We're just allowing the attendees to enter the room.
It takes about 30 seconds to a minute, board members.
And Fatida, let me know the number.
Absolutely, Chair.
Chair. Yep. Sorry, Chair. Currently, we have 35, excuse me, 37 attendees. You can proceed as you
Thank you. Good morning, everyone. My name is Bill Bergman, and I will be chairing this morning's ZBA hearing.
With me is our Vice Chair Ismail Shaheed. Present, Mr. Chairman.
Our Board Member James Snell. Present, Mr. Chairman.
Our Board Member Cheryl L. Gaston. Present, Mr. Chairman.
Our board member, Kaneta Graham.
Chairman.
Board member, Michael Johns.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Our board member, Taya Nguyen.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Also, here is our attorney, Hillary Emerson, and also Catherine Grady, our deputy director for planning and zoning.
Here's our virtual format.
The proceedings are being recorded.
With your participation, you agree to be recorded.
The video will be available by contacting kathleen.grady at phillip.gov.
For our court stenographer, we ask attorneys and witnesses to identify themselves before
testifying.
If you're participating by phone, press star 9 to raise your hand and star 6 to unmute.
To enter an appearance statement, call 267-270-5548.
Leave your email address and the address of the property in question.
And finally, the question answer box on the screen is not for comments or testimony.
All comments should be directed to our Deputy Director, Kathleen Green.
Let's look at our schedule for today.
Number one.
Number one.
Number one, MI 2022, 005-549-1500 Winsome Street.
There's a request for contingence.
It's Mr. Hal Shermer in the audience, the attorney.
Good morning, Chair.
This is Yvette Benton.
I'll be your co-host for today.
Thank you.
Mr. Shermer has been allowed to speak.
Good morning, Mr. Shermer.
Could you please state your name and spell it for the court's an offer?
Good morning, Mr. Chairman, members of the board.
My name is Hal, H-A-L, last name Schirmer, S-C-H-I-R-M-E-R.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Mr. Schirmer, this is the fifth listing.
Could you give us a status?
This appeal was previously before the board on April 10th when at the request of the 10th Ward RCO and with the support of councilman's office, we requested a continuance.
On April 8th, we had spoken with the 10th Ward RCO and they said they would be able to schedule a RCO and neighbor hearing once the ZBA had scheduled the next hearing.
They initially said that we might be able to get a hearing on April 29th.
About four hours later, they called back or wrote back and said that would not work.
When this was rescheduled, I posted the property as required, notified the RCO as required,
called back to the RCO, and then two weeks ago heard from the RCO that they discontinue RCO work over the summer.
They take the summer off, and the next available time that they would be meeting would be September.
So, based on the request from the RCO and with the support of the Councilman's Office, I'm requesting that we continue this to, I think it's September 25th or October 2nd, so that we can meet with the RCO when they resume their RCO duties.
Thank you, Mr. Shermer. MI 2022-005-549-1500 Winslow Street. Cases continued. Mark must be heard. Thank you, sir.
Thank you.
Number three.
MI 2023-005-774-1616 North 2nd Street. Case has been continued. Attorney needed.
Case has been continued.
Attorney needed.
Number five, MI 2023-006-092-2105, South Simpson Street.
This case is continued.
Number six, MI 2023-006-880-3200 Cotman Street, that case has been continued.
Excuse me, Mr. Chair, can we see if anybody is here for 3200 Cotman Avenue?
If there are anyone present for 3200 Cotman Street, Chennai Daru is the listed owner.
I see no hands at this time, Chair.
MI 2023-006-880-3200-Cottman Avenue.
Cases continued.
Mark must be heard.
Number 11.
MI 2024-001-286-513-South 13th Street.
Case is continued. Number 12, MI 2024-001-287-1305-Robin Street. That case is continued.
Number 14, MI 2024-001-519-2128 Ridge Avenue. Case is continued. And number 16,
mi 2024 001 548 1307 robin street that case is continued are there any other requests for
continuances chair we have a call in user with their hand up call in the user please
unmute yourself and wait for the chair
good morning could you good morning could you please state your name and spell for the court
stenographer yeah tiffany green concerned citizens appoint sure sure just do me a favor spell your
name for the stenographers please t-i-f-f-a-n-y all right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth
told truth nothing but the truth yeah um okay i just want to get clarification 1329 south 22nd
street i thought they were supposed to be declared um continuous today did you listen did you call
that out sir hold on a minute miss green did you say 1329 south 22nd street yes that is on the two
o'clock list and we did receive a request for continuance that's why you didn't hear it this
morning okay thank you very much okay you're welcome thank you any other requests for continuance
chair i see no hands at this time okay thank you and number two
mi 2023 002 377 2655 south hutchinson street
do we have a mandarin interpreter in the audience
chair we have a mike wang with the hand up okay wang please unmute yourself and wait for the chair
good morning sir good morning this is mike wang mandarin interpreter thank you very much um could
you spell your name for the court sonographer uh first name official spelling m as in mary e i
hyphen h as in henry ui last name w a n g do you swear a firm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth yes i do could you call the case for us it's 25 26 55 south putcheson street
call the case and then i'll give you the names
Sorry, this is interpreted
Okay, you want me to address
It's 2655 South Hutchinson Street
H.U. Hongming Sen
2655 South Hutchinson Street
Hongming Sen
请问您在线上吗?
I see no hands at this time, Chair.
I was going to say, the other owner is
Shang Chao Ming.
Shang Chao Ming.
Mm-hmm.
I see no hands at this time, Chair,
and I see no one in the audience with that name.
Thank you very much.
Chair, hold on a minute.
Someone just put their hand...
Okay, their hand was up.
It was Sam Zhu.
Their head was up, but they just put it down.
their head was up but they just put it down
they are there
That's the expediter in this case.
We hadn't received any communication from the applicant for the hearing today.
However, we did receive an email from a neighbor indicating that the property was not posted for today's hearing.
Could I ask the interpreter if you could put that information on the record, just indicate that we had not heard from the property owner about this hearing, and we received information from a neighbor that the property was not posted as required for the hearing?
地址沒有被列在今天聽證會的信息,
沒有公告這個地址的聽證會的信息。
We have...
Thank you.
We have...
All right, hold on.
Hold on, who is speaking?
Mr. Sam Hsu, the applicant,
I posted the posters and sent the...
Excuse me, Mr. Zhu,
We need to swear you in.
Sir, could you state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Sam Xu.
Spell it, please.
S-A-M-X-U.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
First question, are the owners of the property here?
They are on the other line, yes.
Okay. We do not have any exhibits. This is the fifth listing.
We sent in all the exhibits. And then two days ago, I sent in the picture of the posters and the text clearance. That was two days ago.
Hillary, did you receive any of that?
I do not. I do not believe so. Not according to our records.
and we really do need to speak with the the owners we want the owners on the phone
uh can you guys speak up yeah speak up yeah hi i'm here my name is okay spell your
could all right have the interpreter please tell him to state his name and spell for the
I'm going to say, do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but
the truth.
Interpreter, could you ask them where his documents are and where does he stand on this
project?
请问您的文件在什么地方,然后您现在的这个进度到哪里了?
The design is completed on my computer, and I have sent it to you.
We do not have it.
We're going to move on with this.
We're going to continue this case one more time, and that's it, okay?
They'll have to have everything in one time, the next time, and be prepared. Please tell them that.
We haven't received it yet, so we have to continue to continue. We will be doing this on the next day.
In the next time, you have to be prepared for the information you need to send to us here.
So MI 2023-002-377-2655 South Hutchinson Street.
Cases continued
Mark must be heard
Mr. Wang, could you tell him that, please?
Sure, okay
Thank you, thank you very much
And interpreter, thank you for your time
No problem
Thank you for using our service
You all have a wonderful day
Bye-bye
You too, thank you
Number nine, MI 2024-001-273, 2000 South 21st Street.
21st street lisa the t-h-e is the listed owner we have no exhibits this is the first listing
Lisa Thee, T-H-E, is the listed owner.
lisa the please raise your virtual hand
she should be coming back in as a panelist
good morning could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
Okay, I see her, Chair. I don't know why she's trying to give.
Hi, Lisa, could you please? Chair, she's right at the panelists.
Okay. She's still on the attendee's side.
Ms. Hand, can you hold on a moment while I try again? She doesn't
need to be promoted. We do not have her documents.
so okay so could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer um my first name is
lisa l-i-s-a last name is t-h-e-t-s in tango h-s in harry e-s in echo all right do you swear
for him to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes i do we do not have your
documents of as of yet um so i i just got one email and like all of the email has like four
attachments um i'm just not sure what documents are you guys requiring for me so here here's what
listen listen to me this is what we're going to do we're going to continue your case yes and we're
going to in in the uh in the chat room we'll leave a phone number you can call our office and we'll
tell you what you need to have for the next time okay okay so i'm just uh excuse me here excuse me
ma'am? Yes. I will put our contact information, our address, phone number, and email in the chat
that way we can further assist you. Okay, that will be great. Thank you so much. I appreciate it.
Sure. So MI 2024-001-273-2000-South 21st Street, this case is continued. We're going to go to our
Add on list. Number one, MI 2024. 001 383 3515 Shelburne Street. I vote yes.
Michael John. I'm sorry. Go ahead. Michael John. My vote is yes.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes.
Tyowin, my vote is yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Number two, MI 2024.
This is a re-vote.
MI 2024-001-066-1826, North Newkirk Street.
I vote yes with provisos.
No household living in basement, interior trash,
one bedroom only on the second floor unit,
and a certificate of occupancy needed.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes with provisos.
thank you we're going to start with number our regular list we're going to go to number 15
MI 2024-001-520-2239-47 North 2027th Street.
Clementa Amazon is the attorney.
There's a letter of support from all in the family with an enforceable proviso.
Applicant also provided five-letter support from neighbors, including the adjacent neighbor at 2237 North 27th.
street. Council. Amazon is coming back in as a panelist now. Good afternoon, chairman and members
of the board. Good morning, Council. How are you? Could you please state your name and spell for the
court stenographer. Good morning. I'm from Amazon. So C-L-E-M-E-N-T-A. Last name is A-M-A-Z-A-N.
All right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
All right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Could you identify your client or relationship to the property?
My client is Top Tier Builders LLC. They are the owners of the property, and I have Colby Mills as the representative of the owner.
Thank you. Our vice chair has a few questions.
Good morning, counsel. Do you agree to waive the reason of the refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that is needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, I have.
Thank you, counsel. Please proceed and share your screen.
Thank you.
Again, my name is Clementa Amazon, and I will be presenting 2320-239-47 North 21st Street.
During my presentation, I will go through the refusal.
We did receive a letter of support from the RCO, as well as from nearby neighbors,
maps of the area, as well as photos of the property, our notice, which was provided of the duty meeting,
the certificates of mailing, application for appeal, project information form,
The deed showing that top-tier builder's LLC is the owner of the property, as well as our certificate of tax clearance.
So this property is a pre-existing use, as you will see in my presentation.
It has already been fitted out for more of an industrial use.
My client purchased the property as is.
He did some renovations.
However, he is now looking to have his tenant maintain the use of the property as an electrician stores and office space.
so we do have two refusals because the property is zoned for residential use it is on rsa5
however again this is a pre-existing use a pre-existing structure that my client would
like to continue using in this commercial space we do have a letter of support from the rco stating
that they do support the project the provisals that they have requested are specifically for
the use of storage and office use only which we are happy to comply with they also requested that
we prove on the record are operating hours. This is not a space that customers would be
frequenting in and out. It is purely for storage as well as office space. We imagine that the
expected office hours will be from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. And my client does have a great relationship
with the neighborhood, and he was able to reach out to nearby neighbors to request letters of
support, as you can see here. The first letter that we have is Women & Neighbor on 2600 West
Susquehanna Avenue stating that they support the project, 2231 North 27th Street, 2237 North 27th
Street, 2630 West Dolphin Street, 2703 West Sedgley Street. And as I mentioned, this is a
pre-existing use, as you can see here, for this application for a zoning permit. In this present
section right here, I think it might be a little close to see here, but you can see that the
use at that time was for sheet metal fabrication shop with accessory storage and office and this
dates back to 1983 again my client purchased this property as is he made some renovations as you will
see further in my presentation with the photos however this is a long-standing use that has been
dating back to 1983 and here we have a photo of the map of the area just an aerial view
as we can see here we are along about 27th street with west dolphin right patty corner as well as
west fletcher street i'm just going to zoom out here to show the floor plans that we have for
the property we do have two floors here and the entrance is along the first floor just zoom in
so you enter along here and then there's storage available throughout the property
There's a separate room here.
Further back, there's storage along the full length of the property.
There's a separate room that's provided to the left as well.
And then we have office space and further storage along the second floor.
And again, my client did significant work on this property.
It was a nuisance, and as you can see, very much so on the ISO for the community.
This is how the property looked when he first purchased it.
So again, it was not well maintained at all.
There was junk and a lot of dumping of trash for this particular space.
So these are photos of what the property looked like prior to my client's acquisition
and as they began working to clear things out.
So this is a photo showing once the property was completely cleared of that trash.
So this is the photo showing once the property was completely cleared of that trash.
And a view of the front of the property.
As you can see, he painted it.
He installed new windows.
So he really put in a lot of effort to make sure that the property was no longer a nuisance
and an eyesore for the community, which resulted in him establishing a great relationship with
neighbors and being able to see the letters of support that you guys absolutely and me
present not too long ago.
Again, photos of the front of the property.
and here we have a photo showing that the property was in fact posted for today's hearing
the application for appeal submitted by that client
our project information form detailing the description of the project
i apologize just sent the head there the notice that we sent out for the community meeting
and again we did receive a letter of support from the community as well as several letters
from nearby neighbors again the refusal that we have here this is a pre-existing structure
it is a non-conforming use that date back to 1983 the refusals because the property is zoned as rsa
5 although it is not fitted out as such and has not been used in that matter for quite some time
so we do have refusals for the equipment and material storage as well as the office space
list of properties that were notified of the meeting our certificate of mailing
and the d showing that my client top tier builders llc does in fact own the property
as well as our certificate of tax clearance so with that i would be happy to answer any
questions that the board may have as well as have my client about my testimony it should be
colby mills in the virtual audience why don't we bring your client on and counselor could you
tell us again the hours 8 a.m to 4 p.m seven days a week yeah okay and i'll have my client
confirm that as well sure thank you colby mills please raise your virtual hand
colby mills please unmute yourself and wait for the chair
Good morning, sir. Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Good morning. My name is Colby Mills, spelled C-O-L-B-Y, last name M-I-L-L-S.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, counsel.
Hi, Colby. Did you hear my presentation today?
I did.
And was it true and correct?
It is.
And could you specify what the hours of operation will be for the property?
So I believe it's it's actually Monday through Friday, eight to four.
Thank you.
Would you have got my testimony as your own?
I would.
Thank you.
Questions from the board.
Questions from the board.
Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Emerson.
not at this time mr chair questions or comments from the virtual audience
chair i see no hands at this time planning commission thank you chairman and good morning
david vecto f-e-c-t-e-a-u with the city planning commission do you swear or affirm to tell the
truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes sir i do please proceed thank you sir chairman
Chairman and board members, the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the RSA-5 residential
single-family zoning at this location.
The city changed the zoning maps for this property from RM-2 residential multifamily
to RSA-5 in 2014.
The RM-2 zoning dated to 1967 when the property was rezoned from industrial to residential.
This property has a history of storage use.
The 1942 and 1962 works progress administration maps show this as an industrial block face.
So the requests for equipment and materials storage yard and business office are consistent with prior documented use of the property.
The City Planning Commission recommends that the Board grant their proposed use variances for equipment and materials storage yard and business office.
Thank you.
MI 2024-001-520-2239-47 North 27th Street. I vote yes with Proviso. Hours of operation 8A to 4P, Monday to Friday.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Taya Nguyen, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Thank you.
Number four, we're going to go to number four.
Thank you, by the way, counsel.
So MI 2023, 006-089, 2000 East Clearfield Street.
Rachel Pagan is the applicant.
There's a recommendation of support from Somerset Neighbors for Better Living.
Vote was six in support, a zero opposed.
A letter of non-opposition also from Council Member Squill.
Chair, Ms. Pagan will be coming back in as a panelist now.
Good morning, Ms. Pagan.
Ms. Pagan?
Sorry.
Good morning.
Could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Rachel Pagan, R-A-C-H-A-E-O, Pagan, P-A-G-A-N.
Right.
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
yes could you please turn on your uh video of course okay our um our vice chair has just a
few questions for you okay good morning have you emailed in all the required documents and
exhibits that is needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing yes
Thank you. Please proceed and share your screen.
And this application is for use as a sit-down restaurant on the ground floor of an existing attached structure. No change to existing multifamily household living use on the second floor and third floor. The proposed use sit-down restaurant is prohibited in the CMX1 zoning district.
correct um so why don't you proceed with your presentation okay thank you um so my name is
rachel pagan and as i am leasing the property from my older sister margie pagan um the property
for discussion is 2000 east clearfield um as you stated uh we're pretty much focusing on the ground
floor. To the right is a notice of refusal. The proposal here is seeking a variance to permit that
sit-down restaurant that can activate the serving neighborhood in a CMX1 commercial district.
In this case, implementing local businesses will help stimulate the economic growth in our
neighborhoods. This proposal hopes to create accessibility to food and promote pedestrian
friendly places in the community, a way of investing in our neighborhood.
And then here is pretty much a site mapping. As you can see, the property is locating in the
Kensington neighborhood at the corner of Emerald and Clearfield. The site is the red box. So here
I've highlighted a five minute walking distance from the site, a number of schools in the
neighborhood and restaurants to pretty much show the dynamic of the neighborhood, but
also to see how we could contribute to the neighborhood, creating more access to food
spots, creating access to safer places.
And in this case, there is a higher number of schools within that five-minute radius.
So being so safety is pretty much a concern, a concern factor in activating vacant and unused spaces like the ground floor of this building.
And by activating spaces, we have more surveillance and community involvement.
And then the prior use of this building was a cafe back in the 50s.
I do know the current uses in the early 2000s was a bar and recently within 2017 it was a notary
place and then based on some of the existing photos that I have here it's pretty much used
for storage and then a proposed schematic that we've laid out just thinking about how we would
arrange the spaces nothing is permanent it's just um based on some of how we would arrange the
spaces um as you can see the ground floor there's about three entrances a side and then two from
the frontal approach and some of the documentations needed uh we were
And some of the documentations needed, we were supported by the meeting.
And then here are some photos of the documentations that we had to post out in the front, application for appeal, the project information forms that we submitted, and the commercial leasing.
And if I'm not mistaken, you also have a letter from Council Member Squillin, right, correct?
Yes. Okay. Thank you. Questions from the board?
Questions. Yes. How many seats are you planning to have?
you said um based on tables not too many um probably about five to six we're mostly thinking
of it as um accessory seating rather than um rather than like an actual sit-down restaurant
um but minimal i would say five seatings with about four chairs
so you're planning to have more takeout and yeah yeah it's receiving it okay and is that
part of the application here uh yes it is okay and uh are you going to have um uh
cooking or a type of cooking that might require venting of some sort?
Yes, we will. Since it won't be prepped, we will have to have a kitchen in the back,
and then we would have like steam tables to arrange the food out for it to be a takeout and go.
okay and is the venting um shown on your plans or where would this be technically they're not
because in this um in this sense we're just trying to get a variance for the particular
um zoning of the property so before i would um have any permits for that i would want to make
sure that the zoning is correct for me to do to change the use in a sense.
OK, thank you, of course.
All the questions from the board.
Yeah, I do have a question.
So you're so you're so you're your request is for a takeout restaurant,
not a sit down restaurant.
Is that what your parents was for?
Are you your appeal?
So technically it I did write sit down.
And I'm talking about it in the sense of a takeout restaurant with the accessory of seating, but that in particularly depends on the spacing of the floor plan.
But if I'm correct, in the zoning, takeout and sit down are both not permitted for this zoning for a CMX1.
but your refusal says sit down yes and you're saying take out which is different so
yeah with the accessory seating well technically yes it will be um a sit down restaurant because
you would have you would be seating there
so it's a sit down restaurant yes sir okay um i have a question um are uh the signs
that i see in the picture is that are you intending on keeping that no that came with
the previous tenant that was there for the notary if i'm correct okay so um and is it maybe in the
future a replacement um and the other question was you said that um this was operating as a bar
um is that is there any um as a sit-down restaurant or a takeout as you mentioned
take out sit down um is there any kind of liquor license um no if i'm still no not not that i know
but my um i do know that the reason there wasn't a liquor license um there prior because somebody
had tried to uh zone it for a bar is because there's schools around there so um they denied
that thank you questions from our attorney hillary emerson
um i just wanted to to clarify for miss pagan i mean if this is intended to
be you know if you want this to be primarily a takeout or at times be primarily take out
other times be primarily a sit down um this this zoning approval only covers a sit-down restaurant
um this this zoning approval only covers a sit-down restaurant as it is written so i just
as it is.
wanted to make sure that that that you're clear and if your business model changes or has already
changed you may want to be pursuing um different zoning than what you're pursuing so i just want
to be clear that sit-down restaurant is what is on here not not a takeout restaurant so um
um so that we're all on the same page because you can change you know you can change what you want
to do that is fine um but if you won't come back later and want to do a takeout you will need to
go through this process again um because this is only for a sit-down restaurant and and and you
show a number of tables and chairs and chairs right this account didn't did i see a counter too
yeah so i mean if it's a if it's a i mean it's based on your plan is a sit down and based on
the number of tables and chairs would be 10 people or whatever that you have shown on your plan
um so i would consider yes i would consider it a sit down restaurant i think the concept of
take out is the accessory to it in a sense of having the option of doing that.
But technically, yes, it is a sit down.
Can I ask the chair, if this is approved, would there be a proviso that it would be
the number of chairs and tables as shown on their plan?
Is that something that could be a proviso?
Yeah, I thought, too, if it's approved, I'd have to say sit down only.
Right. And under the code, like a takeout restaurant has fewer than four seats. So there's got to be certain minimal, minimal seating for it to be considered a sit down restaurant.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I see no, Mr. Chair.
Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chairman, and good morning, David Vecto.
With the City Planning Commission, Chairman and Board members, the Comprehensive Plan recommends no change to the CMX1 commercial mixed-use zoning at this location.
This property has a documented history of business use dating to at least 1952.
The City Planning Commission recommends that the Board grant the proposed use variance for a sit-down restaurant.
Thank you.
MI 2023-006-089, 2000 East Clearfield Street, I vote yes, proviso, sit down restaurant only.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes, with proviso.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes, with proviso.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes, with proviso.
Iowen, my vote is yes, with proviso.
james snell my vote is yes with proviso ishmael shaheed my vote is yes with proviso thank you
number 10 mi2024 001 280 1449 south 13th street
um gloria pilulo is the real estate investment firm
Ms. Palullo, can you please raise your virtual hand?
Gloria Palullo?
I see her in the audience
She's not raising her virtual hand
She's going back over now as a panelist chair
Thank you
Good morning, Gloria, did her hand go up?
Ms. Palulo, please unmute yourself.
she's not doing anything chair okay um why don't we do this why don't we move on
To get this one more case we have, that's a pro se, and then we'll come back before we start.
to get this one more case we have that's a pro say and then we'll come back before we start
Number 17, MI 2024-001-620-2308-76th Avenue.
Patricia Quigley and Alan Greenberg are the owners.
There's a letter of support from the 50th Ward Democratic Executive Committee.
I'm here.
Good morning.
Could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Patricia Quigley.
Q-U-I-G-L-E-Y.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
So this application is for use as a two-family household living in an existing structure.
Correct.
The proposed use, two-family household living, is prohibited in the RSA 5 zoning district.
Our vice chair has a few questions.
Good morning, counsel.
Do you agree to waive the read and other reviews or assiculate to its accuracy?
Say that again? I'm sorry. Oh, excuse me. I thought this was
pro se. Have you emailed in all of the required documents and exhibits that is needed
to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
It wasn't five days in advance, but I did get a, and I apologize for that. I misread. I thought we
were just presenting here, but I did get a receipt email that everything was submitted.
great okay please proceed to share your screen okay how do i do that it's a green button at
the bottom of the screen okay here we go here we go should already have all your documents up
here you go you're coming up okay great
it shows the documents you have okay so this is our application okay thank you
this is our refusal letter
okay okay yep this is our letter to the community
okay and this is our support from the rco
i don't know if you could see that whole thing my my what what do you remember what what was the
vote okay thank you okay yep um here's the deed to 76th avenue
it's both me
and Alan Greenberg
who is also on the Zoom
all right
can you show us photos of the property?
yes I'd be happy to
I have the time stamp
of the zoning notice
that Alan put up
I have our tax clearance
um and i hear all the photos of the property uh do you want me to make one i mean i mean is this
is this already a duplex it is it was built as a duplex when we bought it um alan when did we buy
it i can't remember you got it alan would have to be sworn why don't you just give us a sense of
Give us a sense of how long you've got it.
We've owned it.
I have the original appraisal here.
Hang on.
So we bought it in 2005 as a duplex.
It was not zoned as a duplex, but it was clearly built as a duplex.
So why don't you show us some photos of the building?
Show us utilities and things like that.
Here's the utilities.
Can you see that?
I'm not sure how to get out of that
do I just X out of it
there's a little
in the corner there right
I got it
here's one of the heaters
and here's the other one
and then here's the two hot water heaters
I'll show you the two kitchens
here's the kitchen on the first floor
here's the kitchen on the first floor.
The living room on the first floor.
And then this is the bedroom on the first,
I think it's the first floor or the second floor.
I can't remember.
Here's the kitchen on the second floor.
All right.
so so you've had this since 2005 correct let me just show you the interior also of like
this is the steps going up to the second floor apart yeah okay okay so you've had this since
2005 there's you're making no changes to the building the way it was you're just right you're
trying to legalize it correct we also got i don't know if you're interested but we did get
the lead certifications on both apartments and they passed all right thank you questions from
the board no questions okay uh i guess my question is um why yeah why are you doing this now what
brought this to your attention that this wasn't a legal use uh to be honest uh you know we we
were sold the real estate and they said it would be an easy process i did make an application
uh right after we purchased the property and there was some reason it was rejected i i can't
remember I have the paperwork here. And then, you know, time
passed and I just didn't do it. And now
Alan and I are thinking about, you know, we're getting up in
age. So we're thinking about selling it again. And we knew
that that would be required.
Okay. Thank you. Yeah, sure. Questions from our attorney.
Not at this time, Mr. Chair. Questions or comments from the virtual audience.
i see no heads chair planning commission thank you chairman and good morning david effecto with
the city planning commission chairman and board members the comprehensive plan recommends no
change to the rsa5 residential single family zoning at this location the appellant purchased
the property which had been converted into two dwelling units by a prior owner without the
benefit of permits. The City Planning Commission recommends the board grant a proposed use
variance for two dwelling units. Thank you. MI 2024-001-620-2308-76th Avenue, I vote yes.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes. Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes.
james snell my vote is yes my vote is yes taiwan my vote is yes thank you my vote is yes
thank you you have your your votes will we receive something by email you will you will you will yep
thank you so much everyone thank you really appreciate it thank you all right let's go back
Let's go back to number 10, MI 2024, 001-280, 1449 South 13th Street, Gloria Palullo.
Gloria Palullo, please raise your virtual hand.
I see her name in the virtual audience chair, but she's not raising her hand for some reason.
All right. All right. So I'm going to move on to our regular list, and I'll check with her one more time before we're done.
All right. Thank you.
One, two, three, four, five, six.
Number seven, MI 2023-007-155, 2401 Aramingo Avenue, Zen Jin is the attorney.
There's a letter of support from Old Richmond Civic Association.
There were notices sent, but there were no near neighbors,
and there's a letter of non-opposition from Council Member Squillin.
He's coming back in as a panelist now, Chair.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Good morning, counsel.
Yvette, did we see him?
I got the message and he was going back over. He was going in as a panelist chair. I don't know.
He should be popping up hopefully shortly.
Okay. Thank you.
Uh-huh.
Good morning. I'm sorry about that. I had some technical difficulties on my email.
That's okay, counsel. Hi, could you please state your name and spell for the course stenographer?
Yes, my name is Zen Jin, Z-H-E-N-J-I-N, 1617 John F. Kennedy Boulevard, Suite 1838, Philadelphia PA 19103, here on behalf of the applicant.
You swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client and relationship to this property?
Sure. My client is a tenant at the property, Gilmore Japanese Grill, Inc., and Mr. Hong Lee should be here today on behalf of the corporation.
Our vice chair has just a few questions, sir.
Good morning, counsel.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?
I do waive the reading.
It is a referral, but otherwise I would stipulate.
Thank you.
Understood.
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that is needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
We have.
Thank you, counsel.
Please proceed and share your screen.
Thank you.
I'm going to share with the board what was previously submitted as exhibits in support.
Can the board see the documentation I have on the screen?
I can. We can.
Thank you.
So we have submitted the referral notice, the RCO letter, photos, plans, business plan, and related documentation in support of this application.
This is an application for a sit-down restaurant, well, sit-down and take-out restaurant at the location, which is suite 21 of an existing shopping center.
It is Zone CA2, however, there's an overlay, neighborhood commercial area overlay in that area that requires that eating and drinking establishments shall only be permitted by special exception, and hence why we're here before the board today.
This shopping center has had previous uses very similar to this, and our use is really no different than another sit-down restaurant in this location.
Only primary difference for us is that we're fitting out a new space within the shopping center
for the use that we intend to do. What the space is, is that the shopping center has pet supply
and nails. We are the space between the two here on the corner in the photograph.
This will be fitted out to a Japanese sushi and also a hibachi grill, all-you-can-eat style restaurant, which is known as shabu-shabu.
I think it's a Japanese term.
Quite popular style restaurants in the U.S.
Currently, their sales, annual sales of this style restaurant can reach up to $38 billion.
The restaurant itself would be fitted out for a sit-down style.
You will have individual barbecue space in front of you.
You would sit in there.
You will be given the meats and the sushi, and it would be a buffet style.
As you can see, as of right now, the space is empty.
We want to make sure that the zoning is approved before moving forward with the renovations and fit out for the space.
The community had no issues with our proposal.
The use itself is very consistent to what is in the area.
This is the space within the shopping center.
As you can see, we're contained within the shopping center with plenty of parking, so
that would not cause any issue for the surrounding neighborhood.
This shopping center, again, with the location where we are, there would not be any trash
or fumes that would reach residential neighbors.
The shopping center does have its own designated trash areas that we would be required to use
per the lease agreement and they have delivery areas as well within the shopping center. Again,
we'll be following the requirements of the lease in all those aspects. The space fit out here is
the plan. As you can see, there are lots of seating with individual grills and it would
all be vented directly above and people would actually sit down and barbecue on the spot.
and people would actually sit down and barbecue on the spot so it is a special exception we would
submit that this particular use at this location would not cause a any hardship greater than what
would normally be expected of this type of use in this type of a location i'm happy to answer
any questions from the board we do have mr hong lee here with us to verify my testimony
and i can redirect to any other part of the exhibit as the board may desire thank you so
Counsel, why don't you have your testimony adopted?
Mr. Lee, can you raise your hand virtually to be identified?
Hong Lee has been allowed to speak.
Good morning, sir.
Good morning, sir.
Could you please state your name and spell for this stenographer?
My name is Hong Lee.
Spelling is H-O-N-G-L-I.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, counsel.
Thank you.
Mr. Lee, did you see my presentation on your screen and hear the representation I made before the Zoning Board?
Can you verify what I have presented to be true and correct and adopted as your own testimony?
Thank you.
Questions from the Board?
No questions.
No questions, Chair.
I have one.
It says here that there were no near neighbors. You mean that this shopping center and where this is located, there's no one within 250?
No, no. There was no near neighbors who appeared for the meeting. We notified the near neighbors, but no one showed up at the actual community meeting for the 40 years.
Okay. All right. I'm reading the summary wrong. Okay. Thank you.
That's okay.
Questions or comments for our attorney, Hillary Emerson?
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair Bergman, and good morning.
David Effecto with the City Planning Commission.
Chairman and board members, the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the CA2 commercial auto-oriented zoning at this location.
The appellant has shown that the proposed takeout restaurant will not cause detrimental impacts to the neighborhood beyond what normally might be expected.
The City Planning Commission recommends that the board grant their proposed special exception for an eating and drinking establishment takeout restaurant.
Hillary, do you want me to mention the suite?
I believe it's already part of the refusal, so I don't think you need to mention it.
Thank you very much.
MI 2023-007-155-2401 Aramigo Avenue, I vote yes.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes.
Sonetta Graham, my vote is yes.
Tyowin, my vote is yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you.
Have a good day, everyone.
Number eight, MI-2023.
Mr. Chair, the staff have been working with Ms. Palullo, trying to get her on.
Yes, I believe there's someone with their hand raised that may be her.
I think she was having technical difficulties previously.
Okay, sure.
Thank you.
They have been allowed to speak.
Please unmute yourself and wait for the board.
Okay, give me one minute.
Ms. Palullo, Palullo?
Okay, there you go, you're up here.
Hello?
Hi, is Gloria there?
Ms. Palullo, you've been allowed to speak,
please unmute yourself.
yes i'm sorry chair she's on the phone number and on the um computer
hello can you hear me i i can't all right but could you can't we can hi could you state your
name please and spell for the sonographer oh yes gloria polilo p-e-l-u-l-l-o right you swear
affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do could you put your
video on please so we can see you uh oh i don't know how to do that i'm not see if what's that
miss dandy they want me to put my video on so they could see my face well i wouldn't you would
Well, I want you to have to make your. Listen, listen to me. You're going to have to make a presentation, too.
have to make your present listen listen to me you're going to have to make a presentation
Excuse me, Chair. Miss Palullo.
Yeah. You have to be a panelist in order to present.
And the option doesn't allow you to be a panelist or to be on camera.
Well, we're going to start.
My husband's speaking with Miss Dandy and she's walking him through this.
here we're getting this did you raise your hand okay
oh good can you see us now yeah they can see us hello no we can't see you
We're up in the corner.
Miss Dandy, they can't see us.
Yes, Gloria, we can see you.
Oh, you can?
Yes, we can see you and your husband right there on camera.
Please share your screen.
I'm going to go to the bottom of the screen and hit share your screen.
Share your screen.
Oh, my God, this is like, how's that?
So, my husband's going to do this presentation here.
Is your husband Lawrence?
No, no, no.
Lawrence is my brother.
He is...
Hold on, hold on, hold on.
Hold on, wait, wait.
Well, Hillary, we can't do that, can we?
Well, hold on.
So, sir, what is your name?
My name is Neil Palullo.
Lawrence is my brother.
Originally, the building, well, actually, the owners were...
Gloria Palula Real Estate Investors.
The title is Gloria Palula Real Estate Investors.
My brother has signed over the building to us, I don't know, 20 years ago.
Okay, so you are one of the three partners in the partnership that owns the building?
Correct.
Okay, all right.
That's what I...
really my brother's not no longer an owner but right and we did receive the letter that you
provided from him saying that um that Gloria could could represent and we we weren't clear
what the status of of you were as the third partner but that that is fine that you can
that you can present the chair will swear you in all right sir could you please state your name
and spell for this
spell yes my name is
Neil Pellulo
that's N-E-I-L-P-E-L
U-L-L-O
right do you swear or affirm to tell the
truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
could you please put your video up
your screen
share your screen
the green button at the bottom
the green button at the bottom
share share screen yeah this keeps coming up there i don't know can you minimize it i'm sorry we're
just having so much technical problems and we've been working with this since october so thank you
for bearing with us here it comes are there we there now i see zoom yes and just i'll bring up
your documents. Bring up the documents.
Right there.
There.
Yeah, you know.
Okay, so tell them.
We say, listen,
who's going to testify? Neil?
My husband.
Okay, Neil, so that's...
Okay, so first of all,
this application is for uses of multiple
family household living. Three dwelling
units in an existing structure the proposed use multiple family household living is prohibited
in the cmx zoning district when adjacent to the rsa5 zoning district
our vice chair is going to ask you a few questions
good morning
are you there yes i'm here have you emailed in all the uh required documents and exhibits that
is needed to proceed with this case five days in advance yes i have thank you please proceed
and show your screen neil neil is this already a triplex
yes let me give you some history the building existing building existing zoning was for two
family and one commercial there's always been two apartments on the second and third floors
apartments on the second and third floors of the building and then the first floor was always a
of the building and in the first war
beauty beauty salon which was zoned commercial so our request is to change the the part that was
commercial to a single family so it would be a three family instead of the existing two family
and one commercial that's what we're requesting please go through some of your photos
I'm having some trouble with this.
Let's see.
I'm not sure how to get to the other photos.
Can you pull up one at a time?
That's what I'm not getting all of them.
Oh, wait, wait.
Maybe up here.
How about there?
There.
I see that.
That's the zoning notice.
We have that.
I love that.
So that's what you want it to look like?
Why don't you explain that to us?
Well, this is basically existing, okay?
You can see all three floors.
There's the first floor, second floor, and third floor.
Now, the first floor is what we're requesting the variance for.
You can see it's marked as beauty parlor, and that's the existing condition.
It's one large room with a kitchenette divider.
These are all existing conditions, too, by the way.
We have a bathroom and a closet.
So we're asking to change this zoning from commercial to single family.
There is no work to be done.
This was already set up like this.
We're just looking to change the zoning so it's legally, you know, we could put in a single family in there.
Now, it's been vacant for a while because we just haven't been able to, you know, find a store to go in there.
So we'd like to go with a single family.
The other two floors are existing.
There are apartments.
You can see the second floor, kitchen, living room, and then the third floor is the bedrooms.
And they're both similar in setup.
And that's pretty much it.
the one apartment has a wood deck again these are existing conditions for the second and third floor
there's an apartment in the front an apartment in the back of the building and uh that's pretty
much for the floor plans any any questions on that a third floor is there two apartments on
the third floor well it's there's they're divided in half like the third floor there's an apartment
bedroom on one side.
In other words, there's a front apartment
and a rear apartment.
There's separate stairs going up to each one.
They're separated by the dead
space in between.
They're both by
level, you're saying?
Yeah, they're both by level, correct.
Thank you.
Thank you.
You said it was three
entrances, like three
entrances to the building?
the the main entrance to the building is uh let's say
on the 13th street side you can see there's a little set of steps there where
by where that where it says kitchen on the first floor floor plan that actually is the main entrance
to get into the the apartments that are on the second and third floor the entrance for the beauty
beauty parlor uh you can see a little arrow there where it says 16 foot there's one entrance in to
that first floor where it says beauty parlor there a little arrow there's a door right there that's
the entrance and i have pictures of that if i can bring them up yeah why don't you try to do that
it looks like it's a maybe a door in the back is there a third door in the back
There is.
And is that
in any of the apartments or it's just
like a storage door for the first floor?
It's just the storage
for the first floor, the one in the back.
So that door in the rear
goes to that storage room in the first
floor? Yeah, that's
just storage and that's not an apartment.
Storage and then access
to the basement for any type
of repairs, whatever.
But that's just the access for
us to use the building for some
storage and okay access to the to the basement then again that's been existing it's all existing
so that's just the egress on the first floor
the egress for the first floor is just just on um dickinson street that's where it says 16 foot
That's where it says 16 foot.
i got you
I got you.
Where it says 16 foot, the arrow there.
Do you have any photos at all?
Yeah, no, I do.
I'm just having trouble bringing them up, let's see.
Okay, so maybe you go along the front top there?
Yeah, that's what I'm...
I've got more.
Why can't I do this?
You want to try that?
More, maybe I have more.
The red thing is across the top.
Can you tap any of them?
Like move to your right.
Move to your right.
Move to your right.
Keep moving.
To your right.
My right.
Then go that way.
how about over there
it looks like a bunch of pictures
workspaces
can you pull each individual
one up like you could be
vertical tabs
that's not good
there these are all the exhibits
oh here you go
let me get some pictures here
that worked let's see yeah i got i got something going here um just tap on that please
there are photos here um
what about the uh wait wait wait wait throw up top here first floor plans
can you tap on that bring it up i got it i got here here we go 14 this is uh this one here
all right okay bring it up
I can't bring it up.
No, I can't get this.
All right.
All right, Neil, tell me, is there commercial on your block?
oh yeah yeah i mean there's when folks on the opposing on the opposite corner there's uh
the grocery grocery store well actually they're they're they're stores but they're vacant
the other is your listen listen to me listen to me is your corner is your location a corner property
yes that's corner property okay all right
do we have enough to vote
um if the board has seen enough information then yes mr chair
all right um questions from the board i haven't seen enough i i don't i don't know what's going
on so we're gonna have to continue this i mean i i we just wait wait let me let me try to
if i can bring some more up please yeah but yeah please got it i mean but we got a lot of other
properties still projects now we worked on this for nine months and we're trying to get this
completed can you click on one of the other tabs at the top it looks like you have that's what i
keep asking them to do i see a lot of pdfs that are open okay so where are they at now keep moving
down to the next tab to the next tab in the next time your tabs aren't sure
local or shared how's that well let me do their file
okay do you see the little pdf symbol next to that purple x the on the other side yep no keep
clicking through see these all those little pdf symbols each of those has your pictures
keep going keep going she's trying to help
go the other way the other way yeah right here here go go along there
oh i got it there was an error i know that okay okay we got it yeah thank you thank you thank you
for your patience okay so this is the front entrance uh going into the existing beauty shop
so that's your that would be your main entrance to go into the new single family this is on the
dickens street 13th street this is the 13th street side of the facade go the next photo okay next
next photo is
photo is well you got to move down up
well you got to move down up top
no you up top you got to go to the next
up here right
go to the right the other we'll keep going to the other side the other side
the other side of the x the other side of the x
it says audio he's talking about this side he's talking the left side i think
no the other side
go to the right you can there you go we're coming along here all right this is the uh
entrance that's dickinson that's the entrance to the apartment this is dickinson street entrance to
the apartments existing okay move the next move to the next photo please
go back the same way you did before
I don't know how I did it even
click the X it'll close and move to the next one
this is the application for appeal
okay next one
I know
that's the notice zoning notice
okay we got it going now
please keep going
I can't get out of this
I keep going backwards here
can you move to your right
my right
yeah I want you to move down that line
we know that keep going
the other way
it's not funny
really it's not funny
I know
I'm so upset
just keep clicking the X
it'll close and move to the next one
there's no X there
where it's highlighted in purple
just click on it
the x right there now yeah close that all right now close that one
yeah there's your d all right there we go okay this is the interior first floor interior
the other side of that door that's on 13 13th street looking at right all right keep moving
okay this is the the rear of the same floor first floor rear yeah we do a wash and dryer there
This is the organization for my brother.
This is, okay, this was the RCO, not our position, all five members.
That's the floor plan.
This is the plan on the streets.
Show where the building is.
Right there.
On the property.
Where was I now?
That's a good idea.
it's coming up by the audio just click on that
I can't get you moved now listen to me listen to me
you got to move it a little bit further along we just can't keep staying with this
can you go over to the next tab to the right
the audio is covering it up
oh wait
there you go
there you go
that's proof right
what does that one have
there's another picture
these are the zoning pictures that we put up
yeah right we see all the zoning
pictures we're good with that
and here's
entrance in again from
uh that's the apartments right and then the door behind that is where that office space is
that the apartment would have access to right another view of the street street corners corner
property shown first floor and second floor there and this is only poster on the first floor front
door. I think you showed us you showed us everything you had pulled up. Okay. Yes,
I think so. And again, thank you. I apologize for our technical questions from the board.
technical question questions from the board
yes where is your um like is is there no outdoor space in the building
no there's no way would trash be stored
about trash take them with the trash in there like the apartments on the second i'm sorry he doesn't
They're not that aware of this.
The apartments on the second and the third floors, they have to keep their trash on their deck space or their little alcove space.
There is a little area in the front of the house that can have a trash can.
Right outside the front door, there's a little deck space that you can put two chairs and a trash can to store your trash.
okay and my other question is uh so for that first floor unit are you thinking of like a studio
or are you trying to split it up into bedrooms like a studio which would be have like a bedroom
you know like however somebody wanted to set it up it's like a kitchenette area efficiency
whatever somebody wants to do with it of course just one person and the other
apartments only have one person
in them as well.
Thank you.
Any other questions?
The kitchen there on the first floor,
is that a full kitchen?
It's got, you know, a little stove,
a little apartment-sized refrigerator
because they used to, you know, have people
come in and they would eat.
So it's like a kitchenette would be.
And when was the last time you
rented this space
for any kind of
a beauty salon?
At least 15 years, probably.
by and it was capri capri beauty salon was in there like 15 years ago and they retired and
moved out and it's kind of been it's been vacant ever since okay thank you
i i only have one question tell us about you you said the first apartment could have access to a
an office in the back tell me what that is i don't i didn't understand that no no there's no
there's no access to the office
from the first apartment
but no but I'm saying no no listen
to me what I heard your
wife say was there's another
entrance on the side into an office
that the first floor would have access to use
an office that's attached I didn't
understand that
no it would seem like for an exit
it would be
I think it is I don't know
I haven't been down there for years
it's not
it's a separate doorway
Well, it's not an office.
It's a storage area.
I'm just saying what you said.
That's all you said.
It was an office.
Oh, we just called an office.
It's not.
No, no.
My tenants on the second and third floor, first and front and back, they store it there.
We used to call.
I don't know why we called them an office, but years ago.
I mean, that's just my terminology.
Please, please, please.
Any other questions from the board?
all right questions from our attorney hillary emerson
not at this time mr chair questions or comments from the virtual audience
i see no hands here planning commission thank you chair bergman and good morning david vecto with
the city planning commission chairman and board members the comprehensive plan recommends no change
to the cmx1 commercial mixed use zoning at this location the zoning of this property was changed
in 1988 from cmx2 commercial mixed use to cmx1 cmx1 allows but does not require commercial space
to be included in the building this property has a documented history of two dwelling units
and a commercial space the appellant seeks to convert the former commercial space into a dwelling
unit the city planning commission recommends the board grant the proposed use variance for the
third dwelling unit. Mr. Pellulo, I'm going to hold the vote on this. I'm going to take this
to executive session next week. We will vote on this next Wednesday at 9.30 a.m. Thank you.
Okay. Thank you for your consideration. How will we be notified?
You can come on the line and watch the vote. Listen to the vote.
okay well thank you very much thank you thank you thanks for putting up with us it was very
okay well thank you very much thank you and thank you thanks for putting up with us
frustrating i'm sorry about that okay thank you take care um let's go here we're gonna go to
number number eight mi 2023 007 157 832 bridge street joseph vaccaro is the attorney
No recommendation, unable to reach consensus from the 34th Ward Democratic Executive Committee.
Joseph Vicaros, coming back in as a panelist now, Chair.
Good morning. Can you see me?
I can. Mr. Vicaros, please state your name and spell for the court stenographer.
Good morning. May it please the board, Joseph Vaccaro, V-A-C-C-A-R-O, on behalf of the applicant, Jose F. Bautista, who is somewhere in the virtual audience.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do. Our vice chair has several questions for you.
Thank you.
ish i don't hear you okay
you're muted i'm not i'm not ish ish
see if he's there
there he is okay he just muted himself again okay
mr chair i think we lost him i think he was having some technical issues because he was
unmuted but his and speaking but his audio was not coming through
Mr. Vaccaro, do you stipulate to the accuracy of the refusal?
And have you had all your paperwork in within five days prior?
Yes, I did. I initially sent my documents on Friday, and then I updated them with the tax clearance certificate and the photos of the poster on Monday.
Please share your screen and begin.
Certainly. Thank you.
can you see my exhibits no we do now okay fine I'll just start from the top essentially members
of the board this is my client's application to permit the use of of the basement of this
dwelling as an efficiency apartment, essentially. It is a three-story building, two floors up top
and the basement. And this application is focusing on the basement to be able to use this basement,
which consists of approximately 504 square feet as an efficiency single bedroom, single individual
individual apartment, starting with the posters. Can you see the poster?
Yes, sir.
Okay. Just scrolling down. The posters were put up on time on the property. These vehicles parked
to the right of the screen. They don't belong to my client. In fact, it's our understanding that
PennDOT owns that property. So this property may appear to be a corner property, but it's not.
where the cars are located is the corner property that's owned by PennDOT.
Part of the – in order to facilitate this use of each unit, both the first floor, which consists of the first floor and the second floor,
so that would be a two-floor unit, which is currently occupied, and then the basement unit,
some work would have to be done on this little garden area to allow for ingress and egress from
the Bridge Street side. And then as I'm scrolling down, there would have to be additional ingress
and egress on the back alley, which I'm showing you here and more specifically in this photo
and in this photo over here. There's, I could move myself. If you see this black door over here,
This would be the other means of ingress and egress.
And then you can see this white door over here.
This would be the second means of ingress and egress.
Obviously, a staircase would have to be built out so that the occupant of the first
a staircase would have to be built out so that the occupant of the first and second floor
can use that door to escape in the event of fire. So each unit, both the basement unit as well as
the first and second floor, would have two means of ingress and egress. Scrolling down, I have the
plans. I'll show you a better view of the plans. One moment.
Can you see this?
Not very well.
Are you leaving the garage there?
Essentially, the garage would be converted into the 504-square-foot apartment.
That's the gist of the application.
The garage would be converted into the apartment.
And I'm showing you on the plans, it would be on the lower right-hand corner of the plan,
basement floor plan, proposed unit number one. If I could go back to my original exhibits.
Scrolling down, we have the application, the refusal, the PIF,
the deed. Mr. Batista owns the property by way of deed, having purchased it on June 5th of 2019.
His goal is to help provide more access to affordable housing.
At this point, the basement is not being used other than a washer and dryer.
Are the utility, Mr. Vaccaro, aren't there utilities for the building in the basement?
Yes. Yes. The utilities are down there, too.
No consensus was able to be reached, as you had indicated when we were starting this hearing.
Of note, there was a sentence in the letter from the 35th Board Democrats about some of the neighbors having been surveyed, and my response to that would be that none of the neighbors which were surveyed prior to the two meetings that we held who expressed opposition ever appeared at either of those meetings to voice their opposition.
through this plan. Scrolling further down, my note, my letter to the near neighbors with proof
of mailing, and going all the way down, I have my client's tax clearance certificate. So essentially,
my client's trying to help provide additional affordable housing. Obviously, this would be
geared toward an individual two people times thank you um i could bring in mr bautista but
his english is very very limited and you you're so so you're an officer of the court but you have
communicated with him you understand of course of course questions from the board in fact in fact
he has attended both meetings with the 35th ward democrats and um i'm sure he's in the virtual
audience i've been communicating with him and his wife by text questions questions from the board
yes no i was going to ask about any type of is he claiming any type of hardship for this
well the the hardship is is that the basement is not being used other than for
the utilities as mr bergman had had inquired and and there's just a washer and dryer other than
that we're trying to help alleviate some of the some of the housing issues going on in the city
any other questions where are the electric panels they're in the basement the electric panels for
all the units are in the basement correct isn't it currently right right now right now it's only
being operated as one unit, the first and second floor. But obviously, assuming that we were to get
this variance, then... I thought you said it was already a duplex.
No, no, no. I never said it was a duplex. A duplex implies that there were two people
living there and they're being used as two separate apartments. What I said was, is that
there's a first and second floor, which is being used as one unit by one individual who lives there.
this is a proposal to to use the basement as the second unit basement in the garage you're saying
well the basement is the garage okay the basement is the garage
um counsel is there some way you can enlarge the uh view of the plan for this sure sure basement
sure let me do that
Sure. Let me do that.
I can zoom in on this view. Here's the basement. And this is just a schematic.
Why do you show the picture what it looks like now? Is there one above that?
No, I did want to see this first, if you don't mind, Mr. Chairman.
So you are going to, the front here is where the garage is now?
The garage is where my mouse is pointing.
Do you see my little mouse circling around?
And then the entrance will be?
There would be two entrances.
there's a doorway here where my mouse is hovering you see that and then another doorway would be
built over here where my mouse is circ is is hovering you see that that's not showing the
doorway that's showing a egress well well that it's a window right now but a new doorway would
be built well this is showing a egress well and your proposed plan it's not showing a doorway
right well going a doorway in the back at the garage entrance well there is a doorway in the
i'm sorry i couldn't hear you mr johns right so currently based on the pictures that you showed
there is a where you where you have your hand thing is right that shows a doorway in the pictures
you're a door you're showing a new door at the garage door where currently there's a garage door
At the front of the building, where you described there would be a stairway, you're showing on the proposed plan that it's a window well, egress.
It is a window well at this point, at this moment.
Not the picture that you showed.
Based on the picture that you showed, it's a front yard.
There's a front yard.
I'll show you the picture again.
There's a front yard.
here's a better view of the front well let me
it shows a basement window but it doesn't show a window well
that's a basement window i don't see a window well
well i don't see an egress well so i'm i'm trying to figure
yeah and i'm trying to figure out how how people would get to this
um you need two means of ingress and egress and i'm not i'm not seeing that here so you're gonna
because it doesn't exist at this point what exists at this point is just a window
but part of our plan to ensure that there are two methods of entering and exiting there would be a
stairwell dug out with a door i think we understand that mr vicaro because you said it
But the plan that you have shown is currently not showing that, and it is showing new construction.
So I think people are just confused because your floor plans do not reflect what you are saying, but are showing changes to the photos.
Now I understand.
Thank you for clarifying that.
But, yes, the plans, they were written up at an earlier time, and then after further discussions with the RCO, that's when we had come up with, you know, obviously no consensus was reached on the overall application.
But any any of the proposed use would include a stair, a stairwell with a door, both in the front as well as the existing door in the back.
OK, and again, going back to your plan here, you need to have what we call habitable rooms, right, which is there needs to be windows in certain of the living spaces.
Where are they on this plan of yours?
They don't exist yet, but the windows, obviously in consultation with the architect, we would put windows in wherever we can, and such space would include where the garage door is now, where my hand is hovering.
We're looking at a photo of the front of the building.
I need to change.
Let me just change that so you can see it.
Can you see the plan now?
It zoomed out a little bit much, but yes.
Okay, I could zoom back in, but where my hand is hovering, this is where the garage door is currently, so we could put windows there, again, in consultation with the architect, as well as in the front area where my hand is hovering, where the door would be.
Okay, I could zoom back in, but where my hand is hovering, this is...
so obviously so mr vicaro let's for a minute put this in perspective there's no one there's no
other legitimate garage conversion on the block is there not that i'm aware of right so this is
the first where you want to take your garage and turn into a third to a second apartment correct
and there's and and the rco could not come to consensus agreement with this correct okay thank
But in our discussions, both with the RCO as well as with this board today, we've mentioned the two doors, we've mentioned the windows, and we'll certainly take that as provisos as part of this application.
I do have one question. I know you mentioned that sort of the hardship with this was really
a desire to support affordable housing, and I'm wondering, one, is this going to be an
income-restricted unit in any type of way? When you say income-restricted, are you talking about
Section 8 housing or something? I'm talking about the government definition of affordable,
which is being rented to individuals and households below 80% of the area median income.
That's probably the intention. That's probably what's going to happen.
But there's nothing right now. It's not deed restricted. There's no intention to say
do housing choice vouchers. So there's no actual affordable housing plan in place.
This would just be your client is setting what they consider to be a reasonable rent?
Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Amberson?
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I see no hands, Sheriff.
Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chairman, and good morning.
David Fecta with the City Planning Commission.
Chairman and board members, the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the RSA-5,
residential single-family zoning at this location. There is no unique physical condition or
circumstance of this property that would prevent it from being used in conformance with the zoning
code. This is a primarily single-family block face. We also note for the board that absent
participation in a city, state, or federal program or a city zoning incentive, affordability mentioned
in the appellant's testimony cannot be enforced by any city agency. The City Planning Commission
recommends that the board deny the proposed use variants for two dwelling units and my 2023
007157832 bridge street i vote no michael johns my vote is no carol gaston my vote is no
tennetta graham my vote is no tyo win my vote is no
James Snell, my vote is no
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is no
Thank you, counsel
Thank you, have a good day
Number 13, MI 2024-001-337
304 West Godfrey Avenue
Tameka McCoy is the attorney for the owner
There's a letter of support from Upper North Coalition of Community Councils Attached
57 in support
1 opposed
Do we see Tameka's hand?
Cher, she's coming back in
and is a panelist. Thank you.
Chair Tameka McCoy
is coming back in as a panelist now.
Thank you.
Ms. McCoy?
Yes, thank you. Good afternoon.
Hi, good afternoon. Hi, could you please state your name and spell for the court sonographer?
Sure. Good afternoon, Tamika McCoy. It's spelled T-A-M-I-K-A. Last name is M-C-K-O-Y.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Could you put your video on, please?
I thought I just did.
Okay, there you go.
That's great.
And our vice chair has just, could you identify your client first and their relationship to the property?
My client is Damon Gamble.
He is the owner of the property.
And our vice chair has a few questions.
good morning council do you agree to wait the reading of the refusal or stipulate to attack
yes i do have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that is needed to
proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing yes we have thank you council
please proceed you've already shared your screen thank you um so this is the submission that was
done for 304 West Godfrey Avenue. The property was owner occupied by Damon Gamble, his wife and two
kids. Since September 9th of 2006, it was acquired by deed. A copy of the deed is also attached and
affixed to the property. Prior to his ownership, the property had been used and configured as a
duplex the first floor level was a dental office and the second level was a residential unit
when Mr. Gamble and his family acquired the property he occupied the entire property both
were used as rental units he had lived in both he had now moved and wants to essentially have the
properly zoned for multifamily use as a duplex. It had been longstanding, configured that way,
and it would pose a substantial hardship for him and his family to modify it to a single family
dwelling. I did affix the tax certificate connected with the property. What we have here
essentially is that the real estate taxes have been taken care of. There's no tax obligation.
The notices to impacted neighbors in the community were sent out. We sent the notice to 147
members of the community. A RCO meeting was conducted. 53 people attended. Of the 53 people
that attended, 52 approved, including five board members. We have here pictures of the actual
structure. This is a photograph that depicts the front entrance of the structure. Currently,
Mr. Gamble, as well as many of the other neighbors, utilize the front padding area
to place trash until trash day when it's placed at the curb for pickup.
This is a picture of the rear of the unit. The basement would continue to be a basement.
There's no intention for it to be occupied as a part of the residence in any way. It would
essentially just be a residential unit on the main floor and on the second floor as it was
originally constructed. This is a photograph that shows the entranceway up to the second floor
apartment, and the second floor apartment is essentially configured as a two-bedroom structure
with a kitchen and a bathroom. As I said, it had been owner-occupied since 2006,
and the family now is seeking to have it legally zoned as a duplex. It's my understanding that the
adjoining properties next to him are both duplexes, and many of the homes in the community are used
for that purpose. Godfrey Avenue, these are additional photos of the interior.
And again, this is another photo of the front. If you were to look on the right of 304 West
godfrey this is what you would essentially see and this would be a view across the street it is
a two-way two-lane highway and there is parking on both sides of the roadway as you can see cars
are parked here and there still is a free lane of travel in both directions on godfrey avenue
We did also affix with this the additional pictures of other neighbors that show that it's a common trash plan that they use in the community.
So what he does is very consistent with what many of the neighbors on Godfrey Avenue essentially does in terms of their trash plan.
essentially does in terms of their trash plan this is the configuration of both of the units
This is the.
that currently exist the first floor second floor and as i stated before the basement
is still utilized as a basement
this is a summary of the meeting that was conducted uh for the rco uh it was done june 28th and as i
indicated 52 of the 53 members are in support of having um the property zoned as a duplex
With that, I would like to present Mr. Gamble, who works as a CPA, a certified public accountant.
Mr. Gamble, if you're in the virtual audience, please raise your hand.
I see. There he is, Chair.
Okay, thank you.
Mr. Gamble, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
mr gamble could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
how you doing my name is damon gamble uh my spelling name d-a-m-o-n for the first name
last name gamble g-a-m-b-l-e you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing
but the truth sir yes i do please proceed counsel thank you mr gamble did you hear the presentation
that was made to the board in reference to your property at 304 west godfrey avenue
yes and was the information presented accurate in all respects and would you adopt it as your
own if you were asked those same questions yes i would submit on that
thank you questions from the board can you go back to the floor plans yes sure
is there um any in particular that you wanted to focus on or just no this is this is good i don't
see a kitchen on the second floor unit or am i missing something this let me see
okay you got a kitchenette
yes it is this is small kitchenette here
so what is the is it by level is the by level no there there's a one unit on the third floor
and one unit on the second floor the kitchenette on the second floor would be here sir okay so
unit on the third floor and how many rooms on this on the third floor it's it's a third floor
it's not a third floor it's a second it's actually it's it's a first it's a main level
the second floor and then there's a basement okay so the the big there's a basement of the
second floor is a is it a is that a one-bedroom unit or is it is a one-bedroom unit yes okay
And then on the ground floor, it's just, it's a one bedroom unit.
All right.
No further questions.
Any other questions from the board?
Questions or comments from our attorney?
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I see no hands, Chair.
Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair Bergman, and good morning, David Fecto with the City Planning Commission.
Chairman and board members, the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the RSA-5 residential
single-family zoning at this location. The appellant appears to have purchased the building,
which had been converted into two dwelling units without the benefit of permits.
The City Planning Commission recommends that the board grant the proposed use variance for
two dwelling units. Thank you. MI 2024-001-337-304 West Godfrey Avenue. My vote yes.
Michael Johns. My vote is yes.
Terrell Gaston. My vote is yes.
Tannetta Graham. My vote is yes.
Tyia Wynn. My vote is yes.
James Snell. My vote is yes.
Number 18, MI 2024-001-893, 118 East Sharpneck Street.
Alan Nockmson is the attorney.
There is a council member Bass office served as the coordinating RCO and
Councilmember Bass's office served as the coordinating RCO and provided a letter of non-opposition.
The vote was 25 in support, including 11 near neighbors and zero opposition.
Mr. Nockamson.
He's coming back in as a panelist now, Chair.
Alan, you're on mute. You got to unmute yourself, Alan.
Good morning, Mr. Chair, members of the board. Alan Nockmson, A-L-A-N, last name Nockmson, N-O-C-H-U-M-S-O-N.
You swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client, a relationship to the properties?
Yes, my client is a Jonathan Harris, Sharp Neck, and as well as Sharp Neck S Street Properties, LLC, and then the virtual audience is Mr. Harris.
Our vice chair has a few questions.
Good morning, counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal or to relate to a diagnosis?
thank you have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that is needed to proceed
with this case five days in advance of this hearing yes we did thank you counsel please
proceed and share your screen so this is one of these projects that like i get very excited about
because it's a very nice, thoughtful project in the East Mount area of the city.
So this is a 35,000 square foot lot, irregular shaped, a cobbling of essentially seven properties,
most of which are on Sharpneck Street.
But there is one property in particular that's almost 28,000 square feet that's irregular shaped
with a Magnolia Street address.
And what we're looking to do is a planned community,
which have 30 units and 40 parking spaces.
So it's a great, it's more than a one-to-one ratio
in terms of housing to parking.
There'll be 12, what's it called?
There's 12 single families and then eight duplexes.
So during the presentation,
we'll first review the notice of refusal
And I'll indicate this at the beginning that the notice of refusal looks a lot more daunting than it is.
It's pretty straightforward. Once we'll review that under the circumstances.
But there are a lot of refusals there. I think it's more due to the unique nature of the properties and how they're being used.
But ultimately, there's a great number of single family homes and there is open area under the code.
There's height under the code. There's some technical refusals regarding bike parking and rear yard setback, which are more technical in nature.
In actuality, we do provide for that. You'll then see the letter of non-opposition from Council Member Sidney Bass's office.
Because of the large nature of this project, I would assume that's why they took over this matter.
It was a well attended meeting of almost 50 individuals. And I believe everyone who voted during that meeting voted in support. I believe there were like 25 documented or so individuals who voted in support of this project, as well as nearby neighbors, which equaled 11 people.
I also included an article about this project. So you will look at this, but phase one of the project is six single families that are proposed facing Sharknack Street. There was technical support for that and that support, but there are zoning permits and building permits for that.
Today is to, you know, legalize or to get, you know, ZBA approval for the other 28,000 square foot portion of this lot, which is behind us on Magnolia, where we would have 24 additional units plus, you know, an additional 28 parking spaces.
But in this article, which was in the Chestnut Hill local newspaper, it explains who my clients are and they're local, you know, to Philadelphia, but not only Philadelphia, but to this particular neighborhood.
And, you know, it explains of like, you know, their aptitude in handling this and their excitement and the neighborhood's excitement for this type of this project in particular.
Then we'll review. So you'll if you have read it, you know, I think it's something worth noting.
that this is a locally owned project specifically in mountain area then it's not out of character
what we're requesting for um this you know board um or disease or this
requesting for this board or the L&I granted a proposal with nine, excuse me, eight units
or nine units and eight parking spaces. And we have a zoning permit of a nearby property on
Sharp Neck under similar circumstances. Then I have the zoning permits for those six single
families that we're in the process of building on Sharp Neck. And you'll see through the pictures,
as well that um you know you'll see the quality materials and and you know the design of the
properties that are almost done um and will be replicated hopefully with zba approval
for these additional 24 units in the rear um then we'll review the maps of the area and again this
lot combined is over 35 000 square feet um it only has a width of 136 uh feet wide and that's you
know, this is really a true undue hardship situation where, you know, our depth of our
property is 228 square feet. And with our building structures on Sharp Neck, only, you know, of a
certain size from the beginning of Sharp Neck to the back, there's almost 200 feet of rear yard
setback for those six single family homes. And that's why we kind of need to do the project the
way we're trying to do it. And then in addition to the maps of the area, we'll review photographs
of the property and the surrounding area. Our plans and drawings. I do have Agata Reister from
Landmark Architecture in the virtual audience. And, you know, she can answer any
like technical questions that I can't answer. Or we have our RCO meeting notice. Again,
well-attended meeting of 50 individuals. And again, the people that did vote are in full support,
including 11 nearby neighbors who are in the infected area. And I would believe that Mr.
Richardson from Sydney Bass's office may be in the virtual audience. He's the one who facilitated
the meeting and attended the meeting. And he can give some flavor too about, you know,
the overwhelming support from the community regarding this project. And then our application
for appeal that we filed on behalf of our clients, the deeds of the property, all of them, as well
as certificates of tax clearance for each property showing that we're in good standing with regards
to real estate taxes. At the conclusion of my presentation, I would ask that Mr. Harris virtually
raise his hand. I have a few questions for him, and then we can answer any questions the board
may have regarding this matter. So our notice refusal, that's a lot, what we're trying to do
here but essentially we're taking we're cobbling together uh seven lots um you know essentially
six in the front and then uh one in the back so the six in the front we already have uh zoning
and building permits and we're in the final we're finishing up the construction of six
six single family homes in the front with off-street parking each of the single family homes
has a garage attached to it and then what we're going to do and you'll see from the drawings
is we have basically a structure
of another single family homes right behind it,
another six.
And then we have two building structures behind that
that are eight units in each,
but they're like four duplexes.
And you'll see from the grade of the property
that, you know, from the front to the back,
we go down like 13 feet.
So, you know, anyone in the rear of our property
is going to be like essentially
looking like they're 25 feet high in terms of height of their building compared to the properties
behind us on upsell streets. So we have a few refusals. Again, this is 30 units, 40 parking
spaces, a lot of single-family homes, and 12 single-family homes, 18 multifamily, which are
a duplex in nature. And what we're trying to do here, because of the RSA 5 nature of this property,
we have a few refusals. So technically, again, this project is for the 24 units absent those
single families on Sharp Neck. So having multifamily on RSA 5 is a technical refusal.
Again, the lot that we're talking about is 28,000 square feet. It's not facing a public street. It's a rear property on Magnolia Street. So that alone makes it very difficult to do much.
other than if we wanted to consolidate this lot
with the front properties on Sharp Neck,
we can have basically, let's see,
so six properties divided by 35,000
would be like almost 6,000 square foot of a lot,
which would be completely out of character
with the neighborhood.
Again, we don't have a huge width either.
It's only 136 feet wide.
It's only 136 feet wide.
The second refusal is that multiple principal dwelling structures are not allowed on RSA 5 lots.
The second refuse,
Again, we only have 136 foot wide property in the front.
So in order to adequately use that 35,000 square foot lot total between the six inch Sharknack and then the 28,000 square feet behind us on Magnolia, we've leveraged it in a way to create a planned community.
So we have a mix between single family homes and duplexes.
But that's where we run afoul of the Philadelphia zoning code there.
The next one has to do with parking of bicycles.
Technically, when you have a lot that's over 20,000 square feet, you need three bicycle parking spaces.
So each of the units in their garages will have like bicycle racks affixed to the walls.
So within the Spirit of the Code, we are providing bicycle parking spaces.
Our goal was to...
Can you hear me? We can now. Okay, sorry. Yeah. So within the spirit of the code, you know,
we are providing bicycle parking spaces within the units themselves, and we feel like it's more
appropriate to provide more landscaping in the common elements of this planned community rather
than providing, you know, common bicycle spaces there. The next refusal has to do with essentially
the single family homes are in Sharp Neck, where the lot sizes, you know, are less than
1,440 square feet.
What I will say as to this, we average 1,168 square feet, you know, per unit on in this
project, which again, is not out of character to the properties that are nearby.
So, you know, again, we're not meeting the 1,440 square foot lot size requirements generally, but we're well within character of that. Plus, we're preferring to use some of that lot size for dry vials and providing off-street parking.
The next refusal, and it's kind of common, we'll go down, is the rear yard depth.
It's a technical refusal.
It's saying that we're providing no rear yard depth for some of these properties.
We are.
The problem is, is that when you have an easement, like for a dry vial, like part of 10 feet
of our properties for these units, the single family units, 10 feet of the rear yard is
dedicated to that dry vial in the form of an easement.
we technically have, we don't have a rear yard depth, but we do. And we'll show you that on the
site plan as well. And then all these refusals, again, with the lot size and the rear yard depth
are in common to what I just stated. Now, we did, again, meet with the community. And as you can see
here from the description, there was a peak of 50 participants, including RCO reps, applicants,
their attorneys and the council member's office. Of these 50 people, 26 people actually voted for
this. I don't know why some people didn't, but that is what it is. And 11 nearby neighbors
specifically voted. Everyone who voted for this project voted in support. And it was just
overwhelming. The commentary during my whole presentation was like, this is something what
the community needs. They were very happy that we provided a more than one-to-one ratio
between housing and parking.
They were also happy that the architecture that we selected
and we chose mimics and matches the integrity
of Mount Airy section of Philadelphia.
And they were also appreciative of the people
who were part of this project, who are well-known quantities,
who lived only blocks away from this project
and grew up close by and who still have family members
who live in the neighborhoods.
And they were appreciative of that as well. And then this is the article that was in the Chestnut Hill local kind of, you know, again, I gave you as a summarization, but Mr. Harris is one of the members in this, you know, described this article who is from the area.
And again, stating how, you know, they were looking forward to making this into an impactful project for the neighborhood.
They phased one with six single family homes, which they started, and they're hoping to continue phase two with these additional 24 homes and 28 parking spots.
So again, just as a history too, this used to be like the part that the 28,000 square foot lot, part that we're trying to get into 24 homes and 28 parking spots used to be a salvage yard.
Again, just as a history, too, this used to be like the part that the 28,000 square feet.
So this, you know, just a matter of history and the background of this, for this particular portion of the property.
And then zoning permit, I want, like, you can't really see it, but like, this is the, what was previously approved for another property nearby.
On Sharknack, so at 85 East Sharknack Street, this board, under calendar number 36771, previously approved nine dwelling units for eight parking spots, which is not a one-to-one ratio even.
even. We're taking one curb cut and we're creating 40 parking spaces to 30 units. And there's a mix
between 12 single-family homes and 18 multifamily homes to all duplexes.
And then here you'll see is just the zoning permits for all the single families that are
sharp-necked that are in the process of being built. All single families, all off-street parking.
118, well, I guess they all had 118 numbers at one point.
I think they changed the numbers since then, the OPA's office.
And then maps to the area.
As you can see, we're in the middle of a RSA 5 district.
There is some RM1, but you can also see the irregular shape of a lot.
You have these lots that are on Shark Neck, and you have this lot on Magnolia,
which also has emergency egress going to these two common public streets as well.
But it's a rather large lot that kind of is out of character to the neighborhood.
And in order to effectively use this property and to provide much needed new construction housing with off-street parking
and help support the commercial corridor in Germantown, which is only a few blocks away,
we think that this is a really good and impactful project.
And then you can see here, this is where we are, how close we are to Germantown Avenue to help support that commercial corridor.
And there are photographs of the property.
So this is what we built.
And I would have to say that, like, you know, again, it's very nice.
It's like the quality materials is great.
We have a mix between stone and brick.
And what you can also see is the fact that they are set back on the third story to account for the fact that there's a mix between two story and three stories nearby.
And, you know, I think the fact that you have a slope of 13 feet, you know, from from front to back is also helpful because not many people in the neighborhood on the upsell street that's behind us are going to be affected at all by any housing here.
Plus, there'll be quality housing with, you know, a decent amount of parking for all the residents, which will have a low impact to the surrounding properties.
And then these are our architectural plans and drawings.
Let me just scale back a little bit.
So this is, let me get out of here for a second, and maybe it'll make it easier this way.
All right, so this is our property from a rendering standpoint as an overview, but these are the six single-family homes on Sharp Neck, right?
Those are the ones that have already been approved by way of zoning permit as of right, as well as a building permit, and in the midst of construction.
These are the six single-family homes right behind it.
And, again, all these properties have off-street parking with garages, you know, for the sharp-neck properties in the front with rear parking.
And then we're creating a sense of community with landscaping and such.
And, you know, given the size of the community, obviously there's going to be, like, commercial trash pickup given the amount of size of the units, the amount of units.
And we can agree to that in the form of proviso, but I don't think it's necessary.
but if need be, we can agree to that. And then these are the duplexes here, right? These are
the 16 unit of duplexes here. And then you can see here that we're actually set back,
I believe that is another 20 feet back here. And then this is a rendering of what we hope to be
the completed portion of the Sharknack Street properties. But you can see it's a mix of stone
as well as a mix of brick.
as well as a mix of brick and then here is the actual uh parking uh what's called curb cut
And then here is the actual parking.
where there's gonna be a carriage house here's a two unit but all the other ones are one unit but
you can even see from the architecture what my client trying to mimic was the brick was the stone
and also mixing some mansard roofs throughout and then this is just an interior portion and you can
see this is from if i guess if i was standing back you know my back to upsell which is way above us
because of the slope of the property uh these are the duplexes but you can even see the duplexes
they each have parking as well um and then even the the uh common areas like you know again what
we wanted to do is focus on adequate and nice landscaping but we also wanted to break up the
fact that we do have a dry vial throughout. So even the walkways were thought out with like some
brick in the walkways themselves to provide some definition for residents. And then this is the
site plan for the single families. So you can see there's one, two, three, four, five, six single
families. And here's the carriage house with the curb cut. And that's coming all up a sharp neck.
And then this is, I guess, a more wider view of the site plan, but here's the single families on Sharpneck, and then here's the single families which mimic those just behind us on Sharpneck, one single family, two single families, three single families, four, five, six.
What you can also see is that we do provide open area and a setback for these properties on Sharpneck, which is 10 feet.
But because it's within the easement area of this drive aisle, that's why we received that technical refusal on the notice of refusal.
And then in the back of the property, as you can see, like, you know, these are the duplexes.
There's two sets of building structures for the duplexes.
And then, again, we were very mindful that we're, you know, behind those properties on an upsell, which are way above us.
But, you know, we did also do a setback back here in the rear of the property.
so and then you can just see here from the sloping of of the property um like you know
we definitely have um some sloping from front to back for these from for these building structures
and then this is just again showing the property this is the front part on sharp neck street
again mixed between uh brick as well as stone and again we're set back on the third story
um and this is the uh the properties right behind us the single families on sharp neck as well as
can see they also mimic the properties that actually face sharp neck those single families
and then this is just the rear of these properties as well and you can see there's adequate parking
garages for all the single families and then these are the renderings for the duplexes and
you can see like we didn't change the quality of materials for those duplexes it's a slightly
different look but you have a mix between bricks and stone and lentils and you most importantly
have parking for each of the units and then my client wanted to really go full out here so
they did renderings on the inside of these properties as well so you can see and I have
the traditional floor plans but if you take a look at it this is first essentially these are
single families you know you have two car parking you have a little sunken den area and then if you
go up a flight of steps um you have an open floor area of a kitchen dining room and a living room
and then you also have like a a second and third floor uh with uh with bedrooms each of the single
All families, I believe, are, let me just confirm this, are approximately 2,800 square feet in size.
They're three bedrooms, four baths.
And then this is the traditional floor plans you would see from us in doing a presentation.
But my clients really want to show the quality of the interior and the properties.
but here you see the garage on the first floor the sunken den area behind it and then you can see
on the first first floor is the is the open floor plan of the living room dining room and kitchen
a lot of light and air from front to back and then you can see on the third floor are two bedrooms
And then you can see on the third floor are two bedrooms with a bath and a laundry facility.
with a bat.
And then on the upper floor, obviously, is the master suite.
And there's a roof deck associated with it.
And then this is the rendering, the interior renderings for the, let me just make it a little smaller, but not too small, for the duplexes.
So, I'm just trying to make it small enough so it fits on my screen, but I can't keep doing that.
Hold on.
Let's try it one more time.
So, you have, again, each unit would have its own parking spot within the garage area.
You would walk up a flight of steps, and you'll see this on the floor plans.
unit one is the first floor and the second floor. So unit number one also includes the rear part of
here, which is a bedroom, bathroom, and a storage area. And then on the second floor, when you come
up is where, you know, you can go to the right for unit number one, which includes a kitchen,
a living room, and a bedroom as well. And you go up another flight of steps is unit number two,
which, again, has a living room, a kitchen, and a bedroom.
And then for the fourth floor is multiple bedrooms for that second unit.
And then these are the traditional floor plans you would see as well from, like, you know, perspective of these duplexes.
Again, you have the garage here.
Each unit gets its own parking spot.
You go up to the second floor, and again, you would make a right into unit number one, and you go up another flight of steps for unit number two, which is the third and fourth floors.
So, you know, again, well-attended meeting that took place on July 22nd.
This is our proof of notice.
Our application for appeal that was filed on behalf of the applicant along the notice of refusal.
Our project information form, the deeds of property, and, you know, I think they did a change in the use based on the six single families that are in the front.
And then finally, a certificate showing no taxes are owed for any of these properties.
all right with that being said i'm going to unshare my screen just so everyone can see each
other right and then i can always go back and forth between the drawings but like i said there's
a lot going on here technically from you know from a zoning code perspective i think these are
unique circumstances i think my client did an excellent job of of of responsibly using this
property and shown what they're going to do planning-wise, but more importantly, they've
shown it by action with those six single families that they started construction with, you know,
as of right. I would ask that Mr. Harris virtually raise his hand. I have a few questions for him,
and then myself or Mr. Harris can answer any questions support may have. Thank you. Mr. Harris.
Jonathan Harris, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Hi, Mr. Harris.
Hello, how are you doing?
I'm great. Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Yes, my name is Jonathan Harris, spelled J-O-N-A-T-H-A-N, last name Harris, spelled H-A-R-R-I-S.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, Counselor.
Yes, Mr. Harris, you heard everything I had to state today about your zoning matter.
And is it true and correct?
And do you adopt as your own testimony?
Thank you.
Questions from the board?
I have a couple of questions, but I just want to say that the really appreciate the quality of the architecture that was done for this project, the quality of the materials, the way that it sort of fits in context with the neighbor, I think works.
Right. Thank you.
No question. Two questions. What's happening with the two legs at the end, at the back of the property that extend to either street? Are they just as just going to be horned off or what?
Warren Dolph or what? Two narrow strips, the narrow strip of property that goes from one street to the other.
two narrow strips
the strip
Yeah, coming from Magnolia and going to those driveways, essence you're speaking of, correct?
Okay. If I could, I also would like to bring in a business partner as well as co-owner on this project.
His name is Lenard Gay. He can speak also more in detail on the project as he's been there pretty much every day.
He's seeing this project as well. Would it be possible to have him bring Mr. Gay on, please?
Can we go back to the site plan? Yeah, sure.
Lenard Gay, if you're in the virtual audience, please raise your hand.
the dark gray please unmute yourself and wait for the chair
and mr gay could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
mr gay
while we're waiting for uh i'm sorry hello
Hi, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Lenard Gay, L-I-N-A-R-D, last name Gay, G-E-Y.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
All right, just stand by and we'll have a few questions.
As far as the, just to reiterate on that question, right now there will just be used as just walkways to the property.
Um, we haven't really, uh, came up with a better plan than that for those driveways, um, as the size doesn't really, uh, commit to much, uh, other than the walkway.
Yeah. John, those are more pedestrian, when you're saying driveway, you mean more pedestrian walkways.
Yes. Pedestrian walkway. I'm sorry.
Okay. So that's, that's a walkway that's going to be paved from side to side.
Correct.
What about how are you dealing with the pedestrian walkways out to the main street?
I see pads in front of the entrances into the units, which is a good thing.
I'm concerned about pedestrians who want to walk to the main street through this sort of through the carriage house entrance.
Is there a walkway there?
well we have a 25 foot driveway um which i believe give us we we to be quite honest i i
i haven't even um i i've been doing i've been on construction on that site every day
And I actually, to be quite honest with you, haven't even thought about that walkway as far as the driveway.
okay so so so like the project generally that's always a concern for me as pedestrians or
vehicular traffic and how do they how do they how do you separate them so um there really needs to
be some kind of pedestrians defined walkway out of what is really a parking lot where people are
living on right to get out to the main street if pedestrians or kids want to go in and out we want
to make sure that they're safe that's a that's a concern so and i didn't see it in the plan i know
that the architect here is thoughtful so that's something that yeah should be there if it's not
yeah so i yes that's clearly a you know an oversight on our part and given the size of the
of the driveways 25 feet i i think that's something i'm not the architect but i think that
given my experience i think it's something we could definitely accommodate yeah there's a
got it on uh this call would she be able to she's our architect i'm not sure yeah so i know that she
was traveling for she was traveling today she said that obviously she would try her best to be on so
i don't know if a god is on but you know yeah we we have spoke to her about that and what i
understand is there is like a different color walkway that is going to be um dedicated for
that reason um i'm not just sure exactly how that's going to be laid out on the uh on the
actual plans but um there was conversation of that that way pedestrians are um understand which
is you know what what's available to them to use thank you overall quality
i'm not sure if the board can hear me oh there you go hi could you please could could you please
state your name is spelled for the stenographer um good afternoon agatha reister with landmark
architectural design a-g-a-t-a-r-e-i-s-t-e-r you swear or firm to tell the truth the whole truth
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
nothing but the truth i do
Proceed, counsel.
Given the nature of the width of the carriage house, we will implement a differentiation in the pavement materials just so the drivers and the pedestrian can basically see the designation between the walkable area and the drivable area just to keep people a little bit more safe.
safe. And also, we could as well implement any reflective mirrors that could be installed inside
the carriage house walls just to see any oncoming traffic as well, or pedestrians.
And just to piggyback off that, Agata, those are in the renderings somewhere, aren't they?
They were in the renderings for the rear portion, but as the board has noticed,
They were not implemented in the carriage house portion, which that's the area that is very important.
So we will add that to the scope of work.
Thank you.
Got it.
Other questions?
The size of the duplex units, you said that you gave the square footage and bedrooms and baths for the single family.
What about the duplexes, please?
1500 square feet for the 1500 square feet for the duplexes and they're each three bedroom uh
three bath units oh actually i'm sorry the unit number one the lower level unit is three bedrooms
three baths uh the upper level unit is three bedrooms two baths uh and in the carriage house
Each unit is two-bedroom, one-bath, and they're 1,100 square feet.
And am I reading this plan correctly that basically this will be – the other buildings are basically going to be landlocked?
It'll be all the time.
Yeah, it's completely landlocked.
And I think that's the issue is we have a 28,000-square-foot lot out – you know,
behind us on the sharp neck that's a magnolia street address with a letter r behind but yes
we completely we're landlocked in the sense of there's you know it's elevated behind us we do
have as mr johns pointed out we do have egress like a walkway to public streets in the rear
for pedestrian access so so my question would be about um what are we doing about uh access for
like emergency and fire vehicles I mean I know that's not necessarily part of what we look at
here but um again has there been thought about that and how that might be handled yeah so like
we have a 25 uh uh our width of our driveway in the front is 25 feet and then as you can see
there's a good flow and let me just uh share my screen again and i think it's just better with
the renderings more so but let me just try to do that but you see here even this this is like
basically there's good flow and even for you know trash pickup you know we created a community
within this community um that's open to the community it's not gated um but like you know
we try to have that flow created and i think maybe it's even better i think it's a rendering
above rendering you can see the amount of of flow here within the heart of that community which
would be more than sufficient for not just trash trucks but god forbid there's an issue with a
with a with a with a fire yeah that's really my question so the dry vials are what are we talking
but in terms of the driver with uh agada um i mean i could look but i i did god do you know that offhand
i think it's at least 20. so your hands raised um yes it's it's a minimum of 20 and also the
two wings that there they will be paved that gives additional access between ross street
and also magnolia street to provide any emergency assistance and one thing i wanted to specify all
of the structures will be fully sprinklered as well okay all right thank you other questions
i have a question um so is this a mixture of home ownership and rentals uh john jonathan what i i
think the home ownership is definitely in the front what what are you doing with the duplexes i
forgot um so the duplexes were um well are at this time
Um, so the duplexes were, um, or are, uh, at this time, uh, set up to be rentals, but, um, that can change. Um, that could be, um, they, you know, could be sold at a later time. But right now, our plan is to sell the single family and, uh, rent the bi-level duplexes.
And my next question is
the landscaping, is there landscaping
to the streetscape
all around the perimeter of the property
on the outside perimeter of the property?
You mean in front?
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I see the landscaping in the interior, but on the outside
the streetscape, is there
any landscaping there?
I'm very proud to see yes
there is.
We plan on having a tree
block to bring a more traditional and homely feel to this area alone.
Not just our project, but just that vicinity, that neighborhood, that portion of the neighborhood.
And that will go not just along the front, but along the other sides as well?
that will go along the we we can only we will about you know it's only we can only go by the
front and the side the back of the project and on the along the side the perimeter of our project
okay and also we we want to enforce we actually want to put a petition in for
speed bumps and things of that nature also on that block so there's other things that
that we would like to add to, again, not just for our project, but for the neighborhoods, for the neighborhood safe.
And lastly, are there any other amenities planned for that space?
Or what space? I'm sorry.
Just for the space in general.
I know you have 30 units with 40 parking spaces, and I see like a little, some outdoor component, but is there any other like space, amenity space in the project?
No, not.
Like a community room or something like that.
That's what I'm asking.
No, no, not at all.
We do plan on, like, we're focused on, like, each project, each property has a small little garden area in the front.
Like I said, we're trying to, we would like to implement that on every portion of these structures.
So that's pretty much what we're focused on is more of a traditional welcome and feel, which I think a lot of projects in the city have been like.
Thank you.
Other questions on the board?
I have a question about the shared outdoor spaces. Whose responsibility is it to maintain those, given that some of the units are homeownership and some of the units are rentals?
So I would gather that this would be turned into a planned community, and the planned community would be responsible for the common elements.
And then if it's within the four corners, which my clients would manage ultimately.
And if they do turn into rentals, they would manage that as well.
So this has not been converted to a PUD officially yet?
Like that legal process is not done?
Yeah, that's that's the. So what happens is we first got to get the zoning approved. Once we get the zoning approved, then we would talk through like, you know, getting it done. You know, we need to get the zoning permit ultimately. But yes, that's what would happen afterwards.
Any other questions from the board?
Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Emerson?
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
questions or comments from the virtual audience
chair we have charles richardson yeah charles please unmute yourself and wait for the chair
good morning mr richardson good afternoon actually mr chair well i well i still count it as the
morning but go ahead please say your name please and spell for the course of ours certainly charles
Richardson, Office of Councilwoman Cindy Bass, room 508 City Hall of Richardson.
It's R-I-C-H-A-R-D-S-O-N. Do you swear or affirm
to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth? I do. Please proceed.
As Mr. Nocklinson had referenced, this
This was a very well-attended meeting, and I was very surprised because of the fact that in these days and times of Zoom, we don't normally get that many people on.
was a very well-attended meeting, and I was very surprised because of the fact that in these
days and times,
So, you know, at 50, that also included eight individuals, you know, with regard to the applicants, the attorneys, two from the RCO and myself.
But that still left 42 people, and all were very supportive.
16 were not able to vote because of the fact that they were not within the area, but they were still very supportive of the applicants and were former residents of that area, and wanted to try to show their support.
But as was mentioned, 26 were able to vote, including near neighbors and those that were in the near community.
the councilwoman has no opposition to granting the variance for this but again there was no
opposition at all. Mr. Richardson thank you for taking the time and thank you for running the
meeting. Anyone else in the first audience? Chair we have someone by the name of Sharpnack
Street. They have been unmuted and allowed to speak. Hi could you please state your name and
spell for the stenographer yeah sorry i didn't put my name in that uh i apologize my name is
jackson galka uh j-a-c-k-s-o-n-g-a-l-k-a i just want to uh i'm actually the next one hold on hold
on hold on you swear or firm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes sir
i do please please proceed sir yeah i so i'm actually adjacent to the project and i want to
say hi to lennard and company here um they've done an awesome job they're really stand-up guys and so
So I don't have a problem with the project per se, but I sort of have a problem with the zone where we're in.
So this property is actually a major water catchment for the area.
And the intersection of Ross Street and Sharpnack Streets is the lowest point from all four directions.
And so it collects a ton of water.
The PGW sort of like the drainage system there is actually busted.
So during heavy rains, the street will fill up with water.
And I've been on the receiving end of some issues with just adjacent to the construction with changes in grading affecting my property and, you know, getting water into my property.
And this is these are all accidents and, you know, not intentional and have been dealt with properly.
And so I'm happy with that. My main concern is when we take 20,000, 30,000 square feet of dirt and replace it with 30,000 square feet of concrete.
And we channel all that water into a inadequate system that can't currently manage that water.
And so I'm like 100% in support of this project.
It's one of the reasons I moved into this neighborhood.
So I bought this house about a year ago.
But I do have some concerns about the water.
And I was hoping that maybe being on this call, I could get access to the architect or anybody in the project that could give me maybe a little bit more direct.
understanding of like what what is the water plan here because the uh the system is a little
little screwy in this neighborhood mr knockamson could you arrange that for the your team
oh yeah i mean listen i'm going to defer to your architect um agada um but you know obviously you
know as part of this process we have to deal with storm water management and in the city um but
Aga, can you elaborate?
Yes, can you hear me?
We can.
Yes, so we did obtain approval from the stormwater management.
The portion of the courtyard that is landscaped that you see with the cars driving around underneath that,
and that's another reason why the space between the houses is so vast.
We do have a large retention basin underneath the driveway that's going to hold water at the peak time and slowly release it to the public sewer system of peak time, basically, peak demand.
Okay, cool, cool, cool.
I have one follow-up question, if that's okay.
Of course.
We've been trying, some of the neighbors here, we've been trying to get on PGW to address the drain at the corner of Sharpnack and Ross.
It's just it's a it's a mess. It's a huge problem for the neighborhood. I didn't know if maybe through the process of this development, which is very high profile and really exciting, that maybe there's some way that we can exert some additional or attempt to exert some additional pressure on PGW to to fix that, because I think that that that's going to be problematic for all the new residents as well.
What I can do is, I'm not sure if I can do it on record, but either take your phone number or you can contact me through our website or call the office and ask for me and we can discuss it further.
or call the office and ask for me
and we can discuss it further
and I will contact.
There are several people that I've worked with
in the past that are extremely helpful.
So hopefully we can get a resolution for that.
That would be super awesome.
And again, I just want to say
I'm not against this by any means.
I just have just some concerns.
So I appreciate your time.
Thank you for your calls.
Is there anyone else in a virtual audience?
I see the other hands at this time.
Planning Commission. Thank you, Chairman, and good afternoon. David Tecto with the City Planning
Commission. Chairman and board members, the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the
RSA-5 residential single-family zoning at this location. The appellant has not shown that the
proposed 24 dwelling units are the minimum needed to afford the appellant relief, nor has the
appellant shown why bicycle parking spaces cannot be included, nor why six undersized lots are needed
to enable viable use of this property,
the City Planning Commission recommends
that the board deny the proposed use
and dimensional variances.
Mr. Chair, can I just briefly respond?
Please.
Yeah, so in terms of the lot size on average
or lot size for these properties,
based on the unit counts, 1,168 square feet,
which is not out of character in a neighborhood,
it also doesn't account for a lot of these dry vials
that we're talking about.
so that's additional like space that if you you know go cobble it up um it provides the open area
rear yard setbacks that we would need we also made a decision you know especially as the gentleman
stated you know you always have to deal with storm water responsibly and um so we you know
we created this drive aisle in the way um to uh to help that situation along but we also wanted to
add nice landscaping for the community right and so we omitted the bicycle parking of three bicycle
spots in the whole community um because we want to address the landscaping and the bicycle parking
will be inside the actual units themselves where it will be you know there'll be bicycle hooks
fixed uh within those garage areas um i do and again it's a technical a lot of these refusers
are technical in nature given you know the configuration a lot um and you know we're
dealing with a massive plot of 35,000 square feet.
So I do think that we address those concerns, and most of them are legal in nature in terms
of our due hardship.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Number 18, MI 2024, 001-893-118-8 Sharpneck Street, I vote yes.
Uncle John, my vote is yes.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes.
Sonetta Graham, my vote is yes
Taya Wen, my vote is yes
James Snell, my vote is yes
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes
Thank you, Mr. Nockerson, and please thank your entire team
They did a great presentation
Is there anyone in the virtual audience whose case has not been called from 930?
I see no hands, Chair
Thank you, everyone. See everyone at 2 p.m.
Thank you
we're ready to go right yes chair good afternoon everyone my name is bill bergman and i will
be chairing this afternoon's meetings with me is our vice chair ismail shaheed
or board member james snell present chair or board member cheryl l gaston
present Mr. Chair our board member Tanetta Graham
present Mr. Chair
member Michael Johns I'm present here
and shortly Taya Nguyen should be on also present
present oh you're here thank you thank you
thank you our attorney Hillary Emerson
is also here and our deputy director of planning and zoning
Kathleen Green here's our virtual format
The proceedings are being recorded.
With your participation, you agree to be recorded.
Video will be available by contacting Kathleen Grady at Kathleen.Grady at philip.gov.
For a court stenographer, we ask witnesses and attorneys to identify themselves before testifying.
If you're participating by phone, press star 9 to raise your hand at star 621.
move. To enter an appearance statement, call 267-270-5548. Leave your email address and the
address of the property in question. And finally, the question and answer box on the screen is
It's not for testimony. All comments should be directed to our director, Kathleen Grady.
it's not for testimony. All comments should be directed.
Here's our schedule for this afternoon.
Number 15.
MI 2024-002-809-1929-South 22nd Street.
That case has been continued.
Are there any other requests for continuances?
I see no hands at this time, Chair.
Yes, present, please.
Could you please state your name?
Could you please state your name and spell for the court sonographer?
Ranthik Parikh.
Do you believe or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Sir, do you have an attorney now?
Yes, I do have an attorney, but I was told that I was supposed to resubmit all the exhibits.
Okay, all right.
So you're going to resubmit your paperwork, right?
that's why i was advised i was ready but i was advised that i have to ask listen to me listen
to me listen to me and then we're going to continue the case and the next time your attorney
will be here with you am i correct yes sir thank you very much excuse me mr mr preek what is your
attorney's name his name is uh mr one second please frank turner okay thank you and uh my request
my humble request i've been uh i was not told about this five days i have to resubmit everything
uh last time also a day before the hearing i was told that i needed attorney not like in advance
so my my request is can you please give us a quick uh continuance rather than waiting another
two months please so we will take a look at that and figure out what what's available and how we
can schedule that, okay? So MI 2024, 000899, 5230 Willing Greenway Avenue. This case is
continued. Mark must be heard. Thank you, sir, for calling in. We appreciate it. And number 10.
2024, 002-617-3230 Belgrade. This is the first listing, no exhibits.
David Orfanides is the attorney.
Best Choice Ventures.
Is Mr. Orfanides on?
I do not see Mr. Orfanides in the audience at this time, Chair.
All right, so this is the first listing, no exhibits.
So MI 2024, 002-617-3230, Belgrade.
This case is continued.
Mark must be heard.
Chair, I do have a hand up by the name of Eric George.
Okay. Mr. George, please unmute yourself.
Mr. George, could you state your name, please, and spell for the stenographer?
Mrs. Hansel up. Yes, he has been allowed to speak. Eric George, please unmute yourself.
sir could you state your name please okay i unmuted myself my name is eric eric george
and uh i would hold on hold on one minute you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth yes i do what case you want to talk about sir the last one that i couldn't i
I was, I was listening like, uh, Mr.
Parikh.
He had contacted me yesterday.
And, um, um, but I, I couldn't get, figure out how to get your attention.
So you're the attorney, sir?
Yes, I am.
So that case has been continued.
You'll be notified of the date, sir.
Excuse me, Mr. Chair.
Mr. George, he said that Frank Turner was his attorney.
Well, he contacted me yesterday.
He sent me materials to review, and I just took time to participate in this Zoom.
And I just took time to participate in this Zoom hearing, so I don't know what he's talking about.
Thank you.
You'll have to figure it out with him.
Thank you.
Thank you so much, sir.
Thank you.
So, number 10, MI 2024, 002-617-3230, Belgrade.
Cases continued.
Mark must be heard.
And I have several cases here that have been withdrawn.
Number two, MI 2023-006-510-1232 East Kelowna Street.
That case has been withdrawn.
Number three, MI 2024-000809-2258 East Tioga Street.
That case has been withdrawn.
Number six, MI 2024-001-510-7929 Roanoke Street.
That case has been withdrawn.
And number 12, MI 2024-002-650-1706 North 2nd Street.
That case has been withdrawn.
We're going to go to our add-on list.
Let's see here.
Okay, first case is MI 2021-005-284-2086 Hain Street.
Myself, Ishmael, and James Snell will vote on us.
Mr. Snell will also certify that he had to listen to the case.
My vote is yes with proviso.
Existing auto repair use to remain.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes with Proviso.
James Snell, I certify that I watched a video of the December 7th, 2022 case, and I'm ready to vote on it.
And my vote is yes with Proviso.
Thank you.
And number two, myself, Ishmael Shaheed and James Snell will also vote on this.
It's MI 2024-000-148-8430, Busselton Avenue, number TA-224608.
My vote is yes, with proviso.
The approval is for the following uses as permitted in the CMX-2 zoning district.
Child care, community center, educational facilities, fraternal organization, library and cultural exhibits, religious assembly, safety services, utilities and services, basic, use in the office use category, uses in the retail sales list category, financial services, maintenance and repair of community of consumers' goods, personal services, radio, television, and recording.
and Artist Studios.
Ishmael Fahid, my vote is yes, with Proviso.
James Snell, my vote is yes, with Proviso.
Okay, and number three,
myself, Ishmael, and James Snell will be voting
MI 2024-001-388-1623-23, Rumford Road.
I vote yes with proviso.
Per refusal, dated 6-18-24.
Isha Shahib, I vote is yes with proviso.
James Snell, my vote is yes with proviso.
Number four is a revote by all members.
MI 2024-002-602-31-33 North 43rd Street, my vote is yes with Proviso. Group medical,
dental, and health practitioner use is limited to a group dental practitioner.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes with Proviso.
tanetta graham my vote is yes with proviso tayo and my vote is yes with proviso
james snell my vote is yes with proviso ishmael shaheed my vote is yes with proviso thank you
number five all will be voting on this mi 2024 002 481 700 east hunting park avenue
my vote is yes
My vote is yes.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes.
Tana Graham, my vote is yes.
Tywin, my vote is yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
Ismail Shahid, my vote is yes.
Number six, MI 2022-007-577-3935 Ogden. Michael Johns has recused himself from this. My vote is no.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is no.
Excuse me, Mr. Chair, we do need to put a proviso on here because there is an amended refusal. So no with proviso.
Okay. No with proviso for amended refusal dated 6-28-24.
And my vote is no with proviso.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is no with proviso.
Tayoen, my vote is no with proviso.
James Snell, my vote is no with proviso.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is no with proviso.
Thank you. We're going to go to our regular list, and we're starting with number seven, MI 2024.
001813
5025 North Fish Street
is the owner
along with
Erasmus
Almanza
this is a pro se
Loya has been
promoted to penalist
good afternoon
afternoon. Hello, good afternoon. Hi, hi. Could you please state your name and spell for the
court stenographer? Hey, how you doing? My name is Cesar Goya Grijalva, C-E-S-A-R-L-O-Y-A-G-R-I-J-A-L-V-A.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do. Okay, so this application is for use as a vacant commercial space
on the first floor. Use registration permit required prior to occupancy with single-family
household living above in an existing structure. Multiple principal uses on a lot are prohibited
in the RSA 5 zoning district. Yes. Our vice chair has a few questions for you. Okay.
Good afternoon, sir. Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that is needed to
proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing yes i have thank you please proceed
and share your screen all right and sir sir i'll note that we have you have a letter of support
from the new 42nd ward yes i do okay please proceed sir share my screen
um by any chance do you guys can you guys see yeah we do all right
So as you guys know, it is 45025 North 5th Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19120.
I am the applicant, Cesar Loi Grijalva.
I do apologize.
I don't know why on it.
So, yes, so before I get talking, I do apologize if I do misword things wrong.
I am the applicant.
I am doing everything alone.
And if you guys can please bear with me, I do appreciate it.
We understand that.
so as you guys see um i did file a zoning permit for a commercial vacant uh first floor with a
single family upstairs um the refusal was for multiple principal use prohibited in this
residential district also commercial use prohibited in the district so before i do
show all my exhibits i would just like to show you guys um so fifth street as you guys know
It's nothing but commercial, all up and down from 5th and Sheltonham all the way down to 5th Street and South, even going.
As you guys see, my property is right here with this blue square right here.
On my side, on the corner, you guys see it's commercial, commercial in front, commercial up the block.
I can keep going.
I'm going to go to the other side now, just a little brief.
so yes as you guys see it's all commercial all up and down the street from even on my side from
where i live um also this is the property right here uh there's a phone store right next to me
there's also a doctor on the corner on the same side as my house um there's a barbershop i can
go across the street these are also all the other stores um i can go up the blog there's more stores
I can go up the blog. There's more stores. And as you guys see, there's storefronts with upstairs.
and as you guys see um
And most of them, if you guys do look them up, they're all mixed use residential commercial storefront with either single family or multi units upstairs.
um and as i keep going i would just like to show my exhibits the application of appeal
um the project information form i'm sorry if i am going too fast if you guys want me to slow
you're fine you're fine you're fine you're doing all right um so as you guys see my mom is under
under the property with me her name is irasem agriava i got the notarized letter that i can do
what I want with the property with her consent.
This is the certificate of tax clearance.
This is the deed of the property when I bought it back in 07-26-2018.
The deed.
The zoning permit.
The poster.
so that was the deed the the poster let me put this back up as you guys see this is the property
right next to the i philly service this is the street this is the backyard so as seen on what
i was saying um so i would like to get it commercial vacant first floor because i would
like to rent it out to somebody who would like to use it as a store only with the consent of not
not having no bar no food there anything that will harm any residents around me any neighbors
um there won't be a lot of trash because as you guys see um in the past tense i will show i will
show this is the front again um this is the inside of the property the front to the back
and this is the back to the front. This is the notice of zoning applicants to the RCO and
neighbors. This is the other one. I also have proof that I sent that out to 116 addresses
all around my area. This is the support from my RCO. She was very supportive on what I wanted to
do since I bought the property when I was young at 19 years old. I had this property, I bought it
right before COVID. And as you guys know, COVID shut everything down for everybody for at least
two years. So there was no opportunity for me to even get into trying to do something with the
property. So as you guys see, I've owned the property for over five years now and has not
been able to make no type of income. I've been paying bills and taxes on this property for as
long as I've owned it. This is her letter of support. As I stated to her that I would not
use the business for no alcohol beverages, no food, no grocery store, no bar, hookah lounge,
or multi-services like that. I told her that I would like to run it out to somebody who's more
into a travel agency or just something that doesn't have to intervene with the community.
and I will make sure that I'm, I will be managing the property and I will, there will, like I said,
there won't be no trash. There's enough space in the back. If there was any trash, there's more
than enough space on the side to take out the trash. There's no commercial trash at the property.
Um, I also have proof that back in the day, there was also applications for zoning permits at the
property. As you guys see for the present use was a doctor office and one family dwelling.
They try to transform it into a grocery store and one-family dwelling.
This one right here, it was granted back in 06-2690 for a grocery store and a one-family dwelling.
Also right here, it's just another application that it was a commercial area in the properties
and the guy wanted to turn it into a commercial plus residential upstairs.
This is another one that it was a one-family with travel agency. Same thing, they wanted to leave it the same. Right here, it was granted an 062690 for the same one grocery store in the one-family dwelling. It was granted.
right here this is not a permit but it also was also granted another variance at the property
back in 10 27 88 so as you guys see this property has always been used
commercial space from from back in the 1980s until until now also right here
from back in the 1980s until until now also right here another various was granted
and another one right here uh a case for travel agency plus one family as you guys see on the
bottom the permit was never picked up but it was granted for a retail sale of children clothing
and shoes so as so as basically as i was going with this i do understand that the refusal was
that multiple purposes are not prohibited in the area but as you guys see that all the stores in
front of me or like i said diagonal from me wherever you guys would like to see it's always
used as commercial i've got information from even back from the 1980s that it's always been used for
multiple things from a doctor's office grocery store and yes and and to be honest i've i think
i'm done with thank you hillary just out of curiosity that second refusal we're not we're
not involved in that am i correct so yeah so um mr loya the the board can't just grant a blanket
commercial use at a property uh this refusal was unfortunately written incorrectly um we we can
either grant specific uses or we can grant um uses within a specific zoning district say cmx1
or cmx2 so um so we can we can technically grant for multiple principal uses but we can't grant
you a commercial use unless it's more specific which means once you get a tenant you have to
come back to us so and i know you've already been waiting a while to to get here um so what what i
would suggest is that um we can we can finish with the hearing today but the board hold their vote and
you determine what um you have the refusal amended to determine what commercial uses you'd like to
have at the property um either like i said a specific list of things or um or something
within a specific zoning district um and the staff and i can can work with you on going through that
process um but that's what that's what i would recommend today so that you base because otherwise
you're not going to really walk away with i think what you're looking for which is permission to
lease the property for commercial use on the ground floor all right so uh okay let me just
get the understanding so basically um you guys cannot grant me the commercial for first floor
because i don't have the specifics of who i'm going to rent it out to for what they want it's
not it's not who there has to be a specific use listed or or uses within a specific zoning
district this refusal was written incorrectly we can't just grant you permission to have a
commercial use there commercial use can be out could be a number of things in the code it's not
a specific use in the zoning code so i'm sorry is so so what we're going to do is we're going to
hold the vote right so that you don't have to come back and reapply again and then come back
and tell us who you're going to rent to and then we'll finish the case so our what what you what
Sorry, well, what uses you would like approval for?
Right, right.
I do apologize that I'm even going through this.
It's okay.
Like I said, the refusal, unfortunately, was written incorrectly.
And we didn't know until we had a chance to review your documents prior to the hearing.
So we can have it.
It can be fixed to update the use or uses you are actually requesting.
So we'll need to do that outside of this hearing.
Okay, so I'm sorry. Like I said, it's my first time. I just want to make sure I get everything correct. So basically, I have to find somebody who would want to rent it out first in order for me to even go through this.
you do not necessarily have to but it has to be you have to have a specific use or list of uses
approved not you don't have to have a tenant but if you want to have the space have a commercial
use there you have to specify the use either by listing uses in the zoning code or uses within a
certain zoning district and we can discuss this further um that that is what the that is what
should have happened with this refusal um you should have been told that at that time but
unfortunately you were not so but we will we will work with you on that so that this this gets
straightened out okay yes if you guys please can i own the property for over five years and i've
been missing on a lot of opportunity that everybody helps add on the block and like i said i do
apologize if i did something no no you don't have to apologize this was the way i was told to follow
this was the way i was told to follow they told me to go to my meeting i even paid for an
or they told me to go to my meeting.
accelerant hearing um i filed all the exhibits i needed and like i said i was just told go to
the hearing and they should be able to grab the commercial so what did you do your best to find
out what you want to put in there yeah and mr try i would get you back in here as soon as we can
i would suggest a resumption hearing just so he can present to the board the the uses for that
commercial space okay um and so that the community has a chance to hear that as well a resumption
hearing we can get you back in pretty quick once we have things figured out um but please um reach
out to us mr loya and we'll work you work with you through this process okay so basically just
figure out what what i the whole thing is like excuse me sir i i don't mean to interrupt because
because I'm going to put our contact information inside the chat, our phone number, address, and email, and that way we can continue this discussion offline.
Thank you, sir. Thank you very much.
All right. Thank you.
Mr. Chair, we can see if the board members have any questions at this time, and I do see a hand in the audience for Mr. Richardson.
No, I do have a comment. I'm just happy that this gentleman has decided whatever use he plans to do at some point will not be noxious to the community. No liquor store, no alcohol, no sort of services that would be a detriment to the community. So I appreciate it.
And can we make sure that the tax clearances up to date?
I thought I saw that maybe it had expired.
No, the tax clearance.
Do you guys still see my screen?
The tax clearance.
It is up to date.
It is valid through August 23rd, 2024.
fourth. Okay. Yeah. We have Mr. Richardson there. Any other questions for him from the
board? Cesar, I have a question. How is the tenant that lives on the second floor going
to get to the second floor? And do you have to do any exterior conversions? Nothing at
all. Yes, I wouldn't mind showing. I should have uploaded pictures on that. I do not have
So as you guys see, this is a one entrance door.
So as soon as you walk in, to the left is the door inside to the business.
And then there's like a wall and it goes right up to the second floor.
So it's, yes.
And as you guys can see on these properties too, where they are commercial, they have the same thing.
They only have one entrance and they're all with one single family upstairs.
And there are labeled commercial, as you guys can see right here.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Is Mr. Richardson in the audience?
Yes, Charles Richardson has been allowed to speak.
Hi, Mr. Richardson, just state your name.
You know, you're already sworn today.
Charles Richardson, Office of Councilman Cindy Bass, R-I-C-H-A-R-B-S-O.
Just want to also make sure that the applicant goes back once he makes that determination of what he wants.
are put there at that location that he goes back and speaks with the civic in order for them to be
able to have another crack at getting approval from him or for him from the community. So,
you know, we're going to be able to do that. And we're going to withhold our...
your support at this time.
Yes, sir.
Sorry about that.
I got distracted there for a second.
And we will, you know,
we will come back when he comes back for the resumption.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
And thank you, sir.
We appreciate your time.
So can I just say one question?
So, all right.
Do me a favor.
Do me a favor.
Why don't you call along?
She's put something up that you get a hold of the office and they'll talk to you because we want to move on.
OK. All right. But we understand your position. All right.
Thank you. Number one, MI 2023-003-775-3148 West Burke Street.
Brett Feldman is the attorney. Ishmael Shahid has recused himself.
Kenetta Graham has also
recused herself from this case
Mr. Phelps
has been promoted to
panelists
Mr. Chair I would like to note we
just received a letter of
non-opposition
from council member Young's office. Thank you very much. Mr. Feldman, could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
from Councilmember
Young's office
thank you very much
Brett Feldman, please.
I'm giving you one second here.
Take your time.
Hi, Mr. Feldman. Could you please state your name and spell for the courts?
Absolutely. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, members of the board. Brett Feldman, 1835 Market Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19103. I represent applicant property owner, Philadelphia Housing Authority, as well as the Dale Court.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Do you agree with the accuracy of the refusal?
I do. And has all of your documents been sent in five days prior?
Yes. You should see the exhibit package one through 14, which was sent last Wednesday or Thursday with a list of witnesses.
Please proceed. Sure. Again, Brett Feldman.
I represent the applicant property owner of the Philadelphia Housing Authority, PHA.
with me today should be
J. Ryan Wachter, Vice President
for Construction for PHA.
If he could be promoted to
a witness
panelist. Also, Jonathan
Brough, Project Architekt,
JKR Partners, if you could also
promote him as well.
In front of you is
Exhibit Package 1-14, which I'd ask
to be incorporated into the record.
It's got all the standard
items.
refusal, zoning map and code provisions, elevations. We have the RCO letter of support
from the Strawberry Mansion CDC. And as I understand, I just heard the district council
person just issued a letter of non-opposition. So I'll get right to this here.
What this application is, here's our property, West Berks and 32nd Street.
We are the, I guess the outlier here, CMX1, the rest of the block across the street is RM1 and RSA5.
Here is the property.
Right here at the corner, it highlighted.
This is a very large property, largest property on the block, approximately 3,000 square feet.
The rest of the properties on this block, as I'll show you a little bit later, are about a third smaller at 2,000 square feet.
The property has never been used.
Here's what it looks like right from the corner.
It is an amazing block, beautiful architectural with a lot of the original features still available here.
The property has never been used for single family.
It's always been multifamily or multifamily with a commercial use.
Over the last 60 or 70 years, it's been first of all a laundromat with three apartments above.
It then became three family.
It then became just two family.
And then it became most recently an office with an apartment above.
above. I'll take you through some pictures here. Here's from the rear. You'll see all
these Starbolts. I don't think I fully realized these until I went out there yesterday. It's
time to get this property redeveloped. A lot of Starbolts up and down throughout the property.
Here is the first floor. I guess that was that office space that's been empty for some time
with the ingress and egress on the left, and then above the remnants of the different multifamily
that's been on the floors two, three, two and three above. Basement cellar is just utilities.
Just take you through some of the pictures here. Really need some work. All PHA is looking to do
here, and there's the proposed renderings, is to convert that first floor, former vacant office
space into one apartment. It would be about 800 square feet, one bedroom. And then they would also
have access to the cellar just for utilities, no living space. And then floors two and three
would be a bi-level unit, four or five bedrooms. And the idea here would be to what's really
needed in the PHA inventory are these kind of larger units, generational type units where you
can have a grandparent, a son or daughter, and then a son or, you know, a grandchild in those
units. I think it goes without being said. PHA has a tremendous waiting list for its units in
PHA has a tremendous waiting list for its units in Philadelphia, and fortunately, PHA has the money, they own the property, and we've been working closely with the Strawberry Mansion, with the neighbors on this redevelopment plan for the property to get this back online and to have these two units come onto the inventory and be able to be rented to neighbors.
in Philadelphia.
Here is the floor plans. This is the basement. Again, no living space in the basement. These would be utilities down in the basement. Here is the first floor. It's a one-bedroom living room, kitchen, bathroom. I'll just point out a couple mechanical in the back here.
I'll point out a couple items that we worked out with the CDC and with the neighbors.
There's two entrances.
There's an entrance separate from the outside right into that first floor unit.
And then there's a separate entrance to go right up to that bi-level second and third floor units.
We also, because we've got this rear yard, we're able to create an outdoor area for both units where there'd be some outdoor space.
but there'd also be an enclosed trash storage area in this rare area accessed for both units.
So that is the first floor.
Smoke alarms, hardwired as part of this upgrade unit, fully billing code compliant.
And then second floor, this is the bi-level unit.
This is a large unit.
We're talking 1,800 or 1,900 square feet.
four or five bedrooms here which is really needed in the PHA inventory. We have our architect if we
want to get into more of the details here but this is this unit itself is basically the size
of the rest of the block. Those buildings just on the second and third floor because this
building is much larger and again you know part of the concern with neighbors was that they have
a trashed enclosure also in the unit and also on that first floor.
And that's what we've modified these plans as we depicted to show that.
Just just briefly here, this is an exhibit that we put together to show that the corner,
our property is about 3000 square feet, the rest of the block, which is a mix,
but is about 2,000 square feet, much larger, and is zoned commercial and has never been a single
family. So, this is something that we did. We did an analysis, the architects looking at the
surrounding uses and the size. This is our letter of support from the Strawberry Mansion CDC.
We had two separate meetings with them. I think the zoning board might notice we had, I think,
three continuances on this. PHA was absolutely committed to working extensively with the
NEIGHBORS WITH THE CDC ON THIS IN ORDER TO GET THIS LETTER OF
SUPPORT. THERE WERE SOME PROVISORS IN HERE
THAT WE WORKED ON. WE'LL OBVIOUSLY WORK CLOSELY ON THAT
TRASH REMOVAL FROM THIS LOCATION. YOU SAW THE PLAN CHANGES THAT WE
MADE. AND IT'S ALSO JUST BEING AS ACCESSIBLE AS POSSIBLE TO THE
MEMBERS OF THE BLOCK, PROVIDING, YOU KNOW, PROMP RESPONSE TO THOSE
NEIGHBORS, ANY CONCERNS THEY HAVE, AS WELL AS PROVIDING CONTACT
INFORMATION FOR THE CDC OF THE SPECIFIC PEOPLE FROM PHA WHO WOULD BE ASSIGNED TO THIS PROPERTY
AND BE ABLE TO ADDRESS ANY CONCERNS THAT ANY NEIGHBORS MIGHT HAVE. AND WE AGREE TO THOSE.
I DON'T THINK THEY'RE ZONING THAT YOU PUT ON A PERMIT, BUT THOSE ARE OBVIOUSLY COMMITMENTS
that we've made as part of these meetings.
And here's our tax clearance.
Here's the deed and other additional documents.
So I guess with that, I would stop
to see if there's any questions that the board might have.
Why don't you first,
why don't you bring on the PHA person
who will adopt your testimony?
And then leave your architect on call.
And if anybody has a question about the design,
we'll bring the architect on but bring sure with that uh um j ryan wachter um vice president of
construction of pha i believe if we could um have him out here sure jonathan watcher has been allowed
to speak sir could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
is he on
yes chair he's on
Jonathan Watcher please unmute yourself
Jonathan Wachter, please unmute yourself.
Could you please state your name, sir?
Can you hear me?
I can. Please state your name and spell for the stenographer.
My name is Jonathan Ryan Wachter. I'm the vice president of construction at PHA.
Could you please spell your name for the stenographer?
J-O-N-A-T-H-A-N-W-A-C-H-T-E-R.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, counsel.
Mr. Wachter, you heard my testimony to the board regarding the project, the history of the property, prior uses, as well as the floor plans and discussions with the neighbors and the RCO, correct?
Yes, absolutely.
And did you find those true and accurate?
Yeah, I think you nailed it on the head with those.
I mean, it's no secret there's a great need for affordable housing all throughout Philadelphia.
Last year, more than 37,000 individuals applied for a chance to be one of the 10,000 selected via lottery to establish a wait list for the housing choice voucher program.
And by returning this property to a duplex, PHL will be able to add not one, but two units into our inventory for scattered sites.
Great. And do you adopt my comments as your own?
Great. And I just wanted to ask you this.
We had multiple meetings with the RCO, with neighbors, with other interested persons, and you attended all those meetings, correct?
Absolutely.
Yeah. And there was a number of plan changes that we made.
They didn't impact the zoning, but changes as far as trash, changes as far as ingress, egress points, lighting, the front making that more engaging, as you see on the elevations.
Were you aware of those changes?
Yes. And those were all changes that we made in order to address concerns that were raised to us, correct?
Yeah, those changes were brought to us, and we worked together to take care of those items.
Great. And one last question, at least for the time being.
I know as part of these discussions, you made clear to the RCO and to the neighbors that PHA would provide direct contact information to neighbors, to the RCO, if there's any concerns that those neighbors on that block have. Is that correct?
Absolutely. If there's any neighbor complaints regarding any tenant news and activities, they can reach out to the PHA property manager's office for this site.
I have a phone number. I can say it and I can also add it to the chat if that helps.
I don't think we need to say it right now, but the understanding was that we would provide that to residents on the block and as well as to the RCO.
Absolutely.
Okay. There's also a PHA anonymous tip line as well if there's someone who would like to call and they would like to remain anonymous. So have that information as well.
And this is obviously all in addition to all the screening, the financial background checks and all that for the residents, correct?
Yes, every day they're on a lease. Scattered sites homes are integrated into the community. Residents are obligated by lease to keep the unit in a safe, clean, and sanitary condition, including the upkeep of fenced-in yards, picking up and removing trash, and disposing of the trash in a sanitary and safe manner.
The tenant is also required to follow the city's weekly trash pickup schedule without bringing the trash out until either the night before or the morning of trash day.
And it's up to the PHA property management staff.
They perform multiple inspections per year on each PHA property, one of them being a housekeeping inspection to determine if the tenant is compliant to the lease and noncompliance is grounds for lease termination.
Great. Well, with that, I don't think I have any further questions for PHA. We are available to answer any questions that might be out there for the board or the virtual audience.
Questions from the board?
No, Chair.
I do have a couple of questions. One, I guess if you stay around long enough, you see stuff that you were involved with a gazillion years ago.
so i remember this building i remember the iterations of what this building was
so but um so that clearly there's a need for um uh uh larger units for the pha inventory
uh uh larger units for the pha inventory can you go to the floor plans the one concern that i have
can you go to the floor
is um storage space so if you can go to the yeah let me uh i think it's i think it's down
and and where is the trash going to be kept yeah so let me just there you go and if there's anything
i can't ask uh answer i want the architects so we have uh mr johns we as part of the one of the
plan revisions here was there was outdoor area for both unit one right here and then unit two
right here that direct access to that trash storage area and then we also kind of you know
we're trying to do our best we're built in a redundancy for the bi-level unit on floors two
and three we actually took created an area here where there'd be additional trash storage you
kind of an interim trash storage before they then brought the trash down to their designated area on
the first floor so we've we've you know we've tried to work that out i assume also we could
use the the cellar uh because there is no living space that would be another that would be a third
area if we needed to um but you know those those were what we had worked out with with the neighbors
uh and the rco uh on that issue and you can use them into the plane a little bit yeah sure is
that can you see that or is it too big still nope nope i can see that i can see that that's that's
the only that's the kind of the only concern that i have is when you've got this number of um folks
in a in a unit you know kids are going to have bikes you know they're going to have toys they're
going to have a bunch of stuff and so we're where are they going to store it i see i like the idea
that you have that additional storage space but i will look to see if you could find some additional
storage yeah we can certainly take a look at that um you know we do have that that cellar area
uh that that is accessible we have the outdoor area um i know our project architect is also on
the line if you'd um i'm sure he's better at looking at and trying to figure out if you can
find some more storage space within the unit okay yeah we'll absolutely take a look at this
and sort of making sure that because that's a lot of folks that that can be for a pha
that can be up to 10 people and maybe more dependent on the age of the, you know, children.
Yeah. We just have a unique opportunity here because of the size of this property.
Right.
Other questions from the board?
Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Emerson.
Just briefly, Mr. Chair, Mr. Feldman, I just wanted to note, I see submitted plans and a rise plans form
because this is a change of use application the board cannot stamp those however the board could
if it wished I think adopt a proviso noting you know that there would be two separate
entrances sorry separate entrances for the two units and request a that a specific occupancy
be obtained so that there would be review of the floor plans by L&I so I just want to make a note
to map the record. Yeah, I mean, I think we're fine with a note on ingress, egress. I wouldn't
want to get locked into this specific floor plan that we're showing right now as far as, you know,
unit layout. You never know what exactly will transpire, but the ingress, egress was an issue
at one of the earlier meetings. If that's what you're asking about.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Yes, Chair.
I have a hand up by the name of Tyrone Williams.
They have been allowed to speak.
Could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Reverend?
Tyrone Williams, please unmute yourself.
Yes, good afternoon.
Hi, Reverend, could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Sure. Good afternoon, chair and board.
My name is Reverend Tyrone Williams, Tyrone Williams, W-I-L-L-I-A-M-S.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, told truth and nothing but the truth, Reverend.
Yes, I do.
Please proceed, sir.
I just want to also adopt the testimony that came from Mr. Feldman.
We have been working on this more than one meeting.
They have been very open, listening.
I hear it in their presentation.
I like the fact that there was a complaint about management,
They're playing about management, and they are making available anyone that we need to contact, if we need to contact.
and they are making available
And I just want to let you, you know, just say the CDC has all support behind this project.
Thank you very much for taking the time to call us. We appreciate it.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
Yes, Chair. I have three hands remaining. Rashida Ferks has been allowed to speak.
Hi, could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Hello?
Rashida Perks, please unmute yourself.
Hello?
Go to the next hand if you have to.
Am I now unmuted?
Hello?
Am I now unmuted?
Yes, you are.
Please.
Rashida, do me a favor.
Please state your name and spell for the stenographer.
It's Rashida Parks, R-A-S-H-E-E-D-A-H, and the last name is Parks.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do swear.
Please proceed.
I live at 3142 West Burke Street. I talk to PHA maybe two times a month with a direct contact about the neighbors who are public nuisances, leave trash out on Mondays, even though trash is Fridays, neighbors who have threatened me on video, and all I get is pushback.
I have the email change since August of last year until last week.
With the CEO on there, no one has talked to anybody on this block about a corner house with two more families and more problems.
They won't do anything about the families who cause issues on this block now.
And when they do get court dates, it's just pushback to continuations.
And the answer they give me, oh, we have a court date. These court dates are withdrawn and just continued, even with the CEO. So I don't need an extra phone number. Not when I'm calling the CEO directly and nothing's happening.
the only people who pick up trash on this block are about three homeowners no one on this block
on pha picks up anything and add two more families in the corner no no so so it's unacceptable
rashida we appreciate your phone call we will ensure that pha is aware of where you are with
this and we'll make sure i am they ignore me every day when i email them thank you very much
we appreciate it. Next hand, please. Calvin Williams has been allowed to speak. Could you
please state your name and spell for the court stenographer? Calvin Williams, C-A-L-V-I-N-W-I-L-L-I-A-M-S.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do. Please proceed, sir. Okay. First, good afternoon.
Good afternoon to you.
All right, and the rest of the members.
I wanted to express my appreciation for all parties and how they worked with the community to get this rendering that I see now.
This is my first opportunity to see the latest rendering, and we have come a long way.
And I'm looking at the building, and it is a beautiful-looking building.
It's helped us keep the integrity of our stock of houses around there.
And I just want to go on record and say how appreciative I am of everybody listening and helping us to keep the integrity of the housing stock of our neighborhood in order.
Thank you.
Mr. Williams, thanks for calling us.
We appreciate it.
Next hand, please.
Lauren, is there anyone allowed to speak?
hi could you please state your name as spelled for the court stenographer
first name lawrence l-a-w-r-e-n-c-e last name battle b as in boy a-t-t-l-e
mr battle do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
that is correct yes please proceed please well i've had some some interactions with pha in the
past and i've been um you know i've had mixed emotions with with them this particular project
i'm extremely excited about because i actually have a family that lives about three blocks away
or three houses away from this property and it's been uh it's been going through a few
or three houses away from this property and it's been uh it's been going through a few transitions
here and there back and forth and i really would love for pha to actually cater to the larger
families and this is actually the the project that i actually gave uh yeah i was very excited about
when they said they wouldn't cater to larger families so um i do i do appreciate um them thank
you mr battle thank you very much for calling us is there anyone else
i see no hands at this time planning commission thank you chair bergman a good afternoon david
effecto with the city planning commission chairman and board members in 2014 the zoning map was
amended from residential multi-family in this neighborhood to commercial mixed use at this
location in accord with recommendations from the comprehensive plan this property has a documented
history as a ground floor commercial unit with a two-floor single-family dwelling above. The
appellant seeks to turn the former commercial space into a residential unit. The proposed
ground floor residential use is consistent with nearby properties on an otherwise residential
zoned block. The City Planning Commission recommends that the zoning board grant the use
variance. Thank you. MI 2023-003-775-3148 West Burke Street. I vote yes with provisos.
Separate entrances from exterior to be provided for each unit must obtain a certificate of occupancy.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes with provisos.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes with provisos.
jane snell my vote is yes with proviso ty owen my vote is yes with proviso
thank you counsel thank you numbers of the board for your time and consideration
we're going to number five mi 2024 000 969 38 3801 woodhaven road brandon saverin is the attorney
there's a recommendation of support from Parkwood Civic. 33 supported, five opposed.
Mr. Saverin. Brandon Saverin is coming in as a penalist.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Saverin, could you please state your name and spell for the
court stenographer. Yep. I am Brandon Saverin of the Dilworth Paxson Law Firm. My name is spelled
B-R-A-N-D-O-N. And then S as in Sam, A, V as in Victor, R-A-N as in Nancy. Do you swear a firm
to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Yes, I do. Could you identify your
client relationship to the property? Yes. My client is the school district of Philadelphia,
which is the property owner thank you vice chair has a few questions
good afternoon counsel do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal or stipulate to its accuracy
um i agree i agree to waive the reading um mr vice chairman but i do not stipulate to its accuracy
um as i'll discuss that's fair have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that
is needed to proceed with this case obvious in advance of this hearing yes i did thank you
mr saverin please proceed and share your screen okay one moment
okay good afternoon members of the board as mentioned my name is brandon saverin i represent
the school district, who is the property owner at 3801 Woodhaven Road, which is the subject
property.
This is a very large property of over 47 acres, according to the Office of Property Assessment,
which the school district has owned since the mid-19th century.
It acquired it in two pieces, first in 1847 and then in 1915.
and it has been performing education and educational related services on this property
before the adoption of the zoning code in 1933. So accordingly, there is some discussion
that I'll give in a moment about how our use of the property is a legally non-conforming use.
I have submitted 15 exhibits to the board, which I will ask be moved into the record of this case.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
And I'll go through those and then provide a little bit of legal argument at the end of my presentation.
So I'll start with Exhibit 1, which is our refusal. I'll actually save discussion of the points of refusal by L&I for later, but let me dive into what we applied for here.
So I'll start with Exhibit 1, which is our refusal.
I'll ask.
So we are applying to essentially upgrade and modernize what is currently on the property
and has been for some time, which is a bus depot.
There was a while ago also a school next to the bus depot, but the school is no longer
in operation.
So the property is a bus depot and it has a perimeter fence around the entire property.
But we are applying to install a high, 10-foot high security fence, not to replace, but to supplement that perimeter fence.
And this fence would be on the interior of the property, as I'll show you on our site plan in a moment, and would specifically surround the bus parking lot rather than the entire property.
It's needed because, unfortunately, the property has been struck by vandalism in recent years, namely people stealing parts from buses, and the fence we currently have just isn't sufficient to prevent that.
In addition to that, we will be installing a new fuel tank in the bus parking lot area and a new modular prefabricated building to serve as a security headquarters.
So that's complementary to the new fence. And then finally, right here, the refusal mentions an additional new accessory building beyond the modular security building.
That quote unquote building is actually a little shed that will house an electrical gear switch that will go next to a new PICO transformer.
So this building here in the second line is not for occupancy by people.
It's just a piece of equipment that complements the PICO transformer.
The PICO transformer is exempt from the zoning code.
So that's not mentioned here.
and i'll show you how all these things will be located on the property in a moment
so exhibit two is the zoning map of the property in the area the property is owned rsd2 but on
you know about half of the different edges of the property there are not residential uses so to the
southwest of the property is the woodhaven road expressway which is how most of the buses access
this property. They turn off of it onto the very beginning of Byberry Road here and then come into
the property. To the southeast of the property is Knights Road, on the other side of which is the
Philadelphia Mills, formerly Franklin Mills Shopping Mall, and the adjacent shopping centers
around it. So that is a non-residential area as well. There is a residential neighborhood to the
northeast of the property and a small one across Byberry Road to the northwest of the property.
To the north of the property is another lot owned by the school district, which contains
woodlands, some athletic fields, and an elementary school called the Stephen Decatur School.
And Exhibit 3 is an aerial from Atlas that shows some of these features. Our property,
in addition to the Decatur property, has woodlands as well. And I'll zoom in a little bit here.
So you can see those woodlands exist on some of the edges of the property and in the middle
of it. And essentially, other than the woodlands, the property is sort of bifurcated into two areas,
One being the bus depot area, which has parking grounds, the bus maintenance garage, and a couple other accessory structures.
The remainder of the site, which is far less paved with impervious surfaces, has school buildings from prior school uses on the site, which none of which are used at this point.
And I'll show you photos of those in a moment just so you're familiar with what's there.
But again, all of this in the South is vacant.
And this is just a close-up of the bus area.
Exhibit four is our proof of tax clearance.
The property is exempt from local property taxes because it's owned by the school district.
Exhibit five are copies of the two vesting deeds as proof of ownership, which I'll sort of skip right by.
Okay, Exhibit 6 is our notice posters for this hearing, the orange posters.
Okay, Exhibit 6 is our...
We hung them twice because we continued the original hearing to allow for a second RCO meeting.
So I'll actually skip to the second set of posters here, still in Exhibit 6.
The reason we had a second RCO meeting about one month after the original RCO meeting
is not that the public was opposed to our application.
I will say that there was, in fact, strong support for our application.
And I think that in addition to the RCO's support,
there is a letter of support that was sent directly to the board by the councilman's office,
although I didn't have a copy of it in time to put it in these exhibits.
That all being said, the broad sentiment here of neighbors and the public, not that it was universal, was they are happy to see the present use of the property continue.
They preferred that to some drastic change of the programming on the site.
And we're happy that we're going to be increasing the security at the site, which is really the central aim of this project.
And the notice posters just give me an opportunity to show you what the surroundings look like. So this is a typical section of the perimeter fence. One of the pieces of feedback we got from neighbors, and it is a big chore, but it's to try to do a better job trimming the foliage on the outside of the perimeter fence, which we endeavored to do a better job of and have started.
Anyway, here's what the opposite side of that fence looks like facing Franklin Mills across Knights Road. Another shot across Knights Road. This is the Woodhaven Road Expressway.
And this is Byberry Road with houses on the other side. Just to say again that with the exception of I think one side, there are roadways that buffer us from surrounding neighbors.
where there are neighbors. Exhibit seven is our meeting summary by the RCO. 36 of the 41 members
of the public that attended the second RCO meeting voted in support of the project, and all three of
the RCO's volunteers voted in support of the project. Exhibit eight, which I'll skip through
showing you is just the two mailed notices that we sent out with regard to
the RCO meetings. Sorry, Exhibit 8 is for the first meeting, Exhibit 9 is for the
second meeting. Exhibit 10 is a copy of the zoning code sections that are
mentioned in the refusals to Exhibit 11. Exhibit 11 is our application for
appeal that was filed by my colleague, Neil Skleroff. So what I'm going to do is trust that
you can, of course, read this document. I will not do so to save time, but I will summarize
our legal arguments at the end of my presentation.
Exhibit 12 is the entirety of the archive of prior zoning permits that the city has on the
property, which isn't much. It's just one permit from 2019 that authorized the placement of one
of the modular buildings on the site. There are no permits that authorize educational use
or specifically the school bus depot use of the property. And that's because as is explicitly
stated in the refusal, this is a non-conforming use or in layman's terms, grandfathered use.
So it is not required to be permitted and there are no permits for it.
Exhibit 13 is our site plan that we submitted to L&I.
I'll give you a brief tour of this and then I have some other documents that, while they're not the official L&I plans, sort of illustrate things a little more clearly.
So, this includes an elevation of that shed we're installing. It includes a site plan with regard to the new modular building. And this is a zoomed in site plan. The general site plan is down here. So, this is the entirety of the property.
it's a little hard to trace with these change marks that l and i put on here but
if i zoom in just to this sort of one you know section of the property in the north
the security fence is in black here it's only going to surround the bus parking area
It will have gates on the existing driveway network, so we're not proposing the paving of any additional surfaces beyond what's already paved.
it will have gates on the existing driveway network so we're not proposing the pay
And what you have here in the gray are the installations of the new structure.
So Exhibit A is the new modular office building.
I'm sorry, not Exhibit A. I'll call it Item A.
You have here is the new fuel tank where my hand is, the gray box.
Building C is the existing bus garage.
The box labeled item B is that new shed to house the electrical equipment.
And the existing modular building is up here, which is administrative.
So like I said, I know that's a little hard to make sense of.
So what I have, in addition to that, Exhibit 14 is an existing conditions plan, but Exhibit 15 is like a schematic. So this is not the official plan we submitted to L&I. It's actually a bit outdated. The fence and some of the structures are not in the final locations that are shown on Exhibit 13.
But because this was color rendered, I thought this was a nice thing to include anyway.
It shows you those same things I just walked you through, I think, just a little more clearly.
The blue is the new modular building. Orange is the gas tank.
The purple is the new electrical shed.
The black boxes are existing buildings, the bus garage maintenance center and the existing modular building.
And then the red buildings are the various structures that are no longer in use, which used to be part of the schools here over time.
And I have some photos of all of this.
So this is what the site currently looks like as you drive by the modular building that's already there on the existing roadway network.
And this is where the security fence would sort of meet you, would be right at this building on one side.
And it's going to surround where the buses park. So as we get a little closer, at this point, you'd be within that fence. This on the left is one of the buildings that is no longer in use, which I'll have a close up of in a moment.
So this is one section of the bus parking garage, bus parking lot, which is the existing fuel station.
We are going to essentially be in a position to replace this by installing the new gas tank and related equipment that was on the site plan.
As you can see, this one's quite old.
This is the long building that is the maintenance center with some of the parking that's next to it.
This is a section of parking lot that will not be in the security fence, but that we allow staff to park their personal vehicles in, and it's next to one of the decommissioned buildings.
So this is what used to be a power plant, an on-site power generation facility.
this on the right is the back of that building and then i believe that these are buildings that
are from the early part of the last century that were used for education these were part of a
school haven't been used in a long time though a little further from the bus area is this which is
the most recent structure but still has not been used in some years this is the mid-century school
building. There was a pool and a gym on the site in this building, and there were dormitories
in this building. But again, none of that is used. So, and I'll touch on that more in a second.
What I wanted to do to conclude my presentation is go back to the refusal, walk you through the
actual points of refusal and lay out our legal argument a bit. So there are three refusals,
as you can see here. The first, which I'll go through, is on the bottom, is actually the only
refusal that we believe was rightfully issued. So that is a dimensional refusal with regard to
the height of that proposed interior security fence. And the thing with the limitation is that
it is designed for a residence. This is a residential zoning district, but a four or a
six foot high fence, as the code would limit us to, is not sufficient. We've seen that play out
in practice with the fence that is on the perimeter of the property. We believe that a 10-foot fence
is the minimum height that can provide the relief that we need in order to stop the vandalism.
that can provide the relief that we need in order to stop the vandalism and theft of parts
from school buses. We don't believe that a 10-foot high fence will have any detrimental effects on
the public based on where it's located, which is at its nearest point, I believe still 50 or 60
feet away from the nearest property boundary. So it is not as though it is up in the immediate
at sight of any of our neighbors to the property. The other two refusals are saying very similar
things. So what I want to say is that with regard to all three refusals, before I dive into those
last two, we are here to request variances from you, the members of the board. Now, we believe
that the first two of the three refusals should not have been issued, but that is a secondary
argument, which is mooted, as long as you agree to grant variances with regard to the refusals
on the page here. So what I'll first do is walk through why we believe we deserve variances for
these other two refusals, and then I'll briefly walk through why we secondarily believe they were
not properly issued. So one of the refusals, the one in the middle of the page, states that we
cannot install additional principal structures on the building, on the property. The first of
those two on the top of the page says that we cannot expand any of the existing structures
without, if we were to do so by more than 10% of the existing floor area. So why do these rules
impose an unnecessary hardship on the property. Well, what we're doing with this project,
in addition to making the facility more secure, is with the gas tank, the electrical shed,
and the new modular building. We're modernizing the bus depot. The prohibition against new
structures would prevent us from installing these things, and the rule against expansion
would do the same, even if instead of by building new structures, we did them via an addition to
one of the existing structures. So although I would argue that in the interest of fairness,
the city should be allowing such growth, it would be understandable, one would say,
if the zoning code aimed to stop us and other people engaged in grandfathered uses from
expanding those uses onto new undeveloped parts of a property. But I want to stress that that's
not what we're doing here. All of these structures are going on to the part of the property that is
already used as a bus depot and accessory parking to it. So we are merely seeking to modernize and
protect what's already there in its current location without developing any of the remainder
of the undeveloped portion of the property,
but the interaction of the code
with the fact that L&I considers
almost anything under the sun to be a structure
means that we can't even do what we've proposed.
We can't modernize in place according to the code.
So a strict application of the code
condemns the bus depot to obsolescence and continued theft.
And that's clearly an unnecessary hardship.
I hope you'll agree.
In terms of our proposed installations being the minimum necessary relief, the new modular building is going to house security staff and security equipment that can't fit into the existing other modular building that already has other types of administrative staff on the site.
None of the other structures beyond that existing modular building are fit to be reoccupied. With the exception of that mid-century building, they have been on the site for the better part of a century and haven't been occupied for decades.
so that they are really functionally obsolete and it is the school district's plan to eventually
demolish them. The mid-century building, which maybe is in the best condition, still has not
been occupied in many years, is not in good condition and is over 400 feet from the nearest
part of the bus parking lot. So that, at a minimum because of its distance away, is not fit to serve
as a security office. So proposing the little modular building that we want to place in the
bus depot area we feel is the minimum necessary relief in terms of avoiding new structures that
can satisfy the school district's need for a security office on this site. The electrical
switchgear shed and the gas tank are basic utility upgrades. Without the allowance to do those sorts
And without the allowance to do those sorts of things, the bus depot can't even continue operating in its current form. So those certainly do not exceed minimum necessary relief.
of things the bus depot can't
And in terms of detriment to the public, which is really the last of the major variant standards, similarly, as I said with the fence, these other structures, they're not near the property boundaries.
And I think this was reflected through the vote at the RCO. They will not have a detrimental effect on the public.
And in fact, by sending a message to trespassers and showing them that they can no longer steal parts from buses, there will be fewer trespassers attempting to get on the property, which is a benefit to the public.
So the very last point I want to make, and then I'm done, I promise, is just to explain why, in the event that you're not inclined to grant variances, we believe that those first two refusals were not properly issued.
So Hillary, Hillary, Hillary, that argument is saying Ellen and I made a mistake. Am I correct?
um essentially yes and actually leonard reuter has joined us if if brandon wants to put that
on the record but i understand that he would like the board to consider the variance request
specifically right okay thanks hillary and you know i i think that um i've heard you and leonard
say prior that at times the board is not the appropriate venue to consider these types of
arguments. It's simply my goal to preserve them for the record. That's all. And I'll do that
briefly right now. So the educational use on the site, including the bus depot, as I mentioned,
has never been issued a zoning permit. As is explicitly stated in the refusal, it's a
non-conforming or grandfathered use. Pennsylvania case law provides a certain base level of
protection for grandfathered uses, regardless of whether the zoning code mentions or includes
those protections. A lot of these protections are housed within what's called the doctrine of
natural expansion. And the purpose of that doctrine is to allow grandfathered uses to
modernize in place. So we believe that the modernization of our use, even if it requires
the new structures that we've proposed, is legally protected, despite the fact that it's
prohibited by the zoning code. The doctrine allows expansion and modernization as long as
new structures do not get located in previously undeveloped areas or areas that were used for a
different use. So that's exactly the case here. The structures we're proposing are in an area
that's already used for the bus depot. So we should have been immunized from those refusals,
We believe we're not aware of any reported court decisions that support the legality of the two code sections that are cited in those refusals in a case like ours.
And we did raise this argument with L&I when the refusal was created, but they declined to take our side of it.
So I just want to make clear for the record that while we believe those refusals shouldn't have been issued, our primary argument is that even if one accepts those refusals as accurate, we believe that we qualify for variances to get us around those refusals.
And that's the primary thing we're asking for here.
That's my presentation.
do you have a mr okay mr i was going to say um mr mr reuter is here he can just give a very
brief response to that and then mr saverin can have his uh client adopt his testimony
leonard leonard would you state your name as spelled for the court's doctor please
sure thank you may please the board leonard f reuter r-e-u-t-e-r for the city of philadelphia
you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
I do. Please proceed, sir. Sure. I'm just looking. I was notified of this by board counsel, Ms. Emerson. I took a quick look. There was some prior correspondence that I had with Mr. Severin's colleague, Neil Skleroff, from last year, probably in the fall.
and there were some questions about whether the site was non-conforming
or whether the specific articles here were non-conforming
and then they were notified of the process for trying to establish a non-conforming use
and then after that I didn't have any further involvement.
I don't know if there is a process for quote-unquote documenting a non-conformity
And that involves essentially submitting a permit application for a zoning permit, which I guess happened here, but then specifically indicating that you were wanting to establish a non-conforming use and then attaching whatever documentation or proof you have of that.
And then attaching whatever documentation or proof you have of that, sometimes in the form of affidavits as well. I have no idea, without taking up the board's time and looking it up, whether that was followed or whether it wasn't.
I would say I'm okay with Mr. Saverin preserving the argument about non-conforming uses.
If in the event that there's an appeal or anything like that, I probably would.
And if that becomes grounds for an appeal or something, I think I would probably have to ask a court to remand it back here
because obviously I was not made aware that there was a challenge to L&I being brought as part of this appeal.
But, you know, again, it may be moot. I understand they're seeking a variance in the alternative. I understand that this is the alternative argument and this is primarily seeking a variance. So, you know, maybe we can I can discuss this with with Mr. Saverin offline if if there's if there's any reason to. And I'm happy to answer any questions you all might have.
Thank you very much for getting on the phone so quickly. We appreciate it.
No problem.
Brandon would you
bring one your
testimony
I believe Stephen Talbot
from the school district is here to adopt
Mr. Talbot
Stephen please raise your virtual
Mr. Talbot
yes sir
hi could you please state your name
and spell for the court stenographer
Yes, my name is Stephen Talbot, T-A-L-B-O-T-T.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, counsel.
Thanks, Mr. Chairman.
Steve, could you let the board know your position with the school district?
I am the executive program director with the school district in the Office of Capital Programs.
Okay. And you're familiar with this site at 3801 Woodhaven?
Yes, I am.
Did you hear my testimony about this site to the board this afternoon?
Yes, I did.
Was my testimony true and accurate to the best of your knowledge, information, and belief?
It is accurate. The only thing I would add is that one of the reasons that we are relocating the electric service out of an existing building
and putting it into a standalone small building
is to enable us to, in the future,
demolish those buildings on site
so that we separate the utilities
to allow for that to happen in the future.
Other than that, I think your testimony is accurate.
And therefore, on behalf of the school district,
would you adopt my testimony as if it were your own?
Yes, sir.
Okay, thank you.
Thank you.
Questions from the board?
no questions no questions questions or comments from our attorney hillary emerson
before you go on uh i don't have a question per se but i do have a comment i didn't hear
uh i heard uh testimony or at least an argument about natural expansion of non-conforming use
But I didn't hear where there was some sort of proof that this was non-conforming in the first place.
And you can't expand unless you have the establishment of the non-conformity.
So I'll just say that as far as this record is concerned, if there is a problem going forward, it may have to come back because we need to know that.
Thank you.
Board Member Gaston, I guess the only thing I'll say to that is before my involvement in the case, Counselor Skleroff exchanged some communications with L&I about this.
I did not include those amongst my exhibits because I took the department L&I's notation of nonconformity on the refusal to be sufficient, but you probably raise a good point that perhaps I should have included that sort of thing in the record.
thank you um questions from our attorney hillary emerson not at this time mr chair the virtual
audience i see no hands at this planning commission thank you chairman and good
afternoon david fecto with the city planning commission chairman and board members the
comprehensive plan recommends no change to the rsd2 residential single family detached zoning
at this location. This property is currently a Philadelphia School District bus depot.
The non-conforming use is existing, and its expansion will not injure the use of adjacent
will not injure the use of adjacent property the nature of the building also necessitates more
property. The nature of the building also necessitates more
than one principal building the appellant has shown that the new security fence exceeding the
allowable height will not impact adjacent properties nor should it be visible from the
adjacent streets the city planning commission recommends the board grant their proposed
variances for non-conforming uses and for more than one principal building and their proposed
dimensional variance for fence height thank you david mi 2024 000 969 3801 woodland woodhaven
road i vote yes michael johns my vote is yes joe gaston my vote is yes
petagram my vote is yes
iowen i'm recusing myself james snell my vote is yes
james shaheed my vote is yes thank you thank you counsel thank you number eight mi2024
002 323 6516 germantown avenue alan knockamson is the attorney there's a letter of support from
mount airy business improvement district
Alan Nockamson has been promoted to Penalist.
Mr. Nockamson, you've already been sworn today. Could you just state your name for the record?
Good afternoon. Alan Nockamson of Nockamson PC.
A-L-A-N, last name Nochamson, N-O-C-H-U-M-S-O-N.
All right.
Could you please identify your client and their relationship to the property?
My client is twofold.
It's Ashton Gage, as well as Germantown Brick Oven Pizzeria, LLC.
Our vice chair has a few questions, sir.
Good afternoon, counsel.
do you agree to waive the reason of the refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?
I do. Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that is needed to
proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing? I have.
Thank you, counsel. Please proceed to share your screen. Let's make sure I have the right one.
all right so uh this is a pretty straightforward project uh this is 6516 germantown avenue
actually not far away from the project that this board previously approved uh this morning uh that
planned community so this is on the commercial corner uh it's a corner property uh that faces
Sharpneck, Germantown, and Weaver. And all my client's looking to do is put a pizzeria
on the ground floor for takeout, currently for takeout service. Currently, they have a permit
for sit-down restaurants. So this is a referral because this is a CMX2 property. So during my
presentation, we'll review the notice of referral, the letter of support from the Mount Airy Business
improvement district, the BID, who's in support of this project, our maps of the area showing that
we're at corner property on the Germantown Avenue corridor, commercial corridor, photographs of the
property that surround the area, our plans and drawings, our RCO meeting notice that we had
with the, that was facilitated by the BID, our applications for special exception that we filed
on behalf of our clients, the lease showing that my clients have a leasehold interest in the
property, as well as a certificate of tax clearance showing that there are no real estate taxes owed
on this property. At the conclusion of my presentation, I would ask that Mr. Gage,
one of the tenants to the property, who's also the principal of the corporate entity,
which is the other tenant, virtually raise his hand and be sworn in. I have a few questions for
him. So again, this is a notice of referral. This is a CMX2 property. And all we're looking to do
is have a takeout restaurant here. Primarily, this will be sit down, but we want the benefit
of also having a takeout portion of the restaurant. This is the quintessential neighborhood
restaurant slash takeout place. This is one you'll see on a Friday. People are ordering,
stopping by walking in just like i do in my neighborhood and get a get a pizza pie for the
for the family um and you know again it's a referral so you know it's conditionally approved
and you know our burden is to prove that you know we're no worse than what you expect of a
of a takeout restaurant of this sort a little bit of background um ashton's wife um will be the
little bit of background um ashton's wife um will be the you know operator of the restaurant but
you know operator of the restaurant
um they're so serious about this that you know they're actually developing their menu by her
going to italy and developing uh the menu in such a way so we see this as more than a takeout
pizzeria or restaurants but we want that ability to do that as well um letter support um we got
a letter of support from uh the bid um in germantown uh you know again they were of
course supportive of having more commercial um on the germantown avenue corridor we met with
the community uh overwhelming support there were three uh people who voted no and i think it had
more to do with they had issues with the other properties nearby and i guess someone did an
overbuild of a nearby property and they're like well now you're going to have this use of our
this property how is it going to affect these over builds of properties and i was like well
first of all we shouldn't be held accountable for someone doing something illegal and then secondly
our property is not going to affect this in in any way first we have a legal property
it's not affecting life safety or health of our residents in any way or anyone nearby
and it's already going to be a sit-down restaurant so having takeout is not going to do any worse
harm to anyone. So I think that's why they voted against it. But if they're in the virtual audience,
maybe they can explain as well. Maps of the area, again, we intersect three streets. There's
Weaver, Sharpneck, and then Germantown. And then you can see this from a Google Maps perspective
as well. Again, we're on a commercial quarter. Protographs of the property, this is an adaptive
reuse of the property. My client is not the developer. They're just a tenant in the property.
But this is the property from Germantown, the property from Weaver perspective, and the property from Sharp Neck as well.
And then the hearing notice posters, you know, from Germantown, Weaver, and Sharp Neck.
And then this is, you know, again, Germantown to the right of the property, to the left of the property, Weaver to the right of the property, and to the left of the property.
and then finally sharp neck to the right of the property
and to the left of the property.
And then our plans and drawings,
this is how we envision the place.
You know, again, signage is just not part of this application.
If they're signage, obviously we would have to do a submission
to L&I in that respect.
But this is interior rendering of what we see the property
to look like from an interior point of view.
25 seats, cooking the premises.
You know, we just hopefully have this as a nice neighborhood restaurant where people come by, sit down.
But if they want takeout, we can give them takeout as well.
And then that's the kitchen area.
This is, I guess, a bathroom just to show you, you know, the quality of what my client expects to put in there.
And then this is just a site plan, again, for the different perspectives.
Weaver, Sharp Knack in Germantown.
And then, again, we have access to the first floor in the lower-level area.
Lower-level area is just for storage.
You can see right here, this is all storage for us.
No use on the lower level other than that.
First floor, there's 25 seats.
Main entrance is on this corner right here.
And there is two other forms of entrance here.
So I want to make sure I say the right streets.
That's Weber and Sharp Neck, yeah.
So this is the Sharp Neck side.
So there's an entrance here for the residential and our commercial.
But the commercial, this is only for really our employees.
Same thing here from the Weber side as well.
Multiple forms of egress.
But in case of emergency, people can go through.
But the primary form of egress here is through this little corner of Sharp Neck and Germantown.
RCO meeting notice.
We'll attend the meeting.
June 26th, we had it at 6.30 p.m. via Zoom.
We emailed notice of that community meeting to the RCOs, as well as other relevant parties a couple weeks beforehand, like we always do.
And what we showed them was that we sent it to, we mailed the notice to 82 addresses, list of the addresses,
proof of mailing to those addresses,
our application for special exception
that we filed on behalf of our client,
our notice referral,
as well as our project information form,
the lease of property,
showing that Mr. Gage in Germantown
Brick Oven Pizzeria LLC
is the owner of the property.
And then finally, our certificate of tax clearance, showing that there are no real estate taxes due on account of this property.
And then finally,
our certificate of tax clearance
showing that there are
I would ask that Mr. Gage virtually raise his hand.
I'll be more than happy to take any questions afterwards.
Ashton Gage has been allowed to speak.
Mr. Gage, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
My name is Ashton Gage, ASH tier one, last name G-A-G-E.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, counsel.
Mr. Gage, you heard everything I had to state today.
Is it true and correct?
And do you adopt this in your own testimony?
A couple other things, which I probably, I'm sure the board's going to ask, but I had the hours of operation from Tuesday through Sunday from 12 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Is that correct?
yes okay and then the storage is outside i believe right there's an enclosed container
um where where's the location of that again location is on sharp neck street okay and
you're doing commercial trash pickup commercial that is correct all right thank you very much
no problem question questions from the board yes uh question uh interior exhaust to the roof
No, so it's actually going to be exhaust to decide. And Mr. Gage can use confirm that it's decide to Weaver. Is that correct?
Can you go back to the plan?
i don't know if it's reflected on there but um i did ask that question beforehand um
no it's very important and obviously a valid question for the board so um i think it's it's
not reflected but i'll just show you this this is the you know the oven and the exhaust of the oven
and it's going to be coming out of i believe weaver street onto the street and we made that
presentation to the community as well like we don't have control this is not our building we
don't have control of like how we how we can handle that so that was what we were told to do
and the what's on weaver street what's behind there uh good question let me see i think it's uh
let's see for um i think actually i think a better photo let's say i saw another photo where is that
here i would this is weaver right here so i would think the exhaust is right here
and so we're we're furthest away from the residential the proposal is going to exhaust
the proposal is to exhaust directly out there with about extending up through above the roof
um i would that's my understanding that's correct that's not a good thing
everywhere you see that they've got three starts to drip and the wall looks you know some mess
and it's noxious because all the fumes blow out into the neighborhood
is the is the is the the other question i have is is the uh entrance to the um the um
the restaurant is it at great i see you've got a a handicap accessible bathroom which is great
um it does look like you're at great if that's the yeah it does i'm trying to find a better
picture so let me just try to find one uh well i think this is right here so i think there would be
a ramp coming down here.
I don't know if Mr. Morrissey
or anyone from his team,
the architecture team,
can answer those questions.
I can answer them.
It's two entrances into the building.
One, the main interest is right there
and also it's handicap accessible
from Germantown Avenue
with a ramp going right into one of the doors.
Okay, so there's a ramp along Germantown Avenue.
Yes, and also for the exhaust,
it's going to come out Weaver Street,
climb up past the third floor and exhaust about four feet above that roof okay yeah all right
thank you no problem any other questions for the board yes did i hear you say that this is now
zoned as a sit-down restaurant and you want to change it to a take-out restaurant or are you
trying to have both or we're trying to have both we're trying we have a sit-down aspect to it which
is the primary purpose of this place, but we want the ability to also have takeout as
So the variance is to have more than four seats?
Is that what we need to do here?
is that what we need to do here because takeout generally supposed to have what is it four seats
Because takeout you're only supposed to have what is it for?
or less and you're talking about having how many seats well we have 25 seats i don't so
i don't know how those coexist then so but is but is it is the request for
eat-in restaurant, right?
Is that what it is?
No, it's a request for takeout.
Alan says it's currently
an interior
just in there, and now it's
one takeout too.
That's right, and because we wanted that,
we got this referral, so it's not a variance,
but we got a referral for that aspect of it.
So we're still in the process of building out the space, so we got a permit for the sit-down portion of it.
In order to get the additional use for the take-out portion of it, we're going through this process.
Okay. And so I guess my question is, are we then saying that we're giving you a variance to have more seats than would ordinarily be requested or allowed for a takeout restaurant? Is that what we're doing?
Well, I would defer to Hillary Emerson, the ZBA's council in that respect. What we're asking for is to use to allow to have takeout capability, whether or not, you know, we're also asking for variants to allow us to have the additional seating for the sit down. That's, you know, that's, I think, more the ZBA's council's, like, purview.
yeah and that's that's really my question how do these coexist i mean so it is it is my
understanding um based on conversations with l and i that um they the uses can coexist in the
same property okay so um perhaps take out services offered at certain times exclusively sit down
at other times or different tenants.
But yeah, I have been advised
that they can exist at the same time.
Other questions from the board, please.
I have another quick question.
You mentioned that the trash will be stored
in an enclosure.
But I'm looking at your site plan.
I don't see it.
It's on the outside.
This side is actually, let me see if I can find a picture of it.
I think I saw a picture of it before.
Let's see.
You see it's right here.
It's along this side right here.
There's like an enclosure here that's part of our lease.
We're allowed to store our trash there.
Okay, so it's just, they're just cans.
There's not like a dumpster.
No, it's not a dumpster.
and we expect to have multiple times a week
to have commercial trash pickup.
All right, that was it.
That was it.
Any other questions?
Questions?
A comment from our attorney, Hillary Emerson.
Just briefly, Mr. Chair, Mr. Nockamson,
um uh we had requested um an executed lease because the one that was in your packet was
unsigned um as well as interior photos we didn't receive those um i don't know if you if you didn't
you didn't receive our email um do you have a copy i can get you a copy for your records and
you know same thing with the i think the interior photos would show like a raw space
i would ask mr gage i i don't i don't remember seeing that email
okay do you have do you have a copy of the signed lease you can show us now
um do we have a copy of the signed lease uh passion
and i can get a copy of the sideways uh uh use docu sign to sign it and that was like the fastest
where i could uh sent it over but i could uh ask him to send me the copy version of that at least
i could get it to you okay we will just need that to vote because that is the proof of standing
in this case oh thank you i mean i also technically filed it under the property owner i mean what i
can do is we can i can if you don't mind i'm sure you have other matters that you can hear we can
If you don't mind, I'm sure you have other matters that you can hear.
We can just be held up because, again, this is a business.
just be
We want to make sure this business can operate.
We don't want to hold off any longer.
We could do one or two things.
Again, the application was technically filed under the property owner.
I would say that there's a copy of the deed.
We can go public record and show you that.
Or we can get a copy of the lease, but I would just say hold off
And let's just get a copy of it. And when we're, when we're ready, I will email that copy to, to, you know, the board or supplement our packet. And if I would virtually raise my hand to say we're ready to just present that last item.
um Mr. Chair I would be fine with that either either the because the way the packet was
was provided indicated that the tenant was the represent was the applicant so either a copy of
the deed if you're representing the owner or a signed copy um of the lease yeah the copy of the
deed I mean I could just go online with you on atlas um let me just do that I can just show it
then I can supplement as well.
But hold on.
Let me just go on that.
Let's 65, 16.
Okay, so let me finish here with my screen.
Oops, share my screen.
And again, we'll update our packet, like, you know, for formality's sake.
But if you see here, I'm on Atlas here, and it's owned by FRPLM Development LLC.
And if you look here, it was recorded.
Let me just take a look.
It was recorded on...
February 15, 2019, under document number 534-79282.
Okay, Hillary.
Yes, thank you.
And if you could just supplement your packet, that would be great.
Thank you.
We will.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Yes, Chair.
Chair, I have a hand up by the name of Temple, last name, starting with a K.
They have been allowed to speak.
Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Never mind, Chair.
They got off.
Thank you very much.
Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair Bergman, and good afternoon.
David Fecta with the City Planning Commission.
Chairman and board members, the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the CMX2 commercial mixed-use zoning at this location.
The appellant has shown that a takeout restaurant will have no detrimental impacts to the neighborhood beyond what might be expected.
The City Planning Commission recommends that the board grant a proposed special exception for a takeout restaurant.
Thank you.
MI 2024-002-323-6516 Germantown Avenue.
i vote yes uh a chair can can we add the proviso that they uh that extend beyond the roof
yeah what did he say he was going four foot above he said four foot above the highest roof or the
third floor whatever okay sure mr chair i think the best wording for that would be just venting
above the roof okay i vote yes proviso venting above the roof uh michael johns my vote is
is yes with proviso. Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes with proviso. Tanada Graham, my vote is yes with
proviso. Taya Nguyen, my vote is yes with proviso. James Snell, my vote is yes with proviso.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes with proviso. Thank you. Thank you, Council. Number nine.
M.I. 2024-002-614-1525 Willent Street.
Alfred Fuscaldo is the attorney for the tenant.
There's a letter of non-opposition from Center City Residence with unenforceable provisos.
Good afternoon, Alfred Fuscaldo.
Could you please spell your name for the court sonographer, sir?
F as in Frank, U, S as in Sam, C, A, L, D as in David, O.
C-A-L-D as in David O.
Right. Do you swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Right.
You said you do?
I do. Yes.
Okay. Could you identify your client in relationship to their property?
Yes. I represent Mejuri Bricks US LLC. They are the tenant at the property.
Vice Chair has a few questions for you.
Good afternoon, counsel. Do you agree to wait the reason of the refusal?
stipulate to its accuracy i do have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that
is needed and required to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing i did thank
you council please proceed and share your screen can you see my screen i thought i shared it no
no let me try again
now can you see it we can okay great um again alpha scaldo on behalf of the tenant majeure
bricks uh llc um in the packet that's submitted to the board is the notice of refusal
here the refusal was issued because the property is located in the cmx 5 district
it's also in the center city overlay district chestnut and walnut street area west
1525 walnut street the use that's requested is a to provide an accessory service for the existing
retail fine jewelry store that Mejuri operates at the property. They'd like to add ear piercing
as a service for their customers. That use is characterized as a body art service under the
code. It's permitted by right in the CMX5 district, but is prohibited in the overlay district. So
that is the reason for the variance request today. Here's a copy of the application for appeal.
uh the project information form uh posting of the property uh on walnut street
and in the rear on on moravian street
there are copies of photographs of the store uh from walnut street
and then views from the store looking uh left towards 15th street and uh right uh towards 16th
street that's from across the street and then here he's from the store looking left Warby Parker
to the left and uh Brandy Millville to the to the right um here's a plan of the of the property
uh the interior of the property the store has been in existence uh we've been operating at the
at the location since June 23rd of 2023 um it's one of 33 jewelry stores that Missouri operates
worldwide um the front of this the front of the uh the store here the door on the right hand side
of the screen um and then the the studio where the ear piercings would occur is here in the very back
uh of the or that's towards the back of the of the store um and on the second page you'll see
uh here at this location in the bottom right hand corner this is where the ear piercings would occur
That space is approximately 60 feet from the front door.
It's in its own room, and it's partitioned by a curtain that will be pulled across whenever the services are occurring.
Here's some photographs of the piercing area.
This is a view from the front of the store towards the rear.
In this back left corner here is where the studio is.
Here on the left-hand side is a view into the studio from the store, and then on the right, out of the studio, back towards the front of the store.
Here are photographs of the studio itself.
You can see the curtain here on the left-hand side that we pull across in the chair, so that the space is separated from the rest of the store.
Your piercing would be by appointment only and only available to customers of the jewelry store.
um it's really not much to this application here's a letter uh from ccra we appeared in front of them
uh at the end of june they voted not to oppose the uh the application with the proviso that
all the equipment used for the ear piercing would be uh that required disposal will be properly
packaged and disposed of in sharps or other approved containers and that that proviso
condition is acceptable to uh to my client um the rest of the packet contains the uh
certificate of tax clearance or witness list and a copy.
certificate of tax clearance uh our witness list and and and a copy of the redacted lease
um with me today is jamie croupy she's a director of store of development for majori
um and i would ask her to be uh promoted to a witness so that i could ask her to adopt my
testimony and jamie if you could raise your hand
Jamie, he had a lot to speak.
Hi, my name is Jamie Groupie.
Could you please spell your name for the court stenographer?
Yes, it's J-A-I-M-I-E-C-R-U-P as in Peter, I.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, counsel.
Thank you.
Ms. Groupie, were you present for the testimony that I presented to the board this afternoon?
Or was it true and accurate to the best of your knowledge?
and do you adopt it as your own i do i have nothing further mr chair other than to move
my exhibits into evidence thank you um questions from the board
no questions questions from our attorney hillary emerson
um just briefly um mr chair um mr fiscaldo um the is the is the use only on the first floor
Because I see that listed on the refusal, but it seemed like in the lease that was provided that the entire building was being leased, not just the first floor.
Missouri does lease the building, but the use would only be on that one, on the first floor in that space that I described.
Thank you for the clarification.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I see no hands at this time, Chair.
planning commission thank you chairman and good afternoon david effecta with the city planning
commission chairman and board members the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the
cmx5 commercial mixed use zoning at this location the appellant has shown the proposed body art
services will not injure the use of adjacent property and is complementary to the existing
use the city planning commission recommends that the board grant their proposed use variants for
Body, Heart Services. Thank you, David. MI 2024-002-614-1525 Walnut Street. I vote yes
with proviso. Use limited to first floor. Michael Johns, my vote is yes with proviso.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes with proviso. Teneda Graham, my vote is yes with proviso.
Iowan, my vote is yes
with Proviso
James Sell, my vote is yes
with Proviso
Ishmael Shahima
with Proviso
Thank you, counsel
Number 11
MI 2024
002 637
1821 Memphis Street
Olak Sokoloff
and Eric Taskin are the attorneys
for the owner
However, no RCO letter of summary, but notice was sent to nearby neighbors with proof of mailing.
Meeting was held June 25th before Fishtown Neighbors Association.
Applicant does have 11 form letters of support from neighbors.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman.
Afternoon. Could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Sure. My name is Eric Taskin. That's spelled E-R-I-K-T-A-S-K-I-N. I'm representing Quincy Booth, the applicant for 1821 Memphis Street. We're here today because we're seeing...
Hold on, hold on, hold on one minute. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
All right. Our vice chair has a few questions, okay?
that yes do you agree to relate to its accuracy yes
have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that is needed
to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing yes but as the as the um mr
chairman said uh we received the rco support letter only yesterday and i believe that it's
your possession but it is part of the packet but it wasn't submitted in the packet that we sent last
week understood thank you please proceed and share your screen sure is there a letter in support
or opposition it's in support thank you okay so um we're here today seeking a variance to
Okay, so we're here today seeking a variance to legalize the use of an existing structure
as a two-family dwelling.
My client purchased the property earlier this year.
However, he was not aware of the nonconformity.
We have received support from the RCO and numerous letters of support from the neighbors.
Now, if you will allow me, I would like to go through the exhibit packet.
So we have the refusal.
So we received a refusal for the use of a two-family household dwelling in an RSA 5 zoning district.
Here's a copy of the deed.
My client purchased the property on January 2nd of this year.
Here's some photos of the property from the outside.
It's on the intersection of East Wilts Street in North Memphis in the Fishtown neighborhood.
is that better for everyone to see it is okay so the commercial on the first floor
no it's all residential so um this is a aerial photo of the neighborhood you could see the
property in the corner i'm not sure if you could see my mouse but it's right over here
here's some photos from the inside so right now it's it's like i said it's two family
here's a photo of a kitchen um we have photos of bedrooms closets uh bathrooms picture of the
backyard basement another kitchen so the property is currently there's one unit on one floor and
then the second unit is two floors. So here's some more photos. We have an office, more bathroom
entry. Here's a photo of the zoning maps. Here I can zoom in a little bit. Our application for
appeal. Project information form. Here's the RCO letter that we sent to 176 neighbors. The RCO
meeting was held on june 25th and as i stated before and i'll show at the end of this exhibit
packet that we did receive support from the rco and we received that letter only yesterday
here's certificates of mailing like i said there was 176 residents notified so this is quite
extensive allow me one moment here's the tax clearance certificate
photos of the zoning notice posted on the property
we have multiple levels the letters of support from neighbors nearby
and this map kind of indicates where those neighbors are located that signed those letters
I just showed you. And then finally, we have the letter of support from the Fishtown Neighbor
Association RCO. At this time, I'd like to call my client Quincy Booth to adopt my testimony.
Good afternoon, everyone. This is Quincy Booth, and I do adopt my attorney's testimony.
Hold on a minute. Could you please spell your name for the court stenographer?
Certainly. It's Q-U-I-N-C-Y.
Love his name, Booth. B-O-O-T-H.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Counsel?
Mr. Booth, did you hear my presentation today?
I did.
Would you adopt this testimony as your own?
I have no further questions. Thank you.
Counsel, how long has it been a duplex?
uh i'm i personally don't know maybe my client will be able to answer that question for you
when i purchased the property it was in the condition that it is in currently which is
a duplex with two apartments one being on the first floor the second apartment being
a bi-level on floors two and three okay but i'm not sure i'm not sure when did you when did you
purchase it? The transfer was completed January 2nd of this year. Thank you. Questions from the
board? Yes. When you purchased it, was it, what are tenants in both units or either one? There
was a tenant in the second and third floor unit. The first floor unit was vacant, but it was
occupied shortly after i purchased it i guess a question that i have is this you know kind of
kind of happens a lot right that people buy these duplexes i think they're duplexes in and out they're
that people buy these duplexes i think they're duplexes and they're not they're not um licensed
as such on the in the review process or the title process is zoning looked at and maybe that's not
a question for the zoning board but you know real estate folks but it seems like a title report
should show sometimes it doesn't uh and i've dealt with issues in the past for with this exact uh
type of issue but a lot of the times the title report may not show um any type of non-conformance
with zoning and they didn't have rental licenses for these units uh i'm not sure i'd have to ask
my client i obtained a rental license uh for unit two which is the second and third floor unit
um after i learned that it wasn't actually conforming to being a duplex i would have
otherwise apply for and receive two rental license the second rental license would be obtained the
moment this board approves the variance the questions from the board yes did the um did
Did the owner, prior to purchase, did they get a, I think it's called a city certification, where it kind of says what uses are approved for a property?
Was that part of the sale process?
I'm not sure I understand the question, but we obviously got title insurance and the realtor, you know, conveyed to me that I was buying a duplex.
So I just went through with the financing and the acquisition process of the property.
I do have a certificate of occupancy, which I had to obtain after purchasing the property.
this isn't this is another certification and it comes from um lni and it says
what um uses have been approved for a particular property so it kind of i don't i don't recall
specifically saying any lni um certificates during the process okay thank you questions
or comments from our attorney hillary emberson um just just briefly i just the uh what miss gas
is referring to is a property certification um so i didn't do exactly um what she was referring to
um i think sorry i was just looking i think i think that's everything that um that i had on
this one thank you thank you questions or comments from the virtual audience yes chair i have a hand
up by the name of luke whittaker they have been allowed to speak sure hi could you please state
your name is spelled for the court stenographer hi my name is luke whittaker it's uh l-u-k-e
w-h-i-t-a-k-e-r right you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the
truth yes i promise are you a neighbor are you a neighbor sir yeah i live uh five streets down
or uh five houses uh i live at 1468 east world street uh five houses away from the proposed
building variance location i am also a volunteer committee person for the 18th ward as a nearby
neighbor i support this project during the local meeting neighborhood voted yes to support this
project and i'm asking the zba to file the neighborhood votes in addition during the
meeting the nearby residents were promised the structure would remain intact after receiving
the approved zoning variance no demolition will occur the owner and his lawyer promised to add
this proviso provision uh which we also request the local rco to include in their response letter
Thank you.
Did you hear the proviso?
I didn't hear the proviso.
So I believe Mr.
Mr. Taskin has this up on the screen.
This was addressed in the letter.
And that was the other thing I meant to mention, Mr.
Chair, we did we did receive a copy of the letter.
Mr. Everett, who I believe is here to testify from the RCO Senate.
But yes, there is, as you can see, and maybe Mr.
Taskin can enlarge it a little bit.
there was concern that the new owner yeah may eventually demolish the property um and build
a larger one um i mean the property is currently zoned for rsa 5 i mean they could build a larger
one but they you know they couldn't increase the number of dwelling units without coming
number of dwelling units without coming back to the board thank you very much
back to the board thank you very much
I'll see you next time.
uh questions or any more questions from the virtual audience yes chair i have a
hand up by the name of robert everett they have been allowed to speak
hi mr everett could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer
yes good afternoon everyone first name is robert last name everett e-v-e-r-e double t
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Please proceed, sir.
Just echoing what Luke Whitaker said, and sorry we didn't get the letter to you earlier, but yes, we did vote in support, and I'm aware of the neighbor's petition, and we ask that you grant the variance.
It's had a long history in that property, maybe things that weren't supposed to have been there, but they were allowed.
So the new owner is taking into his hands to get things set right, and Ms. Anderson already read what the neighbors would like to have as a proviso if it's something that would be enforceable.
Thank you very much, Mr. Everett, for taking the time and calls. We appreciate it.
Anyone else in the virtual audience?
I see no more hands at this time.
Planning Commission, please.
Thank you, Chair Bergman, and good afternoon.
David Effecto with the City Planning Commission. Chairman and board members, the comprehensive plan
recommends no change to the RSA-5 residential single-family zoning at this location. The
appellant seeks to convert a commercial space into a residential unit. By the looks of the
materials in the second unit, the commercial space has recently been converted to residential use
without the benefit of permits. The City Planning Commission recommends that the board deny the
proposed use variants for a second dwelling unit. David, but it's RSA 5 right now, right? It was
never commercial? That's correct. It may once have been commercial. I'd have to check the zoning
history. That's fine. That's fine. Thank you. So MI 2024-002-637-1821 Memphis Street, I vote yes.
michael johns my vote is yes
carol gaston my vote is yes
tanetta graham my vote is yes
tayo winn my vote is yes
james now my vote is yes
thank you council thank you i'm sorry mr chair can we have mr snell and mr shaheed
vote again because they voted over each other
and I couldn't hear their votes.
All right.
Mr. Snell? James Snell, my vote is yes.
James Snell,
my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Number 13,
MI 2024-002-710-706-South 11th Street.
Meredith Ferlicker is the attorney.
unanimous support from the East Pachon Crossing Civic Association and a letter of non-opposition
from Council Member Squilla. Meredith Fertlicker has been promoted to Penalist.
chairman members of the board could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer
sure meredith ferliger f-e-r-l-e-g-e-r you swear or firm to tell the truth the whole truth and
nothing but the truth i do could you identify your client a relationship to the property
Sure. My clients are Rosemary and Michael Dolan, Rosemary being the deeded owner of the property.
And our vice chair has just a few questions.
Good afternoon, counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?
I agree to waive the reading and I agree to stipulate to its accuracy.
Thank you. Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that is needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this area?
yes thank you council please proceed you have already shared the screen wonderful good afternoon
mr chairman members of the board again my name is meredith ferlgar of dilworth paxton uh the
property before the board today as you know is 1706 south 11th street in the city's east
past yonk neighborhood today's request involves a minor dimensional variance for the construction
of a third floor addition without the required eight foot front setback.
With me, I have Michael and Rosemary Dolan, as well as our architects from FUSA Designs.
I'll be happy to bring up the architects to answer any questions that I am unable to answer.
i'll be happy to bring up the architects to answer any questions that i am i am unable to respond to
the exhibit packet submitted to the board contains 15 exhibits including tax clearance at exhibit two
and the deed at exhibit three and we would ask the board to move our exhibits into evidence
the deed at exhibit three shows that miss dolan inherited this single family home
from her father who passed away last year. Prior to his passing, Mr. Guadaro had owned this home
since his acquisition in 1960. Now, Michael, who is Rosemary's son, is looking to occupy the home,
which would round out three generations and nearly 65 years of consistent use by the same family.
The property is located at 1706 South 11th Street, which is roughly mid-block between
Mars Street and Watkins Street. Its location is reflected clearly on the zoning map that I've
shown up on the screen at Exhibit 7, showing this property is zoned RSA 5.
Aerial views of this property are also shown at Exhibit 8. The view from the east shows that this
block has seven attached structures, each existing at two stories high. From the west, the board will
see that the opposing side of the street has six attached structures with a uniform three-story
height, and none of these have any setback, as you can see. From the southeast, the board will
begin to glean some of the context of the third-story editions that have been built in the
surrounding area without the third-story setback that is required by code. You can see an existing
one sort of mid-block here on Marsh Street and a fairly new one that was erected here that does
not have the third-story setback. Looking at street-level photographs at Exhibit 15, you'll
see the existing two-story frontage. The next view shows directly across the street from the property
where all of the properties have, again, a uniform third story. Additional context views are shown
here in the next couple of pages which were prepared by the architect. Of particular note
on this next image here, just showing again some of the context, is a newer addition in the lower
right-hand corner located at 11th and McClellan Street, which is not too far away from this
property, again showing a similar third-story design to that which is proposed before the board
today. We've also included photographs of the interior of the home, which is currently undergoing
renovation. That renovation is not a part of this application, of course, since it is a single-family
home. That did not have to be included in the application before the board today.
This is and will continue to be a single-family home for the Dolan family.
Although most of the structure was gutted, the stairs you can see have remained in their
long-standing location, which is part of the reason that today's variance is necessary
in addition to some of the other unique characteristics of this property.
Photographs of the zoning posters which were timely posted are also included,
showing they were posted on the front edge of the property.
With this instant application, the applicant is proposing to construct a third-story addition
and a roof deck for personal use. The zoning plans are shown at Exhibit 5, and let me zoom in
on the zoning plan itself so you can get a better sense of that.
As you can see, this is an 880 square foot lot, which is undersized based on the standard RSA 5 lot size requirements, which does require a minimum lot size of 960 square feet.
In addition to just RSA 5, this lot has a size smaller than any permissible lot size anywhere in the zoning code.
The lot is 55 feet deep, which is also quite shallow compared to many of the surrounding lots fronting on South 11th Street, which vary between 60 and 70 feet deep.
And if I bring up the zoning map, you can actually visually see that just even looking at the length of some of the properties in this area, which are all quite a bit larger than this property before you today.
As a result of these conditions, this lot is small and shallow.
The structure itself is also quite small at only just over 1300 square feet.
Quite simply, the Dolans are proposing to add the addition on top of the existing second floor.
The Dolans are proposing to add the addition on top of the existing second floor.
They are not proposing to extend the addition beyond the current rear,
so the property will retain the existing over nine-foot rear yard. Furthermore,
the roof deck will maintain the required five-foot front setback.
Because no other structures on this block have a third story, this application was refused because
the third story would require to be set back eight feet from the front, and that would be from here.
However, given a series of hardships that have been alluded to, the proposal does not include
the required eight-foot setback. Instead, FUSA has designed the third story with a mansard design,
which better seeks to achieve the goals of this section of the code to mitigate impact of the
third-story addition on surrounding properties while still maintaining a consistent facade.
And this is very consistent with many third-story additions in this area.
A rendering is shown up on the screen here at Exhibit 6. Regardless of the addition,
the height is compliant with the zoning code. With this addition, the owner will gain an
additional 668 square feet to create an owner suite. And I have included floor plans. And again,
we do have our architect here to answer any questions on the interior layout. Again, this is
going to be their single-family home, so it's very much what you would expect of a single-family home.
As I alluded to in the beginning of the presentation, the property suffers from
several unique hardships that justify the board granting today's request for relief.
Looking at the floor plans at Exhibit 6, you can see the impact of these hardships on this particular application.
If you refer to the third floor where this addition is proposed, the front of the structure at 11th Street is at the top of the page here.
The bottom is, and the rear yard is at the bottom of these floor plans.
As you'll notice, the distance from the front of the structure to the existing staircase is only 12 and a half feet.
Accordingly, if the applicant were to provide the code compliant eight foot setback, that would render nearly the entire third floor unusable, as there would only be slightly more than three and a half feet in front of the staircase.
So it would basically be cut roughly where I'm showing on my cursor.
In considering a by-right design, nearly a third of the third floor would be occupied by stairs
and hallways, leaving limited space remaining for a bedroom and a bathroom. The rear space is
roughly 13 or so feet long by 11 feet wide, so about 143 square feet. The board can likely
understand the challenged logic that any property owner would face in making a financial investment
to construct a third story merely to gain a very small bedroom that would have extremely limited
space for a bathroom. These conditions exist because of the unique conditions of this property,
including its small size and shallow depth. Because of the uniquely small lot, there are
no dimensional standards in the code that contemplate these conditions, and therefore
it would be inappropriate for the board to strictly apply the requirements of the zoning code
to this lot. Conversely, if this lot were an additional 10 feet long, like many of the
surrounding properties, this constraint likely would not exist. Furthermore, there are no
contextual cues since this would be the first homeowner on this side of the block to even
propose a third-story addition. On the opposing side of the street, the board saw that all of
the structures have a uniform third story with zero setback, rendering that condition the most
appropriate to ensure a uniform facade. The existing cornice on top of the second floor
will be retained, and you can see that in the rendering up on the screen. Additionally, the lack
of third floor setback is consistent with the surrounding neighborhood, which includes a
recently granted variance at 1120 Mars Street, which I did point to in the image earlier on on
the aerials, which suffered from similar lot dimensions to the one that's before you today.
I have included that permit history at Exhibit 9. On the aerials at Exhibit 8, let me turn back
to those for a moment, I also attempted to give the board a more comprehensive sense of the scale
of the surrounding neighborhood. Everywhere that you see a star contains a third story with zero
front setback. You can see the one on Mars Street slightly better from the southeast view,
which I showed a little bit earlier, where you can see how these newer additions
which I showed a little bit earlier, where you can see how these newer additions remain
consistent with the existing two-story neighborhood. The applicant submits the
proposal is the least minimum variance and is limited just to the necessary relief to ensure
the third floor can be constructed without impact to surrounding homes while still creating viable
interior living space for Mr. Dolan. We submit the proposal will not increase congestion,
harm neighbors' properties or impair light and air. As shown, the front facade of this proposed
addition will be built in a mansard style, angled towards the interior of the property
to reduce the visibility of the addition from the street and to add architectural nuance to
this addition. This is consistent with the vast majority of third-story additions that surround
this property. The addition will have no impact on congestion and the structure will continue to be
used as a single family dwelling. Naturally, this applicant will have to apply for a building
permit and will comply with any particular requirements that are imposed under the building
code. Full analysis is provided in the memo of law submitted to the board at Exhibit 11.
As the board knows, we did also meet with the community. We met with East Pass Young Crossing
in June. And as is shown at Exhibit 14, their support was unanimous. At this point, I'd like
to call up my client to adopt my testimony and I can bring up the architect if there's any questions.
So Rosemary Dolan, if you are in the audience, if you could hit the raise hand button.
Rosemary Dolan has been allowed to speak.
could you please state your name is spelled for the court stenographer
my name is rosemary dolan r-o-s-e-m-a-r-i-e-d-o-l-a-n you swear or affirm to tell the truth
the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes sir please proceed counsel um miss dolan have
you heard all the testimony and evidence that was offered in front of the board today
Yes, I have.
And you are the current owner of this property?
Yes, I am.
Would you agree that the testimony given was true and accurate, and would you adopt it as if it were your own?
Yes, I would.
Thank you. Happy to answer any questions.
Questions from the board.
Yes, I have a question.
The neighbors that are on either side of the property, do you know if they were part of this support?
so they my client has been in touch with at least one of those neighbors that did reach out
um i don't know miss graham whether any of the immediate on either side had attended the meeting
i don't recall if they were there they were certainly provided with notice and given the
opportunity to attend but they have been in discussions with at least one of them
and was it favorable or do you know they they didn't offer any any position they had a couple
of questions on the engineering behind it but you know they they didn't seem to raise any objection
other questions from the board
questions or comments from our attorney hillary emerson
not at this time mr chair questions or comments from the virtual audience
i've seen no hands at this time chair planning commission thank you chair bergman and good
afternoon david effecto with the city planning commission chairman and board members the
comprehensive plan recommends no change to the rsa 5 residential single family zoning at this
location all of the homes on the east side of this block face are three stories tall so the
proposed lack of an eight foot setback will match the character of this block face the city planning
commission recommends the board grant a proposed dimensional variance thank you mi 2024 002 710
1706 south 11th street i vote yes michael johns my vote is yes cheryl gaston my vote is yes
Sennetta Graham my vote is yes
Ty Owen my vote is yes
James Snell my vote is yes
Ishmael Shaheed my vote is yes
Thank you counsel
Thank you
Number 14 MI 2024 002711
4500 North 20th Street
Justin Crick is the attorney
There is a letter of opposition from the 13th Ward RCO
so justin kirk is coming in as a penalist
good afternoon good afternoon council could you please state your name and spell for the
course stenographer yes justin j-u-s-t-i-n krik k-r-i-k
Yes, Justin, J-U-S-T-I-N, Crick, K-R-I-K.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
And could you identify your client and relationship to this property?
Yes. William Chow, he is the member of Three Munchkins LLC, which is the owner of the property.
Our vice chair has a few questions, sir.
Good afternoon, counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?
i do have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that is needed to
proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing yes thank you council please
proceed and share your screen very good thank you uh members of the board um this is an application
for 4500 north 20th street the property is designated as an rm1 um zoning designation
classification however since it's uh since i guess almost the the dawn of time or so as far
back as records show this has been a commercial retail property um since in the 1960s there's
been a gas station there's been a dry cleaner and currently the owner operates and owns a
small uh groceries store with eat-in food capabilities um in a portion of this location
So I am going to jump for a moment just to give you an idea. We're talking about basically a strip center, shopping center, and the left side of this building is currently operating as a basically a small deli that has takeout food, also eat in, and it does have a license to sell alcohol in to consumers as they come and go along with the food.
The owner would like to, on the right-hand side of this center, open up a beer distributor and cease the alcohol sales out of this establishment and will obtain a different license, the appropriate license for beer distributor if allowed to operate a distributor out of this section of the property.
So to back up a little bit, the property is located on an island of itself at the intersection of Windrum, West Wing of Hocking, North 20th, and even Germantown Avenue.
This is essentially right next to the Wayne Junction train station, SEPTA train station.
And as you can see, it is zoned RM1, but as future evidence will show you and the historic zoning, there has not been a residential use on this property for quite some time.
So the approved use is a commercial use, and what we're seeking with the wholesale distributor would be a little bit more in the industrial realm.
And as you can see, that there is industrial zoning and CMX3 zoning nearby, albeit a lot of this is within the train track area.
You do have some. I'm sorry, let me just double check my audio there.
You're back. You're back. Thank you.
So so you would see that the there is some commercial use within this area.
it's not just the train station. But we are, again, as zoomed in, an island all of its own
with what would be from this picture, you can kind of take it as the blacktop roof is the
existing business in the one side, which would continue to exist, but no longer with the sale
of alcohol of any sort, if this side of the building, the white roof and a little bit of
the Black Group was allowed to be a wholesale beer distributor. So from many of the different
streets, you can see that there's ample parking in the lot to accommodate patrons of this business
and ample egress and ingress from the lot from many different areas. You'll also see that there
are street lights throughout the area that keep it lit, although the owner has indicated the
willingness and intent to clean up portions of the property and add lighting to the property.
You can see there's lighting along the front of the building as well for security purposes,
as well as cameras. Some additional angles and then the rear of the property. And some of the
concern dealt with the rear of the property of the neighbors, which I will get into shortly.
But there is a letter of opposition. There was a unanimous opposition to this from the neighborhood.
And I would like to go through why we believe that there is still hardship and that we are entitled to the variance.
Here is a site plan that was a little bit older, but it is one that still maintains the location of things on the building.
Again, you can see that we have no adjacent properties touching us, but we do have zoning of RS.
RS, we do have zoning of RM1, a lot of multifamily in the area, and then some single family nearby
as well. The property interior layout is very straightforward. As a beer distributor, normally
you might see it will have a single office and the rest be very open warehouse. These pictures
are what it is proposed to look like because the owner currently uses and is able to sell
alcohol out of the neighboring store. He has bought it in bulk for the time being,
but essentially the main difference here between the two establishments that addresses one of the
concerns that we think the neighborhood has is that the neighborhood felt that people would
take sort of the grab-and-go alcohol that's available under the license that is held by
the the restaurant uh portion or the deli local grocery store um and then loiter or or you know
not go too far before consuming the beverage uh while the owner who's on the phone could testify
he does not see that as regularly on his property but we do acknowledge that it is at least something
that the neighborhood has has claimed was an issue and in counter to that the idea of a beer
distributor is really one in which someone buys a larger quantity for taking and consumption
usually at a destination. It's not something that is oftentimes, at least in common place,
use of a case of beer versus buying a single beverage from the neighboring store. So we do
believe that the change in the type of alcohol sales actually decreases the probability of people
loitering to drink the beverage or consume it versus the idea of picking it up for the type
of wholesale distribution that it is for a final destination other than the property.
Because there has been talk and discussion about some of the safety in the area overall,
which we have not seen anything that indicated that the sale of alcohol in this other manner
would be any different than the sale of alcohol that is allowed in terms of what they're claiming
is a result of the alcohol sales, is that the street would be cleaned up a little bit in the
rear. There already are cameras, and there would be additional lighting placed there with respect
to the neighbors that are behind it, because there are neighbors behind the building as well.
um just to jump through a few things very quickly and can i ask can i ask where's all the
beer being stored now this is where the beer is being stored in the so i will scroll up for one
moment if you look at this building and cut it in half this right inside that says story building
is the existing business in which um in which uh he operates and is allowed to sell alcohol but not
in bulk he's allowed to sell it in smaller amounts so he currently stores some of it in this right
in this left hand side but this is what would become okay so when i said to him i said i hope
you're not operating a beer distributor right now he said this is not customers do not come in here
this he buys in bulk because instead of buying every couple of you know every two weeks or
something, he buys it once in a while. This could be resold as the distributor if this was granted
and when, but the hope is that this inventory is just here in place of it being stored elsewhere
for his business that does allow alcohol sales. So with the alcohol sales in this business
that's existing, again, the idea is that because it has tables and chairs, because it is allowed
for Eden and take out of this alcohol. It has been basically people, the neighborhood has felt
that people have continued to use the alcohol or take it out and imbibe right there or in the park
nearby. Again, the change from this e-license that they have to sell the one-offs over to a
distributor license where you sell, you know, larger case or so at a time would be, in our
opinion, a reduction in the on-site or on-premises or even nearby consumption that people had
complained about or, you know, believe that was going on. I would, I do have the letter from the
neighborhood and I would like to address that, but let me preliminarily just show that we have a deed
from the llc evidencing uh ownership of the property it was purchased in may of 20 uh 2021
there are no real estate taxes uh currently outstanding on the property and we did meet with
And we did meet with the 13th Democratic RCO, 13th Warder RCO in June and sent it to a long list of individuals.
the 13th um 13th democratic rco
So I will also show that postings were placed on various facades of the building as it's got a lot of different sides to it and frontages.
and then this was not included in my materials
because I just received this as the board may have
but this is the RCO's report
and as you'll see
they indicated that a few items in particular
we do know that this is not a buy right request
we did not see how the additional sale of this type
this type of sales of alcohol, where alcohol sales already are permitted and do exist
in the neighboring store, how this would directly affect or deter property ownership.
We also did not see how it would decrease neighboring property values by having this
type of business. And because, again, the stop and go is associated with this owner,
we were able to take into account a lot of the concerns that were made or brought to our
attention by this owner. And in our opinion, most of them, again, stemmed around the idea of people
consuming alcohol right on the premises or nearby. We asked about negative effects on local
residents. We understand that the type of business of alcohol sales is not one that's often preferred
in neighborhoods, but we also did not see how this would increase any current density in the area as
proposed or how it would directly affect the RSA families just by having this as an option
for purchase. While the premises is located in other zones that prevent certain type of businesses,
for instance, narcotic injection sites and so forth, the idea of sales of alcohol is not
necessarily prohibited other than the fact that, again, this property is improperly
designated historically as residential. So as they did indicate for us, we did
allege and maintain that the community, that local residents would basically carry the
purchase home with them or somebody would stop and pick up the alcohol to go. So we do believe
that with the idea of if this is granted, we have agreed with the neighborhood to cease the sales
in the way that they're being sold at the grab-and-go location.
And we would have approximately two to three employees at the site for security.
There's camera and lighting around the property.
The parking lot's large and does accommodate any amount of foot traffic or car traffic.
But again, we did get a pretty much basically unanimous no from everybody who was at the RCO.
But don't believe that they provided any any real insight as to why this specific use, where there is already alcohol sales on the premises or on the property, why this use would be any worse when we actually believe that it would help the conditions that are most concerning to the neighbors.
um we also uh had put out there to the neighborhood a willingness to agree to certain
hours of operation if that was required or by proviso uh to to close by 10 o'clock
uh in the evening and then you know obviously in accordance with the sales uh under the liquor
control board laws as well for this uh for this type of use um i do have uh william chow on the
phone if he is available to adopt testimony. Mr. Chow. Mr. Chow has been allowed to speak.
Sir, could you please state your name and spell for the court's stenography?
William Chow, W-I-L-L-I-A-M-C-H-O-W. Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth,
the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? I do. Please proceed, counsel.
Thank you. Mr. Chow, have you heard my testimony to the board today?
Yes, I have.
And is that testimony true and correct to the best of your knowledge?
And would you accept that testimony as your own?
Thank you. Do you have anything else you'd like to share with the board?
None at this moment.
So I would like to just finalize with the board that the variance from what we are seeking is the minimum variance essentially from a commercial establishment that is currently serving alcohol in a certain capacity in accordance with the license it has from the PALCB to a different type of business establishment that would also be allowed to sell alcohol.
to a different type of business establishment that would also be allowed to sell alcohol
pursuant to a license from the palcb on a property that is designated residential
so that therefore any use that was not residential would have found itself before this um this board
when in actuality the property has been and should continues continue to be used for commercial
purposes um questions from the board yeah i have a question does uh does the license from the uh lcb
or the stop and go portion remain even if this um this other use is um is uh granted and has a
liquor license. So essentially this owner is basically swapping this, the license for the
one store in order to get the license for the other store. It's changing from an E license to
a D license, a distributor license. So the intent is not to maintain the alcohol license at the
grab and go store with the approval of the wholesale distributor from the distributor
business. Are there are there other alcohol or beer distributors in the neighborhood?
So I have done a Google map search. There are some along Broad Street, not too far. But as
Philadelphia is concerned, anything more than a few blocks is pretty far. There is a brewery right
on the other side of the train tracks. I can show you that. Basically, the brewery is located
right about where my cursor is now on this map and our properties right here.
And they are allowed to sell takeouts of what they brew.
And then there are several bars that allow for six pack takeouts around.
But given that this property sits and is right along this,
the train corridor, the SEPTA, the Amtrak corridor,
to get any distributor in the area, no, there was not a local distributor
other than basically a couple of tenths of a mile away, which again, you're already out of
neighborhood at that point. What about takeout sales? I'm sorry? What about takeout stop and
goes? So there are other bars in the area and other stop and goes. I don't have them mapped
out on every corner, but that was another one of the concerns of my client is that there's a bar
not too far down that uh the police oftentimes do sit out outside of uh but that my client
believes you know is is also a cause or or one of the causes of some of the neighborhood's concerns
um that also may but as a bar selling alcohol is not not so much as the stop and go
mr crick let me ask you this but he's already he's already using that
portion of the building to supplement him with his proper property right in other words he's
storing the his inventory in that building already right he has that he didn't buy all
this beer in case he gets the license that that that's his inventory for the store right
that's correct that's inventory all right as he needs to use it uh but um you know again he's if
if allowed to sell it in bulk and no longer in the smaller package or form factor, then, you know,
maybe some of the inventory transfers. But the idea being is that because he's selling alcohol
currently, that's just where he puts it. Okay. I have a question. So his PA LCB license,
does it allow him to sell shots right now? Because that's a different type of liquor
that he would sell from a bear distributor. So is he selling a liquor shots, shots of liquor right
now? He can answer
that question. I know the distributor license
does not allow him to do that.
Mr. Chow, if you're still on the phone.
The license that he has now.
Mr. Chow, are you still on the
line if you are? Yes.
If you want to answer the question.
We do not currently sell
shots and as a distributor, we
are not allowed to sell shots. So it would
just be beer. We are currently just
selling beer only.
Any other questions from the board?
And the beer that you would be selling as a distributor is in cases? Is that correct?
Correct. It would be in the packaging that the importers would sell us. That would be the 12 packs or 18 packs or the whole cases or even some six packs, the variety packs of the six packs.
Do you sell six packs now?
We do.
We have the ability to sell six packs.
We have the ability to sell up to a 12-pack, as a matter of fact.
Did you say you hold a restaurant license as well?
Did you say you hold a restaurant license as well?
It's an e-license.
It's an eating place license.
Sorry?
So eating place license.
Go ahead, Michael.
No, no, I was just saying that I was repeating what he said.
It was an eating license, right?
The e-license, we are able to sell food and sell groceries.
So it's still a little different than the restaurant license.
Yeah, but you can right now sell a 12 pack.
You can sell a half a case of beer now.
Correct. We can sell up to half a case of beer.
Correct.
All right. Thank you.
I do have one more question. I'm sorry.
So if you don't get this requested variance, what are you going to do?
You would continue to run the business as is currently.
and then there's a i mean potentially all find a different tenant but this was the owner trying
to use the property for himself in in a similar style business but yeah he would continue to
operate the deli as is and then as needed try to find an alternative tenant for the remainder of
the property okay so could continue to operate the deli as a deli and still selling beer out of
deli is that what you're saying yes the intent would not be to let go of the license at this
location unless the alternative use is approved and a license obtained for that use okay
questions or comments from our attorney earlier emerson
not at this time mr chair what's your comments from the virtual audience
yes chair i have a hand up by the name of charles richardson they have been allowed to speak
all right mr richardson just state your name please good morning good afternoon mr chair
charles richardson office of councilwoman bathroom 508 city hall richardson is r-i-c-h-a-r-d-s-o-n
i can speak i can speak from experience uh with regard to this establishment because of the fact
that our district office on Germantown Avenue is less than 250 feet away from there. And
I've spent, you know, I've spent close to eight years in that office. So I'm very familiar with
their practices and everything. The place is a plague to the community as it stands right now.
They open early in the morning. They close late at night. They don't really, they're not really
a deli per se because of the fact they don't really have food in there other than like cups
and noodles and things along those lines uh the guys that come that guys and young ladies that
come there they do loiter around the area and they do go around on to 20 uh on to wing the
hawking which is right around the corner what they didn't show you with regard to the um you know
showing that the backs of the houses and things along the back of their property versus the houses
is right around on that other corner right there is a seating area where the people that that go to
and pick up the stuff from their location go there and drink and drink and drink all day long
uh the police are out there because of the fact that sometimes it's folks that come from that
location that uh you know cause problems down along winger hocking avenue so it's like it's
not like they like like you know this has been going on forever and uh you know at this point
in time, the councilwoman is definitely not going to support granting any kind of variance
for this. It's just one of those types of things where, you know, they've taken advantage
of the community and have hurt the community, and they're continuing to try to hurt the
community. So, therefore, the councilwoman is not in favor of granting variance for this
property.
Thank you, Mr. Richardson. Is there anyone else in the first audience?
I see no more hands at this time, Chair.
Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair Bergman, and good evening. David Fecta with the City Planning Commission.
Chairman and Board members, the comprehensive plan recommends a change in zoning from RM1, residential multifamily, to CMX2, commercial mixed use at this location.
This property has a documented history as a deli, takeout, fry cleaner, and grocery store.
There is no unique physical condition or circumstance of this property that would prevent it from continuing to be used in a manner consistent with the current CMX2-compliant uses.
The City Planning Commission recommends that the Board deny the proposed use variants for wholesale sales and distribution, which would not be allowed in CMX2.
Thank you. MI 2024-002-711-4500 North 20th Street, I vote no.
Michael Johns, my vote is no.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is no.
Tana Graham, my vote is no.
Taya Nguyen, my vote is no.
Ty Owen, my vote is no.
Jane Snell, my vote is no.
Jane Snell, my vote is no.
Shishmael Shahid, my vote is no.
Thank you, counsel.
Is there anyone in the virtual audience whose 2 p.m. case has not been called?
I see no hands at this time.
We're going to take a five-minute break, and we're going to come back and finish up.
Thank you, everyone.
Good afternoon, everyone.
My name is Bill Bergman, and I will be chairing the 330 list for the zoning board.
With me is our vice chair, Ismail Shahid.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Our board member, James Snell.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Our board member, Cheryl L. Gaston.
i know she's going to be here so she'll be on shortly our board member tanetta graham uh present
chair our board member michael johns chair our board member taya wynn present mr chair
also present is our attorney hillary emerson and also our deputy director for planning and zoning
Kathleen Grady. Here's our virtual format.
Please be advised
when proceedings are being recorded
with your participation agree to be recorded
the video will be available by contacting
Kathleen.Grady at phila.gov
For our court sonographer and attorneys
for our court sonographer we ask attorneys and witnesses
to identify themselves before testifying.
If you're participating by phone press star 9
to raise your hand and star six to unmute. To an inter-appearance statement, call 267-270-5548.
Leave your email address and address of the property in question.
And finally, the question box on the screen is not for comments or testimony. All comments
should be directed to our Deputy Director Kathleen Grady. Let's look at our schedule
for this afternoon. Number three, MI 2023-007-209-1625 Marshall Street, Cases Continued,
Attorney Moving Party. Number five, MI 2024-001-675-616 North 2nd Street, Cases Continued.
And number six, MI 2024-001-676-1918 East Washington Lane.
That case is continued.
Are there any other requests for continuances?
I see no hands at this time, Chair.
And number seven, MI2024-00689-7505-07 Brookhaven Road, no exhibits, first listing.
Vinay Israel is the listed owner applicant, so pro se, Mr. Yisrael, Yisrael.
I see no one in the audience with that name, Chair.
Okay, so that's the first listing.
MI 2024-001-689-7505-07 Brookhaven Road.
Cases continued.
Mark must be heard.
Well, now we're going to go to number one.
MI 2023-002-857-1720 West Ontario Street.
Darlene Treat is the attorney.
There's a letter of support from Allegheny West Civic Association.
uh excuse me mr chair um uh bill from it can you please resend a link to miss gaston she's having
a hard time getting back into the hearing okay thank you darling three has been promoted to
panelists good morning commissioners darling three on behalf of the applicants good afternoon
Council. Could you spell your name, please, spelled for the court's sonographer? T as in
Thomas, H-R-E-A-T-T. I'm trying to get this video on. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth,
the whole truth, nothing but the truth? I do. Could you identify your client,
a relationship to the property? Yes. My client is Mr. William Perakaya of Flores Rentals and
management he should be on the line and our vice chair has just a few questions
good afternoon counsel do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal or stipulate to its accuracy
yes i do have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that is needed to proceed
with this case out of days in advance of this hearing yes i have thank you council please
Thank you, counsel. Please proceed and share your screen.
proceed to share your screen.
You're coming up.
I'm sorry to interject again. I just noticed Ms. Gaston somehow got put in the attendees list, so if we could just promote her back to panelists, I think that would solve the issue.
Thank you.
Change your hand back to an attendee, bring her back in as a panelist.
Counsel, are you still on?
There she is.
You're muted.
Yeah, it switched me.
I don't know where it is.
You're back.
We didn't hear a case yet, so don't worry.
We're back.
Thank you.
Counsel?
Yes, can you hear me?
Yes, yeah.
I haven't seen your documents up yet.
Yeah, I'm waiting for them to come up. Here we go. Good afternoon, Commissioners. I represent 1720 West Ontario Street. I have submitted a package of documentation to the Zoning Board of Adjustment.
My package includes the permit application, a refusal, the appeal, a property information form, the tax clearance information, deed, planned, pictures, community letter of support, excuse me, community letter, proof of mailing, and a letter of support.
Commissioners, this property is listed as an RSA 3.
At this time, we would like to get the property approved for use as a 3 family dwelling.
We did submit an application to license and inspections, and we did receive the refusal.
We appealed this application to the Zoning Board of Adjustment.
I show you the property information form.
the tax information is actually a tax credit
the deed this was a sheriff sale property the applicant bought the property at sheriff sale
and these are the plans
bear with me one moment
Okay. I'm just going to reduce it a little bit so you can see the whole screen.
So we're requesting a three-family dwelling be approved. I'm going to reduce it a little bit more. Here we go.
Basically, on the first floor is a two-bedroom apartment. We have no basement use in this
facility here. The first room is a bedroom. We have a kitchen. We have a bathroom. We have a
bedroom, and we have a den area. There is also an exit on the first floor out to the rear yard.
The second floor is a two-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment. You come up through the stairs here. You come out, you have a bedroom, which is a good size, a kitchen. We have bedroom number two and a small den and a bathroom.
The third floor is really like a one-bedroom efficiency type unit. You have a large bedroom and a kitchen, and one would exit out the front.
There's a picture of the posting.
I did submit an updated posting to the board, which isn't really contained in this package.
Here is a picture of the front of the property.
It is a three-family dwelling.
I would submit to you that next door is a two-family dwelling operating there.
There is a small rear yard in this property that all of the tenants have access to.
I'll show you how they have access.
They will come out the front of the property and there is a side access all the way down the side of the property to the Brea yard, which were these.
Access all the way down the side of the property to the Brea Yard, which where the trash would be stored for all the tenants until Trash Day.
Then they would bring the trash out to the front.
The owner has told me that he does commercial trash pickup with the City of Philadelphia.
Commissioners, I took a couple of photos of the inside units.
This is the first unit.
This is the second unit.
and the third unit is on the top floor. It's a small unit with a bathroom. This is a picture
of the basement. As you can see, there are three boxes down here. The basement has nothing in it.
It's just used for utilities only. Commissioners, we did send out a letter to 157 residents
for a meeting. Here's the proof of
mailing. We did actually have a meeting
with the community on three different occasions discussing
issues to satisfy their concerns.
And they did issue a letter of support
for the use requested and documented by our plans.
I did take some additional pictures
just to give you an idea of what the
can the pictures be enlarged
okay just give me a sec
I think I can make that a little bigger
is that large enough
we can see it now
so they had three story structures on this block
another three story structure there's a
vacant parcel on the other end here and actually on the other end of this block there's a church
on the corner a three-story dwelling. This is directly across the street. On the other side
of the street there are only two family dwellings. There are a couple multi-families but this is 18th
Street, but this is directly opposite our property.
The church is currently operating as a triplex?
Yes, it is. The church is on the corner here. This is our property here. It's a little overgrown,
but there's a church facility in operation here on the corner.
And that's a look at the entire loft, looking north down Ontario Street.
And, Commissioners, that's my presentation, and I hear also my clients here to answer any questions that you may have.
Counsel, let me ask a question. What's the history of the property? How long has it been a triplex?
It's my understanding that this property was purchased in 2016 through sheriff's sale that has been operating probably as a triplex from 2016.
But Mr. Harakaya is on the phone and he may have additional information more than I have.
Thank you.
William has been allowed to speak.
Could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
William Warkaya, W-I-L-L-I-A-M-H-U-A-R-C-A-Y-A.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir.
Please proceed, counsel.
Mr. Warkaya, are you the owner of this property?
Did you purchase this property via sheriff's sale?
When you purchased the property,
was it a three-family dwelling?
Yes, I had the layout.
Have you heard my testimony as provided to the board today?
If you were to testify,
would you adopt my testimony as true and correct?
That's all I have, Commissioner.
Questions from the board?
can you go back to your floor plans
to the floor plans
yes I'm going to reduce it a little bit so we can see the whole plan
all right this is the first floor I'm going to further reduce it a little bit
Here we go
We've got the same situation we have in some other projects that we've seen where there's no living space, really, other than, I guess, this den is through the bedroom.
And then the same thing on the second and third floor, the second floor, or the first floor.
This is the first floor, and you've got a den with it, right?
You allowed to see the second floor?
and the same thing here you got a two bedrooms but then it's a kitchen there's no living room
at all not even showed up as a living room so i don't know how that's a in the den it looks like
a closet so you can't even get a piece of furniture you know what i mean i'm just like
it's not a unit
a real unit
all right
that's it I have no other questions
any other questions
council the property
next door is built the same but it's a
duplex am I correct
correct thank you
questions or comments
from our attorney Hillary Emerson
um just briefly mr chair i was three is there any parking at the property
i like off-street parking no off-street parking miss emerson okay only on street parking okay i
just was asking because the property is zoned rsa3 which as you know requires um accessory
off-street parking one per unit so that was just something that wasn't referenced on the refusal
so I didn't know if it was missed
or if there was already parking at the property.
But it sounds like it's something
that probably should have been noted.
So thank you for the clarification.
Yeah, this is existing and there is no room,
no rear access and no room for parking on the premises.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Yes, Chair.
I have been handed by the name of Charles Richardson.
They have been allowed to speak.
I'm Mr. Richardson.
Mr. Chair.
Just state your name. That's all for the record.
Yes, sir. Charles Richardson,
Office of Councilwoman Cindy Bass Room, 508 City Hall.
The RCO has written a letter of support,
so the Councilwoman is going to not
oppose granting the variance.
Thank you. Anyone else in the virtual audience?
I see no more hands at this time, Chair.
Planning Commission.
Good evening, Chair Bergman and members of the board.
Michael Gall with the staff of the Philadelphia City Planning Commission.
G-A-L-L.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I so affirm.
Please proceed, sir.
Thank you.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the residential single-family zoning at this location.
There is no unique physical condition or circumstance of this property that would prevent it from being used in conformance with the zoning code.
The City Planning Commission recommends that the Board deny the proposed use variance for three dwelling units.
Thank you.
MI 2023, 002857, 1720 West Ontario Street.
I vote yes with proviso. Maximum two units.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes with proviso.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes with proviso.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes with proviso.
Iowen, my vote is yes with Proviso.
James Snell, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Thank you, counsel.
Number two, MI 2023-004887-1145 South Broad Street.
Pascual Calavita is the attorney.
Letter of non-opposition from Council Member Squilla.
Letter of Unanimous Support with Proviso from South Broad Street Neighborhood Association.
Pasquale Colavita is coming in as a panelist.
Good evening.
Good afternoon, counsel.
Could you state your name spelt for the court stenographer?
Sure. Pascual Colavita, P-A-S-Q-U-A-L-E-C-O-L-A-V-I-T-A.
Go ahead.
I was going to say attorney for the app in 1145 S Broad Street, LLC.
I was going to say attorney for the app in 1145 as Broad Street, LLC.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Our vice chair has a few questions.
Do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy, sir?
um have you had all your uh uh paperwork in within five days prior we did with the exception of the
letter of non-opposition from uh councilman squilla okay please share your screen and start
okay okay again Pasqua Colavita attorney for 1145 Broad Street LLC William Bonforte the sole member
he just quick background on Mr. Bonforte he is both a general contractor and a restaurateur
He owns all of the Green Eggs Cafe, as well as a previous restaurant of the year stateside on on Pat Shunk Avenue.
And this location, 1145 South Broad Street, is the location of the former Phillips restaurant, which he is.
The intent of this property is to maintain its historical use and design, as well as supplement it with a three family dwelling above it.
It presently is the restaurant with single family dwelling attached here to are the deed, the certificate of tax clearance, the zoning application, notice of refusal, application of appeal with the project information form, the architectural plans, which were revised, attached also to the proviso plan form.
street approval letter in this situation was also attached. We'll show you the notice to the
neighbors as well as the proof of mailing, some photographs, zoning poster, proof of posting with
petitions of support, and a separate one with the next door neighbor to show you his
letter of support for the project because he is the most affected. Also, we met with the RCO
and the South Broad Street Streets Neighborhood Association, who we met with twice after some corrections to the initial set of plans,
as well as a pre-meeting with Councilman Squilla, who attended.
We came to a resolution, revisions to the plans that everyone supported.
And as you can see, Councilman Scuilla also sent his letter of support.
So as indicated, Mr. Bonforte purchased the property in 2018.
Attached again.
What I'm going to try to do is see if I can.
There we go.
This is an CMX2 zone.
The only refusal is due to the maximum area, and it's 542 over.
This is street to street.
The reason there are no setback issues is because it goes from Broad Street all the way to Watch Street.
The intent here is one of the purposes of the project is to maintain eyes on the street, increase the security in the rear of the property, which was one of the concerns of some of the more vocal neighbors at the initial meeting with the RCO.
uh the again the councilman uh it was was very um how do i say uh he he assisted in in getting this
agreement um the uh rear will go up to and match as you'll see in photographs so um there
There it is the least amount of modification to the code due to the requirements of the code.
It causes a hardship due to the two street situation here, and it will decrease the unhoused problem that is presently occasionally there for some of the neighbors in the rear of the property.
because what this will do is you'll see what is presently there is it's a chain link fence with
a lot of rear yard space. This will will prevent that. It will bring the
will prevent that it will bring the rear there'll be a rear entrance there'll be a garage which
in reality will be used to for storage of trash as well as the restaurants supplies so you won't
there'll be a commercial trash pickup Mr.
Bonforte is very is very familiar with this.
Again, here are the revised.
That's the plan.
And I'm missing.
So if I can get to
show the architectural plans also on
is Agatha Reister of Landmark and she is the one who updated these and if I can some way
all right so to give everyone a little bit better of a picture I want to stop
sharing this screen.
Let's see how I can do it.
Oops. And share.
It's present low.
So if everyone can see, this is the present
property right now, the back of it, which is going to be
converted. And this is the front of the property.
If you may recognize it,
South Broad Street at Wharton between Wharton and I'm sorry, Federal and Ellsworth.
My apologies. So he's going to maintain this facade.
I'm just going to stop sharing this one, go back to the previous one.
what i can do is i can if if possible um
just show some additional photos of the neighborhood uh right next door to it is the
broad street diner as you can see this is a commercial area and nothing overly exciting
that you haven't seen attached uh our proof of posting
at the property petition signed by over 50 individuals supporting the property
and again as i had indicated petition from robert metzger right next door
he's the one who has the property that goes all the way to the back on on watch street
our meeting our second meeting in july uh was unanimous in its favor attached as a letter
from uh councilman squilla's office of non-opposition and if we could i mean if you
have any questions regarding the actual plan itself and the look of it i do have agatha
reister who would be significantly more qualified in replying to those uh and and i'll leave at least
do you have the plans there that you can show i do let me get back to them here they go
so as you can see they'll go so the the concession that was made initially what we had
proposed is the entire property to go
to the rear at the same height. We removed
the rooftop decks. We lowered the
rear of the property
and added
the wheelchair
accessibility in the front. This is what
the rear will look like.
And as you can see, right next door to the, I guess it would be south, it goes flush with the property to the south.
To the right of it, you'll see it still maintained.
There's still a fence there.
The side of the property has the additional unused space.
So you'll be able to enter in the rear of the property to get to the units on the second and third floor.
Because one of the challenges that occurred here is to keep the front.
occurred here is to keep the front unchanged and still allow the three family dwelling
with this. Again, there is no use refusal. The only refusal is due to, and I'll get to it,
was the maximum occupied area, 75% permitted, 95% proposed.
And in order to allow these dwellings to bring the property to the rear,
to have continuity throughout the restaurant without destroying its current historical design,
And this was the best use proposed.
So you're allowed 75 percent. You're at 94.
we're at 94 correct and and where we what we did was we we covered certain space because that was
one of the concerns of the councilman as well as the community board as well as a neighbor about
three or four doors down who has suffered um with issues of individuals uh in the rear of the
property so what mr bonforte the the design that we have will then push the when i say push it it
it his building will go to the um and let me get back to the stop sharing this one and share
this so as you can see the rear of this property is actually on watch street
There, if you continue south, there is, there's a state building and I'm not 100% sure what the state building is. So, this looks a little bit, okay, so, and if we can get, this is the current building.
um you're going to bring it out to adjacent to the one next door
right to the left of the vehicle is mr bonforte's uh property
it so we're bringing it all the way uh flush with this rear wall this is the this is the actual
and that's your only refusal that's the only refusal is just the uh the dimensional refusal
Wait a minute. And you're bringing the second floor up as well?
Well, there's already a second and third floor here.
We're just bringing it forward. So there's a third floor in the front of the property.
We're raising this second floor to a third floor. And then the rear portion of it is cut back slightly.
it's going to be two stories
technically I believe it's going to be
three stories but it's
the way that the roof design
is the way that the roof design
is that they
it's a lowered
it's still two stories
I'll show you the
and if we can get Agatha Reister
on she can
Let me just go to Pasquale, bring her on.
I mean, we're keep going around, so bring her on.
She's already testified once today, I think.
I think she said she was there this morning, yes.
Do we share in the audience?
What I'm going to do is I'm going to stop sharing, so that way she can share on her screen.
No, Pasquale, don't.
Don't?
Don't, because I'm in a poor Wi-Fi area.
it's going to actually just prolong
the presentation
Agatha let me tell you
what we need we understand
what it is that it's
just about you know
how much space he's taken
up but just explain what the back looks
like to us please
right now the back is
A unsafe there are no eyes
on the street the windows are very far
away from the
street itself there's only one story
property, a one-story portion of the building that is there. The neighbors have concerns.
We had met with the neighbors proposing.
We had met with the neighbors proposing on the first floor, proposing a space where the commercial tenant could store the trash as well as the residential tenant.
And it would be access for both of them. And there is access to the residential entry from that small street as well.
the tenants had, the neighbors had concerns about the size. We lowered it not to exceed 32 feet
in height, made this front look more as a small street fitting single family dwelling,
and which Pasquale has presented, which, and removed the roof decks, roof deck access structures.
therefore the neighbors did not feel like their privacy was taken away and we also provided
bedrooms facing the street which would add eyes on the street during nighttime as you could tell
from the photographs there are single family dwellings on the street that's perpendicular
to our street but for most part it's it's a walkway that it doesn't really display and doesn't really
feel very safe so adding eyes on the street will will actually help that little street
i'll bite the dimensional uh refusal that was received okay thanks could you please stay on
and counsel could you bring on who's going to adopt your testimony william bomforte he's on
he struggled getting on um by video so he's on by phone and i can well just let him answer the
get on. Okay.
Mr. Balforte,
how do we...
He should hear you.
He is on,
but he logged on
audio.
I know he's audio, but
he'll get on. If he's on, he'll get on.
Do we see his hand?
What does he need to
click? Star five?
he sticks he clicks star nine to raise his hand okay
mr colavita would he be under your name by chance did you send him a link
i did send him a link he may be under my name okay thank you hello hello there we go i sure
Sir, could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Good morning. Good afternoon, board. My name is William Bonforte.
B-O-N as in Nancy F as in Frank O-R-T-E.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, counsel.
Mr. Bonforte, did you have an opportunity to hear my testimony today as well as that of Agatha Reister?
I have.
Do you agree to both of our testimony's accuracy?
Yes, I do.
And do you adopt both of them as your own?
I will.
All right, questions from the board.
the question is um is this phillips was this a seafood restaurant at some point
no no phillips restaurant was in in another uh seafood restaurant was in another location
on Pashunk Avenue.
This is a
restaurant that's been
kind of shuttered since
It was opened in
1944 and has remained in
its original condition
since the sole
owner passed away
shortly before I
was able to
acquire it from their heirs.
All right. Thank you. No, just just any other any other questions.
Just one quick question is that the access to the apartments, is it from the Broad Street side or is it from this rear wall street?
Currently, it was being operated as a mom and pop style facility.
So the third. No, no, no. He's talking about he's talking about the apartments you have in the back.
Do you go in the back or in the front?
Yes, we are creating a new facade in the back that will strictly be the residential entrance to eliminate the current access to the third floor, which was owner occupied.
access to the third floor, which was owner occupied through the restaurant, which is not a tenable situation in modern, you know, business practices.
All right. Thank you.
Any other questions on the board?
Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Emerson?
um just briefly mr chair i i just wanted to note um that i did see the revised plans
um and took a look at them and um if the board decides to grant we could um uh stamp one page
of revised plans just the site plan because that is all that was previously reviewed by l and i
so we can't add in extra plans so i just wanted to make that clear because i believe the rco wanted
to see a few pages stamped um but we can't stamp those other pages because they weren't previously
before l and i so thank you are there any provisos hillary i don't i believe the the rco only they
just wanted to see that the plans that they went over with mr colavita at the last meeting which
are what were presented today um were in effect that was the only proviso all right questions
or comments from the virtual audience? I see no hands at this time, Chair.
Planning Commission. Good evening again, Chair and members of the Board. Michael Gall with the
City Planning Commission. The comprehensive plan recommends a change to the commercial
mixed-use zoning at this location from CMX 2 to CMX 3. There is no unique physical condition or
circumstance of this property, however, that would prevent it from being used in conformance
with the zoning code. The City Planning Commission recommends that the Board deny the proposed
dimensional variance for maximum occupied lot area. MI 2023-004-887-1145 South Broad Street,
I vote yes. Woodbury Proviso, revised plan one page stamp 731-24. Michael Johns, my vote is yes
with Proviso. Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Iowyn, my vote is yes with Proviso.
James Snell, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Thank you, Counselor.
Thank you, maybe excuse.
Yes, you can.
Number four, MI 2024-001-673-920-1.5 West Somerset Street.
A letter of support from the 37th Ward, RCO.
Devin Uqdat is the attorney.
Devin Uqdat is coming in as a penalist.
Good morning, Chair.
Good evening, Council.
I'm sorry.
You don't have to be sorry.
Thank you.
Could you please state your name and spell for the court's knock?
Yeah, yes, sir. Devin Uqdai, D-E-V-I-N-U-Q-D-A-H.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Could you turn your video on, please?
There you go, counsel.
Could you identify your client, the relationship to the property?
Yes, my clients are the owners of Keisha Knight and Eric Knight.
Our vice chair has a few questions for you.
Good afternoon, counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that is needed and required to proceed with this five days in advance of this hearing?
Thank you, counsel. Please proceed and share your screen.
can you see my screen we can you can we can yeah you're up okay all right so the address this is
just a table of contents the address of the property is 920 and a half Somerset
Street it's currently zoned as CMX 2 this is the area around it it's a corner
property at the corner of North Hutchinson and West Somerset Street this
is in North Philadelphia again this is the property here how it looks on a map
this is a letter of refusal my clients would like to make the prop move to change their property to
be to a three-unit residential property
give us another view of the property
it's another view of the property this is a picture of what the property currently looks
like on the outside this is the if you're at the corner of one of the entrances
side of your property so the property has a few entrances for tenants to actually get in three
interest is experiencing. These pictures are the inside of the property.
This is some of the conditions of the property. Your clients are going to do a full rehab for the three units.
Again, additional picture of the inside of the property.
this is a notice to the neighbors that went out for a public meeting we had a public meeting in
person this is a letter of support we had nine nine people vote in support uh none opposed
this is a copy of the d uh the clients the clients receive the property from
um their father father and father-in-law to be exact it's been in their family for a few decades
this is proof of tax clearance as the property has no outstanding real estate taxes
And this is proof of the notice of today's hearing.
That's the conclusion of my presentation.
Counsel, is this, I think we had, our note says single family household living, or you're saying three units?
It should be three units.
We're moving to three units.
Hillary, did we have that?
Mr. Ecta, can you please show the refusal again?
because i recall seeing it being single family and there was a refusal for not having commercial
space on the ground floor yes it says single family so if you're asking for something else
we would need a different refusal
that's an error on their part i didn't submit a single single family the property is the property
isn't single family down and it never was single family
well um i would say you may want to then um hold the hold the decision maybe for a resumption
hearing and you can reach out to the examiner and see if they will issue a corrected refusal
for what you are requesting okay because we can't we can't vote on the refusal as it is because
it's saying single family so is it not possible just to vote to approve it for
no we can't we can't vote to approve it for something more than what l and i reviewed it
for it'd be one thing if you it if you vote if you ask if you ask for a triplex we could say
two units but we can't add units
just want to close for a resumptive hearing hillary
um we um we can do that unless council there's additional information that council would like to
present no okay so we can hold this for a resumption and um mr i feel like i said i would
reach out to the examiner and explain where the error is on the refusal and see if they will issue
a corrected refusal. If they will not issue a corrected refusal, you'll need to come back to
the ZBA and request permission to amend the refusal. Yeah, we need some plans, too, to look
at something that we don't know what's proposed. Right. There's nothing to ask, let me.
yeah okay all right council thank you council is there anyone in the uh
virtual audience whose uh 330 case has not been called
i see no news at this time too thanks everybody have a good one
we've got a lot done today thank you very much thank you absolutely good job thank you
and we have a good night everyone i know good night
Thank you.