Here is the floor plans. This is the basement. Again, no living space in the basement. These would be utilities down in the basement. Here is the first floor. It's a one-bedroom living room, kitchen, bathroom. I'll just point out a couple mechanical in the back here.
I'll point out a couple items that we worked out with the CDC and with the neighbors.
There's two entrances.
There's an entrance separate from the outside right into that first floor unit.
And then there's a separate entrance to go right up to that bi-level second and third floor units.
We also, because we've got this rear yard, we're able to create an outdoor area for both units where there'd be some outdoor space.
but there'd also be an enclosed trash storage area in this rare area accessed for both units.
So that is the first floor.
Smoke alarms, hardwired as part of this upgrade unit, fully billing code compliant.
And then second floor, this is the bi-level unit.
This is a large unit.
We're talking 1,800 or 1,900 square feet.
four or five bedrooms here which is really needed in the PHA inventory. We have our architect if we
want to get into more of the details here but this is this unit itself is basically the size
of the rest of the block. Those buildings just on the second and third floor because this
building is much larger and again you know part of the concern with neighbors was that they have
a trashed enclosure also in the unit and also on that first floor.
And that's what we've modified these plans as we depicted to show that.
Just just briefly here, this is an exhibit that we put together to show that the corner,
our property is about 3000 square feet, the rest of the block, which is a mix,
but is about 2,000 square feet, much larger, and is zoned commercial and has never been a single
family. So, this is something that we did. We did an analysis, the architects looking at the
surrounding uses and the size. This is our letter of support from the Strawberry Mansion CDC.
We had two separate meetings with them. I think the zoning board might notice we had, I think,
three continuances on this. PHA was absolutely committed to working extensively with the
NEIGHBORS WITH THE CDC ON THIS IN ORDER TO GET THIS LETTER OF
SUPPORT. THERE WERE SOME PROVISORS IN HERE
THAT WE WORKED ON. WE'LL OBVIOUSLY WORK CLOSELY ON THAT
TRASH REMOVAL FROM THIS LOCATION. YOU SAW THE PLAN CHANGES THAT WE
MADE. AND IT'S ALSO JUST BEING AS ACCESSIBLE AS POSSIBLE TO THE
MEMBERS OF THE BLOCK, PROVIDING, YOU KNOW, PROMP RESPONSE TO THOSE
NEIGHBORS, ANY CONCERNS THEY HAVE, AS WELL AS PROVIDING CONTACT
INFORMATION FOR THE CDC OF THE SPECIFIC PEOPLE FROM PHA WHO WOULD BE ASSIGNED TO THIS PROPERTY
AND BE ABLE TO ADDRESS ANY CONCERNS THAT ANY NEIGHBORS MIGHT HAVE. AND WE AGREE TO THOSE.
I DON'T THINK THEY'RE ZONING THAT YOU PUT ON A PERMIT, BUT THOSE ARE OBVIOUSLY COMMITMENTS
that we've made as part of these meetings.
And here's our tax clearance.
Here's the deed and other additional documents.
So I guess with that, I would stop
to see if there's any questions that the board might have.
Why don't you first,
why don't you bring on the PHA person
who will adopt your testimony?
And then leave your architect on call.
And if anybody has a question about the design,
we'll bring the architect on but bring sure with that uh um j ryan wachter um vice president of
construction of pha i believe if we could um have him out here sure jonathan watcher has been allowed
to speak sir could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
is he on
yes chair he's on
Jonathan Watcher please unmute yourself
Jonathan Wachter, please unmute yourself.
Could you please state your name, sir?
Can you hear me?
I can. Please state your name and spell for the stenographer.
My name is Jonathan Ryan Wachter. I'm the vice president of construction at PHA.
Could you please spell your name for the stenographer?
J-O-N-A-T-H-A-N-W-A-C-H-T-E-R.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, counsel.
Mr. Wachter, you heard my testimony to the board regarding the project, the history of the property, prior uses, as well as the floor plans and discussions with the neighbors and the RCO, correct?
Yes, absolutely.
And did you find those true and accurate?
Yeah, I think you nailed it on the head with those.
I mean, it's no secret there's a great need for affordable housing all throughout Philadelphia.
Last year, more than 37,000 individuals applied for a chance to be one of the 10,000 selected via lottery to establish a wait list for the housing choice voucher program.
And by returning this property to a duplex, PHL will be able to add not one, but two units into our inventory for scattered sites.
Great. And do you adopt my comments as your own?
Great. And I just wanted to ask you this.
We had multiple meetings with the RCO, with neighbors, with other interested persons, and you attended all those meetings, correct?
Absolutely.
Yeah. And there was a number of plan changes that we made.
They didn't impact the zoning, but changes as far as trash, changes as far as ingress, egress points, lighting, the front making that more engaging, as you see on the elevations.
Were you aware of those changes?
Yes. And those were all changes that we made in order to address concerns that were raised to us, correct?
Yeah, those changes were brought to us, and we worked together to take care of those items.
Great. And one last question, at least for the time being.
I know as part of these discussions, you made clear to the RCO and to the neighbors that PHA would provide direct contact information to neighbors, to the RCO, if there's any concerns that those neighbors on that block have. Is that correct?
Absolutely. If there's any neighbor complaints regarding any tenant news and activities, they can reach out to the PHA property manager's office for this site.
I have a phone number. I can say it and I can also add it to the chat if that helps.
I don't think we need to say it right now, but the understanding was that we would provide that to residents on the block and as well as to the RCO.
Absolutely.
Okay. There's also a PHA anonymous tip line as well if there's someone who would like to call and they would like to remain anonymous. So have that information as well.
And this is obviously all in addition to all the screening, the financial background checks and all that for the residents, correct?
Yes, every day they're on a lease. Scattered sites homes are integrated into the community. Residents are obligated by lease to keep the unit in a safe, clean, and sanitary condition, including the upkeep of fenced-in yards, picking up and removing trash, and disposing of the trash in a sanitary and safe manner.
The tenant is also required to follow the city's weekly trash pickup schedule without bringing the trash out until either the night before or the morning of trash day.
And it's up to the PHA property management staff.
They perform multiple inspections per year on each PHA property, one of them being a housekeeping inspection to determine if the tenant is compliant to the lease and noncompliance is grounds for lease termination.
Great. Well, with that, I don't think I have any further questions for PHA. We are available to answer any questions that might be out there for the board or the virtual audience.
Questions from the board?
No, Chair.
I do have a couple of questions. One, I guess if you stay around long enough, you see stuff that you were involved with a gazillion years ago.
so i remember this building i remember the iterations of what this building was
so but um so that clearly there's a need for um uh uh larger units for the pha inventory
uh uh larger units for the pha inventory can you go to the floor plans the one concern that i have
can you go to the floor
is um storage space so if you can go to the yeah let me uh i think it's i think it's down
and and where is the trash going to be kept yeah so let me just there you go and if there's anything
i can't ask uh answer i want the architects so we have uh mr johns we as part of the one of the
plan revisions here was there was outdoor area for both unit one right here and then unit two
right here that direct access to that trash storage area and then we also kind of you know
we're trying to do our best we're built in a redundancy for the bi-level unit on floors two
and three we actually took created an area here where there'd be additional trash storage you
kind of an interim trash storage before they then brought the trash down to their designated area on
the first floor so we've we've you know we've tried to work that out i assume also we could
use the the cellar uh because there is no living space that would be another that would be a third
area if we needed to um but you know those those were what we had worked out with with the neighbors
uh and the rco uh on that issue and you can use them into the plane a little bit yeah sure is
that can you see that or is it too big still nope nope i can see that i can see that that's that's
the only that's the kind of the only concern that i have is when you've got this number of um folks
in a in a unit you know kids are going to have bikes you know they're going to have toys they're
going to have a bunch of stuff and so we're where are they going to store it i see i like the idea
that you have that additional storage space but i will look to see if you could find some additional
storage yeah we can certainly take a look at that um you know we do have that that cellar area
uh that that is accessible we have the outdoor area um i know our project architect is also on
the line if you'd um i'm sure he's better at looking at and trying to figure out if you can
find some more storage space within the unit okay yeah we'll absolutely take a look at this
and sort of making sure that because that's a lot of folks that that can be for a pha
that can be up to 10 people and maybe more dependent on the age of the, you know, children.
Yeah. We just have a unique opportunity here because of the size of this property.
Right.
Other questions from the board?
Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Emerson.
Just briefly, Mr. Chair, Mr. Feldman, I just wanted to note, I see submitted plans and a rise plans form
because this is a change of use application the board cannot stamp those however the board could
if it wished I think adopt a proviso noting you know that there would be two separate
entrances sorry separate entrances for the two units and request a that a specific occupancy
be obtained so that there would be review of the floor plans by L&I so I just want to make a note
to map the record. Yeah, I mean, I think we're fine with a note on ingress, egress. I wouldn't
want to get locked into this specific floor plan that we're showing right now as far as, you know,
unit layout. You never know what exactly will transpire, but the ingress, egress was an issue
at one of the earlier meetings. If that's what you're asking about.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Yes, Chair.
I have a hand up by the name of Tyrone Williams.
They have been allowed to speak.
Could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Reverend?
Tyrone Williams, please unmute yourself.
Yes, good afternoon.
Hi, Reverend, could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Sure. Good afternoon, chair and board.
My name is Reverend Tyrone Williams, Tyrone Williams, W-I-L-L-I-A-M-S.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, told truth and nothing but the truth, Reverend.
Yes, I do.
Please proceed, sir.
I just want to also adopt the testimony that came from Mr. Feldman.
We have been working on this more than one meeting.
They have been very open, listening.
I hear it in their presentation.
I like the fact that there was a complaint about management,
They're playing about management, and they are making available anyone that we need to contact, if we need to contact.
and they are making available
And I just want to let you, you know, just say the CDC has all support behind this project.
Thank you very much for taking the time to call us. We appreciate it.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
Yes, Chair. I have three hands remaining. Rashida Ferks has been allowed to speak.
Hi, could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Hello?
Rashida Perks, please unmute yourself.
Hello?
Go to the next hand if you have to.
Am I now unmuted?
Hello?
Am I now unmuted?
Yes, you are.
Please.
Rashida, do me a favor.
Please state your name and spell for the stenographer.
It's Rashida Parks, R-A-S-H-E-E-D-A-H, and the last name is Parks.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do swear.
Please proceed.
I live at 3142 West Burke Street. I talk to PHA maybe two times a month with a direct contact about the neighbors who are public nuisances, leave trash out on Mondays, even though trash is Fridays, neighbors who have threatened me on video, and all I get is pushback.
I have the email change since August of last year until last week.
With the CEO on there, no one has talked to anybody on this block about a corner house with two more families and more problems.
They won't do anything about the families who cause issues on this block now.
And when they do get court dates, it's just pushback to continuations.
And the answer they give me, oh, we have a court date. These court dates are withdrawn and just continued, even with the CEO. So I don't need an extra phone number. Not when I'm calling the CEO directly and nothing's happening.
the only people who pick up trash on this block are about three homeowners no one on this block
on pha picks up anything and add two more families in the corner no no so so it's unacceptable
rashida we appreciate your phone call we will ensure that pha is aware of where you are with
this and we'll make sure i am they ignore me every day when i email them thank you very much
we appreciate it. Next hand, please. Calvin Williams has been allowed to speak. Could you
please state your name and spell for the court stenographer? Calvin Williams, C-A-L-V-I-N-W-I-L-L-I-A-M-S.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do. Please proceed, sir. Okay. First, good afternoon.
Good afternoon to you.
All right, and the rest of the members.
I wanted to express my appreciation for all parties and how they worked with the community to get this rendering that I see now.
This is my first opportunity to see the latest rendering, and we have come a long way.
And I'm looking at the building, and it is a beautiful-looking building.
It's helped us keep the integrity of our stock of houses around there.