come over and they play together on Waverly Street. Both my kids learn to ride scooters and
bikes on Waverly Street. So, you know, the neighbors behind us on Waverly Street, ourselves, and
actually our neighbor Frost 604 Pines, everyone has invested meaningfully in the last like a
decade or so in keeping this street, you know, to be beautiful, but also kind of a peaceful, safe area.
the neighborhood so what i would say in summary is that there's two reasons why i'd oppose putting
parking on waverly no one is the character of the neighborhood and the historic homes and
you know the neighborhood overall and then two the safety considerations um for what it has
historically been a non-vehicular street i don't have any further questions thank you does that
mr knockamson do you have any questions uh yeah may i share my screen now okay
oh i have to stop sorry that's okay thank you
Thank you.
um miss
Miss, you are one of the owners of these properties, is that correct?
Yes, the third one on the right, literally.
And one of these parking spots is your parking spot that you have access to?
Yes, that's correct. It came with the house when we bought it.
Okay. And so the way you, which one are you? The front one, the middle one, or the end one? Closest to six.
We're closest to six.
You're closest to six, right? So the only way you can access this parking spot is to literally drive on a sidewalk. Is that correct?
That's correct. With a car pop in there.
All right. No further questions.
witness? I have a next witness unless the board. No, we're fine. Thank you, Ms. Milhauser. I'd
next like to call Lori Olivia. Ms. Olivia has been allowed to speak. Good morning. Could you please
state your name and spell for the court reporter? My name is Lori Olivia. L-A-U-R-I-E-O-L-I-V-I-A.
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
yes i do proceed counsel thank you uh miss olivia um uh you and your let me share my screen again
if i could uh mr knockamson um okay um
you and your husband live at 604 Waverly, which is right here on this map. Is that correct?
Yes. Okay. And this is what we refer to as the first Trinity, um, uh, right here. Um,
you're a member of the civic association. Is that correct? Yes. Over the past 15 years or so,
your house has changed hands twice, most recently being sold to you and your husband in 2021. Is
that correct? Yes. And after you purchased, you made substantial investments in the home. Is that
correct? Yes, we did. And of course, you front directly onto Waverly. Yes. Well, as is my
practice, I'd like to just give you the floor and ask you to explain as briefly as you can
why you were opposed to the variance. Okay, thank you. First, I just want to say that
Waverly is a unique street. You do not see streets like this, which is one of the reasons
that we purchased it. It's really pretty. And even though the properties have changed over
multiple times, people have, you know, obviously spent some money to improve their properties on
the street. It's a little gem. You don't see places like that. It's almost like stepping back
in time when you walk down the street, especially at night with the lights. And second, there are
just no cars on the street. There's no parking. There's not a car driving down the street. And
that's part of what makes it a safe place and what makes it unique. And I think just the charm
of the street, the fact that it's safe, and the size of it, it just doesn't make it a place
for parking. So let me interject for a moment and just point out and remind the board that
the person who lived in your house 20 years ago, who owned your house 20 years ago, 19 years ago,
So they were okay with this parking spot and they, you know, would require, they required a condition of that, that bollards be installed in front of your house. Can you comment on that?
Yeah, we really do not want bollards in front of our house. It kind of is more like a loading dock look with two bollards in front of it.
um and i just i don't think that trying to maneuver in the street that's so small
um it would be really difficult not to have to come up on our part of the sidewalk to do it
uh everyone you know unless you get right in at the right angle
um you and your husband circulated that petition that we've shown yes okay and um
I think that's all I have.
Mr. Nockmson, do you have any questions?
You're muted.
Alan, you're muted.
Paul, can you answer your screen, please?
You're muted.
Thank you.
Sorry about that.
Ma'am, you stated that you did substantial renovations on the property since 2021?
Ma'am, you stated that you did substantial renovations on the property since 2020.
Can you tell me what you did?
We redid all the fireplaces in the house.
We put new countertops in the kitchen.
We redid all the floors and had them resurfaced and re-varnished.
We painted the entire house.
We've added a new hot water heater, tankless water heater.
Have you done any electrical or plumbing work?
Aside from the water heater, no.
And you personally don't actually own the property, right?
We own it through an LLC, but we are the owners of the LLC, my husband and I.
Yeah. So but you own it through an LLC. Right. And this is not your primary residence, right?
It is our primary residence.
Okay. Now you also, your LLC also owns, let's see, also owns
601 Addison Street right? Correct. And you purchased that property at the same time as
604 Waverly Street? Yes. Okay I'm going to share my screen.
So you have non-accessory parking out of 601 Addison Street right? Yes.
I'm going to stop sharing my screen and I'm going to re-share 601 Addison.
Now, I went on 601 Addison Street. There's no permit for non-accessory parking, at least according to Atlas. Does that surprise you?
I'm going to object to this, Mr. Chairman. I just don't know how the parking works.
So I think we'll allow the question.
Okay, thank you.
I really I I we purchased the home as it is we purchased the lot it was shown together that's
the way we bought it and I'm really hasn't been an issue and so I really don't have a comment on it
I know further questions thank you my next witness is thank you very much
My next witness is John Kiesker.
I hope I'm pronouncing him correctly.
Good morning.
Kiesker, can you please raise your hand?
I'm sorry.
Good morning.
Could you state your name and spell it, please, for the court reporter?
Apologies.
The unmute just came up.
My name is John Kiesker.
the first name J-O-H-N, last name K-E-I-S-K-E-R. Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth,
the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Yes. Proceed, counsel. Thank you. Sir, did you hear
everything I said earlier, and do you agree that it's accurate and that you adopt the testimony
as your own? I did, and I do. Thank you. You're associated over the years with two properties on
Waverly. Basically, these two properties we're calling Trinity's. So let's first talk about 604
Waverly, which we know Ms. Olivia, who just testified, currently lives there. But you had
actually purchased that property back in 2012. Is that correct? That is correct. And what was
the condition of that property, 604 Waverly, at that time in 2012? It was pretty much not
habitable. The entire first floor was gutted and the rear flooring was missing. It was in repair
that was so poor that conversations with the Historic Association actually were completely
permissive of demolishing the structure. But I am a preservationist and absolutely purchased it to
do the opposite. So what did you do? How did you improve the property? The property was gutted
The property was gutted all the way down to the joists.
all the way down to the joists. In fact, the first floor joists.
In fact, the first floor joists needed to be removed.
There were absolutely no walls or systems in the home.
When we did our complete demolition, it was shored up and completely recreated from the interior out,
including all of the structural shoring that the License and Inspection Division of Philadelphia required.
Okay, so did you do any repointing here on the facade that we're looking at?
Yes, both the front and the rear of the property had to be repointed from significant damage and holes throughout, as well as those star bolts that are in the foreground all had to be established to properly shore up the building.
Okay. Tell us about the condition, just to shift gears a little bit, tell us about the condition of Waverly Street itself at that time.
So in 2012, when we first looked at the property, approximately a third to a half of Waverly Street, the end of the street, so the end that is west, not the end towards 6th Street, was covered in debris, certainly dirt, and looked a bit like a pasture, high grasses, weeds, unkempt, completely unkempt.
Okay, tell us what you did.
So when we moved in, I have a great deal of pride in the city and in properties that I've owned.
And I took it upon myself to hand shovel all of that away.
It was 31 bags, contractor bags filled with dirt and debris of such.
And thankfully, the streets department picked that up and took it.
OK. And at a later time, there was a water main break and the city did work on Waverly.
Tell us about that.
Yeah, it's a very impactful water main break for 604-606-ANB. And it was quite catastrophic. It was about five months without proper water service. And during that time, there was quite a bit of back and forth of how the work would be done and how the alley would be put back together.
And I was a huge advocate with streets and they were very kind to generously delay the project by an additional week or two to get some support to have the granite curbs repinned and restored and replaced back in place so that the alley would look as historic and aesthetically pleasing as possible for the neighborhood.
Their original plan was to put concrete all throughout, which would have not been quite as charming as that street is today.
Okay, and now the city has remade the surface to this beautiful surface.
Yes, we did ask for cobblestone, I will admit, but the only option that we were given was the cement, which is a far cry, cleaner, neater, and easier to maintain than what was there in 2012, for certain.
But at some point, I don't know if this is ancient cobblestone.
yeah that's always just been there yeah that was untouched by the project okay thank you and so
you've lived there in 604 for um a number of years is that correct just shy of 10 years yes
all right at some point you purchased 606 a the the condo on the front of the building next to you
um and that was um uh when did you buy when did you buy it 2015 we purchased that i think it was
February. Okay. And did you make renovations to that property too? Yes, we certainly did. We've
restored systems in that house, like hot water furnace. We also completely gutted the bathroom
and the kitchen in that house to complete restoration. We did some work replacing doors,
doors um entry doors um and just yeah thank you um so just to be clear you currently live
elsewhere um society hill but you still own 606a and rent it out to a tenant i do a very good
tenant yes okay um thank you um so i'm going to give you the floor like we did with the other
neighbors? Just to explain extremely briefly why you are opposed to the parking spot that would be
opposite. Of course. I do think it would detract from the aesthetic and the charm. I think that
alley is a gift to Society Hill as a neighborhood. Secondly, I would really state that I do believe
there is a safety issue. Turning into Waverly Street with any vehicle is a blind turn. So I do
just fear for anything coming down that street towards sixth street as a pedestrian a pet a child
um you know somebody clipping a person coming around the corner in a car um and then finally
just i believe um from living there for so long i think there would just be a constant annoying
I think there would just be a constant annoyance of the noise that would be created by the vehicle entering and exiting and the operation of the garage door.
annoyance of the noise that would be created by the
Thank you very much. I have no further questions.
Yes. Thank you.
Let me share my screen here.
Sure. So before I do, sir, you stated in your testimony, I believe, that you said you made some substantial renovations to your property at 606 Waverly Street in 2015. Is that correct?
They've been ongoing since 2015, somewhere in 2015, somewhere in 2019.
Yeah. And that you did electrical and plumbing work, right?
No, we just did the hot water heater.
Oh, you said you gutted out your kitchen completely.
The kitchen and the bathroom were redone, yes, but there was no rough plumbing work done.
I mean, there were new faucets and fixtures attached when, you know, the tiling was completed.
Would you also say you rent out this property?
We do rent that property.
Let me just share my screen with regards to that.
So I'm looking at 606 Waverly Street.
unit at um particularly the license and inspections uh page it looks like there's no rental license
for this property would that surprise you it would surprise me that the record would uh depict that
because it's not the case okay all right and i'm sorry i didn't mean to interrupt yeah i mean the
taxes and all of that that are associated with renting are all paid on an annual basis
okay well there's not just taxes there's a housing inspection line since you have to pay
on an yearly basis
um and then i also wanted to go to 601 uh
now you're frozen
council
I can hear you.
He should be coming back in, hopefully.
Okay, sounds good.
thank you thank you sorry about that
um so we're looking at 601 you said yeah 601 as in straight uh
sir you own that property too right i owned it from 12 to 21. okay so from 12 to 21
um and you sold that to the individuals that know now own 604
i'm sorry you appear frozen to me yeah he yeah he froze again
Thank you.
one more time
i'm ready oh sorry um technical difficulties are you there i am he is okay i didn't see mr
bonnie move i was like oh my god did i get frozen one more time uh 601 addison street you owned
You said from 12 until you sold to the individuals or to the actually corporate entity in 2021.
Is that correct?
That's correct.
All right.
Now, would it surprise you that there was a vacant lot like since 4601 Addison Street prior to you owning the property?
I'm sorry.
I'm not familiar with that term.
What would that mean?
Okay. Well, what was, how did you use 601 Addison Street?
We used it for parking.
Okay. So I looked at the city's record. There's no permit of record.