expenditure for special and recoverable funds. Excuse me, clearly we had 30 million dollars
to date. The expiration without appeal of the period during which an appeal could have been taken
from the issuance of the permit. There were numerous permits here, there were never any
court appeals taken. And then the last is, whoops, I jumped out of there by mistake.
and that the lack of evidence that there's going to be any negative public impact, that
we believe that the fact that those two buildings are there recognized as assets to the community
and along with the rest of the infrastructure, which is really proven to be aesthetically
very uh pleasing and an important part of the character of the community um indicates that
there will be no and there is no negative impact on the community so that's that's all that i have
for the uh for the board today thank you mr kirk questions or uh comments from the virtual audience
mr chair mr rick sudall has his hand up i will allow him to speak at this time if that is okay
with you sir sure yep understood
this is rick sudall hello hi could you state your name and spell for the court reporter
sure this is rick sudall r-i-c-k s-u-d-a-l-l i am a partner in known properties
this property for the foot off your preservation group all right wait a minute wait a minute do
you swear a firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do proceed
Rick, could you just confirm for the board that everything that I've stated here today
is accurate and that you adopt it as your testimony?
Yes, that is correct.
Do you have anything else to add?
No, I do not.
Okay, thank you.
Comments from the virtual audience.
Mr. Chair, I also have a Oscar Bazar with his hand raised.
I will allow him to speak at this time.
Absolutely.
Hi, my name is Oscar Beisert. I'm a member of the community where...
Could you please spell your name for the court reporter?
Oscar, could you spell your name?
It's Oscar, O-S-C-A-R. Last name Beisert, B as in boy, E-I-S-E-R-T.
Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed.
Hi, I have concern with this project. I appreciate that the developer has restored the other two buildings, and I understand the need for more housing. However, there is a third historic building on the property that is essentially in a state of collapse.
And it is one of the most ornate active historic heritage that we have in Germantown and Mount Airy.
And I don't see how, you know, at this moment it is at it's in a state of risk to be lost.
And it is by being designated by the commission, it is essentially a resource for the public.
And I think that, you know, before we allow a property owner who has tremendous financial resources to continue building new developments, they should have to take care of properties that are there, especially those that are historically certified.
And we cannot compel the property owner to fix the building.
Thank you for your call, but you've sort of
Thank you for your call, but you've sort of broken off there.
broken off there.
He actually looks
He actually looks like he fell out, Chair.
If I could just respond briefly.
Well, hold on, Mr. Carr.
Here's what I want to do.
Go through the virtual audience, then you can respond at one time.
Any other comments or questions from the virtual audience?
I see no answer, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Carr, you can respond now.
The building that Mr. Beysart refers to is what I'm indicating here with the cursor.
We refer to it as the carriage house.
It's a small, older building.
It does need some repairs.
And we've always considered this to be phase four.
This was phase one.
Presser, Nugent was phase two.
Getting building three as phase three is important.
And then once building three is completed, then we're going to turn our attention to building four as phase four.
Thank you.
The Planning Commission has already ruled their position on this, and they approved it.
I'm going to call for a vote.
And Mr. Shahid, you can't vote on this because you weren't here when this happened.
MI 2020-001579-201-West Johnson Street.
I vote yes.
Carol Tenere, my vote is yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
Thank you, Mr. Carr.
Thank you very much.
We appreciate your attention to this.
Thank you.
Take care.
MI 2021-005-027-2628 North Broad Street.
Rachel Pritzker.
Let's see here.
Mr. Brandon Saverin
has been out
RCO Uptown Entertainment
Development Corporation
letter of support
RCO Swamp Poodle Neighbors
letter of support
could you state your name
and spell for the court reporter
Mr. Saverin
yes good afternoon
Brandon Saverin
B-R-A-N-D-O-N
S as in Sam
A-V as in Victor
Do you swear for them to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Could you mention who your client is and the relationship to the property?
So my client is the Philadelphia Suburban Development Corporation, and that is the owner of what are actually the two properties that are the subject of this application.
I also represent Starbucks Corporation, who is the tenant of one of the two properties, and they will have a representative as well here.
Absolutely. And our vice chair has a few questions for you.
Good afternoon. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, I do.
I assume you've sent in the required documents?
Yes, I have.
Thank you. You may proceed and share your screen.
Thank you, Madam Vice Chair.
Before I begin, I just want to ask the board and make sure that you have this refusal.
It's actually a referral since we're dealing with special exceptions, that you have this referral before you.
The application number that you read, Mr. Chairman, does not match the application number.
on this referral. Check again.
I read MI 2021 005027. Yeah, I have 008483. This is the only matter on these properties that has
an active appeal. And my guess is if you look through your exhibits there, you'll have the
same referral i'm not uh quite sure as to the reason for the number mix up but i'd like to
proceed if that's okay with you just wanted to point that out um no i i would actually need to
research it this is tanya i'm chair if you don't mind i have to research no no what tanya take a
look at it and what i'll do is i'll go into another case and we'll get we'll get back to it
thank you kind of mr sadwin if you can unchair and turn off your camera we'll come back thank you
okay. MI 2021-003-231-400 block of Wall Street. Councilman Squilla has a letter of non-opposition.
He quotes the Whitman Council letter in his support. We do not have a copy of the Whitman
We do not have a copy of the Whitman Council letter yet.
Council letter yet. Alan Nockamson.
Alan Nalkamson.
Mr. Nalkamson has been promoted to panelists.
Hi, Mr. Nalkamson.
You've been sworn to state your name, please.
I would like to say that Alex Goldberg, the newest member of our team,
is going to handle this any matter. That's fine. Thank you. Could you
could we make sure that he's coming in? Yes, Mr. Goldberg will be coming back and
as a panelist. Perfect. Thank you.
Hi, can you hear me?
Good afternoon.
Could you state your name and spell it for the court reporter?
Alex Goldberg, A-L-E-X-G-O-L-D-B-E-R-G.
Right.
Do you swear for them to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client and the relationship they have with the property?
uh my client is and construction llc uh corporate representative by the name of gazi out of seven
is here with us today okay and our vice chair has a few questions for you
i do agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy i do
it appears that you've submitted well i think it does all the required documents is that correct
that's correct we however we did receive the letter of support after we submitted the materials
that letters are now included in the packet i'm happy to send it to you after this hearing
if you don't. Thank you.
You may have to see. Ensure your screen, please.
Are you able to see my screen?
again i'm alex goldberg of knockinson pc at 123 south broad street suite 1600 philadelphia pa
19109 i'm here presenting uh for 400 wolf street the owner of the property again it's and construction
llc uh here's the table of contents for my presentation
first we have the refusal then a letter of support from the corresponding rco whitman
council incorporated after that a prior approved zoning permit an atlas map photographs of the
property architectural plans and drawings the rco meeting notice and the corresponding
certificates of mailing an application for appeal a deed to the property and certificate of tax
clearance again with me is the owner's representative ghazi out of seven
first this is an rsa5 property seeking a variance for the relocation of lot lines to create
two lots from a single deeded lot the refusals are for minimum lot area as a result of the lot
line relocation of the 960 square foot lot becoming two lots two lots one of 427 and a half square
feet the other of 564 and a half square feet here's the letter of support from whitman council
we met with them on november 17 2021 as you'll see here we had unanimous support
from the rco eight members from the committee and 20 other attendees in the meeting for a total of
28 to zero in support of the project again there's no there's no construction new construction here
the building is existing as is this is merely form over substance
here is the zoning permit for the initial construction of the property the erection of
a single structure multi-family property with two dwelling units this is dated february 1st 2018
here is a map of the property one of the uh the two properties face different streets one property
has a front door on wolf street the other has a front door on south ford street
And you'll see that in the photos upcoming. Here's another map of the property. Here are the photographs.
upcoming here's another map of the property here are the photographs so this is the front
of the property on the wolf street facing home and side of the property you can see
to the left of the photo that is the front door for the south fourth street facing home
street to the right of the property and to the left
and stop 4th street to the right of the property and to the left
here is the survey map of the property
the site plan this is a floor plan of the basement there is no basement living
if this is again this is a corner lot this is the first floor floor plan
as you can see there's two means of egress here on the bottom unit from the first floor
second floor floor plan
third floor and a roof deck as you can see right down in the middle of the property is
sort of the division between separate homes here is our rco meeting notice letter which was
was sent on 11-3-21 which included the letter and the refusal that went out to 220 properties
in the surrounding area as you can see from this map and the list of the properties as follows
and here we have proof of the mailing
here we have the application for appeal that was filed for 400 wolf street
there the corresponding refusal again there's no new construction here this is
an existing property that's simply a lot line relocation project information form
here's the deed to the property showing at construction llc is the legal owner of the property
tax clearance showing no taxes on the property and that concludes my presentation
I'd like to have my client adopt my testimony, the owner's representative Ghazi out of seven.
out of seven
an audience sir please raise your virtual hand
mr goldberg you're an officer of the court well you can okay as an officer of the court
questions from the board no mr chairman and mr chair no mr chairman questions in the virtual
audience or statements
mr chair planning commission good afternoon chairman members of the board ian litwin planning