Thank you.
good morning everyone the board will start momentarily thank you
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
what's going on here there's a lawyer outside there's a guy sitting out there with his client
meetings you've got a meeting yeah what time six o'clock oh you're gonna oh you're you're fine
you're gonna be good and if not just because all we're gonna do is vote to dismiss them
you should be done yeah
Yeah, I got it.
Thank you.
We're ready, right? Good morning, everyone. My name is Bill Bergman,
and I will be chairing the meeting of the Philadelphia Zoning Board of Adjustment.
With me is our Vice Chair, Teneda Graham.
Teneda Graham. Chairman.
Our board secretary, Cheryl L. Gaston.
Our Board Secretary, Cheryl L. Gaston.
Present, Mr. Chair.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Board member, Michael Johns.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Board member, Ty Nguyen.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
And our board member, Ryan McAdams.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
So here is our attorney, Hillary Emerson,
our zoning board executive director, Ian Haggerty,
and our board administrator, Lakeisha Dandy.
recording of this hearing will be posted on the zba website by participating you agree to be
recorded this is an in in-person meeting with uh with remote capabilities whether in person
whether here or in person if you're called to testify you must state and spell your name
once you have been sworn you will state and spell you will state your name each time before
testifying any person may enter their appearance you can identify you can identify the case
property address and your zoning meeting uh resigned board you can see a staff member or
you can call and call the gba appearance line call 267-270-5548 leave your address and the address
for the property in question the following guideline is for our in-person for our remote
capabilities first when directed please state your name it's spelled for the stenographer second you
should you you you you can call to testify you will be prompted to join as a panelist please
accept the request and turn on your camera. Third, your web line Q&A, the Web
Webster Q&A, do not comment on the case in the Q&A. And fourth, you can
participate by phone, press star nine to raise your hand and star six to unmute.
for our in-person people please refine from talking eating or drinking during the hearings
verbal and physical aggression will not be commented
restrooms are across from the elevators a water fountain is outside the room to the right
when speaking on one on the record you can state speak your spell your name of the portion
in in the event of an emergency follow the directions given by the staff the main exit
is through the double doors that nearest to the stairwell in the in the case of an emergency
The rally point is Love Point across Art Street.
Please stay there so we can account for you.
Let's look at our schedule for this afternoon, for this morning.
So number one, MI 2023-001-945-7148-30 UConn Street.
Steve Masters is the attorney.
There's a request for a contingent from the coordinating RCO.
If the coordinating RCO is here, please come forward.
Good morning, Chair.
This is Jasmine, and I will be your co-host for this morning's session.
I have a hand up by the name of Craig Melodosier.
I'm going to let them speak.
Is Mr. Masters there?
let me see if steve masters is okay yes i don't see mr masters in the audience yet
um is he on his way here in person okay how long will we go back all right we'll go back to that
number two 3910 germantown avenue mi 2023 003394 i vote to dismiss
i'm sorry withdrawn withdrawn we changed that we have to bring mr orphanetes on
i'm sorry withdrawn withdrawn we changed that we have to bring mr orphanetes on mr orphan
david orphanetes has been allowed to speak
good morning mr chairman morning council could you please state your name is spelled for the
sonographer certainly david orphanetes last name is spelled o-r-p-h-a-n-i-d-e-s
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Would you please give us an update on this case?
Certainly.
This matter involves an application for an assembly and entertainment use.
My client filed the application and filed, it's a special exception.
They filed the application for a special exception.
I was then retained.
In the meantime, we've been able to find a buy-right solution, I believe, to their needs.
and the by-right permit was applied for and secured at this point in time my client does
not wish to proceed with this uh this present application thank you thank you very much 3910
germington avenue mi 2024 003 394 this case has been withdrawn
Number 4, 5904 Erverick Street, MI 2024-007-406, this case has been dismissed, the two-year,
no? We got to call, we got to call Mr. Okta on that case, Mr. We got to pull somebody up for
Yes, I believe Mr. Ukda is here.
David Upta is the attorney.
I don't see anyone in the virtual audience with that name, Chair.
No, he's there.
Mr. Ukda is in the virtual audience.
chair he has been allowed to speak
good morning good morning counsel um could you please state your name it's bell for the
sonographer devon ukda last name is uqdah do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth yes yes sir could you give us a status of this please yes this is a case i
I took over from a partner who cannot do zoning hearings.
I was having trouble getting in contact with a client.
I recently was to be able to get in contact with them.
So we spoke and we just need to continue
so we can schedule our show meeting.
Now we're in communication.
So council, this is the third listing.
We still have never received any documents from you.
So what we're gonna do is we're gonna vote this.
I'm gonna recommend we vote this for dismiss
and we'll waive the two-year rule okay um your honor i mean i apologize chair would it be possible
to just give us a bring back date once we were able to meet instead of having it dismissed well
i i i think we're trying to to control the amount of cases we have like this so we're we're going
to vote to dismiss this and we'll waive the two-year rule okay thank you chair so 5907
Erdrich Street. I vote to dismiss and waive the two-year rule. Michael Johns. I vote to dismiss
and waive the two-year rule. Cheryl Gaston. I vote to dismiss and waive the two-year rule.
Tanetta Graham. I vote to dismiss and waive the two-year rule. Brian McAdams. My vote is to
dismiss and waive the two-year rule. Ty Owen. My vote is to dismiss and waive the two-year rule.
Number five, 1925 West Summer Street, MI 2025, 000024.
We can just withdraw this, am I correct?
This case has been withdrawn.
Number eight, 2815 North 2nd Street, MI 2025, 002165.
um this case is being continued until um sorry mr chair um so we'll see if anybody is here for
this case it's 2815 north 2nd street um this is the second listing no one appeared for the first
time we have no exhibits um 2815 north 2nd street is there anyone in the audience
chair i have no hands raised at this moment
okay we're going to dismiss right
Okay. We're going to dismiss, right? 2815 North 2nd Street, I vote to dismiss.
Michael Johns, my vote is to dismiss.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is to dismiss.
Danetta Graham, my vote is to dismiss.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is to dismiss.
Ty Owen, my vote is to dismiss.
Number nine, 3-1-1-2 East Godfrey Avenue, MI-2025-002-178.
I vote to dismiss.
Michael Johns, my vote is to dismiss.
Excuse me, board members.
Excuse me, board members.
This is Ian Haggerty, executive director.
we actually have a letter of withdrawal from this applicant that we received this morning so this
matter can be marked as withdrawn okay 31 11 to 2 east godfrey avenue this case has been withdrawn
number 12 71 35 rising sun avenue mi 2025 006 395 this case has been withdrawn um and mr
Chair, I believe Mr. Anastasio is going to come on and withdraw that because we do not have something in writing.
Mr. Anastasio.
Good morning, Chair.
Good morning, members of the Board.
Mr. Anastasio, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Of course.
It's Vern Anastasio, A-N-A-S-T-A-S-I-O, on behalf of Mr. Tyler Williams, the owner, sorry, the occupant of the property.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir.
Could you give us an update, please?
We're going to withdraw the case.
It's no longer needed that we seek relief.
Thank you.
All right.
Thank you very much.
So 7135 Rising Sun Avenue, that case has been withdrawn.
Thank you.
Number 13, 518 South 5th Street, MI2025-006-398.
That case is continued to 722-26.
and number 14 125 levick street mi 2025 006 455 that case is continued to 7 22 26 at 9 30 am
are there any other requests for continuance and we still have uh we'll just put one right
i see no hands at this time when mr masters comes in well then we'll do the case oh there
he is there he is come on up yeah yep come right up we're not we're not going to hear it i'm just
0-0-1-9-5-7-1-25, Yocum Street, Mr. Masters, and also could a member of the RCO please come along.
Mr. Masters, could you state your name, please, for the record and spell it for a stenographer?
Good morning, Mr. Chair, members of the board, Steve Masters, S-T-E-V-E-M-A-S-T-E-R-S, with the law firm of JustLaws.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
RCO representative please Craig Melodosian has been allowed to speak
good morning chair good morning Craig could you please state your name and spell it for this
denographer Craig C-R-A-I-G last name Melodosian M-E-L-I-D-O-S-I-A-N do you swear or affirm to tell
truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do chair bergman um mr meldozian you have
requested it continued could you please give us your thoughts
yeah yes this has been a a very long drawn out uh application i believe it started in 23.
we do not believe that the applicant had dealt with us in good faith we then referred him to
multiple attorneys that we've worked with in the past. Mr. Masters was on the list. I assume that's
what happened. We may seem pedantic, but we don't understand why applicants and attorneys can't abide
applicants and attorneys can't abide by the 20-day rule on template 2 and get
by the 20-day rule.
notices out to the affected community. The fact that in over the course of
several years that was not done. We spoke with Steve, I think it's in the material
I sent you. He then said they would be changing the application to 10 cars. We
never saw that, so we don't know whether that's what he wanted to do or
they changed their mind. They told us that they wanted to store cars on the
lot. They are actively running basically a junkyard where they're storing vehicles on the lot,
towing them in, repairing them, and then they're driving off the lot. This is a residential street,
RSA 5, on what would be the north side of the street. One side is RSA 5, the other is RSA 3.
The parcel itself sits between a house of worship and an end of the road. Mr. Masters,
is we believe steve tries to represent his clients i'm going to object that he's going into
um the case which you asked us not to do i guess that the issue is craig is why do you want to
continue it we don't think that they've they've they've supplied us with their information and
what information i've been given verbally does not agree with the oral history that the neighbors
have given us. And if he doesn't want to go into the, then, you know, he, we would like to see his
exhibit package. We'd like to see his affidavits. We'd like to see his, the petitions that he signed
because the oral history that we've been given by neighbors on the block does not compare favorably
with what Steve has told us. And the neighbors on the block have also told us they have a petition
of opposition, which we found out about Monday night, which we'd also like to share our information
with Steve. Steve has also indicated that he was unable to get a history of the property
from L&I. So we've relied on the oral history of the neighbors across the street,
which is dramatically different than what Steve has expressed to us.
all right Dave so uh I I work very closely with Craig Melodosian uh I think that he's a very fine
of leader for the RCOs in this case um I'm I regret that we have this this conflict together
we've been trying to get a RCO meeting with uh Mr Melodosian for for uh for quite some time uh
He offered to give us an RCO meeting if we could get him certain materials by a certain date.