of the property. That's just a side elevation of the property and here is what the property
looks like. It is a twin. There is a little walkway breezeway here where you could actually
walk to the back of the property and that's where Mrs. Garcia would actually enter the part of the
property that she's going to live in. This is another picture of the property. I just put this
one in here to show you that it was posted property properly. This shows you the breezeway
of the property where you can walk back to the backyard here. The trash will be stored in the
backyard here in enclosed cans and they will be bought out on trash day. That just shows you the
density of the block looking down north 12th street and here are some interior pictures this
is the picture of the kitchen for the main apartment which she hopes to run out after
or if we are approved again the apartments aren't done they're pretty much house is pretty much
empty besides mrs garcia but these are some pictures of how the interior of the property
looks now that's the front room that you would enter and go upstairs to the second floor apartment
that's the uh one of the bathrooms
it's another picture of the block looking down north 12th street it's a picture of the bedroom
upstairs it's a picture of another bedroom upstairs on the third floor it's a picture of
the bathroom on the second floor so empty rooms still on the third floor it's a picture of the
street in general and here's a picture of the backyard you can walk through the breezeway
which I showed you before and there is a pretty nice open paved in area for the backyard that
both apartments can use that's currently fenced in this is how you would get to
mrs. Garcia's apartment you would walk down the side of the house the back you
would come up the stairs and you can enter her apartment from here
stairs and you can enter her apartment from here. She's showing you the stairways to the house
and this is the second little kitchen that Mrs. Garcia has put on the first floor currently
and that she's unable to traverse up and down the stairs.
this is the side entrance the breezeway i was talking about where she can walk down this way
and enter into her apartment i would note there's still only one box this apartment hasn't been
converted yet although there is a kitchen on the first floor for her convenience
It's just another picture of the block.
Mrs. Garcia did notice a letter to the community and they did have a community meeting.
I believe it was on June 9th, 2025.
Here are the proof of mailing certificates.
And here is a letter of support.
I believe there were 10 neighbors in attendance, and they all voted in favor of letting Ms. Garcia convert her single family to a duplex so she can have additional income, and she can also be on one floor only.
With that, I'm here to answer any questions that you may have.
Is your client here?
Ms. Garcia, are you on the line?
they're promoted they should be coming back in shortly
miss garcia
miss garcia
can you hear me yeah i can hear you now i could you please i pressed the video but it's not coming
out and i got another we see you okay oh okay could you please state your name is spelled for
the stenographer good morning yes my name is annie garcia and it's a-n-n-i-e-g-a-r-c-i-a
good morning to everyone on the board all right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the
whole truth nothing but the truth yes i do please proceed council miss garcia good morning are you
the owner of 4926 north 12th street yes i am and have you heard the testimony that i presented to
the board today yes i have and if you were to testify today would you be able to adopt my
testimony as given today as true and correct yes thank you i have no other questions all right
counsel out of curiosity how what's the entrance to the second floor how do you get there do you
have to go into her apartment to get up there no you don't actually go into the apartment
but let me um go back down to the plans here
so here we go this is the basement right so this is the front of the house
you would enter to the second floor apartment through the front door and this is the living
room. This is blocked off. You would go upstairs, and this is the rest of the apartment. You would
enter Mrs. Garcia's apartment through the rear here, where she just has the bedroom, the living
room, the kitchen, and the bathroom. Yeah, but I mean, isn't the stairs right there in the middle
of the apartment now? Were you going to block it off? Well, how would you get to it? Tell me how
This is this. Right there. This used to be that you can go through this way, but with the renovation, it would be blocked off here. And this would just be the living room for the main apartment.
So you will come in here to get to the main apartment. You would enter through the living room and you would go up the stairs.
OK, thank you. Other questions from the board?
Yes, I have a question. So, Ms. Garcia, you're ambulatory, but will you need a wheelchair at some point, or is that, or is, I'm trying to understand the.
The question was for me?
Yes, Ms. Garcia.
um mentally i don't want to go there but eventually i might need um maybe just a ramp
to be made in the back where i can not have to go up and down even though i have like four or
five steps there um my doctor has recommended not to bend my knee as much i get
um, my doctor has recommended not to bend my knee as much. I get, um, uh, gel injections.
And, um, so my plans are maybe to maybe do like a little ramp on that side, um, where my steps
right in the back, but I'm hoping not. Yeah. Bless you. I'm just trying to understand because
I'm looking at, I understand the layout and how the second and third floor is going to be sort of
this two-bedroom, three-bedroom apartment, which is almost like a house, and you'll have the one
bedroom and living room in the back. I just, so if this is agreed to or we support it, I just,
your purpose, I want to make sure that whoever does your layout, that they make sure that you
have enough accessibility in your bathroom, in your kitchen, to be able to maneuver and get around
and be able to have a lift up to your apartment
and have some other kind of lift from the pavement
because it looks like you've got a couple steps
or a few steps to get even up to the yard level
from the basement, from the street level.
So that was my only question
because this is just a shower
and a small bathroom in the back.
And I'm just, for your,
just want to make sure you have somebody do it
so it really accommodates your needs
at the end of the day.
Right, no, definitely.
yeah and I appreciate it yeah and um you know for the most part I'm I'm I'm comfortable um it's sad
that I have such a big house and I can't take advantage of it because I can't enjoy it the way
I want to because of the steps um there's at least 13 to 14 steps going from the main to the second
and then from the second to the third and I have fallen from them so I just want to avoid all of
that for my own safety was it the questions the the rear entrance that you're planning to use to
this how many steps does it take to get um i'm gonna say it has maybe about uh four four or five
steps i'm not it's maybe like four steps four wide steps okay and i thought i saw a picture
and it looked like it was a few more steps than that so you're going to go through this
breezeway and then yep this other yes that's it right there like yeah one two three like four
yeah four steps um okay and uh so and then the front there's how many steps
um I think there's about the same four or five steps in the main entrance okay and then um I
guess just the question um if you're having problems with the steps have you ever thought
of getting like a stair master or something so that you could I thought about that my neighbor
from across the street did get one and um like I said mentally I don't want to go there because I
still feel that I'm relatively young um and I think that would be just still like holding me
back to have to come up and down through there and I mean I'm fine where I'm at um my kids really
don't visit my youngest is coming in today to help me with some stuff but um I normally go to them
because they have a house you know which is big enough I'm here I'm not going anywhere I love
where I'm at I love the community um so just for my own safety and just to keep the house
nice and maybe help another family that can take advantage of it I mean it has three large
bedrooms two full bathrooms I mean I even installed a jacuzzi in the floor that I was on
and um again because of my own safety I can't enjoy my house um the way I'd like to but um
I'm I feel good in the back I open up the door I water my plants you know I have coffee in that
little area that i can sit outside when it's weather's good so i mean it works for me for
the time being and again if in the future i have to have a surgery for my back or my knee or anything
like that i mean then i will make some other arrangements to maybe even stay with my kids
until i get better um but i just mentally i don't want to i don't want to get into that and you know
think that that might be an option all right thank you thank you any other questions yeah i have a
question about the proposed work from the photos it looks like it was all completed
like you've added a kitchen and you've subdivided the property or is there
still construction to be done to do the subdivision um the kitchen was added about
two years ago but that was the only work it's really proposed that we're going to
close this uh back off over here to make this a separate apartment okay so that currently that
wall that's dividing the two units
is not there. It's not completed.
No, it's not.
Okay. I think that's my only question.
I think that's
my only question.
Questions from our attorney, Hillary Emerson.
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
No hands, Mr. Chair.
Planning Commission.
Good morning, Chair.
Members of the board, Michael Gallwood, the Philadelphia City Planning Commission.
the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the rsa residential single family attached zoning
at this location there is no unique physical condition or circumstance of the property that
would prevent it from being used in strict conformance with the zoning code the proposed
use of two family residents has a higher density level than is appropriate for this location
therefore the city planning commission recommends the board deny the proposed
variance for two-family residential use. MI 2024-004-773-4926 North 12th Street, I vote yes.
John's, my vote is yes. Cheryl Gaston, my vote is no. Sonetta Graham, my vote is yes.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes. Tywin, my vote is yes. Thank you, Councilman. Thank you very much,
So number 12, MI 2024-007-317-254 South 11th Street, Joseph Consul is the attorney.
There's unanimous opposition from Washington Square West.
There's another seven letters of opposition from neighbors.
One was a letter that has a petition signed by nine.
Mr. Consul.
Hey, everyone. Can you hear me?
Come on.
Did I swear you the last time right before we realized?
Yeah, yeah, you did.
Yeah, sorry, I got confused.
You've already been sworn.
Could you identify your client in a relationship to this property?
Yeah, my client is Neil McBride, that owns the property.
And our vice chair has a few questions.
Good afternoon.
Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, we have.
And do you waive the reen of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Okay, thank you.
You can share your screen and proceed with your case.
All right, my screen should be up now.
We are here for 254 South 11th Street.
I'm here on behalf of Roxburn 254 LLC.
Neil McGraw is the owner.
We were here about a month ago legalizing the chiropractic office on the first floor.
I'm now displaying my exhibit packet, 254 South 11th is an existing mixed-use building with a chiropractic office on the first floor and two residential units above.
It is zoned CMX1. Visitor accommodations is a use that requires a variance. In CMX1, we're seeking approval for use of those two properties or those two units as visitor accommodations units.
um we believe uh that this is a appropriate property to receive this variance because
this is not a new or speculative use um besides this being a property that has been
long approved for a commercial space and two residential units that goes back
as 1955, the hardship is compounded by the property's more recent history.
My client successfully operated, starting in 2018, two short-term rental units as visitor
accommodations. This was a use that continued for approximately five years prior to the city
cracking down on their short-term rental policies. And I understand that those policies were always
in place. However, as everyone knows, there was a period where these were allowed to exist
and weren't shut down. As a responsible operator, Mr. McGraw, once these became non-compliant,
stopped any less than 30-day rentals. He's now following the correct process to seek this
variance to legalize this use. We believe that there is an unnecessary hardship created here.
He bought this property, and I'll show you the pictures in a second, and extensively invested
in both the rehabilitation and, let me get to the pictures, and the upkeep of the property and the
furnishing on the property prior to, um, starting it as an Airbnb, which is now almost seven years
ago. I'm showing you the photos. It's one two bedroom unit, one, one bedroom unit.
one one-bedroom unit.
He listed for five years with a short-term rental company called Bespoke.
When he was no longer allowed to do that, he's shifted over to the 30-plus day model as is legal.
However, he's seeking approval to go back to the original one.
So, we met with, all right, I showed you those. I'll go up to the RCO's letter. We met with Washington Square West. Ultimately, as you saw, they submitted a letter of opposition.
I respect this RCO, but I believe it's critical to note that their opposition, despite there being a few different things, it's not based on a specific complaint about this property.
There's no record of violations anywhere that we could find or anyone else could find for noise, trash, any other disturbances.
This is a broader policy based objection to short term rentals in general.
And they do note that under the law, we're hopeful that that lends a little bit in our direction in terms of seeking support. Plus, it's not an RSA 5 or an RM 1 property. It is CMX 1 zoning. And so we and on top of that, the property is directly across from a major hospital, Thomas Jefferson.
The surrounding blocks are a blend of commercial storefronts, apartment buildings, and some
single-family homes.
Our use, we believe, is perfectly in character with this district.
In fact, as my client will attest to, due to the proximity to Thomas Jefferson Hospital,
my client has frequently hosted visiting nurses, doctors, and other medical professionals who
need to stay for two or three nights.