This was constantly
until May.
That's when the
rental unit was
evicted
in May of this year, 2024.
And then the
top part of the house, I
put up loud music for the last two years,
parties on the back porch
on Fridays, Saturdays,
Sundays. It's like
you can't sleep. It comes right through my house.
I'm three doors down.
With the
music, they're fighting out there.
They're drunk.
with the upkeep of the property, that's another
problem. He just cut the property
during the property this morning.
I've been
filing 311
complaints about the property,
about the grass, about he's got a cat
house by the side of the apartment. He's drawing
cats, and they're pooping
back there, peeing back there.
It's bugs in the bushes
going by the apartment.
I'm asking for this zoning
to be turned down.
It was converted back in
I've been living here since 2006.
It was a garage.
It was a garage. The side apartment
was a garage until 2015,
and it was converted into an apartment.
Since then,
he's been renting it out the top part and the bottom part and these people just do have not
respect for the main neighbors they they park constantly park on the sidewalk constantly do
not clean the front during the winter time i had to call 3-1-1 to get them to shovel their property
that's my testimony it's just a disgrace and properties getting a zoning notice
all right thank you can i have one more thing uh you can also filed in 2023 they filed a
a certificate for construction that construction was done in 2015 so what wider file that now i
don't know thank you very much for taking the time to close we appreciate it uh is there anyone else
in the virtual one yes there are no more hands at this time chair mr anastasia do you want to
respond to any of this but just that uh the property was converted as the gentleman said
10 years ago no incident whatsoever but for the last tenant which was immediately taken care of
and driven from the property planning commission thank you chair bergman and good morning david
effecto f-e-c-t-e-a-u with the city planning commission do you swear or affirm to tell the
truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes sir i do please proceed thank you chairman
And, Chairman and Board members, the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the RSA-5, residential single-family zoning at this location.
The appellant seeks to convert a previous business space on the building's ground floor to a residential unit.
An owner converted, at some point, the commercial space into a dwelling unit without the benefit of permits.
The City Planning Commission recommends that the Board deny the proposed use variance for a second dwelling unit.
Okay, thank you.
Mr. Anastasia, we're going to hold this to next week
where I get a chance to talk to some of the other board members
about this case, okay?
Thank you, Mr.
So that'll be next Wednesday at 9.30, we'll vote.
Thank you, sir.
Thank you very much.
We're going to go to number one.
So MI 2021-004-633-3900 Main Street.
Adam Laver is the attorney.
There is a letter of opposition from Mani Young Neighborhood Council.
There's a letter of support from Council Member Jones.
And the applicant also has three letters of support, two formed from neighbors, along with two letters of support from contractors.
Adam Laver has been promoted to penalist.
Good morning, Mr. Chairman and members of the board.
Mr. Laver, could you please state your name for the record?
Adam Laver, L-A-V-A as in Victor, E-R, Blank Rome, 1 Logan Square, on behalf of Shahab, S-H-A-H-A-B, Shahab Investment, LLC, and its managing partner, Ahmed Michael.
LLC, and its managing partner, Ahmed Michael Al-Haddad, owner.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, Chairman Bergman, I do.
Our vice chair has a few questions, sir.
Thank you.
Good morning, counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of a refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?
Good morning, Mr. Vice Chairman. Yes, I do.
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that is needed and required to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, Mr. Shahid, I have.
Thank you, Mr. Labor. Please proceed and share your screen.
Thank you.
Mr. Chairman and members of the board, as I mentioned, I have the privilege of representing
Shahab Investment LLC and its managing partner, Ahmed Michael Al-Haddad.
Michael acquired the subject property approximately eight years ago.
It has been his dream to transform this 59,000 square foot underutilized surface parking riverfront property.
Here you can see the riverfront property as it exists today, a surface parking lot.
And to the left would be, actually, to the right would be Main Street, and to the left would be the river, I believe, in this photo.
In addition to Michael, also with us in the virtual hearing room, are Stuart Rosenberg of SGRA Architects, Dr. William J. Cohen, Citi Regional and Environmental Planner, American Institute of Certified Planners Charter Member, and member of its College of Fellows.
Dr. Cohen is also a professor at Temple University.
Additionally, Dr. Peter Angelides of eConsult Solutions, Inc., who is an expert in documenting
financial and economic impact, and will speak of both regarding the proposed project.
On the screen before you is a conceptual rendering, and I'll get into details as we move along.
But I'd just like to set the table, if you will.
Michael has appeared before this board several times before.
His company is a certified minority business enterprise that prides itself on a stellar
reputation throughout Philadelphia's neighborhoods for both adaptive reuse and for new construction.
One of Michael's most recent new projects, which you may have walked by or driven by,
It was a very collaborative endeavor with former City Council President Clark, as well as the surrounding community.
This project can be seen on the 10-hundred block of Girard Avenue.
It is a mixed-use development, similar in some ways to what I'm going to share with you today.
In that case, on Girard Avenue, it has really set the groundwork for transformation along the immediate corridor.
Why do I begin with this background?
I do because reputation is key to Michael.
His past projects support the assertions that we're going to make today.
He is a man rooted in community, rooted in Philadelphia.
you. Here are a series of photographs of Main Street with that parking lot that you saw from
the interior, and now we're looking at the exterior. You can see the postings. You can see
the curb cuts into it. The subject site is a vacant parcel. It has a troubled history in the
community. It is not the highest and best use. It's not the best way to treat prime waterfront
real estate. The proposed redevelopment of the site has elicited divergent opinions, and I'm
sure we'll hear those divergent opinions today. This is understandable considering the impact of
the proposed transformation of nearly an entire block. However, Mr. Chairman and members of the
board, the most vested stakeholders, the immediate neighbors, yearn to see the property transformed.
The business owners yearn to have people patronizing the local businesses that have
weathered so many events in Philadelphia recently and are trying to hold out a little bit longer.
Unfortunately, over the course of several years now, you note the MI number is 2021. We don't hear many 2021s anymore. So over the course of several years of dialogue and discussion, it's become evident that it is impossible to satisfy every individual's oftentimes competing wish list.
Unfortunately, over the course of several years now, you note the
process. And during the course of a very engaged process, development plans were refined and
the zoning application was amended accordingly. And Ms. Emerson has revised proviso plans
that have been submitted. Let me just touch on some highlights and I'll delve into detail
in the course of this presentation. In response to community feedback, in response to civic
design review feedback in response to feedback from Philadelphia City Planning Commission
and based on feedback of consultants hired by Michael, below-grade parking at the development,
at the proposed development, has been completely removed, meaning no basement is proposed.
And placement of all parking, you'll see, is proposed at grade.
There is a reduction in dwelling unit density. We are now proposing 115 residences. And you'll see, and you've seen a little, a taste of it in the conceptual rendering, a shift from three buildings as originally proposed to two buildings and efforts to incorporate preservation of public view and access to the river.
Very much in response to comments and feedback from Civic Design Review. Wonderful green space is proposed and public river walk. It's still up in the air as to whether there will be public access along the riverfront.
but we are being sure to make it possible that if that happens, what Michael is proposing can link
into that and be synergistic with that. And if it doesn't happen, you'll see in the proposed plans
that there are still opportunities with this development to bring the public in, at least
at this property in front of the river, to enjoy this amazing resource that has been a Philadelphia
a treasure for so many years. The district council member Curtis Jones has visited the site
and reviewed the updated plans that we're sharing with you today. And he has submitted a letter to
this board in which he references that the proposed plans, quote, will help to further my
vision of revitalizing Maniunk's Main Street corridor. He goes on to write, I'm very excited
about this transformative project.
I'd like to share some aerial images with you now.
You've seen a few photographs from the inside of the property,
which is here, surrounded in the yellow.
You've seen from Main Street, looking at the curb cuts in at the wall.
And here you get a better sense of streetscape
and also placement along the river.
And in this context, I've been thinking a lot about the case and the fact that throughout history, people have naturally been drawn to the water's edge.
Cities have been built up around rivers.
In earlier years, the locations were often the site for industry, as was the case in Manioc.
However, today, residences with a water's view are sought after throughout the world.
Think, for example, of some of your favorite locations, seaside resorts, luxury high-rises on the waterfront, at home and abroad, whether it's Delaware Avenue or favorite location in Europe, Florida, wherever.
And what we have learned through science and engineering is that there is a way to responsibly develop.
And that is the difference between outmoded, functionally obsolete structures that don't address responsible waterfront development, in many cases because they're historic or preceded the advancements in technology that we have today, and the engineering that we have today that can make these projects work and be better than ever before.
So even at the water's edge, this is possible. This is what is being presented today with these refined plans. Many enjoy living, relaxing, and looking out upon the water. Oceans, rivers, lakefronts are highly desirable locations. This is what we have today.
now there are those in maniunk who would prefer to stagnate and
Now, there are those in Maniunk who would prefer to stagnate, and I would submit that never is there a truer use of the word stagnate.
We could perpetuate parking lots.
We could perpetuate self-storage, one of the obvious uses permitted.
But in place of that, what we hope to create with this board's blessing are the plans that have been submitted.
In delving into this application, we believe that this board will properly determine that sufficient hardship exists at this property to grant reasonable variance relief and to usher in a new era for Maniunk and for the city of Philadelphia to bring needed housing units online.
Turning to the specifics of the proposal before you, 3900 Main Street was previously home to a mill complex, which was demolished long ago. Prior attempts to redevelop the site have failed. As the neighborhood's industrial past has largely shifted and residential living has expanded, the subject property, as you can see, has been significantly underutilized.
59,000 square feet sit here on Main Street abutting the Schuylkill River.
Shahab Investment and Michael have planned to take that lot and turn it into what you see right here.
We're looking at the water's edge.
We're looking at a mix of public and private in terms of engagement and people who are enjoying this natural resource.
You can see a new six-story building, blood-resistant, responsibly built residential and commercial, designed by the Philadelphia Architectural Firm of SGRA Architects, to include 115 residential dwelling units, ground floor office commercial space, that would be off of Main Street, and we'll go through that, 46 off-street automobile parking spaces.
39 bicycle parking spaces, and off-street loading. Let's begin, however, with the zoning map.
Here you can see the subject property right next to the river. Before we go to the notice of
refusal, consider the underlying zoning, ICMX, industrial commercial mixed use. This, we would
submit, is not in line with the blend of historic residential, row homes, the central business
district, which is looking for some new life, and also new recent multi-family, multi-story
development. Additionally, given the narrowness of Main Street itself, industrial uses, which
were once so prevalent, are no longer suitable for these sites. Why? Truck access is highly
difficult. Loading and unloading creates traffic jams along Main Street. It's proven disruptive.
We've learned this in discussions with the community.
We've learned it from many on-site visits to the property.
Here is the instructive document, the notice of refusal, which was amended some time ago.
By the way, for those of you who like to study notices of refusal carefully, the way in which this notice of refusal was drafted,
which Ms. Emerson and I have discussed, is slightly unusual in that the notes to the ZBA
at the bottom contain some of the amended language. That has nothing to do with the applicant. It was
the decision of the zoning examiner. Refusal number one, I'd like to go through the three
refusals. Residential living is prohibited in the district. The subject property is located,
however, nearby to residential housing stock, local businesses desperate for patrons. It's
situated on prime waterfront, slated for walking trails and recreation.
The proposed development would enhance and create positive synergies.
Additionally, with this transportation diagram, you can see the site over here in green,
Main Street in blue. This is a natural transit-oriented development. I don't mean that
in the legal sense of the word, but I just mean it is set up to take advantage of Philadelphia's rich
public transportation infrastructure with a bus stop along Main Street within walking distance
of regional rail. And you can also see the Wissahickon Transit Center here in orange
to the right lower section of the screen.
The transitioning nature of Main Street
The transitioning nature of Main Street and the proximity to other residential development
and the proximity to other residential developments
would render industrial use on this site unfeasible and undesirable, and common sense
would dictate that the proposed multifamily residential is most consistent with the residential
character of the surrounding neighborhood rather than steadfast adherence to an obsolete zoning
classification at this location. Refusal number two, going back for a moment. Height. This is
complicated due to the floodplain. The neighborhood commercial area overlay imposes a 38-foot height