We counted how many parking spots were available and how many parking spots were actually occupied so that we could get a snapshot of the time and date of when these performances will occur.
Yes, can you tell us what, just identify the lot number one, lot number three, and lot number eight for us?
sure lot number one is the univest parking lot lot number three is the public parking that is
right behind the florist that's right there right off germantown avenue and parking lot number eight
is the acme parking lot that is that stacy said was uh one block from the proposed theater
and this area here is the proposed theater correct yes okay all right now we're ready for
your slides so we can skip that one like we already gave my experience um so we had we did
perform a parking study which as you can see it it gives an idea of what is available for parking
in addition to what is actually occupied at those particular times a traffic study we didn't feel
was appropriate as that really deals more with traveling traffic and not traffic that is going
to be parked. And it did seem from the residence meeting that that was the largest concern.
So this can give you an idea. We did perform the traffic study or the parking study in September
of last year. And as a reaction to some of the concerns that were brought up with the RCO meetings,
we went out and actually performed additional counts at the Univest and Acme parking lots to
give a more well-rounded idea of what is going to occur at those parking lots that can help out
the parking availability excuse me we determined that the if you look at the corridor of germantown
avenue sedgwick and the previous lots that were listed on that diagram there were 520 available
spots. We did start the counts about one hour prior to performances. That way it's an idea of
when people would arrive for those performances. The COVID considerations, we do know obviously
that with COVID experiences that a lot of people are not traveling as much to the commercial and
retail businesses. However, there are, since it is residential, there are more and more vehicles that
were parked in that vicinity so we did consider it a balance however and thank you you can keep
going as we were looking at a lot of the estimated travelers to this area for this this generation
we determined that the maximum amount that would be traveling to this facility based on the
engineering standards would be 83 vehicles this also did assume approximately two people for
vehicle and it did assume that no one was using public transit or ride share and no one would walk
which we know is not as accurate there will be people using public transit and rides here
the determination from our parking study did determine that there are a multitude of available
spots you can see the the three largest considerations were thursday friday and
Saturday, which were the largest concerns, obviously, for the residents as well. When we
were able to go back out and perform the parking study on the Acme and the Univest, we did determine
that there was a large availability for those parking lots as well during the Thursday, Friday,
and Saturday batonets. So we do feel like there is ample parking specifically in these locations
for patrons when they are actually actively attending any entertainment events at the
Lantern Theater. So just to guide us a bit through this table, where my cursor is now in the very
right-hand column, can you tell us what the total numbers mean? Yes. So we split it up so that it
was easier to understand for anybody who's looking at the table. The lots and the corridors that were
specifically listed on the left-hand part of the screen. That Germantown Avenue is specifically
between Mount Airy and Cedric. That Cedric Street corridor is actually between the Acne lot and
That Cedric Street corridor is actually between the Acme lot and up to Germantown.
It does not include any of the residential portions of Cedric Street.
And then the three lots below it are the public lots that have already been provided access.
The two lots below that are the Univest and Acme.
Those are the ones that were counted since there was an agreement with the Acme facilities and Univest also in works.
to be able to use those parking spaces so the bottom row here the available spaces
this this number that's in bold these are can you tell us what that means in terms of
the 83 spaces that you calculated are needed on on any different performance day sure so if you
look to the the right it gives you the total part available parking spaces for each of the facilities
either the corridors or the parking lots as a whole the numbers the bolded numbers at the bottom
that are the available spaces from the counts that we performed now like i said we did the
universe and the acne lots um just friday thursday friday and saturday for the batonet
however the available spots below that the and you're looking at it it's 120 106 103 that
row across does provide the number of available parking spots just in those locations in that
corridor and for the two corridors of Germantown and Sedgwick so that's just like the street
parking not the lots okay correct it does not include the lots we did not perform the parking
counts at that point for those lots so I didn't want to misconstrue any of the information however
if you are conservative and assume the worst case scenarios of the counts there would be over 200
parking spots at those times if you're using the most conservative counts that were done for all
of the remaining parking spots which would be saturday night would be the most the most um
the least amount of available parking was saturday night and we still have 200 spots
and we need 83 yes um okay and a couple more slides here okay that just gives the the
justification as to saturday was the saturday was the highest that required the most parking spots
and everything else was below that number so we use the most conservative value of 83 for the
engineering standard. Okay, thank you so much. Thank you. I'm just going to call briefly
Dick Winston if he is around to just walk us very briefly through the plans and then
I think we're going to rest. Mr. Winston, state your name and spell for the court reporter.
richard winston r-i-c-h-a-r-d w-i-n-s-t-o-n excuse me i'm a principal at edozy collaborative
architecture and planning firm you swear a firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the
truth yes i do proceed um dick thank you for hanging in there all right we are on your turn
so uh we are looking at the site plan here will you tell us what we are looking at happy to
I'll be very brief, Mr. Chair. This is an overall site plan of the Mount Airy Presbyterian Church
complex. The cross-hatched areas are a separate development, redevelopment of the church buildings
as a 20-unit condo, which has recently completed construction. The left side,
closer to Germantown Avenue is a parking structure, which you'll see in the photographs
momentarily. And the shaded area is the project itself for Lantern Theater.
Why don't we go on to the next one, Steve? Steve, do you want to comment on zoning at all?
I don't think we need to, do we? No, I don't think. Okay. So here you're seeing a few photographs
photographs of the exterior conditions. There's the new parking structure and the condo building
behind. The theater will be housed in the church sanctuary, which you're seeing there,
that we're across Germantown Avenue. Here we're looking at that intersection of Mount Pleasant
and Germantown, and you'll see momentarily the only intervention we're proposing on the outside.
We're looking up Mount Pleasant Avenue toward Germantown, and this is the,
excuse me one of the entrances to the condo building and a side entrance to the to the theater
itself this is that same view of the intersection than what we wanted to share with you here is
the only thing we propose for the outside is a small canopy with signage
The only thing we propose for the outside is a small canopy with signage on it to identify the main entrance that will be used for patrons.
And that is, members of the board, that is not on our application today, but we are planning to do that in the future.
Thank you.
Going to the interior, we're in the sanctuary now looking toward the chancel, toward the pulpit, and the next view looking the opposite direction.
you can see that this is a very handsome Gothic Revival building with beautiful hammer beams,
beautiful stained glass, all of which we intend to preserve. One change will be that we will not
be organizing the seating in quite the same way as is conducive to how a lantern mounts
productions. Just to give you a little bit of a feel, a few snapshots of the lower floor,
the basement which is partly a sort of back of house space now with some utilitarian
offices and meeting space two bathrooms and then approximately half of the basement is
unfinished and will become it's proposed to become storage for the theater
what we're proposing then just to orient you germantown is to our right
and Mount Pleasant is at the top of the drawing.
The way the theater mounts its productions
means that the seating changes quite a bit
from one play to another.
But what we're proposing then is large playing area.
Often it'll be in a thrust form
and possibly, at least in this case,
three-sided seating facing the performance area.
The other significant change
is that we want to add a bathroom
for convenience and accessibility purposes
where there's only a single user bathroom now
and enlarged stairs to the basement.
Patrons will primarily be coming in the lobby from Germantown,
if you recall that photograph.
It would be the upper right-hand corner,
would be the main entrance, but both doors will be used.
And then going to the lower level,
we want to provide a lot more accommodation for patrons by building more bathroom space
and then of course the actors and staff need their own space in order to prepare for put on makeup
you know things like that so they will have their own bathrooms this all this configuration is
tentative but that's the intent and then the tan area as you can see is where the theater will store
flats and other materials for first reductions and that's a quick run through yes thank you
so much i think we are ready to rest at this point uh questions from the board no mr chairman
no mr chairman no mr chairman no mr chairman questions or comments from the virtual audience
chair we have someone by the name of simha rosenberg mr or miss rosenberg you can unmute
yourself or wait for the chair can you hear me hi could you state your name and spell it for
the court reporter sure it's simha rosenberg that's spelled s as in sally i m as in mary h a
r-o-s-e-n-b-e-r-g do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i do affirm precise so um i live very near we're in i live in in the um new development in one of
the units and i just wanted to say uh you know um i my husband and i are very excited to have the
theater be in our neighborhood. We think that especially this kind of theater that works closely
with the community will be a real asset. Thank you very much. Thank you for calling in. Any other
comments or questions from the virtual audience? Chair, we have Nina Curlett. Ms. Curlett, you can
unmute yourself or wait for the chair. Hi, could you state your name and spell it for the court
reporter sure my name is nina carlett n-i-n-a c-u-r-l-e-t-t right do you swear or affirm to
tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes proceed um i i am um the co-chair of
eastbound area neighbors zoning um and i just wanted to make clear that i'm sorry
phone never rings till the very moment you're speaking on zoom um i just wanted to make clear
Zoom. I just wanted to make clear that the neighbors did all vote in support. The RCO is
that the neighbors um
in support. I do believe that the Lantern Theater made a very good effort to try to work out the
parking issues, which were the main concerns of the neighbors. I think the way our letter was
written, slightly misrepresented or confused the issue of the proviso being asked. I think
Steve Masters was able to explain that to me a little bit yesterday. I think he may need to
qualify that for the board for our letter to actually stand if he may do that for us.
Thank you very much. We appreciate you calling in your time.
anyone else in the virtual audience
i see no hands at this time chair planning commission good afternoon mr chairman members
of the board david effecto city planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends
no change to the commercial and residential mixed use zoning this location the applicant
has shown that the proposed assembly and entertainment will have no more of an impact
than assembly and entertainment would be expected to have so the city planning commission recommends
the board grant the special exception. Thank you. Mr. Chair, we do want those provisos. So let me
put those up again so you can have a look at those. Rebecca? Rebecca? Yes, I'm here. I'm waiting.
Are these enforceable for us?
I do not believe those are enforceable by L&I.
Yes, the change of use is, we are limiting it to the performing arts theater use, not to assembly and entertainment in general. That's definitely a proper proviso.
Rebecca, so this is an agreement between the theater and the neighbors, but
L&I can't enforce private agreements.
um okay yeah so we're not asking you to enforce a private agreement we want the zoning board to
issue these as provisos between um for our for our special exception i know steve that's what
you want but i'm i'm asking rebecca yeah as our attorney are these enforceable
i'd like to review with sharon on a couple points here um okay i don't know how to proceed at this
exact moment okay so hi chair this is tanya i was going to ask the same if that is all at all
possible sure so why don't why don't we do this why don't we um you know why don't we just hold
the vote and we'll take it to executive session next wednesday morning and we'll vote next wednesday
morning planning commission is already ruled so we're we'll do this next wednesday morning
okay very good thank you thank you so much all right thank you okay
m i 2021
005321 741 north 23rd street
rco letter of support rachel pritzker named as the attorney
chair we have brandon saverin coming back in the panelist name okay
good afternoon again mr chairman all right brandon you've already been sworn um could you
state who your client the relationship they have with the property sure my client is
Chabad of Fairmount Inc. They are the property owner, and that is a non-profit corporation in
Pennsylvania. Okay. Our vice chair has a few questions. Hi, Mr. Sovereign. Do you agree to
waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy? Yes. I assume you've sent in
all the required documents timely? Yes, we have. Okay. You may proceed and share your screen.
Okay. Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Okay. So the property that is the subject of this application for variances is 741 North 23rd Street.
This was consolidated by a prior owner.
Atlas, unfortunately, when looking at the zoning map, does not draw the parcel lines in a manner that reflects that consolidation.
but if you follow my cursor here, it is this box that includes...
It is this box that includes the CMX1 area and then this RSA5 area.
This is the property.
So it stretches from 23rd Street to Krosky.
And this is Aspen Street here.
This was most recently a restaurant and bar.
And what we are proposing to do, what my client Chabad of Fairmount is proposing to do, is use this property for several uses.
And before I get into that, I just want to say for the benefit of the board that Chabad is a religious organization.
It is essentially a synagogue of Jewish congregants that currently lacks a physical home.
They meet in people's homes in the neighborhood. So this application is in the effort to get them
a proper synagogue building. So what they're proposing to do is use the first floor as an
entry space and as the synagogue chapel itself, which would be sort of where my hand is now here
on the right. The second and third floor would be used for child care use. So that is a nursery
school and preschool uh in the jewish faith um it is not for a primary school like an elementary
school um in addition on the ground floor on the a portion of the 23rd street frontage sort of here
and this is all part of the same property it's all connected internally um this would be a kosher
delicatessen and cafe so um there is some but not a ton of kosher food uh in philadelphia
available to people that observe the laws of cash route.