And they were doing breaks on the sidewalk.
And we just don't want that in the neighborhood.
So we want the proviso to be in effect.
Thank you very much for taking the time to give us a call.
We appreciate it.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
Yes, we have one more hand.
Vandaline has been allowed to speak.
Hi, could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Yes, hello, Chairman.
My name is Vandaline Waring, D as in Victor, A-N, D as in David, E-L-Y-N,
last name wearing w-a-r-i-n-g right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and
nothing but the truth yes please proceed are you a neighbor i am i am the i am the lead of the
uh generational the philadelphia cost creek rco i was present for that meeting um and i actually am
a neighbor not a near neighbor but i am a neighbor um uh i i do agree with uh mr samson
okay um the property uh uh does need to be well maintained um it isn't um uh we do agree to
support uh the applicant um but the provisos i agree should be in standing thank you very much
for taking the time to call us. We appreciate it. Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
I see no hands. Planning Commission. Thank you, Chair Bergman, and good morning. David Fecteau,
F-E-C-T-E-A-U, with the City Planning Commission. You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole
truth, nothing but the truth. Yes, sir, I do. Please proceed. Thank you, sir. Chairman and
board members, the comprehensive plan recommends a change in zoning at this location from
commercial mixed use 2 to residential multifamily. However, we have to judge this proposal based on
the current zoning. This appears to be a request to legalize an existing business. The appellant
has shown that the proposed continuation of this use will not injure the use of adjacent property.
The City Planning Commission recommends the board grant their proposed use variants for personal
vehicle repair and maintenance. Thank you. MI 2023-006-620-5421 Baltimore Avenue,
number TA-445876. I vote yes with proviso. No work to be performed on sidewalk.
Thomas Holliman, my vote is yes with proviso. James Snell, my vote is yes with provisos.
Ishmael Shaheed, my brother, that's what provides those.
Thank you, Counsel.
We're going to move to number seven.
MI 2023-007-025-7001 Tulip Street.
Ruth Nomi Burgos and Abel Garcia are the listed owners.
Ruth Burgos has been promoted to panelist.
Good morning, Ms. Burgos.
Good morning. Can you hear me?
Yeah, I can. Could you please state your name and spell for the court sonographer?
Yes, my name is Ruth Noemi Burgos-Mendez, R-U-T-H, last name B-U-R-G-O-S-M-E-N-D-E-Z.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Would you put your video on, please?
Oh, yes.
Sorry.
Okay, thank you.
So this application is the erection of additions to an existing detached private resident garage on the same lot as an existing detached principal building.
For use as existing single-family household living with an accessory garage parking space, whereas the private resident garages may not exceed a maximum depth of 25 feet, and the proposed private garage is 47 foot in depth.
Our vice chair has a few questions for you, okay?
Good morning, ma'am.
have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that is needed
and required to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing
yes we provided all the documentation thank you very much please proceed and share your screen
okay let me see there'll be the green button at the bottom of the screen i see it now
um can you see my screen yeah
let's see
sorry this is asking me for permission to to share okay
Okay. So may not be able to record.
Okay. I'm so sorry. I'm new to this. Please bear with me. I'm trying to share.
Why don't we do this? I have a couple more cases. I can come back to you in about 15 minutes. You
want to try to see if you can get it straight then? Oh, I think I know. Here you go. Here you go. You
got it you got it okay so i do have the floor plans here um so this is the area the existing
garage and we want to add to the garage here in this area it will not block the
the sidewalk or anything it's just um that we need more space for storage why don't you do this
why don't you show us your photos it will be easier to understand if we see the photos okay
So this is the garage right here.
Right.
And where do you want to build the garage out?
Show where that goes.
So here in this driveway.
So we're going to add, but it will be inside the property.
It will not block the sidewalk here.
Have more photos there?
Is that attached to the house, the garage?
So the house is here to the left, to your left side.
let me let me look for more pictures i have more pictures here um this is not a great picture one
second so this is the same um so this is the garage area and you're going to come bring the
garage forward yeah to yeah to this area here okay and how how many feet are you adding one
let me double check here
so this is the elevation
so it will be 18 feet and four inches
like it will be this part that we will add um this is the existing garage here and we would
like to add this part which is 18 feet four inches
questions from the board no chair
no mr chairman
no chair questions or comments from our attorney hillary emerson um just briefly um
Ms. Burgos, did you receive a letter from the Taconi Civic Association after your meeting with them last month?
For the neighborhood meeting?
Like a letter from them, not the letter you would have sent out, but did you receive a letter from them summarizing the meeting or meeting summary form from them?
no we went to the meeting but if we have after the meeting we have not received any response
no we went to the meeting but if we have after the meeting we have not
okay how how did the meeting go it went well you know what the vote was or were you asked to leave
before the vote was taken yeah they said that we could leave um that we didn't have to stay
um so we don't know what was the vote as of now okay yeah okay thank you
questions or comments from the virtual audience
i see no hands
questions or comments from uh planning commission thank you chair bergman and good morning david
effecto with the city planning commission chairman and board members the comprehensive
plan recommends no change to the residential single family zoning at this location
The appellant has not shown that an economic detriment will accrue if the board does not grant their proposed dimensional variance.
The City Planning Commission recommends the board deny the proposal for private residence garage depth.
Thank you, David.
Hillary, I'm going to hold this and see if that they or we can get a letter from the Civic Association so we know where the RCO stood on this.
Yes, that sounds fine, Mr. Chair.
Why don't we give it two weeks?
yeah so we're going to bring this back in two weeks okay and that would be uh
we'd vote on it 9 30 a.m two weeks from i'm not sure what that date is but the 20
is it the 22nd yes may 22nd we'll bring this back and what we want to do is see where the
where the rca is okay okay um and and as i know the record the record will be closed aside from
the letter from the RCO as well as a response from the applicant if they wish to respond.
Absolutely. You were going to say something? Yes. So I'm here with my partner. So we did
receive, they did approve. And I wasn't aware. I'm sorry. The only thing, yeah, the only thing
that they said is that we cannot use it as a, like as a residence for someone else to live in there.
okay so um do you have that letter let me see
why don't we do this we're going to continue this for two weeks
okay if you have that letter send the copy of the letter to us and then we'll see if we'll get it
we're going to vote on this two weeks now okay thank you thank you very much thank you
Number nine, Mr. Consul, MI 2023-007-022-367, Schur's Lane. Joseph Consul is the attorney.
Morning, Mr. Consul.
Good morning.
Could you just state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Yes, my name is Joseph Consul.
That's J-O-S-E-P-H, last name Consul, C-O-N-S-O-L-E.
Do you swear or firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client, the relationship to the property?
Yes, my clients are the owners of the property, which is Eric and Heather Eckley, E-K-L-E-Y.
Our vice chair has just a few questions for you, sir.
morning counsel do you agree to wait to read another refusal or stipulate towards accuracy
yes have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that is needed to
proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing yes thank you please proceed
the shooting screen. Okay. Good morning, board. Joseph Consul here on 367 Shures Lane. This is
a request for a visitor accommodations permit. My clients, Eric and Heather Eckley, own three
properties in the Maniunk area that will be in front of the board today for this variance.
What is important about all these properties is, and this one specifically for this presentation,
my clients have been operating these as Airbnbs for several years. They have nothing but positive
reviews and we're hopeful that the board will see fit to grant these variances.
So like everyone else who had been operating these kinds of properties, the city required in order to continue using them as Airbnbs.
required in order to continue using them as Airbnbs that folks receive a visitor accommodations
permit. So we're here because we got a refusal at 367 Shures Lane to continue as a visitor
accommodations permit. This is their Airbnb listing. They have 227 reviews. They're a guest
favorite at almost a perfect score. As you can see, Heather has been hosting for seven years.
This property is a good example of the work that my clients have done in order to lovingly restore an older property and make it into a really nice space for guests when visiting Maniunk.
uh we went in front of the Wissahickon Neighbors Civic Association and we received uh an unanimous
vote of support uh everyone in the meeting either voted to support or in the minority
um voted to not oppose the project that uh seemed to be buoyed by the fact that um several near
neighbors showed up and stated that my clients were excellent neighbors and benefits to the
block and to the community. As they'll mention briefly, their passion is rehabilitating classical
properties and bringing them back to the community in a great condition. So the letter of the RCO
sort of supports what they said. And I don't need to read the whole thing now. They were happy the
properties being so lovingly maintained and actually come to the parking spot.
Included is photos and plans of the posting.
A shot of the property showing the kind of space you've got. It's got a little outdoor space.
It actually backs up to another property in the back. That neighbor showed up,
this neighbor to the left was in support as well.
um and then we have all of our other required documents the project information form the deed
and the tax compliance certificate again this is 367 shares lane and i would like to call
either heather or eric i believe heather would be on the zoom to adopt my testimony
heather actually heather actually has been allowed to speak please unmute yourself and
wait for the chair good morning could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer
yes my name is heather exley heather h-e-a-t-h-e-r exley e-x-l-e-y you swear or affirm to
tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes i do please proceed council
Good morning, Heather. Did you hear my testimony just now regarding 367 Churis Lane?
Yes, I did.
Do you adopt it as your own?
Yes, I do.
Okay. And I understand the next set of properties will be a bit longer of an explanation,
but could you just briefly give the board your thoughts on the kind of properties that you guys handle in Maniunk?
Yes, I will. And I also should say that my husband, Eric Exley, is here with me. So we want to thank you all for your time and attention. We, let's see, we are seven year hosts and Airbnb. We purchased this property in before COVID and listed it as an Airbnb in September of 2020.
we lovingly restored it and um you know you know gave it new furniture you know new finishings
uh painted it you know we did a lot of work on this property we feel like we are good stewards
of the neighborhood we pick up trash we um we have an electric charge electric vehicle charging
station at the parking spot. We try not to make a lot of trash in the neighborhood in terms of
products that we provide, personal care products are all in cardboard, paper. It's a one-bedroom
house. It's tiny. It's not a tiny house, but it is a small house. It sits on the hill, as you can
see with a lovely backyard. It's very private and in a wooded area. What else can I add?
That might be sufficient. We're going to hear from you again for the St. David's properties.
That's going to be a little bit more of an explanation, but I think that's sufficient.
Can I add one thing? May I add one thing? There is an Airbnb host across the street from us.
There is an Airbnb host across the street from us that we are cooperative with.
If she has someone looking for a space and she doesn't have room, then she calls us and we work together, vice versa.
We also contact her.
So we have a friendly relationship with our neighbors.
And you and Eric are on top of any kinds of repair requests or any kind of issues that might arise?
yep we have a cleaning man dante who's been working with us since we started and he is a
friendly reliable gentleman um and if something needs repairs and we are you know eric is very
handy and fixes it right away thank you nothing further questions from the board no mr chairman
no chair no chair questions or comments from hillary emberson our attorney not at this time
Mr. Chair. Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I see no hands. Planning Commission. Thank you, Chair Bergman, and good morning. David Fecto
with the City Planning Commission. Mr. Chairman and board members, the comprehensive plan
recommends no change to the residential single-family zoning at this location.
A 2020 zoning ordinance passed by City Council, which regulated short-term rentals, did not change
the basic rule prohibiting full-time use of a dwelling unit as a short-term rental. This type
of absentee management where the owner does not live in the unit has been illegal since the first
short-term rental zoning regulations became effective in 2015. What has changed since the
passage of the 2020 ordinance is that there is now a licensing enforcement mechanism. There is no
unique physical condition or circumstance of this property that prevent it from being used in