So I'm on my iPad and I don't believe I can share my screen with my exhibits.
At this moment, my computer may be feeling better in a couple minutes.
So if there is a way that the board could put my exhibits up and share that, then that could work.
Otherwise, if I could be called, if we could call another case person, then I should be able to share my screen.
I'm not sure which one you would prefer.
That'll be the chair's call for Tanya.
Excuse me, sir. I did find some instructions on how to share your iPad screen. Are you running iOS 11 or higher on your iPad?
Are you running iOS 11 or higher on your iPad?
I am. Yeah, I just I just got onto my iPad and I haven't located my file that I can share.
That's the issue.
I missed that earlier. I'm sorry. What was what was going on?
Oh, my computer decided today was a good day to malfunction while I was waiting for our case to be called.
so it's in the process of of um getting rebooted with diagnostics and i can't i can't share my
screen you need you need a few minutes we can go to the next case and come back i do yeah you could
skip that's what he suggested okay thank you i'm sorry i got distracted i didn't hear that comment
oh okay all right thank you okay calendar number 2679 2630 north 11th street the attorney is henry
Clinton.
Mr. Clinton has been promoted to panel, sir.
Hi, Mr. Clinton. Can you put your name and address on the record, please, and spell your last name?
Sure. Henry Clinton, C-L-I-N-T-O-N, Queen Memorial Building, 1313 South 33rd Street, Philadelphia,
UPA 19146. Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth? I do.
Do you also agree to wave the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy? I do.
Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership, tax compliance, refusal, referral,
photos, and or plans of the property five days in advance of this hearing? And have you met with
the RCO? And do you have a letter? Yes to everything except the RCO letter. I wasn't
able to send until two days ago but the entire package is in in the hands okay you may proceed
can i share my screen sure you may
is that large enough to see sure is all right good morning mr chairman members of the board
henry clinton for the applicant 2630 north 11th street llc the principal is rafi r-a-f-i balk
B-A-L-K, and he's on the call with me. This is my exhibit presentation, table of contents,
including AA through A11. Appearance statement, the refusal. Refusal concerns the square footage
of the lot and the square footage of the property. So this is a zoned RM1, which permits multifamily,
And this is in the overlay district. We are requesting three dwelling units. And we're just about over 100 square feet short of that. But as you'll see, as I work through the presentation, there are numerous other triplexes on the property. And the community group understands that and has supported us unanimously.
This is a letter of support from the 37th Ward RCO that we did present, and the only
issue that was raised was we were asked would we include under-the-counter trash compactors
to the second and third floor, and we certainly agreed with that.
And here's a summary sheet indicating there was 11 in support and no opposition.
These are photographs of the block, the 2600 block.
All these properties to the left are triplexes and I will show you with a screenshot that
takes in the front elevations of each of those. Our house is right here. There's a vacant lot
to the south as well as to the north. This is the view looking north. These are the five
triplexes that exist already on the 2600 block and our property is a vacant lot long vacant lot
from what i understand here at 2630. here's the elevations about a combination of brick
and hardy board cement siding on the front the basement is a family room on the first floor
there would be one bedroom the second floor is unit number two that will have two bedrooms
the kitchen and one bath third floor is a replication of the second floor again two bedrooms
kitchen a bath and living area with access to the roof so the third unit has access to the roof
the first floor has access to the yard and the second floor does have interior trash on all
units actually the interior closet for trash but the community group did ask that we put an under
counter trash compactor to help alleviate the accumulation of trash. The rest of the exhibits
to help alleviate the accumulation of trash.
The rest of the exhibits,
I don't know if they're large enough to see,
are the pro forma documents,
the deed, the tax certification,
our appeal,
as well as a zoning map
indicating that that entire area is RM1.
I can blow that up if...
So this whole row on the 26-under block is RM1.
RM1. This is our notice letter indicating we gave everyone heads up about the meeting.
And this is a history of the property as per the zoning records. This used to be a three-family
dwelling back in the day, 1967, many moons ago. So we're kind of restoring it to what it was then.
And then I just wanted to include for the board the use zoning permits for the other properties
on the street that I pointed out in the photograph are actually triplexes and they are legitimate
triplexes. This is 2618. 2620 is a three family dwelling. 2622 is also a three family dwelling.
So with that I conclude my presentation and ask if the board has any questions of me or my client
who is on the call. Thank you. Mr. Clinton, do you want your client to adopt your testimony?
Sure, I would like that. Mr. Balk, can Mr. Balk be unmuted?
Mr. Balk, can you unmute yourself and raise your hand?
yes hi could you hear me yes hi uh please identify yourself for the record first and
last name spell your last name yeah roslon bulk b-a-l-k
we're in the firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yes thank you mr clinton thank you mr chairman mr bulk you've heard my testimony today before
the board? Yes. If you had the opportunity to testify, would you adopt my testimony as your
own and would you find it true and correct? Yes. Thank you, Mr. Ball. Mr. Chairman, I have nothing
further. Thank you. Any questions from the board? No. No. No. Thank you. Anyone else like to testify
in this case? If so, please raise your hand.
I see no other hand at this time, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Planning Commission.
Good morning, David Fecto, City Planning Commission.
Mr. Chairman, members of the board,
the comprehensive plan recommends this property
for residential multifamily use.
There is documented history of three units
for this property.
The applicant could build two units by right.
We don't believe the additional unit
would have a negative impact on the block.
Accordingly, we request the board approve
this requested variance. Thank you. MI 2020-002679. 2630 North 11th Street. My vote is yes with the
proviso. Under counter trash compactors to be installed in second and third floor units.
My vote is yes with proviso. Yes with proviso. Yes with proviso. Yes with proviso.
So, is Steve Masters available?
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the board.
Have a great day.
Thank you, you too.
Excuse me, Chair, this is Sharon Saleta.
Before you call the next case, I sent a text message.
Thank you.
I got it.
I'll read it in.
Is Steve ready?
I am ready now.
Okay, just give us a second, Steve.
All right.
case number mi 2020-002561 100-102 ashdale street uh if anyone's waiting to hear the
vote on this case it will be announced at the beginning start of the two o'clock session
all right thank you all right carol that's okay um i'll just start from the beginning name and
addressed for the record? Steve Masters, the law firm of Just Laws, 621 West Mount Airy Avenue in
Philadelphia, on behalf of the applicant. Do you swear a firm to tell the whole truth and nothing
but the truth? I do. Do you also agree to wait the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its
accuracy? I do. And have you emailed the exhibit packet with the required documents, proof of
proof of ownership tax compliance refusal referral voters and plans of the property five days in
ownership, tax compliance, refusal, referral, voters, and plans of the
advance of this hearing and have you met with the rco and do you have a letter yes to all of
your questions thank you you may proceed thank you and my computer apparently lets me proceed
as well so that's uh that's great news yeah um all right i am now sharing my screen are you seeing
that? Yes. Okay, great. This is a single-family home project on 2710 Latona Street. It's a
very small lot, and the only refusals we have are dimensional refusals, primarily because
we're required to have a nine-foot rear yard depth, but we only can have seven feet, as we
will explain in a moment. And the size of the rear yard and the size of the open area is below what
the code requires because it's such a small lot. These are very close near neighbors who
um signed a petition in support uh there weren't that many but mr um merlino my client will
explain uh his difficulty in just finding folks uh home when he was going around there
uh plans
And this is the lot here.
The fenced-in area is actually two lots.
Our lot is the one to the right.
To the left is a long-time garden that will remain because we are only building on this
lot here.
This is our site drawing.
Our zoning is RM1 and we are proposing just a single family.
Here is the backyard that has the two feet of variance that we are seeking.
Some elevations.
And we do have our architect, Magnum Alanis, on the Zoom also for the board to inquire.
this is our rear elevation there's going to be a um a spiral staircase um to access
the roof for a roof deck here you see the roof deck area the spiral staircase in the rear
the setbacks are with uh as required by the code
the floor plan
The basement will be part of the living area, and for that reason, we are required to have an egress from the basement, and we were not able to put the egress at the front, whoops, at the front of the property.
And as a consequence, we put the egress at the rear yard, and that's why we needed to push out the extra two feet and weren't able to accommodate the nine-foot rear yard setback.
First floor is the kitchen, living area, dining room.
second floor we have two bedrooms
whoops
and sorry about that
sometimes when I blow it up too much
then I can't maneuver it around
I think we get the general picture.
You can summarize.
That would be helpful.
At the RCO meeting, there was just a few community folks who appeared at the RCO meeting.
At the RCO meeting, there was just a few.
There were a number of concerns that were expressed.
And as a result, we created a list of five provisos to address all of those concerns.
And I'm going to get to those.
There we go.
There was a concern that we maintain the single family house. So that's proviso number one, a concern that we'd not have any Airbnb short term rentals. That's number two. There was a concern for the property 2712 that we include that property owner on the general contractor's insurance in case there was any possible damage from the construction.
we agreed to that uh there was also a concern to restore the next door garden to its original
condition and we agreed to that and then for the generators um to power the the um construction
we agreed to put those in the rear yard on the advice of our council apparently none of those
are enforceable that would be more or less i guess a community benefits agreement yes that's that's
That's fine. Mr. Mr. Molino is is quite willing to enter into that with with any of the of the neighbors in the RCO.
These are all of the other pro forma documents as part of our exhibit packet and the RCO letter was supplied to us late last night.
do you have it in your record or do you want me to uh to access it and put it in the record now
tanya and or sharon
i'm sorry sharon it was called away for a minute what was the question do you have a copy of the
a letter from the rco steve said it was mailed out last night if not he'll send it now thank you
i'll just send it in any way steve just send it and we'll that way or the rco took a position
of non-support um there were eight people voting at the rco meeting four voted no two voted
um yes and two voted abstaining um and as uh just to conclude in this case we're talking about an
extremely small dimensional variants for a single family home of the rear yard and the concerns that
were raised by all of the members at the rco meeting were addressed in those five provisos
so we the rco letter doesn't really discuss at all the reasons why some people were opposed versus
some people were in favor. And our sense was that there was some conversation about a desire not to
have their taxes raised by having new construction in the neighborhood. And that's something that
is way beyond the scope of a zoning permit. And in our case, we did not hear anyone at the RCO
meeting express any concerns about the rear yard setback being seven feet versus nine feet all
right good enough do you have your client with you yes um mr merlino can you raise your uh raise
your hand so you can get get um sworn in mr merlino has been allowed to speak sir good morning
mr merlino please identify yourself for the record spell your last name
Anthony Merlino, M-E-R-L-I-N-O.
Do you swear and affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
Mr. Merlino, you've heard my testimony this morning.
Do you accept it as true and adopt it as your own?
We also have our architect who we can...
I think we're okay on that.
I'll check with the board.
Let me ask the board.
all right did the board have any questions no okay no no no questions do anyone else
like to testify in this case if so please raise your hand mr chair france pierre has his hand raised
mr pierre good morning please identify yourself and i'll swear you in
Good morning, Mr. Chairman and fellow board members.
mr chairman and fellow board members this france pierre f-r-a-n-t-z last name p-i-e-r-r-e
This is Franz Pierre, F-R-A-N-T-Z.
from council member johnson's office you're swearing the firm to tell the truth the whole
truth nothing but the truth i do thank you please proceed appreciate it uh due to the letter of