truth i do thank you man i will be brief um i'm here representing cedar park neighbors
we are one of the neighborhood RCOs. We are in strong support of this project. I want to thank
Mr. Feldman for reiterating our letter. I just want to add a couple of brief issues. Zoning is
about use, but zoning is also about building form. And I think that we've heard a lot of testimony
from both Mr. Feldman and from neighbors about how the form of this building is more desirable
for the neighborhood than the form of curb cuts, RTA-1 twins.
So I would like to emphasize that the form of this building is an important piece of
the zoning component.
Secondly, I'd like to reiterate the fact that the community benefits agreement for the 20% affordable units is binding to the property.
Secondly, I'd like to reiterate the fact that the community benefits agreement for the 20%
If the current developer chooses not to develop this property, chooses not to develop this project, and sells the land, and someone wishes to develop this same project,
these same 20% of affordable units will have to be retained. This is a deed restriction.
um thirdly i'd like to encourage this board you will hear a lot of testimony in favor of this
project you will hear a lot of testimony against this project i think they're very compelling
arguments on both sides i would like to urge the board to make a decision today or quickly
this has been a very stressful issue in the community and i think everybody would like to
know what their next steps are so thank you very much for my testimony um that's it thank you
Thank you.
Next witness.
I have Christopher.
Christopher, unmute yourself, please.
Wait to be sworn in.
Identify yourself, name, spell your full name, and I'll swear you in.
My name is Christopher Mejia-Smith, M-E-J-I-A-S-M-I-T-H.
I live at 4957 Pine Street.
Do you swear if I'm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Please proceed.
Thank you for the opportunity to speak here today. I just wanted to reiterate the comments
that I made in my letter to this board dated April 5th. I wanted to speak specifically to
the hardship that is created by the zoning of this property. I believe that there was
a drafting error made in the 2012 designation for this law. I believe that at some point of
the planning process when the zoning code was overhauled that somebody took a look at Google
Street View, saw a bunch of Victorian twins, and thought that RTA 1 was the appropriate
designation. Given the historic nature of this property, its historic use as a multifamily
apartment building, that was an inappropriate designation. Then later, when the University
Southwest District Plan was created, it doubled down on that incorrect zoning designation,
which further shows that the historic context for this lot was not considered when the designation
was made originally. I believe that if these variances are granted, it would reaffirm the
use of this. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Next witness. Hi, can you hear me? Yes, please identify
yourself. Yes, my name is Taylor Kessinger. T-A-Y-L-O-R-K-E-S-S-I-N-G-E-R. I live at 4814 Chester.
We're a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth.
Yes, I do.
Excuse me, before you begin, someone has their mic open.
We're getting feedback.
So unless you're testifying, please mute your mic.
Please proceed, sir.
Thanks for the opportunity to speak here today.
I'll try to keep this quick.
I am a renter in this neighborhood.
My wife and I moved here a couple years ago.
I can testify that it's quite hard to find housing here.
When housing is scarce, landlords raise rents because they know they can get away with it.
When a neighborhood gentrifies, they raise rents even more because they know the gentrifiers are willing to pay more in rent.
I think the easiest way to stop this problem from destroying the neighborhood is to increase the supply of housing.
This is a problem that Council Member Gaudier acknowledges.
She states in her letter, this section of our district is experiencing intense housing demand, so it's likely rents will go up even if nothing gets built on the site.
I sent you a long, boring letter outlining some of the arguments from the housing economics
literature that I believe support this position. Very briefly, I want to touch on the opposition
that you're going to hear. I know that much ado has been made about a petition, including 600
signatures opposing the development. Many of these petition signers, I think, were under the impression
that if this development doesn't go through, they get to keep the dog park or convert it into a
public park or cat corner or bird sanctuary but I think we know the most likely outcome is that
Miragelli just builds according to the zoning and as council member Gaudier notes in her statement
of opposition that would be 28 duplexes with no affordability restrictions on them I guess they
would sell for $700,000 or more I have to wonder what the 600 people who signed a petition
supporting no luxury housing in Squirrel Hill would think about 28 luxury duplex homes with
no affordable units at all. It only seems to me like 15 affordable units being greater
than zero is the better option from a renter's point of view. I want to quickly thank the
neighbors whose persistent negotiation made this level of affordability possible. It's
unprecedented. I think it would be heartbreaking to see it all go to waste. And today, you
have the chance to set a real precedent for affordability and private development, as
well as for good faith negotiation between neighborhoods. I urge you to grant these
i urge you to grant these variances and approve this project thank you very much
variances and approve this project. Thank you very much. Thank you, sir.
thank you okay chair we're all ready with christopher
please identify yourselves by your full name and i'll swear you in christopher unmute yourself
can you guys hear me now yes okay my name is christopher aho my last name is spelled a-h-o
Do you swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Well, I'm a long-time renter.
I've lived in this neighborhood for several years.
I currently live at 48th and Beaumont.
There is a severe shortage of affordable housing in this neighborhood, and I support this project.
It's going to add more units than will be possible with the by-right development,
and more affordable units.
I think this project also represents an opportunity
for the city to help meet its climate goals
by having a dense infill near an intersection
that's very well served by mass transit.
It will enable more residents to live here
without relying on cars to get around.
And I think that's a benefit for the city.
That's all I have to say.
you thank you we have larissa you can unmute yourself again before you begin ma'am uh no no
disrespect to the next speaker or any speakers thereafter we're hearing some redundancy about
affordable we appreciate that we hear about uh what the buy right would mean in terms of parking
so i would ask that uh you try to limit your comments to something that we've not yet heard
Thank you.
Thanks.
I'll try to be quick.
My name is Larissa Magano, L-A-R-I-S-S-A, Magano, M-O-G-A-N-O.
We're a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Thank you.
Please proceed.
I'm a 15-year homeowner in West Philly, and for the last five years, I've been co-leading a neighboring RCO called Cobbs Creek Neighbors.
However, I am not writing on behalf of the organization.
I'm writing only as a concerned neighbor with some historical context.
While I generally prefer not to involve myself in proposals outside of my own neighborhood,
this is a community I spend considerable time in as a member of the nearby Warrington Community Garden,
Mariposa Co-op, previous member of the dog park that once sat on this lot,
and I find it imperative to consider the impact that adjacent communities have on one another.
We do need affordable housing in our community,
and I'm concerned that the knee-jerk oppositional responses to any and all new developments
sets Cedar Park, Cobbs Creek, and points further southwest for shortfall and viable options,
particularly as some reactionaries work to down-zone entire swaths of West Philadelphia,
leaving nothing but single-family homes available.
We experienced a similar situation with the Irvine, which just sits a few blocks away
when we lost the opportunity a decade ago to engage with the previous owner,
who consciously sought to include us in their plans.
Sadly, the community's short-sighted worries resulted in the exhaustion of the previous owner
and the sale of the building to the Post brothers who couldn't be less invested in appeasing
the surrounding community. At the time, I'm sure it felt like a win to those opposed,
but to the best of my knowledge, the Irvine now sits less than 70% occupied, quite possibly
because of their excessive rents and exclusion of neighbors. This is a cautionary tale that
is continually overlooked. History shows that our response to these completely valid fears
of displacement and equity and gentrification need to be much more strategic and thoughtful
if our aim is to serve the larger community's long-term needs. I agree that affordable housing
is a misnomer because the federal definition of affordability is skewed, and it doesn't even
account for our terribly inadequate living wage or the needs of people with disabilities or other
mobility issues. But when we have the opportunity to work with and be included in plans for our
communities, we need to seize them instead of chase them away. The alternative by right development
that could wind up here, as people have said, would be far worse for the very equity neighbors
claim to be fighting for. And related, the pressure put on the developer by the opponents
of the original plans to include an excessive amount of surface parking along a busy trolley
route and all the multiple um the other multimodal options around here that carries hundreds of
neighbors from lower income communities southwest of 40th and chester while vehicular crashes and
fatalities increase drastically is also counterintuitive intuitive but i'll save more details
for another another letter on that one housing and land values have reached a point where
subsidized affordable housing projects are no longer feasible, and I'd encourage more proactive
engagement from those opposed to this development to help curtail that and work to better define
what affordability means on a local scale. Inclusion of 20% affordable units at 40%
of less AMI in this project is critically important to create affordable units which
otherwise wouldn't exist. I strongly encourage the zoning board to consider pushing other
I strongly encourage the Zoning Board to consider pushing other future market rate projects
future market rate projects of the scale to
of the scale to include 20% or more of affordable units at 40% or less.
Thank you.
Inclusionary zoning practices would have a positive impact on housing affordability in
the third district and across the city.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Anyone else?
And I will ask again, please try to not repeat what has already been said numerous times.
Again, I say that with all due respect.
we have david david yes hi um i'm double double meeting here so
my name is david hincher uh spelled d-a-v-i-d last name is h-i-n-c-h-e-r uh i am you swear
excuse me do you swear if i'm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i do please proceed so i am calling in as a neighbor in the community i'm a homeowner i've
lived in the neighborhood for uh 14 15 years at this point i'm also a board member of cedar park
neighbors but i'm really calling in as a neighbor within the community you know i have a vested
interest and increased property values as a homeowner but that doesn't really uh assist the
neighborhood. And I do feel like we need all of the tools available at our disposal to find
affordability whenever and wherever we can. And I think working with buy right developers to get
below market rate affordable units is something that we should always strive to do. And I am
proud that we have been able to do this on this project. I also feel like for going forward in
future with other by right developers we need to have trust with them that when they negotiate with
us that it's done in good faith and that they know that we we will be working together with them
to push for a fair and equitable space for community members.
Thank you. I think we've heard pretty much the same concerns from supporters. I'd like
now to move to some of the opposition folks. So I would ask anyone who would like to speak
in opposition to this project, please raise your hand. All others will lower your hand
for the time being please and I know we've spent you've spent a lot of time on this we're not
trying to rush this but uh we keep hearing pretty much the same comments so I'd ask anyone as
opposition please try to adhere to the same rule something new and different not repeating what
has already been said I'm seeing 23 chair yeah well okay let's start with number one
to run white has been allowed to speak sir good afternoon please identify yourself spell your full
name and i'll swear you in good afternoon my name is ron white w-h-y-t-e you swear for him to tell
the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes i do thank you sir please proceed
i'd like to start by saying that cedar park neighbors rco does not represent the views
or the diversity of the local community most of whom are in opposition to this development
i object to the to the developers proposed zoning variants and speak on behalf of myself
and nearly all of the near neighbors including the many many petition signers who are also
opposed to the zoning variants we strongly you need to testify on your behalf sir
yes um i strongly oppose having the cedar park neighbors rco in any way authorized to negotiate
deals with it yeah but tell us what your opposition to this project is my position to this project is
very much centered on uh the work of cedar park neighbors to insinuate themselves as on the behalf
of the community when they're not what is it about this project sir that you are opposed to
putting Cedar Park and that board aside.
Well, Cedar Park has insinuated themselves
as the standard bearers of the community,
and that's a misrepresentation.
That's what my statement is about.
They chose to represent the interests
of this wealthy out-of-state investor.
Tell us what...