made it more accessible for her to just, you know, not be able to have to go upstairs and
just you know not be able to have to go upstairs and downstairs to use the bathroom
downstairs to use the bathroom.
um so we just made it more accessible for her in the basement
is there a kitchen in the basement um we have a i i guess i mean we have a fridge and an electric
stove okay and then did i see that you also put a electric meter down there
yeah yeah but we uh we agreed she's got to testify okay uh yes we do yeah so you put
electric meter down there and you made basically a small apartment is that what you would say
uh yeah essentially which we have no problem in removing that meter
all right so let's see if we can get your documents on it sure
okay your documents are coming up now
so so ian that's it let's just stay with the photos because we have all their documents so
so there's two electric meters there is that correct ma'am correct okay all right show us
what else is there is that the tell me what that is that's just a little living room i guess you
could say okay is that where people eat um yeah it's just a table okay all right next that would
be our little kitchen over there right there's the boxes okay
all right any other photos okay
yep that's the bathroom is in the basement yes it's a full bathroom yep okay
okay all right questions from the board yes so can you access the um the basement to this
i guess the first floor yeah or is it closed off uh we can access it okay so she can move
up and down the rest of the house yes thank you and then what was in the basement prior
to your conversion and work um the basement wasn't finished um so we just yeah we just finished it it
wasn't finished at all and then in the photos you showed where did the original line for the
like what was the original wall for the garage itself is it sort of like that living room area
where the kitchen and the couch are uh yeah everything else was pre-existing yes and then
did you insulate when you did the finish you did and are you guys opposed to uh the
requirement of a certificate of occupancy yeah no no oh no no sorry all right other
questions are there are there other are there other properties uh on your block that have
done something similar to this not that we're aware of okay all right thank you
actually i did have one other question how many people are typically parking in the garage i mean
in the driveway one person okay my mother-in-law doesn't drive so she does not own a car
questions no question to comments from our attorney so so your refusal was for
eliminating a required parking space but it looks like you still have a parking space is that
correct correct um i guess i guess they they said that because we just got rid of the garage space
but there is parking um in the back as well okay you did you submit to l and i plans showing this
parking space in the rear do you remember uh um i don't remember if we did honestly okay so i say
that because the so probably what the refusal should have been was a refusal for having the
parking in the required rear yard and not for not having parking but if you didn't submit plans to
lni i don't know if they'd be willing to change that you might actually have to do a new application
um i think the plans were submitted i'm sorry they were submitted okay i can i can look at that um
okay i can i can look at that um i i don't know that the the board is going to vote on this today
I don't know that the board is going to.
or not we'll see but um that will be something that i i'd want to look into because i'm not sure
that your refusal is correct um based on what i'm seeing here okay
questions or comments from the virtual audience mr o'neill
all right these chair we have a hand up from a madonna duffy okay so i'm i'm doing to do one
here first and i'll get i'll go to that okay all right mr o'neill could you um do you swear or
affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do please proceed this while this
is a illegal garage door converting to a door and windows, if you will, the
improvement. It was done without a license or anything, and it is illegal. This
came to my office, and Madonna, who's going to be on the call, Duffy, works in
my Busselton office, and she's actually the committee woman for this, so she's up
down the street a lot um the neighbors called us about a duplex and uh the neighbors apparently the
and i i don't want to be funny but the um the mother-in-law must be invisible because no
neighbor has seen any woman older than the owner ever. What they have seen is a
every month or two a new group is coming in and out of that unit. So and I just
have a couple of photos I'll hang and it shows the not only the second electrical supply there
but the meter but it also shows that there is a split unit for that separate air conditioning
and heating unit for that property. You'll see it. It's underneath the, on the side of the house,
underneath the house, the main house's compressor. Then, so on top of that,
we have a real big problem, and so does every other district, with illegal conversions. In fact,
in the last year um uh city council has passed the law i sponsored it every member
every member which is rare co-sponsored it um and um it requires
that the landlord have to have has to have a rental license before it can go from two to three
or 1 to 2 family. This is, I assume, predates this. PICO was probably following the rules.
But another thing I wanted to mention is that we have a copy, and I have a copy for everyone
up on the panel, that when the house was sold to the current owner in September of 22,
too. The Philadelphia Real Estate Transfer Tax Certification. It shows the owner as a grantee
and 866 Medway Road and rear of 866 Medway. It's interesting. It was a plan from they want,
apparently to do this and and family and mother-in-laws are almost the excuse in every case
that I have that's an illegal duplex very hard to prove but neighbors have eyes they're there
all the time and they can tell us a whole lot I know we're not here about the duplex yep but
But that's coming next. This has been turned into L and I and the Commissioner Bridget.
She lives fairly close to this. And I just asked the board to turn this down and not
grant the the application. It is it is first of all, it's just if it were just a this isn't
a this isn't someone that closed it off to get extra room in in their house and did a nice job
someone that closed it off to get extra room in
or not a nice job they did a very nice job as the picture shows but it's an entrance and and the um
uh the whole attempt the um uh that was that was made here starting from purchase was one to to
have a separate meter you don't have a separate meter for your mother-in-law or your mother
and and third you don't need a separate air conditioning system because these houses are
built they're three stories typical recreation room garage on the first floor on the ground floor
sometimes a a powder room then the main living area and then it's a typical bustleton northeast
PHILLY ROW HOME NOW THE PRICE IS GOING UP TOWN HOME SO THE THIS THIS IS CLEARLY SOMETHING
THAT SHOULD NOT BE GRANTED AND I JUST AND CLEARLY NO NO HARDSHIP BUT BUT THE CHANGING
OF THIS WITH AN ENTRANCE WINDOWS JUST TELLS YOU ALL YOU HAVE TO ALL YOU HAVE TO KNOW AND
going to hand this up because this I found very surprising because somebody actually was
was thinking this and making sure that they're that their deeds show the rear a rear
so um I appreciate the time and Madonna is here and maybe a neighbor or two on here but
Madonna, please bring her on.
We see Madonna.
Yes, they're being promoted to panel.
Sure, thank you very much.
they're currently promoted chair okay but donna
Madonna could you make sure okay good thank you yeah could you could you unmute me there
i see i'm muted hi can you hear me we we can okay i don't know why i'm not getting a camera right
now i am here okay could you do me a favor could you please state your name it's spelled for the
stenographer right my name is madonna m-a-d-o-n-n-a last name duffy d-u-f-f-y
i work firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do please proceed
um so I received the complaint from a neighbor who their concern was that it was more than just
a conversion for the mother-in-law that and it was multiple people in and out which when we went to
the meeting he said that once his mother-in-law was well enough he did have
relatives that came in and out multiple times. They also stated that they don't use the driveway
except for the one car because the mother or mother-in-law doesn't drive. But on any given day,
there's cars parked on the lawn, usually two cars on the lawn. They don't park in the driveway so
they can use the door to go in and out. There's multiple people, multiple children that go in and
out. It's obviously more than just conversion for the mother who was moved upstairs once she
was well enough. And the complaint came from not just one neighbor, but multiple neighbors.
And they met at the civic meeting and they expressed their concerns. And he admitted
civic meeting and they expressed their concerns and he admitted that it is more than just the
that it is more than
mother mother-in-law that's in and out okay thank you thank you very much for taking your time is
there anyone else in the virtual audience no hands at the sign chair planning commission
mr chair i think the applicant should have a chance to respond to the testimony that was given
yes i'd love to go ahead um your honor they had mentioned um that multiple people are coming to
visit we come from a very large family my mother-in-law has a lot of grandchildren she has
a lot of kids that come and visit her she is never alone they come in and out all the time
um and then another thing that the gentleman had mentioned previously was the windows being put up
um my mother-in-law has uh asthma so that that was one of the reasons that we did put those in so
she can get fresh air constantly because at the end of the days it is a basement um but regarding
the door the door had already existed previously as well okay thank you very much for your comments
planning commission sure bring the hand
hi my name here hi could you please state your name and spell for the sonographer
sarah bannock s-a-r-a-h last name b-a-n-a-c-h right do you swear affirm to tell the truth
told you with nothing but the truth absolutely yes are you a neighbor yes i am please proceed
I do live on the block and I have walked up and down the street. I am one of those people have reported it to L&I. And overnight, I do have to say that it was noted as violated. I just wanted to bring that into discussion as well, that this has been reported for months of violation of L&I.
I have not let L and I even in the house.
Okay. All right.
Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you for taking the time to call us.
Is there anyone else?
No further hands at this time, Chair.
Mr. Chair, could you, if you decide not to approve this application,
could you make it clear to the owner that he has to put the garage door back?
Well, I'll tell you where we're going to be with this.
Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chairman, and good morning.
David Fecto, F-E-C-T-E-A-U, with the City Planning Commission.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir, I do.
Please proceed.
Thank you, sir.
Chairman and board members, the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the RSA-2 residential single-family zoning at this location.
The city rezoned this neighborhood in 1979 in a council-supported match.
change the appellant appears to have removed their required accessory off-street parking
without the benefit of permits the City Planning Commission recommends that the board deny the
proposed variants for removing a required accessory off-street parking space all right thank you um
Councilman what I'm going to do is I'm going to hold this to next Wednesday morning uh we will
vote at 9 30 a.m I'm just going to have the Hillary check to see you know if we're voting on the right
thing or how that works okay but we will have this taken care of next week okay thank you and
and thank you we're gonna uh we're gonna vote on this next wednesday morning at 9 30 a.m um
and um you know you don't have to you can come on and listen okay thank you thank you very much oh
Oh, sure. Okay. So, number 20, 4622 Marion Avenue, MI 2025, 005-979. Let's see here.
Alan Nockamson is the attorney.
They're being promoted to panelists here.
Good morning, Mr. Chair and members of the board.
alan knockamson um could you spell please for the stenographer although they've written your
name numerous times before yeah alan excuse me a-l-a-n last name knockamson n-o-c-h-u-m-s-o-n
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do but you identify
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i do but you identify your client a relationship to the property yeah my client is carpenters
investment llc and in the virtual audience is its member gazi out of seven okay um you're in
california i understand i am mr chair okay thank you for calling in um our vice chair has a few
questions good afternoon i mean good morning um have you submitted your documents and exhibits
five days in advance of this hearing?
I have.
And do you waive the refusals and stipulate to their accuracy?
Okay, thank you. You can share your screen and proceed with your case.
All right, thank you.
All right, so we're here to present 4622 Marion Avenue.
Just waiting for my screen to come up.
We have 11 exhibits here, and as part of this presentation, we are proposing to have a CMX2 property have two units.
The original refusal asked for three units.
So as of right, we're allowed to have two residential units and one commercial unit.
Because of where we're located in the neighborhood, mid-block, next to other residential properties, we thought it was inappropriate to have commercial, plus we didn't believe that commercial would survive there.
Mr. Otis Eben, who is a licensed broker, will also testify as to that.
So originally we were proposing to have two, three residential units where we were going to swap out the commercial unit with the residential unit.
After we looked at the plans further, in order to conform to the architecture of the block, which has a porch and setbacks, we recommended to our clients to, you know, to reduce two units so that we can meet those architectural requirements as well.
So we do have revised plans, which will show two units plus, you know, the porch, plus actually reducing the amount of refusals here.
So now the only refusals we have are this one for CMX2, where we're required to have a commercial unit on the ground floor, and then the only other one is the rear yard depth, where it's more of a technical refusal, because while we're proposing 8 feet and 11 inches, where 9 feet is required for the minimum rear yard depth, it's a regular-shaped lot in the back.
and at its greatest point
Alan I think
we lost you
Mr. Nackamst, we're going to come back to you, okay?
I mean, there's no other thing we can do here.
Maybe he's coming back in now.
Mr. Nockamson.
I currently don't see him listed.
Okay, so what we're going to do is we're going to move on to the next one, then we'll come back and check with them later, okay?
Sure, this is Ian Hegarty.
If you could just give it one more minute.
It looks like he was back in for a second there.
Can you hear me?
We do now.