street. Thank you very much. Do you have anything you want to ask? Okay, next person, please. Thank
Thank you for your testimony.
Good afternoon, sir.
Could you please state your name as spelled for the sonographer?
Hi, my name is Joseph Manning, J-O-S-E-P-H, last name M-A-N-N-I-N-G.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Do I have a letter from you?
I'm part of the group that's kind of...
Okay, good, good.
So why don't you start your testimony?
I wanted to touch on the hardship case here.
My understanding is that in order to have a variance approved, you need to have a hardship.
This property dates back to 1895 and has never required or had an off-street parking space in the 125 years of use.
To me, the long history demonstrates that off-street parking is not necessary for the functioning of this property's residence.
And frankly, I feel that the request for a variance now is not resident driven, but rather speculative.
The owner is currently flipping this house.
As Mr. Anastasio said, she inherited it from a relative.
Many neighbors inquired about purchasing it, and they were told, no, we're going to be renovating it and selling it for profit.
So obviously, it will be worth more if it has a parking space.
And I understand that, and I can appreciate that, but it will still be worth quite a bit even without that parking space.
And I don't think the ability to sell for more money constitutes a hardship.
Conversely, so the variance would only serve speculative financial gain, not some sort of residential need.
The property fronts Carpenter Street and the proposed curb cuts on the back of the property would negatively impact the 11 smaller homes that face Kimball Street.
effectively boosting the property's resale value at the expense of their less affluent neighbor.
effectively boosting the property's resale value
at the expense of their less affluent neighbors
on Kimball Street.
All right, thank you very much.
Thank you.
If I could just say one more thing.
You know, Vern mentioned that they have 22 signatures
from community members in support.
I didn't hear him mention any signatures
from anyone on the block where this parking lot would be.
In fact, I believe you have letters submitted
from a majority of the block in opposition.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Do you have any questions?
Just a couple.
Sir, you mentioned that several neighbors
uh offered to purchase this property were you one of them i was not okay and how do you know about
that we're a very close-knit community i see and but do you know that my client respectfully
rejected and declined um everyone's offer to purchase right i don't know that okay do you
know that my client lives around the corner with her mother and her family and her children do you
are you aware of that i was not aware of that okay and that perhaps she's renovating the house that
she can occupy with her own children to finally have her own home uh for the for the first time
in 50 years is that a possibility did you know that well that's not what was told our neighbors
when they asked okay thank you all right thank you next person please how many more do we have
testify two okay thank you why don't you come up you're closest hi sir could you please state your
name and spell for the stenographer lawrence lindsay l-i-n-d-s-a-y right do you swear or
firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? I do. Why don't you start
your testimony? I am the immediate neighbor of 1012 Carpenter Street. My house is 1010 Carpenter
Street, and our backyards adjoining each other. Indeed, when we first purchased my house,
the two backyards had no fence between them. I agree with everything.
oh sorry okay you can pull it near here it'll come right to you right okay i urge the board to
keep your eye on the question here which is really whether or not the applicant has satisfied the
ordinance this ordinance is meant to protect streets exactly like kimball street where the
front the fronts of the houses face onto the street creating an exception to that by the way
of a sawtooth effect or a gap in the street is particularly damaging to the other properties
on the street. I happen to be a house that faces onto Carpenter Street. There are no other houses
on Carpenter Street which has backyard parking on our side of the block. This block, Carpenter,
shares the space with the houses on Kimball Street which face onto Kimball Street. So what
the applicant is asking is an exception to the rule that there shall be no
backyard cars and so it hurts the block including my house because i come out of my backyard
and to make a left turn into the garden share the the community space in the back of the house i use
my back entrance as much as i do my front entrance when i'm talking about accessing the sociability
of the street and the community.
My house has a backyard brick fence
which adjoins the cement fence that they have.
And I have a gate which opens on the Kimball Street interior.
I am particularly hurt.
I don't want this parking
because I don't want, at this time of year,
cars turning into the back of their parking area, turning into their backyard, making a left turn
across the sidewalk and shining lights, making noise as the light comes into my back kitchen
and also disturbs my back patio, of which I have some photos. I'd like to show those photos to the,
I submitted a letter with photos to the board,
and if I may, I'd like to show them to you.
Is that possible?
Sir, were they already submitted?
Yes, they were.
Okay, so then we do have them.
Okay, can I demonstrate the photos?
Are you logged on?
No, I'm not.
I'm not logged on, but someone with my group is logged on.
in any event yes this particular end of pimple street where the applicant seeks to make for an
exception for backyard parking is the most pedestrian friendly part of the entire block
it not only impacts the houses on the rest of the block but it it interferes with the social activity
the social activity um secondly i would like an opportunity mr chairman because i was personally
Secondly, I would like an opportunity
accused of some things up well i i know listen to me this is not you're not on trial here and i'm
not i'm not going to get into what he said and you you got a lawsuit going on sue and so i don't
have a lawsuit so there's no well somebody does mr bergman i think it would really help the board
if you understood that that parking
on the Garden Street side of the street
is public parking.
They're not assigned to anyone.
I understand what everybody's trying to...
Listen to me, look at me.
I understand what everybody's saying.
And we understand what you're trying to say.
We understand what he's saying.
And we're going to go through everybody
and we're spending a lot of time on this.
But I understand.
I agree, we're spending way too much time
on something which is wrong.
But the property line,
that parking is on the community garden property so sir sir listen to me so all right so listen
you your two minutes are up and i i really don't but i just can't keep going on so the next person
please and thank you for your time brief cross please just very brief burn you got is this going
on forever you're good i'm sorry i have to yeah okay mr mr lindsey did you off uh isn't it true
you offered to buy this property for your son when my client uh inherited it yeah there's several
That's right. And did she and did she respectfully reject the offer?
She refused to sell the several.
I understand. You testify that one car lights backing into her own property would somehow be a disturbance.
What about the 10 cars that are 10 feet away from your backyard that park there and pull out every night and every morning?
Do they not bother you? Would it only be the one legal car next to you?
you have to answer the 10 other cars that are literally
faced right there in front of you there is a big difference between a car on the other side of the
street which pulls out and continues down the street and do i like the fact that they're they're
there not necessarily i remember the garden we'd like more garden space but our garden has a fence
there right okay people have but um it having a car come across the sidewalk in directly into my
area and then parking three or four feet away from my picnic that my okay all right
you have another question no that's fine next person please thank you sir
sir could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer sure my name is wilfredo
rodriguez w-i-l-f-r-e-d-o right r-o-d-r-i-g-u-e-z do you swear we're a firm to tell the truth the
truth nothing but the truth i do and you a neighbor sir i i am 1014 carpentry street so i am directly
to the left of that problem.
We're going to give you two minutes
and see if you can do something
maybe that we haven't heard.
All I can do is to affirm
that I am opposed to this parking space.
And I have some objections
to some of the things
that had been said by the attorney
about some, if I recall correctly,
he said that the people on Kimball Street
had developed property, had added to their property,
that there were parking spaces that are to that property.
I'm not sure I understand what it was that he was talking about.
There has been no construction or any additions to any property on Kimball Street,
nor to the ones that go from Carpenter to Kimball,
of which there are only three properties, 1014, 1012, and 1010.
All right. Thank you. Do you have any questions for me? Just brief cross, Alfredo. It is your testimony then that this property that we're speaking of is just one of three on the entire block that goes street to street. Is that right?
That is correct.
Okay, so it is a unique physical condition.
It's like that since 1900s.
Very good.
All right, good.
And one other question.
Was it your belief that my client was to fund the relocation of your solar panels as a neighbor-to-neighbor courtesy?
Was that something that you had expected her to do?
Is that right?
I'm sorry.
Could you repeat that?
Was it your expectation that my client would pay to have you relocate your solar panels as it relates to the construction not related to this variance?
She certainly had offered to pay for half of it.
half of it uh was it uh in in writing no but you had asked her to do it yeah i'm sorry did you
Was it in writing? No.
you had asked her to do that is that correct uh given the fact that they had an addition
on their property right that that absolutely i'm not sure what your point is sir thank you
okay the question is done sir question is there anyone else in the virtual audience
i see no hands chair um planning commission
amy board with the planning hold hold on one minute um verne that's just a very brief
let's brief 90 seconds go ahead thank you mr chair in closing this case is pretty simple i think
i explained to you the unique physical condition of the property and it was affirmed by even the
Protestants. I explained nearly every other lot has rear parking or another home behind it. I
explained the plan to replace a solid, ugly concrete block with an elegant gate that will
allow air, light, and increased sight lines. You have heard how this benefits the community at large
from our expert witness. You've heard how the streets department thinks it makes sense by our
architect. You've seen 22 immediate and near neighbors express their support for this parking
variance. You've seen pictures and videos of the illegal parking plan developed by the
protestants in this case you've seen the lawsuit file for the dangerous conditions created by the
protestants in this case you've seen the adjacent neighbor's suggestion uh that is up on the screen
right now that if my client's variance doesn't get approved well she could always go to him
for uh parking uh at the across the street all right hold on no no no he's just just relax every
person who testified in protesting this uh variance today is part and parcel of the parking
racket back there okay all right and only in philadelphia all right only in philadelphia
everybody only in this town mr chairman can you find a handful of neighbors who knowingly violate
the zoning code then show up here and try to prevent someone from doing something legal okay
thank you all right thank you very much planning commission amy boyd with the planning commission
a y b o y d you swear or firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i do go ahead the comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning at this location from the
existing rsa 5 residential single family the appellant has not shown that there are unique
physical conditions or circumstances of the property that would prevent it from being used
in conformance with the zoning code the planning commission recommends that the board deny the
requested variance for off-street parking okay so mr chair there's a parking crisis uh right now
there's a parking lot right down the block i think you had you had testimony about that from
your expert that there's a crisis there is there's a there's a waiting list of over a dozen homes okay
so all right and and the de facto evidence of that crisis is the parking okay that's not supposed to
be happening your testimony stuff we've heard a lot of witnesses i've outstayed my welcome a lot
of witnesses a lot of testimony we're going to vote on this next wednesday morning no wednesday
afternoon but we will take this to executive session wednesday morning and we'll evaluate