Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership tax compliance, a copy of the refusal and referral, photos and or plans of the property five days in advance of this hearing?
And have you met with the RCO?
And do you have a letter?
Okay, great.
You may proceed and begin by sharing your screen.
And we'll start off, we'll incorporate all the testamentary evidence into the record from the prior hearings.
Mr. Chairman, what number is this case on our list?
Okay, so I wasn't too far ahead.
Hi, again, good afternoon.
I'm here to present 1701 South 25th Street.
A little more convoluted of a situation.
We presented in front of the board.
We actually have community support at the time for 18 units in this planning community, six single families and six duplexes in the Point Breeze section of Philadelphia.
We actually have the councilmanic support as well.
There was this issues by the planning commission of twofold, and we'll go through that.
One is the amount of units we had.
They thought that was an overuse of the property.
And I would have to agree with them looking at the situation comparing it to other projects.
12 units would be more appropriate compared to other approvals this board has given in the past
and we'll give an example as to that plus the surrounding area we're right behind south taylor
street and by a lot square footage size 12 units would be more appropriate so after the board
denied the baron's request we asked for a conspire consideration based on 12 units and we did get
support from the coordinating RSO, the Point Breeze Community Development Coalition for that
motion for reconsideration. We did meet with the Point Breeze CDC and we had discussions with many
of the nearby neighbors who were very supportive of the project, whether it's 18 or 12, they want
some type of use that's residential because this is the end of a residential area, even though it's
ICMX um and they came to the meeting uh we for whatever reason there were like 20 and 30 people
in attendance but they only had a few votes a minuscule amount of votes compared to the people
in attendance and we found out that people were not like at least based on the vote count there
was lack of support which was surprising so we we told many of those individuals on south 25th
street the situation very upset my understanding is that some of them are in the virtual audience
because it's really important to them to make sure uh that their voice is at least heard and
for the board to then hear that so when we'll go through the uh presentation we'll first look at
the notice of refusal again if this board's so inclined we would ask that there would be a proviso
maximum 12 units you'll see the course most recent correspondence from the point for east
community development coalition and you'll see the vote counts uh and it doesn't match up the
the amount of people that were in attendance
and the amounts of votes actually taken.
Then you'll see the letter of support
from the Point Breeze CDC
that was dated November 4th of 2021,
when this was 18 units.
So if people were in support of 18 units,
then how are they not in support of 12?
And then the letter of support
or more of an email from Kinana Johnson's office
in response to the original 18 unit proposal.
Then the motion for reconsideration,
which really outlines well like what we're talking about as the two issues from the planning
commission. First was their density and then the second was that this was an ICMX property and they
were hoping to preserve that industrial use but as you can see that's on if we're on the other side
of 25th street you can see there's really not as much residential and that's where the industrial
25th street you can see there's really not as much residential and that's where the industrial
belongs but on our side there's a much residential and it's a two-story block behind us
uh on south taylor street and we want to give an example of like if we built something with
maximum usage how out of character and how outsource it would look in the community
uh so um but we'll go further in the presentation with that but in addition to our motion for
reconsideration. We have nearby multifamily developments. You'll see 1501 South 25th Street.
This board approved 18 units on a lot from a per unit perspective, similar to what we're asking
for 12 units. Lots of sizes of nearby residential properties, maps of the area, photographs of the
property. What we're proposing, and then what's the alternative as of rights, which shows how
outsource it would be. Our RCO meeting notice, our deeds of property showing at H&M Developments,
LLCs, the owner of the property, our application for appeal that they filed or we filed on their
behalf, our certificate of tax clearance, and again, Ghaziada, Sevens, and the virtual audience
who can answer some questions. He's also a licensed realtor as well. Notice of refusal. So yes, this
is an ICMX property. And under the code, technically, you have the extreme amount of
block coverage you can have plus you can build up to 60 feet which would be out of sorts as you'll
see from this you know south taylor street um but originally we're proposing six single families
six duplexes utilizing a common driveway and we had four refusals first we use because it's icmx
and we're trying to do multi-family 18 units is not allowed well 12 units is not allowed either
We're trying to work with the community and the planning commission because they thought the density was too much.
If you look based on South Taylor Street, what we're asking for per unit square foot wise matches South Taylor Street.
And we're actually better.
At 1501 South 25th Street, the other multifamily planning community project this board approved matches as well.
you know there's some de minimis uh like dimensional variances that really don't affect
anyone's light and air or anything in that respect the first one is the minimum side yard
should be eight feet while we're at six and nine and three quarters and we'll show you
where we're just setting back the buildings on 25th street a little bit uh and you know we're
repurposing a common driveway in that respect so that's where that refusal is and we'll go through
the site plan to show you that. And then the minimum rear depth is nine feet, which is required.
And we're proposing like a little over six feet. Again, it's more to have like a walkway for some
of those units, those single family homes. And again, just to give more lighting there to the
neighboring properties on 25th Street. And then finally, we're required to have a common driveway
of 24 feet wide where 18 feet is proposed,
which, again, our firm handles a lot of these matters.
This is not something that's out of sorts
and is, you know, commonly approved by this board,
but, you know, we'll show you that as well.
And then here's the notice or the letter we received
from the Point Breeze Community Development Corporation.
Just want to note, you know, our firm works with them a lot.
They always provide a fair forum. And they did so here as well. It was a lively meeting, but we had probably 20 to 30 people in attendance. Don't remember the exact number. I think next time I'll take a screenshot so I can confirm how many.
but they said that seven people voted no
and two people of those two
or two are from the RCO, right?
So that means only five people
from the community actually voted.
And they said two from the RCO was included in SF.
And then they said four people voted yes,
zero from the RCO.
But again, there were so many people in the meeting.
We're going to have almost as many people
who at least said they're going to try to get out of work
to virtually attend this meeting
who are in support of this project who are nearby.
And then here's a letter of support
from Point Breeze Community Development Corporation
dated November 4th of 2021.
And the support from the community was unanimous.
And even here, the RCO,
two members of their own RCO with 18 units supported it.
So I guess for this meeting,
they only had two members of the RCO.
i mean the last meeting but the original meeting they it was split two to two so again the
divergence like we're actually proposing less density we're proposing a parking spot
per unit because there will be one front-facing garage for each of these units.
because there'll be one front facing garage
for each of these units.
So it doesn't make sense to us.
I don't know if there was an issue with the vote counts.
They do it digitally.
So I don't know if there's a system
with their computer system.
But then you'll see from France Pierre's email
dated January 18, 2022,
stating that they joined his office,
the council member's office, Johnson,
joined in supporting this project
for this proposed development of 18 units.
And then we did a motion for reconsideration,
and it was pretty lengthy.
What I wanted to point out, though,
is that the board granted a variance
at 1501 South 25th Street.
That lot was almost 15,000 square feet.
Ours is a little over 10,000 square feet.
The board granted 18 units on 1501.
So the same ratio,
the board were asking the board to grant 12 units.
because we're two-thirds the size, and that's, you know, those numbers match. But not only that,
if you look at what's behind us on the, you know, 1700 block of South Taylor Street, so on average,
1701 South 25th Street, on average, based on the lot size, we're at 839 square feet per single
family dwelling. 1501 is South 25th Street, lot size is 810 square feet per unit. Then you look
at 1700, 1702, 1704, 1706, 1708, 1710, and 1712, South Hill Street, which is directly behind us.
All those properties have a lot size well short of our 1810, or 810, excuse me, I keep saying,
excuse me, E39. They're at 670, 694, 687, 681, 686, 674. So what we're offering from a lot size
perspective makes sense given the surrounding circumstances. And then again, it's not uncommon
uh to have uh well the second argument to have like these properties as industrial zoning uh
next to residential abiding a residential component in the neighborhoods um and for
the zoning to actually change 1501 uh south 25th street is an example and we put that in our
materials as well and then here's the refusal for this property against icmx
you know we talked and went through the refusal but this was in our motion for reconsideration
and then nearby multi-family structures you can see that this project for 1501 south 25th street
was there's a zoning permit in 2019 and then the calendar number is 36580 and this board granted
18 units for 15,000 square foot lot. We're asking for 12 single-family homes on a lot that's over
10,000 square feet. And then I did, again, even looked at the lot sizes. In my motion-free
consideration, I only gave a couple examples, but I looked at all the properties on the block,
on the 1700 block, the block that's behind us. That's really a two-story structure block.
So having an ICMS property that can be 60 feet high would be devastating. It would basically form like a dark cloud over their property if we built it to maximum capacity. But if you look, on average, the lots on the 1700 block of South Taylor Street are 682.39 square feet, while the average lot size for ours is 849.83 square feet, which is much larger than the surrounding circumstances.
And then the maps of the area, again, we're at the beginning of industrial. There's an overpass for 25th Street, but you'll see from this, and again, this is ICMX, but again, it's not uncommon to have a residential on South 25th Street, 1501 South 25th Street is just one example.
My understanding is that Kumas Homes has a rather large development further down as well.
So having, you know, this type of residential use is not out of character.
And having the, you know, because of the overpass, it honestly makes more sense to have the ICMX
and industrial on the other side.
And you can see here, well, not here, but here is when you see more of the industrial
on the other side of South 25th Street, which is more appropriate, but when this ICMX borders
a residential neighborhood, having that type of extreme use and the height and the dimensional
allowances would be rather devastating to the community. And then photographs of the
would be rather devastating to the community and then photographs of the property again we're
repurposing a curb cut so it's not like we're taking away public parking we're actually helping
the parking situation and then here's uh south 26th street from morris street so we purposefully
directed six single family homes to face motor street to merely extend the residential portal
that's on morris street and then here's morris street to the right of the rock and then morris
retail after the property you can see here is where the new passes and then our plans and
drawings again these are all single-family homes uh they all have one parking spot you know for
a garage and let me just get this down there a little bit these are the refusals
so this refusal for uh for the side yards we're proposing six feet nine and three quarters inches
where eight feet is required so here we're proposing right here all we're doing is setting
the building back a little bit setting it back completely eight feet would be out of character
we do want to make sure that the building you know uh facades kind of match up on the south
25th street corner we thought that this would be a great opportunity for landscaping um and
but we want wide enough buildings and building structures to kind of be functional floor plans
so if we were required to have the need feeds here it would it would shrink the building structures
to the point that they would lack some functionality the other refusal is the 18 feet curve cut
excuse me not the 18 feet driveway that's here again we want functional floor plans with these
12 units we wanted to um you know not have to have the requirement of having an additional
six feet of width there we'd rather give it to the actual units themselves and then you can see from
here too. You can see here and it's a little small, but we purposefully directed six of those
units front facing from our streets, but they're not taking any curb, any public parking off the
street. Instead, we repurpose this curb cut to have all the parking in the rear for each of the
And then the same thing for these units, these single family structures here, we wanted to utilize the one curb cut that's already there for each of these units to have their own parking.
uh this is uh this back portion is where we're getting the refusal for uh the rear yard depth
is that where the code requires nine feet uh that is six a little over six feet again we're trying
to make these functional floor plans the more that the code you know asks us to squeeze the
property in a certain way, the less functional our property or units are going to be.
And then here are our floor plans. Again, these are all single family structures,
but you can, oops, minimize this. First floor, you will see each have a garage where I said