continue the case yes chair as you wish because i think it should all be heard at once i agree with
does everybody agree with me it's it's unfair to start it and then stop and
throw it into 2022 i'd like to keep it all into 2021 for all the parties involved
given miss sunkett's willingness to um to do that compromise i i agree it should be continued
okay calendar number mi-2021 madam chair just want to comment um i know mr feyman and i know
the city attorneys uh and i expect that they'll be as flexible and generous as possible we've had
other cases with the board recently with other attorneys that uh were unavailable for two week
long trials uh long trips so uh i think that inherent in what you're saying in trying to
help the parties uh is a prioritization by all council of whatever date works for the board and
that uh they all have colleagues they all have uh co-counsel and you know that we won't be in
a situation where we finally get a date and people are uh on trial or on vacation or the dog ate the
homework. So I think that's implicit in what you're saying. Mr. Primavera, you know me
longer than probably anyone else other than maybe Ms. Tenere. Yeah, and I know, Mr. Fineman,
you're not going to go skiing, right? Right, right. I guarantee that. You know, I'll work
with you. I know you will. It's totally unnecessary. If you did it for your client,
I can understand why you made those comments, but totally unnecessary.
I agree.
It's just I had a recent case that was problematic.
Okay, so again, calendar number MI 2021-003377.
This case will be continued, and Ms. Sunkit will come up with a date.
Thank you to all the attorneys.
We can leave now.
Thank you very much.
Yes, get your skis, Mr. Feynman.
I know. I'll have to get them shortened.
I know you do.
Thank you.
Sure, Carl.
Calendar number MI-2021-002610, 1117-19, North 63rd Street.
This is a pro se case.
Angelina Geiger.
Thank you.
Ms. Geiger has been promoted to panelists.
Thank you.
Ms. Geiger, can you hear me?
please unmute yourself ms geiger
hello yes ms geiger can you put your name and address
on the record and spell your last name and I'll swear you in. Angelina Geiger, G-E-I-G-E-R.
Your address? 1117-19, North 63rd Street, Philadelphia, 19151. Okay, do you swear
for me to tell the whole truth and nothing about the truth? Yes. Have you emailed the exhibit
packet with proof of ownership, tax compliance, refusal, 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
my sister melissa horrid she's also on the zoom call we um she's the applicant and i'm
the homeowner but we did provide the information okay um we have a letter from the over request
neighbors incorporated rco and they've submitted a letter of support so you may begin to present
your case. I'm the homeowner at 1117-19 or 63rd Street. I want to transform my basement into a
salon. I'm a salon owner of 17 years. When COVID happened, I just wanted to make a smaller salon
in like a more petite setting. So me and my sister wanted to open up a salon together.
I do have a separate entrance, restroom, and all the things I would need to make it a salon.
So I'm just trying to downsize the salon I used to own into something smaller and just be able to work.
Can you share drawings with the screen and everything from the exhibit packet?
I emailed those in.
I don't know how to do that.
I'm not that savvy.
Okay, somebody can help you do that.
I'm sure you have the exhibit packet with you.
Let me ask my sister.
Hold on a sec.
so the the pictures that i emailed in how would i get that onto this screen
oh can someone can someone help her um so um yeah madam madam chair may i ask her a few questions
sure so um do you or melita have your documents on your computer where you are
utilizing zoom i can try i am not savvy at all i don't really know how to do all these things i
almost called into this meeting um so i will try melita do you have that information
so if i could make a um suggestions here if we could move forward with the next case
and if melita and miss geiger can work together to see if they can do a presentation
on their computer by sharing their screen they can work that out that would be great okay
we'll move on to case number three calendar number 2582 1212-14 south broad street the
attorney is richard pressman
mr pressman has been promoted to panelists madam chair
Okay, thank you. Mr. Pressman, can you hear me?
Mr. Pressman?
Thank you.
Madam Chairwoman, Richard Pressman here, I represent one of the protestants, I am not
the applicant.
One second.
Can you put your name and address on the record and spell your last name?
Yes, Richard Pressman, 1135 Spruce Street, Philadelphia PA 19107.
Thank you.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Do you also agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
see um madam chairman i am not the applicant's attorney i represented a protestant okay uh the
applicant's attorney is the applicant's attorney present i do not know i'm the virtual audience
yes i'm sure um sean wellett if he could be promoted jason is the attorney for this particular
case miss saletta dropped out so i just wanted to put that on record until she comes back okay
All right. Mr. Whalen has been promoted.
Good afternoon. Sean Whalen.
How are you? Name and address on the record and spell your last name and then I'll swear you in.
Sure. Sean, W-H-A-L-E-N, 6 Coulter Avenue, Ardmore, PA, 19003.
Do you swear if I'm to tell the whole truth to nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, I do.
Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership, tax compliance, refusal 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, yes, and yes.
Okay, we do have no RCO letter, but you're saying you do have an RCO letter now?
Yes, we did receive an RCO letter.
I believe it was late last evening.
And I'll be sharing that if it hasn't already been shared around.
What is the position of the RCO?
They are in opposition.
They raised five points, which I will address.
Okay, great.
You may proceed.
Mr. Pressman has already been sworn in.
All right.
Thank you very much.
so sean whalen here on behalf of the developer of 12 12 to 14 south broad street i am
hopefully you can all see a map right now this is federal street and south broad
you're looking at an approximately uh 9500 square foot lot that is uh that fronts on south broad
street and goes all the way back to south carlisle street it is currently uh approved for a mixed
use with an active commercial tenant in there however we are seeking and proposing to put a
two-story addition on top of uh the existing two-story building so it's a very large existing
two-story building in a CMX2. It's entirely in a CMX2 zoning district. RSA 5 goes south of us,
CMX2 goes north of us, but we are entirely within the CMX2 area. So again, here's just a quick
rendering to give you guys sort of an understanding of what we're doing.
um currently there's a two-story building here we are intent we are proposing a four-story building
there will be a commercial first floor remaining and residential on the floors above the existing
building uh to our north which is um 12 uh 10 40 uh south broad street is 45 feet in height
and the existing building to our south 1216 South Broad Street is 40 feet in height we are proposing
a 50 foot height in max and that is the single refusal we have so everything is by right however
we are proposing additional height to 50 feet originally you will see that we proposed 55
feet. However, that was reduced and squeezed as much as possible following our first meeting
with the RCO before we had a second meeting, and we have prepared and presented
revised plans to that extent. So what you're seeing, this is our building right here,
the Institute of Culinary Arts. You can see it's a two-story building. It currently exists as
approximately 27 feet high.
You can see, again, this building is 45 feet, so you can see the height differential.
You can see, again, this building is 45 feet,
so you can see the height difference.
This is south broad running up and down here.
Which building are you pointing to?
Which building is 45?
Sorry, the building behind our building.
And I think the next...
So actually, now this is looking south, down south broad, across the street,
and down the existing buildings
that would be south of us immediately.
Excuse me, this is Sharon Saleta.
I'm sorry to interrupt, Mr. Willen,
but I was disconnected until just now.
And I want you to confirm,
is this the case for which you are seeking
an affordable housing bonus?
Or are you not willing to provide request?
We would request a,
or we would be willing to accept
an affordable housing bonus
if the board would accept it as a proviso today they will not then in that case we will not be
asking for the affordable housing bonus so the issue is um one of a height issue uh we cannot
pay directly into the affordable housing bonus to get the additional height that's no longer allowed
under current bills. We were willing to provide two additional affordable housing units. However,
the height limitation is 38 feet, and that would only bring us up to 45 feet,
and we would still have the single refusal that we have now.
And your building that is proposed is 55 feet?
It was originally proposed at 55 feet. We have reduced it after meeting with the community down to 50 feet. So we've made actually quite a few concessions to try to pull back the building and limit it in height.
and you'll hear why we need the extra height is basically completely generated by the existing
building and trying to keep the existing building as opposed to going through a full demolition of
what's there. And just for the board's information, Mr. Whelan asked if this could be added as a
proviso, even with a proviso stating that it would meet all code requirements. I told him that it
would require him to file an amended application and go through the process with L&I of actually
being awarded the bonus. Thank you. Okay, 1200, what is the cross street there
on Broad Street? We are just south of Federal Street. Okay. So Federal Street is basically
just one big building north. This is where the subway stop is on the Broad Street line.
Okay, I know where it is.
So let me see now where was I?
So this is what's immediately across the street.
Obviously, we have the large apartment building, the urgent care, and then the existing buildings with first-level commercial and residential.
Here is the South Broad Street Neighborhood Association letter.
It was dated the 8th, although we did just receive it, so I don't know whether the board received it or not at this point.
And like I said, they are in opposition. They actually raised five points in opposition.
What they wanted us to do was essentially remove the rear half, keep the 50-foot height on Broad Street, which they deemed appropriate, but remove the entire fourth floor on the rear half of the building to preserve the views of any neighbors in the vicinity.
We have, and I'll walk through this and have the architect walk through this, we have kept
the fourth story, but we did set it back 14 feet from Carlisle in an attempt to kind of assuage
the neighborhood concerns there. The neighbors also at number two raised an issue with parking.
We have no parking requirement. We have no parking refusal. This is, the parking is by right,
and as i showed we're actually just one like not even half a block away from you know major public
transit lines um so we don't believe that parking is a real issue um and i think number three was
just a miscommunication the rco felt that our trash management plan was not fine um this was a matter
in which the biker is on and she has to be removed thanks okay um yeah the third issue that um the
neighborhood raised was the trash management plan again i think this was just a miscommunication
we have internal trash storage for the entire building both the commercial space and the
residential building. There will be no trash removed out
There will be no trash removed out through Carlisle Street whatsoever.
It will all be removed by a commercial collection off of South Broad.
So it will be stored internally at all times until it is removed directly into the commercial trash truck.
So, again, I'm not sure what that point was.
Maybe somebody from the RCO is here that could explain that.
I want to know about parking.
parking there's how many dwelling units 18 dwelling units over a first floor commercial unit
and there's no parking correct there's there's no parking what we have is an existing building
um i'll try to show you so i can show you maybe here i can show you best we have a
we have a very large existing building that is actually almost 100% lot coverage and it goes
all the way from the frontage along South Broad back to Carlisle Street. So there's no ability