two bathrooms as well there is a back alley here that is on my client's property deed completely
and exclusively and that could be used for trash storage for all three units and here's the second
unit on the second floor and the existing space on the third floor as another unit
the unit a comes in at 604 square feet unit b at 501 unit c is at 466 i'll pull out here
and we'll show you some interiors and that's about all i have to show you
again we anticipate here's our
flyer that was mailed out. We'll be meeting with the RCO on the 23rd and we mailed out to 166
individual households. Does the property itself have a unique condition that makes compliance
impracticable? Yes. As I showed you, this is a commercial first floor that hasn't been actively
viable for over 30 odd years. All the other corners that were once little mom and pop shops
have been either converted or vacant and any and all new development on that block, as
you can see, 100% residential so that this would be more in line with the future of the
block and less in line with past uses from generations ago. And with that, I'm going
to have my client Mr. Akay raise his hand. Mr. Akay is allowed to speak he can just unmute himself.
Good morning. Good morning Mr. Akay.
Good morning sir please spell your full name for the record.
rami ak r-a-m-i last name a-k-k-e-h you swear for him to tell the truth the whole truth nothing
but the truth yes thank you mr on the stop thank you mr chairman mr ak did you hear my presentation
to the board this morning yes was it true and accurate to the best of your knowledge
yes and would you adopt it as your own testimony yes i have nothing further mr chairman
thank you questions from the board questions from the board no mr chairman no anyone else
like to testify in this case if so please raise your hand
chair we have mary jones mary jones you can i meet yourself morning ms jones please identify
yourself for the record and i'll swear you in good morning mary jones from council president
daryl clark's office uh room 494 city hall you swear if i'm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth i do thank you please proceed i just have a question i stepped away
for a moment is this vote going to be held for the rco yes okay thank you thank you anyone else
to testify in this case no more hands chair thank you planning commission good morning mr chairman
David Fecteau, F-E-C-T-E-A-U with the City Planning Commission. Where from to tell the
truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth? Yes, sir, I do. Thank you. Please proceed. Thank
you, sir. Mr. Chairman, members of the board, the comprehensive plan recommends this property for
commercial misuse. The existing configuration of the building with two residential units and a
single commercial unit is a legal pre-zoning code use. Converting the ground floor unit to a
residential unit would not conflict with the spirit and purpose of the zoning code or the
comprehensive plan, the City Planning Commission recommends that the board grant the requested
variance. Thank you very much. MI 2021-00239.
Thank you very much. MI 2021-002-399-1241 North 28th Street. This hearing will be resumed on. I need a date and time.
As you wish, Chair. It's only going to be a reading of a letter, right?
That's correct.
That's correct.
Whatever date worked for you all.
i believe the rco meeting is september 23rd so perhaps two weeks from now to give them a chance
to that would be tomorrow's today's not the 20 what's today today's the 20th 21st today
first tomorrow's the 22nd so it'll be uh uh it'll be it'll be october hold on how about october
six over six yep october six thank you so this this hearing will be resumed on october the 6th
at 9 30 am at which time the board will consider any feedback related to the rco's position
thank you chair the rco has agreed that it will be limited to reading their letter into the record
still noted thank you thank you number two on our list mi 2020-010184 1631 south 52nd street
mr mulvihill is the applicant's attorney mr fineman and mr horvitz are representative
protesters pidc and commerce department oppose we're awaiting an rco letter councilwoman gautier
has sent a letter or i think she made known to the our our council miss saletta that there's
she's not opposed but we'll get to that shortly excuse me this is sharon uh mr reuter will also
be participating if he could be promoted please yes and leo is now here as a panelist
mr reuter is already under oath from earlier this morning
okay uh mr mulvihill please proceed identify yourself and we'll swear you in yes good morning
members of the board leo mulvihill m as in michael u l v as in victor i h i l l address 315 green
street first floor philadelphia 19123 where we're from to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing
but the truth yes i do mr plaza has questions for you i'm sorry chair this is tanya sunkett
If I could respectfully request all attorneys involved with their case, raise your hand
so we can promote you now.
Thank you.
And Mr. Joshua is coming in now as a panelist also.
Okay, Mr. Mulvihill, please proceed.
I believe Mr. Plaza had questions for me.
chair you're you're muted at this point i'm sorry what was that i believe mr plaza had questions
for me yes he does thank you confessor you're muted can you hear me now yes yes do you agree
to wait the reading of its refusal and stipulate to its accuracy we do and have you uh 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 here yes thank you and have you
met with the rco and have a letter yes we actually have three letters of support from three different
rcos in the area thank you please thank you so good morning members of the board this is leo
Mulvihill on behalf of West Philly Development 1 LLC for a property at 1631 South 52nd Street.
This is an application for the erection of two new mixed-use parcels on a lot that's approximately
45,000, 46,000 square feet. The area is mixed ICMX and I2. It's currently being used as a
surface parking and repair lot for what appear to be cabs and other vehicles,
And the applicant, in this instance, seeks to erect the new residential mixed-use building in an area that's transitory between existing industrial uses, which are directly behind this parcel, and existing single-family residential uses directly across 52nd Street and along Paschal Avenue.
I'll note as well, this is located right off of Woodland Avenue, which is a major transit line here in the city.
For purposes of today's record, I have my zoning packet. I'll note at the outset that unfortunately my numbering is off only because one, first page got put on the cover sheet, and second, there are some additions that came in after my zoning packet was submitted.
And second, there are some additions that came in after my zoning packet was submitted, specifically my client's commercial activity license, and the RCO letters, the last of which I received only late last night from Earth Keepers Incorporated.
I believe it was somewhere around 11 o'clock, but I have included them in this packet.
And I will be referring to the orange numbers on the bottom of the pages for purposes of the record.
So members of the board, we are proposing a community new structure of approximately, pardon me, of 104 residential units, which is going to be a mix of studio, one bedroom, two bedroom units.
off-street parking is going to be provided. We added actually via feedback from CDR a loading
zone in which we obtained an amended refusal before and I have that in this application packet
as well. So members of the board I'm going to refer to what is on the screen now page 12 of my
zoning packet which is that amended refusal we received. It is again for the erection of two
detached buildings building a and building b and we'll get into the reason for three for two
buildings rather than one in a moment um we've taken commercial space to include 46 accessory
parking spaces three electoral parking spaces two auto share parking spaces one all street
loading space and 35 class 1a accessory bicycle parking spaces as shown on our plans we received
refusals pardon me members of the board for the use this is an industrially zoned parcel
split zone i2 and icmx we are proposing multi-family household living which is expressly
prohibited we received a minor rear yard depth refusal for building b and that's a de minimis
request it has to do with the rear section of the building and building height for building a
we're proposing to go slightly over at 64.66 feet, and that is only the result of the pilot
house access structure being located along 52nd Street, which we'll get into as well when we get
into the plans. Just to orient the members of the board, here is page 13. You'll see indicated in
blue. That is our subject parcel split zone, I2 ICMX. 52nd Street runs parallel to us. What I'm
indicating here is Paschal Avenue. So this is located at the intersection of 57 and Paschal.
Along Woodland Avenue is mostly commercial use, including the Popeyes. And then otherwise in the
area, there is RSA 5 single family dwelling structures. So as I stated in the opening,
this is sort of a transitory use between the existing industrial and the existing single
family structures. At page 14, you can see the existing overhead shop from Philadelphia Atlas.
And as I stated earlier, this is essentially being used now for purposes of off-street car
storage, mostly cabs and other vehicles where some repair is occurring as well.
This is my client's agreement of sale at page 15.
We also have an amendment to extend the time due to the time that it takes to complete the CDR and zoning processes.
That's at page 33.
Unnumbered page here is my client's commercial activity license for Westfield Development 1 LLC.
at page 36 indicated at the bottom is my client's tax clearance certificate at page 37
a letter dated june 3rd from civic design review indicating that we had concluded with cdr effective
june 1 2021. are we held two community meetings for this project this is the notification that
sent out for the second community meeting which we held last week we held the second community
meeting after cdr so we'd be able to incorporate any changes from cdr into that meeting that meeting
was held over zoom on the 20 pardon me on the 14th of september in that we included a copy of
the amended refusal and here is the certificate of mailing showing that we sent out 58 mail pieces
to the list of properties that was provided to us by the city.
What I have here, members of the board,
is a letter of support from Southwest Philadelphia District Services.
This indicates that we initially held a meeting on March 31st,
and there were some questions regarding
how many units are being reserved for affordable housing.
how many units are being reserved for affordable housing.
Pardon the interruption, Mr. Mulder. Could you make that a little bit larger?
Yes. Thank you. That's good. Thank you.
Certainly. How many units are reserved for affordable housing? Is the event space we
proposed, which we'll get into in a minute, going to be open to the community and will
be an economic opportunity plan? As a result, during our second community meeting, we stated
the following to the members of the community, including that retail and event space is going
to be available for reservation by the community, including RCOs. We have an economic opportunity
plan, which includes pre-apprenticeship program and minority participation. In addition, there's
going to be qualified community personnel employed at the development to the best of the developer's
abilities. The project's going to assist with the improvement of neighborhood block during
development, including sidewalks and other amenities. And my client's going to offer 15%
of the units at affordable below market rates. That's signed by Michael Ross.
I have as well, members of the board, a letter of support from King's Essing Area Civic Association
dated September 20, 2021. This indicates that it is a registered community organization with
boundaries, including this property. And based on our community meeting, they gave their support to
this project based on the following as well. Full-time employment positions at development,
event space and conference room to be used by the community, adjoining neighborhood block
improvements, 15% of the units will be rented at AMI, that should say below AMI, and job opportunities
to workforce training programs and minority participation. My client is working with another
RCO to help sponsor a pre-apprenticeship program that's going to be available to, I believe,
25 individuals for purposes of training in the trades, which will help with my client's goal
of having minority participation and community involvement. Lastly, a letter dated September
20, 2021, from Earth Keepers Incorporated, indicating their support of the project with
essentially the same provisos as indicated previously in the King's Essing letter and
in the Southwest Philadelphia District Services letter.
Beginning at page 44, I have properties of the zoning notice and the amended refusal.
And this is just the existing structure.
Again, it's a surface lot that has a gate around it.
this is looking northbound on 52nd street and just going about our 360 to get a view of the
entire area this area is currently being used by a church to the best of my understanding
and we can see at page 62 for purposes of the record the existing single family dwellings
across the street it's just a photograph of the gate and again more photographs of the
surrounding structures this is looking down pascal avenue we're able to see again more
existing single-family homes which we previously indicated in the zoning map for the surrounding
area i made sure to take a lot of pictures for this one members of the board
one moment as my preview loads
there we go
so members of the board as part of this application we did go through the civic design review process
at this point, I'd ask Logan Dry to please raise his hand.
Mr. Logan is available. Thank you, Mr. Dry. You've been previously sworn this afternoon,
so I'm going to discuss with you and we're going to work through the relevant sections
of the civic design review submission. Sure. All right, so Mr. Dry, first I'm going to bring your
attention to uh let's see let's start with the overhead zoning drawings for the property which
is indicated here page 90 can you please quickly walk the members of the board through what we're
proposing and testify as to why we are on this structure in this lot rather proposing two
structures rather than one for this lot sure um so you know what you'll see here is is two buildings
uh you see building a which is over to the left and building b which is to the to the right
um they're both five-story buildings um the site plan that you're looking at sort of illustrates
They're both five-story buildings. The site plan that you're looking at sort of illustrates one of the main reasons why this development sort of took the shape.
You know, we centered everything around a central green space as well as some accessory parking at the ground floor level.
And the actual reason why we did this is there's currently a SOAR utility easement that essentially cuts the lot in half.
So, you know, that made it a little bit difficult to put one big building on the site because of, you know, that obvious easement that's there.
So, you know, instead of figuring out, you know, hey, how do we move this easement?
How do we, you know, engineer around something that really, you know, probably can't move?
You know, there's always a way to move things.
They just become expensive and timely.
You know, we said, okay, let's let this kind of influence the site design.
Let's view the central area as sort of an extension of Pascal Avenue visually, and let's also use that as an opportunity to provide as much on-site parking we can, as well as common green space.
So that resulted in basically us taking a site and kind of designing two buildings that are, you know, complementary to each other, as well as reflective of some of the existing context in terms of materials and things like that, that we'll see as we get a little bit further.
As Leo mentioned, again, it's a split zone district, industrial and ICMX.
So we designed two buildings, a smaller one and a larger one.
We gave both of them green roofs as well as partially occupied roof decks that are all ADA accessible.
You'll see on building A with regards to that front pilot house down there where Leo's cursor's at.
um because that's not set back from the front facade that's what's triggering our um height
refusal that we have on the application um i would note that you know again anytime that that pilot
house isn't included in uh you know isn't isn't meeting the front setback what happens is it gets
included in the overall uh building height uh so again here you know you've got essentially
two different height limitations ICMX and I2 one has a unlimited height restriction the other one
has a 60 foot height restriction in this case the the controlling portion of the lot the
the 60 foot height limitation is in place so that that pilot house is is the only area we're
slightly over the rest of the buildings fall well within the 60 feet they're maxing out about 54
feet to the top of the roofs. And Logan, if I may, what is the reason for the location of the
pilot house along 52nd Street, where you have it located, where I'm indicating with my person?
Sure. So the reason why we had the pilot house and the staircase there is when we get into the
floor plans, you'll see how the units are laid out. We laid all of these units out in such a way that
they all have their own private outdoor spaces in addition to the shared roof deck. But the location
of that staircase also serves uh as internal uh access to um two of the uh work share community