The properties are expensive, as you might imagine, to own.
But none of the other 19 units, to your knowledge, are used as Airbnbs?
They're not used as Airbnbs.
And are you fully leased up?
I am, yes.
okay uh and i believe that you had uh mentioned uh to me earlier but but if you could just tell
the board how many adult individuals live it uh at your property there's currently 34 adults and
then their children that live at the property okay i would it be fair to you know nine children
no there's um i think children now there are three there's nine uh senior citizens that live
here. There's a number of folks that qualify for disabilities, you know, eight African-Americans
and Asian, there's six Jewish people, 21 of the folks are women. So I built a really nice diverse,
you know, group of renters, you know, the units, particularly the new ones are between 1200 and
2900 square feet. So they're very large units. And as you might imagine, you know, virtually
every person who lives here has a car. And so that just goes for, you know, virtually all the
adults that live there, those 34, virtually all have cars, correct? They do, yes. Okay. And
do you have sufficient parking right now with just the spaces that you have, not including
these ones along Pastorea to service the needs of your existing tenants? No, I don't. Right now,
all the spaces are assigned to folks. Folks are parking their extra cars on the street and all
their guests have to park on the street as well because there's not enough spots.
And can you just tell the board a bit about what street parking is like
and the availability of on-street parking at the property?
I mean, street parking is a challenge.
You know, people walk all the way from Walnut Lane over to Topahokan to park their cars.
You know, Green Street and the other streets, Wayne, are always, you know, full.
It gets worse when there's, you know, church on Sunday.
There's two churches within a block. The Maxwell Mansion often has events, which leads to additional need for parking.
And just down the street at Topolhocken and Wayne, they're planning, I think, an 80-unit building that's been approved with, I think, 20 parking places.
At the other end of Topolhocken and Germantown, they put another 75 or 80 units with no parking.
and the co-op on Wayne between Pastorius and Philpahawken Street,
my understanding is they're going to have to take down their garage in the back,
which is another 42 cars that will end up on the street as well.
So there's already a lot of issues with enough street parking.
And, you know, my goal from the beginning was to be part of the solution
and have, you know, enough parking off street to be able to accommodate all my folks
so they're not taking parking from folks, you know,
who don't have driveways and don't have parking.
and can you uh just tell the board a bit about uh west pastoria street is it a heavily traffic
street it's not okay um i think my i think my opposition actually testified in the 2017 hearing
the closest near neighbor that 15 to 20 cars a day maybe drive down the street and from our
review it's it's about that there's very limited cars and folks who use pastoria street simply
because it only goes between Green and Wayne, anybody that would be traveling through the
neighborhood could easily go through on Tulpahakan or Walnut Lane, which travels much longer than
one block. And when you purchased the nursing home, it was the footprint of the building. I
know that you expanded that at the second floor, but its actual footprint was as we're seeing right
now on the screen is that correct yes we had to stay we chose to stay within the footprint
of the building and not not expand the building in any way okay and these these proposed you
Okay. And these proposed, you know, the parking spaces right in front of the unit, what's the intention? Who would utilize those specific parking spaces?
know the parking spaces uh right in front of the unit
They would be, well, you know, each of the new units would get assigned a spot. You know, they would be used by the, if you look to the left where there is no street, those units there, and then also the two-story units in the back.
And I'll also note that those units to the left, we were required by the city and the state to make them all ADA compliant as one-story units. They're all graded and there's a handicap ramp that leads right to the parking. And right now that parking is closed.
So anybody that would be handicapped, and I've gotten calls from individuals looking to rent, and I had to tell them they're going to have to go 350 feet or 500 feet to their parking, as you might imagine, that didn't work.
And so we're in violation of the ADA compliance requirements because the zoning board currently has the parking closed.
um can uh and you have uh a number of individuals i know we have a number of individuals here
um that uh are looking to testify in support um of the of the project in terms i just want to speak
you know in in terms of the uh the community meeting you were at that meeting right i was
And with the issues in that meeting, would you characterize them as related to this location of this off-street parking, or were there other issues that were brought up at the meeting?
I'd say less than 10% of the discussion was related to the parking.
The vast majority of the conversation was about how many cars drive on any street in the city, the width of streets, my driveway, whether people access from the front and the rear, a number of other topics.
It was very limited discussion at all about the parking.
I think there was general consensus that, you know, basically saving a nursing home and the OIC building next door and converting them both to beautiful residential was great for the neighborhood.
We didn't really spend much time talking about parking.
And lastly, with respect to Mr. Masters, his client, Carla Willard, Connie Winters, Michael Ramos and Susan Wright, they all have parking access from West Pastoreas.
Isn't that correct?
Not only do they have access when they moved back to the street, but both Susan and Carla used to live on Tulpahawk.
And when they moved to the back, they applied for additional parking.
And I've got those L&I letters.
In fact, Carla and Mike Ramos share what is an eight car parking lot on on Pastoria Street that they added once she moved back there.
And Connie took it a step further.
She doesn't actually live on Pastoria.
she owns the apartment building on West Walnut Lane, which has an existing driveway leaving out
on Walnut Lane. There used to be a 180-foot wall there. She believes so much in the sanctity of
Pastoria Street that she took down that wall, built a house, and had her driveway exit across
from my property on Pastoria. All her contractors parked in my parking during the time that it was
under construction because there was not enough parking. And what I'll note is that my property
has a sidewalk, she's chosen to not include a sidewalk for that total 180 foot street. So when
we get into issues of walkability on the street, I've, you know, done the right thing and added a
sidewalk. My greatest opposition has chosen not to put a sidewalk in and the other neighbors
down the street have sidewalks but have chosen not to maintain them. And the sidewalk is where
I'm running my cursor right now. Is that correct? Exactly. Yes. Where you place the sidewalk. And
And it's fair to say you've been involved in litigation and appeals and disputes with Ms. Willard Winters, right, and Mr. Ramos going back more than five years, continuously.
Yeah, I mean, I think there was an initial lack of knowledge when we had the original zoning meeting.
I always had a driveway on Pastoria Street.
the nursing home that was there before had had a driveway both there and on tulpa hawkins street
and that came up at the very end of the zoning meeting last time i don't believe that the board
understood that their driveway already existed and that there was access and i think it's led to this
you know five years of this conversation again a you know a judge awarded of um parking and then
we built the parking you know for that award understood now i don't want to uh you know
belabor too much and get into, you know, that history, because I know that is another subject
of another hearing. I know there are a number of individuals waiting to testify whom I would like
to call, given our timing. So, you know, at this point, I don't have any further questions for
Mr. B.O.B., but would reserve the right to call him as a rebuttal witness in response to any
questions raised by Mr. Masters. No, I appreciate it. Thank you.
No, I appreciate it. Thank you.
Okay. I'd like to call Carleen Neal.
I would like to cross.
Yeah, that's right. Mr. Masters, you want to cross, right?
I was surprised when I didn't hear you at first, and that's where I was going to jump to that.
I appreciate your indulgence, Michael.
So can I have the screen again, please?
All right, let me find...
I am looking for a site plans, let's see.
uh good afternoon mr bilby good afternoon so um i want to talk first about um which um
which streets have access you have access to from your property um so right now um we're looking at
this drawing, which is your drawing, do you recognize that? Yes. Okay. You live in the front
of the mansion up here. Is that correct? Yes. Okay. And this street is Tupperhawken Street.
Yes. Do you have a driveway that connects and a curb cut that connects your property to Tupperhawken
Street? Yes, there's a driveway that runs straight through from Topohockin to Pastoreas.
Is that what I'm looking at right here with my cursor? Yes. Okay. And the green area here,
is this where you park your cars or people connected to you and your family? Yes. Okay.
So would you say that you, what percentage of the time do you use Topohockin Street to
to, to, to, to enter and exit your property? 90%. Okay. And at this point, have you put a
landscape barrier to block any, any cars from moving from Tublehawken into the, into the middle
of your property? No, that's completely open. Completely open. Okay. So anyone could come from
Tublehawken Street, go past your parking spaces here and park in these spaces that are for
tenants. Is that correct? Yes. Okay. You also have not a driveway, but you have frontage on
Green Street. Is that correct? I do. And is that this area that I'm looking at here?
And then this area with the tree canopies, is this mostly like open green space and foliage?
Yeah, that's a lot of mature trees, you know, foliage.
It's kind of a nice park.
The nursing home did a good job of putting a lot of trees there.
And I've planted, I think, 45 more trees, a couple hundred shrubs,
about 3,000 flowers on the property since I owned it.
Okay. Now, for a while now, you've had tenants in these new units here and also had tenants here and tenants back here, right? In this part of the building?
Yeah, I've had some tenants since probably 2011 and the new units were finished, you know, end of 2021.
Right. So in 2011, you had tenants here and then you had some tenants back here also. Is that correct?
uh in 2011 it was just the kind of oddly shaped house the that main building was converted into
five units the rest of it that's that l shape which was the former nursing home wing right
that was the additional 14 units that you got um approved in 2017 uh i got a building permit in
2019 yes to do those that that those buildings were there right we converted them into residential
Right. So these parking spaces that you want, these are the 15 parking spaces up here that you want to add in the application today. Is that right?
There are 14 of them there, and there's one by that little single-family home.
There are 14 of them there and there's one by that little single family home.
Right over here?
Right over here?
Yes, exactly.
Yes, exactly.
So these folks live in these townhouses already, is that correct, the folks who would be parking here?
Some of them live there, and then some, if you go down to the right side of your thing, they live in that unit.
That's actually sort of my retiree row, so I've got a lot of folks that live there that used to live in the neighborhood of retirees.
Those are the handicap accessible units there to the right.
Got it.
So, when you put these tenants in these buildings, but the Commonwealth Court had told you you're not allowed to have parking on Pastorius, did you inform your tenants where they were allowed to park on your property?
I don't think your statement was correct. Can you say it again?
For a time now, your tenants are not allowed to park along Pastorius. Do you agree with that?
uh the yeah that that parking has never been open for tenants so the people who moved into
your property do they have parking spaces somewhere else on your property uh there's
some parking on the property that you know if you go kind of 500 feet all the way around from those
units or 300 feet they park on that interior and then the rest of them like what i'm looking at
here with my cursor are these the parking spaces for those tenants uh yes and the rest of them
park on the street because there's not enough spots got it now back here you said you had some
ada compliance issues um not not back there that's just a that's there's a pond there's a
trees there's a courtyard back there well aren't these aren't these backyards of all the units in
the townhouses with fences and gates uh there those six units have a grassy backyard behind them
Uh-huh. Okay. And then this area here is more open space?
There was a pond there that the nursing home put in. There was trees and flowers. Yeah, it's green space.
Is there any reason, a physical reason, a structural topographical reason that you couldn't put parking in this area back here?
Yeah, it's not big enough.
It's not big enough to fit a car in there?
You could fit one car.
did you do any traffic studies or or or engineering studies to to figure out whether
you could have the turning radius for cars back here i've lived here since 2010 i i ate my lunch
out there this afternoon there's not a turning radius you could put a car there's a bunch of
mature trees and there's a pond so you'd have to move some trees around uh there's not enough
space you could drive a car in but you could maybe get what one two cars in there do you remember at
the 2017 hearing testifying and having your attorney testify that you had enough space on
your property to accommodate all the parking for your tenants without using the parking on
Pastorius? No. You don't remember that. In this area here, would you be able to put parking spaces
in this area that my cursor is here now? We could have removed more of the green space and trees and
put parking there even farther away from the tenants. But again, that's not going to solve
the ADA compliance issues. Well, my question, Mr. Bilby, wasn't for you to give me a speech about
the ADA issues. My question was, are you able to put parking spaces in this area here on your
property? Does the property allow you to put parking spaces there? We would be physically
able to cut some trees down and remove more green space and put some parking there as opposed to
near the units and near where the handicap ramp is. Oh, maybe that's the best answer I'm going
to get. Now, do you have specific leases that you give all your tenants? My tenants have leases.
Okay. And on these leases, does it specify to your tenants where you want them to enter and
exit the property, which street to use? My tenants are exiting and entering from both
past stories until hawken street would it surprise you to know that tenants of yours have have told
us that they had instructions in the release that they weren't allowed to direction i'm asking him
if he'd be surprised to hear that i'm not asking him whether he whether whether someone is saying
around the answer. Can you ask the question again? Sorry. Sure. Would you be surprised to
know that some of your tenants say that they have instructions in their lease that they're
not allowed to use Topple Hawkins Street? In the past, I had said to the tenants that I'd prefer
them to leave on Pastoria Street just because I have the front area for myself and it's a safer
street back there, but I no longer have those anymore. Okay. So you altered the leases or you
Okay, so you altered the leases or you modified them at some point?
modified them at some point?
Yeah, I've not, you know, a new lease is not including that language anymore. So tenants can leave both via, tenants could always leave via both Passtorius and Topol-Hawkins Street.
Mm-hmm. So, Mr. Bilby, you've lived in this property quite a long time, and you seem to be familiar with the other properties on the block. Can you tell me which other properties on the block have access to both Pastorius and to Topolhawken Street for their ingress and egress with their vehicles?
of mine is the only of all the properties that are between topahawken and pastorius on this
200 block of west topahawken and 200 of west pastorius can you name even one other property
that has access to both to the streets both with topahawken and pastorius besides your own
when i thought i'll object to the relevance of this thing as though the access from the curb