pedestrian access, and including traffic safety elements like lighting and speed tables.
We note for the Board that CDR comments relative to design do not impact PCPC's assessment of the
presented variances. The school is an existing non-conforming use and the proposed improvements
to the site do not increase that non-conformity. The variance for the Wissahickon watershed overlay
is de minimis, exceeding the requirement by just over 1%. The earth moving plan submitted by the
appellant meets criteria in the code for a steep slope variance. The city planning commission
recommends that the zoning board grant the variance. Thank you very much. Mr. Miller,
Mr. Kelson, we've heard a lot of testimony, and what I really want to do is go back and have an
executive session with the board. We will do that next Wednesday, and we will vote in public at 2
p.m. Am I right, Hillary? Yes, Mr. Chair, we will vote at the beginning of the 2 p.m. session.
At 2 o'clock. And by the way, thank the both of you, okay?
Thank you very much. We appreciate the time you spent. Be well.
All right. Number 11, MI 2022, 004-547-1849-51 East Venango Street.
Sean Ward is the attorney. Letter of support from Harrogate Civic Association.
Letter of non-opposition from Councilman Squillip.
And chair, if we may just pause for a second, so Mr. Tom, can we join?
Thomas?
I'm glad you're back, Thomas.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Mr. Ward?
Good evening, Mr. Chair, members of the board.
Sean Ward on behalf of the applicant.
Present with me on the call is George Groves, representing 1849 Venango, LLC.
And just for the sake of the board, could you spell your name for the court reporter?
spell your name for the court reporter. Certainly. Sean, S-H-A-W-N, last name Ward,
Certainly.
Sean, S-H-A-W-N, last name
W-A-R-D, address 331 East Street Road, Trevos, PA-19053. Right. And our vice chair has a few
questions. Mr. Ward, do you agree to leave the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its
accuracy? Yes, I do. Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership, tax compliance,
refusal, referral, photos, and their plans of the property five days in advance of this hearing,
and have you met with the RCO, and do you have a letter? Yes, to all of you both. Okay, great. You
may proceed and begin to share your screen. Very good. I believe my screen is up. Mr. Ward, do we
have the tax issues straight? Yes, I will address that momentarily. Okay, thank you. Well, I can
to address it right now. We have obviously the tax clearance for the primary address, 1849-51
East Finango. We have it for 1822 East Pacific. 1824 is a receipt, evidencing payment yesterday.
1830, no balance. 1840 Glenwood, no balance. And then we have an email from GRB Law
they're going to they're going to ink the payment agreement tomorrow for your payment date
convenience. So Hillary and I have agreed that you'll hold the vote pending.
OK. All right. Good. Thank you.
Proof of that agreement. So thank you. So that that is that has been addressed.
I've submitted my typical exhibit packet with regard to the refusal. Carol,
I don't know if you asked me if I would waive and stipulate. I will waive and I will stipulate
in part and take exception to part. The application was for the erection of an eight foot high fence
on the Glenwood Street frontage, the erection or placement of two cargo storage containers on the
site for the creation of 50 accessory parking spaces. However, in the refusal, these two items,
the vacant commercial space at ground floor and what should be 12 dwelling units, not 10,
should have been listed as previously approved uses. So we submit that the two refusals for
the multifamily and a commercial use are listed in error on the refusal. And the only refusals
we're here to seek relief from today are the height of the fence and the fact that there's
multiple principal buildings on the site. So we seek variances for those. And addressing this
very quickly, there was a permit issued in 2020, as you can see, for 12 dwelling units and vacant
commercial space at the first floor. And again, back in 2019, at permit number 978144, indicating
commercial space at the first floor, vacant commercial space at the first floor, and a maximum
of 12 residential units. So in light of that, I believe these were listed in error and this relief
is not necessary to them. In any event, we have attached to the packet our refusal, our petition
of appeal, our PIF, my transmittal letter. We have all the various deeds to the properties.
I don't need to waste the board's time going through those, but they are attached to the packet.
Let me scroll down here to get to where we need to be. There's many deeds. Okay.
We have the site plan, which I'll go through momentarily.
i just wanted to show you the photographs first hold on a second
what are you doing to me here come on
uh view
So this is the former chocolate factory on Venango Street, 1849-51.
As you can see, it's currently undergoing substantial renovations pursuant to the past two zoning permits which have been issued.
That property is located on Venango Street.
Glenwood Street runs along the top of the photograph and Pacific Street runs kind of on this angle towards the upper right hand corner.
This would be the Glenwood Street frontage and property it's more like a triangular flag shaped lot on the corner.
This would be the street frontage of the Glenwood Avenue property.
This would be the street frontage of the Glenwood Avenue.
The 1820, 22, and 24 are basically the parking aisle, the drive aisle, and this space here.
Those three together are 1820 through 24.
And again, that's the frontage.
And then 1830 is an interior lot out here.
This is also a flag-shaped lot that kind of comes in here and then runs behind these properties here and encompasses this wooded or vegetative area.
And again, this is just a two-story residential dwelling.
This is not part of the application, any development of that.
I'm not sure what we're going to do with that yet.
Probably keep it a residential property.
Again, we have our zoning permit from before.
The zoning map, this represents the Chocolate Factory, Venango Street property.
This is the Glenwood Avenue property, again, IRMX.
And then you come in with the Pacific Street properties, 1820, 1822, 1824, and then 1830.
And again, the overhead aerial view of the property.
So without due haste, let's go back to the site plan.
I am going to do this full screen so it's easier to read.
OK, so as you can see, this is a unity of use application in lieu of a lot consolidation for various financing and separate ownership reasons.
We chose not to consolidate the lots, but the crux of the application is to create ample off-street parking.
The original application for 1849 created 20 off-street parking spaces, but given the residential use and the commercial, predominantly office space use on the first floor,
We felt the need to create additional off-street parking.
And to do so, we decided to go a unity of use to accomplish that.
In addition, we installed a new ornamental fence along Glenwood Avenue.
The Glenwood Avenue sidewalks were just replaced by the city.
So we felt it would be in our best interest and the public's best interest to give that a better appearance.
So the two storage containers are located right here, pursuant to a discussion with my client.
They are basically temporary. They are currently being used for the storage of construction and material for the fit out of the Chocolate Factory building.
So they are basically temporary in nature. We don't imagine them staying there for more than another year or two.
So, given that, that is the sum and substance of the application.
I know it appeared more complicated on paper than what's being presented.
And, you know, I add that it's not that complicated.
You know, it's been reviewed by the Planning Commission.
We have, you know, one-way access from Venango Street coming in this way.
one-way access leading out to the parking field over here off of Pacific Street, which is a two-way
in and out to Pacific Street. The original plan, as approved before, we had a drive aisle leaving
out through to Venango Street, but for fire stair access, we had to eliminate that exit that way.
And so that's why we also wanted to have an additional exit from the parking lot out through this parking lot on to Pacific Street.
You want to have your testimony adopted?
Yeah, George Groves, if he can raise his hand, if he hasn't done so already, can verify and adopt.
George.
He's been allowed to speak as a chair.
Hi, George, could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
The girls, please unmute yourself and wait to be sworn in.
Hi, could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
George Grose, T-E-O-R-G-E-T-R-O-V-E-S.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir.
Proceed, counsel.
Mr. Groves, you've heard my representations to the board today?
Yes, sir.
Are they true and correct, to the best of your knowledge, information, and belief?
Yes, sir.
And do you adopt them as your own testimony?
Yes, I do.
Yes, I do.
One other item, Mr. Chair, I don't know if it was mentioned, but I do have a copy of Councilman Squill's letter.
One other item, Mr. Chair, I don't know if it was mentioned, but...
Okay. All right.
We saw that. Okay. Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I see no answer, Mr. Chair.
Hi, Planning Commission.
thank you chair sarah bond city planning commission s-a-r-a-h-b-a-n-h
in 2017 the zoning map was amended from i2 to irmx at this location in accord with
recommendations from the comprehensive plan the proposed use of multi-family household living
is consistent with documented previous uses of this property the city planning commission
recommends that the zoning board grant the variance with the following condition
The fence and wall is brought into dimensional compliance at a height of four feet.
So, so thank you, Mr. Ward, as per your agreement, would Hillary will hold the vote until the taxes?
We hear from the taxes and we'll try to get you back in as soon as possible.
Yeah, we should we should have that signed agreement tomorrow.
I will get that to Hillary and then hopefully we can have this voted next Wednesday.
All right. Well, thank you very much at two o'clock. All right. Have a good evening. All right. You too. Bye-bye. Okay. Number 14, MI 2022, 005-182, 1324 Mifflin Street, David Orphanides.
uh letter of support from east passion crossing civic and letter of non-opposition from councilman
squilla this door for needy sir has been promoted to panelist okay thank you jason
soon. Good evening, Mr. Chairman, members. I'm Mr. Orphanides. Just state your name. You've
already been sworn. Sure. David Orphanides. Last name is spelled O-R-P-H-A-N-I-D-E-S.
Mr. Orphanides, could you identify your client in the relationship to the property?
Certainly. My client is 1324 Mifflin ST LLC and Jenny Weiner.
Okay. And our vice chair has a few questions.
Mr. Orfanides, do you agree to wait the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you also emailed the packet with proof of ownership, tax compliance, refusal or referral, photos under plans of the property five days in advance of this hearing, and have you met with the RCO, and do you have a letter?
Met with the RCO, have a letter.
Originally, the packet that I sent had all the information you requested.
We weren't able to pull the tax clearance certificate, so I forwarded what you see on your screen now.
We were just able to pull the tax clearances today, and I'll forward those separately to the zoning board staff and to Hillary.
So everything except for these two certificates of tax clearance were forwarded previously within five days.
All right.
Can you proceed, Mr. Chair?
Oh, absolutely.
So I'm going to try to make this as brief as possible, which you'll all chuckle.
But so back last September, we were before you for 1324 Mifflin Street.
And if you hear the notice of decision, MI 2021 001798, the decision from 924 2021.
At that time, we had an RSA 5 portion of the property, a CMX 2 portion of the property, and was for four single-family dwellings.
You had three in the back portion and then one on the front portion.
And this was all 1324, very irregularly shaped.
Here was the notice of refusal.
The CMX2 portion, they said needed the first 30 feet of the ground floor being non-residential.
This was a CMX2 portion.
Obviously, it didn't have any street frontage.
That didn't make any sense whatsoever.
And we had a height refusal.
Again, the board granted the variances.
We went to the community group, got their support, went to the zoning board.
You granted the variances, got a zoning permit.
and then the approved zoning drawings. And all this is at tab 10.
There are three families. There are going to be four families living in each of
these four single-family homes, all of whom know each other. They've subsequently acquired
They subsequently acquired the abutting property next door to the west at 1326 Mifflin Street, and you can see it right here.
the abutting property next door.
And so then the idea became they added and consolidated 1326 in with the rest of it, and 1326 was owned by Jenny Weiner, and they were going to make a double-wide single-family on the RSA 5 portion.
um that sounds like it should be granted as a matter of right because it's a single family
on an rsa5 lot however because it's split zoned and now you have to look at it all as one large
parcel we now get refusals for having multiple structures because they look at lni looks at this
as one structure even though it's three individual single family townhomes and this is another
structure. In RSA 5, you can't have multiple structures. And then they also look at it as
a multifamily household use because they look at it as a four-family dwelling or four
residential units, even though, again, each one's an individual townhome. So pretty straightforward.
As you mentioned, we went to the coordinating RCO, East Pass Young Crossing. They were designated
as a coordinating RCO by the Planning Commission. We sent out the 14-303 notices, as you can see,
having the community group meeting, and everything went according to plan. And again,
we got the letter of support. You can see five, zero opposed. Everybody was in support of it.