So what were you know, you have the coordinated RCO and then you have other affected RCOs that were notified of your request.
So are you saying that all these other RCOs are not affected RCOs to your knowledge?
It's not that they're not affected. The voting, the way that the votes were tallied was just odd because the other RCOs were able to come into the meeting.
Every RCO was able to speak, but then their votes were not actually tallied as separate RCOs.
They were bulked into the general community, which is just a little strange.
All the residents that were in the meeting. So we ended up in an 8-8. We ended up in a tie.
But the RCOs that were there were bringing up valid points about Airbnb. They were talking about taking away, you know, Airbnb in general was taking away lodging from people and driving up home prices and various things that just didn't apply.
I just wanted to, because there's a coordinating RCO and then you have affected RCO, so it doesn't mean just because you're a coordinating RCO, you have the final say.
The affected RCOs in the area still have a vote and a voice in the whole issue, so I just wanted to clarify that.
Okay. No, I understand.
Questions from our attorney, Hillary Emerson?
i just wanted to to note um mr chair that um if the second and you know third floor is what's
being requested here if the board is inclined to grant there should be a proviso to that effect
that the visitor accommodations use is limited to the second and third floors thank you questions
Thank you. Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Yes. Richard Gliniak will be allowed to speak.
Good morning. Could you please state your name? It's spelled for the court stenographer.
Yes. Good morning, Chair and fellow board members, committee members. My name is Richard Gliniak.
There's no A at the end of Richard. Excuse me about that.
And the last name is G-L-I-N-I-A-K.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Please proceed.
I'm actually a SOSNA neighborhood board member.
I'm also on the zoning committee.
I just wanted to present, while the letter is a letter of deferral, the majority of the zoning committee, the SOSNA zoning committee, was in opposition to this, granting this variance.
Also, in attendance, as the applicant stated, were two legitimate RCOs.
That was NOAC and then the South Street West Business Association.
NOAC in the SOSNA letter, their opinion was in opposition as well, basically because of the issues of availability and affordability in the graduate hospital area.
We currently do have a shortage of housing, as it was stated by NOWAC in the SOSNA letter.
We feel that the majority of the SOSNA and NOWAC was that these properties would be best as rental units, serving the community as rental units.
So I just wanted to, while the letter is a letter of deferral, I just wanted to highlight that the majority of the opinion of the SOSMA zoning committee and NOAC was in opposition of granting this variance.
Normally, you do grant these variances for three years.
So if you are going to do that, I think that would be an acceptable outcome.
Thank you so much.
Thank you for taking the time to call us. We appreciate it.
Anyone else in the virtual audience?
There are no hands.
Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chairman, and good morning.
David Fechtow 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.
residential single-family zoning at this location there is no unique physical condition or
There is no unique physical condition.
circumstance of this property that would prevent it from being used in conformance with the zoning
code a 2020 zoning ordinance passed by city council which regulated short-term rentals did
not change the basic rule of prohibiting full-time use of a dwelling unit as a short-term rental
this type of absentee management where the owner does not live in the unit has been illegal since
the first short-term rental zoning regulations became effective in 2015. What's changed since
the passage of the 2020 ordinance is that there is now a licensing and enforcement mechanism.
The City Planning Commission recommends that the board deny the use variants for visitor
accommodations. Thank you. MI 2023-007-101-2225 St. Albion Street, I vote yes for a temporary
variants that will expire, 8-8-27, for the second and third floor only.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes, saying proviso.
James Snell, my vote is yes, with proviso.
Michael Johns, my vote is no.
Senator Graham, my vote is no.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes, we're provising.
Thank you. Thank you. You have your vote, sir. Thank you. Number seven. We'll go back to number
seven. MI 2023-006-170-1608-12 Ridge Avenue. Koyam Monkayo.
has been promoted to a panel this year
good morning everyone once again good morning sir sorry about your
how how we could you put your video up and share your screen absolutely
yes good morning everyone um
I'm not sure which documents to share first so so we we have that that's fine thank you
move on oh okay um so actually let me share a different way I can highlight all of this and then
So here is a picture of the inside of my property.
Here is the deed stating that I'm the owner.
Here is the tax clearance showing that there is any tax that I'm owing.
Here are the applications for a pew.
So I will also like to seek variance to change the zoning of my property to allow visitor accommodation.
Here's additional. Here's some pictures of the notice that I've posted in the neighborhood.
Here's also some of the applications that I submitted to the town.
And sorry, I think I got lost here.
And when I went to my RCO meeting, I did get the favor of approval.
So the votes, as you see, just for the attendance was seven to five, with the RCO members also being an addition of three that supported this change to allow visit accommodation from our property.
And I believe that's pretty, that's all the information that was requested.
This is unit 302?
That's correct. This is unit 302.
Do you live in the building? Yes, I do.
Okay. Questions from the board?
Excuse me, Mr. Chair. Mr. Howell, can you, or actually, actually the staff do this. Board member Gaston somehow ended up in the attendees and is no longer a panelist. Can she be promoted again, please? Thank you.
she's coming back in and as a as a penis so can can uh i guess um someone explain
so you you live in the building so you is is it there i'm assuming they're condos right or
something like that yes so it's a plan unit development i own the property um i currently
just the only entire building no no just that unit just that unit 302 um it is um one of my
One of my property, but I've moved to New Jersey for work since purchasing a property, but I still use it as a dual property. So I do go back to Philadelphia as well. And in the time when I'm not there, I would like to utilize it for Airbnb. So it would have to require me to use it for less than 30 days for me to be able to rent it out for less than 30 days for a short term stay rather than 30 days or more.
property, but I've moved to New Jersey for work since purchasing a property.
I heard you said you also live in the building.
So you have another unit in the building?
No, no, I meant this unit, this unit.
So it's I'm not it's not just for investment.
It's I actually do live here as well.
When I'm not in New Jersey, I'm in Philadelphia.
Carol, you're back.
Yes, Mr. Chair.
OK, all right.
But I don't have any questions.
OK, thank you very much.
Any other questions from the board?
questions or comments from our attorney hillary emerson
not at this time mr chair questions or comments from the virtual audience
there are no hands chair planning commission
thank you chair bergman and good morning david effecta with the city planning commission
chairman and board members the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the cmx 2.5 commercial
mixed-use zoning at this location, there is no unique physical condition or circumstance of this
property that would prevent it from being used in conformance with the zoning code. A 2020 zoning
ordinance passed by City Council, which regulated short-term rentals, did not change the basic rule
prohibiting full-time use of a dwelling unit as a short-term rental. This type of absentee
management, where the owner does not live in the unit, has been illegal since the first short-term
rental zoning regulations became effective in 2015. What has changed since the passage of the
2020 zoning ordinance is that there is now a licensing and enforcement mechanism. The City
Planning Commission recommends that the Board deny the proposed use variance for visitor accommodations.
Thank you, David. MI 2023-006-170-1608-12 Ridge Avenue. I vote yes for a temporary variance that
will expire 8-8-27, use limited to unit 302. Joe Gaston, my vote is yes, with proviso.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes, with proviso.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes, with proviso. James Snell, my vote is yes, with proviso.
It's another Graham. My vote is yes with proviso. Thank you. Thank you, sir. You have
your vote, sir. We're going to go to number one, MI 2023-005-977-5310 Haverford Avenue.
Ron Anastasio is the attorney. There's a letter of opposition from the 44th Ward RCO.
Applicant has provided a petition of 19 neighbors. I'll be recusing from this.
Thank you, Mr. Johns. Thank you.
Vern Anastasio is coming in as a panelist.
Council, you've already been sworn. Could you just state your name for the record?
Yes. Good morning, Mr. Chair. Vern Anastasio on behalf of A.J. Zingle, the owner of the subject property.
All right, and our Vice Chair has a few questions.
Good morning, Counselor. Do you agree to read another refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that is needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
I have.
Thank you, Counselor. Please proceed and share your screen.
Thank you.
Mr. Chair, members of the board, 5310-14 Haverford Avenue, as the address demonstrates,
this is a triple property. And I've got an exhibit packet of 40 individual documents that
we'll go over. Application is, the three properties are each zone RSA 5. We are looking for multifamily
household living on this, on Haverford Avenue, which is a very large, heavily trafficked block
with mostly multifamily homes on it. And we are looking for 10 units across all three properties.
I'll pull out here so you can see.
The way the exterior design looks is that it looks, appears as though there are two wider than normal single-family homes, but the property itself will be housing 10 units.
As you can see, here's the rear. There's backs up into an alley. The yard will be landscaped. There is a fire escape in the rear.
the yard will be landscaped there is a fire escape in the rear there's a trash enclosure on the side
each unit will also have its own trash space there's an ada ramp in the front here on the left
so that the front unit is ada compliant and all other units are ada accessible
and of course as you can see there's a double gate here onto gets back into the side yard
here's the ada unit right here it's a large uh either three bedroom with a den or four bedroom
unit. Unit two. We have unit three here. Four in the front. Two back here as well. All the units are
in excess of 500 square feet, one, two, three, and four additional.
There were several meetings with the RCO, and they did have some concerns. I got a list of
those concerns emailed to me, and as a result, we've addressed each and every one of those
concerns. I would like to go through them because I do believe they may be a part of
the record from the RCO input. They had an issue to ensure that we had ADA compliant and
accessible units. We do. It's on the plans. It's going to be built as we present, and it's going
to have the ADA ramp in the front of the building portion of it. They asked that the trash, we have
a better plan for trash when we initially started. As a result, we have an exterior trash
compartment, plus each and every unit has a trash closet. They asked that we have central air,
so we have put the HVAC units in each of the apartments, and the mechanicals will all be
housed in the basement. They said that the exterior looked as though it sort of was
overwhelming. So we, again, the exterior look will ensure that the property looks like two
sort of wider townhomes when in fact there'll be multifamilies on the inside. And the property
has the exact same footprint of each and every other property on the block. Let's take a look at
the rest of the block so you can see. Obviously, the lots that we're dealing with are vacant and
there are several other vacancies.
Much of the block is multifamily and, in some cases,
just boarded up.
Here's the letter that went out to all the immediate neighbors.
Here's the addresses.
All were mailed.
101 individual households were mailed.
There's the zoning poster and the proof of posting.
We have the tax information.
Here is the, as you can see, this is the lot in question.
And behind it, you can see there is a substantial amount of vacancy on the block.
So we do think the density would be helpful to Haverford Avenue.
It's also transit-oriented development that abuts CMX2.
And we have petitions of support of folks on Haverford and on Parrish and on 53rd and 54th Street.
So we, in fact, there are more people that signed our petition than attended the RCO meeting.
And with that, I'm going to ask my client, A.J. Single, to raise his virtual hand.
Good morning, sir.
A.J. Single is allowed to speak.
Good morning, sir. Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
A.J. Single, can you please unmute yourself?
my first name is aj that's a-j-a-y last name is singal s-i-n-g-h-a-l do you swear or affirm
to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do please proceed counsel thank
you mr chair mr single did you hear my presentation to the board this morning
presentation to the board this morning? Yes, I did. Is it true and accurate to the best of your
yes i did is it true and accurate
knowledge? Yes. And you adopt it as your own testimony? Yes. Mr. Chair, because we're dealing
with three large vacant lots that have been combined, because brand new single-family
homes on this block would not be sustainable or marketable, and because this new quality
construction will, in fact, offer neighbors an opportunity to occupy some quality residential
products at approachable price points. I respectfully request, along with the support
of immediate neighbors, the granting of this variance. Thank you.
Counsel, when you made the changes, did you go back to the RCO?
I emailed Reverend Jordan, Willie Jordan, and showed everything. And the last set of plans
were the plans that were presented addressing those issues.
All right. Questions from the board.