if you weren't on the list.
Obviously you're here today.
You would have seen the orange notice
for the hearing back in September.
I don't believe you appeared at that,
but I mean, your points are well taken.
So without going through, I only see the only 15, 14 I see jumping out at me is the 4F.
But again, this is the list from the Planning Commission's website.
So I don't know what their problem.
Maybe Ron could speak to that as far as making sure all of the units within a particular apartment building or condo building are included in the list.
I can't speak to what they do.
but you can see that um you know i think you had you think you passed it on the previous page um
it's actually coming up it looks like 15 12 dash 14 oh so maybe oh maybe that's where that's where
it is okay that's oh well no that's spruce okay and he's on pine the next page these are all
yeah so that's the um that's the mat that's that's that's this building um what is it
are you for are you for the project are you against the project i'm for the project overall
i i'm very happy to have some new neighbors in a nice in five very nice looking units
i just don't think it should be that tall if possible so i i would just say two things first
of all, in terms of the canyon, you already have, if there is a canyon, there's already a canyon
because every other building on your side of the, his side, you know, this gentleman's side of the
street, then on the opposite side of Pine leading to the west is as tall as what we're proposing.
The other thing that's, we did a massing, Nome did a massing plan, and I can have Gabe speak
to this, but what's interesting is, is that with the bonuses, again, having, you know, 22 unit
multi-family dwelling um is the blue is what you could have by right and what you could see is
while the roof height would be slightly lower 45 feet versus 46 six foot and a half taller what
you ought what you have is in the in the guardrail and the here you have the guardrail and the parapet
of what we're proposing at 50 feet whereas a by right you'd have a guardrail for the deck at 52
feet and then the pilot house which could be built up above the roof deck would be 58 at any pilot
house or houses would be 58 feet six inches whereas we're only at 56 feet so in actuality
we are slower than what could be developed here as a matter of right in terms of the overall height
of the stroke the overall height not necessarily the roof height but what the world sees on to the
outside of the building um with the with the railings for the decks and the pilot houses
and obviously far less intense in terms of the density with the number of dwellings i understand
the concern now you also have and i said the terrain but it's the drake which is behind us
and you know that is a extremely you know right behind us overshadowing everybody and then granted
it's a little further to the north over at Spruce Street. But I mean, you could see here
what the terrain, you know, how much taller that is compared to, you know, the buildings that
surround it. So, and here you can see their property, his property across the street, but you
see all of them are tall. All these are tall. We're just adding on the end something that's
in the end, the roof is a little bit taller, but the overall building itself is actually
going to be lower than what could be done as a matter of right legitimate concerns so richard
do you have anything else you want to add uh yeah i'm going to lose my view of the drake
if you do this probably entirely um what what was on page 22 could you go back to that and
compare that to page 26 please page 22 right
20 page 22 right one second
I don't know, it's a good one.
22. i mean 22 is here are you talking tab 22. no page go page up keep going uh go to the next
there were some pictures you showed maybe i got the page wrong are you are you talking
the stitched together photos we had of this no there was another one of a close-up of the
building of the proposed building a sort of computer generated image two different heights
you showed uh the second this is this is the by right building this is this is without this is
without any bonuses this is without any bonuses what does that mean i mean what what does without
any bonuses so so if you just so this is what is permitted and as actually this is what's permitted
by the zoning code for rm1 so it's a 38 foot roof with a 42 inch parapet and then decks and pilot
houses beyond so this is like the lowest building but the zoning code allows for greater height
and greater density with the provision of certain things that the city the city council and the
mayor have decided through community input as well as the input of the planning commission
is beneficial to the city as a whole. And for lots that are over 5,000 square feet in area,
you can gain some extra density in terms of the number of dwelling units if you provide a green
roof. The other thing is if you provide 10% of the units as affordable units, which is defined
in the zoning code what percentage of the AMI, average median income, that would be. You can get
an additional seven feet of height and additional density as well. So this is basically without any
of the available bonuses. And then what you have here, what we provided here is that if you took
the buy right, the 38 feet, but then agreed to do a green roof, agreed to provide the affordable
low-income housing or moderate-income housing number of units to the building, this is what
you end up with. So instead of having a roof at 38 feet, which was shown in that one rendering,
the by-right rendering, which again, we showed the by-right rendering of 38 feet, and then we
showed what we were proposing to the historical commission. And again, the overall consensus was
let's keep the heights on pine street consistent because whether it's 38 feet 45 feet 46 six feet
they're going to be taller than what's on hicks until you get over up to the drake um and until
you get to 335 to 317 which is on the opposite side closer up to spruce behind the cvs um but
here you see running the numbers that again where the roof height with the with the by right with
the bonuses is a foot and a half lower in the end you end up with a roof deck railing that's
two feet taller and you end up with pilot houses that are two and a half feet taller
so your view will be your view will be even more blocked with a buy rate with bonuses than it would
with what we're proposing okay but thank you council so excuse me i'm sorry what you're not
showing there is the 38 foot version and that would be much more in line with the that's not
what I'm telling you is the 38 foot version is probably wouldn't be what would be built here
if it were developed as a multi-family what but you're not doing uh housing uh which of those
criteria do you meet to get the the bonuses you just need to provide so for the green roof you
just need to have i think it's 60 percent of your roof to be of your roof area to be green
that vegetative roof is that what you're doing no that's what we would do if we were doing this
if we were doing this one down here that's what we would do and the other thing is the only let
me finish and to get the additional height you need to provide 10 of the total units so if we
had 22 units two or three of the units would have to be for people either for rental or for sale
depending on what you were doing in the building that made no more than the than the percentage of
AMI that's set forth in the zoning code and I forget what it is it's I think 60 percent for
low income I forget what it is for moderate income but in either case that's what would be
satisfied. Richard what we'll do is we'll take we'll take your comments into consideration
with our decision. Thank you. We're going to move on to the next. Anyone else out there in
virtual audience yes chair we have wade albert okay please allow him to speak
good afternoon please state your name and spell it for the record
good afternoon please state your name and spell it for the record
mr albert please unmute yourself oh sorry about that i apologize can you hear me now
yes we can hear you now please state your name and spell it for the record
absolutely wayne albert w-a-e-e last name is a-l-b-e-r-t you swear to tell the truth
the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I do. Please continue.
If you can speak a little louder, it would be better. Thank you. I'll try to get close to my computer.
So I am counsel for the
Central City Residents Association, and I just want to confirm
that what Mr. Orfanides described as the history of this case,
I agree with that, and that Central City Residents Association
as the coordinating RCO removes its opposition to
this this project and we now take a non-opposition stance thank you thank you anyone else out there
in the virtual audience yes chair we have someone with the last name ending in chin please allow
chen to speak hi my name is waitling chen w-e-i-l-i-n-g last name chan c-h-e-n
thank you do you swear to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
yes I do proceed we're coming from the side neighbor side neighbor we're at 345 South Hick
Street we are happy with the project but same concern as Richard is we have concern about the
height so I want to clarify I understand they are saying that they're doing is it going to be
total 45 feet high and up to the roof deck that would be 48 feet is that correct
no council no that's correct so so sorry ma'am so were you at the hearing in september uh no
sorry i was not here september i didn't get noticed okay well so we need to go through
the list of addresses. I don't know. But no, it's okay. I'm here now. I'm not sure about that.
But you would have seen the orange notice facing your property though, correct?
That was posted. So there's no doubt about that. So again, ma'am, so what we are proposing is a
height to the roof and actually also the roof deck surface, because the roof and the roof deck
surface are going to be one and the same, of 46 feet, six inches. What could be done with the
bonuses is five feet but the bonuses i described to richard is 45 feet and then the roof deck
surface would actually be at 48 6 which is two feet taller than that's what you can do as a
matter of right because you can build the roof deck up to 48 inches above the midpoint between
a high point and a low point of the roof we are intentionally keeping our roof deck surface
at the same level of the roof but as a matter of right you can build it up up to four feet above
that so that's why with the buy right if you were we were trying we're trying to keep it as low as
possible except where we need it which is the roof but in terms of what you see to the what the
outside world sees we're lower than what the buy right would be with the bonuses that we would
otherwise be getting here so again what you'll see in terms of what surrounds the roof deck
with this buy right built property you know what we're allowed to do with the bonuses we would
otherwise apply for and just we wouldn't have to go through any of this process the idea is we think
single families fit in here better than a multi-family you got single families across the
street yes you have some of the brownstones and whatnot on pine street that have been converted to
condos and multi-families but it's largely there's single families particularly on your block of south
hick street we want to keep the single family not put in 22 unit apartment building but what you end
up here is the pilot houses, which are going to block your view, are going to be as well or more
are going to be even higher, two and a half feet taller. The roof deck railing is going to be two
feet taller than what you would do with our proposal, which is in front of the zoning board
right now, which is at the top. The other thing I would point out is in terms of Richard's comments
is what level is Richard's unit? Is it on the ground floor, second floor, third floor? Because
to be honest with you if he's at the ground floor or the second floor the difference between
particularly if he's at the ground floor at 38 feet or at the 45 foot with the bonuses his view
of the drake is going to be blocked more than likely in any event i mean if that's what he
wants to be looking at the drake um anything beyond that's going to be blocked as well so
um but did i answer your questions um yeah thank you um and you know like i said we are very happy
um yeah thank you um and you know like i said we are very happy to see a project and development
in the area and in the community it would be beneficial um but i am on like the second house
in on hicks so you know we do i mean we hope you know the best for you guys and your project but
we we're just not sure how that hype would affect us um because we're the second one in and that
will completely block that's we're like in the middle of you guys i understand and it's gonna
it would be worse it would be worse for you with the if it were a by right building with the bonuses
that it would otherwise be developed as and then if it happens by right then the things that we
negotiated with ccra which were really good points might not happen you might have the cold shoulder
without the entrance on pine street none of this is a threat but i'm just saying whether my clients
develop or somebody else develops it i mean they spent a lot of time between the historical
Commission taking their comments and the very good design comments we received from CCRA that
have made a really beautiful, tasteful building. I think you would agree with that. With, you know,
five doors across from you, so with beautiful entranceways. Thank you, Mr. Chair, for your
comments. Anyone else in the virtual audience? Yes, Chair. We have Scott, last name, ending in M.
please allow him to speak hello good afternoon please state your name and spell this for the
record scott mcconnell s-c-o-t-t last name m-c-c-o-n-n-e-l-l do you swear to tell the
truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do please proceed mr mcconnell i echo what
Richard mentioned um I live two floors above Richard so I'm on the third floor of 1514 Pine
Street so I would be able to look pretty much directly out at the area of the building that we
are discussing right now um and yes I I do love being able to have people over and show them um
not only the Drake but the view of Center City um through my window and um I believe that the
proposed solution would uh drastically reduce that that view okay thank you thank you for your
comments again anyone anyone anyone else out there in the virtual audience yes chair we have diane
last name ending in r please allow her to speak
ma'am please unmute yourself good afternoon please speak your name and spell it for the uh court
recorder.
Ms. Diane, last name
ending in R, please unmute yourself.
You're unmuted. You're free to speak.
Hi, my name is
Diane Donato.
R-E-G-I-N-A-T-O
I live on
1514 Pine Street on the second floor
Do you agree
to tell the entire truth
and nothing but the truth
Proceed
I live on 1514 Pine on the second floor
and I agree with Richard and Scott
I do believe that the
additional height
I'm concerned that it's going to
diminished the light as well as the view. I believe if you were inside the property
looking out, you would understand the concern. And I was not contacted either. I just saw
the notice. And I have to say your notice sign has been knocked over along with your
fences for quite a number of days. Thank you for your comments. Anyone else
in the virtual audience i see no hands chair planning commission
this is uh ron bednar city planning property is indicated for residential use in the city plan
we uh recommend that the request for variance be granted provided that the height be limited to 38
feet on hick street that's that's that's physically not possible i mean i would just say how can you
limit the height to 38 feet on hick street and at a building that's at a corner because then it
won't be it can't be 38 feet then at pine street so i would so council what we're going to do is
we're going to hold this um and the commissioners and i will uh meet internally and we'll try to