correct
and you said one person per bedroom
are they all related or unrelated people
they would be unrelated
you allowed the five
unrelated people in one unit? So this is for a special exception. It's not a variance and we're
just looking for the single room residence. So that's why we're here today. Thank you. Of course.
Okay, any other questions? No. Would anyone else like to testify in this case? If so, please raise your hand.
there are no hands at this time chair thank you planning commission
good afternoon this is greg waldman for planning commission staff
this property was part of a remapping in 2014 that recommended no change to the existing
residential multifamily zoning at this location which is situated on a block that has several
multifamily properties of similar scale to this proposal. Accordingly, we have no objection
Accordingly, we have no objection to the granting of the requested variants.
to the granting of the requested variance. Thank you.
Thank you. MI 2021-000022, 1630 Page Street. My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
Thank you. Have a great day.
You too.
Have a great day.
Calendar number 2599, 2740 Amber Street.
Chair, we have Alan Knackleton.
Mr. Knackleton, you're going to be promoted to panelists.
Good afternoon, Mr. Knackleton.
You're still on the earth from earlier.
Carol, you can proceed.
Thank you, sir.
Thank you, sir.
Name and address, please.
Yes, Alan Nockamson of Nockamson, PC, 123 South Broad Street, Suite 1600, Philadelphia, PA, 19109.
You agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, just so long as we understand that we have a second refusal dated February 16th of 2021 with the permission of the Zoning Board of Adjustment.
Okay. Have you emailed the exhibit packet with the required documents consisting of proof of ownership, tax compliance, refusal, 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, in all respects.
Thank you. You may proceed.
All right. I'm going to share my screen.
Can everyone see my screen?
Hi. So good afternoon, Mr. Chair, Madam Vice Chair, and members of the board. My name is Alan
Occamson again, and I'm proud to present 2740 Amber Street. This is a project that has had
much scrutiny within the community and the CDR. This project originally started out something
different, but through the process of community input and with the assistance of the CDR,
We're proud to say that we have a letter of support from the Somerset neighbors for better living.
And my understanding is that, you know, the CDR also believes that this is a good and productive project in the Kensington area of Philadelphia.
So I have a table of contents, which includes the DTIP property, a certificate of tax clearance, a notice of refusal, an application for appeal,
maps of the property in the surrounding area, photographs of the property, architectural
plans and drawings, and the aforementioned letter of support.
This property is owned by Amber Street Holdings, and as you can see here, they are in good
standing with the state of Philadelphia, they just recently paid their property taxes.
Originally, this was, you know, we submitted an application for appeal based on a notice of refusal dated October 15th of 2020,
where we're looking to put on this 30,000 square foot RSA 5 property, three principal building structures of a height with the largest one over 70 feet high with off-street parking and such.
Over the course of several meetings with the community, as well as smaller session meetings with the executive board of the Somerset Neighbors for Better Living, and based on the input and comment for the CDR, we changed the project to better fit from an architectural standpoint and the community standpoint.
So as part of that process, we received authorization on February 12th of 2021 to actually revise or amend our zoning appeal based on certain changes we made to our plans.
First of which is instead of three building structures, we have now two building structures that are interconnected.
Instead of 140 units, it's going to be 132 units.
We also decreased the height of the building.
So even though this is an RSA 5 property, we are surrounded, as you'll see in our materials, by ICMX, where in scale, our 63-foot high building and some portions of it fits within the scale of the community.
As well as we have now garden apartments, which fit better in scale with other portions of the community, which are closer to the RSA 5 properties.
So those were the major changes that we did.
And based on that, on February 16, 2021, Department of License and Inspections issued a new notice
of refusal that we did give to the Zoning Board of Adjustment.
So just for purposes of this hearing, this is the operative notice of refusal that we're
uh that we're speaking of today again instead of this is an RSA 5 property um instead of three
speaking of today.
SAY, AGAIN, INSTEAD OF THIS IS AN RSA V PROPERTY.
principal building structures we have now two that's a refusal and you'll see that that it
makes sense based architecturally as well as how it fits within this 30,000 square foot lot
secondly we are proposing multi-family use 132 units but again we're on a 30,000 square foot
lot, which would not be out of character, especially if you see that we're surrounded
by ICMX. Third, we're proposing no rear yard depth on portions of the property. Again,
we front three streets, two public streets and a private street on Seltzer. So how our lot is
unique in nature, there is an undue hardship with respect to complying with that portion of the
code. And then finally, the height. We're requesting 63 feet, a little over 63 feet,
while 38 is required. But again, this is a 30,000 square foot lot. We're surrounded by ICMX,
asking for 63 feet high, especially since we knocked off one story as to the high rise portion
of it. And given how we're focused near ICMX, makes sense under the circumstances.
Here's our application for appeal we originally followed with the ZBA and our project information
form. And then maps of the property. We are actually all of this. We're not just this
little portion. We're on East Silver, we have Seltzer, and we have Amber Street. And we're
all of this. We're a significant portion. As you can see, we're surrounded by ICMX.
There is an RSA 5 component in this neighborhood, and we respect it through our design, as we'll show.
And these are photographs of the property from amber and silver.
And then our plans and drawings that we submitted to the community as well as to the CDR.
So as you can see, this is the Amber Street side.
This is the high-rise portion of the property.
As part of the input of the CDR, we now have one large lobby that focuses and directs traffic to a lobby portion, but also eyes on the street where we have apartment units that actually open to the street as well.
We have a gym that faces the city skyline, and we have a dedicated garbage room as well.
So again, as you can see, this is our property.
which is substantial in size,
and would be more appropriate to be more closer to ICMX
without the CMX, obviously the C portion.
And these are pictures of the property from Silver Street.
And you can see it's industrial nature,
this part of the neighborhood, Amber Street.
And then you can see Seltzer.
So there is no legal street,
no primary frontage allowed on Seltzer Street.
So that's where we kind of got here. Originally, we were looking to do a subdivision or to do single-family, and because there's no legal street on Seltzer, we revisited the plans and worked with the community on something that's a little bit different.
And again, we reduced the amount of units from 140 to 132. We created a low-rise effect on Seltzer Street to kind of match the feel of the RSA-5 properties as well.
And then as you can see, this is just a rendering of what our property looks like in relation to the neighborhood.
You can see our building structure, the tallest portion is furthest away from the RSA 5 portion of the neighborhood.
And, you know, we've provided as much light in there as we can.
You can see from that direction and then that direction.
And then this is, and again, I have the architect, Tony, on the call.
we can go through the floor plans if you wish uh there's just another rendering from amber
a view uh from the corner of amber you can see there's a entrance here there's you know a cutout
here to allow for a parking lot of a substantial size again a lot of eyes on the street a lot of
nice landscaping that's important to my clients and here's the parking lot
do you have your client i do i do i do um and again just we have the letter of support as well
but the other thing that we're really proud of and i want to make a point of this and the reason
why we had community support is we this is really a good example of inclusionary zoning uh 16 of the
16 of the units are going to be dedicated to affordable housing units, but affordable in the truest sense.
units are going to be dedicated to affordable housing units but affordable
Eight of the units are going to be at 20% AMI, and eight of the units are going to be at 40% AMI.
So that was really important to the community.
So with that being said, I would like Jordan Brody to virtually raise his hand.
oh mr brody you can unmute yourself and speak now good afternoon mr brody please
identify yourself with a record spell your last name and i'll swear you in
can you hear me yes my name is jordan brody
last name is spelled b-r-o-d-y
we're in the firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i do mr notkinson uh yes uh mr brody you heard everything i stated today yes i did and is it
true and correct yes it is and do you adopt it as your own testimony yes i do thank you thank you
Questions from the board? No. No. No. Anyone else like to testify in this case? If so,
please raise your hand. Chair, we have an Anthony Miller. Mr. Miller, you can unmute yourself and
speak now. Good afternoon, Mr. Miller. Please identify yourself with the record. Provide us
with your name and address. Hello, my name is Anthony Miller, A-N-T-H-O-N-Y-M-I-L-L-E-R.
My address is 3033 Mercer Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19134.
We're in the firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth.
Please proceed.
I would like to testify as a stakeholder with Somerset Neighbors for Better Living.
I was involved with the negotiation and the meetings that Alan mentioned.
We met with them multiple times and hammered out a deal that we think is going to bring a lot of benefit to the community.
I just want to testify that on behalf of Somerset Neighbors for Better Living,
I hope that you allow some other members to testify as well.
But we fully support the project as it is proposed.
Thank you.
Anyone else would like to testify?
Please raise your hand.
Chair, we have Pastor Capers.
Pastor Capers, you can unmute yourself and speak now.
Good afternoon, Pastor.
pastor please identify yourselves by your last name sure good afternoon my name is pastor Jacqueline
Capers C-A-P-E-R-S I am the pastor of Disney Nichols AME Church in this particular community
I'm also a member of Somerset Neighbors for Better Living and I too would like to say we
have worked very diligently had several meetings and working with the developers and we
want to state that we truly do support this project. Thank you, Pastor, for taking the time.
Anyone else like to testify? Chair, we have Pastor Harris. Pastor Harris, you can unmute yourself and
speak now. Good afternoon, Pastor Harris. Good afternoon to you, Mr. DeTico, and everyone.
My name is Richard Harris. Pastor, do you swear and affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth,
nothing but the truth. I do. I didn't expect otherwise, but I had to ask you. Yes, yes.
Please proceed. So yes, we stand in total agreement with Amber Street Holden, as well
as Somerset Neighbors. We too serve with Somerset Neighbors for Better Living. We've been active
with them for about 12 years, and we was very appreciative of Amber Holden for their approach
to the community, and their willingness to come in good faith and make some amendments to their
plans, whereby they would accommodate some affordable tenants, some affordable units to
those within the community. So yes, Firm Hope Baptist Church stands with Somerset neighbors,
as well as the community, in total favor of this project. Thank you very much. Yes, sir. Anyone else?
chair we have joan dan set miss dan set you can unmute yourself and speak now
good afternoon ma'am please identify yourself on the record spell your last name and provide
us with your address sure my name is joan dan set last name is d-a-n-s-e-t-t-e my address is
It's 2006 Hartley,
Philadelphia PA 19134.
And you swear and affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
And you swear and affirm to tell the truth,
the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Yes, I do.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Please proceed.
Along with everybody else, I'm the vice president of SMBL.
And we always stand by our...
I'm sorry, I'm getting tugged at you.
We stand by the project.
Thank you.
Is there anyone else?
there are no hands at this time chair excuse me chair this is sharon solita if you should vote
to approve this um well first let me ask mr knockamson this is a an amended refusal is that
correct uh that is correct okay so we would ask that you add a proviso stating as per application
zp 2020 004012 so there won't be any confusion when you go to lni as to what was approved
let me just make sure that's the right one yes if we've had issues in the past yes
you said miss salato which what was the number again is it zp 2020 004012 that's correct okay
thank you thank you
is uh is it zp 2020 does zero zero one two
it is zero zero four zero one two four zero one two where did i get the zero okay four zero one
And you said we're going to, if we approve it, it is per?
Just add a proviso as per application, ZP 2020-00.
There we go. Thank you.
Thank you.
Planning Commission.
Good afternoon, Chair.
This is Greg Waldman, Planning Commission staff.
This property is zoned for a single family,