want to uh speak on behalf of the councilman whether he supports or opposes the application
I was just working on, you know, the information that I had received.
My clients are sitting here right next to me.
We just heard, you know, the comments by Mr. Rosenberg.
Did I get that name right?
Was that right?
Yes, you did.
That delivery was not to 90 Redline Road.
It was to 70 Redline Road.
And my clients, in fact, sent me an email that day with pictures of that car transport, you know, dropping these vehicles.
And they indicated to me, you know, just want to let you know, these are not our cars and they're not coming to us.
And so, you know, you know, I apologize to, you know, the neighbor thinking that it was ours, but it was not, you know, they are just not, they're not operating, they are not operating.
And right now, they're sitting on a bunch of vehicles off-site and looking to get permission and approval in order to refurbish these vehicles and put them up for sale to worthy buyers.
and uh and but but as of right now you know and and and his comments regarding uh you know access
to the rear you know with the you know you know he he's certainly not a uh you know a planning
uh you know professional or an architect or an engineer uh so you know whatever comments he has
about access to the rear of the property uh you know i think are you know unwarranted and uh you
You know, and quite frankly, they have access to the, you know, the back of the property and they've been using the ramp.
So, but again, you know.
But let's not, don't go again.
I mean, you're starting to repeat yourself.
So please don't go again.
I'm sorry.
I get, I get worked up.
I know.
All right.
Questions, comments from the Planning Commission.
Is there anything today that you would want to change your position?
No, sir, Chairman.
and we were, I believe, in recommended support the last time,
and we would recommend support again.
So we're going to hold this until the rest of the board has a chance to look at the video.
Thank you.
Okay, and can I get, Hillary's going to send me a copy of the letter?
She will.
And make the video accessible to me too, correct?
Sure, yep.
Awesome.
All right.
Thank you.
Mr. Chairman, members of the board, I thank you for your time.
question
All right. Number three, MI 2024-002-341-231 West Rittenhouse. Steve Masters
is the attorney. This is a resumptive hearing.
Steve Masters will be rejoining us as a panelist.
good afternoon mr chair mr masters you've already been sworn just for the record state your name
steve masters s-t-e-v-e-m-a-s-t-e-r-s i see uh um this is a resumptive hearing um am i right yes
we're limited to just testimony of the planning commission and then the vote by the board that's
right that's right um so i see we recommendations to improve landscape have also been made am i
right steve we have proviso plans mr chair um that are the revised landscape um buffer plans
we went over with the planning commission they wanted um some additional time to review them
because um the the revisions came in just before our last hearing and then the planning commission
informed us that they were prepared to sign off and stamp the plans at this point, but that
because of the posture of the case, they're going to be presenting testimony supporting the variances.
So, Hilary, what we have right now is the Planning Commission, did it go?
Yes, but just a quick question, Mr. Masters, because there was also an application for a
waiver so the plans that that you provided those are reviewed by planning but they did not stamp
them but then you provided a waiver request that was partially granted partially denied
um did you make any changes to the plans following the waiver request we did um that's what our
proviso plans are that's it's a second iteration of the plan and now the planning commission um
believes that we are well they'll testify to it I don't want to I don't want to present their
testimony obviously but my understanding is that they they now support this project with with the
revised plans okay so they have seen this they have seen the second iteration of the revised
plans yes that's what we presented to them just a couple days before the last hearing oh okay but
then after the hearing you also applied for a waiver or was that before the hearing that was
before the hearing oh before okay got you okay thank you planning commission thank you chair
bergman and good afternoon david effecta with the city planning commission chairman and board
members the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the rsa2 residential single family
zoning at this location the appellant requests to legalize a non-accessory parking lot built without
the benefit of permits this portion of west rittenhouse street has industrial buildings
which are used for commercial activity a non-accessory parking lot would serve these
businesses the appellant also requests variances for landscaping the appellant submitted a proviso
plan to correspond with a waiver granted by the city planning commission so the city planning
commission recommends that the board grant a proposed use variance for a non-accessory parking
lot and the landscape variances conditioned on the revised proviso plan
mi-2024-002 excuse me mr chair quickly so there's there's one page of revised plans
um and also if the board is inclined to grant that there could be a proviso as well just indicating
that the plans need to be stamped
by the Planning Commission.
Thank you.
MI 2024-002-341-231 West Wright-Nale Street,
I vote yes.
Revised plans need to be stamped
by Planning Commission, is that it?
And then also revised plans,
one page stamped by the ZBA today, October 9th,
and then plans must also be stamped revised plans must also be planned to be stamped 10-9-24
and also revised plans to be stamped by planning commission yes thank you michael johns uh yes
with those same provisals i don't need to repeat them no you don't okay all right thank you
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes with provisos.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes with provisos.
Tywin, my vote is yes with provisos.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes, with Proviso.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes with provisos.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
Number seven.
Okay, number seven.
MI 2024-004-400, 1825-31 North 6th Street.
Alan Nachmison is the attorney.
There's unanimous support from South Kensington Community Partners.
Tenant support, zero opposed.
and also the applicant provided petition of support signed by approximately 14 neighbors 13 from the
mr knox yes good afternoon mr chair members of the board alan knockamson
just for the record spell your last name uh
N-O-C-H-U-M-S-O-N.
Swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
You identify your client and the relationship to the property.
Yeah, my client is Lenny Cherniak.
He is the equitable owner of the property by way of an agreement to sale.
Dwight Sher has a few questions.
Good afternoon, Counsel.
do you agree to wait to read another refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?
I do. Have you emailed them all the required documents and exhibits that's needed and required
to proceed with this case five days in advance of this? Yes, we have. Thank you, counsel. Please
proceed and you can share your screen. All right, thank you. I just want to make sure
the right screen up before I start sharing.
Good afternoon again, Alan Nockamson of Nockamson PC. I'm here to present 1817-31 North 6th Street.
This is in the South Kensington area of Philadelphia. During our presentation,
We're going to review the notice of refusal for this proposed child care center, along with a letter of support from the South Kensington Community Partners.
I believe when I was being transitioned into as a panelist, I heard the chairman state that it was unanimous support.
We also have a letter, I believe, from the district council member as well in non-opposition to this proposed use.
We also have a petition that my client circulated with occupants on the 1800 block of North 6th Street.
So the individuals who would be most directly impacted by this proposed child care center are in support of this project.
Also, we have a little information about Alphabet Alley, the operator of this proposed child care center.
An aerial view of the property. We're looking to consolidate these two lots. One lot has a former warehouse on it and the other lot has a parking lot. And you'll see from there that we're leveraging the parking lot for the use of this warehouse and child care facility.
Then we'll review maps of the area. While this property is designated as RSA 5, the combined lot score footage is over 30,000 square feet. In addition, you'll see from the past use and the current use of this property, it's nothing like an RSA 5 property.
Again, it has a warehouse on one of the lots and it has parking on the other.
It's a long history of non-RSA5 uses.
And then you'll see maps of the area where you'll see from those maps that even though this is deemed a residentially designated area, it's really commercial in nature.
You'll see that we're right behind Cousins Supermarket.
If anyone knows this area, like Fifth and Burke's, there's a nice shopping center there that has a supermarket.
We're not that far from there.
And there's other commercial uses nearby as well.
Then we'll review photographs of the property, which will confirm, you know, what I was stating about how it's currently configured in terms of a warehouse use or at least a warehouse structure, as well as parking as well.
And then plans. We have plans and drawings.
I have the architect for this project, his design plans.
I'm Michael Thompson. If you have any questions about the, you know, the configuration of the child care center or, you know, how we configure the parking lot, we did have multiple meetings with the community.
We provided an extensive amount of landscaping pre-community input, and then we added additional landscaping, for instance, in the.
community input and then we added additional landscaping for instance in the play area outside
to provide shading as an example then we'll review the rco meeting notice this is just for the last
meeting but we had the community group south kensington community partners asked us to have
two meetings given the size of the lots um and you know the potential impact it would have on
the community and again at the last meeting there was unanimous support in favor of this project
But we have the community meeting notice along with proof of mailing of that.
Then we'll review the application for appeal that we filed.
And then there's the agreement of sale, which is still effective.
And I believe we do have the copy of the deed showing that Goodwin Development is the owner of the property.
And finally, certificates of tax clearance showing that there's no real estate taxes due on the account of the property.
At the conclusion of my presentation, I would ask that Alex Berenson, who's the operator of the daycare facility, virtually raise his hand and be sworn in.
I'll have a few questions for him.
And given that this is a use request for a child care facility, if I can't answer any questions, I would just ask that maybe Alex can answer those questions.
Notice of refusal.
Again, these two lots are RSA 5.
We're looking to combine these lots.
No changes to the proposed building structure or in terms of size.
Obviously, we're doing work inside.
And we're going to leverage the surface parking lot to include 12 parking spaces, including one accessible space.
And it's all, you know, was all submitted to L&I as part of this process.
And the only refusal we have is because these are RSA-5 properties, a child care center is not allowed by way of right, and we're seeking a variance in this respect.
Letter of support from South Kensington Community Partners.
As I stated, we met with the community multiple times.
They were very supportive.
We made some minor modifications, for instance, with the playground to provide more shading for the kids.
But otherwise, it was a very positive experience for the community as well as my client, and we received unanimous support from the community at the last meeting.
And then it was also a well-attended meeting of 22 individuals.
And then because of the support we received from South Kensington community partners as well as the community at large, we just received today a letter in non-opposition from Council Member Lozada.
and then the petition as well like again we reached out to members of the community who
would be most directly impacted by this proposed use so we really limited to this 100 block of
north 6th street and this is just a map showing where those signatures are in relationship to
where they live and then here are the signatures for this you know for this petition as well as
letters, form letters of support. And then a little bit about Alphabet Alley. It's been in
business for some time. It has another location. This would be its second location. And what I did
was I went on the state's website to show that all of the certifications that would be required
of Alphabet Alley for its current location are that they have them and they're in good standing.
And most importantly, they've never had a negative sanction against them for their other location.
They're looking forward to opening up this new location. We think that there's a definite need
in South Kensington for a daycare of this type. And then in addition to like looking at the state's
website about Alphabet Alley and their child care center. We also went on Google and out of 105
reviews, they have five stars every single time. They're well liked, they're well respected,
and they're well run. And then the aerial view of the property. So this is 1817. And then,
you know, which shows the warehouse structure here. And then this is what would be the parking
lot at 1825-31. And then maps of the area. So it's a rather large combined lot of over 30,000
square feet. Again, Cousins is up here. There's a lot of CMX use as well. You know, there's a lot
of commercial use, but more importantly, there's a need in the community for a child care center
and people have really embraced the fact that they're hoping that Alphabet Alley opens nearby
to them. And then again, from a Google Maps perspective, shows that shopping center
nearby. And then there's some more commercial aspects around here as well.
There's some more commercial aspects around here as well.
I believe this is German.
I believe this is Germantown, which is also commercial in nature.
And then photographs of the property.
Again, this is a great adaptive reuse of a property.
It has nice bones as a warehouse.
And then this is a different angle from the southern viewpoint.