Yes, we would be happy to provide that.
Okay. Thank you, Ish.
thank you
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Do you know how to wait?
Mr. Chair, I got a hand raised from Mr. Michael McCluskey.
I have allowed him to speak at this time, sir.
Mr. McCluskey, could you state your name and spell for the court reporter?
Sure. Michael McCluskey, M-I-C-H-A-E-L.
mccloskey do you swear a firm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
yes sir proceed uh so i'm uh alexis and dave's closest neighbor um the proprietor of interstate
draft house which is directly across the street um from their property and probably one that's
partially to blame for when some people block their sidewalk in terms of people delivering
to our establishment uh we are uh 100 uh in support of uh of their um zoning variants uh
you know we don't want delivered drivers to park on that sidewalk we we've made you know numerous
times told them not to do that um as far as the risk of the the drive being close to the corner
um you know you have to weigh risks and the risk of people blocking that sidewalk is far greater
than I think the proximity to the street.
You know, in addition, it takes two cars off the street,
parking is always an issue
and something's gonna happen to that lot no matter what.
Alexis and Dave kept it out of developer's hands
and we, you know, it's really not big enough for a house
but someone would probably try to do it.
And that property needs to be used for something
and as their closest neighbor,
this is what we would prefer
that that property would be used for.
and we're strongly in support of our neighbors across the street. Thank you, Mr. McCluskey,
and thank you for calling in. Any other comments from the virtual audience?
I have a Mr. John Scott with his hand raised. I have allowed him to speak.
Sure. Morning, Mr. Scott. Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter?
Yes. Good morning. John Scott, J-O-H-N-S-C-O-G-T.
Right. Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
I do. Proceed, Mr. Scott. Thank you. So, I am the ward leader for Fishtown, South Kensington,
North Square, but at this time, I am actually the adjoining neighbor. I live at 456 Moyer Street,
and then my yard includes 1222 to 1226 East Palmer, which directly adjoins both 1228 and
1230, and I guess now it's all 1228. I am in full support. I'm not aware of any neighbors that
object to this project. I've been there since 99, and the house was actually there when I first
got there. It was still there in the late 90s, but it was torn down shortly after. And it did
encroach onto the sidewalk by several feet. Once it was torn down, the yard was not buildable
anymore, and then all the fill from the house was left underneath the yard. And I've kind of
watched it for about 18 years as different owners have tried to use the lot it's too narrow to build
on and it doesn't really grow anything except weeds and it's you know for many many years it
was six foot tall with weeds so Dave and Alexis have tried very hard to keep the yard clean and
I really appreciate them as neighbors they've been really good with that but really it's just
not suited for gardening it's not suited for building and there's just too much concrete and
stone buried in there for any kind of um any kind of gardening uh use um i also heard the visibility
concerns at the community meeting but but my familiarity with the intersection is that that
that isn't really an issue there's plenty of visibility because of the way the house is set
back um and i just don't see that as a risk so i would just ask that the board approves this um
the mirror sounds like a an excellent uh addition to it but i am in full support
thank you mr scott for calling in any other comments from the virtual audience
thomas do you have a statement yeah yeah a question mr chairman i like that i like to ask
did your site plan get stamped by street department for the review we have um the initial
Approval from October 5th, and then the secondary approval through row, I believe is what Mr. Ali has approved and we're just waiting for that.
But, but no, but no stamp on the site plan.
Uh, no, I don't believe so. Thank you.
Any other comments, virtual audience.
planning commission sir sir sorry i have miss kathleen pickles with her hand raised sure
could you state your name and spell for the court reporter please
yes my name is kathleen michaels k-a-t-h-l-e-e-n my last name is michaels m-i-c-k-e-l-l-s
you swear affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
yes proceed um i am also a neighbor but i am down the street i'm actually the house that's adjoining
that one of the driveways that Alexis presented in her presentation. And I would very much like
to be put my stamp of yes, in approval for this project. Because in particular, it takes the cars
off the street. And there is no, and I'll state this four times, five times over, I walk my dogs
around there all the time the problem is not visibility from the two streets of that that
they're going to have just as it isn't from the other driveways that were shown in the presentation
and the bigger problem is people who park there so i think that they're doing a real service to
the community to do what they're planning to do thank you thank you for calling in any other
comments from the virtual audience i see no further answer mr chair planning commission
All right. Thank you, Chair Bergman, Ian Hegarty for the Philadelphia City Planning Commission. Members of the board, the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the RSA 5 single-family zoning at this location. We appreciate the community support and the support of the near neighbors. We agree that the lot is likely too narrow for a structure.
However, in cases like this, when we're looking at hardship, we have to see evidence that the proposed variance is necessary to enable viable economic use of the property, and we don't see that in this case.
We further believe that the proposed curb cut is too close to the corner and will degrade rather than enhance pedestrian safety.
we heard a lot of testimony about motor vehicle and motorist safety but the pedestrian environment is
really the reason for the zoning code provision that prevents this type of driveway access and so
we have to recommend that the board deny the variance thank you um may i'm sorry may i speak
to the hardship sure um i you know i didn't want to harp on it too much um during the presentation
but for us where we are now being able to park near our home may mean the difference of being
able to stay in this city I know everyone is dealing with hardships with parking but when
I'm walking back on a regular basis with my child and hearing these stories about carjackings I do
I do feel consistently that I am making a choice between living in a neighborhood I love and a city I love and the safety of my child.
And when we have land that we are we're taking care of we're paying taxes on and using it for this purpose may allow us to live in this house with our growing family, where we really might not be able to without that.
thank you thank you for your comments uh council um is that an appropriate proviso what ishmael
mentioned about a mirror i wouldn't think that um l and i would enforce something like that okay
good thank you okay mi 2021 005 121 1228 east palmer street i vote yes thomas holliman my vote
is no. James Snell, my vote is yes. Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes. Thank you. Thank you very
much, Chairman. Thank you, Counselor. Right. Here we go here. MI 2021-003-882-2021 Germantown Avenue,
Mr. Nockamson is the attorney, letter of non-opposition from Councilwoman Sanchez,
and letter of support from Westrod Progress RCO.
Okay, Mr. Nockamson has been promoted to panelist there.
Very good.
Morning, Mr. Nockamson.
Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter?
Good morning, Mr. Chair, members of the board, Allen, A-L-A-N.
Last name, Nochumson, N-O-C-H-U-M-S-O-N, 123 South Broad Street, Suite 1600, Philadelphia
PA, 19109.
You swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
Could you identify your client and the relationship to the property, please?
Could you identify your client and the relationship to the property, please?
And this is 2020.
And this is 2021 Germantown, right, Mr. Chair?
The owner of 2021 Germantown is H&M Developments, LLC, and I have the owner's representative, Ghazi Adesav.
Thank you.
Mr. Holloman has a few questions for you.
Good morning, counsel.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to his accuracy?
did you email all the exhibits as required proof of ownership tax clearance copy refusal
referral pictures or drawings of the property five days in advance of this hearing did you
meet with the rco and do you have rco letter yes i do i have a letter of support from the coordinating
rco west george progress and a letter of non-opposition from the district council
please proceed and share your screen thank you
hi so we're here to present 2021 germantown avenue uh in my presentation we'll review the notice of
refusal the correspondence from west gerard progress which is a letter of support i do not
have in my possession the letter of non-opposition from the district council member but i heard the
chair state that such a letter has been issued directly to the zoning board of adjustment
we'll go over some recently granted cmx multi-family variances which have granted the
relief that we're seeking we'll review the maps of the area photographs of the property and the
surrounding area our architectural plans and drawings our community meeting notice which
shows that it was sent out with the proof of mailing our deed to the property showing that
H&M Developments LLC is the owner of the property. We also included in our presentation packet
our application for appeal for this zoning matter that we filed with the zoning board of adjustment,
as well as a certificate of tax clearance showing that H&M Developments LLC, the owner of the
property, owes no taxes, real estate taxes to the city of Philadelphia. Again, at the conclusion of
my presentation, I'll ask that Ghazi Ades-Evan, the owner's representative, virtually raised his
hand and about my testimony and we will then be more than happy to take any questions from the
board from there all right the notice of refusal so this is a cmx two property this property is
approximately 1300 square feet as of right we are allowed to have a commercial unit on the ground
floor and two units above because of where we are in the neighborhood if we feel that it's
inappropriate and it's a hardship for us to be required to have a commercial unit
for this property thus we're asking that the zoning board excuse us from having a
just simply a commercial unit on this property and simply have two well-sized uh residential units
so again we're just trying to eliminate the commercial component we're not trying to
increase density and we're actually trying to help support uh the portions of the commercial
corridor that do exist today and that are nearby rather than being forced to have a commercial
unit that would not be viable and would compete against other current empty spaces
on that commercial corridor which we are mid-block where the others are not mid-block
plus others that are nearby as well uh we did meet with uh west gerard progress at a well-attended
meeting and they support our project as you can see from this letter and then recently granted
variances under similar circumstances 2036 germantown avenue this board recently granted
similar circumstances but in those circumstances the it looks like the applicant asked to merely
swap out the commercial unit with the residential we're not asking for that we're just asking to
eliminate the commercial unit here they asked for three units we're only asking for two
and then 620 diamond street which we intersect with on diamond street they also receive similar
relief from the zoning board maps in the area we are on germantown avenue as you can see there's
a rather large shopping center which has present supermarket which we're trying to enhance the
the viability of that shopping center by including this density of residential units and to help
out the commercial quarters that does exist on the edges of Germantown Avenue.
And then you can see that there really is not any commercial use on this on this block
commercial use on this on this block all intents purpose there's a chinese restaurant here looks
On its purpose, there's a
like stuff on the corners but nothing on the actual block itself and mid-block and then
photographs of the property this is a vacant lot this is a current photo of the property
but here's a photo of the property that we received on we obtained from google earth in 2007
As you can see, this was a vacant lot over 15 years ago.
And as you can see, there's actually a for sale sign here as well.
So this property has not been developed for almost a generation due to the zoning of CMX.
CMX 2 is not viable.
That's why we're asking to simply have it as a duplex where we are surrounded by RM1, which is behind us.
and then this is germantown to the right of the property as you can see there's an inkling of some
commercial use but uh not you know well used and then here's germantown to the left of the property
again at the end of the block our strip of properties on our side of the block is completely
and we're hoping that our use as a as a residential duplex will spur others to develop
in this neighborhood
and to help the significant shopping center,
which is located nearby.
And then plans of the property.
We're not seeking any dimensional variances here.
We're just merely a used variance.
As you can see, our property
actually doesn't even go as deep as the properties.
I mean, excuse me, well, they're vacants.
But like, you know,
you can see that we have a significant rear yard.
You know, we tried to do a brick facade that's flat, that the neighborhood appreciated, that we're trying to keep within the historic character of Philadelphia railhomes.
And again, just to, you know, quickly go over this, we have two units.
Unit number one is a three-bedroom, three-bath.
Unit number two is also a three-bedroom, three-bath.
this was an opportunity to help the housing stock that's there for properties that don't
have the amount of bedrooms needed to for families and that was very attractive to the community as
well and then our meeting notice again we had a well-attended meeting April 19th at 6 pm 105
properties were notified of this community meeting for the addresses of those properties
and then here's our proof of mailing that we mailed out those notices and our deeds of
property showing that h m developments llc is the owner of the property
and our application to the zoning board of adjustment along with our notice of refusal
and our project information form and our tax clearance certificate showing that we are
compliant in that respect. With that being said, I'm going to unshare my screen. I'm going to ask
that Mr. Ades-Evin virtually raise his hand. And just to note, Mr. Ades-Evin, in addition to the
owner's representative, is a licensed realtor in the city of Philadelphia, and he can testify
on the viability or lack thereof of a commercial space on that property if the board so is inclined
to ask Mr. Adeshaven questions about that. Mr. Adeshaven, can you virtually raise your hands
if you haven't already? He has. Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
Good morning, Mr. Chairman and all the vote members. My name is Gazi, G-A-Z-I. The last
name is A-T-A-S-E-V-E-N. Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but
the truth? Yes, I do. Proceed. Mr. Adeshaven, you heard everything I stated. Yes, I heard that.
and is it true and correct yes including the lack of viability for commercial units on the property