My house was built in the 1860s
and my house is very much in character with the neighborhood.
The neighborhood is made up of single family and twin houses.
The apartment complex, though it's been there
for quite a while, is at incongruous with the neighborhood.
This has links up our neighborhood and makes it cohesive.
To take down, to say that the house is out of character
is erroneous. The apartment complex is out of context with the neighborhood. It's there. We
accept it, but we certainly don't want more of it. And we certainly don't believe that zoning
should be changed for it. So that's my thought. The house is super lovely, super cute. And if
we spun around and if everybody who's making this decision came to the block, you would see that
the house is in character with the neighborhood, not the other way around. But the rest of the
block is all all single in in twins two family houses yep thank you okay chair we have william
ewing he's been allowed to speak unmute yourself and speak my name is william ewing e-w-i-n-g
i live at 510 east mount pleasant avenue which is about a block and a half from this site i
Do you swear and affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Two points that haven't really been made before.
One, the traffic on this block of Durham Street is affected by the fact that it dead ends at the railroad tracks on Sprague Street,
which has one-way traffic so that you have to enter Sprague Street from Mount
Pleasant you can exit up to Mount Airy but it actually you can't exit on that
area because it goes because that's a different grade and it's a very
difficult block, and so cars end up turning around there. It's difficult traffic. The second
point I wanted to make is that this is really the back of the apartment house, not the front,
as the applicant stated. There's only one apartment building from that apartment house
that's on Durham Street, and really Durham Street, except for that one building, is all single
family houses for blocks from the railroad tracks all the way up. So this is, it's not filling in
apartment in what is existing. It is
apartment in what is existing. It is creating more apartments where it's mostly single-family,
including the Papendix House, which is next door to this one.
Thank you.
Okay, we have Adam Bernstein. You have been allowed to speak. Please unmute yourself and give your name and address.
Adam state your name and then I'll swear you in okay chair we can go forward
there's a Anita sharp you can unmute yourself and speak give your name and
address? My name is Anita, A-N-I-T-A, Sharp, S-H-A-R-P-E. I live at 6-1.
Ms. Sharp, you went off. You said you live at 6-1.
6-1-6 East Durham Street.
Okay. Do you swear and affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
I do. Thank you. Please proceed. I want to just go on record that I am opposed to this variance
for all the reasons that were stated earlier and adding one last thing is that unfortunately I
am steadfast in the opposition no matter what you want to put on there if it's an apartment building.
thank you okay chair we have another person nina you can unmute yourself and state your name and
address hi my name is nina curlett n-i-n-a c-u-r-l-e-t-t i live at 236 east springer
and I oppose this variance request
for all the reasons spoken about.
I need to swear your way
and it's part of what we do here.
You swear a firm to tell the truth,
the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Thank you.
Please proceed.
I am in opposition to this variance request.
First and foremost,
because the parcel does not meet the requirements
for a variance as defined
and specifically the parcel itself being suggested by Gallman Group as not being able to be used as
a single family home is false. The Gallman Group is misleading by stating the home at 318 East
Durham has not been in use as a single family home. Up until the date that House Sedgwick LP
he bought the property, who I believe is Gallman, when they purchased this in 2010, the property
was indeed used as a single-family home. I know this for a fact because 318 was owned and sold
in 2010 by a close personal friend and his wife who resided there, began their family there,
and raised their children there. The home was indeed, it did indeed serve as a single-family
home, just as Mr. Kelly O'Day testified. It's a wonderful home, charming inside and out, and I
can personally attest to having spent time in that home. It absolutely does not need to be or oppose
any kind of reason that it should not exist on that street as is and has continuously been used
as zoned up until the property was sold to Gallman.
Thank you.
Thank you.
And by the way, I just want everyone to understand,
I was not trying to dismiss your concern about the property
and being demolished and changing the character of the neighborhood.
I just, without standing there, but looking at the pictures,
I just thought it might not be as desirable to buy a home that is surrounded pretty much, at least on three sides, by apartment complexes.
That's the only point I was trying to make.
Chair, we have Ann Bullock.
You can go ahead and unmute yourself and give your name and address.
Afternoon.
This is Ann Bullock, A-N-N-E-B-U-L-L-O-C-K.
My husband, Thurman, and I live directly across the street at 319 East Durham Street.
Mr. Bullock, Mrs. Bullock, do you swear to affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
thank you please proceed we've had great neighbors who owned that home the home is an interesting
Thank you. Please proceed.
We've had great neighbors who owned that home.
little home that provided family relationships with many of us on the other side of the street
even as renters have been in that property we've had great relations we've had activities on the
small street and we all oppose the change that's going to bring in everything you've already heard
So we will relinquish our time.
We have Carolyn Campbell.
Hi, my name is Carolyn Campbell.
I live at 7144 Crittenden Street.
Is there any way for me to share my opinion?
You're getting a lot of, as an echo, feedback.
someone needs to mute or do you have two devices on? Is this better? I would like to share my
screen. Do you have a phone on? Do you have a computer on? Is there some other device near you that's on?
No it shouldn't be a problem. That's better. Okay. Name and address. You swear to
firm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth? I do. I have
an image to share. Thank you. She's not a panelist. So she would have to send it
to me. Okay, would you please send that to Ms. Sunkit? Okay, sure.
while you're sharing that could you please provide us with your testimony yes
or does the visual do you need to have the visual up as you speak
oh it's nice to have the visual because it's design research in the area and
is it a visual of the of the house that's in question here
so I will just talk through it I don't have Tanya's email in front of me so the question
was raised earlier what was the use of the area prior to the apartment buildings the use to the
area prior to the apartment buildings was a park. The apartment buildings were built and currently
I don't understand the stormwater strategy on site. Our neighborhood floods. We live up
up up the watershed from this apartment complex and during three different rain events this
spring, we have seen water flowing into the gutters, flooding the streets, and preventing
access across Upsil Street, which is a major thoroughfare in Mount Airy.
Upsil is not a neighborhood street, and that's what the imagery was showing. And my
objects into this project is that it's not in the spirit of the current planning process
that the city has gone through to reconstruct Philadelphia. And if we do not hold our developers
accountable for stormwater management in the redevelopment of Philadelphia, we are only going
to create larger stormwater problems. And we must hold developers accountable for the spirit of the
development and this variance would not be in the spirit of new development in
Philadelphia. Thank you. Thank you. Here we have two more. Natasha Martinez,
please state your name and address and you can unmute yourself and give your
testimony
Natasha Martinez, do you wish to testify?
Hello, I'm
Do I need to state my name?
Yes, please state your name and address for the record.
Explain your name to the stenographer.
Natasha, N-A-T-A-S-H-A, Martinez, M-A-R-T-I-N-E-Z.
Then do you swear and affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Thank you.
Please proceed.
I just wanted to state on record that I currently reside in 318 East Durham Street, and it is a very quite charming house.
I had no intentions on moving or relocating at least for about four or five years until my
daughter was out of high school. However, you know, this news was very new. And then with
Gallman Group not renewing my lease, and I'm assuming the lease was not renewed due to
have the property empty if zoning was approved to demolish the property. And I would love to
stay there if I had the opportunity to. And I oppose the zoning that they're putting in.
Thank you. Here we have Ethan.
Hi, my name is Ethan Menser. I live at 427 East Durham Street.
To mention, do you swear and affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Please spell your name for the stenographer and proceed with your testimony.
I'm sorry?
Please spell your name for the stenographer.
P-T-H-A-N-M-E-N-T-Z-E-R.
Okay, please proceed with your testimony.
I would first echo all of the collective concerns about the variants,
but to add something that hasn't been heard, a lot of personal concern,
I am a professional composer and music producer,
and my recording and mixing studio is in my house at 427 east durham street and
my objection to the variance is that the noise from a major construction project along with
ongoing noise from an increase in traffic will do we have it so i i need to interrupt you
that is something that this board will not be able to take into consideration.
Construction will go on in that neighborhood, potentially, you don't know, it could be that
property, it could be any other property. That really is not something that we would certainly
do. We wouldn't take that under consideration. What about the increase in traffic? Well,
we've already heard about that several times. Right. I'm not being dismissive. I'm just saying
We've heard about that several times. We've heard about flooding. We've heard about stormwater runoff. And so if you have something new and different, that would be helpful.
Okay. Well, I would just add that the negative impact on my business and my ability to pursue my career would be, I can't overstate that.
So, thank you.
Chair, we have one more.
Alethea, you've been, can I meet yourself and speak?
Thank you.
My name is Alethea Colbert, A-L-E-T-H-I-A-C-A-L-B-E-C-K.
I live at 323 East Durham Street, directly across the street from the apartment building.
Could everyone hear her?
Could anyone not hear her?
You need me to repeat?
Is this better?
A little bit better.
Try it again.
All right.
Alethea, call back.
A-L-E-T-H-I-A-C-A-L-B-E-C-K.
Thank you.
Do you swear and affirm that it's all the truth and nothing but the truth?
Thank you.
Thank you. I live at 323 East Durham Street, directly across the street from the apartment
building. And I would just like to go on record as saying that my family and I wholeheartedly
do not support the rezoning of this property. And one other element I would like to add,
in addition to all of the other concerns raised by my neighbors, is that my husband and I are often,
And we are very friendly with many of the people
We are very friendly with many of the people who live in the apartment buildings.
who live in the apartment buildings.
However, the-
However, the increase in traffic to our street would be detrimental.
We already have significant problems parking in front of our own home.
And a lot of that is due to the residents who live in the apartment building who either
do not have space in the apartment's existing parking or are parking on our street because
the entrance to their building is on East Durham Street.
This is a significant problem for all of us, for all of our neighbors who live on this street.
And then second, the other problem that we constantly face is an incredible amount of trash and garbage that ends up on our street.
For those of us who are residents here, who live here, who take care of our homes, we are constantly working to keep our street clean.
And a lot of this trash and debris is either coming from people coming to visit people from the apartment and or from from people not caring about the neighborhood in which they reside.
so I would I would just ask that the Commission and the zoning board please
consider the impact that this kind of additional residents on this street
commercial resident or apartment apartment buildings would have on the
life and the quality of life that many of us who have chosen to make homes here
have thank you thank you appreciate your testimony thank you that's all chair okay