we have another drawing if you go up in the drawings sorry
i keep going higher
yeah sorry we don't have that site plan um but actually it is a jace is in the back rear yard
oh is it in the picture 17 is it that picture 17 if you click on 17 you should see the rear of it
thank you right so that's so that's the area that
yes that's right okay any other questions
i do have a question about the it looks like in the letter of support there was
conversation about off-site parking and just wondering how you resolved that with the local
rca so the the discussion was about the church which is a cat kitty corner across the street
and they have a parking lot which is directly across the street uh and the idea is that i mean
they only use it on sundays and so they're we've reached out to them we don't have a resolution on
that but the idea would be that the um tenants could park their car there we don't we don't have
that um resolved yet but it seems like it's something that would be an agreement between
the tenant and the church if that works out and then where's the bike storage the bike storage
is also in the back on and i'm sorry i'm not sure what happened to the site plan but is adjacent to
the trash storage area we have um bike storage in that backyard as well so how are tenants are
tenants only accessing that rear yard by exiting through the building or will they have access from
the sidewalk to that would have access from the sidewalk as well as from well that stair which i
mentioned in that corner uh is now turned towards the sidewalk in order to have that accessible
area so that that stair right there um will be way down into the sidewalk and then there'll be
a gate into that backyard which will be accessed to both the trash and the bike area and then do
all 20 units have access to all four roof like balconies no those are just for those units
okay questions for our attorney hillary emerson
not at this time mr jerry comments from the audience
questions or comments from the virtual audience
i do not see any further hands mr chair planning commission
amy boyd with the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends a change in
zoning at this location from residential single-family rsa 5 to industrial commercial mixed
industrial commercial mixed use icmx the proposal includes reuse of an existing industrial building
use ICMX. The proposal includes reuse
the proposal for residential is in harmony with the surrounding area the pellet has not shown that
there are unique physical conditions or circumstances that would prevent the property
from being used in performance of the zoning code for roof depth deck setbacks and max building
height the planning commission recommends a board grant the requested variance for multifamily
but deny the requested variances for roof setbacks and max building height.
Thank you.
MI 2024-006-330-560107 Ray Street, I vote yes.
Michael Johns, I vote yes.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes.
Teneda Graham, my vote is yes.
Tywin, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shahid, my vote is yes.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Counsel, you have one other case.
Why don't we just...
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Number 13, MI 2024-006-564-2012 Spruce Street.
Mr. Patterson, just for the record, state your name.
Good afternoon.
Ron Patterson, E-A-T-T-E-R-S-O-N.
Can you identify your client and the relationship to the property?
Yes, I can.
Kristen, please tell the board your name and address.
Hi, I'm Kristen Leslie.
Would you spell your name, please, for the stenographer?
Perfect.
K-R-I-S-T-I-N-L-E-S-L-I-E.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
So, Mr. Patterson, why don't you say that?
So, Mr. Chairman, the property is in ownership of Acadia Holdings Partners, LLC.
Is that your corporation?
Your principal?
So, you purchased this house, correct?
And you and your husband and children?
I have three kids.
And we'll get to, I'll explain about the property in a minute,
but I just want to get you in and out. So, and what would you like to do with this property?
We'd like to make it our permanent home. We've lived here since 2011, where we met here
and have had our kids here and plan to hopefully raise them here. But with such a big family
and possibly maybe one more eventually, who knows? We were looking to make sure that our
family had the space. And do you also, both you and your husband have businesses?
Yes, we both are entrepreneurs and work for ourselves.
Okay, thank you.
Can you move?
No, you can sit here.
So I'll start.
I just wanted to introduce you.
Sure, why don't you start?
So this property, this application regards 2012 Spruce Street.
It's mid-block.
I'm going to share my screen.
Thank you.
there we go okay uh 2012 spruce street mid block it's a historically designated structure
built in 1860. It was originally built as a house. It was later converted to apartments
and then back to a single-family dwelling unit in 2001, around that time. When it was returned
to a single-family dwelling unit, it was recreated in its original footprint and format
to historical characteristics. But that characteristics, as you'll hear, and the
layout is not useful in modern times in which to raise a young family. For example, there's a
kitchen in the basement. So as I mentioned, the Leslie's purchased it in 2004. It had been on the
market since 2009, which is evidence of the fact that the format and the design was not working
for anyone, especially with respect to the price that was being asked. Part of this application,
um part of this uh this application this is the front is to um add an addition in the rear on the
This is the front.
fourth first fourth floor level for an infill to match the others on the block to create a few
other roof decks um the property is located in an rm1 residential zoning district which does allow
single-family dwelling units. The maximum building height there is 38 feet, but the property in the
building, contrary to the refusal, is a little incorrect. The building exists at 55 feet in
height. And what the rear addition is doing is adding in an infill, which Mr. Reckley will
testify to, that brings the height to 53 feet, 10 and a half inches. So we believe, therefore,
there's no adverse impact to the rear area here and we did meet with um the registered community
organization center city residents association last night and they voted not to oppose i don't
know if you have a copy of that the letter but if not i'll show it to you hillary we had that right
yes we did receive that thank you thank you
and we also have a petition of support by the jason and immediate neighbors which i'm not
I believe you may have that as well, but if not, I'll show it.
I believe. Yeah, I believe we got that sent today.
Yes. Great. Thank you.
And lastly, the what is proposed here with the addition of the roof decks, since it was it is historically designated, we did apply to the Philadelphia Historical Commission, which approved this design.
So with that said, I'm going to ask Mr.
Weckerley questions. Hi, sir. Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Yes, sir. John Weckerley, Boxwood Architects, 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?
Yes. Please proceed, counsel.
John, what's your occupation? Architect.
And you're familiar with the property and you designed these plans we're going to testify about
today yes okay so um could you explain the current house layout and then just direct me to whatever
uh sheets you want to exhibit you want to look through do you have the set that is our set there
yeah yes so if you could just start on that um and then that first page there at the upper right
image as you can see as ron was describing the uh and if you can just zoom in everyone if you want to
so you can see uh in this section here as ron was describing the uh the existing the existing
building has an existing force fourth floor on the front side on the spruce street side
And the proposal is to extend that existing fourth floor to the rear of the property.
In addition to the addition you see here represented in the middle, the stair penthouse, as well as an elevator shaft that's being proposed within the existing atrium of the floor plan.
And as Ron said, the existing peak of the fourth floor is at 55 feet and the lowest portion of the upper roof of that fourth floor is at 53 feet, 10 and a half.
in conversation and i'll show this in a moment in conversation with the historic commission
they asked that the addition marry with the height of the top of the back side of that existing
fourth floor addition which is what we proceeded to continue with on the design and briefly discuss
the current layout of the of the building and why it's not so useful what's interesting about
the existing floor plate of the building is that there's an interior atrium and stairwell just get
to show you here you can see in this general area right here in the middle of the structure there's
a stairwell and atrium combination that, in essence,
a stairwell and atrium combination that, in essence, accounts for 17% of the floor plate
area, which really ends up dividing the home, unlike a traditional row home where the rooms
stack one, two, three, as you go from front to back, the atrium and stairwell occupying
the center core of the building really creates a left side, right side aspect of the floor
plan in general as you move up through the through the property so uh in talking do zoom in a little
bit while you're talking about it sure hard to follow there we go
this is the plan at the fourth floor um which shows the uh existing stair and atrium which is
actually a little bit wider uh there on the existing condition plan but this shows the
uh elevator shaft is being proposed um so uh as ron asked like that that in large part that um
you know condition where where there's a left side right side kind of was uh in the front end
of the conversation to how we program the um uses of the rooms and uh the the need to introduce
bedrooms and location of the kitchen and so forth as it as it kind of configured to kind of
stack either on the front of the property or the or the rear of the property would you say that's
why the building hasn't been utilized i i would think that's a very strong reason as to why
and so what are we proposing to to change that so if i can just back up now to show the massing
So here you can see what these renderings represent are at the Spruce Street side you can see this lower right image is a rendering of the existing condition directly to the left of that is a rendering showing the proposed condition which is no change on the Spruce Street side.
and then uh on the then as a as a bird's eye view of that same area kind of from the spruce street
side you can see on the right hand side is the existing condition with the heightened fourth
floor and the existing lower area behind it directly behind it to the left as i'm hovering
here you can see the proposed continuation of the fourth floor as it moves towards the rear of the
of the building and then uh and the height we're proposing on an infill is commensurate with the
existing building heights yes and i'll show you that here right now you can point out the uh the
neighbor the immediate neighbor who signed the letter of support i will yes so here you can see
in this lower uh left image is the existing condition and then uh this is the proposed
showing the proposed addition as i mentioned earlier this roof line here per the request
from the historic commission is that that this area it represents the back of the existing fourth
floor and they ask that that mansard roof line continue turn the corner and continue around so
our height matches with that condition um and that's our only refusal directed we're exceeding
38 feet where we've already exceeded it to 55 feet. That's correct. Okay. So it's not about
massing or gross FOIA or FAR? No. So would you agree that the design comports with the character
and context of the neighborhood and that it would create no adverse impacts? Yes. Okay. Thank you.
There's also just to mention the darker gray images modeling masses in this image here
represent structures that have that same condition where the fourth floor has been extended to the
back and there's also uh i don't have that drawing with us here but there's a there's i believe two
properties on the cypress street side which is the uh rear uh street behind the property that
oh you know what here it is here actually so this this uh this represents the immediate area these
yellow um highlights here represent our property is here with the red dot uh and then this this
building uh three properties to the west and uh one two three four properties to the east also
have the addition continuing to the back um and then uh and then directly across from uh the
property on cypress street uh on the back there this property has a has an extension as well
i believe the letter of support uh came from this property here uh directly to the east of
of our property, which would
our property, which would be 2010.
be 2010. Great. Thank you.
Great. Thank you.
Questions
for the port?
Yes. Will you be carrying this
rent-to-a-system once you go over to
the next floor? Yes.
Thank you.
Not question,
but comment.
Our office, well, my
former office building was at 1622
spruce and so that condition you're talking about with the interior sort of stairwell where