It is a quarry. It is filled with Wissahick and Schist. And that is actually where they got all
of the materials to build our homes on the street. So there is some historical significance to that.
It's also on a major slope. And it is a huge forest. So there's a lot of problems with that in terms of development. Our street, in fact, does not go down to Belfield Avenue, and it hasn't since the 1880s. And I think that that could probably go back to John T. Roberts deciding not to finish that and keeping it the way that it was in the private community.
to go down a little bit. Regarding the actual street right now, if you look at pictures,
you can see that our streets, the width of our street is much smaller than other streets around
it. We do not have sidewalks. In fact, it could be considered a driveway. So the effects of
construction crews and trucks on the current residence would be horrific for us in fact
myself and alan uh who alan chestnut and his wife regina who live across the street
we would not even be able to get out of our own homes due to the nature of the size of the street
um let's go down to point three which is uh the state of the existing property sean had mentioned
that that Moshi, who owns the property, has just taken over. He was a silent partner before and
that he's working on maintaining the property. Unequivocally, that is not true. He has owned
this property now for a while and he continues to leave it in a horrific state. There is
construction debris all over. There is bags of trash, overgrown weeds. There is a sewage leak
that he has flowing into our street it's hazardous to my children and the other children and all the
members on the street and he has neglected to deal with it he had somebody come and dig up on the
street and then they removed uh the pipe that they had installed um as the uh and without permits
uh he also has expired permits right now and has continued to work in in and around the house um
Ellen and I has been called a number of times. They're fully aware of this.
I've spoken with both Robert Keenan and Robert Brooks.
They've written a number of citations for this, and he completely disregards the city processes.
He also in the past had workers there with an illegal backhoe.
He broke our water main, flooded the street down to Church Lane.
He left an exposed gas line that is still exposed in the front of the home.
Excuse me, Mr. Chairman.
What is all this leading to?
My sense is that what it's leading to is her being against the project.
Am I safe to say that?
Can she be brief?
I'm trying.
Thank you.
Thank you.
So, so, Olivia.
The question is, I understand everything you said the issue would be you're against the project. Am I correct?
Yes, very clearly me and the other two residents on the street.
So 75% of the residents on the street are opposed to it.
moshi would be the other 25 since only four properties are on the street um i would also
like to make the point that they've gone ahead and advertised this for sale for the past like
year year and a half with a giant sign stating to the public that it was for sale in four separate
lots um without it actually having gone through the proper processes through zoning okay um and
And then in terms of the parking that he stated, number one, the building that is on the left that is, I think it's mentioned as Parcel A, is actually a historic, it's not a garage, it's the original carriage house for the homes.
And then on the right-hand side where he stated that he was going to add parking to the main home, that actually cuts into my yard.
and so I don't if you come to the property you'll fully see it is not capable of having a full
parking space on that side um I'm not sure where where they're planning on putting that but that
is actually indeed my land um all right so you're against the project 100 okay thank you very much
is there anyone else in the virtual audience yes chair alissa young will will be allowed to speak
good morning could you please state your name it's spelled for the court stenographer
hello alissa young a-l-y-s-s-a-y-o-u-n-g right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole
truth nothing but the truth yes i do are you are you a neighbor i am are you for or against the
project i am against the project for the same reasons that we just served am i correct um many
of the same reasons um they i just want to the only element that i'd like to add is just that
they do uh mr whelan misrepresented both portions of that garage property are theirs um you can see
so in city maps my garage backs up against it um and is an addition it's the carriage house that
that uh miss winters just described okay it's a nuisance property uh i've cleaned their gutters
i have dealt with standing water uh due to the carriage house so i i understand about the
carriage house but the point is you're against building these two new houses am i correct
yes sir thank you very much for taking the time to close is there anyone else in the virtual
audience yes oscar bizer will be allowed to speak good morning could you please state your name
it's spelled for the court sonographer hi oscar bizer um o-s-c-a-r last name bizer b as in boy
e-i-s-e-r-t do you swear or affirm to do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth yes are you a neighbor i am a neighbor are you for the project or against
the project. I am against the project, and I'd like to offer some additional information.
Well, I would only want to hear additional, not what we've heard already, okay? So please proceed.
I'm an architectural historian qualified by the U.S. Department of the Interior,
and this site was designed to have four houses with the carriage house and ample
lots on each side this was not designed to have additional houses um it was it was as uh the
earlier as uh miss winter said this was uh laid out by john t roberts but i understand what this
listen to me i understand what miss winter said could you please tell me anything additional that
you have and they all the houses were designed by the same architect this was literally designed
as like a place the where they want to build the house the houses is completely inappropriate it's
like the side yard of the house um these were all designed with large yards and these are
essentially suburban residences that um are as was said they're in the 2035 plan as a potential
historic district and you know i don't think there's anything else in any other city plan
saying that this is supposed to be, you know, a house for or subdivided into multiple residences.
I mean, it would seem reasonable to me to make the carriage house like a separate house, but.
I mean, it would seem reasonable to me to make the carriage house like a separate house, but to ruin this amazing cul-de-sac of these four purpose-built houses would be a complete abomination.
Thank you.
Thank you very much for taking time.
Who else do we have?
Chair, there's Rachel Street will be allowed to speak.
hi could you please state your name hi my name is rachel street that's
did i swear you did i swear you earlier today uh yeah i was i was on the call for this but i
was yeah that's okay you called about the baby okay yeah all right i'm on the call for this
property i live directly so you live are you a neighbor i live directly in front of it okay
Could you could you tell us, are you for or against the project?
I am against the project.
OK, and we've heard a lot of testimony.
Is there anything additional you could offer?
Yes, I'll just be brief.
As as this is a private street on the street, we do believe that we should have a right to dispute it in a court of law if this is to move forward.
Also, I want to state for the record on behalf of everybody on the street that the letter from the RCO that was submitted as a result of our meeting is woefully insufficient to describe the concerns that we raised during that meeting.
I also specialize in historic restoration, and this is an extremely unique street and community that is unlike anything else in Philadelphia, and this would absolutely destroy it.
thank you so much for taking the time is there anyone else in the virtual audience
yes chair excuse me there are four more hands and next is charles richardson
hi mr richardson good morning mr chair could you please just state your name and spell for
the stenographer charles richardson r-i-c-h-a-r-d-s-o-n office of councilwoman cindy
bathroom 508 city hall you swear or firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
I certainly do. Please proceed. Mr. Chair and Board, it would have been nice if Mr. Arbiv had met with the neighbors prior to his subdividing the property to see what might be acceptable to them.
As you can see, Wingo Hocking Heights is a very small, private, dead-end street.
As proposed, the development constitutes an overdevelopment of the lots created an undeveloped burden on neighbors.
And, you know, we've received over the past week a lot of calls and a lot of emails from the neighbors in opposition.
In fact, also someone came in, you know, in person here to the office to visit me.
uh as such the councilman is joining with the neighbors in the rco in opposition
to uh this project thank you very much for taking the time it's next next hand next is alan
chestnut jr will be allowed to speak i'm mr chestnut could you please state your name and
spell for the court stenographer hi my name is alan chestnut jr alan a-l-a-n-c-h-e-s-t-n-u-t
Do you swear for him, tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Are you a neighbor?
I live directly across in 53.
Mr. Chestnut, are you for or against the project?
Against.
All right.
Mr. Chestnut, we've heard a great deal of testimony.
Is there anything additional you could offer?
I would just like to stress very much that my parents that are the homeowners of 53, 56, where I live, they are elderly.
They're well into their 70s with a lot of health problems.
And if the street were to be blocked off for construction, that would be totally unacceptable.
There's no way in any world where they would be walking up and down the hill.
They're both disabled.
My dad's a veteran.
And if anything had happened where the street is blocked off, there have been many ambulance rides and everything like that.
It's no way that that would work.
Thank you very much for taking the time to call us.
We appreciate it.
Next hand, please.
Next is Allison Weiss.
Ms. Weiss, could you state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Yes, Allison, A-double-L-I-S-O-N, Weiss, W-E-I-S-S, Solo Germantown Civic Association, a neighboring RCO.
I know. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, tell the truth, nothing but the truth?
Ms. Weiss, are you in favor or against the project?
We are opposed.
thank you very much being very familiar with the area and thank you very much thank you very much
for calling us who's next there are no more hands chair thank you um planning commission
thank you um planning commission
good afternoon amy void for the planning commission
chair the planning commission will make their recommendation in the form of a letter
thank you um we're gonna hillary are we straight with the tax on this
yes the the taxes are fine um mr sheriff you would like to give mr whalen a chance to respond to the
comments yeah yeah yes and if planning is going to submit a letter then i guess we'll leave
the record open for their letter as well as a response for mr whalen mr whalen thank you very
much board uh very quickly i mean obviously i addressed much of this uh beforehand it i
understand the historical nature of how this was developed however it is still subject to the
zoning laws and zoning code of the City of Philadelphia, we are proposing two single-family
homes that are otherwise fully code compliant on land that allows for those homes to be built
in an RSA 3 zoning district. The property is not historically designated. That was never moved
forward with. There is no question with regard to the historical commission. The fact that there is
no legal card, legal street card that is for the Philadelphia Streets Department, is simply an
indication that it is a private street that was never opened on the city plan, as I fully stated
and as I completely agree with the neighbors. I understand the nature of what you can see in the
photos. Although every deed for Wingo Hawking Heights identifies the Wingo Hawking Heights as
30 feet wide. It may not be that in all locations as it has existed now, but that is what is shown
on our plans and that is what is in all of the deeds and surveys with the survey district for
this property. So we will be required to follow and meet all code requirements going forward.
And specifically with regard to violations, a search on Atlas will show that there are no current violations for the property. There certainly were prior violations, again, as Eli King was managing the project and trying to move it forward.
those violations have all been complied there was there is one listed violation that is marked as
null for from march for construction debris that has been taken care of and again i think there
was a misstatement this property has not been subdivided we are not trying to subdivide it
in fact if we could have subdivided it we would have done so years ago and these houses would
have been by right and we never would have had to come before this commission at all or this board
at all. The planned unit development is in place. There are the four projects. And just to be clear,
because I did address this with everyone directly, we are required at all times to maintain the
street as open. We cannot block the entire street for exactly all the life and safety reasons that
I believe Mr. Chestnut Jr. referenced. So I understand that that's a serious concern.
It certainly would be for me if my elderly parents lived on the street, but I'll take care of that.
And finally, as Mr. Richardson raised, this proposal simply cannot, as a matter of law,
constitute an overdevelopment of the property where it meets all code requirements and has
a clear hardship here simply for the private street never having been opened. And virtually
every street in the city of Philadelphia was private at one point and then brought forward
and on the city plan now when there are carriage houses and everything, when you moved from
carriage houses to garages and cars and the like. So with that, I will respond. I would just like to
know um when the planning commission will submit its letter and i will appear at that hearing to
respond to whatever the planning commission has so um we will make sure you understand when the
planning commission will have that for us hillary we're going to close the record except for the
planning commission and council's response that is correct okay thank you all right thank you very
much board. Mr. Chair, before we move to the next case, I just wanted to note that Vice Chair
Shahid had to leave for the remainder of the morning hearings. He will be back this afternoon.
All right. Thank you. So number 11, MI 2023-007-100-1615 North 10th Street.
Philip Smoker is the attorney. There's a letter, recommendation of support from North Central East RCO.
Philip Smoker is the attorney
There's a letter
Recommendation of support from
Philip Smoker is coming in as a panelist.
Good morning, Mr. Smoker. Could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Okay. Do you hear me?
I do. Please state your name and spell for the court stenographer.
Sure. Phillip Smoker, P-H-I-L-I-P-S-M-O-K-E-R.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client in relationship to the property?
Yes. So my client is Charles Cohen. He's the owner of 1615 North 10th Street.
Can you give me one second? He's waiting in my waiting area, and I'm going to bring him right in. It'll take one second.