Despite there not having been a meeting, I guess the board should first
um make a decision on whether that will be permitted oh and that's that's fine if if
i i can i can make my presentation i can lead with that if if possible um i believe i'm sharing my
screen and if we can go to uh exhibit 12 which is one of 13 exhibits that i have exhibit 12 if
you are looking, you can toggle it to page 55, which is right here. Here is a memo that's part
of our exhibits that shows our communication. We started in February 12th. Once it was identified
that we had to reach out to the RCO, we talked to Reverend Nash, who was the lead for the MAP
holistic CDC. We forwarded all the information. Then in February 12th, we sent a letter
with the plans and the refusal. On February 16th, we emailed Reverend Nash to try to get
a meeting. March 11th, we spoke about this meeting. March 12th, we sent notice to all the RCOs
and to the president's office regarding the meeting.
Those mailings also went to the nearby neighbors on the same day, March 12th.
We also sent the nearby RCOs notifying Ms. Van Story and Ms. Bundy of the meeting on March 12th.
We tried to communicate on March 18th with Reverend Nash.
We emailed on March 24th with Reverend Nash, Ms. Van Storey, Ms. Bundy for the Zoom meeting.
We even called on the 24th to remind them of the RCO meeting.
And on the 24th of March, no one showed up.
And by 618, we sent another email asking about his presence.
Then no one showed up that day.
I believe one community member who was also confused because there was nobody else at that meeting.
Nevertheless, we tried again on March 25th.
We advised everyone, can we meet on April 14th?
We also reached out to both the coordinating as well as the other RCOs.
Then on March 26th, we reached out and emailed the information.
March 26th, we also reached out to the nearby neighbors.
April 13th, we reached out directly to the leaders.
April 13th again, we called, and then no one showed up on the 14th again.
this is proof of all of our mailings and we did certainly been a good faith effort my gosh
yes and and we did reach out to the council person's office told them about our snafu
i believe mary is on the line right now and it's it and it's my understanding
right now and it's it and it's my understanding that she actually reached out to Reverend Nash
who did indicate that we that they were okay with the project
and if Mary's on the line she can confirm this conversation that will be great and then we can
move forward with the rest of the presentation. Okay Mary are you there?
Hello. Good morning. Hi. I can. Can you put your name and address on the record and spell your
last name, please? Yes. Mary Jones, M-A-R-Y-J-O-N-E-S, from Council President Daryl Clark's
office, City Hall, room 494. Thank you. Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and
nothing but the truth. I do. Thank you. You may proceed. Yes. Like council said, they have
made multiple attempts to schedule this meeting with the RCO. They have kept us posted of,
or kept us abreast of everything, all the communications.
And I did reach out to Reverend Nash last night
and he told me that they have no opposition
to this project or matter and neither does our office.
Thank you so much.
Okay. Thank you, Mary.
You may proceed, Dorwin.
With that said, members of the Madam Chair, members of the board, right, as I mentioned, my name is Dorwin Beauvais.
I represent the applicant in this matter, and the applicant is the G and R group.
We have exhibits 1 through 13 that include our tax clearance certificate, our deed,
information about who we are, our zoning application and refusal, site plans, floor plans,
zoning map, and area photos, as well as a memorandum of law and zoning permits of the
surrounding uses. So, with that said, let me just begin with who GNR Group is. And we have on the
line Omri and Frank, who are representative of GNR Group. They're basically a residential
investment firm that, a real estate investment firm that focuses on residential
projects here in Philadelphia. They do focus on affordable housing in a sense that they do
do a lot of Section 8 housing. They do consider all types of housing stock, one families,
I mean, one bedrooms, two bedrooms, three bedrooms. And it all depends on the type of structure that they have. They rarely build from the ground up. So in my opinion, they're a great source for dilapidated projects, dilapidated homes throughout the West Philadelphia and North Philadelphia area.
but they also will, excuse me, build ground up as well. So this particular project is 611 West
Gerrard Avenue. It's zoned RM4, and we are looking to add an addition to the building to
create a multifamily unit in order to accommodate eight families. Now, our refusal as a result
is for parking. And if we can, I want to just jump to exhibit 13 so you can physically see the
property. The property itself already exists. So it's along Girard Avenue. It's well-kept
already, but it had been vacant for years. And what we are looking to do is to create
this addition. Let me just bring the zoning plans up, which is 21. We are looking to create an
on. We are looking to create an addition where we will add this additional story. This did not
In addition.
create our parking refusal. It's RM1. We're allowed to have the RM4. We're allowed to have
this additional story, but because of this additional story, this generated the refusal
based on LNI's interpretation of the code. Our floor plans will keep the units pretty much,
will reconfigure the interior of the units and to create a total of eight families or eight
residences. And maybe if Frank or Omri is on the line, maybe they can walk us through
what the floor plans and what the program of the project looks like. Is Frank available? Frank
Renner? We'll have to raise his hand one second.
Mr. Renner, you can unmute yourself and wait to be sworn in.
Yes, hi.
Hi, Mr. Renner, can you please put your name on the record and spell your last name and then I'll swear you in?
Yes, my name is Frank Renner, R-E-N-N-E-R.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
You may proceed.
Thank you, Frank. Can you walk us through what the floor plans look like and explain to the board the unit count and the like?
You can guide me as to what page we should be on, but we're starting here.
Yes. As you mentioned, there are eight units and I believe these are eight one bedroom units.
As you can see on this page, we are on the first floor, and there are no bedrooms located in the basement.
We do have a rear new addition, as was seen in the zoning diagrams.
And, yep, when you move forward, the units range from, I believe, 550 to 600 square feet.
And they are each one bedroom units. As mentioned, we didn't get a refusal on the design or the size or the number of units or anything like that. As mentioned, the refusal was from the parking requirement.
all right um yeah any any any more okay so like i mentioned thanks frank so like i mentioned
rm4 is where the property sits and if we can want the board to note um something unique to the
property where this tree is in our red dots that's our property if you can see there is
parking here frank can you tell me whose parking lot that is
um i'm sorry i'm not familiar
i'm not sure if omri is on the line for that one um omri is with g and r um or
Or can you raise your hand and be identified?
Hi, hello.
Is he?
Is it Omri or Omni?
It's Omri.
It's my first name is O-M-R-Y.
Okay, and your last name?
Please spell it.
It is S-H-I-T as in Tom, R-I-T as in Tom.
Thank you.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Thank you.
So, Omri, whose parking lot is this?
When I travel over there, it looks like it's public parking by payment.
So, and that was the one point, Madam Chair, that I just wanted to point out,
That even as we look at the property, even though we have a refusal for parking, I believe part of the reason why the community was supportive is that, one, in order for us to accommodate.
the community was supportive is that, one, in order for us to accommodate parking,
we will have to demolish the building in order to do that. That doesn't make sense to us. It
doesn't make sense to the building. I think that creates a hardship in itself. But the least
amount of variance or the least amount of impact would be to allow us to park in this public
location if if there's a need it needs so now what what what i do uh uh laud the applicant and
the community there's no provision there's no proviso requesting that they understood that
this property should maintain its its essence even though if we can put this addition on there
create additional residential housing, the parking is not an issue in this respect.
So because of that, we're asking that the board grant our application.
As I mentioned, we have the support of the community in order for us to even accommodate
what the code is required, requires a demolition of the property to which we believe that
that creates a hardship in itself does the board have any questions yes madam chairwoman what is
the uh trash plan for this uh development omri could you yes i can answer first of all in the
middle of the building each floor have a room uh trash room and we're going to wear use as in all
property waste management to remove the trash twice a week as we're using in all our properties.
Thank you. So you'll have commercial trash pickup? Correct. Thank you. Planning Commission?
thank you madam chair ian hegarty for the philadelphia city planning commission
comprehensive plan uh recommends no change to the existing multi-family zoning at this location
um as council has stated the applicant's property is narrow for its size it's located on a major
arterial both of those conditions support the claim of hardship since the applicant is physically
unable to meet their code requirements for adding a parking space um so the city planning commission
recommends that the board grant the variance thank you is there anyone else here who would
like to speak on this case please raise your hand yes chair we have um tina marie russell okay
good afternoon good morning me hi tina can you put your name and address on the record and spell
your last name sure tina marie russell um 1631 west sesquahanna avenue and spell your last name
please sorry r-u-s-s-e-l-l do you swear for me to tell the whole truth and nothing about the truth
i do thank you and they proceed i just had a question about the trash um the property manager
that they're going to use for the trash do they have a history on that particular um their quality
of their work this area has been steadily becoming overwhelmed with multi-family units that are not
being properly managed and the trash is becoming a great eyesore so um is there any type of proviso
we can create to make that not happen here? I think we can, Sharon, I think we can just add
commercial trash pickup, correct? That's correct. Okay. Okay. And do we have anything that prohibits
boarding homes as a proviso on this as well, or any type of single family, single room usage
that looks like a boarding? Excuse me, this is Sharon Sletta. That would require a new application
and an additional
new refusal so
it's automatically
not included in this project
yes thank you
so no proviso for that
no proviso
for that
okay thanks
thank you is there anyone
else out there
in virtual world
and just
there is
Yes, Ms. Allison. Ms. Allison, you can unmute yourself.
Yes, Ms. Allison. Ms. Allison, you can unmute yourself.
Hello, can you hear me?
Yes, can you put your name and address, spell your last name?
Allison Weiss, W-E-I-S-S.
And I just wanted to...
One second, do you swear for me to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Certainly, yes.
Thank you, you may proceed.
I just wanted to add that I just looked up that parking lot that supposedly was public parking.
And that's owned by the St. Joseph's Repertory School.
Just FYI.
No, it's not public property.
But it most likely is available because they don't part there at night.
I'm saying you have to talk to St. Joseph's Repertory.
Understood.
That's the other side.
That's the other side, Omri?
I think so, no?
Okay, calendar number 3354, 1611 West Gerrard Avenue.
My vote is yes with commercial trash pickup.
Yes, with proviso.
Yes, with proviso.
Yes, with proviso.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Beauvais.
Calendar number 3312-2036 North Grath Street.
There's either a Karen Bahmed or Beata Cosmitter.
And Madam Chair, this is Sharon.
There are no exhibits.
This is the first listing.
hi can you hear me i can hear you can you put your name on the record and spell your last name
my name is carim bahmed b-a-h-m-e-d do you swear for him to tell the whole truth and nothing but
the truth? I do. Okay, you have no exhibits. Why? I submitted everything over the weekend.
I don't know what exhibit is missing. I submitted everything I could during the weekend. Can
I ask a question, Madam Chair? Sure. Where did you send the exhibits there? I sent everything
I think to, I have my email here, sent, I sent to LCUZBA,