PCPC Zoning
Jason Hunt
Karima
Cantana
However, I send
everything on Sunday
On what day?
On Sunday
So that would
not be five days in advance
But it does appear, Sharon, that it was sent to you.
He said he did face the letter.
I'm looking for that now.
Could we move this back a couple of cases so that I can try to find the exhibits and go through them?
We'll look in the RTO box.
If I can ask the Z-Day staff to look in the RTO box.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you.
um sir we're going to move on to the next case while the staff and the administrators try to
find this um documentation okay thank you sure calendar number 3341 30 north 23rd street
the attorney is jared klein
he's coming in now as a panelist okay good mr klein name it name an address on the record and
spell your last name please certainly jared klein from blind rome it's k-l-e-i-n it's 130 north
18th street in philadelphia okay do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing about
the truth yes i do do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its
accuracy? Yes, I do. Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership tax compliance,
a copy of the refusal referral, photos and or plans of the property five days in advance of
this hearing? And have you met with the RCO? And do you have a letter? Yes, to all of the above.
Okay, you may proceed. Thank you. I'm going to share my screen. Can everybody see that?
Thank you. I'm going to share my screen. Can everybody see that?
Yes. We also have a letter, and I'm sure you're aware of it, from the Logan Square Neighborhood Association of Non-Opposition.
Correct. And in light of that, I will keep my presentation nice and brief.
Thank you.
So this is an application for 30 North 23rd. It's the Riverwalk South Building that's part of the PMC Property Group development there.
This application is for the commercial space on the ground floor.
And the application is for essentially a doggy daycare.
The business is called Doggy VIP.
They have a current location elsewhere in the center city area.
They're moving to a bigger space here.
And what they do is basic dog and cat spa services and boarding services,
similar to many other businesses I'm sure the board is familiar with.
As you noted, we did meet with Logan Square Neighbors Association.
There was overwhelming non-opposition with a proviso that the boarding be limited to cats and dogs
and not include cremation or vet services, which we are fine with.
It was never our intention to do any of those things.
So if the board is inclined to add that as a proviso, we're certainly fine with that.
This is the letter, as the vice chair referenced, just to give the board some brief context.
This is the area that we're talking about.
The property was posted, as the board can see on these photos.
And to just orient you, this is the aerial view of the property.
The dog daycare is going to be located here.
and people will be able to enter the river walk through the arch street entrance there will be a
drop-off area here so there will not be standing traffic in any of the roadways for drop-off or
pickup and they will have a dog run available here as part of the general amenities area for
this development so they'll be able to move the dogs out of a back door here and give them
some outdoor play space without disturbing the rest of the rest of the development
this is some general information about the services that doggy vip provides
and within the packet of materials i submitted to the board we had copies of the tax clearance
lease agreement and the mailing that was sent to the neighbors um in light of the strong community
non-opposition i won't take the board's time to go through any of that uh and i will open it up
for any questions. Okay, does the board have any questions? No. Sharon, can I use that as a
proviso, no cremation or vet services? I apologize, Chair. You were asking, could you add a proviso
saying no cremation or vet services? Yes. Yes, that's fine. Okay, great. Planning? Yes. Can I
just briefly have my client who's on the line adopt my testimony sure eric shellmeyer if you
can raise your virtual hand i adopt your testimony oh my gosh do you swear for him to tell the whole
truth and nothing about the truth i do can you spell your name please put it on the record
um eric shellmeyer e-r-i-c s-h-e-l-m-i-r-e
thank you but that was a resounding adoption it was that was that was quite the endorsement
thank you eric it's unbelievable i don't have anything further madam vice chair okay planning
commission thank you madam charity and higgy for the city planning commission
The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing multifamily and core commercial
zoning at this location.
Animal boarding is not permitted as a matter of right anywhere in Center City or University
City and so despite a lack of physical hardship, the City Planning Commission would recommend
that the Board grant this use variance as a matter of reasonable accommodation of a needed
Thank you.
Does anyone in the virtual audience have any questions?
No hands at this time, Chair.
Thank you.
Calendar number 3341, 30 North 23rd Street.
My vote is yes with no cremation or vet services.
Yes with proviso.
Yes with proviso.
Yes with proviso.
Thank you very much.
Good luck.
Calendar number 3318-4124 Haverford Avenue.
4124 Haverford Avenue. The attorney is Brett Feldman.
The attorney is Brett Feldman.
Mr. Feldman, you can unmute yourself and wait to be sworn.
Hi, Mr. Feldman, can you put your name and address on the record and spell your last name?
Yes. Good morning, Madam Vice Chair, members of the board. Brett Feldman, 1835 Market Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19103. I represent the property owners, zoning applicants, Palatin West, and their principals, Leora Moshe Barrazzani.
Thank you. Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
No, I do.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership tax compliance
photos and or plans copy of the refusal or referral and have you met five days in advance
of this hearing and have you met with the rco and do you have a letter all right yes and as far as
the letter um they submitted a letter i believe yesterday uh or monday from the west palatin
saunders park rco in support for this thank you you may proceed great if i may share my screen
Great. I'll get right to it. I'd also ask that our project architect, Jerry Roller,
be unmuted, as well as our principals, Lior and Moshe Barizani. So here's the exhibits
1 through 12, which at Aspian Cook are into the record. At Exhibit 1012, you see our community
letter of support with provisos. Here is the site. It's this building right here. It's a
currently, I guess, one and a half story building. It's at the southeast corner of 42nd Street and
Haverford Avenue in West Philadelphia. Pelton Saunders Park neighborhood across the street is
the big Drexel athletic complex that takes the whole block with field after field after field.
This is what the building looks like right now. We obtained approvals about a year and a half ago,
completely code compliant to add a four-story addition to that existing one-story building.
First floor would be commercial retail. Second floor would be offices. And this whole project
is just about the offices on the second floor um and then the third through fifth floor would be
37 apartments um we have the permit uh attached um again that's that's the building right right
now next to a four-story building uh that uh we my clients own as well and then there's the drexel
fields over here um here's some pictures here's the posting poster again here's the permit that
we obtained in 2019 for the five-story building, first floor retail commercial, second floor
offices, and 37 apartments above. Here's all the approved plans. We also are very proud to be part
of the mixed income bonus. We're making almost, I think, a $370,000 contribution to the City Housing
Trust Fund as part of this project. And this application in no way impacts that. We're still
making the funds um still making the payment um the whole refusal here today is and that's what
the that's what the approved building looks like again we're not changing anything to the outside
the envelope the height um that's what it looks like um here are the here are the floor plans for
the approved building the whole project is the whole application is about the second floor
We obtained approvals to do a kind of like a mini incubator, like an office incubator in the neighborhood, real small office space on the second floor that we thought was a great idea, you know, would provide some opportunities for some office incubation.
Approximately about 80 people occupancy in the second floor.
I think we all know with COVID, the last thing right now that banks and other folks want to look at is small office space on a second floor of a building.
So what we're looking to do, instead of having the 80-person occupancy on the second floor, we are looking to switch that over to, initially it was 14 apartments.
We have worked, I don't know, for four or five months with the community group, the neighbors, Pam Andrews.
We now reduced it down to 12 apartments on that second floor instead of the 80 occupancy office on the second floor.
office on the second floor, a mix of two bedrooms and one bedroom. These are all good size units.
A mix of two bedrooms and one bedroom. These are all good.
Mr. Roller can certainly get into, you know, units and sizes. Again, we still have all the
same trash storage. It's all internal trash storage. But that really is the hardship.
This is what we got to prove. This is what we wanted to do. This is what we went to the banks
for. And we're now a year and a half out with a building that's actually having structural
problems now if you go out there now there's actually fences that we've had to put up because
of l and i because of the continued degradation of the building so we need to get need to get this
project uh going and um the second floor has really been the problem as far as from a financing
perspective so that's why we went to the 12 units we have that letter of support from the community
mr roller i i think you're out there if you just want to raise your hand and if there's anything
further you'd like to add as far as the switch from the second floor office is to the now 12
units on the second floor, please feel free to jump in. Hello, this is Mr. Roller. We can hear
you. Can you put your name and address on the record and spell your last name and then I'll
where are you in? Certainly. It's Jerry Roller, R-O-L-L-E-R, JKRP Architects, 100 East Penn Square,
Philadelphia PA 19107. Thank you. Do you swear for me to tell the whole truth and nothing but
the truth? I do. Thank you. You may proceed. And Jerry, just to, again, reiterate, we had this
five-story building proved as of right. There's nothing pertaining to the height, envelope, trash
storage nothing other than the second no the only change here is to convert what was a second floor
office into uh second floor apartments uh the the office idea was a good idea at the time
uh it has proved to be untenable and unfinacable uh nobody wants to uh go into office space or to
finance office space today uh and therefore the logical use of that space would be office the same
volume of the building will be there. It doesn't affect anything else other than adding 12 units
to the overall. And in fact, probably reduces the overall population of the building because
you have 24 offices on this to begin with, and you could have two people in an office
theoretically. So this would be a much more heavily populated floor than it will be as offices.
um madam vice chair are there any questions for mr rolla um is the board of any questions
yes no what is what is the total number of uh dwelling units it would it would be it would be
51 now we had 37 approved initially we would be adding um we would be adding for 12 12 it's
It's actually going to be 49.
Thank you.
Excuse me, Mr. Feldman, that is different than the number that the proposal that Ellen and I reviewed.
Correct.
It's two less.
Correct.
And we would agree to that as a proviso.
We've made that abundantly clear with the community group.
And they've also, I know, attached in their letter of support.
And unfortunately, I don't have a copy of the letter of support.
If you could forward me one.
Can I just go to that right now?
Yes, please.
And you would agree to a proviso stating maximum 49 units total.
Is that correct?
I mean, it's, yeah.
I mean, or you could do 49 is the right number.
And I just, you know, obviously, always traffic and parking.
We did our own study.
I mean, there's just day after day of, you know, we think parking availability there.
But we are actually working with the community group to see in the proviso letter.
We're going to be supporting on-street permit parking, you know, community cleanups.
There's a whole – it's been a good relationship.
We've done a lot with them, but this is their letter of support.
Here it is, letter of support.
And then these are the provisos.
I don't think you can put these all in your – any approval that you would grant,
but we've got a side letter already documenting our acquiescence to these provisions.
Does the board have any other questions?
Okay, is there anyone in the virtual audience with questions?
We have Andrew Goodman.