two meetings and I don't remember it once being mentioned uh and then of course I saw the letter
this morning about that uh um I they want some sort of mail slot that goes into the first floor
either the garage or you know uh that doesn't stick out outside uh like just with a mail slot
against the facade uh we're certainly okay with that instead of the box instead of an act i guess
i guess they were concerned that there might be some sort of suburban style
exterior box out front but we never okay we never even intimated that we would do that so okay
okay any other questions yes um and i guess um i'm gonna try and get down to some zoning nitty
gritty here so this isn't the minimus because it's more than a 10 deviation so is your argument that's
my that's my that's my perspective yeah okay so your argument is more hertzberg that this
well certainly hertzberg yeah yeah against the you know of course use of the yeah so under
hertzberg if we lost those three feet it would dramatically impact the financial feasibility of
any of this gotcha not to mention the livability gotcha okay what's the what's the width so i'm
just i'm sorry i'm sorry what what's no i'm sorry go ahead go ahead no what were you mr grant no i
was just asking what's i was just asking what's the width of the of the mr grant how wide is each
home uh each home is 15 feet wide yep thank you
yeah the questions thank you wait the lot is i thought the lot was 22 feet and the side yard was
three is that there's a lot 23 or 20. mr grant do you want to expand on the size of the lot
the if we go to the zoning uh sheet the the lot both lots are 20 feet wide
and we're asking for a five foot side yard yep okay questions from our attorney i'll bring that
back up if you'd like yeah if you could bring it back up just quickly no problem i just have
i have different uh different binders i'm working with here mm-hmm
the units are decent by the way i was hoping you'd say that laid out pretty i was hoping
they're laid out pretty pretty well so so so um each lot is 20 feet right here
hillary um yes just a couple quick things um one just verifying that um
um mr grant is a principal with the yes entity okay um and second we received what i assume are
revised plans for just 21 east clap your street we didn't receive any um proviso forms what are
the changes that are being proposed yeah i have uh yeah i have that and i could send you those
if you'd like okay yeah because we we didn't i thought i sent it under separate cover so maybe
did not get into the rest of the binder um yeah i was unable to find it so that's why i was trying
to understand what changes were being made hillary revised plans today's date yes i believe it's just
one page but i need to look at them because i don't i don't know what the proposed changes
oh i see okay hold on i'll i'll send it over again okay thank you yep okay go on
Okay, for me questions or comments from the virtual audience for the current audience share. There are no hands at this time. Thank you. Planning Commission.
amy boy with the planning commission oh amy boyd do you swear or affirm to tell the truth
told truth nothing but the truth i do please proceed chair would you like the testimony for
both properties you do both okay so this will be for 21 and 23.
the comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning at this location from the current rsa
The comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning at this location from the current RSA 3 residential single family.
This lot is 20 feet wide when 25 feet is required, creating a unique physical condition that constrains the site to meet the 8 foot side yard requirement.
The planning commission recommends that the board grant their requested variance for side yard whip.
thank you um i just i i don't know if if mr anastasi is able to send them now but i do like
i send you i did send you the changes okay i just i need to look at those before yep besides whether
i just emailed them uh it's a rough it's a raw form but it gives you the changes uh the
fully executed form i've already sent over but it doesn't sound like you see it so i'll send
it over again after the hearing um where did you send it to i just forwarded it to you personally
the the raw form okay it just hasn't come through yet that's all
it's slowly coming through hold on
all right so you're proposing to add a carport there's already a curb cut i believe because
there's parking yep um enclosed carport with walls down to the grade and added a garage door
to the plan. We modified the front roof to flat mansard roof, lower to 35 feet, six inch.
And we modified the rear roof to a flat mansard roof, which lowered it, the overall height to
29 feet. Okay. I think we can approve those changes. And that was just all subsequent to
RCO discussions. All right. Thank you. So it's one page, right? Yes. One page. So I believe it's
for it's for both properties right you're making those changes those changes are for both yes yes
you can both at the same time they're both requesting one page of revised plans so mi
2025 006075 21 east clapier street and number 10 mi 2025 00608023 east clapier street i wrote
yes revised plans one page stamp two four twenty six thank you michael johns my vote is yes with
proviso charles gaston my vote is yes with proviso tenetta graham my vote is yes with proviso mcadams
my vote is yes with proviso iowa my vote is yes with proviso thank you number thank you thank you
have earned yeah for three mi 2025 005 588 109 south 13th street um stephanie boggs bagna is the
attorney hi is your mic one i don't here we go can you hear me now sorry there we go could you
please state your name and spell for the stenographer. Stephanie Magana, S-T-E-P-H-A-N-I-E,
last name M-A-G-A-G-N-A. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing
but the truth? Yes, I do. Could you identify your client in relationship to the property?
My client is the Philadelphia Building Associates, LLC. They're the owner of the property.
Right, and we have a unanimous non-opposition from Washington Square West Civic Association.
Our vice chair has a few questions. Good afternoon. Have you submitted your
documents and exhibits five days in advance of this area yes and do you waive the reading of
the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy i do not okay this application seeks approval to add
one residential dwelling unit to an existing mixed-use building in the cmx5 district
we received a refusal for single-family use of the property the single-family use is defined in
the zoning code is use of a lot as for one residence for a single family that is not the
proposed use of this property we're adding one residential dwelling unit to the property the lot
will remain in mixed use retail commercial with now one residential unit in the alternative of
that interpretation being confirmed by the board we are asking for a variance to allow the proposed
use um the the board can't really can consider the challenge to the refusal without the city
being here because that's more of an appeal appeal against lni so we'll we'll you know
So recognize that you've made that challenge for the record, but the board will just consider it based on the variant. Understood. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate your screen and proceed with the case. I do need to be upgraded. I am logged into the Zoom, but I'm not able to share my screen at this time.
I'll promote them to panelists.
I'll promote them to panelists. Great. Thank you.
Great. Thank you.
Okay. Thank you.
One second.
Okay, I see that there we go. Okay.
As I said, so here's a copy of our notice of refusal. Again, the refusal was issued for single family use.
We are looking to change the use of one unit unit 117 at the third and the fourth floor of this building for one dwelling unit.
The property is located at the corner of Sansom and 13th Street. It encompasses retail spaces 107 to 119. The address of the consolidated lot is 109 South 13th Street. But we have several retail frontages that are all part of this building and this property holistically. The main entrance to the unit is through unit 117, which is where the bottled location is here.
And again, this unit in particular is on the third and the fourth floor.
No changes are being proposed to any other uses of the building.
You mentioned, as we got started, we have a letter of non-opposition from the Washington
Square West Civic Association following our meeting with them.
This is a copy of our key plan.
You can see that the unit here, the third and the fourth floor.
This space was previously approved for office space.
I think technically in the zoning archives, it's been vacant for many years.
So ownership is looking to reposition it so that it can actually be rented cmx 5 mixed uses.
This neighborhood can accommodate one additional dwelling unit, and it won't otherwise affect the existing uses or operations of the building.
I did mention that the main entrance to the unit is on, I think, 13th Street through the 117 unit right by the bottled location.
There's a secondary egress through the Sansom Street exit here through the courtyard, but there is elevator and stair access through the main entrance on 13th Street.
And we have some site photos of the interior of the unit, like I said, laid out for what was previously approved as office space and will be renovated to accommodate a residential use, presuming that the board approves the application.
um just an exterior picture um with that i have john weckerly from foxwood architects they are
the project architects here if i could have him sworn in um we also do have owner representation
here as well if there's any questions this is the architect sir could you please your mic on
could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer uh john weckerly uh j-o-h-n w-e-c-k
e-r-l-y do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
I do. Counsel? John, did you hear the statements I made this afternoon? Yes. Are they complete and accurate to the best of your knowledge? Yes. Just to clarify, the main entrance is actually adjacent to a retail concept called Bottled, which is just two doors. I'm sorry, called to Zio's Restaurant, which is actually two doors to the left of Bottled on the site plan there. I could point it out if necessary. Great. Okay. Thank you.
the the residential unit is that above bottle though okay otherwise what did you adopt nice
statements as your own yes thank you um do you want to bring your owner on or no
they're available to answer any operational questions if you accept your testimony all right
john did yes all right questions from the board are there any other residences in the structure
That's going to be my question.
No, it's a mixed-use commercial building.
So there's the retail on the ground floor.
I believe there's office spaces elsewhere.
And then I guess the question is, what is driving the decision to convert this?
It's been vacant for a number of years.
So I think it was last approved as office space, but has never been rented and utilized as an office in a number of years.
Do we know why?
Like, is there a hardship, or is it just it hasn't been rented?
I can bring Daniel on to answer operational questions.
daniel white i believe he's on the zoom call if he could be promoted to a panelist and sworn in
he's our owner's rep and he can answer some background contests
did you say that there were other residential units uh on these floors above and other there's
none on not not that property but up along the block or there's some in one building but it's
new across the street above a restaurant but there's multiple apartments in that building
and everything above the restaurant as apartments but i'm pretty sure every other second and third
story on those two blocks are not residential and it's a it's a busy corridor yeah so that's
the nature of the refusal right so this is cmx5 so multi-family is permitted here if we were to
to have more than three units in this building it would be by right the reason for the variance
I think we understand that it's still weird to put a single residential unit into a commercial space and that's a chaotic block like from a residential standpoint, I think, but it would be adding one unit to a mixed use block that includes residential use and CMX five so to our extent, like we're not changing the building otherwise and we're certainly not changing its character as being mixed
use that would allow for this space um if daniel white has been promoted i can have mr wright
could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer good afternoon daniel white um
d-a-n-i-l-w-h-y-t-e do you swear or affirm the whole truth and nothing but the truth
Council?
Yeah, Daniel, could you provide some background on the rental efforts you've made here for
this unit?
I believe you provided the same to the RCO when we went with them.
So we've had the properties of the office broker for many years.
And if I take a step back, you know, we are Golden Properties.
We have numerous properties in Midtown Village along 13th and Sansom, including the Philadelphia
Building and 1315 Walnut Street.
you know the building where Van Lewin is, Elves, the Prunella, Pearl and Mary,
Sam Penn, Double Knot, Alpenrose, so you know we're heavily vested in the
neighborhood. That specific unit has been increasingly difficult police as an
office. We've had a list with an office program for many years and the issue
really lies in the layout of the space. So if you can just go back to the
pictures so I can find it out so it's a little unit and the window shades are
down so it's difficult to see but it's very hard to demise to actually build
offices conference rooms other requirements that any regular office
tenant would take specifically on the second floor because of the a-frame roof
it's very difficult and so you know where it's been vacant for years we're
completely out of options or ideas and what to do to lease as an office and so
even our office brokers are the ones who said you know this is and we're
willing to make the investment to you know put in kitchen and bathrooms and
everything up to code to make an apartment we have several apartments
right across the street above the other retail and restaurant stores we have
that we've been extremely successful in leasing we're you know 100 lease and a lot of those
are rented to office workers in the neighborhood service workers other that you know work you know
close by and want to be there so um really it's through the layout of the space is is what's
driving um the change uh thank you for that i think that does provide a little bit more clarity
for the the reasoning um in terms of management are you guys going to be managing the residential
unit yourselves i'm assuming the same way you'd manage the ones across the street yes we manage
all our properties in-house with a dedicated property manager who um his office in our main
office is at a 1315 walnut and then we have a a team of maintenance personnel and staff that
um you know are also on the properties and sites every day and then just because i acutely know
this block very well for a number of reasons um part of what makes that block really chaotic is
there's not a lot of entrances like there's architecture firm already up there it's really
hard to find their door it's really hard to get into their office how is the residential tenant
going to be able to sort of navigate and have safety and separation from all the other sort of
uses on that block because there's a lot of restaurants a lot of stores a lot of sure so
So we actually, on 13th Street, we actually, by the entrance, the entrance used to be set back inside.
What we did was, and we brought out the vestibule towards the street to prevent, you know, people from, you know, sleeping in that area and whatnot.
we also installed a castle system which is uh you know video um monitoring you know uh
access panel and you know the person who lives there will be able to allow guests in through an
app through the castle app and they log in you know they're able to provide entrance either
their phone or for a key card so it's very secure um you know and all our office tents are happy all
office tenants have been there a long time and um you know we're also very selective with our
tenants we run full background checks we made sure everyone's right we tried to meet with them
since that there wouldn't be an issue of uh you know of the wrong person being in the same
of the wrong person being in the same building as an office tenant okay and then where will the
building as an office tenant okay and then where
residential tenants trash go is it going to be distributed with the other office so we
yeah so so there is um not blocking but there are areas um within the kind of the stairwells are you
know have a have large kind of platforms and there are um i guess roll out garbage cans that the
office tenants use that our maintenance team takes out this tree on trash day and they would just use
that as their as a regular garbage and then my sort of last question is really related to like
uh quality of life like it's very loud on that street it's very bright on that street and you
know uh you know class a office space has a different rating in terms of insulation for
both noise and sound and light than a resident, that person that would be there all the time.
What are you doing to the unit to sort of ensure that whoever's living there is going to be able
to live there comfortably and not kind of be impacted at night by the rest of the activities
going on on that street? Yeah, understood. And, you know, that's kind of a decision you make and
knowing the neighborhood when you move in. We, you know, again, our apartments above the retail
across the street those tenants know what it is you know we explained to them well they're
into the lease um and we don't have any complaints because they know the the neighborhood they're in
and i think that's part of the allure is that people want to live in the neighborhood you know