I'm Mr. McAdams.
Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
Tim McAdams, T-I-M-M-C-A-D-A-M-S.
All right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed, counsel.
Good afternoon, Tim.
Did you hear the testimony that I provided to the board this afternoon?
and do you affirm that my presentation was accurate yes do you adopt my testimony as your
own yes great thank you questions from the board no mr true no mr no questions or comments from
the virtual audience i see no handshare planning commission good afternoon chair and members of
the board this is greg waldman planning commission staff the comprehensive plan recommends no change
to the existing rmx2 zoning at this location rmx2 is a master plan district which prohibits the
proposed animal services and retail use the rmx2 zoning was translated from in 2012 from itd
industrial transformation district in the old code a base district that was specifically created for
this area but should not have applied to this particular property so ownership is different
from the adjacent properties that initiated the master plan district. Proposed use would not
cause detrimental impacts to the neighborhood at this location. The City Planning Commission
recommends that the zoning board grant the variance. Thank you very much. MI 2022-002-162-3145
jefferson street i vote yes with the following proviso the variance grant the variances granted
in this appeal will be finally approved when l and i is provided with a copy of the zba's decision
and documentation verifying that the real estate taxes due on the subject property are paid in full
my vote is yes with proviso thomas holloman thomas holloman my vote is yes with proviso
james snell my vote is yes with proviso thank you council thank you
MI 2021-003-957-3440 North 18th Street.
Mr. Nockamson, letter of support from North Center, Philadelphia, Susquehanna Community Development Corporation with provisos.
Good afternoon, Alan Ockamson, A-L-A-N, last name Ockamson, N-O-C-H-U-M-S-O-R.
Here to present 3440 North 18th Street.
Hi, Mr. Ockamson, you've already been sworn.
Can you identify your client in relationship to this property?
Yes, the owner of the property is Wise Holdings Group, LLC, and in the virtual audience is
Brian Wise, its member.
All right, our vice chair has a few questions.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership, tax compliance, a copy of the refusal or referral,
photos under plans of the property five days in advance of this meeting, and have you met with the RCO, and do you have a letter?
Yes, in all respects.
Okay, great. You may proceed and share your screen.
Hi, so I'm here to present 3440 North 18th Street. In our presentation packet, we'll review the notice of refusal, the correspondence we've received from North Central Philadelphia Susquehanna Community Development Corporation.
uh this board has received several uh several correspondence from the that community group
uh and we'll go over that um we also have a zba revised proviso plans form uh to address their
concerns and i believe that's why we received their support uh in addition uh if this board
is so inclined we would ask that you know the board be granted with that revised plan
And on top of the fact, maximum four units, because we're proposing five units by way of the notice of refusal, we receive the community support by limiting the amount of units from five to four.
So we ask for two provisos, one, maximum four units, the second of which is to deal with some dimensional matters or aesthetics more so with regards to the project, which would change the elevation.
uh or aesthetics more so uh with the course of project which would change the elevations of the
site plan uh we would then we're then going to review uh nearby rsa5 properties with multifamily
history maps of the area photographs of the property or plants and drawings our meeting notice
for the last meeting we had we have met with this community on several occasions you will actually
also see the notice of refusal which is dated march of 2021 so we've worked really hard to
generate a dialogue with this community and listen to them well and you know meet you know
their reasonable needs uh deed to the property showing that wise holdings group llc is next
our application for appeal that we filed with the cba and our certificate of tax clearance and again
in the virtual audience is brian wise the owner's representative i also have chris johnson of 24 7
design uh the architect on this project who can also answer any technical questions uh this board
may have i notice of refusal uh so this is an rsa5 property but it's a very significantly sized
lot it's just not going to say could you raise your volume a little bit we're really having a
hard time here oh sorry maybe i'll just go forward sorry i think the last couple days or weeks of
coming from this board i think i've lost my voice uh so uh can you hear me better mr chair oh it's
fine that's fine okay uh it's uh we have a lot that's almost you know that's 2315 square feet
uh it's a really large size lot um and you'll see from other similarly situated lots uh this is a
multifamily section of Philadelphia. Under the original proposal, we were proposing to erect
an attached building structure with roof deck at second floor and roof deck access structure above
third floor for mechanical access only for the use as five units. And what we're doing here now
is we're removing the roof deck access structure because they didn't feel it was appropriate. And
And so we're only asking for a roof hatch and we're reducing the amount of units.
We're removing, well, we'll have the provisal, we'll go with the provisal form.
But we did do significant wholesale changes to this, you know, the building structure without creating any additional refusals.
So we have two refusals, the first of which is technicality.
The building height they're stating is 40 feet, five inches where 38 feet is allowed.
It was because of the roof deck access structure and where it was situated and how large it was in comparison to the building size.
By removing that roof deck access structure, we only have a building height really from the roof line of 31 feet and 31 and a half feet.
So we rid ourselves of that refusal.
And then we had the other refusal for the use refusal, but we are going further in conformance with the code from five to four by reducing that additional units.
And then we had two correspondence that the coordinating RCO submitted to this ZBA, one dated April 26, 2022.
22 it's long it's 17 bullet points but ultimately we met you know most of their requests height is
in performance with the codes density we moved down moved down to four units we do have an ada
compliant units that's not zoning matter but we did create one because we have a porch area
that it that has uh that's you know uh on on grades uh so that we have accessibility for that
first floor unit there's no roof deck access there's only a roof hatch we remove the pilot
house um we we do prefer to have a bathroom in the basement um there's i believe miss russell
who is representative of the coordinator of the RCO may be online.
We have had some passionate discussions.
We believe that the first floor unit, which is a bi-level to the basement level,
would be appropriate to have the half bath down there living in the basement.
But we think it's appropriate to, and I don't believe she has any issue,
to have some sort of living in the basement because she did agree to allow us
have a laundry facility for that unit in the basement um so we're asking to not have that
restriction of no bathroom in the basement or no work in the basement we do have our all garbage
disposals in all apartments we remove the balcony our windows will reasonably align with existing
dwellings our front door will reasonably align with existing dwellings uh we will have a brick
uh we will have a brick facade we will have you know not break in the back uh we our porch roof
in the back.
will extend to the full width length of the building uh talks about the porch height we're
going to you know obviously do our best to conform to our neighboring properties uh and there's some
other matters which are not so related but i just wanted to state that because there's 17 bullet
points in april right so we really met we're trying to meet every single one even the non-zoning
related ones. And then there was correspondence today, which doubled the amount of bullet points
in totality to 34. I think the letter from April 26, I think is more than sufficient. We did meet
many of the zoning requests as well. Then that's where, you know, our, you know, revised plans are
for removal of roof deck and roof deck access structure, installation of roof hatch for
mechanical access only, removal of the second floor balcony, and then installation of that
fourth structure in the manner in which they asked us. And then here's our revised plans. Again,
second proviso would be maximum four units. Nearby multifamily history, nearby properties
with multifamily history, you'll see that on Ontario, which we're nearby, there's multifamily,
and I have five other instances on this block of North 18th Street,
even though these are RSA 5 properties or multifamily in nature.
And then there's just the backup data that we receive in Rapples.
And then maps of the area.
If we were on the other side of the street of the 3,400 block,
we wouldn't be here today.
And we would be able to have, I think, definitely five units.
I have to do the calculation, maybe even six, because it's 23.
three, four. No, we would probably have five. So, but, you know, again, if we were on the other side
of the street, but we're not. And here's Google map of the area as well. We're between Tioga
and Ontario on 18th Street. And again, we're in the nice town, Tioga part of town. Here's our
property. We're between two, three-story structures with porches. Again, we're trying to emulate that
as to our design, North 18th Street to the right of the property,
North 18th Street to the left of the property.
Mr. Wise has been in the industry for over 20 years.
Again, like many of my clients, not just a property owner and developer,
but he also GCs.
He's also a realtor, so he manages his properties.
And he's also from the nice town, Tioga area.
So this is his neighborhood.
And he holds it dear to his heart, and he wants to do a good job.
But these are some other projects where he's done work that he's going to put into this property as well.
And then, again, as you can see, what we try to do is emulate this by having a porch, having like a cornice line as more traditional nature, break the side.
You know, we had a lot going on here that changed over the course of almost a year and a half.
But as you can see, it really does fit within the fabric of this neighborhood and this block.
and then this is our site plan again and a couple things to note we have a trash room here
we hid our meters inside the utility there's a utility room here where we're also hiding our
meters uh and uh there's no rooftop there's just you know a hatch for mechanicals
and then our rco meeting notice uh this is a you know again we meant that within multiple times
the last time on june 9th at 6 30 p.m miss russell has always asked us to deviate to make sure that
the individuals who receive this notice um don't think it's junk mail so on the outside of our
envelope we put important community meeting please zoom in we put it in red so hopefully people
and throw it away 96 people were 96 addresses were notified this meeting list of the addresses
proof of mailing to those addresses or deed to the property
our application for appeal along their notice of refusal in our project information form
and our certificate of tax guidance with that being said i would ask that
Mr. Wise virtually raise his hand so he can dot my testimony.
Yes, good afternoon.
Mr. Wise, could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
First name Brian, B-R-I-A-N, last name Wise, W-I-S-E.
do you swear a firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yes i do proceed mr knockamson yes mr wise
Yes, I do.
Proceed, Mr. Nockmson.
Mr. Wise, you heard everything I stated today.
And is it true and correct?
Yes, it is.
And do you adopt it as your own testimony?
Yes, I do.
All right.
Thank you.
Questions or comments from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I see no hands, Chair.
Questions or comments from the Planning Commission, please.
Good afternoon.
This is Greg Waldman of Planning Commission staff.
The comprehensive plan recommends this property for residential two-family use.
The proposed multifamily use, as the appellant presented in revised plans, is consistent with nearby properties, which appear to have three and four dwelling units.
The City Planning Commission recommends that the Board grant the requested variances.
Thank you.
um hillary the last the last communications we have from tina marie russell is no basement living
no bathroom in the basement yes so there were so um yes in the communications that came in today
there were in addition to the the things that were already addressed by um the applicant um
there were five provisos that i would still consider enforceable that would be no basement
living no bathroom in the basement no bay windows trash stored in basement and garbage disposals in
all units um but the revised plans address the other the other enforceable provisos that they
suggested and then as mr knockinson noted um they are requesting a proviso for a maximum of four
units. Right. Yeah. Mr. Chair. Mr. Nockleson said he was, there was a conversation about the
bathroom in the basement. We did. And I think there's a, I would ask Mr. Wise to speak to that.
I mean, we've had so many conversations since March of 2021. But our understanding was that
we were allowed to have a bathroom and a half bath in the basement and to have living in the
basement because she, as you'll see from her correspondence, she'll allow us to have a laundry
facility for that unit in the basement. So if you have a washer dryer down there, you have to be
able to actually access and live down there. As far as trash storage in the basement, the basement's
only for that one unit. That's the only unit that has it. So we can't have trash storage.
How I interpreted that was, and I talked to Ms. Russell, I was hoping she would come on today.
she usually does. I indicated to her that it was unclear what she was asking for because how I read
that was trash storage for the entire building, which makes no sense because we actually have a
trash room on the first floor dedicated on our floor plans. So I don't know why you would have
to store trash in the basement when you have a trash room common to everyone.
hillary why don't we hold the vote and close it except for a letter from
from tina maria russell where she stands yeah the only thing i would say
um is that you know we did relent on the amount of units um you know i would hope that the board
would you know this is you know tough financial times for developers um you know we we
We'll take the whole thing into consideration when we vote.
But, Hillary, is that okay?