friedman uh principal of 2100 to 12 uh rush street uh to to join us now
mr friedman you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair please good afternoon mr friedman could
you state your name and spell for the court reporter andrew friedman a-n-d-r-e-w-f-r-i-e-d-m-a-n
Do you swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Mr. Freeman, can you give your specific title with the ownership entity?
I'm the president or owner of 2100-12 Rush, LLC.
And I know we've heard a lot of testimony about the decision to go multifamily versus
single family.
I've worked with you on a number of projects where we went single family, where it made
sense where it was the right thing to do. In this case, can you again explain why you just did not
think that this made sense to go single family on this property? Well, Brett, let me ask this.
Well, Brett, let me ask you this. Can he adopt your testimony?
Can he adopt your testimony? Yeah, I'm going to ask him.
I'm going to ask him to. It's just, you know, they spent a number of years looking at this, trying to figure out what made the most sense.
Go ahead. I'll try to keep this short. Mr. Chair, I apologize.
So we just we looked essentially at the environmentals.
We at one point owned other single family lots in the area and we had friends that ended up buying them and developing them.
And we kind of saw the numbers that those properties sold for.
And honestly, what they were listed for rent at one point, they were close to four hundred thousand dollars that they sold for well over two and a half thousand dollars in rent per single family home.
And that wasn't our goal in this area. Our goal wasn't to, you know, gouge price that area.
We know what's going on there. We know what the neighborhood wants and to keep the prices relatively low and affordable.
So our goal was to take into consideration the environmentals, build a building that we can produce each unit at a lower cost.
That way, when we do get to the end goal of renting them, we can actually keep them as affordable as humanly possible to be hopefully less than 50 percent of what they're asking for for a single family home, even at 60 percent off of those numbers.
So that was essentially our goal is to keep the affordability aspect there and have the affordability be as close to rock bottom as possible to make sure that the people that do live in the area, stay in the area, can hopefully afford these properties and enjoy where they've been and continue to live there.
Mr. Friedman, I've got a chart that we put up that we presented to the community.
I presented this to the council person talking about that 13% of our units would be within this low-income band as per the city's low-income, mixed-income bonus.
Do you see that in front of you right now?
So we talked about 13%, which is four units.
Again, just for reference, there was three single-family homes that are three-bedroom, three-bathroom, approximately the same that we have.
I know one on William Street, 2200 block of William, about a block and a half away, was listed at like $2,700 a month.
We're trying to keep it at $1,476 or $1,228.
If we can get even lower than that with, obviously, construction costs and increased costs of construction, all that, if we can hopefully have that lowered over time with interest rates going up and hopefully material dropping, we're going to reassess and hopefully lower those prices as well.
Obviously, like I said, our goal is to have our rents as low as possible and just keep everybody in this area.
Yeah. Excuse me, sir. I appreciate you trying to do low income housing, but what enforcement
is there with this agreement or list that you have? We are absolutely willing to put this on
the record and then provide any type of documentation you want. We, again, I presented
this to the community. I presented this to the council person. But there's no enforcement.
correct there isn't there isn't right now on there isn't right now um i think you'll hear
planning say the same thing yeah yeah there's there's no way for us to we we we didn't qualify
for the bonus because we're rsa5 um and and the we asked we asked the community i asked the community
to work with us to put this down on you know in some type of binding there was no response
but the people who showed up at the meeting voted to support us uh who lived in the immediate
neighborhood so we're kind of between a rock and a hard place here um um but i will tell you you
this was what we put out there uh and we stand by it and we would be uh you know andrew you know
we would be willing to you know put this in writing as far as you know those those 13 percent
of the units absolutely uh if it if it would satisfy the board do you agree andrew yeah for
sure. We have no issues with that. Again, you know, regardless of those four units or the 13%,
our goal is not to just have, you know, low income housing. Our goal is to have more affordable
housing across the board. You know, like we said, with the environmental and everything, if we end
up building single families, the numbers are just through the roof to even for outsell or for rent,
the numbers are just way too high to keep that area affordable. So our goal with environmental
was to, you know, build something a little bit bigger, build something a little bit more dense
and be able to break everything up per unit and have those numbers, even for the standardized
rents, be a lot lower than expected.
Brent, are you done?
Andrew, I know the affordability was critical and I wanted you to...
Andrew, I know the affordability was critical, and I wanted you to talk about that.
We put a lot of other testimony.
I put a lot of other testimony on the record as far as the other challenges of this site.
I know you heard those, correct?
Correct, I did.
And do you find that true and accurate?
I did.
And do you adopt it as your own?
Thank you, Mr. Freeman.
Questions from the board.
No, Mr. Chairman.
board no mr no mr chairman questions or comments from the virtual audience
i see no hands at this time chair planning commission
good afternoon chair members of the board my name is greg waldman planning commission staff
in 2017 the zoning map was amended from i2 to rsa5 at this location in the court of
recommendations from the comprehensive plan and with the support of the community which matches
the row home character of the surrounding neighborhood. The applicant's proposed 30
units in five stories is an overuse at this location which at present is a paved lot. While
the planning commission staff appreciates the investigation into its industrial history,
the applicant's hardship claim is not supported with evidence of unique physical
circumstances of the property a financial hardship does not merit consideration for
variance in the code additionally the city has no ability to enforce portable units without
the deed restriction the city planning commission recommends that the zoning board deny the variance
mr feldman we've heard a great deal of testimony and i appreciate all the testimony yes what i
want to do with this i want to take this back to an executive session of the board and if i'm not
mistaken tanya that's in two weeks um yes chair if you want to deliberate and vote on june so
what we're going to do is in two weeks we'll be back on wednesday morning i'm not sure the date
but i want to have a chance for the board to really sit and listen to all this again and talk
about it okay and if i just may i appreciate that if if if you know we could put this down on on
you know enforceable as far as the the affordability um again i'd love to i have other
projects where i i mean i think i think there's a lot more besides affordability when i want to
talk about sure okay so what we'll do is we'll be you'll you'll hear from us you'll know it'll
be two weeks to today and um connie will we do that in the morning yes chair you can vote it
would be june 1st at 9 30 june 1st 9 30 will be okay mr chair this is hillary i um i assume you
would like to close the record at this point? Absolutely. Okay. Thank you. And thank you to
everyone for your time and consideration. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for the testimony. Thank
you. Uh, case number eight, MI 2022 001 237 2137 Bryn Mawr Avenue. Vern Anastasia. Stasio is the
The attorney, letter of support from the Winfield Residents Association.
Mr. Anastasio is coming back in as a panelist now, Chair.
Thank you.
Good morning.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, members of the Board of Bern, Anastasio, 939 Montrose Street, Philadelphia, PA, 191047.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client?
I represent.
In relationship to this property.
Excuse me.
I represent Crystal Bell, who is the representative of the decedent's estate that is holding title to the property.
Our vice chair has a few questions.
I'm Mr. Anastasia.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership, tax compliance, a copy of the refusal or referral, photos and or plans of the property five days in advance of this hearing?
And have you met with the RCO and do you have a letter?
I do to all of that.
Okay, great.
You may proceed and begin to share your screen.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I am sharing it.
Can you see the packet or do you see a file instead?
A file instead.
Here we go.
There it is.
There it is.
Thank you for your patience.
Mr. Chairman, members of the board, this is a legalization of a pre-existing non-conforming
Legalization of a pre-existing non-conforming use, five-family dwelling in an existing structure.
use, five family dwelling in an existing
structure.
My client has taken this property on pursuant to the death of her father, who owned this property for a very long time.
And it was, in fact, a legal five-family at one point.
As his age progressed, the license for rental was not renewed.
and as such at some point the underlying zoning classification of rsa5 kicked in
i do have this these are as i said uh legal i mean a pre-existing non-conforming use here are the plans
for each of the units
The property itself.
Here are the gas meters, all five electric meters.
There are the mailboxes that have been around for quite a long time.
We did meet with the folks of Winfield.
Here was the RCO letter that was mailed, not only inviting folks to the meeting on April 19th, but inviting folks to today's hearing.
We had proof of 48 unique pieces of mail that went out to everyone who lives within the 300-foot boundary.
boundary. It was very well attended, over 30 members of the immediate community,
overwhelming support, 28-6 in support. I've also included a copy of the deed,
the last deed on record, and the tax clearance as well. Given the fact that this property is,
in fact, a pre-existing non-conforming use that my client inherited and would just like to
legalize in order to settle her father's estate given the fact that we have in fact five separate
not only gas meters but electric meters and the physical breakdown of the property shows that
this has been a five-family dwelling for quite some time for all those reasons and the fact that
converting this back to a single family home would be impracticable and with the community support
we respectfully request that this variance be granted. And with that, I ask Ms. Crystal Bell
to raise her virtual hand and be recognized. Hi, could you state your name and spell for the court
reporter please okay hi sorry my name is crystal bell my name is spelled c-r-y-s-t-a-l last name
b-e-l-l do you swear affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i swear proceed mr chair thank you mr chair miss bell did you hear my presentation to the board
for this afternoon yes i did is it true and accurate to the best of your knowledge
yes it is and do you adopt it as your own testimony i do thank you i have nothing further
questions from the board no mr chairman no mr no questions or comments from the virtual audience
no hands here planning commission please
good afternoon chair and members of the board my name is greg wallovan planning commission staff
the comprehensive plan recommends no change to existing residential single family zoning at
this location the proposed use is consistent with documented previous uses on the property
the city planning commission recommends the zoning board grant the variance thank you mi2022
001-237-2137
Rimar Avenue. I vote yes.
Harold Tenere, my vote is yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Thank you all. Have a good evening.
Thank you.
MI 2022
001-238-2247
North A Street. Henry Clinton is the
The attorney, 37th Ward RCO, has a letter of support.
and he's coming in now as a panelist here
And he's coming in now as a panelist here.
good afternoon mr chairman hi mr clinton we've already sworn
you um could you identify your client in this case
and the relationship to the property sure my client is azul holdings a-z-u-l holdings and
the principal is rafi r-a-f-i bulk b-a-l-k and he is on the call via telephone all right our
vice chair has a few questions. Hi, Mr. Clinton. Do you agree to wave the reading of the refusal
and stipulate to its accuracy? I do. Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership,
tax compliance, a copy of the refusal or referral, photos and or 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
those questions. Okay, great. You may proceed and begin to share your screen. Thank you. Sure.
thank you. Is that visible enough? Yes. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, members of the board.
Henry Clinton here on behalf of Ansel Holdings LLC, and I'll walk through my presentation
package. These are a table of contents, including exhibits AA through A11, which I ask to be
admitted into evidence. Appearance statement, this is the refusal, the key document. This area
is zoned cmx2 when i get to the zoning map you'll see this side of the street the east side of the
street is all cmx2 which as the board knows is commercial on the first floor and typically two
units above when i show you photographs of the street there are no commercial properties on
the same side of the street as this vacant lot across the street there's a large factory but
on this side of the street it's all residential this property has been vacant lots since 1977
And I'll show the board photographs,