I'm going to put my jacket on.
How many people do we know?
We're going to start.
Good morning, everyone. My name is Bill Bergman, and I will be chairing this meeting of the
Philadelphia Zoning Board of Adjustments. With me is our board vice chair, Tanetta Graham.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Our board secretary, Shel L. Gaston.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Board member, Michael Johns.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Board member, Taya Nguyen. She should be coming through the door any moment.
And our board member, Ryan McAdams.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Also, here is our attorney, Hillary Emerson, our zoning board director, Ian Haggerty, and our board administrator, Lakeisha Dandy.
Recording of the hearing will be posted on the ZBA website by participating in your consent to be recorded.
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please refrain from talking, eating, or drinking during the hearings. Verbal and physical aggression
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of an evacuation the rally point is love park directly across art street please remain there
so we can account for you so let's look at our schedule for this morning number seven
m i 2025 002755 um 1828 north natrona street rested rasdell choice is the owner applicant
mr choice
good morning chair i'm kareem mckintana i'll be your your co-host for today thank you
would the applicant please raise your hand
chair they're going to be promoted to panelists okay thank you
this is the photos right
chair i think that person was the uh they raised their hand in error would the applicant please
raise their hand this is 1828 north natrona street rasdale choice
rasdale choice please raise your hand
okay i don't see any hands at this time chair oh hold on one second chair uh we have a hand
raised from pastor tyrone williams sure mr williams getting reverend come on okay i'm going to allow
them to speak good morning chairman good morning good morning pastor could you please state your
name and spell for the stenographer sure my name is tyrone williams uh do you swear or affirm to
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
tell the truth.
Yes, I do.
Pastor, we haven't seemed to locate the appellant in the case.
Yes, I hear.
I just want to give you our position.
So you might have received three pieces of documentation, actually.
First was our letter of support.
and that was because of me reverend we're we're okay with that but we're okay you know we're
probably not going to be able to go on with him not coming on and we'll have to at least continue
at one time i understand it okay all right thank you for taking the time and as usual to call us
and keep us abreast yes sir have a great day have a good day all right so um mi 2025 002 755 1828
north natrona street this case is continued to 6 10 26 at 9 30 a.m must be will marked must be heard
number nine
mi um 2025 003 814 325 west glenwood avenue number b robert gomez and el torturias pizza
is the listed applicants um there's also a request from contingent from i say the rco
uh and there are no exhibit this is our second listing
el tortas pizza and grill
chair i don't see any hands up at this time
okay so mi 2025 003 814 325 west glenwood avenue i vote to dismiss and uh
waive the two-year rule michael johns my vote is to dismiss and to waive the two-year rule
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is to dismiss with proviso.
There we go.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is to dismiss with proviso.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is to dismiss with proviso.
Thank you.
Number 10, MI2025-004255, 5601 Hunter Street, Bernan Anastasio is the attorney.
There's a request for continuance from Overbrook West Neighbors Incorporated.
Anyone for Overbrook Nest Incorporated and Attorney Anastasio, please come on.
Mr. Anastasio, Chair, we have a hand up from Gregory Allen.
Do you wish for them to speak?
Okay, I'm going to allow them to speak.
good morning chair and board good morning could you please state your name and spell for the
stenographer gregory allen g-r-e-g-o-r-y-a-l-l-e-n right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth
the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do okay mr anastasio
Chair, Mr. Anastasio is being promoted to panelist.
Good morning, Mr. Chair.
Good morning, counsel.
So could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Vern Anastasio, A-N-A-S-T-A-S-I-O.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir.
Mr. Allen, you have a request for a continuance.
Yes, sir.
Should I explain?
Sure, sure.
Why don't you tell us why you want this request?
So Mr. Anastasio and I have tried to work this out since June.
There have been several starts and stops.
Just recently, this month, we had a virtual meeting that was announced as both public and virtual.
So Vern called me, Mr. Anastasio called me and asked if we needed to, we could schedule something else.
We did that the following week. Mr. Anastasio and the owner were not able to make that meeting because that meeting we decided to schedule in person.
So because that meeting we decided to schedule in person, and so now we're just asking for a little more time.
I think Mr. Anastasio and I have agreed on February 17th, so that's where we are, I believe.
All right, Mr. Anastasio, you're up.
Yep, Mr. Chair, we've met our burden as far as meeting with the community.
We've already submitted evidence for mailing.
We met.
There were half a dozen neighbors that did attend.
And we have no problem meeting again with the community, but we do need to proceed today.
And, you know, whether it be a full hearing with disposition or a full hearing with a resumption, we need to go on today.
My client will be prejudiced otherwise.
And because we've met all code requirements, we are entitled to be heard today.
All right, Mr. Allen, we're going to go forward today and see what testimony we have, whether or not we need a resumptive hearing or not.
but we will go forward with this today. My concern is that the community is prejudiced by not having
a full meeting that was announced in writing to them by postal mail. So the original mailing that
was sent announced it as public and virtual. Mr. Allen, we're going to move on with it and we'll
we'll evaluate whether or not we need a resumptive hearing as when we go through the case, okay?
and you will you will have more than an opportunity to testify and i would think
we should get to that and maybe within the next hour okay okay thank both of you
number 11
mi 2025 004 383 709 pine street that case is continued to 6 10 26
at 9 30 a.m. and number 14
mi2025 004 483 2169 66 avenue at cases continued to 6 10 26 at 9 30 a.m.
are there any other requests for continuance
share i see no hands at this time all right thank you so number four mi 2020 is zero zero one zero
one zero 2608 2608 to 18 west dolphin street devon upta is the attorney this is the fifth
listing we still do not have exhibits
i see no hands at this time chair okay so mi 2020 001 010 2608 18 west
often street i vote to dismiss michael johns my vote is to dismiss
okay uh uh cheryl gaster my vote is to dismiss tenetta graham my vote is to dismiss
my mcadams my vote is to dismiss hi i went in my vote is to dismiss
okay all right all right and now we have several withdrawals i want to read
Chair, I'm sorry to interrupt. We have one hand that just went up from a Brantford Jones. Do you wish for him to speak?
All right.
Hello, can you guys hear me?
Please state your name and spell for the stenographer.
My name is Bramford Jones, B-R-A-N-F-O-R-D-J-O-N-E-S.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
What case do you want to talk about, sir?
So the case that I wanted to get some clarity on is the 1828 North Antona Street.
It's being continued again.
So I just wanted to get some clarity on how many times can it be continued until it's dismissed.
what was that case against uh looks like it says mi
zero uh zero yeah so um we're going to hear this one more time and i think i marked this
must be heard if i remember correctly so one more time sir
sorry say one more time i said one more time we will hear this case one more time okay thank you
One more time? Okay. Thank you so much.
so much thank you all right so our withdrawals
Thank you. All right. So our withdrawals. Number one, MI 2020, 000059, 5627 to 41 Hegerman Street. The case has been withdrawn. Number two, MI 2020, 000539, 2326 North Park Avenue. That case has been withdrawn.
Number three, MI 2020-000738-1501-South 12th Street.
That case has been withdrawn.
And number five.
Can we call Mr. Anastasio for number five?
Thank you for reminding me.
MI-2025-00001-1016 West Erie.
Vern Anastasio is the attorney.
Mr. Anastasio, will you come on?
Good morning, Mr. Chair, again.
You've already been sworn.
Just state your name for the record, please.
It's Vern Anastasio on behalf of Mr. Raul Zabaleta.
All right.
And could you give me the status of the case there?
We would like to withdraw, please.
Thank you very much, counsel.
Thank you.
calling in so mi 2025 0001 1016 west area avenue cases with withdrawal thank you sir you want to
go to our add-on list number one mi 2025 002813 6426 castor avenue um uh i vote yes temporary
variant that expires 1-22-29 and the the business will close by 9 p.m every day am i correct um i
think i think we wanted to excuse me keep the hours of operation from the prior variants um
monday through saturday 10 a.m to 9 p.m monday through saturday 10 a.m to 9 p.m
uh michael johns i certify that i have watched the video recording of january 13th
2026 a hearing in this matter and uh my vote is yes with proviso
cheryl gaston my booty chest with proviso tenetta graham my vote is yes with proviso
ryan mcadams my vote is yes with proviso hi tywin certified that i watched the video recording of
the November 15th, 2025 hearing in this matter, and my vote is yes with proviso. Thank you. And
number two, MI 2025, 004-312-1135 Pierce Street, I vote yes with proviso, per refusal dated 1-14-26.
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.
All right, when my vote is no.
Okay, we're going to go to number 13, MI 2025-004-391, 909 to 15 North 2nd Street.
Adam Laver is the attorney.
good morning counsel could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
so adam laver la v as in victor er do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and
nothing but the truth yes mr chairman could you identify your client the relationship to the
property? Yes. Blank Rome represents North Ball. The corporate name of North Ball is Spare Time
Incorporated, the lessee of the subject property. The principal owner, Orone Daskal, O-R-O-N-D-A-S-K-A-L,
is sitting to my left in the hearing room. And our vice chair has a few questions for you, sir.
Good morning, Madam Vice Chair. Good morning. Have you submitted your documents and exhibits
five days in advance of this hearing yes miss Graham we have okay and do you waive
the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy yes okay thank you you
can share your screen and proceed with your case thank you may I have access to
screen share here we go
Mr chairman and members of the board we have had the privilege of appearing before this zoning board of adjustment several times in the past, although I recognize that several current board members were not here when we were last before the board.
north bowl uh is located on second street in northern liberties and i think it's fair to say
that it's a beloved institution an integral part of the fabric of the community you can see
in this aerial photograph on the screen where my cursor is that there is a structure that's set
back and in the front is an open area that open area has been the site of seasonal outdoor
activities primarily from april to october and those outdoor activities have been in conjunction
with the organized community it has been part of second street festivals we've worked with
the Coordinating RCO, Northern Liberty Neighbors Association, and with others. And as we were
sitting here this morning, Arone mentioned to me that North Bowl will be celebrating its 20th
anniversary in the neighborhood this year. So it really is an important part of the community.
Why are we here? We have had a series of temporary variances for the outdoor activities,
which we would like to make permanent and we've worked closely with the coordinating RCO on that
which I'll get to momentarily but the outdoor activities themselves it's relevant to mention
predate the pandemic when many of us became aware of the importance of both indoor and outdoor and
uh livening up the streetscape for many reasons being active participants in the community
so i i wanted to share that somewhat lengthy background with you uh regarding what brings
us here today here you can see some photographs for context on the right you can see just behind
the trees uh the the letters b-o-w-l for north ball and to the left the black and white stripes
is the chess cafe banquet hall that some of you may have been at since that has also become a
Philadelphia institution completely unrelated you can see that on the left here's a photograph
sort of bird's eye I would say from our structure looking down on the outdoor area and across the
street to give you some additional context and uh here is a photograph from a pedestrian's viewpoint
walking along the sidewalk in front of north bull
to the right here is uh one of the uh seasonal um uh structures of uh so in in cold weather like
this it would not be used but in warm weather it opens up and it becomes a place for drinks
and snacks in addition to the games that take place in the outdoor area
and one more photograph of streetscape
the existing zoning approval the last one that was approved by this board dates to 2023
and again we're not here for the existing north bowl use the indoor use which is bowling and
food and entertainment that's been there for a long time although we're happy to talk about it
We're really focusing on the outdoor. And this zoning board, through a decision that resulted in this permit dated March 22nd, 2023, provided for a three-year temporary permit expiring this coming April 1st for the outdoor use with some provisos that we have honored.
And in fact, in what's before you today, in working with Northern Liberty Neighbors Association, to, I would say, to balance the residential and the commercial, the provisos, the conditions that we have agreed to, regardless of what this board determines, become slightly more restrictive, actually.
And I need to also note that slightly more restrictive, not regarding any incidents that have taken place, but really based on the partnership that Iran has with the community and doing the right thing.
but really based on the partnership that aron has with the community and doing the right thing into
the future making sure that there's comfort on the part of the organized community to anticipate
to the best of its ability the unanticipated into the future so there are the old records and the
old refusal and and now i'd like to move if i may to conceptual renderings the application before
The board calls to permanently approve the prior Zba approval, including the erection of a tourist outdoor patio area, a pavilion and shading canopy.
So on the left, you can see that when we talk about the pavilion, it is open.
you see it when you're walking by you're invited in it's not a closed space it's it's what we're
all longing for right now in terms of warm outdoor weather but uh it's it's the vibrancy
of uh second street but within the property line and here you can see uh a uh aerial uh rendering
of what hopefully I've described for you to give you a sense of the different spaces there.
So as previously presented to the board, the outdoor areas have been used for several years
during warm weather months for outdoor bocce, dining, the seasonal bar, and that was what I
had shown you closed up. It's actually a shipping container. It's a creative use of a shipping
container on the right you can see it in the in the green in this concept um and this had previously
been going back years now a parking area um and this this is embraced by the community so what
had once been six parking spaces plus a handicap parking space pre-covered is now uh used um
and we believe more of a highest and best use uh that has has been embraced in a really creative
way the project as i mentioned has been supported by a northern liberty neighbors association
uh council member mark squilla has also submitted to the zoning board i confirmed with ms emerson
uh the council members uh position of non-opposition which effectively supports
the organized community and the nlna letter uh has certain agreed upon conditions that the outdoor
occupancy uh would be for 50 people whereas last it was 60. uh far more would be permitted uh
But there is an agreement that has been honored in place, and that is for regular events.
Now, Second Street Festival, there are, I don't want to get into the nitty-gritty unless the board wishes, but Second Street Festival, for example, which is an annual festival, there's a carve-out, which actually NLNA would like to have.
I mentioned that the use of the outdoor space would be April to October, which is in keeping with prior ZBA granting of temporary relief. Games would stop at 8.30, outdoor music to end at 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
And any outdoor speakers will be positioned towards the existing structure, towards the existing north bulb.
Six outdoor performances are contemplated as a maximum per year.
And then also, in an additional effort to address the interests of the nearest of neighbors, indoor music within the long-existing North Pole would end at midnight with soundproofing.
Also, Aron has committed to on-site security.
the notice of refusal that the board has in its file addresses the extension of the previously
approved assembly and entertainment use which is prohibited under the North Delaware Avenue
overlay district the existing assembly entertainment has this 20-year reputation
which we mentioned and the request before the board for the extension is in response
to neighborhood requests, and I would say an unofficial partnership for this outdoor component.
Also, LNI has identified the necessity of the occupied area variants being 88% proposed
versus 75% permitted for the open structures that I shared with you in the conceptual plans,
and i can share with you momentarily in more detailed zoning plans i would i would submit that
more detailed zoning plans i would i would submit that this is technical in nature and concerns the
this is
placement of the bar structure in the former parking lot also there is the parking refusal
as there had been before to document and confirm the permanent removal of the prior accessory
parking the documents that are in the file show the prior temporary approvals that uh
were deemed appropriate for the desired outdoor community building use this has been extensively
reviewed at the community level here we have the zoning site plan and i'll show you elevations
on the left you can see and i know it's difficult to see with the broad overview but just for a
moment on the left is the proposed site plan and on the right is the existing we're only talking
about those open structures in the front and actually it's really quite similar in almost
every aspect because we're taking temporary making it permanent with some minor i would say
modifications based on knowing how the property has been used here you can see elevations which
are really showing the compliant fencing being reinstalled and you can see the shading area and
the pavilions for example this is not the technical zoning site plan but a almost like a floor plan
it's showing you an outdoor layout of tables and chair areas and again we have committed to the 50
maximum so you're seeing in terms of actual bodies but there is room to move around
communal tables and things will have flexibility for games for tables and chairs and benches to
be moved you won't have as much flexibility with over here with the bar area and of course the
shaded coverings but actually under the shaded coverings you do have flexibility to move around
as well. Mr. Chairman and members of the board we believe that the authorization of variance relief
will not alter the character of the neighborhood or district or be detrimental to the public
welfare the documentation and confirmation of these uses and structures actually preserve
the character that has been built of this neighborhood and district a mixed-use nature of
vibrant second street the proposal fits into the surrounding neighborhood as evidenced by
the support of record and this speaks to the granted of relief being of benefit to the public
within the spirit of the zoning code the proposed variants would represent the minimum variance
that would afford relief and will represent the least modification possible of the regulation at
issue the zoning code which predates covid19 of course and the emergence of communal
ideas of general welfare healthy living and use of communal space indoor outdoor really speak to
this perhaps being a model for mixed-use communities the grant of variance relief will
not substantially increase congestion in the public streets increase the danger of fire
or otherwise endanger the public health safety or general welfare the agreed upon
conditions further support those statements. This will not adversely affect transportation
or unduly burdened water, sewer school park, or other public facilities. There are no
environmental issues. Mr. Daskal is here, and I would be happy to go over anything that we put
on the record. So why don't you state your name and spell it for the sonographer? Sure. My name
is Aron Daskal, first name O-R-O-N, last name D-Lake David, A-S-K-A-L. Right. Do you swear or affirm
to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth? I do. Counsel? Mr. Daskal, you've been
present during the entirety of this proceeding before the Zoning Board of Adjustment. Would you
adopt and affirm the testimony that I've offered as your own? I do. Thank you. Questions from the
board. Yes, I'd like to hear your take on the community's concerns. Sure, Mr. Johns. We know
this community very well, and both I and Mr. Daskal know it well. I should note that Aron and
his growing family, his wife and children, live in the neighborhood.
growing family his wife and children live in the neighborhood and he is
completely accessible Larry Friedman who is one of the zoning co-chairs of NLNA
has really worked closely with us on on this matter and in past hearings before
the board on the temporary uh request uh there was some concern from nlna regarding what could
happen in the future what the unknowns would be mr jones and this time we sat down because there
really haven't been uh incidents uh at the at the property it's really a concern of what the future
can could hold and so we sat down together and i suggested that no matter what this board chooses
to do we could enter into a private binding agreement and we um that that really was the
best thing for the community and it was uh a easy discussion to have because that gave the assurances
that felt uncomfortable in terms of really forecasting the future.
Does that help to answer?
Well, to a certain degree, I guess I want to understand
what were their sort of major concerns about these future potential issues?
Potential noise, the music.
music some congestion and that was addressed right off the bat in the occupancy being 50
whereas the last zoning board approval was 60 and LNI occupancy loads could likely allow more
so on occupancy we believe we have uh addressed that concern and on music uh mr jones there was
little concern about the small number of annual events such as the second street festival
because most everyone believes that that is a benefit for the neighborhood and there's going
to be noise they're separate and apart from north bowl for that one time or a few times per year
that there are these special events but because it is a mixed-use neighborhood and there are people
who live in closer proximity how do we be good neighbors and a part of that is to very
specifically limit not only music ending, but the positioning of speakers and even games
outside, which might sound like that is not as big of an issue. But if you're a neighbor,
voices travel and things like that. I should also note in terms of coexisting in a mixed-use
community i did not specifically address the rear of this property there's potential access onto a
residential street long ago aron spoke to his neighbors and said we will not use that rear
street we recognize that second street is more of the commercial street and we are not looking to
interrupt the residential fabric and have, for example, deliveries coming in or employees taking
a break out there. So this is a property that fronts on two streets, but really is only using
a second street because of his partnership, if I may use that word, with his neighbors.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Other questions?
um yeah so my question is the the rco did have a lot of uh provisos um and you are agreeable uh to
the provisos um given the months of operation for the outdoor space is that something you're
agreeable to yeah we spent plenty of time working together okay and you willing to give up the
beloved Jenga. I didn't understand that one. I think what it is is games are okay, but sometimes
a cheer happens, and it's that cheer. We learned that we had bocce at one point, that we learned
that when five people cheer at one step, those were problems. So we eliminated those games,
and we said all right if we have to end games at nine o'clock it's really it we realize we're
within a community and like i said i walk my dog by by the business i'm there every day i see the
like i said i walk my dog by by the business i'm there every day i see the neighbors
NEIGHBORS.
um i want to keep the peace okay and i'm just curious um where where do you store your trash
in your in there um for your establishment because you're not using the rear for pickup
where does like where's your on the front so it will be in this parking lot as well yeah
sorry sorry um you want to pull up the site map and i can show you guys
it's hidden so if you look um on the top right corner uh yeah adam a little lower where the uh
transformer is there we have an area there with dumpsters and totes and that's behind
the fence with drainage and everything thank you other questions
questions from our attorney hillary emerson not at this time mr chair questions or comments from
the virtual audience for the audience here no hands at this time chair planning commission
thank you chairman and good morning david facto f-e-c-t-e-a-u with the city planning commission
do you swear or firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes sir i do
So please proceed. Thank you, sir. And sir, I came with a question for clarification, if that's okay. Sure. Um, uh, so Mr. Laver, um, the site plan shows the demolition of, uh, of a wheelchair ramp. Um, but it wasn't 100% clear where that's going to be replaced.
I'm going to pull up the plan for a moment. Sure.
yes please Mr Daskal um so the existing ramp there's some level issues here uh on the site
and if you look on the left hand side along with Chess Cafe there all in the land that's where the
new ramp is put in and connects to the uh existing ADA ramp nice thank you sir I appreciate that
um so chairman and board members the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the CMX3 commercial
mixed-use zoning at this location the city rezoned this neighborhood in 2014 in accord with
recommendations in the comprehensive plan the proposed variances largely reflect existing
conditions the city planning commission recommends that the board grant the proposed use variance for
assembly entertainment the variance for not providing accessory off-street parking and the
proposed dimensional variance for maximum occupied area. Thank you. So MI 2025 004 391 909 to 15
North 2nd Street. I vote yes and the provisos that our council believes to be enforceable.
Use of outdoor space from April to October only. Maximum six outdoor music performance per calendar
year and indoor live music must end by 12 a.m johnson my vote is yes with provisos
cheryl gaston my vote is yes with provisos tanetta graham my vote is yes with provisos
ryan mcadams my vote is yes with provisos my vote is yes with provisos thank you mr chairman
and members of the board just one uh statement to anyone listening from the community uh please
know that Mr. Daskal will abide by all of the commitments that he has made with NLNA. Thank you
all. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Number 10, MI 2025 004255, 5601 Hunter Street. Vern Anastasio
is the attorney. They're being promoted to panelists. Thank you.
morning mr chair good morning counsel you've already been sworn in could you just state your
name for the record yeah it's verne anastasio on behalf of mr ralph bonhomme right our vice
chair has a few questions thank you good at good morning 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 i do okay thank you you can share your screen and proceed
with your case
okay should be up yes sir excellent all right so we have a 41 page
Yes, sir. Excellent. All right. So we have a 41 page exhibit packet, 5601 Hunter Street is zoned RSA 5, but it is a long history since 1963 of a residential mixed use.
It's always been 2 units and we'll show you the, as you can see here.
going back for several decades since 1964 it was a candy store and a grocery store at the lower level
with one family dwelling above and it has remained two units ever since
separate entrances separate electric meters none of that has changed let's take a look at the
proposed basement studio. Now, this basement is 100% above grade with its own side entrance here,
which my photos will show you. And as you can see with the side door, you're going to get a living
room, dining room, kitchen, and a bedroom. That's just a large studio. Right off of the bedroom
section is a full bath and a walk-in closet. And then, by the way, additionally on the side there's
a separate space that we're going to be using for storage. This is an existing toilet that's already
there and also both tenants can use the space for trash. The rest of the house, which is the second
and third levels technically the first and second floors are a full three bedroom
living space that's pre-existing
show you some photos
okay as you can see here this is the the entrance that used to be the commercial space
Back here is the separate section that will be used for trash and other tenant storage.
And then the second and third levels is its own living space.
Just a little closer view.
Here it is again.
Here's the interior.
There's the two electric meters, two boxes.
This is the basement as it currently sits.
Additional photos.
Here's our property here right across the street is a 3 family dwelling, which is also on the corner and there are several 2 and 3 family dwellings on the block as well.
so what we're requesting is pretty consistent with what exists there are no more commercial
spaces on these corners but they all have been converted to residential use here are the multiple
letters that were mailed to the community not only for the january 7th hearing a meeting
community meeting that was held where about a half a dozen folks attended
but also notice went out as far as the uh the uh today's community meeting i'm sorry today's
hearing and i want to move this into evidence as well as the uh deed the proof of tax compliance
and the history going back to 1963 all uh previously submitted to the zoning board okay
because of the long history of this property being mixed use because it has separate entrances
and separate electric meters it's and because it is what we're proposing is very much the same as
the other corners on the block that are multifamily we are simply asking for that lower level to be
allowed for a living space and granting of this variance. By the way, my client has committed
both to the community and in the process to making these units affordable. He's already
enrolled in the Section 8 program and will ensure that it's offered for folks with Section 8
vouchers. You want to bring your client on? My client cannot be joining us today, unfortunately.
So I ask that you would talk, you take my presentation as his testimony.
Thank you.
Questions from the board.
can i can i see the floor plan again i'm sorry miss gaston there's the bathroom and it's right
Can I, can I see the plane again?
I'm sorry.
by the bedroom area i had them draw it just for you just for you
thank you council you're welcome um i have a question about the utility so in the existing
basement plan it looks like all of the duct work and all of the equipment is in the main room of
the basement but it is not necessarily showing in the relocated plan right so where well they're
gonna they're gonna relocate that to the back to the back okay yeah so that both tenants would have
water heaters and everything back there that's right that's what that's the plan what are we
doing about gas and electric meters because typically those are in the front of the house
and unmovable, like where you're currently showing the bathroom
and the walk-in closet is typically where those are located
in every house in Philadelphia.
Yeah, they're going to, I mean, obviously they're going to go
wherever the utility companies tell them to put it.
The electric meters, I think, already exist on the side
because there are already two electric accounts.
I can't speak to the gas, though.
Is there a plan if the gas meter can't be moved for this to be all electric from the kitchen for like kitchen and cooking purposes?
It's my understanding that the RCO did ask what the utility situation would be.
And electric is it's going to be all electric as far as we know.
What's the what's the point of the powder room and the and the storage utility?
That's a great question, Mr. Johns.
it came up at the community meeting the only point is it already it's already there when he
bought the property it's it's you know like i i my own experience in some of the old school
south philly homes grandmom just had a toilet in the basement you know and i think that was uh one
this is an old house then that's exactly how he bought it so uh instead of removing it i mean he
he certainly could remove it and he told the rco that he'd be willing to if that was a concern
because it serves no practical purpose.
Where's trash stored?
Back here.
Okay, so all the tenants have access to that?
They do have access if they need it.
I mean, there's ample space, especially in the above unit.
It's a full-blown three-bedroom to store trash,
but if the smaller unit needs it, it's right out his front door.
Other questions?
Questions from our attorney, Hillary Emerson.
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Chair, I have a hand up from Gregory Allen.
Good morning, Chair and Board.
Good morning, Mr. Allen.
You've already been sworn, just for the record, state your name.
Gregory Allen.
Please proceed, sir.
So prior to the January 7th virtual hearing, Mr. Anastasio called me to say that there was
a little confusion in how the mailing went out that it was listed as both public and virtual.
And so we agreed to have another meeting on the 14th where he and his client didn't attend.
And so during that January 7th meeting, we took no notes. We just heard from the attorney and
the owner. And so we have no way of gauging the community's position on this. When Mr. Anastasio
and his client left the virtual meeting, our meeting ended. So we have no sense of how the
community feels about this project. I can go based on other projects on that block, the 1600 block
on North 56th Street, where you denied a property across the street that was looking to be multifamily.
So that's the only sense I have of the community's position. And so Mr. Anastasio asked for a
resumptive hearing. I preferred to have it in the order so that the community's position came first,
but it seems we're here. So I can't tell you what the community thinks about this project.
Mr. Chair, our meeting on the 7th of January lasted exactly 47 minutes with Q&A from more
than half a dozen folks on present. And again, there is a legal three-family dwelling right
across the street on the corner i don't dispute anything or object to anything uh the test uh the
witness testified to though so thank you okay thank you one more time chair the when the meeting
witness testified to though um so thank you okay thank you
began the attorney indicated he was willing to have a second meeting and we still are regardless
of whether this is voted on today or not we're still willing to work and meet with the community
on a regular basis of course i i'm my concern is that the one property that's at the corner
is the only property on that block. The other
properties are south of that block and
that block is half LLCs and half
single family homes. And in that instance
1665 North 56, those neighbors
near neighbors did attend and they were opposed
to that section being converted to two
family. So that's the only way I can give you any sense of what the community believes. And I don't
want the community to be prejudiced by having any kind of input before they get a right, because of
the half a dozen people that attended that meeting, only two were near neighbors. And I'm included in
at six and i'm not in their neighbor okay all right all right is there anyone everyone everyone
was adequately mailed up mr chair uh based on you know in accordance with the code and there was no
indication uh there was no vote so there was no indication that anyone was opposed okay um anyone
else in the virtual audience there are no hands raised at this time chair planning commission
thank you chairman and board members David Fecto with the city planning commission
chairman and board members the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the RSA 5 residential
single-family zoning at this location the city rezoned this neighborhood in 2018 in accord with
recommendations in the comprehensive plan this property has a documented history as ground floor
retail and a one-family dwelling the appellant proposes to convert the former retail space into
a dwelling unit we also note that the affordability mentioned in the appellant's testimony cannot be
enforced by any city agency the city planning commission recommends the board grant the
requested use variance for two dwelling units okay um hillary um could we close this other than
the additional meeting and just take the results a letter from the um rco um that would be fine
mr chair um let me just give me one second yeah um maybe what we could do is um schedule the vote
for i believe they said the meeting was the february 14th i think it's 17 we've agreed
to the 17th i think 17th so okay shortly thereafter so maybe we'll we can schedule
the vote then for february 25th at 9 30 and the record's closed except for a letter from the rco
and comments from Mr. Anastasia. Exactly. Okay. Thank you very much. Okay. Yep. All right. Thank
you. And thank you to the RRCO member. Thank you. All right. Let's see here. Let's go.
number six
mi 2025 001 985 3610 tulip street juan rodriguez is the owner applicant
chair mr rodriguez is being promoted to panel
share they're being promoted to panelists i see him right here we're good okay
oh okay all right my first time doing this so i didn't know
it's no no yeah well we're fine we're fine
okay how you doing all right could you state your name and spell for the stenographer
juan rodriguez j-u-a-n-r-o-d-r-i-g-e-z all right do you swear or affirm tell the truth
the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do um and your wife's just gonna run the computer for
you yes okay could we make sure that she her she's alone in a position to run the computer for her
Could we make sure that she's alone in a position to run the computer for her husband?
husband.
Could that person please raise their hand?
The spouse of Juan Rodriguez so I could promote them and they could share their screen.
um how she gotta raise her hand
uh what's what's her name i can try to find her that way margaret margaret valdez okay
While we're waiting, why don't I read this for you? This application for use is a two-family
household living in an existing structure, no sign on this application, whereas the proposed
use two-family household living is prohibited in the RSA 5 zoning district. And our vice chair
has a few questions for you. Good morning. Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five
days in advance of this hearing yes okay and the chair just read the refusal so do you stipulate
to its accuracy yes okay thank you you can begin
chair i'm not seeing a martha in the audience margaret i think it's margaret
is that person um under a different name perhaps i don't see a margaret in the audience okay
let's see i think she's using my email so it's going to be on the um
juan rodriguez okay all righty i'm gonna promote them to panelists they just have to accept
all righty they should be rejoining as a panelist momentarily
yeah but
they are
are in
this is Ian Haggerty executive director I'm going to bring up the applicants
okay he's going to bring up you could just start testing okay all right well I'll wait
and see because it looks like they've just brought it up.
The purpose for this is to convert a single family to a two-family household. There won't
be no uh changes to the the structure of the building is going to remain the same you see
that now oh there you go okay so why don't you go ahead i'm gonna show you some pictures
of the
building.
community,
they didn't accept it.
Because
the only thing
they said, it was the trash
the neighbors.
the neighbors that the trash they put in in the front of the house right now uh dollar siga siga
i got some pictures uh the front of the house right right there is the house already converted
yeah it's a duplex already two apartments yeah and when was that done um a couple years ago five
did you do it not me you know i'm saying but you had people converted into it yes okay well please
please proceed um so uh like you see everybody got the trash out um
i'm gonna do a fence and on the side of the steps if you see right there
uh i'm willing to do a fence like for the trash you know some people do it like garden it's not
like for the trash you know some people do it like garden it's not going to affect the sidewalk
going to affect
or pedestrians walking you know down the street um i could do a fence just for the trash and uh
cover you know like um it's not going to change the the building it's just going to be a fence
uh separating the trash you know from uh the sidewalk by me doing that probably
motivate other people neighbors to do the same um the uh structure of the house is is plenty of
space uh go down and hold on mommy go up right there um if you see um the areas is tall is
around it is all commercial it's um next to aramingo avenue and it's all stores and how
many houses on the block are duplexes it's duplexes right there um none but as of now
it's a couple uh proposals they they want to do the same as uh what you did yeah keep going
some pictures of the uh house the basement uh all the utilities like that well what's in the
basement is the basement just storage storage storage and uh laundry it's not a it's not a
bedroom right uh the first floor is one bedroom uh with the basement uh one storage room um you
can see uh the bathroom right there it's got one bathroom on the side the kitchen uh it
got space for a living room um they could go to the backyard in the first floor but this
access to we got access to the backyard um see the second floor is it rented now both
places rented now no no just the first floor second floor or something uh i got some pictures
here it's right there that's the second floor um i added a lot uh closet to the rooms um i got the
bathroom i got uh two rooms the kitchen and uh and the own entrance for the second floor uh nobody
lift them up right now let me see the print the blueprints right here um like i said it's not
going to be no changes to the to the building no constructions change the building is going
to remain the same uh if you see like uh the fence uh i told you for the trash um i'm gonna add next
to the steps. By doing this, it's not going to affect the neighbors. It's not going to
affect the pedestrians. There's plenty of space for the rooms and the kitchens and
and you know everything else um so this this is the project i i guess the question would be is
how come you did this without throwing it the right way i did not know um about the zoning and
and this is new to me like i said this is new how about permits did you ever get any permits
yeah permits for the uh the electricity and everything uh yeah for both places yes um
but i didn't know i went to get my landlord license and they told me you know i needed
the zoning and stuff like that i i didn't know so now what i'm trying to do is do everything
yeah like it's supposed to be uh leave everything legal everything you know all the taxes i had to
pay for the property. I don't owe no taxes on the property. Um, this is my, uh, my first house
that I ever bought. So, you know, um, do you live there? I lived there for a couple of years. Do
you live there now? No. Okay. All right. All right. Do you have anything else you want to add?
Not at this time. All right. Questions from the board.
Um, how high are you trying to build the fence? And just point of note, that is technically
your property ends at the facade of your building so you're asking to put a fence in the city's
right of way so there are other restrictions and you'd have to get streets approval to do
anything in the sidewalk because uh it's right next to to the property so yeah but you so you
you only own up to your facade your steps are technically encroaching into the city's right
way. So you don't own the space next to your
I would need a permit for that.
stoop. So I might need a
I would need a permit for that. You would need a
You would need a streets approval, which is an additional review that would have to happen.
streets approval which is a
That has to have an engineered drawing.
I wanted to do whatever I need to do to the house.
To do it right.
Other questions?
Sorry, Mike.
At the first floor.
So it's one bedroom on the first floor and a two bedroom on the second floor?
so so the point of this fence is to put the trash there yeah so it'll be uh it won't be on the way
or nobody is going to be her uh the trash is going to be on their own uh place the space
um i have a question about the rco so you said the rco said no um did they tell you that they voted
uh they opposed the project or did you have some support for the project because what happened at
the RCO meeting? No, I present everything. I told them everything I wanted to do. And
they said the reason, because this is a single family area, but there's other zoning around
the area for the same purpose to those uh two family so um and they they was worried about the
trash and like you see the picture everybody had the tracks out outside so i'm trying to change
that and maybe the neighbors will do the same and you know put the trash yeah i don't know that
putting the fence changes the fact that the trash will be sitting in front of the house
you know i don't know just just down the trash is behind a fence in front of the house it's still
trash in front of the house the other there all the rest of the houses and it's a small block
with houses right and all the rest of them are single families so this would be the only house
on the block that would be a duplex of the like 10 houses that are there there are only 10 houses
there there's like eight houses there yeah so all right any other questions questions from our
attorney hillary emerson not at this time questions or comments from the virtual audience
no hands at this time planning commission
thank you chairman and good morning david fecto with the city planning commission
chairman and board members the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the rsa 5 residential
initial single-family zoning at this location the city rezoned this part of the neighborhood in 2017
in accord with recommendations in the comprehensive plan at that time this property had been zoned
single family since a prior map change in 1972. an owner appears to have converted this property to
two dwelling units without the benefit of permits this is a primarily single-family blockface the
city planning commission recommends the board deny the proposed use variants for two dwelling units
Thank you. So MI2025-001-985-3610 Tulip Street, I vote no.
Michael Johns, my vote is no.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is no.
Tsunetagram, my vote is yes.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is no.
Tywin, my vote is no.
Thank you, sir.
Thank you.
number eight mi 2025 002 917 5323 ray street darlene mcbride is the owner applicant
it's a pro se hi chair they're being promoted to panelists thank you
good morning chair and members of the board my name is Darlene McBride just for the record could
you please spell your name for the stenographer? Yes, Darlene, D-A-R-L-E-N-E, McBride, M-C-B-R-I-D-E.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do. All right, so this application is for use as a two-family household living within an
existing attack structure, whereas the proposed use two-family household living is prohibited in
in the RSA 3 zoning district.
Our vice chair has a few questions for you, okay?
Yes. Good morning. Have you seen documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
Good morning.
Have you seen documents and exhibits five days?
Yes, I have. Okay. And you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy.
Yes. Okay. Thank you. You can proceed with your case. Okay. Thank you. I will share my screen.
okay can you see that it's uh
yes you just have to click on each one of your yes i believe okay so i will present the exhibits
please if you have any questions i will certainly take those questions um so i had an art this was
I am the owner of the property. I purchased the property as a single family dwelling
and the RSA 3 is zoned as RSA 3. I had the intentions of using the property as a single
family property. However, there was a fire at the property in February of 2018. It was a pretty bad
fire wasn't at my it didn't originate at my property it originated at the property next door
the properties have a breezeway and the fire came over from the property at 5325 over to my property
and did extensive damage to the property basically it was a total loss at that point
The property then became a nuisance to the neighborhood and it had to make safe on it. I have taken care of all of that. But I will show you the project. Well, I don't need to show you the information form.
um so let me go back I'm sorry um I do have a tax uh clearance certificate we have that we
have all your documents other than what we need now is your photos and your plans okay so these
These are the plans, the existing plans and what I am proposing.
There will be no changes to the structure of the building.
The modifications will be done to the inside, nothing to the exterior, it will be all interior.
area, and what I am proposing is as you go in to the property, I am proposing to put
another door. You will see that in the revised plans, but these were the original plans that
were done for the make-safe. There is a covered porch here. You enter the property. This is the
first floor of the property. There are stairs over here to your right leading up to the second
floor. However, the first floor would have a two-bedroom apartment and as well as the second
floor would also have a two-bedroom apartment, both with bathrooms and water closets in each.
Let me show you those revised plans so it will make more sense to you.
so in the revised plans let's make this a little bigger you will see we have the same
entrance however
you will see here in the um unit one you go in there or there's a coat closet here
You will enter into the kitchen. There are an L shape or cabinets to your right. You still have
that stairway that will lead up to the second floor. You have your living room back here. You
have a bathroom and you have a bed, one bedroom here with a big enough for a queen bed. And then
you have a second bedroom with the queen bed. And then you, this is the back you will enter out the
back so that would be the backyard unit one as well as unit two will both have access to the
backyard that's well trash will be kept in the back and moved out to the front quite naturally
during trash day.
Unit two also has two bedrooms.
It also has two bedrooms. We have a bedroom here. You have your bathroom, closet. You have your stack laundry. By the way, the laundry for the first unit will be in the basement, and the basement will only be for storage as well as the laundry for the first unit.
We have a bedroom here.
Second unit has in-unit laundry. You have your kitchen to your left. To the right, you have a bathroom with your tub. And then in the back there is another bathroom with a bay window. And the front of the unit two also has a bay window.
I had an RCO meeting on December 1st of last year. At that meeting, there was no opposition. However, they wanted to see the revised plans so they could see where everything would be placed. They couldn't see it on the original plans.
So I had updated plans done. I had another RCO meeting on January the 5th. There was no opposition. We had support of the project. I can show you, I do have that report is in the summary as number 10 of my exhibit.
it. Now I will show you some pictures of the property. So as you can see here, because
the property was damaged by fire, it was a total gut job. So as I previously said, this
is your front door. As you come in, you have your steps over to the right. You can go down
to the basement here joists have been replaced because of the fire um so that everything is
brought back up to code as i said it was pretty extensive these are the steps the backyards here
there's a window here in the bay window this is where the kitchen area will be well the back
bedroom will be in this first unit you have your stairs these stairs obviously will be replaced
this is the second floor unit all of this is new because during the fire everything was
the roof and everything was destroyed that bay has been redone the entire um building is being
rehabbed these are the this is a view coming up from the front of the house from the first floor
to the second floor. Again, this is a first floor picture looking from the back to the front.
This is the outside of the building. There are eight to 10, 10 or more actually,
buildings on the block that are duplexes dating back to the 1970s, 80s, 90s, and the 2000s.
um again i am not changing the exterior of the building the um houses next door
is a duplex on the side here there is a breezeway um and that's where the other building that caught
fire the city actually demolished that building last year so there is a vacant lot there um
So what I'm proposing is to keep in line with what's there in the community right now and turn it into a duplex.
It does not create any hardship for the community.
We have the community support.
The council person, they did not oppose this variance.
I spoke with them that they are not opposed to the variance because it is keeping in with the structure of the community.
I am speaking with a couple members from the community and been in contact with them throughout the process.
The building has been made safe.
It was a blighted property with the tree growing out, actually growing through the structure of the building before the fire occurred.
I can show you the neighbor mailings.
We did a mailing back in November of 24 before the first meeting in December.
I also sent out a letter to all of the neighbors telling them of the meetings, both the RCO meetings as well as the zoning board hearing.
The notices have been placed on the building.
The notices have been placed on the building. They've been up as soon as I received it. I
they've been up as soon as I
put it up, so they've been up and the community has been notified about the hearing today.
Again, it would be keeping in line with all of the other duplexes that are on and in the block.
The community is used to having duplexes.
I will make sure that there is ample lighting in the back.
That was one of the questions from the board member of the RCO is how I deal with lighting.
There will be lighting.
There will be fire alarms hardwired in the building as well.
And trash will be collected.
Michael, why don't you start?
Well, I think I don't really have any questions.
You okay?
Yeah, I mean, you know, my one issue is that.
Right, yeah, I was starting.
The rear yard, which is always a big problem for me with that unit.
But you did mention that there is a breezeway on the side so they can have access to the rear yard through that breezeway.
yes there will be no um problems with that second floor tenant getting to my concern
the back my concern is not too much a second floor tenant is i have an issue with having to walk
through a bedroom to get to a backyard if you're having a barbecue are you keeping your trash out
there and you got a dog they've got to come through your bedroom that's a unsanitary and
just a horrible situation but you did say that there was a breezeway so that people could come
out the front door if you're having a barbecue in the backyard or anything and they could go down
the breezeway instead of having to go through someone's bedroom to get to the backyard so
so in this case i don't necessarily have a problem with you know because there is
another alternate route to the rear yard and not through the bedroom necessarily all right other
questions questions or comments from our attorney not at this time mr chair questions or comments
from the virtual audience no hands at this time chair planning commission thank you chairman and
good morning david effecta with the city planning commission chairman and board members the
comprehensive plan recommends no change to the rsa3 residential single family zoning at this
location the city rezoned this neighborhood in 1971 and a council supported map change
there are no unique physical conditions or circumstances of this property that will
prevent it from being used in conformance with the zoning code despite the presence of several
two-family homes this is still a primarily single-family residential block face the city
planning commission recommends the board deny the requested use variants for two dwelling units
MI-2025-002-917-5323 Ray Street. I vote yes. And thank you for doing everything. Your presentation was very good, Darlene.
Thank you, sir.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes.
Tywin, my vote is yes.
Thank you. You have your votes.
Thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you, Chairman and members of the board.
Thank you. Number 12. I lost you. You're muted. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Thank you, Chair and members of the board. Would I receive a letter to that effect?
You will. You will. Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you. Have a good day.
right chair i'm sorry to interrupt we have a hand that just went up from a june waters bay
uh i don't in case oh never mind that the hand went down all right thank you thank you so number
12 mi 2025 004385 840 league street pasquale calavita is the attorney there's a letter of
non-opposition bill this letter of non-opposition from members uh council member squilla
chair they're being promoted to panelists thank you
Good morning, members of the board.
Pasquale Polavita on behalf of Raul Castro for 840 League Street.
Pasquale, could you please spell your name for the stenographer?
uh spell your name for the stenographer sure p-a-s-q-u-a-l-e-c-o-l-a-v-i-t-a you square
Sure. P-A-S-Q-U-A-L-E.
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 good morning have you submitted your documents and
exhibits five days in advance of this hearing yes with the exception of uh a utility two utility bills
and a trash commercial trash bill and i uploaded the community the rco's letter of non-opposition
yesterday okay and thank you for that and do you waive the reading of the refusal
and stipulate to its accuracy we do okay you can show your screen and proceed with your case
And good morning, Pasqua Colavita attorney for Raul Castro, and I will proceed as typical.
Mr. Castro purchased the property on April 6th of 2017.
Here's a copy of the deed.
He made an application for a duplex in an RSA 5 zone.
And it was he received the refusal for multifamily living because it's prohibited in RSA five district.
Just to give you a quick understanding of this, this street, League Street goes into Ninth Street and on the south south of League Street is Washington Avenue.
So the history of that zone was commercial at one point.
It was also listed as G1 and G2 and on the same block as general industrial.
So as a result, we filed the application for appeal.
And this is, again, a request for a two-family dwelling on a three-story property at exhibit.
Let's see. The project information form at Exhibit 4, Architectural Plans at Exhibit 5, I can show you the layout. So this is the property itself. As you can see on the bottom of it, I can expand it, but I'll show you better photographs in a bit.
uh going uh northwest view you can see uh 9th street the um the west view is is 9th street
uh the south view of league street um i'm sorry so eastbound i don't know if these are correct
but eastbound is nine uh no it is correct so westbound is 9th street eastbound is 8th street
South of it is is Washington Avenue. And what you're going to have is apartment one is going to the proposed is going to these were not submitted as as this was a use change only, but these are for informational purposes for the the board.
And we did submit them to the RCO. The first floor will be an apartment and the second floor and third floor will be a separate unit itself.
There is a proposal for a new roof deck, all of it.
They did obtain actually have building permits and you'll see photographs of those that are already on the walls and everything.
Basement is for utility use only. No, no basement living.
There are presently two doors for entrance into the premises.
Notice that neighbors was submitted on October 1st of 2025, and a copy of the certificate of bulk mailing is attached to Exhibit 6.
The zoning archive on this one did indicate that the previous use of the property was a storage facility on the first floor, and the second and third floor was one family.
So that one was already existing. So what we're asking to do is to convert the first floor storage for food and meat to another family resident.
The balance of the block is residential on the west side, the south side of the property, and I'll show you photographs.
There are significant numbers of still commercial properties.
The posters were put up, as I indicated to you before.
as i indicated to you before here are all the the building permits that were obtained
Here are all the building permits that were obtained.
uh for the the property uh prior to uh the change of use
so this is what the property presently looks like two doors
interior
first floor looks like that might be all the photographs i have of the interior right now
the balance of the block as you can see this is facing west and that's 9th street
again another excuse me another shot but of the south side of the street or north side of the
street, my fault. Again, you'll see, as you can see, it's a mixed area. Right across the street
are all commercial properties. Even next door on the east, I'm sorry, west side. East side
are the residential properties showing that this property has been and continues to be
two separate units showing that League Street first floor has a separate bill and second floor
has a separate bill and it was in that condition when he purchased the property did not make it
into two different units as you can see also he does pay commercial trash bill and it was
previously as as when I say previously right now it's not being used as in a commercial fashion
it's it's vacant and attached is a copy of the tax clearance certificate and hopefully I can
find the Bella Vista. So on November 11th of 2025, we met with a very, very large crowd. It was not
for us. There was another meeting right behind us that caused the higher number of people to come
out. But the nice thing about it is that the vote was overwhelmingly in support of the, as you can
see is 46 to 0 in support of this project. And the board itself was 6-0, not opposing the conversion
of the first floor to a residential property. To convert this would cause a financial hardship on
him uh to to move it back to a single family residence as there are uh that you would need
conversion moving of stairways uh converting the um different utilities and the like
i can get a little bit more detailed on everything else but i can or i can uh answer any questions
that you may have but it seems you bring your client on and have your testimony adopted
Okay. Raul Castro, if you can get him on.
Chair, they're being promoted to parent panelists.
Thank you.
okay he appears to be on if you would want to uh swear
mr castro yeah uh can you hear me hi could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
sir raul castro r-a-u-l-c-a-s-t-r-o do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing
but the truth i do counsel uh mr castro uh in addition to owning this property you also live in
in south philadelphia correct i do and right around the corner on um washington avenue you
owned the restaurant uh plaza garibaldi i do as well as one on 12th and wolf uh cantina and frida
10th and wolf uh frida cantina or cantina frida cantina okay so uh this property is right around
the corner from from your your restaurant correct it is okay so did you have an opportunity to listen
to my testimony today uh i did yes uh would you agree to the accuracy and adopt it as your own
uh would you agree to the accuracy and adopt it as your own yes as well as the truthfulness of it
yes okay members of the board questions from the questions from the board
I have a question just about the trash um how would the trash be managed for both units yes
so uh Mr Castro that was the last question that I had asked him prior to this there is a rear yard
for uh and both of the uh properties have access to it so they have access to the rear yard like
i know the first floor how would the second floor and the third get access to the radar
yeah if you see the um uh on the uh the the picture that you showed that the property uh
next to the uh next to our property that is a um a door it's an alleyway for uh for both
properties mine and then and they're right next to it so second floor will have access to put the
trash um in the uh walk-in uh using the alleyway wait he has he has to show that
um do you have the picture uh where is right pasquale i think do you have existing alley
did you have photos with the door i do have photographs i don't know whether they show that
but i can yes it uh i saw i saw the the picture i mean the picture of the street okay so that'll
be right here that one the red door that's the uh that's the that's the door that we we share
uh both of uh my my neighbor and i okay thank you all the questions yes i know it says that
you did get approvals from near neighbors but you did you talk specifically to the tenants
in 840 and 836 836 uh well i don't have any tenants at 840 um 836 yes i did okay
questions from our attorney
not at this time mr chair why should your comments from the virtual audience
no hands at this time planning commission thank you chairman and good morning david
effecto with the city planning commission chairman and board members the comprehensive
plan recommends no change to the RSA 5 residential single-family zoning at this location the city
rezoned this neighborhood in 1985 and a council supported map change the city issued a rental
license for one dwelling unit at this address in 2015 the appellant requests to convert a
former storage space on the ground floor into an additional dwelling unit the city planning
commission recommends the board grant or proposed use variance for two dwelling units thank you mi
2025-004-385-840 league street i vote yes okay
cheryl gaston my vote is yes sanetta graham my vote is yes my mcadams my vote is yes ion my vote
is yes thank you council thank you have a great day i'll see you this afternoon
So number 15, MI 2025, 005156, 1720 North Boevere Street.
Zen Jin is the attorney.
There's a letter of unanimous support from Beach Community Services with proviso and a letter of non-opposition from Council Member Young.
Zen Jin is being promoted to panelists here.
Thank you.
good morning good morning counsel could you please state your name and spell for the
stenographer yes my name is zen jen z-h-e-n last name j-i-n here on behalf of mr culpa the owner
of the property 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 good morning council have you submitted your
documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing yes and do you waive the reading
of the refusals and stipulates their accuracy i do okay thank you can share your screen and
proceed with your case thank you i'm going to share with the board what was previously submitted as
exhibit can the board see my screen on theirs we can sir thank you uh good afternoon good morning
This is an application for a erection of a new structure at the location of 1720 North
Bovier Street.
This is on a block that is zoned RM1.
The proposal is for the construction of a new three-story, two-unit residential building.
The refusals that relates to this particular application are dimensional in nature.
relates to this particular application are dimensional in nature. Essentially, my client
essentially
is looking to line up the rear of the property, the existing footprint at the rear of the property
with also the newer buildings that have been built on this block. And in doing so triggers
various dimensional refusals relating to that design. Essentially, we're proposing a six foot
rather than nine foot rear yard which by doing so also reduce the necessary square footage of
the rear yard as well as increasing slightly the occupied area of the property so all three
refusals really relate to our desire to have a slightly shorter rear yard the property is located
on the block of North Bouvier Street between West Montgomery and I'm sorry I don't have the other
street here on this map but it's actually around the middle of the block what has happened and the
photos will best show this is that much of the block has been developed with newer structures
and we're essentially putting another structure here which would be sandwiched between the new
structures where this current structure exists. One thing to note that the current structure is
a two-story. The new structure will be a three-story matching the other neighboring properties. But as
you can see from the photo here, the rear yard of the existing structure, the depth of the building
really matches all the new structures that are being built as well. And there is an existing
six foot rear yard our plan is to keep that six foot rear yard with the new building when it is
put up so the once completed these the rear yard size the open space and the rear facade
of the building will still line up with everything else that's already on the street
and it it is also it makes the building the same approximate square footage and makes it much more
competitive uh to the new structures that are already there from a size and design standpoint
uh the duplex uses by right at this uh at this uh location due to the zoning uh with the design
the proposal is to have the basement essentially set up as the first floor basement set up as one
unit second floor third floor as the second unit bedrooms will be placed on the first floor with
the living room being moved to the basement level with an office space in the back if someone desires
to use that as such laundry mechanicals powder room the bathroom with shower will be on the
upper floor with the bedrooms the second floor which is accessed through the same entrance on
the first floor will be second and third floor is one unit there are four total bedrooms with the
kitchen on the second floor and the living room being on the third floor there is a rooftop deck
proposed which is set back on both ends of the property so it would not be visible from the
ground level this is again a design that's basically the same and very similar or very
similar to what is already on the block and already built. So we met with Beach Interplex,
whose main request is, again, in that area, trash management. We understand they made two
proposals as either a small trash compactor or a tenant-managed trash disposal. We're open to
either one. We have no problem with putting in a residential-sized trash compactor or
disposal for the unit. So with that, I would ask for the board's favorable review of this
dimensional variance. And my client is here to verify my testimony if needed. Thank you.
Hillary, I'm going to recuse myself. This is like a temple block. I mean, it's, yeah.
do you want the oh no i'm sorry did you bring your client on to adopt your testimony i can
have him uh adopt my test uh testimony thank you uh mr koba can you raise your hand virtually
to be identified they're being promoted as we speak thank you hello can you hear me
yes i can hear you alex uh yes hi good morning uh board and my name is alexander copa
Yes. Hi. Good morning, board. And my name is Alexander Kopa. I'm the owner of 1720 North Bouvier Street.
Okay. Could you spell your name for the record, please?
O-L-E-K-S-A-N-D-R. Last name K-O-P-A.
Okay. And do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Okay. You can proceed, counsel.
Thank you. Mr. Coppa, did you see my representation, my screen that I showed to the zoning board as well as hear my representation before the zoning board?
Yes, I did.
Can you verify what I have represented are true and correct and adopted as your own testimony?
Yes, it is true.
Thank you.
I would also like to just add a little thing when it comes to trash, because I'm actively involved in the community, working with the neighbors.
we i myself have a local landscaper that does the whole block cleaning from montgomery to cecil b
moore he comes every monday it's our trash day and he cleans the entire block and i'll take care of
that and also uh we have a dedicated team that comes twice a week to check on trash and if there
is in uh you know overflow they always pick it up and hold it away for us thank you
um i have a question a statement i know that the uh rco requested um a proviso for interior trash
storage is there a problem with that one i don't have a problem with that one we can find a room
for it okay all right questions from the board yes i have a question about tenancy so um who
are you intending for these apartments to be rented to uh we always advertise publicly uh first come
first serve all the properties that we advertise are always on mls okay understood um i think the
sort of two concerns i have and it's less of a one for the the first unit that has the bedroom
in the basement that's listed as an office we can list it as whatever we want it's going to get
coded as an office. So that is a three bedroom unit. And then for the upstairs unit being four
bedrooms, it does make it really hard and limit who can rent from it because you can't have more
than three adults that are not related rent from one apartment together. So I guess like it's an
awkward setup for a family unit. I think especially on a block like that and just wanted to sort of
understand how you're going to manage that uh like i said we uh we we never uh try to uh do it like
off market we always uh listed uh and uh we have a because i'm a part of the uh i'm a realtor myself
uh and i'm actively involved in renting places in the area and we do have a mix of uh student
and families living in our properties i'm not the owner of the properties i'm just a part of
the management group and i would say between the inventory that we have it's 60 40 students and
regular families from the neighborhood that renting from us layout is basically very similar
or almost exactly the same as a lot of properties on this block so we are which is why i brought it
up because many of those blocks got hit with stop work orders because students were living
four people to an apartment it caused a lot of drama a few years ago which is part of why i was
bringing yeah we have we have a mix we have i mean uh i would say that still probably more than 50
are students uh in this area but we do see uh families moving in more and more okay
any other questions from the board i just have the same concern about the um basement you know
use and uh i think that you have far too many units in here for oh you mean the the office in
the basement well it's not just an office so so i think i think which is all part of the first
floor unit, correct. I think the board's concern is the number of bedrooms in the second unit
above, particularly, Alex, and also that the possibility of the office in the first unit
could be easily converted to a bedroom. I guess the question then is, would you be amicable to
restrictions against any kind of bedrooms in the basement and perhaps limiting the bedrooms to the
upper floors to three bedrooms rather than four um i am open to limiting the bedrooms in the
basement i understand the concern um but if the board would give me four bedrooms in the in the
upstairs uh second floor unit i would really appreciate it if it's a concern
Then I guess I have no other way of doing it, but limiting it to 3.
then I guess I have no other way of doing it but limiting it to three.
Any other questions from the board? Okay. Questions from, um, uh, the virtual audience.
No hands at this time by share. Okay. Uh, questions from my attorney.
Um, I just want to note for the record of the board, uh, grants the requested variance in this case that it include a proviso.
So specifying that the approved uses to family household living, because that was essentially admitted from the description on the refusal. Thank you.
Okay, we're able to say that woman said to unit to help to family. Okay.
and um proviso no if if the board so chooses no household living in the basement okay um
planning commission uh thank you and uh good morning chair uh chair and board members um
david effecta with the city planning commission comprehensive plan recommends no change to the rm1
residential multi-family zoning at this location the city rezoned this neighborhood in 2014 in
accord with recommendations in the comprehensive plan 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 however this is a primarily multi-family block face and this proposal would match the
character of the homes on the block face the city planning commission recommends the board grant the
proposed dimensional variances for rear yard depth maximum occupied area and rear yard area
okay thank you m i two zero two five zero zero five one five six seventeen twenty north
brevere street um i vote uh yes with provisos um no household living in the basement and uh
was it approved use is two family household living approved uses uh for two family
household living
charles gaston my booty chefs with provisos
ryan mcadams excuse me ryan mcadams my vote is yes with provisos
diane when my vote is yes with provisos thank you
thank you counsel is there any other cases um that are on the 9 30 list
Vice Chair, we have a hand up from Vern Anastasio.
Vern is on that? Okay. Come on. You can bring him on.
Hi, Mr. Vice Chair. I'm assuming it's not on the list.
6913 TULIP, but perhaps that's this afternoon.
so that that is give me that is number four on the 3 30 list 3 30 okay I'll see you at two o'clock
thank you okay all right thank you all right any other cases that were for 9 30
no hands at this time by share okay thank you everyone see you at two o'clock
audience
thank you good afternoon everyone my name is bill bergman and i will be chairing this meeting of
the philadelphia zoning board of adjustment with me is our board vice chair tenetta graham
present mr chairman our board secretary charlotte gaston president mr chairman board member michael
johns he'll he'll be there uh board member tya winn president mr chairman and our board member
ryan mcadams president mr chairman also here is our board attorney hillary emerson our zoning
board director ian haggerty and our board administrator 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 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
any person may enter their appearance to become an interested party there are three ways you can
enter their appearance to become an interested party there are three ways
identify the case property address in 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 appeal case filing guidance
is for our remote attendees when directed you must raise your virtual hand in order to be
recognized to speak 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 hearing do not comment on cases in the q a fourth if you're if you're participating by
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refrain from talking eating or drinking during the hearings verbal and physical aggression will
not be tolerated restaurants restrooms are across from the elevator water fountain is just outside
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the directions given over the public address system or by the staff the main exit is through
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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
note i'm present mr chairman i knew you'd be there michael
number 12 mi 2025 005 548 1925 denny street that case is continued
until 428.26 at 930 a.m. Are there any other requests for continuance?
Good afternoon, Chair. This is Doreen, and I will be your co-host this afternoon, and there are no hints.
Thank you. And number 13, MI 2025-006-777-5236 Rising Sun Avenue.
it's renee's arch daycare center um no exhibits this is the first listing
there are no hands so mi2025-006-777-5236 rising sun avenue that case is continued
to 4 28 26 at 9 30 a.m mark must be heard
we'll start with number eight
jared this is the integrity minor correction i believe the continuing state would be 4 28 26 at
2 p.m is that correct uh it says 9 30 but that's okay oh i see i'm good i'm no it is 9 30 that's
a Tuesday special. My mistake. Thank you. Thank you.
You got some add-on.
So number eight, MI 2025-005-378-2350 West Pashunk Avenue. Leonard Altieri is the attorney.
You got some add-on. Oh, I'm sorry. Let me do the add-ons real quick.
And my 20, 25, 0, 0, 3, 7, 8, 4, 4, 4, 9. Locus Avenue. I vote. Yes. Maximum proviso maximum 3 dwelling units. No household living in basement of existing structure.
How many read that again? Yeah, how many maximum 11 dwelling units? Oh, household living in basement of existing structure.
that's yes yes no i just thought i heard a different number thank you yeah i thought i
heard three yes okay my vote is yes with proviso cheryl gaston my vote is yes with proviso
tanetta graham my vote is just with proviso ryan mcadams my vote is yes with proviso
i win my vote is yes number two mi 2025 006 672 3408 to 50 b street
the vote in this matter has been rescheduled to wednesday january 28th at 2 p.m
And number three, MI 2025-002-113-7709 Ridge Avenue.
0-0-2-1-1-3-7709 Ridge Avenue. I vote no to reconsideration and re-hearing.
No, John, my vote is no to reconsideration and re-hearing.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is no to reconsideration and re-hearing.
Teneda Graham, my vote is no to reconsideration and re-hearing.
Brian McAdams, my vote is no to reconsideration and re-hearing.
Hi, Owen, my vote is no to reconsideration and re-hearing.
Mr. Altieri.
Mr. Altieri has been promoted.
Thank you. Mr. Altieri, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Yes, good afternoon, Mr. Chairman. Leonard Altieri, L-E-O-N-A-R-D. Last name is Altieri, A-L-T-I-E-R-I.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client, the relationship to the property?
Yes, my client is Viking SP Holdings 1, 2, and 3 LLC, as well as Viking SP Partners LLC for the property. They are the owner of the property at 2350 West Paschalk Avenue.
And there's a letter of unanimous support from Gerada State Neighbors Association. Our vice chair has a few questions.
Good afternoon. Counsel, have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
I have.
And do you waive the reading letter refusals and stipulate to their accuracy?
Okay, thank you. You can share your screen and proceed with your case.
Thank you very much. And good afternoon again, everyone. Leonard Altieri of the law firm of
Claire Harrison Harvey Brandsburg for the property of 2350 West Pashonk Avenue. The property itself
is known by many as the South Philadelphia Shopping Center. It is located between West Oregon Ave,
South 24th Street, and Pashonk Avenue, and is currently a commercial shopping center.
I think it's important just by way of background to give a little bit of history to color what
this application is really for this afternoon. What we are seeking is just an installation of
a static illuminated sign. But how we got there, I think, is important for the board to know. So
prior to COVID, there was an application on this property by a prior owner. It was going to be a
mixed-use sort of property. They were going to have residential office as well as commercial.
Then the applicant at the time, or the owner at the time, then started moving all of his tenants
towards the leases to start expiring so they could start doing a substantial amount of work
to accomplish that mixed-use center. COVID then hit. The prior owner was a publicly traded entity.
They went bankrupt. And so those plans never materialized, even though that they were,
you know, formally approved and adopted by the necessary agencies. My client has since taken
ownership of the property. And instead of moving forward with those previously approved plans,
is actually going to continue to operate the shopping center as it is. They are currently 95%
leased. One of the big tenants that they have that's about to be finished is the Burlington
Coe Factory. They also have in there Duncan, Ross, Five Below, Fusion Gym, Burger King,
ShopRite, Sherwin-Williams. And then once the weather starts changing, they plan to make
additional improvements to the shopping center, such as re-striping the property. Again, what
we're here for tonight, or this afternoon, I should say, is just for the installation of a sign,
which I will show the board as we start walking through the exhibits.
As the chairman did say, we did go to the Gerard Estate Neighbors Association back in November.
We received a letter of unanimous support from the RCO.
It was a very productive conversation.
They were more interested in what tenants we were going to be having there
than the actual conversation around the sign,
but they were in support of the sign nevertheless as well.
Again, property is located in the CMX3 shopping center,
or excuse me, CMX3 zoning district.
and again an aerial just to orient the board of the where we're speaking about with regards to
the shopping center itself here's a site plan now what we have here as i said the the applicant
prior owner was approved to start doing a mixed use center there part of that was the approval
of this sign that we're talking about today so it was originally approved back in 2020
but they never moved forward with the installation of the sign because the entire land development
that project never moved forward. So these two pilings that you see here are currently on the
site. This is the corner of Paschank Avenue and 24th Street. These are the exact pilings
that our client will use when they put the sign together. So again, here's just another angle,
again, showing the pilings there. And the sign itself will look just like this. So the black
pilings that we see are on the sides, as you can see right here where my cursor is, and then they
will put the sign faces on either side of that the sign itself is proposed to be uh 50 feet tall
the zoning district prohibits us to be only 20 feet tall and then with regards to square footage
of the sign face we're seeking 424 square feet where 100 square feet is otherwise permitted
again uh this zoning uh for this sign was already approved back in 2020 and we're just asking for a
revival of that. We do believe that this is the minimum relief necessary and that no, you know,
Um, we do believe that this is the minimum relief necessary and that no, uh, you know, there's, there's, there's no negative effects to the, to the neighborhood, uh, as it currently stands.
Um, and, uh, that is all that I have. I do have my, uh, client with me, Mr. Sam Gabay, who is authorized to speak on behalf of the ownership entities who all have testified to adopt my testimony.
Sir, could you please state your name and spell for the stock for your microphone?
one okay just hit that button yeah good afternoon my name is uh samuel gabay that's s-a-m-u-e-l
g-a-b-b-a-y do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yes council sam were you uh so one you're authorized to speak on behalf of the nc
the ownership entity yes and were you present when i made the testimony to the zoning hearing board
And is everything you heard accurate to the best of your knowledge, information, and belief?
Yes, it's accurate.
And if I was to call you to testify, would you adopt that testimony as your own?
No further questions?
Questions from the board.
The piles that are there, they will remain, correct?
And that is the height?
That is correct, sir.
Other questions?
I guess I'm trying to orient myself again as to where this is.
so this is the south philadelphia shopping center okay the property what's in what's in that one
you said something about there's is that the one with the ross and the there's a shop right in there
and okay okay then i know where you're talking okay all right can you point out where the sign
is on this map just because it's turned differently on where the the map that i have on right now
correct so it should be right here where my cursor is on the corner of is that 20 23rd and
Passiunk, right? And like Rittner, 23rd Street and Passiunk?
24th and Passiunk, right here.
Okay. So I guess my question about the illumination is, do you know if this is going to have any
impact on the neighbors that are living on the north side of Passiunk? Because there are a number
of residential blocks just north of there.
Which is Dorada State, I think, right?
Yeah, it is. We have the sign vendors also on the phone or on the call if you want him to testify
to any illumination. Directly across is this commercial pad right here. So I can have him
testify to any illumination. I will tell you that at the RCO meeting, we did have a large number of
people that were present for it. And again, received that unanimous letter of support from
those individuals. I just want to make sure because like right now there's less signs. And
even in this photo, I mean like the Blockbuster video sign is no longer illuminated, right? So
i think you've got a sign that has like 10 different stores are all 10 of them illuminated
like have we have we measured the lumens that are going to be coming off of that sign
greg there is more signage visible on that sign than the others that we're looking at in reference
so my sign vendor is on the on the line if he can raise his hand we can have his name his name is
greg greg and i know just from drive like being in cars over there though only illuminated sign
at night is the 711 which is much lower and below the tree level versus this one that's
above the tree level all the others are turned off are not illuminated
target's coming in now okay thank you
what's the blue sign across the street there that's the this right here this would have been
the blockbuster blockbuster okay yeah so i was like that's not on blockbuster that's like like
20 years i don't even think that sign is there in real life right now all we're all about vintage
vintage yeah so that is an antique i mean my goodness it's protected by the art commission
no were there signs on this uh on these uh piles before i don't believe that there were signs on it
um i believe that the pilings were erected in anticipation of erecting this sign
but i can also ask the sign vendor that question as well right is greg on the line
yes greg you're free to speak hello okay greg could you please state your name and spell for
the stenographer name is greg feld g-r-e-g-f-e-l-d do you swear affirm to tell the truth
told truth nothing but the truth i do could you turn to your video one i thought it was where's
yet okay am i on there council council yeah yeah you're good all right greg um can you just state
your name and title real quick greg feld uh permit expediter uh kc sign company all right now
Greg Feld, permit expediter, KC Sign Company.
All right.
Now, Greg, I don't know if you heard the question that was asked by Ms. Wynn,
but do you have any information that you can provide to the zoning board with regards to the illumination?
The illumination, each, the entire sign is comprised of individual illuminated cabinets.
There's, I think, probably like three to each one will have separate tenant panels for the tenants in there.
you can see from the drawing that they're all different sizes so um the illumination each
cabinet will be interiorly illuminated with um we used to use fluorescent bulbs all the uh
everything i was used is uh led lights but they're not like the led message board that you see with
anything flashing or scrolling or anything no animation they're all interior upgrades of old
fluorescent bulbs and um they will be acrylic faces white acrylic faces over the illumination
there are strings of leds that are us installed inside the cabinet so there will be acrylic faces
over them and then each individual tenant will have their name and a logo you know whatever else
on each individual face the pen shopping center the tenants um a lot of the panels at least in
old sign uh to answer another question we've brought up there was a previous sign on these
pipelines um it might have come down 10 or so years ago it was a little while ago there was
a sign here before that was um a different configuration but it uh more or less the same
square feet and then that was taken down and the pilings have been uh empty for uh or just
uninhabited for uh several years now i thought there was i thought there were signs they put
was the previous sign also eliminated yes and since these aesthetic bulbs it cannot be dimmed
once installed right so like it's either on or off correct yeah i was a question i guess my
question for the op for the owner is the plan to leave this on overnight is it going to be on 24 7
or what we can say and i don't mean to cut you off is if you want to put in as a condition that
it shuts off after a certain time you know it can't be on um during a certain period of time
I don't think my client would have any objection to that uh if that's the one of the conditions
that the zoning board would be inclined to do I have no other question I mean if that should
that yeah I mean the nobody if the neighbors didn't say anything I just these are the questions that
i would have um i don't know what's your thoughts
okay how about midnight to 5a
okay i think that's fine all right other questions from the board questions from our attorney
hillary emerson um no i just uh in terms of crafting that um proviso just um no illumination
between 12 a.m and 5 a.m but thank you uh questions from the virtual audience or this audience
there are no aims um planning commission
amy boyd with the planning commission amy boyd you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole
truth and nothing but the truth. Yes. Please proceed. The comprehensive plan recommends no
change in zoning at this location to the current CMX3 commercial mixed use. This property is in
harmony with the auto-oriented shopping center of the property. The proposal was previously
approved and the structure for the sign already exists. The Planning Commission recommends that
the board grant their requested variances for sign area and height. So MI 2025-005-378-2350
west pass shotgun no i vote yes proviso no illuminated signage from 12a to 5a johns my
vote is yes with proviso cheryl guest and my vote is yes with proviso tenetta graham my vote is yes
with proviso ryan mcadams my vote is yes with proviso i win my vote is yes with proviso no
all right thank you thank you very much everyone appreciate you number one
MI 2025-001-083, 249 East Cambridge Street.
Vern Anastasio is the attorney.
Vern is coming in as a panelist.
Okay, thank you.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chair.
Counsel, just for the record, could you state your name? You've already been sworn.
Counsel, just for the record, could you state your name?
You've already been sworn.
Yes, Vern Anastasia.
Yes, Vern Anastasio on behalf of Ms. Judith Ciceron.
Okay. Our vice chair has a few questions.
Good afternoon, counsel. Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, ma'am.
And do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Okay. Thank you. You can share your screen and proceed with your case.
Thank you.
Okay, 249 East Cambria is for the legalization of a pre-existing non-conforming two-family dwelling.
We did meet with the 7th Ward RCO. We met this several months ago, and despite my efforts, I do not have any information from Mr. Cruz as of today, but that doesn't mean they haven't sent something over. I just did not receive it.
we have nothing okay I didn't think so it's a legalization of a two-family dwelling and
I have a 75 page exhibit packet that I'm moving into evidence
I'm going to pull out and show you the plans I have
it's a two-story row Mr. Anastasio question who did you say your client was again
Is she part of the Pure Rock Real Estate LLC entity?
That's her.
All right.
Thank you.
This is what we have here.
this is the existing first floor plan just come through the the front of and then we have a living
room kitchen and a bedroom in the rear we have a full bath between the kitchen and the bedroom
there is a door from the bedroom to the yard. And then the second floor
would be a living room in the front with a kitchen in the center and a bedroom in the rear.
The kitchen already exists. I recommended that they take what was an old bedroom in the front
and turn that into use that as living space but this is existing this kitchen
and then there's a bedroom in the rear
show you some photos
As you can see, there are separate electric meters that came with the house, one for each of the units, plus a common area.
The basement is just storage and utilities.
There's the second kitchen.
two water heaters
there are some aerials
there are several uh two family dwellings in the immediate block area as well as kip street
there's proof of posting
there's the flyer that went to everyone that not only invited everyone to the seventh ward
Registered Community Organization meeting, but also today's hearing of 194 individual households were mailed.
I'm also moving into evidence, the proof of tax compliance, the deed.
And all 75 pages in addition to any additional materials that were sent out here, the listing of the property.
And I think is important to see as well, and I'd like to now call my client with Judas Ciceron to the stand.
that I think is important to see as well.
Judith Ciceroon has been promoted I could you please state your name is spelled for the
stenographer
hello hi could you please state your name is spelled for the stenographer
Judith Cicero, J-U-D-I-T-H-C-I-C-E-O-N.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
I swear.
Counsel?
Thank you.
Ms. Cicero, did you hear my presentation to the board today?
Is it true and accurate to the best of your knowledge?
And do you adopt it as your own testimony?
Thank you.
I have no questions from the board.
Yes, I have a question, Vern.
could you pull up the image again of the second floor bathroom second floor bathroom yeah because
you were going through and they weren't labeled i just want to see the second floor bathroom
if we can find it and then um i'm assuming the utilities for both units are in the basement
but only the first unit has access to the basement so what's the management plan
And for if the second floor tenant needs to access meters.
They can contact the owner of the management company for access to the basement.
And then I'm assuming the owner is going to be offsite, that these are both, this is an investment property.
Ms. Cicerron, you're not occupying either of the unit, is that correct?
Correct.
Ms. Cicerron, could you assist in identifying the bathroom on the second floor?
I'm going to scroll, okay?
This is it.
That there?
Other questions, you know, I always have the issue with having to go through a bedroom to go to the backyard as problematic for me trash, etc.
So that's that's a that's just a nonstarter as far as I'm concerned for this project. What is the goal around trash? What's the process?
Interior storage for both units. They both have plenty of space for storage inside each of the units. The layout was as it was how she found it. This wasn't built out. There's no building permits pulled.
So I understand the preference not to have access from the yard to a bedroom, but that is the way she found the property, and it was purchased that way.
Are there other duplexes on the block?
Yes, more than more than more.
How many?
I can't say that they're all legalized, but I counted half a dozen.
and the other concern is these these are small houses but not they're not real big houses they
were probably about 1100 square feet maybe if that were two three bedroom house so yeah she
when she bought it i mean it has a second kitchen on the second floor i understand yeah i just
understand i understand how she bought it um but but it's an opportunity for a for uh you know for
someone who may not be able to rent an entire house in order to get some housing.
I hear you. And we hear you, sir. Other questions? Questions from our attorney?
Not at this time, Mr. Chair. Questions or comments from the audience, the virtual audience?
No, Haynes. Planning Commission.
Amy Boyd with the planning commission. The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the RSA 5 residential single family zoning at this location. The property received rental license in 2017 and in October 2024 for one family rental. There is no evidence that the conversion to two family was done.
for one family rental there is no evidence that the conversion to two family was done with the
benefit of permits the planning commission recommends that the board deny the proposed
use variance for two dwelling units thank you council we're going we'll vote on this next week
uh next wednesday we'll vote at 2 pm after we take it to executive session okay thank you
mr chair i just want to for the record i just want to put on the record that my client fully
intends to get a administrative co that will of course uh be subject to an inspection to ensure
that whatever work was done prior to her purchase was in fact uh does in fact meet the international
building code thank you very much thank you all right number two mi2025-005-215-1024 south
6th street al knockamson is the attorney there is a letter of non-opposition from council member
Squill and a letter of non-opposition from Bella Vista Neighbors Association.
Oh boy. I'm trying to get it up and running. Okay.
So here's what we could do. Here's what we could do is I got, I think I have two cases
Then I have two more with you. Try to get, as I do the two cases, try to get it fixed. Then we'll do all yours right in a row. Right. Thank you.
Number three, MI 2025-005-223-1813 Ranstead Street. Andrea Solomon is the attorney.
Good afternoon, counsel. Could you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer?
Good afternoon, Andrea Solomon, A-N-D-R-E-A-S-A-L-O-M-O-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client in a relationship to the property?
My client is 18th and Ludlow Properties, the owner of 1813 Randstad.
And there's a letter of non-opposition from the Center City Residents Association,
a letter of non-opposition from Council Member Young,
and also four letters of support two in the immediate block and our vice chair has a few
questions good afternoon um have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance
of this hearing we did okay and do you uh waive the reading of the referral and stipulates to it
stipulate to its accuracy yes okay thank you you can share your screen and proceed with your case
thank you i'm still uh not a panelist so i appreciate if i can be promoted
okay i tried to promote you but it was declined so when it pops back up could you accept please
yes thank you
one second please
It should be coming in now.
Yes, I see it.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
Good afternoon.
again andrea solomon from the law firm of clear harrison harvey brandsberg representing the
applicant 18th and ludlow properties i'll see with me today is joseph kelly the owner's rep
and um also in the audience are the team members monica maj and paulina matajewska
we're here today seeking special exception approval for ground level parking in a cmx
five stone property just a couple of blocks from here on 18th and randstead
the property is currently under construction in line with demand and the desire to increase
quality housing stock in the city for a 12-story multi-family residential building with 84 units
it's estimated to be completed in the late spring of this year
as you know the special exception approval has a lesser standard
not cause that it will not cause any specific detrimental impacts here we're actually trying
to decrease impacts by reducing congestion and adding these three parking spaces at the ground
floor for offloading of groceries and temporary parking for the residents.
offloading of groceries and temporary parking for the residents as chairman bergman stated
we received a letter of non-opposition from the ccra we met with them back in october
and we also received the support of the immediately adjacent properties on the block
at 22 south 18th street 1800 market 1815 brandstead and 1817 ran to 19 ranstead
uh to orient you a bit um oops
it's a challenging site uh uh it fronts two very narrow streets branstead is a dead end
at 19th street so the only entrance to it is from 18th street uh the main entrance of the
building is on Randstead. And so at the rear of the property, we're proposing this curb cut and
three parking spaces, including an ADA van space. Like I said, the intention is to for residents to
have it as an amenity and not block Ludlow, which is a very narrow street when they're offloading
groceries and dropping off kids, et cetera.
And it's on CMX 5, so it requires special exception for the ground floor parking.
Here you can see the dead end.
Here are some property, the photos of the exterior of the building, the main entrance
on Randstead, the dead end.
This is, if you can see my cursor, this is the subject property.
And this is from Ludlow Street at the rear where the proposed curb cut would be.
In front of the property is the parking structure, 1800 Market.
it. And it's really the rear of the adjacent properties. The only real traffic here is a
little bit of pedestrian traffic for the entrance to Condesa and El Techo, but it's really not a
heavily trafficked block, very narrow with the parking structures in front.
So again, it's a special exception approval. We don't think it will have, it won't have any
detrimental impacts beyond that of the typical ground floor parking, no congestion to public
streets. We actually think it will alleviate that, no overcrowding of the land, no impairing the
adequate supply of light and air to the adjacent properties the structures existing no burning
water sewer school park or other public facilities non-pairing permanent or permanently injuring
the use of adjacent conforming properties non-endangering the public health or safety
or by fire other means and it's not inconsistent with the comprehensive city plan
no detriment is also evidenced by the letters of support and non-opposition that we received
um with that being said we request the special exception approval and any other relief necessary
and i'd ask that joseph kelly be sworn in to adopt could you please state your name and spell for
the stenographer yeah it's joseph kelly mike one joseph kelly is that better yeah right uh j-o-s-e-p-h
k-e-l-l-e-y do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i do counsel joe you saw the entirety of the presentation yes and it's true and accurate to
the best of your knowledge yes and do you adopt it as your own testimony yes questions from the board
yeah question for you can you go back to the site plan sure plan of the first floor
and these are it's a total of four parking spaces did you say three parking spaces um two regular
parking spaces and one ADA van-sized parking space. And how do the tenants access these
parking spaces from within the building? Is there a first floor plan? We do have a first floor plan.
I can pull it up. And Joe, you can talk through that as well. Yes. So there's another door that
will connect to the residential lobby. If you see on the skinny portion of the T, that's the main
RESIDENTIAL ENTRY AND THERE'S A DOOR THAT WOULD HAVE JOINED THEM.
So, is the main lobby on Randstead or is the main lobby on, what's the other street, Ludlow?
SO IS THE MAIN LOBBY ON
The main lobby is on Randstead.
The main lobby is on Randstead next to this drop-off or parking spaces.
The parking spaces would front Ludlow, so they're in the rear of the property.
and so Ludlow so Ludlow is at the top of this plan correct okay and your main lobby is at this
this the bottom narrow where you have the vestibule the mail in the mail room correct
you come through the mail room and then just trying to get and then you go you've got this
sort of back hallway that gets you to this parking space these two these parking spaces
that's correct so there's a so these and so how does one get how does one load and unload
if they're moving in and out how does that work I'm looking at this this hallway in the back and
it seems sort of sort of circuitous you know what I mean sort of winding how do you you mean for if
tenant is moving in and out and it is moving out where does the where does the truck where's the
furniture truck go yeah go ahead joe yeah are they loaning from randstad what's the yeah the
the goal of these parking spaces is to help accommodate with that so they would load through
that corridor into the elevator the units are rather small um so we don't anticipate large
furniture so we think that it's sufficient to accommodate that and the goal of these spaces
is so that it makes that process easier and less disruptive.
So you've got three spaces.
Will one of the spaces accommodate a box truck?
We don't believe a box truck will be necessary
given the size of the unit.
So it would accommodate a U-Haul van-sized move-in.
But we could also look at if there is a box truck
necessary reserving both of those spaces
because there'll be temporary reserve spots.
so it'll be through our property management company okay i can barely hear you oh is am i
close enough now yeah that's better yeah so the spaces will be reserved through our property
management company uh for the tenants for temporary use so if there is a box truck
those two spaces could accommodate one but generally speaking we feel a van will be
sufficient for these move-ins thanks tell the moving companies that um so all cars are going
to come in off ludlow and in terms because it didn't look like this is going to be 24-hour
staffed so what's going to be the management of the gate and the door and to make sure people
aren't parking here when they haven't reserved it so we're going to have an app we're looking
into different app options that will allow temporary access to each resident as they have
are reserved. So they'll only be able to open that gate if they have the temporary access to
the app. Otherwise it'll be controlled by the management company. Exactly. Okay. And then
I'm assuming this is only going to be for like 15 minute loading zone type uses. But so what's
happening like Amazon, all the grocery delivery companies that also don't necessarily use Vans,
where do you intend for them to? So they would put the packages in that vestibule area. That is
the designated package from the ranstead side or from the ludlow side from ranstead so you're
anticipating that the trucks are still going to block ranstead just not the tenants and that
one's also a rear uh kind of a an alley of narrow alley situation and how it is currently on both
yes okay so we're trying to alleviate as much as we can i just don't know how much it's alleviating
i feel like it's it's performative at this point but other questions questions more attorney
not at this time questions or comments from the virtual audience no haynes planning commission
amy boy with the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change in
zoning at this location from the current same x5 commercial mixed use the appellant has
demonstrated that the proposed use will not cause detrimental impacts beyond what would reasonably
be expected the planning commission recommends that the board grant their requested special
exception for ground floor parking my 2025-005-223-1813 branch head street i vote yes
michael johnson my vote is yes cheryl gaston my boot is yes tenetta graham my vote is yes
ryan mcadams my vote is yes i own my vote is yes thank you very much counsel mr patterson
MI-2025-005-347, 2545 Aramingo Avenue.
mi 2025 005347
Ronald Patterson is the attorney.
There's unanimous support from Old Richmond Civic Association
and a non-opposition from Council Member Squillip.
Mr. Patterson, could you please state your name is spelled for the stenographer.
i think i'm in okay good afternoon ronald patterson p-a-t-t-e-r-s-o-n claire harrison
law firm philadelphia pa do you swear our firm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the
truth uh yes i do could you identify your client a relationship to the property sure my client is
owner and developer of the property cl collection on iron mingo uh pa llc and with me is jeffrey
thompson who's uh one of the principals our vice chair has a few questions 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 read no the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy yes i do all right
thank you you can share your screen and proceed with your case
beautiful so this application regards 25 45 aromingo avenue uh at the corner of huntington
avenue uh it's in the vicinity on our mingo between york and lehigh avenues it's a vacant
building last used by right aid having a drive-through window while this use stands on its
own lot here. It is connected to the two adjacent lots here, which is a Wawa and an Applebee's,
both all three owned by the same company, the CL Collection. There's access to all the lots
that are connected through cross easements. They were purchased that way, but they exist in that
condition because of financing histories. But practically speaking, they're operated as one
lot. And that's important for when I get to the refusals. The proposal here is to demolish the
Rite Aid and replace it with a Chick-fil-A. Here is the existing building.
One second.
So the zoning district is a CA2 commercial shopping center district.
This restaurant used to take out and drive through are permitted uses.
We're here for dimensional variances, two of them, that regard the drive-through design.
The refusals are the stacking lanes need to be set back 20 feet from the nearest lot line,
and the second one is that the stacking lanes need to be separated by raised curb median or landscaping.
This particular lot is 2.35 acres, which is 102,570 square feet.
The building will be around 50 to 100 square feet with interior seating of 90 seats and two stacking lanes.
Parking is approximately 600, I'm sorry, 66 spaces.
We did commission the traffic impact study review, amongst other things, to look at the ingress, egress, traffic, circulation, and the stacking.
And this design was approved, conditionally approved by the streets department.
So with that said, I'm going to introduce Mr. Thompson.
He can board your name and address, please.
My name is Chris Revell.
Sorry, Chris.
C-H-R-I-S-R-E-V-I-L-L-E.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, not to write the truth?
Yes, I do.
Counsel?
Chris, so you heard my testimony.
Would you agree it's true and accurate so far?
And it would adopt as if it were your own?
And what's your position with the owner's group?
i'm the director of construction development i uh here for the development of this piece of
property okay um just a few questions for you um can you confirm that that the cl owns the
two adjacent properties correct and are they interconnected and have cross access easements
Correct.
And are they interconnected and have cross-access easements for ingress and egress and traffic circulation?
for ingress and egress.
Yes, they do.
And when this building was, I guess, vacant for a couple of years, do you know if there were any other offers by any other uses?
I do not. We purchased the property with the Chick-fil-A being the potential.
Okay. And is it fair to say that the parcels are separated because of financial purposes?
Correct.
And ground leasing.
Other financial.
And I have a question before we get to it.
These two grassy areas, are they part of the development?
Yes, they are.
And they will remain vacant and undeveloped?
Undeveloped and they'll remain.
Thank you.
Any questions?
No, not at this point.
Do you have other witnesses?
I have more.
Why don't we put your whole case on it?
Everybody has a question.
All right.
i mean i'm not on the side plane hold on
hi could you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer
yes uh kim wyatt k-i-m-w-y-a-t-t do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and
nothing but the truth i do please proceed counsel hi kim um tell us your position who you work for
I'm the principal development lead for Chick-fil-A in the state of, for the state of Pennsylvania.
And I'm looking for the site plan.
I'll be.
Yeah, sure.
so kim does this reflect the site plan yes it does i mean it is a site plan um and um the store
is not a uh is not is or is not a prototype type of store this is a prototype okay and as to the
drive-through um and we'll hear more from that later uh the drives through um go in this
direction and they come to an area where people place their orders that fair to say yes that's
And one of the refusals say that the stacking lanes have to have, we'll call it a raised curb or a hard separation.
Do you understand that, what that means?
And you're aware of that?
And do any of the Chick-fil-A drive-thru operations have that raised curb?
No, we do not.
So could you explain what happens when a customer drives through the drive lane?
Absolutely.
So many of you are probably familiar with our drive throughs.
And when we have these dual lanes, what we do is we have a three foot stripe for a little bit more into the mic.
Just a little. OK, better. That's much better.
Right. So we'll have dual lanes and for each lane, there'll be a three foot striped area, kind of a safety zone so that if there are exceptional number of customers waiting in line,
we'll be able to deploy some of our employees they'll have safety vests and they will work
in those lanes to get orders and the idea is that if we can if we can get the kitchen
caught up then we'll be able to move customers through the process a lot quicker and that
results in a lot less time and fewer or no backups so to have a raised curve between the two would
actually um introduce a trip hazard for those associates then um so as a rule um in all of
these multi-lane drive-throughs that we have we we typically do not ever we've never had a race
curve or any type of physical element of that nature and the greeters you have how do they
function when yeah they are um they're in the safety vest they've got the ipads and they're
you know they're out there trying to have a human human connection even with our customers that are
coming through the drive-thru, so taking orders and greeting customers.
So it's fair to say this design works safely?
It does.
It does.
Thank you.
Days and hours of operation?
It's up to the operator, but typically 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., six days a week.
And where's the trash stored?
It's in that.
We have a trash enclosure.
Yes, it's in the rear of the building.
That's very close to where trash will come out, and it will be fully enclosed in brick
matching the building.
okay and i mentioned there's some outdoor seating yes sir there is there's very little
but it's um it's yes correct it's near the order can be okay thank you thank you
sir could you please state your name and spell for the stock of her sure uh retro liberty r-h-e-t-t
c-h-i-o-i-b-e-r-t-i you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i do counsel uh hi brad uh could you tell the board uh your position
Council. Hi, Brett. Could you tell the board your position we work for? Sure. My name is
Retro Liberti. I'm with Collier's Engineering and Design, and I run our Philadelphia office.
And you're familiar with these plans? Yes. Okay. And you heard my testimony regarding
the stacking lanes so far. Would you agree it's true and accurate? I do agree. And would
adopt it as your own? Yes. Okay. And having been familiar with the plans, would you describe
the design of the stacking lanes sure the stacking lanes circulate around the building
you enter on the south side of the property where ron's cursor is you make a right hand turn
go through the order point board which is the rectangular shape on the south side of that
rolling all right that's all right uh and then you'll circulate north uh you'll turn left which
is to the west side pick up your meal to drive through window and exit and so the refusal what
does the code say for the for the medians here uh they require a raised uh medium or landscaped or
curbed area and we do have a separation here but it's not raised that's correct we have striping
is separation also the menu boards okay and coupled with what miss wyatt had testified to
about the greeters and all is it your opinion that this is a safe design yes it is and it would
meet the uh the intent and the spirit of the code yes it means okay now the second refusal has to do
with um the stacking lanes being less than 20 feet from the nearest lot line is that correct
that's correct but it's true though that the lot line is our lot line of parcel number two
And there's no building that clearly on the other side of that lot line?
Correct.
And so, but for the fact that these lots were separated for financing purposes, we would have complied with that refusal.
Is that correct?
That's correct.
And was a traffic study performed?
Yes, a traffic study was performed.
And did it include the drive-through and the drive-through issues?
Yes, it did.
And was there any conclusion that this was an unsafe design?
uh there was nothing related to being not being safe okay thank you that's all i have for the
witnesses okay if there's any questions questions from the board for any of the witnesses
nope just on the document could you just point out any landscaping that you'll have on the site
sure you want to get a landscaping pine uh you could just uh sure
there uh we meet the uh 10 percent minimum landscape requirements we're actually providing
18 percent so we're exceeding what the city requires for landscaping if you see the circles
throughout there's uh I'd say the landscaping is extremely robust
just a quick question does Chick-fil-a have anything like this any other place in the city
um do you want to
go I can't I can't
we approved that one second come on up go ahead the other location so chairman are you asking
if all the chick-fil-a's have the design I'm just curious this this design that we're using here
have you used it anywhere else in the city in the city no not this particular prototype but
this um generation of prototype will be reflected in any of the new development okay this is like
this is our latest and greatest so um obviously the project on west oregon is a drive-through
only it's a little bit different but those are those are both the same generation prototype
design is the same that we presented to the board a few months ago exactly yes design's the same
exactly all right questions anyone else on the board yeah i have a question about the so how many
order like how many call boxes are there to do orders there's two menu boards there's two okay
and it's not going to be staff like there's not going to be people out there there if if there's
customers yes there there will be during certain times of the day where it makes sense yes so i
guess my question is like you don't have that long of a runway like i've seen at some of your other
locations what's going to happen if this gets backed up i know at a lot of your other locations
you sort of have the designated parking spaces where the staff will come in and out and what's
the plan for congestion here right um smaller and another another benefit of having a kind of our
latest is that you've got ample stack here there's there's 35 cars um that we've got um room for and
then if needed the operator can block off that access point between us and wawa and we could
potentially stack even further on our site um you know being able to fully contain any customers if
that were to happen um but the idea is that we'll have we'll have associates out with the ipads and
But the idea is that we'll have associates out with the iPads and they can help the kitchen, you know, kind of like stack those orders so we can be moving customers off site. And then also during any kind of event, be it grand opening or other event where we think something might have an overflow might happen. Operators are always, they really like to work with local law enforcement and make sure everything and everyone is very safe and contained.
they can help.
so my second question is is there any point where the inside um closes for ordering any point where
like the inside of the like at the point where chick-fil-a is open but you can't go inside and
make an order inside at the counter no if we're open so if you're open people can always get
inside yeah it's the same for in dine-in or or um would it be because i know there's some other
fast food locations where the inside will close and then you've got people walking
yeah I'm in the line to try to make orders and I could see that being an issue I am not aware of
that half of us ever splitting hours like that thank you and what are the hours typically there's
6 a.m to 10 p.m but it really depends um it's really up to the owner um operator and the
neighborhood and what they need and what they like but all right normally that's it yeah okay thank
you thank you all right um questions from our attorney we better get our attorney in here
not at this time mr questions or comments from the virtual audience
there are no hands chair planning commission like you want me to close for a minute
go ahead okay thanks i just want to point out that we do have a letter from the old
Richmond Civic Association we had our meeting on October 21st and they support the design we believe
the proposed use of the adjacent uses the current condition and this design which is a new nationwide
design will create a not necessary hardship if unable to use it however the granting of the
variance relief will cause no detrimental impacts on the public health safety welfare especially
the safety and the traffic with regard to the traffic lane and believe that the refusal for
20 foot setback is really a non-issue at this point but thank you planning commission amy boy
with the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning at this
location from the current ca2 commercial auto oriented the appellant has not demonstrated
that there are unique physical conditions or circumstances of the property that would
prevent it from being used in conformance with the zoning code the planning commission recommends
the board deny their requested variances for separation of stacking lanes and stacking lane
setback okay um mi2025-005-347-2545 aromingo avenue i vote yes michael johns my vote is yes
cheryl gaston my vote is yes tennetta graham my vote is yes ronnie mcadams my vote is yes
my vote is yes thank you thank you thank you mr knockamson are you ready
take your time
what are we doing it's going to take hold the computer oh oh man oh my god no computer
let me see where i am here
so we're back number two that's correct that's correct mr chair so
M-I-2025-005-215-1024 South 6th Street.
Alan Nockamson is the attorney.
Alan, did I swear in before you?
No, I don't.
Could you state your name and spell it?
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, nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client, your relationship to the property?
Yeah, to my left is Vincent Fahm, one of the owners of the property.
All right, and I think I mentioned this before, Bella Vista has a letter of non-opposition,
and there's a letter of non-opposition from Council Member Squilla,
and 12 signatures from neighbors, and our vice chair has a few questions.
All right, thank you.
Good afternoon.
Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, we have.
And do you wait to read another refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
okay thank you uh shake your screen and begin well i think mr goldberg is going to need to
he's got it up there oh he already has it up there wow look at that all right so luckily
and i say that a lot this a lot we have three straightforward projects today the first of which
is say that for most projects i i do 1024 south 6th street um you know it's a proposed duplex
um we've made significant changes based on community input over multiple community means
All right, so let's just go quickly over the exhibits. We have 12 exhibits. Let's go to the next page.
We have 12 exhibits. We'll start, you know, let's go to the next page. It's the notice of refusal. So we have just a refusal for use. This property is a rather large property of almost 1,100 square feet. Go to the next page. And we're seeking a refusal because of the use. We have a letter of non-opposition from the Bella Vista Neighbors Association.
So, we met with them over the course of two separate meetings.
We made significant changes to this project.
We increased the occupied area to, or reduced the occupied area to 649 square feet.
We increased the size of the rear yard setback to 23 feet 9 inches, and we reduced the height
of the property to 32 feet high from the roof line, and we also inversed the building layout.
to these are all requests to the community based on that we received support not just from the
executive board of the bella vista neighbors association but we also received support from
the nearby community as well it's not out of character to have multi-family here before we
shared a screen 1027 1025 1021 11 1005 1001 all on this block have uh two units so we have a if
this board feels so inclined to approve this zony variance request we would ask that they do it with
these revised plans again we made changes to the occupied area and other things and here are the
plans themselves next page we also did outreach as well to the to the community and you know that's
our petition of support next page um and again as i indicated there are one two three four five
examples on this block all duplexes um the this community changed its um zoning from originally
this property was rm1 to rsa5 against the community's um interaction so the community
actually wanted to keep this as an rm1 property so you can see across the street there are rm1
properties and we're surrounded by you know we're on washington avenue which is cmx2 as well uh
next page and it just shows it from a google maps perspective we're in a neighborhood
photographs of the property so this has been the condition the property for some time next page
showing since 2007 there's proof of posting
properties to 6th street to the right of the property 6th street to the left of the property
then our plans and drawings so what we did was reduce the height of the property so the massing
similar to properties you know to the left and right of us we also inversed uh the layouts they
wanted the stairs to kind of like be side by side uh and at their request we did so next page
uh so again we have no dimensional refusals here next page
next page um yeah i what i would show there is that if you look in the middle of that page
that was where the old building struck it was going to go much deeper the building structure
and at the request of the community we decreased the size of the building structure just to benefit
the people on the intersecting street we didn't want to take away their light and air it would
have been allowed as a right anyway but at their request we did that next page
and then these are the floor plans simple floor plans you go into the front door you have a
common bathroom bill to the right is a one bedroom one bath which is a bi-level unit uh the you know
there that unit will have trash stored outside um unit number two you go up to the second floor
that's also bi-level three bedroom three bath uh vincent and his wife plan to move back to
philadelphia he actually owns the property next door too so he's a well-known quantity he just
wants to move he's you know he wants to live in philadelphia and you know he wants a lower level
he wants the first floor unit just as you know to grow responsibly uh in that property um and this
is the way he's able to now afford to live in philadelphia by offsetting his mortgage payment
by having unit number two, a three-bedroom, three-bath.
Just a side view of what everything looks like.
We met with the community last time.
We met with them was January 6th at 7 p.m.
Alex is making me see if I can see that small, but yes.
And we met with how many community members did we meet?
uh uh how many community members did we meet with uh 226 uh addresses were notified of the
community meeting list of the addresses are behind that proof of mailing those addresses
our application for appeal that we filed on behalf of vincent and his wife and he does own
in his personal name so he this is non-intentional intentional development opportunity to flip it
uh the deed to the property and then tax clearance certificate while there's a balance owed it's not
owed until march 31st uh with that it's in the basement i didn't oh it's just it's just open
floor plan down there so he's just going to have openness down there so um i would just ask that
could you please state your name sir and spell for the stenographer yeah vincent fam um v-i-n-c-n-t
last name spelled p-h-a-m right do you swear a firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing
but the truth yes i do oh yeah so vincent you heard everything i had to state today about
your zoning matter correct yes and is it true and correct that is true correct yeah and the
adopted is your own testimony yes i do thank you questions from the board so what's the height of
the uh the depth of the basement below grade um so unfortunately i don't have the benefit of that
but alex if you can pull that up there um it will be helpful i don't have it in front of myself uh
you want to just expand that out looks like well it's not to see only he wants to know how deep it
is yeah okay so you're seven feet below grade uh i cannot see it that way yes yes we are seven
feet below great well it's also to mimic yeah i see what you what you what you're looking to do
on the uh on the front elevation to try to match the adjacent property but it wouldn't hurt to not
match it exactly and raise the basement a little bit more out of the ground i'm quite sure the
basement next to you is probably only five feet or probably five feet below grade so um you you
you reduce the amount of underpinning you'd probably have to do if you raised it some and
still keep your nine foot ceiling height you want to keep in the basement so that's other than that
i don't have an issue with the plan other questions yes um it says here that the support from the
community is based on the latest revised plans shown to them so is that what this is yeah the
only thing we changed on top of that is we inverse the floor layout that was the last thing that
they asked us to do so they saw everything you saw today other than the inverse layout which
we promised we would do in which we did okay yeah so like those other four things um let's see so
occupied area Alex can you put the occupied area reduced to 649 square feet we showed them that
The rear yard depth increased to 29, 23, almost 24 feet.
We show them that.
And the building height reduced to 32 feet.
We show them that.
And then the building laid out inverse was at the last meeting, the last request.
All right.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
All the questions.
I'm sorry.
What's the width of the parcel and another question I'm going to remember?
The width of the parcel is 16 feet wide.
are you dealing with the trash on it for the second so the first floor unit will have trash
stored in the rear the second floor or the the upper unit will have oh there alex is showing
is where we're going to have storage area ventilated trash closet
where is that it's right he's circling it right there do you see it uh board member john's okay
got you and then there's a stackable next okay
the questions questions from our attorney hillary emerson
um not a question just um a uh a request if the board grants this um with the revised plans if
you could update the proviso form just to indicate what was inverted about the layouts that just
look like the steps basically yeah it's like the tree yeah if you could just clarify that and also
note that the the location of the pilot house was changed as well yeah it was complete inversion so
like wherever it was left is right whatever was right was left right right just if you could
clarify that that we can do that yeah that would be helpful thank you questions or comments from
the audience the virtual audience excuse me there are no answer any commission amy boy with
excuse me there are no answer planning commission amy boy with the planning commission
the comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning at this location from the current rsa
5 residential single family the appellant has not demonstrated that there are unique physical
conditions or circumstances of the property that would prevent it from being used in conformance
with the zoning code the planning commission recommends that the board deny their quest
variance for two-family household living yeah mr chair can i just respond shortly sure uh there
are five other examples of duplexes 1027 1025 1021 1005 1001 all duplexes on that block and as i
stated the community was against the read mapping of this block where it was originally rm1 up until
2015. uh you know again the affordability of this project would not exist but for the fact that
we're asking for a duplex. Thank you. MI 2025-005-215-1024 South 6th Street. I vote yes
with proviso. Revised plans, one page, stamped by ZBA January 21st, 2026. Michael Johns, my vote is
yes with proviso. Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes with proviso. Senator Graham, my vote is yes with
proviso ryan mcadams my vote is yes with proviso my vote is yes with proviso thank you
thank you okay uh number five mi 2025 005 349 1117 north 40 street um i do have a note here from
council this will be held for an amended refusal is that correct that is correct we're still
waiting for the refusal what's for the record state your name uh alan why did you look at her
and smile exactly no she gave me she gave me a look like we've been we've been asking for this
refusal for a month yes yes we've been asking for some time oh okay um our vice chair has a few
questions for you 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? Yes, we have. Thank you. You can begin your case. All right. So similar to the project
before, there was much discussion in the community about revising our intentions for this project.
And when we did, we received their support. So this is a CMX1 property that's next to RSA5. So
we're allowed one residential unit and one commercial unit. We were proposing to have,
if you alex if you shared the uh notice of refusal we were proposing to have a triplex here
um the community is like no we think it's more appropriate given the context in the neighborhood
to have one commercial unit uh and two residential units thus you know the you know the the use
variance request is one additional residential unit um they also wanted us to deal with the
the issue in the nose refusal the first one about the setback they wanted us to set back mimicking
the property to the left and the right of us which we did and you know that's you know that's
one of the physical changes uh that we requested i do believe we have a proviso form here which
talks about i think we increased uh the occupied area to 87.74 percent where originally we proposed
81.20 and we're waiting for you know amended refusal that's in character to what's in the
nearby properties those the property to left and right of us have a hundred percent law coverage
so what we're proposing mimics what's there from a use standpoint as well as from a dimensional
standpoint alex continue so we received a letter of support and if you read the letter it was it
was it was good it was like hey if you want to ever build here you know assuming we get this done
um we would like you to do it because you listen to us and that's why we've received their support
so next and well i think it was more people than one but yeah i mean but that's fine uh next
and then we got a petition of surrounding properties next in support of this
and then just to let you know half of the properties on that blocker are vacant land
so we are hopefully to encourage we're hoping to encourage development by what we're doing next
and you know prior to this um our property had two residential units above a commercial space
so mimics the history as well next we're cmx1 continue just showing it all right so we're that
vacant property in the middle continue proof of posting for today's hearing prop you know to the
right of the property to the left of the property our plans and drawings so if you look at it from
our plans and drawings so if you look at it from that visual it looks like we would just fit well
that visual it looks
within the fabric of the community next
and then if you look at the site plan to left and right of us is shaded
i can barely see it but i'm hoping you can it's full lot coverage so even though our variance is
asking for a variance for occupied area we're still less than the properties to left and right
of us continue and then just uh you know again uh the elevations next next uh and then the floor plan
so we don't have to worry about basement living here um because the commercial unit's going to
take the first floor and the lower level then the the units above um are you know residential in
nature. There is ventilated trash closets for each of the residential units. Next.
And then obviously trash for the commercial unit as well in the rear of the first floor.
So we met with the community again multiple times to get this right for them. And that's
last time, the last notice we sent. And we sent it to 130 addresses, the notice. And the addresses
are behind it proof of mailing to those addresses our application for appeal along with notice
refusal and project information form deed to the property showing that brian crinton is the owner
of the property certificate of tax clearance and those taxes have been paid so with that being said
i know that brian is in the virtual audience i would ask that he uh be sworn in and i'll have
few questions for him sure ryan brian you said ryan his name brian brian
brian is coming in as a panelist thank you
here you go can you hear me yes i can sir could you please state your name and spell for the
phonographer yes my name is brian crittenden brian b-r-y-a-n crittenden c-r-i-t-t-e-n-t-o-n
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes sir please proceed
counsel yeah brian you heard everything i had to state today about your zoning matter
correct is it true and correct what i stated yes it is and do you adopt as your own testimony
absolutely thank you questions from the board yeah i just want to understand um from a hardship
standpoint since this is new construction what's causing the setback i mean sorry the rear yard
and the lot coverage to be above 75 percent well i mean in order to have a functional floor plan
here um to have decent sized units we're asking for that um and in addition like that's going to
increase not just the residential units it's going to increase the commercial unit to have
more flexibility uh you know i think brian was expecting to have professional offices in there
and then we just didn't want to like squeeze people in both from a commercial and residential
sense had there been any attempt to try to get the three feet back out of the plan i mean i mean i i
think that we wanted to instead of doing four stories we wanted to mimic the architecture
and the design to left and right of us and you know again we're not if anything we're less in
in we're asking for a less variance in the properties to left and right of us
where we're going to be completely closed off so you know I think our architecture mimics and
does a better job than the ones who left and right of us all the questions yeah did the RCO
and or the community have any kind of limitations in terms of the commercial space no we we stated
just cmx1 zoning i mean we didn't even push it to say well can we at least get cmx2 there
um we're we felt comfortable and as you know cmx1 zoning is definitely a lighter load on a community
and we and we felt it was appropriate and if we have problems you know obviously getting you know
some tenants we may be back here but we feel confident we're going to get tenants based on
cmx1 zoning questions for attorney hillary emerson not at this time mr chair or comments from the
virtual audience yes chair there's a hand up by the name of joy smith and i will allow her to speak
would you please state your name joyce
would you please state your name joyce
joyce smith can you unmute yourself please
unmuted hi hello hi joyce could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
my name is joyce smith j-o-y-c-e s-m-i-t-h
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
yes yes are you are you neighbor yes i am all right please proceed okay so uh well good afternoon
everyone good afternoon i want to thank the zoning board of adjustment for allowing me to
address this um project um i am a resident of east parkside neighborhood where this development
is proposed. I'm also a member of several neighborhood stakeholder organizations and
I work closely with our community RCOs. Actually, as stated, we did have two RCO meetings with this
developer regarding this project. During the first meeting, the residents clearly expressed
the importance of preserving East Parkside's shrinking commercial corridor and our strong
desire to see it revitalized in a way that serves the community. We welcome a level of density
and development that aligns with the zoning code and will not negatively impact the future
of our business corridor. We support development that every community desires on their commercial
corridors, mixed-use projects with business spaces, at least on the first floor. And so I want to say
that this developer listened to us he listened to our concerns and returned with an amended proposal
that includes that included commercial space on the first floor and we just want to commend this
developer for being responsive and respective of our community's input and it's also i just
want to add that it's encouraging to work with a developer who also understands the values of
aligning a project with the community's needs and vision. And I just want to add, we do have
the Painted Bride just moved their administrative office. It's not on the corridor, but it's adjacent.
It's just right on the corner, so it is considered commercial. And we also have the city's rowing
company. Our corridor, we're really concerned about our corridor because we don't want to set
a bad precedent where developers are coming when these vacant lots of building apartments.
we want a walkable community so again I want to thank the developer for amending the proposal
to respect that we can you know we need commercial space um and we just want it just like other
community so thank you thank you for listening no thank you for taking the time to close we
appreciate your input and you appreciate the work you've done on this thank you okay is there anyone
else in the virtual audience there are no hands planning commission Amy Boyd with planning
commission the property was zoned rm1 residential multifamily at the time of the district plan
and it recommended no change the property was later remapped to cmx1 commercial mixed use
three units would be allowed by right under rm1 the opponent has not demonstrated that there are
unique physical conditions or circumstances of the property that would prevent it from being
used in conformance with the required occupied area or setback the planning commission recommends
that the board grant the requested variance for two family and deny the requested variances for
front yard setback and occupied area may i just respond briefly so the front yard setback we are
eliminating that by way of the amended refusal um and then in terms of the occupied area we are
less we have a less variance in the properties to the left and right of us so we're not affecting
those properties they're affecting us more than anyone else thank you so we're holding this for
amended refusal am i correct thank you counsel the case is otherwise closed all right thank
you am i doing one more am i going back you have one more okay and then mr whale will be out here
all right uh mi2025-005-350-3430 north bodine street um unanimous support from 19th ward rco
applicant also provided a support of 12 signatures from neighbors all in the immediate block
mr knockamson just state your name for the record alan knockamson could you identify your client in
relationship to the property lucero fernandez and our vice chair has a few questions uh good
afternoon have you submitted your documents and exhibits uh five days in advance of this hearing
yes we have and do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy
seat we do okay uh thank you you can proceed with your case all right thank you so this is
This is not a developer. This is a client who had a property, the building structure extended out
not a developer this is a client who had a property the building
by a little more than five feet without permits. We're trying to correct this situation. It was
extended by the first and second floor. It's owner occupied. She owns it. All right, so let's go over
the refusal. So again, this is, you know, an RTA one property, I think. I can't read. It's like
blurry but um again single family use we have three refusals 100 occupied area where 75 is
allowed by right we have no rear yard setback where nine feet is required and our minimum rear
yard area square feet is supposed to be 144 where it's zero this you know obviously my client would
love to have done it the right way um but we're trying to fix it to do it the right way we under
also understand that this is just the first step in clearing this up that if we are lucky enough
to have this variance granted we have to go get a building permit and we have to get a co which
means further inspections um you know again mike's clients a long-standing member of the community
and as you can see the community is well in support of this project with unanimous support
and then we have a petition behind that of nearby neighbors as well
so and by the way it's not out of character to have full lock coverage and no rear yard setback
3424 north bodine and 3442 north bodine both also have full uh lock coverage
just maps oh so we're actually rm1 sorry i couldn't read that um but yes but we're just using this
a single-family structure. She's just living there. Next. Next. So that's the front of the
property. Continue. It's a proof of posting for today's hearing. North Bodine to the right and
to the left. Continue. And then this is just Pitt interior photos. We try this to be as
descriptive as possible and then you can see here from the red dots of what was extended out and it
was really to create a basically this was a two-bedroom and we wanted to make this into a
two-bedroom with an office and also extend out the kitchen area so that was what was extended there
and on the second floor she didn't extend up she just extended back she created a separate bedroom
for herself and converted one of the smaller bedrooms into an office next
so we met with the community next
next how do you have pictures of what she did in the room um alex do you have pictures of that
one bedroom and the kitchen oh the kitchen was you'll see the kitchen this is the new kitchen
right so that's basically that floor area did not exist or to a significant degree and then
do we have the second bedroom is this it all right so those are those are pictures examples
of what was extended out and then our application for appeal deed to the property and then tax
clearance certificate she's lived there since 2007 so she's been there almost a generation
so she just wanted more room for herself did not understand how long ago she do this um
i don't know how did we get here well we got all night yeah l and i came a violation
so and we're trying to clear that up on multiple levels okay all right do you want to yeah miss
Yes, Fernandez, can you raise your hand so they can see you and then swear you in?
And she's represented by Onion Flats Architecture, so she has a really good architect who's helping
us clean this up.
But he wasn't the original one.
He was not the original one.
So she hired an architect, she hired a law firm, we're dealing with this.
It's been promoted.
Could you please state your name and spell for this phonographer?
Yes, my name is Lucero Chesnudiz.
L-U-C-E-R-O-C-H-E-Z-M-U-D-I-Z.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
i do proceed yeah lucero you heard everything i had to state today about your zoning matter
Proceed, Cal.
Yeah, Lucero, you heard everything I had to state today about your-
yeah is it is it true and correct what i stated yes and do you do you adopt as your own testimony
yes thank you questions from the board yes yeah where are the pictures
yeah go ahead yeah you could uh alex wanted to reshare the screen there were their pictures um
um but okay I didn't see a picture of the outside of the property oh in the front I don't know if
in the rear right yeah do we have any pictures of the rear you showed us the bathroom and the
kitchen yeah so that's the kitchen so that would be the extended area part of the extended area
and then the other bedroom Alex is that's the extended bedroom on the second floor do we have
any pictures just of the rear of the exterior from the outside we do not because we're full
lot coverage so that would require us to go into the lot next door yeah so so question question
for you you've got this property goes from property line to property line to property line
to property line right so in the rear addition this property goes the addition goes from the
side property lines to the rear property line how are you planning it you have you got a window there
and as a look at google it looks like the window is facing the adjacent property on the property
line so if there's a window that's on the party line we know what has to happen after this hearing
and what's that that it would have to be boxed in like you can't
Then you can't have a bedroom without a window.
So, well, I mean, so we would have to take a look in.
Well, I think that bedroom also faces, well, the party wall left and right.
But I would assume she would then have to, like, install a window at the rear of the property.
And that's on the property line also.
Well, you can do that.
Can you check that?
Well, you can.
Let me see.
i guess i guess my my and we don't have to let's talk go through all that now the fact
of the matter is you've got this addition that goes from three property lines back rear and sides
and you're attempting to have a and you have a bedroom there that has a window somewhere
and actually this is the only property on the whole block that does it on the second
level everybody else has a hatchback where there's nothing above the first level of extension
yeah um i would have to take a look at that i'm sure they're if there has to be modifications
made she will figure out those modifications yeah i mean she may have to set back the property back
and i don't know from the property line the rear property line in order to get a
a legitimate window yeah if we have to deal with that through administrative review
alley behind this property i'm sorry i didn't hear you is there an alley behind this property
um alex do you want to go on uh atlas and let's see i don't i'll be on the deed
well we can also see on atlas right there is and and i believe the project architect has his hand
raised well let me bring the architect on there is an alley
so you could have like the window in the rear
well i don't think you can do that by code either
because you're that's the property right um yeah uh this is dan addis here uh architect
hold on hold on one minute counselor do you want the architect yeah of course well he's
say your name and bell quick sonographer uh sorry did yesterday state my name and spelling
please uh dan addis d-a-n-a-d-d-i-s um so um i guess i'll start by saying to tell the truth the
whole truth nothing but the truth i do so if we could pull up the floor plans again really quickly
You'll see that on both the zoning submission and this existing predates your plans.
So your plans are actually just recording an existing condition.
So not exactly.
My zoning plan is recording an existing condition while also proposing the fixes required to
satisfy the emergency escape opening requirement by the International Residential Code.
So if you see on that bedroom two right there and the dotted line that's on the approved
zoning drawing um that that um screen or that a slider door that's towards the rear of the bill
of the bedroom um does not currently exist so the client is well aware and what we've discussed is
um does not currently exist so the client is well aware and what we've discussed is that
any windows that currently exist that are on the property line um they will need to be they will
need to be closed up they will need the proper fire ratings we will need to pull a commercial
or a residential building permit to um to make all to correct all those fixes if we get this
variance and also go through all the city inspections to make sure that we've satisfied
any fire separation requirements and the proposed um fix for that bedroom to make sure that we still
have the required emergency uh escape access is that we pull back refill up the property line
so that we can actually have glazing and we're proposing either it could be a window but i'm
proposing putting in a screen door like a slider i guess accessible slider so that you then have
access to the public right of way which is provided by that alley in the rear so um that's
how we're handling that that's how we're proposing to handle that while you know the bedroom on the
front of the house already has its windows so it has that so you're absolutely correct that the
bedroom requires a window or some way to get out um and that's that's how we're proposing to to
handle that if this variance is granted and so and so the so the was it currently called out as
a bedroom where you have the office on the second floor um i'm calling that out as an office because
that that's not a legal bedroom right so the intent is not to have that as a bedroom and
obviously i mean if you've been in any of these real homes they have this very tiny tiny room
so that's more appropriate as an office i don't i can't speak to what's currently in there but um
yeah like the the plan is that we're looking for a variance for it's just for the for two bedroom
with one on the rear uh and one in the front where we have uh you know safety we've got the ability
to get to public right of way okay i have a question about the uh construction so when the
addition was built do you know what happened at the ground level from a foundation standpoint
for the two stories that went up because i'm assuming the existing basement did not go back
that far i believe that it's been i can't speak to it i can't speak to it but my understanding is
the basement doesn't go all the way back and i would just suggest that like this is all stuff
that would need to be verified at the building permit and inspection phase like like in the end
of the day if the variance is granted we need to provide accurate drawings documenting the existing
conditions and any required fixes to bring the building up to code we are aware of that i think
we're just more so trying to understand process right and like you as a as a expert when you
looked at the construction because at this point a lot of um everything that has been touched touched
a major line electricity was moved um the gas line was was touched they had to underpin the
buildings next door they've had to build something that now has structure like a lot of construction
happened in the in the realm of construction that's now happened without oversight review permits
or plans so i think we're you know yes understanding that that happens the building
permit phase but um we also don't have to say yes so i think we're sitting here and we're just
trying to understand what's the next steps to bring this to correct this and i don't think
that just saying that we're adding this sliding door to the second floor bedroom is sufficient
Well, Dan confirmed what I'm stating is correct.
We have to do all the inspections one would expect of a newly constructed property.
Sort of, because you cannot inspect inside a wall when the drywall is already up.
Sometimes they tell you, like, hey, we've got to cut some holes into seeds.
Sometimes.
I would expect that would be the case with the inspections,
is that we're going to have to open up some walls to do some confirmation
in order to pass certain inspections etc etc yeah what now i said you have to confirm some
foundation depths etc yeah yeah so i i would leave it to dan to explain how we would do that
in terms of foundational dan you know well yeah i guess i so so obviously there's so one we you
know as as the design professional brought on here like we also kind of on the hook for making sure
that when we get to the building permit phase that we're actually documenting safe conditions so
But whether whether it's something that somebody could try to get away with or not, like we're going to have to go in there and we're going to have to evaluate what the we're going to evaluate what the existing wall assemblies are and make sure that we've got our one hour ratings.
And we're going to have to do to that point in the basement, like if, you know, like the back portion of that basement has some crawl space that's not accessible without doing some sort of some sort of exploratory demolition.
So I believe that that would be the next that would be the next step before we could put together documents, because we really the job is to get in there and actually document what is existing so that we can establish whether or not whether or not it was done to code and then provide corrective measures if needed.
Does that answer the question? I'm happy to try to rephrase it if there's more that you're looking for.
no that's that's sufficient okay um questions from mortuary can i can i just make a comment my comment
Questions from auditory. Can I can I just make a comment? My comment would just be see this is this is why you asked for permission rather than forgiveness.
Um, because you've now created all these conditions that make it so that.
When you get to the building stage, you're going to have to do a lot of revisions to make sure that you have habitable rooms, which is.
what the code requires and you would have known that had you had the client um gotten or asked for
permits ahead of time yeah I don't think it was intentional um it never is okay well that's the
that's the that's the age-old story here I didn't know uh it wasn't intentional I I I thought it
It would be okay. The contractor told me it was already whatever the story is. The bottom line is that what was done here is something that would have been flagged. Um, if permits were asked for, and this is not the 1st time that this has had a building courts violation.
In the 10 years that she's senior, she's on the property. Okay.
Um, Hillary, no questions at this time, Mr. Chair.
virtual audience any comments
there are no hands planning commission amy boy with the planning commission the comprehensive
plan recommends a change in zoning at this location from r1 residential multi-family to rsi
5 residential single family there is no evidence that the proposed addition was constructed with
the benefit of permits and the proposal will injure the use of adjoining properties access
slight and air the planning commission recommends that the board deny their requested variance for
occupied area rear yard depth and rear yard area just to respond the next door neighbors are not
in opposition to this project and they're the ones who are most directly impacted right right um
uh i don't i don't think this project was as straightforward as we talked about having three
three straightforward ones but uh well how about this and i mean i did mention to you about you
well straightforward in the sense of in terms of meeting the community so i understand so i've
heard everything that was said and i think the best thing that i need to do is to get everybody
together next week and figure out where we want to be with this and we will vote on this at 2 p.m
next wednesday thank you thank you for your service all right thank you all right thank you
Thank you. Um Sean. Yeah, it's closed.
MI 2025 005 352 1032 North Front Street, TA 456223. Sean Whalen is the attorney. Mr. Whalen,
could you um um identify yourself and spell your name for the stenographer certainly good afternoon
sean whalen w-h-a-l-e-n whalen law group here for gdc allen street partners lp you swear or affirm
to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes i do i see northern liberty's
neighbors um has a letter of support with a proviso a trash proviso uh our vice chair has
few questions good afternoon have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance
of this hearing yes i did and do you waive the reading of the refusals and stipulate to their
accuracy yes okay thank you show your screen and begin your case no i will start by saying i'm
very happy to say we've done no building without permits so we can just put we can push that one
aside and move on thank you we have all been we have all been in mr nockerson's shoes
this will be this will be refreshing okay
i know board member gaston even knows i watched her present many cases in front of this board
tap dancing just like that i understand all right uh this case is uh not straightforward
but i think well justified um this is 1032 north front street uh you may know it as the former
immaculate conception church and rectory uh so this is the back side of the piazza development
oh sure yeah um the owner has gone through extensive development work and pains to
adaptively reuse the church and the rectory instead of seeking you know what would have
seeking you know what would have been easy and common to demolish the whole thing and you know
been easy and common to demolish the whole thing and
rebuild a brand new building at much less cost so this project has already gone through
approvals for the church and rectory for a total of 37 it's approved already for a total of 37
units that originally and that's this is all part of this application that originally was approved
for 45 units and the owner here can say they already reduced that number based on the reality
and logistics of the church but in order to actually get in there and provide real usable
uh and adaptive reuse of the church and the rectory we've got you know we lost eight units
right there from 45 to 37 of the original approvals uh in addition this we are seeking an annex
building a six unit three-story annex building in the rear with seven below grade parking spaces
this has also been seen and approved by the historical commission already in fact this was
actually approved at a much larger four-story building that went all the way out to the street
and as i'll walk you through the owner has tried to minimize it as much as possible to meet not only
least minimum variance standard but more importantly to make it really fit in line
with what the historical commission saw as the the future and the vision of the church
so again we have here's an aerial at the bottom of the screen you can see 95.
we are essentially right under 95 and right at the railway tracks so you can see right
where my cursor is right now this is the existing church that's the church tower and then the
rectory is over here this is all rsa5 zoning so we are subject to that it's obviously never been
single family zoning nor will it be going forward so here are some photos again here's here's the
raised L right here across the sidewalk. This is looking at the rectory, the existing rectory
and the church building beyond it. So as we go down now, this is literally right out the front
door of the church, which unfortunately probably suffered quite a bit as soon as that L was built.
This is looking up north under the L and you can see actually the giant Carvana tower that
we all know well is right to the right of this and now as we go around the property you can see
there are all large multi-family developments all around here with one small pocket of single
family houses again this is now walking down pollard street there are a few single family
houses on the left the other the opposite side of pollard and then this is the existing condition
so you can see it already has an existing uh one car garage there
and then what you can see here to the left this stone wall with this large open area that's been
approved for approximately 35 townhomes that's the site of the former uh much maligned swim club
that was right behind the piazza um so that has been gone now i think went out of business right
around covid coming out of covid uh it it became approved for a large uh development of townhomes
and this annex building will be abutting and adjacent to and actually attached to one of those
interior townhomes so what you have right here is the existing parking lot of the church itself
the church is on the left we're now standing on west allen street looking across again this is
the existing church and you can see the rectory in the distance to my point so what we're doing
here is you'll be coming accessing this vehicularly via this annex via west allen street
that's the neighborhood
sorry while i'm talking about so uh here's west allen street on the right hand side of this
screen north front goes right underneath the l and then on the left is pollard so what you can see
here is you'll be coming off of west allen there's the existing curb cut which will be
actually shrunk and allow that axis axis point
and allow that access point. The green here is new landscaping that's going to be put in.
There's no landscaping there, obviously, as I just showed. And then this ramp will actually
ramp down below grade. And there will be, this is where we've proposed to put the annex building.
There will be seven parking spaces. I'll show those in a minute, below grade parking.
So what we have done is you can see this large gray building here is a set of individual townhomes that front directly on West Allen and kind of match and mirror the single family homes on the other side of West Allen.
We have no single family homes across the street from us.
And I have a photo for that in just a second.
We're actually across the street from a large surface parking lot.
and um so what we've done is i'm sorry a large park next to the parking on north front street
um what we have then is in the rear we have this i can
So as I move in, there is already approved and in the process of construction is what the status of the townhomes this center townhome is developed what the owner did here was pulled back the frontage of this annex just over 64 feet.
so it's recessed from the street by 64 feet in order to directly line up with this center townhome
development and it's actually limited to 17 and a half feet wide so it will again mimic for all
intents and purposes from anyone walking past a recessed townhome in the rear and that's all that
will be seen. This annex is not visible from North Front Street or from Pollard Street.
There will be, over here you can see this is Pollard on the left and this is the rectory.
There will be a deck that then attaches the annex building, the church, and the rectory.
and that annex building from a pedestrian standpoint on Pollard will be accessed by
ramps and steps coming up from Pollard Street. So again what you will be able to see from
the street is what you see on the left hand side here but again there's actually this much of this
goes below grade so you won't even see you know from this point below that's all ramping down
where the vehicular traffic is there is no height refusal this is 35 feet approximately in height
so there is no refusal for height again we have this will show you the access point
they didn't zoom in that much
so again north front street is on the right hand side here pollard is to the bottom of this screen
and this is west allen street so it's it's bi-directional here it ramps down so all you'll
be able to see from you know the pedestrian viewpoint is either the landscaping or then
this 17 and a half foot wide building so you won't even be able to see the full depth of this
and this has been designed by the owner in accordance with the requests of the zoning
or sorry of the historical commission so that it addresses all of the concerns that the historical
the historical commission had.
Again, this is just a landscape plan showing.
This is just evidence of the permit already existing in place for the church and the rectory.
And then we have
we we have the letter of full support from nlna and uh quite thankfully they were uh there was
no opposition whatsoever from either the nlna zoning committee or any of the individuals in
attendance uh they were ecstatic to have this project you know again continue to keep this
rectory in the church every neighborhood sees these get torn down every year or asked to be
torn down every year. So again, here, as far as the variance and the request goes,
So again, here, as far as the variance and the request goes, this is a large irregular lot over 20,000 square feet. Obviously, we have the hardship derives from the extremely large existing building that, you know, already predates even the zoning code, both the rectory and the church itself.
and part of what the zoning code allows for is that these church properties get kind of separate
zoning to try to help assuage the costs of maintaining and preserving these historic
resources and sometimes that doesn't go far enough like here you know if you have a large
enough property and you can't because of the logistics of the interior of the existing building
where you can't do massive demolition to the existing historic fabric, you're stuck in a
situation where you're losing the number of units that the code envisions you need in order to
overcome this preservation difficulty. And so what happened here is it actually would have been a
viable demolition candidate. The soils are terrible, and much to the owner's chagrin,
he has had to install an entire new foundation under the church in order yeah that was my
reaction as well an entirely new foundation underneath the the existing church in order
to keep it in place it also needed an entirely new roof and all new windows you know these are
in the hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollar initial improvements just to get started
before you can even start putting any units in here so what we are seeking again we get the
the refusals because we are rsa5 but we believe that we have overcome those in that we have this
huge existing dilapidated church and rectory that's extremely expensive to adaptively reuse
and we are trying to do so in the least invasive way possible which is the inclusion of this new
building which is a six unit and only a six unit building uh the six units are each one bedrooms
that will have approximately 740 750 square feet so they are very large one bedrooms um you know
these are not being squeezed in there are no studio apartments in either the church directory or the um
or the annex building and um you know that there is no detriment obviously the best
view of whether there's detriment to the new building yet you're talking about
oh yeah i don't think we did we see that i don't know i haven't seen them in time
so i can show you
here's where the new building is you know located on the site zoom out one
um so again here's uh the large church is at the bottom of the screen the rectory is on the left
hand side of the screen it's tough because it's so small this is the annex building right here
that's proposed uh there is this kind of zigzag in the in the property line so it does hug the
property behind what it looks like yes so this is what the frontage of the property will look like
okay and i will allow the owner to speak to you know the design aspects of that and and with the
brick um this again is the side of the of the property so you'll be driving down this all this
parking is below grade and you'll be parking underneath underneath the building
and again we we believe this is the least minimum variance this was already approved for 45 units
by right under the code the building did not allow for that and so it has been reduced by
eight units to 37 now we're seeking to only add in six more six of those units back basically
to try to make this an economically viable adaptive reuse.
So with that, I would simply have my client adopt my testimony.
Sir, could you please state your name and then spell for the stenographer?
Michael Koep, M-I-C-H-A-E-L, last name's Koep, K-O-E-P.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, counsel.
Mr. Koep, you're here on behalf of the owner, correct?
Correct.
and did you hear all the testimony that i already presented i did and do you believe that testimony
would be true and correct to the best of your knowledge information and belief i do and would
you adopt that testimony as your own yes and you've heard some of the questions that have
already come forth do you have anything new in addition that should be added for the board's
in addition that should be added for the board's edification um no okay um and could you just
edification uh no
briefly describe i have up on the screen so i left it here the uh visually what will be seen
from the and materiality what will be seen from the pedestrians on west allen street as described
As described, the building is set back about 62 feet, so it abuts the new proposed, the interior new proposed townhouses, but when the new proposed townhouse on Allen is built, you have limited sight lines to the building, so you only see that front elevation that faces north.
um that is shown to be brick the fenestration the windows match or are similar to or take its
character from the rectory um and we did return the brick um on the east elevation one bay um so
that you know if you if you're standing at the corner of the church you won't see anything but
brick um then what the main side elevation that you see um is not visible from the street
we purposely lowered the grade to put parking underneath it and you can you pull the microphone
a little closer to you sorry we purposely lowered the grade uh for the parking and put the parking
underneath the annex uh we try hard to provide parking um although no parking was required for
the church and rectory portion of the building um you know because of its historic nature
okay uh any other questions for the board um yeah yeah could i ask a question do you have
the layout of the apartments i mean there's six units right how how would that lay out
or at least a ground floor plan yes there are floor plans while he pulls it up there are two
units per floor okay um the staircase is essentially in the center and and how do the
how do the tenants access the parking lot the parking so the the the parking lot itself is
is the the driveway that slopes down to the parking lot um the buildings it's themselves have
are interconnected. There is an entry to the main church building on Allen Street. There is
that entrance with the handicap ramp on Pollard Street, and there's also an entry on the corner
of Pollard and front for the rectory building. So you have three primary entrances that bring you up
essentially on the first floor. The parking lot also has a lower vestibule into the building,
uh which you see in this the picture that's up right now is actually the basement of of the
rectory and you see there's a lift and an entry um at that level um and that's that's sort of in
the spine that connects the three buildings um so i would say most most people will not
enter the the property there's no reason for anybody to enter the property down the the
drive lane unless you're driving as there's three other forms of entry so they're gonna
what i'm asking is where when you when when you park your car where do you you get out of your
car and where do you where do you go is that is that what we're looking where's the project on
this plan so sean if you move to the the drawing northeast corner the top right corner that's where
the parking is that where you were you showing right now is the wall of the of the the proposed
annex the the one that goes north south that's that correct so the parking is just to the right
of that or to which which is actually north of that but drawing so this this plan is of the
existing rectory building it is that that where his cursor is now that's a new wall for the annex
so is there a first floor of the annex itself like a ground floor plan of the annex
the architect is on hold um i'm still trying to get to you get you park your car you get out of
your car and what do you do okay can you go to the site walk up the sorry let me zoom out on this
five way i don't know what do you do you park your car and you and you how do you get in the
building okay so you you park your car which is this is actually showing the roof of the scale
right so you you're under this building and then all right how do you get into the building from
your part from the from your parking spot okay so um this one right correct on the right there so
you'll see where the handicapped parking spaces are shown yes um and if you go just down a little
down to the right in the corner of the inside corner of the rectory and the church is that
church is that entry that we were looking at when we were looking at the basement plan of the
entry that we were looking at when we were looking at the basement plan of
rectory there is an entry vestibule with a stair and a lift so that's how people that would they
would enter into the building there they're going so the people so the people so and so but the but
the rectory building and the annex building aren't interconnected sorry there's one other entry if
you're asking about how you get into the annex building from the parking lot there's a staircase
if you look at the there's two there's three parking spaces then there's the staircase that
comes down to down to grade that's correct there's a stair that's awesome that's how they access the
air the the annex from the parking lot and they have to go down the driveway and across to that
corner to get into the church and and and rectory building they just go to that inside corner correct
right right i got you okay assuming there's no handicap accessible units in the annex because
the only way to get in is via stair no so so there so you have your handicap spaces there
okay you do you there is there is a handicap accessible unit on the first floor of the
annex um a level above this above that and and there is a um and there is a lift so
So there is a, in that vestibule, there is a lift that takes you up within the rectory
and church.
There is a lift that takes you to the first floor, and then there is a path where you
go across that deck to the building.
And is the deck covered?
The deck is not covered.
So you have to go inside to go outside to come back inside the apartment building?
That's only if you're parking there.
Now, there is a handicapped lift accessible from Pollard, not lift, ramp from Pollard
Street.
okay and is the the building is considered an addition or is the annex considered a separate
building it's considered a separate building so that is one of the refusals that we would
have a second principal building on the site okay um the architect is on um online if we figured it
out just so again it's there is there a floor plan or so i oh yeah i guess that's the big
question i feel like i really am interested in the first floor plan we do have plans um
i'm hoping that uh but i'm also thinking just like practically i live in a building same questions i
asked earlier if i'm getting an amazon delivery if i have to call an uber if i have a friend that's
coming over like there's a lot of ways into this building and a lot of fissures and connectivity
to the other two principal buildings on the site and i feel like at the ground floor level i'm not
really understanding the difference between bikes and people and infrastructure and like that's
usually what happens on the ground floor plan and right now i get the parking part i get how the
cars are going but i'm not really clear how this building is operating as a as a multi-family
building in this empty space so understood so uh michael if you could walk through
uh mail delivery or you know trash collection things like that of the building right if if
you recall earlier there was a garage shown on pilot street there is a there is an entry on
adjacent to that um which is on the bottom of that drawing on pollard that that you walk up you walk
straight there and then there's a staircase and or you go up the ramp. That gets you into that
central sort of communal deck area that connects all three buildings. So it's like an outdoor
plaza. An outdoor plaza, correct. And that is a very convenient, easy way to enter all three
buildings. And, you know, as I said, there are two additional entrants. One is that residents
will have to take. One is on the front door of the rectory, which is on Front Street, and then
the front main entry door to the church you mentioned whether we should have put the deck
area under cover we don't have that luxury it's historic building so we would be then putting a
a lean-to roof on on the outside of the historic building um so that that i don't think would be
acceptable um sean's previously mentioned that we we had a larger building approved initially for the
annex by historic and that was a four-story building um it didn't go all the way the street
was similar, but it was wider, and we were concerned about light air and sight lines,
and it was a comment that was made by historic, so we decided to reduce the massing of the
building. The comment about foundations is the floor, first floor of the church had a very heavy
design, you know, floor that was existing, and there was an expectation, a reasonable expectation
you would have been able to build off it, but the soils turned out to be incredibly poor,
and this church itself is settled somewhere around about a foot itself it's a big monolithic structure
somewhere around about a foot itself. It's a big monolithic structure. And interestingly enough,
it hasn't cracked when it did it, but we've had to remove the first floor and go in and everything
that we're doing inside there is all new construction with new foundations inside a
building. So it is a challenge. And as you mentioned, the windows meet historic preservation
guidelines and so does the roof detail approvals the so as a tenant if they have to go through
the other two buildings or come up the stairs what's going to happen at night when the
when the church is closed no the the our buildings typically operate we we own and operate develop
and then own and operate buildings um continue to own them um we use the latch system so the
tenant will have access to you know any you know any of those entry doors and so
it really depends where tenants arriving from I mean the logical entry door here
would be on Pollock but if somebody's walking down Allen Street it's it's an
easy pathway through the church I mean it's a covered pathway that would take
the same time as if they were walking on the outside and it's secured so like
they can't access the other parts of the church building I'm assuming as a tenant
well we don't limit a tenant in the building to one part of the building or not so a tenant
it you know you you only limit so somebody in living in the annex can access the front
door to the church yes and walk down the corridor in the church okay
and i'm going to ask again is there a floor plan
can we call saying that there is our architect i think there is one done but was not submitted
as part of this package they're trying to get the architect the architect has it
the architect of the line yes uh bart bada b-a-j-d-e-d-a architecture yes he's been promoted
it okay sir please state your name and spell for the stenographer
good afternoon uh my name is bart b-a-r-t last name b-a-j-d-a and i apologize i have a little
i've been coming off a cold so my voice is a little harsh hold on do you swear or affirm to
tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do are you going to present yes all right
go ahead uh bart are you the project architect yes thank you very much do you have floor plans
that you could present for us i do i'm assuming you guys are interested in the annex floor plans
so this is what we're looking at here uh this is the basement level and i think this will clear up
some of the confusion so far but there is here are the seven parking spaces with a central stair
what's not quite shown here because this is only depicting the annex building is the entrance into
the church portion which occurs right around here at the basement level which is made clear here
So there's an entry lobby here with a lift that can take you back up to the first floor, which connects to that deck area.
Well, yeah, which connects to this deck area here, at which point there is another entrance into the annex building right here on the south side of the building.
And that's shown here.
So yeah, as mentioned, there are six units, all the two ground floor units here are accessible
type B units as required.
This one majority of them are roughly 700 square feet except with the exception of this
one here being a little bit smaller at 500 feet just due to the corridor access required.
And then moving on upward, you have similar units, roughly 700 square feet at the front, one in the back, or one in the front, one in the back, and then again at the third floor, one in the back, one in the front, all one-bedroom units, quite large, with the two upper units also having roof deck access, which both are about 400 square feet of roof deck.
This is just a rough 3D view of what we're proposing, and I'm not sure if there's any
other questions or if that answers the trash area that we discussed is located here, right
off of Pollard Street.
This is all outdoor area, as mentioned, so it provides a little bit of a communal space
for tenants of the building.
And then this is that mail delivery area that has been described so far.
that mail delivery area that that has been described so far.
So for the annex building tenants are going to have to get their mail on Pollard Street
and they'll sort of be like one from for the effectiveness of this development there's like one
no the United States Postal Service mail will go into the building itself that's for packages
only packages only okay so where is the mail like where is the mail in the annex
but you want to do that it's
so there is a lounge and to the north of that drawing north of that in that um near that
staircase area there's the mail area yeah but that's for packages right no that's the the mail
boxes will be in the area close to where he has his cursor right yeah packages packages that will
be um you know in that that room outside what we find when we operate a building like this the
package people just open the best meal and toss we have a really hard time getting them to bring
them to the mail area and as the mail area is a little further inside that's not a problem with
the united states personal service mail service but it's a problem with packages so we put the
package room close to that side gate so that we can direct and all the packages to come just in
that side gate and into that what's called the mail room to be clear the mail room is in the
existing buildings that are already on the property not the new building that has six units
correct okay that is what i was so are there so now now i'm confused so so there's so there's
one mail room for the entire complex yes where the mail not not the not the not the package room
but they're for for regular mail that's delivered there's one mail room for the for the complex
correct okay and the seven parking spaces are the only seven parking spaces for the whole development
correct okay so who gets those seven parking spaces are they assigned are they first come
first serve no they're assigned as part of uh releasing so they're gonna be like a person's
to like purchase a parking permit to be able to park in the back all right so if i'm calling an
uber or if somebody's picking me up all that's going to happen on the regular street on pollard
or on all right okay any other questions questions from our attorney um just a quick comment if you
could submit those floor plans by close of business tomorrow to include with the exhibits
that would be great thank you so much questions or comments from the virtual audience
there are no aims planning commission amy boy with the planning commission the comprehensive plan
recommends no change in zoning at this location from the current rsa 5 residential single family
this property already has a multi-family conversion of a former church building
This zoning permit was issued by Wright under ZP-2025-002901 due to historic structures permissions.
The appellant has not demonstrated that the proposed six units are the least minimum or that there are unique physical conditions or circumstances of the property that would prevent it from being used in conformance with the zoning code for multiple principal buildings or rear yard depth.
The Planning Commission recommends that the board deny the requested variances for multi-family, multiple principal uses, sorry, for multi-family for the additional units, multiple principal buildings, and rear yard depth.
Do you want to respond?
Certainly. Just very briefly. First and foremost, because of that existing garage at the rectory building, the rear yard depth is already an existing condition.
we are not exacerbating that or changing that um this we we have i think i've already walked
through why this is the least minimum variance we're not even back to the eight units that was
approved by right under the zoning code or with the historic commission approval and we've been
pulling back this building both from the street and in height and massing as much as possible
to reduce it to only that which is required to overcome the hardship which is evident from the
building itself. Thank you. So MI 2025, 005352, 1032 North Front Street, TA456223. I vote yes.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes. Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes.
Tannetta Graham, my vote is yes.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes.
I win, my vote is yes.
Thank you very much.
You have another one here, right?
i have one more yes okay why don't we do that right thank you
let me just make sure my you know what sean um a couple of my team members up here we just want
a little break give us five minutes oh sure okay okay all right i wouldn't mind one either so blame
Give us five minutes.
Oh, sure.
How's that?
I wouldn't mind one either, so blame it on me.
it on me.
You can take six.
Thank you.
MI-20, thank you.
MI-2025-005-421-112 East Allen Street.
Sean Whalen is the attorney.
Sean, could you just state your name?
and because you've already been sworn. Sean Whalen, W-H-A-L-E-N. Right. And could you
identify your client, the relationship to the property? Certainly. Perez Therapy is the
commercial tenant. And I understand that we have a letter of support from Fishtown Neighbors
and a letter of non-opposition from Council Member Young. Our vice chair has just a few
questions for you sir certainly good afternoon have you submitted your documents and exhibits
five days in advance of this hearing yes and do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate
to its accuracy yes i do all right thank you can show your screen and proceed with your case and
mr chair i just want to note that we received the interior photos and um the lease addendum
that we requested so we have all the documents yes okay great okay so um as i promised this one
will be much shorter and is much uh in the true sense of the word straightforward um
this property here you can see right along north delaware going back to east allen and right off
of frankfurt um not surprisingly an extremely busy corridor you have the fillmore this is a very large
apartment building right next door this is this very small building that we're talking about
right here all commercial uses and rivers casino across the street so now here's a zoomed in aerial
of just the building we're talking about it has a tiny little five foot wide but technically open
public street called sarah street that goes here little more than an alley that is right next to
this very large apartment building next to us and what you have is this small building is about 930
square feet total the building itself is divided about 70 30 between residential uses existing
residential uses and this existing commercial use so where you see right here this kind of hard
black line across that's actually the roof line going up towards the top here is west allen so
the west allen is a residential street on this on this one block and then there's a hard stop right
here full almost full party wall there's no access between the residential or the commercial
and there's no access from the commercial back to east allen so what we're talking about is this
portion right here of the property. Interestingly, you can see in the heart of what we're dealing
with, this is an RSA 5 property. Very strangely, again, there's an existing, I believe, three
family, multi-family residential on the East Allen side. We are not talking about
that portion at all this only involves the very small commercial space that fronts onto north
delaware so we actually have one referral for a special exception and one refusal in short
we need to put commercial in this area the small portion of the property even though it's
existing and we also need a referral to have commercial non-residential use on the second
floor so again here i'm standing right now right at the curb at north delaware avenue this is the
existing building right here you can see sarah street is right on the left like i said basically
an alley there is an existing sign the sign is not part of this application or the variance
question that has been approved since at least 2007 commercial use at this in this portion of
the property blockbuster it is it may also have been a blockbuster who knows um that was a blast
from the past uh so what you have is this access point right here uh this is the main door you
walk in and then there's a waiting room and one office on the first floor and then one office
on the second floor and i have photos and floor plans oh miss gaston's not here
so what we have here
So, what we have here is, so this is the existing floor plan. This hard red line, that's what I was talking about, about a 30% of the way into the building.
North Delaware Avenue is on the left-hand side. You come in from North Delaware on this main
entrance. There's an existing small office. This office, the entire office space is about 11 by
28 and a half. So we're talking about a very small area. There's a reception waiting room
here, a powder room, and then stairs that go upstairs. And on the second floor, you come up
the stairs and there's just one larger open office space so again you walk in here's the waiting area
here's the first floor office and here's the larger second floor office
now what what this is Perez therapy he took possession of the property and this portion
of the property one day before the city closed down for covid couldn't possibly have been worse
timing for anybody but he provides psychotherapy services there are no medicine there's no medicine
or prescriptions on site there's no prescriptions written from the site he started as a solo
practitioner and has now grown the practice to 14 therapists almost all of their appointments are
online via zoom or you know teams or however they do it and he averages that basically only by
request of the patient does anyone come in and have a have an appointment in the office so he
said approximately um felix perez is online and i'll have him come on just a second um he said
that on average each therapist uses the site the property one time per week so you know the the
office is open 9 a.m to 8 p.m monday through friday and as needed 11 a.m to 3 p.m on saturday and
sunday that was also presented to the community and they were perfectly fine with that i would
note the community vote was actually 37 to 0 in favor so they were resoundingly excited to keep
this going again the uh the commercial use of this property dates back to at least 2007 that
was as far back as we could figure out again just this rear portion um and so what happened is mr
perez self-reported here he you know had ran his solo psychotherapy practice he thought that he was
fine to increase the number of therapists that were working out of here. Again,
once a week for an hour appointment here and there. And he determined as he was going forward
and looking at things that he thought he needed additional zoning or heightened zoning relief in
order to practice with multiple psychotherapists. That is in fact the case. That's why we're here
today so he self-reported this that was a huge factor in his favor with the community frankly
was that there's no violation here no issues you will see there's no new construction being
presented here we're simply seeking to have to basically legalize the existing commercial space
on the first floor and the second floor in this small area with you know multiple therapists
being able to access and use the property again with no uh no medication stored on site or
prescribed or used at the site you want to bring your client on yes uh mr perez
you didn't tell me he had signed on
do you see a felix perez
mr perez yes chair this is ian haggerty i see felix in the audience he's very good thank you
I see him.
Felix, could you unmute, please?
Hello.
Sorry.
How are you, sir?
Could you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer?
Felix Perez, F-E-L-I-X, P-E-R-E-Z.
P-E-R-E-Z.
Right.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth to...
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth, sir?
Yes, I do.
Please proceed, counsel.
Thank you very much.
Mr. Perez, you are the Perez of Perez Therapy, correct?
Yes, I am.
And you have been in that site since March of 2020?
And did you hear all of the testimony that I already presented today?
Yes, I did.
and do you believe it to be true and correct to the best of your knowledge information and belief
yes thank you and would you adopt that testimony as your own yes thank you questions from the board
questions from our attorney hillary emerson the was the sign um previously approved
there is a there is an approval commercial approval for the sign dating back to 2007
okay in the zoning archive okay um so Perez therapy does have a sign there all he did was
replace the existing right right yeah I just I didn't see it in the history that was on the
refusal so thank you your questions or comments from the virtual audience
okay thank you planning commission Amy Boyd with the planning commission the comprehensive plan
recommends no change in zoning from the current RSA 5 residential single family the property has
a documented history of commercial and other non-residential uses the proposal is in harmony
with the mixed-use nature of delaware avenue at the rear where the use is proposed the planning
commission recommends that the board grant their requested variance for group medical and ground
floor use thank you mi2025-005-421-112 east allen street i vote yes
michael johns my vote is yes tenetta graham my vote is yes brian mcadams my vote is yes i
a win my vote is yes thank you counsel thank you very much everybody have a good evening all right
number nine mi2025-005-414-2550 east mama street verna anastasio is the attorney
mr anastasia is coming back in as a panelist thank you
afternoon mr chair good afternoon council could you please state your name um and you've already
been sworn yep verne anastasio on behalf of uh mr uh bo rosario okay our um i noticed there's
a letter of support from south port richmond civic and also a letter of non-opposition from
council member squiller our vice chair has just a few questions thank you 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 i do okay thank you
you can share your screen and proceed with your case thank you i hesitate to say this but it's
fairly straightforward uh this application 2550 east monmouth uh and we are here because uh the
The application is for use in the garage of the property.
They want to do just general office work that supports their video production and post-production work that they do now.
And that's why we're here.
The property is zoned RSA 5.
However, there have been a long history of commercial uses as the refusal sort of indicates
and as does the history of the property.
And with that, I'm going to show you some layout.
here is the floor plan of the garage existing condition
we've got a break break room video village here there's a meeting room and open production space
for their filming.
And let's show you some photos.
You can see this is the front and that's the rear.
This is what it looks like right now.
There's the garage back.
There's the garage back there.
They just want to have office space back there.
It's proof of posting is the letter that went out to all the neighbors.
We had a meeting on December 10th, New Kensington, CDC, South, South Port Richmond and Port Richmond
on patrol. 172 individual households were mailed. It was very well attended. And as a result, we
got a letter of support and Councilman Squilla's office also sent a letter of non-opposition
supporting the community. With that, I'd like to call Mr. Bo Rosario, who is the creative director
of philomedia sir rosario is coming back in as a panelist thank you very much
hi mr rosario could you please state your name is spelled for the stenographer
sure beau rosario b-e-a-u rosario r-o-s-a-r-i-o do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the
whole truth is nothing but the truth yes i do counsel bo did you hear my presentation to the
board uh this afternoon yes it's true and accurate to the best of your knowledge yes uh do you
adopt it as your own testimony yes i do anything to add both no very well questions from the board
questions or comments from our attorney hillary emerson
I just wanted to note, I don't know if it's not clear from what's been approved previously at this property, but because this is an RSA 5 property, there may be refusals missing for multiple principal uses and possibly multiple principal buildings because there's another kind of principal use in another structure in the property.
So I just wanted to note that for the record, that if this is approved by the board, any missing refusals would be approved as well. Thank you.
All right. Questions or comments from the virtual audience for the audience here?
There are no hands in the virtual audience, Chair.
Thank you. Planning Commission.
Amy Boyd with the Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change of zoning at this location from the current RSA 5 residential single family.
the proposed use will not injure the use of adjoining properties and the property has a
history of mixed use the planning commission recommends that the board grant their requested
variance for business and professional office thank you mi 2025-005-414-2550 east mom the
street i vote yes michael johns my vote is yes tenetta graham my vote is yes ryan mcadams my
vote is yes hi i win my vote is yes thank you um mr anastasio number 10 mi 2025 005 415 2627
east lee high avenue just for the record state your name vern anastasio on behalf of adam bachman
all right and there's a letter of non-opposition from council member squilla
um and the councilman's letter says that the rco is in support yeah uh and the count the
uh the rco should have also sent a letter um i think i did i sent their letter yeah i don't
know that we have one we we didn't get one i don't think all right um our vice chair has a
few questions hi uh good afternoon the uh have you submitted your documents and exhibits five
days in advance of this hearing yes ma'am and do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate
to its accuracy i do okay thank you you can begin with your case thank you 2627 lehigh is uh the
application is for sandwich shop uh which technically i suppose it falls under takeout
restaurant it is zoned cmx one so in order to uh have this level of commercial we we do need a
a variance so but this is a long-standing commercial property and we'll show you
what we have as far as plans are concerned
This is the property, as you can see, this is the side elevation, and here's the interior layout.
this is the property as you can see on uh this is the
That's a plot plan.
As you can see, it's East Lehigh and East Thompson Street.
and here's the layout I was talking about
so ostensibly it's going to be a
cheesesteaks hoagies
you have a waiting area you have a kitchen this is the section that we'll be using right here
where my cursor is and let me show you some photos
There's a lot of work that needs to be done on this property.
Directly across the street there's a bar on the corner, on the other corner there's
another commercial space and this is the section here this is the residential
portion but this is the commercial stuff on the on the left-hand side which is
This is what we're seeking the variance for.
There's proof of posting.
And this is what we are proposing, the rendering.
There's some interior proposed look and the entire property will get an upgrade also with
lighting multiple days a week trash pickup.
We had our meeting, and this is our proof from our flyer with support.
There's the letter from Old Richmond.
Offer a stance of support for the proposed project.
134 households were mailed.
As I said, there'll be commercial trash pickup multiple times a week.
It'll be 11A to 11P Sunday through Saturday with five employees per shift.
With that, I'd like to get Mr. Adam Bachman to raise his virtual hand
and call him to the stand.
Mr. Bachman, is this just one floor you're using?
That's it, right here.
And what's the second floor?
That's all commercial, I'm sorry, residential.
no basement use uh mr bachman can speak to that i think it's probably storage if
if we are using it mr bachman could you unmute please
also just for clarity this permit does not include any of the signage that we're looking at
absolutely not mr bachman could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
Adam Bachman, A-D-A-N-B-A-C-H-M-A-N-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Counsel?
Thank you. Mr. Bachman, did you hear my presentation to the board?
True and accurate to the best of your knowledge?
And you adopt it as your own testimony?
Do you have access? Will this cheesesteak and pizza company have access to the basement?
And it'll be used for storage?
storage and preparation yes yep thank you questions from the board yeah vern can you
pull up the floor plans again sure um i think just trying to understand how the the pizza shop
situates in relation to the residential units of course understanding that they're not part of this
permit um how are tenants getting to that second floor above the pizza shop yeah there are doors
Yeah, there are doors on Thompson, but Mr. Bachman could speak to it a little bit more.
on Thompson, but Mr. Bachman could speak to it a little bit more. Go ahead.
Go ahead.
Hello.
So the unit right next to the restaurant, I'm keeping that unit for my family.
So there won't be a tenant in there.
But there is access to that unit.
Everything has its own separate entrance on the side street there.
But the unit that goes above the restaurant will be my unit.
And then the unit right next door will be rented.
Got it.
okay so i'm entering the first door on thompson street and then the unit sort of turns like so
that the the stairwell that we're looking at that says second floor plan that's kind of like in the
kitchen yeah it's kind of like any regular property if you will so when you look at the building like
the side of it you think oh it's just like a traditional colonial bottom and top but it's not
so when i bought it i was a little surprised too so you go in there's a living room then you make
a left up the steps and those bedrooms and bathrooms sit over the commercial part of the
space. And then when you go, when the tenant comes in, they come in and their living room's to the
right. They go up the steps and one of their bedrooms sits over actually my unit. Got it.
And then who's going to have access to the garage? Me. You. Okay. So not the commercial side.
and then in terms of separation um one like what is your plan for sound attenuation
and for fumes coming from the kitchen because this is now like not a you know cold sore stop
and where it's your plan for exhaust and trash for the um and i mean i'm assuming you're invested
because it will be under you yeah the exhaust goes to the roof for sure go ahead okay yeah so
the exhaust um is going to go out on the street side um i'm very friendly with the neighbor there
and she's on board like she supported came to the community and gave a vote for it and so we're
going to put the exhaust actually on the street side so it won't even touch any of the neighbor
danielle's property and it will go straight through the um roof and then your second question
was about trash which i talked to mike because you're thompson thompson street thompson street
side okay yeah away from the neighboring home that uh on lehigh and if i give a little little
little bit more clarity around that pipe's going to go so with the engineers so you have the
restaurant and the reason why i'm keeping the unit for myself is for things like this
we're going to actually run the pipe so it's actually right next to my restaurant so it's
out of the way of the restaurant it's out of the way of the neighbor so the only unit that might
be impacted is my actual personal townhouse that i'm keeping but it's really going to be out of
the way because we're redoing the facade of the building so the way they're doing it it's going
to be captured within that facade so you won't even see it to the naked eye okay yep and the
trash i can answer that question go ahead so in the basement we're having a uh a special room
built and we're going to have trash pickup three times a week commercial trash pickup because when
i met with the neighbors the only concern i'd say they had is is there going to be a lot of trash
outside and i said not at all we're going to build a room down in the storage area the basement area
all the trash we kept there and i'm going to pay three times a week for commercial property
uh commercial pickup to happen okay and then is your plan for deliveries that they're going to
happen on the Thompson Street side. Yeah, exactly. There's built-in doors that go into the ground
there. Okay. Yep. Excellent plan for your trash. Thank you. Just the thought process that you have
in terms of consideration for your neighbors and the exhaust. I think more business owners
should think like you thank you here you go here you go yeah that's nice to hear
i'm sure it is questions or comments from our attorney hillary emerson um i just just wanted
to note for the records it doesn't say on the refusal that there will be two dwelling you're
proposing to keep the two existing dwelling units at this property correct yes all previously
approved use is uh of course this was typically what i put on all my applications yeah no it was
it wasn't on the refusal that's what right that's why i was making it up for the record thank you
yep so hillary walbert twelker provisably first floor and basement only
okay all right questions or comments from the virtual audience
planning commission amy boy with the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends
no change in zoning at this location from the existing cmx1 commercial mixed use
The proposed takeout restaurant is in character with the commercial natures of the property on this corner.
the proposed takeout restaurant is in character with the commercial natures of the property on
this corner.
The planning commission recommends that the board grant their Crest variance for takeout restaurant.
MI 2025-005-415-2627 East Lehigh Avenue. I vote yes with proviso. First floor and basement only.
John, my vote is yes with proviso.
I'm going to abstain since I wasn't here for the entire presentation.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes with proviso.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes with proviso.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes with proviso.
Thank you all.
Thank you.
Ryan, you have one more at 3.30, right?
Yes, sir.
Is there anyone in the 2 p.m. list whose case has not been called?
I see no hands. We're going to go right to the 330 list. Good afternoon, everyone. My name is
Bill Bergman. I will be chairing this meeting in the Philadelphia Zoning Board. With me is our
board vice chair, Tanetta Graham. Present, Mr. Chairman. Our board secretary, Cheryl L. Gaston.
Present, Mr. Chairman. Board member, Michael Johns. Present, Mr. Chairman. Board member,
Ty Wynn. Present, Mr. Chairman. Board member, Ryan McAdams. Present, Mr. Chairman. Also present
is our attorney, Hilary Emerson, our Zoning Board Director, A.N. Haggerty, and our Board
Administrator, Lakeisha Dandy. Recording of this hearing will be posted on the ZBA website.
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Whether remote or in person, if you're called to speak, you must state and spell your name
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Please remain there so we can account for you.
So let's look at our schedule for this afternoon.
Number five, MI 2025-004-410-500 West Duncan.
Sonia Drummond is the listed owner.
There are no exhibits.
This is the first listing.
Jared, this is Ian Haggerty. I'll be your co-host for this session.
Thank you.
Sonja Drummond has been promoted to.
Sonja?
hi sonya could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer
sonja drummond s-o-n-j-a-d-r-u-m-m-o-n-d do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth yes sonya we do not have any exhibits we didn't get your package um yes i'm i
am i'm prepared so i was going to ask if i it can be postponed okay so what we're going to do is
going to continue your case yes um it'll be continued to 6 16 26 at 3 30 p.m and that'll
be mark must be heard if you have any questions call the staff and they can help you prepare your
case or tell you what you need to put in your case okay okay thank you all right thank you very much
is there anyone requesting your continuance
i see no hands jerry so number one mi 2025 004 309 120
So number one, MI 2025-004-309-126, Alexis Lane.
Pasquale Calavito is the attorney.
There's a letter of support from Greater Busselton Civic.
And there's also a letter of non-opposition from Council Member O'Neill.
Mr. Calavito is rejoining as a panelist.
Let's see. Good evening, everyone. Good evening, counsel. You've already been sworn once today. Could you identify, just state your name for the record.
Or Pasquale Colavita, P-A-S-Q-U-A-L-E-C-O-L-A-V-I-T-A.
Could you identify your clients and their relationship to the property?
Yes, I have Mr. Chen and Mrs. Zhang.
And also we have Helen Lin, who is going to translate in the event that we need her.
No, we can't do that.
I don't think we need her.
But we're not going to let her testify.
That's fine.
All right, so you're going to have to get your clients, all right?
That's fine.
Our vice chair has a few questions here.
Good evening.
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 share your screen and proceed with your case, please.
Thank you.
Again, Pasquale Colavita, attorney for Xi Chen and Fang Zhang, the owners of 126 Alexis Lane.
This is their home that they purchased in, I believe it was 2019, and they unfortunately built, we're here for legalization of a non-conforming use.
This is a dimensional variance that we're requesting, and we received a refusal upon application by my clients.
They built a deck or action out of the deck. They built a structure that needs a 25 foot rear yard setback.
It does not have that. We filed an appeal and that's an exhibit three copy of the project information form at exhibit four was submitted.
And here's a copy of the plans that were submitted, and I can go through these before I get to I'll go through exhibit six head is attached are the notice to the neighbors.
We met with the RCO and as previously stated, there's a letter of support as well as a letter of non opposition after our meeting.
At Exhibit 7A through C, I will submit photographs, and Exhibit 8 and 9 are the letter of support.
And it's not a tax clearance certificate.
I, for some reason, had struggled in matching the names with the Social Security numbers for it, but their taxes are paid in full, and I have proof of that.
So back to the plan itself, which I presume is going to be the question, the most questioned part of this.
So as you can see, there are two structures.
One is the side yard that is there.
There are no issues on the dimensional, any issues with that.
But the rear one is the one that we have.
There's a 10-foot setback, whereas a 25-foot setback is what is required.
Even prior to any addition being constructed there, it was 24 feet 2 inches to that dotted line.
So the roof line comes out a little bit further, but the back wall is 24 feet 2 inches from the rear.
there's a fence there right now so what I can do is show you photographs of it and then we can get
back to questions about it so this is proof that it was properly posted see if I can make these a
little bit smaller so take it back a little and it was done with prior to 21 days in advance
show you some photos of this is the structure that we're we're discussing so we are here for
the legalization of a non-conforming use today uh the the present homeowners uh constructed
around 2022 um i guess one of the arguments here
around 2022 i guess one of the arguments here is that it has no effect or enjoined on a neighbor's
use or light and air and i would like to say that it's the least modification possible
as you can see the the rear yard there's plenty of space here and there's a side
So then if we go to other photographs, so the argument here is also that there are other properties and I have them listed in the table of contents and I can show you from the photographs that we have other properties with similar structures that have less than the 25 feet of rear yard space.
There are 12 of them that I have delineated, from 121 Alexis Lane all the way through to 130 of Alberger Avenue.
I don't believe that I submitted the table of contents, so just for the record, I'd like to state them, if you don't mind.
121 Alexis Lane, 127 Alexis Lane, 114, 120, 125, 127, 129, and 130 Delia Lane, 9224, 9232, and 9234 Darlington Road, and 130 Alberger Avenue.
All of those properties have similar structures in the rear.
And the one right behind it, I'll show you photographs of them.
So here is a cop photographs of the 123 Alberger Avenue that shows the rear.
I mean, can't see by foot, but by but those are additions that have been put on there.
My name, my clients had gone through the neighborhood and photographed them.
But I found other ones that I saw from Atlas, and I can show you a global of those.
Even the property directly behind it has significantly less than the 25 feet.
We have, again, 9280 Darlington.
All of these are in a cul-de-sac as well as the properties that they're all within one block of my client's property.
9280 Darlington Road, you can see from the street that this rear addition is very similar to the one proposed for an approval here.
9272 Darlington, again, comes well within 25 feet.
I mean, I know that we don't have a tape measure here, but it's pretty evident.
this is one that i actually did not even place on it but this is less so only due to the fact
that this is a side one there is no setback there so if we go again the greater busselton
they they did not oppose and actually supported the matter and last one is showing that
The taxes have been paid. You know, the last one is the 50. This is 2026 year. I'm sorry. I'll highlight it. This is 2026. So it's not yet due.
I can stop sharing this for a second and I can show you overview if you would like to take a look at other properties or I can take some questions if you have any.
would i don't i mean i i think you're going to keep showing us the same thing um i am i mean
in essence i guess the question the question is you know um when did they build this and
and how did you and let me ask this you you just showed us things everywhere how did you end up
here did l and i cite her or cite them they are so i there are violations on the property from
what from my review of what i saw in there and that was in at the end of 2024 so the answer is
yes they did uh then file cited now they had to come and get a variance for the space in the back
from what from what i can determine yes okay all right questions from the board yeah could you
clarify for me um so there was a side edition and a rare edition and the photos that you showed us
were of the side edition not the rare edition is that correct no i showed you both but i i will
share it again and i'll bring them thank you bring it back up for you and while you show
And while you show the pictures, can you outline what is happening in those additions?
the pictures. Can you outline what is happening in those editions? Sure.
Okay, that's the rear addition.
I mean, is that a room that's attached to the house?
I mean, that's an addition to the house, right?
It is, and per the plans, it's a 14 feet 2 inch by 19 foot 1 inch, as you can see it right there.
The other one is this, the new addition on the first floor on the side yard.
I don't know if I can enlarge it so that way.
This is the side.
What is that?
Do you have a picture of that, too?
That one, there's no refusal for that.
and I'll see if I can find a photograph for that I got it right any other questions here I can see
only through the defense that's the side edition I think you're still looking for clarity on what
is happening inside these editions exactly it's it's additional space is it like is it a separate
room is it it's a separate room yes let me get back to that one that is most
and and here there there's this is that edition it's a one-story edition uh
that is on the direct part of i can show you what was existing let me reduce i think we're less
worried about what was there i think we're worried about what is there now is there a bathroom in
there no it's it's space it's just it's just like just like a diet like a family room correct and
then the one on the side is in a here you go so it there there's electric obviously electric went
uh work went uh was performed there um so there's light it's it's a family basically a family room
mud room do you know how it's being um temperature controlled i saw the air conditioner on the side
and i can ask the client but i'm not sure whether there is a vent for it but the air conditioning
unit is directly to the side of it so or the condenser let me rephrase it yeah okay
okay okay okay and you you gave a list of addresses where you said there were pictures of
other additions do you know if any of those were legally permitted or not
i i tried to go through all of the and i i typically do this is through all of the zoning
um archives i did not locate any permits to obtain them otherwise i would it would have been easier
to provide to the uh to the board i'm not here to to out anyone i'm just here
we understand similar structures and depending on the size there is um there is administrative
approval for a shed, if you will, and it has to be a certain size. This is larger than the shed that would be under the administrative code. You can have a shed, like the little shed you can buy from the Home Depot or the Lowe's, and I'm not sure whether these would, what you have.
It's attached to the house.
Yes, it's attached to the house.
No, I'm not disputing that.
There are other properties.
What I saw when you go on Atlas, you can see definitely a lot of them also have the sheds that are not attached to the properties.
But what I'm referring to, the 12 properties that I have indicated here at exhibit, not exhibit, in the table of contents at 7C1 through 12, Roman numeral 12,
are those that I observed from a bird's eye view on Atlas
that also are significantly, that have structures attached to them.
And I guess the easiest way to do it is if I just stop sharing this
and I can, I've pulled it up, I actually have it.
yeah but i mean it doesn't what it doesn't matter to us yeah okay
yeah but i mean it doesn't what it doesn't matter to us yeah okay all right it's like you're i mean
the question is like everybody's wrong i mean i get it no i and i understand that i know i know
all right so why don't we do this why don't you bring your client on to adopt
your testimony okay see if we have any more questions for you um
and it's it's kui uh zi kang chen and fang zhang they're together
all right we just want one it doesn't matter i mean it just get somebody to say your testimony
was okay that's fine i mean i'm trying to get if you can you can do that that's they should they
should be able to okay could we um counsel could you repeat the your clients names again and ask
them to raise their hand sure and it may be under helen lynn but if if she is with i understand that
she is with them so okay i do see helen lynn in the audience and i have promoted that person to
panelists excellent thank you
ms lynn if you can unmute the microphone yes hello can you hear us
and could you please hold on my friend here a video let's prove okay
would you move to the to the side i i need mr chen and mrs j
okay have have one of them state your name and spell for the stenographer mr chen would you
okay would you state your name for us please you know
spell it all right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yes yes um council okay uh mr chen did you have an opportunity to hear my testimony
Tony today? Yes. Yeah. Listen to me. Miss Lynn, you need to move out of the way. You cannot be in this. You cannot be here in the video. All right. Yeah. Miss Lynn, if he needs assistance testifying, then we would need to get an interpreter. So please, please don't tell him what to say.
okay thank you um and did do you agree to its truthfulness and accuracy
yes would you adopt that
yes okay is the board satisfied okay does anybody have any more questions for mr calvito i do um
so the rco vote was kind of close um 13 or 14 could you tell me what some of the opposition was
i'll be honest with you i i didn't hear any i was the vote was taken after us no one
at the actual meeting itself there was
look i've gone to enough of these meetings where you feel something going on there was nothing no
one no one opposed there were stories well first weeks we sat through one hour of non uh zoning
matters at bustleton and um so the people stuck around for this meeting and after there were
really no questions as far as whether they built or anything um there the one conversation that i
heard was another individual who had a similar problem that was in, what do you call it,
it's 694 in City Hall for violations. And she told her story. And that was the extent of it.
It seemed as if her conversation was actually positive, meaning that she didn't want to see
someone else go through the same type of problem but i did not sense any opposition in in the
meeting okay i was surprised that it was as as close as it was it wasn't like this morning shut
out but um it wasn't a shutout any other questions go ahead uh i'm just curious uh i'm having a hard
time wrapping around the side edition not not having any pictures not knowing what it looks
like is there a door this side addition is not part of the refusal though okay it's the backyard
okay yeah but yeah i i mean i understand i understand what what the issue is in the back
What the issue is in the back. But I mean, I think when you start hearing these cases, you start saying, well, is it put, you know, it's attached to the house. I mean, it's not, it's not a shed. It's attached to the house. And, you know, is it is attached the appropriate way? I mean, it raises a lot of issues relative to the structure. And I know, you know, that I know, I know. And they're going to still need to get their building permits. So they're going to have to, whether if they have to open up walls or whatever, they know that they're going to need to do that.
but i mean i think when you start hearing these cases you start saying
Right. Okay. Questions for our attorney?
I just want to note, Mr. Colavita, to the extent that there were documents that didn't get uploaded, if you want them included in the record, just make sure they're uploaded by close of business tomorrow.
I think with this case too, there were a couple of documents from League Street that were accidentally uploaded instead of a set of Alexis Lane.
So, yeah, just make sure everything you want included in the record is uploaded by tomorrow.
Thank you.
No problem.
Thank you.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I see no hands, Chair.
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?
the comprehensive plan recommends no change from the existing rsd three residential single
family detached zoning at this location the appellant appears to have built the additions
without the benefit of permits there are no unique physical conditions or circumstances of this
property that would prevent it from being used in conformance with the zoning code the planning
commission recommends the board deny the requested variance for rear yard setback all right um so so
council we're going to hold this and we'll vote next wednesday at two o'clock i mean i i think
there's a board we just want to figure out what if we want to do this is not the only case we had
today and i and i think we just got to figure out what do we do with these cases i'm serious
and i know your position but i mean i it's kind of hard when people start attaching things to
buildings it's not like a you know and so understand that yeah so we're here through
mr knockamson's uh bodine street property so i mean this is obviously you come across this
significantly more uh often than uh i i i yeah and i think we get concerned so we're going to sit
and talk next wednesday and at the i guess we get together what do we get at 8 45 in the morning and
they're going to vote at two o'clock okay all right thank you thank you very much it is closed other
than the records that we discussed previously to submit by close of business tomorrow okay
very well thank you all right thank you miss emerson i will contact you to figure out which
ones are missing number two mi 2025 004 399 485 pinewood road sylventon kripova and leonard
goslav um are we in are they as long as koslova is being added as a panelist chair
okay is he on the phone or is it the people here
uh this is a remote attendee being added as a panelist now chairs okay all right good
you have comments about it all right well let's get the person
here, and then we'll call you up, okay?
Thank you, Ann.
Good afternoon, everyone.
Could you please state your name?
It's spelled for the stenographer.
My name is Svetlana Kozlova, and it's spelled S like in Sam, V-E-T-L-A-N-A,
Kozlova, K-O-Z-L-O-V-A, and I am the property owner at 485 Pinewood Road, Philadelphia, PA-19116.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
I swear.
All right.
So this application is for use as a child care center in an existing structure, whereas
the proposed use child care center is prohibited in the rs rsd3 zoning district child care centers
in rsd rsa rta and rm districts shall be permitted only if accessory to a principal or accessory
building as an educational facility hospital library culture exhibit religious assembly or
recreation building provided that within area 1 and area 2 is defined in section 14-6035a.2
the building must be publicly owned or operated there is a letter of opposition
from the somerton civic association and they voted 33 to 3 against the project you have also
from the somerton civic association and they voted 33 to 3
turned in seven signatures from neighbors including a neighbor nearby so you can really
start your presentation but our vice chair has just a few questions for you good evening have
you submitted your documents five days in advance of this hearing i have okay and the chair just
read all of your refusals do you stipulate to their accuracy i do it's okay okay you can proceed with
your case okay thank you very much um i'm sorry ma'am can you please turn on your video uh yes
uh absolutely thank you are you able to see me now yes okay um i humbly ask uh the board members
uh to be patient with me and beer i know it's late in your day it's not late we're fine
it's my first time presenting um to zba uh and i'm doing this uh without an attorney
um so here's here's here's what i would say we have all your paperwork what we would want from
you is pictures copies of plans of relative to what you want to do and then just tell us what
you're trying to do so your application repeal we already have that all right so all those documents
that are city related documents we have okay i would recommend you go to photos so we see it
if you have any plans show us your plans and then really just tell us what you want to do okay um
so uh the philadelphia tax clearance is on file uh the proof of mailing is on file and the pictures
of approving the posting on time
for consecutive 21 days is also there.
But if you do need it, I can present it.
As far as...
Why don't you show photos of the property?
So the property, let me go through the views.
This is the aerial view of the property.
and you could see the backyard uh area from here um okay the uh let me scroll down for other
pictures um okay this is uh more of a map view showing the actual uh neighborhood yep um the
property is once again located here um this will allow you to see that uh these are all two-way
streets, so there are different entrants and exits to the property.
All right, we see that. How about photos that you've taken of the property and how you're laying
them? Do you already have something there? Yes, so
So it's a private home right now, it's a residential, one moment.
So this is the property.
That's your home.
And that's where you operate your, did you already operate?
No, no.
No, I would like to, I would like to, but it's right now it is owned as residential.
Right.
So you want to eventually have a child care center there?
Right. So I'm asking the zoning board to approve a variance,
to use this property as a commercial child daycare center, a small child daycare center.
But since it is more than 14 children, then it would be qualifying not as a group, but instead
as a center. And this is different views of the properties.
this is the back view and these are the inside of the properties right now it was used as a rental
unit this is my parents house unfortunately my parents passed away my mom passed away of
COVID in 21 and my dad passed away eight months shortly after in 22 since then I use the property
as a residential and it was rented and since then it has not been used while I've been
waiting for the variance application to go through. These are just several pictures of
the inside of the property. It's a basic residential home split level.
it's a basic um residential home split level um and uh the proposed used is um
um i did ask uh an architect uh and an engineer to uh show uh what i would like to
due to the property it's not going to require any um changes on the outside so it's not going
to change any facade for the neighbors or neighborhoods um i'm proposing uh to use uh
the family room uh in the lower level and um living room and dining room as two classrooms
so there would be one classroom here that would be for the maximum of ten
children with a staff member and another classroom on a lower level for another
ten children and a staff member at the entrance of the property there would be
a small office space these are all existing these are existing rooms right
now they're just not used as a commercial property but they already exist there is a bathroom there
is a kitchen you could see how exit signs would be posted in case of the evacuation
smoke detectors placed and the upper level of the building
would be a lot smaller in capacity um it would be uh one uh current bedroom that would be used for
five children and a staff member and another classroom another uh classroom that could be
maximum seven seven children but um it would probably be six children and one staff member
so this is also has restroom um um for the uh children's youth and so so i i think we understand
your plans and what you're trying to do i guess our question would be what what was the main
complaint from the uh the rco so yes uh um i did not get a support of rco unfortunately um honestly
i'm not uh exactly sure uh why uh there was such an opposition uh because to me having adding a
child daycare center in the neighborhood is beneficial for the community their biggest
concern that they put in the mail is uh three things one being the trash um which i don't
supposed to be an issue. The reason why because in a commercial daycare center, I would be hiring a
janitorial service to come in daily to remove trash. There is a basement where the trash can
be stored for the during the day. And then it would be a responsibility of the commercial
janitorial service to at the end of each day to remove the trash daily. So there is no
smell they were the neighbors were concerned about the odor the number two issue was concern
about the noise this being a child daycare center but I would like to say that the backyard would
be used uh for children to be outside but uh each classroom would be taking turns they would not be
outside all at once one because the size of the backyard itself wouldn't allow it in the first
place so uh each classroom would be taking turns so there would be uh not a lot of children
um outside at once and also the operating hours of the child daycare center um that i'm proposing
are at 7 30 a.m to 6 p.m uh so that means that uh you know uh people neighbors getting home from work
would not be um um receiving um not being exposed to a lot of noise so so i get i guess
a logical question would be this is the middle of a residential neighborhood yes and you're putting
14 child care in and out right I mean I don't you think that would upset the neighbors a little bit
or maybe I'm wrong I mean there's no there's not any commercial there's no businesses in your
I mean, there's not any commercial, there's no businesses in your neighborhood, right?
I mean, they're all residential homes, right?
They are all residential homes.
That is correct.
But there are businesses within walking distance.
So, and I think it would be a great addition to have a daycare center within a walking distance for the neighbors to actually use.
um and it will create you know it's an educational purpose um so i have you run have you run daycare
centers before yes so i do have if you would like to see i do have a degree in early childhood
education i have over 15 years of experience in early childhood education and i did own and run
a daycare center in Langford um okay um so questions from the board i i have a question
so you you said that you you used the property previously as a rental unit
that's correct is there a particular hardship as to why you want to change now to a commercial um
use yes yes so I had one tenant and I had to evict the tenant and through the
City Hall and eviction took over eight months and besides eviction taking over
eight months the tenant does all over $27,000 in rent and to your
knowledge um was the feedback from the rco meeting did did they have did the residents uh nearby have
any issues with you having it as a rental property uh no thank you all right any other questions
and actually one of the so the signatures that i did um uh collect um one of the neighbors is
actually next to her neighbor so I am in 485 the neighbor who signed one of the neighbors who signed
is in 481 okay okay so you mentioned as part of this well you're talking about 14 kids what is the
age range no no i'm talking about so um a group home would be a 14 children this is actually more
than 14 children uh okay yes okay but what is the age so the ages are uh from one uh to five
to four so it's a one to two year old classroom two to three year old classroom three to four
year old classroom and four to five year old classroom a total of four classrooms uh ages from
one to five okay more than 14 children yeah so yeah yeah oh yeah it's 14 plus what's the max
number of kids that you're hoping to have on site so these are preliminary plans from an art these
are preliminary drawings from an architect and engineer uh the true capacity is determined by
Department of Human Services when they come out and remeasure. I understand that. So where are you
planning to put the younger children? So the younger children would be upstairs. You're going
to put them upstairs. So you do know that for younger children that are, there's classifications
of occupation of a property for these kind of purposes. And so if you're going to have those
children up on the higher floor, and they are not considered to be capable of self-preservation,
there's a problem. Okay. So where are you going to have the means of ingress and egress for these
children in case there's some sort of fire uh so um uh there is um maximum distance of travel for
the evacuation there is a way to evacuate the building and there is nearby uh in walking
distance uh church uh that has um no no no no no what i mean is you have these young children
on the second floor, if there's a fire, how do they get out of this doggone property?
Okay, so this drawing right here shows the evacuation.
Okay, so they have to come down the steps.
They would have to come down the steps, correct.
But if they can't come down the steps, you have to have some other means of egress if you're going to have these young children on the second floor.
But it is possible.
And what if they can't come down the steps?
You have to have to.
Right. So if that is not possible, you know, we can always change for the younger children to be on the lower floor.
that is not a problem so we can modify it and for the older to be upstairs and for the younger to be
downstairs so you do understand that for fire purposes in a center like this you're going to
need to have a hardwired smoke detection system you're going to need to have the um uh fire alarm
which has the strobes and the lighting you're going to have to have panic bars yeah the doors
There will be, yes, access to the outside.
And if you're going to have the young children on the lower floor, then you still may have to have some extra exits because, again, there are additional requirements for children who are not considered to be capable of self-preservation.
So you may end up having to do some other doors to make sure that there is an exit route for those children.
Right. So the lower level has two exits.
You can't. No, I'm not talking about the lower. You mean a basement?
No, no, no, no, not a basement. The first floor.
First floor, right. Without having to use the stairs. There are, on the first level, there are two exits, one over here and one over here that does not require.
and what we have done my experience from a prior daycare center what we have done
in case of evacuation and when we practiced fire drills because that's
part of the requirements is to practice fire drills what we have done with the
younger children is we used one of the, I'm sorry, I'm a little nervous, cribs that has
wheels. We put the younger toddlers inside of the crib on the wheels and we wheel them
out during the fire drill okay that's one of the things that the staff members knows how to do and
that's what we did with the um daycare center that we private that i previously had in lancorn
and how many staff members are you planning to have so uh according to the uh department of
Human Services based on the classroom size and age of the children, that's the
ratio, teacher-child ratio depends on that, but if it's children three to five
years old, it is one staff member to ten children, and if it is one to two-year
olds it's one for five children and two to three-year-olds is one staff member to six children
so i am uh not expecting for this to have more than four staff members okay okay um questions
from our attorney hillary emerson not at this time mr chair questions from the virtual audience or
come on up sir you want to testify right yeah sure
Could you turn the microphone on too, if you would? Oh, good. Thank you.
And get it real nice and close to you. So could you could you could you state your name and spell it for the court stenographer? My name is Mujeeb Chaudhly. M-U-J-E-E-B.
Last name is C-H-A-U-D-H-A-R-Y.
right do you swear or affirm the mic please
all right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but truth
come back to the mic yes i do okay uh are you i'm sorry chair pardon me i i did not get the
gentleman's name okay we'll do it over again do me a favor state your name again and spell
My name is Mujib Chaudhly, M-U-J-E-Edward, E-Edward, B-Boy, last name is C-H-A-U-D like devil, H like Harry, A-R-Y.
Thank you. And I already swore you in, right?
Thank you.
Yes. I do.
I think so. All right. I did ask the question. All right. Thank you. Are you a neighbor?
I'm a next door neighbor.
Okay. Could you give us your testimony and what you think of this project?
Okay. This is next door for me on my right side.
and all the neighborhood which I know of, or who I met, they strongly oppose it.
The reason behind that is it is a residential area, not a commercial area.
There are 18 houses on each side, and that's all the whole street.
There could be only six or seven kids in the whole neighborhood.
That doesn't make any sense for us to have to go into that direction.
Secondly, on that street, there is one house, everybody has two or three cars.
So there are two cars in front of each house.
If the 14 kids are coming, moms are dropping, running on the street and running on the port
ask this is a dangerous situation in a small area thirdly the problem is in the whole block they
technically went to that meeting and 37 to 3 it was rejected so i don't see any further which
look into that the whole neighborhood oppose it only three people support it okay there's something
is wrong there secondly her backyard and my backyard are on the same back side right so
the kids are going to go out is my privacy will be gone well it is a small backyard that we
always say. Liability issue because the traffic now only six people pass by on
the footpath in the whole day. Imagine after these 14 kids, parents dropping off,
picking it up, it will be more liability even on the footpath for all those
houses. If they want to serve it we have a place which is only half a block away
from that house is the church. They have all this facility there for the children.
One and a half block on Busselton Avenue, it was the old Rytale Pharmacy, they made a
big giant place over there. So these, I am living there for 43 years. It's a calm,
quiet neighborhood. And because I know her parents, when they were living the
passed away she she has taken over the property they should come and live there or sell it
because this is going to be nuisance for the whole block of 38 people lastly
those buildings are made for private use for the people who live in not for commercial use one
bathroom here one down there 14 kids teachers where they're going to park
their car because there are only two spots in front of every house lastly I
don't want to waste more time on this whole thing that
I will stop here but I know the whole neighborhood because we live in the same
place they all pose it all right so i will humbly request you all right um thank you very much for
your testimony and thank you for spending so much time here today we appreciate you staying here
okay is there anyone else in the audience there are no hands in the virtual audience chair planning
madison matera planning commission staff the comprehensive plan recommends no change from
the existing rsd3 residential single-family detached zoning at this location there are
no unique physical conditions or circumstances of this property that would prevent it from being
used in conformance with the zoning code, the Planning Commission recommends the board deny
the requested variance for Child Care Center. Thank you. MI 2025-004-399-485 Pinewood Road,
I vote no. Michael Johns, my vote is no. Cheryl Gaston, my vote is no. Tanetta Graham, my vote
is no. Ann McAdams, my vote is no. Taya Nguyen, my vote is no. Thank you, everybody.
mcadams my vote is no tie a win my vote is no thank you everybody thank you all right number
three mi 2025 004 400 48 11 king sessing avenue henry clinton is the attorney there's a letter of
support from southwest philadelphia district services 13 in support one in opposition a letter
of strong support from neighbors Miranda Weinberg and Jeff Goffner.
Mr. Clinton.
Good evening, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Clinton, sorry you're here so late.
Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Sure. My name is Henry Clinton, H-E-N-R-Y, Clinton, C-L-I-N-T-O-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
But do you identify your clients in the relationship to this property?
Sure. I have two clients, Patricia Irwin, IRWIN, and Mary Taylor, T-A-Y-L-O-R. They're both on the call, and they're both owners of the property.
And our vice chair has just a few questions for you, sir.
Good evening, counsel. Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, I have, Ms. Wynn.
And do you waive the reading of the refusals and stipulate to their accuracy?
Sorry. Yes, Ms. Graham, I have.
okay thank you uh proceed with your case please thank you thank you
is that visible mr chairman it is sir uh good evening everyone again henry clinton on behalf
of the homeowners uh 4811 king sessing avenue uh this is a request for a rear edition on the home
one-story addition to replace an existing open-air deck and extend maybe out four feet or so from
where the deck's footprint is right now. This is my presentation package containing exhibits AA
through A10, which I ASP admitted. I've included an entry of appearance because I got involved in
the case a little bit later. Here's a refusal. It's an RSA3 zoning district, single family,
with the breezeway in between two refusals. One is a required side yard. You'll see that the entire
side yard right now is three feet, eight inches, even though eight feet is required. We're not
really changing that in the rear of the property. Where we are changing is we are increasing the
occupied area of the lot so that the 50% allowed open space has been reduced by 14%.
If I walk through the plans, I can show you that via pictures.
This is the letter of support.
Chairman recommended.
We did have unanimous support from the community.
There was one member of the committee that was against, but pretty much solid support from the neighborhood.
This is a letter that the chairman referenced early on, the support photographs.
This is the property.
We're looking north.
This is King Sessing Avenue.
shorter a closer view here's the breezeway in between every other house it's currently three
feet eight inches even though the zoning requires eight feet this is a view looking from the other
direction this is the home where my cursor is right now and this is the breezeway in between
this is the rear yard so I think the bottom photograph is more instructive so
here's the breezeway between the homes this is the existing rear deck which
projects out about 10 feet the proposal is remove the deck and extend out four
additional feet to put a one-story addition on so that my client one of my
clients can maintain single-story living and or age in place in this property
which they purchased about two years ago again just some more views for perspective this house
next door has a screened in porch there's a wooden fence in between this is the posting of the
property here's the plan so the plan is basically the same top and bottom here but this is a one
inch scale so we'll use this one we have a porch in our front living dining room kitchen and then
there's a a bathroom full bathroom here and the idea is to take the deck extend it out four feet
and make it into a bedroom so again the existing floor plan is here as i mentioned earlier the
deck comes out about 10 feet and the idea is to extend the deck and really the addition four more
feet we're not enlarging or increasing the width we're staying in line actually we're a little bit
inside the existing framework of the building that's why i mentioned that the three foot eight
inside the existing framework of the building that's why I mentioned that the three foot
eight inch setback we're just maintaining a non-conforming use of the main part of the
property with this addition uh this is the rear elevation what it will look like it's going to
be stuck on the outside side elevation here's the addition the steps will will come along
the breezeway into the pro into the rear this is a rendering of the proposed addition from the rear
again keeping in line with the side of the home that's on the west side of the property steps
leading up to a door to enter some wide windows in the back back to bring in some light
and the new shadow box fence in between the neighbor to the east
there's a view from the neighbor to the east yard looking at the side view again we're looking west
here the screened in porch on the property next door this is the application for appeal
these are the documents you would typically see in a presentation like this tax clearance
zoning map again rsc3 a pretty deep lot so there's still ample yard space for my clients
we're not obstructing the later air of any adjacent property the sun is going to come from
east to west so if anything there's going to be a shadow toward the home that's on the west side
and i believe that homeowner may be on this call to voice their support they certainly
voice their support at the community meeting here's a deed indicating ownership my clients
purchased the property in 2023 notice going out to all the neighbors within 250 feet of the property
with the refusal as well as the plans here's a list of all the addresses that were notified as
well as the proof of mailing so in a nutshell we're asking for an addition that's going to be
about 14 feet from the rear of the property, one story. No impact of the development of any
adjacent properties. We are increasing the overall occupation of the lot by about 14%,
which is almost a de minimis increase. My clients are still going to be happy with the yard they
have. And we're certainly in harmony with the code. And we believe we're in harmony with what
the neighbors have supported. So with that, Mr. Chairman, I would conclude the presentation and
ask my client to unmute herself and i'll keep this up for questions or comments what's your
client's name my client's name is patricia erwin patricia patricia erwin is rejoining as a panel
thank you
Ms. Irwin, can you unmute yourself?
Hi, Ms. Irwin, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Yeah, I'm Patricia Irwin, P-A-T-R-I-C-I-A, Irwin, I-R-W-I-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Counsel?
mr were you on the call when i presented your project and miss taylor's project yeah we were
and if you had the opportunity to testify would you adopt my testimony as your own and as true
and correct yes thank you very much um questions from the board i'll just comment that if you're
doing an addition with a with a bedroom in the back you're not going through the bedroom to get
to the backyard yay thank you mr johns it's getting late mike
i was just gonna say if this is the intent is to age in place that installing a ramp now might make
more sense for maximum than the steps um just because you can do all of the like concrete
work now and get it all sort of approved and i would suggest if that's something that you think
is going to be an issue which typically when people say agent plates i would just do it now
that's a good point this one and just a question so i think you said that right now the uh
rear yard the side yard width is the three feet eight inches already is that what you said
yeah i think that's existing three feet eight inches and i also have the architect on the
call too kathy no no no no no no no i i didn't you know it's just but they're giving you a refusal
because of the existing conditions even though it's an existing condition i mean exactly how do
you okay so I think because they're
that's yeah there so i think because they're um adding an addition to the property they're
it did what the refusal wasn't written this way but i think because they're expanding the
non-conformity then that's why they got a refusal yeah by putting an addition in the back and that
so they're still having that less than they're not but they're not really well the deck wasn't
enclosed before so it wasn't considered an addition so i don't know it may not have violated
Now they're closing it. It's considered an addition and habitable space.
Okay. But it just seems to me if you, you already had to be.
Questions for our attorney. Do you have anything else to say there?
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience or the current audience? Come on up.
He's been here for a long time.
Hi, how are you? Get close to the mic if you would.
oh i'm fine i'll get the mic closer to you
that's it all right could you please state your name is bell for the stenographer shirley
reinhardt s-h-i-r-l-e-y-r-h-e-i-n-h-a-r-t do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth i do okay could you give us your comments on this case yes i'd be glad to
I sent, submitted a write-up and photos to the board by U.S. mail and also by email.
Do you guys have that information?
I didn't see it.
Well, why don't you just tell us your position?
We don't...
Again, just for the record, again, my name is Shirley Reinhardt.
If you don't mind, I can read this.
Well, Shirley, yes.
so when we take testimony it's supposed to be two minutes of testimony so what well no no what
i'm saying is don't worry about what it says here just tell us what you're feeling oh my feeling is
i'm vehemently opposed to this addition being built okay are you a neighbor i am a neighbor
i am the adjacent property okay i live at 4809 king sussing avenue okay and i have lived there
since 2016 okay and my opposition is in addition to the zoning board's um refusal regarding the
side yard and the space i'm also concerned about um my property uh this i think the architect or
the attorney said that um this has no bearing on the property i live is exactly right adjacent
and this instruct this can addition i believe the dimensions are approximately 15 feet out
the existing deck was is not permitted was not permitted so it's they're not going to be adding
four feet they're going to be from the baseline of the house to their addition that's 15 feet
out our backyard is only 30 feet so it's going to take up half the backyard i have a screen
and porch and the and the height of the addition is going to be 15 feet high that's way above the
roof 15 feet high and then the approximate width of 16 feet so that 15 foot high with the roof
and out 15 feet that's going to block the airflow sunlight and natural light of my property
and in addition to that the collateral um issues i'm concerned with is like rain water issues
foundation issues safety issues and other things that affect my quality of
life again I have a screened-in porch I have air flow from from the left of my
property to the front and the side and so this construction will prohibit me
having natural sunlight natural light and i have a garden i have a guard with flowers i plant
vegetables every year and with this addition it will block a good part of the sunlight and the
natural light and the airflow not to mention um again as i said as far as the collateral damage
when you have construction um there probably also be foundation issues for me because i'm right next
to them and when you do construction of course you have problems with rodents and other kind of
situations that i don't think i should have to be subjected to well thank you very much
well thank you very much yeah we know you spent a lot of time here today and we appreciate your
We know you spent a lot of time here today, and we appreciate your testimony.
testimony okay um planning commission is there anyone else in the audience i'm sorry
i see no hands planning commission madison matera planning commission staff the comprehensive plan
recommends no change from the existing rsa3 residential single-family zoning at this location
The side yard width appears to be an existing condition of this property.
Planning Commission recommends the board grant the requested variances for side yard width and maximum occupied area.
Thank you.
So MI 2025-004-400-4811 King Sesson Avenue, I vote yes.
Michael Johns, I vote yes.
Joe Gaston, I vote yes.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes.
iowen my vote is yes thank you thank you mr chairman all right thank you number four
mi2025-004-409-6913 tulip street burn anastasia was the attorney
good evening mr chair uh council you you've testified several times a day so you don't
just state your name if you would yep it's verne anastasio on behalf of sonia drummond okay our
um let's see here there's a letter of non-opposition from taconi civic association
all right and our our vice chair has a few questions good evening um have you submitted
your documents five days in advance of this hearing yes i have and do you waive the reading
of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy i do all right thank you i can proceed with your case
thank you 6913 opal is for a daycare center child care let's get in here
it's drummond kitty college as for child care center in an existing structure
with all other uses as previously approved it's been a long history since
1950s of commercial use, including but not limited to sale and distribution of safety
equipment before that, and also professional offices.
So when my client went before the community to give her plan for a child care center,
it was supported by the neighbors because of the long history of commercial use.
Here's the first floor, there'll be a lobby and a kitchen and then there'll be space for
toddlers and infants, first floor.
On the second floor we have some offices, a computer lounge, some indoor play area,
pre-k space and the basement is all just mechanicals and storage no children in the basement
there's also a large side yard that used to be used for trucks trucking you know for the
sale and distribution of the materials that the commercial space used before
and the plan is to build that out for for a playground for the kids
and let's take a look at the property in question there's proof of posting and it
includes this structure here this stucco structure and all of this area as well
and this is the interior as it currently sits
So as you can see, it's already sort of laid out for commercial use.
There'll be no real cooking on the premises, just, you know, heating things up.
Most of the stuff is going to be pre-packaged.
The hours of operation are going to be 6A to 6P, 6-month-old to 12 years.
There'll be, of course, before and after care for school.
And as the letter points out, there is ample space for pick up and drop off of the children, considering the width of the property itself.
And as the letter points out, there's ample space for...
My client, Sonia Nikki Drummond, should still be on.
And as a result, I'm asking her to raise her virtual hand.
How many students are we talking?
uh i'm going to have her testify to the number of kids okay okay yeah
yeah i think that's the person by the name in the audience sonia drummond
it's not she's not here still she was here yes
do we see you ian yes sonia drummond has rejoined as a panelist you can unmute now sonia hi
hello could you hi could you please state your name and spell for this photographer
Sonia Drummond, S-O-N-J-A, Drummond, D-R-U-M-M-O-N-D.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Thank you.
Thank you.
Ms. Drummond, did you hear my presentation to the board?
Yes, I did.
True and accurate to the best of your knowledge?
Do you adopt it as your own testimony?
How many children do you expect?
i expect 19. okay but i'm waiting you know the department of human services will come out and
do their own measurements and you'll be on site right running the facility right yes okay and
number of uh staff employees um i'm thinking with my 19 for about four staff okay but if at a minimum
at a minimum yes thank you nothing further mr. chair questions from the
board I have a question do you have what's your experience operating day
cares so I currently have an in-home family daycare it's been operating since
2015 the question how many how many children is that is that six I have six
so you're talking three well I can have six at one any at one given time I'm actually 24 hours
so I have different shifts but at one time six for just her and as she said she'll have a staff
of at least four other people okay um and uh so what um okay what was I getting ready to ask you
Okay. So you have that experience. In terms of the layout of this building, now, where are you going to be in here? What's the little shed over there?
In the yard? Are you looking at the picture?
the question okay is that part of the the shed is part of the the shed isn't part of the existing
property okay and is that going to be used for the daycare no oh okay she's going to be
outfitting that space as an outdoor play area right okay and then um you said you're going to
have kids from six months to 12 years where are you planning to put the younger children
the younger children are if you go to the first floor the infants are in the toddlers
and infants on the first floor yes and it's marked on the plan okay all right
and then the playground area that you're talking about is that the blacktop area that i'm looking
it or what are you going to do about it it's the side that big that very large side used to be a
yard uh again uh i'll pull it up here for you yeah all of this here has to be outfitted gotcha
okay all right and then we have fire protection and what have you for the building absolutely
Absolutely. And of course, I mean, she won't be able to occupy it until she goes through a complete CO process.
Obviously, but yes. But the idea is we have to have the hardwire smoke detection system, the emergency lighting.
We have to have panic bars on the doors. We have to have some means of egress from the second floor.
some means of egress from the second floor, if there is a second floor that's going to be used.
So we're going to have all of that.
All right.
Thank you.
Questions for our attorney?
Just a brief clarification.
Ms. Drummond, are you part of the owning entity, Incredible Smart Investment LLC, or you're the tenant?
Yes, that's her.
Thank you.
Did you also have something about all street parking?
Yes, thank you. No, I just note that this property is zoned RSA 3. So there is technically a off street accessory parking requirement.
It looks like there's some parking at the property now, but I don't know that you necessarily plan explicitly for parking spaces until be using the side yard for the play area.
Is that correct?
Yeah, we don't.
There's no there's no plan for parking in there.
OK, so that that would have been a missed refusal.
So I just wanted to note that for the record.
we're grateful for the curb cut because it'll allow parents to pick up and drop off but there's
no there there's gonna be no parking in there all right questions or comments from the virtual
audience i see no hands planning commission madison matera planning commission staff the
comprehensive plan recommends no change from the existing rsa3 residential single family zoning at
this location the appellant has shown that there are unique physical conditions or circumstances
of the property that would prevent conformance with the zoning code the planning commission
recommends the board grant the requested variance for child care center thank you so mi2025 is
zero zero four four zero nine sixty nine thirteen tulip street i vote yes michael johns my vote is
yes cheryl gaston my boobies yes tennetta graham my vote is yes mcadams my vote is yes thank you
everyone thank you thanks for hanging around so late we appreciate it no problem um is there
anyone in the audience whose 330 case has not been called there are no hands chair thank you
everybody uh a long day but uh we we got a lot done and i appreciate what everybody did and uh
i'm going to go go home and go to my local blockbuster to see what what movies are playing
i'm still not over that i was here 20 years later
to you guys
our commission is not gonna let you touch that one