Let us know when we're ready, Lakeisha.
Yes, I will.
and you're good to go chair thank you good morning everyone my name is frankie chico i'm
the chair of the zoning board of adjustment i'll be participating in today's hearing along with our
Vice Chair, Ms. Carol Tenere. Board members, Mr. Thomas Holloman and Mr. James Snell.
Board Administrator, Lakeisha Dandy, and our Board Attorney, Ms. Sharon Saletta, are also in
attendance. For those of you who haven't yet participated in one of our virtual hearings,
I'll go through some of the basics of what you can expect. First, we will be administering oaths
to individual participants prior to their testimony. Second, we'd like to advise everyone
that this proceeding is being recorded and that by participating you acknowledge your agreement
to be recorded and that the recording will be made available to the public on the web or
otherwise. Third, for anyone participating by phone, if you wish to testify, you must raise
your hand by hitting star nine and then star six to unmute yourself. Pardon me, I'll repeat.
for anyone participating by phone if you wish to testify you must raise your hand by hitting star
nine and then star six to unmute yourself finally to enter an appearance statement call google
267-270-5548 and leave your email address and the address of the property at issue
I'll repeat that as well. To enter an appearance statement, call Google 267-270-5548 and leave
your email address and the address of the property at issue. And I'd like to remind everyone,
please do not attempt to testify in the chat. All questions and concerns should be directed
to our board administrator, Ms. Lakeissa Dandy. With that, I will read off a list of the add-ons
before we get into our regular 930 list. MI 2021-001233, 1800-02 Benton Avenue,
MI 2021-001234
1808-10
Benton Avenue
MI 2021-001235
1812-14
Benton Avenue
My vote is no on all three
My vote is no on all three
My vote is no on all three
that's all that we seem to have from the board pardon me um you three are the three that i see
on from the board yeah i don't see jim again all right but it was unanimous vote so we'll when jim
catches up we'll we'll work with him then uh number two on the add-on list mi 2021 that's
zero zero one one zero four four nine one seven north 13th street my vote is no
my vote is no my vote is no
carol the items three and four i was not here for but let me do number five
first we'll go to
Mr. Chair
we won't be doing three and four
because we need three of the people
who were here to be voting
and confessor was one of those
Jim was not here
was was jim here for that um i believe i'm sorry i have that three members were present
was Jim here for that
and confessor was one of them so oh okay regardless regardless okay so three and four
will not be here called on number five mi 2021-001-577-3519 hamilton street has been
withdrawn uh i will now read off a list i'm sorry excuse me chair i'm sorry to interrupt um i have
not officially received um the email from the applicant confirming that that has been withdrawn
i apologize if we could announce that later in the session oh i'm sorry paul boney is available
if you wanted to lack of weight mr bonnie please identify yourselves by your name i'll swear you
Good morning. My name is Paul Bonney. My office address is 325 Chestnut Street, Suite 1109, 19106, and I represent the Appellant, Appellant Village Civic Association.
We're a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth.
Yes, I do.
Please proceed.
um we uh did uh email a letter um last night uh indicating that we finalized the settlement and
that we are withdrawing the case so i think a withdrawal is you can mark it withdrawn and
we thank you for that thank you all right i'll repeat that again mi 2021 that's zero zero one
577-3519 Hamilton Street has been withdrawn. We'll go to the regular list. Item number two,
MI 2021-002-025. 1314 North Broad Street, request for continuance by the applicant's attorney.
number six mi 2021-001-316-3451 wellington street continuance request by the applicant's attorney
and i believe those are the only two well i'm sorry number 10
MI 2021-001-325-5734-38 Old 2nd Street, a request for continuance by the applicant's attorney.
If anyone disagrees with the three continuances I read into the record, please raise your hand.
Only if you disagree with the request for those continuances.
here i have a jason greenspoon
good morning sir please identify yourself with a record spell your full name and i'll swear you in
good good morning my name is jason greenspawn i'm an attorney for the city of philadelphia
i just wanted to enter my appearance you spell your last name please spell your last name
sure i'm sorry it's green g-r-e-e-n-s-p-o-n greenspan do you swear for him to tell the
truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do please proceed thank you again my name is
jason greenspan i'm an attorney for the city of philadelphia i'm here just entering my appearance
on on the last matter that you just read into the record relating to uh 5734 old second street
i have no objection to the continuance request but i just want to enter my appearance because
the city will be opposing and protesting any um variance request thank you so noted all right
that case is continuing anyone disagree with any of the other cases that have been requested to be
continue. Chair, we have an additional request for continuance from Andrew Goodman of Councilwoman
Gauthier's office. It's number 11 on your list. We have no exhibits. It is the second listing.
Mr. Goodman says our office requested continuance because no RCO meeting has taken
in place, I'm happy to contact the individual to walk them through the responsibility.
So second listing.
It is.
I'm going to make a motion to dismiss MI 20, thank you Sharon, MI 2020-003087, 800
South 60th Street, 60th Street.
my vote is to dismiss um chair excuse me could we first check to see if anyone is here representing
My vote is to dismiss.
Chair, excuse me, could we first check to see if anyone is here representing
the applicant all right is there anyone here representing the applicant for 800 south 60th
street if you're representing the applicant no hands at this time chair so my motion to dismiss
still stands thank you uh my vote is to dismiss my vote is to dismiss dismiss thank you now i'll
ask is anyone uh would anyone request is anyone going to request a continuance or withdrawal at
this time please raise your hand if you're requesting a continuance or withdrawal for the
9 30 list please raise your hand no hands at this time chair okay having said that we can go to our
first case MI 2021-001-277-1133 Leopard Street. Mr. Notkinson is the attorney of record and
there's the RCO letter in support from Fishtown Neighbors. Mr. Notkinson, can you hear me?
And as a panelist now. Okay. Mr. Notkinson, can you please put your name and address on the
record and spell your last name oh yes uh good morning mr chair uh members of the board my name
is alan knockamson a-l-a-n last name knockamson n-o-c-h-u-m-s-o-n one two three south broad
street suite 1600 philadelphia pa 19109 do you swear a firm to tell the whole truth and nothing
but the truth i do do you agree to waive 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 or
referral photos and or plans of the property five days in advance of this meeting and have you met
with the rco and do you have a letter yes in all respects uh with with exception of a tax
clearance we're still working through that issue so we're asking that we present this matter
especially since communities in support of it for the board to hold it under advisement and then
AND GIVE US THE OPPORTUNITY TO GET THE TAX CLARANCE AND THEN THE BOARD CAN TAKE A VOTE.
THANK YOU.
YOU MAY PROCEED.
ALL RIGHT.
THANK YOU.
MAY I SHARE MY SCREEN?
ALL RIGHT.
ALL RIGHT.
SO WE'RE HERE FOR 1133 LEOPARD STREET.
YOU'LL SEE THIS IS A NEWLY CONSTRUCTED FOUR STORY STRUCTURE, SINGLE FAMILY IN NATURE PROPOSED.
You'll see my basic packet of materials.
There's a deed to the property showing that my client owns it.
Second one is the certificate of tax clearance or where it should be.
We're still working on it.
We do apologize for the delay in that.
Third exhibit will be our notice of refusal.
Fourth exhibit, our application for appeal.
Fifth exhibit will be our maps of the neighborhood from a zoning perspective
and a general Google Maps perspective.
six are photographs of the property as well as the surrounding area including similarly situated
properties. Exhibit seven will be our plans and drawings and exhibit eight most importantly is
our letter of support from the Fishtown Neighbors Association as well as a letter of support from
the next door neighbor at 1131 Leopard Street. All right so our deeds of property
shows that JJ Management Group LLC owns the property at 1133 Leopard.
card. Next, again, we are working on getting the tax clearance certificate. Third is our
notice of refusal. This is an RSA 5 property, and all we're trying to do is put a single
family structure here. We have essentially two refusals. We have three, but two of them
are related. We're just trying to put a front-loading garage on this property where parking is not
allowed on our side of the street, where similarly situated properties on that block, actually
on both sides of the block also have off-street parking. The neighborhood was not in opposition
to that and simply because there's no parking allowed on that side of the street so we're
taking a car off the street for all intents and purposes with that garage. The second refusal is
a dimensional refusal where we're required to have a seven-foot setback in the rear and we're only
proposing 4.6. That's really a misnomer. Our lot is irregularly shaped. At the greatest
point, we still do not meet the dimensional requirement of 7 feet, but we're almost there,
it's about 6.5 feet. If this was a regular shaped lot that was square in the back, we
would meet that. So really, this is an undue hardship argument. Application for appeal along
with our notice of refusal and our project information form is exhibit four exhibit five
again is a map of the area again as you can see here it's a regular shape in the rear we are on
It's a regular shape in the rear.
We are on Leopard.
Leopard,
We have Durston in the rear of our property.
We're right between Girard and West Widely.
And then just a map of the area from a Google Maps perspective.
And then photographs of the property.
So right now it's a vacant lot.
Let me just make this a little bit smaller so it can fit on one screen.
or a vacant lot in between single-family structures.
Here are properties to the right of the property on Leopard,
the view of our property to the left of the property on Leopard,
and then just, again, nearby front-loading garages,
1125 and 1127 Leopard, 1123 and 21 Leopard,
1117 Leopard, 1108 and 1110 Leopard, which is across the street,
1107 Leopard, 1120 and 22 Leopard, and then are just our plans and drawings. Again
we want to it's a little bit industrial look in nature this area so we kind of wanted to have our
building facade kind of have that feel with the you know the big bright windows but keeping
obviously single-family you know property in nature. And then as you can see this is where
the refusal on the rear is, essentially four and a half feet here. It's a regular shape.
It goes almost to six and a half feet here. But if we were just straight across, which
is typical, we would not have that variance. And then the second and third variance deal
with off-street parking. And we're proposing to have one parking spot within that structure.
then in terms of the floor plans you know the first floor you can you know there's the garage
uh in the rear there is like you know a basement area just for a powder room
you know and then just an open air area for storage you go up a flight of steps
it is an open concept with the living room and the kitchen go up a flight of steps two bedrooms
a bath, a laundry facility, and then the fourth floor is the master bedroom, plus a roof deck
on the roof. Most importantly, letter of support. You know, Fishtown Neighbors has a two-step
process. We first meet with their executive board, and then we meet with the community,
both the executive board and the community-voiced support for this project.
and then just a letter of support that was signed by Besmir Kripa the owner of 1131 Leopold Street
he's in support of this project as well and then just proof of our mailing of our community notice
and with that being said um I would like to have um Jose Fiera like adopt my testimony
jose can you virtually jose can you virtually raise your hand
good morning mr fierro please identify yourself spell your fill spell your full name please
and i'll swear you in i'm sorry he hasn't raised his hand
all right mr notkinson you being the officer of the court would stipulate your client would
have adopted your testimony any questions from the board no
chair this is sharon i checked the tax compliance status and there are more than eleven thousand
dollars owed in back taxes uh for 20 and 2020 and 2021 the status is listed as in collections
and that's why we're trying to reach to the law firm that's handling that in order to rectify it
that's what's taking us a little bit longer if we were had to deal directly with the city we've
been able to do it by now so just communication issue we're going to need to do a resumption
hearing strip or do we just need a letter sharon sharon i'm sorry i was muted um just just a letter
or some proof of uh tax compliance or an agreement reached with the city we don't we won't need a
resumption no we will not we'll just hold the vote on this until we have the tax clearance
certification and the record otherwise closed all right mi 2021 that's zero zero one two seven seven
one one three three leopard street the record is closed um excuse me chair i don't believe we've
heard from the planning commission or anyone inattentive right i apologize anyone else
would like to testify in this case please raise your hand sorry about that no hands at this time
chair planning commission good morning david fecto f e c t e a u with the city planning commission