of large developments right around us this is the church the church rectory uh the property we're
talking about actually was the former parking lot of the church so here's the church we're talking
about this section up here uh kind of an oddly shaped trapezoidal property uh so to make it clear
again this is the this is the church property going all along the whole frontage of south third
Street, and my client purchased what was the parking lot for the church and has gotten it
approved for four townhomes. One townhome is already pre-approved fronting on Garrett Street.
One townhome is pre-approved fronting on Reed Street. Another townhome over on this side is
fronting on Reed Street. And then in the middle is actually a carriage house that was already
previously approved to allow for off-street parking accessed by a shared driveway for all
four of the houses. Jumping ahead to the conclusion, the RCO was wonderful to meet with.
They were very pleased with our offering of off-street parking. Parking concerns are the
major concern down here, and they had no issues and no opposition to our proposal, which is
basically just to take the carriage house in the middle of the two townhomes and turn it into
that carriage house into two one-story condos so that'll all become clear quickly so again here's
the property all part on the zoning map here it's all rsa5 so what you have here you can see
this frontage right here will all be you'll have a townhome on the right a townhome on the left
a dry vial underneath at the existing curb cut for the parking lot so it's no change in condition
or loss of on-street parking for the neighborhood and then you would have one
carriage house here that would be subdivided into two condos again just a little more context of
what we'd be going up to, the overall height of some of the buildings surrounding us.
The overall height of some of the buildings surrounding us.
Church and its rectory.
This is looking west down Reed Street.
You can see it's single-family row home nature.
There are multifamily units throughout, but generally the size and scope of the buildings.
Again, here's now looking towards 3rd Street.
You have the very large developments at both corners.
And then this church takes up the entire frontage along Reed Street.
So this is what would be directly, this development, which is two huge rows of multifamily housing townhomes, is directly across from where our homes would be on, fronting on Reed Street.
This is the rear access.
This is Garrett Street.
So this property, there would be a townhome right in this location.
and then just a little bit more context to show you what we'd be up against actually attaching
to this wall in here. And this is Garrett Street, one of the kind of beautiful small streets in
Philadelphia. So again, we have one refusal. That refusal is that a two-family household is
not permitted in the RSA 5 district. As I described, this can kind of show at best
I'll zoom in quickly for you.
This is what is already approved.
You have Garrett Street down here, Reed Street at the top.
You have a very strangely large, oddly shaped property here.
So in working with the community, we tried to minimize the overall use and density allowed.
given the size of the project we'd actually be allowed to do six or seven homes by right if we
actually subdivided it that way with no parking but again parking is the major consideration for
the town for the neighborhood and we wanted to work in that consideration and so what we did is
there's one townhouse fronting on Garrett Street which will be a single family house there's one
townhouse on this trapezoidal lot that is fronting on Reed Street. There's one townhouse
fronting on Reed Street right here, and the project in front of us today encapsulates just
this center building, which is actually about 25 feet wide, so it could essentially be almost
subdivided itself into two lots, given the RSA 5 requirements. It's an exceptionally large lot,
uh again awkwardly shaped right behind the church and all we're seeking to do is in order to keep
this uh carriage house we have a dry vial underneath um which i can show quickly
so it's a little tough to read but here's the dry vial that goes underneath the carriage house
And what we're seeking to do is turn the second story into one condo and the third story into a second condo.
So that's the two units that we're requesting that are the basis of the refusal.
As I described, here's the letter from Pennsport Civic Association.
This is describing that they have no opposition to the project.
it further describes and i'm happy to go into it in more detail if
the chair hasn't had the opportunity to review it essentially that with no impact and no net
impact to the on-street parking they have no opposition to this project because we're providing
all that off-street parking and again just to be clear what we're doing here
sorry as you come in off of Reed Street it's a two-way
drive aisle and then there will be parking for each of the
five properties in the rear off the shared driveway. Now again this property is overly
wide and not well suited for single family living without a basement or a first floor
and that design was done in order to work in coordination with the RCO and the community
to be able to provide parking because what we would have done if this were by right
and we still wanted only four units so by right we can do six or seven units
and by right what we're proposing today is actually only five units so that we are
seeking to jump you know put the cart before the horse the least minimum variance here
to jump, you know, put the cart before the horse, the least minimum variance here.
We're seeking to very limit the number of units that we would be putting on here to well below
what's by right. And this is, well, they mentioned that in their letter too, don't they?
Yes, they do. They mentioned that in their letter. And so that is why this carriage house central
unit is uh overly wide for a single family house to have this double accessed uh bi-directional
i should say uh drive aisle why don't you have your client come on yep so you should see a robert
volpe i'm going to stop sharing my screen so i can see him
mr volpe please unmute yourself yes i'm here hi mr volpe could you state your name is
spell for the court reporter, please? Yes, sir. Robert, R-O-B-E-R-T, Volpe, V as in Victor, O-L-P as
in Peter, E. All right. Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but
the truth? Yes, sir. Proceed, counsel. Thank you. Mr. Volpe, you are here on behalf of 306-10
Reed Street, LLC, the owner of the property, correct? Yes, sir. And have you heard all the
testimony i presented today yes i have and do you believe it to be true and correct to the best of
your knowledge information and belief yes i do and would you adopt it as your own yes i would
thank you very much uh mr chair i have no further questions from mr volte questions from the board
no mr chairman no mr chairman questions or comments from the virtual audience
i see no hands chair hi planning commission
thank you chair sarah bond philadelphia city planning commission the comprehensive plan
recommends a zoning map change to rm1 at this location and the variance conforms to that
recommendation therefore the city planning commission recommends that the zoning board
grant the variance. Thank you. MI 2022-003-752-306 Reed Street, I vote yes.
Harold Tenere, my vote is yes. Thomas Holliman, my vote is yes. James Snell, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes. Thank you, counsel. Thank you very much, chair. So we have
one more on the two o'clock list, and then we'll take a
five-minute break. So let's just do this
last one on the list, and then
we'll take a break.
003-724-
850-56
Moyer Street.
Alan Nockamson is the attorney.
Letter of support from
Fishtown Neighbors.
mr knockamson oh yes i was way i didn't know you had anything else oh yeah we're we're here
just state your name for the record please yeah alan a-l-a-n last name knockamson n-o-c-h-u-m-s-o-n
right you've already been sworn could you identify your client in relationship to this property
Yes, my client is Groudon Management LLC, and in the virtual audience, I have its member, Matthew Shaxson.
Okay, our vice chair has a few questions.
Hi, Alan. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership, tax compliance, a copy of the refusal or referral, photos under plans of the property five days in advance of this hearing?
Have you met with the RCO, and do you have a letter?
Yes, in all respects.
Thank you.
You may proceed and begin sharing your screen.
Thank you.
It's like a tape in my head saying those words.
And the same response as well.
I know.
850-56 Moyer Street. You know, this is a, you know, there are projects, you know, that we do
that we're very proud of. And I think that will be very good for the community. And this is one of
them. We're taking a very unique lot here. They go street to street from Moyer to Aramingo. And
on one side of it, we're on the Aramingo side, which has CMX to use. We're putting a five unit
apartment building. And as you can see here from the rendering, there will be a common curve cut
there for the apartment building and for the single families, the three single family units
on Moyer Street. And there'll be also parking for the lot as for the apartment building as well.
So Nome Architecture, which is a very good architecture firm in town,
A very good architecture from a town is the architects for this project, and I think they perfectly illustrated what this project is going to look like, and it's going to have a really positive impact for this community and be a great addition to the Fishtown neighborhood.
is the architects for this project. And I think
We'll be right back.
So in my table of contents, you have a notice of refusal. We did alter our drawing somewhat. We moved one of the roof deck access structures away from one of the pre-existing single family homes as an accommodation.
So if this board is inclined to grant our variance requests, we would ask that they grant it with revised plans.
We do have a letter of support from the Fishtown Neighbors Association, overwhelmingly in support.
Their zoning committee, which is a rather sophisticated zoning committee, actually unanimously supported this project.
Maps of the area, photographs of the property, or plans and documents, or meeting notice with proof of mailing as well.
Application for appeal that we filed to the CBA, our agreement of sale, which shows that, you know, we are under agreement to purchase this property so long as we receive support from, you know, for this project.
And our certificate of tax clearance showing that the property owner is in good standing with respect to this property.
Again, in the virtual audience is Matthew Shapson, the owner's representative for Browning Management LLC, the buyer of the property.
and also in the virtual audience, I believe it's Derek Spencer of New York Architecture.
So our notice of refusal, it seems like a lot, but it's not. We're taking a lot that's like
around 4,700 square feet that goes street to street from Moyer to Aramingo. We're essentially
cutting it in half. On the Moyer Street side, there are going to be three single-family homes.
On the Aramingo side, there is going to be a five-unit apartment building.
There is currently a curb cut on Aramanga where there's no public parking allowed.
We're actually narrowing that curb cut, and we're going to have a drive aisle for the apartment building where there'll be parking in the rear for the apartment building, and then there'll be a garage in the rear for each of the Moyer Street residences, single-family residences.
One more thing, there is a curb cut currently on Warrior Street because this property is being used as an auto repair shop.
So we are eliminating that curb cut and providing another parking space on the street for the benefit of the neighborhood.
So we have four refusals.
So the first refusal is whereas a proposed use multifamily household living five dwelling units for parcel D, which is the apartment building, is expressly prohibited in RSA 5 zoning.
And you'll see from the maps that that side of the Aramingo side is more multifamily in nature, and what we're providing almost a 2,500-square-foot lot would meet the requirements under the code if it had a multifamily zoning classification.
The second refusal has to do with the minimum required area for parcel A, B, and C.
Those are the single-family structures.
1440 is required.
741.30 is proposed for each of these properties.
So what I would say as to that is that if you look up the city records on the 800 block of Moyer Street,
um the lots go as low as 600 uh 628 square feet so what we're asking for is not allowed character
and i looked on the 800 block of moore street and there was only one block there's only one
property a 16 excuse me 830 moore street that would meet the requirements of the philadelphia
zoning code of 1440 meaning that every other property on the 800 block of moore street
is non-conforming in nature. So what we're asking for is not out of character.
The third refusal has to do with the minimum rear yard depth where seven feet is required while zero
is proposed. Again, you'll see from the drawings that is a technicality. We are providing rear
yard space by way of this common area that's going to have a dry vial, but because we have
an easement for this drive aisle for the benefit of both the uh five unit apartment building as
well as the single family homes that easement is considered can't be used as part of the minimum
rear yard depth and even though we do provide the seven feet in actuality technically we're not under
the codes and then the fourth refusal the roof deck access structure setback from the extreme
rear building line for parcels A, B, and C. There should be a setback of five feet and zero feet
is proposed. Again, just because of the width of these properties and this there
again just because of the width of these properties in the staircases it would be
hard to have a roof deck access structure uh other than in the rear you know how it is
and we were very mindful and respectful of having you know no shadow effect uh with respect to those
roof deck access structures that's why we have revised requirements where we're removing the
roof deck access structure further away from any neighboring property owner. So 848 and 858 to
roof deck access structures are away from their property lines of respect for that. And I think
that's why we ultimately received overwhelming support from the community. And here are our
revised plans. Again, you know, in the revised plans, the pilot house of the proposed parcel
way has been shifted to the east park wall formerly on the west party wall uh to be further
away from the neighboring property as not to cast any additional shadow on the neighbor's home
and then you'll see that as part of our plan and it's actually two pages our plans and revised
plans so we would ask that you know the two pages be stamped and the letter of support from uh the
uh Fishtown Neighbors Association again as you can see uh 24 people uh attended that meeting
excuse me 24 29 people attended that meeting uh and the in the RCO board unanimously supported it
and also the nearby neighbors that you know overwhelmingly supported this project and then
here is just you know 850 Morris Street from a map perspective you can see we're on Aramingo we're
not far off of 95 it's a unique property just given the configuration of where it's located and
and just in general it's a it's not a square block or rectangular block but here's Morris Street
and here is our property in the rear on Aramingo and then you can see here as well
uh where we are from the 95 as well and then photographs of the property again this was
previously an auto mechanic shop so even though this is an rsa 5 zoning classification it's not
been used rsa 5 for some time and having residential use is closer in conformance to
the philadelphia zoning code than what its current and previous uses have been and then this is it
that was it from Aramingo. I mean, it's from Moyer. This is the rear of the property from
Aramingo as well. And then you'll just see the zoning notice posters as well as proof of posting
from both sides of the property. And then this is Moyer Street to the right of the property,
Moyer Street to the left of the property, Aramingo to the right of the property,
Aramingo to the left of the property. We had an aerial view created just so you can see
where we are in a neighborhood and how close we are to 95, where it would be more appropriate to