civus
Hearing video

ZBA Hearing - May 17, 2022

Philadelphia Zoning Board of Adjustment (ZBA)May 17, 20221h 32m

Thank you.

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Okay, Chair, looks like we're starting off with 25 attendees.

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You may start as you wish.

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Thank you.

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Good morning.

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My name is Bill Bergman, and I will be chairing this morning's meeting.

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With me is Carol Tenere, our Vice Chair.

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Present.

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Ismail Shahid, our Board Secretary.

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Present, Mr. Chair.

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Thomas Holliman, our Board Member.

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Present, Mr. Chairman.

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And James Snell, our Board Member.

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Present, Mr. Chairman.

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Also here is our Executive Director, Tanya Sunkit, and our Board Attorney, Hillary Emerson.

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before we begin here's our virtual format be advised proceedings are being recorded

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by participating your knowledge your agreement to be recorded a video will be available by

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contacting tanya sunkett at philo.gov for the benefit of our court sonographer

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we ask attorneys and witnesses to identify themselves before testifying

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If you're participating by phone, if you wish to testify, press star 9 to raise your hand and star 6 to unmute.

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To enter an appearance statement, call 267-270-5548.

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Leave your email and the address of the property in question.

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And fourth, please note the question and answer box is not for testimony or comments.

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any comments or director to tanya sunken before we start today um i had several calls and several

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board members raised this just horrible issue but what happened in buffalo over the weekend

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i mean the amount of people killed uh the hate uh the the violence auto semi-automatic weapons

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and you know troubles we see in our own city with gun victims we want to take a moment of silence

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before we start. So please just give us a moment. Thank you, everyone. And thank you,

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board members, for raising that important issue for everyone. Let's look at our continuances for

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today. Number four, MI 2021-003-524-321 to 47th North 16th Street. This is a continuance

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attorney moving party. Number six, MI 2021-004-548-4306-08 Parkside Avenue. That's a

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request for a continuance. Number nine, MI 2021-003-712-4628 Wayne Avenue. Request for a

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continuance and number 10 mr share with with that one um there is a new date uh that's been

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agreed upon that we do we need to now sure so the mi 2021 003 712 4628 wayne avenue that's the

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continuance and there's agreed upon new date of june 1st 2022 at 2 p.m and then number 10

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MI 2021-003421-46 East Johnson Street, Parcel G, Request for Continuance Attorney Moving Party.

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They are the continuances that we have listed today. Are there any comments from the virtual

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audience relative to those continuances? Chair, we have Richard DeMarco.

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Good morning, Mr. DeMarco.

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Mr. DeMarco, please unmute yourself.

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Can you hear me okay? Thank you. Mr. DeMarco, can you state your name and spell for the court

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Can you hear me okay?

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Thank you.

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Mr. DeMarco, can you state your name and spell for the court reporter?

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reporter? Good morning, Mr. Chairman. Richard DeMarco, last name D-E-M-A-R-C-O. I have a new

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request for a continuance. I raised my hand a little too quick. Hold on one minute. Do you swear

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for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? I do. And your case is

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number 11? I have 4,900 Reno. I'm not sure of the exact number. That's it, number 11. MI 2021-004-544-4900

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Reno Street. That case is continued. Thank you. Have a good afternoon. Thank you for your time.

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Mr. DeMarco, that case must be tried. Understood. Thank you. Fine. Any other continuances?

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I see no hands, Chair. Oh, wait a minute. I'm sorry. Alan Nockamson has his hand up suddenly.

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Good morning, Mr. Chair. Good morning, Mr. Nockamson. Could you spell your name for the

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court reporter? Yes, Alan, A-L-A-N, last name Nockamson, N-O-C-H-U-M-S-O-N. Do you swear

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for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? I do. Is your case number

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two? 2320 North Hancock? That's correct, Mr. Chair. Is that a continuous withdrawal? Withdrawal,

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Mr. Chair. We're requesting withdrawal of that zoning matter at 2320-24 North Hancock. Okay, so

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MI 2021-004-835-2320-24 North Hancock Street. That case is withdrawn. I also have two other

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withdrawals. MI20, number five, MI2021, 002824, 4000 West Cambria Street, that case is withdrawn.

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And number 14 on our list, MI2021, 003336, 627 East Thompson Street, that case is withdrawn.

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is there any comments or requests for continuances or more withdrawals

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i see no hands chair okay so we're going to go to our add-on list first

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our add-on mi 2022 001584 1600 east berg street my vote is mr chair mr chair this is hillary i

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have to note that i recuse myself from this matter um and drew aldinger is filling in his

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counsel thank you okay sure thank you mi 2022 001 584 1600 east berk street my vote is appeal is

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granted harold tenery appeal granted thomas halliman appeal granted james snell appeal

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granted ishmael shaheed appeal granted we're going to go to our regular list and start with number

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13 mi 2021 002 611 6101 harley avenue

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wang kong lee is the owner pro se and we also have an interpreter

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they're coming back in as the panelists thank you

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mr chair do you want me to read the proposed um application and the for use refusals or do

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you want to do that yeah no you can do it and as soon as we get them okay i'll get the

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we'll get the interpreter set up first thanks

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is the interpreter on

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hello hi good morning we're waiting for your interpreter sir

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good morning sorry can you hear me now i can't i can i could you could you state your name

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please and spell for the court reporter uh interpreter's name uh is hui h-u-i last name

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H-U-A-N-G

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Right

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Do you swear for him

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To tell the truth

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The whole truth

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Nothing but the truth

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Yes

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Okay

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We now want to swear

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Your

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The gentleman

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Who owns the business

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Could you

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Could you have him

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State his name

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And spell it for us please

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先生我是发音员

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Mr. I am a translator. Can you tell us your name?

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你能现在讲一下

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您的名字

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还有拼一下

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您的名字

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My name is...

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Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

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您是否宣誓您所讲的都是真实的 全部讲的都是真实的

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是的

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OK, our vice chair has a few questions and comments

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OK, have you emailed an exhibit packet with proof of ownership, proof of tax compliance

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Okay, slowly, okay.

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emailed a copy of the refusal or referral, photos and or plans of the property five days

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in advance of this hearing, and has he met with the RCO, and does he have a letter?

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那您是否已经email这个一份复印的拒绝信还有转整信有没有在这个五天之前

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在这个联讯就是这个宫庭会五天之前

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有没有就是满足这个RCO 有没有那份信

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Yes.

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Okay, this application is for the erection of a deck at the rear of the attached structure.

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那这个是关于后面相连的这个 deck这个地方,就是夹板这个地方这个问题。

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And it's also for use as a sit-down restaurant and two-family household living, size and location as shown in Application and Plans.

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That is, there is a sign-up on the request of the meal table and the two-family house houses.

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Yes.

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Okay, these are the refusals.

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One, whereas the proposed deck may not encroach into the required rear yard when enclosed by walls below the usable surface of the deck.

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two whereas stairs from the ground level to the deck are prohibited three whereas the proposed

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deck may not encroach into the required rear yard when constructed such that the floor level of the

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deck is above the floor level of the first story above grade and for this is the minimum

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interpreter has hard um has a hard time to catch everything we probably got to do one at a time

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Carol okay I really slowly that's okay I'll start with number one again actually the I'm sorry this

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is Tanya we could read it into the record for all but he has the refusal already so it doesn't

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really need to be interpreted okay so do you want Tanya should I start from number one and just go

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straight through to four nope you can continue where you were at he does have that refusal that's

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What do you receive?

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Okay, so I'll back up to number three.

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Whereas the proposed deck may not encroach

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into the required rear yard when constructed

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such that the floor level of the deck

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is above the floor level of the first story above grade

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and four, the minimum distance between the proposed deck

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and the edge of the common driveway.

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Requirement is three feet, proposed is zero.

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We also have a letter of conditional opposition

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from the coordinating RCO, the Ward 40 Republican RCO, and other affected RCOs.

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You may proceed.

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This is Tanya again.

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Interpreter, could you just please let the applicant know we only read into the record

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the refusal he received for this case, okay?

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Okay.

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Yes, I do have the record, and yeah, I do see it.

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oh yes i do have the record and yeah i do see it

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very good okay you may proceed

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interpreter could you let him know that he could proceed with his presentation

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Now can you speak?

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Hello, I have a new application in the meeting,

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Yachtin, he is my application.

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He is also in the meeting.

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Okay, fine.

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Okay, can I ask the main applicant, she's our architect, can I ask her to speak on behalf

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of me because she is more familiar with the design the designed i'm sorry chair this is tanya masby

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go ahead um we have discussed this at length via email the owner applicant is the one

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who must present the case,

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the reason for the interpreter today.

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The architect cannot present the case.

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Could you make that very clear, please?

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那我们之前有跟他这个

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这个email里面联系过了,

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那为什么早发音就是说

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因为您才是申请人,

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需要您本人亲自讲才可以。

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好的,好的。

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Could you ask him to download his computer, show his screen?

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This is Tanya again.

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Can you ask him if he has his presentation available to show,

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or does the architect need to show the slides on the screen?

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那请问你有没有就是说就是可以就是显示在屏幕上面那个文件

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Presentation 有没有

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或者您可以叫这个就是演示文稿

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你可不可以显示在屏幕上

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或者您可不可以叫这个画图这个叫它显示出来可以吗

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Okay. Yes. That's what I want. I want the architecture to reflect the presentation for me.

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OK. I'm sorry. The architect can present on the screen only. He will still have to present the case and speak. The architect cannot speak. Is that clear?

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Okay, I'm sorry, Chair.

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If we can get the name of the architect, because we've discussed this all previously,

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can we get the name of the architect and promote them to panelists?

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Thank you very kindly, Chair.

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She's been promoted to panelists.

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is the architect on

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yes you have to mute yourself ma'am

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good morning I'm your one

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my name's my first name is y-a-t-i-n-g-a team last name z-h-a-o-zow

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okay so you have the presentation the show yes all right so here here's where we are you can't

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okay so you have the presentation in the show

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yes

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testify just show the presentation he'll go along with it okay okay why don't we start

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do you have the presentation there

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could you share the screen

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so for the architect is it possible you could show us photos

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first so we know what we're talking about okay okay i see that yep

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so that's it back there that's the look yes so that that's a sit down restaurant in there

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here's the sit down restaurant inside okay

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i'm sorry i hate to um interrupt but may we have the questions answered by the

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so we ask he's going to have to answer the questions so that's a sit-down restaurant

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inside is that right yes for the owner for the owner sure uh需要这个业主自己回答

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So the issue with this, this is a location that's already been built, and now he's trying to legalize it. Is that right?

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Yes.

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Okay. Our architect continues showing some photo of your presentation.

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that's the front of the store to the to the owner

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yes okay

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okay

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Thank you.

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Okay.

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Questions from the board?

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No, Mr. Chairman.

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No.

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Questions or comments from the virtual audience?

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I see no handshare.

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Planning Commission.

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Good morning, Chair Bergman.

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Ian Hegarty for the Philadelphia City Planning Commission, H-E-G-A-R-T-Y.

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

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Yes, sir.

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Good morning, board members.

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The comprehensive plan recommends a zoning map change to CMX1 at this location.

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The dimensional requirements of the zoning code, we don't feel impose an unnecessary burden on the applicant

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and the proposed deck also clearly conflicts with characteristics of the surrounding neighborhood,

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which is comprised of attached single-family homes on a shared rear driveway. We recognize this is a

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legalization, but the City Planning Commission recommends that the Board deny the variance.

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I'm sorry, Chair, this is Tanya. Interpreter, can you please just summarize and let them know

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Planning Commission recommends to deny the variant.

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Okay.

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That the committee is going to be refused to request the request.

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Thank you, Chair.

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MI 2021-002-611-6101 Harley Avenue.

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I vote no.

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Carol Tanari, my vote is no.

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Come, Ms. Holloman, my Buddhist, no.

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My vote is no.

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James Snell, my vote is yes.

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Okay, interpreter, can you tell him three noes, one yes, therefore he will get a decision

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letter as a deny in the mail.

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I'm a no on the vote as well.

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My mute button wasn't working.

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That's okay.

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That's okay.

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Thank you.

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I'm sorry.

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Interpreter, this is Tanya.

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Could you just let him know

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that he will get his decision in the mail.

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The case is closed.

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We thank you both very kindly

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for coming today for this matter.

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Thank you, Interpreter.

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Okay, thank you.

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Is there anything I can help with?

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No, thank you.

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Thank you very much.

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Interpreter, you can sign off.

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thank you for your help. Okay, thank you. Bye-bye. Have a nice day. Number one, MI 2022-001-293-2100

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to 20 West Allegheny Avenue, Adam Laver. Mr. Laver is coming back in as a panelist.

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good morning mr chairman members good morning mr laver could you state your name and spell for the

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reporter please adam laver l-a-b-a-z and victor e-r blank rome one logan square philadelphia one

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nine one zero three do you swear for him to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the

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truth. Yes, Mr. Chairman, I do. Thank you. Could you identify your client and the relationship to

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the property? Yes, sir. Blank Rome represents Steelheadle, QOZB, LLC, the owner of the subject

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property. Leo Voloshin, V-O-L-O-S-H-I-N, and Nathan Krauthammer, K-R-A-U-T-H-A-M-E-R,

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are principals of that ownership entity. They are here today. Thank you. I would note, too,

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that there's a letter of support from the Allegheny West Civic Association, and our Vice

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Chair, Carol Tenere, has a few questions for you. Thank you. Good morning, Mr. Labor. Do you agree

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to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy? Good morning, Madam Vice Chair.

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Yes, I do. Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership, tax compliance, a copy

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of the refusal or referral photos and or plans of the property five days in advance of this hearing

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and have you met with the rco and it it appears that you do have a letter is that correct yes

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mrs tenary that's correct we have support from the coordinating rco thank you you may proceed

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and begin to share your screen. Thank you.

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Mr. Chairman, members of the board, on the screen before you is an aerial photograph

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of the subject property, 2100-20 West Allegheny Avenue. I mentioned that Leo Voloshan and Nathan

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Krauthammer, the principals who purchased the property about four and a half months ago are

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with us today, along with Judy Robinson of Continuum Architecture and Design, an architect

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that has appeared many times before the board in the past. Just wanted to share these photographs

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to place the property in context. You can see it's a large industrial complex, just

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showing you some different views and angles. The case itself concerns the proposed repurposing

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of what is a historically designated industrial property, the steel heddle manufacturing company

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complex. I didn't know what heddles were. I had to look them up. It has to do with textile looms

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in a different era in Philadelphia's history.

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The property is on the Philadelphia Historical Commission's register.

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It dates to 1919.

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The property itself, as you can see, is significantly underutilized.

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We're looking at it now from the back,

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which would have been the main entrance to the loading dock when it was a heavy industrial use.

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which would have been the main entrance to the loading dock.

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But over the years, the industrial nature of the neighborhood has shifted, residential living has

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expanded, and the immense complex is now a deteriorated eyesore, which under prior ownership

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sat vacant for many years. Here you can see, and I'll zoom in just a touch, at the top it says

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Steelhead Old Building, although it's difficult to read that. We're looking at Allegheny Avenue,

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the front of the property. Here you have the steps leading to the front, and you'll see in a bit

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our plans for restoration. The property wraps around to 21st Street, which is to the left.

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I'll show you that in a moment. Here we're looking at Allegheny, another view of Allegheny.

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But here you see 21st, where it wraps around to the left, as I had mentioned.

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And then it goes around to the rear. Here is Lippincott Street, which has that large floating

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entrance. The structure itself is five stories, as you can see. The ownership is seeking to

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meticulously preserved with the help of continuum architecture and design this structure. No

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changes proposed to height, bulk, or area. You're looking now at a rendering though. You saw a moment

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ago the existing photographs and here's a conceptual rendering of what we hope will be a

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dramatic transformation. A conversion allowing opportunities for multi-family living as well as

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light industrial commercial units. A total of 245 residential units are proposed, as well as

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tenant amenities and small business startup commercial spaces, which is a really integral

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part of the project to give local businesses, local residents, the chance for startup of their

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endeavors, diverse endeavors. As was mentioned previously, there is support from the coordinating

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RCO, which I've brought up onto the screen, Allegheny West Civic Association has offered

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its support. I've just highlighted for the board's convenience, showing all community

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neighbors, stakeholders, neighboring religious organizations were in 100% support of this

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project, quote the letter, and showing that there was participation by all of the RCOs.

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The vote was unanimous. We've also worked closely with Councilman Bass. I understand that the

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council member grew up in this area and has a strong interest in the revitalization of this

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property. Here is the site plan. The site plan isn't so critical, again, because we're not

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proposing any changes to height, bulk, or area, but I bring it up just so you can get another sense

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of the nature of an industrial complex. You have interconnected buildings of different heights.

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The highest height is five stories, as I had previously mentioned. At the bottom is Lippincott,

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which is the rear. Allegheny is at the front. And again, nothing is changing. One of the nice

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things about the existing property is it has the loading dock from the back, which will be used

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to keep the commercial trash pickup out of the public eye, et cetera. The parcel is large. You

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can see it's over 75,000 square feet in size. In terms of the footprint, you have about 257,000

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square feet of improvement area. As mentioned, it is zoned industrial I1, a light industrial

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designation. But we would submit that the proposed reuse of the former industrial structure,

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a historically designated structure, does present an exciting opportunity for collaboration,

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reimagining with the coordinating RCO, with the council member's office, and I should also note

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with the Commerce Department and PIC, with whom we are engaging in meetings to create real

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substantive opportunities for local business growth at this site. We'll be meeting with the

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Commerce Department, PIDC, the community, and other city representatives within the next couple of

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just to give you a sense of the ongoing nature of the discussions.

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The proposal itself calls to restore the entire property inside and out and do it in a historically sensitive way to convert the use to 200.

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and do it in a historically sensitive way to convert the use to 245 residential dwelling units,

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including some flexible opportunities for live-work dwelling units, a small number of those,

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which is something that was desired as part of the neighborhood plan, not required, but desired.

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101 class 1a bicycle parking spaces 32 creative small business startup spaces which is that

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joint effort with the community and various city governments to employ people in the neighborhood

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and the project fits into the neighborhood vision it actually goes back to the last days of tasty

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cake baking company which i'm sure most everyone will recall was a presence in this neighborhood

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moved out of the neighborhood, left a gaping hole. And at that time, leadership got together

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to re-envision a strategic plan. So 20-some vacant acres of land in the neighborhood are part of that

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multi-year strategic plan, which also fits into the 2035 PCPC vision. Well, this is a part of that,

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and that's why you see the coordinating RCO support. The notice of refusal is up on the

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screen. I'll just move out for a moment. And I highlight it again to pinpoint that there are two

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refusals. Number one, residential household living of any type is prohibited in the industrial

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district. And number two, retail sales and commercial services uses are prohibited in the

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industrial district. So what does this mean? It means you have this huge site that sat vacant.

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I believe that the factory closed down in 83, according to some online research that I did.

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And it's historic. There's very little that can occur there. So here's a way to find a mixed use

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opportunity that really responds to calls from the community.

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Now, in the I-1 district, you could have so-called maker spaces,

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but you could not have the makers then sell their goods in the community.

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So they need the opportunity to be able to do that, which is why you have the second refusal

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and why we would submit that this makes a lot of sense in terms of appropriate variance relief.

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Here, you just see a couple photographs of the interior. You get a sense of the condition. You can get a sense also of the cost that will be involved in converting this.

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We're burdened by a structure that's subject to historical commission oversight. Permissible uses are severely limited within the confines of the existing structure, and continued industrial at the site is not practicable, as shown by the zoning map, the aerial photographs, the neighborhood photos.

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And the surrounding zoning is mixed, so there's a need for this type of mixed use creativity that's being proposed for this immense site.

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I'd also like to note that although there's no refusal on parking, the owners are working with the Allegheny West Civic Association and the Council Member's Office to provide ample parking close by approximately 300 spaces at 21st and Lippincott.

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which is a great responsible move for the community.

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So once again, in partnership with the architectural team,

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we have found a way to preserve and enhance the building,

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to convert it, to benefit the neighborhood

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in a desirable way to support small businesses

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and increased opportunities for residential living.

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Let me go through the proposed floor plans briefly.

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And I know this is difficult to see

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because we're talking about a large footprint.

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But in the basement, the basement is studio workshop zone. No living spaces in the basement. So this is all permitted within the district, along with storage and mechanicals.

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Perhaps you would have a dark room down there for a photographer or a wood shop, that type of thing.

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Let's move to the first floor, which is the floor that interacts with the neighborhood the most.

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Here on the first floor is a mix of studio workshops, strictly where people would be working. It could be a local textile artist who also wants to sell her wares and have people come in.

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But there are also a limited number of live-work units, about nine of those, to have an affordable way for creative types to both live and work.

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And you have residential units as well, amenity spaces, bicycle storage, the interior trash storage, the loading off of the back end within the footprint.

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within the footprint. So on the first floor, just to give you a summary,

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So on the first floor, just to give you a summary, nine students.

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nine studio workshops, nine live work units, 29 residential units. Moving to the second floor,

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we're showing 52 residential dwelling units. Third floor, 57 residential dwelling units.

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fourth floor, 57 residential dwelling units, and fifth floor, 41 residential dwelling units.

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I'll take you to the next page here, and sorry to make people motion sick.

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These are typical unit configurations. So you have a mix within of studios, one bedrooms,

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and two bedrooms designed to meet the existing limitations or the large structural beams from

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the factory. Judy Robinson did a really nice job with that. All of nice sizes embraced by the

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community when we discussed that with them. In addition, just in summary, the entire area around

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the property will benefit from street planning and enhance streetscaping. We've worked to balance

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preservation of the existing building while allowing highest and best use to meet the

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demands for residential living and local employment. The authorization of variance

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relief will not alter the character of the neighborhood in a negative way, will not be

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detrimental to the public welfare. This is the type of seminal project that helps again to

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meet the strategic plan and needs of the neighborhood. It's a combined effort, a partnership

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not only with the developer but with so many others. It fits the surrounding neighborhood

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as evidenced by the language of the 2035 plan, the anonymous coordinating RCO approval of the

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proposal, et cetera. We're talking about two use refusals. The minimum variance is necessary to

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afford relief when it's been shown that the industrial nature at a large site like this

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has not worked for so many years. This will not substantially increase congestion in the public

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streets, increase the danger of fire, or otherwise the danger of public health, safety, or welfare.

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The improvement of the condition of the building will be a huge improvement, and this will not

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adversely affect transportation, a duly burden, public sewers, etc. In closing, we've worked,

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I've mentioned so many times that we've worked with leaders in the community. Due to it being

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primary election day, I regret that several of those key leaders are not with us today,

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and I beg the board's pardon for that. I do have our developer team here along with

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architect Judy Robinson. Thank you. Do you want to have your testimony adopted? Yes. If I could

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please call Leo Voloshan to raise your virtual hand, Mr. Voloshan. Mr. Chairman, he's available.

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Okay. Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, sir?

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Good morning, Mr. Chairman. My name is Leo Voloshin, L-E-O, V as in Victor, O-L-O-S-H-I-N.

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

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I do, Mr. Chairman.

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Rashid.

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Thank you. Mr. Voloshin, have you been present for the entirety of my presentation before the

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board this morning?

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I have.

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And were you able to fully hear it and see the exhibits that were offered on the screen?

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Yes, sir.

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Would you adopt and affirm the testimony that I've offered as your own?

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yes i would thank you thank you questions from the board no mr chairman no mr no mr chairman

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mr labor one one question just north there is there a train station

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uh i believe that there is it's uh very transit oriented and in addition you have bus lines as

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well right okay thank you mr chairman it's across the street right that's right yeah i thought so

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So, questions or comments from the virtual audience?

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Chair, we have Kiana Shedrick.

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Yes, good morning.

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Hi, could you state your name and spell it for the court reporter?

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Yes, my name is Kiana, Q-I-A-N-A, last name Shedrick, S-H-E-D-R-I-C-K,

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and I'm the president of Upper North Neighbors Association, RCO.

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All right.

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Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

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I do.

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Proceed. Thank you for this time this morning. I am calling in to say that we did submit our own independent letter to not support the project.

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Proceed.

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Thank you for this time this morning.

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I am.

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I am flabbergasted to hear and see our name listed as a supporter of the project when we were not notified of the meeting by the coordinating RCO at all, not in writing or not verbally.

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We happened to hear about the meeting from a nearby neighbor, so we did show up and attend.

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However, on the day of the actual meeting, and I'm shocked to see all of this in writing, there was no vote taken at the meeting.

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Tiova United RCO was not even present, so for them to be listed is absolutely farce.

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And we had further questions. In fact, at the end of the meeting, we spoke to Ms. Regina Smith, who leads the Allegheny West RCO. She confirmed with us that there would be more dates, that there were community concerns yet to be addressed. There wasn't even any community in the room.

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They had the meeting at New Cortland where there are elderly residents.

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They were the only people present in the room, but there was no community at this meeting outside of the residents of New Cortland.

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We certainly did not take a vote in support of or not to support.

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There was no vote taken.

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And so I just wanted all of these things to be duly noted for the record.

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And if you would graciously look at the record we submitted independently or I could read it into the record,

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I would like that to be done because there were several things that are not being mentioned.

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And I also spoke to the owner myself at length after the meeting, and he stated that he was looking forward to the next meeting so that we could fine tune some of the things that were presented.

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So I must say openly and for the record, this presentation that all RCOs were in agreement, we certainly were not.

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And one RCO wasn't even present.

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So that just needs to be stated for the record.

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Thank you.

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Thank you very much for calling in.

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Are there any other comments or statements from the virtual audience?

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Chair, we have a caller, calling user with the last four ending in 3552.

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Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?

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hello

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follow you're unmuted you're free to speak

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adrian is that you hi could you state your name i'm sorry this is tanya chair i apologize

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adrian fernandez is that you at three five five two

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she's unmuted but there's no information coming through that line okay thank you

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if you wish to move on chair we're going to move on is there anyone else in the virtual audience

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i see no i'm sorry what i see no other hands chair thank you um mr labor i understand that

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we're working with l and i and you on comments relative to the commercial and retail so we're

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going to go to the planning commission and then we're going to hold our vote until that's done

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So, Planning Commission.

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Thank you, Chair Bergman.

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Ian Hegarty for the Philadelphia City Planning Commission.

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Board members, the comprehensive plan recommends a zoning map amendment here from I-1 limited industrial to IRMX, industrial residential mixed use.

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The intent of that zoning recommendation is to facilitate this type of adaptive reuse of existing industrial buildings for residential use.

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This proposed variance is therefore consistent with the comprehensive plan and represents a reasonable reuse of an existing structure for housing.

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City Planning Commission recommends that the board grant this variance.

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Thank you. Mr. Laver, we're going to hold our vote. Do you have a comment?

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Yeah, a very, very brief comment, if I may, for the record.

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Out of respect for all neighbors, I'd just like to address the last RCO comment.

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It seems to be more of an issue, perhaps, between RCOs.

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The developer will continue to meet with all parties who are interested after, with the

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hope that this is approved, that the communications will remain ongoing at all times.

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And I just wanted to say that out of respect for everyone.

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Thank you.

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Thank you very much.

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And we'll be in touch, okay?

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Thank you.

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Have a good day.

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Sure.

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MI 2022-000-931-321-3201, Ryan Avenue, Mr. Sklaroff.

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Mr. Sklaroff.

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Mr. Sherry.

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Mr. Sheridan, this is Hillary.

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Just going back to the last case for a minute,

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I just, Allegheny Avenue wanted to note

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that the record is closed

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except for the input from L&I

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regarding the commercial and retail use of the property.

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But also there was testimony regarding a letter

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from another RCO that had been submitted.

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I have not seen that letter.

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Um, so I don't know if it, how, how it was submitted, but I fully if, if Mr. Labor is amenable to this, we can have the record open for that letter to make sure that it is part of the record as well.

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Sure. Thank you, Mr. Labor.

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Okay. So noted.

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All right. Thank you.

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Mr. Sklaroff.

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good morning mr chairman members of the board may i share my screen could you spell your name

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for the court reporter certainly s-k-l-a-r-o-f-f first name neil n-a-i-l with law firm of dilworth

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Paxson, 1500 Market Street, Suite 3500E, 19102. Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth,

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the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? I certainly do. Could you identify your client

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before we start? I'm pleased to represent the School District of Philadelphia this morning.

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Our Vice Chair has a few questions. Carol Tenere. Good morning, Mr. Spiroff. Do you

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agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy? Yes, I do. Have you

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emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership tax compliance, a copy of the refusal or referral,

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photos under plans of the property five days in advance of this hearing, and have you met with

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the RCO, and do you have a letter? I have submitted exhibits five days in advance.

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We have communicated with the RCO a number of times.

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In a phone call to me from the, I believe, the chair of the Mayfair Civic Association yesterday, they said they would send a letter of support.

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There's a larger context to this, which I'd like to get into, especially if you haven't

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received the letter, because I have not received it.

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Okay, you may proceed and begin to share your screen.

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Thank you.

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And why can't I find, there we go.

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well let's see why we can't get it full size there you go um this uh project is a minor portion

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of the redevelopment of the abraham lincoln high school property at 3201 bryant street

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As you will see from this cover page, the project was originally very large, including the high school, K-8 elementary school, new ball fields, and renovation of existing ball fields.

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This came to the Zoning Board for approval in 2019 and resulted in a community benefits agreement.

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A little of that is the subject for today.

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We have a list of exhibits and I'll quickly go through some of these because I want to isolate for you what the subject of this application is.

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Exhibit one is our tax clearance.

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We've also submitted to your solicitor a subsequent tax clearance, which was not available when we had this.

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This is a subject of a continuance, and this was valid on the day the Zoning Board heard our request for continuance.

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And your solicitor suggested that we supplement this with a new one.

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Exhibit 2 is a deed of subdivision.

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This was originally a larger parcel, and we'll quickly go through that.

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That was the larger parcel that you're seeing there.

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The school district received a zoning permit to be able to lawfully subdivide the project.

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lawfully subdivide the project. Our Exhibit 3 is our posting of the initial zoning notice,

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Our Exhibit 3.

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which was posted at the property along with the notice of refusal. We have photographs of the

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posting as well as photographs of a key plan and photographs of the surrounding neighborhood.

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When this was continued until today, we made a subsequent posting. There is a copy of the poster showing today's date and the method of joining this.

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Again, we have photographs of that second posting with the notice of refusal.

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This is Exhibit 5, and I think the most important, and we'll synthesize what our argument is today.

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This is the track toward Roland Avenue, I believe, and you'll notice there is depicted here a small building.

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This was a utility building, which the district has decided to remove.

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And in place of that, they need to put up a new fence. The fence is 10 feet in height, runs about 100 feet. In the community benefits agreement that was the result of the overall application, the fence must be clad in vinyl, in black vinyl.

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And so you see in this photograph, and in this photograph, the vinyl fencing. However, the fencing is six feet, 10 feet in height. And the notice of refusal points out that we can only have four feet in height, in accordance with the zoning district.

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However, that's not practical for making it safe.

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While this project was going on, we discovered that situation and we haggled with the L&I

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and we got a temporary zoning permit to allow us to put the 10-foot fence in.

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It was temporary.

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we were to have gotten a regular zoning permit

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by the end of 2021, we didn't do that.

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And so we made an application for appeal

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in order to rectify that situation.

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You granted us a non-protunk application.

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When the temporary permit was issued,

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we did get a letter of non-opposition

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from the Mayfair Civic Association.

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When we made this application,

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we sent our letter to the Mayfair Civic Association

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asking for information so that we could notify the public.

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What we have here is a number of our communications

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with Mayfair, which covered a period of time from when we sent that letter out

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until now. We communicated with Stan Wyszynski, a staff member in the former councilman's

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office, and asked him to intercede. And I did receive a phone call yesterday from Mr.

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Stevenson, I believe, who is the chair of, if not the zoning committee of the Mayfair Civic

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Association, confirming to me that they were in support and that they had not understood

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the nature of the application. As you can see, the application is very minor. It's in the interior of

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the facility of the campus and is there to protect the property and the children from intruders.

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And so we asked for a variance, approval of the variance, to allow us to legalize the 10-foot fence, which has been put in the place of the utility building that was removed.

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And all of this I'm scrolling through is all the email exchanges.

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We don't fault Mayfair, as Stan has told us.

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These are an organization made up of volunteers, and we understand their efforts, but the community has been well informed.

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and we understand their efforts, but the community has been well-informed when this was originally,

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when the whole project, which originally was presented to the community, presented to the

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board in 2019, and had the support of the community at that time, and resulted in a CBA,

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which requires us to put up the kind of fence that we have, although it did not specify 10 feet.

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I'd be pleased to answer any questions and are relying on Section 14304-14F of the zoning code, allowing my comments to be used as to be accepted for the purposes of creating findings of fact if there's no objection from any party.

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Thank you, Mr. Sklaroff. Are there questions from the board?

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No, Mr. Chairman.

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no mr chairman questions or comments from the virtual audience

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i see no hands chair planning commission thank you chair bergman ian hegarty for the philadelphia

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city planning commission members of the board the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the rsa

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one single family zoning at this location however this proposed fence uh serves an important support

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function related to the long-established educational use on this property and it's

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consistent with the purpose and spirit of the zoning code. City Planning Commission recommends

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that the board grant the variance. Thank you. MI 2022-00931-3201 Ryan Avenue, I vote yes.

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Carol Tenere, my vote is yes. Thomas Tallman, my vote is yes. James Snell, my vote is yes.

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my vote is yes thank you Mr. Sklaroff thank you Mr. Chairman members of the board

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thank you the next case will be seven and eight together MI 2021 004654 4445 Chestnut Street

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and MI 2021 004653 4443 Chestnut Street Alan Ocklinson letter of non-opposition from Spruce

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Health Community Association. Good morning again, Mr. Chair, members of the board. Alan

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Nockamson, A-L-A-N, last name Nockamson, N-O-C-H-U-M-S-O-N, 123 South Broad Street,

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Suite 1600, Philadelphia PA, 19109. Mr. Nockamson, you've already been sworn. Could you identify

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your client and the relationship to the property? Yes. My client is KMR-1 LLC. And I have the

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corporate representative here, Sudhakar Goverdaman. Our vice chair has a few questions.

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Yes. I can't believe I just muted myself. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and

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stipulate to its accuracy? I do. Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership tax

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compliance, a copy of the refusal or referral, photos and or plans of the property five days in

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advance of this hearing? And have you met with the RCO? And do you have a letter? Yes, in all

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respects, and we have a letter of support for both zoning matters. Okay, great. You may proceed

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and please share your screen.

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Good morning again.

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Alan Nockmson of Nockmson PC.

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I'm here to present 443 and 445 Chestnut Street.

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Both properties are currently five residential units

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on the second to fourth floors

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and commercial unit each on the ground floor,

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as you can see from this picture.

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The purpose of these appeals is to merely convert the commercial space into residential, a residential unit, which will be a one-bedroom, one-bath.

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In our presentation materials, we go over the notices of refusal.

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These are CMX2 properties.

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Correspondents from the Spruce Hill Community Association, again, we met with them, and they are in support of these variance requests.

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maps of the area, photographs of the property in the surrounding area, our plans and drawings,

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merely our floor plans for these properties, proof that we had a community meeting and proof

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of familiarity of that community meeting, notice applications for appeal that we filed with the

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CBA or deed to the property showing that KMR-1 LLC is the owner of the property, and they have

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been the owner of the property since 2014. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic and the

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change in the composition of neighborhoods, this CMX, these CMX2 properties have been vacant for a significant period of time.

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These CMX2 properties have been vacant for a significant period of time, as noted in the letter of support for both zoning matters, and the community wishes to have active eyes on the streets on these first floor properties, the first floor peach property, and thus using them as residential units.

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the last exhibit certificates of tax clearance showing that KMR-1 LLC is in good standing

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with the city of Philadelphia as to these properties with regards to real estate taxes.

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All right, the notices of refusal. Again, both of these are CMX2 properties. Both are looking to

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make them six-family dwellings. We're being refused because of CMX2, we're required to put

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a commercial storefront there. As you see, there is a commercial storefront that is vacant,

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And that has been vacant for some time, even beyond the pandemic.

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And what we're proposing is not out of character to how this property has been used.

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It's currently being used as a five-unit plus commercial.

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So we're asking the board to merely take the commercial component and swap it in with the residential.

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our our um you know our letter of support from the uh coordinating rco uh uh let's see

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i'll read it um you know uh both both you know they talk about the the two properties both have

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the same issue and that involve failure to provide ground floor commercial as required at cmx2 in

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In both instances, given the configurations of the buildings and the current local commercial

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well-saving market, we felt that insisting on ground floor commercial was problematic.

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In no way should our non-opposition to this application be interpreted as indifference

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to ground floor commercial uses.

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On the contrary, we consider ground floor commercial activity essential to neighborhood

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street life and a necessary amenity for local residents.

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In the future, if economic fortunes change and more commercial activities seem viable,

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the property owners might decide to reconfigure these buildings for commercial activity that

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zoning already permits. So the problem in this part of Chestnut Street, there's a lot of

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vacant commercial units, not just in our property, but throughout that block. And again, we're trying

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to create eyes on the street and create activity on the ground floor. And that's why the coordinating

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the rco is a non-opposition to our request maps of the area again we are on chestnut street

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we are these two cmx2 properties and here's from a google maps perspective there is limited

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commercial use but very sporadic give even given the cmx2 zoning here again it's been problematic

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throughout the pandemic and beyond and then photographs of the property as you can see

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These are the units. So none of our units will be below grade. Each of these units are above grade

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and have a separate entrance. And we're merely trying to repurpose these spaces for residential

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purposes. And there's already two, five unit dwelling units in each of these other parts of

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these other structures. And we're just trying to keep that use intact as well. Chestnut Street to

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right of the property chestnut street to the left of the property um our plans and drawings and

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again we have the other units so if for your if you want to see it but there would be a there's

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right now a total of six bedrooms in each of these uh building structures uh with with five units

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we're merely trying to have one bedroom one bath unit on the ground floor as to each so there'll

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be a total of 14 bedrooms over the two building structures seven in each there's definitely a

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need in this community for these one bedroom and studio units for you know our clientele

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happens to be people whether it's doctors professionals at Penn and Drexel as well

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as graduate students and that's our clientele there's a need within the community for these

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type of structures and the the added unit in each will help towards that goal and then this is 445

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chestnut street uh same type of configuration one bedroom one bath everything above great

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and then uh you know our meeting notices we met with community february 16 2022 at 6 30 pm and

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this is the meeting notice for 4443 chestnut street 91 uh individuals were notified or

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properties were notified of that community meeting addresses proof of mailing same thing

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for four four four five chestnut street 89 addresses were deemed within the affected area

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89 addresses were deemed within the affected area these are the addresses this is the proof

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These are the addresses.

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mailing or applications for appeal to the cba with regards to each property there were separate

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appeals along with the notice of refusal project information form and then our deed to the property

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showing that kmr-1 llc is the owner of the property or properties and our certificates

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of tax clearance showing that they're in good standing with the city of Philadelphia.

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With that being said, I would like to unshare my screen, introduce Mr. Goldberg Hahn M.

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to the board, have him be sworn in, and then he can adopt my testimony, and then he'd be

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more than happy to take any questions from the board.

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Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?

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Siri, you need to unmute yourself.

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Adam left, microphone.

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Could you state your name, please, and spell it?

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Mr. Goldberg, you have to hit the mute button, okay?

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you'll have her along the bottom it'll pop up on the far left

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um if he's having difficulties i can also you know as an officer of the court i state that's

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fine that's fine the testimony um and you know just again if the board wants us to go through

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it to go through the floor plans i didn't mean to go through it quickly but um you know there

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or five units above, I can also go through those four plans

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if the board seems to be inclined to look at those again.

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That's fine.

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Questions from the board?

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No, Mr. Chairman.

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No, Mr. Chairman.

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No, Mr. Chairman.

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No, Mr. Chairman.

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Questions or comments from the virtual audience?

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I see no hands, Chair.

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Planning Commission.

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Thank you, Chair Bergman.

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Ian Hegarty for the Philadelphia City Planning Commission.

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members of the board for both of these appeals 4445 and 4443 chestnut street the comprehensive

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plan recommends no change to the existing commercial mixed use toning the conditions

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of the commercial corridor we agree present a hardship to requiring commercial use on the lowest

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level and the proposed use is a six unit building on each property is consistent with the configuration

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of the existing buildings the city planning commission recommends that the board grant

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these variances in each case. Thank you. MI 2021-004-654-4445 Chestnut Street, and MI 2021-004-653-4443

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Chestnut Street, I vote yes to both. Harold Tenere, my vote is yes to both. Thomas

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Howland my vote is yes to vote. Sorry uh James Snell yes to both. Ishmael Shaheed yes to both.

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Thank you. Mr. Nakelson could you stay on please? Yes uh MI 2021 002913 5024 Ray Street.

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uh yes no rco letters of yet uh no i actually did forward the uh letter to uh emerson earlier today

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uh unfortunately it is a letter in opposition but i think we have addressed their concerns by

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way of proviso hopefully okay could you uh could you identify your client in relationship to the

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property? Yes. So this is owned by two corporate entities, IRA, Development, LLC, and Meek Coast

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Enterprises, LLC. I have the corporate representative for the property owners,

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Ify, on a Chukwu Eze, who will be adopting my testimony at the conclusion of my presentation.

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Our vice chair has a few questions for you. Hi, Mr. Mockerson. Excuse me. Do you agree to

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the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy? I do. Have you emailed the exhibit

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packet with proof of ownership, tax compliance, a copy of the refusal or referral, photos under

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plans of the property five days in advance of this hearing? And have you met with the RCO and

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do you have a letter? Yes, we met with the coordinating RCO last night and I did slip

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in the letter into my presentation materials, which I'll present to the board, as well as I

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gave it separately to Ms. Emerson earlier this morning. Thank you. You may proceed and please

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share your screen. Thank you. Sure. All right. So I'm here to present 5024 Ray Street. There are

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There are two corporate entities, IRA Development LLC and Minkos Enterprises LLC, which are the joint owners of this property.

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two corporate entities, IRA Development LLC and Minkos Enterprises LLC.

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This is a Kumas Homes development. Kumas Homes has been in existence for over 15 years.

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They're headquartered in the Point Breeze section of Philadelphia, so they're locally owned and operated.

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And they've developed well over 100 properties over the course of those years.

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and we're looking to put originally we're looking to put a triplex on the on this corner property at

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5024 Ray Street as you can see from the rendering there's a separate entrance on Ray Street and

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Farson is the other corner where there's a separate entrance and we'll go through the

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letter of opposition but I think we have addressed their concerns regarding the basement living

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situation. So we'll go through the notice refusal corresponds from the 44th Democratic Ward which

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was the coordinating RCO maps of the area photographs of the property in the surrounding

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area nearby RSA 5 multifamily properties our properties are RSA 5 but this is this does have

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a significant multifamily presence in this part of town and in addition to our size of 1265 feet

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And the fact that we're situated on the corner property with separate entrances, we believe that having maximum two units with no basement living as provisos would fulfill the needs of a vacant lot, which has been vacant as far back as 2007, based on evidence from Google Earth.

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We'll go through the plans and drawings.

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Our meeting notice, we met again with the community late last night.

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That is why we didn't have a letter from them until last night, which we forwarded over

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to the CBA Council this morning, and it's including our presentation packet.

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Deeds of the property showing that IRA Development LLC and MECOS Enterprises LLC are the joint

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owners of this property, our application for appeal that we filed at CBA, and our certificate

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of tax clearance showing that there are no real estate taxes owed on this property. Mr. Eze is

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online, who I would ask be sworn in and can adopt my testimony, and then we can take questions

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from the court. All right, so our notice refusal is this is an RSA 5 property. Its significant

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size is 1,265 square feet. Originally, we're proposing a triplex, but after hearing from the

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community uh their opposition significant opposition to basement living we wish and you

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know given it's a corner property with where we have separate entrances for two of the units we

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asked to eliminate the third unit maximum two units uh with no basement living so that we cannot

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have basement living for this building and i think that that would address their concerns there are

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no dimensional variances uh with regards to this project and when we'll go through the rendering

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And we really did try to mimic the architecture in the neighborhood.

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This neighborhood is a porch neighborhood, as well as the fact, which we have, and as well as like mansard roofs, which we included as part of our proposal.

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All right. So our letter from the 44th Democratic Board, the second paragraph states it all,

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after fully discussing on to allow for a new construction three uh dwelling units uh the

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neighbor neighbors had many concerns with the overall design of proposed building as well as

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parking space other concerns one of the units utilized in the basement for living with lack

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of good lighting and safe ingress we agreed not to support this project at this time i i think that

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the parking we can't do anything about and i indicated to them the lot while significant in

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size is not big enough to accommodate a parking spot and would increase the variances that we

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requested. In addition, it would put a curb cut there, which would take one public parking spot

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off of the street. Thus, it would be a one-to-one ratio. And we indicated that this board and the

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city planning commission typically disfavor such uses of the property. But more of a concern was

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the basement living, the lack of good light and safety grass. Now we did elevate the building

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structure to provide, you know, adequate lighting in our opinion, but the biggest factor was just

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the safety about individuals getting out of the basement. So with that being said, we would

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request that the board, given the significant size of this lot, agree to maximum two units

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with no basement living as a proviso if this board should feel inclined to grant

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our zoning appeal. All right, deeds of the property, again, we're at the corner of Race

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and Farson. And you can see here where we are in the neighborhood. Typically,

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Typically, these corner properties tend to be multi-unit in nature. So we would ask to fulfill that goal as well and to help support the commercial quarter on Haverford that we increase the density to two units.

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these corner properties tend to be multi-unit in nature. So we

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Photographs of the property. So this is the property from Ray Street. And this is the property from Ray Street showing that as of 2007 and as far back as Google Earth goes, and it sounds like it may have had a history even beyond that of vacant land.

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So this property has been vacant for almost 15 years of record on the Internet. So we're asking that this is the opportunity to develop that land.

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Unfortunately, given the market conditions, supply chain issues, interest rates, it's not feasible to build a single family structure here at all.

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So we're asking that the board allow us to build a two-story, a two-family structure here.

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Side of the property from Farson Street, again, because it's a corner property, not only will we have a separate entrance for each of the units,

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It's one on Farson and one on Reece Street, but also we will be able to responsibly store and manage the trash in the rear by like having every unit owner or, excuse me, resident be able to store their trash outside, you know, in this enclosed container.

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And we would, you know, we would also agree to improvise on that respect to this trash be stored in the rear and the outside.

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uh ray street to the right of the property race street to the left of the property

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forest to the right of the property forest until left of the property and then again examples of

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the type of work product that kumas homes puts out there uh they they have a mix between for sale and

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um you know for rent properties they not only own their properties they're the general contractor

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for these properties, as well as they self-manage these properties. But here's just examples of the

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open floor plans, hardwood floors, kitchens with granite countertops, stainless steel appliances.

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There are, again, examples of their bathrooms, subway tiles, nice fixtures, large bedrooms.

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That's an example of a bedroom with nice light and air. Again, another bedroom, light and air,

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another bathroom. And then multifamily properties that are, you know, within close proximity to

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this property. Across the street from us is a 30-unit building at 5031 Ray Street. Then there's

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a whole slew of properties on the 100 block and the 200 block of Farson. Again, we intersect with

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Farson. 153 Farson Street is a multifamily structure. As you can see, they do not have a

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proper garbage plan. They store their garbage in the front. We'll be able to store our garbage

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enclosed in the rear 154 uh forest industry uh is also nearby rsa five five unit building ours

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is much bigger in size um and we're only asking for two units and we're in the corner property

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and we have two separate entrances

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uh 215 forest and street again uh there's nine corner property there's not two separate entrances

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231 forest and street again no lack of no two separate entrances lack of the garbage

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maintenance plan and storage plan as you can see from that picture and then just our plans and

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drawings again the biggest thing is we try to mimic the porch the mansard roof and we have a separate

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entrance for each of the units given that we're going to go down to two units originally we had

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three units and two of the units was we're going to use the ray street side now only one of the

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units is going to use the ray street side and the other unit's going to use the barson street side

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like before all right and then this is just our elevations everything is within the zoning code

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from a dimensional standpoint brick facade you know we have the porch we have a man's

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route which mimics what's in the neighborhood. I'm just having some technical issues with my

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computer and things are going rather slow now.

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So Mr. Nakamson, this is Polly from IT. If you want to turn off your video

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and just show your screen, that might help speed it up.

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Okay, I'll do that. Let's do that. Oops.

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Okay, I'll do that.

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Let's do that.

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Oops.

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No promises, though, but it's worth the try.

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No promises, though.

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I'm going to have to do that.

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So again, just the floor plan to really quickly go through this.

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As you can see on the side, the Farson Street, that goes immediately into the lower level unit.

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Originally, we had basement living here, but given the late hour, we're going to reconfigure the inside to make sure that there's no basement living.

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And then if you look at the going to the first floor on the Ray Street side, you go up a flight of steps, and then you have the upper level unit.

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And then our meeting notice.

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Sorry, sorry, the meeting notice.

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Here we go.

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uh we met with the community last night may 16th at 6 p.m we met with them virtually

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139 addresses were notified of that meeting

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and here are the list of the addresses

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and then proof mailing for those addresses to those address and then our deed to the property

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and i'll just go scroll down because i'm having technical issues i'm going to show you the tax

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clearance certificate so you see that uh that my client is in good standing with the city of

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Philadelphia. Uh, with that being said, I'm going to unshare my screen, put my video back on and

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ask that Mr. Uh, as a, uh, virtually raise his hand to adopt my testimony.

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How you doing? Hi, could you state your name and spell for the court reporter?

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Yes, it's Ife-N-Y-I-C-H-U-K-W-U, last name E-Z-E.

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You swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

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Yes.

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Proceed.

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Mr. Eze, you heard everything I stated today.

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Correct.

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Is it true and correct?

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Was it true and correct?

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Yes.

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You adopted it as your own testimony.

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I do.

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Thank you.

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questions from the board no mr chairman no no mr questions or comments from the virtual audience

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i see no hands chair planning commission thank you chair bergman ian hegarty for the philadelphia

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city planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing

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residential single family zoning at this location which has been in place since 1976

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six. We don't feel the applicants has supported the hardship claim with evidence of unique

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physical conditions of the vacant lot, which is of average size. Just remind the board that

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financial constraints are not grounds for hardship in use variances. City Planning

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Commission recommends that the board deny the variance. Thank you. MI 2021-002913-5024

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Ray Street I vote yes proviso only two units no basement living trash stored in the rear

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Carol Tineri my vote is yes proviso Thomas Holloman my vote is yes with proviso

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Ishmael Shaheed my vote is yes with proviso

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thank you that's four votes all right thank you very much have a great day thank you you too

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number 15 mi 2021 001971 64 43 to 49 van dyke street joseph vaccaro

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Mr. Vaccaro is coming back in as a

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panelist

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Mr. Vaccaro

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Good morning, can you hear me?

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Yes, could you state your name and spell for the court reporter?

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Certainly. My name is Joseph Vaccaro, V-A-C-C-A-R-O, address 5918 Torres Deale Avenue, attorney for the applicant, Randy Vargas.

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Certainly. My name is Joseph Vaccaro, V-A-C-C-A-R-O.

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

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Yes, I do.

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Mr. Vaccaro, your exhibits were submitted a day late, but even with that, we're having a hard time with the lease and things of that nature.

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and we've talked to our attorney we we think we have to continue this case until we can clarify

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a few things i wish that i would have heard that earlier um especially since mr vargas is on

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is a part of this meeting um so we but you know that being said if the board is is inclined to

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to relist this matter for another time you know we'll we'll certainly we're going to relist this

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Instead, beforehand, we're going to clarify some of these issues relative to the lease, etc.

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I would appreciate that.

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Mr. Chair, this is Hillary Emerson.

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Mr. Vaccaro, I did email you regarding concerns we had with the lease.

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You did respond to some of my questions, but the lease questions, we still need answers to because it doesn't appear that the use that's being proposed is in accordance with the lease that was being provided.

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So we need clarification on that front before we can move forward.

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Fair enough.

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I look forward to hearing from you, Ms. Everson.

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Thank you, Mr. Vaccaro.

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Thank you.

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Is there anyone in the virtual audience whose case has not been heard yet today?

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I see no issue.

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Thank you, everyone.

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See you tomorrow morning.

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Thanks for everything.

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Oh, that's right.

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I was trying to get back at two o'clock

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no no no

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tomorrow morning

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see you later

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bye bye

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great job everyone

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thank you

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thank you

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that's Tina everybody bye

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bye

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