If we can get it another minute, let them all come in.
Chair, you're looking like it's good to go.
Okay. Thank you. Good morning, everyone. My name is Bill Bergman, and I will be chairing
this morning's ZBA hearings. First and foremost, we want to tell you that we're sorry for any
inconvenience, but Zoom is down citywide. With me today is Thomas Holliman, our board member.
Present, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. And Ismail Shahid, our Secretary of the Board.
I'm here, Mr. Chairman. Okay. Zoning Board Administrator Tanya Sunkit is with us,
and Board Attorney Sharon Soleta. Before we begin, here's our virtual format.
Please be advised these proceedings will be recorded. By participating, you acknowledge
your agreement to be recorded. The video will be available by contacting Board Administrator
Tanya Sunkett at tanyasunkett at phil.gov. Second, for the benefit of our court sonographer,
we ask attorneys and witnesses to ID themselves prior to speaking or testifying. Third,
Third, if you are participating by phone and you wish to testify, raise your hand by pressing
star nine and then star six to unmute.
To enter an appearance statement, call 267-270-5548, leave your email address and the address
of the property and questions.
That's 267-270-5548.
And finally, please note the question and answer box is not for testimony or comments.
Any comments should be directed to Tanya Sunkett, our board administrator.
So we're going to take a look at our continuances first.
In our list, I see number nine, MI 2021-003189, 813 South 17th Street.
that's a request for continuance is there anyone in the audience that objects or has a comment
relative to that
here we have a miss sullivan
sure i can please oh mr state your name and spell it for the court reporter sure
uh liam sullivan l-i-a-m sullivan s-u-l-l-i-v-a-n do you swear a firm to tell the truth
the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do yes sir proceed and just to confirm uh this is
020305053 uh no which one are you concerned with this is 8 uh 813 south 17th street yeah i have it
is 003189 oh then it's my my apologies uh chair he's he might be referring to the zp rather than
the mi number if it is the same address it is likely the same case okay what what what would
you have sir what do you have for sure no problem so i'm an adjacent neighbor um and you know i had
spoken before the the rco about this particular issue and to start off um you know the the fence
was put up in a way. So here's what we'll do. Here's what we'll do. We're continuing the case
today. We'll make sure that you're notified for the next hearing. Okay. Hello. Okay. Thank you.
Sorry. Sorry. I was muted. Apologize, but thank you. Yes. Yeah. So we will make sure you're
notified for the next hearing. Sounds good. Thank you very much. Right. Any other issues
relative to that case no hands chair okay is there any other continuances out there that anyone wants
to bring up.
Bring up.
Chair, we have Mr. David Orphanides.
Mr. Orphanides, you can unmute yourself.
Can you hear me?
Good morning.
Good morning, David.
Could you please state your name and spell for the court reporter and we can hear you?
Certainly.
Great.
David Orphanides, Orphanides & Toner, 2 Penn Center, 1500 John F. Kennedy Boulevard, Suite 800, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19102.
Thank you.
Do you swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir.
Proceed.
I'm requesting a continuance.
In case number MI, 2021-003189, 813 South 17th Street.
I believe this is the first hearing.
We were just recently retained following the coordinating RCA meeting.
That's the one, David, we already did that.
Oh, okay.
I'm sorry.
I beg your pardon.
Not a problem.
Any other cases?
No hands, Chair.
I'm sorry, Chair.
If I can just ask if Mr. Orphanides is requesting a regular continuous or attorney moving party, just to be on the safe side.
attorney moving party please i thought so thank you very kindly thank you all right so we're
going to go to our add-on list mi 2021 003110 1705 the 13 north 7th street rco letter in support
counsel clerk's office letter in opposition attorney is sean ward ward he's coming in
now as a panel okay
mr ward could you state your name and spell for the court reporter good morning mr chairman
Sean Ward, S-H-A-W-N-W-A-R-D, attorney for the applicant. My address is 331 East Street Road,
Trevos, P-A-19053. Do you swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
I do. Okay, proceed, sir. Wait, I'm going to have Thomas Holliman, or could you please ask the
appropriate questions, Thomas? Yes. Do you agree to the reading of the refusal
DO YOU STIPULATE TO HIS ACCURACY?
YES, I DO.
WE HAVE RECEIVED DOCUMENTS, RICO LETTER, AND COUNCILMAN COST LETTER.
THANK YOU.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH.
I WILL NOW SHARE MY SCREEN IF ALLOWED.
Can the host enable me to screen share, please?
You should be able to, it should be like that green button at the bottom of your screen.
Yeah, I'm clicking on it and it's got a message host disabled participant screen sharing.
It will check on my end as well.
Thanks, Pauline.
in the meantime mr chairman i i apologize for last wednesday evening uh i i i spent the last
five days uh getting my computer um you know support came in and uh hopefully corrected
everything yeah you you guys felt my pain this morning um do you mind trying to go out and come
back in please on my end it's showing that you should be able to as well all right i'll be right
all right i'm back let's try it again nope still getting the same message host disabled
participant screen sharing okay um so if i could ask chair miss saletta counselor saletta sent you
all the documents um if you would allow mr ward to proceed if it's really necessary i can try to
bring it up but i'm trying to deal with some other stuff on my end as well so mr warden we
So, Mr. Ward, we do have the documents. Why don't you proceed?
we do have the documents why don't you proceed very good
Very good. Let me go to my documents so I can read off of them.
Yes, Mr. Chair, I represent Fence Development LLC as the developer.
Their affiliated company, 1705-13 North 7th Street LLC, is the owner of the property.
Property is located at 1705 North 7th Street.
We filed an application for a permit for the erection of an attached structure for
use as a four-family dwelling. Resulted in one refusal, whereas multifamily is not permitted
in the RSA 5 District. Accordingly, we seek a use variance. That was A1. A2 is the ZBA
application of appeal. A3 project information form. A4 proof of ownership. A5 tax clearance.
A6 is a survey plan. 1705 was subdivided from 1705-13 and that plan has been approved. A7 is
a site and floor plan for the new construction of the four-family dwelling at 1705. At A8 are
site and floor plans for a church which is located and has the address of 1713 North 7th Street.
uh that is also owned by an affiliated company uh actually the same owner and that that church is
currently being rehabbed and preserved uh but with a change of use adaptive reuse into 22 dwelling
units in that structure a9 are photographs of the subject property and street views
uh a a mislabeled but another a9 is the rco notice of meeting and notify address list
A10, as the administrator indicated, is the RCO letter from APMRCO by a vote of 10 to 3 in support
of the application. A11 is the district council letter in opposition, and I will address that.
A12 is relevant zoning for the properties. Again, pre-1933, it was a church in a vacant lot.
An application was filed in 2000 for a church and a daycare center. Again, 2001 church and a daycare
center. And then in 2020, the aforementioned 22 dwelling units for the church building on premises
B, which was granted as a matter of right. A13, the relevant zoning hearing for other properties
directly across the street on the property known as 701-07 Cecil B. Moore Avenue is
uh permits rescued for the new construction of a 32 dwelling unit structure uh which again is
directly across the street a 14 is the zoning map a 15 are the aerial photographs so when it when it
comes to the use of this property given the fact that we have a 22 dwelling unit directly next door
and a 32 dwelling unit going up directly across the street uh we feel it's it's the change in
character and nature of that corner is such that to require a
single family dwelling to be erected there on would be
problematic for the for the property. And therefore, we're
seeking variances today. I'm not sure if the councilman's
office or the councilman was aware of those two dwellings,
multifamily dwellings being instituted at that site. So we
would ask again and basically his his opposition uh was drawn in by complaints from some of the
neighbors on that block um i i don't believe i believe some of them may have attended the rco
meeting uh certainly if at all three and um but the meeting was held in due course according to
the cba rules and regulations and the code and by a vote of 10 to 3 the neighbors present at that
that meeting voted in support of this application.
I have present with me today, Mayor Badouche, if he could raise his hand, and he could be
brought in to verify and adopt my testimony.
Sir, you can unmute yourself.
Would you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
sure mayor madoush m-e-i-r d-a-d-u-s-h do you swear affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
and nothing but the truth i affirm see you council mayor you've heard my representations to the board
yes are they true and correct to the best of your knowledge information and belief
yes they are and do you adopt them as your own testimony yes uh with that i'll turn it over to
the board if there's any questions of either me or the applicant we'd be happy to address same
Questions from the board?
questions from the board no mr chairman
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
Testimony from the virtual audience.
Yes, Chair, we have Mary Jones.
Chair.
Counsel, could you state your name and spell for the court order, please?
Yes, good morning.
Mary Jones, M-A-R-Y, J-O-N-E-S, from Council President Daryl Clark's office, room 494 City Hall.
Do you swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Thank you. Proceed.
Yes. The Council President has submitted his opposition to this project, yes, based on, as you've seen in the letter,
due to complaints from the near neighbors about all the added density coming to the street.
The, as on council mentioned, there's going to be 22 units, 32 units, but there are also still homeowners and single family homes on the street and they're, so they do not want to see another multifamily unit just to pile on adding to the density and traffic concerns, et cetera.
um further the um council has not um noted a a cognizable hardship dealing with the land um that
um prevents them from complying with the zoning code as written and so the council president does
oppose the granting of this ordinance thank you not one experience mr chair if i could respond to
that. Thanks, Mary. I would submit that, yeah, we do recognize that there are single-family
dwellings on the block. However, they're all located on the other side of the church,
you know, moving up the street. And across the street, again, is going to be multifamily.
Next door to us is multifamily. So we would, in essence, be an island of single-family homes
stuck on the corner. And that's why we believe that, you know, the ability to market such a
property as a single family dwelling would be severely compromised, given the fact that
there's 22 dwellings to our left and 32 dwellings building directly across the street. So we think
it's problematic. And, you know, this property is such as that, this property is unique in that
It sits on the corner and it's going to be surrounded by large multifamily dwellings, and therefore it's unreasonable to require this to be used as a single family parcel.
Thank you. Other testimony from the virtual audience, please.
No hands, Chair.
Okay. Planning Commissioner.
Good morning, Chair Bergman. Ian Hegarty for the Philadelphia City Planning Commission. Last name spelled H-E-G-A-R-T-Y.
Thank you. Do you swear or firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir, I do.
Okay, proceed, Ian.
Thank you. Members of the board, in 2017, this area was remapped from RM1 to RSA5, single-family zoning,
and this was done in accord with recommendations from the comprehensive plan and with the support
of city council the applicant's hardship is not supported with evidence of unique physical
circumstances or conditions of the property that would prevent it from being used in conformance
with the code criteria as the board is well aware the mere presence of adjacent non-conforming
properties does not on its own establish hardship the zoning in 2017 embodies an intent to encourage
single-family residential development on these blocks, and that was done intentionally and
partially in response to previous multifamily development.
So in this case, we're going to recommend that the requested variances not be granted.
Thank you.
MI 2021-003110, 1705-13 North 7th Street, I vote no.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is no.
Ishmael Shaheed my vote is no thank you sir thank you Mr. Chairman
MI 2021 003289 101 West Wyoming Avenue no RCO letter individual letters and support from neighbors
Stephen Sabuto attorney
And he's coming in now as a panelist chair.