The whole sheet's still not visible.
Okay, one second. I wanted to show the access to the basement.
Here's the access to the basement.
other questions yeah go back to the sheet of the yeah that that the sheet they propose yeah
the proposed plans yeah the proposed yeah right so that so that sheet um where does that
Well, for one, let's start with your units kind of don't work because you've got too many bedrooms and too small of living areas for those bedrooms.
You've got a three-bedroom unit with just basically a kitchen.
You know, it's got a kitchen and the three bedrooms.
It just doesn't work.
Where does that second stairway on that third floor go?
Is that to the attic?
The attic?
let me see there's a there's a stairwell there that goes that goes to the attic yes okay so
you see that that uh unit you got three bedrooms and just a kitchen that there's nowhere there's
nowhere for living room there's nowhere for you know it doesn't work same thing with the second
floor you've got three bedrooms and barely room to have any sofa chair anything you know the first
floor is same thing you've got two bedrooms and barely enough room for any kind of living space so
in terms of the layout the units don't work okay now that is a big property it's about a
3 300 square foot property i understand that understand that but based on the plans that
you provided it doesn't show that it's they're livable for the number of bedrooms that you
provided were they one two bedrooms maybe on the second and third floor then you've got a decent
enough living area right but it's three bedroom units they don't work so okay they just don't
do you see the sizes for the bedrooms um yes because he zoomed in 13.8 okay yes i understand
what you're saying you look at the space that you you have 181 square feet you have 181 square feet
for kitchen dining room and living room for a three-bedroom unit okay okay the bathrooms look
out of scales but that's a minor issue that doesn't have to do with zoning got it right
so it's so just kind of based on that it's it's tough for me to support what you're trying to do
other questions yeah and you said uh the trash for the units would be stored on the outside
and then are you building something to yes i'll be building something out there okay yes
there's plenty of space on in the rear to build that all right and then i'm gonna
to give my pet peeve. My pet peeve is that I don't like it when you have to wander through
all kinds of spaces to get to a bathroom. When you're laying there, you get up at two or three
o'clock in the morning, the idea that you have to wander through these three bedrooms and then
the kitchen to get to a bathroom i i i think that that's a horrible layout and i agree with um
board member zones about the size of you know the idea that you're trying to squeeze three
bedroom units in here it just it just doesn't it doesn't work i think we have some opposition here
attest by but let's go to our attorney first uh sure lynn reidel huber board council um i had a
quick question are you asking for any parking i don't believe you are correct no there's public
street parking there's plenty of parking um like i said across the street there that block is wide
open at night no i meant parking on your property no i'm not asking for any parking all right just
for the record um there should have been refusal for parking um with regard to your application
just putting that on the record all right questions from the audience come on up sir
there's there's a gentleman here who's going to testify apparently in opposition to this
good afternoon sir good evening oh well no this is our afternoon this is our afternoon
afternoon okay afternoon but but before you start thank you for being here so long i know you've
been back there a long time uh could you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer
my name is thomas weeks t-h-o-m-a-s w-e-e-k-s do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
W-E-E-K-S.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Mr. Weeks, are you a neighbor?
I am a committeeman in the 51st, and I live in the 23rd, which is what we're talking about.
Sure. Why don't you start your testimony?
The proposed project fails to satisfy the criteria set forth in the Title 14 of the Philadelphia
Code for granting a zoning variance, specifically the proposal.
Number one, it creates unnecessary hardship, self-imposed by the developer.
However, the subject property can be reasonably developed under its current RSA 3 designation.
The applicant has failed to demonstrate a unique physical hardship inherent into the land.
Two, alters the essential character of our neighborhood.
The proposed density and the scale are incompatible with the existing context of surrounding properties, altering the character of our block.
Three, negatively impacts in structure and quality of life. The increase of density will accelerate severe local parking shortages, increased traffic congestion on this residential street.
which already has a daycare center and a church, and strains existing public infrastructure, including trash pickups.
Number four, last, sets a harmful precedent, granting this variance undermines the neighborhood's master plan and the community-supported zoning designations.
This proposal is not a plus for our neighborhood. He's mentioned parking. He's also said that there's plenty of parking, and that is not true. I live on the street beside it, Ashland Avenue. I'm the block captain, and I have a garage.
um there are many women who have jobs on my block and um because of the cars are
are there's so many cars in the neighborhood i tell my neighbors just the women if there's no
parking and on the block which and there isn't a lot you can park in front of my garage um that's
the least i can do but uh i'm going to say that's it um it's it's not it
it's it's not a plus for our neighborhood thank you you spent a lot of time here today we appreciate
it thank you anyone else in the virtual audience
mr chair i do not see any further hands mr davis i'll give you a chance to respond
okay yeah i would like to respond to that um i didn't say that my uncle was the previous owner
My uncle passed away. I purchased the property from my cousins because properties of this size.
They take a lot of maintenance. I did send some pictures of vacant lots where previous houses that stood,
I guess they went on maintenance, burglarized, vandalized, and torn down.
And there's definitely a lot of houses in the area that pretty much the same way, kind of disrepair.
My plan here is to keep this property from going down by having multiple families in the property.
um multiple families um i believe will be a good use of the property
by one of the main reasons there aren't a lot of big families uh nowadays um and that's a big
property which means that that would be a big overhead on whoever stays there if that is a
single family like i said there are a lot of properties i noticed in the area just just
repair and it just kind of falling away kind of defacing the neighborhood if you will my goal is
to uh put a few put a few properties together affordable properties that will kind of help the
housing market the the city what the mayor is trying to do as far as affordable housing
and and in regards to the parking it's not guaranteed that everybody that lives in 1233
street will drive there's a lot of people that use uh ride share apps nowadays um
And on 58th Street, across from the property, if you come outside at night, that is totally vacant at night.
and on 58th street across from the property if you come outside at night that is
So there's plenty of places to park over there.
All right. Thank you very much. Planning Commission.
Addison Matera, Planning Commission staff.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing RSA 3 residential single-family zoning at this location.
The appellant has not demonstrated that there are unique physical conditions or circumstances of the property that would prevent it from being used in conformance with the zoning code.
The Planning Commission recommends the board to deny the requested variance for multifamily housing.
Can I say something before we make a ruling?
I just want to say I don't necessarily have an issue or a problem with multi-unit or duplex or something like that.
My issue is with the layout.
Right. My issue with is with the density of the units that you made.
Got it. So I guess to that to that point, do you have an issue with reducing that plan or changing the plan?
And I know that's not a zoning issue, but I just can't vote and support with that or reducing the number of units.
I don't have an issue with that within reason.
well um we're going to have to do a resumptive hearing right right you're going to have to
go to but but the issue are you going to change i mean we don't do a resumptive hearing come back
with the same thing same thing right no no that that's not my stance at all well how many apartments
you're going to have uh well i have to talk it over with the architect it has to be feasible
has to be it has to make sense
okay um here's here's what here's what i'm going to do go ahead um we can we can hold this for
discussion right and if during the discussion we could come back out and say resumptive hearing
okay sure right right well
I get that. But what do you do with the thoughts and events, right? You're on the bench, too. He's got a big, significant change.
That's right. Right.
All right. I'll tell you what I'm going to do. We're going to take this under consideration. I'm going to vote on this next Wednesday at 930. Okay?
Okay. All right. And we'll let you know where we stand. Okay.
Got it.
number four mi 2026 001 740 1643 north marshall street yolanda arnetta yolanda come on
um and we're helping on this one oh here you go all right i'm first of all i'm sorry you had to
be here for this long period of time but uh actually with this the earliest which we've
been in a long time so do me a favor could you please state your name and spell for the
stenographer sure my name is yolan arnett that's y-o-l-a-n-a-r-n-e-t-t all right do you swear or
affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes our vice chair is
going to have a couple questions for you okay good evening um have you submitted your documents
and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing yes okay and you understand that you're here for
visitor accommodations and you also understand your refusal to be um visitor accommodations are
prohibited in your rsa5 district yeah okay all right so you're going to get some help with um
your document so you could just tell us what you're trying to do sure and i've prepared a
written statement if that's okay that i sure read it um hello my name is yolan arnett and i'm the
owner of the property located at 1643 north marshall street i am here regarding my application
to renew my visitor accommodation use variance, which was previously granted in January 2023 by
this board. Over the past several years, I've operated this property responsibly as a short-term
rental while maintaining it as a legally existing three-unit residential building. The variance
allowed me to provide temporary accommodations without making any structural changes to the
building or altering its residential character during that time the property has operated safely
quietly and without incident since my previous variants expired on january 15th of this year
i'm respectfully required three years three years yes okay i am respectfully requesting
I am respectfully requesting approval to continue the same use under substantially the same conditions that the board previously found appropriate.
approval to continue the same use.
This request does not involve any expansion of the building, an increase in number of the dwelling units, or any physical modifications.
The property remains exactly as it did when the variance was originally approved, a legally existing three unit residential building whose layout naturally accommodates independent short term guests.
The only relief I'm requesting is the continued flexibility to rent those existing units for shorter periods of occupancy.
I've made all of the required efforts to work collaboratively with the surrounding community, including the required neighborhood outreach and participating in the RCO meeting.
Following that meeting, the RCO voted in support of my application and submitted a letter to the board recommending approval.
the letter notes that the community members expressed positive feedback regarding the
property's operation there were no complaints regarding the property and the rca rco ultimately
voted in favor of supporting this application i believe that support reflects reflects how the
property has been managed my goal has always been to operate in a manner that is respectful of my
neighbors and consistent with the residential character of the neighborhood guests are provided
with clear house rules regarding noise occupancy and respect for the surrounding residents
occupancy levels remain comparable to traditional residential use
and there are there has been no increase in traffic demand in public utilities or impact
on public safety beyond what would be expected from residential property this application is
not asking for the board to approve a new or more intensive use. Rather, it's a request to continue
a use that has already been demonstrated to function successfully and responsibly.
The previous variants provided an opportunity to show that visitor accommodations at this property
could coexist with the surrounding neighborhood, and I believe that experience has confirmed
exactly that. I asked the board to consider not only the physical characteristics of the property
and the legal standards for variants, but also the property's actual operating history.
The building has remained residential, the neighborhood has not been adversely affected,
and the community has expressed its support for the continuing use. For these reasons,
I respectfully request that the board grant my application to allow me to continue operating
1643 North Marshall Street as a visitor accommodation under the requested variant.
why don't you do me a favor see the what's up yes why don't you talk us through what you have
of course so these are some images of the property um what you're looking at are at the
very top two are the external uh images of the property um you can scroll to the next page of
images please these units do you have three okay um these are some pictures of the internals of
what the units look like where's that this is the second floor okay this is the third floor yep
any questions on the image um questions from the board see what the board says how many bedrooms
and bathrooms does each unit have each unit has three bedrooms and two bathrooms and then um
where have you currently been um posting these for to find your tenants primarily airbnb i also
have a listing on verbo but there's not much traction that comes from there and then just
from like a hardship i understand that you already had approval to do short-term rentals like what
drove the decision to make the entire building short-term rentals instead of in the middle of
a housing crisis in the city renting any of the units out as traditional rental since they are
actually so when i bought the building in 2021 that was my intent i bought it as an owner occupied
So I stayed in the building for two years before moving back to New York City. And I had, I bought the building with one vacant unit, which I occupied, and the other two had long term tenants. Unfortunately, I think the nature of the units, being three bedroom and two bathrooms, either only attract family structures, or I'm right by Temple University.
well away i teach temple roommate situations and it was just a nightmare i had to go through
the eviction process or at the time there were um some supports from the city with um slowing down
some supports from the city with um slowing down the eviction process for tenants that were not
paying and ultimately as a young investor i did not want my investment to go sour and so i wanted
to try the short-term um route to see if the building could be more profitable and it did
prove to be more profitable and in fact it supported the community in different ways i
I actually have a lot of community residents
that are in between housing that stay at the Airbnb
or for students that are graduating
from Temple University, this is where their families come
or for neighborhood residents that are hosting Thanksgiving
or some family reunions, even funerals.
I have been hosting a lot of the supporting family members
and residents for those events.
And so I actually find additionally a lot of workers that are like doing construction in the area, their companies tend to rent the units and have like three or five guys staying in the unit.
So the building actually supports a lot of community residents or connected members to that.
But for me, the use was just because the long-term tenants proved to be a little challenging for this particular structure.
I think if my units were smaller, it would attract potentially some more stable tenant styles.
but okay um i find that interesting given it's three bedrooms and that's like exactly how many
people you can we have in a rental in philly versus a lot of the other residents in this area
where there's more bedrooms and it causes other issues but i i hear you and understand you my
other question then is about property management since you are so far away how what what is your
process and are you working with a partner to manage and clean the property yes so i have a
co-host um that manages the airbnb and they are the ones that hire the cleaners and they basically
manage the logistics of um the day-to-day for the building um yeah okay any further any other