in this case. There are wider sites, but this proposed 1718. And if we had the width here,
we can incorporate an interior stair. One at a time, one at a time. The 1718 property is wider
than your standard commercial space. So if you can, if you can ask your architect how wide that
property is, we believe that it is sufficient to make it a very effective and productive and
profitable commercial use on Fairham and Avenue. Our response to that would be that if that were
the case, it wouldn't have sat vacant for over 10 years. It has not been vacant for 10 years.
I've been in this community for 45 years and up until three years ago, actually less than three
years ago, it was a very successful operator who serviced pinball machines, casino gaming machines,
and they were very successful so it's not been for 10 years and i can i i live here i walk that
I live here. I walk that avenue two, three, four times a day, and that is inconsistent with the
avenue two three four times a day and that is
facts council. Can you speak to your understanding of the prior occupancy? That is not what we know,
and that's not what we were told. We were told by the owner who we bought it from that it was
vacant for 10 years. It's been sitting there. I think that's important, but maybe not as
a dire consideration with this pandemic. There could be lots of other problems that may come
become vacant or will remain vacant. So again, not to belabor the point, I mean, we got a lot
of testimony here. It sounds to me that Mr. Navarro and I've dealt with, we've dealt this
board has dealt with Spring Garden Civic in the past. There might be an opportunity, there is an
opportunity to have further conversation what the end result of that will be i have no clue
so i'm going to put the offer out there that we could do a resumption hearing
if that works if not the board will have to make a decision on this case today
can i refer to my clients on that because they're the ones that are carrying the construction
mortgage and the construction costs um with that non-starter out there over something we can't
control that's not a zoning issue i don't know that you don't know it may not be a non-starter
i don't know sometimes things are said in the heat of the argument or they that may may come to
was that something spring garden is willing to consider at this point
of course we're going to negotiate it now we'll be here for a week understood i just want to make
sure that that's a possibility i mean we were told emphatically that that was a non-starter
multiple times. So if that's the case, we don't think it makes sense to continue.
But a new design may not require that.
I don't know that the clients are able to coordinate a new interior design at this point.
Also, if I may just please say something as the owner. I know that everybody keeps on,
I know the RCO people, everybody keeps on saying that we could get rid of the back stairs. And
And I know somebody said that, that we did not try to tell our architects to work on that.
We have been late presenting this because we were trying to do everything in our power not to put those exterior stairs.
There is still a high possibility that we might not need to.
But either way, I think what's important to understand here is that we love the actual old history of the building that we're trying to preserve.
If we can demo this and build a new construction, we would not even be having any arguments at all.
I think the idea, it's either we preserve the beauty of the building that we fell in love with,
or we go ahead and just say, oh, okay, let's just build another new building, which we really don't want to.
So the idea was to preserve this, and that's why we have restrictions on what we can do.
And again, like Catherine said, we want to live here for a long time, so we want it to be comfortable.
So if our kids and our grandkids want to come visit us, there's enough room that we can all be here.
So I think that's where that disconnect is.
It's not that we're trying to be difficult.
We genuinely want to save the architecture because we fell in love with that.
Understood.
I think everybody respects that.
Again, I think sometimes when the dust settles and people have an opportunity to have further conversation,
It is our experience that the majority of the time they reach a compromise that works for both sides.
I don't know if it will happen in this case, so they offer one more time a resumption hearing or the board will take a vote on it today.
We would rather that because from our understanding, the RCO has been very transparent and very clear that they do not want to move forward with anything to do with it.
All right.
we cannot afford to to pay the mortgage every month if we're not moving forward so unfortunately
that is all right understood all right anyone else yes chair we have mary jones
jones please identify yourself and i'll swear you in um yes good afternoon uh mary jones
council president daryl clark's office city hall room 494 oh and i was sworn in earlier today okay
thank you thanks continue um yes the the council president stands in support of the uh spring garden
civic association um and opposition uh the rco initially saw a continuance to further the
conversation around the issues that were covered today. However, since they haven't been, we were
not able to have those conversations. The council president supports the community's opposition
as the variance not granted. Thank you. Thank you very much. Anyone else to testify?
thank you very thank you very much anyone else to testify
yes chair we have a jeffrey springer bringer please identify yourself with the record first
and last name yeah hi can you hear me can you hear me hello yes yes please identify yourself
Jeffrey Springer, J-E-F-F-R-E-Y, last name Springer, S-P-R-I-N-G-E-R.
I live at 1714 Mellon Street, directly across from the property.
We're firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Thank you.
Please proceed.
So we're in support of the Spring Garden position,
rejecting the whole project wholesale, there's a few things that I would like to point out. So
first of all, the fire escape is necessary because of the buildup of the addition.
And this street is our front street. This is not a back alley. Mellon is our front door.
And I stand in unison with about 10 other neighbors on our street who all feel the same way
that adding a fire escape to this would add blight.
In addition, Ms. Mesmer points out
that the two additional properties next to them are wider.
I just looked out my front door
at those two other properties that were rehabbed
that are exactly the same footprint.
They look exactly the same to me.
They have a unit in the basement
or on the first floor, a commercial unit,
and then another unit upstairs.
I believe that the new owners are needing to build up because they overpaid for this unit.
You heard them say they have a mortgage.
I talked to some other investors in the area, and they said that they paid too much, which is not our problem.
That's hearsay. You have to speak on it.
It is, but if money is going to come into it, then it's important to believe.
We did meet with them.
We were more than happy to compromise with them, but they didn't come back with any suggestions
around it. The issues that we highlighted to them, we feel like they completely ignored. They
came back with no counter proposals, no alternatives to these. We heard nothing from them
until this hearing. It's been over a week ago. And so at this point, it doesn't feel like they
want to compromise at all they want to bring this project down our our throats and have our front
door be blighted by uh their idea that this is a back alley melon street is small um the new
construction that happened at hygge that they were talking about was an empty lot before they built
it up uh and the ones next to them are exactly the same height um so i feel that uh this would
be a hardship to me, and I can't speak on behalf of all my neighbors, but I know they've expressed
that same opinion, that it would impinge our lives as the front door of our street is Mellon Avenue.
Thank you. Thank you. I'll just respond to Mr. Springer's statement that we were unresponsive.
He may not have been attributed all of the correspondence that we had directly with the RCO.
Noted. Thank you. Anyone else?
Yes, Chair. We have a John Cave.
Good afternoon, Mr. Cave. Please spell your first and last name and provide us with your address.
And please, if you're testifying, well, let's swear you're in first. Name and address.
J-O-N-C-A-V-E, 1720 Mellon Street, 19130.
You swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Thank you.
And with all due respect, Mr. Cave, if you can provide us with something new and different that would be helpful in the interest of time?
Yep, understood.
It will be short.
So we've been here about four years.
We moved to this area because we like the community.
we also like the street that we live on and we feel like the value in the neighborhood and that
and the home is in part based on its location and the street and there's been discussions about
you know the need to change the interior of the building for the value that's required to support
what they want to put inside I'm also concerned about the value of my property and what putting
a an exit stairway on the back of a building that's actually my front street would do the
the value of my property and the interest of people to continue to move into the in the
neighborhood and want to live in this area. So I oppose this as well and agree that we're willing
So I oppose this as well and agree that we're willing to to talk about compromise if the new owner is willing to discuss it.
Appreciate your testimony. Anyone else? And if so, please, new and different.
we'll wait to see i'll just reiterate that the new owners are willing to proceed through a bbs
process if available if required to see if there's a variance available for a rear regress
and that seems to be everybody's sticking point counselor counselor i don't think you
going to get the fire stairs waived l and i is going to require it but they're going to require
you to protect those stairs from the weather and by the time you do that you could have put them
inside thank you understood thank you planning commission
good afternoon mr chairman david effecto city planning commission mr chairman members of the
board. The comprehensive plan recommends this property for commercial mixed use.
Proposed height matches the character of the block. We recommend that the board grant the
requested variance. Thank you. MI 2021-000620. 1718 Fairmont Avenue. My vote is no.
My vote is no. My vote is no. My vote is no.
my vote is no
thank you
thank you
we're moving to number 7
calendar number 1830
North Reese Street
the attorney
is Zen Jin
this morning
I don't think so
so hard to remember
anymore. No, he wasn't on it.
We see that so...
Did you identify yourself in the record?
Zhenjin, Z-H-E-N,
J-I-N, 1617
John F. Kennedy Boulevard,
Suite 1838, Philadelphia
PA 19103, here on behalf
of the applicant.
Do you swear for him to tell the whole truth
and nothing but the truth?
I do. Do you also agree
to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its
accuracy? I do.
Do you strike that? Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership, tax compliance, refusal, referral, photos, plans, five days in advance of this hearing? And have you met with the RCO? And do you have a letter?
Yes, to all questions.
Okay, you may proceed.
Thank you.
Before you begin, Mr. Jinn, there is a letter of support from Zulu Nation, the RCO.
So you could give us what you basically need for the record and summarize.
That would be helpful.
I will do that.
Thank you.
I'm going to go ahead and share the information with the board, and I'll cut right to the chase.
This is a property that is currently vacant.
We are proposing to erect a new structure, which is actually combining more than one
lots together.
That is why we're proposing a triplex rather than a single-family house.
This is a double-width lot having a much larger structure.
By doing this setup, however, we are able to provide a passageway in the design into the rear for trash management for all units.
And Zulu Nation was aware of this.
They saw the design.
They see that all trash can be stored in the rear.
There's an access hallway, and it is easily managed.
The area also has other development that is multifamily in nature.
It can be seen more easily in the photograph here, and that is, again, part of the reason why this development is not inconsistent with what's in the area.
Based on those factors and overall size of the building and bedroom counts does not exceed what would be two-by-right single-family houses, we received support overall from the neighborhood.
So we would ask the board's favorable review of this application and a grant of this variance based on the support from the community and the design which meets the general needs of the community as far as trash, safety, and other requirements.
Do you have a client available?
Yes, I believe he is here with us.
It is Simon here.
I don't know what his name would be
based on the
it should be Simon
I don't know if that's registered.
I don't know if that's registered
can you raise your hand please