that block, we didn't think ground floor commercial use was appropriate.
Chairman?
Any further comment?
The Planning Commission did not specify commercial, we specified flex use space, which would allow
the applicant a light industrial use, artisan industrial, studio, so we were not limiting
it just to a commercial first floor.
Let's go back to the deed issue. Sharon?
No, I don't believe that we can, as a proviso, the board has the authority to add an affordability
requirement. I didn't think so either, but wanted to double check. That's why I asked for you. Thank
you. All right. Any other? No, we got that. Everybody. Okay. MI 2020. Yes. Before you
I just wanted to note there is a revised plans one page.
One page, I got it.
Thank you.
MI 2020-002266.
2000-34 North 2nd Street.
My vote is yes with revised plan one page approved today.
My vote is yes with proviso.
Yes with proviso.
Yes with proviso.
Yes with proviso.
Thank you all very much.
Good luck.
Thank you.
Have a good afternoon.
We do likewise.
Thank you.
Calendar number 3141, 3539 North 16th Street.
No, I think you skipped.
Didn't we have Darian Street next?
Number seven, Mr. DeMarco's case.
Strike what I just said.
Calendar number 3230, 2144 North Darien Street.
The attorney is Richard DeMarco.
And he's already been sworn in.
Hi, Mr. DeMarco.
Can you put your name and address on the record, please?
Good afternoon.
Richard DeMarco.
2005 Market Street, 16th floor, Philadelphia PA, 19103.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
I do, and I want to defer to the councilman's office on this.
So it appears that our RCO letter is just by a board member,
and I'm happy to have Mary be promoted to a panelist
because I want to make sure that the councilman's office is comfortable with this.
While there is a support petition, it does appear there was not a formal RCO meeting.
It does look like there is not any type of opposition in the community, but it is clear to me now that there was not a formal meeting.
So I'm happy to do what Mary wants us to do.
I can do as follows.
I can put on some evidence.
We can hold the vote and we can have a meeting with the RCO and update the board via letter.
Or we can continue this matter.
I don't want to piss off the councilman's office for no reason here.
It does appear that there's support, but there was not a formal RCO process.
Let me ask Ms. Jones.
I'll defer to Mary on this.
We definitely will hold the vote, though.
jones yes i am you've heard both options what is your preference
You've heard both options.
What is your preference?
We can hear it and hold, or we can just continue it and have a full hearing.
And I would tell Mary, Mary, if I may, there are neighbors that are in support that are actually on the call.
So if, and again, I'm going to defer to you here.
And I'm sorry for any confusion.
But if it's all right with you, I'd like to put on some evidence.
and work this out with your office hold the vote and move forward in that manner how do you feel
about that excuse me miss jones before you reply can i mention that they're not going to simply
hold the vote and otherwise close the record except for a letter you're going to have to
come back for a second hearing in any case to repeat to report on the rco process so
or it might make sense simply to continue it but of course the chairs call
for its call? I'll just, I'll do either. You know what, since, Rich, since we have to come back,
it'll be a resumption hearing. Why don't we just continue it? That's fine. Okay. All right,
Ms. Jones, we're going to continue it. Okay. And sorry for the confusion, Mary and Lord,
sorry about that but it does appear we'll be okay but yeah thank you m i 2020 that mi 2020
does zero zero three two three zero two one four four north darien street is continued
calendar number three one four one three five three nine north 16th street the attorney is rachel
Pritzker. Ms. Pritzker has been promoted to panelists. Hi. Hi, name and address. Yep. Rachel
R-A-C-H-A-E-L Pritzker P-R-I-T-Z-K-E-R 1635 Market Street, Suite 1600, Philadelphia PA 19103.
Okay, you're already under oath. Do you agree to waive and stip?
Have you emailed the civic packet with the documents all required?
You may proceed.
Thank you. I'm going to share my screen.
Okay, this is 3539 North 16th Street.
This is a large vacant lot, almost 3,000 square feet in a Tioga, nice town neighborhood of
Philadelphia. We are proposing eight multifamily units on this longstanding vacant lot on a block
that has mostly multifamily dwellings on it. I'm just going to go down to the zoning map
um for the board's um information this again it's a 2,817 square foot lot um it's also oddly shaped
as I'll show from the zoning posters um and it's been long-standing vacant there's also a significant
amount of multi-family on the block um 35-37 uh three units 35-35 three units um there's a single
family home on 3533. There's four units on 3527, and the list goes on. There's also about 114 units
at 1531 West Tioga Street. So this is within character of this block in particular on 16th
Street. The taxes are paid. There's the deed. As the board can see, this is a very large,
sort of oddly shaped lot, zoned RSA 5. However, again, most of the block is zoned for multifamily
through variances, or I'm assuming be the prior zoning. Additionally, given the size of the lot,
it really is not feasible for a single family home. It would be maybe an eight to 10,000 square
foot single family home, which is not within character of this block or in the neighborhood
or supported by anything available in the neighborhood it's one of the larger properties
on the block as you can see from the zoning map aside from the corner which is owned by the city
both corners are owned by the city and the RSA 3 lot at the back here is actually a multi-family
apartment building as well so just to show visually this is multi-family here new construction
this is the lot we're talking about and then if you can see down the street there's sort of a mix of
multi-family, single-family, and large apartment buildings. As you can see from the corner here,
these are all large apartment buildings on this block. Lastly, this is an aerial photo. Again,
it's a vacant lot. Zoning posters. We met with the
Zoning posters. We met with the RCO, Nicetown Tioga Improvement Team, and they had a three to three vote. So there was a tie vote. And then additionally, we also, the RCO that was present at the meeting was the Upper North Neighbors Association.
they submitted a letter of support with some provisos around workforce development and
minority inclusion in addition to becoming a community partner by contributing to some of the
you know revitalization work that they're doing and we had no problem with both of those inclusions
although I know that that's not something the board can necessarily enter as a proviso but
um we're happy to do that so they gave us a letter of support which we included in addition we um got
most of the near neighbors and support 35 37 um which is right next door has a letter of support
from all the um the owner and all of the residents that live there as it's also multi-family
building so apartment one apartment two um and apartment three 35 35 north 16th street
um also directly adjacent 1627 west venango and these letters were provided to the the council
office as well so i believe charles richardson is also in receipt of these 1623 to 41 west venango
in uh 1636 west venango 1639 west venango 1625 west venango um 16 36 37 north 16 street um and
And I also believe we have some folks on, I'd like to have Scott Woodruff go through
the plans for the project.
And then I believe there are some folks on who would like to voice their support for
the project as well.
The only hand that is up is Charles Richardson.
Let's hear from Mr. Richardson.
mr richardson you've been unmuted richardson you're still on the roof good afternoon again
mr chair and the members of the board councilwoman has no opposition to granting the variance
thank you um rachel unless you really need your client to get on we'll stipulate you being an
officer of court that your client would adopt your testimony okay that's fine mr chair is there
anyone else who would like to testify in this case, please raise your hand.
We have one hand up. I'm unmuting this person so they are free to speak.
Hello, I'm Matan Shmuel. I'm a near neighbor, 3323 North 16th Street.
Excuse me, Sheriff. Spell your first and last name.
M-A-P-A-N is my first name.
My last name is S-H-M-U-E-L.
You swear and affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth.
Thank you.
Please proceed.
Well, I'm a near neighbor at 3323 North 16th Street, and I support the local improvement.
I think it's great for the neighborhood.
Thank you.
Anyone else?
i see no more hands chair thank you planning commission
good afternoon this property is indicated for residential use just for the record just say
your name again that's paula burns this property is indicated for residential use on the comprehensive
plan there is no hardship to this property and that the size of the property does not hinder a
single family home being built on a lot and that this lot could be divided into two new lots
with a very de minimis lot with variants.
Even if this lot was zoned RM1,
the applicant still is two units above what would be permitted.
The North District Plan recommended focusing multifamily
to nearby Venengo, Tioga, and Erie Streets.
Accordingly, we recommend the requested variants not be granted.
The number of units also that raises an issue with the Planning Commission?
Yeah, if this property was zoned RM1,
it would be allowed six units and the applicant is proposing eight units.
I can address that.
Given the demographics of the neighborhood and the socioeconomic consideration to try to provide more affordable units, additional units were requested and were supported by the RCOs and the near neighbors, in addition to the fact that there's a lot of multifamily on this property.
We looked at splitting it. However, given the odd shape of the lot, you would create additional nonconformities, and this lot is over 100 feet.
um you would have you would create uh additional non-conformities and this lot is over 100 feet
long so you'd have not only a skinny but long lot so um you know we believe that this provides
more affordable housing at the eight units is necessary in order to keep the price points
more reasonable for our city and chairman we would like to clarify that there is no hardship to
having a lot that's long and having providing a backyard and open space for the residents of
philadelphia i understood and i respect your position uh although everybody seems to be in
favor including the councilwoman so anyway uh with that mi 2020-003-141-3539 north 16th street
my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes
thank you you're up next rachel calendar number three one four two three eight zero four dash
14 castor avenue name and address for the record yep rachel r-a-c-h-a-e-l pritzker p-r-i-t-z-k-e-r
1635 market street suite 1600 philadelphia pa 19103 do you agree to wave the reading of the
refusal and stipulate to its accuracy? No. We discussed this with Ms. Saletta. The plans
examiner put 44 parking spaces. There's actually 65. We did do a proviso plans for them, but just
for the record there, it's existing parking. It's 65 spaces, not 44. And have you emailed the
exhibit packet five days before this hearing? Yes. Okay. You may proceed. Thank you. I'm going
to share my screen again. This is 3804-14 Castor Avenue. This property is zoned I-2. It's an
existing vacant warehouse. It is for a proposal to renovate and adaptively reuse this property
for 58 multifamily units, and like I said, 65 surface parking spaces, including 3 ADA accessible
spaces. The only refusal we have here is for use, and again, this is an I-2 property, but we're
looking to convert it to multifamily with 58 units. The hardship here is that this is an existing
longstanding vacant property. It's about 46,176 square feet. It's been vacant for a significant
amount of time. And given that, we don't see that an industrial use is really practical,
given also the amount of work that's required to bring this building up to code. The lot is also
60,050 square feet. So it's quite large. And again, according to the city's 2035 plan,
there's a lot of emphasis on the adaptive reuse and restoration of existing industrial spaces.
Additionally, we're providing more affordable units, given we're able to work within an existing
structure, which is something that the community was extremely supportive of. We met with the
coordinating rco which was um just get the name of it this is the property it's also a pretty odd
shaped lot as well yeah civic um yes sorry what is the property uh yeah this was the um juniata
park civic association thank you mr chair we met with them um and they provided us a letter of
support which the board can um see here we have ray rola who's our architect if the board is
interested in going through the plans i just want to make it clear that uh we want to make sure that
the 65 surface parking spaces is included because we don't want to have issues with with l and i
otherwise I have if the board doesn't have any questions or doesn't require that the architect
be brought up I have would like to have the client on just to accept the testimony
please raise his hand his or her hand yeah do you see a Judah Angster
yes miss angster is free to speak thank you so much mr angster please identify yourself
spell your first and last name my first name is spelled y-e-h-u-d-a last name angster a-n-g-s-t-e-r