Thank you.
okay chair we have 28 participants we can proceed as you wish thank you good morning everyone my
name is bill bergman and i will be chairing this morning gva here before we start there was a long
Long-term representative of Council Member Clark or Council President Clark, Zenobia Harris, she was around the zoning board for a long, long time.
She retired about five or six years ago.
The people who've been here for a while remember her.
She passed over the weekend, and we want to start with a moment of silence.
Thank you, everyone. With me today is our Vice Chair, Ismail Shahid.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Our Board Member, Thomas Holliman.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Also present is our Attorney, Hillary Emerson, and our Executive Director, Tanya Sunken.
Here's our virtual format. Be advised the proceedings are being recorded.
Video will be available by contacting TanyaSunkett at phila.gov.
For the benefit of our court stenographer, we ask attorneys and witnesses to identify themselves before testifying.
If you're participating by phone and you wish to testify, press star 9 to raise your hand and star 6 to unmute.
To enter an appearance statement, call 267-270-5548.
Leave your email and the address of the property in question.
And finally, the question answer box on the screen is not for comments and testimony.
All comments should be directed to our executive director, Tanya Sunker.
Let's look at today's schedule.
Number two, MI 2023-001-945-7128 Yoakam Street.
That case is being continued.
Mr. Chair, this is Hillary.
I got a request from Mr. Masters, the attorney in that case, if this could be marked attorney moving party.
Okay, thank you.
So MI 2023-001-945-7128 Yoakam Street, that case is continued, marked attorney moving party.
number four mi 2023 005 160 319 cherry street that case has been continued to tuesday april
16th, 2024 at 9.30 a.m. Number five, MI 2022-007-347-224-230 West Topolpahokin Street. That
case is being continued to Tuesday, March 19th, 2024 at 9.30 a.m. Number six, MI 2022-007-283-500
to 1,100 South Broad Street. Michael Mattione is the attorney. Also, Nathan Farris is the attorney
for the permit holder, and Leonard Reuter is the attorney for the city. This is the fourth listing.
Will the attorneys come on and just give us an update as to where we stand with this?
Mr. Mattione. Good morning, Chair. This is Nadia, and I'll be your co-host.
Thank you. They have been allowed to speak. Mr. Mattione.
Mr. Mattione, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Sure. Michael Mattione, M-A-T-T-I-O-N-I.
All right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, told truth, nothing but the truth?
I do, Mr. Chairman.
Is Mr. Nathan Farris on the line?
Yes, Chair. They've been about to speak as well.
Morning, Mr. Farris. Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
how's that mr chairman can you hear me i can could you just state your name and spell for
I can. Could you just state your name and spell for the court sonographer?
the court sonographer nathan ferris
Nathan Farris, F-A-R-R-I-S.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Leonard Reuter, is he on the line?
I don't believe he is on yet, Mr. Chair, but I know he was on the line.
Mr. Mattione, could you give us an update as to where we stand on this? Because this is the fourth listing.
Sure, Mr. Chairman. I represent the Symphony House, and we're across the street from this.
We have been discussing changes to the plans that were approved with the developer and their council, Mr. McClure and Mr. Farris.
Mr. McClure and Mr. Farris, and I don't want to speak for them, but they have assured me that they are working on revised plans.
This is a major, major project, about half a city block.
So it's not something that they can just develop quickly.
I think they can better speak to where they are in the development process and, you know, providing us with revised plans that we can review.
And that's why they requested the continuance we joined in, because if they're going to come back with plans that make sense, then we wouldn't have a need for an appeal.
Thank you. Mr. Farris?
Mr. Mattionius has hit the nail on the head.
This is a major project, and we are in the process of revising the plans to what we hope address the concerns of objectors here.
And they've been very kind in allowing us time to do so.
But, you know, when you're when he's correct, this is a half a city block or whenever you're revising plans of a tall tower like that takes a long time.
There's a lot of input that needs to be given. So, you know, we're trying to do this as fast as we can.
But also that we don't have to come in front of you. Thank you. Thank you very much.
So, MI 2022 007 283 500 to 10 South Broad Street. That case is continued.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you.
And number seven, MI20230020472231GreenStreet, that case is continued.
Is there anyone in the audience who has comment relative to any of the cases where it continued, and are there any other requests for continuance?
I see no hands.
Thank you. So we're going to go to our regular list.
And we're going to start with number nine, MI 2022-001-927-6200 Dickens Avenue.
Joseph Consul is the attorney.
There's a letter of support from Ward 40, Republican RCO.
Good morning.
Good morning, Mr. Consul.
could you state your name please and spell for the court stenographer yeah joseph console it's
j-o-s-e-p-h last name c-o-n-s-o-l-a do you swear for him to tell the truth the whole truth and
nothing but the truth i do could you identify your client the relationship to this property
yeah uh my client is christelle bork was at and she is the owner of the property
our uh vice chair has a few questions good morning counsel do you agree to waive the
reading of the refusal stipulate to its accuracy yes yes 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 yes thank you please proceed and share your screen okay
all right that work yes good morning uh joe console 6200 dickens avenue
new. This was an appeal that was started back in 2022. I was originally hired by MV Home Group LLC
to get this property re-legalized as a four-unit property. In December of last year, it was sold
to Christelle Bourquezat, and she is the current owner of the property, and we're continuing the
appeal for her. The history of the property, in 1938, it was built as a four-unit property with
no commercial space in the property. There you see the zoning approval from that long ago,
and there's another zoning card which showed the CO for four families.
we are here because the property is cmx2 and there is a requirement for commercial space
along the ground floor and we don't have that the property never had that so we're not asking for
any additional units the place is plenty large enough to handle the four family dwelling and
family dwelling and the refusal is just for the commercial space we have a letter of support
the refusal is just for the commercial space.
coming from the southwest philadelphia consortium of rcos they attach some provisos regarding
exterior lighting uh storing trash um a they wanted to install a gated entrance and um yeah
that that was it i have some pictures showing the evidence of my client's work which i'll show you
in a second after i just scan through the regular pictures but we have support from all the rcos that
were present as is evidence in the letter there was more than one uh here's the property this is
how it looked to do here's the layout showing all the units we just has had an as built layout
created for the RCO meetings.
All the stuff's in the packet,
just showing the interior
of all the units.
Electrical panels and meters are all shown.
And we labeled them all
just for ease of explanation to the RCO.
There's all the meters in the basement.
My client sent me some photos of the work
that they're doing on the outside of it
to comply or attempt to comply with the request of the RCO.
And that's it.
There's the security lighting.
I showed you the gate.
With that, I'll call my client, Christelle,
to adopt my testimony.
If you can raise your virtual hand.
Christelle has been allowed to speak.
Good morning.
Could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Good morning.
My name is Christelle Busica.
Could you please spell it for the court stenographer?
C-H-R-I-S-T-E-L-L-E-B-O-U-R-S-I-Q-U-O-T.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, counsel.
good morning christelle did you hear my testimony just now regarding your property at 6200 dickens
yes i did do you adopt it as your own yes okay i have nothing further questions from the board
no mr chairman no chair questions from our attorney hillary emerson
not at this time mr questions or comments from the virtual audience
i see no hands planning commission thank you chair and good morning david effecto f-e-c-t-e-a-u
with the city planning commission do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing
but the truth yes sir i do please proceed thank you sir uh chairman and board members the
comprehensive plan recommends a change in zoning at this location from commercial mixed use two
to commercial mixed use one.
Commercial mixed use one allows
but does not require ground floor commercial space.
The proposed residential building would be allowed
by right in the proposed zoning district.
The zoning in this neighborhood
dates to the original 1933 zoning maps.
So this appears to be a pre-code use.
The city planning commission recommends
the board grant the proposed use variants
for not including ground floor commercial space.
Thank you.
MI 2022-001-927-6200-Dickens Avenue, I vote yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
Ismail Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you.
we're going to move to uh number eight mi 2023 006 291 210 north 12th street this is appeal
against lni pasquale calavita is the attorney for the appellant and leonard reuter is the
attorney for the city mr calavita mr chair mr reuter is getting on he's just having a little
bit of trouble getting in so he'll be on in just a minute sure good morning could you please state
your name and spell for the court sonographer sure pasquale colovita p-a-s-q-u-a-l-e-c-o-l-a-v-i-t-a
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i do as soon as mr leonard gets on the line we'll be ready to go okay and my clients should be on
there's a uh hunter yi and well well one one
Hunter Yee and.
Well, when we bring him, we'll bring him on as soon as they're needed.
Thank you.
letter has been promoted to panelists good morning sir could you please state your name
and spell for the court stenographer
hi good morning good morning could please state your name and spell for the court stenographer
Leonard F. Reuter, R-E-U-T-E-R, Senior Attorney, City of Philadelphia.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Mr. Calavita has been sworn already.
Sir, would you please start your case?
Good morning, Mr. Chairman, as well as other members of the board.
And so this is 210-212 North 12th Street.
this is an appeal for an extension of a building of a zoning permit that was originally granted
by uh approved by the board for variance on may 22nd of 2019 uh finally received on not
too much later june 13th of 2019 so if i could i'm going to share my screen
let's start
Table of contents. So, again, 210-212 North 12th Street, I have marked and will move each of these exhibits in to our presentation as well as testimony.
They've been provided well in advance. The copy of the deed at Exhibit A, and I'll go through each and every one.
I'll just read them in first. The notice of decision by the ZBA for granting a variance,
the stamped zoning plans, the actual permit itself received later, the clip shot of an amendment
or review at Exhibit E. Exhibit F is our application for the extension of the issued permit.
exhibit g is the printout of the rejection then our at exhibit h is our application for the appeal
with the pif the exhibit i are a list of emails
from the owner to licenses and inspection then j and k are plumbing and demolition permit that
were were done after the fact so again exhibit d is the deed showing that they're the proper owners
and back on 5 22 of 2019 we want to give just a quick background on this one this was one of my
more interesting zoning appeals where attending this meeting were over 100 individuals back in
2019. We filled the room, the hallway, for people in support of this project.
One thing that I did not include were there were over 100 plus signatures as well
that supported it and uh at that time um we we received a letter of support also from uh