record except for um receive additional tax information and mr young i will um also check
on our end because we did have this happen um in a another case where there were some changes in
property ownership and subdivision lines and whatnot and the taxes were uh messed up in that
case too so i may need to just it may be that i just need to verify um with with revenue that
everything is fine thank you if i made so there is a cooperation agreement between uh the philadelphia
housing authority in the city of philadelphia um that essentially says that when pha takes ownership
of property um the city will automatically exempt them from paying property taxes um so i'm i'm just
assuming here at this one particular parcel, specifically 2114 Rear Devenue that the housing
authority purchased in 2020, this was not applied to. So it's an administrative issue that I think
can be clearly and quickly resolved. Yeah, we'll take care of it. All right. So
we think we can get this done in two weeks, Hillary? Oh, absolutely. Okay. All right. So
We're back on the 14th, so we'll go over this in executive session on the 14th and do the vote at 2 p.m., okay, Mr. Young?
Thank you.
All right.
Thank you for your presentation.
So, look, we have two more cases from the 2 o'clock list.
Let's take a five-minute break because the cases could go a little bit longer, and then we're going to go right through everything we have, okay?
So let's take a five-minute break, get Mr. Kelly straight for what we have to do this afternoon, and we'll come back.
So five minutes, everybody.
Thank you, Chair.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
hi this is tanya mr kelly are you back yes i am thank you sir is everybody else back
um chair we're ready to begin as you are okay we're going to go with number 17
mi 2022 001 494 2507 almond street adam laver is the attorney
um there's a letter from rco old richmond civic association and we've just received a letter from
councilman squill's office he's a non-opposition but reports in the letter of uh several people
calling the office to complain good afternoon chairman and members of the board could you
Can you state your name and spell it for the court reporter, please?
Yes, Adam Laver, L.A., V as in Victor, E.R.
Right.
Do you swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, Chairman Bergman, I do.
Could you identify your client and their relationship to the property?
Yes, Blank Rome represents L&M Real Estate Developments, LLC, and its parent entity, the River Wards Group, the equitable owner of the subject property.
Okay, our Vice Chair, Carol Tenere, has a few questions.
Hi, Mr. Labor. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Hi, Mr. Laver, do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Good afternoon, Mrs. Tenere. Yes, I do.
Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership, tax compliance, a copy of the refusal or referral, photos and or plans of the property five days in advance of this hearing?
And have you met with the RCO? And do you have a letter?
Yes, to all, and we're pleased to have a letter of support from the coordinating RCO, Old Richmond Civic Association, along with a letter of non-opposition from the district council member, Councilman Mark Squilla.
Great. You may proceed and begin with sharing your screen.
Thank you very much. I'll share in just a moment.
um i'm here this afternoon with larry mcknight who is the managing partner of the river wards
group and the entity that is under agreement to purchase the property l&m real estate developments
llc also with us is rustin oler of harman deutsch oler architecture along with walter
Hundgarter, professional engineer and vice president of RT Environmental Services, Inc.,
which is an environmental engineering consulting and remediation firm overseeing soil management
protocols, air monitoring, et cetera, at the site. I'd like to pause for a moment as I mention
the environmental piece, because this site, which you can see in the photograph, the green
triangular parcel, has environmental contamination there. And it has, for many years, it goes back
to the industrial past in the neighborhood. And I would like to acknowledge that this neighborhood
has been plagued by difficulties with its environmentally impacted sites over time.
We're very pleased in this instance that we've worked closely with the community-invested
leaders over the course of several months in order to appropriately go above and beyond
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection requirements to address the remediation
and place this property in a better position than it would be if it's allowed to remain as it is now.
The River Wards group, which is the developer, has appeared before this board before.
And as board members may recall, they specialize in re-envisioning neglected, difficult sites such as this throughout Philadelphia's River Wards in particular.
and building upon the core strengths of proud Philadelphia neighborhoods.
It's worthy of note that the principles behind the River Wards Group are engineers themselves
and bring a special sensitivity and expertise.
In this photograph, just to place the site in context,
you have the wide expanse of the commercial thoroughfare Aramango Avenue.
You know, Cumberland is here off to the left, which doesn't touch the site, but bounds it.
And the site has frontage along Almond Street. Once again, it's the Green Triangulars parcel.
Here's another photograph of the site, looking at it really from an aerial above Almond Street, looking in the other direction.
And we're looking at the proposed repurposing of an approximately 38,000 square foot unimproved land with environmental issues that are there right now.
It had been a former manufacturing site.
You'll see that we are a stone's throw from the Aramingo corridor, which is right off the screen.
here uh to place the property a little bit more in context uh you can see that triangular parcel
which doesn't look as green in this photograph but uh you see uh the busy uh aramingo avenue
and you see the residential neighborhood that sprouts well beyond here i'd also like to point
out in this photograph that across Almond Street you'll see some self-storage. You see a mix of
uses as you transition from the auto-centric commercial uses along Aramingo Avenue
beyond to the residential that is well established. Moving to the, and here's another photograph as
And here's another photograph as well, aerial photograph.
well, aerial photograph.
Moving then, if I may, to the zoning map.
Moving then, if I'm
We are zoned CA2.
That's the purple here.
Auto-oriented commercial 2.
It used to be called area shopping center.
It's a designation that is seen in strip malls,
often seen in some of the more suburban-style sections of the city, some areas of the Great
Northeast, for example. And perhaps it is more appropriate for properties fronting along Aramingo
Avenue, not the properties that have the most direct contact with the neighborhood, with the
residential neighborhood. And so respectfully, we truly believe that the zoning is inappropriate
for this site. We'll move, if I may, to a conceptual rendering. Here you can see that
the proposal calls to transform the existing parcel into a six-story multifamily residential
building to include 155 residential dwelling units, 64 automobile parking spaces, 60 bicycle
spaces, amenity and green roof space. It's also important to note that 5% of the residential units
are reserved for age-restricted affordable housing, and this is something that has also
been discussed with the Coordinating RCO. I mentioned support. The Coordinating RCO,
the Old Richmond Civic Association, submitted a letter of support. Councilman Mark Squilla
has submitted a letter of non-opposition. He also notes, as I believe I heard you say,
Chairman Bergman at the start, some of the issues he's heard from the community, primarily on the
environmental pieces that I mentioned, and we'll speak to a little bit more.
We also went through Civic Design Review, which completed its review of the project
in one meeting, and noted that the project, quote, captures the character of the neighborhood,
end quote, recognizes in the letter, quote, the proposed materials, including brick, end quote.
The refusal itself. There are two refusals before the zoning board. Number one, this commercial car-oriented district does not permit household living.
um i should state however that uh we certainly did not hear over the course of many meetings
with neighbors a uh interest in non-residential as we are close to the uh well-established
neighborhood additionally uh the second refusal the auto-oriented strip mall zoning encourages
car-centric uses, urges a suburban-style strip mall sense of lower heights and expansive
large parcels. While household living is in line with the surrounding area,
the proposed height is comparable to the transitional ICMX zoning that you see
around this site in some pockets. It's also comparable to what you might see in a CMX3
transitional zoning. This is appropriate to define the change from a busy commercial thoroughfare to
the neighborhood behind. And the proposal is reasonable in light of the necessary work
related to the environmental remediation, which River Wards Group is completely committed to doing.
And that's associated with the former lead production facility that had been at this site.
very serious materials in the ground. In addition to the support that I've mentioned,
neighborhood support attests to the appropriateness of these variances,
and several non-profit organizations that are very close to this site have reviewed the proposal
and lend their seal of support for the project. Here is one from the Storm the Heavens Fund
noting that River Wards Group provides valuable resources to the organization and more importantly
for the zoning issue before the board is a model for how existing communities can benefit from
carefully considered respectful development. In addition, the co-founder of the organization
notes that on a personal level, she's a fourth generation resident of the River Wards and
believes that the project will fill several community needs, including adding to the residential
vitality of the neighborhood and surrounding areas. These documents have been submitted
these documents have been submitted to the board. Similarly, Liguori Academy notes that the school
to the board. Similarly, Liguori Academy
is only within a few blocks of the proposed development and notes the investment of the
developers in the future of the community by providing many opportunities for students in
the local community, primarily in the vocational area, jobs, etc. The Pink Elephant, another
nonprofit, notes that they are invested in the well-being of the neighborhood and categorize
and classify the proposal as carefully considered respectful development.
Lastly, at this moment, the Samuel Falcons Boys Soccer notes that as a youth organization
that operates in and is invested in the well-being of the neighborhood, they support the proposed
redevelopment of the site. On the screen before you is a zoning chart with a zoning analysis and
site plan. As stated, there are 155 residential units proposed, 64 accessory off-street parking
spaces are proposed, whereas zero parking spaces are actually required based on the underlying
zoning district. One off-street parking space is proposed. The developer has worked very hard to
promote the livability and walkability of the street with streets on-street parking and just
a single curb cut for vehicular traffic plus one for the off-street loading. In addition to being
very much a transit-oriented development with several public transit lines close by.
There are 60 off-street bicycle parking spaces. No open area is required. The commercial car-oriented
districts really are focused on getting as many cars in for ease of the consumer, but in this
instance, the area is a bit different. Open area makes sense. Approximately 24% open area is
proposed. Here is another image showing in color the nature of what the development would look like
off the street with that single in and out for vehicular automobile traffic. Your loading space,
as I mentioned greenery both along the sidewalk but also within the property line a
positive both for residents and for neighbors and you'll notice that at the rear of the property
because the property only fronts on Almond Street they're right up against the Aramingo Avenue uses
the Cold Stone, Dunkin' Donuts, Pizza Hut Auto Zone. And again, this new development will serve
as a transition, an appropriate transition between those uses which are appropriate and needed along
Aramingo and the more concentrated residential units beyond Almond Street. Indeed, Moe and Larry
found their inspiration for their redevelopment efforts in the area in the Philadelphia City
Planning Commission River Ward's 2035 district plans and recommendations. The subject property
has been significantly underutilized. The neighborhood's industrial past has been an
albatross at this site. The site itself and several others have largely shifted with the
changing nature of the neighborhood and the expansion of residential living. Here is a
example of elevation showing the use of Philadelphia red brick, and another look at the elevations.
The floor plans. On the left you see the ground floor plan, which you saw in some of the prior
slides that i shared with you and to the right is a second floor plan and uh on the next page
you see on the left third through sixth floor typical plan and then the rooftop which is a large
green roof with a small roof deck 50 50 studio units are proposed uh from uh floors two through
six, 81 bedroom units, and 25 two-bedroom units. That comes out, Mr. Chairman and members of the
board, to approximately 32% being studios, 52% being one bedrooms, and 16% two bedrooms. Average
sizes on the studios are in the range of 450 square feet, 700 square feet approximately on
700 square feet, approximately on one bedrooms, and approximately 1050 square feet on the two-bedroom units.
one bedrooms and approximately
The CA2 use at this location is not practicable, nor is it desired by the community, which has supported this project through the coordinating RCO, the RCO chosen by the city code and the council member.
nor in the philadelphia city planning commission uh 2035 plan does this uh car centric use continue
to make sense a glance at the zoning map and the aerial photographs show that the zoning
surrounding the property is solidly residential with the smattering of icmx in fact the
The placemaking, if you will, of the structure, having the height and creating a separation between two different types of uses really makes sense and provides some benefits in terms of repositioning the site, some very positive benefits.
Common sense might dictate that the proposed multi-family use is most consistent with the residential character of the surrounding neighborhood.
The authorization of variance relief will not alter the character of the neighborhood or district or be detrimental to the public welfare.
the proposal fits into the surrounding neighborhood as evidenced by the support of the coordinating
rco the non-opposition of the district council member uh city planning commission documentation
and the commendations of the civic design review committee the proposed variances
really represent the minimum variance necessary to afford relief and will represent the least
modification possible of the regulations at issue the grant of variance relief will not
substantially increase congestion in the public streets, increase the danger of fire or otherwise
endanger the public health, safety, or general welfare. The incorporation of public amenities,
tree plantings, benches, bicycle racks, and more in the overall design of the development speak
to a net benefit to the community and are documented in a concrete way in the private
community benefits agreement with the coordinating RCO. The proposed development will not adversely
affect transportation or unduly burdened water so a sewer school park or other public facilities
the environmental issues although not directly zoning board issues are the are the matters that
have raised the greatest concerns among community members and uh the greatest concerns at the city
government level from our representatives at city council level and state representative level
in terms of protecting the community. RT Environmental Services is on board. We have
opened the discussion with the community in a fully transparent way. I've highlighted certain