You know, here are the elevations of the property. And let's just go start with the first floor plan.
All right, so the first floor plan. You'll see for unit number one, there'll be a common entryway on Boston Street. This is where, and it's not reflecting the drawings, I do apologize, but there'll be a separate little garbage area that's enclosed that's near the alleyway so no one would be affected to it.
But, you know, there's a sanitation plan for these units because of this common area right here.
But you walk in on Boston, here's unit number one and entrance.
Here's unit number two on Boston right here, directly on Boston.
And then here is unit number three on Boston, just off of in the common area.
And then here is unit three as well.
So units one and two and three or four are mirror images of each other.
and three or four are mirror images of each other unit one is on the first floor and the lower level
unit one is on the first
so you would have an open floor plan with the kitchen and the bedroom and then you would go
down a flight of steps where you have additional living area and then you would go up a flight of
steps for unit two which again has its own entrance and going up a flight of steps unit
four which again is uh same as unit two would go up a flight of steps and unit three mirrors
number unit number one where it's first floor and lower level then if you go on the second floor
this is for units uh uh let me just make sure i don't units two and four uh you see that there
are two bedrooms and two baths and again two bedrooms and two baths and then you see that
But on the third floor is the second level of units two and four.
And those are also have a bathroom and has a common living area.
And then you also see that these units, upper level units, also have loft space as well.
Our application for appeal.
and there are a hearing notice or a community meeting notice or a community meeting took place
October 14th at 7 p.m. 159 addresses were notified these are the list of the addresses
and this is proof of mailing of that notice to the community and there are detailed property
showing that Old Richmond Ventures LLC owns the property and showing that they owe no taxes on
this property. With that being said, I would like to have Mr. Massip adopt my testimony. And if you
have any questions for me or the architect, Jeremy Avellino, we'd be more than happy to answer them.
Mr. Massip, can you virtually raise your hand?
Mr. Massip, you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Mr. Massip, please spell your first and last name and I'll swear you in.
Carlos, C-A-R-L-O-S, Massip, M-A-S-I-P.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Thank you, Mr. Not Concerned.
Mr. Massip, you heard everything I stated today.
And is it true and correct?
Yes, it is.
and do you adopt as your own testimony yes i do all right thank you any questions from the board
no mr chairman now anyone else would like to testify in this case please raise your hand
here we have alyssa banks miss banks you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair
miss banks please spell your first and last name and i'll swear you in
Thank you, Chairman. My name is Alyssa, A-L-Y-S-S-A. Last name is Banks, B-A-N-K-F.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Thank you. Please proceed.
Well, to start, I'm confused with the letter of support or the letter of not supporting from the ORC.
that meeting was a bunch of my neighbors all expressing their displeasure with the plan and
their confusion as related to the fact that there was no hardship to justify the request for the
change of zoning from single families. In addition, as mentioned in the beginning,
it's the wrong thing and it's too big in that it lacks the foot and change it needs to make that
five foot on the side um it's fine to have support from tulip street but they're they don't come and
go from tulip street they come and go from boston street and so i've spoken with a bunch of my
neighbors and i won't speak for them but i'm confused as to where all the support is coming
from because i'm not hearing it um up until very recently we were all two family uh two story
structures. And just in the last kind of wave of building, we had a handful of three story
structures pop up through either, you know, underpinnings and adding another story or new
construction. But this building is very not aesthetically in line with the vibe of our
little square of the world. And the fact that they are being built to be rental units is of
concerned to me and the neighbors that I've just spoken to about this. There was a price point
mentioned on rent for these units in the ORC meeting, and they are very expensive, so I'm not
sure what's being added to the neighborhood, because it's certainly not affordable housing.
what's being added to the neighborhood because it's certainly not affordable housing
um as far as york street being a commercial corridor yes by the time you get down near
aramingo east of us it is a commercial corridor but in for beyond the school which is on the
other side of york from us we are blocks away from any businesses it's all just houses on york
street houses on boston street houses on tulip street true um right i just i would just like
my voice to be heard in opposition of this project and i appreciate your time thank you thank you for
your testimony yeah i too was a little bit uh confused uh when i think and correct me if i'm
wrong when i read the case off i mentioned that old richmond civic sent a letter of non-opposition
however councilman mark squilla sent a letter in opposition so mr knockinson i and i asked you a
question earlier i asked you what was the community in support i think i heard you say
they were the the rco the coordinating rco said or sent a letter of non-opposition and that is
i could put it back up is that old richmond old richmond yeah yes that's what that's what i'm
saying yes i will i will grant you that this oh hold on you don't want to see all my stuff but
um i will grant you that it was rather unique in that sense that the you know the community
enlarge that you enlarge that please yeah so when i saw this it indicates to me
scroll down more no i know oh geez i just messed up you know i get it i'm i see that the community
voted like against the project but the coordinating rco voted it sends a letter in non-opposition
again a lot of the things that we're talking about even today are non-zoney related
like she's talking about the fact that we're putting a three-story structure on there
which which is out of which is not out of character which she admitted
um she was talking about the aesthetics which is not zoning related talking about the rents
you know i understand that i understand that i'm i was totally confused i'm probably still
as much confused now yeah the letter of opposite non-opposition however you're saying was showing
17 people who oppose versus six who support and then the councilman councilman mark school
will send a letter of opposition so anyway i i'm going to ask if anybody has any questions
and we'll go from there any other questions from anyone who would like to participate in this
hearing chair we have uh had the murphy miss murphy you can unmute yourself and wait for the
chair thank you miss murphy please spell your full name and i'll swear you in h e a t h e r
m-u-r-p-h-y you swear we're from to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i do thank you please proceed um am i also in opposition but the question being about the
variance so i'm also a little confused on this myself i live directly across the street and in
the presentation um during the meeting it seems that there were two homes to zone for two homes
property at some point. And then sometime eight or 10 years ago, the lot lines got strange and it
was re-lined for three. But as far as I know, there's never been more than two homes on the
property. And I want to know if there could be, you know, not being totally opposed to something
happening over there but why can't it be two homes or two residences that would also be able to
include a parking area um there could but that's not what the applicant is proposing so they so
the question i guess i guess i'm confused as a question is it saying are we saying it should go
from three to four or from two to four uh mr knockdown i don't know if you can answer either
way they're asking to go to four whether it's two or three okay so yeah too many yeah so if we were
to put parking there mr chair as you know or propose parking that would require an additional
variants. We do think that given the uniqueness of this property, it has a Tulip Street address,
but it's really on Boston. There's really no properties, houses facing Boston. I think there
Houses facing Boston, I think there may be one on that block, on that side of Boston.
may be one on that block, on that side of Boston.
And like I said, this Old Richmond Civic Association is a very sophisticated board that vets projects very well.
Typically, they do go with the community.
But in this circumstance, they believe that this is in the best interest of the community to have this project here.
Uh, and then also the fact is, is that my client, the principal of the company actually lives like right behind there. So he's trying to do something, you know, good for his neighborhood, uh, responsible for his neighborhood.
Chair, you're muted.
Anyone else to testify in this case, if so, please raise your hand and if you're testifying
something new and different, please.
Chair, we have Jeremy Avellino. Mr. Avellino, you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Hello, Chair. This is Jeremy Avellino.
Hi, good afternoon. Please spell your full name and I'll swear you in.
Sure. It's Jeremy, J-E-R-E-M-Y, last name Avellino, A-V-E-L-L-I-N-O.
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes please proceed
sure thank you chair my name is jeremy avelino i'm the architect on the project and i just
wanted to talk a little bit about the concept and answer any questions that might come up
as was stated uh the design was developed on these three uh leftover lots they were rear lots
behind houses on tulip street so it was a very unique condition there's only one other um
house facing Boston Street. So we developed a housing model in response to these unique
conditions, but also the unique ways that I feel the pandemic has begun to alter how people
are wanting to live, right? Like people are spending more time at home, both living,
working, and even schooling their kids by choice and sometimes by necessity.
So we did look at a buy rate scheme of two homes. And honestly, talking with Carlos,
we didn't think it actually in this case fit well within these lots nor was it again providing the
kind of housing that people have been asking us for in the world we're living in now and I can
explain why I mean to make the numbers work for a buy right scheme that would have resulted in two
you know 3,000 square foot luxury townhomes that essentially would sell for about $750,000 each
we didn't think that was in scale or frankly the economy of the neighborhood and what that results
in in terms of the architecture is on the side walls often called the party walls that face you
know all of the you know the neighbors that faces all their backyard windows that you get these two
large blank facades that have no material quality no you know no breaking up of massing or anything
they're very unfriendly facades right and these houses usually uh demand you know to sell at that
level demand a roof deck and a pilot house this is not going to it's not the kind of architecture
I want to live around either so the idea that two single family homes work here in this economy in
this time you know I personally don't think so and I live five minutes from here so I you know
I'm also a neighbor for what it's worth so our design yeah Carlos said come up with something
more unique more creative that responds to this site and our design is the same area it's under
six thousand square feet yet it allows four families to each live safely and separately
but to come together as they feel safe to do so. So each unit is a three-bedroom home designed for
family use, each with its own separate entrance, again, kind of in response to the times we're in.
Each home has its own outdoor space and plenty of natural light. So we're thinking of it more
as a four-unit village, the same square foot, but designed as a grouping of homes set away from the
neighboring houses so that each facade can have windows in them. And there's really only one
blank facade, and we kept it as short as possible. And again, we also purposely designed it to have
no pilot houses, which I think are pretty offensive, or upper roof decks, which can be
intrusive onto the neighbors. Again, it's being developed by an immediate neighbor. It's in his
backyard. And, you know, Carlos can speak to this, but I also think he's a great guy to work for
because he's born and raised in Philly. He owns and operates a small local business like me,
and he hires local high school kids to train them up for the trades. You know, he's got a
nonprofit that does this. He's a job creator. So I believe he wants to do something good in
the neighborhood. I believe he wants to do something unique. I don't think everyone's
going to love it, but I hope that you would consider that and support him. Thank you, Chair.
But, you know, I hope that you would you would consider that and support him.
Thank you, Chair. Thank you for your testimony.
Anyone else? Chair, we have Venise Whittaker.
Ms. Whittaker, you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Unmuted. Thank you. Ms. Whittaker, please spell your full name and I'll swear you in.
sure it's venice v-e-n-i-s-e last name whitaker w-h-i-t-a-k-e-r do you swear or affirm to tell
the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes always thank you man i just want to add i also
as the last speaker live five minutes away from here and attended the meeting the residents did
vote no for it despite what the rco's decision in their letter the council person also supported
opposition so i'm hoping the zba will follow what the residents had requested and the councilman
thank you thank you any other questions anyone else to testify
i see no hands at this time chair thank you uh planning commission
uh ron bednar city planning it's r-o-n last name bednar b-e-d-e-n-a-r do you swear affirm to tell
the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do thank you ron please proceed this property
is indicated for residential use on a city plan no changes to the existing uh residential two
family one family zoning uh at this location the applicant's hardship is not supported with
evidence of unique circumstances that would prevent it from being used in conformance with
the code. Therefore, we recommend that the rest of fairness not be granted. Thank you. I'm going
to recommend that the record be closed and the board will discuss this next Wednesday's
executive session, next Wednesday being November the 3rd at 9 30 a.m. Next three cases, Mr.
Mr. Nockinson, are you handling them or Ms. Amazon?
I'm going to pass it on to Ms. Amazon.
And we'll do all three together.
MI 2021-003130, 531 East Chelten Avenue.
Faith Community Development Corporation sent a letter of non-opposition.
MI 2021-003229, 533 East Chelten Avenue.
again faith faith community development sent a corporation sent a letter of non-opposition
as they did for mi 2021-003-129-535 east chelton avenue
miss amazon please identify yourself for the record i remind you you're still on the road
you're muted thank you chair yes it's been a long zoom day
Thank you, Chairman. Clementa Amazon, C-L-E-M-E-N-T-A, last name is A-M-A-Z-A-N, 123 South Broad Street, Suite 1600-19109.
Mr. Plaza has a few questions for you.
Yes, Ms. Amazon, you agree to wait for the reading of its refusal and stipulate to attack your receipt?
Yes, I do.
and have you emailed an exhibit packet with the required documents proof of ownership proof of
tax compliance copy of the refusal or referral photos and plans five days prior to this hearing
yes i have oh and uh have you met with the rco and have a letter yes we have a letter
for each property thank you please proceed thank you
can everyone see my screen yes yes perfect so again i will be presenting 531 to 535 east
shelton avenue as you can see from this cover page um it is three separate lots um it's one
full structure here and then we're filling out the other half of the twin for 535.
so during my presentation i will go through the notices of refusal