okay thank you calendar number 2179 704 north 23rd street
all right thank you members of the board thank you
no hands chair this this is sharon i have no exhibits but i believe this is the first listing
um mr chair you're muted thank you mi 2020-002179
704 North 23rd Street is continued.
I believe that completes the 930 list.
Do we, any other unfinished business?
No, we do not.
We're good.
We're good, Chair.
That's it.
All right, everyone, thank you and see you back
at two o'clock, thank you.
Thank you.
All right, take care, everyone.
Bye-bye, see you soon.
DPZ Zoom, we can pause the recording.
Let's go live, please.
We're now live, Chair.
Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Frank DiCicco. I'm the chair of the zoning
Thank you, good afternoon, everyone.
My name is Frank DiCicco.
I'm the Chair of the Zoning Board of Adjustments.
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. Also, board administrator, Lakeisha Dandy, and our board attorney, Sharon
Saleta, 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 hearing,
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 nine and then star six to unmute yourself. I'll repeat, for anyone participating
by phone, if you wish to testify, you must raise your hand by hitting star nine and then star six
to unmute yourself. Finally, to enter an appearance statement, call Google 267-270-5548
and leave your email address and the address of the property at issue.
I will repeat, to enter an appearance statement, call Google 267-270-5548
and leave your email address and the address of the property at issue.
I'd also like to remind everyone that please do not attempt to testify in the chat.
that, any comments should be directed to our Board Administrator who happens to be Miss
Lakeisha Dandy. Before we begin, I'd like to ask if there are any requests for continuances
or withdrawals on the two o'clock list. If so, please raise your hand.
chair i have a mr richard mr richard you can unmute yourself and speak to a continuance
yes good can everybody hear me yes sir please identify yourselves by your last name for the
record name and address thank you mr chairman it's richard weitzman w-e-i-t-z-m-a-n uh i'm the
attorney for the applicant. My address is 3 North 2nd Street, Suite 200, Philadelphia,
19106. I am here with respect to the property at 4146 Peachin Street.
Okay, that's number 10 on our list. You're asking for continuance?
Yes, we've been in continuing communication with the RCO and just need a little more time to
finalize things. Excuse me, this is Sharon Saleta. Mr. Whiteson, I believe that you have submitted
a request to amend your application. Is that right? Yeah, correct. I did that this morning as
well. It's really more for clarification, something the RCO pointed out to us. The ultimate variance
would be the same for three units, but they wanted to make sure that the relief would correspond
with with the way the property is set up sure i was asking because if that's the case and you're
waiting for l and i to get back to you with um a revised refusal we might want to continue this
board might want to continue this as attorney moving party so that you can contact the
administrator once you have the refusal ah gotcha okay yeah actually i think at this point i need
leave i need permission to amend before i think i can submit l and i yes that's right okay okay
so attorney moving party works for you weitzman it does yes all right mi 2020 does zero zero two
seven eight one four one four six pechin street attorney moving party would anyone else like to
request a continuance or withdrawal please raise your hand thank you i'm going to drop off everybody
thank you stay well
yes we have Mr. Jarrett
Mr. Jarrett
yeah Jarrett I was going to ask you
I was waiting to see about withdrawals
or continuance I understand you had a request
yes so
this is for I believe number four on your list
let us swear you in please identify
yourself of course Jared Klein
from Blank Rome 130 North 18th
Street Philadelphia
swearing for him to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth
Yes I do. Please proceed. This is I believe number four on the board's list. It's 1731 West Hunting Park Avenue. That's correct. I had a calendaring snafu on my end.
I had a calendaring snafu on my end, so I did not submit the materials to the board
within the five days.
I did submit everything to Ms. Saleta and the board this morning, and this application
has broad community support and is part of an affordable housing plan that has some tax
credit timing sensitivity, so I would ask the board's indulgence to allow the case to
proceed today.
so noted we'll do that thank you thank you very much mr chair anyone else requesting a continuance
or withdrawal excuse me this is sharon seletti can we just get mr klein to confirm that the
property was posted yeah i'm sorry i forgot to ask that yes yes the the property was fully posted
and we have photos of the posting and the materials that i sent in to miss selena thank you
Sharon. Anyone else? Am I good to go? This is Rachel Pritzker. Hold it, Rachel. I just want
to make sure. Is anyone else? Yes. Ms. Pritzker, you can speak to a continuous. Thanks. Rachel,
r-a-c-h-a-e-l pritzker p-r-i-t-z-k-e-r 1635 market street suite 1600 philadelphia pa 19103
and you swear and affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yes thank you so this is for 5138 gainer road i have sort of a unique request this is for a
daycare center to be opened up we can't get in front of the rco until february the 16th i believe
but wanted to know if we would be okay in order to kind of keep the timing so that this business
can actually open if we were able to present the case today and then do a resumption hearing just
for RCO input after the 16th. Ms. Pritzker, since you will have to come back anyway at the same time
and this will not save you any time by proceeding today and there's always the possibility of
people wanting to testify
as a result of the RCO meeting.
Can we get
whatever the next available date
would be?
If that's what you recommend, that's fine with me.
In the interest of time,
like Sharon says,
you get a resumption here, somebody
else may come in who wants
to be heard, maybe not be supportive
of your application.
that's fine we're going to wind up a full-fledged hearing anyway that's fine
just wanted to get on the calendar as soon as possible because we kind of are running into an
issue with you know this is a business trying to open and you know the timing of the process
doesn't always align with that all right so sharon you uh um we don't have a date but she
can work um Ms. Pritzker can work with Tanya and uh or Lakeisha okay thank you any other requests
no more hands here thank you uh before we begin Carol we have an add-on okay uh do I do is there
do i do sure's lane first and then the add-on yes okay calendar number 0853 231 sure's lane my vote
is yes with proviso of plans consisting of one page stamp today yes with proviso
yes with proviso yes with proviso and the add-on next case yeah this is a resumption hearing
we had asked we had asked all parties to go back and ask the commerce department
councilwoman's office to see if there's any way they can work out some
okay so it's calendar number zero nine four five 39 65 lancaster avenue
and frank i guess you'll swear everyone in uh yeah i hear some people talking in the background
good afternoon mr chairman members of the board good afternoon please identify yourself and we'll
swear you in sure thing meredith ferliger f-e-r-l-e-g-e-r 1500 market street suite 3500 e
here on behalf of the property owner and applicant sam development llc
we're in a firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i certainly do and just for visual effect i'll just bring up a picture of
Once again, the property, I think that you have ample detail at this point, but just so you have something to look at while we give you an update.
once again the property um i think that you have ample detail at this
So we took the board's request and we did go back and we met with the Registrar Community Organization, which for this property is PEC.
We did also meet with the representative of the Commerce Department.
Fortunately, we were able to hold a meeting with all the parties together to really get a good meeting of the minds.
I'll note that my client is continually grateful for the additional assistance that they are willing to provide.
However, the content of the meeting was largely the same as all of the prior meetings that he had held with other community organizations.
It really just amounted to more of a brainstorming session about the type of tenants that might be interested in the space.
Effectively, they were asking my client to wait indefinitely for a tenant that may or may not ever arise for the space.
We did not, my client did not leave that meeting feeling any more hopeful about the prospect
of finding a commercial tenant at this space.
So we are going to continue to request that the board grant this variance.
I would be happy to submit my full testimony that I had given at the hearing two weeks
ago if that would be helpful to you.
But I do believe that we had provided ample justification, given the unique location of the property, in conjunction with the immense attempts that were made to find a tenant at the space, which unfortunately, it's not looking like it's going to happen anytime soon.
Okay. Anyone else to testify?
Yes, Chair, I have Adam.
Adam is probably my client.
Anyone else?
Sorry, this is Adam Perlman.
I just had my hand raised.
Just hang in there, sir.
Just hang in there.
We've already got your testimony last time.
um questions on the board we have a mr goodman oh okay mr goodman good afternoon
good afternoon identify yourself you're still under oath from this morning
yes andrew goodman g-o-o-d-m-a-n representing third district council member jamie gaudier
i'm sorry i'll proceed um so yeah we did we did participate in a meeting i mean we do know that
people's emergency center because they have the unique kind of capacity of being both a registered
community organization and an organization that provides small business support on lancaster
avenue we do know that you know that they that they did they did look into other potential
tenants but you know obviously two weeks is two weeks is tough not enough time we did meet and
there were even though some potential resolutions were discussed no resolution was reached
So our testimony, the council member's testimony remains the same as it was two weeks ago on the 13th.
Thank you very much.
Anyone else?
Yes, Chair, I have a Mr. Kevin Brown.
Brown, please identify yourself with a record name and address.
Can everyone, hello, can everyone hear me?
Hi, this is Kevin Brown. I'm with People's Emergency Center.
we are the we are the um the rco in charge of the community zoning right and you swear and
affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes sir i do please proceed um as
mr goodman mentioned i was also uh at the meeting on monday where we with the commerce department
was also involved and they are willing to help mr perlman uh find a viable candidate through
their network that may be able to utilize the retail space. And I pointed out to Mr. Perlman
and his team that, you know, his space has only been a viable option for the last eight months.
I know that he started building the project three years ago, but it's only been for the last eight
months that it was available to actually be rented. And I pointed out that during the last
eight months, we've been obviously in lockdown, which directly impacts retail ability. And so I
I just would like for us to consider that in this
and that changing the zoning
changing the zoning will really directly impact the plans we have for this retail corridor and
will really directly impact the plans we have
for this retail.
so I urge the board to really consider to not do that at this time. Thank you. Anyone else?
No more hands, Chair. Thank you. I think we got the planning commission last time but I'll ask
Again, Planning Commission.
Thank you so much.
David Fecteau, F-E-C-T-E-A-U, with the City Planning Commission.
David, do you swear in the firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir, I do.
Thank you, sir.
Mr. Chairman, members of the board, the comprehensive plan recommends this property for commercial mixed use.
We can see that the applicant could have a reasonable argument for requesting a residential unit on the Mount Vernon Street side of the property,
but we cannot support removing commercial space from the corner of 40th Street and Lancaster
Avenue. We recommend against granting this variance. Thank you. I'd like to close the
record and have the board render a decision at next Wednesday's executive session. That's my
recommendation. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Would you like me to submit my full testimony that I had
given would that be helpful yes it would be thank you will do any objection from the board
no not at all okay no all right thank you thank you all
calendar number zero three five four one one one zero one griner road
We have Ming Ling. You can unmute yourself.
Hi, good afternoon.