So we believe that, like, having a two-unit condominium, excuse me, a two-bedroom condominium would make it more affordable for people to actually purchase in Fishtown.
And some of those neighbors actually agreed with us as well.
And the other thing was two nearby neighbors are ready for the vacant lot to be occupied, and the back neighbor is only concerned about construction touching her home.
She exchanged contact information with the developer.
You'll see in the presentation materials at the end, so this was presented pre-COVID-19
outbreak. So we actually started doing a petition with the nearby neighbors, and you'll see that we
have some of those neighbors in support of this project. We also provided letters from those
neighbors too, showing that they're in support of it as well. So this is our show proof of
mailing for the community meeting and then you'll see that David Major, Josh Berg, Kevin
Sank and you know Susan Sank and Paul Lalonde and Donny Legones all supported their support
All supported their support of the project.
of the project.
And again,
And again, for the other than Paul, he's at 1213 East Columbia Avenue, which is one house next door to us.
All the others are in the rear where you'll see at 412-24.
Let me just get that.
They're all in the rear right here.
So they would be most affected by, you know, our project in terms of the height and in terms of the density, and they're all in support of it.
So, you know, hearing what the community was saying previously in terms of different iterations of this project by different developers and hearing what the community spoke about during the community meeting and hearing what Fishtown had to say even in the pre-community meeting, we substantially decreased the amount of density for this project to four units.
We decreased the amount of parking spaces to four parking spaces.
And given the history that this has never been used as a single-family structure,
we believe that this is an appropriate use of this project.
And for that, we ask that the zoning board grant our variance request.
thank you
air does the board have any questions no frank i just asked if the board had any questions no
the other thing i would just highlight again is the fact that this project or this property has
has been proposed for multifamily use in multiple instances,
given its RSA 5 designation, for well over a decade.
And this property and other property owners have been unable to develop this property as single-family use.
And as you can see from the letter from the Fishtown Neighbors Association,
I think they're ready to have this property actually developed.
And the nearby neighbors, who are the ones who are most affected by this project,
project are in support of this project.
And even the vote that was not in favor at the community level was a very close vote.
So some of these individuals who wrote in support of this project were not able to attend
this meeting, but it was two, four, and four against within a 500 radius, but now we have
six people who are most immediately impacted writing letters of support directly to the ZBA.
And then in general, there was only 16 people in a meeting that usually has like 30 to 50,
which Fishtown neighbors tend to be very active. So we only had 16 people and it was six yes and
10 no. So even in the vote against it, it was a pretty close vote. That's why, and even in the
letter that's why we went down from six to four because that's what we were told that would be
more appetizing to the neighborhood and through that we were able to get letters of support from
these different individuals and we started doing a petition unfortunately due to COVID-19 we had
to respect the fact that we can't actively you know solicit people in person so but even those
individuals are all direct neighbors who are going to be directly impacted.
We can't hear Frank. No, I think he's actually off now. I don't see him, so.
He's on my screen. Okay.
Frank, you might want to log in, I mean log out and then log back in.
I see him, actually.
Well, while Frank is there, I guess I can have my client affirm the testimony.
Sounds good.
All right, Frank Kumas of Kumas Homes.
of Kumas Homes. Frank, raise your hand virtually.
Frank, raise your hand virtually.
Frank, you can unmute yourself. Good morning, everyone. My name is Frank Kumas
from Kumas Homes, an IRA development. Carol, can you swear him in, please?
Yes. Do you swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Yes I do. All right so so Frank uh you heard everything I stated today. Yes I have. And is
it true and correct? Yes sir. And would you adopt it as your own testimony? Yes I do. Okay so while
we're waiting for uh Chairman Tachiko why don't you tell the board a little bit about Kumas Homes and
you know your your aptitude and experience in the philadelphia region
alan before you begin can anyone hear me now yes yes i apologize i was
everything was off um alan i'll get your witness uh briefly give us a summary and then i have a
question good morning chairman this is frank kumas how are you well yourself very well thank you um
Alan, get back to your question.
We've been in Philadelphia since 2009.
We've built over 350 units throughout South Philly,
North Philly, Fishtown areas.
I've been into the zoning with EVA meeting multiple times
with you and with the other attorneys.
But this particular property,
I am very highly interested from day one,
but I heard a lot of stories about this property.
You went to zoning like four or five times,
being denied.
And then I wanted to get bottom of this story.
what happened was I went to neighborhood actually people that lives in Columbia Avenue I spoke with
them one-on-one and I wanted to find out why are they against these projects and why are they against
the multi-family unit with the parking and then it's surprising that no one is against this project
they say they don't know what I'm talking about they say they support this project they don't
want no one taking any parking from the street even if someone builds a single family home over
there it's going to be big single family homes and it could be big family living there and if
added that big family it could be two or three people have a car and then they can they can
take more space on a street parking neighbors on their on their location they don't want nobody to
take any more street parking than already it is because already it's too crowded in here
so i explained to them about my projects i talked to them one-on-one they don't see any issue with
these projects and I say how come you guys didn't support these projects in the past they said well
they didn't even know there was a go on to zoning or they didn't even know what the other project
was I told them there is this project went to zoning two three times and it got denied by the
Fishtown Neighbors Association and they actually got pissed off and they most of them show up on a
on a on a ZBN Neighbors Association meeting and they support our projects and they even give us
support that, saying that they're very highly interested on this project. They don't want to
see this warehouse in there any longer. They are very clear about that. They want us to develop
something, they want us to do something with it, and then they are very highly interested in us
to do something with parking. They don't want to give up any more parking initiative than already
it is. Yeah, so Chairman DiCicco, there is a pre-existing curb cut there which we'll be
repurposing for yeah i saw that i i lost you towards the end of your presentations i got
all the other stuff my only question is um according to my notes fish town neighbors
association opposes do they oppose even after you made the adjustments down from six to four units
well so i actually asked them i said can i represent this to four units and they said no
we don't give representations you know in terms of that but if you look at their letter and it's
in front of your screen yeah the print is too small for me okay so but i'll reread it some
neighbors feel four units down from the previous proposal six is a good compromise for property
that's owned for two single family homes so we we heard what they said and again if we if you look
at those other projects that have been proposed over the past decade you know people were vehement
against it right because it was so much use right there were height variances there were eight
units versus the versus six now down to four so the previous projects that were opposed were
because of eight units six units because of six parking spaces because there were no i get that
i don't want to interrupt i get that i just was curious if the letter spoke to the revision or
was it the original six that they were against uh all right um do you have revised plans
So what we did, Mr. Chair, is that we resubmitted this to L&I for a new notice of refusal.
so what we did um mr chair is that we resubmitted this
So the new notice of refusal, and I gave it to Ms. Sunkit to make the new notice of refusal the operative one.
So this is the one. Hold on a second.
So this is Sharon Solito.
Plans do not have to be stamped in this case.
well we can just if if it's approved we could just limit it the proviso limited to four units
something like that or is that necessary it's already stated in the most recent
okay all right good enough all right um questions from the board no no no anyone out there who
wishes to testify in this matter if so please raise your hand at this time um we have andrew miller
handle you're gonna meet yourself and speak uh hi my name is andrew miller i live at 1405 east
columbia avenue uh just a couple blocks away mr miller do you swear and affirm to tell the truth
the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do i do please um thank you um i just wanted to say
briefly that the there's a couple details that in in the presentation uh that i just wanted to
highlight uh he he showed the support of a number of neighbors uh i wanted to highlight that the two
adjacent neighbors on Columbia 1215 and 1221 are not in in in his list of people
that are in support of it also the as has been noted I imagine over the other
times this has come before the zoning board the the zoning of the RSA 5 was
done fairly recently and they're not presenting a hardship I understand that
they have made adjustments to try and accommodate the the concerns of the of the community but i
would potentially propose that this it be denied at this time until it can go before the community
again uh so that they can approve the the four unit if that's what they choose to do
uh or or or deny it again and then that can go as as it goes uh i just think it's due diligence
should be done for the the neighbors involved both that have uh clearly been involved enough
to set this zoning when it was set a few years back uh as well as express potential new concerns
with this adjustment or or the approval if that's what they choose to present thank you and that's
all i really have to say thank you any other uh individuals who wish to testify in this matter
please raise your hand uh mr chairman i would just like to um state something and actually he
reminded me of this because it's been such a long time ago 1215 east columbia avenue the owners of
that property who are directly adjacent to us did attend the meeting and we talked to him afterwards
and as an officer of the court i will state that they said that they weren't supported this project
yeah i thought i heard you say that earlier yeah well 1213 we have a letter we have a petition
signed by 1213 but specifically i talked to the owners of 1215 after the community meeting and
they stated their support as well of this project uh anyone else wish to testify in this case please
raise your hand so chair we have mary jones from the council's office mary you can unmute yourself
and speak mary ms jones please identify yourself with the record
mary you can unmute yourself and speak
uh my apologies i thought i already was unmuted my name is mary jones uh city hall room 496
19107 representative of Council President Darryl Clark. Okay, yes I wanted to just
interject particularly about the position of the RCO. They were aware of
the changes to this project, and their position remained that they opposed it.
Okay. Even with the adjustment, right? Okay.
even with the adjustment right okay yes okay thank you miss jones uh anyone else wish to testify
Okay, thank you.
that's it chair you can proceed thank you planning commission
can you hear me it's brian yes yes
can you clear brian in for the whole day brian please spell your name and i will swear you in
thank you brian b-r-i-a-n w-e-n-r-i-c-h
do you represent the planning commission you swear and affirm to tell the truth the whole
truth and nothing but the truth i do um this property is indicated for residential use on
the comprehensive plan this block has a long history of multi-family but we feel that six
units or four units is excessive in this location accordingly we recommend the grants not be granted
So is the Planning Commission's position because it's more than one unit, or do you have a recommendation?
I mean, they went from six to four, and you acknowledge there's a multifamily in and around this property.
so not to put you on the spot i'm just curious is it against any multi-family
is that the position of the commission or is it because of the dense still the density
i think it was um it was to do with i guess this is my first time thanks for putting me on
yeah relax no problem um based on the uh based on the comments of the council office and uh the
feedback from the neighbors, it wasn't clear to me whether or not they had the opportunity to
discuss it as revised. I had it on my notes as six units, so six units, I felt too many.
Yeah, that's, yeah. I'm sorry, yeah, you finish.
Four unit, it's right on the edge for me, really, because of the parking.
don't worry about I live on the edge all my life so again I heard Miss Jones
and I'm just curious I just seems I mean this with the challenges we have
of communication I'm just wondering if enough people who either attended or
live in close proximity are aware of the adjustment and if they even would they
still be opposed to it knowing it went from six to four well mr chair that's why i specifically
if you looked at it um what's it called we we put specifically in the letter four residential
units and four off street parking spaces so we got all the immediate neighbors for that each
letter david major josh berg kevin sang and then even the petition the way i drafted it was specific
to four units and four off-street parking spaces so what i heard from fna you know during their
pre-community meeting was six was too much right and i and i and i tend to agree with that that's
why i looked at it it's a 3200 square foot lot with full lot coverage on the first floor and
we're setting back 21 feet and with that there's significant still significant space for four
units did you uh on that other petition going from six to four was that done by mail uh this
petition was this was pre-covid so if you can't see it but it was actually hand-written the end
the the person from 1213 east columbia two of them from 1213 east columbia and then we met with
1215 east columbia actually at the meeting and they verbally told us they were in support of it
so it was a close vote it wasn't like they were completely against it it was like six it was six
to ten no and two you know overall and two to four or four to two no within 500 feet that's why
i made the outreach both to reduce the unit count but all and the parking count but also to reach
out to those immediate neighbors the ones who would be most effective affected and they're all
now in favor of this project okay thank you all right i don't want to belabor the point i'm just
curious all right thank you uh any other questions anyone else have any questions please raise your
Any other questions? Anyone else have any questions? Please raise your hand.
Mr. Chairman, I do. Who's the attorney who said that the 16-foot drive area
was not sufficient for cars unless they were Mini Coopers?
Well, I don't know if I, Ms. Tanari, I was the one who attended that meeting. This is,