and then the interior photos.
So you can see it was last being used as a business and professional office.
And talking to our client, she indicated that, of course, there's going to be some small cosmetic changes that will be made to use this as a law firm.
You can see the break room here that I'm sure the employees will put to use.
And you can tell in this top picture here, an exam room.
So, as I mentioned, there's going to have to be some slight conversions made and some cosmetic changes to turn this from a doctor's office into a law firm.
So, here is the basement level.
I would point out that there is an elevator, and then there is a staircase leading to and from the basement.
The break room is located down here, and there is some overflow available if need be.
Here is the first floor.
So, over where my mouse is is an ADA accessible ramp.
This is where the clients will be accessing the building.
Again, since they are appointment only, they would be met in the reception by one of the
Again, since they are appointment only, they would be met in the reception by one of the support staff.
support staff and then they would be brought in to the main portion of the office over
As you can see, there is the waiting area over here, a conference room for meeting with
the clients, an office available for the attorneys and support staff.
There's actually a means of ingress and egress that leads directly out to the parking lot
over here where the porch is written, and then there is an elevator here as well.
Going to the next floor, there's some additional overflow.
as you can see there's multiple office spaces available there's a cubicle room for the support
staff and then there's also elevator access to this floor as well and then the top floor will
mainly just be used for overflow and there's a couple office spaces available up there
and here are some renderings some virtual renderings of the property from all different angles
the RCO meeting notice as we mentioned and as the chairman mentioned on December 18th we met
with the greater busselton civic league and there was unanimous support of this project
the rco notifications
here's our application for appeal
here's the deed for the property in the name of aesf real estate llc and it's authorized uh
representative anna ferreira's in the virtual audience and we'll ask her to speak in just a
few minutes here's the tax statement and then here's the tax clearance for the property
and then i'd like to call yeah sure anna ferrera from the virtual audience please sure
could that person raise their hand
i don't know right let's see her
They're being promoted to panel. Thank you. Thank you.
Good afternoon. Hi, could you please state your name is spelled for the stenographer Anna Ferreira a n a f e r r e i r a.
right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yes please proceed counsel ayanna did you hear my testimony here today yes and was my testimony
true and correct yes and do you adopt my testimony as your own i do all right questions from the
board questions from our attorney hillary emerson
not at this time watching for comments from the virtual audience
no hands at this time chair leading commission amy boyd with the planning commission the
comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning at this location from the current rsd
one residential single family the proposed use is consistent with documented prior use which
dates back to at least 1993. the planning commission recommends that the board grant
the requested variance for business and professional office thank you mi2025-006-270-971
bustleton avenue i vote yes michael johns my vote is yes cheryl guest and my vote is yes
tenetta graham my vote is yes ryan mcadams my vote is yes tywin my vote is yes dylan thank you you
did great by the way thank you very much thank you chairman and members of the board okay number
Thank you, ma'am. MI-2025-006-439-7701 Busselton Avenue. Brandon Savarin is the attorney.
They're being promoted to panelists here.
Bless you. Who was that?
hello everybody hi counsel could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
yes uh brandon saverin b-r-a-n-d-o-n s as in sam a v as in victor r-a-n as in nancy right do you
swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes i do could you
identify your client in relationship to the property? Yes, my clients are the co-owners
of the property, and that would be Northeast Apartments Associates LP along with Bassman
Family LP Northeast LLC. Right, and there's a letter of unanimous support from Roanhurst Civic
Association and a letter of non-opposition from Council Member O'Neill. Our Vice Chair has a few
questions brandon uh good afternoon um have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days
Have you submitted your documents and exhibits 5 days in advance of this hearing?
in advance of this hearing yes
Yes, I have.
And do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
I waive the reading. I think there's 1 very, very minor error on the refusal that I'll point out during my presentation. Okay. All right. Thank you. You can share your screen and proceed.
Okay, thank you. All right.
Okay. All right. Hopefully you can all see that. That was the deed I was looking at to reference the owners. I have submitted 16 exhibits, and I'll go through some, but probably not quite all of them.
The first that I'd like to show you is Exhibit 7, which is one of the aerial photographs of the apartment complex. So I'm here to speak about 7701 Busselton Avenue.
This is a complex with two apartment buildings and a shared parking lot between them on Busselton Avenue in Northeast Philadelphia.
There is a funny situation with the property that we are here to address today.
We are not proposing any physical changes to the complex.
It's purely sort of a technical records matter.
The issue is that although OPA already considers each building separately for property tax purposes, and to this point, L&I has also considered the buildings separately for permitting and licensing purposes, they were acquired by the owners under one shared meets and bounds legal description.
And what happened maybe about half a year ago is that Freddie Mac, who ultimately holds the mortgage loans on these apartment buildings, decided that it was not acceptable that they were described together under one legal.
And it asked my clients to record a new deed by which the buildings would be described separately.
So as you may know, members of the board, in Philadelphia, even when you're not changing the number of lots in OPA's eyes, if you change the legal description of a property, you still need OPA's approval.
And when we went to seek OPA's approval, they said first we needed a lot line relocation zoning permit from L&I.
And when we went to L&I, I'll go to the refusal here, we expected L&I to issue the lot line relocation zoning permit as of right under the theory of legal nonconformity or grandfathering, given that L&I had issued permits as though these were two separate properties since the 60s.
Unfortunately and surprisingly, L&I decided that it was going to evaluate the application
as though it were one property being subdivided for the first time, and that drew the refusals
here on the notice of refusal.
So I'm going to skip back and forth a couple times between the zoning site plan and the
refusal.
So what we've done here is propose new legal descriptions that will draw the boundary between the properties as close as possible, if not in an identical location to where the boundary between the two already exists for tax assessment purposes.
So, you know, that allowed us to do two things. It allowed us to go to OPA and say, we're really just trying to maintain the status quo. Also, this is what Freddie Mac demanded. It said to us, we don't care if it would help you through the zoning application process.
If you drew the line in a different place or if you made certain changes to the property, Freddie Mac said there will be no changes to the property and there will be no adjustment of that boundary until you legalize the current boundary.
That was really Freddie Mac's edict.
So that is exactly what we're attempting to do with you today.
Putting the boundary in that really same location in which it already exists in some sense drew the following refusals.
One of the two buildings, which is the one known as 2300 Hartel to OPA, is too close to that boundary line, which I'll show you in a second.
It's just under eight feet away from it.
So that's a dimensional refusal. There were refusals issued for insufficient accessible parking spaces. Those are these two refusals. And there was a refusal issued for the number of parking spaces.
So that's a dimensional refusal.
There were refusals issued for...
This is where the error came up right here. As far as I'm aware, the RM2 district requires
parking spaces for apartments on a 3 to 10 ratio. There are 25 permitted and licensed units in the
2300 Hartel building, which this refusal references. I'm not sure how the examiner
came up with a requirement for 21 spaces when there are 25 units that has no resemblance to
the 3 to 10 ratio, but it's really neither here nor there because, as I'll show you now,
we were going to get that refusal regardless. It's purely a question of what the correct
requirement is. We think the requirement is less. It doesn't really matter. Anyway, that's the error.
So just to focus on the parking lot a little bit, you can see that because Freddie Mac required us
to mimic the existing boundary, this puts all of the shared parking on the same lot as one of the
two buildings. So we have technically zero on-site parking spaces for 2300 Hartel. Now in reality,
we have a shared parking lot that under the 3 to 10 ratio provides more than sufficient parking
under the zoning code for both properties believe there is uh 42 spots or 41 um in any event um
technically we're providing zero spaces for one of the buildings although through usage rights
that's not really the case um in addition there are spaces adjacent to a pedestrian aisle on each
lot um i know that with certainly with this particular set of spaces here these were not
counted by the examiner as accessible spaces because of the narrowness of that aisle again
by re-striping the lot which requires pulling a site work permit from l and i we could have
addressed that probably gotten around that refusal freddie mac said nope no permits no work
legalize the conditions before you do anything else and then just to quickly run through a few
of my other exhibits um as the chairman mentions we we have a unanimous support from those who
attended ronhurst civics rco meeting just to show you the vesting deed from the year 2000 to the
complex the legal description starts right here it's one paragraph that ends here but it states
both buildings so again that's just uh you know evidence to show you that the problem here in
freddie mac size is that the complex is described under one description
um continuing onwards here's the zoning map the property is zoned rm2 which does not have a cap
on the number of multi-family units the 2300 hartel building has 25 permitted units
the 7701 bustleton building has 64 permitted units and then i do have other aerials that's
one you already saw i'm going to go through these really really quickly but i'll go back to anything
that piques your curiosity just let me know these are just other angles the shared parking
lot here with some landscaping that serves as a buffer to bustleton ave
that's the site plan again these are various images of all the different sides of the
buildings there's three different street frontages
that's the corner of busselton and hartel there
uh that's one of the two driveways that serve the parking lot this one's coming from hartel
it is shared with neighbors but note that no neighbors um opposed this application one who
didn't come to the rco meeting even called me to affirm that she had received the notice but had no
objection um these are just photos of the zoning posters uh we have a few photos of the interior
of i believe this is the 7701 building the lobby with the mailboxes a hallway
i have photos of the interiors of two units as a sample i think we're good with the inside okay
thanks mr chairman um and then um i guess the last two things i'll touch on is
Both buildings were built at the same time in the mid-60s.
I have the original construction zoning permits for both, which match their current rental licenses.
So all of the records are current in terms of licensing.
And then finally, I submitted a memo of law, which touches upon why the denial of the application today would impose an unnecessary hardship.
um why the denial of the application today would impose an unnecessary hardship and and why the
application satisfies um all the standards for the grant of variances um why don't you bring your
client on sure um david chryser um could you raise your virtual hand if you're in the audience
they're being promoted to pan
can you hear me i yes yes we can could you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer
sure david david kreiser k-r-e-i-s as in sand e-r do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole
truth nothing but the truth yes counsel uh david um did you hear my testimony in your case this
afternoon yes was it true and accurate to the best of your knowledge information and belief
yes uh are you authorized um to represent the um various owners of the property today
yes um and on their behalf would you adopt my testimony as if it had been your own
yes okay thank you questions from the board
questions or comments from our attorney not at this time mr chair questions or
comments from the virtual audience no hands at this time planning commission amy boy with the
planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning at this location
from the existing rm2 residential multifamily the proposed lot line adjustments will have minimal
impact on surrounding properties and the physical configuration of the property is not proposed to
change as part of this application the planning commission recommends that the board grant the
requested variances for parking and side yard right mi 2025 006 439 7701 bustleton avenue i vote yes
michael johns my vote is yes so guest and my vote is yes tanetta graham my vote is yes ryan mcadams
my vote is yes i own my vote is yes right so alan you and alex have three more all right and we'll
do them right in a row but i'm going to go stephanie has one right so why don't you come up
we'll do Stephanie's and then you three will go right in a row. Okay.
Thank you, members of the board. Oh, thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. Good afternoon.
Stephanie, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Stephanie Magana, S-T-E-P-H-A-N-I-E. Last name is M-A-G-A-G-N-A.
All right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
could you identify your client the relationship to this property my client is bsi construction
um they are the designated agent for design build project to reconstruct the thomas home school by
the school district of philadelphia the property is owned by the school district i see that there
was um unanimous support 25 votes by six council district who hosted the rco meeting um our vice
chair has a few questions good afternoon um have you submitted your documents and exhibits five
days in advance of this hearing? Yes, I have. And do you waive the written of the refusals and stipulate to the accuracy? Yes, I do. All right. Thank you. You can show your screen and proceed. Thank you. Mr. Chair, I just want to note for the record that we did receive a letter of authorization from the school district indicating that Claire Harrison could represent them at this hearing. Thank you very much. Thank you. Yeah, so this property is 9125 Academy Road. The southern half of this site, which occupies the full block bound by Willett's Academy and
home ave is the site of the newly reconstructed thomas home elementary school the other half of
this site is a park and recreation space this application is seeking approval for two accessory
signs two signs in addition to by right signage that was previously approved all part of the
school district's standard signage package for their schools specifically this application
requests approval for one wall sign to identify the building off the primary entrance along willits
and a second sign to a digital sign that will also be located at the main entrance on willits
in this zoning district this special institutional district the digital sign is not permitted as well
as the height of our wall sign is also above the second windowsill so we are seeking relief
for both of those conditions we presented the signage to the upper holmesburg civic association
WE PRESENTED THE SIGNED TO THE UPPER HOMESBURG CIVIC ASSOCIATION ON JANUARY 15TH THERE IS A UNANIMOUS LETTER OF SUPPORT THAT IS INCLUDED WITHIN THE PACKAGE AS WELL.
on January 15th.
THESE ARE EXISTING SITE PHOTOS THE SCHOOL RECENTLY OPENED. AT THE TOP OF THE SCREEN YOU CAN SEE WHERE THIS YELLOW KIND OF IDENTIFYING MARK IS. THAT IS THE PROPOSED LOCATION FOR THE DIGITAL SIGN.
that, again, this is immediately adjacent to the primary entrance to the school and its parking
lot. The second picture here below shows the main entrance of the school, and the brick wall that is
facing us in this photo is the location of the wall sign that is proposed. For reference and
context, on the right side of the screen is a photo of the TM Pierce School. This school has
the same signage package that is proposed on the Thomas Holden School for
reference. So here you see a non illuminated wall sign that extends
above the second windowsill of this school building the same way that we are
proposing our wall sign to be placed and to be shown. There is also the digital
sign that here at TM Pierce is on the wall of the school whereas we're
proposing ours along the main entrance but the size configuration use proposal
as well as all the standards for change of message will be the same.
The programming of that sign will be the same, and the size as well.
Here's a site plan view of where the signage is proposed, if it will pull up.
Sorry, I'm looking at the screen and not on my computer.
I'm sorry. I don't know. Let me pull that up again and try that again.
I apologize for the delay.
there we go can we see that there we go um just for reference willits avenue here on the lower
part of the screen is is the where the primary entrance is located um the digital sign will be
placed right here you can see that as well and the wall sign is here this is the primary parking lot
and circulation for drop off our bus drop off is along academy road um so both signs will be
intended to serve as building identification signs along the primary entrance and as i mentioned the
programming of both of these signs is intended to be consistent with the school's package for
their schools it'll be you know the standard across the district um and that includes the
programming of the digital sign is it is accessory it is accessory and limited to issues related to
the school and is intended to be able to convey messages that would be more difficult with a
non-digital sign the recent snowstorm being a perfect recent example of being able to communicate
messages um that are important in current information um with that i'll ask my client
um chuck calvin is from bsi construction to be sworn in sure could you sure mike one
yes hi could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer sure it's chuck calvin is
c-h-u-c-k-c-a-l-v-a-n-e-s-a right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and
nothing but the truth yes counsel thank you chuck have you heard the statements i made to the board
this afternoon are they complete and accurate to the best of your knowledge yes would you adopt
them as your own yes thank you um i'll note for the board as well we have melissa stigler who's
from blackney hayes there's a project architect as well as chuck longacre from city signs if we
have any questions and john nichols from the school districts is here questions questions
from the board questions or comments from our attorney hillary emerson not at this time mr
questions or comments from the virtual audience
planning commission amy boy with the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends
a change in zoning at this location from the existing sp civ special purpose civics to rsa2
residential single family the proposed signs will have minimal impact on the adjoining properties
the planning commission recommends that the board grant their requested variances for sign
and elimination thank you mi 2025 006 989 9125 academy road i vote yes michael johns my vote
is yes cheryl guest and my vote is yes tenetta graham my vote is yes ryan mcadams my vote is yes
tyowen my vote is yes thank you council thank you thank you take a break yeah so uh alan one
Alan, so the first one we're going to hear is 1455 North Marston.
So the first one we're going to hear is 1455 North Marston.
Come up and get set up, and we're just going to take a five-minute break real quickly.
all right so so number eight mi 2025 006 448 1455 north
marston street alex goldberg is the attorney could you please state your name and spell for
the stenographer alex goldberg a-l-e-x-g-o-l-d-b-e-r-g do you swear or affirm to tell the
truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do could you identify your client the relationship
to this property my client is 1455 north marston street llc which is the owner of the property and
its representative shlomo levy is in the virtual audience and i see there's a letter of support
from brewery town shardswood community civic association um 11 the one vote and a letter
of non-opposition from council member young our vice chair has a few questions sir good afternoon
um have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing i have and
do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy i would object to
its accuracy in one respect and i could do that now or when we get to the refusal exhibit what are
don't um no don't do your project oh okay sure all right well thank you show your screen and uh
start with the case okay so this is a single family home in the brewery town sharswood
neighborhood um as the chairman stated we had overwhelming support by the community group
and uh it sounds like non-opposition from the council member um we're asking for
two-dimensional refusals, or sorry, one-dimensional refusal and one refusal that is the result of
the Brewery Town Sharswood overlay, which is an overlay that, to my understanding, was at least
pushed in part by the coordinating RCO that we presented in front of, and the portion of that
overlay, which you can see on the screen, is the provision against roof decks. This is a very small
lot. It's 474 square feet, which has something to do with the second refusal you see, but
the main reason why we wanted to propose a roof deck here is because there's really not a lot of
outdoor space. It's a small lot, so we are extending the building into the required rear yard
to get some more indoor, you know, space so that this is, you know, livable for a single family home.
And, you know, that five feet of outdoor space that we're proposing is not super usable. I mean,
maybe you could have a grill out there or something, but the roof deck that we're proposing
would make you know a much higher quality of life for the family that lives there and um the
community supported it you know they understood the reason i think that in general they don't
love roof decks but under the circumstances they felt like it was appropriate so we have their
support um the refusal item that i objected to was the second one um per code section 147012b7
in this zoning classification because our lot is less than 45 feet deep it's 36 feet deep we should
have a rear yard depth requirement of seven feet that says nine feet so we're two feet short I
believe that is a de minimis variance request I'd also note that because of that 45 foot
lot depth we're completely exempt from the occupied area requirements so which is why
you don't see that on the refusal uh the refusal list so those are our two refusal items here's
the letter from the coordinating rco 11 to 1 the zoning committee voted five in support and one
abstention and the majority of the near neighbors were in support uh here's their letter where they
basically said what i just said that you know this roof deck is going to provide reasonable
outdoor space for the future occupants and the one thing i didn't mention yet is the exact same
thing was granted by way of variance directly next door now at the time in 2017 when 1453 North
Marston was approved it was just for the roof deck setback a pilot house setback in the rear
and the rear yard the roof deck overlay had not been implemented yet at that time so the roof
deck was allowed by right but there's a roof deck right next to us there's a roof deck at 1440 there's
a roof deck at 2714 Jefferson which is right around the corner here's that 1453 North Marston
approval again also single family somewhat similar design matching the the roof line
we are very importantly matching the rear wall so they have that five foot rear yard as well
so we're not impacting their light and air in any way shape or form here's the aerial view of the
site see a lot of vacancy on north marston street but we're going up sort of in between a vacant lot
sort of in between a vacant lot and this single family home right near the intersection of
and this single-family home right near the inner...
jefferson street here's the zoning map single family rsa5 no use no use variants there
here's the photographs um this is what the site looked like um prior to my client owning the
purchasing the property which was just uh late last year um so glad to keep the cars off of the
lot this is it in 2011 so it's been vacant for at least uh 14 years 15 years if not longer
here's a posting photo to the right of the property left mix of two story and one story
structures here here's the plans and drawings so you can see i'll zoom in
and a small yeah it's tough to see
here we go um you can see this is the building structure here it looks tiny because it's a small
lot um so that's why we have that five foot rear yard back here and you can see we're matching the
rear lot the rear building line of the building structure next to us the pilot house for our roof
deck. It's not super clear on here, but it's the sort of cross-hatched rectangle with the lines
going in both directions. So there's a small space behind and in front. You'll see that on the floor
plans. Here's the floor plans. Pretty basic single-family living. You walk in on the first
floor, you have a living and kitchen with a powder room in the rear. You have a flex room in the
basement with a bathroom and laundry there's a door that goes directly out to the rear which is
where trash will be stored second floor you have one bedroom and the third floor you have one
bedroom and then you can see that roof deck there as well here's the rco meeting notice we met with
brewery town sharswood community civic association december 18th we mailed notice to 184 properties
here's those mailing certificates the application for appeal
deed to the property showing 1455 and marston street llc owns the property
and the tax clearance with the only balance not being due yet that i'd like to call my client on
sure about my testimony. Shalomo Levy. If you're in the audience, can you please raise your virtual
mr levy and he's coming back in as a panel thank you very much
can you hear me we can sir could you please state your name
and spell it for the stenographer and if possible turn on your video
sorry can you see me now yes hi hi everyone state your name is spelled for the stenographer
shlomo levy s-h-l-o-m-o last name levi l-e-v-i do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the
truth nothing but the truth i do proceed counsel slomo did you hear my testimony today i do i did
and was it true and correct 100 yes and you adopted as if it was your own
yes thank you questions from the board
by the way this is the first time i saw the rco approve one of these
right am i right alan did the community meeting so i'll give him credit
questions or comments from our attorney hillary emberson
not at this time Sharon questions or comments your your uh correct the uh seven foot for the
record thank you yeah thank you questions or comments for the virtual audience
no hands at this time chair planning commission Amy Boyd with the planning commission the
comprehensive plan recommends a change in zoning at this location from the current RSA
residential single family to RM1 residential multifamily. This is an undersized lot of 473
feet, just 36 feet deep, which presents unique physical conditions that would prevent the property
from being used in conformance with the rear yard depth standard of the zoning code. The proposed
roof deck would be, oh sorry, would allow the resident access to light and air on this small
lot. The Planning Commission recommends that the board grant their requested variances for rear
I adapt the roof deck and my 2025 0 0 6 4 4 8 14 55 North Marston Street I vote yes John's my
John's, my vote is yes.
Ruth is yes.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes.
Cheryl Gaston, my Ruth is yes.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes.
Maya McAdams, my vote is yes.
I am Wynn, my vote is yes.
Thank you.
Thanks.
Smiling, look at you smiling.
Number nine, MI 2025-006-477, 1012 North 3rd Street.
Alan Nockamson is the attorney.
Is this your first time today, Alan?
Right.
Could you please state your name and spell for this sonographer?
Alan Nockamson, A-L-A-N, last name Nockamson, N-O-C-H-U-M-S-O-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth?
Could you identify your client and relationship to the property?
Yeah, my clients are James McCulley and Jennifer Maslow.
this is north third street right yes it is yes and this is a there's a letter of support for
northern liberties neighbors and a letter of non-opposition from council member young
and you also has a petition with eight signatures six from the block that's right our vice chair has
a few questions good afternoon have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance
of this hearing yes we have and do you waive the read another refusal and stipulate to its accuracy
I do. All right. Thank you. You can share your screen and proceed with your case. All right. Thank you. Hold on. I'm just trying to get in here. Sure.
All right. So this is not a developer. This is a young couple who bought a property and they were in liberties. It was advertised as a duplex. It looks like a duplex.
And they paid a lot of money for this property, too, expecting to supplement their mortgage payments by having that first floor or lower level unit being rented out.
And, you know, while I don't believe that was like, I don't think the neighborhood group provided a letter supporting their letter of support, but ultimately that's what they said in Northern Liberties.
We don't typically approve like, you know, legalizations of this sort, you know, because they want to create a precedent, but they understood that, you know, this is unique circumstance. Plus, it's not out of character. And we'll show a couple of properties that are also multifamily on this block. And they welcomed my, you know, my clients who are a young couple, hopefully to, you know, grow a family here on this block.
so we'll go over we have the exhibits which are 11 of them at the conclusion of my presentation
i would ask either that james or jennifer virtually raise their hand sure so this is an rsa5 property
it's a rather large lot of 2420 square feet we're looking to do two family household living and
they understand too that this is just the first step of the process that they would have to get
a co uh to legalize that use as well and they did hire an architect even during before this process
just to make sure that this is something they could legalize so jesse smith you know of you know
who's a very knowledgeable architect that our firm uses a lot confirmed that there would be should
be no issue getting a co under the circumstance given that this is an r3 uh property uh here's
letter of support short and sweet but um that was the gist of of the meeting it was short and sweet
but it was also we don't typically do this we understand that during unique circumstances
they pay 1.6 million dollars for this property uh so you know expecting to you know have
supplement that mortgage payment through this second uh unit i also think it's appropriate
given that there's a separate door in the front and we'll take a look at that
And even in the back, there's access as well. They did this themselves. This is not our typical
petition, but they personally went door to door. They actually did a Q&A as well, frequently asked
questions, you know, to the neighbors. They wanted, you know, to do this themselves. And, you know,
So they had 10.04, 10.08, 10.18, 10.14, and 10.06, all in that block signed letters of
or signed this petition.
And I don't believe, let me just confirm if any of them are the multifamily structures.
No, there are all the single family, there are single family structures or occupants
who signed this petition.
And then this building was actually profiled. I believe this is Philadelphia Magazine of how amazing this building is. And it, you know, it's currently we highlight this part below all this is the law in loss apartment, which is currently being rented out by a tenant. So again, it was applauded by at least Philadelphia Magazine take it for what it is as something that to be
applauded by at least philadelphia magazine take it for what it is as something that to be proud of
uh and you know again we looked at zillow this is you know been rented out you know of public
record or at least on the internet so it's not like something that we created here and then maps
to the area um while our block is rsa 5 there is mick zoning nearby as well
and then photographs of the property this is the front of the property
uh this is the and by the way this is the posting but these are the separate steps that lead to the
lower level and that's my where my client lives they go up of uh i guess three or four steps
the occupants if they're so lucky would you know separate occupants would go down a few steps
and this is north third street to the right of the property north third street to left of the
property again i think a little better view of what you're seeing here um but there is a lot of
light and air down there and then you can see here there's a ton of light in there this is like
sliding glass doors in the rear and you can this area is 12 by 17 that lower level backyard so
there's a lot of light and air there there's also a ladder that goes up there you know as well for
the lower level occupant god forbid they got you know a situation in the front but there's a separate
entrance in the front and there's a lot of light in the air with a sliding glass door
in the back and then you can see that's where that lower level uh occupant would be
and then again if you just look at this this is kind of like the drawings that we took from the
from the architect that did this project um but you know my clients would go up the flights of
steps to the first floor second floor and third floor while the lower level occupant would go
down the flight of steps if you look at the rear it's it's you know full glass like basically in
the lower level and then if you look at it from here so a couple things like there is a garage
here for my client but if you notice there's no living underneath the garage it's shared storage
and utilities so if the occupant goes down to fly the steps they get into this oh i'm just moving
this this foyer area right to get into the into the property and as you can and i think there's
pictures in the like in the presentation but you'll see there's a lot of glass here with a lot
of light in there um that kind of brightens up the room uh so it's a you know your foyer area
You got like a kitchen, a living room. You have a bedroom here and you have a den area and you have another bath and then you have the outdoor area. And then both occupants, my client on the upper level and then the other occupant in the lower level have their, you know, access to storage and utilities.
So the utilities are separate from each of the areas. So there's no difficulty in that respect either.
And that's just the upper level. So we met with the community on January 5th, 6.30 PM. It actually was a well-attended event meeting. I would say like a dozen or so, not the executive board on top of the executive board. And we notified 213 addresses.
list of the addresses proof of mailing to those addresses i thought there was a picture of the
interior which really did show a good light in there from from those large windows in the back
uh the our application for appeal along with our project information form and there was refusal
the deed to the property showing my clients bought it actually i mistakenly said 1.6 1.625
million dollars so this and again you know this is not one where they have unclean hands you know
it's it's you know sad this sometimes happens um and then certificate of tax clearance you know
this these are their taxes you know in the city of philadelphia those are not due yet until march
31st i'm gonna stop sharing my screen i would ask that either jennifer or james virtually
raise his hand raise their hands and be sworn in they're being promoted to thank you
hi can you hear me hi could you say stay hi we hear you could you please state your name
hi could you say stay hi we hear you could you please state your name
and spell it for the stenographer yes it's jennifer malo j-e-n-n-i-f-e-r malo m-a-l-o-w
and spell for this
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i do counsel oh yeah jennifer you heard everything i had to state about your zoning matter today
yes is it true and correct um one correction um there isn't a ladder in the backyard there is a
what there is no ladder in the back there is no back ladder it looked like a ladder but obviously
that's something that you would have installed you know if you're if you get the variance request
uh something we're looking into okay
what's that she she testified something she's looking yeah
all right i'm here as well but i'll be silent sir sir could you please state your name and
spell for the stenographer yeah um my name is james mccauley it's uh j-a-m-e-s uh last name
mccauley m-c-c-a-u-l-e-y do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the
truth yes counsel uh uh yes um james well i guess i mean i only need one of them to tell i mean i
can also have james whoever you want yeah i mean and i think yeah i can just talk me yeah uh and
then jennifer i think the last question is uh do you adopt uh my testimony as your own uh yes okay
all right questions from the board yeah so this is uh owner occupied right yes they live upstairs
all right and then the utilities are all separated from um from each other that's right okay and um
trash what is the trash plan for both units so for the rental unit uh uh jennifer is there an
area in the in inside or somewhere segregated that's you know distorted trash during the week
um yes can you explain where um well there's a place in our garage and then there's also
um a basement unit okay but is there's a place in the basement unit to actually store the trash
during the week um there's a there's a separate unit from the basement down there actually that's
right there is like if i remember there was a storage area where yeah yeah so hold on let me
just show you that yeah it is shared storage yeah there's just there's sorry i said basement
unit but there's a separate storage area and yeah let me just show that actually
let's just look at that i don't know if it's it's not reflected on those pictures
this is not the shared storage area over here um
yes that is that's that's it okay yeah so that's a share so if you look if they go down the step if
one goes down the steps there's the immediate door where's where the utilities are but there's
also shared storage area and utility room and then you go a little further and that's the
that's the door front front door to the lower level unit
other questions
questions or comments from our attorney hillary emerson hillary emerson emerson not at this time
mr chair uh question or comments from the virtual audience no hands at the sound chair
planning commission amy board with the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no
change in zoning at this location from the current rsa 5 residential single family
the current structure was granted building and zoning permits in 2009. zoning permit number 224404
dated 9 10 09 reads for the use as a single family dwelling with two kitchens which shall not be
separated by partition part by partitioning or lockable doors shall not have separate utilities
and shall not be used for occupants who shall be related by blood marriage adoption and living as
a single family the planning commission recommends that the board deny the requested variance for
two family yeah uh mr chair and i know it's not in the testimony i should have brought this up
it is separately divided now there is no it's completely closed off right so um mi 2025 006
477 1012 north third street i vote yes johns my vote is yes cheryl guest and my vote is yes
tenetta graham my vote is yes ryan mcadams my vote is yes iowen my vote is yes
thank you all right so now we have 2020 uh mi 2025 zero
All right, so now we have MI 2025-006-725-2002, South 16th Street.
Alan Nockamson is the attorney.
Mr. Nockamson, you've already been sworn.
Just state your name for the record.
Alan Nockamson.
Mr. Nockamson, can you identify your client relationship to the property?
Yeah, to the left of me is Lou Maglio, one of its owners.
All right, also the unanimous support from Point Breeze CDC.
um including three near neighbors and also a petition of support from 11 neighbors including
three from the immediate block our vice chair has a few questions good afternoon have you submitted
your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing yes we have and do you waive the
read another refusal and stipulate to us accuracy yes we do all right thank you you can share your
screen and proceed with your case. All right, let me just, uh, let me just, uh, let me just, my screen is shared.
Hi, um, this is 2002 South 16th Street in the Point Breeze section of Philadelphia.
We'll go over 11 exhibits. Uh, to the left of me is Lou, uh, the, uh, owner of the property.
this is an RM1 property. It's only 686 square feet in lot size. So we're 34 feet short. Not
out of character to have multifamily structure. And we're only looking to do a duplex. So we're
34 feet short. Not out of character to have multifamily of a similar size. 1940 South 16th
19th Street is also a 2 unit. 1948 South 16th Street is also 2 unit. 1948 South 16th Street is 678 square feet. 1940 South 16th Street is 686 square feet. 2000 South 16th Street is also a duplex. 1905 South 16th Street is also duplex.
And 2020 South 16th Street is also duplex. So now I have care to have duplexes here. As stated, we have unanimous support here. Again, you know, this group, Point Breeze Community Development Coalition, as well as the whole community in general, are usually tough on legalization, not legal, here is not legalization, but to have a duplex when you have to seek by way of variance.
I think they recognize first we're an R1 property, slightly off the square footage calculations of the lot, but also the fact that it's not out of character to have a similar type of multifamily on that block.
Plus, my client is a well-known entity.
I believe his mom lived there for, what, 30, 40 years?
Well, we'll have him testify, but I believe it's like 30, 40 years in that neighborhood.
They own a bar restaurant called Station Bar and Grill around the corner, across the street.
There you go.
it's naive and and that's been around forever so they're well-known quantities in the neighborhood
so um and you know they you know there's even comments like in here about like you know from
the community group or people who voted this is someone within two blocks lou has always been a
great neighbor last year when i broke my leg at the at work he went out of his way to shovel
our pavement i have full trust that this will help the neighborhood uh this makes a lot of sense in
this area the plans appear well thought out and we need more rental properties in the neighborhood
so that was the comments from the community that were documented uh comparable density 2000 south
16th street uh what's it called what's the property here 1916 south 16th street 1948 south 16th
street 2020 south 16th street lou also got a petition of nearby neighbors maps of the area
Again, this is not, we're not trying to convert an RSA 5 property to multifamily.
This is RM1, just a little smaller.
And then photographs of the property where Lou's looking to clean it up.
Orange notice poster, South 16th Street to the right, to the left.
Then our plans and drawings with a rendering, trying to spruce it up.
We're going to add a third story.
So there is a component of an addition there.
and then we want to do a rendering both day and night and then again all we're doing this is the
addition is basically we did the third we did the third story setback too we did the eight feed I
know that that was something that was important to the board on another matter that our firm
handled a few weeks ago to make sure to keep continuity on the block so we did the eight the
the you know third story setback which again in point freeze that's usually a big issue
here it was not um and um you know but we also didn't set it back all the ways to the rear of
the property to respect the neighbor at 2000 south 16th street so the third story does not go always
back to the second you know always back where we could have gone and then
back to the second, always back where we could have gone. And then very basic floor plan. You
walk into the first floor, you got a living room, dining room, kitchen. These are steps. These are
exterior steps. So I also know that when you have basement living, it's really important to the
board to be responsible in terms of egress. So there are actually steps physically leading out
to there so someone can get out of there we're also three and a half three three feet four inches
um out of the ground on there again this is the existing building structure so we really can't
do anything about that but this is the lower level which is two bedrooms a bath
and these are exactly the same plans we showed the community as well second unit you go on the
second floor you have a living room a kitchen bathroom one bedroom and i believe that here's
trash closet right here in the late trash closet and then you go up to the third floor and again
we're not going always in the rear on the third story to kind of respect the neighbors to the
left and right of us also to the rear we have a master suite up there met with the community on
december 22nd at 6 p.m notified 140 addresses of the community meeting listed the addresses
proof of mailing to those addresses our application for appeal that lou filed
and along with the notice of refusal the project information form deed to the property
it's been the family name since 1989 and then a certificate of tax clearance while taxes are
showed owed they're not because it's not due until march 31st i would ask that mr maglio be sworn in
sir could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer lois maglio l-o-u-i-s m-a-g-l-i-o
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Council?
So, Lou, you heard everything I had to state today about your zoning matter.
Get close to the mic.
Is it true and correct?
And do you adopt this in your own testimony?
Just want to make sure accurately I stated your mom has lived in this neighborhood for how long?
60 plus.
Okay, 60 plus, not 40.
So, and did you, I'm assuming you grew up?
More or less, but yes.
I've been there my whole life, more or less, but Barr's been in the family since after World War II, lived on the block, moved out in the 90s, moved back in the early 2000s, into this property, is where I first moved out to, and now I'm back in New Jersey.
Okay, thank you.
Questions from the board?
okay so this is already a very small property i mean what is the real hardship here um with
respect to just leaving it as a single family dwelling why do we need to make this into a duplex
so so so lou why don't you explain the condition of property and how much that would cost and
whether the feasibility of actually doing that as a single family structure so the property
i've maintained it for the last 20 years just with the painting and stuff but over the years
through the rentals i've had it is it's beat up a little bit it needs to be regutted uh the whole
buildings don't have to be redone by the time i put all the money into it uh you know upwards
over 200 000 in order to make this money back especially in that neighborhood i'm going to
need to get two rentals out of there. Anywhere from $1,300 to $1,400 is not going to bring my
money back unless I live to be $180, but that's about it. So that's why I'm going to need to be
able to do a duplex to at least recoup my money back. And the property does need it. You saw the
picture. It's older. The neighborhood is now getting revitalized. My building there, I just
want to make it look a little bit better, but I will need to have the two rentals to at least
recoup my money. And then why don't you explain your aptitude and experience renovating properties
of this sort and managing property, rental properties as well? So this is my second
property on this block. We just did one about a year and a half ago. Very similar. All these
properties my father bought back in the day for right around like $10,000 is what he bought. But
these properties have gotten older, people coming and going, living in them, beating them up.
this last property we did alan helped me with it we we did a duplex it's fantastic it looks so
pretty on the block neighbors compliment me all the time with it um so my experience with this
is it it does work uh other neighbors are doing the same it's like now becoming like a domino
effect but it does work and the neighborhood is getting better and it needs to be done it's it's
part of the it's only part of the process just like everyone knows the uh you know fish town all
they all do the same thing we're just the last of the mohicans and it's going to be needed and i'm
i'm pretty experienced with at this point we do great with the new property makes you know
we do great with the new property it makes you know it's money and do it and i'm happy with it
it's money and i'm happy with
and i need to do it again yeah and and just to reflect i'm sorry i'm sorry did i see pictures
of the interior that it's so um i don't know what you showed no we don't we did not show
that i think you showed someone else's property yeah i didn't show the interior of your property
i mean but you're saying that the interior is in such a condition that it needs to be redone and
do we have pictures of that i don't believe so i don't have pictures of it yeah and again just so
the board understands i believe that you were here like a couple years ago under similar
circumstances was it 1940 or 1948 1948 yeah where it was 678 square feet where we saw like a similar
variance in this this board the different configurations board granted it and you did
complete that construction right this board yes this board then i say a different configuration
of this board but a few years ago this eba granted that's what i meant yeah that's i said
a different config i said the different i said a different configuration the board but the zoning
board of adjustment um i could take a look no no no i said 19 1948 south 16th street i meant i meant
no no i didn't really no i didn't mean i didn't mean like that we you granted in 1948 i meant 19
i'm sorry i talk quickly sometimes 1948 south 16th street which is also on this block which is 678
square feet of lost size compared to the 686 square feet of lot size for this property the
board found cause to allow us uh to to for a duplex you've done oh um two questions so on the second
floor second and third floor apartment was there any outdoor space uh we did not and you know again
it cuts both ways like a lot of times especially in some neighborhoods and pointe breeze is one of
them they don't like roof decks right so we didn't know there wasn't a second floor balcony in the
back no there there was there's an opportunity if we wanted to one day if we you know to do that
but that's not part of the of this design that's right okay can you show the third floor again
and then my next question while you while michael gears up is are there any other uh duplexes on
the block yes they're uh uh and let me try to multitask and move this up while i'm talking about
it 2000 south 16th street is a duplex and these are just duplexes there's some triplexes and are
That's not legal 2000, but 1916 South 16th Street is legal, 1940 South 16th Street is legal, 1948 South 16th Street is legal, and 2020 South 16th Street is legal.
And again, 1940 South 16th Street is 686 square feet of lot size, while 1948 South 16th Street is 678 square feet of lot size.
So, again, apples to apples, there's two properties on our block that are non-conforming lot sizes.
Let's see.
So, this is the third story, board member John's, and I think board member Graham also asked.
So, you can see first, we did not extend, we have, where am I?
Oh, I'm the opposite way.
As you can see, we have the eight-foot rear yard front setback, right, to respect the fact, you know, that we're in a two-story.
And there's no deck there.
Oh, there's no deck here.
Let's have a Juliet balcony.
Yeah, it's just a nice window, light and air.
It's a master bedroom.
And you got support from the Point Grease?
I think it's unanimous support.
Unanimous support.
Yeah, it is.
So, again, usually a tough group.
so yeah so that's what i'm saying it's like you know we we we try to put the best project in front
of them which specifically included no roof deck and mckean snyder one off one off mc going up
further no oh snyder jackson i'm i'm north that's behind well mckean and snyder don't run into each
other yeah he's that's the parallel streets it is mr chair between mckean and snyder and we're
between yeah or passing on which is again and here's another thing we're near a commercial
corridor having hands to the in front of a commercial corridor always helps as well
any other questions questions or comments from our attorney hillary emerson not at this time
mr chair questions or comments from the virtual audience mr chair this is jason hand i will be
taking over as co-host i do not see any hands raised at this time thank you jason amy board
amy boy with the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends the change
with the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends a change in zoning at this location
in zoning at this location from the current sorry or m1 right yeah from the current arm
run residential multi-family to rsi 5 residential single family the proposals for less than 10
deviation from the required lot area per dwelling unit the planning commission recommends that the
board grant their requested variance for a lot area per dwelling unit and my 2025 006 725 2002
south 16th street i vote yes michael johnson my vote is yes cheryl gaston my vote is no
tenetogram my vote is yes ryan mcadams my vote is yes i win my vote is yes thank you thank you
Are we ready to go right in to the 3.30? Are you doing 3.30?
Okay, let's see here. Okay, here we go.
Is there anyone in the virtual audience whose two o'clock case has not been called?
i do not see any interest okay thank you um good afternoon everyone my name is bill bergman and i
will be chairing this meeting of the philadelphia zoni board of adjustment with me is our board
vice chair tenetta graham president mr chairman our board secretary charlotte l gaston president
mr chairman our board member michael johns chairman board member tya winn present mr
chairman the board member ryan mcadams president mr chairman also present here is our attorney
hillary emerson our zoning board director anne haggerty and our board administrator lakeisha
dandy recording of this hearing will be posted on the zba website by participating you consent
to be recorded this is an in-person meeting with remote capabilities whether remote or in person
if you're called to speak and you must state and spell your name then wait to be sworn in
once you've been sworn in please state your name each time before beginning your testimony
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Please remain there so we can account for you.
So let's look at our schedule for this afternoon here.
number three
mi 2025 005 341 1507 west thompson street this case is continued until 63 2026 at 3 30.
number five
mi 2025 005 346 58 south 2nd street this case is continued to 63 20 26 at 3 30.
is there any other requests for continuances
good evening chair this is jason hander will be your calls for the session i do not see any hands
raised and we have one other case here mi 2025 001 328 1221 fawn street this is a second listing
uh no one appeared the last time we have no exhibits john kane is the listed owner
John Kane is the listed owner.
I do not see any hands raised for the matter, and I do not see the individual in the virtual audience.
Thank you. So this is the second time we've had this, and no one appeared twice. We have no exhibits.
So MI-2025-001-328-1221, 4th Street, I vote to dismiss.
John, my vote is to dismiss.
sherox asked my vote is to dismiss metagram my vote is to dismiss brian mcadams my vote is to
dismiss iowen my vote is to dismiss thank you we're going to go to number two on our on our list
here mi2025-005-255-2000 oakmont street zenjin is the attorney
let me come in back again as a panel thank you
good afternoon good afternoon council could you please state your name and spell for the
stenographer. Yes. My name is Zen Jin, Z-H-E-N, last name J-I-N. All right. Do you swear or affirm
to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? I do. Counsel, could you identify
your client, a relationship to this property? Yes. My client is Alan Zhang, who is the owner
of the property. We have a recommendation of unanimous support from Ron Hurst Civic Association,
nine total votes, and also a letter non-opposition from Councilmember O'Neill,
and our Vice Chair has a few questions, sir.
Good afternoon. 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?
Okay, thank you. You can share your screen and proceed with your case.
Thank you. I'm going to share with the Board what was previously submitted.
can the board see my exhibit on their screen it's coming yes we can sir thank you um so this is an
application for 2000 oakmont street the refusal related to this application states that what we
are requesting is a proposed use as a two-family household living within an existing structure
there was a previously approved office business and professional use to remain in the basement
level again this is an rsa zone district so as a result the two how two family household living is
prohibited in this particular district we met with the uh community on this property and received
their support the com the reason the community particularly supported this is that basically
properties like this exist throughout that area rawnhurst and the community actually was well
aware of this particular property being both a office space in the basement as well as residential
above. So they had no issue with the proposed use. However, when we actually presented to the
community, my client decided that what she would prefer or actually the owner he would prefer
is to simply have the property as a two-family dwelling.
The plans itself even shows that the basement,
which was an office and it was vacated,
they would rather just have that
as part of the first floor existing residential unit,
making the two total residential unit
the legalized use for the property.
As far as the property itself,
the layout of the property is such that the basement level really exists above grade it's
almost like a first floor which is the basement and then the first floor is substantially elevated
and then the second floor above that this is basically how a lot of the properties on the
corners in that area are situated and traditionally a lot of these basement spaces were used for some
kind of commercial use whether it's nail or office and again the community was well aware of this
property previously having a realtor's office and an office used in that space they were also aware
that the second floor and first floor were originally separated as residential units and
in fact many were built that way with two families already in the building and then the basement
so our conversation during the meeting more or less affirmed that this building really had
pre-existing conditions that probably were built that way so the community had no issue
despite the RSA 3 zoning with the proposed use overall but again as you can see I'm going to zoom
with the proposed use overall but again as you can see I'm going to zoom in with the plans
to better show that the proposal here based on the plans really is to maintain the existing
second floor residential unit maintain the existing first floor residential unit it is
already connected to the office space internally so the proposal simply have the basement level
be converted to kind of a storage. There's a wet bar proposal, bike storage, workout area.
So it's essentially becoming part of the first floor residential unit rather than maintain it
as an office, which would actually be not quite how my client would prefer to use it in the long
run. So what we're asking the board today would be to have this approved, if approved, as simply
a two-family dwelling. With the first floor and basement being one unit, and then the second floor
being the second unit, I do want to point out again, the basements fully walk out. Actually,
there are two exits to walk out of the basement. And so it is not a below-grade basement,
alleviating a lot of the fire safety concerns that normally would come with the basement
being part of a residential unit. So that is essentially what we're asking from the board
today, is your favorable consideration in our request to have the two-family dwelling,
which essentially existed in this property from the time it was built, to be legalized as its
future legal use. My client should be here to verify my testimony. I do know that he is at work
and therefore may be replying to the board from his vehicle,
but I asked him to pull over on the side of the road to be safe.
Alan Zhang?
Alan Zhang, right?
Alan Zhang.
Alan, if you're there, can you please click the raise hand function on the Zoom?
I mean, Xen, you're an officer of the court.
We accept your testimony, and I think you've explained it the best you could anyway.
Questions from the board?
The basement is only accessible from the first floor unit?
Well, so it's both accessible from outside directly because it's above grade.
two two uh means of uh egress there both here and here that actually walked right out to the
sidewalk as well as internally from the first floor which is actually elevated where normally
a second floor would be uh if we were to look at this from the side of the building if you look at
the elevation profile it shows it again that the entire this is the basement level and those are
the two doors that actually leads to the sidewalk because the actual building first floor is elevated
and the entrance is on a hill in a sense where you walk up steps to get to the first floor entrance
in the front okay and then if so if you come out of the basement do you have to come
i guess up the common walkway to the stairwell that we're seeing in the front elevation to get
to the sidewalk no no so yeah so this this so if you come out of the first floor you actually have
to go down steps to get to the sidewalk okay but the basement comes out on the sidewalk okay
other questions i think the photos may be clear on that as well let me actually put that back up
for the board oh yeah yeah so you see this yeah okay yeah so right here they come right out to
the sidewalk and that's that's the back with the parking and this is actually the front where they
have to go up steps to get to the door questions or comments from our attorney hillary emerson
um just a just a couple of things so so the the refusal is incorrect in that it's
in saying that the business and professional office use is remaining
right so they originally applied with the intent to keep the uh business professional office
but after consideration of how the building is situated my client decided it'd be better to just
simply have it as two family and and forego the business office because it's actually
they have to do more work to maintain the business office and then
separately lease it out it's it's actually more difficult for them to handle
and manage all right so i i would suggest to the board i know planning is going to
All right, so I would suggest to the board, and I know planning is going to suggest this as well, that there be a proviso indicating that the approved use is two-family household, living only, no business and professional office, just to clarify that.
suggest this as well that there be
And then this is an RSA 3, so parking's required, and it looked like there was some parking in the back, but I wasn't clear if that was, because it wasn't noted on the refusal.
it's not a refusal item partly because it's existing and i believe it is legal parking
okay they have access way that leads to that parking spot okay and it's like a park it was
like a parking is it a parking pad off of a shared driveway yes in the rear okay all right thank you
thank you questions or comments from the virtual audience
yeah i do not see any hands thank you uh jason planning commission amy boy with the planning
commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning at this location from the current
rsa3 residential single family the absorption of the business and professional office into one of
the two existing dwelling units brings the property more into conformance with the residential nature
of the zoning district however two dwelling units in addition to a business and professional office
would constitute an overuse of the property the planning commission recommends that the
grant the requested variance for two dwelling units with proviso no business and professional office
mi 2025-005-255-2000 oakmont street i vote yes with proviso no business or professional office
michael johns my vote is yes with proviso
well they're asking for two units yeah yeah
yeah michael i think michael yeah yeah i did i wrote it michael johns my vote is yes with proviso
cheryl gaston my vote is yes with proviso tenetta graham my vote is yes with proviso
ryan mcadams my vote is yes with proviso iowen my vote is yes with proviso thank you counsel
thank you number four good evening sir number four mi2025-005-345-6040 ed edmund street
um savian rodriguez is the owner applicant
they're coming back in as a panelist now with the chair
so how you doing everybody good afternoon sir could you please state your name and spell for
the stenographer um my name is sabian rodriguez um is s-e-i-v as in violin i-a-n right um good
right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes
so this application for users of multiple family household living three dwelling units in existing
semi-detached structure whereas the proposed use multiple family household living is prohibited in
the RSA 3 zoning district our vice chair has a few questions for you yes hi good evening have
you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing yes and the chair
rates your refusal so do you waive the reason of further reading the refusal and stipulate to
its accuracy uh stick to its accuracy okay all right you can uh share your screen and see what
your case and the whistle whistling gnomings civic association has sent a letter in of non-opposition
okay let me see uh share my screen should be a green button on the bottom yeah
yes I see okay everybody see my screen yeah it's up okay okay it's the the notice that I got um
uses allowed residential district refusal um reasons for refusal where areas the proposal
was used multi-family three dwelling units household living and is expressly uh prohibited
sorry about that uh prohibited in the rsa3 residential zoning district can i say my
testimony sure i think what you do is start your testimony okay and then you should show them like
it might be worth your while to show some photos now right as you're talking show photos and then
we'll look at some plans okay all right these are the photos of the basement so me and my wife um
we're newlyweds so you know we got we just got married
we own the property right here at 6040 edmund street um we're it was college students
the property right here at 6040 edmund street um where it was college students um instead you know
we was dealing some financial constraints and um you know we decided to you know make our own
apartment you know it will be way cheaper instead of um instead of you know running one out so we
decided you know since i already have a duplex i have a duplex with a basement with a separate
entrance um separate entrance the size is is really big um the ceiling is seven foot seven
feet um height to ceiling ceiling to height um so you know at the time i was like you know i
wasn't planning to rent it out um i wasn't planning to rent out the basement so so let me let me ask
you this you already have a duplex you're saying yeah it's a duplex now you want to add a third
i want to add a third unit because and where's the third unit where's the third unit going to be
uh the third unit when he shows the photos here yeah yeah let me see right here sorry about that
so the third unit was going to be right here uh where the brown door is at
and then there's a unit on each floor above yeah there's a unit in each floor above so there's two
doors on the side of the building one goes to this floor and one goes up top and when i bought the
property i searched up the zoning because i searched up the zoning and it was arm one before
i bought the building and then later on when i was doing the apartment and you know i received
the notice i was just so confused and and i see on the notice and i it says residential uh three
single detached and you know I was just so confused of situation you know it was
my fault or not knowing at the time you know not knowing at the time that you
know even though it was my property and I was still planning to move in there I
should have still got permits and zoning either way but since I thought you know
I was the owner I'm making it for myself how long have you had the property two
years about you said it was a duplex yes when i bought it here it's still a duplex it's still
too it's still a duplex right but you wanted to now you want to put something on the first
for another apartment yeah another could you show us some photos of inside yes so
sorry about that computers
this is the bathroom right here um i'll make a few adjustments uh where's that in the third
in the first floor the first floor yes this is the floor you want to add yeah this is the floor
i'm adding this is the lawn just where they're going to be the laundry room uh this is the
bedroom and this is the living room and where the kitchen is going to be at
are there any windows in the bedroom yeah we're always gonna there's two windows now
is there windows now yeah there's windows now there's two windows and there's windows in the
front and and and there's windows on the side as well but the first the the the the other two
apartments are not zoned either, right?
Am I correct?
It's a RSA.
When I bought the building, it was already
you like that.
I'm looking
at the zoning history, Mr. Chair.
Could be one second.
sorry i'm a little nervous right now sorry about that that's okay
so um i don't see any permit history um associated with the property um
there hold on i have my rental license as well i was gonna say yeah i do see a rental license
there is a rental license for two units um that was just issued in 2024 so um okay it appears that
the the city to and there was a prior rental license to from 20 2001 to 2022 under the prior
owner for two dwelling units so it appears the city has recognized this um as a duplex in the
past all right continue to tell us about your where you want to move what okay okay um so me
and my wife we were planning to move um where the brown door is at um the separate entrance
um to the bottom unit all the way in the first floor uh so we're planning to move
here sorry about that are all the windows glass block yeah glass block you know i was
their glass block, but I was, you know, planning to change the windows.
They're glass-blocked, but I was, you know, planning to change the windows, changing the windows to, you know, the appropriate windows to the proper living.
I was planning to try to add an e-brus.
Let me ask you this.
Did you draw up any plans?
Yes, I do.
Could you show the plans?
The plans.
Yeah, right here.
so these are the zoning plans right here this is the basement underneath could
you make it a little bigger take a look at it
right sir
so this is
this is right here
this is this is the basement this is where
me and my wife are going to live at
is there a garage there too uh no there's no garage okay
all right questions from the board
what are you doing about um trash for three units uh we was thinking about doing the stackable trash
uh say that again the stackable trash stackable i couldn't hear you i'm sorry uh the stackable
trash the stackable trash cans oh stackable trash cans yes okay so where would they where would the
trash cans be stored say prior to trash day uh usually the trash will probably be
last minute so i will usually take out my trash before trash day and it'll be in front of my
property where everybody else in the proper where everybody else on the neighborhood puts their
trash so where are you directing your tenants to store their trash before trash day so right here
right here in the front of the property right here like on the side or you have a photo of that one
that actually the tenants store their trash on their side right here they they store their trash
on the side of the building so on like right here on the side where the two entry doors you see when
you walk up and there's two doors right here and right here there's a space for the tenants to put
their trash in and um i can also fit my trash as well in this space as well because there's a good
amount of space to store trash or i could put my trash right here on the corner um near my door
near my doorway entryway as well um i don't know if i can search it up on zillow of the property
the picture that's fine yeah i think we understand it yeah other questions
yeah i guess i i guess i i understand uh i think the idea of storing the trash on the side is
definitely better than storing anything out front um i guess um the only the only concern that i have
for the most part is you know that's an lni issue is making sure that you have the appropriate
egress and window etc out of the basement or the lower level uh unit um that's that's a that's a
concern because when i'm looking at your plan it shows that the the window that's in the kitchen
in the basement plan falls like under the stair of the of the unit above which that can't work
so i i think there's some inaccuracies but clearly they you know you have to have the appropriate
egress uh and and windows etc out of the basement but for the most part the whole first floor is
above grade it appears to be on least on two sides i can't can't tell from the back but you know okay
um do all the tenants have access to the real the rear yard uh yes and is it your plan because i
know that they can like physically get back there is that your plan to allow everyone to the shared
use of that yard yes is would you be opposed to having the trash can stored back there since you
have a paved driveway yes you would be opposed to it or you'd be opposed um to put the trash
all the way in the back of the yard in the rear yeah um yes they also they have they usually put
on the side of the building okay so that's where they usually put it in okay which so the question
is you're opposed to having them to put it in the back uh through the landlord so yeah yeah
so yeah yeah yeah i definitely i'm not going to use the back um the back is more likely for the
yeah i definitely i'm not going to use the back um the back is more likely
tenants but when you say the side the back is your front door right uh the back is my front door
no no the front is my front door where's so what are you talking about the back
the backyard is right here the backyard is in the back do you have it do you have a way to get out
there no I was planning to put an egress window back there right these um I'm I'm looking at I'm
looking at the was a Google Earth and the plans don't match what I'm saying on Google Earth
you're the you're you're which which unit are you are you the one on the corner or the second from
the corner no i'm i'm the one only in the front the my my separate entrance is in the front of
the house second from the corner mike second from the corner okay it's front of the house like the
my separate entrance the and yeah so it looks like there's an existing trash enclosure
that your property already has that's made out of chain link that's at the top of the stairs
yes is that your intention to keep the trash where it's currently yes and that trash enclosure okay
so for everyone else the trash enclosure is where the like if you if you're looking at his plan you
see where the stairs go up and there's a gate and there's that little bump out that's like in line
with the steps that is elevated and it's currently a trash enclosure i'm sorry about that my time
and behind those other steps it's at the top of the first set of steps and then you go
and then there's a second set of steps right that go up to the two doors to the unit and then you
can keep walking alongside the building on a concrete path to the to the rear yard okay i'm
confused a little bit now so can you just explain to me what the entryways are for each unit okay
uh so the first entryway of to the apartment that i'm making for me and my wife is in the front
right here like this is in the front this is the entryway right here like literally with the porch
right with the uh this is a porch kind of like a little porch there no no it's on the sidewalk
okay go ahead yeah it's on the sidewalk right here front of the building like it front of the
building on the sidewalk that's my entryway to my apartment and then on the side the two entryways
for the first and second unit okay do me a favor just tell me the street like is
Benner Street who was on Benner Street which entryway is on Benner Street for
which apartment or exit or egress I'm confused all right so so so listen to me
and listen to me a minute I just talked to a couple of the other board members
here we're gonna bring it back right and when you come back we think we need
better plans and the plans on how it interacts with the rest of the neighborhood i mean it's
hard to tell what the front and the back is and things like that so like put the streets in there
and things like that and what we're going to do is we're going to do a resumptive hearing on the
7th of april 4 7 20 26 at 9 30. okay right so you come back with better plans and things like that
and we'll take a look at it and try to figure it out okay but it's laid out now and like for
instance, you say things like, well, I think I'll put an escape window back there. So we need to
see that, like what you really want to do, right? And I'm not saying there's anything wrong. You just
need to have a better presentation that everybody can understand what you're doing. I was going to
say, Mr. Chair, what may assist is some additional photos of the property and the front, the rear,
the side. That would really be worthwhile, like if, you know, pictures all around the place, so we
know where it is and and you know where the other houses are and things like that okay so we're
going to bring you back we're not voting against you we just want you to come back with better
plans and like for instance you know if there's windows that we see you're going to have to say
well i'm i'm not going to have glass block window i mean i want to have a window you know what i
mean and i and i think you just got to do a better job with the plans all right okay all right thank
you all right and and you know don't don't be distressed over it but just you know try to get
somebody to help you and then we'll come back and look at it again okay okay all right thank you
um is there anyone um in the audience who's 330 cases not been cool i do not see any hands mr
chair all right thanks everybody thank you for a uh a good day's work actually two days work and
yes sir so what time on april 7th so it was force 7 20 26 at 9 30 in the morning
9 30 in the morning and you'll be notified okay thank you appreciate it all right sure
930 in the morning, you'll be notified. Okay. Thank you. Appreciate it. All right. Sure.
Yeah, all right, guys. Hey, everybody. Thank you. All right. Take care. All right.
I have a good 1.