ZBA Hearing - January 29, 2025

countless data in germantown i'm also a licensed realtor um and i spent right now i'm actively

developing an upward of 50 affordable homes so i have like a lot of i know your resume i know

that's for everyone else but could you just like what is the plan for this project um it's really

honestly just traditional marketing like we've been able to get tenants that are seeking brand

new construction units are really nice units

with a lot of amenities at those price

points. It really hasn't been a thing where we

had to get very specialized.

Have you considered at all also doing this

as Section 8?

We have, but

it's not the

development team's plan.

We think we can support the rent rules

at market rate.

Okay. And then, just because

the actual

refusals about the side yard,

what specifically do you

feel like kept you from being able to have that side yard be an additional one foot three inches

and putting the parking in the side yard well so it's 1.3 inches or 15 inches correct two of the

three and then it's eight inches for the other um again just to provide more functional floor plans

we wanted we needed an extra width um and in terms of just having you you were saying maybe

have the parking along the sides like some of the other houses in the area um so i would say that

the house if you look at the aerial view i believe if you look i've been down the whole

street you talked for a very long time okay so i i so i'm going to defer to jordan um to be honest

i wish the architect was on the speak specifically but i'm imagining it has something to do with that

side stairwell um and being able to get clearances with that side stairwell and still being able to

have like proper dimensions in the hallways in the pass through areas and so i know you had

originally proposed it as five bedrooms and you kind of went down to four had you ever considered

it as a three we looked at it heavily as a three i understand like the community would much better

receive a three we've even spoke with cdfis we tried to get the interest rate on the construction

money as low as possible and we still just can't we still can't make it pencil

um how much storage are uh do the units have i know i know you cut down some space uh in the

basement um how much storage are the units do you just have and i think the other question i have

is the the parking uh is that in the rear i think it was a one of the diagrams that you showed in a

packet um it kind of looked like the uh two houses were like a twin and then the other one was off

on its own on the side that's correct to answer your second question or commentary storage for

like say if you had a bike or you had like you know i don't know maybe your shop has toys or

whatever and um trash so so the trash is actually in the front so we have a front patio area um and

let me just share my screen again but that was something that was asked of us as well and you

and we can scratch in the front it is but you can't see it it's there's there's an actual wall

there's a there's a stone wall and then inside of that patio area

that no one's going to be able to see it's an enclosed trash container

so right here this is our enclosed this is our enclosed patio for the gate until left is the

trash container so you won't be able to see it because there's a stone wall in the front

um and then what we can do is there is probably sufficient space to put maybe some some bike

storage there i would think right of some sort um so we could do that so it would be common to all

the name all the residents all the questions yes um so alan one thing um i know you said

you switched down from five units to four units um so it's two car parking on each house

so will the parking be rented out or is it dedicated to certain units

certain units. I would defer to Jordan. I think I know

i would defer to jordan i think i know the answer but i would

the answer, but I would. They would be running out to the

tenants. First come, first serve.

And we're two blocks away from Germantown, which has a bus route, too.

Other questions? I just have a

can you hear me? Sure, Michael. Yes, I just have a quick comment.

I think from an architectural standpoint, I think you've

done a good job. The layout of the units are decent. The fact

that you have that one unit that really does enter directly from

the ground level, and it's completely above grade, I think

works. So the parking is probably a concern, but I don't

think is that big of a concern. So I think overall, it's done a

good job.

Thank you. Thank you.

Council, do you have any comments?

not at this time mr chair questions or comments from the audience

questions or comments from the virtual audience yes chair i have a donald kennel with the hand

raised i will promote them to panelists now why could you please state your name and spell for

the stenographer we're joining shortly hello this is this is donald kennel i'm a near neighbor that

I was on both meetings for this proposal.

Spell your name for the stenographer.

Donald, D-O-N-A-L-D, Kennell, K-E-N-N-E-L.

Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth,

tell the truth and nothing but the truth?

Yes.

And you're a nearby neighbor?

Yes, I was a near neighbor who opposed this project,

and I was on both meetings,

as well as most of the neighbors that was on both meetings

that opposed the project.

Please proceed with your testimony.

Okay.

Part of the problem about this was the density as well as the ADA compliance of the units.

During the presentation, the parking spot in the back was proposed to be for the ADA compliant units.

But to enter the units on that level, you would have to enter steps.

So it wouldn't be ADA compliance for the parking spot in the back.

The other thing was the density of the units.

It promotes a transient community where we were looking for less units to have neighbors that would be more, have more roots within the neighborhood, as well as all of the houses except for one on that side of the street are either single family or duplexes.

And I'm on the opposite side and I operate my home as a single family.

um yeah so overall the neighbors were um opposed of this project due to the density in the ada

compliance the lack of green space and amongst other things that was listed all right thank you

uh alan do you have any comments or questions yeah so i would say as to this the ada compliance

is challenging because of this the slopeness of the property um we did provide a parking spot in

the back our hope is maybe you know we get some type of waivers and because then we could add even

more parking if that's the case but we have to get through this process first um and in terms of

nearby neighbors like again we gave a lot of the nearby neighbors on our side i think it was on

our side of the streets who were in support of this project and um there are other examples of

this type of density a half a block away all right mr kennel thank you for your call is there anyone

else in the virtual audience? Yes, Mr. Chair, I have Rosalind McKelvey with a hand raised. I will

promote him at this time. Sure. Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?

They'll be coming back in as a panel shortly. Hello. Hi, could you please state your name and

spelled for the stenographer. My name is Rosalind McKelvey, R-O-S-A-L-I-N-D McKelvey, M-C-K-E-L-V as in

Victor E-Y. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

Yes, sir. Are you a neighbor? I am the conductor of the Wakefield 49ers RCO meeting. Thank you.

Why don't you give us your testimony?

Thank you for hearing us today.

We applaud the articulation and the explanations that their counsel and them gave.

First, by the way, for some reason, your chat is disabled.

If other people can get through, I'd like to know it because it says chat disabled on our end.

So we haven't been able to give a comment.

check that with your tech support

hopefully

we want to hear your testimony

sure let's hear your testimony

my testimony is about what the neighbor's

Okay, my testimony is about what the neighbor's true concern is.

true concern is

they showed you

They showed you facades and bricks and told you about the history of the neighborhood.

But when it came down to it, like the young man who just got off when Donald was saying,

the neighbor said that the proposal, he came back with four.

their main concern and his developer keeps talking about money what they can make they could make

we did tell them that if you have 21 bedrooms there's no guarantee that you have one person

in one bedroom and people are waiting to fluctuate here and come in they know germantown's cheaper

and that's why they wanted more less bedrooms or there was even the suggested for one

can we even get families to buy this and it came back again to money so if y'all making the decision

on how much money the developer can make over the safety of the people if you have 21 bedrooms with

even one person in each one that's 21 people in three houses if they catch on fire

then you go to two people per bedroom there's 42 people that they have to get out of there

and you can get I'm not saying there's two bunk beds in a room but three people per bedroom could

be 63 people and after we saw what happened in West Philadelphia there's no gates there's no

ladders on this there's no fire towers or anything for people to get out they were concerned that

people like he said when we looked around the neighborhood they're going to fly to Germantown

to get a cheap apartment, but they're going to put a lot of people

in those four units, and we're trying to get 63 people

out of a burning building with a back street that doesn't allow the fire

engines to get up there as well, and the parking that

would be on curbs. So I won't read

Ms. McCovey?

I think we understand where she was.

Yeah, she might have broke off.

Yes, Chair, we have Charles Richardson with their hand raised.

I will promote them, and they will be in shortly.

Mr. Richardson, you've been sworn a few times a day.

Just state your name and testify.

I'm back.

Hi, Mr. Richardson. Just state your name and testify, please.

Certainly. Charles Richardson, Office of Councilwoman Cindy Bass, room 508 City Hall.

Listening to Mr. Perini and to Alan, you know, Mr. Perini made a nice statement about the social economics and everything of Germantown and who lives where and that type of thing.

But it has nothing to do with this case.

Alan tried to characterize the meeting as, you know, having support on, you know, but in actuality, the vote was 10 to 4 of people that were attending.

One RCO did support them.

Petitions.

This is something new that they've been doing is on the day of the hearing, they present petitions that they have circulated, but they have not supplied them to the council office or to either of the RCOs for review.

And Alan knows that I like to vet petitions or even those types of letters, you know, letters of support.

He knows that already.

But we never received anything to be able to do that.

They keep talking about the four, you know, nearby there are four units, four units, four units.

But they're not bi-level units.

What happened was that they had the fifth unit in the basement.

And then they cut it in half because of the fact that they were so much concerned about water coming in through the back end.

So that's why they cut it. But none of those are bi-level units.

So, you know, a lot was said, but none of it mirrored what the actual people said,

which was more in line with what the gentleman said in the very beginning about the density.

and trying to keep a family feel of that community

as opposed to a transient feel

where they've found most of those folks

that had been moving in more recently come and go.

So Councilwoman is supporting the RCOs

and the community by opposing this variance.

Thank you, Mr. Richards.

Is there anyone else?

Alan, I'll give you a chance when we're done.

Is there anyone else?

yes mr chair i have uh pamela bracy with their hand raised i have

promoted them so they could speak they'll be back in shortly

from all of them to they could speak they'll be back in shortly

i could

i should be coming back in shortly sir sure

Is she on mute?

Hi, could you please state your name

and spell for the stenographer?

I decline to be panelist again, Mr. Chair.

They've been allowed to speak.

Panelist.

Ms. Bracey, are you still there?

on the next we can proceed yes sir i have hyacinth johnson they've been allowed to speak

how could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer

is that me yes yes it is please state your name and spell for the stenographer

my name is hyacinth johnson it's spelled h-y-a-c-i-n-t-h last name johnson j-o-h-n-s-o-n

do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth

yes i do are you a neighbor yes i'm at number 59 west oh that's okay

leave your neighbor that's fine are you for this project or against the project

i'm against okay is there anything you can offer that we haven't already heard

well my main concern is the the density and i think in terms of the garbage handling the trash

um you spoke on that i i love this street when i came when i bought this house about 14 years ago

it was due to

it looked like a family