calendar number mi 2020-003174 4701 king sesson avenue we will uh continue this till next week
and mi 2021-000994 1201 west gerrard avenue we will continue this case until next week
thank you you're welcome uh is there anyone else that would like to uh request a uh continuance
i see no further hands at this time mr chair thank you we can proceed uh
MI 2021-000166-5727-27, Windsor Street.
Sharon, this record is closed, correct? We got the letter.
The record is closed. We were waiting only for a letter from the RCO.
um they wanted to discuss which which um provisos would be enforceable we have had emails back and
forth and they found acceptable the board adding two provisos one maximum for residents and the
other no bedrooms in basement okay is there anyone that want to speak to this or should we bring
anybody up or we're good to go yes i think you um there really wasn't going to be any discussion it
It was only a matter of them submitting a letter
with the agreed upon provisor.
Thank you, Sharon.
Did Planning Commission weigh in on this already or?
I believe they did.
I do not have the recommendation in front of me.
All right, is Planning Commission available?
Yes, Chair Peter Bernard for the Planning Commission.
Excuse me though, I'm sorry,
because we did say that it would be only the letter
at this point. Right, I just wanted to find out if they did. Okay. Yes, thank you. I just, okay,
thank you. All right, so calendar number MI 2021-000166-5727 Windsor Street. My vote is yes
with proviso maximum for residents, no bedroom and basement. Yes, with proviso. Yes, with proviso.
Thank you.
Okay, so we're going on number two, calendar number MI-2021-001-231-1918-22 East Hagrid
Street.
Mr. Hercules Griegos has been promoted to Panama, sir.
Good afternoon, Mr. Grieger, as I urge the board, I ask Hercules Grieger's, 1835 Market
1835 Market Street. I'd ask that this case be heard together with the following case, which is
Street, I'd ask that this case.
1929 East York Street. Yep, so calendar number MI 2021-001-232, 1929-45 East York Street.
Mr. Grigos, can you please spell your name for the scenographer? Great, it's Hercules,
his last name G-R-I-G-O-S.
This is at 1835 Market Street,
Philadelphia, PA,
representing York Partners OZ, LLC,
owner of the property
is located at 1929-45 East York,
as well as 1918-22 East Haggard Street.
Thank you, sir.
Affirm to tell the truth,
the whole truth for nothing but the truth?
Thank you.
Also, have you...
have you uh emailed uh required documents proof of ownership tax compliance copy of the refusal
or referral photos and plans five days prior to this uh listening hearing we have um you met with
the rco and have a letter and there's a letter included in the packet thank you please proceed
Thanks. And just while we're getting the housekeeping out of the way, we did, because we changed one parking space as part of our discussion with the community, we have, and some other changes as well, we have requested an amended refusal.
I spoke with Attorney Saleta about hearing the case, and then, you know, depending on the decision of the board, if they're inclined to approve with the amended plans, they would just vote it in the future when we submit our amended refusal.
with the um excuse me this is sharon and my understanding is that the changes shown in
the amended application were presented to the neighbors that is correct and we would only be
waiting for this will be presented today so they would only be waiting for the amended
refusal in order to reference it in any decision that is correct um so with that i'll just proceed
and if I may share my screen
and orient everybody with the project.
That's not it.
Apologies.
Okay, can everyone see my screen here now? Yep. Okay, so
these are two sister buildings that were previously approved at the corner of Haggard and
Emerald and York. And so this is one building at East Haggard, Emerald and Boston. This is
Haggard Street building and this is the building at Emerald and East York Street. Projects were
previously approved in 2019. As of right, York Street building was approximately 106 dwelling
units, 12 artist studios on the ground floor, 17 parking spaces, loading zone, etc. Haggard Street
was 168 units, artist studios, garage parking. My clients were not the owners at the time, did not
take the project through entitlement nor did I another firm was involved my clients bought into
the project and as they were you know value engineering designing it you know it was
represented to them that the ground floor artist lofts were essentially live work units you know
as as I got involved I explained that you know true live work does not exist is not an artist
studio in order to studio you cannot is not a dwelling unit um so um with that my clients look
to um revise the building plans to really make it functional um i'll note that since that time we do
we have a building permit and they commenced on foundations um just to keep with the timeline
and their financing but we're here today to talk about the ground floor conditions and the ground
floor use and our applications essentially for a ground floor plan um to change basically the
artist lofts to a mix of retail, one true live work, and dwelling units. So all in all, it's an
increase of about 19 dwelling units, about 1,500 square feet of retail amenity space, and it's been
reconfigured and reshuffled. We initially, I think we had three meetings with the community. We had
two meetings with the committee, maybe three meetings with the committee, and we, of the
And we, of the East Kensington Neighbors Association, and we really, you know, wanted to dive into how we make this project better.
the East Kensington Neighbors Association.
There was concerns all along of the procedure and the process, which we acknowledged, you know, wasn't the best, considering it was a buy-write plan, and here we are now changing the ground floor.
But we weren't part of that process, and we aspired to try to respond to the community's concerns.
I don't know if I mentioned, I have Jennifer Van Blarkham, Brandon Alviano, and Deirdre Descanis.
Jennifer and Brandon are with the owner, and Deirdre is the project architect from JKRP Architects.
So we really spent a lot of time trying to figure out how we can improve the building,
added balconies, really studied the ground floor commercial spaces.
and where we ended up was the desire from the community was this corner that you're looking at
here, which is kind of a gateway into these Kensington neighborhood from the commercial
corridor along Front Street and the L stop. It was really important that we activate that corner.
The original approval just had an artist loft and our experience was that was really not going to
be sufficient to activate that corner and we're questioning you know what kind of you know rents
that can generate so in the discussion with the community it was they really wanted to see a
commercial space there and we wanted to really figure out a commercial space that was functional
so we reached out to metro commercial and try to say how do we get a commercial space that works
that functions that is not going to end up vacant and they they recommended um you know in today's
environment with in this neighborhood um about you know 15 to 1600 square feet would be optimal
be optimal for a restaurant so um that's what we did we added that and then on the following
the adjacent um piece that's this corner right here so the pink as you can see and on the adjacent
piece we made an actual true live work which will have sort of storefront windows um direct access
to the street and something that can be a real live work artist studio. The remaining interior
units here are going to be residential, lobbying amenity space on Emerald, and then on the Haggard
Street building, we move some of our amenity space. We have an amenity cafe and a bunch of
amenity space here really to continue to activate that corner, and our hope is that as the neighborhood
matures and evolves, that could easily be converted to public retail space as well if there is
demand for that. As I said, the zoning is IRMX. Here's a close-up of Boston and Emerald and the
Haggard Street building, and really I think the intention was from an architectural standpoint
that the buildings would communicate with one another along Boston Street, but we wanted to
sure that we respected um the um here's the the uh the boss street the lobby we wanted to make
sure we respected this uh streetscape along uh emerald um and really came down we also added
additional balconies um additional um uh screening to the parking street trees this landscaped area
which we see is the potential for a community garden this was all new as sort of part of our
discussions um here's some elevations and then here's the um the ground floor plans this is the
amenity space that is sort of a cafe as part of an amenity which we think at some point um this
would be an easy conversion when when there's demand for a retail space uh open to the public
um this is um the garage area and the side of the haggard street building and then this is
um the york street lobby as the project goes down uh emerald street and you can see the corner
um commercial entry into um this what we think will be a restaurant space we hope retail commercial
space um again we added the balconies up here to to just have more activity on the street
this is our letter from metro commercial um and as you can see you know they they suggested you
know the ideal footprints about 1500 to 1600 square feet um is where we could really that's
probably the maximum that we think is leaseable and in this type of building um these are the
refusals where basically in irmx as you know a industrial commercial use is required for uh 50
percent of the ground floor um here we're we're probably below we're we're below that um and we're
also, but we are putting some commercial, some amenity space. So really, we met with the community
Um, so really, um, we met with the community and, you know, uh, I think that we worked
and, you know.
really hard and I think it was appreciated.
Um, you know, there was demand for more commercial space and we believe that, um, in the future
that's probably possible, but right now we think it's served better as amenity space.
Um, if you note that the, um, the opposition at the community was 14 against and 12 in
support. And I think with, you know, just some of the way the project, the way that the so we have 14 in support, and actually 13, one non opposition. So it's really a 14 to 13 vote. And I think that was a result of, you know, the hard work that Jennifer
for Brandon and Deirdre did in really trying to respond.
We went through numerous iterations of the plan
and really the goal was the buy right condition,
whether that was done right or whether that procedure
left a lot to be desired to the neighbors.
I think my client's coming in
and sort of inheriting that condition
and trying to really improve the condition of the property.
um i also have a couple letters of support from some neighbors that were not able to attend the
meeting but um did um submit um some support and obviously if they had attended the meeting
um the vote would have been different but i'm sure that could go either way but um we also
uh spoke with councilwoman's office and um obviously she's um you know wants to support
neighbors but what we've committed to is continuing to work with her she is working on a
commercial corridor improvement and we've committed to being a partner in that and trying to
be at the table with the various stakeholders that take shape to improve the commercial corridor on
Front Street, which we think will also benefit the community. With that, I'd just like to put
Jennifer Van Blarkam on to affirm my testimony if she's out there.
And then I'll leave it to the board for any questions.
Thank you.
Just been allowed to speak, sir.
Hello?
Yes, Jennifer, please identify yourself for the record. Spell your first and last name.
Sure. My name is Jennifer Van Blarkum, J-E-N-N-I-F-E-R, V-A-N-B-L-A-R-C-O-M, and I am the Architectural and Design Manager for Saxon Real Estate.
You are sort of trying to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Thank you.
Jennifer, you heard my testimony with regard to the changes to the building and the procedure and the meetings. Do you affirm it and adopt it as your own?
Absolutely, yes.
and i'll just have jennifer available for any questions from the board
thank you does the board have any questions no no okay uh is there anyone else here that
would like to speak in this matter
mr plaza um mr sloan folks has his hand raised i will not speak this time thank you
good afternoon chairman plaza and zba board good afternoon mr folks please uh identify
yourself for the record yes sir my name is sloan folks s-l-o-a-n-e-f as in fire o-l-k-s
office of councilwoman maria community sanchez room 508 city hall thank you so are firm to
tell the truth the whole truth for nothing but the truth i do sir thank you um the councilwoman
agrees with the community that the development is different than what was zoned or committed to the
neighborhood. While the revised plan is better, as seen by the closed vote, it doesn't include
affordability and as much commercial opportunity. The developer has agreed that they need to be a
better partner in supporting local business development and corridor support. This is a
high-impact development, and she is disappointed that it's almost built limiting the change
opportunity. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, anyone else?
Sir, Ms. Salina Higgins has a hand raised, so I'll speak at this time. Thank you.
Hello, I'm Salina Higgins. Yes, good afternoon, ma'am. Please identify yourself for the record.
Yes, so my name is Selena Higgins, S-E-L-E-N-A-H-I-G-G-I-N-S. I am a resident at 2017 East York Street, Philadelphia, PA 19125.
2017 east york street philadelphia pa 19125 you serve from to tell the truth the whole
truth for nothing but the truth i do please proceed um so as a uh resident just on the
street from these developments um i i wanted to say that while i am very strongly in support of
development, and we're excited about having the area developed. There are two main and primary
issues with this. First is the lack of commercial space for the footprint of the building. The area
does not have enough commercial space to support the number of residential units that are being
added um and then second with the 19 additional residential units um there is uh it's a bit
short-sighted um for them to not accommodate the parking situation and just add those residential
units um without at you know thinking about how that is going to be impacting the local community
okay thank you anyone else
hello yes john theobald from east kensington neighbors association uh chair of the zoning
committee please identify uh okay you saw our firm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing
but the truth? Yes, sir. Can you please spell your first and last name? J-O-H-N-T-H-E-O-B-A-L-D.
Thank you. Please proceed. So this project had previously proceeded by right
through East Kensington Neighbors Association. The site had originally been subject to remapping
and rezoning based on extensive public input from the community that culminated in a community plan
that ultimately informed the remapping that was executed by a bill through Councilman Sanchez,
Quinonez Sanchez. The community supported high density residential on this site,
but also understood acutely that maintaining the character of our community meant active
ground floor uses, meant maintaining maker space, and also meant having daytime uses in addition
to just being a bedroom community. That was the reason for remapping these particular parcels to
IRMX. They were historic factory sites that were home to large mills.