the first floor as well as the light wells and the sidewalk right and that's all been revised so
the the sill height of the ground floor window has been raised up a couple of feet so that
there's a little more privacy there at ground level as i mentioned before the egress wells
As I mentioned before, the egress wells, which were proposed in the basement when we previously had living space in the basement, those egress wells were projecting out onto the public right away on the sidewalk there.
which we which were proposed uh in the basement when we had
So those have been eliminated from this proposal. And I believe all of the comments that were raised at that RCO meeting were addressed.
All right. Thank you, Mr. O'Neill. Mr. Chairman, I'll just proceed with the rest of the presentation.
I just have some zoning records at the end that I can show everybody.
The other documents are typical documents you would see in a presentation, the PIP form, the application form.
It's the indication that taxes are paid up, nothing is due.
A zoning map, again, showing adjacent to CMX-1, RSA-5 and SP sports area behind the property.
The deed indicating ownership.
Our notice letter to all the residents within 250 feet sent out 183 pieces of mail.
And then here's our zoning records.
Again, it shows historical use of the property as a motor vehicle repair shop since at least 2006.
On the corner, 1452 North 4th, it has three units.
Some more history of 406 and 408 Jefferson.
The other corner property has two units at 1500 North 4th.
And directly across the street, there's a two-unit building.
And these are the zoning records that support the summary that I just provided.
Motor vehicle repair, obviously inactive since 2006.
And this was a make-safe permit that my client obtained when he purchased the building because it was in danger of collapse.
It's just your historical records again showing auto work at that particular property.
This one goes back to 2005.
This is a 1500 North 4th, indicating two units.
Inactive, but still apparently two units.
411 Jefferson Street, across the street, an active rental license for two units.
and that's it that is the presentation just to reiterate we do have the support now south
kensington community partners we're not altering the use of the property in terms that it's going
to be residential we have a unique circumstance where we've had a long-term use of a auto repair
a shop that's now going to be replaced by residential dwellings,
bringing more living units to the city of Philadelphia.
We're eliminating a curb cut, adding a parking space.
We're not affecting adversely the light and air
or the development of any adjacent property.
In fact, the adjacent property owner at the corner
who has the business and then the apartment above
was at the community meeting and was in full support
of getting rid of this property.
this eyesore really and having a new project as presented we're not
against the basically the code in the sense that we're sticking with a non-residential use
and we have again supportive people on the block as well as south kensington so with that i would
conclude my presentation um and ask my client to unmute himself
shaker are you on the call and can you unmute yourself please
i talked to him earlier today okay do we see his hand
sure i did not see any i do not see any hands raised or anyone by that name
Okay. Henry, you're an officer of the court. We'll gladly accept your testimony.
Yes, he's from the community meetings and he is fully, I think, would adopt my testimony, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.
Sure. Thank you. Questions from the board.
Yep. Could you go back to the RCO letter? I just wanted to make sure I didn't see that they asked for three units instead of four.
They did. They did ask. That was the, they asked for four things.
uh and you said because you were saying that they approved of everything that you guys did
everything that they asked for except for reduce the units from four to three correct there any
reason why you would not follow along with the rco's recommendation in that area yeah because
Follow along with the RCO's recommendation in that area.
Yeah, because what happened is when we went to them in the beginning, we had bi-level units that were in the basement and they didn't like bi-level units.
what happened is when we
See you next time.
And we had, it was in three stories and we had four units.
And so we eliminated the basement use and made it four stories, still under 38, but with four units.
So we thought we placated them, but the leadership of the RCO did not like the four units, but the residents of the neighborhood did.
I don't know if that answers your question, but I'm just trying to get to the point.
I was just confused because you said you did everything that the RCO asked for, and I was like, wait a minute, I know I saw three units.
And that was not meant to be a sleight of hand. I think Kevin said that and I probably said the same thing. So that is an oversight, Ms. Graham.
Well, there are decent, decently laid out units, decent size for the two bedrooms.
All right. Other questions from the board?
yeah i have a question about the well two questions one um how because like you're showing a lot of
you guys have been rifling through a few different things and it looks like a former version of the
building was much more in line with the surrounding context the newer version while it's at the 38
feet is uh you know it's towers above sort of the the other buildings in the neighborhood
by a little bit of a height at the facade,
not even like beyond the pilot house
and just kind of try to understand
how many other buildings
in sort of the surrounding blocks
are above the three-story.
Well, and you're right.
I wanted to show you this
because this was the first rendering, right?
This was the three-story with four units
and bi-levels with the light bulbs.
So I'm having full clarity to the board.
So let me go back.
I want to go back to the first presentation.
So this is what you're talking about, Ms. Winn.
This is a three-story.
Kevin, can you give an idea of what the height differential is
between the houses next door and our project.
I think to further reiterate, also, like, so much of this is a parapet
that you could just have a railing that's on the roof that's further back.
Like, you have, like, a double safety barrier.
So, yeah, I don't think we're averse to having that.
Kevin, is that possible?
Excuse me.
I think we often end up with this type of situation where we have these large floor-to-ceiling, almost floor-to-ceiling windows, and it tends to make the top of the building look a little bit compressed if we drop that cornice really close to the heads of those windows.
So I think we've often defaulted to leaving that that full height parapet in addition to the 38 feet just for the sake of proportions.
But, yeah, effectively, that roof deck doesn't even start until five feet back.
So it is a sort of a double safety barrier there.
It does end up being a good place to put HVAC, AC condensers, we found.
So that is sort of useful in that sense.
But if that would be something that would, you know, make it sort of negate the height a little bit, again, we are within our zoning limits, but if that would be something that would make it a little bit more palatable, I think we would be fine with dropping that front parapet down.
It was less that I was suggesting. I agree with you on the proportions. I was just wondering, like, are there other references for this height in the neighborhood?
yeah there's right around the corner for a fourth story right sorry that right around the corner on
I think that's fourth street there's a new construction building very similar proportions
to this I think they went right to right to the 38 feet plus the 42 inches it's on the I believe
on the east side of fourth street there I was just doing a quick view on on google earth there and
And then we've certainly designed a lot of four-story buildings in this neighborhood as well.
So maybe not on this particular block, but there certainly is precedent for a four-story residential in this immediate area.
And then my second question is, what are the floor-to-ceiling heights for each floor?
Hank, would you mind going to the floor plate?
You showed the floor plate to the floor plate, which looked like it was nine.
So are the floor to ceiling height in each unit about eight feet?
So is the floor-to-ceiling height in each unit about eight feet?
Yeah, I think we get eight to eight foot four.
Yeah, I think.
We sometimes leave it at eight just because we don't know exactly what the thickness of
the floor system will be.
But if we can get the floor joists down to 12 inches, I think it ends up usually being
about eight foot three to eight foot four.
And then my last question is you mentioned one, that's a very large roof deck to only
be connected to one unit.
And it looked like from your floor plans that every unit had the ability to have access to the roof and that it was just the decision had been made that it was going to only be to the fourth floor.
And I was wondering if you guys could walk through that decision, given that the first floor space is only for the first unit.
Right. So it becomes an issue, ADA accessibility.
So we would have to provide an elevator up to the roof deck if the whole building used it.
so that's why it's it's private to the to the fourth floor unit gotcha all right
any other questions questions or comments for attorney Hillary Emerson not at this
time mr. chair questions or comments from the virtual audience I do not see
any hands planning Commission
Amy Boyd with the Planning Commission the comprehensive plan recommends no
change in zoning at this location from the existing single family residential rsa5 while
a previous structure had a history of use other than single family the proposal is for a brand
new structure the appellant has not demonstrated that there are unique physical conditions or
circumstances of the property that would prevent it from being used in conformance with the zoning
code the planning commission recommends that the board deny the request of variances for a
multifamily and occupied area thank you um mr clinton i'm going to hold this till next wednesday
at 2 p.m. and we'll vote
next Wednesday at 2 p.m. I just want to take
a look at it and see where
all the other board members have thoughts, okay?
Understood. Thank you very much. Thank you for your
presentation and we will vote on this next week
at 2 p.m. And
Mr. Clinton, you have one more case.
Am I right?
Okay, so
hold on a minute.
What's your case?
3600 House Street.
Alright, so Mr. Clinton, this is
MI-2025-000-591-5598
Newtown Avenue.
Could you just state your name for the record?
Sure, Henry Clinton.
Okay, and Mr. Clinton,
could you identify your client
and your relationship to the property?
Sure, my client is sitting to my right now,
your left, Vitaly Ignavetis,
I-G-N-A-T-O-V-E-T-S.
And we have anonymous non-opposition from Longcrest Community Center.
And our vice chair wants to ask you a few questions.
Good afternoon, counsel.
Do you agree to weigh the reading of the refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed in all of the required documents and exhibits that's needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
I did, except I supplemented with some interior photographs, but everything else was submitted five days ago.
Understood, counsel.
Please proceed to share your screen.
Thank you, Mr. Shahid.
Let me start that again.
Is that visible, Mr. Chairman?
Please proceed, sir.
All right, thank you.
Good afternoon again.
and Henry Clinton for Vitaly, who's here with me today.
So this is a request for four uses in a garage.
Henry, did you put up your documents first?
Oh, you cannot see that?
They didn't come up yet.
I'm sorry.
It's all right.
Is that working now?
Let me go back to the beginning.
How about now?
Yes, it is, sir.
All right, great.
Thanks again.
So my client is here with me, and we'll hear the presentation as we walk through it.
Table of contents, A1 through A10.
So this property is a vacant warehouse.
We believe it once was used for auto repair.
We're not sure.
There's four requests before the board.
One is a personal vehicle repair and maintenance.
Second is a commercial vehicle repair and maintenance.