Thank you.
Good morning, everyone.
We will begin shortly.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
That's what I'll find.
Wait for Ian, right?
57 37 okay good morning everyone my name is bill bergman and i will be chairing this meeting
of the philadelphia zoning board of adjustment with me is uh our vice chair tanetta graham
president mr chairman our board secretary charlotte gaston present mr chairman board
member Michael Johns. President, Mr. Chairman. Board member Taya Nguyen. President, Mr. Chairman.
And our board member Ryan McAdams. President, Mr. Chairman. Also here is our zoning board
executive director, Ian Haggerty, and our board administrator, Lakeisha Dandy. Also here is our
attorney, Hillary Emerson. A recording of this hearing will be posted on the ZBA website. By
participating you consent to be recorded this is an in-person meeting with remote capabilities
whether remote or in person if you're called to speak you must state and spell your name
You must state and spell your name, then wait to be sworn in.
then wait to be sworn in once you're sworn in state
Once you're sworn in, state your name each time before beginning your testimony.
Any person may enter their appearance to become an interested party.
There are three ways.
You can identify the case property address on your Zoom webinar.
You can see a staff member, or you can call this EBA appearance line by close of business tomorrow.
Call 267-270-5548.
leave a message that includes your email address and the address of the property of the appeal
case the following guidance guidance is for our remote attendees when directed you must raise
your virtual hand in order to be recognized second if you're called to testify you'll be
prompted to join as a panelist please accept the request and turn on your camera third the webinar
q a is for questions about the hearing do not comment on cases in the q a and fourth if you're
participating by phone, press star 9 to raise your hand and star 6 to unmute. For our in-person
attendees, please refrain from talking, eating, or drinking during the hearings. Verbal and physical
aggression will not be tolerated. Restrooms are across on the elevators. A water fountain is just
outside the room to the right. When speaking on the record, you must speak directly into the
microphone in order to be heard by all attendees and the court reporter. In the event of emergency,
please follow directions given over the public address system or the staff.
The main exit is through the double doors at the rear of the room.
The nearest stairwell is to the left outside the doors.
In case of an evacuation, the rally point is Love Point directly across Arch Street.
Please remain there so we can account for you.
So let's look at our schedule for today.
Number three, MI 2024-004-304-2001 Kinsey Street.
This case is continued to 422-26 at 3.30 p.m.
number nine
mi 2025 003 564 49 41 frankfurt avenue this case is continued to 422 26 at 3 30 p.m
yeah yeah 9 30
wait a minute
yeah it says 3.30
okay so they're all
no that's okay
you did that on purpose to keep people in their toes
that's it here
alright
So, so number nine. Yeah.
Good morning, sir. Could you please state your name and spell it for the sonographer?
Winston Banks, W-I-N-S-T-O-N, Banks, B-A-N-K-S, 2001, Tennessee Street.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
So, Mr. Banks, your documents were not turned in until early this morning, and we did not have the opportunity to review them, and that's why the case is being continued.
Okay, well, Louis Stevens is the attorney of record, and we've been going over this.
Was Mr. Stevens here?
He should be on Zoom, not physically.
Mr. Stevens?
good morning chair this is jasmine and i will be your co-host this morning
i do not see mr stevens in the virtual audience i think mr stevens may have been in contact with
the office and the fact of the matter is that all the documents were not given in time and
we're going to have to continue the case okay that's clear and explicit i understand oh i don't
want to be clear and explicit i'm sorry it happened like that but uh so this will be continued to the
22nd of april at 9 30 a.m okay thank you thank you sir
number nine
number nine mi 2025 003 564 4941 frankfort avenue the cases continue to
4941 Frankfurt Avenue, the cases continue to 422-26 at 9.30 a.m.
And number 13, MI 2025-003-573, 1828 McClellan Street, this case is continued to 422-26 at 9.30 a.m.
Are there any other requests for continuance?
Mr. Chair, we had received a request for continuance for number 10.
That matter is our first listing.
It can be continued.
So, number 10, 2025-003-565-2038 South 4th Street.
This case is continued to 422-26 at 9.30 a.m.
Any other requests for continuance?
Good morning, Chair. I have a hand up by the name of William Mantuda. They are going to be promoted to panelists.
do we see him and
yes chair he's on okay sir good morning mr chair good morning could you please state your name as
bell for the stenographer yes my name is william lewis matunda uh that's w-i-l-l-i-a-m right last
name m-a-t-u-n-d-a right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the
truth i affirm what what case do you want to talk about sir uh 1923 denny street
okay all right so um could you give me a status of where you stand with this case
well once again i came before you uh mr chair last time and the consultant firm
uh pretty much dropped the ball on getting all the documents and i've been in touch with him
since then and once again it's like a few days before the hearing or a week before the hearing
i don't hear anything from him and he's not returning none of my calls so i'm just asking
for continuation so i can pursue all the things on my own here here's what we're going to do
we're going to continue it one more time but you have to get your paperwork ready for the next time
because i'm going to mark the case must be heard okay so okay i'm dropping short it's going to be
continued to 4 22 26 at 9 30 a.m 4 22 26 at 9 30 a.m and it's marked must be heard
thank you sir
So number one, MI2023-006-092-2105 South Simpson Street.
The listed owner is Risby Group LLC, and the listed owner is Vince Thangastheth.
We have no exhibits.
This is the fifth listing.
Chair, I see no one in the audience with that name.
Okay, so MI 2023-006-092-2105 South Simpson Street, I vote to dismiss.
Michael Johns, my vote is to dismiss.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is to dismiss.
Tannetta Graham, my vote is to dismiss.
Ann McAdams, my vote is to dismiss.
Iowa, my vote is to dismiss.
Thank you.
Number five, MI 2024-007-515-1929 to 35 East Clairfield Street.
Alvaro Alvarez Rosario and Rosabelle Flores-Mantel are the listed owners.
This is the second listing.
We have no exhibits.
It also was marked must be heard.
Chair, I see no one in the audience with either name.
Thank you.
So MI 2024-007-515-1929-35 East Clearfield Street, I vote to dismiss.
Michael Johns, my vote is to dismiss.
Michael Johns, my vote is to dismiss.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is to dismiss.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is to dismiss.
Tannetta Graham, my vote is to dismiss.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is to dismiss.
Ty Owen, my vote is to dismiss.
And number 14, MI 2025-003575-7951 Boulevard, Roosevelt Boulevard,
79-59 Roosevelt LLC is the listed owner.
Koba Kachavilli is also the listed owner, listed applicant.
I'm sorry.
Chair, I see no one in the audience with that name.
Okay, so this is the first listing.
So MI 2025-003-575-7951 East Roosevelt Boulevard.
This case is continued to 422-26 at 930 a.m.
and it's Mark Must Be Hurt.
Okay, we're going to go to our add-on list.
MI 2024-005-744-4858 Fairmount Avenue.
I vote yes with proviso.
No household living in basement.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes with proviso.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes with proviso.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes with proviso.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes with proviso.
Ty Owen, my vote is yes with proviso.
Number two, MI 2025-002-914-226 Harvey Street, I vote no.
Michael Johns, my vote is no.
no. Cheryl Gaston, my vote is no. Tanetta Graham, my vote is no. Ryan McAdams, my vote is no.
Iowyn, my vote is no. And number three, MI 2025-005-528-3017 West Susquehanna Avenue,
the vote in this matter has been rescheduled to Wednesday, December 10th at 9.30 a.m.
I'm going to go to our regular list.
Number two, MI 2024-001-273-2000-South 21st Street.
Lisa Thay is the listed owner and applicant.
Lisa Thay will be joining us as a panelist.
Thank you.
Hello.
Good morning.
Could you please state your name and spell it for the sonographer?
Good morning.
My name is Lisa Day.
Spelling is L-I-S-A.
Last name T-S in Tango, H-S in Harry, E-S in Echo.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
So this application is for use as a two-family household living in an existing structure, whereas the proposed use two-family household living is prohibited in the CMX2 zoning district.
There is a letter of support owed from the Point Breeze Community Development Coalition.
Our vice chair has a few questions for you.
Good morning.
Have you submitted your documents five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, I have.
And do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Okay, thank you.
You can share your screen and proceed with your case.
It's coming up now.
Okay, we see it.
Okay, so this is the property for 2000 South, 21st Street, Philadelphia, PA-19145.
I am the owner.
So this is the agenda for today.
the introduction purpose of appeal site location the existing conditions proposed projects the
community outreach benefits to the community and the conclusions I added the appendix later on for
all the documentations that I did submit for five days ago this is just a basic introduction
again my name is Lisa say and this is the a picture of me and the site address it doesn't
a picture of me and the site address, it doesn't stop 21st street.
21st Street, this is the building.
This is the building zoning classifications at the moment is CMX two.
And I am requesting to exchange it or downgrade the zoning to RM one to
multi-purpose, multi-unit building.
This is the refusal letter that I got from the city of Philadelphia.
We have that.
We have that.
Perfect.
and this is just the site locations where it's located it's right at the corner of
Mifflin Street, McKean Street and 21st Street and this is the front of the building it's a corner
property this is the current existing conditions of the inside of the property it's a shell
currently it's a vacant shell and um basically just a bunch of um furniture storage that's in
there at the moment and um i just want to point out that like there are a lot of already vacant
commercial properties around the area i stake out the area um ahead of time and it looks like all
of these buildings are basically vacant and they're like within one mile radius of my property
and that in that sense I just want to make it into a multi-family housing because I just don't
think that there's a need for another vacant commercial property around the area and I do
want to extend the fact that like I the purpose of making it into multi-family is for my family
my parents and my parents are getting older they need somewhere where they don't need to go up and
down the staircase so the first unit will be for them that's my main why don't you do this could
you do could you do me a favor could you enlarge that a little bit so people could see the plants
a little just a little bit better yeah let's start with the first and second floor we'll look at that
first okay okay uh is this enlarged enough or well it's it's it's kind of small here like there
that's it that's better thank you money walk us through it okay okay so um this is the first unit
um the living area is going to be the front the front door that you walked in um that's the angled
front door and then as soon as you go into the living area you have bathroom number one and
then you're going into a kitchen with the living area and then there's the staircase to the basement
um and then and all the way in the back there's going to be the bathroom number two and bedroom
number two and in between this is the another door from outside that's going to go to the second
floor um so this bedroom number two is going to be underneath the um the patio from the second
floor basically the roof deck area of the second floor and then the second floor you have the roof
deck um which is above the bedroom number two um this is the main entrance going to be for um the
second unit on the second floor and as soon as you walk in through a main door of the second
floor you have the living area and the kitchen and the bedroom number one with and bedroom number
two and bath number one bath number two for that unit um that's basically it and the basement
basically just going to be cleaned up um it's just going to be um storage area it's not going
to be finished basement basically this is the um detail of like how the
staircase going to look like um going up and down um the building basically
okay questions from the board is is there is this a rear addition on the
second floor there's no stairway uh so that is already uh there's a door
already there. Why don't you go back and show
the original photo? I think it shows it.
So this is the original
staircase. That's going to be gone,
but that one right there is where
the basement staircase is going to be.
Why don't you go back a little bit more where
there's sort of a little addition in the back?
Yeah, of course. Right here.
So that doorway
that we've seen on the right-hand side,
is that the door that goes up to the second
floor? That's correct, yes.
That's going up to the second floor.
and that's just a roof deck for the second floor
unit. This is where the
bedroom for
the bedroom for the
first unit going to be.
Gotcha.
Can you pull back up the floor plan, please?
The floor plan? Yes, of course.
Wanting to enlarge it again once more.
Sorry, my husband
is helping me out.
the the unit the unit on the second floor for sure seems small for a two-bedroom unit
The unit,
The unit on the second floor for sure seems small.
considering you have a two-bedroom unit on the first floor um the second floor or the first
floor you're talking about the second floor you've got a two bed you've got two two-bedroom units
and the second floor is much smaller than the first floor because it doesn't have the addition
but you're still trying to make it a two-bedroom unit so that seems
very cramped to me yeah this is all the um the measurement um so my architect already did all
the measurement and he suggested that this is the right measurement that is that could work for the
city i don't i don't know i don't know that's true because you don't show any furniture and
and it really just looks like you have it says kitchen living room but you know yeah it doesn't
look like anything is really to scale but is there what i'm saying what i'm saying to you
if the second floor is a two-bedroom unit and the first two-bedroom unit clearly the second floor is
a much smaller unit and things are seems like the second floor should be a one-bedroom unit if you're
going to try to do it but those are my comments yeah i think we're going to retire had a comment
i think i was just saying it's really it's it looks really tight and like based on i wanted to
just ensure i don't know it i think you said it already mike it looks nothing wants to scale so
i was trying yeah so it's it's actually a very large um unit like built property um so the first
the first unit just going to have a really large um you know bedrooms and everything and
uh there are going to be decent size they're not going to be large but they're going to be
decent size where a queen a queen bed will fit with like nightstands what what are what are we
what are we seeing on this site this place this is all the measurements so this is the second
floor the second the first the one on the left hand the what the left hand side is the first
floor that's correct and then the second one you just have the framing plan for the addition okay
for the with the changes that you're going to make yes well you don't show any furniture so
it's impossible to see whether it's living right so that's that's so to say that things fit is
can't really say that and then what's happening in the basement the basement is going to be
cleaned up um i'm just gonna make it into storage and you know like where all the uh utilities going
to be and then so currently only the first floor unit has access to the basement so how is the
second floor tenant going to deal with the utilities or anything they need to do for their
unit so it's going to be a shared utilities i'm going to live in there with my family
i understand that but you're separating the units so in the future you might not so like
yes you could walk through your parents apartment but in the future outside there's a regress
like another way to get to the basement that's correct yeah it shows in the picture of the uh
like it's on the outside where you can open up and close i understood from the photos but it's
not shown in the plan so i was trying to since the photos are existing conditions and the plan
or what you're going to I was trying to reconcile so I assumed that that was going to be oh right
I understand yeah no uh it says uh shows right here so that's the outside request where you can
go into the uh to the basement from the outside so then in the future should it not just be you
and your parents how do you separate the basement from the first flooring unit so that if they have
a shared utilities that's just something from like a separation of unit the basement needs to
be accessible by both tenants but then you need to make sure that the second floor tenant in the
future could not access the first floor tenant's unit so the second floor right the second floor
tenant would go outside of the building through this door this regress that's going down i will
i will make sure that there's a staircase going down okay so the second floor tenant would use
this back stairwell to get upstairs but they're also going to use that same way to get to the
basement the so the first floor going to be from the inside as well which is i understand that i
understand how the first floor tenant gets to the basement yes my question is about the second floor
tenants access to the basement should in the future a different tenant that's not you needs
to do something with utilities um so this is uh let me see i'm sorry
um so that's the um second floor can go through the um the re the regress right there that is the
opening to the beat are you what are you are you pointing i'm assuming you mean through the
Are you pointing? I'm assuming you mean
through the bill coat door in the
the bill code door and the sidewalk
sidewalk. Yeah.
I just have a question about
trash. What is your trash storage plan for
the units? So the
second floor would be on
the roof deck, obviously.
But for the first floor,
it's just going to be inside
take it out on the trash day only.
Other questions?
okay um the first floor unit is the door that i'm seeing there the entrance for the
um so the that door would be the entrance that that one in the middle that would be the main
entrance okay for for the first floor unit and then this door will be to the second floor unit
the staircase to the second floor uh okay because i guess um i was the the bedroom one of the
bedrooms is so the big side where that door that there in the front is so yeah okay we're gonna
close that off and then this is going to be the main entrance for the first unit and then this
will be the entrance for the second floor going up the stairs all right thank you
of course questions or comments from our attorney um i just wanted to note for the record um mr
chair the refusal says two family is prohibited in cmx2 but i think what it should have said is
that their commercial space is required on the ground floor and that's what the refusal is for
i just want to clarify that for the record thank you okay thank you um uh questions or comments
from the public testimony.
Each participant will give in two minutes to testify.
Please do not raise your hands until you are called.
Representatives of the coordinating guard is RCO.
I see no hands at this time, Chair.
Other effective RCOs.
I see no hands at this time, Chair.
District Council member, Representative.
i see no hands at this time anyone else anyone else who wants to testify
no chair there are no hands at this time planning commission
lena solomonic with the planning commission
hi could you spell your name please s-o-l-o-m-o-n-i-c do you swear referring to tell the
truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes please proceed the comprehensive plan recommends
no change to the cmx2 commercial mixed use zoning at this location the property has a documented
history of two dwelling units two dwelling units are allowed in the cmx2 zoning but there's a
required commercial use on the first floor the city planning commission recommends that the board
grant the proposed use variance for two dwelling units with no commercial use. MI 2024-001-273-2000
South 21st Street, I vote yes. My vote is yes. Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes. Tanetta Graham,
my vote is yes. Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes. Iowyn, my vote is yes. Thank you. You have your
votes thank you okay number 12 mi 2025 003 570 1630 willington street edwana smith is the owner
applicant this is a pro se
Good morning.
Could you please state your name as spelled for the stenographer?
E-D-W-A-N-A Smith, S-M-I-T-H.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Our counsel has a statement to give you first, right?
Good morning, Ms. Smith.
So I just wanted to clarify something with this case first.
So you had requested, you were given a referral and you had requested appeal to the Zoning
Board for a special exception.
In your materials you submitted to the Zoning Board, you asked for a reasonable accommodation.
The Zoning Board does, that is not within the purview of the Zoning Board to grant those
requests.
those have to go through L&I. The board can still consider your request for special exception today.
The board can still consider your request for special exception today if you wish, but if you want to be considered for a reasonable accommodation, you will need to submit information to L&I to have them consider that, and we can provide you with additional information on how to do that.
So I assume you still want to proceed today with the special exception?
Yes, I guess so.
All right.
That is fine.
Thank you.
Our vice chair has just a few questions for you, ma'am.
Good morning.
Have you submitted your documents five days in advance of this hearing?
And do you waive the reading note of refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Okay, thank you.
And before you start testifying,
I will note that the RCO has unanimous opposition to this,
and also the council member Young is opposed,
but there is a letter of support from Pastor Mark Allen.
So why don't you start your presentation?
so why don't you start okay so good morning we operate a supported housing home for men of
recovery protected under the ada and fair housing act and we are requesting a reasonable accommodation
for group living uh for up to 10 men to live in a in this house um to live in a structured peer
supported and drug-free home okay um so why don't you um
do you have plans for it drawn drawn up one of your shows your plans first
okay so this is the first floor this is our floor plan so why don't you walk us through what the
first floor looks like so the first floor we have when you first walk in is a vestibule
um and can you speak more into the microphone can can barely hear you pull the mic towards you
when you first walk in it's a small vestibule and then to the left is a living room and um
to the right of that is some stairs and then we have a living area and then straight back
is a kitchen, and then we have an extra room
in the back, and it's three upstairs. We have
three bedrooms. The second floor, we have three
bedrooms and a bathroom, and then the third floor, we have two bedrooms.
Here's some pictures of
how it looks before and after. This is how it looked prior
to me getting some renovations done.
We have two bathrooms, one on the first floor, one on the second floor.
Full shower.
So these are before pictures.
And this is how it looks now.
Is this in operation now?
We're licensed by the state.
We have one we cover.
This is the kitchen and the living space.
this is the
bedroom upstairs to the back
oh it's a
bathroom on the second floor
it's another room
so six bedrooms total
and this is the basement
so we have our license
we're licensed by the state
and I'm certified to give
medication
and we kindly ask
that we have your support as we request
the proposed use group living
1630 Willington Street
so that we may provide
stability, safety and recovery
support to the community. Finally, we would like to close with the lyrics of Diana Ross
song, reach out and touch someone's hand and make this world a better place
if you can. Thank you. Could you tell us what happened when you went to the RCO?
We went to the RCO and
the church, the guy at the pastor said he had a hard time
voting. There was no instructions on how to vote. So we wasn't
So we wasn't sure if everybody voted on there because it wasn't indicated how to vote.
sure if everybody voted on there because it wasn't indicated
And so the people from the board, they didn't.
They said no.
We don't know who else said no, but they said about five people or something.
All right.
Questions from the board.
How long have you been operating this program?
Since July of this year.
And then you currently have 10 individuals already living in the program?
Just one.
Just one.
And then what's the plan for staffing for?
So as we fill up, we have like, so far it's three of us.
I have, you know, us two and then a cousin.
But when it gets filled up, we have people, you know, on board that want to work there.
Right now, you know, it's just one tenant in the air.
Just one tenant.
And then explain a little bit of the setup.
So there's five bedrooms?
it's six bedrooms but one that we're using as an office okay and uh five bedrooms uh for yeah
the tenant and then how long are the tenants typically like what's your expectation for
length of stay so we're taking people coming straight out of treatment after 30 days so they
normally stay about six months to a year okay and then what are the sort of because it just looks
like that we like most of the pictures we saw with the exception of the bedrooms it looks like those
or like cot beds is there furniture in the rest of the house what are like how like what else is
on site to support their living um it's just like the small dressers and in bed is closet space
that's it what about public space like is there the living room and the kitchen and enough seating
for the seats and people okay and then how are you handling food on site like are they doing
there is this are they completely independent yes for now what does that mean oh well yes they are
okay so this is not it's not assisted living no no so you're really like just providing temporary
housing yeah okay and they're coming through a state like a city or state referral program
so far yes but right now we don't have funded or anything so these are people that coming from a
program and come in there and they pay on
their own. The tenants
pay on their own.
Got it.
And so are most of them
like still working or
like employ or
get this a bill. So this isn't with any
like federal subsidy. There's no program.
This is all sort of like a private
agreement between you and the individual
tenants. How are the leases
set up?
It's on here.
and are these are these uh tenants uh in in a recovery program are they in recovery or
they be in recovery programs and what are what a wrapper are there any wraparound services that
you provide or that are provided by any other organization yeah they all we all they all
referred out so they all go to like um you know meetings and get their mental health um services
outside and then how how are you able to confirm that if it's a private agreement
well the guy that we have now um he go north board street so um well i understand that for
your single tenant but like once you have 10 people i think i'm i'm more so concerned that
like one at fully fully occupied how is this like mint how are you going to manage the 10 tenants
where they all might be what programs they might be in and then what other provisions in place
should something go wrong right like because things don't always go as you intend the more
people you have the more instances you have for that to happen and you've got a private lease
agreement what is like you know would you have to wait if a person for whatever reason you know
relapsed and they're in your house would that one it's potentially a trigger for your other
residents but would you have to then go through a traditional uh eviction process to try to get
them out so I'm just I'm trying to understand like kind of operationally what this in the lease
agreement that they find in the packet that we have and you're operating this under an LLC
because then this is a private property a non-profit what's your what's your background
in this in this field or is do you have are you a social worker or a substance abuse
abuse counselor, or what's your background in this type of facility or treatment?
counselor or what's your background in this type of
Basically, I'm in a coalition. I have a mentor, and we're in a coalition where we
meet once or twice a week. But I have a passion for this work. My mother was on drugs. My family
grew up on drugs. So this is a way I can get back and help. So that's my mission. That's why I'm
doing this but uh i work in a hospital uh in a pharmacy uh full-time and and then i do this too
but um i just have a question for clarity so do you just want to have a rooming house or do you
want to run a program i do want to run a program okay but but with each person getting the individual
a lease?
Well, after we, once we get approved
through this and be able to get funding and all that kind of stuff, you know,
then it'll be, basically it won't be a room
thing anymore once we get, you know, funding. But right now they have to pay because we don't have
you know, any funding or anything for them for now.
So, I guess, okay.
okay so you're saying that you work full-time correct and then so who will be
there yeah i have a cousin and then my daughter and me and i work overnight we have a house you
know the house manager be the overnight and my cousin he works and then he's he helped us too
he worked there but i work overnight so i'm there a lot in the day okay so you have two you you're
there, and there'll be two
other assistants who
will be. My daughter and my cousin.
And this is a, this is
24 hours a day, seven days
a week kind of thing.
Correct?
You gotta be sworn in.
Could you please
could you please state your
name and spell for the stenographer? My first name is
Alicia, A-L-L-I-C-A, and my last name
is Harold, H-A-R-O-L-D.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth,
nothing but the truth. I do. Please proceed.
Let me tell you what my concerns are.
Okay, so then you can, all right.
So what we have here is a, you're not fish, you're not thou, shall we say, all right?
A lot of group homes, they have some kind of organization that they are attached to.
Right.
They have a funding source because they are this nonprofit that gets funding, say, from organizations that may place residents with a facility like a group home or what have you.
so you're not you don't have any of those kind of things and it also means that it's a little
hard to get a sense of where you're getting your where you're going to get your clientele from
how they are going to be uh supervised during the time that they are with you and that kind
of things so that's where we're kind of having our problem and so and can you just indicate on
the record what your relationship is to this property or the project so i'm her daughter and
partner in the business okay all right thank you all right um so can you state your first question
i'm sorry i just want to make sure it's it's more about how is how is this all gonna um work
Right. Yeah. So because, you know, we don't we're we're we're a little unsure about where you're getting your clientele from.
The. Yeah. The the how they're going to be supervised while they're there. Right.
OK. How you're going to support the activities of the house, you know, like right now you say you have no funding.
So, again, you are depending on whoever these residents are to pay whatever the rent is so that you can at least provide the housing for them.
But they are also, you know, presumably you're going to provide some sort of support services of some sort.
so you have to be able to afford to do that right so you know because you're not attached to any
other like group or whatever the question is how is that all going to be worked out or managed or
have you come up with do you have a business plan do you have some way that you are going to
operate this facility yes so basically we've we got two properties we've had this property for
old for a year and it just become an occupier. We've been maintaining a property. We both work
and it's just becoming occupied.
We've been maintaining the property.
We both work full-time.
full-time. I work with a mental.
I work with a mental health program, and she works at a hospital,
so we've been funding the property on our own.
We've been able to afford it.
The people that come in, they're on Social Security
or they're required to work because no one can stay in the house all day
for 24 hours.
We do have video surveillance because this is a level 2 home,
so they're not required to be babysat.
We just have to check in every day, which we do.
It's required every other day.
We go there every day between me, my mother, and my cousin.
And then we also have video surveillance.
We know when they're entering.
We know when they're leaving.
And then we also want to add a police log to check in every day also.
But we've been maintaining this property without rent assistance or anything like that because I'm a realtor and I have a job.
And we get clients.
My cousin who works with us too, he works at another place.
so we get clients from them. Referral clients
from them.
But yeah, it's a
requirement that they work or do something
like they have to be in something. They can't just
sit in the property all day.
And we love this location because we
partner with some businesses in the area, so whenever
they need help with getting jobs, we're able to do that.
Are there any
other recovery
homes?
Do you want to be considered a recovery home or no?
We do, but yeah, we
do. Okay, because right now it's
like you're not really attached to any type of referral service to get you
those kind of clientele. But my question is,
are there any other folks operating like that on this block or in the area
that you know what? In this area it is. We saw one,
I think it's called all good things that's in the area and they do the same
thing, housing board and stuff like that.
And was there any other near neighbors at the meeting that you were able to
speak with?
it was um we had the church the church across the street was a few of their members was on there
and that's who we got a letter of support from the church right across the street
um what about neighbors on the block um it's mainly like a lot of student housing and stuff
like that nobody from the block attended our oco meeting except for the church community
because they like directly across the street and they had some concerns and they are like 100
with it they agree well the pastor was right yeah him and his church members it's not just the
pastor all right anyone else on the board have a question questions from our attorney
not at this time mr chair questions or comments from the the public uh you will have two minutes
to respond representatives from the coordinating rco i see no handshake incorporated representatives
from other rcos i see no hands chair district council member or his rep i see no hands chair
anyone else i see no hands at this time chair planning commission
nina solomonic the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change to
the existing residential multi-family rm1 zoning the property was formally used as a one unit rental
and has documented prior use as single-family and two-family use.
The proposed use will not cause detrimental impacts to the neighborhood
beyond what normally might be expected.
The City Planning Commission recommends that the board grant
the requested special exception for group living, single-room residents
in an existing semi-detached structure.
As you can see, there was a lot of questions from the board
and also the issues relative to the RCO.
So what I want to do is hold the vote on this until next Wednesday
We will vote at 9.30 a.m. after we discuss all the issues relative to this in our executive session.
Can I mention one last thing before we go?
This accommodation will allow us to be able to partner with programs like a vet program that we're one of house vets.
And if we have our rental license, we'll be able to partner with these people.
Thank you for your information.
And I just wanted to clarify again, the board can only consider special exception relief if you are seeking a reasonable accommodation.
we'll provide you information with how to apply for that separately should we do both either way
you can do both okay yes you can do both at the same time you receive our answer on wednesday
you can log on and hear the vote okay thank you okay number four mi 2024 004 752
1923 east allegheny avenue mark fineman is the attorney
good morning mr fineman good morning chair hi could you please state your name and spell
for the stenographer yes good morning mark fineman f as in frank e-i-n-m-a-n first name
is mark with a k you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Could you identify?
Could you identify your client, the relationship to the property?
My client is Dema, D-E-M-A, Realty, Inc., and it is the owner of the real estate.
The sole owner of Dema Realty, Inc. is the gentleman to my right.
His name is Hytham, H-A-Y-T-H-A-M, middle initial A, last name Ayad, A-Y-Y-A-D.
All right. Our vice chair has a few questions for you, sir.
Good morning. Have you submitted your documents five days in advance of this hearing?
And do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Okay. Thank you. You can proceed with your case.
Thank you very much. First and foremost, I want to thank the board and the staff for the accommodation in allowing us to be present here today.
We've had the issues in the past with the remote hearing.
So thank you very much for that.
We're here today regarding the –
Do you have your documents in front of you, or are they doing it in the back?
They're –
Oh, okay.
Ian, you have it?
All right.
Thanks, Ian.
They're both.
So we submitted a list of exhibits.
We're here today because we're trying to legalize the current use of the property.
It was refused.
That refusal is the Exhibit B, indicating that the refusal was dated on June the 18th of 2024.
The proposed use is to, as I said, legalize, seeking the variance to legalize the existing use of the property.
In 1978, I believe it was, 88, my apologies, there was a certificate of use and occupancy for the property, allowing it to be used as a doctor's office on the first floor with the one family dwelling on the second floor.
It had been used that way for many years, and then at some point, and we're not certain of exactly when it took place, there was a sale of the property and a change of the use of the property.
That use was, instead of a doctor's office, it became a business establishment, and that had been in place for a number of years.
We know as far back as 2015, it was being used as what was labeled as a multi-services facility, including auto tags.
My client purchased the property in 2019 and operated an auto tags place there from that point until the current time,
with the second floor still being maintained as a residence.
um when my client became aware that their their use technically was not in compliance with what
the zoning was they then submitted the application which resulted in the refusal and then the
subsequent appeal bringing us here today we're seeking to legalize that use the there's photos
showing the interior of the property on the first floor we didn't provide the
photos on the second there's been absolutely no change and it's been
residential the key is what's on the first floor instead of being the
doctor's office with a reception area and multiple small exam rooms it's now
just basically an open space with limited public access to just the front
area that open space for the customers to come in and go to the counter to
submit their paperwork for whether it's auto tags notary services things of that
nature and those are the photographs that appear as exhibit e on the exhibit
list we provide tax clearance and the
The publication of the notice of the hearing for today, as well as previous communications
with the RCO in the community, and we did not receive a letter from them, but I understand
that was received by the board on a previous occasion.
I've never seen it, but my understanding was that that had been submitted.
Hilary, is that true?
Not that it's true.
Do we have that?
Sorry, give me just one second.
I believe we do have this one.
Oh, actually, no, I'm sorry.
We do not have a letter for this one.
All we received was an email in opposition from a neighbor.
neighbor that's it from a neighbor one neighbor and we haven't received any
That's it.
From a neighbor.
One neighbor.
And we have.
notification otherwise I provide the tax clearance for the property as well as
exhibit J shows the deed reflecting that demo Realty is the owner of the property
do you have the proof of mailing for the meeting
I'll ask your indulgence for one moment.
Thank you.
I believe that would be part of Exhibit A, which was the notification sent out, it would
the big council member Driscoll's office as well as the Harrogate Civic Association.
And my pardon me, that would have been on August the 6th of 2024.
Do you want to have your client adopt your testimony?
Was he sworn in yet?
Could you turn the microphone on and have it closed here?
Please state your name and spell it.
Yes, it's on.
State your name and spell for this stenographer.
My name is Haytham Ayad.
First name H-A-Y-T-H-A-M.
Last name A-Y-Y-A-D.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, counsel.
Thank you very much.
You heard my presentation to the board today regarding the application for Demo Realty to change and have a variance for the legalization of the use of the property, correct?
And if you were called to testify regarding the use, with what I said, is that accurate to what you would be testifying to?
Would you adopt what I've said as your testimony today?
Yes. No further questions for the board.
Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Emerson?
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments from the public audience that you will have two minutes.
Representatives from the coordinating RCO?
I see no hands, Chair.
Representatives from other affected RCOs?
I see no hands, Chair.
Mr. Councilmember or their representative?
i see no hands chair anyone else i see no hands at this time planning commission
nina solomonic with the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change
the rm1 residential multi-family zoning at this location the city changed the zoning maps in the
neighborhood in 2017 in a community requested map change this this section of allegheny avenue has
never been a commercial corridor although it has hosted sporadic businesses the property has a
documented history as a ground floor doctor's office and one dwelling unit above at some point
a prior owner converted the ground floor into a store the impact of the proposed business and
professional office would likely be no different to the previous doctor's office the city planning
commission recommends that the board grant the proposed use variance for a business and
professional office mi 2024 004 752 1923 east allegheny avenue i vote yes michael johns i vote
yes cheryl gaston my vote is yes tenetta graham my vote is yes my mcadams my vote is yes i win my
vote is yes thank you counsel thank you very much all right have a nice day number seven mi 2025
5-0-0-2-1-1-3-7709 ridge avenue william o'brien is the attorney this is a resumptive hearing
is the attorney.
This is a resumptive hearing.
William O'Brien will be coming in as a penalist.
Thank you.
good morning chairman bergman uh vice chairman graham members of the board
william bill you got to turn up your volume we can't it's hard time hearing you
is that better um try a little bit could you get a little closer maybe or
how's that uh a little a little better uh could you please state your name and spell for the
stenographer yes william w-i-l-l-i-a-m o'brien o-b-r-i-e-n right do you swear or affirm to
tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do so mr o'brien this is a resumptive
hearing and uh we see there's several different changes you made so we're going to take an update
from you we'll then have questions from the board public testimony and then planning will take a
position um could you please start your presentation thank you yes this is a resumption from august
27th if i may share my screen uh following that hearing on uh it's still kind of low see if you
good like i don't i don't know what's wrong here it's i'm not sure where my volume is i've never
had to raise it
i just try to raise your voice bill i'll uh i'll raise my voice i i just got hearing aids yesterday
day so a little disoriented but i'll get through it uh on this maybe that's what i need maybe i
need the hearing aid if you're but go ahead yeah on the screen is the refusal who was issued after
the last hearing on uh september 3rd
we're not hearing at all now bill just um it's nothing i'm breaking it's breaking yeah there's
nothing bill he froze bill bill your bill do me a favor we're going to come back to you but we're
not hearing at all now okay so we're going to move on we'll bring you back okay all right thank you
number eight
MI 2025
002 848
5900 Rising Sun Avenue
Vern Anastasio is the attorney
Vern Anastasio
will be coming in as a panelist
good morning mr chair good morning council could you please state your name and spell for the
stenographer uh yeah it's verne anastasio a-n-a-s-t-a-s-i-o on behalf of mr brian
torcato do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do
um our vice chair has a few questions here good morning have you submitted your documents five
days in advance of this hearing i did and do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to
its accuracy i do thank you council before you start there's a we have a letter of unanimous
non-opposition from a long crest community 40 people voted and there's also a petition signed
by nine signatures from the 5,800 and 5,900 block of Rising Sun Avenue.
Please start your presentation.
Thank you.
This is a pretty straightforward one.
This is a longstanding medical office in the community, and the application is for one ADA
van parking space as part of the existing property.
There is a required front yard, and the space does, in fact, encroach on part of that.
You'll see that it's consistent with the other three corners as far as, you know.
It's consistent with the other three corners as far as, you know, that is concerned.
But that's the essence of the major refusal of copy of my appeal.
And let's take a look at the plan.
This is the one story structure with the existing medical sole practitioner.
Dr. Brian is here today.
And then the proposed spot is, I'm sorry, I'm going to try and move that bar.
Hold on for a minute.
You can't see that, but I can.
Proposed surface area accessory parking spot would be right off the road.
And let me take some, here's some photos.
There's the green space there.
Look northwest on the Van Kirk. There's the intersection itself.
Additional photos.
And that's the space.
right along the side there.
Additional rear access.
As you can see across the street, there's car activity on the opposite corner and on
the other side as well.
Here's some interior shots of the medical practice
Posting
Very well attended meeting
Over 40 individuals
Each and every one of them voted
To not oppose this
It's a real asset to the community
And they would like to keep it there
And of course having the handicapped spot
Actually does help
It is a pediatric podiatry sort of space.
Here's the flyer that was mailed to everyone.
Our meeting was the 15th of October.
Here are all the addresses.
We also have the property deed.
And this sort of shows you just how car oriented this particular intersection is.
As you can see, here's us.
My cursor is where the proposed spot would be.
And then the other three corners, as you can see, are very automobile oriented.
And there's the zoning map.
Because of the overwhelming support of the community and because of the unique physical condition that makes compliance impossible,
we do respectfully request the granting of this variance for the parking.
You want to bring your client on, please?
Dr. Brian Turcato, if you could please raise your hand.
Brian Turcato will be joining us as a panelist.
Mr. Chair, after my client logs on, I do have a, for the record only, for its purposes, I do have a couple sentences I need to read into the record.
Thank you.
Get your client first.
Brian, are you there?
I am, yes.
Thank you.
Brian, could you state your name and spell it for the stenographer?
Good morning, Mr. Chairman and members of the ZBA.
First name Brian, B-R-I-A-N.
Last name is spelled T as in Tom, O as in Robert, R as in Cat, R as in Robert, C as in
Cat, A as in Apple, T as in Tom, O as in Orange.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
I do, sir.
Counsel?
Thank you.
Dr. Takato, did you hear my presentation to the board today?
Yes, yes, sir, I did.
And is it true and accurate to the best of your knowledge?
It is.
And do you adopt it as your own testimony?
I do. Thank you. Mr. Chair, other than that, I would just like to add for the record that the
Thank you.
Mr. Chair, other than that, I would just like to add for the rest.
proposed van-accessible parking space is located directly beside a 13-foot-wide public sidewalk
that connects straight to the office entrance. That sidewalk is flush with the parking surface,
meets the slope and width needed for a person using a wheelchair or van-mounted ramp to safely
exit the vehicle and travel to the door. Under ADA standards for accessibility designed
Section 103 and Section 104.2, the law allows what's called, quote, equivalent facilitation,
meaning alternative designs are permitted when they provide substantially equivalent
or greater accessibility and usability. In this case, using the existing sidewalk
as the functional access aisle achieves the same intent as an eight foot dedicated aisle and actually provides more with and a direct barrier free connection to the building itself.
Accessibility boards have regularly recognized when required such equivalencies as this board may do today.
Thank you very much for allowing me to put that on the record.
um yes um mr anastasia i just wanted to comment that the board cannot um grant a variance based
on reasonable accommodation that we don't have the jurisdiction to do that if your if your client
would like to seek um would like to seek relief via reasonable accommodation they would need to
complete that process through l and i and i can provide you information for how to do that if they
would like to do that um but we can't we cannot consider i understand why you put it on the
record but the board cannot consider that i understand whether you're signed to grant the
variance questions from the board i'll just be grateful if we grant the variance
questions yeah i mean i've got go ahead oh about the parking space itself um at one i know like
for an accessible van parking it's supposed to be 11 feet wide um and this is only eight foot
wide i know eight feet is allowed but only when there's the adjacent eight foot wide um strip
for an 11 foot with parking space it's supposed to be a five foot strip i understand the argument
you're making about the strip being the sidewalk but this parking space would then still be
undersized so you're right and that'll that'll be for the uh the ibc analysis we're going to
have to get through after this, for sure.
Had Streets already approved
the curb cut as well?
Yes, they did, yep. We couldn't get here
without it.
So how do you
plan to get in and out
of this parking space, and
why does this work
better than just having a dedicated parking
space in front of the...
Well, a dedicated parking space could be used by anybody,
right? Not just patients
for the doctor.
And so that's that was certainly something that we thought about, but that would not solve our problem of our clients needing that space and being able to rely on it, which is a real problem for many of the folks that that travel there.
As far as the curb cutters, I'm surprised you can't get a dedicated space specifically for the facility itself.
cannot if there is if there is a way we don't know of it
do it and as far as the the the curb cut is concerned which was approved by the
by the streets department uh it would come right out of here so i'm saying how do you how do you
plan to get so you're going to drive in and then they're going to back out or how does i don't see
i see the turning in i don't see the turning out of the space i think we would pull in here and
pull out this way so you're going to have to do a three-point pull in you know you don't have that
you don't have it shown how the how to how you're going to actually look how the van is actually
going to maneuver i don't have that on the plan no uh vince mancini may be here as well uh who's
the architect on it if the administrator i see no one in the audience with that name
i think cheryl has something to say here too um i just know that uh with respect to the
uh handicapped uh spaces um they are not reserved for a specific person anybody who is handicapped
can use a handicapped space it's the same thing they did with
handicapped space. It's the same thing they did when they had the thing with the electric cars
where people were getting a charging station and then using that as a parking space.
And they changed the rules so that that's not dedicated to a particular person. So
So the only way that they can have this dedicated kind of space that they want is if they put it on their own property.
So is this van, is this van going, is this a pick up and drop off van?
Is that what this is?
No, sir.
This is for clients typically who have handicapped parking spots or come through maybe the, you know, the social, the social service van that comes by and picks up older folks and drops them off.
Mr. Anastasia, do you have a copy of the plans that were reviewed by the streets department
that actually showed the turning radius?
I'm sure we have it.
Can I be recognized for?
Please, Brian.
So you can see the outline barely on this visualization, but according to the original
plans to directly answer your question the van would initially would uh you can barely see the
outline on this this picture but the van would actually come in and then it would uh we would
move we'd be moving this line that says existing fence that would move back to where it says
proposed fence with gate five feet and the van would come in facing in and if you now if you
carefully look you see the outline uh just next to the proposed fence and then it would back up
into the proposed parking spot and uh in terms of driving out it would be coming out uh facing the
front because obviously we do not want to back onto a busy street like vancork street
if you look carefully at the the picture you can see the outline of the um the van i see it i see
it but um it just it doesn't look like it there's enough space to do what is shown in the drawing
so i think that's why we're asking questions and that is why i feel like i can pull up what was
approved by the streets department showing the turning radius i think that will provide a lot
of clarification i think the second concern like the reason i ask the questions i asked them my
actual concern is that vans are loaded on two sides and right now you do not have space on one
side of the van which means that if a person who is who needs the accessible need is sitting on the
right side of the car they cannot get out of the vehicle without sliding over to the left side of
the vehicle which if a person actually needs the vehicle that might not be something that they're
able to do and then to exit onto the sidewalk so one i was a little concerned because you've got
that triangular space even though it's paved it's very tight my second question is are you putting
a bollard or any type of protection there to protect the building itself from a car hitting
it because typically when you have parking spaces like that part of that strip is to both provide
protection for the passengers or pedestrians but part of that strip is also to provide protection
for whatever physical thing is next to it like another building and usually when there is not
one there is like a substantial barrier which would also take up more space that it does not
appear that you have in that paved area currently well there's there's not a bollard on the plan
for sure but that uh that doesn't mean we can't put one in other questions yeah uh will the van
be parked there like overnight or it's just no no okay i could uh i'm going to pull up something
else for you if you'd like.
I'll just give me
one second. I'll pull up
what was approved by the streets department.
That might help
shed some light on things.
we don't have the plan here
would the board like me to pull up the plan
thank you
if you could that be helpful
just trying to figure out
and then while Hillary's pulling it up to clarify
it sounds like the plan you all showed us
that shows a three-point turn and it shows a shared curb cut for in and out it sounds like you
actually okay right that's what that's this is helpful that's what i wanted to see this
This shows the turning radius, right? So this so when you come in, you do a three point to back into the space and then you can pull out.
this shows the turning radius right so this so when you come in you
That's what I want to say. I want to make sure that there was enough room around the building and the rear.
Correct. Correct. Yeah. All right.
Any other questions?
Questions? Hilary, by the way, thanks for putting that up. Any questions from our attorney?
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Two-minute responses from Coordinating RCO.
I see no hands, Chair.
I see no hands, Chair.
Council member or their representative?
I see no hands, Chair.
Anyone else?
No, Chair.
I see no hands at this time.
Thank you very much.
Planning Commission.
Nina Solomonic with the Planning Commission.
the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing commercial mixed use cmx1 zoning
there is no space for the proposed ada van parking space in the required front yard
furthermore the ada space proposed does not meet the icc and c accessibility standards therefore
the city planning commission recommends that the board deny the requested variance for one
ADA van parking space?
Vern, do you want to respond?
We make the space, obviously, in our plan that was approved by the streets department.
And the IBC analysis is after zoning.
We first have to get the front yard approval for parking, and then we would need to get
through the IBC analysis with the board examiner.
But that wouldn't be for here.
Thank you.
All right, Vern, we're going to vote on this next Wednesday at 9.30 a.m.
Thank you very much.
Discuss it at the executive session.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Number 11, MI 2025-003-568-3445 Melville Street.
Alexander Perry is the attorney.
Inanimous support from Port Richmond, Home Patrol and Civic Association.
21 votes.
good morning mr chairman good morning could you please state your name and spell for the
stenographer yes sir my name is alexander perry a-l-e-x-a-n-d-e-r-p-e-r-r-y
and i'm the attorney for the petition nothing but the truth yes sir could you identify your
client the relationship to the property our client is the owner of 3445 melville street
represented by y'all greenberg who's here today our vice chair has a few questions for you sir
good morning um have you submitted uh your documents uh five days in advance of this
hearing we resubmitted them on monday after waiting for the uh rco letter okay thank you
and do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy yes ma'am okay thank
you you can put you with your keys thank you mr chairman if i may share my screen sure
can you see that mr chairman you are yep thank you uh this is the refusal the refusal is for um
So, personal service are not provided for in an I-2 zoning district.
This is a warehouse building, and we're asking for a permission to put a personal gym.
It's a three-staff gym that does one or two individual personal training in a 1,000-square-foot garage space.
the application for appeal was filed once the the tenant and owner realized that they couldn't
operate it legally there was a violation which has been cured with the city as well
it's not making any structural changes and it does have support from the community
here is the project information stating nothing is changing other than the use
This is our resolution with the city over the use violation, so subject to this hearing that will be cured as well.
Here's the deed to Port Richmond warehousing LLC and the owner's representative Eyal Greenberg is also here today.
and we have a clear taxes of record for the property as a whole and here is a picture
And here is a picture of the corner property.
of the corner
As you can see, it's a large warehouse space.
It's underutilized currently in the neighborhood, and there are residential properties to the west of this unit.
So it's a mixed-use neighborhood while the warehouse itself is zoned I-2.
The actual space will be used in this back area.
it's approximately 1,000 square feet. We have posted the property at least 30 days in advance
and before the RCO meeting. We had 21 members attend the meeting and they asked all sorts of
questions. The owner appeared and he did give testimony and we did get unanimous support for
this project. Here's one more posting of the other side of the building. This is a
picture of the the space, I'm sorry, this is a picture of the space before it was
changed. There's no structural changes, it's making use of the existing space on
the first floor. You can see the streets outside the windows and this is as as
set up. Again, there was a violation. The owner and tenant didn't know this wasn't permitted,
and that's been cured at this point. It's an open concept space. There's two trainers and
one part-time trainer who operated about 10 to 12 hours a day, and it provides services for
individuals in the community, the neighborhood, and a lot of middle schoolers who don't have
access to the high school gyms yet, but are trying to do strength and speed training.
here's our notice it went out to the direct neighbors and proof of notice
mr chairman if if i can just provide a few details about the project this is a small gym
it's not going to be a commercial gym it's not going to be filled with dozens or hundreds of
individuals at a time. It's a personal training for one or two people at a time. And it does
have the community support. We do have the tenant, the gym owner here today, if there's
any questions. And we have Mr. Greenberg, who can adopt my testimony, if desired.
y'all are you on on the zoom
yes eel greenberg is coming in as a panelist okay
mr greenberg hello
Mr. Greenberg, could you please state your name and spell it as a stenographer?
E-Y-A-L-G-R-E-E-N-B-E-R-G.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, counsel.
Thank you.
Mr. Greenberg, did you hear my testimony?
I did.
And to your knowledge and information, is it true and accurate?
Yes, it is.
And can you adopt that testimony as if it were your own?
Okay. Members of the board and Mr. Chairman, any questions?
Sure. Questions from the board.
What's the hours of operations, you say?
The hours of operation are about 6.30 in the morning to approximately 6 p.m.,
and that provides for some individuals before work being able to use the gym.
But again, it's usually one or two people at a time.
so how does this um okay so are you saying this isn't like a commercial enterprise in
that sense or i'm sorry yes it's a commercial business but it's not a large-scale gym
it would be as if one person uh is going to a training personal training at a time okay um and
you have three trainers there there are two trainers it's uh uh two brothers and then there's
a part-time trainer who has uh some private clients who make use of the space uh occasional
okay all right is this happening in a specific condo or space because this is a rather large
building so i'm trying to understand like exactly where in the building this is happening yes miss
when um there is a small about 1 000 square foot garage and i can share my screen again
yeah i think you showed the inside of it but i was trying to
um yes it's it's approximately one-third of the ground floor
and again there's no structural changes it is from our Google map image bear
and again there's no structural changes it is
with me it is this a corner of the property in the back so if I zoom in
it's this back uh half of the property right here so you'd enter here
yes yes ma'am through the stairwell what's that there's stairs that lead like up half of half a
floor so yeah the the rest of the building is also used and i believe there's going to be a
a separate zoning appeal for a third floor use, but I'm not handling that.
Okay. Questions for our attorney?
Just a quick clarification. Are you representing the owner in this matter or the, like the owner
of the building or the business owner, the tenant? Yes, I represent the owner of the building.
okay okay great and um other than this being part of the ground floor is there like a designated
suite number unit number anything with for this space i'll direct that to mr greenberg if he can
answer yeah there is a there's a unit number hold on i'm here with my business partner he can give
you the unit number if that helps especially if they're going to be um if there are going to be
multiple matters regarding this building might be helpful to specify what use is going in what
yeah it's 100 so it's it's unit 101 sorry okay thank you very much questions from the public
um representatives from the coordinating rco i see no handshare then is from any other rco
i see no handshare is your council member or their representative
of i see no hands here anyone else i see no hands at this time planning commission
nina solomonic with the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change
the i2 medium industrial zoning at this location the river words district planned recommendation
12 calls to preserve industrial zoning in areas with active industrial users and to oppose zoning
changes or variances in the lower north industrial district where this property lies. The planning
commission recommends the board deny the requested variances for personal services use. MI 2025 003
568 3445 Melville Street. I vote yes. Proviso. Unit 101 only. Michael Johns. My vote is yes with
proviso. Darrell Gaston, my vote is yes, with proviso. Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes, with proviso.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes, with proviso. Tywin, my vote is yes, with proviso. Thank you,
counsel. Thank you. Number 15, MI 2025-005-166-800 South Dairian Street.
Sean Whalen is the attorney.
What's going on here, Sean?
I heard.
Yeah, I broke my hand.
I had a full cast surgery yesterday.
You didn't take the cast off for us to come here, did you?
Although it's the only reason why you get to see me.
I took that surgery yesterday.
I was going to say, well, you only just take it up.
You only wait a few days.
Hillary, are we going to try to do – we'll vote separately,
but he can make comments for both at the same time.
So I think it might be easier actually to do them separately because the second, just so Mr. Charles, where Mr. Whalen and I have been in conversation this morning, and we do not need an amended refusal for the second one, but there will be a different proviso to address one of the changes.
Sure, okay. Mr. Whalen, state your name, please, and spell for the sonographer.
Certainly.
Sean Whalen, W-H-A-L-E-N, here from Vintage Law, on behalf of the owner, 824 Catherine, LLC.
Excuse me.
This is the court reporter.
Could I ask everyone to get closer to the microphone?
Thank you.
I feel like I'm going to be swallowing it.
Is that better?
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Our vice chair has a few questions for you, sir.
Good morning.
Have you submitted your documents five days in advance of this hearing?
And do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, I do.
Okay, thank you.
And we share your screen and proceed with your case.
Thank you.
Thank you.
For a point of information, there's a letter of non-opposition from Council Member Squilla
and non-opposition from Bella Vista Neighbors Association.
Hopefully you can see my screen.
Yeah, I will start by saying, based on the letters that you have that you just referenced, Chairman,
uh this public process worked i think exactly the way city council intended it to when they passed
this uh can you can you speak can you get closer to the mic please is that better yeah much better
yeah much better i've never had anybody not be able to hear me before um yeah this public process
worked exactly the way city council intended it to we attended an october 7th meeting for both
properties at the same time uh both 800 south darien and 801 south 9th street that'll be coming
up next and that was attended by over 70 people and i would be lying if i said there wasn't a lot
of opposition in the room and that meeting went over three hours they that was for informational
purposes only we then the developer or if i bush is here uh and he can adopt my testimony later
but he then went door to door with all the concerned neighbors in the neighborhood we
walked through all of their issues all of their concerns about a month later in november we went
in front of a voting meeting that had over 60 people at it and received virtually unanimous
support so i think the the process here played out exactly how city council and hopefully all of us
think that it should when we have this RCO process here, but I'm happy to say that it did.
So very quickly, here is the property, 800 South Darien Street. Many of you may know this.
This is actually a former Rite Aid site right at 9th and Catherine and going over to
uh darien just north of christian christian is actually on the uh the top side of the block here
uh here's the street frontage and um i hope i won't have to walk through this with you again this is
kind of inclusive for both this project and the next project and i'll just reference it so i don't
feel like you're wasting your time uh here's the frontage as if you're standing right on catherine
Street, looking at the existing Rite Aid. That Rite Aid has been closed down and vacant for some
time. This whole surface parking lot basically is just, you know, a shark feeding frenzy for
free parking at the moment in the neighborhood. And then as you start looking around, you can see
this is a heavily mixed use area. But then once you turn on to South Darien here, where we're
turning right, you can see South Darien is entirely residential. Basically, this property
that we're talking about is the brick on the right-hand side. Everything else on South Darien
on this block is residential. So what we are proposing is nine townhomes. What we've done
already is subdivide this property, this very large property, it's about 22,000 square feet,
into two properties, essentially west fronting on South 9th Street, or west fronting on South
Darien Street, and the eastern portion fronting on South 9th Street. The eastern portion are,
we're proposing nine townhomes on a 9,600 square foot lot, which are meant to complement the
existing townhouses that are all across the street and up and down the street. The board
has seen this approach numerous times, and it's worked very well for a lot of developments
through here in South Philly to kind of buffer a commercial zone, which is admittedly South
9th Street is a commercial corridor.
So here you can see this is CMX, the entire property is CMX2 commercial zoning.
uh the purple is this 9600 square foot lot that you see on the west that's south darien
on the left hand side that we'll go to in a minute that is 801 south 9th street
and that'll be a separate application um so again you wouldn't think from proposing nine townhomes
that are going to be single family homes that you would get this many refusals but essentially how
this is going to play out is um all based
is going to play out is um all based on here i think i can show it better sorry just
there you go so you can see south darien is on the right hand side here catherine is at the top
south 9th street is on the left we're proposing nine townhomes there will be a single curb cut
for both properties there'll be a shared driveway and each of the nine townhomes will have two car
parking below grade so because there's you know a crushing need for parking in this area we have
agreed to put the parking below grade and kind of get rid of that kind of awful surface parking lot
that nobody likes and what that does is it pushes up the properties just slightly so we are at 43
feet for the townhomes. And what we've done, as I'll walk you through that, we're actually only
at 35 feet at the street frontage along Darien, which is actually below the average height of
all the townhomes existing on the opposite side of Darien. And what we've done is pushed the
back, pushed the height back. And so we actually have a balcony coming forward. We've removed a
parapet we've reduced the pilot house or removed the pilot houses sorry and a number of these
things all came out of the RCO meeting so that way as you're looking at Darien it looks like
it's 35 feet and only if you went on to the back of our property would you actually see
the 43 feet again which is all generated from the extra height needed to put underground parking in
the rear um we also have we did receive additional refusals um the primary one being for no commercial
use right this is a cmx2 commercial property um so we would have to provide 30 feet of commercial
use along the entire frontage uh here and what we found with the neighbors and going door to door
south darien has a very different character than south 9th street south 9th street is a commercial
corridor leading down into Christian. South Darien is a very quiet single-family house
residential neighborhood block. And so that's why we're proposing on this side just the nine
townhomes with two-car parking to get all the cars, any cars that they could possibly have
off the street, and again, matching what's there. Now, what we're doing, and you can see the drive
aisle right in the rear of the proposed townhomes um that is essentially generating why we have
yeah the additional refusals is what we're doing is we're putting decks out off the back of the
house at the first level essentially to create a faux uh backyard right that that's what we're
doing to give everybody an outdoor space that's going to be completely decked over so nobody will
be if you were to look at this once it's fully completed nobody would be seeing the drive aisle
you would be going down and then underneath the the drive aisle would be underneath all these decks
and so what that leads to is according to lni which is correct i'm not suggesting otherwise
we have no rear yard that we're proposing and we have which we would if we got rid of those decks
and just allowed it to be in the rear and the rear deck is not allowed over the drive aisle
and is not allowed to be within three feet of our rear property line and what we're proposing
is to go all the way up to the very edge of the property line again we want to maximize the outdoor
space for all of these homes and what you'll hear next is uh the other side of that drive aisle
from the condo building is going to have their decks come up and meet these decks so again it'll
be like an entire boardwalk going over this so that no neighbors will be looking and seeing this
there's no big drop-off from the street you can see at the top here at Catherine Street there
will be a wall there but then all they'll see is it'll be like a fence of anyone's rear yard they
won't see you know a big drop-off or a safety issue going down into the drive
line so you know I've kind of jumped around a lot but here we believe that
the hardship is caused by two factors first and foremost South Darien has no
commercial uses there would be no viable commercial uses that was resoundingly
agreed to by the community and uh accepted by you know even the rco and then with the crushing need
for parking in this area for us to put the parking you know nobody wants to see front loaded parking
You know, nobody wants to see front loaded parking rear loaded parking actually causes difficulties to the property because it creates an unusable first floor, which then creates a dead space in the, you know, along a public townhouse single family street.
rear loaded parking actually
so this allows by putting the parking underground it allows for the parking but it also activates
that first floor and allows the first floor to have that big walkout deck essentially mirroring
what would otherwise be a rear yard um yeah this is the least minimum variance because these you
know any fewer townhomes you'd be creating extraordinarily oversized townhomes these
townhomes are only 19 and a half feet wide by 40 feet 44 feet deep I'm not
going to suggest that that's not a good sized townhome but you know if you start
removing one down from that then you're creating you know significantly large
townhomes and if you're adding more to make it narrower we felt that was not
the least minimum variance and then finally you know I think it was just
openly accepted that there's no issue with the health, safety, or welfare here of the public.
This is actually creating a much safer condition. Something I glazed over with the photos is,
you know, that Rite Aid, rather, has almost nothing but curb cuts all along, and it creates
a horrible pedestrian and bike path. And what we're doing is getting rid of all of the curb
cuts. These are, you know, extra-wide curb cuts. We're removing the use of, you know,
Large tractor trailers that would sit there and deliver goods, and everything goes off of this one curb cut that you can see along South Darien.
So with that, I'm happy to have – answer any questions.
Just out of curiosity, how many RCO meetings?
We had two formal RCO meetings, one in early October, one in early November, and I'll let my –
Okay. Why don't you bring your –
Meetings, Ed.
You have to swear me in.
Yeah, I'm going to swear you in. Is the light on?
Could you state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Ori Fibush, first name O-R-I, last name F as in Frank, E-I-B-U-S-H.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Counsel?
Yes, thank you. Mr. Fibush, you're here on behalf of the developer and the owner, correct?
Did you hear all the testimony I already presented in this case?
I did.
And do you believe it to be true and correct, to the best of your knowledge, information, and belief?
I do, with two small modifications.
The homes directly across the street are 45 feet, not 35.
So we are actually shorter at our peak height.
And, of course, at the street level, we're a full 10 feet shorter.
But I just wanted that small clarification.
And then, of course, all of this effort was done to reactivate dairy and to have eyes on the street to create a really, really good pedestrian experience.
uh i've had the opportunity to knock on every door on darien to meet the neighbors they've
taken me to their home i've stood on their roof deck we've really worked on this uh through real
consensus and you'll hear from some of the neighbors on darien shortly um but we really
designed this to create a neighborhood and to fill in a neighborhood they've been appropriately
frustrated by the experience of having right aid and what we wanted to do is create not just
residential, but put a lot of thought into that development so that they would be able to engage
and interact with their neighbors in a way that obviously they can't do now across the street. And
so I guess the short answer is yes, I adopt the balance of your testimony, but just wanted to call
out how collaborative this effort has really been. Anything else? All right. No, actually,
the only thing I would also add is, and I forgot to show this rendering, this rendering is if
you're standing on the northwest corner of catherine and south darien looking diagonally
toward the proposed townhomes and what you can see that we also did with the neighbors
is the townhome that would have its side against uh catherine street we also agreed not only is
that height set back it is also set back from catherine so instead of being originally flush
the way it normally would be we've also set it back there in an effort to
negotiate with the neighbors and try to assuage their concerns okay questions
from the board a few questions one for the drive aisle that you now enter on
Darien is that gonna be the same drive aisle for the cars or any vehicles to
access the apartment building as well as it is shared the condo building yes it
is one common yes okay and then my second question is do you have a elevation of the of the house
because it was hard to see or do you can you tell me what's the depth of the what do we call the deck
Or can you tell me what's the depth of the deck, the rear yard deck?
How much outdoor space does each townhouse unit have?
From memory, it is 12 feet by 20 feet.
It is the entirety of basically half of that drive.
And it might not have been obvious, but that deck is actually at grade.
So it really will mimic a backyard of any traditional home.
the the wall that sean's referencing is just a 42 inch you know curb or parapet along catherine so
you know that it'll clearly delineate the separation but you'll easily be able to see
into that back area there and is it paved or is that no it'll be probably some type of trex
material like a green like a green roof to the it's not necessarily gonna be green i would expect
some type of like trex decking or some type of what we have to do is the stormwater management
is going to be below that.
I don't much understand that.
So that's why it can't be paved.
But you can see – sorry, I'm clumsy today.
Well, you could have porous pavement.
You could also have a pipe.
There's waste.
That's what I was asking.
It's 22 feet wide.
22 feet wide.
No, no, no.
So it's 9.2 feet of what would be a rear yard for the townhomes.
And then the additional 12.4 will be –
Yeah, that's the drive-out.
And then what is the square footage of their roof deck?
just trying to like understand how much outdoors the roof tech of each home yeah so there's a few
outdoor areas there's the one that we just touched on directly to the rear of the home
uh where we've set back the fourth floor there's an additional uh deck there i don't have the exact
uh square footage but i think we're in the magnitude of about 150 160 square feet and then
there is a top deck on top there which uh very quick math probably about 600 square feet more
okay so they're all right there's a lot of outdoor space for sure and then understanding
that you have subdivided this now into two parcels i'm assuming the nine townhomes are
going to be condoed or is it it's a part of a planned community and the uh the condo building
will also be a part of that planned community and the common element will be the drive that we
that we touched on there okay all right and so question your question question for you too i'm
just trying to understand how the parking works can you go to the parking plan underneath because
you said the decks are going to be at grade level but it looked from the rendering that your first
floor is raised above the so i grade so i'm trying to understand how this how the how the lower level
parking is is working sure the we ramp down along the entire drive uh and you should see this ramp
right now on uh on your screen could you show the yeah i see where i see where the home
yeah like either section or elevation would be i didn't know the right word i couldn't think of it
i'm sorry yeah
and how many parking spaces are there per uh townhome a two-car parking for each townhome
So 18 spaces for the nine homes.
There we go.
And in the garage, are those delineated?
Like, do they have a separation between the two or is it just?
It's not open.
Each effectively townhome has a true traditional garage.
That's correct.
There's a concrete wall separating each one.
Gotcha.
So you're coming down to the garage level at the driveway from the street.
And then you're at the grade level.
and then you've got so the 22 feet wide so your share it's a shared driveway with the property
that's going to be built next to it correct correct okay i guess i mean i understand that
houses in philadelphia do this but it does look like there is no pedestrian walkway through that
drive aisle which i can understand why with the cars but is the thought that people that in the
townhomes are going to keep their trash in their rear yard and bring it through the house and put
out on darien street so that is the uh the expectation uh for those nine right because
obviously the that's that's that's correct what we actually think may happen is that uh those
nine homes will the condo building will certainly have private trash collection and so ideally they
could carry that into uh the trash room of the condo building as part of that hoa they'd have
to pay some fee for the private collection there but hopefully there'll be an elegant solution
from from the homeowners. What about bikes on the townhome side? I'm just thinking like if I had a
kid and the kid was in the townhome, they'd probably be keeping their bike in the garage.
Now are we going to have like kids trying to ride their bikes up a very complicated
ramp entrance to a large garage? So I coincidentally up until just a year ago
up until just a year ago lived at 20th and Webster and I built a nine home development that had this
lived at 20th and Webster and I built a nine home development that had
exact configuration just exiting onto Webster street. Um, and, uh, it was generally admittedly
younger kids, but, uh, but yeah, that back area was a free for all for my kids and other kids
there to learn how to ride your bike, play ball, do anything without any risk of, you know,
traditional vehicular traffic there. I mean, you know, the, the activity was, you know, uh, you
know the homeowners coming or going to work once a day and then beyond that that drive was was empty
so i would expect uh with parent supervision some type of you know kids learning how to bike or
helping their kids walk their bike up uh you know as they go here but certainly the bikes would
almost certainly be stored within the garage there okay all the questions definitely deb
comment just definitely appreciate parking underground and and brick on all sides that
facing the street elegant facade question uh questions or comments for attorney
not at this time mr chair um questions or comments from the audience um first coordinating rco
sure i have a hand up by the name of hannah francis i'm going to promote them to panelists
hi hello could you please state your name and spell and for the sonographer
yes my name is hannah francis h-a-n-n-a-h f-r-a-n-c-i-s right do you swear or affirm
to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes are you a member of either of the rcos
no i am not i am a neighbor in valavissa all right so we'll take your testimony now just
for point of information you have two minutes to make your comments okay great thank you so much
um i know one of our concerns in our bella vista neighbors association meeting was those indigo
bikes that are parked alongside that rite aid currently um i would love to know a plan for
that since that is a huge perk of living in the neighborhood for those people who do bike
just speaking on the terms of um biking which was our last conversation
Also, in terms of the sunlight, I was wondering if any shadow studies have been conducted, just because I know my neighbors and I along 9th Street, we all have those decks.
And because the Rite Aid is so low, that's how we're able to get sunlight towards the entire back of our building.
So I'm hoping we have some studies on that, as well as the air quality.
No, sorry, she said something. Sorry, I'm like on teacher break right now.
Yes, I know, you know, thank you for doing the underground parking.
You know, I'm sure that also helps the those cars stay off the street and are a benefit to those townhomes.
But as people who live there, I think parking is already pretty limited.
um if you live in the neighborhood you know angelo's culture is a pretty huge thing happening
um and this law is used specifically like you know for the hundreds of people going to angelo's a day
and i think that also helps keep the neighborhood clean and keeps cars off the road
um so i think with this project it might even though there is some solution to keep some cars
off the road I think ultimately we will end up being a little backed up there okay thank you
very much for your comments is there anyone else in the virtual audience yes chair I have a hand
up by the name of Joshua Leher I'm going to allow him to speak
Joshua Leher is from the coordinating RCO thank you
hello hi sir could you please state your name as bell for the sonographer uh sure my name is
joshua lehrer l-e-h-r-e-r i'm sorry i'm not sure my video is not coming do you swear or affirm to
tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do mr lehrer you have two minutes for
your comments. I'm sorry, I lost you. I was being promoted to a panelist. You still there?
Please start your comments. You have two minutes for your comments. I am the representative from
the Bellevus neighborhood zoning board. I've been asked to make a statement. We just wanted to say
that there was a significant back and forth between us and the applicant. And if you'll
notice our letter as well as the councilman's letter is in support of the
project given four provisos and we wanted to make sure that those four
And we wanted to make sure that those four provisors were included in these final plans.
provisos were included in these final plans
Those four provisors were bringing the height down from 44 to 43 feet, sloping the fourth floor stair tower away from Darien Street.
The five foot setback on the Catherine Street side, which you did already mention, was done.
And the basement wells were going to be inset off of the common sidewalk on Darien Street.
So given that if those four, if the applicant could confirm those four provisors were included, the councilman as well as the Bell Vista Zoning Board are in favor of the project.
All right. Thank you very much for your comments.
Anyone else in the audience?
No, sir. I see no hands at this time.
Planning Commission.
Oh, you want to make a comment?
Yeah. Well, I think the easiest one is, yes, we confirm that we're acceptable to provide those and we agree to those in the meeting.
They're all incorporated and you asked me to submit a revised plan, which will be submitted.
Ena Solomonic with the Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing commercial mixed-use CMX2 zoning at this location.
the application is for a complete demolition and new construction which could be built in
conformance with the zoning code the city planning commission recommends that the horde
grant the requested variance for ground floor residential use and second floor balcony but
deny the dimensional variances for rear lot line setback deny the maximum height variance and rear
yard depth variance as well as deny the minimum open area variance thank you um mi 2025 005
1-6-6-800-South
Darien Street
I vote yes with proviso
Revive's plans, two pages
stamped by CBA
December 3rd, 2025
Michael Johns, my vote is yes with proviso
Cheryl Gaston
my vote is yes with proviso
Snetta Graham, my vote is yes with proviso
Maya McAdams
my vote is yes with proviso
My vote is yes with proviso
So number 16 is MI2025
8005-005-171-801 South 9th Street.
Sean Whalen is the attorney.
Just for the record, Mr. Whalen, could you state your name?
Sean Whalen, W-H-A-L-E-N.
Do you swear or have we already did that once?
I don't believe we have to do the follow-up.
Why don't you start with your testimony?
I just want to note that to the extent your prior testimony mentioned this particular property,
it's incorporated into the record for this property.
That was my very first question.
I think the only thing I need to do
is this is a separate refusal
so I do need to
let Ms. Graham know
I waive the reading
I accept it
no issues
okay I'll ask
do you waive the reading of refusal
and stipulate to its accuracy
yes I do
please proceed
thank you
so again I won't go back over anything
that I've already gone over in the interest of your time
so what you're seeing here is 801 South 9th Street is now the right-hand side of
this so this is as if you're floating above Catherine Street looking south we
just talked about you know the the eastern portion which is the nine
townhomes now we're proposing 16 condos with 16 parking spaces in a single
building basically at the corner of South 9th Street and Catherine again you
can see the property here that already exists essentially this little tail that you see is
much of the dry vial and again what we get here are the same refusals so i won't go back over the
same reasons but we're also doing underground parking here that requires us to lift the
building just slightly uh we also have the same rear yard depth rear balcony issues and refusals
here um and the fact that we're going too close to the rear property line the uh other primary
refusal we have is that originally we were proposing no commercial space here we were going
to have just purely residential uh part of that extensive rco process that i walked through and
that the Bella Vista neighbors, Mr. Lair, just spoke to
is that we are now including commercial on the first floor.
So we are curing that refusal.
And the neighborhood made clear that South 9th Street
is a very different block than South Darien,
even though they touch each other, essentially.
South 9th Street still has this commercial character,
and they really wanted that maintained.
and so that was a large part of the changes that we made.
And so that was a large part of the changes that we made.
So again, let me...
So awkward to do with one finger.
So again, what you can see here, South Darien Street is on the right-hand side.
You have the same single curb cut.
We're getting rid of, again, all those curb cuts.
You're going down the drive aisle and then up here, and you're going there, 16 parking spaces underneath this single building.
This is a much larger property.
Again, this is about 12,000 square feet of the roughly 22,000 square feet total property, also CMX2.
um and you know again this was previously approved for uh double the density essentially
with half the number of parking spaces uh that was determined not to be really conducive to
the neighborhood and in in fitting with how this will work so this will be a single building with
16 condos first floor commercial we have agreed with the neighbors to you know add additional
glazing along the commercial side to really make it look and feel like commercial along the block
that commercial will wrap you know 30 feet around Catherine so it really you know creates that
corridor again we have the same hardships here which is you know we're trying to create the
outdoor space uh in the same argumentation that we did just walk through we have the outdoor space
and outdoor balconies um and a roof deck and here um you know this is the least minimum variance in
that we can you know not really go much smaller as far as number of units in order to still make
a viable project and you know this this is completely in fitting with what the neighbors
wanted to see here and adding that commercial again this rendering will change somewhat based
on our discussions with the neighborhood you're going to see a lot more glazing at this corner
but this is you know aside from the glazing that we're adding again you're having 100 brick
and ultimately we came to overwhelming support again it was 35 to 4 when we took that ultimate
vote and you know essentially every again in this instance almost every nearby neighbor you know the
The ones within the 250 feet resoundingly voted in favor.
And, again, I have just the documentation for you.
So if you have any questions, I'm happy to answer them.
I know I blew through that pretty quickly, but I feel like I did much of the argument beforehand.
Why don't you have your client adopt just what you said now?
You've already been sworn to state your name for the record.
Ori Feibush.
I'm so sorry.
You want to testify? Just very briefly, some shuttle hallway.
Sorry, I do adopt Sean's testimony. Some shuttle diplomacy in the hallway. I know you can't take
a proviso on this, but at least I can read it into the record. We agreed to carry the columns down on
the same plane that are on the upper floors all the way down to the ground floor to create more
presence and also extend the glazing from column line to column line along the entirety of the
commercial there. And I just wanted to at least read that into the record so that I was honoring
my commitment in the hallway there. All right, thank you very much. Questions or comments from
the board? Questions or comments from our attorney? Yes, Mr. Chair. So I just wanted to
indicate Mr. Whalen and I were having a conversation this morning because the
The applicant is committed to putting commercial space and removing one of the refusals in
order for there to be revised plans that actually have to go through the amended refusal process,
but in discussions we decided that a proviso would be appropriate in this case.
And I'll read into the record again when the board votes if you decide to grant, but just
a proviso indicating that they have to provide the required commercial space and that the
a use registration will be required prior to occupancy of that commercial space i'll have
you do that when we yes i will questions or comments um from the coordinating rco
yes chair i have a hand up by the name of marie line german they have been allowed to speak
Marie Lein, German, they have been allowed to speak.
And Mr. Trey, I believe the RCO actually has comments on this as well.
So if we could hear from them first, Ms. Joshua Lehrer.
He did testify.
On this particular.
Mr. Lehrer, why don't you come back?
I'm coming back.
Okay, thank you.
Mr. Lehrer, you've already been sworn.
Just for the record, state your name.
My name is Joshua Lehrer, L-E-H-R-E-R.
Please proceed with your testimony.
Just to repeat my comments from the last case, again, we respect that the applicant came to us multiple times.
This is the result of multiple revisions of the plans.
You'll find a letter of support both from Councilman Squilla and from the BBNA Zoning Board.
Again, given the four, we want to confirm that the four provisos that are in both our letter and the Councilman's letters have been included.
And if the applicant can confirm that they're using the revised drawings as of November 11th, that they intend to adjust the northwest corner.
I think Ori just mentioned they'll be adding more glazing there. We just want to be sure that that's included.
they also indicated that they'd be adding more lighting on the ground floor facade to activate
the area and that they would be changing the frontage on the ground floor to cast stone
from brick and having brick only above the commercial first floor those are the four
provisos that were in the bvna and also included in councilman squill's letter thank you thank you
very much anyone else in the virtual audience i i'll accept that we will work hard to make
this building as attractive yes chair marie line german has been allowed to speak sure
thank you i'm i'm dr jermaine g-e-r-m-a-i-n i am a resident of catherine street and all right
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth told truth and nothing but the truth
Marie, you have two minutes for your testimony. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you for putting my comments in the record.
I'm a resident of Catherine Street and 9th Street, just one block from the proposed project site.
Along with several of my neighbors, I have actively participated in multiple local zoning hearings related to this development.
While we appreciate the developers' efforts to address several of our concerns, we want to emphasize the importance of incorporating a commercial space on the ground floor.
And I understand this has been discussed in the past few minutes, but I want my comments to be on record, specifically one that is suitable for retail rather than office space.
Office space would not be an appropriate fit for this area, which is, as you well know, rooted in the character of the Italian market and known for its small street level retail establishments.
So in that historic and community oriented spirit, we have respectfully requested that the developer include a glass storefront at the corner of Catherine and 9th Street.
And I understand, once again, this has been discussed, but it does not show on the rendering.
And so I want my comments to be recorded.
Thank you very much for your comments.
Is there anyone else?
Yes, Chair.
I have a hand up by the name of Hannah Francis.
They have been allowed to speak.
Good morning.
Hi, again.
Hi, good morning. You've already been sworn. Just state your name for the record.
Okay. My name is Hannah Francis. H-A-N-N-A-H-F-R-A-N-B-I-S.
Start your testimony, please.
So I know I had mentioned previously that I am on 9th Street, and the homes there are pretty historical, as well as all the homes in the neighborhood.
given significant excavation that will be conducted
I wanted to know what measures will be taken to ensure the vibration will not cause
damage to the historic homes in close proximity. I know personally my
building was built in 1915 and touches that Rite Aid so unless
there have been studies conducted to ensure the historical units won't
be affected I can't know if this project will be safe or not
for my home. Okay. Thank you for taking
in the time of the calls. We appreciate it.
I'm going to give you a chance
to respond. Is there anyone else
in the audience? I see no
hands at this time, Chair.
Do you want to respond to some of the things you've heard?
Certainly. And look, I will, you know, certainly understand anyone's concern in the city about any demolition going on near their property. What the last 10 years of demolition issues in this city have done is create an extensive demolition process that is separate.
Certainly. And look,
I will certainly
understand anyone's...
So this is just for Ms. Francis, separate and distinct from this zoning process.
So after this, we will have to go through, there's an extensive site safety plan that
has to be done, a lot of advanced notice, quite a few building code requirements and
extensive work with L&I.
So I certainly understand her reticence here, but this will be done extremely safely and
will meet anything that's required by L&I.
Okay, thank you.
Planning Commission.
in a solomonic with the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change
to the existing commercial mixed use cmx2 zoning at this location the application is for complete
demolition and new construction which could be built in conformance with the zoning code
the city planning commission recommends that the board grant the requested variance for ground
floor residential use and second floor balcony but deny the dimensional variances for rear
lot line setback deny the maximum height variance and rear yard depth variance thank you um so mi
2025 005 171 801 south lane street i vote yes and our council will add proviso yes with proviso
applicant must provide required commercial space use registration required prior to
occupancy for commercial space thank you michael johns my vote is yes with proviso
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes, with proviso.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes, with proviso.
Brian McAdams, my vote is yes, with proviso.
Iowan, my vote is yes, with proviso.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you very much, everybody.
Have a great day.
We're going to go back to number seven, MI 2025-002113, 7709 Ridge Avenue, William O'Brien.
Good afternoon.
Yes, you too.
Can I be heard now?
You want us to do the zipper for you there, Sean?
I appreciate it.
I had to have my wife tie my top leg.
you did a great job
actually a little bit better
than what you know
the tie looks a little better
I will say that this one worked out
off the record
we usually do the same process
it just doesn't always
fall out the same way
but this one did
it worked out great
And kudos to Bella Vista because they got the word out.
Like I said, we showed up at the first meeting and, you know, it was overwhelming.
Well, over 70 people included.
In the second meeting, we had about 60, but about 20 of the people all said that they
could find a project that was a place to waste another.
So, okay, see you later, everybody.
Mr. O'Brien.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman.
How's my audio?
Can you hear me?
Mr. O'Brien?
This is the reporter.
Mr. O'Brien, your voice is very faint.
I can't hear him.
My computer says it's on 100%.
Hillary, we have him back this afternoon, right?
Can I, I can come in.
I'm sorry, say that again.
We have Mr. O'Brien back this afternoon.
there's another case doesn't he have another case this afternoon i have a case this afternoon i can
come in and do both cases in the hearing could we um i'm sorry if this is happening i i don't
so if we recessed this morning's hearings till and we could bring him in first at two o'clock
for this case all right so mr o'brien we're going to recess to this afternoon because we're still
having a hard time hearing you see if you can get that fixed before two o'clock i'll be in the court
i'll be in the hearing room this afternoon all right good good perfect thank you mr o'brien
is there anyone else in the audience whose case has not been heard
i see no hands at this time thank you everyone all right and just to be clear for the record
we're recessing until two o'clock thank you
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Okay. So, we're still on the 930 list. We have one case. So, it's MI-2025-002-113-7709 Ridge Avenue.
Mr. O'Brien is the attorney, and Bill Beam, we had a little bit of a hard time this morning.
Could you state your name again and spell for the stenographer?
William O'Brien, W-I-L-L-I-A-M, O-B-R-I-E-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client, a relationship to the property?
My client is D. Remodeling Ridge Avenue, LLC.
The managing member, Dan Dragomir, is in the audience.
Okay, and our vice chair has a few questions.
Good afternoon.
Have you submitted your documents five days in advance of this hearing?
Have you submitted your documents five days in advance of this hearing?
Documents have been submitted.
Documents in this meeting.
And do you waive the note of refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Okay, thank you.
You can share your screen and proceed with your case.
I would also mention there's a letter of non-opposition with provisors from Upper Rocksboro Civic Association.
20 non-opposition.
17 of them are near neighbors.
Yes, thank you.
So this is a continuation from a hearing on August 27th.
Resumptive hearing.
And, Phil, the way we'll do it is you'll give us your updates, the board, then we'll ask questions, and take public testimony and then planning, and then we'll vote.
But you might want to just give us a couple minutes up.
Yeah, I just want to refresh your memory just a little bit.
The biggest variance needed is multifamily use.
The property is zone CA1.
That is a zoning that was introduced after my client purchased it.
It was CMX2 when he purchased it.
And on page 29 of the exhibit package is one of the pages from the, bring that up now, this is from the Lower Northwest 2035 plan.
Again, this intersection at Shawmont and Ridge Avenue, the Planning Commission has indicated, will change from CA1, which it is now, to CMX2.
CMX2 allows multifamily, but allow this by right.
The next page, 30, summarizes the apartment uses that are in this block and the block on either end, either side, the 76 and 7800 blocks.
There's 338 apartments.
Fifteen of them are multifamily.
Fifteen of the properties are multifamily.
So this is consistent with the immediate neighborhood.
Landscaping is another refusal.
If I bring up page 41,
This is a aerial view from the Philadelphia Water Department's parcel viewer.
So here's the lot in red, surrounded in red.
The strict application of the code requires a yard tree.
There's no yard.
Requires a eight foot buffer between the parking in the rear of the building
and the residential neighborhood.
that can't be done without eliminating the parking. And then it also requires
parking interior landscaping within the parking area. But those are all
hardships because of the configuration of the lot and the location of the
existing structure. We went through this. This building was originally built as a
a warehouse about 1952.
That's, well, this is what it looks like now.
It is primarily showroom for a kitchen and bath business with some warehousing storage space on the right side.
Originally, when my client purchased it in 2009, it looked like this.
it looked like this.
So that's what it looked like in 2018.
So a lot of improvement has already occurred.
When he purchased it, as I said, multifamily was by right.
He now wants to go through with that.
The changes we've made are shown on the zoning plan
And summarized on the proviso plan form, you may recall we got to the, more or less near the end of the presentation, and some of the members questioned the wisdom of having the entrance to the apartments in the rear of the building where the parking is.
So we have redone it. Let me go to a rendering page 42 of the materials.
So we have redone it.
Let me go to.
So now you can see on the right side where the garage door was, that header has been enlarged.
There's a door to the storage area and now a separate door, an entrance to the staircase, which will serve the second and third floors.
There's an added benefit here because of the change in grade between the front and the rear of the building.
From the rear, there were two flights to the second floor.
Now there's only one flight.
In addition, in addressing some of the other concerns,
we've reduced the parking to eight spaces to conform with eight apartments,
And we've also introduced a handicapped parking space, which is shown on the zoning plan, which I'll get to in two seconds.
We've relocated the trash area from the front of the building right near these entrances on the right side to the north side yard.
And that's shown on the zoning plan as well.
And then finally, we've introduced a four foot wide canopy over the entrance to the apartments and then turning the building along the north side, extending back to the rear of the building where the parking is.
So if you're entering from your car, you now will be able to walk underneath a four-foot-wide canopy to the front of the building.
Here is the zoning plan.
Let me go through sections of it.
Go back to the mic though, the mic.
This is an image of that canopy, it is a fixed canopy four feet wide and as I said, it covers
the entrance and then makes the turn along the entire north side so that you're covered
from parking to entrance and go through the floor plans.
So here's a side elevation, a cross-section where you can see now the entrance is one floor to the second floor instead of two, as it would have been from the rear.
The parking, there was some concern.
I can show that aerial view again.
So if you see the back of the building here, there is a neighbor that has parked an RV
right here which interferes with the use of this area for parking. So to be fully
certain we had the architect come back out measure it to make sure that the
eight spaces depicted on the zoning plan will fit without any interference from
this RV and that is shown on the zoning plan right here so you have seven
spaces plus the eighth space which is the handicap you can see that the rear
property line is over 100 feet, but we're only using about eight times, eight
times eight, 64 feet for parking. So there's plenty of room where this RV can
continue to sit there and not obstruct access, ingress and egress to the
ingress and egress to the parking spaces.
parking spaces.
I think that's a bit about it for the changes.
Did you want to see more?
You want to have your client come on that?
You could.
Dan, a dragon mirror is in the audience.
If he'd raise his hand.
If I'd love to talk now.
Hello.
Hi, sir. Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
My name is Vasily Dan Dragomir, V-A-S-I-L-E-D-A-N-D-R-A-G-O-M-I-R.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
I swear.
Please proceed.
Mr. Dragomir, were you in the audience during my testimony?
Was my testimony truthful?
and do you adopt it as your own yes thank you give questions from the board i just want to be
clear that there's now four foot walkway from the front to the rear yes okay along the north side
let me show you so along this path you can see
there's the uh four foot wide canopy it continues um all along okay okay
other questions questions from our attorney hillary emerson not at this time mr chair
questions from the um the public coordinating rco first
Other RCOs?
District council member or their representative?
And anyone else who has comments?
Planning commission.
There we have one hand up from George Davis.
this is jason hand um temporarily person's coming back in as a panelist sure thank you very much
Thank you.
George Davis, you're still in the audience.
Please unmute.
Do we see him, Chase?
He wasn't muted, but he's
something's going on with his machine, maybe.
George?
George Davis, are you still available?
We can move on, Chair.
Planning Commission.
Before we, I just, Mr. Davis is the next door neighbor at 7727 on the north side of this property.
Mr. Davis has solar panels on his two-story building.
I remember.
And he's disappointed now that this height-compliant building may be approved.
Just for the record, I want to say that my client, if it's permitted, will allow Mr. Davis to relocate his solar panels on his roof when it's finished.
He still has opening three sides.
But if the performance of the solar panels is inadequate, my client would give him a license to move the solar panels to the new roof.
and he would pay for the installation cost of those panels on his roof.
Again, I don't know if the code permits that, but if it does, my client will do that.
Thank you. Planning?
Amy Boyd with the Planning Commission, AYBOID.
Amy Boyd with the Planning Commission, AYBOID.
Do you swear to tell the truth, all truth, nothing by the truth?
We proceed.
I will be re-entering the testimony shared on 8-27-2025 at 2 p.m.
The comprehensive plan recommends a change in zoning from the current CA1 commercial auto-oriented to CMX2 commercial mixed use.
the proposed eight dwelling units would be allowed under the proposed zoning
the application is subject to the landscape and tree code and the appellant refused to comply
with the requirements for yard tree landscaping buffering from residential and parking lot
interior landscaping requirements in certain situations if some or all the landscaping
provisions are impractical or impossible to comply with the number of trees and plants
or landscape dimensional requirements of the zoning code planning commission staff
could consider a waiver with a fee in lieu of providing trees.
In this case, however, the appellant refused to comply with the code
and did not submit a waiver request after various attempts from the plan's examiner.
For this application, it was calculated as a $9,000 fee of avoidance
and should go to the Philly Tree Fund for future citywide tree planting and greening initiatives.
The Planning Commission recommends that the board grant the requested variances
for multifamily but deny the requested variance for yard tree
buffers from residential and interior landscaping. The applicant
will need to return to PCPC to comply with landscape and tree code or
waive for in fee and loop process.
Thank you. Mr. O'Brien, you have a comment?
No. Under the code, this is
considered a development even though there's not one spate of soil being
turned okay so mi 2025 002 113 7709 ridge avenue i vote yes with proviso her refusal dated 9-3-25
and revised plans one page stamped by zba on december 3rd 2025 michael johns my vote is yes
with proviso cheryl gaston my vote is yes with proviso tennetta graham my vote is yes with
proviso i'm mcadams my vote is yes with proviso and when my vote is yes with proviso thank you
sir thank you thank you mr chairman thank you so we're going to open up our 2 p.m meeting good
afternoon everyone my name is bill bergman i will be chairing this meeting of the zoning board of
adjustment with me is our vice chair tanetta graham how's it mr chairman our board secretary
cheryl l gaston our board member michael john president mr chairman sorry board member michael
johns president chairman board member tya win present mr chairman and our board member ryan
mcadams president mr chairman also present is hillary hillary emerson our attorney our zoning
board director in hagerty and our board administrator lakeisha dandy recording this
hearing will be posted on the zba website by participating you consent to be recorded this
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Let's look at our schedule for this afternoon.
Number one, MI 2023-005-621-254-South 54th Street.
Zen Jin is the attorney.
Mr. Jin would like to address the case.
Mr. Jin.
good afternoon chair this is jason hand i will be co-hosting okay for the session at this time
mr jen will be coming back in as a panel thank you very much welcome good afternoon
hi counsel could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
yes uh my name is then jen z h e n last name j i n you swear or firm to tell the truth the
whole truth and nothing but the truth? I do. Counsel, could you give us an update where this
case stands? Yes, so this case was scheduled for a new hearing because at the first hearing
it lacked plans for the property and there were questions as to how the units were laid out.
It's my understanding that my client is getting the plans. However, it was not available as of
today. And this was a hearing that was marked, must be heard. We had originally been given a
potential January date as the resumptive hearing date, and it was moved to December.
The client was on vacation. The architect was on vacation. It just wasn't ready for today.
Okay. All right. So, MI 2023-005621-254-South 54th Street. Cases continue to 3-11-26.
Thank you.
Thank you very much. And MI 2025-004-255-5601-Hunter Street. Vern Anastasio is the attorney. This is the first listing. We have no exhibits. Is there anyone here for the case?
our debut enterprises to the listed owner it's the first listing
yeah i do not see any hands raised for that matter so mi2025 004 255 5601 hunter street
that case is continued to 3 11 26. hillary will come back at a later date for that other case
that we still have right okay um let's let's do our add ones
number one mi 2024 007 233 2719 east allegheny avenue
i vote yes with proviso per refusal dated 11 26 25. michael johns my vote is a yes with proviso
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Diane McAdams, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Diane Wynn, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Number two, MI 2024-004-490-1318 Clearfield Street, T-C-419-484.
I vote yes with Proviso.
Revised plans, four pages, stamped by ZBA, December 3rd, 2025.
Use registration required prior to occupancy for vacant commercial space on the ground floor and maximum 169 dwelling units.
Michael Johnson, my vote is yes with proviso.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes with proviso.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes with proviso.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes with proviso.
Tywin, my vote is yes with proviso.
Number three, MI-2025-004-185-2250 North 2nd Street, I vote no.
Michael Johns, my vote is no.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is no.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is no.
Iowyn, my vote is no.
And number four, MI-2025-001-287-1627 South A Street, my vote is no.
Michael Johns, my vote is no.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is no.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is no.
Ty Owen, my vote is no.
the next case mr mcadams has recused himself from the case so it's mi2025
zero zero four three eight seven townsend road leonard altieri is the attorney for the owner
good afternoon everyone
Good afternoon, everyone.
Counsel, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
counsel could you please state your name and spell
My name is Leonard, L-E-O-N-A-R-D.
Last name is Altieri, A-L-T-I-E-R-I, with the law firm of Claire Harrison Harvey Brandsburg.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client and relationship to the property?
My client is the Steamfitters Local Union 420 Realty Incorporated.
Our vice chair has a few questions.
Good afternoon. Have you submitted your documents five days in advance of this hearing?
I have.
And do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Thank you. You can proceed with your case.
There's, by the way, unanimous support from Parkwood Association, 26 total votes.
Everybody can see my screen? Perfect.
So again, thank you and good afternoon, Mr. Chairman and members of the board.
Leonard Altieri at the law firm of Claire Harrison, representing the applicant, Steam
Fitters Local Union 420 Realty Incorporated.
I have with me this afternoon, Jim Schnell, the business manager of the Steam Fitters
Local 420, as well as Rustin Oler, who is our architect for this project.
So the property we're talking about is the Steam Fitters Local 420 facility.
I don't want to just call it a union hall because it's more than just a union hall for
what the application, what part of this application is about.
So the steam fitters is going through a massive redevelopment of their project, of their property, excuse me.
It's no longer just a union hall.
It's also a benefits facility, but it will also be a training facility to ensure that the next generation of steam fitters are up to date with the latest technology.
It'll be a state-of-the-art facility for continuing education as well for our local journeymen and journeywomen.
So during the day, it'll be used for our apprentices to learn the trade.
And in the evening, it'll be used as continuing legal education.
This training facility will allow for our skilled union workforce to continue while providing for family-sustaining jobs.
Our client has made a long-term investment in the community by not just renovating this facility but choosing to stay there for years to come.
So what we're talking about, you know, we've already gotten the approval for the actual renovation part, and now what we're talking about is signage.
So we do have, as the chairman said, a unanimous letter of support from the Parkwood Civic Association.
There are 26 members that were there.
All 26 voted in favor of both the number of signs that we are proposing as well as the square footage.
The property itself is located in the Light Industrial Zoning District.
And just to orient the board where it is, we're speaking about this area right here.
Again, surrounded by predominantly warehouses, not a lot of residential structures or any really in the direct vicinity of it.
This is what it looks like from the street view prior to the renovations that's going on right now.
Similarly, from the other side as well.
So with regards to the signage that we are proposing, again, this is a facility that serves multiple purposes.
It's both a union hall but also a location for our benefit fund office and then also a training facility for both the apprentices and then also the existing journeymen and journeywomen.
When we applied to LNI, we received a refusal for both the total number of signs, specifically the freestanding signs, we're only allowed one per frontage.
We are proposing to do two, which is located right here.
That's what the sign will look like.
And then also the total number of square footage for the signs in general.
So looking at it from a building elevation perspective, in the west elevation, the signage is already existing.
The proposed signage from the South Elevation, again, is the 420 logo, the Benefit Fund Office.
Again, from the East Elevation, showing the existing signage is already there for the training facility, but also the logo.
And then similarly, for the South, the East, and the North, the logo as well.
Now, Mr. Schnell will tell you, if I was to have him testify on everything, he's obviously there every day.
because the building is not you know there's not adequate signage there they have people
constantly coming in and out of the building attempting to go to different sides to get to
the different offices this signage will help not only identify the different locations within the
building itself but also be a source of pride for the local 420 and again showing that investment
that they have made in the community and again the refusal which we received for the total number of
freestanding signs, and then also for the square footage, and the RCO, again, voted in unanimous
support for that. I do have Mr. Schnell here, who I'll have adopted my testimony, and I also have
the architect, Mr. Oler, who can be available for any questions as well.
Why don't you bring Mr. Schnell one? We're not used to see you sitting on that sign, but it's a...
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman. Could you please stay your name and spell for this tonight?
Sure. My name is James Snell. That's J-A-M-E-S.
Sure. My name is James Snell. That's J-A-M-E-S, Snell, S-N-E-L-L.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do, Mr. Chairman.
Please proceed, counsel.
Mr. Snell, can you tell the board your relationship to this application?
Sure. I'm the business manager of Steamfitters Local Union 420.
I've been there, it'll almost be seven years, and we decided now is the time to make a major
investment in upgrading our facility, mainly our training center.
And so you were authorized to speak on behalf of the applicant this afternoon?
Yes, sir.
And were you present in the room when I made the presentation of the zoning board?
Yes, sir.
And is everything you heard me say true and accurate to the best of your knowledge,
information, and belief?
Yes, sir.
Thank you. Questions from the board?
Oh, I'm sorry, one other. Mr. Chairman, you would adopt that testimony as your own?
I certainly would.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
Questions from the board?
Questions from our attorney?
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Questions from the public, first to coordinating RCO?
Other effects?
I don't see any answers, Mr. Chair.
Okay. Other effective RCOs?
no answer district councilman once again no answer anyone else
no answer planning commission amy boyd with the planning commission the comprehensive plan
recommends no change in zoning to the existing i1 light industrial the appellant has not
demonstrated that there are unique physical conditions or circumstances of the property
they would prevent it from being used in conformance with the zoning code the planning
commission recommends that the board deny the requested variances for sign count and size.
Thank you. MI 2025 004387 14400 Towson Road. I vote yes. Michael Johns. My vote is yes.
Cheryl Gaston. My vote is yes. Tanetta Graham. My vote is yes.
Ty Owen. My vote is yes. Thank you. You have your vote and I would admit that I've only been lost
one's trying to find that place thank you very much mr chairman a half hour to get where i
thank you very much everyone thank you board
and the appointment is later
Number four.
Alex, number four, MI2025-004-378-2749-Tremont Street.
Alex Goldberg is the attorney.
counsel could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
sure my name is alex goldberg a-l-e-x-g-o-l-d-b-e-r-g you swear or affirm to tell the truth
the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do um could you identify your client the relationship
to this property? Sure. My client is Juan Bonilla. He's sitting to my left and he's the owner of the
property. I would tell you that we have a letter of support from the Northeast Community Civic
Alliance and an applicant also provided seven form letters six from that particular block.
Our vice chair has a few questions. Good afternoon. Have you emailed your documents five days in
advance of this hearing? I have. And do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its
accuracy.
Thank you.
You can share your screen and proceed.
Some technical issues with the screen, possibly.
Oh, okay. I just missed that off. All right. Let me go full screen mode.
Okay. So as I mentioned previously, my client Juan sitting to my left, he's the owner occupier
of this single family home. He's lived there with his family since 2013. In 2015, he
in 2015 he closed off of the garage which is a case I've been in front of the
board for many times and in around 2020 he added a rear addition some covered
outdoor space the reason we're here is because of the garage but in the
application language you can see reference to that rear addition as well
we have the notice of refusal surface parking spaces are are prohibited in required front yards
as the board has probably seen from the aerial photos there's surface parking available in front
of all of these houses in this neighborhood this is not out of character for homeowners to close
off the garages and just use their surface parking as their accessory off-street parking instead
and turn that garage space into additional living space which is what juan has done turning that
into a guest bedroom his family has filled up all the bedrooms in the house and you know just
wanted to be able to have an additional guest bedroom so that's our one refusal we have a
letter of support we met on 1028 with northeast community civic alliance there's reference to
only positive feedback in regards to this project there were 14 attendees several near neighbors
including adjacent neighbors were there in support who Juan has great relationships with
and were willing to come out to this community meeting which was in person you know we didn't
hear any instances of disturbances to neighbors or anything like that and and you know we're just
hoping that he could you know get through this process successfully we have letters of support
as previously referenced 2747 and 2748 across the street you can see just clicking through here
there are several letters of support seven in total
here's some nearby comparable converted garages on Tremont street these all these properties were
all built around 1959 and they're all sort of laid out the same way this classic northeast
philadelphia home with front loading garages
here's an aerial view you can actually see in the aerial image
all of these surface parking uh you know that that people are doing in
in front of their homes which is exactly what we're proposing to do and
what we have been doing since uh 2015 when this work was done
of course we would agree to a proviso to obtain a certificate of occupancy for
the work um at the conclusion of this process if the board is inclined inclined to grant the
variance it is an rsa3 property we're not seeking any use variance it's a single family home and
will remain that way this is what the front of the property looks like there's the notice posting
here it is in 2017 as i mentioned the work was done in 2015 this is the back it's a covered patio
again not seeking a variance for this obviously we'll need to obtain permits to legalize the work
as built but i just wanted to include that for the board's reference
to the right of the property again you see all the parking the surface parking
that's being utilized this is the space that was converted this was the former garage it's
a guest bedroom i guess right now really just being used for storage
here's a plan i'll zoom in on the floor plans so you can see
This is that required front yard, right?
So this is where the parking is.
There's a door to the right that leads to a utility room and a laundry room.
The door to the left leads into that guest bedroom.
There are stairs obviously going up into the main part of the home
as well as access to a storage room in the rear part of the home.
And then you can see sort of a before and after of the work here.
Again, 1028 was our RCO meeting.
our application for appeal, the deed to the property, and the certificate of tax clearance.
With that, I'd ask my client to adopt my testimony.
Sir, could you come forward and sit as close as you can to the mic.
Could you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer?
Yes. My name is Juan Bonilla, J-U-A-N-B-O-N-I-L-L-A.
Do you swear or affirm that tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
I do. Counsel? Juan, did you hear my testimony today? Yes. Was it true and correct? Yes. And do you adopt it as your own? Yes. Questions from the board?
Questions from our attorney, Hilary Emerson? Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Questions from the audience? Anyone from the coordinating RCO?
Any other RCOs?
I see no hands changed.
Any other RCOs?
I see no hands changed.
District Council members or their rep?
No hands changed.
Anyone else?
No hands changed.
Planning Commission.
Amy Boyd with the Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning to the existing RSA 3 residential single family.
there is no evidence that the conversion of the garage into living space was done with the benefit
of permits the appellant has not demonstrated that there are unique physical conditions or
circumstances of the property that would prevent it from being used in conformance with the zoning
code the planning commission recommends that the board deny the request variance for parking in
the required front yard thank you mi-2025-004-378-2749 tremont street i vote yes michael
johns my vote is yes cheryl gaston my vote is yes tenetta graham my vote is yes ryan mcadams
my vote is yes i win my vote is yes counsel stay there a minute please um will mr o'brien
come forward please um mr chair for that that last case um there was an amended refusal
yes this one here on the tremon street we did not vote with the amended refusal
okay so we'll vote again for all right so mi2025 004 378 2749 treemont street i vote yes
with proviso per amended refusal dated 8 13 25. well johns my vote is yes with proviso
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Ty Owen, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Mr. O'Brien, MI 2025-004706, 184 Cotton Street.
I understand that is going to be continued.
Am I correct?
That's what I understand, yes.
All right, so that case will be continued to 2326 at 930 a.m.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you.
Mr. Chair, I just wanted to put on the record the reason that that case is being continued is because we had an attorney enter an appearance for a neighbor just before the hearing to be a party to the case.
And unfortunately, that attorney is not available today and asked for a continuance, so we are moving this so that all parties can be present at the hearing.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
So, MI-2025-004-379-1938-40 East Hazard Street.
Alex Goldberg is the attorney.
Mr. Goldberg, you've already been sworn.
Could you please just state your name for the record?
Alex Goldberg.
Do you identify your client or relationship to the property?
My client is 1938 E Hazard, LLC, and its representative, Avra Moslik, is in the virtual audience.
Our vice chair has a few questions.
Good afternoon. Have you submitted your documents five days in advance of this
hearing? I have. And do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to
its accuracy? I do. Okay, thank you. You can proceed. You have a letter from East
Kensington Neighbors Association, unanimous support, and a letter of non-
opposition from Councilmember Squilla. Okay, this is an interesting project that
This is the second iteration.
We made a separate filing about a year and a half ago for a new construction five-unit dwelling on this sort of extra-large RSA 5 lot in East Kensington.
We had a community meeting.
It did not go well.
It was too dense, and there was not enough parking, so we abandoned that application, and we refiled for two units and two parking spaces.
um throughout this entire process we've been in constant communication with our only adjacent
neighbors to the right on east hazard street who are represented by council who may or may not be
on in the virtual audience today um you know we had meetings with them throughout the design
process and they were present at the community meeting that took place in november and
they're in support of the project so i think this was the the community meeting process you know
working in the exact way it should and and we think this is a really great project i'll also
note that i have the project architects representative mark wallace in the virtual
audience so as i said this is a double wide lot actually i ran the numbers on the average lot
sizes on our block and we're 2.6 times larger than the average lot on east hazard street measuring
2,134 square feet. There's, you'll see in the photos, there's an existing single family on
the right side of the lot, and there's a large garage that runs all the way to the rear on the
left side of the lot. Currently, the lone residential tenant uses that garage to store
store their car um you know which we think is a is a quite an under utilization of this large
their car, you know, which we think is a quite an underutilization.
building structure on this very large lot we're proposing to demolish the majority of that garage
while keeping the existing single family in the way that it is by demolishing a portion of that
garage and i think this will make more sense when i get to the plans we're creating two separate
building structures they're no longer connected by this internal drive aisle for lack of a better
term so we have a refusal for refusal for multiple principal buildings we have a refusal
for roof deck a roof deck setback which is really not a roof deck it's it's more of a balcony and
providing that five foot setback would eliminate the majority of it we have a refusal for accessory
parking we are utilizing that existing curb cut we're not taking any parking off of the street
we're you know repurposing that curb cut and in turn instead of interior accessory parking it's
just exterior surface parking and then the two family household living is prohibited in rsa5
again this is 2.6 times larger this is a hyphenated address it's 38-40 1938-40 so we think two units
on this lot is appropriate the way that it's designed is is more of a condominium structure
front to back and i think um the board will appreciate the the design efforts we made to
make this you know a great project we met with ecna we had six uh votes in support and zero in
opposition it sounds like the council member is in non-opposition as well here are the aerial views
so currently there is no rear yard the building structure goes all the way to the back of the lot
we're basically cutting off the narrow part of this building structure where that open space is
it's uh so the the back part is remaining as is and we're building a small one-story addition on
top of that to create bedrooms in like a loft style space that's basically six and a half feet
tall on top of that existing garage and roughly 18 by 27 feet that's the only new construction
that we're doing here we're really demolishing more than we're building um and and uh we maintained
that nine foot setback on the rear which is required to building on top of a non-conformity
so we actually don't even have a rear yard refusal for the addition that's going on top of it
here's the zoning map you can see we're obviously much larger in conjunction with
the building behind us on east sergeant than all the other buildings here
here's the photos this is the front so this single family home is staying and the the garage is is
going away here's to the right of the property there's a lot of multi-family much larger and
more dense than us on this block so i think um you know it was important to for the neighborhood
that five was way too many so we dialed it back and and uh this is the best version of the project
you can see this is the structure back here which is mostly the existing garage with this small
addition built on top of it that will be partially visible from the street this is where that garage
used to be there's two front to back surface parking spaces here i think it makes most sense
And I imagine the board would agree that those two parking spaces sort of belong, quote unquote, to the structure in the rear.
It's bigger. It's more suitable for families.
And with the front to back parking, it wouldn't really make sense to have them shared because then you have an issue with sort of getting in and out.
And if your neighbor is not home, how do you get your car out anyway?
This is what the addition looks like, right?
It's on top of the existing structure.
We go up to 27 feet, nine inches.
so we will sort of peek out on top of the existing single family home at the front by
five feet five and a half feet so very minimally you'll see an elevation of what that will look
like this is what it looks like on the site plan you have that existing front building they have
the yard back here you have the two parking spaces with a three-foot drive aisle running
up the left side of them space for trash cans in front of the parking spaces and then you have the
building structure which the footprint is remaining as is with this dark gray addition on top of it
and this speckled portion right here is that roof deck which is sort of a walkout from those lofted
bedrooms on top of the warehouse but not on top of the addition um so kind of more of a balcony
and having the five foot set back there on what is a 10 foot roof deck would basically cut it cut
it in half and we'd prefer to maximize that outdoor space because otherwise that you know
That home back there does not have any outdoor space because, again, this yard will belong to the single-family home that's existing.
2D elevation of what the structure will look like, again, just sort of peeking out above.
This is what it looks like from the back.
Here's the floor plans.
Zoom out a little bit.
So here's the basement plan.
It's remaining as is for the single-family in the back.
It's just storage and utilities and laundry. There's actually 10-foot ceilings underneath of this garage.
utilities and laundry there's actually 10 foot ceilings underneath of this garage i'll allow
mark wallace the architect to speak more on that if the board has questions um and there's mostly
storage and um you know an additional den down here and utilities moving up to the first floor
that first building structure is quite small i mean it's a two bed one bath
and is about 1300 square feet in total this is the first floor of the sort of renovated garage
structure you can see it's an open floor plan really nice has a has a primary suite on the
first floor and then in the back there are stairs up to that addition floor which is again sort of
loft style you can see if i zoom in the skylights here to provide natural light because again we
go all the way up to the we touch the party wall on all three sides back here um there's a there's
a full bathroom and then up sort of a half a flight of stairs you have these two lofted bedrooms with
nice big windows and access to the uh to the deck that's out here and the top floor of the existing
Structuring structure is two beds and a pass.
Moving to our RCO meeting notice, we had that meeting on 11-12, again, unanimous support,
application for appeal, the deed to the property, 1938 e-hazard, LLC, and our certificate of
tax clearance.
My client may be in the virtual audience, I know he has some family medical issues,
but i guess let's see if he's there um his name is avram what's his name avi oslik avi
show of hands i see no hands okay um council as an officer of the court uh we'll take your
testimony all right okay and you have an architect here in case there's a question that you sure
would you like to swear i think let's wait to see what the questions sounds good questions from the
board your questions so the your your egress out of the rear of the uh two-story front uh property
uh is through that yard and then the driveway there's access so they have they can actually
access from the driveway to the to their rear yard is that there there is right here and
mark looks like he's got his hand up i i'd ask him to follow me up here but there's space here
behind the parking and there's a three-foot sort of walkway along the parking i imagine there will
be an operable gate that's that's in this direction but why don't we call mark on he's
the expert what do you have here what's his name mark wallace mark and these these are for sale or
the rental or whatever the plan is to do a condo so to sell them okay all right would you guys for
a man please could you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer mark wallace
m-a-r-k-w-a-l-l-a-c-e do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the
truth i do please proceed counsel mark so um did you hear the question about the the egress for the
front the front building yeah we do um i don't know if we took them off the the floor plan can
you go to the floor plan instead of the site plan i believe we have the fence drawn in
yeah so essentially here where we have the the egress well out of the basement den
and then we placed a rear gate um into that side yard so that we we clearly delineate who has like
that rear yard space for the front structure versus what the rear structure is and they will
share that easement out to the front well not an easement it'll be a planned unit development
all the questions what's happening in the basement of each of the structures yeah great
question so we have the the the existing building structure is and mark correct me if i'm wrong i
believe it's an unfinished basement down there that just has storage and utilities there's yeah
it only it like barely i don't think it has six feet so we're not planning to do anything really
down there but there is an existing washer and dryer down there and a hot water heater yeah and
then for the new structure which also has an existing basement um which mark i believe i
mentioned previously my understanding it has very tall ceilings yeah it's got like a 10 foot i think
it's 10 foot clear i don't even think it's 10 foot floor to floor down there so our thought was to
cordon off one side as a den cordon off one side of storage we didn't really want to put any program
in front of the parking, which is why the den is on the other side.
So we figured that it would be an oversized storage room
and a second living space in the basement.
what are you guys going to do to make sure that nobody tries to turn the storage area into living
What are you guys going to do to make sure that nobody tries to turn?
space um sorry god like a practical question yeah that's thin foot ceiling most human beings
that see a door are going to want to make it a bedroom sure i mean it's not um the left half of
it will not be finished that you know we have a large egress well we'd like to be able to have as
much additional living space as possible. It's, for all intents and purposes, a
single-family home, but it's not going to be built as a
single-family home. Or it's not going to be built as an additional bedroom.
I understand that, but I just want to flag it for the record that that is my
concern, is that right now it looks like this has, it looks like it's two rooms
and that most people are going to think that they can weave use into that space
and there's not much we can do once it's sold to...
Versus if that wall was not there and it was open
and the only thing that was enclosed and only finished walls and floor were the den,
where it would kind of be obvious.
I believe the walls separating the spaces we're going to need for structure.
Some of the existing floor joists are kind of failing there,
so we wanted to break the span up and not use the existing steel that's in there so i think that
wall would have to stay but maybe the other wall to the stair portion we could remove and then
that whole space is open that's the part i was yeah okay questions from our attorney hillary
emerson not at this time mr chair questions from the audience coordinating rco
I see no hands, Mr. Chair.
Effective RCOs?
No hands, Mr. Chair.
District Council Member's Office?
No hands, Mr. Chair.
Anyone else?
Once more, no hands.
Planning Commission.
Amy Boyd with the Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing RSA 5 residential single family.
the proposal for off-street parking access is an existing condition otherwise the appellant
has not demonstrated that there are unique physical conditions or circumstances of the
property that would prevent it from being used in conformance of the zoning code the planning
commission recommends that the board grant the requested variance for off-street parking access
but deny the requested variances for multiple principal buildings roof tech setback and two
family household living mi-2025-004-379-1938 to 40 east hasard street i vote yes michael johns
my vote is yes cheryl gaston my vote is yes tanetta graham my vote is yes ryan mcadams my
vote is yes i win my vote is yes so alex your firm had four cases today i understand you're
going to handle three because you got a legal arrangement and that he's going to do all four
If I can't get them all in, then Allen's available virtually, so I don't want to disturb the order.
You're going to get the four in.
Number nine, MI-2025-004-390-3730 North 19th Street.
Alex Goldberg is the attorney.
I'll just state your name for the record.
Alex Goldberg.
um mr goldberg could you identify your client a relationship to this property
sure my client sitting to my left is mark rollins and he is the owner of the property
vice chair has a few questions for you but there is a letter of unanimous support
from the 13th ward rco also the applicant has 18 signatures from neighbors
three from the media block and two are adjacent to the property good afternoon have you submitted
your documents five days in advance of this
hearing? I have. And do you
waive the read, know the refusal, and stipulate
to its accuracy? I have. All right, thank you.
You can proceed. Okay.
this application is
about an owner-occupied triplex that has
been in the Rollins family since
Legally, a triplex. He's
the sole occupant of it now.
The units above are not occupied.
And Mr. Rollins wants to
do some interior
renovation work and obviously can't get those renovation permits because the rental license
that was active until 2012 for the three units was not uh was not revived he has not had tenants in
there for about 10 years um but now is the time for him to be able to do that to want to do that
work so this is step one in in terms of getting the zoning in order so moving to the refusal we
just have one refusal we're not proposing to do any modifications to the building structure itself
so it's just a use application and this is zoned rsa5 i would imagine at some point this lot was
not zoned rsa5 because as you'll see in the presentation materials most of the properties
on his portion of north 19th street are also triplexes and have been that
On his portion of North 19th Street are also triplexes and have been that way since, you know, Mark has lived here all his life.
I'm not going to ask him how old he is today, but, you know, he could give you more on the history of the neighborhood, and he's lived there.
All right.
We met with the 13th Ward RCO, and they were in unanimous support.
There's reference here that the project is consistent with the structure.
Mark's lived here for over 40 years, so maybe 40 years old.
The trash plant, snow removal, he takes great care of the exterior of his property,
has great relationships with his neighbors.
And so the RCO meeting went very well.
Seven RCO members in full support and zero opposition.
he also had signatures from from many near neighbors especially on north 19th street
here's the property history so this was his rental license it was active from 04 to 2012
would have expired in 2015 presumably at which point he had no more tenants
here is an application that was filed in 1968 by William Rollins which I assume is
his father to legalize three apartments which have existed for many years prior here too
fire escape in the rear of the premises which is still there that you'll see on the plans
multiple triplexes in the neighborhood so long history of these here we're just seeking to
legalize here's a triplex at 3732 which is one neighbor 3728 another neighbor also a triplex
37 uh 34 also a triplex so as i mentioned not out of character whatsoever i assume there was
some sort of zoning change here at some point there is rm1 also across the street along north
19th street here's the photograph this is the front of the property it's sort of built up pretty
well above grade that first floor is six feet two inches above grade um mr rollins's unit is the
first floor and lower lower level which has its own separate egress into the rear breezeway which
you'll see a photo of and then on the second floor it's split between uh you know a unit b and a unit
c which because of the large size of this lot which is over 2 000 square feet those units are
rather large about 700 and 900 feet respectively his unit is enormous about 3 000 square feet you
know when you combine the two floors there's the notice posting there's to the right of the property
into the left interior photos um you know we can sort of when when mr rollins adopts my testimony
i'm sure if the board has questions about these spaces he'd be happy to speak about them but
the building is existing the units are existing um he has his family stay with him often
as you can see you know we definitely need some work here and that's the goal
This is the egress out of the lower level with the staircase, which is the unit that he lives in and has lived in his entire life.
Plans and drawings.
Here's a site plan.
Floor plans.
I'll zoom in for you.
So moving up this sort of extra-wide staircase here, which is shared with the adjacent neighbor,
you have the first floor which has you know a bedroom and a bathroom in the front a large
living space and the tv room in the middle and a bedroom and a bathroom in the rear with the
kitchen the staircase takes you down to the lower level where there's a home office more living
space and another bedroom and open space in the back for storage all of this is existing we're
just seeking to legalize the existing layout and do cosmetic improvements from there here's a
staircase that's that image that you saw that leads into the breezeway that goes directly up
right here which the neighbor as you saw there's a matching door for the adjacent property which
is laid out the exact same way going up the stairs you have units b and unit c unit b is the front
facing unit about 700 square feet which is a one bed one bath sizable one bed one bath with an
office and to the left in that hallway you have a two a one bed or sorry a two bed one bath excuse
me again sizable about 900 square feet and there's an existing fire escape out of that out of that
unit and you can see that on the elevation right here there's also trash closets in units b and c
and mark will store his trash and does store his trash in the rear
we had that meeting rco meeting in september
application for appeal
application for appeal deed to the property
and the tax clearance i can call my client to adopt my testimony
mr rollins could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer my name my name is mark
m-a-r-k last name robins r-o-l-l-i-n-s you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth sir i do proceed counsel okay mark did you hear my testimony today i did
and was it true and correct yes and do you adopt it as your own yes
alex what's the rest of the block look like so both of our adjacent neighbors are triplexes
and one down is also a triplex so out of the six out of the six on our stretch of north 19th street
four of them are triplexes including questions from the board
no no questions just a comment that that bedroom in the basement didn't have an egress well
so i guess if we um do a co or whatever they'll have to address that but other than that i have
no questions sure um utilities where are they in the where are the utilities are utilities are
inside in the rear in the rear in the basement is it is there's the electrical boxes on the outside
of the structure okay okay in the rear the the gas comes in in the front but it's in the inside
okay and so the breaker boxes are are on the inside wall the electrical meters are on the
outside wall so the wires run in.
So the service comes down
to the electrical
meters
and then into the house
on the inside.
That's how they exist
The breaker boxes exist now.
Hot water heaters?
One hot water heater in the
building.
That's how it exists now.
It's a central heating unit in the building now.
The new construction will change
all that. Each unit will have its own
utility.
Okay. All right. Thank you.
You're welcome.
Questions or comments from our attorney?
Not at this time,
Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments from the
public? Coordinating RCO?
No answer for coordinating
Other effective
No answer.
district council members yes we have a hand up from charles richardson i will promote
shortly all right let's be going back again shortly sure
good afternoon mr chair and board good afternoon could you please state your name and spell for
the stenographer certainly charles richardson r-i-c-h-a-r-d-s-o-n office of councilwoman
cindy bass room 508 city hall do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing
but the truth i do and charles just for a point of information the um we have a new policy of uh
testimony will be limited to two minutes but i've never known you to go past the minute so
please this is true uh and it won't be a go that far right now councilwoman has no opposition to
granting the variance thank you very much for taking time to call so is there anyone else in
the audience no further hands mr chair planning commission amy boy with the planning commission
this property was remapped from r1 residential multifamily to rsa 5 residential single family
in 2021 in alignment with the comprehensive plan recommendation the property has a documented
history of the requested three units and the interior configuration continues to reflect that
The proposed use is also in character with the surrounding neighborhood.
The Planning Commission recommends that the Board grant the requested variance for three dwelling units.
MI 2025-004-390-3730 North 19th Street, I vote yes.
Certificate of occupancy to be obtained.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes, with proviso.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes, with proviso.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes, with proviso.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Ryan Wynn, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Thank you, sir, for coming in.
We appreciate it.
Thank you.
You have your votes.
Thank you, Jeff.
And your last one of the day, MI 2025 004779, 443 Poplar Street.
Mr. Goldberg, just for the record, state your name.
Alex Goldberg.
Could you identify your client and relationship to the property?
Could you identify your client and relationship with the property?
My clients are Whitney.
My clients are Whitney and Alex Bim, and they're the owners of the property.
There is a letter of support from the RCO with the provisos.
Our vice chair has a few questions.
Good afternoon.
Have you submitted your documents five days in advance of this hearing?
I have, yes.
And do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
I think you can proceed.
So my clients, Alex and Whitney, they're in the virtual audience.
They're at home because they just had a newborn, I think, a couple weeks ago.
They couldn't make it in today.
They're the owners of 445 West Poplar as well, and that's their primary residence.
They bought 443 West Poplar, which was not in great shape.
they did a lot of interior renovation work in 2024 and 2025 all permitted and they are seeking
a variance to be able to use it as visitor accommodation that is our loan refusal because
this is just a use application we met with northern liberty's neighbors on october 27th
it was a very positive meeting there was no opposition as long as we were in the room
there were some provisos which the board can see on the screen
um sick you know that we have no objection to with the exception that we would ask the board
to consider at a minimum a three-year temporary variance consider the considering the time and
expense to go through this process i was in front of the board for 1128 mount vernon a couple of
weeks ago which was an owner occupied visitor accommodation that had near neighbor letters of
support and rco support that was granted for four i would i would ask for at a minimum three
but we have no objection to the other provisos on this letter here is a petition they have
great relationships with their neighbors their neighbors are interested in using the space when
their families are in town several of them were at the at the community meeting and only had good
things to say about whitney and alex and and excited about the prospect of having this on
their block so you can see those letters and you can see the majority of them are on poplar street
are on the 400 block poplar so these are all really near neighbors not out of character there
are several in in northern liberties there's also some non-residential uses on our block including
a bar that's on our corner that my client's primary residence 445 poplar shares a wall with
to its left. We have street to street frontage. So trash is really only picked up on Poplar
Street, but St. John Newman Highway is the street in the rear. You'll see the postage
that was also done back there. My clients' children who were not just born also used
the rear yard, which has sort of been sectioned off from 443 as an additional play space for
them this is the front of the property here it is in the rear posting at the front and the rear
here's the right of the property on poplar and to the left and this is saint john newman highway
saint john newman way in the rear just a rear street interior photos as i mentioned in 04 and
05 they pulled renovation permits to do the work that you see here it's just a single family home
You'll see the plans momentarily, but very well done.
Okay, so here's the basement.
It's an unfinished basement with utilities and laundry.
The first floor, zooming in here, has an open concept sort of kitchen and living space with
a powder room in the rear and stairs going up.
on the second floor you can see two bedrooms and a bathroom and on the top floor is the primary
suite so a very you know basic traditional layout um that's it for the floor plans no roof deck in
this building structure um my notes here as you saw in the letter um you know we're looking for
more than a minimum of a one-night stay we'll have trash stored in the rear we
will have lighting and security cameras both both at the front in the back and
quiet hours we're able to and all of our neighbors who we already have great
relationships with all have our contact information we had this meeting in
October in person with an LNA here's the deed and I misstated at the beginning my
My client is Poplar Properties 1, LLC.
Its representatives are Whitney and Alex Bem.
And the certificate of tax clearance.
and the certificate of tax
clearance. So I'd like to call
So I'd like to call Whitney.
Whitney or Alex or both of them to get out my
testimony.
Who are you?
What's the name again? Whitney.
Whitney or Alex, right?
I think one of them was picking the kids up,
so I don't know who stayed behind her.
Whitney Bain will be promoted as a panelist.
They'll be coming back in shortly.
Hello.
Hi, could you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer?
Sure. Whitney Bain, W-H-I-T-N-E-Y, and then Bain, B as in boy, E-H-M.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth.
Counsel?
Whitney, did you hear my testimony today?
And is it true and correct?
And would you adopt it as your own?
Is there anything else you'd like to share with the board regarding your feedback and the conversations you've had with your near neighbors about this application?
Sure. It was a wonderful experience getting the petition signed.
Many of our neighbors also expressed interest that they would like to use the property for their friends and family.
And we have one of our neighbors, Mary Kate, also on the call today in support.
But we had many folks support and actually didn't meet anyone that had an opposition.
Questions from the board.
Yes, I have a question. One, just from Overhead View and Google Maps, it looks like this has a really large yard, and I was wondering what are going to be your provisions for any temporary tenants that are staying with regards to the yard and the other residential properties in your area?
Yeah, great question. So the yard has been, as I mentioned, they live next door, right? And they also have a very large yard.
They do. And they basically done a sort of unity of use type of thing where they sort of sectioned off the rear yard of the visitor accommodation space where it just occupies a back patio and the remaining space, which is grass covered, is open to their yard.
So the space back there, and I know I have a picture, and I'll try to pull it up while we're speaking, but there's not as big of a rear space for the visitor accommodations as is shown.
Okay. That was my first question. My second question was really around the management. I understand that you all are next door. Are you planning to sort of manage this unit on your own?
And then what drove the decision, because this is a single family home in decent condition, to do short term rental instead of just rent it out?
Great question. Yeah, we have three kids and family members that visit often and not a lot of space for them to stay.
So they're going to use the space as well. So when we don't have family using it, that's when we would rent it out to additional folks.
Thank you.
Other questions?
yes um the fencing in the back is that been approved otherwise uh the the interior fencing
that's sort of sectioning off our property meaning 445 from 443 i don't believe yeah you
had some pictures yeah so i'm gonna go back and it looks like it's let me just go back to that
I don't believe we pulled permits for those fencing,
but if they are, whether they're required for a variance or not,
you know, we can certainly...
Yeah, I don't think it was part of this.
It's not a part of this application, no.
But we're happy to, you know, take care of those.
I'm looking right now.
and I know
that Whitney sent it to me
Whitney I'm looking for that
rear photo that you sent me
while you're looking I guess a question I have
for you two
um have you talked to your contiguous neighbors i understand that you guys had the rco meeting but
specifically are the people at four what is it 441 um do you know if they're in support of this
project they are yeah we're very close with them too um and are very good friends as well so we
can keep close communication but we have letters of support from 441 um that's nikki and alex
Rudolph. And then a little further down is Mary Kate and Bryce. And then across the street,
we also have support. And then we own 445. So we support too. And then we're very close
So we support too. And then we're very close with bar dial as well, the bar.
with Bardot as well, the bar.
Yeah, the rest are, okay. So this is existing.
This is existing. This is the subject property. So the remaining rear yard, and correct me if I'm wrong, Whitney, is there's no separation between the rear yards when you go beyond this fence. Is that correct? It's all open?
but this isn't the picture i was looking at there was a there was another one are you referring to
the the rear fence the rear like gate that's back there yes that this is existing it's been here
since as long as they've owned the property um you know i i'm not sure if there's a documented
history of it being legalized i imagine that there is but we can certainly take a look and
And if it needs to, you know, if it needs to be, we can take care of that.
This is defense on the St. John Newman way.
Correct.
And is this, Whitney, does this, does it ever get open?
I mean, is it, is it operable?
Do you use it for any purpose?
Just, I mean, and I'm not, it looks like it's more than six feet.
It may be.
so I mean
yeah no that's fair
that's why I was asking
questions from our attorney
Hillary Emerson
not at this time
Mr. Chair
questions from
if there's a coordinating RCO in the audience
Mr. Chair I have a hand
from Madeline Shacumba
I will speak
can you hear me i can't could you please state your name and spell i'm sorry i was having trouble
with my computer and it was i wanted to make sure that i was could be heard so i am i'm not
answering for this one it's for another property i'll sign off on this one would that be okay
Well, you're not involved in this case, right?
Okay, so what you'll have to do is wait until I get to the case.
Oh, I understand that.
I understand that.
I just was having trouble with my computer, and I had trouble with it before,
and I just wanted to make sure that I could be heard.
We hear you loud and clear.
Okay, thank you so very much.
Sure, thank you.
Anyone else in the audience?
I see no further hands to speak, Mr. Chair.
Sure. Planning Commission.
Amy Boyd with the Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing RSA 5 residential single-family zoning at this location.
The appellant has not demonstrated that there are unique physical conditions or circumstances of the property.
They would prevent it from being used in conformance with the zoning code.
The Planning Commission recommends that the Board deny the requested variance for visitor accommodation.
MI 2025-004-779-443 Poplar Street, temporary variance to expire 12-4-28, Proviso, trash
stored in rear yard.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Ryan Wynn, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Thank you. Alex, that's the most case you ever heard right around. I just want you to know that.
You're following. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Number three, MI 2025 004256753
North 44th Street
Meredith Ferliger is the attorney
I'll be coming back
into the panel shortly Mr. Chair
Thank you
Afternoon
Good afternoon counsel could you please state your name
and spell it for the stenographer
Meredith Ferliger
F-E-R-L-E-G-E-R
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Do you identify your client and the relationship to the property?
My client this afternoon is 42nd Market Associates, LLC, which is the owner of the property at 753 North 44th Street.
Okay. Do you have an RCO letter, by the way?
Do you have an RCO letter, by the way?
I don't have a letter. I have an email recounting the vote, so I can show that during the presentation.
Our vice chair has a few questions.
Good afternoon. Have you submitted your documents five days in advance of this hearing?
I did.
And do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
I do to both, yes.
Okay. Thank you. You may proceed with your case.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the board. As I mentioned, my client today is 42nd Market Associates, LLC. That LLC is represented today by Brahim and Gladen, who is in the audience in case there's any questions. We do also have our architect in the audience in case there's any questions necessary from him.
The case in front of you this afternoon concerns 753 North 44th Street in the city's West Belmont
neighborhood. This is a bit of an odd one just in terms of some unfortunate timing, so I will be
brief. To summarize, not only was the development before the board today previously permitted for
this lot by right before a zoning change occurred, but the board also approved a variance that is
nearly identical immediately next door that my client also owns, and the intent was to develop
these together. So the exhibit packet in front of you includes 16 total exhibits, and at exhibit 15,
As I mentioned to you, I do have an email from David Pickett from West Belmont confirming that the vote was seven in favor.
At the time he sent this to me the evening of the meeting, three people had not voted yet.
But the presumption would be that those three people would either have voted in support.
And even if they didn't, the vote still would have been predominantly in support.
I did touch base with him.
So will you send a copy of that to Hillary when you get a chance?
Certainly will do.
I do have tax clearance at Exhibit 2.
And at Exhibit 3, the deed shows that the applicant purchased this property on May 31, 2022.
As you can see on the zoning map at Exhibit 7, although the property was rezoned to RSA 5,
the property sits on a block that did serve as the point of division
between the new RSA 5 and the retained RM 1.
By way of some area context, I have included the aerials at Exhibit 8.
As you can see here from the arrow, 753 North 44th Street
is directly across the street from the Martha Washington Public School,
but is otherwise surrounded by residential uses that I'll touch on in more detail momentarily.
From this aerial, you'll also notice that there are two vacant lots that exist between
the existing structures. Immediately to the left is 755 North 44th Street,
which I alluded to earlier that this board heard and approved just last year.
photographs of the existing vacant lot are shown at exhibit 16 as you'll note this lot sits on a
block with similar differing vacancy just in terms of both lots and some dilapidated structures that
you can see the lot itself extends all the way back to palace street the previous structure that
sat on the lot was demolished sometime seemingly around the late 90s. So as you can see here at
Exhibit 9, I'm showing the permit history here from Online Atlas. This property did previously
receive a zoning permit on January 1st, January 4th, 2021, for the erection of a three-unit
multifamily dwelling. And you can see that in the permit language here for multifamily,
three-family dwelling. My client purchased the property just about a year later after the permit
was issued in May of 2022. Because the zoning had changed, his plans at that point to develop two
identical attached structures was compromised. So he immediately commenced the process to seek a
variance to permit the multi-family use immediately next door at 755 North 44th Street.
Unfortunately, following the time that that variance was approved, my client's design
consultant experienced some personal familial hardship and inadvertently lost sight of the
impending permit expiration for 753 North 44th Street, which is the property before you today.
By the time a building permit application was submitted for the adjoining buildings,
By the time a building permit application was submitted for the adjoining buildings, L&I informed them that the permit for this project had expired and was not capable of further extension, nor was it capable of being renewed because the zoning had then been changed.
The zoning plans that were resubmitted to L&I are shown up on the screen here at Exhibit 5
and we do also have floor plans and renderings at Exhibit 6. So as I mentioned this proposal is
for a new three-story structure for three dwelling units. Given the context of the surrounding
neighborhood the structure itself is only proposed to be three stories. Additionally
based on discussions that were had with the community way back when we were discussing 755
North 44th Street, the third story of this project will also be designed with a mansard
to further blend with the surrounding properties, which as you can see in the photographs are not
exactly uniform on this particular block. To the one side they are two-story and as you can see to
the other side they're two-story but a little bit different in terms of the look and character.
The structure itself is five feet above grade and does also have a narrow design in the rear
as you can see on the zoning plans to ensure that ample windows can be constructed in all of these
units. You'll also note in terms of refusals, this is somewhat of an unusual one, that the rear yard
is nine feet. This is a bit unusual as I'll explain as I'm sure the board is used to seeing
that rear yards are typically required to be nine feet. So I'll address that in a moment.
Each of these units is a two-bedroom unit, and you can see the square footages listed here.
The first floor unit is just over 1,300 square feet, and the other two units are 680 square feet.
Each of the units has laundry facilities, trash storage, and ample living space.
My client and this applicant handles his own property management
and has a proven track record in the West Philadelphia community of responsible management
for all of his projects. So as I mentioned, with respect to the application, we did receive two
refusals, one for the use of three dwelling units and the other one for insufficient front yard
setback along Palace Street in the rear. As I referenced, this case presents a dual hardship.
Most importantly, this project was already permitted, but due to an unfortunate timing mishap, the permits expired before a building permit could be obtained.
Because the property was remapped after the permits were obtained, as you can see here, what was previously permitted here now requires a variance.
in terms of the rear yard let me bring up the zoning plan so you can visualize this a little
bit because the property has dual frontage the palace street frontage is considered a front
despite the fact that it functionally serves as the rear yard which you can see very clearly here
at exhibit 16 in the photographs that this really is functionally the rear yard for all these homes
To comply with the code, the structure would have to meet the setback of the structure that is immediately next door, which is about 3 feet 6 inches.
That would have required, and again on the zoning plan so you can visualize, that would have required that this portion of the structure be narrowed even further to a width of only about 11 feet so it could still comply with open area requirements.
It is not clear whether the code was different in 2021 in this regard, or if Elle and I simply missed this when the original permit was issued.
Despite the rezoning, the area surrounding this property remains a mixed compilation of single-family, multi-family, and even some commercial uses.
The fact that the rezoning line was drawn essentially down the street accentuates this hardship.
At Exhibit 10, and as I have up on the screen here, the property is surrounded on all sides by a mix of multifamily densities.
Most of the comparable densities on this block and the one block south of this are between two and three units.
The applicant submits that the proposal represents the lease modification in light of the fact that the identical development was just approved last year and in light of the surrounding context immediately adjacent to this property.
The applicant submits that the proposal represents the lease modification.
We also submit the property and the proposal will not contribute to any congestion, impair light and air, or harm the neighbors.
And in fact, leading up to the RCO meeting, I received a call from a near neighbor praising the new development, given the longstanding vacancy of these lots.
We do submit that the proposal complies in full with all of the standards of the code and as more fully outlined in the memo of law at Exhibit 12.
So I would ask if my client, Brahim, is in the audience to adopt my testimony.
Brahim?
Sure. Thank you.
sir could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
sure uh my name is brahim um b-r-a-h-i-m that's my first name last name is i i-g-h-l-a-d-n
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
Yes, sir, I do.
Counsel?
Thank you.
Brahim, you've been present to hear my presentation and all the testimony that was offered in front of the board today.
Is that correct?
And do you agree that that testimony was true and accurate, and would you adopt it as if you had given it yourself?
Thank you.
We're happy to answer any questions.
Questions from the board.
Yeah, I've got a couple comments.
um the the the entire block is two-story with porches this proposed plan is three stories
no porch and i did the that project for pha so we were very intentional about making sure that
we were contextual in terms of having porches and scale etc so to see some new units come in
that are completely obliterate that sort of planned process is disheartening, right?
So I think it would be good to see the development really take on more of the character of the
neighborhood with porches and even two-story, but, you know, I don't know whether this complies
with the height restriction requirement of 38, but definitely for sure with a block that has
complete porches that are for the most part intact, except for some of the group that you show
at the other end. I think that should be for sure considered. Thank you, Mr. John. So a couple of
comments. So first of all, the proposed height is less than the code would allow here, and that was
done very intentionally to try and blend with what is there. You can obviously see just in terms of
the frontage that there isn't necessarily a uniform look here. And realistically, I understand
that, you know, you were probably involved with these PHA, but there really is not a uniform
look here. So that was ultimately what drove this particular design, which, as I mentioned,
really came out of the RCO process from even the first time around that we had to do this. So
this was not the original design that had been presented. This was a design that the community
had worked through when 755 was in front of the board and was something that they had really
requested. So obviously, since that was approved and is already, you know, going through the
permitting process, I think certainly my client can look at whether adding a porch at this point
is feasible. But I think just in terms of consistency, since 755 is already approved
and going through the permitting process, changing this one would now result in even more
non-uniformity. Well, I think the one that was approved is the only one that is in non-conformance
with the rest of the block. The photo that you have, if you look at the block, everything to
the left of your site all the way to the corner has porches that are intact everything to the
everything to the the two porches to the right don't look so good but if you go to the left
the two porches to the right don't look so good but if you go to the left
they all have porches and they're all intact and they're all two stories
the only thing that's not in context is the one that was approved that's going to be next door to
this so but it is what it is but these just i mean i think these are just really more steps and i
think that the intent was to sort of design to be a little bit more consistent with this look
which is not a full porch like it is on the right well i think it is but i i i i understood
completely but but that's that's my issue that's my issue i understood right show the basement again
i'm sorry the floor plan for the basement
and again board member uh just for context that that level is is fought is only the the structure
itself is five feet above grade so it's not it's not a full basement level which is very consistent
with uh you know many other similar properties that have been before this board in terms of
having a preference for for basement levels that are not entirely below grade
it's a bi-level to make sure that i don't see it first as part of unit one
thank you yeah it sure is i guess the other the other criticism that i have is of the units to
the layouts um those two bedroom units with that's really a combined kitchen kitchen i don't even
call it a dining living i mean you know just the way you have your furniture furniture is facing
your cabinets in your kitchen it's not a legitimate living space for a two-bedroom two-bath unit
so that's another concern that i have so i don't know it's the density i guess is the other concern
so i i again yeah sorry was there was there another question that
the question that was just the comment yeah comment understood and and again you know that
with with uh full respect to the to the concern that that has been outlined i can bring our
architect on if he's still available i know he was a little bit under the weather today to
answer that question but you know again this this was already approved exactly as before the board
today, it is identical to what is going to be built immediately next door. So it really is,
with, again, full respect to the concern here, this really is a very unique circumstance,
just in terms of, you know, again, some personal familial challenges that the design consultant
had here that led to the permit expiring. Is Sean Kang available to address the concern about the
interior layout. Is he in the audience?
Do we see
him in the audience?
He's there.
It might be
via phone. He's there.
He's there.
Okay. All right. Great.
Hello.
Could you please state your name and spell for this?
It's H-Y-O-N, last name K-A-N-G.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Could you turn your video on, please?
All right.
Sorry.
He's coming back in as a panelist now, Chair.
Thank you.
Thank you. In 500 feet, turn left onto Donoglois Road. Oh, boy. Is it on? Council, I think I've
already swore you in, am I correct? Yeah. Right. Council, could you ask your questions? Sure. So,
Sean, there were two design related concerns that the board expressed today, one relative to porches,
the other relative to the interior layout. Did you hear both of those comments?
yes i mean the porch we can do something very similar to the door next door where it's just
over the steps like if i think to the left of the property um it's literally just steps and
a covered roof that's right over the entry and not a full porch so we can add that if necessary
and in terms of the layout we made a very generous kitchen um we can do a more compact kitchen to
increase the living space so there are some design things that we can do to increase living
So there are some design things that we can do to increase living, to make it feel more comfortable so you're not looking straight at the kitchen.
to make it feel more comfortable.
I hear you. I think it's just overall too dense.
I know it was clearly something was approved by a previous board.
I wasn't on that board, but probably a two unit would be more appropriate and give you a better living space.
i have no other for no comments i was uh had a comment one i want to double down on all the
things that mike john said i also do not think this came to the zoning board i think this was
last approved in 2021 and was by right so i don't know that the statement that the community had a
say and supported it is accurate i think that it was designed this way and it got approval i think
i'm struggling to understand the hardship because your client brought this property in 2022
um and i i'm still not understanding what the the hardship is because at the time that they
bought the property the neighborhood was already under city planning proposals and the draft plan
to down zone had already been presented publicly so i think the hardship that like oh we didn't
know is going to be single family is i'm having a hard time connecting with that and understanding
that yes a zoning permit had been issued well then construction should have started while that
one was valid because it did happen on the property next door which was purchased first so
so so board member i don't know if something i said was unclear but 755 immediately next door
was required to secure a variance from this board a year ago so when i referenced the community
process that 755 immediately next door and let me let me bring it up in terms of the aerial so
this red star here secured a variance for the exact identical project that is before the board
today so when i'm when i'm referring to the fact that the design and the proposal went through a
community process it went through that process before it went in front of the board a year ago
So that so it very much did go through a community process. And then I agree with you that the permit that was issued for this particular proposal originally did not. But because the timing with 755 was such that a variance was needed on that, it ended up having to be.
i'm sorry i said i do understand the 70 55 is a different property so regardless of what happened
last year i'm here to look at 753 today on the natures of 753 and i'm saying i do not
understand the argument for hardship that's being made for this project under this permit at this
time so respectfully board member the the a prior board by granting a variance for an identical
project immediately next door inherently determined that the same hardships that face
this property, that face that property would face this property. So things such as the fact
that a prior permit had been issued for the development, and then there was a subsequent
code change, and just inherent in terms of the density of the surrounding neighborhood. I mean,
you can see here, this is a very dense multifamily neighborhood with most of the densities being
fairly consistent with what is proposed before this board. So there is a significant hardship
when a permit is issued for a project that then is ultimately faced with a change of zoning. So
Sean, I don't know if you want to jump in here and just address a little bit in terms of what
happened here and why uh unfortunately a a permit was not obtained in the time frame that uh you
know it it was supposed to be and so i did go through some personal hardship where my mother
um mother-in-law went through um pancreatic cancer and ultimately she passed away literally january
um which was right after i guess the expiration of this permit um i i i guess doing her treatments
Since we just mistimed it, didn't realize the actual expiration date and wasn't able to get it in in time.
But again, aside from those personal hardships, we do very much submit that the hardships facing this property in terms of the zoning being inconsistent with the context of the neighborhood.
And especially in terms of the community support for 755 and now for this project as well, very much meet the heart.
755, and now for this project as well, very much meet the hardship standards.
Okay. Questions or comments from our attorney?
Just a clarification, because I did not see listed in the description on the refusel
that there is a roof deck for this property, but it appeared that one was proposed as part of
the original land is there a roof deck that's proposed as part of this project
sean yes there is um and brahim typically does not use it as a public roof deck
it's only for mechanicals um he does he keeps the key i think separately locked
okay because if there there is a roof deck that should be listed in the
the scope of work on the refusal um so i mean depending on where the board goes with this
um we may need a corrected refusal so um hillary if i could so roof decks are are permitted by
right regardless so i'm not sure if it's even necessary to have an amended refusal here
because that is something that could just be added yeah not not amended corrected because
it should have been if it's on the plans it should have been listed on the refusal um because it
does have implications in terms of setbacks and an area and that sort of thing like for a pilot
house so it just it it's my understanding that it should it should be on there if that's being
proposed so that's just a correction not an amendment got it understood comments from the
The audience, RCO, if available.
I do not see any hands, Mr. Chair.
District council member or their representative.
Again, no hands.
Anyone else?
Again, no hands.
Planning commission.
Amy Boyd with the planning commission.
In 2023, this property was remapped from R&B residential multifamily
to RSA 5 residential single family
in conformance to the comprehensive planned recommendation.
The refusal for yard setback was issued
for what is functionally the rear yard of the property.
The appellant proposes a nine-foot setback,
which is a requirement for a rear yard setback
in this space zoning district.
However, construction has not begun
on the expired 2021 zoning permit for three-family,
and the lot remains vacant.
While there are other multifamily uses on this block,
the majority remain single-family.
The Planning Commission recommends
that the board grant their requested variance for a setback but deny the requested variance
for multifamily uh council we're going to hold the vote on this so we can have a lengthy discussion
about it next week we'll vote on it at 2 p.m next wednesday understood thank you very much
number six
MI 2025
004386
300 Packer Avenue
Vince DeFino is the attorney
there is a letter of non-opposition
from Retina Stadium neighbors
and a letter of
support from council member
council president Johnson
I'll be back in as a panel shortly, Mr. Chair.
Thank you.
Hi, Mr. Tofino.
How are you, Chairman?
I'm very good.
Could you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer?
It's Vincent Anthony DeFino, and it's D-E, capital F, as in Frank, I-N-O.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Could you identify your client and relationship to the property?
My client is Keystone Outdoor Advertising, and they are a less E of the property.
Our vice chair has a few questions, sir.
Good afternoon. Have you submitted your documents five days in advance of this hearing?
Good afternoon. Have you submitted your documents five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, we have.
All right. Thank you. And do you waive the reading of the refusals and stipulate to their accuracy?
Yes, I do.
Okay. Thank you. You can share your screen and proceed with your case.
Yeah. I have Mike Cantella here. He's a professional engineer, and he's going to share his screen. Is that okay? If he raises his hand?
Yep. And you'll still do the testimony.
Yeah, I'll do most of the test.
I'm going to do, I have three witnesses.
I have Ed Duffy.
He was a former vice president of the Food Distribution Center,
where the sign is going.
And I have Mike Tantel, who's coming on now.
He's a professional engineer.
He'll do most of the testifying.
And, of course, one of the principals, Joe Felici, who's with Keystone.
So just acknowledge the testimony.
So that'll be the lineup.
But basically, what can you start?
Yeah, I'm starting now.
So he has the computer.
He has the computer and he has a lot of is he is he coming on?
Yeah, he should.
There's your computer.
I'm on.
Here we go.
OK, so this is a proposed single poll, double face digital billboard.
36 feet height to the bottom of the sign, and it's a 14 by 48 foot standard, is 20 by 60.
This is in an I-2 industrial area with the nearest residential neighborhood,
1,898 feet away with basically no line of sight to the sign.
If we can go to the refusal, I'll just go over the refusal real fast.
It's Exhibit 5.
And the refusal, basically, there's three refusals in there, and that's the way we're going to present this.
The proposed non-accessory outdoor advertising sign is not permitted in the area bounded by the Delaware Expressway, the Schuylkill Expressway, and Darien Street.
This is the former food distribution center, so I have somebody here to testify about that.
And then the proposed non-accessory outdoor advertising sign is expressly prohibited within 660 feet of all ingress or egress ramps of the Delaware Expressway.
I have a professional engineer to testify with regard to that.
And also the maximum height, which we have a professional.
It's required 25, as proposed is 36.
So I'd like to introduce the exhibits that are not going to require testimony first.
So if we go to Exhibit 1, I'd like to introduce these.
Obviously, Mr. DeFino, we have all those.
You can go through them quick because we have them all, right?
So number one's the deed.
Exhibit 2's the lease.
We'll do Exhibit 3 later.
Exhibit four is the final application to L&I.
Exhibit five is L&I refusal.
Exhibit six is application for appeal.
Exhibit seven is the PIF form project information.
Exhibit eight, certificate of tax clearance, Keystone.
Exhibit nine, certificate of tax clearance, 300 Packer Associates is the owner.
Exhibit 10 is notices of the mailings that were sent out to the neighbors.
Exhibit 11 is photos of the posting.
exhibit 12 is the
state EMRCO letter of support
yep and
exhibit 13
is councilman
Niana Johnson's
letter of support and
just to mention in there
it states that the proposed sign is
1898 feet from the
nearest residential district this was presented
to him with I-76
serving as a buffer because of this
separation and the presence of highway the sign will be unnoticeable to nearby residents this
is the design is appropriate for the area the district already contains multiple multiple
advertising structures 20 by 60 while the applicant is proposing a smaller 14 by 48
the sign will not negatively impact the public safety so that's um the first
exhibits
and at this point in time
I'd like to
go to exhibit 27. I'd like to
introduce my first witness. It's Ed Duffy
and he's from the Food Distribution
Center.
He was an employee there.
He was an employee there.
Hi, Mr. Duffy.
Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Yes, my name is Edward Duffy.
E-D-W-A-R-D.
Duffy, D-U-F-F-Y.
Do you swear or tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Do you swear to tell the truth?
Yes, I do.
Please proceed, counsel.
Can you give us a brief description of your education?
Very brief. Yes. I have a bachelor's degree from Los Angeles University and an MBA degree in real estate development from Temple University.
You give us your employment history with PIDC as it relates to the Food Distribution Center.
I was a part time manager of the Food Distribution Center when my predecessor was going off and on with medical leave.
And then I assumed the responsibility for the food center on behalf of PIDC.
in around 1995 until 2006.
And you heard the refusal to propose non-accessory outdoor sign
is not permitted in the area bounded by Delaware Expressway,
the Schuylkill Expressway, and Daring Street in the zoning district I-2.
You heard that, correct?
Yes, I did.
And are you familiar with the area?
Yes, I am.
And what is that area?
It is the former food distribution center.
Okay. And if we could go, you're there, so there's the map. You see the map up there. Can
you just give us the boundaries of that area? Yes. The former food distribution center was
bounded on the north by Packer Avenue, on the east side by I-95, which continues around, makes
have been there and becomes the southern boundary of the food distribution center.
And then the western boundary was mixed, 10th Street above Patterson Avenue
and Darien Street south of Patterson Avenue.
And the food distribution center, does that include the property address 300 Packer Avenue?
Yes, it certainly does.
And are you familiar with the prohibition of billboards?
Can we go to Exhibit 26, please?
Are you familiar with the prohibition of billboards in the Food Distribution Center?
Yes, I am.
Can you tell me briefly the history of how it originated?
When the Food Distribution Center was created in January of 1956, properties that were sold there all had a deed restriction on them, limiting the property owner to a single accessory sign.
Okay, and you see Exhibits 26 up on the screen there?
And can you tell the members what that represents?
I can't see that far away.
You can't see that far away.
But you presented this to us.
This is the covenants.
It says it reads the covenants and restrictions in the deep book.
And that was for the Food Distribution Center.
Is that correct?
Yes, that's correct.
And if you go down to number 11, number 11 right here.
No billboards or advertising signs.
All right.
And can you tell me when these covenants were scheduled to end?
Because the food center was begun in January of 1956,
they ran for 40 years.
And so they were to expire in January of 1996.
And then in 1993, do you tell us where the period is?
The produce terminal managers were desirous of having those deed covenants continue into the future.
And since they were about to expire as deed covenants, they asked that it be brought into zoning.
So a new zoning classification was created called Food Distribution Center.
And then can you tell us what happened in 2011?
In 2011, the Philadelphia Produce Terminal was relocated out of the Food Distribution Center to southwest Philadelphia on Essington Avenue.
And the district is now I-2, is that correct?
Yes, that is now I-2 as a result of the new zoning code that came into existence in 2013.
Are there currently billboards that exist within the former Food Distribution Center?
Yes, there certainly are.
In this I-2 district?
How many?
There are five immediately within the Food Distribution Center,
and there are three additional ones right on the edge of the Food Distribution Center,
the former Food Distribution Center.
And in your opinion, would a proposal such as art be consistent with the character of the I-2 district as it exists?
And in your opinion, would a proposal such as ours be consistent with the character of the I-2?
It would most certainly be consistent.
Is there another last question? Any residential use in the area?
No, none at all.
Thank you very much. I appreciate your testimony.
so so mr tefino i i i think it i i mean i know what you just did there but it might be worthwhile
to show some photos if you have somebody else on so we can at least yeah right yeah we're gonna
we're gonna get into that now i wish you would thank you yeah i'm gonna bring up mike to tell
it to testify um and uh yeah and he'll he'll show us right he'll show us he's gonna give you a total
tour of everything to show you exactly well i he don't need we need a total tour of the signs
that are there now and where you're going to put this one that's what you got okay so uh
mike do you want do you want his cv first would you like a cv or you know we could put a cv up
as exhibit 13 is mike going to testify yeah mike's going to testify could you do me a favor
could you state your name and spell for the stenographer yes sir um my name is michael
Tantella, T-A-N-T-A-L-A
licensed professional engineer with Tantella Associates
Alright, do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes sir, I do. Please proceed.
Alright, Mike, can you just tell us
briefly where you're licensed? I'm a professional
engineer licensed by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. I'm currently licensed
in 10 states. I practice in Philadelphia with my firm, Tantella Associates. I'm a principal.
Our firms practice continuously in Philadelphia for almost 60 years, and I've been with Tantella
over 20 years. And you have basically, you have your resume up there and your CV up there on the
screen correct yes sir and uh i think we should move on to the pictures right now and if you
if they need more qualifications we'll get to them later because uh let's move on to uh the
site plan that you had up already yes sir all right and if you could just zoom in on that and
explain where exactly the sign will go the dimensions of the sign and how far it is from
the nearest residents. I think they heard that already. Yes, sir. Exhibit three shows a site
plan, a zoning site plan, which I developed here. It's for 300 Packer Avenue. This is the lot. It's
bounded and has frontage on Packer Avenue to the north and third street to the east and Galloway,
South Galloway Street to the west. In blue here is the proposed non-accessory digital double-faced
sign shown in plan. It's set back to comply with easements 10 feet from Packer Avenue and 17 feet
from Galloway. So it's at the northwest corner of the parcel. It's on a single stanchion or pole
or column that's set in this first parking space here. This is an elevation view of that sign.
It's proposed to be 50 feet overall height with a 36-foot haggle or height above grade line to the
bottom of face from Packer Avenue. It's two faces, each proposed to be digital. The faces will have
an overall height of 14 feet each and 48 feet wide, each with a sign face area of 672 square feet.
This plan includes some zoning notes relative to the parcel. It's currently zoned I-2,
and we show in here this is that parcel I2 this is the existing sign it's in the I2 district
which is medium industrial use and then we show some zoning controls relative to that
it's directly south of Packer Ave which is south of the Walt Whitman Bridge approach and the Walt
Whitman Bridge DRPA facility that's in and along here we also note relative to
zoning controls distance to nearest residential which the nearest is an RSA
5 approximately 1,898 feet from the nearest point of sign at South Randolph
and Bigler as part of our zoning plan
bigler um as part of our zoning plan we we tabulate the different zoning controls and zoning
overlays of what's required and what's allowed and what's proposed mike can you go to exhibit 15
please yes sir all right exhibit 15 uh shows photos of the lot so here's a view looking south
across Packer Avenue in the upper left-hand corner. The billboard non-accessory sign would
be located approximately here at that first parking spot. This in the upper right is a view
looking east across South Galloway. So that sign would be located in this first parking space here
and flag over. In the lower left, you have a view from the back of the parking lot
towards Packer Avenue along Galloway here.
So that pole would be located in this first spot here.
And then in the lower right, this is looking across South 3rd Street.
Again, this is the parcel.
The sign would be on the far side of the parcel on Galloway Street opposite.
But this just shows you the four corners of the property.
Can you go to Exhibit 17 now?
17. Yes, sir. Exhibit 17 shows views looking west on the top here, looking west along Packer
Avenue. The subject property is to the left, and that sign would be located in this first spot
here. The lower portion of Exhibit 17 shows driving east along Packer, and again, that first spot is
where this sign would be located here. This is Galloway, Packer, and then along here.
Okay. And can we go to Exhibit 16 now?
Yes, sir.
All right. And if you can blow that up a little bit.
So Exhibit 16 shows a number of things here.
identified at that first spot is the parcel 300 Packer Avenue. At this first spot here is where
the proposed sign is to be located. As I said, it's on the south side of Packer Avenue. It advertises
to Packer Avenue, both east and westbound. As I mentioned previously, to the north is the
Schuylkill 76 and Walt Moon Bridge approach to the north of it and the DRPA facility and
building also to the north. This exhibit also shows other existing signage, billboards in and
around the vicinity of this area. So what are the numbers? The numbers one, two, three along the
sides here? What do they represent? These represent photographs taken that I can show in later
exhibits that are as you egress from I-95, you have a long approach along I-95 where you slow
down from the speed limit, 65 miles an hour to 25 miles an hour. And along that long approach
is where you egress to Packer Avenue, and that approach from the gore of the ramp
all the way to the exit onto Packer is approximately 3,200 feet or six-tenths of a mile that you travel.
And when you're talking about exiting from I-95, you're talking about the front street exit,
and that's in the southbound lanes, is that correct?
You're headed northbound on, or I'm sorry, south, northbound on I-95, you egress here, and I have photos on later exhibits that will show each stage here, but as you egress.
Actually, Mike, I think it's south, you're coming southbound on I-95 and you're exiting onto the wall women there.
So it's a southbound, we can show it.
Why don't you go to position one and we can show that.
I think that's exhibit, is that 18 or is that 16?
Exhibit 18. And so this is that first point of egress from I-95. You're traveling on I-95 north, and you egress on exit 19, where you start to slow down to that 25-mile-per-hour ramp.
and as we travel along those points here again posted speed limit on the ramp is 25 miles an
hour as you travel a little further along the ramp you see
As you travel a little further along the ramp, you see existing larger non-accessory signs and billboards on either side.
You're traveling along that.
The one I'm looking at in number three on the left, is that what you're trying to put up?
All of these, yes.
So, no, this is an existing sign.
No, left, left.
I'm saying the one on the left, the sign on the left, is that the type you want to put up?
Oh, it's smaller than that, sir.
And we have renderings of what's proposed.
Yep, okay.
So what you see here on this ramp, the sign on the left to which you're referring, is a 20 by 60 billboard.
On the left.
On the left, yes.
That's a flag.
Oops, sorry about that.
That's a, let me go back here.
On the left, that's a smaller size. Yes, sir. That's a 14 by 48. That's consistent
with the size of the sign that's proposed. I believe that's a little bit, that is higher
than our sign, which is proposed. So Exhibit 18 takes you through the ramp. At some point,
you go over Front Street. And at some point, you start to approach point five on my map,
which here is Packer Avenue and you're going over front street and you're
coming down along. And if I may,
attorney Dufino,
you have a rendering what it looks like, what you're going to put up.
Yes, sir.
Why don't you show us the rendering of what you're going to put up at third
and Packer.
Yes, sir. This is a exhibit 23 a,
this is a view looking West on Packer Avenue.
You'd be traveling in these lanes,
It's three lanes in the west. This is the rendering of the proposed sign. It's a flag structure, 14 by 48 sign face digital. And you can see this justifies why we're asking for the height that we're asking for, which is 50 feet and 36 feet to the top, 50 feet to the top, 36 feet to the bottom of face.
it just clears the existing facility that's there so that it was positioned to just minimally
and let me ask you a question what is that facility that is a true leave it's a marijuana
place right sir yes sir okay and then the casino in the background yes sir that's the live casino
much further higher structure and then the opposite if uh if i may exhibit uh 23b um shows
the opposite direction with the sign rendered in and uh here again justifies the height to
be above um the the tree that's there um and clear fences because as you're traveling along
the fence appears much higher to you than the structure at a distance
All right.
Mr. Tufana?
Yeah, I mean, I have some follow-up questions.
There was a concern.
Is that okay or not?
Yeah, sure, sure.
Basically, you looked at the refusals, Mike, is that correct?
And the second refusal is the proposed non-accessory outdoor sign is prohibited within 660 feet of all ingress or egress ramps.
Yes, sir.
Is it your professional opinion?
In your professional opinion, what is the intent of that ordinance, 14905?
Yes. It's my professional opinion that that ordinance adopts the distance from PennDOT typically, which is 660 feet. It's the same distance and it prohibits signs from I-95 egress and ingress points.
Um, in, in, if I may refer to, uh, the aerial exhibit that I had here, uh, which is exhibit 16. Um, this is a little bit of a different case, uh, in that, that restriction, which is tied to PennDOT's restriction, which is also 660 feet, um, is really to accommodate transition of speeds from high
lanes of traffic to lower lanes and local roads. In this particular condition the drivers have
egressed from those higher speeds by 95 and are traveling along this ramp as I mentioned 3200 feet
or six tenths of a mile at 25 miles an hour all the while passing existing signs which are
at 25 miles an hour all the while passing existing signs which are most larger than the one that's
proposed they've had time to decelerate and they've already made up their decision six
tenths of a mile in advance of egressing off of packer avenue so as i showed those photos they
they go along and when they get off of that ramp from 25 miles an hour the posted speed limit on
Packer Avenue is 30 miles an hour. So they're already traveling at a comparable speed and have
an adequate amount of time in this ramp to transition over into the Packer Avenue traffic.
And I would contend that at this point, this ramp already is part of the local traffic. You can't
make any decisions to get off at different points. And you're traveling at like speeds of that local
road, and you have adequate time
to transition from that ramp
to the three lanes of traffic
that are heading west on Packer.
Mike, can you go back to 18 real quick?
Yes, sir.
All right. And picture
Mr. DeFino, tell me what
because we spent a lot of time looking at this.
So tell me what this thing is.
No, no. Tell me what it means.
He's saying where you turn, where he turns,
he's going to go to Packer Avenue
where it's only 30 miles an hour, so he's going
slower is that what he's saying in other words he's going six tenths of a mile down a ramp doing
25 miles an hour right and we're saying that this refusal applies to i-95 the main road where
if you look at two blow that up mike that's coming off i-95 south so that's a major deceleration
that's what we were just pointing out so this ramp goes on for another six tenths of a mile
So when you're coming off, you're doing about 25 miles an hour.
So it's not a major distraction.
That's all we were pointing at.
All right.
I'll rush down, I think.
And when you went past there, you're seeing different – you go over to have a sign there before you even –
There's many signs in the area.
All right.
Do you want to have your client come on and adopt your testimony?
Yeah, sure.
Joe, you out there
somewhere?
Joe Felici
out there?
Yes, he's been promoted to penalties. He'll be coming
back in shortly, Calvin.
Mr. DeFino, did you go to the RCO meeting?
Yes, I did.
And how did that?
Tell us how that went.
It went excellent.
There was no opposition whatsoever.
They were fine.
all right joe yes joe you heard my testimony joe please do me a favor yes i did you please
yes listen to me joe listen to me sorry i'm sorry state your name and spell for the sonographer
sure my name is joseph j-o-s-e-p-h middle initial a felici f-e-l-i-c-i right do you swear or affirm
to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Please proceed, counsel.
Joe, you heard my testimony today, Mike's testimony today.
Do you believe it to be true?
Do you believe it to be true and accurate
and accept it as your own testimony?
Yes, I do.
All right, questions from the board.
Questions from the board.
I have no question.
I think you're pretty thorough.
questions or comments from our attorney
no not at this time Mr. Chair
for me okay questions or comments from the
do not see any hands Mr. Chair
questions from the district council persons representative
no hands sir
anyone else
i do not see any further answer planning commission amy boyd with the planning
commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning from the existing i2
medium industrial the appellant has not demonstrated that there are unique physical
conditions or circumstances of the property that would prevent it from being used in conformance
with the zoning code the planning commission recommends that the board deny their requested
variance for side location, height, and size. Thank you. MI 2025, 004-386-300 Packer Avenue.
MI 2025-004-386-300-Packer Avenue, I vote yes.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is no.
Tannetta Graham, my vote is yes.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes.
Iowyn, my vote is yes.
Thank you, Counselor, you have your votes.
Thank you.
Have a great day.
All right.
Thank you.
Number eight, MI 2025-004-388-421-North Preston Street.
Gabriel Fellas is the attorney.
There's unanimous support from West Palton Saunders Park RCO
and a letter from Councilmember Gauthier's office indicating, oh, we still have that.
applicant provided also a petition of support from 41 signatures from neighbors on the block
good afternoon chair good afternoon counsel could you please state your name and spell
My name is Gabriel Fellis, G-A-B-R-I-E-L.
My name is Fellis, F as in Frank, E-L-L-U-S.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client, the relationship to this property?
My client is Wes Palatin Exchange Group LLC, which is the owner of the property.
Shirley Eisen is the representative of the entity that's here today in the virtual audience.
Our vice chair has a few questions for you, sir.
Good afternoon. Have you submitted your documents five days in advance of this hearing?
I submitted all the documents, but last night or earlier this morning, I submitted a few more interior photos requested by Ms. Jeffries.
Okay, thank you. And do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Thank you. You can proceed with your case on your screen.
let's see the table contents yes we do sir great thank you chair uh so we're here seeking today
approve uh approval for the use of the subject property as a multi-family dwelling uh with four
residential units in the existing structure uh the property is zoned uh rsa5 which expressly
prohibits multi-family living uh the property was purchased by the the applicant in may of this year
Before the current owner took possession, the most recent use of the property was as a church.
So here we have our proposed floor plans.
The property in its current condition is a three-story property with a basement.
The proposed layout would have two one-bedroom, one-bathroom units on the first floor and then a two-bedroom, one-bathroom unit on both the second and third floors.
Each unit has their own entrance and there will be no basement living.
The architect who prepared these plans, Otani Green, is also on this call. He'll be able to
walk you through these plans in more detail if the board has any questions at the end of the
presentation. So here we have some interior photos of the property. Get a little closer for you.
So, as you can see here, it's essentially in shell condition right now, so extensive
renovations are going to be required, but the other plans do not propose any material
external or exterior alterations so here we have some street views of the property on Preston
street this is our zoning map again the property is zoned rsa5 but as we'll see in just a bit
use as a multi-family property is actually in character with the surrounding neighborhood
it's actually very common on the immediate blocks as well
this is the new deed to the property showing the applicant taking title to the property in may
So now turning to our community outreach efforts, this is the community notice letter that was sent on September 22nd.
We then met with the West Powhatan Saunders Park RCO on October 9th on Zoom, where we received their unanimous letter of support.
This is that letter here.
The owner also, as the chair explained, the owner also spoke with nearby neighbors who
were not present at the virtual RCO and gathered 41 signatures of support from them.
and gathered 41 signatures of support from them so as i mentioned previously even though the block
is primarily zoned rsa5 uses of multi-family is actually quite common on the block and is very
much in character with the surrounding area we included here a list of nearby properties
that have previously been issued use variances and rental licenses for multi-family properties
with the same RSA 5 zoning designation that you can see here the majority of the properties on
the immediate block and on Bering Street having granted variances for multifamily use in the past
here we have our application for appeal
and our project information form
and here we have our certificates of mailing for the RCO meeting notification letters that we sent
out to the neighbors on september 22nd lastly this is our statement showing real estate tax
compliance and zba posters notifying the community of this hearing here today
so with that i'd like to bring on both shirley eisen and otani green to adopt my testimony
and otani can answer any more specific questions about the floor plans you might have and this
eisen can answer any questions about um her proposed plans for the property so that's the
architect you're bringing on gabriel so um i'll bring on uh mrs shirley eisen she's the owner
and then he's gonna walk us through the plans no no so the the attorney i'm sorry why don't you do
this why don't you bring the architect first walk through the plans and then have the great
so the architect is otani green he should be in the virtual audience
what's the architect's name again
Otani Green
Otani Green coming back in
as a panelist not sure
sure thank you very much Ian
you're going to need to accept the promotion to panelists and then come back in serious
screen thank you he hasn't mentioned it out here okay hello hi hello tony please could you please
state could you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer sure it's otaney green
o-t-a-n-i-e-g-r-e-e-n you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i do could you turn your video on sure
proceed counsel hey tony so i have your uh floor plans up on my screen can you see that now
uh yes great um so i just wanted to open up to any questions that the board might have and if
you want to walk through a little more uh in detail let him walk through the plans now okay
I'll let you have at it
and let me know if you need me to zoom in on any specific parts, okay?
Sure. It's perfect right where you have it, actually.
Can everyone hear me? Yes.
The basement space will be used for laundromats.
We had a request by the neighbors
that they wanted to store trash on the inside, so it'll be a vented trash room
and utilities in the basement on the first floor we have two bedroom two one bedroom apartments
one entering from the side entrance in the in the rear of the building which is already an
existing door and the first one and the second one entering from the front of the building
second floor will have a two-bedroom apartment and the third floor will also have a two-bedroom
apartment we'll be taking out the existing staircase because they we had to make them
wider to accommodate the uh the new use we'll be fire rating two-hour fire rating two-hour
firing fire rating between each apartment and each floor the building will be sprinkled
well well mr green you want to want to talk about that first floor you have two units there
is that what you're saying yes sir two one bedrooms why don't you try to explain that to
to us i mean it looks it looks like it'll be a little tight but why don't you give us a sense
us i mean it looks it looks like it'll be a little tight but one of you give us a sense sure
sure uh okay sure uh so let's focus on our rear apartment it will be bedroom the bedroom will be
at the tenant wall the you enter in the restroom is on the far far wall and the kitchen will be
on the rear wall. We'll both have windows to the bedroom for egress and also three more windows in
the open area where the kitchen and the living space is. In the front apartment, the bedroom is
also on the tenant wall and shared wall between the two units. And there's a restroom, a kitchen
and a living space on that first floor will also have the entrance up to the second floor
and the staircase with a hallway leading into the basement
okay questions from the board i would argue that that front unit one bedroom is not a kitchen and
a living space it's a kitchen that's it that's not there's nowhere to put chairs tables sofa
a TV. It's a walkway and a kitchen. So I think
that's not a legitimate unit.
The unit in the back is probably much better.
I like the fact that you have trash stored
within the unit because if
you go back to the plant, go back to the pictures of the
elevation of the street, all these multifamily
units on that block all you see are trash cans in front of those units the whole block is littered
with trash cans in front of the units we've got to do better developers and planners that are
building these places or rehab these places to make sure that they do something about these
trash cans because it makes the city look horrible so i appreciate that you're doing trash cans
storage in the basement and are vented that's a positive but that first floor front unit is not
really a good unit doesn't work i would like to double down and say that the first floor real
unit is not really a great unit either because the kitchen isn't there's not a lot of space in
the kitchen it's really tight i question why this needed to be a four bedroom and not have a single
bedroom on the first floor i also feel like because that had a separate entrance and you've
got the sidewall, this was an opportunity to easily get a wheelchair accessible unit
on the first floor. So I do feel like knowing that that's a need in the city, this was a
place where it was pretty low barrier to get something that was fully accessible on that
first floor. Other questions? Gabriel, why don't you have your client adopt your testimony?
Great.
Our name is Shirley Eisen.
Ms. Eisen.
Shirley Eisen, if you're still in the audience, please raise your virtual hand.
Thank you.
They'll be coming back in as a panelist shortly.
Thank you very much.
Hi, Shirley Eisen is here.
Hi, Shirley, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
My name is Shirley, S-H-I-R-L-E-Y.
Last name is Eisen, I-S-O-N as in Nancy.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, counsel.
Ms. Shirley, can you describe your relationship to the owner of the property, West Powleton Exchange Group?
Yes, I am the owner of the West Powleton Exchange Group.
Great. And have you heard my testimony today?
And was it true and correct to the best of your knowledge?
And would you adopt it as if it were your own?
Great. Thank you.
Questions or comments from our attorney, Julia Remerson?
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Any questions or comments from RCOs?
No hands, Mr. Chair.
Anyone from the district council's office?
No hands, Mr. Chair.
Anyone else?
Again, no hands, Mr. Chair.
Planning Commission.
Amy Boyd with the Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing RSA 5 residential single-family zoning at this location.
while the property had a documented history
While the property had a documented history of a church and a one-family dwelling dating back to 1960,
of a church and a one-family dwelling
dating back to the 19th century.
there are other multifamily properties on this block.
The appellant has not shown that the requested four units is the least minimum.
The Planning Commission recommends that the board grant the requested variance for multifamily with proviso max two units.
Gabriel, we're going to hold this, take a look at it next Wednesday morning.
we will vote at two o'clock on it but obviously that first floor was a yeah so i don't think that
first floor did well on anyone if i may share um would you be i mean you heard uh some of the board
members um feedback for that first floor um would you be open to potentially adjusting some of these
plans to have only a one bedroom on the first floor uh what i want to do is really i i heard
some of the board members but i want to talk to all of them i'm sure to get a sense of actually
actually where we stand and what we want to do with this okay understood no problem so we will
vote on this next week i'm sure thank you all right thank you where you think we're okay with henry
then we'll take a quick break okay number 10 mi 2025 004 514 3922 mellon street um henry clinton is
the attorney we're going to hold this right hillary um yes it's my understanding that
there are going to be revised plans that are submitted.
So, yes.
Morning, Mr. Chairman.
Good evening, Mr. Chairman, members of the board.
Yeah, it's a long morning, I'll tell you that.
Mr. Clinton, could you state your name and spell for the stenographer?
My name is Henry Clinton, H-E-N-R-Y Clinton, C-L-I-N-T-O-N.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Would you identify your client, the relationship to the property?
Sure. My client is AHM Properties, LLC, and the principal is Leffler, L-E-F-T-E-R, D-H-I-M-A, and he is on the call.
And there's a recommendation of support from Mantua Civic Association, and our vice chair has just a few questions for you, sir.
Good evening. Have you submitted your documents five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, I have, Ms. Graham.
And do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Okay, thank you.
You can share your screen and begin your presentation.
Thank you.
Hendrion, we're going to hold the vote on this.
Am I correct?
Is that visible, Mr. Chairman, first page?
It is.
Well, yeah, we have it now.
So I'll give you a little bit of background.
We met with Mantua Civic Association just this past Monday, and there is a letter of support, overwhelming support in our favor.
After the meeting, the client and I and the architect, we talked a little bit more about the plans.
Even though they were approved, we wanted to tweak them because we were able to get rid of one refusal.
We wanted to tidy up this trash storage situation, and we wanted a better means of egress from the rear of the property.
None of those will result in enlarging the property.
It actually shrinks the property, but I think it makes for a better project.
And that's why I'd ask Ms. Emerson if I could present what we have.
But since the meeting was only Monday night, we'll submit the revised plans by Friday of this week, if that's okay.
So this is a table of contents, A1 through A10.
Again, this is a request for a three-family dwelling on one of the two largest lots on the block.
This lot is 86 feet deep.
Most of the lots, save for one other, are only 50 feet deep.
The lot, based on the records that I'll show the board at the end, this particular lot has been vacant since 1975.
So it's been sitting there empty for basically 50 years.
The other thing about this particular lot, it's not a corner lot, but it's at the end of the block.
And the side of the house faces the rear of the properties on Union Street.
And I'll show you via aerial photographs of that.
And then there's a four-foot alley between our parcel and the rear of the homes on Union Street.
So this is the refusal.
Basically, this is an RSA 5 zoning district.
Multifamily is not permitted, an RSA 5.
And the second refusal, which is the one that we're going to eliminate, there's an excess of maximum occupied area by almost 10%.
maximum occupied area by almost 10 percent we're going to shrink the house down to 75 percent to
We're going to shrink the house down to.
make it conform with the code so our single refusal is for use. The RCO letter you have
I don't have it in my package because it was sent to you directly. These are photographs of the
street. This is Mellon Street where my cursor is is Union Street. This is the vacant lot and these
These are the rear of the homes on Union Street.
Just a closer view of the property.
We're looking east.
This is a triplex on Union Street and the property adjacent to that.
This is 665 where my cursor is and 667 on Union Street.
They're both triplexes basically almost across the street, but I would say caddy corner to where our parcel is.
This is the posting of the signs.
These are the plans.
Again, these plans are going to be modified because we're going to shrink the house from about 68 feet deep to about 59 or so.
Floor plans, basement of first floor will be one unit, second floor is a second unit, and the third floor is another unit.
We have one three-bedroom, which is the first floor and basement, two two-bedrooms on the second and third floor.
In the basement, we have two bedrooms.
This is an egress well.
One of the changes we're making on the plan, and again, it's not going to affect the refusal, is we're going to have a set of spiral stairs in the egress well so that when these sliding doors are open, you're able to exit from the basement level where we do have the bedrooms.
On the first floor, living, dining area, one bedroom and a full bath with access to the rear yard.
Second floor, two bedrooms, front and rear.
And we have kitchen area and living area right here.
We also have a trash storage area right here behind the kitchen.
And we move up to the third floor, continue up the set of steps to the third floor.
Again, a mirror image of what's on the second floor, bedroom in the front, excuse me, bedroom in the front, bedroom in the back with a balcony.
And we have a trash storage area right here behind the kitchen.
And the remaining documents are the application for appeal, typically what you would see in
a presentation, tax clearance indicating $0 owed on real estate taxes, the zoning map.
This is instructive because, again, as I said, our property is here, and my client's property is 3922 and 3920.
They're both the largest two lots on the block by in excess of 30 feet.
And as I said, there's a four-foot alley between the side of our property on the west side and the rear of the homes on Mellon Street.
There's a triplex here, and there's a triplex here directly across the street.
This is the deed indicating ownership of the property by my client.
And this is our notice letter that was sent out to 156 addresses within 250 feet of the property.
And this is from the zoning records circa 1955, October, indicating complete demolition of the property.
The other thing that I wanted to show the board was, this is from the OPA, just indicating some of the market values of the houses on the block.
Again, most of them are smaller homes, where they are typically below $200,000.
And I think from prior testimony, and my client will adopt it, that to build a single-family home would be in the neighborhood of $3,000 to $350,000.
And from an economic viability vantage point, I think that's probably why no one has made an effort to build anything on this lot for over 50 years, a single-family home, that is, because it really calls for a multifamily, as there are two directly across the street.
I also can show you the zoning records for the properties directly across the street, 665 Union Street and 667 Union Street.
So, we basically have an RSA 5 zoning district. We are not impacting any property's adjacent lighter air usage. We believe a unique physical situation where we have an extraordinary large lot.
So we basically have an RSA 5 zoning district.
As I said, one of the two largest lots on the block.
It can accommodate multifamily.
There's multifamily across the street.
We're in harmony with the code because it is residential,
and we're not detrimental to the public welfare,
and we are not impacting the appropriate development of any adjacent property.
And with that, I'm going to ask Mr. Dima to unmute himself,
and then we'll entertain
and I'll put the floor plans back up.
I'll entertain any questions from the board.
What's your client's name, Henry?
Mr. Dima, D-H-I-M-A.
Sure, Mr. Dima?
Coming back in as a panelist now, sir.
Thank you.
Good evening.
Good evening, sir.
Could you please state your name
and spell it for the stenographer?
My first name is Lefter, L-E-F-T-E-R
and last name is Dima, D-H-I-M-A.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Counsel, please proceed.
Mr. Dima, were you on the call when I presented your project to the board?
If you had the opportunity to testify, would you adopt my testimony as your own and as true and correct?
And you were at the community meeting with me on Monday night, correct?
Yes. And then after that community meeting, despite the support of the people in attendance, you decided to refine the plans and that you need a few more days to get them complete.
Yes, that is correct.
All right. Thank you, sir.
Thank you.
Questions from the board.
What's the refinement of the plan? Is that what we're seeing? Is this the refinement?
No, because, Mr. Johns, I don't have those done yet.
Basically, the refinement is we're going to shrink the footprint of the house by about eight feet.
We're going to address the storage.
This was really too big, we thought.
We're going to just change that a little bit.
And then in the egress well on the rear of the property, there's sliding glass doors,
and it makes sense to put a spiral staircase in there for rear access.
Okay. What's the height of the proposed building?
33 feet.
33 feet. Do you have an elevation that shows it in context with the rest of the...
That's going to come with revised plans, too.
And this has a roof deck?
Yes, it does.
Accessible roof deck for all the tenants or just for the third floor?
Just for the third floor.
yeah I just want to like talk about the hardship one on this block it's mostly two-story
single-family homes this is actually one of the rare blocks in that entire neighborhood where
this is really the only vacant lot and it's the same size as the two-story single-family home
next to it. The lots are identical. So I'm trying to understand why the hardship exists to not put
back a single-family home on an intact block and to go up and add both height density and unit
density. Yeah, I mean, we looked at that situation, Ms. Wynn, and directly across the street, even
though it's not facing Mellon Street on Union Street, there's two triplexes.
The lot is extraordinarily big, and I grant you the house next door, which was constructed
in 2010, and it's an RDA property, is a two-story, but it just, you know, there's an economic
viability argument when you look for a variance for usage, and that's one of the reasons I
showed all the other properties and the assessments and
values as my last
exhibit. So it's
a large lot. It's adjacent to
a, I'll go back to this.
It's adjacent to a four foot wide alley.
If I can show that again. I mean, yeah, no, no. I understand
the like physical layout where it sits. I think that that still doesn't account for the fact
that it doesn't match at all the context of this existing block. The triplexes you're referencing
are technically facing a different street. It's a different street grid. The RDA properties next
to it that you're referencing also face again a very different street. That's Union Street.
to it that you're referencing also face again a very different street that's union street and
union has bigger houses and bigger lots facing union street but this house is neither it is it
is not facing it's facing melon and like it just to me this this current proposal doesn't fit in
this streetscape at all no and look i i hear what you're saying uh i mean the other way to look at
this, if someone were to build
a single family home, you're still going to have it
33 to 35 feet.
will dwarf it. I'm not saying
that's a reason that the board should
look kindly upon this, but
in terms of occupancy of the lot,
the structure
will still be a large structure
if someone thought it was viable
to even build that.
I hear
what you're saying. So we're not
voting today. Hillary,
are we going to make this a resumptive hearing um that that is up to the board if you feel like i
mean i think i think when henry comes back well whatever it is um you should have a chance to
respond to it and then respond to anything else we think it's appropriate so this resumptive
hearing date is the one we would use uh yes i believe so okay all right so henry this well
let's let's let's see if anybody in the audience has anything to say okay anyone in the virtual
audience vote comments rco yeah i have uh mark harris with their hand raised sure a lot of them
speak okay yes it seems that the i'm mr harris uh mark could you please state your name and spell
for the stenographer i'm having a hard time hearing you could you get closer to the mic
Harris.
Spell it, please.
M-A-R-K-H-R-R-I-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
I affirm.
Are you a neighbor?
No, I'm not.
Give me your comments about this.
You have two minutes.
My comment is something that seems to be that the developer is overstating the inconstability.
I said the family home in order to justify.
We're having a hard time hearing you, Mr. Harris.
mr harris are you a favor this practice or against let me guess it seems like they're
trying to justify more destiny you don't live in the area mr harris no i'm not too far away but i'm
immediately okay so my comment was it seems like we did have a hard time understanding
but i'm real clear you're not in favor of the project um so okay is there anyone else in the
audience do you not see any further hands but do you want to take a position now or do you want to
wait for their update now sure amy with the amy board with the planning commission the
comprehensive plan recommends no change to existing rsa 5 residential single family zoning
at this location the appellant has not demonstrated that there are unique physical conditions or
circumstances of the property that would prevent it from being used in conformance with the zoning
code the planning commission recommends that the board deny the requested variance for a
multifamily and occupied area all right henry we're going to have a resumptive hearing on this
2 24 26 at 9 30 a.m thank you very much mr thank you is there anyone in the audience whose case has
not been called from the two o'clock list you're not seeing your hands mr chair we're going to
take a five minute break and then come back and finish the list the three the 330 list
good afternoon everyone my name is bill bergman and i will be chairing this eba hearing
With me is our vice chair, Tanetta Graham.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Our board secretary, Cheryl L. Gaston.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Our board member, Michael Johns.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Our board member, Ty Wynn.
Excuse my rant about the trash cans in Philadelphia.
Let me say this, and then the worst thing, it was in the picture.
Oh, yeah.
That was their picture.
And also, our board member, Ryan McAdams.
President, Mr. Chairman.
So here is our attorney, Hillary Emerson,
our zoning board director, Ane Haggerty,
and our board administrator, Lakeisha Dandy.
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Let's look at our list for this afternoon.
Number three, MI-2024-007-587-1408.
Mr. Chair, I'm sorry, if we could call number two first.
Okay, you want me, this is the no exhibits too, right?
So, MI, number two, MI 2024, 007-544-701-35 Castro Avenue.
We have a Portuguese interpreter, please.
Yes, Your Honor.
Sorry.
Could you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer?
My name is Monica, M-O-N-I-C-A, Aguiar, A-G-U-I-A-R.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm that you will interpret accurately, completely and impartially from
English to Portuguese and from Portuguese to English to the best of your ability?
Yes, I do.
Thank you.
So what I need you to do is to call Daniel Silva, who is the listed applicant for us.
do I need to turn on the camera they should turn on the camera it's Daniel Silva that I should be
camera all right and uh ask him to please state his name and spell it for the stenographer
You can say your name and translate it to the esternographer?
I can.
What's that?
Daniel Silva.
Daniel Silva?
You have to translate it.
G-A-N-I-L.
i-e-l s-i-l-v-a all right and and i'm going to give him the uh
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth
a whole truth and nothing but the truth
yes all the truth okay all right so
we this is the second listing we have not received his exhibits could you tell him we have no exhibits
from him look this is the second list and we didn't have any evidence of your part
like what likewise like what no i like what so okay
Like what?
No, like what?
So, okay.
So there's a whole list of items that we would send him the list
and maybe he could see it, but we need pictures.
We need the whole gamut of things to show us what he wants to do.
And I guess the first question I have is this.
This is listed with Caster Gas LLC.
Is that him?
Caster L.C.
Look, there is a list of items that you need to send.
They are with photos and showing what you want to do.
I have listed here that it's in the name of Caster Gas LLC.
Is this your?
No, my is .express.llc.
No, mine is Ponto Express LLC.
Okay, so I think I understand this a little bit.
He needs an attorney.
When he has an LLC, he can't come here without an attorney.
And my recommendation to him would be to get an attorney,
and the attorney could help him figure out what it is he needs.
In other words, once you have a company, you need an attorney.
You can't represent yourself.
So he's going to have to hire a lawyer.
okay so i need some time to hire a lawyer so here here's what i'm going to do is i'm going to give
him a date that's a little far out but he'll have an opportunity to get what if he needs money or
get an attorney or whatever so we're going to continue this case until april 22nd 26 at
9 30. you okay you got 3 30. you want 9 30.
okay all right so april 22nd 26 at 9 30 a.m is when his case will not come back
Look, I'll give you a lot of time for you to organize the money, the lawyer.
I'll mark for April 22, 2026, at 9.30 p.m.
That's fine.
That's fine, okay?
Mr. Chair, I just have one question.
Mr. Silva, do you own, does your LLC own the property or are you leasing the property?
Você é dono da propriedade ou você está alugando essa propriedade?
Propriedade alugada, eu pago todo mês.
The property is a rental and I pay every month.
okay so you are renting it through your llc the llc is the name on the lease
e você está alugando em nome do seu llc o nome do seu llc que está no contrato
sim yes thank you very much all right so muito obrigado 4 22 26 at 9 30 am and interpreter we
thank you very much for coming on to help us thank you very much for having me
so we're going to go to number one mi2024 004050 21 55
I mean, I got it halfway out and he didn't start. So, okay. So number three, MI 2024, 007-587-1408-12-North 50th Street. That case is continued to 422-26 at 9.30 a.m.
All right. Here we go.
I'm sorry, Mr. Chair, this is Ian Hegarty. Is that case on at 9.30 or 3.30 p.m.?
I'm sorry, Mr. Chair. This is Ian Hegarty. Is that case?
3.30? Didn't you just say before 9.30?
The previous case, I think we wanted 9.30 for the interpreter.
These ones can be continued.
Thank you, Mr.
Number one, MI 2024-004-050, 2555 Castor Avenue, T2-483-246, Isaac Slepner is the attorney.
There's unanimous support from Harrogate Civic Association and a letter of support from Council Member Driscoll.
Good afternoon, Chair and members of the Board.
All right, Counsel Haria, could you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer?
Sure thing.
Isaac, I-S-A-A-C, Slepner, S-L-E-P-N-E-R, Counsel for the Property Owners Sterling Paper Lofts, LLC.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Our vice chair has a few questions for you, sir.
Good evening.
Have you emailed all your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, except for the tax cert, which we just received this morning, and I promptly sent that on a few hours ago.
We have it.
Okay. And will you waive the reading of the refusals and stipulate to their accuracy?
Yes. Yes, I do.
Okay. All right. Thank you. You can proceed with your case. Share your screen.
Thank you. I'm sorry?
You can share your screen and proceed with your case.
Okay. Will do. Bear with me. All right.
okay so 2155 caster is a large brick old factory building it used to be the sterling paper factory
And I'm going to also share the screen with my Google Map so everybody can kind of get an idea of where that's located.
Is everybody seeing this on?
We're not seeing anything, sir, but you.
How about now?
You're coming now.
Oh, there we go.
Okay so 2155 Castor is this large kind of irregularly shaped parcel over here
at the intersections of Castor and Coral through to Butler and Coral and bounded
on the sort of southeast side by railroad tracks and then Survivor is the
next street over. If you look over here on Google Maps this is the parcel itself
and if you look on Google Street View that's the building. It's got the old
clock tower, the painted sign, you can see there are the rail lines to the one
side and Castor Avenue looking northward, Castor Avenue looking southward and
And across the street is a city rec center. I'm going to now go ahead and share with you. Can everyone? Oh, I'm going to share with you my documents, my documentary evidence here.
so this is our notice of refusal which we've already stipulated to the original application
for appeal which was filed in June of 24 and the project information form which was
filed at the same time we have a letter of unanimous support from Harrogate Civic 17 in
favor, zero, opposed. We also have a letter of support from, more recently, from
Councilman Driscoll's office of the 6th Council District. Our proposal is 481
dwelling units on the second and third floors, first floor commercial units,
and first floor commercial units and bike parking, 137 parking spaces.
So these were our proposal as sent to CDR.
And we have on the phone our architect, Ian Smith, and a member of my client, LLC.
the phone are architect Ian Smith and a member of my client LLC who will adopt my testimony and I
think I'm going to have the architect also give us a little bit more of a walkthrough but
these are the photos if you see here Caster Avenue looking north and looking south you can see the
clock tower and the painted ghost sign and then these are the Butler Street views which
You can see north and south at the rear of the property.
This is a view of the site, 2155 Caster.
This is the frontage on Caster.
It's kind of this irregularly shaped sort of like the state of Utah shaped lot with the tracks.
Butler over at the south side of the property, Caster the north side of the property.
Here's a view showing Coral, Castor, Butler, and again, a view at the reverse showing Butler, Castor, Train Tracks, Survivor Street.
This is kind of the site in the context of the neighborhood, and the site is zoned I-2, and that's why we're here today,
because of refusals for multifamily living in I-2 and other refusals.
This is a topographical study. If anybody needs more information on that, I can have our architects speak to that. This was an initial site plan for parking, which, again, I will have the architect speak to.
But this is a site plan where you can see the public and inner courtyard entry here, bike racks here, and here, 137 spaces.
This is Castor Avenue with an existing curb cut right here.
And this is your front entry door.
over here you have 15 and 16 are the commercial entrance and commercial parking lot you've got
a commercial loading zone here and you've got new new sidewalk is planned and another existing
curb cut here for entry circulation and exit. This is the first floor plan. All
of these pink indications are commercial units and these are
walkways and circulation for people, bicycles, etc. in this yellow space. Then
these are roof plans. These are a landscape plan as you can see some trees
and greenery are planned here. These are the types of plants that will be used.
This is a close-up of your first floor plan with I believe that it's 26
commercial by my count but again I can have Ian Smith our architect testify to
that within a bit more detail. This is floor two and you have 33 one-bedrooms
planned on these halls as well as seven two-bedrooms which are the green
indicators. These are the interior walkways and hallways and this is kind
of the second-story height of the commercial spaces that are at the first
floor. Then this is the third floor unit, third floor plan rather, with an
additional 35, one bedrooms in the blue, six two bedrooms in green, and again
circulation walkways, stairwells, elevator. I believe those are elevators.
Again we'll have the architect testify to that. These are renderings of the
elevation as seen from Castor Avenue and as seen from the east on the parking
lot which would be entered from Castor between the building and the train track
spaces. This is the north elevation as viewed from Butler Street and the west
elevation is viewed from Coral Street. These are cross sections as you can see
the first floor here is all commercial, second and third are residential, this is
Castor Avenue commercial back here and Butler Street. This is a transverse of
The transverse of the site, which again, again, the clock tower, which is being preserved and incorporated and the first floor commercial, second and third floor residential.
the site with again the clock tower which is being preserved and incorporated.
These are some of the materials.
Mr. Slepner, sorry to interrupt. I just wanted to clarify the scope of what's before the board today, because you're talking about commercial uses, you're talking about parking.
But the refusal states that it's only for multifamily household living, 80 units on the second and third floor.
There's no parking.
There's no landscaping, any of that.
All it is is just a change of use on the second and third floors.
Understood.
Is that your understanding as well?
That's my understanding as well.
And I can limit my discussion of this to those residential units.
um i do see there were other some other permits that were pulled for some commercial uses although
i didn't see parking anywhere um and there was a variance granted for some commercial uses although
it doesn't appear the permit was ever issued that was back in 2023 so um i just want to make sure
we're on on the same page in terms of what the board is considering today that it's a change of
application understood understood um I know that the that the client's plan
was for commercial uses and I would was hoping to have that at least you know
do that as expeditiously as possible but I understand the refusal is for
multifamily as well as required parking I can tell you that the proposed
Well, it's it's for. So if the refusal says there's no parking proposed, if there is parking proposed, then we need to have the refusal corrected.
We may need to have that. But I would actually like to call my architect at this time, Ian Smith, to give a little bit more insight on our plans, because I think he can speak to that a little more in depth.
I'm not sure that we bring them on in quickly because I think I don't I'm not you know, there's nothing here that he could tell you the plans or you didn't do parking and you don't have anything there were commercial, really.
The only thing we have the residents.
Right. So bring them on.
Understood. Ian, can you unmute and raise your hand and they'll they'll bring you in.
Well, we're back in as a panel shortly.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
All right.
Everyone hear me?
Yes, I can.
Ian, can you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer?
My name is Ian Smith, spelled I-A-N, capital S-M-I-T-H.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Absolutely, yes.
Isaac, start your testimony.
I mean, your question.
uh ian first of all did you hear the testimony that i offered um up to this point yes and do
you understand that to be correct uh true and correct yes um did you want to um add anything
with regard i mean isaac go back a minute i mean your your testimony had nothing to do
most a large part of your testimony had nothing to do with what what's on the paper right
You talked about parking, you talked about commercial, and we don't have any of that in front of us today.
Am I wrong?
Can I help?
I was going to say there were no plans reviewed as part of this application by L&I.
It's a change of use only.
That is correct.
Understood.
Ian, did you want to add anything about the plans with regard to the residential units?
no except for sort of stating the fact that it was a use application and no plans were submitted
with the use application however we were expecting to have to go through cdr because the number of
units based on um one of their requirements and produce these plans for that purpose however were
informed that it wasn't required because it is an existing building and didn't need to be reviewed
under CDR. So, although this is helpful as a presentation, it greatly exceeds what's required
for talking about the units only. Understood. And do you and my client have a planned
in the future after today to move forward with a plan for parking?
Yes, because that would be required, and we are well aware of that.
okay okay I have and and other than what you just offered you had already
And other than what you just offered, you had already testified that you have heard my testimony and you believe it to be true and correct.
testified that you have heard
Would you adopt my testimony as it was given?
With my augmentation.
With my augmentation.
Thank you.
I also want to call a member of my client, George Groves, to also adopt my testimony.
And I have a few more exhibits that I would like to present to the board as well.
george you're out there george yeah i'm here hi george could you please state your name and
spell for the stenographer sure george rose g-r-o-v-e-s do you swear or affirm to tell
the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes isaac all right george uh are you a member
of Sterling Paper Lofts LLC? Yes. And Sterling Paper Lofts LLC is the owner of this property,
correct? Correct. And George, do you recognize this deed in favor of Sterling Paper Lofts?
Yes. And does that deed look true and correct to the best of your knowledge?
yes it does okay and board you're seeing the copy of the deed as well you would
receive that prior to right now but just want to make sure that the board can see
it we do okay and George did you hear the testimony that I offered today to
the board yes and do you adopt that do you recognize that testimony be true
and correct yes and do you adopt that testimony as though you would given it
yourself yeah and you also heard and you also heard the testimony offered by Ian
Smith yes and would you recognize that to be true and correct yes I do and
would you adopt Ian's testimony as though given yourself yes thank you I
I have nothing further for Mr. Groves. I just wanted to show two more photos to the board of the orange poster, informing everyone of today's hearing that are posted at two different spots at the building.
And this is photo one on a fence that is street facing. And this is photo two of one that is by the front door of the building.
Um, and with that, I would ask, uh, if the board has any further questions, uh, uh, the
board has any questions relative to the housing units.
Um, is there any way that you can pull up a closeup of what one of the units would look
That's kind of hard to see.
Um, and I guess the question I'm asking is, um, is there like interior trash storage in
each unit or how is the trash managed in the block building the trash collection
would probably that would probably be a question for George Groves but I would
think it would be a private hauler given a project of this size and scale so
these are your second floor the green is a two-bedroom the blue is a one-bedroom
and I will be soon.
A dumpster location or
how is move-in, move-out
going to take place
or where are the dumpsters?
Mr. Johns?
There's going to be multiple
dumpsters there because that is a very
big project.
There's going to be
24-hour a day
building maintenance there
to handle move-ins,
move-outs.
And whatever else might come down that line at that.
But you haven't identified locations for these dumpsters?
No, we haven't identified them yet because we're locating the electric power
has to be identified where it's going to go,
and then the dumpsters cannot be anywhere near that.
So DECO hasn't identified where they're going to put their stuff yet.
This is the general site view. This is the landscaping site view, but this is the footprint of the building here.
So, like Mr. Grove said, once PICO identifies where the electric service goes, then the dumpsters would go relative to that.
But there would be dumpsters, there would be a private hauler, again, because it's an 80 something unit residence.
Parking that's shown on here, although we're not parking is not part of this meeting, theoretically.
Parking is not part of this meeting, theoretically.
Is parking for the residential?
Are there going to be designated parking spaces for the residential units, or how will the parking work?
Let me scroll down to another site map here.
Let's scroll up to another site map before anybody offers.
But hold on.
Here's your ground floor plan.
And so, and George, my understanding is that these are 137 here, and there are additional here.
These are for the residences, and these are for the commercial.
Mr. Johns, the parking, the whole property consists of like eight acres.
So the development of parking where Ian suggested on the east side of the building,
but we have another four acres of land that we're going to convert to parking to.
So this right here, which I'm kind of mousing over here, would be the residential parking spaces.
Back here would be the commercial parking spaces.
um but yeah as as my client just stated there are there's a lot of space at the parcel
for the building of parking should uh additional be needed
well it looks like a good adaptive reuse for this building overall looks like a pretty good project
oh yeah thank you
questions um questions from our attorney not at this time mr chair um questions from um
the audience coordinating rcos
i see any hands raised mr chair council member representative no hands anyone else
again no heads Mr. Chair
Planning Commission
Amy Boyd with the Planning Commission
the comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning
at this location from the existing
I-2 medium industrial
this property was
previously the Sterling Paper Factory
and is listed on the Register of Historic Places
the Riverwards District Plan
recommendation 39 is to
recognize significant places
of industrial resources
specifically the paper factory.
The district plan recommendation 13 is to reposition obsolete industrial sites for new users.
The Planning Commission recommends that the board grant their requested variance for multifamily.
Hillary, we want to say multifamily, 80 units on the second and third floor?
That's exactly what's on the refusal, Mr. Chair.
That will be, if that is approved, that will be the service department.
MI 2024-004-050-2155, Caster Avenue, I vote yes, multiple family units only, right?
We don't need a provisor for that because that is what is on the refusal.
The refusal is very specific.
MI 2024-004-050-2155, Caster Avenue, T248-3246, I vote yes.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes.
Cheryl Guest, and my vote is yes.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes.
I win, my vote is yes.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you, board.
Thank you, members of the board.
I have nothing further.
All right.
All right.
Number four, MI 2024-007-588-588-4361-63, North 9th Street.
Glenn Ross is the attorney.
letter of non-opposition from esperanza esperanza housing and economic development
petition of support signed by 23 neighbors
I'm back in as a panelist now, sir.
Thank you.
Ross, if you're still available, please unmute.
Also, if you are still available, please.
Wait till it be sworn in.
Do we see him?
Can you hear me now?
Hi, Mr. Ross.
Can you hear me now?
I can, most certainly.
Could you please state your name and then spell it for the stenographer?
Certainly.
um my name is glenn ross and it's spelled g-l-e-n-n-r-o-s-s and i represent the hunting
acquisitions llc with reference to you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and
nothing but the truth sir i do okay our our vice chair has a few questions for you
good evening Mr. Ross
have you submitted your
documents and exhibits five days in advance
before this hearing yes
and do you waive the reading of the
refusal and stipulate to its accuracy
okay thank you you can share your screen and begin
your case say again
I'm sorry
you can start your case
share your screen with your computer please
so I'm not
very technical. What else do I need to start my video? Should I do that? Yeah, that's correct.
Hi, Mr. Ross. This is Ian Hegarty, Executive Director. You're going to have to start your
video and then you should see a green button at the bottom of your screen that says the word
share and with an arrow pointing up. You're going to have to have your documents already open
in another program that's not Zoom. And then you're going to need to click that green button
and then you're going to need to find those documents
so that the board can see them.
Mr. Ross, could you rotate your computer to your screen?
Because we're sort of seeing you upside down.
That way or that way?
Keep going. Keep going that way. Keep going.
I think you're getting close.
is that okay
you're a little crooked
no I wouldn't say that
you know not that crooked
but I mean you're
sideways how's that sound
I've been told that before, too.
But am I in where I should be?
Well, at this point, I'm not worried about where you are.
Do you see where you can get your documents up on your computer?
I mean, it just says screen and system audio recording, and it says Zoom.
And underneath that, it says system audio recording only.
So you should see something at the bottom
That's a green
A green button that says share
And if your documents are open
And then you hit that then they come up
No I don't see that I'm sorry
What if I get rid of
Oh well here's share
Yeah there you go
Now if your documents are open and you hit share
It should come up
It could be a little crooked when it comes up
No, because now it just says screen and system audio recording, and it says Zoom.
Ian, you have any ideas?
Well, we've got a couple options, Chair.
we can uh have mr ross test this out um and come back to him or i can pull up his uh what he's
submitted earlier for the board to see could you do that do you have access to it in yep give me
give me one minute please all right thank you we'll do that mr ross thank you
i don't know why i'm upside down like that well i'm not i'm gonna say you're sideways
you're not upside down yeah i guess
now it says all right
now it says
now what what's going to happen is
Ian Haggerty is going to bring your stuff up and then you can look at it
and you can testify from that there you go splendor that's your refusal
right yes it is okay yes all right
so what you know a lot of times when we
show the refusal you want to tell us what is it you're trying to do well that's the easy part
okay we're not trying to do any um construction whatsoever we're just trying to consolidate
these two um adjoining properties right to be one property that's it okay all right we're not
continue with the continue Ian
and that is
that's the two properties
now the two properties are
adjoining
so right so if i'm seeing right one's a little larger than the other
um yes okay so you want to join these make this one property that's all that's all we're trying
to do okay all right why don't you continue in
these properties
have been licensed
forever and ever
the one
is licensed
commercial
and there's also
license for
residential
and it's
a corner property
with a kind of a strange
let's say shape.
Ian, why don't you show us
the photos of it? You have
photos of that, right? Yes.
All right.
those are licenses
which we got
so tell me
what this is here
mr ross yeah no i heard you um i'm good well there should be another one
there should be another one there should be a second one okay
oh so there's the two properties together there yes
yes and then there should be another one
so as you can see it's sort of a strange corner um property um it's always been a regular
um but it's always been uh legal and licensed and um
here we are today so you you want to join these two properties together to
create one correct and and the reason for that just out of curiosity well i have my client um
orlando martinez i i i hope that mr martinez is there and i would like to let him explain that
okay is there is there anything else you want to offer us
no because i think it's it's pretty straightforward and
we're not even sure why this this requires um yeah i i'd say that's yeah yeah okay um
okay why don't you bring your client on and we'll try to figure out
all right so how do i do that well just tell me her name and i'll call her his name is orlando
His name is Orlando Martinez.
Martinez. Orlando, could you please come on?
Orlando, could you please come on?
Good evening.
Can you hear me?
I agree.
Orlando, hi.
Could you state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Yes, sir.
Orlando Martinez, O-R-L-A-N-D-O, Martinez, M-A-R-T-I-N-E-Z,
and I am a junior.
JR. All right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
I do. And Orlando, what are we trying to do here? Why don't you explain that?
So we have a we purchased the property in 2017. It's a we call it a dual building,
but it's two addresses. They're both premises A and B on our deed. If you have that,
I'm pretty sure you do. Ultimately, the building has always been nonconforming and utilized as a
conjoining building. So literally the buildings intertwine already. This is, from my understanding,
has been this way since its inception. So ultimately, when we discuss with a professional
to acquire the CO for the building, it was recommended that we do the consolidation just
to have some form of legalization properly done as the city completed an overlay at one point.
So we're hoping to get the deed consolidation, one parcel number, one tax ID,
one grounds and continuously use it as it's always been used, which are three apartments
and a repair shop.
And Hilary, the only thing we have here is the occupied space.
Am I correct?
Yes, that is correct, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Martinez, I'm just a little bit confused by the photos
because it looks like there's other commercial uses here
other than the auto repair shop.
It looks like there's a couple of offices plus the apartments above,
unless I'm not understanding where the property boundaries are proposed.
Yeah, no, you're correct. The management office is actually one that we're in the works of legalizing and the tax accountant, the tenant there is going to be responsible for doing that, which he should already be in motions to complete.
When we purchased the building, it was a CMX2 property with the storefronts. We have zoning documentation from 2021 that allowed the storefront, the repair shop, and the garages. Since the overlay was completed, we've been trying to, I guess, put together an actual plan as to what we're allowed to do there by right or what we can afford to fight for.
okay so we can we can finish this hearing but i would just recommend the board that we hold this
because yeah the way the refusal is written it's just the apartments and the um and the uh vehicle
repair and maintenance the repair shop it doesn't include these other uses so i i'm a bit concerned
if the board granted the granted the variance as it's written that you would lose these other two
uses that you're saying um you're basically existing non-conforming uses so i think that's
something that we would need to discuss with l and i um and and yourself to figure out what what
this needs to be should this be a resumptive hearing um not necessarily i think you can testify
to what they want and if the refusal doesn't line up with it then we can address that with l and i
Okay. Questions from the audience.
I do. So, Mr. Martinez, can you explain exactly how many commercial spaces, separate commercial spaces exist on the property?
So what you see.
I'm sorry.
And their entrances.
And their entrances. So if you look at the right of this photo, that is the 59 building.
uh in the first yes the black the black roll up so the entrance to that small space it's probably
about 250 square feet there um that is the primary black iron roll-up gate the entrance to the
apartments uh which are upstairs over the 59 and the 61 and 63 building that entrance is dead
center in between both properties and this is how with the gate yes ma'am and that's how it's been
since the beginning of time, since inception. I'm from Hummington Park, and it's always been
that way. So that entrance right there does go over into the apartments upstairs. So you have
two one-bedrooms at the 59 building, and you have one two-bedroom that encumbers over
the 61 and 63, which are right over here, if you can see my arrow. If we could pull the side photo
up I can show you that is part of the mechanic this is the rear which is on
Darien and Cayuga this is all part of the mechanic shop so if you move to the Cayuga street
This is all part of the mechanic shop. So if you move to the Cayuga street, you'll see the mechanic shop entrances, which are these. So as from here, the apartment is upstairs, the storefront and the corner, which was once a corner store, which the zoning records show that was approved at one point.
And then this all in the back where we don't have a second floor at, that's all the mechanic shop back there.
which is fully licensed as a repair shop.
And then you've got the other two storefronts that face 9th Street.
Yes, the two on the front is the My Management Office,
which we hope to legalize quality management.
And this is a tenant that is supposed to be going through the motions
to legalize his space as well.
And then how long has the tenant been in place?
I'm asking, and I'll tell you why, I'll be specific.
the zone uh the google maps image from seventh month ago has different signage on the facade
so i'm trying to rectify the businesses that are listed on google maps versus the ones that are on
this photo currently yeah these are current our sign is is new it was installed maybe a couple
months ago as well as the tenant there he has been there i think maybe six months i don't have
in front of me so to clarify we have four commercial spaces the garage the empty 250
square foot commercial space your property management office and the consulting business
on the corner and then we've got the three units upstairs yes ma'am okay hillary we have nothing
to do with 59 oh am i correct this is a lot consolidation mr chair so they're proposing
to consolidate 59 with 61 to 63 okay and then my only other question is because it does look like
this building has had additions historically do you know if fire separation wise isn't an issue
like from my understanding no uh none of the walls were can be removed as they're all load
bearing and rated for fire but as far as anything else i'm not aware of okay
okay questions or comments from the audience uh rcos
we do have the recommendation from the rco um yeah i saw that yep i yep we have that
no hands mr. chair okay um any anyone in the audience at all with their hand up
no hands raised mr. chair okay um we want planning to take a position on this planning
amy work with the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change in
zoning at this location from the existing rm1 residential single multi-family the proposal is
to combine two lots and preserve the existing structures. The Planning Commission recommends
that the board grant the requested variance for a max-occupied area.
And we're going to hold our vote, Hillary, until we get this
straight. Should we give it a date?
How about two weeks? Well, two weeks will be on
a Wednesday, right? And then I think
we'll be ready to vote. That will be December 17th.
Right. And everything else is closed on this until we figure out where we are.
Well, Mr. Chair, I'd like to leave the record open because we may need a corrected refusal in this case.
So we'll just leave the record open for anything that we need.
But. OK. Thank you.
All right. Thank you, Mr. Martinez. Thank you, Mr. Ross.
All right. Thank you. Sorry about being upside down.
Thank you. Well, yeah.
yeah yeah well i can't i can't figure out why it was all right mr ross thank you see you
blood might rush your head but you're going to be fine thank you all right have a good night
everybody right um can we go here meredith
i know you're out there mi 2025 004037 931 south 18th street
murder the furliger is listed as the attorney i believe it's going to be brandon saverin
mr chair brandon's here hi sir yes yes he'll be coming back in as a panel shortly
i can't wonder when your case was coming up how long you've been here
about two o'clock
oh okay all right
oh that's okay you've been here a long time
Oh, that's okay. You've been here a long time.
Oh, well, maybe.
Brandon?
Yes, I'm here.
Oh, hi, Brandon. How are you?
Brandon, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Sure. Brandon Saverin, B-R-A-N-D-O-N-S-A-V as in Victor, R-A-N as in Nancy.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Do you identify your client, the relationship to the property?
My client is the owner and resident, Anirud Kolambi.
Okay. Our vice chair has just a few questions for you, sir.
Good evening. Have you emailed your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
And do you waive the reading of the refusals and stipulate to their accuracy?
Yes, Madam Vice Chair.
All right. Thank you. You can share your screen and start your case.
Thank you.
Okay. Good evening.
So we are here, Ani, my client and I, to legalize this deck at the second floor level in the rear of his home that was constructed in 2008, a long time ago.
Ani bought the property in 2022 and now lives there with his wife.
We are going to show you that the size and location of this deck is appropriate.
And that in this environment, the lack of an elevated deck would lead to no ability to have readily accessible outdoor space with decent light, particularly in light of a proviso against roof decks that's already on this property.
So that is one of our hardships that we think compels allowing this property to have an elevated rear deck.
To be completely transparent, there has been a violation in place against this deck since 2017.
So my client is here basically to do the right thing and try and get this thing legalized.
The violation is not for the deck being an unsafe condition.
It's simply for lack of permits.
I can't tell you why it took nine years after someone else constructed the deck for a violation to be issued.
But my client knew about the violation and, as we'll explain, shortly after he closed on this house, started the process of legalizing it, which is why we're here today.
So without further ado, I have submitted 20 exhibits to the board, which I ask be moved into the record.
But I will, in the interest of time.
I'm so moved, so moved.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
You know, the former chairman would not really say anything in response to that.
So you caught me off guard there.
the 20 exhibits I will not go through all of them in the interest of time so
starting right off with the refusal here's the refusal on my screen that's exhibit one
but the zoning code and I have another exhibit on the text of the zoning code
does a better job explaining the issues than the way the examiner did in the refusal
So I'm just going to skip right over this and explain that the gist of the issue is that on a small home like this in South Philadelphia, you can't really have an elevated rear deck without dimensional variances, because the deck cannot encroach on the rear yard setback area.
And inherently, a deck in South Philadelphia is going to encroach on the rear yard setback area, just because there's not enough space otherwise.
So the coordinating RCOs were SOSNA and NOAC, and SOSNA held the meeting. And I'll show you, this is an email that I was sent by SOSNA. This is the vote chart. And by the way, because I received a phone call, so I'm basically telling you this as an officer of the court.
The council president's office does not oppose this application, I believe, unless he's still out there, that the representative from the council president's office had to drop, but their stance is non-opposition.
The vote sheet here shows you that the vote was 11 to 1, with two of those 11 supports being my client and his wife.
So I'll get into this more in a second, but that is a near unanimous vote of support.
Two of those folks in this vote chart were from NOAC. The rest were from SOSNA. And the NOAC votes, my understanding is, were split one to one. So, you know, except for that one person from NOAC, who is Ms. Shacomba, who may be on the line. I know she was earlier. Unanimous support at the meeting other than her.
Two of those folks in this vote chart were from NOAC.
The rest were from NOAC.
tax clearance here at exhibit three my client's 2022 deed at exhibit four I'll skip right over
our zoning appeal zoning map exhibit six so the properties in the northeast corner of 18th and
carpenter streets this is a 2008 aerial this is uh worthwhile to show because you see the deck
there in 2008 so it proves its age and you also see our immediate neighbor to the north at 929
9 South 18th Street also has a deck at the same elevation, same size just about, and they are in
support of this legalization. And as far as we're aware, their deck is legal. I also do not believe
that anyone from the neighbor is here at this point, but they support this proposal.
This is the site plan at Exhibit 8 that we submitted to get this process started,
drawn by an architect okay here's the home photos from 18th street um so the home on the corner is
annie's home right there 931 um a little too far this uh is a corner view this is a view from
carpenter street they already showed you here's another view of carpenter street from a different
angle you can actually see in this one the underside of the neighbor's deck as well
so just further proof that there is a nearly identical deck next to this
one more view there okay here's the zoning code real fast just to talk about what the specific
refusals are they're the code sections highlighted in the red box so like i said the main refusal is
that the an elevated deck as opposed to a an unelevated patio cannot enter the rear yard
setback area and the rear yard setback area occupies almost the entire yard in this instance
And so that basically means to have any elevated deck here, you'd need a variance.
And there's another refusal specifically about one of the support columns that it is too close to the Carpenter Street lot line.
But just to go back one slide, given just sort of the real world pedestrian experience, it's not as though that support pillar feels as though it's a danger to a pedestrian walking by.
it's sort of set behind this foot wall there. Okay, this is what you see if you look across
Carpenter Street from the deck. And the reason I'm showing you this is because these are decks
at a similar height that this board has granted recently through variances. But I would offer
that while the board, by granting these variances for these two homes, seem to recognize a similar
hardship with regard to the need to create additional outdoor space. This is a worse
version for the neighborhood of what we're trying to do. Our deck lets in light and air
underneath it, through it. This does not, right? So just to say that the sort of condition we have
here is not foreign at all to the neighborhood or even the block. And I would say ours is not
sort of as egregious as what exists already across the street and that this board blessed.
We posted the property twice, once for the RCO meeting and then again here for the ZBA hearing.
Let's go through those real quickly. A really quick bit of procedural history. So the house
was permitted for construction in 2003 and 2004. Here's the 2004 zoning permit and you will see
the proviso here on this board's notice of decision that says no roof deck so that is a
part of the hardship if we don't have this elevated deck since we can't have a roof deck
all we're left with is a ground floor patio which really is not good outdoor space considering it
be overshadowed by the neighbor's elevated deck it also would go off of the ground floor which
is not the main living floor of our home that's where the garage is in 2008 that's when this deck
was constructed four years after the house was constructed and they did submit a zoning permit
for that construction it was refused use the refusal but there's no record of a case being
brought to the board so it looks like once the deck was refused the builder just gave up didn't
go to the zba and built it anyway and here's the site plan from that abandoned application and then
And here's the site plan from that abandoned application.
And then in 2017, you know, who knows why it took nine years, but L&I issued a variance, right?
in 2017.
Again, not an unsafe violation, just a standard violation for lack of a permit for an outdoor deck.
So my client set about trying to correct that, and actually he did so right away.
So if you remember, he purchased the property in 2022 and he filed a zoning permit application and an appeal to the zoning board in 2022, met with SOSNA, who was picked then as the coordinating RCO, received preliminary support.
He had to sign this pledge, I'll call it, to get the city to plant street trees.
If the city would plant street trees, Sosna would support the application.
If you remember the photos I showed you, guess what?
Ani did get the city to plant street trees.
So he upheld his word and Sosna was ready to support the application.
But Ani did not have a lawyer.
Ani did not know how to put the proper exhibits together.
And the board dismissed his case for failure to do so.
So we are back now with me as the attorney.
And, you know, this is the second time Stasna has seen this. It's the second time they've supported it.
This is a mailing that we did to all the affected RCOs and to the neighbors.
I'll just, you know, skip right through the body of that.
I want to go down to here in case Ms. Shacomba is on.
So Ms. Chacomba, as she often does, reached out to us before the RCO meeting and asked questions about the deck.
And Meredith, my colleague, answered them.
I've attached all those emails over several months as an exhibit at Exhibit 18 from June, from July.
Why? So at the RCO meeting, when Ms. Chacomba alleged that she had not gotten notice of this application, despite making it to the meeting, that really took us by surprise.
it didn't make sense because I knew that we had emailed her. So I don't want to put words in our
mouth, but I think part of her no vote was the sort of misperceived lack of notice of this
application when in fact she had had notice. I think she was also upset that Sosno was allowed
to convene the meeting, but that is really something for the councilman's office to tackle.
we don't pick who the RCO is that convenes the meeting, right? So, you know, I understand
sometimes there are disputes between RCOs. I just don't want my client put in the middle of that.
And then finally, at Exhibit 19, I sent a memo of laws. I usually do. This lays out all of the
reasons that this application satisfies all of the requirements for a variance, hardship, and others,
In the interest of time, I won't go through all those arguments, but I've touched on some, but not all of them in my presentation.
Excuse me, my presentation here.
I think that that is the extent of my case, and I'm happy to have my client adopt my testimony.
Lonnie, have your client come on.
Okay, Ani, can you raise your virtual hand, please?
It'll be coming back in as a panel, but shortly, counsel.
Thank you.
Thank you, Jason.
Hello?
Hi, sir.
Hi, Ani.
Hi, Ani.
Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Yeah, my name is Anirudh Kilambi.
First name, A-N-I-R-U-D-H.
Last name, Kilambi, K-I-L-A-M-B-I.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Counsel?
Okay. Ani, did you hear my presentation in your case this evening?
Was it true and accurate to the best of your knowledge, information, and belief?
Yes, it was.
Would you adopt my testimony as if it had been yours?
Yes, I would.
And then real quickly, I mentioned your immediate neighbor is in support of this application. Is that true?
Okay. Thank you very much.
Questions for the board?
yes i have a question about the rear yard it does look like there's an easement for
a breezeway or a walkway and i was wondering if you know what the width of that
that what that width is hi board member win so um i don't believe that comes up on atlas it does
not i see the door in the deed yeah i'll take a look at it right now together
yeah i'll take a look at it right now together i think in terms of timing i think the reason
that this did not come up is because in 2008 it was applied for a permit to do the deck and it
was approved and then nobody applied for the building permits to match the zoning permit
that was approved so like the zoning was in place but nobody applied for building permits which
means the deck was built without structural or l and i review yes so the building next door at
1735 did not exist it was a vacant lot so there was probably no concern because there was not a
next door building and the building next door was five it was contiguous five lots is one lot
and the next building was not it was like hundreds of feet away whereas once this building got
subdivided in 20 or that lot got subdivided in 2015 and a new residential building permit was
applied after the zoning change you now had a row house right up against this
property which is right around the time that it got flagged which is likely why
we see it pop up in 2017 I think one of my concerns and I think your comment you
made was about the the condition across the street the condition across the
street is actually considered safer for fire code because it's brick and metal
railings as opposed to wood in this instance part of the reason those codes exist about wood at the
second floor is because wood has a higher burn rate and their fear is that the fire would jump
to the next property um and so i think like my biggest concern in this condition at this deck
is its materiality and like what could happen or would happen if there was ever a fire
could i say a few quick things in response um so the um okay number one building permitting um so
you're absolutely right we we never have had a building permit we're gonna have to get one for
that violation to go away as you know um so ani is gonna have to hire someone to do structural plans
not just the you know architect site plan that he has so far and in my experience l and i is going
to come out and inspect that deck in person. Now, that doesn't necessarily mean that wood
is banned as sort of a matter of classification, but it's just to remind you that what this
application is really about is whether a deck can be there in that location. And if this deck is not
building code compliant and not judged to be safe structurally what would yield from this process
is a new deck in the same location so i would argue letting you know that the reason decks
are not allowed at that point is for safety reasons that is why that is part of the code
already so like we already got we already have a refusal because the deck isn't supposed to be
there so the question now is do we yeah i give a variance and allow the deck to be there because
it's already there i would respectfully respond that we are wading into what is really the turf
of the board of building standards but i i hear you loud and clear so question um didn't you say
that there was a similar deck right next door to this yes it's not quite as close it's not quite
of close so the deck next door actually is a wider width from the element that is causing this
refusal okay yeah but i mean it's made it the same kind of wood material
annie is it is it the same material is it wood at least do you know yeah you can see it
you can see yeah i don't know if it's literally the same wood material but yeah it's a wooden
deck is similar dimensionally it looks like it's at least 18 inches but possibly 24 inches
shorter and that's because the home is shorter correct yeah okay well the property isn't so
the property is not sorry the structure is the property is not different that's right
do we know if there's any kind of i mean not that we can really but is there any kind of
violation against that no no okay and is that just because it hasn't been caught yet like this one
or no i think the other one is more than three feet from the rear lot line so i think the two
dimensional variances here are around the where this one falls with relation to the rear lot line
and i think the other one is just inside of that i think this one is not that's why i asked what
the width of that walkway was because i was trying to see if that walkway was two and a half feet or
Because I was trying to see if that walkway was two and a half feet or three feet.
three feet because
Board member Wynn, respectfully, the refusal is for encroaching into the rear yard setback, which is actually, I believe, seven or nine feet here.
So if you if you I don't I can't do it on the fly, but the neighbor's house has extensive permitting history online.
And my guess is that a variance was probably straight up.
I hear you, but I'm reading this straight out of your refusal, where it says the proposed rear deck is closer than three feet from the rear lot line.
That's not what the zoning code says.
That's the examiner's sort of bizarre regurgitation of the code.
I mean, that's just not what the zoning code – the zoning code says you can't be in the required setback.
The required setback is much greater than three feet.
All right.
Any other questions from the board?
Questions or comments from our attorney?
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments from the audience, sir?
Do you want to testify?
Oh, come on up.
Now, I hate to tell you, but you can testify for two minutes.
I know you've been here.
I know you've been here the whole day,
But I just want to tell you, I'm not circling you out.
So, number one, pull the mic close to you.
Could you state your name?
We can't.
Could you state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Alfred Williams, A-L-F-O-R-D-W-I-L-L-I-A-M-S.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth.
Sir, are you a neighbor?
No, I am not a neighbor.
I'm the new president of the Point Breeze.
Oh, okay. Please proceed. Please proceed.
And I'm here today because I think you might have received...
It's not a coordinating RCO, maybe an affected RCO.
That's important because we were the coordinating RCO, dating back to the 24th, and our concerns
is it seems to be some irregularities in regards to the RCO and the meetings that were held.
So we're coming to the chair and to the board to ask that you look into these irregularities.
Excuse me.
So there's a great deal of concern.
And again, there was letters that were sent from our organization all to the Philadelphia City Planning Commission in regards to the fact that we were, as the coordinating RCO, we were left out of the process.
As a matter of fact, there was some, again, they mentioned that.
Well, they made a change, am I correct?
Somewhere along the line they changed your group from it?
Exactly.
Right, okay.
I was hoping that you had received.
No, I just saw the word where there had been a change made for another RCO.
So, you know, with that, because of that irregularity and the fact that SOSA, you know, they held meetings without the coordinating RCO involvement, and they basically had said that they had contacted where it was not their responsibility.
So that's our concern about the process.
All right.
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
And thank you for spending so much time here.
We appreciate it.
Thank you very much.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
Farmy?
Yes, Chair.
Can you hear me?
Hi, sir.
Dominic Long is going to get ready to speak now, sir.
Hello?
Dominic we're sorry we kept you here so long tonight but could you please state your name
and spell for the stenographer yeah no problem uh Dominic d-o-m-i-n-i-c long
D-O-M-I-N-I-C, Long, L-O-N-G.
Do you believe or affirm, do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, sir.
Yes, I'm here representing the Second District Office of Council President Keanu Johnson.
We're testifying non-opposition to this project.
Thank you very much for calling.
We appreciate it.
Is there anyone else in the audience?
I have a Madeline Shacumba, Mr. Chair.
Do we have, okay.
All right.
Whoever's next, just bring them on.
Madeline Shacumba.
who's coming on
i thought mr cumble on but um we're having a hard time hearing it okay who's next
murray spencer is also
Mr. Spencer, please unmute and wait to be sworn in.
Sir, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Murray Spencer, M-U-R-R-A-Y, S-P-E-N-C-E-R.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, sir.
so um i'm not sure what the snafu was with regard to the uh who which which rco um was
sharing the project i know it was uh originally um um assigned to point breeze but somehow it got
transferred to sasna we didn't have anything to do with it i'll be ran the meeting as brandon
showed in his exhibition that Point Breeze
and NOAC were notified.
SOS and I had reviewed this project back in 2022 when it first
came up for approval
and we approved it. I'm not sure what happened. I don't think the applicant
followed through. They may have stated that earlier, but
they had unanimous support in 2022
and unanimous support in 2025 at our meeting held a month ago.
And I'm just here to state emphatically that SOSNA is behind this project 100%.
I understand Tanya wins, Taya wins, issue with the deck being encroaching,
but as Brandon stated, that's probably not part of the refusal.
But again, SOSNA supports this project.
All right. Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Is there anyone else?
Can you unmute?
That's the only one left?
Okay, we're not getting you, so we're going to move on.
Planning Commission.
Amy Boy with the Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning at this location
from the existing RM1 residential multifamily.
The proposed rear deck is refused for its proximity
to the rear lot line, which is adjacent to a three-foot alley
as listed on the deed.
The appellant has not demonstrated that there are unique physical conditions
or circumstances of the property that would prevent it
from being used in conformance with the zoning code.
The Planning Commission recommends that the Board deny
the requested variance for deck encroachment
into the required rear yard and lot line setback.
So MI 2025-004-037, 931 South 18th Street, I vote yes with proviso. Certificate of occupancy to be obtained.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes with proviso.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes with proviso.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes with proviso.
Brian McAdams, my vote is yes with proviso.
Ty Owen, my vote is yes with proviso.
Thank you.
Mr. Chairman, can I ask Hillary one quick question on the proviso, if I could? I may be wrong, but I think for some kinds of improvements, particularly that aren't structures, what L&I may grant is a certificate of approval rather than occupancy.
I would like the record.
I think that's something we work out with L&I.
if we wanted to just
If we wanted to just kind of cover our bases more broadly, we could just say, you know, must obtain building permits or building permit.
And that would cover whatever.
You have to get one anyway.
Right.
But it may not.
I don't know if there would be a CO for a DEC.
I've never heard of a certificate of approval.
Well, there may not.
I don't know if they would do a certificate of occupancy for a DEC or not.
So it may be a better proviso may be must obtain building permit.
Must obtain building permit.
So question for you.
One last question.
One last question.
So sorry, just one last question.
So that we know what the refusals were.
We know that he's going to have to go for building permits, but I'm looking at the easy permit deck and it clearly states three feet from rear property line and one foot.
six inches from common area
for the post.
Should we cover that so he'll be able to get a building permit?
I guess that's what my question is. So he doesn't get another refusal and have to come
I mean, that sounds like the refusals that are on the refusal, the three feet and the 18
All right. So I think if we're going to change the proviso, we need to revoke the matter.
Yeah. Okay. All right. So MI 2025, 004037, 931 South 18th Street, I vote yes with proviso.
Must obtain building permit.
Okay. Michael Johns, yes, my vote is yes with proviso.
Charles Gaston, my vote is yes, with Proviso.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes, with Proviso.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes, with Proviso.
Thank you, everybody, and thanks for hanging around so late.
Thank you all.
Thank you.
Thank you so much for your time.
Madeline, did you hear the case is over?
We couldn't hear you.
I still can't hear her.
Okay. Sorry. Sorry, Madeline.
Is there anyone left in the
330 list whose case has not been
called?
I do not see any hands, Mr. Chair.
Okay. Thank you all. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.