of what the constitutional challenge is,
The constitutional challenge is, and then I can step aside because the city, other than whatever recommendation the planning commission has, the city doesn't otherwise take any position on the variance aspect of the case.
and then I can step aside because the city...
Hope I didn't complicate that.
So, Mr. Chair, we are presenting a hardship case today.
We believe that my client meets the standard for a variance to be granted.
With that being said, we have included within our materials a memo preserving and addressing the challenges described by Mr. Reuter, whereas the code arbitrarily treats short-term rentals based on whether or not they are owner-occupied or not, and that treatment violates the Equal Protection and Commerce Clause.
And as Len mentioned, we've agreed to preserve these issues, and we are not addressing them here today.
Thank you.
Thank you.
And, yeah, I don't think I have anything else unless the board has any questions for me.
So, with that, a bit of due.
Thank you.
Thank you.
did you did i already swear you in dawn not yet all right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth
the whole truth nothing but the truth yes all right and our vice chair has a few questions for
you thank you uh i swear in already okay good all right please proceed dawn
Okay. So, good afternoon. As I mentioned, and just to be clear for the record, my name is Dawn Tancredi, and I represent Ironhead Properties, LLC, the owner of 7918 through 20 Ardley Street.
The property is zoned for three dwelling units.
The owner has three rental licenses, so the owner is allowed to rent out each of the three units.
My clients have been operating the units as short-term rentals for the past two years.
We are seeking a variance to allow visitor accommodations in this existing structure.
So the change here is that people would be permitted to rent for less than 30 days.
And there are several reasons why there is a hardship here.
first our client made a good faith effort to rent out the units for long-term rentals and was unable
to do so you'll hear from my client our client acquired the property in a blighted and unsafe
condition. It had major structural flaws and was a neighborhood hazard. They
reasonably put reasonable amounts of money into the property, rehabbing it in
a professional manner, obtaining all the appropriate permits. My client obtained
three rental licenses and made a good-faith effort to rent out the units
for long-term rentals when it came time to rent out the property they were unable to do so
and you will hear from my clients so they were unable to rent the property out for its zoned
purposes they learned there was a demand for short-term rentals in fact the demand came
from people in the neighborhood and that is how they began using the property for short-term rentals
The property, the second reason that a hardship exists here is that the property is adjacent to a property being used for four short-term rental units.
In evaluating hardship, the use of adjacent property is unquestionably relevant.
And the third reason that there's a hardship here is that because of the amount of work
the property needed to bring it out of its lighted condition and up to code, and I'm
showing you photos right now on my screen of what the property looks like now, the property
requires the variance to be used as short-term rentals to allow for the income to be generated
to cover the costs of all these reasonable repairs.
The property is essentially useless otherwise, from a financial perspective.
from my financial perspective we already addressed the memo that's included in the packet i would
We already addressed...
ask that our complete packet of information and submission materials be incorporated into the
record yes okay um so veronica and mark baronte are the principals of iron head principles
iron head properties they are both here today
Before I call Veronica, I would just like to speak a little bit about what we have here.
So the building itself includes three two-bedroom, two-bath units.
And here are some photos of the units to show you the product that my client offers.
Veronica and Mark cater specifically to families,
especially to families with loved ones residing in the Chestnut Hill area.
Parties are strictly prohibited, ensuring the property remains a peaceful and welcoming environment.
Veronica and Mark take pride in the property, maintaining it in impeccable condition, as you can see from the photos.
They are committed to cleanliness and its upkeep.
They self-manage the rental, assuring the highest level of responsibility and accountability,
not only for the property, but for the neighbors.
The goal is to provide comfortable accommodations, but also to foster an appreciation for the
unique charm of Chestnut Hill.
and this map here shows you my client's property highlighted in purple
and some surrounding properties so the property is separated from the building to the left
which is 7916 Ardley Street, by about 10 feet. This property here at 7916 has four units that
are used for short-term rentals. The property behind my client's property here that faces
Benazette Street is a commercial property. It's used as a shop and for storage of building materials.
the property to the right is a vacant garage the property across the street at 79 17 Ardley
is another garage it's a vacant garage there as well a couple doors down at 79 12 through 14
Ardley Street is a multifamily property with four units as you mentioned mr.
chair we do have a petition that was submitted with our packet the petition
does show support for a use variant specifically to change the use to allow visitor accommodations
for the existing three dwelling unit. And you can see there's a signature from the next door
neighbor to the right and also the next door neighbor to the left. Included in the packet
are favorable reviews. There are two pages of these favorable reviews.
There are two letters of support that have been included in the submission materials.
One was in the original submission materials and one was in the supplemental materials.
There is a letter of support from a family that uses my client's property when visiting
the nearby Institute for the Achievement of Human Potential, which is an institute focused
on children with special needs. There's also a letter of support from someone who rents my
client's property when visiting family in Chestnut Hill. We did meet with Chestnut Hill
several times pursuant to their procedures, which is well over the requirements of the zoning code.
Even after all of the meetings, we contacted Chestnut Hill to make ourselves available
and determine whether it made sense to continue discussions
to address neighbor concerns in an attempt to reach an agreement.
With that, I would like to call my client, Veronica Ferrante.
They have been allowed to speak.
Could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Good afternoon.
Veronica Ferrante, B-E-R-O-N-I-C-A-F-E-R-R-A-N-T-E.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth.
Yes, I do.
Please proceed, Councilman.
Thank you.
And Ms. Bronte, do you own 7918 through 20 Ardley Street through your LLC?
My husband and I own that property.
And are you here today because of a zoning application that was filed, correct?
Yes, I do.
Was the zoning application filed in response to any violation?
No, it was not.
Can you describe the property, the condition of the property when you bought it?
Yes, of course.
When we bought the property, it was in a terrible condition.
I actually couldn't believe that people were living in that situation.
And it was just terrifying.
It was dangerous, unsafe, messy, scary.
And do the photos that are on the screen right now show the condition of the property when you bought it?
Yes, correct.
And you rehabbed the property, and I can show you current photos of the property.
Do these photos that I'm showing you now show the current condition of the property?
Absolutely, yes.
We did a major rehab.
Pretty much everything was changed in this building.
We spend a lot of time and a lot of money bringing this property up to date, and we personally put our heart out just to make it look nice and beautiful and be proud of the work that we have done.
Can you describe the buildings surrounding your property?
yes so uh to one side we have um for a building with four units that is uh currently being used
also as a short-term rental in the back uh we have a commercial building um and the other side
we have a garage that belongs to the house at the entrance is from willow grove ab
um and then in front we have a garage that i don't know exactly what the situation is uh and
then we have another photo excuse me is this yes correct correct um actually when we bought the
property one of the tenants that used to live in this property used to use that garage and since
then i know he has moved from there uh but that is in there and then next to the garage is a single
family home with the backyard facing to our street. And what was your intention when you
purchased the property? This was our first investment property. We just wanted to work
on our way for retirement. We wanted to renovate the place and make it beautiful and safe and
and rent it out uh we we didn't know exactly what we were uh getting into uh we were just thinking
long-term rental because it's it's what we saw the neighbor next door um she she talked to us
and mentioned to us how there was a huge need of short-term rental in the community
um and we started researching since then because for us it wasn't clear how putting money on
furnishing this place was going to be getting really more, more revenue. So just to answer
your question, sure, we we thought about starting renting those places as a long term rent. As a
matter of fact, we we listed them, we put it in the MLS, we we tried to look long term tenants.
And it just didn't didn't work out for us.
OK, so when you weren't able to rent out the property for long term, you decided to try to use it as a short term rental.
Yes, yes, yes. And also what happened is because the construction took two years, we spent a lot of time there.
We wanted to make sure we were not bothering the neighbors. We we believe and trust our contractors, but we wanted to protect the community.
right make sure that there was no trash so we spend a lot of time there during the days uh
between our our full-time jobs uh managing or being on top of the constructions and the and the
managing or being on top of the constructions and the contractors.
And there is a lot of walking happening in that street.
And neighbors were the ones that will actually bring that to our attention as well.
So during the construction period for the first two years, did you meet a lot of the neighbors?
We did. Actually, we met all the neighbors.
We met Jack and Teresa, who owns the short-term rental.
Well, then after the construction, we met Josh, who moved to the house next door.
Across the street, there is a new couple neighbors, Jennifer.
We didn't meet them during the construction because they moved after that.
But so far, we have met all the neighbors around there.
Okay. And can you tell the board, what type of guests rent your property?
I would say amazing guests. Families who come to the Institute for Achievement of Human Potential.
Can you tell the board what that is?
Yes. So it's an institute that helps kids, helps children with brain damage and special needs and disabilities.
I learned through these, through actually one of my guests, the first guests, and I added in their review, they rented a place to Airbnb. And once they were there, they called me, and they asked me if I could come over, because they wanted to meet me. And they explained to me why they were coming.
They come multiple times a year to bring their kids to this institute.
And what this institute does for these families is just amazing.
They are able to help these kids and help this family.
And I'm really proud of our property because it really gives me a sense of community.
It really makes me feel that it's not anyone renting my places.
our families that are in distress, and they come to Philadelphia because we have this
amazing institute, and they want to feel like they are at home. They want to feel
there is a clean place that allows them to work on their kids' needs while they feel that they
live in a safe place. And besides people that visit your property because they have a child
attending the institute are there families in chestnut hill that use your property
uh yes so and i and i can answer that question from two perspectives i have families like
grandparents kids uh grandkids that come and visit their family members in in mount airy
chestnut hill and they want to come and spend time with their family but their families don't
have a house enough to hold them. So they go and spend their day with their family and then come
and stay and sleep in our places. And we also host and have host a lot of families who have
construction projects in their house, any type of issues in their home that they just need a place
to live, but they need to be still close to their house because they have to go to work or the kids
have to go to school. We also have guests that come to bring their kids to the Chestnut Hill
College and the school. Okay, and can you tell the board about the reviews that you've received?
I will say this is the best part of my job. People just love the property. Many times you
will see in these reviews this is the best airbnb i have ever stayed uh it feels like home it's
clean it feels safe nika is on top of uh veronica is on top of everything um people just just love
it and love it because the place is nice the place is clean i i run the place like my home
because it's it's my it's my home but also the fact that they can walk around in chestnut hill
they can walk to the to the street district they go and visit restaurants around i provide a guide
book um for places like my husband and i made an effort to get to know all the restaurants in
chestnut hill i tell them which ones are our favorite i mention the best uh dishes we get
in each of them and they just feel part of of the community okay and veronica can you describe
the parking situation on your block and do your guests have cars and i'm showing a photo of the
parking situation on the street from photos that you've taken before we bought this property we
visit a lot of properties right and one of the reasons we like about this property even though
about this property, even though it was in distress, the building itself was how quiet
it was in distress the building itself was how quiet
and how easy to park was in this street. Even during construction, the constructor will come
and bring multiple cars. We never had an issue finding a spot in this street. One of the things
that I like about short-term rental is we have the train station one block, one and a half block away.
people can walk everywhere
people who come to the institute they walk
over there
people who come and visit their
families they can walk or their families can
come and pick them up
yes we do have sometimes guests that bring
their car