um if i can speak up there was no refusal for that
no but it does uh there is a streets department and planet commission policy that we do need a
certain amount of clear space on the sidewalk sorry could everyone hear me yes now of course
my screen went back to my uh schedule i don't know how that happened without me touching anything
But in any event, thank you.
Calendar numbers 39959, 2021 North Randolph Street.
Calendar number 39870, 2025 North Randolph Street.
Calendar number 39871, 2037 North Randolph Street.
calendar number three nine five two two two oh one one north randolph street and calendar number
three nine nine six four two oh three nine north randolph street my vote is yes on all five
my vote is yes on all five yes to all five yes to all five yes to all five
thank you thank you members of the board i think i um finally have no more business before the
board today okay you be safe stay safe and uh sharon and or tanya any unfinished business on
this uh session no that's it for today for two o'clock okay we'll see you all 3 30 yes thank you
Thank you.
Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Frank DiCicco. I'm the chair of the Zoning Board of Adjustment.
Thank you.
I'll be participating in today's hearing with Vice Chair Ms. Carol Tenere, our Board Secretary, Confessor Plaza, and Board Members Thomas Holloman and James Snell.
Board Administrator Tanya Sunken and Board Attorney Sharon Saleta are also in attendance.
For those of you who haven't yet participated in our virtual hearings, I will go through some of the basics of what you can expect.
First, we'll begin this afternoon's session by reading a list of cases to be continued.
If you believe any announced case is being continued in error, we will give you an opportunity to respond.
After reading the continuance list and receiving any feedback, we will take any additional continuance request.
Then once we've confirmed which hearings are being continued, Vice Chair Carol Tenere will begin calling the remaining cases listed for this session.
When a case is called, we ask that attorneys representing applicants or other interested parties in the matter identify themselves for the record.
We will then hear the applicant's presentation, followed by any presentation by attorneys
representing other parties. Interested parties and members of the public, not represented by
counsel, will then be given an opportunity to testify. We will finally hear the recommendation
of the Planning Commission. At the hearing's conclusion, we will either vote the matter
immediately or hold it for discussion in executive session. Any case held for discussion
will be voted at the next scheduled Wednesday morning session. Please note the following
changes related to the format. First, we will be administering oaths to individual participants
prior to their testimony. Second, for the benefit of anyone participating by phone,
we ask that attorneys and witnesses identify themselves prior to speaking or testifying.
Third, we'd like to advise everyone that this proceeding is being recorded and that by
participating, you acknowledge your agreement to be recorded. Fourth, for anyone participating by
phone, if you wish to testify, you must raise your hand by hitting star nine and then star six
to unmute yourself. I'll repeat, for anyone participating by phone, if you wish to testify,
you must raise your hand by hitting star nine and then star six to unmute yourself.
Finally, to enter an appearance statement, call Google 267-270-5548 and leave your email address
and the address of the property. I'll repeat, to enter an appearance statement, call Google
267-270-5548 and leave your email address and the address of the property at issue.
With that being said, we will begin. We can begin. Excuse me. Before Carol Tenere calls our first
case, we'd like to announce that the following matters are being continued. Calendar number,
I don't have a calendar number, but I do have an address, 1512 South Juniper, and then calendar
number 39931-2300 Washington Avenue. Those cases are being continued. I will ask at this time,
if anyone believes a case is being continued in error, please raise your hand, or if you
want to request a continuance or withdrawal, please raise your hand as well.
we have a renee edelman renee you can unmute yourself and speak to the continuance
hello my name yes please identify yourself and spell your name please my name is renee edelman
first name r-e-n-e-e last name e-d-e-l-m-a-n and i live at 1516 south juniper two houses down from
1512 south juniper one of the continuances do you swear and affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
and nothing but the truth i do thank you please proceed um i object to the continuance um this
would be a second continuance i and several other neighbors showed up at a zba hearing i believe in
January. And this case was continued for final hearing on this date. The reason it was continued
The reason it was continued is that the owners of 1512 had come to the Neighborhood Association
is that the owners of 1512 had come to the neighborhood.
Zoning Committee, and there had been considerable discussion, and the Zoning Committee asked,
and the owners of 1512 had agreed to come talk to the neighbors and work out some changes to
the plan and represent that to the Zoning Committee before proceeding to this board
with an appeal. And they never contacted us. We've had no contact from them. The house is now for
sale and they're advertising it with um approved zoning and permits as a shovel ready project
so i'm not sure what the owners of 1512 are doing but um i'm not sure why um this is being continued
and i would object to that i appreciate and hold on for a minute is sharon and or tanya do we have
any uh uh information in a file as to why it's being continued is there an attorney
representing the applicant there is not an attorney representing the applicant i
have that the continuance was requested but i don't know by whom
in any case if they had agreed to go back to the community to um to present revised plans
it would probably be best that they do that before um having a hearing and in any case if
going to they will not have any approvals in hand until they do that and they come back
so what is the calendar number i don't have a calendar number on my sheet
it is three eight seven oh nine three eight seven oh nine yes and there's nothing from
pass young neighbors correct um no there were no exhibits at all submitted
tonight um okay so with that i mean they got the house up for sale so obviously they're not we have
another person if you would oh i'm sorry tanya uh whoever's on the other line raise your hand
please there henry moss you can unmute yourself and wait to be sworn hello can you hear me yes
please spell your name and give us your address dare henry moss it's d-a-r-e h-e-n-r-y hyphen m-o-s-s
your address my address is 1514 south juniper directly adjacent to the um 1512 property and
do you swear and affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
I do. Thank you. Please proceed.
I'd like to second Renee's objection. The owners of the property did appear at the community meeting and assured us that they would return with some revised plans regarding their proposed demolition of the property.
we have significant concerns about their ability to execute a demolition of the property safely
given their treatment of the property so far they've left it um excuse me i'm sorry but
yeah we're not getting into the case but you're objected to the request for continuance is that
correct yes they haven't provided any additional information yeah we don't mean to cut you short
but if we get into that, then we're actually getting into the merits of the case, and that's
not what we're here for today. Can I make a recommendation that it could be marked as a
must-be-heard for the next hearing, and we could contact the appellant and say it will be expected
that they return to the RCO before then? My understanding is it must be heard today,
and they have not appeared. Normally, I'd agree, Sharon, but they now have the house up for sale,
which tells me that they're really not interested in whatever it is they were coming to this board
for. There is no harm in not going forward. They will not be approved for it, but I believe they
were told that the case would be continued. They are not here. And we have no exhibits. We can't
go forward. We can deny the continuance. Well, denying the continuance would mean that you are
then denying the variance because you would have to dismiss it since they are not here and they
have not submitted exhibits there would be no dismissive okay they shouldn't be able to have
it listed with a realtor saying that they have zoning approval well that that would be a concern
for the buyer it isn't doesn't affect the fact that they do not have the zoning approvals
we can vote to dismiss if you vote to dismiss i assume they would object since we have told
them it wasn't necessary to be here and it was being continued well i think the burden
Well, I think the burden should be on them and not on the community.
should be on them and not not on the community
So I appreciate your comments, Sharon.
I appreciate that.
All right.
Any other, is there anyone else to, Tanya?
No, that's all.
Are we leaving that case continued or dismissed?
I'm going to, I'm making a motion to dismiss it.
So if that's okay, if that meets with the approval of the board.
Sounds good to me.
Calendar number 387091512 South Juniper.
My vote is to dismiss.
Dismiss.
Dismiss.
Thank you.
Thank you, ladies.
Any other requests?
Oh, I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
Sorry, Frank.
Any other requests, Tanya?
we have mary jones mary you can unmute yourself and wait to be sworn in
good afternoon ms jones please identify yourself for the record and uh proceed
yes uh good afternoon my name is mary jones um council uh representative for
Council President Daryl Clark, City Hall, room 496.
Do you swear and affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Thank you.
Please proceed.
I'm not sure if this continuous request was already made, but I believe there's a case
listed today, 2455 West Montgomery Avenue.
They haven't met the RCO yet.
case number three on our list Frank yeah it's not case number three do we have
anything in the file yes no actually I've talked with the applicant twice
today they wanted to go forward because they had not met with the RCO I told
them it would have to be continued that is that's the request of the
Councilman's office? Yes, yes. Okay, we will continue that. Okay, thank you. Thank you.
So calendar number 38640, 2544 West Montgomery Avenue is being continued.
Anyone else?
no more hands chair okay carol calendar number sure calendar number three eight four zero six
one seven zero nine north 26th street the attorney is zen jin
hi mr jin good afternoon can you put your name and address on the record please
Ben Jinn, Z-H-E-N, J-I-N, 1617 John F. Kennedy Boulevard, Suite 1838, Philadelphia PA 19103,
here on behalf of the applicant.
And do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Sounds like a purring mason line.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Thank you.
You may proceed.
Thank you.
Good afternoon. This is an application for a use variance for the property. I'm going to share
the screen. So this is an application for a use variance to use this property as a multifamily
dwelling. It is zoned RSA 5 single family. As you can see, the sole refusal is the use itself,
which is a triplex use. What I want to do is go ahead and go to the
property photographs itself. I'm sorry, let me move down some more.
This property actually is located right near Cecil B. Moore on North 26th Street.
The property here, this is the Cecil B. Moore properties, the backside of their properties.
And this one is essentially on the corner, but not quite the corner of Cecil B. Moore.
One interesting thing about this block is that my client's property has been left vacant, but occupied, without water or electric for some time.
so it took a lot of work to clean up this blight and it is also sandwiched in the surrounding
in the surrounding by uses that are similar to what my client is proposing. So what you see here,
by uses that are similar to what my
this is across the street, and this is going down the street from the property. So 1711, 1713,
and then 1715, which is a vacant lot, you move to 1717, all those properties are multifamily used.
they are actually recorded as such in the city records with permits 1713 for example goes back
quite a while as a triplex use so because of the way the building is situated between these
multi-family buildings and also the commercial mix used and multi-family buildings on Cecil B.
Moore when my client acquired the property he felt that a extensive renovation of the property
preserving its exterior because it is a nice enough looking exterior, but adding an addition
to the third floor and changing the units into three individual apartments would be the most
financially viable use, especially considering the next door buildings are also rented out as
multifamily as well. We do have the plans here for the board's review. Because the way this
building is set up, my client is not looking to put anything into the basement. The basement
would be left for utilities. Then each floor would simply be a two-bedroom apartment with
living room and kitchen. That is essentially the proposal. There's no rear yard or open area
requirements that are not met because the building footprint itself meets those requirements.
Now, as far as the addition itself, it would simply be an extension of the rear of the third
floor to kind of square off the property. But because there are already existing rear yard
and side court. That addition itself does not trigger any issues with regard to having
additional refusals being triggered for open area or rear yard. When we met with
the neighborhood, the meeting took place right before the pandemic kind of shut down meetings.
it was attended by my client and some neighbors they didn't really reach an agreement so to speak
the main issue is not so much the use but the addition itself one of the neighbors had some
objections to the idea of an addition even though it was pointed out that the addition itself even
if we keep it as a single family house is a by right addition it's not itself a refusal item
So that was the main concern, which kind of was left as a discussion, but no final result was reached from that discussion, because that is the main objection that was raised.
But again, my client feels that it's important to have the addition as part of the overall expenditure into this property.
the there was additional information that I just submitted with my latest
exhibit to the board I'm not I can go ahead and share that separately if the
board would just bear with me I thought I opened the latest exhibit I must have
open an older one. Okay, I see it here now. Let me go ahead and re-share.
So, I wanted to point out that 1711 going back a long time has been a triplex. 1713
is a duplex and 1717 is also a duplex now 1715 is not here because it's currently a vacant lot
but again this building is kind of sandwiched between multi-families on the one side further