um number five mi 2025 zero zero seven one six six three one one dash 13 north front street
Alan Nockmson is the attorney.
Good afternoon.
Could you state your name and spell it for the record?
Alan Nockmson, A-L-A-N, last name Nockmson, N-O-C-H-U-M-S-O-N.
And did you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Me too.
Okay. And could you state your name of your client and identify their relationship to the property?
So my client is Carl Geiger, the owner of the property. He's also an occupant.
Okay. All right. And this is for three dwelling unit in an existing structure.
We don't have an RCO letter. Do you have an RCO letter?
So we've been trying to follow up with the RCO verbally.
Mr. Goldberg was told that they conditionally approved it with some provisos.
We have not received that letter.
so yeah so i can i have a slight update on that so we we don't have the actual letter
um but mr goldberg did forward me an email from the rco that says we submitted a letter it was
contingent on um a trash storage um and then the council office sent a letter of non-opposition and
they cited the proviso um sorry i'm just trying to pull it up they cited the proviso that the rco put
in their letter um which is sorry um reca which is is the rco has maintained a mandatory requirement
for in units slash in building trash storage 313 uses the open space under their stairs for trash
which is not considered a norm permanent outside trash cans stored on water street are also not
okay we require the owner to provide tenants with internal trash storage so they can put out the
trash on the designated days this issue is non-negotiable so that's apparently what they
said in their letter oh okay thank you no problem they meant that okay all right uh so our uh board
secretary gatson has some questions for you uh good afternoon council did you submit your exhibits
and documents five days in advance of this hearing yes we have and do you waive the reading of the
refusal and stipulate to its accuracy yes we do thank you uh you can share your screen and
begin your presentation all right um if i could just be promoted to a panelist thank you
All right, here we go.
So I'm here to present 311-13 North Front Street, interesting location, just off of Columbus Boulevard and 95.
So we have 12 exhibits here.
Let's just go straight to the notice of refusal.
Oh, and by the way, let me just go to the picture first.
so this is front street we go street to street full lot coverage on the other side is water
street as you can see here there is garbage that's the garbage cans have been stored historically
underneath the property I also have a secondary exhibit which shows pictures of other properties
having garbage stored on north front street so it's not out of character we'll go with the 12
exhibits so this is an rm1 property so we're not trying to convert an rsa5 property to a triplex
and actually the front street side has two units in it uh the water street side
The front street side has two units in it. The water street side historically has been a mix between commercial and residential. And I don't know if the RCO representative is here, but they acknowledged that the water street property, which is essentially a single family structure, a standalone structure, was most previously used as an architect's office and the architect resided there.
So we're not trying to convert a property from one to three units.
We're taking it from two residential units and one commercial slash residential to make it fully three residential by way of variance.
Again, we met with the community on January 27th.
I personally attended that community meeting.
My understanding is that the only issue, again, it's been a while, but memory wise, was that there was a downspout.
The person to the right of us, who was also, I believe, a board member, had an issue of how the water was coming out of our downspout.
There was no issues in terms of the garbage.
And again, Mr. Geiger lives in one of the two units facing Front Street.
His hope is to actually live in the unit facing Water Street.
So again, this is the property history here.
The most recent history were two apartments facing North Front Street, a commercial, well, of record, a commercial unit facing Water Street.
So it's basically a duplex on the North Front Street side, a single fan, well, a one unit structure facing Water Street.
And when you see the pictures, you'll understand better.
But even that commercial use was quasi commercial in the sense that the architect lived there as well.
And there was no dispute. Not out of character to have triplexes on this block.
So 337 North Front Street is a triplex. And, you know, in terms of lots square footage, much smaller than ours.
uh then also three four three uh north front street is also multi-units
oh why is this all right and then oh well there are a couple oh sorry it's like a lag in my
computer but 321-23 north front street has six units 343 north front street has three units as
well. Again, very interesting location in Philadelphia. It's like this outlier, but it's
RM1. We're surrounded by CMX3 and CMX4 right off of Columbus Boulevard. And, you know, the overpass
for 95 is right here as well. And I guess this is a better picture in terms of a Google Street View
perspective. So photographs of the property. So this is a front of our structure. This is a legal
two unit essentially with elevated steps garbage has been stored there historically my client
purchased this property in 2022 this is how it's been so he's not treating it any different he lives
in one of the units himself himself he just wants to go to water street a little bit more privacy
this is the water street property so you can see it's on grade has a separate entrance right here
and there's a separate door where the utilities are stored we have no objection through this added
use to have trash stored inside on water because that's an appropriate thing right there on water
street that's a technical new use and if there's a proviso trash stored inside it's for the water
street side solely inside because the two unit dwelling on the front street side has always
traditionally had the trash stored outside and i have some separate photos we'll go over as well
this is proof of the posting for both sides both on the north front street side of this property
as well as the water street side of this property this is north front street to the right of the
property to the left of the property north water street to the right of their property
and to the left of the property interior photos so these are the photos uh just for the water i
I believe this is just Water Street, but everything's above grade.
It's a bi-level unit done very nicely.
You can see multiple meters here.
Again, my client did cosmetic changes to the property.
This is how it was.
Very unique property.
I think cool.
So this is the interior photos.
I believe this may be my client's suite on North Front Street.
not really the subject of this variance request because there's already two residential units
in this structure. We want to just give you a flavor of what's there as well. And he lives
in one of the units. He just wants to now live in the Warder Street side of the property.
And then just the plans and drawings. And just so you understand, move this down.
move this down um geez uh is that if i can move my screen here thank you uh you come in through
is that
that front door you saw it to the right that's to this open floor plan you see my cursor to left
that was that secondary door where there's utilities stored in here we would have no
objection to a proviso storing the trash on the water street side there um kitchen open floor
plant, bathroom, and then it's just a loft up here as well. We met with the community on January 27th
at 6 30 p.m. Again, I personally attended that community meeting. My client knew all the
neighbors. It was actually shockingly simple. I was like, oh, well, you know, anytime you're
adding density, who knows? And oh, no, we just, there's a downspout. We want to make sure that
that's dealt with um i don't remember a big fight about garbage um as in and provisos to store it
inside uh you know we mailed emailed that notice that we sent to the community a few weeks beforehand
before the meeting we sent it to 41 addresses although given the only 41 addresses we mailed
it to i feel like there were like 15 people at that meeting so it was a very close-knit block
and everyone agreed it's not out of character to have multi-family here uh this is proof of
our mailing for that notice or application for appeal again my client in his own name
wants to live on the ward of street side adds eyes to the street
project information form deed to the property showing that he bought this in 2022 he is not
used it any differently on the north front street side which stores the trash underneath this this
staircase. And then certificate of tax clearance. Well, it shows taxes are due. They're not due
until next week. I also wanted to stop sharing my screen for a second. I want to show you pictures
that we took, you know, about trash being stored out front. Unlike these people who are storing
trash out front and i'll show you this ours is untucked underneath um the staircase which has
been like that since my client purchased it in 2022 he's even willing to to shield it um as well
you know he obviously recognizes as a resident he wants to be responsible um but again not that we
store trash like this and i don't we don't condone the way trash is being stored but this is how it's
being stored in on that block okay but but you say your client is willing to enclose the one
under the step so that could possibly satisfy the rco yes so it's it's not like you know uh you know
an eyesore to the community and then on water street he's willing to store it inside into that
utility room so that's the conclusion my presentation i would ask that mr geiger
virtually raise his hand to be sworn in yep mr geiger
Mr. Geiger has been promoted Mr. Geiger has
Yeah, I can hear, but Ms. Geiger, are you there?
Mr. Geiger?
Coming in now.
Okay, thank you.
Can you hear me?
We can hear you.
How are you?
Good afternoon.
Good afternoon.
Can you say your name and spell it for the record?
My name is Carl Geiger, that's first name C-A-R-L, last name G-E-I-G-E-R.
Okay, Mr. Geiger, can you turn on your camera?
I thought it was on.
We don't see you.
Okay, while you do that, do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Okay, all right. We're going to proceed. Go ahead, counsel.
Yeah, Mr. Geiger, you heard everything I had to state today about your zoning matter.
Yes, I did.
Is it true and correct?
yes it is and do you adopt as your own testimony yes i do yeah specifically
and do you adopt as your own testimony yes i do yeah specifically um you purchased this property
in 2022 correct that's correct and when you purchased the property uh there there was storage
of trash below the staircase is that correct yes and you continue to store that trash under the
staircase responsibly is that correct yes and i've i've lived on that same block for 25 years
and the trash was always stored there yeah and and you live in one of the two units currently
that faces north the actual north front street address is that correct yes i do i live in the
top unit and your your intention is assuming the board grants this variance request to allow for
residential use on water street you plan to live on the water street side of the property correct
that's correct and you have no objection to responsibly enclosing the trash area on the
north front street side is that correct that is correct i have no objection to that and and and
you have no objection to storing the trash on the water street side in that what's labeled
the utility room is that correct i already have and yes that's correct all right thank you okay
questions from the board so what was this other unit used for before what did you yeah so again
car are you can you hear me yes i can sure mine okay just want to make sure it was on okay thank
you no carl did you go ahead no i was gonna say i i represented to the board that the unit was
most recently used by an architect not only as their office but living quarters is that correct
that's correct he was the owner of the building and he lived there for years
it is okay I'm sorry yes all right thank you any other questions from the board can you pull up
the plan that shows the the common space on the side where the two rental tenants will access
um what common space um well how how so then that's my question how do the people who are
renting get to the units because i feel like the front street side i'm i'm looking yeah but there's
one door on the front seat side so what is it we don't have floor plans for that just because we
you know again it's not the subject of this but carl if you could actually that's the wrong well
it is if you want to get three units approved we've got to understand how you get yeah the unit
Well, Carl, can you explain then to the boards, like verbally, how the first floor unit gets in and then how the second floor unit gets into the building?
Yes, you proceed through that blue door and then there's a foyer.
It's about five feet across and about six, seven feet wide.
There's a door on the left.
You open it up and you go to the top unit.
there's a door on the right and you walk right inside the first floor unit what can we find a
photo of the blue door because yeah google earth it's white the blue door is um got the um it's
right at the top of the steps yeah that's the one that on google earth is white oh well it's alan
has a picture of it he um he just didn't have it up okay oh no that's that there you go this is
it from north front street side so if the rental tenants that are not mr geiger are both going to
enter through this door there's a common vestibule there's one unit on what would effectively be the
first floor of the building and one unit on the second floor that's right and then he's going to
only enter from the water street side is there any passageway from the water street side to the
front street side not from an interior standpoint no no it's full lot coverage got it okay yes it's
full lot coverage so if i'm like for the unit on the water street side they're only on the
water street address yeah i would treat it as essentially for all intents and purposes as two
like separate buildings that's interconnected with one street address so for the water street side
where do they pick up their mail i again i don't think anyone's used the water street side but
no i would it's again move carl i the you know you would have a mailbox on the water street side
is that correct yeah there's a mail slot it gets delivered through the slot in the door
sure but if i'm the post person and the address is on front street i'm delivering the mail to front
street doesn't know they have dual addresses because i do see there's a number plate on the
water street side for 310 water street which is technically a different address so i'm trying to
figure out are there two addresses is there a dba address at the property i think i can answer that
I think I can answer that for you. For some reason, the utilities all come in at 310 North Water Street and other mail comes in at 311-13 North Front Street.
for you um for some reason
So I don't know why it's set up that way. But, you know, Pico, they all acknowledge it as front street side or as Water Street.
Because the meters are on.
I would recommend that you do some OPA and deep cleanup with that. But I doubt I do understand what's going on.