Are you a neighbor?
Yes, I am.
And do you support or are you against this project?
I'm against it.
Is there anything you can offer that hasn't already been said?
I just reaffirmed.
Well, we do appreciate that you took the time to call.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
There are no hands, Chair.
Thank you.
planning commission thank you chair bergman and good morning david vecto with the city planning
commission mr chairman and board members the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the
residential single family zoning at this location full-time use of a dwelling unit as a short-term
rental has been illegal since the first short-term rental zoning regulations became effective in
roughly 2012 there is no unique physical condition or circumstance of this property that would
prevent it from being used in conformance with the zoning code. The City Planning Commission
recommends that the board deny the proposed use variants for visitor accommodations. Thank you.
MI 2023-002-916-712-Shell Street, I vote no. Thomas Holloman, my vote is no. James Snell,
My vote is no.
Mr. Moshahi, my vote is no.
Thank you, Councilman.
Thank you.
Number nine, MI 2022-005-082-5600 North Sydenham Street.
Darwin Bovee is the attorney.
We're still waiting for an RCO letter here.
Mr. Chair, we did just this morning for this matter receive a letter of
non-opposition from the coordinating
RCO, Oakland-Wister,
as well as correspondence
from Mr. Richardson that Councilman
Bass is in non-opposition.
Thank you very much.
Darwin Beauvais has been promoted.
Mr. Beauvais, I think I
already swore you in this morning.
Could you just state your name for the record?
Yes. Darwin
Beauvais. Beauvais is spelled
B as in boy, E-A-U-V
as in victory, A-I-S
That's in Sam. I'm located at 1500 Market Street, and I represent the applicant in this matter.
Could you identify that, who your client is?
Who should be here? Emmanuel Kosaki, if he can raise his hand.
He is the principal of the Kosaki Group, which is the owner of 5600 North.
Our vice chair has just a few questions, sir.
Good morning, Counselor. Do you agree to weigh the reading of the refusal when stipulated to attack?
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that are needed to proceed? Thank you. Please share your screen and proceed.
okay so we've submitted uh exhibits one through 13 which also includes the refusal as well as
tax clearance certificates deeds floor plans uh maps of the various areas in various configurations
as well as photos of the property. Mr. Chairman, members of the board, this is actually a simple
matter because it's the legalization of a property that has existed for years. It is a three-unit
dwelling with two one-bedroom units on the first floor and a two-bedroom unit on the second floor.
Our refusal is for having this extra density in our RSA 5 neighborhood.
Having said that, let me go to our floor plans here.
okay so the first floor has an entrance in the back uh of of the building where you come into
the kitchen if we yeah you come into the kitchen see the bedroom so it's and and then you can go
into the bathroom. And that's the same mirror configuration on the first floor. Second floor,
as you can see, it's three bedrooms. My mistake. It's three bedrooms. You come up and there's also
a kitchen as well as a bathroom. And here's the hallway. Here are current interior photos.
The property is not occupied right now.
The property is not occupied right now.
That's the basement.
It's not finished.
And in essence, this is where the property sits in vis-a-vis all of the zoning classifications in the area.
It sits smack dab in the middle of single residence.
And yet, there are, if I may, there are a ton, well, there are quite a few multifamily units in that same vicinity, as you can see.
What I would like to point to the board, and this is, if I could stop sharing and reshare another screen, that is on the actual L&I website.
historically this property was was a commercial had a commercial storefront and it was a
a and for some reason throughout the years it the the commercial classification was taken away
and it was all made our rsa5 this refusal shows there was an attempt over 20 years ago
to bring back commercial activity in this area.
This refusal never saw the light of day.
It never, I don't know if the board denied it,
but this is what I found on the city's website,
that there was an attempt to create an ice cream parlor
with accessory eating and take out
in a retail sale of accessory items, right?
with the residential unit upstairs.
This never occurred.
We're sitting in an RSA district.
So the one thing I can only conclude
is that prior owners maintained a residential use,
albeit one that has density.
So let me just go back to my official presentation. So with that said, and these are just documentations that I found on the website of the other multifamily units that are there.
We did have, and this is probably the crux of the matter since we had to defend a continuance request.
The crux of the matter centers around our outreach to the community.
We filed this matter, I want to say last year, and we received a notice in January to reach out to an RCO.
That RCO, apparently there was some issues with who should do what and what communications should happen.
So we actually came before the board and asked for a continuance so we can go in front of the official coordinating RCO.
That did take place.
And we did have a meeting August 1st.
So here's my notice. And we included the refusal. And this proof of mailing may come in handy because I'm pretty sure that the other neighbors or the nearby neighbors, not the official neighbors, are going to suggest that they should have been involved.
Whereas we complied with the code, reached out to the number of residents that are described under the code that we should reach out to.
And then we also followed what the rules say and followed up with the official coordinating RCO that was chosen by the council person's office.
so with that let me just go to our photos
okay so this is what the property looks like you can see there's hasn't been any change to
convert this into some sort of three-unit dwelling. What has been done over the last
20 years, over 20 years, is an adaptive reuse. You're seeing what was a storefront,
You're seeing what was a storefront, but we're sitting in the middle of RSA 5.
but we're sitting in the middle of...
So there is an apartment with its front entrance here, and then there's another apartment with its rear entrance here.
And then there's three bedrooms here.
As you can see, our posting is reflective in these photos.
Here's another angle.
I think this is a little bit too close, but as you can see, that's the second entrance.
Here's the entrance.
So that's the front entrance.
Here's the second entrance, the second floor, the three-bedroom.
we've had these utilities for over 20 years as you can see
close up
and I believe when we did talk to when we did have our community meeting
um and Mr. Richardson did attend there was talk about a garage which is which is in the rear of
the property that garage the past owner did rent it out to individuals not attached to the house
um it was asked can the garage be dedicated to the residents and and we will accept that as a
So, with that said, I'm more than happy to address questions that the board may have, unless they want me to...
Why don't you bring your client and have your testimony adopted?
Okay. If he could be identified, Emanuel?
Emanuel Kosaki is allowed to speak.
Good morning. Emanuel Kosaki.
Hi, could you spell your name, please, for the court stenographer?
Sure. E-M-A-N-U-E-L. Last name, Kasachi. K-O-S-A-C-C-I.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed, counsel.
Mr. Kasachi, did you hear everything I said to the board today?
I did.
And would you adopt that as your testimony?
I do. Are there any facts that you would like to add?
Unless any questions are posed, no, no additional facts.
All right. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Chair.
No, Chair.
Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Emerson?
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just one comment.
mr bouvet mentioned the the garage obviously um any any commercial use of that garage would require
um you know additional additional zoning approval so the property is zoned rsa5
um i just did want to note that the the board if if it would like you know could just include a
proviso that indicates that the um the use of the garage is you know accessory to um the residential
use. And that's fine. That's a proviso that we've already agreed to. All right. Thank you.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience? Yes, Chair, I have Charles Richardson.
Morning, Mr. Richardson. Charles Richardson is allowed to speak. You've already been sworn,
sir. Just state your name. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Charles Richardson from the Office of Councilwoman
in the bathroom 508 city hall councilwoman is not opposed can you hear me yeah well you're a little
low you're really low uh let me see if i can try to better yes that's okay all right so the
councilwoman is not opposed to granting the variance this property has been that exact
configuration for as far back as in looking back on google uh street view you can go back to 2015
But a personal note that I know that that property has been that way for quite some time. It is apparent that Mr. Jones or Mr. Speaks, the two former owners, one of the two converted the place into three apartments without any permits.
But it has functioned as such for such a long time and was even noted in the RCO meeting by one of the participants that, oh, we've been trying to get a look inside of that place for years, but it's been that way.
by one of the participants that we've been trying to get a look inside of that place for years,
but it's been that way for a number of years. So that's why the councilman has no opposition to
granting that variance. Thank you very much. Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
Yes, Chair Sandra Broadus. Good morning, Ms. Broadus.
Good morning, Mr. Chair. You're already sworn. Just for the record, state your name, please.
sandra s-a-n-d-r-a broadest b-r-o-a-d-u-s proceed um i am representing a concerned community
association um mr chair um i'm not sure if you all are totally familiar with the broad down the
corridor but down directly across the street from this property is widener memorial for handicapped
children. Right next to it is Girls High. Down the street from it is Kimball Park, Community Park. We
are also the friends of Kimball Park and Central High. The 5600 of Sydenham, which this property
sits on the corner of, it's angled so it's actually facing Olney Avenue. This corridor is used by
residents throughout the community as far back as Worcester Street to access the Broad and Olney
transit. Every morning, buses across the street line up for the Widener Memorial School students.
Every morning, the parents of girls at Central High School drop off their kids and they are
jockeying for space in front of this property, parking everywhere down along the park all the
way to Central High up to Broad Street. The traffic conditions had gotten to the extreme
extent that there were police officers on Broad Street at the top of the street. Can you leave
that picture of the property up for a second, please? They had to redirect traffic because
once rush hour starts in the morning, it is impossible to get there.
For people as far back as Ogons Avenue, at the opposite end of this block,
Sydenham Street is the jump off that we use to get to Oni Avenue.
It is a community passageway, except that this block has parking on one side of the street,
and it is so crammed that the neighbors are parking on both sides of the street
and usually you can't get through.
So it adds to the traffic debacle.
The space to the right that you see to the right of this property on the sidewalk
always has a car, a truck, or some vehicle parked in front of it.
What we are experiencing in our neighborhood is that when these unusual redesignations of properties occur, the front door of this property is now facing Olney Avenue.
So what we now have is tenants feeling as though they are entitled to treat that as the front of their home, meaning coffee in the morning, lawn chairs on the avenue, barbecues on the avenue, because that is their home and they do so with entitlement.
This is a vital walking pedestrian corridor for people that are trying to get to broaden on the end to school in the morning, and we do not want the irregularity of this zoning to have people now feeling entitled to use this as their front door, their front step.
The use has been an experience of the neighborhood because it's been done illegally for a while, and the neighbors have been suffering.
They have been suffering because they are jockeying for parking space.
They say that the tenants have bought police and calamity to Olney Avenue inappropriately.
um they the the the parking garage which um i've been trying to wait to share my screen because
i'm not going to do it well um is alongside of the building there was a business operating out
of it but the the part that we are concerned about is the fact that the
But the part that we are concerned about is the fact that the, what do you call it, the ingress is from Olney Avenue, meaning that if the tenants assume that this is their parking garage, they will literally be parking on Olney Avenue, literally parking on Olney Avenue.
And there is no regulation for that.
We are seeking regulation for that.
I'm going to show you the pictures in a minute, and I'm sure you have them because we submitted them as a part of our report.
But in the driveway, the parking garage was extended out to create this huge structure, which means that this property has relinquished its right to park in the driveway.
They already created a structure that they no longer have a parking spot, but they use it anyway.
And without regulation, they are parking back there and blocking the entire passageway to the driveway.
So the neighbors can't get to and from the driveway.
These are things that go on in Philadelphia that result in neighbors fighting and ultimately shooting.