ZBA Hearing - February 17, 2021

thank you pauline good morning everyone my name is frank yeah i'm so sorry but this is the time

when we wait oh okay as soon as we go live we're letting everybody come into the virtual world

thank you very kindly thank you

i'm sorry i didn't say good morning to everyone good morning everyone

good morning good morning good morning good morning good morning tanya

big old jason with that voice yep and you with yours the problem

good morning don't get jealous confessor

okay chair we got about 50 people that came in we're ready to start

thank you good morning again good morning everyone my name is frank duchico i'm the

chair of the zoning board of adjustment i'll be participating in today's hearing along with our

vice chair miss carol tenere board secretary confessor plaza and board member mr thomas

Holloman. Board Administrator Fatina L. and our Board Attorney Sharon Saleta are also in attendance.

For those of you who haven't yet participated in one of our virtual hearings,

we're getting some feedback. Somebody have a radio or a television on? If you can mute yourself,

that would be helpful. For those of you who haven't yet participated in one of our virtual hearings,

I'll go through some of the basics of what you can expect.

Do you hear that echo? It's my voice echoing.

I was just going to ask, Ms. Tenere, if you would try unmuting.

Yes, I muted. I'm sorry. I muted Carol. It was coming from Carol, I believe.

All right. Thank you. For those of you who haven't yet participated in one of our virtual hearings, I'll go through some of the basics of what you can expect.

First, we will be administering oaths to individual participants prior to their testimony.

Second, we'd like to advise everyone that this proceeding is being recorded

and that by participating, you acknowledge your agreement to be recorded.

And this recording will be available to the public on the web or otherwise.

For anyone participating by phone, if you wish to testify,

you must raise your hand by hitting star nine and then star six to unmute yourself.

I'll repeat.

For anyone participating by phone, if you wish to testify,

you must raise your hand by hitting star nine and then star six to unmute yourself.

Finally, to enter an appearance statement, call Google 267-270-5548 and leave your email address

and the address of the property at issue. I will repeat. To enter an appearance statement,

call google 267-270-5548 and leave your email address and the address of the property at issue

I would also like to remind everyone to please do not attempt to testify in the chat

any comments should be directed to our board administrator Fatina

with that i will begin by reading the list of continuances and or withdrawals that have already

been requested mi 2020 that's zero zero two four eight three one four three one that's three three

north 20th street is continued am i

frank you muted yourself

sorry about that did uh i don't do you get the first continuance yes we did all right second

continuance uh where we the board are apply uh are suggesting this case be continued because the

exhibits that were not received until 9 30 p.m last night so that'll be for MI 2020-002-490

2637 East Clearfield Street will be continued excuse me MI 2020-001-284-2815 Grays Ferry

Avenue is continued MI 2020-001-239-2815 Grays Ferry Avenue is also continued um I think I read

let's just make sure I didn't leave anything out okay is there anyone who disagrees with

any of those continuances if so please raise your hand at this time

I see no handshare. Thank you. Is there anyone at this time who would like to request a continuance

I see no handshare.

or withdrawal? If so, please raise your hand. Okay, we have Andrew Goodman. Mr. Goodman,

I have unmuted you. Please wait for the chair. Good morning, Mr. Goodman. Please identify

yourself of the record and we'll swear you in. Good morning. Andrew Goodman, G-O-O-D-M-A-N,

representing the Office of Third District Council Member Jamie Gaudier. Thank you. Swear and affirm

to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth? Yes, I do. Thank you. Please proceed.

Our office is requesting continuances for applications at 5319 and 5320 Angora Terrace.

We have no record of any RCO meeting taking place.

Any objection to the request with continuance for 5319 and 5320 Angora Terrace?

Excuse me, this is Sharon Saleta.

We also have no exhibits for those cases.

This is the first listing.

First listing. Okay. MI 2020-002-474-5319 Angora Terrace and MI 2020-002-475-5320 Angora Terrace.

Those cases will be continued. Thank you, Mr. Goodman.

Any other requests for continuances or withdrawals?

Chair, we have Sloan Foulkes. Mr. Foulkes, you've been unmuted. Please wait for the chair.

Good morning, Mr. Foulkes. Please identify yourself, and I'll swear you in.

Good morning, Chairman DiCicco, ZBA Board. My name is Sloan Foulkes, S-L-O-A-N-E, F-S-N-F-I-R, O-L-K-S.

Office of Council 1, Maria Kiela-Sanchez, room fires your way to the hall.

We're going to affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth.

I do.

Please proceed.

Our office will request a continuance for the meeting number MI-2020-000739-3857 North Fairhill Street, as they have not met with a coordinating RCO.

This is Sharon Saleta. We have no exhibits for that case, and this is the third listing.

Third listing? Okay. MI-2020-000739.

3857 North Fairville my vote is to dismiss. My vote is to dismiss. Dismiss.

Thank you Mr. Folks thank you. Anyone else? Continuance or withdrawal please raise your hand.

Mr. Chair on 14 and 15 no exhibits first listing we continued it. Are they both must be heard?

I mean we normally don't do that on the first or the second.

We were doing that initially but it's your call. All right why don't we go back to those two cases

MI 2020-002-474-5319, Angora Terrace, and MI 2020-002475, 5320, Angora Terrace.

Those cases are continued, must be heard.

Thank you, Carol.

Sure, thank you.

Any other requests for continuances or withdrawals?

here we have one sir you may unmute yourself with your hand up

okay yes hi my name is jacob dome i applied for the 2637 east clearfield street

please spell your first and last name j-a-k-u-p-d-o-m-i do you swear and affirm to tell

the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes i do please proceed we're continuing that

case sir because we didn't get the exhibits until 9 30 last night yeah it's totally my fault because

i i missed that uh second page i thought i was going to represent everything myself here but

i missed the second page where it says there had to be five days before the hearing yeah there was

okay but that case will be continued yes thank you anyone else

i see no other hands here thank you carol i believe we begin with case number two

okay calendar number 2489 15501 busselton avenue the attorney is steve bertill

15501 Busselton Avenue.

The attorney is Steve Bertil.

And there's a letter of non-opposition

from Council Member Brian O'Neill.

Yes.

This is Sharon Saleta.

I didn't mention in the summary

that it's with the proviso requested by the RCO.

However, I don't have the RCO letter,

so I don't know what the requested proviso is.

All right, well, here's the testimony.

Maybe you'll provide us with that information.

Morning.

Good morning, Mr. Bertil. Please put your name and address on the record and spell your last name.

Steve Bertil, B-E-R-T-I-L, H-Claire Harrison, Harvey Brandsburg, 1835 Market Street, Suite 1400,

Luffield, PA 19103.

Thank you. And do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?

Yes, I do.

Do you also agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?

Have you emailed the exhibit packet with the required documents, proof of ownership, tax

compliance, refusal or referral, photos and or plans of the property five days in advance

of this hearing, and have you met with the RCO, and do you have a letter?

Yes, to all of the above.

Thank you.

You may proceed.

Thank you.

The letter, we received the letter subsequent to our submission to the board, but I believe

I have it attached to the presentation today, and also I believe that the RCO

sent an email with the letter subsequent to our submission. Now, I'm not sure if you see the right

individuals, but I can submit it. I believe Ms. Stiletto said she didn't have it.

We do have it. You may proceed. Thanks.

we do have it i i oh you do no we i don't i have only the letter from councilman o'neill

mr burtel if you could just let us know what the proviso is that would be sufficient thank you

okay okay great um let me just share my screen here

Okay. As stated, we're here for the application for 15501 Busselton Avenue. We're representing

the tenant for this location. This is a request for variants for relief for a change of use

to allow a ballroom dance instruction studio, which is classified as personal services and

assembly entertainment under the code because there's no specific category for that type of

use. And as such, we need a very interesting approval for this use. So people have a sense

of the property um here's the zoning area of the property the property is currently zoned as rsd1

um as you'll see in a moment um this there is no residential use on this property it's all commercial

and probably should be the accurate um representation of zoning should actually be ca1

um which would then make this a by right use but i'll get into that in a second um here's a

area of the property. It's on the corner of Busselton Avenue and County Line Road. In fact,

this property is the edge of the city on this road. Once you cross over County Line Road,

you're no longer in Philadelphia. So in terms of the request, this, what you can see here,

you see that the subject property is this entire parcel that includes um the fitness club um the

parking lot but the area that in question that we're asking for the use is this structure here

at the corner of the property sitting on the corner of bustleton avenue and camelani road

you can see the entire lot is commercial in nature there's no residential use

on my understanding that there's never been any residential use on this property um so i'm not

I'm not really sure why it's classified as RSV1.

More areas.

Here's a look at the street view from Busselton Avenue.

The structure is currently a vacant space.

Here's another look at it from the corner here.

As I stated, the proposed use is a competitive ballroom and Latin dance instruction studio.

I have Eric Grossman, who would be the tenant of this location, providing the instruction.

With me, I have Eric Grossman, who would be the tenant of this.

What they do is provide training for students, mostly children, some adults, to learn competitive

ballroom dancing.

They go on competitions, they travel, and they represent the school in that way.

Occasionally, students will have showcases and competitions at the location, but it will be

mainly utilized for instruction. I'll get to the floor panel in a second. As you can see from the

refusal, because the lot is zoned as RSV-1 and the category is classified as personal services,

just to, which is, you know, sort of a catch-all for a bunch of different type of uses, a refusal

was issued. In addition to that, because there's two refusals, but they're essentially the same

refusal. The second refusal is for the fact that there isn't a category for this specific use,

and therefore that's going to generate a refusal for approval by the board. And as such,

we're asking for relief from those refusals for this specific use. Really, this is more of an

educational instructional use. As I said, it's training and classes, but because there isn't

really a way to shoehorn it, we have to operate under personal services. We did engage with the

civic association. Here's our notification letter. Instead of meeting in person, the civic association

came up with a different process where we submit our presentations to them and they post it

on their website and solicit questions from community neighbors. We still met all the

notification requirements. And we went through two rounds of question and answer with the neighbors

and the community neighbors. And then we received a letter of support from the community association.

The vote, the total vote that was taken was 35 votes, 34 in support, and one in opposition.

The letter from the

Actually

Before

Mr. Patel if you would not mind

You can summarize and bring your client on

Okay yeah no problem

This is just the

Floor plan

I just wanted to mention the proviso

Because I don't

I don't believe it was

I don't believe it was

The proviso

That the

THE RCO IS ASKING FOR IS JUST TO SPECIFY THE USE IS LIMITED TO THE DANCE INSTRUCTION,

SCHOOL, STUDIO AND ASSEMBLY SERVICES FOR THAT PURPOSE AND NOT JUST GENERAL PERSONAL SERVICES,

WHICH THE APPLICATE HAS NO PROBLEM WITH BECAUSE THEY DON'T ATTEND TO ANY OTHER USE BESIDES

the competitive ballroom instruction and the and the assembly of the of the students. So we agree

with that proviso. Excuse me, Mr. Bertil, so a proviso reading use limited to dance instruction

slash studio with related assembly would work? Yes, that's that's perfectly fine. Thank you.

oh actually just to clarify assembly and entertainment i want to make sure the

entertainment's included as well so they do uh put on performances and competitions at the location

thank you sharon if you wouldn't mind would you send that over to me sure

and i can send an email a copy of this letter from the rco as well yeah i don't have it in

I'm watching it on screen, but...

Thank you, Mr. Bertil.

All right, Mr. Bertil, do you want to get your comment?

Yes.

With me, I have Mr. Eric Grossman.

This is his business.

If he can raise his hand to be recognized,

he can confirm and accept my testimony.

Mr. Grossman, you've been unmuted.

please unmute yourself uh good morning everyone thank you for having me good morning sir please

identify yourself first and last name my name is eric grossman we're in the firm to tell the truth

the whole truth nothing but the truth of course thank you mr bertill uh thank you mr chair uh

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Grossman, did you hear the testimony that I provided to the board this morning?

Mr. Grossman, did you hear?

Yes, I have.

Do you confirm the truth of my testimony and adopt it as known?

I confirm everything, minus the fact that I will be hosting competitions inside location. I mean, we travel abroad for that.

But showcasing performances, classes, 100%.

Thank you, Mr. Grossman.

um with that uh Mr. Chair I conclude our presentation. Thank you. Questions from the

board? No. Anyone else would like to testify in this case? If so please raise your hand.

I see no handshare. Thank you. Planning Commission?

good morning please identify yourself this is brian wenrick from the city planning commission

w-e-n-r-i-c-h brian do you swear and affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the

truth i do thank you please proceed this shopping center is zoned for residential use and is

proposed to be remapped to ca commercial auto in the district plan we feel that this use does not

pose any negative impacts to the surrounding area. Accordingly, we have no objection to the

granting. Thank you. MI 2020-00248915501 Busselton Avenue. My vote is yes with the proviso. Use

limited to dance instruction slash studio with related assembly and entertainment.

you're on mute carol yes or proviso

still muted carol you have to unmute yourself mr nervy i'm sorry okay i just did my vote is yes

with proviso okay thank you next case calendar number 2476 sorry we didn't get everybody

oh i didn't hear all the votes uh my vote was yes with the proviso that i read in and i'll read it

again use limited to dance instruction slash studio with related assembly and entertainment

my vote is yes with proviso yes with proviso

tom i don't see tom he's right here i see his name his name but i don't hear him

Mr. Holloman, if you're speaking, you might need to go out and come back in because we can't hear you, even though it seems like you're not muted.

Okay, well, we have three, Chair.

Tom's going to load out and load back in, okay?

I guess he's having a motion.

Thank you.

If I could, Chair, if I could make an announcement.

For some reason, we're having a lot of feedback.

If I could request that everybody stay muted unless you're about to speak, it might cut that down a little bit.

But it's a whole lot of feedback today.

God, I'm hearing it.

Carol, next case.

Okay.

Calendar number 2476-2214-22, North 4th Street.

The attorney is Adam Laver.

Mr. Laver, you've been promoted to panelists.

You may unmute yourself.

Mr. Laver, can you please put your name and address on the record?

Good morning, Mrs. Tenere, Mr. Chairman and members of the board.

Adam Laver of Blank, Rome, 1 Logan Square, Philadelphia, PA 19103.

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

Yes, I do, Mrs. Tenere.

Do you also agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?

Yes, I do.

and finally have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership tax compliance

refusal or referral photos and or plans five days in advance of this hearing and have you

met with the rco and do you have a letter yes to all thank you you may proceed thank you

i'm going to uh do screen share

Hopefully you can see on the screen an aerial view of the property.

If you cannot, please let me know.

No, we're still looking at your files.

No, we're still looking at your files.

Okay, one moment.

Okay, one moment.

Do you have it now?

No, not at this time, Adam.

If you could double-click and actually open up your file first, then go to share screen, that might be better.

Okay.

one moment apologies for the technical difficulties

it's coming up now mr laver thank you all for your patience uh adam laver of blank room on behalf

of JVA Group, Fringe Development, and Alan Nadav, A-L-L-A-N, Nadav, N-A-D-A-V. Alan Nadav,

the owner of the property, has previously appeared before this board. At his studio

house project at 1613 Germantown Avenue, Alan was proud to provide high-quality rental housing

at a more affordable price point, in that case, under $1,000 per month.

I mention this by way of background because in the proposal before the board,

Alan is trying to achieve something similar for owner-occupants with for-sale homes in this instance.

With us is Derek Spencer of Nome Architects, who's online in addition to Alan,

and as I stated to Ms. Tenere, I submitted an exhibit package previously.

Here you see in the aerial photograph, and I'm using my cursor to pinpoint the location,

we're looking at a 7,200 square foot unimproved parcel with wide frontages on 4th Street,

which is to the left of the screen, and Leithgow to the right.

moving to the zoning map you'll see again where the hand icon is that the block is zoned RSA 5

single-family you have RM1 in orange across Susquehanna Avenue and in purple close by ICMX

I'd like to run through some photographs for context here you see an image of the

the development parcel, the lot with trees and some cars on it, looking along 4th Street.

There's an auto repair shop next door that is not the subject parcel, it's next door.

The subject property itself often has cars parked there in various states of repair.

And Alan has been in communication with his next door neighbor, the owner of the auto repair,

who is aware of his plans, does not have an objection to the proposal, unfortunately could

not be here today, and furthermore indicated that he's actually planning on retiring in a year

or so. Here you see some additional photographs of Leeds Gal, cars on the lot.

The proposal itself, the plan is to create eight lots, each for two family homes, four

duplexes along 4th Street, which I'm showing with the cursor, four along Leithgow, for

a total of 16 residences with off-street parking for eight cars.

The proposal calls for four-story buildings with setbacks, importantly no pilot houses

to preserve the scope and feel of the neighborhood, and also a sunken rear yard also to meet the

scope and scale of the area while creating more livable area on the next page here you get a sense

of the perceived pedestrian experience the perceived pedestrian experience from the sidewalk

would be 34 feet 7 inches in height from fourth street and leap gal 29 feet 2 inches

Moving to the elevations, you see a combination of brick, integrated planters, and other quality

materials. It's really a reimagining of the block. There are some solid homes along the block.

It's really a reimagining of the block.

There are some solid homes along the block, but as you saw in the initial photographs,

there are many pockets, unfortunately, that have been neglected.

You'll note in the renderings as I'm moving through them, the setbacks, again, to maintain that street-level pedestrian feel.

And now to the floor plans.

which i'm zooming in on a little bit again uh mr chairman and members of the board each of the

homes uh would accommodate two families what we used to call duplexes the lower

unit is shown in green green and the upper in beige the lower unit is proposed typical at

1,342 square feet, one bedroom, two baths. The typical upper unit, 956 square feet, one bedroom,

one bath. I'd like to address the refusals that are before you. Two-family living is not permitted

in the RSA 5 single-family district, as the board knows. However, in this neighborhood,

and an issue throughout the city is creating more affordable options. The price point here

with homes of this size, which actually are reflective of surrounding homes,

allow a price point under $250,000 with quality materials. The refusal also notes that balconies

are prohibited in the rear yard now this is a technicality at the second floor where the balcony

is proposed the presence does not take away from ground level outdoor space in addition i would

submit to the board that it creates additional outdoor space an additional opportunity to take

a breath of fresh air from the second floor level in keeping with the spirit of the code and that

the rear yard depth is achieved at the ground level the building height refusal is based on

the average grade which appears more significant in the refusal due to the architect's creative

approach in creating a sunken rear yard which pulls the average grade lower so again that's why

a few moments ago i mentioned the perceived feel from pedestrian street level which is most important

from a neighborhood perspective and in terms of the refusals that focus on

parking we met several times with the community and the initial feedback right

off the bat was that providing parking was a plus the subject property has been

significantly underutilized some of the neighbors had asked us to give them a

sense as to what would be permitted within the bounds of the code in RSA 5, and you see a sense

of that here. Homes that, I don't want to focus too much on this, but homes that reach 4,300 square

feet in size, that really are out of place for the neighborhood and would be large and unaffordable.

the massing is not something that we would want to pursue it would be completely out of place

doesn't make sense we believe at all we met several times with nara square community alliance

four times i believe we appreciated the discussion with them the feedback from them

The turnout, unfortunately, was light at these meetings, but we fine-tuned the plans over the course of several meetings.

At the end of the day, at 10.52 last night, when we received the RCO's most recent letter, which was submitted to the board,

the RCO board and committee were evenly split, support or non-opposition versus opposition,

and general community members were roughly split as well, although I must concede that there were

a couple more who were in opposition. We were disappointed that the letter from the RCO indicates

opposition. When you read through the letter, it's really mixed views in the community,

some based on principle and others really recognizing the efforts of this developer.

So we're left, Mr. Chairman and members of the board, with what is practical at this location, what is possible.

Given the practical realities of repurposing the site, the sensitive treatment to design,

we believe that the proposed development meets the homeownership ideals of the community, respects surrounding land uses.

respects surrounding land uses in this instance the authorization of variance relief would not

In this instance, the author is

alter the character of the neighborhood or district in a negative way or be detrimental

to the public welfare the proposal fits into the surrounding neighborhood the granting of relief

would benefit the public and be within the spirit of the code the proposed variance would represent

the minimum variance to afford relief and represent the least modification possible

of the regulations at issue a comment was made during one of the community meetings that this

would be taking jobs away from the community and i was puzzled by that comment and i asked for

further clarification and the response was that the auto body uses the uh the land and uh that

prompted me to ask alan to engage in further discussions which we did and i alluded to at

the beginning of this presentation that although the owner could not be here let me state to you

as an officer of the court that there is no opposition from him and in fact he plans to

conclude his operations in the near future as a side note of course the use of the lot is

unregulated but we understand the difficulties of transition in a neighborhood the grant of variance

relief would not substantially increase congestion in the public streets increase the danger of fire

or otherwise endanger the public health safety or general welfare based on the unregulated use

presently this would be a noticeable improvement this will not adversely affect transportation or

unduly burden water sewer school park or other public facilities there are no environmental

issues. Mr. Nadav is here and can adopt and affirm at the appropriate time. In addition,

our architect is here should the board have any questions. Thank you.

Thank you. Let's get your testimony adopted and then I may ask the question.

Mr. Nadav, would you please raise your virtual hands so that you may be identified and sworn in?

Mr. Nadav you've been unmuted please wait for the chair good morning sir please identify

yourself spell your first and last name Alan Nadav A-L-L-A-N-N-A-D-A-V good morning to you

also good morning do you swear and affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth

Yes, sir.

Thank you, Mr. Laver.

Mr. Nadav, have you been present for the entirety of this virtual zoning board of adjustment presentation this morning?

Yes.

And would you adopt and affirm the testimony that I've offered as your own?

Yes.

Thank you, Mr. Nadav.

Thank you. Mr. Laver, could you share that letter from the RCO, the most recent one?

Yes.

I have up on the screen the most recent letter from the RCO. The highlights are not mine,

they are from the RCO. You'll see the final position taken as opposition. If you move

down to both counts under RCO board and committee, two members of the committee supported, one

opposed one offered non-opposition in addition to that there were uh eight general members of

the community who attended and you can see the breakdown of those votes to the right thank you

okay questions from the board uh yes can you hear me can you hear me yes okay uh i'm wondering what

What is the design requires so many 24 use refusal and 42 zoning refusal?

The architect couldn't come within the guidelines of the zoning requirements?

Mr. Holloman, you're right to point out that the way in which the refusal is calculated

It multiplied to almost gross extremes due to the individual lots proposed and the duplex nature of this.

There is a buy right option for this site, which I didn't want to focus on too much.

I don't I don't like that approach, but it would allow five very large.

It would allow five very large, bulky homes on this site.

We believed in working with the architectural team in this instance, that having these various refusals for each home, which are multiplied, and you pointed it out, it's quite surprising to see the refusal itself.

but the actual refusals for the overall project i think that the board would understand are actually

quite fewer uh over the course of the entire development and we respectfully believe that

what we're presenting is more in line with the scope and spirit of the code

well it's to me it seemed like you're putting too many units in a small area

well uh i i do understand uh that viewpoint among some so we we looked at it and we discussed this

with some of the community members if you were to have five very large homes i don't see those

actually being um viable in the neighborhood but you would have as many bedrooms as you liked

for a large family.

We know what the code requires

in terms of number of people

unrelated by blood or marriage.

But in this instance,

in terms of the density,

we're proposing 16 homes

that meet an affordable price point

for those within the community

and outside of the community

looking for affordability

with a little bit more density

on a block that doesn't have a lot of density at all. So taking, balancing out some of the

existing homes, the uses like garages, mechanics, and neighborhood in transition to frontages so

that you have eight along 4th Street and eight along Leithgow. We believe that what we're

proposing is reasonable. And respect your comment and understand there's a diversity

of opinion. And I would actually say that you see that even in the feedback from the community,

which is split. Did you fill out a low income density bonus for zoning?

No. In fact, I'm glad you mentioned that, Mr. Holloman. This developer is not taking advantage of any of those types of code provisions to try to seek that type of opportunity.

Of course, we're dealing with RSA-5, which doesn't allow it in the same way as some of the other districts, but we felt it more important with the reputation of this developer and the projects that he's done before that have a good track record for actual market rate affordability, if you will, rather than legal guideline affordability, that we were achieving a worthwhile social purpose.

Thank you.

thank you for your comments thank you any other questions from the board

no anyone else would like to testify in this case please raise your hand

chair we have derek spencer you may unmute yourself sir and wait for the chair

morning mr spencer please i'm sorry sorry to speak over you mr spencer is the architect on

the project we can hold off on him for a moment anyone else would like to testify

yes chair we have sloan folks mr folks you've been unmuted

good morning chairman chico zba board uh sloan folks sloane fs and fire o lks office of council

and Maria Cayman-Sanchez.

Coach, you're still under oath.

Please proceed.

Thank you, sir.

The applicant and the RCL have met and have had at least two meetings

to discuss the present and future concerns regarding the development.

The community expressed a number of concerns,

which you have seen in their letter of non-support.

um one of the things that the councilwoman uh recognizes was that the community and the

developer uh through mr laver uh continue to um insist on having an open dialogue and having a

willingness to meet um the councilman recognizes that this is a high impact project and

The Councilwoman recognizes that this is a high-impact project and understands some of the concerns outlined by the RCO.

And she and this office will continue to advocate for mixed-income housing with an emphasis on affordability.

One of the things that Councilwoman hopes is that there could possibly be a two-week delay on a decision so that the community and the developer can be given one more opportunity to try to identify the issues and come to an agreement on this fairness request.

Thank you.

Mr. Laver, is there any objection to a two-week delay?

it sounds like the councilwoman wants to try to be helpful though both sides

it's the first that i'm hearing of it but uh i know that mr nadal has a lot of respect for