driveway easement for those. The homes are three stories in height, brick facades with
a man-sided roof, going over the lands, three-bedroom, three-bathroom houses, roughly 2,400
square feet, living space in the basement, like medium room, living, dining, kitchen on the first
floor, two bedrooms on the second floor with a bathroom, and then master suite level on the
third floor with a pilot house and accessory roof deck. The houses are 16 feet 6 in width,
depth, which is the lot dimension, by a total of 35 feet 3 inches in depth.
uh looking at the elevation of the homes uh originally
the frozen
we had these homes at sorry about that
I was just saying originally we had these buildings at 36.6.
We met with the community to move them down, so they're currently at 35.6 in height under
the 38 feet threshold, trying to minimize impacts on the neighboring buildings.
Just going over some of the things that were important to the community that we addressed
and things that we did specifically to minimize impacts on the neighbors we actually pushed these
houses back three feet from the front property line and this was really to give some extra relief
to the street frontage for pedestrians as well as added in a three-foot furnishing like grass zone
against the curb as well as a total of eight street trees along the facade so you can kind
see just something something that was very convenient community was having a little bit
more green infrastructure and just a little bit of a greener aspect in the pedestrians going forward
we also revised the facade a few times looking at creating more of a community kind of stoop
porch feel at the front facades we went to a more traditional red brick which fits into the community
as well as sloped back these roofs
from where we initially submitted as well,
again, to minimize impacts on the street feel on the block.
We also revised the Meehan Street side as well,
similarly to the Pleasant Street side,
creating a front porch on the front of the house
to kind of match the adjacent structures.
as well as matching up the the cornice lines with the existing houses on the block and again
wrapping these materials back through the drive aisle creating two faces of the brick facades
and continuing the roof line to give a more attractive appearance to pedestrians and also for
the residents of these homes driving to the rear of the houses.
other things that just to note that were addressed from the community's meetings and standpoint
there was a large concern about flooding in this area so the developers have
committed to doing impervious saving material through the parking area
um and also at this uh yard space back here uh again just to minimize as much
potential impervious uh paving which which was a concern of the community
uh rachel is there anything else you'd like me to go over with the design specifically
um no i think it's just worth mentioning to just circle back to the refusal that we bring up
the sizes of the lots so that we can show that the whole goal of this was instead of providing
six large homes that don't really fit in with this block in particular, that nine smaller single
family homes to keep a more affordable price point and lots that are in line with the existing
uh block was the idea behind this and then obviously we wanted to address sort of the
block was the idea behind this. And then obviously we wanted to address
design considerations that were important to the community so um we kind of took that that extra
step um to sort of make sure that we were able to cover some of that so um if you unshare your
screen i will share mine to show the lot sizes and then um can go through the community part
okay so here we put together a chart um just to show um so 109 through 121 um there are actually
only three lots right now a total of i think 11 800 square feet something like that um and we
instead, again, are creating 11,868 square feet. Instead, we're proposing nine single-family homes
with these lot sizes, 1246, 1201, and you can see sort of the rest, all within 1189 to 1246
square feet. As you can see from the chart, we pulled every other property on our side of the
block. And as you can see, we sort of are right in the middle, if not closer to the bigger end of
what's provided on the block. We have, you know, 1026, 994, 2146 is the largest, I think that's on
the corner, 1207, you know, and as the board can see, we're sort of right in the middle there. So,
and the community had expressed, you know, interest in smaller homes. And in addition,
again, we tried to lower the height of the buildings from 38 feet and some other
thoughtful considerations um you know in order to address those concerns so i'm happy to sort of
um and also just so the board's aware we did provide revised plans to the board as well so
with the proviso form so i want to make sure that that that gets included as well uh brandon i don't
know if i forgot anything or you want to add anything um before we kind of move on to the
community portion sure just a few quick items i promise not to talk about the definition of
attached building anymore um so um just on the areas front um just want to add that what the
design uh sort of grew from here was working with the existing lot depths and then trying to conform
the widths to match exactly what's around them i think we're at 16 and a half feet width uh per
property or thereabouts um if you conformed with the code it would require much larger widths than
anything around us and this is a row home neighborhood so it just it would be out of
context they'd be very large houses um did just want to provide quick hardship explanations for
um the two um refusals that we did not stip to in the event that the board finds that they were
correctly issued the hardship we would float regarding the rear yard depth requirement is
simply that to accommodate a rear yard that some of which is essentially grass not at all dedicated
to parking you would move the space the parking area closer to the rear of that building on 106
mehan which could be done but it would make the the driver pulling out of that space into the
shared driveway have to do so closer to the curb cut on mehan avenue so putting the parking space
in the far rear of that property really creates less conflict between people entering the driveway
from the street and the owner of that home pulling out of their space with regard to the
side yard with we could have avoided that refusal by placing the driveway um into a curb cut on
pleasant rather than mehan but there is an existing curb cut on mehan there are other curb cuts on
mehan um and um there are no curb cuts to my knowledge on pleasant street um so with the
existing curb cut across the street on Meehan and a few others, that seemed to be the more natural
choice. I think that's all I wanted to add. Excuse me, this is Sharon Saleta. I just wanted to say
that if you are asking the board to independently rule on your challenges to the refusals, this will
have to be continued and resumed at another time when the law, someone from the law department can
come in and present their side of it. Yeah, no, we're just not stipulating to them. Sure, that's fine.
Yeah. No, we're just not stipulating to them. Sure. Yeah. And just keeping that on the record,
but yeah, no, thank you. Happy to take any questions. We did meet with the community
and we have a letter of, I think, opposition, but it wasn't, let me pull it up.
Mostly was relating to wanting a lot of open space and design features that we had already
addressed or tried to address concerns about traffic and things of that nature, I believe
we provided a letter to the board. It was, share my screen again so you can see it.
So it was five in support of three near neighbors and 28 in opposition, 13 near neighbors,
41 people in attendance and the letter kind of says they don't believe we have a hardship
they think that the 106 mehan would permanently impair an adequate supply of light and air to
the building however 106 mehan is only attached on the one side and then there's a dry vial and
then a two-foot alleyway between the nearest property um could you could you enlarge counselor
Can you enlarge that letter?
Yeah, absolutely.
If I can figure out how to do that, sure.
Oh, is that better?
Thank you.
Let's see.
They believed the 12-foot driveway wasn't adequate for cars,
although we did have it stamped off by the streets department.
And again, if we provided a driveway all the way through to Pleasant Street, I think that
that would not be the best way to modify the drive aisle.
If the board is interested, Scott Kent, who designed this project, can certainly talk
through that more proficiency than I can.
They were worried about the Wingahawk sewer shed.
However, you know, in order to address issues with flash, blood-prone areas, we have
decided that we would increase the amount of impervious cover and make sure that some of it
is pervious so that we can address some of those issues. I think the community is just used to
having sort of this infill development there. So we were trying to help with the smaller size of
the homes to address some of that in addition to reducing the height. We also are providing trees.
another one of their concerns was environmental damage and the tree canopy. So we did add trees
and again, we set the properties back from the front so that we could provide more landscaping.
It's also worth noting as per the 2035 plan that this area is designated as a core growth area as
it's like 600 feet away from Germantown Avenue and specifically suggests infill development
in order to help strengthen the nearby commercial corridor. So we felt that all this was also
aligned with that as well um happy to address any questions that the board may have or go into
anything else uh in more detail if if relevant uh thank you can you hear me yep okay i had to leave
and come back because i lost my ability to talk um any other questions from the board yes what
percentage of the basement is in the ground say that again tom what percentage of the basement
is in the ground scott do you know what percentage of the basement is underground
uh yes i believe it's roughly 75 percent
so we're uh raised off two feet six is the uh first floor level um and then there's an eight
foot basement height the basement uh is really meant for accessory man cave media room um
and then also just building utilities coming into the house as well thank you you um
uh any other questions from the board
and okay are there any is there anyone else who would like to
participate in this hearing. If so, please raise your hand. Sure, I have Kelly O'Day.
Tanya, before we go any further, do we have more than one hand? Do we know
on this case? A billion. Yeah, that's what I figured. I didn't want to have to stop the flow
of this to take a break because I assume the stenographer can use a break.
So I'm asking the stenographer, does she need a break?
So I'm asking the stenographer, does she need a break?
I don't know.
Or if you do, just let us know, please.
Okay, that's fine.
All right, because after this, we have one more hearing on the two o'clock list,
and we will certainly take a break before we go into the 3.30 list.
Okay, that's good.
All right.
Okay, thank you, Tanya.
Kelly O'Day can be sworn in Chair.
Hello this is Kelly O'Day. Hi Mr. O'Day please identify yourself spell your first and last name
for the record and give us your address. The name is Kelly O'Day that's K-E-L-L-Y
and the last name is O apostrophe D-A-Y. The address is 301 East Durham Street in Mount East
man area philadelphia you swear to firm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i do and where do you live in proximity to this application uh it's approximately five blocks away
well out of the area um i am on the eastbound area zoning committee and i consider eastbound areas
you know where i live you will with all due respect we appreciate that if you're speaking
on behalf of the civic the RCO then you'll need an attorney no I'm speaking as a individual
resident of East Mount Airy I understand that but you're well beyond uh the the uh allow the
distance is what 250 feet I get it wrong all the time in your neighbors that's correct sir it is
yes it's 250 or the same 100 block five blocks away yes that's correct
you don't allow other neighbors no no we do but you're beyond
charon can you want to help me chair he can speak as a representative of the rco it's only if the
rco is the appellant in the case oh that's right i'm sorry i confuse it with the earlier i'm sorry
mr oday i confuse it with the earlier case please proceed i'm sorry i am speaking as an individual
Yes. Okay. You're fine. Yeah. I misspoke. My apologies.
None taken. I do that all the time. I wonder if I could possibly share my screen. I have several
photographs I think would help the board to understand the 106 million situation.
Is that possible to share my screen?
Anya? Sure. Give me one second.
Thank you.
well while Mr. O'Day is trying to uh share his screen is there anyone else maybe we can move on
to the next person and come back to Mr. O'Day we have Charles Richardson from the council person's
office thank you Mr. Richardson good afternoon good afternoon Mr. Chair uh Charles Richardson
from the Office of Councilperson, Cindy Bass,
Room 312, City Hall.
You're still on the roof from this morning.
Thank you.
Councilwoman is supporting the RCO
and the community on this and her opposition.
Does not feel that there is a hardship here.
By right, they could subdivide the lot into six
as opposed to nine,
and it looks like they're just trying to maximize
the investment that they're trying to do, even though they might be trying to sugarcoat it in
some shape, form, or fashion. It just is really trying to maximize an investment.
Feel as though they have not proven that to be the case, and we are going to support the RCO in
opposition. Thank you. Anyone else? Please raise your hand.
we have nina curlett you can unmute yourself and wait to be some more name
good afternoon miss curlett please identify yourself for the record name and address
spell your name for the stenographer sure my name is nina curlett n-i-n-a-c-u-r-l-e-t-t
i live at 236 east springer street oh there's kelly
all right you swear and affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
all right you swear and affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i do please proceed um i would like to make um a couple of points here and actually it is
very much on um point with what charles richardson said um specifically when the community had their
meeting there were many questions about what the actual hardship was because frankly most of the
most of me and street is zoned rsa3 it's not even rsa5 the adjoining block to that is zoned rsa3
and um the lots are actually much wider on me and alone so at some point someone on the chat said
can you please explain the hardship you face which requires eight lots versus six and this is what
Rachel Pritzker said. To address Brian's question, we are not arguing that we couldn't sell six
bigger homes. We were just considering it might be a little better, a context, to provide smaller
homes in conjunction to what's there. It's not about selling or not selling. That's not what
this conversation is about. Can I jump in for a second? Your kind of context, first of all,
you have to read through the whole on these zooms if you read through the whole chat to what brian