is structurally sound. And that there would be no concern for the continuation of the
development of that one-story structure. And then there are just pictures of what
you know the property looks like you know just as part of his report and then yes and then yes
and then there's the letter from the center city residents association they are in opposition that's
why i'm i'm trying to and i know i have it in front of me i have a copy of yeah and so you'll
see the letters of support you know we have the owner of 1915 delante place which is across the
street 1918 delancy place which is right next door to us and uh 1920 delancy play 1920 delancy places
which is supported this and then most importantly the historic commission actually reviewed this
application because this is a historic property and they also reviewed this application and they
you know they approved based on the information we gave them that would conclude my presentation
at this moment. I don't know if any members of the community are on the call as well.
Okay, before we get to those members of the community, do you have your client?
I do. Mr. Speight, can you virtually raise your hand?
It's been allowed to talk, sir.
Hi, good afternoon. Please identify yourself with a record. Spell your full name.
Hi, thank you.
It's Christopher Spey, and last name is S-P-A-Y.
and you swear and affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
And you swear and affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
yes thank you mr knockinson yes mr state uh mr spay you heard everything i stated today
Thank you.
correct and is it true and correct correct and do you adopt as your own testimony yes okay thank
you questions from the board no no one else would like to testify in this matter including members
of the RCO and or the district council person's office.
Mr. Chair, I have a Rosa with her hand up.
I won't allow her to speak right now.
Okay, ma'am, please identify yourself with a record.
First and last name, provide us with your address.
Hello, my name is Rosa Esquenazi, E-S-Q-U-E-N-A-Z-I.
I live at 1912 Delancey which was mentioned as the left property the property on the left of
Mr. Spade you swear and affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth I do
thank you please proceed thank you for taking my comments after a long day
Mr. Chairman my name is Rosa Eskenazi I live adjacent to the east side of Mr. Spade
my property
was not mentioned
but was grandfathered
before the zoning
was established
as I previously told Mr. Spey
I mean no ill towards him
and welcome the block
since he moved in
wishing that his home provide the same solace
as mine does to me
even though this addition does not affect me visually
I do however question his means
the disdain for due process safety and lack of respect for his neighbors because the addition
has been already been built after reviewing the documentation provided by the lawyer in charge
there are many instances where words and documents get manipulated for favor midst the applicant
for instance zoning requires nine feet of yard depth not storage depth as it was stated the word
storage maybe may grant for some leeway in zoning lingo but what was erected is in no way a storage
structure it is a living area with two skylights on the roof and the wide internal sliding glass
door also i'd like to know in what way mr knockamson believes that this addition enhances the
character and nature of the neighborhood what about from the perspective of mr space neighbors on
on Panama Street, whose backyards face this addition. This issue permanently changed the
nature of that specific property, allowing for complete grab of open space. If allowed to remain,
it sets a precedent for the rest of the neighbors to add storage areas in their backs, thus altering
the view from the backyards of the properties on Panama, and therefore possibly diminishing
their property values. Mr. Nuckamson is asked on the application whether this change may cause
damage. Judging by the quality of construction and history with his contractors, I am worried
that the overall quality may be below par. He had a LNI come and stop the
direction of this, but he continued. Having a shared party wall with the property in question,
I do worry about the integrity of the footing and the partition wall insulation. Mr. Spey defends
the quality of the people he hires, but had they had the qualifications required, then they shouldn't
have been, then they should have been aware of the regulatory process and followed it. Several
documents show previous water damage as an excuse to build this addition, but that problem could
have been potentially solved without the enclosed addition. And they don't show how that water
issue has been solved also. The applicant provides a signature by one neighbor in support of this
construction, Mr. Roger Johnson, who lived on the north side of Delancey Place and was not directly
affected by this addition. But below, I submit a document previously signed by him, which I
provided to you, which questions whether the signature provided by the owner's lawyer
is in fact Mr. Johnson's or if it was forged. Also, according to the City of Philadelphia,
106 properties needed to be notified about this issue of hearing was posted on the building prior
to the ccra meeting and to my knowledge most neighbors directly involved did not receive one
in the mail i'd like to hear from the board the reason behind the 25 of open space rule if they
feel it is important to keep it and whether they deem in terms of due process if there is any
justice to applying retroactively for a zoning permit and L&I now that the addition has been
retroactively for a zoning permit and lni now that the addition has been finished and if granted
whether there will be an inspection inspection to certify the quality of the construction
and compliance with all applicable safety rules thank you for listening thank you thank you
mr chair can i just respond quickly who's speaking this is mr this is alan occamson
oh alan i'm sorry okay please proceed so a couple of things and i'm not in front of my computer but
can you go into the picture for the for the rear yard you'll see that the the the lady that spoke
just now our next door neighbor to the left she has a two-story structure on her side on at least
part of her property which is two which is full which has full lot coverage
so you'll see that picture right there and then in terms of she said that picture right there you
could you show with the uh point to it please oh can you comment can you point to that two-story
structure uh it's no uh no go forward yeah uh yeah so you see it right there mr chair
so our our structure is the is the one on the roof with the skylights but beyond that
that two-story structure that's gray in nature that's the lady who just spoke that's right
that's what she has full lot coverage on her side she so and two stories and then we have
we have a letter of support from 1918 and 1920 um in support of our you know of our
yeah and yeah and we have a structural engineer that was why we you know again i don't think
enough said i okay uh anyone else would like to testify please raise your hand if you haven't
already done to?
I think the other end of the row is this.
No, we have Neal Kraus.
I'm here, I'm here, who are you?
Neil Krause.
Okay, Mr. Krause, please identify yourself, spell your first and latest name and provide
us with your address.
N-E-A-L-K-R-O-U-S-E, I live at 1921 Panama Street.
We're in a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Please proceed.
well first the rendering they have looks like it's about a foot above the wall that the the
roof comes down it's shown it's flat i measured it today it's four and a half feet you can see
on this picture that's here that you know it's it's well above the one foot that they show on
the rendering this is something i'm not i'm not clear what what are you referring to okay um
I guess you can't see my uh uh can I can I show you saying the party wall between
1916 and I believe it would be 1918 yeah it it's not it's not like a foot above the wall
it's four and a half feet I measured it when you say wall you're talking about the rear
the adjoining of the adjacent property if you look at the if you look at the picture
of the rendering that's all nice and you know flat the roof looks like it's flat but it's not
and uh it's four and a half feet above that wall so it gives you a closed in more of a closed in
feeling now the thing is i i don't know i'd like to i'd like to uh share a picture of what i have
to look at every time i look out my window that's above my sink so i see this a hundred times a day
and uh and uh you know i i don't have blinds on the windows because no one can see in
but i and i need the light i need the you know the natural light but i have to look out the window
every time I'm sitting there. Is your property directly behind 1960? No, I'm just slightly,
I'm behind 1920. Okay, all right. But my window faces this directly. It's in my face all the time.
The construction is like ridiculous. It's not, you know, it looks to me like a bunker.
It looks like a bunker that's overlooking Omaha Beach, you know, in Normandy, a German bunker.
That's what it looks like. It's just a big block. And I have to look at this a hundred times a day.
The draining now, the drain pipe, I looked at that, that's like 100 years old.
I'm not sure, you know, you could even drain into that.
And the rendering shows that the water runs right off.
It doesn't show a gutter or anything for the water to go to.
And it would run right into the alley.
And the alley's all wet back there all the time.
I mean, and I don't think, you know, it's causing mosquitoes and everything.
I, it's, it's just, it's just a terrible, terrible structure and, and it should be, it should be
torn down because it's, because it's, you know, was never inspected.
so uh thank you i think this should be torn down and restored to what he had there before
thank you mr chair just would like to clarify that the structure is not finished that f if if
this board does grant this the variance we will obtain a zoning permit and then we will obtain
a building permit and go through the the process that we should have done the first time where
there will be inspections and work done. It's just the shell of the structure. As soon as L&I
notified us that this was done illegally, we stopped construction of it. And the other thing
I would indicate is there, if you can see from that picture, there's a two-story structure
right in the same line of sight. And if you look at the aerial view that I previously provided of
nearby properties with full lot coverage on that block, it's not uncommon for the other properties.
am i still okay hello roses roses building there she has a whole garden that goes from uh from the
alley all the way to uh to uh delancey street she has an enormous garden there ever if you look at
all these this is all all everyone except i think one near 20th street one building near 20th street
has open space outside their house every single one all right thank you sir anyone else want to
wish to testify we have wade albert good afternoon sir or good evening uh please identify yourself
with a record name and address sure good afternoon can you hear me yes okay uh my name is wade
albert and i am counsel for the center city residents association hey wayne how are you
do you swear and affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i do hello hello sorry i was muted for a second okay um yes i do um so i uh believe that the uh
the zba received ccra's letter in opposition to this project we have and it is it is rare
at this point that we impose anything outright um and i i think that that sort of i want to explain
why we did that um we heard from um the council for the applicant um he said that this structure is
is is made it clear that it is uh it is sort of currently being built this is not a pre-existing
structure um that the when the applicant presented to us uh at our rco meeting a couple months ago
it became pretty clear that they began building this without permits um i understand that happens
um but i also understand that ellen i was called once and possibly a second time while that was
happening um i i don't want to misrepresent anything but i know that there's been an ongoing
a bunch of ongoing issues um with regard to the reasons for the actual opposition
the first is that ccra supports the neighbors who complained about light and air um that there are
um there there is one property right next door that goes to the property line but most of the
properties that are around there um they uh they do not have structures that directly abut the
they do not have structures that directly above the property line. There are some decks
property line.
outdoor space but they don't go that far. The other issue is that we do not believe
that the applicant can establish hardship. Our understanding is that the structure is going to
be used primarily for storage and that it is being built to apparently alleviate some sort
of problem with water damage and we respectfully submit that neither one of those issues are
sufficient to satisfy um the dimensional hardship requirements under the code um there is no
evidence that um that um not being able to build this would cause an economic detriment to the
applicant or that they would suffer any sort of financial burden um to bring the property
into strict compliance because they're really understanding there were no compliance issues
before they they attempted to build this structure um so therefore we would uh respectfully request
that the cba oppose this um this application thank you thank you sir i do agree that there
would have there are probably numerous other ways of addressing the water damage problem
i just think he backdoored this thing and got caught anyway that's my opinion well yeah mr
chair again we yeah alan no disrespect yeah you don't have to build a room to prevent any damage
to the basement there's concrete there's a whole bunch of other materials that could have been used
there just has been there's not no one's going to convince me otherwise
that's just my opinion that's my opinion i'm not being i'm not arguing with you
no i know this respect but there were there are other remedies that could have been taken
anyone else yes bob bennett please identify yourself sir name and address
my name is robert bennett my address is 1917 panama street
you swear and affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yes sir please proceed uh mr chairman and uh board members thanks very much for your time
i've been on with you since two o'clock so i know it's been a long day for all of us
um i do appreciate it um i don't want to throw stones or or start a catfight but mr knackinson
and Mr. Spey, their memories are very selective as far as what they've told in front of the board
here. I've dealt with this issue now since October 13, 2019. That is the day that Mr. Spey started
tearing apart his back patio, which if you would have saw it, it was gorgeous, okay? He tore
everything out that you could imagine, and that pretty much contributed to much of his water
problems that he's speaking about the other thing is sure it's a mute issue but mr um mr
knockerman said about the the foliage in the back that foliage is on my brick wall and they're box
wood plants that are sitting in uh 75 hour planters and if you're at my table say this
looks gorgeous okay excuse me you are the you're the property directly behind correct directly
behind yeah i'm still looking at the aerial view of there could could we have his aerial view uh
pictures removed yeah we have the knock of some presentation please take that down