rear yard, or height.
You can see it's mainly a brick structure, which is much suggested for what Grace Ferry Community Council would like to see in the neighborhood.
This is a plan of the corner lot right now as it exists, indicating the width and the length.
There's a rear yard access for the second lot at 2602, which will go west and then exit on Sears Street.
and this is what the subdivided lots would look like if the board looks kindly upon this
proposal. We have legal descriptions. The remaining documents are the pro forma documents
that are typically presented before the board, the tax certification, the deed indicating
ownership, and all the other pro forma documents. So basically, in a nutshell, we have a situation
where we believe it's unique, long, vacant lot,
that this proposal is not going to affect
the light and air of any adjoining properties.
It's in harmony with the code.
It's in harmony with what the community group supports.
And it's not detrimental to the public welfare.
And with that, I ask the board
to look kindly upon their request.
And I'm available, as is the client,
for any questions or comments.
why don't you have your testimony adopted by your client okay uh idan or tuval can you
unmute yourself that phone number may be 215-292-646-650 we have a calling user with their
hand up with a phone number ending in 7798 please unmute yourself and please wait for the chair
could you state your name and spell it please hi this is idan shlomo
could you state your name and spell it please
could you could you spell it for the court reporter yep idan e-d-o-n shlomo s-h-l-o-m-o
right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i do proceed mr shlomo uh good morning good morning were you on the call
when I presented the testimony
concerning 2600 Wharton Street?
I was.
And are you one of the principals
of the owner, the LLC?
And if you had the opportunity to testify,
would you testify as I did
and did you find my testimony true and correct
and would you adopt it?
Thank you very much.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chair.
No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Chair, we have Shereen Brooks.
Please unmute yourself and please wait for the chair.
Hi, could you state your name and spell it for the court reporter?
Sure, my name is Shereen, S-H-E-R-E-N-E.
Last name is Brooks, B-R-O-O-K-S.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Thank you. Proceed.
I am not in support of this project. I live in the 2500 block of Wharton Street, closer to 26 in Wharton. Matter of fact, that's my car sitting right there with the picture, the Sonata, the Tan Sonata, sitting right there.
um if they want to put one family dwelling there I'm all in support of it but not two different
properties with four families living there and I believe it's going to be a rooftop deck
we don't get sunlight now because we're inundated with rooftop decks and in properties um no I'm not
in support of that my address is 2541 Wharton Street I'm the third one right there right yep
that's where I live at exactly exactly I'm not in support of this project like I said if they want
to put one family dwelling there I'm more than welcome to sign off on that and as far as being
Grace Ferry the RCO they don't represent our neighborhood they don't even live near us so
So, no, I'm not in support of that.
Thank you, ma'am, for calling in.
Are there anyone else, comments or statements?
Here we have Candace Anderson.
Hi, could you state your name and spell it for the court reporter?
Good morning.
My name is Candace Anderson, C-A-N-D-I-C-E, Anderson, A-N-D-E-R-S-O-N.
All right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Proceed.
Good morning. Again, my name is Candace Anderson. I live at 2608 Wharton Street. I am the fourth
generation in this home. My family has owned this home for over 80 years. My house will be
99 years now will be 100 years old next year, God willing. I, as one of the neighbors, was not
notified that this property was up for development. I did speak with a number of other neighbors this
morning and they were not notified of any community meeting to discuss the planning and development
of this property. We in the neighborhood, we are a community. We would not, I'll speak on behalf
of myself, I should say, I will not support something like this. Like Shireen said, I will
support a one family home because that is consistent with what is in this block. But I will not
support any multifamily dwellings. Also, Grace Ferry community does not represent us. They do
not live in this block. None of the members live in this block. And I think if you are going to
develop in this block you should have a voice you should be able to say what you would like to see
and something that is aligned with what is already in the block but i do not support this okay thank
you ma'am for thank you for calling in anyone else in the virtual audience chair we have allison
Could you state your name and spell it for the court reporter, please?
Hi, my name is Allison Ng, spelled A-L-L-I-S-O-N.
Did I swear you in this morning?
I just had a question. I don't know. No, no, no. Wait a minute. I said I thought I swore you in this morning.
I just had a question.
I don't know if you did.
No, no, no.
Wait a minute.
I said I thought I swore you in this morning.
You might have. Yeah, I did ask earlier a question. OK, good. All right. What's your comments?
OK, so I looked on the Web site for Philly zoning and it said a variance may be issued if an applicant proves that the denial of the variance would result in an unnecessary hardship and that the unnecessary hardship was not is not created by the applicant.
The variance must be the minimum variance or the least modification possible that will afford relief and must be in harmony with the purpose and spirit of the zoning code.
The variance cannot substantially increase congestion in the streets slash transit, burden public facilities, endanger the public welfare, affect implementation of a neighborhood plan, injure the adjacent properties, including the supply of light and air, or create significant environmental damage.
I'd like to speak to these things regarding the plan.
Let me issue this.
Are you against the property, against the development?
I am against it.
I am the neighbor who lives right next door at 2604 Wharton Street.
And it would be extremely burdensome to me personally, but not only me, but to my community.
So first, it says it cannot increase congestion on the streets and transit.
So, so ma'am, let me, I think we understand, you don't have to go over the whole code, but we do understand where you stand, you're against this development, we understand it.
But can I provide a little bit more background as to why?
For example.
Go ahead.
You muted yourself.
Oh, sorry.
Right. For example, they compared it to Wharton Hall across the street, which does not have five, but four apartment buildings, apartments inside.
That building is three buildings wide. So it has one parking spot in front of it.
No, two parking spots in front of it on Wharton Street and three on 26th Street.
These two duplexes, if their entrances and the entrance to Wharton Hall is on 26th Street.
The entrance to these duplexes would be on Wharton Street, not 26th, like Wharton Hall is.
And there's one parking spot in front of it because there's also a stop sign on the corner.
On 26th Street, there might be parking spots, but there would only be two on that side.
And the entrances are on Wharton Street, not 26th.
Wharton Hall's entrances are on 26th Street.
So we're talking about adding four to eight cars to our street.
The next one is it can't burden public facilities. As you see currently, it is an undeveloped. It used to be green space before the developer purchased it, but it is an undeveloped space. So it currently has the capacity for stormwater retention.
If you develop it like this, it's going to increase wastewater produced.
If you have four units there versus two units versus none, there's a lot more wastewater produced.
Philadelphia has a problem with combined sewer overflow and heat island effect.
So reducing green space and doubling wastewater and reducing stormwater retention is a huge burden on public facilities that could be avoided by leaving this as a green space or at a minimum having it as single family dwellings.
okay um next injuring adjacent properties so my house as i said is next door it is less than five
feet deep inside my basement i checked when i went downstairs and i looked out my window i'm only
five and a half feet tall so um if there's going to be people living downstairs that is going to
be a deep basement and it will affect the structure of my building um it's probably going to destabilize
my wall i have two children under the age of five and their bedroom is on the left side of the house
I don't want their wall to fall down while they're sleeping in there it's not safe
so the other thing that I noticed was that the structure is supposed to be built straight back
so it's going to be over three floors tall and straight back so there's not going to be that
gap that most houses have if you look if you flip to the page that shows the overhead view of the
houses. You'll notice on our block, most of the houses are, they have basically like a living room
window and then it indents about three feet to the kitchen area. And so, and you can see on my
house, it has that, but the proposed building will go further back and it's going to go straight back.
So there's not going to be that opening between the two houses. So it will restrict light to my
kitchen bathroom the kids window my living room window um significantly not just because it's
three floors but because it's proposed to be built straight back rather than with that
um and those are the main points that i have and i just think it doesn't um comply with
those are the main points that i have and i just think it doesn't um comply with all right thank
you thank you for calling in and and staying on the phone too from your earlier call anyone else
i see no handshare planning commission thank you chair bergman ian hegarty for the philadelphia
city planning commission comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing rsa5
single-family zoning at this location. With regard to the dimensional variances for lot
width and area, we find that the proposed dimensions are consistent with typical lot
sizes on this block and in the surrounding neighborhood. However, with regard to the
proposed two-family use, the applicant has not shown that there are any unique physical
conditions of these proposed lots that would compel two-family use. This is a purely economic
request, which does not constitute hardship in this case. So our recommendation is that the board
grant the variances for lot dimensions and that lot width and size, but to deny the variance for
two-family use on these lots. Mr. Chairman, can I address some of the comments just briefly?
Mr. Clinton, you can. All right, thank you. So in terms of notice, we sent out letters as per the
planning commission guidelines to all the surrounding homeowners within 250 feet. We had
a community-wide meeting with Grace Freire, and Grace Freire is a coordinating RCO with other
RCOs in that neighborhood. It was well attended. Ms. Allison, who was the last speaker, did get
an opportunity to present her position, and a vote was taken, and it was overwhelming support.
In addition to notice, we also, you can see the notices were posted within 21 days of the hearing
for anybody who maybe discarded the mailer or didn't read the letter so they had noticed.
In terms of the Planning Commission, I mean, this lot has been undeveloped for, as I said,
25 to 30 years or more, and it's been sitting there undeveloped. And this is going to bring
a new home on both lots. The corner property, back in the day, used to be three stories from
what I understand, as most corner properties were, and had multi-uses. And then in terms of
unique situation. I've argued that because of where it's located, a church across the street,
a school across the street, and a four, I thought it was five apartments, four apartments and a
daycare across the street, it kind of fits in with that corner. In terms of parking, which Miss
Allison brought up, you can see in this photograph, you're going to be able to get at least three and
possibly four cars on 26th Street. And the width of the houses are 28 feet. You should be able to
get at least one and a half, possibly two cars there. And so with that commentary, again, I ask
that the board look kindly upon this application, since it is in harmony with the community support
and in harmony with the code. And I thank you for the additional time you gave me.
Thank you, Mr. Clinton. MI 2021-004-761-2600 Wharton Street. I vote yes to the separation,
the size of the lots and and no to multi-family units harold tenary i vote yes to the size of the
lots and no to multiple family units thomas halliman my vote is yes to the separation of
the lot but no to multi-family use ishmael shaheed my vote is yes to the size of the lots but no to
the multi-use and chair if i could just clarify i will um the vote then is yes to the dimensional
variances yes no to the use thank you okay mi 2021 004 825 2647 reed street
no rco letter but we believe we have one from last night mr clinton again just state your name
Chair, he had got kicked out. He's coming back in as a parent.
Okay, sure.
Good afternoon or good morning, Mr. Chairman.
Henry Clinton for 2647 Reed Street.
Could you identify who your client is and the relationship they have with the property?
Certainly.
The owner is 2626 Oak Reed, LLC, and the principal Leigh Nezafort, L-E-Y-N-E-Z-I-F-O-R-T, is on the call with me.
Our vice chair has a few questions.
Hi, Mr. Clinton.
Do you agree to wait through reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
It appears that you've emailed all of the required documents timely.
Is that correct?
Thank you.
You may proceed and share your screen.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Good morning, Mr. Chairman, members of the board.
Henry Clinton for 2626 Oak Reed, LLC.