had said 179,
but otherwise
all good.
173. And please state your name and spell it
for the court reporter, please.
Yes, Justin. Last name is Crick,
K-R-I-K.
You swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Please proceed.
board member Graham has a few
questions for you. Good morning.
Have you emailed all the required documents
and exhibits needed to proceed with this case
five days prior to this hearing?
Yes, I have.
And do you agree to waive the reading of the
refusal and stipulate to its
accuracy? I do.
Okay, thank you. You may proceed.
Thank you.
We do have a letter of support from the
Fishtown Neighbors Association.
Vote was in support of
23 we're in support 13 in opposition to abstain from this and we have a letter non-opposition
counseling young also a letter from Fishtown Kensington area business improvement district
please proceed thank you very much members of the board this is an application
to essentially it says while it says lot line relocation from two lots into one
I will represent that that has already been effectuated and carried out. That wasn't that
part of the need for the variance. But what we did apply for is for a new three-story mixed-use
multifamily building in which the ground floor would host both the commercial space and one of
the floors of one of the residential units. What we were refused for was that two units are
permitted, we are seeking three, which we believe is a de minimis request. And then the lot area
square footage is the requirements 1440. We have in this lot 1369. So we are less than 100 square
feet shy of being able to have additional units, or at least start to count towards additional
units. And the other was a dimensional variance that we're requesting, whereas there's 75%
is required for max occupied area square footage of the land. And we have proposed 86.1.
What you'll notice as we go through this is that this property is situated across two zoning
districts, CMX2 and RSA5. So the RSA5 information kind of plays in here and the requirements. But
The property is situated on East Girard Ave between East Columbia and East Ontario Street.
It is one of the two properties on this block that really has frontage on.
It is one of the two properties on this block that really has frontage on Girard Avenue.
And as you can see, and as I don't get closer in a minute, but the rear yard of this is adjacent to the rear yards of many, many buildings on each side of it and is much deeper than its adjacent or immediately adjacent next door neighbor.
and it's that lot depth that you'll see that kind of in an attempt to be as efficient as possible
with the space, the architect had designed a little bit longer of a building. So this is the
vacant lot that's in question. I will note that this owner, these owners have owned this property
since 2003. They are long-term members of this neighborhood. There was a structure here before
that had a business and a residence on top.
It became vacant and they have since demolished it.
And they're looking to continue ownership
within this area and putting up,
you know, this commercial mixed use building.
The property that you see to the right in this photo
that looks very unique and architecturally designed
with balconies on many levels
to give people access to outdoor space
was designed by the same architect
that has designed this property,
as you'll see in some of the renderings.
And therefore, as the neighborhood put it, it really does complement this style on the street frontage.
However, our property does not go up to four stories.
We are still only seeking three.
And one of the primary reasons for that is seeking a fourth story for that extra unit would lead to additional fire code requirements and egress requirements that would then obstruct further development
or useful space within the building so instead you'll see that this design is more of a lengthy
design as opposed to a vertical design and it'll be situated right in here you can see that there
is a business and the commercial makes use first floor on to its left when facing and another
also to the right when facing and we have continued to abide by that requirement by
having a first floor commercial unit so this is the lot depth of the combined lots and what you
can see from this uh this schematic is that there is still a nine foot yard setback and there is
below grade this is a very it's a full out walkout uh patio and it has egress ladder so you you'll
see that part of this unit a is located in the basement but it has full walkout in order to be
categorized as living space habitable for a bedroom and so forth um you you'll see that
the commercial unit is first floor in the front with basement and first floor unit residential
is in the rear. We have a second floor unit and a third floor unit. The commercial unit is
approximately 350 square feet on the first floor and an additional approximate 350 on the cellar
floor. However, because it is accessed by stairs, the space itself can only be calculated at the
at the first floor unit the basement can be potentially used for storage purposes but not for
actual customer use because the basement is not ada accessible um here's the presentation and
renderings that were prepared by kjo architecture you'll see from this as well as the floor
schematic which i will get to the layout a little in a moment that we are tying in in a sense to
the design that is already existing on this on this block uh and also providing a significant
amount of outdoor space for each unit so that those that don't have the roof deck accessible
like the third floor or the rear yard accessible, or at least the bottom part of that rear yard
accessible for the first floor, second floor unit also has some nice outdoor spaces. And I'll zoom
in a little bit. You can see that there's a little bit of a nook that the doors, some of these doors
are set back to. And as discussed with the neighborhood, this is a great place to put meters
and keep them off the street frontage and tuck them away as best as possible.
This is just another angle, and as you can see, this again, this nook here.
And then stepping back, you can see this larger scheme that really does add some texture
and contemporary design to the block, but it matches very well with this adjacent structure.
you can see here as the zoning map indicates that the rear portion of this lot is kind of
chopped off and stuck in this RSA area and that's why we're governed by both or the the the least
restrictive right I'm sorry yeah the most restrictive actually I'm sorry so when we get
into floor plans and layouts the first floor unit is a two-bedroom one-bath and in fact the bedrooms
And, in fact, the bedrooms have been kept on the first floor, but there is habitable living space on the basement level with the below-grade patio fully walkout.
have been kept on the first floor, but there is habitable living space.
This also will indicate that there is a covered alley that extends all the way to the rear of the property, both for egress purposes, but also to allow for trash storage and access by all occupants of the building to place storage in there.
As it was discussed with the neighborhood, the trash will be handled by the city, especially because they do have a place to store it off the front and off the street.
And additionally, the commercial space, when discussing with the bid, the business improvement district and the RCO, we recognize that the space may be a little smaller than usual.
And with this depth, there was discussion about, you know, maybe increasing the space of the commercial space.
But practically speaking, everybody understood that moving the stairwell and and kind of shrinking this first floor unit would would not be advisable.
But we did discuss the possibility of someone like a professional office building, a professional business office, potentially a barber or a small craft or nook store, something like a boutique store that the owners would like to see in this property.
And again, they've owned it for over 20 years and intend to continue to own it.
The entryway to that first floor is directly at the street frontage, whereas, I'm sorry,
the entry to the second and third floors is at the street frontage.
There's a designated entrance for commercial space and then this closed designated door
for the covered alley to the rear.
When you come up to the second floor, you'll find the second floor unit, which has two
bedrooms, two baths.
And I can go into the design a little bit more.
and similarly with the third floor we have two bedroom two bath this this unit the second floor
unit is approximately 850 square feet the first floor unit's approximately 797 and the and you
can see I'm sorry this is 849 to be exact and then third floor unit is 1036 each of the units
as you can see has ample outdoor opportunities to have some light in there and the third floor
has access to this roof deck. Just a couple elevations that you can see again this outdoor
space and this fenced off area that leads to the underground patio that gives privacy but also has
the egress availability. When again we met with the Fishtown Business Improvement District they
were very supportive this letter of support is included for your reference. I also did I'll jump
down to it include the the letter from the registered community organization and just to
get to the highlight of it you can see that it did get support 23 votes um and support was given
there was some opposition but this was discussed at a at a meeting that had approximately 50 uh
50 neighbors or so 50 residents and so uh there was a lot of deliberation over it and we appreciated
the support from the FNA. I am also providing an exemplar copy of the first page of the deed,
but the entire deed package, recorded deed, has been submitted separately. And as you can see,
they are current on taxes, but for 2025, which will be paid shortly. And again, they've been
owners for the last 22 years. We did send notice to the RCO and had our meeting on February 4th.
and evidence of all the notices, as you can see over here, have been sent certified mail with
the receipt. We believe that this proposal will not create any hardship on neighboring properties.
It will not impair the light or use of those properties. It will not increase congestion in
public streets or increase the burden on any public facilities. We also believe that it is
the minimum variance that we are seeking with a nominal square footage coverage increase and
only going from two allowable units increasing by one. And essentially based upon the fact that
the length of the property, where it's situated, and somewhat concern of the double overlay of
zoning, we believe that this use, if it had to follow literal enforcement of the code,
would create a hardship um i do have let me just double check that that is all the little the parts
um i do have pat mancini available to uh adopt my testimony
pat if you can raise your hand please the panel will be returning shortly
They have been promoted to panelists. They will be returning shortly.
Ms. Mancini, can you please state your name and spell it for the court reporting?
Patrick Dunn Mancini, D-A-T-R-I-C-K-D-U-N-N-M-A-N-C-I-N-I.
Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, or nothing but the truth?
Mr. Mancini, have you had an opportunity to hear the testimony I've given to the board today?
Yes. And to the best of your knowledge, were the statements that I made true and correct?
Yes. And would you adopt those statements as your own testimony if you were present today?
Yes. Thank you. Questions from the board? Yes. Can you go back to the floorplanes?
what's what's the depth of the rear yard is there a rear yard yes well it's taken up directly to
that yard it's the patio let me go back to this so the rear yard depth is nine feet
and the patio lies within that nine feet at the shortest point gotcha
thank you thank you any other questions from the board
questions from our attorney hillary emerson um yes just briefly um mr kirk you indicated at the
beginning of your presentation that the lot line adjustment that was referenced in the refusal
was already taken care of can you explain what you mean by that uh that that the um i should say
that the architect has received and obtained
the consolidation plan that has been approved by,
and I can share it if necessary,
but it has been approved by city planning
and stamped by the district.
So as far as I'm aware, they have,
I did not check to see if a deed was formally put on,
but both of these legal descriptions
are contained on the deed to the property.
and it would just have been a matter of combining the the legal descriptions but for
all intents and purposes they they have received all the approval from the city planning commission
uh and i think they still need to have a zoning permit though for the consolidation so i think
that it still needs to be on here oh i yes it should be granted i just we didn't get a refusal
for it is i guess where i was going with that but yeah no that's where that's where i was a little
bit confused my my bad no we do need it approved it just it wasn't a refusal yes no i i agree um
and thank you excuse me and speaking of the refusal there's actually a number of errors
on the refusal um that i uh discussed with ellen i yesterday uh the lot adjustment actually should
be written differently because it's two deeded lots but one opa lot that's being consolidated
into one lot um and i think that it seems like the project was reviewed under cmx2 instead of rsa5
um and because i think it should have been reviewed under rsa5 because that's a significant
portion of the lot so then the refusals would actually be different there would be a refusal
for uh no multi-family household living instead of looking at the lot area to determine um
So, and there was a couple other minor things, too, but those were the biggest things that were issues.
Yes, about a third of the lot is RSA 5, so I believe in those circumstances it would be reviewed under RSA 5 or should have been.
So, I was going to ask L&I to issue a corrected refusal so that it correctly reflects what's happening in this case and how it was reviewed.
um i guess even with those refusals uh i don't i i don't know i mean we we still conceptually it's
it's the project is the same yes yeah yes no exactly the project the project is the same
you know you're that's what we let you you'll present today there's nothing sure it's just
that the the refusal needs to be corrected to reflect what's what's actually going on so there
isn't confusion down the line about what was what was done but we can we can hear everything finish
finish up today close the record except for the corrected refusal and then just just vote it once
we get it and we'll try to get that within the next week or two understood okay all right thank
you questions from the audience questions from the virtual audience yes i have a hand up from
robert everett they have been allowed to speak they'll be back in shortly as a panelist thank
Thank you. Good afternoon. Please state your name and spell it for the court reporter.
Thank you. Good afternoon. Please state your name and spell it for the court reporter.
Good afternoon.
Good afternoon. Am I on?
You're on. Please state your name and spell it for the court reporter, please.
Sure. First name, Robert. Last name, Everett. E-V-E-R-E-T-T.
You swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
Please proceed, Mr. Everett.
I represent Fishtown Neighbors Association
Zoning Committee and just
concurring with the information you
already have in the packet.