The prior owner before Karen used this as a pied-a-terre. So when members of that family
would visit Philadelphia, it sort of functioned like their own private hotel. So again, the current
owner, the previous owner, and the owner before that, none of those folks were using this as a
long-term residence. Heather purchased the property and believed that she had a hardship case that
warranted a variance so that the property could become an official licensed hotel. She was right,
and with my help, this board granted Heather a variance in 2022, and I'll just show you some of
the permitting and licensing documents that stemmed from that. Here at Exhibit 3 is the hotel rental
license, which is still current. And then going down to exhibit four, we have the zoning permit
from 2022 with the ZBA calendar number and some like a record of the ZBA case with my name on it
here. So Heather only allows two adults to stay in the property at a time and no children. And
she and the property have rave reviews on Airbnb.com, which is where this is listed and where
those limitations are posted. So just real briefly, this is a recent screenshot of the
properties profile. You see it has a 4.97 rating, which is pretty astounding as someone who
occasionally uses these. You can see five-star reviews from like the last few weeks just to
tell you, you know, it's an active use for this purpose. And then sort of down here where it
And then sort of down here where it begins to discuss what they call the house rules, you see it says two guests maximum.
begins to discuss what they call the house rules, you see it says
So if you attempt to make a reservation for more than two adults, it just won't go through.
But furthermore, the next safety net is Heather meets every guest in person when they arrive to hand them the keys and make sure that they're comfortable in this unique building.
So Heather is not an absentee landlord.
She really enjoys the interpersonal nature of meeting everybody when they arrive, and she runs this property professionally as a business, and the constant management of its historic needs is a labor of love for her.
So this is an add-on from her cafe business acumen, and she does a great job with it.
um when i when heather applied for the variance in 2022 we gathered letters of support from 16
residents within a one block radius uh for this hearing we we did a more limited scope we just
went to uh those nearest neighbors at 401 and 403 again and we got them to re-sign letters we
frankly felt that going back to other folks would just annoy them at this point because it had been
under two years, but what we did do is the required mailing and the posting and all that
stuff. So here are both the new and then separated out the older letters. So there's 18 letters in
total. Again, I am not aware of anyone either at this RCO meeting or who lives in the adjacency
of the property who has a problem with this property. So if I were to go back to the parcel
math, which I won't do. We talked about 401 and 403. And I just wanted to show you some proof
that those are, to the best of our knowledge, not used as long-term residences either. So on your
screen right now is a food preparation license for 401, which is in service as a cafe. In 2022,
they pulled this license. At that same time, they flipped what was a rental license to inactive
status. So it appears that basically the property was converted from a residence to a commercial
use at that point. So that is no longer a long-term residence. And then 403, this is also
in use as a short-term rental like ours is. And before that, 403 was vacant, I think for the
better part of a decade, as evidenced by this vacant property license record. And what we know
is that while it sat vacant, it deteriorated. So 403 garnered an unsafe structure violation in
2022. And at that point, the current owner of that neighbor of ours came in, fixed the building
and made it a short-term rental. So 403 before it was a short-term rental was nothing and was
a nuisance to the neighborhood. So now just to finish up with floor plans and photos. So
here at exhibit 14 are floor plans. So this is the floor plan of that first floor, which you've seen.
So I won't touch on that too much. Go to the second floor and then I'll have photos of these
floors. Same size. Main room is 150 square feet. We use the sort of mini room on this floor as the
only bathroom rather than, you know, a kitchenette or a closet. And then going up to the third floor,
there is no back room so the third floor is the tiniest at 150 square feet and that is the bedroom
now because the third floor is the bedroom what that means is that one has to walk
those tight spiral steps two floors up to get to the bedroom and then one floor back down to go to
the bathroom the bed occupies just by nature the requirement of the room so it's very difficult to
walk around this bedroom. And placing the bed on the second floor would be unsafe because by its
sort of obstruction, it would block passage from the third floor down to the first floor. I don't
know if that's difficult to envision, but if you imagine a bed put here on the second floor,
floor plate sideways, it would really block these stairs. So that's why the bed has to be on the
third floor, despite the absence of a bathroom up there. And now just to show you some photos
of those other floors. Here's the first floor again, just from a different angle, the spiral
stairs. And this is what the stairs look like all up and down the house that are very, it require a
lot of sort of attention to walk carefully. And Heather really sort of drives that home when she
meets the guests. And this is why we don't take children in this property. This is the second
floor the closed door is the bathroom which you'll see in a moment but again other than the bathroom
this is the entire second floor from a different angle here's the bathroom and this is the third
And this is the third floor with the bedroom. So again, the second floor, but the way it's laid out and where the stairs sort of enter the room down there, the bed would block the stairs. So it's best to be up here.
floor with the bedroom. So again, the second floor, but the way it's
Okay. And then in closing, just to touch on some legal points here. So my full explanation of our legal entitlement to a renewal of our variance is offered in our written application for appeal at Exhibit 1.
But I wanted to point your attention to this Commonwealth Court case that I mentioned because it's brand new and it's very relevant to this matter.
So in one minute, I'll try and summarize it. This case was called 3401 Sky Properties. It stemmed from a 2019 matter before the ZDA in which an applicant attempted to legalize a series of existing multifamily buildings, which were granted variances in 2016, but lapsed due to the slowness with which construction proceeded.
So for a different reason, but like us, that applicant had to come back for a second use
variance for the same thing. So the ZBA denied the second variance in this case, and the court
didn't like that. The court held that this board's prior grant of a variance weighed strongly in
favor of the grant of another variance. It didn't guarantee it, but it weighed strongly in favor
of granting a second variance, given that there had been no significant change since the first
variance to the property or to its surroundings. And the court wrote, quote, that continuation of
a longstanding use is incontrovertibly the minimum relief necessary to afford relief as it is a
request to keep the status quo, end quote. And that's exactly what we're trying to do.
like the applicant in this other case for trying to keep the status quo over the objection of the
RCO, just like they had objection from the RCO. So to wrap up, nobody has contended, to my
knowledge, not even the RCO, that our property has changed, that the neighborhood has changed,
or that we've ever harmed anyone. The only change has been seemingly the politics or perhaps the
composition of CCRA zoning committee and personalities or politics or general policy
are not rightfully relevant to a zoning variance case. We're here to consider the needs of an
individual property. And I'll finally, again, note that the council president offered a letter
of non-opposition in 2022, and he is not adopting CCRA's newfound opposition this time around.
Happy to take any questions. Why don't you bring your client on?
Have your testimony adopted.
Heather, could you please raise your virtual hand?
Heather DeGrasse, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Hello?
Hello?
Could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Sure. My name is Heather, H-E-A-T-H-E-R, last name DeGrands, D-E-G-R-A-N-D-S.
Where are firms? Tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
Please proceed, counsel.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Heather, first of all, thank you for your patience through my tech problem.
So once I got that fixed, did you hear the full extent of my testimony in your case this morning?
Yes, I did.
Was my testimony true and accurate to the best of your knowledge, information, and belief?
Yes, it was.
And would you therefore adopt it as if it had been your own testimony?
Okay, thank you.
Thank you.
Questions from the board?
Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Emerson?
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
chair we have wade albert with their hand up wade albert please unmute yourself and wait for the
chair morning mr albert could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
sure my name is wade w-a-d-e last name is a-l-b-e-r-t right you swear or affirm to tell
the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes i do mr chair please proceed sir
Thank you. So I am counsel for the Center City Residents Association, and I want to make two points regarding our position on opposing this application.
The first is to explain the reason for why we have changed our position since this matter last came before the ZPA.
As we have heard, CCRA gets many requests.
As we have heard, CCRA gets many requests for visitor accommodation uses throughout our neighborhood, and we have taken a position, actually adopted a policy that went into place about a year ago, where we essentially will oppose all requests unless we believe that the applicant has demonstrated a satisfactory hardship.
And the reason for that is there's several. One is that we support our hotel and hospitality industry in our community, and we believe that Airbnbs and short-term rentals like these take away from that business.
Number two, that the more Airbnbs in our neighborhood, I would say that it decreases housing stock, which increases the costs for housing throughout our community and through the city at large.
And number three, that we adopted this policy particularly because we didn't consider the factor of whether an applicant may seem like a nice person or operate a good Airbnb as opposed to someone who may not be the best owner or may be an absentee owner.
And with that in mind, the applicant, when they presented, we found compelling that when asked a direct question about attempts that were made to potentially use this property or to find her a long-term renter, the owner said that she had made no efforts whatsoever.
So we applied our policy and we voted to oppose this project.
So I just wanted to try that clarification.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Albert, for calling.
We appreciate it.
Mr. Chairman, could I offer a very brief rebuttal?
Why don't I do this? Why don't I see if there's anyone else in the virtual audience first?
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
Go ahead, Mr. Saver.
I see no hands, Chair.
Okay, thank you.
Okay. So let's talk about the, I suppose, problem that Mr. Albert or his client had in terms of not renting the property out long term.
So I attached at Exhibit 18D, the L&I sort of flowchart FAQ about short-term and long-term rental licensing.
And my read of those regulations is that one cannot, in a one-bedroom property such as this, both short-term and long-term rent a property.
So to say, Heather, did you try to long-term rent this property, even though we believe it's inappropriate?
It doesn't seem to be allowed because that requires a different license. And we're not aware of an ability to have both types of licenses on the same bedroom at the same time.
So since this has been licensed since 2022 as a short term rental, we've been operating pursuant to the law under that license. It is potentially unlawful to use it for long term rental under that license.
So basically, my client was just following L&I's own rules and should not be faulted for that. Case law says that you don't have to attempt a different use in order to show a hardship. And I can offer citations to cases after this if desired.
But the sort of lack of history over a decade of using this property as a long term dwelling and all of the physical factors that I've shown you today, that is more than enough under a court review to justify a hardship.
Again, you do not have to attempt to use the property differently to demonstrate a hardship.
And finally, I'll just say that, you know, again, it would have been nice to have that knowledge from Mr. Albert in advance of today.
But now that we have a general policy about supporting larger hotel operators or universal mandates against smaller hotels,
Those are not appropriate in a variance case, or we're supposed to be looking at this property specifically. And I think when we look at this property specifically, and its lack of use for a very long time as a long-term dwelling, and its bizarre physical attributes, it is best suited remaining a short-term rental. Thank you.
Thank you.
Planning Commission.
good morning again chair michael gall with the Philadelphia city planning commission
the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the cmx1 commercial mixed-use zoning at this location
there is no unique physical condition or circumstance of this property that would
prevent it from being from being used in conformance with the zoning code
this building typology is commonly used as permanent permanent residential property across the city
this building typology is commonly used as permanent permanent residential property across
the city city planning commission recommends that the board does deny the proposed use
variance for visitor accommodations thank you and and i'll i'll just say i i i i'm
you've you've you've had your thank you okay so mi2024 003 242 405 south 17 street i vote yes
with proviso. Temporary variance expires 12-1-27. Michael Johns, my vote is yes with proviso.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes with proviso. Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes with proviso.
Iowan, my vote is yes with proviso. Thank you, counsel. Thank you.
Is there anyone in the virtual audience whose case has not been called this morning?
chair we have someone by the name of t barry with their hand up
t barry please unmute yourself and wait for the chair
good morning could you please state your name and spell for the set up
good morning chair um my name is tanya t-o-n-y-a last name is barry um you actually did mention
hold on hold on one minute do you swear to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
I do, sir. Please proceed. What is what case? The case was 6427 North 13th Street. You said
it was a continuance. I did not understand quite what that meant. I've never attended one of your
meetings. Okay. All right. So the attorney for that has called in and said that they were not
prepared to go today and they needed a continuance. And that's why we continued it.
It'll come back up again the next time it's called.
Chair, her hand disappeared.
Okay. Thank you. No other hands?
No, Chair.
Thanks, everyone. See everybody at 2 PM.
I've been struggling.
one okay so and i'm now is it tiny here yet
and michael she'll she'll be coming on michael's here
okay yep i will be coming on momentarily i could we i'm ready
are we recording yes the recording has started you can proceed as you wish chair
good afternoon everyone excuse me i'm sorry i'm sorry my it was a delay in my in my own
system and there was a couple attendees joining
okay because usually yeah we had to restart our zoom over here now you can proceed as you
wish i'm sorry for the confusion good afternoon everyone my name is bill bergman is it is it
recording it's just not showing for me that it's recording here red light recording oh there it is
it got moved over there okay it's not as obvious now thank you okay all right all right good
afternoon everyone my name is bill bergman and i will be chairing this afternoon's meetings
Thanks. With me is our Vice Chair, Ismael Shahid.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Our Board Member, Cheryl L. Gaston.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Our Board Member, Tanetta Graham.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Our Board Member, Michael Johns.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
I think Taya Nguyen should be on very shortly.
Also present is our Attorney, Hillary Emerson,
and our Deputy Director for Planning and Zoning,
Kathleen Grady. Here's our virtual format. Proceedings are being recorded. With your
participation, you agree to be recorded. Video will be available by contacting
ZBA Executive Director at phila.gov. Our court sonographer requests that attorneys and witnesses
identify themselves before testifying. If you're participating by phone, press star nine to raise
your hand and star six to unmute. To enter an appearance statement, call 267-270-5548.