It is an RM1 property.
This property is, and I apologize for the partial blur on the image, but this is an image of the front of the property.
It is a four-story structure with a garage on the bottom floor, and the zoning archive indicates that this has been vacant probably for over a decade, but it was last used as a sales room and storage room for shock absorbers and perhaps previously as an auto repair shop, as indicated here.
So my client purchased this property and intended to convert it for residential use.
He pulled a by-right zoning permit for four dwelling units.
Now, we then proceeded, and I'll tell you why in a second, to apply for seven dwelling units and two accessory parking spaces.
Those uses are by-right.
The seven units are by-right here.
save for the curb cut. The curb cut, which already exists, albeit in very bad shape,
you can see there, the curb cut is not permitted without a variance. So that is the refusal we
obtained that we cannot access the garage without a new variance. And, you know, essentially,
to show you the structure again, and perhaps I can give you a view of the side of it,
Pretty large building. This extends the full depth of this block. It's got about 12,000 square feet of interior space, roughly. And, you know, we approached the Uptown Entertainment Development Corporation, that's the coordinating RCO, and spoke to them about, you know, whether they'd like to see a buy-write project, which would basically be four enormous apartments,
approaching 3,000 square feet each with no parking, or whether they'd like to see something
different. And what we have today, and that I'll be presenting with our architect,
is a result of that collaboration. And I will turn it over to him in a moment. I just want to
talk you through the basics. Going back to the front of the building, we're going to reactivate
this curb cutting garage door to provide a couple parking spaces in there as well as indoor storage
for trash and utilities this door on the left is going to access an apartment hallway into the
building so you don't have to walk through the garage to get to the units the store on the right
is going to be for trash service so that trash haulers sorry that the trash cans can be brought
in and out of the building without passing through the rest of it. And finally, just to go back to
the plan, as you see here on the ground floor, we'll have those two parking spaces. One will be
handicap accessible. We're going to offer a handicap accessible unit on the ground floor
that has two bedrooms. And then there will be three floors above that with two apartments each.
And I'd like to bring on Todd Wormsdorf, that's spelled with a W, to provide some additional detail on the apartments.
You state your name.
Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
There's no one with that name with their hand up at this time, Chair.
Hold on, Chair.
He just put his hand up.
State your name, please, and spell it.
I apologize.
Can you hear me okay now?
We can.
We can.
Just state your name and spell for the court reporter.
It's Todd Wommelsdorf, T-O-D-D-W-O-M-E-L-S-D-O-R-F.
All right.
Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Thank you.
Todd, are you the architect of record for this project?
No, I'm the designer. There would be another individual that would be the architect of record for this.
No, I'm the designer.
We would...
Oh, I apologize. Okay. More pertinent question. Did you make these plans?
Yes, I did.
Okay, thank you. And were these plans... Let me just have you... I'll actually pass the mic to you.
Why don't you just sort of walk the board through quickly, if you don't mind, the features of the different apartments, the layout generally.
I'm happy to turn pages as you direct me.
Yeah, I think you covered a lot of it in your introduction.
We're proposing two parking units and a trash room and then an accessible unit with two bedrooms on the first floor.
And then above it, in the three floors above, the units are more or less identical on each floor.
Each unit has three bedrooms, two baths, and a large living area, and an atrium to introduce light into the main living areas.
okay um and there will be windows um on the uh front and back of the building such that every
bedroom will have a window is that correct yes okay um and as you said just to confirm the there
will be six units in total on the upper three floors their layout aside from being mirrored
from one another is identical is that right yes and there will be a smaller unit on the first
floor with the intention of this being uh available for rent to a disabled person or family is that
right yes that's correct okay um last question for you um the uh upstairs units um these have
one bathroom that is an ensuite and then one bathroom that's accessed from the living room
per apartment is that right yes that's correct okay um so i guess um before i bring on the owner
to dock my testimony i just wanted to highlight for the board um that we have um oh i apologize
well i'll show you this too so this is a community benefits agreement um that we offered to uh the
the rcos involved i i do actually want to show you i apologize the um decision letter from the
coordinating RCO. We have support from that organization. As I mentioned, that's Uptown
Entertainment Development Corporation. And I believe that Mary Jones from the council president's
office is on. I don't want to put words in her mouth. She had an interest, though, in incorporating
some of these provisions of our CBA as provisos. I'll allow her to speak to that, and I can help
as needed um but um i guess before we call her could i just bring on the owner of the property
why don't you do that okay his name is uh jen dai d-a-i
mr dai you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair
hi hello hi could you state could you state your name and spell it for the uh uh sonographer
hi first name j-i-n last name d as in david a-i right do you swear for him to tell the truth
the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes i do proceed brendan uh jen did you hear the um
full extent of my testimony today yes i did and was it true and accurate
it yes i would and would you adopt it as your own yes i would okay thank you very much all right so
what i'm going to do is questions from the board no mr chairman mr chairman no mr chairman
questions or statement from the virtual audience
chair we have mary jones yep yep miss jones you can unmute yourself or wait for the chair
um yes good afternoon mary jones miss jones just state your name you've already been sworn
oh yes mary jones uh from council president daryl clark's office city hall room 494
Proceed.
While the council president is not taking a formal position on this matter,
our office did want to ensure that as much of what the community requested
can be included as a proviso,
just to avoid them having to make sure the applicant can be held accountable
to make sure the applicant can be held accountable and avoid the community having to
and avoid the community having to...
put work in enforcing a CBA. They may not have the capacity to do so.
And so within those discussions with Mr. Saverin, we wanted to ask that
um the handicap accessibility be included as proviso if possible and just that you know
they are promising to utilize the plans as promised um with the with the um handicap
access as well and the excuse me and the uh ratio of bathrooms to bedrooms thank you
anyone else in the virtual audience chair i see no hands at this time planning commission
good afternoon david fecto city planning commission mr chairman members of the board
the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the residential multiple family zoning at this
location since the dwelling unit count is by right the only thing we're reviewing is the
variance for the existing curb cut and the city planning commission recommends the board grant
the variance for front parking access from a front street thank you mi 2021 004391 oh mr chair i'm
very sorry i just wanted to mention we do have uh i'm truly sorry to cut you off um sure we
submitted a proviso change form um we did modify the plans after our initial we have that we have
I've talked to the our attorney about it thank you thank you MI 2021 004391 2317 North 15th
Street I vote yes with proviso revised plans one page Carl Tenere my vote is yes with proviso
Thomas Holliman my vote is yes with proviso James Snell yes with proviso
Ishmael Shaheed, that's what's about them.
Thank you.
Thank you.
MI 2021-002826-2713 West Montgomery Avenue.
RCO, 32nd Ward, and non-opposition.
Mr. Dockamson.
Chair, Mr. Dockamson is coming back in as a panelist now.
Mr. Nockmson, just state your name. You've already been sworn.
Yes, Alan, A-L-A-N, last name Nockamson, N-O-C-H-U-M-S-O-N, 123 South Broad Street, Suite 1600, Philadelphia PA, 19109.
Our vice chair has a few questions.
Hi, Mr. Nockamson. Do you agree to waive the reading as a refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
It appears that you've submitted all the required documents. Is that correct?
That is correct, including a letter of non-opposition by DeCornini-Narcia.
Yes, we have that. You may proceed.
May I share my screen?
Yes, you may.
All right, so I'm here to present 2713 West Montgomery Avenue. It's a property just off
of 27th Street on the corner of West Montgomery and Edding Street.
This is a property that we're looking to put as a two-family dwelling.
In our table of contents, you'll see our notice of refusal, our letter of non-opposition from the 32nd Democratic Court, including commentary as to why.
We had two meetings with the community, and through those meetings, we were able to work through this project where they ultimately gave us a letter of non-opposition.
We have maps of the area, photographs of the property in the surrounding area, including showing that this property has been a vacant lot for some time, almost a decade, well, since 2014.
We have our plans and drawings, proof of our last meeting with the community, as well as a certificate of mailing, our application for appeal, our deed to the property showing that Kumas Homes LLC owns the property, and our certificate of tax clearance showing that my client's a good standing with respect to this property.
Notice of refusal. So this is an RSA 5 property, but it's a corner property, and typically you'll see from corner properties, it's non-common for these properties to have multi-unit facilities.
Here, my client, you'll see through the drawings, is using it such that one of the units will have an entrance on Montgomery, the other unit will have an entrance on Montgomery.
One of the units will have an entrance on Montgomery, the other unit will have an entrance on Edding, and both of the units, most importantly, will have access to the rear yard where there will be a storage container for trash, which was very important to the community to make sure that that happened.
And we would agree to provide some trash to be stored in the rear.
uh here's our letter of non-opposition it's just an email so i didn't get a formal letter
um but i assume that you did receive this email i did as well um but it stated after two meetings
they took a position of non-opposition and these are the reasons why the sanitation plan
we agreed to you know store our garbage in the rear where both units would have access to it
uh it's a vacant corner property and has been for such time and the fact that we put two separate
entrances uh on heading street the lower level will have their entrance there on montgomery the
upper level will have their entrance on there that was very important to community to have
separate entrances and then just the community input the fact that you know we had uh two meetings
where we're able to flesh out a lot of these issues and for all those reasons the community
sent a letter of non-opposition maps of the area again as you can see we're just off of 27th
street on montgomery at the corner of north ed inc and montgomery maps of the area from a google
perspective photographs of the property so this is the property um since well in 2014 so you can
see it's a baking lot that's the condition of the property now but just showing that this does have
long history of being a vacant lot and we're hoping to develop this property into a multi-family
property uh this is the property currently uh from west montgomery from edding street
and then uh and i think i should do this okay and this is uh from edding street and this is
west montgomery uh ave to the right of the property west montgomery have to left in the property
uh heading to the right of the property and into the left and it's just i want to point out here
that our our property that's across the street is also a vacant lot um as well uh so there is a need
uh for you know development in this neighborhood and that's what we're hoping to do with this
two-family club uh kumas homes they've been around for some time in philadelphia uh their headquarters
are in the Point Breeze section of Philadelphia, actually on Point Breeze Avenue.
Kumas Homes sells and leases real estate.
They not only own the real estate, they develop the real estate,
they're general contractors, and they manage their properties.
And this is the type of work product they do.
Hardwood floors, stainless steel appliances.
This is an example of some kitchens, the bathrooms, subway tiles.
but they really try to do a nice work product and be responsible whether it's seller or landlord
and then here are plants and drawing drawings if you looked at it um on google i think in 2009 was
the last time there was a building structure there there was a brick facade that's what we're trying
to do exactly here and more importantly with a corner slide to try to mimic that you know
philadelphia field but the most important thing is is that there's two entrances one on montgomery
and one on Edding Street, one for each unit. So it's not one point of access. And if you see here
is a significant yard of 12 and a half feet where the garbage would be stored and we would
agree to a proviso in that respect. Again just to kind of zoom out here as you can see in our
floor plans we actually have a notation for where the trash would be stored which would be accessed
by both units and then just a rendering of the elevations to from heading street as well
as from uh montgomery and then if you look this is oops this is our hearing notice or
community meeting notice we last met with the community on january 27th at 6 p.m there are
217 addresses that were notified, and here's a list of the addresses, proof of mailing
to those addresses, our application for appeal to the ZBA, along with our notice of refusal
and project information form, our deed to the property showing that Cum La S Homes owns
the property, and our certificate of tax clearance showing that they're a good standing with
the city of Philadelphia.
there. With that being said, I'll unshare my screen so you can see each other. I have
With that being said, I'll unshare my screen so you can see each other.
I have the general manager of Kumas Homes, Efi Anyi Chukwu, easy.
So if Mr. Eze can actually virtually raise his hand, that would be great.
Sir, could you state your name and spell it for the court reporter?
Yeah, sure thing.
It's Ifeanyi C-H-U-K-W-U, last name E-Z-E.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Proceed.
Mr. Eze, you heard everything I stated today.
Is it true and correct?
Correct.
Do you adopt this as your own testimony?
Thank you.