along Girard and Frankfort and Front Street already. So we do not need a real estate office
within a residential area. The reason, my understanding, the reason that F&A did not do
a vote from the community, because there was no way that they could have those votes valid.
I can't speak for F&A, but I know that they were going through that. But people spoke against this
project. I personally think it's questionable when you have a petition going on during a pandemic
but you know overall the neighborhood spoke against this project and requested for the FNA
spoke against this project and requested for the FNA board to vote against this project.
board to vote.
So I am asking as a neighbor in Fishtown for the ZBA to file the vote of no and
Support the neighborhood's vote of no and with no exceptions. Thank you.
Okay, oh
So can I just respond to that just in general?
um the reason why we're looking at this site is because of the parking that's been allowed on this
site since 1900 so we're again the the site is allowed for parking and that's why we're looking
for it and again this has been a commercial property since for over 120 years or in some
facet at least. Okay, confessor, we have Kevin O'Neill. Kevin, you can unmute yourself and wait
to be sworn in. Hello. Oh, and before Mr. O'Neill testifies, the other thing is, in terms of the
petition. Sorry, can you pause for a minute, please, Alan? Oh, yeah, sure, sorry. It looks like we lost
confessor, but you'll hold because we all are having connectivity issues.
i apologize i lost you all for a minute
can you hear me okay confessor thank you um so alan was speaking and mr nakasun you can continue
Thanks for your understanding.
Thank you, Tanya.
The only other item I would point out is that we did distribute the petition,
but if you look at the petition, we did not distribute it in person.
We would never put anyone at risk.
So the petition was actually done virtually,
and we have electronic signatures of all the individuals.
And in particular, we have the individual who owns the property next door at 627,
east thompson street in support of this project thank you
okay confessor we have kevin o'neill kevin o'neill you can go ahead and wait
to be sworn in before you speak
confessor mr o'neill is prepared to be sworn in okay
and you said you didn't get
Mr. O'Neal
I'm here
sound like you about to fall out again
confessor
Jim are you available to swear him in
I'm sorry what was that
are you available to swear in Mr. O'Neal
oh sure uh mr o'neill do you uh do you affirm to tell the truth all truth and nothing but the truth
yes i do okay great to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing
yes i do um this is sharon saletta i just wanted to say i got a text from
chairman to chico he is trying to reconnect but ask that a confessor handle the case until then
confessor you're not very clear
it's like you're in and out but mr anil you can proceed with your testimony
okay thank you um i live at 613 east thompson street uh just down the block from this site
and i also am in opposition to the uh to the variants um really for for one specific reason
um i don't feel that commercial use with multiple vehicles going in and out of this
site um throughout the day is is a is a safe idea i don't feel that it's within the spirit of
RSA 5. I realized that there was some question as to whether or not this has been used as a
commercial property, but it currently is not, and I haven't seen it being used as such in quite
It currently is not, and I haven't seen it being used as such in quite some time.
Right now, as of today, this is a residential block.
There's no businesses operating here.
And if anything, we have Penn Treaty Middle School directly across the street,
and we also have Alexander Adair School, which is two blocks down the street.
on a daily basis during the school year this is a major pedestrian thoroughfare there's a lot of
kids a lot of parents coming and going and it doesn't seem that you know adding a curb cut
situation with a business that would have employees and I think at the meeting it was
discussed that there would be you know maintenance vans going in and out of that driveway as well
that that doesn't seem like it's a you know safe situation for the block I think that's going to
create congestion there's school buses that park across the street as well and then there's also
the question of you know once this becomes commercial that variance would be would be
permanent and as much as most of the people in the neighborhood are supportive of JG real estate
we don't know what would happen down the line if they move out and a different business takes over
and still gets to, you know, keep that that variance intact. So yeah, I just would like to
request that the board deny the variance. And I also want to reiterate that on the Zoom meeting
that took place a couple weeks ago, there was significant opposition to the project from
neighbors that live within, you know, a close distance to that. I think that, you know, I would
guess that the petition that was submitted represents more of support of the general
community of the business itself but most of those signatures uh i'm assuming i'm you know
my guess is that most of those signatures are not from neighbors that live um on the block or or
adjacent to the property i think if if those um you know votes were taken or if that was uh if we
had a tally of how those people would vote it would look a lot different than that and and most
people um you know in the immediate vicinity would would not be in support of this project
uh that's all i have thank you uh so i just would like to respond in kind so our petition
actually has the owner or an extra neighbor to the left 627 east thompson street in support
And I stated, you know, previously during my presentation, 1314 East Burke Street, which is right behind us, is also in support of it.
So we have 627 in support, 1314 in support.
And again, what?
Excuse me, go ahead.
I'm sorry.
Oh, and, you know, in terms of the, you know, taking an RSA 5 property and converting into commercial, again, the only thing that has any residential history is, you know, there was a small portion of a history of one of the lots to have single family use.
but they had also he had his business on there a garage so it's always since 1900 there's always
been a commercial component a garage where cars would go in and out what we're proposing would
have a lot less use in terms of you know car traffic back and forth and then finally in terms
of like what happens if jg real estate decides to move to another location if you look at it
we're repurposing uh the the garage structure that's in the rear we're not like what we could
have done if we wanted to like really overuse the property is to either demolish this building or put
or or expand this building outward towards the curb or to the front of the property we're not
we're just repurposing this this two-story building that's in the rear and we're trying
to create an atmosphere that looks more like a park and less like an office building and then
the other thing to point out even if jg real estate happened to leave only the second floor
is used it's being used for offices so again it's not going to be a type of use or a type of design
or layout where you're going to have an ability to even overuse the property even if someone
wanted to so we we thought about all this again jg real estate is situated in fishtown they have a
clientele in fishtown you know they most of their a lot of their employees are in the fishtown area
they wanted to they want to remain in fishtown and this is the way they're going to be able to
hopefully do it
okay confessor we have jennifer
We have Jennifer.
Here we go.
Jennifer?
You can unmute yourself.
I'll wait to be sworn in.
Thank you.
Can you hear me?
Either confess or not, Jim, she can be sworn in.
Okay, Professor, she can be sworn in.
Okay, Jim, we're going to have to take it to you.
Can she be sworn in, please?
oh sorry tanya just having a little trouble getting on can you hear me
yes yeah we all are having issues it seems um so in the efforts of continuing can we swear
Ms. Jennifer in and ask her to put her name on record? Sure. Jennifer, do you swear to tell the
truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Yes. Name and address for the record?
Sure. My name is Jennifer Romanow, R-O-M-A-N-I-W. Address is 840 East Thompson Street.
thank you proceed sure i'm here to register my opposition in the rezoning of property at 631 to
633 thompson street i live about one and a half blocks from this and i'm also speaking on behalf
of my grandmother who lives at 635 east thompson street i'm going to object i'm going to actually
object in terms of here on the ground i'm her power of attorney i'm her power of attorney so i
I can speak on her behalf as well actually this is Sharon Saleta the power
of attorney does not authorize you to speak at a quasi-judicial yes you can
speak on your own so as a reminder to this committee I am my grandmother's
power of attorney. Hello? Yes, we're here. Okay, I was muted for a minute. So granting
this variance would cause a permanent hardship for my grandmother and the rest of my family
that are immediate neighbors and sets a precedent for adding this commercial activity on a residential
block. Let me just remind you that the reason the photos that were shown earlier look the
way they do is because a developer who owns the property currently at 631 to 633 Thompson Street
made the decision to dig in the basement without a permit and without engineering supervision
which caused the ultimate collapse of the property that was there as well as my grandparent's home
with them in it. So that's a misrepresentation that the property looks the way it is now.
it looks that way because something was done purposely so since this collapse my
95 year old grandmother and two family members who resided there they've had to
rent a home about 13 miles away on a good day is a 30 minute drive to the
closest family member this has been a hardship since the collapse my
grandmother and family members have had to incur thousands of dollars of out
of pocket costs countless hours of city agencies and professional services to
get their home rebuilt. This is a hardship and these are just some of the hardships my grandmother,
my family, and myself have had to endure at the hands of developers who feel entitled to do what
they please. These hardships, however hard they've been, are temporary. Branding a zoning variance to
convert this property to commercial will cause a permanent hardship for my family that will in a
few months be back in their home at 635 Thompson Street that is currently being rebuilt. And let
me say one thing about 627 Thompson Street. So I'm actually going to object just because
like a lot of that was irrelevant and going towards 635 and that person's not here. But
if they're going to go to 627, I think that's clearly irrelevant. So I'm going to object to
that. And I do want to respond, obviously, that we're in no way involved with what happened at
631, 33, or 35 East Thompson, but I'm going to object if she goes to 627.
Jennifer you can unmute yourself and continue to testify regarding the property of issue
Jennifer, you can unmute yourself.
hello yes okay so my family did not get the opportunity to see any kind of position petition
and the image that was shown most of the addresses that I've seen on there were not in the immediate
area and I agree with the person that presented earlier they were not in the immediate area
so my grandmother is medically fragile with serious health issues my other families who
family members who live there are also vulnerable one has a serious medical I'm gonna so I'm gonna
object again. I don't think those are zoning related issues. I also don't think that she
doesn't live at the property either. So she's testifying on their potential issues
that are non-zoney related. Okay, Jennifer, you can unmute yourself.
hello is there a way that um i can finish without being interrupted and the objections can come when
i'm done okay um for one thing um i just want to inform you that the chair um has had a problem
connecting and the other board members as well um they're both there are three board members on the
line however the idea is you speak to the zoning related to the address of question and um the
attorney has the right to object okay okay so if you could summarize regarding i'm at the end of
my testimony if i could get through it okay he can't object so we're clear okay yep so according
to the presentation at the community meeting the planned development this driveway would be used
for commercial vehicles for property management and for the vehicles that will be there daily
so the idea that 633 and 631 used to be a commercial site is not entirely accurate so
in the early 19 when my grandparents bought the house in the 50s there was a trucking company
there prior to their purchasing it in the early 1980s there was a zoning variance that allowed
the person that lived there who owned commercial vehicles to park his vehicles there in the garage
it was not a commercial business the only property available the other issue that
they brought up during the zoning meeting that this is the only property available and usable
for the project in the neighborhood and therefore there are no other options this is not a hardship
the other issue they brought up was the company has expanded and can no longer fit in their
current space this is not a hardship their commercial vehicles property management trucks
cannot be 15 minutes outside of the neighborhood because it would delay services this is also not
a hardship these are not hardships that would necessitate a zoning variance the point mentioned
are all business issues that need to be addressed and they should not they should not change the
zoning to impact all the immediate residents on that block with constant commercial vehicles
and potential alarms that they said they may put on the garages or on the gates when they open
okay confessor and jim i have another person andrew so oh so um tanya can i just respond in kind
thank you uh so first of all i do want to set the record straight that we were in no way involved
with what previously happened at 631 and 633 east thompson street my understanding is that there
was an irresponsible developer who had, you know, I don't know if they did it without permits or
whatever, but we're not that person or that company. You know, we're purchasing this property
with the hopes of repurposing the garage portion that's in the rear of the property, which has been
there for well over 100 years. And even as Jennifer testified, I believe her name is Jennifer,
um this there's even more uses than i even realized there was a trucking company in the 1950s
here and i would dispute the fact that that there was no commercial use since then because if you
look at the zoning file there was actually a variance granted to allow whoever owned that
property to actually fix not only his own vehicles but other vehicles and so there was garage
to actually fix not only his own vehicles but other vehicles and so there was garage
All right.
there for many many years before this property got vacated in terms of alarms that
she mentioned that was actually at the behest of the community they wanted a mechanism where
we can open up the the front gate of our property for protective purposes so that you know when