from road residents organized for advocacy and direction we got full support from them
from them to populate this with a coffee shop. I don't believe there'd be any desire under the
to populate this with a coffee shop, I don't believe.
three residential units to see a kind of industrial space down there, so we're hopeful that the board
feels the same and we can get this coffee shop up and running. With that, I'll call my client,
which is Brittany Jean Batiste, to raise her virtual hand and adopt my testimony.
Brittany Batiste is able to speak
Good morning, could you please state your name and then spell for the court sonographer
Good morning, Brittany Jean-Baptiste
B-R-I-T-T-A-N-Y
J-E-A-N
Hyphen
B-A-P-T-I-S-T-E
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed, counsel
Good morning, Ms. Jean-Baptiste. Did you hear my testimony just now regarding your space at 1100 South 27th Street?
Yes, I did.
Do you adopt it as your own?
Yes, I do.
Thank you.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Emerson?
um just briefly mr chair um mr consul and maybe miss batiste would could answer this as well
um so i noticed on the refusal it said first floor but in the lease it indicates that the
basement would also be used as well um if so we probably would want to include a proviso if the
board grants clarifying the uses for the basement and the first floor so they're not issues later
But I just wanted to verify that, first of all, that both the first floor and the basement would be used by Ms. Batiste and her business.
Ms. Batiste, would you describe the use in the basement that you may or may not be seeking?
Yes. Good morning.
We are using the ground level for our coffee shop, and we are renting the basement because it's attached, but we do not have any plans on using it at this time.
would you perhaps be using it for storage or something like that that might
it might be wise to get the approval on that today um we can use it for storage
um but we won't use it for our customers
right that's fine i i think yes the board approves it should note that the
use is both for the the basement and the first floor because part of the operations will be
in the basement thank you thank you thank you questions or comments from the virtual audience
i see no hands chair planning commission
um good afternoon or good morning uh it's a little morning uh chair members of the board
this is greg waldman planning commission staff the comprehensive plan recommends a change in
zoning at this location from general industrial, which is I-1, to industrial and residential
clinics to use, or IRMX. Under the recommended zoning, a prepared food shop would be allowed
by right and parking would not be required. The City Planning Commission recommended the
Board to grant the proposed variances. Thank you. MI 2023-004-333-1100 South 27th Street,
I vote yes. With proviso, prepared food shop use approved for basement and first floor.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes with proviso.
James Snell, my vote is yes with proviso.
Ishmael Shaheen, my vote is yes with proviso.
Thank you, counsel.
Number 17, MI 2023-002-897, 2001 East Lehigh Avenue,
murder the furlaker is the uh council there's a recommendation of opposition
by somerset neighbors for better living applicant provided a petition from 19 neighbors
and civic design review was required and completed
miss furlaker is coming back in as a panelist
good morning council just for the record state your name you've already been sworn
sure meredith ferlinger f-e-r-l-e-g-e-r all right could you identify your client
relationship to this property certainly my client is 2001 east lehigh llc which is the entity that
is under agreement of sale to purchase the property and our vice chair has a few questions
Good morning, Counselor. Do you agree to wait the reading of the refusal to stipulate to
good morning counselor do you agree to wait a reading of the refusal to stipulate to its accuracy
its accuracy?
i do have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that is needed
to proceed with this case filed even advance of this hearing i did thank you please proceed share
All right. Mr. Chairman, members of the board, again, my name is Meredith Ferliger with Dilworth Paxson here on behalf of 2001 East Lehigh LLC, which is the equitable owner of this property.
That entity is represented here today by both Isaac Singleton and William Guzman.
Our architect is Design Blends, and we do have Chris Klass here today.
I am going to be asking him to walk through the plans.
So if the administrator would like to get Chris Klass promoted and we can get him sworn in just for efficiency purposes.
Sure, Mr. Klass is free to speak.
Good morning, sir. Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
I'm sorry, Chair. It looks like he's coming back in as a panelist. I'm sorry.
Okay, fine. Thank you.
Good morning. Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Christopher Klass, C-H-R-I-S-C-L-A-S-S, representing Design Bonds.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Counsel, please proceed.
Thank you very much.
And Mr. Chairman, members of the board, about 30 seconds ago, possibly 45 seconds ago, we got an email from the councilman's office.
I'll bring up his letter.
It essentially leaves the decision up to the board.
He apologized.
He did not realize that the case was on today's agenda.
So I will put that up for you just for reference.
So, Mr. Chairman, members of the board.
Could you make sure Hillary gets a copy?
I will. I believe she was copied on it.
So, Hillary, if you don't have it, let me know.
I'll make sure that you get it.
I just received it as well. Thank you, Meredith.
Great. The project in front of you today represents the natural continuation of the residential March North along East Lehigh Avenue
in Kensington, North Philadelphia. In front of the board is a comprehensive exhibit packet with 21
total exhibits. Touching on the basics first, tax clearance is included at Exhibit 2. My client,
as I mentioned, is currently under agreement of sale to purchase the property at 2001 East Lehigh
Avenue, and that agreement of sale is shown at Exhibit 2. At Exhibit 20, the board will find
petitions of support from nearby neighbors, and we'll touch on that a bit more later in the
presentation. To give the board a proper frame of reference as we present this project, the variances
requested today result from true and substantial hardships that burden this property and are
virtually the same variances that several other large properties sought and secured over the last
several years. The variances are for proposing a residential use in an industrial zoning district
and for exceeding maximum height by a total of eight feet. The property before the board today
is located at 2001 East Lehigh Avenue. As you can see from the zoning map to the right of your
screen at Exhibit 6, this property is zoned ICMX, or Industrial Commercial Mixed Use.
Surrounding the property are zoning classifications, including a mix of single-family districts,
multifamily residential districts, commercial mixed use, and industrial residential mixed
use zoning districts. To the left, the board will see an aerial image of the property from overhead,
which sits along East Lehigh Avenue between Frankfurt Avenue to the south and Emerald Avenue
to the north. The board may notice from this aerial that the large strip of industrial zoning
shown in the zoning map represents the rail lines that sit roughly 100 feet to the east of the
property. Photographs of the property are included at Exhibit 21. At the front of the property the
board will notice a large concrete wall that fortunately, in this case, the developer is
permitted and intends to remove. The next view looks along Frankfort Avenue, where the board
will notice the bridge infrastructure connecting to a rear wall, which portion is required to
remain. The property currently has an access point from the curb cut along Frankfort Avenue.
The property currently has an access point from the curb cut along Frankfurt Avenue, which is visible in this photograph and more clearly here, and you can start to see a little bit of the use of the current property.
You can also, in this photograph, take notice of the concrete infrastructure that sits along the rear of the site.
looking in the opposite direction on the opposing end of lehigh avenue is a gas station
and newer residential development looking along east lehigh avenue the board will take note that
the side of the street opposing the property is fairly exclusively residentially used
as we flip south the board will notice the beginning of the new residential developments
that have replaced the undesirable and unusable formerly industrial land along East Lehigh Avenue.
And you can start to see the long stretch of developments in this photograph.
The developments visible in this image extend nearly 2,000 feet down to Tulip Street
and were all approved by former members of this board as far back as 2018.
On the opposing end of the property, at Emerald Street, the board will see another bridge connection to the abandoned rail.
The next photograph that I have up on the screen shows how this particular bridge infrastructure presented considerable challenges in designing access to this site, which the board will see is relegated exclusively to Frankfurt Avenue.
This not only presented challenges to designing this project, but also presents significant challenges to any by-right use of the site.
And the next couple of photographs show a closer view of the previously mentioned concrete rail infrastructure, which was a part of the rail system many, many decades ago.
I don't know why that just jumped around.
this infrastructure unfortunately cannot be removed from the site
a property survey is included in the packet at exhibit five
properties just over 35,000 square feet on this survey the board will begin to glean some of the
unique characteristics of this property that contribute to the hardships triggering today's
requests for relief. As you can see on the survey and as you saw in the photographs,
the property has a variety of rail-related infrastructure in the back, some that can
be removed, such as the infrastructure in the front, and some that cannot in the back.
Historically, as early as 1895, this site was improved with a wooden building,
supporting the operations as a coal yard. That use continued for many decades to support the
rail operations, but most recently, and at least since 2012, the property has been used as a tire
shop and automotive scrapyard, despite having been denied a permit for such a use in 2017.
The developer has secured both a phase one and phase two environmental investigation of the
property, which did not reveal any unmanageable environmental site conditions or any conditions
that would impair a future residential use of the site. I did include those executive summaries at
Exhibit 16. So at this point, I would like to bring Chris Klass on. I believe we've already
sworn him in to walk the board through the presentation. So Chris, I'd like to start with
Exhibit 7, which is labeled as the Site Constraint Diagram. Can you just briefly explain to the
board what this diagram is intended to show? Sure. So, this diagram is really showing the
results of amassing based on the constraints of the site. But just to summarize these, to the
north, there's structural buttresses from the consolidated rail elevated line that are entirely
within the project property. We're not permitted to modify these in any way, and they have
substantial foundations below grade. As a result of this, we've pushed the building away from
those buttresses and are facing High Avenue. To the west, along Emerald Street, a formerly used
access bridge spans across the right of way and is supported with a concrete wall that's within
our property boundary this is also owned by consolidated rail and it's something that we
can't modify but it also prevents vehicular access from entering the site from emerald street
to the south we have a notoriously busy lehigh avenue uh it's about 120 feet wide and lacks
It's about 120 feet wide and lacks pedestrian infrastructure, and it was deemed to be not suitable for vehicular access to the site just because it's centered between two traffic lights and it is quite a stretch to cross.
pedestrian
And then finally to the east, the rail track overpass along Frankfort Avenue and a difficult at best transition for pedestrians in this area.
Frankfurt Avenue is the only viable option for vehicular entry within the site and is unable to accommodate any loading vehicles for maneuverability.
And this makes this site extremely difficult to support any of the industrial uses and loading requirements that would be associated with it.
Thank you. So, the zoning of this site, based on the ICMX classification, would ordinarily allow for 100% coverage. Is that right?
Correct.
And how much of the site is actually covered with this proposal?
I think we're looking at somewhere in the 60 percentage range. It's significantly smaller.
And similarly, the maximum floor area ratio for this site, or the total gross floor area
that would be allowed, would be up to 500% of the site.
Is that correct?
Correct.
And would you agree that the proposal only includes 373% maximum FAR here?
Yes, it's much lower than what would be permitted.
So, is it generally accurate that one aspect of the height variance requested today directly results from the decreased site availability, resulting from all the conditions that you just described?
Yes, the project wasn't viable from a yield standpoint without the additional height that we're asking for.
Thank you.
Board, I have included the formal zoning plans at Exhibit 8, but I'll have Chris walk you through some of the more rendered plans, which I think are a little nicer to look at.
And then we can certainly turn back to the zoning plans if you have any questions.
So let's just start here with Exhibit 9A, which is the master plan.
And Chris, we can just walk through as you go.
Okay. So, the proposed project includes a six-story building, as you can see, with multifamily and ground-level commercial space. To adapt, based on the items that we had discussed, we're proposing a ground, landscape space, and buffer that surrounds the rear of the site and will be publicly accessible connecting Emerald Street and Frankfurt Avenue.
Green roof is going to cover a majority of the building footprint, with the exception of where
we're going to have mechanical units, and that's going to significantly improve the stormwater
management features of the site as a whole. The exterior design is recognizing the residential
module that exists across the street and is providing comparable material breaking
to continue that rhythm. And the height is increased to support more viable commercial
space that you can see on the ground floor, mostly so that we can accommodate a wide range of
tenants. And just for the record, the elevations that I'm showing up on the screen right now are
at Exhibit 9B. Chris, moving along to Exhibit 9C, which are floor plans, you can walk the board
through these? Sure. So it was important for us to provide as much activity along Lehigh Avenue
as possible. You'll see in the next slide, all of our parking is pushed to below grade and ample
commercial space is being provided along the Lehigh Avenue frontage. We'll also have access
points on all three frontages with some small residential units tucked to the back and some
amenities and, as mentioned before, a pretty substantial outdoor space for tenants and the
public. Okay, and if you can just briefly explain to the board the general unit makeup as well?
Yeah, it'd be a mix of one and two bedroom units. We had discussed with the community providing some
additional three bedrooms, which we believe that will accommodate, but in any case, they'll range
from 600 square feet all the way up to 900 for some of the two bedrooms. The roof will consist
mostly of a green roof with condensing units that'll be tucked back so they're not visible
from the street and also a roof deck space that will be doing the same thing. It'll have setbacks
so that it can't be visible from adjacent neighbors. And the units, just for purposes