no further you know thing to do in the matter and I wasn't consulted any further frankly till
you brought it up with me I'd forgotten about it but I did remember the site and I did remember
that the main thing that we thought was important was, well, two things.
One, that it had existed previously.
that had existed previously to that in fact it in no way was a blockage of any walkway or open space
Two, that in fact...
thank you and um i guess the last thing i want to ask you joe is um was it was it your
understanding that once uh it was remanded back to the zoning board uh and nothing really happened
from that point as far as it being relisted that there were no complaints or anything
and that sort of a gentleman's agreement was stricken with the community supporting the owner
to park there and there's not been any issues with it. Apparently because had there been any
problem or prosecution I would have known about it. I never received anything further from the
court or the board and uh i may have gotten a call many years later that there were a number
of old cases that were going to just be dismissed or put away but the court sent it back specifically
for further testimony and i i believe that was her reasoning and she felt more had to be made
of the fact that i just talked about that is the tremendous open space thank you joe so um
basically uh the sort of next part of this um we'll kind of just be talking about the character
of the neighborhood the character of the additional properties um that are similar to this and then
kind of going through our hardship but as the board can see this is a again long-standing history
of there being a parking space there and it's been what's 2001 it's been 20 years
since it was originally submitted to the board and up until 2020 when a new neighbor moved in
there's not been any complaints there's one violation which was filed in 2020 because of
incessant calls from the near neighbor to the police and to L&I but other than that
Joe am I correct to say that you you didn't receive any calls or any issues with this
since 2001. I have not. Okay. Thanks, Joe. I appreciate you being here. If the board has
questions for Joe, feel free. But I really do appreciate your time. Thank you. And I'm just
happy to be here and happy to see you all. Joe, in 2001, that was your first year out of college,
right? Out of law school. Yes, I was a freshman. It's good to see you. Stay well. All right, Joe.
stay safe. Okay, Rachel, we can proceed. Thank you, Chairman. So I'm just going to quickly go
to the historical photos of the property. As you can see, we kind of outlined the R-site 249
Rochelle. I also have illustrated the other properties that have gotten approval for parking
on their properties, specifically, you know, most notably, I guess, is 269 Rochelle. The parking
space was approved by the ZBA and the streets department in a 1993 variance application,
at which time the streets department issued a letter to L&I noting, after inspecting and
evaluating the entire 200 block of Rochelle, it was determined that the applicant's proposal
seemed no different than many of the other properties in the block, which park in the
same manner. Hence, curb cut approval has been granted subject to the zoning authorization.
So again, there's three other properties, including ours, that have a similar parking
pad and got approval for parking. And it was when my client, the current owner,
purchased this property 17 years after the gentleman's agreement was stricken in 2001,
after we explained kind of what went back and forth with Mr. Beller, you know, our current
owners were under the assumption because it was there, because there'd been no violations,
because of the longstanding history of people parking there since at least 1996, that it was
legal parking space. And it was not disclosed to my clients, unfortunately, that it was not
properly legalized. And like I said, there are many other properties that are similar on this
block. And so they kind of assumed that was all part of it. The next, our next, the next door
neighbor has, you know, likes to, has, has trying to put this as diplomatically as possible,
because this has been a very contentious issue, has had issue with, with the neighbor's tenants,
They're two young college students that are actually graduate students that I believe are
actually leaving. They actually moved out given this issue because their car got blocked in.
There has been a lot of threats and other things. So we're just really looking to legalize this.
It's keeping a car off the street. It's a long-standing use. It's in character with the
neighborhood. And we also, in addition to going to the community meeting, we got support from
um we got support from nine near neighbors who uh some of which were at the meeting but most of which
nine near neighbors who, some of which were at the meeting.
um you know have tried to wanted to stay out of this given uh sort of the contentious nature that
this has caused um in the community so or in this in this neighborhood uh it's just a matter of
wanting to legalize this parking space uh so that we can kind of put this to bed as the board can
see on here we had support from seven neighbors, 13 opposed on the same block. However, that's
pretty neck and neck. And so we went around and the client actually obtained nine additional
letters of support from near neighbors who are supportive of the off-street parking spaces.
A lot of people did understand that it had been there for a while. Members in Wicca had
you know, remembered the history of this and had said, you know, they do recall this, there was a
gentleman's agreement. And, you know, given that situation that they had kind of just allowed that
neighbor to park there. And so we're just asking the board finally grant this variance so that we
can put this to bed and utilize this as many others on the block are appreciating utilizing
their spaces. If this was to be removed, it just adds more parking on the street. Again, if you ask
the police as well. They're not ticketing this because they recognize this as a legal parking
space. LNI has only put a violation on it as of 2020, and there's no history of violations
for the 17 years prior. I could belabor the point until I'm blue in the face, but I think I'll have
our civil engineer just jump on as our expert here because he's been out to the site. He drew
work for a bit. Greg Hucklebridge, H-U-C-K-L-E-B-R-I-D-G-E, 1051, Drew Drive, Yardley, PA, 19067.
Claire, confirm, sir, to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth.
Yes, I do. Thank you. Rachel, please proceed.
Thank you. So Greg, if you could just explain your background and your experience. I'm going to pull up your CV or your resume so that the board has it. I'd like to qualify Mr. Gregory as an expert here as a civil engineer and be a civil engineer who actually drew up the plans and has been to this site. So Greg, if you could just briefly explain your background and your expertise.
Sure. I graduated from Lehigh University in 2003 with a bachelor's degree in civil engineering.
I've had a license in Pennsylvania as professional engineer since 2008.
I've worked in land development for over 10 years. I'm also public works director for Lower
Mayfield Township. I have experience in other townships in similar roles as well as construction
management experience and heavy construction. Thank you. Can you share with us how you're
involved with the subject property and what steps you took in drawing up the plans as far as
visiting the site and explaining the existing conditions? Sure. The owner of the property
contacted me about this issue. I met him on site on August 15, 2020. We measured up the site and
I prepared plans accordingly that show where that parking spot is in relation to the street
and the structure on the property as well as neighboring properties.
And when was the last time you were at the site and can you please explain to us the conditions
that were present at the site? It was August 15th, 2020 and the conditions of the property
as you can see in the aerial photographs and the other exhibits here there's a concrete pad
behind the curb towards the front edge of the house. There's a good picture of it.
Adequate space per the requirements of the city
for parking off-street with the curb cut with adequate radius
for a vehicle to enter and exit that
parking space from the street. Thank you. And are these conditions
consistent with other existing parking spaces that you've seen specifically
in this neighborhood when you went to view this site? Yes, I saw
several that were actually maybe even more constrained than this one this one has plenty
of room to be able to maneuver. And in your experience given the location size turn radius
and your examination of the site in addition to you know conditions on other sites does this
legalization in your professional opinion cause any potential hardship to the neighbors or safety
to the neighbors or anyone else on the block? I don't see any other hardships in my professional
opinion. So you don't believe that legalizing this would cause additional harm to any of the
near neighbors, to any pedestrians, to kids, anything like that, given your examination
anything like that um you know given your examination and your and uh your experience
and your experience?
correct i i don't see any any hardships on the near neighbors or anybody uh walking along the
sidewalk either okay thank you um is there anything else that you want to add related to
this project or um just uh i did some research with the aerial photographs i went back i could
go back to 1996. And I could see at least from 96 on that space has been there. I also noticed
several other properties, as you've indicated, you can see on this picture here, as well as
other properties that have similar spaces, some obviously permitted and some maybe not. But there
is certainly a precedent on the street with similar parking spaces. Thanks, Greg. Does the
If the board doesn't have any questions for Greg,
I'm happy to rest at the moment.
Any questions for this witness from the board?
Anyone else like to testify in this case,
please raise your hand.
Yes, Chair, we have Yvonne.
Hello?
uh whoever you are please identify yourself for the record name and address spell your last name
hello my name is my name is vaughn piccolo v-a-u-g-h-a-n piccolo p-i-c-c-o-l-o
address is 3550 freeland avenue philadelphia we're in the firm to tell the truth the whole
truth nothing about the truth yes are you with one of the rcos i am a member of wicca but i'm not
where is your residence in relationship to this application
i am around the corner are you are you within 250 feet of this property sir not within 250 feet
okay i would ask that if he's just here as a not an affected neighbor that i would ask that
his testimony off we heard excuse me this is sharon it doesn't have to have standing at the
board level anyone can testify well at least at least i would at least like to have the board
realize that he's not an affected neighbor well that's why i asked him thank you all right so
sir please proceed okay thanks so in 2016 was again was rezoned and under a coordinated effort
between wicca the philadelphia city planning commission and other near neighbors where each
parcel was analyzed to ensure that the zoning properly matches its use and location this
parcel right here is rsa 5 which matches its appropriate use that zoning prohibits front yard
parking in 2018 the city council amended the zoning code to adopt the wizak and neighborhood
conservation overlay. That ordinance includes a prohibition against front yard parking. It's one
of the main sticking points of that prohibition of that ordinance. And this also violates the
impervious coverage requirements requirement of that of that ordinance. So there are a couple
things happening here that kind of fly right in the face of what we worked hard to approve not
not two years ago. There's no detriment to the owner to leaving this as is. I think it's kind
of being oversold here how many houses have front yard parking. The vast majority of houses on this
block do not have front yard parking, and so there's no hardship to the owner. There is a
hardship to the neighborhood, absolutely, in that a public parking spot is taken away and turned into
a private parking space that benefits the owner, not the neighborhood. So there absolutely is a
hardship. And I was on the board of Wicca previously, I'm not anymore. And there's no
record that I saw of any sort of gentleman's agreement that the community supports this. I
mean, the community voted overwhelmingly to oppose this. So if that's not an indication that there
is no support, then I don't know what else would indicate that. So I ask the board deny this
variance. Great testimony. Anyone else would like to testify? Hi, yes. Can everyone hear me? Yes.
Name and address, sir. Yes, my name is Daniel Flesher. I am the, my address is 311 Ryder Street
and I am the zoning chair
for the Wissahickon
come again
Flesher
F-L-E-S-H-E-R
Can you square me from to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing?
Please proceed.
Yes, I am here to represent the Wissahickon Interested Citizens Association,
and I have some exhibits I'd like to share, if that's all right.
Yes, thank you.
I think I have to be given permission to do this.
Yes, one second.
Yes, may I ask first what type of exhibit you plan to present?
Hello?
Flesher?
Hello?
Mr. Flesher?
Yes, I'm sorry. Sorry, I was rejoined the meeting in order to be able to share my screen.
No problem. Ms. Shunkin had a question for you?
What are the exhibits?
I have exhibits for previous refusals. The letter that the current owner, Jesse Evans, sent to the near neighbors, which I think has information pertinent to this.
The current has all of this. It was included in the hearing packet.
they have part of the packet yeah yes i would i would love to share it if that's okay uh as well
as some witness statements by near neighbors as well as letters of opposition a petition from the
near neighbors in opposition to this uh including nine near neighbors and um so and uh okay go ahead
i haven't seen most any of the documents that he's trying to present um i have that i that i
submitted that are the zoning records and letters of support that we obtained, but I have not been
able to see any of the additional documents that he's trying to provide. I emailed these
per the requirements five days before the hearing. But did you send them to me as the attorney
representing the property owner? No, I did not. Okay, so I'm just reiterating that I've not had
chance to review any of this so i would not be prepared to respond yeah well i'm also i mean
not a lawyer so i'm here to give my testimony uh you know i'm sorry chair but if i could make a
mention uh that if we could and sharon can um discuss as well accept the documents for as
exhibits to the file um however if they're already included in the packet with rachel's they're part
of the file but those additional documents he added and it doesn't appear unless they're pictures
or other things that can be shared that we need to present is that correct sir uh there are photos
so because this property has been in violation since um 2020 since yes since january of 2020
um the current owner has not uh come into compliance with that nor has he cleared the
violation and his tenants have continued to park there since that's why we're here yeah chairman
with all due respect that's why we're here and we reached out to the l and i inspector to let
them know we're working through this and as the chair is well aware you cannot resolve l and i
violations within 30 to 60 days related to zoning so that's precisely why we're here
sure but he is also not um complying with the code so his tenants are continuing to park here
in violation of that code. They're not, we're in, we're in the middle of sort of a pending
ZBA environment. And as we let you guys all know at the community meeting,
those tenants actually have moved out and the owner has actually, the next door neighbor
has actually parked in front of the curb cut many, many, many times, not allowing anybody to come or
go in that spot. So we, I could, we could show those photos as well, but I think that the board