which would have been a one-family dwelling on the first floor,
one family dwelling on the second floor, one family dwelling on the third, with a bi-level
in the rear. Since most recent negotiations with the community, and by the way, I want to
show you the history of this property, it's always been a six-family dwelling. You can see here with
six electric accounts plus a house account it's a very large property
and in an area that has been unfortunately depopulized over the over a certain amount of
time but thankfully and we also have a rear area to store trash but thankfully after speaking with
Mr. Karn, the 13th Ward, and going through the RCO process, we were able to come up with a
compromise. And if I might, I'll pull up. This is the letter from the RCO.
well this is the the notice from my office but the letter from the RCO clearly stated
that the community residents were open and in fact support a three-family dwelling at at the
subject property. I spoke to Mr. Karn as recently as this morning 134 households were mailed
And we have agreed to seek no more, with a proviso, no more than three-family dwelling in the property.
And as such, given the history that it was always five or six units, given the fact that the immediate area is suffering from depopulation,
we do believe that there is some amount of density that is needed in the area.
because we have a trash plan because we have a you know we've pledged to a light and landscaping
light and landscaping the rco has agreed in fact to support a variance so long as it is does not
the rco has agreed in fact to
exceed a three family dwelling uh per their letter and i believe there may be somebody on
uh on online today to to support that position from the rco but that's that's where we are with
that. And with that, I'd like to ask my client, Mr. Kira, to raise his hand. Peter, if you could.
Mr. Kira, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Could you state your name and spell it for the court reporter?
Yes, Peter, P-E-T-E-R, Kura, K-U-R-A.
All right.
Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Proceed.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Kura, did you hear my presentation to the board this afternoon?
Yes, I did.
Yes, I did.
Is it true and accurate to the best of your knowledge, sir?
Yes, it is.
And would you adopt it as your own testimony?
Yes, I will.
Were you actively involved in communication, negotiation, and meetings with the RCO?
Yes, I was.
And is it your understanding that they would support a three-family dwelling here?
And is it your also pledge that you would be requesting the variants for no more than the three-family dwelling? Is that right?
Yes, that's right.
Despite its history of being more. Thank you.
Thank you.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Chair, we have Charles Richardson.
Mr. Richardson, you can go mute yourself and wait for the chair.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chair.
How are you, sir?
I'm well.
Could you please state your name and spell for the court reporter?
Yes, Charles Richardson, R-I-C-H-A-R-D-S-O-N, Office of Councilwoman Cindy Bass Room, 312 City Hall.
Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Thank you. Proceed.
As the RCO and the developer have worked out some type of agreement, the Councilwoman will have no opposition to this granting this variance.
Thank you, Mr. Richardson. Thank you very much.
Anyone else in the virtual audience have comments or statements?
Planning Commission?
Good afternoon, David Vecto, City Planning Commission.
Mr. Chairman, members of the Board, the Comprehensive Plan recommends no
change to the residential single-family zoning at this location. This is a 2,422-square-foot
lot with an existing structure. According to the zoning archives, eight properties on the block
range from two-family to six-family units, but the majority of the homes on the block are single
family. We were going to recommend against this application, but after hearing the applicant's
testimony regarding the existing six units in the home and the compromise with the neighbors,
the city planning commission recommends the board grant a variance with a condition of no more than
three dwelling units thank you very much mi 2021 004458 1993 west finango i vote yes proviso no more
than three units in the building thank you my vote is yes with proviso thomas halliman my vote is yes
with proviso ishmael shaheed my vote is yes with proviso
Thank you, Vern. That's your vote.
Thank you, sir.
Okay. MI 2021-004-394-2056 East Fletcher Street.
East Kensington neighbors
appear to be in opposition.
Councilman Squill, letter in opposition.
Nockamson.
Chair, Mr. Nockamson is coming back in as a panelist now.
Yes, okay.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman.
How are you? State your name and spell for the court reporter, please.
Oh, 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.
Oh, yes, Alan, A-L-A-N, last name Nockamson, N-O-C-H.
You swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Okay. And our vice chair has a few questions.
Hi, Mr. Nockamson. Do you... No, you've just been sworn in.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
can you hear me can you hear me i said that was the second time i do
okay so you're now married strike that um i assume that you have sent in all of the required
documents that's what my notes say is that correct i i have i've updated some materials
because we didn't receive the letter from the uh east kensington neighbors association until
recently as well as councilman squilla my understanding is you do have them because
i forwarded it to miss zelena and it's in my presentation okay you may proceed thank you
i share my screen sure
all right so i'm here to present 2056 east fletcher street uh this is a property in east kinsington
section of Philadelphia. In my presentation materials, you'll see the Notice of Refusal,
correspondence from East Kensington Neighbors Association, correspondence from Councilmember
Mark F. Squilla, letters of support from nearby neighbors, then nearby garages to our property.
It's not uncommon to have off-street parking by way of front-loading garages or otherwise
in this neighborhood. East Kensington is notorious for having difficulties given its density
and there are many streets in East Kensington including this one on East Fletcher where there's
no parking allowed on our side of the street where the even in the past as an example 2068
East Fletcher Street where this board has granted variances to allow for front loading parking and
we'll go through those garages. Maps of the area we'll go through, photographs of the property in
the surrounding area, plans and drawings, proof that we met with the RCO, our application for
repeal, our deed to the property showing that Fletcher partners LLCs on their property,
and our certificate of tax clearance. By first thing, our notice refusal, we're just trying to
build a single-family home, but with off-street parking in the form of a front-order garage. As
you'll see through our materials, it's not uncommon. And the situation on our block is rather
bad. We'll see through the pictures that people illegally park in front of properties on the
sidewalk. So all we're trying to do is legalize a proper form of off-street parking, which would
be a front-loading garage. And again, under calendar number 32762, this board granted a
similar variance for 2068 East Flecker Street. And our only refusal is for the front-loading garage.
Everything else meets the zoning code. All right, so correspondence from the East Kensington
Neighbors Association. This was a well-attended meeting, but not because of us. There was a CDR
project for comment only for 2221 North Front Street. That was a proposal for a 60-unit apartment
building on the 2200 block of North Front Street with no parking. We presented first. Most of the
commentary of the individuals who were against it lived closer to 2221 North Front Street and not
us uh ultimately the comments were we're having an issue with parking if we can't get parking
you're not going to get parking ultimately again this project of 2221 north front street was only
for comment because it was as a right project uh but the cdr project definitely hurt you know what
the real community that's close by thought of this project uh if you look at the vote it was 10 people
in support and 18 people in opposition and one abstain, I can almost tell you hearing the
commentary, most if not all of the opposition was nowhere in proximity to us. It was another
part of the neighborhood. And ironically, they were upset for the fact that they lacked parking
in this neighborhood. Again, as you'll see in the photographs, there's no parking allowed on our
side of the street so by providing a curb cut with a front voting garage we're not taking parking off
of the street and we're actually alleviating the problem so again i spoke to councilman
squilla's office they understood the situation you know but you know given the fact that the
you know given the fact that the community voted against it uh as a whole not our part of the
The community voted against it.
community but you know just generally the people who attended that well-attended meeting for a cdr
project they had no choice but to also write a letter following you know the vote but you know
we did reach out to members of the community because we were really surprised like this is a
project or similar type of project that has been granted in the past by the zoning board again as
example, 2068 East Fletcher Street. So we reached out to members on that particular block. So we
have people at 2071 East Fletcher Street. We have actually our next door neighbor who owns 2058 East
Fletcher Street, 2060 East Fletcher Street. We have 2406 Amber, which is just around the corner
from us which is adjacent to east lecture street and we have one individual also um on frankfort
avenue which is caddy quarter from us as well time and time again they put letters and your
this board should have those letters because i forwarded the revised presentation materials to
miss salata salata but time and time again they stated why wouldn't we have a front loading garage
on this block we're not taking away public parking we're actually helping a situation that's
pretty dire in their neighborhood and so the nearby garages i mean we really did our homework
on this because you know it's it's pretty uh drastic the the issue in terms of uh the parking
situation in east kensington but we're the green right here on east fletcher street and then we did
a quarter mile radius of all the parking that does have front-loading garages or garages in
general. And again, there's garages on our block and nearby, which have been approved by this board
on many, many occasions. Again, most recently, 2068 East Flecher Street. But, you know, there's
been 16 instances of new construction where there have been new front-loading garages. 2068 East
Fletcher Street, 2022 and 22-28 Amber Street, 2055 East Dauphin Street, 22-27 Amber Street,
2101 and 2103 Susquehanna Avenue, 2115 and 2117 East Arizona, 2050 Trenton Avenue, 2114 and 2112
Burgess Street. 2028 and 2130 Burgess Street. 2447 Martha Street. Now here are some of the
older construction. 2070 Fletcher Street, which is on our block. 2080 East Dolphin Street, which
is a cross street of ours. 2020, 2018 and 2016 Fletcher Street, which is on our block. 2029
East Susquehanna Avenue, which is across the street of ours, 2027 Abigail Street, 2026 East
Susquehanna Avenue, 1916 East Dauphin Street, 2033 East York Street, 2327 Emerald Street,
2335 and 2339 Emerald Street, 2211 Trenton Avenue, 2085 East Austin Street.
Mr. Knock, I'm so weak at your point.
Yeah, no, I get it. Is this frustrating? No, I get it. It's just very frustrating. People are wanting to cut off their nose to spite their face in a different part of the neighborhood. But here's our property. And again, if you notice, most of the streets that we talked about, Amber Street, Dolphin Street, Fletcher, Susquehanna, those are all cross streets of ours.
So I did not walk in the general Philadelphia area. I really did try to be honest in terms of our evaluation of like what's out there. My philosophy in Philadelphia zoning law, if I walk by the property built or used as proposed as to stick out like a sore thumb versus something that kind of fits within the fabric of the neighborhood. This is something that would fit within the fabric of the neighborhood.
um photographs of our property we're just a vacant lot right and then east to the east
flusher street to the right of the property and look at this i'm pointing here this is our side
of the street this is a sidewalk people are parking on the sidewalk all we're trying to do
is do a legal use of it there should be no reason why cars should be parked on the sidewalk
it's a safety hazard and then here's east flusher street to the left of the property
Again, if you look at our side of the property, people are parked on the sidewalk.
That's not a solution to a problem.
And then just our plans and drawings. Again, if you just, you know, if you just look at it, here's our garage. You know, first floor is a bedroom. You go up a flight of steps is the main living area. Two bedrooms on the third floor.
And then just our plans and drawings.
Again, if you just, you know.
again we're trying to just have just a basic nice single-family home with off-street parking
brick facade meeting notice we met on november 10th 2021 at 7 p.m we notified 198 addresses
again i would gather that most of the people that attended that meeting were for a cdr
matter which was not us so even though more people voted against 18 than 410
I believe that most of those people that voted against were not within close proximity to our
project. Proof of mailing of our hearing of our meeting notice, our application for appeal to the
ZBA, our deed to the property, showing that Fletcher Partners LLC owns the property,
and then our certificate of tax clearance, showing that they're in good standing with
the city of Philadelphia with that being said I'm going to stop sharing my screen I can always go
back and forth between my materials I do have the owners of the property uh both representatives of
the LLC I would ask that Karen Fisher uh virtually raise her hand so she can dot my testimony
and I believe there are some members of that block who are also online who are in support of this
partner. Ms. Fisher, if you're in the virtual audience, please raise your hand.
I see no one with their hand up with that name at this time, Chair.
So I know they're an older couple, so I don't know how technologically savvy they are.
I believe that she's with her husband, Mike Yalowitz, so it may be under their name and
may be seen in the same room. Do you see anyone with Michael Yalovitz? Yes, he's here. Mr. Yalovitz,
you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair. I think I'm unmuted, yes. Yes, very good. Good
afternoon, sir. Could you do me a favor, state your name and spell for the court reporter? Sure.
My name is Michael, M-I-C-H-A-E-L.
Last name is Yalowitz, Y, like in Yankee, A-L-O-W-I-T-Z, as in zebra.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.