ZBA Hearing - July 30, 2025

well that's that's good enough council for me thank you and my 2024 006 027 4652 tarsdale i

vote yes with proviso she ought to be obtained michael johns my vote is yes with proviso

cheryl gaston my booty chest with proviso tenetta graham my vote is yes with proviso

tywin my vote is yes with proviso

number six mi 2024 006 028 429 north 53rd street alex goldberg is the attorney

good afternoon good morning sorry um council could you um state your name and spell for

the stenographer alex goldberg a-l-e-x-g-o-l-d-b-e-r-g right 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 my client is nn4ds llc uh which is the owner of the property and

and its representative, Damone Jones, is sitting to my left.

Okay.

Do you waive the reading of the refusal and agree with its accuracy?

I do.

And we do have a letter of opposition from the 44th Ward,

but the RCO has requested an additional meeting

with the applicant community prior to the vote.

That's right.

Could you please start your presentation?

Sure.

I'm going to share my screen.

As I said, Mr. Damone Jones is sitting to my left at the conclusion of the presentation.

I'll ask him to adopt my testimony.

The property address is 429 North 53rd Street, and we are seeking two variances, one for

two-family living in an RSA 5 zoning classification and the other for side yard width.

this block is about 36 34 to 36 percent multifamily all of which are duplexes which

is consistent with what we're asking for and this lot specifically is the last vacant lot

on the block it's also the biggest by square footage and lot width it's the last on the

block to be occupied it's the only vacant lot it's directly across from a mechanic or a junkyard

we're not really sure um and again we're asking for two units we met with the coordinating rco

on july 9th um the majority of the conversation in that meeting was between uh obviously um myself

and mr jones the the head of the group the adjacent neighbor to the right and the block

captain who lives a little bit further down the block um we got the sense and later sort of was

confirmed that the majority of that opposition from those two individuals was uh more interpersonal

than regarding the specifics of the project um obviously you know they took a vote and and issued

a letter of their position of the outcome of that meeting since that first community uh public

meeting damon met with those two individuals and several several other neighbors you know just as

a friendly neighborly meeting um last week my understanding from you know what what i was told

by mr jones was that they're now in support of the project you know some things needed to be

cleared it was positive i relayed that to the 44th ward uh rco leader um you know obviously

he took the position that at the public meeting the position was opposition so obviously that's

what my letter is going to say but if you'd like to have a resumption resumptive hearing so that

we can all we can confirm that understanding we'd like to have you back so um that's what we'd ask

for a brief resumptive hearing we've also put together a cba that we're going to discuss at

that future community meeting um so that's the background info this is the notice of refusal

as i mentioned um one for two family living the other for side yard width the side yard

with refusal is technically self-inflicted um my understanding is we could have built sort of lot

line to lot line attached um if you're not attached you need to have a five foot side yard

we have a three foot four inch side yard we did that because a we wanted to have more windows on

the side and also the property next to us is the only other property on the block that has a side

yard so it allows their windows to have some more natural light by not going that extra three feet

or extra you know distance to the to the lot line and also um we'd agreed to trash

um we'd agreed to trash storage stored in the rear everyone has access back to front so that

storage stored in the rear everyone has access back to

that can be that can be stored in a weatherproof uh area in the rear yard so those are the two

refusals here's that letter from the coordinating rco um you can see in in his letter what was

discussed discussed trash management rent um management of the property he's going to self

manage these these units he also owns the two-family dwelling directly to the left of the

property um and you know at the bottom they they basically state that we'd like to have an

additional meeting and we're agreeable to that we do have eight letters of support from near neighbors

on this block um those are are here for the board's reference here's a map showing the other

multi-family multi-family properties on the block there are nine of them including directly to the

left and sort of scattered throughout the block at uh 401 410 423 428 431 439 455 and 459 north

53rd street those rental licenses are included in the packet for the record as well an aerial view

of the property as i mentioned this is the last vacant lot on the block it's been vacant since at

least 96 about 30 years ago zoning map another map for the board here's some photographs so this

is what the front of the property looks like you can see this property to the right they have a

small side yard as well it's a it's slightly under five feet and you can see the windows on their

party wall not party wall but on their their left wall and their side yard basically ends where the

gate here ends, if you can see that. The rest of the lot is ours. Posting photo.

Here's the plans and drawings, so we're not going any deeper than the property

to the left or the right of us. We have a 10-foot rear yard. Importantly, two-story structure, front

porch, brick. You know, architecturally, you can see in this top corner, we're really trying to

just match architecturally exactly what's characteristic on the block, make it look

like it's always been there attaching our porch sort of triangle to the one to the left of us

see that three foot four inch side yard there as well

here's the floor plans this is slab on grade so no no serious excavation will be need needed here

you know some minor site prep both units are two two bedroom one bath about a thousand square feet

the front porch leads to a common vestibule to the right you have a living dining and kitchen

area at the front of the property a bathroom in the middle and two bedrooms at the rear

and then above you have a similar layout you don't have the staircase going as far back but

you have living living kitchen and dining at the front two bedrooms in the rear excuse me

and washers and dryers in each unit as well it's the rco meeting notice we had a meeting

on july 9th it was emailed out to the relevant parties 151 neighbors were notified mailing

certificates, our application for appeal, deed to the property, and tax clearance.

So with that, I'd ask Mr. Damone Jones to adopt my testimony.

Sir, could you please state your name?

Turn on the mic first and then pull it real close.

You just pull it to you.

Perfect.

Pull it towards you.

Okay.

Could you please state your name and spell for the stenography?

My name is Damone Jones, D-A-M-O-N-E, last name Jones, J-O-N-E-S.

You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?

Yes.

Please proceed, counsel.

Damone, did you hear my testimony today?

Yes.

And was it true and correct?

Yes.

And you adopted as your own?

Yes.

And is there anything else regarding the more recent meeting with the neighbors that you just recently had that you'd like to express to the board?

I know that we'll report back.

Like I said, I was with them yesterday.

day the uh the lady who's you know like really runs the block and she said the first meeting they

had was more about them trying to describe to them building from the ground up which nobody

understood so you know she had a meeting with me and she said if you can you know they have a they

they haven't had uh group meetings for about six months and they started up again so she said the

next one is in about three weeks so I'll be able to go and talk to everybody involved and she said

Because they were both, you know, they were both said they were on board.

But the meeting, you know, when everybody met, they met before and kind of nobody, somebody

took over whoever the guy was and was just explaining to them how to build from the ground

up, which they said they were clueless.

And they asked me questions about the vegetation, where the trash was going to go, questions like that.

And they asked me questions about the vegetation, where the trash was going to go.

Okay.

All right.

Questions from the board.

Where's the trash going to go?

In the back.

I have, like, room on the side and also room in the back for the trash.

So it's accessible for both units.

Yes.

Yeah.

We have that three-foot-four-inch side yard that is accessible to everyone.

But I do want to say that I appreciate the fact that your design is matching the existing neighbor to the left.

Yeah. So often we see folks come in with a completely different design that ignores the fabric of the block and the neighborhood. But the fact that you're being sensitive to the next door property and the neighborhood, I think, speaks volumes for what you're trying to do.

Yes. Other questions?

i have a question about the total width so it looks like the house the new house will be 16

about 16 feet wide plus the three foot sidewalk so the whole width of the lot is closer to 20 20

feet two inches it looked narrow on the floor yeah and then do you know how wide the side yard is on

the other neighbor's side about three about three feet about three feet i measured it on like the

Atlas tool, it's like between

three and four feet. Okay, so it's about the same

size, so there'll be about

six, maybe six, seven feet

total from window to window.

Correct. And then are you planning to put

anything, well, one, are you planning to manage

the property yourself? Yes.

Are you planning to put window treatments on both

floors, given the windows face

each other? Yes. Yes. Okay.

Questions or comments from our attorney?

No, chair.

questions or comments from the virtual audience i see no means at this time chair planning commission

thank you chair sarah bond with the philadelphia city planning commission

the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the rsa 5 residential single family zoning at this

location there is no unique physical condition or circumstance of this property that would prevent

it from being used excuse me in strict conformity with the zoning code planning staff are aware of

several duplexes on this block face however the majority of the homes are single family

the city planning commission recommends that the board deny the proposed used variants for

two dwelling units um yeah so you know um thank you i would just you know ask the board to consider

the fact that a large portion of the block is multi-family and a commercial use is directly

across from the property which might indicate why this specific lot has not been developed for 30

years um and you know obviously we hope to be coming back to you with community support right

right so um council there's obviously two different ways we could do this um we can have

a resumptive hearing or we can close everything's closed other than a letter from the rco and if

need be your response to that is right so correct so i think what we're going to do with this is

everything is closed on this um we'll wait for an rco letter um need be you'll have a chance to

respond but everything else is closed and i'm not going to set a date on this right now and uh

obviously just get back to the staff when you're ready to roll with this okay thank you thank you

very much, sir. Thank you.

Number nine, MI 2024

006066, 1921

West

Nahr Street. Tanetta Graham

is going to handle this case.

Thank you, Chair.

We're looking

for Daniel

Muklowitz.

If you're in the audience,

just raise your hand.

Daniel, last name starting with M, is being promoted to a panelist.

Good morning, board members. My name is Daniel McLevich. I'm here today on behalf of

the owner of the property, Celine Payne. And Mr. Payne is here today to verify my testimony.

Okay. So can you state your name again and spell it for the record?

My name is Daniel, D-A-N-I-E-L, last name McClevage, M-U-K-L-E-W-I-C-Z.

And do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?

I do.

All right.

Can you identify your client and their relationship to the property again?

My client is Selene Payne.

He is the record owner of the property, 1921 West Norris Street.

Okay.

So we're here today for a resumptive hearing.

That's correct.

Yes. And understanding is there was some plans for trash that should be presented today.

Yes.

And the understanding is there was some plans for trash.

So you want to just begin with your update.

So, yes, that's correct.

So at the prior hearing, a member of the community expressed concern over trash storage specifically for the second unit.

So just to back up a bit, the intention is my client applied for a use variance to use a property that's currently zoned as a single family home as two family.

As I mentioned in the prior hearing, this request for a use variance was previously approved in 2016.

However, my client wasn't able to did not complete the did not establish the use prior to the permits expiration.

So accordingly, we're coming back to the to the to the board asking for approval in regards to the trash storage.

So unit two provides, I'm sorry, unit one is a ground floor unit and there is trash storage for the first floor unit directly in the backyard of the property.