Broadcasting and recording.
Gotcha. Thank you again.
Good morning, everyone. My name is Frank DiCicco.
I'm the chair of the Zoning Board of Adjustment.
We have a quorum. I'm officially calling this session to order.
In attendance, also in attendance, is our vice chair, Ms. Carol Tenere,
Mr. James Snell, our board member,
Mr. Thomas Holloman, our board member,
and our board secretary, Mr. Confessor Plaza.
As you know, today is actually the third day
we'll be holding virtual hearings.
While we may have, and also, excuse me, Sharon Saleta, our city solicitor, is in attendance as well.
While we may have to make some adjustments along the way, our plan is to call each case and basically proceed as we would have in a live hearing.
We ask that attorneys for applicants or other interested parties identify themselves for the record when the case you'll be participating in is call.
We will then hear the applicant's presentation, followed by any presentation by attorneys
representing other parties. Interested parties and members of the public not represented by
counsel will then be given an opportunity to testify. We will finally hear the recommendation
of the Planning Commission. At the hearing's conclusion, the board will either vote the
matter immediately or hold it for discussion in executive session. Any case held for discussion
will be voted on the record at the scheduled July 28th morning session.
A couple of changes related to the virtual format.
First, we will be administering oaths to individual participants prior to their testimony
rather than to the room as a whole since we do not have a room.
Second, for the benefit of participating, excuse me, for the benefit of anyone participating by
phone, we ask that the attorneys and witnesses identify themselves prior to speaking or
testifying. Third, we'd like to advise everyone that this proceeding is being recorded and that
by participating, you acknowledge your agreement to be recorded. Also, if there is anyone at any
time who's considering or asking for a continuance, please raise your hand. That way we'll know that
you're asking for a continuance. I think I covered it all. Sharon and Tanya, did I leave anything
else? Yes. If we could inform all the callers that if you wish to testify, you would have to
press star nine on your phone in order for your hand to raise and us to notice that you
are ready to testify and you will be called according to the last three digits of your
phone number. And then anyone who is on the phone and wishes to put an appearance statement
there's a google voice phone number that you can call and do that it's 267-270-5548
and chair at the time we do have one hand up and it's rachel pritzker
i'm going to allow her to talk and unmute her morning rachel good morning chairman
Good morning, Tanya.
How are you?
Rachel, please identify yourself with a record.
Spell your name for the stenographer.
Rachel, R-A-C-H-A-E-L, Pritzker, P-R-I-T-Z-K-E-R, Pritzker Law Group, 1635 Market, Suite 1600, Philadelphia PA, 19103.
I'm here on 2839 West Glenwood, and we'd like to request a continuance in order to have some more time to work with the community
before we present our project in front of the board.
I should have asked you this first,
but do you swear or affirm to tell the truth,
the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
And again, that address again?
2839 West Glenwood.
Karen, I don't see that on our list.
Am I missing it?
it's number yeah it's number three eight one six four calendar number three eight one six four
i'm not certain if that was on the list that i was working from but in any case it can be
continued okay um rachel give me that address again please 2839 west glenwood avenue
calendar number 38164
calendar number three eight one six four
okay calendar number 38164
2839 west glenwood avenue is being continued
will we know the date or tanya will reach out to you i believe tanya
that is correct it will be scheduled and please look to
the ZBA calendar for the new date. Thank you. Thank you. Any other requests for
continuances? Okay I have a list that we was I have a list that was submitted to
me for continuances. Calendar number 37240 1001 North 46th Street. Calendar
number 37156, 1609 South 8th Street. Calendar number 38256, 2050 Welsh Road. Calendar number
38253, 1455 North 29th Street. Calendar number 38262, 7447 Torresdale Avenue. Calendar number
Park Avenue
and calendar number
2954 South Carlisle
Street. All those
seven cases will be continued
and they will be notified of the
date for their hearings.
Did I leave anything out, Tanya
and or Sharon?
No, I think that's it.
with that
the own
Carol you can call
the case the only case
we have is in the South 9th Street this morning
calendar number
1328 South 9th Street
the attorney is Stephanie Boggs
Ms. Boggs, are you there?
I don't see her.
Yes, good morning.
She's here.
Stephanie has been promoted to panelists.
Good morning.
Good morning, Ms. Boggs.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Will you identify yourself, spell your name for the stenographer?
Stephanie Boggs, Claire Harrison, 1835 Market Street, here on behalf of the applicant, Eli
Claire.
Carl Primavera from my office.
Ms. Boggs, do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, I do.
Thank you.
Carl Primavera from my office will be testifying on this matter.
He is participating by phone.
can i get the last three digits of his number two six five two
yeah i don't see him stephanie so once he gets on if he can do star nine
and then we can uh allow him to speak
Did you receive anything from him?
mr chairman members of the board carl primavera p-r-i-m-a-v-e-r-a claire harrison i hope you can
hear me we can good carl do you swear for him to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but
the truth i do and again please identify yourself and spell your name for the stenographer please
Carl Primavera, P-R-I-M-A-V-E-R-A, and I'm the attorney for the applicant
and co-counsel with Stephanie Boggs. So if I have a glitch, she can take over from me since
technology is not my strong point. So I'll be very brief.
so I'll be I'll be very brief uh there was mention to the uh refusal
following the original hearing uh we did submit a revised plan uh that was the plan that was
submitted uh and acted upon by the board previously when they approved the variance
with that revised plan uh there was a letter I sent January 2nd
2020 along with a copy and a separate letter to the passion square community association
so they did in fact receive my letter and the revised plan the board received correspondence
from passion square indicating opposition to the revised plan consistent with their opposition to
the original plan and the board granted uh i guess a rehearing which i understood to be for the
purpose of making sure that their opposition to the revised plan was
included in the record. So with that I don't intend to present any additional
affirmative testimony relying upon my presentation previously to the Zoning
Board and relying upon my letter of January 2nd 2020 to the board with a
copy of the revised plan and of course the decision of the board dated January
8th, favorably approving the revised plan, which was dated January 8th, 2020, the proviso was. So I do
have the owner and the architect available for questions of the board, and I'm available for
obviously questions, but given what I believe is the limited purpose of this hearing today,
and the record that we have in front of us, I don't plan to do anything further
in this presentation, but I'll reserve the right for a reply or rebuttal, if appropriate.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
Stephanie?
you may wish to make any comments no i have nothing further to add
okay i think miss tavani well tanya i'll leave it up to you i think miss tavani
is on yes i am good morning suzanne uh please identify yourself with the records by your name
for the stenographer suzanne s-u-z-a-n-n-e tavani t-a-v-a-n-i chair of the passion of the
Zoning Committee for the Passion Square Civic Association, 939 Federal Street, Philadelphia,
19147.
Ms. Devon, do you swear and affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but
the truth?
Okay, please.
Hello?
Are you there?
Please proceed.
Mr. Chairman, I just want you to know I'm having some computer issues this morning,
so if you lose me, I will get back on, okay?
You only live two blocks from me, just knock on my door, and you can use my computer, all right?
Thank you. Thank you. This is very frustrating. We've been at this with this particular property owner since last May.
The zoning hearing was in, the committee hearing was last August.
we met with you and the zba on october 16th at which point you personally said you never would
have um changed the zoning for the original property in front and then you and every other
committee of the zoning uh the zba in addition to the planning commission said that there was
too much density at the site and you instructed us to go back and work with the property owner
We met with them, with Mr. Clare and Mr. Primavera in Mr. Primavera's office on November the 4th.
At that time, we sat down and Mr. Primavera said to Mr. Clare, so Eli, what do you have?
And Eli once again said, well, I want to sell you on the merits of the property for the umpteenth time.
And for the umpteenth time, we said, no, you've got to go back.
So Mr. Primavera, to his credit, said, okay, Eli, how about if we change the zoning of the original property back to single?
And I said, we would welcome that, but that does not mean you could build seven or eight in the back.
The subsequent conversation with Mr. Primavera, I said, that one in the front, four in the back, that's our offer.
And we heard nothing until right after, I guess it was Christmas week, when we received his plan, which was still egregious, if anything, totally ignoring every one of our recommendations, your recommendation, the Planning Commission's recommendations.
And then I will never forget the fact that we didn't know that there was a hearing on.
And then I will never forget the fact that we didn't know that there was a hearing on or a consideration by the committee ZBA on January the 8th.
And our letter of opposition did not get you until January the 9th.
So here we are again. There is nothing new to this. I mean, we might as well be back at last July, August.
There's just nothing new. Mr. Clare has repeatedly shown that he is really not willing to really listen to the density concerns of the community. So we remain in opposition. And I know some of the property owners, nearby property owners, are also on the line, too. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Hello?
Oh, one minute.
Sorry.
That's okay. Thank you.
Stephanie, Carl, anyone?
Yes, this is Carl.
Just briefly, the letter I submitted of January 2nd details the revisions to the original plan based upon input from the zoning board.
I think the chair will remember he wanted an enclosed trash area.
We discussed that at the hearing.
We went back and we enclosed the trash area.
The neighbors, I specifically recall, said that 9th Street was appropriate for single family.
So we removed one unit from the project and the unit we removed turned the 9th Street property into a single family dwelling.
The remainder of the units are designed to provide the density for this oversized site and activity on Percy Street, which we testified at the hearing was a nuisance block with drug addicts, crime.
so we believe that we did reduce the density we incorporated comments from
the board and the neighbors and in good faith the revised plan was submitted and
approved and we don't think that we were resistant to comments we just are
limited given the realities presented at the hearing which I'm not going to
represent it's in the record and given the information in our land planners
report which was submitted in the record and our architect and the owner and others and we would
ask that the board uh reaffirm its prior decision which we believe was based upon the relevant facts
which have not changed uh since we submitted the revised plan
in the revised plan the six units what are the size of the units there's seven units
though the revised plan has calls for six units if i'm correct well there's seven
excuse me if carol if you're thinking of ninth street is not ninth street would go single family
talk about the units in the back the proposal six apartments i'd like to have the architect
or uh eli address that uh so i don't there's the plan is in the record but