the owners of Rittenhouse Soundworks. I talked a real short time ago with the council.
Do you have to do something with planning with this case? Have you submitted the planning?
So where we're at, Mr. Chair, is that the Planning Commission is now prepared to grant
a full waiver for all aspects of the plans that are not in compliance with the code.
However, they didn't have enough time to do that in order to prepare it for today.
So we're going to be asking the board to hold off on the vote to allow the Planning Commission
to stamp the plan.
Great.
Our vice chair has a few questions for you, sir.
Good afternoon, Mr. Masters.
Do you agree to wait a reading of the refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?
Good afternoon, Mr. Shahid.
I do agree to waive the reading, but I am not going to stipulate to the accuracy because that's part of what we were just discussing, that in fact, most of the refusals are no longer valid.
Fair enough.
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that's needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, we did.
Yes, we did.
And we also then supplemented the submissions a few more.
And we also then supplemented the submissions
a few more times when we had some newer information
to share with the board.
Thank you.
Please proceed and share the screen.
All right.
All right, good afternoon, Mr. Chair, members of the board.
We are here for Rittenhouse Soundworks and the property that we're here for is 231 West Rittenhouse Street. The actual location for the business is 219 West Rittenhouse Street.
Now, 219 West Rittenhouse and also the building right next to it, which is between 219 and 231, they are both zoned as CMX2.
But this lot where the existing parking lot is for Rittenhouse Soundworks is zoned RSA 2.
And that's part of where we had a problem when we made an application to legalize the lot.
The zoning code requires a use variance to put a parking lot in an RSA 2 district.
If it was the CMX 2, it would have been by special exception.
I wanted to just start off with a chart that we prepared that basically, let me move this
here, the chart goes through all of the refusals and explains what the current status is.
Ultimately, I guess I'll do a spoiler alert and ultimately the only variance that is really
at issue for the board is this last one on the bottom here for the use variance.
There were a number of refusals that were issued from the planning commission's review
of our plans.
We went through several iterations of our plans. We first created a landscape buffer plan that had a significant number of trees and shrubs and perennials as is required by the code.
However, the Planning Commission rejected some of those aspects of our plan because the trees were being planted too close together and they thought that the trees would not thrive and would not remain viable.
We then contracted with an arborist from the Morris Arboretum and a landscape architect and we created new revised plans.
And as a result, in a review that I'll show you in a moment from Ian Haggerty at the Planning Commission, the Planning Commission is now of the position that we have satisfactorily addressed the issues that are basically due to the size of this lot and the fact that we can't have the full amount of buffer areas
and and the full amount of in of islands inside the parking lot that the code requires us to do
so the first line here uh is around landscape and tree preservation plans um the this was a refusal
because the planning commission had not stamped an approval on the plans we now expect them to
issue a waiver from all of the deviations as i mentioned um and we will show you momentarily
the letter from yesterday from Mr. Hegarty informing us that that would happen. So that
refusal is now going to go away with a waiver. The second row is around plantings. And we had,
like I said, the wrong combination and the wrong varieties of trees that we picked. With the help
of our arborist, we picked the much better varieties. And the Planning Commission now
also expects to issue a waiver for the fact that in this case, not only does the zoning code now
require a lot of plantings of deciduous trees, of evergreens, of shrubs, and of perennial flowers,
but they also require a fence to be erected along all of the boundaries, three of the four
boundaries of this property. And that fence is supposed to be made out of wood or ornamental
metal. In this case, we'll look at the plans. We are creating a natural fence of evergreens
We are creating a natural fence of evergreens that will be beautiful and that and that basically will serve the same purpose of screening that that a wooden fence would do.
that will be beautiful.
And so the planning commission is prepared to agree to that on our third row.
One of our boundaries is supposed to have an eight foot buffer area, but there's only three feet.
Because if we made an eight-foot buffer area, because of the minimum sizes of the parking spaces, we would only have one row instead of two rows of parking spaces, and we need those parking spaces to free up the spaces on the street for the neighbors.
They really appreciate that. They would not appreciate us missing half of our parking lot.
So the Planning Commission gave us a waiver on that refusal all the way back in August 15th.
And then finally, the zoning code now requires that an interior landscaped area calculated by a certain formula be present, basically taking out two of the parking spaces that we had planned.
And we were able to show the planning commission that we have put the same number of trees in the other places in a safe way that they will be able to thrive and grow and provide the shade that is the intention of the zoning code provisions on landscape buffers.
So the planning commission is, we believe, is now expected to issue that we reform.
So the refusal, we've basically just gone through it.
this was on august 15th this is the first response by the planning commission in which
they granted some waivers but not all waivers they denied uh some because like i said we had
the wrong combination and the wrong types of trees um we then have an email from ian haggarty
from yesterday in which he says the plan is generally acceptable but because of the short
turnaround time they can't do the formal acceptance of the waivers within 24 hours so that's um why we
are going to be asking uh the board for to hold the vote until the planning commission can can do
that uh their due diligence and stamp the plans uh we also have streets approval which um which
governs all of the different not just the sight lines but all of the different safety aspects of
of that parking lot. We also have 102 petition signatures from near neighbors in favor of the
parking lot. It's a very popular parking lot and it doesn't even have all the beautiful plantings
yet. We also have the report from the RCO in which it was unanimous. All attendees voted to support
this parking lot. And here we have the revised plans that were done in combination of our
architect team and then our landscape architect and arborist team. They are all in the wings
standing by if members of the board would have any questions. So on the left here is the streets
of aspects of the ingress and egress to the parking lot
and the curves for all of the spaces.
Here we have a photo view.
We have the parking space is in this area here.
You have a better view here.
This is going to be a large multifamily, five-story.
It's either five or six-story building that will be between this parking lot and the Rittenhouse Soundworks studio.
Here we have another view of the parking lot as it exists right now.
And this is a view facing it from with your back to Green Street.
So we now have a buffer, vegetative buffer on three sides. This fourth side is we're bordering
a CMX2 property and there's no requirement for any buffers when you are adjoining a commercial
property these are also going to be five or six story tall walls which um themselves serve as a
buffer for for the for the residents in the apartment building so we're going to have um
a large uh four uh large deciduous trees and many um of these the to is the is the evergreen fence
The TO is the evergreen fence of live trees that will screen off the parking lot from the residence on Haines Street.
We also have, this is the buffer to the left or the west of the parking lot that was supposed to be eight feet wide,
but the property line only allows it to be three feet wide, and we have the waiver from the Planning Commission on that.
All these large circles are large deciduous trees. And then you have the TOs are a continuous line of natural fencing of evergreen trees.
And then in the front, we have a requirement to do a buffer area on the front. Here's the dumpster that is going to be where the trash is stored for the business.
And this line of evergreens will act as a screen for the community around that.
We also have a fence that is going to be on the border right beyond the natural tree line.
And then here we have one large deciduous tree and we have a number of shrubs and perennials.
uh let me just look at uh review the the the landscape requirements and the code and the um
and the chart so the front yard is the one right onto the street where where we just saw the
the dumpster um that we were required to uh have one shade tree and four shrubs per 20 linear feet
This is 40 linear feet.
We provided three shade trees, five evergreen trees, 28 shrubs.
The side yard is the one that was supposed to be eight feet as a buffer,
but it's three feet only because of the constraints of the size of the lot.
It's 166 feet total.
We were supposed to have one shade tree, four shrubs per 20 linear feet.
We are going to be providing five shade trees, 40 evergreen trees, and 20 shrubs.
And then the rear yard is the one that faces the properties on Haines Street.
That one, we have the correct size for the buffer, and we have a very large 18 evergreen tree fence, natural fence, plus four shade trees, 26 shrubs, 42 perennials.
and there was also a requirement to have an interior landscape island we appealed to the
planning commission for a waiver on that because it would take out two parking spaces that would
that would be detrimental to the surrounding community who really wants as much on-street
parking as possible and the planning commission is satisfied that we've we've moved those trees
and shrubs and perennials to other locations
and comply with the spirit of the code.
This is our aerial view.
This is, this area here is the actual Soundworks
building the location of the business.
It juts out, you know, there's only a small amount
of sidewalk but the our client is has always been aesthetically um positive and and um and and has
has put out planters on the sidewalk to to beautify the area even though there's no possibility of any
kind of um plantings of of of any of any sort other than in the planters this is where the
large apartment building is going to be and then this is the parking lot that we're here for today
Now you can see the large apartment building
is in the process of being built here.
And once again, this is the parking lot
that we're here for.
And again, this is a view that shows the direction of traffic
and another entry view into the parking lot.
Our zoning poster, photos for today's hearing,
Our proof of posting in the right time period, our tax clearance, our deed, our application
for appeal, our project information form, and finally our RCO notice letter with our
uh with our proof of mailing and addresses and the mailing went out to 127 um addresses
proof of mailing and addresses and the mailing.
um at this point i would um ask for susan deutch to be to raise your hand
to be recognized and to adopt my testimony okay
Susan has been allowed to speak.
Susan, could you please state your name as spelled for the court stenographer?
Susan Deutsch, S-U-S-A-N-D-E-U-T-S-C-H.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir.
Please proceed, counsel.
Good afternoon, Susan.
in, you heard my testimony that I just gave to the zoning board. Do you agree with it? And would
you adopt it as your own? Yes, I would. Thank you. Do you have anything that you
wanted to add to the zoning board briefly about this project? No, you've covered everything. Thank
you sure questions from the board um questions or comments from our attorney ryan mcshary
no mr chair questions or comments from the virtual audience
i see no hands at this time chair ron you're going to hold your vote on this right we're
We're not going to vote. Okay, thank you. Okay, Steve, thank you for your presentation. We will hold the vote on this until we hear back, and I'm sure that Hillary will be in touch, okay?
Thank you so much.
Thank you very much.
We'll move on to number seven.
MI 2024-002-342-1121 West Loudoun Street.
Joseph Vaccaro is the attorney.
Recommendation of support from Logan Civic.
Vote was 11 in support, including four near neighbors.
Two in opposition.
Joseph Vaccaro is coming in as a penalist.
good afternoon how are you today i'm good counsel could you please state your name and spell for
the court stenographer good afternoon my name is joseph vaccaro j-o-s-e-p-h vaccaro v-a-c-c-a-r-o
attorney for the applicant roa lopez llc the owner of the property you swear affirm to tell the
truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes i do our vice chair has just a few questions
for you, sir. Good afternoon, counsel. Do you agree to wait to read another refusal or stipulate
to its accuracy? Yes, I do. I've emailed in all the required documents and exhibit as needed to
proceed with this case probably in advance of this hearing. Yes, I did. Thank you, counsel. Please
proceed. I do have four additional photos. They're just street views from Google, which I could email
to the board at the conclusion of my presentation. Please, please do so. Will do. Thank you. So,
Essentially, this is, if I may share my screen.
Yes, please.
Can you see what appears to be the top of the deed right now?
You can see the top of the deed.
We see the top of the deed.
Okay, fine.
I just want to make sure that I'm in the right place.
So my client, Roa Lopez, LLC, also being represented by Carlos Roa, the gentleman seated to my room.
He doesn't speak English, but he's here in my office to listen in.
So at the conclusion of the proceedings, I would just ask the board to accept my presentation as an officer in the court.
They had purchased the property on September 13th of 2022, and this is an application to
permit this property to be used as two apartments, first floor and second floor residential.
We received our refusal on April 1st of 2024, stating that since the property is not adjacent
to any residential district, two-family household living is prohibited.
Timely appeal was filed, project information form.
We had our meeting with Logan Civic Association on August 12th, August 12th of 2024.
Four, 11 people, 11.
11 people, 11 people supported, four nearby neighbors were present.
Actually, my mistake.
The meeting took place on July 8th.
So we have a letter of support.
Scrolling further down, I'm not going to waste the board's time scrolling down to all the proofs of mailing.
I can go to the renditions, the drawing of the property.
And it shows a first-floor apartment, first-floor plan, second-floor plan.
Each apartment would have two bedrooms each on the first floor.
One couple resides there.
On the second floor, it's a couple with a child on the second floor.