uh a in blue you can see what is currently vacant land and that is the subject property
we hope with the board's support to reactivate this 7200 square foot rsa 5 lot
Despite, though, as you can see, comprising a nearly the entire north side of South 17 street between Wharton and Titan streets.
This property is directly along the number 2 bus line.
septa's number two bus line one of the most uh used uh lines in the city of philadelphia going
to center city uh north philadelphia and beyond this is three blocks off of broad street and it's
a mid and otherwise built environment but despite all of these positive factors for almost two
decades the heart of this block this property has sat vacant it's zoned rsa5 however it's
It's largely surrounded by a mix of RSA 5 non-conforming.
So properties that are within RSA 5, but don't reflect the RSA 5 strictures.
For example, on the left of the screen, you can see the apartment building, the multifamily
apartment building immediately next door to the property that has existed for many years.
and there is a mix of rm1 and cmx1 which you may have noticed in the
zoning map that i shared a couple slides ago this encompasses the entire block across from
the subject property rm1 and swaths of nearby properties as well so a question arises as to
whether or not the underlying zoning itself is actually appropriate for this location certainly
members of the board rsa5 is an appropriate uh needed type of housing throughout the neighborhood
and throughout the city but here on 17th street with the number two with the multi-family that
has previously been approved and existing with what i'll tell you in a moment about the nature
the history of the subject property going back for many years which did not conform with rsa5
we actually question whether this is appropriate for this block when in fact
the majority of the block has not been in conformity for decades
Now, regarding the much smaller parcel next door to the right, the it appears gray in the photograph at 1258 North 17th Street, I beg your pardon, but let's let's start actually to the left with the multifamily.
now regarding the much smaller parcel next door to the right
so immediately adjacent is a permitted six family rsa5 residence at 1258 north 17th street which
this board prior members of this board granted variance relief for multi-family use in 2018
so on a much much smaller parcel as you can see in the photograph a multi-family was deemed
appropriate at this location. I'd like to turn to a little bit of history. So if you walk at the site
today, you would not see the red brick, smaller structure, and the larger structure. And towards
the left of the photograph, you can see a cross. This was a church. And turning to what had been
there previously there was a church that was circa 1945 going back many years right a detached
building which it was not completely detached it was semi-detached
and it sat vacant for many years since its original use as a church
the church building itself members of the board never conform with code requirements
although a church use is allowed it didn't conform with the requirements of rsa5
it has since been demolished you saw the picture of the vacant lot a moment ago
furthermore we have carefully reviewed the records because we wanted to come prepared
to to the board today and there is no history of single family use at this property through
any of the available lni records turning to the heart of the case of course is the notice of
refusal which calls out the development proposal first approximately 2 000 square feet of street
level commercial space uh has been designed in the proposed new construction project
for at least one of four Point Breeze farmers market vendors that are ready to grow into a brick and mortar space
as facilitated between the ownership and the Point Breeze leadership, the Point Breeze Business Association and others,
giving locals a chance to serve their own neighbors, to be available to realize their dreams through commercial.
And what would be more appropriate for commercial than you walk to the bus, back and forth along the line, and you can also go in and do your shopping and patronize locals that are part of the community.
So the effort here is to build upon the recent success of businesses such as one called Social Beings and other local business success stories.
This neighborhood vision, this grassroot neighborhood vision calls for amenities beyond small corner stores. Point Breeze, yes, there's a role, there's a place for the corner store, sometimes called bodegas in certain neighborhoods. There's certainly a place for that. But this neighborhood deserves more amenities. It wants more amenities. It wants to be able to encourage its own to develop.
this is right off of washington avenue too am i correct yes we're we're we're we're right there
mr chairman so this fills a critical need beyond the proposed commercial and of course we'll show
you plans shortly but i want to stick to the refusal here approximately 15 000 square feet
of residential space is is proposed uh and this is what i would call family livable space focused
mix of 13 two-bedroom homes, six one-bedroom homes, and notedly no studios. There are studios in the
neighborhood. They're there. There's a demand for studios, but there's a critical need for
family-sized units. And although, as the board knows, RSA 5 does not call in this instance for
providing accessory parking we really sat down and worked with neighbors and community leadership
to give the future residents of this location the same thing that other
near neighbors sometimes have including actually a neighbor next door and that is 10 off street
a neighbor next door and that is 10 off street enclosed parking spaces uh through one kerbka six
uh class 1a bicycle spaces because there's even there's a growing a desire for that
you'll see towards the bottom of the refusal that there are three refusals uh before the board
in addition to the proposed amendment which is actually quite technical the first two refusals
involve dimensional variances which are good examples of true de minimis variances and in
keeping with neighboring properties these are variances of approximately five percent in occupied
area number one and in building height respectively to be in line with what is next door for example
each represents the minimum modification needed to situate community desired enclosed parking
with eight feet and a half wide stalls two foot steel beams needed to accommodate plumbing and
fire suppression best practices to meet or exceed code and uh the 10 foot six inch ceilings uh
commercial that are market standard for modern commercial space
the third variance which we've alluded to already is that the rsa5 residential single family zoning
district prohibits both multifamily and as we have clarified with with zba council in the proposed
amendment the commercial use should be specifically included it is stated mr chairman and members of
the board at the top in the in the application it was it was submitted that way we want the record
to be crystal clear though moving forward so uh the amendment would include retail office personal
services contemplated with discussion with the point breeze community development coalition
and neighbors that met with us and you will hear and perhaps you read in the report that
um mr cromey uh presented this particular mix of commercial and multi-family uses is quote essential
to viably activating this long vacant lot in a transit oriented sub area of the south district
and to advancing mixed use transit oriented goals end quote we also have submitted in the record
further research of local economic expert james paterno that this lot has quote never conformed
with the requirements of the rsa 5 district end quote which i as an officer of the court
have personally reviewed the records and can attest to and uh two quote this remains of a
physical condition that cannot conform with the district unquote and quote cannot viably return
to productive use without the provision of compatible neighborhood amenities such as rental
housing anchor or establishment businesses and or parking if not all three end quote
here you can see on the screen before you in blue the location of the subject property but we also
wanted to give you the context sitting here just this morning we've heard the planning commission
representative mr goins speak about context and what's in the neighborhood and what you see here
is that this is a neighborhood that is a mix of uh homeownership but also one that uh is is a
rental community uh and there are a lot of rental licenses we are proposing what we believe is
something different and we believe that that's why we have the support of the coordinating rco
for the larger units but this underscores the demand to serve the community additionally
we see business licenses but the map is far less filled with little dots
and that's what we hear when we speak with neighbors that they want
more opportunities not to have to go towards washington avenue which is close by not to have
to go to the big boxes but to patronize local businesses and more than just that it's to be
able to pursue their own dreams to to for the for the whether it's first second or third generation
members of the community to be able to say i have an idea and i'd like it to be rooted in the
community so we see a drastic undersupply of local anchor businesses
So we see a drastic under supply of local anchor businesses as opposed to the few existing business licenses in the area. We believe that this project will will fill a need.
And if you delve in deeper, which we don't have the time to do today, most of these are going to be the corner stores that we spoke of.
Here is the letter from Mr. Paterno, and you have the full report from ch planning.
I'm going to go through it rapidly because I know that time is precious.
I do need to establish a record, but time is precious.
I mentioned that we have worked with Zba Council on a amended refusal.
I want to be fully transparent for the present hearing room and the virtual hearing room that we respectfully ask the board permission to amend the notice of refusal of record to specify intended local business uses as reviewed with the coordinating RCO specify references to the consolidation
The consolidation of all parcels of record that are encompassed by that vacant lot that you saw and notedly to further reduce the building height to precisely match that of the loan adjacent home, a single family home, which was to the right of the property.
when we looked at the photographs i mentioned the sixth unit on the left i didn't speak much
of the single doubling home we'll talk more about that but this this revised plan uh would uh would
match that and we have submitted the full revised proviso plans the site plan uh itself has been
fine-tuned to balance neighbors interests in a ground floor that features both 10 enclosed
The proposed parking stalls, which you can see in the dark gray at the center of the plan.
You can see the in the coral color if I have that right to the left 2,000 square feet of proposed anchor commercial that is sorely locked in the neighborhood.
And as well, there is to the far right in tan by the car to the far right is an enclosed vented sealed trash storage area that would serve both the residential and the commercial with private commercial trash pickup three times a week meeting the appropriate hours of pickup to be
At least disruptive and there's a synergy of interest here at least disruptive, not only to the proposed new residents of the building, but to those who live in the immediate vicinity, particularly next door, quite frankly.
You will see distinctly separate entrances off of 17th Street, moving to the left of the handicapped parking space sign. You see the beige, which would be the residential lobby. And once again, what I perhaps mischaracterized as coral, but you can identify that. That's the proposed commercial.
So two access areas. And the residential is a well-managed lobby area with mail area for each of the residents. And the development team has a track record that's known to both the neighborhood, but also throughout Philadelphia.
So they they have a sense of best practices in terms of how to put this together, and hopefully you see that with this with this plan.
Moving to the proposed floor plans we're looking at the lower level to the left and the first floor to the right.
there is one proposed ground floor low lower level residence which features an additional
external staircase and as an additional egress for the bi-level unit with lighting and patio space
the there are two bedrooms proposed uh up at the left in green uh there at the lower level
and to the right in green you can see the balance of the living space that's proposed for this home
this two-bedroom home the next page here is showing second tip
The next page here is showing 2nd typical 2nd through 4th floor plans featuring on each floor or 2 bedroom 2 bathroom residences to 1 bedroom 1 bathroom residences.
Again, this equates to a total of nine two bedrooms and four one bedrooms. No studios, balconies for all rear units. This specific proposal contemplates more spacious, open, and naturally affordable family-sized rental homes, specifically drawing from neighbor feedback for this site
and underscored by mr paterno's findings that even if single family housing were viable at this
location the cost of providing such housing would result in an exorbitant sales price
in stark contrast to the cost of providing the proposed mix of family-oriented rental units
which has resulted in a substantial amount of new naturally affordable housing particularly
within this transit rich sub area of the point breeze neighborhood i'm quoting from the uh letter
that mr paterno submitted to the record the proposed elevations uh you can see before you
with the front elevation of course along 17th street that uh natural transit oriented street
um with uh the access uh to each of the units through the main lobby you can see balconies
and uh a roof deck you are not going to see so well from the pedestrian experience
and that's on purpose to have that uh set back there's a proposed pilot house that's set back
10 feet on each side with a six foot parapet to facilitate drainage and all of this has been
revised by the architectural team and in consultation with those who have sought to work with us
the reduction in height precisely aligns with solar features on the roof of the next door
single-family home notedly here you can see what would not be seen from the
pedestrian experience being the back of the property remember there's only the
one facade on 17th Street but this is a sense of the back of the property and
the Point Priest Community Development Corporation has submitted a letter of
support following a really robust uh discussion and robust involvement uh in a formal way but also
in what i would describe as a sweat equity way with with the development team of walking and
speaking with people door to door uh building uh as much goodwill as possible because that's what
they want uh to to be welcomed uh the ownership has engaged with more than 75 neighbors and
businesses uh members of uh rco leadership and this is reflected
at um before we get into some of the individual letters
on february 26 2026 at a virtual meeting advertised to 237 neighbors and all participating rcos in
accordance with code requirements the point breeze community development corporation led
additional discussion with the community of the community's desire to reactivate uh this lot
And what was discussed was substantial commercial space, non required parking, larger rental units. This resulted in a favorable 10 to three vote as the record shows of the three every vote counts but I just want to be clear that of the three, two of those votes that were in opposition were the couple who live in the single family
home next door. The RCO leadership voted in unanimous support of the application, and
there was a lot of discussion and continued evolution of the plans reflecting the engagement
uh reflecting the engagement here and it's important for me to note on the record a
here and it's important for me to note on the record
commitment to ongoing uh discussion and ongoing uh efforts because it's a rare situation where
everyone is in agreement there are so many different uh issues that come up even construction
issues right and the inconvenience of construction which we are fully committed to uh to working
uh with those uh who have a particular interest some additional support letters have been submitted
to the record plus the ones that i mentioned at the start of the hearing some of the comments
mention the eyesore that exists but more in a positive uh note the beneficial commercial
residential and parking that would provide be provided by a development team that has been
transparent respectful and willing to work with the community these are quotes commending the
team's goal of creating a more inclusive neighborhood appreciation for the developers
meaningful adjustments noting that what stands out most is their willingness to be flexible
and solution oriented based on the unique physical conditions evidenced this morning we submit
that the vacant lot the former site of a non-conforming vacant structure cannot and in
fact has never managed to conform with the restrictive rsa 5 standards that the subject
community driven mixed use application for variance is well suited to reactivate the vacant lot
in furtherance of the philadelphia code and the comprehensive plan and that 17th street
situated on septa's number two line is particularly suited to grow local business
naturally affordable family-oriented residences and also provide for above code
parking accessory parking recognizing that not everyone travels by bus
there's one witness that i would like to call briefly and that's uh benjamin cromey if the
board would like yeah I mean give give me an idea of what briefly is five minutes for Mr.
Cromey two minutes for me to sum up okay thank you Mr. Cromey good morning Mr. Cromey
Mr. Cromey could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
Yes, it's the one I get close to that. Benjamin Cromey, B-E-N-J-A-M-I-N. Cromey, C-R-O-M-I-E. Is that on, by the way? Is the mic on? Yes. Okay. All right. Good. All right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth? I do. Counsel?
Thank you, Mr. Cromey. In the briefest of manner possible, it's our understanding that you have researched the site, been to the site, are familiar with the site, and have submitted a report of your findings to the Zoning Board of Adjustment, correct?
That is correct.
Could you please present a brief highlights on your findings concerning the standards under review by this Zoning Board?
Okay, I'll read this to keep it concise. As professional planners who have investigated the subject property, its surroundings, and the highly specific goals of the comprehensive plan for this transit-oriented sub-area of the South District, we are of the opinion that the particular mix proposed here of a commercial anchor business and sizable multifamily unit is not only compatible with the neighborhood uses,
What is in fact critical to the activation of this long vacant spot that is currently constrained by unfeasible based zoning requirements and requires the provision of such amenities to drive productive community driven reuse.
uh this development was conceived as a ground floor commercial with supporting apartments uh
uh input from the rco uh and this is a commendable effort to invest in a community with the input of
the community thank you mr chromey mr chairman and members of the board the authorization of
variance relief will not alter the character of your your summary yes yes and then i'm going to
get my client and i got it because there are people who want to spike the authorization of
variance relief will not alter the character of the neighborhood or district in a negative way
it will enhance the neighborhood vision it will not be detrimental to the public welfare the
proposal fits into the surrounding neighborhood as evidenced by the support of the coordinating rco
all participating rco leaders to our knowledge the point breeze business association this all speaks
to the granting of relief being of a benefit to the public
to the granting of relief being of a benefit to the public and within the spirit of the zoning code
and within the spirit of the zoning code.
and context the the topic of context which comes up in most every zoning hearing particularly from
a planning perspective look at the context yes rsa 5 but what is existing in the rsa 5
particularly in the near area it's interesting actually that the conforming the rare instances
of conformity um are uh are the minority here the proposed variance would represent the minimum