Is there anyone from the Councilman Young's office?
Chair, I have a hand up by the name of Conlon Crossley.
That's it.
That's it.
Hi. Could you please state your name and spell for the court sonographer?
Good afternoon, chair and board. My name is Conlon Crosley, C-O-N-L-A-N, Crosley, C-R-O-S-L-E-Y.
You swear or firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir.
Counsel, we have a request to continue these three cases.
uh commissioner um i worked very hard to get a meeting for these uh cases before our hearing
today we had a very very long meeting an hour and a half i sent out 186 notices to the community
besides my clients and the architect um there was no one from the community that appeared at the
meeting ms cummings uh did run the meeting and she did express her concerns um about the project
mainly that she just wanted commercial to be developed there and we expressed my clients and
myself that we weren't able to do commercial there and it was not feasible at this time to do
commercial there we have satisfied the requirement with having the meeting and I would
request that we be allowed to present our case today all right Colin could you
walk just to the request for the transfer for the continuance thank you chair can you still hear me
I can. Our office is asking for a one-time continuance so that the community reached out
and they're asking for a little bit more time to study the plan a little more holistically.
All right. Thank you. Ms. Cummings?
Hi, can you hear me? I can. I can.
Hi. We spoke with the applicant with the understanding that we would get a continuance.
And of course, at the actual meeting, the attorney decided that they would not do that.
We used the date that we did with the understanding that we would be able to get a continuance.
but because of the complexity of those parcels and that strip of York Street needing to really
be developed in a way that is the best possible way for our community, we were trying to engage
in a conversation that we knew would need further conversation, which we thought we
had that agreement with Mr. Holloway. Also, even after the meeting, when we went back
as the committee to look at the plans that they had on the, in the meeting, we don't
have those plans. What they sent us was just the refusal and the top sheet. So we weren't
even able to do a better job in looking at the whole projects because we don't have all
I love it.
So, counsel, I'm going to continue this case.
I'm going to I'm going to continue this case. I'm going to mark it must be her.
I'm going to mark it.
Very well, Commissioner. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
So number 11, MI 2024 002 411 3212 York Street.
Number 12, MI 2024 002 412 3210 West York Street.
And number 13, MI 2024, 002-413-3208 West York Street.
All three cases are continued. Mark must be heard.
And number 15, MI 2024, 002-416-3200 West York Street.
Cases continue to turn the moving party.
And number 16, MI 2024-002-423-3108, West York Street, Cases of Continuance, Attorney Moving Party.
Are there any other requests for continuance?
I see no hands at this time, Chair.
So we're going to go to our add-ons.
And we're going to put some of them aside to a little later today.
But number one, MI 2024-000-148-8430 Busselton Avenue, number TA-224608.
The vote in this matter is being rescheduled to 7-24-24 at 2 p.m.
Next one we're going to do is right with you.
Number four, MI 2024-000162-4346-48 Grissom Street.
I vote yes with provisos.
The temporary address for this application is 4350-52 Grissom Street, TD-313673,
and all show height limited to 38 feet.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes with the provisos.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes with provisos.
My vote is yes with provisos.
Tana Graham, my vote is yes with provisos.
James Snell, my vote is yes with provisos.
Thank you.
Number five, MI 2022-004-546-3251 Fox Street.
The vote in this matter has been rescheduled to Wednesday, July 24th at 2 p.m.
Number six, MI 2023-002-007-1619 West Maya Ancing Avenue.
I vote no, Maya Ancing Avenue.
Jane Snell, my vote is no.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is no.
Michael Johns, my vote is no.
Senator Graham, my vote is no.
Iowyn, my vote is yes.
We're going to go to our regular list.
MI 2023-006-215-610-South Front Street
Dorothy Ann Hamill is the attorney
Letter of non-opposition from Queens Village Neighbors Association
with the proviso
and letter of non-opposition from Council Member Squilla
along with the proviso
We have received a petition of six people in opposition
amel is coming in as a panelist good morning mr chairman members of the board
Just for the record, could you spell your name, please?
D-O-R-O-T-H-Y-A-N-N-E, one word, Hamill, H-A-M-I-L-L.
Where are firm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Do you identify your client, a relationship to the property?
Matthew Ramer. He is the owner of the property.
Matthew Raymer, he is the owner of the property.
Do you stipulate to the waiving of the reading and accuracy of the refusal?
Do you stipulate your client?
And have you sent in all your documents and paperwork within five days of this hearing?
Please share your screen and start.
Good morning members of the board, Dorothy Hamill on behalf of Matthew Bramer, owner
of the property at 610 South Front Street.
This application is for the use of a single family property for short term rental.
I've shared my screen with my documentation.
First document is the deed evidencing ownership of the property by Mr. Ramer.
Second document is, that's all the deeds, the refusal.
Refusal was for one use refusal because visitor accommodation is not permitted in the residential district.
um i've attached an application a copy of our application and copy of the information sheet
and proof of mailing
uh this was a prior use permit uh for the property tax clearance we've sent all the required
notices, and we had a community meeting in which we discussed a number of the issues that were
raised in this letter, which, again, unless I'm mistaken, I don't know that the people who signed
the letter attended. I don't know if they attended the actual RCO hearing as we had
talked about these issues at the hearing. Attached is proof of posting of the
hearing. We've also, I've also provided copies of the
View of the property, across the street, down the street, each way, attached are inside
pictures of the property.
As you can see, you know, it's certainly a very nice house, very well, you know, well
maintained mr ramer is very attached to this house and frankly the reasoning for the um
short-term rental is he had had to uh relocate out of the city uh for his uh spouse's
job and it's his intent to return to the city and return to the house so he does not want to
he wants to be able to come back to the property. So the property is almost 5,000 square feet.
It has garage parking. And we discussed having the visitor accommodation. The
The idea of the visitor accommodation would be for families, no more than two couples.
The intent here is not to have, you know, large groups, even though obviously that property is very large.
Mr. Raymer has
no intention and no interest
in having this house
be used
bachelor parties, bachelorette
parties
anything along those
lines. This is really
just for
no more than
two couples
Mr. Raymer has
a not only
outside third-party property manager who'd be managing the property they also have he also has
uh you know someone who is
You know, someone who is literally, you know, within about two minutes of the of the house, who's available in the event that there are any any issues to be addressed.
literally
um they uh we've posted to address security issues um their the property does have cameras
and again the you know the the posting for rental of this property would be crafted in such a way
that it is geared towards families
and no more than two adult couples in the property.
I know that in the letter that was sent
by the neighbors that I just saw this morning,
they talked about apparently there must be other,
you know, somebody else on the block who's doing this illegally. And certainly, you know,
that's not our intent. Mr. Ramer has already obtained a rental license. He has a commercial
activity license. He's registered as a tax account holder. So he certainly will be doing everything
that he's supposed to be doing in order to operate the property legally and within parameters of the
code. There was also a mention of parking. Again, I think it would be our position that this will
not create additional parking concerns for the block because the property has
uh garage parking and when Mr. Raymer and his spouse lived in the property uh they had two
cars one parked on the you know in the garage one on the street uh they're not expecting and
don't anticipate that any visitor would be, would have any more than two cars. So it would not change
the parking situation. Certainly won't change the intent is not to change the character or
nature of the neighborhood. Again, Mr. Raymer is very invested in this community, very invested
in wanting to come back to Philadelphia and to this house in particular. So he's certainly
going to operate the property in such a way to ensure that it is well-maintained,
well taken care of, not creating any disturbance or nuisance in the neighborhood. And finally,
in the letter of non-opposition from the RCO, there was a proviso that approval would be one
year, as it would give the neighborhood an opportunity to review how this is working,
how Mr. Raymer is handling the property, how he's handling the situation.
That, in fact, was a recommendation we made to the RCO was not actually they didn't require it at the start.
But we had offered we'd be willing to accept a one year limitation, which would then require Mr. Raymond to come back and talk to the community group.
If after a year he gets the approval and operates for a year and wants to continue and has not come back to the city, then it would give the neighborhood an opportunity to review the situation again and determine whether they believe that the use and operation has been fine within the neighborhood or if they found any issues.
at that time. So I think that that certainly shows that Mr. Raymer really does want to do
the right thing, do operate the property properly, and be a part of the community.
So why don't you bring him on and have him adopt your testimony?
I would love to do that.
I would love to do that. Dorothy, do you want to stop sharing, Dorothy?
Dorothy, do you want to stop sharing, Dorothy?
Mr. Ramer, could you please state your name and spell for the court's doctor?
Yes, Matthew Ramer, M-A-T-T-H-E-W, last name R-A-M as in Matthew, E-R.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, counsel.
one. Matthew, you've heard my testimony on this matter. And do you agree to accept my testimony
as if it was your own? Absolutely. Can I add a few comments if that's possible, Mr. Chair?
Dorothy, would you mind stop sharing your screen? There we go. So a couple of things that are
important to me. I've lived in this neighborhood now for probably 10 years. I love this neighborhood.
The right thing to do was to move away for a three-year period for my life partner's work.
I have every intention to come back.
My problem is that a traditional annual rental does not cover my expenses.
The real estate taxes alone are like $24,000.
So my intention was to do the short-term rentals so that I could at least break even.
That is the only objective.
And I want people to understand why I'm doing this, because most people that are requesting short-term rental permission are doing it for profit.
And that leads into what Dorothy had said, which is, I don't want a bachelor party at my beautiful home that I renovated and put a lot of time and spirit into.
I just want to break even.
And that gives me the flexibility to be very picky about who would rent for me.
The professional management company and I have agreed that we will only rent to parties that include no more than four adults minus adult children.
The idea there is it's for a family, maybe two families traveling together.
We will not permit eight 25-year-olds.
No disrespect to anybody here that might be 25, by the way.
I'm making some generalizations.
We are not looking to rent this to people who are coming in for an Eagles game and want to party all weekend.
We will we will forbid it. We also have doorbell cameras so we can see how many adults are coming
and going. As Dorothy had said, the parking issue, I don't I'm not concerned about only because
two families, two cars would be the identical situation to when my life partner and I