um who's here now was never at any of our meetings and um as it was stated this was a kind of a
continuation from a previous meeting with the other property and the developer decided to wait
and come back for the second meeting because as he stated, he met with the community multiple times
and the things he introduced to the community about this property, Woodlawn, were not the two
dwelling, I mean, the two unit properties for basically eight units. And the community was
very, they were very concerned about that because he stated that he wanted to put those properties
there so that the the new owners would have a rental property but the the neighbors felt that
first of all he had been okay um kind of dishonest about it and the other thing was that um it would
be a lot more people than they had spoken about um but miss smith we would agree that we started
with eight we went to four okay and correct and then the property next door that um they're
talking about would be possibly a group home from what i understand from the neighbors from that
meeting and speaking to them after that's not definite yet and that's um another reason why
the developer decided to pivot as he called it and go down to four okay um another thing was again
leslie was not at these meetings so the neighbors never got a chance to talk about the water storm
situation to their satisfaction. We only got the information from, I think, the engineer.
So they were very concerned, especially the neighbor next door. They were very concerned
about the water storm situation, how it's going to continue to affect. They have problems with it now,
even though they said new drains were installed in the street. They said they have signs to say
the street may flood. They were very concerned, and they really wanted some more information
before that's one of the biggest reasons why they opposed it um what else yes it went down to the
roof decks they never spoke about the the back decks the roof decks were the biggest concern
and he did agree to remove those because of concern correct and um how about the hoa what
was the issue with the hoa okay so his suggestion and again not clarified his suggestion was to
to form some type of HOA to manage the stormwater.
form some type of HOA to manage the storm water.
The neighbors felt like that wasn't sufficient enough.
That was people getting together to say,
okay, we're gonna manage our,
they didn't understand, I didn't understand,
it wasn't clarified.
And again, if Leslie would have been there then,
or at either one of those meetings
to explain to the neighbors and myself,
I think things would have gone a lot better
um because they like okay they like the buildings they didn't like four of them but they like the
way they looked they still wanted to keep to you know stay within the zoning as far as the size of
the buildings so um and again um the biggest concern again i'm go back was was the storm water
okay we they um they would be different as far as driveways they but and it was a very very
very involved neighborhood and it's full of families yep full of family so um that's pretty
much my comments have any questions no mr chairman all right uh miss smith thank you very much for
me i think you clarified some issues for us thank you very much thank you next person please
oscar b promote to channel panelists
hi oscar beisert i'm a resident of oscar could you spell your name please for the stenographer
oscar last name beisert b-e-i-s-e-r-t right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole
truth nothing but the truth oscar i do um are you a neighbor i am a resident not not immediately
adjacent like i didn't get a letter but i live in germantown so okay sure please start your
testimony i just wanted to follow on to what two of the uh zoning board members said about um these
houses essentially being out of character and by creating these these you know smaller lots
basically by my mind this woodlawn street especially this side of woodlawn still has the
feeling of large detached houses the same thing with locust avenue which is the next street over
and the same thing with Church Lane, which is the street further on from that.
And, you know, that whole area was basically developed at the same time
as part of, like, a development of suburban-style houses in the mid-19th century.
And these houses really look like you're taking, like, townhouses you'd see, like,
in, like, way out in the suburbs somewhere and, like, plopping them down
in the middle of a street of large old houses and they just look completely out of character and
part of that is these driveways these front loading garages i just the the narrowness of them
yes there are uh twins across the street um but they they are across the street and they also
don't have like front loading garages that kind of make it look like you know a strip of houses
versus a traditional road that you might see in Philadelphia or especially in Germantown.
So, you know, I just really want to comment on that because this is a really special block,
just like Church Lane and Lucas Avenue nearby.
And this is going to kind of look like, you know, the spaceship just landed
and these are going to be completely out of context.
So I just, you know.
I mean, that's your opinion.
I think Mrs. Smith thought she liked the looks of it, right?
she disagreed with a couple other things but she liked the looks of it maybe maybe right
no okay i don't know if she did well i i thought she just testified maybe okay
is there anyone else in the audience i see two more hands here okay
good afternoon hi good afternoon could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
yes my name is deandre carter uh deandre d-e-a-n-d-r-e carter c-a-r-t-e-r right do you
swear or affirm to tell the truth told truth nothing but the truth yes um are you a neighbor
yes okay a near neighbor yes please proceed sir hi um yes like i said my name is deandre carter
um i just wanted to take the time to speak my family's been part of this community for
some generations now um we've seen what's been happening in the neighborhood um we were a little
displeased with the current drug and rehab facility that may possibly be coming into
the neighborhood. We weren't really kept in the loop on anything. This group has really
kept in the loop on anything. This group has really done the complete opposite.
done the complete opposite.
They've given their ideas to us. We've been able to talk to them. As presented earlier,
I know some of the designs were changed to appease some of the neighbors and the people in the area.
I think this would be something positive for the community,
um bring in affordable housing um bring in buyers and not people who are just coming to rent and
don't care about the community so i just think it would be something um good to bring more
families to the area um they showed a lot of respect to the neighborhood um they listened
to what we had to say so i just wanted to take the time to say that thank you thank you for
taking time mr. Carter next hand please Cameron Smith has been promoted to
panelists do we have any more hands after this no chair okay thank you
hello can you hear me I can could you please state your name and spell for the
sonographer. Yes, Karen K-R-E-N Smith S-M-I-T-H. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole
truth and nothing but the truth? Yes. Ms. Smith, are you a neighbor? Yes, two doors away. Sure,
please proceed. I would like to concur with the previous individual who spoke upon the property
would bring not only affordable houses, but in talking to other neighbors upon selling their
property or receiving comps, a lot of times individuals did not want to purchase the property
because there weren't family homes and their children wouldn't have the opportunity for it
to be such as a neighborhood.
We have quite a few individuals that are just individuals and not families.
I say that to say we welcome the change.
Change is inevitable.
And as the previous gentleman said, this group of individuals or young man
has changed several things, multiple things, and it's all been positive.
Lastly, as I stated, when I'm driving through Germantown and Philadelphia in general,
even South Philly, there's monstrosities put up in the neighborhood,
and they have made no allowances for anyone but themselves.
So I think that the properties look really nice, and I'm for it, 100%.
Thank you very much for taking the time to close.
Planning commission.
And my husband also.
Oh, your husband too.
Thank you very much.
I appreciate that very much.
Planning commission.
Amy Boyd with the planning commission.
the comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning at this location from the current rsd3
residential single family the proposed density is out of character with this side of the block
base which is rsd3 the appellant has met the standards for the special exception for the
heritage removal however the appellant has not demonstrated that there are unique physical
conditions or circumstances of the property that would prevent it from being used in conformance
the zoning code for the requested variances the planning commission recommends that the board
grant the requested special exception for heritage tree removal and deny the requested variances for
parking rear yard depth occupied area and lot width all right um mr chairman just just to clarify we
don't have a refusal for parking anymore i just want to make that clear the refusal for parking
was eliminated by the reduction in the density and i can bring up the refusal to make that very clear
So there's no, I think we, I just, I want to make sure that was for two families. So that refusal
is eliminated. Sure. Good. Okay. Look, a lot of testimony over a few days here. What we want to
do is I'm going to go back and sit with the board and figure out where we stand. Okay. And what I'm
looking to do is bring closure to this next Wednesday at 2 PM. Understood. And I will,
before that time uh delivered a hillary an updated set of plans removing the roof deck off of there
and a revised plan proviso otherwise and otherwise the record is closing those updated documents
thank you all right thank you thank you very much we have two more cases left of of the uh uh the
of of the uh uh the two o'clock list i swear to you we're going to take five minutes that's all
two o'clock list. I swear to you.
the next the next case would be um
6122 lancaster why don't you come up get set up and i'm telling you we will be back in five minutes
you go all right um
MI 2025-006-596-6122 Lancaster Avenue. Anna Wills is the attorney. Could you please state your name
and spell for the stenographer? Yeah, it's Anna Wills, A-N-N-A-W-I-L-L-S. Do you swear or affirm
to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth? I do. Could you identify your client,
the relationship to the property? That's JazTech Development Services, Inc. They're the owner of
the property and with me today is jerome shabazz the principal okay and i would tell you that
there's a letter of unanimous support from overbook west neighbors and our vice chair has a few
questions good evening have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of
this hearing yes and do you waive the reading of the referral and stipulate to its accuracy
I do. Okay, thank you can show your screen and proceed with the case.
all right uh so we are here today to uh seek a special exception permit for the community center
use at 6122 Lancaster Avenue a similar special exception permit was issued for two properties
next door that are appealing we're doing this before yep so you might remember Jerome from
the last year yeah you testified that time before am I correct yeah yeah yeah well the
length is driving though yeah this is the culmination of his work all right good good
with jazz tech development yep um so the property is now vacant and it's connected to the adjacent
properties and the intent is to have the community center continue onto this property um and
And essentially, because we're in the CMX 2.5 zoning district, it requires a special exception permit for this use.
I have our notice of referral and our deed.
We have all your paperwork.
We have all our paperwork, including the unanimous letter of support from the RCO.
That's right.
But to be mindful of the board's time, I'll just pull up the call.
We're mindful of your time.
You've been sitting there an awful long time.
It was a fun day.
So we have a caller.
always think of it like that but that's okay it's okay it's okay um we have a color rendering of the
site here and the the the site is meant to work as a community center focused on environmental
care for the community healthy living green living nutrition classes and i will let jerome speak on
the actual project because he knows more and is far more knowledgeable about what he's doing for
community here um so i think i'll just turn it over to jerome for that discussion
okay sure trump thank you very much your name state your name and spell it for the stock jerome
shabazz j-e-r-o-m-e s-h-a-b-a-z-z right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth i do counsel please proceed jerome did you hear my testimony yes
do you agree with it i do would you adopt it as your own i would is there anything you would like
to add about what you're doing on this plan to do on this property i think you might want to explain
what you're doing right there and you know and what's new and what has you know what's going to
be approved um well right now there is a vacant building that will be there will be an addition
for a classroom and a bathroom for the community um there's currently a you show us the drawings
for that yes yeah why don't you do that and then he can explain everything that fits into it later
um so we have our zoning plans here which shows what will be added assuming for you
so there's the vacant building out now this is the vacant building the gray area and there
will be an addition of a classroom and a restroom right okay um and then over here is an existing
greenhouse okay um which i think i remember that yeah it will be included in the plan um
What we're essentially adding is besides the building is greenscape or landscape, hardscape for parking spaces, bike parking, and what is called a, what if I pull, where to go, the color rendering, a nature play for the community.
So it's not necessarily traditional playground, but it's for everyone, both young and old.
for everyone both young and old right uh so jerome would you like to discuss
right uh so jerome would you like
what you intend to do on this property sure uh yes this is a it's a culmination of a great deal
of work um this is a brownfields to greenfields project um we started out uh working on this site
since uh 2019 um we've done all the environmental assessment work we we've got our act two
certifications it is so significant that the the state's brownfields program we're going to be
talking about this project because it's done such a phenomenal job in terms of restoring
community health vibrancy it was a former parking lot had hundreds of cars and it contaminated the
soil and we remediated all of that and now there's a really essential community asset
why don't you tell tell us some of the things you're doing yeah well what we're going to be
doing there is an educational program and we currently do training for phs and their
land care program as well as the tcp program for the city of philadelphia
where they have a natural environment where they can practice their skills and
learn about the infrastructure, natural infrastructural systems built in this site
also has green stormwater infrastructure, so they understand how to work on those
apparatuses as well. But the opportunity to have a control location that has