functionally off the rest of the plan what's going to be the plan specifically for that units
trash and for that units um mail including like package deliveries because it seems like everybody
else in the building is going to have some sort of shared common spaces or like where their mailboxes
are. So how is that now fully accessible unit going to? There is some shared mail accessibility
for the floors, second and third floors. They will have a shared lobby. However, the three units on
this ground floor all have their own entrance from the exterior. So they would have to have
their own mail delivery directly to their unit. And are you, are those going to be denoted just
because I know having lived in multiple places before, if they're not specifically called out
and that's not run through OPA, they're not going to have a legally separate address. It's hard to
get the mail separately delivered when they don't look like row houses with separate addresses.
um i don't know that i necessarily have an answer to that um i don't know if the owner
has thought that through or um we're certainly amenable to to address how best you feel yeah i
think that we'll definitely have a lot of signage and wayfinding uh that'll be able to point towards
where every location will be we'll make sure it's very clear and explicit for anybody that's
delivering packages or mail to where those units are.
Well, this is like a, so I would encourage that you guys go talk to OPA.
This is like a USPS OPA, the way things are addressed in Philadelphia specific process
that usually happens when you do your address review.
So, I mean, short of saying, while it sounds good, I just don't know that it's going to
work out that way for the units on the first floor because typically mail carriers are told
if it's a multi-unit building they put it in the mail room and if the now accessible unit does not
have access to the rest of that space in the building it it could be an issue all right yep
the questions
questions from our attorney but i assume they're going to hold this now um yes there are revised
plans we'll just we can hold for two weeks and we just send them in and we'll review them so
questions or comments from the virtual audience or this current audience here
you don't see any further hands mr chair the commission any void with the planning commission
the comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning to the existing rsd1 residential single
family i won uh one family dwelling in a doctor's office was granted a zoning permit in 1940 the
appellant has not shown that the property cannot otherwise be used in conformance with the zoning
code the planning commission recommends that the board deny the requested variances for parking
dimensional standards unit count and special exception for heritage tree removal okay so we're
to hold this till two weeks from now um and we'll vote at 2 p.m thank you thank you
number 11 mi 20 26 000 442 102 east mermaid lane
So you're going to take this one, I think, right? You're going to take this one. So I got it. So I'm going to recuse myself from this. I've done a lot of business with this particular Congress.
you're going to take this one
hi could you state your name and spell it for the record please uh good afternoon uh thank you for
having us today my name is meredith trego m-e-r-e-d-i-t-h of 735 market street 51st floor with
ballard spar um and do you swear a firm to tell the truth the whole truth is nothing but the truth
i do okay and can you identify your uh client yes i'm here on behalf of mermaid lane associates lp
who's the applicant and the property owner for the site at 100 and 102 east mermaid lane
okay um all right so we have some letters of support from the chestnut hill community association
as well as a letter of support from the chestnut hill conservancy um with some
provisals that i believe are unenforceable but um our secretary has some questions for you
Good afternoon. Did you submit your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
I did.
And do you waive the reading of the refusals and stipulate to their accuracy?
We do waive the reading of the refusal. We don't stipulate to the accuracy. There is one refusal that was listed that we do not believe applies. We're going to address that in our presentation.
That's fine. You can share your screen and begin your presentation. Thank you.
Thank you. Good morning. Thank you for your time today for staying late.
We are here today with a request for a few variances related to the redevelopment of the vacant institutional property located at 100 and 102 East Mermaid Lane, which will be transformed into 28 new single family residential dwellings.
I'm here today with our project team, specifically Mr. Stephen Bonitatibas, our architect, and Alexander Tweedy, our civil engineer, who are going to testify today.
I'm also joined by Kevin Trapper, a representative of the property owner.
The project proposes construction of 28 single-family residential units, including 24 twins, and four detached single-family residential dwellings.
One of those four detached dwellings will result from the rehabilitation of a vacant meeting house that exists on the property at the 100 East Mermaid Lane parcel.
Ultimately, a condominium regime will be imposed on this development after construction, where there will be a separate condominium unit for each residence.
the existing 190 000 square foot parcel contains a formal institutional use
building that was used for educational purposes as well as a large surface parking lot
our request for relief relates to the fact that the 28 single family dwelling units will be located
on a single zoning lot rather than the subdivision of the parcel into smaller parcels and the
The existence of steep slopes greater than 25%, all of which are manmade, as well as relief from a few design criteria contained in the neighborhood conservation overlay for the East Chestnut Hill NCO.
We note that we have worked extensively with the community in the creation of the proposal that we will share today.
um and i know further that all the exhibits including our proof of neighbor notices our
tax clearance certificates have been submitted to the board and we also have several letters of
support in exhibit 16 including from the coordinating rco the chestnut hill community
association the chestnut hill conservancy um a letter we have all those documents wonderful
just go ahead and start presenting um okay so i would just like to state up front that we satisfy
the criteria for a variance because of the unique physical circumstances of the property
including the existing man-made steep slopes and there is no detriment to the public health safety
or welfare that would result from these variances and they represent the least minimum relief
that could be requested we will do our best to be very efficient with time so i'm going to go
ahead to the project maps so this right here is a aerial of the site the site is 190 000 square
feet it is bounded by mermaid east mermaid lane private property to the southwest and the northeast
as well as regional rail tracks to the to the northeast it includes two parcels which i
mentioned which will be consolidated as part of this application
turning to the zoning map the property is located in the rsa3 zoning district which allows for
the proposed single-family detached and single-family attached uses by right.
the proposed single-family detached and single-family attached uses by right the site is also
located in the steep slope protection overlay the wissahookin watershed overlay the nco the
neighborhood conservation overlay for the chestnut hill lower east and the eighth district overlay
turning to the site itself these images show the existing conditions of the site the top images
show the existing vacant institutional building, some aerial photos that demonstrate the impervious
coverage on the lot occupied by both the building and the surface parking lot.
Moving down, we have some images along East Mermaid Lane that show there are two existing
entrances into the site, some existing stone retaining walls, as well as the existing vacant
meeting house that exists at 100 East Mermaid Lane.
just briefly describing the site so I mentioned we are proposing 28 single family residential
dwelling units 12 of 12 of the building so 24 units will be twins and the remaining four will
be single family detached those single family detached exist in the bottom center of the site
plan that we are looking at the red single family detached shows the rehabilitation of the existing
meeting house structure i'm just going to briefly scroll through some of our elevations
um the center section of mermaid lane
the east section of east mermaid lane
some of the the parking will take access from the internal part of the site
and so each each house will front onto these common muse that will serve for both sort of open
space for the residents and provide stormwater management and driveways for each unit will
come off of the that internal circulation
and just scrolling through and then some elevations of the single family residences
and the rehabilitation of the meeting house
and uh generally speaking these will include both uh brick and stone bases um stucco above uh three
stories and a rendering from east mermaid lane just um all right so i will now um i would like
to ask Mr. Steven Bonitatabas from Bonitatabas Architects to come up and answer a few questions.
Yep. Let me swear you went first. Could you state your name and spell it for the record, please?
Stephen Bonitatapas, S-T-E-P-H-E-N-B-O-N-I-T-A-T-I-B-O-Y-U-S.
Okay. And do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Okay. Thank you. Counsel, you can proceed.
Thank you. So, as I mentioned, this project seeks relief related to the construction of multiple single-family residential units on a single parcel.
Mr. Bonitatapas, can you tell us how large this parcel is?
Approximately 193,000 square feet.
What is the minimum lot size for a residential lot in the RSA 3 zoning district?
2,250 square feet.
And roughly how many residential dwelling units could fit on these consolidated parcels using that minimum lot size?
Somewhere around 70, allowing space for roads and circulation.
And again, how many residential units are proposed on this site?
28, which is significantly less than the 70 or so.
That would be allowed by right.
Can you tell us more about how the site will operate and how the residential units will function?
Even though there will be a condominium regime, these will function pretty much like any single family,
semi-detached or detached house on their own parcel.
Likewise, they'll have private rear yards, semi-public side and front yards, and they'll share the common space in the center of the muse.
Can you explain the reasoning behind not subdividing and using a condominium regime instead?
Well, the goal of the project was to preserve the existing vacant meeting house and the landscape buffer that extends all along Mermaid, including the heritage trees and the stone walls.
And the two access drives that that kind of define the center section of the site.
If we if we had to make out these are all individual lots.
We'd have to destroy all those features and and completely rework the site, which we're trying to protect.
Thank you. How does the lot coverage and the open area of the proposed plan compare to the existing site?
as his chart so the uh the coverage is uh significantly less than what it was before
The coverage is significantly less than what it was before, which is over 85% and the open area is much greater. Thank you moving on to the next set of variances.
which is over
The neighborhood conservation overlay also imposes certain design criteria for the project.
We are seeking relief from a requirement to provide porches on all homes along Mermaid Lane, a requirement to set back the third story, either eight feet or impose a mansard roof on the third story, as well as a request for relief from what the code requires as a limit on a height relative to neighboring three-story buildings, which is the refusal we believe does not apply here because we are not adjacent to a three-story building.
But I'll walk through these refusals in turn.
Mr. Banatadabas, first, can you please briefly discuss the inspiration for the proposed homes?
Yes, the inspiration of this project is kind of we want to continue the unique architectural character of Chestnut Hill, particularly the there's a series of dozen or so kind of clustered housing projects of of attached or semi-detached and even detached houses built around landscape courts.
One such example is the one on the slide, which is very close to our our site, which is Springfield Court.
More specifically, we're inspired by the streets close to Germantown Avenue, which tend to be denser, but have a unique character.
They kind of they have a varied roof lines of a mix of gables and hips.
They're usually a mix of materials like stucco and with brick bases and a mix of material of architectural elements of varying window types of casements and double hung or bay windows and often with balconies and large masonry chimneys.
I mean there's a lot of character that it goes into these and that we're trying to kind of work with.
Great. Thank you. Beginning with the requirement in the neighborhood constant conservation overlay to provide porches on all homes fronting East Mermaid Lane.
Does the project include homes with porches?
It does for the Western section, and specifically we did it there because the grade is steeply banked.
uh it really is an existing bank we're we're building on a little bit uh it also we wanted
to pull back and and uh protect the there's huge uh um heritage oak trees along mermaid that we
wanted to we are protecting and we want to to do a minimum amount of uh incursion in the kind of
ground there so there are porches along these along the two on the two western um uh twins uh
and as shown in this illustration on the eastern next oh
so then uh did you want to say more about yeah on the eastern side i think we okay on the eastern
side we didn't provide porches because it's already that that part of the site is already
raised over seven feet above the uh the street and putting porches on those would have uh kind
of made them too imposing but instead we have a varied uh streetscape and we mix it with uh
uh hip and gable grooves um dormers uh patio doors and bay windows and balconies so there's
we keep the variety of like we're trying to do on the other uh western part but we don't use porches
thank you um that's a good segue into the next variance we are requesting relief from under the
uh neighborhood conservation overlay um there's a requirement that uh where a property abuts a
building with only two stories that the proposed building set back any third floor by eight feet
or incorporate a mansard roof um we are requesting relief from that requirement
uh mr bonita bus does the project site abut a building that contains two stories
it does to the uh the exist the new meeting house on the west of it has two stories okay
Thank you. What type of roof lines are proposed in lieu of an eight foot setback or a mansard roof?
What we're doing is is mixing hip roofs and gable roofs to add visual interest, but also to recall those examples that I suggested earlier.
Thank you. And lastly, the neighborhood conservation overlay has an additional requirement that the maximum height of a building shall not exceed the height of an abutting building that has
that's on the same frontage that contains three stories of habitable space.
This is the refusal item that we disagree with.
this is uh the refusal item that um we disagree with um simply because we don't believe we abut
a three-story building there is a property up the road on mermaid lane that is four stories
and the meeting house to the south of us is two stories um but even if we assumed this uh
provision of the nco applied to the property due to the abutting four-story building um can you tell
Mr. Boneterebus how tall are the proposed homes the proposed homes are 31 feet tall and how do
the proposed homes compare to the height of the adjacent four-story building which is shown in
this image on the left well we didn't actually measure it it from this photograph it's clearly
more than 31 feet um did the i'm gonna ask one more sort of follow-up questions did the neighbors
participate in discussions about the design of the project they did from the very start of this
iteration. We met initially to talk about project goals and to kind of map out how to accomplish
them. And then we met about a half a dozen times kind of reviewing and fleshing out the design.
So they were okay with the NCO issues that you had. Okay. And you're using the meeting house
as a reference instead of this unit right here that you got on the screen.
correct so this the in terms of the designs the um you mean a reference for the two stories
yeah you want to use the meeting house as the budding it's not yes well and the the provision
and the zoning code applies to a three-story building and there's just not a three-story
a budding um so we just don't believe that that applies in this instance um we don't believe
we're taller than the than the four-story and the other building is not three stories
um and yes your question about them being okay with the nco sort of deviations they they participated
significantly in the writing of those of the nco itself um and have weighed in heavily on the
designs of this project and the representatives here who will address correct okay you'll have
time to do that all right all right well lastly mr bamatadabas in your professional opinion do you
agree that there is no detrimental impact public health safety and wealth welfare that would result
from the uh grant of these variances i agree and do you agree that the request of relief represents
the least minimum variance yes i think the minimum yes thank you um next i'd like to uh invite mr
alexander tweedy our engineer uh from lancor engineers as um to join us
Are you going to talk about the steep slope?
All right.
Does he need to be sworn in?
State your name and spell for the record.
Alex Tweedy, A-L-E-X-T-W-E-E-D-I-E.
Okay. And do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
I do. Okay. All right. Thank you, Council. Thank you. Mr. Tweedy, can you please describe your role in this project?
I am the civil engineer responsible for the grading design and say, along with the architect.