So first things first, we have the notice of refusal.
My client is looking to have four units.
The property is currently zoned as RSA 5.
However, as I mentioned previously, this property does have a history of monthly family use.
However, as I mentioned previously, this property does have a history of monthly family use, in addition to commercial use, and it is a corner lot.
So we feel that it is an appropriate use of the property.
And we did receive a letter of anonymous support from the RCO from our February 20th meeting.
And they were particularly excited because my client does intend to provide one of the units for a single family, either a single mother or a single father.
free of cost utilities included as well as groceries. My client has a bit of a soft spot
and so she is looking to provide a program that would allow individuals to move into one of the
units while they get themselves together so it would be free of charge. And here we have a map
of the area showing again we are a corner property along East Wyoming. Google map view of the area
a permit showing that the property did have a history of multifamily use as well as commercial
use specifically there were three residential units as well as a real estate office and my
client did reach out to the community and received a full letter of support the community again is
very excited about this project especially considering the efforts that my client is
making to assist a single family here we have a view of the front of the property a view to the
side of the property along Tampa Street. Here we have a view of the rear of the property as well.
Views on the East Wyoming to the right of the property, East Wyoming to the left of the property,
Tampa Street to the right of the property, Tampa Street to the left of the property.
Our proposed plans and drawings. Again, we are looking to have four units here. So here we have
the first floor plan which would include unit one and two in the front and the rear of the property.
we do not have any basement living in this particular project. Our second floor is unit
three, and unit four is along the fourth floor. Again, we are looking to provide one of the units
at no cost for a family that is struggling, and we would also be providing utilities as well as
a stipend for groceries. And we did present this project to the community, and this is the notice
that we sent out on January 27th for the community meeting, which included the date, time, refusal,
as well as the DBA hearing information.
In total, 101 properties were notified.
Here we have a list of the properties that the notice was sent out to.
Certificate mailing indicating that we did, in fact, send that notice to all of the properties listed.
Our application for appeal.
Again, the refusal for the property.
Our project's information form.
And the de-choing that my client does, in fact, own this property.
and our certificate tax clearance 2022 taxes are not yet due so my client is
um tax compliant so with that if i can have my client melissa ramos raise her hand so that
she may adopt my testimony
ms ramos could you state your name and spell for the court reporter please
ms ramos could you state your name and spell for the court
reporter. Do we see a hand up? She's been allowed to speak. She has to unmute herself. Thank you.
um it looks like she's having some technical difficulties but you're you're an officer of
the court we will take that testimony questions from the board no mr chairman mr chairman no
mr chairman no question questions or comments from the virtual audience
i see no hands chair planning commission
good afternoon chair peter bernard for the planning commission
the comprehensive plan recommends a change to rm1 multi-family zoning at this location
the proposal is in line with recommended zoning accordingly the planning commission recommends
the Board grant the variance. Thank you. MI 2021 004836, 622 East Wyoming Avenue, I vote yes.
Carol Tsunari, my vote is yes. Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes. James Snell, my vote is yes.
my vote is yes
thank you counsel
MI 2021
004908
North 18th street
no RCO
letter as of yet
attorney
Mattione states there was a vote taken
225-22
unanimous in support
Mr. Mattione
Mr. Mattione.
Good afternoon, Mr. Mattione.
Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
Certainly.
I'm Michael Mattione, that's M-I-C-H-A-E-L-M-A-T-T-I-O-N-I, Federal Reserve Bank Building, 100 North Independence Mall, Suite 5A Northwest, Philadelphia, 19106.
Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
I do, Mr. Chairman.
The Vice Chair has a few questions.
Hi, Mr. Mattione. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
It appears that you've submitted all the required documents. Is that correct?
That is correct, including the RCO letter, which I got this morning, and I did send it in, and I have it on the screen.
And it is a support letter. It was the anonymous support. Six in support and zero in opposition.
I don't know if you got it yet, but I did send it in, and I believe that Charles Richardson
from Councilmember Bass's office also received it and sent it in.
And I also submitted the tax clearance, the refusal, support petition from 24 nearby neighbors,
floor plan, site plan, prior use permits.
This is a single-family house on the top, and underneath it, it has a commercial use, and it's been a commercial use since at least 1961, according to the records at L&I.
And it's just a unique property.
It's at the corner of 18th Street and Stanton Avenue.
My client, Ira Bond, and his wife, Hawa Traor, they would like to open a hair braiding salon here.
I'm just going to go through quickly.
This is a map, and this is the property, and all the properties on 18th Street and all the properties on Gratt Street.
It signed the petitions of support, which I have coming down, and 24 people signed it in support.
I want to move on to the 1961 use permit.
This is to use the basement level, and I'll explain it when I get to the photos.
There's a house that faces 18th Street, and underneath it, facing Stanton Avenue, is a storefront.
The storefront is at the basement level if you're on 18th Street, but it's street level if you're on Stanton Avenue.
As you can see, in 1961, there was a permit granted for radio sales and service for the one-family dwelling on top.
In 2012, there was a change in use. It became a takeout restaurant. It was really where I stand.
and that was granted in 2012 and that continued until recently.
Here's the floor plans.
This is the basement level if you're looking at Stanton Avenue
and there is no access between this basement level
and the two-story home that's above it.
So you have a unique, really truly unique situation
of this end-of-row house that also happens to have a commercial use in it.
In the site photos, here's the house. As you can see, there's a tree in the way, so it's a little hard to see, but that's the house. And then if you go down, you see around the corner, connected as part of the basement level of the house, if you're on 18th Street, but at street level, if you're on Stanton Avenue, is the sewer front.
So this is really a truly unique situation.
We've got a change in use from where I send this.
This is the driveway behind serving the house.
Is it from on either 18th Street if you're on the left or Bradst Street if you're on the right?
Again, another photo of the commercial space.
This is just some surrounding uses.
There's a large church on the other side of Stanton Avenue.
There is a produce stand if you go a little bit down Stanton Avenue.
Again, another shot looking down Stanton Avenue, which is a large street.
The church again.
Across the street, there is a hair salon, different than the braiding salon, but a hair salon.
There is also an auto repair facility right there on Stanton Avenue.
And a vacant storefront on the opposite side, the opposite corner of 18th and Stanton.
Again, with a similar layout underneath the house, and that shows the great difference.
And we posted the property, we had our meeting with the RCL, it wasn't until last Friday night.
What you've got here, though, is a truly unique situation.
What you've got here, though, is a truly unique situation, you've got a long stand
You've got a longstanding, at least 60-year commercial use of the lower level of this property.
And you can see the difference, and it's been here forever.
We need a variance because we're changing from one commercial use to another commercial use, and it's zoned RA5.
But there's no way to use the commercial space as part of the residence.
It's completely segregated and separate.
There's no steps connected inside, and it does create a hardship to the land due to this truly unique situation that we have here.
Again, we have the full support of the community.
We have the full support of the RCO, and don't know anything else that you could do here.
We'd have seven chairs for customers, four to five employees, six days a week, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.,
There would be a private trash pickup, and it's just a long-standing continuation of the long-standing commercial use of this property.
It's in conformity with and less impactful than many of the other surrounding commercial uses, such as the produce stand or the auto repair facility across the street.
So it fits in with the character on Stanton Avenue, which is a large commercial street.
there's no there's less impact with this commercial use than many of the other
possible commercial uses including the recent order I stand. What I'd like to do
is bring on my client Ira Bond to have him testify and adopt my statements.
Is he available? Hello, greetings. Mr. Bond could you do me a favor could you state your name and spell for the court reporter?
yes my name is ira ira and my last name is bond b-o-n-d do you swear a firm to tell the truth
the whole truth nothing but the truth i do your honor thank you proceed thank you mr chair
ira did you hear my statements yes myself and my wife and are my statements true and correct
yes they are do you adopt them as your testimony yes i do nothing further unless the board has
questions or the public has comments or questions questions from the board no mr chairman no mr
chairman questions from the virtual audience chair we have charles richardson thank you
mr richardson just state your name charles richardson office of councilwoman cindy bass
Councilwoman has no opposition to granting the variance.
Thank you very much. Planning Commission.
Good afternoon, Chair. Peter Bernard for the Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing RSA 5 single family residential
at this location. However, there is a long history of the property being used as commercial mixed use
and the property would be and the proposed use would be allowed by right if the zoning
reflected its long-standing use. Accordingly, the Planning Commission recommends the Board
grant the variance. Thank you very much. MI 2021 004908 6332 North 18th Street, I vote yes.
Carol Soneri, my vote is yes. Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes. James Snell, my vote is yes.
thank you hi mr kelly how are you holding up okay
yes chair thank you okay so we're going to have we're going to have a double case then one other
case then we'll break for about five minutes for the 330 case okay thank you very much chair
Number 14 and 15, we'll hear together.
MI 2021-004817, 800 Cotman Avenue.
MI 2021-004818, 800 Cotman Avenue.
No RCO letter as of yet.
Amy Farrell, Esquire.
she's coming in as a panelist thank you yes this is natalie young in place of amy farrell
from kaplan stewart could you state your name and spell for the court reporter yes it's natalie
n-a-t-a-l-i-e young y-o-u-n-g thank you do you swear or firm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth. I do. Our vice chair has a few questions. I do agree to waive the reading
of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy. I do. Have you emailed the exhibit packet with
Have you emailed the exhibit packet with all the required documents?
all the required documents? Yes.
Yes, and we did send the RCO letter. We received it at 9 30 last night. We sent that this morning,
so it should be in the mailbox. Okay, great. You may proceed.
Okay, it's my understanding we're going to do the applications together. However, I'm going to
kind of go through them each one by one to the extent that they're separate. Both of these
These applications are for two units at an existing property.
The property is located at 800 Cotman Avenue, if I may, I'm going to share my screen.
Bear with me, I'm apparently having some technical difficulty, one second here.
All right, are you able to see my screen there?
All right.
So this property is at 800 Cotman Avenue.
It is a, it is known as the Regency Park Apartments, there's a large apartment building in the rear
and in the front there's historically um six i believe five to six commercial spaces one of which
is used as the rental offices for the regency park apartments um it's a multi-story residential
building that appears in the back and a one-story commercial building um in the front commercial
units in the front um the property is a history of long a long history of small-scale commercial
tenants on the first floor that cater both to the building's residents and also to the
surrounding community.
The first application, which I believe is 4817, is for health care use in Unit 4.
and so this property is zoned as R2 or RM2 residential and the variance as you can see
or I'm sorry the refusal as you can see is because we propose a child care use for a child
care day care center in units four. I will note that unit four was previously a child care center
I believe in both 2009 and 2003, and at one of those times it was combined to include unit 3 as well.
So it's now known as unit 4, but the space fills what would have at one point been unit 3 and 4.
This is the refusal for the daycare use.
As you can see, here's our appeal application.
We've also included as Exhibits 1 and 2, the deed, the applicant, Newtown Park Associates, is the owner of the building.
We have included the Tax Care Certificate as Exhibit 2.
The Notice of Refusal as Exhibit 3.
Exhibits 1, 2, and 3, 1 and 2 are the same for both calendar number 4817 and 4818.
For the Unit 4 daycare use, we have the Application of Appeal as Exhibit 4.
The Project Information Form is Exhibit 5.
Exhibit 6 is the notice for the RCO meeting.