or it's just that as they both may honor?
I gave it four years, second and third floor.
Okay, yep.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes with provisos.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes with provisos.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes with provisos.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes with provisos.
Thank you.
Thank you, counsel.
Number three, MI 2025-003-971, 1924-36, Washington Avenue.
Andrea Solomon is the attorney.
Counsel, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Good afternoon, Andrea Solomon, A-N-D-R-E-A-S-A-L-O-M-O-N.
Good afternoon, Andrea Solomon, A-N-D-R-E-A-S-A-L-O-M.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client and their relationship to the property?
My client is Keystone NFP, Philadelphia, Washington, LLC, the tenant of the subject property.
There's a letter of support from Point Breeze Community Development.
The vote was eight in support, two in opposition.
There was a near neighbor who voted.
and our
vice chair has a few questions.
Good afternoon. Have you
submitted your documents five
days in advance of this hearing? We did.
Okay. And did you waive the
refusal and simulate to its accuracy?
I do. Thank you. You can proceed with
your screen. Thank you. I am not
seeing the share my screen button.
There we go.
Join us, panelists. Thank you.
okay here we go we're here today with an application for two signs that are accessory
to the existing gym at the second floor of this property one internally illuminated flat wall sign
on South 20th Street and one internally illuminated projecting sign along Washington Avenue with me
today are Todd Shively from Planet Fitness and Sharon Brandt from Foreman Sign Company
the uh the the sign company um as Chairman Bergman stated we did receive support from a community
group point breeze community development coalition back in july uh the reason we're here is this
property is uh zoned i2 um medium industrial and uh the uh signs because the tenant is located on
the second floor it's a rare second floor commercial space are above the second floor
windowsill so each of the signs has received a refusal for their location um the property
as i said is along washington avenue bounded by south 20th street and altar street
this board granted the variance for the use for personal services last november
uh this is a view of the subject property um as along this is washington street south 20th street
again the tenant space is located on the second floor somewhere along this light post is where
the entrance to the planet fitness will be located um it shares the the property with
uh two other tenants that are located on the first floor uh really the sign is my as to to
both identify this commercial space on the second floor and help with this highly trafficked area to
way find uh show where the ingress and egress is of the location along washington
and demarcate where the tenant space on the second floor is
here's a key plan of the first floor as you can see this red space is the first floor really
entrance the solely the entrance of the planet fitness the majority of the space will be on the
second floor and the first floor is primarily occupied by the other tenants
I'll try to zoom in here.
This is the location of the two signs, the projecting sign along Washington Avenue on
the second floor and on South 20th Street.
There is also an already permitted wall sign just above where the entrance to the lobby
will be.
Since the property is zoned I-2, really the allowable signage for this property is over 10 times what we're proposing.
It's a very muted sign package and really comes out of Planet Fitness' experience with other properties and the recommendation of the sign company to show where the tenant's base is.
this is a rendering of what the uh wall sign along south 20th street will look like
the sign details the already permitted sign above the entrance and the projecting sign
that it's we're requesting the variance for again to show where the second floor space is
spaces sign details attachment details the refusal which indicates that it's just for the location
fine details.
of the signs these are other planet fitness locations they've used this typology before
where their space their tenant space is on their gym space is on the second floor they
demarcate the location they're very active in their community um it'll it'll really be an asset
to the neighbors uh as indicated from the the support received um and todd is here to talk
more about the kinds of programs that they offer this is a layout of the equipment uh on the second
floor space and uh the gym is slated to open in december december 29th of this year
these are some of the latest construction drawings this is the second floor space
and the the stairwell is really the only thing that will be occupying the first floor
and um with that as i mentioned todd is here uh i can bring him on um we're requesting the
limited relief for the location of the signs and any other relief necessary sure why don't you
bring how many signs will in total total for the plant planet fitness there will be three signs
total. All right. Two are part of this package.
What's his name? Todd Shively. I think
he has his hand raised. Okay. Yes, Chair. He'll be
coming back in after Panama shortly. Thank you very much. Understood.
Good afternoon, everybody. Hi. Todd, could you
please state your name and spell for the stenographer? Yes. Todd
Ed Shively, T-O-D-D, and then my last name is S-C-H-I-V-E-L-Y.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Counsel, proceed.
Hi, Todd.
Did you see the entirety of my presentation?
Yes, I did.
And is it true and accurate to the best of your knowledge?
Yes, it is.
And do you adopt it as your own testimony?
Questions from the board.
all right
thing where's the projecting sign here it's along washington avenue i'll show it first
uh this is the the existing property uh it's it's really at the edge of this window
uh okay yeah you have a photo of it too yes i'll show the rendering
it was hard to see in the picture so that's why i was just asking
here we go ah okay all right
okay thank you thanks all the questions questions or comments from our attorney uh no chair questions
or comments from the audience or the virtual audience?
No hands raised, Mr. Chair.
Planning Commission.
Amy Boyd with the Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends a change in zoning at this location
from the current I-2 medium industrial to IRMX industrial residential mixed use.
The appellant has not demonstrated that there are unique physical conditions
or circumstances of the property that would prevent it
from being used in conformance with the zoning code.
The Planning Commission recommends that the Board deny their requested variance for sign height.
We'll just state that the space is up the second floor, so this is really to designate where that tenant space is.
So MI 2025-003-971, 1924-36 Washington Avenue, I vote yes.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes.
Tynetta Graham, my vote is yes.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes.
Thank you, Councilman.
thank you very much so number four mi 2025 004019 323 western rod avenue david orphanetes is the
attorney there is unanimous support from the south kensington community partners
10 total votes and a letter non-opposition from council member young
good afternoon mr chairman i count uh council could you please state your name and spell for
Counsel, could you please state your name and spell for the sonographer?
the sonographer certainly my name is david or
Certainly. My name is David Orphanides. My last name is spelled O-R-P-H-A-N-I-D-E-S.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Counsel, I understand this is a request from you for a hearing hold.
That's correct.
Okay. Our vice chair has a few questions for you.
Good afternoon. Have you submitted your documents five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, I did.
Do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
I stipulate to the accuracy of the original refusal, but the reason that we've requested
to hear and hold is that we made revisions to the design of the project, which increased
one cited refusal and probably going to create an additional refusal.
And as such, we need an amended refusal for the zoning board to vote its case.
So the notice of refusal isn't 100% applicable to the current, the latest design, which, again, is at the request of the community and resulted in unanimous support by the community group, the South Kensington Community Partners.
David, we're going to have a resumptive hearing for this.
That's fine. Yes.
So if I can share my screen.
Okay. Again, my name is David Orfanides, and I'm here representing 323 Girard, LLC, the owner of the property. The properties, the two properties we are dealing with today are 323 and 325 West Girard. You have a picture up here on your screen right now that show the two properties. They are presently vacant lots.
323 at the corner has been vacant for quite some time you can see here some street view photographs
if i go back to 2007 you can see here which is the earliest street view photograph both
properties their existing structures on those built on those lots but they are both vacant
so for over 20 years these properties and actually the building next door as well which is currently
still standing in its current vacant condition and bladed condition. But these two properties
in question have been vacant for almost 20 years at this point. And then sometime before 2014,
between 2014 and 2012, you can see that 323, the demolition of the existing building was commenced
in 2012 and then by 2014 it was vacant and that continued vacant through the years you can see
again here's 325 which is next to the vacant 323 lot with the blighted property next to it
and then as we go you can see through the years oops i'm going the wrong way
and you can you can see so why don't we start your presentation i mean we see this so long
Longstanding vacant lot, again. So the properties are both 65 feet deep, and then they go, they run, you can see here in the deed, and you'll see on the zoning plans in a minute, they run to a 14-foot wide alley, which runs across the property to the north of us.
That 14-foot wide alley is also referenced in a deed for the property, not only behind us, but then to the west of those properties on North 4th Street, which utilizes that access for rear egress.
That's interesting to note because when you look at our original zoning drawings and our survey plan, you will see that alley located to the north of us.
And that alley cannot be utilized, cannot be built on per the deeds, the references in the deeds.
And what that serves to do is create a buffer between our property and any building on the property to the north of us.
There's a four-story, six-unit building that was built to the north of us, and they run right up against this alley.
They actually utilize the alley to access their property.
And again, I bring that up because this was our original design, our original zoning drawings.
Four-story building with, and you can see here, went back to a point with open parking underneath the rear portion.
There was a superstructure.
This is not solid from front to back.
It's a series of beams, covered beams that then breached this and covered this or extended past this open area here to the rear property line.
Through the, and that allowed for the three accessory off-street parking spaces, including one, the ADA space.
This property is on CMX2, so we did provide the required commercial space at the front of the property with the original design.
Our original refusal was that we had...
Our original refusal was that we had more dwelling units than were permitted on the lot for given the lot size.
Our building height, 38 feet, is permitted.
Our roof height is 41 feet, but we dropped the parapet down to six inches so that the actual parapet height is the height of what's permitted with a by right 38-foot building because you're allowed three feet, six inches.
So from the outside, the building we've proposed looks the same as a by right building.
And also, you'll see in a minute, given what's around us, the height of this building and what's proposed around us, the height of the building works more in conjunction than the lower building.
And then originally, the original refusal did not have a rear yard depth refusal, but I eventually communicated with the examiner.
We talked about that superstructure that I mentioned on the zoning plans that extended to the rear.
And we indicated that because that superstructure extends over these beams with an open area beneath of it, open to the sky, extended to the rear property line, we had a zero rear yard depth.
But again, if you take a look at the original zoning drawings that I showed to you, the upper portion of the building, the solid portion of the building, was set back and provided the required open area and rear yard depth from that point.
We presented this to the community group, and this is the building that we presented originally.
This was the view from the front on the left.
The view on the right was the view from the rear.
You can see the open carport underneath.
These were the renderings of the original building.
And again, you could see the carport with the open kind of, you know, we had the support to handle the kind of cantilevered upper floors.
that went at the front and at the rear again with the wall that came down here
and then and then the original floor plans as mentioned we had a smaller commercial space it
was the required 30 feet deep we had the three parking spaces to the rear and then we had the
six units two per floor that went on each of the floors above from the low 800s to the mid 800s
when we went and met we met with south kensington community partners twice once in july and once in
September, the 14303 notices and the certificates of mailings for both of those are at the end of
my exhibit book. And interestingly enough, this doesn't happen very often, but what they preferred
to see was larger commercial space, get rid of the parking spaces, and we actually added an
additional unit, an AD unit at the ADA unit at the rear of the ground floor. So now our revised
plans look like this. And so you see for up to the west, abutting that building that's in
disrepair and has been for over two decades, the building extends almost to the rear property line.
There's a small open area to the rear, which is an open area for the ADA unit at the upper,
but then it extends all the way to the rear property line on the eastern portion of that