thank you Mr. Chair
appreciate it
enjoy the rest of your day
MI 2022
000413
South 6th Street
no letter from Dickinson Square
West RCO
Corin Weiss is the attorney
Chair Mr. Weiss is coming back in now as a
panelist
Good morning Mr. Weiss
could you state your name and spell for the court reporter? Yes, sir. My name is Corrin Wise,
spelled C-O-R-E-N, last name W-I-S-E, office address 150 Monument Road, Suite 207,
Bala Kinwood, PA 19004. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth,
nothing but the truth? Yes, sir. Could you identify your client and the relationship to
this property? Yes, I have the pleasure of representing Maria and Robert Herring, and they
are the owners of 1431 South 60. Thank you. Our vice chair has a few questions. Mr. Wise, do you
agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy? I do. I'll have some
comments about the refusal, but I do waive the reading and consent to the accuracy. Okay, great.
Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership, tax compliance, a copy of the 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?
Yes, ma'am.
I emailed my documents in advance of the hearing last week.
We did meet with the RCO February 15, 2022.
That's Dickinson Square West.
I do not have a letter, despite several requests. My contact at the RCO's name is John Disley.
He has been emailing me that a letter would be sent. I actually just was on the phone when I
was called for the hearing, and he has told me that he is drafting it now, and so a letter has
not been sent, but I can also comment on that in my case in chief. Okay, great. You may proceed,
and please begin to share your screen will do then thank you thank you so um
thank you everybody uh i am quran wise this is uh an application of 1431 south 6th street which
is a townhome owned by my clients and i'm just gonna um can you i'm showing you the plan i hope
everyone can see that yep okay so here's here's uh some photos first i want to start with let me
just go down to the exterior. Here we are on 6th Street and the cross street here is Wilder.
That's a picture of the rear, some interior shots. Interior is not too relevant here because the
application we have before us today is regarding only the roof, I'm sorry, the pilot house.
And I just want to go to the drawing that is most instructive.
there we go sorry okay so here we are looking down bird's eye view down onto the top of the
building and you see stairs here if you can see my cursor and this is the pilot house and these
parallel lines or the roof deck the roof deck where you see parallel lines the steps where
you see the stairs here, are already approved. The zoning permit has been issued. You see the
writing on the architect's plans, roof deck and pilothouse as approved permit ZP 2021.
And that letter, the number I can't read, but the date is October 21st, 2021. The application
we're here about today is simply this cross-hatched section to enlarge the pilothouse.
So this pilot house is approved where the steps are.
As we know, the zoning code permits pilot houses and roof decks under a certain size, up to a certain size.
But these applicants want a larger pilot house.
For what reason, you might ask? Plants. Plants, the green kind, right?
They have reevaluated their living situation as a lot of us during this pandemic and times subsequent
and realize that this would be great to to extend this area a little bit so that they can bring some of their summer.
to extend this area a little bit so that they can bring some of their summer plantings inside
for the winter. And the applicant may be able to tell you a little bit about that, but essentially
this is 100 square feet of additional pilothouse that we'd like to obtain a variance for.
And I did comment on the refusal because when we have, I'm sorry, let me show one more thing.
Here, the architect on the plan has shown us that we're approved for 112 square feet of pilothouse.
The code provides for 125, but as proposed, the total pilothouse would be 218 square feet.
So we're asking for an additional 80-some square feet of pilothouse on the third floor to add on to what's already been approved
for the by-right pilot house here.
And the reason I wanted to reference that refusal
was because it is a little confusing
in that we have here,
the refusal is actually for the height of the building
because we're expanding that pilot house
outside of that by-right code of 125 square feet.
In the language of the L&I code,
they call that a fourth story
And we're hitting up against the height requirement. But the height of the approved pilot house versus the height of the proposed pilot house is not changing. So the pilot house height is staying the same.
The front to back depth, if you will, is not changing, just the width so that the pilot house is going to extend from one party wall to the next.
And the architect has given us some sight lines where we see where the sight line, you're not going to see that setback pilot house unless you're standing across the street up against the wall.
So from the street, from the sidewalk here, that sidewalk is not going to have any impact on the sidewalk.
And here we also have a shadow study showing, as approved, this crosshatched area with the shadow onto the neighboring property's roof.
And as proposed, the only new shadow we gain is this portion, which actually falls on the applicant's home.
And nowhere does it even reach the sidewalk or the street.
So that is the application.
with regard to the RCO. We did meet with the RCO on February 15th. The notice was sent out
regarding the, and I'm sorry, I'm switching between documents. Are you still seeing my,
I'm showing the RCO notice now? Is that what you're saying?
No, no, we see the plans.
Okay, I'm sorry, then I have to reshare.
Okay. So let me show you. Okay. So this is the approved plan. You can see here we have an approved stamp for the, this is also including a roof deck and there's an addition back here and the pilot house that's that that is approved.
You see the steps here. That's the approved plan. So the roof deck and the pilot house are already permitted. Let me share. Let me share the refusal so we can look at that.
So, this is the RCO notice that was sent out regarding the meeting on February 15th with Dickinson Square West. And this is the refusal that I was talking about. I'm sorry, I thought you could see it, but I was waving to this section where the refusal is actually for the height of the property being 46 feet, not 38 feet. Can you see the refusal I'm referring to at this point?
yep okay um so the height of the building hasn't changed from the approved pilot house
uh to what we're proposing to widen the pilot house it's just that when you widen the pilot
house l and i is calling that a fourth story so now they're using the height of the pilot house
instead of um the permitted height of a pilot house they're calculating it as the height of
the main building, which I think is confusing because it's still a pilot house.
There's no living space in the pilot house.
With regard to the RCR, we did meet on February 15th. It was a well-attended meeting. It was neighbors in attendance as well as the committee. The neighbors, they did overwhelmingly support this. Neighbors spoke in support of the applicants.
With regard to the RCR, we did meet on February 15th.
It was a well-attended meeting.
They are longtime neighbors in this area.
They volunteered the neighborhood garden, as well as other organizations, and the neighborhood supported this application.
There were a couple concerns raised by the committee chair, Mr. Disley.
his questions were, how will the materials get to the roof, to which our architect that was
present, Graham Baylor, stated that they usually crane those up to the top. And the question also
was raised, will the alley be blocked in the back of the house? And again, the architect stated that
he didn't see any reason the alley should be blocked. But since this is a zoning permit,
and the applicants haven't uh retained a contractor yet he can't speak specifically to
that but we would make every effort and we don't see any reason why they would be blocking the
alley it's it's a it's a it's a three or four foot alley not down the street or parking access
at all um i reached out to mr disley about a month after the hearing um to find out if a zoning if an
rco letter had been drafted he said well i haven't received your plan regarding the crane
and i said i don't have we don't have a plan but i can write you a letter what concerns you have
and restated these concerns about the alley and the crane and i wrote the letter i will share
with you now on march 28th and where i state in the last paragraph the homeowners have not yet
retained a general contractor but will most uh the project will most likely the the contractor
It will be retained most likely after a zoning permit is issued, but they've confirmed they're going to make every effort to keep the alley clear, to prevent damage to adjacent properties, and to minimize any disruptions during deliveries of materials with a crane.
I emailed Mr. Dizzley on Friday regarding the RCO letter, and he emailed me back and said that he was sending it.
I'm sorry, his response was on Monday, and he responded that he was sending it today, Monday.
i hadn't received it so i called him this morning and he voiced again his concern that he hadn't
received a plan regarding the crane and i tried to explain i don't have a plan for the crane because
i one i'm the attorney i don't have the crane two the delivery company would be retained probably
by the contractor but they'd be parking the truck drop you know craning it up to the top
dropping it off and moving along so there might be some disruption but not talking
they i don't i don't think more than hours um but uh at that point uh i confirmed he hadn't
sent the letter and that was the uh that was the concerns that were held by the rco um so i i would
hope we can uh i don't know if mr gisley is attending or some representative of the of the
RCO is with us. I hope someone can confirm these comments. But with that, the application is a
fairly straightforward one where we are seeking to add approximately 80 square feet to a pilot
house, not changing the height of the building or the depth of the pilot house with no impact
on neighboring properties or the streetscape
and only shadow being placed on the applicant's own property
where this is only in addition to already approves
pilot house and roof deck in addition.
All right, Mr. Weiss,
would you want to have your testimony adopted by your client?
Thank you, sir.
If either Bob or Maria can raise their hand
and identify themselves,
I'll ask them to confirm my testimony is accurate
and adopt it.
Mr. Wise, is your client's last name Herring?
Yes, that's correct.
Ms. Herring, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Hello.
Hi, could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
My name is Maria Herring, M-A-R-I-A, last name Herring, H-E-R-I-N-G.
I'm also here with my husband, Robert.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed.
Thank you.
Maria, how are you doing?
Thanks for joining us.
Did you hear my testimony during this presentation?
Yes, I did.
Was my testimony correct and accurate?
Yes, it is.
yes it is do you mind would you adopt it as your own uh for efficiency i would thank you okay thank
Would you adopt it as your own for efficiency?
you questions questions from the board yes mr chairman uh counselor no mr chairman for the
record you're stating at the building height is 38 feet well so the building height is 38 feet
The pilot house is above 38 feet.
The refusal refers to the height of the building as 46 feet,
including the pilot house height.
Okay, thank you.
You're welcome.
Any other questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chair.
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I see no hands at this time, Chair.
Planning Commission.
thank you chair bergman ian hegarty for the philadelphia city planning commission
the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing rsa 5 single family zoning here
the code has pretty clear limits on the size of a pilot house above which it's considered another
floor and so this is a hardship for dimensional variance hardship for dimensional variance
depends not on house plants but on evidence of economic detriment and consistency with the
surrounding neighborhood the applicant hasn't demonstrated either of these conditions in our
opinion and so the city planning commission recommends that the board deny the variance
mi 2022 000413 1431 south 6th street i vote no harold tenary my vote is no
thomas halliman my vote is no james snell my vote is no
it's no shaheed my vote is no
thank you thank you
let's see here where was i four three
here i think on 10 unless that's wishful thinking think how about seven
M.I. 2022-000412-2208-16 North 2nd Street.
Sean Ward is the attorney.
Letter of support from the Norris Square Community Alliance.
Letter of non-opposition from Councilwoman.
Chair, Mr. Ward is coming back in as a panelist now.
good morning Mr. Chairman Sean Ward on behalf of the applicant good morning Mr. Ward could you
spell your name for the court reporter please yes first name is Sean S-H-A-W-N last name Ward
W-A-R-D representing Jose Garcia who is in the virtual audience today thank you do you swear
affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth I most certainly do our
Our vice chair has a few questions.
Good morning, Mr. Ward.
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 the required documents consisting of 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?
Yes, to all of the above.
thank you you may proceed and please begin to share your screen
thank you very much thank you very much okay let me