that the board would be required to stamp i think the site plan and elevation show the changes that
you're requesting i believe there's also a request for proviso requiring a laundry closet in each
unit is that correct that's correct thank you that's correct um if uh to the obviously to the
board where we would request that that be included sharon is that enforceable
the laundry closet in each unit um yes i believe that's enforceable it it was originally submitted
as a floor plan i don't think that we can um require them to place it in a certain place but
having um a washer and dryer in each unit is probably okay thank you
garen uh two pages you said yes two pages they'll be stamped yes and
that's it right okay um any any other uh witnesses
i don't have anybody's hand up chair thank you tanya uh questions from the board no
planning commission chairman i would first like to give a little background information on a green
roof bonus in order to receive a green roof bonus the plan has to be reviewed by the water department
for their stormwater division and a deed restriction has to be put in place in order for any bonus to
apply so while it's nice that they're putting that green roof on it doesn't meet the standards of
what the city would require and so now our recommendation is this property is indicated
for residential use on the comprehensive plan the block is primarily for commercial garages and we
have concerns over the compatibility of the proposal with the existing uses on the block
Accordingly, we recommend that the requested variant does not be granted.
So, if we approve it, we can put a condition on this, Sharon, that they get the approvals
regarding the green roof?
I don't think, correct me if I'm wrong, Steve, but you are not requesting a bonus, are you?
No, we're not requesting the bonus. The square footage of the building is too small to, it's under 5,000 square feet, so therefore we wouldn't qualify for that bonus.
No, we are not requesting a bonus.
we did the square footage of the
So what I was presenting to the board is that because we don't qualify for the actual bonus,
we can't go through that process, but we are the green roof that we have in the project is
to the standards. I guess sans what was just described by the Planning Commission in terms
of pre-approvals that we wouldn't go through in terms of the dimensional standards. It's
to the standards of the code in that regard but we we're not actually requesting a bonus we're
just utilizing it thank you as a green roof despite not so uh paula yes that that change
does that change the opinion of the planning commission since they don't need we would actually
add that then it's an overuse because you're saying that you're because you have a green roof
you should have more units when you don't can't even put the deed restriction on it and meet the
spirit of the code it then becomes more of an overuse so it's too many units they wouldn't have
met that so the green roof's just a selling point at this point not a i like to reiterate just in
terms of the square footage requirements um for the units we if i write we would be we would be
approved for four um we were two square feet yes two square feet away from a meeting the standards
to be approved for five um we're requesting six because we believe uh we have what we're including
in the project uh does meet the standard of what would increase by 25 even though we wouldn't go
uh through those approvals would you put a deed restriction on i'm sorry would it have a deed
restriction to include the green roof for 25 30 years and be monitored then it wouldn't meet that
right i understand we're not going through any approvals for the actual bonus from the city
that's correct would you put deed restrictions separately for the green roof that i would have
to i can't i don't have the authority to say one way so at that point we think it's still
an overuse because they would only be allowed just under five and they're proposing six
understood okay any other questions
anyone else testifying
no hands up chair thank you calendar number
calendar number 39608 1108-1112 single street my vote is yes with the following provisors
laundry closet to be installed in each unit two pages revised plan two pages stamped today
Did I leave something out, Sharon?
Yes, with proviso.
No, that was it.
Thank you.
Yes, with proviso.
Thank you.
Calendar number 39127.
1426 North 7th Street.
1426 North 7th Street.
Vince.
Dufino
Vince, unmute yourself
Alrighty, I'm unmuted
Good morning, sir
You agree to waive the reading of his refusal
and stipulate to its accuracy?
of course i do thank you sir name and address for the record please
sure vincent anthony defino it's d-e capital f-i-n-o good morning chairman
de chico members of the board morning mr defino do you swear and
affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
yes i do thank you please proceed okay this is uh 1426 north 7th street
llc that's who i represent uh the principal's mom at u school and we have charles care somewhere
on the line he's the architect uh the original plan was basically for five units
what i'll do is i'll go in and i'll open up my exhibit package and we'll get you some pictures
and there's the lot there so it's an oversized 22.6 uh by so many pictures yet we don't have it
oh i gotta share the screen i'm sorry
Oh, I got to share the screen.
I'm sorry.
You have it now?
So this is the lot here.
And this is the next door neighbors.
There's a five-unit, I believe, and a four-unit prestige pavilions in this neighborhood pretty
deeply.
They have probably six or seven different four-unit, five-unit type buildings.
So basically, we met with the board back in December 2nd, which was APM RCO.
There was a six-member panel.
They're very familiar with the area.
um none of them actually lived in in the real adjacent vicinity but uh they were they had some
major concerns because we proposed five units and it was 42 feet and they had asked us among
several other things would you consider four units and would you consider bringing it down
the height of 38 feet. So my client obliged them with the 38 foot and bringing it down
to four units. They were primarily concerned with the use of the basement because it's
a high flood area. So they wanted storage in the basement. They wanted maybe trash in
the basement ventilated of course uh but we could also put that outside that's not an issue because
we have plenty of footage in the back so we went back to the drawing board they also wanted a
proviso for brick facade in the front because they didn't like the current nature of certain
uh certain buildings in the area they wanted it more colonial to match the the spirit of the
neighborhood which was not a problem and they wanted plenty of storage space in the basement
for bikes and for you know basically for for the tenants so they'd have storage space for their
personal products um so basically we went back to the drawing board and we drew the plans up
And I have the revised plans here, which Charles Kerr can speak to.
But you can see the first page is the condition of the neighborhood.
And then we have here the four units.
Two of them will be bi-level, 771 square foot.
And two of them will be 975 square foot and cover a whole floor.
and that's the elevation there it's 38 feet it's within the code so that refusal goes away
um i wanted to go and what we did is we put the neighbors on notice
um and here's the proof of certificate of mailing that was required by the rco
and there's 130 neighbors that we put on blast about the meeting and everything going on
and none of the immediate neighbors showed up to the actual uh meeting one of the board members
did show up and we had um two other people in the crowd that were not from the neighborhood
and they seemed to be young and then there was one gentleman that was intaking people
but here's the letter from the uh this is a letter of support from one of the neighbors 1418
north 7th street uh he had uh my client build him a house which was basically four doors five doors
over i had united group it says as the general contractors that built my home i must say that
this company is very well organized professional detail-oriented quality of work they put in their
homes are above most contractors that i've looked into using they're giving me a schedule throughout
the entire process and most keep my schedule my home stays very warm in the winter and cool and
summer so he's very happy with their building he's he's down the street and he has no objection
and um i'm going to go now to the neighborhood letter um here's the summary of the meeting
um here's the summary of the meeting now none of the board members one of the board members was
Thank you.
there uh jamie ferron and she was asking you know did we meet all the requirements that
we're supposed to meet with regard to what the board wanted we went over it with her
she was happy uh no questions from anybody but somehow there's a two to one opposition vote
Hey, Vince, could you share that letter?
You don't see the letter.
Oh, it's not being shared?
Not on my end, anyway.
It's a gray screen.
It's in blank.
This letter's not being shared.
Oh, wait.
Do I hit this here?
Here comes my administrative assistant again.
I'm going to get this straight by the third meeting.
all going through the same problems no problem no worries
it paused for some reason okay resume start okay
i have to go down here and uh letter uh rco meeting summary okay
all right let's see here you are screen sharing i'm screen sharing now so that so here's the vote
it was two to one um still don't have the letter you still don't have it no it says i am screen
sharing but uh maybe because all we see is the first picture you posted oh wow i don't know what's
going on that's funny there we go got it now all right all right stay here because i don't know
what i'm doing all right so there's the vote it's two to one none of the board members voted even
know we know for a fact that uh jamie ferrant was there she's one of the board members and she's very
very intelligent person that went through this step by step with us so if you look
to the actual um letter itself uh it talks about what's going on it says um the owner's attorney
and developer presented their proposed development and request for variances they expressed a lot
is presently zoned rsa 5 which prohibits multi-family developer is proposing to erect a
building with four units they explained that the project was initially five units and one big in
the basement but this was eliminated after the first interaction with the board which did not
want the bedrooms in the basement after this meeting they also added trash storage in the
basement reduced the original planned height she goes on and talks about the units and then
And at the very bottom, she says, provisors must be added if the project is approved to assure installation of sink trash compactors and to add additional closet space in the units.
So basically, I have the architect here if you want to go through the plans, but we would ask, we mailed the neighborhood, we had support from the neighborhood.
there was never even a question as to any issues and uh
i'm you're breaking up tom yes can i see the first floor oh yes certainly can i see the first floor
yes and i keep i can bring in the architect i can bring in the architect to go over the
let let's hear what mr holliman has to say we may or may not need the architect
and tom is breaking up so are you seeing this yes you got it now i i can i this is the first floor
here you see see the first floor
i think he broke i'm not seeing no i still i i can see it okay
the first floor how do you get the trash out
what was that i'm sorry you were breaking up how do you get the trash out on the first floor
I could bring in the architect, Charles Kerr, he could explain everything to you.
Charles Carr he could explain everything to you Charles are you out there the car
you have to raise your hand I know there's a side I think there's a side
yard there but I don't want to go into it without he knows exactly but there's
two there's two different they wanted to trash storage ventilated in the basement but i think
it might be a better idea because we have the outside space to the back that it'd be brought
there and i think you could get there through the through the first two units through the side there's
a side yard that goes that way but it would be very helpful to get mr uh care on and i'll try
to text him right now to see oh okay so he lost sound at 10 27. he raised his hand so
he should be there yeah how about now can you hear me now there you go yes so please identify
yourself for the record state state your name and address and spell your name for the stenographer
uh my name is charles kerr c-h-a-r-l-e-s kerr k-e-r-r i'm with cadre design and my address
is one two three leverington avenue in philadelphia thank you mr kerr do you swear and affirm to tell
the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do thank you please please proceed mr
dofino okay um mr karr uh they wanted to know exactly how we would get the trash out of the
first two units so the so the the first floor is the is the common entry into the building that's
the uh vince if you're sharing your screen could you show the the through corridor on the first
floor so there's a yeah that's that's it right there so that's the common the entire building
uh and then there's apartment doors off of that common corridor so that will be the common access
into the building and come out and then the trash will be brought out through
through the front door essentially so this is the rear yard here and it would be brought right here
in this area here if if we were to use the rear yard it would it would be brought through this
corridor here and then out to the back correct during the rco we were given the option to either
locate the trash in the rear yard or in the basement that was one of the reasons we eliminated
all the living spaces out of the basement but that would be the best option to go with
will all the units have access to that
uh yes because of the this is a four-story building proposing four units so we are required
to have two means of egress so those two stair towers that you're looking at in the middle of
the plan uh are accessed for the entire building so that common corridor is for all the residents
of the building thank you because i think i heard a couple times trash the access for the two
apartments would be through to the rear but you're saying all four could have access to that
that is correct thank you tom yes that's good let me ask you another question