I do not.
I know from doing other projects in this area
that there typically is a large formation
of Wissahick and Schist.
That's around six to seven feet.
Just from projects I've done a few blocks away
in this area, there was no water on this.
But I do not have an up-to-date geotechnical
for this exact site.
Well, that's pretty much a flooded area, isn't it?
i i can only go by what the the neighbors have said i i have not seen any flooding issues uh
specifically but uh you know it is it towards uh more of a hill i would say chestnut hill
eastbound area is at least somewhere in size uh locations that um i'm not sure i i don't want to
I'm wondering if you, the reason you have so much basement space is to have enough floor space for the building, to increase the floor space of the building?
I think that's one reasoning was to just provide some accessory living space.
um typically with the developments uh we find that we need to go down uh you know at least
five or six feet to get to suitable soils which makes sense to just go another two to put a
basement that's typically the reasoning uh putting in as long as as well as utility space for
water meters water pipes sprinkler pipes uh hvac hot water heater is usually better served in a
in a basement space than on a first floor space okay thank you and just to remind the board we're
proposing i under 38 feet so that was some of the consideration was to keep in consideration that
the neighborhood wanted um you know not 38 feet so you know there's a balance with trying to
include some living space and also trying to make sure that the height is not
at 38 feet, which, you know, we're permitted to do by right, but wanted to reduce the height,
given the comments.
Sorry about that. Rachel, I'm sorry, I didn't hear your last statement.
I was just reiterating that these are under 38 feet in height. So that's also why, you know, we're trying to increase other areas of living space to kind of combat the desire of the community to not have 38 foot high, although that's permitted by the code. So, you know, we're trying to balance out all of that.
so again i'm not going to you know obviously redesign this i was just asking about the curb
cut being on the driveway being on pleasant as opposed to me and if you eliminate the driveway
on me and you got a potential to build two homes there i'm not saying that would get approved but
that's that potential so what you lose the one you lose on mount pleasant or two you lose on
mount pleasant whatever that comes to pick up on me and i'm going to offer an opportunity for the
developer uh do you think there's any benefit and continue in this case and having further
discussion with the community um i mean i can let i would like to at least let doug speak
um who's the owner and he has you know um been very involved with walking around and trying to
talk to neighbors and things like that so i'd like to at least give him the opportunity to speak and
then um if he's up for that um i mean i'm happy to do that if he's up for that however i you know
again we're just here for the sizes of the lots so i understand so anything but you know it would
be nice if we can figure no one gets 100 i said that many years ago when my other job that i had
at city hall and i always thought there's a way of coming up with a compromise 99 of times we did
come up with a compromise so that's the offer i'm extending on behalf of the board uh we'll
hear from doug and then we'll make that decision yeah absolutely and we're happy to do what the
board thinks is best thank you um tanya do you see doug bomar there's no hand up
there's no hand up
I'm asking okay now we have them thank you Mr. Bomar
Mayan hi please identify yourself for the record first and last name
Doug Bomar d-o-u-g-b-o-m-a-r thank you swear and affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth yes i do thank you please proceed uh rachel yeah doug i just wanted you to
share kind of what the idea behind the smaller lots was and the price just reiterate on the
price point and um the idea was pretty simple i mean we looked at the block and saw
two two huge lots and it didn't seem contextual at all it didn't seem like
something that was appropriate and we wanted to build something that was appropriate
and something not only that was appropriate in design, which is really
where we start, but appropriate in price point too.
So if we looked at an as a bright option here,
it would be 132 feet divided by, you know, it would be
22 feet, it would be over 4,000 square foot
houses, which is not at all what's going
on on the block. And it's just not something that we thought made any sense. And I don't
think it, again, made any sense from a design point of view or an economic point of view.
So that was how we ended up where we ended up. I mean, with the driveway on the Meehan
side, if we were to put two houses over there, they would be actually even more narrow and
it just didn't seem to make sense. We wanted to keep a consistent street wall on the pleasant
side and have it be more of something that was better for the block and better for the
neighborhood. So that's really where we're coming from. Can you also speak to two things? One,
isn't there a pocket park or city-owned land right next door to this that we have agreed with
the neighbors that we would be supportive of helping them to get support from the city
to be able to keep some green space on the block?
Right, yeah, we certainly have talked to, we talked to the council person, I guess Bass
about the park next door in an attempt to see what the city's plans were there.
The city owns that site.
But I think our position is we would like for it to be a permanent park, and we've stated to the neighbors that we would support any effort that the neighborhood undertakes to make that happen.
Did you also talk to Susan about any construction concerns that they had, and do you have plans to help mitigate that with the neighbors?
as obviously whether this is approved via variance or by right there will be construction on this
and it's true that no matter what whether there's a variance or not there will be construction here
and so that's absolutely i understand that that's uh difficult for for neighbors and what we've
done in all of our projects is try to you know minimize the disruption do everything we can you
know put phone numbers up on the site to make sure that if people have issues they can give us a call
um uh you know we we want to minimize disruption and that's that's the bottom line and we want to
be quick with our with our construction too is it also accurate to say that you guys also own
property nearby on Springer Street and so would be in your best interest to make sure that the
construction etc is um yeah we we want to be good neighbors i mean i've i've i've walked up and down
the blocks uh many times and and last uh most recently last week and and talked to the neighbors
and you know i want to hear people's concerns i want to make sure that we consider their concerns
and i think we've done that uh to a to a large extent i mean that scott the architect here can
can certainly I think uh agree that we've made a lot of changes that he has been aggravated with
because we continue to ask him to change things based on our conversations uh with the RCO and
both you know there are two conversations with the RCO so yes but to answer your question yes
we do own property on Spring Street also and and we want to be good neighbors and have you heard
my testimony today in front of the board and do you adopt it as your own yes thank you okay
yes thank you okay you have anybody else rachel because we no okay good um i didn't get a clear
you have anybody
answer um i understand that from your client that he's been making an effort to talk to folks
as recent as his past week um so uh i'm gonna make that offer that we continue this case to
a date certain go back to the community and see if there's any way we can resolve some of their
issues again as i said most likely both sides neither side will come out with 100 but it may
be a place where we can get these properties developed get them on the city's tax roll
and move forward so if tanya can give me a date and time if that's amenable to you rachel
yeah i think um we're happy to have another conversation um and see if we can get uh anywhere
Okay. December the 15th at 2 p.m. December the 16th. 15th at 2 p.m. Thank you, Tanya.
so mi-2020-001309 106 million and 109 through 121 pleasant street this hearing will be resumed
on december the 15th at two o'clock p.m at which time we will consider any feedback related to the
rco's position thank you thank you all confessor i think we have one more case on the two o'clock
list correct we have two more uh mr two more all right next one up is mi 2020-001304
117-21 spring garden street
i'm promoting stephanie boggs
good afternoon stephanie just please identify yourself for the record you're under still under
oath good afternoon thank you my name is stephanie boggs 1835 market street philadelphia pa 19103
as attorney for the applicant.
Here with me today, I also have Jim Brett from Form and Signs
and Lenzales from Paynote Bank,
who can speak about the application.
Stephanie, you agree to wait the reading of its refusal
and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, I do.
Have you emailed an exhibit?
No, go ahead.
With the required documents,
proof of ownership, proof of tax compliance,
copy of the refusal or referral,
photos and plans five days prior to this hearing?
yes also have you met with the rco and have a letter yes we do and their letter please proceed
um i just wanted to say this is sharon saleta we also received a letter of non-opposition from
councilman squilla i was going to ask about that in the letter from the civic association
i'm sorry rco is that a letter of non-opposition or support yes it is and the reason i'm asking and
sharon i think is asking for the same reason uh everyone seems to be in agreement with this so
if you can give us the a brief description we can move on absolutely um so this property is at the
corner of spring garden street and hope street it's directly adjacent um i can share my screen
and show you this is directly adjacent to the i-95 overpass um can you see that on the screen
chairman can you see that on the screen yes yes um so the part of the building is here it's an
existing mixed-use building with commercial tenants on the ground floor including queen
owned bank our client um who is proposing to put accessory signage on the building to identify their
location there are two signs they're proposing um both wall signs accessory to their use
One will be on the Hope Street frontage of the building, as shown here, and one will be along the I-95 intersection.
We are requesting variance relief for the height of both signs here to allow this sign to be at the third floor windowsill.
There is an existing utility pole at the second floor that prevents construction at the second floor,
and we're also proposing it at the third floor to allow people who are traveling west along Spring Garden Street
to actually see the sign as they're approaching the building with some warning.
We're also proposing a sign on the I-95 side of the building with requesting an area variance
for that as well as the height variance to put this at the fifth floor windowsill so
that it's actually visible to passers-by along I-95, and the proposed sign is shown here
on the plan.
Are there any questions from the board?
are there any questions from the board uh do you have a client that you need to
Do you have any questions?
have sworn in yes i do i'm jim brett from form and signs if you can allow him to come in
jim can you please raise your hand
and jim when you get on please identify yourself first and last name and your
status with this application hi can you hear me yes yes hi jim have you heard my testimony today
yes hold on hold on hold on uh jim yes first and last name please jim brett that j-i-m-b-r-e-t-t
with foreman signs in philadelphia thank you swearing for him to tell the truth the whole
truth nothing but the truth i do thank you stephanie yes hi jim have you heard my testimony
today yes you believe it to be true and correct yes i do would you adopt it as your own yes thank
you thank you any questions from the board no no anyone else wish to testify would like to
testify in this case if so please raise your hand no hands thank you planning commission
uh good afternoon chairman members of the board um the applicant has not demonstrated
just identify yourself i'm sorry ian litwin planning commission staff it's been a long
meeting um the applicant has not demonstrated significant hardship to warrant the granting
this variance accordingly we are opposed to granting the variances we're requesting both
signs so that they're visible to passers by particularly on spring garden street given
the width of the street and its traffic and particularly along i-95 so as again we are
directly adjacent to i-95 so that side of the building is not viewable passers-by traveling
east along spring garden street and it's specifically designed to make sure that it's
visible to people traveling along i-95 i'd also say that the record the area request specifically
is minor in scope and consistent with other signage in the neighborhood
Thank you. MI-2020-001304, 117-21 Spring Garden Street, my vote is yes.
My vote is yes. My vote is yes. My vote is yes.
Thank you. Next one up is MI-2020-000322, 1400 South 7th Street.
So we have Ms. Dulce, who's available to unmute and speak to whether she would go forward
with this case on her own.
I would like to request a continuance if I could to get an attorney.
Was this the 1400 South 7th?
Correct.
All right, let me go back to that, hold on.
what number was that on our sheet number seven
I'm sorry
Professor would you mind
I'm having a hard time
My number
MI 2020-000322
1400 South 7th Street
This case is being continued
I heard you say that there was a letter sent by
Councilperson Mark Squillow
Did you say that was in opposition or non-opposition?
Opposition
Thank you very much
Thank you
okay confessor we got
we on the 3 30 you guys taking a break or you want to continue uh i don't know i'm good here
tanya how about staff um whoever's available can continue if we could just move forward because
the 330 people been waiting for a while understood thank you kindly all right i gotta read the
statement good afternoon everyone my name is frank de chico i'm the chair of the zoning board of
adjustment i'll be participating in today's hearing along with our board secretary confessor plaza
and board members mr thomas hollowman and mr james snell board administrator tanya sunkett and
board attorney sharon saletta are also in attendance for those of you who haven't yet
participated in one of our virtual hearings. I'll go through some of the basics of what you can
expect. First, we will be administering oaths to individual participants prior to their testimony.
First, we will be administering oaths to individual participants prior to their testimony.
Second, for the benefit of anyone participating by phone, we ask that attorneys and witnesses identify themselves prior to speaking or testifying.