And then, again, we last met with the community on January 17th at 7 p.m., and we emailed
And then again, we last met with the community.
the notification that went to the community on January 3rd to the coordinating RCOs and
all RCOs, and we mailed the notice to 178 addresses.
These are the list of the addresses, proof of mailing to those addresses, and our application
for appeal that we filed on behalf of L-8-South LLC, along with the notice of refusal, project
information form, our deed to property showing LH South LLC is the owner of the property,
and our certificate of tax clearance. The only reason why there's a balance is for 2024 taxes,
which are not due yet. With that being said, I would ask that Mr. Hill virtually raise his hand
and be sworn in.
Mr. Hill, can you raise your hand, please?
Mr. Hill is not raising his hand,
but there is Gabrielle Deck.
Not affiliated.
He is the architect, so maybe Mr. Hill is with Gabe Deck.
Okay. I will allow them to speak.
all right good morning Mr. Hill
hi this is Gabriel Zach I'm actually not with Mr. Hill though
okay so hold on a minute um Mr. Hill
there are no hands raised by Mr. Hill
okay so um mr dockham said we'll accept your testimony um hillary at this time
should we bring the other attorney on yes mr chair
is the other attorney getting me all day good morning sharp you've already been sworn just
state your name for the record again yes my name is david america connor uh spelled d-a-v-i-d
A-M-E-R-I-K-A-N-E-R.
All right, okay.
I'll proceed with your presentation or your comments.
Thank you, Chair.
So Mr. Nockamson offered a long summary of what has happened here.
As for the board's edification, I was retained by one of the near neighbors, Michelle Needham.
She lives at 2001 Cater Street.
she has taken on the role of discussing this project with the neighborhood and has
been one of the people involved in discussions with the neighbors about this project on her
behalf i have been discussing this project and its evolution with mr knockamson and mr hill
and mr deck as mr knockamson mentioned we have expressed concerns about this project
And the project has evolved in some ways to be responsive to our concerns, including up and through discussions that occurred just last night.
We have not had sufficient time to discuss those changes to the project with the neighborhood.
So that needs to occur.
We look forward to comments from other neighbors about this project during this hearing.
and we you know we wish that there had been more time to uh get community buy-in for those
comments for those changes um before this um we still have concerns um but that's where we'll
leave it for now and i do want to hear from other members of the community thank you um
questions from the board no mr chairman no chair
Questions for our attorney, Hillary Emerson?
Not at this time, Chair. I just did want to note Mr. Shahid had to step away for a moment. He will be back in a little bit.
Okay. Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Yes, Chair. Dylan Mahoney has his hand up. Actually, his hands are going up. But Dylan Mahoney is first, and I will allow him to speak.
Good morning.
Good morning.
State your name for the record, please.
Dylan Mahoney.
D-I-L-L-O-N-M-A-H-O-N-E-Y.
L-O-N-M-A-H-O-N-E-Y.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
You swear?
Please proceed.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the board.
Dylan Mahoney here on behalf of Council President Kenyatta Johnson.
Our office has received both the SOSNA letter and a petition from near neighbors in opposition to the case.
In light of that divided feedback, Council President Johnson will not be taking a position on this case. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Mahoney. How many hands do you have up?
I have three hands up now. The next one is Robert Bellinger.
He'll be allowed to speak.
Good afternoon. Can you hear me?
Good morning. Good morning, sir. Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Yes, my name is Robert Ballinger, R-O-B-E-R-T, last name B-A-L-L-E-N-G-E-R.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Are you a neighbor?
Yes, I am.
Please proceed.
I submitted a written letter yesterday, and I'm just appearing today to make sure that that's reflected on the record.
It was emailed to the exact addresses. It was emailed to RCOZBA at phila.gov, as well as PCPC.zoning at phila.gov.
The instructions on the ZBA's website continued to include Ms. Salida's email, so I did not email it to Hillary, Ms. Emerson.
I'd be happy to do that now if it would be...
Hillary, do you have a letter that copied it?
I did not receive that. That should go to boardcouncil at phila.gov.
Thank you.
Mr. Ballinger, do you have any other testimony?
Tony? Well, I think in addition to my written statement, I mean, I think that it is
positive that the developer and the near neighbor have had some constructive conversations to
address some of the concerns. I share the concerns of many of the near neighbors, and I concur with
Mr. Americana's recommendation that we have an opportunity as neighbors to understand the
revised plans that are being presented for many of us for the first
time here today. So for the time being, I stand
by my list to the extent it is responsive to
what I have seen, which is not
what is apparently on the table today. All right. Mr. Bounder, we
appreciate you taking us on the calls. Next hand.
The next one is Kevin Collins.
Good morning, Mr. Collins. Could you state your name and spell, please, for the court sonographer?
Kevin Collins, K-E-V-I-N-C-O-L-L-I-N-S.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Are you a neighbor?
Please proceed.
I have concerns about the number of units, the five units, compared to the zoned three units.
But I do welcome the help from the developer and from the lawyer and from Mr. Hill in changing some of the elements to make the building smaller.
okay although sasla did give a letter of approval um in actuality 16 neighbors
including 11 near neighbors opposed it as opposed to 12 so the the neighborhood actually voted it
down 16 to 12 and 11 to 5 near neighbors that said um a lot of those in opposition
were prior to some of these changes that you've made.
And I just would like the opportunity to discuss that with our neighbors.
Thank you, Mr. Collins.
Thank you for taking the time.
We appreciate your comments.
Next hand.
The next hand is Christopher Scallone.
Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Christopher Scallone
Please spell your name, sir
Christopher
C-H-R-I-S-T-O-P-H-E-R
Scallone
S-C-A-L-O-N-E
Wait, do you swear or affirm the total truth, the whole truth, nothing with the truth?
Do you swear or affirm the total truth, the whole truth
Nothing with the truth
Are you a neighbor?
I'm a near neighbor.
Okay, please proceed, sir.
I'm opposed to the number of units, the five residential units versus three.
It is interesting that they're adding some rear yard, which I thought was sorely needed.
I don't I'd like to understand how they're going to how they're proposing that the trash will be handled in that it seems to be an unenforceable issue.
The numbers of units really is the problem with the amount of trash.
Those two are related. And I guess I'd like some more clarity on that.
the the attorney mentioned that early in his testimony that there the number of one bedroom
units was was sorely needed or was and i'd like to know where he gets the data for that
how he under how he assumed or makes the statement that i just like to know where that data comes
from where the where the five small units are a benefit or a need in the neighborhood i i've never
really heard that term since it seems to me that the economics are in the opposite direction um
so i i guess in in general i feel that the the number of units has always been the issue
it's um and the number of units are something that's not going to go away um how trash is
handled in in that number of units and um i think it's it's a problem in the future and
I don't know how you can address it. The zoning code has stipulated the three units in a way that
in recognition of the amount of square feet that that number of units requires. And I think that
the five is far in excess of the three required. And I think that's going to be a problem in the
future. Thank you for taking your time to calls. Is that the, all the hands down? No, Chair, there
are two more hands up. Next is Caitlin Coslett. Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell
for the court stenographer? Hi, Caitlin Coslett, C-A-I-T-L-I-N, last name C-O-S-L-E-T-T. Do you
swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Yes. Are you a
Um, please proceed.
Thank you.
I just wanted to echo the comments made by my fellow neighbors, which I agree with.
And just to add, I don't believe the developer has shown any kind of hardship to complying
with the existing zoning regulations.
And I, and for that reason, and all the other reasons and concerns expressed, I don't think
a variance is warranted and I would oppose a variance here.
Thank you, sir.
One more hand, please.
actually there are two more hands the next one is phone number ending in 3439 we'll be allowed to
speak hi could you state your name please as bell for the court stenographer
yes um my name is susan matheson can you hear me i can okay very good could you please
could you please spell your name yep susan s-u-s-a-n last name m-a-t-t-i-s-o-n
right you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
yes are you a neighbor i am a close neighbor all right are you in favor or against the project or
want more information which which where do you stand with the project um i am concerned it is
good that the developer continues to work with the community okay however the hardships of the
developer was not really
spelled out.
Many of us feel that the project
is still oversized
and that it sets a
precedent for developers to
ignore the zoning codes
in general and
also concerned about the trash.
Thank you very much for taking the time to
calls. We appreciate it.
Do you have one more call?
do we have another hand
sorry that yes i have one more hand anthony beyond casino and then how to speak
good morning sir could you state your name please and spell for the court stenographer
good morning sir unmute yourself please
unmute yourself please
do we see him yeah i got it
anthony f could you how could you state your name please
spell for the court stenographer anthony middle initial f as in frank
last name bianco sino b as in boy i a n c o s i n o
right do you swear for him to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the
truth yes
um um are you in favor of the project against the project do you more information where you stand
against the project i'm a very close neighbor hold on hold listen to me one minute could you
please offer anything you have relative that has not been stated already yes well number one i'm
against the five units i eat i own the previous but i mean we know that what i'm saying what else
please let me know what's different the other thing i am against is the soil test has never
been released to the neighbors two soil tests were done on the property it was previously a
cleaners and they had hazardous material they used now the previous the owner the present owner of
the property stated that he never received this soil test to one of the to one of the other uh
neighbors in the property to me he said he had received it but it's in negotiations
with the lawyer i don't understand that okay and the soil test is very important because
you're putting in a basement apartments in this building also
and on the actual block from 1900 all the way down to 2300 2400 south street all the buildings