On the left in purple are the residences, the apartments. You see ample courtyards
to add light and air and greenery through the project and I'm turning now
to the rooftop deck with significant setbacks and greenery and strictly
residential use. The refusals begin with height, which was the same as what was
approved in phase one by the Zoning Board some months ago prior to the
pandemic. This exhibit depicts in purple the phase one project and in red the
phase two project. You can see that the height appears the same from street. I
should point out in full disclosure that there's actually about a difference of one and a half
feet to accommodate for a difference in the grade but any pedestrian would read this as same and
but any pedestrian would read this as same and seamless,
and it fits in with other projects in the vicinity.
We are proposing the same height.
Here you see an aerial photograph,
which shows to the right some of what you saw
in that last plan in terms of the scope and scale
of the neighborhood.
And also I would submit as we did before
that the proposed building is appropriate for a major gateway such as Gerrard Avenue.
The height variance allows extra high ceilings at the ground floor to attract high quality tenants
and will be exactly in line with phase one. The second refusal, which really doesn't make sense
from a scope and spirit standpoint of the zoning code is that in the commercial district here
commercial is required along harper street well harper street as you can see with this
residential development is not commercial and we are not proposing commercial for harper street
we worked very hard with the townhomes that i referenced before to keep the scope and scale
the existing residential south of Girard, and to our knowledge everyone is in support of that.
Finally, the penultimate refusal concerns open area. Although the technical code
requirements are not being met, the open area along Harper Street closest to the existing
residential, the courtyard and rooftop spaces meet the intent of the code provision.
And finally, regarding density, what we're proposing is in line with phase one.
And in terms of meeting the challenges of density, it's very important to underscore
that where zero parking spaces are required, zero parking spaces, nearly 99, nearly 100
to be specific, 99 parking spaces are provided, 55 in phase two, which is before you.
44 previously approved by this board, all underground. The impact is minimal.
Furthermore, density at the site is appropriate to support the retail commercial not only proposed
in phase one and phase two, but proposed as part of the vision for Girard Avenue.
Indoor trash storage and commercial trash pickup from the interior are an important part of the proposal, and it's through a shared loading zone out of the sight of the public.
There are landscaped courtyard spaces and ample landscape setbacks along West Harbor.
The revitalization of the site with a neighborhood-supported development respects existing residential and commercial
and really seems to be a model for development in the neighborhood, if not throughout the city.
The authorization of variance relief will not alter the character of the neighborhood or the district
or be detrimental to the public welfare proposal fits into the surrounding neighborhood it's
evidenced by the overwhelming support of the rco i should also note that this matter was and i i'm
sure mr litwin will speak to this himself this matter was reviewed by civic design review which
completed its review in one session which was just this past monday so i'm not sure that a letter has
been issued. I haven't seen it. The variances requested would represent the minimum to afford
relief. We will actually, rather than increase congestion, decrease congestion with what we
have proposed. And once again, we have SGRA Architects here, should you wish. Also, Michael
Al-Haddad, the developer who's well known to this board, is certainly prepared to, I believe,
to adopt and affirm, but also to offer additional testimony if required by the board.
Thank you.
I'm going to bring your witness on.
And then I'll just swear him in.
Would you please raise your virtual hands so that Chairman DiCicco can swear you in?
Mr. Michael Al-Haddad.
Please spell your name, sir, first and last name.
Michael Al-Haddad.
Could you spell your last name, please?
Al-Haddad, A-L-H-A-D-A-D.
You're referring to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Mr. Laver, please proceed.
have you been able to participate in the entirety of this virtual hearing yes I
Have you been able to participate?
have and would you adopt and affirm mr. al-haddad the testimony that I've
offered as your own yes thank you sir thank you thank you any questions from
the board no anyone else I'm sorry anyone else wish to testify in this
matter if so please raise your hand I have a Stuart Rosenberg Stuart you can unmute yourself
and wait to be sworn in thank you I'm here just to answer questions as they may arise
Mr. Rosenberg is the architect yeah he was sworn in earlier today on another matter
um anyone else wish to testify in this case if so please raise your hand
We have Diane Moreau.
Diane, you can unmute yourself.
Ms. Monroe, are you there?
Hi, Ms. Monroe. How are you?
How are you? I am not technical. I'm just lost.
No problem.
Like I'm in the woods someplace.
I'm in the same boat. Just please spell your name and give us your address for the record.
Diane Monroe. D-I-A-N-E-M-O-N-R-O-E.
1117 Mount Vernon Street, Philadelphia P.A. 19123.
Thank you.
Do you swear and affirm to tell the truth?
I'm the chair of the 14th Ward RCO.
Thank you.
I'm sorry.
Do you swear and affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Thank you.
Please proceed.
Excuse me, Ms. Moreau?
Do you have two devices going?
Oh, yes, I do.
Hold on. I'll turn the other one on.
Thank you.
All right.
Can you hear me?
It's still on.
Yeah, we're getting feedback from you.
I'm going to take it
and put it in another room.
okay is that better yes thank you okay as i said i don't know i had the telephone going
i had my ipad going i don't know what i'm doing i'm so sorry um i as you know i sent
you the letter and we did approve this the the 14th ward rco we did have the open community
meeting, as Mr. Lever said, and we do like to have this project approved based on the
provisos, and they are in agreement with the provisos, and they are willing to update or
place an amendment to the existing community benefit agreement that we have with them for the
for the phase one project. We did not receive any negative comments from the community and it appears
that the community is happy with the phase two of this project as well as the relationship that
they have developed with this developer. Thank you, Ms. Monroe. Mr. Laver, could
you, I think you're pulling it up now, there are provisos? Yes, Mr. DiCicco. The
provisos hopefully are up on the screen. Could you make that larger? Yes, one
moment. That's good. And there's an agreement on these provisors? Yes. Well, the brick stuff isn't
for us. Garbage disposals, we'll put it in on a little wet time. No, you can't do that one. It's
not for us. We could do the receptacles. You have a place, I assume, in the plan for trash? Yes.
number of units will match phase well that's already that's in your testimony affordable
round i think the only one correct me if i'm wrong sharon is number three right something
Right, something to the effect of trash receptacles provided out of sight of the public, would that be?
to the effect of um trust
We're absolutely in agreement, and I'd like to state for the record and for the benefit of the public,
and Ms. Monroe, Mr. Al-Haddad values greatly the relationship with the 14th Democratic Ward,
and there's a separate private agreement
that we will be bound to,
which I know is outside of the ZB.
I just wanted to state that publicly.
All right, Planning Commission.
Good afternoon.
This is Ian Litwin with Planning Commission staff.
This is phase two of a previously approved project.
Phase one was approved by the Zoning Board
in March of 2019.
Both phases have completed civic design review
with mostly positive feedback and considerable cooperation between the applicant the community
and the planning commission a summary letter of the cdr process is forthcoming we feel that
this project will have substantial benefits to gerard avenue and therefore we have no objection
to granting the variances thank you all right um calendar mi-2020-000697
1030 West
Gerrard Avenue. My vote is yes
with the following proviso.
Trash to be
stored in an area out of public
Yes with proviso.
Yes with proviso.
Yes with proviso.
Yes with proviso.
Thank you.
Good luck.
Thank you.
Any unfinished business
Tanya and or Sharon?
not from me chair me all right and we is it 10 o'clock tomorrow yes 10 a.m. all right
see you all tomorrow 10 o'clock in the morning have a safe night everyone