Do you agree with the refusal or referral?
Is there accuracy? I do.
Did you email all the exhibits that have required five days in the business hearing?
Thank you. Please proceed and share your screen.
Okay. All right.
All right. That should be in my packet. Yep. All right. Good morning, Joseph Consul
for Glenn and Kelly Russo, the owners of 201 Hermit Street. This property was bought in 2018.
It is a CMX1 approved triplex. The triplex variance was approved two years prior to my
clients purchasing the property. In 2016, it was approved. They purchased it in 2018.
Immediately upon purchasing the property, my clients began using this property as an Airbnb visitor accommodations.
run and airbnb so it's a cmx1 property it has three units and those units have been operating
for about six years as an airbnb with no issues as i mentioned uh or as uh council as mr bergman
mentioned, the RCO is the Maniunk Neighborhood Association. We met them twice. It was fairly
clear from the beginning that they have no interest in approving any visitor accommodation
permits in Maniunk. Not specific to my client's properties, but just the idea of approving these
in general is anathema to that particular RCO, which unfortunately has prejudiced my clients
in this particular scenario who have been running this successfully for a long time.
So they submitted their letters. The letters are identical in their general
uh disapproval of approving these variances in maniunk as is their as is their right to to do so
but um we'll speak in a minute about why we believe generally uh this should be approved
but specifically why my clients should be approved for this variance today here's photos of the
property it's a nice corner property as you can see
very well kept as my clients will attest to in a moment they have
spent tens of thousands of dollars outfitting the property with furnishings
and have made many updates over their six years of running a successful
visitor accommodations in this property
these are all in the packet just scanning through
what i want to also call to the board's attention is the reviews that they've received on this
but I want to also call to the
property here's a 4.84 review they have 241 reviews they are considered super hosts and
these properties are considered uh one of the most beloved in philadelphia
there's 191 positive reviews guest favorite and there's 318 4.676 reviews um again
our argument for approval is essentially that uh this long-standing use has no formal complaints
and tons of positive reviews my clients have made significant investments in this property
uh including but not limiting to the furnishings that you're seeing in these photos here
uh being forced to um deep remove those would be extremely costly and um because that would
all have to be sold for pennies pennies on the dollar we believe that generally in maniunk uh
after looking at the um the layout of maniunk there are no properties that would by right
approve an Airbnb. So we're not asking for approval of ones that have not had a successful
history of operating. We believe that allowing this to continue operating provides something
for Maniunk that doesn't otherwise exist, which is the ability to have visitors come and actually
stay in Maniunk. There's no major hotels, as you all know. And we think that this kind of serves
a niche uh to allow folks to come and visit and stay in this area uh versus having to stay and
travel to maniunk to visit for whatever whatever reason they might be coming to maniunk or just
to come and enjoy that part of the city um uh before i call my clients i'll just reiterate
i mean i've been in front of the board before regarding visitor accommodation permits where
The RCO is patently against it, and so we're hoping a similar sort of temporary variance might be in the appetite of the board today.
With that, I will call my client. I believe it's going to be under the name Kelly Russo.
ellie russo can you raise your virtual hand please
here she is i will allow her to speak thank you could you please state your name and spell for
the court stenographer good morning my name is kelly russo k-e-l-l-y r-u-s-s-o you swear
a firm to tell the truth the whole truth is nothing but the truth i do please proceed council
good morning miss rousseau did you hear my testimony just now and do you adopt it as your own
yes um is there anything you would like to tell the board prior to them moving towards the vote
yes i do okay please proceed
good morning um thank you for allowing me to speak today
i want to just mention uh
the uh hardship that not getting this variance would have on our family
the only reason that we purchased these properties were to use them as short-term
governmentals, business assets. And our family heavily depends on this income,
makes up about 60% of our income. And it's not only us that depends on this. We provide
income for three other people who work with us at these properties that do heavily depend on that
as well. We made significant investments in these properties that we would not have otherwise,
as Joe mentioned. We've spent a total of almost $70,000 on furnishings that we would not have
done if we had not intended to use these as short-term rentals. So that would be a huge
loss for us because there's no way that we would ever be able to recoup that money we've borrowed
from savings and retirement and not having this would be very difficult we are
my my son is starting kindergarten in the fall and at this point we are worried about having to
sell her home as a result of this decision and potentially move likely to.
as a result of this decision and potentially move likely to another school district which
would not be great for for anybody um basically it's this decision has just basically completely
upended our financial security i'm sorry it's okay kelly um i don't mean to cut you off but yeah
that's okay that could be enough of a testimony for the board thank you all right so um mr council
before i put this for some questions from the board yes sir we believe that the first
floor unit has never been legalized and we would need a certificate of occupancy
right the hillary hillary mike saying this right yes so uh mr consul the so according to the
information on the refusal when this was approved for a triplex a certificate of occupancy was never
obtained the use was never established so it reverted back to cmx1 which is typically
commercial space on the bottom and um a dwelling unit on top um doesn't appear that
the first floor dwelling unit was ever legalized but we so the three-unit rental license that
expired last july that would just be need to be renewed is what you're saying
well are there three units in the property so it looked like there were two
no there's three units in the property there are three okay he maintained a three-unit rental
license uh that only expired last july because at the time that didn't wasn't relevant to the
visitor accommodation permit but the right you can see it's license 775520 they hadn't approved
three unit from that from that date so if what you're saying is true i think just renewing that
would nullify any concerns that it was illegal and he'll be able to review that by renew that
by right because it's not been three years right right no it it's just the refusal noted that there
was no certificate of occupancy so i'm surprised they they were able to get a rental license
because normally they want to see that the use has been been established but that's if they're
able to get a rental license they're able to get a rental license um but even with the the change of
use um from residential to commercial which is their accommodations is technically commercial
you still do need a certificate of occupancy so okay yeah so you just need to get that anyway
okay so that they need to procure a certificate of occupancy as well as renewing that renewing
that license or i don't i don't believe they would need to renew the rental license as you
know assuming the board approves this because the use is being changed but ellen i told me because
it because i wasn't clear how many units have been approved you know how many units had the
use had been established at this site based on the information on the refusal um they said that
a certificate of occupancy would be required to change it to visitor accommodations anyway
probably because it's going from residential to commercial yeah so there's there's the three unit
license i was just referring to all right thank you as you can see it was active for five years
straight yep yep all right cool so yeah absolutely they'll get that all right so
questions from the board? No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman. Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Yes, Chair. John Hunter has a hand up.
I will allow him to speak. Good morning, Mr. Hunter.
Please state your name and spell for the court stenographer. Yes.
Good morning. John Hunter, J-O-H-N-H-U-N-T-E-R.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, Mr. Hunter.
Thank you. I'm the zoning chair for Maniocet Neighborhood Council.
Mr. Council is correct in its factual details. We met twice. We've listened to the discussions and the arguments.
The only thing I disagree with is it's not that Maniocet Neighborhood Council doesn't agree with Airbnbs.
airbnbs it's the city that doesn't agree with airbnbs in residential districts and we are just
in the position of listening to both sides of the argument and we think it's unfortunate that what
is necessary to be pursued is a variance because that variance is really in perpetuity and the
income stream from a residential unit which can be used as airbnb is greater than any other so
it's unlikely to ever return to just purely residential unit many anchors you know is
highly dense residential area. It's not like Center City. It's not a varied amount of different
a highly dense residential area it's not like
options of residential units. And we are concerned that such small opportunities for either rental
properties or for the purchasing will be denied by the granting of a variance in this case and
other similar cases. And that is really what our position is. And we would also say that
not this case, because it is CMX1, but the other case that you will hear next is what was an RSA
5 case. So both of these two properties prior to the purchase by this applicant were also granted
a variance for a change of use from a purely residential single family. So we think that
that position where you have three units in the house, which would provide an income stream,
is still beneficial to an owner. I think any decision made here would not force a property
to be sold immediately. The property at the moment, we understand, is being rented out in
a different form to comply with the change in requirements of the city's ruling.
So it's not a hardship that we can really understand.
And we think that it's reasonable, given the city's position and Manningham's sort of
residential stock, that the Airbnb variant should not be granted in this and the other
All right.
Thank you.
very much for taking the time to call us is there anyone else in the virtual audience
i see no hands chair okay um planning commission
thank you chair bergman sarah bond with the philadelphia city planning commission
the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing
excuse me uh commercial zoning at this property the appellant has not shown that the property
cannot be possibly used in strict conformity with the zoning code and that a variance is therefore
necessary to enable the viable economic use of this property. The City Planning Commission
recommends that the Zoning Board deny the variance. Thank you. MI 2023-005-098-201
Herman Street. I vote yes, but for a temporary variance that would expire 214-27 and also
proviso the first floor needs a certificate of occupancy thomas holliman my vote is yes with
provisos james snell my vote is yes with provisos and mr consul we're going to go right into mi
2023-005-100
Silverwood Street.
Same owner.
We know you
just start the case, Mr. Consul.
Good morning, everyone. Joseph Consul, 444
Silverwood Street.
I have a
extremely similar
um presentation and i i don't know if i'm going to put my client through the the ringer again
to testify we understand right okay uh four four four silverwood this is another uh three unit
property this was purchased approximately four years ago prior to the city revising their uh
visitor accommodation laws and making airbnbs require a variance so again this is a three
unit property that was a three unit prior to my clients purchasing it they did not work on the
variance that was granted for three units it had been a four unit in the 40s and then it was
approved as a three unit in 2005 my clients purchased it well after that again same letter
from the maniunk rco uh the only appreciable difference between these two properties and i
think it's a positive one is that 444 uh this property in silverwood has two parking spaces
in the back so it it actually um it's kind of a neater property in that sense is that provides
the ability for folks that are visiting the property to have a parking space as you can
see the property is similarly upkept. The furnishings are quite nice. The style is different,
but they're both quite beautiful and show.
But they're both quite beautiful and show my clients' tastes.
So again, a three-unit property owned by the Russos that has been functioning as an Airbnb for well before the period.
There you can see the two parking spaces.
there's a truck and volvo or subaru two decent sized cars and this is just trash receptacle
underneath that um they had installed for prior to trash pickup day to have the trash
pin uh i'll go just briefly over to those are the hermit reviews let me just minimize those
here are the reviews go
For the Silverwood property, again, 4.93, 70 reviews, 4.9, and 4.93, total of almost 300 positive reviews on this property.
And again, guest favorites in the city of Philadelphia, hosted by Glenn and Kelly.
I will call Kelly again to adopt my testimony and to perhaps just adopt the reiteration.
that's right that's right okay yes mr consul is going to say she can just incorporate her
testimony from the prior case into this one yep okay miss russo you've already been sworn in so
just identify yourself hi kelly just say your name and i yes kelly russo mr consul please proceed
Ms. Russo, did you hear my testimony today regarding your property on Silverwood?
I did.
Do you adopt it as your own?
Do you reiterate your previous testimony, and does that all stand true for this property as well?
Okay. Nothing further.
Questions or comments from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I know that Mr. Hunter mentioned this when he testified the last time, but if he wants to come on, that's fine.
mr hunter it does have a hand up okay he's been allowed to speak good morning again mr hunter
you've already been sworn just state your name for the record sure it's john hunter h-u-n-t-e-r