All right.
And I would just swear to that as an officer of the court that that's a truthful thing.
Sure, sure, sure, sure.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I see no further hands, Mr. Chair.
Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair Bergman. Ian Hegarty for the Philadelphia City Planning Commission. Chair, if it pleases you, would it be okay to ask a question of the applicant for the record?
Counsel, could you please describe the means of egress for the basement unit using the floor plan that you had up before?
Sure. So right now, and this is something we did speak to the RCO about. Let me just get to the floor plan.
Here we go. So right now, the first means of egress is directly to the front door,
which exits out to the driveway. And there is also a window here, which I can show you,
which the intention is to dig that out to make that an egress access. And we are happy with
proviso that a new CO must be issued to make sure that it is completely fire code compliant.
As I said, this owner houses people displaced by fires and we want to absolutely make sure
that any unit created is up to code or any unit that's now in their possession.
It wasn't created by then, but it would be updated to make sure that it's up to code.
Thank you.
Members of the Board, the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing single
family zoning at this location.
We find that the applicant's hardship claim is not supported with evidence of unique physical
circumstances other than self-created hardship resulting from buying the as-is property without
an inspection we note that the proposed use is not restricted to the specific temporary housing use
as has been described in the presentation and the city planning commission therefore recommends
that the board deny the variance mi 2021 002290 2755 maxwell street i vote no
carol tanari my vote is no thomas holloman my vote is no
thank you council thank you
mi 2021 004632 407 south 20th street rco center city residents
Association, Letter of Non-Opposition, Vern Anastasio.
Mr. Anastasio, I'm going to move to the panel, sir.
Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
Good morning, Mr. Chair.
Verne Anastasio, A-N-A-S-T-A-S-I-O, 1315 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, 19107.
Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client and their relationship to the property?
Yes, I represent the owner, Sharif Youssef.
Thank you. Our vice chair has a few questions.
Thank you. Our vice chair has a few questions.
Hi, Mr. Anastasio.
Hi, Mr. Anastasio. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
It appears that you've submitted all the required documents. Is that correct?
It is.
You may proceed and share your screen.
Thank you.
okay mr chairman members of the board this is 407 south 20th street we're here
by the way it's cmx1 uh but rm1 adjacent so the only reason why we're here is about 70 square
feet. It's what I would consider a de minimis dimensional variance. This is an existing two
family dwelling. My client recently purchased the property. However, 720 is required for the two
lot area for the two family dwelling. And what exists currently is 643. So that's really the
only reason why we're here this is the property in question on the left as you
can see there's residential right immediately next door on either side we
have some photos of the units
i've already forwarded plans and the letter from center city residents association i have a binder
here of 51 exhibits 147 individual households were mailed uh the meeting was very well attended
and as a result everyone voted to not oppose the request
because of the nature of the dimensional variance being so de minimis because it
exists as a two-family dwelling and because it's adjacent to other residential properties
on the first floor I respectfully request that this appeal be granted and with that I'd like
to call my client, Mr. Sharif Youssef, to raise his virtual hand.
Mr. Sharif, that's been allowed to speak.
Yes, hello.
Hi, could you state your name and spell it for the court reporter?
Sure, Sharif Youssef, first name S-H-A-R-I-F, last name is Y-O-U-S-S-E-F.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Sharif, have you heard my presentation to the board this morning?
Is it true and accurate to the best of your knowledge?
And do you adopt it as your own testimony?
Yes, I do.
Thank you very much.
I have nothing further.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
questions or comments from the virtual audience
i'll see no further hands mr chair planning commission thank you chair bergman ian hegarty
for the philadelphia city planning commission members of the board this proposed use variance
is minimal and does not conflict with the purpose and spirit of the zoning code the city planning
commission recommends that the board grant the variance mi 2021 00 4632 407 south 20 street i
vote yes. Harold Tenere, my vote is yes. Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes. Thank you. Thank you.
Mr. Anastasio, please stay on. Okay. MI 2021, 004-630-4400-Aldeen Street.
Do not see an RCO letter yet in our file. And Vern, it's you again. Just state your name.
you've already been sworn? Sure. Vern Anastasio, A-N-A-S-T-A-S-I-O. Right. Could you identify
your client and their relationship to the property? Yes. Jessica Yee, who is the property management
and agent of the owner. Right. Our vice chair has a few questions for you. Hi, Mr. Anastasio.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
It appears that you do have the required documents submitted.
Is that correct?
That's correct.
Last night, the RCO sent over a letter of non-opposition.
Ms. Sunkit should have it.
I forwarded it to Ms. Attorney Saleta as well this morning.
um attorney saletta as well uh this morning so if thank you it's not in my packet thank you that
seems to be a pattern with the rcos the night before you may miss sunkett can can confirm
otherwise i am able to pull it up i'll just have to share it separately no worries no worries okay
thank you um nevertheless we are talking let me zoom in here 4400 aldeen street uh this is for
It's the legalization of a pre-existing two-family dwelling.
My client purchased this property.
First of all, let's go to the basement.
It's just going to be unused for storage.
Here's the first floor apartment and the second floor apartment.
My client purchased this just last year.
When he purchased it, it was already a pre-existing two-family dwelling with some sort of, I would call, flex space in the walkout basement.
It looked like there was a kitchenette in there, but it didn't look like a full apartment.
But it was suspicious enough that the RCO and my client and I worked on a list of provisos to ensure that there would be no living space in this basement area.
We're merely trying to legalize the apartments for the top two.
It's already outfitted out.
My client purchased it just like this.
These are photos from the listing.
We did meet with the RCO.
We even had an in-person walkthrough of the property from the RCO leadership.
And the final meeting was March 8th.
I have an exhibit packet of 21 pieces of evidence. 104 families were mailed. And Holmesburg Civic Association is the RCO. And as of last night, they sent over a letter of non-opposition because my client came to this existing condition.
He believed that it was illegal to family at the time.
As you can see here, we've got two electric meters, one for each floor, one for each of the top floors, and then the house meter.
So my client reasonably relied on all of this evidence to the common eye to believe what he was purchasing was, in fact,
a legitimate legalized two-family dwelling and by the way right next door is another duplex
so in fact most of the houses on that side of the block are multi-family
so with that if you don't need me to pull up the rco letter and the administrator has that handy
i am going to call jessica lee to the panel jessica if you could raise your hand
Jessica? Yes. Can you state your name, please, and spell it for the court reporter?
Yeah, I'm Jessica. I'm here. Could you spell your first name and your last name, please?
uh j-e-s-s-i-c-a last name l-i all right do you swear firm to tell the truth the whole truth and
nothing but the truth i do proceed thank you mr chair jessica did you hear my presentation to the
board today yes i did is it true and accurate to the best of your knowledge yes and do you adopt
it as your own testimony yes thank you i have nothing else questions from the board no mr
Mr. Chairman. No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions from the virtual audience?
I have a Mr. David DeLugos with his hand raised.
With permission, I can allow him to speak.
Could you state your name and spell, please, for the court reporter?
My name is David DeLugos, D-A-V-I-D-D-L-U-G-O-S-Z.
do you swear or firm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
yes proceed so um first of all i'm the zoning chair of the homesworth civic association i
apologize for the belatedness of sending the the letter that is never our attention just
stuff happens sometimes um but i just wanted to concur you know since it obviously wasn't part of
it in uh part of the package i want to make sure i was here to convey what was in the letter
being that we are not opposed to the duplex variance with provisos in that the main proviso
being that we are not opposed to the duplex variants.
that's relevant to us here, I suppose, is the removal of the kitchen appliances from the ground
floor. And, you know, it was fitted out by the previous owner as a triplex. And that third meter
was uh wired for just the ground floor so you know to make sure that it's you know is not
intended to be a triplex and it's only for a duplex because we don't want to have to
come and revisit this you know with the next owner or later down the down the road
no living space on the on the ground floor yeah and and the removal of the kitchen appliances
from well we separately agree to that that's not something the zoning board or lni can enforce okay
got it uh planning commission thank you chair bergman ian hegarty for the philadelphia city
planning commission comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing single family zoning at
this location however given the apparently long-standing physical configuration of the
structure for two-family use, City Planning Commission recommends that the board grant
the variance and we support the proviso for no living space in the basement.
MI 2021-004630-4400 Aldean Street. I vote yes, proviso, no living space in first floor basement.
Carol Tenere my vote is yes with proviso. Thomas Holland my vote is yes with proviso.
James Snell yes with proviso. Dishno Shaheed yes with proviso. Thank you all.
MI 2021 002284 4500 D Street
letter of support
from the new 42nd
Democratic Ward.
Ali, it's your turn.
Can you promote him, please, Jason?
Mr. Abdeliz?
I'm trying to promote him right now, sir.
Sound like for some reason some error code came up not too long ago.
Yes, it's coming up for me as well, Jason.
Let me try.
Can one of the ladies on his own board staff try to promote him?
I can try.
Tanya, I'm sorry.
Sorry. I was on a call with Martha. Can you please remind me the name of the person?
Ali. And his hand is raised.
Okay. I see.
The other staff is getting an error code as well.
I know. I was just talking to Martha about, yes, fail to change role to panelist.
um during our break i can research this code i've never seen this error code come up
um but i am getting did you get the um fail to change rule to panelist error code 3028
yes that's the same thing i'm getting same with the staff yes do we have any more um before the
this session is completed we have we still have a couple more we do
allow me to move on and try to get him and tanya what's is it the system or is it just his system
i don't know because he was on before as the audio so if ali could you go out and come back
in let's try that and we'll put you on um a little later and see if we can resolve this issue so
because we don't want you to not be able to present okay um tanya if it seems to be consistent
i don't know if there's any way until lunch that someone on our staff could like do the
part where we present and we can allow them to talk hopefully without at least allow them
i guess they wouldn't be able to see that see them though yeah no they would have to okay
present themselves number 12 um yeah so we'll try to do that offline ali can you go out and come
back in mi 2021 002203 4931 to 59 spruce street rco garden core community association letter of