Thomas Holliman, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Thank you, Dr. Murphy.
Good luck.
Yeah, thank you.
Thanks for your listening.
okay thank you all right here we go okay
number eight um mi 2022 002 564 2129 north 21st street um letter of support from 32nd
Democratic ward with an unenforceable provisor. Michael McElhenney is the attorney.
Coming back in as a panelist, sir. Thank you.
Afternoon, Mr. Chairman, members of the board. Hi. Hi. Mr. McElhenney, could you state your name
and spell, please, for the court reporter? Sure. Michael McElhenney, M-C-I-L-H-I-N-N-E-Y.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
I do, sir. Could you identify your client in a relationship to the property?
Yes. The owner of the property is Copostatic, C-O-P-O-S-T-A-T-I-C, Real Estate LLC. Its member
is Anthony Dennis and he is on the Zoom today as well. Thank you. Our Vice Chair Carol Tenere
has a few questions. Hi, Mr. McElhenney. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and
stipulate to its accuracy? I do. Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership,
tax compliance, refusal or referral, photos and or plans of the property five days in advance
of this meeting, and have you met with the RCO, and do you have a letter?
Yes, to all those questions.
Okay, great.
You may proceed and begin to share your screen.
As I mentioned, I'm here on behalf of the Michael McElhinney of the Law Office of Orphanities
and Toner, here on behalf of the owner of 2129 North 21st Street.
Just as a preliminary matter, just at Exhibit 13 of my exhibit package is the owner's deed to the subject property.
Exhibit 14 is the ZBA appeal that we submitted to have this hearing.
15 are photographs of the posting of the notice at the property.
Exhibit 16 is the 14303 neighbor notices that led to the RCO meeting.
And my client's tax clearance is at Exhibit 17.
And before I go into the actual plan and the request that my client's seeking here, I wanted to bring the board up to speed on one of the hardships that my client faced dealing with this property.
The company purchased the subject property from A1 Housing Solutions, LLC, on September 13th, 2021.
It was then an existing three-story structure that my client had intended to rehabilitate and for multifamily use.
and he paid a pretty penny for that shell at $90,000 on the north 2100 block of north 21st
street unfortunately a week after he purchased the property at exhibit 11 in my packet is a
demolition permit the city conducted what's known as a curbside bid at the property right after my
client purchased it and ended up tearing the property down which has put my client in the
hole into a really tough spot. We did try to file an emergency TRO to stop a temporary restraining
order to stop the demolition, but the city, and that complaint is at Exhibit 12, the city demolition
contractors move pretty fast once they get a permit, and by the time we got in front of the
judge, the property was substantially torn down and could not be stopped at that point to bring
down to a now vacant lot, which is what we are currently dealing with. Mr. Chairman, as you
Mr. Chairman, as you mentioned, we do have a letter of support from the 32nd Democratic RCO.
mentioned, we do have a letter of support from the 32nd Democrat.
We had about 15 people at that meeting, including myself, and it was a unanimous vote of support.
They did have a question, though, about sanitation plan.
So we do have a revised plan one page as part of our application to address sanitation in the units.
Exhibit two is my client's refusal.
The application here is to erect a new construction structure similar to the property that got torn down by the city, and to use the property for three dwelling units.
The property is zoned RSE 5, which creates the one use refusal at this property, which is why we're here for that variance, to allow it to be used for multifamily.
Exhibit 3 is the current zoning map for the immediate area.
The property is bounded by Diamond Street to the south and Susquehanna to the north.
And as you can see, the properties along Diamond Street are RM1 and CMX2 in nature,
and the properties on North 21st Street are RSA5. Importantly, looking at the second
page of Exhibit 3, I've included an aerial photograph of the block of the 2100 block of North
21st street and what's important here is this property this block consists of 52 parcels
of those parcels half of them are vacant lots 26 vacant lots on the on this block
and of the existing structures there's six abandoned vacant abandoned structures that
that blight this block and i'm scrolling to exhibit four and just to show another view
looking west the subject property is in the middle of the screen with the red dot and as you can see
it's a few structures a bunch of vacant land structures land and it's kind of small tooth
pattern on both sides of the 2100 block and north 29th street
turning to exhibit five which are the site photos for the property and the block
the property is currently the vacant lot in the middle of the screen to the north is a existing
occupied structure and to the south is another vacant lot and then a vacant building
going more to the south we have a series of four vacant lots then we have an occupied structure
another vacant lot and then at 2113 that is a duplex an existing duplex and going south to
the intersection of diamond street is a chinese restaurant with apartments above
turning to page three of exhibit five going to the north on the east side of the property of
the same block as my client's property are a series of five vacant lots um a structure in
the middle of the block that was approved for two units, more vacant lots to the north.
Then we have a duplex, a single-family house, another vacant lot, and at the north end of the
east side of the block at Susquehanna, we have an abandoned property that is approved for three
units. It just hasn't been much work being done on it. Then there's an existing approved triplex,
and at the corner is another commercial property with missing doors and windows above at the second
and third floor levels. Looking at the west side of the block opposite my client's property we have
a beer distributor at the corner at Susquehanna and then a single family house that is one of
the Democratic committee people for this neighborhood and he is the one that helped
conduct the meeting along with the 32nd Democratic Ward for the neighbors. Going down the block on
the west side again we have vacant lot and abandoned house some more vacant lots and then
an occupied house continuing down the block we then have a vacant building that is approved
for three units and construction is ongoing for that triplex and next to that property is a two
unit building and after that we have a vacant lot and then we have another building that's approved
for a triplex and that's at 2132 north 21st street and continuing down we have a vacant lot
an existing house and then another vacant building missing doors and windows and looking at page eight
which is the side view of that abandoned building it's structurally in not great shape
needs substantial repair and then the rest of the block are vacant lots two homes and another vacant
abandoned building when you get towards Diamond Street.
Exhibit 6 is the existing or the original zoning plan that we presented to the community.
The rendering isn't going to change, but we did make a change to the rear of the property.
a change to the rear of the property. The front of the property is going to be within the height
The front of the property is going to be within the
limit, but it's going to be slightly higher than the neighboring property. And that's to address
the concerns with underpinning the property to the north of us that is an occupied structure.
There's only a few occupied on the block, but that is one of them. And we don't want to undermine
that if we can avoid it. So there is an egress well in the front of the building to provide light
and air into the lower levels. All three units would access through the front door of the property
funding on North 21st Street. The zoning site plan, as I mentioned before, it's a dimensionally
compliant application with an egress well on the front and also an egress well off the rear that
would allow access out from the lower units. The original plan called for the structure to occupy
59 feet of building depth and when you look at the property to the north of us that property
actually pulls off the last third of the building is pulled off to create a a court or a side yard
at the rear which allows light and air to the the rear section of the property as part of our
revised plans we i'll bring that up next we are going to make that same design change to match
the neighboring property. And I'll pull up Exhibit 7 is the revised plan. The rendering is staying
the same. The big change comes from the rear section where we pulled the property off the
property line by four feet, which creates more light and air at the rear. And it also allows us
to address the sanitation concerns that the neighbors had. That was the big concern. If we
have more than one unit, we need a spot to store trash. The rear yard is accessible by the
first floor unit, but not the upper two units. So what we've done in the,
let's see, I'll pull up the floor plan, give a better idea.
I guess I'll start with the first floor. The first floor unit is designed as a two-bedroom,
one-bath unit. Mechanicals are in the basement. And the front entryway steps, and it's hard to see,
The front entry stay steps are elevated, which provides enough space to have two trash cans out of sight for storage purposes, separate from being able to store trash in the rear yards.
The unit will have a full living room, kitchen, dining room, and the two bedrooms.
And this trash can be stored for the first floor unit in the rear yard, out front under the steps, or in the lower level if needed.
But that wouldn't be needed at the first floor because they have the rear yard, which is approximately 19 feet deep by 16 feet wide.
So the rear yard is sizable on this property.
The upper levels mirror each other as two-bedroom, one-bath units.
And at the rear, we pulled the building off the property line.
And that allowed the architect to design a trash enclosure that is outside of the building.
So there's a little outdoor space that would allow the trash to be stored outside rather than having a trash closet inside the kitchen dining room area that would allow it to be separated in an outside space.
And that is the same change we made at the third floor level and the second floor level to allow a outdoor space, more light and air to the units and to address that trash concern that the neighbors had.
and all these units will have in unit washer dryer, two bedrooms, one bath, and quality living space
of the upper units are approximately 800 square feet each, and the lower unit would be the first
floors over about 950 square feet or so. And as I went through this block, I mentioned all the
other multi-families that exist in the block and the vacant parcels. I did include an exhibit that
not going to go through at exhibit 10 of just all the other zoning archives for those other
multi-family properties on this 2100 block in north 21st street um with that mr chairman
i would request unless the board has questions that i can address to be able to promote
anthony dennis the member of the llc that's fine so you'll have your testimony adopted right okay
Okay. Anthony, can you please raise your hand?
Okay. Mr. Dennis has been allowed to speak, sir.
Okay. Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
Yes. Anthony Dennis, A-N-T-H-O-N-Y, Dennis, D-E-N-N-I-S.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Proceed, counsel.
Mr. Dennis, did you hear the presentation that I just gave to the board regarding your property?
And were my statements true and correct to the best of your knowledge?
And were my statements true and correct to the best of your knowledge, information, and belief?
Yes, they were.
Would you adopt those statements as if they were your own?
Yes, I would.
Mr. Chairman, I have no further questions.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I do not see any further hands, Mr. Chair.
Planning Commission.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, David Fecto,
City Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change
to the residential single family zoning at this location.
The zoning archive shows that this building
had been a duplex since 1968,
but there's no indication of a third unit.
So we would argue that two dwelling units
would be the minimum needed by the applicant
to derive value from this lot.
So the city planning commission recommends
the board grant the use variants for multifamily use,
but with a maximum of two dwelling units. MI 2022 002-564-2129 North 21st Street
recommend two units with revised plans one page stamped by ZBA August 17th 2022.
Harold Tenere my vote is yes with proviso. Thomas Holloman my vote is yes with proviso.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is no.
Thank you.
Every time.
Number nine, MI 2022-002-575-2401 Milano Drive.
Packer Park Association agrees, did not hold an RCO meeting, but has sent a letter.
Michael Mattione is the attorney.
Mr. Chairman, Mr. Matthew Laney has been promoted to panelists.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman.
My name is Matthew Lyley.
I'm appearing for Michael Mattione.
All right.
Could you state your name and spell it, please?
Matthew, M-A-T-T-H-E-W Lyley, L-E-I-L-I.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client and their relationship to the property?
Yes, my client is Penrose Park Associates LP.
They are the owner of the property, and the principal, David Bartinsky, is in the audience.
Okay, our vice chair has a few questions.
Hi, do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership, tax compliance, a copy of the refusal or referral, photos under plans of the property five days in advance of this hearing, and have you met with the RCO, and do you have a letter?
I have, except that the RCO has sent a letter of no opposition in lieu of meeting with us.
Okay, well, that sounds good. You may proceed and share your screen.
Sure. Members of the board, you might remember that I've been here a couple times for the Siena Place development.
This is another property in that development.
It is a similar floor plan, though distinct, and also it generates a different refusal than the previous three.
So I'll be brief in going through the presentation and happy to answer any additional questions the board has.
As I've stated before, Siena Place is a very self-contained residential development.