We have some pinch points due to bollards.
you can see 18-5 drive aisle is the one dimension there that's to the the actual bollard um which
protects some of the utility accesses um and some of the stuff coming into the houses um and then
there are some small uh balconies um that kind of come over the drive aisle uh which are those little
rectangles you see um for each house yeah and it's your understanding that the streets department
it reviewed and approved the dry vial drawings yes that is correct all right uh and then you
know as you can see there's landscaping that's kind of bookending the entire lot as well right
to provide a buffer yeah we have bookends of the landscape and as presented earlier on that
southern side is entirely um landscapes with new plantings all right well let's go through the uh
uh the rest of the drawings
all right is uh is there anything in particular that's noteworthy in in in these elevations
so the top elevation there is the the drive aisle elevation um again looking over kind of the things
i described there we have enlarged garage doors uh you can see utility meters which are bollard
at each garage door, as mentioned in those small balconies that are kind of above the drive aisle
locations. If you go to the more pedestrian sidewalk side, you can see the front door entries with
More pedestrian sidewalk side, you can see the front door entries with canopies and also bricked faces.
This would be essentially the front doors of each house with exception to the 2 facing the street, which would have front door accesses that that face the street.
All right, well, let's go to next drawing.
this is sd03 uh what is this showing yeah so we provided some aerial views just to give
um some idea of context around uh great change and kind of how the buildings work together
um the one thing i will note here is we did revise the pilot houses um and meeting with
neighborhood to minimize height and visibility of those so those have been minimized to provide
sloping roofs only for what's needed to provide that roof deck access yes and then there the roof
deck access portion of uh is also kind of squeezed in so again less visible to everyone is that
correct that that is correct all right all right next so this is sd 404 uh what is this showing
yeah so the top image here um southwest perspective to the left hand side is the
larston street facade um and as you can see that the grade change there between kind of drive aisle
and top sidewalk is fairly large so we have those cascading kind of retaining walls and planting
beds that uh allow us to get up to the the elevation that's um kind of existing on the site
above that uh failing retaining wall and then the north perspective on the bottom yeah north
perspective just showing uh exactly that um kind of sidewalk front entry um and how that kind of
looks as you go down um in unison again just always good to see perspective views all right next
and this is SD05. So in this perspective, it's actually showing a portion of our elevation in
comparison to 4114 and 4116. Is that correct? That is correct. All right. And then in terms
of the roof lines for 4114 compared to 4112, are they mimicking our roof line?
yeah so the the height of the building is fairly consistent with uh 41 14 um 41 14 has a mansard
style roof um sits up a little bit higher than ours uh but as you can see they're pretty much
consistent um with the adjacent yeah and and actually this drawing has not been updated with
the 38 feet of height is that right that is that is correct we don't have time to do that
yeah but you know just to put that in perspective we would be you know even lower than that from
our perspective um if you change that drawing is that right yeah be another uh foot and change
Laura okay I see you have about five minutes all right I'm gonna what why don't you just try to use
the time the best you can as you want to yeah let's try to get through the rest of these drawings
all right this is uh what is we ever is that did we go through that
all right all right well let's go through the floor plans why don't you walk us through the
floor plans sure so on the bottom of the page that would be the drive aisle elevation
on the southern side of the property starting the garage we have a double loaded tandem style
parking space um again this was something that when meeting with the neighborhood parking was
adamantly important uh so we had originally um some basement living space auxiliary space down
there uh we then have changed that to have two parking spaces um for each home uh with wider
garage access so we've got 12 foot garage door 16 foot clear so we have extra space for storage in
there along with um parking two cars very comfortably and then as we go up well and maybe
this is not noted in here is there an expectation that this would also be designed where there would
be adequate uh trash storage uh yeah correct yeah yeah the intention is um you know trash
recycling cans would be um within this garage uh visually you can see there's there's more than
enough space um around these these vehicular cars yeah i didn't mean to interrupt well no i'll go
um going up level one floor plan this is directly accessed from the northern side of the site
front door to be the main living level with the living room primary living room
uh towards the the southern side dining room and kitchen in the middle um open concepts as we go up
towards the the southern side dining room and kitchen in the middle open
we have the master bedroom on the second level um with the bedroom being on that southern side the
northern side uh would be a master bathroom um with closets kind of in the middle and then the
upper floor on the third floor are two additional sleeping areas uh with two bathrooms and laundry
up there and then uh on the top here is the the roof deck um and a little easier to see here that
we're 10 foot set off that northern face um and then the pilot house door and railing kind of
wraps around so that uh the primary roof deck access is towards that southern side and roof
deck living is towards that southern side yeah and then what's the other side in terms of the setback
uh so we're up so that's 10 feet up there so we have five and another five so we have a five
foot parapet and then uh so it's 10 total on that northern side all right um trying to think oh
what what's the size what's the approximate size of each single family structure including and
excluding the uh garage level if you know uh top of my head i don't have the excluded
this does 2250 yeah we're 2200 without the garage and then 28 with all right
okay why don't we start let's stop you stop this yeah all right uh you want us to stop
Yeah, if you want to say something real quick. I mean, no, I mean, can I just see if there's any other drawing so we can at least finish the drawing? We do that. You get two minutes. All right. Let me see. Are there any other drawing? Oh, let's stop. Okay. That'll be a good stop. All right. So, um, uh, we're going to continue this until we'll, we'll resumptive here. And we'll be 8, 1826 at 930 AM. And I want to thank the both of you, Mr. McElhatton. I want to thank you for working with, um,
Our staff, Ian Haggerty and Hillary and Lakeisha Dandy in the back here have really been working on finding ways to streamline the work in here that, like, for instance, you didn't have all your witnesses sit here and we wind up canceling. Everybody goes away mad.
And we blame you.
Well, we try to get to Clayton Hillary, but that's besides the point.
But, no, we want to thank you with that.
9.30, yep.
Thank you.
I'm going to complete my business before this board, may I be so sure.
You most certainly can.
Thank you.
Good to see you.
Thank you.
Alan, I think you're going to be with us a little bit.
Which one is the next one, Mr. Chair?
You have so many.
Well, he may do the one.
How about number five?
MI 2026-000-481-1400 South 23rd Street.
Mr. Goldberg, you've already been sworn, but just for the record, could you please state your name?
Sure. My name is Alex Goldberg, A-L-E-X-G-O-L-D-B-E-R-G.
Right. And could you identify your client in a relationship to this property?
My client is Calvin Ho, and he's the owner of the property.
And I see there's unanimous support from Point Breeze, the CDC.
Our vice chair has a few questions.
Good afternoon. Have you submitted your documents and exhibits 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 all right thank you you can share your screen and proceed with the case
I think I need to jump back into the zoom I think I got bumped out one second
okay um so my client is calvin ho he's in the virtual audience um the property is 1400 south
23rd street it's at the corner of 23rd and reed in the point breeze neighborhood of philadelphia
this property has a long history of two unit use it was a funeral home plus one residential
dwelling unit above there's a entirely separated ground floor what was previously commercial unit
existing on the property um that you'll see photos of that has appears to just sort of accumulated
a lot of junk over the course of time and i'm not sure was ever uh recently renovate rented
Recently renovate rented as a residential dwelling unit. My client has a 1 unit rental license to be able to legally rent the unit above, which he has since he purchased the property in December of 2025 and we're going through the variance process to to attempt to legalize that 1st floor space, which was previously a funeral home into a residential dwelling unit.
as a residential dwelling unit, my client has
here is the notice of refusal we're not proposing any sort of construction so this is solely a use
application the benefit of being on the corner is that we have separate residential entry points for
each unit and there's also an existing storage garage on the reed street side which was never
large enough to fit a car but is perfect for trash storage so we also have a nice enclosed
trash storage area built into the building structure here's the letter of support from
point breeze cdc we met with them earlier this year you can see that there was unanimous approval
four to zero and two of those yeses were within two blocks of the project and then some commentary
here from some from one near neighbor and one beyond two blocks that people are in support and
that it's been to owner two units and the owners is looking to make it legal here's a petition from
some nearby neighbors that signed in support of the proposal some of which were at the virtual
meeting with the with the coordinating rco property history this is a a document referencing zoning
permit applications for an interior alteration of a funeral parlor plus one family so you you know
there's documentation that there were two separate spaces here and that is still the case
and without the granting of this variance because this is rsa5 we would be in a position where
either that front space wouldn't have to be used or we would need to seek a variance for some sort
of commercial use perhaps which i don't think would be supported by the neighbors because that
would be out of character there are several duplexes in close proximity to here including
the other three corners on our block um so that is 1401 south 23rd 1412 south 23rd and 1413
south 23rd and the zba approved that a duplex duplex at 1412 south 23rd in 2021 which is is
one of those corners i've been referencing and i have a map to show you what that looks like so
here's the zoning map we're directly across from a commercially zoned property and rm1 as well as
park to our left and then here is a diagram showing that the other four corners of sort of this um 1400
block of south 23rd street are all duplexes so it would be in character for us to sort of be the
book into that and be approved for that as well and and i imagine that's why there was a history
of that from some time ago here's some photographs so this is the front of the property um one
residential entry point is here and the other one is on Reed Street right here
I referenced that there's a small little storage garage on the Reed Street side
that's where we will have our trash storage accessible to both units here's
the notice postings on both street frontages to the right of the property
on South 23rd to the left and then to the right of the property on Reed and to
the left there's a deck at the rear interior photographs this is the upper unit you can see
it's in much better shape and there's a tenant there now with an active rental license and then
you'll see what the downstairs area looks like and it's sort of a bi-level you'll see that on
the plans but this is what the front of the property looks this was the looks like this was
the funeral parlor these are the listing photos it's basically just sitting in there empty now
until we're hopefully able to get through this process successfully it has access to a basement
but the basement is an unfinished basement that i imagine will be laundry and utilities only which
is what's just utilities now in a dark space you can see that staircase going downward
and then the plans and drawings going to the floor plans
first floor is on the bottom here so you can see that um you enter on the 23rd street side
to the left of the property off of the porch and that gives you access to apartment one
um or sorry that gives you access to apartment two it goes directly up a staircase my apologies
and then you have a staircase coming off a reed street here where you get direct access to unit
one and then that trash storage area you can see is directly adjacent to the kitchen there
in unit one and this is full lot coverage and existing an existing structure
unit one. And this is full lot coverage and existing structure in that way. Two bedrooms,
two bathrooms, and then upstairs you have two bedrooms, two bathrooms, fairly spacious. They're
both about a thousand square feet. My client is going to self-manage them. And obviously,
you know, that downstairs unit needs a lot of TLC.
I would say with that, I would ask my client to come on and adopt my testimony.
The client's name, please.
Calvin Ho.
They'll be back in as a panel shortly.
hello hi sir could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
my name is calvin ho c-a-l-v-i-n last name is ho h-o do you swear or affirm to tell the truth
told truth nothing but the truth i do please proceed sir hey calvin did you hear my testimony
today i did was it true and correct yes and do you adopt it as your own yes thank you questions
from the board and mr chairman i forgot to mention that we have submitted tax clearance and proof of
mailing okay sure thank you questions from the board
trash which the which your plan for trash trash storage will be in this storage area which is
that existing i would call it a half garage it's six and a half feet wide that's existing on the
side of the property so both both tenants would have access to store their trash there
questions from our attorney hillary emerson
not at this time questions or comments from the virtual audience
yes mr chair i have a hand up from a call-in user i will allow them to speak
hi good day this is uh tiffany rain from concern to the point for you
hello hello hello yeah hi can you hear me yeah could you please state your name and
spell for the stenographer uh t-i-f-f-a-n-y g-r-e-e-n concerns is a point brief rco right do
you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes i do please
proceed well i'm going to oppose the project okay because i uh our who feel that there is no real
hardship here uh regarding the uh pride the actual uh property um in the meeting with discussion the
boat was was moved forward the vote was moved forward with the uh the understanding that we
that the uh we would argue would continue have a conversation with the developer i mean with
the owner and the lawyer and about having a affordable housing unit and you know
articles come up by point B yesterday and inquire and we're saying that at
this point that there's no real hardship at this point it's or anything is
self-imposed hardship because you're supposed to do your due diligence before
you purchase the property so we understand he's trying to legalize it
and he wants to you know also redo the first floor but we're saying at this
point that that you know we need some type of benefit if you know to give back to the community
variance can't be based on profit or just expansion it has to be an actual hardship
and I don't think that this hardship has been we don't think this hardship has been proven