emerges from underground just east or just at the eastern edge of our property.
and runs westward along the southern edge of our property
until the very, almost the very western border
and therefore divides our site from Market Street almost in its entirety.
So this is a case where we have a true hardship related to the land,
But it is important to note that the project still aims to activate this limited Market Street street frontage that does exist.
but it is important to note that the project still aims to activate this limited market.
And as we'll explain, and we are striving to still meet the spirit of the transit-oriented development overlay.
Just going through a little bit about the project.
The West Park project will transform a 12-acre vacant public housing campus in West Philadelphia into a thriving 1,000-unit mixed-income community.
It will provide critical affordable housing and social infrastructure.
We are going to be reintroducing a street grid to this parcel and providing a direct
connection to the 46th Street SEPTA station at Market Street, as well as incorporating
four acres of new public open space.
More than 50% of the units will be reserved as affordable housing, which is a significant
percentage at this location for this project.
We provide this information as both background to the project and also to emphasize the importance of this development to the city.
We want to note this project is located in the CMX4 zoning district outlined in purple.
Here is the entire property and that as well as the TOD overlay.
And that's the overlay, as I mentioned, that requires that all new buildings be constructed at the street line.
And so we do want to I want to briefly just show. So this red outline looking at a existing site plan for the for the property that shows the existing street network.
So what's in yellow here is the existing frontage along Market Street, which is only 115 feet of this entire 14 acre parcel.
These streets right here, Busty Street and Holding Street, they technically exist today,
but they've been approved by city council ordinance to be stricken as part of the redevelopment of this site.
So that's the reason that Market Street was chosen as the primary street frontage by the Planning Commission,
because ultimately these streets that exist today will not be there as the project gets constructed.
So these streets, again, showing here in this aerial image, these will go away.
and a new street grid will be reintroduced.
Part of that street grid is shown here
in this aerial rendering of the proposed project.
But because those will not be public streets
until the project is completed construction,
they will be dedicated after completion of construction.
For right now, the only public street
that fronts on the property
is this very limited market street frontage.
So that's the reason we have this very, you know, unique condition here as it relates to our public street frontage and the reason why we can't comply with this requirement of the code.
um and so um as i mentioned the you know it's really the market frankfurt line that um comes
out of the ground right here you can see where my cursor is on this uh aerial proposed site plan
um comes out of the ground here at the eastern edge rises along the southern boundary of our
parcel and then um veers into market street just at the edge of our parcel um and so uh you know
this is phase one. So we're here today really talking about phase one is this aspect of the
application. We have five new buildings. Building A is a mid-rise building. That's new. Other new
buildings include C1, C2, C3, and C4. And those are more of a row home type structure. And then
an existing building B, which is an existing high-rise on the site. And phase two will come
at a later date that will be part of a future application. We want to note that with phase two,
we will also be extending the street grid into phase two, and we'll provide a northern connection
to Lancaster Avenue to the north. And so while we cannot physically locate all five new buildings,
Building A and Buildings C1 through 4, at this very limited Market Street frontage,
what we have done is tried to essentially extend Market Street into the site. And that involves
the construction of a new ADA accessible, very heavily landscaped and beautified path from
Market Street. We're also going to be opening up the, there's a retaining wall on Market Street
that currently exists. We're going to be opening that up as much as we physically can to increase
kind of the site lines into the property. And then, like I said, provide that ADA pedestrian
and connection from Market Street into the site, which allows both residents to access Market
Street directly, as well as the public to access the public amenities that will be part of the
West Park development as well. Additionally, the project adds new retail at the ground level of
Additionally, the project adds new retail at the ground level of Building A, which is located right here. So the retail will be 2,000 square feet of retail at this southernmost portion of Building A. So really trying to draw, you know, the public into the site as much as we can and provide that direct connection.
built.
As you will hear from our witnesses, the Market Street frontage that does exist along this edge is only 115 feet, but that 115 feet of frontage is still very close to the elevated Market Frankfurt line because it's only kind of just starting to veer off of the property and into the right-of-way at that point, so it sits still very close to our parcel line.
um and so as such given the condition of that market frankfurt line um and its location and
proximity to our frontage it would um simply be impossible to locate all of our new buildings
at the street line as required by the code um but as i mentioned we do have this very important goal
to connect the project to market street um so we are doing everything we can to facilitate
that connection and that beautification of this Marcus Street frontage.
And additionally, we'll note that once the new streets that will be constructed as part
of the internal portion of the site are dedicated back to the city and become public streets,
the majority of our buildings will front at the street line on a public street.
We want to just note for the record that the proposed project satisfies the criteria for
of variance, because there are unique physical circumstances to the property, that if we
were to develop in strict conformity to the zoning code would create an unnecessary hardship.
We know that there's no detriment to public health, safety, and welfare, and that the
request for relief represents the least minimum variance.
If we can confirm that there are no parties on the line in opposition, we're happy to
do an offer of proof if that's the board's desire, or we can put on our full case with
our witnesses, whichever the board prefers. We'll have to see who's on the line when we get to that
point, okay? So if you have to, you can go back and put on additional witnesses. Okay. And I just
want to note for the record that we are not aware of anybody seeking party status in this case
at this time.
Thank you.
In that case,
we'll do an offer of proof
and if somebody comes forward,
then we would like to reserve
our ability to go back
and present our witnesses.
So I would like to elevate
Mr. Daniel Slavin,
our engineer with Langan Engineering
as a panelist.
Counsel, could you just go over
one more thing?
This is for the erection
of five buildings.
Am I right in saying that?
Correct.
Could you show them?
Oh, absolutely.
let me walk through. So the new buildings, and these are some existing site conditions.
So just to jump through, as you can see, there's a retaining wall, very close structure. So again,
another rendered site plan. And here's the existing three towers that are on the entire site.
This is the proposed building B. So this is what will be closest to Market Street.
And the retail will be located here at the ground level.
This is the existing tower that's located within the phase one boundary that will be reclad and renovated on the inside as well.
And the entrance will actually move to the southern portion of the site so that when the new streets are dedicated, the entrance to that existing building will now be located right on a public street after dedication.
And then these are the townhome-type buildings that I discussed, although they are still on one lot, so considered multifamily.
Hey, Meredith, just for the record, confirm that all the drawings that you're showing are on Exhibit 10.
Yes. Thank you, Matt.
Matt, just for curiosity, could you state your name and put it on record, and I'll swear you in?
Sure, Mr. Ricken. Matthew McClure, MCC LURE, Ballard-Spar, 1735 Market Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Do you swear or affirm the tell the truth, told you it's nothing but the truth?
I do, Mr. Chairman.
Please proceed, Meredith.
Yes, as Matt said, all of the renderings and images I'm showing are part of Exhibit 10 of our exhibit package.
And just out of curiosity, the vacant buildings, is that the former 401 North Bus Day?
is that was that called 401 4401 yeah okay well so this is 44 old holden street busty street does
come into this site uh or formerly it did um but that that's one of the streets that will be
stricken all right thank you want to pull your witness great i'd like to uh call daniel slavin
Great. Thank you all. I'd like to call Daniel Slavin with Langen Engineers.
Morning, sir. Sir, could you please state your name as spelled for the court stenographer?
Hello. Yes, it's Dan Slavin, D-A-N-S-L-A-V-I-N.
Where or firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Please proceed, counsel.
Thank you. Mr. Slavin, did you just hear what I said regarding the project and the current conditions of the site and our proposed application?
Yes, I did.
Can you affirm what I said is true and accurate and adopt it as your own testimony?
Yes, I do.
Thank you.
Any other witnesses?
Yes, I'd like to call Drew Kometz with Ernie McHenry Architects.
they've been allowed to speak
could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer
sure it's drew kmetz k-m-e-t-z
we're affirmed to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i do please proceed counsel thank you uh mr kmetz uh have you heard what i said today regarding the
application and the project and the existing conditions of the site? I have, yes. Can you
affirm that what I've said is true and accurate and adopt it as your own testimony? I can with
one very minor caveat. The new building we refer to as Building A, just in case you're trying to
follow along in the presentation. Oh, did I call that Building B by accident? You did, yeah. I
apologize. Building B is the existing high-rise tower. Building A is what will be located at
closest to Market Street. This is building A. Apologies. Thank you. Otherwise, perfect.
Any other witnesses? That's all. Questions from the board? Yeah, I have a question. So phase one
has a thousand units total? No, phase one has 327. The thousand units, it will be the total
combined unit count roughly once phase two is completed. Okay, so you're here for phase one,
Right. We're here for phase one only. Right. So my other question about phase one is because you can't come all the way up to the head of Market Street.
Where is the parking in phase one? So phase one will be accessed by off of Holden Street.
We will have a new street grid that comes here off of Palton and then comes in.
Parking will be located east of Building B and then behind the Building C's down here.
And what's the total number of spaces for that?
The total number of proposed new spaces for Phase 1 is 61.
Okay, thank you.
The question is from the board.
Can you confirm what percentage of the existing retaining wall will be going away?
That's a great question.
I think I might have to confirm that with our engineer, Mr. Slavin.
Or Mr. Kometz, if either one of them knows that specific number.
So let me go back to some of the renderings of the.
So this right here is a rendering of how we're opening up the retaining wall.
Can I call Dan or Drew, do either of you know that that specific advantage?
Sure. Yeah, this is Dan from Langan.
So. So, yeah, generally the this corner of the site that abuts Market Street,
there's about 115 linear feet of retaining wall and that's all going to be taken down
for this connection here and then as far as you know as you go further east you can kind of see it
in this image that's kind of septa's wall that's directly adjacent to their
market frankfurt line so that's actually going to remain for you know the whole stretch from that
point to the east so we're just taking down the wall that's um it's more of a a privately owned
wall uh in this corner of the site and then is any changing happening to the primary grading
that already exists at the site?
Yeah, so this corner, so Market Street's about 15 feet below the site in this existing condition.
the site in this existing condition, in the existing condition in this area. So this whole
corner of the site is kind of being lowered. So it'll connect to Market Street at the sidewalk
level. And then it kind of slopes up to meet the existing site elevations that are higher than
Market Street. Okay, yeah, no other questions. The ABA
accessible path winds through this sort of opening from Market
Street. The other questions from the board? Yes. How many parking
spaces are we going to have here? There will be in phase
161 new parking spaces new yes are there existing parking spaces or there are existing parking
spaces that exist on the site today uh we will all of the parking eventually will be uh you know
re redone um so all the existing parking will eventually go away but as part of the application
today. We do account for the existing parking spaces, but the 61 meets the requirement for
the zoning code for the proposed units in phase one. And again, because of our proximity to the
Market-Frankfurt line here, you know, we're only less than two blocks away from the entrance to
that SEPTA station.
And Board Mayor Gaston,
I may, there's also two other
items that reduce the parking
count. One is the TOD
overlay, and then the other
thing that reduces the parking count
is the min, mixed income neighborhoods
overlay, which obviously
we're complying with in space.
All right.
Thank you.