does the drive-through stay the drive through right the canopy will stay however it will not
be used as part of the dollar tree use and related we're gonna we'll cover the window up and um
the the drawers and other mechanism for the former uh drive operation will be removed
and will be repaired and sealed so so you would drive through there and just park in the regular
lot is that what you would want it uh they could i think you know giving the access and the you
know maneuverability back here most people are going to come off of glendale avenue here where
the parking lot is since there isn't any parking along this area but this isn't intended to be
closed off in any way we still need to leave it for circulation but the majority will come in
through this access point here okay on the other questions from the board questions from our lawyer
our attorney lynn no other questions questions or comments from the virtual audience
yes mr chair i have a handout from a scott kipnis i will allow them to speak sure
right and
uh mr kipnis is uh my colleague uh he was on the line he may have had it raised from when we were
admitted into i don't know if uh he needs anyone else besides that no further hands mr chair okay
planning commission amy work with the planning commission the comprehensive plan had recommended
no change to the previous cmx2 commercial mixed-use zoning at this location however the
property was remapped to cmx1 in 2022 the previous use was for retail and the configuration of the
structure is conducive to retail on 100 of the ground floor the planning commission record
Is conducive to retail on 100% of the ground floor. The planning commission recommends that the board grant their requested variances for retail sales at 100% of the ground floor.
Thank you. My 2020, 2026, 001, 1, 3, 577, 20 to 34. Busselton Avenue. I vote. Yes.
Michael Johns. My vote is yes.
Cheryl Gaston. My vote is yes. Tanetta Graham. My vote is yes.
Layla Beebe, my vote is yes.
Thank you.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you very much.
Have a nice afternoon.
MI 2026-001-139-3734 North 16th Street.
Alex Goldberg is the attorney.
so you've testified several times today just for the record state your name
alex goldberg and could you identify your client a relationship to this property
yes my client is 3734 north 16th street philadelphia llc which is the owner of the
property and its representative yakov rudik is in the virtual audience i see you have unanimous
uh support from the rco our vice chair has a few questions 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 can share your
screen and proceed with your case okay I see my client already has his hand raised so this
application is for the renovation of a shell structure into a two-family dwelling this block
has a large amount of multifamily living on it because it was previously zoned as such my client
purchased the property in june of 2018 and three years later the zoning changed from rm1 to rsa5
obviously my client would have would have liked to to get to this sooner so they could have
avoided this process but um you know it wasn't in the cards for them to be able to renovate this
project until now as you said mr chairman we met with the coordinating rco they were in support
their main concern was like they they thought that the property looked ugly and they wanted
us to invest money in repairing the facade and the porch and that was no problem with us they
were on board with the number of units we had preliminary conversations my client and i about
two or three units we felt like two was the right number here um and uh and i'll jump into
my presentation you can see this is a notice this is a use application so the only refusal
we're seeking is for the use uh the lot is large it's 2140 square feet obviously if he had uh if
this was still rm1 zoned we'd be permitted far more units than two but i think two is the right
number here here's the letter from the coordinating rco they there was no one there in opposition
there's eight voting in support there's reference to specific rental rates which were not the
rental rates we had discussed although you know we're going to keep this as affordable as possible
we um this property is going to be professionally managed and we were agreeable to the plash the
trash plan that they suggested um they wanted ventilated trash closets we have provided that
in the upper level unit the first floor unit has access to the rear er we would like to store their
trash back there and some other management concerns just making sure that the the trash
was managed the tenants were respectful and um prioritizing low-income long-term res uh
long-term local residents which which we were 100 on board with property history this property
actually has a history as a two-family dwelling dating all the way back to 1938
there are several multi-families in close proximity including directly next door which
is a duplex at 3732 two doors down the other way is 3728 that's a triplex there are six other
instances in close proximity that are all actually three units with the exception of
the next door property which we're also asking for just two here's the legislation that was
approved in 2021 that changed the zoning from this property which was zoned at the time rm1
to rsa5 here's after my client purchased the property uh here's a zillow listing from
from his purchase that references that this was a partially renovated truck
from his purchase that references that this was a partially renovated triplex
it's really just a shell so you know the extent of that triplex i don't think it was
near completion but it was set up to be three units obviously we're only asking for two here
it's still in shell condition here's a zoning map
photograph this is the front of the property
posting the notice to the right on 16th and to the left
here's the plans and drawings so there is an unfinished basement that's accessed by unit one
which is a roughly a 900 square foot unit that basement is unfinished and we are okay with the
proviso for no basement living um i heard the comments from a previous presentation that i
that my client is on hill here um that board member john's and i've heard it otherwise they
they uh you know a preference to not directly exit out of the rear from a bedroom so that's
what i'm showing in unit one here but um again this is a shell condition so um you know my
recommendation to my client is that we we essentially carve a hallway out there um or
reformat it in some way so that the exit to the rear yard of unit one is not through a bedroom
that is a two-bedroom one-bath unit the unit two is bi-level it has four bedrooms and two bathrooms
all the bedrooms are at the front or the back of the house with sizable living dining and kitchen
spaces in the middle there will be a ventilated trash closet in unit two both units will have
their own in-unit laundry as I said the property will be professionally managed and again we are
we are not planning to use the basement for any living space RCO meeting notice
we had this meeting on June 16th again it was unanimous support
e to the property and tax clearance the the they are under a payment plan that
have regularly been making payments on um with that i'd like to ask my client yaakov to raise
his hand which i see he's doing and adopt my testimony don't be back and as a panel of short
thank you
i could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
yakov rudik y-a-k-o-v last name r-u-d-i-k-h right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth
the whole truth nothing but the truth i do counsel yakov did you hear my testimony today
i did was it true and correct correct and do you adopt it as your own i do and um with regard to
the floor plans i imagine you heard what i what i said about rear rear egress not directly through
a bedroom are you committed to designing an interior layout for that first floor where
the backyard access is not through a bedroom yes okay thank you questions from the board
questions or comments from our attorney not at this time questions or comments from the virtual
audience yeah sure no virtual hands raised Mr. Chair we have one here we won't have one in-house
okay hi good afternoon come to me if you ever get if you can get as close as you can to the
mic even pull the mic for you just a little bit yes hi could you please state your name and spell
for the sonographer my name is fiana bertha i am a current resident at 3737 do me a favor spell
your name for the oh my name is fiana f as in frank i a u n n a last name bertha b-e-r-t-h-a
right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes and
live in the building i live at 3737 north 16th street right across from why don't you start your
test um i'm speaking today to strong opposed to granting this zoning variance our block is
designated as a rs5 single family home residential district where two family household living is
expressively prohibited by the philadelphia zoning code there is no physical hardship and
There is no physical hardship inherent to this building
adherence to this building that prevents it from being restored.
that prevents it from being restored
and used as a single family home.
Allowing this variance simply to maximize rental income
for a developer does not constitute a hardship
under the Philadelphia law.
Running this variance will negatively impact the health
and safety and welfare of our immediate community.
On our block, multivariate conversion
has repeatedly brought an increase in unmonitored activity, drug use, safety
issues, traffic, trash accumulation, and severe parking congestion on the already
tight block. I am deeply concerned for the safety and welfare of our
children who play here and the elderly residents because a lot of elderly
people that live on my mom block and excuse me and who have lived on this
block for years and deserve a safe and peaceful environment preserving single
family housing there is a critical for the neighborhood safety and long-term
stability and I respectfully ask the board to deny this appeal because the
people that live across from me because I live at 3737 they live across from me
and there's a lot of people that a lot of older people that live on a block and
I check on them a lot and they blast music from like five o'clock in the
afternoon all the way to 6 a.m. and they do this consistently it's a multi-family home on my block
I've been there since I was born 1984 so basically my mom been there for a long time and I've been
there and we we I come from a Christian household so basically on that block it was strictly single
family homes on a block and then they started to come over and turn it to multi-family homes
And then when the people moved in across the way and they turned into a multifamily home,
they start, there's a lot of drug activity. It was just fighting two days ago. I've been reporting
it to 3-1-1. I've been calling the police about it. I've been checking on a lot of the older
people because I have a plan to become the block captain. I want to turn it how it was from the
90s when we used to do Christmas carols and put stuff on the block. I want to make it like how
it was again i want to see the older people sit on a block and enjoy the block not just running
into the house and standing into the house where you can't sit on your own block and enjoy joy to
air and enjoy the people i want to start seeing block parties i want to start to see the community
come together as one and have just be peaceful and be able to sleep at night i don't want to
check on them and be like oh fiona i was up all night it was very stressful because i told them
all that I was going to come here today and they can see me and watch me from the television
or from the phone or the computers. They didn't know how to hook it up, but I told my son
to hook it up for them so they can see this, even though they couldn't be here because
they're really old. And I want them to pass on where they can remember like somebody actually
fought for them so they can just be in a peaceful environment. That's the only reason why I
to deny this please like let them be in peace okay thank you counselor do you have a comment
yeah so i can appreciate what sounds like nuisance and disturbance that's existing on the block
you know the zoning as i mentioned allowed those multi-family properties to be there
uh up until it changed in 2021 um you know my opinion is that having a vacant property there is
is is a negative because you know there's not eyes on the street there's no activity that's
within the property it's dark at night i think that renovating this property which has been a
shelf for a significant amount of time is is a net positive as is providing two affordable dwelling
units there and and you know a lot of these issues i think probably stem from poor management of the
multifamily properties that are on your block my client that's on the screen and that you heard
from today is committed to you know properly managing the property i'm sure that you know he
would extend his contact information to you so that he can help you know be a part of the solution
instead of the problem on your block um thank you for commenting and to testify we appreciate i i
noticed you've been sitting back there for a few hours and we do appreciate you coming in
is there anyone else in the virtual audience
no further hands with the chair planning commission
amy boy with the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change
in zoning to the current rsa 5 residential single family the property was remapped from
rm1 residential multifamily in 2022 and has a history of two family living since then the
building has been gutted disrupting the multifamily configuration the planning commission recommends
The planning commission recommends that the board to neither requested variance for two family household living.
that the board deny the requested variance for two-family household living.
So just quickly in response again, and I didn't meet this in this individual at the community meeting, but it was well attended and there was no one in opposition there.
What we're asking for is not at all out of character.
And again, my client purchased this property as an RM1 zoned lot in anticipation of being able to use it that way.
All right. So here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to hold this until next Wednesday and we'll vote on it at two o'clock. And just give me a chance to talk to the board and, you know, listen to what everything was said and figure out where we want to be with this. Okay. But thank you for coming in. Do I have to be here? You do not. You can listen on the phone. Okay. All right. Thank you.
Can I ask a question? How many people were at the community meeting? There were eight in support and there was one abstention. Plus.
do you have support from the neighbors next door the neighbor the neighbor that is directly
adjacent to us 3732 is we don't have a petition um and i don't know specifically the addresses
of the individuals that were in attendance there were members of the block that were on that call
3732 which is our next door neighbor is is a multi-family property it's a single family okay
37 32. okay okay all right all right so we're okay all right thank you all right next next
next wednesday thank you sure thank you both all right and i'm waiting here yeah i think um
if you want one more yeah
that's your client coming up yep
Number 10, MI 2026-001-277-232-34 Market Street.
Alex Goldberg is the attorney.
Alex, just for the record, state your name again.
Alex Goldberg.
And could you identify your client, a relationship to the property?
my client is uh the tenant of the property bomb shabu inc and it's uh representative hansu kim
is sitting to my left okay and you also have support from the rco and also
the council person our vice chair has a few questions good afternoon have you submitted
your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing i have okay and this is a referral
so do you wait to read another referral and stipulate to its accuracy i do all right thank
you you can share your screen and proceed with your case okay um this is a referral for a sit
down restaurant that is um you know requires a special exception in the old city residential
area of the center city overlay district we're proposing a hot pot restaurant um at this location
which operated most recently as an axe throwing place and prior to that it was Tangerine which
was a Steven Stahl restaurant that closed you know prior to 2010 I believe. Very large