that this is an odd shape lot most of the houses that are right in front of this development are
two-story and so i'm just wondering given the depth of the street like how much of the houses
are visible because of their original story so if you look at the zoning site plans here i think
it's highly unlikely that they would be visible so for a couple reasons number one if you just
look at the length of the driveway here you can see here that the driveway is is all the way to
the left of this view and then there is also a walking path here before you even get to the
first home on on north 42nd street so the address of that home is 320 and then you can see here that
the beginning of the first home is is quite a distance over i i don't have the measurements
i can bring up the architect uh who can very quickly identify what that measurement is i mean
i can read the measurements because i saw them on the plan but still like no photos no renderings
have shown it from 42nd street itself like if i was standing
in front of one of the houses and I think I'm more so curious about the impact given its
additional story it looks like for like the entire run of where the houses sit
only one of the houses on 42nd street has a third story most of the houses right in front of it again
are two and then there's a scattered three stories on the block but not right where this is going to
sit I think I'm more curious about the the impact like is this going to look like a second row of
teeth and a child that, you know, needs braces because you've now got houses stacked on another
house. So can I bring up the architect just to address the measurements that that you're
questioning? If you could look for Willeska Stankey.
And then I guess while we wait for him on the site plan that you showed, there's a landscaping
strip that's behind the the rear of the homes is that an easement like are they going to share that
in the pud or you you're talking about the the new homes the new home yes that's absolutely correct
so the way that the pud would work is that they would obviously have an hoa they would be
responsible to maintain all all the landscaping on site all of the improvements on site um
effectively anything other than just the the outline of the homes themselves would be common
area that they'd be responsible we see the architect do we see the architect who's going
to remain in the pud as the owner of the rest of the site typically in a pud there's like the
whoever is the operator the owner the manager it stays in it and they kind of own all the common
areas and then the others so okay so i may answer yeah we that was also discussed with the with the
community that we because we manage properties in in the neighborhood so they will we will manage
this project as well so you're going to be worried you're going to be salting the driveway
and removing the snow and okay that's correct to do that to that point how how is the uh alleyway
going to be managed i know it's not your property but it's directly behind the landscape uh strip
that you're providing and if you look at the photos that alley is pretty horrible yeah so uh
that's actually also another point that we discussed there's actually a community benefit
agreement right that addresses these items and and you know we will clear uh part of that community
benefit agreement is we will clear the entire alleyway uh in on the 300 block um as part of the
project we have the architect on Waleska there while we keep waiting oh she's there okay yeah
I could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer yes W a l e s k a Stanky
s t a n d k e do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth I do
all right two things could you turn your video on and second could you speak up just a little bit
turn your volume up yes okay thank you council thank you uh welleska are you able
thank you council thank you uh waleska are you able to identify for the board member
the distance from the uh front of the homes on north 42nd street basically all the way back to
the start of the new homes how far that distance is one second so from the sidewalk i guess also
i wasn't necessarily asking for the distance i saw the distance i was asking yeah from the sidewalk
we have nine eight feet and a half i'm sorry how far did you say nine eight and a half
98 98 right so it's it's quite it's quite a distance my actual question which now the
architect is here is when you draw the elevation can you see it from 42nd street i think it's
really difficult to see because it's far it's almost 100 feet from the street and you have
two stories buildings on this on the front so it's quite but yet so you guys
haven't done an actual study to prove this no but board member as you know the
height here is not a refusal item it is not directly or indirectly relevant to
any of the refusals that we have here and it's not something that L&I or the
zoning code would require all the questions questions more attorney
not at this time mr chair questions from the audience how many okay okay how many hands in
the audience i have a hand up from mr mark aguilar in the virtual audience mr chair okay so could you
move okay so the people who want to make a comment could they come forward
rami you want to sit back they're gonna have to and when we have a a case like this
everyone will be given two minutes to make their case okay all right come first
i assume you'll want me to hold my any response to the end would hope so yeah unless you have
questions for an under some person could you please state your name and spell for the sonographer
my name is eman alquban e-m-a-n-e-l-k-a-l-b-a-n do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole
truth nothing but the truth are you a neighbor yes okay could you tell us your thoughts on this
project in two minutes i've attended all of the many meetings that we've had about this project
yes and i've voted in support each time along with many other neighbors who you know it's been
a dumping ground for many years and the developer has been extremely you know flexible and
accommodating to concerns and push like having eight meetings for this was you know every single
time there were concerns brought up they you know they were supposed to be seven houses now it's
only four you're in favor of this yes i am and i think that you know it'll actually benefit the
neighborhood and the community benefit agreement will also be something that we're all going to
benefit thank you for taking the time to sit here that long next person please
good afternoon good afternoon hi could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
Sure. My name is Karen Murray, K-A-R-E-N-M-U-R-R-A-Y.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
So, Karen, could you, in two minutes, give us your views on this?
Okay. Bottom line, I am not for this.
We live in a very busy street, high volume, automobiles, pedestrians, school buses, fire trucks, everybody comes through there.
They come through at a very rapid rate.
we're the only way through north south because they're the other streets cut off 42nd street is
it all right the proposed development will add a surprise driveway in the middle of our street
48 second street is known for car accidents you haven't been baptized on the block until
your car has been hit and for some people it's the first day you move there that happened to
my other neighbor um you put a driveway that nobody's looking for pedestrians are in jeopardy
drivers are in jeopardy it's just not a good idea and we the developer has been
very accommodating like he suggested a gate with lights and noise or something
you know to let people know but then that's going to cause a nuisance for the
people who live on the street who are directly from this gate with lights
flashing sounds any time of night so that isn't it's not a really good
alternative either the driveway will be very small they're gonna have to dig it
up to put the utilities in emergency vehicles can't fit fire trucks can't fit
trash trucks can't fit so all of those are potential hazards and that will
impact those of us who live on the block directly so I would just say that you
really need to consider our view for those of us who live on the block sure
our view for those of us who live on the block sure because it's going to affect us every day
because it's going to affect us every day.
if you allow this thank you very much for taking the time to sit here next please
hi could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer nicholas patrician n-i-c-h-o-l-a-s
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do
are you a neighbor i am please proceed and could you if you would try not to repeat what you've
Sure. I'd like to address the issues with stormwater. Currently, the site is completely permeable. Any development there will reduce that permeability.
The study done by the developer from Aquas does mention some benefits to how it may manage stormwater for this development.
All of those benefits are derived by capturing that stormwater and putting it directly into the sewer system.
That sewer system is maintained by the City of Philadelphia.
It is not going to be maintained by the developer.
This puts an undue burden on the utility.
It also is in conflict with an agreement that the City of Philadelphia has made with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protections
to reduce storm water runoff into the sewers.
These sewers, as you know, have a history of being overflowed.
That water then runs up onto the street.
It runs off into our waterways, the Schuylkill River, the Delaware,
and creates an environmental problem for the community at large.
Also, this project does not require four homes of three stories to be economically viable.
When the developer took on this project, they knew what the zoning was. They had no
guarantee that they would be able to develop this in a different fashion.
These three-story homes are blocking the light of no fewer than eight neighbors who currently have
no backyard neighbors. That means in the entire afternoon through sunset, there's light coming
into those homes. Those, that lack of light will have impact to, yeah. Thank you very much. We
appreciate it. Thank you for spending the time here. Next, please. Could you please state your
name and spell for the sonographer? Sure. Judy Walterson, J-U-D-Y-W-A-L-T-E-R-S-O-N.
Um, do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth? I do. I actually
have the letter here you wrote. Yes. Right. Okay. So, could you add anything at all besides that?
We all have that letter, by the way. Okay. Just for the record, I do not have that letter.
Oh, well, we'll make sure you get a copy. I brought copies. Oh, sure. All right. All right. Is there anything else you want to add besides that?
I do want to add, and I wish I would have taken a picture and had a timestamp on it, but the neighbors can confirm this. I know in the most recent snowstorm, the sidewalk wasn't cleared in front of the property.
if that's the kind of service that we're going to get with the privatization of services such as
garbage snow removal etc uh the neglect of any of that would be a detriment to all of the adjacent
conforming properties so i do want to make that point okay um i'd like to make this point the
proposed layout is such that there's no way a looped water service could be brought to the
proposed buildings with a loop without a looped water connection dual flow reliability cannot be
provided and without that the potential for buildings to be without an adequate water flow
in the event of a fire is increased there's no water sprinklers in the building there's no
access through the driveway for the fire department to get in there other than their hoses
also with the utilities perhaps all utilities will fit under the driveway under the walkway what if
one of them needs to be dug up what will happen to access to the properties to the rear when those
properties are dug up and then my last uh point is um the young lady who testified first today
i have been to all of the community meetings i've never seen her before today and i'm the block
captor for the 300 block of north 42nd street i made sure that everyone signed in um so i do have
copies of the sign-in sheets for um i'm not going to get i mean that was her testimony okay you know
i'm just saying that i mean perhaps at the community meeting on march 12th okay which
was zoom right but none of the previous ones all right and um i'd like to make the point that on
And I'd like to make the point that on June 28th, 2023, that was part of your packet. We did have a community meeting where the developer was thinking about purchasing the property. What would we like to see just in case it had to happen? Because everyone was telling us the zoning board is going to approve something. So you have to.
On June 28th, 2023, that was part.
you know take something and you have to talk about some kind of development on the property
if you look at those meeting minutes on the second page an informal vote was taken
12 of the 12 people who voted were in favor of one unit 11 of the people were in favor of two
units eight were in favor of three units only four of the 12 people who were at that initial
community meeting and that was attended by everyone who lives on the block um well not
everyone but by only by people who live on the block let me state that your neighbors um only
four people said that they would you know tolerate or do four units so i want to make that point
that from the very beginning from that informal survey to the community vote that we had the
other week where 18 of the opposed were near neighbors uh we have always been very reluctant
to see uh such a larger development developed on that land and we feel like our quality of
life concerns far outweigh a few benefits that might be received um because we feel like our
time and our energy may be spent trying to steward these properties as near neighbors so thank you
Thank you. Thank you for spending the time. Next please. Mr. Sure. Can I just ask her a brief question? Sure. Thank you. Miss Wilkerson. Miss Wilkerson. Do you work for the fire department? I do not. Do you work for a utility company or have any kind of special expertise to be able to testify to your, to your position that this will have some form of issue with connection to utilities?
I would just refer to the engineering report that we submitted with the letter and I can
give you a copy of that. I'm asking if you have any personal expertise. That's all. Thank you.
Next person, please. Good afternoon. Hi, could you please state your name and spell for the
personographer. My name's Crystal Williams, first name C-R-Y-S-T-A-L, last name W-I-L-L-I-A-M-S.
Right, do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes. Are you a neighbor? Yes, I live directly across the district. So could you give us your
a short version of what your issue is? Are you in favor of this or against? Against. Okay.
Like you said, you don't want to hear repeats, so I'm not going to repeat.
Sure, and I appreciate you doing that.
Thank you.
Yeah, so.
So give me something different.
Okay, well, when, I went to every meeting.
Oh, good.
And I'm disabled, but I basically am near 24-7.
And I come out quite often, you know, just to enjoy, especially now the weather is getting warm,
which i really appreciate and i notice our neighborhood is changing i grew up there
childhood my mom passed away in 2022 i inherit the house and now i'm the property owner which
is a wonderful thing good carrying on my family's tradition amen so i notice the traffic
of people that walk back and forth you know we have a lot of people animal lovers which i'm one
but i don't have any animals and they're coming constantly back and forth so to have that driveway
there that would be a surprise and probably a hazard because you don't expect oh i think we
had testimony about yeah but i'm just confirming right okay sure what was previously said yeah
since you're asking me. I didn't know I was going to come up here and actually
I'm opposing. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. We have your
we have your name and we know you're opposed. And thank you for spending so much
time here. Okay. Thank you. Next, please.
Good afternoon. Could you please state your name
and spell it for the start? My name is Sandra, S-A-U-N-D-R-A
Y as in yo-yo, D-O-W-L-I-N-G
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, told the truth, nothing but the truth?
Are you a neighbor?
I'm right in the midst of all the chaos.
Are you in favor of this or against?
Against.
I'm at 332 North 42nd Street.
They just got finished tearing up the front of our house, the front of my house, with gas and water.
And now they want us to start working on the back.
start working on the back my concern is what's going to be dug up we already have a rat problem
My concern is what's going to be dug up.
We already have a rat problem.