They feel as if we have not, you know, the way it was explained to me is the one who presented at the RCO meeting on September 14th, that we have not done enough to change any sort of marketing to go out there and try to find new tenants.
As was testified at that hearing back in January, that is contrary to their belief, our broker, as well as our client, testified in great detail all the different types of uses that they attempted to present to have in this, you know, middle of the block residential neighborhood.
Questions from the board?
i do remember this project um and i guess i still have the same concerns similar concerns
that i had from the last time it was presented and that has to do with the layout of the units
and no um real sort of um natural air and light into those living rooms um and sort of borrow
light from, I guess, the bedroom or whatever the other room is next to those living rooms.
So I just have an issue with the layout.
Other questions from the board?
Questions from our attorney?
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience or the audience in the room?
I do not say any hands, Mr. Chair.
Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chairman, and good afternoon.
David Fecto with the City Planning Commission.
Chairman and Board members, the comprehensive plan recommends a change in zoning at this location from CMX2, commercial mixed use, to RM1, residential multifamily.
No ground floor commercial is characteristic of this neighborhood and would be allowed by right under the proposed zoning.
due to the parcel size nine dwelling units are allowed by right under the current zoning the
appellant paid an in-lieu fee for affordable housing bonus calculated at four units which
would total 13 units instead of the 14 requested the proposal to provide off-street accessory
parking not accessible by a shared driveway alley or rear street is consistent with prior use and
the physical conditions of the existing structure however not including accessible parking
goes against the commission's policies to serve people of all abilities the city planning
commission recommends the board grant the requested use variants for no ground floor commercial space
grant requested variants for unit count but with a maximum of 13 dwelling units and grant requested
variants for off-street accessory parking but deny the requested variants for not including an
accessible parking space. Thank you. MI 2024-003-335-621-25. Reed Street, I vote no.
I go Jonathan. My vote is no. Cheryl Gaston. My vote is no. Tanada Graham. My vote is no.
Iowyn. My vote is no. Thank you, Counsel. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman and members of the
number five mi 2024 004 239 900 north 41st street alan knockamson is the attorney
there's a letter of uh neutrality from the bell mount alliance civic association the
applicant also also has 28 signatures and there's a letter of support yes from um ashley devries
mr knockamson
good afternoon mr chair members of the board alan knockamson of knockamson pc
i mean everybody knows but just for the record how do you spell your name
alan a-l-a-n last name knockamson n-o-c-h-u-m-s-o-n do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole
truth nothing but the truth i do could you identify your client the relationship to this property
Yes, my client is 941ststllc.
Yes, my client is 941ststllc, and to the left of me is Daniel Burgess, one of its members.
You waive the reading of the refusal, and do you agree with its accuracy?
And all your documents have been sent in more than five days?
Please proceed, sir.
Thank you.
All right. So I'm here to present 900 North 41st Street. This is in the Belmont section
of Philadelphia and West Philly. It's at the corner of 41st and Belmont, excuse me, 41st
and Westminster. It's, we're proposing to have a seven unit Airbnb essentially here
for zero accommodations. In my presentation packet, we'll first review the notice of refusal.
Then we have correspondence from Belmont Alliance Civic Association. It was a tie vote. But, you know, we actually did some significant outreach to the community and that's by way of that petition. My next exhibit is the zoning permit. So this is a CMX2 property where we're allowed seven units as of right for long term accommodations.
we would just wish to have it uh for um you know short-term accommodations next exhibits are
property history you'll see that this was a rooming house at one point so not out of character
to have like this type of multi-family use plus with the zoning classification but it's more um
uh it's closer the rooming house to like a visitor accommodation short-term rental situation so not
out of character for the property uh mr burgos uh does a lot of these airbnbs um he's well regarded
in the community um and you know behind by the way the correspondence from the belmont alliance
civic association is a letter of support uh from uh from you know a local neighborhood group that
he's dealt with where he has similar airbnbs and spoke highly of him and taconi yes yes the taconi
group so they speak highly of him and just his community involvement as well uh next uh would be
like you know it's not out of character with the listings to have airbnb use nearby and we have
that as exhibits maps of the area photographs of the properties around the area gave you some
examples of some of his other projects this is still in the middle of construction so it's not
occupied it's still in the middle of construction to convert it to seven units so but we have
examples of an interior photographs of other projects he has that are active as visitor
accommodations. Then there are plans and drawings. There is no below ground living because of how
the property slopes. You'll see that from the pictures as well as the drawings. Our RCO meeting
notice along with proof of mailing that notice. Our application for appeal, our deeds of the
property showing at 941st Street LLC is the owner of the property and our certificate of tax
clearance. So notice refusal. This is a CMX2 property. And what we're trying to do is rental
visitor accommodations for the residential units of the property. And because it's CMX2, we would
need a variance for that. Correspondence from the West Belmont or the Belmont Alliance Civic
Association, as the chairman indicated, they took a position of neutrality. It was a split vote of
five to five. I will say that my client did significant outreach to the community, and you
can see that many of those addresses are on the 800 and 900 blocks of North 41st Street. The people
would be most directly impacted by this Airbnb use. Also, a letter of support from the Tycone
CDC. Again, my client's very involved in many communities, including, by the way, the Belmont
community as well. Just as a matter of background, Mr. Brogos is participating in Turn the Key
program. So when he can provide affordable housing, he does. And the fact that he is doing
the Turn the Key program and is an approved participant in that, there is a process that
people are held to, certain high standards, background, experience. And Mr. Brogos has all
that um his actually also his family owned grocery store was around the corner as well
for many years so when he was a young boy he would be in this neighborhood as well
so he has a lot of roots in philadelphia as well as this community zoning permit again this is
allowed for seven long-term accommodation units uh we think it's more appropriate for short-term
accommodations uh given the history of the property its location um the fact that there's a need in
the community for Airbnbs like this, we think that this makes sense. Property history, again,
this was a rooming house at one point, which is more akin to short-term rentals than long-term
rentals. Nearby Airbnb usage, so we're not far from Mantua Avenue.
Nearby Airbnb usage. So we're not far from Mantua Avenue, which is more commercial-ish in nature. But you can see there's a lot of Airbnb use around here. Makes sense for both people who are visiting Philadelphia, but also, you know, who are outsiders, but also people who are visiting Philadelphia who, you know, who have family who live nearby.
we find that this is a good way for people to have overflow for the holidays and such.
And again, you'll see Mr. Bogos' quality of work.
People would kind of gravitate to his product,
maybe compared to other products that are in the market that are not as good.
And then you look at his reviews.
So he is well-ranked by Airbnb.
And I use Airbnb myself.
like not many people know this, but occupants are also rated by the landlords. And so he has a process
where he makes sure that he like only selects tenants who are highly ranked themselves. You
know, he has noise monitors in there. He like, you know, he has protective measures in place to make
sure that the Airbnb is responsibly operated and he self-manages these properties. Maps of the
area as you can see we're a corner of westminster and 41st street you know some like near it looks
like some train tracks here as well which would be more akin to a maybe non-long-term accommodation
uh house photographs of the property so he's taking like a very pretty like building that
has nice architecture and he is trying to uh again renovate it and the way to do this he believes
that's responsible is to have
this short-term accommodations.
Posting photos
to show posting for today's hearing.
North 41st
Street to left and right of the property.
Westminster to the right and left
of the property. These are
his interior photos, so I think they speak
for themselves like he really cares about
his quality of work.
and these are all different properties around the city that he has and then our plans and
drawings i mean i think the easiest way to go about it is like the first floor again everything
is above grade uh but you know he has an open commercial area where he he hasn't decided what
to do there's been just some discussions uh with you know with having potentially a laundry mat
there um we think there's a need in the community for that but that's not part of this project
we have a one bedroom one bath on the first floor here uh and then you know that's coming out of the
side street and then the main street here you go up a flight of steps to the second floor and the
second floor has two units one is a one bedroom one bath another one is a two bedroom one bath
the third floor is a three bedroom excuse me it's two one bedroom one baths and then the fourth
floor one unit it's a two bedroom one bath and the other one is a one bedroom one bath these are not
large units like again this is all as of right but we think this is better to accommodate short-term
accommodations versus long-term accommodations rco meeting notice along with proof of mailing
that notice our application for appeal that we filed with the zba along the notice refusal and
project information form, the deed to the property showing that my client 941STLLC is the owner of the
property, and our certificate of tax clearance. I'm going to stop sharing my screen. I would ask
that Mr. Burgos be sworn in, and I have a few questions for him. Sir, could you please state
your name and spell for the stenographer? Good evening. My name is Danilo A. Burgos. First name
d-a-n-i-l-o middle initial a last name b-u-r-g-o-s do you swear or firm to tell the truth
the whole truth is nothing but the truth yes sir please proceed counsel yeah mr burgos you heard
everything i had to state today about your zoning matter yes is it true and correct yes and do you
adopt as your own testimony yes thank you um how let me ask you a question how did you get to the
seven units uh just that it's a by right option to seven units so um we thought that that was a
good use of the property there's one unit on the ground floor above ground and each of the other
floors have two units each we thought that they were laid out well um i would ask this that if
the board feels inclined to grant the variance obviously we'll have a temporary variance we
would ask for five years and this is the reason he mr brogos is still in the middle of construction
auction, probably going to take another six to nine months to get that completed.
So then he'll be able to apply for the visitor accommodation licenses.
And so that's what we're asking for that additional time, just so we can complete the
And so that's what we're asking for that additional time, just so we can complete the property renovation.
property renovation.
Thank you.
Questions from the other board members.
How many other Airbnb or short-term rentals are you currently in your portfolio?
So currently in my portfolio, we have 20 to 25 short-term rentals.
They're all compromised between different properties.
One property has like four units, another one has six units, another one has seven units.
The majority and the bulk of those units are in Northeast Philadelphia, which is where you saw that letter of support from the Tycone Community Development Corporation, which we work hand in hand with them in making sure that our units are up to par with, you know, what they want in their community, the people that are coming in and out of their community.
They love it because it increases the footprint in their community and in the community that
I live in, and it also helps out with the money coming into that community specifically.
Right now, that's a community that they're looking for more people to come in to increase
the traffic on their corridor, their commercial corridor, and that's just one way that we're
helping them meet their goals and their mission.
So given that this property is in West Philly and your other properties are in North Philly,
How do you plan to manage these if the rest of the portfolio is in a different part of the city?
So I already have a team built out with virtual assistants.
So we have 24-7 communication.
If there's any issues on any of our properties, there's a phone number that our direct neighbors have
and everybody that stays in our property that if they have an issue, they call us.
And then we have maintenance staff members that are on call as well that can go and service the property.
I also live in Philadelphia.
it's only 20 minutes away from my house. So if I have to report directly, I can. I also have my
brother who's my partner in all of this. And we work hand in hand every single day. I also do
this full time. So it's not like I have a nine to five that I have to worry about. This is my
literally like 24 seven job. So yeah, I don't see this being an issue of being able to service it
at all and then what's your current vacancy rate in your airbnbs so right now we operate at a 80 to
85 percent vacancy um occupancy um we yeah we have a a very good demand um and that's because one we
have we provide great customer service um and two we are competitively priced so we're not overpriced
where literally most of the people that stay with us are people um either within the city or people
coming for a day or two to the city. We've seen a lot of people that stay with us that they're
they're literally just renovating their property and they need to stay with us for a week or two.
And a lot of them also have families that are coming from out of town and they want to stay
with us. And there are a lot of repeat customers as well. And then I know Mr. Mackamson mentioned
that you are in the Turn to Key program. How many, just for knowledge, how many other affordable
units have you built? So today we haven't built any. We have around four applications submitted
in Belmont and in Mantua. We have around 22 lots that we've applied for. Nine have already been
put aside for us. Another 11 were like on track to go through it. There's just like a lot of
paperwork behind it and a lot of community meetings and the process is very, very long.
So we've been going through the process already for a year, just waiting for it to get awarded and move forward with it.
So the community is well aware of those applications that we have submitted and of the work that we want to do and that we will do, God willing.
And then it's the CMX2 property. Is there going to be no commercial space on the first floor?
So we do have a commercial space set aside. We just haven't selected a tenant for it yet.
We're just doing a vanilla envelope for the meantime.
But we do have zoning for a laundromat,
but we still haven't been able to find anybody for it
because that was an idea that we originally had,
but for financial reasons,
I'm not able to run the laundromat.
Okay, understood.
I have a quick question.
Any other questions?
So the RCO is kind of neutral.
So I guess it's like half and half.