Rachel, can you put your name and address on the record, please?
Yes. Rachel, R-A-C-H-A-E-L, Pritzker, P-R-I-T-Z-K-E-R, 1635 Market Street, Suite 1600, Philadelphia PA 19103.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Do you also agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed an exhibit packet with proof of ownership, tax compliance, photos and or plans,
refusal and referral five days in advance of this hearing and have you met with the RCO
and do you have a letter? Yes. You may proceed. Thank you. Sure. I'll share my screen. This is
2538 North 5th Street. This is a RSA 5 property. It's been vacant for quite some time. There was
some damage to the property and we're proposing to rehab the structure into a four-family
dwelling. This is our application. I just want to highlight for the board that this property
had a history of multifamily use dated back to 1936. That's provided in the packet, the zoning
archives. In addition, we are in alignment with adjacent properties. As you can see here,
most of the properties on this block are multifamily, some of which are around three
units, some five, some six. Again, we're proposing four units, and I'm happy to run through this list.
Again, we're proposing four units, and I'm happy to run through this list of adjacent
properties, but I think the board can get a good idea from this list.
In addition, I just want to show the tax clearance, the deed.
This is the parcel right here.
It's a pretty large RSA 5 lot.
Again, a lot of other properties in the blocker zone multifamily, and there's adjacent RSA
and one nearby. This is a sort of an aerial of North Fifth Street. This is the front of the
building. We're just looking to do an interior renovation of the site. It's been boarded up.
There was extensive damage to this property, and we're looking to completely renovate it for four
families at a more affordable price point. As you can see, as I mentioned, this property has a
history of multifamily. This is from 1936. We met with APM on March 2nd, and we have
a letter of support from them as well, which is included in the packet. They provided that
they were wanting to support our application and that they were supportive of it because
it also is local neighbors revitalizing and remodeling the house that they grew up in
next door to their mom. Here is the certificate of mailing. We also went and got a number of
letters of support from near neighbors as well because there wasn't as much turnout at APM's
meeting as we would have liked. So we got near neighbors as well. 500 West York Street,
2411 North 5th Street, 2536 North 5th, 2429 Reef Street, which is the directly adjacent
street to the rear, 2404 North 5th Street, 2414 North 5th Street, 20, I can't even read
that, so 427 York Street, it looks like, 2361 North, and the list goes on, just a couple
of other directly adjacent near neighbors that all were in support of this project.
I do want to just quickly bring up the plans. Again, this is a rehab. There's no living space
in the basement. A lot of it's already kind of existing that way. We're just adding
sort of updated bedroom, living room, trash storage space, which is important to the community
um in addition to you know adequate living space for you know some nicer quality units
um i think that's a little bit out of the scope of the zoning plans um i have our um
the owner on the line as well um me and mia and clarence uh smith so if they could raise their
hand um would like to have them testify um to adopt my testimony as well good afternoon mr smith
please identify yourself first and last name i'll swear you in hello i am clarence smith
and this is mia smith good afternoon you swear and affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth yes thank you um clarence and mia have you heard the testimony i gave in
front of the board today yes yes um would you state that it is accurate and would you adopt as
your own yes yes okay is there anything that you guys would like to add that i missed or um if not
i i would be happy to rest my case and take any questions from the board um just that i grew up
in the neighborhood um and my mom has been there for 20 years and um i just look forward to um
fixing and renovating this abandoned house that has just been a sore in the neighborhood for so
long and um there's no better way than just creating affordable housing for the neighborhood
thank you thank you questions from the board no no no anyone else like to testify in this case
please raise your hand mr slone folks please unmute yourself and wait for the chair
good afternoon mr folks i'm not sure if you were on this morning but either way i'll swear you in
identify yourself first please good afternoon chairman de chico it's good to see you
sloan folks um officer councilman maria canada sanchez room 508 city hall
we're confirmed to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do the applicants having
received a letter of support from the coordinating rco the councilman's office supports the uh
variance request thank you thank you any other any other uh persons want to testify in this case
thank you any other any other persons want to testify in this case please raise your hand
i see no handshake thank you planning commission good afternoon david fecto city planning commission
mr chairman members of the board the comprehensive plan recommends single-family use for this
property however 1937 the zoning board approved a variance from the open space requirements
for a six-unit dwelling. Since this is a pre-existing use, we recommend that the board
approve the requested variance. Thank you very much. I'm I 2021-0000672538 North 5th Street.
My vote is yes. My vote is yes. My vote is yes. My vote is yes. My vote is yes. Thank you.
thank you calendar number 0114 2723 jefferson street
jerry klein has been promoted to panelists
mr klein can you put your name and address on the record please
certainly uh good afternoon madam vice chair members of the board jared klein from from uh
Blank, Rome, 130 North 18th Street in Philadelphia.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Do you also agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed the exhibit packet with the required documents consisting of proof of ownership, tax compliance, refusal referral, plans and photos 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 the above.
You may proceed. Thanks very much. I will share my screen. So 2723 Jefferson Street is actually
it's a double wide lot that extends to 2725 as well and is zoned RSA 5. The application that we
have before the board today is to demolish the existing structure which is a pre-existing
non-conforming use. It was a religious institution that is seeking a new location for their
congregation. So the proposal is to demo that existing structure and erect a new building
that would be used as five residential dwelling units. And the refusals we received were for
height and for the use. I will let the board know that we did meet with the brewery town
Shoreswood Civic and unlike a presentation that you heard just a few cases ago, we did receive
a letter of non-opposition from the attendees at that meeting. Just to orient the board a little
bit to where we are, this is the subject property here. This is Jefferson Street and the Muhammad's
Temple of Islam number 12 is the existing religious institution that is looking to move out of the
space. There have been a variety of multifamily either current uses or approvals in the immediate
area. 1515 North 28th Street, which is approximately located here where you see my mouse, received a
zoning variance at calendar number 33797 for five residential units, which is the same as we're
proposing here. And there are multifamily approvals that exist across the street at
2716 and 2718 Jefferson. 2809 Master Street has an approval for group living that's located down
in this area. And 1403 North 28th Street, which is also in the immediate vicinity, has a four-unit
approval. So there is existing multifamily in the immediate surrounding area. This is the zoning map
the property as you can see our lot is larger than the other rsa5 lots and this this property
here again is the one that was approved for the five unit dwelling that i mentioned earlier
to give us the board a sense of what's existing on the block this is the existing structure here
and it extends down side street here so there's a rear of the property as well so in addition to
two lots front in jefferson it does extend along the block here this is the rear of the existing
structure as you can see the building is not really suitable for adaptive reuse and that is
part of the hardship argument here is that it is a a double wide lot with existing infrastructure
that can't be readily reused for a residential purpose again these are front photos of the
existing site. Here is the zoning site plan. This is a
this is a revised site plan so if the board is inclined to approve this proposal we would ask for
revised site plan. So if the board is inclined to approve
this proposal, we would ask for it.
a proviso a revised plan stamp one page the revisions to this were changing the location
of the pilot house and some of the decking nothing that impacted the zoning refusals in any way
here are the side elevations of the building and some contextual renderings of what the finished
product might look like and contained within the packet of materials i submitted to the board
was the tax clearance you can see here as well as the letter that we sent to the registered
community organization and our certificate of mailing of 182 pieces of mail for that meeting
if the board has any questions we do have the architecture team on the line but at this point
I'll ask Mike Randolph if he might virtually raise his hand so I might have him adopt my testimony.
Mike Randolph, please unmute yourself and please wait for the chair.
Good afternoon, sir. Please identify yourself, your full name.
Yes, Mike Randolph.
Your last name, please.
R-A-N-D-O-L-P-H.
thank you you swear and affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yes mr klein thank you mike did you have a chance to listen to the presentation that i just made
to the board yes i did and do you adopt it as true correct in your own testimony yes thank you
very much uh mr chair at this point we would rest but we have the architecture team here to address
any questions the board may have thank you any questions from the board no no
would anyone else like to testify in this case if so please raise your hand
i see no handshare thank you planning commission
good afternoon david effecto city planning commission mr chairman members of the board
the comprehensive plan recommends single-family use for this property there is no history of
multifamily use on this block. There are no unique circumstances of this property that would prevent
it from being used as a single-family home. And in fact, in 2018, 2733 Jefferson received a use
permit for a new single-family home. We recommend the board deny the requested variance. 2733. Is
that a corner property no i don't think so all right uh calendar number mi 2021 does 000114
2723 jefferson street my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes
thank you mr chair i i did want to point out there was a revised plan one page
sorry about that so my vote is yes with proviso one page a revised plan one page
approved today thank you my vote is yes with proviso
yes yes with proviso yes with proviso thanks very much everyone have a great afternoon
thank you calendar number 0135 4710 woodland avenue the attorney is rachel pritzker
Ms. Pritzker has been promoted to panelist.
Thank you.
Hi, Rachel.
Can you put your name and address on the record?
Rachel Pritzker, R-A-C-H-A-E-L, Pritzker, P-R-I-T-Z-K-E-R, 1635 Market Street, Suite 1600, Philadelphia, PA, 19103.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes. Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership, tax compliance, refusal or 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?
You may proceed.
Thank you.
Okay. So this is 4710 Woodland Avenue.
This property is zoned CMX2 in front on the 4700 block of Woodland Avenue.
It's a CMX2 property, so we're only here for two-dimensional variances due to sort of the
odd shape and size of the lot and the requirement to put commercial on the ground floor. So we're
basically asking for these numbers will be adjusted by the architect when he comes in.
original proposal was for no rear yard. We are providing a rear yard with the revised plans that
we submitted to the board. Same with the open space. We're asking for a little bit more coverage
given the odd size and shape of the lot. However, we have made some adjustments to the plans the
However, we have made some adjustments to the plans the architect will go over just to orient the board with this block in particular, because it is quite unique.
architect will go over i'm just
This block is sort of this odd triangle. There's less than 10 properties on this block.
And the one we're looking at here is 4710. As you can see, it's a very short lot.
It's the smallest lot on the block besides the corner here, which is also really oddly shaped.
But all these blocks, all these properties sort of go at a slant and then the sort of rear yards vary and the depth of them vary.
So our property is similar to the other properties in that we meet most of the same lot coverage requirements that are existing, not necessarily what's provided for the code.
but given sort of the short depth of the lot, it's very difficult to provide viable commercial
space and livable space above in addition to open space and rear yard space. So that's why we're
requesting a dimensional variances. And again, it's sort of in character with what's already
there on the block end of properties of a similar size. I'm going to go through just briefly.
um again our our lot is extremely small um if we were to you know give up the give the 75 percent
of the open space or sorry the covered space um we would end up with a hardship and that's why
we're providing a little bit more of a viable commercial space and additional multi-family
above um we did meet i'll have our architect come on um to go through the plans and the changes that
we made in conjunction with the community. Here's the tax clearance. Here is the deed.
And again, here is the property. And CMX2. Again, an aerial shot. This is the front of the property.
We wanted to originally utilize the existing structure, but it's not in sound shape. So
it will be demolished in a new structure in its place the existing structure however
does take up 100 of the lot coverage and so a lot of this was modeled off of trying to utilize that
but when we got into it and and met with the structural that was not feasible
given its condition we met with the community on the 24th and again last week and made some
changes also march 10th and made some changes that was the southwest district services they have
sent in a letter of support that you can see on the screen. We had two public meetings and again
made some revisions to the project, which the architect will go through, but they ultimately
voted in support of the project, which was great. So here's a sort of mailing, both of those meetings.
We also got letters of support from near neighbors, I believe one of which will be on this call as
well but um we did get support from those who um live nearby the property as well um with that said
i would just like to bring on our architect zamir um if he could just go through the plans just
specifically addressing the changes that we made um and the sort of increase in um what we're
providing i think that would be great do you see zamir fatina yes zamir please unmute
Hi, good afternoon. My name is Zamir, Z-A-M-I-R. Last name is Garcia, G-A-R-C-I-A.
I will share my screen here.
Frank, you're muted. We can't hear you.
yeah zamir he's gonna have to swear you in yeah are you are you there
is he there rachel zamir or the chairman here zamir um he was um yes um yes carol can you
for him in sure sure that's what i was asking do you swear for him to tell the whole truth
nothing but the truth? Yes, I do. Thank you. Samir, if you could share your screen and go