It was overwhelming support here.
And then we got the support of the only other property really that's developed,
or at least the only other owner on that block
that is in support of our project.
And then maps of the area, yes, we're CMX2,
but you'll see that it's out of character
to have commercial use where we are located.
And then you can see from the aerial view,
really there's really not much development here on this block.
There is 2315-17,
but the other properties that face North 11th Street are all vacant.
and then photographs of the property this is the front of our property right now
this is our orange notice poster that we posted within the time frame required under the philadelphia
zoning code this is north 11th street to the right of property again you're not really seeing any
commercial use here north 11th street to left their property again not seeing any commercial
use here and then these are our plans and drawings you can see here that you'll see
from the floor plans is better, but there is no use, no even lower level use for the two units,
unit one and unit two. There's some slight use you'll see in the floor plans here.
We also made these into type B units by lowering the height of the building. So there's two studios
of type B here. There's a common hallway and you can see here. So there's a type B here,
left unit number one type b here unit number two so that we're very mindful of the community that
you know there are people who are aging out who need to maybe downsize and to provide them these
type b would be very helpful for them and then we have units three and units four these are all
one bedrooms again you come up with five steps there's a living room a kitchen and a bedroom
and then the same to the right and then unit number five it's on its own floor
again we met with the community we notified 130 addresses of the community
meeting these are this is our proof of mailing to those addresses our
application for appeal that we filed on behalf of SJ developers LLC the notice
of refusal as well as the project information form the deed to the
property showing sj developers llc's the owner and the certificate of tax clearance i'm going to
stop sharing my screen for a second i would ask that mr kravitz be sworn in and i'll have a few
questions for him sir could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer yes josh
kravitz thank you josh kravitz j-o-s-h-k-r-a-v-e-t-s do you swear or affirm to tell the
truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes i do she comes yeah josh you heard everything i
had to state today about your zoning matter yes is it true and correct yes and do you adopt this
your own testimony yes thank you can you go back sure i lost track where's the fifth unit it's
it's the whole third floor mr chair oh the whole third yeah so you had the first and second uh
it's on the third is yeah it's on there maybe i just went through it too quickly mr chair i
apologize but let me just go show right here so this is the second floor right so you have the
two one bedrooms here right and then the third floor is on its own right here right and it's
it's the whole floor and that's a two-bedroom unit um questions can you walk us through the
plans you went kind of quick on this one oh that's fine um i do apologize so most importantly is this
i will focus the board's attention we eliminated as part of our revised plans the lower level use
for units number one and units number two there is a limited area for a utility room and storage
down here but it we're building this essentially on grade so if you go up you know uh what's it
called you have unit number one which is right here it's just a studio right so you have a
It's just a studio, right?
So you have a livery room, you have a kitchen, and you have like a bathroom area, right?
delivery room, you have a kitchen, and
They're not huge units by themselves.
But again, I think the community appreciates, you know, some, you know, that there's opportunities
for especially these type B units, and people don't want to take care of things, you know,
as much as they grow older.
The second unit here, again, you have the living room and the kitchen area, and then
you have a bathroom and a closet and then you have like i guess it's actually not even considered a
studio it does have its own bedroom so that is actually a one bedroom so i misstated this is a
one bedroom this is a studio and then the square footage of unit number one is 456 square feet
and then unit number two is
465 square feet
so in order to get to
any of the units you have to
go through this sort of like
narrow
breezeway alleyway sort of
space and what's the width of that space
looks like it's
I can't read the dimensions of 3 feet or
what is it
it's 3 feet
8 inches
So you've got not even a four foot walkway that you have to go down 30 feet to get to the main entrance of the apartment building.
It's it seems it seems rather unsafe.
Well, I would believe in I would ask Mr. Kravis to confirm, like, you know, we're going to have a nice walkway there that's going to be well defined, but also well lit.
Is that correct? Yes, that's correct.
Well, the issue, the issue, though, is if somebody builds a property, which they probably will right next to you and they don't they don't do a setback, you've still got this long, narrow alleyway to get to your unit, which is which is which is not a good thing.
Right. It's only four foot wide. Somebody's coming down the walkway. You've got to pass them. It's not even five feet. Right.
You've got your five-foot turning radius at the doorway for the handicap accessible unit.
So it's just sort of a bad layout, in my opinion.
Yeah, all I can say is that it's a very interesting block where there's not much going on at all there.
and we did you did meet with the neighbor next door who is supportive of this project who is
well who knows what's going on here yeah that's on the other side on this side there won't be an
adjacent property if you're facing our property there won't be an adjacent oh that's right to
the right because it's the backyard of the other that's right actually that's a good point actually
That's a good point. Let me show you that.
So no one's going to build here. There's light in there because it's people's backyards.
Which to me makes it almost even worse because some of the things people keep in their backyards between dogs and everything else, it may not be the most pleasant way to get to your front door, right, to your unit.
So I think it's a better way to sort of lay it out.
I don't know that the density of units is great either, but those are my issues.
Well, I would say this.
This is a CMX2 property, which allows multifamily use.
One of our refusals is to eliminate the commercial, which I think there are grounds to do that.
In terms of the amount of units, you know, again, we were very mindful of having
no like you know lower level living so we you know when we presented in front of the community
we originally had lower level living and we received support from them and and i indicated
mr kravitz you know knowing the board very well i was like i don't think this is appropriate to
have lower level living here lower level you had five units oh five units still so my own opinion
and i think part of this design is because you're trying to jam five units in whereas before you
had the basement too you know i'm saying you're i think it's the amount of units that's helping
drive when you're going in here well that's me yeah and and so if the board feels so inclined
you know to you know put a another proviso lowering the amount of units to four units
you know you know that's for the board right yeah sure um it's also to get because it's such
a long building it's to get light um into the side as well for the for the front level i understand
the side as well for the for the front level i understand the setback that makes i mean all
philadelphia you know sort of key shape row houses have that you know key shape for a reason to get
light into those back bedrooms right or so getting the light and the the units is one thing my
concern even with alleys not alleys but rear yards and that's the entrance is the middle of this
building it's it's it's not it doesn't feel like it's a safe thing to do or or inviting thing to
do if there's a way to reconfigure it so that the front door is the front door on the street
and other than that what if we provided some type of gate access to that breezeway
maybe and maybe the reduction of units would allow you to do something better
in terms of the layout well how about this i think it makes sense for us to talk to the architect
and and and and see what we can do and and come back here um i mean i think by well not by right
but this could fit three you're asking for five what would four look like that's right and and
basically we'd be swapping out the commercial but let's see what we can do with five but if we can
And I think four is appropriate because there's four units allowed by Wright, just three residential, one commercial.
We're trying to swap out the commercial.
But let me see what we can do with the architect.
I just don't want to have a situation where we have a continuous continuance, and it's like March 18th.
I would do a resumptive hearing.
That would be in the beginning of January.
I think that's something that we'll talk to our client.
Council, is it all right if we just go resumptive hearing?
Yes, that should be fine.
And when, you know, I don't, planning shouldn't take a position where they're going to be.
All right, so MI 2025-004-045-2307 North 11th Street, we'll have a resumptive hearing
1-13-26 at 9.30 a.m.
Thank you.
Thank you.
And we have one more for you, Al.
All right.
MI-2025-004-128-5200-208 Wayne Avenue.
Alan Ockamson is the attorney.
There's unanimous support from the 12th Ward Democratic Committee,
six total votes, two are near neighbors,
and letter of non-opposition from Solo Germantown.
Applicant also has a petition of support from 18 signatures
from two neighbors on the block and 17 form letters of support.
And there's also letters of a whole list of people.
So, Mr. Knockamson, could you identify your client and their relationship to the property?
Yes, my client is the owner of the property, Wayne Hall Holding Company, as well as his occupant, Life Turning Point.
Okay, and our vice chair has a few questions for you.
Thank you.
Good evening. Have you submitted your documents five days in advance of this hearing?
And do you waive the reading letter refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
see i i do with the understanding that we have an amended notice of refusal the board should have
okay all right thank you you can proceed with your case all right thank you until left of me
is rita whitaker uh your your executive director right yes yes so um this you know this is one of
these projects you're like it's you know first of all from a design aspect we're we're reinvigorating
uh a carriage house uh in you know that's you'll you'll see the difference it's night and day
um more so it's it's it's meant for good um so a little information about life turning point and
rita if i missed anything please let me know at the end um but it's it's it's an organization that
helps support uh single mothers who are homeless and you know to put that you know put them in a
place that they can get back literally on their feet and you know rita's been part of this
organization for 26 of the 30 27 27 there you go 27 of the of the 30 years of and it's had
different names in some ways but 27 out of 30 years at this location and uh so they have a huge
house in the front on wayne avenue uh that has 10 rooms and you know those women stay 18 months
up to 18 months to get themselves back on their feet. The requirement is to have a job and for
the people to save 50% of their earnings, which they keep their organization until those women
leave after 18 months. And then that money's returned to them. So now they have savings and
they're able to get back on their feet and there's all these great programs. I'm going to let Rita
and I'm going to let Rita talk about what they do.
talk about what they do. Well, there's some women, it's a little tougher, right?
Well, there are some women, it's a little tougher, right?
Like some of them can't get literally back on their feet
within that 18-month period,
and they need a little bit of extra help.
So Life Turning Point decided to reinvigorate
this little carriage house to create two units here
for some of those other women to help them out
for a little bit longer period of time,
and that's basically what we're doing here.
um so this is you know an rta uh one property uh so we have a couple refusals here let me just get
on there it's directly behind the big house oh yeah and it's a huge parking lot and and the person
who's who's closest to this this this carriage house is in support of the of the project as well
the person who's most affected uh so yeah i mean this is the refusal we're we're not allowed more
than one principal residence, and, you know, and, you know, that's why we're here today.
And then we got a letter of non-opposition from the group unanimous from the RCO, and
they gave a huge explanation, kind of like what I said, and, you know, you know, or this
organization doesn't treat, you know, this is a shelter, right, and we can, you know,
um it's it's really a good organization to have responsible individuals who are living there
and oversight as well and then even solo germantown civic association i have to say
that's a first that i've gotten a letter of non-opposition so um and i appreciate the fact
that they recognized that you know that this is the case so and then we got a petition so
and then we have other letters of support with some of the the organizations that life uh turning
point collaborate men who care of germantown inc whose ever gospel mission germany united
community development corporation um and again just shows the history of the property
and then a little bit of background that's a historic structure there and our architect who
i think had to leave because of the late hour um has already talked to the historic commission
it's it's it's past you know staff staff level review what it's not late i i know i know
exactly exactly well you're you're in you're in you're in second shift
but we're at the end of second shift
but you know it has a great history
but that's what it looks like now
and then just a little bit about life
turning point