You're one of the new homes, correct?
Correct.
All right. Thank you. Please proceed.
First, I'd like to say thank you for the committee for taking the time today.
I'd like to start this off by saying, you know, I, you know, we are new homes on the street and we recognize the development to South Philadelphia is key to a thriving city.
However, when I look at this plan and I look at the surrounding area, this does not make sense for our neighborhood.
That's one. I think, too, there's been this has been iterated numerous times that if this this this this current plan is the only option.
and if this option it does not go two giant townhomes will go in with garages that's simply
not the case you know if if two new plans go go before this board there can be an approval for
garages or not garages if the home is torn down so i you know i think that there this has been
pushed several times where this is the best and only option for this property i just don't think
the only option for this property and i just don't think that is the case for the surrounding
that is the case for the surrounding neighborhood um you know
neighborhood um you know and i think lastly i stressed to the committee and i um you know a
couple weeks ago into the zba we need to think about the density issue in this neighborhood
right this is a small street um and when you look at annon it's it's tiny and we're going to have
two additional condos plus timothy's condos condo and who knows how much parking on the
committee meeting three weeks ago timothy said oh i may rent those spots well he then backtracked
during that call too so you know i i just i think that this from a overarching perspective that this
plan for this home in this neighborhood is half baked and does not take into account
our the surrounding neighborhood thank you so sir before you leave what what would be your
something that would be uh acceptable to you you know in my opinion i don't think we need
three two-bedroom condos in this neighborhood. I think one or two-bedroom family townhouses
we perfectly find that aren't looking to push above the existing foot requirement. I think
Timothy and his lawyers have expressed numerous times that the structural integrity of this
building does not make it feasible to do anything else. Well, I've seen multiple other
multiple businesses, construction companies in the area maintain facade, maintain interior walls
by taking down steel beams you know that's an excuse you know and i think um there's options
to maintain the facade of this beautiful building as the lawyer has indicated without having to
you know encroach upon um you know 1227's backyard encroach upon the the uh the foot requirement um
the total the total uh foot requirement um above 40 feet so i just think there's other options we
can put two new townhomes in there that holds um will be two families we don't need to put in
you know, three condos and eight additional parking spaces on a small street like Annan.
Thank you. Anyone else would like to testify in this matter, please raise your hand.
And please, if you could, I mean, this with all due respect, if you give us something new and
different, that would be helpful. We do have a long list to get through on the two o'clock
hearings. We have a Mr. Tim Barling, sir, who hasn't been allowed to speak. I will allow him
to do so right now. Thank you. Good afternoon, sir. Please identify yourself with a record name
and address. Spell your name for this time. Hello, this is Tim Barling. I'm the owner of 1222N.
Last name is spelled B-A-R-L-I-N-G. Do you need any additional info, Mr. Chairman?
You swear and affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
I do. Thank you for your time. I just wanted to address some of the points that came up.
First of all, Wesley, nice to hear from you. I've spoken, obviously, with your neighbors,
but not with you directly. Just to briefly touch on what you just mentioned, you mentioned eight
parking spots. That's not what I'm proposing. We have six. You mentioned multiple multi-bedroom
units. That's not what I'm proposing. We have two one bedrooms and a four bedroom. And in terms of
density, I understand your arguments and I've had the conversation with other people on the block.
My feeling is that I'm looking to put four total bedrooms across a nearly 3,500 square foot lot.
And I have to believe that putting two single-family homes side-by-side traditionally would have likely double that, four bedrooms each, maybe three bedrooms each.
But if we're speaking in terms of bedrooms and parking spaces, I think my plan has a lower density.
You speak to, you don't know what the alternative is, but I mean, just to kind of remove any doubt that was cast there, that is the alternative.
There's not multiple alternatives.
I would like to save this property. I'd like to build this apartment that you see labeled as
apartment number one for my personal place to live for many years to come. And the alternative is
turning it over to a developer, which I am not by any means. I've never developed anything in
Philadelphia. This is a project for my personal home. And I've spoken with them, and what we
propose as the alternative is exactly what I have every reason to believe is the other alternative.
um finally just to speak to the name of the uh the llc that's that's owned that it's owned under
um sorry i might have misspoke there i'm thinking back there's a a single bedroom a single bedroom
and a two bedroom so four total bedrooms across three units uh just to be clear anyway uh to
speak to the name of the llc that i posted under i'm sure a lot of you are familiar with you know
the advantages to purchasing a property of this nature, especially one that I'm not currently in,
under an LLC, insurance. The prior tenant that owned this building since 2004 was a gentleman
named Mr. Connors, and he's a Philadelphia owner, frankly. If you've eaten in a restaurant in
Philadelphia, I guarantee you've eaten in one that he designed and did the sign for. The first floor
The first floor used to be his personal shop to restore old Volkswagen vans, and he called it the Philadelphia Van Club.
used to be his personal shop to restore old Volkswagen vans.
It's very hard to choose an LLC name.
Most of them are taken.
I chose Philadelphia Motoring Club as an ode to the prior use of the building in his honor as the previous curator of the building.
It doesn't have any implication that I plan to do anything other than store my personal vehicles there.
Yes, the garage is part of the reason I love the building, because it allows me two spaces, which so few properties do, but I hope to sell the neighboring units to people who appreciate that extra parking as well.
So I'd be happy to answer any additional questions, but I hope that helps clarify some of the questions, and thank you for your time.
Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else wish to testify?
there is no one else mr chair okay thank you any questions from the board no no
planning commission good afternoon david effecto f-e-c-t-e-a-u with the city planning commission
we're going to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes sir i do
thank you please proceed thank you sir mr chairman and members of the board this property is indicated
for residential single-family use in the comprehensive plan we agree that asking the
applicant to demolish the entire existing building just to build by right would be a hardship
while we do not object to the additional height we believe that three units on such a small street
with no backyard space is not a healthy condition for the occupants of the building
accordingly we recommend against granting these variances thank you uh mr knockinson
question about trash where would trash be stored yes and maybe you were disconnected at that point
we actually have a trash room on the first floor okay i figured yeah i just wanted to
And the other thing, Mr. Chair, to highlight is, and I don't know if you're on, each of the units have significant outdoor space.
So there is outdoor space, and that's kind of where our open space is.
They have significant decks.
I know about the decks.
I wasn't sure about the trash.
Okay, thank you.
Look, I'd like to do this.
I'd like to have the record closed and the board will render a decision at next Wednesday's executive session.
all right thank you thank you thank you everyone for participating
mi 2020-001867 1221-25 north fourth street
that's me mr chair oh here we go
um this one will be a lot easier in less pain yeah i see your name on here okay
may i share my screen yes and you're still under oath and do you agree to wave and step
i do mr chair and uh have you emailed an exhibit packet with the required documents including proof
of ownership proof of tax compliance copy of the refusal or referral and photos or and or plans of
the property five days in advance of this hearing i have and have you met with the rco i have
I'm here to present 1221-25 North 4th Street.
We're also repurposing a very beautiful building.
It's a former firehouse in the old Kensington area of Philadelphia, just off of Gerard Avenue.
And with it, it's a table of contents which include eight exhibits.
The first is the correspondence from the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority.
So my clients are looking to purchase the property from the city, Engine House 29 LLC,
and they have the authority to seek zoning approval regarding this process, this project.
And again, the RDA has reviewed this project already. And I'm glad to say that the councilman,
District Councilman Daryl Clark. He was actually the coordinating RCO for this these purposes
given the impact it had on the community and we do have a letter of support from the councilman
after a community meeting in which we received unanimous support for this project.
You'll see that there are no taxes due on the property. You'll see the notice of refusal.
So this is an RM1 property. And what we're proposing to do is have 29 dwelling units,
So this is an RM1 property and what we're proposing to do is
off-street parking, as well as bicycle parking. And originally when we proposed this project,
the understanding would be that this was going to be a CMX 2.5 project. Zoning approval has taken,
or reclassification has taken a little longer than thought. So we want to push this forward
by presenting this by way of a variance. So the refusals that we have, we're requesting 29 units,
which is a tad more than allowed by RM1. The roof deck access structure setback,
we're requesting no setback, but that's an architectural element, as I'll show.
The open area proposed is 3% while 25% is required, but similar to the other project I
I presented last time. It's really a misnomer in the sense of that the open area is like the decks.
And here we have a lot of green roof space here. So if you counted the fact of the open area in
terms of the roof decks or the rear decks or the side decks, we would have a decent amount of open
area for this project. The height of the project, again, is 38 feet allowed by right of RM1. We're
asking for 55 feet, which is not out of character for the surrounding area, and we'll show you that.
And then the parking spaces. We're providing parking. The drive aisle, we're requesting to have
a little bit less than what is allowed by code, but which is not uncommon, and it's responsible
on those circumstances. Similar to the other project, I have a revised proviso plan form I
provided to Ms. Saleta prior to the hearing. So if this board would grant the variance,
we would ask by way of a proviso with two pages for this project, Z1.0 and Z1.1.
So then you'll see the application for appeal for this project that we filed with the zoning board.
And then you'll see the zoning map of where we are. It's a property that goes street to street
on North 4th Street in Oriana. And here is Girard, which is a commercial corridor, which has public
transport near here and underneath the L. And we're also between Thompson Street. As you see,
in terms of the height, we're not going to have as much of an effect in terms of height because
you can see there's a lot of open area in terms of there's a senior citizens facility with parking
that sets back the building so we're not taking anyone's light and air away.
You'll see from the google map where we are commercial corridor which is always good to
have increased density to support that commercial corridor and then you'll see photographs of the
property this is the current condition of the property right now from fourth street from
oriana and as you can see there is parking already back there on oriana they're you know repurposing
uh the curb cut uh you'll see the project our property uh a view on north 4th street to the
left of the property to the right of the property on north oriana from the left of the property and
the right of the property this is the property next door to us uh that has a peak of 53 feet high
so again we're not out of character for what is on north 4th street uh and then there's similar
developments and projects in the area, 1200 block of Germantown, 1250 North 3rd Street is the senior
citizen facility, 1427 Germantown Avenue. Those are the type of projects that are around there.
And in terms of the architectural drawings, again, we want to repurpose this, really beautify and
put something nice in the neighborhood in this respect. You'll see that, again,
And one of the owners of the entity that is looking to purchase property is James Moransky of E-Built,
which focuses on creating green roofs for not only his projects, but other developers in the city.
So he's very into having sustainable projects like this.
And you can see that we're trying to emulate on the Oriana Street side,
the historical nature of the uh north fourth street side and again you'll see that this tower
is that that's one that's not set back but we're trying to do that in terms of having it as uh an
architectural feature and i can go through the floor plans if you want i think you could summarize
that would be yes yeah so i'll just show the last one this is a letter of support from councilman
Clark. My clients are very excited to do this project. The community is very excited and the
district councilman is in full support of this project and you'll see the latter. I have Mr.
is in full support of this project and you'll see the latter. I have Mr. Tubbs,
Jeffrey Tubbs on the line. Jeff, can you virtually raise your hand?
So Tubbs has been allowed to speak. Good afternoon, sir. Please identify yourself
for the record spell your name uh jeffrey tubbs j-e-f-f-r-e-y t-u-b-b-s where and firm to tell
the truth the whole truth nothing about the truth i do thank you alan yes uh jeff you heard everything
i stated today yes correct and is it true and correct yes and do you adopt it as your own
testimony yes sir okay thank you questions from the board no no no anyone else would like to
testify in this case please raise your hand including members of the rco and district council
offices all the hands mr chair thank you planning commission good afternoon david effecto city
planning commission mr chairman and members of the board this property is indicated for
residential multi-family use in the city's comprehensive plan this former city firehouse
is listed on the philadelphia register the redevelopment authority let out a request
for proposals and received several bids the proposal in front of you today is the winning bid
planning staff took this item to the planning commission who recommended approval of this
building's disposition to enable construction of the current proposal therefore we support granting
these variances thank you mi2020-001867 1221-25 north fourth street my vote is yes with the
proviso revised plan two pages approved today yes for proviso yes for proviso yes with proviso
thank you mi 2020-002478 127 mckean street
Mr. Chair, I have a Scott Good. I will promote him to panelists right now.
Good afternoon, Mr. Good. Please identify yourself for the records by your last name.
Hello, Mr. Goode. You may unmute and please wait to be sworn in.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, as well as the other board members and participants here today.
Your last name spelled?
G-O-O-D.
Thank you. You swear and affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
You agree to waive and stipulate to its accuracy?
have you mailed an exhibit packet with the required documents including proof of ownership
proof of tax compliance a copy of the refusal or and or referral and photos and or plans of
the property five days in advance of this hearing i have and have you met with the rco i have thank
you sir please proceed excuse me before you start chair can i tell you that we this morning received
a letter in non-opposition from Councilman Squilla. Thank you. Mr. Goode, please proceed.
Okay. Good afternoon. I'm representing Patrick McGuggan, who is the owner of 127 McKean Street,
and we are here for a variance with respect to the open air requirements. Mr. McGuggan would
like to add a one-story addition in the approximate square footage of, well, approximately 80 square
feet. The current open-air requirement for this property, which is an RSA 5, is 240 square feet,
and with the addition, it would take that down to approximately 16.67 percent.