Are you a neighbor?
Are you in favor of the project or against?
I'm in favor.
Thank you very much.
I did attend a last CBA, but I think the lawyer mentioned we were at a community meeting as well, and it was very much in favor of the developer with us on a lot of our requests, and we thought that it was going to pass, so I wasn't sure how to raise my hand, so I wanted to make sure I attended.
Thank you very much for taking this time and calling in. Is there anyone else in the first audience?
Here we have Charles Richardson. They have been unmuted and allowed to speak.
Proceed, Mr. Richardson. For the last time today. I hope so.
Charles Richardson, Office of Councilwoman Bass. Just reiterating the fact that the Councilwoman
supports the granting of this variance. Thank you very much. Is there anyone else in the virtual
audience planning commission excuse me chair i'm sorry the hands were up i was just having trouble
unmuting myself okay we have sean butler i'm mr butler state your name and spell for the court
reporter please uh my name is sean s-h-a-w-n butler b-u-t-l-e-r you swear or affirm to tell
the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth? Yes, sir. Are you a neighbor? Yes. Are you in
favor or against? I'm in favor. Thank you so much for taking the time to call and tell us that. Is
there anyone else in the virtual audience? Mayor, we have someone with the phone number ending at
1655. They have been unmuted and allowed to speak. All right, could you state your name,
please and spell for the court stenographer.
Caller with
the phone number ending at 1655.
Please unmute yourself.
Chair, they've been unmuted on our side.
They're not unmuted.
Is there anybody else with their hand up?
Chair, I see no one else at this time.
Planning Commission.
I have a question.
We already have
a testimony on the record?
Ryan, I don't remember.
Hillary may have it. There was
prior testimony from you.
We'll stand by that.
Okay. Thank you.
And Mr. Chair, just for
the record, the prior
testimony, sorry, give
me one second. The prior testimony
from the Planning
Commission, I believe, was
in opposition.
That's correct.
Thank you.
And my 20, 23, 0, 0, 3, 3, 4, 8, 51, 20, Marion Street.
I vote yes.
Thomas Holland, my vote is yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
James Snell Shahid, my vote is yes.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Have a great day.
All right, you too.
Number seven, MI 2023-000484-2426, Cedar Street. Justin Crick is the attorney.
2426 Cedar Street.
Justin Crick is the attorney.
There was a meeting held 425-73
by the old Richmond Civic Association.
We do not have that as of yet.
Streets has approved the street.
We do have the streets approval.
Chair Justin Crick is coming back in as a panelist now.
Hi, Mr. Crick.
Could you state your name and spell, please, for the court stenographer?
Yes, Justin Crick, J-U-S-T-I-N.
Last name is K-R-I-K.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, tell the truth, nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client in relationship to the property?
Yes, my client is Gabriela Flores Rabinowitz.
She is the record owner of the property, and she is on the call.
Our vice chair has just a few questions for you.
Good afternoon, counsel.
So do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to his accuracy?
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that are needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
I will state that they were sent on Sunday in anticipation of an RCO letter of support based on correspondence, but that is when they were submitted.
Okay, thank you. Please proceed and share your screen.
Thank you very much.
members of the board we are here today on a variance seeking off-street parking
at the property at 2426 cedar street the the applicant is seeking to basically re-establish
a parking garage that existed and prior to her purchase of the property the applicant purchased
this property in 2018 the historic record for the property shows that there was a a front loading
garage with access off of Cedar Street that was removed and converted into first floor
living space by a prior owner back in 1987.
As you can see, the creation of this one interior space did generate the refusal as off-street
parking in this district is prohibited unless access from a shared driveway or rear alley,
while at this time we are looking for access from the proposed street frontage.
We do not know what the comment is, or I believe it was just an errant leftover from the examiner,
but that's why this referral looks like, the refusal looks as the way it does,
but it is simply just the refusal for the front street parking on Cedar Street.
The property, for geographic purposes, is between East Hagrid and East Boston,
but as you can see, it has a much wider frontage than many of the other on that block,
and that is because you can see here this one-story portion of the real estate
that allows for the wider frontage and that is where the
garage was previously housed and where the owner would like to replace the
garage door for the off-street parking. So again in 1987 a permit was filed for
the renovation of the removal of the garage door and installation of the
single door and side windows. When Ms. Flores-Ravenowitz purchased the property
in 2018, it was represented to her by the seller and agents that this property
did allow for the reconversion back. She realized after the
purchase that that would require a variance and that is what we're seeking
today. So this would remove one off-street parking to allow for one
off-street parking. We are showing property views of the street so you can
see that it is a one-way street so that in either case there would only be
cars coming from one direction and a need to visibly keep an eye out for
cars coming from the one direction which would be this way from East Boston
Street. The plans show that the curb cut would be placed in front of the house
allowing for the turning radiuses that are shown here we did obtain streets
approval which is attached and I will go through that but the proposed rendering
would show the the garage back in place of where those two doors were and the
garage located along this side of the property again we did complete the
driveway sightline distance measurements and angles showing for the one-way
Street and obtained the street's approval for this as a prerequisite provided we obtain
this variance.
This is a very straightforward application for the off-street parking.
With that I'll show you an exemplar page of the deed, copy of the posting, and then
and then this is where we get into actually i'll jump to the end if you don't mind
this is where we get into actually I'll jump to the end if you don't mind.
just to show that we do have a zero tax bill on the property but if i may um we met with the
the coordinating rco the old richmond civic association on april um 25th i believe and
there was a big turnout we sent notices and proof of mailing is here to 193
neighbors near neighbors for this property and there was no opposition at that meeting
i have here some correspondence from right around that time where i communicated with the rco you
know thanked them for orchestrating last night expressing that and confirming that there was
no opposition looking for a letter of approval or non-opposition i have followed up several times
over the last several months to which no response has been received at this time. That has included
voicemail and telephone. So with that, we believe that since there was no opposition
and that the literal interpretation of the zoning code creates a hardship where this
property did have a previous use that allowed for this on this block and that the creation of the
garage and the removal of one off-street parking for this is the minimal necessary to uh to affect
uh to provide the offered relief uh we would hope that the if we don't know at this time whether or
not the rco has submitted something a further communication was put out there today seeking
some sort of answer but we would hope that the board can move forward on the representation
that there was no opposition at this meeting that was well attended i do have miss uh flores
Rabinowitz available to adopt my testimony okay and if you could you state your name please and
spell for the court stenographer dear Gabriela Flores Rabinowitz has been unmuted and allowed
to speak hi this is Gabriela Flores Rabinowitz g-a-b-r-i-e-l-a-f-l-o-r-e-s-r-a-b-i-n-o-w-i-t-z
right do you swear or firm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
I do. Proceed, counsel. Ms. Flores-Rabinowitz, have you heard my testimony to the board today?
I have. Would you agree that my testimony was true and correct to the best of your knowledge and
belief? I do. And if you had the, would you adopt my statements today as if they were your own
testimony? I would. Thank you. Questions from the board? No.
questions or comments from the virtual audience
here i see no hands at this time all right planning commission
so ron bednar city planning this property is indicated for residential use on a city plan or
adopted district plan recommends no change the existing zoning at this location applicants
hardship is not supported with evidence of unique physical circumstances or condition of the property
would prevent it from being used
and conforming the requirements of the code.
Therefore, we recommend the request of variance
not be granted.
Counsel, what I'm going to do is
before we vote, let's wait one more
See if we can get a letter from the
RCO. I want to
get them on paper if we can. If not, we're
going to vote. Thank you.
We'll do this next week.
2 p.m. Hillary?
Mr. Chair. July 26th,
at 2 p.m um 26 2 p.m very good i may uh respectfully i may only be able to be via phone
that day but that's fine yeah you we we won't you know we'll no more testimony this is closed
except for a possible letter from the rco is that right hillary that is correct mr chair
okay would i be able to reserve the right to if the rco puts on other testimony
or is it just a letter they they would only be submitting a letter there's there's it's not it's
not a resumption hearing we're only holding the vote for one week excellent understood okay thank
you and number eight mi 2023 000 397 734 jefferson street meredith ferlicker is the attorney
chair meredith farler girl is coming back in as a panelist now okay so we're going to hear this
case we're going to resume it july 26 at 3 30 p.m for any additional public testimony in light of
a discrepancy between the hearing date on record on july 12th and the hearing notice that was
On record, on July 12th, and the hearing notice that was distributed.
distributed.
And Meredith, could you state your name and spell for the court stenographer, please?
Sure thing.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, members of the board.
Meredith Ferlger, F-E-R-L-E-G-E-R, with Dilworth Paxson, 1500 Market Street, Suite 3500E.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client and a relationship to this property?
Certainly, my client is Turpin LLC, the owner of the property, and our representatives of that entity are Gary Levin and Dave Ostrow, one of them.
I noticed we have a letter of support from APN.
And our vice chair has just a few questions for you.
Good afternoon, counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
I do, yes.
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that are needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
I sure did.
Thank you. Please proceed and share your screen.
The board should at this point see my exhibits up on the screen.
As mentioned, the proposal before the board today requests a new six-unit multifamily dwelling in
North Philadelphia, just east of the Yorktown neighborhood and just west of Old Kensington.
In your packet at tab 13, you will note a letter of support from the coordinating RCO, APM.
The board has my exhibits, which contain 14 exhibits.
The zoning map shown here at Exhibit 7 shows that the properties at 734 and 736 Jefferson Street sit right at the corner of North 8th Street and West Jefferson Street, which is just about a half of a mile east of Broad Street.
The properties, as you see, are zoned RSA 5, and they abut several other zoning classifications, including RM1 directly to the rear, ICMX across North 8th Street, and CMX2 directly across West Jefferson Street.