ZBA Hearing - March 5, 2025

history of non-single family use. And next door to us is six dwelling units. And then the rear

yard depth where nine feet is required, zero feet is proposed. It already has a rear yard depth of

zero feet because of the existing building structure. We're just extending a non-conforming

use by having that addition on the third story. Correspondence. So again, I know that it looks

worse than it is in some ways. You just never know how a community is going to react. But if

you look at the zoning committee, they overwhelmingly supported this project. And again, they're

professional, like within the community, they're very sophisticated, they look on projects on a

case by case basis. Sometimes you go into a here a community meeting, and you just never know who's

the room um and you know why they're there um i will say that here like the zoning committee

heard what we tried to do and and they're in support of this project um

and then you know for them the discussion here was they felt that a five unit proposal did not

align with this the surrounding area well there's six unit right next to us so as stated there was

mentioned about a community garden so there's a community garden to the rear of us they have had

access to our to that community garden partially through the side yard that we are continuing to

partially through the side yard that we are continuing to keep we have no issue with giving

keep we have no issue

them a permanent easement of some sort for that walkway we never like we proposed that we never

heard from anyone from the community garden we are still ready willing and able to sign whatever

documentation they need to effectuate that but we're not interrupting their access to the

community garden and we are more than willing to put that in writing uh parking and traffic again

um you know this this property is slated to be an rm1 property um you know where parking would not

be required under the law under the philadelphia zoning code we are providing parking because we're

leveraging the the current configuration of the property as you will see um so we're providing

parking where we can. And then they said lack of clarity. I don't understand what that means,

but we would give access to the garden. It's pretty straightforward. There's a six-foot

walkway from the front to the back of our property on the right-hand side.

We would be more than happy to give that access. And we reached out. No one's gone back to us in

that respect. And then this is a letter from, I don't know who, but like, you know, we, when we

get something, you know, from the community, we put that in there. I believe that was delivered

to the ZBA. But again, this is a single family zoning classification, which will be hopefully

designated one day as RM1. This is not solely single family homes. Even the community group

acknowledge that there are multi-families on this block and there is one to the right of us.

So again, we are not violating the zoning regulations or at least the spirit of the law

by coming here because it's not out of character. The building height is not out of scale because

the property to the right of us has a building height to the roof line of 36 feet, but the

parapet adding three and a half feet on top of that to the outside world looks like 39 and a half

feet while ours is a 38 feet height and again it's adaptive reuse so it's not like we're starting

from scratch either we are like keeping a piece of the history of that of that neighborhood by

repurposing that property and that they have higher ceilings on those two floors and you know

we have a three-story structure which is 38 feet high but we wanted to be able to use that property

And the only way to actually be able to afford this property renovation is to add that third story and to add to make it five units, but it's not out of scale. Parking and traffic concerns, again, the property next to us has no parking. We are providing the parking we can.

No outdoor space for the tenants.

I respectfully disagree with that.

We'll show that each of the units have its own outdoor space.

Plus, there's a side yard as well for outdoor use.

Unclear property boundaries and impact on Brewerytown Garden.

I don't think there's anything unclear about it.

We have a six-foot pathway from front to back of our property, and we'd be more than happy

to give them access to that legally.

Right now, they don't have anything legally.

I think you've said that a couple of times about the pathway.

Yeah. Well, I think because it gets frustrating when you try to reach out and try to make a deal with the community and there's when they ask for something and they don't do it. So, again, the property history, again, this is not multifamily in nature.

excuse me, not single family in nature. It's anything but that. This is what it's looked like

in the past, and we want to preserve that. This does no longer exist, this more ornate

function of it, but it's really pretty, but it doesn't exist. And then 1305-09 North 27th Street,

I wanted to show you that it has been approved for six units by way of variance previously by

this zoning board. And then I also gave the drawings just so you can see the height of the

building. It's 36 feet high. But again, with that parapet, it makes it a little different.

And then the lower north district plan, again, this is slated to be an RM1 dwelling property.

And then aerial view of the property. The reason why I show this is to show the full

lot coverage of the property. So all we're doing is extending a non-conforming use.

And by the way, here's the walkway here.

And then maps of the area.

Again, there's a mix of zoning all around this property of this neighborhood, both commercial and multifamily and single family.

And then this is a rather large lot, too.

So it's not like we're trying to squeeze five units into this into this small property.

into this small property and then you can see here also shaded that this is full lot coverage

And then you can see.

here so it goes to one of our variance requests and then photographs of the property this is what

the property currently looks like and it's been unoccupied for some time and what we're trying

to do is breathe life into it and these are our orange notice posters and then this is to the

right on north 27th street to left on north 27th street our plans and drawings again what we also

try to do with some interesting architecture is not put our roof line at the front completely in

the front is to kind of angle it off a little bit to kind of respect the height limitations that are

required of us technically under the overlay. And as you see, there is no roof deck because

the roof that they're claiming is a roof deck is right here. So it's, again, not the quintessential

roof deck that you would think about. Again, falling within the spirit of the code and

providing access to everyone. And then you can see here, this is the beginning of the walkway,

some landscaping as well, but we would be able to give access to everyone.

And then we have a one car parking right here. This is the only addition of the width of the building structure. But, you know, even in its smallest part, it's a six foot walkway from front to back.

and then again no basement use at all built on grade because we're just repurposing this

building structure so you come in the front and you know you can unit number one which is open

by the way has a mail room right it has a maintenance office um but unit number one

is right here that's a two bedroom uh two bath 900 square feet windows everywhere here here

then the second floor you go up a flight of steps to the left is is or i guess to the right is is

unit two which is also a two-bedroom two-bath 900 square feet to the left is a two-bedroom

two-bath which is also well 896 square feet and then the third floor is units three and four

uh excuse me four and five excuse me four is is two bedroom two bath 900 square feet and the unit

five is 827 square feet no roof deck by the way here's the outdoor space for unit two here is

outdoors you know outdoor space for unit five and then here's outdoor space for unit four

rco meeting notice we met on november 21st at 6 30 p.m proof of email of proof of mailing of

that notice was sent out a few weeks before we sent it to 158 addresses these are the addresses

we sent them to proof of mailing to those addresses our application for appeal that

we filed with a ZBA on behalf of S2 Real Estate LLC. Our deed showing that S2 Real Estate LLC

is the owner of the property. And our Certificate of Tax Clearance showing that no taxes are owed.

I'm going to unshare my screen. I would ask that Mr. Whitaker be sworn in, and I have a few

questions for him. Mr. Whitaker, could you please state your name and spell for this tonight?

Sharon Whitaker, S-H-E-I-R hyphen R-O-N Whitaker, W-H-I-T-T-A-K-E-R.

You swear or affirm the whole truth and nothing but the truth, sir?

I do.

Please proceed, counsel.

Yes, Mr. Whitaker, you heard everything I had to state today about your zoning matter.

Yes.

Is it true and correct?

Yes.

And do you adopt as your own testimony?

Yes.

Thank you.

Questions from the board.

yes do you have any uh type of diagram that depicts the proximity of the garden yeah we do

it's it's actually a aerial view i think it's one of the aerial views so let me do that

so the garden is right behind us a sliver of it

and i don't think there was any issue in terms of us like extending another story

i think it had more to do with just their access to the garden because i think they're afraid that

we're going to activate this property by using it honestly and they were concerned okay are you

going to prevent us from having that access? And the answer is no. So I know I have a picture.

Oh, right here. And if I may, that's not the only access to the garden. That's right. It's

a shortcut that they've been used to using, which I, again, I have, you know, I know.

um which i again i have you know no means of taking it away from them i just told them let's

talk about and figure out how we make it still accessible to them yeah so secondary access but

their garden area there's a bigger portion over here but this is where their garden is

and this is a walkway we currently have over here with where there's no barrier of entry and we

don't have any intention to give them a barrier to enter the property. But again, we reached out

to them. Okay. And could you just tell me again, what are you offering for the gardeners to have

access? Well, this is a secondary means of egress. So we would give them what's called an easement

over the property where they would have the ability to go over this walkway legally. Right

now this is our property right so they've been using it and it's a secondary form of egress we

have no issue with that but we want to we want to formalize that you know i think it protects

everyone and you know if this board you know grants or variance requests we'll continue reaching out

to the community and trying to get like a more formal relationship with the garden

thank you other questions from the board yeah i guess two questions so if you're gonna if you're

willing to do an easement you're not putting a rear fence to at your property line no well what

we would yeah we are but they would have that well the fence is right here we would have a fence and

there would be some type of entry you know that they would be allowed to have a gate like a gate

yeah and you'd allow okay and then my second question is that addresses the garden but for

the brewery shardswood community civic association it's generally not comprised of large people a

large group of people that have a lot to do with that garden what were their main concerns because

they also opposed well i i think first their first uh matter was about the overlay about like the

fact, they don't want roof decks and they want to keep the height limitations. And again, it's

nuanced. I think, especially when you're dealing with adaptive reuse and you're not starting from

scratch, you have to take an honest view of that matter. So we only have a three-story structure

at 38 feet. We're not four stories at 38 feet where we're trying to cram it. Our two stories

are rather high. By ending that third story, we're exactly at 38 feet, but we're not because

of how like 24 seven design actually did a good job of like i'm just going to go to trying to get

the rendering here but like they did a good job like this is the 38 feet right here but really

it's what i see as the roof line from a like it from a common person point of view is like here

you're not going to see here because it's set back and angled and that's why we try to be creative

in terms of working through that, respecting the overlay in that respect. And also the second

part of the overlay has to do with no roof decks. Again, I don't consider this a roof deck. I would

consider anything above where the gray is a roof deck, and that would be adding height. And I think

people are upset like you're adding this height over someone's roof line, which is intrusive.

Here, it actually provides eyes on the street. It's architecturally interesting. It gives everyone outdoor space because that was one of their complaints, that there was no outdoor space for the unit occupants. And every unit has outdoor space of some sort through these roof structures or balconies or in the first floor unit in the rear.

Other questions?

Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Emerson?

Not at this time, Mr. Chair.

Questions or comments from the audience or the virtual audience?

Chair, I have a hand up from Sharon Hildebrand.

I'm going to promote them to panelists right now.

How many hands do you have?

Two hands.

Thank you.

they've been about to speak

could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer

hi are you speaking to to me sharon heldebrand i am yes okay thank you i'm sorry

Yeah, sure. State your name and spell for the stenographer.

Sharon Hildebrand, S-H-A-R-O-N-H-I-L-D-E-B-R-A-N-D.

r-a-m-d do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth

Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?

i do are you a neighbor yes i am i live on 29th street at master i've lived in the neighborhood

for 22 years okay please proceed i um also um am the chairperson of the steering committee for

brewery town garden the garden that you've been talking about yeah no one has contacted us um

Or if you have contacted someone, I'd like to have the name of the person you contacted, because no one from the community garden, to my knowledge, has been contacted to discuss this at all.

You'll see in the slide that's on the screen right now, there's a gate restricting the access to the back of the property.

And I believe the owner suggested that this is a shortcut we use.

It is not a shortcut. This is our accessible entrance. So this would be the entrance that

someone arriving to the garden in a wheelchair would use. The other entrance to the garden is

up a hill that is covered in mulch and dirt because it's a garden. And that would be difficult

for anyone with a mobile device to be able to enter the garden. They've also suggested that

We had no issues in terms of the height. That's incorrect. We are opposed to the height of the building because of the shadow that it would cast on the garden. It would restrict our afternoon sun.

And he has stated that it's a substantially large property, and it is.

And so I don't believe that the appeals for additional height decking and use chains rise to the level of demonstrating undue hardship for this property.

I would ask that the variance does not be granted.

Thank you. Thank you very much.

Mr. Yeah.

Do you have questions?

So my understanding is that there was a representative from the garden at the meeting. I gave my contact information. I said, here's my contact information. No one contacted me. I can't know who are those actual people.

I'd be more than happy to talk to the person at the community garden, seeing about formalizing some type of arrangement regarding an easement for people for emergency egress purposes for non like disabled individuals.

And obviously for people who do need those accommodations, we would work with them in formalizing that as well.

Thank you. Do we have someone else up with their hand up in the audience?

yes the quarter satterfield i'm promoting them to panelists right now mr chair

why could you please state your name and spell for the stock

yeah carter satterfield c-a-r-t-e-r s-a-t-t-e-r-f-i-e-l-d

Do you swear, Fern, to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?

I do.

Are you a neighbor?

I am. I live at 1303 North 27th Street. I've lived here for three years.

Please proceed.

Yeah.

So I just want to point out a couple of inaccuracies that were suggested earlier.

And I will say, this is my third time at one of these.