in the upper right hand corner is unit two and unit three. For these bi-level units
You can see the bedrooms that I mentioned, all with the egress that I had described.
And moving, if I may, then to the next set of homes from floors two through three, we can see similar gracious layout.
two through three we can see similar gracious layout of your living and dining spaces in an
open format plan and bedrooms as well juliet balconies surrounding fourth floor the the top
floor similar type of proposal and private roof decks for these units up at the top of the property
just as the units towards the bottom have their private gardens for example
the coordinating rco fully reviewed the project in two meetings the zoning committee and full
uh full um open community meeting which was very well attended and offered its support and the uh
the uh developers uh have gone and spoken with their neighbors uh and shown the plans
and asked for their support which so many have provided for which we are appreciative
so we really believe uh mr chairman and members of the board that the project that we're presenting
to you today is uh appropriate of variance relief for the reasons outlined that the project
furthermore meets the scope and scale of the neighborhood and the diversity of housing
opportunities in the neighborhood that the authorization of variance relief will not alter
the character or the neighborhood or district or be detrimental to the public welfare
and that the proposal fits into the surrounding neighborhood primarily as evidenced by the
coordinating rco's expression of support and individual neighbors expressions of support
not only would this project be of benefit to the neighborhood but to the city of as a whole
The variances requested, the three variances, I would even say actually that the last two variances are quite similar in nature and address the height issue.
So I might respectfully suggest that it's one bucket of variances, two sort of merging into one, plus that very small variance on the density, represent the minimum variance to afford relief and the least modification possible of the regulations at issue to permit a reasonable use of a burden property,
a property that is non-conforming and not in line uh under today's standards of the philadelphia
code the grant of variance relief will not substantially increase congestion in the public
streets increase the danger of fire or otherwise endanger the public health safety or general
welfare the professionally designed plans represent the highest and best use for the site
and the proposed development appropriately respects a changing neighborhood with a mix of
long existing neighbors uses and new projects dotting the neighborhood this will not adversely
affect transportation or unduly burden water school sewer park or other public facilities
the full team is here and prepared to answer questions speak to any concerns that the board
may have i'll pause at this moment why don't you have your uh owner ryan please come up take a
seat and adopt the testimony. Thank you. Ryan Khalili has moved to the front of the hearing
room. Okay. Sir, could you please, is your mic one? Press. Press. And one of you pulled close to you.
Hi, could you state your name and spell for the stenographer? Ryan Khalili, R-Y-A-N,
last name K-A-L-I-L-I. Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth,
nothing but the truth i do counsel mr kalili i know that you've been here in the hearing room
uh have you heard the testimony that i've offered this morning i have and would you adopt and affirm
it as your own i do thank you thank you um uh council uh my understanding is we're going to
hold this is that correct yes sir okay all right so questions from the board
I have a couple questions. My first question is, I know there was some opposition to the project. Do you know if that opposition came from any of the two adjacent homes that are adjacent to the project? There's two houses that are.
Yes, Ms. Graham, I was present at both of the meetings, and I've engaged with several neighbors. I'm not aware of immediately adjacent opposition.
And what would you say the opposition generally to the project was if it was expressed?
The opposition that I have heard regarding this project
The opposition that that I that I have heard regarding this project relates primarily to a feeling of neighbor voices not being heard regarding new development and generally that more general concerns.
And we've tried very hard to be responsive to that.
And I think that this team has, by showing up and meeting with people, we have spent a lot of time and are prepared to continue to do so no matter what happens to engage with people.
There are some who said during the course of conversation, why don't you do single family homes. And we explained that this is RM1 and that it's a higher density district and we just don't see that as practicable, although we understand the importance and one of the attractions to this property is actually that there are single family homes
in the area. And it's a mix. We engaged in some discussion on that. There were a couple comments,
but I wouldn't say that it was the overwhelming majority who said build to code and keep it that
way. Stay at 38 feet. And others who responded from the community and said, well, look at what's
across the street, look at what's around,
we're a mix in this community.
So I hope that that gives you a sense of what occurred.
My second question is, given that it was prior use
as a garage auto repair,
is there any environmental issues
that you guys have found on site?
Please, please speak directly.
We conducted a phase one
and there were no environmental issues on the site.
Okay, and last question is, where's trash?
Inside, right inside off of the parking.
Can you show me on the plants?
Thank you.
Within the property line.
It's to the right.
One moment.
so uh the trash is uh in uh sealed containers within the property line and it would be moved
out by commercial trash pickup i'd also i'm sorry go ahead go ahead i also wanted to respond further
to something ms graham that you asked regarding potential environmental issues i did review the
full files of lni and uh i believe that there was no auto body work so it was a more limited type
of um auto repair that was going on which is good for this reason other questions from the board
yes um can you tell me um how many bicycle spaces are there i understand there are five
parking spaces how many bicycle spaces i'm not sure if i heard one moment miss gaston
so here we have the um proposed plan showing the bicycle storage paul do you know offhand what
our architect just confirmed that there are four class 1a bicycle parking spaces miss gaston
okay and then with respect to the garage yes is there going to be some sort of i don't know
venting whatever um to make sure that you know there aren't any gasoline fumes and things like
that that might somehow migrate into the units that actually is a question miss gaston that came
up at the community meeting and uh i forgot to mention it yes uh paul has designed our architect
the garage to have air coming through the east side of the proposal and what's the mix of the
units? Sure. How many? One bedroom, two bedrooms? All of the proposed residences are two bedrooms
and at least two bathrooms. There are three, two and a half bathrooms, so they would have
the additional powder room. And the square footage is, for most of them, ranging in the low 1200s to the
to a little bit higher, plus or minus.
I could go through it specifically,
but that's why we really have been speaking
about these are homes.
These are homes.
And then accessibility.
What do we...
I see there's an elevator.
Yeah, it's fully accessible.
It's fully accessible.
fully accessible yes ma'am all right uh i think that's it for me all the questions from the board
including the one parking space
questions or comments from our attorney matthew webster board council filling in for hillary
emerson um out of an abundance of caution would you be willing to have your architect
adopt your testimony on the record you you spoke to the number of spaces most most certainly ryan
please be seated paul would you kindly come up please state your name for the record my name is
paul lorenz paul could you please spell it for the court stenographer sure my last name is l-o-r-e-n-z
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i do please proceed counsel thank you good morning mr lorenz uh i know that you've been
present during the pendency of the hearing before the zoning board of adjustment this morning would
you adopt and affirm the testimony that I've offered as your own, sir? Yes, I would. Thank
you. Questions or comments from the virtual audience? I see no hands, Chair. Planning
Commission. Someone just put up their hand. So that's okay. Rochelle Reddy has been unmuted
and allowed to speak. Good morning. Good morning. Hi, could you please state your name and spell
for the stenographer and if you would please turn on your video uh wait a minute
so she can turn on her video okay thank you
good morning my name is rochelle ready my spell your last name r-e-d-d-y
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Rochelle, are you a neighbor?
Yes, I am.
I'm at 1806 Wiley.
Okay, please proceed.
No one actually have actually been out to speak to myself or my neighbor on the corner at the other two-story home.
I actually heard about the plans at the meeting.
And at the meeting, we were informed about the plans, the 12 units, and the meeting that was held at the playground was,
it it was a i believe a 18 to 17 vote which the the room was filled with developers who voted
who they had vote come in and vote developers don't have a right to vote for what goes on
in your neighborhood the residents do no one actually if you look at the addresses
they have not spoken to any of the close neighbors none of those neighbors has even
they have not we actually all found out at the meeting what was being done there um also
the the garage was an auto body repair shop the latest miss williams was the owner
she evicted him a cup the guys the guy that was um working in there repairing cars she evicted him
like a year prior to her taking ownership of the property back um it was an auto body
it was an auto body repair shop and it was a um mechanic shop at one time and
And the chemicals were actually being dumped in the lot, the lot, which is connected to the property.
No, I'm home every day because I'm retired.
No one from life, I have not seen anybody do any soil.
No one from life, I have not seen anybody do any soil samples.
I have not seen anybody do any EPA testing or anything.
Only thing I actually seen was guys come out and dig to see how far they can go down.
And that was an unpleasant experience.
because it was done early in the morning, and it was, the reason why I'm saying it's unpleasant,
the guy that was hired popped up with a truck, with a head of a, the guy popped up with a head
of a mannequin head of a black woman with a hair flying all over her head with a butterfly in her
nose i did take pictures of it i informed mr lavers he contacted me immediately um i spoke to
i also spoke to the guy that the contractors hired because he called me and he didn't he
didn't even think nothing was wrong with it he is like they find stuff on the side of the road
and attach it to their trucks i spoke to one of the owners um about the situation and they
told assured me that that's not how they do business and that it shouldn't happen again
But getting back to, we actually, the neighbors actually was not informed of the situation until the meeting.
The ones, they spoke to neighbors that were not direct, that would not be directly affected by this project being built.
All right.
Thank you for taking the time to call us.
We appreciate it. Mr. Labor, do you have questions?
A statement, if I may, I think.
What's that?
A few words that I'd like to say.
Thank you. Thank you, ma'am.
Thank you, Ms. Reddy.
I'm glad Ms. Reddy mentioned that she and I spoke
and that she spoke with the direct owners of the property
because a lot was said, and obviously this is not a court of law,
But some of the things that were were a little bit off topic, but I respect them and everything that she said. There was a terrible, terrible incident that occurred with a subcontractor, which was addressed very promptly and with with full attention from all parties with cell phone numbers shared.
and it was addressed in the way that it should have been addressed uh and and ms ready i think
would agree with that and uh i think that also some of what ms ready said speaks ms graham um
to to some of the uh comments that we heard early on from this community about not being heard uh
with so much that's occurring in the neighborhood and we really tried to change that and i don't
think that members of the board you heard differently I think what you heard was that
there there was no knowledge until the meeting and then the and then the dialogue opened up and
it and it opened in a positive way and I really did not hear any direct issues with the proposal
before you but more that we've been here for a long time we deserve to be respected and yes
uh everyone does and uh that this team has provided all the contact information to make
that happen so we didn't get into construction plans and and how things should work moving
forward but even getting to um i can't remember maybe it was member gaston asking about trash or
somebody else like even in the plan is mid-morning pickup so that you're not woken up at 5 30 in the
morning to do things the right way wherever possible. Thank you for indulging me with that
response. Is there anyone else in the virtual audience? I see no hands, Chair. Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair Bergman. Sarah Bond with the Philadelphia City Planning Commission.
S-A-R-A-H-B-A-N-H. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth,
the whole truth, nothing but the truth? Yes, sir.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing residential multifamily zoning.
The proposed residential multifamily use is consistent with nearby properties.
However, the appellant has not supported their hardship claim for a height variance without a setback.
The City Planning Commission recommends that the zoning board grant the variance with the following conditions.
the city planning commission recommends that the zoning board grant the variance with the following
conditions building height of 38 feet max or comply with the required eight foot setback
thank you we are scheduling this to next week would be the 21st am i correct and we'll vote on
this at 9 30. thank you mr chairman and members of the board have a good day okay thank you what
was the what was the height difference? Seven feet. Okay. Seven feet, Mr. Johns. Thank you.
Which is comparable to immediately across the street and adjoining rear off of Cameron.
Thank you, counsel. Thank you. All right. So number four, and we're going to try to
have number five heard with it. So number four is MI 2024-001-571-809 North 42nd Street.
And number five is MI 2024-001-591-803 North 42nd Street. Zen Jin is the attorney.
He's coming back in as a panelist now, Chair.
Good morning.
Good morning, counsel.
Could you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer?
Yes, my name is Zen Jin, Z-H-E-N, last name J-I-N.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your clients and their relationship to the property?