any person may enter an appearance as an interested party you can and there are three ways you can
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leave a message that includes your email address and the address of the property of the appeal case
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let's look at our schedule for this afternoon
number two mi 2024 002 704 225 west seymour that case has been continued
until 2-11-26 at 3.30 p.m.
And number three, MI 2024-002-714-227 West Seymour Street.
That case is also being continued to 2-11-26.
We're going to go to our first case, MI 2024-002-432-739 Tyson.
Darlene Treat is the attorney.
there's a letter of opposition opposition from the coordinating artist rco take back your
neighborhood we'll be coming back into the panel shortly mr chair thank you very much
good morning commissioners darling feet on behalf of the applicant
hi could you spell your name please for their d-r-l-e-n-e last name three t as in thomas h-r-e-a-t-t
right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
yes i do could you identify your client and the relationship to this property my client is on the
owner uh augustine del orb right um do you um waive the reading of the refusal and agree
with its accuracy yes why don't you start your presentation thank you
can you see my screen I think you have to open it up a little bit pulled over
Darlene.
Darlene, you got to open it up. It's, it's too small.
That's more. Yeah. Um, just give me a second.
Miss three. Can you expand that window? I think that's the issue. It's not the document. It's
the window, the square box in the upper right. There you go. Thank you. Thank you, Hillary.
Good afternoon, Commissioners. I'm here representing the owners of 739 Tyson Street. I've submitted a packet of information which concerns the permit application, the refusal, the appeal, the property information sheet, the Philadelphia general property information, the deed, tax information, plans, pictures, community letter, proof of mailing.
I also added the letter of non-support and email, which I'll address at another time.
Commissioners, my clients actually received a violation for building a deck without a permit.
They contacted me to file an application to legalize the deck and enclosing the garage.
I actually did file the application, although there's a glitch somehow with L&I.
They keep mixing my name up with another client of mine, Joseph Mulvey Hills.
I've tried to correct it a couple times, but still keeps coming out the same.
So this is the actual refusal, and you'll see on the refusal, we weren't really actually refused for the deck.
we weren't really actually refused for the deck there's no language for the deck refusal we're
There's no language for the deck refusal.
really refused for enclosing the garage area commissioner i filed the appeal and i'm just
going to refer to one thing in the appeal here basically the applicants wanted to enjoy their
property more uh so they built a they did hire a contractor who incorrectly told them they didn't
need a permit they built the deck and they enclosed the garage and basically they were just seeking to
enhance the use and enjoyment of their property uh commissioners i'm just going to go down to
the property information here and i just want to show you a couple things about the property
which might give you a pause as to why they thought they needed more space.
I'm just going to enlarge that a little bit more.
So here's the property information sheet.
You can see this is a fairly large property, but the livable area is only 1404,
and it's only really a two-story property.
Also, you'll see that it was a partially finished basement.
Basically, the owners wanted to have the use of the deck and they wanted to close the garage area so they can use it for additional household living.
This is the deed to the property.
Okay, what happened there?
Thank you.
uh commissioners it seems as though uh there are a couple blank pages i don't know
if my bandwidth isn't good but i do see that there we did could see some photos of the place
i'll show you some photos but i had some plans that i wanted to show you of the property they
look like they blacked out here i'll go to the photos
so this is the front of the property you'll see is a two-story uh walk up
uh it has a long uh walkway to get up to the front of the property that's a picture of the
posting that's another picture of the front of the property and this is the rear of the property
My clients built a deck here, and they enclosed the garage.
You can see by the neighbor's garage area how the garage stood, and they have a door on the side.
This door was existing already, and basically they enclosed the garage area and built a deck.
The refusal is for taking away the accessory parking.
My clients did advise me that they do not park under this deck here, that they do park on this street.
So I don't want to propose that we still have a parking on the lot because they don't use it.
This is across the street.
All the houses pretty much look the same.
That's a long view of the block.
This is another picture of how the deck looks.
and then i just took some other pictures of neighbors on their block who also have built
decks on the back of the property and some of them have also enclosed the garage area
for additional living space it's another deck another deck another deck another deck
here's the letter that we noticed for the meeting we did meet with the community organization on
september 5th probably five people from the community came and i believe four or three of
them were for the actually the actual committee i did send out 101 notices and i did get a
certificate of mailing that i provided to the organization
um the last scheduled hearing was supposed to be
on uh february the 13th and i received an email from miss emerson i believe on
13th, and I received an email from Ms. Emerson, I believe, on the 12th, indicating that the
the 12th
councilperson had written requesting a continuance and that there was a lot of non-support from
the community organization, which I was not aware of. I didn't have any objection to continuing
the hearing to meet with the community again. Commissioners, I wrote the community. I tried
to meet with them uh several times um after the hearing um to no avail i will show you the
correspondence that i sent them this is just an updated uh tax um clearance
but uh this is the correspondence that i wrote mr rudensky after that hearing that i've reached
out to their organization several times since our meeting in september i did talk to miss
Barnacky, she would call me back, but I could never get Mr. Rudinsky. I said it was my
understanding, and this was from reading the letter that I wasn't provided with, that he had concerns.
I'm just going to reshare.
It looked like it kicked me off.
are we trying to get back in darlene yeah i'm trying to get back in
you're back on the screen yep very good thank you um i uh sent him a letter and indicated that um
i would agree to uh to provide those to address his concerns and one was that we would get a
building permit after the zoning is approved and that would address his safety concerns
concerning the construction of the deck, and then he had a concern that the basement might be used
for a rental. Commissioners, my client can speak to this. They don't plan to rent the basement out.
If they wanted to have a second apartment, I certainly would have applied for a duplex. That's
not their intention. Basically, it was a partial basement with a bathroom and a room, a family room.
They wanted more use for the household, and they just enclosed the garage. They put a kitchen
area down there they did and they use it they watch tv they entertain down there and they don't
have to run up and downstairs to the kitchen they have a place there where they can warm up food and
they have a refrigerator down there also and basically that's my presentation and i'm here
to answer any questions and i can put my client on the line to take questions also why don't you
bring your client on. I'm sorry, Commission, I couldn't hear you. Bring your client on, please.
Mr. Dell Orbe, can you raise your hand, please?
Okay, he should be coming back in as a pandemic shortly, Council.
Hi, could you please state your name?
Good afternoon, Ms. Adele Orbe
Can you state your name for the record, please?
Wilmer Delorbe
W-I-L-M-E-R-T
D-E-L-O-R-B-E
Ms. Adele Orbe, have you heard the testimony
as presented to the
Darlene, wait one minute, okay
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth
the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir. Alright, please proceed, counsel
Ms. Adele
Well, Orb, have you heard the testimony as I presented it to the board today?
Yes, ma'am.
And Mr. Orb, if I were to get you to testify, could you testify that the testimony I gave today was true and correct?
Yes, ma'am.
And would you adopt that testimony?
Yes, ma'am.
That's all I have.
If there are any questions of the board.
Questions from the board.
You have photos of the inside?
Unfortunately, I don't have the photos of the inside, and I noticed that today when I've submitted my presentation, but I'd be more than happy to provide the board within the next two days of inside photos.
I couldn't open them on my machine today.
I couldn't open them on my machine today.
And also, how many, how.
And also, how many houses around that property have enclosed their garages?
Well, I've only seen, saw three enclosed garages, but I saw about six decks in the rear.
How many properties have both?
And counting out was three.
Okay. And is there an interior layout at all of what was done with the enclosed garage?
Actually, my plans were just the exterior deck and rendering and a site plan and a rendering of the house.
I did not have a layout of the first floor of the property.
If you require that, I'd be happy to provide it also.
i think we're not the basement because you're because the the issue is that enclosing the
garage right so yes it is right so the basement is being used as family room so but so we'd like
to see some photos and a layout of you know have they have they kept the garage and just put a
doorway into the garage no no no the uh the garage was uh taken out and it is used as families as
family space there there's no parking there no no no so so the two walls that that comprise the
garage the two interior walls that comprise the garage they were taken out and it's all one big
space downstairs or is that still a separate space but on the inside it's a separate space
on the inside okay but i will provide you with the layout it's required yeah and were the two
doors existing, or did they add another door in the rear? Only one door was existing. There was
added another door in the rear. And the intent was not to try to go for multifamily? No, it's not.
Additional door was added. Commissioners, I would have applied for a multifamily. I believe this is
a RSA 3. It's a pretty big lot. I don't think applying for a duplex would have been any more
difficult than applying for the enclosure. And I can have my family test, excuse me, my client
testify to the use. And again, we are willing to have a proviso, no apartment use, no basement
rental, because that's not our intention. Was the bathroom added to the interior addition?
No, the bathroom was pre-existing. There was a bathroom in the garage?
No, the bathroom's not in the garage.
The bathroom is in the front of the property when you would come down the stairs from the kitchen.
Okay, and the deck is also existing?
The deck is currently existing.
Okay, so when the deck was built, what is the foundation for the deck?
it's just a uh wood um found i mean it's not a it's a cement foundation and with wood posters
okay and so it was and it will because it was since it was done without permit so i'm saying
like they they didn't pull poor footings they didn't dig and pour new footings no and commissioners
One of the patrons who came to the meeting happened to be an L&I inspector, and he was concerned with the construction of the deck, which is why I offered as a proviso to apply for the building permit so we could come out and have the deck inspected.
Darlene, did you put a gas range? Is there a gas range in the basement?
I believe it's electric, but there is a range in the basement.
Is there a whole kitchenette or just a...
It's a kitchenette.
Kitchenette.
Do you happen to know why your client undertook so much construction without seeking approvals?
According to my client, and he can testify to this, he did hire a contractor.
We did look into going after the contractor.
They don't exist anymore.
And he was advised that he didn't need a permit.
I think we need to see pictures and we need to see the layout if we could so that we can better
make a decision about this. Questions from our attorney? I just want to know there's some
documents related to the property and this email thread that weren't included with the packet the
last packet that was submitted to the board so I mean if we're gonna accept
updated exhibits or additional information anyway I would like to
request a resubmission of the packet that was presented to the board today
because it has additional documents. I will resubmit. Questions or comments from the
I will resubmit.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Thank you.
No hands, Mr. Chair.
Planning Commission.
Madison Matera, Planning Commission staff.