correct i get it whether you pay him for it or not if he's just doing his own little hobby of
fixing up cars and what have you but then that's one thing but if he's also along with that even if
he's just a nice guy and he's trying to help out his neighbors, he's still doing auto repair,
then you still need to have some kind of permission for that. And I can understand
better where the violation notice comes in just by what's being said here. So it's, it's.
I hear you and I don't think his intention was to solicit the general public.
and this isn't soliciting this is just even if he's just being a good neighbor you know and
he's just a nice guy yeah it still means that he needs to have some kind of permission for
doing that yeah and so i i understand the violation better now okay and i don't have
a problem with him doing his own private you know um repair or refurbishing I would guess
I might call it of you know cars that are classic and what have you I I like cars though you know
I don't have any problem with that but if you're going to be repairing cars whether you're getting
paid for it or not you're going to have to have some kind of variance so that you can do that
Okay. And along with that, there comes the question of what kind of repair work are we talking about? Are we changing oil? Are we changing tires? What are we doing here? And if we're doing those kinds of things, then we're going to have to have hazardous waste disposal issues.
We got, you know, what happens to the tires, you know, what, how many cars are we doing this to? It gets into a number of different issues, which, you know, again, are part of why there was a violation notice and some of the violations that are going to have to be addressed.
What do you do with the tires? Do you ever change your tires?
no just just the parts the body parts that's it so you don't do oil change i don't do all your
chain other stuff no tires i don't got nada stuff in the garage it's body parts
okay uh hillary comments
is there something in particular i think a lot of my questions are answered is there something
in particular no that you wanted okay comments from the virtual audience to this audience
chair there are no hands at this planning commission
amy boy with the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the rsa
amy boy with the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change to
the rsa 5 residential single family zoning at this location the proposed use was previously
designed by zba under zp 2022-006-373 in january 2025. at the time the planning commission stated
that the proposed vehicle repair and maintenance is not compatible with the primarily residential
block face we also noted for the board that personal vehicle repair and maintenance in the
code does not only limit the use of the property to repairing the appeal of the appellants vehicles
we maintain this position the proposed storage and the non-conforming structure would have
limited impact on joining properties the planning commission recommends that the board deny the
proposed use variance for personal vehicle repair and maintenance and grant the requested variances
for equipment storage okay so mi2025 003200 2005 207 east sergeant street recommend a temporary
variance for approved use is equipment materials storage yard and buildings only to expire 2 12 29
The hours of our call operation are 9A to 7P, Monday to Saturday.
All vehicles to be stored inside and a CO to be uptake.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes with proviso.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes with proviso.
Senator Graham, my vote is yes with proviso.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes with proviso.
Ryan Wynn, my vote is yes with proviso.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Let's see here.
Number nine, MI2025-006-260, 2200 North A Street.
Adam Laver is the attorney.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, members of the board.
Hi, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Yes, Mr. Chairman.
Adam Laver, L-A-V as in Victor, E-R, Lankrome, L-L-P.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, Mr. Chairman, I do.
Laver, could you identify your client in a relationship to this property?
Lankrome represents 2200 N8 LLC, owner of the subject property at 2200 North 8th Street.
There's a letter of support from the 37th Ward RCO. Support from the RCO is due to an executed CBA, I'm sorry, and a letter of non-opposition from Council Member Young. Our Vice Chair has a few questions.
Good afternoon. Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
Good afternoon, Madam Vice Chairman. Yes, we have.
Okay. And do you waive the reading of the refusals and stipulate to the accuracy?
Yes, we do.
okay thank you you can show your screen you proceed with the case before proceeding as a
courtesy to the coordinating rco i understand that miss l who is probably known to this board
had a emergency she had to deal with today and her colleague denise anderson is only available
for a few minutes would it be possible for for ms anderson to raise her virtual hand and speak
before thank you denise anderson if you're available to raise your virtual hand
there she is chair this is jason hand i will be the co-host for the session thank you jason they
have been promoted to panelists they should be back in shortly
she's available okay hi good afternoon good afternoon could you please state your name and
spell for the stenographer denise anderson d-e-n-i-s-e-a-n-d-e-r-s-o-n right do you
swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes council
ms anderson i thank you for being here i understand that you have some family commitments
and wanted to address the board directly is that correct yes please proceed okay thank you for
allowing me to go earlier um i am the rco coordinator for the 37th ward rco um we've
been the coordinating RCO for this project since November of 2023 and we've held at least four
public meetings about this property. The project is on a very large block in our community and at
first we didn't like the project because it was planned for 500 units in a five or six story
solid block apartment building that covered the entire block with a parking garage on the first
floor. We told the development team that 500 units was too many and they listened. So the design that
So the design that they'll present today takes into account community feedback and the overall density of the project is much lower at 232 units.
they'll present today takes into account community feedback and the overall density
From their design, we appreciate the number of parking spots and that the parking lot is hidden on the interior of the development with minimal curb cuts.
And we appreciate that this property that is currently vacant and underutilized will be put to use again.
Specifically related to the zoning issues for the property, we support the construction
of residential units here rather than industrial use.
At this moment in this community, a large industrial facility here would not really
make sense.
We did enter into a community benefits agreement with the development team in April of last
The primary elements of that agreement are reduced size of the development, which I mentioned
earlier giving advanced availability of rental units to current neighbors keeping 25 of the
units affordable at 60 ami for 10 years the developer will accept pha housing choice vouchers
and they'll provide a preference for qualified contractors and workers from the surrounding
three zip codes for construction and then they'll also provide the contact information for the
construction supervisor during the period of construction so because the development team
has listened to and incorporated community feedback into the design and agreed to community
benefits related to the project the 37th ward rco supports their request for a variance from the zba
thank you very much ms anderson uh mr chairman and members of the board although it was
unconventional to begin this way it was important uh for the community's voice to be heard here uh
This case is one of the best examples of, as I had described it as the CDR at the CDR level being arm in arm, and we're grateful to Ms. Anderson and Ms. L and many others in the community who had terrific ideas to make this project better along the way.
um ms anderson if you have to leave we understand uh i'd like to uh state on the record that with
us on behalf of the development team is isaac singleton along with joseph gitterman both are
participating virtually as is uh architect rustin oller of harman deutsch oller architecture
and allow me to screen share you've already gotten a review from Ms. Anderson
this is the this is the property as it exists today
trying to do full there we go okay so here you can see an aerial image of of the property and
And what's before you is the proposed repurposing of an entire city block.
This has been the site of the Edward J. Darby and Son Incorporated Pennsylvania Wireworks,
a bit of Philadelphia history.
It's an approximately 120,000 square foot functionally obsolete wire mesh and wire products
warehouse.
uh it dates back to 1854 nearly 175 years ago however members of the board due to advances in
manufacturing and production uh technology the warehouse property itself is no longer efficient
it's unable to compete in the current industrial market space for me as a lifelong philadelphian
i looked at this property and i thought of other uh philadelphia landmarks landmarks like tasty
cake which had been at the same site for so long beloved supported by the neighborhood supporting
jobs but a time came when it really was as i said functionally obsolete as is this and so in this
case the owners of this long venerable business made the determination uh about three years ago
that they could not continue the business here and they would have to find another location
and so it was at that time that my clients became the owners of the space and of the property here
you can see a teaser of how we hope to reimagine the site once again with that terrific input of
so many nearby stakeholders that have made this a better project than it was three years ago
have but back to where we are once the wire mesh supplier made the determination that the old
warehouse could no longer be used the property was sold in 2023 leading to our appearance before
the board leading to all of the discussions to date here you can see some photographs to give
you some site context not from an aerial view but from around the property it's nearly three acres
It's bounded by 8th and 9th Streets, as well as Susquehanna Avenue and Dock.
it's bounded by eighth and ninth streets as well as susquehanna avenue and dauphin street
it is surrounded as denise stated by a largely residential neighborhood today
it's important to give a sense more closely before we go into the plans of what you see
as i have seen when i've been out to the property several times here you can see
9th street elevation so on the left is the warehouse and on the right is a vacant property
at the moment here is the property the subject property on the right and you can see that vacant
property but you can also see signs of residential housing on 9th street moving to dauphin street
Street there's the entrance to the office for the Darby office itself and a bit of streetscape on the
left is the Darby property and here on the right is the Darby property as well and I'd like to show
you 8th Street subject property on the right with the postings and the feel of the residential
neighborhood on the left a similar photograph
the subject property on the left
and now we're moving to susquehanna avenue so you can see eighth and susquehanna and the
surrounding neighborhood this is immediately across the street from the subject property
across the street from the subject property as well and now a transit map naturally transit
oriented in addition to bus routes of course the site is a 10-minute walk to the nearest
septa regional rail stations as shown in this exhibit here uh is just to place the site in
context i know that there are members of the board who are keenly familiar with this community
but just showing this for the record and the zoning map the city block in question
is zoned i2 medium industrial and you can see members of the board that we are surrounded by
rm1 and cmx2 primarily more reflective of the evolving surrounding solid residential neighborhood
a minute of relevant background in august of 2023 this team filed the initial zoning application
for this site it called for the demolition of the obsolete warehouse and for the new construction
of multi-family housing comprising at that time 501 residential units 164 parking spaces and five
commercial spaces we engage closely and collaboratively with the 37th ward rco and
with other voices in the neighborhood and the 37th ward has truly become a valued partner
in this important project uh important re-envisioning of the site we are grateful to all
involved for the time spent in many many meetings over the course of the last three years
at the direction of this zoning board and um with the council of ms emerson due to the significant
changes that came about in consultation with the neighbors we were directed to file a new
zoning application to set aside the old one that you've heard about and put forth a new
zoning application that reflected clearly the collaborative updates so in july of 2025
we filed a new application notedly that application did not create any new refusals
and it lessened the extent of variance relief sought it reduced the number of dwelling units
it eliminated the commercial areas something that came up in discussion with the neighborhood voices
about being there to support those commercial uses that are there already and not add more
competition but provide for stable naturally affordable housing in the neighborhood we
decrease the overall building footprint as you can as you'll see we decrease the overall gross
floor area we decrease the height of the subject properties and the proposal called to transform
the entire site into what we hope is before you on the screen right now
the proposal calls to construct 68 new buildings comprising a mix of triplexes
and quadplexes with interior courtyard accessory parking
with interior courtyard accessory parking 232 residential dwelling units 92 accessory off-street
surface parking spaces 77 class 1 bicycle parking spaces the proposed structures that are in the
style of philadelphia brick row houses that many of us hold dear are proposed at 38 feet high to
the roof with setbacks that would not be seen from the pedestrian experience for roof access
structures another 10 feet beyond that the design along each street shows the row house the brick
and 44 new street trees if you think back to the photographs that i shared a moment ago
the entire project has been designed for the community it's designed to meet current housing
affordability guidelines based on 60 ami there are no benefits being received for this project
no incentives etc the coordinating rco has put their support on the record for which we're grateful
uh as uh in addition uh council member jeffrey young has been uh monitoring the process and conlon
crossley uh from his office has been helpful all along the way that office lends its non-opposition
the civic design review committee completed its review of the project in one meeting
noting quote an appreciation for the collaboration with the community end quote
moving to the refusal uh based on that second application the only application that's before
you today there are three refusals before the board number one the zoning district does not
permit household living on this site that is zoned i2 industrial 105 accessory parking spaces are
required whereas 92 are proposed and three ada parking spaces are required whereas two are
proposed let's begin if i may with the household living mr chairman and members of the board
household living at this site i hope we've shown and the testimony has shown is in line with the
surrounding area and we all recognize the importance of industrial uh but uh having
just come from mayor parker's address to the business community a few minutes ago we're
looking for philadelphia to be at the forefront to provide the best opportunities for industry
and that's not the outmoded so it's it's making sure that we are using the uh resources that we
have highest and best use and this three acre site will fill a demand for naturally affordable
housing to serve the existing community regarding parking very interesting and we hear it all the
time there are always differing opinions on parking civic design review committee comments
actually question whether the amount of parking requested by the community is actually needed
I would posit that the slight reduction to the code requirement allows for a greater green space that I showed you in the conceptual renderings, while meeting a parking need that has been identified by those who know the neighborhood best the longtime residents.
as the coordinating rco pointed out to us in uh discussions that we had fodder all square
and the eighth and diamond streets playgrounds are both green spaces uh both open to the public
open to all within walking distance of this project and in fact several of our meetings