and you can't build single family on it.
You're only, you're forced to build multi.
The parking, basically you're forced into that as well.
I'd like to recommend that a board
unless there's any objection that we close this,
close the record on this
and the render decision next Wednesday.
Hey, sorry, I have a comment that I'd like to add.
We don't know who's speaking.
I haven't been sworn in yet.
i'm i'm sorry rachel i apologize name uh pauline berkowitz my address is 5120 malcolm street
philadelphia pa19143 is that within 250 feet of the property
no but i am a member of the phil united neighbors that's not the coordinated rco here
and we we've heard testimony from your representative yeah i mean if you ma'am if
you just want to give a five five sentence five sentence two sentence i think i know where you're
going so just get yourself on the record we'll allow that in sure um i just wanted to speak to
the affordability um issue and using the language of affordability i think is extremely misleading
i'd like to back to the testimony yeah i think we're going to have to object to that sustained
i agree thank you thank you ma'am no disrespect thank you uh we're going to move on so the record
is closed on this case it's mi 2020-002752 4317 ludlow street the record is closed and the board
will make a decision at next wednesday's executive session thank you calendar number 2944
5145 Delancey Street.
I have a Carrie with their hand up. Yes, she's the attorney.
she's been promoted to panelist
she's going to come back in
you're with me
Carrie, Carrie, Carrie
Carol we do have a letter of support
from the RCO
and the First Corinthian
Baptist Church
Hi, Carrie. Can you put your name and address on the record and spell your last name?
Sure. Good evening. Carrie Nace, N-A-S-E, Poust, P-O-U-S-T, attorney with the law firm of Fox
Rothschild, address 2700, Kelly Road, Suite 300, Warrington, PA. Here this evening on behalf of
the applicant. Okay. Do you swear? Did I miss something? Was that just Ludlow Street?
what about gainer was earlier earlier um rachel agreed to a continuance or turning moving party
i think it was okay carrie it's a little out of out of order so do you swear for him to tell the
whole truth and nothing but the truth i do do you agree to wave and step i do have you emailed the
exhibit packet with the required documents due five days in advance of this hearing that include
proof of ownership tax compliance, refusal or referral, photos and or plans, and if you
met with the RCO, and do you have a letter? Yes, I did mail in the exhibits. We did meet
with the RCO, and a letter from the RCO is included in the packet that was submitted.
Okay, you may move forward. Great, thank you, thank you. I know this has been a very long
hearing. I will try to keep this very short and to the point. In front of you here is the index of
the exhibits that were submitted to you, a copy of the notice of refusal application, the completed
project information form, portions of the agreement of sale. My client is Selena Oliver. She's the
owner of Promise and Possibilities Learning Academy. She does have an agreement of sale to
purchased this property is indicated the copy was submitted to you. Also as Exhibit 5 is a copy of
Also, as Exhibit 5 is a copy of the Certificate of Tax Compliance, 6 are photographs of the
the Certificate of Tax Compliance.
zoning notice, and 7 are photographs of the property, 8 a floor plan, 9 an affidavit,
10 is a letter of support from the RCO, and 11 is a letter of support from Corinthian Baptist
Church.
So this property is located at 5145 Delancey Street.
You can see here there's an aerial on screen. It fronts the Lancy between 52nd and 51st.
This property, when my client entered into the agreement of sale, the owner had indicated that
this property was actually zoned CMX3, which would in fact allow a child care facility by right.
However, when we went in for the zoning permit, L&I informed my client that the property had been
rezoned at some point in time to RSA 5, which does not in fact allow a child care facility.
For the record, we are looking into the ordinance that rezoned the property and
there is some question as to whether or not the property was in fact rezoned as the maps
attached to the ordinance are not quite clear. Nonetheless, we are here this evening requesting
a variance to use this property for a child care facility. The property is currently improved with
a house of worship on site. The structure is intended to remain. I have here in front of you
photographs. This is the front of the structure that fronts on Delancey Street. Here is a side of
the property facing 52nd Street, and then this is the area along to the rear. My client is not
proposing any type of site improvements, only interior modifications to allow this building
to be constructed or utilized as a child care facility. The property has been used as a house
of worship, a dance school, and actually a home school satellite center for students attending
PA leadership charter school for quite a few years, and there is a history of children being
educated on this property. Ms. Oliver currently operates a family care facility approximately
eight blocks away at 5920 Edison Street and has been part of this community for quite some time.
She has operated that facility for over 10 years. However, she is limited to the number of children
that she can serve there she is interested in expanding the facility and in order to serve more
children within the community she is looking to purchase this property the proposed child
care facility will be fully licensed and regulated by the state as i indicated she is proposing to
make certain interior renovations included in your packet and as shown here is just a very rough kind
a sketch in terms of the floor plan showing how the different areas would be broken out into
different rooms for the children. The child care facility is proposed to operate five days a week
Monday through Friday from 6 30 a.m to 6 30 p.m. Meals will be served as well as snacks as
two as well as two snacks a.m and p.m. As such cooking equipment will be installed in the building.
Based on the square footage of the building, which Mrs. Oliver is hoping to serve up to 60 children, and it's expected that initially there will be approximately nine employees, which again are anticipated to come from the surrounding community.
The number of children is dependent on the square footage, which is governed by the state when she gets her license.
We did meet with the RCO. We had a very good meeting with them. We got a lot of good feedback
from them in terms of the area and some proposed uses. One item that was suggested is there
is a community garden on Delancey Street. We have reached out to the individual that
currently is maintaining that, and we're looking to collaborate with them in order to provide
a community garden that the children can go and utilize as well. Again, the West Philadelphia
Economic Development Council did issue a letter of support, which is in front of you here,
dated January 6, 2021. And we also did receive a letter of support from First Corinthian Baptist
discharge as well. We do believe that there is some hardship here in utilizing the property
due to the rezoning and the fact that this type of structure really does have
due to the rezoning and the fact that this type of structure really does have limited
limited reuse abilities for uses that are otherwise permitted in the RSA 5
district. If I may, Ms. Salina Oliver is with us this afternoon. I would ask that
we unmute her and that I could bring her on. I'm here.
please identify yourself with a record first and last name hi this is selena oliver
good evening uh do you swear and affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i do thank you miss pals thank you miss oliver you were uh in attendance this evening during
the presentation I have just given to the board? Yes. And is the presentation that I had just given
true and accurate? Yes, it is. And do you believe or would you agree to adopt the statements as
though it was your own testimony? I do. Great. At this time, I'd open it up to the board. We're
happy to answer any questions that you may have regarding the uh requested variants thank you any
questions from the board i have no one else would like to testify in this case please raise your
hand mr cow are you for this case yes good evening sir please identify yourself with a record first
and last names by your name? Kyle Sampson, S-A-M-P-S-O-N, president of the West Philadelphia
Economic Development Council, which was the coordinating RCO. Mr. Chairman, this was an easy
one. You're swearing a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth. Absolutely.
This was an easy one. This was an easy one. This applicant will provide a great service and a great
addition to the community we had the RCO meeting a tremendous amount of support for this project
and we urge you to support it thank you very much excuse me this is Sharon Saleta Andrew Goodman had
to leave the meeting but he did email to say that councilwoman Gauthier also supports the project
thank you thank you uh planning commission
good evening mr chairman members of the board david fecto city planning commission
the comprehensive plan recommends this property for residential single family use we have no
objection to granting a child care center at this location thank you mi 2020-002944
5145 Delancey Street my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes thank you my vote is yes
I thank you I gotta apologize Cerise I never asked if you needed a break
we have one more case but this case is going to be continued because we didn't get the
exhibits until this afternoon so it's impossible for us to go forward
calendar number
I'm going to call it off Carol
MI2020-001121
Caster Avenue
will be continued
that completes the 2 o'clock list
I believe or no
yes it does
that means we will be back here at
I don't know
545 I give you 11
12 minutes something like that
does that work
oh my gosh yes
see everybody back at 5 45 thank you
and i assume uh we're ready to go live and then we'll give lakisha a few minutes
we're actually recording now chair oh okay
all right so uh good evening everyone my name is frank de chico i'm the chair of the zoning
board of adjustment i'll be participating in today's hearing along with our vice chair
ms carol tenere board secretary confessor plaza and board members mr thomas holloman and mr james
snell board administrator lakeisha dandy and board attorney sharon saletta are also in attendance
For those of you who haven't yet participated in one of our virtual hearings,
I'll go through some of the basics of what you can expect.
First, we will be administering oaths to individual participants prior to their testimony.
Second, we'd like to advise everyone that this proceeding is being recorded
and that by participating, you acknowledge your agreement to be recorded.
Third, for anyone participating by phone, if you wish to testify, you must raise your hand by hitting star 9 and then star 6 to unmute yourself.
Third, for anyone participating by phone, if you wish to testify, you must...
I'll repeat, for anyone participating by phone, if you wish to testify, you must raise your hand by hitting star 9 and then star 6 to unmute yourself.
finally to make an appearance statement call google 267-270-5548 and leave your email address
and the address of the property at issue and i'll repeat to enter an appearance statement
call google 267-270-5548 and leave your email address and the address of the property at issue
And I would also like to remind everyone, please do not attempt to testify in the chat.
Any comments should be directed to our Board Administrator, Ms. Lakeisha Dandy.
Having said that, I will read off a list of continuances and withdrawals that have already
been brought to our attention.
MI 2020-002521.
1-300-South 50th, that's 5-0-Street, is withdrawn.
Number five on our list, MI2020-000332-2100.
Excuse me, Chair, I'm sorry, but did you call out 1-300-South 50th as withdrawn?
i think it's i think it's continued that's continued i already had it as continued i
thought i saw that in your recent um no it's number five number five is withdrawn okay my
apologies i'll go back mi 2020 dash zero zero two five two one one three zero zero south 50th street
is continued. Number five on our list, MI 2020-000332, 2104 North Franklin Street is withdrawn.
And number nine on our list, MI 2020-000369, 6053-55, Castor Avenue is being continued.
and excuse me with castor avenue the um you might want to call mr sabatina yes the we received
exhibits but not until 505 on monday so because he does have another case as well number four
yes he's um here you can unmute yourself sabatina please identify yourself with the records where
you in hello can you hear me yes please identify yourself and we'll swear you in john sabatina
uh here referee which what property i'm on here uh hold on before you just spell your last name
for the record s-a-b-a-t-i-n-a and you're swearing for him to tell the truth the whole truth nothing
but the truth i do our question has to do with 60 53-55 caster avenue yeah we did we did not get
the exhibits until today? And we got them Monday at 5.05, at which point we had already completed
the summaries and sent out reports to the council representatives and the planning commission and to
the board members saying that there were no exhibits in this case, meaning it was likely
being continued. So it arrived three days late. I'm going to need to continue that case.
I'd request a very, very short continuance.
Well, we'll work that out with Lakeisha.
And are you prepared to go forward with 1541 Adams Avenue?
Yes, I am.
Okay, so we'll get to that in a minute.
All right.
Anyone disagree with any of the continuance or withdrawals that have just been read into the record?
And if anyone would like to request a continuance or withdrawal, please raise your hand.
Sheriff, I could also mention that number seven on the list, the RCO has requested a continuance.
We also have no exhibits and it's been previously listed twice. So if you could call to ask if
anyone is here for that case. Okay, I was going to get to that one. All right. MI 2020-000703
2806 North
Water Street. Is anyone in attendance
for this
no hands chair no hands are up my vote is to dismiss
No hands, Chair.
No hands are up. My vote is to dismiss.
my vote is to dismiss dismiss
anyone else requesting a continuance or withdrawal please raise your hand