But if there are a total on this block and the block just to the south of it, there are a total
of 59 lots. 26 are existing single family. Nine are PHA rentals. 13 are single rentals. Three
are duplexes. Seven are vacant. And there is one church property there. And again, there are a lot
of other vacant lots kind of as you go east and west from here. So we believe that, you know,
obviously we have to show, and it's our burden, to show that there's one, a hardship, two, no
detriment to the public health, safety, or welfare, and three, that this is the least minimum variance.
Starting with number three, I think the easiest one, this is the least minimum variance.
We're actually only asking for one additional unit. We could build a third floor by right and
by right and be asking for a triplex, but we're not doing that. We're trying to be commensurate
ask be asking for you know a triplex um but
with the neighborhood, keep the existing building as is, even though it's in its
dilapidated state, it can be brought back to a very nice status. And therefore,
we're proposing only residential use in a residential neighborhood with nice-sized units.
uh there is for those reasons there's no detriment to the public health safety or welfare
we're proposing uses well in line with uh the neighborhood there's no issues with traffic
congestion uh light and air or anything of the sort those were all uh in fact not even raised
at the community meeting the community only raised the four points that are uh up in front
of the board at this time. So the hardship, this was a longstanding single family neighborhood
that has been changing over time. There are a lot more rentals, a lot more PHA units,
and there are also a lot of longstanding vacant lots. These are starting to be developed or looked
at by developers. We also have a very small lot with an existing building that's in a very
dilapidated condition. All of these factors and the, you know, financial requirements to bring
this property back to, you know, vibrancy for this neighborhood, you know, show and demonstrate
the hardship that we have here. With that, I would ask to call Brent Ross.
sir could you state your name and spell it please for the court reporter
hi my name is brent ross uh first name brent b-r-e-n-t last name ross r-o-s-s
do you swear a firm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
yes i do proceed counsel uh certainly mr ross you you're here on behalf of the
owner and developer, B. Ross Real Estate LLC, correct? Correct. And did you hear all of the
testimony that I already presented in this case? I did. And do you believe it to be true and correct
to the best of your knowledge, information, and belief? I do. And would you adopt it as your own
testimony? Yes. Now, being cognizant of the board's time and trying not to be duplicative,
is there other information that you believe you have that would be relevant to the board's
decision today? Yes. Good afternoon, board. If you allow me to speak, I would like to take a
minute or so of your time. Please do so, Mr. Ross. I'm a small investor and I mean, come from
humble beginnings and I see that there's a deficiency, especially in proximity to downtown
where young professionals really don't have an option of moving into a one bedroom unit that has
all of the amenities and not paying a ticket towards the number of something, you know,
2,500 north, even for studios, in the zip code of 19, I believe 103, which is the next one over.
So what I'm providing here is something for your young professionals, for someone that
works in your local school, someone that works in the fire department, the police department,
they will have a chance of getting a one-bedroom unit. And my target price is
around $1,300, $1,400 a month.
And, you know, this was a two-bedroom
dilapidated building when I bought it
and it was used as a drug den.
It was feces all over.
And what I'm essentially asking to do
is change it from a two-bedroom home
to creating two to two one-bedroom units.
So I think that it's a very small variance in accordance to what Sean has stated.
And I would love to, you know, put this project into the community.
And I think that at the end of the day, they would love seeing, you know, people who would love to come in and live in a family culture block.
Okay, thank you.
Questions from the board?
no mr chair and mr chair questions or comments from the virtual audience
chair we have asia cooney
good afternoon miss cooney good afternoon could you state your name please and spell for the
court reporter so asia cooney a-s-i-a-c-o-n-e-y do you swear for him to tell the truth
A-S-I-A-C-O-N-E-Y.
Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed.
First of all, my apologies because I was not available for the meeting.
But let me start by saying I live absolutely right next door to this unit.
I'm at 745 North 37th Street.
I've been there three years.
I met Mr. Ross, I believe, when I first moved in, and he gave me his phone number.
Because when I moved in, it was a vacant property and dilapidated.
And he informed me that he was trying to fix it.
As I said, I've been there three years.
There has been absolutely no work done to the unit.
And the backyard, quite frankly, looks like a jungle.
So as my neighbors have attested, there's been no work on the unit.
They actually have weeds that are as tall as me or not tall, and I'm 5'7".
I didn't, the notice went up on the building, but I couldn't read it because the porch itself,
as you showed in your picture, was so unstable that I did not, I was afraid to walk on it.
So my black captain, when I came out this morning, had posted this notice on my door.
So I just wanted to actually state that my concern for that unit is such that the condition that it has been in for the three years that I've lived there gives me no confidence that the building will be taken care of once it's renovated.
That's number one.
Number two, this is a block of folks that are very united.
We work together.
The block is clean.
As you stated, there are renters.
and homeowners and clearly being an activist of housing for so many years I certainly know the
need of affordable housing and the need for families to have a decent place to live however
our block is as I stated a block of single family homes who live quite well together we just
recently on the corner had to join together to stop a stop and go for moving into that property
which is now going to be a daycare so we should miss cooney do me a favor yes don't tell me about
the other properties just concentrate on this one oh thank you i'm sorry sure so the fact that you
we could not even read the notice because we were afraid to step up on the porch didn't allow us
enough time to really organize as we do but my black captain put the notice on my door to ensure
that some of us would participate in this hearing.
So I'm just actually participating to say
that I oppose a dwelling that is double family,
single family, we are in support of.
Thank you.
Thank you for calling in, Ms. Cooney.
We appreciate your...
Let me go through whoever else is in the audience,
Shawna, you can respond.
Anyone else in the audience have a comment?
Yes, Chair, we have Sabrina Brooks.
Excuse me, please unmute yourself, Ms. Brooks.
Ms. Brooks, could you state your name
and spell for the court reporter yes mr sheriff my name is sabrina brooks first name s-a-b-r-i-n-a
last name is brooks b-r-o-o-k-s all right wait a minute do you swear a firm to tell the truth
the whole truth nothing but the truth i do yes proceed thank you so much i stated my name is
sabrina brooks and i am the home owner of 752 north 37th street which is directly across the street
from the property as stated. I am a young professional who purchased her home 10 years
ago. As stated by this gentleman here, I am a young professional and a registered nurse.
We, I have lived on this block my entire life. My mother owns her home at 748. My sister owns
her home at 750. We are a single family unit. We are united. The double dwelling on the block
is not what we stand for as the culture as stated earlier.
When you think about young professionals,
yes, we do need places to stay,
but we are in support of a single family dwelling
so that we can understand the benefits.
Again, I stayed out on my home for 10 years.
Ms. Brooks, thank you for calling in.
We really do appreciate your input.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
Yes, Chair.
we have two more people. Yvonne Wright. Hi. Could you state your name and spell for the court
reporter? Yvonne, Y-V-O-N-N-A, W-R-I-G-E. Okay. Do you swear for him to tell the truth,
the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Yes, I do. Ms. Wright, could you do me a favor? Could
you tell us something that we haven't already heard relative to this? I'm a homeowner on the
relative to this i i'm i'm i'm a home owner on the block i'm at okay north 37th street okay
black.
yeah the reason why i don't think they should be able to put a double dwelling on the block is
because we already struggling with parking on the block it's not enough parking there's a lot
of construction already going on the block because they got the train tracks being um worked on at
the bottom of the block and then at the end of the block they got that building to the day they're
worked on and on that block and then they also get make work on um building a home for seniors
and okay i don't think that when they start building this double building it's going to
bring more construction to the block we don't already we already have and struggling with
parking on this block okay miss right miss right we we we know your position and we understand it
thank you very much for calling us is there anyone else in the audience yes chair we have
Patricia Massey. Hi, could you state your name and spell for the court reporter?
Correct. The name is Patricia, P-A-T-R-I-C-I-A, last name Massey, M-A-S-S-E-Y.
You swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth.
I do. And I think you've heard the people before you. Could you just tell us where you are with
this? I, too, am a homeowner on this block for over 20 years. The cultivation and landscape
of a public school is a block, two blocks away. We also have a playground, which is right in the
rear of the actual housing unit that he proposes to have. And last but not least,
the overall overdevelopment in the area as we've listened is not prone to a family culture
environment which we would like so so patricia you're against this property absolutely single
dwelling yes okay thank you thank you very much for calling in is there anyone else in the audience
i see no more hands here thank you planning commission
good afternoon chair members of the board this is greg waldman with planning commission staff
In 2017, the zoning map was amended from residential multifamily to single-family residential, sorry, at this location with support of the community.
The Pelham's hardship claim is not supported with evidence of unique fiscal circumstances of the property.
The City Planning Commission recommends that the Board deny the use variance.
Thank you.
MI 2022-003-269-747 North 37th Street.
I vote no.
on you carol i am i am never muting again carol tenere my vote is no
my vote is no thank you counsel um mr kelly we're going to take a five minute break
okay thank you your own thank you your honor force of habit thank you mr chairman kelly's
a good man he's a good man so our next case is a remand hearing that has three different cases
MI 2022-004-162-102 Duval Street, MI 2022-004-160-100 West Duval Street, and MI 2022-004-161-31 West
to Valle Street. Alan Nockamson is the attorney. Mr. Nockamson is coming back in as a panelist.
Good afternoon. Hi, good afternoon, Mr. Nockamson. Could you state your name,
please and spell for the court reporter. Yes, my name is Alan Nockmson, A-L-A-N, last name
Nockmson, N-O-C-H-U-M-S-O-N, 123 South Broad Street, Suite 1600, Philadelphia PA, 19109.
Right. Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
I do. Thank you. So the record and testimony from the original hearing on January 31st, 2021
is incorporated into the record for today's hearing.
The scope of today's hearing is limited
to taking testimony from the architect
on undue hardship and least minimum variance standard.
There will be no testimony taken for the public.
Mr. Nockamson, we're ready to go.
Mr. Nockamson, we're ready to go.
Okay, may I share my screen?
Okay. May I share my screen?
Oh, sure. Absolutely.
And I figured I would briefly go through this matter since the board has not heard this matter for some time.
So we have 31100 and 102 west of Olive Street in the Mount Airy section of Philadelphia.
Again, just to briefly go through this, and we have Ray Rolla, the architect on the project in the virtual audience, who will testify regarding the standard of undue hardship and the lease modification possible under the Philadelphia zoning code.
But we'll quickly go through the notices of refusal, the letter of support from the West Mount Airy Neighbors Association that we received.
Just as a matter of background, just as a reminder, the City Planning Commission also recommended the granting of the requested variances as well.
We have, you know, had, you know, discussions with the community since that meeting.
I alerted Ms. Emerson of those discussions just for the purpose of stating that we are going to even try to get further in conformance with the zoning codes
by proposing these revised proviso plans
where we're reducing the width of the building structure
to get closer in conformance to the codes.
And this is the least modification possible
on the developed use of the code.
Just our motion for consideration,
our remand orders,
nearby properties with no minimal side yards,
just maps of the area, photographs of the property,
street views of our plans and drawings.
And then we don't have to go through the rest of the materials.
are just prerequisites. The RCO meeting notices the applications for appeal that needs their