i got them all is 12 10 south 27th street of mr careless is also related to this matter yes it is
i i didn't call that one i thought i called that first but i'll do it again mi 2021-001193
1210 South 27th Street.
Okay, they've all been read into the record.
Mr. Carolus.
Yes, Mr. Carolus.
Can you put your name and address on the record and spell your last name?
Robert Carolus, C-A-R-E-L-E-S-S, 1650 Market Street, Philadelphia.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusals and stipulate to its accuracy?
I do, on both.
Have you emailed exhibit packets on all of these with the required documents consisting of proof of ownership, tax compliance, refusal referral, photos, and plans of the property five days in advance of this hearing?
And have you met with the RCO, and do you have a letter?
Yes, to all.
Thank you. You may proceed.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, Madam Vice Chair, members of the Board.
We are here on the 11 properties that were read at the outset of the hearing.
This is a low-income housing tax credit development property known as the Arlene Thorpe Townhomes in Grace Ferry.
The applicant before you is the Women's Community Revitalization Project.
um we have before you um again 11 properties uh which have 11 refusal notices with them
um with 17 different uh grounds for um the uh variances um and i'm just screaming through my
my pages here excuse me back to my tab
in your exhibit packet at exhibit a3 is a summary of uh the refusals um and the relief that we're
requesting um hearing this on a consolidated basis is appropriate where this is all again
pertaining to one development with larger the same grounds for relief and common relief that's
requested. What we have here are nine-dimensional variances to reduce the minimum rear yard depth,
four-dimensional variances to reduce minimum lot area, three-dimensional variances to reduce
minimum lot area, minimum open area, excuse me, and one-dimensional variance to increase the
maximum occupied area. And that pertains to 1210 South 27th Street. And the reason for that is
that PHFA requires a community room to be part of this low-income housing development.
The other dimensional variances are all needed to provide accessible, affordable units.
are all needed to provide accessible, affordable units that comply with not only the building code,
but with the PHFA or the state funding requirements for the low-income housing tax credit properties.
So as such, and in turn, the depth of the buildings that you'll see subsequently in this presentation
need to be increased, which requires the rear yards to be decreased to accommodate those requirements.
Just to orient the board, and then we'll go through this, but this is the section of the proposed low-income housing tax credit development that our architect will get into in just a moment.
But you can see it's bounded by South 28th and 27th Streets, Ingram Steen, Manton Streets.
And then if I could.
In Exhibit A4, I'm just showing you some existing site conditions.
These are all vacant lots at the moment.
Just to orient the board as we progress into our presentation here as to the current state
of the lots that we're proposing to develop is this new low-income housing development.
um could i ask miss nora with cash the executive director for wc rp to please raise her hand
to come off me and offer some testimony to the board
Do you see Nora out there in the crowd of people?
What is the person's last name, Mr. Carolus?
Lictash. L-I-C-T-A-S-H.
No, I don't see anyone with that last name with their hand up.
All right, just give her one more second.
She says her hand is up.
What is her name under?
What is she listed under?
It's not available.
Yeah, that's not the name of the person who has their hand up.
Maybe it's N. Latash.
Who is the name of the person who has their hand up?
Is it Paul Islesworth?
Could you just unmute Paul?
I think Nora may have just registered herself as Paul. I'm not sure why.
Thanks, and I'm sorry for the confusion.
May I proceed?
Please identify yourself. Spell your first and last name.
Sure. My name is Nora, N-O-R-A, Lictash, L-I-C-H, T-A-S-H.
And my address is 100 West Oxford Street.
We're a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing about the truth?
Thank you, Mr. Kailis.
Nora, you're the executive director for WCRP, is that correct?
That is correct.
And could you briefly just give an overview of WCRP to the board and an introduction to the project?
Sure. WCRP is the nonprofit sponsor and developer of the proposed Arlene Thorpe townhomes in Grays Ferry.
Our organization was started more than 30 years ago, and it's committed to social and economic equity.
We've developed over 300 affordable homes and provide supportive services to tenant families, as well as promoting leadership development with a special focus on people who themselves need affordable homes.
In the communities where we work, we reach out to neighborhood residents, and for this development, we began this process in 2018 of just going door to door.
We spoke with and listened to more than 100 residents to hear their priorities for the neighborhood.
For many, low-income housing was key.
For many, low-income housing was key.
This work enabled us to obtain support.
This work enabled us to obtain support as was mentioned from the local RCOs, and we've
submitted a support letter from residents organized for advocacy and direction as part
of the package.
In fact, the name of our proposed development came out of this work.
WCRP names its developments after women who have been leaders in community, and Ms. Arlene
Thorpe was a longtime resident of King's Village section of Grace Ferry, and she worked tirelessly
to provide resources for the community for over 30 years she organized cleanups of streets and
vacant lots provided meals and collected toys for kids and brought important resources to the
neighborhood and we're proud to name this development after her arlene thorpe townhomes
is a rental development featuring 27 homes along man ingram and oakford streets between 27th and
28th streets it will include a mixture of one two and three bedroom homes six of which will be fully
accessible to people in wheelchairs and as you'll see from our architect's presentation which i
think is next the homes are two and three stories with facades designed to fit in with existing
homes in the neighborhood in some cases especially where we have a first floor wheelchair accessible
unit we have stuck stacked homes on top of one another the plan also includes a community room
as was mentioned and will be available to tenants and other neighborhood residents thank you
Um, Ms. Administrator, can I ask Mr. Darren Edwards to please raise his hand and
come off mute and offer some testimony to the board?
okay he's unmuted he can go forward and speak
darren good afternoon sir please identify yourself with the record spell your full name
and i'll swear you in uh darren edwards d-a-r-y-n-e-d-w-a-r-d-s
where your address please 1520 locust street suite 702 in philadelphia we swear for him to
tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do thank you mr carol um darren you are
the architect on this project that's correct and the documents that i marked as exhibit a5 you
recognize the slides here as i'm showing my thumbnail yes okay and um could you just briefly
as we go through this exhibit a5 to the board just to describe what the board's looking at
sure uh so this uh this first slide is a rendering of the proposed design the design
intent is to reinforce what we heard from the community members that the home should respect
and reflect the row homes in the surrounding neighborhood in size, scale, and materials.
We talked a little bit about the context map already. You can go on to the next.
So currently there are 25 separate city-owned lots that were assembled by the land bank for
this development. Some run from Manton Street to Ingram Street and others are smaller former
townhomes that only face one street. This is the proposed site plan. So some of these 25 lots will
either remain unchanged and others will be consolidated and or subdivided to create a
total of 17 properties. 17 buildings will house 27 residential units in the community room.
These buildings will include single-family townhomes, duplex buildings, and triplex buildings.
The footprints of these buildings were driven by requirements from the state housing agency, PHFA, that requires all the first floors of residential units to either be visitable or accessible.
PHFA's design criteria require rooms to be of a minimum size and accessibility requires additional spaces for maneuverability.
therefore to meet all these requirements the footprints of these buildings were increased
affecting the depth of the rear yards or the amount of open space
this is an example of what the typical row home might look like followed by the floor plants
and then this is the building that faces 27th street there are three residential units in this
building along with the community room. The community room is indicated by the space behind
the large storefront windows in the bottom right hand side. And then to the right you can see the
the community space in the front with a small kitchenette in the back and then two offices for
Then two offices for WCRP in the back.
WCRP in the back.
Then one of the residential units is to the left,
which is a three-story kind of single-family house.
And then there is one flat on the right-hand side on their right.
And then the second story of the single-family house to the left.
and then the third floor is a flat with a third story of the single family house on the right
or sorry left and then this is an elevation of what one of the duplexes would look like
where you go on to the next slide
So the first floor unit to the right is a typical accessible unit that has this meets the size requirements of what PHFA requires as well as the building code for accessibility clearances.
Thank you, Darren.
um members of the board i would just uh offer um submit to the record that um again these
these dwelling units need to have access also to emergency access which is also driving the
the the request for the variances here um the size constraints of the the various
parcels that comprise the proposed redevelopment um i would assert present a hardship beyond the
control of WCRP. We cannot meet these dimensional requirements under the code, given the PHA
requirements for accessibility and visitability, and then also provide the appropriate room sizes
that's driven by our state funding source. I would assert that the proposed redevelopment
promote access to affordable housing in an area of the city and where there's low-income residents
at risk for displacement, and I think affordable housing promotes quality of life and better health
and wellness and sustainability in the place of what's currently vacant lots. Again, these are
dimensional variances, not use variances, and we're asking for reasonable adjustments under
the current provisions of the zoning code. And with that, I would open it up to questions from
the board members. Any questions from the board? Yes, Mr. Chairman. No.
What is the trash plan for the triplexes? Did you hear me? Yes, I did. Could I ask either
Paul, Nora, or Paul, in order to come off mute and address that question.
So the plan for the triplexes is that we'll have dumpsters behind the community space
for the larger buildings.
Could I see the site plan, please?
okay you were saying it's my understanding that there will be a dumpster behind the community
room that'll serve the triplexes yes
is a commercial pickup yes
thank you any other questions from the board
no anyone else would like to testify in this case if so please raise your hand
chair we have a mika outlaw miss outlaw you can unmute yourself and speak
good afternoon miss outlaw please spell your first and last name and i'll swear you in
all right good afternoon my name is Mika Outlaw um M-E-E-K-A Outlaw O-U-T-L-A-W
your address please 1530 South Taney Street
yeah I'm sorry do you swear for him to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yes thank you man please proceed okay my name is Mika Outlaw and I am the president of Rhodes
RCO and a resident of King's Village section of Grace Ferry I've lived in Grace Ferry for 42 years
and 42 years is a long time and that's exactly how long that lot if not longer
has been empty and vacant this is where WCRP would like to be
has been empty and vacant. This is where WCRP would like to build affordable housing.
And it has, this lot needs to be developed. And I can think of any better solution to build
affordable housing for the people in this community. I support WCRP and this proposed
project because we are being overrun with $400,000 to $600,000 condos that no one can afford to live
in this neighborhood. We need this project and I fully support WCRP. Thank you. Thank you ma'am
for taking the time to be with us. Anyone else to testify in this case? Chair we have a Ms. Wilson
Ms. Wilson you can unmute yourself and speak. Yes good afternoon. Good afternoon Ms. Wilson
please identify yourself first and last name. Diane Hannah Wilson spelled D-I-A-N-E last name
Hannah Wilson, H-A-N-N-A-H hyphen Wilson. Address for the record, I represent the properties at
1209 through 1213 South 28th Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19146. We're affirming to tell the truth,
the whole truth, nothing but the truth. I do. Please proceed. On behalf of JMW Holdings, Inc.,
an independent, female-owned, and operated minority business
situated in the heart of the proposed development,
I take this opportunity to briefly address this body.
Having the opportunity to meet with the leadership team,
legal representatives, and community organizer
of the Women's Community Revitalization Project,
I offer this letter of support on behalf of our family business.
WCRP listened to our concerns as a small business,
having existed in this community for the past 20 plus years. Our concerns were met with sincerity
and as an organization, they did everything possible to address these concerns both during
and after the proposed construction. On behalf of JMWD Holdings, Inc., it is both our honor and
pleasure to support the low-income housing development on Manton and Ingram streets.
We applaud WCRP for returning affordable housing to this community and providing diversity in the socioeconomic landscape to the area formerly known as Martin Luther King's Village Community Association.
Respectfully, please accept this small petition as our support of this project.
Signed, Diane and Jack Wilson, JMWD Holdings, Inc.