know that there were structural damages which are material that's important I can't imagine someone
spending that kind of money for any type of investment that has material flaws and structural
damage or material flaws so we're asking four to three provisos we're asking also one of them
being a limit of two units, and if the board doesn't agree to that, hopefully you will
not agree to three units.
You heard the neighbor's information, which closely matched ours, and I don't think we
spoke unless she attended the many meetings at Tia Marie from North Central Philadelphia,
and I gave over the last 18 months in that region for the reason of overuse of the variants
in that area.
So we're asking that two units be approved or that the applicants use the buy right, which is to just rent the building out as a single family dwelling, which doesn't require a variance.
And single family house rentals are extremely successful in Swampoodle, Tioga, and all the areas around here.
They always rent out, and we get renters that stay in those properties for 10, 20, 30 years as renters with no problem because the absentee landlord problem is kind of reduced when we have a family, many times with two generations, a family with children and a grandparent who will stay there for a long period of time.
It helps us out, and it helps them out.
And that's pretty much everything that we have to offer about the property.
we appreciate your input is there anyone else in the virtual audience
um yes sir mr charles richardson has his hand raised i will allow him to speak
mr richardson hi good morning state your name please and spell for the court reporter
charles richardson r-i-c-h-a-r-d-s-o-n office of council
Charles Richardson, R-I-C-H-A-R-D-S-O-N, Office of Councilwoman Cindy Bass Room, 508 City Hall.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed.
As mentioned, the Councilwoman is not opposed.
In hearing the compelling information from the neighbor and also receiving the information from a swan poodle,
we are supporting two units at the location, and since it is on the table and it's being
left up to the board, that is what the councilwoman is going to support, two units with the provisos
that have been mentioned. Thank you very much. We appreciate your call. Anyone else in the
virtual audience? I see no further answer, Mr. Chair. Mr. Nockamson, I sense you wanted to say
something so could you guys i always do i saw you're ready to go so could you just give us
a two minute so there was a lot going on i just wanted to make sure that everyone spoke and then
i figured i would you know respond uh so first of all this my client did buy a burned out shell
but they didn't anticipate the amount of structural issues that were discovered post-closing
um interest rates have gone up construction costs have gone up i mean these are things that
they did not really anticipate um you know again the reason why i had this thorough presentation
is to really show you the undue hardship that would occur if this was left as a single family
um we need that three units is appropriate under circumstances it's a whole the square footage of
the lot is over 1500 square feet but as always we defer to the board to decide what to do but
it would be devastating as a single family. Thank you. Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair Bergman. Ian Hegarty for the Philadelphia City Planning Commission.
Board members, the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing RSA 5 single-family
zoning at this location. However, as we've seen, the proposed use is consistent with the documented
prior use of the building. City Planning Commission recommends that the Board grant the variance.
Thank you. MI-2022-005-184-1624 Westmoreland Street. I vote yes with proviso. Only two units, trash stored inside, basement for mechanicals and storage.
Thomas Holliman, my vote is yes with proviso.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes with proviso.
Thank you.
Mr. Nackamson, please stay on. MI-2022-002-378-3701 Clifford Street. This is a resumptive hearing.
Hillary, are we okay with it? Enough for a vote?
Do you want me to summarize the letter into the record that we received?
Why don't we do that?
Yes, so we were holding this.
Is that okay, Mr. Nackamson? We have a letter.
And then Mr. Nockimson can respond.
And then we need to hold this because we actually need other members to view the video of this in the prior hearing to vote.
So we received a letter of support from Strawberry Mansion Community Development Corporation that serves the coordinating RCO in this matter.
They had a number of provisos that they discussed with the developer at a meeting that occurred on January 25th.
um they included a fire ladder for the third floor unit a trash management plan
um trash receptacles being stored in the side or rear of the property not under the front porch
um working with the local residents um with trash and other issues um and they also noted
that strawberry mansion community concern was in attendance with the meeting um so that that is
the summary of the letter um mr knockers and i assumed you received a copy of the letter as well
i did okay did you have anything you wanted to respond to i mean we we have no objections uh to
the provisos i don't know what would be an enforceable proviso uh that would attach to
zoning permanent at the very least no trash uh stored underneath the uh well no trash stored
underneath the uh the porch i think it's a enforceable proviso um but i leave it to the
board to decide which ones are enforcement which ones are not all right so the only one other thing
i didn't i did see i heard 3701 clifford street and i saw that pop on my screen it's actually
31 of seven. Yeah, I thought I was going to mention that because that would take us to West
3107 clever yeah i i i thought i was going to mention that because
Philly 3700. OK, so where are we? My apologies. That was my error. No, that's OK. This is closed.
Right. And we will look to vote on this next week. Is that OK, Hillary? Yes, that is fine.
Next week at 930. 930 next week. We'll vote on this, Mr. Knockamson. Yeah. Thank you very much.
Thank you. I'll see you later today. Oh, boy.
All right. Number 10, MI 2022-005-109-769 North 39th Street.
Darwin Beauvais is listed as the attorney.
Letter of Opposition from Mantua Civic Association.
Council Member Gauthier is taking a position of support.
The applicant has also provided a petition of support signed by approximately 77 neighbors.
Mr. Bovee.
Mr. Bovee?
There he is.
Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter, sir?
Darwin Bovee.
That's Darwin, D-A-R-W-I-N.
Bovee, B-E-A
U-V as in victory
A-I-S as in Sam
I am located
at 1500 Market
Street and I
represent the applicant
the Mount Vernon Manor
Swear or affirm to tell the truth
the whole truth and nothing but the truth sir
Yes I do
Our vice chair has just a few questions for you
Good morning, counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to
his accuracy? I do. Have you emailed all the exhibits five days in advance to this hearing?
I have. Thank you. Please proceed and share your screen. Yes. If we could also promote
And Alden Bly, our architect, and Mr. Michael Thorpe, who is the executive director of the CDC.
Mr. Bouvet, this is Hillary.
Just a quick question.
Is Mount Vernon CDC the owner of the property under Mount Vernon Manor Incorporated?
Okay, thank you.
No problem.
I'm just trying to find the right screen here, Mr. Chairman.
There you go.
You can indulge me for a moment while I deal with some technical difficulties here.
There we go.
All right, Mr. Chairman, members of the board, as I said, my name is Darwin Beauvais,
and I represent the applicant here at 769 North 39th Street. As it stands, it is an application
for use variants for partial demolition and construction of an office space with three
apartments. These apartments will be affordable units dedicated and marketed to the surrounding
area in the Mantua neighborhood. With that said, as I mentioned earlier, we have Michael Thorpe here,
who is the executive director, and we also have Alden Bly here, who is the architect.
Now, just what we have submitted is a total of 16 exhibits, and they include the refusals,
our tax clearance deed, our appeal, the drawings, as well as a memorandum of law and the prior zoning history, as well as petitions of support and photographs.
So the essence of our of of our of our application centers around the building itself, which is why we believe we have an actual hardship.
If I can show you what our intentions are as we go to the site plan.
go to the site plan we're looking at a building that will total three stories in the front and
two stories in the back with the rear yard and we are in our intention is to have commercial office
in in the let me just go to the commercial office on the first floor with the two apartments
upstairs so that's what we're looking at that's our intention now if we can i just want to jump
to the end of our exhibit package so you can actually see the photos of what's there now
To the right is the building.
This structure has been around for over 60 years.
And as this is, look at, and now the building's
on the right of the screen.
And it has been abandoned or rather it's been blighted and shut down for at least 25 years.
So the and the purpose of the CDC, their sole mission is to improve the Mantua area.
So they decided to take it upon their own to purchase this building and with the intention of moving their offices there and to have affordable housing, affordable units above.
Look at additional photos.
And that's also photos of our posting. Here's how it looks inside. It is truly blighted. Throughout the years, people have come in and taken what they believe could be resources for their own homes and projects.
But all in all, this building has been shut down and unused for several years, and this application is looking to change.
So at this time, I want to go back to our renderings, and maybe if we can get our architect to describe the program, that would be great.
What's the history of the building?
The history of the building?
Oh, let's go to Exhibit 13.
Thank you.
history of the building the building has always been commercial use with apartments
okay but we what it has been this is a permit from 1964 showing that was a grocery store
that is the last memory that we have of of the neighbors they remember the grocery store okay
And there was three apartments. But wait, there's more. This is the entire zoning file. As you look through it, here is a permit from 1957, describing it as a grocery store with four units.
So there's always been multifamily there. There's always been commercial activity at that building, and the building is still standing. So if we can now get the architect to speak.
Sir, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
Alden Bly, can you raise your hand?
So you can be recognized.
Is he there?
I see no hands at this time, Chair.
So let's go to the manager then.
So if Michael Thorpe could raise his hand, he can.
Mr. Thorpe, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
Yes, my name is Michael Thorpe, M-I-C-H-A-E-L, last name Thorpe, T-H-O-R-P-E.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Absolutely.
Proceed. Yes, I am the executive director of the Mount Vernon Manor CDC.
Proceed.
Yes, I am the executive director of the Mount Vernon Mass.
We have been in existence since 1978. We own about 159 units of affordable housing
in the Mantua area. Our primary focus is the committing or the creation and protection
of affordable housing within the community as our community is transitioning so quickly.
About three years ago, our board of directors, we have an issue of our place where we rent a
location. This particular property, I grew up in the neighborhood. I'm 58 years old. And this has
always been a store. We used to call it Whitey's. And so the opportunity came up for us to purchase
this building to also make some significant repairs because the building was falling down
significantly. And so we replaced all of the choices and secured the building up where there
were significant dilapidation over the building just being vacant for so many years. We also worked
to continue with our communities or our organization's mission, which is from this
office space, we have a NAC contract, which we provide critical services to the community.
I won't lie about motherfucking shit. Y'all, you got me fucked up.
Whoa, whoa. What is this?
so um again we provide critical services we have a contract with the office uh or the division of
housing and community service where we help people with their tax returns their real estate taxes the
rent rebate and a number of other service we also distributed food we distribute food on a weekly
basis. And so we're just trying to move our office location to this particular building
at 769. So you'll see on the side entrance that at the back of the property, folks will be able
to enter into the second and third levels where we have affordable housing. The properties are
designed at PHFA standard to accommodate the sizes and for the apartment with the amenities
that PHFA will fund for folks that may have housing vouchers or need Section 8. They need
a place to stay within our community. There's no changes to the building as a whole. This is
an existing property that has
been within our community.
We have been working
with some of our other external
partners just to help us to support
and advance this mission.
We did meet with the community
and we have been
we went