mi 2022 zero zero five four six zero zero zero three i vote yes
Thomas Holloman, my vote is no.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shahe, my vote is yes.
Thank you, counsel. Stay one, please.
Number 12, MI 2022-003-166-4847-49,
Haverford Avenue. Alan Notkinson is the attorney.
Haverford Avenue. Alan Nockamson is the attorney.
No RCO letter that I see. Is that correct, Hillary?
Mr. Chair, I think we skipped a case. It's also Mr. Nockamson's case number 10.
Oh, I'm sorry. Let me do that one first.
oh I'm sorry that that's my mistake number 10 MI 2022 005 414 1843 East Hazard Street
Mr. Nockamson is the attorney non-opposition from the East Kensington Neighbors Association
letter of non-opposition from council member Squilla
Mr. Nockamson you already been sworn just state your name for the record
Alan Nockmson, A-L-A-N, last name Nockmson, N-O-C-H-U-M-S-O-N.
Could you identify your client in a relationship to the property?
Yes, the owner of the property is 1843 Hazard ST-LLC, and in the virtual audience is Gregory
Guzman.
It's representative.
And our vice chair has a few questions.
Good afternoon, counsel.
and do you agree to read the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes. Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits five days in advance
to this hearing? Yes. Please proceed and share your screen. All right, thank you. Thank you.
All right. So I'm here to present 1843 East Hazard Street. This is located in the East
Kensington area or section of Philadelphia. In my presentation, we will review the notice of
refusal, the correspondence from the East Kensington Neighbors Association, which is a
letter of non-opposition. From what I hear, the district council member, Councilmember
Rusquillo is also in non-opposition to this project.
Then we'll review maps of the area, photographs of the property, our plans and drawings, our meeting notice along with proof of mailing of that notice to affected properties,
our application for appeal that we filed to the ZBA, our deed to the property showing that 1843 Hazard ST LLC is the owner of the property and their Certificate of Tax Clearance.
At the conclusion of my presentation, I'll ask Mr. Guzman to virtually raise his hand, be sworn in, and then to answer a few questions to adopt my testimony.
We also have in the virtual audience Alex Duller, the architect for the project.
So if need be, if the board has any technical questions, he's available to answer them if I am unable to.
All right, so our notice of refusal.
So, as you can see, the zoning classification for this property is technically a mix of RSA5 and RMX.
We border IRMX, which kind of goes to our undue hardship here, where there's a mix between IRMX, RM1, and surrounding us, as well as we're next to our commercial corridor.
And we're looking to put a two-family dwelling here.
We have no dimensional variances.
were simply being denied because we have an RSA 5 zoning classification.
And as you can see from the letter of non-opposition,
this was a well-attended meeting by the East Kensington Neighborhood Association
and the members in the audience were overwhelmingly in support of this project.
Again, my understanding is through the introduction
that Council Member Squill is also in non-opposition.
And then you can see maps of the area. This is a zoning map. We're the last property facing Hazard Street with the cross streets of Jasper and Kensington Avenue.
And what you can see also is the fact that we border IRMX and RM1. Right here, this property is 1838-42 East Huntington Street.
What is being proposed there is a 52-unit residential dwelling, in addition to that artisan studios, where the proposed height, which there is a zoning permit for that, of well over 70 feet high.
So again, it would be out of character to have a single family structure border that directly, as well as the RM1 that's behind us.
Plus, we're on a commercial corridor of Kensington Avenue, which we hope to support that commercial corridor.
And you can see that from the map as well right here. We're half a block away from the commercial corridor there.
and then photographs of the property as you can see this is the this is a currently the two-story
uh, IRMX dwelling, uh, that it's going to have.
uh, IRMX dwelling, uh, that's going to have an addition to it, which will equal well over 70
feet in height with 52 residential units and artisan studios as well. And then this is just
our proof of, of posting of our orange notice poster for today's hearing. And then this property
has been vacant, uh, for a significant period of time. Again, Google Earth goes as far back as 2007.
This is the oldest photo we found on Google Earth and showing that this has been a vacant lot.
And for good reason, it's impossible to build something given its zoning classification and its close proximity to this IRMX property.
And then this is East Hazard Street to the right of the property, East Hazard Street to the left of the property.
And as you can see, this is not a straight single family part of the neighborhood.
You can see here and here as well.
And then it's uncommon to have, you know, these three-story structures like we're proposing and we're looking at 2552 Jasper Street, which borders us.
And then our architectural plans and drawings, as you can see, we're looking to put a three-family dwelling.
You can also see through here is a common alleyway where, you know, where each of the unit occupants will have access to the rear yards for trash storage and rear view.
And then this is just our property, you know, floor plan, pretty basic floor plan.
Unit number one is the first floor and lower level.
Unit number two is the second and third floors.
Something else to point out, that in the rear, instead of, what's it called, a window well with a ladder, there will actually, because of the slope of the property, there will actually be steps leading out to this property.
So from a safety perspective, essentially this is the safest way you can have lower level living.
And again, the first floor and lower level unit will have access to this common alleyway as well.
And then the second unit is the second and third floor.
And then our RCO meeting notice, we met with the community on December 14, 127 addresses
were notified of this meeting.
These are the addresses, proof of mailing to those addresses, an application for appeal
showing the 1843 Hazard ST LLC is the owner of this property.
They filed also with the application for appeal a notice of refusal as well as the project
information form, deed to the property, showing that they're the owner of the property, and our
certificate of tax clearance. While they technically owe $394.74, that's for the 2023 tax year as
indicated previously, those taxes are not due until March 31st of 2023. With that being said,
I'm going to share my screen. I would ask that Mr. Guzman virtually raise his hand.
He can be sworn in.
could you state your name and spell it please for the
mute yourself please
mr guzman gregory guzman could you spell it please for the court reporter g-r-e-g-o-r-y
last name g-u-z-m-a-n do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but
the truth. I do. I see you, counsel. Yeah, Mr. Guzman, you heard everything I had to say today
about your zoning matter. Yes. And is it true and correct? Yes, everything's correct. And do you
adopt it as your own testimony? Yes, I do. Thank you. Mr. Knockerson, explain what's going next
door again. Oh, it's an IRMX. Let me, I can show you from here, but it's an IRMX building,
which currently is a two-story structure but is scheduled to have 52 residential units plus
artisan studios and it's going to be a 70 exactly 71 feet four inch high building from the roof line
and that's approved that's approved that's under zoning permit zp-2021-006851 dated
in August of 2021.
Okay, thank you.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I see no hands, Chair.
Planning?
Thank you, sir.
David Fecto, City Planning Commission.
Mr. Chairman and board members,
the comprehensive plan recommends no change
to the residential single-family zoning at this location.
There is no unique physical condition or circumstance
There is no unique physical condition or circumstance that would prevent this 1,087-square-foot lot from being used in conformance with the zoning code.
that would prevent this 1,087.
This is a primarily single-family block.
The City Planning Commission recommends that the Board deny the use variance.
Thank you.
MI 2022-005-414-1843 East Hatcher Street, I vote yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
thank you please stay on number 12 mi 2022 003 166 48 47 to 49 haverford avenue
mr knockamson just state your name for the record alan knockamson a-l-a-n last name
knockamson n-o-c-h-u-m-s-o-n you've already been sworn and i see that we have no rco letter am i
correct uh hillary uh mr chair we have um late received an rco letter for this one it was a
letter of non-opposition from the coordinating rco our our vice chair has a few but identify
your client please oh yes my client is pebble development llc and the virtual audience should
be mustafa lascon it's representative okay and our vice chair has a few questions
do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy i do
have you emailed all the required documents and exhibits into our offices five days in advance
to this hearing i have thank you please proceed and show your screen
hold on one second let me just close the door
All right. So I'm here to present 4847-49 Haverford Abbey.
This is proposed to be a 12-minute apartment building, which the corners are, or the crossing
streets are Haverford 49th and Bella Street. The lot size is 5,160 square, 67 square feet.
During our presentation, we will review the notice of refusal, the correspondence from the Mill Creek
Advisory Council, the coordinating RCO, which is a letter of non-opposition, the zoning history of
this property. So this is a consolidation of essentially three lots. Two of those lots at one
points had seven units, which is essentially half of our lot size. The other half, you know,
if you do a proportion, you know, seven units would be 14 units. So proposing 12 units is not
out of character to the history of this property. We're also located across the street from a CHOP
facility, which you'll see on the maps. You look at photographs of the property, you'll see we're
in a regularly shaped lot so that's why we have a lot of these dimensional refusals um and we'll go
over that as well uh you'll then we'll review the plans um of the project um our rco meeting notice
uh as well as proof of mailing that notice our application for appeal showing that pebble
development llc is the owner of the property and they filed that application for appeal along with
the deed to the property as well, showing proof of ownership, and our certificate of tax clearance.
Again, in the virtual audience is Mustafa Askan. It's the property owner's representative,
as well as Christopher Johnson of 24-7 Design, who can answer any technical questions I may be
unable to answer. So this is the notice refusal. There seems to be a lot of refusals here. They're
more technical in nature and we'll go over them one by one. Uh, but what we're proposing is to
have a 12 unit apartment building, uh, built on a slab, uh, meaning that there will be no basement
living. Um, it will be ADA compliance. Um, and in addition to the 12 dwelling units, we're going to
have 12 accessory bicycle, uh, parking spaces. Um, and we will have a roof, a roof access, uh,
structure um up there but not but only for mechanical access only uh so the roof deck
access structure uh is only being used for that uh so we have the first refusal has to do with
the 12 dwelling units again this is an rsa by property and by definition we would receive that
refusal but you'll see that there's a long history of multi-family use on this property
which in proportion is consistent to its previous use.
The maximum lock-deplied area technically for this property is $4.
The maximum occupied area technically for this property is 4,133 square feet, which is 80% of occupied area, or we're proposing 4,670 square feet of occupied area, which is 90.2%.
As you will see, we're facing three public streets.
We're facing Haverford, we're facing 49th Street, and we're facing Wallace.
So it's an irregular-shaped lot.
There was challenges in terms of meeting the occupied area requirements.
And in addition, you'll read in the letter, too, that it was actually supported by the community to have this occupied area.
Because one of the places we have the occupied area is on Wallace Street, which is towards our rear.
And they wanted lighting and eyes on the street.
And by moving our building structure to essentially the property line on Wall Street, we did create a refusal, but we met the needs of the community in terms of light, lighting and safety precautions.
The third refusal has to do with the fact that we moved the property all the ways to the edge on Wall Street because we're getting refused because we're providing zero rear yard depth where nine feet is required.
But again, just in order to have a functional property or building structure, as well as mean the needs of the community, that was supported by them as well.
The fourth refusal has to do with the fact that part of our building structure on Haverford is slightly set back, while the property that's a few doors down is to the actual property line on Haverford, to the front property line.
We wanted to define where the front door was on Haverford, and we'll go through that part of the presentation so that everyone would know where the front door was.
We slightly set it back from a design aspect, and that was supported by the community as well.
And then the final refusal has to do with the technicality of where the roof deck access structure is.
Because we hug the rear of the property and there's no setback there, technically that roof deck access structure is being used towards the height of the building.
We're 38 feet to the height of the building, but because our roof deck access structure hugs the rear portion of our building because of the configuration of our lot, we're technically getting a refusal for that.
Again, we're not using the roof deck for recreational purposes, but just for mechanical access only.
And you'll see that on the tronics.
And then you can see from the Mill Creek Advisory Council, they're in non-opposition to this property.
um so um again it does look like they did ask for a hatch to to the mechanical space um to the to
the pilot house uh instead so i believe it's again i just got this letter too so um i didn't look at
that carefully enough but if this board feels that the roof deck access structure should be eliminated
as part of this refusal, we would agree as a proviso in that respect. There's also a reference
to, I think somewhere in there about just the lightning on Wallace Street. Let's see. Yes,
right here. So that was part of our refusal is that they were very appreciative of the fact that
we had lightning on Wallace Street to the property line. And then just the history of this property.
Again, we pulled this off from the city records.
As you can see, 48-47-49 Haverford Avenue was a seven-family dwelling.
That's half of our lot.
We also are including 48.
You know, we're also including another portion of that lot such that if half the lot was seven dwelling units, asking for 12 dwelling units would not be out of character.
And then maps of the area, as you can see, even though we're on what's considered an RSA 5 portion block,
we're surrounded by RM1 and CMX2, as well as the hospital that's across the street.
And you can see right there that this is the hospital that's across the street.
And there's a juvenile justice services center on the other block of Haverford as well.
So, again, and then you can also see the Haverford Center comprehensive day center, which shows, again, that we're not in an RSA 5 portion of this portion of West Philly.
So this is 4847-49 Haverford Avenue from Haverford Avenue. You can see that this property has been a vacant lot for some time. Google Earth, you know, it goes as far as back as August of 2008 on Google Earth. And you can see it was a vacant lot at that time.
This is 4847-49 Haverford Avenue from Haverford.
And then this is our property from 49th Street. As you can see, it's just in a regular shape lot.
And this is from Wallace Street as well. And then this is just our proof of posting as well.
This is Haverford. This is 49th. And this is Wallace. And then this is Haverford Avenue
to the right of the property. Haverford Avenue to the left of the property. North 49th Street
to the right of the property north 49th street to the left of the property wall street to the right