back out and
had them sign letters
of petitions for
folks that did not attend
the original RCO
meeting
You know, and there are just so many people that are in support of this particular project because we have a direct service that we are providing to the community, and we have been doing that.
We've had a NAC contract and providing those services since 2015, when we actually became a CDC.
All right.
Thank you, sir.
um Mr. DeBovey do you I think he's explained pretty well what what he wants to do there
yeah as well as you yeah but I I just want to just add right because we did uh receive a letter
of opposition and I understand and I wanted to respond to that because also part of our package
we have a petition of support and and and with that they they and I wanted to bring up
uh the uh what the letter uh from the rco um i think they titled it the letter of explanation
whereas they actually admitted that there were 15 people at the rco meeting and no one asked
us questions okay no one i think i started off by saying you you you put a petition in with 77
the neighbors. Yes. And I want the board to understand that because we do know that the CDC
has been around for such a long time, has been doing work, right? And the fact that we had this
And the fact that we had this RCO meeting that had no questions, and it was done virtually, and juxtaposing that with the fact that we got 77 signatures.
RCO meeting that had that had no.
I understand.
So thank you.
So we clearly submit that we do have the support of the surrounding area.
I do believe that there was something amiss at the RCO.
We can explore that should the board chooses, but at the end of the day, we do know that the community will be happy for a project like this.
This is bringing back something that the community has seen for over 60 years, albeit it won't be a grocery store, but there will be commercial activity.
And it also has the fact that we have residential that's there, which is still continuing with the intentions of the overall intention of the current zoning.
And we believe the fact that the structure exists in this particular configuration, we cannot create a single family home structure.
Therefore, that's the essence of our hardship.
So questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Yes, Chair.
We have Ingrid, last name ending in V.
Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
Hi, my name is Ingrid Bernadette Weich, but I go by Bernadette, B-E-R-N-A-D-E-T-T-E, Weich, W-Y-C-H-E.
Right. Do you swear or affirm the whole truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Proceed.
While I was at the RCO meeting and there was voting on the project, there was near about, I say 75% of the people said no.
So my question was, was there any questions why that anybody would say no to this project?
Nobody answered me.
Nobody gave any explanation or anything.
I voted for it because I lived in this neighborhood all my life.
And I know the store, S. Whitey, was always deemed commercial, and it was Cartman's on the second and third floor.
You're in favor of the project.
Yes, I am.
Thank you very much for taking the time to call in.
We appreciate that.
Thank you.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
Yes, Chair.
We have Andrew Goodman.
Good afternoon.
Good morning, Mr. Goodman.
could you please state your name and spell for the court reporter good morning andrew goodman
g-o-o-d-m-a-n here representing office of third district council member jamie gaudier room 586
city hall you swear a firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes i do proceed
thank you thank you members of the board i'm here to testify in support of this applicant
and asking if the board grant the requested variance um i think there are i wasn't at the
rco meeting so i can't you know can't um you know hypothesize on on that and what transpired but we
do think this is a unique circumstance that's worthy of unique consideration you know the
reasons that the applicant already identified about the kind of clear historic use and setup
of this building is you know certainly the biggest one and um we weren't we weren't the district
council office when the remapping of this area was done. But having now worked in a council
office for three years and seeing how the neighborhood remappings get done, there's
often an inventory of corner commercial uses and seeing whether or not they're occupied or vacant.
So my educated guess is that the explanation for the remapping is probably just because it
was vacant at the time of the remapping, not a clear and direct criticism of corner commercial
use. We try to encourage it whenever possible. And we're grateful that, you know, that in this
situation, that it would be kind of reanimated and reactivated in the way that it is. And, you know,
as a nonprofit office, we don't think it would put any kind of undue burden on adjacent flocks.
And for those reasons, we support the granting of this variance.
Thank you, Mr. Goodman. Anyone else in the virtual audience?
thank you mr goodman anyone else in the virtual audience
hello sir this is jason hand again i do not see any hands at this time thank you very much
planning commission thank you chair bergman ian hegarty for the philadelphia city planning
commission board members in 2017 the zoning map was amended in this area in accord with
the recommendations from the comprehensive plan and with the support of the community
this proposed use is clearly consistent with the documented prior use of the building and with its
existing physical configuration city planning commission recommends that the board grant the
variance thank you mi 2022 005 109 769 north 39th street i vote yes
thomas holloman my vote is yes
ishmael shaheed my vote is yes thank you thank you council thank you mr chairman
Take care.
So number 11, MI 2022-005-195, 1331 North 2nd Street, Parcel B.
Henry Clinton is the attorney.
Letter of support from South Kensington Community Partners.
Mr. Clinton will be rejoining as a panelist, sir.
Good morning, Mr. Chairman and members of the board.
Henry Clinton.
Hi, Mr. Clinton, spell your name, please, for the court reporter.
Sure, Henry, H-E-N-R-Y, Clinton, C-L-I-N-T-O-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client, your relationship to the property?
Sure. My client is Kumars Karamaiti, K-U-M-A-R-S, Karamaiti, K-E-R-M-I-N-A-T-I, and he is on the call.
Our vice chair has a few questions for you.
Good morning, counsel.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to his accuracy?
Yes, I do, Mr. Shahid.
Have you emailed all the exhibits required for this case five days in advance to this hearing?
All the exhibits except proof of tax payment, which was forwarded yesterday.
So now all the exhibits are in hand.
Thank you, Mr. Clinton.
And please proceed and share his screen.
Mr. Chairman, is that visible?
It is.
All right.
Again, good morning, Mr. Chairman, members of the board.
Henry Clinton on behalf of the applicant, which is 1330 Pale Forb, LLC.
As I said, Mr. Caramides is on the call, and he's the principal of that LLC.
see. Table of contents containing exhibits AA through A10, which I ask be admitted into the
record. Appearance statement and the refusal. So this is a request for a front-loaded garage
on a street that has no on-street parking, on a street that has existing garages on it,
and on a street where the back end of the properties to the east also have curb cuts
and are used for parking we're not asking for any relief with regard to height open space or rear yard
we do have an rco letter of support as the chairman referenced earlier
and just to give the the chair and the board some perspective uh this uh was a property that went
from Pale Forb Street to 2nd Street.
2nd Street is in the background here
and the property was subdivided.
So that's why before the board,
it's listed as 1331 North 2nd Street, Parcel B.
We are Parcel B.
Parcel B is actually 1330 Pale Forb Street
where my cursor is.
So as the board can see,
there are other garages on the block already
on that side of the street.
You can see there's no on-street parking.
vehicles are popped up halfway on the curb, halfway on the street. And then also the rear of the
homes to the east, you can see that there's driveways leading to the back of their home
for parking. So there's a number of properties on the block that already have curb cuts and parking
because, as I said several times, there is no on-street parking. And this is a view of Palthorpe
Street, 1330, looking southbound. You can see to the left the numerous curb cuts
for parking to the rear of the property,
to the east.
Our zoning notice,
some other parking on the street,
getting existing curb cuts.
The plans are relatively straightforward.
It would be a four-story property,
no basement.
There's some elevations
of what the property will look like,
uh where my cursor is on the left side of the of the plan and in terms of the floor plan we have a
where my cursor is on the left side
of the plan.
garage on the first floor uh some office space mechanical here on the first floor moving to the
second floor we have the living area dining kitchen third floor is a one bedroom master
and then to the fourth floor there's two bedrooms and access to the rooftop deck
a lot of brick on the front we did make some changes to accommodate some of the wishes of
the community group but there was overwhelming support because of the lack of parking on the
street i don't want to belabor the presentation mr chairman but basically we are in a situation
where we are not going to take a parking spot from the street because frankly there's no spots to
take we're actually going to take a car off the street and put it on an indoor parking space
we're not altering the essential character of the neighborhood there's numerous curb cuts on the
block we are not affecting either adjacent property light or air as i said there's no issue
with regarding the height of the building or the open space or the rear yard and i believe that
we're in harmony with the general tenants of the code and certainly we're in harmony with what the
wants and desires of the community group as evidenced by their letter of support with that
I would rest my case, ask my client to adopt testimony, and also entertain any questions
from the board or from the virtual audience. Okay. Client's name again, sir.
Mr. Karmadi, can you raise your hand, please?
I'm going to have to speak. Hi, could you state your name and spell it, please, for the court
reporter sure good morning my name is kumars karamati first name k-u-m-a-r-s last name k-e-r-a-m-a-t-i
right do you swear for him to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i do proceed mr karamati were you on the call uh when i just presented your project on pail
pail forp street yes i was and if you had the opportunity to testify would you adopt my
testimony as your own and as true and correct i would thank you very much questions from the board
no mr chairman no no mr chairman questions or comments from the virtual audience
chair there is a hand up from mr matthew mitten allowed him to speak at this time
hi could you state your name and spell it please for the court reporter
hi my name is matthew litten m-a-t-t-h-e-w-l-i-t-t-o-n right you swear affirm to tell
the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes are you a neighbor yes actually sir i just
moved in we just bought the house uh settled on december 30th all right okay okay proceed
I live in 1328 North Path of Thorpe Street.
We just had a question.
Me and my fiance were wondering how in concern with our work, we're freestanding townhome at the moment.
The previous owners had applied siding to our our home.
Will there be a surveyor to come out to make sure our our property is in accordance with what the state has on record for our marking of our land?
because we had a representative of the builder come out to us and actually
passively kind of tell us, you know, if we're on their property,
they're in all rights to dig into our side.
And we just want to make sure there's no complaints.
I think, and our council will correct me if I'm wrong,
I think those kinds of issues are licensed inspection issues and not a
zoning board issue. And I know you, you know,
have concerns for it, but I think you'd really be better off taking it up with license and
inspection and not the zoning board. Hillary, is that correct? Yeah, anything related to
the property lines and surveys, I mean, those are private issues, but also the streets department
can get involved in terms of doing surveys and that sort of thing, but construction safety