duplex, a two-family, and this is an RSA 5 zoned property. Exhibit 2 is, and I will flip this so
we can, everybody can see it properly. This is our elevations and site plan, and I can make that
larger if anybody needs, but there's the front elevation. Those are current site photos. Actually,
they're a little bit dated, but I'll show you more current site photos as we scroll through.
This is a site plan. You can see, I guess, there on the left is North 5th Street and
This is a site plan. You can see, I guess there on the left is
then that's the footprint, if you will, of the property. To the left there is the egress
well. This is all done by our excellent architect, Logan Drive, KCA Design, and I think Logan
is here with us as well, and I'll probably just have him testify briefly in a minute.
these are our floor plans and I can enlarge these it is a basement through third floor
with a roof deck and as I mentioned it's going to be a duplex so unit one or unit a will be
ground level and basement uh basement features just some large living room den space
with a powder room and then the um mechanicals in a back closet there of the basement
the first floor features uh at least one bedroom uh full bath and kitchen then the second and third
floors are i believe it's a two bedroom although i will have my client um testify to that two
bathrooms, one on the second, one on the third. And the ground level has access to the rear yard
space, as you can see right there. And then the upper unit, the second, third floor unit has
access to the roof deck. So that's the plan there. I'm going to scroll through here. Exhibit four
is, oh, exhibit four is a rendering. And I will, oh, look at that. It's in the right direction
already. Exhibit 4 is a rendering, again by our excellent architect, Logan Dry. And you can see
there's a rendering up there of the roof deck. There's kind of a rendering of the full-finished
version of the building. There's a rear view and front axonometric view up to Fifth Street.
and that so that's our rendering I might have my uh Logan Dry the architect uh testify a little
bit more to that exhibit 5 and 5a and 5p are our photos so exhibit 5a is the first of our photos
of the site so this is 2022 north 5th the empty space that you're looking at with the fence in
front of it that's 2022 north 5th to its right is 2024 north 5th which is an older um construction
construction duplex. To the left is ongoing new construction. The address of that is 2002 to 20
North 5th, and that's going to be a 38-unit multifamily. We'll scroll down to give a little
bit more context. That's a shot from across the street, and I took all these photos.
So I've been up there. I have other projects on this block and in this neighborhood, so I've
actually spent quite a bit of time up by 5th and Norris, 5th and Cecil B, and been walking
around taking site photos. This is 2022 North 5th again. Again, the empty space with the
fence in front of it. To the left, you see the new construction project. To the right
is 2024, which again is a already built older construction duplex that's been in use as
a duplex for a while. Same shot, third photo. That's just a little closer in to show you
the current conditions on the lot. It's gated, so that's as close as I could get.
I think I just took a different angle. I can flip that for you. There you go. That's kind
of showing what's immediately to the south on 5th Street. This is showing what's immediately
to the north on 5th Street, which again is 2024, which is a duplex. Exhibit 5B are photos
of the surrounding block, and I'll take you, consider this a virtual walk up 5th Street.
So this is basically the corner of 5th and Norris, where I was standing to take this. This looks
northbound on 5th Street, and immediately there to the upper left is the fence for the new
construction, and then just beyond that is my client's property. Across the street, you'll see
a low wooden fence, and that is actually the fence of 449 West Norris Street, which is another
property of my client, which the board granted a variance for a duplex to that one a few weeks ago,
maybe a month ago. This is the new construction immediately next door to our property. Again,
this is 2002-2020 North 5th, that previously mentioned 38 unit multifamily. This is across
the street. I guess just to show context, you've got some single families, you've got
some multi-families, and you've got some vacant lots. This is another shot across the street.
lots. This is another shot across the street again showing some occupied
single-family, some occupied multi-family, some vacant lots and some
unoccupied structures. I guess more of the same walking up the block of North
Fifth. That's looking southward back down Fifth, just kind of a block-wide view
showing the various uses on the block. That is further north at 5th and I think Susquehanna.
There's a large open vacant lot right there. And this is again further north on 5th Street
and the opposite side of the street. And that's again directly across the street from our property
and again showing the multitude of uses that are going on in the block. Zippet 5C are photos of
our orange poster giving notice of this hearing. And those were posted 14 days ago on 8.05.20.
And there is photo one of the orange zoning poster. Photo two, as you can see, it's right on the fence,
right at the sidewalk. And photo three, that's on its side. I can twist it around if anybody's
interested. In fact, I will just, okay. You can see it. Everybody can see it clearly, correct?
Okay, I'll move on. Exhibit 6 is our project information form, which was filed
in December prior to the current unpleasantness. Exhibit 7, 7A, is an affidavit of service
signed by Sarah McAvoy of my office and notarized from January, in which our office sent notice of
the ZBA hearing, the originally scheduled ZBA hearing, and notice of the RCO meeting
to the listed neighbors. This was our notice letter, and these were people that were cc'd,
people that were cc'd, copy of our notice of refusal. These are all the addresses to which
we sent the letter. Eyeballing it, I'd say there's over 100, probably closer to 200.
Exhibit 7b is later in the year, on March 2nd, we sent a notice of public hearing again to the
same addresses in March. And this exhibit is the same letter but sent end of
February and that was for a rescheduled public meeting on March 11th with the
RCO, the RCO being Norris Square Community Association. And again our
letter, RCCs, our notice of refusal, same list of addresses that had been sent
previously in January. Exhibit 8 is the letter from Norris Square, and the letter from Norris
Square indicates that Norris Square Community Alliance supports the project. The vote was
11 in favor, 1 opposed, out of 28 people in attendance on March 11 of 2020, virtually signed
by Elizabeth Seguera, better known as Lisa Seguera, of Norris Square.
And Exhibit 9 is the deed to Dominus Holdings recorded in November of 2019, granting the
property to Dominus Holdings, LLC.
There's the real estate tax clearances.
Exhibit 10 is our city property tax clearance for Dominus Holdings at the property, and
you can see that there are zero balances going back to 1990. With that, I will turn it over to
the board for any questions. Before we do that, do you have anyone, any witnesses you need to have
on? I do. I have with me Roman Guzva, who is a principal of Dominus Holdings, LLC. Roman, are you
here. Yo, Roman. Bear with me a moment. I'm going to text him.
Roman, you can unmute yourself.
Roman. Ahoy, ahoy. Oh, he just texted me and told me he's on.
He says he can't unmute. That might be the domain of the meeting administrator.
No it's his, he has to unmute. How does he unmute? Let me see if I can advise him.
How does he unmute?
Let me see if I can advise him.
He just did it.
Roman, you there?
Oh, hi.
I think I just figured it out.
I apologize.
Can you hear me?
Please identify yourself, sir.
Name and address.
Spell your name for the stenographer.
My name is Roman Guzwa.
R-O-M-A-N as Nancy.
Last name is G-U-Z-H-V-A.
My present address is 2015 North Fifth Street, Department 1.
Do you swear and affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes. Yes, I do.
Roman, did you hear the testimony that I offered to the board today?
Yes, I did.
And would you adopt that testimony as your own, as though you had given it yourself?
Yes, I would.
Thank you.
I have nothing further for Mr. Guzva.
Thank you.
Any questions from the board?
Is there anyone else who wishes to testify in this matter?
If so, please raise your hand.
Chair, I have Sloan Folks from the council office. Sloan, you can unmute yourself.
Morning again, Mr. Folks. Just identify yourself. You've already been sworn in.
Morning, Chairman. Sloan Folks, Office of Councilman Maria Giannis Sanchez, 7th District,
Room 508 City Hall. The applicant has met with the RCO and has garnered a letter of support.
Therefore, the councilman and this office are offering their support in this very request.
Thank you. Thank you again. Is there anyone else who wishes to testify in this matter? If so, please raise your hand.
We have no more hands up, Chair. Thank you. Planning Commission.
Good morning, Mr. Chairman and members of the Board. This property is zoned residential single family.
The City's comprehensive plan recommends residential multifamily. The applicant requests a new two-unit building.
This is an approximately 1,000 square foot lot. Most of the row homes on this block are three stories and large enough to accommodate two units without adversely impacting the block.
This is also a very wide street with on-street parking on both sides. Therefore, we have no objection to granting this variance.
Thank you. Calendar number 39524-2022 North 5th Street. My vote is yes.
my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes
can't hear you
i'm just keeping myself muted unmuted uh calendar number three nine nine five zero
3860 brown street we didn't get your we didn't hear your vote in that last this last case
my vote was yes thank you calendar number three nine nine five zero 3860 brown street the attorney
is Isaac Slepner. Name and address for the record, please, and you're already sworn in.
All right. Good morning again, members of the board. Isaac Slepner,
ISAAC, last name Slepner, S-L-E-P-N-E-R, 100 North Independence Mall West,
Suite 5A Northwest, Philadelphia PA, 19106.
do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy
i do thank you you're now married for you you can proceed frank i'm trying to be you
well that is that is the most interesting thing that's happened to me in the zoning board hearing
i think ever um i'll step on the glass after i'm done uh so um good morning members of the board
I am actually waiting for my client to join the call.
He is actually also in a hearing meeting of the Historical Commission, but I believe he's also sitting on a Zoom.
So I think he just has to switch Zooms.
I know that he is also either has with him or is bringing with him some neighbors.
But I can, I'd like to begin, but I want to, when I ask him if he's heard my testimony, I want to make sure he's heard my testimony.
So I don't necessarily want to stall and I don't necessarily want to push this to the bottom of the list
But at the same time, I don't want to just hear so you are the bottom
but at the same time I don't want to just get here. So you are the bottom of the list.
Oh well that is a pretty short list then. All right then let me text him tell him we're on
and at least he'll get on and then I can begin my presentation.
All right. I just told him he should log on. Let me get my technology set up here. Bear
with me. Okay. I can kill that. And all right. In any event, we are here today on 3860 Brown
Street. And as I mentioned, I am counsel to the property owner and developer of 3860
Brown Street, which is 3858 Girard, LLC. I will walk everybody through the exhibits. And
if my client is in here listening, he should text me and let me know that. And if he's not,
then I'm going to apologize in advance for repeating myself. But like I said, I want
everybody to testify truthfully. So he's asking me, should I switch over from historic? And I'm
going to tell him yes. Yeah, I'm sorry. Like I said, he was on the historic commission calendar
for 930. And it looks like we are actually ahead of them at this point. Okay, I'm going to get
started. Exhibit one is our notice of refusal. And there were two refusals at this property.
My client's proposed plan here is to build a six unit multifamily at the property. The property
zoned RSA five. So he's seeking a variance for use. He's also seeking a variance for minimum
open area, which as you can see in the notice of refusal, his proposed construction proposes
14.86% of open area. The code requires 25%. Tip 2 is our site plan and I'm going to rotate that so
everyone can see it and I'll enlarge it so everyone can see it a little bit better. All right, so
to the upper left is a site plan. This is 3860 Brown. It is not the corner property. It's the
first in from the corner of 39th and Brown on Brown Street. And next door to it is a house
and around the corner on 39th are some houses and some vacant. And then you can see that's
ours proposed at 3860. On the upper right is our side view elevation. It looks to be three stories
with a basement. The basement is built a little higher than a little higher than
ground level. Excuse me for a moment. I'm just trying to connect with my client
here. Okay, we'll scroll down. That's a couple of photos of the site. As you can
see there's ours is that vacant property right there with the low fence actually there's currently
there's no low fence there those are photos from a little while ago and our site plan that's a map
of the neighborhood to the bottom left the deeds got there's a little bit of the legal description
and a couple of other site views and surrounding views exhibit three are some photographs and i
will walk everybody through the photographs at this time. So to begin, oh, that's upside down.
Bear with me. It's never a dull moment when you're working with Zoom. Okay. First photograph,
that is 3860 Brown. And that is, as it appears, I would say more recently. You can see there's
no fence. There's a little bit of a shell of something to the rear there and some overgrown
vegetation. That's 3860. That's our property. Oh, there we go. That's again another shot of
our property. You can see immediately to the left, which is 3858, is a occupied house. And to the
right is i believe it's 7 739 north 39th um and that i'm not sure is if it's occupied or vacant
um this is another shot just that i took from across the street
i'm gonna interrupt you for a minute looking at your this photograph yes the property to the left
the property to the left i see an electric meter does your client's property go to that party wall
i see an electric meter does your client's property
I don't know.
or is that there's a an alleyway would be would there be an alleyway between the two properties
i am not probably show on the plan but i didn't see that i am not sure but i will we will have
him testify um and again i'm asking him to text me if he is uh on it'll probably show on the
plan so yeah let's see what the footprint looks like okay your client eugene is on he's okay good
um yeah let's get let's get his full name and i'll swear him in please eugene go ahead and
unmute yourself and uh you'll be sworn in by the uh board uh am i muted everybody can hear me
i can hear you yeah my name is eugene i'm the owner of the property
Mr. Odovich please spell your name for the stenographer