ZBA Hearing - July 10, 2024

Do you believe it to be true and correct to the best of your information, knowledge, and belief?

Yes.

And would you adopt that as your own testimony?

Yes.

Thank you very much.

Chairman, that's all I have for Mr. Farage.

I'm happy to have the board ask him any questions.

Why don't we hold him if the board has a question? Why don't you move on to your real estate person?

All right. Could you please elevate Leanne Tancredi, please?

Yes.

Could you please state your name as a spell for the stenographer?

Leanne Tancredi, L-E-I-G-H-A-N-N-E, Tancredi, T-A-N-C-R-E-D-I.

You swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?

Yes. Proceed, Mr. Will. Thank you. Ms. Tancredi, are you a licensed realtor in Pennsylvania?

Yes. And could you please describe briefly your experience for residential and commercial?

Yes, I've had my Pennsylvania license, salesperson license for 10 years now, and I

sell both residential and commercial real estate as well as manage both residential and commercial

real estate in the city of Philadelphia. Yes. Thank you. Board, I'm happy to go into this more

extensively, but I would offer Ms. Tancredi as an expert on the real estate matters here.

Why don't we proceed with her and her expertise would be what she did with this property, okay?

Okay. Ms. Tancredi, did you hear already the testimony that I presented?

Yes. And do you believe it to be true and correct to the best of your knowledge,

information and belief? Yes. And would you adopt that testimony as your own? Yes. Okay. Now,

Ms. Tancredi, you heard me testify that this property would not be an appropriate use as

a commercial space. Do you mind, what would your opinion on that be? So in my experience of

managing commercial properties in the city of Philadelphia, I currently manage some multi-use

Some multi-use properties, specifically right now in Old City, where they have a storefront residential units on top.

properties, specifically right now

in Old City where they have

a

It appears that we were going to go for a zoning variance, but never did.

So now we have the commercial on the bottom.

In addition to taking several months, if not a year, to rent it, and it is in a high foot traffic area right in Old City.

In addition, it causes lots of problems with the residents because of the trash issue that you spoke of.

There is no good way to dispose of it.

So they keep it outside. It attracts rodents and critters.

So the residents are unhappy with it. In addition, you know, you brought up a good point, too.

I've lived close to this lot at 21 for North Franklin for almost 20 years.

and i've never seen a commercial in the middle of the block it causes you know traffic people

pull over they block traffic there's horns honking and it really disrupts the flow of

the residential area and now um when you're leasing we're looking for commercial lease space

how about the size of this uh lot you already went through the location of the lot of being

on mid-block. How about the size of the space? Would this be conducive to a commercial use?

Right. So all clients that I have, they're looking to lease commercial space. They've never looked

for anything this small. They're looking for space where they can attract, you know, people to come

in, first of all. So there's really no way to advertise in the middle of the block. This block

isn't really a high foot traffic area. And they're looking for usually at least, you know,

1,000, 1,500 feet, and that's on the small side. And nine feet is rather narrow for if you're

going to have customers coming in and out. Okay. And Ms. Tancredi, you also heard me say not only

is this not viable for a commercial use, but it's also not viable simply to turn the building into

a duplex. In your opinion, would you agree with that? I do agree with that. In renting in

In residential areas, I know most residents like to keep large groups off their block.

And if you were to create a four-bedroom unit, you know, specifically since it's close to the temple, you would most likely attract groups that residents would, you know, not really care for.

So I think keeping the unit smaller is best for the community.

Okay.

Thank you very much, Ms. Tancredi.

Do you have anything else you believe the board should hear?

No.

Thank you.

board that's all i have for mr questions from the board i have a question the second and third floor

is that two units what is it uh sorry i did go through that very quickly the second floor

i'm only oh i stopped sharing uh the second floor is a two-bedroom unit uh bedroom in the back

bedroom in the front with living space in between and the third floor is also a similar two-bedroom

unit uh but the third floor also has a roof deck uh over and above it okay so this so so the

proposal essentially for a three three three unit building yes i'm sorry mr johns i did uh skip over

that so at the conclusion if approved we would have a triplex with a one-bedroom unit on the

first floor that would have sole access to the rear yard and its own entryway and then we would

have a two-bedroom unit on the second floor and a two-bedroom unit on the third floor with a roof

deck okay i just i just kind of don't see how that makes any difference than having a duplex

where there are a greater number of bedrooms because it's in terms of the number of people

you know you still kind of you still got four bedrooms well and i'm happy to have missed but

there's two apartments or it's one apartment, there's still the same number of people kind of

sort of, you know what I mean? So I don't know. I don't know about that argument, but that's my

only issue really for the most part. Certainly understood. And I can have Ms. Tancredi weigh

in on this. The difference in number of bedrooms per unit is that certainly the rent increases as

well. And four units becomes overly large for generally a single family unit to rent. And then

you end up with large groups of people coming together. Whereas two bedroom units tend to be

a single family unit, renting them and moving on. I'm happy to have Ms. Tancredi

opine on that as the realtor. No, I'm good. I'm good. Thank you.

Other questions for them?

Other questions for them?

I have a few questions.

I have a few questions. Can you guys outline the square footage of each of the units that you're offering?

Can you guys outline the square footage of each of the units?

Certainly. I did say that very quickly, and I apologize. The first floor unit would be approximately 725 square feet.

The second floor unit would be approximately 830 square feet. And the third floor unit would be approximately 845 square feet.

and i heard you say that the first floor has designated access with such a narrow lot how

are people getting to the second and the third floor because you went through the plans really

quickly i i did and i apologize i didn't want to belabor anything i'll share again the plan and

actually make it large enough that i can see it let alone you um so the where the first floor plan

writing is. That's the street. So you'd walk up off the street. There's a right-hand door

and a left-hand door. The right-hand door, you walk in, there's a small vestibule,

and you immediately go upstairs to the second story and the second unit. Then it immediately

has a stair going again up to the third floor unit. And the left-hand door leads directly into

what would be the living room of the proposed first floor unit. Open living room into kitchen.

Going back through the kitchen, you'd have the bathroom in the middle. And then you have a very

large bedroom with closet here. And then again, you can see this first floor, or sorry, the entire

building not just the first floor um has a side cut out it's set back from this property line so

the left hand side here is that uh that very large uh seven unit building that's going in

and you would walk out and the first floor unit has a its own exclusive designated walkout to

uh the rear yard so so you you said that the basement will not be used for living

there's an egress well there's an egress well and the first floor apartment is open to the

basement there's no there's no door i mean that's an open stairwell uh no so so here's the stairwell

down right it it goes down the the basement is currently unfinished it will not be finished

um it is meant only for laundry and storage for the first floor unit and uh so so so work with me

here so you're going to have an unfinished basement that's open to an apartment with an

egress well in the basement that that seems a little questionable

i i understand i mean i certainly see this condition all the time as i'm sure you do

i'm happy to have mr haas is the uh whose hand was raised before is the project manager

and will be the property manager so he can walk through any questions you have with regard to the

the egress well in that basement can we talk through the uh the construction materials being

used in the basement like what are going to be the floor condition and the wall condition in the

basement uh certainly i would have to call mr haas uh chairman all right let's get mr haas one

please hello how are you all right say your name please as bell for the court stenographer

sure it's steve haas my last name is h-a-a-s you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth

nothing but the truth i do sir please proceed mr haas uh could you please describe your position

as to this property for the board i'm uh my question answered first no hey i i'm trying to

get their board member win i just have to identify why he should be the one answering it instead of

me i'm simply the project manager okay have you been involved at all times with all construction

decisions mr haas yes sir okay uh did you hear uh board member win's question yes i believe she

asked about the materials which would be concrete concrete floor and then the walls are they

metal studs is it zip system are you using drywall like how what are the what's the

wall condition in the basement open finishing there's there would be no finishing so it would

just be a masonry basically okay so no insulation in the basement no

so

I'll be cool.

So you have a isolated basement that's open to an apartment on the first floor.

That's not a great idea in terms of energy efficiency and a number of things.

Sounds well.

this location of a door between the basement can i my name is barry farage i'm the owner can i speak

is that another client you have coming on mr whalen no uh board chair mr farage

already spoke he is here on behalf of the owner he was already sworn in please let him speak

morning

my name is

Barry Farage

we have that

go ahead Mr. Farage

so the basement

the basement will be

just going to be

for washer and dryer

downstairs

for use for washer and dryer

the basement

will not going to have

any finishing

and it's going to be

a door

between the basement

and the upstairs

to separate it

only for laundry

downstairs

that's it

okay your plans just don't show that

other questions from the board um i'd have a question so the community's opposition is for

for what commercial i mean the opposition for them not to get the variance for the commercial

i know you said there was a variety of meetings and i kind of dwindled down to those um four

uh yes i can bring the letter back up if you'd like uh if you don't already have it

so the the rco technically took no position uh because there were only four people and

they only take a position if there's six votes or more um and uh the community members in

attendance thought that uh there should continue to be commercial space even if it was in mid-block

uh and i'm reading directly from the letter here they express that the existing property dimensions

in space could still accommodate a viable business the proposed development has caused

issues for neighboring residents including damage to vehicles fence in front of the adjacent property

they identified me and said that i had made efforts to address these damages

and the neighboring resident cooperated in informing the developer of vandalism break-ins

and thefts and deliberations however no resolutions came to be and then it says

other community members have been dissatisfied with the construction site conditions and the

behavior of certain contractors towards residents resulting in multiple meetings with the developer

the developer stated that they have terminated those contractors

employment and tried to improve the site conditions to be less inconvenient for the residents

so that that's that's where everyone uh came out it was so that was the first rco meeting was sort

of when all of these issues were first aired uh that's why we thought it appropriate we we actually

asked the rco if they would allow us to come back and address all of those concerns the rco also

wanted, and so did the near neighbors, direct communication numbers and email addresses

for Mr. Farage and Mr. Haas so that they could reach out directly. We provided those at the

second meeting. And then the second meeting into the third meeting, just after all those answers

were given, the second meeting just turned into the closest neighbor going through what was

purportedly damaged. And then we continued the meeting again to a third meeting to allow us

time to try to work with that neighbor, Ms. Musseter, in order to resolve those damages that

she had talked about. And those negotiations are ongoing, but unfortunately couldn't be resolved

in time for when the RCO wanted the third meeting. And that's why at the third meeting,

there were only four people left because we had answered all of the questions that had come up.

So there was no buy-in from the RCO in the community to have a third unit in the building, basically?

They never took a position on the third unit.

They simply said, you should build by right, and we think commercial is viable mid-block.

Thank you.

All right.

Other questions from the board?

Yes.

I'm not sure what that noise is in the background.

Okay.

Okay.

Your argument in terms of hardship is that a commercial use mid-block is not liable because of the area where it's located, which is another definition for hardship.

I'm sorry, Ms. Gaston, I'm having a hard time hearing you.

I'm sorry, Ms. Gaston, I'm having a hard time hearing you.

There's somebody in the background.

There's somebody in the background, please mute their background.

I don't think it's you.