okay that's another curb cut on the on the same block as well
this is another curb cut on the 1200 block and pad parking along the 1200 block of palmer street
on the next block over so again a long history of curb cuts in this community um also i want to
mentioned before I forget, Mr. Chairman, this board granted a variance. I'm going to show you
right now. Last a few months ago at 1113 Palmer Street, which is two blocks away, almost exact
similar circumstances. I'll show you two accessory surfing parking spots, access from Palmer Street
through the front. My esteemed colleague, Mr. Nockamson, represented the applicant. The board
granted the variance for that. Sorry. This is another curb cut. Here's our site plan. I do
want to mention, Mr. Chairman, let me rotate. So there were concerns about safety. Let me address
that, and Mr. Jaquinta will also speak on this. We will not have, sorry, I keep going the wrong
way, forgive me. We will not have this become a dangerous scenario. There are concerns about
safety. We will utilize any available and all available technology to make sure that this
curb cut is not a danger to the neighborhood. First of all, there was talk about that it
creates dead space um this is a pretty wide property um but we'll have flood lighting
um state-of-the-art flood lighting to illuminate the sidewalk um we will have mirrors installed
to make sure and of course the board's well aware of the technology that exists now
um there are rear backup cameras in most cars but even if the buyer in this case doesn't have it we
will have technology and mirrors installed to make sure that there's perfect vision for anybody
utilizing this curb cut. And as the board shows from my photos, you can see there's plenty of
curb cuts that already exist on this block and other blocks. There's an extreme parking problem
in the neighborhood. We are not going to contribute to the problem by adding a house with a car that
has to compete with existing on-street parking, and we are not displacing any existing parking.
So let me do this. Let me call Mr. Jaquinzo. Mr. DeMarco, before you move on, did you attend the RCO meeting? Yes. And it seems to be the RCO's letter is really strong against it. What were the main objects? Safety?
Yeah, so let me address that. So there were people that voted in favor. It was certainly not a blowout. I mean, there were a number of people that spoke in favor of the project and supported the project. We did try to speak to and go door to door to a number of the neighbors.
Mr. Jaquinto will verify this. A lot of people were unwilling to speak live in favor of the
project, even though they supported it. I would say to you that the vote does not really represent
the true opinion of people. A lot of people, for some reason, and especially
um opinion of people a lot of people for some reason and especially in this neighborhood don't
feel comfortable in speaking we tried to get a lot of the people who supported this project to
speak today there's only one or two people that are willing to do so hopefully you'll hear from
them shortly um i understand that there's there's concern about safety but um we've have we have
curb cuts throughout this city and throughout this community and there's been no issues with
uh pedestrian accidents from curb cuts like this they can be done in a way that does not impact
safety safety was the main concern the people who no one really objected to the gain of the
parking space it was this issue with the school next door and okay uh all right so i mean bring
your client on all right let's let me ask mr chiquinto to raise his virtual hand and answer
a few questions.
Jaquinto?
Hello?
Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Joseph Jaquinto, last name spelled J-A-C-Q-U-I-N-T-O.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir.
Proceed, counsel.
So, Mr. Jaquinto, did you hear all of my factual statements that I made to the board today in my presentation?
Yes, I did.
All right. Are they true and accurate? And can you adopt them officially as your testimony before the board?
Yes. True and accurate.
Okay. I'd like you to answer a couple additional questions. Can you explain to the board, you're the developer of this property, right?
Correct.
All right. And you've developed, what, scores of properties within this community and throughout the city? Is that fair to say?
Yeah, since 2015, probably the, I would say about 95% of the projects I've done have been in that area, that zip code.
Why don't you tell the board the typical buyer that you're getting in this area as far as whether they prefer an electric car, a car, or no car at all?
I would say nine out of the last 10 cars that we've sold to people have all asked for, hey, can we get an electric car hookup, whether it was outside to run it to their car or if there was off-street parking.
They all asked to make sure that the house was electric car ready.
And if you are not given the variance today, what will be the result if the buyer that buys the property owns an electric car?
Oh, I mean, it's going to be electric car ready anyway.
We wire the house for that anyway.
But with no parking out front, it'd be very difficult for them to go and charge your vehicle.
And if let's just say they were parked down the street, how would they charge the car, if at all?
I mean, it would be a huge trip hazard, but they'd have to run some kind of cable down the street.
That's what I was getting at.
They'd have to run a line across the street or down the block, right?
All right.
Why don't you expound, if you can, on your conversations with near residents?
I tried to summarize it, but why don't you explain to the board what your challenges you had in getting people to speak about this problem?
So I've been working in this neighborhood. I did the house across the street as well.
I've been working in the neighborhood for a while. And, you know, when we started this one,
a lot of people walking by or like, you know, had said, hey, I hope you're building parking
with this. You know, there's a huge parking you're adding the house and there's no parking.
So, you know, I kind of taken that as this is, you know, a good thing that they want parking
here. These are things that are good to hear. I almost find it, you know, there's no parking
on the other side of the street and i'm adding a house it's almost irresponsible not to um to go
ahead through the process and at least ask for parking um and talking to some of the neighbors
as it kind of got closer to the zb to the rco meeting um some of the folks that were hey it's
a good idea were less likely to didn't want to sign a position and less likely when i asked them
if they would speak didn't really want to speak because these are their neighbors and they didn't
want to go against their neighbors and some of the louder voices are the ones that um you know
are against it and you know the quieter voices really have nothing to gain besides you know a
parking spot and it's probably you know it's really not worth their their time to to go ahead
and go against their neighbors for that so there was a part of the rco letter that mentioned that
you didn't agree to uh place a bollard or tree to prevent sidewalk parking do you want to address
that to the board yeah i said i would i would be happy to put a ballard um out front um i think it's
Yeah, I said I would be happy to put a ballard out front.
I think it's a good idea.
They put some trees further down the block by the school because, I mean, if you ever go there around school time, all the parents drive up on – well, they used to drive up on the sidewalks wherever they can park to drop off their kid.
I would have no problem putting a ballard there.
I said maybe not a tree.
I look at a tree, but we have a community garden right there that the neighbors have really done a nice job with.
And then there's also a telephone pole right there, right next to that.
And then there's a fire hydrant right next to that.
So, you know, a tree as it, you know, it's going to be small in the beginning and, you know, not bad.
But, you know, as it begins to grow, it could kind of take over a bit of the sidewalk there.
so I I but I said I'd have no problem putting the ballard in I mean I'd even consider the tree if
they really wanted the tree but I just you know based on the layout there I thought a ballard
might be better than the tree and you've you've been on site almost daily isn't that right
yeah while we're working I'm there every day all right and the photos that I that you provided
those photos to me correct and the opeds that's correct uh and is it is there a parking uh what
is the parking situation um in those blocks and neighboring blocks um well i mean it parking is
very difficult um you know as you go from uh gerard through to frankfurt um a lot of cars cut
through there um and there's no uh it's like a four or five block stretch there's there's no
parking along the left-hand side of the road at all um on any of those blocks um so parking's very
difficult um you know getting amazon deliveries is very difficult it backs up a lot and like i
said with the construction on gerard a lot of cars use that as like a bypass from gerard uh from
gerard to frankfurt um uh you know uh parking's it's always very busy and parking is very difficult
That little side street, Willig, I mean, the sign says no parking, do not enter, or something to that regard.
Cars do park there.
I don't know that everyone's supposed to be parking there, but I'm sure the neighbors will tell you that everyone who has a vehicle has parked there at some point because there's nowhere else to park.
i'm just gonna i'm just scrolling my computer's a little slow i'm gonna put that photo back up
all right well that i think that's uh and of course is there any way for this is willing
street here mr chairman that he's referring i see yep uh is there any way specifically
sorry go ahead so mr demarco one question for your client yes sir the other properties he's
built in fishtown has he done front-loaded parking yes where uh i most recently i did
one on Fletcher Street uh about maybe six blocks away okay and that was the case in which I was
involved with Mr. Chairman you granted um you granted front access garage in almost an identical
situation and you and there was the case that I showed uh from the next block uh just last question
for Mr. Chiquinto um you physically you cannot there's no way to for this property to have rear
accessed uh parking correct that's correct i mean you know i wish there was and quite honestly
um you know if if there was parking on the other side of the street um you know we wouldn't be
here today i wouldn't be asking for a spot but you know uh the city has you know parking issues
and i mean that's that's we can't hide from that and you know uh taking another car off the road
if you're not displacing anything kind of seems like a no-brainer at least to me okay mr chairman
that's all i have i would just thank you questions questions from the board no mr chairman no chair
no chair questions or comments from the virtual audience
mr chair i have anise whitaker with their hand raised i have allowed them to speak at this time
Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell it for the court stenographer?
Yes, Vinnie Whitaker, spelled V as in Victor, E as in elephant, N as in Nancy, I as in igloo, S as in Sam, Whitaker, W-H-I-T-A-K-E-R, I swear to tell the truth.
Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do, Chairman.
Are you a neighbor?
yes i am okay proceed okay thank you very much and good afternoon to everyone um i i'm and if i
go out of bounds and out of the lane please let me know but i just kind of want to address a few
things that the statements that were made um i want to first begin that the community and the
I want to first begin that the community and the neighborhoods voted no for this project.
neighborhoods
Thank you so much.
Lots of times parking topics come up, and it's a case-by-case basis.
I think we shouldn't sit there and blanket each case of parking, as the example that
was mentioned on the other Palmer Street, that's on the riverside.
The riverside is totally different from this little dense area.
and just to say that this side of the street is actually the main walking route to the school
at that corner of palmer and belgrade is where the crossing guard is at the other parking spot
that is there they barely use it the car just sits sits there's a car that just sits there
the schoolyard parking all the teachers are usually in between 7 30 7 45 so there's not a
lot of cars coming in and out there. There is a lot of sidewalk parking, and that's also a concern.
Many times we've seen that with the front-loading garages, cars also park on the sidewalk in front
of their garages. For whatever reason, it happens all the time. We have a lot of streets in Fishtown
that we refer to as solar streets because it's just garages and no eyes on the street whatsoever.
This curb cut will impact the children that come to and from school every day.
This is not a good choice for a front-loading garage whatsoever.
We need more eyes on the streets and not more cars coming in and out.
A parking issue is a whole other topic, and it's not a hardship for zoning.
So until the zoning is changed and they add parking as a hardship, this is not a hardship whatsoever.
So as a resident and someone who is in Fishtown and walks their child to school along the street, I am asking you to vote with the neighborhood and not support this project and vote no.
Thank you very much.
Ms. Whitaker, thanks for your call and thanks for your insight.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
Yes, Mr. Chair, a Sean Whitter with fair hand raised.
i have allowed them to speak at this time hi could you state your name please and spell for
the court stenographer sean witter s-h-a-w-n-w-i-i-t-t-e-r right do you swear or firm to
tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes are you a neighbor i am i am two
blocks away okay uh and uh yeah this comes down to kind of like a uh a parking equation from my
perspective although it might not be a hardship but parking certainly is for me uh and and if
we're not displacing somebody and we're getting one car as you know off the streets that would
be competition i guess for the lack of a better word uh you know i'm kind of for that so i agree
with the front load parking okay all right thank you thank you very much for your time and calling
again is there anyone else in the virtual audience there are no further hands mr chair
planning commission thank you chairman and good afternoon david effecto with the city planning
commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the residential single family zoning at
this location there is no unique physical condition or circumstance of this property that would
prevent it from being used in conformance with the zoning code the city planning commission
recommends the board deny the proposed variance for off-street parking, not access from a shared
driveway, alley, or rear street. Thank you. Mr. DeMarco, I want to take this to our executive
session. It'll be two weeks from today, and we'll vote for that on this at two o'clock on that
Wednesday. Okay. I want to have a discussion about where we stand with this type of project. All
right. I would just, to sum up, I would just look to your decisions in the past on this very same
this year all right great and and the case will be other than that the case is closed okay very
well all right thank you thank you for your time have a good day everybody all right you too all
right let's see where we are here caster and palmer
position number 10 mi 2023 002 200 900 to 58 north 9th street ronald patterson is the attorney
um letter of support from the 14th ward democratic executive committee rcl
they're coming back isn't it thank you
hi mr patterson could you
Hi, Mr. Patterson, could you state your name for the record and spell for the courts?
Sure, Mr. Chairman. Good afternoon. My name is Ronald Patterson, P-A-T-T-E-R-S-O-N,
Claire Harrison Law Firm, 1835 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103.
Right. Do you swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Could you identify your client, a relationship to this property?
Sure. My client is 900 North 9th Street Ground Owner LLC, which is the owner and operator of the property at 900 North 9th Street.
Okay. And the vice chair has just a few questions.
Good afternoon, Mr. Patterson. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, I do.
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that are needed and required to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, I have.
Thank you, counsel. Please proceed.