Likewise, the rates are just increasing.
It will be better if we can have an event space that is downstairs to make it more accessible for our parents and the children that attend our events to actually be celebrated, promote their growth inside the center, as well as, you know, be a hosting space for different community members inside of our community.
Great. Thank you so much.
And with that, we're happy to take questions from the board.
Questions from the board.
so this would be events for the daycare yes primarily for the daycare available for rental
from the community okay and then in terms of this space um you said it's pretty much a blank state
a blank slate okay and that um you're not going to have like cooking you're going to have everything
like catered and brought in and used that's correct okay is there a separate um space
where you can uh have um like mops rooms water that kind of thing so that you can
mop the floors and things like that like not separate from any bathrooms yes there's a separate
kind of back of house here where my cursor is um additionally this floor plan is not showing but
there there is kind of a mop closet behind the space where that would be separate from those
locations okay all right thank you yes any other questions questions from our attorney
uh no questions at this time mr questions from our the virtual audience
No. Wait. I have a hand up. Sure. Phone number ending in three five five two. They will be promoted. OK.
Hello.
You're allowed to speak.
hello hi adrian could you please state and spell your name for the stenographer
yes adrian fernandez my last name is spelled f-e-r-n-a-n-d-e-z swamp little rco do you swear
or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes please proceed
okay um sonbro rco supports this um request for a special exception um with the provisos
of um hours daily between 7 a.m and 11 p.m
uh no public admission or nightclub activities commercial trash and recycling collection
daily in the trash
kept on the property, inside the property lines.
And alcohol
that's included with events.
We're asking it to be events with no children and only
when there is alcohol, only if there's a PLCB license
on site. And the parking they discussed in the
MLU agreement. And lastly, we're asking that the affected neighbors from the list that they had,
that they be provided with the names, name or names, and direct phone number, email for the
applicant and property owner, because with the event spaces, our experience is that when there's
a problem, it's the affected neighbors that need to immediately contact the owner. And many times,
these are hours like after six or weekends. So the RCOs don't need that contact information.
The affected neighbor lists who are asking it to be mailed out to them to the affected neighbors.
We were asking that it would be mailed out to them, to the affected neighbors, within 250 feet in the same block.
And that's everything.
Thank you.
Was there any mention of limitation of hours?
She said 7A to 11P every day.
Every day.
michael gall with the philadelphia city planning commission m-i-c-h-a-e-l-g-a-l-l
you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth so affirm
please proceed the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing cmx3 commercial mixed
use zoning at this location the property in question is along a denser commercial strip
of north broad street a proper location for the proposed use of an event assembly facility away
from quieter residential neighborhoods and with easy public access options the proposal would not
cause undue detriment beyond what might otherwise be expected therefore the city planning commission
recommends the board grant the requested special assembly special exception for assembly and
entertainment event assembly facilities mi 2026 004 111 30 15 to 23 north broad street i vote yes
with proviso. Use limited
to ground floor
only, hours
7A to 11P, and trash
stored inside.
John, my vote is a yes
with proviso.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote
is yes with proviso.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes with proviso.
Tyia Nguyen, my vote is yes with proviso.
Kayla Beebe, my vote is yes with proviso.
Thank you. Thank you very much.
Have a great day.
All right, number seven, MI 2026-001-023-1937, Watkins Street, Gabriel Fellis is the attorney.
Gabriel Fellas is returning as a panelist.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chair.
Could you please state and spell your name for the stenographer?
My name is Gabriel Fellas, G-A-B-R-I-E-L.
Last name F as in Frank, E-L-L-U-S.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
There's unanimous opposition from Point Breeze CDC.
Are you aware of that?
our vice chair has a few questions. Sure. Good afternoon. Have you submitted your documents in
exhibits 14 days in advance of this hearing? Yes. And do you weigh the reading of your refusal
and stipulate to its accuracy? I do. All right. Thank you. You can see your screen and proceed
with your case. Thank you. Do you guys see the stable contents? Yes, you're fine. Great. Thank
Thank you for the share. So 1937 Watkins Street is currently a vacant lot, and we're here today seeking approval to erect a three-story two-family dwelling at the property.
The two-family use is prohibited in the RCA5 zoning district. This refusal here issued in February was originally for a three-family.
However, we have prepared and submitted this revised proviso form where we noted that the
proposed site plans have changed from the proposed three-unit multifamily structure
to a two-unit structure without any changes to the building envelope.
So we have here our site plans. So if I could, I'd like to promote Jared Blake from Level 9
Architecture as a panelist so he can walk us through these drawings that he prepared. He
gabriel did you go to the rco meeting yes i did did you tell us what happened yeah uh so we first
met with them uh in i believe it was june at the fifth exact date in june um at the first meeting
uh there was a lot of pushback uh regarding uh the three units um we we held a vote there and
we wanted to discuss with our client our client agreed to reduce the um the number of residential
units from three to two and we went back um in september in late september um with the project
um changed it to two units um obviously there was a lot significant pushback from the community
um i did want to address some of those concerns i can address those now i can address them later
as you get to it that's fine why don't you just finish yeah absolutely so so first off my client's
original goal for building the multifamily structure rather than just building a single
family that was allowed by Wright, was for his daughter to live in one of those units.
His daughter is a registered nurse in the city. So his plan was to have her live in one of the units and then potentially he himself will live in the other unit with his wife or his other daughter might decide to live in the other unit.
His daughter is a registered nurse in the city, so his plan was to have her live in one of the units.
He would consider renting out the other unit to tenants, but his plan was never to rent out both units to tenants.
And another concern that was brought up a lot was parking. Obviously, this is a small street.
We haven't done any impact studies or anything on the residential parking on Watkins.
But it was hard to understand the argument from the neighbors that increasing the residential living spaces from one to two would dramatically impact street congestion or decrease available parking spaces.
The neighbors all explained at the meeting that parking is already a problem.
So in our perspective, denying the property owner from building the duplex is not going to make the problem worse.
it's already a significant problem as is um some of the concerns raised at the meeting was that
having a two family in the block would increase parking and congestion by three to four cars
above what a single family would have uh we're just not sure where those figures are coming from
especially when we know that at least one of the units would be used by the client's daughter who
would be living alone um and you guys know if we if you were to build a single family dwelling that
can by right and he decided to rent it out uh there could just as well be a family of eight
you know living there each with their own car so we're not saying that having the additional unit
won't add an extra car competing for the already limited uh parking spaces on the block but it's
just as logical that it won't um you know the residents in the block are still going to have
these parking issues as we all know that's just an unfortunate characteristics of uh these small
residential blocks in the city so um that's main concerns that mostly a single-family
household living block yes it is uh there are some uh comparable multi-families
um in the area i acknowledge that there are none on the immediate block and all of the um
multi-families are going to be on on the number blocks on either side
all right um bring your architect on please sir absolutely
What was your architect's name?
His name is Jared Blake
Okay, he's there
Jared has been promoted
Sir, could you please state and spell your name for this stenographer?
It's Jared Blake
J-A-R-E-D-B-L-A-K-E
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Please, council, please proceed with your presentation.
Great. Jared, I'll let you walk through and you tell me when to start scrolling, okay?
Okay. Yeah, we'll just go through it real quick, floor by floor.
This is a basement, storage, laundry, and mechanical in there.
No living space proposed.
The first floor is a one-bedroom, one-bathroom unit with a kitchen, living space, and access to the backyard.
uh and then the stair continues straight up to the next floor uh the second and third floor
are another apartment with uh the second floor containing the the kitchen living room bathroom
laundry and mechanical and then the third floor containing two bedrooms and two bathrooms with
also stair access to a pilot house and roof deck on the on the top and and i think it's a roof plan
front elevations and sections
i believe that's pretty much it thank you jerry
um do you want to have your client come on adopt your testimony counsel yeah absolutely if you
guys think it's uh that's appropriate um my client's name is uh jeffrey cruz he's on behalf
of the owner uh jns property management okay mr cruz
jeffrey cruz has been promoted
Could you please state and spell your name
For the stenographer
Yes hello
Are you able to hear me I'm sorry
It's J-E-F-F-R-E-Y
Okay could you please state and spell your name
For the stenographer
Yes it's Jeffrey Cruz
J-E-F-F-R-E-Y
C-R-U-Z
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth
The whole truth nothing but the truth
Council.
Hey, Jeffrey.
Can you state your relationship with J&S property management?
I am the property owner.
That's my company.
Great. You heard my testimony today?
Great.
You heard my testimony today?
And was it true and correct to the best of your knowledge?
And what's
And would you adopt it for where you are?
Any questions from the board?
Questions from the board.
So there are a number of new construction properties on the block, and they're all single family?
On the immediate block?
Yes. Okay.
any other questions yes can you go back to the basement plan
all right thank you sure questions from our attorney no questions at this time
questions or comments from the virtual audience
there are no hands planning commission michael gall with the philadelphia city planning
commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the current rsa5 residential single
family attached zoning at this location this block is exclusively single family in nature so
the proposal would be out of character with its context the appellant has not demonstrated that
there are unique physical conditions or circumstances of the property that would prevent it from being
used in strict conformity with zoning code therefore the city planning commission recommends
the board deny the requested variance for multifamily household. MI 2026-001-023-1937
Watkins Street, I vote no. Michael Johns, my vote is no. Cheryl Gaston, my vote is no.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is no. Tywin, my vote is no. Layla Beebe, my vote is no.
Thank you, counsel. Thank you. Number eight, MI 2026-001-137-16
16 East Spring Street.