I think one of the features that the project manager explained to me is that this currently drains into, you know, past the boundary.
OK, and they're going to correct that in conjunction with this.
So for Proviso, it would be that the, you know, the surface drainage would be controlled.
And that's part of the project that's been submitted. They're going to be controlling the surface drainage.
So they're actually going to improve the surface drainage from the impervious coverage.
So there's only one small section of added impervious coverage up here, and there would be no impact to the water course.
So that's the conclusion of my presentation.
I would like to admit as a panelist, the project manager, because he has the most detailed information and can answer your questions.
his name is donald raucott i believe donald should be in the audience sure thank you
so hillary we're not approving a building we're approving the water that has to be corrected
before the buildings so so the location of the building is with everyone right um yeah it was
within the the waterfront yep so i don't i don't know if the parking because it says
it has to do with development but it's the i think it's the building that they're adding that's um
and possibly the building is set back more than 50 feet do me a favor please state your name
first it's uh donald raucott spelled d-o-n-a-l-d r-a-u-c-h-u-t do you swear or affirm to tell
the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do so why don't you give us a quick overview what's
what what's going on and what you're sorry mr chair it's the expanded parking lot that's causing
the issue not the the building but the addition um is is part of what's being requested along
with a lot consolidation and expanded parking right correct um is there a way that i can show
share my screen as well i'll stop sharing mine and you can go ahead okay
uh donald did you hear the testimony in support of the request for variance
and do you agree that it was true and correct i did would you adopt it as your own testimony i do
okay uh am i sharing i'm trying to share here um we see you but we don't
Am I sharing?
I'm trying to share here.
I see you, but we don't see your document.
How's this?
It should come right up.
How's that?
It's up.
So this is the existing conditions plan right here that was submitted to the zoning.
This is the area that currently I will show you a picture of.
That's this elevated area here in the back that will be cut down and turned into the truck turnaround.
over here to the side is where the current uh parking lot stops and it's exactly the same
location where the proposed parking lot will stop we're just going to take where these parking
bumpers are and add a curb line and stormwater inlets in order to take the stormwater runoff
into an underground basin and manage it as we've been proposing to this uh water department
and that will take all the runoff that's currently going into this it's actually a drainage right
of way so i can show you here's the city drawing of that drainage right away that there's the same
head wall down here that it leads into so we're the top of bank is really the estimated part of
this drainage right of way and like i said we're unclear of where the water course really is so
that's what we have to go on. You take it through some more
pictures here to show you the overview as well. Like I said,
this parking lot is just being expanded in this area. And again,
all the runoff is being captured and treated in underground
retention and infiltration basins.
Back to drawing here, here's this is that a right away here,
you can see 70 foot wide right away reserved for drainage. And
currently the storm water runs into this basin here and then is overflow into the drainage right
of way and all the water from the parking lot drains into this right away and then at the end
it just ties into the city storm water system is the end of it the only thing you could see
in the drainage right away there is an overflow that ties back into another head wall that also
ties into the city right away so this is the end of the line despite um
for the drainage part obviously the water course is shown to have uh
here's a here's a picture of the water course map that shows blade uh uh black lake run that
runs right by the property this is the property here so you can kind of see it on this map
that goes here and then it continues across the street over in this area over here so
I think there's both things exist the drainage right away and the Black Lake run but the
Black Lake run at that area as Jeff has said is appears to be uh underground um and Jeff
showed you this plan it's pretty much the gist of it I don't know if anybody has any questions
okay questions from the board
questions or comments from our attorney
not at this time mr the comments from the virtual audience
yes chair we have alice yukovic yes and she's coming back in as a panel
good afternoon again chairman members you've already been sworn just state your name and
you can start your testimony alice udovich u-d-o-v-i-c-h on behalf of councilman brian o'neill
okay please proceed the councilman has no objection to the grinding of the variance
to this location thank you very much is there anyone else in the virtual audience
i see no hands chair planning commission
amy boyd with the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning
to the existing i1 light industrial the waterfront setback requirement at this location black creek
run is in place to stabilize the stream rank and reduce and control stormwater water runoff
in order to restore and maintain the city's water resources
along this tributary and downstream in the lower Park Besson Creek.
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 of the zoning code, observing the full 50-foot setback
from the top of the stream bank for the expansion of the parking lot.
The Planning Commission recommends that the board
deny the requested variance for waterfront setback.
um as we talked about we're going to hold the vote on this until there's a
corrected refusal do we have an idea of a date hillary we we could schedule the vote for next
corrected refusal do we have an idea of a date hillary we we can schedule the vote for next week
week it should be pretty quick and then we'll close the record except for that this is closed
we'll look to do this uh we'll talk about an executive session and vote at 2 p.m yes thank
you council thank you that concludes my business may be excused thank you most certainly so we're
this morning eight
mi2025
Montgomery Drive
this is city owned property
S. Lee
S.E. is the attorney.
Mr. Lee has been promoted to panelists.
Thank you.
Good morning, Mr. Board Chair and members of the board.
Could you please state your name as bill for the sonographer, sir?
Sure. My name is Lee Elsie, L-E-E-E-L-S-E-Y.
all right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i do could you identify your client a relationship to the property
yes my my client is a non-profit corporation uh work to ride they are a tenant with a lease
from the park commission of the city of philadelphia right and you also have unanimous
support from windfill heights community organization and there's also a letter here from the city rec
our vice chair has a few questions good afternoon um have you submitted your documents and exhibits
five days in advance of this hearing yes i have and do you waive the reading of the refusal
and stipulate to its accuracy i do okay all right thank you you can share your screen and proceed
with your case thank you i believe it's visible um good job one thing i'll do right away just to
clarify a little bit because we're within fairmount park and uh every step along this process the
address uh has been sort of confusing uh our refusal is is tied to 4115 montgomery drive which
if you look on a map is not the location of the shimoni equestrian center um 98 shimoni drive is
and i'll i'll make that clear um through our aerials in a moment but i just wanted to get
that out of the way right up front so yeah mr elsey i was just going to say for the record i
know when um we have things in in fairmount park like i think an address kind of gets assigned to
it um by ellen i because there aren't specific addresses um that go with some of these with
these parcels in the park so um yeah so we're we're fine and if there's any adjusting that
needs to be made later ellen i will take care of that so um great just wanted to reassure you yeah
we're we're aware of the difficulties so thank you thank you i appreciate that uh my my client
is Work to Ride, a non-profit 501c3 that was founded in 1994. I know Mr. Kareem Rosser is
available to be called up on behalf of the tenant and possibly Ms. Leslie Heiner. I'm not sure if
she's on or not. I also have Alex Rice from Archer and Buchanan Architecture able to join
as well to answer some questions if need be. The refusal we're here to deal with, essentially
we've got a community center use that's been active since 1994 and we're seeking permission
legalize a caretaker's dwelling unit within the building. This is a use that was in the building
from 1994 through 2024 when the building was renovated and added to. At that point, they
realized they didn't have appropriate zoning, they stopped the use, and now we're taking steps
to legalize that previous use, bring the building into compliance.
Here's our aerial view via atlas.
You can see the equestrian center with the green location tag.
We drew a sort of a direct line to the closest residential property,
which is this condominium building.
It's more than 750 feet away.
it's more than 750 feet away.
So this was one where we didn't.
So this was one where we didn't have
a lot of immediate neighbors.
We did notify quite a few of them,
we'll address that later,
but we've got sort of a buffer within Fairmount Park,
which gives the equestrian center sort of a,
you know, a lack of impact on the surrounding areas.
So here is on the left side,
the prior to the renovations,
the historic stable on the right side you can see they've added this this
writing center and they've updated the building mr. rice can address additional
questions if needed I'll just note that if you can see where my hand is here the
area we're talking about is the second story of this building all the way in
the front in this historic gabled part of the stable. It's still there. I've got pictures of
it just for a moment. So here are street view pictures. Again, on the left is prior to the
addition. On the right, kind of same view after the addition. From the street, it doesn't look
like a whole lot's changed because that main riding area kind of set back from Shimoni Drive.
This is sort of a dead end, so no one else is really coming down here unless you're coming
to the stables or turning around here's a a view from february when i visited the stables
another view of the entrance
some of the horses they've got 35 horses always in the stables
here's the new riding center which was recently completed
And this is the existing state of the previously occupied caretaker quarters on the second story.
Has not been occupied again since October of 2024.
We're here seeking zoning relief to bring an occupant back into here.
And as you can see, I think one thing that's already been added, they've already run sprinklers through here.
but until they go through the full building permitting and code compliance review it will
not be occupied obviously this is the first step along that process it's a one unit apartment i'll
pull up plans in just a minute but i'm showing you essentially this space it's got a kitchen
it's got sort of a double level living area it's got a full bathroom it's got tied to the fire
alarms again it's got sprinklers it's got a laundry it's sort of a standalone 740 square foot unit
here's a posting of our zoning appeal poster two additional photographs of it
uh this is the lease it's an agreement of lease dated june 22nd 1994 between the city of philadelphia
the Fairmount Park Commission and work to ride it's a sort of long-term lease
continues on year to year within here we can address any questions if there are
there are some performance and operating requirements and none of which we've
identified are relevant to the we're discussing as I mean the caretakers you
unit we're proposing. Here is the zoning plans that were submitted. Again, we're looking at an
aerial view. This is the large added riding area. This kind of vertical long roof we're seeing is
the historic stables with the caretakers unit in this top part, if you can see my hand moving.
this dashed line I can zoom in if anyone really wants to see it we do have close-up plans that
show it in detail these are just the zoning drawings show that the area that we're talking
about at the moment this zoning application was specifically for the legalization of this one
use on the second floor. Elevations. Okay, now here's our caretaker apartment
floor plan. 740 square feet. As you saw before, bi-level living area for bedroom
and living space, bathroom, laundry. Now the use of this unit, the way they've
used this previously the way they've always used this is for a head riding
instructor to be there at nighttime so they're responsible essentially for a
night check to make sure everything is good with the horses around 10 p.m. they're
responsible for adding water and hay as needed they're there to address any
unusual behaviors exhibited by the horses that may lead to distress or
distress or sudden illness they administer additional medications that may be necessary
sudden illness. They administer additional medications.
they notify leadership of any problems and with with 35 horses underneath a roof you can imagine
you know there can be sort of a draw for kids with fireworks or other types of things that
can be extremely dangerous when you have that that sort of condition having someone
on site has always been their policy.
Let me talk just one moment about the work to ride nonprofit center.
It's a nationally recognized work to ride program.
It's a community based prevention program that aids under resourced urban youth through
constructive activity centered on horsemanship, equine sports and education.
So they offer horseback riding lessons, summer camp, and I think their primary pride is their polo program, which I've come to understand is really something special.