little drawings. Let's see what's on the second and third floor. Hold on one moment. Here are the
pictures of the second and third floor in their existing condition. The first row are pictures of
the second floor. Is that right, Bruno? The first row is the third floor. First row is the third
floor. I'm sorry. And the second row is the second floor. So this will have to be basically a lot,
a gut job and exactly do it right no Eric there'll be a lot of work done up
there I'm I'm sorry mr. chair can you repeat that well there have to be a lot
of work done here so if I may introduce into a firm and adopt my testimonies
his own um bruno the owner is seated beside me all right uh good afternoon uh good afternoon sir
could you please state your name and spell before the stenographer yes my name is bruno vogrig uh
v like victor ogrig and i am the owner of the property you swear or affirm to tell the truth
the whole truth nothing but the truth yes sir arick yes um so certainly um uh you know
So, certainly, you know, beyond this permit, renovation will be needed to be done to update the units to provide for residential household living.
Be honest.
Bruno, Mr. Boberg, is there anything you'd like to add about the renovation process that you foresee?
um we do anticipate to do some minor renovation but the extent of the work will not be very large
the previous owners were using both spaces uh the third floor uh for residents and the second floor
for commercial to be making art as an artist studio so it was uh updated in the 2014 with
new electric and plumbing and they had permits for that as well okay i got it okay thank you
questions from the Board. Questions from our attorney? No questions. Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Mr. Chair, I do not see any hands raised. Planning Commission. Amy Boyd with the Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning to the current RMX
IRMX, Industrial Residential Mixed Use. The proposed two-family is in the spirit of the zoning code. The Planning Commission recommends that the board grant their impressive variance for two-family household living.
MI 2026-001-283-733-37 North 4th Street, 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, counsel. Thank you all for your time this afternoon. Sure. Number 12, MI 2026, 001354, 1813 North Howard Street. Andrea Solomon is the attorney.
I guess she was sitting in the back. She went back there a long time. Hi, good afternoon.
Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
My name is Andrea Solomon, A-N-D-R-E-A-S-A-L-O-M-O-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client in relationship to this property?
Yes, my client is Howard N-D-L-L-C.
The owner of this property with me today on behalf of the ownership is Mr. David Hadari
and the project architect, Mr. Sergio Koscia.
our vice chair has a few questions good afternoon have you submitted your
documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing we have with
exception of the tax clearance certificate which was submitted on
Monday okay and thank you for that and do you waive the reading of the refusal
and stipulate to its accuracy I do all right thank you can show your screen and
proceed with your case. Thank you. There we go. Again, good afternoon. Andrea Solomon on behalf
of the owner, Howard ND LLC, respectfully request that these exhibits 1 through 10 be incorporated
and made part of the record okay 1813 north howard is a new construction mixed-use building housing
multi-family dwelling units industrial spaces and accessory parking the building was an investment
in this former industrial neighborhood to bring high quality modern residential units to meet the
changing needs of the neighborhood this block has seen a big redevelopment to add multi-family
dwelling units. The current application is for the change of use of three of the existing
industrial artist studios for uses three residential dwelling units for a total of
28 multifamily units in this existing structure. You have the letter of support from the coordinating
RCO, North Square Community Action Network. It was a well-attended meeting and we had a very
productive discussion about the changing needs of the community um the underlying zoning is irmx
which requires the 50 of the ground floor school area to be industrial uses that's the that's why
we have the artist studios um and these three tenant spaces were designed as artist studios
originally the location of this property is not conducive
The location of this property is not conducive to industrial or commercial spaces.
It's a very residential block.
This is the area with a lot of multifamily dwelling on the block and some single-family
residential further south on the block.
um hope street and howard street are two narrow streets again very residential in nature
this is the view of hope street uh from facing on the block facing north this was it facing south
and on howard street uh we have the same conditions but there's a transition to
single-family residential and across the street is also the uh toey playground which neither of
the streets have as much foot traffic or other commercial industrial uses as opposed to berk
street and front street just a couple blocks over that are more of a commercial corridor
and uh this is a montgomery avon howard which has also been redeveloped for multi-family residential
this is the entrance of the building on hope street and what the what the building looks
like from hope street with the various residential units the artist studios are located on the ground
in the first the second floor and this is what some of the residential units that have already
been existing and have started to be leased up uh are look like
the property owner has marketed these three units since the even before the ceo was received but
there's really been no bites for artist studios in the area but they have seen a big demand for
residential and these are the prior approved plans that show the three artist studios
there are five parking accessory spaces commercial trash pickup and a trash room
on the ground floor with pickup from howard street each unit has its own mailbox and at
the entrance vestibule and all all the units including the artist studio units share a com
the the now artist studios which we're proposing be converted to residential share a common
entrance um with that i'd ask that um mr larger than yes the artist studio the this the ground
floor studio is 400 square feet and the uh ones on the second floor are for a one bedroom which
is 558 square feet and a studio which is 472 square feet bring your person on um yes david
And Hedari, if you can raise your hand so that you can be promoted as panelists.
They will be back in as a panelist shortly.
Thank you.
Hello, good afternoon.
Hi, good afternoon.
Could you please state your name as spelled for the stenographer?
yes my name is david hidary h-i-d-a-r-y do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
and nothing but the truth i do counsel hi david uh can you just state for the record your
relationship to howard and dlc yes i'm the property manager for the building and you saw the entirety
of my presentation i did and is it true and accurate to the best of your knowledge
yes it is and do you adopt it as your own testimony i do and we also have mr kosha here
the project architect to answer any questions the board may have on the layout and of the
of the spaces all right questions from the board so these uh artist units are is a total of how
many three three units grace so you'll be converting them and there are two
efficiencies in one one bedroom that's that what I heard yes okay all the
questions and so the rest of the building is being leased with no problem
that's correct David I know you can speak to the numbers but they've seen
great success with the lease up okay and what you're basically saying is there's no real
demand for artists yeah it's not it's not an area that's really conducive to the industrial use
demand for artists yeah it's not it's not an area that's really conducive
in fact the whole area has really been redeveloped from this and from the former industrial nature
all right other questions and so the trash uh disposal for and storage for these three units
is that connected with the rest of the circulation of the building that's correct it'll be a
commercial trash pickup and it's it's service from howard street okay so they would have to
where would they bring their trash they would bring their trash into that um the other residential
system like like is there a trash room yeah each floor has a each floor has a trash chute um and
then on the ground floor there is a trash room which is um really only accessed by um our trash
company philly wide um except for recycling so people leave their recycling in the bins in the
trash room and then each floor has a shoot for um you know like for your garbage bags so these units
are on the ground floor though so they're not able to use the shoot or they're able to they're on the
set two of them are on the second floor and one is on the ground floor so the one on the ground
floor would just bring it down the hall to the trash room correct yeah gotcha thank you other
questions questions more attorney no questions questions or comments from the virtual audience
yes chair i have a hand up from a sergio cassia i've allowed them to speak
sure hi hi i'm just the architect i was um just making myself available to answer any questions
sure we appreciate that thank you anyone else yes i have a hand up oh the hand was up but
they put it down okay now to put it up it's um from a number ending in nine four seven zero
i have allowed them to speak okay yes good afternoon hi hi good afternoon could you please
state your name and spell for the stenographer yes milda pimentel n-i-l-d-a-p-i-m-e-n-p-e-l
and i'm the uh president of the coordinating art field sure do you swear or affirm to tell
the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes i do please proceed yes uh before we
Also for comments on the application, I want to go on record by apologizing to the affected
RCO, the South Kensington Community Partners for our failure, I mean unintentionally I
would say, to copy them on the materials that we submitted to the SBA in mid-June.
This is the first time this happened, so again, we apologize for that and we also made that
known to them personally via email. Our board, our group also wants to add that prior to the
zoning committee meeting that we held on May 12th to consider this application, I personally contacted
at the coordinating RCO, and they were informed about our SONI meeting.
So, internal application, as we indicated in our explanation letter, our SONI committee
endorsed the application and including the attendees.
We didn't see any like major serious issues
about the application.
We don't believe that converting those three small units
in the context of over 200 units of residential housing
in the area, in particular the surrounding blocks
is going to alter fundamentally the context of the block.
We also want to let the board members know
that as it's our practice,
we organize a pre-soning conference
and we attended a pre-soning conference
with the Mr. David Hedery and the attorneys
and invited some nearby residents.
We usually do that.
And we also had an opportunity to tour the units
under consideration.
We also reached out to a council member
and as of this morning, we were told
as of this morning we were told that they were issuing an opposition letter
that they were issuing an opposition letter.
okay um council do you have any questions no thank you i i'll affirm you know um miss
nilda was able to tour the units and it was a well-attended community meeting and
we we did reach out to many community members to come tour the units and see see it for themselves
All right. Thank you. Thank you for taking the time to call us. We appreciate it. Thank you very much. Anyone else in the audience?
No further hands, Mr. Chair.
Planning Commission.
Amy Boyd with the Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning at this location to the current IRMX industrial residential mixed use.
The appellant has not demonstrated that there are unique physical conditions or circumstances of the property that would prevent it from being used in conformance with the zoning code.
the planning commission recommends the report to neither requested variants for ground floor use
just i'll note again that it's a difficult area to have the industrial uses and i'll know also
for the record that the refusal is not for the density the number of units would be allowed by
right it's just the removal of the industrial space that results in the refusal all right thank
you mi 2026 001 354 1813 north howard street i vote yes michael johns my vote is yes
cheryl guest my vote is yes tenetta graham my vote is yes leila beebe my vote is yes
thank you very much thank you have a great afternoon
you um number 15 mi 2026 002 612 921 north 29th street um tobe tobe jia anderson
don't be coming back in as a panel
hello good afternoon hi could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
the bodger henderson t-o-b-i-j-a-h anderson a-n-d-e-r-s-o-n okay and you have a letter
of support from francisville i understand is that correct i do i have a letter of support um
and i'm newer to this and when you did you say franceville it's francisville right that's the
location am i wrong it's 921 north 29th street fairmount yeah okay fairmount okay yes fairmount
center room which is next to francisville i'm sorry um our vice chair has a few questions for
you okay good afternoon um have you submitted your uh documents and exhibits uh five days in
advance of this hearing yes okay and so is your understanding that this application is for visitor
accommodations yeah okay and uh you understand that in this zoning district cmx1 that the visitor
accommodations is prohibited that's the reason for your refusal is that understandable yes okay all
right thank you you can uh share your screen show us what you're trying to do all right thank you
guys can you see my screen now we can all right um want to try to make this short and sweet um i do
have a refusal here is for a visitor accommodation it was uh approved previously and it expired on
4-13-26. So this was my appeal. And it uses the current layout. There's no, nothing that's going
to be changed on the property inside or outside. The use is low intensity, so it does not create
any conditions that um warn a public safety this is the
application information here i forget the term the um of this form but with the form that i was
supposed to fill out in addition to the appeal this is the lease agreement here this is the
tax clearance here this is just a layout of the two apartments over top of the
commercial daycare downstairs this is the second and third floor again
nothing's changed this was the ZBA meeting notice this was the petition
from the people physically on the block on that particular block there are other
On that particular block, there are other commercial facilities. There's a Chinese store across the street. And then on the corner of 29th and Gerard, there's four different commercial properties there.
their commercial facility is a Chinese store across the street.
This is the, these are the letters that went out to all of the neighbors and this is the letter from the zoning meeting.
so we have we have the letters sir we have we have we have everything
and that's really all i have to provide okay and you've had no problems with before right
how long have you been doing this no problems i've actually been doing this prior to um the
city of philadelphia asking for the zoning permit so i was doing it since 2017 and then when the
tony permit was requested um we started that process our vice chair our board has a few
questions anyone the question oh okay all right questions from our attorney
yes um i just want to make sure is the uh use that you're asking for limited to