I voted in favor of the last two, both of which are connected to my house, including the six-unit building that's been mentioned a couple of times at 1305 to 1309.
It was stated earlier that that building does not have any parking, which is incorrect.
One of the reasons I was for that building was because of the six units, each five of the units have a garage.
So they're able to store their car under their units.
We do not have any parking left on the block. And adding additional units with not enough parking is going to be a problem. And the other thing I want to mention is it was said an overwhelming amount of the zoning board approved. Four of seven is a majority, but I do not find that terribly overwhelming.
what was overwhelming was the community against this property and i don't believe that that any
or if many uh changes were made from the community meeting uh plan to where we are now um so i uh i
oppose the the adjustments to zoning right um mr do you have any so i do apologize if there was
parking i did not see that as part of the the other application so i did not need to like misstate
that so if that's the case that's on me okay um as far as the zoning board for the six members who did
The zoning board, four to six members who did vote, there was one person who abstained, did vote in favor.
That's 66%.
I consider that overwhelming.
And in terms of revisions to the plans, there was nothing asked of us.
Again, there was more of like, we just don't want this in our neighborhood.
If they would have said, hey, we want a reduction of the unit count or anything of that sort, we would have entertained it. But again, the height of the building is more because of an adaptive reuse. We really can't do anything about that.
We'd be more than happy to meet with the neighborhood community garden to see if we can formalize an arrangement and we would ask that the board may be holder under advisement. And again, I don't have, I think her name is Hildebrand, you know, her information. But, you know, if you go on my website, knockupsin.com, it has my email address and phone number. It's very easy to find me.
okay thank you um anyone else in the virtual audience
no further answer mr wait um i have a hand up i'm sorry mr chair i have a hand up from
rachel melinda i will allow him to speak briefly your name and spell for the stenographer
hi there um yes i'm looking for my video to turn it on uh hold on i gotta i have to promote you
to panelists rachel oh okay okay got it thank you please stand by
perfect thank you hi um my name is rachel molenda r-a-c-h-e-l
M-O-L-E-N-D-A. I live at 2738 West Master Street. Do you swear or affirm that tell the
truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth? Yes, I do. Are you for or against this project?
I am against the project as it has been proposed. You're not against it?
I am against this project. All right. Is there anything you can offer that hasn't already been
offered today? Um, I guess what I would say is the concern that I had, um, you know, in addition
to everything else that has been said is, is that, um, I think that not, um, changing up these
renderings, there's nothing different that was presented here today that was presented at the
RCO meeting. Okay, that's my daughter, Hazel, sorry. And so if I believe it was requested that
the owner of the building could come back with different plans that we might reconsider. And so
I just want to add that to the record that what we're seeing here today is the same thing we saw
at the RCO meeting.
Thank you very much for taking the time to cause planning.
David, I'm going to hold this.
I'm going to hold it for two weeks.
I'm going to close it other than what Mr. Nocknob or the community or the garden bring
back to us.
Everything else will be closed.
Do you want to take a position or do you want to wait to see what comes back?
Sure, we'll take a position.
Thank you.
Thank you.
uh good afternoon David Fecto with the city planning commission chairman and board members
the comprehensive plan recommends a change in zoning of this location to RM1 residential
multi-family the city rezoned brewery town in 2014 in accord with recommendations in the
comprehensive plan at which time this property remained RM1 in a 2016 map change requested by
the civic association this block face was rezoned to rsa5 the proposed height is de minimis and in
keeping with the purpose and spirit of the zoning code the proposed absence of a rear yard setback
and the off-street interior parking are also existing conditions however the appellate has
not demonstrated that five dwelling units is the minimum needed to afford relief this lot is 3,225
square feet, which is twice the minimum lot size in RSA five. The city planning commission recommends
the board grant the proposed variances for height, off-street accessory parking, access from a primary
street, and rear yard depth, deny the proposed use variance for a roof deck, and grant the proposed
use variance for unit count with a maximum of two dwelling units. Okay, thank you. Hillary,
we have to bring this back for resumptive um no not if i think everything's everything
i think everything's everything i think they're going to close everything except what you bring
everything except what you bring back and then you comment
back and then your comments relative right yes and all i would say is for the person who's online
you know please contact me i mean i i can't you know like i don't know that person's contact
information so i'm going to bring this back to in two weeks at 2 p.m to vote just to vote and
the record is closed other than um any changes to plans or negotiations as a result of further
can i just make one comment on planning just just a comment to respond sure yeah again this
is planning stated that this should be an rm1 property or at least that's their proposal and
given the size of the lot you know you would based on rm1's calculations seven units would be allowed
as if right um you know so again offering five units is the least modification possible under
the philadelphia zoning code under those circumstances thank you all right thank you
um we're gonna take a quick break we're gonna take a five minute break and then i'll just stay here
okay we're back so number five mi 2024 005 752 4028 westminster
Mr. Nockamson, just for the record, could you please state your name?
Alan Nockamson.
Could you identify your client in relationship to this property?
Yes, my client is SW Play LLC, and to the left of me is Malik Boyd, its member.
Do you agree to the waiving the reading of the refusal and you agree with its accuracy?
Yes, I do.
Why don't you share your screen and proceed.
Alright, so 4028 Westminster Avenue.
This is a legalization of a triplex.
So during our presentation, we'll review the notice of refusal, and you'll see there that
it does have three-family dwelling use referenced in the notes.
And there was a building permit actually even issued as well, and you'll see that as part
of my Exhibit 3.
My client took over the property in July 18th of 2024.
The week that he took over the property, he hired my law firm to legalize the structure
by first getting the zoning permit, then reactivating essentially the building permit.
The individual who owned the property previous to this, who did the renovations ran out of money
and the lender took over and my client purchased it from the lender. So, you know, he's been
diligently pursuing this. There are some aspects that he has based on legal advice, not done
because we want to make sure first we get the zoning approved. Then we do the work that's
necessary to get the, you know, to get the building permit, then to confirm all the work
was done correctly and modify as necessary based on city inspections. So we did meet with the
Belmont Alliance Civic Association due to the unfortunate passing of Betty Ferguson. It's
taken us a little longer than we wanted to. And we do apologize for that. And there was no ill
intent for us to just leave the property in its current condition, but it was in its current
condition for a while before we got there. And again, the renovation started because I believe
there was even a fire before that. So I can sense the frustration of the community. I would be
frustrated too, but we're trying to be a good actor here by doing the right thing, getting all
the governmental permits and approvals before we do the work. We'll look at an aerial view of the
property, maps of the area, photographs of the property inside and out. My client does have his
dads staying there just because there's an issue throughout Philadelphia. When you have an empty
property, you have squatters. The worst thing that can happen is that we get these governmental
approvals. Someone moves into the property illegally, and then we have to go to the
court of common pleas and deal with that for nine months in the year. So my client's dad is staying
there just to stay there to make sure that no one stays in there. So you'll see some living there.
it's more to protect the property from squatters. Our plans and drawings and it's simple plans and
drawings that we created based on you know a rough sketch out of what our client says are the
existing conditions but it shows us a three-family dwelling which is not out of character for that
block. There are multiple instances of multi-family use on that block. Also where we're situated in
neighborhood we're near railroad tracks so when you're around railroad tracks typically you don't
have single family use it's a little bit tough uh to have that type of use we did have an rco
We did have an RCO meeting and we have proof of mailing at that meeting.
meeting um and we have proof of mailing at that meeting there
There were issues that were discussed.
Honestly, some of them were for the first time about issues with the property.
There's one instance and we'll talk about how we dealt with it beforehand.
But some of those things we did not know about.
I made sure my client addressed every single one regardless.
And we have pictures to that effect.
There's one item where he just needs to do like a little extra work.
But because of the rain, he was unable to complete that work.
So I leave it up to the board if they want to see pictures of that completion of work before they vote.
Our application for appeal that we filed on behalf of SW Play LLC, the deed to the property, showing that they purchased it in July of 2024.
We have a refusal dated August of 2024.
Our office immediately took upon itself to file the zoning permit application, got the notice of refusal, immediately filed the zoning appeal.
but we've been delayed a little bit through no fault of our own, and our Certificate of Tax
Clearance. Again, at the conclusion of my presentation, I would ask that Malik be sworn
in, and then I have a few questions for him. All right, so our notice of refusal. This is an RSA3
property, but we're asking for three units, and if you look in the notes section,
this board granted in 2020 an addition plus three units, and it states in here that the zoning
permit expired and there's no co issued and that's through no fault of our own the individual again
before us ran out money and we're trying to legalize this go back to l and i figure out
what we need to do on top of that and get this building structure here this is the greatest
undue hardship you know in in that sense it to force us to now revert that property a single
family use would make no sense. It would be out of character to the block. And based on the best
of rights argument, we have approvals from the city. There is a delay in time, but based on the
best of rights we have in this property as a three-family dwelling, we would also make that
argument as well. Correspondence, again, multiple issues, repair front sidewalk. Again, the reason
why part of the front sidewalk was exposed we did put like um some some protective measures there
but if we we haven't filled in and completed the sidewalk because we we have to do the plump we're
probably going to have to do part of the plumbing over based on our investigation or at least we
don't know what the city has inspected so we need to make sure that the city has full access to the
sidewalk ultimately hopefully hoping we get this approval from the board again getting a building
permit. Address the road-in issue. Again, we did not know there was an issue in that respect.
Again, other than my client's father staying there, it's unoccupied. Repair the rear fence.
Again, my client didn't want to, upon legal advice, I told him not to touch the property.
I said, let's go through the zoning process. Because what happens is, even though you don't
need a permit to do that work, when things happen and people get a little bit nervous,
especially with a property like this where it's been a probably a problem for the community for
the last five years so i told him not to do that after the meeting again no permits are required
under the philadelphia building code or administrative code i had him put the fence
back up as well as like a side fence because what was concerning was there's a side uh yard
and they felt like people were coming in from the side yard into our backyard and being a nuisance
to the neighboring property so we also put a fence for the side yard as well to secure it again no
permits are required and we immediately did it we had our meeting last week what what was it what
day was that thursday so it's wednesday he already has that up so again you know something about
malik you know he manages 110 units in the philadelphia region he self-manages them so it's
not that he didn't want to do it. I recommended that. And he knows his responsibility as a home
owner or property owner. And that's why he immediately hired our firm. Pre-closing, he said,
I'm purchasing this property. I need to legalize this. So pre-closing, he engaged our firm.
And soon thereafter, we started this process. And then the last thing,
remove trash from the yard. We removed whatever trash we had in the yard. And we did that as well.
And, you know, the, the refuse, the, the objection from the community had more to say, like, where it's the, they're, they're, they're not acknowledging the elephant in the room. This has been approved already as a three family dwelling in 2020. All we're trying to do is not just do we have a zoning permit or a former owner had a zoning permit, a former owner also had a building permit. Unfortunately, they never got the CO and those
A former owner also had a building permit.
Unfortunately, they never got the CO and those permits have lapsed.
But, you know, the work has already been done to a degree.
So, you know, that's what we're trying to do.
We're trying to be a good actor here.
And then so they showed a picture.
This was the, you know, the plywood that we put up for the sidewalk as a temporary measure.
And again, Malik has been, you know, in the neighborhood for some time, talking to the members of the community, keeping them up to date about what's going on here. I think they were frustrated because they thought we were just sitting on this. Again, we did not want to push for a community meeting because of the passing of Betty Ferguson.
you know so we were patiently waiting for that to happen but you know again our intent is to
legalize this structure and then this was where the the fence was again I told my clients that
don't touch the fence let's get everything situated and we'll deal with it again it's a
fence for our property it's not affecting anyone else and you know I thought but you know I can
understand why they were upset we removed again the trash all this debris as well to make that
look a lot nicer and then i can't say what this is i it's too close of a shot so i don't know what
this is oh so it's the fence um i don't know if this fence is on our property or their property
but obviously we'll we'll deal with it and then you know they complain they're like oh there's
four meters here how can you have four meters here if this is a single family use well yeah
the zoning permit yeah the building permit you have three meters for each one for each of the
units and one for the common element this is not anything we put on the property this was done
based on approvals from this zoning board and lni and then this is just an angle another angle of
the fence this is all from that community group uh and they mentioned that there's some issues and
i can't speak to that i know malik will be dealing with that hopefully at the building permit stage
but there are some obviously issues with the facade that we're going to have to address
So I can't speak to that. This is a picture, apparently, of the fire that happened many, many years ago. This is not an active photo. This is not during our ownership. This is not during the previous ownership. This is, or maybe it was, but maybe this is what spurred the proposed three-family dwelling.
So I can sense the frustration with the community.
I would be frustrated too.
That's why we're trying to legalize this structure.
And then again, this is not part of our ownership, but these are pictures that they presented
to us and the ZBA as part of their letter.
So I can sense their frustration, obviously.
Again, not us, not us, not us.
And so again, those are the pictures that they are showing.
But again, we had a zoning permit or this property had a zoning permit for three family
use. And again, most of that work was done. It's really just to verify what hasn't been done.
And then here's the building permit as well, which expired because obviously a CO wasn't
granted in time. And then area of use of the property. So again, this is how close we are