Dirk has lived here for the last 13, 14 years.
He and his wife, Marie, are expecting twins.
And their two-story home is not going to be large enough to accommodate them.
But they want to stay in their home, and they want to stay in their neighborhood.
So they have proposed to put a third-floor addition on their home.
There are two refusals, if I may share my screen.
excuse me chair can william o'brien accept the promotion to panelists please
thank you we'll get him to do that right now thank you
while we're here i see the unanimous support from east passion
and non-opposition from Council Member Squilla you're coming up now so on the
screen is should be the refusal it is it is sir and there are two refusals one is
for height and the other is for the setback the code requires that if the
The two structures on either side, or the structure on either side are two stories, and the third floor addition, in this case, must be set back eight feet, and we don't fully satisfy that.
Bear with me. I'll navigate this screen.
Excuse me, Chair. Could I please ask the attorney to move the microphone closer to himself? Thank you.
Thank you.
So that's the refusal. That's the unanimous support from the East Pass Yonk Crossing Civic Association.
From the East Pass Yonk Crossing Civic Association, both the members that were present from the neighborhood, as well as the EPX zoning committee unanimously support it.
The next document in the package is a petition signed by Derek and Maria's neighbors, both next door and across the street, who support the grant of a variance.
This is the petition I was referring to and now it's to some images this is 1318 McKean
Street, two-story structure. And what's proposed is a third-floor addition.
uh the proposed addition uh maintains the cornice at the top of the facade and then the third floor
addition begins with a mansard roof, which slopes back. The intent is to respect the streetscape
and make it a softer third floor addition than it might otherwise be.
The way that the mansard roof slopes back also produces the depth required for
the setback on the roof deck.
So you can see here
the top of the top of the mastered roof
the roof deck begins five feet back
which is compliant with the code for the roof deck.
The access pilot house is a little bit more than 125 square feet,
which is why there's a height variance needed.
If it was 125 square feet, the whole structure would be considered 33 feet high.
But since the pilot house is a few feet larger than 125, it's actually 144 square feet.
The entire structure is now 43 feet high, but it's really only those last 12 feet which has
that height. The rest of the structure, which is visible from across the street,
is 33 feet high.
And as I said, both neighbors across the street
have seen the plans,
know that there's going to be
in the back of this roof a structure
and they have no objection.
The third floor addition,
one bedroom, one bathroom and a closet.
The depth of the building is about 34 feet.
So if you take eight feet off that third floor addition, the addition becomes a whole lot less valuable to the family.
If it was a deeper building, as we saw earlier today, you could do more.
But the way this building was built originally, the depth is very narrow, very shallow.
The rest of the floor plans don't change.
The second floor, the first floor.
the rest of the package, deed, the zoning notice and certificate of mailing,
and the
zoning
the zoning
And there's the zoning poster.
There it is.
I want to have your client adopt your testimony.
I want to have your client adopt your testimony.
There's the zoning poster.
Derek, did you get the signatures from your next door and neighbor's apartment?
Can I swear him in first?
Could you state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Turn on your mic.
Thank you.
Derek Baker, D-E-R-E-K, B-A-K-E-R.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
I do. Please proceed. I got the approval from both neighbors on each side, two neighbors to the front and the rest of the members on the block. But the signatures were both to immediate left and right into the front. Okay. Do you heard my testimony? Was it truthful? Yes. And do you adopt it as your own? I do. Okay. And I request that the documents be moved. Sure. Okay. Questions from the board.
Yes, I just want to confirm.
You said you have gotten a signature from 1320 McKean Street
because I didn't see it on the position.
I saw 1316, 17, and 19, but not 1320.
Not across the street?
It should be your contiguous neighbor.
13, 17, and 19.
1317, 1316, and 1319.
My question is about 1320.
I can get that for you if it's not in there.
I know they're newer.
You've spoken to them, though.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
They've said they're in support.
Oh, yeah, they're good to go about it.
And then my next question is,
are there any other third and fourth floor additions
with mansard roofs in the surrounding blocks?
Yes, there's several.
Almost every block or every other block
is getting a third floor addition.
Are there any on your block currently?
Are they all still two-story?
They're two-story on my block on the corner
on, I guess, on our intersection.
There's three-story buildings there.
They're not additions.
They're existing.
Those are existing three-story buildings.
Other questions?
So yours would be the first on this 100th of McKean Street?
On that 13-hour block, yes.
Trendsetter.
Other questions?
Questions from our attorney?
No, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
yes chair yes chair i have a hand up by the name of jenna elliott they are being promoted to
panelists okay hi could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
hi um i'm jenna elliott j-e-n-n-a-e-l-l-i-o-t-t do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the
whole truth is nothing but the truth. I do. Are you a neighbor? I am. Please proceed. So I am the
new owner of 1320. So Derek's next door neighbor. I can confirm that me or my wife, the other owner
of the home did not sign that. We did have brief conversations with Derek around the proposed
addition um and the main concerns we have we haven't seen the floor plans and and um you know
just concerned about the light um coming in because we are kind of directly uh i guess we're
west of 1318 um so you know unsure of how the light would be blocked from the third uh story
and the house on the fourth-story roof deck.
Do you have any questions, Phil?
I know this is a rendering, but is the facade of your home depicted in this rendering?
It is.
To the right or to the left of Derek's house?
To the left.
From where I'm looking, it is to the right of Derek's house.
um i i i'm not sure i understand your question the how the third floor could affect uh
access to light from your front or rear windows we have windows on the side of our house currently
there's no there's no windows on the side this is an attached row right it's wrong are you talking
at the let me bring let me change this image and there's a breezeway there's a breeze this is this
is the breezeway right here so we're we would actually if you're looking at it we are backing
up on the bottom of that uh floor plan and where if you go into their second floor um our bathrooms
bump into each other so there's that bathroom window and of course like we both have um backyard
areas. So I guess my question would be rephrased. What impacts would there be just to the light
what impacts would there be just to the light coming into our property?
coming into our property?
Can you go to the second floor plan? Yes.
That second? No, that's third. There's a second floor. So you have windows along here? Correct. Okay.
i don't know that there'll be any change in the light into that space
do is there a do we know where south is on this plan is there so the the dwellings face north
okay so they face uptown the rear of the yard south it's a unique setup there's brick walls
there's no fire escape in the back behind us is dwellings the dwellings already cast
shadow very little sunlight in the back to begin with the third story's behind you
two stories and three stories behind us
and behind you is the south that's south yeah which is unusual we actually have uh it's a
building slash warehouse and then two dwellings directly behind us right instead of an alleyway
correct and could you describe just a rationale for like the oversized pilot house
so what it is it's uh it's an enclosed cabana so you can use it like year-round versus just
the whole roof being a rooftop deck so that way like kids can be inside like during the winter
time or something like that it's like enclosed protected by the weather and elements and stuff
like that like a small little basically small little room to share the rooftop deck
miss elliot do you do did you hear what they said i did uh and just repeating there are no concerns
about light um you know removal of current light as it stands into our side windows and into the
back. I agree that there is a south or rather a building to the south of us, but, you know,
the earth moves. There is light that comes in today, just depending on the time of day and
the season. So, you know, that is the primary concern. Okay. Thank you. Is there anyone else
in the virtual audience? I see no hands at this time, Chair. Planning Commission.
amy boyd with the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change to
the existing rsa5 residential single-family this location there is no other structure taller than
two stores on the spock face the appellant has not shown that there are unique physical circumstances
or conditions that would prevent it from being used in conformity with the zoning code
the planning commission recommends that the board deny the requested variances for building height
and third story setback so bill i'm going to hold this till we come back uh it's 23rd am i correct
you come back on wednesday the 23rd
yep yeah i don't have that information yeah it's 23rd we come back to 23rd we'll vote on
this at two o'clock the 23rd okay thank you sure thank you thank you
Mr. Nockleson
Mr. Nockleson you have three cases we're going to do your three cases right now
All right. I appreciate that.
Could you state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Alan Nockmson. A-L-A-N, last name Nockmson, N-O-C-H-U-M-S-O-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client in relationship to this property?
Which property?
MI 2024-00736-5911-Overbrook Avenue.
uh i don't have my notes here uh but that's jana fast
uh she's in the virtual audience yes jana fastest yeah exactly that's that's your first
case that's right okay right i have the notes now all right um do you waive the reading the
refuse and agree to its accuracy? I do. Could you identify your client, the relationship to the
property? She is the owner of the property. Okay. Would you please start your presentation? Thank
you. All right, so I'm here to present.
All right, so I'm here to present 5911 Overbrook Avenues in the Overbrook section of Philadelphia.
During our presentation, we'll first review the notice of refusal for this RSD3 property
that we're looking to have as a single-family use.
We have some unique refusals given its non-conforming location on a rather large lot of over almost
20 000 square feet we have a letter of support from the overbrook farm club which is unanimous
support for this matter we also have a petition of nearby neighbors in support of this single
family use of the property we have an aerial view of the property which is going to show you
why this this project is so unique maps of the area photographs of the property in the surrounding
area our plans and drawings our rco meeting notice along with proof of mailing of that notice our
application for appeal that we filed on Ms. Fast or Dr. Fast's behalf. The deed to the property
showing that Dr. Fast is the owner of the property and the certificate of tax clearance.
At the conclusion of my presentation, I would ask that Ms. or Dr. Fast be sworn in and I have
a couple questions for her to adopt my testimony as her own. So the first thing we have here is
the notice of refusal again this is a single family zoning classification what we're taking
here is to essentially renovate a dilapidated historic structure that is located too close
to the rear yard and does not have enough of a side yard but this all we're trying to do is
create a second story for this property and dr fast will be living there just a little background
Dr. Pass is a physician for Jefferson Medical College or University, and she's just looking at this as her home.
She's not a developer.
We did meet with the community.
The Overbrook Farms Club unanimously voted in favor of this project.