Do you want to hear your testimony adopted?
Yeah, Mr. Snowden.
yes i'm here yes i adopt your apology your i i adopt your testimony do you want me to
speak to the situation with that first floor space yes i would like to because you i mean
you've been in there numerous times you're more acquainted with it anyone so if you could just
make some brief comments that would be great yes i think the rco has misinterpreted the space that's
there. When we bought the property back in the late 90s, we increased the size of it significantly
thinking we would be able to find a restaurant that would fill the space. And we have not been
able to. It has not had a tenant in 20 years. We are increasingly finding interest from small
independent restaurateurs. And what we've done is basically shrink the size of this
commercial space from about 3,200 square feet to 2,000 square feet. It is absolutely usable.
The kitchen can be installed in the space that's there. But I'm afraid that if it's left the way
it is, it condemns it to another two decades of vacancy. So I really think that this is the thing
to do. That's based on your 41 years of commercial experience in Chestnut Hill. Absolutely. I mean,
I think that after all of those years, I'm fairly expert about what is leasable and what is not
leasable in that neighborhood. And currently it is not leasable. I increased the size of that
first floor by more than a thousand square feet, because 20 years ago, larger spaces were more
viable. I'm now basically looking to lower the size of it to the size that this was when I
purchased the building and have a one-bedroom apartment in it. Thank you, Mr. Snowden.
All right, questions from the board? No. No, Mr. Chairman. No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman. Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Yes, Chair, I have Mr. Alfant in the audience.
Mr. Alfant, unmute yourself and wait for the chair, please.
Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell it for the court reporter?
Can you hear me okay?
Yeah, could you state your name and spell it for the court reporter?
My name is Robert Elfant, spelled E-L-F, like in Frank, A-N-T.
Right. Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed.
Good morning. As you know, my name is Bob Elfant. I'm a Philadelphia real estate broker for over 50 years,
and I'm here speaking on behalf of myself and many other significant property owners
and business operators located in Chestnut Hills Commercial District.
We all oppose the Bowman property's request for variances to convert sizable portions
of heretofore vacant commercial space into residential space.
The Bowman company has for years, and in the case of 8042-44, the one we're speaking of now,
held many properties vacant, this one for decades. Bowman Properties owns and accounts for the
majority of long-term vacancies in the defined business district. However, the company owns a
minority of the properties, 15% of the 291 recognized properties. Many of the Bowman-owned
properties are in poor condition, both on the exterior and the interior, basically in unrentable
condition. Approving Bowman properties with a variance to convert valuable commercial space
to residential in one of the city's crown jewels and commercial districts. Mr. Alfon, could you do
me a favor? Could you just concentrate on this particular property, your position on this
particular property? My position on this particular property and others is that it's in poor condition
and the argument that smaller spaces are more rentable belies the truth of the Bowman existing
portfolio as many of their existing vacancies are a thousand square feet or less and they continue
to sit vacant. The other concern we have is that this sets a potential dangerous precedent
this sets a potential dangerous precedent for the entire chestnut commercial district
for the entire Chestnut Hill Commercial District.
as it would potentially encourage other owners when faced with commercial vacancy to seek
additional conversion of commercial space further increasing the already negative impact to fellow
commercial property owners and business operator operators alike so in this particular case we are
opposed to that and i'd like to add excuse me let's see you like that i would like to add that
Though it's been represented that they have various support from neighborhood organizations, with the exception of the Chestnut Hill Community Association, the signatories of this letter, which I have, and I'll tell you who signed this letter, the signatories of this letter, their noted board or their general membership, none of them have been consulted other than the Chestnut Hill Community Association.
And I'm signing respectfully as Bob Elfant, property owner, principal broker of Elfant Wissick and Realtors, Paul Walsh, property owner, president, broker, Elfant Wissick and Realtors, current board member of the Chesney Mill Community Development Corporation, past president of the Business Improvement District, and past president of the Chesney Mill Business Association.
Barbara Bomback, president, CEO.
If those individuals are here, Mr. Chairman, they can speak for themselves.
I understand.
Mr. Trey, this is Hillary.
I just wanted to note if we did not receive a copy of the letter.
So if Mr.
Alphant wants that to be part of the record,
he needs to get it to the zoning board today.
If you could instruct me how to do that,
I will,
but let me just finish the names on this letter,
please.
But we're going to,
we're going to have the letter.
That's fine.
Alphant.
We understand exactly what your testimony is.
You won't have this letter and these people until after you make your vote
though.
I think we're fine.
We're fine.
Any other questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Yes, Chair, I have a Ms. Laurie in the audience with her hand.
May I allow her to speak?
Hi, could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
I'm sorry, Chair, quickly, could I just put on the record for staff to put the email address
so that that document can be submitted for the board?
Thank you.
Mr. Chairman, can I ask Mr. Alfond a question?
You could, Henry.
We're two.
All right.
Mr. Alfond?
Mr. Alfond?
Please unmute yourself, sir.
Mr. Alphant.
Well, Henry, if he's not here, you can, you, you, Mr. Alphant, are you on?
I'll just make a comment.
Mr. Alphant, can you unmute yourself, please?
Mr. Alphant.
he's available chair he just had to unmute himself
mr alfano mute yourself please
mr clinton you can make comment what what's your comment
my comment is i just wanted to find out he's a commercial realtor in the area
obviously he testified to that and has he ever brought a viable
tenant to my client to occupy that space uh i think the answer is no but
all right thank you is there anyone else in the virtual audience
we have yes i have miss laurie with her hand raised hi laurie laurie hello hi could you state
your name please and spell for the court reporter sure laurie salganikoff l-o-r-i-s like sam a-l-g-a-n
I-C-O-F-F. I'm the Executive Director of the Chestnut Hill Conservancy.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
I do. Proceed.
I just wanted to make the note that the Chestnut Hill Conservancy, as has been mentioned, voted to support this variance request.
I, though, did want to also note that the Chestnut Hill Conservancy is a registered community organization.
So I just want to make it clear that there have been public meetings where an RCO has voted to approve this application.
It's an important corner and an important alteration, in our opinion, to maintain the building as viable.
to maintain the building as viable.
It's a very unusual shape.
It's a very unusual shape.
And in order to preserve buildings,
we need to allow them to be flexible and to sustain them.
They need to be able to shift as needed.
And the storefront being maintained as a storefront
serves every purpose that we see needed
for maintenance of our historic commercial.
All right.
Thank you very much for calling in and your input.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
Mr. Alfont, it's available.
Yes, I just figured out how to unmute myself.
I apologize.
Mr. Clinton, you want to have your question answered?
Mr. Alfont, you testified that you're a commercial realtor broker
in the area.
You've been in Chestnut Hill for many moons.
have you ever been able to bring a viable tenant for this space to occupy it?
We were asked a number of years ago to try to find tenants for the property,
but the condition of the exterior, the condition of the interior,
and the rent structure was unfathomable at that time and now.
All right, so the answer is no. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you. Anyone else in the virtual audience?
Could somebody give me the address of what I need to send this letter to or the email?
Tanya?
It'll be available in the chat, sir.
Okay, thank you.
Thank you.
Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair Bergman.
Ian Hegarty for the Philadelphia City Planning Commission.
For this property, 8042 to 44 Germantown Avenue.
the comprehensive plan recommends a zoning map amendment from cmx1 to cmx2 the proposed use is
consistent with the recommended zoning and so the city planning commission recommends that the board
grant the variance in my 2022 00448 8042 to 44 germantown i have no i vote yes carol tenary my
vote is yes thomas holland my vote is yes james snell my vote is yes
it's no shaheed my vote is no
henry what's our last property last property is 85 32 germantown avenue okay
where's that on our list team
i don't know i'm i'm looking for that's number six chair okay thank you thank you hillary
mi 2021 004 359 8532 germantown avenue um
rco um letter of opposition councilwoman bass is not taking a position conservancy
is in favor, business district's in favor.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thanks for your patience
as well as members of the board patience
as you went through these nine projects.
I know it gets lengthy at times.
So this is the last one, 8532 Germantown Avenue.
I'm here on behalf of Bowman Properties Limited,
and my presentation package is on the screen,
table of contents AA through A10.
I ask that that be incorporated into the record
as well as my opening statement I made at the outset of the presentation of these nine
properties. This is another situation where we have a large vacant commercial space on the ground
floor. And we're asking that the rear of that commercial space be converted to residential
so that the commercial becomes more viable, more and more rentable. This is the refusal
dual CMX1 zoning district. Again, because we're adding a residential unit, multi-family household
living is prohibited according to the refusal. Here's our letters of support from the business
folks and from the conservancy. This is a photograph of the building. Beautiful building,
beautiful Tudor structure. Right now, we have, and for a long time, we've had a vacant commercial
space, almost 2,000 square feet on a very, very visible corner in Chestnut Hill, Germantown
Avenue.
And we're basically asking that the vacant commercial space be reduced by about 500 square
feet, no change on the second and third floor, no change in the structure, no additions.
No change on the second and third floor, no change in the structure, no additions, and that the 535 square feet of retail, excuse me, that the 1,768 square feet of vacant commercial be reduced by about 1,100 square feet, and that become a one bedroom, and the retail become more manageable at 535 square feet.
This is some of the renderings of the side of the building.
We would restore the window that's here that was blocked up with stone.
Again, Mr. Snowden wants to keep the historical nature of the buildings in tune with what they used to look like before.
There used to be a larger window in the back.
The red is not indicating the size of the window that's going to be installed, but this window is an afterthought.
but, excuse me, we're going to reactivate it.
This window is blocked up on the inside.
So while it appears to be a window,
it really doesn't provide any light into the property.
So we're going to reactivate that window
if this proposal is granted.
We're going to restore a door to the apartment
that was once right here.
And then the corner retail is going to remain.
These archways are going to remain.
The windows are going to remain.
The doors are going to remain.