sworn in. Please identify yourself and the vice chair will have questions for you.
Sure. 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. Ms. Denary. Hi, Rachel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal
and stipulate to its accuracy? Yes. Have you emailed the exhibit packet with 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. You may proceed.
Okay, so this is 250 South 11th Street. As you can see from the refusal, this project
proposes the erection of a roof deck and roof deck access structure above an existing third
floor as part of an existing attached structure, uses for prepared food shop and takeout restaurant
and sit-down restaurant at first floor and multifamily household living for four dwelling
units from a second floor through the third floors. Basically, this property zone, CMX
One, it is the only mid-block street-to-street property, and most of the refusals were generated
because CMX 1 requires that the property take on the most restrictive residential classification
in this case, which is RSA 5.
At this property bin, one or two properties over, we probably wouldn't have generated
most refusals. And I think that CMX-1 sometimes does not contemplate size or shape of buildings.
Again, this is a large street-to-street property proposing four dwelling units and use as
take-out restaurant, sit-down restaurant, and prepared food shop. Most of the properties
directly adjacent are also CMX-1 and have similar uses and have obtained variances for similar uses.
So our proposal is not out of character with their surrounding block or the adjacent properties of similar size or not similar size, smaller, but similar use.
So as you can see on the screen, this is our property. It's this large street to street parcel in the middle of 11th Street.
And as you can see, it's just directly adjacent by one property to RSA 5, although our property is, again, the largest and the only mid block street to street.
although our property is, again, the largest and the only mid-block street-to-street property.
As you can see, it's an existing structure, takes up almost 100% lot coverage,
and if we were required to utilize the CMX1 standards, we'd be limited significantly on a
viable ground floor commercial use, so not only that, we'd only be permitted one dwelling unit
above in a 2,000-square-foot building, or over 2,000-square-foot, the land's 2,000-square-feet.
As you can see, this is the building. It's quite large and quite wide, and it's nicely set up to
have a commercial use on the ground floor, which is what we're proposing. Additionally, as you can
see, there's other directly adjacent food-related restaurants next door, despite RSA 5 or CMX 1
zoning classifications. I'm going to go down to we met with the Washington Square West Civic
Association on August 24th and also had subsequent meetings with them and the near neighbors and we
have a letter of non-opposition with provisos that we are happy to enter into and also have
a letter of non-opposition from the directly adjacent neighbors. The provisos we agreed to
is that the ground floor shall be limited to no smoke producing cooking. We are planning to have
a bubble tea shop, so that was fine. The roof deck and pilot house should be located as per
the revised plans to be submitted today. I believe after I'm through our architect, Jonathan Brough,
we'll go through the plans and provided revised plans to the board. No venting on the Jessup
Street side of the property nor onto any neighbor's property. Accepted emergency is no ingress,
egress or access of any kind for tenants through any door located on jessup street all ingress
egress or access of any kind to the apartments and the property is from 11th street side and
none of the four apartments shall be used or sublet by any tenant as an airbnb or similar
service or a short-term rental and then a proviso about trash that all commercial and residential
trash is stored in covered receptacles with all containers stored in the interior of the building
and taken out through the building onto the 11th street side to be emptied there's no trash or
recycling to be placed on Jessup Street and the owner should keep it out of public view and no
time shall trash be placed on Jessup Street side of the proposed building sidewalk. We have our
certificate of mailing and I have the memo of law which is included in the packet but I won't go
into. I'm happy to take questions or if I can bring on Jonathan Brough to go through the plans
for the project um that would be great let's bring on jonathan okay let's bring him on
jonathan if you can raise your hand rose been allowed to speak
good afternoon sir please spell your full name for the record so i'll swear you in uh can you
me yes okay my name is jonathan bro the jkp architects address is 1043 lombard street
you spell your name please oh that's b-r-o-h excuse me you swear or affirm to tell the truth
the whole truth nothing but the truth i do thank you miss pritzker uh jonathan are you able to
share your screen and just go through the plans yes and just one thing for the record um i'm an
architect at JKRP Architects. I am also the chair of the Zoning Committee of the Washington Square
West Civic Association. I recused myself from the Washington Square Civic Association and had no
part of that discussion from that point of view, so I just wanted that entered into record.
Jonathan, could you hold one moment? Yes. Could we promote him to panelists, please,
so he can share his screen? Thank you kindly. At once. And Jonathan, if you can just slow down
a little bit that would be helpful here you might want to repeat that he was in between coming in
and coming going out and coming back in here okay okay can you hear me now is this better
mr bro yeah we can hear you just if you can slow it slow down
a little bit helpful i will do that sorry about that no no it's for the court reporter's benefit
Okay. If everyone can see my screen, these are the floor plans for the building.
To the left is 11th Street. On the ground floor, you can see the proposed retail space, which has trash storage along the rear.
On the right side is Jessup Street. There will be stairs off the lobby off of 11th Street, which gets you to the second floor.
Along the second floor, there will be two one-bedroom units.
From there, it continues up to the third floor,
where there will be an additional two one-bedroom units.
where there'll be an additional two one bedroom units there's small trash storage
There is small trash storage.
for the residences on each floor plan you then continue up to the roof level at the roof level
i'm going to enter from a pilot house entering on the east side of the pilot house there is a
roof deck 10 feet off of 11th street um per discussions with the neighbors this roof deck
will have a six foot high fence with sound attenuation or acoustic padding on the south
and west sides to help attenuate sound for the near neighbors and uh this plan as shown right
here is identical in dimensions to the zoning plan i can zoom in right here which was resubmitted
yesterday thank you and is it uh two pages uh revised plans jonathan are there two pages of
architectural plans the zoning plan is only a single sheet one page yeah one page okay okay
any questions from the board no mr chair no no uh rachel do you want to have your
client about your testimony uh yes please if there is a uh tommy chan or christina chan um they're
the owners. Yes. Yes, sir. Please spell your full name. Thomas Chan, T-H-O-M-A-S-C-H-A-N.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth? Yes. Thank you.
Ms. Pritzker? Tom, have you heard my statements today in front of the board? Do you believe them
to be true and accurate and do you adopt them as your own yes thank you thank you anyone else
to testify in this case if so please raise your hand harry cook has his hand raised i
will allow him to speak at this time sir thank you mr cook good afternoon mr chair i swear you in
Harry Cook, H-A-R-R-Y-C-O-O-K, Anastasio Law, on behalf of the Near Neighbors Coalition.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Thank you. Please proceed.
I just want to confirm with Mr. Burrow that the plans presented today are substantively identical to the plans that are annexed in the Near Neighbors Agreement.
they appear to be, I just want to get confirmation on the record.
Yeah, that is absolutely correct.
The zoning plan has no difference.
And the roof plan was only modified so the dimensions of the architectural features on this roof plan match the architectural features on the zoning plan.
So they are substitutively the same.
Thank you.
No further questions.
Thank you.
Anyone else to testify in this case?
no further hands sir thank you planning commission good afternoon mr chairman board members david
effecto city planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change in the single family
and commercial oh wait i'm sorry let me revise that the comprehensive plan recommends no change
in the commercial mixed use zoning at this block there are multiple prepared food restaurants on
this block the unit count is limited for this parcel because it abuts a single family zoning
district however multi-family use is consistent with development on the block we recommend that
the board approve the requested variances thank you mi 2021-002 653 250 south 11th street
my vote is yes with the proviso revised plan one page approved today
Harold Tenere, my word is yes, provisor.
Professor Plaza, yes, with provisor.
James Snell, yes, with provisor.
Thomas Holloman, yes, with provisor.
Thank you.
I believe there's a combined case 6 and 7, MI 2021-002-645, 2600 Reed Street, R-E-E-D Street,
and MI 2021-002-822-2602-3D Street.
Mr. Nockamson is the attorney of record.
Grace Ferry Community Council sent a letter of support.
So is it Mr. Nockamson or is Ms. Amazon?
Ms. Amazon, sir.
She will be the analyst.
So Ms. Amazon, I'm not sure if you were on earlier today.
So, Ms. Amazon, I'm not sure if you were on earlier today.
Please identify yourself.
Please identify yourself, and I'll swear you in.
Good afternoon, Chairman of Comente Amazon, C-L-E-M-E-M-T-A.
Last name is A-M-A-Z-A-N, 123, 123 South Far Street, Suite 1600, 19109.
I got ahead of myself.
I'm sorry.
You swear if I'm going to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
And I assume you want to combine these cases, correct?
I would like to do them both at once.
Thank you.
Ms. Tenere has questions for you.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy on both?
Yes, I do.
Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership, tax compliance, a copy of the refusal or referral, photos and plans of the property five days in advance of this hearing?
And have you met with the RCO and do you have letters for both?
Yes, and we have a lot of support for both properties.
Thank you. That's reflected here, too.
You may create.
Thank you.
Can everyone see my screen?
Perfect.
So I will be presenting 2600 and 2602 Reed Street.
They are two separate lots.
One property is zoned as CMX1, specifically 2600 Reed Street,
and 2602 Street is zoned as RSA 5. We have the same request for both properties. We are simply
looking to have a duplex in each lot. We met with the community on September 30th. They indicated
that they were in support of this project. They do think that it's inappropriate to have commercial
use on this block. It is a fully residential block. They want to maintain that fully residential feel,
so we're really creating a design that's in line with the community's needs. I will go through the
notices of refusal.
Again, we do have a letter of support
from Grace Ferry Community Council, maps of the area,
photographs of the property, our proposed plans and drawings.
Again, it's identical for each lot.
The notice that we sent out for that September 30th meeting,
the application for appeal, the deeds for each property,
and our certificate of tax clearance.
So as I mentioned before, 2600 B Street is zoned to CMX 1.
We are making that identical request here.
We are just looking to have a duplex.
And 2602 Reed Street is zoned as RSA 5. We're looking to have a duplex here as well. What we're asking for is an out-of-source for this block. Previously, a duplex was granted for 2645 Reed Street as well as 2651 Reed Street. They are both on the same block of comparable size, so this isn't a request that is out-of-source in any way. Again, it's a fully residential block.
we would like to maintain it as residential so we did garner the community support for this project
or for both projects so here again similar maps which you saw previously for both lots
here we have a view of the front of the properties
reese street view from the right reese street from the left and then a view from south 26th street
our elevations as well as the site plan again we are looking for a duplex for each property
They will be bi-level units. Unit one would be a one bedroom, one bath. Unit two, which would be taking the second and third floor, would be three bedrooms and two baths.
Identical design for 2602 Reed Street.
We did send out notice for the community meeting that was held on September 30th.
Again, we did receive support and we sent out a separate notice for each lot.
So here we have the notice that was sent out for 2602 Reed Street and the properties that were identified as being affected by the city.
And we sent out that certificate of mailing two weeks prior to the community meeting date.
And here we have our application for appeal for 2600 Reed Street.
again this property cmx1 we're looking for a duplex the community wants fully residential use
our project information form application for appeal and 2602 reed street this property is
owned a single family what we're asking for isn't out of sorts here because there are other lots of
similar size that are also multi-family project information form as well as the deeds for the
property so with that if i could have my client joe out of seven excuse me gazi out of seven
um raise his hand i will have him accept my testimony
been allowed to speak please tell me your full name and i'll swear you in yes good afternoon
everyone my name is gazi g-a-z-i last name is a-t-a-s-e-v-e-n r-a-7 24 24 east york
Philadelphia.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do, sir.
Okay, Ms. Hamidon.
So, did you hear my presentation today?
Yes, I heard that.
And was it true and correct?
yes and would you adopt it as your own testimony absolutely thank you thank you any questions from
And would you adopt it as your own testimony?