But what of particular note is that the city acknowledges that this was a three-unit dwelling up to, I think, 2014.
Ms. Banks had owned the property with her husband, Daniel Banks.
Mr. Banks handled the affairs of their investment properties.
And unfortunately, Ms. Banks, you know, is having had difficulties over the past couple of years in terms of meeting her obligations, you know, in terms of the housing inspection license.
And that's why you'll see her son testify in this capacity at this hearing.
But this has a history of three units.
We're not trying to change the use in any way.
We're not trying to reconfigure the property in any way.
We're essentially trying to legalize the property.
And this is part of this process.
Fourth exhibit, you'll see is the application for appeal.
The fifth exhibit, you will see a what?
I'm sorry.
Oh, fifth exhibit is the maps from Atlas, as well as Google. Sixth exhibit, you'll see photographs of the properties surrounding the area. Seventh exhibit, you'll see our floor plans, again, all pre-existing conditions with tenants in these properties. Eighth exhibit is the correspondence from the East Passion Crossing Civic Association, which we'll go over, and also the correspondence from Councilman Escuela, where he indicated that he would leave it up to the board to decide.
And Alex Banks, the owner's son, will adopt my testimony.
And you'll, you'll, uh, Alex, uh, banks, uh, the owners.
So as you see, this property is owned in the name of Daniel Banks and Jacqueline Banks.
Mr. Banks is no longer with us.
And unfortunately, that's part of the reason why we're here.
Because there was a gap in obtaining a housing inspection license.
The city of Philadelphia is requiring us to reapply.
Certificate of tax clearance showing that there are no taxes owed on this property.
And then the notice of refusal.
Again, this is an RSA 5 property, but as you'll see, this is the quintessential South Philly property, which probably had multi-units even before it was a triplex.
Probably it was a commercial on the first floor and multiple residential units on the second and third floor.
Most importantly, again, we're not trying to change the use.
There was a rental license from 2004 through 2014 in the name of Daniel Banks, the late Daniel Banks.
And you can see it's three units.
So we're not trying to increase the usage here.
We're just trying to legalize this structure.
application for appeal that we followed with the cba along with the uh notice refusal and
the project information form maps of the area again we're in the corner property uh tasker
umbrella um as we're here as well on google maps and photographs of the property i'm just gonna
make a i can kind of venture down as you can see you have this like you know this corner property
definitely would be like some type of commercial use over time the first floor and multiple
residences above here's the property from tasker street
one of the things that we are doing so as you can see there was once a garage there
the the owner elected not to legalize the garage as well so we'll be giving that curb cut back to
the community so they're actually adding a parking space onto the street
and then there's access through the side and access for all the residents
to the basement where they can store their garbage south below street from the right of the property
to the left of the property
from tasker street to the right of their property
and tasker street to the left of the property
and then just the plans and drawings i'm just going to make this a little smaller
so the board can see the whole page if you don't mind
again you can get in for the first floor unit
uh in the front and then you can get up to the upper floors uh through the side on tasker street
and then each floor has its own uh unit and then again most importantly there's basement
individual uh basement and store in the basement there's storage and an ability to put a garbage
room down there as well now the letter from the community group uh again here's the letter so
if you look at it the people from the actual community there were there were third there
were 15 people who were not part of the executive board eight were in support of it two people
opposed it and five people abstained obviously we're you know we're one of people who are
abstain because we can't vote for projects, but a super majority, 80% voted, you know, for this
project. Here, the committee itself for the, you know, East Passion Crossing, who are not within
the affected area, one person voted for it, and five people voted opposed. But ultimately, nine
people supported this project, and seven people opposed, even if you include the executive board.
And then Councilman Squilla sent a letter today indicating the same thing, how the executive
committee voted in opposition, but the community as a whole supported this project overwhelmingly
and he respectfully left it to the decision to the board. And then that's basically our project
in a nutshell. So with me is Alex Banks, the owner's son who will adopt my testimony.
Mr. Banks, can you raise your hands, please?
Mr. Banks, can you raise your hands, please?
You've been unmuted.
You can unmute yourself on your side and speak.
Banks, please spell your full name and I'll swear you in.
A-L-E-X-B-A-N-K-S, Alex Banks.
You're swearing for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Mr. Markinson?
Yeah, Mr. Banks, you heard everything I stated today.
That's right.
And is it true and correct?
Yes, it is.
And do you adopt it as your own testimony?
Yes, I do.
And, you know, in addition to Mr. Banks adopting my testimony, I just want to reiterate, you know, Mrs. Banks, like, needs this property legalized.
And it would be financially devastating if this board would require her to convert this property, which has multi-unit use in the past, as late as 2014 for three units, to spend that money to convert that back to a single family.
She doesn't have the funds to do that.
And it would affect her ability to comfortably live out her remaining years.
So that's it.
Thank you.
Questions from the board?
no no no anyone else would like to testify in this case if so please raise your hand
there are no available hands at this time chair thank you planning commission
good afternoon nicole ozdemir with the planning commission staff
the comprehensive plan recommends no change in the single-family residential use zoning for
this property while the lot presents no unique physical circumstances or conditions it appears
to have a standing use as a multi-family structure as such we do not object to the granting of this
variance. Thank you. MI 2021-001-406-1600 South Beulah Street. My vote is yes with proviso. No
garage, no off-street parking. Yes with proviso. Yes with proviso. Thank you. MI 2021-001-407-2120
North 7th Street.
Knockinson, again, identify yourself.
You're still on the oath.
And Mr.
Plaza, would you mind taking over for a few minutes?
I have to excuse myself.
Thank you.
Good afternoon, members of the board.
Alan Knockinson of Knockinson, PC.
Knockinson, you agreed to wait to read in of its refusal and stipulate to
Have you emailed an exhibit packet with the required documents for ownership, proof of tax compliance, copy of the refusal or referral, photos and plans five days prior to this hearing?
I have.
And have you met with the RCO and have a letter?
Yes, we have a letter of support.
Please proceed.
All right, thank you.
i hate to be repetitive here but i have a table of contents
that's similar to the other ones uh so this one is 2120 north 7th street this is a new
construction property unlike the other ones i presented today unlike the other ones i presented
today too this actually allows for multifamily use we're just slightly short of the required
amount of lot size to have this property as of right. I'm going to make this a little bigger,
having a little connectivity issues, so I don't know if things are slow on your side too.
Let me see. It's a little too big.
All right. So, deed to the property, certificate of tax clearance, notice of refusal, application for appeal, maps of the area, photographs of the property, plans and drawings, and the correspondence from the coordinating the RCO APM.
hmm okay sorry about that uh so this property uh is owned uh by jacob y mott trading inc
they purchased this property a few years ago and that's the deed to the property
a certificate of tax clearance showing that they're in good standing with the city of philadelphia
Payment of the arrearage that was shown of record.
Again, this is an RM1 property, and we are so slightly short of the requirements from dimensionally. Our open area is less than 15, a little more than 15 square feet, but our property does not extend beyond what the structures around there extend to.
Again, this is an RM1 property.
And then the lot size, while 1,080 is required for this three-unit structure, we have 1,053, which, again, is slightly off.
We're at like 2.92 units.
But unfortunately, the city of Philadelphia, through their zoning code, goes downward, doesn't estimate upward.
Here's our application for appeal.
along with our project information form and then again we're in a multi-family part of
of the city there's no dispute as to that and we're an rm1 property and
this photographs were a vacant lot
here's here's properties on north seven to the right of our property
Here are properties on north 7 to the left of our property.
And then here's our plans and drawings. It's going to slightly make it a little bit smaller
so it's just easy to maneuver. If you need me to expand in any way, I will of course do that.
So here's a rendering of the property. Again, typical brick facade. We actually are doing a
mansard roof to add some architectural detail i believe there's also the properties in that
neighborhood do have mansard roofs as well no bay windows and then as you can see
one of the things to respect like the properties is that we have a breezeway right here
with the rear steps and then if you can look at the
the floor plans
go first floor to the right you go into unit one which is a bi-level open floor plan kitchen
living room bathroom bedroom go up a flight of steps unit number two which is two bedroom one
bath and then unit three is on the third floor which is again two bedroom one bath
now our letter from APM
shows that everyone in this in the meeting either were in support of this project or
are not in opposition and that's why the community group gave us a letter of support
With that being said, I would have my client, Dimitri, adopt my testimony. Dimitri, can you virtually raise your hand?
Dimitri, you can unmute yourself and speak now.
Hi, how's it going?
Sir, can you please identify yourself for the record for your first and last week?
Dmitry Gorodetsky.
Your address?
The address of the property is 2120 North 7th Street in Philadelphia, PA, 19122.
Is there a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, for nothing but the truth?
Excuse me, this is a court reporter.
I'm sorry.
Yes, could you spell your name, please?
Dmitry, D-M-I-T-R-Y.
My last name is G-O-R-O-D-E, T like Tom, S-K-Y.
Oh, yes, Dimitri, you heard it.
I'm sorry.
John, is that good?
Yes, thank you.
Thank you.
You can continue, Mr. Nakas, and I apologize.
Thank you, Ms. Sunkit.
Yes, Dimitri, you heard everything I stated today.
Correct.
And is it true and correct?
Absolutely.
And do you adopt it as your own testimony?
Yes, I do.
All right.
I have no further questions.
Thank you.
Does the board have any questions?
Questions?
Planning Commission?
I'm sorry, Secretary Plaza.
Would it be okay to get the community's way in?
I'm sorry.
Apologize.
Anyone else that would like to speak in this matter?
Anyone else that would like to speak in this matter?
There are no other hands at this time, Secretary Plaza.
Thank you, Planning Commission.
Good afternoon, Nicole Ozdemir for the Planning Commission staff.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing multifamily use here.
We feel that the proposed three units is a minimal variance, considering the lot size percentages.