questions from our council mr mcsherry no chair questions or comments from the virtual audience
yes chair charles richardson will be allowed to speak
good morning mr richardson good morning mr chair uh could you please state your name and spell
for the court stenographer certainly charles richardson r-i-c-h-a-r-d-s-o-n office of
councilwoman cindy bass room 508 city hall do you swear or firm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth i do please proceed okay i just wanted to let uh let it be known that there
is a letter of opposition that came from the coordinating RCO, the 13th Ward, on July the
2nd. It doesn't appear that Mr. Anastasio might have been included in all of the CCs that should
have been included, but it is a letter of opposition. It does state some things, and I
actually did forward it to you, Vern, a few minutes ago upon hearing you say that you hadn't gotten it.
Thank you.
They said that prior to the voting process, numerous questions were discussed that were not answered to the satisfaction of the directly affected residents, 13th Ward RCO committee members as well.
Number one, the property was purchased in 2012.
The owner purchased the property in 2012 and allowed the property to be an eyesore and an unsafe condition for the adjacent properties.
owner failed to keep the property in occupiable conditions allowing the property to deteriorate
in the front and rear requested zoning variance is not a by-right proposal
property was zoned rsa 5 single-family dwelling in 2012. owner stated reason for requested zoning
variance was that a single family could not afford to maintain a large property the directly
affected residents and other meeting attendees vote voice concerns of increased density
and the overuse of the dwelling by converting into three units, multifamily units.
and the overuse of the dwelling by converting into three units, multifamily units, and this
is in quotes, parentheses, multifamily units, RSA 5, single family dwelling in the three
units dwelling, potentially introducing additional density in the area slash existing structure.
The owner stated occupants would be responsible for care of the property to include trash,
landscaping, and maintenance, meaning attendees voiced concerns with owner not maintaining
property for the last 10 years the exact effects of the hardship of the proposal is not granted
uh was not sufficiently identified they will say talking about the financial issues
uh in closing they said the directly affected residents of the 13th ward committee and are
requesting that the area's elected officials and zba members deny the requested zoning variance for
the proposal to convert to RSA, convert to RSA 5 single dwelling, family dwelling into
a multifamily three units and it's signed by Charles Korn.
I hear Vern saying that they reduced it, but they did not go back and speak with the RCO
or the community.
And I would think that they would need to do that in order to actually gain the support
rather than trying to force it through at this point in time.
If it's going to go through, if it's going to be voted today, then the councilwoman would request that you deny the variance.
But again, we are urging Vern and company to go back to the community and give this new proposal a shot to see whether they will support it or not.
Thank you, Mr. Richardson.
Senator Stiles, do you have any questions for Mr. Richardson?
I don't. I appreciate Mr. Richardson's input always and sending me the letter that I did not get the opportunity to see.
I do want to just say that my client purchased this property unoccupied and we've had and I think I put this testimony on today over a decade of vandals and squatters that my client has been desperately trying to shore up that property.
There would, of course, be a property management team in place.
So that's always a requirement.
But then again, and the feedback that we received from the RCO is why we reduced the number of units to two.
So it's in line with just about every other property on that block.
But I will defer to the chairman's discretion on if you'd like us to go back to the RCO again.
All right.
Mr. Richardson, could you make sure that you send a copy of that letter over to our council to?
i certainly will all right uh any other questions or comments from the virtual audience
no hands here a planning commission
amy boyd with the planning commission amy before you uh comment um i'm going to make a recommendation
as they go back to the rco do you want to take a position before that or do you want to
hold. No, let's hold it until then, please. Okay, thank you. So, Vern, you have an opportunity to
go back to the RCO, tell them what your plans are. The case is going to be closed, except for
communications from the RCO, a chance for you to respond, and then a chance for the planning
commission to take a position. Sounds fair. Thank you. Ryan, is that okay? Yes, that is fine.
All right. Thank you, counsel. Thank you. All right.
Number six, MI 2023-004-919-3904 Brown Street. Christopher Dean is the attorney.
No RCO letter or summary.
Meaning was held on April 22nd, 2024.
Applicant also provided a petition of support from 12 neighbors, four from the 39-hour block of Brown Street.
Christopher Dean has been promoted.
Morning, counsel.
Good morning, Mr. Chairman, members.
Could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Christopher Dean, last name is D-E-A-N, and I represent Skira Holdings, LLC.
Do you swear or fraud to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
i do our vice chair has a few questions
good morning council do you agree to weigh the reading of the refusal or stipulate to the actress
i do 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
can't hear you i have thank you please proceed and share your screen
can't hear you i have thank you
all right good morning everyone members of the community and members of the board um
please let me know if you cannot see the uh presentation
we're fine okay
i have the pleasure of representing skira holdings llc property owner of 3904 brown street
we are here for proposed multi-family three-story three-family residence
on a currently vacant lot um with a seller pilot house and roof deck um and mr chair i did hear
you say they did not have the letter of support i did submit the um the letter on i believe it was
monday to uh board we sent a revised packet on monday um it did get what what what is the letter
of support it's a letter of support it's six the vote was six six in favor two in opposition and two
in non-opposition all right just show it during your presentation so this is a current picture of
the uh the lot um we believe that this project is a um actually rsa5 is not even consistent
doesn't really reflect the changing nature of the 39 3900 block specifically of brown street
and i'm going to go through uh four projects that have been approved over the last few years
consistent with that there are many vacant lots um in the surrounding area uh they've been
collecting a tons of trash and rubbish so the goal here is to with this project to beautify
the area as well consistent with some of the newer projects that the area has seen
this is a rendition a 3d rendition of what the proposed the front and rear of the project will
look like this is a these are the the plans uh i'll briefly go through them there is the three
units are this there is the the cellar and first floor where there will be the cellar has a full
a full egress will be two bed and three bath unit two will be a two bed two bath and unit three
will be a two bed two bath and will have access to the roof deck
my client prior to meeting with the rco he did canvas the area and as you see these are these
are neighbors right around the corner of 3900 block of brown street uh did receive 12 um 12
they were supporting the project prior to meeting with the rco it's a copy of the refusal our
initial application and the project information form as i stated they are i'm going to go through
several of the projects that have been approved in the surrounding areas this is 30 a zoning
permit was issued for 3930 brown street um and you'll see here this is for a three dwelling unit
and that was in 2022 and these are the plans for that project that the board approved there's um
39 i believe i just showed 39 30 um that was the zoning permit 769 north 39th street
um this is the corner of 39th and brown right almost adjacent to my client's property
this was a a new construction for three family unit that was approved
and 3933 brown street this was a another new construction project um actually six units were
were approved um and that was in 20 um actually that was just in january of this past year
and lastly there's 3931 brown street this was a rear third story addition
and back in 2020 for three dwelling units that was approved so our our proposal was actually
more consistent with the change the ever-evolving um changing area of this area um that is more
consistent with multi-family dwellings um as opposed to rsa5 single-family homes um this was
we did meet with the um the rco back in april and this these are the certificates of mailing
a copy of my clients my client's deed
these are the posting from june 10th uh at the property
clients tax clearance a copy of our zoom zoom meeting
um as i mentioned here we did meet with the mantua civic association as you can see
uh there was 10 attendees only two of the attend actually opposed the project so we did have a
majority overwhelming majority support of the community in addition to the 12 petitioners that
the 12 petitioners that my client um the 12 the 12 neighbors that supported the petition prior to
my client um the 12 the 12 neighbors that
meeting with them uh we do feel because of the the size of the lot the most specifically the
ever-evolving changing nature of the lot that this area does support um and is consistent with
multi-family unit multi-family living um it will help also the adding these multi-family
multi-family unit with this structure will also help beautify the area an area that has seen a
lot of vacant lots that are that are currently getting cleaned up one by one with each of these
projects and i think that's why we um we received a high majority of community support and with that
i would um christopher let me counsel do you have an overhead shot of the block um i can pull that
up as we i could share i'm going to share my i think if i stop sharing
apologize for the brief delay
are there other vacant lots on the block
there are i'm going to pull the
i think you might i think we may be able to see
um there's a vacant if you can see right here there is a vacant lot to the right of that um
my client's properties right here so that would be 39. i believe that actually the prop that um
i'm going to have my client testify to to add um to specify about what what properties are vacant
but bring your client on if he has an idea what i may call josh kravitz
josh kravitz is allowed to speak good morning could you please state your name and spell for
this stenographer hi good morning my name is josh kravitz that's spelled j-o-s-h-k-r-a-v-e-t-s
do you swear or firm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
yes i do please proceed counsel good morning josh um are you a member of skira holdings llc
And did you hear the testimony that I just laid out before the board?
And was that testimony true and accurate?
And do you adopt my testimony?
And could you, for the chair's questions, could you expound on how, you know, I'm going
to pull up the screen, but the nature of how many vacant lots are on that block?
Sure. So as you were saying, in that picture that you were showing, and I just pulled up the, hopefully you can see, hopefully you can see the city of Philadelphia property search showing up.
Yeah, we see it. We see it.
Okay, so the first house that you were showing in the initial picture, that's 3908 Brown Street.
That is the second one from the corner on the near side of Brown Street, if you can see.
That's a multifamily house. That's the closest one to us.
And then after that, there's that huge area of land, which I'm not even sure how many lots there are there, but it's all vacant.
You can also see the other corner of Brown Street.
There's another huge portion of land that is vacant.
And when I was canvassing and walking up and down the block, even a lot of these homes were vacant.
You could definitely tell from the exterior.
and other ones were, it was a mix of vacant housing along with existing multifamily housing too.
Okay. And how long did you canvas the area before you even submitted the application?
I mean, we checked the block multiple times before submitting the application. And then I
actually collected signatures after the submission of the application. So that was maybe
three or four months ago I would say I have nothing further did he adopt your testimony
yeah okay thank you questions from the board
Yes, I have a question. So, Mr. Brown, you mentioned that you highlighted several other approvals that was allotted along that row. Do you know by any chance if those have been built already?
yes I have a question um uh so
You mentioned a lot of multifamily approvals in 2022. Do you know of them being built already, currently built?
I'll actually, I know the one was just approved in January of 2024, so I don't believe that's been approved, but is, Josh, you still?
Yes. So there's actually a large, I believe it's on the corner of 39th, I'm sorry, on 40th and Brown. There was a large multifamily in that piece of land. No, the other way on 40th.
Yep. I'm pretty sure it's that corner. I don't want to, I might be wrong, but I'm pretty sure it's that corner where that square of land is on Brown and 40th. There was a large multifamily structure already built there. But the other ones that were granted on our side of Brown Street, those have not started yet.
Okay. And my other question is, have you given any thought to kind of aligning the physical structure of the house to the neighboring houses?
I know that this site is kind of scattered, but the houses on Brown Street have a particular look and your design is like nowhere near them.
And that would definitely stick out. So has there been any kind of idea to kind of assimilate them, at least to the surrounding housing stock?
At least to the size?
So I know what you're talking about. There's the houses on Brown Street that have the porch in the front, right? Is that what you're mentioning?
I'm talking about that whole neighborhood, that particular area has a particular look.
So have you given any thoughts of just, you know, trying to align with the look?
Not an exact match, but just alignment with the look of the housing, the current housing stock that's there.
Right. We were thinking about it, but that our side of Brown Street there, there's so much land and most of it is actually going to become new construction,
which I think from looking over the other submissions,
it seemed like they were going to have the more modern look that we were proposing.
So it was a tough decision whether to go for like that porch,
that front yard porch that I think you're mentioning,
that the other houses have versus just that straight front facade.
We just went with the straight front facade because we thought there was going to be a lot of other
new construction houses that were matching, you know, that modern look. But, you know,
it could have went either way. Okay. And my last question is,
why not two units instead of three? Just based on the other buildings that were
that were proven on that block. And also the fact that the lot is large enough to support three
units. And with three units, we're actually able to charge more of reasonable rents than just with
two units. So I feel like it would be more practical for that area.
Tanetta, you're... Oh, thank you. I'm done. Sure, sure. That's okay.
And just to touch on the look, we actually met with the RCO twice on this.
um and any questions over the design you know because we do have the 3d rendering um