we you know maybe make some modifications that may be more in tune with you know the surrounding
area including potentially the height the density the parking um well let's let's see where planning
is penis almonic with the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change
to the rsd3 residential single family detached zoning the proposed dimensional variances for
building height maximum above 35 feet minimum side yard below seven feet minimum 25 minimum front yard below 25 feet surface parking and the required 25 foot front yard and the proposed use variances for two principal buildings and for drawing units on a single family lot all conflict with characteristics of the surrounding neighborhood.
as well the application is also subject to the landscape and tree code and the appellant refused
to comply with the requirements of the parking lot landscape buffering from residential parking
lot perimeter screening and parking lot interior landscaping because the appellant is proposing
four parking spaces in total the applicant is responsible for 16 trees 42 shrubs as well
as screening fencing which have not been provided in certain situations if some or all the landscape
provisions are impractical or impossible to comply with the number of trees and plants or landscape
dimensional requirements of the zoning code the planning commission staff could consider a waiver
with a fee in lieu of providing trees in this case however the appellant refused to comply with the
code and did not submit a waiver request letter after various attempts from the planning commission
plans examiner for this application that is calculated as fourteen thousand dollar fee
avoidance which should be going to the philadelphia tree fund for future citywide planting and greening
initiatives the planning commission recommends the board deny the requested dimensional and use
variances and deny the requested variances for the landscape and tree code the applicant will
need to return to planning commission to comply with the landscape and tree code or the waiver
and fee-in-lieu process. The proposed landscape plan on the proviso plan still needs to be
reviewed for compliance as it does not meet the code requirements. So can I respond, Mr. Chair?
Sure. So first things first, we didn't get the updated refusal until yesterday's date. So and
if you look at the original refusal, it had nothing to do with the landscaping. I'm looking
at the original refusal, had nothing to do with the landscaping. So we had a business day to look
get this um as far as the height we reduce that we're in conformance with it as far as the side
yard that's a uh because of the the how how the uh lot itself is you know juts in a little bit
um that is a more of a hardship and then in terms of the front yardage they're they're
having it both ways where fulmer is the front yard for one refusal but roosevelt boulevard
is the front yard for the other.
But especially since we received
an updated refusal
yesterday where there
has to be at least a look at
with the landscaping
what we're going to do with that, I think it would
be unfair for the board to vote
today.
I just didn't see much support, period.
Well, I know.
That's all I'll say, but I am
going to call for a vote.
Okay, so
and my 2026 001 569 2229 fulmer street i vote no michael johns my vote uh no
tennetta graham my vote is no i am mcadams my vote is no i am when my vote is no
thank you thank you mr chairman remember their provisors you want the provisors right in
provide so per per river a corrected refusal dated july 28th 2026.
it was that michael johns okay thank you thank you michael michael johnson my vote is no with
proviso oh it's not a grand my vote is no with proviso ryan mcadams my vote is no with
proviso tywin my vote is no with proviso
number seven mi 2026 001 509 7172 keystone street andrea solomon is the attorney council could you
Andrea Solomon is the attorney. Counsel, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
please
Good afternoon, Andrea Solomon from Claire Harrison, Harvey Bransburg, A-N-D-R-E-A-S-A-L-O-M-O-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, told truth, nothing but the truth?
Could you identify a client in relationship to the property?
Thank you. My client is 7127 Keystone Holdings LP, the owner of the property.
With me here today is Mr. Yuval Schramm on behalf of the ownership and Mr. Rustin Ohler, the project architect.
And I see a letter of non-opposition with uniform proviso, civic association, nine total votes.
Our vice chair has a few questions for you.
good afternoon have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing
we did and do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy i do all right thank
you you can share your screen and proceed with your case thank you i respectfully request that
the exhibits one through eleven be incorporated as part of the record seven seven one two seven
keystone street is a new construction mixed use building housing multi-family dwelling units vacant
commercial spaces and accessory parking the building was an investment in this former
industrial neighborhood to bring high quality modern residential units to meet the changing
needs of the neighborhood the current application is for the change of use of the vacant retail
commercial spaces at the ground floor to seven additional dwelling units and accessory amenities
in the existing structure as chairman Bergman stated you have a letter of non-opposition with
provisos from the coordinating RCO we worked with them to incorporate all the provisos and
related to to parking concerns in the neighborhood and traffic calming measures
uh this is uh the view of the property uh i'll i'll return to the the floor plans
with mr oler to walk through the layout the prior approved permit
again the property is zoned irmx three uh the change of use application received one refusal
because the underlying IRMX district and industrial use must account for the floor area
anywhere in the building equal to at least 50% of the total ground floor area
or commercial ground use for at least 60% of the total ground floor area.
So this building was designed per the IRMX requirements to include the requisite ground
floor commercial space however ownership has marketed the retail space since even before
receiving the co in december of 2023 to no success that these efforts have been unsuccessful in
finding any retail or industrial tenant receiving the feedback that there's just low too low foot
traffic in this area this is an aerial image of the site as you can see even though the property
is stoned ir max it's a very residential neighborhood uh you can see they've they've
marketed the retail space for a long time and the uh the surrounding streets are really
resident residential in nature this is what the existing apartment units on the upper
floors uh look like and what the proposed units will look like also in terms of finishes
uh the ground floor since 2003 has remained uh broad vacant commercial space because
they've marketed it had multiple brokers but have not been able to to lease it as commercial or
industrial uh with that i'll ask that mr oler be promoted as panelist and we can go back to the
floor plans i see he raised his hand okay sure rest and oler will be joining us as a painless sure
how many units are you want to it's seven additional units
rostin can you hear us
do we see his hand
Do we see his hand?
yes chair he is a panelist rustin can you please cut your camera on it looks like he is off mute
so i'm not too sure what's going on okay well in the meantime i'm happy to walk through the
units as i said it's seven additional units they're facing why don't you do that they're
they're they're facing keystone street so really activating that street frontage um the units will
have access to all the common amenities and there will be some reconfiguration of the amenities a
gym a common room flex space and they'll all have access to the package room and a refuse room
um hopefully he can work his mic issues in case the the board has any additional questions but um
mr schramm uval schramm is here as well and i'll ask that he also be promoted so
he can adopt my testimony why don't you bring him one
i see his hands raised yes he has been promoted to panelists
hello can you hear me i can't could you please state your name is spelled
uh uval y uv a l shram s h r a m do you swear referring to tell truth told truth nothing but
truth i do yeah also you uh you uh saw the entirety of my presentation yes i did and is
it true and accurate to the best of your knowledge it is and do you adopt it as your own testimony
i do and uh can you just state briefly for the record your relationship to uh 7127 keystone
holdings yes i can i am the managing partner of the entity that owns the property i represent the
ownership and you have marketed these commercial spaces for a while is that right i have yes i've
tried my very best to lease up the property as you said um probably a year into the construction
so probably around the beginning of 2023 and all the way up until we've obtained the
co and and afterwards and up until now and during now we've had several different
retail brokers representative that are in the industry and and have tried to
for the best of their abilities to find for us retail tenants but we were unsuccessful we've done
it in different ways and methods to try and and find the right tenants of different different kinds
but and could and were and failed thank you um and i with that uh we're happy to take any questions
questions from the board
questions from our attorney
none at this time questions or comments from this audience or the virtual audience
i see no hands at this time chair any commission
in the planning commission in 2017 the zoning map was amended from i2 industrial to irmx
industrial residential mixed use at this location in accord with recommendations from the comprehensive
plan and with support from the community this site is particularly situated to buffer the
light industrial corridors icmx edge from the residential uses across the street the appellant
has not shown that the property cannot possibly be used in strict conformity with the zoning code
and that a variance is therefore necessary the planning commission recommends the board
deny the requested use variance for household living on 100 of the ground floor i'll just
respond briefly i think we already covered that the the hardship is due to the fact that we haven't
been able to lease the commercial spaces for a long time but seen a good demand for the
residential spaces and it it fits nicely with the character of the neighborhood to have the
additional ground floor floor units so mi2026-001-509-7127 keystone street i vote yes michael
johns my vote is yes tonetta graham my vote is yes ryan mcadams my vote is yes iowen my vote is yes
thank you very much have a great afternoon number eight MI 2026 001 510 575 Adams Avenue
Richard DeMarco is the attorney
morning mr chairman can you hear good afternoon can you hear me oh yeah no it's it's really our
morning still we got a long way i hear you you got the time exactly right though sir could you
please state your name and spell for the stenographer richard demarco last name spelled
d-e-m-a-r-c-o do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
I do. Could you identify your client, the relationship to this property?
Yeah, the client is Jonathan Jacobs. He's here on the on the call.
And I see there's a. He's the tenant, by the way.
OK, the Lawrence Lawrence Community Association voted 40 to zero in favor of this.
That's right. That's right.
Our vice chair has a few questions. Sure.
Good afternoon. Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance for this case?
Yes. Sorry, yes.
Oh, sorry. Do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, I can waive and stipulate.
All right. Thank you. You can share your screen and proceed with your case.
Thank you.
Give me one second. New computer today, Mr. Chairman.
Oh, good. So you should be able to see. Am I sharing my screen? Okay. Is this a new laptop?
Yes. All right. Terrific.
So I'll go to the refusal. By the way, the tenant is actually, forgive me, I wanted to identify the name correctly.
Nope, I can't even find it. Sorry. My client can identify the tenant name.
Anyway, we're here, Mr. Chairman, for a use variance for the refusal should be on your screen.
This is a commercial shopping center, but it's zoned I-2 industrial.
So just a brief word about hardship, that's a pretty heavy industrial zoning classification, yet the property is completely commercial in nature.
If I can just show you some photos, this is the space right here, Mr. Chairman, that I'm outlining with my cursor.
So as you can see, it's pretty much a really a completely a commercial area.
There's no room for heavy loading.
There's no loading zones.
There's no room for it.
There's no room in the back of the property.
It's restaurants, a pet store, and some empty spaces.
There was a furniture store here.
And it's, you know, not that easy to rent, but it's completely commercial tenants.
So back to the main exhibits.
So obviously, the zoning itself, we feel, is not really appropriate.
This board has also granted consistent and multiple variances for commercial uses at this shopping center, including what I just showed you on those photos.
um and I did submit with my exhibits multiple proof of prior decisions by this board granting
all sorts of variances for all sorts of different commercial uses namely animal uses uh there's a
there's some animal um um kenneling and hospital use and again restaurants and furniture store
etc so um taking you the plans let me i do have better layouts of the plans uh so let's go ahead
and take a look at that this is an event space my client is an experienced caterer i'll bring
him on in a moment um we're showing on the screen a floor plan that shows actual full maximum
occupancy with 200 seats it's those are pretty that's pretty rare it's usually between 100 and
150 seating for for for mr jacobs events he's uh got great reviews online i submitted with my
um my documents uh really stellar five star review he averages five stars which is not that easy
uh generally but um no cooking on premises but people do bring their own own food obviously mr
jacobs is a caterer it's just warming off the food there's no actual cooking on the premises
There are some alcohol involved events. Mr. Jacobs has experienced bartenders and experienced security that are involved with that when there is alcohol. And they are very experienced in dealing with that. Let me show you the site plan so you can see how plentiful the parking is.
So these parking spaces are all available for events. The other businesses usually close. Obviously, there's some afternoon events on the weekends, but it's mostly during the week, it's night events, and then these businesses will be closed. So there's full use of all this parking.
Not only that, Mr. Chairman, let me see if I can, on this overhead, you actually have a cross easement here and there's overflow parking that is available for this business, which also closes early.
business, which also closes early. As you stated, Mr. Chairman, the RCO was in full
unanimous non-opposition. They just want us to close it at one, which is fine, and no alcohol
as far as a liquor license, which Mr. Jacobs, that's not what he does. So really, those are
the main points. Here are some, oh, I wanted to show you there's dumpster for trash storage.
let me find that photo there's a good photo here you can see it right here in the corner it's kind
of out of view here i'll try to spin this around okay right there so you really can't see it from
the street but there's two dumpsters that are that are um that are picked up on at least every other
day sometimes daily and there's plenty of room for trash storage um let's see i guess that's
really the main points i can bring on jonathan of course answer any other questions so why don't you
bring on your client let's do that go ahead uh jonathan jacobs please raise your virtual hand
please jonathan jacob has been promoted to panelists uh mr jacobs you hear my um presentation
to the board today you might have to unmute john sir could you john could you please state your