and i would remind you that right now we're our last seven something is where we think our last
case is and the interesting thing is we have a guy that's coming for that last case
who we don't want to get mad mr masters is the last case of the day yeah i i heard that i was
the last one for this for this for the for the two o'clock and for the 3 30 yeah well um there's
not much before you okay so i i we're not going to have an issue with with the half hour here
sure yeah right why don't you state your name and spell for the stenographer
steve masters s-t-e-v-e-m-a-s-t-e-r-s right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the
whole truth nothing but the truth i do and mr masters could you identify your client a
relationship to the property my client is right over here um robert fiorello um and
your company's name is Fiorello LLC. All right. And our vice chair has just a few questions.
Good evening. Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
I did, but I've also updated them regularly, including just a few minutes ago. Okay. Oh,
wow. And do you waive the reading of the refusal specifically to the accuracy?
um we actually can't waive the refusal because we we don't believe that that one of them is actually
accurate at all so you're not stipulating that's all to say all right thank you you can show your
screen and you can discuss that um and uh start your case okay
all right uh welcome mr chair members of the board um i just want to say it from the outset
that we have agreed with the RCOs to do a hear and hold today.
We have.
Okay, so we will go forward with our presentation.
We have a meeting with the RCOs for next week that we're going to flyer.
There were no near neighbors who appeared at the first RCO meeting,
and therefore they wanted to make sure that the community input was heard.
um so this is a um this is a it's a really stunning uh architectural project here um we're
talking about a historic industrial building um that we are preserving um in in at the same time
that we're adding uh stories to it to make it uh a multi-family uh dwelling uh but it's but
we're respecting uh and and and this was something that was discussed a lot at the rco meeting that
we were at we are we are preserving and respecting as much as we can of the of the original look and
feel of the building um in in addition to doing some very cool uh design things that i guess that
That's my interpretation of them.
So the other thing is that,
and we'll see this in the exhibits,
that the planning commission with the 2035 plan
has clearly stated that where our location is,
there's a high priority because it's transit oriented
or right by the septal line that is the, the, the,
wayne junction yeah so so it's the wayne junction which is really i think maybe the most uh active
uh train uh stop in inside the city of philadelphia um so
uh stop in inside the city of philadelphia um so uh the planning commission through the 2035 plan
has specifically said that the that the industrial zoning in this area should be changed to icmx
um and it's i mean by i'm sorry um yeah icmx and also um just see cmx 2 3 and and 2.5 so we're
we're basically proposing what is the norm
of what the Planning Commission wants to do.
But in addition, there are two other industrial buildings
that are literally adjacent to our building.
Both of them have been converted into multifamily living,
which establishes that there is a hardship,
that a hardship was found in both of those cases,
and that the whole character of the neighborhood
is really shifting to be multifamily in that area,
and also to create as much support as possible
for our transit system,
especially the trains that go there.
So exhibit one, we have four refusals.
One of them is that the three compact car spaces
and we were proposing four compact part car spaces we are in our revised revised plans
showing that instead of having four compact cars we have three compact cars and one full size which
would be compliant the multi-family is not allowed because it's a it's an icmx industrial zone
it says that there is parking in the rear yard which is expressly prohibited but in fact
when you look at the actual zoning code it says that parking in the front yard is prohibited but
parking in the rear yard is not so we don't understand why that's there but it doesn't it
doesn't it isn't valid the fourth um is the rear yard depth and we are proposing um 15 feet if we
had to do the full 20 feet it would it would squish a large part of the building um which
which doesn't make any sense to us uh exhibit two we have um the beginning of some petitions that
were that were uh circulated amongst uh the the near neighbors and these petitions even though
there's only five at this point are literally right next door these are these are people who
live in the very closest proximity um and um mr fiorella can can speak to that you know at um when
when we get to his testimony later.
For exhibit three, this is our presentation
that we made to the RCOs.
And one of their concerns was,
this is our building over here.
One of their concerns was,
how is this gonna look from Germantown Avenue?
So we have a view that we created showing that,
that it actually has a very low profile
when you're looking at it all the way from Germantown Avenue.
But it's possible that there will be infill with some single-family homes
or other residential structures right off of Germantown Avenue.
And again, this shows that there is not an ugly or a troubling view from Germantown to that area.
these are the the primary the priority recommendations from the planning commission
concerning this area and in terms of the thrive category they're calling to direct
multi-family housing development to commercial streets and train stations to increase the number
of people using public transportation and shopping at local businesses they're also
So in the Washington Lane to Wayne Junction area, they're also calling for the legacy industrial zoning districts to be removed and to replace those with CMX 2, CMX 2.5, and CMX 3.
And the purpose is to promote housing production through new construction and adaptive reuse on major corridors close to transit stops.
so that's exactly what we're doing we're trying to fulfill what the planning commission sees as the
as the major priority to really revitalize this area in germantown uh for these this is the map
um we're looking at area j and um this is this is where our property is in in this part of area j
right next to germantone avenue uh and that's the proposed zoning from 2018. uh we also uh have
uh oh this is i think the same slide as before so
um so these are um the two properties that I was referring to that that recently received
these are um the two
zoning permits um and and were constructed um to have significant multi-family the 4700 Stunton
Avenue um received um a zoning permit in 2022 uh you'll see that it was the same uh zoning it was
this ICMX and the zoning permit calls for multifamily and it's 26 units that were constructed
there. The next building is 4717 Stenton. That was also issued in 2022 and it was a construction
of 78 dwelling units 40 accessory off-street parking spaces including a bunch of bicycles and
electric vehicles um those are literally like i said right a choice adjacent to our building
and it shows that we're basically in sync with what with what the changes are in in this in this
a specific area in um exhibit four um is our revised plans um and these will make more sense
when when we look at the renderings but but we took a lot of the concerns that the community had
and we changed our design on the outside of the building these are not really zoning plans these
are these are more building planned issues but we but those were the those were the significant
and concerns that they wanted more preservation of the look and feel of the original uh building
but we do have just from you so that we are replacing the one compact car with the one
full size that that's part of the um refusals exhibit five um i'm gonna have um our architect
um ivano uh d'angela um walk us through the the design or everything so um ivano can you
come up here and and get sworn in and then we'll we'll just pull the mic over to you okay sure
killed by the client with it uh my name is ivano dangella uh i-v-a-n-o d apostrophe a-n-g-e-double-l-a
just try to get it a little closer closer yeah mr kelly are we okay with that
hello no mr kelly's our court reporter okay what do you do one more time right next to it please
my name is ivano dangella i-v-a-n-o d apostrophe a-n-g-e-double-l-a practicing architect here
in philadelphia resident of philadelphia for 61 years right all right do you do you swear or affirm
to tell the truth told truth nothing but the truth i do counsel um and mr dangella do you do you also
teach in different programs i've been teaching at uh what used to be college of textiles and science
philadelphia university and now jefferson university for the past 25 years part-time
all right so um let's let's um introduce the the board to what the concept is for
for your design here and and what what you're seeking to to achieve um with this project sure
The existing structure is going to remain. It's a brick and stone, Wissahick and Schist stone base. We will be adding three stories above it and a partial addition to the view.
Could you show it as he's speaking? Could you show it?
The renderings would be perfect.
All right, we're going to go down to the renderings. This is the original building.
So here's the existing structure, and that's the facade. At the moment, it has been changed. You'll see it in the renderings. The element on the right-hand side, Steve, is the driveway to the rear. It's an existing condition. It takes you directly to the rear of the building. It's a gated condition, and it would remain gated as necessary in the future.
this is what we call if you can zoom out a building section stanton avenue would be on the
left the rear of the property would be on the right the idea is to basically make a donut if
you will and have apartment living on the perimeters with an interior courtyard covered
by hopefully a solar array to introduce energy solar energy to the building but it would be open
to the air on its perimeters.
The roof also would be accessible to the occupants.
These are some interior views of what could be done on the interior
with the open courtyard as a primary circulation path,
not that it doesn't have elevator access and two staircases.
So, the lower level, that lower image is literally looking up at the solar array system, looking down into the courtyard. I don't imagine it being that dark, so just in case, that's a concern.
So the lower level, that lower image is literally
Here is the front elevation facing Stanton.
The existing structure is on the lower level of brick masonry.
What you see in gray is actually Wissahick and Schist that would remain.
It was poorly rendered by us in the beginning, but it's been revised.
The entrance is in the middle.
These balconies that you see was our hope to put more eyes on the street, as they say,
or as jane jacobs a very famous urban planner noted that is the best way to keep a street safe
this had some concerns for our rco and we addressed them in a revised condition
this is what you might see in the evening again conceptual if you will so these first two
stories are the original building and then these are the additional correct
So here is the the conceptual renderings. This is the this was our original plan, and this is how we're changing it to to to correspond to the community's concerns.
So can you just review for us what what we're seeing here and what the changes are?
we we thought it best to make some notation so it's diagrammatic in its nature the left side is
what you saw previously uh in and just highlighting the base of the building if you will the water
table uh you can see the stone on the right hand side which is existing and was repaired and
repointed by the owner a while ago there's the entrance it's actually a wooden door that was
fabricated by the owner as well the balconies as you can see on the left hand side have been removed
in the interest of the rco's concerns the balconies above instead of being full depth balconies they
became juliette balconies again with some interest of putting eyes on the street if you will so those
were the primary concerns also one concern that you can note is the existing facade sits proud
of the addition by 12 to 14 inches which was a request by the rco as well
highlighting the differentiation or the nature of the two buildings
okay is there are there more that you wanted to to bring it i don't think so okay um you're welcome
thank you so these are our zoning posters uh for uh let me just expand them out so you can read them
for today's date um that's the refusal this is the notice notice of appeal of the july 15th
for the tax clearance um mr fiorello was able to clear a balance um yesterday
and this is the the payment confirmation from the revenue department it was in the amount of
seven thousand one hundred four dollars and 36 cents and you'll see in the next slide is the
the full um matrix of of the of of the taxes that were paid throughout the years you'll see that
the 7104 36 was the only one that was outstanding and that's been addressed yesterday so we've we've
completed our tax clearance requirement um this is the deed um that uh that for fiorella llc to
own the property then we have our um our application for appeal which goes into some
depth on our argument about variance that there are physical circumstances and conditions unique
to the property that created the unnecessary hardship it's a single structure surrounded
by two immediately adjacent properties also zoned icmx that were both recently receiving variances
um in addition uh the as i said before the 2035 plan calls for the icm zoning to be replaced with
cmx 2 2.5 or cmx 3 and we would have then been able to to develop this by right if that zoning
was was in place um we have addressed the the compact car issue and the rear yard is wrong
because section 14803 1.2 provides the surface parking lots or parking structures in any
industrial district may be located anywhere upon the lot except in required front yards
um so we don't know why they thought a backyard and front yard was the same but they they're not
so we don't know why they thought a backyard and a front yard was the same but
um so uh our the rest of our appeal um was was um showing that we were not going to have any
adverse impacts on on any of the of the community or other or other issues in fact the the transit
impact that we're going to have is going to be quite extensively positive um our project information
form uh was highlighted um the intention to hire local community people both uh for the construction
and for the con the commercial uh that was gonna that would be placed in the in the first floor
and um our zoning notice to the neighbors is here with our mailing uh that went to uh this area um
and showing 36 postage envelopes were sent out
because it's not a very highly populated area,
but it's getting more populated.
It's changing, yeah, it is.
But unfortunately, our system in the planning commission
doesn't allow us to actually mail
to each individual apartment.
Yep. So, Mr. Fiorello, you've heard my testimony.
Could I swear him?
Oh, sure. Okay.
Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Yeah, it's Robert Fiorello. F-I-O-R-E-L-L-A.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Counsel?
Mr. Fiorello, you were here witnessing my testimony today, right?
And do you agree that it was true and accurate and adopted as your own?