Is it possible to turn the plan for that?
Is that better?
And can you zoom in a little bit too, please?
Sorry.
Let me come out so you can see a full page.
Any more follow-up, Taya?
No, I was just trying to figure out.
So they're both two-bedroom units.
That's correct.
But they're bi-level.
That's correct.
Correct.
All right.
Gotcha.
Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Emerson?
Just one point of clarification.
The RCO did request a proviso of no basement living.
is your client amenable to that proviso if the board were to grant this request?
Yes. Thank you.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Chair, I do not see any further hands at this time.
Planning Commission.
The board of the Planning Commission, the comprehensive plan
recommends no change to the RSA 5 residential single-family zoning
at this location. The city changes zoning maps in Strawberry Mansion
in 2014 in a community-supported map change. At the time, the property was owned RM1
residential multifamily. This property has a documented history as a three-family dwelling
unit. The City Planning Commission recommends the Board grant the proposed variance for use
as two-family dwelling units. MI 2024-006095-2903 Diamond Street, I vote yes. With proviso,
No household living in the basement.
Michael Johns, my vote is no.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes with proviso.
Iowen, my vote is yes with proviso.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Have a good day, everyone.
Thank you, counsel.
Number 13, MI 2024-006-104-2731 Federal Street.
Henry Clinton is the attorney.
A letter of support from residents organized for advocacy.
A letter of support from Residents Organized for Advocacy and Direction, RCO, with unenforceable provisos.
They will be rejoining as a panelist, Mr. Chair.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman and members of the board.
Mr. Clinton, I don't think I've seen you today, so could you just state your name and spell it for the court sonographer?
Henry Clinton, H-E-N-R-Y, Clinton, C-L-I-N-T-O-N.
Where are firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Do you stipulate to the reading of the refusal and to agree with its accuracy?
Share your screen and start your presentation, please, sir.
Is that visible, Mr. Chairman?
It is.
Again, good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, members of the board.
I'm here on behalf of Cal Grace Furry, LLC, the principal of which is Colin Lahren, C-O-L-I-N, Lahren, L-A-R-E-N, and he is on the call.
Table of contents, A1 through A10.
I'll walk through each document.
Refusal.
So this property is in an I-2 zoning district.
And as a note indicates here, in 2020, I was before the board, and you granted a variance for the construction of a standalone six-unit apartment building with vacant commercial space on the ground floor and in the basement.
And that's why I'm back before the board again today to address the vacant commercial space at the ground floor as well as in the basement.
And we're asking for an assembly and entertainment space.
It's a nuance in the code where our use, we're not a child care, you know, we're not active
recreation, passive recreation.
So if you look at the definition of assembly and entertainment, it basically says that
it's for gathering space for recreation, entertainment, or other assembly.
I think we fit under other assembly, therefore, the refusal in this I-2 zoning district.
Chairman, you mentioned at the outset that we do have a letter of support from the residents organized for advocacy and direction.
Photographs. So this is Grace Ferry Avenue. Grace Ferry Avenue leads to Washington Avenue, and you would travel east to get to Broad Street.
Again, Grace Ferry Avenue. Here's a standalone building, which was granted a variance back in 2020.
Just another photograph, another perspective.
This is a ground-level view of the property.
The space that we're asking for is not a daycare.
It's really an indoor play area and an event space for children ages 1 to 5,
which must be accompanied by a parent.
So it's not a daycare.
It's not a drop-off situation.
The child must be accompanied by a parent.
And this would be one of the entrances to the facility on the first floor.
First floor is about 1,200 square feet, excuse me, 1,700 square feet, and the basement is about 1,300 square feet.
So we have about 3,000 square feet of use.
This is the rear of the building.
There's another entrance to get into the first floor, as well as to get down into the basement.
These are just other perspective shots, as well as showing you our zoning notice posted.
uh i'll walk through the plans uh the dotted line here is the space somewhat of a triangular
piece that curves around grace ferry avenue as you can see the whole area is i2 across the street
as well as down the block these are the floor plans for the basement commercial it's all open
right now 1700 square feet first floor 1300 square feet the idea is to have two rooms in the basement
for event area. It could be for a birthday party, an event, a meeting. It could be for
breastfeeding, a library, a multi-use area in the basement. And then on the first floor,
it would be a gathering area for sensory play, for socialization, for just hanging out with
parents and their children. The application for appeal, tax clearance, and zoning map. So
the occupancy, you could have up to 40 children or so in these two spaces. We would have two to
three staff members. As I said, it's not a situation where it's a daycare or we would
have fit in under that category. It's kind of a unique situation where parents can bring their
children, maybe after daycare or before, or if they don't have daycare. Not every family has
daycare. And sometimes as the operator of this facility has mentioned several times at the RCO.
As the operator of this facility has mentioned several times at the RCO, sometimes you get cabin fever if you're in the house all day with young people, and it's good to get out of the house and interact with other adults and other children.
The hours of operation are going to be Monday through Sunday, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. and in the evenings from 3 to 7 o'clock.
Trash will be stored inside or there is an outdoor area fenced in down at this end of the building where you could also keep trash on the outside.
But I think there's going to be minimal trash with this operation and that will be kept inside.
I think that's basically it.
The operator of the facility is Miss Ebony Ferguson, and she is really excited to bring
this to Grace Ferry.
There's really, I think there's one other operation like this in the city of Philadelphia
where it's not a child care center, but it is an area where parents who don't have day
care and who want to mingle with other parents and have children mingle with other children
can use a space like this.
Henry, you pay like by the hour?
Yeah, it's going to be membership-based.
Okay, okay, thank you.
I don't need another finance, but yeah, thank you.
The prospective owner of the operation has a master's degree in special education
with an expertise in sensory uses for children as well as special ed.
I mentioned the staff, the trash, the uses.
so i guess i would just like to summarize that we are not um using the building in any detrimental
fashion we're not impeding anyone's development of adjacent properties uh we are in harmony with
the code we're in harmony with what the the community likes and wants the only thing the
community asked us is would we be instrumental in trying to get a speed bump here where my cursor is
on Federal Street. I realize that's not enforceable by the board, but we certainly have signed on to
that and we're going to approach Council President Kenyatta Johnson's office to try to get some type
of a speed bump here because there's no stop sign or traffic signal. So with that, I would conclude
my presentation and ask my client, Mr. Lauren, to unmute himself and adopt my testimony.
Mr. Lauren, can you raise your hand?
Thanks, but I'm glad to speak.
Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Colin Lahren, C-O-L-I-N-L-A-R-E-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, counsel.
Mr. Lahren, were you on the call when I disarrived the potential use of this vacant commercial space at 2731 Federal Street?
yes and if you had the opportunity to testify would you adopt my testimony as your own and
as true and correct yes thank you Mr. Lahren questions from the board can I see the drawings
again I just wanted to see where the two or their bathrooms on both floors in the basement and the
first floor here's the first floor they're going to have to install bathrooms okay
Okay. Good point, though, Ms. Graham. And they didn't want to do that until we went beyond this. Thank you.
Thank you.
Good questions from the board.
Yes. Will there be food served?
No. Now, if you have a birthday party, the parents can bring in food, but there's no food service at this facility.
okay and then i guess i'm still trying to figure out
what this is it doesn't appear to be fish is this like a almost like a well
okay is this to serve just any children and their parents who might want to be members or
Or are we looking at some special needs?
No, it's funny.
I share your question because when I first came to me, I was trying to figure out where this fits.
It's not really a daycare.
It's not for special needs.
It's just an operation where Ms. Ferguson believes there's a need for parents to bring their children to a location with other parents who have children.
and they can socialize and basically hang out
rather than being cooped up in the house all day
because not every parent has daycare.
So it's kind of a novel thing.
That's why we're fitting under this event
and assembly section of the code
event and assembly section of the code, because there's really not a lot of leeway in getting
because there's...
into any other aspect where I could, or I could propose this as a right.
Okay. All right. I thought I heard you say that maybe there was one other similar facility.
Ms. Ferguson says there's another one. She happens to operate a daycare in Francisville.
So this would be her first. But she says it's it's gathering steam in other parts of the country.
I didn't really do any independent research, but she's willing to sign a long term lease at market value.
So I think she believes in her concept. So it's almost like arranging like play dates, if you will, the most with children and parents.
Right. And we generally the thought is at least the business plan is it would be mainly walk up.
So, you know, people in the neighborhood would be able to walk there with their child or children ages one to five and have a play space, have a library.
There's going to be books there. And if they also want to use it for an event space for, you know, an evening meeting or a birthday party or christening, something like that.
All right. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr.
Any other questions?
I have a few questions about operations. So one is the intent that all of the furniture is going
to be freestanding in the space. Yes. And then is the intention that the cellar floor
is going to be used for operations? Yes. Because typically like one, like people with smaller
kids have lots of stuff. This is all stairwells and I've, and it means that it's not fully ADA
it accessible i know like typically when i've been to a few of these locations and there's usually
ramps or there's an elevator there's usually back of house spaces where the staff can store things
or furniture can be stacked um and so i'm just i'm usually there's more like storefront windows
or it's like just set up differently so i'm just still a little curious about how this plans to be
laid out since there's no furniture plan. Right. So in terms of wheelchair accessibility,
you can see the back entrance as well as, well, you can't really see it because this car is
blocking it, but both entrances are floor level. So you're going to be able to get into the first
floor. I grant you there's no ramp to the basement or elevator because it's only six units. But
But let me just go back to the floor plan.
So, yes, there are stairwells to get up and down.
And as I said in the beginning, the basement, there's going to be a room where my cursor is here and a room over here for private area, for library or for, you know, breastfeeding or whatever.
And then the open area will be in the middle and it will be freestanding furniture.
But I don't, I can't sit here and say that there's a ramp leading down to the basement.
But there is accessibility to the first floor.
Is this age restricted in terms of the children?
Pardon me, Mr. Johns?
Will it be age restricted?
The age is from one to five.