we would not get a refusal. So because we don't have a deck, we get a refusal.
Here is
our site plan that shows that it's a 38-foot-tall building,
four stories, and it's, again, 5th and Dudley Street on the southeast corner.
and the plans show three units
a bi-level unit on the
a bi-level unit on the uh in the
area in your kitchen two bedrooms on the first floor with two bathrooms on the
second floor you have one unit and then on the third and fourth floors again you have a bi-level
larger unit as well with three bedrooms and three bathrooms. You have an individual trash storage
area in the rear yard as well. The two bi-level units exceed 2,000 square feet in size and the
unit on the second floor exceeds 1,000 square feet in size. Again, these are for sale condominium
units. I wanted to go to the RCO letter. Sorry. One day I'll get this down.
Okay. We had an RCO in-person meeting on November 10th or 11th. I don't remember the date.
13 people supported this, as you can see, support eight tenants and five residents.
Why the RCO made a distinction between tenants and owners, I don't know.
One person opposed it, so it was 13 in support and one in opposition at the RCO meeting.
um despite that the rco did not take did not reach agreement on the application
um they said they needed more information although they never asked us for additional
information um it was november 11th and they also included their letter uh talking about this and
there's two other properties that were heard at the same time from the same developer
um they clearly state that there were 13 people in attendance in support and only one person in
attendance in opposition um but they again said they did not uh come to agreement they wanted
further assurance that this would be a condominium um and the client will testify that yes this is a
for sale condominium of three units and they mentioned a coffee shop and that was something
that he had discussed with neighbors, but never presented and is not part of this application.
So then when you look at beyond this, where this property is at 5th and Dudley, every
property, and we circulated a petition and have support from a bunch of the neighbors
in the area and some opposed, but nearly everybody supported the application.
But I want to go down to the photos because they put the context of the property.
As you can see, in the area, seeking input from neighbors before going to the RCO.
This is the lot.
As you can see, it's a long-standing, vacant lot, 5th and Dudley.
It's a wide lot.
It's 18 feet wide.
It's much larger than the typical lot on, say, Dudley Street, which is only 14 feet wide, which are under 1,000 square feet.
This is over 1200 square feet, almost 1300 square feet.
Again, another shot of the of the lot of the street where there are smaller
of the street where there are smaller single family homes.
single family homes.
At this intersection,
you have three other properties, two of which are multifamily. Sorry.
that's the property directly 25 south fifth street
and as you can see that's a multi-family structure
and then on the opposite side of fifth street you have a multi-family structure on one corner
and then on the other corner you have what i'm not sure some kind of a store and then
residential use above so you have again no single family uses on these corners which is typical in
that community. So what we are seeking to do is to use this property in
conformity with surrounding properties. As as a multifamily, the area where it
is, it's been vacant for a long time. There are many vacant vacant parcels in
the area. We meet the open area and dimensional requirements for 38 feet
tall. We meet the rear yard requirement. We have large units proposed. They are
for sale. We believe that because this property has been vacant for a long time,
it's not able to be developed as a single family residence. This wasn't
created by the applicant. The grant of the variance will allow the development
and conformity with the other corner properties in the area. If this were on
Dudley Street, we would not be asking for variance. It meets the goals of the
zoning code to encourage revitalization of vacant properties. It will benefit
surrounding properties by removing this vacant property from the area and will
allow for this area, this property, I'm sorry, this area to be continued to be
revitalized and they are you can you can summarize and we'll get mr.
Mattione if you can summarize and we can get to your client yes I'd like to have
again I believe we meet the requirements to be entitled to the variance and I'd
like to call in Clifford Lasky
If Cliff's available.
Clifford Lasky.
If not, Mr. Chairman, can I skip him and go to Jonathan Torrey?
he's available can you all hear me yes please identify yourself first and last name
clifford laskey ben franklin residences 1453 point breeze avenue philadelphia pa
your last name please l-a-s-k-y thank you you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth yes i do thank you mr matione thank you mr chairman
michael you're breaking up again mike mike i'm sorry mr chair
i'm sorry about that mr chairman it's not it's not your fault yes i i did hear your testimony
and it wasn't true and correct yes it was and do you adopt it as your testimony
Tony? I do. And just one quick statement from you. Is this to be a for sale condominium development?
Yes, that was the only thing that they asked in their letter. And I emailed them right afterwards.
As I said at the meeting, as I said in the email, and as I say now, and as will happen,
all of these units, 1927 and what we'll come back for 1915 and 1917, South 5th Street,
which was presented at the meeting at the same time, all of them will be for sale condominiums.
Thank you. Thank you. Any questions from the board?
No. Anyone else like to testify
in this case? If so, please raise your hand.
Mr. Chair, I have a
Carmen Gervaiso, I will allow her to speak right now, sir.
Carmen Gervaiso. I will allow her
to speak, right?
Good afternoon, ma'am.
Please identify yourself with the records by your first and last name and provide us with your address.
Good afternoon.
Actually, it's a male.
Oh, I'm sorry.
No worries, Chairman DeChico.
My name is Carmen Gervaiso.
I'm a resident of Dudley Street, and my address is 536 Dudley Street.
You swear or firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Thank you.
Please proceed.
Well, like I said, I'm a resident of the street, and I am familiar with Mr. Lasky's
ongoing efforts to build this area.
I live across the street from a multi-unit building that he built that wasn't mentioned
by Mr. Mattione.
It's a multi-unit on the corner of 6th and Dudley.
it's been nothing but trouble since day one since it's been built right now not only does it block
our view but there have been uh so much trouble just with the construction of it um it is not
up to code as far as it's way higher than everything else um well it was let me finish
yeah i was just going to ask you something about the height was there a previous was that case in
front of the zoning board i'm not familiar with that case because i i haven't been privy to these
meetings i found out through a fellow neighbor so i haven't been privy but i do know that
i found out that because they couldn't they said they couldn't dig far enough that they made it
higher than everything else so it's basically an albatross and it's it's going to bookend
the other effort on fifth and dudley that they're trying to build we've had nothing but construction
problems here we've got nothing but traffic problems if you come down sixth street right now
what you're going to do is you're going to hit a big ditch right in front of this building
because they dug in they dug the pipes in the water they never fixed it right it's been nothing
but a headache and you're going to tell me that you're going to build one on the other side of
corner where we live? How about putting a green space there instead? How about bringing some
community in and having some people? How about putting a little park for kids? Sir, sir, you have
to slow down a little bit. I'm just saying, I'm being back. I know. Okay. And I don't know where
that list came from with people filling it out, but we have our own list saying that we don't
want this. No, we don't, we don't want another piece of property like this. Objection to anybody
other than himself mr chairman yeah sir you i respectfully you have to speak on behalf of
yourself are you saying you don't want anything built there we would rather see a green space
there who's going to pay for the green space and who's going to maintain it who's going to pay for
it yeah what happens to all the taxes that we're paying i'm not putting in a community garden all
All right. Excuse me. I'm not going to, I got your point.
You just would rather this spot, this lot remain vacant.
Yeah. I mean, it's not.
Okay. You made your point. Thank you.
He's muted. You can continue.
Okay. Is there anyone else who would like to testify in this case?
Please raise your hand.
Mr. Chair, I have a Mr. Jonathan Torrey who I will now to speak.
Good afternoon, Mr. Torrey. Please identify yourself. First and last name.
hi uh jonathan tori t-o-r-i address 266 south 23rd street i'm strictly here as a witness for
the applicant and michael matione if needed how are you how are you involved with this application
i'm sorry i didn't hear you sir what is your involvement with this application
i'm an expert witness for the applicant and and mr matione if needed okay thank you anyone else
um mr chair um john disley has his hand up again i will allow him to speak
um no did he speak already we're going to the people who are next right
Ross Faber
yeah Ross Faber
good afternoon this is
Ross Faber can you hear me
yes your name please name and address
wonderful yes first name
Ross last name Faber
last name
please
F as in Frank
a b as in boy er where we're firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i do sir and your address 610 dudley street thank you please proceed yes thank you mr chairman uh
Yes, thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just wanted to be here and show my support as a resident of the community for the address in question here, the project plans that Mr. Lasky and Mr. Mattiotti are discussing here.
just wanted to be here and show my support as
Love to see additional condos for sale, additional housing units that are for sale, promoting what I think is more long-term resident in the neighborhood, as opposed to the more transient in nature tenant that a rental might provide.
So I do like to see that this is condo for sale.
Also like to see that it's an active development of vacant lots that do attract unwanted behavior, crime, drug use in the area.
So as a neighbor, a resident in the community, I'd like to see anything being done to make the neighborhood safe.
And if it's removing sites that are, you know, quite frankly, just unmonitored because of their naked nature in their current state,
anything that can be done to, you know, to reduce that and just promote the feeling of safety in the neighborhood is something I know myself, my wife,
And, um, I know I'm speaking on behalf of myself, but, um, you know, other members of
our block and our, and our neighborhood support as well.
So, um, really just want to be here as a vote of record, um, you know, fully support this,
um, as a resident in the community, um, and any other testimony or, um, you know, information
about, you know, positives that we see from just our perspective, be happy to fill in
additional detail as needed for your testimony.
Yes, sir.
Anyone else?
Mr. Chair, there is a Tyler Lane
whom I will not have to talk right now
Tyler Lane, please identify yourself
on the record, Taylor
Hi, my name is Tyler Lane
Please spell your first and last name
T-Y-L-E-R, last name L-A-N-E
And your address?
608 Hoffman Street, Philadelphia PA
one nine one four eight we're a firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i do please proceed uh so you know i i just want to come out uh in support of the project um you
know uh i actually have a relationship with with cliff he had built the home i live in and uh you
know buying a new home i've read all the inquirer articles and i'm actually in real estate myself
and know some of the dealings that can go on um you know cliff has been unbelievably
supportive with the home, any issues he's addressed immediately. He's been really an
excellent partner and the house is super well built. So, you know, I just want to say that
about his character, first of all. But on top of that, living in the neighborhood and seeing it
evolve, I agree with the prior gentleman who spoke that it is a big problem in the area with
the vacant lots and drug use. There's one right across the street from me that's next to a young
family and they had vagrants who were doing drugs in the lot and breaking into their backyard and
all sorts of stuff. So, you know, I think every vacant lot that can get developed, get back on
the tax roll for the city, add people, especially owners, which is going to be here because it's
condos to the neighborhood, is nothing but a net positive for this evolving area. So, you know,
i i think it's a great project and i think it's by a very honest uh good developer who does what
he says he's going to do and i can't see any negatives to this being uh built in the neighborhood
thank you for your testimony thank you
uh any of anyone else
if so something new and different if not we'll move on planning commission
Hold on. We have a Craig getting with this hand up.
Okay. Thank you. Craig, please identify yourself with a record name and address by your last name.
Craig, are you there?