C-A-R-L-B-O-G-D-I-E.
Do you swear or affirm, tell the truth, told the truth, nothing but the truth?
Nothing but the truth.
Yes, I do.
All right.
Thank you very much.
Are you in favor of this project or against?
Yes, I am.
You're in favor of the project?
All right. Thank you very much. We appreciate it. You're welcome. Thank you very much for helping us. We appreciate it. You sure you're good? Because I have two more. I think we're fine. I think we're fine. Thank you.
all right um all right um planning commission
michael gall with the philadelphia city planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no
change to the current rsa 5 residential single family attached zoning at this location the
The appellant has not demonstrated that there are unique physical conditions or circumstances of the property that would prevent it from being used in strict conformance with the zoning code.
appellant has not demonstrated that there are unique physical conditions or circumstances of
the property that would
This is a single family neighborhood with a specific local height overlay, so the three unit, three story proposal is out of character with its community context.
Therefore, the City Planning Commission recommends the board deny the requested variances for multifamily household living use, height, and maximum height area.
Thank you very much for your comments.
I thank everyone who called, and thank you, the people in the audience here.
we've heard a lot about this we're going to hold this for two weeks we will vote on that wednesday
all right at 2 p.m 26 26 to 2 p.m okay thank you for coming we appreciate it all right um
i got joe console right
it's 14
mi 20 26 002 649 8521 mansfield avenue joseph console is the attorney
hey guys um joe now i understand why you said this morning i'll see you tonight
yeah yeah i uh i sat through an entire depressing philly's loss on the radio while i was waiting to
be heard so i'm not i'm not in the best of moods right now okay but you just state your name for
the record you won't have been sworn yeah uh joseph console all right and could you identify
your client a relationship to the property yeah uh my client's david dwight he is the trustee
and owner under the trust for his aunt elizabeth h hamilton all right and our vice chair has a few
questions good evening have you uh submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of
this hearing yep yes and do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy
I do. Thank you. You can show your screen to begin.
Okay. All right. Share, bada bing. Hey, everyone. Joe Consul, 8521 Mansfield Avenue. This is
a property that has been in my client's family for decades. My client will attest that his
knowledge it's always been in a two unit property as you'll see it's set up as one although it was
never legalized uh there are um the property next door appears to have the same setup and
a couple of the other properties on the block uh appear to as well uh we had some neighbors
come into the rco meeting and claim knowledge of this but it does not seem like it seems like they
These were built as dueboxes, but never actually legalized.
And my client can explain.
You'll see that his aunt passed and a lot of her stuff's still on the property and things like that.
But you'll see that it's a two-unit property.
So here's the refusal property.
It's seeking two-unit variance for this property here owned by the Elizabeth Hamilton Trust.
She put that property into trust zoned RSA3.
Here's our letter of support from the 50th Ward, along with their explanation of the
meeting. It notes that the neighbors, some of them were aware of the duplex, the duplex
is on block. And I guess there was some concern that he was planning on potentially renting
or selling the property, but it's in an estate and this is his job to disseminate the property
in some way. And so while that might have caused some concern, we still got a letter of support
from the neighbors and they fully requested them grant the variance. There's the property where the
one on the right, I'm showing two doorbells. There's the entrance, go up to the one unit,
go to the right to the other unit. It's the interior of the property.
Here's the basement.
These are quite old, you know, boilers and things like that.
So hopefully you see two of everything.
This is one of the garages.
Interestingly, both this property and the property next door, I wish I had that back
photo.
But these are two garages that are connected to this property next to the two meters.
so each of the units has uh its own its own garage meters i don't know why i put that in
there it's a little blurry so the first photos were the downstairs unit
So the first photos were the downstairs unit.
Now we're looking at the upstairs unit.
Our postings.
Roof of mailing.
We included the trust in the back.
And we emailed the tax clearance certificate,
although i did not include it in the packet that i'm showing you on the screen now um i'll call
mr dwight um to say hello and it's not my testimony are you still there mr dwight
talked to him like two hours ago what is the name of the person again david dwight
okay thank you david dwight please raise your virtual hand
i see two people answering to that name in the virtual audience today
okay once more david dwight please raise your virtual hand and wait to be sworn in
Mr. Consul, you're an officer of the court.
Yes, sir.
We'll take your testimony. Questions from the board.
Oh, I heard a pop.
Questions from the board.
Questions from our attorney.
Chair, excuse me, Mr. Wright, Mr. Dwight has raised his hand.
What did you say?
David Dwight has raised his hand.
Okay, good. Thank you.
Yeah, promoting him to panelists waiting until he accepts chase. We're having a hard time hearing it. Jason.
I'm sorry, Mr. chair.
Yeah, just promoted him. Sure. Thank you. Looks like they declined. I'll go ahead and let him speak.
Good evening, sir.
Hello, can you hear me?
I can, sir.
Could you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer?
Okay, my name is David Dwight.
Sorry, I'm having a hard time getting one.
No, it's okay.
It's okay.
Could you spell your name for the stenographer?
David, D-A-V-I-D, Dwight, D-W-I-G-H-T.
I'm the third.
All right, do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Counsel, please proceed.
uh mr dwight did you um hear my testimony just now regarding um your family's property at 8521
mansfield avenue i did it was my great aunt's property great aunts i apologize uh and do you
adopt that testimony as your own yes i do all right and it's your contention this property
has been set up for you know as far back as you can remember as a duplex uh yes it has always been
a duplex okay nothing further since tomorrow attorney um i just want to put on the record
i believe council mentioned that um there's two accessory um indoor uh parking spaces and it also
looks like there's two parking spaces um outside um questions or comments from the virtual audience
i do not see any further hands mr commission
Michael Gall with the Philadelphia City Planning Commission comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing RSA 3 residential single family attached zoning at this location.
The appellant has not demonstrated that there are unique circumstances or physical conditions of this property that would prevent it from being used in strict conformance with the zoning code.
A search of nearby properties does not show any multifamily conversion.
So the proposal is out of character with a single family community context.
Therefore, the city planning commission recommends the board deny the request of variance for multifamily household.
MI 2026-002-649-8521 Mansfield Avenue, I vote yes.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes.
Carol Gaston, my vote is yes.
Danetta Graham, my vote is yes.
Maya McAdams, my vote is yes.
Taya Nguyen, my vote is yes.
Layla Beebe, my vote is yes.
Thank you, Mr. Consul.
thank you uh mr dwight thank you board okay number nine mi2026 zero zero two zero four four
4450 Main Street,
4450 Main Street, William O'Brien is the attorney.
William O'Brien is the attorney.
mr o'brien yes uh oh there you go sir could you please state your name and spell it for this
Yes, William O'Brien, W-I-L-L-I-A-M, O-B-R.
Can't hear me?
Do it one more time.
Do it one more time.
We're breaking up.
It's William O'Brien, W-I-L-L-I-A-M, O-B-R-I-E-N.
All right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Mr. O'Brien, could you identify your client and relationship to the property?
yes the uh owner of the property my client is manioc historical properties llc all right our
vice chair has a few questions good evening um have you submitted your documents and exhibits
five days in advance of this hearing yes the documents have been exempt have been submitted
okay thank you and do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy
i do all right thank you you can share your screen to begin with your case thank you
uh this is a request for a change in use um to visitor accommodations uh here's copy the refusal
that is the only item on the refusal is that use issue um this is a copy of the uh rco's letter
of no opposition. It was unanimous in that regard. And I want to point out some of the
explanation, which is on the screen. It's highlighted. However, they start with saying
that they generally oppose visitor accommodations in the neighborhood. And then they go on to say,
however, this proposal is in the Main Street Commercial District, where we believe visitor
accommodations are a beneficial and natural extension of the commercial district's mix of
commercial space and rental housing. We question why visitor accommodations were excluded from the
commercial districts in the first place. Here's a map of the area from Atlas. This is the subject
parcel. It is between Main Street and the same Maniunk Canal and towpath that you heard earlier
today. This is the iconic Maniunk Bridge. It's right next to that and the area is generally
CMX 2.5. Visitor accommodations don't begin until CMX 3. So that's why this is a refusal.
This is a zoning permit that was issued in 2024. The property was badly damaged in September of
21 in Hurricane Ida. My client did not own the property then. They purchased it vacant and in
pretty bad condition. So they got the zoning permit, which changed the use on the second
floor from office to multi-family. That was done over the counter. And then the following year in
2025, they were issued a commercial building permit for level three alterations for almost
$750,000 to bring the building back into shape. I will note that the building is a contributing
resource in the Main Street Manioc historic district the National District and at first
my client had interest in putting a third floor on the historic commission staff discouraged that
and my client accepted the commission staff's opinion here is a photograph of the facade of
the building I think I have to change bear with me
well can you see that yeah so there's the facade the first floor is vacant commercial
I understand that there is an interested tenant and this may be occupied as soon as next month
and then the second floor is our three apartments I'm going to skip to page 26
and you can see the approved floor plans.
approved floor plans. This goes back to 2024 when the zoning was approved for
three apartments. Going from the south side of the building you have a one
bedroom unit on the second floor. In the middle of the building there is a two
bedroom unit and on the north side of the building another one bedroom. I'll
show you some photographs okay this is the entrance staircase on the right side
of the building this accesses the one bedroom on the north side
This is where the staircase enters, the living space in that apartment, the bathroom in that apartment, the bedroom, laundry, and utilities.
This is the staircase on the south side of the building.
This is the hallway from that second floor hallway.
You see a door facing you, and then there's a door frame on the right.
Those are the entrances to the two apartments. The one on the right where you see the door frame is
the one bedroom. The door in front of you is the entrance to the two bedroom apartment.
There's the kitchen for the one bedroom. That's the bedroom, bathroom, laundry, and utilities,
mechanical rather. This is the kitchen for the second bedroom, the bathroom for the second.
This is a picture of the historic Engine 12 building across the street.
First bedroom, second bedroom.
And that's about my presentation.
I do have the managing member of the LLC, the owner, on with us.
I think their intention, although they're allowed to rent it one night at a time,
I think their intention is to limit it to three nights so that there's not going to be frequent turnover, that there'll be at least three nights minimum use.
And then the other documents in the exhibit package include the zoning notice, the application, the deed, the zoning photographs or the zoning poster and revenue clearance.
We have everything.
I would ask Brian DeMurg to raise his hand.
Brian?
Mr. Chair, they will be coming back in as a panelist.
Thank you very much.
Understood.