Chairman and board members, the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the residential single-family zoning at this location.
This property has a documented history as a multifamily dwelling.
The rear addition appears to have been built without the benefit of permits.
The City Planning Commission recommends the board grant a proposed use variance for three dwelling units,
but deny the proposed variances for off-street accessory parking, maximum occupied area, and minimum rear yard depth.
Thank you. MI 2023-006-942-4754 Masher Street. I vote yes with provisos. Maximum three dwelling units, no accessory off-street parking.
James Snell, my vote is yes with proviso.
ishmael shaheed my vote is yes with proviso thank you thank you council number 15 mi 2023
did we
133 south 60th we did we continue that hillary yes mr chair that was continued
at the request of applicants counsel. Thank you very much. And number 16, MI 2023-006-948-198
Spark Street. Jennifer Bazzillo is the attorney. There's an email from the RCO to the applicants
counsel indicating that 99% of the residents were in favor of this project. Additionally,
there was the applicant provided 11 form letters of support from neighbors, six from the 100 block
of West Sparks. Good morning, counsel. Could you please state your name and spell for the
stenographer? Sure. It's Jennifer Bezidlow, J-E-N-N-I-F-E-R. Last name is B as in boy,
A as in apple, Z as in zebra, Y, D as in David, L as in Larry, O as in Oscar.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client and the relationship to this property?
Sure. My client is Ms. Wynn, and she is the owner of the property.
And our vice chair has just a few questions.
Good morning, counsel. Do you agree to read the reading of the refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that is needed and required to proceed with this case five days in advance of this?
hearing yes thank you please proceed so as i said i'm here today representing the property owner
miss win who purchased this property at sheriff's sale in 2020 i'm just going to walk through our
exhibits briefly here we have the refusal there's just one refusal it's for use of the property as
a two-family dwelling in an RSA 5 district. Here's the deed showing Ms. Wynn's ownership.
We have our tax compliance cert. We didn't, I did ask the RCO for a letter many times. I just
didn't get it back, but I did receive this email saying that the residents were in support, which
is backed up by our outreach to the community directly showing, and we do, one of the letters
of support is the adjacent property at 187 Spark Street and I believe I'm not sure which one it is
but the block captain is also in support of the project and we have been in communication with
her and she has all of the contact information for the owner. There's her letters of support
and the other supports are from the adjacent block so they are near neighbors as well.
Here we can see we have some prior zoning permits that showed that there was a commercial use and
single family home here at one point so we had two units um and then this is i'm going to come
back to this but this is showing the other um rsa5 zone properties that are not single family homes
along second street here's the list of them i'm going to come back um i'm in a separate packet
here which i also submitted uh is all of the permits for those properties that are not single
family homes. We have aerial views of the property and the larger neighborhood and then
photos. There's our posting on both sides of the property. And here is the additional unit.
That's the side of the building with the side entrance. We're going to come back to all of this
as well. And our floor plans showing one unit on the upper level, on the upper two levels. And
this additional unit on the lower. So let me just go back to the photos one second.
All right, so
So when they need Sparks, it's a RSA 5 zone property. It's located on the southeast corner of North 2nd Street and Sparks Street. The parcel is a little over 1,400 square feet, 1,422 square feet, and includes an existing three-story structure.
when they need sparks it's a rsa five zone property
it is on a hill so as you can see in these photos there is the two upper floors and then this ground
floor along the side and rear. Currently when my when my when my client purchased this property in
2020 at share of sale the entire building was vacant and in need of significant repair however
it was already in these two units with no connection between the two with the two floor
with a, on the upper floor being three bedroom, one unit and the lower floor being vacant commercial
space or formerly commercial space. Our proposal is to use both of these spaces as residential
dwelling units. The upper unit, like I said, is a three bedroom, one bath unit. And that has an
entrance off of Spark Street, and then the lower unit is going to be a one-bedroom, one-bath.
It's actually quite nicely renovated when you look at it. It has an in-unit washer and dryer,
its own separate entrance. The rooms are actually quite large. The bedroom is 10 by 14.
The living area is 15 plus 19, and it has good access to the street, so there's no
safety concerns. The bedroom has windows. The living room has windows. There's a door.
We aren't, and as you can see in these photos, they're not even small windows. They're regular
size windows that you would find. You can see in the photos, they're similar sizes to the ones that
are upstairs. So it's not below, it's not below, it's not a basement dwelling unit at all. It's
just that it happens to be built into the side of a steep hill. So let's go back here. I'm going
show you the floor plans again just so you can see the access that's available this is our lower
level unit as you can see we have the door and the windows in the living area and windows in
the bedroom as well for easy access and fire safety reasons um the let me just go back to the
zoning map this use is consistent not only with the history of this property being two units but
also with the surrounding area. If you look, all of these X marks, this blue box is our property
here. And if you look at the Xs, these are all properties that are zoned RSA 5, but are either
multifamily use or mixed use commercial. Most of these buildings, when you look at the archive for
them, here's a list of them. They're all within a couple blocks on 2nd Street. The reason they're
don't always say second street is that they're corner properties with addresses facing the side
street um these were buildings that when they were built were meant to have commercial properties
inside of them for a second dwelling unit uh so as you can see a lot of these are you know a grocery
in one unit or two they've been converted to two residential units um the property directly across
the street from my client's property is a beer distributor um i have a photo here so as you can
see there's a beer distributor on the first floor and a residential unit above and again that
property is also zoned RSA 5. So we have a lot of the neighborhood here being multi-use, mixed use
or multiple family use but in this RSA 5 zoning mostly because these were how the buildings were
constructed but the zoning doesn't reflect the construction. So let's see and you can also see
in this photo here um the property across the street here is also two residential units this
is the one that's across like facing the second unit it also has two units in it um so you know
similar similar uses in similar areas um hold on one second uh and like i said this is zoned rsa5
as are all these other properties that are used for um mixed use or two units so honestly a lot
of these properties they are designed to be more cmx2 buildings um or even cmx1 and then if it was
if the zoning aligned with the construction of the properties um this would be a use that uh
you know you would have two units here by right if it was cmx2 you would be allowed to have two
you know you would have two units here by right if it was cmx2 you would be allowed to have two
to be a resident.
residential units and a commercial and cmx1 you would still be looking at two units allowed by
right here um so you know it's not only in line with what's already there but it's in line with
the way that the building had been constructed you know back in the 50s you know a long time ago
So we did have an RCO meeting. It was very well attended, is what I'll say. We had lots of near neighbors and lots of people from the community at large. We were there. There was a large auditorium and we answered questions.
And in general, like you see in the email, largely the residents were in support.
We did an additional outreach to talk to the near neighbors who were also in support, including the adjacent neighbor.
There was, I will tell you, there was a couple of concerns, all of which our project actually is good for.
They were concerned that someone was going to open up another business here.
And they did not want a business.
They wanted to see people living in this space and connected that with there had been role gates installed.
and we agreed to remove them. I think they may have already been removed, but if not,
they will be removed. This is going to be a residential living space, which the neighbors
seem to be happy about. So in summary, what we have here is we're looking to use the property
for two residential dwelling units. It was already divided into two units and had formerly been used
as a commercial space at the low level. And we're looking to just have two residential units.
My client does live in Philadelphia, will be managing the property themselves, and is an experienced landlord.
And the block captain in the community seem to be in support of this use of providing some nice quality housing at not too expensive a price for people in the community.
Would you bring your client home, please, and adopt your testimony?
Ms. Wynn, can you raise your virtual hand and unmute yourself?
and if she isn't available charlie lee might be available chair we have a caller with the
phone number ending in zero six five zero hello yep hi could you please state your name and spell
for the stenographer uh yes my name is win win uh h-u-y-e-n last name win n-t-u-y-e-n right do
you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do please proceed
counsel miss when did you hear my testimony here today and believe it to be truthful and accurate
yes and would you adopt it as your own yes thank you thank you questions from the board
no chair no chair questions or comments from our attorney hillary embers
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I see no hands, Chair.
Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair Bergman, and good morning.
David Fecto with the City Planning Commission.
Chairman and board members, the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the residential single-family zoning at this location.
This property has a documented history as one dwelling unit with a basement restaurant dating to the 1950s.
The basement shows signs of a residential conversion without the benefit of permits.
The comprehensive plan recommends accessory dwelling units in walkout basements in the Upper North Planning District.
The appellant has shown that two dwelling units is the minimum needed to afford relief.
And since the proposal is in agreement with the comprehensive plan, the City Planning Commission recommends the board grant a proposed use variance for a second dwelling unit.
Thank you. MI 2023-006-948-190.
8th spark street i vote yes james snell my vote is yes
ishmael shaheed my vote is yes thank you counsel thank you so much is there anyone in the virtual
audience whose uh 9 30 a.m case has not been called i see no hands chair oh wait a minute
chair sorry we have vern anastasio okay
hi mr chair yeah yeah burn i have one on my list 536 montrose street
thought i showed that later today maybe i'm wrong
my mr anastasio that case is on the 330 list yeah yeah all right for some reason i had it
at 9 30 my apologies okay thank you thank you for anyone else in the virtual audience
okay thanks everyone see everyone at 2 p.m
Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Bill Bergman, and I will be chairing this afternoon's
good afternoon
meeting. With me is our Vice Chair, Ismail Shahid.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Our Board Member, James Snell.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Also, LeBaron Leonard Palmer from the Division of Development Services will be serving as
an alternate Board Member.
Good afternoon.
And Emily Persico from the Division of Development Services will also be serving as an alternate board member.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you.
Also present is Hilary Emerson, our attorney, and our executive director, Tanya Sunken.
Here's our virtual format.
The proceedings are being recorded.
With your participation, you agree to be recorded.
A video will be available by contacting tanyasunken at phil.gov.
for attorneys and witnesses should identify themselves before testifying with our court
reporter. Three, if you're participating by phone, press star nine to raise your hand and star six to
unmute. To enter the appearance statement, call 267-270-5548. Leave your email and the address
to the property question. And finally, the question answer box on the screen is not for
comments or test many. All comments should be directed to our Executive Director, Tanya
Sunson. Let's look at our schedule for this afternoon. Number one, MI 2023-002-787-90
Red Lion Road. Sean Ward is the attorney. Mr. Ward.
Good afternoon, Chair. This is Yvette Benton. I'll be your co-host.
Thank you.
Sean Ward has been unmuted and allowed to speak.
Good afternoon, Mr. Ward.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman.
I know this is a case that's been dragging on, however.
Mr. Ward, just for the record, state your name and spell for the court stenographer and I'll swear you.
My apologies.
I should have waited.
No, no.
Sean Ward, S-H-A-W-N, last name W-A-R-D.
attorney for applicant do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing
about the truth i most certainly do please proceed sir uh mr chair um this is a reconsideration
hearing however i had doctor appointments last thursday and i was hospitalized on friday
for a heart procedure and I was unable to get my reconsideration packet into Hillary in time
and I would ask that this case be continued one more time. I know there is some concern by
one of the interested parties. I did share an email with him earlier suggesting that we have
a site visit uh with him and the property owner applicant to discuss those issues uh however i am
just unable to go forward today due to um yeah extenuating circumstances mr ward we understand
and we hope you're getting better so mi 2023 002 787 90 red line red line road this case is
continued mark must be hurt thank you sir thank you thank you mr chair thank you for taking the
time to call us. All right. Number six. MI 2024-000-899-5231 Greenway Avenue, Rontique, Parica
is the listed applicant. Espan Trust is the listed owner. Anyone hear from there?
Chair, I see no word by that name.
Okay, so the applicant was Mr. Parika, and ESPAN Trust is the listed owner.
Mr. Chair, Mr. Feldman, Brett Feldman has his hand raised.
I don't know if he has anything to do with this case, because they need an attorney.
Okay, sure.
Mr. Feldman.
uh good afternoon brett feldman uh no i am not on this case sorry i was raising my hand for
continuance uh on another matter that i'm involved with so thank you we appreciate it i'll lower my
hand and then raise it again after okay um so we have no hands for this one at all okay excuse me
chair oh sorry um we did have a hand up from a phone number ending in 7409
7-4-0-9.
They've been allowed to speak.
they've been allowed to speak