is just making sure that we have enough visibility within the city so our hope is with signage kind
of to to this extent we will be able to ensure that students not just at neighboring schools
but city-wide understand the opportunities that are available to them at the college
thank you shannon yep anyone else no chuck longacre is available to answer questions
questions from the board um what i guess a question um in terms of just the the time that
the illumination will begin there was some uh feedback from the rco that they wanted the time
limit is that something that you all are amenable to or correct we've agreed to the proviso that
the sign will be lit at dusk and turned off at midnight through 6 a.m thank you any other questions
That was actually my question.
I'm not sure if I'm seeing all five of the signs.
So there's the one with the writing, and then the others are just the logos on different buildings.
Yeah, so the five signs there are two on the garage.
Yeah, there's one on each side of the garage.
Sorry.
there we go so one on either side of the garage on 17th and on 18th you can see here
and the lines inside the one internal to campus on the athletic center and that faces the other
side of campus right this is the other side right faces right across them right yeah and
And then you have the large format P on the south facing wall as revised, and also the bridge sign over 17th Street as revised here.
then you have the large format p on the south face
Those are the five signs, which is really four.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you.
Any other questions?
Questions? Well, I think our attorney has already spoken about this.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I don't see any hands raised, Mr. Chair.
Any commission?
amy boy with the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change in
zoning at this location from the current spins special purpose institutional the proposal
completed as our commission in august 2024 the our committee's advisory recommendations are not
an expression of the city planning commission's recommendation or opinion regarding zoning
variances special exceptions or other discretionary approvals associated with this proposal
the appellant has demonstrated the proposed signs are necessary for wayfinding
the planning commission recommends that the board grant their requested variances for sign
area and location all right thank you hillary we're two weeks we're going to be
yeah right so uh tuesday it'll be 2 p.m vote right okay thank you i appreciate it i'm sorry
we took so long no worries thank you chairman members of the board a great afternoon we're
going to go to number nine, right? MI 2026-000-350-5912 Ridge Avenue. William O'Brien is the attorney.
Mr. O'Brien, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Yes. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman. William, W-I-L-L-I-A-M, O'Brien, O-B-R-I-E-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client, the relationship to this property?
Yes, my client is Baker Street Partners, and Steve Oshesky, one of the managing members, is in the virtual audience and will be listening and hopefully adopting my testimony.
And our vice chair has a few questions for you.
Good afternoon. Have you submitted your documents in advance five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, I have.
And do you waive the reading of the referral and simply to its accuracy?
i waive the reading of the referral and the refusal however there is one
error and there's a letter of support from the central roxford association
okay thank you you see your screen
oh you might need that now
Thank you for your patience.
Thank you.
okay okay thank you um so the refusal uh is on pages of two and three uh this is
one of a number of properties that was selected or identified, I should say, by the Civic Group
years ago that was likely to become the subject of some redevelopment. And to make sure that that
process went through the Civic Group, this was one of those properties that was rezoned
to RSD1. I'll have an image of the immediate area and you'll see that, I mean, Ridge Abbey is one of
immediate area and you'll see that I mean Ridge Avenue is one of the most vibrant or the most
the most vibrant or the most
one of the two most vibrant business districts in northwest Philadelphia and you'll see that
most of the block most of Ridge Avenue is CMX2 or 2.5. This was one of those properties that
was zoned RSD1 to make sure that whatever happened with this property was relatively scrutinized.
So many of the refusals are dimensional refusals because the RSD one dimensional requirements was applied to this.
These dimensional refusals would not be present if it was zoned RSD 2.5 like the rest of Ridge Avenue.
the uh as you mentioned mr chairman the civic group the central roxford civic uh issued a
letter of support i just want to call out the final paragraph of their letter the civic group
appreciates the effort of baker street partners has put into designing the new structure that
closely adheres in front to the original house of 5912. We also appreciate the commitment to use
to the use of WISHIC and Schist as shown in the renderings presented at the RCO meeting.
This is that image and you can see all the pink that's along Ridge Avenue it's all CMX 2.5. The
The exceptions are the Leverington Cemetery here, the large piece on the top right.
It's RSD-1.
Here is the subject property down at the bottom that was rezoned RSD-1.
And then this is the former home of Interac, a nonprofit.
It's a large historic property on a very large lot, as you can see.
And that is also protected by this RSD-1 zoning.
So this is the subject property. It sits on a lot. It's about 17,000 square feet. The building is built in 1901. There was an addition to the rear, but the building is considered contributing to the Ridge Avenue thematic historic district.
it is since 1984 it has was granted a variance to allow an orthodontist on the first floor and
one dwelling unit on the top two floors so it's two uses one apartment one dwelling unit and
one orthodontist office this is the setting of that structure so you can see it's got an open
area to the right that's used for parking now across the street where my cursor is that's a
curb cut to a parking lot for a wendy's restaurant across the street is uh another curb cut for a
parking lot or a i think now closed rite aid um behind the building behind the subject property
You see this white structure, three, three, four story structure.
That is 27 apartments.
And just in terms of density, those 27 apartments sit on a lot that is smaller than these two lots.
These two lots, the property now is about, as I said, 17,000 square feet.
The proposal is to subdivide.
Once it's subdivided, if the variances are granted, there'll be a total of 12 apartments.
So it's less, less, more than half as dense as, as the, as the building behind it.
This is what is proposed again on the left, uh, you see the existing structure and what's proposed on the right, uh, again, three stories, uh, well below the 38 foot height limit.
It matches the height of the existing structure on the, on the, on the left.
And it is set back the same depth, and it's also set back the same depth as the house, existing house on the right side.
And again, you can see the Wissick and Schist and the porch.
This is a close-up of the entrance, so there are actually three entrances, and I'll go through that.
This entrance, where the stairs are, that will access nine of the apartments.
There are front doors on the porch that will access the other two.
uh this is the planting plan um because of location of the orientation of the existing
structure the shape of the lot we wanted to use the existing curb cut and driveway
which we did but there were several trees that had to come down we were able to introduce the
planting beds separating the residential districts from the parking lot however we were short on
replacing all of the trees so we have the plan which you can't see but i'll read
what that planning schedule provides is planting 25 new trees 45 new shrubs
and 26 perennials however that was still short of what the code requires so we requested a waiver
September of last year we were granted that waiver one we were able to get some relief on
the depth of those planting beds that secondly in lieu of the replacement trees we couldn't put
on the lot. We're agreeing to pay in lieu of fee of $11,175. And then finally, there are two trees
that are heritage trees that are being removed. That's the referral.
And those are in the materials on page 41. There's a wild cherry tree. If you notice the letter,
the last paragraph refers to two torches trees 11b and 19b 11b is a wild cherry tree
which the arborist reported is bifurcated it's in bad shape poor condition and then the number
9b 19b rather is a norway spruce which is also an unbalanced crown and also in poor condition
if you want I can show you those two trees
so this is the bifurcated wild cherry
and this is
this is the Norway spruce
which is ensconced in vines and rated in poor condition
so we're asking for a grant
a special exception so that they may be removed
almost finished
the zoning plan
age 13
of the materials. So once again, the proposed structure will have 11 units, three on the first
floor, four on each of the second and third floors. The proposed use of the existing structure does
not change. It'll be an orthodontist or some doctor's office on the first floor and one dwelling
in it. We're able to put in 16 parking spaces. So one of the refusals was that the new structure
doesn't have enough parking uh on phases 67 to 74 is the proposed deed of uh subdivision which
includes in perpetuity a cross easement so that the parking spaces on both lots can be used by
both buildings that includes the ninth survey district approved language for the subdivision
for the meets and bounds uh easements as well as a a plan depicting those to those easements
so we have 16 parking spaces and if you see the refusal i mentioned was incorrect uh on
the first page of the refusal parcel a it says that one of the refusals is not having the required
one accessible parking space. And you can see right here, there is one accessible parking space
for parcel A. There's also one for parcel B. So both are compliant in terms of ADA requirements.
Finally, the elevations and then briefly the floor plans. So the two doors that you see on
the porch are actually the entrance to two of the units on the first floor two one-bedroom units
they're shown in the front of the building uh and then that's that entrance on the side with
the stairs i showed you in the rendering uh takes you to a hallway there's an entrance to the first
It takes you to a hallway. There's an entrance to the first floor rear apartment, which is a two-bedroom, and then as you go up the stairs to the second floor, there are two one-bedrooms in the front and two two-bedrooms in the rear, and the same thing on the third floor.
for rear apartment.
So again, total, we have 11 in this, one in the other, so 12 proposed apartments and 16 parking spaces.
um that finishes my representation or my presentation i request that the remaining
documents i haven't referenced be included in the record what do you bring
what are your clients on yes if steve ashefsky could raise his hand
I'll be coming back in as a panel, sir.
Thank you.
hello there hi sir steve could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
yes it's uh uh steve osjeski it's spelled s-t-e-v-e o-l-s-z-e-w
S. K. I were a firm to tell the truth, told truth, nothing but the truth.
Council.
Mr. Chesky, are you the managing member of Baker Street Partners?
Were you in the audience during my testimony and did you hear it?
And was my testimony truthful?
And do you adopt it as your own?
Questions from the board.
Trash.
how is trash being managed for the site the units um i can bring up the zoning
plan again well it's on this plan as well this is the planning plan and you'll see
this is a trash area here and that will be shared by both buildings
so the the there's no interior trash storage in the units for the tenants no okay
All the questions.
Yeah, question, how many accessible units are there?
There's one.
The first floor unit in the rear, this unit is accessible.
Okay, that's the accessible unit and the accessible parking space is next
to that column but the ramp is over to the right that's a lot for someone in a wheelchair to have
to traverse parked cars if there are two other cars parked next to them there's almost no way
they can get around that car to get into that ramp so you might want to consider reversing
the location of that spot uh is chris karakoff in the audience
if he is could he raise his hand
he's coming on now i'm here can everyone hear me hi could you please state your name and spell
fridge photographer it's chris karikoff c-h-r-i-s c-a-r-i-c-k-h-o-f-f where affirm to tell the
truth told truth nothing but truth i do counsel uh did you hear the last question regarding the
location of the existing handicap parking space relative to yes i did um and i could speak to that
we actually have remedied that uh i believe we had a proviso plan bill i'm not sure if you have
that in your packet or not uh the rco had requested a uh an update um where we have the we do have the
handicapped space all the way on the right hand side um and we actually have direct access into
the unit okay so thereby i'm going to be supplementing the materials with a proviso plan
yeah that addresses your comment exactly because that was the same issue
yeah yeah that addresses your comment exactly because that was the same issue so it is it's an
11 foot wide parking space it would be you know shifted to the right we adjusted the column it's
not affecting the uh the access at all and then they can go directly into their unit without
even having to go up the ramp actually we've lowered the unit because oh good the door is
actually covered and protected from any environmental conditions so um and because
that is the only that is considered the accessible uh level the other units are not accessible
does that mean that the ramp is removed correct no longer needed uh there is a direct access into
the unit and so i'm just because we're not looking at it and yeah so it's going to be the unit that's
on the bottom it's that one bedroom unit with the balcony that's at the bottom of the plan no uh it
is on the top left of this plan and if you can see where the entry door is uh it's actually uh mirrored
and now on on the uh the wall you know if you park straight ahead um that wall and um there's
additional striping uh where you have full access straight into the unit from there
um okay that's helpful so i think my question is then with this unit sort of being