right, each with their own parking, some landscaping, and then the drive aisle continues down
westbound, and there's parking spots behind every home, one for one, and then you would exit
out on Rush Street again, and then proceed on your way. Rush Street is one way based on me
driving it the other day, so traffic would be able to flow without affecting anyone in the neighborhood.
This is the zoning map. Again, I said it was a blend of ICMX and RSA 5. So the yellow area, as the board knows, is RSA 5. These are currently vacant lots, and we're going to build single-family homes.
And if the whole site were zoned, RSA 5, we wouldn't have to provide parking.
We could just have a complete lot, just like all the other homes on the block.
But again, we knew the sensitivity of the neighbors to parking.
And despite the fact that we said we would have one-for-one parking, they basically said it wasn't enough.
And they basically said it wasn't enough.
And I said, look, you can park in the back.
And I said, look, you can park in the back and you can park in the front.
That could take care of two cars, but I was not persuasive enough.
Again, our first rendering showed siding above the brick.
And what we were trying to do is mimic the brick, two-story brick of the homes in the neighborhood.
But the community group was very vocal about not wanting any type of metal or hardy board backer siding above the second floor.
So you'll see in my next set of renderings, when I get beyond this group, I'll show you we now have a totally brick facade.
This is the corner unit, and I'll show you that when I get to the next set of plans.
Basically, when we presented the plan, we did not have any units that were visitable.
Visitable is a new word, more of an architectural concept that instead of saying handicap accessible, it's visitable, which means you have an area where you have a ramp into your home on your first floor.
You would have a bathroom that could accommodate a wheelchair or someone perhaps on the walker.
So this is what we had initially. And after we got some comments back, mainly from the planning commission, we changed this unit so that we are now in conformance with the request.
I mean, with the refusal and request of the planning commission.
So these are the revised plans. Basically, we still have the same layout.
You still come in Rush Street. You still have a parking aisle in the back. But now we've added bicycle parking to per household to the rear of every property, you know, which gives us a substantial amount of bike parking spaces in the rear.
And the other thing that was significant, and you think the architect did a real fine job here, and the architect is on the call, Mr. Kevin O'Neill, is this unit here, which is at the end, this is what is now called a visitable unit.
We've eliminated one parking spot.
Let me just blow it up a little bit more.
We've eliminated one parking space and then made this an accessible aisle with a ramp up into the first floor.
And then when I get to the floor plan, you'll see that we were able to make an accessible bathroom on the first floor in compliance with making this a visitable unit.
We have landscaping also on the rear, some trees, we have tree frontage.
We also have green roofs on each property.
These are some redundant photographs, but this is the elevation I wanted to bring to the board's attention.
We now have all brick facades on the front.
We continue with the green roof on every home, and we have a pilot house on each home also.
Again, some different perspectives of the facades.
The other thing the community group mentioned was they didn't like the fence or the gate leading into the community.
So we don't have a problem removing that gate, but we really didn't get much feedback, frankly, from the community group after our first meeting.
This is a typical unit. I don't want to show the board every layout of every unit, but basically in the basement, there's a flex space, bedroom flex space with a half bath.
go to the first floor living room and kitchen area to the rear yard one parking space for each
car i mean for each home in this project second floor would have two bedrooms and a bath and then
the third floor would have one bedroom and office with a rooftop deck these are all the other units
mr chairman i mean vice chair i again i can go through every floor plan but basically that first
floor plan that I showed you is what's typical in this community.
That's fair.
The rest of the documents are pro forma documents that you would typically see in a presentation
like this.
And I attach one address of the tax balance of zero with regard to one of the 14 lots.
About an hour before this meeting, this hearing, I did send Ms. Emerson the remainder of the Philadelphia Tax Center printouts, which I'll show the board in my next.
These are the deeds.
Indicating ownership.
This is our notice of mailing.
we mailed out 190 or so letters notifying the community of the community meeting as well as
the zba hearing finally i want to get to the zoning records i i walk through the
And finally, I want to get to the zoning records. I walked through the aerial photograph, Mr. Vice Chairman, and I indicated what the building was used for, 2013 auto sales showroom and body and fender.
currently now it's auto repair. The one property at the corner I pointed out was 28 dwelling units
with prepared food and business and professional offices. And then across the street was 13
single family homes. And then adjacent to our property was 72 dwelling units. So all those
documents that are supportive of that outline are attached to the presentation. I could go through
each one if you want but as an officer of the court they all are here and they all support
what i just represented to the board okay let's get your uh client on the line uh mr clinton okay
i just want to show you two more things if i could mr chairman this is the
the lot subdivision approval by the planning commission.
And then these are all the tax bills from every property on the site.
There's a zero balance for everyone except the first property.
And that amount, $417.14 is not due till March 31st.
And then when you get to the end of the properties,
there's two or three that actually have a credit of over $2,800. So I appreciate Ms. Emerson
pointing that out, and hopefully this will satisfy her concerns as well as the board,
the boards. So just in conclusion, this project is consistent with the neighborhood. It's a
single-family project, 25 single-family homes, 25 parking spaces, 25 bike parking spaces.
It's in harmony generally with the code for single-family. We're not overbuilding. We're
not trying to squeeze properties in. Most of them are 16 feet wide. We're not affecting anyone's
light or air, any development of any adjacent property. We're not affecting, we are certainly
not displacing anyone we're removing an industrial unused uh it's partly used but generally unused
building that's really an eyesore to the neighborhood and we're going to put in brick
facade buildings which are consistent with the other fabric of the neighborhood
so with that i would rest and ask my client uh sam can you unmute yourself yes i'm unmuted
sir uh can you please state your name and spell it for the record
sam dolly wall d-h-a-l-i-w-a-l do you swear to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but
the truth i do please proceed counsel thank you mr vice chair mr dolly war were you on the call
when i presented your project to the board yes i was were you also at the community meeting
where I went over some of the comments
or most of the comments that were made
by the community members?
And were my representations consistent
with your memory of what was said at that meeting?
Is there anything that you would like to add
that I may have omitted?
If you had the opportunity to testify,
would you adopt my testimony as your own
and as true and correct?
Yes, I would.
Thank you, Mr. Dollywell.
Mr. Vice Chair, I also have the architect, if you could adopt my testimony, too.
He's on the call.
Kevin O'Neill, could you unmute yourself?
Kevin O'Neill has been unmuted and allowed to speak, Vice Chair.
Thank you.
Mr. O'Neill, can you please state your name and spell it for the court reporter, please?
Kevin O'Neill, O-N-E-I-L-L.
Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, or nothing but the truth?
Proceed, counsel.
Thank you, Mr. Vice-Chair. Mr. O'Neill, were you on the call when I presented the project that you so artfully designed?
And is there anything that I said that you would say differently, or is there anything that you want to add to my presentation?
No, I would agree with your presentation.
And if you had the opportunity to testify, would you adopt my testimony as your own and as sure and correct?
Thank you, Mr. O'Neill.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Vice Chair.
No, Vice Chair.
Any questions from our attorney, Hillary Emerson?
No, thank you, Mr. Clinton, for getting those additional tax clearances.
I appreciate that. I just wanted to verify if the board approves. There are two pages of revised plans. Am I correct?
I appreciate that.
I just wanted to verify if the board approves there.
Yes, Ms. Emerson.
All right. Thank you.
Questions from the virtual audience?
I see no hands at the time, Vice Chair.
Planning Commission.
Thank you, Vice Chair, and good afternoon. David Fecto with the City Planning Commission.
Vice Chairman and Board Members, the Comprehensive Plan recommends no change to the industrial and commercial mixed use and residential single-family zoning at this location.
The zoning maps in this part of the neighborhood were changed in 2017 in accord with recommendations in the Comprehensive Plan.
This property is in a transitioning industrial area and is not within one of Philadelphia's designated industrial preservation districts.
The existing floor plan of the warehouse and lack of highway or freight access is unlikely to meet the needs of modern industrial uses.
The city planning commission recommends that the board grant our proposed use variances for multiple principal buildings and multi-family household living and the variances from the perimeter screening requirement.
Thank you.
mi-2023-005584 2111 to 2141 east rush street my vote is yes with provisos revised plans
two pages stamped by zba on february 28th 2024
thomas holliman my vote is yes with proviso james snell my vote is yes with proviso
Thank you, Mr. Clinton.
Thank you, Vice Chair. Have a great night, everybody.
All right. We're going to move on to number eight.
And Mr. Board Member Jim Snell is going to chair this actual case.
Thank you, Vice Chair.
Okay. Case number eight.
So we're at MI-2023-006.
938-1319-North-23rd-Street.
Before I call on the attorney, I want to note that Vice Chair Shahid is recusing himself,
and LeBaron Leonard Palmer from Development Services will be joining us to serve as an alternate on this case.
So we appreciate that, LeBaron.
So attorney for this case is Joseph Consul, attorney for the developer Cvetta Group LLC, Cvetta Property Group LLC.
Joe, can you identify yourself, your client, and your client's relationship to the property?
Yeah, Joseph Consul, that's J-O-S-E-P-H, last name, Consul, C-O-N-S-O-L-E.
My client is Chivetta Property Group.
They are under a development agreement with the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority to develop this lot.
Okay, great.
Michael Tomasetti, one of the owners, should be on the call.
Did you get sworn in earlier today, Joe?
I did.
All right, we're going to swear you in.
Do you agree to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
okay great we appreciate that uh at this time i'm gonna have uh board uh member tom holliman
ask you a few questions good afternoon council okay do you agree to waive the reading of the
refusal and stipulate to his accuracy yes did you email all of the exhibits and documents that's
required five days in advance to this here yes thank you please proceed
All right. So, 1319 North 23rd Street. As I mentioned, my client is Chivetta Property Group, one of Philadelphia's premier companies that partners with the city for affordable housing.
They are under a contract with the Redevelopment Authority to develop this lot at 1319 North 23rd Street.
Two weeks ago, we were in front of the board for a variance for 1318 North 23rd Street, which is the property across the street, was the same variance request.
These are corner properties that are zoned CMX2.
These blocks are not commercial blocks at all.
One and two, the agreement with the Redevelopment Authority is to develop a single-family home.
The agreement with the Redevelopment Authority is to develop a single-family home.
It's a three-bedroom, two-bath home.
They'll be developing an identical model at 1318 and 1319.
The board granted the variance for 1318, and now we're here for 1319.
It was just for some reason we got scheduled on separate weeks, but we presented in front of the Brewery Town,
Sharswood Community Civic Association on both of those properties at the same time. At that time,
we received their support as shown here. And here's their letter specific to 1319. I believe
they mentioned 1318 in addition somewhere in one of their letters here, but this is specifically
for 1319 um proof of mailing here's the photos and plans it is a corner lot as mentioned
it's photos of the lot and our posters uh we included our plans showing the layout that i
mentioned there is uh just mechanicals in the basement um and uh three bedrooms two baths
across the first, second, and third floor.
We'll match up to the properties next to it in height.
And that's kind of the extent of it.
We included everything else, our tax clearance certificate,
as well as the development agreement with the Philadelphia Housing Authority
showing their agreement with Chivetta Property Group.
With that, I'll call my client, Michael Tomasetti,
to adopt my testimony.
Again, we're seeking a variance
to not include commercial space
on the first floor
as this block has no commercial space
and we don't believe
has a specific need for it.