2009 South 3rd, 2023 South 3rd.
These are all in the Pennsport area.
2021 South 3rd, 2025 South 3rd, 2027 South 3rd, 1839 South 3rd, 1836 South 3rd, 1742 South 2nd.
I think Roger had mentioned 1928 South Front.
There's a triplex on 1614 South 2nd Street, 2040 South Phillips Street.
There's another one on 142 Snyder Ave, 1517 East Momencing is a triplex, 1328 South 2nd.
um there's a there's one on um on Mifflin uh yeah 238 South Mifflin is a multi-family
so it seems like the neighborhood has tolerated them and nobody nobody's had any issues with any
of those but they have an issue with this particular project I'm not sure why or how come
but all these other projects are there and have been there with this project Fred are you going
to be able to provide for storage and trash by way of the basement and the rear yard for use?
Yes. Yes, we will. I mean, like I said, it's going to be, you know, very nice. It's not,
it's not a section eight. It's not, you know, I think every community in Philadelphia has,
you know, apartment buildings. This is only a three, a three unit. I mean, there's areas around
the city. I mean, I grew up at 2900 Juniper Street. We have apartment buildings around there.
I mean, this isn't even an apartment building.
It's a triplex.
And this is not in the middle of any block.
This is right on the corner across from I-95 and across from the street in Hoffman.
Right.
And again, like I said, the neighbors are complaining.
But if you put a single family home there, it's going to have to sell for over a million dollars.
and therefore all the the assessments their taxes are going to be assessed higher i don't know why
they would want that but um and like i said my brother lives a couple and he's lived there for
at least seven eight years and he has i mean him and his neighbors have no problem he's he's three
three houses away and did you and your family circulate that petition that i uh noted to the
board was approximately yes and they were all in favor of it okay they have nothing further thank
Okay. I have nothing further. Thank you.
you all right so what mr
So, Mr. Perry, I'm going to have questions from the board,
but it's safe to say there's no other triplexes on this block.
That's correct.
And there's only one duplex on the block. Am I correct?
One duplex.
And the Hoffman Street property, although it is a single family.
It's a single family home.
And Mr. Perry, tell me what happened when you went to the RCO.
Well, we went to the RCO. There were 16 or 18 people, I think all from Hoffman. I didn't get a copy of a petition, but you'd indicated that it's been submitted.
I did get a letter last night from the RCO indicating and confirming that they were objecting for a variety of reasons.
One, of course, was the fact that being all RSA-5s, they were more comfortable having RSA-5s, but a lot of them were the usual, we're worried about transient tenants, we're worried about trash, we're worried about construction, we're worried about, well, a lot of that is just a practical matter of you're going to have construction there no matter what.
They're going to have the provision that the owner is going to provide, you know, storage and trash for the basement and also a rear yard area that's over 10 feet.
So we're trying to deal with our issues. But, you know, we understand that they're more comfortable.
But I guess, again, as Fred notes, this is the city, and I don't think they're putting, you know, one three-family apartment building here, which would allow people to come into the neighborhood who might not be able to afford to buy, you know, something like 1914, you know, Hoffman Street, the opportunity to move into the area and so forth.
All right, questions from the board.
Can I add one other thing?
Yeah, that's the only one, yeah.
Let's get questions from the board.
Good question. So the house that we're looking at now on the screen, 1914, that's a single family house, you're saying?
Well, yes, it was built as a single family. It has seven rooms in it that I know.
So it's everything that we found other than what Fred has noted, you know, within about a block and a half and so forth.
And another one on South Front Street are all single families.
Can I add one other thing?
um the house directly attached to the lot which um this one here so this house right here
that lady has no problem with putting a triplex there she's right next door to the property
and she signed your petition at 1910 yes all right thank you um other questions from the board
yeah i would say how do you think that your proposal compares to other houses in the surrounding
blocks
in terms of size
I think it'll fit in just as
you know look like a regular house
with three units I mean it's not gonna
look any different
and what's your intended
rent projected for the units
probably
in the neighborhood of two
plus per unit
two thousand
and how many bedrooms are
you proposing on each
bedrooms and two baths two bed two baths yes um okay are you aware that most of the houses in
the neighborhood that have been for sale have sold for between 260 and 315 in the last three
years and the surrounding four blocks am i aware of that yeah because you said that you thought it
was going to be a million dollars so i was just right because if you look at the houses that are
being built today. I don't know what houses you're referring to. I'm just looking at Atlas
and Redfin. Yeah, just the houses that are built today and sold that look like 1914 South Front
across the street there are selling for a million plus or around a million dollars, say. I won't
even say plus. Let's say around a million dollars. And have there been any that were sold in the
neighborhood that you're aware of in the last few years? Yeah, right down the street
like around Dickinson. Okay.
All right. Other questions for the board?
Questions from our attorney, Hillary Emerson?
Not at this time, Mr. Chair. Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Come on up, please. Yes, Chair. Two hands are up.
Well, I have people in the audience here first. I'll take them first.
okay i'm sorry i'd say check check could you state your name and spell for the stenographer
my name is robert lafferty i live on huffman street l-a-f-f-e-r-t-y do you swear or affirm
to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do please proceed mr lafferty
i do please proceed mr lafferty okay this gentleman is keeps pointing at john's house
okay this gentleman
this is a neighborhood kid that built that house he's a builder okay it's a single family home
as is our whole neighborhood is single family homes especially hoffman street dudley street
and all the signatures he has on that petitioner new people that ran out now he keeps talking about
to free parking over under 95. Let me tell you something. After about a month, you're going to
end up with no tires on your car, on milk crates. I've seen it a thousand times. There's homeless
under there. There's junkies that live under there. There's people living in their cars under
there. Pennsport is a pretty word, but it's not our neighborhood. Our neighborhood are working
people older people like me retirees okay and uh he's talking about there's no house
on huffman street on miffin street on dudley street on mckean street that sold over 300 well
maybe the new one a couple down from me the guy bought it for 200 and gutted it
no house went for 300 grand down there now we don't want to become fairmount we're a working
class neighborhood we've been that way for 50 years and we don't need a triplex with eight
more people or nine more people on the end of that block now that house that they tore down
was just as big as john's across the street that white one he's showing you
just as big as that there's three people living in it's a whole family they all died off
okay now the house he's talking about a million dollars he's out of his mind let me tell you
something 112 huffman street just sold a week ago for 167 000 so i don't know what he's talking
about he doesn't live in a neighborhood i live in a neighborhood everybody on huffman and
surrounding area lives on huffman street we know what goes on down there okay the city's trying to
make it into some yuppie palace that are trying to get their taxes. It's not that. It's just a
regular neighborhood with problems just like everybody else. And he's just going to add to
the problems with his triplex. Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Thanks. Counselor, do you have any
questions? Yeah. Can you hear me? I was going to ask him if he knew what 1914 Hoffman is,
or 1914 South Front
assessed for.
Mr. Perry, say again, please.
Yeah, I'm asking if he knows
whether what the assessment
is for 1914 South
Front Street is.
If you know the assessment,
that's okay if you know it.
No, I don't.
But I'm going to tell you something.
That house was just put up like two years
ago, and that's the neighborhood
so okay and that is not huffman street okay all right lower your voice first sorry okay
mr prairie do you have any other questions no he's fine i'm fine thank you um someone else
i'd like to like to continue one minute that is not huffman street okay that entrance is on huff
okay i don't know why he was allowed to do that that's right i said one thing please supposed to
be on front street we're going to bring somebody else up from the audience okay sir come on okay
Thank you very much for listening to me.
Thank you.
I appreciate it.
Yes, I got a reason.
Sir, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
My name is Pat Fitzmaurice, P-A-T-R-I-C-K, F-I-T-Z-M-A-U-R-I-C-E.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Sir, are you a neighbor?
I am the RCO president, and I am a neighbor to the extent that the...
I understand. The letter had to go out. It made the odd side of McKean Street and I live on the
even side of McKean Street. So just over there. Please give us your comments. Thank you. The
board received a pretty comprehensive letter explaining why the RCO in the neighborhood is
opposed to this. I just wanted to respond to some of the points that were made or the lack of points
that were made in the presentation. As our letter noted, there's no hardship here. I didn't hear
one attempt to explain why there's a hardship here. I asked at both meetings that were had for
this parcel if there's a hardship. The only thing I heard was a financial hardship, which
is not a real hardship. As the applicant admitted, this was a single-family home only a few years ago.
There's no prohibition to being used as a single-family home going forward.
The applicant made a point of parking across the street under 95. I think this is a really
disingenuous comment um at the meeting in 2023 it was explained that the parcels under 95
At the meeting in 2023, it was explained that the parcels under 95 are not public parcels.
They're actually privately owned parcels.
I explained that to the applicant.
I told him I know this because I'm on the board that manages the parcels under there.
The parcel that is in the picture is actually leased out.
And yes, the neighborhood can park there now, but tomorrow that could change.
And we explained that looking at that parcel doesn't actually solve any problems whatsoever.
However, I think the board picked up pretty quickly that for some reason they're focused on this house across the street.
That's a single family house.
I actually think that goes against the applicant, not for them.
Just like the gentleman who just spoke, I also know the owner of that house, John.
As the previous speaker said, he's a builder, so that's why he built a very nice house and congratulations to him.
But I don't understand why the applicant would point to that as somehow a single family house translates into a triplex.
um i did want to point out that the applicant again is pointed to a duplex um around the corner
um as i mentioned to the applicant at the meeting that variance went through 40 years ago
um times change the zoning code changes the neighborhood changes um so that's the only one
that was pointed out to me at the neighborhood meetings the applicant mentioned a few other
ones. I'm sure if I looked it up, I would be able to see when they were billed or approved.
I've been the president of the Civic Association for about seven years now.
We ordinarily oppose very hyper-dense bills like this. I'm not really sure also why they're
pointing to a duplex and thinking it equates to a triplex, which is what they're asking for. I
think we're comparing apples and oranges there. And then the last thing I want to talk about was
the petition. As our letter noted, our Civic Association didn't give any weight whatsoever
to this petition for a variety of reasons. The one thing I would note is that the applicant failed
to mention, but it was discussed at the meeting they were at. One of the signatures is actually
from somebody, a neighbor who thought they were signing the opposition petition. I think that
that person's probably not alone in thinking they were supporting one thing and not the other.
The prompt for the petition gives a very disingenuous dichotomy between an empty lot,
which is a problem or a hyper dense build of eight bedrooms which again is just silly
it doesn't actually admit oh we can actually build a single family house here and have regular
uh house like we had in the past so i think that the prompt is disingenuous i think the petition
is worthless um so with that i don't know if there's any any questions thank you mr prairie
do you have any questions yeah hi uh when uh two things oh patrick uh the one when the woman said
she thought she was signing potentially an opposition but she actually signed the supporting
petition she was there at the meeting with her neighbors right the other 16 neighbors
that's correct okay and they were all noting that they were opposed at the time she was asked why
she signed the petition is that correct the everybody that was in attendance that were
neighbors opposed the expressed opposition to what you were asking for that's correct
and the room is unanimous what the 1914 south front street is a suspect
do i know what the brt assesses that single house for yes no i i don't know that off the top of my
head okay thank you thank you questions from the virtual audience yes mary griff griffith will be
allowed to speak hi could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer