When was it required to be posted?
21 days in advance, which would have been the 13th and 23rd, I believe.
Okay. So we haven't seen any postings at all.
It was posted, Mr. Chairman. You see the photos that we took when we posted it.
And the other thing is, Mr. Gervasio is here.
So, I mean, the goal of the posting is for people to get notice and to be able to appear and testify, and he is appearing and testifying.
Yeah, that's what I asked the prior witness, the same question, basically.
How did they know about today?
okay all right sir thank you anyone else would like to testify in this case please raise your
hand something new and different that would be helpful here we have a Ross Faber
Mr. Faber you can speak now morning Mr. Faber please spell your name give us your name and
address please spell your last name hi uh good morning everybody um you know just like to thank
everybody for giving me an opportunity to state my testimony. Again, my name is Ross Faber. Last
name is spelled F as in Frank, A, B as in boy, E-R. And I'm a resident at 610 Dudley Street.
That's here at 19148, obviously. Do you swear and affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth? Yes, I do, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Please proceed.
Great. Yeah, so I just wanted to take an opportunity. I am fully in support of the multifamily units that Mr. Lasky has planned here. As a resident of the community, I think it benefits us, you know, on several different levels. So I'd like to take an opportunity to address a few things.
First, and this is something that I wanted to speak to as I kind of thought of it as listening to the previous two testimonies, you know, in regards to parking.
I live here in the neighborhood, and I got to say, parking is really not that bad.
Nine out of ten times, I park in the spot in front of my house.
I'm using a car four, five times a week, so I think that that's pretty good.
And then on the off chance that I'm not able to park directly in front of my house or on my block, I'm parking within a one block radius of my home.
Before I lived here on Dudley Street, I also lived at 9th and McKean for a while.
So a little bit further away from where the proposed listing is, but still within the neighborhood.
And that same, you know, that same experience applies there.
Parking, you know, has never been a true issue for my wife and I here at.
you know, has never been a true issue for my wife and I here at in the neighborhood. So I just kind
of wanted to take, you know, the opportunity to address that. And I also think, you know, parking
somewhat to be expected, if you are having challenges with it, this is city living. And I
know, you know, it's, you know, an inconvenience when, you know, parking can become a hassle if it
does. But that is, I kind of think a little bit of the shtick of, you know, all of the other
conveniences of living in the city. So again, wanted to take an opportunity to address that
from a parking standpoint. You know, and also I think a possible solution there or something to
help alleviate it, you know, if I know my block specifically is not permitted with Philadelphia
Parking Authority, but certainly residents do have the opportunity to petition and create that
permit parking for a specific block should the residents of a block, you know, have a majority
petitioned to create that. And that could greatly reduce the amount of transient parking in the
area, which should help alleviate some of that congestion or issues, you know, if other residents
of the neighborhood are experiencing issues with that. So again, that kind of addresses my thoughts
around parking there. Also wanted to take an opportunity to address just the nature of vacant
lots in the neighborhood. I think that this is something whether you are for or against, you know,
Mr. Lasky's plans here, vacant lots are attracting crime in the neighborhood. I witnessed,
you know, on several occasions, you know, drug use in vacant lots, an extreme collection of trash
and, and not just, you know, paper items or, you know, like normal garbage items. We're talking
about TVs, mattresses, you know, other large, you know, kind of appliance nature things. It's just
a real eyesore in the neighborhood. And any sort of development on these vacant lots is going to
help to, I believe, reduce, you know, the crime activity that is happening in these vacant lots
because, I mean, they're easy to kind of submerge yourself and kind of remove yourself from, you
know, kind of the public view of people walking by. Also should help to just clean the neighborhood
up, you know, which I think is something I think all Philadelphia residents would be interested in
it's just getting cleaner neighborhoods. You know, and with that, you know, these are for sale
condo units, they are not, they're not rentals. So to me, that translates into long term permanent
residents in the neighborhood that are going to care about their community, more than maybe,
you know, a rental property might or, you know, just gets more people involved in planning for
a better tomorrow within our community. So all on board, you know, with that, you know, and as
they become for sale, you know, I'm not sure how they stand with the tax abatement. But that's
certainly something that piques, you know, my interest as well, you know, in a long term,
you know, view, this city needs more residents that are going to become permanent residents that
are not, you know, not renting their homeowners, they have an investment in the city. And I know
with an abatement um the tax uh you know base kind of stays low um you know until some of those
start to phase out um but when we look out on a longer term horizon um as these tax abatements are
expiring um the city will generate more tax base which should help um you know address some of the
issues with our streets um with some you know maybe trash collection issues and you know some
other things happening that i'm sure are a great concern for all of us um you know in the community
so um you know again that's on more of a long-term horizon um but trying to to keep some of that view
as well, because I think that that helps us all keep our intention, you know, a little bit more
pure, you know, when you think about what is really, you know, what is really good for this
area. Also, Mr. Matt, you know, you know, kind of mentioned this, and I would like to echo that as
well. The density that multifamily units create in this city, you know, extremely important as
we think about supporting the local small businesses in our vibrant community, you know,
tons of local family owned. Mr. Faber, I, I apologize for interrupting you. I appreciate
your testimony. We have a number of other cases. I just have a question for you. Yes. Did you see
any postings for the meetings? You know, I'll be honest with you, chairman. I work from home.
And the only time I really leave is to go drive to the grocery store. I'm not really I haven't
really in the recently been out walking through the neighborhood so the answer would be no but
that's not to say that they are not out there i just okay that that's helpful thank you okay
and uh okay thank you uh anyone else something new and different please um here we have a tyler lane
mr lane you can unmute yourself and speak uh hello good morning mr lane please identify
yourself with a record name and address yep good morning uh name is tyler t-y-l-e-r last name lane
Yep. Good morning. Name is Tyler, T-Y-L-E-R, last name Lane, L-A-N-E. Address is 608 Hoffman Street, Philadelphia, P.A.
Swearing, affirm, to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth.
Swearing, swearing, affirm. And Mr. Faber, you know, he hit a lot of the points I was going to kind of reference here.
but you know just to reiterate what he said it's a huge concern in the neighborhood just with the
amount of trash regarding the vacant lots they're incredibly poorly maintained he's spot on that
there's drug use in them transit people walk through all the time I see them disappear into
the vacant lots who knows what they're doing I've heard of people going into vacant lots then they
go to the house next door and break in through the backyard it's just it's a mess so the more
this neighborhood can move forward progress bring new people in that's what makes a neighborhood
great right you want different kinds of people um and uh that's just better for everyone so i don't
really see any harm to a long-term vacant lot being developed it's condos so it's going to be
people who are invested in the neighborhood um it's going to reduce crime uh in that immediate
area. And to the point of parking, I totally agree with what the gentleman before said.
My view is you live in a city. I mean, if you're so concerned about parking, you know, there's a
great state called Delaware where you can park wherever you want with no trouble. So, you know,
move out of the city if it's that big of a concern. I don't get it. It's South Philadelphia.
It's not about parking. It's not the place to live if that's all you care about. So I just
wanted to add you know it was most understood i've lived here 75 years so i'm very familiar with that
okay anyone else like to testify something new and different please share we have a stacy harper
please identify yourself first and last name and address oh can you hear me
yes ma'am hello my name is stacy harper s-t-a-c-e-y h-a-r-p-e-r and i reside at 528
dudley street you swear and affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
yes i do please proceed yes my main concern is i've been here for 20 years and it's really hard
to believe that within Hoffman Street and Dudley Street there's never anywhere to park but I guess
everybody has their own opinion but sir like I said I've been here for 20 years my main concern is
I've seen parking wars I understand that trying to beautify the neighborhood and I'm all for
getting these lots together and you know you understand what I'm saying sir and doing certain
things for us but it's it's a congestion and it's i've seen wars and i've seen it go like
almost to a deadly point like that's just my major concern it it is a problem and it's scary
so that's basically what i wanted to say also not knowing about these meetings i just found out on
last night about this meeting from uh block captain and i'm also the co-captain and that's
basically what I wanted to say, sir. Thank you for your time. Thank you. I think we're going to
have to move on. Appreciate everyone's testimony. Questions from the board? No. Yes. Yes, Mr. Chairman.
Counselor, do you have any reason why the RCO took no position?
i didn't hear you breaking up a little bit why did the rco took no position i don't know why
mr holland because it was a 13 to 1 vote in support of the people that came that night
they have their letter of explanation which i can pull up um in a second um but they just took no
position, despite the overwhelming number of people
who came out in a pouring torrential downpour to come to the meeting.
So I don't have
any explanation beyond. This is their letter. Let me
and they talk about
could you summarize
They talk about presenting the plans in the neighborhood.
They talk about presenting the plans, and the neighborhood suffered.
They seem like the RCO itself, and not the people who attended the meeting, but the RCO people don't want to have a multifamily structure there.
That's the RCO, but as you can tell and see, the people who showed up, 13 people showed up,
14 people showed up, and it was 13 to 1 in support.
I mean, so it was, the RCO said they did not come to agreement on the appeals.
The committee needs further assurance that affordable condo construction is really what will occur.
I mean, short of Mr. Lassie testifying as he did, saying that that's what he's going to do,
um um yeah i don't know what else we we could tell them in terms of um you know this would be
a he specifically said this would be a a condominium for sale unit building as they as
they requested not that that's a zoning issue because it's not but um yeah and he explained
and everybody there who came out that night supported the uh the application so
So they didn't really, they just took no position.
They didn't oppose it.
They just took no position with respect to it, despite the overwhelming people.
They did make a point of eight of the people happened to be renters and not owners,
but I don't know that you can make a distinction between somebody who rents
and somebody who owns.
I don't think that's a proper distinction to make either.
So, again, there is no, they had some concern about developers developing multifamily structures in the community, but they did not come out and say they opposed it either.
They just took no position.
So, again, it was supported by the overwhelming number of people that came out that night.
Thank you.
Sorry.
Excuse me.
This is Sharon Saleta.
Can I ask a question?
um Mr. Mattione are you saying that there are going to be three units in each structure
I want to clarify that make it clear in 1915 on the corner there's three units
1917 we had a mess up it is two units that's what the plans show that's what it is
1915 is three units 1917 one in the reason for less density is because it's not on the corner
it's two years I want to make that clear so we're all on the same page okay I just wanted to point
out that there's a discrepancy with the refusal um the refusal for 1915 refers to four units not
three three units okay so if the board were to approve it it would be with a proviso maximum
of three units just to clarify i had i had the same question earlier yeah yeah all right thanks
for clearing it up thanks sharon uh planning commission
good morning members of the board mr chair ian hegarty philadelphia city planning commission
this property is indicated for single family use in the comprehensive plan
during a neighborhood ride wide rezoning in 2019 the property was rezoned to rsa5
indicating an intentional decision to retain single family use in the vicinity on this block
We believe that a variance is actually not necessary to enable viable economic use of
the property, and that this is evidenced by a recently constructed single-family building
at 1921 South 5th Street.
At the very least, we believe that the proposed variance does not represent the minimum variance
that would afford relief.
And so accordingly, we recommend that the variance be granted, but with the condition
that each property contain no more than two dwelling units.
thank you uh
mi 2020 that's zero zero one nine six zero one nine one five south fifth street my vote is yes
uh with the proviso maximum three units and mi 2020 that's zero zero one eight six nine
1917 South 5th street my vote is yes with a proviso maximum two units
my vote is yes with proviso on both cases yes with proviso to both yes with proviso
on both cases yes with proviso to both cases thank you Mr. Chairman
Thank you. Calendar number 0644-2033, East Wishart Street.
There's no heads up at this time, Chair.
I have a feeling we're going to say that. All right. Has this case already been continued?
I have a feeling we want to say that. All right. Has this case already been continued?
Yes, it has. Okay. MI 2020-000644-2033 East Wishart Street. My vote is to dismiss.
My vote is to dismiss. Dismiss. Dismiss. Dismiss.
so we are going to number 10 number 13
number 13 calendar number 0547 3761 glenn street
and this is one i have no exhibits and it was previously listed on august 5th and october
13th. No hands are up. There are no hands up at this time, Chair. Thank you. MI 2020-000-547-3761
Glen Street. My vote is to dismiss. My vote is to dismiss. Dismiss. Dismiss. Dismiss.
Calendar number 0256-4827 North 7th Street.
i have no record of having received exhibits and it was previously listed on october 7th
yep no hands up at this time chair and if you look at the appellant in this case as was two
cases prior and many other cases it's always the same all right mi 2020 that's 000256
4827 North 7th Street. My vote is to dismiss. My vote is to dismiss. Dismiss. Dismiss. Dismiss.
Thank you. Number 16, Carol. Okay. Calendar number
1-9-4-6-5-2-18 Florence Avenue.
I received an email this morning from Andrew Goodman of Councilwoman Gauthier's office saying
that the councilwoman has no objection thank you chair we have rachel pritzker here good morning