How should you read away the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
have you emailed in all the required documents that is needed to proceed with this case five
days in advance of this hearing yes we have thank you mr mackamson please proceed and share your
Okay, I'm here to present 6109 Market Street.
okay i'm here to present
In our presentation packet, we will review the notice of refusal, the correspondence
from achievability, the petition that we received from nearby neighbors in support
of this project, our zoning map, maps as well as maps of the area, photographs of the property in
the surrounding area, our plans and drawings, our RCO meeting notice, our application for appeal
that we filed on behalf of Winfield Investments, our deed, which shows that Winfield Investments
is the owner of the property, and a certificate of tax clearance showing that Winfield Investments
owes no real estate taxes to the city of Philadelphia. At the conclusion of my presentation,
I would ask that Len Chang virtually raise his hand, be sworn in, and then I have a few questions
for him to answer. All right, so our notice of refusal. So this is a CMX2 property,
and what we're looking to do essentially is convert the ground floor unit from a commercial
unit to a residential unit. There's already two units above on the upper floors. And we're
receiving a refusal as follows. First, because of the size of the lot, three residential units
are not allowed by right. But what I would say as to this, we're allowed three units.
We're not asking to have more units than are allowed in this property. Instead of having
two residential units and one commercial unit. We're asking for three residential units.
And the reason why we're asking for that is that Mr. Chang has been trying to rent this property
out as the commercial unit since 2020. He's had 111 inquiries about this property. He has had 12
showings of this property. No one's interested in renting this property. This is not something that
is uncommon in this part of Philadelphia. This commercial corridor is struggling
mightily. And we're asking that this be converted into a residential unit. This would allow
for the commercial corridor to hopefully thrive close or closer to thrive because you're creating
density in a corridor that has no density. I will say this too, if you look at the 2035 plan,
the City Planning Commission has recommended that this property be converted into a CMX3 zoning.
If that was the case, this is a use that's allowed as of right. So the second refusal has to kind of
do with what we're trying to do with the first refusal. We're trying to eliminate the commercial
component in this property. And because this is a CMX2 property, you know, commercial use is
required on the ground floor. And by eliminating it, we receive a refusal. Again, if this was a
CMX3 property, we wouldn't be required to have that commercial use. And this use would be allowed
as of right. So I know the chairman stated that there was two letters in here, one of support
and one of opposition, I would just want to note and clarify that the letter for
achievability for this project is in non-support. We met with them on separate projects,
one at 6104 Market Street and one at 6109 Market Street. They're across the street from each other.
And actually, Mr. Chang owns both of these properties. So he's really trying his best
to have commercial units
on the ground floor of these properties,
but it's been rather difficult.
At this meeting,
which was not very well attended at 6109,
those members of the community,
which I believe were a handful,
like maybe three or four voted against it.
We provided them a petition
in support of this property.
And just like, you know,
and the community group said,
well, we can't accept a petition.
These people have to be here. So if you look at, though, the letter and then we received a letter of opposition from Council Member Jones, who, you know, again, because the community was against it, you know, he went with a community vote.
But if you look at the other letter for 6104 Market Street, this same organization voted in support of this project. Essentially, it's the same three people. I think there are like three people who are really against having any type of residential units on the ground floor of these properties, which again, there are because there is CMX3 around us.
they were against the project in person we provided this these same letters of
They were against the project in person.
We provided these same letters of support or petition and support at a different meeting for this project, the 6104.
They counted that petition as part of the vote, and Achievability then issued a letter of support.
So I'm just saying how Achievability in one instance for 6104 supported a project under the same grounds.
We provided the petition. They accepted those votes. 6109, same grounds as 6104, same people basically showed up. We also provided petition, but for whatever reason, they didn't count those votes.
So for 6104 is in Councilmember Gutierrez's district. 6109 is in Councilmember Jones's district. 6104, Councilmember Gutierrez actually supported the project with a proviso to have a temporary variance.
So if this board feels so inclined, and I don't know if it's appropriate because my client's going to be spending tens of thousands of dollars converting the commercial space to residential, but if they feel so inclined to only grant it by way of a temporary variance,
My client would be more than willing to accept that because he's been able to generate no rent for years for this property that he has shown on or has inquiries for 111 times, 12 showings, and no leases.
So here's the petition that we received for 6109.
It's full page, people that are close by.
And then again, he didn't differentiate, but this is also the one for 6104.
different people just you know he didn't differentiate between 6104 and 6109 and then
maps of the area as you can see on our side of market street and we're underneath the l
this is all cmx2 which the planning commission's recommending being upgraded to cmx3 which we
allow residential use on the ground floor there's a portion of of this corridor right here as you
which is currently CMX3, which if we were here would be allowed, you know, the use that we're
requesting. And as you can see here from the Google Maps, even though this is a commercial
corridor, you don't really see a lot of businesses active. This is a Google Maps, which would show
businesses that are active. There's not many active businesses on this commercial corridor.
So there's a lot of empty storefronts here, and we're asking to allow for our first floor to be
can convert it to residential, hopefully it will increase the density of this corridor to allow
for other storefronts to become active. I know this is not a zoning matter, but my client's
business model is affordable housing. The two units above are affordable, and he would have
this third unit affordable. I know presenting in front of this group, it's really important for
them to have affordable housing. So we think that this would be a benefit for the community as well
to allow for this unit to be residential. Photographs of the property, again, it's a
three-story existing structure. And here's the property on Market Street to the right of the
property, to the left of the property. Here's our zoning notice poster showing proof of posting for
today's hearing. Our architectural plans and drawings, very simple. You walk in, open floor
plan. This would be the living room. Here's the kitchen. It's a one-bedroom with a bath,
and there's a laundry facility on the ground floor. RCO meeting notice we met many, many months ago
with the group on May 17th at 6 p.m. 150 addresses were notified in the meeting.
These are the lists of the addresses, proof of mailing to those addresses,
our application for appeal that we filed on behalf of Winfield Investments,
along with the notice of refusal and the project information form for this proposed triplex,
which already has two units but an empty storefront on the ground floor,
which we're hoping to convert to residential.
Our deed to the property showing that Winfield Investments owns the property.
and our certificate of tax clearance showing they owe no money to the city of Philadelphia
with respect to this property. I will unshare my screen. I would ask that Mr. Chang virtually
raise his hand and be sworn in.
They've been about to speak.
Yes. Sir, could you state your name and spell a piece for the court stenographer?
Yes, my name is Leonard Chang, L-E-O-N-A-R-D-C-H-A-N-G.
Yes, my name is Leonard Chang, L-E-O-N-A-R-D-C-H-A-R-E.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed, counsel.
Yes, Mr. Chang, you heard everything I had to state today about your zoning matter.
And is it true and correct?
And do you adopt it as your own testimony?
including the extensive efforts you've used by way of retaining a real estate broker to
lease this commercial unit and been unable to do so. Yes. Thank you. Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman. No, Chair. Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Emerson?
not at this time mr chair questions or comments from the virtual audience
mr chair i've got two individuals with the hand raised who are both named
bridget powell okay i'll click on the first one so named let them speak at the time
could you state your name please and spell for the court sonographer
i'm sorry can you hear you i hear you now could you state your name please as bell for the court
stenographer um bridget powell b-r-i-d-g-e-t last name is powell p-o-w-e-l-l right do you
swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do are you a neighbor
i am proceed um i'm on this call um i was on the previous call and we're in opposition to this
okay i was on the meeting i think he said that was for this um um place and we did vote no
at that time no there were no petitions provided he provided those petitions at the 6104
meeting. I want to note, since he chimed in about 6104, that you already denied that variance,
which is the same one he's asking for 6109. And without repeating what we said about 6104,
this is one of the most dangerous blocks in Philadelphia. It's one of the 7070 most dangerous
blocks. We have not seen where he's tried to do all this advertisement he claims. I take public
transit to school, to work, and my children dance around the corner. I get my hair done on Market
Street. I shop on Market Street. So I've been around since the 90s. So I've watched this area
commercial go away with the L, and I'm looking forward to it coming back. So that is my testimony,
And we do have two letters of non-support from our councilman, which is not part of the let's make it residential and change it back to commercial.
That was Councilman Gaudier. This is on the side of Councilman Jones.
So this was not a discussion about this property. I'm done. Thank you so much.
Okay. Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
um yes mr chair i have a manette hill with the hand raised i've allowed them to speak at this
time i could you state your name please and spell for the court stenographer hi yes my name is
leonette hill this spelling is l-e-a-n-n-e-t-t hill h-i-l-l you swear or affirm to tell the
truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes are you a neighbor yes please proceed
Mr. Chairman, may I actually delay my response? I have a commercial business owner that is across the street from 6109 who would like to speak. He's not as techie, so I'm assisting him so he can test it.
Put him on.
Here you go.
Hi, sir. Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Okay, my name is Cleveland English, C-L-E-V-E-L-A-N-D, E-N-G-L-I-S-H.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
I do, sir.
Please proceed, sir.
I am a neighbor.
I'm at 6101 Market Street.
I also have a business at 6110 Market Street.
We are adamantly against changing it to residential from commercial.
residential from commercial like he's saying that the commercial district's been struggling
Like he's saying, the commercial dish.
and we're trying to get commercial businesses in here and business likes other business so when
people come for one thing they'll see another store over here and I personally know because
when we sent people over to his commercial property
at 6109, and the reason he's saying it's still empty
is because the amount, the $1,700 that he asked the people
for was just more than that neighborhood usually draws.
And it seems like they're holding out for something
since they got the up
they have
10 more properties that
they'll be coming up for
in the same block
so I wouldn't even mention
anything about other properties
but since he
let's just concentrate on this one
he can mention both properties
when he's up for one
but nobody else can mention anything
we wanted
to be a commercial
thing, a councilman, and him
to be, I know you, is
it a rush now that I'm talking
is only the... No, I'm listening to you, sir.
Because it's
a shame how some people seem to be
able to wiggle
their way and change everything
in the neighborhood.
That's all we want is a
fair business neighborhood.
It's the same thing they want in other
districts.
that's all i'm saying we're adamantly opposed to it so thank you very much for taking time to calls
is there anyone else in the virtual audience
there are no further answer mr chair
mr chair i'm sorry i see that i think the the woman who is assisting the the last testifier i
think she wanted to testify as well. Ms. Hill? Sure. Hi, guys. Mr. Chairman, I'm back. Can you
hear me? Sure. I can. Yep. Okay. Okay. I am supporting my council member in achievability
and non-support of this. Achievability and my council member, along with myself and other
community leaders, are definitely working towards revitalizing the commercial corridor.