wanted to indicate those things because those things are on the record of the documents that
you have it was very small so you may not have seen it it was a different location even the
photos we don't you know have no accuracy to whether those photos are really that building or
not there was no uh we weren't opposing this situation but i do think it's kind of irresponsible
to not have for L&I appropriate schematics that help them identify what exactly is going to happen
in that building. Right now, it's just like scratch on paper, and it's really not effective
in helping to identify what is the role or what is being reduced. What is that building actually
going to do? We're talking about four bedrooms. You're talking about taking off a door just to
try to indicate that it's an office.
So I just think that we need to get clarity based
on accurate drawings before you vote yes due to.
Again, we had asked the attorney at the March 30
meeting of 2026 whether there were
any additional documents for petitions or any support.
and he said no I did not see any and no one at our meetings that were held saw
including Monday well Monday was because of the we couldn't share but he
uh monday well monday was because of the uh we couldn't share but he had not ever indicated that
there were any petitions and those petition dates were from august of 2025 even the even the state
representatives letter so we would never set that information or given that information and i want
these things on the record because they're kind of indication that there's you know a lot of non-truth
moving back and forth around what transpired with this building and this building had had a lot of
problems because um they started with an easy permit which which they used to build build off
that third floor build it all the way back which should have been structural you know so so i just
think that in all fairness we need to understand what the building is doing you know we need better
schematics um those drawings should be what the uh lni can work with accurately and therefore it's
never a question of what really should have taken place um in that building so i think they should
have to at least demonstrate to the rcos what their what is what the actual final outcome is
thank you mr chair i just want to make sure point of clarity yeah let me see if there's anyone else
in the audience okay i'll come back to you before that's fine okay is there anyone else in the
audience no hands at this time turn go ahead i just went there i'm sorry a hand just went up
from a uh telephone number not a name i'm gonna allow adrian probably it's probably adrian okay
adrian
yes okay could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
um yes adrian fernandez my last name is spelled f-e-r-n-a-n-g-e-z do you swear or affirm to tell
the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes please proceed okay um as far as the
meeting uh there was no request or we had no information that 25 people were trying to get in
there were some technical problems um that we were talking about and none of them were talking about
25 missing participants at all so um just to you know state that
can you hear me now yeah better you just stay close to your mic if you can
yeah i'm sorry
yeah mr chair you already have a letter from swamp poodle in support
okay um so with the provisos um the uh which is asking for the four provisos and the fourth one
is asking to limit the first apartment to one bedroom and the bi-level second and third story
apartment to three bedrooms and um i agree with taking the classes out should accomplish that
but there was no um mention or attempt to get the alleged 25 missing participants into the meeting
i just want to um confirm that okay and everything else is in my letter the other
um the other providers thank you very much uh adrian for calling in is there anyone else
you welcome no hands at the time chair thank you mr chair just as a point of clarity the plans
clearly state 2619 north 29th i'm not quite sure why strawberry mansion gets confused but
that's the address is clearly on the plan the plan is very clear as far as what each floor is uh is
working with if we were building this from the ground up you would have architectural plans
we are not doing that we are doing existing conditions so that's what we're putting together
here i think also the first witness confuses zoning with building uh lni has to go through
this building uh to make sure that the rooms are where they're supposed to be and it's it's
compatible with the sizes that are required. All of that gets done before a CO is issued.
And my client, of course, is committed to getting that CO. That's why we started this process,
so he can get a valid rental license. Again, we have no problem with any of the provisos.
After a year of discussing this with them, they've asked for no basement living. We've agreed to that.
They've asked for two units instead of three. We've agreed to that. They've asked for interior
your trash storage. We've agreed to that. Vented trash closet. We agreed to that. We've agreed to
then it trash closet we agreed to that we've agreed to everything they've asked for
everything they've asked for. Subsequently, we've
subsequently we've received either support letters of not or non-opposition from all interested
parties my client's not trying to hide the ball that's why he's come before them
and and this board so thank you thank you um planning commission amy boyd with the planning
commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the rsa 5 residential single family
zoning at this location the city resumed this neighborhood in 2019 in accord with recommendations
in the comprehensive plan there is no evidence that any conversion to multi or two family was
done with the benefit of permits the upon has not shown that there are unique physical conditions or
circumstances that would prevent the property from being used in conformance with the zoning code
the planning commission recommends that the board denied the proposed use variance for two units
I just briefly want to just make a note on that. I appreciate the planning commission's recommendation. However, to convert this home to a single family home or use it as a single family home just would be completely impracticable and turn the property upside down financially.
Also, the majority of the properties on this block are empty.
They're either vacant lots or boarded up properties.
So this will be the newest, nicest duplex on the block.
And we're asking the board to understand the economic as well as the physical conditions of the block when taking this into consideration.
Thank you.
So, so I'm going to, Vern, I'm going to hold this because I want to try to clarify next week, like some of the provisos and things of that nature, what people are saying. So we will vote on this next Wednesday at 2 p.m. Okay. Thank you. Thank you.
Number four.
Could you get your associate? Thank you, sir.
jimmy can you guys hear me because i was having technical difficulties later can you guys hear me
now we hear you now we didn't hear you all right thank you
tanetta i thought for sure your voice just went away i just thought it wasn't
sir knock them simply
could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
alan knockamson a-l-a-n last name knockamson n-o-c-h-u-m-s-o-n so this is m-i-20-25-005-135-2649
federal street um could you identify your client relationship to the property yes my client is
2649 Federal LLC. And in the virtual audience is Mr. David Lebanski, its principal.
William Moore, Jr.: There's unanimous, unanimous support from Grace Ferry Coalition.
Our vice chair has a few questions.
David Lebanski, Jr.: Thank you.
Good afternoon. Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
David Lebanski, Jr.: Yes, we have.
and do you waive the reading of the refusals and stipulate to their accuracy
yes we do okay thank you you can share your screen and proceed with your case
uh if someone could just promote me to as a panelist one more time and i'll accept it
excuse me this is the court reporter could i ask mr narkomsen to get a little closer to the mic
He might have to go out and come back in because I don't see him listed currently as a attendee.
Alan, you are on a panelist currently.
Are you able to see that on your end?
Oh, I am actually.
Sorry about that.
I do see it now.
Hi. We're here to present 2649 Federal Street. This is a corner property at 26th and Federal,
and we also face another public street. It's a vacant lot. We have 11 exhibits here. At the
conclusion of our presentation, I would ask that Mr. Levansky virtually raise his hand to be sworn
in i also have christopher johnson the architects representative from 24 7 design who can answer any
questions originally we proposed to have five residential units here for this cmx2 property
what is allowed as a variety is two residential units and one commercial unit
What is allowed as a variety is two residential units and one commercial unit.
The lot is rather large, it's 1,368 square feet, so we just fall short of three residential units and one commercial units.
After multiple community meetings, I believe it was three, definitely two community meetings, we received input from the community.
Eventually, we came to an agreement as to having just three residential units.
So essentially, what we're doing is we have the right for two residential units and one commercial unit. We're just swapping out the commercial unit for the residential unit. And that's our only variance. We have revised plans as well. We also reduced the building footprint. We got rid of all those other refusals, not out of character. And you'll see during my presentation to have CMX2 properties nearby that are residential in nature.
We have a letter of support. We had unanimous support. There is a proviso here, which is not enforceable, but we will agree to it. We're at the beginning of construction of the property. We will share the owner's information with the coordinating RCO, as well as insurance information of both the owner, as well as the general contractor as well.
just for your information the general contractor appeared at the art the last rco meeting and made
a thorough presentation a well-known contractor lapstone general contracting so we feel confident
that we've hired a good contractor who's going to do right by the community here are revised plans
we reduced the unit count from five to three as stated previously we reduced the occupied area
from 92.1 percent to 65.8 percent we increased the rear yard depth from six feet to 26 feet so
those are two of the refusals we eliminated and we actually even decreased the height of the building
from 38 feet from the roof line to 33 feet high so if this board feels so inclined to grant the
variances that we now request is merely for use from two plus one to three we ask that the board
granted by way of proviso with these revised plans and then you know you can also see with
these revised plans that our building depth actually is less deep than the building to the
right of us as well we have letters to support and this is from the previous version of the project
from different neighbors but you know the general community that appeared at the community meeting
was not in favor of to have the five residential units that's why we reduced it and then we also
came closer in conformance with the Philadelphia Zoning Code
by eliminating those dimensional refusals as well.
The maps of the area.
So these are the CMX2 properties you'll see from the pictures that are nearby
that although CMX2, they're all residential in nature.
Nearby properties are also
2647 federal, 2642-44 federal,
2638 federal, 2635, and 2629 are federal, are nearby multifamily.
And then 2647 federal, and then 1101 through 1109 South 27th Street, and 1201 through 1213 South 27th Street are those CMX2 properties that are fully residential in nature.
There are photographs from the property from Federal Street, from the side on 27th Street, from the rear of the Federal Street property, our zoning hearing notice posters as well from all three streets.
Federal Street to the right of the property, to the left of the property, 27th Street to the right of the property, and you can start seeing the CMX2 properties are residential in nature.
27th Street to the left of the property, same from that angle.
And then Annan Street is our third public street. That's the right of the property and to the left of the property. What was asked of us was to also provide off-street parking for this property. We tried, but the streets department would not allow us because we're a corner property. And given the tightness of Annan Street, they didn't think we had the proper turning radius to do that.
Architectural plans and drawings. There's two entrances. You'll see during my presentation. This is the Federal Street side. The two units, the second floor unit and the third floor unit come off of Federal Street. And the first floor unit, which also has a lower level, comes off the 27th Street side.
The other proviso besides revised plans is we would also say trash stored outside as well as another proviso.
But you can see we have a pretty deep lot.
We probably moved the fence structure a little bit further back to give a little bit more room for the first floor unit as well as a separate area for common trash, which will be enclosed.
This is the site plan you saw previously.
as you can see we're actually much uh we're less deep than the property to the right of us
and then our plans and drawings so if you go to the first floor unit here
So if you go to the first floor unit here, this is on 27th Street, you have unit number one, which has an open floor plan of a living room, kitchen, there's a bathroom here, you have one bedroom, and then you have, I'm trying to get it, an open floor plan where the washer and dryer is down in the basement with the HVAC unit.
uh this is on 27th street you have
Instead of going to the first floor unit, you go up to the Federal Street side, you
go up a flight of steps, you have a landing, you have a living room, kitchen, washer and
dryer with HVAC units in here, bedroom number one, bedroom number two, and then you have
a bath.
Instead of unit number two, you go up to the third floor, which is unit number three with
a mirror image of unit number two and they also have access to a roof deck then our meeting this
is the actually it made i think this was one of the meetings that we attended uh which was january
12th at 6 30 p.m we mailed the notice a few weeks beforehand uh we sent it to 172 addresses this is
list of addresses proof of mailing up to those addresses or application for appeal that we filed
on 6449 federal streets behalf along with the previous uh notice well the current notice refusal
which we've you know we're updating by way of proviso deeds of property showing 2649 federal
llc is the owner of the property and then finally the certificate of tax clearance
we are three feet out of the ground from the ground floor and we're six feet into the ground
you know for the lower level where we probably then have a ceiling at lower level of like eight
to eight and a half feet high by our architect's estimate it's just open it's the washer and dryer
is down there with that being said I would ask that David virtually raise his hand to be sworn in
it's right down the street from the claps right
yeah that was that was very sad that was very sad
sir could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
david labinski d-a-v-i-d l-a-b-e-n-s-k-y you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth yes alan yeah david you heard everything i had to state today about your zoning
matter yes is it true and correct yes and do you adopt this your own testimony yes specifically
you agree to go down from the original proposal of five residential units to three residential
units right yes and based on owning the property that's not out of character for cmx2 property
because there's multiple properties on 27th street which is also which are also cmx2 properties that
are fully residential is that correct yes and you also read by way of the revised plans you also
eliminated both sets of dimensional refusals is that correct yes and most importantly or equally
important uh you would agree to store the trash outside as a proviso is that correct
yes thank you questions from the board yeah i thought i saw on the your section that there
was no basement no there's a basement there's floor plans i thought yeah i just thought when
i looked at the um the section there didn't look like it was a basement but um
All that was bad with the layout of the units that we saw in the previous presentation from the other project is good in this plan.
Just in terms of clarity and understanding, you show furniture, it's clear how the units are laid out.
So we appreciate it. And the community appreciates it when you when you present to them, when you show vague drawings.
I don't care whether the building is existing or new. People need to see where they can legitimately have a living room and living room furniture, not just a room that says something.
So I appreciate that. Yeah, but I was talking about this section. I didn't see where it looked like it was, but that's fine.
oh yeah you're right actually i did talk to the architect when we did the site plan and he you
know for some reason his plans and right here if you can see it does not reference it and
this architect which we work a lot with you know 24 7 design this is just how their plans are
So that's why I asked for clarification from the architect prior to the hearing to find out how far up we're out of the ground and how deep we are on the ground.
that's why i asked for clarification from the architect prior to the hearing to find
That's not referenced in there.
That's an oral conversation I had with the architect today to get that information for the board.
So they need to show that when they show their plans that there is a basement.
So it is clear.
But the plan layouts are fine.
And I know, you know, I remember Cheryl may have some issues around bathrooms, because I know she's always concerned about that.
But the plans are clear and understandable, so I appreciate that.
Michael, I just want you to know, you brought a little smile to Alan's face here.
Exactly.