was reconsideration appropriate mr chairman and members of the board based on a purported
contention that no one knew about the case uh in the months preceding or not and i think that the
record is quite clear uh that there was appropriate communication thank you questions from the board
yes mr chairman could council give us what's a vote for yes means and a vote for no means
on this case tom we're going to hold the vote okay thank you mr chairman we're going to hold
the vote for executive session okay thank you any other questions from the board
hillary should we open this to the virtual audience
no mr chair um this is a reconsideration um hearing that it was limited to one planning
yes we do want we do want planning because it is it is okay um consideration hearings they get
they do give um their opinion mr chair could i could i just make one final comment you can
okay thank you um council mentioned that um it's not fair to the property owner
i would just ask the board to balance that against what's fair to the community to the
other business owners to the um area at large and uh this is something that fortunately um
There is no lease. There's never been a lessor. It's something that's going so far outside.
I don't have one retail in forget 300,000 or whatever it was square feet or that that this is.
I have stadiums of of industrial ground in the industrial parks all around the far northeast, starting at Grand Avenue and going up thousands of jobs.
There is not one retail fast food operation in any of those.
And there's a complete lack of hardship.
But the fairness issue really struck me because this is fortunately something that wasn't built.
We don't have somebody operating.
They're just looking to make more money.
And I think the fairness has to be weighed on both sides.
Thank you.
I understand.
objection to that statement i i understand counsel uh planning commission
good morning chair bergman members of the board ian hegarty representing the philadelphia city
planning commission last name spelled h-e-g-a-r-t-y you swear a firm to tell the truth
the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do thank you and thank you chair good morning board
members um with regards to the merits of this case the comprehensive plan recommends no change
to the existing i2 zoning at this location zoning variances for retail and consumer oriented uses
in industrial zoning have a negative cumulative impact on the viability of the city's industrial
centers variances like this although they may appear insignificant have substantially eroded
available industrial land throughout the city this proposed variance directly conflicts with
both the comprehensive plan and the city's industrial retention policy we recommend that
board deny the variance thank you so mi2022-004-396-2901 grant avenue we will hold for
review an executive session and vote on 11 30 22 at 9 30 a.m thank you council thank you
Mr. Chairman, may I have the opportunity to just briefly question Mr. Haggerty?
Sure. Go ahead, Mr. Haggerty.
uh good good morning mr haggerty just just a a question on um the uh planning commission's
Good morning, Mr. Haggerty.
apparent uh change in uh opinion are you aware that the revised proviso plans that had been
approved to the board incorporated all of the planning commission's suggestions regarding the
proposed use yes and uh is it a fair statement that uh the applicant worked uh with the planning
commission regarding that presentation that provides presentation that had been previously
submitted it is thank you very much nothing further thank you thank you chairman board members
uh councilman o'neill and staff all right thank you so this will be held for review in executive
session and voted on 11 30 22 at 9 30 a.m thank you mr chair this is hillary i just i want to
interject because um i forgot to to reference this earlier and mr labor reminded me thank you
um the record from the prior hearing and in december is incorporated um into this hearing
i just wanted to state that clearly for the record thank you mr labor and the brief following please
Thank you.
Thank you.
We're going to go to case number one, MI 2022, 003-518-1340 Alter Street.
Vern Anastasio is the attorney.
Letter of non-opposition from Paschal Square Civic Association.
Mr. Anastasio is coming back in as a panelist now, Chair.
Good morning, Mr. Chair.
Morning, counsel.
Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
Vern, V-E-R-N, last name A-N-A-S-T-A-S-I-O, Anastasio.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Mr. Chair, before we start on this case, I had my hand raised for 780 South 2nd Street,
which was continued until December 14th.
Yeah, I did it.
that would be the fourth listing and i i was just i raised my hand earlier asking that the case
be marked must be tried since it was the fourth listing um i will mark that must be tried thank
you thank you i just wanted to clarify this is hillary i just wanted to clarify the for
the record um we actually we have that as the third listing not the fourth listing for this case
um but we can we can mark it must be tried thank you seems like four bern could you identify your
client and relationship to this property yes uh i represent satchco llc sassine abdujada is the
um primary of satchco okay our vice chair has a few questions thank you
hi mr anastasia do you agree to wait the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy
i do have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership tax compliance a copy of the
refusal or 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 all of that okay great you may
proceed and begin with sharing your screen and i just want to mention one other thing council
Council member Mark Swill has non-opposition to this case.
Thank you.
If he is in the virtual audience, could you please promote architect Ian Toner?
Do we see him?
Yes, he's coming back in as a panelist chair.
Thank you.
Good morning.
Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
good morning is the architect there
yes he's um coming in as a panelist i'm not sure why it's taken sure thank you
hi everybody hi could you state i'm finally in yes well that's good could you state your name
and spell for the court reporter sure ian toner of toner architects i-a-n-t-o-n-e-r right do you
swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes proceed counsel thank
you mr chairman this is a 1340-42 altar street it's for the complete demolition of an existing
a two-story row home, and for the construction of an attached structure with a roof deck, roof access.
And for the construction of an attached structure with a roof deck, roof access, multifamily household living for three dwelling units.
This is the property in question. This is what would be demolished.
And as this green line indicates, it'll take 340 and 342. It's basically a double lot.
This is pictures of the rear.
and this is interior photos of the existing row home there's a street view looking east
street view looking west
as you can see there are taller buildings here a three-story building here
now these are proof of posting
and we also have the deed and what should pass for a tax clearance in this case
and with that I'm going to pull up the plans
basement is utilities we have a den and a bedroom with a access well
the first floor is a large living room dining room kitchen open sort of layout another bath
and a bedroom second floor we have again large open space living room dining room kitchen
for one of the units the rear is the second because of the center stair
You would access the third unit.
The property itself does not exceed height requirements.
And if Mr. Toner would like to weigh in on the design itself, I will leave that up to him.
sure uh i mean the the upper i think if you move up on the page there verne you can see the third
floor plan also i think you missed that as you were summarizing but i think you're right um these
are all three units are two bedrooms all three units have outdoor space uh the reason we're
doing the bi-level units on the upper floors is so that each of those units can have access to
the roof. The ground floor unit has a private portion of the rear yard that is fenced off from
the public portion of the rear yard. The public portion of the rear yard to the right is where
all the trash cans will be, so they'll be back off the street but outdoors so that they're not
in the building. We have an access way at the ground level from the sidewalk to that portion
of the rear yard for both egress and for bringing the trash through so that there's no issues with
bringing trash through the building or any reason why any of the tenants wouldn't want to use the
trash area and i think by all other measures aside from it being three units we're meeting
all the dimensional requirements of the code so the only thing we're on a double wide lot
So instead of having two single-family homes, we have one triplex proposed.
And I think Vern, you have the rendering there if they want to see that on the next slide.
And that's the exterior rendering. It will eliminate a vacant, neglected lot and rehab
a completely dilapidated shell of a single-family home and be a real upgrade to the block.
and the RCO agreed.
We have the community straw poll
and the committee vote
voted six to zero
in non-opposition.
Here's proof of mailing
to 75 individual households
of the flyer that went out.
Here's a copy of the flyer.
And the system was down,
but we were able to, in fact,
get a screenshot that we did pass for the tax clearance.
And with that, I'm going to ask my client to raise his virtual hand.
Sir, please unmute yourself and excuse me.
Hi, could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
My name is Sassine, I'll try to see how it can work.
Sorry, do you have two devices on?
Sorry, do you have two devices on?
Yes, I do.
Yes, I do.
Yes, you have to mute one because we're getting feedback.
Okay, can you hear me?
It's still giving feedback.
Maybe you need to move away from the other device.
can you hear me now yes could you state your name please and spell for the court reporter
that's spelled s-a-s-e-e-n last name is a-b-u-j-a-w-d-e-h right do you swear a firm to tell
truth the whole truth is nothing but the truth i do proceed counsel thank you mr chair sissy did
you hear my presentation to the board this morning yes i did and was it true and accurate to the best
of your knowledge yes and would you will you adopt it as your own testimony yes thank you
mr chair um i have nothing further other than in a wrap uh because this use is uh consistent with
other multifamilies on the block because we are taking an abandoned vacant shell and also
a blighted lot combining them both to provide three excellent housing products I respectfully
request so council the the other large properties that you showed on the block were they multifamily
there are multi yes the real tall ones are multifamily right okay thank you questions
from the board no mr chairman no mr chairman no mr chairman questions or comments from the virtual
audience i see you know he is chair planning commission thank you chair bergman ian hegarty
for the philadelphia city planning commission board members the comprehensive plan recommends
no change to the existing rsa 5 single family zoning on this block the single family zoning
has been in place on this block face since at least 1988 we don't feel the applicant's hardship
claim has been supported with evidence of unique physical circumstances or conditions of this
property and so the city planning commission recommends that the board deny the variance
thank you so mi2022-003-518-1340 altar street i vote yes carol tennery my vote is yes thomas
holloman my vote is yes james snell my vote is yes ishmael ishmael shaheed my vote is yes
thank you thank you thank you council
so mi2022 number two mi2022 003 461 3161 richmond
katerista belasca is the owner pro se this is the first listing we've been notified of a possible
withdrawal i see no hands at this time chair
hillary i'm going to continue this until we hear from the the uh the owner okay
Yes, Mr. Chair, thank you.
So MI-2022-003-461-3161 Richmond Street, this case is continued, and Mark must be tried.
Number three, MI-2022-003-481-1638 South 18th Street, Henry Clinton is the attorney.
At this point, we're still waiting on an RCO letter.
we also have a petition signed by approximately 19 neighbors in non-opposition
morning mr chairman members of the board
could you state your name please
right um do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i do could you identify your client in relationship to the property
Sure. My client is Xing Shang Hang. That's S-H-I-S-H-E-N-G-H-A-N-G. And Mr. Hang is on the call with me.
Okay. Our vice chair has a few questions.
Good morning, Mr. Clinton. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed the exhibit packet with required documents consisting of proof of ownership tax compliance,
a copy of the refusal or referral photos under 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 all the above except
Yes, to all of the above, except the letter from the RCO. I don't know that it's in the package yet. I just was on the phone with the president of the Point Breeze Community Development Coalition, and he said the letter will be forthcoming.
the letter from the RCO I don't know that it's in the package yet
So, but we do have there's non-opposition and or support.
Okay, great. You may proceed and begin with sharing your screen.