oriented street there were people sitting
on porches there were neighbors talking
to each other
I liked the idea that you know it's a
community so I
do object to suddenly
there's going to be five
units in it's just
it's density and trash management
Ms. Johnson thank you very much for
calling we appreciate next hand please
yes Rosalind
is back sir
thank you so much
could you please
continue your testimony
is there anything else you can offer
obviously you're against this project
well I'm not against projects
and developers but I go to what
Ms. Tia Nguyen said the neighbors even
asked if he could possibly
something different with the property
could he build some homes that we could
get longevity families in. And I know he's sitting there quiet now, but he said it's
about the money. So no matter how cute the windows look and things, it's about how much
money they can get. And again, with 63 people stuck in two buildings, the neighbors felt
that it was just too dangerous and too much impacting. He didn't want to cut the bedrooms
Thank you very much for your input. We appreciate it. Next hand, please.
Yes, Rosita Baisley, they've been
allowed to speak. They'll be promoted to Panama shortly.
How many more hands do you have?
It was just that one, sir. Okay, thank you very much.
Okay, they'll be rejoining
us to Panama shortly. Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Yes, my name is Rosita, R-O-S-I-T-A, Baisley, B-A-S-L-E-Y.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
And if you would, could you turn your video on?
Okay, I'm on now.
Thank you.
Are you for this project or against the project?
I am for this project, sir.
All right, thank you very much.
we appreciate is is there any anyone else we're good okay um alan i told you i'd give you a chance
to short give a short response yeah so in terms of the coordinating the rco she mentioned that
there were issues or concerns about fire safety obviously this is a newly constructed property
we're going to have a sprinkler system and a fire suppression system in there
she also mentioned well we keep mentioning about the money but that's part of our hardship it's
but that's part of our hardship. It's a practicality. We can't just build something
the practicality. We can't just build something just to build something.
just to build something. And we were just forthright about that. We said that at most
we can cut as a unit from this to make it four units. It's a practical aspect of it.
As you saw from my presentation, there was a Google picture from 2008 where this property
has been a vacant lot. That's as far back as it goes. It could be much further in time.
And as you saw from the aerial view as well, there's a vacant lot two blocks down of the same type of size or vacant lots.
So, again, it shows that there's a lot of missing teeth in this neighborhood.
And practically, it's impossible for someone to build based on that zoning classification.
I want to address what Charles had to say.
We just don't dump letters of support, like, you know, just willy-nilly.
um we we have our clients reach out i think the community meeting was last week i believe so we
didn't we really were not we were surprised that we had this type of pushback based on the
commentary in the first meeting and our response it took a week for us to get those letters and
as soon as we get it we we make a resubmission to the board um charles also mentioned that our
units are bi-level units as compared to the other properties i referenced those five other
properties within a half a block away there's only one bi-level unit that's the first unit
and we're leveraging the fact that there is above ground use on the front so it's really
not the traditional bi-level unit that you would see you know where you know again there was you
know another presentation where there was complete units in the bedrooms here we don't have that um
And it talks about the transient nature of our development.
I can only go from experience.
And I keep saying this over and over.
When I moved to Fairmont, I lived in a smaller place.
You have to develop roots somewhere, right?
Not everyone could start off with a 3,000 square foot house.
It doesn't matter what neighborhood.
You have to develop roots.
When you start young, eventually you'll build up to maybe having a family.
Well, it starts somewhere.
And this is somewhere for some people.
Or it's the circle of life where some people don't want to own a single family home anymore, but want to remain in their neighborhood and they want to age out gracefully.
Well, this is a really nice place to age out gracefully.
They may have some family members who are suffering from like health issues, but they don't want to live with their parents for some reasons, but they want to live close by.
and this is another opportunity but if you just have single family home after single family home
and there's an affordability issue or the inability to find things that make sense for you
based on your stage in life well then neighborhoods die and and we don't and that's part of the reason
of why you have this type of planning uh in general so um and then finally uh in terms of
trash management and maintenance um it was also referenced we actually have a plan we showed that
we put like outdoor trash storage receptacles at the community's request and if the board feels so
inclined do by way of proviso commercial trash pickup to um encourage us to have additional days
to remove trash from the premises thank you very much can i say one thing can i respond please
Well, I mean, maybe I think we're good.
Planning Commission.
Amy Boyd with the Planning Commission.
This testimony is applicable to 45, 47, and 49 West Seymour Street.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning at this location from the residential single-family attached RTA1.
The properties have histories of multifamily use, but the density is inconsistent with the surrounding area and not the least minimum.
The appellant has demonstrated that there are unique physical circumstances or conditions
of the properties that would require parking provided in the rear yard and that the parking
ratio not be adhered to.
However, the appellant has not shown that there are unique physical conditions or circumstances
that would prevent the property from being used in conformance with the zoning code for
side yard depth.
The Planning Commission recommends the Board grant the requested variances for multifamily
with proviso, max three units, and grant the requested variances for surface parking and
required rear yard and parking ratio, but deny the requested variance for side yard depth.
Thank you very much. Alan, we've had a lot of testimony, and what I want to do is hold this to
next week at 2 p.m. on Wednesday. We will talk about it in the executive session earlier in
the morning, and we will vote on it at 2 p.m. Thank you. Thank you. Can I ask just one last
question? Is there any reason that in the future that these units couldn't be converted to condos
for sale. I mean, there's no legal reason. That's just my question.
I mean, there's no legal reason and that's that's that just my question. Yes. Thank you very much. Thank you.
OK, so number eight, MI 2024 006 403 3400 Spruce Street. Ira Caldwood is the attorney.
they will be coming back in as a panel sir
hello um mr bergman and chairman bergman and members of the board my name is uh ira carterwood
Could you spell your name for the stenographer?
Ira, I-R-A, Carterwood, K-A-U-D-E-R-W-O-O-D.
I'm an associate general counsel for the University of Pennsylvania Health System.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
And our vice chair has a few questions for you, sir.
Good afternoon, counsel.
Do you agree to read another refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?
have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits as needed to proceed with this case
five days in advance of this hearing i have thank you counsel please proceed and you may share your
screen and counsel i would mention too also that the southwest philadelphia district services has
sent a letter of support and council member gautier has taken a business of non-opposition
yes i would like to uh i could just thank you very much i can just uh go through these really
quickly. I have with me Derek Tausch, who's the university architect, the health system architect,
and he can present a very brief presentation on the two variances that are required.
Here, let me get this. Why don't you share your screen? Let's see. Share. Or do you want to have
the architect share his screen? Yeah. You know what, Derek, could we bring Derek on, please?
What is the name of the architect?
Derek Tausch.
They should be coming back in as a panel shortly.
Good afternoon, everybody.
Can you hear me?
I can.
could you please state your name and spell for this scenario yes sir uh derek tash d-e-r-e-k-t-a-s-c-h
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes sir
could you please put the presentation up and council will you start the presentation of what's
up and then he'll pick up on the technicalities of it sure we have uh we have two uh required
variances here one we're placing uh building identification why don't we do this council let
Derek, could you please go on the screen and put the presentation up?
Yeah, just should be showing.
You see it now?
We see it now.
Great.
Counsel, you can see it too, I think?
Yes, I can.
Okay, why don't you proceed?
Again, the two required variances are for a building.
They're both for a building identification sign on the Silverstein Pavilion on 34th Street.
The one is because the sign is going to be above the second floor window sill, and the second one is the size of the sign.
And Derek can explain to you what happened here and why the sign, actually an old sign, had to be removed in this new sign as proposed.
Derek, use your screen so you can, as you talk about something, we can look at it, okay?
Yeah. Do you see the screen now, right?
And do you want to see my cursor?
We do.
Okay. Excellent.
So, just starting here with the aerial view for orientation, I think most people are probably familiar with where the hospital is. Hospital University of Pennsylvania. This is Spruce Street before it becomes South Street further to the east. This is 34th Street. This is 33rd Street.
This is the original Hospital University of Pennsylvania campus,
especially known as HUP, now somewhat known as HUP West.
I think most are probably familiar.
A few years ago, we completed a large hospital expansion project
with what we call the pavilion.
So here at the left side of the screen,
you can kind of see the copper-colored hospital tower.
One of the critical elements of building this new hospital tower
was to maintain full circulation for staff or hospital operation, especially for safety, security,
all these kinds of things. And so one of the components of the hospital tower that was built
last during this long, extensive construction project was a bridge, which extends here. So
was a um bridge which extends here so you can see my cursor the bridge across 33rd 34th
you can see my cursor, the bridge across there.
and then also kind of extends across the face here to a position where it could plug into the
building so um within the hop west complex um it's one address but it's truthfully about 14
buildings built over 120 years or so um the building in question right now at this corner here
is the Silverstein Pavilion building.
So the Silverstein Building,
and I'll just continue here just for orientation,
and then I'll take you through some street-level photos.
Silverstein Building was built and completed in 1972.
In 1978, it was named for the Silverstein family
in honor of Louis Silverstein,
who was a major contributor and supporter
of the hospital health system
and the university around that era.
sign went up with that name in 1978 and remained there until the point of the sort of the end of
the construction project here when we needed to erect this piece of the bridge so i'll move
so this is a little blurry we looked back through our records trying to find a better photo and this
was a historic google earth photo they were able to find there was at the time the emergency
department used to be here there's now a secondary entrance into the hospital the emergency department