we do like you too calendar number mi 2020 000 273 1701 south 24th street
the attorney is isaac slepner
i'm vice chair michael mattione here well hello mr mattione name and address for the record
Yes, Michael Mattione, Federal Reserve Bank Building, 100 North Independence Mall, Suite 5A Northwest, Philadelphia, 19106.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Do you also agree to wait reading the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
have you emailed the entire exhibit packet with proof of ownership tax
compliance refusal referral photos and plans of the property five days in
advance of this hearing and have you met with the RCO and also do you have a
letter yes to all of the above okay great you may proceed thank you and I
would ask that Clifford Lasky the owner of the property be unmuted as well and
the chairman will swear clifford in what are you asking me no i was just asking if cliff was on
oh it needs to raise their hand
Cliff I see you Clifford Lasky here hello everybody good morning
Mr. Lasky please spell your first and last name for the rectus stenographer please
Clifford Lasky, L-A-S-K-Y, Ben Franklin Residences, 1453 Point Breeze Avenue, Philadelphia, PA, 19146.
Do you confirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
I do, yes.
Thank you. Please proceed.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just want to confirm that my screen sharing is on.
thank you and this is uh as we said these are the exhibits that we uh submitted and before we
move forward i do want to say we do have a revised plan
form and revised plans and they were submitted and when the documents were submitted
one page this property is the southeast corner 17th sorry 24th and mars 1701 south 24th street
We are seeking two variances, one to allow three residential units where one residential
and one commercial unit is permitted, and the other is to allow a six-foot-high fence
where a four-foot-high fence is permitted.
We met with the RCO, and we got a letter from the RCO.
It's an interesting letter.
the RCO board voted to oppose the project, but the community at large voted to support,
or not oppose, actually to support the project. So the community at large,
The community at large, the nearby neighbors voted to support the project, despite the vote of the RCO board itself to oppose the project.
the nearby neighbors voted to support the project.
With respect to the plans, which I have up now, and let me rotate the view.
The property, like I said, is on the corner property at 24th and Mars.
Originally it was proposed to be 38 feet. As pursuant to the request of the RCO, we have
agreed to reduce the height and we reduced the height to 35 feet and we have rounded the bay
windows. As you can see the bay windows here, we originally had them squared off and we rounded the
bay windows off as requested by the RCO. The rounding of the windows matches up with the
Bay windows that exist on Morris Street. Most of the houses on Morris Street do have bay windows, and we match up with those houses that surround. There is our revised plan form to reduce the height from 38 to 5 feet and around the bay windows, and that's what's reflected in the site plan that I just showed.
Again, here are the floor plans with showing the – oops, I got them upside down, sorry.
okay um showing the bi-level unit in the basement in the first floor a unit on the second floor and
a unit on the third floor with a rooftop deck we do have a rear yard
which has a trash area in it as well for all of the units and that's the fence that we're talking
about along along mar street and the rear of the property there is an alley behind the property
and that's not impacted by this
and there is the rendering showing the facade these bays are rounded as shown in the zoning
site plan and that is a picture of the property itself as you can see is the corner property
long-time vacant lot here. I want to stress that the owner of the property at 1703 South 24th
Street has sent in an affidavit in support. When he testified before the RCO, he said that he's
been tired of constantly having to clean up this lot that is constantly accumulating trash and
debris and it's just a problem so again these are the other corners at 24th and
Morris and they are all commercial with residential above and the RCO as you can
see that is our property and there are the other three corners the RCO and the
nearby neighbors said that there is enough commercial uses at this
intersection they don't have a need for another commercial use and do not want
to have another commercial use which is part of why they are in support of this
project and then these are just some other corner properties showing
multifamily residential these are 24th and mountain street half a block away
so and there's our zoning poster
and this is the rco letter
There's summary, the vote of the board, two to support, five to oppose, and then the vote
of the community, eight to support, and six to oppose.
And this is proviso's, remove the parapet, we'll agree to move the parapet, change the
height to 34. It's 35 feet because, and Cliff can explain why it's 35 and not 34, around the
bay windows. New sidewalk, he agreed. He will agree to a private donation to the Housing Trust Fund,
and he has not agreed to reduce the living space in the basement. He actually agreed to reduce
living space in the basement as well and have more storage down there, and all the units will
be two bedrooms. That's not really a zoning issue. And then I just wanted to point out,
we also had petitions and letters of support from 59 nearby neighbors. This is a list of
and this is a list of all of the addresses of all the neighbors in support and a map that shows the
all of the addresses of all of the neighbors in support.
location of all the people that we were talked to who support the project and just want to point out
this is the the neighbor at 1703 south 24th street george dozier and his uh support um
half a day.
This property meets all of the dimensional requirements of the zoning code, it meets the
height, the open area, the rear yard.
When you look, most of the corner lots in this area have multifamily above and commercial
below.
When we met with the neighbors again, they suggested that there was too much commercial
in this area and, you know, at least sufficient commercial in the area on the other three
corners and requested a residential building here, and the summoning shows that it's intended
to have more than one unit.
In meeting and reviewing, Mr. Lasky can explain why he proposes three units.
The units will be about 1,500 square feet for the first floor and basement unit.
the second floor about 800 square feet, the third floor about 888 square feet.
The roof deck would be usable by all units. And like I said, there is an enclosed trash
area in the rear yard, and it's something for privacy. And again, the demand for commercial
areas and the lack of demand for any commercial areas dictates that this would be a multi-family.
Again, when we met with the RCO, they asked us to reduce the height.
We agreed.
They asked us to run around the bay windows.
We agreed.
They asked if we would make a voluntary contribution to the Housing Trust Fund.
They asked us to build new sidewalks, and we agreed to do all that.
And we have no more than two bedrooms in each unit.
We agreed to that.
This property has been vacant for many years.
As Mr. Dozier said when we met with him, he really would like something built here.
He said there's no demand for commercial uses.
He lives next door.
We've got other neighbors down the street, around the corner, 1704 across the street as well in support.
The situation here was not created by Mr. Lasky.
Granted, the variance will allow development of this property in conformity with other corner properties,
such as the ones at 24th and Mountain, which are multifamily residential.
it will bring additional customers for the surrounding existing commercial uses
and it's in harmony with zoning by creating quality housing
it meets the goal to encourage revitalization
and deteriorate of vacant properties
and it benefits surrounding properties by removing this vacant property
that has always got trash and other debris on it
And it will not alter the character of the community, which is largely a residential community, and as Mr. Lasky will testify, it is the minimum necessary for the property to be developed as three units.
And Cliff?
Cliff?
Hello. Yes.
And you've heard my statements, correct?
Yes. And are they true and correct? Yes, they are. Do you adopt them as your testimony?
Yes, I do. And could you just briefly explain to the board, one, the changes that you made
because of the RCO and how they came about? Sure. Well, the RCO is concerned mostly about
the height. That was their biggest concern. And I told them I will build it as low as I possibly
can. We were trying, everybody was interested in making the front porches and front stoops
match up with our next door neighbor at 1703, Mr. Dozier. His front stoop is four or five
steps up, and we are trying to match ours with his. We're also trying to match the bay
windows. In matching our front stoop, we're going to be rised out of the ground about
four feet uh and the calculation the calculations that i did at our zoning meeting i i did at our
rco meeting i did a quick calculation i thought about 34 feet we removed the parapet walls that's
about as short as as we could make it plus or minus and when i did the calculation with the
architect we came up with a right about 35 feet which is still plus minus 34 feet so i can commit
to making it 35 feet removing the parapet walls which reduces the height by an additional three
and a half feet plus or minus and that's as as low as i can make it three-story building which
is very common in the area and um that's that's what we came up with there for the design
And, um, that's, that's what we came up with there for the design.
All right.
And, uh, did you look at possibly having fewer units in the property?
We did.
It could be a two unit building and still be the same size.
Uh, three units and smaller units are going to be a little bit more moderately, uh, priced.
Uh, there's not a lot of rental, uh, availability for, for smaller, moderately priced rental
units in the area.
We're trying to create that.
And if we did do two units in the building, they'd have the same number of bedrooms, and they'd just be larger square footage units.
You know, at that point, they may be more likely to be sold.
I'd like to keep them as rentals.
As anybody who's familiar with the area, there is a whole bunch of 2,000 square foot plus single family homes in the area available for sale and purchase,
which is wonderful and great, and home ownership in this community is very high.
I do think that specifically this corner, the size of the lot,
I think it lends itself to a small triplex there.
And, you know, with those two moderately priced units on the second and third floor,
I think they'd be a service to the community.
Thank you, Cliff.
I have no further questions and no further testimony, Mr. Chairman.
Questions from the board.
no no no we still testify if so please raise your hand
no hands oh wait we have one
the councilman's office uh no no hello hello could you give me a minute please yep
we have a a caller who has again the number 085 if you wish to testify
say your name so you could be a sworn name my name is grace lewis good morning miss lewis
Would you please spell your last name
For the stenographer
L-E-W-I-S
And your address please
Morris Street
We're in a firm
To tell the truth, the whole truth
And nothing but the truth
Thank you, please proceed
Good morning everyone
I have a concern about parking
And the structure
with no architectural background, I actually would like to see it remain
and be built as a two-unit structure.
Because they have access to a balcony that would be commensurate to a backyard,
so I'm asking that they consider making a one-car entry driveway
that opens into a two-car carport and make the yard area smaller.
so that they can alleviate the possibility of overcrowding with parking.
Parking is terrible in this area.
My second concern is I never, ever saw a petition.
I was never, ever asked to sign a petition.
2325 Morris Street is a half a block down the street from the structure you are proposing to build.
I'm sorry.
Yeah, you finish.
I'm sorry.
So, I mean, those are my concerns, and that's my suggestion, of course,
like I preference, no architectural background,
but I'd like to see the yard area smaller so they can build a two-car
carport with a one-car entry driving if you can envision what I am trying
to portray.
so the adding of this structure will only take up one parking space
I know what you're saying I don't think it's I'm not an architect either but I don't think
it's physically possible to do that and I believe you would be taking more than one parking space
because of the radius that would be needed to enter and exit that carport area as for
not getting a petition were you aware of the community meeting and if so did you attend
you have to unmute yourself I muted you
I was aware of the one community meeting that I attended and I was not offered a petition to sign