And I'll zoom out on this. This is just the floor plans that are proposed for the property as well.
Go to the next page.
so we're looking to have in the entry area itself we have living room in the middle kitchen to the
rear two bedrooms to the back along with a well-sized bath is that entryway porch living
room kitchen bedroom bedroom and bath on the first floor and then getting into the other unit we have
living room in the first kitchen to the middle nice bathroom and then two bedrooms to the rear
These are just additional parts of the drawings that aren't necessary for the zoning property
itself, but we can see we're not making any changes to the existing footprint of the property.
The sidewalk itself is relatively wide, as you were all able to see, and the lot itself
is fairly large.
There's a significant size rear yard where trash can be stored up until trash day.
And I'll get right back to page one.
And that's essentially my presentation in this matter, members of the board.
Just to be clear with respect to other properties that do have multifamily uses, I won't put
those on the record.
Just pulling up my notes, members of the board.
So I believe 2615 received the variance for multifamily, 2603 West Allegheny received
the variance for multifamily 2633 and 2617 with respect to the properties in the mixed-use area
of the neighborhood. So ultimately we face a hardship in renovating this property and selling
it as a house by right, especially due to the financial constraints of doing so at the moment
by having two units rather than one single-family home. Not only will we be keeping within the
character of the neighborhood, but we'll be offering the property with a more affordable
price point for folks right now uh which is always essential when we're doing renovations
in a property and ensuring that there's long-term interest in a property and the people can actually
afford to live there who already live in the neighborhood all those things taking all those
into consideration members of the board despite the community's letter regarding parking i would
respectfully request that this board grant the variance and allow us to put two units in this
grant the variants that allow us to put two units in this existing dwelling on the 2600 block of
existing dwelling on.
west allegheny avenue we're happy to take any questions you may have at this time members of
the port you want your testimony adopted mr mobile hill oh yes of course jordan are you on the line
if you are please raise your hand and unmute yourself miss anderson you can unmute yourself
I'll wait for the chair.
Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter?
I'm Jordan Anderson, J-O-R-D-A-N-A-N-D-E-R-S-O-N.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed.
Great.
Now, Mr. Anderson, you've heard the bulk of my testimony today, correct?
Is there anything you'd like to add at this point?
okay and my testimony to the best of your knowledge has been true and accurate
yes with respect to hardship and to the use of the property as well as the surrounding properties
as well correct yes thank you i have no other questions for you sir questions from the board
questions from the virtual audience or comments
planning commission
thank you chair bergman uh ian hegarty for the philadelphia city planning commission
members of the board uh the comprehensive plan recommends a zoning map amendment to rm1
multi-family use on this block face which would recognize the existing non-conforming
multi-family use that cited by council this proposed use is consistent with the recommended
zoning and so the city planning commission recommends that the board grant the variance
mi 2021-002-194-2621 west allegheny avenue i vote yes harold tenere my vote is yes
thomas holloman my vote is yes james snell my vote is yes
thank you members of the board have a good afternoon thank you you too thank you is there
anyone in the virtual audience whose case hasn't been heard
chair we have someone with the hand up with the phone number ending in 3552
sure whoever with the phone number ending in 3552 can you please unmute yourself and wait for the
chair.
Good morning. Could you state your name and spelled for the court
reporter?
You have done mute, please.
Um, that should probably be Mr. Clinton. What can you hear me
Good morning, Mr. Clinton.
Hello.
hello oh i'm sorry that's not him i apologize can you hear me now hi could you state your name and
spell for the court reporter um yes um they they're unmuting they're muting me when i'm
unmuting so can you hear me okay now we can okay adrian fernandez a-d-r-i-e-n-n-e-f-e-r-n-a-n-d-e-z
i was um wait one moment do you swear for him to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the
truth yeah what's your case which case with 2621 west allegheny avenue
last case yeah that case is over yeah i raised my hand like five times and they just ignored
my raised hand this happens repeatedly so um chair this is tanya we did not see that hand up
it's like five of us monitoring and we didn't see that hand up it might be an issue with zoom
and you can always um dpz zoom are you there he could confirm as well yes i am here did you can
you confirm that we did we call all the names that are available with their hands up yes at the time
thank you so very kindly so there could be an error miss fernandez with zoom but we
call all hands that are raised thank you chair okay thank you
Is Mr. Clinton ready to go on?
Is that number 12, 440 West Queen Lane?
Is Mr. Clinton ready for that?
Chair, I promoted Mr. Clinton.
He should be coming back in as a panelist.
Good morning, Mr. Clinton.
Mr. Clinton, try your audio. We still can't hear you.
Is that his audio on? Right, I see it. Unmute, Mr. Clinton. You have to unmute your phone.
Mr. Chairman, can you hear me now?
I hear you now, right?
Yeah, so I'm having some technical difficulties with my audio, so I'm going to go old school
with a hard line rather than a cell phone because i don't want the call to drop but i can present
and use the uh the video so so it's mi 2021 004 524 440 west queen lane correct okay proceed
here on my screen
wow take that a little bit bigger
that visible mr chairman yes yes it is so hold on one minute our vice chair has just a few
questions for you i wasn't going to ask mr clinton do you agree to wave the reading of
refusal and stipulate to its accuracy can you hear me oh he's just shaking his oh you have to unmute
yourself. Oh, wow. Okay. Mr. Tenere, I did hear you. Yes. Okay. So your answer is yes,
about waiving the reading of the refusal and stipulating to its accuracy. Correct. Okay. It
appears that we have all the required documents from you. Is that correct? Yes. Okay. You may
proceed thanks uh thank you mr scenario and chairman members of the board henry clinton
here for the applicant rosman properties uh this is my zoning presentation package the table of
contents concerning exhibits aa through a11 which i asked to be admitted into evidence appearance
statement and the refusal so this is a pretty straightforward um situation that the board has
in front of them today. We're simply asking that a lot in this particular block that is currently
46 feet wide be subdivided into two 23 foot wide lots, which will then be the same size lots
as the other 12 on the block. We basically have a situation where we have 23 feet and the code
calls for 25, but we are conforming with the rest of the block lot sizes. And I'll show you
that as I walk through. Now, unfortunately, we have a letter of opposition from the community
group, and it's very rare that I step before the board without either a letter of support
or a letter of non-opposition from the community group. But if you read the letter, and it
was evident during our presentation, the community group is more concerned about what may come
next. We right now are just asking that the lots be subdivided so that the lot is the
same size the two lots will be the same sizes as the rest of the lots on the block we're not
proposing any structure after the subdivision my client has to make a decision what she wants to
do and my client and that madar is on the call but she's going to put up whatever she can by right
so the issue before the board has nothing to do with what's coming later and i believe that's
what this vote really reflects is the anticipation of what may come, not what is. And that's
what I'm asking the board to focus on. So you can see the letter of opposition is concerning
about what was coming later, not what is coming now. And there was actually reference to a 1962
land map, which shows that 40 and 42, which is currently one lot, was a multifamily building.
but that's really not not the issue before the board and i'll show you why this is a photo of
the block every lot on this side of the street is 23 feet wide my lot or my client's lot rather
is 46 feet wide and we're simply asking to make the lot 23 and 23 which then will match
every other lot on the block again another aerial shot these are all twin houses 23 feet 23 feet
feet all were 23 feet wide another view of our vacant lot the vacant lie these
are twin houses on the other lots and so I asked the architect to do a survey of
the block and Michael Cole's on the call with us so this is my client's current
current lot, which is 46 wide, this is a rendering of every other lot on the street.
lot, which is 46 wide. This is a rendering of everything.
There's 12 lots that are 23 feet wide, and we're simply asking to conform to that.
So I went back into the archives, and I looked, and I found a map from 1910.
This is Queen Lane right here, and here's 440.
So at one time, 440 and 442, which is before the board, were two individual lots.
Then when I continued to look through the old records, I found a site plan from 1942.
This is 440 and 442.
For whatever reason, it was subdivided and was made one big lot.
So what we're simply asking the board to do is to revert this lot to what it was in the 1910s.
and to make it conform to all the other lots on the block.
The rest of the documents are the pro forma documents that the board will usually see in the presentation,
the tax certification, our application, and all the other lots,
I mean, excuse me, all the other documents that are referenced in my table of contents.
So, again, I don't want to belabor the point,
and again the community group is concerned about what comes next but that's not before the board
today what comes next maybe before the board if my client exercises her right to to try to put
something on here which is not by right but her goal is and as we told the community group she
wants to put on these lots what she can by right so when you look at this situation and you look
at all the benchmarks that one would typically look at when you're considering dimensional
variances, I think we've hit all those benchmarks. Basically, we are in harmony with the spirit of
the code. We're in harmony with the block. Our lot sizes will conform and will match to all the
other lots on the block. We're not endangering anyone's light or air, not endangering any
development of any neighboring property, because again, this is simply a subdivision. There's no
proposal to build anything at this time also this is a minimum to afford relief because 23 feet wide
and we'll have a match on the in the entire block so for those reasons i asked the board you know
look at what's before today and consider this variance and grant my client's request my client
is on the line and she can adopt my testimony and i also welcome any comments or questions
from the board or from the virtual audience that we can address.
Have your client raised their hand?
Matt, can you please raise your hand?
Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
Mr. Clinton, we'll take your testimony as an officer of the court.
Mr. Bergman, my client, Annette Madar, M-A-D-A-R, is on the call.
I confirmed that with her, and she will adopt the testimony as I presented it.
Thank you.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Chair, we have Ms. Allison Weiss.
Ms. Weiss, you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Ms. Weiss, could you state your name and spell it for the court reporter, please?
Allison Weiss.
A-double-L-I-S-O-N-W-E-I-S-S.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed.
Yes, Solo Germantown Civic Association. We were an affected overlapping RCO and we did submit a letter. I just wanted to clarify our concern about dividing the lot. It's our understanding that right now, by right, they are entitled to build a twin.
if the lot is divided they would be permitted to build two twins so that's the difference
and the community is opposed and this same applicant a couple of years ago applied to
build a six-family dwelling unit okay so let's let's but let's not stay a couple let's just
stay with this so you're against this right yes thank you very much and thank you for calling
right yes thank you very much and thank you for calling in is there anyone else that has
comments from the virtual audience here we have a pina nahamo mr or miss nahamo you can unmute
yourself or wait for the chair could could you state your name and spell it for the court reporter
please yes pin in a hammer p-i-n-n-i n-a-h-a-m-o right um do you swear or affirm to tell the truth
the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes sir proceed please um i know that on each lot
you can build one dwelling one building and add a twin when the lots that are like on the atlas
map of the city are two separate lots then it's going to be a twin because they're going to be
attached but it's going to be a 440 and a 442 two twins means four houses that's not it
so you're against it sir
that's the correction
I'm for it
because I think
Ms. Weiss
doesn't understand
need two houses
you're for it