Thank you.
Would anyone like to request a continuance or withdrawal at this time?
If you would like to request a continuance or withdrawal on the 330 list, please raise your hand.
I see no hands, Sharon.
I had a feeling we would not.
MI 2021-001912, 1510 Montrose Street.
Matt Monroe is the attorney of record.
South of South Neighbors supports this application.
Mr. Monroe is coming back in as a panelist here.
Mr. Monroe is coming back in as a panelist here.
Thank you.
Thank you. Mr. Monroe, please spell your full name and I'll swear you in.
Hey, good afternoon, Chairman DiCicco, members of the board.
Let me just, if I may, just share my screen.
Spell your full name, please. Spell your last name and I'll swear you in.
Sure. Monroe, M-O-N-R-O-E, first name Matt, M-A-T-T,
2030 Pemberton Street,
19146. You swear to firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
I do. Thank you. Mr. Plaza has questions for you. Okay.
Good afternoon, sir. You agree to waive the reading of its refusal and stipulate to its
accuracy? Good afternoon, Mr. Plaza. I do. Actually, we can't stipulate to the accuracy.
There was a refusal that we expected to get in the refusal that was not there for open area.
But other than that, we agreed to waive the reading of the refusal.
Have you emailed an exhibit packet with the required documents, proof of ownership, proof of tax compliance, copy of the refusal, or referral, photos, and plans five days prior to this hearing?
We have.
And have you met with the RCO and have a letter?
We have, and we have a letter of support.
Thank you.
Please proceed.
All right.
Good afternoon, Chairman DiCicco, members of the board.
I'm pleased to be here, and just as an initial matter, I don't plan on making any constitutional challenges in this case today.
I'm simply just going to be presenting our project for 1510 Montrose Street.
Let me just see.
We've submitted in our application packet the standard stuff, a deed, a copy of the refusal at tab two.
I just want to note that the copy of the refusal does include a letter.
to the plans examiner from January 11th, 2021,
where the architect indicated
that they anticipated receiving a open area refusal
because 21.7% was proposed
in the RSA 5 code, calls for 25%.
This was just simply,
we were trying to not hide the ball,
presented this to the RCO.
And even after submitting this letter,
uh the the refusal and came back with a single refusal for uh the eight foot setback uh my
clients are building a third story uh with roof deck and uh on their graduated hospital home for
their growing family they have a um a small lot uh like many of these lots it is about 51 percent of
the 1440 square foot minimum lot size required under the philadelphia code um they're simply
building up and uh their immediate next door neighbor uh uh who i believe is known to the
board uh former city council employee and political gadfly lauren vitus uh is their immediate next
door neighbor and came out and supported this project the neighborhood supports the project
and i know it's been a long day so we'll try to move through this quickly um uh we provided all
the proper notices uh had a nice meeting with sasna uh posted the property and um here i just
want to note here's a picture of a rendering uh the plan is uh it's designed by s2 design uh who
is an architect uh architectural firm that also uh lives on the same block it's 1510 mantra street
uh maintaining a mansard roof here uh and maintaining the existing cornice line uh which
means that they're not going up to the to the full height permitted under the code at 38 feet at the
roof. It's something less than that. And I won't squint too hard at these plans, but just just to
note that they're not pigging out here. And the plan is just to go up. And as you can see, they're
planning to cantilever the rear stair over the side yard and just go over the back. But
there's a number of homes on the block that already have three stories, as you can see in
this overview. So this isn't going to be changing the character of the neighborhood or the block.
For the single refusal that we've received for the mansard roof, there's going to be no material
impact light or air. The deck will be set back five feet from the front roof line according
to code. And so here we go. And as you can see, there's another home right here on the
corner of the block that has a similar design. And there's already existing three-story homes
on the block, a number of them. Just none of them next to TJ and Emily's home. This is TJ
Hearst and Emily Hearst at 15th and Montrose Street, and they have a new baby Poppy, who
And they have a new baby, Poppy, who is adorable.
is adorable.
And I think that she was watching this
And I think that she was watching.
and we were just singing,
Mamas don't let your baby grow up to be lawyers
as we were watching the zoning hearing.
But with that, knowing that a lot of these presentations
may just come from questions from the board,
we're happy to answer any questions that the board have.
And here we have the tax letter.
So we provided everything that we can
and hopefully we can just
Mr. Monroe, do you have a client to adopt your testimony?
We do.
And Emily and or TJ, if you could raise your virtual hand.
Mr. Hurst, you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Mr. Hurst, please spell your full name and I'll swear you win.
Yes, Chairman DeChico.
It is Thomas J. Hurst, T-H-O-M-A-S-J, as in Jefferson, and Hurst, H-U-R-S-T.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Thank you.
Mr. Monroe?
All right.
Good afternoon, TJ.
How are you doing?
Doing well, doing well.
Got the full fan.
Did you hear the factual statements that I made on the record?
I did.
Were they accurate?
They were accurate.
And if you were testifying yourself, would you adopt them as your own?
I would adopt them as my own.
Thank you.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
Does anyone else like to testify in this case?
If so, please raise your hand.
I see no other hands at this time, Chair.
Thank you.
Planning Commission?
uh this is uh run bednar city planning it's r-o-n last name bednar b-e-d-n-a-r you swear
if i'm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing about the truth i do you're on the late shift
every day aren't you i noticed that the late show all right um this property is indicated for
residential on a city plan given the surrounding neighborhood context we recommend that requested
variance be granted. Thank you. MI 2021-001-912-1510 Montrose Street, my vote is yes.
Professor Plaza, my vote is yes. James Snell, my vote is yes. Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
Thank you. Next case, number two, MI 2021-001980, 164 Meehan Avenue. Stephanie Hyman, I believe, is the attorney of record.
Ms. Hyman's coming back in as a panelist now, Chair.
Thank you.
Good evening.
Hi, Ms. Hyman, please spell your full name and I'll swear you in.
Stephanie Hyman, S-T-E-P-H-A-N-I-E-H-E-I-M-A-N-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Thank you.
Mr. Plaza has some questions for you.
Do you agree to waive the reading of its refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
And have you emailed an exhibit packet with the required documents, proof of ownership,
proof of tax compliance, copy of the refusal or referral photos and plans five days prior to this
area? Yes. Have you met with the RCO and have a letter? Yes. Thank you. Please proceed.
This is a, appellants are seeking two variances, dimensional variances to make possible the
building of an ADA-accessible, single-story, single-family, detached residence.
And the proposal was met with 100% approval by the RCO East Mount Airy Neighbors.
The variance sought.
Ms. Hyman, do you have any exhibits you can share with us?
Yes, I do.
I hope that would be helpful.
Thank you.
can you see those yes okay uh yeah so these are our exhibits tax clearance a tax compliance summary
the deed the refusal application for the appeal the project information form a site photo with
the notice of the hearing today posted um the rco letter of support uh zoning plan summary and
um three elevations for the proposed um building a site plan and a four floor plan
This is the deed, the application for appeal, this is the site.
this is the site
um this is the email from the rco
conveying 100 support for the project
it's a kind of housing that's that's needed in the neighborhood
and the these are the elevations
slow down one minute go back to those elevations please
sure uh could you is there a way of making that screen wider
um that exhibit wider if not is that working well we still have on the left of our screen
uh a photo of the posting i'm trying to get oh okay
let me see if i can no worries if you can one second does did that change it
uh not no not really um let me see if i can share just this exhibit of the of the um
the elevations
we've lost uh we lost all this lost your screen pull it up a different way one second okay
if you can't get it that's fine that'll be all
Okay, is that better yeah a little bit I just wanted the our resident architect if he had any questions I always like for Tom to see the site plan.
it looks good to me frank okay all right we can move along miss uh okay so we're seeking um two
dimensional variances the first is for surface parking in a front side yard um the previous use
had parking in the front side yard um and and we plan to leave the parking in the same location
this is crucial for the ada accessibility and um ada housing has to have parking on the property
close to the front door and this is the front door with the ramp leading up to the the door
the parking space would have access to this ramp and be partially covered by a roof overhang and
this this received unanimous approval by the neighbors the other variants that that we need
to prevent an undue hardship for for this ada building is a front setback there there was
The previous use had no setback, and the building proposal has a two-foot, 10-inch setback.
The interior square footage is at a premium in this ADA-accessible house to allow for sufficient space to maneuver a wheelchair, and the current design maximizes the existing footprint and provides some setback, and this was also unanimously approved by the neighbors and the RCO.
okay you can summarize that would be helpful okay so yeah so essentially we're seeking these
two variances for the parking and a setback um to allow for a ada accessible single family
detached resident residents to be um built on this site and um i can call mr phil pa to adopt
my testimony please do thank you um phil if you're on the line can you raise your hand
mr pa you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair good evening sir please identify yourself
spell your full name and i'll swear you in hello my name is philip pa uh philip with one l last
name pa p as in peter i e if you swear for him to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the
truth i do thank you mr hyman okay mr pa did you um did you hear my my testimony i did and do you
adopt the statements that i've made as your own i do um do you have anything to add
uh one thing to add the whole reason that we need this variance is so that we can build our
new structure on the existing foundation which is there right now that's the genesis of this
whole thing and that's the only thing i have to add thank you any questions from the board
no mr chairman no one else would like to testify in this case if so please raise your hand
Anyone else would like to testify in this case?
If so, please raise your hand.
Chair, we have Charles Richardson.
Mr. Richardson, you can...
Good evening, Mr. Richardson.
Identify yourself.
You're still under oath from earlier today.
Good evening, Mr. Chair.
Charles Richardson from the Office of Councilwoman Cindy Bass from 312 City Hall.