block face. The City Planning Commission recommends that the board grant the proposed use variance
for a child care center. Thank you very much. We're going to hold the vote on this until we hear
where we stand with the taxes. Okay? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, members of the board.
Mr. Chairman, can we hold it for 30 days? We can hold? Sure. Sure.
thank you board I have nothing further today we're going to set an actual date all right we'll get a
Thank you, board. I have nothing further today.
date for you August 19th August 19th at 9 30 a.m thank you number 12. Mr Chairman sorry to interrupt
this is ian haggarty uh can we see if miss boyd is available now for orthodox street okay
miss boyd are you available
she's been promoted
hi miss boyd
hi yes i'm here are you is your computer ready to go yes okay i please uh just for the record i
think i swore you in right could you just state your name for the record again latish boy spell
it please i'm sorry latish boy l-a-t-e-s-h-b-o-y-d right and just in case do you swear or affirm to
tell the truth told truth nothing but the truth I do our vice chair has a few questions
good afternoon have you submitted your documents and exhibits uh five days in advance of this
hearing yes okay and you are here uh your application is for a two-family household living
a duplex okay and you um do you agree that you uh you received a refusal
because this use is prohibited in the RSA 5 district.
All right.
Thank you.
You can share your screen and tell us what you'd like to do.
I purchased this property back in 2017, and a few years after having it, my aunt got sick,
so I decided to change the use to a two-family dwelling, a duplex, so my aunt can be close to me
and I can care for her.
She could live on one floor and I live on the other. I applied for zoning and received a
refusal letter, which brought me to following the appeal.
So why don't you, we have all your documents. Why don't you start off by
probably showing photos of the property, right? And if you have any drawings of things
in the property. Okay. Yep.
you have photos with you there yeah good good thank you the photos well your your whole thing's
coming up okay so this is the front entrance of the building
and this is already a duplex am i correct no i'm trying to change the use for a duplex
a two family is it broken down now as a duplex no okay it's a single family home right now
yes yes this is a living room area first floor first floor yes entrance for the first floor
this is the bathroom for the first floor
bathroom for the first floor
this is the kitchen area on the first floor bedroom first floor
bedroom on the first floor this is the second floor kitchen area
this is the hallway area
that's still the kitchen area
one bedroom
this is the bathroom
still bathroom
this is the bedroom
this is the picture of my zoning notice
another bedroom
another bedroom
Thank you.
just another picture of the zoning notice
that's it
so uh so the property is broken down already ready to go as a duplex is what you've done right
at purchase yes right okay um all right questions from the board
uh so go ahead i'm sorry go ahead no mike you go ahead no the so so you purchased it it was
already like this already laid out like this okay so you didn't do any work to to to make it this
way no okay um all right sure you can you can go ahead i had something else but you go ahead
okay so um you the first floor unit will have two bedrooms and two baths
the first floor unit will have two bedrooms and um one bath it's one bath okay yes all right
And then the second floor is the same thing, two bedrooms, one bath?
And how do we get from the first floor to the second floor?
Do I see the steps?
Oh, so there's a side entrance.
I'm sorry?
There's a side entrance.
if you see the gate um right on the side there's a side entrance and you go up steps on the side
can you show that
uh i don't have pictures of the side but uh okay the gate
the gate on the side of the house is where they go up to the second entrance
Okay. And what do we do about the trash? Where is that going to be stored?
On the side of the house. Where the gate is?
Where the gate is. Yes. Yes. The side of the gate.
All right. And you said this was so that you could live with your aunt, so she'll be on the
first floor and you'll be on the second floor yes so she could be close to me she's sick and so she
could be close to me and i could care for her okay all right thank you you're welcome is it currently
is it currently occupied yes i live there now oh you live there now okay yes
and you're living on the first floor or the second floor first only because you said when
talked about the exit up to the second floor you said they they use the side exit the side to go
up to the second floor you said they so who so you have a tenant upstairs now or it's not my
aunt my aunt oh so your aunt is on the second floor she's going to second floor okay okay
are there any other duplexes on the block that you know of
uh i think across the street there's a duplex
and and up the street on on i think there's one up the street
across from mulberry
so money why don't you tell us real quick too how you make out with the rco
I just received my approval letter yesterday, so I wasn't able to upload that. They just
sent it yesterday.
DARYL FOX- The council member is in favor of it, too. Did you get a letter from her?
DARYL FOX- Okay. Questions or comments from our attorney?
Lynne Reidelhuber, Board Counsel. I just wanted to clarify. So this really is a legalization. Since
you're living in the structure you live downstairs and your aunt lives upstairs no she will be
leaving she will be living upstairs i'm trying to legalize it as a duplex so she could live upstairs
and be close to me okay is anybody living upstairs right now no okay you just live downstairs yes okay
questions or comments from the virtual audience
no hands
planning commission
good afternoon Liz Fusillet on behalf of the Philadelphia Planning Commission
comprehensive plan recommends a change in zoning at this location from RSA 5 residential single
family to RM1 residential multifamily the city rezoned this neighborhood in 2014
in accordance with recommendations in the comprehensive plan this is a
in accordance with recommendations in the comprehensive plan this is a 2000 2014 square
foot lot if it were zoned as recommended five units would be permitted by right the appellant
requests to the city planning commission recommends that the board grant the proposed use variance for
two dwelling two dwelling units mi 2025 005 491 1804 orthodox street i vote yes proviso maximum
from two units.
Michael Johns, and my vote is yes, with proviso.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes, with proviso.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes, with proviso.
Layla Beebe, my vote is yes, with proviso.
Thank you, ma'am.
You have your votes.
Thank you.
Okay, number 12, MI 2026-000487-5707,
McMahin Avenue.
Perkis is the attorney.
Gary Perkis.
Yes, he's coming in now.
I will I will let's go to my my last thing I'm doing. I have it right here.
We see him.
Good afternoon, Chairman.
Good afternoon, Council.
Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Yes, my name is Gary Perkis, G-A-R-Y-P-E-R-K-I-S-S.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Do you identify your client in a relationship to the property?
Yeah, my client is the Shepherd's Heart Ministry, which is the owner of the property.
And in the also attending, although not not not promoted, is Pastor Sharon Clark, who will adopt my testimony.
Thank you.
Our vice chair has a few questions.
Good afternoon.
Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, I did.
And do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
All right.
Thank you.
You can share your screen and proceed with your case.
I don't know if you have a problem with your computer well it's it's I
I have the documents on.
Let me just move it to the other screen and see if that works.
All right.
Can you see my documents now?
We see notice of refusal.
Okay, we have it.
Okay. All right. Good. So this property, just as my way of background, the Shepherd's Heart Ministry is a Pennsylvania nonprofit corporation.
It was formed on May 3rd of 2013. It was formed by pastors Colin Clark Sr. and Sharon Clark.
The Shepherd's Heart Ministry purchased this property on October 1st of 2018 from St. James Community Baptist Church.
The prior owner obtained a variance to install a freestanding projecting sign on the grounds in front of the church,
accessory to the existing church, and that was granted on September 13th of 2007.
This application is to replace the existing sign with an electronic message board sign.
So the first document I have to present is the notice of refusal.
uh well let's start we have all of your documents that we need so why don't you if you would go to
photos or or drawing of a plan for this okay and that way we'll be happy to jump ahead yes yeah
thank you um so here's the photos of yeah the
So here's the photos of the posting of the notice on the church.
This is photos of the property.
That's the exterior.
That's the interior.
And this is, let me make this a little bit bigger.
This is the original sign that you want to change.
Am I correct?
Well, on the on the left side is the original sign that we want to change.
Right. And the proposed sign is on the right.
OK. OK. And that's digital, that sign?
That's digital. Correct. OK.
So it's basically the same size. Exactly the same size.
It's electrical and digital. That's correct.
Okay. In addition to that, I wanted to share with the board. Sorry about that. This is the notice
that i sent to the neighbors okay and this is the um mailing proof of mailing from the from from the
u.s post office and uh here's my communications with the rco patrick jones um although i have
to tell you i've i've i've communicated with him at least a half a dozen times since since the
meeting took place, and he has not advised me of the RCO's position. We're aware of that. Okay.
And then the other thing I wanted to point out to the board is there are three churches within
two and a half miles of this church that have digital signs, that have electronic message
boards one is located at 610 Mount Pleasant Avenue it's the Germantown
Christian Assembly and this is a I can make a larger it's a photo of this of
the of their sign and and that church is 2.4 miles 8 minute drive away from 5707
mcmahon avenue the next one is 1013 to 41 east johnson street which is the true light fellowship
this one's a little bit too big but that's the sign that's there this this church is 1.3 miles
from 5707 mcmahon avenue it's a four minute drive and you'll see right here is a google maps
Google Maps, which shows the distance and the time.
And the last one is 6401 Ogons Avenue, the Mount Airy Church of God, which is 1.2 miles, five-minute drive.
So why don't you bring your client on?
Can I just make one other statement?
The neighbors of the church, if you're facing the church, to the left is the Social Security building, and across the street is the parking lot for the Social Security building.
And then to the right is a mechanic, it's a commercial space, so this does not impact any residential neighbors whatsoever.
All right, thank you very much for your input.
You're welcome.
Ms. Clark, Pastor Clark, are you there?