And, you know, it's just a safety issue for, you know, for her being being able to walk those long distances.
There's been times where, you know, we we come home at night, you know, extremely late.
And I would if we had the choice to park somewhere, you know, it would be in front of our home.
But our second best option will be Tomahawken Street. And if Tomahawken Street isn't available to us, then the only other streets that we have are pretty much Wayne Avenue, Green Street and Walnut Lane.
And it's I don't know if you're familiar with those blocks, but these are extremely long blocks for us to have to walk up and down.
So for for my family and I, I think that is pretty much just a safety issue. And that's all I have.
Right. Mr. Chair, can we have the witnesses identify what their addresses are? Because I'm curious which ones live inside the subject property and which ones do not.
Okay. So the next ones will do that. Okay. Thank you. Next hand, please.
Chair, we have Summer Humphrey. They have been unmuted and allowed to speak.
Good morning. Could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Good morning. I am Summer Humphrey, Summer spelled S-U-M-M-E-R-H-U-M-P-H-R-E-Y.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
What block do you live on?
225 West Pastoria Street, Unit 18.
Thank you. Are you for or against this project?
Okay. Is there anything you could add?
um nothing really to be honest that was my husband who just oh well thank you very much
we appreciate your input thank you next hand chair we have fred cap they have been unmuted
and allowed to speak good morning could you please state your name and spell for the court
sonographer yes can you hear me i can uh my name is fred cap f-r-e-d-c-a-p-p
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Are you a neighbor?
Yes, I live directly across the street.
What block is that, sir?
I'm at 240 West Pastoria Street.
Thank you.
Are you for this or against this?
I'm against it.
Okay, could you tell us why?
So I live directly across the street at 240 West Pastoria's with my girlfriend.
and we are expecting our first child at the moment.
Congratulations.
Thank you.
I've lived in the neighborhood my entire life.
I care about the residents and about the neighborhood.
And last year I approached Darren and asked if he wanted to have coffee
to talk about the project.
I met with him.
We discussed everything for over an hour.
And I had asked him if he would ever be willing to accept a negotiation
where we gave him three parking spaces on the Pastorius parking lot
for his handicapped tenants because I heard over and over again
that this is an issue for people who can't walk so far to their front doors.
Darren didn't really say yes or no, never got back to me on that.
So it seems that he's convinced he really wants the 15 parking spaces
on on pastorius um as it stands if he gets approval for those 15 parking spaces um i'm a
little bit worried that my child is eventually going to be put at risk with this big parking
lot directly across the street from our front yard um i want him to be able to ride his bike
walk on the street safely um it is obviously has become a thoroughfare for pedestrians in
the neighborhood, there are a ton of people walking up and down the street all times of day
because it's a nice, quiet street. And I see kids walking to Waldorf School every single day,
riding their bikes, running. It's become a real amenity, I think, for the neighborhood.
And if we allow the 15 parking spots to start using pastories, it's going to be a much busier
Road. You've heard many times that the 200 block of West Pastorius is an alley more than a street
in a historic residential neighborhood, and I'm most concerned with the precedent that this
in a historic residential neighborhood, and I'm most concerned with the precedent
that this variance application would set if approved.
Darren has 20 units and 29 parking spaces already within the property.
If we are calling these 15 additional off-street parking spaces a hardship,
what's to stop other developers in the area from arguing the same?
That they need to build more parking lots and need more than one parking space per unit.
doesn't city planning want to concentrate development that minimizes car traffic and
encourages residents to walk and use public transportation most people in our neighborhood
park on the street because we have few curb cuts interrupting sidewalks i wonder how many of my
neighbors on topahawken or mccallum or walnut lane would feel about having multiple driveways
and a linear parking lot taking up 183 feet of their sidewalks.
I hope we can protect the quality of life for the rest of the people on my block
and those in the larger neighborhood who have to walk in the pastorious partway.
I especially hope that the board denies the variance.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Is there any follow-up questions?
Yes, I do have a few questions.
Mr. Kapp, Michael Phillips here, attorney for the applicant. So, your property front,
Pastorius, is that correct? Correct.
And it's a new construction, it was a new construction home?
Correct. Okay. When was it built?
2022, 2023. Okay. And it was, correct, this was subdivided off of a parcel that fronted
um walnut lane right that you subdivided off the i'm objecting this is going beyond the the scope
of his testimony mr mr phillips could could you try to get to the point sure um you uh have a curb
cut correct yes i built my home by right i needed no variances everything was by right i'm allowed
a curb cut i parked one vehicle there it is nothing at all similar we have discussed this
at previous meetings you've brought this point up at least at two other times i got a buy right
project done i have one curb cut for one vehicle and that is all it is not anything comparable to
thank you thank you mr phillips you have anything else just the only other question are you related
to one of the uh opponents of the project uh miss connie winters yes and how are you related
to Ms. Winters. She's my mother. Okay. Thank you. No other questions. Okay. Next hand.
Chair, we have Yvonne Haskins. They have been unmuted and allowed to speak.
Good morning. Good morning, Ms. Haskins. Could you please state your name and spell for the
court stenographer? Yvonne Haskins. Y as in yesterday, V as in Victor, O-N-N-E. Haskins,
H-A-S-N-S. All right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but
the truth? I do. Are you a neighbor? Yes, I am. In what block do you live in? In the 200 block
directly across the street from 224 all right are you for this or against i have to be against it
all right thank you you've heard a great deal of testimony that we just heard is there anything
else that you could add i would like to add two things that i have not heard anyone speak to
I understood from prior discussion that all of the traffic from Mr. Beelvich's property would pour into Pastoria Street.
And that is because of a traffic study or an engineering study that says his driveway is only 12 feet.
and I was struck by hearing that, that it's incorrect. The curb cut for his driveway
is the same as the curb cut for my driveway. I live directly across the street in a four-unit
building. I live on the first floor. I have a driveway beside my building,
and my driveway is 18 to 19 feet wide my curb cut is the same and I have to come over a public
sidewalk to get into Tulpa Harkin Street anyone coming out of a driveway along Tulpa Harkin Street
has to take extra care because you're coming into a busy street it's like coming into any
busy street and therefore i don't understand why all
busy street. And therefore, I don't understand why all of the traffic from 22, 24, 30 has to
pour onto Pastoria Street. I've walked on Pastoria Street many times. It's a very lovely place to
walk. It's like an alleyway. And I really have felt very uncomfortable when cars come rushing
through and i can't imagine 35 cars going out into into past stories the other other concern i have
with the property is that the front of the property seems to be getting set up uh continuing
to be set up as an airbnb i've i've been concerned because we live across so i think i think miss
haskins we want to concentrate on the on the parking that's requested in the back there so
Why don't we just concentrate on that?
I think the parking, it's more than just the parking in the rear that that is at issue.
If if the motive for the for all the parking going on, all the cars going out of the rear is for the Airbnb in the front, I think an illegal Airbnb.
Again, objection to anyone.
So we're not going to take your testimony about that.
Well, Mr. Chair, there is evidence that we've submitted in our exhibit binder today that Mr. Bilby reserved six parking spaces at the front of his property off of Tupperhawken for Airbnb customers.
So I think it's directly relevant because he's asking for a variance for 15 parking spaces.
He has six that he has held captive inside his property that he doesn't allow his tenants to use.
If he did, that would be that would be nine. That would be not, you know, that he would that he could knock it down to nine at most.
So I think it's very relevant. Mr. Masters, I I I hear what you're saying, but we're going to move on from that.
Miss Haskins, do you have anything else you want to offer?
No, sir. That is my. And Miss Haskins, we do we do appreciate your comments and your testimony.
OK, next hand, please.
Chair, we have Jeffrey Jones. They have been unmuted and allowed to speak.
Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Yes, Jeffrey Jones. J-E-F-F-R-E-Y, J-O-N-E-S.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Are you a neighbor?
what's your relationship to the property? Well, the relationship to the property is I live in the
area and I have friends who live on that block of Pastoria Street who I regularly visit and it has
become concerning for me because I understand that they've been calming measures and cushions
put in place, which are great, but they do not solve the problem for the pedestrians and other
residents in the area and school kids who use that as a normal way of walking and just going
about their business. The reason that these cushions are not going to be helpful is because
cars are still speeding by. The 20 mile an hour speed limit is not adhered to. Just this past
Saturday as I was visiting a friend, I was almost hit by a car traveling approximately 35 or 30
miles an hour i had to jump onto the curb just to you know get out of the way of the vehicle
now i'm an able-bodied individual but i we have to consider those who are not as able-bodied in
the youth in the area when they're walking around they may not be able to hop out of the way and be
able to avoid cars that are going to be speeding if traffic pattern changes if there are additional
cars coming through who are not abiding by the speed limit there's no way of monitoring the speed
limit then who's to say what other catastrophes will come by diane menunez and our good neighbor
mr russell were two individuals whose lives were changed because of accidents in and around that
area of increasing traffic mr jones mr jones we understand your point about traffic is there
anything else that you would want to raise yeah i want to raise the fact that you know there is
no pedestrian curb way on pastoria increasing traffic in that area will do nothing more than
to cause more accidents.
Mr. Jones, can I just ask
what Mr. Jones' address is?
Mr. Jones, where do you live?
Looks like you signed off.
Mr. Jones, please unmute yourself.
He said he wasn't a neighbor
when he started.
I have an address for him
of 6002 Wayne Avenue.
Okay, thank you very much.
But just to be clear, Mr. Chair,
he was testifying to...
I'm still here.
yeah we'll stick at 200 way mr phillips anything else that was my question for him and mr
okay mr phillips anything else that was my question for him yeah mr mr jones when you
were testifying to the car that almost hit you can you can you um identify the exact location
of where you were when that was happening yeah uh 265 pasturius i was visiting a friend at that
address location thank you all right okay next hand please chair we have suzanne ponson
How many more hands do you see?
After Ms. Ponson, there are only two more hands, Chair.
All right, thank you.
Hi, could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Ms. Ponson, please unmute yourself.
Suzanne Ponson please unmute yourself
she may be having some technical issues Cher all right move on to the next hand
Cher we have Dure Montague they have been unmuted and allowed to speak
how could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer
sir. My name is DeRay Montague. First name D-U-R-A-Y-M-O-N-T-A-G-U-E. Do you swear or affirm
to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? I do. Are you a neighbor? Yes.
And where do you, what, what block do you live on, sir? I live two doors from the property in
question on 250 West Top of Hawkins Street. Okay. Are you in favor or against this project?
I am in favor of the project. And you've heard a great deal of testimony. Is there anything else
you could add? Yes. I agree with the fact that we need parking. Another factor is there are always
cars parked at the fire hydrants across from my house every night. My visitors have nowhere to
park. My house borders, I have a parking lot where I park my family's three cars, and we enter and
exit primarily on Pastoria Street, and I don't have any problem with the amount of traffic.
The new safety cushions have probably cut down some of the pass-through traffic,
if nothing else. And I understand what the opponent's points are, and I really appreciate
their passion, but they're wrong on this. We have neighbors that have parking right in front of
their house that they can't use. They're spilling into and impacting negatively the rest of the
neighborhood. And I live, I'm impacted as much as anyone by all of Darren's developments. I brought
my home 10 years ago next door to two abandoned, unused, decaying properties. And 10 years later,
Darren has rehabbed those to the improvement of the community and as much as anyone's impacted
Germantown in years and years. So in closing, I just think that all of us, all the people on this
call, the people who are against it, they have generally two things in common. They don't live
on Pastoria Street, or if they do, they have that privilege. We all have that privilege. My house is