And then just have a better feeling of emulating what's nearby on Tainting Street. And you'll see that we did that.
by this. We created, we had a more well-defined cornice line. We had lentils, like more defined
on the building facade. We created like a stone material structure on the base of the building
structure. And the windows better matched what you would expect of a Philadelphia row home,
especially in this point of neighborhood. We also made, we not only set back the third story,
we were using black as a material, so it would kind of disappear from the sight line. And you
wouldn't see it as much anyway, because we're set back five feet. And then this is the rear
of the property, which is, you know, we have siding. We find that, you know, siding is more
durable, and that helps homeowners over the course of their homeownership.
And then this is just a scenario view of what you see here, but you'll see the five foot setback here and in here on the site plan as well.
And then the floor plan is very simple. Open floor plan on the first floor, living room, dining room, kitchen, go up a flight of steps.
You have two bedrooms, a bath and a laundry room. And then the third story is just a master suite.
If we would have had to shave off another three feet off of the third story, it just wouldn't be a functional floor plan up there.
It wouldn't even make sense to build the third story.
And we couldn't build something.
It wouldn't be feasible to build something that's only two stories and make any money.
A lot of it.
And then, you know, this is our meeting notice for each of them.
april 11 to 2023 was the last certified rco meeting we had another one beforehand um but you
know this was the one where we had discussion about what the community wanted we had a follow-up
meeting uh with the with those members of the community that showed up and we had understanding
of support from the community and the coordinating rco 187 addresses for 1712 were notified of the
meeting, list of the addresses, proof of mailing to those addresses, here's 1730 North Taney
Street. Just like we're presenting all of them now together, we did the same in front
of the community, but had separate notices go out because they're slightly different
addresses that needed to be notified. Here, 209 addresses needed to be notified, listed
those addresses, proof of mailing to those addresses. Same thing with 1825 North Taney
Street.
And then our applications for appeal for each of the properties, along with the notice of refusal and project information form.
And then our deed to the property showing the ADC real estate LLC is the owner of these properties.
And then most importantly is our certificate of tax clearance showing that we have, you know, we have proof of, you know, we're in good standing.
So with that being said, I would ask that Mr. Addis-Evan virtually raise his hands.
Mr. Addis-Evan, can you please raise your hand?
I don't see him with his hand raised.
Ms. Nockamson, you're an officer of the court, and we will gladly take your testimony.
Thank you.
um questions from the board no chair no chair
No, Chair.
No, Chair.
What questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Yes, Chair.
I have Strawberry Mansion Community with the hand raised.
Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell it for the court reporter?
Good afternoon.
My name is Bonita Cummings.
I am the Director of Strawberry Mansion Community Concern, RCO.
So there was a meeting.
Hold on, hold on a minute.
Could you do me a favor, Ms. Cummins?
Could you spell your name for the court reporter?
My name is spelled B as in boy, O-N-I-T-A, Cummings as in C-U-M-M-I-N-G-S.
And do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Thank you, Ms. Cummins.
Proceed.
There was a meeting, and the coordinating RVCO and affected RVCO,
strawberry marriage community concern uh one um neighbor a near neighbor and jeffrey young also
was in attendance um the the agreement was that we would look at what would be a uh setback
because initially there was zero setback in this uh development and they were supposed to come
back together with all of us before submitting any um communication however the uh coordinating
RCO submitted a non-opposition because there was much opposition in our own conversation
regarding this particular, you know, the designs. So these setbacks, even with the five
feet setback, it really still negatively impacts the blocks. The continuity of consistency,
the shadowing, and these, as you can see even from their own pictures, these attachments
shoot straight up out of the roof like just a big solid block that takes away the view from
the street of other residents and neighbors. It affects just our sunlight, and the refusals are
there for a reason. So we're trying to make something happen here for a tiny block. These
blocks are small and these properties are just two stories. So we're trying, and also I just
wanted to mention that the elements of, you know, a lot of people say what the zoning board's
decisions should be based on, but it also says that the elements of the zoning decisions is the
health, welfare, and safety, and in some cases, even the financial impact that will be faced by
pre-existing residents. And in this case, these amenities are being used to drive a $400,000 sale
price, which negatively impacts that whole area. The children and grandchildren of those neighbors
would not even be able to purchase those properties right next door to where, say,
grandma lives. So I say that the refusals are in place for this particular block being a very small
block, two-story homes that they want to impact with this three-story height. I did send pictures
to show, I went and walked the blocks, assessed the blocks, looked at it from all angles. I showed
how even some of those properties that have already gone up in that community with that same
attachment is blocking the view. So I don't know if you got a chance to look at my information
that was sent in, but even with the $400,000 price with the yard area where they want to do
these window wells, so you have a lot of issues that could also further go on with permitting
this type of structure to go up in that block. So I would ask that this applicant, the owner,
really take a look at the city's housing programs that are available to help him do
a better plan, to do a plan that's more consistent with the continuity of the block.
There are lots of city programs right now that the city is working with to help have more affordable
housing set for sale housing projects go on and that's what I would be asking this board to
consider in this development that that that design does not work for these tiny three those
two hundreds those tiny blocks and the refusals that are in place from LNI really support not
really support not allowing this development to get those refusals. So I would hope that
allowing this development to
this owner could go back and look at a better way and not gentrify also that community with
$400,000 sale prices and use an amenity simply for the reason of driving that kind of hardship
to that neighborhood. It would be a severe hardship. And he hasn't demonstrated
any hardship by not being able to to uh do that so thank you okay thank you for calling in mrs
cummins yeah anyone else mr knockoff said how about if i see if there's anybody else
is there anyone else in the virtual audience i see no hands chair okay so mr knockoff said why
do you respond now before i go to planning commission yeah so in terms of the height
we're offering 33 feet from the roof line um you know again a nearby neighbor jeffrey young who
regularly appears in front of this board lives i believe on the 1800 block in north taney and he
i believe he stated that he's been a lifelong resident of that block um and based on our
negotiations with him and the coordinating rco and miss cummings was involved with that and we
did provide those drawings we did receive a letter of support from the coordinating rco
You know, everything else, Ms. Cummings stated, I hear, you know, those are issues that are non-zoning related.
Those are policy issues, but they're not should be.
Those are not issues that the board should consider when agreeing to or denying a variance request.
Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair Bergman, and good afternoon.
David Fecto with the City Planning Commission.
Chair and board members, we're going to give our testimony for 1712 North Taney, 1730 North Taney, and 1825 North Taney at once.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the residential single-family zoning at these locations.
The proposed dimensional variances are minor and are in keeping with the spirit and intent of the zoning code.
And so the City Planning Commission recommends the board grant the dimensional variances for all three properties.
Thank you.
um mr nackamson uh hillary and i've had a discussion we're going to just kick this around
at the executive session next week and we're going to vote on this at uh 2 p.m next wednesday
all right thank you very much just a couple things we want to look at that's all and if
there's anything important we'll get back to you okay all right thank you all right thank you
Okay. Number eight. Am I right? Number four, Mr. Chair. Okay. Okay. Number four. MI 2022-007-576-2315
North Front Street. Sean Whalen is the attorney. No RCO letters of yet that we have right now.
Mr. Chair, just an update, we did just get the letter, and it is a, excuse me one second, it is a recommendation of support from the RCA.
Okay, thank you.
Hi, Mr. Whalen, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
Of course, Sean Whalen, W-H-A-L-E-N.
All right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth,
sir? Yes, I do. Could you identify your client, the relationship to this property?
Certainly. Sean Whalen here from Vintage Law on behalf of the owner ACG 2315 Front LLC.
And our vice chair has just a few questions, sir. Of course.
good afternoon counsel do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its
accuracy yes i do with one uh stipulation the refusal is both a refusal and a referral
which i can explain later but the address look is listed as 23 north front street
The property was 2315 North Front Street.
The property was 2315 North Front Street and its adjacent property, 2317-25 North Front Street.
When the OPA previously consolidated this for my client, they chose to go with 2325, that's 2325 North Front Street.
And they eliminated the 2315 North Front Street address, even though we were told that they would do the opposite.
So the same property, same refusal, same referral. Just wanted to make that note on the record.
Thank you.
Understood. Thank you.
Have you emailed them all the required documents and exhibits that are needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that are needed to proceed?
Great. Thank you. Please proceed to share your screen.
Thank you very much.
All right. So everyone should be able to see now on my screen.
Again, we have it listed as 2315 North Front.
It is a more properly known, same OPA address and everything, OPA number as 2325 North Front Street.
This is a property, this is the frontage as it exists now.
Front Street is immediately under the L at this point.
So just to give you some context, here's the building right here, goes from North Front Street back to Jasper Street.
and the L runs right up and down north front there.
This was a new apartment building being built and we've highlighted in yellow the top just
to make it obvious what building you're looking at here.
And again the same building just from the top you can see the L here.
here are what i'll show us two photos of the street frontage completely commercial on the
this is the western side this is our building right here on the left commercial first floor
with apartments above and looking north you can see a commercial on both sides
This block has been relatively quiet, and this application seeks to activate, and part of the big support from the RCO is to activate this block under the L, which has not rebounded well since the pandemic.
The entire site is CMX 2.5. Again, the site is entirely built out at this time with a full building, no new construction on this application, no signage.
We are just seeking to put in a dog grooming and boarding business called Wag Days along the North Front Street frontage.
So what you can see here is that this is the building you see. This would be North Front Street along the bottom. Jasper Street goes diagonally here in the back.
Again, none of the existing apartment building or the Jasper Street frontage is at issue here.
What we're talking about is simply just this is the basement floor and you have the boarding room, some training space.
And then the next page you have, again, this is North Front Street right here down at the bottom of the page.
walk into the waiting area and you have dog grooming and pens up at the top and then
significantly what you'll see in the top right hand corner and I'll show a photo of this in a
minute is a large thousand square foot outdoor dedicated outdoor space just for the dogs
so we have again a refusal and a referral so we have a referral for special exception required
for animal services, and that is for the dog grooming that we are providing on the first
floor. The refusal for a variance comes from the desire to put dog boarding in the basement.
And then, as Ms. Emerson did just state, we did just receive the letter of support from
ECHNA. We had two meetings with ECHNA and not a single person was in opposition at any point in
time. In fact, this area and neighborhood is devoid of any services or businesses for
dogs or people's animals, and we received resounding support and excitement for this project.
What I'm showing you now and on the call today is Hanora Rogers. She is the owner and operator of Wag Days Philly. This is the first location that she has down in South Philadelphia, and these are images showing what it looks like today, generally with more dogs in it.
But just to walk through, Ms. Rogers can testify to it more appropriately, but she has received, she's been open for three years at that location down in the Bors building at 1901 South 9th Street.
she has received zero noise or other complaints. And Echna did verify this. She's had no issues
She has received zero noise or other complaints, and ECNA did verify this.
with the neighbors there. And here, this is actually a larger, better location for her
in that she will have a thousand square foot outdoor space for the dogs to go. And here is
obviously not finished off yet, but this is that large outdoor space. For the benefit of all,
On the left here, you can see this is the new building that I was just showing that fronts on to the left of the screen would front on North Front Street.
To the right of the building is another building that the same investment group owns, also apartment buildings.
So the interior courtyard space is wholly owned and operated by the same client, and any issues will affect only its tenants in the existing apartments.
And actually, to date, we've received more requests at the apartments to have the windows facing the dogs for all the people who now live and work at home.
Notably, again, this is for dog grooming and dog boarding.
The boarding will be in the basement.
We do have this interior courtyard.
It will be open and operational from approximately 7.30 a.m. to 7 p.m., with all drop-offs having to take place before 10 a.m. to limit any congestion.
And pickups are generally between 4.30 and 6.30 at night, and frequently people walk here.
The owner will be seeking a loading zone in the front of the building to cut down on any traffic that could be caused on North Front Street.
Again, there's more than ample parking. No one had any issues. It's all commercial up and down North Front Street. There will be seven to 10 employees, probably three to four employees on site at any given time, including overnight with any dog boarding.
And all trash, which I know is a big issue in these animal services facilities, will be put into the same existing trash room and have commercial, multiple time a week, commercial trash pickup as the apartments.
So everything will be off street, off site, down in the basement in the trash room, and then immediately picked up and taken away.
It has, I think the last thing, it has been completely soundproofed, and what you saw in some of those other photos was additional soundproofing that will take place, and there's no issues of deliveries here, as Ms. Rogers would testify, and I'll call on her in a minute, the, whatchamacallit, there are deliveries no more than once a month with just cleaning, general cleaning supplies for the animals at the site.
Again, it's just our people who will be affected, and with that, I will rest for a minute, and I will call Ms. Hanora Rogers.
Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
Ms. Rogers, can you unmute yourself, please?
Sorry about that. My name is Honora Rogers, R-O-D-G-E-R-S.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?