And a letter of opposition from the Maniunk Neighborhood Council
good morning mr chair good morning could you please state your name and spell it for the
court sonographer yes sir my name is mark cradaville m-a-r-k last name k-r-a-t-o-c-h-v-i-l
you swear referring to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
yes sir okay so this application is for use as a visitor accommodation in an existing structure
The proposed use visitor accommodation is prohibited in the RSA-5 zoning district.
Our vice chair has just a few questions for you, sir.
Morning, sir.
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that is needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, sir.
Thank you.
Please proceed and share your screen.
And before we start, you did post the property.
Mr. Chair, I did, although I did see, as of yesterday evening, a note from, I believe it was the Man Young Council, about possibly not having the correct signage, which I'm willing to correct.
If we want to proceed with the continuation, I'm fine with that.
Honestly, I didn't know of the size and color requirement.
I think we're going to go on with the case today, okay?
All right, so why don't you start your case?
Share your screen.
And while he's doing that, Mr. Chair, I just want to clarify for the record that there is no requirement that the sign has to be orange.
The posters that were previously sent out by the ZBA were in orange, but now that everybody has to print out their own posters, the color requirement is not there.
Thank you.
Thank you, counsel.
sorry i'm trying to figure out so the green the green button on the bottom is a green button
yes sir the share screen figured it out and just make sure you have your documents open
yes ma'am i believe the documents should be shared it's coming up we're coming up yep
okay so why don't you tell us what you want to do yes sir um the the the the main concern with
The main concern with what the variants I'm looking for has to do with a personal matter
what the
variables
dealing with the fact that I'm 100% service-connected retired from the military, and I'm going to
be needing to receive some extensive surgical care in Florida, and I'm going to be needing
to spend some considerable time there. And the timeline as of right now is not too clear.
And my primary care, my mental health care, and other providers are still in Philadelphia.
And so for the sake of traveling back and forth between Florida, I was seeking visitor
accommodation to allow the home to be a short-term rental while the next few years are a little
uncertain for me and my family. So I was seeking the variance to allow the house to be a short-term
rental while I received this care and was asking based on hardship. Why don't you show us the
property yes sir there's your documents right yes sir um this is the letter of refusal yep
um the home is located on on levering street in the maniunk area um it is a a full uh
it's it's a full lot back to maiden street um where there is uh four off-street parking spots
um we of course considered this in our variance request as well because uh we didn't think it
would add any any extra burden of traffic to the to the street itself um here's another map um i'll
show you the picture of the of the home um again a satellite view um this is the front of the home
um this this red room right in the middle um and again uh this is the back of the home um
with one car here but uh we have a deep uh parking lot uh parking spaces a driveway on
the back of maiden street um and uh that that's those are the only photos i had um mr chair
is it is it currently being used as a airbnb no sir it's uh being lived in by my wife and me okay
all right um questions from the board
no chair
why should i have a question please proceed mr crock uh crockville could you uh let us know
about the timing around when you purchased this property yes ma'am and in fact um that was kind
of a concern with the man young council's response um just because the home was purchased in 2021
uh and i know in part of the recommendation from the man young council it mentioned you know i
should have had the foresight you know to not purchase this home under these considerations
because of the legislation that's currently in place
for short-term rentals.
And I purchased the home almost two years
before that legislation was proposed and implemented.
Thank you.
Any other questions from the board?
Yeah, question.
How many bedrooms are in the property?
Four bedrooms, sir.
I have a question.
How do you anticipate managing visitor accommodations when you're away?
Yes, ma'am.
You know, obviously, especially under medical duress, if that should happen in Florida, I plan to use a professional rental service.
And in fact, I know, you know, with short term rentals also, there's a concern about potential noise and other problems.
Um, actually the, the short-term platform that I plan to use, um, has a noise, uh, indicator,
um, that can be planted, uh, in the main room of the main floor of the home.
And, um, it's actually a pretty self-sufficient process where if, um, the noise volume were
to get too loud, um, the tenants, the, the current tenants would be notified and, um,
that can actually be forward to the municipality for, um, for a fine if needed.
any other questions from the board yeah what's the maximum number of individuals that could
uh rent considering it's a four bedroom sir i believe i believe we'll limit it to eight
is that is that based on the um the company that you'll be leasing through
Based on the the company that you'll be leasing through or what is that? What is that number based on?
Sir, I believe it's so I'm basing it on the number of bedrooms in the home with a maximum of two per bedroom.
is there and you can you can lay those parameters out um to the the rental platform and actually
uh you can have um rear and forward cameras to to verify that you're not having more people that
are leased on a short-term rental is there um is there a maximum allowed for um the um folks that
are renting to have visitors for them to have visitors in other words if they want to have a
party? Is there a maximum allowed? Sir, it's my understanding that contractually, the only people
that are allowed to be in the home are the ones that are on the lease. And again, the cameras in
the forward and the back of the property, if that is not the case, then you can move forward
to terminate that lease immediately. So no, I would not be promoting any parties. We've taken
very good care of the home we wouldn't want anything bad to happen with with parties or
anything like that so i just want to be clear are you saying that you can't so if i'm if i'm if i'm
renting your short-term rental i can't have a friend a friend come visit me is that sir i don't
i don't know if like a couple friends come over i i my understanding is contractually it it has to
be just limited to the number of people that are on your reservation okay all right those are my
questions thank you questions from our attorney hillary emerson not at this time mr chair
questions or comments from the virtual audience
yes chair we have bob we have four hands raised the first one to talk to you bob
they have been allowed to speak good morning could you please state your name and spell for
the court stenographer yes my name is bob mcwilliams m-c-w-i-l-l-i-a-m-s i live at 186
levering street so i'm five or six houses up from mark and julie right hold on do you swear or affirm
to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do please proceed sir yes i'm basically
here in support of my neighbors. They have one of the nicer properties on the street.
They are good neighbors. I don't see any negative impacts that would possibly even come through
approving this variance. I know you all have to follow your rules and regulations and things like
that. But I think there is not a lot of places in Manioc for people to stay, and they're offering
up an option to visitors to have a nice place to stay. And they take care of their property.
And in spite of the vote that was taken by the Manioc Council, I personally, as a person that
lives on the street, would be in favor of it. Thank you very much for taking the time to calls.
Could you give me the next hand, please?
Harry has been allowed to speak.
Good morning.
Could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Harry Fidel, please unmute yourself.
They seem to update it now.
Hi, good morning.
could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer yes harry h-a-r-r-y feigel
f-e-i-g-e-l do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
yes are you a neighbor yes i live at 4419 civilwood street okay please proceed please
And I manage the property at 176 Leverance Street for my son, who's also Harry Feigl.
I'm a longtime resident, 50 years in the neighborhood.
I see this as an improvement.
We have one other accommodation in Matty Youngs called the Matty Young Hotel on Gay Street.
And this should be an added improvement to the neighborhood.
I'm 100% in favor of it.
Thank you for taking the time to call us.
We appreciate it.
Next hand, please.
John Hunter has been allowed to speak.
Good morning, Mr. Hunter.
Could you please state your name?
It's spelled for the court stenographer.
Yes, my name is John Hunter, J-O-H-N-H-U-N-T-E-R.
I'm the zoning chair for Manioc Neighborhood Council.
I'm the zoning chair for Manioc Neighborhood Council.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth, Mr. Hunter?
Please proceed, Mr. Hunter.
Yeah, you have a letter of opposition where we-
We have it, sir. We do?
I think I mentioned that when we started.
You did.
I wanted I introduced that as just what I wanted to point out is that this property already has a permit for limited lodging that was applied for in May of last year.
And then subsequently, this application, which triggered a variant as owning board appeal, was submitted in June.
I wanted to point out that that's the case and that that gives the applicant a lot of options for renting out the property on short-term leases or rentals for six months of a year.
We don't know the nature of the applicant's visits to Florida, why it's Florida, what is the duration.
All we know is that that application was made a year ago when the same sort of prediction of not quite knowing when these visits would take place and the duration.
And now a year later, we're still here and it seems to be the same situation.
What we're concerned about, obviously, is the size of the house and the roof deck and the use for a variety of different residents and how that property will be used on this basis as an Airbnb as opposed to limited lodging license.
um i think it's also worth pointing out that um the variance is um a change of views and it's um
it could last forever and it could be transferred to a different owner with a different set of
circumstances and um we have no idea on how long this requirement to go to florida would be but it
It would seem to be that even if the board thought that this was a reasonable accommodation, which we don't, it should not be unlimited.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Hunter, for calling in.
We appreciate it.
Is there anyone else?
Dave Bass has been allowed to speak.
Good morning, sir.
Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
My name is David Bass. Bass like the fish, B-A-S-S.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, Mr. Bass?
Are you a neighbor?
I am. I live at 150 Lebron.
Please proceed, sir.
I have two points.
And I want to say as a background, my wife and granddaughter and I have been here about 15, 16 years.
I'm involved with Manioc Neighborhood Council.
I'm involved with Friends of Hustle Park.
Those two groups have worked very hard to improve the quality of life in Manioc.
And just personally, there have been several situations over the years we've been here with so-called problem houses.
particularly the partying, the drinking.
So I say this as somebody who has some experience with this
because it is not pleasant.
I'm opposed to this.
I also am skeptical about the hardship involved
because we have a two-bedroom house with three people living in it.
It makes me wonder about the thought process
that went into buying a large, a very large, four-bedroom house in Manioc.
It makes me wonder if there wasn't some thought to using the property for financial reasons,
particularly if the landlord is absent.
We seem to have the worst issues with absentee landlords,
and Florida would make him absentee.
I don't care what the governing issues are with Airbnb.
And that's it.
Okay, thank you for taking the time to close.
Is there anyone else in the audience?
Yes, Chair, we have two more hands.
Ben Reilly has been allowed to speak.
Good morning, sir.
Could you please state your name
and spell for the court stenographer?
Good morning.
Yes, my name is Ben Reilly.
That's B-E-N-R-I-L-E-Y.
You swear a firm to tell the truth,
the whole truth nothing but the truth i do are you a neighbor sir yes i am are you in favor of