There was a large number of people who came for a different property and they voted yes
on all cases and then they left before this case was presented. There were two of us there.
I started speaking with the next door neighbors afterwards and people did not understand what
was being proposed. I do have a petition of 14 neighbors who are opposed to the parking and curb
do have a petition of 14 neighbors who are opposed to the parking and curb cut
and i have sent that by email to the rcozba at phila.gov email address
so in addition to there being no curb cuts or off-street parking on on this side of the block
at all parking in the evening has already become very difficult because of the flourishing of bars
and restaurants on nearby frankfort avenue uh just basically a half block from there
um the location on the block makes it really dangerous because uh cars are typically
accelerating there uh there's an intersection just uh just up from there that uh where people
uh there's no uh stop sign so people usually have their foot on the gas pedal a lot of uh
accidents that I think other people are going to speak to today. I do know that there's I think
four of us who are testifying in the same vein. There's also a new daycare, Frankfurt Friends
Daycare across the street that's going to be opening soon, and that just raises the stakes
of street and sidewalk safety.
I do think this is a danger to health, safety, and welfare.
And finally, as all the Row House neighbors will attest,
there is no hardship here that would require a curb cut and parking.
Thank you, Chair Bergman and the rest of the VA.
Thank you for your call.
Thank you.
Is there anyone else in a virtual audience?
yes chair jared pollen and i will allow him to speak them to say sir could you state your name
please the spell for the court sonographer yeah jared pollen p-o-l-i-n right do you swear for
to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do are you a neighbor i uh connect
with the uh property i'm 2120 east hazard so it's okay a connecting property behind it
are you in favor of this proper project?
I think it's a beautiful design.
I'm not in favor, as Daniel said, of the curb cut.
Let me ask you this.
Is there anything other than what Daniel said you could offer towards that?
No, that's it.
Basically, Daniel covered everything.
That's why I asked.
Thank you very much for calling.
We appreciate it.
Is there anyone else that are virtually?
Yes, Chair Peter English.
hi mr english could you state your name please to spell for the court stenographer
hi peter english e-n-g-l-i-s-h you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the
truth i do are you a neighbor i am i live at 2117 east sergeant which is just are you in favor of
the project not the curb cut no okay all right is there anything other than what's been said
that you can offer for the curb cut?
My only addition is, you know,
I appreciate what you and the ZBA do
to help ensure that we are thinking about our block
and our neighborhood and our city communally.
I think that this curb cut is out of step,
not just physically,
but with the way in which Philadelphia typically operates
and the way we share our sidewalks.
And so I would love the property,
but do not want the curb cut.
We thank you for your call.
Is there anyone else in the audience?
Yes, Chair. A person with the initials YSC will be allowed to speak.
Okay. Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Of course. Hi, this is Young Sun Compton speaking, C-O-M-P-T-O-N.
Great. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
I do, yes.
Are you a neighbor?
I am. I'm directly adjacent to the property at 2119 East Sargent Street.
And are you in favor of this project?
uh i like the other one like other people who testified i'm not in favor of the of the curb
cut being the direct neighbor yeah okay so so is there anything else other than what's been said
you could offer uh i think in the in the drawings uh there you know for me like being the the house
that abuts this this location i think the curb cut is needed to to cut into in front of my property
um you know again i think the the specifics around parking in the neighborhood and the
impact of parking locally is i you know i especially feel because of that um you know
losing feet in front of my house uh for curb cut feels uh i'm not sure what the benefit to the
community and changing the zoning for that would be but that would be my only addition to what has
already been said thank you for taking the time to call is there anyone else in the virtual audience
excuse me chair this is the court reporter could i ask the uh prior witness to spell his first name
prior witness to spell his first name sure sure it's a y-o-u-n-g space capital s-u-n is the first
It's a.
name thank you thank you is there anyone else in the verse load is yes yes chair this is i have
antonio di tomo i'm not sure if he spoke already but he is is is he the owner uh all up he is chair
Sure. And if I think I'm going to if I may just add a few things that I believe he would add.
Well, well, one is there anyone else besides him in the virtual audience?
No, there's there's no way. So I'll like why do you respond? Is that OK?
Sure. So there are, in fact, two curb cuts that are not identical.
They're curb cuts for garages located on the block.
They're not open air parking spots, as we're proposing here.
That's a twenty one forty six and twenty one forty eight.
I would also like to add
that this neighborhood
does not allow any kind of zone
parking. It does not allow
residents to buy or obtain
zoning placards. It is open parking
total, including on this block.
That is certainly something that is a
hardship to an applicant here.
Thank you.
Planning Commission.
good afternoon chair peter bernard for the planning commission
the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing rsa5 single-family residential row
house at this location we feel the existing structures in a regular lot constitute a hardship
but feel the front-loaded parking has no demonstrated hardship as it is a new condition
privatizes a public parking spot creates a hazard for pedestrians and is not a common condition for
the block accordingly the planning commission recommends the board grant the dimensional
variances but with a proviso for no front-loaded parking excuse me mr chairman excuse me mr chairman
could we hold this for executive session this case we most certainly can thomas thank you
okay so mr sokoloff what we're going to do is take this back to the executive session
next wednesday and we will vote at 2 p.m next wednesday on this
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. President, I mean, Chairman.
MI 2023-005-748-3335 West 1st Street, Allen Ockamson is the attorney.
There's a letter of opposition from Strawberry Mansion, along with a petition signed by approximately 26 neighbors.
Letter attached. There's a letter of opposition from Strawberry Mansion, CDC.
The applicant has 14 neighbors.
Mr. Chair, this is Hillary. I just want to note that since we started hearings,
we received an additional letter of opposition from Swampoodle Neighborhood Partials Association,
which I believe Mr. Knockerson will address in his presentation.
They did have some suggested provisos if the board was inclined to grant.
Thank you.
um mr knoxon just state your name for the record alan knockamson and could you identify your
client the relationship to the property yes my client is uh ber properties llc
and then the virtual audience is uh noah burson and alissa chapnick uh its members
and um um mr holliman has just a few questions questions for you sir i'm back here
Good afternoon, counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its address?
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that is needed and required to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, we have.
Thank you. Please proceed and share your screen.
Thank you.
so i'm here to present 33 35 west first street uh this is an rm1 property and we're looking to
put up a duplex here and the board's probably thinking well mr knockamson what i'm not i hate
talking third person, but why am I seeking a variance for RM1 property, which we're only
asking for two units, and we're not making any change. It's an existing building structure. We're
not making any changes to the building footprint. Our lot size is 699 square feet. So we have,
this is a clear case of undue hardship where we can't change the building, the lot size of our
the lot size of our property. And we're doing the least modification possible under the Philadelphia
property and we're doing the lease modification
zoning code because we're not changing the building structure in any way. We're seeking
the minimal amount of multifamily units, which is two, under the circumstances. And the entire
neighborhood is RM1. So as you'll see in the presentation packet. And to add an extra layer
complexity, my client purchased this property, not knowing that something that's RM1, you
may not be able to do more than one unit if the lot size is not 720 square feet.
And then to another level of complexity, my client hired a contractor who they relied
upon to do all the work, get the zoning permit, get the building permits or all duration permits
and do everything right.
Unfortunately, they didn't.
And they spent a lot of money.
I don't know, just maybe short of $100,000.
And only after Ellen and I came out and issued a violation notice did my client realize that the contractor did not get the right permits.
And eventually that contractor not only lost their license, but went to jail.
So my client's in a really bad spot here where they didn't know that an RM1 property, you could not potentially have two units.
They relied on the contractor to get the right permits.
They spent $100,000 of their money to do work that, you know, again, was not approved.
We're trying to legalize the situation with the zoning permit.
So, you know, this would be financially devastating for my clients if they couldn't just get two units.
And again, they purposefully didn't go seek, you know, more than two units or they didn't seek to, like, build higher than the two stories that, you know,
know, the building structure is today. So we'll review the notice of refusal. We'll review the
correspondence from Strawberry Mansion Community Concern, as well as Swampoodle. We received both
letters today. We diligently updated our presentation materials when we received each
letter of opposition. Actually, I think we have a third letter of opposition, Strawberry Mansion
Community, Strawberry Mansion CDC. So we have that letter too. Again, our thing is this,
We're open, we're honest, and we're going to address every single one of these letters, which I think have issues with them and don't really address the crux of this case.
Then we did do a petition, you know, pre-community meeting where we not only got the letter, we got letters to support a significant amount of people within the affected area, specifically the person that owns the property to left and right of us.
The people that we most directly impacted, a lot of people on 4th Street, but the people left and right of us.
So we'll go over that.
And then, again, not uncommon to have multifamily structures in this neighborhood.
You'll see from the zoning map that this is all RM1.
But we gave a few examples of recent approvals of RM1 properties.
And then we'll go review the zoning map and maps of the area, photographs of the property and the surrounding area.
Our plans and drawings, our RCO meeting notice, and it was not a well-attended meeting.
There was a representative from Strawberry Mansion Community Concern.
There was a representative from the Swamp Pool group.
And there were two neighbors who did not live on the block, but I believe lived somewhat nearby.
I don't remember the addresses.
So it was a total of four people that showed up to the meeting.
Two of them were community representatives.
Then we'll review the application for appeal.
the deed to the property, showing that BER Properties, LLC, is the owner of the property,
and then our Certificate of Tax Clearance, showing that they're current with their
real estate taxes, or at least, you know, I don't know if 2024 is due, but it's not due yet.
So then we would be current. And again, to conclude my presentation, I would ask
that either Ms. Shatnik or Mr. Burson virtually raise their hand. One of them could adopt my
testimony as their own and then we'll be more than happy to take any questions from the board
and we would love the opportunity to respond to any community input as well so notice of refusal
again we're not trying to convert an rsa5 property to multi-family use this is rm1 right clients
didn't know better they didn't realize that you know you it has to be at least 720 square feet
of loss size to get two units based on the base zoning classification of RM1.
So they're in this situation because they weren't advised properly.
They relied on the contractor who was supposed to get the right permits, did not, spent a
lot of their money, and eventually not only lost their contractor's license, but went
to jail.
So we're seeking the least modification possible under the Philadelphia Zoning Code.
So we're seeking the least modification possible under the Philadelphia Zoning Code.
We're not changing the building structure in any way.
All we're trying to do is do two-family household living in an existing structure.
So we met with the community, I believe it was this month, and there were only four people that showed up to the community meeting.
One member from Strawberry Mansion Community Concern, one member from the Swamp Poodle Group, Strawberry Mansion CDC did not have a representative there.