square foot lot into two lots. The minimum lot size is 2,250 square feet. We're proposing two
lots each over 6,000 square feet. Once subdivided, the proposal is to build a semi-detached structure
with two single-family homes, with a driveway for each house that has rear-loaded parking
that meets the requirements of the overlay in the district. It's three stories from the front,
four stories from the rear. There is a roof deck, but the roof deck is tucked in behind the
building, so it's not visible from the front. The elevations are on page six. Again, it has a front
porch, as is required by the overlay, and floor plans are on pages eight through ten. You see the
rear-loaded driveway, and the driveway provides parking from the rear. The first floor has the
covered porch in the front living space kitchen and then a rear deck and then the roof deck as
I said is tucked in behind the peak of the roof in the rear. With me is Steve Aschewski who is a
partner of Baker Street Partners. Mr. Aschewski would you be sworn in please? Good afternoon sir
please identify yourself spell your full first and last name sure uh steve oszewski first name
is s-t-e-v-e last name is o-l-s-z-e-w-s-k-i and i am the managing partner for uh baker street
partners thank you swearing the firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
thank you mr o'brien mr shesky did you hear my testimony yes uh was it truthful yes you
adopt it as your own i do thank you questions from the board no
anyone else would like to testify in this case if so please raise your hand
at this time Mr. Chair thank you planning commission good afternoon Brian Wendrick city
planning staff this property is indicated for single-family residential use
This property is indicated for single-family residential use on the comprehensive plan.
Accordingly, we have no objection to the granting of these variances.
Thank you.
MI 2020-0017166738 Pitchin Street, my vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
Thank you. MI 2020, that's 001863, 300 Rouse Boulevard.
Okay, Mr. Chair, I have Mr. Ronald Patterson.
I will promote him to the panelist.
Thank you.
I'm sorry.
Good afternoon, Mr. Patterson.
Please identify yourself with a record, and I'll swear you in.
okay i think i'm in good yep patterson clare harrison law firm 1835 market street
pa 1913 and patterson p-a-t-t-e-r-s-o-n thank you you swear and affirm to tell the truth the whole
truth yes i do so patterson you agree to waive the reading of its refusal and
stipulate to its accuracy? I do. Also, have you emailed an exhibit packet with the required
documents, proof of ownership, proof of tax compliance, copy of the refusal or referral
photos and plans five days prior to this hearing? I did. Thank you. Thank you. Have you met with the
RCO and have a letter? We have, yes. Thank you. Please proceed. Thank you. If I could share my
screen. So this application regards Iovance. It's a new building that's under construction
in the Navy Yard. It's accessed by coming off of Broad Street South, making a left,
turning down on Ralph's Boulevard. It's a late stage oncology company that focuses to bring
T-cell therapy and manufacturing at this location. This application regards their building
identification sign here noted along the top of that upper floor. As you drive through,
this is on your way down here to the property it's down located here you'll see that it's
flanked by buildings all around and every one of these buildings has similar type of sign it's just
the nature of how large the navy yard is uh vast and expansive and uh makes it easier to identify
these buildings there's a building on the right here's it we're moving towards the eye advance
building and here it is you can see that it kind of matches it does match this rendering
so we apply for the sign it's a flat wall sign it complies with the provisions for size
and dimensions it's 150 square feet total about 28 feet by five feet of course as we know citywide
there's a prohibition on any signs are located above the bottom of the second floor windowsill
which this is and again as I explained earlier I believe the hardship lies based on the property's
location the surrounding uses its use and just the nature of of that area that it really needs
to identify the buildings so it can easily be found as you traverse through the Navy Yard.
We did meet with the Veterans Stadium Neighbors Association, and yes, that's still the name,
and they provided us with a letter of non-opposition. I'm not sure if you have it,
but I will pull it up. But their jurisdiction goes all the way into the Navy Yard?
yes um so the other side of west side of broad street would be packer park civic which is
i know i think they went into the navy or yeah there's no other group that's uh closer yeah
yeah all right all right ron if you don't mind you can summarize and we'll sure so uh i would
like to allow mr stan newman uh to be accessed to the the hearing you can allow him to enter
good afternoon mr newman when you get on please identify yourself with a record spell your last
name and I'll square you in.
yes thank you uh stan newman s-t-a-n last name newman n-e-w-m-a-n director of facilities
thank you you swear and affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
All right, Ron, please proceed.
Thank you.
Hi, Stan.
You've heard my testimony, correct?
Correct.
And would you agree that it's true and accurate and you would adopt it as if you were your own?
Yes, I would.
Is there anything you'd like to add to what I've said about the need for the sign?
um nothing more than just bringing um this life science that's uh much much needed in the world
um to philadelphia and to make it prominent uh to hopefully help cure some cure a horrible disease
that's it but you actually have patients that would drive there or no sir we we do solid tumor
remediation so in late basically uh someone will get an operation their cancerous tumor
will be cut out there's a piece of it it will be frozen sent to my facility there in the navy yard
where we conduct our our process refreeze it send it back to the hospital to be put in back into the
patient's body and and at that point it shrinks the tumor beautiful great thank you thank you
thank you thank you very good work any questions from the board no
Planning Commission and excuse me anyone else have anything that would like to speak on this
there's a copy of these the VSN letter here you can see okay Planning Commission
good afternoon Brian Winrich Planning Commission staff this property is indicated for commercial
mixed use on the comprehensive plan therefore we have no objection to the granting of the
variances as long as the sign does not extend above the parapet wall that's accurate thank you
thank you mi 2020 that's zero zero one eight six three three hundred rouse boulevard my vote is yes
my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes thank you mr thank you mr newman for
choosing philadelphia and all the best of luck thank you very much i appreciate your consideration
and you're accepting. Excuse me. This is Sharon Saleta. We had a case this morning. There was,
it was an add-on case, Rachel Pritzker's, that you delayed until two o'clock. She has a witness here
who would, who cannot. We lost you, Sharon. What? I'm sorry. It's a follow-up hearing from this
morning. I can pull up the MI number if you could call that next, please. Yes, please.
The case is calendar 37967, 1501 North 33rd Street.
Okay, Ms. Pritzker.
Ms. Pritzker, you are now a panelist.
Please wait to be sworn in.
Good afternoon.
Good afternoon.
You're still under oath from this morning.
So this, I'm going to share my screen.
You've seen this.
rachel just identify yourself oh sorry rachel r-a-c-h-a-e-l pritzker p-r-i-t-z-k-e-r
1635 market street suite 1600 philadelphia pa 19103 thank you please proceed so this is the
case you've seen before 1501 north 33rd street um where we are proposing 17 uh multi-family
dwelling units on an rm1 lot with 13 accessory off-street parking spaces accessed by a front
street on 33rd street here in strawberry mansion the last we discussed with the board there were
concerns from the community about putting a curb cut here even though there's an existing curb cut
and existing curb cuts on the block and we basically went back and had another rco meeting
We basically went back and had another RCO meeting in which kind of yielded the same result of not wanting parking.
And we wanted to get our traffic engineer on to review his report and his findings.
And then 12 minutes before the hearing this morning, I was provided with another report from OTIS.
um and I just wanted to have the our engineer speak to that report as I had not had a chance
to review it and I'm not an expert in uh traffic planning so um I wanted to have um I think David
Horner's on the line to be able to discuss his findings and then also to kind of uh share about
the report that we obtained that I believe is uh from the city um as well so people had
concerned about traffic coming down 33rd through over the park. Okay. Yes. All right.
Jason, do you see David Horner? Yes, I do. We just raised his hand. I'll allow him to speak
right now. Thank you very much. Welcome. Mr. Horner, you're allowed to speak. Please wait to be sworn in to
Good afternoon, Mr. Horner. Please identify yourself with the record, spell your last name, and I'll swear you in.
Hello, my name is David Horner. It's H-O-R-N-E-R.
We're in a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
And your involvement in this case?
I was a traffic consultant retained by the applicant to look at the driveway proposal.
Good. Thank you, Ms. Pritzker.
thanks uh mr horner can you just quickly um state a little bit about your experience so that we can
qualify you as an expert and then go into your report please for sure i think in the interest of
time we'll stipulate that your client meets all the specifications okay thank you thank you yeah
so um david i just want to have you um kind of go into what you looked at and what your findings were
and then share that with the board the issue really at hand is whether the access provided
from this curb cut to provide for 13 accessory on off-street parking spaces is dangerous in this
location if it makes it more dangerous than having nothing there and sort of what requirements you
looked into to be able to determine that and then I know that you were also provided kind of last
minute with the city's report and just wanted to have you weigh in on that as well so that
we could help the board come to a consensus around this project. Sure, be happy to. So we looked at
the proposed driveway location and the very first thing we look at is whether there is appropriate
site distance for vehicles coming in or exiting the driveway to see down 33rd Street to make the
turns. We looked at that, and those familiar with the site would understand that if you're looking
to the right exiting the driveway, there's really no issue at all in terms of sight lines.
The question would be looking to the left towards the bridge, the overpass, and then the road also
bends beyond that. What we found was that there is well in excess of the appropriate distance needed
to pull out safely. There's over 470 feet of sight distance where about 280 feet would be
required. So we felt very comfortable that that is a safe exit. We also looked at the driveway
itself in terms of the width and the configuration. It's at a 90 degree angle. It's 24 feet in width
providing for two-way traffic and given the fact also that it's a very it's a low
low volume driveway in terms of its classification with PennDOT given that it's serving 17 dwelling
units we feel that the driveway with an orientation is appropriate and safe.
um were you able to review the report um that was provided to us this morning by
the office of transportation infrastructure and sustainability i did did you provide comments
about their report i know that there's uh some of it that kind of just pertains to zoning but
at least if you could address sort of the um comments that were made about um high high
vehicular traffic and sort of their assessment that, you know, which is kind of the opposite
of what you've suggested. Sure. Yeah. I mean, without obviously reading through the whole report.
Or, yeah, I mean, without obviously reading through the whole report or without presenting the whole report, basically, their recommendation, their conclusion was that given that 33rd Street has high traffic volumes.
Their opinion was that to provide a curb cut to allow off street parking is not advisable.
So my opinion is actually the opposite. My opinion is that providing a curb cut to allow for off-street parking provides a concentrated point of activity where it's consolidated and the traffic is coming in and out at one point.
The opposite you would have if you did not have these additional 13 off-street spaces is, number one, you'd have a parking demand on street, and the fact that then traffic would be looking for parking, pulling in and out of parallel parking spaces when they find them, I think that's actually a worse situation in terms of safety on 33rd Street.
I think we're better off having the additional parking and having it at a one specific location that we that is safe to pull in and out.
I disagree with their conclusion.
Excuse me. I have two questions.
What is the speed of the car entering the driveway and what is the speed of the car exiting the speed of the driveway?
way? Well, the posted speed limit is 25 miles per hour. Of course, you're slowing down to enter
and exit. So when you're entering and exit, you're probably 10 miles per hour as you make the turn.
I believe that answers your question. What is the speed on 33rd Street? It's 25 miles per hour.
so they have to slow down
approximately 5-10 miles
per hour
yeah I mean you don't come to a complete stop
as you're turning in but you certainly slow down
to make the turn
is there two lanes one pass
and one entered the site
no there's one lane in each direction
so that will slow the traffic
all the way down to Gerard Avenue
It doesn't take very long to make the turn, and it would slow it down less than someone that's trying to pull off the highway or pull off the roadway for a parallel parking spot or the like.
So I don't see that as an issue.
I think pulling into a driveway, as there are other driveways along this segment, doesn't create an issue for the through traffic on 33rd Street.
Thank you.
Are there any other questions at the point we're just trying to make is that
as far as the city's report is concerned and as far as the research that we've done is concerned
that we do believe that it would be um short-sighted to not provide parking accessory
off-street parking while we're trying to add 17 additional units and I know that the board has
heard that there's 40 some odd units with no parking being added to this block as well um that
people who live on this block um had testified before that there's a lot of parking on the
sidewalks um and other areas um which you know theoretically could continue obviously if we
don't provide accessory off-street parking although we did you know acknowledge the
community's concern as well and tried to work through that um over a few meetings so um i don't
other that will get a consensus there but we appreciated the opportunity to continue to engage
with them so um i don't want to um spend any more time on this unless the board thinks it's valuable
um and again we've heard this you've now heard this case a few times
okay we're going to move on uh any questions from the board no no