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