petition to sign nor was I shown a petition with the neighbors that signed
nor was I shown a petition with the neighbor.
an agreement at that meeting okay thank you is there anyone else who wishes to
testify in this matter please raise your hand so we have a Derek Hicks Mr. Hicks
you cannot be heard because you have an old version of zoom so you can't go
forward um and then we have jonathan jonathan you can now unmute yourself and wait to be sworn in
yep uh jonathan would you please spell your first and last name for the stenographer
my name is jonathan j-o-n-a-t-h-a-n plotkin p-l-o-t-k-i-n your address my address is 1700
south 23rd street philadelphia 19145 thank you please proceed first note i this was um i i did
not hear cliff get sworn in uh so i proposed that his testimony be stricken from the record
i thought i did swear him in my apologies my mistake i will get him back on the record and
swear him in okay uh the second thing that i'd like to bring up is i did circulate a petition
that i submitted on saturday night to the zoning board i did not receive any email confirmation
you received it but it was a petition in which i spoke to the neighbors on morris street and 24th
street who are most affected by the property and uh here say mr chairman uh excuse me i have the
i have the floor now yeah but but but the but the attorney is making a motion and i sustain his
his motion um jonathan you can unmute yourself you will be muted if you don't allow the chair
and the attorney to do their jobs okay you can continue to speak the petition that i circulated
was letting folks know about the exact nature of the property that is the the exact nature of the
development i feel that mr lasky has been uh potentially untruthful in letting people know
that he must develop either commercial or residential and has not informed people of
the exact nature of the residential property that he wishes to develop and i have a petition
with 32 names indicating support of it is hearsay uh you have to speak for yourself sir
fine from my own personal experience walking around the community and talking with dozens
of neighbors there is significant objections here say again sir that's great fine then i will just
move to the second part of my prepared statement um i would like to speak as the committee person
for the community in which this development is proposed our community is tight-knit with strong
bonds to go back decades many of my neighbors are old enough to have been to be my grandparents and
have lived here since well before i was born they have seen the rise and fall of point breeze over
the years and now that we are once again rising they continually feel as if they are being left
out of the process again sorry again i i apologize but you you you're told hearsay let me ask you a
question yeah did you did you attend the rco meeting i did attend the rco meeting and i voted
in opposition not because the community does not want not because the community does not want
residential but because the community does not wish to see such large overgrown residential
and it's hearsay um i apologize but you keep going back to what you have to speak on behalf
of yourself. What I personally would not like to see is a large building such that is being
proposed with three stories that overshadows all neighbors within the property. How long have you
lived at your current address? I've lived at this address for three years but I do not see how that
is relevant to an issue. You don't know what my next question is going to be so how could you say
it's irrelevant what is your next question sir all right uh here we can move on yeah i'm moving
on okay uh anyone else i have cynthia williams ford him you can unmute yourself and wait to
be sworn in. I'm on the phone. Yes. Hello. Hello. Can you hear me? Yes. Please identify yourself
with the record name and address. Yes. Jerome Fordham, 2342 Morris Street. Okay. I'm right
next door to George Dozier okay I'm on Morris Street he's on 24th Street okay
sir relax for a second and get sworn in he's wearing a friend to tell the truth
You're swearing for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
the whole truth and nothing but the truth nothing but the truth
Nothing but the truth.
Thank you.
And thank you, Tanya.
Please proceed.
I oppose this building next door.
The structure is too high.
My family lived here for 50 years.
And I opposed it.
I opposed it when they first sent a petition right.
I opposed it.
My wife opposed it.
and the people on 24th street and you can't say they all oppose it but i speak for myself i oppose
it i spoke but i spoke to george and i spoke to a man named cliff that i don't i don't want this
proposal bill i want to stay commercial it's commercial i want to stay that way with the
business there that's what he is saying that is not true we argue with him and i argue with him
before this happened that i don't appreciate that because they don't have community at heart that
is what that's what i'm saying i don't appreciate that it's just unfair we're being rough shot and
rough ride over and that's ungodly and unfair to the community and it's a long-time residence
all right thank you anyone else to testify in this matter please raise your hand
No, Chair, we can go forward.
All right.
Planning Commission.
Good morning, David Fecto, City Planning Commission.
Mr. Chairman and members of the board, this property is indicated for commercial and residential mixed use on the city's comprehensive plan.
This property is on a block of mostly two-story single-family homes.
However, considering that this proposal is on a corner lot and has the support of near neighbors, we have no objection to granting these variances.
Thank you very much. Mr. Mattione, you're completed, correct?
I am. I am finished, Mr. Chairman.
Is there anything in the file from the Councilman's Office?
There is nothing in the file. I did reach out to them and they did not respond.
Thank you.
With that, I would like to suggest that we hold this for one week, pending any recommendation from the Councilman's Office.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
So MI-2020-000273-1701 South 24th Street being held for executive session a week from today at 9.30 a.m., pending a letter from the councilman's office.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Calendar number MI-2020-000271-1814 Titan Street.
is there anyone here on titan street if so please raise your hand
i have no one
all right um mi-2020-000271 1814 titan street is continued
calendar number mi 2020-000808 3147 clifford street
anyone here for clifford raise your hand
and that's advice chair and chair
okay mi-2020-000808 3147 clifford street is continued
calendar number mi-2020-000282 4625 wayne avenue
if i could chair the vice chair put on the record we did get a request in from solo
for continuous because they haven't heard from the applicant
and if anyone here for that address please raise your hand
4625 wayne avenue yes anyone here anyone must testify no hands no all right so uh mi-2020-000282
Wayne Avenue is continued
Calendar number MI 2020-000281, 5419 Stewart Street.
Calendar
Number MI 2020
Dash 00
Anyone here for Stewart Street?
Raise your hand.
No hands up.
okay mi-2020-000281 5419 stewart street is continued
calendar number mi2020-000251 5732 catherine street
if you're here for catherine street please raise your hand
vice chair and chair no hands up at this time
am i thank you is someone did i hear someone say something no no i just said okay okay
MI-2020-000251-5732 Catherine Street is continued.
Calendar number MI-2020-000266729 Rittner Street.
The attorney listed is N. Jin.
Ms. Abbey, may I have your assistance with promoting Zin Jin?
Thank you.
Then promote to a panelist.
Good morning.
Good morning.
Mr. Jin, name and address for the record, please.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Do you also agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership, tax compliance, refusal,
referral, photos, plans of this property five days in advance of the hearing, and have you met with
the RCO, and do you have a letter? Yes, to all the- Thank you. Sorry for the interruption. You may
proceed. Thank you. Good morning. I am here on behalf of Mr. Hung Liu, H-A-N-G-L-I-U, the owner of
the property, for an application at this location. I am going to share the screen with the board of
the exhibits. We have submitted according to the rules five days ahead the following exhibits
notice of hearing refusal, community letter from Lower Moor & Wingsing Civic Association,
a petition to support some letters from neighbors in support, a tax clearance deed,
application copy, the PIF form, photos and plans. I want to address the community letter first
as it is voted in opposition.
We met with Lower Moines and Civic Association.
It was a lightly attended Zoom meeting.
As you can see, there were three board members available
who opposed the application.
There were no neighbors actually at the meeting.
The board opposed it primarily because they feel
that this is a property that could be used
as a single family dwelling.
I disagree with that position on a few primary points. First of all, this property,
going to the photos, this is a property that was previously zoned as a store for many years.
The historical records of the zoning shows that it was a store for since at least 1980s.
It was left vacant for many years before my client purchased it in 2017.
However, there was not a lot of commercial activity at this particular location.
In fact, the way this building is structured, it has two existing entrances, and the second
floor is actually accessed by this door on the side with its own stairway, and the unit
that used to be a grocery store was accessed from the front.
the neighbors actually did speak with my client and I have their letters here
And I have their letters here from some of the neighbors.
from some of the neighbors their main concern
Their main concern before with this store use was that the store generated a lot of trash, had drug problems, people selling drugs in front of the store.
And when he purchased it, they actually preferred it to be used as a residential rather than a commercial space.
The building itself did get down zoned to a single family zoning, or I say five.
however I'm gonna separately share a different screen I want to show the
board the information from the Atlas system this again this is a grocery
store and it was in fact at one time a C2 commercial property was not always
RSA 5 so we have a situation where zoning did change but the building
itself structurally was set up as a C2 commercial property so what we're asking
in essence is for the property, the commercial side of the property to be used now as its own
extra unit, residential unit, partially because it is also set up in a way that it's difficult
to simply convert the entire structure. There are some advantages to this building, which helps
alleviate some of the common issues with storage of trash, because this is a corner property that
actually has its own rear yard access by door which the keys can be shared by the occupant
so they can have a storage that is blocked off from the street and away from site until the time
it is to take the trash out. As you can see this was actually taken on a trash day. The currently
the first floor is vacant so they're less trash. There's also similar uses across on the other
corners these are also used not as a commercial space or single family they're actually duplexes
there are other duplexes on the block but they're also single family houses we're aware of that
but again this is kind of a corner property that had duplex use or I mean a commercial and a single
family use so it was separate two floor use at all times as you can see there's another duplex
across the across the street here as well. From the standpoint of the current layout,
this is the current layout of the property internally. The upper floor has three bedrooms,
but it's accessed again from the side stairs coming in. This first floor was laid out essentially
identical to the upper floor is how my client had it done. It was originally basically set
up with a room here and bathroom back here but was left more open in the front as a commercial
space. I'm going to show the interior photos to the board so it's easier to see the current
interior state of the structure. I understand the outside looks kind of rough. I spoke with
my client about further work on the outside to kind of make the look more uniform and
he is in agreement to do that this is somebody so this is the accessing the side door to the
rear yard so there is a shared door to the rear yard and again it can be accessed from this door
from the street the inside of the property this is the first floor bathroom
hallway to the kitchen these are the three rooms that are shown on the plans
And this is the view going in down the hall towards the back of the first floor unit. I'm
going to see if I can get a better angle here. Is the board able to see the entire picture on their
screen? Yes. I would like to, these are three bedroom units? This is what is the existing layout,
yes. I'm going to go back to the plan so it's easier. Looks like new construction.
It was renovated. Both the upper floor and the lower floor was renovated when my client
acquired the property. Yes. So if you look at the upper floor that is occupied, I'm sorry,
this is a little bit off on the side here. So this is a stair that leads to the upper floor. It's its
own entrance and this is from the side coming in looking up the upper floor is
occupied the first floor is vacant so this is the bedroom one of the bedrooms
here's another room this is another bedroom in the upper floor
This is another bedroom in the upper floor, here's a better angle of the bedroom again
the interior of the property was renovated to be updated so it's the living space itself
is in good condition and again all these the renovations about a year plus old my client
acquired it acquired the property in in the 2017.