ZBA Hearing - July 16, 2024

increase the danger of fire or otherwise endanger public health, safety, or general welfare.

The proposed development employs best practices in waterfront development, construction, and

management. Main Street, Maniunk have flooded before. They will flood again. Just as we don't

abandon our beautiful oceans and rivers and lakes, Philadelphia cannot give up on its gem

of the Schuylkill River, Main Street, and Manioc. This project does it responsibly in a way that

checks the boxes in so many important ways. The SGRA-designed plan represents the highest and

best use for this site, in line with the finest locations throughout the city. Post-development

appropriately respects a changing neighborhood with a mix of long-existing uses and new projects

dotting the neighborhood. This will not adversely affect transportation or unduly burdened water,

sewer, school, park, or other public facilities. This feeds into the city's investment in upgrades

to transportation here in Maniunk and along Main Street. And let's get the return on investment

by having the population to take advantage of it.

We have proactively addressed environmental conditions, Mr. Chairman and members of the board. We have the full team of experts available. Stuart Rosenberg is available. The architect, should questions come up.

Our two experts that you heard from are available if there are questions.

We have submitted revised proviso plans with three pages of plans to Ms. Emerson.

If the board is inclined to grant the requested relief, we would respectfully request that

it be based on those three plans.

I would like to, at this time, call upon Ahmed Michael Al-Haddad, the managing partner of

Shahab Investment LLC, to adopt and affirm, please, Mr. Chairman.

Okay.

Mr. Al-Haddad, would you kindly raise your virtual hand to be recognized by Chairman Bergman?

Michael Al-Haddad has been allowed to speak.

Good morning, sir. Could you please state your name as spelled for the stenographer?

Ahmed Michael Al-Haddad.

A-H-M-E-D, Michael M-I-C-H-A-E-L, Al-Haddad, A-L-H-A-D-A-D.

Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

Yes, I do.

Please proceed, counsel.

Thank you.

Good morning, Michael.

Have you been present during the entirety of this morning's Zoning Board of Adjustment hearing?

Yes, I have.

Would you adopt and affirm the testimony that I and others have offered on your behalf?

Yes, I do.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you.

I was going to start with questions from the board, but counsel, could you explain that there was a meeting in, I think, 2022 with the neighbors, and we haven't had one since?

Yes, most certainly.

Prior counsel had a public meeting with the coordinating RCO.

As I said, this application dates back to 2021. Months ago, I reached out to leadership of MNC.

I reached out to leadership of MNC and we actually had an on-site meeting to discuss the past history and talk about where the plans were.

I was surprised, Mr. Chairman, to receive correspondence within the last week suggesting that, whoops, there's a contention that another meeting should have occurred.

Our approach is consistently to engage with community and all interested parties. And actually, the record really attests to that when you see how long this has been around. We've gone through the civic design review process, and we were responsive to comments from that process.

So let me be very clear. There was absolutely no bad faith on the part of this development team regarding any interactions with the community.

Although we know that there is a position of opposition from the registered community organization, that does not mean that we won't respectfully continue to speak to them and take phone calls and discussions, etc.

Michael wants to be a part of this community.

As we've stated on the record, he plans to put his offices here.

So I'm somewhat puzzled by that most recent response.

Thank you, counsel.

I appreciate your comments.

Other questions from the board?

Yes, sir.

I have a couple of questions.

So my first question, you said there was going to be 14 offices.

Are all these offices on the ground level or are they scattered throughout the building?

Good morning, Ms. Graham. The office space will all be at ground level. Residential will begin second floor and above. In terms of the number of offices, that sort of depends on user needs, just to be clear on that.

Okay. I know the report is set aside 14. The other question is the AMI units, how diverse are the AMI units?

the AMI units would be absolutely the same as meet all, meet and exceed. That's critical.

Okay. And the SkyBridge, are there, is used to connect both buildings. So are there amenities

in one building that are not in the other? Like what's the rationale behind connecting the

buildings together? Sure. Thank you so much for asking that question. Number one, the reason why

we have sky bridges is to allow the public the optimal view and access to the river so that you

don't have a massive building that is closed off. So we originally started with three buildings,

And we got some feedback that that was too much for Main Street, too much for the district.

Let's let people in, bring them in.

So once we do that, we're balancing the full community experience with the on-site.

The amenities for each building, 100% access to everything.

You go up to the roof, which really is your main amenity floor, and you can get there and enjoy it from either place.

So whether you are in one of the affordable units or a regular unit, you're at one end of the building or the other, everything is open and it's not at all different.

And public access.

Is public access on that Riverwalk 24 hours?

Or is it going to be shut down by the builder?

So I want to answer that question as transparently as possible. There's no thought at this moment of shutting down anything. The idea is the river is an amenity for all to enjoy. It's a public right, if you will.

um i my only hesitation that you may hear in my voice is should there be some overwhelming need

to to change that for the good of the community rather than the specific needs of the building

i think that that would be a discussion to be had um that may be more information than necessary but

But the absolute intention is what you see right here on this plan, that whether it's 8 a.m. in the morning for a jogger or a summer stroll in the evening at 10.

8 a.m. in the morning for a jogger or a summer stroll in the evening at 10 p.m., that that's open.

And lastly, is there consideration to extend that public access, that river walk?

I noticed how it stops near the parking.

So can it be extended beyond the buildings to include the parking area as well to extend public access?

Yeah, this is being designed so that it can not only do that, but that should.

And hopefully, city and other stakeholders do hear what has been done around Bartram's Gardens and other areas in the city where there are public walkways, also in Northeast Philadelphia and other locations, that there can be synergies.

And whatever Michael has designed here can tie into that and can be expanded and added on to.

Right. No, I'm saying for this project, his river walk, his portion of the river walk does not extend beyond the buildings. Would he consider extending the river walk for public access to go all the way near the parking lot space? That's my question.

I see no reason why, why not, if that's feasible and it makes sense.

Thank you.

Thank you, Tana. Any other questions from the board?

uh yes so it's public access uh that's you're talking about the walkway but you were also

talking about the uh roof area how is that no if if it came off that way member gaston that wasn't

my intention the only the only public access would be to the outdoor areas that are open to

the elements, with the exception of just walking under the building through the courtyard to get

to the outside. The rooftop would be for those who enjoy living in the building and their guests.

So did I see what looked like a restaurant or something there in one of these?

in one of the conceptual renderings yes the conceptual renderings is that what i saw up there

or is that just a way to try to show how the rooftop space might be utilized it is to show

how it might be utilized it's taking some inspiration from some other developments in

the city that actually have code approved ways to grill within compliance with the fire

code, of course, and for people who don't have a normal outdoor backyard to be able

to gather with others.

What you saw is not viewed as a commercial establishment.

Absolutely not.

We're not seeking that zoning approval.

It's not in the application.

Okay. And then what about this evacuation plan? What happens if there is flooding? How do people get out of this building?

Right. So we have not not trying to make anybody car sick here or motion sick. I'm just seeking to go back to. Here we go.

So the USGS water alert system will be implemented at the property to have advance notice for all those who live and work to be aware and to evacuate.

The first floor is designed for dry flood proofing to close that down.

Upon moving forward with this approval, we hope Michael is committed to having in place documented relocation of vehicles.

One of the main concerns Ms. Gadsden at CDR and as originally proposed was underground parking and we're aware of other developments in the city that have had and will likely continue to have issues with cars that are below grade.

We've removed that completely. And with this development, upon getting an alert, then the plan would be to flee if there's time, move cars if there's time, but prevent any tragedy.

So that's what you're seeing here. And we're talking about real locations that people are aware of.

And I would concede that we are in a dense.

And I would concede that we are in a dense area.

There's already concerns in Maniunk about a lack of parking, et cetera.

So this would be something that would be documented moving forward and would be part of the plan when somebody comes in to live here.

They would know where they would be going if need be.

so you're talking about the temporary relocation of you say it's how many cars it's 60 cars

uh we have we have right here uh 46 you're gonna do 46 and yes you you will have a plan in place

for where uh these every car can go that's right okay yes and we are i'm sorry i didn't mean to

no no go ahead all right i was just going to follow ms gaston by saying that we say that

even knowing that we are exceeding the required number of on-site parking spaces we're doing that

again out of these months years of discussions with stakeholders many of whom have actually said

that they want one-to-one parking or more which is not feasible here we're balancing

gotcha and then everything is on the you're saying almost everything is lifted up for

It's on the second floor to, I guess, provide for this whole flooding issue, except for, did I hear correctly that the offices that you were talking about are going to be on the first floor?

yes offices would be on the first floor they would be dry flood proofed and uh there would

certainly have to be evacuation there will be no residential living space at the first floor

mechanicals are raised up with the associated costs also of raising those up so that there

are not any issues with mechanicals we are exceeding recommended guidelines for raising up

which is also part of the reason why we're seeking a height variance.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Any other questions from the board?

Counsel, just out of curiosity, the second floor, how many feet up is that?

Sure.

So, when we get to the second floor, we are looking at 16 feet, eight inches.

Thank you.

Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Embers?

Not at this time, Mr. Chair.

Questions or comments from the virtual audience?

Yes, Chair. I have a hand up by the name of John Hunter. He has been allowed to speak.

Good morning, Mr. Hunter.

Good morning.

Hi, could you please just state your name and spell for the stenographer?

Yeah, my name is John Hunter, J-O-H-N-H-U-N-T-E-R.

Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

I do.

Please proceed, sir.

Thank you, Chair Bergman.

um this is a sort of an extraordinary situation for us in my years of doing zoning matters as the

chair of my neighborhood council i've never come across this um as mr labor mentioned this is a

revised scheme this is a revised scheme that we've never seen before we didn't receive any documents

we know nothing about it it's a completely different scheme from what has been proposed

before. On June 23rd, I wrote to Mr. Labor when we were notified that the hearing was

established for today, and I said, can you confirm that your client intends to proceed

with the scheduled hearing, and if so, whether there are any changes to the scheme that was

reviewed by the Civic Design Review Committee, or alternatively, ask for a further continuous.

And Mr. Labour's response was, in response to your query, the applicant intends to proceed.

There are not any changes that warrant additional review by either LNI or CDR in advance of the scheduled ZBA hearing.

In other words, there was no mention that there's been substantial changes.

In addition, we have not received the submitted package that normally goes in five days before the hearing.

And so I again wrote to Mr. Leiva and asked him for a copy of that submission.

And so I again wrote to Mr. Laver and asked him for a copy of that submission, and we didn't receive it.

So what you're seeing on the screen this morning is the same thing that we're seeing for the first time as well.

This is an obvious bait and switch situation.

We don't have time to respond. I don't see it. It's productive to respond, although I have lots of things to say.

I ask, therefore, that you hold the hearing further and ask Mr. Leiber to send us the submitted information so we can review it, and then we will continue with our comments at a later date.

And I would also ask, and I think it's unfortunate, that board member Johns, who sat in on both of the two CDR meetings, and is not here today, unfortunately, be present when that second part of the hearing is continued.

Hillary?

Mr. Hunter, because Mr. Johns was part of the CDR committee that heard this, he will need to recuse himself from this matter.

He is welcome as a member of the public to listen to the hearing, but he cannot participate as a board member because he had previously been involved in this matter in another capacity.

mr hunter i understand your position but what you heard today what are your thoughts

um as i said there's an enormous number to go into and um let me just say that the core of the

the problem at the cdr meeting was not reviewing the details of the thing which i can go into

If I have more time when I see the scheme, but the scheme, the property, the subject property is in the section of Lower Main Street between Shoes Lane and Ridge Avenue.

That distance is one mile, almost exactly. And between those two points, the river is on one side of Main Street and the elevated railway tracks at 70 feet above Main Street prevent, it's a canyon, it prevents anyone escaping other than going towards Shoes Lane or towards Ridge Avenue.

If and when, as there will be increasingly frequent flooding, the only way to evacuate from this property is to go through impending floodwater as it rises.

Whether the warnings are accurate or not, that is a fundamental problem with this.

And any fancy supposed evacuation procedure which has no legal standing cannot overcome that problem.

There should not be residential dwellings in the floodplain.

And not only that, consider the longer term view, which we have experience now from Hurricane Ida, that not only is Lower Main Street flooded for the actual flood event,

But then the sediment, the damage, the debris means that the power outages means that that section of Main Street from Shows Lane to Ridge Avenue is completely closed.

And it will remain closed until it's been clean, all the sediment and pollution is removed, the damages and security has been completed.

There might be power outages, so there's no streetlights at night.

And yet, in theory, this property will somehow allow residents to continue to reside there. How they will get there is not understood. How they will enter a lobby that's been under 10 feet of water the day before is not explained.

Those are just the basics that were under consideration of the CDR, never mind all the other things that we could go to. It was said today for the first time that we've never heard this.

Okay. All right, Mr. Hunter, I'm going to move on to the next witness. I'm going to hear from witnesses today, and we'll figure out where we stand, what we're going to do at the end of the hearing, okay?

You hear me?

Other questions for the virtual audience?

yes chair i have two hands up william o'brien has been allowed to speak

good morning mr o'brien uh good morning mr chairman can you hear me i most certainly can

could you please state your name and spell for the court sonographer uh william o'brien w-i-l-l-i-a-m

o'brien o-b-r-i-e-n you swear a firm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth

i do uh just to be sure you're not representing anyone today right i represent nobody in this uh

Just to be sure, you're not representing anyone today, right?

I represent nobody in this.

All right, please. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Please proceed.

I just want to give some context. The building, the apartment building called Bridge Five was referenced earlier.