to this panel that you'd like to let the panel know about this? Yes. So regarding the other
Yes, so regarding the other multifamily on the block, from the records that I can see, 2467 across the street is zoned a triplex.
multi-family on the block.
Oh, okay. I stand corrected. I'm sorry.
Thank you. Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Chair, we have Dylan Mahoney.
Good morning, Mr. Mahoney.
Good morning, Mr. Chair.
Could you state your name and spell, please, for the court reporter?
Dylan Mahoney, D-I-L-L-I-N-L-O-N, M-A-H-O-N-E-Y.
All right.
Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir.
Proceed.
Thank you.
Dylan Mahoney from the Councilwoman Terrell Parker's office. We've received a letter of
support from the 50th Ward RCO, the coordinating RCO for the case, and we are also in support of
the variance. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for calling in. Anybody else in the
virtual audience? I see no hands, Chair. Planning Commission. Thank you, Chair Bergman. Ian Hegarty
for the Philadelphia City Planning Commission. Members of the board, the comprehensive plan
recommends no change to the RSA 5 single-family zoning at this location. However, we've seen this
property has a documented use history as a two-family dwelling, and as the photographs have
shown, the interior physical configuration includes three units. We recommend that the
Board grant the variance. Thank you. MI 2022 002 111 2472 76th Avenue. I vote yes.
Harold Tenere my vote is yes Thomas Holloman my vote is yes James Snell my vote is yes
Ishmael Shaheed my vote is yes thank you 16 MI 2022 001 990 815 North Taylor Street
Geraldine Dressler, letter of support from Fairmount Civic Association.
Applicant also provided petition of support signed by 12 neighbors.
Good morning.
Good morning.
Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
Geraldine Dressler, J-E-R-I-L-Y-N.
dressler d-r-e-s-s-l-e-r right do you swear for him to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing
but the truth i do and you're the owner of the property right i am i'm not an attorney and i've
never done this before so that's okay that you're not an attorney um our our vice chair has a few
questions and uh vice chair could you please read the caps on the i sure will for us hi miss dressler
this is an application for use as visitor accommodations in an existing structure
there's one use refusal whereas the proposed use visitor accommodations is expressly
prohibited in the rsa5 residential zoning district um do you want me to go ahead with
there's a letter of support from fair amount civic no we're good just the catch you're fine
Okay. Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership, tax compliance, a copy of the refusal, referral, photos and or plans of the property five days in advance of this hearing? And have you met with the RCO? And do you have a letter?
That's to all of the above.
Okay, great. You may proceed and begin to share your screen.
Can you see my screen?
We can. We can. Okay. I'm just going to talk and you guys can tell me.
Yeah, just tell us what you want to do. Okay. So last year, a bill was passed through council
to try to tackle the party house issue with short-term rentals in the city.
They passed bill number 210-081, which basically required a visitor accommodation permit
for all non-owner occupied short-term rentals. Short-term rental meaning any rentals for
less than 30 days at a time. With the new legislation, it was required to get this
in order to rent my property short-term, I would need a visitor accommodation permit.
But in order to get a visitor accommodation permit by the existing standards, you have to
be zoned CMX3 or higher. I am zoned RSA5 residential. The house 815 North Taylor is
directly adjacent to my primary residence, 813 North Taylor. There is no CMX3 in the entire
neighborhood of Fairmount. I have been a host on Airbnb for a number of years since about 2000.
Um, I have been a host on Airbnb for a number of years, since about 2016.
Um, this home belonged to my family.
Now it belongs to me.
Um, and they use it as a, you know, second residence when they come to visit.
And then I also rent it out for extra income, um, mostly to people who are in my neighborhood
who have family and friends visiting.
Our houses are very small.
There's not enough, a lot of room for guests.
There's no hotels around.
And then also families who come to Philadelphia who want to stay in a house and not a hotel.
So I have spoken about this at length with my neighbors who are all in support of this variance.
I also have the support of the Civic Association with the CBA.
They noted something strange about the way that the bill was passed in that by getting a variance,
that basically attaches to the property and not to the property owner. So even though I've been
in the community for 16 years, my son goes to the public school. I used to be on the board of the
Fairmount Civic. I chair the board of Friends of Baish Martin. That's our local school. We're here,
deep roots. They said, if I were to ever sell the property, the variance would transfer.
So we agreed on a CBA that if I were to ever sell the property, that I would get the variance
removed and have it just go back to the RSA-5. Okay. Did you take any pictures of your property
just to show? Yep, I have that. One of them shows a photo. Okay.
So here's the front. Right. The pane. And then I have some interior photos I can show you too.
Where'd they go?
so this is the front room kitchen
that's fine that's okay and the fair amount civic voted what was the vote
pull that up um there was um no opposition only one took no position um and just about everybody
it supported either outright or with the cba okay all right questions from the board no mr chairman
no mr chairman no mr chairman uh questions or comments from the virtual audience
chair we have a someone with the name first name theresa okay
hi could you state your name and spell it please for the court reporter
um it's teresa hoberg t-e-r-e-s-a h-o-b-e-r-g i am the signatory to the letter
okay all right do you swear affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i do proceed uh i just want to confirm what jerry lynn has said and i guess we
We consider this kind of a difficult, an odd situation where you would need a variance
for something that appears to us to be really a licensing process that attaches to the owner
as opposed to the property. So we agreed to a CBA, which I guess we'll enter into
if this variance is granted, although I recognize that a CBA, technically according to the way it's
set up, is not usually for these kinds of matters. So we're a little bit at a loss how to really go
about that, whether that needs to be recorded or whether that can remain as just an agreement.
You're fading away, ma'am. We can't hear you.
I'm sorry.
Did you hear anything that I?
We heard most of it.
We heard, you know, you were just at a quandary of how to do it.
Well, we thought that we could agree on a CBA, but I'm not clear whether that needs to be recorded.
Well, that's that, that, that, the zoning board doesn't get involved in the CBA.
Right.
So I'm not even sure how we go about that.
In general, there was support for it as long as we could enter into the CBA that not only reverts, essentially removes the visitor accommodation variance, but also retains the property as a single unit household because it wasn't clear to us that once you get a variance for a visitor accommodation, if they could also then physically change the property into a hotel or a motel.
thank you for calling in ma'am are there any other comments from the virtual audience
i see no hands chair planning commission
planning commission thank you chair bergman ian hegarty for the philadelphia city planning
thank you chair bergman ian hegarty for the philadelphia city plan
commission board members as a point of clarification one of the main intents of the limited lodging
zoning law is to prevent replacement of housing stock with short-term rentals in in philadelphia's
neighborhoods the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the residential single family zoning
on this block um you know while we understand the use of this property will have very limited
impacts on near neighbors. The applicant has failed to meet their technical burden of
demonstrating an unusual physical condition related to this property to substantiate a
hardship claim. The property clearly can be used as a single family home in conformance with the
zoning. And so we have to recommend that the board deny the variance. Thank you. I'm not 100%
sure what that all means um we're not done we're not done right mi 2022 001 990 815 north taylor
street i vote yes gerald tennary my vote is yes thomas holliman my vote is no james snell my vote
is yes ishmael shaheed my vote is yes so so you have your variance thank you so much i appreciate
it have a good day good luck is there anyone else on the morning schedule that their case has not
been called i see no hands here okay thanks everybody got a lot of work done this morning
see everybody too thanks bill mr chairman mr handsome
right yep good afternoon my name is bill bergman and i will be chairing this afternoon's meeting
with me is harold tenary and she should be on very soon ismail shaheed our board secretary
President Mr. Chairman. Thomas Holliman our board member. President Mr. Chairman. James Snell our
board member. President Mr. Chairman. Also here is our Executive Director Tanya Sunkett and our
Board Attorney Hillary Emerson. Before we start here's our virtual format. Be advised the proceedings
are being recorded. By participating you acknowledge your agreement to be recorded.
The video will be available by contacting tonyasunkett at phila.gov.
For the benefit of our court stenographer, we ask attorneys and witnesses to identify themselves before testifying.
If you are participating by phone, if you wish to testify, press star 9 to raise your hand and star 6 to unmute.
To enter the period statement, call 267-270-5548.
Leave your email and the address of the property in question.
And lastly, the question-answer box on the screen is not for comments or testimony.
All comments should be directed to our Executive Director, Tanya Sumkin.
And I have a few announcements to make.
Effective July 18, 2022,
if the case is continued for attorney or applicant moving party. The attorney or applicant has 90
days from the date the case is continued to either just request a new hearing date, ask for an
extension or moving party status, or withdraw the case. If ZBA staff is not contacted by the end of
the 90-day period, the case will automatically be listed for a new hearing. Please note extensions
Mentions for moving parties' status must be sent to the Executive Director, Tanya Sunkett, with Board Attorney Hillary Emerson copied.
The ZBA staff is currently sending out letters to listed applicants on appeals filled prior to 2019.
If the case has been pending and a hold status and an applicant or their attorney does not contact ZBA staff to discuss the next steps for their case within the time limit, in the time period stated in the letter, the case will be considered abandoned and administratively closed.
Questions about either of these policies should be directed to our Executive Director, Tanya Sunkett, and our Board Attorney, Hillary Emerson.
So let's look at our continuances for the day.
Number two, MI 2022-002-811-100-North-55th Street, Continued Attorney-Moving Party.
And number 17.
And number 17, MI 2022, 002-157-718-26 North 17th Street.
That case is continued, attorney moving party.
Is there anyone in the audience with questions or statements relative to those two contingencies?
I see no hands, Chair.
Are there any other requests for continuances?
I see no hands, Chair. Thank you.
Are there any requests for withdrawals?
I see no hands, Chair. Thank you very much. We're going to go to our add-on list.
number one on the add-on list mi 2020 000 657 4154 north 7th street this case was held for a vote
today waiting on an rco letter the rco letter has come in and it's in opposition i vote no
Thomas Holloman, my vote is no.
Ishmael?
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is no.
I'm sorry, a little confusion there.
James Snow, my vote is yes.
Mr. Chairman, which case are we voting on?
The number one in the Adwan.
Oh, okay.
That's 7th Street?
yes my vote is yes number two mi 2022 002 385 1148 to 62 frankfurt avenue there are two people
to vote on this this was previously voted and it was a 2-1 vote jim snell votes carol tenere votes
both should go online and both go on the record of saying you've read or watched the video
okay um i'll start uh this is carol tenere i watched the video of the hearing that was on 810
my vote is yes with proviso this is jane snell i likewise i watched the video and my vote is yes
for proviso. Thank you. Number three is a result of hearing. MI 2020-002-812-830 East
Thayer Street. RCO, there was a meeting. There has been several continuances waiting for the RCO
letter. There's no RCO letter. I vote yes. Carol Tenere, my vote is yes. Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
Yes, Mel Shahi, my vote is yes.
We're going to go to our regular list, and I'm going to start with number 12 for scheduling purposes.
MI 2022-003-095-5757, North Fish Street.
Darwin Beauvais will be presenting.
Our attorney will recuse herself from it.
From this case, we have Councilwoman Parker's office served as coordinating RCO, two community
members attended, expressed support for the proposal, a letter of support from the Fifth
Street Revitalization Group, and a letter of support from T House Incorporated, a small
business in the area. Mr. Chair, this is Hillary. I am recusing myself in this matter. I just want
to note that Drew Aldinger is serving as counsel for the court in this matter. Thank you. Mr.
Beauvais. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman. It's always good to see you. Thank you. Could you
state your name and spell for the court reporter, please? Yes. Darwin Beauvais. That's B-E-A-U-V
as in Victory, AIS as in Sam. I'm from the law firm of Dilworth Paxson. We're located at 1500
Market Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19102. If we can also just make note that there's
Megan Hanna and Penny Ellison are also present and that they should, I probably will most likely
call on at least one of them you swear for him to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing