ZBA Hearing - February 25, 2026

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

Elman

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

okay

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?

I do.

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