as the District Council member, both in non-opposition to this project.
What we're proposing is to have a three-unit dwelling on 2672 Braddock Street. Not uncommon to have that. There was a similar project down the street, which also received a variance from the ZBA.
We also circulated a petition of nearby neighbors who also signed the petition in support of this project.
Mr. Kravitz, who's the member of this LLC, also lives in the East Kensington area, so he has deep roots within this area.
We'll review the maps of the area, the photographs of the property and the surrounding area.
Our plans and drawings, our RCO meeting notice, our application for appeal, our deeds of property, a certificate of tax clearance, and then I would ask that Josh virtually raise his hand at the conclusion of my presentation and be sworn in.
Notice of refusal, this is an RSA 5 property, and we're looking to put three family dwelling here.
Not that this is zoning related, but Josh is hoping to sell this as a condominium, so three condominium units.
So East Kensington is getting really expensive. And in order to have diversity of housing to allow people to have an entry point in some of these neighborhoods, you're going to you've seen more and more of these condominium structures where, you know, there's three units which can make it affordable for someone to develop roots in a neighborhood like East Kensington.
And then hopefully, you know, find a way to like be able to afford a single family home and maybe raise a family in a section of the city. And that's what Josh is trying to do here.
We met with the community there, you know, again, a well-attended meeting.
They don't oppose the project.
And then the council member, too, because of the letter of non-opposition from the community, the council member, Escuela, also sent a letter of non-opposition.
Again, not out of character, earlier this year at 2644 Braddock Street, this board granted a variance for three-family dwelling petition.
Petition. Again, my client, I tell my clients, here's the list of addresses of effective
properties. Go meet the neighbors. See if you can get support outside of the community meeting,
which he did. As you can see, he got a lot of addresses on Braddock Street and even behind
him on Emerald. Those are the people who will be most directly impacted by this project.
and then if you look at it here there's mixed zoning there's some you know obviously rsa5
there's some rm1 there's cmx two and a half there's icmx there's i2
again we're not that far off of lehigh and frankfurt avenue which is a commercial corridor
help support the commercial order by increasing density photographs of the property as you can
seen that not us but there has been development in this area proof of posting of today for today's
hearing and you can see there's a lot of new construction around here which again development
which includes you know the address on Braddock street where this board allowed for a three unit
allowed for a three-unit family dwelling structure to be used, are plans and drawings.
family dwelling structure to be
What was important to the community is this. Where's the garbage being stored? Well, my client
came up with a solution because the building's set back, because other buildings are set back,
that he has outdoor access for all the unit owners to be. And then another thing that was
really important to the community are, where are the meters being stored? They didn't want them to
be stored in the front. So, again, we have a rendering here where our intention is to have
the meters stored into this inset so people wouldn't see the meters. Again, from a design
standpoint, my client embraced that. And then in terms of the floor plans, they're very basic.
You know, unit number one is on the first floor and lower level. Unit number two is on the second
floor and unit number three is on the third floor we met with the community on december 13th 155
addresses were notified in the meeting proof of uh these are the addresses proof of mailing to
those addresses our application for appeal that we filed on behalf of vj assets our deed to the
property showing that they own the property and then finally our tax clearance again the only
reason why there's a balance due is because 2024 taxes are not due until the conclusion of the
first quarter of 2024. I would ask that Mr. Kravitz virtually raise his hand.
Josh Kravitz, you're able to speak. Sir, could you state your name,
please is spelled for the court stenographer yes it's josh kravitz spelled j-o-s-h-k-r-a-v-e-t-s
you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
yes please proceed counsel uh yes uh mr kravitz you heard everything i had to state today about
your zoning matter yes and is it true and correct yes and do you adopt it as your own testimony
Yes. Thank you.
Questions or comments from the board?
No, Chair. No, Chair. Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Emerson?
Not at this time, Mr. Chair. Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
i see you know i'm sorry we have a maria campos for the hand raised not been allowed to speak
hi could you state your name please and spell for the court stenographer
hi yes my name is maria m-a-r-i-a campos c-a-m-p-o-s right do you swear or affirm to tell
the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do do are you a neighbor yes i am please
proceed um i just wanted to express my support for this project like i think it's very important for
young renters like me to have the opportunity to buy a more affordable option especially in
this neighborhood that we can see a lot of expensive properties so i just wanted to express
my support okay thank you so much for taking the time to call for us is there anyone else in the
virtual audience. I see no hands. Planning Commission. Good afternoon, Chair. Peter
Bernard for the Planning Commission. The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing
RSA 5 single-family residential at this location. We feel the applicant has failed to demonstrate
any hardship and any existing hardship was removed when the pre-existing building was
demolished accordingly the planning commission recommends the board deny the variances
number nine mi 2023 004 633 2672 braddock street i vote yes
james snell my vote is yes
thank you uh number 12 mi 2023 005046 5126 walton avenue
um the coordinating rco cedar park neighbors did not reach a position on this application
there are a majority of the people would support a basement unit if it was brought up to code.
Applicant also provided a petition from 14 neighbors.
And Mr. Nockmson, is there a missing,
um, is there a missing refusal for parking?
It's a remissing refusal of a part game.
Is there a missing refusal for parking? I'm not 100% sure, Mr. Chair. I mean, I haven't evaluated. This is an RSA 3 property. I don't know if it, I would, I would defer to Ms. Emerson.
I think Ms. Emerson is the one
asking the question. Ms. Emerson?
Yes, Mr. Chair.
I noticed there was no
reference to parking on the refusal
and based on the exhibit packet
it didn't appear that there was any parking at the
property. So even if there
had been variants
previously approved for
the two units, the existing two
units to not have parking additional
variants I believe would be needed
for not having that third parking
space.
well then again we would object to the validity of the refusal and i think it's acknowledged if
parking was required you know it has been acknowledged at this hearing yeah that is fine
and i mainly wanted to make a note for the record and also put on the record clarify whether or not
there was existing parking at uh the property okay mr nackamson could you identify your client
the relationship to the property uh yes my client is uh nawadio go e g o go um we'll make it easy
on me um her name's ogo uh and she's in the virtual audience and she she's an individual
that owns his property okay i mean i share my answer was there i actually i don't remember
if Mr. Shahid asked me questions.
Are you ready to do it now?
It's a long day.
Do you agree the way the reading
of the refusers stipulate to his accuracy?
Well, except for the fact about the parking.
Yep, understood.
Have you emailed in all the required documents
and exhibits that are required
five days in advance on this hearing?
Thank you.
Please proceed and share your screen.
All right. So I'm here to present 5126 Walton Avenue. As you can see from the photographs,
there is no parking on site and it would be out of character to have parking in this part of town.
We, you know, again, my client purchased this property. It was already set up as like essentially
a unit downstairs and a unit upstairs the only thing that's making this like the only change
we're virtually going to do is to put a wall in between the upstairs and the downstairs and when
we're talking about downstairs it's elevated it's above grade at least the entrances and you know
we'll review the notice of refusal this is an rs3 rsa3 property the lot size is 2137 square feet so
this is a rather large lot. This is in the Cedar Brook section of Philadelphia. And as the
chairman stated, we did receive correspondence from Cedar Park neighbors. How I read the letter
and how it was explained to us is they have no problems with having two units here. They want
to make sure that it's code compliant. And as I explained, as our office explained to the group,
is that, of course, we're going to have to do it code compliant because this is just the first
step of the process. From a zoning perspective, we get a zoning permit if we're so lucky. And if we
are, we still have to get a CO. And, you know, there are some modifications that we are going
to agree to, obviously, which will include window wells as such. So we told them that we would do
that. They wanted us to do it now. And we said, we can't do it now. Spend the money now on doing
all these things to make it code compliant for a duplex without having the permit the zoning
permit approval in hand um so um just you know that's what we explain to the community but they
have no problems in the duplex use my client's well known in the community she you know we had
a petition distributed we had letters to support uh you know from nearby neighbors people are okay
with this um and it's not uncommon there's you know nearby rsa3 properties which are multifamily
in nature we'll go from the maps the photographs including the interior photographs our plans and
drawings or meeting notice or application for appeal or deed to the property showing that
OGO owns the property and the certificate of tax clearance so first things first is that you know
this is an RSA3 property we're proposing two units it's a very literally it's she didn't do this but
it's it's basically that way now the only there's a kitchenette downstairs there's a living room
downstairs there's a bedroom downstairs there's a separate door an entryway you know so this is
you know looks like a duck quacks like a duck you know should be considered a duck uh corresponding
looks like a duck quacks like a duck you know should be considered a duck uh correspondence
from cedar uh park neighbors again i think it speaks volumes everyone was other than i think
one neighbor who was unconditionally opposed everyone's like okay we're great just change
the building and we'll vote for it and we're like we can't do that we need this support
we need the zoning permit before we do the building permit and then there's a long explanation
of that as well in their letter where they deferred, you know, their position.
And then, again, my client did a really good job of getting, you know, people nearby to
sign a petition, including the neighbors to the left and right of the property.
And then it's not uncommon to have properties which are multifamily, have a multifamily
use, even though they're RSA 3.
And if you look at 5116 Walton Avenue and then 5122 Walton Avenue, maps of the area, again, yes, we're RSA3, but there's a lot of RM1 nearby and CMX2.
And then we're not that far off from Baltimore Avenue, which is a commercial corridor.
Also, you know, it's always good to increase density to support a commercial corridor.
Also, there's a ton of public transportation on Baltimore Avenue.
Photographs of the property.
Again, as you can see, there's no parking here.
Proof of posting for today's hearing.
And again, it's really uncommon to have parking onto someone's property.
And this is just our backyard, you know, just showing our backyard.
Most importantly is this.
There's a separate entrance on the side where we have, and again, it's above grade the entrance
of how you know how we get in so it's not like two units are getting in through the same common
entrance this is the side entrance of the property and then the interior of the photograph
interior photographs this is the upper part of the of the unit number one
and then this is unit number two
it's very well done my client didn't do this she purchased it this way
She just wants to create a wall where the unit, where the interior connects.
And that's, you know, basically, I believe it would be right here where this storage is.
It's a staircase.
She's just going to hopefully close that up.
Bedroom, living room, kitchen, flex space.
We met on October 17th.
162 addresses were notified of the meeting.
proof of these are the addresses,
proof of mailing to those addresses,
our application for appeal that we filed on Ogo's behalf,
the deed to her property,
and the certificate of tax clearance.
I would ask that she virtually raise her hand.
What's your client's name?
Oh, she's right there.
Hi, could you state your name, please?
And spell it for the court stenographer.
My name is Nwadiogo Ejogu.
My first name is spelled N as a Nancy, W-A-D-I-O-G-O.
And my last name is spelled E-J-I-O-G-U.
can you hear me
I can't I think the chairman may be frozen
yeah that's what I was about to say
please bear with us
absolutely
Absolutely.
again please bear with us we're trying to get the chair back
Mm-hmm.
Thank you.
back i'm back hillary
excellent thank you i got kicked out for a minute there
we had the board where else are we you are swearing in
okay and we we lost your client mr knockamson is she still there okay hi could you you stated