group living situations in in this neighborhood we we we have used the words of mr jakubov himself
who has who has confirmed that anyone who's who who moves into that facility is going to be at
risk themselves we don't even we're not even talking about the neighbors we're talking about
people who are innocent who are going to be there okay i think she can answer that question as to
why she thinks this is okay why do you why don't you answer that question why you are concerned
about this particular project if you go if you look on the 4200 block of viola street yeah you
will see it's not suitable for a large facility like that the other facilities are on gerard
avenue yep that is really a wide street a really a wide street viola is a small narrow one-sided
parking block all right thank you for your answer meredith anything else nothing further okay uh
questions or comments from the virtual audience hi chair we have a hand up from mark harris
what happened to me shit oh wait jihad you you're you're you're you're you're not muted um
jihad come on
maybe mr um ali should should speak because he because he was i got it yeah
okay hello can you hear me yes i can could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
yes sir uh good morning i'm jihad ali j-i-h-a-d-a-l-i i live at 4276 parkside avenue which
is in arterial street which is a large street directly wait wait wait wait before you do you
swear or affirm the tell the truth told you nothing but truth yes i do all right please
proceed with your testimony i live directly uh behind the property uh that we're here today
about my written opposition is in the record reference 6061 i'll use my time on one legal
issue yeah i have your i we saw your letter too thank you yeah the boy's first task is determine
which this which use this actually is the applicant's own testimony today has answered it
under section 14-601 2b.2 a building containing rooms rented as living quarters without private
bathrooms is a single room residence the code's own examples dormitories room and houses and
supported independent living the witness testified in both elements one occupants pay fifty dollars
$500 per bed, multiple people per room, rooms rented as living quarters. The rental unit is
the bed. Two, 16 bathrooms for 50 people. 50 individual rented beds cannot each have a private
bathroom with 16 in the building. Even a bathroom attached to a room is shared among the strangers
renting beds in that room. No renter of a bed has a private bathroom. That is a rooming house by
applicants own numbers under table 14-602-1 single room residence is expressly prohibited in RSA 5
not special exception prohibited the same table permits it by special exception RM RM and RMX
districts so council knew how to allow it where it wanted it to have here it chose no the board
cannot grant a special exception for a prohibited use the applicant's remedy would be a use variance
which is not before you and this zoning was deliberate bill 140076 passed may 2014 i have
a certified cabbie re copy it remapped those exact blocks from rm1 where this use could at least
be sought to rs could be sought 12 to rsa 5 where it is prohibited granting this application application
would reverse council's judgment from this block about this block at minimum the applicant bears
the burden on a special exception and its own testimony describes a use other than the one it
applied for. On this record, it has not carried that burden. Finally, if the board reaches a
special exception criteria, 50 beds at $500 each is a $25,000 a month rooming operation at three
plus occupants per bathroom in a row house district council downsize. The record including
a district council member and Senator Hughes' office reflects this determined. I ask the board
to deny this application. Thank you. Thank you very much. Hold on. Meredith, you have any questions?
I do. Mr. Ali, are you an attorney? No, I'm not. Are you a licensed planner? No, I'm not.
Do you have any educational or professional background that would give you any? I'm objecting
that a witness and a member of the community doesn't have to put up with questioning their
their their viability as as a as someone who thinks and and and can can express themselves
he provided a legal argument well listen to me
i'm going to let him answer the question i think he has the ability to answer the question
do you have any form of professional or educational background that would give you
special credentials to be able to interpret the zoning code or provide a legal argument to this
four no i don't that's all i have all right thank you redirect um mr ali are you able to count 50
and and and um the number of bathrooms and the number of people and and calculate whether there
is one-to-one ratio or not yes i can thank you thank you so we're we're now gonna how many other
people here want to testify all right two okay i could you please state your name is bell for this
thought my name is jean allen j-e-a-n-a-l-l-e-n right you swear or affirm to tell the truth the
whole truth nothing but the truth i do now you've known we've had quite a bit of testimony over
several months i'm going to ask one thing are you in favor of this project or against i am against
it okay and I just want to make one comment as a common ordinary mom
mom, grandma, great grandmother. And I just want to beg this council to make a decision today.
grandma great-grandmother and I just want to beg this
Today, we've been laboring this thing for more than a year. It's torturous. It's unfair, uncruel
punishment. One thing I try to do is try to move it along. So thank you very much. Is there anyone
else here wants to make it hold on hold on hold on um merdith you want to answer that answer any
questions relative to her thinking this has been torturous i i i don't think i'm going to do that
good morning sir could you please state your name is spelled for the sonographer yes my name is
randy smith oh yeah i gotta go really close randy smith all right could you spell for the
r-a-n-d-y smith smith do you swear or firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yes are you a neighbor yes are you in favor of this project or against i'm a gangster thank you
very much for your comments we appreciate it but i would just like to make one comment but is the
comment something we haven't already heard no go ahead well like you said we have been almost a year
coming to you guys to this board and i hope that you look at this we are seniors we had to hire
lawyer pair our pocket and i hope that you don't allow something like this to happen again
where taxpayers, seniors, have to pay for a lawyer
and to be a face with developers like this.
Let's not waste taxpayers' money for developers like this man.
All right. Thank you very much.
Do you have any, Meredith, do you have any questions?
I do not.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
do we see share share we have a mark harris with his hand raised they're allowed to speak
okay yeah my name is mark harris i mean okay hold on hold on mr could you please state your name
and spell it for the stenographer mark america harris yes right do you swear or affirm to tell
the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i affirm i'm strongly opposed i do not have any
new testament game all right thank you very much meredith you have any questions
mr harris where do you live i live in cathedral park and we're suffering similar problems from
this developer okay that that's all i have okay anyone else in the virtual audience yes chair we
have a hand up from brian harris they're allowing me how many more hands do you have just one okay
thank you. Good morning. Good morning, Brian Harris here. Hi, good morning. Could you please
state your name and spell it for the stenographer? Brian Harris, B-R-Y-A-N-H-A-R-R-I-S.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
I do. Okay. Are you in favor of this proctor or against?
i'm against and are you a neighbor i am okay thank you very much any questions for anybody
he's also a community leader okay um mr mr harris can you just tell us what your
what your um leadership is in the in the community uh i'm i'm the rco chair for
east parkside residents association okay thank you we appreciate that martha do you have any
questions no i do not no more hands chair we have a hand that went up from a lorraine gomez okay
they're allowed to speak good morning could you please state your name and spell for the
stenographer yes um my name is lorraine l-o-r-r-a-i-n-e last name is gomez g-o-m-e-z
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yes i do are you a neighbor yes i am a long time resident are you for or against this project
i am against the project thank you for taking the time to call so we appreciate it is there
any other hands no further hands at this time chair um hillary should we uh marina says she
has a four sentence closure. Do we take that and Steve, can you give us that? Why don't we do that
Do we take that? And Steve, can you give us that? Why don't we do that? And then we'll go to planning or do you want to go to planning first?
and then we'll go to planning?
All right, planning.
Madison Matera, Planning Commission staff.
A comprehensive plan recommends a change in zoning at this location from RSA 5 residential single family to RM1 residential multifamily.
The city rezoned this property from RM1 to RSA 5 in 2014 in a community-supported map change.
under arm one zoning they would be allowed nine units with up to three unrelated people allowed
per unit the request for 50 occupants represents a significant overuse of the property it has been
demonstrated that the proposal will cause detrimental impacts beyond what might normally
be expected city planning commission recommends that the board deny the proposed special exception
for group living at this location okay um maritas why don't we um start with you thank you mr chairman
I don't intend to repeat the significant amount of testimony or legal argument that was given
during the hearing several months ago, but I did again just want to remind the board that
a special exception is not intended to be special, nor is it intended to be an exception to the code.
It is a permitted use, and the testimony and evidence that was offered established that this
This particular use is one that fits within the definitions of the zoning code.
The zoning board is bound to apply the definitions of the Philadelphia zoning code and no other
definitions under any other state or federal or any other municipal codes that do not apply
in Philadelphia.
The Philadelphia zoning code is quite clear that where a use cannot cleanly fit within
one specific definition that L&I and this board are tasked with determining whether that use best
fits within one or more categories. And we believe that the testimony that was offered made it
extremely clear that the proposed use meets the definition of a group living use. And furthermore,
for the board to deny a special exception on the basis of any purported detrimental impact,
In fact, the objectors must have demonstrated that it would create specific hazards not
normally generated by other permitted group living uses with a great likelihood.
As I noted, I have submitted a memorandum of law to this board that contains a significant
listing of recent Pennsylvania special exception cases that established that the only successful
denials or overturn special exceptions are for highly noxious uses. The objectors here did not
meet their burden. They did not present any form of credible, non-speculative evidence. They did
not present any expert witnesses that would rise to the level of establishing a high degree of
harm that is required for a zoning board to deny a special exception. Thank you. That's all I have.
all right Steve so yes it's true we didn't provide any um expert witnesses because we had the words
of the applicant himself who established beyond a reasonable doubt that this use would be terribly
uh dangerous first for the people who are in that who are living in that facility they would be at
at the highest risk of danger,
plus the incredible impacts that this will have
on this single-family, a majority single-family block.
But in addition, and as Mr. Ali testified to,
and my cross-examination of Mr. Yakubov focused on also,
there has to be private bathrooms provided
in this facility for it to qualify as group living and not as single room occupancy.
There are up to 50 people and only 14 bathrooms or 16 bathrooms. That establishes that this
should be a variance case, not a special exception case. So they haven't been able to establish that
this is even properly before you as a special exception not only that but the transcript the
the the damning transcript that was that was read to you by by me um with with no
there was attempts over and over again by the community to help this developer come up with
some kind of a protocol and some kind of a process that would be safe and would be appropriate.
that would be safe and would be appropriate for a building with this kind of a use.
But over and over again, he answered the questions in ways that were alarming and that were dangerous.
And he himself established that this use will be quite a bit more harmful and dangerous than any typical use for group living,
simply because there will be no one there who can address any issues that that happen in in this in
this building and there is no reason why he why there's a reason why all virtually all group living
situations have to have something like that especially when you have that number that density
number so um the the applicant has not met their burden we have met our burden to the extent that
we were able to to demonstrate to you that what they what they promised will and what they want
to deliver will be a disaster for both the the member the the people who live there and the and
the surrounding neighbors thank you very much uh i want to thank both attorneys for this long
lengthy process i want to thank also the neighbors who had a great deal of interest in it so mi20
24 006 832 4283 viola street i vote no charlotte gaston my vote is no tenetta graham my vote is no
Ryan McAdams, my vote is no.
Taya Nguyen, my vote is no.
Thank you, Terry Nguyen.
Thank you.
Everybody shut their mics off.
Thank you.
Thank you.