presentation today yes true and accurate to the best of your knowledge yes adopted as your own
testimony yes thank you very much i have nothing further mr chick questions from the board yeah
Yeah, my question is, so the 8 p.m. close by is not relevant either?
No, Mondays and Wednesdays, our hours are 3 to 8.
Thursdays are 9 to 5.
Fridays are 10 to 2.
And Saturdays are 9 to noon.
I think I know why that was put there.
There were two at the community board meeting I was at.
it was me and a restaurant that was trying to move to the second floor and i believe those were
in regards to them yeah i'm living on the second floor so i think that it had to do with the other
person the restaurant that presented on the same night sounds like it might have been an error
thank you did she adopt your testimony burn she did yep she did everything she was supposed
Do you have questions from the board?
I have no questions.
Just to be clear, this is primarily to accommodate one additional practitioner in your general practice office?
For the group practice, that's correct.
And then for the space, what would be the max that fits in that space?
well there's only a certain amount of um there's only a certain amount of um of offices for
examinations so one two there's four examination rooms now uh so i would assume four but
the you know anyway i answered your question
anything else
questions or comments from our attorney
none of this time Mr. Chair
questions or comments from the audience
questions or comments from the virtual audience
yes Chair I have a hand up from
Francis Arabia
I've allowed them to speak
I could you please state your name and spell
for this stenographer
hello my name is francis arabia f-r-a-n-c-e-s a-r-a-b-i-a do you swear or affirm to tell
the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes are you a neighbor yes please proceed
um so i live on the uh third floor with my uh wife and son and i just wanted to
clarify a note that we do live on the third floor that that is all um residence
and are you in favor of the project absolutely yes all right all right thank you thank you very
much for calling we appreciate it is there anyone else in the virtual audience no further hands mr
chair planning commission amy boyd with the planning commission the comprehensive plan
recommends no change in zoning at this location from the existing residential single family rsa5
the proposed use of group medical and dental office and health practitioner was allowed in
the previous c1 zoning designation um and in 2009 this property was granted a variance for
C1 uses, and it has a history of commercial and other uses. The Planning Commission recommends
that the board grant the requested variance for group health practitioner. Thank you. MI 2024-006-532-1141
1141 south 13th street i vote yes with a proviso first floor only michael johns my vote is yes
South 13th Street. I vote yes with a proviso. First floor.
with proviso cheryl gaston my vote is yes with proviso tenetta graham my vote is yes with proviso
hi owen my vote is yes with proviso ishmael shahi my vote is yes with proviso thank you counsel yep
thank you mr phillips
mi 2024 006 571 901 leland street michael phillips is the attorney phillips sorry we had
you here this long and sorry that we interrupted with a little smoke and fire and things of that
nature but could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
M-I-C-H-A-E-L-P-H-I-L-L-I-P-S with Claire Harrison, 1835 Market Street, Suite 1400, Philadelphia PPA 19102.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
We have unanimous support from the United Franciville Civic Association and non-opposition from Councilmember Young.
Would you identify your client and relationship to the property?
Yes, I am here on behalf of the property owner, High Top Leland LLC, and I have with me here today Ryan Lobauer, who is an in-house architect with High Top Real Estate and Development.
Our vice chair has a few questions, sir.
Good evening, counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?
You know, then, all the required documents and exhibits that's needed to proceed with this case, obviously, in advance of this hearing.
Yes, I have.
thank you council please proceed you already shared your screen thank you members of the board
we are here seeking a variance at the property at 901 Leland Street to convert the ground floor
which is required to have commercial uses in the CMX two and a half zoning district into two
residential units. This originally was a by right permitted project with 52 residential units and
ground floor commercial as required in the CMX two and a half district. And I'll orient you here as
screen. What you see outlined in red is the property at 901 Leland. And really the crux of
our argument and the basis for our variant is that, as you'll notice, the CMX 2.5 zoning
designation appears to be intended for the Ridge Ave commercial corridor. However, 901 Leland,
as well as the one property immediately to the northwest at 907 Leland, are the only two
properties that do not have any frontage along Ridge Ave. They only front along Leland. And as
you can see as well, right directly in front of the property, Leland is a narrow street. There is
no commercial activity whatsoever. Our intent, however, was to proceed with a buy-write project.
So at first we proposed vacant commercial use, and that was then changed to artist lofts with
the thought process that maybe this will yield a tenant on the ground floor who wants to come and
you know, work and also admittedly for the convertibility in case that was not feasible,
that it would be easiest to convert those sort of units to a residential use.
I will just continue to move quickly through the project. This is an outline of the building
as constructed. Here are some aerial views and you will see the Ridge Ave commercial corridor
as well as Girard Ave. However, our property has no frontage along Ridge. We only front Leland
Street, which, again, is a much more narrow street. Here is the front of the building as
constructed. It is a six-story building. Here is just some shots of, you know, this is Leland.
We, and here, you know, by contrast, this is the Ridge Ave commercial corridor with all the,
you know, commercial properties. Here are some interior photos of the units. It's pretty much
just, you know, there's a shell. However, there is also a kitchen and there is a bathroom. There
will need to be some convertibility that Mr. Lobar will speak to. One of the units will be an ADA
unit, and we have a unanimous approval from UFCA 14-0, and they expressed that the neighborhood
actually did not prefer to have commercial here and would want these two units to be
converted over to residential. We have the floor plans here. Both units are approximately 500.
We have the floor plans here. Both units are approximately 550 square feet each. This is as they are laid out as currently artist studios. However, you will see there is a bathroom and a small kitchen.
The only difference really between these units and the other units is they do have direct access to the street.
And unfortunately, because the property has already been developed, these individuals have to go into the building to get their mail and then leave the building and go back into their units.
There's no direct access into the corridor of the building.
But beyond that, these two units for a total of 54 should fit seamlessly.
And we believe that there is a clear hardship based on the orientation along Leland without any Bridge Ave frontage.
I would like to ask Ryan Lobauer if you could be sworn in and agreed or without my testimony.
Sir, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Ryan Lobauer, R-Y-A-N-L-O-H-B-A-U-E-R.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Proceed, counsel.
Ryan, did you hear my testimony a moment ago?
yes and uh has high top been able to find a tenant or a artist lofts use at this uh property no
do you agree to adopt my testimony as if it were your own yes do you agree that everything i stated
was true and correct to the best of your knowledge information and belief yes no further questions
for mr lobauer counsel didn't you say you're going to have him talk about bathrooms or something
one of the units will need to be upgraded to make sure that it's in compliance with the type a
ada requirements so we will do that as it um as part of the conversion questions from the board
yes what kind of efforts did you make is there someone here to testify
about what kind of efforts you actually made to try to rent these as um more commercial type space
so high top real estate development also has a full service brokerage arm these were uh listed
with the brokerage. They had, I believe, the MLS number. We were trying to find commercial
tenants, and I believe there was literally zero interest from anybody other than people who
wanted to live here and do a live work, but that was not an option. Brian, can you elaborate on
that, or do you agree with what I said? That's correct. Do you have anything further to add to
that how long how long did we do this who did we try to market these to it's been over a year i
believe this building opened probably a year and a half ago um the permit was pulled i believe with
the building permit um and it was occupied towards the end of 22 originally that was the tco and then
we had the finished um uh last year we began thinking about whether or not we could convert
these in March of 24, however, continued to try to give it another half year to see if we could
find anybody. And then it was finally in September that we decided to pursue the variant. So to
Ryan's point, that was approximately a full year and a half. And the rest of the building is
occupied? I believe there is only one available unit in the building right now. 51 and 52 are
are occupied okay thank you are there studios other studios in the building i know that's not
part of this but there are some see if there's a demand for studio apartments yes there are some
in the building it's a mix of one and two bedrooms as well but um yes are there any other like public
amenities in the building for the residents uh i believe we have a roof deck the roof deck there's
a lounge on the first floor are these tenants going to have same access to those amenities
same exactly the only difference is just that um they can't walk down a hole through there
and then just because from the images and the rendering that you showed the ridge avenue side
did have like a traditional storefront on the facade and i was wondering how is there going
to be any construction done to sort of adjust the facade now that it's being converted to
individual units so um that ridge that's actually not our building we don't have any frontage along
ridge avenue and i'll um just quickly so our building is outlined in red so there is a small
building that um you know abuts us and fronts ridge ave but we do not have any we only front
uh leland and so there were changes show the leland street facade yeah you just it went quickly
So, it's these two units that you see with the red outline that...
And then they would go in this main door here to access any of the other amenities as well as to pick up any mail or packages.
Correct.
And then, was there any thought about putting different doors on and putting mail slots in the tenant's doors so that they didn't have to?
And then was there any thought about putting different...
No, we didn't discuss that, but I mean, we could consider it. I'm sure there's some benefit to having the extra light. There's always that tradeoff with privacy when you have that much kind of storefront glazing.
But, um, um, and then I think my other question for these two units is trash.
Like, are they just going to be putting their trash out on their own on the sidewalk on
trash day?
No, we have a commercial trash pickup and there's a trash room that they will have access
to in the building.
And the other part of the, they may actually prefer to have the access to the mail room
through the exterior door, just because actually package delivery and package security is a
major uh component of um you know a major amenity for for people living in these buildings just to
be clear to deal with trash they don't have to take their trash out of their unit come into the
main door and then put it in the trash room where does the trash room in relation to that main
entrance it's uh on the first floor and there's actually a separate if we can go to that first
floor. Do we have the first one? The package room is actually directly behind one of the
units. Mail here, lounge, and then... I think the trash room is very hard to read. I just
trash room go back up yeah it's like above the lounge there it is there trash room and electric
correct so it's it's accessed through that uh the main corridor and then is there
security in this building or uh there's no um front desk if that's what you're asking but we
do have cameras and um uh keypad access okay any other questions from the board questions from our
attorney hillary embers not at this time questions or comments from the audience
questions or comments from the virtual audience
i do not see any further hands mr chair any commission
Amy Boyd with the Planning Commission. The comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning at this location from the existing commercial mixed-use CMX 2.5. However, Leland is a narrow street on a residential area with no other commercial uses nearby, so the conversion to residential would be appropriate. The Planning Commission recommends that Board grant the requested variance for no ground floor commercial.
Thank you. MI 2024-006-571-901 Leland Street, I vote yes.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes.
Tanada Graham, my vote is yes.
Tywin, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you very much.
Thank you. Thank you for waiting so long.
It's a pleasure to be back.
We're going to take a five-minute break, and then we're coming back,
And we really only have one case left. It'll just be a matter of going through it. One. Okay. Two.
Is there anyone in the rest of the audience whose 2 p.m. case has not been called?
I do not see any hands, Mr. Chair.
Yeah, don't worry about it.
Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Bill Bergman, and I will be chairing this meeting of the Philadelphia Zoning Board.
With me is our Vice Chair, Ismael Shaheed.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Our Board Member, Cheryl L. Gaston.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Our Board Member, Tenetta Graham.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Our Board Member, Michael Johns.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
And our Board Member, Taya Nguyen, will be right back.
Also present is our Attorney, Hillary Emerson, and Ian Haggerty, our Executive Director of Zoning.
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