again within the height of the permitted zoning code um you know we wanted to incorporate
traditional materials that were around the area the red brick and then we also sort of took a
design cue from uh homes along the street that have the mansard at the third floor so
So we wanted to incorporate all those things into the exterior design as well.
Again, being a primarily residential street, despite the commercial zoning, you know, we
really felt it, you know, was important to kind of integrate some of those residential
design cues into the design of our building as well.
Thanks, Logan.
You want to bring your client on?
Yeah, Matan Shmuel.
matan shmuel has been allowed to speak good morning could you please state your name and
spell for the course sonographer matan shmuel m-a-t-a-n last name shmuel s-h-m-u-e-l
you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i do proceed counsel witton have you heard my testimony today do you believe it to be true
and accurate and do you adopt it as your own i do thank you questions from the board no mr chairman
no chair questions or comments from our attorney hillary emerson um just briefly um miss pritzker
I have for 6118 Worcester Street, Ramfilla Community 19 LLC as the owner.
I think there was a there was like a correction, corrective deed that was it was listed as 16 and one deed and it was actually supposed to be 19.
Matan, is that correct? Just because the city I'm looking at the city records.
correct that is that is correct so we we had to file a corrected deed because the
title company deeded it to the wrong llc so it's it's supposed to be 19.
LLC. So it's it's supposed to be 19.
Thank you. Thank you.
Washington comments from the virtual audience.
Yes, chair. Charles Richardson has a hand up. I will allow him to speak.
Morning, Mr. Richardson.
Good morning, Mr. Chair.
Please state your name and spell for the court stenographer.
certainly charles richardson r-i-c-h-a-r-d-s-o-n uh office of councilwoman cindy bathroom 508 city
hall all right you swear referring to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i do please proceed sir i just wanted to make myself available if anybody had any questions
with regard to the rco meeting um that was the community meeting that was held um the original
RCO that was assigned held of one meeting, but then in the interim between then and the second
meeting, they have experienced some internal issues and we're not able to do the RCO meeting
or conduct an RCO meeting. Neither of the other two RCOs that represent that area were able to
do so as well. So we did step in. We did hold the meeting, and there were only three individuals
that showed up, two of which were not near neighbors, definitely. One was questionable,
but with regard to the vote, it came out that nobody was opposed to the granting of the
variance. So being that there were no real near neighbors there, the council office says
the councilwoman has decided that she will not take an opinion on this and allow you guys to
make the decision. Thank you for taking the time to explain that to us. We appreciate it. Thank you.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
There are no more hands, Chair. Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair Bergman and board members. Sarah Bond, S-A-R-A-H, B-A-N-H, Philadelphia
City Planning Commission. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing
but the truth? Yes, I do. Please proceed. The comprehensive, excuse me, the comprehensive
plan recommends a zoning map change to RSA 5. Therefore, the proposed variance is consistent
with the district plan recommendation to remove commercial zoning. The City Planning Commission
recommends that the Zoning Board grant the variance. Thank you. MI 2023-005-127-6116 East
Worcester Street. And number four, MI 2023-005-119-618 East Worcester Street. I vote yes to both.
Thomas Holloman my vote is yes to both James Snell my vote is yes to both
thank you we're going to go back to them we're going to go back to number 15
MI 2023 005035 1600 South 22nd Street Ahmad Saadi is the owner applicant
oh ahmad has been promoted sir is your is your counsel here
ahmad has been promoted and there is a calling user
but i'm not sure what is your counsel here he he said he is uh what's his name again
jonathan king
could he be calling is he a calling user he might be because uh he's having some difficulties with
all right
good morning excuse me chair call you this is a point three
okay chair you can proceed i'm sorry okay sure is he is he on the council
i don't see any other hands chair only this calling user
okay um mr sadi we're gonna have to if you're if you're we're gonna have to put you back again
okay because we your council's not on okay okay is there any way i can uh just postpone it to
the end of the uh okay or well we'll wait till the end we'll take it at the end thank you thank you
Let's go back here.
let's go back here
Two, four, five, six.
Let's go to number six.
MI 2023-004-325, 2000 block of South Street.
This is a resumptive hearing.
Alan Nockamson is the attorney
and also there's a second attorney involved
Aberickner
is also involved
would both please come on
they both have been promoted chair
Mr. Nockamson could you state your name please
and I'll swear you in
good morning
Alan Nockamson
of uh knockamson p-c-a-l-a-n last name knockamson n-o-c-h-u-m-s-o-n do you swear to tell the
truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do counsel could you also state your name please
and spell for the record yes my name is david america connor first name t-a-v-i-d
last name a-m-e-r-i-k-a-n-e-r right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
and nothing but the truth? I do. Okay. And let's see here. This is a resumptive hearing.
We're going to get an update from Mr. Nocklinson first, and then we'll come back to the second
counsel. Mr. Nocklinson? Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chair, members of the board. This is one of
these projects where it was great that we had the ability to have further discussions
with the community.
After two weeks, I believe that we do have now a project that makes sense for both parties.
I'm just going to share my screen.
There's only two changes in our presentation materials that we resubmitted yesterday.
I just want to point those out to the board, so I'm just going to share my screen.
The first of which is an email that we received from David yesterday, which was directed to
the Zoning Board of Adjustment.
which is from his client, Ms. Needham, who's the property owner directly behind us on 2000 South Street,
where she indicated based on the modifications we made to the project, she now is in support of that.
I also want to focus the board's attention on the provisos just to make sure that they're properly accounted for.
So we also updated our revised proviso plan form. So these are the modifications that we've made in totality. The mezzanine level was removed. The building height was reduced from 45 feet to 38 feet, which removed a refusal. Trash enclosure was removed from the rear yard.
The proposed building entrance stairs are reconfigured on 20th Street.
There's going to be two proposed street trees now included as part of this project.
The two pilot houses height have increased from four feet above roof to nine feet above the roof.
The rear yard has increased to nine feet, the rear yard setback.
So that's another refusal that we removed for this project.
And then the second and third floors are now extended to match the rear wall of the first floor.
So these are the changes that we've made, two of which removed refusals, two of which have been agreed upon after our last hearing.
In addition to, you know, this revised plan, which we hope the board would, you know, if they feel so inclined to grant this pending application, they would, you know, have this as a revised plan as, you know, as part of that proviso.
So in addition, we would also ask for a proviso that all trash trash for all units be stored inside and that there would be also a proviso for commercial trash pickup.
So if I missed anything, you know, please let me know, David.
But I think those are the three items that we discussed yesterday.
David.
Yep, that is accurate. With those extra provisos Mr. Nockamson mentioned, all trash being stored inside the building. And with the other provisos listed here, those are the changes to the project that we had discussed with Mr. Nockamson.
And with the assumption that all of those provisos be incorporated and with the revised plans that the board has before them, the letter that my client provided that Mr.
Nackamson put on the screen, that's our position.
That's our position. That letter accurately expresses my client's position at this time.
That letter accurately expresses my client's position.
Thank you. Hillary, we can go right to public testimony.
Yes, specifically on the changes to the plans in the revised plans form.
Is there anyone in the virtual audience who has comments to the revised plans?
There are two hands up, three hands up. The first one is Kevin Collins.
He has been allowed to speak.
Hi, Mr. Collins, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court's sonography?
Yes, Kevin Collins, K-E-V-I-N, C-O-L-L-I-N-S.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Mr. Collins, are you a neighbor?
Yes, I'm a near neighbor.
All right, Mr. Collins, could you comment on relative to the changes that we've talked about?
Yes, I spoke at the previous ZBA hearing in opposition to the project.
I am satisfied with the changes presented by Leonard Hill and the developer to scale back the size of the building, eliminate some of the variances, and I am no longer an objection to the proposed project at 2000 South Street.
Mr. Collins, thank you for taking the time to call us. We appreciate it.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Can I have the next hand, please?
Yes, it's a calling user, too.
Okay. Good morning. Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Am I on?
Yes, you are. Sir, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
My name is Anthony. Middle initial F as in Frank. Last name Bianco Sino. Spell D as in boy, I, A, N as in Nancy, C as in Charles, O, S, I, N, O.
Right.
Do you swear for them to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Sir, are you a neighbor?
Yes, I am.
A near neighbor.
Okay, thank you.
Could you comment relative to the changes that have been made?
I agree with all the changes that were made.
I think it's a beautiful design building.
My only concern is that there are no other five one-bedroom units in our neighborhood.
That was my only concern, five one-bedroom units.
Thank you for taking the time to call us. We appreciate it.
Thank you. Can I have the next hand?
There are no more hands, Chair. Thank you. Planning Commission.
Mr. Chair, just to clarify,
Planning did give its position last time, but I don't know if they had an updated position this time.
Thank you, Chair Bergman. There is not an updated position.
should i still read the the uh why don't you do that read where you are okay so this is a minute
uh the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the commercial mixed use zoning at this location
uh there is no unique physical condition or circumstance of this property that would
prevent it from being used in conformance with the zoning code the city planning commission
recommends that the board deny the proposed variances thank you mr chair may i just respond
short, briefly? Sure. Please. So, ultimately, we're on the commercial corridor on South Street.
We're only asking for five one-bedrooms. That's what the building envelope would allow us for.
The increase in the amount of units, given that they're only one-bedrooms, would not have a
detrimental impact on the community in many respects and would help support that commercial
corridor. We actually received a call this morning from one of the representatives of the
coordinating RCO SASNA, indicating that they wish they could have appeared at today's hearing,
but they were unavailable. But, you know, they want to express, again, their support of this
project for those reasons. All right. Thank you. So, number six, MI 2023-004-325-2000
South Street. I vote yes with the following
provisos. Revised plan
two pages stamped by ZBA on February 14th,
2024. Use registration required prior
to occupancy for vacant commercial space at first floor and cellar
interior trash storage and commercial trash pickup.
james snell my vote is yes with proviso
thank you counsel you have your votes thank you have a great day okay
seven was continued eight
okay um number eight mi 2023 zero zero five zero
Number eight, MI 2023-005-098-201 Hermit Street. Joseph Consul is the attorney.
There's a letter of opposition from the Manny Young Neighborhood Counsel.
Joseph Consul has been promoted.
Good morning, Mr. Consul. Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Good morning. It's Joseph Consul. That is J-O-S-E-P-H-C-O-N-S-O-L-A.
Do you swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client, the relationship to this property?
Yes, my client is Glenn and Kelly Russo, and they're the owners. We have a second case with
the same owners and the same fact pattern at Silverwood.
I think what I'm what I'm going to do is we're going to hear that right right after this one.
OK. All right. So we're going to when you're done, we're going to move right to it.
So just stay. Right. Right.
Our Mr. Hallman has just a few questions for you.
Good morning. OK.