Yes, Chair, we have Justin Navarro.
Please let him in, Lakeisha.
Mr. Navarro, you're free to speak.
Good morning.
Your name is spelled for the record.
My name is Justino Navarro, J-U-S-T-I-N-O, N-A-V-A-R-R-O, and I represent the Spring Garden Civic Association and its zoning committee.
Do you agree to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Please proceed.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, members of the board.
I wanted to confirm that we, the Civic Association, in fact, has entered into an executed CBA with the applicant, and we are excited about the board's approval of this variance as it will extend and provide for a prep kitchen for the very well-attended and very popular 2000 and Fairmount property, which is known as Fairmount Pizza.
So we're also excited with the fact that the property owner has entered, as I indicated, into a CBA, which will make the properties that he owns along that stretch of Fairmont Avenue more compatible with the Spring Garden Historic District.
So we encourage the board and the chair to approve the variance as requested.
Thank you for your time this morning.
Thank you.
Any more questions from the virtual audience?
I see no hands, Chair.
Planning Commission.
thank you chair ian hegarty for the philadelphia city planning commission
board members the proposed commercial use is consistent with the prior documented use and
with the physical configuration of the building city planning commission recommends that the
board grant the variance okay mi2022003502 2002 fairmount avenue my vote is yes with
proviso per amended refusal dated february the 7th 2023 thomas holloman my vote is yes with
with a with proviso james snell yes with proviso thank you congratulations thank you
approved with proviso james snell
number 14 mi2022005180 1841 north 22nd street attorney for owner henry clinton
Mr. Clinton is coming back in as a
panelist
Good morning
Henry Clinton here
Good morning counsel how are you please
state your name and spell it for the record
Henry Clinton H-E-N-R-Y
Clinton C-L-I-N-T-O-N
Do you agree to tell the truth
the whole truth and nothing but the truth
I do sir
Can you please give us a little bit about your client
My client is
Al Blackson
b-l-a-c-k-s-o-n he's on the call and he's going to reside in this property great i want to push
you over to our board member uh thomas holliman to ask you a few questions good morning council
morning sir holliman do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to accuracy
see i do with one exception uh we had submitted for a front loaded garage and the refusal does
not reflect that but we presented the plans to the community with the front loaded garage
okay did you email all the exhibits and documents that's required five days in advance to this
hearing did you meet with the rco and do you have a letter yes to all the above please proceed and
share your screen. Thank you, Mr. Holliman.
I think it's loading.
That's what it indicates on my screen, Mr. Shahid, that the screen is loading.
Maybe I should go in and start again.
yeah perhaps
don't see anything yet
and when i hit stop share nothing happens
first time this has happened we have someone from the it uh team that can weigh in
I know it looks like it's it's loading now it's no bigger than my normal presentation so
don't know what you're saying
on this one
okay let me read the
refusal into the record
exceed maximum permitted
38 feet
allow 50.8
to propose
so you want to can you see that now Mr. Shahid no they can't see anything as of yet
Mr. can you try sharing your screen again yes
this sunken is that any better it's showing you have no visual new visual
no yeah i don't want to hold the board up here i don't
uh do you want to try coming um going out and then coming back in yeah maybe i should do that
Ms. Dandy. Sorry about that, Mr.
Shahid.
Let me start from the beginning, if I can.
yep now what's up okay thanks a lot miss sunken and miss dan i appreciate it uh so uh good morning
So, good morning, Mr. Chairman, Vice Chairman, and members of the board.
mr chairman vice chairman and members of the board henry clinton here on
Henry Clinton here on behalf of the owner, Al Blackson, who is on the call with me.
This is my presentation package, which contains a table of contents, exhibits AA to A10, which I ask to be admitted into the record.
And at the end of the presentation, I'll go through the other multifamily properties that are existing on this block.
This is a request for a three-family unit on a block that has more than 50% of the existing
properties of a multifamily nature, which I'll show the board at the end. The refusal,
which does not include a refusal for the front-loader garage, even though the plans indicate
that, is for a three-family unit. The original proposal was for four units. We met with the
community group and we dropped that down to three units. The other thing that we did is we were able
to eliminate one of the refusals. The roof deck setback is now at the required depth. Before it
was at eight feet, excuse me, just three feet. Now it's at five feet. So we really have two
refusals. One has to do with the use. We're asking for multifamily in a single family
zoning district. But you'll see there's over 15 existing non-conforming uses on the block,
all of which are multifamily. And the other issue is with regard to height. We're asking for
above the 38-foot threshold because the fourth floor is set back. As there's a garage on the
first floor, my client who's going to move into the facility in this building wants to use that
garage for an electric vehicle. And he needs to have the internal lines run inside the garage
because we no longer have electric boxes at the curb like we did several years ago.
So this is the letter of non-opposition from the 32nd Ward RCO.
And these are photographs of the block. So my client's lot is right here. On both sides,
my client actually owns both of these multifamily properties. One is a six-unit building and one
is a three-unit building. There's about 27 or so existing homes on the block, and more than 50%,
15 or 16, are multifamily. The remainder of the lot, as you can see, are vacant spaces and open
spaces. And most of these multifamily units have been in place since about 1968, when I show you
the zoning records which will support that again this is multi-family at 15 at 1843 and 1847 excuse
me 1839 1843 again just some more photographs to give the board perspective of the block
many vacant lots
the original plans that submitted uh were somewhat uh unusual in the sense that there
was a rear fire escape ladder on the back of the property um and the property didn't really
provide for a second means of egress unfortunately the architect who prepared these plans passed
away my client ended up submitting these plans and when he did i think that was the mix-up when
he submitted the plans he may have not described the project properly because we didn't get a
refusal for a garage and also he did not uh as far as i know get streets approval and that's why
the refusal doesn't refer to the garage nevertheless we're going to proceed with
the presentation. And we do have a revised proviso plan indicating that the number of
dwelling units have been reduced from four to three. We are now in conformance with the setback
of the deck. And we've added a stair tower to the rear of the property for a second means of egress.
And adding that stair tower, we have a letter from the architect indicating that even with the
stair tower, because the lot is so big, it's 96 feet deep and wider than 16 feet, the addition
of the rear stair tower does not in any way affect the 25% open area requirement for this
particular lot. And I think that's one of the reasons why there's so many multifamily on the
block. It's a really deep lot, 96 feet, and have a single family property on these lots would
really be, would not be feasible and not economical. In fact, I think the zoning code
changed in around 2014 and 2015 from RM1 to RSA5. This is a cutaway of the property.
This is a cutaway of the property. Basically, the basement is going to be utilities, one bedroom on the first floor, one bedroom on the second floor, and then the owner is going to live on the third floor and he's going to have two bedrooms.
So despite the fact that it is a large structure, there's really only four bedrooms, and the one-bedroom units will provide affordability for folks in the neighborhood who will be able to rent a top-shelf project, brand-new, new construction, and still maintain their contacts with the neighborhood.
I'll walk through the floor plans, start at the first floor.
First floor, we'll have a garage and one bedroom in the rear with rear access, open space to the rear yard.
And there's also going to be an area for trash storage in a closet on the first floor.
And every unit does have a closet for trash storage.
This is the second unit with a rear front balcony, trash storage, and an egress stair tower in the rear.
Third and fourth floor listed as the owner's apartment.
As I said, he owns a property that's on either side of this project.
He's going to have a large living area, a one bedroom on the third floor, and one bedroom
on the fourth floor, which is a setback from the front, the required eight feet, so that
there's no visual issues with regard to passersby or pedestrians.
The rest of the documents are the pro forma documents you would see in a typical zoning
presentation or application for appeals, indication that the taxes are fully paid.
And then what I wanted to do was show the board the numerous existing multifamily properties on this block.
And I'll just walk through this, maybe not all 15, but just to give the board a flavor of what I was talking about.
So this is 1847. This is an adjacent to family dwelling. It's been in existence since 1968.
This is an existing three-family dwelling at 1845, and the owner is the same as my client.
1843, adjacent to this property, this is a six-dwelling unit that was approved as of right back in 2016 because there's no calendar number.
the prior property at 1845. This was a zoning matter in September of 2015, and the board did
grant a three-family dwelling then. Again, I'll go through some of the zoning records because the
table of contents does list them all in a nutshell, but not to belabor the point. This is a three-family
dwelling in existence since 1968, 1839, 1835, two family dwelling since 1968, 1833, two family
dwelling, 1831, two family dwelling, 1829, three family dwelling since 1973, 1806, down the other
under the street since 1986, been a two-family dwelling. 18, I skip one there, not all purpose,
1808, two-family dwelling since 1968. 1812, two-family dwelling since 1967. So again,
Mr. Vice Chairman, I don't want to go through all 15 unless the board wants me to, but this is a
summary of the attachments, indicating that there are already four triplexes on the block,
one six-unit building adjacent to this property, and the remaining properties are two-family.
Okay. So in summation, we basically have a situation on this block where there's many
undeveloped lots. The ones that are developed are majority multifamily. It's a large lot that
doesn't really warrant or is not feasible for single-family usage. The client is going to
occupy the property and have an electric vehicle in the garage on the first floor.
There is no really disharmony with the neighborhood. They're in non-opposition of
the project. They're aware that Mr. Blackstone already owns two properties on the block.
They were complementary with regard to his sanitation policies and just the general overall upkeep of the properties.
And that resulted in a non-opposition vote.
And that resulted in a non-opposition vote.
With that, I'd like to rest, ask that my exhibits be admitted, and certainly we'll entertain any questions from the board or from the virtual audience.
Sure. Can we get your client on?
Sure. Mr. Blackson, can you unmute yourself and raise your hand?
We have a caller phone number ending in 9543. You're free to speak.
Morning. Mr. Blackstone. Hello. Yes, Mr. Blackstone. Yes, sir. Please state your name
and spell it for the record yes sir uh my name is al blackson that's a-l last name blackson b-l-a-c-k-s-o-a
do you swear to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes sir please proceed
council uh mr blackson were you on the call when i presented your project to the zoning board
yes sir if you had the opportunity uh to adopt my testimony would you adopt that as true and
correct and as your own i do thank you very much questions from the board no mr chairman
questions from the virtual audience
i see no hands chair planning commission thank you chair shaheed ian hegarty on behalf of the
philadelphia city planning commission board members in 2014 the zoning maps were amended
in this area from RM1 to RSA5. This was done in accord with recommendations from the comprehensive
plan. With regard to the proposed height variance, the appellant has not shown evidence that denial
of the proposed variance would result in economic detriment or that the proposal is consistent with
the surrounding neighborhood, both of which are required to establish hardship. With regard to
the use variances, the proposed multifamily use is consistent with adjacent non-conforming
properties however we feel the appellant has failed to support the hardship claim for front
loaded parking with evidence of unique physical conditions or circumstances of the property
city planning commission recommends that the board deny these variances if the board is inclined to
grant the variances we recommend at the very least that the board that deny the variance for front
loaded parking as a desire for electric vehicle is not grounds for hardship thank you may i do
comments, Mr. Shahid? Sure, counsel. Thank you. I understand, and I did mention during the
presentation that the zoning code was changed in 2014 to single-family homes. My client or I are
aware of any single-family homes being constructed on this block since that change, which I think
leads one to the conclusion that multifamily is going to be the mainstay on this block because
the lots are so big and because there's so many other multifamily properties on the block.
With regard to the height, there's no living quarters or nothing is going to be in the basement.
It's going to be mechanicals.
And because of the garage on the first floor, which I understand the Planning Commission is not in favor of, the height of the building has to be what it is as submitted.
The last floor, the top floor, is set back so that visually from the street, you will not be able to notice that there is a fourth floor.
So with regard to the garage, again, there are numerous vacant lots on the property.
I mean, on this block, I think the community group, not that I want to speak for them,
may be inclined that they want to see additional development going on on the block.
And the use of the garage for an electric vehicle certainly is something noteworthy
as we move away from gasoline power to electric power.
And so with that, I would like to address and ask the board to look kindly upon this application.
Hillary, did we receive the RCO revised with the front loaded garage?
Mr. Chair, we have received no RCO letter in this matter.
And we're holding for we're going to hold for an amended refusal anyway.