I do not have any interior pictures, Tom.
And I do not have any interior photos at the moment.
I do not.
I can get them, however.
How many square feet is each unit?
Oh, I would say each unit is about 800 square feet, maybe not even, maybe 700.
And it's two bedrooms?
Yes, that is correct.
Thank you.
And just for clarification, Mr. Hallman, that's the second floor has two bedrooms and the first floor has one bedroom.
thank you any questions other questions from the board if i could just add one other thing
mr chair uh if it was a single family home you could have three occupants uh residing in the
property unrelated by blood or marriage so um given the fact that we now have uh two small
apartments with three bedrooms um it's more likely that it'll still be occupied by three persons
uh any anyone else wish to testify in this case please raise your hand
no hands at this time thank you sean i forget did did you ask uh your client if he adopted
your testimony i forget yes i did okay thank you planning commission on bednar city planning
this property is indicated for single-family residential use in a comprehensive plan,
however, it's clear from the materials as presented that the property has been used as
two-family. Accordingly, we recommend the request of variance not to be granted.
Accordingly, we request that we have no objection to the granting of variance.
okay thank you okay uh mi-2020-0003525425 hunter street my vote is yes
my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is no
mr chairman and the board thank you very much that concludes my business until the 3 30 list
may I be excused. You may. Thank you. Thank you.
Geographer, are you okay? Sharice, do you need a break?
Oh yes, I'm okay. Okay, let us know. Thank you. Okay.
So we're not on camera. Calendar number 39199, 2433 Harlan Street.
Excuse me, this is Sharon Saleta. We have a continuance request from Jared Klein
for this case and the next numbers five and six and I apologize for the dogs in the background
well I hear Jared in the background no no no there's a request for continuance on this case
yes for 2433 Harlan and for 2408 Stewart Street thank you calendar numbers 39199
2433 Harlan
that's H-A-R-L-A-N
Street and calendar number
2408 Stewart
Street are both continued.
Calendar number
001390
Leverington Avenue. The attorney
is Rachel Pritzker.
good afternoon good afternoon can you put your name and address on the record please
yep rachel r-a-c-h-a-e-l pritzker p-r-i-t-z-k-e-r 1635 market street suite 1600 philadelphia pa
19103 do you swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes and do you also agree
to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy yes have you emailed your exhibit
Have you emailed your exhibit packet with the proof of ownership, proof of tax compliance, a copy of the refusal or referral, photos, and or plans of the property five days in advance of this hearing, and have you met with the RCO, and do you have a letter?
packet with the proof of ownership proof of tax compliance
I'm going to memorize that yet.
Good job.
You may begin.
This is for 106 Leverington.
I'm going to just speak to the refusals and then have Scott Woodruff, who's our architect, go through the plans.
This project is a pretty odd-shaped lot, which Scott will show you, that is at the corner of Leverington and Umbria streets.
We actually met with the RCO quite a while ago originally.
We had originally proposed two single-family homes, a subdivision and two single-family homes,
because the lot is zoned RSA 5.
However, the community and the Maniunk Neighbors Civic Association
worked with us to provide a different plan.
So it was withdrawn, and we then reapplied with five units, two parking spaces.
And our refusal is for the multifamily five dwelling units and the height.
So as Scott will explain, there's quite a slope on this property.
and so we're proposing 42 feet at one and a half inches at one point, but the most of the building
is 35. I'm happy to go into the community piece once Scott is able to present. So Tanya, do you
see Scott Woodruff on the call? Yes. Okay. What did you need for him to? Yeah, I want him to share,
uh you want to share his screen um so he can show okay all righty thank you
rachel he's been promoted to panelists so he can get sworn in and share a screen as he needs to
thank you mr woodrow would you please spell your name for the record and give us your address
uh yes scott woodruff uh last name spelled w-o-o-d-r-u-f-f uh 4001 main street philadelphia
pa 19127 we're gonna firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do
please proceed scott can you just um share your screen and go through the plans um specifically
addressing the height um and going kind of going through the unique size and shape um and sort of
how we designed it this way with the community, given the many meetings we had and a lot of help
with this project. Yeah, absolutely. Can you zoom in a little bit? Sorry, it's a little hard to say.
Thanks. So the proposed property is at the corner of Umbria Street and Leverington Avenue.
It looks pretty much like an arrow in plan. It's quite unique, let's say, with the shape.
the actual property lines extend into where the current sidewalk is which you can kind of see by
that that line that's sloping so we are setting fairly far back within the site the existing lot
area is 3 360 square feet again so it's a fairly large size lot and we're covering 43 percent of
that roughly. There is a existing street that these houses from which we're
accessing for two-car parking that abuts this existing rail line overpass which
you'll see in the renderings in a second. Our main building entry is off of Umbria
Street and there's a there's a pretty large slope as this kind of slopes down
to the river in Manny Young. Looking at the floor plans, we work with the community to provide an
access for storage for the tenants down here as well as bike storage that's off of Leverington
Avenue as amenity and kind of to also promote, you know, less cars necessarily. Going up you'll
see the main building entry is at the northern end of the site, and we kind of are doing that
to provide an accessible entryway to the ground floor as it is on a fairly slopey site. There's
a one-bedroom unit that's located on the first floor, a bi-level one-bedroom unit in this green
that goes to the second floor, and then there's parking access that's accessed by this second
stair tower for all units as well as this door for unit B. Going up in the floor plans you'll
see the second floor by level one bedroom here in the green and then the rest of the units are
two bedroom two bathroom units that kind of front Umbria and Leverington Street, Leverington Avenue,
that kind of front, Umbria and Leverington Street, Leverington Avenue, which we kind of worked with the community to tweak and take some of their suggestions along the way.
And then lastly, we can look at the height and the renderings.
So this is the proposed building kind of looking up through that archway and kind of eyeduct that's going up Leverington Avenue.
You can kind of see where that door is that'll provide the ground level storage bike entry.
And then you can see the rendering at the corner of Umbria and Leverington.
As you can see there's a pretty dramatic slope that kind of comes down here.
So again our intention is to kind of hit at the center grade which Umbria Street is
is the more pedestrian uh kind of route if you will the height uh is measured by the average
grade plane of the four principal points of the building um so given uh you know our principal
points of the building hit you know at a point down here here here and then into the back um
you'll kind of see where our average grade plane falls uh and this is looking at umbria street
um so given taking the the distance from this point to the top of the roof uh we are at that
41 and i think one and a half inches uh height but at the top of the hill um as you're coming
down umbria street we are at that 38 feet um height limitation so again at this point you
know we did try and minimize the height as much as possible um and i think from the the community's
perspective coming down the hill you know this doesn't really tower over any of the existing
buildings and along leverington avenue uh there is a lot of precedent for um older mill buildings
uh most of which are of this four story uh in nature
rachel anything else you want me to kind of walk through on the plans
Nope. I just wanted to show the board the height was due to sort of the slope and just the layout of the building and the parking. We also, I'm going to share my screen. We also have to help combat some of the community's concerns with parking.
We also got a letter signed from a near neighbor who owns a parking lot across the street and
they have allowed us to lease three parking spaces, so we'll have one-to-one parking on
this site.
Again, we're providing two accessory off-street parking spaces, but the lot can't release
support given the width, any additional spaces, so that was kind of a compromise that was
suggested to us from the community.
I'm just trying to find that letter.
Lastly, here's the letter. So we're going to be leasing three spaces from 4620 Umbria,
and we have approval from the owner of the property. We also had some concerns during
the community meeting about the trees on the site. Although the site doesn't meet the 5,000
or more square foot requirements to preserve heritage trees, we did have a certified arborist
do a report and view the trees to show that they're one that would qualify as a heritage tree
is actually in decay and would cause significant damage given the overhanging. So that's included
in your packet as well. We do plan to provide, I think, what is it, Scott? Four new trees on the
plant? Correct. We are providing four new trees along Umbria Street. As we know that the trees
are important to include. We did just get the letter of support from Maniunk neighbors but I
did include their email with the vote in the packet but have also provided this letter to
Sharon and Tanya. I literally just received it but their vote was to support this project
and I'd just like to bring my client Lionel on just to affirm my testimony and then happy to
take any questions that the board has. Can you raise his hand? Lionel, can you, if you can hear,
can you raise my, your hand so that we can swear you in and have you affirm the testimony?
He can now unmute. Yes, I'm sorry. Can everybody hear me? Yep. Yes, please give us your spell,
Give us your full name and spell it, please.
Sure, of course.
Lionel Guerra, L-I-O-N-E-L, last name Guerra, G-U-E-R-R-A, address is 224 West Topohokin Street.
Address is 224 West Topohokken Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19144, Unit 5.
We're in time to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Thank you.
Please proceed.
Lionel, have you heard my testimony given today?
Yes, I have.
Do you adopt it as your own?
Yes, I do.
Happy to take any questions that the board may have.
Thank you.
Any questions from the board?
no no uh anyone else wish to testify in this case if so please raise your hand
no hands at this time planning commission it's uh ron bednar city planning this property is
indicated for single family residential use in the comprehensive plan however the site
has particular challenges and is close to both a commercial corridor and a major transit station.
Accordingly, we have no objection to the granular variance.
Thank you. Carol, did you read off the HA or the MI?
I'll do the MI. Does it matter?
I don't remember.
Yes, you're going to either do MI or ZP or calendar. No HA.
okay thank you mi-2020-001186 106 leverington avenue my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote
is yes my vote is yes thank you thank you calendar number mi 2020-001153 1242 west elegany avenue
the attorney is verne anastasio thanks sherry
how did i lose everybody
mr anastasio you've been promoted to panelists you can unmute yourself and wait to be sworn in
and share your screen as necessary.
Vern, tap your mic.
Trying.
There we go.
We got you.
Got me?
Got you.
Mr. Anastasio, put your name and address on the record.
Thank you.
It's Vern Anastasio, 1315 Walnut Street, Suite 1006, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19107.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
I most certainly do.
Do you also agree to the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed an exhibit packet with the required documents, including proof of ownership,
proof of tax compliance, a copy of the refusal or referral, photos and or plans of the property
five days in advance, and have you also met with the RCO, and do you have a letter?
Yes, to all of that, I don't think I have a letter. I think they sent an email, but yes,
other than that, everything. Thank you. You may proceed. Thank you. The application is for a
personal service hair salon at the first floor in the same building with all other uses previously
approved on this property. It is zoned, as you can see, CMX2. We don't see your plans.
You don't? Okay, let's try again.
I'm going to open them up and I'm gonna try and share there you go how's that
the application is for a hair salon on the first floor
an existing building. You'll see that it's CMX2 as the zoning map shows. I'm going to show you the
interior. You walk into the side property here at the side of the property.
Sorry, Mr. Anastasio, might I ask you to maximize? Thank you.
How's that? Better?
how's that better no we lost it from our screen