have the notice of refusal correspondence from the 44th democratic order coordinating rco uh nearby
properties with multi-family use uh so what we're proposing to do here is a two-family structure
on almost 1,500-square-foot plot.
So what we try to do is not only emulate,
you'll see from the picture,
the look of the properties,
our property compared to surrounding properties
by having a porch, by having a mansard roof.
But we also try to emulate the uses
of similarly situated properties in close proximity,
especially when you're concerned
this is a 1,500-square-foot plot.
So you also see maps of the area.
in the maps of the area, photographs of the property in the surrounding area, our plans
and drawings, our RCO meeting notice, our application for appeal to the ZBA, our deed
to the property showing that higher rate developments in the owner of the property, and our certificate
of tax credit showing if they're in good standing with the city of Philadelphia. So we only
have one refusal here, and that's a use refusal. So this is an RSA 5 property. So if this
board is inclined to grant our variance a couple things um there was and we'll see in the letter
um there was concerns about the roof deck um first they were like it's not even shown on the plans
and i kept pointing out yes it actually is shown on our plans but with that being said you know
we came to the conclusion uh that it just didn't make sense for this community to have a roof deck
for this property to have a roof deck this community does not like roof decks so if this
board should grant our variance we would ask for proviso no roof deck there were you know concerns
about you know parking we indicated that although this is a pretty large lot you know if we provided
additional off-street parking that would be an additional refusal possibly we don't we would
take beats basically swapping a spot on the street for one off the street which you know most times
community members don't like because you know they're they're concerned that you're taking
public parking off the street for a specific uh property but you know again we really never talked
about the merits of this matter they again their focus was on the roof deck and we tried to calm
their nerves in with regards to just eliminating that. So here are similarly situated properties.
14 St. Bernard Street, right? This board granted a similar type of variance for a two-family dwelling
on July 19, 2021. Almost a year to the day, this board granted a similar variance of two units.
22 St. Bernard Street, October 20, 2021.
Also, this board granted a two-family dwelling on this same block.
There's 18 North St. Bernard Street.
It's a duplex.
16 St. Bernard Street is a triplex.
26 St. Bernard Street is a triplex.
4902 Arch Street, which is around the corner from us, is a triplex.
so there is a mix between multi-family use and single-family use and then you can see
here we are on the block we're on the corner or just off the corner of arch and north safe and
arch street uh and you can see here uh we're just not that far from market street and we're not far
from chestnut street we have ample public transportation as well and we're of course
from a you know a you know a big facility here that's not residential in nature and then photographs
of the property you know this is a slew of vacant lots so what has been developed many of them are
multi-family others are more uh vacant lots and then this is the property since 2007. we really
try to go back to see what the history of this property is and you know for at least 15 years
and it sounded like more from a community meeting this has been a vacant lot this
that has not been tended to you know we have tended to it um and you know i think it's time
to develop this lot in conformance to what this board granted twice in 2021 on this law
and in addition to other properties in close proximity as well so you can see this is a porch
neighborhood and they have mentor groups so again to respect the integrity of the neighborhood
that's what we designed i always i always encourage my clients to design based on what
the neighborhood looks like right every neighborhood should be unique right if you walk by the
property built or used as proposed is it something that fits within the fabric of the neighborhood
or does it stick out like a sore tongue at least here you look at it it's something that fits
at least here you look at it it's something that fits within the fabric of the neighborhood
within the fabric of the neighborhood
in the sense of we are providing a porch a sense of community we are providing a mansard group with
architectural interest just with a modern twist and then in terms of the use again similarly to
two projects this board has granted in the past year as well as multiple instances of existing
structures we're only asking for two units on a 1500 square foot lot this is an rm1 property which
is not, you know, technically would be allowed for four units. And this is North St. Bernard's
left of the property. Example Interiors, again, another Kumas project where you can see quality
of product. Nice hardwood floors, kitchens, you know, bathrooms, light and air. They take great
pride in their product. And they're Philadelphia run and own company. So they build where they do
business. So in our plants and drawings, again, just to see the brick facades, modern twist in
terms of the porch and the mansard roof, a lot of light in there with those big windows.
And then again, this is just the elevation in this site plan. We're not asking for any
dimensional variances. We're not asking for something that's too high or taking too much
lock coverage here. We're just asking for a use variance, which under the circumstances
would make sense. Oops, sorry. And then we have floor plans. So we have two bi-levels,
the first floor plan, the lower unit is the first floor and the basement level, and then
the second unit is in the second floor and third floor. Again, even though this says
roof deck, we would ask that if this board did approve this variance request, that they
would advise out no roof deck. And then we met on June 13th at 6 p.m. 86 addresses were
notified is the list of the addresses, proof of mailing,
our application for appeal to the CPA,
along with our notice of refusal
and project information form, and our deeds of property.
And the last document is our proof
that we're in good standing with the city.
With that being said, I will have Mr. Eze
verify and dock my testimony as though it was his own,
and then we can answer any questions
support you may have. Mr. Eze, state your name, please. Yep. It's I-F-E-A-N-Y-I-C-H-U-K-W-U,
last name E-Z-E. You were already sworn today, so proceed. Mr. Eze, you've heard everything I
stated today. Yes. Is it true, correct? Yes. I do. Okay, questions from the board?
no mr chairman thank you jim questions or comments from the virtual audience
chair we have eileen perlman okay miss perlman you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair
hi could you state your name and spell for the court reporter please
eileen i-l-e-n-e last name perlman p-e-a-r-l-m-a-n right do you swear or affirm to tell
the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do do you live in the area ma'am
yes okay proceed um so the property the property
eileen we're losing you miss perlman we're losing you
one year ago we basically it kind of went under the radar and we didn't know now we know can you
hear me now yes anyway the one that they got past the same company down the street we i guess we
just weren't paying attention and we didn't realize what was happening
that are all on here now some of them might have had to go because they had a big building
we as a group do not want a four-story building well you can only speak for yourself
i'm sorry chair it seems to be technical problems and we can move on because the
court reporter will not be able to get that information i agree is there anyone is there
anyone else in the virtual audience chair we have patrick richardson mr richardson you can
unmute yourself and wait for the chair please
Hello. Hi, Mr. Richardson. Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter?
hello hi mr richardson could you state your name and spell for the court reporter
My name is Patrick Richardson. That's first name P-A-T-R-I-C-K. Last name Richardson,
spelled R-I-C-H-A-R-D-S-O-N. Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth,
the whole truth and nothing but the truth? Absolutely. Proceed, sir.
uh i am a owner in a single family unit of uh across the street and just down this is unit 31
i wanted to uh register my objection to the addition of any more multi-unit uh and renter
attracting properties um i've come i've lived here for about eight and a half years now
and I see a great disparity between the cohesion of the families that know each other
and own property and the transient occupancy and parking and presence of the renters that come
through. Okay. So I'm objecting on that basis. Thank you very much for calling in. Is there
anyone else? Chair, we have Alyssa Swifter. Ms. Swifter, you can unmute yourself and wait for the
chair. Hello, can you hear me? Hi, yes. Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter,
please? Yes, my name is Elsa Swider, A-I-L-S-A. Last name Swider, S as in Sam, W-I-J-T as in Tom,
ER. Do you swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing about the truth?
I do. Proceed. So I also live on the block owner, and as mentioned before, I do want to state for
the record that I, two things. One, we did not get a lot of advance notice regarding this. I
understand that there's some trouble with seeing the sign from other neighbors, so we've tried to
pull ourselves together as quickly as possible but further a lot more of us were on the call
earlier today I wanted to voice our individual objections but we this because of the duration
of the time that this has taken a lot of us haven't been able to stay for the full duration so
I am concerned that not everyone is going to be able to get their chance to to voice their concerns
as far as my personal concerns regarding this unit I am opposed for this unit I think there
are a couple concerns specifically the parking situation this is a one-way street it's very narrow
and there is not a lot of parking available for a unit and we're not sure there are other
empty lots too so our impression is that there's going to be some intention to build additional
units in those empty lots as a further development plan down the road which would further aggravate
the parking situation. And also, we really do support and rally around the green spaces on this
block. We have two community gardens, one in that space, the green space that the development is
being proposed in, and one across the street. And the community gardens have been a really good
sense of cohesion and really important for our community as a block, and we're concerned about
losing that space. All right. Thank you very much for calling in. Thank you. Is there anyone else in
the audience that has something different to offer? Chair, we have Sean Rosner. Mr. Rosner,
you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair. Hi, Mr. Rosner, state your name and spell for
the court reporter, please. Sean Rosner, S-E-A-N-R-O-S-N-E-R. Do you swear for him to tell
the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth? Yes. Do you have something different that you
offer them what we've heard, Mr. Osner? Slightly different. I can piggyback on what Elsa said,
is that there is a pretty strong opposition on this block to this development. As I understand,
there was a very highly attended community meeting, and it was struck down. I also understand
that the official position of the 44th Democratic Board is in opposition to this project.
and I wanted just to say that the empty lots
that this project is proposed on
it's by no means a problem to our block
actually it's one of our biggest strengths
it's a huge community gathering space
where we have birthday parties, movie nights, and cookouts
and I think it has allowed our community personally
to forge something that's truly special
in the city of Philadelphia
and I think the amount of opposition you see today
stands to that
Personally, I've been developing a community garden a lot adjacent to this proposed
development for the last three years and as an individual who doesn't have a very
As an individual who doesn't have a very high income, this is a really important source of nutritious food for me and for my neighbors.
high income, this is a really important source of nutritious
Not to mention the amount of community bonding that happens throughout gardening.
All right, Mr. Rostner, thank you for calling in.
Is there anyone else that has something different than what we've heard?
chair we have deborah charmalus miss charmalus you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair
hi um hi wait could you spell your name please for the court reporter yes my name is deborah
charmalus you spell it d-e-b-o-r-a last name c-h-a-r-m as in mary e-l-u-s deborah charmalus
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Could you do me a favor?
Please, if you have something different, please offer it.
I can only affirm everything that everybody has been saying.
It is not a vacant lot.
It has been used as a community garden.
I, in addition to Sean, use that lot, the lot adjacent to it.
I believe it should be 48th North Bernard Street as a source of food.
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I have a question.
Yes, yes.
I have a question.
Do you own the lot?
I do not.
We do not own the lot, but we still, we all from the block.
We're just using it.
Utilize it.
All right.
All right.
All right.
No, if you have something different, please offer it.
If not, we need to move on.
Chair, we have at least three more hands up.
I'm not going to do the whole block.
tell whoever has their hand up if they have something to offer that's different we're going
to call you if not that last person just reiterate it again so please anyone who has