Ms. Lockman, listen, let her finish, and then I'll let you have something to say, okay?
And if you eject, wait till the end, and she's done.
Thank you.
Please proceed, Ms. Woodcock.
Ms. Woodcock, you're muted.
Since I was muted, I couldn't figure out how to unmute myself.
I just wanted to make sure that it was clear to the zoning board that the setbacks for this planned unit development benefit the neighbors.
first. And granted, the point that will be made in a minute is that the houses impact each other,
which I have pointed out in my report. Ms. Lopman, do you have anything you want to comment
on or do you want to ask a question? Yes, my question to the witness is, isn't it true that
if these were individual lots rather than a planned community and the setbacks were applied
to individual lots, the footprint of the houses would be smaller because they would have to comply
with 12, 15-foot side yards and 25-foot rear yards.
Why would you defer to the designer of such lot,
which does not exist?
And we've already talked about the fact
that in order to develop this lot,
because of its depth,
we have to deal with existing conditions.
Okay, but I was asking a hypothetical.
Nevermind, I'll move on.
That was my question.
Secondly, Ms. Woodcock,
Do you believe that this site is properly designed for internal circulation, including turning around?
I'll just object to that as well, because we do have a traffic engineer who can speak to appropriate traffic design.
Ms. Woodcock's a land use analyst.
Yes, but land use analysts do look at that.
Thank you very much.
Those are all my two questions for that witness.
Great.
Are you done with Ms. Woodcock?
Thank you, Ms. Woodcock.
Thank you.
Appreciate it.
next witness additionally the ownership of team has engaged dynamic traffic to conduct a traffic
impact assessment their report concluded that the parking supply and design is sufficient to support
the proposed demand and exceeds the philadelphia code requirements the proposed site driveway
provides ample site distance to satisfy pendots formula site distance and desirable
site distance standards i would ask that kevin savage be promoted to speak
mr savage
kevin savage has been unmuted and allowed to speak savage could you please state your name
and spell for the court stenographer yes it's kevin savage k-e-v-i-n last name s-a-v-a-g-e
for him to tell the truth the whole truth is nothing but the truth
i do proceed counsel mr savage could you briefly introduce yourself and a quick summary of your
education experience in traffic engineering, specifically in Philadelphia? Sure. I have a
bachelor's of science degree in civil engineering from Rutgers University, a master's of science
degree in civil engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. I'm a licensed professional
engineer in Pennsylvania and six other states. I have eight years of experience in traffic
engineering, and I've worked on a number of projects within the city of Philadelphia.
thank you have you reviewed the proposed project consisting of 12 single family
Have you reviewed the proposed project consisting of 12 single-family homes with off-street parking that's been presented today?
homes with off street parking that's been
Yes, I have.
Would you conclude the proposed parking is sufficient for this density and at this location?
Yes, I would.
Would you conclude the drive aisle and access point at Ridge Avenue are safe and sufficient for this development?
Will the proposed use in parking have a negative impact on traffic in this neighborhood?
In my opinion, it will not.
And is that due to the limited density proposed here of 12 units?
That's correct.
And that was part of the discussion with the co-coordinating RCOs and the councilman when the change was made from the original multifamily use to the proposed single family you see today.
It severely reduced any impacts on traffic in the surrounding neighborhood.
Mr. Savage, would you like to give a brief summary of your conclusions on your review?
Sure. As part of this report, we had a chance to review the operation of the site access point along Ridge Avenue, as well as the proposed parking and internal circulation for the development.
We actually performed traffic counts along Ridge Avenue earlier this month, performed an analysis of the driveway operation.
We found that there were no operational issues with the driveway, and we found that both the internal circulation and the proposed parking met the Philadelphia Code requirements.
Great. Thank you.
You're a traffic engineer?
Ms. Lagren, do you have any questions?
Yes, I do. First, I'd like to note my objection to the record.
We have never been informed that there was a traffic engineer and never seen his report.
This is an unfair surprise.
I ask that his testimony, not as far as his expertise, but as far as his testimony with regard to this site, be stricken.
I object on the record to reflect the fact that opposition counsel engaged a traffic engineer three months ago and told us Friday she was unsure whether he'd be available to produce a report by today's hearing.
That's not responsive to what I'm saying.
I'm saying you have never been forthright that you have a traffic report.
you've never brought him to a meeting for the durnsley park civic association so i'm just
noting my objection but i will move ahead if you would like um mr chairman please please move ahead
okay um
mr savage um when were you engaged for this project
i cannot recall the exact date i think it was late september or early october again we'll object
to the question your report is dated october 23rd correct that's correct yeah okay um so here the um
the revised plan shows 12 detached houses 24 parking spaces with an 18 foot wide common driveway
on a site zoned rsd3 correct in summary that's correct okay um the site plan that you are using
Is that the revised site plan?
Is that a revised site plan with Harman Deutsch on the title block?
Isn't it correct that you're working off a plan that is neither signed nor sealed by an engineer or an architect?
Objection. Our plans are signed and sealed.
Okay. Well, we have yet to see a signed and sealed plan.
um and is it uh is just for procedural purposes ellen i would not have issued a refusal if the
plans of record were not signed and sealed then i would ask that we be provided with the signed
and sealed plans and we can do away with that um line of questioning we haven't seen it
why don't we move on here okay so so mr savage this the original plan was proposing a 20-foot
wide common driveway, correct? I was not aware of the previous plan. I was engaged
when the plan shows as it does now with 12 single family homes. Okay. And an 18 foot wide private
driveway. That's correct. Which is six feet narrower than the 24 foot driveway previously
proposed. Again, I was not aware of that. Okay. Is the 12 foot with 18. Right. And there's there
At the end of the driveway, there's no cul-de-sac for vehicles to turn around.
That is correct.
So large vehicles should be expected on a site with residences, correct?
Such as moving trucks, delivery trucks, fire engines, garbage trucks, things of that nature?
There is the potential, yes. There is also a parking lane along the Ridge Avenue frontage that I believe is approximately eight or so feet wide.
There is the potential, yes.
There is also a parking lane along.
Again, all plans have to be reviewed and approved by both the Streets Department as well as the Fire Marshal of the City of Philadelphia for safety and access review.
And Kate, just to add to that, the project will require a highway occupancy permit from the PennDOT Department.
So PennDOT will review as well.
Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. Right. But as far as the internal driveway,
large vehicles will have difficulty turning without a cul-de-sac and will be required to
make a three-point turn on the 18-foot-wide driveway, correct? That is correct, yes,
or they will need to back out from the driveway. Correct. Back out onto Ridge Avenue, right?
Correct. Isn't that a safety issue?
In my opinion, as part of our site visit, we did identify a number of adjacent parcels that had driveways that required backing vehicles onto Ridge Avenue.
Ridge Avenue also does have traffic signals located immediately to the north and immediately to the south of the subject site, which do create some gaps in traffic to allow those movements to occur if needed.
But again, based on our review of the site and specifically the provision of the parking lane along Ridge Avenue, we feel that that would be a very unique circumstance.
The parking along Ridge Avenue is only six feet wide, correct?
I believe the parking lane is up to eight feet wide.
Is six or eight feet wide the width of a large vehicle?
Eight feet wide could accommodate some larger vehicles.
You know, a much larger truck, which would not be expected to frequent the site, could be wider than eight feet.
And, Dr. Savage, on the rare instance that a large vehicle, such as a delivery, a moving van, or a fire van.
Ma'am, can you please let the other young lady speak?
We let you talk.
We got to let the other young lady speak.
Please.
Thank you.
Thank you.
So large vehicles are expected to enter the common driveway, the private driveway.
And if they have trouble turning around, the larger ones you expect will back out onto Ridge Avenue.
That's a fair summary of what you've just said.
That's correct. But again, there is an 18 foot wide drive aisle.
I believe there are curbless sidewalks provided as well, which provide an expanded aisle and opportunity for those vehicles to be able to K-turn on site.
There are 12 single-family homes as well.
I think if a larger vehicle did need to K-turn, I think there may be an opportunity if one of those driveways was vacant to use one of those driveways as well in order to perform that maneuver.
But if someone is parked in one of those driveways, could a K-turn, could someone use it to make a K-turn?
No, if no, but that would require all 12 driveways being occupied at the same time.
With with how many when you calculated parking demand, how many bedrooms are in each of the 12 homes?
We can have our architects speak to a bedroom and bathroom count, but I'm not sure the relevance
from a traffic perspective. There's 12 single family detached homes. It goes to the land use
code for the parking demand. That's why I'm asking your traffic expert. And I'm doing this off the
top of my head because I've never seen his report. Again, I would defer to the architect for the
number of bedrooms in each unit. We specifically looked at the Philadelphia code requirements
for the parking demand for the site.
And what are the code requirements for this site?
One parking space per unit.
One per unit?
Correct.
Do you expect there will be more than one car per unit?
There may potentially be more than one car per unit.
There also may be units with no cars,
but that is the code requirement is one car per unit.
The parking provided is double the code requirement at 24 spaces for the 12 proposed units.
Some of those 24 spaces are garage space. They're not?
Correct.
Okay. So let's talk about making a three-point turn on an 18-foot wide driveway.
Isn't it correct that turning radius depends on vehicle length?
That is correct.
So different vehicles have different lengths and therefore different turning lengths.
And therefore, different turning lengths.
that's correct
That's correct.
So large vehicles, did you calculate the turning radius by vehicle length?
We did not calculate the turning radius by vehicle length, no.
Did you do a study of trip generation?
We did.
How many trips do you expect will be generated by 12 houses on a daily basis?
Give me one moment to pull up the daily value.
In our report, we looked at the morning and afternoon peak hours, which we anticipate 11 total trips during the morning peak hour.
Again, that's two-way traffic.
So three entering and eight exiting, and then 14 total trips during the weekday evening peak hour.
That's nine entering, five exiting, which translate to basically a max of, you know,
one vehicle entering or exiting the property every six to 10 minutes or so.
But let me pull up the daily values.
On a daily basis, I'd anticipate about 60 or so vehicles entering and exiting throughout the day.
Correct.
Okay. Are you using the land use code for the ITE?
That is correct.
Okay. Do you agree that according to the land use code, the 85th peak parking demand estimate is 1.25 parking spaces per bedroom in a house?
I do not have that information in front of me. I believe that's from the parking generation manual.
Did you consult that before you wrote your report?
We did not consult that as part of the report.
We reviewed the trip generation manual as part of our analysis, as well as the Philadelphia
Code, as I've mentioned.
Okay, but not the land use code.
So do you agree that if the peak parking demand estimate under the land use code of the ITE
is 1.25 parking spaces per bedroom, the number of parking spaces is much greater than one per
unit, correct? I mean, these are either three or four bedroom homes, I take it.
Using that data, theoretically, yes, but that, you know, that data does not account for,
you know, I don't know where specifically that data is taken from. I don't know whether it's,
you know, urban, suburban, rural, it likely does not account for, you know, mass transit or