either neighbor, not 34 East Coulter Street, nor my neighbor on 38 East Coulter Street.
either neighbor, not 34 East Coulter Street, nor my neighbor on 34 East Coulter Street.
When I first received the architectural drawings of the property, I presented them to my neighbor
on 34 East Coulter Street, as she would mostly be affected by the build. We'd already been in
touch, talked in person on the phone, and likewise through text message. So when she saw that the
design of the building would be attached to her property she requested a change in the design
uh likewise the RCO requested a change in the design and she because she believed that the
walkway was shared and she didn't she didn't she didn't understand that my property came to
always to her wall and I'm going to speak about that in a bit she claimed that on her deed it
said end of row and that the previous structure was not connected to our house which is true
So I shared my land survey with her, which was done by Aqua Economics out of Bluebell PA. It was a company recommended to me by my architect, which showed that my property went through the wall of 34 East Coulter Street, my neighbor.
I also provided her with a phone number to this company to get in contact with them if she wanted to confirm with them.
So at that point, my neighbor at 34 East Paul District, along with the RCOs, they reached out to Mr. Charles Richardson, Chief of Staff at the Office of Councilwoman Cindy Bass, requesting a continuance of the ZBA hearing.
He said his office will have the city's survey department do an official survey of the property lines, which should satisfy neighbors' concerns.
This request for continuance was presented to you, sir, on my ZBA hearing back in February.
And you asked me, was I okay with the continuance? And I said I was. On August 29th, my local RCO, my neighbor, as well as myself, received an email from Mr. Charles Richardson, who forwarded an email from the city survey department confirming that my property line did, in fact, go through the wall of 34 East Coulter Street, thus allowing me to build directly to that wall to my neighbor's property on 34 East Coulter Street.
uh one thing i'd like to mention and i think is important that during the first two rco meetings
nothing was mentioned regarding opposition to me building a duplex it was never about any
congestion on the block it was never about any parking to the point that my neighbor on 34 east
culture street she actually said that she had no problem with that because two families always
lived there uh on 36 culture street the sole point of discussion was my building next up into
next to her property and how the bill may negatively affect her structure and that concern
no doubt is understandable uh the possibility of disturbing a foundation uh but that is why
you know we will hire an engineer
that's why we'll hire an engineer to assess any prop any risks to our property also uh my architect
mentioned on the first rco call that we would have her wall monitor with specific equipment
um uh throughout the excavation process and also i mentioned to them that there are strict
lni protocols as it relates to digging and excavating and that i'm following all the
guidelines and protocols as it relates to building and as it relates to construction
oh sorry about that um why don't you start showing us some of your documents okay okay sure
Let me share my screen. Okay.
I think pictures of the existing property would be interesting to see.
Is that the vacant lot there?
Yes, I'm pulling it up now.
Some reason I've been having issues with my internet, but it's strange.
I've never had this before, but one second.
Let's see if I can get this picture up here.
Oh, here it is.
So here's the vacant lot.
Right.
This is the vacant lot here. 34 is to the right, which has which is has no windows.
And it was even asked to me, you know, to mirror the build and the design build, which I'll show you in a bit to the other side.
But the problem with that is that it would it would obstruct the lighting and the views for my neighbor on 38 East Carter Street.
As you see, all their windows is on that side of their house, which on the other side, there's no windows at all.
which on the other side, there's no, there's no windows.
There's no windows at all.
This is a picture of the previous building that was there before it was
demolished by the city. It had two entrances as well.
Entrance here and I believe it enters in the front.
all right what's the rest of the block look like there's the multi-family houses on the block
um there's there's one uh at the end of the block there's one uh multi-family it's one duplex
on the block i'll show you one second so this is this is uh my neighbors this is they're all
these are all single families and there's one which is um here it is right here this here is uh
this is one which is a uh duplex i think this is the only one that's on the book what's on the
block right the majority of the block is single family homes yes except this one here on the
corner which is at 66 okay here's the architectural drawings right here this
was what was presented my architect he designed it to look look like the rest
of the homes on the block yeah and as you see the difference between the
design here and before is that the house before wasn't connected to 34.
So this was, this was the, uh,
the main point of discussion throughout the three, the three meetings.
And both sides of you will be single family homes.
Okay. All right.
Do you have anything else you want to offer?
um let's see um
okay questions from the board
no chair no chair questions or comments from the virtual audience
mr chair i have cornelia swenson with their hand raised i have allowed them to speak at this time
hi could you state your name please and spell it for the court stenographer
hello hi could you state your name and spell please for the court stenographer
okay i have to um good morning or good afternoon mr chair thank you for allowing me to speak
my name is cornelia swenson that's c-o-r-n-e-l-i-a s-w-i-n-s-o-n
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
listen first
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth
the whole truth and nothing but the truth
can you hear me
I hear you now
and are you a neighbor
yes I am
I'm at 34 East Coulter Street
proceed then
thank you very much
I have been a neighbor of this property for 35 years, approximately 35 years, a little bit more, maybe 84 was when I purchased the home.
The block is single family homes with the exception of one property at the end of the block, not the property that Mr.
Wright showed. And as far as I know, it's a duplex.
I'm not sure whether it's legally a duplex, but the block are all single-family homes.
This hearing today is about an application for multi-family on the block, regardless
of how anyone feels on the block. Our block had this meeting, discussed the merits of
our concerns and share those with Mr. Wright. I did not want to make this meeting about anything
else in terms of my comments other than the fact that it's a multi it's not a multi-family block
there are expectations we already have a lot of parking problems we're right up the street from
We're right up the street from a major, major private school, and parking is already a problem for our block.
a major, major private school.
We want to maintain the single-family structure on the block, and that and nothing more.
Ms. Winston, thank you so much for taking the time to call us.
We appreciate your input.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
Yes, Mr. Chair.
They're Ines Love with their hand raised.
I have allowed them to speak at this time.
Good morning.
Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Ines Love.
I-N-E-S-L-O-V-E.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Are you a neighbor?
I am the chair for the RCO.
Proceed.
Proceed.
As you saw from our letter, we sent in, we, the community, opposed this property because the community is a single-family community and because of the, excuse me, the part of the structure of the property.
We think it's too dense.
They also thought that it was not in compliance with the rest of the community.
We asked the applicant if he would consider taking, making a walkway on both sides of the property, five or so feet, I believe it was.
And that's been asked throughout the meetings.
There was no, we couldn't come to a meeting of the mines.
There was no change in the architect's rendering.
We only met with the architect one time at the last two meetings.
He was not available.
so any changes that that were requested were not made we could not understand the hardship that the
applicant says he has he could never really explain that but because the community is the
way it is we thought it would if he wanted to if the applicant wanted to participate in that
community there had to be some he had to give into some way to help make sure that that community
stays the way that it is, and that the properties on either side were not in any way in danger
of being affected by his bill. Okay. Ms. Love, thank you so much for taking the time to call,
and we'll take under consideration everything you said. Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
Yes, Mr. Chair. Allison Weiss, with their hand raised, I've allowed them to speak at this time.
Good morning, Ms. Weiss. Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court sonographer?
Ms. Weiss, you're breaking up a little bit. Could you start again?
Ms. Weiss, we can't hear you. You're breaking up.
Ms. Weiss, you're breaking up. We can't hear you. We do have your letter of opposition
from Solo Germantown. Thank you for sending that. We understand it. Okay. Is there anyone
else in the virtual audience thanks yes mr chair charles richardson with their hand raised i have
nothing to speak good morning mr richardson you've already been sworn just state your name for the
record please good morning again mr chair charles richardson office of councilwoman cindy bass
room 508 city hall uh councilwoman joins with the two rcos in opposition to this variance
thank you so much for taking the time the calls is there anyone else in the virtual audience
Yes, Susan Ponson with the hand raised. I have a lot of them to speak.
Could you state your name, please?
Suzanne, S-U-Z-A-N-N-E, Ponson, P-O-N-S-E-N.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Are you a neighbor?
I am a neighboring RCO, president of a neighboring RCO.
And I just want to WCGN, West Central Germantown neighbors.
and I'd like to support the near neighbors
as well as the RCO, the convening RCO.
All right.
Thank you so much for taking the time to call us.
We appreciate it.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
One further hand with a number ending in 5556,
I will allow them to speak at this time.
State your name, please,
and spell for the court sonographer.
Hello?
Hello?
Yes, this is Allison Weiss, Solo Germantown Civic Association.
Yes, this is Allison Weiss,
the Dunnantown Civic Association.
Could you, just for the record, could you spell your name?
A-double-L-I-S-O-N-W-E-I-S-S.
All right, do you swear or affirm, tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Ms. Weiss, when you called before we couldn't hear you, I mentioned that we have your letter of opposition from Solo Germantown.
Is there anything you want to add?
I just wanted to concur that at the meeting, there was overwhelming opposition to granting up the variance.
All right. Thank you so much for taking the time to call.
We appreciate it. Anyone else in the virtual audience?
There are no further hats, Mr. Chair.
Hi, Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair Bergman, and good morning.
David Fecto with the City Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the residential single-family zoning at this location.
there is no unique physical condition or circumstance of this property that would
prevent it from being used in conformance with the zoning code the city planning commission
recommends the board deny the use variance for two dwelling units thank you MI 2022 005
552 36 East Coulter Street I vote no Thomas Holloman
James Snell. My vote is no.
Ishmael Shahid. My vote is no.
Thank you. Thank you, sir. All right. Number three, MI
2022-002-567-1412
South 52nd Street. Zen Jin is the attorney.
Letter of support from the 51st Ward, Democratic RCO,
and also the applicant submitted a petition in support with 16
neighbors.