Yeah, Ms. Gallagher, good afternoon.
Please identify yourself for the record, spell your first and last name,
and provide us with your address.
Molly Gallagher, that's Molly with a Y, Gallagher, G-A-L-L-A-G-H-E-R.
My address is 2002 Spring Garden Street.
Thank you.
Swear and affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Thank you.
Please proceed.
I will.
And I did leave out John Gooden.
I'm sorry.
He's also a new neighbor.
We'll get to him.
Molly, what's your relationship with 2002 Spring Garden?
Well, I own Mooring Properties, and it is my personal residence.
okay and what's what what is the use there it's all residential apartments how many apartments
six okay and explain to the board uh the resources that you your process in trying to rehab your own
property um and explain if you can the scaffolding i'm going to try to truncate our testimony so we
can move sure yeah so i have and the rehab yeah so there's been a lot about the scaffolding um
I have permits which have been approved by the Historical Commission for work on the exterior of the building, the rear facade that faces onto 20th Street, original materials, historical rehab with popper and all kinds of requirements.
I also have two decks that have been approved by the Historical Commission for construction, both on the rear of the property and on the roof.
And, you know, that's why we have scaffolding.
We have open permits.
And why has the scaffolding been up for a long period of time? You've heard some testimony about it. Explain to the board why the scaffolding is still there.
Well, I mean, just the uncertainty of this situation that, you know, we have been constrained in what we're allowed to do with the building on the rear facade because it's visible from 20th Street.
um and we just don't know what is going to happen and why should we put you know tens and tens of
thousands of more money into the rear facade and the decks when you know this huge building could
be going up around us and as far as the impact on your decks from this potential uh construction
on two or three thousand well you know they'll be in like in a box i mean the the deck on the
lower level is my personal residence and i do have a photograph that you have rich that shows
what happens to my uh personal residence um it's that thing that we talked about earlier um do you
want me to hey rich yeah excuse me for interrupting miss gallard rich if you have a some of the
photographs that would i think helpful to refresh the board's memory if you have them uh what she's
asking me to put i think is this what you want me to show yeah that's exactly show show the one
with the scaffolding well can i just address this one since it's on screen in the interest of time
yes please this is my personal residence i live on the rear third floor and fourth floor of the
building this is the third floor there will be a deck constructed on this section this is the
rebuilt copper historical um bay but you see that i look directly to the um uh parking garage for
for city view towers that is my direct view now there is a time swipe that shows if the proposed
structure goes in that it will completely box me in it will cover all of this open light to to 20th
street um with a building i'll be sitting in a box um rich do you have that that gif it's not
okay well we'll we'll get it back for you later but envision that this open space which is the
only open space I have, is now blocked by a building with a sliver, sliver of visibility.
Now, the reason this is so important to understand, Mr. Chair, is that this is a party wall building.
There's no alley in between my building and the adjacent property. These buildings will share a
party wall. So it's like putting, building a wall right in front of my face. And I have expressed
this numerous times to the developer with zero, zero empathy from him about the
situation. So explain to the board
so explain to the board uh you've already said a little bit about it but explain to the board
the impact uh the adverse impact that if the massing and the height variance is granted
what it will do to your property well apart from kind of ruining my personal enjoyment of my own
residence um you know it will deny the property of um the little bit of light that it gets
after the shading from the city view towers um you know it just is going to dwarf it it's so
oversized for the parcel it's oversized for the neighborhood everyone agrees that it's too big
um the out of con in context it just makes no sense um to the neighborhood or to my property
as a party property i mean i don't know what technical words to use that's why we have janice
But, you know, the light and the air is definitely impacted, and it's just kind of ruining it for me.
It's just, I've invested years in this building.
Can you see that, members?
So, Molly, how tall is your building at the Cornish Line as far as you know?
I believe it's just under 38 feet.
Now, let's talk about Spring Garden versus 20th Street.
On Spring Garden, there is, you know, a narrow part of the facade of the proposed structure, only 21 feet wide, I believe.
And at that point, my cornice is, that is, that total height is more like 49.3 inches.
The cornice line of the building is at 37 and 11.
I'm going to put up another.
do you know how tall your building is at the cornice line well at the cornice line it's 37
feet 11 inches but there's another story a mansard story above the cornice that's what i'm at that's
what i'm asking yes so the overall height is 49 feet 3 inches all right and but does that height
of your property extend all the way back no it's less than a third of the building all right and
the structure that's being constructed is going to have at least 75 or 80 percent of the structure
will be over the height limit through the remainder of the structure, right?
I believe that's correct, but Janice has the exact measurements.
All right.
And how are you – there's been talk about the City View Tower
and the impact of City View on your property.
Does that impact the sunlight on your property?
Yes, of course, because it's at the southern exposure.
So the sun in the sky, except at the highest point of the summer
when it's high in the sky, is behind the City View Towers,
both Tower 1 and Tower 2, which means my only light,
is out to 20th street which i showed you in the photograph and what will if you if you have the
your current situation where you're impacted by city view a 29 story or whatever it is tower
what will happen if this property is constructed to your light and air
well you know again it will cut it off it will shade my both decks it will shade all the windows
in the rear facade which get very limited light as it is um you know and will ruin the view scape
from inside each of the rooms you know which will now be looking at the concrete block box of the
city view garage and a concrete box of the proposed structure uh you're familiar with
2000 spring garden uh prior to this application correct yes i am it when this property was
purchased, was the 2000 Spring Garden structure occupied? Oh, yes. And do you have an idea of
what kind of tenants were in there? Oh, there was a yoga studio, a Shabbat. There was
residential apartments. I knew some of the people there. Yes. So the 2000 Spring Garden
existing use was fully occupied and operating at the time of its purchase, right? I cannot state
whether that is true. I do not know about fully occupied, but it was occupied and it was active.
You've seen tenants going in and out, right? Yes. And I see them in and out now. Okay.
What happened to the poster that was posted on this property, the orange poster back in April,
to your knowledge? Well, there was, I guess, somebody came and put up a poster. They took
a photograph of the poster as posted and then he removed it and walked away with it.
And that was reported to the Spring Garden Civic Association I believe as well.
Has a developer ever reached out to you, other than our conversation today, has the developer
reached out to you to discuss a potential resolution of this matter?
Have you had a conversation with a developer prior to today?
Have you had a conversation with the developer prior to today?
Tell the board what happened during that conversation.
Well, you know, there has been more than one conversation.
But, I mean, very early I asked to meet him, and we met at the property.
Soon after he purchased it from my next-door neighbor, we sold it to him.
And, you know, he described his plans were to demolish the existing building
and to build the biggest building he could get approved.
and he spoke about the car elevator he was going to put in for his cars and the great architect
in Spain who's working on the plans for him and he said it was for his family you know but
kind of discounted that because you know I knew he was a developer of rental units in
University City. You know I shared my views about the historic district about the work I had been
doing approved by the historical commission you know I told him I'd like to see a structure that
would live harmoniously with me as a party wall neighbor and the surrounding buildings as well
but you know it was very clear very early that he viewed me simply as an obstacle to overcome
you know not as a future objection mr chairman i've allowed sustain sustain sustain and what
and what what happened when he discussed that when you were opposed to him what happened in
the conversation that you have with him about that well you know i called him in february right
before the lni review board hearing um and it was very combative and he berated me and he threatened
me then mr chairman yeah i i understand i respect uh where mr demarco was trying to go with this i
mean it's a personal feud between two property owners i'd rather stick to the issue of what the
develop proposed development would do in terms of uh impeding sunlight and changing the nature of
what Ms. Gallagher has been used to living with.
Last question, Mr. Chairman.
Let's not get into the person.
Last question.
That's fine.
Last question, Molly.
What will happen to your proposed decks
if this property, if these variances were granted?
They will be blocked.
They will be shaded and denied light.
They will lose the effect of being an amenity
of the units that they are attached to.
They will be sitting in concrete boxes.
How pleasant is that?
And how about your rear windows for each of the units in the rear?
Again, same thing.
Concrete wall straight back.
Concrete wall from the new building.
No further questions, Mr. Chair.
Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Gallagher.
Mr. Miller?
Mr. Chairman, could I just...
Mr. DeMarco chose not to show all of the photos that he identified as exhibits.
I don't I don't know if he chose not to I asked for the one with the scaffolding so
I did have that up I mean I can certainly do that I don't think I don't think we saw that one
at least I didn't see it um if if Mr. DeMarco doesn't want to show it I will
that's the one right there right no well that shows the scaffolding but um that's the one
That's the photo I asked for. If you want something else, fine.
I'm sorry. Okay. Well, actually, that was a helpful one.
Yeah, one was yours. I mean, this shows the scaffolding if that's what you want.
No, there's no scaffolding on there.
This is Mr. Miller's exhibit.
No, Mr. Miller shows the scaffolding. That's not his exhibit. Okay, there it is on the right.
Right. So, Ms. Gallagher, let's start with that one. If Mr. DeMarco, if you could favor
us to use that. That was an exhibit that showed how your expert showed a different perspective
that exaggerated the size of my client's building. Do you remember that?
Objection.
I disagree with your characterization.
Well, do you remember that the board looked for themselves and concluded that your exhibit to the left exaggerated the pilot house on the building?
Hold on. Objection. We already had cross-examination of Janice Woodcock on this issue, Mr. Chairman.
We're wasting time. If you're going to rush me, I want to have cross-examination that's relevant.
We've been down this road, yeah?
I didn't. I didn't. He asked me to put it on. Mr. Miller. Okay, no problem. I'll move on. Ms. Gallagher,
I didn't, I didn't. He asked me to put it on.
No, no, I'm talking. Mr. Miller.
Okay, no problem. I'll move on.
you were heavily involved in the process before the historical commission, weren't you?
Not to my satisfaction. I understand you don't like what happened, but I was not permitted to
meet with the staff. I made a request. You came to the meetings, didn't you? I was limited to
speak to two minutes. You came to the meetings and as a result of your input the plan changed
didn't it? No that is not true. Okay as a result of your input the size of the building wasn't
the height of the building wasn't reduced? I am not the only person objecting there are numerous
people including the RCO. Ms. Gallagher questions posed to you. I don't understand that characterization
why do you say I'm the person who did this? Ms. Gallagher, as a result of your input and the
input of your community, the plan that was presented to the historical commission changed,
didn't it? Objection. How could she know? How could she speak to the commission and what
their process? Mr. Chairman, it's an open process. My client started with a big project,
it got smaller and it got smaller and if the witness won't admit the facts then I ask you
to take judicial notice of the fact that she won't give us the obvious truth. Mr. Chairman with all
due respect the commission speaks for itself if he wants to call the commission and speak about
that process again we're way over what is relevant to this proceeding. Mr. Chairman our hardship is
that we've already been through this very process
and we've been through it with the people
who oppose our variance.
The variance is necessary
to approve a historically approved project.
And let's call it what it is.