is very close to some CMX 2 and CMX 1 commercial corridors here on Lehigh.
We strongly believe that allowing people from outside of the neighborhood or even out of town
to stay in this neighborhood could potentially revitalize some of these businesses and allow
people to use the businesses that are contained here on Lehigh that may not get as much foot
traffic as they'd like. Our application for appeal, our project information form.
We did meet with the community on October 8th. There were certainly, you know, lengthy discussions
about why this property should be used in the matter of visitor accommodations. The
All in the family, as I'll note, this is our certificates of mailing, just to run through these briefly. And then we have proposed some house rules. These are just proposed house rules about where trash is stored, whether pets are permitted, and things of that nature, no smoking.
And then we have nine letters of support from people within the neighborhood, including three letters from the immediate block, those being at 2430, West Lehigh, just a few doors down, 2426, just three doors down, and 2402, just about nine doors down, and then a number from the 2800 block.
What I would like to point out is, you know, the community organization here on the family mentioned some issues that we discussed in terms of renting the property for long term rentals where, you know, we've had people stay and not pay rent.
We've had people destroy portions of the property.
So our clients are really seeking to use it in a way that would not create these same kind of issues.
And while, you know, certain suggestions were made by the RCO as to how to use the property, I think it's wholly inappropriate to mention, you know, ways that a property owner should use their property while we're appealing for this.
I'd also like to mention there are six bedrooms in three various units.
We had no intention.
Well, yes, I guess in theory you could put two people in each bedroom.
That was certainly not our intention.
Our house rules would prevent that.
We were intending to do maybe three people at the most per unit.
So that would be like a family with a child or even if it's a family with two children.
I don't think that's the same kind of density as 12 adults in this building.
I would also say that, you know, as a long-term rental, nothing would prevent us from having 12 people in, well, I take that back.
There are certain rules within the city code that would prevent that, too, on a lease, depending on their family relationship.
But it could easily be, you know, two adults and two children in each of the unit, which would comply with all sections of the city code and would still raise these same issues raised by the RCO.
And then here are notice letters on the property. And our certificate of tax clearance. If it
pleases the Board, I would like to bring on Mr. Watson, a representative of the LLC.
Mr. Watson, please raise your virtual hand.
Jamon, are you on the line?
They have been promoted to panelists.
Thank you.
Good morning, Mr. Watson.
Oh, Katrina, I apologize, wrong person.
i don't think katrina i don't think we're able to hear you
do we see the person are they unmuted yeah they appear to be is it just me
yeah they appear to be is it just me or can the board not hear them as well we're not hearing
or can the board not hear them as well
katrina we we can't hear you at all i don't know if you could hear us
are you maybe connected to headphones or something
Mr. Sokoloff, as an officer of the court, we can take your testimony, okay?
Okay, questions from the board.
Can you go back and show me the pictures and do you have a floor plan?
We do not have a floor plan. It's a three-story building with
a two-bedroom apartment on each floor.
So this is what?
The first floor, second floor?
This, I believe, is the first floor unit.
This is part of the second floor unit.
And this is the third floor unit.
IS THE PLAN TO SELF MANAGE THE UNITS OR A PROFESSIONAL MANAGEMENT?
NO, THE PLAN IS TO SELF MANAGE AND FULL DISCLOSURE TO THE BOARD WE HAVE ANOTHER PENDING APPLICATION
FOR A PROPERTY THAT THIS SAME LLC OWNS ON THE 2800 BLOCK OF LEHI AVENUE I BELIEVE WE'RE BEFORE THE
board in a few weeks on that one. So, you know, the intent is to self-manage and basically be
on this block for the two properties. Other questions? Yeah. Can you walk me through the
history of this property? I'm just trying to figure out, one, how in the RSA 5 zone,
it got to a point that we have a multifamily that's a newly renovated multifamily that's
asking for visitors' accommodations when the last permit on record for this shows from 2016
as a make-safe for a vacant building that was falling down. And so I'm just trying to
understand, one, what has been the evolution of how we got here, and two, how it's a hardship.
Sure. The property was granted a three-family dwelling since the 50s. I think the last permit
for three-family dwelling that I saw was from 1986. I believe the property was obviously
originally purchased in the same condition as you're looking at the neighboring properties
with the number of violations that Katrina and her husband, the owners of gymnasts, undertook
renovations of. I was not involved in the make safe, so I can't specifically speak to it. I know
that it was not as a result of anything that they did at the property that the make safe was
required. It was a result of the pre-existing conditions at the property that they then
pulled the make safe in order to do the repairs. They've owned the property for how long?
It's been in this entity since 2023, but they had it back in 2018. I believe if Ms. Watson can come
back on the line if you're here it looks like they purchased it in november of 2013 so does that
sound about right i i would be i would be lying if i told you i definitively so okay
oh let's see she's any other questions katrina hi can you hear me i yeah please could you state
your name and spell for the course ethnographer yes katrina williams k-a-t-r-i-n-a williams w-i-l-l-i-a-m-s
to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do please proceed counsel thank you
ms watson um when did you originally purchase the property uh it we got married in 2013 so it might
in about November of 2013. Okay. And what condition was the property in at that time?
There was, we needed to, there was some bricks missing from the back wall. They needed to be
replaced. We hired a contractor. The contractor got it permitted and we had to fix the bricks that
were missing in the back. And that's the make safe permit that was pulled? Yes, sir. Okay. And
And generally, could you give the board an idea of all of the work that you've done at the property since you purchased it?
We replaced the sheetrock.
It's like a total reno.
um new wooden floors all stainless steel appliances i think we did the windows
New wooden floors, all stainless steel.
we did something with the window seals uh i believe he did something with the steps in the front
the porch to make that safe um it's an amazing unit okay and and could you just briefly tell
the board some of the issues you've had with with renters or potential renters at the property uh
for long-term use okay um the we've been able to we've always been able to rent it out um
we try to cater to um those individuals who might have a harder time being approved by a bigger
property management company um we run into a lot of single moms and their kids and things of that
nature um they would pay initially they would be able to pay for a few months then they will fall
off and we wouldn't get paid for quite some time. Then the difficulties with COVID and getting them
out just became like a little nightmarish. Thank you, Ms. Watson. For the questions.
Yes. Was it three units when you purchased it? Yes, it was. Yes, ma'am.
yes ma'am the visitor accommodations are you aware of any other that exists on that block
uh not on that block i mean i've heard i've heard there's quite a few airbnbs in that neighborhood
um and everybody was trying to tell us to go about it the wrong way but that's not what we
chose to do i'm a licensed attorney i work in uh you know in my in my area we believe in following
the rules we tried to dot all our i's across all our t's um you know i don't know the exact
addresses but we did our research and we hired people so we can do everything the right way
yeah miss when if i can answer that question because we we did do some research um
there are unfortunately no legalized airbnb's with with variances granted there there are a number of
Airbnb short-term stay uses on the block that we have heard of, but in comprehensively going
property by property on Atlas, we were not able to find any approved, which is a great reason to
allow this one to be a staple and a legal staple in the neighborhood. And I guess, Ms. Watson,
So my last question is, do you have any experience managing short-term rentals?
Well, I have experience, yes, with the rentals that we have.
But with this one, with 2420 and 2821, we're going to bring in a professional management company.
Oh, I apologize. I apologize.
That's okay. That's what we plan to do, bringing a professional management company.
We're just trying to get it all set up.
Questions from our attorney, Hilary Emerson.
just to clarify excuse me just to clarify for the record so all you're proposing all three units
for visitor accommodations at the property is that correct that's correct yes thank you
questions or comments from the virtual audience
i see no hands if if i may may i add that as far as we know we've had tremendous amount of support
from the neighborhood.
They always call us if they think they see
anything funny. We've never had any
issues of any illegal activity. No one's been
hurt. There's been no police
reports filed or any
actions at that address. It's been
pretty safe and unproblematic.
Chair,
we have two hands with the hand raised.
Strawberry Mash and Community Services
has been promoted to panelists.
Good morning. Could you please state
your name and spell for the stenographer?
good morning
good morning
just state your name please
Bernita Cummings
and Ms. Cummings you've already been sworn
could you please give us your opinion
of this project
well I just want
everyone to imagine
being dropped off at this location
from an Uber with your children and maybe a husband or maybe a single mother with her children
and being blindsided by the conditions of two vacant properties next door to a place where
you propose to spend some time, preferably you're in Philadelphia for an enjoyable event.
And on Google Maps, this property was intentionally blurred as to prevent people
property was intentionally blurred as to prevent people from being able to see the dangers that
you could, that are, you know, in these two abandoned locations. So I think, and then when
we looked, you know, looked at all of the non-permit processes that were done with this
full kind of gut rehab, three units, a lot of conversation did take place and we are very
concerned that you could injure a whole family here. They could be murdered. They could be just
robbed. You can't determine from the two abandoned properties what access is even into this renovated
property, and they may not even know. So I would say that it would be a shock to someone already
tired, trying to get into a nice location or location that they thought was nice to come up
on a block that there, as you can see in even this photo, the trash that accumulates between
the two properties. So it's a very dangerous block at this point in time, like maybe at some
future date and maybe working with finding out the owners of those two abandoned properties.
But I would say that to put a family or families or visitors in a situation right now in this
property would be putting them in danger. And I would hope that we would not as a city do that
to a family. We would not let them pull up to a property where they have not been able to truly
identify that they're being put somewhere with abandoned windows, broken windows. They're coming
into a space where I don't think any of us would appreciate being put in if we were coming into
another city or a different city. So thank you. Mr. Sokoloff, do you have any questions?
I have no questions. Next hand, please. Yes, the number ending in 3552 has been allowed to speak.
Good morning, Adrienne. Hello. Can you hear me? Could you please, for the record,
state your name and spell for the stenographer. Adrienne Fernandez. My last name is spelled
F-E-R-N-A-N-D-E-Z.
Do you swear we're referring to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes. Please testify.
Okay. First, this
refusal seems confusing in terms of
it seems to be for trying to legalize a multifamily
as opposed to visitor accommodations. In the past, I understand that
the owner said that they had problems with renters, and that was probably related to
who they chose to move there, because I imagine that they could have also had some assistance
from Section 8 through PHA to choose better tenants where they could check their history.
Also, we have an overlay preservation, a preservation overlay in this area,
where we want to maintain RSA 3 and RSA residential districts.
we're not an entertainment zone it's a residential district so
hotel hotel living and temporary type visitor accommodations are not
really a good fit for our area there are two elementary schools
and one high school very close by within two blocks one elementary school
on a private Catholic school, St. Martin de Porres, is one block away.
And the occupants, the type of occupants that would be attracted to visitor accommodations would be transient.
In this area, specifically 24 West Lehigh, we just ended a problematic, I don't know what to call it.
They had people who were adjudicated living there, all women, and the neighbors requested.
They did not want it there, and DBA made it temporary.
That temporary permit, zoning permit, has expired.
So the neighbors are very against transient occupants, and also this would not be good near the school.
um and that would include even um you know people cannot be around a school like pedophiles
who could easily come into these type of properties on a frequent basis if they're
known that they can rent there for three months or whatever it is um also there would be too many
occupants in a building and i think that the owner should try to revisit and research even
through a management company how they can have successful three apartments
three apartments, because they've already changed to three apartments, but we do have
because they've already changed the three apartments, but we do have to
successful rentals of single-family homes, many times, RSA-3s, many times with a married
couple, children, and grandparents.
Thank you.
That's everything.
If I may just respond.
Mr. Sokoloff, do you have any questions?
Yeah, if I may just respond.
While we understand that certainly the neighborhood is a residential neighborhood, I would remind