We don't know her.
We don't.
And if we did, I mean, you know, with...
I'm sorry, Chair.
This is Tanya Sunkett.
I apologize for the interruption.
Ma'am, but could I ask that you please testify about the project and not about someone else's testimony?
Okay, yes ma'am. Thank you, Tony. Thank you. I apologize for that. So, we welcome the property is going to be an asset to this block. It's been vacant, you know, animals in and out.
Okay, yes, ma'am.
Thank you, Tanya.
Thank you.
I apologize for that.
So, you're in support of this project? Yes, very much.
All right, thank you ma'am. Appreciate your testimony. Anyone else?
something new and different yes chair we have serena please unmute yourself and please wait for
the chair
unmute what she said unmute and then please wait for the chair please identify yourself ma'am spell
your full name serena s-e-r-e-n-a coindexter p-o-i-n-d-e-x-t-e-r
your address is 2025 west haggard street my block excuse me go ahead finish my my block meets the
it adjourns with the back of the house that he's trying to get okay do you swear for him to tell
the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes sir please proceed okay just like miss
crystal said i'm the block captain of haggard street and yes he has walked around a couple of
times and we met with him he told us what he wanted to do and nobody objected to his idea
just like Ms. Crystal said we are we really needs that another you know make it look nice
around there because that house has been down for many many years
we don't we're not opposed to that at all well thank you very much for your testimony
me. Anyone else? Something new and different? That's all, Chair. Thank you very much. Planning
Commission? Good afternoon, Chair. This is Mason Austin, representing the Planning Commission.
Please spell your full name. Sure. Mason, M-A-S-O-N, Austin, A-U-S-T-I-N. Do you swear
affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do thank you sir please
proceed thank you um the property is designated for single family residential use in the comprehensive
plan and 2014 was rezoned from rm1 to rsa5 in accordance with that recommendation however the
proposed use is consistent with documented previous uses of the property and consequently staff of the
city planning commission has no objection to the granting of the requested variance thank you very
much. MI 2020-002957, 2442 North 20th Street. My vote is yes with the proviso, no roof deck.
And plans? Oh, I'm sorry. And proviso, revised plan one page.
One page approved today. Confessor Plaza, yes with proviso. James Snell, yes with proviso. Thomas
Ms. Holloman, yes, with proviso.
Thank you.
Number six on our list, MI 2021-002584-6115 Osceola Street, O-S-C-E-O-L-A Street.
Mr. Clinton is the attorney of record.
There's a letter of support from the Chew and Belfield Neighbors Club or Corporation.
I can't make that out.
and also a letter of non-opposition from Councilwoman Bass.
Mr. Clinton is coming back in as a panelist.
Mr. Clinton, I'm not sure if you were sworn in yet this morning,
so please identify yourself and I'll swear you in.
Sure. Henry Clinton, Queen Memorial Building, 1313 South 33rd Street,
Philadelphia PA, 19146.
Where from to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
I do. Thank you, sir. Please proceed.
Can I share my screen?
Have you agreed to wait to read in of its refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
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 end?
Mr. Confessor, I sent everything within five days except for the tax certification,
which we just got today
and a letter from the community group support
which we just got yesterday
but they're all included in my package.
Thank you.
Please proceed.
Henry, we lost you.
I'm still here, I think.
Yeah, after you said
You have it in your packet. I don't know if you started speaking, but we did.
you have it in your packet
I don't know if you started speaking
but we didn't.
Can you see my screen? You can see your screen now. Yes. Okay.
All right. So I'll start at the beginning. This is a, is that large enough for everyone to say?
I believe it is. All right. This is a presentation for 615 Osceola Street.
This is my cover sheet. These are the table of contents for our exhibits,
appearance statement AA through A10. I'll walk through each of the documents as the presentation
proceeds. This is my appearance statement. This is the refusal. I'll dwell a little bit on this
for a minute. So it's a zoning district RSA 5, and our proposal was for 12 single-family houses.
But because they are attached, as most single-family houses are, the zoning examiner
interpreted that as a one building and therefore said multifamily is not permitted in the RSA 5
district. But when you see the project and we lay it out for you'll see that it is a single family
project. The only difference is we will have a homeowners association that will take care of
trash, snow plowing, and other common items. This is a letter from the Chew and Belfield
Neighbors Club, Inc. It's a letter of support. And just for the record, we did discuss a number
of things with the community group that we would try to address together. Some of the things in
this proviso list have to do with changing the direction of the street, installing lighting in
the four corners by PICO, removing a wall from a surrounding house, installing new sidewalks.
All of these items really need the cooperation of neighbors that are adjacent to the property.
And we've agreed to approach those neighbors and see if we can get some of these things done.
That's why I believe the letter indicates at the top that these items were discussed, but not necessarily agreed to by everybody.
So it is a letter of support.
This is just some communication.
One of the unique things that happened in this project and working through the neighborhood group was we actually sent out two notices to the neighbors, one which was typical and required by planning, but also wanted the request of the neighborhood group because the RCO wanted to make sure that all the neighbors were absolutely contacted.
So we took the extra burden of sending out two zoning notices, which I can show you at the very end.
So just to give you a perspective, the vacant lot is where the project will be located. Over to the left is Topohockin Street, and this is Herman Street.
The project will not be facing Osceola Street, but we will have a drive aisle down this side where my cursor is with parking for each of the homes.
And then there will be a walkway leading to the front of each of the homes off of Osceola Street.
So the project itself is really perpendicular to Osceola Street, not parallel to it.
Again, this is another shot of the vacant lot.
And this wall here is one of the things we talked to the community group about.
There used to be, back in the 50s, 60s, up until 1992, according to the zoning records, a four-story tool and dive plant right here on the face of Osceola Street.
And we believe this is the remaining party wall from part of that building.
And we have agreed with the community group that we will get an engineer to come out and take a look at this wall and also contact the homeowner to see if there's a way we can stabilize and or remove that wall.
But it is still standing as of today.
This is our zoning posters.
This is a rendering of the front of the homes.
The rear is where my cursor is.
Osceola Street is right here.
And as I said, the project itself is perpendicular to Osceola Street.
Here's a better perspective.
Again, Osceola Street here is to the left.
There's a 24-foot-wide drive aisle, so cars can come into the rear of the property and park.
It's not a garage.
It's an open-air parking space, but it is parking one-to-one for each of the properties, so it takes cars off the street.
um here's the front of the buildings uh there will be rooftop decks three stories and again
i'll show you more renderings as we work our way through and and again the reason for the refusal
is the examiner sees this 12 unit homes as as one building when in reality it will be individual
homes deeded it's fee simple and we'll have a homeowners association to take care of all the
and we'll have a homeowners association to take care of all the common elements again some more
common elements against
photographs this is a perspective of the front rendering with porches trying to mimicking what
some of the other homes in the neighborhood are this is a rendering of the rear again you can see
the outdoor parking spaces one-to-one for each property as you go away from osceola street
again just another rendering this is a cutaway section showing you that it is a three-story
there will be a finished basement a nice covered porch with a walkway leading up to the front of
the property the floor plan will have a finished basement a half bath kitchen dining room living
room two bedrooms on the second floor and one bedroom on the third floor with access to a
rooftop deck. So we don't have any issues with open space, rear yard, height dimensions or
anything like that. It's simply because even though it's RSA 5, it is interpreted as a
multifamily. In terms of the tax certification, my clients are the equitable owners. The seller
had not paid the real estate taxes. And today, actually, my clients stepped up and they paid
real estate taxes. So the taxes are up to date and we're in good standing. And this is confirmation
and proof of payment for each of the tax certifications. I mean, excuse me, for each of
the payments for the real estate taxes. One of the things I just wanted to show the board
was a zoning map. This is a clear shot of the parcel that's involved. And you can see the
hallway area is zoned RSA 5. This is a face page of the agreement of sale indicating my owner,
excuse me, my client is the equitable owner on the call. I have the owner as well as the architect,
and I just wanted to show the panel that these are the zoning notices that we did send out
in conformance with the Planning Commission requirements and our notification to 140
neighbors, and then at the request of the RCO, we did send out a second zoning notice, again,
to the same 140 individuals.
So we believe this project has been thoroughly communicated to the neighbors,
and I guess that's why we were able to get a letter of support from the RCO.
So I just think that we have a unique situation here where the ground has been empty.
According to the records, I've been able to establish infemarial photographs.
that tool and die machine shop
has been demolished
somewhere between 1996 and 2000.
It's been a vacant lot since.
We believe that this project
is in harmony with the code
because it is an RSA 5 zone.
It's also in harmony
with what the community group wants.
And I think it'll be a nice project
for the neighborhood.
So I have my client, Mr. Chairman,
on the phone.
to adopt a testimony or if there are any questions from the board or members of the community we'll
certainly entertain them let's get your client to adopt your testimony and then we'll see if
there's any questions okay uh can you unmute greg stanvenden s-t-a-n-d-v-e-n
he's been unmuted he has to unmute himself now good afternoon sir please spell your full name
and i'll swear you in sure my name is greg g-r-e-g last name is standeven s-t-a-n-d-e-v-e-n
do you swear and affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing about the truth
yes sir thank you mr steven then good afternoon uh did you uh hear my testimony as i presented
the project at 6115 osceola street i did yes okay and are you a principal of the llc which
the applicant yes and if you had the opportunity to testify would you adopt my testimony as your
own and that's true and correct yes thank you thank you any questions from the board no no no
anyone else would like to testify in this case please raise your hand
chair we have stephen jones please unmute yourself and please wait for the chair
Thank you, Mr. Jones. Please identify yourself with a record, spell your name, and I'll swear you in.
Good afternoon.
First, giving honor to Almighty God, Yahweh, King, Yeshua, Jesus Christ, the Lord, folks, and Holy Ghost, I am.
Good afternoon.
Stephen, S-T-E-P-H-E-N, Jones, J-O-N-E-S.
Do you swear if I'm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Absolutely.
Thank you, sir. Please proceed.
Okay. I live around the corner from the proposed project, and I have some concerns, and some people I've spoken to
I have some concerns, and some people I've spoken to, even though I can't speak for them, they voiced to me.
I won't say what they said.
Please speak, yes, testify on your behalf.
Thank you.
This is, well, the project, the housing that they show you is not commensurate with the other properties in the neighborhood.
how so how so sir do you talk about aesthetics well that's one and you have two
okay two stories to three story housing it is in germantown which is a historical
green space in the city is one of the five or six green spaces in the city the lots the front yard
the backyard the other houses in the neighborhood the yards are bigger and the fronts are also
bigger there's a issue I believe I could be wrong about stormwater runoff right now it's a green
open space and it hasn't been addressed yet but the city is going around in neighborhoods
trying to make sure that the city enhances the green spaces.
We live in an underserved community as far as commerce, schooling, and it wasn't always that way.
Could you speak directly to this development and what your opposition is?
Oh, okay.
The aesthetics? Oh, okay. I apologize for that. Um, it's, it's a nice looking development.
it. It doesn't have the pricing within this area. It seems to be this project is another
attempt at gentrification, which, when it's described, it changes the face of this community.
I heard you say it's a nice-looking project. Now you're saying it's changing the face of
the community. I'm not clear. Right, because the definition that I heard
from Pew is that it takes it from a from a present income level to a significantly higher
income level so people who are living in the community at this moment there's a good chance
that property taxes will definitely increase.