this is the second listing
anyone in the audience
i see one hand chair
Okay, let's see who it is.
I would move to Craig Madison.
No, we don't.
No, we don't need Craig.
We need the attorneys.
Okay, so this is the second listing.
We still have no exhibits.
So MI 2025.
No, continue.
It must be heard.
okay so all right so 6930 king sesson mi 2025 007187 this case is continued will mark must be
heard to 120 27 at 330. going to go to our first case
it's here
number
we always did
we did that right so this one here number one number one well let's go to number one
MI-2025-002-819, 29-22 rear, 24-24 South, Felton Street.
mi 2025 002
Henry Clinton is the attorney.
Henry Clinton has been promoted to panelists.
good morning mr chairman members of the board good evening good morning council i'm sorry we had to
call you so late here that's all right please proceed um could you state your name and spell
for the stenographer sure henry clinton h-e-n-r-y clinton c-l-i-n-t-o-n you swear or affirm to tell
the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do could you identify your client in
relationship to this property sure i have two clients who own the property nicholas and larissa
That's L-A-R-Y-S-S-A, Foschini, F-O-S-C-H-I-N-I.
And Nicholas is on the call.
Our vice chair has a few questions for you.
Good evening.
Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
I have.
And do you waive the reading of your refusals and stipulate to their accuracy?
Thank you.
You can share your screen and present your case.
Thank you, Ms. Graham.
I don't know if that's coming up or not.
Yes, it didn't stop.
Try to go to go again Henry.
All right, sorry about that.
No, take your time.
I'm gonna have to start from scratch.
Is that visible?
All right, let's try it again.
I don't know what happened here.
I'm going to start from the beginning.
No, we got this one.
Is that visible, Mr. Chairman?
All right, thanks for your patience.
This is a request by Mr. and Mrs. Faschini, who've owned the property since 2013, to have two one-bedroom apartments above an existing garage that's been used for about 10 years as a cement contracting business.
We are in an RM1 zoning district, and both of our refusals are dimensional.
We have 100% lot coverage, and there's no ability to conform to the zoning code in terms of setbacks or open space, and I'll explain why as I walk through.
These are Table of Contents A1 through A10.
Here's a refusal.
Again, we are in an RM1 zoning district.
to refusals concern the minimum rear yard space of 144 square feet and minimum rear yard depth,
we have neither, and I'll show you why as we walk through it. We do have the RCO letter of support.
It's actually the Southwest Philadelphia Consortium of seven RCOs who support this project
with a proviso concerning trash, the storage of trash, and the handling of trash, which is
self-explanatory in this letter.
So this is the existing one-story CMU cinder block building.
It contains two addresses, 2922 and 2924.
Posters, concrete company.
These were the original plans submitted to the community
and obviously a little bit not of a professional nature.
We have professional plans by Harman Deutsch-Ower Architecture, Mike Nardini, rather, on this case.
He prepared professional plans.
And we do have some changes, which I submitted with the proviso form, chief of which is the way the plan was originally drawn is this was an interior hallway that accessed two apartments.
And the community group did not like that.
They wanted a wall put on the rear of the building with an open floor plan here.
they wanted a wall put on the rear of the building with an open floor plan here
to lead to the two entrances in apartment one and apartment two so i think i'll just go to the
revised plans which are here's the two provisos one is an enclosure below the steps to store the
trash and the second is an interior hallway on the second floor rear which is set back by five feet
on the left is the front of the garage the side view the garage also has a driveway that accesses
the rear of the homes that are on Felton Street this is a front facade two doors here's the stairway
that will be added to the side of the building with the second floor will be a stucco on the
second floor here is the existing floor plan excuse me site plan here's the driveway
The new floor, second floor addition, as you can see, it's 100% lock coverage, and there's no ability to have an open space or rear yard.
That's why we set back the second floor by five feet.
And if you multiply basically five feet by the width of the building, which is almost 30 feet, you get 150 square feet or so, and the open space requirement is 144 square feet.
I'm not arguing that we've met that open requirement, but we've attempted to do so by pushing back the second floor and leaving an open walkway in the rear of the building.
Here's a side view.
This will be the trash enclosure.
It's going to be a metal facing with locks so that only the residents of the second floor and the business can use this area.
42-inch chair rail, all metal leading up to a doorway.
And this is the floor plan.
You have to blow that up a little bit.
So again, it's two one-bedroom apartments up the metal stairs into the open walkway
with a half wall and then a metal railing above.
So you're bringing some light and air into the rear of the building.
Enter for the first apartment.
Sofa, living, kitchen area, trash closet, HVAC units, bath, one bedroom.
Second bedroom, basically a mirror image of the first living room, dining room, kitchen area.
Walk into the front of the building with a bedroom and a full bath.
So this is what I was talking about, the rear of the building.
Now we have an open walkway with the railing above a half wall, and there's the entrance to the first apartment, entrance to the second apartment.
Application for appeal, a project information form, tax center indicating no taxes are due.
zoning map again this is an RM1 zoning district across the street is English
house as well as the Bob Brady veterans building is directly across the street
deed indicating ownership since 2015 notice letter sent to all the neighbors
within the 250 feet 76 mailers were sent out and that is the presentation so
with this proposal, we're adding two apartments to the neighborhood. We're not impacting any
lighter air. We are in harmony basically with the code because it is an RM1 zoning district.
We're in harmony with what the neighborhood and with what the community group wants.
And I'd ask the board to look kindly upon this application. And with that,
I'll ask my client to unmute himself and be prepared to be sworn in. Nick, can you raise
your hand I'll go back to the floor plans Nick are you on the call Nick has
been promoted to panelists thank you Nick okay I think I'm there can you hear
me now I can sir could you please state your name it's spelled for this
stenographer. My name
is Nicholas Faschini
and it's N-I-C-H
O-L-A-S
F-O-S-C-H-I-N-I.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing
but the truth? I do. Proceed,
counsel. Yeah, Nick, were you on
the call when I presented your project to the board?
You just muted yourself.
Nick were you on the call when I presented your project yes okay and if
you had the opportunity to testify on your own behalf would you adopt my
would you adopt my testimony as your own and as shown correct yes correct thank you nick questions
testimony as your own and as shown correct yes correct thank
from the board what kind of business is it below the apartments i mean i know they're not part of
the that's not part of the application but right below it is a garage for storage for
mr fascini's cement business okay so would there be a need for some kind of sound proofing
Well, he's going to have to put some soundproofing or insulation between the 1st floor and the 2nd floor, but he doesn't do any work in there. It's mainly storage.
Just ask it. Okay.
Is the garage store is going to the both sides going to be restricted to the business use?
Both sides.
Does the truck park in front of the garage at night?
There is a drive aisle, and there's also an area in front of the two doors.
And yes, there are trucks that are parked in front.
I mean, occasionally, you know, there's neighbors that park there, but it's typically trucks.
And then also, trucks are parked on the street next to the curb.
I'm just wondering, in terms of parking for the two tenants, are we anticipating that
they will park on the street or not have cars well we're going to anticipate that they're
going to park on the street uh and not in that garage but let me see if i go to an aerial
photograph yeah i think we just have that we just have these photographs i can show you
so there there's where they the trucks would park on that pad and then
neighbors would park on the street right here where the tenants would not in the garages okay
and then I have a question about the sign like the because it sounds like the business is existing
correct is the sign for the business going to remain on the building because your elevation
shows it as removed and repainted right because the stairs are going to come up this way that
sign would be blocked as you anticipate it so i think what nick's idea is he's going to put a
smaller sign between the door and and the front of the building okay and then could just from the
elevation i feel like you showed us what was happening before and what's happening now but to
be clear they're going to enter off the stairwell and the facade is going to align
on all four sides with the existing um exterior of the garage correct right do you mean are we
going to go straight up from above the garage and no bays or no overhangs correct correct on all four
walls because at one point you had mentioned a five foot setback but it looked like that was
still an interior hallway on the plan right so i may not have been clear so let me go back
so when when you would go up the metal steps there's a door here and that area five feet
back from the rear wall to the beginning of the addition that's going to be open walkway correct
Okay. Okay. Other questions? Yeah. I guess my issue would be, is that going to be the only means of egress?
Yes. Yes, Ms. Gasson. This is the only means of egress.
Okay. And is that safe from a fire?
I mean, we'll have to comply with all fire code regulations. I think it's going to be
required to be sprinkler. And if there's any other requirements, we certainly will comply,
but there is one means of egress only.
Okay. Well, I'm thinking about it that way. And also in terms of accessibility, I mean,
you i guess i'm at the stage where you know i'm looking for the ramps i'm looking for
or or lift yeah elevators escalators uh you know just just just a comment understood understood
i'm there too yeah i have a question about mail also like you've addressed trash but like now
you have two apartment units coming here this was originally a garage at the rear behind another
house understanding that the lots were subdivided where where the where's going to be like the address
Where where the where's going to be like the address so that tenants, people visiting the tenants, Uber drivers, Amazon are going to be able to identify the apartment units?
so that
Well, it's really uncanny because that was, frankly, one of the big discussion points at the RCO meeting.
So right. So the idea is to put the mail boxes right here where my cursor is on the first floor and clearly mark second floor apartment one, second floor apartment.
too because there was talk about putting it up here but uh most people said the post office may
not walk up the steps so thought was to put it right right here at the base of the metal steps
is the plan to do a like an address known as because that's on isn't that on eastwick avenue
and not on felton street yeah i'm i mean we're gonna have to make it very clear uh that it's
29 22 rear um felton even though it doesn't really front on felton it does it is 29 22 r
but we'll have to you'll have to spell it out as as rear and then i mean this is like a nitpicky
thing that has nothing to zoning but i think to have the stairway go up to second level
And then to have no coverage for the two units as they're entering the unit, it doesn't really protect them from the elements.
It also doesn't really give them a lot of light or coverage up there.
So it's just something to think about the process of getting into the apartment units and safety.
L&I is going to require that stair to be covered.
Yeah, they're going to require that.
I have a question.
i know the rco was concerned about trash and asked for proviso for commercial trash pickup
correct that uh agreeable yes absolutely all right thank you any other questions
questions from our attorney um yes um i have a question well i guess more of a statement
um you indicated in the testimony that you're creating basically a five-foot walkway