morning my name is bill bergman and i will be chairing this morning's meeting
I'm going to call the roll. Board member Cheryl L. Gaston.
Present, Mr. Chairman. Board member Tenetta Graham.
Present, Mr. Chairman. Board member Michael Johns.
Present, Mr. Chairman. Board member Ty Wynn.
Present, Mr. Chairman. There you go. And board member Ryan McAdams.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Our first order of business is the selection by the board of a vice chair
and a secretary. At this time, the board will select from among its members a vice chair
and a secretary. Are there any nominations for vice chair of the Zoning Board of Adjustment?
Yes, Mr. Chairman. Good morning. I nominate board member Tanetta Graham to serve as vice chair
of the Zoning Board of Adjustment. Do I have a second? Second it. This is Michael Johns.
Thank you. Are there any other additional nominations?
All in favor of selecting Tenetta Graham to serve as Vice Chair of the Zoning Board of Adjustments, please signify by saying aye.
Is anyone opposed?
okay the members of the zoning board of adjustment have selected
to serve as vice chair tenetta graham
thank you thank you guys thank you okay um are there any nominations for secretary
I nominate, I'm Tana Graham, I nominate Cheryl L. Gadsden to serve as Secretary of the Zoning
Board of Adjustments. Do I have a second? Second. Oh, you second? Okay.
Are there any additional nominations?
All in favor of selecting Cheryl L. Gadsden to serve as Secretary of the Zoning Board of
adjustment please signify by saying aye aye aye aye is anyone opposed
the members of the zoning board of adjustment have selected cheryl gaston to serve as secretary
thank you congratulations cheryl
okay good morning we've already done the role um but i guess i should say the first time our
vice chair tenetta graham and our secretary cheryl l gaston also present our our board
our board attorney hillary emerson and our zoning board director in hagerty the board
Board Administrator Lakeisha Dandy is also here.
Recording of this hearing will be posted on the ZBA website.
By participating, you consent to be recorded.
This is an in-person meeting with remote capabilities.
Whether remote or in person, if you're called to speak, you must state and spell your name
and then wait to be sworn in.
Once you've been sworn in, please state your name each time before beginning your testimony.
Any person may enter their appearance to become an interested party to a case.
there are three ways to enter you can identify the case property address on your zoom webinar
you can see a staff member or you can call the zba appearance line by the close of business tomorrow
call 267-270-5548 leave a message that includes your email address and the address of the property
of the appealed case the following guideline is for our remote attendees first when directed
by the chair, you must raise your virtual hand in order to be recognized. Second, if you're called
to testify, you will be prompted to join as a panelist. Please accept the request and turn on
your camera. Third, the webinar Q&A is for questions about the hearing. Do not comment
on the cases in the Q&A. Fourth, if you're participating by phone, press star nine to
raise your hand and six to unmute. Let's look at our schedule for today. We have no one here
in the audience. Let's see here. Number 17.
Let's see here.
Number 17.
MI 2024-006832-4283 Viola Street, TA-63838.
The hearing in this matter has been continued to Tuesday, December 16th at 9.30 a.m.
Let's see.
are there any other requests for continuance
good morning mr chair this is jason hand i will be your calls for the morning session
i do not currently see any hands raised for the matter all right thank you um we're going to go
to uh cases that we do not have exhibits for i'm excuse me mr chair i'm sorry to uh interrupt you
sorry to cut you off yes uh mr anisezo's hand is raised i've allowed him to speak and there's
another hand up from a richard rivera i will love him to speak thereafter go with verne first please
good morning mr chair good morning and good morning madam vice chair and madam secretary
and members of the board um you you you you receive some smiles with that verb i see that i
see all right so um 73 number six number six mi 2024 002 310 7346 west peshawk avenue yes sir
the rco is asking us to do a little extra before uh putting us on their agenda so my client is in
the process of getting letters from the adjacent neighbors and canvassing door-to-door prior to
being able to set up an RCO meeting. I realize this is the third request. This is the Southwest
Coalition, so there are several different groups down there that Craig is leading,
but there are additional requirements, so I respectfully request another continuance.
All right. So, 7346 West Peshonk Avenue. That case is continued until March 11, 2026. Thank you.
Thank you, sir.
Let's see here.
Ms. Gutierrez is the listed owner.
This is the second listing.
No one appeared the first time.
Chair, I do not see that person in the virtual audience this morning.
However, there is a hand up from Richard Rivera.
Can I allow them to speak?
Understood.
Hello, good morning.
Mr. Rivera, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
My name is Richard Rivera, spelled R-I-C-H-A-R-D-R-I-V-E-R-A.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
I swear.
What case, sir?
what case is that would be 2954 north fair hill street mr chairman okay one minute
okay um could you tell me uh the status of this case
um this is a continuance um if that's what you're looking for uh mr chairman
okay why do you why do you need a continuance
no i'm sorry i i this i'm coming here to ask for a variance
okay well your your case will be called okay will be what your your case is on the list we
will call your case sounds good all right thank you so just stand by you know you can get off the
line for a minute and we'll we'll be back with you okay all right and number two
yeah i think i did did i give it to a did i give one a date um no so yeah we didn't we didn't finish
um no so yeah we didn't we didn't finish with one because mr rivera had his hand raised
with one because Mr. Rivera had his hand raised.
um but we i don't think anybody had raised their hand we didn't see anybody in the virtual audience
for number one all right so number one no one acknowledged second listing no no um documents
so mi 2024 006 766 84 80 46 montague street i vote to dismiss michael johns my vote is to dismiss
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is to dismiss.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is to dismiss.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is to dismiss.
Iowan, my vote is to dismiss.
And number two, MI 2024, 000790, 324 South 17th Street.
David Orfanides was listed owner.
Daniel Helwick, David Orfanides is the attorney.
Daniel Helwick is the listed owner.
No exhibits.
This is the fourth listing.
On 122, Mr. Orphanides had a request for it to continue and states his client intends to withdraw. Is there anyone in the audience for this case?
Mr. Orphanides has been a lot to speak.
Good morning, Mr. Orphanides.
He was unmuted a moment ago.
Good morning, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Orphanides, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Certainly.
David Orphanides, last name spelled O-R-P-H-A-N-I-D-E-S.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Do you know the status of this case?
My client has emailed me to withdraw this appeal, so I would like to withdraw it and
have it marked as such by the zoning board.
Do we need a copy of that, Hillary?
I did send an email earlier this morning. I can't forward the email from my client.
No, no, no. Number two, MI 2024, 000790, 324 South 17th Street. Case has been withdrawn.
Thank you. And congratulations to Ms. Graham and Ms. Gaston on their appointments.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Number four, MI 2024-004-355, 1505 South 47th Street.
That case has been withdrawn.
Number nine.
number nine mi 2024 006 943 1528 north 4th street uh listed owner is michael eggnell
no exhibits this is the second listen we have an email requesting a withdrawal
Mr. Chair, I just wanted to note the listed owner is Jose Bedoya, and Michael Agnall is listed as the applicant.
Thank you.
This is the second listing, too.
Hillary, do we want to continue this?
No, Mr. Chair.
The applicant was previously advised back in March how to effectuate a withdrawal, and they did not do so.
So this case can be dismissed.
Is there anyone in the audience for this case?
Chair, I do not see any hands raised for the matter.
So number nine, MI 2024-006-943-1528, North 4th Street, I vote to dismiss.
Michael Johns, my vote is to dismiss.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is to dismiss.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is to dismiss.
Excuse me, Ryan McAdams, my vote is to dismiss.
Iowyn, my vote is to dismiss.
number 11 mi 2024 007 321 2510 north front street that case has been withdrawn
okay we're going to go to our add-on list
number one mi 2022 007 291 430 west burke street um
The vote in this matter has been rescheduled to 2 p.m. this afternoon.
Number three, MI 2025, 004-676-1701 Market Street.
My vote is appeal denied.
Michael Johns, my vote is appeal denied.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is to grant the appeal.
It's not a grant. My vote is appeal denied.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is appeal denied.
Iowyn, my vote is appeal denied.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Number three, MI 2025-001-754-3317 North 16th Street.
Number three, MI20.
My vote is yes, with proviso.
Revised plan, one-paged, stamped by ZBA on October 8th, 2025.
Maximum six dwelling units, commercial trash pickup.
michael johns my vote is yes uh with proviso
cheryl gaston my vote is yes with provisos tenetta graham my vote is yes with provisos
ryan mcadams my vote is yes with proviso iowen my vote is yes with provisos
number four mi 2025 004 704 40 45 to 61 main street
I vote yes with proviso.
Revised plans, seven pages, stamped by CBA on October 8th, 2025.
I'm not on this one.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes with provisos.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes with provisos.
I win, my vote is yes with provisos.
And Ms. Winn, can you please certify?
they watch the video sorry and i certify that i watched the video forgot the date hillary and i'm
trying to pull up september 17th september 17th thank you um number five mi 2024 001 848 2055
chelton avenue the vote in this matter has been rescheduled to november 5th at 9 30 a.m in
addition the record has been reopened solely for the supplemental feedback from the district
council office and according rco along with previously requested revised plans
number six mi 2024 006 896 2600 west montgomery
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.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes, with proviso.
Iowa, my vote is yes, with proviso.
Number seven, MI 2025, 0004396027, Hazel Hurt Street, I vote no.
Michael Johns, my vote is no.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is no.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is no.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is no.
I win.
My vote is no.
Okay, we're going to go to our regular list.
We're going to number...
Number seven first.
MI 2024-006-946-5773 Kemble Avenue.
Craig Smith is the owner-applicant.
I'll be coming back in as a panel shortly, Mr. Chair.
Good morning, Mr. Smith.
Mr. Smith, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Craig Smith, C-R-A-I-G, S-M-I-T-H, Craig Smith.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
This applicant is for use as a personal care home with an existing structure, whereas the proposed use personal care home requires special exception approval
in the RSA-5 zoning district.
There's unanimous opposition
from Oak West Community Coalition.
And there's also a letter of support
from the state representative,
Andrea Carroll,
Xavier-
Andrea.
The principal, yep, Carroll.
And somebody named LK.
So, Mr. Smith,
we're up in the air
about what this is. Am I correct, Hillary?
Yes. No, Mr. Smith, I understand
at the time that the permit application
At the time that the permit application was filed, there was communication with the examiner about the use, and at the time it was determined to be personal care home, but I understand that since that time, there was a realization that it may not be the correct use.
was filed, there was
communication with the exam.
So maybe group living could be single room residents.
So what we're going to do today is we will hear the case and get that information.
And then I will go back to L&I and we will likely need to amend the refusal if it doesn't
appear that personal care home is the correct category.
So but we will hear that we will hear the case today and just hold if we for an amended
refusal and just voted a later date.
So you have to come back.
Thank you.
So there's two things. I actually emailed just for clarification and never heard anything back from anyone, just kind of clarifying that it's not a personal care home. It's actually a group home for foster care youth. But we never received any contact back from anyone in that office.
And then the second thing, I never received an updated summary of the RCO meeting from my RCO.
What she sent me was grossly inaccurate. It did not reflect the numbers, nor did it reflect the accurate vote.
I did ask of her to share with me what she was going to share with the board prior to doing so, and she has not.
So I did hear board member Bergman state that there was gross opposition.
That's not what was the outcome of the call that we had.
I said there was opposition from them, but we do have a letter from her that said this was the second of two meetings.
The first meeting was held on March 13th with six attendees, but due to technical difficulties, no vote was taken.
During discussion, the sentiment was to oppose the proposal.
So that's inaccurate.
And the vote wasn't taken because she scheduled the meeting for 3 o'clock p.m.
And she should have scheduled it, what I later learned, for 6 o'clock p.m.
So why don't we do this?
Why don't you start your presentation?
Absolutely.
So I am going to share my screen with you guys.
Give me one sec.
Let me pull everything up.
I'm in a meeting James, you see the green go ahead you're coming up now, I'm in a meeting.
Are you guys able to see my screen?
We see it now.
So, good morning, everyone.
My name is Dr. Craig Smith.
I'm the CEO and founder of Foster and Success Boys to Men.
We are a nonprofit organization founded back in 2016.
Our Foster and Success Residential Care Program was implemented back in May of 2025.
So this is the most recent arm to the civic engagement work that we are implementing here in the city.
The location for our Alpha House location is 5773 Kimball Avenue, Philadelphia PA, 10141.
And this is a house. This is a picture of the front of the property.
Our mission is to close the opportunity divide by improving, excuse me, the positive life outcomes of youth at promise.
We don't believe that any youth are at risk, especially with the help that we're looking to provide them through early awareness, educational mentorship, resource alignment and leadership development, all of which will be in a residential setting.
One of the things that we strive to put forth for these young people is creating a sense of normalcy for these youth who have been in foster care, some as early as age seven, seven years of age, and having a sense of normalcy being in and out of different treatment facilities and different group homes and some foster care homes is a rarity to them.
So our program model, I do have a video of the house with the walkthrough.
You'll see it is a home like setting. We keep it small.
We keep it intimate with two to three young people in our care and in our program.
I'm asking the board today for us to expand this particular location to four or five young men because we have the capacity to serve more at this location.
Like I stated, we are a 501c3 nonprofit organization that specializes in coaching, mentorship, and educational programming.
Like I say, we are a 501c3 nonprofit organization that specializes in coaching, mentorship.
This particular residential care program is a 24-hour trauma-informed community-based residential program for youth involved in welfare services between the ages of 13 and 18.
These are not adjudicated youth.
These are not bad kids, as someone had mentioned before.
These are young people who need a home, who need some structure, who need some consistency, and who ultimately need some love and help from individuals who are well-trained in this particular work and have an extensive background to really help them manifest their dreams to become a part of reality.
We are licensed through the Office of Children and Youth Services. We bear an L38 license, so we are not operating out of compliance. We are in compliance with the state.
In terms of a program overview, and we'll move this over, shared rooms, home-cooked meals, varying levels of assistance with daily living.
We have a pre-supervised independent living curriculum where we are teaching these young men life skills, skills that's going to help them navigate life once they're aged out at 18.
They can actually stay with us until they're 21 years of age, but the plan is for the young people who have the academic potential and promise to age out of 18 and go on to some type of post-secondary program, preferably a residential program.
We provide the custodial care.
We're teaching on laundry and housekeeping.
We are certified to manage medication, transportation to and from outside activities such as college and professional sporting events.
We have unique skill building programs.
We have our Emergent Leaders of Tomorrow Rites of Passage program, our entrepreneurship program, our financial literacy program, and a few other programs that we offer in-house in addition to the community-based initiatives that we also offer as well.
Some of our program highlights, you can see right to our left, that picture is two of our youth currently in our care who participate in the Junior Barbara Academy with P. Michael.
He received a lot of grant money from the city of Philadelphia, so his work is recognized throughout the city.
They actually have a program this evening from six to eight on Wednesdays, and they also have programming on Sundays.
but we have post-secondary prep. My background is in higher education. I have a master's in
clinical psychology, a doctorate in ed leadership and management from Drexel. I served as a guidance
counselor, college admissions counselor. So pretty much all of the work that we're tying into how
we're helping to shape the lives of these young men at Promise, I have over 20 years of experience
working in this arena. Just found that housing insecurity was always a challenge for persistence
and retention, oftentimes with our young people. So we just added this group home model. If they're
with us 24-7 and they're under our care, the likelihood that they will fall through the cracks
or slip through the cracks diminishes. We have a work readiness program. We provide trauma-informed
services, our rights of passage program, that 15 by 18. So there's 15 core things that we believe
that the young people should know before they hit age of 18. So we're constantly teaching them and
coaching them on those particular things, how to change a tire, how to change oil, how to manage a
bank account, how to write a check, how to fill out an envelope, right? We have our health and
wellness regimen. A lot of these young men have come to us with high A1Cs, pre-diabetic. So our
health and wellness regimen has got our one kid who's 16, 275 pounds. We got him down to 260
and his A1C went from a 6.3 to a 5.9.
So we're getting him in the right direction
through diet and exercise
in our partnership with the YMCA.
Service learning activities.
We do weekly community service
with the shared food program
where they're packing boxes three hours a week,
helping out in the community that way.
And also cleaning the block.
We have a lot of elderly folk in the neighborhood
who don't have the ability to sweep up the leaves and to get the trash out front of the
houses.
So my young people are seen doing that, found doing that as well.
There's a lot of partners in the work that we work closely with.
SARE Health Center, also the Strawberry Mansion Health Center number 12, has been a huge help
to us, helping us to navigate and stay compliant with ensuring that the kids are receiving
within the first 30 days of being placed with us, their physicals, their shots are being updated,
any forms that they need. Also with management, I mentioned the Junior Barber Academy. We have
Black Men Hill. We have therapy sessions through them. Each of the young men come with their own
Each of the young men come with their own respective therapists based off of where they're
respective therapists based off of where they're placed.
placed.
And then we also have group therapy by a licensed counselor that comes in on Sundays.
And then we have yoga, in-house yoga on Mondays as well.
We have the YMCA team leadership program.
My young men participate two Saturdays out of the month in the Philadelphia Police Explorers
program with the 35th District.
I mentioned the food chair program.
And then we have our sister partner catered to you, Youth Haven, where they house females, where that's where they're receiving some of the financial literacy, the tutoring and some of the grooming stuff.
So these are just some of the partners that we partner with to keep these young men busy.
The key to our program is just just for a point of information, what we're here for today is the use of the property.
So I think you need to start showing the property, what it's like inside and things like that and how you intend.
Sure. Absolutely. So that's just the overall program. So all of this is what's happening inside of the house.
Yep. I have a video, so I'll I'll retrieve the video. Let me stop sharing this and then I will share the video of the home.
Can you guys see this? What we did and it just went off. It's black right now.
You might want to talk like as it goes through how many bedrooms do you have? Where are the rooms where they would all join together?
things like that. Yeah. So this video is a full walkthrough of the property. So it'll actually
show the rooms as well. There's three bedrooms in this property. Actually, I'm going to mute this.
I don't know how to mute the video, but we have the capacity. That's the office space downstairs.
There's three bedrooms upstairs. One could be used as a single room, and then the other two
can be used as double beds. So right now in this stage, as this is now bedroom number one. So this
is a one-bed room because we moved the office down to the basement that we saw.
Compliance requires that each single room
needs to be 70 square feet, so that passes that. This is the second bed room.
That's about 175, 190 square feet where two young
men can be housed in that particular room.
this is the bathroom
how many bathrooms it's two full bathrooms in the house but this is the bathroom that's used
specifically for the young men that door is permanently locked so it's not a entrance or
exit and then this is the front bedroom here that houses two young men each have their own closets
somebody with them 24 hours a day
mr smith somebody's there 24 hours a day yes we have 24 hours staffing the young men are never in
the community without us. Otherwise, they're at a structured event and activity. They don't get
free reign to walk to the stores or none of that. They're literally under supervision 24-7.
You move the staff office down to the basement? Is that what you're saying?
Yes. Yeah.
All right. Anything else you want to add?
That's pretty much where we are. We currently have the capacity for
three. We're currently licensed for three. We have the capacity to serve up to five young men
in the home. So what we're asking of the board is for the board to allow us
the permission to expand our reach and expand the work that we're doing.
One of the last things in terms of the impact of the work that we're having on the young men,
I have a young man who actually just tried to bring me something now. We're a huge advocate
for these young men. They've been overlooked. I have a young man in my care who's 16 years of age
who came to me not being able to read at all. At all. He's currently reading on a third grade
reading level, and he's been with me since June 1st. So we do an intensive work with these young
men because we're able to literally change their lives by fostering their success. And that's what
the whole heart is behind the work that we're doing uh as i stated on our co call they can
As I stated on RCO call, they can contact the police. The police have never been called to the home. There was a question during that first meeting about if it would tear down the property value. The home, in question, has appraised two years ago for over $300,000. So, if anything, my beautiful home that I've trusted and lent to the group home to do this meaningful work.
contact the police the police have
Are you supported by the neighbors on either side?
Absolutely, I am.
All right. Questions from the board.
You said you currently have three of kids there now.
Yeah, we call them scholars. Yes.
OK, three. OK. And the goal is to have five.
Yes, sir. You said that's what the state will allow.
That's the. In that space, the house only have capacity for five.
Okay, for five.
The state allows us to operate with three without change in zone, and more than three, we have to come and go through this process.
But because we have the capacity for five, I'm looking for five.
We probably will only do four in that space, but things are subject to change.
You never know.
So I would much rather be in a position to offer this service and resource to more young people than less.
Right.
Right. So, but the state said that the building as it stands right now and as configured can only have five.
Well, can only have three. Otherwise, I go through this rezoning process.
No, no, no. Regardless of the zoning process.
Oh, yes.
State requirements, the max is five.
Yes. Based off of the square footage requirement of the rooms, we can only do five in this space. Yes, sir.
Right.
Okay. And so you have staff there, 24 hours, and how many staff persons?
So the ratio is, the ratio, state required ratio is eight to one. We have a three to one,
but one of my young people actually has a one-to-one, a lot of resource for him. So we
technically have myself and then another staff member. Two of my four, all of my staff members,
surprisingly, are degreed individuals. God sent them my way because I'm not paying them
what they're actually worth at this point um that's another reason why we're looking to add
more so that we can actually pay these master level special ed educators like what they're
they're actually worth but they're doing the work um because they know me personally they know my
passion and my heart behind the work um so people have been been taking a pay cut to do this
meaningful work oh so at all times there are at least two staff people there at all times there's
at least one staff person okay all right yeah thank you yep thank you um is there any outdoor
space in the building yeah it was so we have we have the the driveway in the back and then we have
the a patio in the front and then lawn space but their schedules are so packed they're and again
they're never like on their own without us so to to we're literally leaving the house and like
coming and going more so than kind of meeting and gathering. You did see a picture. We have
emotional support animals in the house. One of my young men who's the barber, we're working on
an internship with him now with a local dog groomer because he's taking a liking to animals
and he wants to cut. So it kind of works. So he'll walk the dogs in the neighborhood with one of the
staff members, typically as myself, or he'll sit on the steps with the neighbor's cats and their
dogs and all that stuff because we're not going to have all those pets in the house. So but other
than that they literally are coming to go and so two are in school now uh one i'm i'm fighting with
the district to to get them re-evaluated and and for the school to deem that they can't oh the
one of this comes in on the steps they can sit on the steps that's what yeah they can sit on set
yeah and then the other question is the the neighbors that are immediately adjacent to you
on both sides are they as since you've been operating have they had any complaints or do
have their support? I have everyone's support on the entire block. But to your question,
the immediate neighbors, yes, I have their support as well. I sent both their sons to school.
One has a certificate as a graduate from the Europe program and the other one now is my
plumber because he went to plumbing school. What's the age distribution between the youth?
Yeah, so the youth in care now are 14 to 16.
So I normally keep it within a two-year age bracket.
So the first kid that came on board, who's actually on the spectrum,
is doing extremely well at his micro school, was 14.
So I went 14 to 16.
If the first kid would have been 15, I could have gone 14.
14 to 16 is a good age bracket.
But I won't do a 13 and 18.
I got you.
I think I understand.
Is that something you can control, or is that something controlled by the state?
I can control. So the way that the admissions, yep, the way admissions work, they'll send me like a blurb of a kid and then based off who I already have and our capacity to meet their respective needs, then I'll say yes or no.
I can control. So the way that the admissions, yep, the way admissions work, they'll send.
We stay away from kids who have schizophrenia or bipolar, who's been fire starters, those who have experienced sexual deviant behaviors.
The way that my program is uniquely designed is really for young people who have potential, who just haven't had the right setting and support.
So we're very selective about who we admit into our program because we're well resourced and we're going to dump a lot into them.
The one young kid who they slid in because they didn't tell me that he was a functional illiterate because he interviewed.
Well, we interview our kids. We required him to write an essay as well.
Somebody clearly wrote his essay for him because when I got him and realized that he couldn't read or write, we had to shift gears with him.
But I think I understand. How many employees do you have on site at any given time?
At any given time, it's always definitely going to be one because we're required by the state to have 24-7 supervision of the young people, even during the overnight.
Typically, I work the 7 to 3, and then from 3 to 11, we always have two staff members.
So 3 to 11, there's definitely going to be two staff members.
Lights out is at 9 o'clock.
And then I guess my question, because it sounds like there's a lot of supervision, a lot of wraparound support services that you and your staff are providing.
So as you increase from three to five, how is that going to function, given like, I mean, I've watched all five of my nephews and my nieces before, and it's a group project.
Yeah, it really is. It takes a village.
So what's your plan when you have more youth, if they're going to different schools and having different activities and different wraparound support programs, how is that management going to happen?
That is actually a great question, because when I initially started this, I didn't plan for everybody not to want to play, to do the same thing.
So we ended up having to staff up during those critical hours, which is that 3 to 11.
Two, I have been initially, so when the kids come into care or when the scholars come into care, there's a bid meeting that happens with the school district, and they're automatically defaulted to the neighborhood school, which was Martin Luther King.
I knew for high school, right? Yep. So King couldn't accommodate them. So that just drew
everything in a tizzy. I was able to find a school location for two of the kids. And now I'm still
waiting for this last transition piece for my third kid who's actually going to go to the same
micro school because these young men have been displaced for so many years and their academics
is just shout out they benefit most from small academic settings so the micro school model um
with and i'm not trying to cut you off it's just it's a lot of information that has more to do than
the zoning i think i'm just okay no thank you thank you for redirecting me i'm fine with that
specifically wondering about like from a management standpoint it sounds like you've
gotten this system pretty set with three adding two more people is like that's a that's a change
And so I just want to know, what is your management plan for five?
The management plan will be to staff up during the critical hours.
So I literally live five minutes from the group home.
So I'm pretty much an on-call.
My program manager is on-call and we actually added a social worker.
So those that are physically in the house are the direct care workers.
But in terms of the overall staff and models, you have a program director, a program manager,
and a social worker as well.
And we all kind of ebb and flow in there.
but we'll staff up we do have the financial capacity to staff up and then my own my last
question is like for neighbors so i just know from working in housing services that groups of
men are something that often cause concern to neighbors so and it sounds like the rco was not
in support what is your plan to try to manage the process of having the operations and any issues
that might arise with neighbors do you have like a provision in place for when things come up that
the neighbors want to address? That's interesting because I've been in the house for about 14 years
and I fostered young men in this house for years. I fostered six. Sometimes I had seven or eight
young men. I mean, they would pile them in. I wasn't held to the same standards as I am being
held now because I bear the license, the organization board of license. I was just a
resource parent so i've actually fostered young men that came from everywhere that i didn't pick
um i didn't handpick based off of our capacity and we never had any challenges and i had the
support of the actual neighbors again it was the same run of show my young men say that i just want
to know what's the plan like what's the plan for when the neighbors have issues like do you have a
for when the neighbors have issues? Like, do you have a, are you giving up your number? Is there
Are you going to get through now?
a meeting? Like, what is the process for people in the immediate neighborhood if there's any issues
to kind of have them addressed? Yeah, so if there's, we can definitely call for a meeting.
I mean, the challenge is I've never had any of these issues with the neighbors, and I've been
doing this work since May, specifically this work in a residential model, but even as I've fostered.
I have open communication. I'm one of the young energies on the block that is always taking care
of the neighbors and the block. And I have had a well-kept home. You guys saw the picture on
the front of the house since I've been there. So I haven't been an issue. My young men haven't been
an issue. I do provide monthly reports of all of the things that's happening with the young men
in my care to their county. So if anyone would like to see a monthly report and see what we
have going on, by all means, I can share that information. I'll just take the young men's names
off of that actual document. But I'm an open book. I've gone door to door to the neighbors
prior to me actually doing this in a residential model, just kind of letting them know, hey,
you're going to receive a letter in the mail. This is what's coming down the pike. But again,
the work that I do and have done for so many years, the neighbors are well familiar with who I am.
And when they have grandkids, niece or nephew, and they want to go to school or get a job, they're ringing my phone, which they have my number, or knocking on the door, seeing if I can talk to them.
Any other questions?
Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Emerson.
um just one clarification so um so this is this is a group home where the um the scholars are
referred to you from um state or city government agencies
yeah from from counties so the current currently i have a young man from erie county franklin
county um and lancaster county okay all right thank you i just want to make sure i was i was
clear. And I'll bring that information back to LNI to make sure that the correct use is listed
on your refusal. Thank you. And these are young people in foster care. I know on one of the calls,
it was people, a lady, one of the neighbors were referencing them as like bad kids and kids that
were like in court and adjudicated. These are simply youth and foster care that I've served
in the same home, in the same capacity before. All right. Questions or comments from the virtual
audience. Chair, I have a hand up from Charles Richardson. I will promote him shortly. Sure.
I'm back. Good morning, Mr. Chair. Good morning, Mr. Richardson. Could you please state your name
is spelled for the stenographer certainly charles richardson r-i-c-h-a-r-d-s-o-n office of
councilwoman cindy bass room 508 city hall do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth i do please proceed sir uh dr smith you have a nice program uh thank you
it's good for the you know in the space that you're in and it applies to the code the city
code and you have three individuals in there now. We feel that it's excessive to go anywhere
above that, to be honest. And so, you know, we're going to vote to oppose the special
exception. You're kind of at capacity and you don't need to really go further ahead
of that, as indicated by some of the comments that the neighbors have had. And you've already
has said that yourself just now they've you know they're not they're not feeling feeling that as
as you might be feeling oh that's your passion but that's not necessarily their reality
at this point so we are going to oppose
mr richardson yes sir are you done i am done all right thank you for that we appreciate it
um is there anyone out and and mr smith i'll give you a chance to respond
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
I do not see any further answer, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Smith, could you respond very quickly to the comments from the council's office?
So one, I'm curious to know who are the weak, because I've had extensive conversations with my neighbors.
So I'm not certain. And going back to the letter, the summary of the RCO meeting, what was sent to me said five.
There was four people on that call, two of which was myself who can't vote and then Sharon Milbourne,
Two of which was myself, who can't vote, and then Sharon Milbourne, who's the RCO, who didn't vote.
And then the other two neighbors who sat through the presentation, gave favorable communication, and I had subsequent conversations.
So the numbers were off.
Mrs. Milbourne stated that everyone was in disagreement in how she recalled the actual conversation going.
I asked for her to go back and look at the Zoom conversation and see.
The other thing is I had a conversation with Cindy Bass.
So what Mr. Richardson is speaking and he's representing her office.
I'm curious to know when did that come about?
Because I got a letter of support from her colleague who lives around the corner within walk at distance, State Representative Andre Carroll.
So he literally lives in the neighborhood.
Cindy doesn't live in the neighborhood, so I'm confused as to where this is coming up.
But then she covers that councilmatic district.
Absolutely, but she's not in, and I had a conversation with her and a member, someone from her office about it.
I don't, like I said before, I've served six foster care youth in this home with just me.
We've heard that.
I have staff members, but I have staff members, I have staffing to substantiate.
Mr. Smith, Mr. Smith, we understand.
we understand yeah i just i just board board member bergman i just would like clarity from
mr richardson i'd like him to support his statement i don't know if that's we're not
supporting his statement he's he okay you uh planning commission excuse me mr chair i'm sorry
to interrupt but i have a hand up in the audience now that uh that's the name craig smith i'll allow
them to speak who is it someone using their name craig smith i don't know if it's uh probably not
the correct one but i'll let them speak oh no that that was me that raised my hand yeah yeah
he's craig smith all right planning commission
morning chair members of the board michael gall with the philadelphia city planning commission
m-i-c-h-a-e-l-g-a-l-l do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth not to but the
truth i so affirm please proceed the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the rsa 5 residential
single-family attached zoning at this location the city rezoned this neighborhood in 2019 in
accordance with recommendations in the district district and comprehensive plans the appellant
has demonstrated that the proposed personal care home use will have no detrimental impact
to the neighborhood beyond what might be reasonably expected therefore the city planning commission
recommends that the board grant the proposed special exception for personal care home use.
Hillary, what do we want to do for a date for this?
Let's not set a date.
We'll close the record except for receipt of an amended refusal, if that's appropriate,
which I believe it will be.
I just had one other note for Mr. Smith.
The initial presentation that you gave about your organization, Mr. Smith, we didn't receive
that. So if you could please upload a copy of that by close of business tomorrow for her to be
included in the record, that would be greatly appreciated. All right. So Mr. Smith, we'll be
in touch with you with the vote that would take place. Am I correct, Hillary? Yes. Okay. Thank
you, Mr. Smith. What was the name of the organization? I tried to write it. I couldn't
remember. What was the name of the organization? Fostering Success, Boys to Men. Okay. You can find
Find us online at fostering success, the letter B, the number two, the letter M dot O-R-G is our website.
OK, thank you.
All right.
That's it.
That's it, sir.
All right.
Thank you, guys.
Have a blessed rest of the day.
So, MI 2024, 006-880-2954 North Fairhill Street.
Richard Rivera Roman is the applicant pro se.
there's a letter of support from apm the rco the vote was four in support
three in opposition applicant also gave us a petition with 13 signatures
hello hi sir could you please um um i think i already swore you in
earlier could you please turn on your video yes i can i can do so
all right mr so mr rivero this application is for use as a two-family household living
in the existing two-story attached building whereas the proposed use two-family household
living is prohibited in the rsa5 zoning district our vice chair tenetta graham has a few questions
zoning district our vice chair tenetta graham has a few questions for you good morning um have you
for you.
emailed all your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing yes yes that's correct
okay and the chair read the refusal do you stipulate to his accuracy yes okay thank you
you can proceed with your case to share your screen can everyone see my screen it should be
be coming up now and everyone's my screen here uh we did we're not seeing it yet maybe you have
to double-click to enter the full screen.
It froze on me.
No, nothing's there yet.
Yeah, the application seems to be frozen on my end,
but I can hear you guys just fine.
So why don't we do this?
We have several cases.
We'll come back to you in 15 minutes,
see if you can get it straight, okay?
All right, thank you.
Number 15.
Okay, so MI-2025-004-120-1825 Butler Street.
Justin Shaw is the owner applicant.
Hillary, this is the one we want to hold.
This is the one, Mr. Chair, actually, we need to first address the request for continuance from the RCO.
And then if we decide to hear it, we do have the option of holding for additional feedback from the RCO.
Thank you.
Why don't we do that just to get it through?
Mr. Shaw?
Mr. Justin Taw, if you are available in the virtual audience, please raise your hand and wait to be sworn in.
you should be back in as a animal
justin shaw uh j-u-s oh go on please please justin shaw j-u-s-t-i-n s-h-a-w
All right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
All right. So, Mr. Shaw, this application is for use as a two-family household living, no change or height of the existing attack structure, whereas the two-family household living is prohibited in the RSA 5 zoning district.
um we understand that the um that the rco has more questions what we're going to do is hear
your case and then we'll hold it for more feedback from the rco okay thank you all right and our
our vice chair um tenetta graham has a few questions good morning good morning have you
submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing yes ma'am i have there
There were there was one document, the property plan that I submitted later because I just got it.
But I submitted it about four days ago. OK, thank you. And the chair just read the refusal.
So do you stipulate to this accuracy? Yes. OK, thank you.
You share your screen and proceed with your case. First, I want to say good morning to chairman and the members of the board and congratulations,
Madam Secretary and Madam Vice Chair on your appointments and go Burt's. I am requesting
a zoning variance for two family units and an RSA 5 single family district just to give some
some history about the property. It was built in 1936 as a store and dwelling. I actually grew up
on Gratt Street where the property is and when I was a kid the property was abandoned and it had
fallen into disrepair. My grandfather actually purchased the building in the early 1980s
and renovated the property. And he and my grandmother lived in the bottom floor unit
and he rented the top floor unit out. We lived next to them at 3810 Northgrass Street.
My grandparents passed away between 2018 and 2019, and they willed the building to my mother
and my uncle. I purchased the building from them in October, 2022.
and my uncle. I purchased the building from them in October, 2022. Shortly after purchasing the
property, I discovered that the building was not zoned correctly. And I started, you know what,
you know what you may want to do? Why don't you put your documents up? Absolutely. Right. And that
way, when you start talking, I mean, we, we know all your documents are up to date. Okay. As you
talk, you might want to be able to show the property too. Absolutely. Okay. Let me see. Share.
So, hold on one second.
yeah so uh as i was saying the um shortly after i purchased the property i discovered that
the building wasn't zoned correctly and i started the process um it's been a learning process but
i'm happy to be here right now at this process at this part of the process currently um there are
two um tenants living living in the building this is the property plan from 1936 here on the screen
okay you you might want to like make your screen that we can see it it's kind of hard to see that
okay hold on one second
is that better
it didn't change
we're seeing your finder with the preview
and not the document itself
oh okay
finder
does that work
not really still not so mr shaw this is ian hegarty executive director i can see your screen
you're doing a great job so far i just wanted to say i think when you shared you shared just um
the uh the finder window from from your computer as okay the the window that has the actual
document so what you want to do is stop stop your share at the top of the screen okay open up now
open up the documents you want to show i think there are pdfs and then go ahead and share and
when you share this time make sure you pick uh acrobat to to show the board okay hold on let's
uh okay let's see
let me try this again
does that is that did that do it yes that did thank you so much if there's any way you can
zoom in a little bit that would be helpful but that that looks great thank you
is that better
let me see if i can make this
all right um so this is the property plan uh from 1936
that i had to track down at the surveyor's office
um currently there are two tenants in the building uh the time shows do you have pictures of the
building yes absolutely why don't you show why don't you start showing the pictures of the building
so this is the first floor unit we're not seeing anything sir
okay hold on a second let me go back to
Let me stop sharing again, and I'm going to bring it up, bring it back.
Let's see.
no sir you you're gonna okay uh mr rivera would you please
why don't you go out and come back we'll call you back okay
mr rivera
okay we'll call you back yep thank you sir yes so that's fine
Okay, we'll call you back.
Yep, thank you, sir.
Yes, that's fine.
Thank you for your patience.
Is that your property?
That's the property.
Can you see that?
We see that.
All right. This is a corner property. So one half of the property is on Gratt Street, and this is the Gratt Street side of the property.
Right, right.
And this is the Butler Street side of the property. So there's an entrance on Butler Street. That's the door to the entrance on Butler Street.
Is that for the first floor, right?
This is for the first floor, correct.
And the Grad Street side, you can see there's a door in the middle of the building there, here, where my cursor is.
And that takes you up second floor.
That takes you to the second floor.
All right.
So why don't you now show us some interior showed up shots?
All right.
And so we have, this is the first floor bathroom.
the first floor
bedroom
how many bedrooms on the first floor
there's one bedroom on the first floor
one bedroom on the second
no two bedrooms on the second floor
keep going
and then we have
the first floor
kitchen
and that's another angle of the kitchen
and the first floor
living room
and this is another angle of the living room
um and then do you have a drawing do you have a drawing of the first and second floor
yes yes i do show us the drawing it might be easier absolutely absolutely
this is a four plan of the the first floor so why don't you tell us what that is so this is
the bathroom here and this is the back door right and then this is the kitchen
and this is the uh this this right here is the the stairs to the basement okay uh and this is
the bedroom here and then this is the living room and this is the front door to butler street
so you you come in from butler street into the living room yes you come in from butler street
into the living room correct could you show me the second floor yes
second floor floor plan so these are the steps that take you up to the apartment
uh that's on that side door yes that's that side door right um and then uh
this is a this is the uh the front room uh this is um the bathroom
uh this is the the bedroom one and bedroom two and this is the living room here
okay and and how long has your family used this as a duplex
uh my grandfather purchased it in the early 80s right um and then uh and he actually has
the renter upstairs is is has been there for over 30 years right she she actually was is the daughter
of the initial renter who lived there her mother uh got sick and she moved in with her mom and
then she took over the lease after that uh and i'll show you some pictures of the of her place
this is her living room second floor yes this is the second floor living room this is the kitchen
uh this is bedroom number one and this is her bedroom number two
and see these are the these are the steps that go up to her uh apartment and then i wanted to
show you the basement there are steps here that go down to the basement there's a small uh storage
um uh closet that i remember my grandfather building when i was a kid i helped him build it
um and let's show some pictures of the basement this is the basement there's no basement living
am i correct no no there's no basement living no no there's just there's there's a storage
shed in the basement um that's another angle of the basement and then let's see that's the storage
And then, let's see, that's the storage shed right there.
Okay, yep.
And that's the interior of the shed.
And then the other documents that I would...
We have all your documents.
All right, questions from the board.
So the only access to the basement, got two accesses to the basement.
One is from outside and then one was from the first floor unit?
Correct.
Other questions?
Questions from, oh, go ahead.
Did you, did your grandparents or whoever, did they ever get rental licenses for these units?
I don't believe so.
That was something that I discovered when I purchased the building is what started me on this journey.
um so when i purchased the building i this all became news to me it was like an avalanche to
know that the paperwork wasn't up to date on the building and so i've been start i started the
process and that's what i'm in the process of doing right now all right thank you question
tomorrow attorney hillary emerson i don't have any questions mr chair um if the board wants to
hold this for two or three weeks um to allow for further conversation between the applicant and the
rco and for the rco to submit a letter that's right right and any response from the applicant
so we're going to hold this for well we've got a couple other things to do first questions or
comments from the virtual audience i see no hands at this time chair planning commission
good morning chair members of the board michael gall with the philadelphia city planning commission
the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the rsa 5 residential single family attached
zoning at this location the city rezoned this neighborhood in 2021 in accordance with
recommendations of the comprehensive plan in 2004 the city did issue a rental permit for two
dwelling units therefore the city planning commission recommends that the board grant
the proposed use variance for two-family residential use okay so mr shaw we're not
going to vote today we're going to allow you to have more conversation with the rco and we're
looking to two weeks hillary um yes we can schedule this for a vote um wednesday october 22nd at 9 30
a.m and the record will be closed except for a letter from the rco and any um response from
the applicant so we're looking for a letter from the rco um but we will vote on october 22nd at
9 30 a.m and um it's it's closed other than if uh we think that you need to respond to the letter
okay okay just just for clarification i just said just just for clarification is the vote is going
to be on october 24th at 9 30 a.m no 22 22 thank you all right and thank you for your presentation
thank you go birds right okay all right
he skipped over the phillies i mean all right let's let's go back to uh
well what was it yeah mr rivera number eight
mr rivera
coming back in as a panelist now chair thank you
hello again hi mr river how do you make out yeah to move to a different device
this one seems to be a bit
better
apologies bar earlier I did not
why don't you start
to happen
so yes
my property
2954 number
Fur Hill was
previously
why don't you put your documents up as you're talking
absolutely no problem
anybody on the board can confirm if they see so so we have we have your um
we have all your documents what what i would recommend you do is show photos and drawings of
the property okay why don't you turn that around a little bit i will go ahead and
okay why don't you turn that around a little bit i will go ahead and present that
um well i can show you the drawings of the
there we go it's just loading in my usb
um i hear it connecting sorry
i can i have the drawings right next to me i think that would be better because my oh there
we go my usb is here all right we have your document so right yeah all right so let's see
your drawings or the photos well i don't remember exactly which pdf i have it but i do have it with
me at the moment okay well um right well you know you you got to have the documents on the screen
right i mean you can't okay do that right i'm just looking for them i know that i have them here so
do me do me a favor i'm gonna go on i'll be back to you in a half hour okay find all your documents
and be ready to go okay thank you sir all right
number three mi 2023 005 621 254 south 54th street joseph uh console is the attorney
I have a hand up
for my
I don't know if they're related to the case
you just thought but I would love
Mr. Consul right
yeah Mr. Consul is in the audience
I'll promote them shortly
as the console if you are still in the virtual audience please raise your hand so you can be
promoted
do we see
Mr. Consul
I see him
in the virtual audience but he hasn't
raised his hand for whatever reason
okay thank you i thought i heard him i'm i'm here my button wasn't working
all right there you go all right mr console um could you please state your name and spell for
the stenographer yeah joseph console it's j-o-s-e-p-h last name c-o-n-s-o-l-e do you
swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do but you identify
your client a relationship to this property? Yeah, Nicole Ramirez
and she is one of the two owners of the LLC that owns the property.
Our Vice Chair, Tenetta Graham, has a few
questions for you. Good morning. Have you submitted your
documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing? Hold on. This is
254 South 54th Street? Yes.
I apologize. I was told another attorney was going to enter
their appearance on that is there anyone else in the audience for that okay oh uh mr zenjin
had his hand raised as well so it could be okay okay all right thank you melt them right now
i'll see you in a minute i'm hoping
good morning good morning council um you do you're doing 254 south 54th yes i was uh just
please state your name and spell for the 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.
All right. Do you swear we're firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
All right, do you swear we're firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing?
Yes, I do.
Counsel, could you identify your client?
Yes. PS Investments LLC is the owner of the property. I believe the one, the representative
of the company is here with us. His name is Mr. Schall Starter and should be in the audience.
Sure. All right. Our vice chair, Teneda Graham, has a few questions for you.
Good morning. Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
So my client should have submitted it five days in advance. I would just retain recently for the purpose of the hearing.
Okay. Thank you. And do you stipulate to the reading of refusal and waive the accuracy of, I'm sorry, do you stipulate to the reading of refusal?
Okay, thank you.
Thank you.
As a preliminary matter, Chair and members of the Board, I believe the submission made by the client does not contain plans.
I don't know what the Board's feeling is on that.
This is a legalization of an existing three-family dwelling.
We can either present and then supplement the plans or if the Board would like a continuance.
I'm open to either option.
Why don't we move? Why don't we just keep moving?
Thank you, Chair. Good morning. I'm going to try to share with the board the documents I have previously received from my client that should be submitted to the board. Can the board see my screen on theirs? Thank you. Good morning.
We have we have all that. Thank you. So good morning. This is a refusal issued against 254 South 54th Street. This is a RSA five zone district, and there is an existing multifamily three unit structure there. And so the proposal is for that use.
As the community indicated in their letter of support, my client did meet with the community, and the community is aware that this used to be an REM1 zoned district.
In fact, the district was changed, I believe, in 2019 to the RSA 5. The property lost its prior use primarily because it was vacant for some time before my client purchased it.
At the time of purchase, the property was already a three-family dwelling.
My client did interior renovations and updating.
However, he was later notified that it is, in fact, now zoned single family.
And so he sought to have this existing condition legalized.
The community have no opposition, partly because the neighbors have no opposition, and they
are aware that this used to be a triplex.
As you can see, this property is a corner property off of 54th Street and near between Spruce and Locust.
The other corner right across the street from this property and across 54th Street, there are three corner properties.
They're all triplexes, although there is a fourth one that the record does not show as a multifamily.
The building, the property building itself is here in the photos.
You can see that the poster was done here.
The history of the property is not in the system.
So we do not know what exactly was in the permit system in the past.
However, the neighboring properties are a mix of single family, duplexes, and multifamily, as this area was at one point, RM1.
As you can see from the photos, everything is already completed in the property from before.
My client actually purchased it as an investment and was under the impression that it was actually a legal triplex and ultimately found out that it's not.
to convert this back, given the way it's structured, would be an expensive process and
quite honestly would be converting back what was at one time a pre-existing condition of the
property. So that is primarily the hardship my client faces in converting this back to a use of
RSA 5, and also the community is aware that this was, in fact, at one point, a triplex.
Although majority of the property is now new, it is set up as a unit on each floor. The basement
will be used for utilities. As you can see here, the water heaters and utilities are in the
basement. Each floor has its own individual HVAC that was added. And each unit has,
the first and second floor has two bedrooms, one bath, and the third floor has
The first and second floor has two bedrooms, one bath, and the third floor has three bedroom, one bath as the structure.
Again, I do not have plans here to show the board, but we can supplement the floor plans, which will clearly show the board how it's laid out.
The basement, incidentally, is a walkout basement, although there's no plan to use it for any living space.
Furthermore, because it's a corner property, the rear yard is accessible by all units for trash storage,
and the plan is to keep an enclosed rear yard with the trash cans in the yard for trash purposes.
And that is my presentation relating to this matter.
I'm happy to try to answer any questions, and I believe my client should be here to verify my testimony.
Why don't you bring your client on to adopt your testimony?
Mr. Sardar, can you raise your hand virtually to be identified?
Mr. Hsiao?
Yes, sir.
Yeah, great.
Sir, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Yeah, my name is S-H-O-W-E-L.
And last name is Sardar.
It's like Sam, A-R-D-E-R.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed, counsel.
Thank you.
Mr. Sardar, did you hear my representations to the zoning board and see my presentation on your screen?
It's true, yes.
Okay, so that was my next question.
Can you verify everything I've represented is true and correct and adopted as your own testimony?
yes true thank you all right so uh council i'm going to open this up to the board but
you know keep in mind we do not have the plans and what we'll do is hold the vote at the end of this
for the plans and uh of course okay so questions from the board of what we have seen so far um
So, yeah, well, you said that there was one two-bedroom unit on the first floor, right?
Two-bedroom, one-bath, and then...
Two-bedroom, one-bath, two-bedroom, one-bath, yes.
Okay, that's the first floor?
First and second floor are each its own unit.
Oh, first and second floor.
And then it was the third floor that you said had the three bedrooms, and I didn't hear how many baths.
Three-bedroom, two-baths, because I believe there's a master bath in one of the bedrooms.
You said the third floor has three.
I mean, wasn't the third floor very small?
The third floor, I'm looking at the image.
The photos?
Yeah, the third floor is smaller than the rest of the floors.
Mr. Sardar, can you confirm if the third floor is the one with the three bedrooms?
No, third floor, there is no third floor.
There are two bedrooms on the third floor.
And second level is the one floor, one bedroom.
So second and third is the one unit.
So second and third floor is one unit?
And first floor and level base.
First floor is one unit.
That's a duplex.
Is this two units?
Triple.
Triple.
So, where's the third unit?
Third unit, the second one is the third unit.
And this is called the third.
One is the base, the level base, and first floor and second floor.
Okay, I think I'm a little confused now.
I was told that the, so I was instructed that the first floor was one unit.
Is that correct?
Yes, sir.
Second floor is a second unit?
Second unit.
And the third floor and part of the second floor is the third unit?
No, it's the level base.
Basement?
Yes, sir.
So the basement has living space?
okay i was not told that um so i i think i think so we need the plans yeah i'm sorry for the confusion
we need a resumptive
hold on mr sardin it's okay all right we're gonna all right zen we're gonna go with a
resumptive hearing on this okay i don't have do i have i don't have resumptive dates why don't we
we'll take
we're going to have a resumptive hearing
March 11th, 2026.
I don't have dates for resumptive hearings.
Why don't we why don't we get back to you with the date?
Why don't we
get back to you with the date?
That's fine. Thank you. All right. All right. Thank you.
That's fine. Thank you.
All right.
Number five, MI 2024 004 773 4926 North 12th Street.
Darlene Treat is the attorney recommendation of a unanimous support from Logan Civic Association.
Ten votes, including two near neighbors.
here darling three will be rejoining as a panel shortly
good morning commissioners darling council
please state your name and spell for the stenographer darlene threat d-a-r-l-e-n-e
threat t as in thomas h-r-e-a-t-t do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth yes i do do you identify a client a relationship to the property
My client is Ms. Annie Garcia. I believe she's in the virtual audience.
And our vice chair, Tenetta Graham, has a few questions.
Good morning. Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes. Good morning, Ms. Graham, and congratulations.
Thank you. And do you wave the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, I do.
Okay. Thank you. You can share your screen and proceed with your case.
I just wanted to say one thing. My syllabus was incorrect and I just uploaded a new syllabus today.
can you see my screen um we do now good afternoon commissioners uh miss annie garcia filed this
application for a two-family dwelling i presented a package of documentation which contains the
refusal appeal property information form the pif the d tax information plans pictures the
community letter proof of mailing and the letter of support there is the package
i'm wondering if you can go to your plans and your photos because we do have all your
documents yeah i'm trying to i'm just going to reshare um the correct presentation did not come
I don't know.
Thank you.
Yes, please.
Okay, sure.
Number 10, MI 2024, 007315, 546 North 58th Street.
Gabriel Fellas is the attorney.
There's a letter of opposition from HMC Squared.
12 in opposition.
11 abstain.
one in support and we were joining as a panel shortly right good morning mr chair
could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer his gabriel fellis g-a-b
Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
My name is Gabriel Fellis, G-A-B-R-I-E-L.
Last name is Fellis, F as in Frank, E-L-L-U-S.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client, the relationship to this property?
My client is L&S Home Away From Home LLC.
Its principal is Mrs. Lakata Pedro, who is joining us virtually today.
Our vice chair, Tanetta Graham, has a few questions.
Good morning.
have you emailed your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, I have. And so this is a referral. So do you stipulate to its reading and its accuracy?
I do. Thank you. You can see what's your case. Share your screen.
Can you all see the table of contents? Yes. Great. So we're here today seeking
approval to use the property at 546 north 58th street as a personal home care health facility
property zoned rsa5 which requires special exception approval the property owner is an
llc owned by mrs pedro and her business partner mrs shonda whiting together they've operated lns
home away from home since 2017. lns is an established in-home health care service provider
where aides provide care directly in the client's homes and residences.
So now they're hoping to expand their services by establishing a small
licensed personal care home at this location. It's going to be called Florising Oasis.
I'll provide some background on the owners and their qualifications later on in the presentation.
This is the subject property here. 546 North 58th Street is a newly renovated
four-bedroom, two-story property with a finished basement and a small fenced-in backyard area.
This is the first floor. All four bedrooms are on the second floor. The owners already have planned
to install another handrail and potentially an electric stair lift to ensure accessibility to
their residents should their permit be granted. While none of the anticipated residents currently
require those accommodations they would be installed upon approval and before operations
actually began let's go through this is the second floor hallway and the four bedrooms
this is the bathroom on the top floor
and the finished basement with another powder room and this is the backyard area
So, again, this is the front of the property and here we have some aerial views and street
views from 58th Street.
Start a zoning map showing the property on a mainly residential block.
And here we have our floor plans of the property, again, the property has four bedrooms, one
full bathroom third floor and a powder room down in the basement
so here we provide some general information on Flourishing Oasis
and on the owners of the business like i mentioned previously
Flourishing Oasis will offer residents 24 7 personal health care services
uh supported by a team of four to six health care professionals on site
all for the business owners are Philadelphia natives with extensive home
health care experience. Again, Mrs. Pedro and Ms. Shonda Whiting have already operated L&S
since 2017. Before even beginning the zoning process, Mrs. Pedro and her partners met with
the community members who expressed that the limited availability and the years-long wait
lists at the larger personal care homes in the area have left some serious gaps in those local
services. Several of those homes and their current wait times are listed here for references. Again,
This is over two years of waiting for these homes.
This is a certificate of completion
for a personal care home administrator.
This was obtained by Mrs. Ikea Holley.
She's one of the four owners.
This is one of the first steps required by a Commonwealth
to begin operating a personal care home.
here we have a short bio for mrs pedro as well as for mrs whiting again they jointly owned and
operated lns home away from home since 2017 that business has expanded to employing over 70
employees and actively providing care for over 70 clients so a bit more background on lns and the
So a bit more background on L&S and the services that business offers to their clients.
services that
This is their Department of Health home care agency license shows that the owners have
already stayed licensed, experienced, and fully compliant with healthcare operations
from the state and the ones from the state.
So I'm going to turn now to our community outreach efforts.
So Mrs. Pedro and Mrs. Whitey met with the HMC Squared Community Association on February 27th.
The RCO did provide a letter of opposition to the project
and submitted a letter explaining their opposition. Now, while we certainly understand some of their
concerns um that the neighbors expressed uh we believe some of those some of these reasons are
are a bit misguided um for instance they note the residential nature of the community is at odds
with a personal care home uh in reality this is a small family style home uh the maximum of four
to six elderly residents at a time assisted by between four and six aids but most of the time
not all four aids will be on site at once there's gonna be a total of around eight people with
property at any one time there's no commercial activity no signage no public traffic and there
shouldn't be any disruption to the local community beyond what another family moving into the
property would potentially have on the block the residents are just going to be following
their daily routines and then the aids will just be providing assistance as needed just you know
sort of the the kind of use that the special exception should be designed to to accommodate
uh another issue that they note is a the strain on local resources um respectfully it's difficult
to understand how four additional residents could place any meaningful burden on local
infrastructure or emergency services ambulance and hospital services will continue to function
as they currently do it will be an extremely minimal impact we believe well within what the
community can absorb. The last argument they make here that
they believe there are more suitable locations in the
broader region for these personal care homes. But the
very purpose of this facility in this specific location is to
fill the existing gap in the community. As we noted before,
the waitlist at nearby facilities demonstrate that the
need exists here. And the owner specifically chose this
property to address that shortage. And then lastly, the
The use requires special exception from the Zoning Board under the Code of Personal Care Homes are permitted in RSA 5, provided they satisfy special exception standards listed in Section 1460311.
That section requires compliance with Title 55, Chapters 2600 of the Pennsylvania Code.
That just outlines state standards for governing the administration of personal care homes.
This letter and the reasons for the opposition don't make any claims that the applicant cannot or will not meet those standards.
In fact, Ms. Pager and her partners have already completed the first required state certification step,
and they have a proven track record of compliance with state regulations with L&S.
They've grown L&S responsibly since 2017.
So nothing in this letter of opposition or in their discussions, frankly, at the meeting in February.
addressed any inability to complies to uh comply with state statute uh so in short none of the
objections raised in this letter address the actual legal standards relevant to the board's
decision here and on the merits we believe the proposed use is fully consistent with both the
zoning code and the spirit of the rsa5 district so here we have the deed showing that lns took
title to the property in May 2021.
So our application for appeal and project information form was
submitted on October 22, 2024.
These are the certificates of mailing for the RCO notification
letters sent out to advise neighbors of the february 27th meeting
and lastly this is our statement of real estate tax compliance and the zba posters um anticipation
of this meeting here today uh so let's go back one minute you said six residents of this property
it's gonna they're anticipating four to six but i think it's gonna be four because of the four
bedrooms but mrs paid miss pedro is on she can answer specifically what she's
great yes and mrs uh lakeda pedro should be in the virtual audience
do you want to raise your hand to give
Do you want to raise your hand to give a, to have them have, have you have on?
Do we see the hand?
Hand was raised.
I promoted them.
They should be back in shortly.
Thank you.
Hi, yes, Lakita.
Hi, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Yes, Lakita Pedro. L-A-K-E-Y-T-A-P-E-D-R-O.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, counsel.
Hi, Ms. Pedro. Can you describe your relationship to the owner of the property, L&S Home Away From Home?
Yes, I am one of the owners of the property.
Great. Have you heard my testimony today?
yes and was it true and correct to the best of your knowledge yes true and would you adopt it
as if we were your own yes i would great uh any questions from the board council money would you
check with her about the number of residents um miss pedro i know there are four bedrooms
were you anticipating on uh having four residents at one time in the property
um yeah so we did say four to six only because of the square footage at a home it could um service
up to six people with the front and back room being um the square footage that it is of a larger
for a shared room um but it will we are definitely looking to service for um but with the again with
the square footage it could go up to six okay questions from the board
yes oh go ahead mike i was just going to ask the rco what was the rc how did the meeting go
the community meeting yes the community meeting so um we did uh have a chance to speak with miss
barber which is the block captain um after the meeting so i think um the the meeting didn't go
as according but we were unaware that we should have met with the neighbors prior to
applying for the zoning um so i think it was just we had a little issue and it was a
a mixed understanding on what the property would actually be used for
um so after we did have a chance to go meet with the block captain miss barber
after and actually talk to her with the flyer, showing her what we will be doing with the property
and what it will not be. And she did say, you know, that she had a clearer understanding
afterhand. So I think when we had the meeting with us just not knowing and we did, you know,
apologize because we did move forward with the meeting and not meet and we did not
communicate with the neighbors prior. And I think that's where like just a mixed understanding
came because they just wasn't fully sure of the understanding of what we would use the property
for okay so so you've got four bedrooms one bathroom potentially two baths dogs where's
the other bathroom um the basement shows a full bath so it's a stand-up shower um a toilet and
the shower is next to the laundry is a toilet a sink in the stand-up shower with um garden
guardrails as well. So this is proposed
for elderly? It is
elderly, but some will be mobile. For the
majority, they will be elderly mobile that needs limited assistance with
ADLs. Okay. So one, you've got a lot of steps,
right? That's one issue that I have. Two,
I don't see any window wells, so having a living
space in the basement is problematic um and it seems like there's a lot of uh people that you're
proposing for for for this for this property for that care um those those are those are my
okay so um i'm gabriel did mention so we were just waiting for the approval to install a steer glide
which will take them the steps so they will not have to um walk the steps that is something we
already looked into with adding into the property we were just waiting for a final approval and
And again, we are open to suggestions.
again we are open to um suggestions of if four people
If four people is what we will be approved for,
that's fine too with it being a four-bearable.
And again, the stair glide will be installed.
So if we were to get approved, we made sure the spaces,
the stairway was open enough, wide enough,
that a stair glide can be installed.
So we already did the research and looked
into installing stair glides.
question are there steps to get into the property as well yes it is and we also um looked into that
on the side where the relin is a lift can also be installed if we had if we ever had to have someone
that was um was not as mobile but i believe it's about is it six steps maybe six steps to get into
the property. Okay. And then you're saying that there's four bedrooms and the one bathroom
upstairs? Yes. And is that a full bathroom? Yes, it is. Okay. And which also has been installed
with grab bars. It's been open wide. And so if someone had a transfer chair at the top of the
steps the the bathroom on the second floor that's the basement bathroom the second bathroom is the
wider one if you could go to that picture yeah see how we opened it up to make sure it was wide
enough so someone can move around in a transfer chair if they needed to and we do have grab bars
next to the toilet and also into the um in the tub which we will then install we can also install
a shower bench. But I guess, again, I can't speak for other board members, but I guess my concern
is about the whole accessibility issue. If you were, no matter how you figure it, if you were
like downstairs, I'm assuming there's a common area where maybe the residents can gather or
whatever no matter how you figure it you you've got to go up steps or down steps to get to um
a bathroom um and then you've got four four people who will be sharing the one bathroom
up on this uh we're talking six people oh four to six yeah i mean that's a lot of people to share
just the one bathroom and you know again there's the whole i i i guess i should have asked what
what kind of age people are we talking about and what kind of mobility issues they may have but
if you're talking of senior members who may have mobility issues the bathroom situation here is not
ideal even if you were to put in um a lift uh yeah a lift or the stairs the stair master kind
of thing you you need to have one that goes upstairs and you need to have one that goes
downstairs uh for those that might want to you know yes bathrooms i mean it's it's not an ideal
set up for the age um yes we were yes so the age would be starting at 65 which most are said 65 is
is pretty mobile um again with us having the experience of having the home care
services that we do provide most homes most of our clients are in home with stairs um the standard
two-story homes. And with the stair glides, as you mentioned, yes, we were aware that we will
need two sets of stair glides. But for one, the main one would be to go upstairs, of course,
to the bedrooms. And again, we are open to just maybe two housing for, because with it being a
four bedroom, if four people moved into the home with four bedrooms, it would be the usual of
sharing a restroom with four residents
living in a four-bedroom home.
Ms. Pitch, I want to ask you,
do you know roughly some of the potential tenants
or potential residents already?
And if so, do you know if any of them
have accessibility issues at this point?
So, no, all the ones that we have interviewed so far
are capable of walking up steps.
um none of them are in wheelchairs um but some may need assistance they may have um just issues
with needing assistance with some adls uh maybe just medication reminders or things like that
it's not really a mobile issue is there outdoor space um yes in the rear is there a yard yes
um yeah in the rear is there a yard yes
see on my screen yeah so so gabriel just to be sure the letter you showed was not from the rco
it was from the block yes correct so the rco sent you their report but that letter is just
people that live on the particular block yes i believe yeah if i misspoke i apologize about that
yeah so no rco letter no rco letter the rco yeah they did submit a letter of opposition
this letter
i will yeah i have one more question i mean i think it's more of a statement i think i want
to just sort of reiterate what i think other board members have said i think both
board member johns and board member gaston have both sort of outlined some of the concerns with
the number of bedrooms i think my question is it sounds like you all did some construction in this
home is that correct correct miss pedro it sounds like you've done like you've made some updating
right um and i think i do want to like reiterate the concern that it's a four bedroom house with
two bathrooms with one of the bathrooms being in the basement i know you sort of said that's what
it would be if there was a four-bedroom house and it was one family but I think there's like
two distinct differences there's like one when they're family they're a little more closer and
they're used to being in close quarters with each other I think for this to have both tenants that
don't necessarily know each other and employees operating in the same space like this is a lot of
people to be using a single bathroom but also there's not typically four-bedroom houses with
only two to you know one bathroom on the functional floor um and then i think you know there's a lot
of like i understand that the people you're interviewing right now might not have these
mobility issues but based on the clientele that you're sort of targeting there's no way to be sure
that that's not going to happen in the future um and i think the question i have is like based on
the number of bedrooms you have what would be like what could be the max tenants you could have based
on state regulations is it the four people or is it more because of the two larger bedrooms
it's more um so six is the max and in the space because of the square footage but again we're not
opposed to um just having the four if if you guys understand that but we're not allowed to
make that determination like that's a state regulation so we can't say that um and so i
I think that's my concern is that six people, that's a lot of people to be using sort of like one bathroom.
And even the bathroom in the basement isn't really set up for accessibility.
Stand-up showers and like that's a tight bathroom for people that have sort of mobility challenges.
And I think that's something that's still concerning from a density standpoint.
all right questions from our attorney hillary emerson not at this time mr chair questions
from the virtual audience or comments sure i have a hand up from a donita omer i've got them to speak
good morning
donita omer please unmute wait to be sworn in
good morning good morning could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
My name is Donita Omer, D-O-N-I-T-A, last name U-L-M-E-R.
You swear on a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Could you turn your video on?
Is that possible?
I'm just trying to figure out how to do it.
I see it on mute.
Where did the video go?
Let me promote them.
They'll be rejoining shortly.
Thank you very much.
there you go can you see can you see me now yeah i can i can are you a neighbor
yes i am i live at 534 north 58th street please proceed with your testimony okay i'm i'm on here
because the way that this situation, you know, transpired,
they still to this day have not met with me.
I'm a neighbor.
They still, I think, this is my personal feeling,
that they try to do this and push this through
because they just thought nobody was going to pay attention
to what was going on in the property.
And I'm quite sure my other neighbors on here,
I've had my hand up because I took off work
I've had my hand up because I took off work to come to this meeting to join this meeting
to come to this meeting, to join us.
virtual.
And I just don't like the fact that we already have issues with parking on this block.
And that's because, as you all know, these houses are for a bedroom.
And when I purchased this house, I purchased this house for it to be a residential property,
not for businesses.
like once people move whatever a business that come in to buy the property and turn into whatever
you know they wanted to turn into to make a profit off of the fact that it's a four bedroom house
and um and that's why i am opposed to it because we already have you know issues with parking and
different things on this block and they're saying that you know four to six people you know and
And like I said, I bought this property, I've been in this house for 30 years as a residential property, not for business.
All right, Ms. Holmer, thank you very much for taking the time to call us.
We appreciate it.
Is there anyone else with a hand up?
Yes, Josh Cohen, I will promote them.
Good morning, Chairman Bergman, members of the board.
I'm Josh Cohen on behalf of Council Member Jones.
Council Member Jones.
Hold on, hold on, hold on a minute.
Could you please spell your name for the stenographer?
Sure, it's Cohen, C-O-H-E-N.
And you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir.
Please proceed, sir.
Chairman Bergman and members of the board, Josh Cohen on behalf of Council Member Jones.
I believe you might have a letter on file, but if you don't, the councilman is in opposition.
to this application. As for the issues that were outlined by the neighbors on the block and by the
RCO, we just don't believe this is an appropriate site for a personal care home on a residential
block. Thank you. Mr. Cohen, thank you for taking the time to call us. Is there anyone else in the
audience? No further hands, Mr. Chair. Planning Commission. Michael Gall with the Philadelphia
city planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the rsa 5 residential
single family attached zoning at this location the appellant has demonstrated that the proposed
personal care home would not create impacts more detrimental than what could otherwise be expected
from other uses on that location city planning commission therefore recommends that the board
grant or requested special exception for personal care home use with a suggested proviso
of a maximum of four personal care room residents.
Thank you.
MI 2024-007-315-546-North 58th Street, I vote no.
Michael Johns, my vote is no.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is no.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is no.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is no.
Iowan, my vote is no.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you all.
Number five, MI 2024-004-773-4926 North 12th Street, Darlene Treat.
Good afternoon, Commissioners. Darlene Treat.
How are we doing with our computer?
We're doing good. We're ready.
Why don't you proceed?
Are you able to see my screen?
It should be.
It's up now.
Maybe you might want to make it just a little larger.
Here we go.
we have all your documents so you can okay i'm representing miss uh garcia miss garcia is the
owner of the property she's been living in this residence for approximately 13 years she's an
empty nester now she filed an application for a two-family dwelling with the zoning board of
adjustment. Here's a copy of the application for a special exception. It's a copy of the project
information form. It's a copy of the property information. I show you the property information
to show you that she's been owning this property since 2013. The property is approximately 2,000
square feet of living space and it's 22 feet of cross across uh miss garcia here is the deed
to show when she purchased the property
here's the tax information to show she actually has a tax
Here's the tax information to show she actually has a tax credit.
And here are the plans which I'm going to reduce so we can go through them.
Basically, we're not asking for any alterations physically to the exterior of this property.
Ms. Garcia lives in this property alone currently and she's disabled and she has an inability
to go up and down the staircases so she would really like to make this a two-family dwelling
where she lives on the first floor and she wants the rest of the property out to a family
here is a picture of the plans basically this is the basement which they have utilities only
and there is a restroom currently in the basement the first floor she would like to make an apartment
it. Let me just move the plant a little bit for you. I'm just going to enlarge this a little bit
so you can see it a little better. Okay. So this is the first floor of the apartment. You would
come in through the front here and you would go upstairs here to the apartment that she would
like to run out so it's by level the first floor is a living room you will go up the stairs on the
second floor there's a bedroom in the front there's a dining area in the middle and there
is a kitchen in the rear of the building you can walk upstairs to the third floor
through the stairs here and you'll see there's actually two bedrooms and a bathroom on the
third floor. Basically, she liked to make a duplex here where she would occupy the residence on the
first floor only. Again, Ms. Garcia is disabled. She's actually collecting disability and she
cannot traverse all the levels of her house. So she is suggesting that she's able to make
a one bedroom apartment for herself on the first floor here and that she's able to want the other
floors as a one bedroom apartment to a family i'm going to slide down a little bit more now
here is just i'm going to reduce it a little bit of elevation of the property to show you
what the property looks like that's the front of the property and this is the rear of the property
and here are the height depths. Mrs. Garcia would actually enter her own one family through the rear
of the property. That's just a side elevation of the property and here is what the property
looks like. It is a twin. There is a little walkway breezeway here where you could actually
walk to the back of the property and that's where Mrs. Garcia would actually enter the part of the
property that she's going to live in. This is another picture of the property. I just put this
one in here to show you that it was posted property properly. This shows you the breezeway
of the property where you can walk back to the backyard here. The trash will be stored in the
backyard here in enclosed cans and they will be bought out on trash day. That just shows you the
density of the block looking down north 12th street and here are some interior pictures this
is the picture of the kitchen for the main apartment which she hopes to run out after
or if we are approved again the apartments aren't done they're pretty much house is pretty much
empty besides mrs garcia but these are some pictures of how the interior of the property
looks now that's the front room that you would enter and go upstairs to the second floor apartment
that's the uh one of the bathrooms
it's another picture of the block looking down north 12th street it's a picture of the bedroom
upstairs it's a picture of another bedroom upstairs on the third floor it's a picture of
the bathroom on the second floor so empty rooms still on the third floor it's a picture of the
street in general and here's a picture of the backyard you can walk through the breezeway
which I showed you before and there is a pretty nice open paved in area for the backyard that
both apartments can use that's currently fenced in this is how you would get to
mrs. Garcia's apartment you would walk down the side of the house the back you
would come up the stairs and you can enter her apartment from here
stairs and you can enter her apartment from here. She's showing you the stairways to the house
and this is the second little kitchen that Mrs. Garcia has put on the first floor currently
and that she's unable to traverse up and down the stairs.
this is the side entrance the breezeway i was talking about where she can walk down this way
and enter into her apartment i would note there's still only one box this apartment hasn't been
converted yet although there is a kitchen on the first floor for her convenience
It's just another picture of the block.
Mrs. Garcia did notice a letter to the community and they did have a community meeting.
I believe it was on June 9th, 2025.
Here are the proof of mailing certificates.
And here is a letter of support.
I believe there were 10 neighbors in attendance, and they all voted in favor of letting Ms. Garcia convert her single family to a duplex so she can have additional income, and she can also be on one floor only.
With that, I'm here to answer any questions that you may have.
Is your client here?
Ms. Garcia, are you on the line?
they're promoted they should be coming back in shortly
miss garcia
miss garcia
can you hear me yeah i can hear you now i could you please i pressed the video but it's not coming
out and i got another we see you okay oh okay could you please state your name is spelled for
the stenographer good morning yes my name is annie garcia and it's a-n-n-i-e-g-a-r-c-i-a
good morning to everyone on the board all right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the
whole truth nothing but the truth yes i do please proceed council miss garcia good morning are you
the owner of 4926 north 12th street yes i am and have you heard the testimony that i presented to
the board today yes i have and if you were to testify today would you be able to adopt my
testimony as given today as true and correct yes thank you i have no other questions all right
counsel out of curiosity how what's the entrance to the second floor how do you get there do you
have to go into her apartment to get up there no you don't actually go into the apartment
but let me um go back down to the plans here
so here we go this is the basement right so this is the front of the house
you would enter to the second floor apartment through the front door and this is the living
room. This is blocked off. You would go upstairs, and this is the rest of the apartment. You would
enter Mrs. Garcia's apartment through the rear here, where she just has the bedroom, the living
room, the kitchen, and the bathroom. Yeah, but I mean, isn't the stairs right there in the middle
of the apartment now? Were you going to block it off? Well, how would you get to it? Tell me how
This is this. Right there. This used to be that you can go through this way, but with the renovation, it would be blocked off here. And this would just be the living room for the main apartment.
So you will come in here to get to the main apartment. You would enter through the living room and you would go up the stairs.
OK, thank you. Other questions from the board?
Yes, I have a question. So, Ms. Garcia, you're ambulatory, but will you need a wheelchair at some point, or is that, or is, I'm trying to understand the.
The question was for me?
Yes, Ms. Garcia.
um mentally i don't want to go there but eventually i might need um maybe just a ramp
to be made in the back where i can not have to go up and down even though i have like four or
five steps there um my doctor has recommended not to bend my knee as much i get
um, my doctor has recommended not to bend my knee as much. I get, um, uh, gel injections.
And, um, so my plans are maybe to maybe do like a little ramp on that side, um, where my steps
right in the back, but I'm hoping not. Yeah. Bless you. I'm just trying to understand because
I'm looking at, I understand the layout and how the second and third floor is going to be sort of
this two-bedroom, three-bedroom apartment, which is almost like a house, and you'll have the one
bedroom and living room in the back. I just, so if this is agreed to or we support it, I just,
your purpose, I want to make sure that whoever does your layout, that they make sure that you
have enough accessibility in your bathroom, in your kitchen, to be able to maneuver and get around
and be able to have a lift up to your apartment
and have some other kind of lift from the pavement
because it looks like you've got a couple steps
or a few steps to get even up to the yard level
from the basement, from the street level.
So that was my only question
because this is just a shower
and a small bathroom in the back.
And I'm just, for your,
just want to make sure you have somebody do it
so it really accommodates your needs
at the end of the day.
Right, no, definitely.
yeah and I appreciate it yeah and um you know for the most part I'm I'm I'm comfortable um it's sad
that I have such a big house and I can't take advantage of it because I can't enjoy it the way
I want to because of the steps um there's at least 13 to 14 steps going from the main to the second
and then from the second to the third and I have fallen from them so I just want to avoid all of
that for my own safety was it the questions the the rear entrance that you're planning to use to
this how many steps does it take to get um i'm gonna say it has maybe about uh four four or five
steps i'm not it's maybe like four steps four wide steps okay and i thought i saw a picture
and it looked like it was a few more steps than that so you're going to go through this
breezeway and then yep this other yes that's it right there like yeah one two three like four
yeah four steps um okay and uh so and then the front there's how many steps
um I think there's about the same four or five steps in the main entrance okay and then um I
guess just the question um if you're having problems with the steps have you ever thought
of getting like a stair master or something so that you could I thought about that my neighbor
from across the street did get one and um like I said mentally I don't want to go there because I
still feel that I'm relatively young um and I think that would be just still like holding me
back to have to come up and down through there and I mean I'm fine where I'm at um my kids really
don't visit my youngest is coming in today to help me with some stuff but um I normally go to them
because they have a house you know which is big enough I'm here I'm not going anywhere I love
where I'm at I love the community um so just for my own safety and just to keep the house
nice and maybe help another family that can take advantage of it I mean it has three large
bedrooms two full bathrooms I mean I even installed a jacuzzi in the floor that I was on
and um again because of my own safety I can't enjoy my house um the way I'd like to but um
I'm I feel good in the back I open up the door I water my plants you know I have coffee in that
little area that i can sit outside when it's weather's good so i mean it works for me for
the time being and again if in the future i have to have a surgery for my back or my knee or anything
like that i mean then i will make some other arrangements to maybe even stay with my kids
until i get better um but i just mentally i don't want to i don't want to get into that and you know
think that that might be an option all right thank you thank you any other questions yeah i have a
question about the proposed work from the photos it looks like it was all completed
like you've added a kitchen and you've subdivided the property or is there
still construction to be done to do the subdivision um the kitchen was added about
two years ago but that was the only work it's really proposed that we're going to
close this uh back off over here to make this a separate apartment okay so that currently that
wall that's dividing the two units
is not there. It's not completed.
No, it's not.
Okay. I think that's my only question.
I think that's
my only question.
Questions from our attorney, Hillary Emerson.
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
No hands, Mr. Chair.
Planning Commission.
Good morning, Chair.
Members of the board, Michael Gallwood, the Philadelphia City Planning Commission.
the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the rsa residential single family attached zoning
at this location there is no unique physical condition or circumstance of the property that
would prevent it from being used in strict conformance with the zoning code the proposed
use of two family residents has a higher density level than is appropriate for this location
therefore the city planning commission recommends the board deny the proposed
variance for two-family residential use. MI 2024-004-773-4926 North 12th Street, I vote yes.
John's, my vote is yes. Cheryl Gaston, my vote is no. Sonetta Graham, my vote is yes.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes. Tywin, my vote is yes. Thank you, Councilman. Thank you very much,
So number 12, MI 2024-007-317-254 South 11th Street, Joseph Consul is the attorney.
There's unanimous opposition from Washington Square West.
There's another seven letters of opposition from neighbors.
One was a letter that has a petition signed by nine.
Mr. Consul.
Hey, everyone. Can you hear me?
Come on.
Did I swear you the last time right before we realized?
Yeah, yeah, you did.
Yeah, sorry, I got confused.
You've already been sworn.
Could you identify your client in a relationship to this property?
Yeah, my client is Neil McBride, that owns the property.
And our vice chair has a few questions.
Good afternoon.
Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, we have.
And do you waive the reen of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Okay, thank you.
You can share your screen and proceed with your case.
All right, my screen should be up now.
We are here for 254 South 11th Street.
I'm here on behalf of Roxburn 254 LLC.
Neil McGraw is the owner.
We were here about a month ago legalizing the chiropractic office on the first floor.
I'm now displaying my exhibit packet, 254 South 11th is an existing mixed-use building with a chiropractic office on the first floor and two residential units above.
It is zoned CMX1. Visitor accommodations is a use that requires a variance. In CMX1, we're seeking approval for use of those two properties or those two units as visitor accommodations units.
um we believe uh that this is a appropriate property to receive this variance because
this is not a new or speculative use um besides this being a property that has been
long approved for a commercial space and two residential units that goes back
as 1955, the hardship is compounded by the property's more recent history.
My client successfully operated, starting in 2018, two short-term rental units as visitor
accommodations. This was a use that continued for approximately five years prior to the city
cracking down on their short-term rental policies. And I understand that those policies were always
in place. However, as everyone knows, there was a period where these were allowed to exist
and weren't shut down. As a responsible operator, Mr. McGraw, once these became non-compliant,
stopped any less than 30-day rentals. He's now following the correct process to seek this
variance to legalize this use. We believe that there is an unnecessary hardship created here.
He bought this property, and I'll show you the pictures in a second, and extensively invested
in both the rehabilitation and, let me get to the pictures, and the upkeep of the property and the
furnishing on the property prior to, um, starting it as an Airbnb, which is now almost seven years
ago. I'm showing you the photos. It's one two bedroom unit, one, one bedroom unit.
one one-bedroom unit.
He listed for five years with a short-term rental company called Bespoke.
When he was no longer allowed to do that, he's shifted over to the 30-plus day model as is legal.
However, he's seeking approval to go back to the original one.
So, we met with, all right, I showed you those. I'll go up to the RCO's letter. We met with Washington Square West. Ultimately, as you saw, they submitted a letter of opposition.
I respect this RCO, but I believe it's critical to note that their opposition, despite there being a few different things, it's not based on a specific complaint about this property.
There's no record of violations anywhere that we could find or anyone else could find for noise, trash, any other disturbances.
This is a broader policy based objection to short term rentals in general.
And they do note that under the law, we're hopeful that that lends a little bit in our direction in terms of seeking support. Plus, it's not an RSA 5 or an RM 1 property. It is CMX 1 zoning. And so we and on top of that, the property is directly across from a major hospital, Thomas Jefferson.
The surrounding blocks are a blend of commercial storefronts, apartment buildings, and some
single-family homes.
Our use, we believe, is perfectly in character with this district.
In fact, as my client will attest to, due to the proximity to Thomas Jefferson Hospital,
my client has frequently hosted visiting nurses, doctors, and other medical professionals who
need to stay for two or three nights.
This use provides a direct and valuable service to one of the neighborhood's most important institutions.
Mr. McGraw is a responsible operator who's seeking a use that we believe is consistent with the location of this property and its historic use.
We believe he provides a service to this community and that the hardship is real.
So we understand the opposition we face. However, we believe this is a situation that if it was RSA 5, I might see it a little differently, but we're in a CMX 1 and we're on a very mixed use block, nowhere near a single family home on this block.
and we're hopeful that um that the board sees that angle of it as well uh i'll go through
just real quickly the rest of the filings here's the opposition which just states
general dislike of visitor accommodation permits
there was really what appeared to me to be one person sort of spearheading
getting all these letters and things like that our photos we'll just skip through them
we already did it
a deed to my client he got the property in 2017 as mentioned fixed it up and
had it as an airbnb in 2018 through the shutdown
all right with that i'll call my client on joe neil are you available to raise your hand
yes council they have been promoted they should be back in shortly
sir could you please state your name as spelled for the stenographer
yes neil mcgraw
could you spell your name please yes n-e-a-l-m-c-g-r-a-d
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i do please proceed counsel good afternoon mr mcgraw i have a few questions but first
did you hear my testimony thus far and do you adopt it as your own i do and i do okay um would
you just explain to the board the work you put into the property from the time you purchased it
to the time you started using it as an air airbnb and the time frame please sure uh we purchased the
property, and it's my wife and I, in 2017, the property, again, sits on 11th Street between
The property, again, sits on 11th Street between Spruce and Locust, was in very run-down condition.
Spruce and Locust.
I don't think it had been touched or maintained probably in 30 or 40 years.
We invested significant funds, probably about $350,000, in doing a full renovation of the property,
bringing it back as a contributing member of the block and community.
And what made it economically feasible would be operating it as a short-term rental to service the community,
as you outlined, attorney console for the Jefferson community and the broader Wash West community.
Again, that made the investment in bringing this property back to a suitable condition, made it economically feasible.
So we operated it as such until the regulations, or should I say the enforcement of the regulations, changed, which I think, I believe it was in 2023.
22, 23, we operated as a short-term rental with no complaints, with kind of excellent record there.
And again, the property was brought back as a vibrant, contributing member of that immediate neighborhood.
And then certainly as the ordinance and regulations were changed, we then modified our approach and began renting it for only stays of 30 days or more, which again, contribute on occasion to servicing the Jefferson community when they would have visiting nurses and doctors and professors in for Jefferson.
However, it was a little bit more sporadic and did impair the kind of financial viability of the property.
And that is why we are requesting the variance to go back to allow to do rentals under 30 days to be able to increase the revenue.
Okay. All right. I have no further questions for Mr. McGraw.
Yes, how many other short-term rentals do you operate?
That is the only property.
And are you planning to do the property management and the management of the rentals yourself?
No, we have a professional management company, Bespoke Management.
they do have they operate some short-term rental properties and hospitality properties so it's a
professional management company okay I have one more question for Mr. McGraw if if the board was
amenable to a temporary variance would you be amenable to to that certainly okay thanks
other questions from the board
questions from our attorney
Hilary Emerson
not at this time
comments from the virtual audience
I have a hand up from Barbara
Arvantanis
Arvantanitis
we'll go ahead and promote them
good morning
good morning
good morning
hi could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
Yeah, sure. Barbara Arvinaitis, B-A-R-B-A-R-A-A-R-V-A-N-I-T-I-S.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Are you a neighbor?
I am a neighbor, and I am also a board member of the Washington Square West Civic Association as well.
All right. Hold on. Could you turn your video on, please?
um i will try you know i'm i'm pretty technically challenged uh if you don't mind i'd rather not
try to press buttons and and maybe get please proceed here okay i appreciate it yeah okay
good afternoon chairman bergman and board members my name is barbara arvinitis and i am a board
member on the washington square west civic association and i am also a committee member
on the Washington Square West Civic Association's Zoning Committee.
Zoning Committee. As our RCO meeting summary form sent to the Zoning Board of Adjustment
As our RCO meeting summary form sent to the Zoning Board
on June 29, 2025 states, our final position by a count of 10 opposed and 0 non-opposed
is to refuse the applicant for a proposed visitor accommodations within an existing
structure which is explicitly prohibited in the CMX1 commercial zoning district.
Our RCO received five letters of opposition, totaling 18 signatures from both property owners and renters who reside within the 250-feet vicinity of the 254 South 11th property.
Reasons for opposition from both property owners and renters included reduction of stock of long-term rentals, change of character to the neighborhood, and increased rents.
In closing, taking into consideration the near neighbor's opposition, as well as the Washington Square West Civic Association's unanimous 10 to 0 vote to oppose, we strongly encourage you to deny the applicant a permit for the proposed use of a visitor accommodation.
Thank you.
All right.
Just one question.
And, you know, this is not new because he did this for quite a while.
Have you ever had any complaints about this project?
All right.
Thank you.
Counselor, you have any questions?
I don't, Chair.
All right.
Anyone else in the audience?
Thank you for your comments.
Yes, I have an Elizabeth Armour with the hand raised.
I will promote them at this time.
They should be back in shortly.
Hello?
Yes, this is Elizabeth Armour. Can you hear me?
I most certainly can. Could you please state your name and spell for this?
Of course. The first name is Elizabeth, E-L-I-Z-A-B-E-T-H. The last name is Armour, A-R-M-O-U-R.
Do you swear or affirm that tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Are you a neighbor?
Yes, I am. I'm resigning at 251 Quince Street. We are in, all of us are within the 250 feet of the property.
Hold on one minute.
Are you in favor of the project or against?
There are seven neighbors on Quinn Street that are in opposition, total opposition.
All right.
And again, have you ever heard of any problems with this property?
We've been constantly complaining about the noise levels to the previous property.
It has a roof deck and the roof decks have been a real problem.
They overlook directly nine properties on Jessup Street.
And from where we are, six properties who back up to Jessup Street, our gardens also get the roof deck noise.
All right. Thank you for taking the time to calls. Is there anyone else?
I do have some other comments if I can be allowed to proceed.
Is there anything different than what we've already heard?
Yes. Please proceed.
Yes. As far as what has been proposed as modifications have changed, the CMX-1, as you're well aware, has always expressly prohibited visitor accommodations.
So the fact that he's been doing it for the last seven years would seem to indicate possibly he doesn't know or is willing to ignore the fact that visitor accommodations are not allowed in the CMX-1.
We have enough Airbnb rentals in a two-block area here.
We're very concerned about more Airbnb and with the coming and going,
and particularly the never-ending parties on the roof decks.
And you're saying this particular roof deck, there was parties?
Oh, yes.
All right.
Thank you very much for your call.
Is there anyone else in the audience?
i do not say any further than answer mr chair could i have my client just address that um mr
mcgraw at any point during your ownership did you or your management company report any
were any complaints reported to you regarding your property no and that um whether it's from
neighbors or the the general public or certainly um any law enforcement so no i have never received
day single complaint um regarding operation of the property thank you thank you um planning
um regarding operation of the property thank you thank you um planning commission
good morning chair members of board michael gall with the philadelphia city planning commission
the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the cmx1 commercial mixed use zoning at this
location there is no unique physical condition or circumstance of this property that would prevent
it from being used in strict conformance with the zoning code there is a documented history of
visitor accommodations at the site however the use was commenced without the benefit of permits and
was operated for many years in violation of the zoning code the proposed visitor accommodations
use is inappropriate for this location due to the high potential for community impacts
and this block is a street of relatively low density mixed use properties the city planning
commission therefore recommends the board deny the proposed use variance for visitor accommodations
thank you um mr council i'm going to hold this till next week i'm going to take this to executive
session we'll vote on it next wednesday at 9 30. thank you sir and mr council could you stay we
I want to do one more case.
I'm not going anywhere.
Oh, good, good.
M24-006-814-3630 North Bouvier Street.
Mr. Consul, just for the record, state your name.
Joseph Consul.
There's a letter of unanimous support from the 13th Ward Committee, 11 votes.
There is a recommendation of a proviso.
And our vice chair, Tadena Graham, has a few questions.
Good morning.
Well, good afternoon. Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
I have.
And do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Okay, thank you. You can proceed with your case by sharing your screen.
All right. My packet should be up. Yes.
All right. I'm here for Apex Avenue LLC.
on the call with me today is the owner one of the two owners of the llc miss nicole ramirez
the packet's up the property is 3630 north bouvier street corner lot in the rsa5 district
seeking approval for a two-family household the hardship today is the property has been
physically configured as a duplex for decades, for literally as far back as is available in
the zoning archives. And because of that is unsuited to be converted back to a single family
home. And the variance, therefore, we believe is necessary for its reasonable use.
going through my packet a little bit.
We have a letter of support.
We had a productive two-step, two different meetings with the RCO.
The 13th Ward and Mr. Charles Karn were very on top of this property
and really held my clients to a high standard in terms of the things
that they needed to do in order to get their support.
And I believe my clients came through as evidenced in this letter and the provisos they submitted, which we agree to all of them that are able to be put on the provisos as enforceable.
The only thing we disagree with was that the letter notes the property was purchased as a single family dwelling. With all due respect to the RCO, the city's public records tell a different story.
The exhibits, if you go back in the archives, there was a rental license for two units active from 2004 to 2012. That is in my pack. I'll just go through these, but give an idea what it looks like.
The posters show you how the property is coming together now.
The old photos here show you the property that they took to improve.
Going back further than those two-unit rental licenses that expired in 2012,
if you go back as far as 1982, there's a note.
So actually, as far back as 1950, you can see the phone directory, which is for some reason in Atlas, lists it as a two-unit building.
And then it gets more concrete, 1977, 1982, there's notes in the archive that mention the property as being a two-unit dwelling.
So my client is actively rehabilitating the interior with the proper permits.
you can see they're taking this property and making it nicer
showing you the interior photos no structural work at all is being handled
Everything that's being handled is permitted.
everything that's being handled is permitted
Okay, going through the photos.
I'll jump up to the plans, the basement.
Get my list of the plans.
Nothing going on in the basement.
Just storage, washer, dryer.
First floor, let me zoom in a little bit.
Oh, fudge, that's the second floor.
Back to the first.
First floor, one-bedroom apartment.
It's a 128-square-foot living room, 138-square-foot kitchen, a bathroom, and 107-square-foot bedroom.
Second floor, two-bedroom apartment, 141-square-foot primary bedroom, second bedroom, 84-square-feet, 96-square-foot kitchen, 73-square-foot living room, and a bathroom.
And per the requests of the RCO and just what my client was doing anyway, they're installing one-hour fire walls and ceilings as part of what they're doing, which will separate the units and hopefully ensure the safety of the residents and folks in the neighborhood.
We believe this is a reasonable project, not creating a new use and restoring and bringing into full compliance historical use on a blighted property.
We got the support of the RCO, and I'd like to call my client to adopt my testimony.
Nicole, if you're on the call, could you raise your hand?
Nicole has no problem.
Nicole, you're allowed to speak.
Good morning, Nicole.
Hello.
Good morning.
Good afternoon.
Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
My name is Nicole Ramirez.
spelled N-I-C-O-L-E-R-A-M-I-R-E-V.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth,
the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Police proceed counsel.
Good afternoon, Nicole.
Did you hear my testimony just now
regarding your property on Bouvier Street?
Do you adopt it as your own?
I have nothing further.
Questions from the board.
Comment.
Just a quick comment.
Can you go through a second?
Yes, sir.
yes sir not not for not for nothing but the location of your um range is a fire hazard
right next to the window somebody puts curtains there they're going to go up in flames just so
you know but um okay so but so um so i'm not quite sure uh um board member gaskin will have some
comments
I think my only question is about the subdivision
so you bought it in this condition
have my pet peeve
my pet peeve is that
this idea
that you have to wander from
the bedroom
all the way through the kitchen
and all to get to a bathroom.
I just, I don't,
and bathroom, bedroom here,
living room, then bath,
and then the other way,
it's through the kitchen.
So, you know, three o'clock in the morning,
that's a little hard to deal with.
I just think that a better layout
would be um so that you don't have to do that um i'm sorry can you guys hear me yes we can yeah
okay yeah i'm sorry i'm a little confused um because you said you i don't you don't have to
go through anything all of the bedrooms or like the room have their own door so you don't have
to go through like the kitchen or the bathroom or like they all have their own doors if i'm
understanding what you were stating i believe i believe she's mentioning the first floor here
where it appears that you go through the kitchen to get through the to the bathroom from this
bedroom and the yes yeah in the back well okay i understand i thought you were referring to the
second um unit so for the the layout like um we purchased the property like with this layout we
didn't make like any changes. And then between I don't I think there's a picture that I took from
um and then between i don't i think there's a picture that i took from like standing in the
kitchen to the bedroom there's um that's this tell me tell me which way to go on these on
these pictures nicole if i'm going the right way or the wrong way maybe go um like yeah backwards
keep going because this is the second unit
all right now we're downstairs again okay so keep going
oh i'm sorry maybe go um your renovation photos okay other way yeah so because there's a picture
okay right it should be um the couple of next pictures so this is the kitchen i should be the
next one okay here yeah so I'm standing in the kitchen and right there's like a little like
hallway I don't know what you call that and then that's the the bedroom but I do understand what
you're saying but there is like a door so it like the bedroom isn't like directly in the kitchen but
I do understand um what what you mean by like having to walk through the kitchen to go to the
bathroom i'm not i'm not saying that the bathroom is in the kitchen what i'm saying is that when you
get up at three o'clock in the morning okay to go to the bathroom you got to wander through
the kitchen to get to oh okay i understand sorry i misunderstood what you were saying
layout okay okay understood thank you sorry about that miss ramirez i do have another question so
it looks like you purchased the property this year and i know you said you guys have done no
work did you purchase this uh cash or did you uh do a bank process to get this and did you run a
title search before you when you purchased so yeah we did like uh i'm sorry you said it was cash or
through a bank yes yeah so we did it through a bank um there was a title search um like to the
title company but no one like told us that it wasn't zoned correctly um yeah so if that didn't
come up and i mean if we knew it wasn't like zoned correctly we would probably have purchased it but
it didn't come up during the title did anything come up during your bank process when you did
the inspections no no okay so they like they said they thought everything was fine yeah
the only reason i'm bringing it up is because there were a lot of lni violations from the
previous owner that you purchased the building from and it does look like some of the work
that's depicted currently was corrected during the lni violation process without permits so
so the only thing that we were aware of like in terms of violation was the like the rear yard
of the um like it was a lot of grass and trees in which we cut down but that was the only thing
that we were aware of and then we fixed we corrected that yeah well they they had they
had way more than the real wall they had like some structural things that they had to adjust so i just
wanted to make sure if you had a if you went through a bank process though you should have
been covered yeah nicole do you do you do you attend to get um your certificate of occupancy to
properly operate if the board grants your variance today yes yeah that's the plan
and could you just let me know about the trash uh for both units yeah so um as i mentioned we
have a rear yard and we do have like a trash and recycling management plan because that was uh
the our for the rco so um the trash and recycling containers are going to be stored in the rear in
the rear yard and which is accessible for both units um both units will be assigned um two 32
gallon trash containers and another 32 gallon um recycling bin and if you know extra containers
are needed then we'll definitely provide them also we'll be providing with the like both units
like indoor containers so they'll have a place to store their indoor trash and um recycling um you
know for daily use and then it's up to you know they have to go down and um you know throw their
trash in the in the rear yard and then another um thing that uh we're gonna do is through uh we're
gonna hire a property management and their maintenance company they'll be responsible for
you know bringing the containers um on trash date um to return it back and bring them out and then
And also, so they'll be responsible for that just to make sure that, you know, I know, sorry, that the tenants, they don't leave like the trash bins out on the curb.
All right. Questions from our attorney?
All right. Questions from our attorney?
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I do not see any of your hands, Mr. Chair.
Planning Commission.
Good afternoon, Chair, members of the board.
Michael Gall with the Philadelphia City Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the RSA-5 residential single-family attached zoning at this location.
the city rezoned this neighborhood in uh this section of tioga in 2006 in a community requested
map change this property does have a documented history of two-family residential use therefore
the city planning commission recommends that the board grant the proposed variance for two-family
residential use so mi2024-006-814-3630 north buvier street i vote yes with proviso certificate
of occupancy to would be obtained. Michael Johnson, my vote is yes with proviso.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes with proviso.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes with proviso. Ryan McAdams, my vote
is yes with proviso. Io Nguyen, my vote is yes with proviso.
Thank you, counsel. Thank you, everyone.
Move that range from that window.
Write that down, Nicole. He's serious. Hillary,
We just mentioned there's three cases remaining.
We will add them to them.
And Mr.
I can just put those on the record.
Give me one second.
Sorry.
So those cases will be 2954 North Fairhill Street, 3301 North 22nd Street and 1019 Wallace
Street.
Those cases will be heard at 2 p.m. after a recess.
OK, thank you.
Thank you very much, everyone.
See every one of two.
He knows we have to.
We're going to we have three cases from this morning's list.
We're going to hear those first.
But before I start, I should mention that this morning we announced that.
Tinetto Graham is the new vice chairman.
And Cheryl Gaston is the secretary of the board.
So I just want everybody to know.
Okay, so number seven from the earlier list, number eight from the earlier list, MI 2024-006-880-2954 North Fairhill Street.
Richard Rivera, Roman is the appellant.
What's the name?
Do we see him?
Here, this is Jason Handel.
I'll be stepping in briefly.
Sure. Jason, do we see him?
He's in the virtual audience,
but he's not raising his hand.
Mr. Rivera, if you are still
in the virtual audience, please raise your hand.
Okay. He just raised his hand and he'll be coming back in as a panelist for him, Mr. Chair.
Sure, thank you.
Hello, everybody.
Hi, sir. I believe I swore you in earlier today. Am I correct?
Yes, that is correct.
All right. So why don't you bring up your video and start your presentation?
All right.
Well, as far as I know, everyone can see.
Yeah, so we have all your paperwork.
So why don't you start with your plans for the building, right?
We have that.
Why don't you start with your plans for the building and your photos?
All righty.
So my proposed plans are demonstrated in this blueprint here.
So this would be the first floor plans indicating.
Can you blow that up a little bit?
It's a little hard to see, just a little bit.
it doesn't seem to be quite working at the moment okay all right so
so that's your first floor where's your second floor my second floor
so that's your first floor where's your second floor my second floor
is right here so i have two bedrooms on top each room has their own closet as well as
a washer and dryer there's w and d there next to the bathroom then after you go up the stairs
There's a little bit more of a staircase, maybe two stairs.
There's a kitchen area, and then you have space for your dining room
and your living room as well here.
And show us the first floor again.
The second computer is a bit slow.
That's the second floor, right?
There we go.
It just loaded in.
So each floor will have its own separate entrance.
As you see, this is the main entrance, but the entry point for the first housing unit will be here, and this will be the second unit's entry.
Right. Okay. Could you show us photos of the property now?
That's no problem.
so let me show you actually the exterior
first from the street view
this is the current property
as seen from google maps
and now let's move into the interior
this is the condition
I received the
property in
it's a bit of a long story but i'll make it real short it was the property of my stepfather
and due to a divorce settlement i was left with this property in its current condition
as being remodeled um it had a variance already for a two-family home
but he refused to renew it
I don't know if I'm moving in order or not, I'm moving backwards
he refused to renew it
I guess you guys can guess why
because we kind of did have plans for this property
before then
this is the second floor going up the stairs
okay so tell me what happened when you went to the rco i saw the vote was four to three
well um i showed them everything you guys seen here mainly um
what is it called the blueprint plans um people were just the main concern i would say
was parking space that's something i heard a lot um which you know this house has already been
for a long long period of time a multi-family unit which i don't see as an issue because people
you know these people used to live here i have evidence since 1944 uh showing that this document
was actually a three house um let's see where is that document at
right here
so since April 1944
I don't know if you guys can make out the three here
proposed use number of families
so I told them it's always been like that
I don't see how the parking situation would have changed because of that
They also wanted me to vet out the neighbors, which, of course, I will because I am the sole owner.
I get to choose who lives there and who doesn't.
Make sure they have background checks and they're good, productive members of society.
I don't want any problems when it comes to my neighbors.
I did also let them know that they were also concerned about trash.
And then I'll be providing those, what is it called, facilities for them as well.
So, you know, everything stays well maintained.
um but besides that uh i expressed that i used to live there actually in that property
during the meeting and i felt like it was my opportunity to give back
uh the opportunity that i got when i came here are there other multiple families on the block
yes that's actually one thing i want to show off uh i feel like there is a bit of a discrepancy
because the whole half of the block
is zoned off the other half as RM-1
and then my half is all RSA-5
My half is all RSA-5, and there are similarly sized houses on both sides of the same block.
and there are similarly sized houses.
So I feel like this would be another property that would apply for RM-1.
All right.
Questions from the board.
I have a quick question.
So is there two meters and utilities for two units in the basement?
Planned, and the wiring is in place.
the meters are not in place yet.
I asked
because you said it was previously used as a
multifamily, so you saw no evidence
of that?
Not that I
recall, if I'm being honest.
Yeah, it was managed under my stepfather.
Me and him weren't very close at all.
But I do
plan on
having everything proper so everyone
has their own billing. I'll be paying
for the installation of the second meter and having the
electricity up to date, so everything is safe and secure and grounded. Very
important to me, especially I work with
pretty expensive technologies, and I don't want any one
of these devices to be ruined or TV.
Okay. Any other questions? Yeah. You're not having any
household living in the basement, right? No.
Okay. This will just be used as storage. Nothing else.
Questions from our attorney, Hillary Emerson?
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Questions from this audience here, the virtual audience?
Chair, there are no further hands raised at this time.
Planning Commission?
Madison Matera, Planning Commission staff, M-A-D-I-S-O-N-M-A-T-E-R-A.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Please proceed.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the RSA-5 residential single-family zoning at this location.
The City rezoned this neighborhood in 2018 in accordance with recommendations in the comprehensive plan.
This property has a documented history of multifamily residential use with three dwelling units.
Therefore, the City Planning Commission recommends that the Board grant the proposed use variance for two-family residential use.
Thank you.
MI 2024-006-880-2954, North Fairhill Street.
I vote yes. Michael Johns, my vote is yes. Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes. Tanetta Graham,
my vote is yes. My vote is yes. Thank you. Number 13, MI 2025 004 009 30. Sorry. Did anybody say
anything? I said thank you very much and God bless you all. Thank you, thank you, thank you very much.
Chair. Yes. I'm sorry. We have a hand raised from Jennifer Bozzillo.
Yeah, I'm calling her case now. Okay. All right. Thank you. So MI2025004009, 3301 North 22nd Street.
Jennifer Bozzillo is the attorney.
She's being promoted to panelists, Chair.
I think I got unmuted.
Okay, there we go.
I think we hear you.
Jennifer?
Let me get my video going for you guys one second.
Hi, Jennifer.
How are you?
Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Jennifer Bazitlo, B-A-Z-Y.
D as in dog, L as in Larry, O as in Oscar.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Do you identify your client, the relationship to the property?
My client is son of a carpenter, LLC, who's represented today by Alfonso Zimmerman, and
he is the owner of the property.
Our vice chair, Tanetta Graham, has a few questions.
Good afternoon.
Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
I did.
And do you waive the reading out of your refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Okay, thank you.
You may share your screen and proceed with your case.
Great.
All right.
Okay, let me just get myself organized here.
All right.
So, as I said today, I'm here representing the owner of this property, Alfonso Zimmerman, who owns it through his LLC.
Submitted was a refusal deed.
the initial tax compliance document I sent showed a $15 balance it's been since been paid in those
documents have also been submitted I just so I just want to show that because I want to make
sure that this was where the balance was owed and this is showing the payment of that
This was where the balance was owed.
And this is showing the payment of that outstanding amount on Friday.
There is also, I submitted copies of the RCO notices and of the agenda for the RCO.
We don't have a letter yet from them.
And I believe I checked with Miss, not Zimmerman, with Hillary earlier today.
And I don't think the board has it yet.
so i'll let you deal with that as you want um but there's also a zoning map aerial photos
um list of the nearby non-single family uses uh aerial view the photos and floor plans we'll get
to those in a little bit um so let me just so we're here today to talk about um 3301 north 22nd
street this is an existing two-story structure located on the corner of 22nd street and west
westmoreland here you can see the front and we have the side it is a corner property
you can see the rear yard there um this property uh this property itself it's a it's a over 1300
square foot parcel and the existing structure is about 1600 square feet of living space on the
first and second floor um here you can see the lighting that's been installed um i just want
to actually get to the street i'm coming back to the interior photos but i want to kind of set the
the tone of where this property is located um so right at the corner here of north 22nd street
and west westmoreland um it's basically under um the chestnut hill west train line um so we're
right adjacent to like literally i'm taking this from the front porch of the building you can see
how close the train line is to this um and you also have other industrial uses here um and also
notably one block away is a train stop for another train line for the north town maniunk line so
we're kind of in a I want to show the aerial photo too one second we're in an area that's
really mixed you can see there's car storage there's over here and over here you have train
parcels you have another large industrial building and then you have a mix of single family
multi-family and mixed-use commercial buildings all within these kind of adjacent one block in
every direction. So my client purchased this property in April of 2024 after this building
had sat vacant for a very long time. All indications are that it's been vacant for
a couple of decades and it was in pretty bad shape. He did go about starting to rehab it with
a permit. The permit was not the appropriate permit. That's why we're here now trying to get
the appropriate zoning so that we can get the appropriate permits. My client's well aware that
will need to go back and get those permits get new co's and all of that sort of stuff
um so our proposal is to use this property as a fully rehabbed two unit dwelling i will show
you the plans um there is no living space in the basement it is only for storage um that both
tenants will have access to um the first and then there's one unit on each floor um both access
through their own door in the front um both of those units are two bedroom one bath units
um this is the first floor i'm going to zoom in a little bit for you
um so you have a bedroom in the front kitchen excuse me this is on the first floor you have
a living area in the front you have a kitchen you have a smaller bedroom that's still like about
you know that is a smaller bedroom it's about 90 square feet um but closets bathroom and then a
larger bedroom in the rear.
And then on the second floor, you have two really generous sized bedrooms.
They're probably almost 200 square feet a piece, full bath, kitchen, living area, just
one unit per floor with pretty decent layouts and pretty decent sized rooms and living spaces.
It's a pretty large building.
It's a 17 foot wide lot.
it's a corner lot so there's windows along all the edges and in the back lots
of light and air for the tenants notably one second I can show you the
photos of what it looks like now again we know that this is going to need to go
back and get permitted but I just wanted to show you that these are really well
done units as you can see on the outside there's been addition of really nice
down lighting to light up this corner that used to have a vacant dilapidated
parcel on it um this is uh the fir this is one of the units you can see that it has you know
nice sized bedrooms this is the this is the first floor no this is the second floor unit i think um
This is the first floor. No, this is the second floor unit, I think.
But you can see nice kitchen, living area, bedrooms, bathrooms.
This is the first floor unit, again, with that living area.
Nice kitchen. That's the smaller bedroom.
So, like, you know, they're nice units that'll be attract long term tenants, you know, and families can live in them with the two bedrooms.
They're both pretty decent sized areas.
Of note, Alfonso is a resident of this neighborhood.
He lives about two blocks away from this property in a mixed-use commercial building that has a business that he rents out and other units.
So he's experienced in renting successfully in this neighborhood.
And the neighbors that he spoke to did actually note the quality of his contributions to the neighborhood.
But as I mentioned before, this is not something that's out of character with the existing
neighborhood.
So if we look at the zoning map here, this highlighted parcel is ours.
And you can see that it's surrounded by industrial zoning.
That's where you saw the junkyards, you saw the railroad spaces.
There's a large industrial warehouse building over here.
um there's um and then there's commercial businesses um and i'm just going to show
you exactly i made a list of everything to show you the other uses so within just the two
surrounding blocks so with looking at the two blocks this is on the 3300 block of north 22nd
street and the um excuse me the 2100 block of west west moorland we have six other multi-family
housing range in size from two to four units. We have two mixed use commercial dwellings
with two residential units in each. There is at least two other large industrial parcels
that one of which is used as junkyard. Another one has some truck storage on it. There's another
one that has a warehouse on it. There is the railroad properties. And notably within these,
just these two blocks, there's 16 vacant parcels. It's an area that, you know, needs some more
residential use in it. And definitely on this corner where we're intersecting with that railroad,
you know, it'll be good to have that lighting, to have that use, to have that,
you know, that engagement on that corner with activity again. Let me just go to the photos
again, I wanted to show you both tenants will have access to the rear yard where they will be able to
store their trash. So trash storage will be off the street. Trash bins will be provided. And so
it should be neat and tidy and kept out of the way of any of the, you know, to not cause a problem
for other residents. I was not personally at the RCO meeting and we do not have the letter, but I
have talked to my client and he will confirm my testimony about his experience um there seemed to
be he met with allegheny west civic association on september 16th um and his impression was that
there was a overall positive response specifically because he was a resident of the community
and he himself was investing in the community he lived in um they also noted that it had been
vacant for a long time prior to him purchasing the property. So again, restoring this kind of
long-term vacant dilapidated nuisance property into something that has, you know, this nice
lighting on the outside that actually improves the safety of the community. Like I said, there's
lots of vacant parcels around. There's lots of these industrial parcels. So the addition of one
more unit in this property should not cause any sort of congestion parking issues um strain on
utilities or anything like that um it'll be way less of a hazard um than some of these surrounding
industrial uses are to the neighborhood and kind of serve as a buffer between those industrial
uses and maybe some of the other residential um residential houses in the area and also prevent
another house from getting knocked down in another vacant parcel um on a couple blocks here that are
pretty plagued with that so uh with that um i would like to have my client adopt my testimony
and then i'll answer questions alfonso can you raise your hand
hi chair alfonso zimmerman we've asked him that okay thank you all right
yep alfonso can you um i guess you need to swear him in correct
yep Alfonso can you um I guess you need to swear him in correct yeah could you
please state your name and spell for the stenographer
Alfonso Zimmerman a-l-p-h-o-n-s-o-z-i-m-m-e-r-m-a-n do you swear or affirm that
tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes could you turn your
video on I'm trying to see where that I don't want to see more us okay joins
this panel all right there you go please proceed counsel um mr zimmerman did you hear my testimony
here today and believe it to be truthful and accurate yes i did and would you adopt it as
your own yes all right thank you and then i guess now we're just going to answer the board questions
Oh, can you just testify that you are the member of the LLC that owns this property and you're authorized to talk on its behalf, correct?
Yes, yes, I am.
And you are a local resident, correct?
Yes, yes.
So, Jennifer, this was historically a single family home?
It was.
It hasn't been occupied.
The neighbors indicated since the 80s or 90s, however.
He started doing the work on it, was converting it to a duplex, and then L&I stopped?
Correct.
He had a permit to do some work and then exceeded the permit and then has to come back now.
Questions from the board.
Yes, I have a question about the basement.
Could you talk about how it's going to be used?
Yes, it's just going to be storage.
There is, let me get to the front, there is access for both tenants.
to access the storage area in the basement in the front of the building um there's no living at all
um that's not going to be a residential use that's i just want to confirm that because you did show
a partition wall and a bathroom on the floor plans and we would be happy to have um a proviso
explicitly saying that there would be no basement living and then is how do you get to the rear
yard sure it's in um it's a corner property so let's just show get let me just get over to
that um it's just there's a fence in the back and there's a gate in the fence
there's no longer a door from the rear of the property into the rear yard there is there's
also a door to the roof from the rear that wasn't shown on the plan so i'm just curious which how
like do both units have access to that rear door yeah so the rear door from the building will only
be for the first floor unit but the second floor unit will have access to that space it's not a
private space for that first floor unit so it'll be accessed by both um units the second unit will
have through this gate in the fence we'll have access and that rear so that rear access is that
through that bedroom as you showed on the plan it would be in the rear bedroom correct okay
just because it wasn't it was not reflected on the sponsor what were you going to say
no actually that that vac has been cut so everybody has access through the on the side
where everybody else go access it on the on the side gate okay everyone has there's no
you did remove that door the plan is correct yeah yeah i apologize my misunderstanding of
i get the case is confused sometimes i really truly apologize yes oh yeah there's no door in
the back sorry about that there's there's no door there anymore okay just wanted to make sure and
then can we talk about uh like the work you've done that was outside of the lni scope yes
so can you just explain a little bit about what you had applied for
and then what you were what you have done i think is what they're asking for right now okay so like
i said i was planning to um again when i first bought i didn't know it was this big um so then
when I realized like it was got a lot of space that was just just too much uh so I did break it
down to the duplex um I'm the contractor I did all the work for myself and um so when I realized
that I went to go get to the um the permits the prior permits which they were allowing me at first
but then when they realized I got to go through the zone in first day I guess they stopped it
after that first uh easy permit that I tried to go get um so then they told me well I got to go
the zone in to basically move forward with their the permits and everything after you got that
first stop work order though it looks like you continued work for like almost it's almost been
a year now since you got a stop work order well it's been it's been sitting for over it's been
sitting over i've been done that project for at least eight months seven eight months so after
they gave you a stop work order did you do any other work what work did you do after the stop
work order uh probably more so cleaning up because because by time he put the stop work order it was
uh probably more so cleaning up because by the time they put the stop work order it was it was
it was pretty much
pretty much done it was so it was on some cleaning up any structural work electrical work plumbing
work or anything like that after after the stop work order no nothing nothing major no just as far
as cleaning out cleaning up the place yeah getting everything in and out of the thing out of the
place and the separate meters have already been installed yeah they were all utilities yes they
were already installed before
work stop all that
would you be opposed to a CO
just because technically
L&I should not have inspected
any of the plumbing
any of the electrical that you did for the second unit
because once it's separately metered
that's when it should have
that's when they would have caught it
and so they wouldn't have
reviewed it with this
they would not have reviewed it as a multifamily
so are you opposed to a CO
no because he knows he's going to have to get the additional permits anyway that we discussed this
that he understands that where he's going to have to go back and get you know retroactively the
correct building permits plumbing permits and the new co for the two unit building so
i just want to make sure alfonso we talked about that and you do agree
any other questions yeah can you clarify for me how was the first floor unit um getting out are
they have another egress with the basement because you closed the back door so there's no back door
so how are they getting there's windows in the back um there's windows on the back there's
windows on the side there's windows on the front so there's numerous uh if we go to the plans you
can see there's numerous ways for that unit to get out okay and then the other question is so
do they have access to the basement from the interior no okay thank you those first floor
our windows are egress windows you install egress windows no no they're just windows
yeah they're just windows so then that's that's not a way out i just wanted to point that out
well it got to be a standard size and the size is standard enough for us i'm aware but there's
a specific type of window that you have to have that's also for egress so you do have to install
a specific egress window and that is not i do believe that would come up in part of the permitting
and CO process. And if those windows needed to be changed, they absolutely would be to
meet FHIR code regulations. So that's part of, I understand
what you're getting at, that, yeah, that's why we're going to get the permits.
That's why we need the extra CO. And if that needs to get changed
per building code, it would get changed.
Yeah, you have to have ingress and egress.
Duplex, but I say triplex. Am I reading
something wrong here? The application is for two units.
okay but you've laid out three units and you've got four meters which you mean you've got a panel
for each one of the units including the basement and an extra panel for the landlord so that's
three units and at this point we are applying for two and we will be willing to stipulate that there
should be no living at all in that basement and it could only be used for storage and not
used as a third unit because that's not in part of the application right now okay
Questions from our attorney.
I just wanted to note that we did receive a letter of support from the Allegheny West Civic Association, RCO.
Thank you, Charles Richardson, for forwarding that to us.
Questions or comments from the audience or the virtual audience?
Hi, Chair. We have Charles Richardson with their hand raised.
Good afternoon, Mr. Richardson. You've already been sworn, sir.
good afternoon again board uh councilwoman bass has no opposition to granting the variance
thank you very much sir we appreciate your call anyone else in the audience
i see no further hands at this time planning commission
madison matera planning commission staff the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the
RSA 5 residential single family zoning at this location. The city rezoned this neighborhood in
2006 in a city or a council supported map change. There is no unique physical condition or
circumstance of this property that would prevent it from being used in strict conformity with the
zoning code. The appellant appears to have done work without the proper permits. The city planning
commission recommends that the board deny the proposed use variance for two dwelling units.
So MI2025, 004-009, 3301 North 22nd Street. I vote yes, with provisos. Maximum two units,
certificate of occupancy to be obtained. Michael Johnson. Wait, are we adding no household living
in the basement? Yes. Oh, okay. Yes. No household living in the basement.
Can I just add that Hillary
and do it again? All right. No household
living in basement.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes with
provisos. Cheryl
Gaston, my vote is yes with provisos.
Tannetta Graham, my vote is
yes with provisos.
My vote is yes with provisos.
Thank you so much.
Thank you, counsel.
Thanks.
thank you number 16 mi 2025 004 496 1019 wall street augusta o'neill is the attorney this is
a resumptive hearing this is also a land bank owned property michael johns has recused himself
from the hearing shared they've been promoted to panels good afternoon
oh there we go hi good afternoon could you please state your name and spell for the sonographer
Sure. My first name is Augusta, A-U-G-U-S-T-A. Excuse me. My last name is O'Neill, which is O-N-E-I-L-L.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
So this is—
And I also had to say congratulations on the new appointments to our new secretary and vice chair.
Okay. Thank you.
so this is a resumptive hearing and this is the updates we have letter of support from the 14th
community organization the vote was nine in support including four near neighbors one in
opposition one in non-opposition received proof of posting and a letter of non-opposition from
council member young now we would take any update that you have for us so the last time that we were
in front of the board the rco had had an issue that didn't allow them to have a meeting with
my client prior to the hearing and so we had asked that the board do it a hear and hold so
we presented our full case back on september 10th um and as you just recited mr chair we do now have
the support of the rco and a letter of non-opposition from the councilman
um so we would ask that the board please vote on it at this time okay thank you um
any questions or comments from the board
questions or comments from our attorney
not at this time mr. chair or comments from the virtual audience
there are no hands raised at this time
planning commission already took a position am I correct
okay so we'll go with the vote
MI 2025 004 496
Ben 19 Wall Street I vote yes. Cheryl Gaston my vote is yes. Tanetta Graham my vote is yes.
A1 my vote is yes. Thank you so much members of the board. Okay thank you all right um we're
going to start the uh two o'clock list now. So good afternoon everyone my name is Bill Bergman
I will be chairing the meeting of the Philadelphia zoning board of adjustment.
With me is our Board Secretary, Cheryl L. Gaston.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Our Vice Chair, Tanetta Graham.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Our Board Member, Michael Johns.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
And our Board Member, Taya Wynn.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Also present is our Attorney, Hillary Emerson,
and our Zoning Board Director, Ian Haggerty,
and our board administrator, Lakeisha Dandy.
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Let's look at our schedule.
Wait with you.
One minute.
So number five.
MI-2025-002-750-1122 Frankfurt Avenue.
That case is being continued.
Oh, date is February 11th, 2026.
Number nine, MI 2025-002-846, 5001-205-Frankford Avenue.
That case is continued to February 11th, 2026.
And number 10, MI 2025, 002-849-2619 North 29th Street.
That case is continued to February 11th, 2026.
And number 15.
Number 15, MI-2025-003-591, 4023 Girard Avenue, no exhibits, first listing.
One Girard property, LLC is the listed owner, U.S. remodeling, construction.
no exhibits first listing
do we see any hands
yes chair we have a hand up from alex goldberg
Alex, we're asking you to
unmute yourself. Can you unmute yourself?
Mr. Nockmson is? Okay. All right. Okay. Chair, I think he's having technical difficulties. Okay. All right. Good. All right. So is there anyone else from 4023 West Gerard Avenue?
I see no hands at this time, Chair. Okay. Let's wait for Mr. Nockmson to come back and to be sure that he just didn't get this client.
Okay. So MI 2025, 003-591-4023 West Gerrard Avenue. No exhibits first listing. This case is continued to February 11th, 2026. Mark must be heard. Thank you.
Are there any requests for continuance in the audience? That's not your case, right? Is there any requests for continuance?
i see no hands at this time chair thank you so we're going to do our one add-on
mi2022-007-291-430 west burke street
I vote yes, per refusal, dated 10-8-25, and the rest of the group will have to certify that they watched the video.
I, Cheryl L. Gaston, certify that I watched the video recording of the September 20, 2023 hearing in this matter, and I vote yes with proviso.
I, Tanetta Graham, certify that I watched the video recording of the September 20, 2023 hearing in this matter, and I vote yes with proviso.
i own i certify that i watched the september 20th 2023 hearing in this matter and i vote yes with
proviso that's good that's it okay uh number two mi20 of our regular list mi20240067484283 viola
street ta six three eight three eight murder ferliger is the attorney um steve masters is
also involved
miss ferliger has her hand raised and is being promoted to package
Good afternoon.
good afternoon counsel could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
meredith ferliger f-e-r-l-e-g-e-r all right and mr masters could you please state your name and
spell for the stenographer good afternoon mr chair members of the board steve masters s-t-e-v-e-m-a-s-t-e-r-s
here for the objectors yep okay um so this is a resumptive hearing um and i i'll i'll tell you
what we've received updated proof of posting we received a tax printout and we've received rebuttal
material that's been submitted um i understand where we're going to be with this murder is
you're going to have a chance to cross-examine the protestant's witness and planning commissioner
We'll make a recommendation. And. Meredith, we're going to, you know, we're really backed up today.
We're giving this a half hour and at the end of the half hour, we're going to move forward.
Understood, Mr. Chairman. I'll keep an eye on three.
We'll keep we'll keep we'll keep the eye. Mr.
we anticipate there may be a need to have some brief redirect of our of our witness so i've
talked to counsel about this okay so uh i'm going to give her a half hour and um that half hour will
she should figure out the brief that you have because we just can't go past we've put a lot
of time and effort in this case a lot of time and effort so murdeth why don't you start and
try to get this through as quick as you can. No, no problem, Mr. Chairman. If we can find
Mr. DeBrun, if he's on Zoom, I don't, I don't see him in the audience there. So I'm assuming
he's on Zoom. He's there. I think his hand's raised. Their hand is raised. They're being
promoted to panels. While he's coming on, I'll just bring back up Mr. Masters exhibits for
purposes of my cross? Sure.
Good afternoon. Good afternoon. I'm here. Would you please state your name and spell it for the
stenographer? Chris DeBruyn. D-E-B-R-U-Y-N. All right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the
truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? I do. Meredith, please proceed.
Thank you. Hi, Mr. DeBruyn. So I want to try and go through this as efficiently as possible,
But I do have a contextual question first, and this is going to go to section one of your report here regarding recent sales.
So would you agree, just generally speaking, that in terms of providing sales comps for
So would you agree, just generally speaking, that in terms of prevention,
data like this or for an appraisal, that just a couple of blocks in Philadelphia
can make a material difference in pricing, in sales pricing, particularly if, say,
a neighborhood designation changes? Is that a fair, generally speaking, is that a fair statement?
The sales price is heavily driven by the neighborhood. Yes, I agree.
Okay. So, when I look at your, at least this first column here, you have a list of recent sales. When I look at, say, 1301 South Hanson Street, are you aware that this particular property is three miles away near St. Joe's, nearly 15 minutes away from 4283 Viola?
so wouldn't you say then that that property is probably not a fair comp to be used in terms of
this particular property if i were trying to sell the property if i were a broker trying to show
that that's what the price should be that i should be charging for it i agree with you it's
inappropriate but it is very appropriate as a kind of showing the um the limit of construction cost
The intent of this list is not to show sale costs per se, but to show you the total cost that the developers had in these buildings, including profit and including any fees they need to pay to sell the thing.
And turn it into a square foot cost to show you what the actual cost of the maximum amount of money that the builder could have spent on building the building.
It hasn't it isn't really about the actual like I'm not trying to prepare a comp for a sale, for example.
OK, well, we'll get to that other point. And then just again, in terms of some of the other addresses you used here, would you agree that 3736 Brandywine and then all of the addresses listed under the second column here?
These properties are all in Mantua, not East Parkside, correct?
Correct. There are not any properties available. I don't think when I looked on Zillow prior to the previous meeting, there were none in East Parkside that had been recently sold and were listed on Zillow.
Okay. When you were creating this data, did you do any investigation into how these particular lots were acquired by the developer?
I looked at it. Some of them appeared to be, one of them, I think, appeared to me to have been a land bank purchase, but I was unable to determine the rest of them.
Okay, so then are you aware that all of these Penns Grove lots, that public records would show that all of those were acquired by the developer at below market prices from sheriff sale, not arms land sales?
Not. So they weren't 100,000. They were 10 or 15 or 20 or 30 or something like that. Right.
Okay. And in terms of how you prepared all your data, did you talk to any of the owners or
developers to verify whether their development financials were consistent with the analysis
that you provided? The only analysis I'm trying to provide is the cost per square foot that they
that the developer derived from the project um i didn't talk so the answer the answer is correct
all right so turning to your data here on the next page starting first with your rental pro forma
would you agree that your conclusion here establishes that single family rentals are
not financially viable? I would agree that a 5,000 square foot, 5,000 square feet of three
single families on three $70,000 lots is not viable. Okay. Or it'd be difficult to sell in
the neighborhood. Okay. So then if we just for a moment assume all of the data that you've
provided here is valid, which of course we dispute. Would you agree that this chart essentially
represents that the minimum number of rental units viable across these three lots would be
two per lot or a total of six? I would disagree with the idea of it being viable.
um looking at the at the sales in west philadelphia which is what my the previous
sheet showed there are people are building single families and selling them and people are building
there are people are building single families and selling them and people are building
multi-families and so i'm sorry i want to stop you because i'm not asking about sales here is not
viable um but again i'm not asking you about sales i'm asking you under your rental pro forma
do you agree that what you have established here is that the minimum number of rentals
that would be viable based on your own chart is six units.
I believe that, as you do, that every builder has a different,
every developer has a different cost that they need to earn on their construction.
They have a different cost of construction to some degree.
The $172 there is the average cost per square foot of the buildings that were the sale
price of the buildings on the previous page. So that sale cost includes purchase of the land
and the sales fee and, you know, everything else that's involved. So
I think the actual construction cost is somewhat lower than that.
So it may be viable depending on who the builder is. And it's possible to build a wide variety of
cost in philadelphia okay but i'm a little confused here because i thought that the purpose
of your chart here is to try and establish i guess essentially what is viable on these lots
and based on your own chart here you have provided that single families across three lots
you lose money and then the next time that you can make money is essentially two units per lot
So I'm I'm I'm a little bit unclear. The purpose of this rental pro forma was to was I look I took a look at your at the at the plaintiff's I'm sorry Mr. German's pro forma and it it didn't see it seemed very loose and it didn't seem to represent the project at all.
So I took his model and I changed it a little bit. So my purpose was to kind of understand what his pro forma was saying. It had a number of problems. Number one, it didn't have a 16 unit building, which is what is proposed here. It only had a six unit building.
it used the same land area for each same land cost for each project a single family with a
$70,000 lot and a 16 unit building with a $70,000 lot clearly you have three lots there which I
believe the total cost is somewhat higher than $70,000 and you're going to build three single
families. So the pro forma that was presented didn't really seem to represent the project at
all. So I tried to put together a pro forma that would represent the project and be reasonable.
I'm not trying to say that you can go in there and bottom dollar build something for $125 a square
foot. I think you can, but I don't think that's what the neighborhood wants. I don't think that's
what the developer wants. So I tried to present something that was reasonable. And in that
reasonable analysis, single families of 1,600 or 1,700 square feet each is something you'd have to
work on. This kind of a format is a useful format to look at land and make a decision about what
you're going to do on it on how many units how big the units should be you can make some changes
in the number of units and the size of the of the buildings you're building and that number
changes into a viable project into an attractive project actually okay so let let let's move on
then to the for sale category that you have here so going back up first to your recent sales
So am I correct that your average sales price under the category of built 2020 to present, you come to an average sale price per square foot for single family of $179 a square foot?
Is that accurate? Okay. So then if I turn down to your financial analysis, your pro forma down here, you have a construction, a total construction cost of $172 a square foot and a total development cost of $225 a square foot.
So what I'm trying to understand here is your data would seem to show that the total cost, again, just using this category right here, that the total development cost of $225 a square foot.
that the total development cost of $225 a square foot would seem to be materially higher than one
can expect to sell a single family home for. And in fact, your own data doesn't show a single comp
that would actually support. I'm objecting that it's a multiple question and the witness has to
be able to know what he's being asked when she's going on to three or four different portions.
though i'm asking murder murder let's just make sure that he understands what question you're
asking okay so let me i think i do understand the question um the cost the the column that you're
referencing the the sale per square foot or the total development cost per square foot
the total development cost per square foot so the total development cost per square foot
includes all of the cost right so it includes getting the land the fee to the broker and
everything in between um and those are all a little bit lower and the only point of this was
to say that those are all a little bit lower than the pro forma um than on your performance
cost for just construction so your performer shows cost for construction at 215 or something
like that plus the land and then probably plus some profit that you're trying to add along the
way so but i'm not talking about what germans is showing i'm talking about what your data is
showing the data that you have presented to rebut our testimony shows that an average sale price per
square foot is 179 a square foot yes and then you show to total development cost or sale per square
foot at per square foot rates that are higher. So how does that work? I did actually spend a
few minutes immediately before the meeting looking at Zillow for the same scope. I went in and looked
for new construction in West Philadelphia, kind of near Parkside. And I found two buildings who
are who just sold they're both built in 2024 and uh there are like 210 to 220 dollars a square foot
sale price so um not surprisingly um there weren't a lot of units not a lot of buildings sold um but
there were a couple and not surprisingly um the cost of real estate is increasing the prices
The prices that are shown on the previous page are all from 2003, 2022.
There might be one or two 24s on it, but they're older.
All right, then let's turn to the multifamily because, I mean, again, I think that the same point follows through.
So, again, if you look at your multifamily on your recent sales chart, am I correct here that your average sales price is $168 a square foot across two, three, and four families? Is that accurate?
it yep so then again if we scroll down here same same situation that that we believe renders this
data uh essentially not credible because you've established a construction cost of 172 square foot
and then again a total development cost that is higher than what somebody could expect to sell
the property for except that that's not that not the case at the moment um that uh there are two
properties that are selling over 200 so right but you're saying two properties two properties that
were not a part of your report two properties that are not sold they weren't listed yet these
are new listings new sales but again that that respectfully is not relevant to the data that
you presented to this board. I am asking you about the data that you presented to this board,
not about sales that may have occurred in the last couple of weeks that are not a part of
your data. Well, let me ask a hypothetical question. Is your client going to rent or sell
the units he's going to build? Is he going to rent or sell them? So I think Mr. DeBroom,
listen to me i i think she's the lawyer she'll ask you questions that you just answer the
questions okay i will my apologies okay so um just in in terms of your data here um
do you recall what interest rate you were assuming for the loan that you've sort of
tried to account for in here do you happen to recall what interest rate you were assuming
I have assumed that the loan costs are in the construction cost.
I've assumed that the loan costs are in the construction costs.
I did not.
I did not try to dive in and understand the developer's costs because every
builder has a different cost structure.
I can't win that argument, so I'm not going to make it.
All right.
And then, so in your testimony during the last hearing a month ago,
um you mentioned in your testimony that no one would build what they can't sell so
in creating your data for this exercise understandably you analyzed properties that
had sold but did you analyze properties that may have been sitting on the market
or were unable to be sold that may not contribute towards the conclusion you were seeking to
reach? For every property that I looked at that's on that list, I looked at the Zillow
information. And if there was any previous sale information, I kind of took that down.
And then I went into Philadelphia Atlas and tried to figure out when the permits were issued
So I could get a reasonable period of when it was, when the actual construction occurred.
So I think that the values that I've provided are the correct values for timescale anyway.
So I want to show you then a couple of examples here.
I'm objecting.
These were not part of the applicant's case in chief.
And you closed their ability to provide any new data or any information.
So this is completely unacceptable and against the rules of the ZBA.
So we're going to let her continue right now.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I would just like to note this as an objection.
Can you just explain why?
We're going to move on.
But she never even brought it five days ago.
We're going to move on, please.
Mr. Chairman, and I, if I can, I, this is, this is for the purpose of rebutting his witness here. So there has been no case in front of the board where, please proceed. Okay. All right. So, just to give, wait a minute, just to give you a notice, you have 10 minutes left.
AND I JUST WANT TO NOTE THIS WAS SUBMITTED TO THE BOARD IN ADVANCE. IF IT WAS NOT RECEIVED
BY MR. MASTERS, PLEASE SEND A COPY OF IT TO HIM IMMEDIATELY.
IT WAS.
BUT NOT FIVE DAYS IN ADVANCE.
PLEASE, PASHEED.
THANK YOU. OKAY. SO, AGAIN, JUST VERY BRIEFLY, MR. DEBRUIN, ARE YOU FAMILIAR WITH THE
MULTIPLE LISTING SERVICE? YOU'RE ON MUTE.
Sorry about that. Yeah, yes, I am familiar.
All right. So just taking this as an example. So 4973 Wyalusing Avenue, just outside of East Parkside Avenue.
Would you agree that this MLS listing showed a price per square foot here of $267 a square foot?
Clearly.
okay uh and again the board can take note that this was a listing that was active for a year
and was withdrawn after a year unsold at that at that price uh it's a hundred dollars per square
foot i'm sorry it's it was overpriced it's a hundred dollars more square foot than anything
else that's in in the neighborhood so okay but again we're just trying to show here that that
what you are alleging is being a reasonable sales price is not reflective of what the actual market
is suggesting so so 39.57 why losing uh again would you agree this this shows it was listed at
235 dollars a square foot and again public information would show that this went unsold
after a year as well. Just for the board's efficiency of time here, there are several
other examples, $39.59 Wyalusing, $17.26 Memorial, and $17.13 North 42nd, which again, all went
unsold at prices that were consistent with what you put in your report in terms of what a reasonable
sales price would be and then the last example a little closer to home 4206 viola so this was a
three unit this one can you see here where it says price per square foot 174 dollars a square foot
okay so now this one shows pending
But again, can you see here that the original sales price was $295,000?
but again can you see here that the original
And the new, what's the current price?
The sale price is $280,000.
So it's a couple of other questions.
$280,000.
So even if we assume it sold at the last asking price of $280,000, $174 a square foot price
would be considerably less than your estimated cost of construction of triplex at 250 square foot
what isn't that right the the price per square foot is 174 on the sale right oh but let's talk
about the the his listing price because that's going to represent what a better what it should
be so let's go down to the higher price and that's going to be what 180 something like that a square
foot sure but even if that that's 40 35 000 less per square foot than your client wants just to
build the building but i'm not i'm not talking about i'm not talking about what he wants i'm
talking about what you are saying that the market supports so the total development cost is what i
think the total cost for the broker for the builder developer um that he's going to try and
sell for and then the sale cost is what my guess at what the sale price would be okay
the um the sale portion of this is somewhat irrelevant because i don't think your client
intends to sell a 16 unit building as an individual units and this is not how you
would price a 16 unit building mr chair i don't have anything further from for mr de brun i do
have two redirect questions for for German that should be very brief but I don't know if you want
to allow Mr. Masters the opportunity for his redirect before we let Mr. DeBruin go. Well the
question is Mr. Masters may have other redirect later too right when she's done? Well she seems
to be done with with my with my witness. You want to redirect him right now? I do. Can you do in five
minutes yes okay thank you uh hello mr de brun good afternoon good afternoon so let's um i'm going to
um share the screen oh sorry i have to stop
all right i think i have to be promoted
all right thank you
all right
One more seconds.
Mr. DeBrun, let's just touch briefly on the pro forma that Mr. Jakubov presented.
Can you briefly review why it was that you were surprised that all of the development
costs was equal in his pro forma of $715,000?
um it's kind of the main the main cost in building and obviously the main cost in
building a building is the structure right and that changes with the square footage
it's very reasonable to um to use a square foot number for structure and and foundations you can
do pretty easily um but when you start talking about fitting out apartments um a kitchen is
kitchens and bathrooms are the most expensive part and every time you if you add a couple of
kitchens it it's going to mess up your square foot cost number it's going to increase your
square foot cost number dramatically so going from one one kitchen and maybe two baths to
six kitchens and six baths um is going to change is going to increase a lot um the square foot cost
so so was it your what was your conclusion as to how um mr yakubov said that each configuration
two units three units four units up to six units had the exact same construction cost um it's
um it's it doesn't strike me i mean overall um it didn't strike me that this was a serious
it doesn't
detailed pro forma of the project as i said earlier it's just a list of
numbers kind of tangentially related to construction i guess um
okay but is there in any is there in any in any possibility that six units with with six bathroom
with six bathrooms or more and six kitchens would have the exact same cost as two units
it's highly unlikely it is highly unlikely the cost to build a bedroom and the cost to build
a living room is you know a fraction of the cost to build a bathroom or a kitchen so adding
bathrooms and kitchens is going to dramatically raise the square foot cost. All right. So going
to your pro formas, you mentioned in the cross-examination that you were looking at the
rental scenario rather than the sales scenario for these comparables that you found because
the developer is actually going to maintain ownership of this project and simply rent out
the units to people is that correct yes and two reasons why it's it's important is number one is
i think that's what the intended use is is a rental apartment building and number two when
you're selling a rental apartment building um the the sale cost is based on the rental flows the
cash flows um and i did not make that calculation when i was doing this i just kind of threw a
square foot number at the sale cost. So, um, the sale pro forma is less than perfect in this case.
Okay. But you looking at the rental, um, pro forma, um, is it, it appears that in your,
in your data that the, that the, the duplex option, uh, the two family option, um, appears
to have the lowest development cost and the same construction cost, or actually, no, a
lower construction cost also.
Is that correct?
Is there any, in all the calculations and review that you've done, is there anything
that suggests that a duplex, that they're constructing three duplexes on the parcels
that we're here about would be anything other than completely viable?
Let's see.
I'm looking at the Excel spreadsheet to see if I made a mistake.
So the calculation is the same for each of them.
So it's about the difference in construction costs is about the square footage differences, really.
I think two families is a viable option.
i think that's what this shows so all right and would you agree that um if we're talking about
what would be the minimum configuration that would be that would be economically viable in the for
this for this project what what would you say would be the the minimum uh configuration that
would be economically viable i think that a small developer with a low um cost of doing business
could would build some single families and i think that's proved out by the fact that there are single
families being built in philadelphia um the two family is something would be the lowest option
for maybe a larger developer who has a higher cost of doing business all right i have one last
question mr chair so um mr uh yakubov's email was displayed earlier in in these hearings showing
that he was intentionally holding on to certain properties and keeping them bladed is there a cost
that he has to pay for for that type of uh for his choice to do that and is that objection does
that really objection mr chairman this is the the witness is in no way capable of testifying about
finished finish your question thank you um my question is we uh you you got my preamble the
question is, is there a specific economic cost for a developer who chooses to hold onto properties
and not develop them? And does that come into play when they are trying to figure out what
would be economically viable for them to do this project? I can't speak specifically about
Mr. German's business model because I don't have any information about it other than what's been
presented here. So however, most development companies that have an ongoing business have a
need to have need to line up jobs for the future. So buying property.
um um need to line up jobs for the future so buying properties prior to doing construction
work on them is very common and most developers consider that a cost of their business and it and
form and run their paperwork that run their you know decision making that way and include all
that information in there um most other people would say we're done we're done we're gonna
to we're going to tell me where i just wanted him to be able to finish his his well he seems to
re-ram a little but he said he can't answer the question then he start down a road so
no you can get him to answer it in one minute then let him do it all right mr mr durin can
you just summarize it very quickly as to as to whether mr um yakubov's um holding on to
properties and not developing them might require him to have a higher development cost than other
developers? Yes. A developer would typically, it would, it consumes revenue for whatever minor
maintenance is done. There's a, there's an opportunity cost for the purchase price for
the properties. So there's a definite cost. Maybe there's financing costs for the purchase,
for the properties that they're holding onto. It's a standard development tactic and,
way of doing business.
But it's an actual cost of doing business
for a larger developer.
And that's his choice.
And that's his choice as to how...
That's his choice how to spend his money, yes.
We're done. So here's...
Meredith, what do you have next?
I have two questions
that I'd like to ask German
just to rebut.
I would just maybe have a rebuttal
to cross-examine Mr. Jakubov
briefly.
So we're going to continue this to 11.19 at 2 p.m., okay?
Our clients are-
I totally understand, but each time we come, it gets longer and longer.
So we're moving on.
We're moving on.
I understand your position.
Absolutely understand it.
But next time, we'll get it finished.
I think that we've-
We're done.
We're done.
We're done.
Thank you, sir.
All right.
Thank you.
Okay, so number, we're going to go with number six and number seven, which can be heard together.
MI 2025, 002-794-1240 South Broad Street.
Vern Anastasio is the attorney.
The second one is MI 2025, 002-800-1242 South Broad Street.
Both of them will have a Cantonese interpreter.
There are several provisos, but there's unanimous support from South Broadstreet Neighbors Association.
Mr. Anastasio.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chair.
Good afternoon.
I think I already swore you once this morning, right?
You came on earlier this morning. Yes, sir. Okay. All right. So could you identify your
clients in the relationship to the property? My client is Isu Zhao. She is the owner of
the property. It's two separate parcels, but it is connected. Right. So is our Cantonese
interpreter available? Now, Vern, you mentioned to Hillary that you would only need the interpreter
when he's tested, when the person's testifying. Is that right? That's correct. Okay. Do we have
our interpreter here here i'm here oh good good good could you please state your name and spell
for the stenographer yeah sure my name is bun wang uh b-u-n and then w-a-n-g do you soundly
swear or affirm that you will interpret accurately completely and impartially from english to
cantonese and from cantonese to english to the best of your ability yes okay thank you very much
um um so verne explain to me you'll use her when he's going to when your person is going to
testify yeah mr chair my plan is to just present my case as i normally would uh and then at the
end of my presentation ask my client to raise her virtual hand uh and when i uh do that the
interpreter can uh sure our vice chair has a few questions for you thank you good afternoon
Good afternoon.
Have you submitted your documents and exhibits for both cases five days in advance?
And do you waive the reading of the refusals and stipulate to their accuracy?
Okay, thank you.
You can proceed with your case on your screen.
Thank you.
And Vern, you're handling both at the same time.
But I'm only going to, it's one packet, at least for here, for this presentation.
But I'm only going to, it's one packet.
At least for here, for this presentation.
The application is for, second, there it is, is for visitor accommodation.
This is a very large property for generations.
It has been either a convent or a rectory for nuns and priests and things like that.
So now Ms. Zau would like to use it for visitor accommodation.
It's tailor-made.
It's already outfitted for that.
So and that's what we've been spending the last eight months trying to work through with the RCO.
We have a CBA.
There are some provisos that we can talk about if you'd like at some point, all of which we have no objection to, of course.
So that's the refusal.
we're here to seek the uh the zoning variants for the visitor accommodation i'm going to stop
sharing this screen i'm going to share another uh there it is hold on
okay and these are the plans and i'm going to be zooming into them so you can see them better
okay 1240 1242 or the other way around uh the uh you're going to see a shared business center
uh upon entrance you're also going to see a shared lounge and dining area
and then of course a kitchen on the other side you're going to see unit one hallway unit two
and Unit 3. Go up the stairs here to the southernmost property and you'll be on
the second floor for Units 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. Again, all existing conditions. And then
And going up the stairs again, you'll have units 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13.
We've agreed to commercial trash pickup.
We've agreed to plant some trees.
We've agreed to have contact information available not only to the RCO, but on the property itself.
In addition to having a South Philadelphia property management team.
And with that, I'm going to just call my client.
uh on obviously this property because of its long history you got photos of the property
oh sure my apologies i should have sent you those
i had them hold on for one second
I'm trying to clean up my opening, my open boxes here, so just give me one second.
it yeah properties the photos are awesome you don't want us there we go here's the basement
and we'll take you through some photos it's all very well appointed
Here's the flyer that was mailed to all folks in 350 feet.
Here's the proof of mailing.
And we have, of course, the deed and tax documents have already been sent to the staff at the zoning board.
And with that, I'd like to have Ms. Zhao raise her virtual hand.
Is this the old St. Reedus?
Yes, I think
You know, I lost track of the parishes
But it is certainly a former archdiocese property
That was used for nuns
Interpreter, could you please call the person?
Yes, you are in what way?
你在這裡嗎?現在要到你身邊,你在這裡嗎?
You are in what way?
廣東話的講完
是不是?趙先生,你在這裡嗎?
Hai Su Zhao
Hai Su Zhao,你是不是姓趙啊?你在這裡嗎?
Chair, they're answering as a panelist.
Thank you.
Interpreter, introduce yourself first.
Hi, you're welcome.
I'm going to help you with all of these things.
I'm going to ask you to use a simple,
a simple word to translate.
Do you hear me?
She might be taking a while to get on.
Okay, she actually speak Mandarin, but no problem, I do both.
Okay, you may go ahead.
Thank you.
Well, does Ms. Al need to be sworn?
Could you, I'm going to get her to state her name and spell for the interpreter.
你把你的名字讲出来,然后拼出来,哈?
我的名字AICIDOU
Thank you.
Miss Al, I have three questions
Hold on, ask her
Does she swear or affirm
To tell the truth
The whole truth is nothing but the truth
就是今天你所说的
这是真实无物所知的全部
没有隐瞒是不是
Okay, please proceed
Thank you, Mr. Chair
Miss Al, good afternoon
Did you hear my presentation
to the board this afternoon?
你好,下午好啊
那你刚才有没有听到我刚才所讲的
就是关于那个房子那个东西
你有没有听到
And is it true and accurate to the best of your knowledge
我所陈述的都是
根据你自己的知识来讲
都是正确的对不对
And do you adopt it as your own testimony
你会把我刚才讲的
成为你自己今天的见证吗
it? Yes. Thank you. I have nothing further. So Vern, just before we go on, we have what we believe
are four enforceable provisos. Must obtain a certificate of occupancy, three-year temporary
variance, trash stored inside or in rear yard, no household living in the basement. Yep. We have,
again, all the provisos seem to be reasonable. We certainly don't object to the temporary
variance, although we do recognize the board's reluctance sometimes, considering that she may
have to put in $100,000 in fire mitigation upgrades prior to that CO. But we're not going
to object. We'll leave it up to the board's discretion. Questions from the board? Yes.
How many units per building are you going to use? 13 units total. So it's 13 between the two
buildings that's correct with a shared office space business space in the front and also a
shared dining area as well and a kitchen okay and what size units are these one bedroom two bedrooms
what do we they're all one bedroom i could bring them back up if you'd like there it's a it's a
former convent so i'll be happy would you like me to bring them back up yes yes because i think you
went by them pretty quickly i'm not going to disagree with you there madam secretary
um but yeah as you can see here there's the shared business center the shared dining area
we can't see it yet very oh yeah nothing my bad sorry it's okay there we go
Left to right, we're talking shared business center, dining lounge, kitchen.
Here's our units, one, two, and three.
Second floor, four and five.
The larger ones are 27 feet deep.
And then, of course, the smaller ones are about just under 13 feet by nine.
So who's going to be manning or providing these meals?
So who's going to be manning or providing these meals in this shared kitchen?
Oh, no one provides meals, right?
This is a, there's an accommodation.
So they, people, people have their own meals.
They go out, they grab stuff, they put it in the fridge.
They could fix their own meals.
Yeah, I think that you, you mentioned there's a big dining room.
What's that for?
Right.
Well, people, this way they don't have to necessarily, this way they don't have to necessarily
eat in their room, right?
there's a there's a kitchen take it to there uh okay so the units themselves don't have like a
kitchen in them no no no no um some of the larger ones i think we saw some photos maybe a little
side table but that's about it okay so this is more like a hotel kind of thing yeah that
ostensibly is what a visitor accommodation uh kind of is right i mean technically technically
right i mean even though we don't like to say that um that's that's kind of what it is well i
mean you know usually they they're like one bedroom sort of apartment right units well we
definitely have a unique condition and living room and that kind of thing and okay yeah i mean this
obviously is a unique physical condition here you know an old nunnery for the work not a whole lot
we can do with a nunnery yes i mean i think i'm following the same vein of questions i feel like
typically when you see buildings like this laid out they're operated by a company for example
sonder where they're operating a bunch of these units at once but they are operating as boutique
hotels um for this unit i'm wondering for like the things that you would find in a hotel there's
usually other back of houses spaces that this plans don't seem to show where you're putting
the linens where they're putting all the mini soaps um how are what's the plan for the management
of these and where are the like sort of back of house spaces for the operators going to be located
well deluxe accommodations is the company that is being hired it's run by mr anthony lolio
uh he's actually he's actually been and testified other uh visitor accommodations of mine that i've
done. I've recommended my clients use them and they're exceptional with property management of
visitor accommodation properties. A lot of their stuff for Linens and Washington things are off
site. But his team will be responsible not only for the vetting of the folks who sign up, but also
the management of the company of the of the properties itself okay and then i think following
that also assuming this is going to operate more like those airbnb kind of buildings where you know
the people come in and they bring their luggage so there's no like on-site storage of luggage
and things like that temporary like are they leaving their things while they go
you know off on their last day or is it sort of you show up with everything and then you
leave with everything well that's the in theory the plan is you show up with everything and you
leave with everything however uh for an overnight typically these days are two or three nights you
know maybe four nights uh if you're coming in with a you know a carry-on bag or even you know
a check-in like a roller roller type of luggage uh the thought was that if there was a need to store
these spaces this space here in the shared business center would there would be some sort
of nook in there to hold those luggage that luggage however they are not encouraging it
when you check out is your day your time to check out is your time to check out it's not a full
service hotel gotcha so there's not going to be like permanent staff here 24 7 no like at a hotel
okay and then do it what's the sort of plan for the yard because now you've got this combined
yard is it going to be open for the for the temporary tenants no one's ever no one asked
that we have uh john i'm gonna john is also uh is uh co-managing with this and john zow is here as
well yes hi john uh is there any uh plans could i could i could i swear him in first john state
your name and spell for the stenographer oh um my name is john zen uh john j-o-h-n last name is
z-h-e-n-g and i'm her son all right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth told truth nothing
but the truth yes preces go verne thank you john what's the plan for the yard so the uh we plan
uh not have a guest asset to the yard because uh the guests will uh have a party back there
sometime so yeah so we just might if uh only for emerging emergency x only okay so no uh the answer
Okay. So the answer to a board member's question is no access for the folks, the visitors who will be staying. No opportunity to loiter or litter.
to board members.
Then my follow-up question is, how do you plan to manage that access? Because you probably need to keep egress out of that kitchen door.
So what's the plan to try to manage that if there's not going to be 24-hour management on site?
Well, there certainly will be cameras and lights back there.
So that's part of the RCO requirement.
Other questions?
Questions from our attorney, Hillary Emerson.
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Chair, we have Richard DeMarco with their hand raised.
mr chairman can you hear me i i most certainly can mr demarco could you please state your name
and spell for the stenographer yes richard demarco d-e-m-a-r-c-o
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yes please proceed sir uh i only have a just one or two comments mr chairman uh i i frequently
represent South Broad Street Neighborhood Association, who is the coordinating RCO for
this project. They worked hard on the agreement with Vern Anastasio. And I thought I heard you
say that you, obviously the issue, the critical part of that agreement would be the three-year
temporary, which really the RCO would not have entered into without that being fully supported
by Vern. I believe I heard him say that, although he mentioned some reluctance from the board. Did
I hear you, Mr. Chairman, say that you believe? I think what he said, the board's reluctant not
to give temporary variances, is what he said. Okay. Did I hear that you, Mr. Chairman?
I've read it. Yeah, I did. Three years.
Yeah, I thought I heard you say it was enforceable, not unenforceable. Was I correct?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Okay, very good. We wanted to make sure that that was really, that's all that I have to comment on. Although, I believe Anthony Brutiniti may want to speak more definitively. But yes, as long as it's three year temporary, we are completely on board with this, the agreement.
Thank you, Mr. DeMarco.
Thank you very much.
Well, we have no objection.
I want to reiterate that.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
Yes, Chair.
We have Peter Zutter with their hand raised.
Hi, Chair.
Could you please state your name and spell for the sonographer?
My name is Peter Zutter, P-E-T-E-R, Z-U-T-T-E-R.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Mr. Nutter, are you a neighbor?
So I'm president of the South Broad Street Association, and I live at 1440 South Broad Street, which is fairly close.
Yep. Yeah. And we did work very hard with Byrne, as Rich said, to come to an agreement on this.
I believe you've read most of the provisos and they're in writing in our letter.
The key proviso is that three year temporary.
We feel, you know, your board has pointed out a number of the issues.
with a property like this,
with this kind of a dense use
that is not really supervised.
And, you know, those were all our concerns.
Given the nature of the property,
there's really not much that we can do about it.
And we think we've come to a good agreement
with the owner.
And that's really about it.
As long as you folks will support
the three-year temporary,
we are okay with it.
Thank you very much.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
no hands at this time chair planning commission good afternoon this is liz fuselay last name is
spelled f as in frank u s e l i e r for the planning commission do you swear or affirm to
tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do sir please proceed the comprehensive
plan recommends a change in zoning at this location from rsa 5 residential single family
2 cmx 3 commercial mixed use under the recommended zoning of cmx 3 visitor accommodation is allowed
by right the city planning commission recommends the board grant the proposed variants for visitor
accommodations thank you so i'm going to read both together number six mi 2025 002794 1240
South Broad, and also MI2025-002-800.
8 0 0 I vote yes for both provisos for both must obtain a certificate of vacancy a three-year
I vote yes for both, provisos for both.
temporary variance that expires 10 10 28 trash stored inside or in rear yard no household living
in the basement michael johns my vote is yes with provisos for both for both mr johns yes for both
Thank you.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes
with provisos for both.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes
with provisos for both.
Aywin, my vote is yes
with provisos for both properties.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Number four.
MI 2025
002 711
35 Nippon Street.
Alan Nockmson is the attorney.
There's unanimous support from the West Mount Airy Neighbors Incorporated, 13 votes.
Also, the applicant has provided a petition of 28 signatures from neighbors and also 17 form letters of support, 16 from the immediate block.
Mr. Nockamson, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Yes, good afternoon, Mr. Chair and members of the board.
Alan Nockamson, A-L-A-N, last name Nockamson, N-O-C-H-U-M-S-O-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
And could you identify your client in a relationship to the property?
Yeah, my clients are Eric Tars and Militia Escobar, who are the owners of the property,
and to my left is Eric, one of the owners.
Our vice chair, Tanetta Graham, has a few questions.
Good afternoon.
Have you emailed your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
And do you stipulate, do you wear the reading letter refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Okay, thank you.
You can share your screen and proceed with your case.
And congratulations on the appointment and congratulations board member Gaston as well.
Before I begin, I just want to acknowledge Sophia Calabrese from my office.
She's another attorney from my office.
This was her first zoning matter she's handled.
She handled the community meeting.
so i just want to recognize that she did that and she did a great job all right uh let me uh
i need to be uh promoted to a pat as a panelist
thank you hey you should be coming back in shortly
hi so uh eric and and uh melissa um own this property um melicia sorry melicia have owned
this property for almost 20 well portion this property for almost 20 years um you can see here
the left portion of the property is what they've owned for 20 years here they've owned for four
years and through unity of use they've combined this property what oh it's a reverse sorry uh and
they've and they've owned this property um and they're looking to take a portion right here to
make this for their parking all right so during my presentation we'll review the notice of refusal
which is the first item this is an RSA 5 property you know by you know having this
use as parking we are required to have you know the board's approval we did meet with the community
again you know Eric and Malicia are the owners of the property have been for some time integrated
into this community for almost 20 or over 20 years and they received unanimous support in
this endeavor. They also took it upon themselves to, you know, to circulate a petition. And as you
can see, it's pretty extensive for their proposed use of the property. And then these, this is the
back round petition that people signed in support, along with letters of support.
and then it's not uncommon to have off-street parking on this block and and by the way there
is no parking in on the street in front of where we're putting in this curb cut but 45 nippon street
has off similar off-street parking 42 nippon off-street parking 40 nippon street off-street
parking 38 nippon off-street parking 15 nippon off-street parking and then around the corner
on germantown 72 24 germantown avenue rear off-street parking 2022 and so on and so on
uh this is their property from an aerial view perspective uh this is where they are in the
neighborhood uh between uh brian and germantown and they are an rsa5 property they're just looking
and they are an RSA-5 property.
They're just looking for off-street parking for themselves and their family.
for off-street parking for themselves in their...
And then photographs of the property, you saw that on the front page.
Posters for today's hearing.
This is Nippon to the right of the property.
As you can see, there's no parking allowed on their side of the property.
Nippon on the street to the left of the property.
And, you know, again, these are just, again, our site plan showing, you know,
that has been reviewed by the streets department uh their parking spot is nine feet by 20 feet
and then again not that it matters here uh but we did have uh some floor plans here if the board
had any questions about the configuration of the unit or the single family home and then just to
show proof of our mailing of the community meeting notice. The meeting took place on
August 6th at 7 p.m. A mailing certification that we signed at the request of the coordinating
RCO. These are the addresses we sent it to. Proof of mailing to those addresses. Our application
for appeal that we filed along the notice of refusal in the project information form,
the deed to the property, and the Certificate of Tax Clearance.
With that being said, I'm going to unshare my screen.
I would ask that Eric be sworn in, and I have a couple questions for him.
Sir, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Eric, E-R-I-C, TARS, T-A-R-S.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, County.
Yeah, Eric, you heard everything I had to state today about your zoning matter.
I did.
Is it true and correct?
And do you adopt this as your own testimony?
Thank you.
That's room for one car, right?
One car.
Questions from the board.
Opposition from the neighbors?
We have like, so my clients have lived at this address for over 20 years, but they actually did a petition.
Let me just get there.
I feel like
it's not doing it
but let's just get to that page
16th on the media block
yeah there are a lot of people in support
I did an illustration
just kind of pinpoint how many people
were in support
I just want to get to that
here we go
that's
every blue dot is a property that has either signed the petition or a letter in support of
this project well not a project more so you know putting a this is not a developer this is a
homeowner um who lives in the city of philadelphia with his family just wants off street parking where
there's an issue with you know finding parking in the neighborhood and given that we're not taking
a public parking spot off the street, and we're taking a car off the street, it's alleviating
the situation in that neighborhood.
Is this house a double-wide house?
So what happened is, if you look at the notice of refusal, my clients originally owned this.
Correct me if I'm wrong, Eric.
Which one is it?
This one?
This one, yeah.
originally owned this property then they purchased this property here and by unity of use they
consolidated these two properties so they just have a growing family and just make it easier
to load and unload the children and groceries i got i got it yeah thank you is there a curb cut
already or are you going to do this after you come up with this space yeah we're uh we're waiting
for the approval so that we can get all good yeah okay and how wide is the street that you're
turning off and into uh we have that yeah yeah i mean i could take a look um but there's again
multiple examples there's probably like at least a half a dozen examples of other ones but i can
let me show the turning yeah let's just look at that
so the street itself
I think you had another one too
oh yeah I think I may have with the turning radius
there we go
and where do you park your car now?
on the street
but not on this street right you said on uh on the side of the street where this street has
no parking on our side of the street and then there's parking on the other side but since uh
the other side but since uh there's been a brand new 19 unit apartment building with no parking
there's been a brand new 19
parking's got a lot tighter on our block understood okay thank you
questions from our attorney hillary emberson not at this time mr chair questions or comments
from the virtual audience there are no hands at this time chair planning commission good afternoon
list fuselage for the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the
rsa 5 residential single-family zoning at this location the city rezoned this neighborhood in
1977 in a council-supported map change the appellant has not shown that they would suffer
an economic detriment if they were required to comply with the required side yard in the rsa
5 zoning district the city planning commission recommends that the board deny the proposed
dimensional variance for minimum side yard width.
Mr. Chair, I would just point out the fact that there are multiple instances
on Nippon Street which allowed off-street parking.
We're looking for that similar accommodation where there's no harm
to the public by taking any public parking off of the street.
Can I? I'm sorry.
I have one more question. What happens to the
unity of use if you are removing part of the property that is included in the
unity of use? What are you going to do about that? Well, the property itself
remains. Just think of it as a parcel A and a parcel B.
There's a unity of use. We're just taking a portion of the building
structure that is, and let me just point this out here. That's my question.
The question is, this part of the property is included in the unity of use, correct?
That is correct.
So now if you're going to take off part of this property, I mean, that's what unity of use means.
You're supposed to use the property.
Well, hold on, let me answer this.
Are you going to, what are you going to do about the unity of use or reforming it so that it now reflects what the actual building widths will be?
Well, the property itself stays the same.
There's a parcel A and there's a parcel B.
Just like any other time when you get zoning approval, we ask that all zoning approval remain other than the taking off of a portion of the building to create the parking arrangement.
Okay, so that's my question.
My question is, what are you going to do about the unity of use if you're going to remove part of the property that makes up the unity of use?
Am I missing?
No, no, I understand what you're saying. I think, so based on the way the refusal is written, it sounds like L&I is allowing them to make, to kind of add, essentially add a use, the accessory parking into the existing unity of use.
i don't know if there's other documents that need to be changed as part of that but l and i
specifically noted that this property was subject to unity of use um when in the description so i
don't think it doesn't appear that it changes anything from l and i's perspective um unless
they've asked for other documentation but yeah all right okay thank you thank you okay so um
MI 2025-002-711-35 Nippon Street, I vote yes.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes.
Tana Graham, my vote is yes.
I win, my vote is yes.
Thank you.
Our council said you have a couple meetings to go to,
so I'm going to try to take you all right.
I appreciate it.
Thank you.
So number three, MI 2025-002-409-3552 North 18th Street.
you've already been sworn just for the record state your name alan occamson do identify your
client in a relationship to the property yes my client for 3552 north 18th street is nice town
acquisition llc and in the virtual audience is alan uh boravich one of its members unanimous
support from the allegheny west civic association by five votes um our vice chair tonight tonight
has a few questions. Have you? Thank you. Good afternoon again. Have you emailed all your
documents and exhibits five days in advance before this hearing? We have. And do you waive
the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy? We do. Okay, thank you. Thank you.
So this is an unfortunate situation and we did not represent the client when this happened.
Apparently this was in front of the board in 2019, these approvals. It was approved. For whatever
for whatever reason they never applied for their rental license so as the board knows is that once
reason, they never applied for their rental
license. So as the board knows,
you forget to apply for the rental license you got to start from scratch and that's what we're
doing here so again this board approved this in 2019 they didn't do it intentionally you know
they're asking that the board re-grant this and obviously i will advise them to make sure that
they get their rental licenses. But we'll first review the notice of refusal. This lot is 1,547
square feet. It is RSA 3. There are two refusals, one for household living and four units.
The second one, because it's an RSA 3 property, they're requesting parking as well. We could not
physically accommodate parking. It would be out of character in that neighborhood as well.
This looks more like an RSA 5 property, but as you can see here at the bottom here, in 2019, the board granted four-family dwelling in an existing structure, so nothing's changed since 2019.
Again, Allegheny West unanimously approved this request, and a couple things that they stated, well-kept, law verified by a board member,
and my client's team cleans,
you know, make sure the surrounding area
is cleaned every Thursday.
And again, here's the property history
showing the four-family dwelling.
You have to get your rental license to have that stick
and hopefully this time they'll do the right thing.
And then not out of character
to have similar multifamily
for non RM1 properties. We have 3509 North 18th Street, 3548 North 18th Street, 3546 North 18th
Street, 3515 North 18th Street. Again, we're a corner property. Trash will be stored outside.
We can agree to a proviso in that respect. Also commercial trash pickup. They pick up their own
trash. So it's a bigger group that owns the property will pick up their own trash. Again,
And this is the property from North 18th Street, property from Venango, hearing notice posters
showing proof of posting on each public street, North 18th Street to the right of the property,
to the left of the property, West Venango Street to the right of the property and the
left of the property.
Interior photos, this is, I would assume, from their sites that they advertise.
and then our plans and drawings one thing to note that while there's a basement it's common access
it's there's you know we can also agree to no living in the basement right so everyone has
access to that um but you can see here you walk into unit a um it's it's one uh bedroom and two
baths there's a access for unit a only to the i guess they all can access through the street but
like direct access through their unit and then there's unit b and unit c those are studios and
then unit d is a two-bedroom one bath we met with the community on august 19th at 6 p.m
proof of our mailing along with the addresses our applications for appeal on behalf of nice
town acquisition LLC along the notice of refusal and the project information form and the deed to
property showing that nice town holdings LLC is the owner and then finally the tax clearance
certificate if I could get to that there's a balance due technically but they they paid that
amount so there's four dollars and 79 cents apparently due at one point so with that being
said i would ask that alan uh virtually raise his hand to be sworn in this was approved in 19
2019 by this by this board yes
what's his name again alan borovich should be in the virtual audience
I share, he's being promoted
I'm here
Hi, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
Alan Borovitch
A-L-L-E-N
B-O-R-O-V-I-C-H
Mr. Borovitch, could you put your video on, please
Thank you
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth
told truth nothing but the truth
yes I do please proceed counsel
Alan you heard everything I had to state
Alan, you heard everything I had to state today about your zoning matter.
today about your zoning matter
Is it true and correct?
And do you adopt as your own testimony?
Thank you.
Questions from the board.
Are these units currently occupied?
Mr. Borovitch?
Yes, they're all occupied.
Again, no intentional misconduct here.
They didn't realize about the rental license situation.
I think there was an administrative slip-up.
Obviously, hopefully we get support from this board again as the old board or former board
and obviously then get the rental licenses.
Other questions?
If you know, it says here that this variance that was granted in 227-19 and then it says
proviso
decision
have any idea of what that
be referring to
I'd have to look into the history
but it sounds
it sounds like whatever the
board's decision was
it was appealed to the court or common pleas
and they either reversed or affirmed
depending on what it was
was a five that was back when it was a five family no no that was four family yeah the five family
was was turned down that that or was withdrawn yeah no so this one it says proviso so oh that's
oh see yeah i see the dba granted the variance so it must have been affirmed by the court of
common pleas okay so then challenge to it so then the but the then it wouldn't have they wouldn't
have had to complicate anything until well it was granted so you could go ahead and do it right
but then it was appealed and then it would sound like it was affirmed and in any
time it would be running well it would extend any time for them to actually go and get the
but if you don't know how long if you don't get your uh rental license uh within well i know if
you have an inactive rental license for more than three years the the property reverts how
the lni views it reverts back to whoever zoning it is i also know yeah so that's what happened
and we're well beyond the three years okay even if it was 2021 we're beyond the three years like
i'm just assuming worst case scenario yeah yeah okay yeah but that's a little strange and we
don't usually see that as part of the provisos yeah okay questions from our attorney thank you
not at this time mr chairman from the audience to the virtual audience
planning commission good afternoon liz fuselay for the philadelphia planning commission
The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the RSA 3 residential single-family zoning at this location.
The city rezoned this neighborhood in 2006 in a council-requested map change.
The property appears to have a history of multifamily use.
The majority of homes on this block face range from two dwelling units to five dwelling units,
so four matches the character of the other homes.
The City Planning Commission recommends that the board grant the proposed use variance for four dwelling units.
MI 2025-002-409-3552 North 18th Street, I vote yes.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes.
Iowyn, my vote is yes.
Alan, one more.
Yes, one more.
MI 2025-002-913-3104 Euclid Street.
Alan Nockmson.
Just state your name for the record.
Alan Nockmson.
Could you identify your client, a relationship to the property?
Yes, my client's SLC, real estate LLC,
and in the virtual audience is one of its members, Shati Cooks.
um also um tenetta graham our vice chair has recused herself from this um do you agree with
the refusal and to stipulate to its accuracy i do and all of your um paperwork has been in the list
within five days that's right mr chair why don't we proceed all right thank you
all right so first of all thank you for accommodating i do have a community meeting
tonight so i want to run over there um so people in the back don't look i know that's i i could
feel that i can feel the burn a little bit back here uh 3104 i try to be fast 3104 euclid street
uh, 3104, I try to be fast, 3104 Euclid Street. It's in a strawberry mansion, uh, section of
Philadelphia and, um, pretty straightforward in the sense of this. Um, one of, one of the refusals
has to do with the density. We're asking for a two family dwelling for RSA five,
you know, straightforward. We'll look at it. It's not out of character. The second one
has to do with more so like, uh, of the overlay in this section where, because the width of the
street is a certain size or lack thereof we have our building structure can only be 25 feet high
which also would be out of character to the building to the left and right we're mimicking
the height of the building at 35 feet 10 inches at the roof line and you'll see that
so we received i don't know if they have a vote here but we received unanimous support my
understanding from the community a couple things that we did agree to which are
enforceable we agreed to no basement living as a proviso and the trash will be stored outside
for unit number one on the first floor on the upper floor there'll be a trash closet
um i think that's basically it and then we also have a proviso for revised plans because at the
request of the community we increase the size of the front porch covering and we also remove the
bay window so if the board feels so inclined to grant this variance or these variance requests
Plus, we would ask for revised plans, plus no living in the basement.
And then not out of character to have multifamily on this block, 3114 Euclid, 3131 Euclid, 3138 Euclid.
Again, we're a vacant lot between two existing structures, and you'll see what I mean about the height.
We're RSA 5 property. We go street to street from Euclid to Wilt.
but you can see these are two large three-story structures we're mimicking the height to be
to be requesting of us to be 25 feet high within these three-story structures would be out of
character again this is a recent phenomenon this this regulation and in blocks where there are
two-story structures that would make more sense but we're in between three uh two three-story
structures. This is the front of the property. It's been a vacant lot, at least as far back as
2009. This is 3104 from the rear of the property on West Wilt. Hearing notice posters as well from
each side. Euclid Street to the right of the property, Euclid Street to the left of the
property, West Wilt Street to the right of the property, and then to the left of the property.
our plans and drawings um this is with bruce cheatham of cheatham drafting and design but
you can see we have a porch here which will mimic the architecture of the properties on our block
pretty straightforward plans here you have a shared vestibule area you make a left there's
a living room there's a kitchen there's a bathroom there's a bedroom there's an open floor area
where there's no um we're agreeing to no basement livings just basically for storage
You go up a flight of steps.
Instead, you have a three-bedroom, three-bath
where you would have a living room, a kitchen,
bathroom, bedroom.
Go up another flight of steps, two bedrooms on both sides.
And then you have a bathroom as well.
We met with the community multiple times.
I think three times until we got it right.
Last one was September 25th at 6 p.m.
Addresses we mailed it to for that last meeting.
proof of mailing in those addresses, or application for appeal on behalf of SLC Real
Estate, along with the notice of refusal in the project information form, the deed showing
that SLC Real Estate LLC is the owner of the property, and then finally, the Certificate
of Tax Clearance.
I would ask that Shati virtually raise his hand.
Oh, looks like he's up there already.
Sir, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
My name is Shati Cooks, S-H-A-T-E-E, last name Cooks, C-O-O-K-S.
Good afternoon, everyone.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, counsel.
Mr. Cooks, you heard everything I had to state today about your zoning matter.
That is correct, Alan.
And is it true and correct?
And do you adopt this as your own testimony?
Thank you.
Thank you.
Questions from the board.
What's the plan for the basement?
It's just storage.
Let me keep it open for storage.
No basement living at all.
Other questions?
Questions from our attorney, Hillary Emerson.
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Questions from the audience or the virtual audience?
no hands raised at this time chair planning commission
No hands raised at this time, Chair.
Planning Commission.
good afternoon liz fuselay for the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends
no change to the rsa 5 residential single-family zoning at this location
the city rezoned this neighborhood in 2014 sorry
in accord with recommendations in the comprehensive plan the proposed height
variance matches I'm sorry my computer is acting very strangely okay read it
this way the city rezoned this neighborhood in 2014 in accord with the
recommendations in the comprehensive plan the proposed height variance
matches the character of the other homes on this block face however despite the
presence of approximately five three-family homes this is primarily a
single-family block place block face the city planning commission recommends that the board
grant the proposed dimensional variance for height but deny the proposed use variance for two dwelling
units mr chair is the city planning commission acknowledged on one city block there are five
two-family dwellings not out of character mi 2025 002 913 3104 euclid street i vote yes
proviso revised plans one page stamp by zba october 8 2025 no basement living michael johns
my vote is yes with proviso cheryl gassner my vote is yes with provisos
my vote is yes with provisos and mr chard just wanted to clarify the the one the no basement
living proviso will be no household living in the basement no household living in the basement
Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Number 13, MI 2025, 002-915-1101 Catherine Street. Eric Bodson is the attorney. Letter of support from Hawthorne Empowerment Coalition. Vote was 38. Support 14 in opposition, 4 in non-opposition.
There's also a petition with 31 signatures, a letter of support received from a neighbor, Ann Laskovitz.
Counselor, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Yes. Good afternoon, Mr. Chair. Eric Bodzin, E-R-I-C, B-O-D-Z-I-N of Blank Room.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Could you identify your client, a relationship to the property?
Yes, I can.
my client is uh henry sullivan who is sitting beside me as well as ken penn um who is on our
uh in the virtual audience as he is overseas at this time vice chair tinnett graham has a few
questions good good afternoon um have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance
of this hearing yes i have and do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its
accuracy yes i do thank you so much you can proceed with your case by sharing your screen
chair we have a dominic long with their hammers
i believe that's from council council president's office oh sure um
Why don't we bring her on and see what it's about?
Could you please let her come forward, please?
They're being promoted now.
Right.
Hello?
Hi, how are you?
Could you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer?
Yes, my name is Dominic Long.
Could you spell that, please, for the stenographer?
Yes, D-O-M-I-N-I-C-L-O-N-G.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth,
told truth, nothing but the truth?
So, sir, we're on 1101 Catherine Street.
We're just starting the case.
Oh, good.
If you want to make comments now, it's fine.
Yeah, I was going to say that.
We'll take you.
The second district office does support the 1101 Catherine.
Thank you very much for taking the time to call us.
We appreciate it.
um council yes thank you so much mr chair um and thank you uh to uh mr long and the council
president's office for the support of this project um uh mr chair i'm here again on behalf of uh
benchmark real estate partners uh henry sullivan beside me and ken penn in the virtual audience
we also have katie burrell of the design team in the virtual audience
And I understand that Representative Miss Anne of Hawthorne.
And I understand that Representative Ms. Anne of Hawthorne Empowerment Coalition is in the virtual audience as well.
We really want to thank Hawthorne Empowerment Coalition and the Council President's Office for their continued support and engagement throughout this process.
It is certainly a testament in part to the project just a couple blocks down the street on your screen at 13th and Bainbridge.
named the Parker consisting of 47 units of mixed income and affordable housing that was
recently constructed and also a testament to the ownership's continued engagement since that time
with the council office and HEC Hawthorne Empowerment Coalition on this project which is
a couple blocks away at 11th and Catherine. It is the long-standing macaroni building.
It was constructed, it's 38,000 square feet. It was constructed in 1914 and once the historic
centerpiece of the once industrial Hawthorne neighborhood. The building has been owned or was
owned continuously by the macaroni building family, although its headquarters in the
1970s moved further into South Philadelphia. And most recently, the property has been mostly
vacant. This is the existing property, an aerial of the existing property. And here you can see
the ground level view of the property the macaroni building so the macaroni company has maintained
small offices on the ground floor however the property has otherwise been mostly vacant
despite extensive efforts to find a commercial or industrial user of the property by ownership
um uh you know the the main issue being um that this is a pre-war building that fills the entirety
of the 13 000 square foot lot uh without adequate uh parking or loading on site for modern commercial
vehicles and of course it's now surrounded by a residential an overwhelmingly residential not
commercial industrial neighborhood and that is the issue at the heart of refusal here
that the you know residential use is expressly prohibited in the icmx district
and that parking on site is required the owner was able to secure the code amount of parking
required by this legacy icmx zoning uh all on the block same block of catherine street
um and as i mentioned uh the the sole remaining issue and the reason for this variance is that
the permitted uses have become incompatible with the surrounding neighborhood uh the proposal here
However, is for minimum modification of the building and not only in the scope of the plans, which I'll pull up in a moment, but also within the scope of a very detailed community benefits agreement that ownership worked out with Hawthorne Empowerment Coalition, detailing everything from local hiring to tree plannings and their placement to street sweeping for neighbors.
on the block. This is the zoning map. You can see this ICMX designated parcels, one of the last
to remain in this neighborhood. In fact, the ICMX you see pictured on the block to the north is
currently apartment buildings. On the next slide, you'll see the existing land use. And as you'll
see up and down 11th street and the surrounding community there is no longer industrial use with
one exception if you if we start you can see here a picture of the of south 11th street as well as
the 11th street corridor you'll see you know south 11th street starts from bainbridge you have
residences on both sides of the block despite the ICMX zoning there and then on the next block
on the western side of the block you have what was formerly Hawthorne's Cafe it's now Two Robbers
Cafe which moved into the area you have a one-story CrossFit gym nursery school
nursery school, the subject property, and then across the street, Palumbo Academy.
the subject property and then across the
And this red here actually was an auto shop that was recently redeveloped into residences,
10 residences. Below that, you have more residential homes on both sides of the block.
Across the street in purple, you do have one existing manufacturer, that's Petro's bread manufacturer. It is a one-story building and certainly not of the scope of this 38,000 square foot project.
And as ownership can attest, they spent an extensive amount of time seeking to market this large 1914 built building for industrial commercial uses, could not find a viable tenant.
This map shows you in pink rental licenses in the neighborhood and in blue business licenses.
You'll see there are very few business licenses remaining in the neighborhood, as opposed to what are the true commercial corridors that are the Italian market down here on South 9th Street and South Street up to the north.
This area is well-suited for transit-oriented development.
You can see here apartments nearby.
There is the east-west 40 bus line.
The north-south 45 bus line, I believe, and the Broad Street line is within a couple blocks.
And as you can see in green, there are new bike lanes and a recent street-scaping design on South 11th Street itself,
accessible directly from the bike storage that ownership is providing at the property.
The next exhibit we have here is a letter from the property's appraiser, the Flynn Company, noting the lack of viable or marketable features necessary for an industrial commercial user.
In summary, the broker points to two factors that make this parcel incompatible with the permitted uses, one being the nature of the existing building.
Again, as trucks would be required to back into the building and block the sidewalk and the building itself with an existing loading zone in front, albeit a small one, is not fitted for modern commercial trucks or commercial access.
and as just one loading dock, second being the residential, overwhelmingly residential character
of the surrounding neighborhood. As you see here, Mr. Flint of Hine, quote, we are seeing less
demand for these older, functionally obsolete buildings in tertiary locations. We also have
a letter from Jim Paterno at Stockton Real Estate Advisors, also finding that the subject
property is not suitable for modern commercial or industrial tenancy, again, given the nature
of the building and the surrounding neighborhood.
The conclusions, again, being that the permitted uses here were but are no longer compatible
with the existing building in this location the next exhibit is a sport letter from the
hawthorne empowerment coalition the ownership met extensively with the neighbors over a series of
of meetings over the spring and summer and as i'll detail in a moment entered into a very
comprehensive community benefits agreement to ensure minimal modification and beneficial not
adverse impact in this community the vote ultimately in support was 38 in support and 14 opposed
we understand that certain neighbors have had a negative experience with development in this
this neighborhood hawthorne empowerment coalition the council office were very helpful in convening
these continued and engaged meetings with the neighbors this oops this is the neighbor the
community benefits agreement maintaining as I mentioned both blocks
Maintaining, as I mentioned, both blocks, I'm sorry, both parking lots on the property, totaling the code required amount of parking because the existing building fills the lot so parking cannot be provided on site.
There is also a commitment on ownership to provide and pay for regular street cleaning services weekly for the entire rear block of South Jessup Street to provide.
I think you have to go over a whole community. Wonderful. They're all enclosed in the packet.
Local hiring, ground floor, community amenity space are particularly important to the community.
These are the parking lots across the street that I mentioned that the ownership was able to secure.
and i'll be very brief with with the plans for this minimally uh minimal construction of this
adaptive reuse project um uh the what what in in totality uh these plans show is the preservation
of the entire envelope here just repointing and repainting of the facade um and ada and egress
upgrades to the front of the property as well as additional egress in the rear for commercial
properties as well as rear trash space. There are 47 units to preserve the building as much
as possible with minimal construction and take advantage of the broad windows of the property.
those units are mostly one-bedroom dens with the average unit size is just over 800 square feet
there are only three studios they are at average of 600 square feet and the ground level apartments
are all bi-level so they are windows with egress and again well suited to this layout
In front of you is the first and second floor layout of the next slide are the upper floors and the roof deck. There is an existing roof deck access structure. The deck is set back from the street and the community benefits agreement further details posted required quiet areas and posted signs around the building to ensure that those areas are in fact quiet and well maintained.
um these are the life safety plans again showing um the additional egress points at the property
it's a full plan set um in your exhibit package and um miss katie burrell is also on uh in the
virtual audience as the design professional for this project um one um uh last point of the plans
that we were pleased to elaborate on with the City Planning Commission was that the street
furniture and plantings and streetscape in collaboration with AGC really matches the
recent redesign of South 11th Street to include bike lanes and street calming measures that are
that are well suited for this adaptive reuse project um again this is the uh community support
letter we also have enclosed support letters from the nearby businesses i mentioned uh two robbers
which has recently replaced the beloved hawthorne cafe as well as bella vesta beverage across the
street sport letter a petition of support from 31 neighbors in the surrounding community
and this is again the rendering of the repointed and repainted 1101 catherine street in conclusion
mr chair members of the board we submit grant of this relief is consistent with the spirit of the
code to encourage viable adaptive reuse, particularly for historic buildings of this
nature in a transit-rich area that has become overwhelmingly residential.
And further, per the minimal work scope we've described in the community benefits agreement
that we spent a lot of time putting together, this minimal modification will have a beneficial
not adverse impact uh on this residential neighborhood's character congestion public
facilities adjacencies health and safety and the built environment again mr chair we want to thank
hec and the council president's office for their partnership and their support this team
their support this team is deeply committed to continuing to work in good faith with all
is deeply committed to continuing to work
neighbors and stakeholders into the future and uh mr chair this concludes my direct testimony
this afternoon ken penn is in the virtual audience to adopt and affirm my testimony ken ken penn
oh henry can also adopt and affirm my testimony for efficiency yes hi sir could you please state
your name and spell for the stop henry sullivan henry sullivan h-e-n-r-y s-u-l-l-i-v-a-n you swear
or further tell the truth the whole truth yes sir please proceed council thank you mr chair mr
sullivan how are you this afternoon uh mr sullivan have you uh heard the entirety of the the testimony
that i just presented yes and uh can you uh is it true and accurate to yes thank you is it true
accurate uh uh to the best of your knowledge yes and do you adopt and affirm my testimony as your
own yes thank you mr sullivan questions from the board
no question curiosity you said something about this being historic are there any
has it is it locally nationally uh historic it has not been locally nominated that's correct
okay and do you have any easements like with the preservation alliance for great don't believe so
there are no easements for the i'm sorry i don't want to yell there are no easements for the
preservation alliance but it has been nominated by the state historic preservation and uh right
and it is being recognized at the national level so it is being all of our plans are reviewed by
the national park service to keep in in touch with the historic fabric of the building okay
all right thank you other questions questions from our attorney hillary emerson not at this
time mr chair questions or comments from the audience or the virtual audience hi chair we
have an last of go with her hand raised all right hold on i i have someone i'm in here come on up
yeah why don't you let let somebody take a chair
good afternoon good afternoon you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
matthew connor m-a-t-t-h-e-w right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth i do are you a neighbor i am please proceed with your testimony my name
is Matt Connor. I live on Marvine Street. I've lived there for 16 years with my family. Marvine
Street's a very unique street. We have over 40 kids on our block. We have a nice, wonderful
community. Kids are able to play outside, and everybody knows each other. Marvine Street is
also the first place that people are going to be looking for parking, you know, the 47 to 90-ish
people that are going to live in this building. They're going to turn right there onto Catherine,
then they're going to turn right on on tomorrow vine um we have older residents who've been on
the block for generations who rely on being able to park on our street and we cannot absorb
you know the types of uh you know additional cars and traffic uh that's going to come in um
i know mr bodson uh alluded to the uh meeting summary that uh hawthorne empowerment coalition
set in with respect to the august meeting which had 14 people opposed uh they also note in there
that virtually all of that opposition is from Marvine Street.
If they had reported on the first community meeting
that was held in May,
they would have noted that there were only three votes
in support of the project out of over 40 attendees.
The August meeting, we were presented,
we were sent the night before a draft of the CBA,
and during the meeting,
it was, we found out that HEC had not even had a lawyer review it.
I believe, correct me if I'm wrong, sir, but I believe Mr. Bozzin drafted it.
And after that was revealed during the meeting,
several lawyers who were residents within Hawthorne got on the call
to indicate that they've also read it and would never allow their client
to sign such a document such a one-sided unenforceable document the community has received
no updates from either the applicants or from HEC on the CBA I was at the the HEC monthly meeting
two weeks ago and Daphne Watkins one of the interim co-presidents committed to me
publicly that the community would receive a an executed copy in advance of this hearing
I sent
Anne and Daphne
an email two or three days ago
two or three days ago asking for an update on when that would be coming and received no response
asking for an update on when that would be coming
and received no response
people remain you know very opposed to this and there are things that uh the developers
can do with respect to parking um in advance of any sort of approval of um the the appeal
that would give us much more uh much more comfort um we don't believe um that they've you know
acted in good faith towards the neighborhood throughout the process and you know can't even
review the doc this the the CBA that was flashed up there for two seconds we've got other neighbors
here you know to express opposition I know other neighbors have written in written in by email so
you know puts us in a difficult position we don't want to be unreasonable we understand the
restrictions with respect to the building. But it certainly has been our experience that the
developers are really dragging their feet and not really willing to make, you know, firm commitments
in advance. And I'm not even sure if the CBA has been signed. Like, I haven't had an opportunity to
review it. Another example, you know, we tried to present some possible solutions, such as working
with the city to bring back parking spaces to the neighborhood that have been taken over by loading
zones and other official and restricted parking areas that really don't get used at all.
You know, they've said they'd investigate that and, you know, talk to some people in
the city.
But for us, you know, if you approve their appeal, all our leverage goes away and, you
know, it's quite possible that they're not going to do anything.
So, you know, I'm not an expert in these matters.
I don't know what's possible, but, you know, it seems to me in this case, it's something
like a deferral would be appropriate until we can actually get certainty with respect to the
neighborhood's concerns and at least be able to have people review the CBA. I'll pause it.
But did the RCO, didn't the RCO do that? I don't know. They haven't, they haven't
communicated anything to us. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Do you have any questions?
No, I don't have any questions. I'm happy to respond. Why don't you do this? Why don't you
wait to see how many other people come up and then respond to them once? Anyone else in the
audience here. Come on up, sir. Good afternoon, sir. Could you please state your name and spell
for the stenographer? I'm Pete Janosik, J-A-N-O-S-I-K. I want to get a little closer to the
mic. Janosik, J-A-N-O-S-I-K. Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth,
nothing but the truth? Yes, I do. Are you a neighbor? Yes, sir. Are you in favor of this
project you're against i'm kind of torn i have i have a 34 year background doing land use and
zoning in new york city and i'm still learning how you guys do things down here and i did help
out with the uh stadium a little bit um i i live very close to this building and i walk by it
every day and like the first thing I when I saw the notice go up that this was going to be
redeveloped my first question knowing the age of the building was asbestos and you know is there
you know has this been looked into it is most likely there was there at some point has it been
removed was it done legally was it by you know someone who was a company that is licensed to do
this um you know that's that's a you know environmental question is a big thing i mean
i spent my life my professional life reading environmental statements of the size of telephone
books which kids today don't know what a telephone book is and basically in this case it's like
i've just seen how much changes have happened on 11th street since the two years i've been there
And it's like with the bike lanes that have been put in,
the traffic congestion just gets worse and worse all the time.
The amount of, like, development in the neighborhood,
it's like you take the cumulative effect of everything
and, like, all the cars and all the people,
and you don't see any sort of infrastructure being improved.
And it's like parking is horrendous there.
And, you know, the parking for this facility, which I read,
was basically, okay, they're going to get these spots on both sides
of the beer distributor, but it's only for 10 years.
And it's like, after that, it's like, okay,
things are just going to get worse because everywhere you look in the neighborhood,
you know, Rite Aid is happening, then, you know, the place, you know, up on Broad Street,
that, you know, that, they're just going into phase two over there.
But even, you know, just even very close in the neighborhood, just more
and more and more and there's no more parking spaces to put cars and you know the thing that
The thing that also bothered me was the fact that I listened in on the Hawthorne Empowerment Association meeting,
also bothered me was that the fact that i uh listened in on the hawthorn
and it was like, the people there seemed to be, like, felt like they were between the rock and the hard place.
It's like, it came up in the meeting, it was like, okay, if you don't approve this residential component,
well, we're going to put an Amazon distribution center in here, which scared the hell out of everyone.
Because obviously, the area has just gotten more and more residential.
And now, to put something there would really basically freak people out.
And so it's like, just listening to the hearing and listening to people in the association,
you could tell these are people who don't have a background in land use and zoning.
And they're being led.
Very smart attorney.
He knows what he's doing.
and you know they don't think they have any options and it's like you know so you know
so let me go back are you for this or against and your answer was you're torn
i'm very torn about it because okay so you're not against it i could see you know of
i mean there's there's a lot you know there's a lot more environmental work i mean what i really
would love to see is like for this area and for south philly is a master plan i've worked on
master plans in new york city right and this place is screaming for a master plan you just can't have
like oh here here here and here not think of the grand effect that's going to have on everybody in
the neighborhood your quality of life is going to go to hell so if you don't do it so i i thank you
very much. I think I understand where you're coming from. Is there anyone else
in the audience? Thank you very much.
Good afternoon. I've been
watching you sit there the whole day, like for a long time. Could you please state your name
and spell it for this? My name is Basha Bubel, B-A-S-I-A
B-U-B-E-L. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth
and nothing but the truth? Yes. Are you a neighbor? Yes. Are you in favor of this project
or against yes okay and could you tell me anything we haven't heard yes so um i couldn't attend the
august meeting because everything is always announced last minute but i was at the um may
meeting and majority of us were opposed so i don't know where you guys got the people that
were in favor of this um but basically almost everybody in the neighborhood or sorry in the
block that would be affected most by this which is marvine street where i live we were all open to
being in favor of this if they provided a lot of insure assurances which mostly um have to do with
parking and the thing that they presented were the spots across the street which they packaged
nicely as oh we're offering this parking but they didn't mention the cost and the cost is i think
$325 a month per spot, which we all thought was extremely high and that most of the residents
would decline to pay that and they would be forced to get a parking permit and then fill
up the streets with extra cars. The other concern was that there were too many one bedroom units in
addition to three studios, 47 units is a lot. Let's say we can safely assume that at least
there will be one car per unit and that would make, that would change everybody's life around
that whole block because marvine is directly behind it those spots will get filled up and so
there are a lot of other concerns um like asbestos was a great concern but we are mostly collectively
concerned about parking and congestion there are already plenty of apartments around the area and
more and more construction and so i'm opposed to it because it's going to change our whole
neighborhood with extra congestion thank you and i think before the council's going to follow up
with some issues, right?
Is there anyone else in the audience?
Come on up.
Hi, could you please state your name
and spell for the stenographer?
It's Jennifer Shropshire.
S-H-R-O-P-S-H-I-R-E.
Do you swear or refer to tell the truth,
the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Are you a neighbor?
And are you for this project or against?
I am for the idea of the building.
It is the other parts that people have been emphasizing that give me concern.
And I think that my concern in large part is a lot of,
a lot of it's a lot of cheerleading and a lot of emphatic assertions that it's going to be
it's a lot of cheerleading and a lot of emphatic assertion.
beneficial for the neighborhood yet there isn't really evidence of that okay and so i distrust
the promises until they're documented so so you're yeah so you're not against the building itself but
the things around it is what concerns you and you don't trust what's going on the implications of
the building okay all right thank you very much for sitting here the whole day we appreciate i
I saw you sitting back.
Anyone else in the audience here?
Is there anyone in the virtual audience?
Chair, we have Ann Lesteva with her hand raised.
You're allowed to speak.
How many other hands do you have?
We have one more from Riley Ross.
All right, thank you.
Ann, could you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer?
Yes, my name is Ann Lestufka.
That's A-N-N, no E.
last name Lestufka, L as in Larry, A as in Apple, S as in Sam, T as in Tom, U, V as in Victor, K, A.
All right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
I do. Are you a neighbor? I am. Are you for the project or against? I am for the project.
Okay. Obviously, the attorney has given us a lot of reasons why the project's good. Can you tell us anything else than what you've heard?
um well the the council's uh presentation today was very thorough sorry my dog is having some
zoomies um but yeah so they were very thorough um so i don't know if i necessarily have too much
i just wanted to re-emphasize that it is a wonderful repurposing um given what it is and
any other by right usage would grossly underserve the community because as the
Council said the fabric of the neighborhood has greatly changed and the added density would
greatly benefit nearby businesses. All right well thank you very much for staying on the phone so
long and we appreciate your input. The next hand please. Chair I'd also like to add that we also
have ken penn with his hand raised as well okay good afternoon uh good evening chairman hi could
you please state your name as bell for the stenographer yes my name is kenneth penn p-e-n-n
first name is kenneth k-e-n-n-e-t-h i am uh with the developer all right hold on one minute do you
swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes i do mr penn you you
work for the developer you're you're in favor of the developer um i am with my name is kenneth
and i'm one of the developers with henry sullivan on this project all right is there anything you'd
want to tell us yes um we've we have worked in this community for the last four years we developed
a development right down the street called the parker it's a 40 it's a 45 year development um
It received awards for design and for our work there.
We have worked with the Hawthorne community in the past and have been successful in working with them and have delivered a product previously.
And we have made commitments to Hawthorne community in the past.
And so I think there's a relationship that we have to in our initial development.
And we will be making our commitments in the future on this development.
If approved by the ZBA, we will continue to make our commitment.
We have been very involved and very involved with everybody.
We've received approval by the Hawthorne community and will abide by our agreements with them.
Mr. Penn, thank you very much for taking the time.
Is there anyone else?
well thank you
Riley you're allowed to speak
okay thank you I just got the
my name is Riley Ross
hi Riley could you spell your name for this
stenographer first name is
R-I-L-E-Y last name is
R-O-S-S
you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
and nothing but the truth I do
Mr. Ross, are you a neighbor?
Mr. Ross, are you in favor of this project or against?
I am in favor of the building and the concept.
I am against the project as currently proposed.
Thank you very much for taking the time to call us.
Is there anything you could tell us that we haven't heard?
And I apologize for having to do this through Zoom.
I wanted to be there in person, but work commitments kept me going.
And I have not heard a lot of the prior testimony,
So I'll try not to be repetitive, but I did hear testimony and I'm in line with the parking situation.
the parking situation. I've been a resident since 2006 on Marvine Street, and I've seen other
I've been a resident since 2006 on Marva.
proposals come through the HEC in which they are more developed, especially when attorneys are
involved. I'm an attorney myself, and I just would expect a CBA or any type of proposal to have more
definitive terms in it. I never would approve any type of proposal for my client that had
The promises of looking for additional things, these are terms that can be locked in. I don't think that the project needs to move forward now without these very important terms regarding parking solidified.
I think that having residents in that building would be great, but without parking assurances, it will be disastrous for the residents in the community.
We need more firm assurances regarding parking, and I've seen it done in other places, and there's no reason it can't be done with this building.
All right.
Mr. Ross, thank you very much.
I know you've been on the phone for a while waiting for us, and we appreciate your input.
Anyone else?
Not at this time, Chair.
Planning. Hold on. You want to respond?
Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
But not the whole case again.
Absolutely. Absolutely. I'm pleased to directly address the neighbors that shared their time to testify today, particularly about two things.
One, parking and second, the community benefits agreement.
And I'm pleased to report first that after the first meeting that several of the South Marvine Street neighbors attended, the second parking lot to achieve the code required amount was secured.
The first parking lot is owned, I should clarify, by ownership. The second on the corner, if I can pull back our slide, is being leased by that applicant.
And at the second meeting, I think this substantial point of feedback from neighbors, having been incorporated not only into the development plans, but into a CBA, was a very encouraging update to the neighbors and a big part of the support for this project.
There was additional feedback at that second meeting that the community benefits agreement should be reviewed by legal counsel of HEC, which is a well-established community-based organization, to which I absolutely and the ownership team absolutely agreed needed to happen.
In fact, the vote was conditioned upon HEC having legal counsel review and provide specific updates to the Community Benefits Agreement.
HEC secured counsel to review the agreement, Joshua Rubinsky.
Joshua reviewed the agreement specifically per the neighbors' concerns that the agreement shall be binding upon successors and assigns.
The parking in the agreement is guaranteed to be used and maintained by the current owners and by any successors in the signs.
There is specific injunctive relief contemplated by the agreement such that if that parking condition were ever violated,
the neighbors could pick it up and take it right to court because it's critical that this parking actually be maintained on the site,
as well as a mediation clause to ensure that any issue with the CBA would be dealt with efficiently.
And Ms. Anne, who you heard from on the line, is actually the zoning chair of HEC.
And I know I don't want to bring her back unless the board would like her to,
but I know it's HEC's commitment that that fully executed and updated legally enforceable agreement
be circulated among solely interested neighbors as it was prior to the August vote, which again
was conditioned upon that legal review. The only other thing I would add is all of the commitments
in the CBI. I know we didn't want to exhaust each of the commitments. Each is specific to
everything from street cleaning to placement of street trees and landscaping and
uh ground floor community room um uh for hgc and other community-based organizations
except for the the last three clauses of that agreement which i'm happy to pull up those are
um uh so the zoning board the zoning board doesn't understand the zoning board doesn't
so the zoning board the zoning board doesn't understand the zoning board doesn't enforce the
cva but this is a duly executed agreement and those commitments are to coordinate with
uh otis the city's office of transportation infrastructure systems as well as council
president's office uh to further update streetscaping and uh traffic calming measures as per
the really helpful comments from some of the residency today so that's all we want to plan
planning commission sorry about that sure this is liz fuselay with the planning commission that
plugged in does that it is yeah okay yeah go ahead the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the
icmx industrial and commercial mixed use zoning at this location the city rezoned this neighborhood
in 1979 in a council-supported map change planning commission staff met with the appellant on
september 19th 2025 for a preliminary zoning review this is a primarily residential block
face and the comprehensive plan recommends supporting reuse of obsolete industrial property
outside of industrial protection areas the appellant has shown that there are unique
physical conditions or circumstances that would prevent a strict conformity with the zoning code
the city planning commission recommends that the board grant the proposed use variants for
multi-family and the proposed variants from required parking in the icmx zoning district
thank you very much um mi 2025 002 915 1101 katherine street i vote yes michael johns my vote
is yes. Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes. Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes. I win, my vote is yes.
Thank you, counsel, and thank you for everybody taking the time to come in and testify. Thank you
all for your time. Thank you. I'm going to go to number one.
Thank you.
Thank you.
number one mi2023 004 267 900 east chelton avenue movement islam is the attorney for
Green Eagle Properties.
Thank you, Chair. This is Jason, and I am
stepping in again temporarily. Movement
Islam has been promoted to panelists.
They'll be back in trouble.
good afternoon council
Good afternoon.
Counsel, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Yes, let me turn my volume.
I'm not sure I can hear you guys very well.
Can you hear me now?
Yes, I can.
My name is Mukmin Islam.
It's spelled M-U apostrophe M-I-N.
Last name is spelled I-S-L-A-M.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client, the relationship to the property?
Yes, my client is here on behalf of Green Eagle Properties.
Yes, my client is here on behalf of Green Eagle Properties, Mr. Semi Uxel. He should be raising his hand, but he's in the gallery, I believe.
Okay, our Vice Chair, Tanetta Graham, has a few questions for you, sir.
Good afternoon. Have you emailed your documents and is it fixed five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, I submitted to the portal.
Okay, thank you.
And do you waive the reading of the refusals and stipulate to their accuracy?
Yes, I do.
All right, thank you.
You can share your screen and proceed with your case.
All right, thank you.
Let's go to...
All right.
sorry one second
it's been quite a journey on this matter
but hopefully we can come to a final resolution
today I'm here in regards to 900
East Shelton Avenue. As you can see in the picture right there, Shelton Avenue, or the
property I'm referencing, my client owns is the little lot. So it's the lot with the wooden gate
around it. A brief explanation of why we're here. We are here.
If I remember correctly, Counselor, you were here before, right?
A few times, yes.
Right. So we're looking for a revised plan.
Hillary, am I right? We're looking for revised plans.
The last time we was here.
The proof of posting and needed updated proof of tax. Is that right?
Correct. Last time, here's the, I didn't get a chance.
I don't think I did a full presentation.
I'll do a brief presentation to explain to refresh everyone's recollection.
So basically what we're asking for is a change.
Right now, the property is listed as RSA 3, and you'll see that everything around it is either RM1 or CMX.
We're asking for permission for multifamily.
The proposal is a three-unit apartment building, and it will bring it consistent to the current structure.
I'm going to jump through some of that.
As you see, there are CMX 1 or 2, or some of them are actually RM1, which is what we're asking for.
uh the owner as i mentioned green eagle properties we'll skip through this here as you see the old
how it used to look in the previous picture post development i'll show you the revised plans
uh well actually i'm sorry here's the example what i was referencing to the board as you can
see my product client's property right here is the yellow one with the like a square with the
extra in debt right here this is his property right here the problem is as you can see this
is cmx this is cmx this is i'm sorry this is a rm1 this is rm1 rm1 rm1 and then these pieces here
are cmx so everything around it is basically has the ability to be commercial and or a multi-unit
except this property here and that and the other one you saw that was next to the to the lot
uh this is a property right here that's to the right this is the property that's here to the
right that property to my understanding is a commercial on the lower floor and on the top
has at least two units possibly three as you can see this is that same unit and you see the
extension of how far that property goes on the other side uh so update on the plans here are
the proposed plans. This picture right here that's looking at you is actually the side
that will be facing onto Boyer Street. They didn't mean to do that. Sorry, let me go back.
So if you see right here on Boyer Street, okay, as you go over here on Boyer Street,
This is the front of the building.
The one that's pointing to this way is the front of the building, and that will be facing Boyer Street.
So that's what you're looking at right here.
Looking at directly in front of you will be facing the Boyer Street.
What we're asking for, just to give you an idea of what the development looks like,
back here is going to be a fire escape.
So it's not fire escape a fire exit. So there will be a door to the back for that exit
Here's where we'll have private trash private trash pickup private trash pickup will be right here located
And then here we anticipate and that's where I think there's needed additional eight foot that we're asking for to extend over
um in that regard from here for the development because it is a little bit of an hour location
In that regard from here for the development because it is a little bit of an hour
as far as the units here's what the units anticipate looking like um as you can see
originally and this is another thing when we first went to the community we were looking to do a six
unit we're talking initially doing a six unit we could we talked to the to the community we had a
negotiation and then decided to come down to the three units as opposed to six um secondly
in addition to coming down to three as opposed to six, we had some discussions about what they
didn't want. So a couple of things were developed or built into this platform program after our
communication. So for example, in the basement, there will be no basement dwelling, no dwelling
in the basement. In addition, we had concepts for a potential rooftop, no rooftop as well.
Instead, what you see here are the three proposed units. As you can see, each of them, if I zoom in
a little bit. The smallest one is 2,100 square feet. You have a 2,200 square foot and then a
2,300 square foot. As you can see, the specs on the bathrooms, all these properties will be
three bedrooms. And you can see the specs accordingly there. In the back, the last thing
I'll show you in the specs is here will be the stairway, which will lead to, as I mentioned
before the emergency exit.
I think I went the wrong way.
I didn't get it.
My computer's been making funnier than that.
What else?
Generally speaking, before I take any questions,
The developer, Mr. Semi, he can, if he can be brought in so he can affirm the testimony.
But generally speaking, what we're looking for, we did meet with the community.
We have had several meetings with the community, at least three.
We did eventually get a letter of support from Faith, I forget the name of the entity, but it was one of the RCOs.
There were several RCOs we had to deal with.
and we finally
organized the last RCO and we did
get a letter of support that was dated
from earlier this year.
Can Mr.
Semi-Yuksel be coming on so we
can... Sure.
Yes, I'm here.
Hi, sir. Could you
please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Sure. It's Semi-Yuksel.
It's S-E-M-I-H
and the last name
is y-u-k-s-e-l
you swear or affirm to tell
the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yes I do please proceed
counsel thank you Mr. Uxel
can you state your what is your position with
this company
I'm the managing member of the
Green Eagles properties
okay and did you hear the testimony
that I said earlier
yes I was I was there and I did hear
okay do you agree and affirm
with that testimony
yes yes i do exactly that's correct i do agree okay and and do you and do you have uh do you
accept that testimony as your own yes i do all right i have nothing further uh board council
you you started with six units and you're down to three yes yes we started with a rooftop deck
and there's no more rooftop deck no rooftop deck no basement living no basement questions from the
board. What's the width and the
length of the building? And is there a rear yard?
Give me one second. There is not a rear yard. Give me one second
to look at the width and length.
It's like the 18
like it's 24 by 90 I believe or
It should be
The front
Right here is the dimensions
Oh, I didn't mess that up
No, if you go to the other page
It should be on the other page
On the floor plans
Yeah, on the floor plan they have it
And you've got, what, an 8 foot rear yard?
Yeah, on the floor plan
I think it's 24 by 91, if I'm not mistaken, but...
Let's see.
Are you able to go to the floor plans?
Yeah, it looks like 90, 92, is that not 90?
91, oh, it's right there, actually.
92, I'm sorry, yeah, 92.
92, I'm sorry, yeah, 92.
24 by 92, so I was off by...
24 by 92, so I was off by
one inch, yeah.
91, it's 92.
These are
very huge
gracious units.
They're larger than,
the floor is larger than
a typical row house.
So, they're
very, very, very,
very gracious units.
Yeah, we could actually
go smaller, to be honest.
Like, as far as my understanding.
I'm not saying that I'm asking you to.
I'm just, I just, when I sold 2,200, 2,100 per square foot, you know, for a floor for, you know, a three bedroom apartment is very nice.
I mean.
I think we're definitely above or before the market, but I also see that the area is changing.
I think you'll notice that even with the future 20, the recent plan from the city,
they anticipate changing a lot of that area into commercial and or RM1.
So I think it is just, you know, we're a little above it.
But as you saw, that corner is a perfect segue almost, or egressway,
where it's kind of like, it's kind of by itself.
So it has the ability to do a lot of that.
Yeah, well, it's good to see larger bedroom sizes too.
yeah and also i i'm sorry to cut you off but like since we we had a revised plan from six unit to
three units so we didn't really change the the general and so we just changed the unit types
and whatever the the community requested so we kind of focus on those changes but so that's why
the floor plan is probably will go a little smaller too you're absolutely right on that
but i'm just trying to get make sure if we can get this the zoning change so we can revise the
plan because this plan is kind of low
now that things have changed so we may just
do a little
along the way.
Just to make it much better.
You have to come back.
without a rear yard
you do have two
means of ingress and
egress here, right?
I'm sorry, you said something about the rear yard.
You don't have a rear yard,
right?
So my question is, do you have two
means of ingress and egress for these
units? Well, the first way
at least coming in, if you can see, is the
front. Actually, I should have stayed back there. I'm sorry.
So right here is this front. Well, my computer eventually changes.
You see right here is the front. That will be the egress into the
property. As far as the back, there will be an emergency
exit that will be available when you come down those stairs that you saw on the floor
plane level.
There is the rear open yard to some area here on the back.
I won't say back.
That's actually to the end left.
If you look at the top of my screen where it says rear open yard, there is some area
there.
We're not sure if we're going to use it for parking.
We're not sure what that's going to be there, but that is there.
I didn't address or quickly I did want to address as far as parking.
we don't feel as though the three units will increase the parking significantly as I mentioned
earlier because the entire area is already the CMX and they're used to that the parking and in
addition to that that whole space that here right here as you look right here let me put my screen
on it my cursor on it you see this area right here as it goes all the way towards the back this
property there's nothing else there so there's at least five to six parking spaces right there
alone when you start at the corner of shakedown.
Trash pickup area in the back.
You could add that too.
Yes, I said the early. Trash pickup, yes.
I'm sorry.
Hold on.
Trash pickup area on the back.
Hold on.
Do you have any questions?
Someone else had a question?
Guys, you've got to pay attention here.
Don't talk to each other.
okay other questions from the board i just want to clarify for uh board member gaskin there is
no second means of egress on this plan that's shown just so just so right and that that was
what i was asking like where is the second means and i'm not i don't i don't believe that they
depending on the length of travel from the furthest distance and of the in the building
and it'll have to be sprinklered, it probably won't require
a second means of egress by code, but they'll have to, you know,
code will have to determine it, and I will have to determine it. But there's nothing
shown on the plan, just so to be clear. Gotcha. Okay, thank you.
Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Emerson?
Just a couple quick things. One, I just wanted to note for the record, because this is an RSA 3 property, technically parking is required. It would be three spaces because of three units, and that is not noted on the refusal.
Just a couple quick things. One, I just wanted to note for the
record, because this is an R.
If the board does grant this application, that will be included automatically in that,
but I just wanted to put that on the record for clarity.
In looking at the revised plans, it appeared that the only thing that changed about the plans
was the number of units.
There appeared to be no change to the envelope of the building.
So in this instance, if the board does grant, I don't think it is necessary to adopt the revised plans
because there's no change to the structure that's proposed.
The board can simply do a proviso limiting the use to three units.
Thank you.
Questions or comments from the audience or the virtual audience?
Hi, Chair.
We have Charles Richardson with his hands raised.
Hi, Mr. Richardson.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chair.
You've been sworn several times as please proceed.
Certainly. Just wanted to point out to Mr. Islam and company, this is the first time that we're seeing this plan, period.
You know, we did not receive anything back in January when you had the RCO meeting that was planned that we were not notified for.
And so, you know, at this point, it's like we're seeing stuff for the very first time and you reducing from six to the last thing we heard was six.
and now you've reduced it to three, we still haven't seen anything.
You know, we're going to be requesting a hear and hold on this
so that we can at least look at the plan and at least, you know,
let the community know what the situation is.
You had been dealing with Inez Love, who used to be the chair of the Faith CDC.
And, you know, you had a meeting sometime in 2023,
and then you had another meeting in 2024.
but then she quickly suddenly resigned in November of last year and we heard nothing else from you
guys honestly nothing and now again then you had you ended up making a meeting with uh Reverend
Reverend Graves who actually was the you know the pastor of the church and he has since dissolved
the RCO so you know he he wrote this uh this this this this this summary and you know he was the
only one that met with you and you know so looking at the summary he was he was the one that approved
it and he doesn't have really have the ability to approve anything for the community because he's
only one individual so you know we're going to have a hearing we request a hearing hold
and uh you know so that we can work this out not saying that we're that that that we don't
appreciate you coming down from six to three but the situation is we have don't know anything about
this and we need to know. Okay. If I can respond. Sure. This application was started in 2023.
We had two meetings with the RCO. Yes, at the bequest of Ms. Inez Love. We had an agreement
in that time in December of 2023 to change from six to three. That's when this original,
the secondary plan became apparent. For some reason, we lost communication and we tried again
and we met again in the spring of 2024. Secondly, not only did we do that, but we did meet with
Mr. Graves because after constantly contacting the RCO, no one would respond. So then when we
subsequently contacted the RCO, they told us to speak to Mr. Graves. We spoke to him. He gave us
a letter of support. Then lastly, even after the last continuance, I myself sent out a request to
the RCOs that's listed on the invite to all of the meetings. And I asked, how can I meet with
the RCO? And I was responding from the board, from the ZBA. Someone responded to me and said
from zoning that we didn't need to meet.
So we did everything we had to do
as far as to make the community notice and aware of it.
And actually in the first two meetings,
there were at least five to 10 people total
that we met with.
But again, Mr. Islam, we received nothing.
All right, so Mr. Islam,
we are gonna hold a vote on this.
And I think what you have to do
is you have to go to the council person's office
and meet with them and then...
But Chairman, if I can be heard one last time,
I've sent an email to the councilman's office
and at the last meeting, I sent an email to,
I believe it was Mr. Richardson, I can't say who,
but I sent an email to at least two other people
and I never got a response.
And I never got a response.
And I said I was still open to meeting if I had to, but I never got a response.
And I said I was still open to meeting if I had to,
but I never...
So we've done this, Chairman, for almost three years now.
So we're going to go a little bit longer.
You've got to meet with the council person or Mr. Richardson or someone in the office.
At least tell them what you're doing, show them the plans and things like that.
But Hillary, can we just hold this till we close this record until we see where we stand?
So, Mr. Chair, what I would suggest is that we give this maybe two to three weeks for that conversation to occur.
We can close the record other than feedback from the council office and any response from the applicant.
So let's go for three weeks.
So that would be October 29th.
October 29th at 2 p.m.?
at 2 p.m yes we will vote we will vote we're going to vote on that day okay yep speak it's okay
no no we're okay we don't have to say anything good all right all right and then planning will
take their position then all right are we going to do it now go ahead
thank you this is liz fuselay from the planning commission
the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the residential single family rsa 3 zoning at
this location this property still carries its original 1933 zoning 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
dimensional variances for front yard depth rear yard depth and occupied area and the proposed
use variances for multifamily
household living and attached
buildings. So we're going to go
to the executive session on October
29th, and we will vote at 2 p.m.
Okay? Thank you.
All right. Thank you.
Go to Mr. O'Brien.
Mr. O'Brien.
we've got two cases
mi 2025 002 820 4259 main street william o'brien is the attorney
unanimous support from manioc neighborhood council 11 total votes
from the MAC
and six total votes from public.
William O'Brien is being promoted to panel.
Thank you.
good afternoon mr chairman mr brian how are you sir could you please state your name and
spell for the stenographer william o'brien w-i-l-l-i-a-m-o-b-r-i-e-n manioc law office
on behalf of Tubby Robot.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth,
the whole truth and nothing but the truth
and your client's Tubby Robot?
Is that what you said?
And I do swear to tell the truth.
All right.
Right.
Thank you very much.
Sorry, Mr. O'Brien,
I just had a question.
So we did not see a lease included in the packet,
only the deed so we assume that your client was the owner are you just representing the tenant
I represent the owner and the tenant owner is Flat Rock Realty and that is Chris let me back
up Tubby Robot the managing member is Chris McGuire and the managing member of the real estate
Flat Rock Real Estate is Chris's wife, Kelly, and I represent them.
Okay, thank you for the clarification.
Our Vice Chair, Tenetta Graham, has a few questions, Mr. O'Brien.
Hi, good evening.
Have you submitted your documents five days in advance of this hearing?
I did.
And do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Okay, thank you, Jim. Proceed with your case.
Thank you. I can share my screen.
I hope I picked the right one.
There we go.
So this is a proposed eating and drinking establishment at 4259 Main Street.
This is the corner of Main Street and Roxborough Avenue.
It's a permitted use in the CMX 2.5 zoning district. However, the Manioc overlay requires new restaurants or expanded restaurants to provide one parking space for every patron. This application does not include parking, so it resulted in a refusal. And that is the only refusal, the requirement to provide one parking space for each of the four occupants.
It's a permitted use in the CMX 2.5 zoning district.
However, the many...
um the tubby robot well here's the letter of support from manioc neighborhood council
this letter of support follows the execution of what we call a manioc a four-party agreement
that agreement is between the neighborhood council the development corporation
the owner of the real estate and the operator of the business that document is in the package as
exhibit nine on page, starting on page 17. This is Tubby Robot as it exists today and has existed
for about the last 10 years. As you can see, it's a 4369 Main Street. The owner is proposing to open
a larger location and enlarge it about a block north. I'm sorry, block south. Right. This is
The red box is the proposed location.
You can see the Schuylkill River, Venice Island, the Canal, Main Street.
It's right in the center of Manioc.
This is the exterior photos of the existing building.
It is a three-story mixed-use building.
There are apartments on the third floor.
The commercial space consumes the first and second floors of the building.
This is looking south on Main Street to the right.
The crosswalk is at Roxborough Avenue.
And as I said, the first and second floors will be this commercial space, the new home for Tubby Robot.
And that is on Roxborough Avenue looking towards Main Street, looking west towards Main Street.
Some interior photographs. This is the entrance, the first floor front, if you will, of the building.
Looking first floor rear towards the front. It was a salon, the previous use of these were
treatment rooms of the salon. This will be modified. I'll show you the floor plans in a second.
This is looking down the staircase from the second floor to that first floor entrance area.
This is going to stay pretty much the same. This front area, this is going to be a private party area.
This is the second floor middle and the second floor rear.
As I said, let me go to the floor plans.
The middle is the first floor plan.
We'll start there.
So here's the entrance.
There'll be a counter along those windows that face Roxborough Avenue with stools, a reception area.
the service
counter, kitchen, there's a trash room
this is an elevator for handicapped patrons
bathrooms and another stair tower
second floor, again this is the
party room on the second floor front
and then these are game consoles
The patrons get their ice cream.
They can enjoy it while they play a video game.
And then, as I said, the four-party agreement has been executed and is part of the package here.
I'll just skip to the signature page.
As you can see, this is the signatures of the tubby robot, the tenant, Flat Rock Real Estate, the owner.
There's the Maniak Neighborhood Council, and then finally the Development Corporation.
There is a seating plan, which has been adopted.
One of the provisions is that any material change to the seating plan or configuration requires approval from the neighborhood organizations.
One of the other provisions is that there will be no alcohol, and that cannot change without the consent of the neighborhood.
And then there's a parking plan to alleviate parking problems.
and then there's a parking plan uh to alleviate parking problems to make sure that this does not
create parking problems uh on main street uh if chris mcguire would raise his hand
mr mcguire
is being promoted to parent panelist. Thank you.
hello hi sir could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
Yes, I am Chris McGuire, C-H-R-I-S-M-A-G-U-I-R-E.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Please proceed, counsel.
Chris, were you in the virtual audience during my presentation?
Yes, I was.
And you heard my testimony?
I did.
Is it truthful?
It is.
And do you adopt it as your own?
Thank you.
I have nothing to do further, Mr. Chairman.
Questions from the board?
Questions from our attorney, Hillary Emerson.
Just to clarify, because the refusal didn't specify this,
this is on the first and second floors only?
Any basement use?
No, okay.
So would you object to a proviso specifying
that the use is on the first and second floors yes here's the floor plan that depicts the
basement let me enlarge a little bit
would the basement be used for storage related to the business lockers and storage down there now
indicates uh some utilities uh mechanical space storage but there is no use there's lockers
um indicated for employees okay so there the restaurant has the restaurant has would have
access to and would utilize the basement yes but it's not going to be for public uh not right no
no i understand that i just wanted to if the board decided to specify the location of the use just
want to make sure that it included all the spaces that were intended for use for the restaurant yes
thank you so you're going to go basement first and second floor okay questions or comments from
the virtual audience no hands raised at the time chair planning commission good afternoon liz
for the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the cmx 2.5 commercial
mixed use zoning at this location the city rezoned this neighborhood in 1979 in a council supported
map change the appellant has shown that their property cannot practically be used to accommodate
the parking requirement the parking required by the zoning overlay the city planning commission
recommends that the board grant the proposed variance for required parking spaces mi 2025
002 820 4259 main street i vote yes with proviso use basement first and second floor
my vote is yes with proviso
Cheryl Gaston
my vote is yes with proviso
Tanetta Graham my vote is yes with proviso
I win my vote is yes with proviso
thank you Mr. O'Brien
I have your next one
NY 2025
002 910
4351 Pichon Street
would you please state your name
yes William O'Brien
W-Y-L-L-I-A-M
O'Brien OBR, IEN, Manningham Law Office, on behalf of 401 Martin Street, BSPLP, the owner of 401
Martin Street and 4351 Peachin Street. And there is a letter of provisos from Central
Roxburgh Civic Association. The vote was 15 in support, 11 in a non-opposition.
And then there's letters from other neighbors. Our vice chair has a few questions for you.
Good afternoon. Have you emailed your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this
hearing?
Yes, I did.
And did you waive the reading of the refusals and stipulate to their accuracy?
I did.
Okay, thank you. You can share your screen and proceed.
Thank you. The exhibit package has 20 identified exhibits. I'm going to focus on exhibits two
I'm going to focus on Exhibits 2 through 10, wherever I request that all of the package be admitted to evidence at the end of the hearing.
through ten, wherever I request them.
This is a second phase of a two-phase development.
This is about a 10,000 square foot parcel on the north side on Martin Street.
There is a former church, a decommissioned church. It was a Lutheran church, Bethany Lutheran church. And on the south of that 4351, what we're here for today, is the former parsonage of that church.
They were two, they each were separate OPA parcels, but they were not separate zoning parcels. So the one deed conveyed both parcels.
uh the church uh was is both property both both structures are contributing to the victorian
rocksboro historic district uh and under the code changes uh in section 602 of the zoning code
uh the church has now been repurposed to 14 dwelling units uh that work is nearing completion
The proposal that's before the board today is the second phase, which is the repurposing of the parsonage, the former parsonage, into four units and the introduction of parking that will serve both buildings.
So all told, there'll be 22 parking spaces serving the existing 14 units that are being completed now in that church and the proposed four in the parsonage.
This is the refusal for 4351, the parsonage.
It's basically three refusals.
One, the parking.
You can't have parking in the side yard.
You can't have non-accessory parking.
The multifamily use is not permitted.
This property was rezoned RSD1 about 15 years ago.
And then we have an issue with two trees that were removed,
and I'll get to that in a minute. We have the agreement, as I said, with the Civic Association.
Their letter, dated October 3rd, which is here, has nine bullet points, beginning on the first
page and continuing to the second page. And the Civic Group and my client are asking that this
be adopted as a proviso. These are cosmetic, but very important issues. This is a very visible,
prominent corner, if you will, block in this neighborhood. And the neighborhood wants to
make sure that the cosmetic items, the landscaping are all done up to as best as they can. So we're
asking that this be adopted as a proviso. One of the items I want to point out is that the
parking lot, although the planning plan, which I'll come to in a second, shows 18 spaces,
the Civic Association asked us to reduce that to 16 spaces and increase landscaped area,
which we've done. Let me go back a little bit. I said 22 spaces. The church has a driveway from
Martin Street, which has six spaces. And then together with the 16 that are now proposed for
this new parking area are the total of the 22. So here's the stormwater map. The red box is the
parcel with the parsonage. And then above that is the church structure. There's a curb cut here
on Martin Street and the parking for those six spaces is here. This is the area that the neighbors
are most interested in to make sure that this Pechen Street yard is well landscaped. And this
is the area for the proposed 16 spaces. So here you can see looking from Pechen Street, the back
of the church and the right side, the left side rather, of the port parsonage. The plan is to
duplicate these columns to create a curb cut and this will be where the 16 parking spaces go.
There is no parking on this side of Pichon Street, so there is no effect to on-street parking.
There is no parking on this side of Pechen Street, so there is no...
Another angle of those, this is the parsonage, which is really the subject of this zoning hearing.
This is a side view of the parsonage from Monastery Avenue.
and this is looking towards
Pichon Street, Monastery to the left, Martin to the right
again between the Parsonage to the left and the back of the church
to the right.
This is the approved
or I shouldn't say approved. This is the reviewed
planting plan for the parking lot. We're introducing 12 trees, 41 shrubs, and 35
perennials that satisfy all of the landscape requirements regarding the
parking lot and buffers between the residential district. The refusal, and I probably should read
it, and we'll get to that right now. So there were two trees removed, and reading from the refusal,
it says two trees provided, I mean, the applicant removed 132 caliper inches of tree without a
permit and provided an arborist report claiming that they were unhealthy and should be exempt
after the fact. We can't verify they were sick. They don't look sick in street images,
so they must account for the replacement. So the refusal is, we're short 102
two inches, caliper inches, at $50 per inch would be $5,200.
The arborist report, there were two of them.
The first is on page 20 of the materials.
And I'll read from this page. This is dated December 4th, 2024, to Mr. Andy Molson, who's one of the managing members.
Dear Mr. Molson, for future use, we've reviewed the two subject red oaks along the church property.
These trees have been drastically pruned and damaged due to vegetation utility management.
Currently, there are numerous large dead branches and decay in three liters.
I would consider removing these trees in the near future.
Later, when it became the Planning Commission disagreed based on images, the arborist sent a follow-up, which is on page 21.
This is directed to Keith Davis, to the Planning Commission, from John Rockwell Hasbach, the arborist.
Keith, attached are two photographs of the subject red oaks.
They clearly denote excessive damage in utility vegetation management to these two subjects.
Coincidentally, you will notice decay over the road.
High value target equals high risk, which was caused by years of vegetation truning by the utility.
And then these are the two images that the arborist provided.
I think I did that too fast.
My computers, there we go, okay.
So this is the first of two images.
These are the two trees. You can see utility wires here and how these have all been cut back.
And I also want to point out that these stained glass windows
were at risk from falling branches. These are 19th century stained glass windows that are being
restored and will become part of these dwellings. They're extraordinary. So that was also a
consideration. And then this is a close-up of the one tree where you can see the branches that are
cut back so severely. The applicant is not looking to avoid landscaping. We have one of the bullet
points is in that RCO letter is to really hire, to engage with landscape architects and come up
with a plan for this space. This depicts, this is not yet an agreement, this is just imagery to show
what we're thinking about. We're going to collaborate with the Roxborough Civic Association
We're going to collaborate with the Roxborough Civic Association to come up with the final planning plan.
to come up with the final planning plan.
But this image shows plantings that would conceal HVAC equipment.
This shows red maples, again, canopy trees and understory trees to landscape this area.
This is one of the parking spaces that the civic group wanted to become landscaped, and then this is in front of the parsonage.
So this is intended to really become a nice vegetative area in this community that is, for the most part, attached single-family homes.
Do I remember? Didn't we do the church here?
No, the church was done over-the-counter.
Oh, is that right?
Yeah, that was over-the-counter.
I want to get to the floor plans.
So this is the first floor of the parsonage.
What's proposed are four one-bedroom apartments.
The average is 560 square feet.
The first floor, there's a one-bedroom apartment on the first floor front.
And then in the middle of the second and first floors is a bi-level apartment.
Here's the first floor portion.
On the second floor, you have a one-bedroom apartment on the front and the second floor of that bi-level apartment.
And on the third floor, a one-bedroom apartment.
And again, there'll be, if approved, there'll be 16 spaces in the proposed new parking area,
six from
Martin Street for a total of 22
spaces to serve the
total 20 apartments.
Sitting to my left
is Steve Osheski, who is
the managing member of the
general partner of the owner of the real estate
and developer.
Steve, you've heard my testimony.
Yes. Why don't I do this?
Why don't I get him to say his name first?
Why don't you say your name first?
spelled for the stenographer.
Yes, Steve Oshesti, spelled S-T-E-V-E.
Last name is O-L-S-Z-E-W-S-K-I.
Do you swear or affirm, tell the truth, told truth,
nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, counsel.
Thank you.
Steve, is my testimony true and complete?
And you adopt it as your own?
Questions from the board?
What's the trash plan for all of the units?
What's the trash plan?
Oh, the trash plan.
Well, that's one of the bullet points.
Let me go back to the letter.
Maybe I can read it.
Trash storage will be fully screened from view
and located with sensitivity to neighboring properties.
We have some areas because, you know, the campus is large.
So we have some areas behind the parsonage here.
There is a garage building here.
So there's spaces where we can do it.
We're just not sure where it's going to be.
But we promised the neighborhood that it will be screened and it will not become an eyesore for any neighborhood.
So residents will have to walk into these specific areas to drop off their trash?
Or are there trash rooms in each unit for storage until that time?
This will be a managed apartment use.
The management company will be involved in making sure
that residents have access, convenient access to a trash storage.
Other questions?
Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Emerson?
um so just a a couple things um related to the the revised plans um because of the reduction in
the parking spaces and consequent consequentially increase in landscaping um one um mr o'brien we
will need actually not just the landscaping plan but an updated site plan if the board approves
this so that would be two pages of revised plans and also as we discussed previously
if the board does approve this it would do so with a provisor that the plans need to be
stamped by the planning commission prior to permit issuance right i i think really it's only one
plan um if the site yeah i was going to say there's there's two plans i looked on i looked
on the um i looked on eclipse and there's a there's a z100 site plan and so that ellen
um i looked on eclipse and there's a there's a z100 site plan and so the lni needs an updated
version of that that says 16 parking spaces and not 18 otherwise they'll have conflicting plans
we can do that okay thank you questions or comments from the virtual audience
yeah this is jason hand i say a handout from jake thompson okay i will allow them to uh
speak to the panelists real quick. Sure.
Hello, good afternoon. Hi, good afternoon. Could you please take your name and spell for the
stenographer? Jake Thompson, J-A-K-E-T-H-O-N-P-S-O-N. Do you swear or affirm to tell the
truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth? Yes, I do. Jake Thompson, are you a neighbor?
Yes. If you would, turn your video on if you can. Sure. And start your testimony.
So I strongly oppose the zoning variance for a surface parking lot shared between 401
Martin Street and 4351
Pechen Street. I'm a home
owner on the 4300 block of Pechen
Street, and I can see the former
Bethany Lutheran Church from my porch.
In fact, I can see it outside my window right now.
The churchyard fronting Pechen
Street is an important part of our community.
The trees, which the developer removed
without a permit, provided valuable
shade and contributed to the natural aesthetic
of the block. Neighbors have used
the churchyard as a pocket park for years,
taking their children and pets to play,
or enjoying a respite from hot summer
days. What makes Roxborough a special place is a combination of walkability, density, and plentiful
nature, and that is why I chose to live here. This proposal for a surface parking lot would detract
from all of these. It would negatively affect the historic nature of the property, increase the urban
heat island effect, and introduce additional traffic noise, emissions, and danger. The curb cut would
require destruction of the historic stone wall and create a more dangerous situation for people
walking on the sidewalk. The loss of green space would be detrimental both to immediate neighbors
such as myself and future tenants of the property. I see the revised plans. There's still not very
much green space. It's a lot of hardscape. I strongly oppose the zoning variance for a surface
parking lot shared between 401 Martin Street and 4351 Peaton Street. I support the proposed use
of poor parking units within the existing structure. We need more housing in every neighborhood,
but parking is not a requirement for housing, and future tenants would greatly benefit from
shared public green space on the property thank you thank you very much for uh is there anyone
else in the virtual audience further hands mr chair army no further hands mr chair okay um
mr o'brien do you want to respond no i understand mr thompson's position um a lot of neighbors uh
are happy that this development will have adequate parking that it won't affect the
neighbors and they're also pleased that we're introducing uh going to be more than a dozen
trees and many bushes and shrubs i mean it's all the landscape all right thank you planning
commission good evening liz fuselay for the planning commission the comprehensive plan
recommends no change to the rsd1 residential single family zoning at this location
the city rezoned this neighborhood in 2017 in a council-supported map change the appellant
seeks to repurpose a structure that is listed on the philadelphia register of historic places
this reuse triggers several variances the comprehensive plan recommends identifying
and preserving at-risk historic buildings so the city planning commission recommends that the board
grant the proposed variances for multifamily use in minimum lot area and width. For the proposed
parking lot, there are no unique physical conditions or circumstances that would prevent
strict conformity with the code. The City Planning Commission recommends the board deny the proposed
variances for surface parking located in the required front, side, or rear yards and non-accessory
parking. The appellant also removed heritage trees without the benefit of permits. The granting of
a variance for avoiding the required fee for removing heritage trees deprives the city of
funding that would otherwise use to increase the tree canopy in low-income neighborhoods
to mitigate excessive summer temperatures. The city planning commission recommends that the
the board deny the proposed variance for fee avoidance,
which will require the appellant to pay the fee that is owed.
okay um we're going to think this through bill um just get the right things that we need to do
with this and we'll vote on this next uh next wednesday at 2 p.m okay thank you mr chairman
Thank you.
MI 2025 002916936 South 10th Street.
David Orphanides is the attorney.
There's non-opposition from Bella Vista Associates and non-opposition from Council Member Squillard.
so chair david orfanides should be coming back in as a panel shortly thank you understood
good morning oh good good morning good afternoon mr chair good afternoon mr orphanages could you
please state your name and spell for the stenographer certainly my name is david
orphanides my last name is both o-r-p-h-a-n-i-d-e-s all right do you swear or affirm to tell the
truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? I do. Our vice chair has
a few questions for you. Sure. Good evening. Have you emailed
your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
We submitted everything. We had an issue uploading the deed
which we were notified of and we did upload that.
And do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Waive the reading. Don't stipulate to its accuracy just for
of minor technicality it's it cites the wrong table uh dimensional table in the zoning code
for the dimensional refusals um i have the correct table uh in my exhibits but it's it's it has the
content right it just cites the wrong table number okay thank you you can start your presentation
david we have all your documents too so you don't have to go through every document just go right
get to the meat of this please i understand i understand that's that's good let's get everybody
out of here, right? All right, again, my name is... Not quite, not quite, because we still got the
3.30 list, okay? Oh, that's true, but let's get the 2 o'clock list out of here. So again, my name
is David Orfanides, and I'm representing the owners of 936 South 10th Street, Claire Robertson
Craft and Paul Hughes. They've lived at the property since 2015, and they, since August of
2015. It's a single-family dwelling. In its history, the property had been zoned C2. It had
been used for this property and the abutting property, 938. South 10th Street had been used
for a mixed-use video store on the ground floor, believe it or not, if you can remember those
things, and residential dwelling units above. But both 936 and 938 had been utilized as single-family
dwellings for some time. The property, and I'm going to go right to an aerial, you can see here
is our property. It is zoned RM1 multifamily, but again, and the other properties between Hall
Street and Carpenter, as well as the properties across the street are RM1, but our property is
utilized as single family. What's interesting to note here, and I have our property clouded,
It is an attached structure, but you can see the rear yard of our property, and you'll see pictures.
It's three stories straight up and down in the back.
The properties are regularly shaped.
It slants westward from the southeast corner to the northwest corner.
It actually slants northwestward, but westward.
The property to the north of us, 934, extends further to the west than our structure, as does the property to the south of us, 938.
Here you can see in the aerial, both of those structures extending further towards their rear property lines or to their rear property lines, as opposed to ours, which is set back.
In addition, you can see 1,005 Carpenter located to the west.
That is a solid, you'll see in the photographs, that's a solid face of a wall.
So basically, the backyard of my client's property is essentially in the bottom of a well.
Here you can see the upper floors and to the right, you can see 938.
To the left, you can see 934.
Here you can see at the bottom, here's 938 to the south.
You can see directly in front, the two different color buildings.
it goes from a three-story to a two-story with the fence you can see to the right the very tall wall
solid wall of 1005 carpenter street as i pan around here you can see then to the north
You can see our property here to the right. And then again, you can see the wall of 934 extending further to the west.
you can see our property here to the right and then again you can see the the
You do see a wall, a masonry wall in this picture to the bottom left with a fence on top of that.
This application is to construct a seven-foot deep addition at only the ground floor level, which will, as you'll see in the zoning plans, doesn't extend further than either existing property to the north or south.
And we're not sure whether that fence, this masonry fence wall with the wrought iron or steel iron fence above it is on our property or not, but we elected to legalize that as part of this property, as part of this application.
So both the addition and the fence garnered their refusals.
The application does include a two-story set of stairs that go up from the roof and the roof deck surface above the one-story addition up to a roof deck above the existing third floor.
Those stairs and that roof deck did not generate any refusals.
The only refusals, again, as you'll see right here on the refusal that was issued on April 4th by LNI is for the addition to the rear, which, because it extends as deep as it does, does not meet the requirements in RM1 for rear depth open area or rear yard area.
And then again, that existing fence to the north exceeds the six-foot height limitation for fences in the residential zoning district.
Here are our zoning plans.
I'm going to zoom in just a little bit.
And here you can see to the left, this is detail one.
You can see the addition.
You can see it's seven feet deep.
You can see the addition does not extend further than the property to the north to the south.
You can see the deck and the stairs that are located above that.
There still is a rear yard area to the rear because of the angle of the rear property line.
It's for one and a half inches to six, six and a half inches in depth, which is, again, more than the properties to the north and south bus.
Here you can see a rear elevation.
You see above that one story structure.
You can see the stairs that go up and then go up to the roof deck.
That's going to be located largely on the back half of the property.
It shouldn't be visible from South 10th Street.
But again, those stairs and the roof.
David, the stairs has nothing to do with the zoning.
Exactly. That's correct.
Nothing to do with that, as I stated.
So real quickly, here are floor plans.
I'm going to scroll out.
You can see the addition at the ground floor.
You can see there's a kitchen.
There's no real dining area.
We can also show that in the photos, interior photos.
This allows for a larger kitchen and a seating area for dining.
Still, again, allows a rear yard for storage of trash, for outdoor area at the ground floor level,
although it is very dark there, as I've stated.
And then above that addition, you have the stairs.
Let me go to the interior, exterior photos real quickly.
Just real quickly, interior, here's the front living room, as I showed, the rear kitchen, the area that's to the rear.
And then you can see from the floor plans that I provided, you know, at the upper floors, you have, you know, a bedroom and then kind of an office area and then a master bedroom.
And none of that is being impacted.
I've included a copy of the deed that, again, shows my clients own the property.
The lot's only 15 feet wide and 50 feet deep.
It's really shallow.
It's only 750 square feet.
So it's a very small lot, and it's a pretty small house.
We have the tax compliance certificate.
The notice of the hearing was posted at the property.
You can see those photographs here.
We did have, we had a meeting scheduled with Point Bella Vista Neighbors Association,
originally scheduled for the beginning of July.
We sent out a notice to the list of addresses from the Planning Commission link.
Unfortunately, that meeting had to be continued.
Could the District Council 33 strike because the meeting was held at the Palumbo Rec Center?
but we did have a meeting that this notice was properly sent certificate first class mailing
you can see the certificate here but then we had to have rescheduled a meeting to july 29
and again that did go out to the same list of addresses and we have a certificate of mailing
that you can see here as mentioned mr chairman at the beginning there is a letter of non-opposition
from bellaventure association and a letter of non-opposition from council member squilla we
believe that the um the the variances are the minimum variance required that there is a hardship
to the property because of the surrounding because of the small size of it and because
of the buildings that surround it there won't be an impact uh on traffic or there won't be
uh on traffic or there won't be an increase in traffic congestion and as such we believe that
an increase in traffic congestion and as such we
the criteria exists for the granting of the variance in this situation your client has been
here for about at least four or five hours so why don't you come up so oh he's actually there yeah
he's actually here he's been oh okay because i think i've been texting him wondering where
i'm sure where he is hi paul how are you hi could you please state your name and spell for us or
Or Paul Hughes, P-A-U-L-H-U-G-H-E-S.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm, tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
David?
Paul, you're one of the owners of the property, correct?
That's correct.
And you heard the statements that I made to the board today?
And are they true and correct to the best of your knowledge?
And would you adopt them as your own?
I would.
Thank you.
Questions from the board?
Questions from our attorney, Hillary Emerson?
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I do not see any hands, Mr. Chair.
Planning Commission.
Good evening, Liz Fuseli on behalf of the Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning at this location from the existing RM1 multifamily residential zoning.
There is no unique physical condition or circumstance of this property that would prevent it from being used in strict conformity with the zoning code.
The City Planning Commission recommends that the board deny the requested variance for fence height, rear yard depth, maximum occupied area, and the rear yard minimum area.
So the fence has been there, right?
We're not even sure whose fence it is.
Is that right?
That's correct.
It's essentially on the property line.
All right.
It was there when we bought the place.
So MI2025-002-916-936-South 10th Street, I vote yes.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes.
Iowyn, my vote is yes.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Sorry you had to be here so long.
Why don't you come up and start setting up, and I'm going to read where we're at here, right?
all right i'm gonna i'll try to hear this first one go from there you're gonna have to pick it
up i'm gonna leave it a little bit all right good afternoon everyone my name is bill bergman and i
will be chairing this meeting of the zoning board of adjustment with me is um our board secretary
Michelle Al-Gaston. Present, Mr. Chairman. Our Vice Chair,
Tanetta Graham. Present, Mr. Chairman. Board Member Michael Johns. Present, Mr. Chairman.
Board Member Taya Nguyen, who may be on her way.
She's still on her top. Thank you.
Thank you. Also, here is our Board Attorney, Hilary Emerson,
our Zoning Board Director, Anne Hagerty, and our Board Administrator,
Brea Schrader, Lakeisha Dandy. Recording this hearing will be posted on the ZBA website.
by participating you consent to be recorded this is an in-person meeting with remote capabilities
whether remote or in person if you're called to speak you must state and spell your name then wait
to be sworn in once you're sworn in please state your name name each time before beginning your
testimony any person may enter their appearance you can identify the case property address in
your zoom webinar registration you can see a staff member or you can call the zba appearance
line by the close of business tomorrow call 267-270-5548 leave a message that includes
your email address the address of the property of the appeal following guidance is for the remote
attendees first when directed by the chair you must raise your virtual hand in order to be
recognized second if you're called to testify you'll be prompted to join as a panelist please
accept the request and turn on your camera third the webinar q a is for questions about the area
Do not comment on the cases in the Q&A.
Fourth, if you're participating by phone, plus star nine to raise your hand and star six to unmute.
For in-person attendees, please refrain from talking, eating, drinking, during hearings.
Verbal and physical aggression will not be tolerated.
Restrooms are across from the elevators.
A water fountain is just outside the room to the right.
When speaking on the record, you must speak directly into the microphone in order to be heard by all attendees and the court reporter.
In the event of an emergency, please follow the directions given over the public address system.
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The nearest stairwell is to the left outside the doors.
In case of an evacuation, the rally point is at Love Park directly across Art Street.
Please remain there so we can account for you.
Let's look at our schedule for this afternoon.
Thank you.
Number five, MI 2024-007-377-4636, Oakland.
There's a trust, Lyra B. Cupid, and Lyra B. is listed applicant.
No exhibit, second listing.
No one appeared the first time.
Good evening, Mr. Chair. This is Jason Handel. I will be your co-host for the session.
I do not see any hands raised and I do not appear to see the individual questions in the audience.
This is the second time. No one appeared the last time. So MI 2024-007-377-4636 Oakland Street, I vote to dismiss.
Michael Johns, my vote is to dismiss.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is to dismiss.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is to dismiss.
Taya Nguyen, my vote is to dismiss.
And number three, MI 2024-007-385-530 North Preston Street, and MI 2024-007-386-532-Preston Street, both these cases have been withdrawn.
and then MI 2024 007387534 North Preston Street that case has been withdrawn too
so we're going to start with Mr. Mattione's case
I'll try to stay the length of this because Mr. Mattione's been sitting here
i think longer than anybody today but personally so um mi 2025 005 623 834 north lawrence street
this is a reconsideration hearing um there's a letter of support from northern liberties
neighbors association and also is there's non-opposition from council member young
John, the evidence and testimony from July 16th, 2025 hearing regarding this matter are incorporated into the record for this hearing.
The scope of the hearing is limited to the presentation of supplemental evidence by the applicant.
What we're going to do is have a presentation by the applicant, questions by the board, public testimony, and a planning commission recommendation.
Thank you.
um mr matione have you and i send you over here yet no no why don't you state your name too i
sure uh michael matione m-a-t-t-i-o-n-i do you swear or firm to tell the truth the whole truth
and nothing but the truth i do our vice chair has a few questions sure i guess you got everything
oh good afternoon have you uh emailed your documents and exhibits five days in advance
of this hearing and um this is a resumption hearing so do you simply to the refusal before
and its accuracy.
The way to read and the refusal is typically to its accuracy.
I do. I was not the council at the first time.
Oh, okay. All right.
Thank you.
And I have Peter Torelli here who is one of the owners of the property
with me as well.
Sorry, excuse me, Ms. Mariotti.
I just wanted to note for the record,
Emily Persico has joined us as an alternate board member,
as I know we have a couple board members
that will be leaving shortly due to scheduling conflict.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I'll stay 10 minutes.
Okay. Hopefully we'll be done.
I also have, Mr. Chair, support letters and emails, including from Nick Petrick at 848 North Lithgow and Len Palachuk at 854 North Lithgow, which are also properties that abut the property in question.
And again, like you said, we have a non-opposition letter from Northern Liberties.
What we did was we added additional materials from the original hearing.
We have a map that shows every property.
This property is on Lawrence Street, and it runs through to Lithgow Street.
And what you have here are 13 properties on this street, all but three of which have been subdivided in the middle.
We seek to subdivide this in the middle.
It creates two lots, one at 750 square feet, one at 744 square feet, which are undersized.
but then again every lot on the street is undersized once it's been subdivided again 854
we have a email support and 848 we have an email support and they're both on either side of this
property um if you look at the photographs there's a cavern like feel to this there's 848 and 854 on
either side um again 848 854 and what i don't believe was presented last time was the evidence
showing the square footage of all of the neighboring properties, how you have on Lawrence Street
You have on Lawrence Street lots running, I think as small as 574, 571 square feet, up to about 900 square feet.
Lots running, I think, at Smalls.
The average lot's about 740 square feet.
Lithgow Street, you have a similar situation.
You have lots 514 square feet, 620 square feet.
We're proposing 750 square feet.
We're larger than the 690 square foot average.
On Lawrence Street, it's 790 square feet.
On Lithgow Street, the average lot is 665 square feet, and we're proposing 750 square feet.
We're proposing to not have the cavern that exists there that you see now, and the neighbors support it.
If you look down on Lithgow Street, it's all single-family houses.
They've all been subdivided, you can see, and we're just trying to do what everybody else has done there,
create lot that matches similar size to the other lots and for whatever reason this was not
presented last time so that's why we're here presenting the additional evidence that wasn't
presented last time and we've a whole everything you would typically do but that's really what
wasn't shown the last time that the case was here so and Mr. Torelli's here to have him
introduced and sworn in and we believe that this meets the requirements of a hardship i mean you're
going to create a lot a single family lot it's a single family zone we're going to build a single
family house if this were to be approved it'd be the same single family house that everybody else
on the block has we're in conformity since these are dimensional variances mr chair you are permitted
to take into account the characteristics of the surrounding community we're going to meet the
characteristics of the surrounding community lots going to be the similar size that everybody else
is similar type house that everybody else has there already and he'll get rid of this cavern
and it could lead to dumping and stuff like that i mean it doesn't fit in the character of the
neighborhood the way that it is right now it just is empty lot sitting there so and i have
mr torelli again i'm sorry mr chair i start could you please state your name and spell
photostenographer hello my name is peter torelli p-e-t-e-r-t-o-r-e-l-l-i do you swear or affirm
to tell the truth told truth nothing but the truth yes i do questions from the board
i didn't have him he didn't adopt my testimony because oh
did you hear my statement this is for ellie and and are they true and correct
yes and do you adopt them as your your uh testimony yes thank you um questions from
our attorney hillary emerson this is not at this time mr chair questions or comments from
virtual audience do not see any hands mr chair planning commission
good evening list fusillade for the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends
no change to the existing rsa5 zoning there is a documented history of subdivision modification
matching the adjacent parcels on the block the city planning commission recommends the board
grant the requested variance for the subdivision. MI 2025-005-623-843 North
Florence Street, I vote yes. Michael Johns, my vote is yes. Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes. I win, my vote is yes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you. It's the first time all day your clients have smiled. Thank you very much. Thank you.
No, no problem. Thank you.
Chair, I just wanted to let you know that I need to go now.
Okay, yep. All right. Thank you. I'm good.
All right, thank you.
MI-2025-001966-1809-Mower Street, Frank Turner is the attorney for the owner, Soltan
Mr. Turner, if you're still in the virtual audience, please raise your virtual hand.
Okay, it's been promoted. Thank you.
hello so can everyone hear me yes we can hear you uh do you want to state your name and spell
it for the record certainly my name is frank turner f-r-a-n-k-t-u-r-n-e-r i'm uh the attorney
for sultan mansoor the uh owner of the property okay and do you swear to tell the truth the
Okay, and do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Okay, so, Cheryl, Secretary, you want to say my spiel?
Okay, this is my first time doing this, so give me a second.
Okay, counsel, did you submit your documents five days in advance of this hearing?
i did um and i submitted them by email and then i received instructions to
submit them through the uh portal on which i did i believe yesterday and they were
largest accepted so yes okay and uh do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its
accuracy yes thank you you may proceed thank you um so i can if i can share my screen i believe
and and while you pull up your documents you had um a unanimous support from ron her civic
association thank you um i was going to report that that uh that was what i was told at the end
of that meeting. So just making sure to pull up the right page here.
Hold on a second, here it is, okay.
so what we have now what we have today is 1809 Mower Street before my client
purchased the property in 2021 the garage the garage was converted into an
extra room and the driveway leading to the garage was left as a driveway and I
believe sometime in 2024 um city council changed the requirements for the overlay district the
far northeast overlay district that required external parking but and by it by taking out the
attached the semi-attached properties from that requirement which left this property outside of
the zoning code by action of City Council when I believe we've received a violation for that
and so here we're trying to legalize the existing conditions like many other
properties in the area that were affected by this overlay change so here
we have the refusal where it says that the accessory parking is required it's
prohibited in the front side and rear yards and it's only for RSA 3 for
residential attached dwellings we also have an email from the inspector from
L&I explaining that that the exception that did allow the driveway doesn't does
not allow that any longer and I have a screen shot of the actual variance the
actual change in the code um if you guys would like to see that as well no do you have pictures
of the property you want to show us pictures of the property here we go and what was done
So this is the, here's the front of the property showing our Notice of Appeal, so, and this
is basically the operative image that we're talking about here, where this was a garage,
and uh the garage door was removed and the wall is wall and window were put in
here is another view of the rear area
how long ago was this done this was done before
It was done before my client purchased the property, which I'm about to verify, I believe,
was in 2021.
And we have retroactive plans that were provided by the contractor who should be on the call
now and can um verify the same okay that's those are the only pictures that you have that you want
actually no see this is more of the rear driveway area that leads to the driveway this is the rear
patio next to the driveway um this is the interior of the garage conversion and it gets smaller so
everyone can see. So this is the garage conversion. The window is here where the camera is.
so it was converted as additional living space exactly is it turned into another an extra room
and just trying to get through here
okay you can bring your client on to adopt your testimony okay um uh the other property is
actually um just working the because the meeting ran long he wasn't able to to stay on the call
but i have the contractor um here uh come off floyd who did the plans which i can also share
here as well so he's a servant of the court right so he can he can do that he can okay all right um
and so he should oh um i'm sorry i just heard from him that he's having trouble logging in so i'm
right so as an officer of the court we can we can take your uh testimony thank you on behalf
of your client um all right so we're just gonna are you done with your pictures and photos yes
i'm there we um i just also wanted to show um the panel of the uh the board the the retroactive
plans that were that were done um for the um for the basement addition as well okay which
can you make those larger certainly these were provided to the um
so here um where it said the renovation was the ultimate alteration the existing garage
to be converted into living space and so the removal of the interior parking space and
creation of service street parking service parking service area parking and so this is
All right. Thank you. Questions from the board? Yes. Can you show me where the door is? There seemed to be a door when you showed the earlier pictures for the door into this living space.
but then when you showed the pictures it looked like they were like two closets or something
can you show me where the entrance is from this yes space into the space itself okay hold on
Oh, I see.
It's along this patio area.
Can you scroll down to the floor plan?
Oh, certainly.
All right.
Sorry.
Is that wrong?
You had some pictures.
I'm sorry.
So this is the, this is the lower street, this is the front, and then this is the alley,
this is where the parking is now, there's a shed here, and then along the side there's
a ramp that leads up to this door into the basement and convert a garage area.
It's like if you notice that the that the that the driveway is sunken down into what would be the basement.
Yeah. Can you slide down to the floor plan, please?
Sure. So the bedroom, I see the bedroom.
so so okay so the so there's a door in out to the backyard off of this sort of
hallway where you have these utilities laundry and existing storage right
right here and i guess took you eliminated the wall of the garage the interior the interior
wall of the garage and made it that's that's the bedroom that has the window
and then you've got this flex space in the front um so but it's and you've got a bathroom down
there too but there's no well i don't see any i don't see any windows i mean i see the windows
but where are the windows on the on the windows this is the window right here um no i see that
i see the window for the egress i see the bedroom but i don't see on your picture
the pictures that you show where the oh i see
yeah it looked like yeah most of the pictures were taken it looks like from um from the
window space area no earlier you showed the pictures they were um because it's painted yellow
and i guess my only concern would be about you know the way that it slopes like that about the
drainage kind of issues right is there a yard drain right in front of the garage what was the
garage one of that egress window because this hope that you know the slopes right into the building
exactly that and that and I don't know you you might need a zoning approval for that shit
because it looks like it has a foundation a shed that's in the backyard i see so this is the um
hallway that uh this is the the side hallway where the entrance is
there is no mention of drainage in this well it might not show up but on this
that was the question the earlier pictures that you showed you're you're
showing the i i understand plans but you also had pictures that showed um what looked like
uh an opening i i couldn't tell whether about any hallway or anything right um so i think yeah this
would be the this is the hallway area from exterior pictures you had exterior pictures
where you showed the space and the slope and what have you and it's it looked yellow oh here's the
ramp and the interior space is the basement interior basement space no the exterior picture
that showed that there it is okay and you had another one so how is this how is this working so
how is this how is this working so you can see there's a drain right here where it slopes down
Oh, there's a drain right here.
and then it looks like there was a door there so you're saying that this oh yeah this is the door
right this is the door and this is the bedroom wall um from the basement from any other sort of
this image. Any other questions? Questions from our attorney? Not at this time. Questions from the
virtual audience? You're not seeing any hands, Madam Chair. Okay, and Planning Commission?
Good evening. Liz Fusillay on behalf of the Planning Commission. The comprehensive plan
recommends no change to the existing residential single-family attached zoning
at this location there is a documented history of this modification on the block matching the
character of the neighborhood the city planning commission therefore recommends the board grant
the requested variance for an accessory rear parking space okay okay mi2025001966 1809
malware street um i vote yes johns my vote is yes
cheryl gaston my vote is yes emily presico my vote is yes
thank you council um thank you lord for number seven hillary are we okay to move forward
yes we are we have received all of the required documents for that matter
Okay, thank you. MI-2025-001899, 4750 Rising Sun Avenue. Nilsa Delaunay is the tenant applicant.
I'm sure I see two people under the name of Nilsa Delaunay.
Okay, let's bring them on and see which one is Nilsa.
Nilsa Deloney, if you're still in the audience, please raise your virtual hand.
They have identified themselves and they will be promoted to panelists shortly, Madam Chair.
Good evening, everyone.
good evening can you hear us you have it echo going on um all right could you state your name
and spell the photo record please
devices on or something all right uh so miss delona if you could please turn off the sound
on your second device, it's feeding back into the microphone. Thanks.
Okay, Nilsa, are you still there?
How about now? Okay, you have two
devices on? I do not. Okay, because
we're hearing some feedback this way.
Did you state your name and spell it for the record?
Yes. Nilsa
N-I-L-S-A
DeLeon
B-I-L-O-N-E
I still hear that noise.
You have your phone's on or something?
Something else that's calling
the IACA?
Okay. Can you hear us, Nilsa?
please unmute yourself
okay so Nilsa we have another case we're going to come right back to you so maybe we can work on
is that better yes okay yes that is better okay now state your name for the state your name and
spell it for the record for us, please. Again. My name is Nilsa DeLeon, N-I-L-S-A-D-I-O-N-E.
Okay. And do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Yes, ma'am. And what's your relationship to the property? I rent the space.
You rent, so you don't own the space, you rent the space? Correct. Okay. All right. And so this
application is for a sit-down restaurant and also a takeout restaurant and an existing structure
is that correct yes it is okay all right so board member gaskin has some questions to ask you
thank you did you submit your documents uh five days in advance of this hearing yes ma'am
five days in advance of this hearing.
Yes, ma'am.
Thank you. You may proceed.
Oh, I have to read the refusal. Sorry.
And also, can you start your video, please, ma'am?
I don't have the camera working. Is that going to be a problem?
Are you able to share your screen and show us your documents?
Okay, yes, I believe that I can.
Let me see.
So your application is for use as a sit-down restaurant and take-out restaurant in an existing attached structure, no sign on its permit, whereas you have two use refusals.
the proposed uses sit-down restaurant and takeout restaurant are prohibited in the cmx1 zoning
district correct okay and you can now proceed okay um can everyone see my screen yes okay perfect and
uh miss dione we do have a letter of support from esperanza housing and economic development
yes i have that letter as well right here
so yes that is part of the exhibits that i um i am providing um going back to the refusal
that we just discussed it is for the um proposed use of the sit down restaurant and take out
restaurant. This is my project form. This is the application of appeal that I've submitted.
These are the drawings, the plans of the location. It's only the first floor.
okay so you want to you want to walk us through what you're trying to do yes so i'm trying to open
up a food restaurant mexican restaurant um i have a commercial lease here
i have a trash and recycle plan for the location i have the zoning notice appeal
So again, the support letter from the community, this is a previous unit use that I found where
the back from 2016, where the same, the same use that I'm trying to seek was already granted
for this timeframe back in 2016.
So I figured I'd just present that.
You have pictures of the property?
Oh, this is a video. We can start with that. This is a video.
And as you can see, it's really not a full operator sit-down business.
It's really going to be focused more on takeout.
But whoever would like to come into the establishment and wait for their food to be prepared is not a problem.
We just provided those seats.
If they need to be removed, that's not a problem.
Um, this is just, this is a fuller picture of, of the location when you walk in.
This is what are the hours of operation?
The hours will be seven to, um, 7 PM Monday through Friday, Sunday.
They, um, they would be shortened down to 5 PM.
All right. Thank you. You have any questions from the board?
I have a question. Is this an existing use or are you proposing any changes?
No changes. Where was it? It's basically the same description that was used back in 2016.
16. It's the first floor with the existing living
It's the first floor with the existing living above, which I don't rent.
That has nothing to do with my commercial lease.
And again, it would be for sit down and take out restaurant.
So the property was like this when you leased it?
Correct. Yes, that's why I had interest in the property.
and when did the lease come into effect uh it's been almost a year now i've been
november 16th 2024 to be exact
okay any other questions from the board oh so so the um
if if approved this will be for both takeout and for sit down is that what i'm hearing on it
Yeah. Yes. I guess my question is to Hillary. I just don't really have the space for sit down. So when I added sit down on the application, it was just for the purpose. If they were there waiting for their food to be prepped. I guess I put us I provided a chair for them. But as far as tables, I don't I'm not going to be supplying that.
No, I hear what you're saying. I'm just trying to understand. Can we can we issue both?
Or does it? I know we had a defined area.
Takeout, I believe, has to be fewer than four.
and that was more than four
that was more than four
it is my understanding that it's
L&I's position that a permit
can be issued for both uses in the same
location
so that will be any questions
any more questions or comments from our attorney
a clarification
you said the uses on the
first floor are you
utilizing the basement as well
the basement yes i do have access to the basement that's going to be um generally for supplies if
need be but right now i haven't i don't have nothing down i have i have no use on it right
now at the moment i have no use of anything everything's been closed i've been waiting for
this um decision to come through okay um and i do see um that there is a sign on the property
and the refusal specifically says
there's not signage included with this.
So I just wanted to bring that to your attention
because you may need to apply
for a separate permit for the signage.
Oh, let me note that.
Okay, thank you.
You're welcome.
And question about your hours of operation.
Did I hear you correctly?
7 a.m.
7 a.m. to 7 p.m., correct.
Monday through Friday or Monday through Saturday?
Monday through Saturday.
okay and then 7 a.m and we'll shorten the hours down to like 5 p.m on sunday all right okay thank
you i have questions from our virtual audience
no hands at this time okay thank you and planning commission good evening liz fuselay for the
philadelphia planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change
to the existing neighborhood commercial mixed-use zoning at this location there is a documented
history of eating and drinking establishments in the area and the appellant has demonstrated that
the proposed use would not create impacts more detrimental than what could otherwise be expected
from other uses in that location the city planning commission therefore recommends the board grant
the requested variance for a sit-down takeout restaurant okay um so hillary i don't have to
specified basement or whatever just um because there are other uses at the property i would
if you're going to approve it specify that the use is limited to the first floor and basement
okay um and that's the proviso that is correct thank you okay mi20250018994750 rising sun
avenue i vote yes with proviso uh limited to what uh first floor and basement first floor
and basement. My vote is yes with proviso.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes with proviso.
Emily Persego, my vote is yes with proviso.
Thank you. Thank you guys. Have a good evening.
Thank you so much. Okay. Winding it down.
Number eight, MI
I-2025-001886-627-North-60.
8, 6, 67, 60, no, 627 North 64th Street.
Lariah Rice.
Oh, oh, you're here.
Did I pronounce your name right?
No, it was Lariah.
Lariah.
Okay, I would have never gotten that.
All right, thank you for waiting.
You want to state your name and spell it for the record.
Yes, my name is Lariah Rice, L-A-R-R-Y-A, R-I-C-E.
Oh, sorry.
oh can you hear me now it's okay um laria rice l-a-r-r-y-a last name rice r-i-c-e
okay and do you swear to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes all right and
your relationship to the property i'm the owner all right uh so board member gaskin has some
questions to ask you uh okay did you um submit your documents five days in advance of this hearing
Yes, everything except two things which have since been approved, my zoning hearing notice and my actual presentation, but they've since been approved.
Okay, thank you. And then this application is for the use of two-family household living in an existing semi-detached structure. And you have a use refusal because two-family household living is prohibited in the RSA3 zoning district.
That's correct.
So you can proceed with your presentation.
Thank you.
We have some letters of support, a letter of support from the Neighbors of Overbrook Association.
There was two in support and two in opposition.
So I don't know if you have that part of your...
I do not.
Two in non, sorry, two in non-opposition?
I'm sorry, two in non-opposition.
I have the A-list because that is on your opposition.
opposition um one second i'm just gonna bring this up and bear with us you're the last one
save the best for last absolutely i like that sorry i'm gonna start from the beginning
here just share my screen
welcome
content only
okay can everyone see my screen
yep okay we can see it
alrighty I'm just going to make this short as I can
okay so basically
this is just some information
so the home I purchased the home August 30th of last year
from my mother. She had the property from about 2012.
Prior to, it was used as a family daycare center.
It's currently RSA, single family, residential
single family, semi-attached. So these are just
some things that you probably already have in my exhibit. This is the deed.
This is the tax clearance certificate, refusal letter. So basically
the use of a two-family household living is
expressly prohibited as a RSA 3 in the zoning
district. Application of appeal, I'll summarize
this as I go through my presentation, but basically there's no
I want to relieve financial hardship
of the property. It was once a single family
with a mother, three kids, and now it's just one person, myself.
So there will not be any addition of
congestion, street congestion, external changes, no public danger, no decrease in light air or
pollution to the neighborhood. So this is my project information form. This is the zoning
notice posted timestamps. So I'm just going to go through the photos and then my plans.
So this is the front of the property. As you can see on the right or most pictures where I store
my trash and recyclables, that's on the right side of the house facing the house. I have a walkway
share it with the neighboring twin property. As you come down this walkway, this is the walkway
that will lead to the private entrance of my proposed private unit, which I will be used.
It would be the basement of my single family home. So I'm going to continue. It's all central
area heating. These are the two windows that are in the basement slash proposed unit. This is the
entrance into the backyard which will be a shared space and as you see here this
would be the private entrance as you can see on the side where those steps are
that is the entrance that I have into the basement from the first floor shed
kitchen so this door is a completely separate entrance to the to downstairs
so as you can see coming through the entryway here it's initially storage
um it's initially storage here i don't know if before that they used this for like a back
here i don't know if before that they used this for like a back
like a shed enclosed porch because that is a functional window um so coming down there's
three steps um that is the electrical panel right there for the entire house um you can't see where
that arrow is right there i don't have a good picture of it but the arrow there and this arrow
pointing this is the doorway which leads up into my kitchen um that would be as i'll explain in
my plans that'll be closed off a door will be built there and they will be all fire rated
there to limit access to the two properties the two units where this circle is is where i propose
to add a kitchenette um and cooking space um there's a bathroom on the other end of that so
this would be considered the living area right here um and i'm just going to back up the two
windows there and this door here because based off my plans and the amount of egress that I have
I'm going to advertise this as an oversized studio but so I don't have to add an extra
point of egress so this door will be removed for so that it will be an open studio space
and as you can see here the entryway there's another two doors that this will continue into
the studio space this door to the left is the bathroom which I have shown here it is a full
bathroom um with a full shower right now um and this is continuing into the studio space here
laundry uh washer dryers already set in stone there all the utilities are still uh will remain
in the basement that is the hot water heater the furnace and the gas closet which you see up above
and right here to the left and the left last picture is a window i don't believe it's a
functioning window but it is a window um so i'm just going to get into my plans uh they've been
sealed by James A. Clancy as the engineer. No structural changes. Basically, I'm just going to
go through. I'm just going to. Are these large enough or would you like me to expand them?
Yeah. No problem. So I'm just going to start from the back. So back here where it says foundation,
this is the start of the going into the proposed new unit. You see the storage area and the two
steps that go down um where you see this this l this red l shape that will be the fire rated
entryway that will be made into a door that will that conjoins right now it conjoins the kitchen
my kitchen on the first floor so that will be one hour fire rated um and there will be a door there
with a locked door that would limit access to the two units um as you can see this is a living space
the two windows to the left the kitchen area which i pointed out in the circled area and my
pictures will be added to this space because there is currently no kitchen down in the basement
you go here in the doorway which will be removed to make this a studio space
the bathroom full bathroom is already there laundry studio hookup studio space sorry so
I'm going to go to the first floor first floor is my entry so I'm kind of going to start backwards
So this is my porch and my entry into my first floor of the house, which is completely separate from the one in the backyard.
So my living space, my dining space, and my kitchen.
And as you can see here where the red lines are, that is the entryway that goes downstairs into the unit,
which will be, again, fire rated and closed off to limit access to the downstairs proposed unit.
So where are your utilities, like your hot water tank and all that?
There's only one right now for the whole entire house.
Yeah, it's just one for the entire house.
And your meters will still be in the basement as well?
That's correct.
Okay, so you have access to the basement?
So this is just the third, sorry, the second floor,
which the only change up here, I'm just going to go through.
So the steps up here go to, there's four bedrooms, full bathroom,
And in this third bedroom, I want to have an additional laundry space built into the room with a laundry closet that would be separate from myself.
So outside of the utilities, the only thing that I would need to change is the washer dryer space.
um other than that uh my target audience um like i said it wouldn't cause any extra congestion
because um the house was used as a house that had multiple people in it so as far as parking
i wouldn't it wouldn't surpass what was already it was used for um i'm targeting single professionals
um i don't want to have like airbnb use so this would be long-term rental so so you want to just
convert your basement into a unit and why
you stay on the second and third floor. I mean the first and
second floor. Yes. Okay. All right.
yes okay all right um questions from the board so i guess i i've got a well question so you so
Questions from the board?
So, yes.
you're i guess you started off by saying it's just you so you don't need like so the reason is you
need this this this rental unit but then you're you're keeping the four bedroom really a four
bedroom house and you're renting out the basement as a one bedroom essentially so i'm trying to
understand the hardship if you're keeping it's almost like if if you had said i'm a one person
i'm going to keep the basement i'm going to rent out the rest of the house because i don't need
all this space but you're one person that has four bedrooms so i'm just trying to understand
one i mean right now i'm by myself maybe one day i'll have a husband and kids but i still do pay
the mortgage and bills all by myself so as of right now i mean it's a completely habitable space
minus the kitchenette that's not there and you know obviously obviously renovations that will
happen but it's a 1100 square foot proposed apartment that i could live in but i mean i
own the house so i would rather the basement be you know running out i got as of this you know
appointment and this for this hearing i gotcha so and then so we go back to the basement plan i've
got a concern about that, what you're calling
a flat or
a, what is it called, an efficiency, especially efficiency. It's really a one-bedroom.
And there's no means of egress windows
out of that bedroom space. You're calling it a studio,
but it's really a one-bedroom. So, you know,
if it is approved, you really need to provide
uh egress windows out of that out of that out of that what you're calling a studio space
okay so just to um i'm just going to talk about when i got the plans resolved so if you see here
i have the basement plans back up um where so it would be would have been i believe one of these
windows we i originally proposed to have a second mode of egress and my original thought was to make
this a one-bedroom however the out pouching that are created to make a window well would
kind of pouch into the walkway leading into the backyard so when I got my plans created by code
correct me if I'm wrong if there's no technical doorway to separate the studio space to the
living area it could be advertised as a studio instead of a one-bedroom and as far as the
distance I think I can keep this as is as far as entrance and egress yeah I think it's still
problematic I don't know exactly whether that's true what you say exactly but in terms of a
functional from a functional standpoint it's essentially a bedroom and you can add an egress
well in that walkway with the grate and provide that access still okay I'm willing to have that
there's a so i think so so those those are my sort of big concerns about that that and you
got to make sure if you do we if we do approve you got to have legitimate size doorways um that
are into this space um so that's about it okay other questions from the board no i guess i'm just
following up with
Board Member Johns that
you're going to have a
kind of very spacious
kind of
unit and then you're
going to be
your rental unit is not going to be
I don't know
how attractive it's going to be
anybody.
That's just my
and that's not a zoning issue
that's just
the you know as far as like renovations or just the space or i'm just trying to understand it's
the space i mean okay it's it's it's not like it's teeny tiny you said it's 1100 square feet
yes 1100 11 to be it's and you're going to put a little kitchenette you said in there
okay okay um questions okay i guess sure and i'm hearing um board member gas and i guess your
other concern is you're kind of forcing the renter to go to the back of the house to to enter
the basement unit which is kind of not not the greatest sort of experience I guess so yeah
yeah I got you yeah structurally I thought that this would be the least modifiable because if I
were to completely restructure the house I would have to make new stairs you know what I mean like
have a new walkway um i would have to completely restructure the house to make it
i guess more favorable in that way um but it does have its
I guess, more favorable in that way, but it does have its own private entrance, shared
backyard space, full privacy of its own, but I understand the concerns.
Did any of those come up at the RCO meeting?
Not that the RCO meeting, oh, I did have, sorry, that was the last of my presentation.
The RCO meeting was relatively small.
there were only about four attendees um the main concern was uh just like having doing everything
in a legal way there are the most of the my block is uh single family but there are numerous
multi-family houses uh units on that block okay um questions from my attorney
not at this time out of my chair
um questions from our virtual audience you're not seeing the hands madam chair okay um planning
commission good evening liz fuselay from the planning commission the comprehensive plan
recommends no change whoops sorry let's do that again
the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing neighborhood commercial
oh i'm in the wrong spot i am so sorry
the comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning at this location from the existing rsa3
residential zoning. There is no unique physical condition or circumstance of this property
that would prevent it from being used in strict conformity with the zoning code.
The City Planning Commission recommends that the board deny the requested variances for two-unit
living. Okay, so we want to hold this and talk about it in executive session. So what date do
I give her like for so we so we're going to hold for discussion we will vote on this matter next
Wednesday the 15th at 2 p.m. okay thank you all right thank you are there any other cases on the
330 hearing lists see no further hands miss chair oh thank you all right thank you everybody good
night have a good safe evening you as well great job everyone
Thank you, Emily.