the the condition of property was definitely a lot worse than than mark envisioned and again
it's it's been a bear of a of a project um and financing the little bit of financing that
that the client your client got did he uh use a title company and do a title search
well a title search would not i think what you're asking for was whether an appraisal was
was obtained a title search would only show whether there's any liens against the property
it wouldn't mention like what i don't know if you're what a title search is okay so but the
title search wouldn't like show if there's any violations against the property it's true but uh
yeah any other questions any other questions for the board
questions or comments from hillary emerson our attorney
not at this time mr chair questions or comments from the virtual audience
i yes chair i have a hand up by the name of john schnabel they have been allowed to speak
i could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer
Yeah, it's John Schnabel, John, J-O-H-N, Schnabel, S-C-H-N-E-B-L-E.
Do you swear or firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
John, are you a neighbor?
I am. I'm a near neighbor. I'm actually the next door neighbor.
All right. Why don't you proceed, John, with your testimony?
So I'd like to address, I guess, in response to what's been said thus far in the comments on the pictures.
submitted. A number of those pictures are current state, so they weren't done prior to. They are
current state. The timeline that's been presented is simply wrong. The property was closed in April
of 2023 not june um and in april of 2023 um actually before i get there you know the questions
talking in terms of the dates you know and the questions that the owner was just asked by his
attorney um was work done prior to the makes if makes make safe permit absolutely work was done
prior to that permit the basement excavation was done by this owner um the removal of you know
of of all the debris has been done consistently since they bought the house um the work has stopped
only since june of this year when we had that last meeting the juneteenth meeting um and and
And since that point, work has stopped. Prior to that, work was continuing with zero permits, nonstop, almost daily since April of last year.
John, did you take the photos?
I did. I did.
Thank you.
And in April of last year, in terms of the removal of the HVAC system and that that was done in April of last year when this current owner owned the building and was done without permits, of course, the fire department was here with five fire trucks.
the fire commissioner and all right here on our street because there was they found that there was
85 plus gallons of fuel dumped in the basement into plastic containers and so that was removed
by the city they brought it they pumped it into two 55 gallon drums and then the city removed
those drums from the sidewalk. So work has been done nonstop since they bought the house without
permits. The 15 violations have been issued since they've owned the house. And the make safe permit
that they received was in response to a dangerous working condition, work done without architectural
engineer um and the issues with the exterior walls that was all work done after this owner
bought the building and had done work so i don't understand the you know there shouldn't be any
confusion on terms of whether work was done or when work was done the pictures i think clearly
or when work was done the pictures i think clearly illustrate the work that's been done
illustrate the work
Thank you.
um and those bricks you know on the roof are they're there today so um you know i think i
don't think there's any question here that the that the owner has you know maintained a dangerous
work environment um the building has numerous dangerous conditions um they've operated with
total disregard for any rules regulations you know any codes um you know consistently
and i don't see any intention clearly that they're gonna change and so my concern as well as
the neighbors that have signed the letter of opposition that we submitted um is that you know
based on what this owner has demonstrated thus far, there's no reason to believe anything
they're going to tell us about what their intentions are in the future. Um, you know,
the electrical and the plumbing and all of this work has been done in the house since they bought
the unit. There is no question there's, there's actually active violations from LNI for that work.
um and so there's no question whether or not any of that happened or is being done
uh Mr. Nockham do you have any questions no I mean I think again if you look at the listing
from Redfin it stated that there was plumbing work and electrical work done as part of prior
to our ownership of the property I would say that my client is stating that again it's it's you know
it's what is who the board's going to believe and i'm just stating that my clients indicated to me
that he hasn't did no work prior uh to the make safe permit okay that he did he focused his work
to the make safe permit and then there were some subsequent violations debating whether or not
additional work was taking place but i don't i don't think my client debated whether he removed
like debris from the inside, which existed previous. He just thought it was a hazard,
an environmental hazard, having all that molding material in there that was already
like dealt with by the previous owner. So I would ask that maybe what we can do is if there's
an inclination, I would, I always have my clients try to reach out to the neighbors and whatever
the decision of board is, it is, but my client's going to have to work with these neighbors,
regardless. And I would say hold this under advisement. Let's see if we can come up to
some type of agreement and writing that the neighbors feel comfortable with. And then maybe
we can report back to this board after the fact. John, John, thanks for your call. We appreciate
it. Is there anyone else in the virtual audience? Yes, Chair. I have a hand up by the name of Kim
Smith they have been allowed to speak okay hi could you please state your name is spelled for
the course sonographer can you hear me yes okay my name is Tim Smith K-I-M-S-M-I-T-H right do you
swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes are you a neighbor
I am please proceed with your testimony okay I'm not only a neighbor I am a homeowner I've been
living on the block for over 50 years i am the block captain and a committee person okay i pulled
i pulled the neighborhood and the majority of the neighborhood is in disagreement with it becoming
a two-family dwelling and one of the reasons is is that we want longevity people move in move out
they're not invested in the property that we have a lot of problems with the people that are renting
in the neighborhood now it's just like a revolving door we want consistency that's number one
number two i'm sorry i'm trying to multitask at the same time all right take your time too when
the gentleman came around uh asking us to sign a petition i believe that he was a little bit
um he wasn't being truthful he said that the owner had intended on moving into the
property, and we've been told that before. I don't think the owner has intentions on moving
into this property. We're also having problems with parking. Parking is a beast in South Philly
right now. Another two-family dwelling means that two more families are moving in with multiple
cars. And I think a lot of the developers are thinking about making money. They're not thinking
about the consistency of the neighborhood. They're not thinking about the safety of the neighborhood.
they're not polling who they're renting to and people are just coming in and coming out and and
And people are just coming in and coming out.
And we don't want that.
we don't want that okay so the
So the majority of the neighborhood, the majority of the neighborhood, I know you have a small petition of people that are protesting it.
But there are more who wanted to sign a petition, but it had to be in five days before.
But I can also share additional information of other neighbors, immediate neighbors that actually live on the block that do not want.
Thank you very much for your call. We appreciate everything you said. Mr.
Notkinson, do you have any questions?
No, I would just say that if you look at the addresses that we put as nearby neighbors,
many of them are the ones closest by to this project. Again, we try to keep it straight.
And I ask my clients when they reach out to reach the people who are most directly impacted.
And we did. I, you know, again, I think it's unfortunate, you know, sometimes when you're dealing with construction projects, it doesn't matter if you're the best developer in the world, there are instances. And that's why I stated, like, if there's an opportunity maybe to hold this under advisement, give us an opportunity maybe to reach over to those nearby neighbors. I always think it's good to have dialogue and see.
Let me see if there's anyone else, anyone else in the virtual audience.
Yes, Chair. I have a hand up by the name of Kathy Herman. They have been allowed to speak.
Could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Yes, Kathy Herman, K-A-T-H-Y-H-E-R-M-A-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
I do, Mr. Chair.
There's been a lot of testimony about this project. Are you in favor of the project or against?
I am opposed to the project.
And is there anything else that we haven't heard that you could offer?
Well, first, I'd just like to add that I'm not just a near neighbor.
I am a next door neighbor.
Just a few items to touch on.
The first is that the pictures, particularly of the facade that John Schnabel submitted, those are current pictures.
Those are not historical pictures.
that structural damage which is on the side of the house not the front of the house
has just been painted over ostensibly in the hope that no one will know this
um i am an attorney working from home i hear the construction on a regular basis
so the statements that no um construction has been going on it is is just patently false because i
have witnessed it firsthand. One point of clarification is that the reference to the
Redfin listing and the plumbing being in place, it's my understanding that subsequent to that
initial posting, someone broke into the home and ripped out all of the plumbing, all of the pipes.
That is what the prior owner said to me before the property was sold.
So any statement that the plumbing happened, the putting in plumbing prior to the sale is also not a true statement.
Thank you. Thank you very much for taking the time to close.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
There are no more hands at this time, Chair.
Thank you. Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair Bergman. And good afternoon. David Effecto with the City Planning Commission.
chairman and board members the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the rsa5 residential
single-family zoning at this location this the zoning of this pro of this block face dates to
1988. the there is no unique physical condition or circumstance of this property that would prevent
it from being used in conformance with the zoning code the city planning commission recommends that
the board deny the proposed use variants for two dwelling units. Alan, we're going to vote this
today. MI 2024-002-321-1252 South 15th Street, I vote no. James Snell, my vote is no. Michael
Council. Pre-time. Okay, let's see here. 14, 13, 14. MI 2024-002-414-1441 Chesson Street.
Ronald Patterson is the attorney.
Ronald Patterson is coming in as a penalist. Letter of non-opposition.
ronald patterson is coming in as a penalist letter of non-opposition
from the center city residence association with provisos
mr patterson
Okay, Mr. Patterson, anywhere I'm here.
Oh, Mr. Patterson, could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Sure, Mr. Chairman.
Good afternoon.
Ronald Patterson, R-O-N-A-L-D-P-A-T-T-E-R-S-O-N, Claire Harrison Law Firm, on behalf of the property owner and the tenant.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the referral?
Yes, I do.
And have you had all your documents in within five days?
Yes, I do.
Why don't you please proceed and share your screen?
Thank you.
Are you able to see my screen?
Yes, we can.
Okay, thank you.
So this application regards 1441 Chestnut Street.
It is the high-rise property on Chestnut.
It contains the W Hotel, the Element Hotel, Dolce Restaurant, and a few other accessory uses.
in the building. We're here today for this corner retail space on the ground floor.
It's remained vacant. Never had a tenant in here. I've been working on this
project, the building, since the early 2000s. And there were many uses that came through that
I'm supposed to use this corner, but not where the right ones.
Here's a view from 15th Street, including a Vespa store.
That would have been a lot of fun seeing Vespas coming in and out of that store.
So what we're here to propose today is for a Mattis, M-A-D-I-S, coffee shop,
which under the code will be classified as a takeout restaurant.
Mattis has a location at 3527 Lancaster Avenue with coffee, cold and warm sandwiches, salads, bakery items, and the like, pre-cooked, no hoods, no deep fryers.
Go through some other photos here that would help.
These are photos of the interior.
Hard to see there from a phone.
but to your photos.
Sorry, I'm freezing here.
These are renderings of the interior space,
how it would look. 600 square feet, 22 chairs, open Monday through Sunday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Trash would be collected inside and brought to a common trash area that's managed by the building.
Here's a picture of the facility at Lancaster Avenue.
Just so you see what we're looking at here.
and so the property is located in the cmx5 commercial zoning district but also within
the center city overlay as we know any restaurant used on chestnut street walnut street south
east market street and south broad street require special exception to the board we did meet with
the cc search energy residents association ccra on june 25th they voted not to oppose and we agreed
to their uh standard proviso conditions for uh take out restaurants which you'll see here
um we believe that you'll see that we believe that we meet the special exception standards as
this will cause no adverse impacts on the public health safety welfare or traffic as evidenced by
the community's non-opposition, and it will cause no greater impacts than permit it useful.
impacts than permitted use. With that said, I have one witness, Mr. Sabas, SAV.
With that said, I have...
Ron, do you have a drawing for the inside what it's going to look like?
Did you see the new plan I put up?
This is from the site plan showing where the floor plan would go.
and very basic plan here. Seating area here is the kitchen and all. This is where the
trash will be taken in the rear. I just wanted to show you, if you're finished looking at
this small space floor plan here. I did have a photo here of the side of the building on
15th Street. This is the building here. So this is former Randstad Street. This is a
common service street now that services both uh w hotel building and the the ritz building next
door and so that's where the trash will be taken out and removed there's a common trash area