ZBA Hearing - April 5, 2023

which really were a drive aisle and parking space would be used up the space that I showed you that

was in purple, which brings us to today. So we seek a variance to keep these three parking spaces

by removing the one parking space and not providing the space dimensions for commercial

on the street, as I mentioned. We believe the hardship exists in many facets. We have vested

rights, we believe, and we justifiably relied upon zoning permits one and two, or by especially

Number two, Elle and I approved the parking on site and justifiably relied upon that determination moving forward with finalizing the design and obtaining the building permit.

The property is a little peculiarly configured to both would have allowed both parking or commercial spaces.

The current conditions of past use, the proposed use, the surrounding use create not necessary hardship.

and that parking is scarce in the area therefore needed and more so as we'll hear from some

witnesses existing commercial spaces in the area are substantially vacant and therefore would not

be viable here yet we don't believe by granting this variance to remove the commercial space

that it will create any adverse impacts on the public health safety welfare and traffic and

especially as to traffic i would know the streets department approved the design and configuration

and uh and i would know that the immediate neighbors want this parking um as again parking

is scarce and valuable especially on this block uh yes we did meet uh with old city district

who's issued a letter of opposition um of course not pleased with the vote not quite understand the

vote uh we did had nearby neighbors attempt to join the meeting but could not get in

So they subsequently sent letters saying that they were in support of the application and the media neighbors being the most aggrieved neighbors, we believe, would have the loudest and most pervasive voice.

But under the rules of the OCD, they said they had to be in attendance in order for that OCD to acknowledge the vote.

So they'll be here today.

So in any event, the nearby neighbors are here now and being such that you're immediately and directly aggrieved.

Mr. Patterson, what was the vote?

I'll show you.

I don't know if I have the letter here.

I know you mentioned it in the intro.

I'd have to find it, Mr. Chairman.

Okay, thank you.

Here it is. Hold on. There we go.

Okay.

Okay. So with that, I'd like to, if you could promote Justin Vesey, my first witness.

Can you swear him in, please?

Mr. Vesey, could you state your name and spell it for the court reporter?

Chair, I don't see anyone with the last name Vesey. We have a Mr. Itzkowitz.

yeah he's with ocd um is um neil we'd also like to promote if they're there mr neil campbell

or frank swift barry belski and oleg sokolov all at one time oh sure

are they neighbors they're all meeting neighbors they all the same comments so we can have maybe

how about for the neighbors why don't you wait till i call for a virtual audience okay

Okay, sure. I was going to use that as a guess and say, here's one, and they all follow with it.

So, is Mr. Veazey there?

He just raised his hand.

Okay, fine. Thank you.

Mr. Veazey, can you please unmute yourself or wait for the chair?

Hello?

Hi, Mr. Veazey. Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?

Justin Veazey, J-U-S-T-I-N-V-E-A-S-E-Y.

Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing about the truth?

Yes.

Proceed.

Hi, Justin. You've heard my presentation and testimony. Would you agree that it's true and accurate?

Yes.

And you would adopt that as if it were your own?

Yes.

And you've heard the zoning permit history. That is accurate, especially as to spending the time and money to design and build the building with the parking included?

Yes.

um and um you chose parking why so i chose parking um because originally that was

so i chose parking um because originally that was what was required in the building when i purchased

it um and it was approved and again we went through this process as ron mentioned

i was talking to the immediate neighbors that's what i'm getting oh yes yes yep i spoke with i

spent a lot of time on site talking to all the immediate neighbors and even the councilman has

been involved from the start so i'm not really i know there was mention of a letter of support i'm

not really sure as to why, because he's been in conversations with me since day one on the spot.

Okay. Well, there's anything else you'd like to add? If not, then we'll move on, Mr. Chairman.

All right. Questions from the board. No, Mr. Chairman. Yes, Mr. Chairman. Who's Justin? He

didn't introduce himself. What is he? Oh, sorry. Sorry about that. Yes. Justin,

please identify your relationship with the project. So I'm Justin Beesey, and I'm a partner

and BVG Property Group, who's the developer on the project.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Is there any questions?

All right, questions or comments

from the virtual audience?

Chair, we have Mr. Itzkowicz.

Okay.

Please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.

Hi, could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?

Good afternoon, Mr. Chair. My name is Job, J-O-B as in boy, Itzkowicz, I-T-Z-K-O-W-I-T-Z.

I'm the executive director of the Old City District.

Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

I do.

Proceed, sir.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I just want to provide some additional factual background on Mr. Patterson's

recitation of the permit history, we have no dispute with. So I just want to make that clear

to the board. We, there is one thing that I wanted to correct. We have a process for registering for

our meetings. That process was sent to Mr. Patterson in advance. People need to register

by the same day. This has been going back since the beginning of the virtual meetings. We didn't

have anyone trying to get in later that day. We did receive those emails subsequently, but our

rules are posted about who can vote uh and that's how that vote worked out um yeah like that's that's

thanks ron um so uh the only other thing i wanted to add i'm not a voting member i'm an administrator

for the organization uh but there are two things the board did support this change to the code

several years ago requiring commercial corridors to be commercial in nature um and that's what the

hang up is on the refusal. The other thing that happened at this same time is that the board

advocated successfully for the elimination of parking minimums in this area. So there is no

requirement for there to be parking on site, nor was there when they originally signed a lease

with 304 race. The only other thing I wanted to mention was, you know, it is escaping. Oh,

with regards to scarcity, I know Mr. Patterson expressed an issue of scarcity. We have conducted

two parking studies over the last five years, one in 2017, one in 2022. Our parking studies

revealed that there's only about 55% occupancy in our lots. And in fact, that doesn't even include

the monthly permit lot right across the street underneath the Ben Franklin Bridge.

So those are the only things I just wanted to add to put in the rest of the picture. But like I said,

I'm not a voting member. I may have a board member who's on the line also, but I'm not sure

if he was able to join. All right. Thank you very much for taking the time to call. Who else in the

virtual audience? Mr. Campbell, Mr. Swift, Mr. Belsky, or Mr. Sokolov? Here we have William

Murr. And William Murr. Sure. Thank you. Sure. Okay. Mr. Murr, please unmute yourself and wait

for the chair i have unmuted could you state your name please and spell for the court reporter

sure my name is william muir w-i-l-l-i-a-m-n-u-h-r right do you swear or affirm tell

truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do are you a neighbor i am proceed uh my interest

The project is I live at 240 Race Street, a series of eight townhomes adjacent to Patty's Pub on the south side of Race Street between 2nd and 3rd.

And we've seen, obviously, a lot of growth in the area, which is a good thing, and new residential coming in, the large project up around 4th and 5th, on Race between 5th and 4th.

we have the large building that's going to be opposite across the street from

large building uh that's going to be opposite across the street from uh from this new project

and uh i can tell you my concern that i see on a daily basis when i uh both when i get leave for

example this morning leaving to go to work there was a vehicle partially blocking our common drive

it's not a rare occurrence and as i walk my dog every day and as we walk through the neighborhood

we certainly see um a not insignificant amount of empty commercial storefront space

we do seem to have a lack of parking in the area and as we bring more and more uh residential in

it seems as though it makes more sense to provide the parking to these people coming into the area

as opposed to providing uh more commercial which we seem to have a plethora of so

You're in favor of the project, sir?

I am very much in favor of the project and of the parking in particular.

Okay.

Thank you for taking the time to call.

Who else in the virtual audience?

Chair, we have Mr. Campbell.

Mr. Campbell, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.

I'm unmuted.

Yes.

Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter?

neil campbell n-e-i-l c-a-m p as in paul b as in boy e-l-l right do you swear or affirm

tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth

i do sir yes are you a neighbor

i'm the immediate neighbor to the west i'm the owner of race street cafe 208 210 race street

Sure. Proceed, sir.

I'm in favor of the project.

I, as some of the others here, have noticed the increase in population density in Old City and the parking problems have come with it.

We have a no parking zone in front of our cafe that is constantly packed with illegally parked cars.

And I could see that same thing happening around the immediate area.

And then within the immediate area, only maybe five doors to the west of us, there are two retail spaces still open.

And I think that's indicative of what's going on in Old City right now.

The need for parking outweighs the need for retail.

We've had a great relationship with Justin as he moves through this process.

We're going to be working to develop some outside dining behind our restaurant after this process gets completed.

So I'm in favor of the project.

Thank you, Mr. Campbell, for calling in.

Anyone else in the virtual audience?

Chair, we have Mr. Swift.

Mr. Swift, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.

Hello.

Hi.

Could you state your name as spelled for the court reporter?

Frank Swift, F-R-A-N-K-S-W-I-F-T.

Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?

Yes.

Are you a neighbor, Mr. Swift?

An immediate neighbor to his south.

Are you in favor of the project?

Yes.

Okay.

Mr. Swift, thank you very much for calling in.

Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?

there we have jeffrey brown okay mr brown could you mr brown could you state your name and spell

for the court reporter yes jeffrey brown j-e-f-f-r-e-y-b-r-o-w-n do you swear or affirm to tell

the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes i do are you a neighbor sir yes i am okay

could you are you in favor of this project or against it i'm in favor of the development of

the project, I'm against the variance being requested for the parking. I believe that this

is an opportunity for this long, stagnant site to be developed into a beautiful building. But it's

very important that we follow the code requirements for the commercial space. I disagree that there's

a scarcity of parking. As Mr. Iskovitz said, we're using about 55% of the available parking in a

survey recently completed, and that doesn't include the hundreds of spots that are available

one block away under the Benjamin Franklin Bridge. And I think a project like this, in order

to resonate in this neighborhood should have ground floor activity not parking spaces i also

don't understand why there's any hardship in having to change plans from what was approximately

1300 square foot i'm going to object to that that's illegal so sorry so why don't we just

concentrate on

to say

Mr. Brown

Mr. Brown listen you're in favor of the project

but you don't want the parking

is that right

Mr. Brown you're muted

Mr. Brown, you're muted.

Okay.

Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?

I have a question for Mr. Brown, if you don't mind.

I try to get him unmuted.

Mr. Brown.

Sorry about that.

Mr. Brown, please unmute yourself.

Hi, Mr. Brown.

Yes, sir.

Counsel has a question for you.

Yes, sir.

Hi, Mr. Brown.

You have the building across the street that's in the photograph.

I hear it's address.

It's 205 Ray Street.

Okay. And you have parking in your building, right?

We have parking that met the code requirements in the basement of our building.

We have 28 spaces. We have 145 apartments.

Okay. Thank you.