Thank you.
hello hi jermaine how are you sir okay it says i cannot start my video because it's been disabled
by the host okay we'll we'll have your someone take care of that for us okay
okay and while we're waiting why don't you just state your name and spell for the stenographer
uh here you go you're coming up
maybe not
jermaine there i am and there you go there you go okay i just state your name
there i am and there you go there you go okay i just state your name is spelled for the
stenographer sure uh jermaine harris that's j-e-r-m-a-i-n-e harris h-a-r-r-i-s
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i do could you identify your client and the relationship to this property
Yes, it's Affluence LLC, and his relationship is that he is the owner.
Okay, our vice chair has a few questions.
Good evening.
Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
I have.
And do you waive the reading of the refusals and stipulate to their accuracy?
All right, thank you.
You can share your screen and proceed with your case.
Thank you.
Okay, so this is for two properties, and this is for 6215 as well as 6217 North 13th Street.
and what my client is seeking to do is he is seeking to make this property into these two
properties they're side by side he's seeking to make them as a triplex and I just want to go over
let's start by looking at the packet no yeah start looking at by looking at the packet
so this is this is the postings of the notice hearing on that this is another picture
of what it looks like
and my client purchased this property these properties
in 2022. And as of right now, what they are is they are shelves. And what the plan is,
is to make each of these properties into two bedroom properties per floor. And I want to
go over to plans briefly. Let me blow them up. So there are three levels to this, one of which is
the lower level the um the basement level then there's first floor and second floor now these
buildings are pretty large it's on a three each building is on a three thousand square foot lot
and the improvement is 2,400 square feet and each has its own separate entrance so
for the lower level at a basement level it has an entrance in the rear and we'll
get to the actual pictures in a second but I just wanted to show you the floor
plans but each building has its own entrance uh each each apartment has its own interest for the
basement it's in the rear there's also let's see here egress on for both bed room uh for both
bedrooms for the for the apartment so one side is one side has the window well
for the first the other one has the window well for the second bedroom and
the same is true for the building that's on the right so the left is 6215 the
the right is 6217. 6217 right here, this is the window well for the bedroom for that one. This
is the window well for the bedroom for that one. Again, the entrance, the method of egress is the
rear and then you have the window wells for each separate
And then you have the window wells for each separate, for each separate bedroom.
Moving on to the first floor.
And by the way, these are, these bedroom, these apartments are 800 square feet.
It's a straight line up.
So it's about 800 square feet per floor.
So, again, if we're looking at the first level, we have what I'm pointing at is the 6215, this is 6217, the entrance is this way, the front door.
and you have the bedrooms towards the rear of these apartments.
Then you have the second floor and you have apartment five and apartment six,
Or in this case, the third apartment in 6215, the third apartment in 6217, the entrance is on the side.
And that has two bedrooms.
Both of them have two bedrooms all towards the rear for that.
And this is the entrance.
This is the stairwell walking up to that.
That's for $62.15. Stairwell entrance for $62.17.
Let's...
Here are the actual exterior of the building.
This is the side. This is the side for $62.17.
This is for going to the upstairs apartment.
This is the side.
This is for 6215 right here.
This is the side, the window wells.
So this is the exit for the basement part, the lower levels.
This is for 62.17.
This is for 62.15.
I think I have another picture right here.
Same, a different angle, but the same thing.
right again this is the front and this is the entrance for the first level of that so
that's what that is
again when my when my client purchased this property the prior owner had framed it out
but they stopped once they realized that there was a problem
with the city now we did have a community meeting with the Oak Lane Community Association
and they were in opposition to the three family they were open to the two family
But they were they were open to the two family, but they were they had concerns about the three family.
However, I will note that only seven nearby neighbors were actually present at this at the community meeting of I believe it was twenty one or twenty nine.
let me see it was it was it was 19 no 22 and only seven nearby neighbors now
there is community support among the nearby neighbors and there were petitions that were
signed by 40 nearby neighbors who had no objection, who supported this particular project as
who supported this particular project as proposed by the applicant.
And these are the signatures right here of that.
Also, there is multifamilies.
There are multifamilies also within the area.
There's an apartment complex that's right down the street from it, a 22-unit.
a two unit that's on the same, well, that's right around the corner from that side, another
two unit that's on the same block, no, that's on the same, right, that's on Park Avenue
that's right around the corner from there, and then there's a three unit that is on the
same block as that block. We have the tax clearance for this entity that owns the two
two buildings. So we have that and we have the evidence of ownership. Let's see here.
The evidence of ownership for these properties as they were sold collectively. This deed
is reflects that in January of 2022.
And so what we would ask is, in light of the community support, the fact that these are
large buildings that the request be granted for this, and I would like to call my client
so that way, have them promote it as well so that they can adopt my testimony.
So Mr. Pasha, if you could raise your hand so you could be promoted.
i have a phone number ending in seven two six four with their hand raised yeah that's okay yep oh
good afternoon everyone hi could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
my name is anwar pasha first name a-n-w-a-r last name is pasha p-a-s-h-a right do you swear or affirm
to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes i do counsel okay so mr pasha did you
hear the testimony that i just gave in front of the board uh yes i was able to um hear some of
the conversation i was trying to get on a video call but unfortunately i'm able to just listen
okay do you agree with the testimony that you heard me present to the board from what i heard yes
Okay. Now, is there anything that you would like to add to this presentation that you think
that you may want the board members to know before we go to questions?
Sure. I can just tell you it's been a long time coming. Thank you for allowing me to
speak and hear my case. Like I said, when I acquired the property, it was sold to me
um as two triplexes um my loan was predicated based on two triplexes um we realized that
for some reason city hall had it as a multi-family as well as the title company
um when we were trying to move forward and get things moving that's when we came into a couple
i guess halts when we realized that it was a partial deed so i had to pay for a survey
to have it legalized as two full separate deeds.
And then I had to go through, you know,
variations of, you know, trying to get it legalized.
You know, I went in front of the board.
I explained to them what I was trying to do.
I grew up in Philadelphia.
I'm really from the Philadelphia area.
I do a lot of investing in Philadelphia.
I sit on the board for the YMCA.
I give back to the community.
I also am part of a program called BORT, the Center for Black Mentorship, which I deal with Keith Williams, where we try to empower young black men, as well as their neighborhood, to have a skill set.
well as their neighborhood to have a skill set. One of my things that I do is I hire people when
one of my things that I do is
I come into the neighborhood to allow them to have a skill to be able to provide for their family
and just be able to be in a better position. Besides just the work ethics, we talk about,
you know, the way you carry yourself, your mannerism, just overall presenting yourself
out here to be a better person in life sir listen what i want you to do is concentrate on these
properties and i and i appreciate hearing everything you've done outside but you need
to concentrate on these two properties not a problem um pretty much when i acquired the
properties um i thought everything were pretty much was already straightened out when i realized
that um there were not legalized we pretty much i reached out to the attorney jermaine
I told them I needed services to get the situation straightened out.
So we had to go in front of the neighbors to see if they're willing to allow us to legalize these and get their permission to be okay with it.
As they said, they had some concerns, some issues.
I was able to address, you know, a lot of their concerns.
And, you know, what they asked me, I said I was willing to do.
You know, like I said, my loan is predicated on a three-unit triflex.
my lender basically indicated to me, you know, if it's not granted, you know, they have the right
to recall the loan. So, and I'm like, okay, so I just been asking for mercy from the neighbors to
see what would it take for you guys to feel comfortable and allow me to, you know, move
forward and allowing the situation to be approved. And that's kind of where we at now. That's how we
got to this point um you know i have the neighbors have asked me am i willing to hire people from
from the neighbors to give them employment i said yes i said you know i'm willing to teach them
give them opportunity um to have a skill again let's go back to the to the property i i appreciate
everything you're doing with the neighbors but concentrate on the two properties is there anything
else you want to tell us about the properties um i guess at this point i'm just hoping that you guys
can, you know, allow us to, you know, move forward and have it done. Like I said, the property
was acquired. It is a two-bedroom, two-bathroom, two full bathrooms per unit. Each unit has separate
entrants. What Jermaine was telling us, you have one in the front, one on the side, and one in the
back. The units in the back have two egress windows for both bedrooms. When I acquired it,
like I said a lot of the work was pretty much done the framing the electric the plumbing the
insulation the fire alarm Jermaine has told us most of that is there anything else you want to
add okay is it okay is there anything no not at this point no I think that's it okay thank you
very much Jermaine why don't you put the plans up would you put the plans up please sure questions
from the board hold on let me put up the plans first
that's good that's that that's it thank you very much sure on the board
so the basement i guess that the first one the second floor i don't really have an issue with
they're nicely laid out i think they're decent sized two bedroom units the basement is the unit
that i have issues with probably i guess other folks did too um it's not a whole lot of natural
light you've got these sort of deep um window wells it looks like it's fairly deep underground
and um it just seems like a like a cave so so that's a concern a concern for me with those
those basement units and can you zoom out some more you're not showing the whole plane
okay no i was just zooming in on the basement because you were mentioning the basement so
okay yeah that's why i did that yeah okay any other questions about where yeah where's the
walkout for the basement units that you showed in the photographs it's right here it's a it's in the
walker you have to walk around the back of the building to get to the to get to these basements
right and there's no windows or anything in that kitchen living room area so if you compare the
basement layout with the first floor and the second floor layout you see the stark difference
between the way that units the size of the apartments and the way that the apartments
are laid out just in terms of look at the kitchen living room area dining area of the first floor
compared to what would be just essentially just the kitchen and dining
compared to what would be just essentially just the kitchen and dining area of the first floor
unit in the basement and then there's no windows the only window that you have you got the door
wet you got the door into the basement then you've got the first window that you have is the bedroom
that has the egress well other than that there's no no light no air no ventilation i mean if you
ripped out half of that back wall in the basement and got some windows in there then it might be
salvageable um so but that's that's my concern other questions uh what's the depth of the backyard
um i don't know if we have a site plan as far as that i can just tell you
that the lot itself is 3 000 square feet um i don't know
There's no zoning plan that shows. I guess this is it. Okay. And then is the plan that all tenants
are going to have access to the rear yard, even though the first apartment one and two are going
to have to enter through that yard as well? Yes. So the way that it was broken down, the yard are
common area um if you look in the picture i don't have them in front of me unfortunately um there's
a walkway which is like i think like a four feet or five feet walkway but on the side of the walkway
it is a common area where all parties or all tenants can utilize the grass so um it's access
to all tenants and you have it on both sides so the tenants on 6215 have their own access to their
own grass as well which is a common area as well as 6217 has its own grass as well but if it's okay
with you guys i want to kind of speak on the window there is a window in the kitchen what
happened was we were trying to move forward and we had a stop work order um far as trying to get
everything looks like when the egress was there they were i was told that it was trying to do the
same but they said there was no work able to be done to put a larger window in the kitchen
could be able to have like an egress or natural light until once the zoning situation or the
meeting was approved. Then they said once that, then you should be able to be able to move forward.
So I just want to kind of elaborate about the window situation. And I understand his concern
about his dark. And that was something that I brought up as well to the architect was saying,
you guys have two egress windows here. You should put one in the kitchen as well to have natural
light as well as a form of getting out of the property for both units in a basement well i
guess i get yeah i guess the thing is they should have shown that on the plan as a proposal you know