clear up a couple things for me so just so i understand i mean parking parking's not a major
issue right you have underground parking correct correct okay all right and because normally that's
one of the as you know that's one of the major issues you know with with many of the organizations
um so so 44 for 110 plus car share okay um and as far as the public space clue me in on that
one more time you actually have public space but it's we do it's just it's not enough it's at the
second level it's this space here and the concern of the community was that having to walk up steps
to access that was not um was not good enough now typically on a design you would see those
types of roof decks as amenity to the building only but my clients have made this public they
believe that they can with um the programming of the project to the south the commercial that's
there the commercial here this would be a great place to grab your coffee sit up there i would
say read the paper but read your phone and um and and have it be a a well-lit space and try to and
and civic design review also said with with um the right programming this could be successful
thanks counselor thank you all right thanks jim uh it's karen and or tanya i know we we're kind
of get stuck on these things either a resumption hearing which could be almost a repeat of what
we're doing today if we're only waiting for letters yes if that is different as long as
everyone involved agrees everyone involved agrees that it will be simply the submission
and the reading into the record of letters right because otherwise the other way to do is that we
would close these hearings but that then we're not allowed to accept letters but i think that
but i think that i think that would be great i mean we don't want to be um we we don't want to
i think that would be great i mean we don't want to be um
be uh you know lose a month or two because we're trying to to resolve this and do something and
and as as the councilwoman's office is outside the box so we don't want to be penalized for that
and we think it's a good project and we think we can respond to them
Can you hear me?
Someone's speaking.
All right.
So, Sharon, is that work, Tanya?
I just want to mention that we still have quite a few hands up.
So, if we're going to just have letters only read, do you want to allow them to speak now?
Yeah, I think that would be great.
think there's some neighbors that wanted to um um um well the letters may address both sides
either opposition and or support right but in that case they would have to have an opportunity
to testify afterwards if we're not going to hear them today i i think it would be great if we could
just get the people that are that came to spare i think there's some people who came to speak and
support all right we still have several cases on the two o'clock list all right let's go we'll hear
New and different, please, whoever's going to testify, please do not repeat some of the testimony we've already taken in.
Okay, the first person, I'm sorry, I'm going to try to expedite this.
First person, Andre, can you wait to be sworn in?
Please identify yourself, sir, first and last name, spell your name.
My name is Andre, driver, first name A-N-D-R-E.
last name d-r-i-v-e-r your address 161 c so be more thank you swear from to tell the truth
the whole truth nothing but the truth yes sir please proceed sir okay board members uh good
afternoon um i'm really here to speak in regards to the building that's planned for development
at 1640 hancock i'm a neighbor um i personally feel the building will be a benefit to myself
as well as the community. I have a music production studio and I believe that this
building will be a plus for myself as well as the artists and creative people that I work with
and collaborate with. I think that this building is designed very well and in particular I like
the way the deck is designed since it is open to the community and the public in general.
I believe that this will be an asset to my music studio and the musicians as well as the art
creators that I interact with. So I'm not objecting to anything. I really will welcome
this building. Thank you, sir. Thank you for your testimony. Anyone else?
Here we have Angat. You can unmute yourself and wait to be sworn in.
I'm unmuted. Please identify yourself. Spell your first and last name and give us your address,
please yeah my name is angit shah and i currently live in 1300 north second street
you spell your name please uh a-n-g-a-t
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i do please proceed so i just wanted to piggyback on andre and you know i live in 1300 north and i
actually do support this project as well because one it provides opportunity for small business to
grow living in this I've seen with COVID small businesses have been you know they're struggling
and having a new building an opportunity for them to grow is very key for the neighborhood as well
as me and my wife go for a walk with their dog and safety to me is very important and having a
building like this provides that now with with what the what I heard there's plenty of space for
the public to walk around in and with that second deck I mean with Andre saying there's opportunity
for neighborhood events and having opportunities for people to come together and really help out
and based on what they said they're planning to give back a lot to the neighborhood so i really
don't see why this project should not be supported thank you for your testimony anyone else
last person ms shakumba ms shakumba you're gonna meet yourself shakumba you're a little bit out
of your neighborhood. Aren't you here?
Chacumba?
Can you hear me?
Yeah, are you here for Hancock Street?
No, no, no. I'm here for a while.
We'll get back to you.
All right. Anyone else?
No, you can proceed.
Thank you.
All right.
So we settle on
that we will resume this hearing
strictly for the purpose of reading any letters into the record.
Is that correct?
That's correct.
All right.
We have a date.
We have a date.
We can always do, do we know when the meeting's going to be held?
I mean, I think the councilman requested two weeks.
Okay, so two weeks from today at 2 p.m. worked for me.
Two weeks from today would be June.
Yes, I believe the first.
June 2nd.
June 2nd?
2 p.m.?
Thank you.
We'll provide a letter to you.
All right.
So MI 2021-000959-1640-48 North Hancock.
This hearing will be resumed on June 2nd at 2.30 p.m., at which time the board will consider any letters submitted to the board.
And did you want to hold the Planning Commission until then?
uh yeah i guess we should um well then it is going to be okay i think we should just have
respond to get on the record now okay let's planning commission
okay thank you uh good afternoon david effecto city planning commission mr chairman members of
the board this project went through the civic design review process the major issue that came
up was the accessibility of the proposed open space. In 2016 this block was rezoned from medium
industrial I2 to industrial and commercial mixed use ICMX. Both light industrial and commercial
businesses still exist in South Kensington and several have recently expanded. There is nothing
unique about this lot that would prevent it from being used for a light industrial or a commercial
business we recommended the board deny the requested variances okay thank you um okay so
you heard what i said this is continued to june the 2nd at 2 o'clock p.m great and if the board
is inclined to vote at that time we do have the revised plans which sharon has so okay i'm sorry
chair if i could if you don't mind just ask that um it be stated that this is a resumption
and two for the letter only not a continuance so everyone's clear thank you for the record thank
you all right um number four thank you have a great day thank you we've been going for a little
over two hours i don't know if the court reporter needs a break or not if the court reporter needs
a break please raise your hand let us know we have about five more cases chair i can continue
on if you prefer to okay as long as you're good we'll continue thank you thank you calendar number
zero nine eight two twenty six twenty eight webster street rachel pritzker is the attorney
and there's a letter of support from sasman that's correct i think i know why that
she was on the line yeah good afternoon chairman hi or good afternoon can you put your name and
address on the record and spell your last name rachel sure rachel r-a-c-h-a-e-l pritzker p-r-i-t-z-k-e-r
1635 market street suite 1600 philadelphia pa 19103 do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth
nothing but the truth yes do you agree to wait the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its
accuracy uh no uh we have an issue with the second refusal that was issued which i'll explain
okay have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership tax compliance
refusal or 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?
Okay, you may proceed, thank you.
Yep, I'm going to share my screen.
I also, just for time,
I believe Scott Woodruff or Scott Murphy
should be on as well, they're the architect.
So if they could be promoted to panelists
to share their screen once I'm done,
that would help us speed things along.
Okay. This is 2628 Webster Street. It's a CMX2 property located on 26 and Webster. We're proposing
a lot line relocation to create one lot from three lots and looking to propose five multifamily
dwelling units with roof deck and roof deck access structures. And our variances that we are looking
for relief are for the commercial, the CMX2 requirement. The code requires that there be
commercial on the ground floor within the first 30 feet of the property line. And also, we have
And also, we have a sort of erroneous refusal here on the bottom with the roof deck front setback, four units, five units.
a sort of erroneous refusal here on the bottom.
Regardless, we are providing the correct setbacks for the roof decks, as the architects can attest to.
And so that was sort of the reason for not waiving and accepting the accuracy of this refusal.
Essentially, board, we are here because we are seeking relief from the commercial requirement,
as the board's probably familiar. This area is mostly residential. All surrounding streets are
residential, Webster, Stillman, Banbury. The only commercial property is actually an RSA 5 property
on the 2500 block of Christian Street, which is a Thai restaurant. The community was supportive
of our application. We met with Sazna, was heavily attended meeting, and they were supportive of
our waiver of the commercial space as once I get to the pictures you'll see it's all residential
multifamily and single family and then just a lot of industrial over sort of in this devil's
pocket area as the board is probably familiar so they agreed that the commercial didn't really
make sense here the lots certainly are not really large to be able to put any sort of loading or
commercial space and again given sort of it's all residential the community and our developer
believe that a multifamily, which is allowed in CMX2, just not on the ground floor was a good
use for it and they appreciated the design. With that said, as you can see, this is a lot.
This is sort of the industrial character on this side of it. And as you can see,
really doesn't make sense to try to put a commercial space in this area. This is all
residential to this side of the property and it's going to be a really nice addition to the corner.
I will have Scott, I'll show really quickly, you have the letter of support from SASNA.
I can bring it up as well, but here's the letter of non-opposition from SASNA.
We met with them. There was six in support, one in opposition, but that wasn't from the coordinating
RCO and they supported our application with the attached provisos which we agree to things
like trash removal um and things of that nature which we we signed um is Scott Murphy or Scott
Woodruff um here to just go through the plans briefly for the board here Scott yes I'm here
i can be sworn in just specifically call out the um oh sorry sorry chairman please identify
yourself spell your full name and i'll swear you in god woodruff w-o-o-d-r-u-f-f-4-0-1 main
street philadelphia pa-1-9-1-2-7 do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing
about the truth i do okay before i go on uh carol i need to step away for a couple of minutes okay
scott uh while you go through this i just wanted you to um in particular call out the roof decks
and the setbacks just because i want to make sure that for the board it's clear that uh we did not
generate a refusal based on that correct so this is the you see the gray portion is the proposed
structure. We have South Taney Street over here, Webster Street on the north side here.
As you can see we have five foot setbacks for all of the roof decks and then we actually have
a little bit of a larger setback on this one of six foot seven. All the access structures
are also set back along with that. This one's actually under the 38 feet. These ones which
are over the 38 feet, are sloping away and set back for coding in compliance.
So as you can see the proposed rendering, we're proposing five units that will be delineated
as condos in this instance, all have first level access to each one of the units.
So we have a unit on this left side, a unit here on these two levels, a unit here on these
levels, a unit in the back, and then a unit over here.
It was important to try and provide as much kind of ownership characteristics to the project
as we were able to.
We were able to comply with the 80% coverage.
We have a rear access alley.
Trash will be located in the rear and closed area, which everyone has common access to
through this back alley as well as providing as much outdoor space as we could in this instance.
So you can see this kind of unique configuration. We kind of have the project split into three
different buildings almost. This section that's in blue is acting as one unit, basement through
This section that's in blue is acting as one unit, basement through three levels, and then
these other ones here are acting essentially as duplexes.
So that's kind of how the condos themselves are kind of working.
You can see the common entryways for all the units along grade coming in.
These two bottom units are two bedroom, two bath, and then the top units, as they come
up, become three-bedroom, three-bathroom units. Again, the single-family home is a 3-3 configuration
coming up. And then other characteristics, the project is providing ample amount of blazing and