You can see, and I'll show you again on the zoning drawings.
Let me zoom in here. Again, this is a very small lot, only 711 square feet.
16 square feet of it is actually located on the other side of the wall that's utilized by the
abutting property owner, but you can see how it jogs around here. It has a little hook that extends
off of it. So it's regularly shaped. It's very small. The existing occupied area is 85%. So we're
only looking at an increase of 8.8% in occupied area, which is about, given the lot size, which
is a little over 62 square feet of lot area. Presently, as you can see, we don't have a
compliant rear yard depth and um and then we'll be extending that area all the way to the west
i did include the zoning archives for the properties uh surrounding us and across the street
uh let me just get here um and i think it's important here you take a look at the property
across the street and you can see on their plan you know that talks about the uh the small art
yard area. I did not have photos of that, but I didn't go on to Atlas, and you can see, I mean,
not Atlas, but on Google Street View, and this is what's located directly across the street from us
at 336 South 24th, you know, very small area that's been built over with a deck
open area, and then here's our existing building right over here, and then again, the building
directly to the west of us, so it's pretty tight quarters back there. You can see the property to
the north of us has a you know the one story that extends in the area of our lot past our rear
property line then they have a balcony to the rear and again we have the letter of support from that
owner. We did post the property in conformance with the requirements of the zoning code a copy
of that zoning notice that was posted along with the notice of refusal to attach a tab 18 along
with photographs of the posting at tab 19, both along South 24th Street and Panama Street.
Deed for the subject property showing my clients do own the property are included at tab 20,
a copy of our zoning board appeal, the project information form, the 14303 notice that went out
to the community group to the community is attached and then I did include Sanborn maps
and you can see historically this building has extended to the rear property line on that
section that extends deeper on the north portion of the property dating back you can see here to
1946. And then through the present day. And again, you get the sense of
And then through the present day.
And again, you get the sense of the, this doesn't really properly reflect the property to the north of us, the property to the west of us.
And you can see here the properties across the street.
I think if you take a look at the zoning map again, you can see how much smaller we are than a lot of the surrounding properties.
We're way shorter than the properties to the north of us on our side of South 24th Street.
Again, here's the property across the street that I showed on with street view that has a small cutout.
And then you can see other properties are largely, you know, extend deeper, have a lot more open area.
The property to the west of us you saw occupies almost all of that lot.
There's a very small area to the rear that looks not to be occupied.
And you can see that in the hand-drawn plans on the right here.
It looks like they only have a two-foot rear-yard depth right here, and that's in the zoning archives from the city's website, Atlas.
So, you know, given the irregularly shaped lot, given the small lot size, given – oh, one other thing.
I'm sorry.
I didn't get to the shadow study.
So real quickly, we did perform a shadow study, and what we did is we compared existing versus proposed, and then proposed versus a buy right.
this is it this property is an historic district and we understand that demolishing it and tearing
it down and building a 38 foot tall building with the roof deck and a pilot house is not
something that's going to happen but at the same time we just wanted to give the zoning board a
sense of how this compares to just a standard by right project and what you can see with the
shadow studies is that not only do we not shadow neighboring properties anymore than what presently
exists but that if you were in the area that's in blue shows how a buy right again if it were to be
approved by the planning commission um how it would shadow more uh we have presented this what
the two one-story additions to the historic commission i said planning commission i meant
historic commission um we did present as i told you the the original proposal for the third floor
bump up was uh presented to hear with hearings before the philadelphia historic commission
That was not viewed favorably. The two one-story additions have been provided to the Philadelphia Historic Commission, and the staff has indicated that that would be a staff review only, not needing full commission review, and that the staff approves of these two one-story additions.
With that, I'd like to have my clients and the architects adopt my statement. So, Devin or Zach could be promoted to panelists, as well as Catherine Treppendahl or Alex Davis from Trade Architects.
They've been about to speak, sir.
Could you state your name and spell, please, for the court reporter?
The owner, please.
Hello? Zach or Devin? Yeah, could you state your name and then spell it, please, for the court reporter?
Hi, Zachary Shapiro, Z-A-C-H-A-R-Y-S-H-A-P-I-R-O.
Can you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes. Proceed, Dave. All right, so I heard both Zach and Devin, you're both on, correct?
Yes. Okay, and you're the owners of the property?
And you purchased this property to live in it with you and your family?
And did you hear the statements that I made to the board today?
And are they true and correct to the best of your knowledge?
And would you adopt them as your own?
Thank you.
Thank you.
And then Catherine Trependall, the architect, or Alex Davis?
Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
Catherine Trevino, K-A-T-H-E-R-I-N-E-T-R-E-P-E-N-D-A-H-L.
All right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, not to quit the truth?
Yes, I do.
Proceed, counsel.
Catherine, did you hear the statements that I made today to the board?
And they true and correct to the best of your knowledge?
And would you adopt them as your own?
And just a couple quick questions.
You prepared the shadow studies that I have up right now for the board to review?
Yes, I did.
And did I correctly characterize that the proposed one-story additions do not create any additional shadowing beyond what the existing conditions would create?
That is correct, yes.
And that by right, understanding that the Historic Commission wouldn't allow it, but that a by right building 38 foot tall with a 42 inch parapet and a roof deck with a 10 foot tall, 125 square foot pilot house would actually shadow more than what we're proposing. Is that correct?
would actually shadow more than what we're proposing is that correct yes which are much
Yes, would shadow much more.
more it would affect neighboring um house neighboring properties which have solar panels
and uh neighboring 40 yards and did you did you i mentioned to the board that um
you had had some meetings or discussions with the historic commission regarding the two one
story additions um were you the one who had those conversations yes i was and then can you and am i
was it correct in how i stated it that this this this uh project if approved by the zoning board
uh would be reviewed at the staff level only yes they were very favorable toward this design
that didn't say that they would approve it if it were approved by the zoning
david she's really hard she's really hard for the court report yeah i wasn't sure yes thank
Thank you. Sorry, I apologize. I'm sorry. This is the reporter I was just about to.
Why don't we just make it simple? She adopts your testimony.
Okay, that's fine. Okay, thank you. So with that, we feel that we've established,
given the existing conditions surrounding this property, that the, of other structures and
other properties of similar small size and dimensions. Okay. None of them being this
irregular but that has been established that's the minimus variance that's required that there
isn't an impact to uh to conforming neighboring conforming properties to air and light
respectfully request that the variances be granted right um questions from the board
no mr chairman no mr chairman mr chairman all right questions or comments from the virtual
audience. Mr. Chair, I have a Mr. Mark Lord with his hand raised. Okay. Could you state your name,
please, and spell it for the court reporter? Yes, my name is Mark Lord, M-A-R-K-L-O-R-D.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
I do. Proceed. I live at 2406 Panama Street, and I have since 2016,
and I want to speak in opposition to the request for a zoning variance.
I think the zoning board made the correct decision in originally denying the request
on the grounds that there's not legally enough adequate space on the lot for the additions that
are proposed given the requirements for vacant space in terms of both the percentage of the
area of the lot that can be built on and the requirement for clearance at the rear of the
property which the current home already exceeds. I'm concerned about water runoff, and I'm also
concerned about the precedent that this exception would provide to additional development. The
part of homeowners are using variances that have been granted in the past as precedents for their
request. I think that there's good reasons for both of these rules, and I think that the variances
should be denied simply on those grounds. I also want to note that the Historical Commission staff
claims in its assessment of these one-story additions that the proposed additions would not
quote require the removal of historical materials but from my vantage point which is across the
street. The volume of that empty space that has historically defined the courtyard behind the
house is in fact a material thing with historic and practical and aesthetic values. I'm not a
member of the Historic Commission, but it seems to me that this big glass roof line is not actually
in the historic character of the neighborhood, and I can imagine variants being given on the
basis of a hardship, which I have not heard evidence of. Thank you very much for your
consideration. Thank you for your call, and we appreciate it. Is there anyone else in the
virtual audience? Sir, I have Mr. Andy Delzo with the hand raised. Hi, could you state your
name, please, and spell for the court reporter. Yeah, my name is Andrew Dalzell. Last name is
spelled D as in David, A-L-Z as in Zebra, E-L-L, and yeah, first name is Andrew. All right. Do you
swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? I do. Proceed. I live
at the other end of the block, sort of like the block was a bookend. This would be one end. I'm
at the west side. Yes. And I just wanted to speak in support of the application. I think, to use
David's words, this is the definition of de minimis. I'm excited for Zach and Devin and
Ren to move in. I think the requests are pretty modest, to say the least. And as a fellow parent
of young kids, having a bathroom on the first floor is a real help and to not really impact
is a real help and to not really impact the open area much more than it's already there.
the open area much.
Having to have a potty train a kid up on the second floor, that was definitely a hardship.
So having one on the first floor would be a big one for a young family. So I just think this is
a really nice, very tastefully done project. It's taken a property that was in definite,
in need of repair with an air conditioner jutting out into the right of way and a bunch
of other issues that I think this property owner has done a really, really nice job of improving
for the benefit of the entire block. Again, I actually think the glass is quite tasteful.
And we're not here to talk about historic character per se. But I think if the history
of this building in the future is one that, oh, this is the time that Zach and Devin and Wren
really made it a nice addition to the neighborhood and so that they could live there for a long time,
that's a really good history for the block to have and for this property to have.
so thank you for your thank you for your call and your input we appreciate it is there anyone else
in the virtual audience um yes there's a miss jessica rizzo i have allowed her to speak hi could
you state your name please and spell for the court reporter jessica rizzo j-e-s-s-i-c-a rizzo r-i-z-z-o
right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
I do. Proceed. I live across the street from the proposed addition at 2406 Panama Street, and I'd like to speak in opposition to the variance.
I'm opposed to the variance because, like one of the previous speakers, I haven't heard evidence of a hardship articulated here today.
okay so Ms. Rizzo what I would appreciate is is I know you're in opposition could you tell me
something else than what was originally testified to yes I was getting to that thank you okay
the residents knew that this was a small lot a small house on a small street when they
purchased the property I understand about the difficulties of raising children in a small house
like this, but if that was a hardship they had in mind, they could easily have moved to the suburbs
or to a modern apartment building that's more consistent with contemporary standards of living.
There are only a very small handful of streets like Panama Street in Philadelphia. This street
is a precious, unique jewel. It's not just for people like me who happen to be lucky enough to
live across from the proposed addition. Our street regularly sees people traveling from far
and wide to take engagement photos on our street, to bring their children trick-or-treating on our
street. It's a place that is cherished by Philadelphians and people from the greater
Philadelphia area as a kind of time capsule and a reminder of a time when aesthetics were valued
more highly than they are perhaps today um that's that's why i would like to oppose the variance
okay thank you very much for your call we appreciate your input is there anyone else in
a virtual audience i do not see any further hands mr chair okay um planning commission oh wait excuse
me mr chair i'm sorry to interrupt you but uh mr france pierre put his hand up okay hi could you
state your name please and spell for the court reporter yes good afternoon everyone that's france
It's Pierre, F-R-A-N-T-Z, last name is Pierre, that's E-I-E-R-E.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman and fellow board members.
At this time, a council member has joined CCR's office to...
Mr. Pierre, could you try to speak up?
We're having a hard time hearing you, sir.
Can you hear me now?
Hello?
Yes, we hear you.
Perfect.
At this time, council member Johnson's office does join the coordinating RCO.
in the non-opposition to the appeal as they receive the feedback from the community and it is
majority in non-opposition thank you okay thank you i appreciate it is there anyone else
no sir you may proceed planning commission