i want to go there so thank you um mr kelson um um and your buddy uh carl primavera was here
earlier today it was like old home week cheryl exactly i couldn't believe i was like wow it's
great it was good to see everyone could you identify your client relationship to the property
i can uh my client is the saint peter's school they are the owners since 180 years ago
the subject property um if i could mr chair i'd like to promote for for efficiency yep um mr
Marty Grigorski, as well as Mr. Rob Nidick on behalf of the school. This way, I think we can
move it. As long as they're there ready to go and we're good. I believe they are. Okay, let's see
here. Do we get anything from the RCL on this? I do have a letter from Society Hill and I
believe Mr. Bonnie may be in the audience as well. I know he was here. Good. Yeah, I see it's at the
bottom, unanimous support, Society Hill, eight total votes. That's correct. And our vice chair
has a couple of questions for you. Absolutely. Good evening. Have you emailed your documents
and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing? Yes, we did. And do you waive the reading of the
refusals and stipulate to their accuracy? Yes, I do. I think you can show your screen and proceed
with your case. Great. So in the interest of time, members of the board, we have provided
in our list of exhibits, the refusal, the application for variance, the letter of support
from society, Hill Civic, aerial photographs, maps of the property, posting photographs of the
subject property, illustrative renderings, the deed. We are a 501c3 corporation, but we've also
provided tax clearance documentation and finally our 14 303 notice and certificate of mailing
i won't i i won't literally scroll through to show you all that um but i certainly can if you
would like so members of the board the application before you is to allow the st peter's school to
expand its current footprint on its site, which is located on Lombard Street, bounded
basically by 3rd Street and 4th Street.
The site is zoned RM1 residential.
Interestingly enough, the school use, ASchool use, would be permitted as a special exception.
We are designated as a non-conforming use and structure by L&I.
As I indicated, the school has been used by St. Peter's for about 180 years.
We have approximately 171 students enrolled preschool through 8th grade.
Adjacent to the property, if you will look at Exhibit 3 that's on the screen, you can
see where the school is the current school is located it is adjacent basically
to st. Peter's Church and the cemetery which you can see in the foreground that
whole area is basically permanent open space we are historically designated the
improvements that you'll see in a few moments have been extensively reviewed by the historical
commission and have been approved by the historical commission so what do we want to do with this
location um currently located on site marty i'll ask you to go to the next
next one please posting let's go to the elevations
so provide the board with site context let's pause at this point
um this is a good frame of reference if the board notes um there is a school in the foreground um
There is a school in the foreground, the existing structure, an addition that was created to the original school, and in the area immediately to the right will be where our infill is proposed.
I will give you more detail on the infill in a second.
And immediately to the rear, you can see St. Peter's Church.
Next one.
so this is our zoning site plan that will show you from a footprint standpoint the existing
structure and the additions that are proposed to be created as the cursor indicates and to
the immediate left of that will retain play area and an open space access to the school
will remain as is but with upgraded facade and structural elements. The lot itself, members of
the board, consists of about 18,718 square feet. It's well above the minimum requirement of 1,440
square feet called for in the RM1 district. Lot width is 77 feet as compared to code requirement
in RM1 of 16 feet. It's a very significant lot. Again, existing on the site is the three-story
building in school, original school. The addition that we're proposing will now match, if we could
go to the next slide, please. This rendering will show it very well, is intended to be
at an elevation of 41 six inches in height. That matches the existing addition that you see on the
screen. The original school is a little bit higher. It's three stories, but it has a large
if you will. Height in this district, as noted on the refusal, is 38 feet. We're already non-conforming
forming and we're going to match that additional height of 3.5 feet.
If you will go to the next slide, it's the night rendering, next one, elevation from
forth and lombard on the roof you will see a play area exercise area that will provide be provided
for our students it's enclosed but in a manner which is open and it's protected from the sun with
these flexible screens next slide please these are some slides that will illustrate the proposed
renovation and amenities provided in the addition and in the renovation area
internal play area illustrative floor plans now these floor plans are picking
up both the existing buildings as well as the addition next next slide please
next slide again our third floor remember this will be a three-story structure matching the
three-story structures existing again at a height of 41 six inches
the area of of addition will be approximately 16 000 square feet
There will be renovation area of about 4,577 square feet.
And this is a south elevation showing you how the addition contextually and from a massing standpoint fits within the existing.
Parathetically, members of the board, if you look, it's a little bit of a ghost shadow elevation.
Your far right, that's the existing or the original school, and that depicts what I was
describing as the triangular or vertical pen.
But it is a three-story structure and lines up shoulder to shoulder with the existing
in new next slide south elevation next slide west elevation north elevation
project amenity summary i won't go through all the detail but it'll
Project amenity summary, I won't go through all the detail, but it'll afford the school the opportunity to modernize and to add additional and renovated classrooms at the lower level, ground floor, second and third floors, as well as, as I mentioned, that rooftop exercise area.
So, members of the board, there will be no increase in the enrollment of our student body, nor additional staffing as a result of the addition.
We need to do this in order to modernize and to bring this venerable school into a characteristic that best serves our students and the community.
We will have off-site parking. We already have an agreement and have had for a while with the St. Peter's Church.
There is a parking lot that we have access to under that agreement.
It contains about 33 spaces. It's about 200 feet away, roughly, from the image you're looking at.
Additional parking is also available, and we have been using it for quite some time.
at the public parking facility located about a block away at 2nd and Lombard.
That parking is used for certain special events that may generate more parking than the church lot would.
One of the refusals, as the vice chair indicated, was for lack of on-site parking.
But that condition, I believe, has been satisfied with the very close-in adjacent park.
The plans, as I mentioned, have been approved by the Historical Commission.
We've worked actually extensively with Planning Commission staff with regard to tree replacement and tree waiver, as well as our landscaping.
The proposed addition, I think, members of the board, if you look at the contextual surroundings, is in keeping with the context of this immediate area.
We're matching materials to our neighbors, and we're matching height and our density to those around us.
Many of the uses surrounding the subject property are, in fact, institutional.
I mentioned the church, but if you will look again at the aerial, you will see quite a few civic and or institutional uses, as well as some residential as well.
The proposed grant to the variance members of the board, I would submit, is the least minimum required to allow this non-conforming use to modernize and to exist and support its mission.
We meet all of the requirements of the grant of variance relief.
You will also see, again, I repeat, the fact that we're located almost on a block that
is virtually all open space and will be in perpetuity, I think is another reason for
support of the grant of variance.
And finally, we have met on a number of occasions with the Society Hill Civic Association and
are pleased that they have given us their support for this application our architects are standing
by if there's if there are any questions of the board i can promote them uh i would um i'm going
to defer to mr bonnie if he wants to speak i'm not sure if he if he's available mr bonnie
he trusts me uh he was here earlier today yeah i know i know okay okay all right but you want
to bring one to your client and i would um rob would you um identify yourself for the record
please sure uh my name is rob nideck rob and is and nancy y-d-i-c-k mr nida could you um tell
the hold on oh i'm sorry i apologize do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing
but the truth i do thank you so much please proceed counsel mr nideck um what is your
affiliation with saint peter's school i serve on the board of trustees and i chair the building
Grounds Committee. And you are authorized to appear today on behalf of St. Peter's School
at this proceeding? I am. Okay, and you've heard the description of the property and the proposed
Okay. And you've heard the description of the property and the proposed application that I made to the board a few moments ago. Is that correct?
Correct.
You were here the whole time?
And did you find that the statements, comments that I made accurate and true and correct to the best of your knowledge?
And if you were to make those statements yourself, would you adopt them as I made them to the board?
Yes, I would.
great um i have no further questions or comments to uh mr sure questions from the board
questions or comments from our attorney hillary emerson um yes mr kelson i would just a question
about um the i'm trying to understand the deed because the deed says like part of the lot but
like there seemed to be a discrepancy on the the between the city maps and the the taxes whether
it was one big property or there was multiple parcels? Was there like a partial consolidation
done at that some point? Just trying to get a little clarity. No, Hillary, it's a great question
because it is very confusing. This property was originally part and parcel of the St. Peter's
church property. It was one large property. Pursuant to the deed of consolidation dated
17 November 2016, the school and the church consolidated as well as subdivided
the school portion from the church portion. And Marty, maybe if Hillary wants to see it,
the site plan will show that. So it, in fact, 317 Lombard, which is the address of St. Peter's
School, is a standalone, separate, and distinct zoning person. Okay. All right. Thank you for
the explanation. I appreciate it. My pleasure. Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
no hands here planning commission amy boy with the planning commission the comprehensive plan
recommends no change in zoning at this location from the existing rm1 residential multi-family
the proposals for an expansion of a non-conforming building for the continued
long-standing uses an educational facility the planning commission recommends that the
board grant their crest advances for occupied area building height and parking mi2025-006-863-317
Lombard Street I vote yes Michael Johns my vote is yes Cheryl Gaston my vote is yes Tanetta Graham
my vote is yes Ryan McAdams my vote is yes I win my vote is yes thank you sir members of the board
thank you for your consideration and have a good evening all right you too thank you okay so um
we're going to move right into our yeah we're going to move right into our 330 list um but
first is there anybody in the two o'clock list whose case has not been called okay so we're going
to move to the 330. all right so good evening everyone my name is bill berkman and i will be
chairing this meeting of the philadelphia zoning board of adjustment with me is our vice chair
tenetta graham president mr chairman our board secretary cheryl l gaston president mr chairman
board member michael johns president mr chairman and our board member ryan mcadams president mr
chairman also present is our attorney hillary emerson our zoning board director anne hagerty
and our board administrator lakeisha dandy recording of this hearing will be posted on
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So let's look at our schedule first.
Number one, MI 2024, 006, 700, 3801 Old York Road.
This case is continued until 7-15-26 at 3-30.
Now we're going to go to our regular list.
Number three, MI 2025-005-405-3936 North Daring Street.
Samara Daly is the owner, pro se.
And I see she's very happy that we're calling her case.
Come on up, please.
DARYL FOXMAN- Good evening.
DARYL FOXMAN- Good evening.
DARYL FOXMAN- Good evening.
Make sure your microphone is on and pull it close to you.
Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
DARYL FOXMAN- Samira Daly.
DARYL FOXMAN- S-A-M-E-R-A Daly, D-A-L-E-Y.
DARYL FOXMAN- All right.
Do you swear or affirm and tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
DARYL FOXMAN- Yes, sir.
applications for use as a personal care home in an existing structure whereas the proposed use
personal care home requires special exception approval in the rsa 5 zoning district there's
a letter of non-opposition from nuevo esperanza and a letter of non-opposition from council member
lazada our vice chair has a few questions for you okay good evening have you submitted your
documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing yeah okay and do you waive the
reading of the referral and stipulate to its accuracy okay thank you you can share your screen
oh i'm sorry you guys yes you can show your screen start to case
did you guys okay
Okay, so let me say this. We'll start off with make it. We have all your documents.
yes sir all right so what i would recommend first you tell us what you want to do and then what i
would do is show photos and any plans that you have so why don't you first start off by saying
tell me what you want to do okay hi i wanted to open up a personal care home for residents that um
residents that need help um slightly disabled um i want to be able to assist with um everyday
livings with the ADL, bathing, feeding, doctor's appointment, medication reminders, shopping,