Proceed.
Yes, Mr. I'm sorry.
Mr. Yalowitz, you heard everything I stated today.
Yes, I did.
And is it true and correct?
I believe so, yes.
And do you adopt it as your own testimony?
I would, yes.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions from the virtual audience?
Chair, we have someone by the name of Tom Weber.
Mr. Weber, you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
All right, Mr. Weber, state your name and spell it for the court reporter, please.
My name is Tom Weber, T-O-M-W-E-B-E-R.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Proceed, sir.
So I was an associate developer of the property of 2068 East Fletcher
that granted the parking spot on the single-family home that was built two years ago.
So I wanted to say that I think that the reasons that the CDC voted against it was because most of the neighbors that come to support the project of 2068 weren't aware of that.
I think where the applicants tried to reach out to some of the neighbors, some of them they're not familiar with.
So when we got the voter, we got a lot of the neighbors.
We all live like a few blocks away from like Amber Street and Dauphin Street.
I personally live on 2232 Frankfurt Avenue, which is three blocks away.
I can say that it was extremely important to all the local neighbors over there
that they will take like one parking spot off the street, which that's what they...
We took a car spot that should have parked on a street parking and got it into the house where there's no parking on the slot.
Everybody were very happy with it and wanted to see something like that.
In addition, that spot was converted to an electric vehicle charging point that there are none in the neighborhood.
And it was very important for the homeowners that bought the property on 2068.
Yet not only this, but they share their electric vehicle charging point with other electric vehicles around the block.
They don't have private parking, and they let them charge the electric vehicle on their parking.
And they let them charge the electric vehicle on their parking on 2068 Fletcher.
I think that it should be approved.
There's much more support in the neighborhood than what was stated in the CDC voting.
And I have no idea why would people object something like that.
Thank you very much for calling in, Mr. Weber.
Any other questions or comments from the virtual audience?
chair we have someone by the name of wesley goodman levy mr levy you can unmute yourself
or wait for the chair hey guys can you hear me yes could you could you state your name and spell
for our court reporter yeah wesley goodman levy um spelling it's going to take me a minute w-e-s
l-e-y goodman uh g-o-o-d m-a-n hyphen l-e-v-y right do you swear a firm to tell the truth
the whole truth and nothing but the truth yeah absolutely i do proceed sir
so alex i mean i i've got a few issues with what's going on here um and i honestly don't
object to a parking spot um in of itself because i do think parking is an issue in the city
I wanted, like, I have a master's in public health, focusing in urban development and its
connection to health. You know, I think the problem, though, as the block captain on the
street is that you haven't really surveyed the community at all. So, you know, that's my biggest
issue with this. Lauren, who you have a letter from, it's her parents who own this lot. Nima
Entomati owns an abandoned house. He hasn't lived there for 10 years. And you got a letter from him
where there's probably, you know, he's the executive director of PNN, you know, Philly
neighborhood commercial, whatever. But he doesn't live there. He doesn't ever go there. He's got
a sign on his house that says, you need to fix this, like this building is dangerous in order
of demolition and there's loose bricks falling from his house and his mail's always there there's
a door sir sir sir we want to try to stay focused i understand sorry there's no real support
from from the block so far um and i think people generally are not really sure if parking spots
in houses do stop off-street parking. The pictures you included were I think the Google image
pictures from like 2008 of the street. If you had just driven down today, you would see that
cars are still parking the sidewalk in front of 2068 every day. There's no, like they're not
using their garage. And they, as far as I know, they don't offer electric vehicle charging to
anyone else on the block i think that would be huge if there was a way to make that publicly
available or on the other side of the street where cars do park but cars are still parked
on that side of the street like they park in front of the garage they don't park in their garage
and if you had a modern picture i think you'd see that and so there there wasn't really any support
from anyone who lives on the block without a connection to the family so far and that's my
biggest issue i don't i kind of disagree the ecna meeting was attended only because of the
other project that was proposed i think people people were unsure about the project and they've
sent in letters and emailed ecna separately thank you very much sir thank you very much for calling
in any other comments i'll give you just to respond um again what we're asking for is not
uncommon on that block um as far as 2068 i don't know you know the individual i just know that
there was a variance i don't know if they're sharing you know electric car services or
whatever um i do know that those pictures are accurate and all of the addresses we provided
are accurate in terms of off-street parking we're not taking a public parking spot off the street
We're trying to help the situation in East Kensington.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
Chair, we have someone by the name of Matthew Kobielka.
Mr. Kobielka, you can unmute yourself or wait for the chair.
Can you hear me?
Yes, sir.
Could you do me a favor?
State your name and spell for the court reporter.
My name is Matthew Kobielka.
It's spelled M-A-T-T-H-E-W.
And the last name is K-O-B-I-A-L-K-A.
Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
yes sir proceed um so i live directly across the street from the proposed property um at 2050 90s
Yes, sir.
Proceed.
So I live directly across the street from the...
fletcher street um i just have i have a few issues with the the development particularly just as it
relates to the garage i have no issues with a house being built there um i do feel that it sets
a bad precedent for more front-loaded garages on the property as you saw from one of the photos
you know it is a lot that has two it's an empty lot that has two properties on it so potentially
if this variance is given there will be another one given for the adjacent lot so now we're
talking about two additional garages um the block between coral and amber of fletcher street which
was included as some of the um you know already existing garages is zoned differently that's
owned rsa5 um i'm sorry yeah between coral and amber is on rsa5 but between jasper and
quality zone RM1. So that's why there's a propensity for more garages on that particular
block. You know, the map also shows that garages are an exception rather than the rule. I mean,
yeah, there are garages in the neighborhood, but it's not the norm. You know, as my previous,
as my neighbor Westland stated earlier, yeah, there isn't a garage at 2068. There is regularly
a car parked in front of it. There's a car parked in front of it right now. There is no electric
charging station i have never seen an electric car it is the same ford car that is parked there
every single day um you know i don't agree with 2068 and that variance being given but that's
a different discussion you know but 2068 and 2070 and 2022 22 22 26 amber they're all across the
street from each other so they're either right next to each other or across the street so it's
sort of you know all together with those garages which i can sort of understand um
The last thing I want to say is that the East Kensington Neighborhood Association voted against it.
Squilla doesn't support it.
Some of the emails in support are from the daughter of the owner of the property.
I agree that people parking on the sidewalk is not safe.
But in the real world, if nobody's parking on the sidewalk, if we give the garage, people are just going to park in front of it anyways.
And ideally, no one's parking on the sidewalk.
It's still a safety hazard because now you have cars blindly pulling out to the sidewalk.
Thank you.
Thank you for calling in.
Yeah, and Mr. Chair, I just want to clarify because I went through a lot of photos.
2068 is not the only instance of having off-street parking on that side of the street.
2016, 18, and 2020, all in East Fletcher have off-street parking.
And as the Chair knows, whether it's RSA-5 or RM-1, it would require a variance to allow for off-street parking.
So I did not include any photos where it would be allowed as of right.
Thank you. Anyone else in the virtual audience?
Chair, we have Cynthia Swartz. Ms. Swartz, you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Hi, Chair. This is Tanya, the administrator. We do have at least four or five hands up.
If we could ask if it could be something new and different. Thank you, Chair.
Thank you.
State your name and spell for the court reporter, please.
um sure cynthia c-y-n-t-h-i-a last name is s-c-h-w-a-r-z right do you do you swear
firm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do proceed um so first i want to
note um 2016 and 2018 are on a different block they are not uh the block in question is between
coral street and amber street those garages are between emerald street and coral street
so it's not the same block um i would like to i would like to emphasize what my neighbors have
also said because i agree with it but i also agree that we need to move along um and so what i will
say is that this block has a lot of families on it we want the sidewalks to be clear ideally we
would not have people parking on the sidewalk but i do not think that a front-loading garage is the
answer to that. As we have seen with 2068, the owner of that property now assumes that is their
designated parking spot and they park in front of their garage every day. And so adding a front
loading garage will not help the parking situation. I would also like to emphasize the precedent as
As my neighbor Matt said, granting the variance.
I was not present for the meeting on 2068, so I can't speak to that.
But granting the variance for this property sets the precedent for other lots on the block
that I would like to not have set.
So again, I don't mind a house being built, but I do not support a front loading garage.
Also, at the ECNA meeting, Alan misrepresented there was significant discussion about this property and not just about the property on Front Street.
Also, at the ECNA meeting, Alan misrepresented their
I don't think that that was well represented in his notes about the RCO meeting.
Thank you very much for calling in.
So, other people in the audience, if you have something different that you want to comment on, that's fine.
but we're going to have to move on so is there anyone that has something different than what's
been already been said chair we have neba etamadi miss etamadi you can unmute yourself and wait for
the chair could you could you state your name and spell for the court reporters please sure my name
is viva tamadi spelled n-i-m-a-e-t-e-m-a-d-i do you swear for him to tell the truth the whole
truth and nothing but the truth i do proceed um i so i own the two properties next door to the one
in question um which i have yet to develop but i am looking forward to doing that one day and i have
say i i i have yet to hear any reason that makes sense to me why it would be a bad thing to have
us street parking on that side of the street because there's no legal parking on that side
of the street already um so the only it's only cars being that are illegally parking on the
sidewalk that would be displaced by the presence of garages on that side of the street so how that
would be negatively impactful i don't understand and just because one person is has a garage and
continues to park on the sidewalk that to me doesn't mean that there's no point in having a
garage it just means that people who park on the sidewalk should get ticketed including that person
but like i don't see how it helps you know we all acknowledge it seems that there is a parking
problem in the neighborhood and having an off an off street spot for those who live on that
side um only creates a legal parking spot it doesn't take one away for anyone all right
thank thank you so much for calling in uh we've heard people before and people against if there's
anything else that's completely different than what we've heard if not we're moving on
chair we have we still have people with their heads up what would you like
i think we're going to move on okay planning commission
good afternoon david facto city planning commission chair bergman members of the board
the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the residential single family zoning at this location
the configuration of this 1189 square foot lot is not substantially different than the other
residential lots on the 2000 block of each fletcher street a front garage is not strictly
necessary to allow the applicant to derive value from their property the majority of properties
have no curb cuts or front garages and i will say that the description of the neighborhood that the
applicant put up put before the board is not the neighborhood that i recognize for my 13 years
working in east kensington the city planning commission recommends that the board deny the
request for a front garage at this location. MI 2021 004394 2056 East Fletcher Street. I vote yes.
Harold Tannery, my vote is yes. Thomas Holloman, my vote is no. James Snell, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shahid, my vote is yes. Thank you.
m i 2021 004391 2317 north 15th street
mr chair um i don't know whether my name or rachel pritzker's is there but um
then we'll gladly go to you sir just state your name again for the record
Yep. Brandon Saverin, B-R-A-N-D-O-N, S as in Sam, A, V as in Victor, R-A-N.
And our vice chair has a few questions.
Hi, Mr. Saverin. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, I do.
And it appears that you have submitted all of the required documents. Is that correct?
Yes, it is.
Okay, you may proceed.
thank you um may it please the board um could i share my screen again please okay
Please.
So I am here before you today to discuss 2317 North 15th Street.
That's highlighted on this zoning map in blue.