Thank you.
is our audience in
they're still filing in
okay chairman we can go forward good morning everyone my name is bill bergman and i will
be chairing this morning's eba hearings with me is ismail shaheed our board secretary
here mr chairman thomas hallman our board member present mr chairman and james snell
a board member. Present Mr. Chairman. Also Tanya Sunkit, our board administrator, and our attorney
Rebecca Cole are here. Before we begin, here is our virtual format. Be advised the proceedings
will be recorded. By participating, you acknowledge your agreement to be recorded.
A video will be available by contacting Tanya Sunkit at phila.gov. For the benefit of our
court stenographer, we ask attorneys and witnesses to identify themselves before testifying.
If you are participating by phone, if you wish to testify, press star nine to raise your hand
and star six to unmute. To enter an appearance statement, call 267-270-5548. Leave your email
and the address of the property in question. And lastly, the question answer box on your screen
is not for comments or testimony. Any comments should be directed to Tanya Sunkett, our board
administrator. So the first thing we want to do is start with continuances that we have.
And for this morning's meeting, I have MI 2021-00128-1737 Bergen Street for a continuance.
Is there anyone in the audience has an objection or a comment relative to that?
I see no hands, Mr. Chair.
That case is continued.
Are there any other continuances or withdrawals requested by anyone in the audience?
Mr. Chair, I have Ms. Hilary Emerson with her hand raised. I will allow her to speak at this time.
Good morning, Mr. Chair. How are you? Hilary Emerson on behalf of Councilwoman Sherelle Parker.
Great. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
i do proceed um good morning i'm here on uh the last case on the list 6811 oxford avenue
i've been in touch with the rco um they have struggled to connect with the applicant um so
we are requesting a continuum so we can try to continue to uh get the meeting set up in that
case um but if you could check to see if anybody's here that would be um great i do i do see that
there are no exhibits relative to that case so anyone here relative to 68 11 oxford please raise
their hand i see no hands there cases continued i recommend must be heard next hearing thank you
Any other case? Thank you. Any other cases?
Sir, Mr. Darlene has our hand raised. I will now speak at this time.
Good morning, Commissioner.
Hi, could you state your name and spell for the court sonographer, please?
Good morning, Commissioner Dr. D-A-R-L-E-N-E-T, as in Thomas, H-R-E-A-T-T, as in Thomas.
Thank you. Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing about the truth?
Thank you. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Proceed.
Commissioner, I represent the applicants at 1733 Fillmore, MI 2021-003785.
Unfortunately, our civic meeting is for tomorrow evening. Therefore, I'm asking for a continuance.
Was that Fillmore Street again?
I see it.
Okay, number.
Yes, it is.
I also sent in a letter to the commissioner.
That's fine.
Thank you.
Cases continue.
Thank you very much.
Any other cases to be continued?
We have a Yu Wu with their hand up.
Would you please state your name and spell for our court stenographer?
Yes, my name is Yue Wu, Y-U-E-W-U.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
What case do you want to talk about, ma'am?
I represent the applicant of 636 North 11th Street, which is scheduled for this afternoon, 2 p.m.
and we're only we're only we're only hearing this morning's cases right now okay okay i see all right
thank you okay any other cases
chair we have a cam you
please state your name and spell for our court sonographer please yes my name is can you land
And I am the owner of 12 Ellsworth Street with a case.
Okay, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute.
I see where it is.
Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Yes, it's true.
And you have case number three.
Okay, thank you very much.
Case number three.
Thank you.
Tell me, do you want to continue, sir?
Yes, yes.
I want to finish today's approval from you both.
All right.
Say that again, please.
Yes, I want to continue today.
All right.
case is continued must be tried i'm sorry no that's my first time i have no idea it seems that this
applicant wants to move forward with the case today yes yes yes okay all right so your case
will be called okay thank you sorry i don't understanding thank you all right good thank
you thank you any other cases to be continued no more hands at this time chair all right case number
one mi 2021 003824 1018 wood street zenjin rco letter of support councilman squill letter of
non-opposition and he's coming in now as a panelist good morning good morning please state
your name and spell for our court stenographer sir yes my name is zenjin zh yen last name is j-i-n
1617 john f kennedy boulevard suite 1838 feldelf epa 19103 here on behalf of the advocate right do
you swear a firm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do proceed
sir and mr hallman has a few questions for you thank you okay counselor do you agree to the
reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
According to our records,
you have submitted all of the required documents.
Is that correct?
That is correct.
Please proceed.
Thank you.
I'm going to share with the board the exhibits
that we have submitted previously.
Can the board see my exhibit on the screen?
Thank you.
We have submitted a copy of the refusal support letter
from Kellogg Hill Neighborhood Association, petition to support photos, plans, and related
documentation. This application is refused because it is a residential project that is being requested
in an ICMX district. However, we want to point out through the photographs and also through the
neighborhood letter that while this property is ICMX, the area has had some changes where
much of the buildings in the area are, in fact, residential.
The proposal is to demolish what is a former tofu factory,
which is owned by my client's family.
They have grown older and have decided not to continue their business at this point.
And this is essentially to present a future use.
And this is essentially to present a future use for their property and sort of a retirement plan of sorts for the family elders.
So this is going to be a self-managed property.
The proposal will be a new building at this location where you see right now is a single story structure.
However, as you can see, on both sides of this street, of this property, there are new residential construction going on.
And our proposal is also consistent to what is being done in the area.
And that is part of the reason Keller Hill Neighborhood Association had no objections to the proposal because it is very similar in nature to what is already there.
From the standpoint of design, the building is being proposed to be a multi-story structure for a total of 14 residential units.
We are providing bike parking and pursuant to requests from the neighborhood, we're increasing the number of bike parking that is available.
There's no off-street parking.
Unfortunately, this particular street is a small street.
However, I want to point out that there are parking lots nearby of this property.
However, there's no on-street parking that's really available in the front of the property.
That being said, this is not unusual for the area and for the streets.
Most of the buildings in the area that are multi-story, multi-residential, also rely on on-street parking and or off-street parking via other locations.
The building structure itself will have metal panel, which, again, pursuant to feedback from the community, we will try to make sure that the paneling is done in a type that would have advanced metal that would not rust quickly, and because that was a complaint that was brought before us during the community meeting, that some of the other metal panel buildings were having some issues.
In addition, in order to alleviate parking issues, my client actually have made arrangements for a parking agreement with one of the local parking lots for his building so that parking could be made available to the tenants and not have a lot of parking issues being brought onto the street.
The layout of the property is done in such a way that it's, again, it's apartment complex
with various units from the ground floor up to the roof floor. There's five total floors
and the units are divided into 14 total units. I'll zoom in again on each floor so it's a little
for the board to see that the basement has the pico vault, trash room, we have a built-in trash
room to alleviate trash issues, elevator, and a exercise gym room in the back. There's no living
in the basement. All residential living will be above throughout the various units. As you can see,
they're mostly smaller size units fitting to what is common in the area again, and it's easier for
people with lower budgets to have access. While we're not, quote, making affordable housing,
I do want to point out that this project is meant to be relatively affordable to those
who potentially will wish to pursue a rental at this location.
That being said, here is the copy of the parking agreement that my client entered into. At least
out at least eight parking vehicle parking spaces will be made available for a particular
cost. This was entered into prior to coming to the board. And as you can see, this has
been under discussion since last early last year, by my client. So as, as such, I'm sorry
for scrolling, I'm going to go ahead and jump to the Kelley Hill letter.
As such, the neighbors generally are in support. We had a Zoom meeting where 13 people were present and voted, mostly neighboring properties.
We also, at the time before the meeting, went and asked my client to reach out to the neighbors in the area and obtained a written petition in support as well.
Now, I am aware that PCDC has recently filed a letter with their own objections to the project based on the fact that it's ICMX and they're looking for affordable housing.
We understand the need for affordable housing. Again, this is a private property that was a factory that is no longer going to be running.
Again, this is a private property that was a factory that is no longer going to be run because, again, the proprietors have aged out of doing the business.
It's a tough business. The area is also changing, and that is why they proposed this particular residential use.
And as mentioned earlier, we are trying to keep the pricing down, but a 10-year deed restriction enforcing affordability is just not something my client can enter into at this time.
So with that, I will be happy to try to answer any questions from the board or redirect back to any exhibit that we have presented. Thank you.
And would you want to adopt the testimony?
Yes, my client, Mr. Kin Leung, should be present. Mr. Leung, can you raise your hand virtually to be identified?
Mr. Leung, are you there?
Yeah, I see him.
Yes, and they're available.
Thank you.
Could you state your name and spell it for a court reporter, please, sir?
My name is Ken Leung, K-E-N, last name is L-I-A-N-G.
Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed.
Thank you.
Thank you. Mr. Leon, can you verify that you saw my presentation to the Zoning Board and heard my testimony?
Can you verify that they are true and correct and adopted as your own testimony?
Thank you.
Questions from the Board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions from the virtual audience?
the chair i have a ua wu with their hand raised that will allow them to speak at this time
sir could you could you state your name and spell for the court reporter please yes this is your
wu y-u-e-w-u do you swear for him to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
Yes, I do.
Proceed.
I represent Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation, which is another RCO for this case.
And the CNA, Calo Hill Neighborhood Association, was the coordinating RCO for this case.
And we submitted a letter of opposition for this case because we believe affordable housing is a priority for a neighborhood.
There are a lot of low-income immigrant families in the area who need to be able to stay, and they also work in Chinatown, and it's important to keep the residents in the neighborhood.
And in our Chinatown neighborhood plan, which is recognized by the City Planning Commission, both preserving affordable industrial and commercial space and creating affordable units are priorities in the neighborhood plan.
And this neighborhood plan is created with the neighborhood community members with more than a thousand people engaged.
So this vision we want to advocate for, and we understand the owner's intention to convert the property into residential use.
And we understand industrial use has been difficult in the area.
but we do want to request the owner to consider including a full unit in their property and we
are not requesting a very low income house. We communicate to the attorney that we would like to
have like a few units under 80 percent AMI which is very reasonable and that's like some of the
market rent in the area is even at that branch and we, but the owner and applicant did not
agree to that, therefore we oppose the development and we hope the ZBA will take that into consideration
and support the community's need for affordable housing.
Thank you very much for calling.