These pictures are a mix.
I didn't take these pictures just for this proceeding.
I actually just had them.
And so they're a mix of pictures from when I purchased the property in 2018, as well
as some more recent pictures that I've taken.
This is a picture taken on my property prior to when I purchased it.
This is right here.
If you can see where my cursor is, this is the two story building that they're talking
about bringing down to one story.
but what you can see right here is how much natural light is flowing over into and hitting
my piece of property. And so even if you lower this structure down to one story, if you build
up the building as they want to, to four stories, it's still, it's not going to curtail the blocking
of the natural light as it flows onto my property. This is a picture again of my property,
just one that I had recently taken. Again, it's just one you can see that natural light
flowing down onto my piece of property. Why is that so important? Here is a picture of the alleyway
that I share with the Culinary Institute. So this is the Culinary Institute right here.
This is my back balcony right here. And so I actually abut Tom and Angie's property,
they're back. We all kind of share this common space and you can just see the amount of natural
light that's flowing in. If this building is built over here and it's four stories, it's going to
block all of that natural light. This is a picture of my back patio. Let me pull this one up.
Of my back patio. So again, you're seeing all of this natural light that's just flowing over and
And that's because of the height of the existing building.
It's not so high that would block it.
If, again, you're going to build a four-story building right here, it's going to stop all of the light flow in.
Back here is where you were talking about the tree and Todd and Angie's property.
It really, you can see that we kind of all share this.
And the proposal will completely block all of this light as it flows in.
Here is a picture of my living room as I was having it renovated. And so this is my one window
that comes in from the back and provides natural light into my living room and my dining room.
You can just see in the picture the amount of natural light that is coming through.
Here is a picture of the same, pull this up.
This is a picture of the kitchen prior to when I purchased it.
But again, this is the same window that you had seen in this prior photograph.
And again, all of this natural light that's flowing in on my property with that four-story
building, it's going to create a huge shadow that would block this natural light coming
This not only would affect my kitchen area, as you can see, it's going to affect my living room area, and then also...
As you can see, it's going to affect my living room area.
And then also I have a bedroom on the backstory of my building.
So this is the, my back patio is outside of this window.
And so you can again see that all this natural light flows into my guest bedroom as it now
exists.
Let me see if I have any other pictures to share.
I do not.
And so as you could see from all of those images, I right now and currently have a lot of natural light that flows into my first story window, my second story window, my back balcony, all of that would be affected and blocked.
I believe even if you really look at the picture that Mr. Whalen pulled up in that, I think it was called pictography or something that was from it, you can see even in that image the amount of natural light that flows over.
If you're going to build a four-story building next to that, even cutting out that little bit of space as they're proposing, yes, that may give me more, I guess, like alleyway space.
I may have more, a bigger alleyway, but my alleyway is going to be completely in shadows, as will my living room area, my kitchen area, and my bedroom area.
I also currently enjoy a very quiet facility. I have serious concerns about the amount of noise that would be brought in, as well as if these residents are above me in the way that the project is currently designed, they would be able to look down into my back balcony, my back patio, because they're going to be up above me,
rather than if it was kept within the current zoning ordinances we would be essentially equal
so they wouldn't be able to kind of look down on my property so I believe that there would be a
very big invasion of privacy. Going back to where my property is located I'll go back very quickly
we had talked a little bit about parking and so I just want something to be clear
This property right next to me is apartment complex. And there is an entrance right here for parking for all of those residents. And so people do come down Carlisle Street, and they turn into the parking garage right here. It's not a problem. It's not a nuisance. They have parking spots provided for their residents.
While I understand it would be coming onto Carlisle Street, I did not hear any explanation as to why.
When we asked why was parking not feasible, they essentially said, well, it's not feasible to have a parking entrance on Broad Street, which I can't testify as to the validity of that.
They said that they could have an entrance on Carlisle Street, but because they couldn't have it on Broad Street, therefore the parking is not feasible.
Well, that's not true. You have it right here, right next to me. You have a building that does
have parking available. I think that there was also, I agree with the sentiments that have been
expressed relating to not having a hardship. So when you asked why does this project, what is the
hardship? They essentially said, well, we won't be able to build a four-story building and that's
our hardship. If we have to, you know, comply with the current zoning ordinances, we would only be
able to build a three-story building. Well, build a three-story building because to come in, it would
significantly affect the current property owners, both our property values, as well as our ambient
light, as well as the parking situation, as well as the noise, as well as the invasion of the privacy.
And just saying that, oh, well, this project is designed for four stories and that's what our
hardship is, is not a significant hardship. So I believe that, you know, the board does need to
defer to the current property owners, the current property owners bought this, we bought our property
knowing what the zoning ordinances are, and respecting that those would be adhered to by
all of the residents in the surrounding community. I did pull the zoning ordinances before I bought
my property. I have also considered building a rooftop deck because I do have latitude. If you
can see, my property was a little bit recessed. Again, as stated by Todd and Angie, I would not
be able to do that. It would affect my views from my rooftop deck that could be there. And so I
believe that this would be essentially impacting current property owners without a showing of
hardship and without any need to do this variance.
Ms. Sullivan, I think we got the picture.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Planning Commission?
Good afternoon, Chair Tenari.
Good afternoon, Chair Tanari, David Fecteau, F-E-C-T-E-A-U, with the City Planning Commission.
David Fecto, F-E-C-T.
You have not been sworn in, right?
I have not been sworn in. I was going to ask you to do something.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing about the truth?
Yes, ma'am, I do.
All right, Chair Tanari, members of the board, the comprehensive plan recommends this property for commercial mixed-use zoning.
The recommended CMX3 would allow the proposed building height by right.
Broad Street is a wide street with a subway where a reasonable person would expect to find some of the tallest, densest buildings in the city.
The applicant has revised their original plans after discussions with the Civic Association.
We recommend that the board approve the requested height variance.
Calendar number 2582-1212-14 South Broad Street.
My vote is no.
confess applause on my voters now james snow my voters now thomas holloman my voters now
um okay one thing i'm going to do is go back we have an add-on a two o'clock add-on that i did not
do. And that case is MI 2021-002465, 4477 Fleming Street. My vote is yes with revised plans
consisting of one page confessor plaza yes reprovisor james snell yes reprovisors thomas
halliman yes proviso okay i'm now turning this over to um our board secretary confessor plaza
thank you thank you uh calendar number m i go ahead okay that's number two you're doing right
number five right we're going to go to two and then five right okay uh am i
you're welcome mi 2021-002610 uh 11 17-19 north 63rd street
i'm sorry um chair plaza um miss geiger um are you prepared to present now
i yes i will do my best okay uh have you been sworn in already ma'am yes sir okay uh please
proceed so i am asking or requesting i have a single home at 1119 north 63rd street i want to
transmit the basement of my home into a small beauty salon um i do have a private driveway
we have street parking a separate entrance i'm sorry i'm sorry to interrupt this is tanya the
administrator. Do you have your presentation
available to put on the screen?
I have pictures of the
property. Would that be enough?
It's up to the chair, but you
would have to share your screen so that they can view it.
Do you have any drawings of the basement
the layout um i don't have any drawings no i have videos and pictures of the layout
okay you got pictures of the surrounding uh properties
let's see i am trying to figure out how to share my screen
so it would be the green button are you on a computer no i was let's see
no i'm on the cell phone okay you won't be able to uh continue you're gonna have to be uh
uh you're gonna have access to a computer to be able to share these documents with us
okay um i did email the documents it's requested also that's part of the requirement but you
also when you uh present your case you got to provide that to us you know you have to do a
presentation as well uh this case uh i guess we're going to continue this to a later date
that way you can you know get some time to prepare yourself so calendar number mi 2021-002610
11 17-19 north 63rd street will be continued
17-19 North 63rd Street will be continued.
Next one up is calendar number MI 2021-002612, 1826 Frankfurt Avenue.
Mr. Secretary, Ms. Augusta O'Neill has been promoted to panelist.
Thank you.
Ms. O'Neill, good afternoon, please identify yourself for the record.
Augusta O'Neill, Clara Harrison, Harvey Brandsburg, do you need my address?
Yes, please.
Sure. My address is 1835 Market Street, Suite 1400, Philadelphia, PA 19103.
Okay. You still are referring to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
And you agree to waive the reading of its refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed an exhibit packet with the required documents, proof of ownership,
proof of tax compliance, copy of the refusal or referral photos and plans five days prior to this
Sharon? Yes, I did. Have you met with the RCO and have a letter? Yes, I have two letters from
the affected RCOs. Thank you. Please proceed. Thank you so much. Excuse me. This is Sharon.
I just wanted to add that we also have a letter in non-opposition from Councilwoman Sanchez.
Thank you. Thank you very much. Just going to share my screen really quickly.
so good afternoon members of the board um we're here this afternoon for an application for 1826
frankfort avenue uh currently the property is a vacant lot i have a picture up on my screen of
what the area currently looks like um this application is to construct a mixed use
multi-family building on this vacant lot the property is zoned cmx2 as part of this application
we are only seeking a variance for the open space.
Since meeting with the affected RCOs for the property,
we have actually reduced the variance that we were seeking.
In this zoning district, the maximum occupied area we were permitted to have is 75%.
And initially, we were at 95%.
But since the time that we've met with the RCO,
we've actually updated our design and have reduced the coverage down to 93%.
The intent of our current design is to maintain a frontage on Blair Street in response to
some feedback that we received from the RCO.
We also wanted to maximize the commercial space while transitioning to residential at
the rear along Blair.
Our architect is here and is just going to briefly go through the plans, but before she
does that, I just wanted to note that we met with two affected RCOs for this property,
both the Fishtown Neighbors Association and the Fishtown District.
We met with F&A twice, and in response to some comments that they made to us,
which, again, my project architect is going to outline for you in a moment,
we updated our plans.
We did receive letters of support from both of those RCOs,
which appear at pages 5 and 7 of my exhibit package.
And as you can see, the Fishtown District has complemented our proposed design for its
utilization of Frankfort Avenue for needed commercial use, while also placing the residential
access in the neighborhood on Blair Street.
And they also complemented our placing of the open courtyard in the core of the property.
And as Ms. Zaletta said, we do have a letter of non-opposition from Councilwoman Maria
Quinonez Sanchez, which was emailed over yesterday as part of my hearing exhibits.
And with that background, I would just ask that our project architect, Amanda Mazid,
be called forward so that she can just briefly go through the plans. Briefly, because I know that.
Excuse me, Councilor. Excuse me, Councilor. We may not need the architect's testimony.
right i don't think so so is the board has any questions
for that question no mr chair no okay uh
counsel is your client available to uh adopt your testimony or um i believe that he is in
the audience say park is the name of my client okay if you could just raise your hand so that the
board can identify you.
board can identify you he's been allowed to speak thank you so much hello thank you sir please
He's been allowed to speak.
Thank you so much.
identify yourself for the records by your first and last name my name is say park first name is
say s-e and last name is park p-a-r-k so we're firm to tell the truth the whole truth for nothing but
the truth i do thank you please proceed miss uh thanks so much mr park did you hear my testimony
this afternoon i have and was it all true and accurate it was and do you wish to adopt it as
your own yes thank you so much um members of the board i would like to turn it over at this time
for your consideration thank you uh is there anyone else here to speak in this matter
go further ahead at this time sir thank you planning commission
good afternoon members of the board david fecto city planning commission the comprehensive plan
recommends no change in the existing commercial mixed use zoning this is a 2162 square foot lot
The applicant has revised their plans in coordination with the civic associations.
We recommend that the board approve the requested variants.
Thank you.
Ms. O'Neill, you have revised plans for us?
Yes, and I emailed them last week.