it appears so i am uh mr richardson please identify yourself for the record
charles richardson from the office of councilwoman cindy basts
for him to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i do uh i spoke with the president of the rco this morning and they indicated that they had
had some issues with trying to get the Zoom RCO meeting scheduled.
As such, we are going to say we have no opposition to the granting of the variance and allow
you to go ahead and vote for it.
Very much.
Charles, thank you.
Thank you very much.
And I thank the Councilwoman for her courtesies.
No problem.
Anybody have any questions?
No, no, no, we got the planning commission last time, but just in the play it safe planning.
The lead, we got the planning commission last time, but just in the play it safe planning commission.
Probably don't have anything on it.
We have no additional.
I'm sorry, go ahead.
No, you can go ahead, Paula.
Paula Brumbo-Burns, planning commission.
We have no additional position.
Thank you.
Calendar number 39093-2964 North 23rd Street.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
Mr. Chairman, members of the board, thank you very much.
I believe that concludes my business, but I will be ready at the call of the board if I'm needed.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Sharon, I think we have Mr. Mattione, you said?
Next is it's calendar 39865, 1701 South 24th Street.
And can I say that we, Mr. Mattione submitted revised plans. I reviewed the letter from the RCO. The only, the only provisos that could be added are included in the revised plans.
So that will, there's no need to add additional provisos.
Okay, so just be revised plan, one page?
And what's the street address again?
It is 1701 South 24th Street.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Calendar number 39865.
1701 South 24th Street.
My vote is yes with the proviso.
Revised plan, one page approved today.
Yes with proviso.
Yes with proviso.
Yes with proviso.
Howard, did I leave something out?
I believe Mr. Mattione was going to report on...
Oh, I'm sorry.
I'm sorry. This was a follow-up, not just a vote.
I apologize. I made it as an add-on. Okay. Mr. Mattione?
Are you here, Mr. Mattione? Please raise your hand.
while we're waiting were you able to get anything from mr mr slepner regarding 1925 north fourth
i did talk with him um mr slepner also has a case scheduled for the same block for two o'clock this
afternoon he was going to make one last attempt to get a letter from the council person so if
we could instead call him at two we'll hold that off until two o'clock okay thank you
Mr. Mattione, you're still under oath?
Yes, I am, Mr. Chairman.
Everything to report?
My client met with Albert Littlepage, the director of the Point Breeze Community Development Coalition, on Monday night.
And as a result of that, the Point Breeze Community Development Coalition sent over a revised support letter,
which had both the zoning committee in support and the nearby neighbors in a two-block radius in support
with the provisos that Ms. Saleta discussed.
Thank you.
I read the case in, but I'll do it again.
Calendar number 39865, 1701 South 24th Street.
My vote is yes with the proviso.
Revised plan, one page approved today.
Yes, for proviso.
Yes, for proviso.
Yes, for proviso.
Thank you all.
uh thank you uh sharon tanya i believe we can now go to our regular list and i think page four
2148 north 20th street would be the first case yes that's what i have okay okay all right am i
2020-000-949-2148, North 20th Street.
Applicant, you have been promoted to a panelist.
You can
Unmute your mic
Yes can you hear me
Yes are you an attorney sir
No I'm the property owner
Okay you swear on the firm to tell the truth
The whole truth for nothing but the truth
Have you emailed an exhibit packet
emailed an exhibit packet with the required documents, proof of ownership, proof of tax
With the required documents
Proof of ownership
Proof of tax
compliance, copy of the refusal, or referrals, photos, and plans five days prior to this hearing?
Yes. Have you met with the RCO and have a letter? Yes. Okay. This application is for a multi-family
household living, three family dwelling units, and an existing structure. The permit for the
above location cannot be issued because the proposal does not comply with the
following provisions of the Philadelphia zoning code. Can you please put your
name and address for the record? My name is Hamza H-A-M-Z-A. Last name is B-I-S-H-A-R-A-T.
The address is 2148 North 20th Street Philadelphia PA 19121.
You may proceed.
Okay, can I share my screen?
Yes, please.
Okay, so what I have is a simple floor plan that I did myself. It's going to be three units.
The property is about 2,800 square feet. It's going to have three units of two bedrooms each
with a small living room, a kitchen, and a bathroom.
This is the simple floor plan that I made myself.
And I also have...
This is the no opposition letter from the community.
Do you have any photographs, sir, of the property and any surrounding properties?
Yeah, I have, I just have a couple of pictures, let me see.
this is the front and this is the side of the property
so it's a rehab right not okay yeah
that letter again from the uh rco
thank you i'm sorry you got it i'm sorry technical problem the recording was paused
and it's it's necessary absolutely um okay i'm sorry carrie you can go forward wait to be sworn
in carrie good morning you swear a friend to tell the truth the whole truth for nothing but the
truth? Yes, good morning. I do. Good morning. Do you agree to waive the reading of its refusal
and stipulate to its accuracy? Yes, I do. Also, have you emailed an exhibit packet with the
required documents, proof of ownership, proof of tax compliance, copy of the refusal or referral,
photos and plans five days prior to this hearing? Yes, I have. Also, have you met with the RCO and
have a letter? Yes, we do. Thank you. You may proceed. Thank you. Good morning. Carrie
Nase Paust, C-A-R-R-I-E-N-A-S-E hyphen P-O-U-S-T, attorney with the law firm of Fox Rothschild,
here this morning on behalf of the owner of the property. Also on the line, I have the owner of
the property, Peter Silo, as well as the architect on the project, Agata Reister. I would ask that
they raise their hand so that they can be admitted into the hearing.
Ms. Paus, why don't we go forward with your presentation and we can swear them in at the end of your presentation.
no problem so this property is located at 2315
catherine street i have an aerial up here on the screen
you can see it's mid-block it uh the property fronts on catherine
street and has rear access on fulton street
located between 23rd and 24th streets the property is zoned rm1 and is subject
to the center city overlay residential parking
control area. The owner of the property is proposing to convert an existing patio area at the rear of the
The owner of the property is proposing to convert an existing patio area at the rear of the dwelling into an off-street parking area.
Here are photographs. This is a photograph of the front of the property.
Here's a photograph looking down Fulton Street to the rear of the property.
this photograph shows the existing conditions of the rear of the property with the fence
patio area is back in this location
this is the area that would be converted or is being proposed to be converted into a parking
space pursuant to the requirements of the center city overlay residential parking control area
single-family homes are prohibited from having off-street parking spaces
unless it's accessed by a shared driveway or a rear alley.
We did receive a notice of refusal due to the fact that the property
is not accessed by a shared driveway or rear alley.
In addition, our initial plans that were submitted,
we were proposing to install an eight-foot high fence
that would have a roll-up gate to provide security.
We have revised the plans which we will review with you this morning
and therefore we are withdrawing the request for a variance with respect to the height of the fence.
So as you can see here's again is an aerial of the property Fulton Street although it is
identified as a street and as you saw on the on the photographs here the characteristic of it
really is similar to an alley. All of the properties on Catherine Street do have rear
access through Fulton Street. As you can see here on a copy of this aerial, the property highlighted
in red is the subject property. The properties with the orange circles, those are other properties
along this block of homes that currently do have parking spaces to the rear of their homes.
The space that's being proposed is measures. I'm going to zoom this in for you.
Here's Fulton Street. Again, here's the area where the proposed parking space would be. As you can
see, the parking space measure is 9 feet by 18 feet. The standard size of a parking space in a
shopping center or even in a garage for a single-family home is typically about eight and a
half feet by 18 feet. A standard SUV, you know, would measure about six and a half feet to 15
feet. My client has a compact car that actually measures much smaller than that, therefore leaving
ample space to provide ingress and egress to and from the dwelling with the car parked in this
location. Move down here, you can see it better. We did meet with the RCO, which is SASNA. We
actually met with them twice. During the initial discussions, as I had mentioned, we were proposing
that security be provided with a roll-up gate. However, SOSNA approved and supported the parking
space but did not approve the gate. They had some concerns primarily due with respect to the noise
of the rolling up. Therefore, we did revise the plan and we are now proposing a bifold gate. I'm
going to bring this down for you. You can see on the bottom right hand corner, this is a photograph
of the proposed bifold doors. Again, the primary concern is just to provide security of the parking
space. But by providing the bifold doors, we were able to reduce the height of the fence and the
gate down to six feet, therefore bringing it into compliance with the zoning ordinance. We met with
SASNA again to review this plan with them.
They did issue a letter of support for the project,
including the bifold gate, which has been submitted
to the board.
Therefore, we are asking for a variance
to allow the parking space in the rear.
We believe that providing this off-street parking space
would be a benefit to the surrounding area
because it will alleviate some of the on-street parking
congestion and reduce some traffic
by eliminating the need to circle the block looking
for a space.
As I indicated, I do have my client on the line, Peter Silo, if he has been admitted, if he could unmute himself.
I am here.
Silo, please identify yourself first and last name and spell your last name.
Sure. Peter Silo, S-I-L-O-W, address is 2315 Catherine Street.
Fair to firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Powell.
Sure. Mr. Silo, were you here this morning during my presentation?
And are the statements that I have made true and correct?
And are the statements that I have made true and correct?
Correct.
Correct, yes.
And would you agree to adopt the statements as though they were made as your own testimony?
I would.