ownership of their projects. So you can just see their quality of work. You know, their living
rooms are well lit, big. You can see their kitchens are well thought out, modern. Same
thing with their bathrooms, their bedrooms. Again, big, well lit. Here's another example of a bedroom
in the bathroom and then again this is just a rendering of what we thought we were going to do
um but you know again we have you know given the lateness of the situation we've been negotiating
for a year thinking that we were going to be there and we made modifications uh to what we
were planning to do in anticipation of that support um you know brick facade we're going to
keep but the third and fourth floors are going to be set back and there will be no bay window but i
want you to get a general sense of the quality of materials and product that we want to do
for this property and then this is just the rear of the property again just having
um it's you know well lit alive and used and then this is straight from our presentation materials
but these are the materials that were asked of us and i know these are not zoning related but we
would comply with these matters, like, you know,
pillar doors, pillar windows, well-lit, limestone in areas,
making sure there's a brick beside.
We really did try to meet, and having a nice cornice
that would be reflective of the architecture
you would expect in this part of Philadelphia,
and in general.
And here's our updated site plan.
Again, it's a 4,500 square per lot.
If this was an RM1 structure,
based on what we're asking for,
this would be allowed as a bright no basement living we do not want to have basement living
here we don't want to overuse this property and we didn't want to have a situation where it was
thought that we were trying to so there would be unit storage down there for all the unit owners
we put the utility room in the basement because they didn't want to see utilities outside in the
front so we agreed to put a utility room down there each floor other than the first floor
have trash rooms of course because it's more than six units we're going to have commercial pickup
but if the board is so inclined that could be the fourth proviso commercial pickup there's bike
storage in areas um but it was it's a really well thought out project you know we have
and it's ada accessible which was very amenable to the community as well as as the community ages
out to have that ability uh to have you know housing that you know that's nice that they
you know housing that you know that's nice that they can afford as well even though it's not
can afford as well even though it's not
affordable given the amount of units of 10 units is still more affordable than it would be as three
single families which will never which can never be built given more conditions but again three
ada accessible units on the first floor a one bedroom one bath and two two bedrooms then the
The second floor has each of the other units,
each of the other floors.
Second floor has two, three two bedrooms.
The third floor has two two bedrooms
and the fourth floor has two two bedrooms.
And then this is the meeting notice that we had.
Again, not a well attended meeting.
We had sent it out to 182 addresses for meeting on Monday.
These are the addresses.
And this is proof of mailing for application for appeal, again, showing that Addicom LLC,
a subsidiary of Comas Homes, owns the property or due to the property and our tax finance
subjected.
With that being said, I would ask that Mr. Eze virtually raise his hand to adopt my testimony
and we'd be more than happy to take any questions from the court.
Mr. Eze, can you please unmute yourself and wait for the chair?
doctor all right could you uh state your name and spell for the court reporter please
yes my name is ifain chukweza spelled i-f-e-a-n-y-i-c-h-u-k-w-u last name e-z-e
all right do you swear or firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
I do. Proceed.
Mr. Reza, you heard everything I stated today.
Is it true and correct?
It is.
Do you adopt this in your own testimony?
More importantly, we have worked over the last year with the community to try to make a project that made sense for this community, right?
Correct.
When Qumas Homes purchased this property, it was an RM1 property, right?
Yes, it was originally RM1.
okay and you have to revise your plans such that this would be a project that would be allowed as
of right um under the zoning code if this is for the r15 correct thank you questions from the board
no mr chairman no mr chairman
no mr chairman helen is there other multiple family units in the area
um well i have not looked at that honestly mr chair i was a little blindsided but
we are next to a commercial corridor so i would assume there are multi-family
in the area mr eze um do you know if that's the case
okay i i understand questions from the virtual audience
Chair, we have Ms. Rosa Golding. Ms. Golding, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Chair, again, she's being promoted to panelists because her addition of Zoom, she can't do it.
Okay. She can't get on?
she's being promoted to panelists because oh that's fine
do you hear me now yeah well i can and i think i swore you in already once right
yes sir i can't proceed what's your technically we're representing the community
ourselves because a lot of them are unable to attend uh like the last meeting the other day
we were here and we were telling him about the opposition we had about about you know taking
putting a place like that on a lot in this community um i'm sure you're not they were
talking about the parking there won't be any parking spaces left on the street period if that
building comes with a lot of people that's the first thing and then they said um and he said if
set it back it won't be affordable housing anymore it'll be what what does that mean
no ma'am you're you're to testify you don't ask questions
oh are you against the project i mean the issue with the argument we are against the project
because first of all it's in the middle of this this block between our houses all of us and most
of us are homeowners so we need to specify to put this building in the middle between
you know all the units you know you know what i'm saying we all have you know we all have we all
you know we all have we all have uh homes that would have just got two stories and he wants to
have uh homes that would have just got two
rectify uh four-story buildings for me that would be more beautiful than i saw than anything else
in the center of the block okay thank you can you swim in oh hello yes this is this is walter
he has to be sworn in hello this is wrong one at a time one at a time state your name
do you swear for him to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
are you against the project sir yes do you have any other comments
Yes, first of all, I was looking at the design of the building and on the left hand side of the building that is part of the property interest to have arrived on the left hand side.
I've been around in the neighborhood for a long time, we started a project called Baby
Longtime for elderly people, and for getting away from all the troubles and stuff throughout
the neighborhood, we had it for at least over 20 years, and we never had any problems around
that particular little area right there.
but that building and blocking it keeping keeping the older folks and the children
because we can open that plate and together with all the shootings and all of that the
house will only cause more problems okay thank you all right we understand thank you both for
calling in are there any other comments from the virtual audience mr chair can you just address
let me just see is there any other comments from the virtual audience chair we have craig
meladozian mr meladozian you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair please
okay i'm unmuted i could you state your name and spell for the court reporter
Yes, Craig, C-R-A-I-G, last name Melidosian, M-E-L-I-D-O-S-I-A-N.
Right.
Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Do you live in the area, sir?
Okay, proceed.
All right.
I'm speaking on behalf of the Southwest Philadelphia Consortium of RCOs,
although it came out over my name, the 40th Ward RCO.
we were asked by kenyatta johnson's office to act as the coordinating rco within the consortium
there were four rcos that are affected rcos and then an additional rco just outside of the area
i'm speaking on behalf of them i try to introduce to them information from the center of community
progress on vacant abandoned and distressed housing as well as a personal conversation
with noted housing economist Alan Malik.
Despite that, the four RCOs were in opposition to the project.
At the time of Monday night's last meeting,
we did ask to eliminate the affordable housing
and bring down the density,
but at that point, we did not get a favorable response from that.
The open air issue at 25%
basically would be going into the rear of the property.
We'd love to see if there was some way
that that could benefit the facade,
the street front of the property.
I do want to say it's actually been a pleasure
working with the Nackamson and KUMA's development team,
and I look forward to them being out here in the future.
But again, I'm part of the consortium,
and I need to represent what all of the RCOs felt at that time.
We did counter, it did counter with the possibility
of it being RSA-5 coming back with three four-story duplexes, but I don't know if, again, that's an
issue of whether or not that's economically viable for the developer. Mr. Nockamson did share with
you, and I guess I'll be more dramatic, that based on information from our past captain, Captain
Drissel, who left in December, and our current community relations officer up through Q1 of this
year that is the single most problematic slash violent block in the 12th district so our sense
was it was important to get eyes and ears on it and to bring good housing a good housing stock
into the area with the hope that with the housing stock we would be able to get it to other
developers who i personally have walked through the area in the past that had no interest to work
who I personally have walked through the area in the past that had no interest to work on the scattered site housing there.
on the scan.
So this is a very unusual situation where, based on my professional commercial real estate background,
I see a need for housing in that area, but my cohorts at this time were opposed to the presentation last brought to us on Monday night.
To answer one of your other questions, that area still is a primary single-family resident dwelling area, though many of the residents are renters.
And we've also been working with, even though RSA 5 people coming in, wanting to convert their units to duplex because we feel it's necessary to have good housing available for our people.
Okay. Thank you very much for calling in. We appreciate it.
Thank you for listening.
Alan, do you have anything more?
Yeah, Mr. Chair, I think Mr. Melodogin kind of stated, you know, what we were talking, confirming what we stated.
This is a really dangerous block, and this project would actually be a positive for the neighborhoods.
We did try to address the non-RM1 matters, because this was an RM1 property when we purchased it and we expected to, and I think this would be a positive.
but the one the first lady indicated she was concerned that that would be four stories that's
why we agreed to do the setback and there was an issue about like the open area that's why we're
eliminating the open area by way of proviso so we're addressing their concerns about the
dimensional aspects of it the gentleman indicated that he just wanted it to make a lot is there
anyone else in the virtual audience? I see no hands at this time, Chair. Planning Commission.
Good afternoon, Chair Bergman. David Fecto, City Planning Commission. Mr. Chairman and members of
the board, in 2019, the zoning map was amended, as Mr. Notkinson did indicate, in this neighborhood
from multifamily to single-family in accord with the recommendations of the comprehensive plan
and with broad community support. One goal of the zoning map changes was to prevent larger
multi-family buildings on streets primarily made up of smaller single-family dwellings.
The applicant's hardship claim is not supported with evidence of unique physical conditions
or circumstances of the property. The lot could be divided into three lots with one single-family
home on each lot. So if the applicant had proposed one building with three units,
the commission could have supported that proposal since the applicant proposes 10 units the city
planning commission recommends the board deny the variances and we will note before we hop off that
claims about affordable dwelling units cannot be enforced by any city agency thank you thank you
thank you very much mr knockison i'm going to take this to executive session on next wednesday
and we will vote in public
next Wednesday afternoon.
Thank you.
Number six
and seven together,
MI 2022
001817
2055 East Rush Street
and MI
001818
2050-70 East Rush Street.
Sorry, this is Hillary. Just going back
to the last
case, just wanted to note
for 2031-35
South 60th Street that the record is closed
on that case. Okay, the record's closed.
Absolutely.