occupiable, the commercial unit was very difficult to rent out. So in light of
commercial unit was very difficult to rent out. So in light of that, we are seeking permission to
that, we
turn the residential use or turn the commercial space on the ground floor into a residential use.
I have here some photos just to orient the board. This is the property here from the street
perspective. There are separate entrances for 445, which is located here, and 447 located here.
this alley orkney street which runs along the side of the property provides access and ingress
egress to the units this is a view of the side of the building as it runs on orkney street
and you can see down here there is an opening that allows the upstairs residential units into
the building and also an alley behind the property that is going to allow for our trash
storage as i'll explain in just a moment um the we met twice with the northern liberties neighbors
association uh and their largest comment i'll put their position letter on the screen their
largest comment uh had to do with concerns about about uh trash um at this building particularly
in light of the increase in residential density um so what we've done and you will see that um
The Northern Liberty's letter of non-opposition references a plan with trash receptacles. We presented this plan to the Neighborhood Association and they agreed that this was a sufficient trash designation. As you'll see what we did, these are the two units.
there are going to be two bedroom units one on the 445 side one on the 447 side and we created
trash storage in the rear of the property here accessed by this open alley to allow all of the
residents of the building to store their trash and in in one spot so it'll be internal strat
trash storage with a gate uh to prevent any any unauthorized dumping and to allow ventilation
into that area, and we, working with the community association, doubled the size of our originally
proposed trash enclosure to allow for trash for the entire building. As I mentioned, NNLA has a
letter of non-opposition, and with that, I will swear my client in unless the board has any
questions. You swear them in, and then we'll ask questions. Thank you. Steve, can you raise your
hand virtually so the zoning admin can identify.
Steve, you can unmute yourself and speak.
Good afternoon.
This is Steve Parkin.
I'm the managing partner of Fairmount Commercial Properties, LP, which is the operating entity for 445 and 447 Fairmount Avenue.
Do you swear in a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Thank you.
Please proceed.
Steve, can you just spell your name for the record and provide an address, please?
Steve, S-T-E-V-E, last name Parkin, P as in Paul, A-R-K-I-N.
My address is 135 South 19th Street, apartment 811, Philadelphia, 19103.
And Steve, did you have the opportunity to hear the statements I made during my presentation?
Yes, I did.
Do you adopt them as true, correct, and your wrong?
Yes, I do.
Thank you very much.
Mr. Chair, I turn it back over to the board for any follow-up questions.
Thank you. The trash areas, did that require a revision in the original plan?
No, there were no plans submitted because this was a use change only. So this was just a conceptual floor plan rendering, but we committed to the RCO that we will build it out substantially similar to this with the shown trash enclosure.
Thank you. Is there anyone who wishes to testify in this case? Please raise your hand.
no hands raised at this time thank you
uh questions from the board no no no planning commission the property is indicated for
residential use on the city plan given the site history we have no objection to granting the
Thank you. Calendar number 37473, 445 Fairmount Avenue. My vote is yes with the proviso to provide two trash areas, ventilated areas to the rear of the property.
ventilated areas to the rear of the property my vote is yes with proviso yes with proviso
My vote is yes.
yes with proviso yes with proviso thank you very much everyone have a great afternoon thank you
calendar number 39460 327 tasker street the attorney is michael goodhart
is this the case we had miss miss uh we listed it in our the other day no this was the case from
yesterday that um we had not squared away with the attorney that it was prepared to go forward
because we didn't have documentation so i rescheduled him for this afternoon okay i knew
that we had something that occurred with this yesterday okay thank you frank does he need to
be sworn in? Yes. Okay, Mr. Goodhart, you've been promoted to a panelist. You can now share your
screen if you wish and wait to be sworn in. Mr. Goodhart, can you please put your name and address
on the record and spell your name for the stenographer, please? Unmute yourself. We can't
hear you please sorry that's okay mark goodhart no offense taken to you having michael in your
record there but it's mark m-a-r-k-g-o-o-d-h-e-a-r-t 529 south 16th street suite 100 philadelphia
1-9-1-4-6 and do you swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth i do do you also agree to
waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy? I do. Okay, thank you. You may
present your case. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman and members of the board. I also have on the Zoom
my client, Micah Gold Markell, who's the sole member of the LLC owner of 327 Tasker Street,
and he's prepared to answer questions and give any testimony as needed. This is an application
for the legalization of a duplex uh that has been existing uh for over 30 years at the location
in its current configuration uh and use uh the zoning uh calls for single family and when my
client purchased the property from the longtime owner back in 2019 uh it was actually listed on
public record as being designated as an apartment. And they found out just before closing that it was
a single family. They found this out when my client went to pull a new rental license for
the duplex living. They agreed to work together to go through this process. Unfortunately,
the prior owner had a terminal illness and passed away, and now my client is here
on his own. As I said, the use has been a duplex for over 30 years. There's no reconfiguration or
work needed to be done as part of this application. It is merely a variance to legalize the long-standing
use. There was a public meeting held in February of this year, and the Penn Support Civic Association
issued a letter of support, which has been provided to the board in advance of today.
And with that, I would turn it over to the board for any questions that it may have of me or of
my client. Mr. Goodhart, you want to get your client on the record and ask if he adopts your
testimony i'll swear him in i will mr chairman uh micah if you want to raise your hand micah if you
want to raise your hand yes i'm here uh did you uh hear my testimony excuse me mr micah would you
please spell your name for the record and it's m-i-c-a-h last thing gold markel g-o-l-d hyphen
m-a-r-k-e-l and your address
1500 north american street philadelphia pennsylvania 19122 and do you swear affirm to tell
the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i affirm mr goodhart
micah did you uh hear the statements and background and factual information
Micah, did you hear the statements and background and factual information that I provided on
the record?
Yes, I did.
Do you adopt those as true statements and statements of your own?
Yes, I do.
Thank you.
Mr. Chairman and the board, if you have any questions for myself or my client, we're happy
to answer anything.
Thank you.
Is there anyone who wishes to testify in this matter?
If so, please raise your hand.
no hands up at this time chair thank you tanya questions from the board no no planning commission
so this property is for residential use on the city plan given the site's history we have no
objection to the grand number thank you very much calendar number 39460 327 tasker street my vote is
yes my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote yes thank you um i contacted
i contacted mr anastasio on the first case on the 330 list he believes this is just a delayless
case but is unable to go into his office he hasn't been able yet to go into his office
to check the file he's asked if we could reschedule it for next wednesday morning
at 9 30 for a vote at which time he will have the documentation
tanya does that work
yes chair we can do whatever you wish well i mean i don't want to overburden the list but we don't
know we never know how many continues we're going to get these days all right so we'll list it next
but we want to do it it's just a vote that's fine we can go ahead and put it on the list
okay very good thank you uh sharon you'll notify or time you'll notify anastasia sure yeah
uh is that it i think that's it that's it thank you members of the board thank you um all right
everyone uh tomorrow morning right yes tomorrow at 10 a.m yes yep okay okay thank you thank you
thank you thank you good night good night good night good night good night everyone tanya call
me at midnight. Carol, you too much. It'll be Abby tomorrow. Okay, thank you for everything, Bill.
Oh, no problem. Take care. Bye.