This height is in line with what would be expected of an academic building of this scale.
The floor-to-floor heights in these buildings are really shaped by the needs within classrooms and the ceiling heights that provide proper acoustical performance in those spaces, as well as the requirements of modern mechanical systems.
And so these tend to be much deeper than residential floor-to-floor kind of distances between floors, and this is in line.
In fact, Green Street Friends has a building that opened a few years ago that's almost the exact height as what's being proposed here.
Okay. And in your professional opinion, does the fact that this addition must be integrated into two existing school buildings, coupled with the ADA requirements, constitute an unnecessary hardship related to the land?
And is the proposed height of the addition the least minimum necessary to afford relief, in your opinion?
It is.
And in your professional opinion, would the height variance in any way be injurious to the public health, safety, or welfare?
Does the underlying RSA-1 allow for multiple buildings in the lot?
It does not.
Are there currently numerous buildings on campus?
There are.
Has this condition existed for decades, and has it predated the zoning code?
it has existed for decades and yes it does predate the zoning code is there any way you
can house the uses that you need for this addition in other buildings currently on campus
no is the proposed addition a new building or do you believe this is an addition to two existing
buildings well technically by the building code this is an addition to the smith building
but it's connected to lobe which is a separate building they're separated their fire suppression
systems are separated and they have a fire separation between them but they are connected
and accessible through openings so technically it's an addition to smith it's an addition thank
you but however if considered a new building the way the l9 has construed it would the variance
for multiple buildings be the minimum variance that would afford relief yes um and if considered
a new building and a variance was granted um would that in any way be injurious to the public health
safety or welfare no does l and i believe that parking is required under the zoning code
yes it does okay how many spaces uh does l and i believe is required and how many are provided i'm
to bring up the zoning plan on Exhibit 7. Sure. Parking area. The zoning code is requiring 31
parking spaces. We are providing 23 and again we have provided those spots on a
portion of the of the campus that is already paved and serves in some way as informal parking.
and serves in some way as informal parking will the construction of the proposed addition result
in an increase in student body at all no okay so you don't and you don't envision more trips
due to the fact that you're building this addition because there's no additional student body
correct um and it's going to serve the current it's going to current serve the current student
body at current enrollment levels and you said correct on that have you confirmed this with
school leadership yes we have okay can you explain the complications of identify the complications
with identifying parking areas on an academic campus for children like this especially a campus
mr mcclure can i ask the question or you're going to have a transportation expert to come in
we are yes and you're going to repeat the same issues about cars and parking oh he's not going
to talk about cars and parking he's just going to talk about the the traffic circulation to the
extent the board wants to hear it uh okay i mean i i think i think your architect's doing a dc he's
going over the whole thing now so okay we'll be we'll be very brief to the extent you the board
all right thank you um and i'll just ask him to i'll just do an offer of proof with him if that's
all right to speed it along it's fine thank you mr chairman uh can you explain just briefly the
complications of trying to find parking on a campus like this with many old buildings as well
as circulation by children throughout it yes uh well this is a unique uh campus for sure it's much
like a college campus where students are moving between buildings over the course of the day and
of course students are uh are typically shorter we have we have a wide range of grades here
and can, you know, I think vehicles pose a great, the greatest danger for students who are moving
between classes. And as a result, the school has made a large effort to reduce and or eliminate
vehicles moving through the center of campus. So as a result, it means that the ideal locations
for parking lots are those that are proximate to the adjacent roadways. We have one here which
already has a curb cut. As I noted earlier, it's already paved, and it has been used as an informal
parking lot. So this was really identified as the ideal location to fit the maximum number of cars
that we could fit, and we were able to fit 23. And in your professional opinion, are there any
other appropriate locations to find the eight additional uh parking spaces on campus uh no
in your professional opinion does the parking requirement impose an unnecessary hardship
uh yes if granted would the parking variance for eight spaces be the least minimum required to
afford relief yes it would the parking variance any way be injurious to the public health safety
welfare no uh and regarding um the traffic circulation um that we changed is that does
that change does that uh in any way um require any zoning relief those changes no okay in in
your professional opinion does the proposed change in traffic circulation improve the current site
ingress and egress issues and otherwise improve the traffic situation on colter and green yes it
us okay in your professional opinion if the board granted all the requested relief today
would such action be consistent with the public interest yes it would i have no further questions
uh for mr goldstein unless the board has any questions anyone have any questions for mr
goldstein no mr chairman no mr chairman we're good matt no thank you mr chairman i'm going to
call Mr. Tavini, and we'll get him done in two minutes, I promise. We'll be very quick.
Could someone please elevate Frank Tavini?
Frank, tell me when you're on the line.
Mr. Tavini, you have to unmute yourself.
I am unmuted, I believe.
Could you say your name, Ms. Fella, please?
my name is frank tavani t-a-v-a-n-i you swear to firm to tell the truth the whole truth is nothing
but the truth i do proceed i'd like to all um mr davani's resumes on exhibit 19 is an expert
in traffic engineering would i can i offer him as such that's fine thank you thank you uh mr
davani you you uh you prepared a report today correct i did and that report is exhibit 10 correct
And that report is Exhibit 10, correct?
yes and what did your study read
And what did your study briefly conclude regarding the changes in traffic that was described by Jeff Goldstein?
And right now I have the two last pages of Exhibit A, which is the existing morning drop-off.
And then I'm moving to the after the project, the new proposed morning drop-off.
Can you explain very briefly what this does and why it's a good thing?
Yes, there are three benefits that this project offers in terms of traffic, parking, and circulation.
Since what we're looking at here is only one of those three, I guess I can start with that, and if I'm permitted, I can talk briefly about the other two.
What you see on the screen presently is sort of the after slide of what the project proposes to do.
The previous slide shows the existing conditions, which, as prior witnesses mentioned, involve all of the traffic for the lower school and kindergarten entering the site from Coulter Street, and then all of that traffic exiting onto Green Street.
And one of the things a traffic engineer always tries to avoid, if possible, is having focalized points of traffic loads because they are obviously more difficult to be accommodated as opposed to sort of dividing and conquering and putting some traffic on one street and some traffic on a different street.
So here we have all of the entering traffic coming on one street, so if there's any backup that occurs as that traffic is waiting to be processed internally, it backs up onto that street from which the traffic is entering, and of course all the traffic exiting onto another street just puts all the volume on that one street, which is something to be avoided.
Now, as you can see on the slide presently on the screen, what this does effectively is take these six grades in question, K through 5, and put half of them entering and exiting onto culture and half of them entering and exiting onto green with the obvious benefit of distributing the load equally over these two streets rather than focalizing it.
So that was the circulation benefit. And just really quickly, in terms of the traffic and parking benefit, as you heard from earlier witnesses, what this project contemplates is not adding additional instructional space, it's not adding a net increase in staff, it's seeking merely to create an amenity improvement, which will better serve existing populations in both cases.
And you may ask, why does that matter from a traffic perspective?
And the answer is it matters quite a bit because it means there will be no increase in traffic that will result from this project,
either as a result of additional parents driving or as a result of additional staff driving.
So that was the first point.
And then the last point regarding parking, I know that some of the existing residents are concerned about parking,
as any existing resident is, and the available parking supply on public streets.
So one might consider, does this project offer a benefit, if any, to the surrounding neighbors?
And the answer is yes, because as we just said, there's no increase in traffic related to the project.
That means there is no increase in parking demand related to the project.
However, there is a proposed net increase in parking supply to the tune of approximately two dozen additional on-site parking spaces that the project will provide, not only to itself, but to the benefit of the community if, in fact, the plan is approved.
So, if anything, there should be less on-street parking if this project is approved.
Thank you, Mr. Devani.
um i would like to if it's all right i'll just um move from my our exhibits to be into evidence we
have exhibits one through 20 mr chairman and i would note specifically um on exhibit eight which
are revised elevations for sheet z001 with the proviso form noting that we're increasing the
height by nine inches uh it was due to a mistake on on our part so the nine inch increase in height
as proposed we submitted the form but it would not result in a different variance to the extent
the board uh so elected to grant the relief that we are requesting today we would ask that
uh the sheet on uh exhibit nine i mean exhibit eight be stamped as well and with that i would
like to close mr bergman i mean but mr chairman bergman and members of the board is by saying
germantown friend school is not going anywhere they've been here for a long time and they've
been a member of this community a long time and we wish we had uh the support of the neighbors
obviously we did a good amount of outreach and we will continue to do a good amount of outreach
we believe that these changes are really related to the use that has existed on this campus for
a very long time and that are modest and are reasonable and can compare to what happens to
compared to what happened to other schools as well as the testimony you heard from mr goldstein that
other schools as well as the testimony you heard from Mr. Goldstein that that is
that is is accurate additionally um the building addition is set back quite a lot
a hundred feet from the street um it is not the tallest building on campus
um and it will we believe with the new uh change to facade uh uh be be more harmonious with green
green street and we ask the board uh for the relief with that i'll close our case thank you
questions from the board no mr chairman no mr chairman no mr chairman questions or comments
from the virtual audience chair we have charles richardson hi mr richardson
mr richardson
mr richardson you have to unmute yourself please i am sorry i thought i had hit unmute and i'm
steady talking charles just just state your name that's all charles richardson from the office of
councilwoman cindy bathroom 508 city hall uh calling in to just let let you know that the
councilwoman is supporting the rcos in the situation they have voted to oppose uh there
was a faction of folks that were at that on that last meeting that did vote to oppose and she is
supporting the community. Thank you, Mr. Thank you. Other comments are from the virtual audience.
Chair, we have someone with the name Andy, the last name ending in K, like hi.
Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
Sure. Can you hear me?
Yes. My name's Andy Van Clunen. It's A-N-D-Y-V-A-N space K-L-E-U-N-E-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed.
So I'm one of the neighbors that lives across the street from the Loeb building.
And while I was not able to participate in any of the RCO meetings, so I won't speak to that, although I would say as somebody who is going to look at the new building, I appreciate that the fact that the facade has been changed.
I think that's a that's a good addition. I am more concerned about the traffic.
So and I think that the part of the traffic analysis has been kind of been lost is Coulter, which is the current street that all the cars line up on to go on to campus is a one way street.
And so most mornings when you go there and you see a line of traffic parked on the left, a line of traffic either parked or waiting to get onto campus on the right, and then you can pass through.
Green Street is a two-way street.
It is also one lane of traffic going each way and then just one parking lane, which is along the frontage of the Germantown Friends property.
And my concern is that that is our only parking.
We don't have parking on essentially the west side of Green Street.
We only have parking on the east side of Green Street, on the northbound lane in front of the school.
We share that parking with the staff, and that is all parked up by staff as well as residents over the course of the day.
But there's going to be no way for cars that are waiting to get into the campus where they're going to sit.
On Coulter Street, they can sit essentially in an empty, open lane that's not being used for parking.
It's basically just being used as a queue for folks to go onto campus.
This is a street that every, it's a bus route, like every time a bus stops, every time a truck makes a delivery, every time anybody, like cars are always going in and out of the ongoing lane of traffic.
We've had lots of accidents on the street.
We've had fatalities on the street for those reasons.
And I'm concerned that I've not heard anything that's kind of telling me what's going to happen when there's cars that are queuing up to go on to the new parking and drop off area on Green Street if there's going to be other cars that are going to be going in and out around them.
So my concern is that either we're going to have more traffic problems or we're going to lose an entire lane of parking visits now going to become the queue area for Germantown friends and those of us who use that to park are going to lose that.
So that's the part that I've not heard in any of the traffic analysis.
Okay. Thank you very much for your call and your input. Other comments from the virtual audience?
Chair, we have Karen Singer.
Okay. Hi, could you state your name and spell, please, for the court reporter?
Yes, Karen Singer, K-A-R-E-N-S-I-N-G-E-R.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Proceed.
So I am Andy Van Clunen's next-door neighbor. I live at 5436 Gr.
Andy Van Clunen's next door neighbor. I live at 5436 Green Street directly across from the Loeb
building and I am concerned. I again appreciate that the architects have changed the color of
the addition but I am concerned because the new building doesn't seem to fit with the architecture
of the Loeb building as we see it from the street.
I have not seen what the interior of the building is doing. I'm sure there are reasons why
the building has been designed the way it is, but it does not feel to me like it's
in keeping fitting with the other buildings on campus and the neighborhood.
did you did you did you attend the rco meetings i attended the second one yes did you raise that
issue we did talk about that issue it came up over and over and i did not feel that there was
is that when they changed the color of the brick that is when they changed the color of the brick
that was a response to criticism from the community okay all right thank you for your input we
appreciate it. Anyone else in the virtual audience? Chair, we have Rosalind, last name ending in M as
in Mary. Hi, could you state your name and spell please for the court reporter? Hello, my name is
Rosalind Garrett McCovey. Hi, could you spell it please for the court reporter? R-O-S-A-L-I-N-D,
last name McKelvey
M-C-K-E-L
V as in victory
E-Y hyphenated Garrett
that's my maiden name
G-A-R-I-E-T
Do you swear affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth
nothing but the truth?
Yes. Please proceed.
I thank you for letting me
speak today. Oh sure.
Due to COVID and issues of health
have not been able to participate
and I'm also a community
involved person. Okay.
I just wanted to say that Germantown Friends School has been open for community funerals through COVID, through all these different events, community basketball tournaments, allowing the school for the deaf to use it when they don't have anywhere to have their projects.
they've always welcomed the community in and a hindrance for the community to be in there