of the documents and as you mentioned we have letters of support as well as the support from the
RCO. Refusal. This is an RSA 5 zoning district. We are proposing a single family home consistent
with the other homes on the block and consistent with the other homes on the block. We're also
requesting front loaded parking and you'll see why because it's a narrow street. People
park on the sidewalk and there's many garages on the block already. The other refusal concerns
building a third story or above eight feet back if there's two-story homes on either side.
There are two-story homes on either side, but you'll see there's a distance between
our property and the adjacent neighbors, which I'll show you with photographs.
This is the RCO letter of support, which just came in, I think, last evening,
indicating a vote of six to zero of the near neighbors.
These are the letters of support, which the chairman mentioned at the outset.
Here's your photograph.
So basically, the address of the property is 1322 Hancock, because this was a lot that was subdivided.
So the subdivided lot is actually on Pailthorpe Street.
So this is our proposal.
It's 1317 North Pailthorpe Street.
And the reason for the one refusal is this home, which really fronts on Hancock and the rear of it is two stories.
So we're not really adjacent to the entire body of that property.
So we're not really adjacent to the entire body of that property.
And likewise.
And likewise, property to the south, there's about an eight-foot gap between our property line and the property next door.
And the first floor of that property is actually commercial use.
So this is looking north on Pailthorpe Street.
Our property proposal is to the right.
And to the left, you can see that there are other new construction homes on the block.
You can see where the cars are parking on the sidewalk.
To the right, you can see that there's cyclone fences and openings on the rear of the homes that are situated on Hancock Street because folks come in and park to the rear of their home.
And then further up the block, there are other garages, which other photographs will show.
So this is now we're looking south.
Again, our property is to the left where my cursor is.
To the left also, you can see the rear yards of the homes on Hancock Street.
with curb cuts where they use the back of their property to park.
And likewise, in the right hand side, there's parking
and also garages on Pailthorpe Street.
Again, just more perspective.
We took these photographs further north on Pailthorpe,
show you the existing garages on the east side of Pailthorpe
and existing garages on the west side of Pailthorpe.
Front of the light indicating posting of the signage.
And this is posting on Hancock because, as I said, the rear end of this property where my cursor is, that's on Pailthorpe Street.
This is the front of that property on Hancock Street.
So we posted on both Hancock Street and Pailthorpe Street.
So to the left was the original size of the lot.
It was basically a flag lot, which was then subdivided in the middle.
and on the bottom is now the subdivided lot
upon which we are proposing a single-family property.
Turning radius, we have streets approval,
turning radius into the garage.
We actually have a two-car garage
because the front of this property is wider
than your normal 16-foot lot that you see in Philadelphia.
These are side views of the property.
First, I'll start with the front of the property
to the far right.
The garage doors here, the door is really recessed for access to the front of the property.
And then we have the living floors above.
This is a rendering of the front of the property to the right.
A little bit of a modern twist, a really nice detail with a lot of brick.
Garage doors with some light to come in as the community group wanted.
One of the issues, and you'll see in the letter of support, was the planner here.
The neighbor next door uses the rear of her property on Hancock Street, the park, and she was concerned about her turning radius.
So we do have an agreement that we're going to adjust where this planter is located, move it back a little bit.
It doesn't add any foundational issues to the property.
It's just more cosmetic, but we certainly will move that back to make sure the neighbor is happy with our project.
To the left is the rear of the property, again, showing various living quarters.
light and air coming in through the back. This is just a site plan to show you the other
garages that are located on the street on both sides of Pailthorpe Street. And the cross hatching
is our lot. And this is what I was talking about at the outset that, yes, we understand that the
code says if you're building next to a two-story property, you have to set your top floor back,
but there's an ample distance between our property and the property to the south.
And then the property to the north, which was the lot from which our lot was subdivided,
you can see that we are not really encroaching on the bulk of that property
since most of it is located east of where our property is located.
Just some more context pictures.
This is the floor plan, which I can walk through.
Basement plan, despite the fact we're going to have a garage,
We're still going to have a basement with a family theater area, a wet bar, a half bath.
First floor will garage, entry, office, and then the bedrooms are on the upper floors.
Third floor, bedroom, and then also the fourth floor with access to a rooftop deck.
We have no issues with open space, rear yard, or height.
It's simply for garage and for the setback of the upper floors.
The remaining documents are, again, pro forma, our appeal, our tax clearance, indicating zero balance.
We weren't able to get the actual tax clearance, but this is the real estate tax printout from the Philadelphia Revenue Department, indicating zero balance.
from the Philadelphia Revenue Department, indicating zero balance.
Zoning map, again, we're consistent with the RMSA 5 nature of this block.
Zoning map.
The agreement of sale, our notice letter,
indicating we've mailed out 125 pieces of mail.
That's it, Mr. Chairman.
So in conclusion, we're not really affecting the lighter air of any adjacent property.
We're set back from the property to the south.
We don't encroach upon the property to the north.
This is actually where my cursor is, 1322 North Hancock.
We're situated to the rear of that property.
We're in harmony with the residential nature of the block.
We're also in harmony with the use of garages on the block because, as I said,
The cars are parking on the sidewalk, and there's already in excess of seven garages on both sides of the street.
We're in harmony with the code, therefore, and we're also in harmony with the wishes of the South Kensington community partners who have given us their support.
So with that, Mr. Chairman, I'll ask my client, Mr. Caramides, if he can unmute himself.
sir kumars karamati is unmuted and allowed to speak good morning sir could you please state
your name and spell for the court stenographer good morning it's kumars karamati
please spell it for the court stenographer sure first name k-u-m-a-r-s last name k-e-r-a-m-a-t-i
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, counsel.
Mr. Karamadis, were you on the call when I presented your project to the board?
Yes, I was.
And if you had the opportunity to testify, would you adopt my testimony as your own and as true and correct?
Yes, I would.
Thank you, Mr. Karamadis.
Hilary, you do have a copy of the tax clearance?
I did not receive that.
um mr clinton if you could just forward that to add to the file that would be great thank you okay
we'll do all right questions from the board no mr chairman no mr chairman questions or comments
from our attorney hillary emerson not at this time mr chair questions or comments from the virtual
audience chair we have michelle montillier housel with their hand up okay they have been
unmuted and allowed to speak. Good morning. Could you state your name, please, and spell for the
court's sonographer? Yes, sir. My name, first name is Michelle, M-I-C-H-E-L-L-E. Last name is
Montelore Housel, M-O-N-T-I-L-L-U-E-R hyphen H-O-U-S-E-L. Do you swear or affirm to tell the
truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Yes, sir. Are you a neighbor? Yes, sir. I'm at 1316
North Pale Thorpe. Okay, please proceed. Yes. So they are impacting our street in this and I'm
very much against this as a neighborhood. The house right next to them is not for commercial
use at the bottom. That is a private residence. Secondarily, there is no longer parking on the
street because complaints were made because we were parking on the sidewalks. So now PPA has
come through and we are not permitted. So we are all parking on the street. So that street is even
further narrowed. By adding this house, you're going to further impact us. It is already impossible
to get down the street. I dread pulling my car out. Secondarily, there is not seven garages.
There is one that is directly across from the Hancock property. Secondarily, there's two and
two new builds, maybe three, but there's not seven. I also just want to make sure that I'm very
clear about this, that their street faces Hancock. I'm sorry that you don't like your street parking,
but my street parking is already impacted and the width and you're adding now another home and then
just at the end of the day there's plenty of gentrification happening and the skyline is
already destroyed and adding another house directly in front of me i might add destroys
whatever little view i have left um let me ask you did you attend the uh rco meeting no sir i did
not i didn't have that information um given to me i i did not receive any notification i saw the
orange sign the other day and have taken two hours now out of work. So I did not have any
previous attendance, but whatever I need to do to provide documentation of where I live,
I'm happy to do so. Thank you. Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
I see no hands at this time, Chair. Planning Commission.
Mr. Chairman, can I address those comments? Sure. Sure. Just generally.
um sure sure just generally uh i believe i said there were seven garages slash parking spaces on
I believe
the block if i if i led someone to believe there were seven garages that's certainly not my intent
there's there's seven areas where people park off street the other thing is this project has
two-car parking so we're alleviating taking two cars off the street consistent with
with what other people are doing on the block.
And we had a community meeting
and people voted in support of it.
Thank you very much.
Questions from the board?
Oh, I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
Planning Commission, Planning Commission.
I'm Ron Bay, North City Planning.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change
to the residential single-family zoning at this location.
The applicants request front-loaded parking
not accessed by a primary street, and the third story not set back from the front edge of the
property. There are at least four off-street parking spaces on the 1300 block of Palthorpe
Street, all within tight radius of this property. Therefore, this variance matches the character of
the block. And the third story will comprise the majority of the 1300 block of Palthorpe
and the 1300 block of Hancock. Relief from the third story setback provision is in the code
and is also supportable. Therefore, the City Planning Commission recommends that the board
grant the proposed variances. Thank you. MI 2023, 004-827-1322 North Hancock Street,
number T-1-247286. I vote yes. James Snell, my vote is yes.
LeBaron Leonard Palmer, my vote is yes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the board.
Thank you.
Number 16, MI2023, 004-795-4402 Lancaster Avenue.
Cheryl Gaston is the attorney.
Letter of support from Hope PHL.
Chair, Cheryl Gaston is coming back in as a panelist now.
I'm sorry, Ms. Church.
Good morning, Counselor.
Will you state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
It's Cheryl, C-H-E-R-Y-L.
My last name is Gaston, G as in George, A-S as in Sam, T-O-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client, the relationship to this property?
My client is Liliana Depplin.
It's L-I-L-I-A-N-A, and it's Depplin, and I may be pronouncing it without the Spanish
part of it, but it's D-I-P-L-A-N.
And she is one of the principals of Unity Properties, L.O.C.
Do you waive the reading of the refusal and agree to its accuracy?
And all your paperwork and exhibits have been within five days?
Please proceed.
All right. This concerns properties at 4402 Lancaster Avenue, Parcel C, just formally 4402 through 4404 Lancaster Avenue.
And let me try and share my screen here. I'm trying to do this myself today.
Okay. So there it is. Okay. I'm not sure what's going on here. Okay. Let me go back here to
Usually I have my paralegal to this myself today, so please indulge me just a bit here.
Okay. All right.
Where is it?
Ms. Gaston, why don't we do this?
Why don't you try to figure that out and we'll come right back to you, okay?
All right. Thank you.
We will come back to you, I promise, okay?