you still on that fishing boat you might be fishing
i wish i was there too um all right
um i think this is not too controversial of a project um i think i can stand i can stand on
the documentation i shown okay so noted uh anyone else out there who wishes to participate in this
case, please raise your hand. Here we have Wade Albert. Wade, you can unmute yourself and wait to
be sworn in. Hello, can you hear me? I can hear you. Please spell your name and give us your address
for the record. Sure, my name is Wade, W-A-D-E. My last name is Albert, A-L-B-E-R-T, and I'm an
attorney with Sobel Law Group representing the Center City Residents Association. My address is
1845 Walnut Street, 23rd floor, Philadelphia PA 19103. We're in a firm to tell the truth,
the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? I do. Please proceed. Okay, so thank you. So as the
applicant stated, CCRA held a virtual public meeting for the community on August 25th via Zoom,
And during that public meeting, we heard three neighbors who all expressed opposition to this project.
And their position was that the applicant's proposed use request for business or professional services would not be in line with the general character of the neighborhood.
So hearing those objections, the CCRA voted to not oppose this application, as described previously, but with a provisor that the business only be operated as a law firm or law office.
And the reason for that is we thought that was a way to address the residents' concerns so that in the event that there is a subsequent business owner who seeks to use the property for a different purpose, that they would have to go through the zoning process and come back to the neighbors again.
and so i discussed that proviso with uh with counsel for the applicant and it is my understanding
that the applicant has no objection to that proviso that was forcible sharon
um yes i think that would be acceptable so the language would be for law office
limited to law office and legal services only
anyone else wish to testify in this matter please raise your hand
here we have irene baker irene you can unmute yourself and get sworn in
hi this is irene baker can you hear me yes miss baker please identify yourself
spell your name and give us your address it's irene i-r-e-n-e baker b-a-k-e-r 1908 spruce street
you swear in front of tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i am thank you please proceed i represent the four condominiums in this building across the street
from 1905 Spruce Street, and three of us wrote letters to the zoning board, and we have four
main points of objection. One is that we would like to preserve the residential atmosphere
One is that we would like to preserve the residential atmosphere and sense of community on Spruce Street between 19th and 20th.
and sense of community.
Number two is we believe it's a slippery slope, that once we start allowing some businesses, others will use that as a reason to follow.
Number three, the building has a one-car garage, but they intend to have a full office full of
lawyers, which will take up the very limited street parking available in the area. And number
four is that the people who have purchased 1905 Spruce Street have shown by their behavior that
they may not be intend to be as neighborly as we would like. The zoning information in the front
is posted several feet, like eight or nine feet high where no one can read it. It is not posted
in the back. And the people in my building received no notification about this zoning meeting or any
zoning changes. So we respectfully request that you reject this zoning variance.
thank you just to comment on number two your item about the slippery slope uh you i don't know if
you heard uh there will be a proviso limiting the use of this building for law and legal purposes
only and number three is the parking uh that garage will remain uh in use anyone else who
wishes to testify on this matter, please raise your hand. We have Susan Scheer. Susan, you can
unmute yourself and wait to be sworn in. Yes, I'm unmuted. Good afternoon. Please identify
yourselves by your name for the stenographer. Good afternoon. My name is Susan Satkowski. I
live at 1907 Spruce Street. That is one of the two properties directly adjacent to the property
an issue we're going to affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i do and could you just spell your last name for me please sure it's s-a-t-k-o-w-s-k-i
please proceed ma'am uh yes good afternoon uh board members um i have lived at this property
since 1996. It is a residential area. We like it for that reason, and we hope it to remain.
I'm an attorney as well, and I could easily convert mine, I would think, to the same use,
and so on and so on. So despite the proviso, I think it sets the stage for more residents to
turn business. We're at a time particularly when people still need to live somewhere but people
will be working remotely and we therefore don't understand the imperative of destroying more
residential space within the city of Philadelphia. I've witnessed already that there's a lack of good
faith in this presentation. For starters, as Ms. Baker already noted, the poster is at an
unreasonable level to read, an unreadable level. There's no poster in the back. The parking,
whoever is the owner or on his behalf, is already parking on the sidewalk blocking pedestrian access.
The history of the prior owner is that despite the proviso that it remain only two businesses on the first and second floor with owner-occupied space on the third and the fourth, quite frankly, that first and second was used for many other businesses.
now um the proviso is enforceable but i mean we're individuals how much can we fight um
and as i understand the rules uh the fact that this wasn't properly noticed is grounds for
dismissal the applicant has submitted no photos as he's required or as it is required since it's
an LLC, of the posters.
I have photos showing, and they've already been submitted to the address required, showing
that there are no photos in the back, and the one in the front is at an unreasonable
or unreadable level.
The notice that was sent in writing looks like junk mail.
It looks like a class action notification, and it had a date of 8-26.
We only learned of this property being changed, and in particular for a law firm at the Center
and in particular for a law firm at the Center City Residents Association meeting
City Residence Association.
that was held only a week ago. It is certainly not a non-controversial application because
three people opposed it at that point in time. And since then, more neighbors...
I'm going to actually object to that.
Yeah, I guess not to interrupt you, but you said there was no posting, but you did attend
the virtual meeting? Was it a virtual meeting? Yes, it was. How did you come to know that it
was a meeting? Because of the written notice I received in my mailbox that was simply labeled
property owner. I've since spoken with other members, other residents on the block
who did not either get that piece of paper or see the notice.
You have quite a lot of residents on Spruce Street or rather on Manning Street
who I am sure they've also objected and probably would, you know,
would love to see a notice there as well.
You're in a time of a pandemic when people aren't on the street generally
or shouldn't be um secondly you've had um the owner act as if he's already gotten this
approval um if you go on the firm's web page his address is listed as 1905 spruce street
i happen to think that this panel this board matters i happen to think that city government
matters um the the property owner has moved in business materials including paper shredders
and document boxes and there's been construction ongoing for months if he's waiting for approval
of this board I don't see it in act or deed and I think coupled with a lack of proper notice that
is in your instructions and grounds for dismissal we respectfully request that this be rejected
as far as the CCRA position historically historically when it was a prior owner
they raised the concern that the use could become inconsistent with a largely residential area and
this is exactly that this sets the stage proviso for law firm or not and I am sorry to see
that Center City residents' interests are set aside so freely.
We've been here through thick and thin.
We want to be here in the city, and we don't need more commercial space
that affects traffic acutely in our back street.
We have whoever it is owning it now parking on the sidewalk.
That's not legal.
if you can summarize we'd appreciate that um and i i believe i've summed up and if you want to see
any of the photos or other materials already submitted um i'm i'm happy to now but i thank
you for your time uh for the reasons stated we um respectfully request that the board reject
this this appeal anyone else to testify on this matter and something new and different we'd
appreciate. Here we have Dan. Dan you can unmute yourself and wait to be sworn in. Hi thank you.
Dan give us your full name spell it and your name and address. Sure it's Dan Nasser N-A-S-S-E-R
I'm at 1913 Spruce. Yes we're in a firm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
I do please proceed yes I'm a neighbor four houses down from from this subject property and
not to be repetitive I sort of concur with with with the other folks on our block are saying
about the character of the neighborhood the lack of parking the the lack of sort of notice we did
not get anything in the mail at all for this for either the CCRA or for this we only stumble upon
that because our neighbors reached out to us um we also concur that we've witnessed sort of
the the double parking in front of this house already and sort of the the moving in of of sort
of the business items um and so I will try and instead of being you know repetitive of the other
comments which I absolutely concur and I'm happy to go over them if you need that but uh I'm really
focusing on Manning Street for the folks who know this block and sort of
understand the character of it, it is increasingly becoming a much more
It is increasingly becoming a much more commercial sort of situation from 20 Manning Street restaurant and sort of the retail shops down on 20th Street through Metropolitan Bakery on the corner and the Ethical Society, who de facto runs as sort of a commercial enterprise, and 1900 Rittenhouse, which is an apartment building, which all those sort of back up to Manning Street.
commercial sort of situation.
There is nonstop double parking commercial vehicles on that street, you know, for the last several years.
We sort of bought our house in 2005 and raised our young kids there who are now, you know, in middle school and high school.
And it used to be a block that you could absolutely walk freely on and play on.
It was very, very little traffic.
and the character has dramatically changed
over the last handful of years of commercial trucks
as well as sort of the renovation
and sort of the occupant of the former McElhaney mansion.
Two years of construction, nonstop trucks, services,
double parking there,
double parking in front of Manning Street,
double parking in front of the Ethical Society
when they have events and concerts.
Loading and unloading for 1900 Rittenhouse Street,
which backs up, as well as 20 Manning,
non-stop food deliveries and trucks there so it's now become a hodgepodge of just traffic and and
and sort of uses of that if i just happen to google and i i welcome everybody who has a
computer from in front of them to go to google maps and just google the block of you know any
any 1900 whatever manning street and in in the photograph that they're showing is a truck
virtually double parked in front of this house loading and unloading so it's not something that
just i'm randomly making up if you look at google maps right now you can see that they happen to
catch you the one time they're driving about it's a non-stop issue um and it's just the flavor of
the neighborhood and this street particularly especially on manning street we absolutely oppose
this we think this is a it should be rejected not only for the reasons that susan and irene
brought up of not having proper notice and things of that sort but this is not the nature of what's
going on and and to to reiterate what the former folks who used to live in this house they would
have concerts running out of their backyard and we would call the police all the time and you know
you're saying having recourse there is no recourse nobody did anything when anybody double parks and
blocks our garage which is probably 20 to 25 percent of the time we try to get out of our
garage that backs up to manning street invariably someone is blocking the street blocking our garage
and there is no recourse.
We were broken record of calling the police,
calling our state representative,
calling our Congress, we have zero recourse.
So I feel of saying any reprisal of saying,
well, it can only be this or that.
I think that is just the abuse that has happened
on this block that I've witnessed firsthand
is just, you know, gives me pause
to say that this should be approved.
Thank you.
anyone else we have constance constance you can unmute yourself and wait to be sworn in
constance cone please spell your name for the record give us your address
i live at 1905 spruce street my name is excuse me 1910 spruce street my name is constance cone
c-o-n-s-t-a-n-c-e last name cone c-o-n as in nancy e
affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do
i've lived in this house my house since 1997 um and i have seen the creeping
business character in 1905 and it's really distressed me and i think that as previous
as people have said, you know, we're a particularly nice block with friendly people, and it's a
residence, even though the AVA is with us. And I would really not be very happy if you approve
this variance. Just to add one more thing, at 1909 Spruce Street, the gentleman who lives there was
the first COVID patient admitted to Penn and is now in a wheelchair. And the construction and
everything on Manning Street makes it more and more difficult for him to get around. I'm just
throwing that out there. I could go on, but everybody has, I think, spoken very well about
this. And I'd just like to say that I'm, I am really hoping you will deny this variance.
Thank you.
Thank you.
anyone else that's all chair
i'm sorry alan did you want to comment on anything
I'm sorry. Alan, did you want to comment on anything?
Yeah, there was a lot of commentary. So the first things first, in terms of the community meeting, we did send out the notice well in advance of the community meeting.
And in terms of the addresses, that's our last exhibit, we're told of 82 addresses that are affiliated with this property, and we have proof of mailing and the list of addresses that were sent, the notice of the community meeting.
I would also point out this is an RM4 property.
This is not an RSA 5 property.
The amount of use, whether it's residential or commercial, could be a lot more if we decided to.
But we're actually scaling it down in terms of just having a law firm there.
Right now, Mr. Sewardy's firm has six to seven employees.
So the amount of actual people in the property day in and day out is very light.
The hours of operation for the law firm, typical business hours of 9 to 5, again, very light hours.
In terms of using the law firm or, you know, or the space as a law firm currently, I can't speak to that in terms of Mr. Sewardy.
He's on the line.
But I will point out that the first and second floors are allowed to be used, you know, as professional and office space right now.
So if he is using it, he's not changing that use.
He's asking to expand that use to the third and fourth floors.
I will also point out that Mr. Sciority started his law career across the street at 1900 Spruce Street.
Again, it's not uncommon for a lot of these law firms to have spaces similar to this,
and there is evidence of that, and I believe someone else testified as to that,
that this block is more commercial in nature than most in Center City, Philadelphia, on Spruce Street.
You know, for all those reasons, and including the non-opposition of Center City Residents Association,
and the fact that the owner is going to be working there solely and owner-occupied,
I ask that the boards grant the zoning variance.
Alan, there were some issues raised about the posting. Do you have any photos of that?
um i i we usually do include the photos so i can't speak to that the only thing i would say