all right so i got my packet up here how's everyone doing joe console here for 1150 south
52nd street uh lane investments own that owns this property uh the owner cedric lane is here
with me on the call this uh is mi 2020 2343 property is uh 1150 south 52nd near 52nd and
springfield the area was zoned multifamily until 2019 this uh got rezoned to rsa5 this property
was in disrepair and had a vacant property license on it, so it lost its zoning. Here's
what the property looks like on the outside. A large majority of the properties on this block
are multifamily. It is a footprint of 1,536 square feet. My client is seeking to use the property as
a three-unit building, three two-bedroom units. That does not include, here's the layouts,
that does not include any bedrooms in the basement or any living space at all in the basement
and includes two units on each of the three floors. The footprint is changing only slightly.
There was no refusal issued for the addition on the rear.
The only refusal is for the three dwelling units that my client is seeking to reestablish in this property.
We met with the 51st Ward Democrats on April 12th.
We got their full support.
the only uh issue that came up was trash uh what we're going to do with that they asked that we do
something let's see if i can get this up similar to what the other uh recently approved variances
are which is create a fenced-in area uh where uh cans would be kept off the street um my client
of course agreed to do that um there's an example um from down the block and that seems to be um
what's going on up and down the block in terms of how folks are storing trash prior to trash day.
It's not much else for me to say here. I'm going to call my client to verify my testimony. Mr. Lane,
if you could raise your hand, please. So this trash cans are not going to be lined up against
the fence correct uh i think this was on trash day when this photo was taken
um but uh my client can can attest to the trash issue thank you
hi cedric hi good evening cedric lane here um mr lane please spell your first and last name
Sure. C-E-D-R-I-C-K, Lane, L-A-N-E.
You swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Thank you. Please proceed, Mr. Counsel.
Hello, Mr. Lane. Have you heard my testimony this evening regarding your property at 1150 South 52nd Street?
Do you adopt it as your own?
Could you speak briefly to the board about your trash plan and how you're going to outfit this property to gracefully handle trash?
Sure, no problem. So, yes, these are a few examples of what others on the block have been doing for multifamilies in terms of trash.
But these aren't the best two examples on the block, but essentially it's an enclosed trash closer to the front porch.
Mine will be concrete and the fence will be a wrought iron fence.
So it's pretty similar to this, but just closer to my property and closer to the porch.
and it won't impose on the sidewalk or on any neighboring properties.
We won't have any issues with trash in front of my property.
You're creating an area in front of the porch, a concealed area.
Is that correct?
correct yes okay thank you all right uh any questions from the board no no
Correct. Yes.
All right.
anyone else would like to testify in this case please raise your hand
no further hands at this time mr chair thank you planning commission i think ron is on now
yes uh ron bednar uh that's r-o-n-b-e-d-n-a-r with the city planning commission
where from to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i do thank you ron please proceed uh the property is indicated for residential use
on the city plan we recommend that the request of bearings be granted
calendar number mi 2020 does zero zero two three four three one one five zero south 52nd street
my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes thank you board
Thank you. Calendar number MI-2021-000621-1503 Ellsworth Street.
It's a letter of support from the East Point Breeze neighbors.
Right. The owner is Kevin Colling.
Mr. Colling has been promoted to panelists.
Mr. Colling, can you put your name and address on the record and spell your last name?
Yes, sorry. I'm trying to get everything squared away. My name is Kevin Colling,
last name is K-O-L-L-I-N-G, first name Kevin, K-E-V-I-N.
Did you just put your address on the record?
Oh, I'm sorry. No, I didn't hear that.
Sorry.
407 McKean Court, North Wales, Pennsylvania, 19454.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Do you agree to waive?
Okay, you're not the attorney.
Have you emailed an exhibit packet with the required documents consisting of 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? Yes, the only one that I had trouble
getting was the tax compliance certificate. I tried to email them and I didn't hear back. They
said it would take over two days and it's been like over a week now and I haven't heard back. I
did download from the OPA the entire time I've owned the property for the past 15, 20 years and
it has a zeroed out balance. I did include that in my PDF, but as far as the actual tax certificate
compliance letter i did not receive one of those yet and i actually haven't heard back from them
either this is sharon we've always accepted just the opa uh printout okay that'd be great thank
you you may proceed okay um i also have my architect uh xin chen is also on the call
or you know should be another participant um share content sorry i'm not real familiar with this
sorry um shin if you can hear this would you be able to add the the packet onto there i'm having
a hard time sharing that that information um i'm sorry but i've i've owned the property since
about 2003, 2004. I bought it. It was a two-unit approved building. It's currently now in a zoning
area that's RSA 5. We were trying to get it approved for a three-unit. It would be adding
essentially one bedroom. It used to be a three-bedroom and a two-bedroom house. Now we were
looking for two bedrooms on each floor, so it would be six bedrooms total. And as far as impact
on the community we don't feel it should affect too much as far as there's the Ellsworth Federal
Street subway so it's a very transit transportation friendly house it's only about a block off of that
that stop there so we don't think there would be much of a impact on the parking and we did work
into the design some trash rooms to be able to hold trash until the appropriate day to take the
trash out and we did meet with the RCO back in March and I think they were
seven to one approval. Hi, this is Xin. I'm architect. Please allow me to share
the screen. Would you please spell your full name? Yes, first name H-S-I-N-G, last
ing last name chen chen you swear and affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing
name Chen, C-H-E-N.
about the truth yes you can share that screen that would be helpful i just promoted him to
panelists, please allow them to come back in.
Thank you.
Yes, sir.
Oh, Mr. Chen.
Oh, I'm sorry.
Mr. Chen, you can unmute yourself, I believe.
Can you see my screen right now?
Yes. Yes, we can.
You can give us some floor plans and enlarge that a little bit.
would be helpful. Thank you. Yes. So this is the floor plan on the screen right now. So
the basement at the bottom is the basement and the existing building footprint. You can see
the dash line here and basically we do the rear addition in the back.
Is the basement part, is the first floor and basement one unit?
Or is that a separate unit in the basement?
That's it, that's the same unit.
Same unit, it's a bi-level unit.
Correct.
And on the top, this is the first floor, so the the building entry right here,
get into the unit one on the first floor and we have the rear patio in the back
and the stair going up to the second floor. So you can see the lines kind of
in the front is sitting and we keep the party wall and we redo the addition in
back. So the light gray tone is the existing wall and the white and the black line that's the new wall.
So at the bottom is the second floor the entry point in the living space in the middle and the
front bedroom and the rear bedroom. And the third floor is another unit so the same the living space
at the center and the front bedroom and the rear bedroom.
And this the front elevation from the elevation they are all existing.
we don't change the front elevation.
And you can see the section, the front are already sitting,
and then we do add the addition in the back.
All right.
Any questions from the board?
Anyone else like to testify in this case?
If so, please raise your hand.
No further hand at this time, Mr. Chair.
Thank you.
Planning Commission?
Ron Bednar, City Planning.
The property is indicated for residential use on the city plan.
Given its proximity to city transit, we recommend the request of variance be ready.
Thank you.
And it's behind the Great Hoagie Shop.
MI 2021-000621-1503 Ellsworth Street.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
Thank you.
Calendar number MI 2021-000587-1633 West Huntington Street.
the one there's a request for continuance
no RCO letter and we're waiting to find out if the um RCO meeting ever ever took place
so this is already continued
Ms. Amazon agreed to the continuance to announce
okay um I'll move on to number five calendar number mi
Okay, I'll move on to number five. Calendar number MI-2021-000732-2200-50 East Somerset Street. The attorney is Adam Laver.
Could you call that with the next case so that they can be heard together?
excuse me pardon me chair uh this is john kelly the court reporter something happened i i was
kicked out allowed in back in as attendee and then back in again could you just begin
calling that one from the top yeah that was me that was me we can provide the recording no problem
oh thank you you want me to start from five and six just call the numbers five and six yeah
Okay, calendar number MI 2021-000732, 2200-50 East Somerset Street, and calendar number MI-2021-000734, 2152-58 East Somerset Street.
The attorney for both of those is Adam Laver.
Okay, Mr. Laver, can you put your name and address on the record and spell your last name, please?
Yes, Mrs. Tenere, members of the board, Adam Laver of Blank, Rome, 1 Logan Square, 18th and Cherry Streets, Philadelphia, 19103.
Thank you. Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
I do, Mrs. Tenere.
Do you also agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, I do, as to both refusals, yes.
Have you emailed the exhibit packets with proof of ownership tax compliance, copy of the refusal or referral, photos under plans of the properties, five days in advance of this hearing, and have you met with the RCO, and do you have a letter?
Yes, to all, and we have a letter of support.
Thank you. You may proceed.
thank you can you just confirm that the board can see the photographs that are up on the screen
we can can you everybody on the board see it thank you technically as Ms. Saleta mentioned
this presentation concerns two applications however one comprehensive project across two
neighboring scrapyard sites this was previously presented to the community in this way and also
to the Civic Design Review Committee, and it's most expedient to share this single development
in this manner. So I thank you for that. Half of L&M Real Estate Developments, LLC,
and its parent entity, the Riverwards Group. Riverwards Group is the equitable owner of both
of these parcels. Mo Rushdie and Larry McKnight, managing partners of the Riverwards Group,
are with us. Also Rustin Ohler of Harman Deutsch Ohler Architecture. In addition, noted urban
economist Dr. Kevin Gillen, Senior Research Fellow with the Lindy Institute for Urban Innovation
and Professor of Finance at Drexel University is here. I've shared a lengthy exhibit package with
16 exhibits and also have shared revised proviso plans, which are rather minor in nature in terms
of the revisions, extremely minor, but we want to do everything appropriately. River Wards Group
has appeared before this board many times in the past. Larry and Moe are known for re-envisioning
neglected sites throughout Philadelphia's River Wards in particular and building upon core
strengths of proud Philadelphia neighborhoods such as this one. You can see in the photos before you
the existing junkyards. These cases concern the proposed repurposing of nearly 4.5 acres
of existing junkyard land, which you can see in the photos that I've shared with you.
To place the site into context, I'd like to move to this contextual map. You can see the site noted
here where I'm pointing to, you can see the relation to Center City, it's far away,
and to the Delaware River, and to some of the other sites that board members may be familiar
with listed on the right. And here you can see aerial photographs of this site. It is a site
that's yearning to be repositioned, and we'll get into that momentarily.
Here is the civil survey, the two blue areas show the two separate cases that together
The two blue areas show the two separate cases that together comprise the combined development.
As you can see, the properties are adjacent to the Conrail Railroad tracks, which are at the
bottom of the screen. The development site, however, fronts on Somerset Street at the top
of the screen and is bounded by Toolet Street to the right and to the far left, Martha Streets.