yes they can okay right here to the left is the existing garage and this to the right
is the addition. And if you look over here, the street, Wissiken Avenue is here. This is the
driveway all the way to the back. This is the existing garage, and this is the new proposed
addition to the garage. So the footprint stays the same, but then it gets this additional area here,
which is 252 square foot addition so and then the plans here are showing
so and then the plans here are showing you know how it gets expanded it's going to have a bathroom
new game room new pool room and all the doors and the way it's going to be changed
any questions about that
uh no just continue and you could summarize it'll be helpful uh yeah i think it's uh building this
would be in you know a really great addition to to the property and and for our family and uh
make make a great you know just it's just a wonderful place for for our family so okay
thank you you questions from the board no no no anyone else wish to testify in
this case if so please raise your hand no hands at this time chair thank you
planning commission uh this property is indicated for
ron name and address
oh hello yes
go ahead give us your full name firm name is ronald bednar
ron do you swear to firm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i do okay well thank you please proceed yes this property is indicated for residential use on the
city plan we have no objection to granting advance thank you very much number 39694
6314 wissa hicken street my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes
Yes. Frank, I can't hear you too good. Maybe it's my volume. I'll try that. All right.
Can everyone else hear me okay? Yes. Yes. We can hear you, but it is a little low.
So either if you can turn up your volume or get a little closer to the mic.
Okay. I'll try that. All right.
carol okay i thought i was waiting for you count um mi-2020-000768 2224 north 10th street
the attorney is phillies gregos and leslie 13
Can I mention that I talked with Alan Notcomson just a few minutes ago, and he was signing on.
Thank you.
Leslie Gersting, you've been promoted to a panelist. You can unmute yourself and share
your screen as necessary.
Leslie, can you put your name and address on the record, please?
Leslie M. Gerstein, Claire Harrison, 1835 Market Street, Philadelphia 19103.
Thank you. And do you swear or affirm to tell the truth and nothing but the truth?
I do. Thank you. Do you also agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, we do. Thank you. Thank you. You may proceed. Thank you.
Leslie, excuse me, before you begin, can I say that in the summaries, it said that we were waiting for a letter. That letter has come in. The RCO supports the project.
Great. Thank you. This is representing Phil Abundance. This is for their new facility on North 10th Street. We were before this board in 2018.
Excuse me for interrupting.
Is everyone able to hear her clearly?
No, you're not clear at all.
And the court reporter is saying it.
You're not very clear.
Is your volume up on your device?
And are you speaking to the microphone?
Sounds like you're muffled.
Wait, let me...
Well, the court reporter, Leslie's last name is spelled G-E-R-S-T-E-I-N.
Now, Leslie, do a test.
Just say test.
I'm on test microphone.
Can you hear me now?
Yeah, you sound a little better.
How does it sound for anyone else?
It's a little muffled.
I mean, I can make it out.
I'm more worried about the court reporter right now.
Yeah, it was just a little low, but I can try to make it out.
I will.
I don't know why.
Unfortunately, I have one of those devices that I had to add on a mic and a camera to.
okay where's your microphone Leslie right in front of me okay so as if you
can get as close as possible that will be helpful okay I will do what I can we
will be for you in 2018 we requested the variance to build this facility the
food distribution
as well.
I need that again. Sorry about that.
Are you getting any of that
to the stenographer?
I can hear. It's a little
lower, but I can
make out what she's saying.
If at some
point you can't just let us
know, all right? Okay.
I'm having a difficult time.
That's why I'm asking. I am as well.
Yeah, it's a little low.
does that work better once you start talking without stopping it gets harder
to hear you two words is okay but then when you go on a sentence you kind of
you're kind of muffled somewhat muffled if I could offer a suggestion or um
instead of doing it on the video you can try calling in and see if that's better
for you because we're also recording this as a video so the audio would be very important
um no i understand what is the number to call in on and if you want to move on
to another case while i'm calling in or if if leslie would like to call on my phone i could
patch her in by speaker whichever okay all right you know what i'm calling by my phone i mean i'll
go in by, instead of using my computer, I'll use my cell phone. Let's see what I've got.
Okay. So if you wish to pause this chair, then I can send Leslie the information for her to call
in and we can use the audio from our phone and the video if that works. And then we can just
move forward another case but it's your call all right let's see she has her
phone let's see how it works if it doesn't work out we'll do as you
suggested we'll move on let's give her another
we have to go.
how's that go
can you hear me
yes so you're going to have to
mute your
actual computer
and use the audio from your phone
uh-oh where'd she go
Tanya, will we need to re-add her as a panelist since she is now calling instead of using
the computer?
Well, she was supposed to just use her audio from the phone, but she's gone now.
She's totally gone.
Let's move on to the next case, and we'll catch up with Leslie when you want.
okay mr chairman should i go to one for alan knockamson is he available he's
ready he is here yes okay uh calendar number m i dash 20
Okay, calendar number MI-2020-000849-5655 Carpenter Street.
The attorney is Alan Nockerson.
Alan, you've been promoted to panelists.
You can unmute yourself and share your screen as necessary.
i'm sorry to interrupt but um if you could then go to the case that sloan folks wanted to um
request a continuance in that is also alan's case is that north 2nd street
alan uh name and address for the record uh good afternoon uh mr chair members of the board my
name is alan knockamson of knockamson pc 123 south broad street suite 1600 philadelphia pa
19109 do you swear to tell the truth and affirm do you swear strike it do you swear to tell the
truth and nothing but the truth i do do you also agree to waive the reading of the refusal and
stipulate to its accuracy. I do. Okay, you may proceed. Do you want me to discuss 2262 North
Second Street first? Well, yes. I don't know if you were on when the Mr. I think it's Falks is on
or was it Mr. Richardson? I forget. No, it's Long Falks. Did you hear him earlier, Alan? Yeah, I did.
I don't know what was happening.
I was on.
I saw you guys, but you didn't see me.
We wish to prepare and present that zoning matter at 2262 North 2nd Street.
We do have a community meeting scheduled for September 9th, so we wish to then hold it
and then tell the board at the next available hearing list of what the results of that community
meeting were.
Is that a
Sharon?
Mr. Folks want to speak to that?
I'm sorry
board.
Councilwoman has no problem with that as long as there's a community
meeting and we have a date scheduled
for the letters to be
submitted to the ZBA.
Okay, thank you. So we'll go forward with the hearing
and hold any decision until Mr. Knockinson gets back to us once he has met with the community.
Okay. Can we have a supplemental portion of that hearing just to tell the zoning board what the
results of that meeting were? Yes. The record would be held open. A second limited hearing
would be scheduled for you to report the results of the RCO meeting and for in an
RCO representative or a representative of the councilwoman to testify if they
wish to do so okay and since that meeting I think you said is the ninth
September? I believe so, Mr. Chair.
Well, it wouldn't matter anyway, I think, right? It's a Wednesday.
All right, so the earliest we can do it would be the following week.
The earliest that the board can hear the limited and vote on it would be the following week.
Okay. All right.
All right, so let's proceed. Okay, I'm going to share my screen for 56, 55.
Carpenter.
So these are materials that I handed to the board and all the parties involved previously.
I did update the materials, so I don't know if you've received them.
I updated them this morning because I received a letter or correspondence from Cobbs Creek
Neighbors Association yesterday, so I wanted the board to have that as part of their packet
of materials.
So in addition to myself, I have the owner's representative, Christopher Weitsch, on the line.
He will affirm my testimony at the conclusion of my presentation.
You have a packet of materials which include eight exhibits.
The first is the deed to the property, which shows that Wholesome Rentals LLC owns the property.
I would like to point out the date of the deed is February 28th of 2020.
It's dated May 8th of 2020. This is an RSA 5 property. I pointed out the date in which
my client purchased the property because when he originally purchased the property,
it was his understanding that this was an RM1 property. So my understanding is that there's
no any change for this property in late December from RM1 to RSA 5. And what he was trying to do
when he purchased the property and after he purchased the property was to put a two-family
structure there. He's intending to actually live in the upper unit of this property.
And the reason why he hired me is because when he applied for the zoning permit to start the work
in terms of construction and getting a zoning permit and a building permit, that's when he
was told that the zoning did change. I attached here in Exhibit 3 also the listing of the property.
And as you can see, when he was under contract to purchase a property and when he purchased a property, it was his understanding that this was RM1.
And this is from the MLS showing that this was an RM1 property.
Now, Exhibit 4 is our application of appeal to the Zoning Board of Adjustment, which includes the project information form.
Now, if you look at the property, we are RSA 5.
But if you look, on the opposite side of the street is RM1.
And the reason why that's relevant is because if you look at the photographs of the property, here's the front of our property. But if you look at the properties to the right, and this is a better property, on one side of the street on Carpenter, it's RM1. On the other side of the street, it's RSA5.
they're exactly the same dimensions to buildings the lot sizes are exactly the
same and when they did this rezoning I think it was quickly done at the end of
the year when when Councilwoman Janie Blackwell left office I think they
wanted to rezone it but unfortunately they inartfully did it where one side
is RSA 5 unfortunately my client side and the other side is RM 1 and then oops
sorry. Here are the plans to the property. Again, you're having two units. We're not changing the
physical structure at all. You have the first floor with an open floor plan, and then the
second floor as well with an open floor plan. And then we met with the community. So a little bit
of background about this. We met with the community. It was a very lengthy meeting.
It was a very passionate meeting.
I talked to the person who was representative for the coordinating RCO, and I think we jinxed it because we said this is a pretty straightforward project, which turned out not to be straightforward.
A little bit of background about my client, Chris White, born and raised in Philadelphia, actually grew up in the Overbrook section of Philadelphia, which is not too far away from this property.
And, you know, he went to West Catholic High School.
He, you know, after graduating from college, he moved back to the area.
And he's been in the real estate business for over a decade.
Very well versed in renovation projects.
And, you know, again, this is a project where he is looking to actually live in the second floor unit, where he wants to move closer to where he grew up.