Thank you.
Good morning, everyone.
and we will begin shortly.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
one second yeah yeah i didn't know i gotta look at that i gotta get my
i wasn't paying attention my w-2 so mean but we're getting them today
I'm waiting for Hillary. She'll be right here. There she is.
we're okay okay all right good morning everyone 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
tenetta graham president mr chairman our board secretary cheryl l gaston president mr chairman
board member michael johns michael's here uh president mr chairman a board member tya win
who should be walking through the door any minute and our board member ryan mcadams president mr
chairman also here is our board attorney hillary emerson our executive board director in 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
This is an in-person meeting with remote capabilities.
with remote capabilities whether remote or in person if you're called
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there so we can account for you. Let's look at our schedule for this morning.
Number two, MI 2024-004-244-5300-02, Haverford Avenue.
This request for continuance from the coordinating RCO, Joseph Vaccaro is the attorney.
Good morning can you hear me good morning Mr Vaccaro could you please state your name
and spell for the stenographer good morning attorney joseph vaccaro vaccaro attorney for
the applicant do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes i
do the car i i see the rco has requested a continuance um and i i i notice where they're
saying you agree to that yes yes i have no objection okay so we're going to continue this
case let me see here hold on a minute possible date though please um well what we're going to
do is i'm going to have to give you what's available then i'll get you can come back and
see if we can't change it at a later time okay mr mr ricara what is the status of the rco meeting
in this matter we were supposed to have that meeting last week but i had an emergency on my
part so i i had to unfortunately cancel it so although this is their request it's it is on me
okay all right thank you thank you
july 22nd at 9 30 and if you can you can contact the staff to see if that can be changed okay
okay i appreciate it thank you thank you very much thank you
number 12 mi 2025 005 491 1804 oxford street cases continue to july
July 22nd at 9.30 a.m.
And number 17.
MI 2025-005-591-3142 North Taylor Street.
Vern Anastasio is the attorney.
We have to check to see if we have all the documents on this case.
Mr. Anastasio.
They're being promoted to panelists, Chair.
Right.
morning mr chair memory council could you please state your name and spell for the
stenographer sure burn anastasio a-n-a-s-t-a-s-i-o on behalf of mr brandon greer right you swear
a firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do uh we don't have proof of
posting do you have that no the RCO is requesting a continuance so that we can further talk about
redevelopment of the property and I'm not going to object to that all right so 3142 North Taylor
Street that case is continued to July 22nd at 9 30 a.m thank you thank you is there any other
request for continuance? Chair, the hand just went down, Chair. No further hands at this time.
Okay, so I have several cases here that we need exhibits. Number three, MI 2024-006-262-460
Erlheim Street. No updated exhibits. This is the third listing. Michael Cedino and Yorlanda
Matthias are the owners. I see no hands at this time, Chair. This is our third listing. We still
this case is dismissed. I recommend this case is dismissed. Michael Johns, my vote is to dismiss.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is to dismiss. Tanetta Graham, my vote is to dismiss.
My McAdams, my vote is to dismiss. Ty Owen, my vote is to dismiss.
Number six, MI-2025-001-539-8029 Castor Avenue. Bridge Gates is the listed owner,
and the name also is Foto Kapali.
No exhibits, second listing.
The attorney in this case has
withdrawn. And Mr. Chair, I'll just note for the record that this case
requires attorney representation. Yep.
Second listing, anyone in the audience?
No hands at this time, Chair.
MI 2025-001-539-8029, Caster Avenue, I vote to dismiss.
Michael Johns, my vote is to dismiss.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is to dismiss.
Teneda Graham, my vote is to dismiss.
My McAdams, my vote is to dismiss.
Hyowin, my vote is to dismiss.
number 11 and my 2025 003 916 2901 home avenue ta 284082 rear harbor and rear
hr llc is the listed no exhibit second listing attorney is needed for this
no hands at the sign chair so this is the second listing no exhibits no attorney is uh entered
so mi 2025 003 916 2901 home avenue ta 284082 i vote to dismiss michael johns my vote is to
dismiss cheryl gaston my vote is to dismiss tenetta graham my vote is to dismiss ryan mcadams
my vote is to dismiss hi i win my vote is to dismiss number number 16 mi 20 25 005 579 39 14
north 5th street luz ortiz is the listed owner alga rosado is the listed applicant um no exhibits
first listing no hands at this time chair so mi 2025 005 579 3914 north 5th street
this case is continued to july 22nd at 9 30 a.m and number 19
mi-2025-005-849-3400 north sydenham street christopher dean is the listed owner no exhibits
first listing and philip fountain's son incorporated is the listed owner um mr chair
i have been in communication with mr dean and he is seeking a continuance in this matter okay so
MI-2025-005849-3400
North Sydenham Street. This case is
continuing to July 22nd at 9.30 a.m.
And number 18, MI 2025-005-663-6338 Woodland Avenue, that case has been withdrawn.
And number 18, MI-2025-005849-3400
And number four, MI2024-006-278-1430 Shunk Street at Cases.
Zen Jin, you want to come up for that?
good morning counsel could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
turn your mic mic is not on
good morning my name is then jen z-h-e-n j-i-n all right do you swear a firm to tell the truth
the whole truth nothing but the truth i do and you're withdrawing 1430 shang street yes okay
Thank you very much. So MI2024-006-278-1430 Shunk Street. A case has been withdrawn. Okay.
We're going to go to our add-on list.
3245 North 27th Street. Brandi Talley-Johnson is the applicant. This is a request for a non-protonk hearing.
Could Brandy please raise their hand, their virtual hand?
Hello.
Could you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer?
Brandi, Tali, Johnson, B-R-A-N-D-I, Tali, T-A-L-L-E-Y, Johnson, J-O-H, N-S-O-N.
All right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Okay. So could you give us a short reason why we should grant this non-proton hearing?
So I did all the paperwork as I was told to do the paperwork. The last document that I was told to do on the 19th,
and it was due on the 22nd I did do indeed on the 19th I submitted it at the end of the census
submit but in the the text I wasn't told that I was supposed to also put it on Eclipse
so I submitted it to the ZBA but I didn't upload it on Eclipse okay because I wasn't instructed
to do so so that that's where the you know they got drafted okay all right so the request for
Nung Protonk relief is granted. Application for appeal is accepted as timely.
Thank you.
Everybody has to read.
Oh, do I just have to say that?
Just the first part, Michael.
So I say yes.
Nung Protonk relief is granted.
Nung Protonk relief is granted.
Michael Johns.
So, Gaston, Nung Protonk relief is granted.
Tanetta Graham, non-protonk relief is granted.
Ryan McAdams, non-protonk relief is granted.
Taiwan, non-protonk relief is granted.
Thank you.
Thank you, ma'am.
So number two, MI 2024-006-071, 328 East Rittenhouse Street.
I vote yes.
Maximum two units.
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.
Tywin, my vote is yes, with Proviso.
Number three, MI 2025-005-854-8129-31 Stanton Avenue, 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.
If I win, my vote is yes.
So we're going to go to number 10 first.
MI 2025 003-876-866 Medway Road.
Sharonk Abdoal is the current owner, and it's a pro se.
they're being promoted to panelists thank you
do we see him hello good morning good morning hi sir could you please state your name
and spell it for the stenographer okay my name is sharuk are you i'm the owners yes yes all right
who's going to testify i won't even okay could you please state your name and spell it for the
stenographer sure uh allah a-l-a-a last name is a-b-u-a-l-i right do you swear or affirm to tell
the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do so this application is for the removal
of one off-street parking place whereas the proposed removal of required off-street parking
space to prohibit in the rsa d3 zoning district or there's also a letter of opposition from the
greater bustleton civic league and i believe councilman o'neill is present in the room
and he's in opposition to our vice chair has a few questions for you sure good morning
morning have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing
yes and the chair just waved i mean read your refer refusal so do you waive additional read
another refusal and stipulate to its accuracy yes okay all right thank you you can share your
screen and proceed with your case all right what one moment mr chair i believe um the the only
person listed on the deed is um shiru abdua so we need that individual to testify shiru or is that
yes okay could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer uh my name is shiruk
abdua spelled s-h-u-r-o-u-k last name a-b-u-d-a-i-h right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth
the whole truth nothing but the truth i do and our vice chair will just ask you the same question
real quick okay all right thank you um have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days
in advance of this hearing yes 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 the case thank you
do you see how to turn that on no no no no no i'm talking um you see the green button
there should be a green button at the bottom of your screen for you to share
what are we sharing i'm sorry
um we need to share the screen i thought we were just pleading our case sir
yeah well you're k but you have to show your documents on the case
relative to the case okay are your documents on the computer uh no no sir um okay so um
hillary um you're you said your your documents are not on the device that you're on right now
correct okay um yeah this is the integrity i can bring up the document why don't you bring them up
can you give me just two minutes to follow up thank you sure sorry about that
why don't uh one one i mean the documents are coming up but why don't you start your testimony
yeah so now that's it's her she has to testify all right could you tell us what you're trying
to do sure so essentially what we're doing is we're trying to get approval i know um we have
violations on the home right now for um converting the garage space into a living space without a
permit so we would like to remove the violation and could you tell me what is it you did in the
garage? Sure. So my mother-in-law lives with us. She's an older lady. And what we did is we just
made it more accessible for her to just, you know, not be able to have to go upstairs and
just you know not be able to have to go upstairs and downstairs to use the bathroom
downstairs to use the bathroom.
um so we just made it more accessible for her in the basement
is there a kitchen in the basement um we have a i i guess i mean we have a fridge and an electric
stove okay and then did i see that you also put a electric meter down there
yeah yeah but we uh we agreed she's got to testify okay uh yes we do yeah so you put
electric meter down there and you made basically a small apartment is that what you would say
uh yeah essentially which we have no problem in removing that meter
all right so let's see if we can get your documents on it sure
okay your documents are coming up now
so so ian that's it let's just stay with the photos because we have all their documents so
so there's two electric meters there is that correct ma'am correct okay all right show us
what else is there is that the tell me what that is that's just a little living room i guess you
could say okay is that where people eat um yeah it's just a table okay all right next that would
be our little kitchen over there right there's the boxes okay
all right any other photos okay
yep that's the bathroom is in the basement yes it's a full bathroom yep okay
okay all right questions from the board yes so can you access the um the basement to this
i guess the first floor yeah or is it closed off uh we can access it okay so she can move
up and down the rest of the house yes thank you and then what was in the basement prior
to your conversion and work um the basement wasn't finished um so we just yeah we just finished it it
wasn't finished at all and then in the photos you showed where did the original line for the
like what was the original wall for the garage itself is it sort of like that living room area
where the kitchen and the couch are uh yeah everything else was pre-existing yes and then
did you insulate when you did the finish you did and are you guys opposed to uh the
requirement of a certificate of occupancy yeah no no oh no no sorry all right other
questions are there are there other are there other properties uh on your block that have
done something similar to this not that we're aware of okay all right thank you
actually i did have one other question how many people are typically parking in the garage i mean
in the driveway one person okay my mother-in-law doesn't drive so she does not own a car
questions no question to comments from our attorney so so your refusal was for
eliminating a required parking space but it looks like you still have a parking space is that
correct correct um i guess i guess they they said that because we just got rid of the garage space
but there is parking um in the back as well okay you did you submit to l and i plans showing this
parking space in the rear do you remember uh um i don't remember if we did honestly okay so i say
that because the so probably what the refusal should have been was a refusal for having the
parking in the required rear yard and not for not having parking but if you didn't submit plans to
lni i don't know if they'd be willing to change that you might actually have to do a new application
um i think the plans were submitted i'm sorry they were submitted okay i can i can look at that um
okay i can i can look at that um i i don't know that the the board is going to vote on this today
I don't know that the board is going to.
or not we'll see but um that will be something that i i'd want to look into because i'm not sure
that your refusal is correct um based on what i'm seeing here okay
questions or comments from the virtual audience mr o'neill
all right these chair we have a hand up from a madonna duffy okay so i'm i'm doing to do one
here first and i'll get i'll go to that okay all right mr o'neill could you um do you swear or
affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do please proceed this while this
is a illegal garage door converting to a door and windows, if you will, the
improvement. It was done without a license or anything, and it is illegal. This
came to my office, and Madonna, who's going to be on the call, Duffy, works in
my Busselton office, and she's actually the committee woman for this, so she's up
down the street a lot um the neighbors called us about a duplex and uh the neighbors apparently the
and i i don't want to be funny but the um the mother-in-law must be invisible because no
neighbor has seen any woman older than the owner ever. What they have seen is a
every month or two a new group is coming in and out of that unit. So and I just
have a couple of photos I'll hang and it shows the not only the second electrical supply there
but the meter but it also shows that there is a split unit for that separate air conditioning
and heating unit for that property. You'll see it. It's underneath the, on the side of the house,
underneath the house, the main house's compressor. Then, so on top of that,
we have a real big problem, and so does every other district, with illegal conversions. In fact,
in the last year um uh city council has passed the law i sponsored it every member
every member which is rare co-sponsored it um and um it requires
that the landlord have to have has to have a rental license before it can go from two to three
or 1 to 2 family. This is, I assume, predates this. PICO was probably following the rules.
But another thing I wanted to mention is that we have a copy, and I have a copy for everyone
up on the panel, that when the house was sold to the current owner in September of 22,
too. The Philadelphia Real Estate Transfer Tax Certification. It shows the owner as a grantee
and 866 Medway Road and rear of 866 Medway. It's interesting. It was a plan from they want,
apparently to do this and and family and mother-in-laws are almost the excuse in every case
that I have that's an illegal duplex very hard to prove but neighbors have eyes they're there
all the time and they can tell us a whole lot I know we're not here about the duplex yep but
But that's coming next. This has been turned into L and I and the Commissioner Bridget.
She lives fairly close to this. And I just asked the board to turn this down and not
grant the the application. It is it is first of all, it's just if it were just a this isn't
a this isn't someone that closed it off to get extra room in in their house and did a nice job
someone that closed it off to get extra room in
or not a nice job they did a very nice job as the picture shows but it's an entrance and and the um
uh the whole attempt the um uh that was that was made here starting from purchase was one to to
have a separate meter you don't have a separate meter for your mother-in-law or your mother
and and third you don't need a separate air conditioning system because these houses are
built they're three stories typical recreation room garage on the first floor on the ground floor
sometimes a a powder room then the main living area and then it's a typical bustleton northeast
PHILLY ROW HOME NOW THE PRICE IS GOING UP TOWN HOME SO THE THIS THIS IS CLEARLY SOMETHING
THAT SHOULD NOT BE GRANTED AND I JUST AND CLEARLY NO NO HARDSHIP BUT BUT THE CHANGING
OF THIS WITH AN ENTRANCE WINDOWS JUST TELLS YOU ALL YOU HAVE TO ALL YOU HAVE TO KNOW AND
going to hand this up because this I found very surprising because somebody actually was
was thinking this and making sure that they're that their deeds show the rear a rear
so um I appreciate the time and Madonna is here and maybe a neighbor or two on here but
Madonna, please bring her on.
We see Madonna.
Yes, they're being promoted to panel.
Sure, thank you very much.
they're currently promoted chair okay but donna
Madonna could you make sure okay good thank you yeah could you could you unmute me there
i see i'm muted hi can you hear me we we can okay i don't know why i'm not getting a camera right
now i am here okay could you do me a favor could you please state your name it's spelled for the
stenographer right my name is madonna m-a-d-o-n-n-a last name duffy d-u-f-f-y
i work firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do please proceed
um so I received the complaint from a neighbor who their concern was that it was more than just
a conversion for the mother-in-law that and it was multiple people in and out which when we went to
the meeting he said that once his mother-in-law was well enough he did have
relatives that came in and out multiple times. They also stated that they don't use the driveway
except for the one car because the mother or mother-in-law doesn't drive. But on any given day,
there's cars parked on the lawn, usually two cars on the lawn. They don't park in the driveway so
they can use the door to go in and out. There's multiple people, multiple children that go in and
out. It's obviously more than just conversion for the mother who was moved upstairs once she
was well enough. And the complaint came from not just one neighbor, but multiple neighbors.
And they met at the civic meeting and they expressed their concerns. And he admitted
civic meeting and they expressed their concerns and he admitted that it is more than just the
that it is more than
mother mother-in-law that's in and out okay thank you thank you very much for taking your time is
there anyone else in the virtual audience no hands at the sign chair planning commission
mr chair i think the applicant should have a chance to respond to the testimony that was given
yes i'd love to go ahead um your honor they had mentioned um that multiple people are coming to
visit we come from a very large family my mother-in-law has a lot of grandchildren she has
a lot of kids that come and visit her she is never alone they come in and out all the time
um and then another thing that the gentleman had mentioned previously was the windows being put up
um my mother-in-law has uh asthma so that that was one of the reasons that we did put those in so
she can get fresh air constantly because at the end of the days it is a basement um but regarding
the door the door had already existed previously as well okay thank you very much for your comments
planning commission sure bring the hand
hi my name here hi could you please state your name and spell for the sonographer
sarah bannock s-a-r-a-h last name b-a-n-a-c-h right do you swear affirm to tell the truth
told you with nothing but the truth absolutely yes are you a neighbor yes i am please proceed
I do live on the block and I have walked up and down the street. I am one of those people have reported it to L&I. And overnight, I do have to say that it was noted as violated. I just wanted to bring that into discussion as well, that this has been reported for months of violation of L&I.
I have not let L and I even in the house.
Okay. All right.
Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you for taking the time to call us.
Is there anyone else?
No further hands at this time, Chair.
Mr. Chair, could you, if you decide not to approve this application,
could you make it clear to the owner that he has to put the garage door back?
Well, I'll tell you where we're going to be with this.
Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chairman, and good morning.
David Fecto, F-E-C-T-E-A-U, with the City Planning Commission.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir, I do.
Please proceed.
Thank you, sir.
Chairman and board members, the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the RSA-2 residential single-family zoning at this location.
The city rezoned this neighborhood in 1979 in a council-supported match.
change the appellant appears to have removed their required accessory off-street parking
without the benefit of permits the City Planning Commission recommends that the board deny the
proposed variants for removing a required accessory off-street parking space all right thank you um
Councilman what I'm going to do is I'm going to hold this to next Wednesday morning uh we will
vote at 9 30 a.m I'm just going to have the Hillary check to see you know if we're voting on the right
thing or how that works okay but we will have this taken care of next week okay thank you and
and thank you we're gonna uh we're gonna vote on this next wednesday morning at 9 30 a.m um
and um you know you don't have to you can come on and listen okay thank you thank you very much oh
Oh, sure. Okay. So, number 20, 4622 Marion Avenue, MI 2025, 005-979. Let's see here.
Alan Nockamson is the attorney.
They're being promoted to panelists here.
Good morning, Mr. Chair and members of the board.
alan knockamson um could you spell please for the stenographer although they've written your
name numerous times before yeah alan excuse me a-l-a-n last name knockamson n-o-c-h-u-m-s-o-n
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do but you identify
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i do but you identify your client a relationship to the property yeah my client is carpenters
investment llc and in the virtual audience is its member gazi out of seven okay um you're in
california i understand i am mr chair okay thank you for calling in um our vice chair has a few
questions good afternoon i mean good morning um have you submitted your documents and exhibits
five days in advance of this hearing?
I have.
And do you waive the refusals and stipulate to their accuracy?
Okay, thank you. You can share your screen and proceed with your case.
All right, thank you.
All right, so we're here to present 4622 Marion Avenue.
Just waiting for my screen to come up.
We have 11 exhibits here, and as part of this presentation, we are proposing to have a CMX2 property have two units.
The original refusal asked for three units.
So as of right, we're allowed to have two residential units and one commercial unit.
Because of where we're located in the neighborhood, mid-block, next to other residential properties, we thought it was inappropriate to have commercial, plus we didn't believe that commercial would survive there.
Mr. Otis Eben, who is a licensed broker, will also testify as to that.
So originally we were proposing to have two, three residential units where we were going to swap out the commercial unit with the residential unit.
After we looked at the plans further, in order to conform to the architecture of the block, which has a porch and setbacks, we recommended to our clients to, you know, to reduce two units so that we can meet those architectural requirements as well.
So we do have revised plans, which will show two units plus, you know, the porch, plus actually reducing the amount of refusals here.
So now the only refusals we have are this one for CMX2, where we're required to have a commercial unit on the ground floor, and then the only other one is the rear yard depth, where it's more of a technical refusal, because while we're proposing 8 feet and 11 inches, where 9 feet is required for the minimum rear yard depth, it's a regular-shaped lot in the back.
and at its greatest point
Alan I think
we lost you
Mr. Nackamst, we're going to come back to you, okay?
I mean, there's no other thing we can do here.
Maybe he's coming back in now.
Mr. Nockamson.
I currently don't see him listed.
Okay, so what we're going to do is we're going to move on to the next one, then we'll come back and check with them later, okay?
Sure, this is Ian Hegarty.
If you could just give it one more minute.
It looks like he was back in for a second there.
Can you hear me?
We do now.
There you go.
You just froze up at one point.
Hopefully there wasn't any issues.
We had electrical issues here, too, which the electric went out in Berkeley.
So so fun. Right. Hopefully. Sorry about that. Sorry for the inconvenience.
OK. Let me reshare my screen.
All right. That's not it. Let's see.
OK. Yeah, that's it. All right. Sorry about that.
I did not attend the community meeting. Mr. Goldberg from my office did, but I think it's a pretty accurate representation of what happened here.
So I did not attend the community meeting, Mr. Goldberg from my office did, but I think
The next door neighbor to us who lives in the residential unit next door to us was in support of this project.
There were members of the community that were upset that we were going to eliminate a commercial unit or potential commercial unit mid block on a block that has other residential properties.
We did try to work out a CBA with them. We did offer an amount which they found insufficient. They were seeking a donation. You know, we explained to them that we thought that, you know, we really didn't meet the burden of undue hardship under circumstances where, you know, having a commercial union would be unsuccessful and it would stick out like a sore thumb.
And, you know, the neighbor next door was not appreciative of the fact that there would even be a commercial unit next door and that they wanted us to mimic the other four or five different row homes on that block and eliminate that commercial component.
So, again, you know, even before the meeting, we, you know, we changed the plans where we've reduced the amount of units from three residential units to two residential units, which would be allowed as of right.
And the only request that we're asking for from a use standpoint is to eliminate the commercial component.
We also reduced the occupied area to 74.91%, which would make us in conformance with the code.
Oh, sorry. This is just maps of the area showing that we're a CMX2 property.
We're actually across the street from a school, which I believe is ready to close.
To close, I think it's the Blankenberg Elementary School.
And then photographs of the property. So we're a vacant lot here.
This is proof of our posting for today's hearing.
This lot has been vacant for some time since 2000, as far back as Google Earth goes or Street View since August of 2008.
8 this is Marion Street to the right of the property and then to the left of the property
and then these are our plans and drawings again and we reduced the amount of units because we
wanted to mimic the architecture from a port standpoint in the neighborhood and then as you
can see here too the um you know we are really 16 feet rear yard depth from this side right here
The code or the examiner was saying that we were not in conformance to the code based on this smaller portion of the rear yard.
And then these are our floor plans.
So if you walk into the common vestibule area, you make a right into unit number one.
The bedroom's tucked in here.
There's a bathroom.
There is a kitchen.
There is a living room.
And then there's an outdoor space with trash storage for unit number one.
And then there's a lower level as well.
Instead of going into unit number one, you go up a flight of steps.
That's unit number two.
And you hit the landing of those steps.
And there's a living room.
There's a kitchen.
There's a ventilated trash closet.
There's a bathroom.
There's a bedroom.
There's internal staircases that lead to a second floor of unit number two, where there's a bedroom, a bathroom, laundry, another bathroom, and then another bedroom.
So we did meet with the community on February 9th at 6 p.m.
We emailed that notice on January 23rd to the Coordinating RCO, the District Council
Members Zoning Aid and other relevant RCOs.
We sent it to 59 addresses.
These are the addresses that we were asked to by the City Planning Commission, proof
of mailing to those addresses, our application for appeal that we filed on Carpenter's Investment
LLC, along the notice of refusal in the project information form, the deed to the property
showing that Carpenter's Investment LLC is the owner of the property, and then finally
the certificate of tax clearance.
I'm going to stop sharing my screen for now, and I would ask that Mr. Addis Evan be promoted
and be sworn in.
They're being promoted to panelists.
they're being promoted to panelists
They're denying the promotion requests.
Why would that be?
just give me a second
let me text him and see
I know he had a family issue
earlier today
he says
he's here but he can't
And I think he said he raised his hand.
So maybe they don't see him.
This is Ian Hegarty.
We just need your client to click accept when that dialogue box comes up.
Can we try to promote this person again, please?
Yeah, saying that it doesn't allow him to join for some reason.
Well, I would ask Mr. Otis Evin maybe to get out of the Zoom session and then come back
in and i can take any questions the board may have in the meantime questions from the board
so it looks like we've it's officially been reduced from a triplex to a duplex
and the main issues at this point are just the dimensional various variances in the lock coverage
it's it's it's the rear yard setback where it's showing the shorter side it's taking the shorter
side of the rear yards which is eight feet 11 inches where nine feet required but the right
side of the yard is 16 feet you know rear yard depth and then the fact that we're eliminating
the commercial component right right yeah yeah this is one of those weird blocks i'm familiar
with this block um and where it's there's commercial it's it's zoned this commercial
but you've got that group of residential properties that's right there and i think
you're absolutely right no way a commercial of anything could fit could work there just it just
won't um so i guess i say that to say is that you're probably moved in the right direction
not to try to attempt to do commercial because it would never never sort of work in that that
location at that particular block um so all right other questions from the board
um alan is a uh you're an officer of the court we can take your testimony okay
well mr out of seven is actually on here okay sorry about that yeah
sir could you please state your name is spelled for the stenographer
yes my name is gazi joe other seven spell it please g-a-z-i-j-o-e-a-t-a-s-e-v-e-n
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, told truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do, sir.
Allen?
Oh, yes.
Mr. Alice Eben, you heard everything I had to state today about your zoning matter.
Yes, I heard it.
And is it true and correct?
Yes, correct.
And do you adopt this your own testimony?
And then specifically, I don't know when you came on, but board member Johns, who's familiar with the neighborhood,
made a comment about the feasibility of having a commercial unit at the location,
And he stated that, you know, given that he knows the area, it would not be feasible.
You are a broker, a licensed broker in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, correct?
Yes, correct.
What is your opinion about the feasibility of a commercial unit on the ground floor at that property?
Yes, I agree, Mr. Johnson.
So that's why we wrote that path, that the commercial, based on my experience and based on, forget about my experience, based on the reality.
commercial is not going to work there that's our opinion all right and then you also i'm sorry and
then you also agreed to reduce it from three residential units to two residential units yes
thank you questions from our attorney
not at this time mr chair should your comments from the virtual audience
yes we have a hand up from dawn wilkerson
Hello, hi. Good morning. Could you please state your name and spell for the sonographer?
Dawn Wilkerson, D-A-W-N-W-I-L-K-E-R-S-O-N. Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the
truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth? I do. Are you a neighbor? I am. Please proceed.
I just wanted to state that if the community would lose opportunity to have
um i just wanted to state that um if the community would lose um opportunity to have a commercial
space we spoke about a community benefits agreement and i think they all they offered
the community a thousand dollars which i think would not be um a sufficient amount for the
community to um accept to lose a commercial property um i think that the developers should
work with the community to come up with a better uh community benefits agreement if we were to lose
a commercial um property and they state that it mimics the architecture of the of other properties
it does not all right um mr knockups do you have any questions uh no again i think we made a good
faith attempt to come to commercial, a community benefit, especially given the circumstances
of the undue hardship here.
Anyone else in the audience?
Yes, sir.
We have a hand up from Armand Williams.
Good morning.
Can you guys hear me?
Could you please state your name as spelled for the sonographer?
My name is Armand Williams, spelled A-R-M-A-N-D, last name Williams, W-I-L-L-I-A-M-S.
You swear or firm to tell the truth, told truth, nothing but the truth?
Are you a neighbor?
Please proceed.
So I live on the same block as the property involved in the appeal.
And I just want to start by saying that I do support the development of this lot.
Residential use seems to be much more compatible with our small street than a commercial business,
as we have several disabled people and elderly people living on this block.
and I do appreciate the applicant's effort to improve the property. My neighbors echo that
sentiment as I'm kind of an unofficial block captain. Our block already has limited parking
and traffic concerns as we are across from a street from the school that may or may not shut
down. That's still like up in the air right now. So additional commercial activity could cause
safety issues. And I also think that this block just doesn't have the foot traffic for a business.
I don't think a business would fare well there.
But we do also hope that whatever is approved results in housing that's well managed and maintained.
Our block is small, but we have a lot of heart.
And the quality of property management makes a big difference for everyone living here.
And we just like to see tenants who take pride in the property.
All right. Thank you for your testimony.
Alan, you have any questions?
Questions? Anyone else in the virtual audience?
Yes, sir. We have a hand up from Patrick Rushing.
Do you have any more hands after that?
Nope, that's it.
All right, thank you.
Good day.
Hi, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
My first name is Patrick, P-A-T-R-I-C-K.
Last name rushing, R-U-S-H-I-N-G.
Right, do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, told truth, nothing but the truth?
Are you a neighbor?
No, I'm actually the RCO representative for Milk Crate.
Are you in favor of this project or against?
Well, actually, we didn't really have an issue with the project itself. It was presented well. The issue that we had was about the commercial space and the loss of the commercial space.
If it was going to be supported that the loss of commercial space would take place, could
we put a community benefits agreement in place in regards to that?
Yeah, there was a dollar amount that was offered.
We weren't really looking for a dollar amount.
We were looking for maybe like looking at how this project could help with the benefits
of the community, the block at large, because one of the things that I brought up in the meeting,
because I know they talked about the foot traffic, but one of the things that when development is
taking place, one developer may not know about the other developments that are taking place in
the surrounding community, right? So, for example, 4624 Lancaster Avenue, they're looking to build
from um properties there about 75 units um 1034 i mean 1030 north 48th street um they're looking
about build about maybe 60 something properties there right um so we're going through the process
with those particular um locations the blankenberg school um is not officially said what the school
district of philadelphia will do with that whether they'll sell it as a property or will they use it
as as they were closing these schools for 2030 um will it stay a building that'll be
that'll be district use or will the district make a decision to sell it off to a developer and then
district use or will the district make a decision to sell it off
they will develop that property um and then finally the christian stronghold baptist church
which is right there on the same block so when we talk about commercial when we talk about commercial
um space as well as walking traffic these are things being developed within the neighborhood
that could contribute to that, right?
But at the same time, we were looking at, okay,
like Ms. Wilkerson stated about the property,
the way it looks versus the rest of the property on the block.
If this was to take place, right?
Well, is there things that the developer could look at
as to like helping with the development of the community?
That's what we were looking for.
We weren't looking for money.
we were looking for what kind of contribution that you can make with the development of the
community that's all right all right thank you very much for taking the time to call we appreciate it
mr chair uh yeah i i believe that you know they have mr out of seven's information but if they
don't after the hearing of course i'll share it to see how you know mr out of seven can collaborate
with the community in other respects all right thank you very much planning commission
thank you chairman and board members david effecto with the city planning commission
chairman and board members the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the cmx2
commercial mixed use zoning at this location this part of the neighborhood still carries
its original 1933 zoning this block face is almost entirely residential with two-story row homes
and a church with non-accessory parking ground floor commercial use would be out of character
with this block base the city planning commission recommends that the board grant the proposed
use variance for two dwelling units and the proposed dimensional variance for rear yard
depth thank you mi2025-005-979-4622 marion avenue i vote yes with proviso maximum two dwelling units
revised plans one page stamped by cba on march 11 2026. 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 iowen my vote is yes with proviso thank you council thank you
Number five, MI2025, 000437, 454 Delmar Street, Sam Elias is the owner applicant.
They're being promoted to panelists.
Oh, here you go.
you could pull it much closer to you too just pull right
good morning hi sir could you please state your name and spell for the sonographer
my name is sam you got to get the mic right in front of you good morning my name is sam
elias spelled as s-a-m-e-l-i-a-s right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the
whole truth nothing but the truth i do um do you do we have
yes there you go all right so we have everything we need um uh yes mr chair we've received all
required documents for this map so this application is for the erection of a roll-up
fence gate at the entrance up to an existing driveway in residential zoning districts any
fence located nearer to the front lot line than the required building setback or the actual distance
of the building from the lot line whichever is greater shall be no more than four foot in height
fence posts and gate posts that are integrated as architectural features in defense design
are permitted up to four to six four foot six inches in height whereas these the fence proposed
gate is 14 foot our vice chair has a few questions for you sir yes sir good morning have you submitted
your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing okay and the chair just read your
refusal so do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy
okay all right thank you share your screen the procedure case
accept okay
I just accepted it, actually, um, let me just, uh, show it to me.
Sorry, my screen.
try my screen
no it should show up on the screen up top
I see somebody coming your way
to help. I see two people
coming your way to help.
Look at this.
Alright, it's coming up right now.
Almost showing the, uh, the mail that was sent to the neighbors.
You might want to just get the mic a little bit closer to you, right? Yep.
yes so that's your posting this posting and that's the mail you yeah yeah yeah you keep that's it um
let's go back and all right just take your time that's the mail that we sent to the uh neighbors
okay and uh that's the post and we updated the post actually uh actually right before so it's
front door in front door yes right and the tax clearance i just did it actually yesterday these
are neighbors that signed in favor of it uh the next one is yes uh this one and this one and this
one i also updated uh pictures of the zoom meeting that we had with the rco or for the chat and
people were in favor of this fence because we changed the plan from the 14 foot to this one
smaller one this is a smaller one right yeah that's the smaller one and this is what we
offered uh negotiated with the with the neighbors in the rco meeting and uh the majority that i saw
in the meeting and in the chat and pictures and the uh people that signed the uh uh the agreement
okay uh the they didn't didn't mind this kind of gate to be put on
I was originally refused and objected from the RCO.
Do you have pictures of the front of your house?
What we're talking about?
Let me just close this.
this is the 14th so that that's the driveway right and you want to put the fence
there? Yes, and we are cutting these poles. They are 14 foot long. That's where it was originally
going to be? Yes. Okay, so you're cutting it down to six foot? Six foot, yes. And this is the
the document that we sent also. We have your deed. Yes. The zoning notices that we sent to the
RCO and I'm not sure which. Could you show us the fence what it's going to look like now one
more time? All right. And what is it? Is that horses on it? What is that on it? No, that's the
picture that before we bought the gate, but the one's exactly the same one, but it has lines,
smaller lines. Lines? Okay, why don't you show that? Yes.
Yeah, I couldn't find it. So, it's going to go there,
and you're going to cut those poles down. Yes, cut them to six, and just go back and show the
Thank you.
That's going to be almost the same.
going to be almost the same except for the little cattle or the cows will be like closer to the
except for the little cattle or the
middle little small lines small lines instead of what are they cows yeah cattle yes okay so it's
going to be a small lines there yes and what what's the top height six foot seven no seven
five and six these the lower the lower side of it is six right and the top one it's like a little
curve seven five okay um and where do we stand with the rco the rco is not in favor but your
neighbors are uh according to what i heard they uh decided not to continue until we since we have
a they wanted to do another meeting another meeting right but we already did too okay all
right and the neighbors actually plenty of them actually signed it and uh all right questions
questions from the board okay i've got it i've got i've just got to say you wanted to put a 10
foot gate in that location that was your original plan that was the original 14 it was 14 14 for you
want to do a for what what are you doing in your yard that you needed to do a 14 foot that you
needed a 14 foot gate uh i actually don't know we just wanted the gate and we called a few people
and one guy came and he recommended 14 and to with the idea was just in case we needed to bring
in a u-haul it would not affect because it has a ramp so we canceled that one so it doesn't hit
the top so the 14 foot was a roll-up gate yes and now you've decided to put this ornamental gate
i'll call it ornamental is that okay yeah ornamental gate in this place correct right okay
Is this a commercial property?
Is this commercial activity in your yard?
Now, no, not yet.
Because there's also a license for rental.
For what?
Rental?
Like a license for rental is not finished yet?
I don't know.
Rental what?
It's three apartments.
Oh, apartments.
How many apartments are back there?
Three apartments are back there, and you're going to rent them out?
Not yet.
yeah but you will eventually you think yes right and you need this gate to let you in right okay
other questions from the so again what are you what are you doing in this space is this just for
parking for potential tenants and you said something about u-haul truck what no yeah what
are you why would you no that was the suggestion by the by the actually uh the uh i don't know what
it's all gates and that was a like a suggestion if we can do it like this way we'll save space
i i don't know i said okay but then we found out it's a violation then we applied it differently
we presented to to this gate to switch it to go with the uh neighbors and the uh
so the 14 foot was going to be if a truck was moving somebody in
that was the original idea yeah right okay yeah the suggestion but now we're just going to cut
everything uh into short ones and it's going to be this gate do you have a photo of where this
gate is being installed or a site plan that shows it in context with the building right yeah yeah
yeah and like a block something that shows the the building the the you know in context or whatever
because i'm looking at the rest of the block and the rest of the block is very sort of residential
single family residential twins right exactly so just the thought of a 10 foot
roll-up gate and of course you're changing that and even an eight foot
14 14 oh jeez me christmas is taller than the house and then and then i mean i see you're
laughing mike so please okay i'll keep this straight so so eight foot so ed even at a seven
foot six or eight foot close to hike a fence that you're planning now seems to me somewhat
inconsistent with the character of the rest of the block right there's no there's no other fences
that are visible right i mean they're like maybe four feet or something like that um so i understand
the desire and maybe need for a fence but i think eight feet in my own personal opinion is probably
too high six feet would probably make sense and even because you just want to separate the parking
the the allowed four foot would probably i mean the height of your hedges it looks like your
neighbor has a six foot fence next to it i think that would be the appropriate height
or even your hedges look like they're probably about six feet so i don't know that's the
so i don't know yeah that's the uh revised plan to be to be the sixth one not the
revised plan to be to be the sixth one not the
we're going to cut these balls down like here
wait so the finish you're proposing is six feet correct correct okay not the 14. no no no no that's
not that's not the plan that you showed shows a seven foot top to the top of the fence that's what
you showed yes but are you sorry did the maximum height that the maximum height of the fence that
you showed is like seven feet not six feet it has a curve i understand that but the height of your
friends is seven foot yes exactly right seven foot eight so it's essentially almost an eight
foot foot fence right where your neighbor's fence next to you is six feet it looks like
a six foot fence next to you next to you and the purpose is is this fence going to be kept locked
is it going to be an electric fence tell me what it's going to be this is a gate yeah so yeah so
people would open the gate get out of the car and open the gate and go in uh the plan originally yes
will be opening and closing but in the future maybe we'll put a little motor and maybe make
electric but i have no idea yet you know no ideas okay all right now no as of now no it's going to
be opening like okay manually all right other questions questions or comments from our attorney
um i would just um ask the board to to hold this um it's because if um if the board does decide to
grant this request i need to talk to l and i about what they expect for revised plans um because i
don't know what was if what was shown today would meet their requirements for revised plans and how
many pages they would expect so i yeah so i just asked the board the board could hold this for a
week all right questions or comments from the virtual audience no hands at this time planning
commission thank you chairman and good morning david fecto with the city planning commission
chairman and board members the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the RSA 5 residential
single-family zoning at this location the city rezoned this neighborhood in 2018 in a community
supported map change there is no unique physical condition or circumstance of this property that
would prevent it from being used in strict conformity with the zoning code the appellant
has not shown that they will suffer an economic detriment if forced to comply with the dimensional
standards for height uh for fence height in the rsa 5 zoning district the city planning commission
recommends the board deny their proposed dimensional variance for fence height so we're
going to we're going to research you want to say something go ahead yes uh is the denied because of
the seven five well they denied they denied but okay so so so listen to us we're going to research
this a little bit and the board will vote on this next wednesday morning at 9 30. okay okay do i
need to attend uh you can come online okay all right okay all right thank you thank you i was
just you know i wanted to put a gate we had a little few problems uh if the height is still
too much we can fill them all right thank you very much thank you all right um well number eight
mi20250038455558 krausen street joseph consul is the attorney there's a letter of support
from the 12th ward democratic and also 32 signatures from neighbors
they're being promoted the panelists here okay and we're really behind here guys yeah
Hey, sorry, I got thrown off a second ago, I apologize.
Mr. Consul, just for the record, state your name and spell for the sonographer.
Joseph Consol, that's J-O-S-E-P-H, last name is Consol, C-O-N-S-O-L-E.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Do you identify your client, a relationship to the property?
Yeah, I've got Ms. Charbonne Anderson, and she is the owner of both.
And yeah, this is a lot line reconfiguration, and she owns both properties.
All right, our vice chair has a few questions.
Good morning.
have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing
yes except for the rco letter of approval which came in earlier this week okay great and do you
yes except for the rco letter of approval which came in
waive the reason of the refusal and stick late to its accuracy i do okay thank you you can share
your screen and proceed with your case all right my packet should be up for uh 5558 crowson street
um joe consul here uh charbonne anderson is on the call with me along with their architect and
Mr. Moyer, we're here before you today
to deal with the properties that,
I mean, the refusals under 5558 Crowson Street,
but this is an application for the combination
of 5556 and 5558 Crowson Street into one lot
that mentioned on here,
one parcel from two existing lots
and the construction of a building on the property with five units.
We're requesting this adjustment to consolidate these two empty lots into a single 1,611 square foot lot
and erect a four-story structure.
And to do that, we require two variances, one a use variance for five dwelling units
and the other are dimensional variants proposing 40 feet and 8 inches in height.
Board, this is a result of an extensive collaboration process,
and we're presenting a project that's been in front of the RCO a couple of times,
and changes were made based on our initial meaning.
To give you an idea of what this looks like,
we've got an empty lot here when my client had purchased the property and on
the plans you can see what the property looked like prior to the demolition the
large property on the corner was collapsing so five five five eight was
collapsing into five five five six and so I'll show you the plans in a second but
But now we've got this 1,600 plus square foot corner lot that's open now.
So the property was purchased that required a demolition to safely remove it and rebuild.
My client paid for that demolition and that part's been done.
And now the second part is to rebuild on the property.
It's just the legal descriptions for the lot lines.
this is the proposed building took these neighborhood hazards and the goal would
be to provide housing on the corner of this property here the physical and
financial reality of building this ground-up structure requires a
multi-family unit as my client can attest to again we're over 1,600 square
feet so by you know square foot we're not abusing what the code would allow if
this was multifamily I understand it's not but that is sort of you know just a
position we have gives you idea what it looks like on the outside the bottom
left which I'll zoom in you get an idea of what the property that required
demolition. We ended up demoing the corner property there and then the one next to it which is 56 and
58. The original proposal had the first and second unit were bifurcated in the basement and the first
floor. The RCO did not like that. We'll get to their letter in a second. They said no
living in the basement. So you'll see in our revised plans that living space was removed
from the basement. But first I'll go through these original plans. That's the original
first and second floor you'll notice there's two means of uh going up and down from the uh first
two units to the second uh and floors above the basement has two egress window wells as well as
obviously stairs leading leading up and down and then the the three floors above each have one unit
so Joe look at the third floor plan and the second floor plan here as mentioned
And the second floor plan here, as mentioned, there's two stairwells for each unit providing
there's two stairwells for
the necessary and safe means of getting up and down the stairs.
So that'll allow all the units to not only escape safely, but also access the shared
roof deck.
And then there's unit five at the top.
so the third the second third and fourth floors each have one unit with two
bedrooms each and those mimic each other
excuse the other so the history is in November went in front of the RCO met
Yet with opposition, however, their letter from December 14th notes that they were opposed
only to having bedrooms in the basement and wanted this property developed as it had been
dilapidated for quite some time and needed to be developed and they want something there.
They were not dissuaded by the number of units or anything like that.
It was the living in the basement that had led to their opposition was represented earlier
this month and we got their letter of support and their letter explains that they are excited
and happy for someone to be developing this property as it's being developed.
So that letter just came in on March 6th.
In addition to that, my client has meticulously canvassed
both this block and the surrounding blocks
and gotten a good number of neighborhood signatures.
And I'll just note that she was straightforward
in what she was asking for
and got a lot of people to sign on her behalf.
It's the deed, the tax clearance, you have all the other submissions, I'm sure the floor
plans will be something to discuss and I could call the architect as well to assist with
any questions that we have.
All right, well with that I guess I'll call my client Charbonne to address my testimony.
Charbonne?
they're declining to be promoted to panelists okay um charbonne you have to accept
charbonne
dave declined again okay um could we call my uh my architect up
why don't we call the architect up last name should be m-e-n-y-o
all righty they're being promoted to panelists andrew menyo
good morning sir
hi i'm here hi could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
it's andrew menu m e n y o right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth yes counsel uh good morning mr menu um would you describe the
changes in the plans that you made based on the community feedback that um charbon received
certainly um yeah so so primarily it's uh was was the opposition to the basement bedrooms
and so from a overall program stance things stayed the same the bedrooms came up to the
first floor and the living room and kitchen went downstairs so that's that's the high level view
of the changes and little tweaks as needed that were necessary to achieve that.
um but fundamentally the stairs staying in the same location the exterior massing staying the same
But fundamentally, the stairs staying in the same location.
um just to accommodate that that change okay uh next question and hopefully by the time we're
done miss anderson can figure out how to sign in um does the building provide safe egress
including multiple stairwells for each unit and egress wells for the basement
Yes, it does. Yes, this will be fully code compliant, fully sprinklered building, and in meeting all the other requirements of safety egress, fire alarm, every safety feature that we can implement.
All right, thanks. And then finally, why the 40-foot, 8-inch height variance? What about the project makes that necessary?
So the multifamily nature of the building requires fire-rated floor systems, and we're not running ductwork through the floors because that's not allowable.
So there's inherently soffits that are lower than the ceilings, and trying to keep the building up out of the ground a little bit as well is the high-level rationale for the height request to accommodate the program that needs to be implemented to make this project economically feasible.
okay uh and uh all right to that point does the board have any questions for
architect why don't we why don't we do this why don't we see if we can get your
client back on first and then we'll start with the questions yeah that'd be great
charbon
the invitation has been declined okay all right so we'll start with questions now joe
okay questions from the board yes what's the depth of the basement below basement slab below grade
uh i believe it's nine foot nine foot
yeah would this help you yeah it's hard to see it's hard to see in this section
so you're you're you're you're nine feet below grade it's yeah the first floor is
above grade a bit it's it's about nine foot six yes so you're that's that's that's very deep
below grade um the layout the change in your layout is is somewhat weird for the first floor
units because you you're entering through you have to go past bedrooms to go to your living space so
if you have company they're coming past your bedrooms all the time in and out of the units
it's just an odd an odd layout and i have a real big concern with having uh any living space below
grade at nine feet below grade i think there's a firm objection to the to the depth um ultimately
though, we're trying to respect achieving a four-story building and not going any further
above the 38-foot total height requirement. But if there is a certain specific threshold,
I do not believe there would be client objection to going not quite as deep. They were looking to
achieve taller ceilings but if that's the the point of contention i i don't believe there's
any sort of objection to that and uh i'll i'll echo same there there won't be an objection
and uh but the other the other issue is is the fact that your bedrooms are on the first floor
so you have to walk past them to go to your living space which is on the in the in the basement so
So that's an odd configuration in terms of practicality.
I don't know that people generally want people walking past their bedrooms.
If you're having functions or entertainment and people want to go to bed, they have to walk past your bedroom to get in and out of the unit.
But those are my issues.
I'm quite sure there are other questions.
Other questions from the board?
Yeah, is there a site plan that shows the rear yard?
Does that give us anything?
That's perfect, thanks, Joseph.
Can you switch your cursor where the property line is in this drawing?
It should be right there.
The rear property line.
the rear property line not that joseph to the where those egress wells are on the right hand
Joseph, to where those egress wells are on the right-hand side.
side it would be that first red line the first red line and then the alley is the easement
that's recorded on the deed yes yeah i don't know um i guess my general question is that
this is very dense it's like a very tall building for a two-story roll home block there's no outdoor
space you've got a 10-foot basement you know 10 10 feet into the ground where there was space
on this very large lot to like create more light and more access into the
basement or even have a walkout basement and I'm not really understanding what
the hardship is that required turning to single-family lots understanding that
the original corner building was three stories and likely had multiple units in
it into this despite how much support it's gotten from the neighborhood it
does feel very different than what's there uh i believe my client would testify to just the
financial viability but yes it was a multi-unit on the corner plus the single family at uh 5556
um what's the trash plan for the uh building can you speak to that andrew
I don't know if I have it handy.
We did do a trash study,
but ultimately it's all contained within our lot lines,
specifically in the rear of the property and doing private.
We're in the rear, I found a lot of space in the rear.
Is there interior trash rooms, closets,
or like you have to talk about five units they have to put the trash somewhere it has to be
stored somewhere sure yeah they are going to walk down four flights of stairs and then roll
carry their trash all the way around the corner
is that that's the plan that that is currently the plan um i think i would confirm on behalf
of the client that if that was you know another one of these deal breakers that that could be
implemented um i know they are doing private trash pickup and we did look at the number of receptacles
that would be back there and that is not a great plan all right questions or comments from our
attorney um yes and this may be the architect so i saw there were revised floor plans submitted but
i wasn't clear if there were any changes to the envelope of the building because there wasn't
There didn't appear to be a revised site plan or provides a form submitted. So can we clarify what's what's being revised? If there's revised plans. I do also have 1 more question. Who has access to the roof deck?
It's yeah, let me go through all them. So common common roof deck.
There's a common stair tower to get up.
Right. So if I'm in unit one or two, again, I'm going to go out the door that's on the Locust Street side, walk around the corner, and then walk back up four flights of stairs to get to the roof deck.
You could access it internal. You could get to the roof from internal points or from external points. You don't need to go from outside a unit to then get to another door. Yeah.
okay so the whole floor units have access to both stairwells
every unit okay all the units have access to yes correct yes correct okay and then our attorney do
we have any work yeah no i was just asking about the if they were the revised plans if there were
changes to the envelope of the building of it seems like the plant the changes were only plans
or changes were only made to the floor plans.
Yeah, so the answer is the changes were internal only.
And, you know, I'm speaking, once again, kind of on behalf of the client when I say this,
but this is a very personal project to them,
and it's understood that there may be a sense of nonconforming.
And so that's the rationale behind what I would say is a very decorative,
expensive facade with brickwork and to answer your question specifically no there's no changes
to the outside massing the building right so the the building as depicted in the renderings
is um is is the intention there was no changes to the outside it was um it was just a swap of
the first floor to the basement okay all right thank you questions or comments from the virtual
audience yeah this is jason pando i'll be stepping in temporarily
do we see anybody i see
I see a number of center was allowed to speak. I don't know if they're related to the case or not. Sure.
i see a number of center was allowed to speak i don't know if they're related to the case
I'm a center. Please unmute. Okay. Why could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Here, Emma Sonner is a employee of the department.
Okay. Thank you.
Planning commission.
good morning chairman thank you david vector with the city planning commission
chairman and board members the comprehensive plan recommends a change in zoning at this location from
rsa 5 residential single family to cmx1 commercial mixed use the city rezoned this neighborhood in
1978 and a council supported map change the site was previously two row houses that were demolished
in 2022 this board dismissed a prior appeal for the same proposal this is a solidly single
family block face there is no unique physical condition or circumstance that would prevent
this property from being used in strict conformity with the zoning code the city planning commission
recommends that the board deny the proposed use variance for five dwelling units and the
dimensional variance for maximum height thank you mi 2025 003 846 55 58 krausen street i vote no
uh michael johnson my vote is no cheryl gaston my vote is no tenetta graham my vote is no
ryan mcadams my vote is no tyo and my vote is no thank you thank you council
Number 15, MI-2025-005-578-951-Jackson Street.
Zen Jin is the attorney.
We've still got five cases left.
Counsel, could you please, I think I already swore you in once, am I correct?
You came up?
just for the record could you please state your name yes zenjin z-h-e-n-j-i-n could you identify
your client a relationship to the property yes uh my client is mr john mcgrillo uh and his wife who
are the owners of the property and we're still waiting for a tax clearance am i correct that is
correct very good our vice chair has a few questions sir good morning nice to see you in
mr jen um so uh have you submitted all your documents say for the tax uh compliance and
exhibits five days in advance for this hearing i believe the documentation were submitted by my
clients five days in advance minus the tax certificate correct thank you and do you waive
the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy i do okay thank you counsel you can
proceed with your case thank you i'm going to share with the board what was submitted uh through
my client. It is coming up on the screen now. So this is an application for use of this
property as a two-family dwelling at this location. The zoning district is an RSA 5.
A little bit of the history of this property, which is what gives rise to the request. This
property is an older property that is also a corner property in a rsa5 district however
the history of the property if researched on the atlas shows clearly that since the 70s it's been
used as kind of a mixed commercial on the first floor residential on the second floor my clients
actually acquired this property some time ago and recently had to do repairs on the property as part
of a city violation for the condition of the exterior during that and before that at some
point they converted the first floor used to a residential use since they couldn't get commercial
use at the at the first floor and that led to a request from lni that they need to legalize whatever
is there and this is essentially a legalization request of that property as a duplex there were
actually a on the first floor i'm gonna go to the photos first it's easier to see how the property
is so as you can see this is a corner property uh with the traditional semi-commercial style
first floor the basement is actually completely separate from the first floor so that is only
accessible by the owner and will not be part of any residential use he intends to just keep that
separate because it's only accessed through belco doors not from the interior so only be the first
floor as one unit you can see the kitchen there and second floor is one unit the community only
sent an email letter essentially saying they oppose any triplex but a duplex would be
acceptable to them that is because at one point there was the last room at the end was used
That is because at one point, the last room at the end was used as an efficiency, and my client has since removed that, pursuant to his discussion with the community, and will be moving forward with the duplex only.
Unfortunately, I do not see that any specific interior plans were provided, but everything is existing.
there's no plan to make any additional changes other than making sure there's only one kitchen
and bathroom on the first floor for that unit so with that the community did support my client's
request and given the prior use history of the property and its unique physical conditions
we would ask for the board's favorable review of this variance request could you bring your client
Yes, I'm going to ask Mr. Macarello to raise his hand virtually.
I know he's on the phone and he may have some technical difficulties.
We discussed that this morning.
So hopefully he can get on here.
John, can you raise your hand virtually?
Chair, counsel, I do not see any hands raised at this time.
Okay. You're an officer of the court. We will accept your testimony. Questions for our attorney.
So, I guess I'm without any
plan. It's a little hard to, so
So how is this first floor going to be configured as your client envisions it for now?
So the first floor right now, you enter through the door that was shown on the corner.
And that essentially leads to the first room that would be the living room.
The kitchen is actually in the back, towards the back of this property.
At the very end, there's an additional room that was an efficiency.
Is that where that door is on the outside?
On the outside.
So now what's going to happen is everything will be connected interior from the inside, one hallway, with that room still having its own unique exit that will probably be used as a bedroom, but it will be allowed to have its own direct exit from the bedroom.
So just how do you, yeah, and then how do you get to the second floor?
The second floor has a, I'm sorry, let me go back to the.
You know, the issue is too, we got to hold this because of taxes.
what we can also hold it for is better plans of what you have inside and I think we could close
we could close everything and then just view the plan I think that would be better yes yes okay
other questions oh good I just where is it how do you go into the second unit you're about to show
us that you'll be through the same door that's actually a staircase that so it's in and over in
and up so that side door is just going to be closed off totally the side door will be still
part of the first because that's behind the stairway that's way back so it actually wouldn't
interfere with the stairs going up right so that'll have that'll be part of the first floor as
a secondary exit okay secondary okay gotcha and what's the uh plan for trash for the units um the
trash it it's always been kind of the same way with the trash they they have the belco access to
the uh to the basement for the when it was a commercial and they used to have their trash
down and bring out upper floor unfortunately would have to bring their trash out and i'm not
sure how that's managed at the at the moment but we can show that on the plans when it's the mission
where it would be stored yeah okay questions or comments from our attorney
um i just want to note um mr jinn we did not receive any of the interior photos that you
showed today so if you could yeah those could be uploaded to the tool that would be great thank you
so much I'll make sure they are thank you all right questions or comments from the virtual audience
once again chair I do not see any hands raised for the matter planning are you comfortable
making a position today we certainly are all right thank you all right thank you chairman
and board members David Fecto with the city planning commission chairman and board members
the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the rsa5 residential single family zoning at this
location the city rezoned this neighborhood in 1996 and a council supported map change this
property appears to have a use history as two dwelling units the city planning commission
recommends the board grant the proposed use variants for two dwelling units so we're going
to close the record right you will submit obviously the the taxes and then also submit better plans
are inside your plans and then if we have any question we'll bring you back now hillary we
don't give this a date do we um not because we don't know when the tax right so just whenever
Um, not because we don't know when the tax compliance.
So just whenever you get to that, but just, you know, better plans.
you get to that.
And I think from the questions, you know, exactly what to do.
I know what to do.
I know you do.
Thank you, sir.
Thank you.
All right.
Have a good one.
Let's see here.
Number one.
Number one.
MI 2024-002-310-7346
West Pass, Shunk Avenue, Vern Anastasia
was the attorney.
No RCO letter or summary,
but notice was sent.
We do have a letter now.
Am I right, Hillary?
We got a letter, I think.
Yes, Mr. Chair,
we did receive a letter of opposition
from the RCO on the 40th Ward, Republican.
Thank you.
Daryl Ray panelists, Mr. Chair.
Right.
Good morning again, Mr. Chair.
Council, just for the record, state your name.
Byrne Anastasio on behalf of Harry Bento.
okay our um as you know we do you have a copy of that letter of the rco letter uh
it came in this morning it did yeah okay all right questions from our vice chair
good morning have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing
yes and do you waive the veto the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy
i do all right thank you share your screen and proceed with your case please thank you
I represent the owner, Harry Beto, of 7346 West Pass Shunk.
This is his home, and it's zoned RM1, but it is a single-family home.
He lives on the first and second floors, and this bottom level is a separate unit.
He believed he could have, by right, put an office in for himself, and that's what he did.
Turns out that he needed the zoning relief. And so we're here. The application is for administrative offices on the first floor.
As you can see, it's for auto tag and auto insurance.
And he it's his office. He would be the only one there and basically live above his store is what he's trying to do.
he for a very long time had an office uh on the commercial corridor but due to the economy he was
unable to keep that store so he uh he put the office in in his own building
and he is now requesting relief in order to do that here's the interior layout of the office itself
as you can see it's it's Robert's small space this is where the general public
would come in that's his office and then their storage in a records room this
really isn't a high-volume sort of office most of the work that is done
is done either via the internet or online you know online emails very few
people actually come into the office but he does have the office space let me
show you some photos that's the interior space that and that's the office space
and then behind this office is the storage room and here's the rear there's
proof of posting this is the letter that went out to all individuals households we did have an rco
meeting there was concern 127 households were mailed there was a concern you know mr bento
is known to the community but if the property were to be sold and by the way this is overwhelming
support of the immediate neighbors as you can see here there were a couple
immediate neighbor and all of those signatures by the way are on the
impacted list given to us by the Planning Commission it's also a letter
of support from Christine Bryant. She lives at
She lives at 7344, so one of the adjacent neighbors right next door is in support.
7344, so one of the adjacent neighbors.
Here's another one on the other side, 7348.
So both adjacent neighbors on either side of this home are in support of this as well,
in addition to the dozens of signatures that we've already secured.
But at the community meeting, there was concern that if Mr. Beto sold that this use would run with the land, our solution to that was a temporary variance, which I believe would satisfy their concern and also make sure that only Mr. Bento would be able to have that that particular use.
while he owned it. So we are certainly amenable to that
restriction. With that, I'd like to
have my client, Harry Bento, please raise his virtual hand
to be recognized.
We also understand, my client understands now that that sign
is not part of the application and the sign will be removed.
and it's b-a-n-t-o
mr bento thank you counsel
please accept the invitation to become panelists
they'll be coming back in shortly thank you
Mr. Panto
do we see him come again i'm not sure he's a panelist he's in sure sure thank you chase
are you there mr banto
um harry bantle are you there
he may be having some difficulty logging you're an officer of the court uh
yeah we will take your testimony i appreciate that question sorry about that questions from
the board okay so you already said that you're going to get rid of that sign which absolutely
yeah yeah yeah not something we are uh able to have here and i guess i i guess i'm trying to
get an idea of i mean you mentioned um the that this wouldn't be an intense use no um but i i
I guess I'm still concerned that in what is essentially a single family neighborhood, you're talking about adding a commercial use, which even if it's not that intense a use, it's still maybe not appropriate for the area.
Well, it's a multifamily neighborhood.
It's not a single family neighborhood.
I didn't say single family, single, it's still residential.
It's still, most certainly.
i just just wanted to be clear that it is multi-family i didn't i didn't say anything about
the number of residential i said residential as opposed to um adding a commercial use
um and both both adjacent neighbors do support it though that's that's fine but that doesn't mean
that it's an appropriate use for the area and I guess my other question is are we going to have
what are we talking about in terms of foot traffic here and where do people come I mean you're
talking about auto tags and insurance which generally means someone has to come there and
get the tags and there's insurance issuances and what have you. So again, what are we talking about
in terms of foot traffic? Where are these people going to park? Good question. And luckily,
where are these people going to park? Good question. And luckily, I guess luckily,
he's been operating for quite some time. So we have the answers to that. Typically, there's about
maybe two, three people daily. That's about it. That would come in. And that's maximum
two or three people on an eight hour day. And there is parking at the end of the block that
folks utilize and some of these uh auto tech places also rent like u-haul trucks and have
them available and that kind of thing is he doing anything like no there's no personal vehicle uh
rentals at all or anything like that that would that would have to be on the application
all right other questions thank you questions from our attorney
not at this time mr. chair questions your comments from the virtual audience
I must have a hand up from Harry Bento I'll go ahead and allow him to speak
this time mr. chair okay I'm mr. Bento
yeah okay
mr banto
all right i'm sorry you may still be having that technical difficulties is there anyone else with
hand up yes craig maledocin i'll promote them all right craig i'll be in shortly sure
good morning good morning greg could you please state your name it's spelled for the stenographer
craig c-r-a-i-g last name melidosian m-e-l-i-d-o-s-i-a-n all right do you swear or affirm
to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do chair bergman please proceed
okay i wanted to point out first that the uh letter of opposition was from the southwest
Philadelphia Consortium of RCOs, not just from Ward 40. While I personally have some sympathy
for Mr. Banto and the position that he's in, this started over two years ago. And when we
originally spoke to him, I said, suggested we could find him some relief while he tried to
locate another commercial location in particular Southwest Philadelphia has a
significant problem in the automotive related businesses in the issuance of
tags and the issuance of salvage titles etc and it had is associated with some
hostility we have a property coming up on the calendar later this month 62 47
through 49 Dix Avenue. That was an automotive tags
facility. The owner of that facility was
robbed, stabbed, and left for dead, and only survived
because another customer came in to find him.
My opinion, and Vern can question me on it, I do have a significant
industrial security background, which I could go
over later if you'd like. Taking a look at this facility
is not considering the nature of the business. It is not a secure facility. It brings people
immediately into his home. There's no separation between the operational area and the members
from the public. And they have free access to the upstairs of his home. It's just not a well
fought-out setting. The issue of whether or not this intense use, one, we did not
have an opportunity to see those petitions. They were not presented at
the community meeting. We had no one who showed up in support. We did have two
people who identified themselves as near neighbors who were in
opposition, who indicated that there was foot traffic, that there were parking
that there were parking problems, including double parking and parking on the medium out in front of the property.
problems, including double parking and parking
I had indicated to Vern that if there was no public traffic coming in, that this could be construed as somebody writing insurance.
working with another RCO on South Broad Street. We had a situation where we had
adjusters in the automotive business who set up an office, but they had no public coming in.
So there is a concern. There's also a concern that it sets a precedent. And we have a very
large planning district. The Lower Southwest Planning District is one of the largest in the
city. And why wouldn't somebody else not say, well, I'd like to have a dress shop. I'd like to
sell music. It opens up the door to problems in the future with if this is passed and set as a
precedent. We are troubled that Mr. Banto initiated this with no permits and
And concerned that when he first went in to pull his construction permit, he did not indicate to the plans examiner exactly what he was doing inside the facility.
And the fact that it's been going on for two years, unpermitted, with no inspection of the construction, is, I hate to say selfish, but shows a lack of consideration for the residents on it.
in that this is RM1. I don't really see any financial hardship. If money was an
issue, that could have been converted to a ground floor residential
unit. So we find his position somewhat specious in what he's trying to do.
We'd like to, you know, I'd like to see him get an exit strategy out of there,
but the the meeting with the community what was so poorly executed that it was
difficult to get anyone to show him consideration ongoing inability to
communicate and handle questions from the from the neighbors contributed to it
just as he appears to be unable to get on and answer questions now I would leave
it at that. I have sympathy for his position, but we have significant concern for the impact
of the rest of the block. As I said, we had no opportunity to inspect the petitions. I'll assume
that they're accurate, but the fact that he had no one show up at the meeting to support him
is concerning. Thank you very much.
Vern, do you have questions?
I have no questions for Mr. Melodogian, although I do want to have a few counterpoints.
First, as this board knows, there's no precedence in zoning law.
Every property, every parcel is its own unique evaluation.
So there would be none here.
Second, no one showed up at that RCO meeting.
And I do respect Craig's input, but he doesn't live anywhere near.
Three dozen people do, and three dozen people, including both adjacent neighbors, signed a petition in support of this man.
This man has been operating for two years without incident.
He's a beloved neighbor on the block.
And if there is a concern about this office space carrying over to another owner, we have offered the temporary variance as, I think, a good stopgap measure.
And I have nothing else.
my client pulled those permits uh believing he could do the work that he did he did it leave
all that work legally uh and he believed he could have that office there when he found out he could
not he called me immediately and we've started this process thank you is there anyone else in
the audience no hands at this time chair planning commission thank you chairman and good morning
good afternoon david fecter with the city planning commission chairman and board members the
comprehensive plan recommends a change in zoning at this location from rm1 residential multi-family
to rsa5 residential single family the neighborhood still carries its original 1933 zoning if this was
if this was an office that was not serving the public then the appellant would be allowed the
office under the home occupation definition in the zoning code the city planning commission recommends
that the board deny the proposed use variance for an auto tag and insurance center. MI 2024-002-310-7346
MI 2024, 002, 310, 7346, West Pass, Sean Gavineau, I vote no.
Michael Johns, Michael Johns, my vote is no.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is no.
Tanita Graham, my vote is no.
Maya McAdams, my vote is no.
Ty Owen, my vote is no.
Thank you.
Thank you.
What case is yours, sir?
Okay, Hillary, I'm getting concerned we're going to run late, so I want to get him out of here. Why don't you come up?
So that's 13 and 14, right?
10 and 11?
No, you got that.
13 and 14.
All right.
So MI 2025, 005, 537, 1336 North 16th Street.
The owner is Ram Hoyt, 1 LLC, and 14 is MI 2025, 005, 539, 33, 38 North 16th Street.
And the owner is also Ram Holt, 1 LLC.
The attorney is Michael Agnell.
Sir, could you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer?
My name is Michael Eggnall, M-I-C-H-A-E-L-E-G-N-A-L.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
There's a letter of support from Councilwoman Bass,
unanimous support with provisos from Nicetown Tioga team, right?
That's right.
Our vice chair has just a few questions, sir.
good afternoon now um have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of
this hearing we have and do you waive the written of the refusals to stipulate to the accuracy I do
okay thank you you can share your screen and proceed with your case you know I think you
how to do that the virtual in might have gotten logged out okay
how do you make it out you know i i was logged into the zoom and uh i think i logged out so i
Get back in.
You know, you gotta be honest about something.
stay away from it make me laugh
we're it's it's loading oh good good it should come up here any minute I got my hand up
he's being promoted to panelists share oh great great so it's coming up why don't you
why don't you just start and tell us what it is you're doing here because i there's been a little
change right it was eight now seven so i want to give us an overview of where we are sure so i'm
going to share my screen to show you what we have but we have two adjacent lots right 33 36 and 33
38 north 16th street right
that's right behind the hospital there am i right
i i think so it's not far i think it's two blocks yeah right right right uh this is this
is i'm showing an image uh these are vacant parcels right right now and my client is proposing
to fill in with two structures. Previously, we asked for eight unit structures. Currently,
after meeting with the RCO, we've reduced to seven. We received refusals for multifamily
because this is, I believe, RSA 3. And for lot coverage, we're covering 57% of the lot,
and 50 percent is allowed by right and also in that RSA 3 attached properties are not permitted
uh attached properties are not permitted also parking so uh this is the um rendering of what
also parking
we're proposing my client is uh in the zoom and also the architect is uh also here um i'm bringing
up floor plans there's an ada oh i'm sorry this this this is the the old drawing that has eight
units which we're moving away from so i'm shifting over now this is our updated drawing with a two
bedroom unit on the lower level uh a one bedroom and a two bedroom on the first floor a two bedroom
and a one bedroom on the second floor and a two bedroom and a one bedroom on the third floor and
the unit mix was changed in consultation with the community because they thought that the
The space worked better and created more inviting units for people if two bedrooms were reduced to one bedroom in the lower level was combined into a single unit.
The community also had input about the the exterior so there's been an update with the rendering and the materials that will be used, which is shown here.
um uh there's a trash management plan where there's private pickup that will come twice a week
um for uh exterior stored uh waste which um will be out front there and um that's you know
that back and forth led to the unanimous about the back how do you get out of the back there
right so uh the the back actually is is carolina uh on the call i think she she might be the
architect okay sure might be good to tag in now uh carolina raise your hand if you're here yes
could that person raise your hand please
i have a hand raised from a matan smell but no uh carolina carolina right before that
matan is the property owner so he might be appropriate now and carolina is the architect
i saw her raise her hand just before this carolina yep i'm here hi carolina could
you please state your name is spelled for the stenographer sure carolina pena c-a-r-o-l-i-n-a
p-e-n-a all right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i do could you turn your video on if possible uh yes i'm trying to work out the camera on here
you connect my
there you go you're up okay council questions for her yeah so how do we access the backyard
uh so we have a door at the first floor level uh there's a hallway at least to that door to
the backyard and how do you get out of the basement the back uh there is a light well
that leads to the backyard and then out to an alley
and also the lower uh basement unit has a direct access to the street because of the
the height difference between the back of the lot and the front of the lot so the lower unit
enters at street level so why don't we do this your architects on why don't we open it up to
questions from the board now questions from the board
how many how many units is this seven units it was it was eight the neighbors dropped at the
seven to be clear each lot so we're appealing so yeah and seven yeah so yeah right each bill
so it's four so it's 14 yes so it's 14 14 14 units um and two properties and two properties
right so I guess I'm just kind of looking at the your your layouts it's
great that you have direct access out to the front and get real sort of windows
and direct access out that basement unit seems pretty decent in terms of size
although for three bedrooms may not be a little concerned about the upper units
particularly the two-bedroom units on the third floor and since you don't have
it furnished other than the beds it's you know you can't really see how
somebody's really going to furnish that right so it seems pretty dense to me for
for seven units but that those are my issues I'm always not crazy about trash
seven units but that those are my issues I'm always
in the front but it looks like you tried to do something to to to house them and
sort of you know hide the trash but still always an issue in the front all
the questions from the board yeah is it so what speaking of the trash is there
storage interior and interior units and then they will come and put it outside
So, or there are that that was a topic of extensive discussion with the community. There are handsome lockers which we showed to the community that are large and enclosed, which would be housed out front sort of like garden shed type of things that are large and all enclosed and black to match the aesthetic, which would be out front.
So the storage would be external.
other questions questions and comments from our attorney hillary emerson
um yes so it appeared that there was a revised site plan that was um submitted showing um
showing the reduction from eight to seven units as well as a slight increase in the occupied area
um were there any other changes um to the project on the revised plans because we will need a
a proviso form that lays out these changes but i just wanted to know if there was anything else
that was changed no okay thank you so we'll just need to have that um submitted um but the board
the board can still um if the board wants to vote on this matter today it still can but we'll just
need the proviso form for processing thank you okay um questions or comments from the virtual
oh and mr chair just for the record there's there would be one page of revised plans for
each property if the board were to grant and adopt the advice revised plans
revised plans each property
questions or comments from the virtual audience no hands at this time chair planning commission
thank you chairman and good afternoon David Fecto with the city planning commission
chairman and board members I'll testify for both cases at the same time the comprehensive plan
recommends no change to the RSA 3 residential single-family zoning at this location the city
rezoned this neighborhood in 2006 and a council requested map change most of the homes on this
block base have between three and five dwelling units so we would argue that four dwelling units
would be the minimum needed to provide relief to the appellant the city planning commission
recommends the board grant the proposed variance for 33 36 and 33 38 north 16th street for
multifamily use but for a maximum of four dwelling units each and grant the proposed parking and
dimensional variances so i'll do both at the same time mi 2025 005 537 33 36 north 16th street
Street and MI 2025 005 339 33 38 16th Street for both properties I vote yes revised plans
and maximum six units per property and that's one page just to clarify for the record
revised plans one page thank you plans one page maximum six units per property
michael johns my vote is yes with proviso sure all gas the my vote is yes with proviso
tenetta graham my vote is yes with proviso my mcadams my vote is yes with proviso thank you
council thank you board okay um yeah i know i just but i didn't want to leave him sitting here
Which one's DeMarco?
I got it.
All right.
Am I, hold on here.
I'll get it for you.
Number seven.
Am I 20, 25, 001, 542, 1317 South 54th Street.
Richard DeMarco is the attorney.
we're going to get these in they're being promoted to panelists
good afternoon mr chair council how are you could you please state your name and spell for your
stenographer yes richard demarco last name spelled d-e-m-a-r-c-o right um do you swear
referring to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth? Yes. Could you identify
a client, a relationship to the property? Yeah, my client is Hugh Davis. The owner is called
Cam Daddies. He's still on the call, I believe. And I understand this is going to be here and
hold. Am I correct? We do have an agreement with the RCO on a duplex dwelling, and we did submit
revised plans yesterday for that. I did confirm their support for that via email. Our lawyer is
going to tell you why oh okay okay so the so we did see the um the tax agreement that was submitted
however the agreement expired in january and it wasn't signed by your client until march so the
i don't believe the agreement is actually in effect so we need proof that there is an agreement in
effect great okay okay yeah i'm surprised to hear that but okay i i thought he had just gotten it
okay um yeah no it was expired in january i see yes okay so you'll need you'll just you'll need
an updated agreement is all exactly okay yep yep otherwise you're good to go so there's no
non-agreement received from the 51st ward vote was to unanimously oppose the triplex 15 votes
included one near but the majority that were in favor of a revision of a duplex right um council
member got the a is in agreement with the rco is in favor okay our vice chair has a few questions
sure good afternoon have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance
of this hearing yes and do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy
yes and you can share your screen and proceed with your case thank you yeah agreed on the
reading of the um let me get to that uh rco letter so by the way this is the settlement agreement
with the city. We'll get that updated for you. So we spoke with the RCO. We had two meetings.
We spoke with the RCO about they had suggested they did not want three units, but they would
agree to two. So we were just waiting on getting some drawings to them. They came in a little late.
They came in yesterday, but we sent them right over. I did get an email. I had an email conversation
with Dr. Christina Williams from the RCO, and we are absolutely committed to we're not pursuing
the three, and we are going with the two per their recommendation. We were able to come up
with plans, which you should see on your screen. Both units will have dedicated entrances to the
rear yard. I'll show you on this. This is the first floor plan. You can see there is a rear yard,
And there's two doorways and two stairs leading to each unit.
So the basement unit has a dedicated entrance to the rear.
So there's the two dedicated exits, two at the front and two at the rear for each unit.
And trash will be stored in the rear yard out of view from the community.
I'll just say this, Mr. Chairman.
the um the property is in an extremely poor condition it's been in a blighted state my
client acquired it in a blighted and dilapidated state it's boarded up he's had to sink some money
into it um leading up to today there was a fire at the property um let me show you some rear photos
it's not in good shape the block is very challenging this is the rear he had to comply
some violations um and did so i believe but it's it's obviously in a distressed condition so we
we obviously would assert to the board that there is a hardship caused by long-term vacancy at the
property some of it is my client's ownership but it was probably my client acquired it in that
state so he has struggled to get it developed and uh once to to he's from the neighborhood he
He grew up in West Philly and is dedicated to cleaning it up, getting it into a situation where he can develop it.
There are very challenging and blighted properties on the block.
I did give you some contextual photos of other blighted properties on this specific block.
It's not in good condition.
One other note, he did circulate the petition.
One other note, he did circulate the petition.
He's well known in that neighborhood.
He did circulate the petition.
He did get signatures.
But regardless of that, we worked with, by the way, here's the postings.
We did work with the RCO to work out a deal here.
And everybody, in my understanding, everybody's on board for the two units.
In anticipation of getting the plans, when I submitted the exhibits on Friday, I did submit a revised proviso form showing that we were revising the plans for two units instead of three.
My understanding is the footprint is identical to the initial submission, all right?
So I believe this can be handled through proviso, and in all caution, I'll defer to Hillary, obviously.
You're going to hold it anyway, but we do have three.
Let me go back to the drawings.
We do have three pages, and the footprint's going to be identical to the original submission, and we agreed to a proviso for no more than two units at the property.
I would like to try to get Hugh on.
He's been waiting patiently, so maybe he's still with us.
So, Hugh, if you could raise your hand to accept my testimony as accurate.
And could you show us the basement, too?
Yes, sure.
What's going to be in the basement now?
Oh, it's my computer's.
They're being promoted to panelists.
Acting up here.
Yeah, here it is, Mr. Chairman.
Let me try to zoom in.
So you see, the basement's not, it's half grade, if you know what I mean by that.
It's a raised first story.
So the basement's actually not fully underground.
So it was easy to have this, you know, slight excavated entranceway.
So there is direct rear yard access.
Why don't we do this?
Bring him on.
We'll adopt your testimony.
Then we'll open it up to the board.
But I would leave the basement open for you.
You believe what?
I would leave that open, if you would, the basement.
Will do.
All right.
What's your client's name?
It's Hugh Davis.
They're our panelists.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Could you please state your name as Bellford's sonographer?
It does take a little while to get promoted.
Hugh, are you with us?
I really did want you to hear from him, but it's been a while.
Okay, all right.
So they have to unmute themselves.
You make sure you unmute.
All right, so if he doesn't come on, I'll ask you to.
Charles, we'll take your questions from the board.
Okay, thank you.
Questions or comments from our attorney?
Just to verify, because I know this was mainly change of use, but there was a little bit of
like an addition taken down and then put back up.
Oh, Hillary, there's Hugh.
Can I just grab him real quick?
That's fine.
Thank you.
Appreciate it.
Sorry, Rob.
I'm Mr. Davis.
Could you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer?
Hugh, H-U-G-H, Davis, D-A-V-I-S.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Please turn in your video if you can.
I'm not good at this.
Okay, all right.
I've been watching y'all the whole time and now it's not giving me.
No, Mr. DeMarco, please proceed.
Mr. Davis, that's okay.
Did you hear my presentation to the board and is it true and accurate to the best of your knowledge as the owner?
Yes, it is.
Okay, and can you accept my presentation and the testimony as your testimony in this case?
Okay, thank you, Hugh.
That should be good.
All right, questions from our attorney.
Hillary. Yeah. Yeah. No, I just wanted to clarify because I know there was there is an addition that was taking down and then an addition being put back up. Is there any change to that addition being made as a result of going from three units to two units?
So I believe in Hugh, you could correct me if I'm wrong. I believe it's the exact same footprint that is shown on the revised drawings.
i believe so also okay all right so then we don't need to do um revised plans in that case we can
add the adjustment and units can be made via proviso if the board grants um without revised
plans okay so yeah we agree to that provides though for questions or comments from the virtual
audience thank you no hands at this time chair planning commission thank you chairman and good
thank you chairman and good afternoon david fecto with the city planning commission
afternoon david effecto with the city planning commission chairman and board
chairman and board members the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the rsa5 residential
single-family zoning at this location the city rezoned this neighborhood in 2019
in accord with recommendations in the comprehensive plan there is no unique physical condition or
circumstance of this property that would prevent it from being used in strict conformity with the
zoning code this is a primarily single-family block face the city planning commission recommends
the board denied the proposed use variance for two dwelling units um so hillary uh mr demarco
can we have this uh taxi thing straight by next uh wednesday i'm gonna tell you hugh do you
understand that here's the thing when they sent me that right i i got it in the mail and i couldn't
find it so the other day i called the guy and he just sent it back to me the same thing so and i
i just signed it and gave it to you but it is um current i know but make sure that the make sure
you get that done with revenue so the board understands that it's it's current well i can
call the guy you know take care of that so hillary hillary what here's what we'll do is we'll we'll
we'll see if we can get this done by next wednesday if we do we'll vote next wednesday
morning at 9 30 a.m okay we'll hustle we'll hustle all right thank you very much thank you
all right we have one more case am i correct um yes although we may have a standing issue with
that matter that was just brought to my attention um we need the attorney to come on what what's that
what one time um so so that is gall street mr chair number nine yes on both lists
it oh okay yep yep um that's uh mr toppen sir yeah all right so
hello in my 2025 003-864-3317-41 gall street chairman toppen is the attorney
good afternoon members of the board council could you please state your name is spelled
for the sonographer yes my name is sherman toppen last name spelled t-o-p-p-i-n all right do you
swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do i do all right do
we have an issue with the case yes so so mr toppen it was just brought to my attention you're
representing the tenant uh and not the owner um and the lease that we have on file um expired in
in December. Do you have current a current lease for the tenant?
The tenants lease is the owner is has rolled over.
But I don't believe I have in my packet an addendum showing that so it's continuing as a rolled over lease.
but we can get that addendum if if the board was inclined to allow us to do so between now and
and a future date yeah that's yeah we we just we need to see that um and just and to clarify what
part of the property is being leased because it looked like there was a couple of buildings that
were connected and one of them has two stories yes the my client is a tenant of the the actual
garage space I can it might be visually easier for me to show the picture but it's at the very
cover of our presentation package he he has that that first floor level as it goes back
into the other but the so there's actually like you as you said two sides of this his space covers
the actual automotive garage space and the space immediately behind that where our paint booth is
like is likely to be is proposed to be okay um so yeah unfortunately we we need we need like an
addendum um to proceed um we can we could give this the july date but um you can contact the
office yeah why don't you want to see if we can get us get you back in sooner because it's just
here's something for july bringing something up here uh hold on one second
june 17th at 2 p.m
and if you want it quicker you should call the office okay certainly we'll we'll do that we
understand that the issue with the the lease okay all right thank you we're sorry that happened oh
no that's fine thank you members is there anyone in the audience whose case has not been called
no hands at this time chair all right thanks everyone see everyone at two o'clock
All right. Thanks, everyone. See everyone at 2 o'clock.
Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Bill Bergman, and I will be chairing this meeting
of the Philadelphia Zoning Board of Adjustments. With me is our Board Vice Chair, Tanetta Graham.
President, Mr. Chairman.
Our board secretary, Cheryl L. Gaston.
President, Mr. Chairman.
Board member, Michael Johns.
President, Mr. Chairman.
Board member, Taya Winsch.
She should be here any minute.
And our board member, Ryan McAdams.
President, Mr. Chairman.
Also here is our board attorney, Hillary Emerson,
our executive director of the zoning board, Ian Haggerty,
and our board administrator, Lakeisha Dandy.
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remain there so we can account for you. So let's look at our schedule for this afternoon.
on here oh list was number number two here
number two mi 2025 003 648 1000 south uh 1000 north 48th street that case has been continued
until May 19th at 2 p.m.
May 20th at 2 p.m., I'm sorry.
Number four, number three,
M-I-2025-003-886-1227 South 15th Street.
this case has been withdrawn so if the case is withdrawn they have to start
over again by submitting an application to L and I get the refusal appeal appeal
to the zoning board and go through the RCO process again okay so that case has
been withdrawn. Number four, MI 2025-005-059.
for MI 2025-005-059-2111 Wallace Street that case has been continued until May 20th at 2 p.m
and number one MI 2023-005-621-254 South 54th Street
P.S. Investments is involved in this. We do not have an update of current. Oh, you're there. Oh, you're going to you're going to do it for us.
Good. Thank you so much.
Good afternoon. Xin Jin on behalf of P.S. Investments.
You've already been sworn, by the way.
Thank you. So I would like to request one more continuance from the board. I have reviewed the submission they made to the board.
The plans that were attached that were supposed to be revised plans, I believe the architect sent the wrong set.
It doesn't match the building in any form at all.
All right.
So MI 2023-005-621-254-South 54th Street, that case is continued until May 20th at 2 p.m.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Have a good one.
And number five, MI 2025-005-400, that case is continued until May 20th at 2 p.m.
and then number 11.
MI 2025-006-975-2015 Frankfurt Avenue.
That case has been continued until May 20th at 2 p.m.
We're going to go to our add-on list.
number one on the add-on list mi2025 004 512 757 south fish street
That case, the vote in this matter has been rescheduled to Wednesday, March 18th at 2 p.m.
Number two, MI 2025, 005-550-6237 North Broad Street, I vote no.
uh michael johns i vote yes with proviso 38 feet max height
cheryl gaston my vote is no tenetta graham my vote is no i am mcadams my vote is no
number three mi 2025 005 572 3921 ridge avenue i vote yes proviso revised plans what else goes
with that hillary sorry just give me one that's number three yes yes yes um oh okay yeah so that's
that's revised plans one page that's it what is it again just revised plans one page revised plans
one page michael oh i'm sorry my vote is yes that's proviso i was stuck on a 14-foot gate
cheryl gaston my vote is yes with proviso tenetta graham my vote is yes with proviso ryan mcadams my
vote is yes with proviso. Okay. Number four, MI-2025-006-392-7300
Frankfurt Avenue. I vote yes proviso per refusal dated 3-4-26.
I'm recused. Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes with proviso.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes with proviso. Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes with proviso.
Tywin, my vote is yes with proviso.
And number five, MI 2025-005-350, 3430 North Bodine Street.
I vote yes to reconsideration and rehearing.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes to reconsideration and rehearing.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes to reconsideration and rehearing.
Cheryl.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes to reconsideration and rehearing.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes to reconsideration and rehearing.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes to reconsideration and rehearing.
Tywin, my vote is yes to reconsideration and rehearing.
Okay, we're going to go to number 12.
MI 2025 007215 6731 to 39 Woodland Avenue. Andrea Solomon is the attorney. We also have
Good afternoon, Chair. This is Dana. I will be your co-host for this afternoon.
Thank you. There's a letter of support from the African Cultural Alliance of North America. It's a petition with 75 signatures. And no RCO summary, but notice was sent to neighbors with proof of a mailing attached. So could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
her. Good afternoon, Andrea Solomon, A-N-D-R-E-A-S-A-L-O-M-O-N, on behalf of the applicant.
Do you swear or affirm and tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth? I do. Could
you identify your client, the relationship to the property? My client is the owner of the
property, Apex Home Care Services, LLC. With me today is the owner, Mohamed Sese.
And our vice chair has a few questions. Good afternoon. Have you submitted your documents
and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing we have and do you waive the reading of the
referral and stipulate to its accuracy yes okay thank you you can share your screen and proceed
with your case thank you i have not gotten a notification to join us panelists there we go
thank you oh okay all right um all right we do have a letter for the okay yes i believe
it was sent in earlier today from the rco consortium
here you go it's coming up okay okay there we go again my name is andrea solomon from
claire harrison here on behalf of the applicant with me here today are mr muhammad sese my
colleague brett fellman and the project architect mr robert lynn we're very proud to be here today
requesting this special exception approval for the global city center and event space in the
former rite aid at 58th and woodlawn mohammed is a long-term resident of the philadelphia area
since emigrating from sierra leone over 20 years ago he has an impressive background in nursing
and many businesses in the area and i'd like to ask that he be sworn in so that he can quickly
introduce himself could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer first name
is mohammed m-o-h-a-m-e-d do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the
truth yes i do counsel mohammed can you uh just introduce yourself and a little bit about your
vision for the global city center yes my name is mohammed i'm an immigrant from sierra leone
west africa i speak as an american having naturalized um lived in philadelphia for over 20
years went to schools in philadelphia i went to thomas jefferson university for nursing work at
hub university of pennsylvania i work at jefferson as an icu nurse natemco as well
did a master's in business administration at red cell university and i'm studied businesses
Currently, I have over 300 residents of the City of Philadelphia.
I own two businesses, Tahira Health, which has over 400 employees in Philadelphia and
around the counties, Montgomery, Delaware County, Box County, and Apex Home Care Services as well.
I have a vision to give back to the City of Philadelphia.
I love the city.
I've lived there for over 20 years.
And there's an opportunity on Woodland Avenue to create more development in that area of the city.
It has a very huge immigrant community from West Africa, mostly Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia.
You know, there's over 40,000 residents.
We have lacked an event space to host our cultural events.
More often than not, we rent church buildings in Philadelphia.
So there is a need in the community to have a space like this.
So when Rite Aid went under foreclosure, there was an opportunity to purchase.
So when Rite Aid went under foreclosure, there was an opportunity to purchase this building, which I did, and I wanted to do an event space.
So that is why I'm here today to apply for an exception.
Thank you, Mohamed. So really, this is Mohamed's dream to have an event space for the culturally rich Southwest Philadelphia to host life cycle events, baptisms, naming ceremonies, birthdays, weddings.
We're thrilled by the level of engagement that we've had from the community, the RCO consortium, we've met with them on multiple occasions, four or five times, and I think we've really listened to all their feedback from the resulting engagement and listened to every concern, and as a result, we have an understanding with them, and it really covers every operational element of this use.
again we're here today seeking special exception for the proposed event space the property is
zoned cmx2 it's zoned commercial but we need to switch the use from the retail sales to
entertainment assembly as you're well aware this is a lesser standard than that of a variance and
presumed allowable as a commercial use we've submitted 17 exhibits which i ask be incorporated
it into the record uh exhibit one we have the letter of support uh from akana an affected rco
as well as i'm sorry for the tiny print here but the the support um with all the affected
rcos is signatory based on the provisos that that we've requested
and our series of engagement with them.
Mohamed sees this as a long-term investment in the community. He owns other properties
in the neighborhood. He plans to be a community member for the long term, and as such, he went
personally around the neighborhood, and as Chairman Bergman stated, he received support
of over 90 neighbors in the area. I'll just flip through the petition and the letters of support
quickly. As I mentioned, the property is zone CMX2 on the commercial corridor of Woodland Ave.
Caddy Corner from it is an Episcopalian church. A couple parcels from it is an existing mosque.
And this is the referral. Again, assembly and entertainment requires the special exception approval from this board, Zone CMX2.
This is the existing property. It benefits from the T40 and access to public transit at the corner of the lot.
but it also benefits from the 48 parking spaces
that were existing as part of the former Rite Aid.
And as Bob will show you,
we're really repurposing this site for the event space use.
There's, since the Rite Aid has been vacant for some time,
there has been issues with illegal dumping on the site.
This trash enclosure has gotten a lot of trash.
thrown into it without dumpsters in it and Muhammad has taken great effort to remove trash as quickly
as possible and work with the community also to to tend to it and get it off but we really uh see
this as a great opportunity to remove this blight and occupy the space to to turn it into a community
the asset. You can all probably picture what an empty vacant Rite Aid looks like.
Muhammad purchased the property and it will require significant investment,
including replacing the roof and the HVAC system.
And with that, I'll ask that Robert Lynn, the project architect, come up and
he can walk us through the plans.
we can't afford a bear table but um state your name and spell for the stenographer certainly
robert lynn l-i-n-n do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yes i do counsel bob thank you for being here today uh can you just quickly state for the board
for employment. I'm the principal and the founder of Lynn Architects. We're a 44-year-old
a 44-year-old company of architects, civil engineers, construction managers,
company of architects, civil engineers, construction managers.
and code officials. We actually represent 15 municipalities as the third-party code officials.
And can you briefly share your credentials and experience? Are you familiar with land
development process, zoning process? Yes. I mean, I'm registered to practice in Pennsylvania and
22 other states. I'm a 1975 graduate of Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh and save you from pulling
out your calculators. That was a half a century ago. I'm the senior member of the Planning
Commission, another Providence Township, Delaware County. 31 years I've served in that role and I
continue to serve in that role. I'm the zoning officer for Upper Providence Township, Delaware
County. I co-chair the position of zoning officer in Ridley Park Borough with one of my staff. I
I also co-chair that position in Collingdale Borough for many years now.
And I have participated in four separate comprehensive plans, the creation of them in three municipalities.
And have you worked in this particular quadrant of the city of Philadelphia before?
Yes, I have.
In fact, the last thing I did in this vicinity was less than a half a mile to the west was the Philadelphia Montessori Charter School on Woodland and Island.
we did a major addition and a significant renovation to that that school which is a
phenomenal asset to the city there thank you bob and uh have you appeared before this board before
yes i have okay um i would request that bob lynn be recognized as an expert in the fields of
architecture zoning and land development yes thank you for that courtesy um bob you've been retained
to represent the the client apex home care llc um for this project at 6731 woodland that is correct
and can you briefly describe the site for us yeah i can and by the way muhammad's been a phenomenal
uh client he's he's he's engaged he's enthusiastic he's positive and he has a vision it's nice to be
able to represent clients. This site is just under an acre of land. It's 40,500 gross square
feet. We all know there's 43,560 in an acre. It has three streets that it fronts on. It has
Woodland Avenue. I'm going to describe Woodland as going east-west because it's on an angle,
just for the hearing. It has 68th Street on the westerly side, and it has Yocum on the rear side
of the site. It has a total, as you can see in the illustration, of four curb cuts. They will
remain exactly as they are without change, with one exception. We anticipate, because of concern
about controlling the site a bit better, putting up a decorative fence around the perimeter, and
of equal importance, putting a gate on all those access points, a sliding gate. So off hours, we
can control what's been quite a bit of random parking we can't identify. Also, help control
the as as council has indicated the fact that dumpster or not in the enclosure it gets filled
with mattresses and trash on a regular basis so that's one of the goals to bring this back
into an occupied site and control that process yeah a little further um to bore you with the
details we have 189 foot of frontage on woodland uh we have 202 foot of frontage on 68 seat running
up and down the westerly quadrant and we have 189 feet of frontage on yokum to the rear
the building on the site we're all familiar with old right aids is 11 268 square feet
we don't anticipate changing that footprint in any capacity it will remain exactly as is
and can you talk a little bit about the plans for the repurposement of the dry vial certainly um
So currently on the easterly side of the site, there's a drive through window, which was for pharmaceuticals. We're going to take advantage of that particular canopy, which you can see in the upper right corner of the plant, to let that be a roof, a weatherproof roof for a catering truck to park. We will have in the building, which I'll describe in a minute, a catering kitchen. So that gives us a good opportunity to park a truck and keep it out of the weather during transfer of product.
great thank you um these are some of the beautiful renderings that the linn team created would you
just like to talk through the programming of the event space itself and again the it's the existing
right aid building it's it's hard to make a right eight not look like a right eight but our attempt
is to uh to convert it with some materials and some colors uh you can see the before and the
after of the bottom picture and picture in the left and the after image picking up some thematic
colors of the building but keeping all the basic bones as andrea said earlier the building is not
in good condition i'm really surprised when it closed several years ago two out of three rooftop
air conditioners don't work the roofs are leaking it's not in good shape so there was very little
There was very little investment in this building from the previous owner, so it's time to bring it back to life.
investment in this building from the previous owner so it's time to bring it back to life
The plans for the building itself on the interior, again, you see the word Global City Center.
We've done some images trying to capture some of the cultural aesthetics we're trying to achieve.
It's an opportunity to do something inside.
It's a big, wide open space with a row of columns down the center.
In the corner of the image, we've come up with a little twist, which is a tree.
we want to actually put a live short tree that goes up through the ceiling hopefully not through
the roof although right now could be watered by the corner of the roof just to achieve a little
bit of a catch in the in the entrance a couple others have some more slides maybe yeah just a
just a quick idea the interior working with Muhammad what we were trying to achieve showing
you know typical tables for a banquet type of a setting whether that's the exact light fixture
don't know but the idea is the thematic approach of trying to make this an upscale type space i
think there's one more maybe yeah that's just a picture without the furniture to give you a flavor
and you can see the columns i referenced in the middle um there will be a folding partition down
the center allowing this to become one space or two spaces because you don't want to rattle around
in a big space for a smaller event when you come in the front foyer i think we have a floor plan
maybe yes uh when we come in the front four give it one second to load there we go uh we've created
a a new uh weather type uh lobby vestibule with a carter if you will a white carter back to the
second space uh coat room uh two spaces with the folding divider down the middle and obviously a
right aid has a single toilet room so up upgraded enhanced toilet rooms uh a an office for a manager
and a little office if there's somebody such as a bride that wants to come in there and have a
private space, mechanical room, bottom corner. No magic, just repurposing the almost 12,000 square
foot on the interior. And a warming kitchen, is that right? The deliveries? Warming kitchen,
you can see the little canopy roof I referred to earlier to allow us to bring in a catering truck
and load the kitchen. Great, thank you. Bob, you're familiar with the standards for reviewing
and granting a special exception in the city of Philadelphia?
And in your expert opinion, will this proposed assembly and entertainment use cause any detrimental
impact to congestion in the public streets beyond what would normally be expected of this use?
No, I don't believe so.
And the wording is, this board knows quite well, you know, special exception isn't a variance.
We are not in the capacity of proving a hardship.
We're simply in the capacity of proving it's basically a use by right with provisos, if you will.
And the provisos include that we can't have an adverse impact on the community.
And the actual wording in the Philadelphia Code, as you certainly have heard read many, many times or read,
is we need to present evidence that the proposed use will not cause a detrimental impact on the health, safety, and welfare of the neighborhood,
exceeding that, which normally might be expected for the proposed use.
And you have the questions that Andrea is asking is your sections 14, 303, 7E.1 and 0.2, where it talks about the specific bullet points, if you will, of us going through the list to indicate that we don't have anything that would be exceptional to the normal impact of this particular special exception use.
Thank you. So no congestion in the public streets beyond what's typical of this use.
correct um no overcrowding of the land beyond what's typical of this use no and again we're
not expanding the building in any capacity or any of the footprint of the building or any
impervious surface so there's really no change to what's been there same with impairing the
adequate supply of light and air to adjacent properties the same response follows through
same for uh burdening the water sewer school other public facilities
right um so no impairing or injuring the use of adjacent conforming properties correct um
or endangering public health or safety i believe that's accurate and no inconsistency with the
comprehensive city plan no and it matches the comp plan and the cmx 2 zoning which allows by
special exception for this particular use and you've been part of this process um from the
beginning uh the community has been engaged prior to hear this hearing relative to this project
but quite a bit significantly down to muhammad literally walking door to door um a very robust
rco engagement on this project there's multiple rcos um uh uh you know uh craig and i never never
get his name right melodizian i'm glad you thank thanks for i appreciate it uh he's been really
really instrumental in helping us orchestrate dialogue with the RCOs. We had a fairly almost
fairly almost a two-hour meeting on february 23rd with the rcos and craig has stayed in touch with
a two-hour meeting on February 23rd with the RCOs.
us on several different interfaces throughout the course of the last month so it's been a
a successful process sometimes it's not as streamlined with the rcos this has worked very
well thank you bob um so we we also have a few event photos of prior events that muhammad has
assisted that are emblematic of the type of events and life cycle events cultural
enrichment events that he's envisioning for the space that's a community asset that will be open
to all for for use the rest of the exhibits include the relevant provisions of the of the code
our application for appeal and the project information form
our RCO notice of the community meeting, and certificate of mailing, our posting photos,
and finally a zoning memorandum. I'll just ask that Mohammed step back up to adopt the rest of
my testimony. Quick question, have you agreed to all the provisos that were put forward? Yes.
Thank you. So, and this, and my conclusion, 30 seconds, this is a really good adopter for you.
These Rite Aids, I'm working on three of them, are not easy buildings to repurpose.
They're just, they're not big enough and not small enough.
They're right in the middle.
Most of them are not in good condition.
That's well, that is cool as well.
It's just a great, I mean, the worst thing you can have in a community, any community,
wherever I go, is a vacant building.
It's just a magnet for all kinds of wrong things.
So I'm pleased to be part of this.
I think it's a very positive initiative.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Thanks for your time.
Muhammad?
one for you oh it's literally good counsel muhammad you saw the rest of the presentation that that
bob and i provided and is it true and accurate to the best of your knowledge yes it is and do you
adopt it as your own testimony yes i do thank you so much questions from the board yeah i have a
question just regarding the event facility is there a basement or on-site storage and what's
the plan for things like furniture I noticed the renderings have a lot of photos but a lot of times
people come in and bring their own furniture and things in for an event so just want to know like
what's the load in and load out plan for events very very good question um there one of the things
everybody forgets to include in a facility that's a uh an event facility of any kind or a public
meeting room is a a closet you can roll tables and chairs so we have our own table and chair
set up and you can see that closet being traced by thank you yeah it just looked small which was
why i asked important thing is to have something that's long enough that you can get in there with
double doors you can roll at least three carts uh there's also some additional mechanical room
in the back which has a lot of extra storage available um the idea is that most things will
be here the people will not be bringing things in from the outside to to be a part of the process
so we're attempting to get you some self-enclosure if you look at the mechanical room in the back
corner it has a whopping two electrical panels on a water heater so it's a very large room with a lot
of capacity to score as well okay does that help that does okay sorry and then i think my second
question is when there's an event do you have like a management plan for traffic or like cars
yeah so there's a parking agreement in place we have the law event staff that will be staffed
full-time by by muhammad will be there and uh we're working a parking agreement so that there's valet
for additional parking and you're going to manage the staff close so you're not going to like
have a third party operator you're going to be managing the whole facility on your own yes
directly okay i'm going to save to another question for her oh no yeah i just uh the question was
about about the fence so that's the fencing that you showed in the rendering is the fencing that
you're looking to install? Yes. Yes. In fact, we will have one other feature, not even if you
look at anything. You know, this is a decorative fence. The idea is not to have a six-foot fence
with wire wire. It's just to be a barrier for those of us who keep out 43 feet. And we will
have some brick pillars in the corners wherever we get to the intersection. We call it a street
wall. It's a technical term we use in the business. It's one little street wall with brick corners
at the intersections where the gates will come in as well. Yeah. Okay. And the last question I have
it's just a green plan um so i don't know if these were existing trees that are there or these are
trees that will be planted um they they will be planned there's actually a very specific uh
landscape plan rogerio and plant does a lot of our uh landscape architecture and they actually
did a plan which right now we have weeds is what we have um and that plan is very specifically with
species on it um we'll notice some street trees on the streets and then some bushes inside the fence
some street trees on these streets and then some bushes inside the fence um the fence is
about four feet inside the sidewalk which is where the right-of-way line ends so that plan
will be part of the record that we will install exactly this landscape plan i got one more
question i'm sorry just about just pedestrian access um um like i don't see any demarcations
here on the plan so as a pedestrian you know just making sure they're moving safely uh with the cars
parking um yeah i mean just that real quick i think you know you do the bus stop on woodland
uh which is great um which which actually is pretty robust right next to where the little food cart is
um and um as a pedestrian how would i get to this event space safely like if i park into the interior
like you know how would i get there safely without getting hit by any of the cars that are parking
We will likely stripe a walkway across it. You've got wide driveways on both the west and the south. And the little red thing, of course, is the entrance tower. There's only one entrance, so there's not a lot of confusing patterns. I don't think anybody will have much difficulty that does not arrive in a car and getting to the front door. Although a little striping work. People do identify with that.
Okay, so my question is about the parking plan here at a lot. So this includes the dry vials and what have you. So how many spaces are you really going to have? I know it will be 48.
There's 48 that are currently striped. We don't intend to change that. And that includes an accessible space.
um uh we are going to keep the dumpster in the back corner okay a little little uh l-shaped
u-shaped enclosure in the back it's 48 on the site there's actually the opportunity for a few
more spaces up the uh the old exit aisle to the um driveway no which are not straight under that
would be above 48 okay and then this um uh i don't know whether you're going to call it a canopy or
whatever so this is where you're going to have these what is it the trucks that are going to
come in yes that's existing it was the former Rite Aid drive-thru the pharmacy drive-thru so
we're repurposing it to be used for deliveries for caterers and furniture and that's the only
spot where you can have that it's a spot that seems to make the most sense because the roof
is there and that's not really a you utilized driveway aisle and the kitchen is inside that
location on the corner so that was the location that seemed to be the best place to service the
other building from okay and then uh what do you have in terms of um like uh washing facilities
like separate from the bathrooms like for um sinks or basins or whatever that's going to be
part of this because you're going to need to wash the floors and the tables and the chairs and what
have you. There is a janitor's mop sink in the mechanical room. Okay. We will also, of course,
have to comply with the City of Philadelphia's health department requirements for the kitchen.
Exactly. You know, you need the separated hand wash and there's more than likely going to be a
grease trap because, you know, you don't want to put grease down the triple bay sink. It's not a
cooking kitchen it's a catering kitchen so that product isn't being cooked there just warm there
and brought it so there's there's not a hood or anything you'd see in a traditional restaurant
it's strictly a um a location to bring in prepared food from a caterer and then be able to serve it
from that kitchen okay so there will be refrigeration yes there will definitely be refrigeration and
commercial yes refrigeration we're not we're not going to sears to buy our refrigerator okay all
All right, yeah, any questions. Thank you questions for our attorney.
Um, I just wanted to note for the board. I did go through the, the provides those and you saw, you saw the language. Okay. Yep. So just indicating that the hours of operation, the no nightclub and public entertainment venue use.
And if the board wishes to do a temporary special exception, um, if they grant, they can do that. So just want to note for the record that those are what were viewed as enforceable. Thank you.
questions or comments from the virtual audience or the present audience
planning commission amy boyd with the planning commission amy all right sorry to interrupt
jared since he and hegarty i believe we have craig meladosian who wish to make a comment he has
hand raised okay craig he's coming back in as a panelist
Thank you.
Craig.
yeah i'm i'm here chair bergman sure you've already been sworn just state your name for the
record craig c-r-a-i-g last name melidosian m-e-l-i-d-o-s-i-a-n sure please proceed i i
didn't want to belabor the point uh i did want to thank mr lynn for his kind words regarding me but
more so regarding our entire team. We've worked on multiple nightclub and assembly and entertainment
applications since prior to COVID. This is absolutely the best one that we've seen so far.
We also share his experience regarding repurposing these types of facilities.
This is one of two Rite Aids that we're working on, along with a vacant CVS.
This is perhaps the highest and best use across multiple areas in terms of not just positive economic impact, but welcoming and anchoring the commercial corridor of Woodland Avenue, which is an important component within the Africatown concept.
probably in the future, we'd be looking for perhaps two more because the corridor is quite
long running all the way out to Island Avenue. We did take a look at the issues of parking
and egress. One of the concerns we've raised with Andrea that they will keep an eye out on are the
issues of stacking of vehicles going in and out since we're along the trolley
pathway there so that the plan is absolutely beautiful compared to what
we've seen or what we see there regularly the pallet of materials that's
currently there will not be changed other than to clean it up and brighten
it up we had some trepidation when we came to this and our practice is to come
unanimously when we support a project that doesn't mean that's what goes on
behind the scenes but there's been extraordinary thoughtfulness that's
going into this including conversations as late as seven o'clock
last night which delayed preparation of our final submittal to you we have every
confidence that this is going to be a successful project that we have a an
excellent operator here and we even asked for one additional thing which is
not included but we'll share with you I think it's important shows the
spotlight on our Muhammad based on the long term of this facility with a 10
year of proviso in part because of the significant amount of funding going into
this we asked them agreed that if there was a change in the managing partner
because that's who we've been dealing with Muhammad or a change in the
ownership that that information within the 10-year timeframe that information
will be shared with both the council district office as well as the RCOs. So
we're excited to see how this pans out. The area has been difficult for us even
prior to Rite Aid's going out of business and as I said of the three that we're
looking at for repurposing this type of building this is absolutely the best
uh that's been presented to us the entire development team has just been outstanding
to work with okay thank you anyone else in the audience sure come on up oh cheer okay i have one
here could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer so my name is uh musa trawale
First name M-U-S-A, and last name T-R-A-W-A-L-L.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth.
Please proceed.
I represent the African Cultural Alliance of North America.
We have a letter from that thing, right?
There you go.
And we are one of the RCOs in the area and developer in the area as well.
So we see this project as an initiative that we really embrace.
And we had a conversation with Mohamed.
We managed the commercial corridor of Wolland Avenue from 47 to 69 Wolland Avenue.
So we cleaned it seven days a week.
One of the problems we had is this site. When Chapman right and left, people were dumping trash around there, and we had to have our ambassadors going up there to clean it up.
One of the problems we had is this site when Shablami...
So when Mohamed shared this with us, we really see it as an improvement for the commercial corridor and the community as well.
And we also told him we make available to him our trash truck that was funded by M&T Bank on Woolen Avenue.
You know, we have our own trash truck that we are willing to work with him to make sure that we keep this plate clean, as well as other areas on the commercial corridor. So we support this project 100%. Thank you very much for taking the time to talk to us and stay here. All right. We appreciate it. Thanks. All right.
questions or comments from the planning department office amy boyd with the planning commission amy
boi dean do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yes please the comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning at this location from the current
cmx2 commercial mixed use the appellant has demonstrated that the proposed use will not
cause detrimental impacts beyond what would normally be expected the planning commission
recommends that the board grant their question special exception for assembly and entertainment
thank you mi2025-007-215-6731 woodland avenue i vote yes with the following proviso
hours of operation no earlier than 9 a.m or later than 10 p.m monday through thursday no earlier
than 9 a.m or later than 12 a.m friday through saturday and no earlier than 9 a.m or later than
8 p.m on sundays no nightclub and public entertainment venue temporary special exception
that expires 3 12 36. thank you very much thank you michael johns my vote is yes with provisos
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes, with provisos.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes, with provisos.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes, with provisos.
Tywin, my vote is yes, with provisos.
Thank you.
Thank you, everyone.
Have a good afternoon.
Thank you.
All right.
Thank you.
So number 10, MI 2025-006-964-3136 Melvale Street.
Alan Notkinson is the attorney.
there's a letter of opposition from south port richmond civic association and a letter of
opposition from council member squilla good afternoon mr chair members of the board alan
occamson you're in the same location alan i see i have not left but i hope hopefully will leave
after these two hearings okay could you uh could you uh identify your client a relationship to the
property yes my client is rayner robinson uh the owner of the property okay um our vice chair has
a few questions good afternoon have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance
of this hearing uh yes we have okay and do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate
to its accuracy i do okay thank you you can show your screen and proceed with your case thank you
all right um
i dare say this is a straightforward matter um so what we're trying to do here you walk you walk by
this location much i haven't said in weeks and i was waiting to have one especially on one that
has opposition but i really do believe this is straightforward in this sense we have an existing
garage on two lots all my client wants to do is consolidate those two lots he puts his building
supplies in there and we're on melville street we back behind 95 there's no resident even though
the rm1 property there's no residential on that on that side of the block maybe on the other side
you know but not our side uh so again it's not out of character we don't stick out like a short
thumb what we're asking for so i have 11 exhibits we'll go through them um it was a close vote even
though there was opposition um but you know these are two rm1 properties we have a pre-existing
garage structure there. We're just looking to make it for moving and storage vehicles and
consolidate these lots. So we do have a letter of opposition. We had seven people in support
who attended the meeting, 19 people opposed, and then three people within the affected area. I
can't imagine anyone on Melville would have been opposed because all there are are garages. So it
would have been opposed because all there are are garages so it had to be someone else but again
had to be someone else.
you'll see from the pictures um what we're asking for is not out of character you can even see here
this is the aerial view from an atlas perspective we're one of the few properties to actually have
any building structure on on melville street and you can see here where we're on 95.
and you can see it from this direction as well most a lot of these properties
are facing, and I apologize, I forgot what public street is here,
but are properties facing this public street, and it's the rear yard for some of those
properties for parking as well, but any property
that's a Melville Street address, if it has a building structure,
it's really a garage structure.
So definitely mislabeled as Richmond Street.
So anyway, I think it's mislabeled as RM1.
I do believe there's a hardship here, you know, under the circumstances that we're asking for.
So here's our building structure.
It's been up since, let's see, 19, 896, according to my notes.
And my client purchased this property in 1985.
His daughter is taking over his affairs and we've been looking over some of his properties,
trying to, you know, make sure everything is legal.
And we discovered this one.
And we indicated that there were two, this is on two properties, which probably should be one.
And I don't even believe there's any public utilities on Melville Street, too, which would make it really hard to develop this property.
But it's clearly not a residential property, even though it's zoned residentially.
Here's our hearing notice poster.
And then this is a property in 2011.
So I guess it was just painted or changed some other color.
So it's been this way for some time, at least according to Google.
this is melville street to the right of the property again you're not seeing any residential
like separate in the park from what's there on richmond street this is melville street to the
left of the property again here you're going to see 95 kind of like curves in you know around into
uh you know the port richmond area interior photos it's a garage you know he stores his materials
there now not a lot but enough and he just wants to continue doing that the right way and that's
why we're here today. And then this, well, this is our survey, really no plans. And then this is
our meeting notice. So we met with the community some time ago on December 10th. We sent the notice
via email a few weeks beforehand, as we always do. We send it to 76 addresses. These are a list
of the addresses, proof of mailing to those addresses. Our application for appeal that we
filed on mr robinson's behalf along with the notice of refusal the project information form
deeds of property as you can see it's a pretty old deed he's owned this property for some time
and then a certificate of tax clearance while it shows he owes money technically he's not
owed until march 31st of 2026. with that being said i believe i have his daughter on the line
He's an elderly man, not the most proficient with Zoom either.
But, you know, she can you can either take me as a officer of the court or I can have her adopt my testimony.
She's very familiar with his affairs.
Who's on the will? Who's on the deed?
He's on the deed.
Is Mr. Robinson with his daughter or is she just by herself?
I think she may just be by himself.
Okay. All right. Then we can just take Mr. Nockamson's testimony. Sure. Mr. Nockamson's,
right? Sure. Mr. Nockamson will take your testimony as an officer of the court.
Questions from the board? Yeah. So what's going to be the sort of use of the second
lot now that they're combined is the intent to keep the structure exactly the same and to continue
to use the the one that's currently vacant in a similar way for storage and parking yeah i mean
exactly i mean there's a there's a structure that's on both lots and we're looking to consolidate
that lot these lots and keep the building structure the way it is and really have the
use the same way it's just to legalize it by way of a zoning permit so to confirm the structure
currently is straddling the lots and we're not talking about the what looks to be a vacant lot
connected to it that is fenced in um i can take a look to see if there's a vacant lot my understanding
is that there's no intention to do any modifications to uh hold on i'm sorry there's no
indication to do any modifications to building structure if that's a question but let me just
take a look on that list just to confirm my understanding is correct that it takes a lot
That it takes a lot, but let me just see.
but let me just see middleville and
And does he own the two lots on either side?
The lot on either side of the two lots?
Only because the building has windows on both sides.
So does he own the properties on both sides of that?
Well, and I'll share my screen just showing you my review of Atlas here.
So that's helpful for everyone.
So it looks like other court, I'm sorry, right? No, just to answer board member wins question. It looks like the property, the building structure encompasses both properties.
There may be a little bit of open area in the rear, but it goes from like basically side to side completely.
So in terms of the, you know, the windows, I don't believe he owns RT Homes LLC.
And then it looks like actually there is a little bit of a sliver here on 3138.
Yeah, the reason I ask is because 3138 had a sliver.
And if you go back in Google Maps, there was a fence that was around that sliver that then grew and then started to cover the two lots.
that are that i'm assuming are 30 that are 40 and 42 so the fence that you see there today
covers part of 38 40 and 42 and so well well clarity yeah so obviously my i'll deal with it
with my client that if we don't own those properties we'll have to modify the fence
structure there um but um it also looks like there's materials i mean i'm not sure what
business this is but it does look like they're stored materials and equipment there as well so
i was trying to understand if they were related uses yeah and i don't know if he leases the
property so my clients lived uh it's saying that mr goldberg's stating to me that those are not
our materials and that's not our offense so um but you know obviously we'll deal with that you
know after the fact you know because this is just a you know first step we'll have to get a co
and all that and we'll confirm all these items you know beforehand um can you speak to the opposition
uh from the rcos i i so i can't i mean i don't know what why they're opposed to it um you know
sometimes you go to a community meeting and people are just opposed just to be opposed
um and you know again in terms of popularity oh they mr goldberg reminded me that uh
I should just have him next to me, is that they're concerned that this is an RM1 property and they're concerned if we consolidate it, it's going to make it a larger parcel to maybe for redevelopment purposes.
That is not my client's intention.
And if you look at the structure, that's not one that you can have an adaptive reuse.
That would have to be a complete teardown.
That's not totally true, Alan.
I don't know that that's totally true.
I mean, I do think I carry the same concern, I think, as the RCO, because I do think consolidating them does open up a pathway.
And while your client might have the best of intentions, and I believe you, this travels with the land.
So it's any future person or future owner or future tenant has to also carry those same intentions is, I think, part of the concern.
No, I hear you.
But there's also no utilities that run along Melville.
So it would be rather difficult.
And it would be completely out of character.
If there were other like residential, well, other properties, all RM1 properties, but there are other properties in their block, even one, I don't believe.
But like, but if there were any properties that also face 95 in that direction that were being used residentially, that would be different.
I just don't think it's a realistic scenario that my client would, you know, redevelop this into residential multifamily, given its location and given the constraints of lack of utilities.
Other questions?
Questions from our attorney?
Just one note on this one, Mr. Noggamson.
um the the refusal doesn't list the two addresses so we will need to um request that l and i issue
a corrected refusal before we vote on this but we can um try to have this voted next week
uh but they the addresses need to be listed on the refusal and unfortunately they are not
you mean even though it talks about parcel e and parcel uh c and then we include the survey which
has corresponding addresses on it the refusal so the permit language if this is granted comes
from the refusal in terms of what's been approved and the addresses should be on there that's that's
been approved and the addresses should be on there that's that's been a standard practice of
been a standard practice event.
lni and whenever we've had an issue where they haven't put the addresses they've issued a
corrected refusal so okay so yeah the board will request that there's nothing that you need to do
but the board will request that so that the so that everyone's records are accurate so i mean
we can't do it by way of proviso if we say parcel e is this and parcel c is that no we need to have
the l and i needs to have the addresses on the refusal so but we just that will can be handled
very quickly questions or comments from the virtual audience
miranda p
army yes chair okay who do we who do we have richard levy okay i'm gonna allow them to speak thank you
i can hear me i can sir could you please state your name is spelled for the stenographer
sure richard levy um my last name is spelled l-e-v-y do you swear or affirm to tell the
truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes mr levy are you a neighbor yes i am please proceed
so uh the concern from the community is that the parcels he actually does own multiple parcels
along the back there um additionally this past summer he put up an illegal structure built an
entire garage and we reported it several times and it was built in less than four days um garage
with electric water everything um we reported it no one ever came out to do anything about it
that's not the first time um he continues to store and put things um in the back alleyway there we
there's many many things and our concern is that pretty much that because he owns so many of those
lots back there that he will combine them all and that's where we stand on this okay thank you for
taking the time to call us we appreciate it is anyone else anyone else there i see no hands at
this time chair hi planning commission oh mr chair can i just respond to that sure you comment you
can my understanding through mr goldberg is that we do not own any lots back there i haven't done
an independent like investigation of if we own any lots back there but we do not own any lots
on melville street we do own some lots on richmond street um and in terms of like whether we're going
to consolidate further lots into this one as the chairman knows and the remaining board members know
uh we would have to come back um potentially to this board uh for any type of change of use of
that sort potentially so is alex got an open text to you is that what's going on i mean oh you don't
see it i see it i'm really getting a little confused here you keep oh i i see it i see the
teams i thought when i share my screen it pops up all right all right all right uh mr chair there's
um someone who's been trying to raise their hand to miranda p that wants to testify in this matter
i'm not sure who that is miranda
i'm going to allow them to speak to you sure thank you
hello i'm miranda could you please state your name is spelled for this phonographer
hi i'm sorry somehow i put my i must have clicked the wrong thing my name is manda perlis
could you spell it m-a-n-d-a p-e-r-l-e-s right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the
whole truth nothing but the truth yes are you a neighbor i am a neighbor please proceed um so
as rich had commented i have a lot of the same worries that um you know a lot of already what's
been done on melville hasn't been by code or any kind of anything filed i also have concern with
When construction starts, I mean, he the the properties, he owns the properties at three one one eight Melville and three one one two Melville and works out of those garages.
In between those is the garage that he built and then continuously stores things on Melville Street.
I mean, I can. OK, so that's one. Two, I just I really don't think, although I'm not trying to call anyone a liar.
i do have a huge question of intent with what will be done with the garages i can tell you right now
he was not using that garage for supplies like at this moment there was someone else using it i
don't know if he rented it leased it out someone was using their putting their cars in there in
fact his all of the like scaffolding i can send photos if you like all of that stuff was being
stored on Melville. So once again, this is just feeling very like icky and that it's not being
So once again, this is just feeling very like icky and that it's not being completely truthful.
I do know a lot of his family now that he's gotten older, they've kind of all taken some of the properties or he's gifted or sold some of those properties.
So a lot of the properties here on this block are just kind of, you know, speckled with family members of his.
OK. All right. Thank you for taking the time to cause. We appreciate it.
Is there anyone else?
Alan, do you have a response there?
No, and I do want to just clarify, I misspoke in terms of this.
He does own lots on Melville.
They're just not continuous.
So what I think I meant to say, because I misunderstood what Mr. Goldberg was saying,
is that there's no intention to consolidate these lots because it's impossible because they're not continuous.
So if the, if the question is like, do we continue consolidating lots that there's no intention, we just want to legalize this use of the lot, you know, again, we're doing this out of our own volition, and we're, you know, and I figured we consolidate the lots if we're going to change if it's one building structure in there, and that was the intent of our office.
okay all right thank you planning commission amy boy with the planning commission the comprehensive
plan recommends no change in zoning at this location from the existing arm run residential
multi-family however the majority of the block is not used for dwelling and the non-conforming
building which is not outfitted for residents is proposed to be reused the planning commission
recommends that the board grant the request of variance for moving in storage facility
Hillary, we're going to hold this, and would we think we're okay by Wednesday, next Wednesday?
All right, so we'll vote on this next Wednesday at 2 p.m.
Thank you, and thank you for everybody who called in.
We appreciate it.
So number 13, Mr. Nogamson again, right?
Mr. Nogamson?
uh hi sorry you have your second one right sorry to you he's coming back in all right okay
sorry for the technical difficulties no no that's okay so mi2025 007 217 3043 miller street um
um it's a recommendation of opposition from some Southport Richmond Civic Association
no explanation provided and a letter of Opposition from Councilmember Squill Mr Nockamson you've
already been sworn just state your name and spell for the stenographer Alan Nockamson A-L-A-N last
name Nockamson N-O-C-H-U-M-S-O-N and Mr Nockamson could you um identify your client the relationship
to the property yeah my client is laryn and luan uh salige uh the owners of the property all right
thank you very much 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
written other refusals and stipulate to their accuracy i do i think you can share your screen
proceed with your case thank you all right so this property is also in the south port richmond
section in philadelphia it's 3043 miller street this is an rsa5 property that's a rather large lot
of 1437 square feet and we're looking to put a tribe legalize a triplex that was placed on here
So we have 11 exhibits and at the conclusion of my presentation, one of the property owners will, you know, obviously be promoted as a panelist and be sworn in, and I'll have a few questions for them.
So, again, this is an RSA 5 property, large property, and not to say it is, but if this was an RM1 property, this use would be allowed as a right.
um we're seeking uh use as a triplex and we have two refusals one you know multifamily use because
this rsa 5 is not allowed as of right and second we converted the the garage there uh to uh the
first unit or used as as one of our units and um the surface parking is not allowed as of right
even though again all we're doing is you know continuing to use the driveway as parking
we met with the community uh it was not unanimous they were also the same committee was also against
this triplex um we did have this pretty significant uh petition that was you know you know distributed
to nearby properties um my client personally did it um i'll be honest at the community meeting
I'll be honest, at the community meeting, there were a couple people who, I guess, changed their mind after the fact, because we have some signatures here of some people who signed it, you know, the petition, and then at the community meeting decided to not vote in favor of this.
there were a couple people who i guess changed
So I can't speak as to why they did it.
They stated they didn't understand what the petition was stating.
But again, all we do is with the petition is exactly say what we're doing.
And, you know, it says, I hereby support the governmental application filed by the owner of 3043 Miller Street, which is currently before the ZBA for the use of multifamily living three units in the existing structure and the relocation of one garage off street parking space to one driveway surface parking space as per the attached notice or refusal.
So we try to keep it exactly what the refusal says to keep it pretty straightforward.
So but one or two people said, oh, I signed this, but I didn't realize what I was signing.
So I can't speak as to why they signed it at the time.
But there were still a significant amount of people that signed it that were close by in support of this.
And just so you understand, the property owners live close by as well, and they personally manage the property themselves.
And then, again, we're, you know, on Miller Street, you know, there is some, some mixed zoning of some sort, not too far away. There's some CMX2 zoning, there's some CMX1 zoning.
and then photographs of the property there is no below grade living at all right so this this is
where the garage was there's a front door there now there's another entrance for the upper floors
but there's no below grade living which i know is important to the board so this is our orange
notice posters this is miller street to the right of the property miller street to the left of the
property and then our interior photos so my clients um you know had this done you know the
work and they honestly did not know better until they got a violation and then you know contacted
my office so it was not intentional um they did get a building permit the building permit did save
for only one unit but their intention was to build three nice units here which they did and you can
see from the quality of materials that they did. That's unit A, unit B, and then unit C.
So A is first floor, B is second floor, C is third floor. And I don't believe the property
has been occupied since our office has gotten involved. So we wanted to keep it legal in
in terms of non-use while we're going through this process
and then these are our simple plans again all we did was create a door here for the
you know where the garage was and there would be one parking space where the driveway is
and then the units are pretty straightforward you have the first floor unit you have an open floor
plan, you have two bedrooms and a kitchen area and a backyard. That's for unit number one where
the garage was. You saw those steps that were the original steps for the front door, the single
family structure. You go up those steps, you have a common vestibule area, you have a kitchen,
living room, two bedrooms, washer and dryer, area to store trash. Same thing with the third floor.
My understanding is my client didn't make any structural changes that were necessary.
and they're more than well they're more than prepared to have l and i come into the property
if they're so lucky to get the zoning variance because they have to get a co and they're very
aware of that so we did meet with the community on february 11th and we emailed notice of proof
of mailing for that community meeting notice on january 28th we confirmed that we mailed the
notice to 173 addresses. These are the addresses we mail to. This is proof of mailing to those
addresses. Our deed to the property showing that my clients own it in their own names.
And their certificate of tax clearance showing that the only money due is not technically due
yet i would ask that uh one of you know either leon or luann uh be promoted to a panelist and
be sworn in out of curiosity what's the property next door it's single family and i'll be honest
the person next door was not happy about the and i don't know if it's even the triplex use
about the and i don't know if it's even the triplex use i think it's how the tenants so we
I think it's how the tenants...
had tenants in there our firm also had to get attendance out right and you know during that
process since we got that one set of tenants out they weren't great tenants they blocked her
driveway on a number of occasions and um you know she was unhappy about that and that's unfortunate
but she was not happy all right thank you
So, I would ask that Mr. or Mrs. Silage virtually raise their hands so they can be sworn in.
Thank you.
hello hi sir could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer yeah my name is
liaren salia l-i-r-e-n s-a-l-i-a-j right do you believe or affirm to tell the truth the whole
truth and nothing but the truth yes i do alan so liaren you heard everything i had to state
today about your zoning matter? Yes. Is it true and correct? Yes. And do you adopt it as your
own testimony? Yes, I do. Specifically, are you prepared to have L&I review and inspect all the
work that was done to the property if this board grants the zoning variance? Absolutely.
And you also understand because it's a triplex that the building has to be sprinklered then?
yes all right thank you questions from the board yes i have a question about units and access so
how are you determining which tenant has access to the parking space uh laren um
uh the ground floor unit because we want it to be ada
you want the ground for you can you pull up the plans again sure thank you
and then who has access to the rear yard only only the ground floor unit the ground floor
or the first floor well well so how personally yeah well there's the low i don't know what you
would consider it like so it's an elevated i would consider i'll let you know i would consider the
basement and the garage ground floor and i would consider the ones that you enter by walking up the
stairs the first floor because that would have been the primary entrance of the original house
all right so if you look at it this is the the ground you ground floor you said
i'm asking who has access to the rear yard i only only the person on the ground floor they're that
they're the only ones have access is that correct rear yard is that grade yeah that's correct
because i do see a passageway and it looks like a breezeway that would allow all tenants
to get back there yeah there's a there's a breezeway right here and if you want i can show
you the picture too i think it's like a it is three feet yeah yeah let me just show you the
picture i mean if the board feels so inclined to grant this variance we could agree to a proviso
of trash stored outside where we can create an interior gate
so that everyone has access to the left-hand side
for their storage or trash.
And then the ground floor unit would have access
to the unused portion of the rear yard for their own purposes.
Do you have a photo of the door that the ground floor,
is this how you...
This is, yeah.
No, I mean, for how the ground floor reaches the backyard.
is there i don't think we have a photo of that one you mean that side door
yeah well i just one this unit is currently not ada accessible the bathroom's not ada accessible
and while it does look like you might be close to a zero step entry at the front it's not clear that
that is the case at the back it also means that a person if they were to go out the back the
wheelchair cannot get through that breezeway so they're sort of stuck in the back which is
generally not a good thing so i think one i was trying to figure out part of it was who has access
to the rear yard who has access to the parking space both for rear yard like just recreational
access but also for trash because the room the units also don't look like they have ventilated
trash rooms well again if i think you know if there has
rooms well again if i think you know if there has to be reasonable modifications made i think
my client would make those modifications if if there's requirements for either trash stored
outside um you know for all units and or if there's requirements for a ventilated trash room
i'm sure that we can figure out modifications regarding same i'm sure there's a closet somewhere
near the bathroom or the kitchen excuse me and for purposes of this conversation you guys are
considering fully sprinkling the building as reasonable accommodations well it's a requirement
under the philadelphia philadelphia building code so i don't i don't know if that's a reasonable
accommodation or mandatory it's mandatory it's only mandatory for three units you could also
go down to two units you could go back to one unit and not need a sprinkler well that's what
i'm saying but if the board is inclined to grant this it's a requirement and my client's prepared
to do that okay all the questions I have a question that's a pretty residential block
I know on your side of the street is there any other duplexes let alone triplexes on that street
or on the block not that block but nearby there are a number of multi-families but not not on
that block to be honest okay thank you Helen was this a triplex before or was it a duplex
It was a single family.
Not legally either way, but tell me what it was.
I think my understanding, and Loran, if I misstate anything, please correct me.
My understanding is that they purchased this as a single family structure.
And then converted themselves to three?
And then converted themselves to three.
They didn't realize that they needed zoning for it and building for it,
code permits for it.
And then that's where our firm got involved.
All right.
Questions or comments from our attorney?
not at this time mr chair questions or comments from the virtual audience
yes i have a hand up by mark harris oh sure
mr kairos could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
could you speak up a little bit too we're having a hard time hearing sure sure do you swear or
affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth sir and are you a neighbor no all
right please proceed yeah i just want to comment that if they were to restore the ground floor to
garage and then they would have a duplex and two off-street parking spots which would satisfy the
concerns of neighbors about parking it it's an option i think they should consider um mr harris
thank you very much for taking the time uh do you have any questions to mr harris helen no but if if
you know you know again if if the difference is between one and three and one unit two units
or, you know, I think, you know, or no three units, I think my client would be more inclined
to mitigate their damages to potentially going to two units with what Mr. Harris stated,
potentially with multiple, you know, opportunities for parking spaces. You know, again, they're behind
each other. So that's a little tough. Anyone else in the audience? Michelle Kredinsky
have been promoted to talk.
How many more hands do you have?
Just Michelle.
Thank you.
Hello.
Hi, could you please state your name
and spell it for this tonographer?
Michelle Krizenski, M-I-C-H-E-L-L-E-K-R-A-D-Z-I-N-S-K-I.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth,
the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Are you a neighbor?
I am. Please proceed. So this is a very residential block. There's parking only on one side. This is a single family home that they made into a triplex. There is not even a duplex on this block. The people that they've had in there, not good.
um and also gina there is somebody on the line gina she wants to speak to but she doesn't have
a hand raised thing okay right um do we see gina's hand can we get her on her
is there anyone else not at this time cheer
mr chair can i just respond to the comment about the tenants um i'll be brief um you know
we were not happy with this tenant either.
They were a nightmare tenant.
But, you know, whether it's a single family or multifamily,
sometimes you have bad tenants.
We worked really hard to get that tenant out of there
Did or we worked really hard to get that tenant out of there as quickly as we could. You know, the system in Philadelphia is kind of tough in that regard, but we acknowledge that that tenant was a bad tenant and we got them out of there as quickly as we could.
as quickly as we could.
Okay, thank you. Planning Commission.
Amy Boyd with the Planning Commission. The comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning at this location from the current RSA 5 residential single family. Parking in the required front yard is characteristic of the block face.
However, the conversion to multifamily was done without the benefit of the permits, and the appellant has not demonstrated that there are unique physical conditions or circumstances of the property that would prevent it from being used in conformance with the zoning code for multifamily household living.
The Planning Commission recommends that the board grant the requested variance for parking in the required front yard, but deny the requested variance for multifamily household living.
Thank you.
um alan uh there were several issues raised i'd like really have an opportunity to talk to the
to the board we'll do that next wednesday morning and we're going to vote on it at 2 p.m
thank you very much thank you i appreciate it all right have a great day you and enjoy your trip i
hope. Thank you. Number six. All right. Number six. Yep. Yep. Number six. MI 2025 005 674 1101 South 53rd Street. W. Keith Williams is the attorney.
it's a letter of support from the 51st ward rco and a letter of support
from council member got the a's office
do we see the attorney
He's coming back in as a panelist.
Thank you.
good afternoon can you can you guys hear me
yes okay um miss thornton the owner of the property could you please state your name
and spell it for the stenographer yes it's uh will keith williams uh first name is w-i-l-l
uh middle name k-e-i-t-h last name williams w-i-l-l-i-a-m-s 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 the property yes my client's name is pamela thornton and she is the owner
of a pound cake heaven at the address of 1101 south 53rd street okay and our vice chair has
just a few questions good afternoon have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days
in advance of this hearing yes okay and do you waive the reading of the referral and stipulate
to its accuracy yes okay thank you you can share your screen and proceed with the case
sure uh miss thornton should be in this zoom meeting i'm not sure if she uh
she's here yet um one second one second
why don't you start your documents
okay i'll go through again one second
they're coming up
I see it sir
so why don't you tell us first what you're trying to do okay yeah so um you know today we're seeking
approval of a special uh exception uh permitting what is a small uh takeout only neighborhood
bakery at 1101 south 53rd street so the use is not prohibited and in neighborhood commercial use
districts it's allowed by special exception so this is not a variance case and there's no hardship
issue before the board today what the record will show is straightforward this is a low intensity
city bakery, no seating, no late hours, minimal equipment, minimal water.
no seating no late hours minimal equipment uh minimal water and utility use uh it does not
generate unusual traffic uh no absurd noise and it fits the scale and character of the neighborhood
ms thornton also complied with every procedural requirement the property was properly posted
the community was notified and the RCO meeting was held and all exhibits were submitted on time
and so I wanted Pam Pamela Thornton to testify but we're gonna why don't you do this why don't
you show us the building first and how it's laid out okay sure it's your notice
so why don't you explain what we're looking at there okay so this is a picture of the building
it's uh at 11 1101 53rd street um so the bakery will be held on the first floor
um i can show you the inside of it there's a this is the kitchen it's kind of blurry
um this would be the front of the building
these are some more photos here this is the outside everything is to go am i correct
say that one more time like everything is to take out yes you said there's no sit down inside
everything is to take out no no seating at all everything is the bakery store you go in and buy
your bakery goods and leave yes or you can order order before you know have it made and then come
to take it out okay this is uh the aerial view okay
so i wanted i wanted to have her testify is she in the audience yeah yeah she should be here okay
can you hear me we can could you please state your name is spelled for the stenographer
pamela thornton p-a-m-e-l-a-t-h-o-r-n-t-o-n right do you swear referring to tell the truth the
whole truth nothing but the truth i do pamela could you turn your video on please i don't know how
okay that's okay then just keep going counsel okay miss thornton uh what is your relationship
to the applicant business i am the owner okay um are you also the owner of the property located
at 1101 south 53rd street yes did you authorize a filing of this zoning application and appeal
yes i did uh mr and i'm showing you exhibit one uh there's only application submitted to lni do
you recognize this document yes i do okay uh members of the board i move exhibit one into
the record okay all right i'm also showing you exhibit three
uh the application for appeal to the zoning board of adjustment do you recognize this document
miss thornton yes i do did you authorize this appeal yes all right so i move exhibit three into
the record and so finally i'm showing exhibit five um this is proof of ownership of uh the property
is this accurate miss thornton yes it is okay i move exhibit five into the record
okay so miss thornton um can you briefly describe um in your own words what pound cake heaven is
Pound Cake Heaven is a family-owned business, and we bake flavors from back in the past.
We do cakes, we do cookies, we do all the traditional treats.
We sell sliced cakes, pies, just the traditional baked sweets.
okay will there be any uh sit down seating in your bakery no it's not is this a large scale
or industrial bakery no it's very small what equipment do you use in the bakery we have one
oven we have two mixers we have a sink we have a bathroom we have a hand washing sink
and we have some cabinets for storage
okay i'm showing you exhibit four uh the completed project information form does this
uh accurately describe the proposed use of the property
use of the property. Yes. Okay. I move exhibit four into the record. Does your bakery generate
Thank you.
large volumes of customer traffic? No, it doesn't. Usually they call an order and they come and pick
up or they come in and select and then they leave. Based on your operations, will the business
cause congestion in public streets or transportation systems no do you expect deliveries that would
block streets or sidewalks no is the proposed use consistent with the size of the building
yes does the bakery involve large staff or large gatherings of people
no will the use overcrowd the land or surrounding area of the building no
uh miss thornton how much water does your operation require very very little
will your bakery strain public utilities or city services no how do you manage trash
and waste that's your property trash is minimum and we handle it through the regular city
sanitation services all right now i'm showing you exhibit seven the certificate of tax and compliance
this is a true and correct copy we we have we have we have those we have that okay mr williams
just let you know you can just move all of your exhibits into evidence at the end you don't have
to authenticate each one for the port got it got it thank you perfect okay um miss thornton is your
property physically connected to adjacent properties uh no we're on a corner
okay will your business create excessive noise no will there be any industrial
scale ventilation lightings or fans no uh will the use permanently injure impair
their neighboring properties I I counsel I think you've really you've made your case okay perfect
I I guess the question is how long has she been running the bakery I've been in business for 13
years at that location uh in one other right so so she's coming here today just to make this legal
is that said what is that what right Council would say she's been running it for a while
now she wants to make sure she gets the right that's correct yes all right okay all right
um um questions from the board just to clarify the commercial space or the bakery is not going
to be separate from the home correct from i don't understand like they're all going to still be on
one meter or are they on separate meters yeah no same and then are you using like the the kitchen
in for the home and then the sort of retail space is really just where things are being packaged and
sold right so there's not a separate kitchen no no i have no further questions any other questions
yes so you're using um are you using commercial equipment at this premises yes you are so
You've had, the health department has been out to look at the space and help you plan this kitchen. Is that what you're saying? Or are you?
Yes, they gave me the appropriate paperwork to be able to go down to get my new license.
Okay. And they, as part of that, you do have, they did come out and plan the space for you.
so you have the proper equipment yes okay all right so um okay so you're baking on site
yes okay um what about venting for the oven we are using a convection oven so there's no
no fan needed or anything extra to ventilate okay and that was approved by the health department
okay and what about delivery of supplies i pick up my own supplies
okay so when we talk about the the operation what are we talking about
So when we talk about the operation, what are we talking about in terms of, like, volume of business?
I mean, you're not.
Well, since we're so small, we haven't grown yet.
This is just the first step of growing.
So we're only servicing the neighborhood and those who might want to patronize me outside of the neighborhood.
But that hasn't been a big volume yet.
so we're looking to grow as we make these changes can i interject yes so so it's to my
understanding that she has multiple different locations she has a larger location um in
delaware county um this would just be like a kind of like a satellite location uh where she can
um appease a smaller crowd it's a neighborhood area um so and going back to the kitchen uh
part i think she's make primarily making most of her uh baked goods at a different location and
bringing them over to this smaller location so most of the work is being done at another uh
pound cake heaven location okay so you're this is for sales only is that what you're really saying
You're bringing in. Okay. All right. And you're not. Okay. All right. I'm going to leave it alone because I'm trying to figure out whether we're talking about a need for more. This is more a retail business, not a wholesale kind of business. Correct?
Correct.
All right. All right. Thank you.
questions from our attorney not at this time mr chair questions or comments from the virtual
audience not at this time chair planning commission amy boy with the planning commission
the comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning at this location from the current cmx2
commercial mixed use the appellant has demonstrated the proposed use will not cause such a bunch of
impacts beyond what would reasonably be expected the planning commission recommends that the board
grant their requested special exception for takeout restaurant mi2025-005-674-1101 south
53rd street i vote yes then cheryl guest and my vote is yes tenetta graham my vote is yes
i am mcadams my vote is yes hi owen my vote is yes thank you thank you counsel thank you
Sure. Number 7, MI-2025-005850, 416 East Woodland Street. Meredith Ferliger is the attorney.
Good afternoon Council.
Good afternoon I'll turn this on.
could you state your name and spell for the sonographer
meredith berliger f-e-r-l-e-g-e-r do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and
about the truth yes i do um can you identify your client in relationship to the property
sure my my client is kj base kjb solutions llc which is the owner of the property um so i asked
this not to hurry you or anything how long do you think your presentation takes
um 20 25 minutes oh okay i i don't i don't think yeah okay despite the letter of opposition
i i fear to say this is somewhat straightforward um i do have watching you're sounding down
yeah i i know i was laughing when he said that because i was thinking the same thing
um but i i don't think my presentation itself it's you do know that there is letters i i do yes
okay yes i know our vice chair has a couple questions good afternoon have you uh submitted
your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing i sure did okay and do you waive
the reading of the refusals and stipulate to the accuracy i do waive the reading i cannot stipulate
to the accuracy of the rear yard refusal or the heritage tree referral i will address both of
or the heritage tree referral i will address both of those in my presentation
those in my presentation.
okay and thank you so you can share your screen and proceed with your case thank you
all right
all right mr chairman members of the board again my client here today is kjb solutions llc which
is the owner of the property and is represented by my client kenny brown who unfortunately had
to travel this week and is joining us via zoom we do also on zoom have our architect logan dry
and then in the room with me here i have our civil engineer leslie cunningham with cornerstone
the request before you today concerns 416 eastwood lawn street you have an exhibit packet in front of
you that contains 19 exhibits to summarize the basis for today's request the application requests
the subdivision of an existing lot into four new lots and on each lot for the erection of one
single family dwelling although we submit that the proposal is not only patently reasonable
in terms of the variances and the special exception that is requested and also completely
in character with the surrounding neighborhood we are of course aware of the letter of opposition
Letters of opposition that were submitted to the board.
We will address some of the express concerns during the presentation in the hopes that the board will assign appropriate weight to the community's position here in light of the strictly dimensional relief that is requested here today.
The tax clearance is included in your exhibits at exhibit 2.
and again that's just for 2026 taxes which are not yet due
and then the deed to the property is shown at exhibit three
by way of background i'll bring up exhibit five
actually let me make sure i have the right
all right
as you can see here the zoning map of the lot result you can see here that this lot results
from a previous subdivision of this property which was finalized in March of 2025. the original
property as you can see here was a nearly 40 000 square foot parcel that extended all the way from
Locust Avenue all the way back to Woodlawn Street. The board heard and approved variances for the use and the addition to the historic Edwin T. Chase House that fronts on Locust Avenue several months ago.
Today's request concerns the roughly 11,000 square foot parcel on Woodlawn Street, which was continued from the previous hearing date to allow for additional discussions with the community.
as you can see this block here is zoned rsd3
to reorient you again to the neighborhood the aerials are shown at exhibit six
structurally speaking you'll start to notice from this image here that the structures on the east
side of wood lawn are generally early 1900s construction that contain a mix of uses that
include single family homes institutional and religious uses group living and multi-family
dwellings contextually speaking this entire area is just about a half a mile from germantown avenue
and just south of east chelton avenue on the west side of wood lawn street
The single family dwellings on the West side of the block, you can see are mixed between attached homes along Morton street, and then single family semi detached twin style homes for the majority of the block leading to Magnolia street.
The context of this area is a bit more clear on the photographs that I've included at exhibit 16.
here you'll see the large vacant lot that is the subject of today's request
this lot has never had any structure on it at least not since before 1895 which is the
farthest records that I could find the next view of the property looks towards Magnolia Street
where again you'll see one of the trees that's at issue before the board today
leaning over the street and caught up within the power lines.
leaning over the street and caught up within the power lines and again you'll start to see
across the street if i move to the next photograph you'll start to see the division of structural
characteristics of the single family homes with the attached homes to the left and then
the start of the semi-detached twin homes to the right
in the next view here from morton street you'll see that east woodlawn is a fairly wide street
with the homes across the street you could see this here sitting at a higher elevation
than the street itself the board may also take note of the aesthetic character of the
existing semi-detached homes that flank east woodlawn street and you can see that here on page 77.
this was a highly relevant factor in terms of how the architect designed the project that
is in front of you today you can also see
some additional views here that are reflective again of just the general aesthetic character
of the block again this is looking towards the subject property you can see that with the arrow
and again you can see here the semi-detached twins that are highly characteristic of this area
and again you can see from these images the elevation at least of these homes
that is higher than the street itself they sit quite a bit up
And then again, flipping to the east side of the block, you'll notice some of the larger old structures, as well as existing driveways that ingress and egress to Woodlawn Street in their current condition.
And then we did also include photographs of our quite colorful, timely posting of the property, which did occur per the code.
Exhibit 7 shows the is it do this to me exhibit 7 shows the proposed subdivision plans
oh I let me scroll there we go
zoom in on the lot here
Exhibit 7 shows the proposed subdivision of the one lot into four new lots
The two end lots in the image, proposed parcel A and proposed parcel D, are proposed to be 2,749 square feet and 22 feet wide, and the two interior lots, shown as parcel B and C, will be slightly larger at 2,912 square feet and 23 feet wide.
this is the source of two of the refusals as the rsd3 requires a minimum lot size of
5 000 square feet and 50 feet wide i'm going to skip exhibit eight momentarily and move
into exhibit nine which is the proposed zoning plans i will summarize them for you and then
our architect can of course be available to answer any questions that you might have about these
THESE PLANS. THESE ARE ALL SINGLE FAMILY, TOO? THAT'S CORRECT, MR. CHAIRMAN. THESE ARE SINGLE FAMILY.
THE PLANS SHOW THAT THE PROPOSAL INCLUDES ONE NEW SINGLE FAMILY DWELLING ON EACH OF THESE LOTS.
HOWEVER, THEY ARE DESIGNED AS SEMI DETACHED STRUCTURES, EACH WITH A SHARED DRIVEWAY LEADING TO AN INTERIOR GARAGE.
EACH HOME, OF COURSE, WOULD ALSO HAVE THE BENEFIT OF PARKING IN THE DRIVEWAY AS WELL.
to further limit impact only two curb cuts are proposed providing shared access to these homes
as a result of this particular design the ingress and egress conditions are identical
to those that would exist if there were less homes in the back each home will have a deck
at the second floor as well as a ground level patio here you will see one of the refusals
which i did mention at the beginning which we submit is not correct and let me zoom in so you
can see this measurement here the zoning code requires measurement of the rear yard from the
back of the rearmost structure which in this case would be the deck and you can see the deck indicated
here rsd3 would require a 25 foot rear yard however according to the zoning code measurement
Each proposed rear yard measurement here is 19 feet, so only a six-foot deficiency, although from grade, you can see here, meets the full 25 feet.
although from grade, you can see here, meets the full 25 feet at the grade level.
In this case, the examiner improperly measured the rear yard from the patio, which is not considered a structure for purposes of rear yard measurement.
So, of course, it's still a refusal. It's just less of a magnitude in terms of the refusal.
aside from the technical nature of the refusal itself we also submit that the requirement here
is functionally exceedingly met as the actual rear yard behind these homes is well over a hundred
feet to the absolute rear of the addition on the locust project as the board might recall
All, the Locust property has a considerable slope from Locust Avenue down to Woodlawn Street, rendering the vast majority of the midsection of the property completely undevelopable and available to serve the purpose of the rear yard code requirement to provide sufficient distance from adjoining properties.
and that area would be just off the right of the screen here just in terms of the context
addressing another one of the refusals quite quickly because i suspect it does not require
much discussion as the board can see here rsd3 requires each lot to maintain 30 open space
we will assume that the board would agree that the proposed open areas of 30.1 and 31.8 percent
are unquestionably de minimis and not requiring of a hardship argument so we won't address that
in detail unless the board requires additional clarification now in terms of the original
proposal that was before this board and continued i will bring up exhibit eight
you'll see the original zoning plan which were for nearly identical structures that would have
each contained two dwelling units for a total of eight dwelling units you can see here that there
was no interior garage proposed and only one parking space would have existed in each of
the driveways as a direct response to the community feedback my client went back and
reconsidered the proposal and returned for a second meeting with the community showing the
revised proposal for single-family homes. As a result of the modification, the use variance
that's shown on the refusal is eliminated, as well as the parking refusal. The four homes that
are proposed today will now have code compliant, at least the code compliant one parking space per
home within the garage but realistically each have much more with the available driveway space as
well we did submit revised zoning plans and a revised plan proviso form to the board for
consideration the floor plans are shown at exhibit 10. each home will have a partial basement for
personal use the homes will each be 3100 square feet each with three bedrooms three full bathrooms
ROOMS AND TWO POWDER ROOMS. THE GARAGE IS ENTERED FROM THE FIRST FLOOR WHERE THE HOMES WILL ALSO HAVE THEIR MAIN DINING AND KITCHEN AREAS. LIVING AND GYM SPACE IS PROVIDED IN THE CELLAR ON THE SECOND AND ON THE SECOND FLOOR WITH A WET BAR AREA THAT YOU CAN SEE HERE AND THEN BEDROOMS WILL BE ON THE SECOND THROUGH THIRD FLOOR. BEDROOM LEVEL LAUNDRY FACILITIES ARE ON THE THIRD FLOOR. AS ORIGINALLY DESIGNED THE HOMES WOULD
Each also have a roof deck off the rear. However, this was a particular concern of the one immediate neighbor along Woodlawn, and my client is perfectly willing to accept a proviso that would eliminate the roof decks, not just on the closest structure to the neighbor, but across all four homes as well.
as a reasonable modification to address that particular concern given the extensive outdoor
space that is already available for these homes. We submit that this conclusively addresses at
least one of the comments in the RCO letters. A rendering of the homes is also included at
Exhibit 11, and I have up on your screen, showing a mix of stone and hardy siding.
logan can certainly speak to the aesthetics in greater detail
having addressed the refusals for the open area and the rear yard i'd like to briefly address
the refusals for lot size before i move to the heritage tree referral simply stated board it
would be unrealistic and economically chilling to develop this lot for any less than the four
homes that are proposed particularly since this is already half the density that was originally
Particularly since this is already half the density that was originally requested.
requests.
There are a variety of reasons that this board may consider in terms of unique and unnecessary hardship to buy right development of just one home on this extraordinarily large lot.
As the board is aware, there is a nationwide housing shortage with a particular focus locally on the lack of single family dwellings.
every additional single family dwelling constructed gives another family the opportunity to move into
the city into a beautiful new construction home to start or build their family however those homes
must be marketable and characteristic of the local neighborhood in designing the twin semi-detached
structures the applicant sought to balance the competing context along woodlawn avenue
Avenue and Locust Avenue, which you saw is largely comprised of early 1900s detached structures,
which cannot be replicated as well as predominantly attached and some semi detached.
The visual presence of the homes should carry infinitely more weight here than the invisible
lots that the homes sit on and the applicant would submit that this proposal achieves an
important balance with 3100 square foot homes that are visually consistent with the east side of the
street while sitting on lots that are more characteristic of those on the west side of the
street sitting directly across from sitting directly across woodlawn from the property
the lots range from roughly 1300 square feet to just over 3000 square feet and between 19 feet
12 feet wide and 30 feet wide with the larger lots accommodating the twins attached homes that are characteristic of what is proposed here.
Here these lots are 2,700 or 2,900 square feet and 22 or 23 feet wide.
So reasonably comparable to what exists as the board heard in the presentation we made concerning 449 locust.
This is not a dominantly single-family block on the east side of the street, further establishing that any less than the four homes in this location would not be viable or characteristic of existing density.
The block contains uses such as a church at 419 locust, a fraternity house at 431 locust, and a rooming house at 477 locust.
most relevant and i'll bring up the aerial for context this structure here at 424 east woodlawn
just next door recently received permits for group living medical type of use a neighbor that
appeared during the hearing for 449 locust seemed to indicate to the board that that structure is
in the process of being converted into some kind of a recovery house now character aside as you'll
hear from our civil engineer, this is also an extremely challenging and expensive site
to develop with significantly added costs stemming from the required stormwater management approvals.
The land development itself has to be supported by an appropriate number of homes to justify the
horizontal site improvement investment. My client will expand in a moment, but the sale price of
single family homes on this lot this the sales price would render the development of two homes
on this lot completely impossible i will note that even two lots here would still require relief from
this board and from a design perspective would likely change very little respectfully it is
not reasonable to suggest that two single family homes versus four single family homes would have
any material impact in congestion in the neighborhood other than as we would submit a
positive one in bringing two extra homeowners to the neighborhood given the mixed use profile of
this neighborhood the original proposal was reasonably so for duplexes however my client
heard the concern from the neighbors for that density and directly responded accordingly
even that change did not materially alter the aesthetic character of the proposed buildings
or the access points unfortunately despite my client delaying the hearing for many months
and cutting the project in half it unfortunately seems as though the goal post continues to move
despite this particular revision eliminating all manner of use refusals and leaving only the need
for dimensional relief briefly in terms of the heritage tree issue we would submit that the
we would submit that the board can find that the heritage tree section of the code
board can find that the heritage tree section of the code
should not apply here i'll bring up the landscape plans just to give you a visual on this
as the board knows with the subdivision the code looks at each individually subdivided lot
for purpose of determining open area rear yards and other dimensional requirements
the landscaping requirements of the code only apply to development on lots of over 5 000 square
feet here the development is occurring on lots less than 5 000 square feet we have a refusal for that
and in this case the development is of new single-family homes
14705 1a.2.b of the code states that on-site landscaping and tree requirements do not apply
to lots with a principal single-family use. Again, that section alone should have excused
compliance with the heritage tree section of the code. But taking it one step further,
the applicant did actually commission and submit an arborist report, which is in your packet,
again at Exhibit 12, showing that the two heritage trees at issue, and I'll highlight them, there is one 36-inch silver maple right here towards the front, and then there's a 48-inch silver maple here towards the north end of the site.
The Arborist report shows that these trees are in an irreparably diseased state and pose a threat to the health, safety, and welfare of the community and are recommended for removal.
unfortunately the city rejected the report and instead did require the applicant to procure the
special exception given the layers of arguments that would warrant the board finding that the
requirement should not have applied in the first place i won't go into considerable detail on the
heritage tree issue again unless the board requires it a full argument on this issue is in your memo
of law at exhibit 13 i'd like to ask our civil engineer leslie to come up and answer a few brief
questions directly in response to the rco letter and while she does that as the board saw the
community expressed that their major concern here surrounds stormwater i do have a few questions for
leslie that i believe can conclusively establish why this is not a reasonable concern for this
proposal and that the board should not assign that concern any weight in reaching your decision on
the requested relief so leslie do me a favor could you get as close to the mic as you can
and that way everybody yeah a little pull it towards you too like i mean put it'll you can
pull the whole thing here you go here you go hi could you state your name and spell it for this
sonographer. My name is Leslie Cunningham, L-E-S-L-I-E-C-U-N-N-I-N-G-H-E-S-WARE. We're
affirmed to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth. Counsel? Leslie, what is
your background, if you could share with the board? Good afternoon, members of the board. As I said,
my name is Leslie Cunningham, and I'm a licensed professional engineer in the Commonwealth.
after graduating from purdue with a bachelor of science in civil engineering
i've worked in the industry for over 24 years now specializing in land development
zoning storm water management and so forth currently i'm a principal partner at cornerstone
consulting and have worked on hundreds of projects in the city and testified before zoning boards
planning commissions board of supervisors and other municipal boards throughout the state
I have previously been accepted by this board as an expert witness on multiple occasions.
And what was your involvement on this particular project?
We are the civil engineer on the project and have worked with the design team on the site layout and obtaining the prerequisites for the zoning permit application.
Specifically, we did the plan design and approval of the conceptual stormwater management plan for the water department.
and leslie in the exhibit packet i have your cv does this accurately reflect the cv that you
shared with the board today yes so we would ask the board uh to accept leslie once again as an
expert in uh her field in terms of stormwater management we will thank you and were you also
involved in the project that was immediately adjacent to this at 449 locust avenue yes okay
yeah thank you generally speaking what does the grade of this area tell you as it relates to
the neighbors existing concerns surrounding flooding uh that they experience
in their homes or around their homes as a first step for development we our office completed a
in their homes or around their homes as a first step for development
topographic survey of the lot um and and the topography the topography for this block
slopes in a southwesterly direction from locust avenue to woodlawn street locust avenue sits
approximately 30 feet higher than woodlawn street specifically this site slopes directly from locust
avenue to woodlawn the existing slope of this property does not push water onto the adjoining
parcels and that's as it currently exists in its undeveloped state
correct so the you it's reasonable to say that the existing condition of the property
has no bearing on any existing flooding conditions that the neighbors are experiencing today.
Is that correct?
Based on the existing topography of the parcel, that is correct.
Does this proposal, and I'm specifically referring to the proposal on Woodlawn,
does this proposal require stormwater management?
And did PWD, Water Department, review and issue a conceptual approval for this development?
Is that shown at Exhibit 18 that I have up on the screen here? Is this the plan that they approved?
What is, just generally speaking, what is the proposed stormwater management control for the woodlawn side of the project?
so the woodlawn side is controlled by a rain garden that's located but between the two attached
dwellings right in the center of that lot of the existing lot excuse me and although it's not
directly relevant to this case before the board today the project that the board previously heard
at 449 locust also requires storm stormwater management is that correct correct and what
will those measures do as it relates to any existing flooding that generates from the property
which you previously testified would effectively be none right um the locust avenue parcel has
an underground detention basin within the new parking lot at the rear of the building
and those two stormwater management devices will reduce the post-development stormwater runoff
below that of the existing pre-development stormwater runoff for the site. And when I say
the site, PWD requires us to look at both parcels as one site for stormwater management because the
owner purchased it as one parcel. Do you believe that the development of any less homes on this
lot, four, three, two, one, would have any impact to the stormwater management or the flooding
concerns that the neighbors expressed? No, in my opinion, no, because all new impervious surface
must be managed. So is it a fair statement that while the developer certainly respects and
understands the community's concern, that this development will at worst improve the existing
conditions but will unequivocally not add any runoff or flooding that may exist today on any
adjoining lot. That's correct as the existing and proposed topography from the site does not drain
to the neighboring properties and all new impervious surfaces will be managed by the
underground basin and the rain garden and it will directly discharge to the sewer system within
woodlawn so in your experience will the water department require some form of a shared easement
homeowners association something to that effect to ensure the cost of long-term maintenance
of the storm water system on these properties yes thank you uh mr chairman i question leslie
on that last point specifically because in the rco letter there seems to be some confusion
that the developer was suggesting an HOA to manage stormwater.
That's not accurate.
We, of course, mentioned it to them since it's something that the water department
will almost definitely require to ensure there's a common organization
that's responsible to maintain insurance to ensure the long-term maintenance
of the system across this large site.
That would also likely be shared with the owner of 449 locust,
adding another layer of long-term preservation.
I would like to leave a few minutes just to have my client answer a few brief
questions, but I will broadly note that a full analysis of the project's full
but i will broadly note that a full analysis of the project's full compliance with section
compliance.
14303 of the zoning code is at exhibit 13 and i will of course expand on any point the board
requires so i'll have kenny come up and adopt my testimony and i have a few additional questions
yeah he's he's unfortunately traveling kenny brown kenny brown
kenny brown has been promoted to pan thank you
how you doing all right sir could you um state your name is spelled for the stenographer yes
it's kenny brown uh k-e-n-n-y-b-r-o-w-n do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth yes kenny could you turn your video on if you have it yes um
is it on no no well i think i recognize your voice but go ahead go ahead thank you
kenny uh can you confirm that you are the authorized member to speak on behalf of kjb
solutions llc yes okay so the community's letter of opposition alluded that they would prefer two
homes on the lot instead of four do you believe that that's a viable option no and why not
Just off the basis of the extensive cost to develop the site, and then also the home
sales and the property values of the neighborhood.
What are you estimating as the cost of construction for each of these homes, accounting for the
proportionate share of the required land development as well?
For the combined, each one would be around $400,000 to $450,000.
with so so looking at exhibit 17 uh can you see my screen here showing exhibit 17 yes did you
prepare this exhibit yes and what does where did you generate this first image from um zillow
what does this show this shows the um the recent home sales in the last 12 months with the criteria
being you know at least three beds at least two bathrooms and over 2 000 square feet within that
east or the east germantown 1.5 1.25 mile radius and are you aware if any of these were new
construction so there's no new construction homes in uh east germantown so generally speaking the
sales of single family homes in the area of comparable size show that the prices would
generally speaking likely not support two fairly expansive homes is that accurate yes the average
home sale was three hundred and fifteen thousand um with the highest one in the last year being
four hundred and fifty eight thousand and turning to the next image can you see the next image here
on the screen yes and what does this what does this show this shows the um houses that are
currently for sale um there's currently 11 again it's the uh the same criteria um well no it's not
the same criteria because i let it be any that were for sale and the highest one is at 4.99
and these were updated homes in the uh descriptions they were said to be like new construction
and the the highest price was 4.99 kenny was your goal in designing a project for this lot to build
large, luxury, exclusive homes that would only cater to a small percentage of buyers?
What was your goal?
My goal was to incorporate the community.
Like I said, I've met with the community many times.
My goal was to be able to bring in the working class home buyer, keep the neighborhood together
and not price anyone out.
Kenny, generally speaking, you've been present for the entire hearing today.
Is that correct?
You heard all of the testimony and evidence that was offered in front of the board?
Would you agree that testimony was true and accurate, and would you adopt it as if you had given it yourself?
Thank you.
We, of course, reserve the right to respond to any community testimony.
So, quick question.
So, you started this originally for duplexes?
Correct.
So, you went from eight to four?
Absolutely correct.
And then you started this with rooftop decks, and you took them all?
Correct.
All right.
questions from the board that's a question i think just more from context i do see
that you tried to blend the two sides of the street but i do think that the driveway and
the common drive there are no other properties on this block that look like they have parking in
the front of the house so that is something that is now unique to this project there are long
driveways for sure there's a couple cars that are parked almost at the sidewalk in the long driveways
For sure. There's a couple of cars that are parked almost at the sidewalk in the long driveways, but for the most part, across both sides of this block, every garage is at the rear of the property.
but for
And so I think the decision to one, move the houses up, they're now going to sit considerably forward in the lot.
Then they're sort of adjoining properties is starting to reinforce its different contexts.
I didn't hear that. I didn't hear that.
Oh, it's reinforcing that there are different contexts than the other ones on that side of the block.
So there are quite a few driveways.
I mean, if you look here.
Yes, driveways, but the cars, they all have garages at the rear.
So it's serving as access to the rear garage.
That's the difference.
Not on 408.
Say that again, Kenny.
408 has their driveway in the front.
right next door or 405 they have a driveway they do not have a garage in the front of the house
oh garage correct so all of the cars are driving down a long driveway and supposedly parking at
the rear of the property now obviously if people have multiple cars if people have friends over
but even if you go down google earth there are only three houses even on earth if you go back
for 10 years that even have a single car that's visible from the street so i think like this
design with the garage in the front and the driveway for the additional cars is going to look
like very visibly different than the others on that block with all due respect uh to board member
when that that is not one of the items on the refusal that this is a condition that is permitted
by code and i think if if the board would like to hear from the architect logan i i think that
originally there was a thought to to design it with uh garages in the back but that does have
a fairly material impact in terms of impervious totally understand that much more seeing all the
details yes with my two architect degrees i totally understand i i i but i also understand
that because this was a five thousand this is a eleven thousand square foot lot and it's being
cut into four almost what under three thousand square foot lots is what rendered the need for
them to be in the front so like the subdivision itself is what is driving that design decision
to have to be like that or so i do think that that to me that is still like a very jarring
difference in the other houses on this block it's also taller than all the other houses on the block
so like it's now both in lot in form in driveway and now in height different than everything else
on the block so I do feel like context has not necessarily been met that's my personal opinion
so questions yeah I don't know the question just comment um I I guess I'm concerned um that we
have a minimum required lot area of 5 000 square feet and we're talking here about yeah it's it's
a hop, skip, and a jump from a 50% difference in terms of the lot area that's being proposed and the same thing with the lot width. And so, again, talking about just context and what have you, I just, I just think that
But these are going to be materially different in terms of size from the other homes in the area, which meet the flat area and with requirements for this zoning district.
And I, you know, if it were, if it was a conversion of a property, it'd be one thing, but this is, you know, it's a vacant lot. It's, I just, I think it's a little, I'm very concerned about that. I can, I could understand a variance for some, you know, some, but almost 50% or, yeah, I think that's a little bit much.
so there's two things that i want to address first just to go back to board member win so it
just again in terms of the height i just want to remind the board that the homes across the street
sit at a higher grade so it so there there's that factor and then in addition to that
as you can see here again the existing structures on this side of the street are already high so i i
I don't believe, and again, I would ask if Logan can come on here to address that, but I don't believe that the height is.
uh logan can come on here to address that but i don't believe that the height is
going to at all be out of character with what is existing i'm not i'm not talking hi i'm talking
um just uh yeah area i'm sorry i was her spot yeah yeah okay she talked about it but just
just in terms of of uh your concern board member so i just again want to point out that although
the lot size itself might deviate that the use of the existing structures on many of these properties
does not comply with the rsd3 mandates so so you almost have to compare those two things
for example this structure immediately next door certainly sits on a compliant lot but from our
understanding is being converted into a recovery house that is certainly not consistent necessarily
with the traditional RSD3 mandates. There are, as I mentioned, there are religious uses,
institutional and multifamily uses, which again also do not comply with the RSD3 standards. So
this block already is subject to unique conditions that while some of the lots are compliant size,
they are not compliant use. Here we're trying to balance those two forces. So these are compliant
uses, dimensionally compliant structures, but sit on lots that are not compliant, at least in terms
of RSD3. Again, they are entirely consistent with the size of the lots and the size of the homes
that sit directly across Woodlawn. So it's really trying to reach that balance given the unique
conditions that this block has other questions uh yes could you clarify something for me uh
regarding the decks so um have the rooftop decks been removed from the previous plan number one
and then two i know some of the residents had issues with the rear decks so have the rear decks
remain the same as well so just update on that the our understanding was that the concern was
predominantly for the roof decks because it was it was actually this neighbor in this home right
here that i'm highlighting that was concerned that the roof decks would essentially be right
at their level so the roof decks have to be removed via proviso the rear decks we don't
believe have any impact on the on this particular day we have some um one of the residents um
stated that you know their children's bedrooms are right there so there was some concern about
the rear decks as well. So just, you know, asking if any modifications with the rear decks have
taken place in the design. Yeah, the discussion during the RCO meeting was really centered on
the roof deck. The roof decks are gone, but the rear decks are still in. Yes, absolutely. The
rear decks wouldn't have, wouldn't be at that same level of the bedroom to have that concern. So it
was, it was really the roof decks that were the major concern. And again, that is something that
the board would need to note via proviso it was not something that we were able to change
after the meeting so if you put the properties on a 5 000 square foot lot
one one that increased the price a great deal significantly so significantly so and and again
we submit that that would that would make these a lot more out of character with the neighborhood
It would make them a lot less affordable.
And, you know, I don't mean to.
Because the question is, when you look at the house prices, could they sell for what it would cost?
Kenny, I mean, if you want to if you want to address that, given the cost to construct, do you think that you could actually sell, you know, to two homes on this lot, given what they would probably be looking to sell for?
Absolutely not.
i um looked into it um like i said the the house is the highest house sold for 600 000 that was
over two miles away um and then after that they were all 1.2 million dollars and above and there's
absolutely no way that that would be a sale in this neighborhood
unfortunately with the use of the property next door that that was what drove some of this design
as well uh obviously that's a little bit out of out of my client's concern but it is we believe a
reasonable concern in terms of um okay you know that just the general context of this area okay
any other questions questions from our attorney um so with the um so i i have to go back into
eclipse because i wasn't able to pull up the original plans and look at them in there just
to understand how many pages would need to be submitted if it was granted um
pages would need to be submitted if it was granted um but the if you're removing the roof
decks that should be on the revised plans and noted on the proviso form um and it wasn't and
it looked like there still might be roof decks on the the plans again apologies we were not able to
make that change prior to submitting that we assume that the board has in the past issued provisos
for no roof decks we assume that was something that could just be added I mean we we could but
Ellen I so Ellen I would make probably make you do revised plans anyway and that would be complicated
if we stamped revised plans so all of that would need to be on a revised plan so okay just just
staying that I don't know if the board is is gonna vote today on on this but um it's yeah the roof
decks are being removed that could be put in the revised plans in the proviso form that that would
that would make things a lot smoother if it's granted thank you
questions or comments from the virtual audience i see two more hands raised here just two yes
All right. Thank you. First hand.
Cheryl Smith has been promoted to panelists. Sure.
Hi, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
hello hi could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
um cheryl smith c-h-e-r-y-l smith smith right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the
whole truth nothing but the truth i do miss smith are you a neighbor i am not a near neighbor i am
the one who wrote the 12th ward rco letter okay please proceed okay um there's several things
that were talked about um in this meeting that i'd like to clarify or speak about um one leslie
um who's here now was never at any of our meetings and um as it was stated this was a kind of a
continuation from a previous meeting with the other property and the developer decided to wait
and come back for the second meeting because as he stated, he met with the community multiple times
and the things he introduced to the community about this property, Woodlawn, were not the two
dwelling, I mean, the two unit properties for basically eight units. And the community was
very, they were very concerned about that because he stated that he wanted to put those properties
there so that the the new owners would have a rental property but the the neighbors felt that
first of all he had been okay um kind of dishonest about it and the other thing was that um it would
be a lot more people than they had spoken about um but miss smith we would agree that we started
with eight we went to four okay and correct and then the property next door that um they're
talking about would be possibly a group home from what i understand from the neighbors from that
meeting and speaking to them after that's not definite yet and that's um another reason why
the developer decided to pivot as he called it and go down to four okay um another thing was again
leslie was not at these meetings so the neighbors never got a chance to talk about the water storm
situation to their satisfaction. We only got the information from, I think, the engineer.
So they were very concerned, especially the neighbor next door. They were very concerned
about the water storm situation, how it's going to continue to affect. They have problems with it now,
even though they said new drains were installed in the street. They said they have signs to say
the street may flood. They were very concerned, and they really wanted some more information
before that's one of the biggest reasons why they opposed it um what else yes it went down to the
roof decks they never spoke about the the back decks the roof decks were the biggest concern
and he did agree to remove those because of concern correct and um how about the hoa what
was the issue with the hoa okay so his suggestion and again not clarified his suggestion was to
to form some type of HOA to manage the stormwater.
form some type of HOA to manage the storm water.
The neighbors felt like that wasn't sufficient enough.
That was people getting together to say,
okay, we're gonna manage our,
they didn't understand, I didn't understand,
it wasn't clarified.
And again, if Leslie would have been there then,
or at either one of those meetings
to explain to the neighbors and myself,
I think things would have gone a lot better
um because they like okay they like the buildings they didn't like four of them but they like the
way they looked they still wanted to keep to you know stay within the zoning as far as the size of
the buildings so um and again um the biggest concern again i'm go back was was the storm water
okay we they um they would be different as far as driveways they but and it was a very very
very involved neighborhood and it's full of families yep full of family so um that's pretty
much my comments have any questions no mr chairman all right uh miss smith thank you very much for
me i think you clarified some issues for us thank you very much thank you next person please
oscar b promote to channel panelists
hi oscar beisert i'm a resident of oscar could you spell your name please for the stenographer
oscar last name beisert b-e-i-s-e-r-t right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole
truth nothing but the truth oscar i do um are you a neighbor i am a resident not not immediately
adjacent like i didn't get a letter but i live in germantown so okay sure please start your
testimony i just wanted to follow on to what two of the uh zoning board members said about um these
houses essentially being out of character and by creating these these you know smaller lots
basically by my mind this woodlawn street especially this side of woodlawn still has the
feeling of large detached houses the same thing with locust avenue which is the next street over
and the same thing with Church Lane, which is the street further on from that.
And, you know, that whole area was basically developed at the same time
as part of, like, a development of suburban-style houses in the mid-19th century.
And these houses really look like you're taking, like, townhouses you'd see, like,
in, like, way out in the suburbs somewhere and, like, plopping them down
in the middle of a street of large old houses and they just look completely out of character and
part of that is these driveways these front loading garages i just the the narrowness of them
yes there are uh twins across the street um but they they are across the street and they also
don't have like front loading garages that kind of make it look like you know a strip of houses
versus a traditional road that you might see in Philadelphia or especially in Germantown.
So, you know, I just really want to comment on that because this is a really special block,
just like Church Lane and Lucas Avenue nearby.
And this is going to kind of look like, you know, the spaceship just landed
and these are going to be completely out of context.
So I just, you know.
I mean, that's your opinion.
I think Mrs. Smith thought she liked the looks of it, right?
she disagreed with a couple other things but she liked the looks of it maybe maybe right
no okay i don't know if she did well i i thought she just testified maybe okay
is there anyone else in the audience i see two more hands here okay
good afternoon hi good afternoon could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
yes my name is deandre carter uh deandre d-e-a-n-d-r-e carter c-a-r-t-e-r right do you
swear or affirm to tell the truth told truth nothing but the truth yes um are you a neighbor
yes okay a near neighbor yes please proceed sir hi um yes like i said my name is deandre carter
um i just wanted to take the time to speak my family's been part of this community for
some generations now um we've seen what's been happening in the neighborhood um we were a little
displeased with the current drug and rehab facility that may possibly be coming into
the neighborhood. We weren't really kept in the loop on anything. This group has really
kept in the loop on anything. This group has really done the complete opposite.
done the complete opposite.
They've given their ideas to us. We've been able to talk to them. As presented earlier,
I know some of the designs were changed to appease some of the neighbors and the people in the area.
I think this would be something positive for the community,
um bring in affordable housing um bring in buyers and not people who are just coming to rent and
don't care about the community so i just think it would be something um good to bring more
families to the area um they showed a lot of respect to the neighborhood um they listened
to what we had to say so i just wanted to take the time to say that thank you thank you for
taking time mr. Carter next hand please Cameron Smith has been promoted to
panelists do we have any more hands after this no chair okay thank you
hello can you hear me I can could you please state your name and spell for the
sonographer. Yes, Karen K-R-E-N Smith S-M-I-T-H. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole
truth and nothing but the truth? Yes. Ms. Smith, are you a neighbor? Yes, two doors away. Sure,
please proceed. I would like to concur with the previous individual who spoke upon the property
would bring not only affordable houses, but in talking to other neighbors upon selling their
property or receiving comps, a lot of times individuals did not want to purchase the property
because there weren't family homes and their children wouldn't have the opportunity for it
to be such as a neighborhood.
We have quite a few individuals that are just individuals and not families.
I say that to say we welcome the change.
Change is inevitable.
And as the previous gentleman said, this group of individuals or young man
has changed several things, multiple things, and it's all been positive.
Lastly, as I stated, when I'm driving through Germantown and Philadelphia in general,
even South Philly, there's monstrosities put up in the neighborhood,
and they have made no allowances for anyone but themselves.
So I think that the properties look really nice, and I'm for it, 100%.
Thank you very much for taking the time to close.
Planning commission.
And my husband also.
Oh, your husband too.
Thank you very much.
I appreciate that very much.
Planning commission.
Amy Boyd with the planning commission.
the comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning at this location from the current rsd3
residential single family the proposed density is out of character with this side of the block
base which is rsd3 the appellant has met the standards for the special exception for the
heritage removal however the appellant has not demonstrated that there are unique physical
conditions or circumstances of the property that would prevent it from being used in conformance
the zoning code for the requested variances the planning commission recommends that the board
grant the requested special exception for heritage tree removal and deny the requested variances for
parking rear yard depth occupied area and lot width all right um mr chairman just just to clarify we
don't have a refusal for parking anymore i just want to make that clear the refusal for parking
was eliminated by the reduction in the density and i can bring up the refusal to make that very clear
So there's no, I think we, I just, I want to make sure that was for two families. So that refusal
is eliminated. Sure. Good. Okay. Look, a lot of testimony over a few days here. What we want to
do is I'm going to go back and sit with the board and figure out where we stand. Okay. And what I'm
looking to do is bring closure to this next Wednesday at 2 PM. Understood. And I will,
before that time uh delivered a hillary an updated set of plans removing the roof deck off of there
and a revised plan proviso otherwise and otherwise the record is closing those updated documents
thank you all right thank you thank you very much we have two more cases left of of the uh uh the
of of the uh uh the two o'clock list i swear to you we're going to take five minutes that's all
two o'clock list. I swear to you.
the next the next case would be um
6122 lancaster why don't you come up get set up and i'm telling you we will be back in five minutes
you go all right um
MI 2025-006-596-6122 Lancaster Avenue. Anna Wills is the attorney. Could you please state your name
and spell for the stenographer? Yeah, it's Anna Wills, A-N-N-A-W-I-L-L-S. Do you swear or affirm
to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth? I do. Could you identify your client,
the relationship to the property? That's JazTech Development Services, Inc. They're the owner of
the property and with me today is jerome shabazz the principal okay and i would tell you that
there's a letter of unanimous support from overbook west neighbors and our vice chair has a few
questions good evening have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of
this hearing yes and do you waive the reading of the referral and stipulate to its accuracy
I do. Okay, thank you can show your screen and proceed with the case.
all right uh so we are here today to uh seek a special exception permit for the community center
use at 6122 Lancaster Avenue a similar special exception permit was issued for two properties
next door that are appealing we're doing this before yep so you might remember Jerome from
the last year yeah you testified that time before am I correct yeah yeah yeah well the
length is driving though yeah this is the culmination of his work all right good good
with jazz tech development yep um so the property is now vacant and it's connected to the adjacent
properties and the intent is to have the community center continue onto this property um and
And essentially, because we're in the CMX 2.5 zoning district, it requires a special exception permit for this use.
I have our notice of referral and our deed.
We have all your paperwork.
We have all our paperwork, including the unanimous letter of support from the RCO.
That's right.
But to be mindful of the board's time, I'll just pull up the call.
We're mindful of your time.
You've been sitting there an awful long time.
It was a fun day.
So we have a caller.
always think of it like that but that's okay it's okay it's okay um we have a color rendering of the
site here and the the the site is meant to work as a community center focused on environmental
care for the community healthy living green living nutrition classes and i will let jerome speak on
the actual project because he knows more and is far more knowledgeable about what he's doing for
community here um so i think i'll just turn it over to jerome for that discussion
okay sure trump thank you very much your name state your name and spell it for the stock jerome
shabazz j-e-r-o-m-e s-h-a-b-a-z-z right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth i do counsel please proceed jerome did you hear my testimony yes
do you agree with it i do would you adopt it as your own i would is there anything you would like
to add about what you're doing on this plan to do on this property i think you might want to explain
what you're doing right there and you know and what's new and what has you know what's going to
be approved um well right now there is a vacant building that will be there will be an addition
for a classroom and a bathroom for the community um there's currently a you show us the drawings
for that yes yeah why don't you do that and then he can explain everything that fits into it later
um so we have our zoning plans here which shows what will be added assuming for you
so there's the vacant building out now this is the vacant building the gray area and there
will be an addition of a classroom and a restroom right okay um and then over here is an existing
greenhouse okay um which i think i remember that yeah it will be included in the plan um
What we're essentially adding is besides the building is greenscape or landscape, hardscape for parking spaces, bike parking, and what is called a, what if I pull, where to go, the color rendering, a nature play for the community.
So it's not necessarily traditional playground, but it's for everyone, both young and old.
for everyone both young and old right uh so jerome would you like to discuss
right uh so jerome would you like
what you intend to do on this property sure uh yes this is a it's a culmination of a great deal
of work um this is a brownfields to greenfields project um we started out uh working on this site
since uh 2019 um we've done all the environmental assessment work we we've got our act two
certifications it is so significant that the the state's brownfields program we're going to be
talking about this project because it's done such a phenomenal job in terms of restoring
community health vibrancy it was a former parking lot had hundreds of cars and it contaminated the
soil and we remediated all of that and now there's a really essential community asset
why don't you tell tell us some of the things you're doing yeah well what we're going to be
doing there is an educational program and we currently do training for phs and their
land care program as well as the tcp program for the city of philadelphia
where they have a natural environment where they can practice their skills and
learn about the infrastructure, natural infrastructural systems built in this site
also has green stormwater infrastructure, so they understand how to work on those
apparatuses as well. But the opportunity to have a control location that has
growing systems, green infrastructure, stormwater management is a great
opportunity for not only the public, but for workforce development to learn about
how those systems work in an urban environment.
okay so you're taking a vacant building you're putting the bathroom on it and a classroom yes
and fix up the vacant building yeah and doing all the the landscape uh uh for the side around it as
well questions from the board I can show you some photos of what it looks like right now it is oh I
snow as you can see vacant that's your vacant building it's vacant yes is there um and as part
of the site plan is there a plan to fence all of the the perimeter of all of the i guess
yeah the entire site again the entire site would be fenced and what what type of fence
are we talking about well currently it has um what do you call the um uh chain link chain link fence
it's late chain link get rid of the metal i i knew that right away there you go that's right
so i mean so would there be plans i guess maybe to green that area or like look i don't know what's
what's what what's the height of the fence now what's that what's the height of the fence now
fences are eight eight foot high so that's the plan is to keep it that way or yeah it's
that yeah um just the reason why i asked is just thinking about if it's like inviting the community
into the space and sometimes those high fences you know want to keep the community out so
is there any other plans um i know there's a lot of greenery already in there but just along the
perimeters to maintain the greenery well the perimeters are adjacent to a driveway as well
as other people's property so um they maintain their property we maintain ours other questions
questions from our uh attorney hillary emerson not at this time mr chair questions or comments
from the virtual audience not at this time to you planning commission amy boyd with the planning
commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning at this location from the current
cmx2 commercial mixed use the appellant has demonstrated that the proposed use will not
caused detrimental impacts beyond what would normally be expected the planning commission
recommends the board grant the requested special exception for community center
thank you mi2025-006-596-6122 lancaster avenue i vote yes
cheryl gaston my vote is yes tinetta graham my vote is yes my mcadams my vote is yes
congratulations keep up the good work thank you very much moving ahead it looks great
All right, so number nine, MI 2025, 006-614-2570 Emerald Street, Bernan Anastasio is the attorney.
There's a letter of support from East Kensington Neighbors Association.
Unanimous.
A non-opposition from Councilman Squillard.
Councilman school afternoon, Mr. chair. Vern, I think I swore you early today. So could you just state your name for the record? Sure. It's Vern Anastasio on behalf of Mr. John Carley and, um, um,
Afternoon.
Palmer places LLC is the same person. Yes. Okay. Our vice chair has a few questions. Thank you.
Good evening. Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
Good evening, yes.
And do you waive the reading of the referral and stipulate to its accuracy?
Okay, thank you. You can share your screen and proceed with the case.
In addition to the letter from the RCO and the letter of non-opposition, support from the RCO, non-opposition from the council member,
I do want to also submit page 40 of my 40-page exhibit of 12 additional immediate neighbors on Emerald, Huntington, you know, Albert, all there.
So I'm putting this in as a support as well.
This is fairly straightforward.
The application is for, one second.
Yeah, my prompt is, I got an error.
There we go.
It's a prepared food shop.
it seems as though it's going in and out do you see the images there or not
they go in and out like they go in and out okay i'll have to reshare excuse me for one moment
that's great we wait we wait for two hours and then this system doesn't work so my apologies for
So as part of the exhibit, it's for a prepared shop with an accessory service window.
Basically, this is going to be a coffee shop, but it's going to be exclusive with service with this little takeout window right here.
And this will be the inside of the shop where the owner will be operating his coffee shop.
The front is an office area that the owner will occupy, and there is a side stair entrance going up to the apartment above.
This is the site plan.
And we'll show you some photos of the interior.
This is the side entrance to the apartment.
This is the rear enclosed area for trash.
So this is a pretty good angle you can see.
Here's the corner portion of the property that will be the front offices.
Here's the side entrance to the living quarters above.
And then the coffee shop will be right here in the rear.
and that'll be the service window.
There'll be exterior lighting and cameras.
There'll be one employee
in a neighborhood that is rapidly growing
and seeing more and more construction.
There is a need for a place to stop and get coffee,
which is why we received overwhelming support
from the community.
across the street is just right now a vacant lot that's owned by the redevelopment, held by the
Redevelopment Authority. It is slated for residential development. These are the proof
of mailing. This is the letter that was sent to all pertinent parties, all the addresses from
the Planning Commission. And again, we've already under separate cover sent the proof of taxes paid,
the deed moving all of that into evidence including the RCO letter and
the councilman's letter as well they'll be commercial trash pickup
letter as well there'll be commercial trash pickup and the hours of operation will uh will end
by 5 or 6 p.m uh so with that i would like to have my client mr john carley uh
raise his virtual hand if he's still with us
john has been promoted to panelists thank you
hello hi sir could you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer
yes jonathan carly a-a-r-l-e-y right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth i do and sir could you turn on your video if possible right now um i could be
missing where that okay well all right fine well verne why don't you want to talk to him thank you
John, did you hear my presentation to the board this evening?
You there, John?
We lost him.
I think we lost him.
He should come right back.
I am here, and I'm here with my wife, Kylie.
There you go.
Look here.
We got the camera working.
All right.
Now we see you.
You said you didn't know how to do that.
Go ahead.
Go ahead, Brian.
Thanks.
I just need Jonathan right now.
john did you hear my presentation to the board i did and is it true and accurate to the best of
your knowledge yes and do you adopt it as your own testimony yes thank you i have nothing further
for now sure questions from the board so what kind of food is this it's coffee coffee and pastry
that's it coffee and pastries and how do you get to this spot all right i'll zoom i'll zoom in
have it like being in the back somehow it seemed like and i
just how would patrons get to the jonathan's wife is going to be able to uh is operating this
i uh so i'm gonna let her explain but uh show so the plan so could you please state your name
and spell for the stenographer hi my name is kylie carly k-y-l-i-e k-a-r-l-e-y i do swear or
affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes could you tell us how this is
going to operate hi carly yeah please explain uh would this be the entrance here so that's the rear
entrance of the building um and you can also access the coffee shop through the front access
through the front door essentially on the corner of emerald street and huntington and that's how
you would enter perhaps us as an employee correct yes there will be no access for customers they
only have access at the service window to place their order correct very good thank you and the
service window is right here where my cursor is so again how how do people get here they
walking from where they they walk they're walking on the sidewalk and they are going to work and on
their way to work they're going to pop over here to the window and they're going to order coffee
okay yeah this board uh approved an identical operation at the northeast corner of 9th and
Catherine called pop's bun shop same concept and it's really what a lot of food service is going to
okay um i have a question uh is do you plan to have like a trash can or trash receptacle
somewhere like near the window yeah there'll be a trash receptacle at least one
i'm sorry okay no go ahead there'll be at least one trash receptacle
put out every morning uh which is per the code as you know and then brought in every night
other questions questions or comments from our attorney not at this time mr questions or
comments from the virtual audience not at this time chair planning commission amy boy with the
planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning at this location
from the current cmx1 commercial mixed use the plan has demonstrated that the proposed
use will not cause natural mental impact beyond what would reasonably be expected the planning
commission recommends that the board grant the requested special exception for prepared food shop
thank you uh mi2025-006-614-2578 emerald street i vote yes with proviso per amended refusal
dated January 16, 2026.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes, with proviso.
Tonetta Graham my vote is yes with proviso Ryan McAdams my vote is yes with proviso
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes, with proviso.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes, with proviso.
thank you thank you Vern thank you and good luck with your project thank you all
you know we only have one case left you know I'll take a while a little later should I just slow
this down that's good number two um so yeah two is the only one we're going to hear number one
a number um what that was this one two we have every oh i'll see all the documents so five
i get nothing to me and then is verne going to come back with that
okay okay all right i'm ready
what's the time is this nice and half this one it's going to get it moving
Good evening, everyone. 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.
Board Member Taya Nguyen.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Board Member Ryan McAdams.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
also here is our attorney hillary emerson our executive director for the zoning board
ian 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 you must state and spell
your name and then wait to be sworn in once you've been sworn in please state your name
each time before beginning your testimony. Any person may enter their appearance. You can identify
the case property address on 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 address and the address of the property of the appeal. Following guidance
is for our remote attendees when directed by the chair you must raise your virtual hand in order to
be recognized to speak if you're called to testify you will be prompted to join as a panelist please
accept the request and turn on your camera third the webinar q a is for questions about the hearing
do not comment on the cases in the q a fourth if you are participating by phone press star nine to
raise your hand and star six to unmute. Let's look at our
schedule.
I don't. I don't know if we have a. Wait a minute. Wait a
minute. Yeah, I got it. I'm good. Yeah. Good. All right. Okay,
here. Let's look at our schedule for today. Number six.
MI-2025-005-803-1030, N. 40 A Street. That case is continued until July 22nd at 3.30
p.m. Number 5, MI-2025-005-738-2408, Nicholas Street. Ron Anastasio is the attorney. I
believe we may have a continuance here.
Good evening, Mr. Chair.
Counsel, you've already been sworn, and we know it's Vern Anastasio.
Could you give us an update on this case?
We're ready to go.
It doesn't appear as though a poster came our way, so we're going to need to do this in a few weeks.
Whenever.
Thank you.
I'm giving it for now.
It's what the list shows.
It's July 22nd at 3.30 p.m.
Understood.
You could call the office and see if they can do anything better with that.
Thank you.
Is there any other requests for continuances?
So, number one, MI 2025 003 966 1330 Greeby Street.
No exhibits.
This is the second listing.
The uptown part, Cawley Jr. is the listed owner applicant.
It's a pro se.
somebody's out there with their hand up all right
daniel loza has been promoted to panelists sure
afternoon um all right could you please state your name and spell for the sonographer
all right could you please state your name and spell for the sonographer
good afternoon my name could you state your name and spell for this my my name is daniel lousa
could you spell that please d-a-n-i-e-l lousa l-o-z and zebra a
all right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yes sir sir this is the second listing we do not have any exhibits from you
i know because we are we were waiting for the report from the surveyor and it didn't came
so we still waiting for that that we had to send to the rco what is that you're waiting for to
say that again so we did a survey a survey on the property i'm sorry uh mr elosa which case
are you here for this is ian haggarty executive director for 43 15 ron street all right 13.
yeah mr loza that's not the case that are that we're on right now we're on greenby street let's
yes let's go to ron street because we have no exhibits for that one either
right so um you're still waiting for the surveyor on the street this here this is
your first listing there's no exhibits yes so we were asking for a continuance okay good all right
so and mr loza are you um the are you an attorney yes i'm the attorney for the for the requester
okay all right thank you so we're going to continue this so that's mi2025-005-736-4315
ron street we're going to continue this case to july 22nd at 3 30 p.m thank you sir for coming
on we appreciate it thank you so much have a wonderful day let's go back to number one
mi 2025 003 966 1330 greeby street up upton per cally jr is the listed owner applicant this is the
second listing
i see no hands chair so this is the second listing we still have no exhibits mi 2025
003 966 1330 greeby street i vote to dismiss cheryl gaston my vote is to dismiss
Danetta Graham, my vote is to dismiss.
Mike Adams, my vote is to dismiss.
I win, my vote is to dismiss.
And number three, MI 2025, 005-734-7333 Elmwood Avenue, this case has been withdrawn.
Number two case, MI 2025, 004-620-1632 West Glenwood Avenue.
So, um, Tracy Scott is the listed owner applicant.
We're bringing it in.
tracy scott has been promoted to panelists she's coming in right now
that's the guy from before he never showed a lawyer that was before
Hi, Ms. Scott, could you please pull the mic near you, right, and make sure it's on, the green light on the bottom, right?
Could you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer?
Tracy Scott, T-R-A-C-E-Y, last name is C-O-T-T.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Okay, so this application is for use as a two-family household living in an existing structure, whereas the proposed use, two-family household living, is prohibited in the RSA 5 zoning district.
zoning district our vice chair has a few questions for you okay yes good evening have you submitted
Our vice chair has a few questions for you, okay?
your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing yes okay and do you waive the
read no the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy yes okay thank you you can share your screen and
proceed with your case everything is okay she helps everybody if you're in thanks
why don't you start telling us what what you're trying to do
i purchased the property in 2025 right as a two family it was two family then yes right okay and
that's right off of glenmont avenue 1632 west glenwood yes okay near 17th and lehigh across
the street from a lot right yes right okay so um i raised my children there so i decided i wanted
to start renting. So I got my renter's license. And when I went, they said it was for a single
family tolling. So they told me I had to go through the process. So here is my deed.
All right. So I see your deed. We have all your paperwork. What you should try to do
is show us the photos and any plans you have for the building. That would be the best way
to do it. All right. I'll go back. This is a deliberate room. Someone is living there
you know that's that's someone's living on what floor is that second second this is second floor
liberal and the first floor is still vacant second floor has stuff in it my stuff you're on the
second floor no i have a tenant on the second floor and you're on the first floor and i'm on
the first right go ahead keep going that's the second that's the second floor bedroom that's
their bathroom right this is the kitchen that's the backyard that's the two meters two gas meters
to um what electric meters yes and my neighbor just had a bursted pipe so he flooded my basement
they're like your basement yes and i would take it the basement's not finished when i say that
right so it's just the first and second floor yes carpenters first floor apartment on the second
Correct.
Right.
And let me ask you this.
Your block, Glenwood Avenue, are there a lot of multiple units there?
Three.
Three units on that block that are multiple units?
And how long do you think this has been a multiple unit?
I'm not sure.
I bought it 20 years ago.
20 years ago?
20 years ago.
I thought you said 2025.
That's what I'm saying.
That's on the D when I purchased it in 2005, it was a 2 family.
Right. Okay. Um, have any other more photos there? Yes. And this is the stairway.
And then we have the front of the home, the posting the 2 doors.
There's 2 doors there. 1 going to the 2nd floor. 1 for the 2nd and 1 for the 1st.
and this is the stairway to come up and down this goes to the first
this is the kitchen on the first floor right in the bedroom on the first floor right
the living room the bathroom first floor we're still on first floor
and this is the office right so you bought the house with two doors on the front yes
all right questions from the board what's your plan for trash uh for the units we have access
to the back to the yard you put trash in all right both units have access to the yard we can
the first the second floor put trash on the front but they do have access to go there we actually
or neighboring i haven't had a tenant in there it's a kind of family that's been in there well
so now the pretended upstairs is family so since you know people normally sit on their porches
sometimes so you may want to think of a different place to put the trash for the second floor other
than the front porch so you said they may have access to their to the yard they can okay they
can all right they can get access and this i mean when they have two trash days monday and thursday
okay so we're talking just talking about trash storage so between monday and thursday if there
is there room for the second floor right the second floor to have their trash like stored in
interior like in a trash closet or something like that we can create one yes i can instead of leaving
it on a porch like okay it's getting nice people want to sit on the porch and enjoy the weather
don't want to smell trash to smell trash i understand i make that accessible for them
yeah other questions um are you opposed to having a certificate of occupancy required
Um, are you opposed to having a certificate of occupancy required since some of the work to subdivide the unit was done without L and I permits?
So when you get your license, you have to get a certificate of occupancy from L and I.
Once you get your approval, so the L and I'll come out and check the house. They do like a, it's like a construction inspection.
Okay. Okay. Yes. All right.
okay all right i guess lastly what did what happened at your rco meeting
uh no one showed up they voted on it with ballots from other neighbors but i never got a response
from regina what you did so no one showed up no okay i had real nice neighbors they like
they love me i love them well we're glad to hear that any other questions questions from our
attorney not at this time i just i just want to know the record no i just want to know for the
record that we do we did receive all the required documents yep um as they were brought in today
but yeah i can't think all right it's great news questions or comments from the virtual audience
i see one hand up chair oh okay
hello hi could you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer
yes adrian fernandez how are you fine how are you could you just state your name and
and spell it for the stenographer please oh yes Adrian last name Fernandez F-E-R-N-A-N-D-E-Z
all right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yes could you please start your testimony um yes um just had um request for three provisos
we didn't receive a notice for this address I think it was really cold when
the meeting was held I know none of us came so we're asking for the trash
upstairs to be stored inside and also to limit a limit of two units because
this picture I'm seeing has three picometers or three meters of some type
on the front on the porch and also we're asking for a certificate of occupancy
as a proviso yeah so everything can be checked as they legalize it and that's
pretty much it thank you for taking the time one thing for you Adrian just so
you know for the future reference you have to have three pico units for two
units because you have to have one common shared area right oh you're
saying so you're saying it's first floor second floor in common area correct
okay thank you thank you adrian thank you um you're welcome yes um planning commission
amy boy with the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends a change in
zoning at this location from the current rsa 5 residential single family to rm1 residential
multifamily the proposed two units would be allowed under the proposed zoning the planning
commission recommends that the board grant the requested variance for two dwelling units
mi2025-004-620-1632 west glenwood avenue i vote yes with proviso second floor trash stored inside
a certificate of occupancy to be obtained. Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes, with provisos.
Teneda Graham, my vote is yes, with provisos. Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes, with provisos.
Iowen, my vote is yes, with provisos. Thank you, you have your thank you. Okay,
is there anyone else in the audience whose case has not been called?
so information you're done you're done you're done you're done
and i'd like to point out to everybody in the audience is mr
shaheed former member of the zoning board yes thank god
Well, we got done early.
How about...