fault, you know, these days doing things virtually. No doubt. So, you know, our information was the
councilwoman and i said i'm looking at my notes councilwoman requested a continuance based on the
fact there was no rco meeting obviously wanted to make sure you guys had an opportunity to meet
as you heard me say to mr gossett he agreed to the continuance i'd be willing to see if we can
hold off on any final decision before this morning session ends but you you got to get some you got
to do some homework right now you got to get in touch with goodman and gossip understood all right
just for clarification chair um i believe a request was submitted to me for one week
and i denied that we don't correct continuuses at all unless there's extraordinary circumstances
so that's why it was a no if it was a request to continue then i would have um took that
but not for just one week understood understood well look this this may turn out to be one of
those uh situations where it is something unusual if we can't get that this morning and all sides
agree maybe if it's okay tanya could we schedule it for next week maybe avoid some of this confusion
no we can't do one week because we have too much to get in order for posters and notices and
it's just too much involved okay understood all right all right mr sanson try to see if you can
reach most mr gossett and the councilwoman's office before and how would i get back in touch
with you before this session is over i would assume tanya correct me if i'm wrong the same
way you just got on now all right perfect is that correct tanya uh yes okay thank you thank you
uh chair we also had katherine blunt katherine you can unmute yourself and speak to a continuance
Ms. Blunt, please identify yourselves by your name for the stenographer.
Catherine Blunt, B-L-U-N-T.
Do you swear and affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
And could you please give us your address?
4918 Walton Avenue, 19143.
You're here on what case?
The 5405 Christian Street.
okay i represent 46 ward rco okay okay guys we said oh were you listening to the conversation
i just had with mr and we participated in the meeting okay there was a we understand that now
i think what happened the mix-up was the notice was sent to the councilwoman's office last night
most offices in city hall are closed so a lot of times that information doesn't reach
the councilwoman or his or his or her legislative assistant in time for the hearing so there's a
you know a slight mix up we'll work that out hopefully we can work it out this morning
well proceed I just want to know procedurally so the meeting was held because this case has
been continued about three times now the meeting was held and there was no support for that
activity plus we did send in something uh to the zba board i was sent sunday uh emailed i think
appropriately the way we're supposed to uh uh listing the concerns of the neighborhood and why
again we don't yeah miss blunt with all due respect you you're giving us information as
though we were hearing the case oh i'm sorry no that's okay no need to apologize so let's see
what works out if we can get that case heard this morning then you'll have the opportunity to be
heard okay and then there's a second case 5506 baltimore avenue that case has not had an rco
assigned that i know of and it has not had a community meeting 14 on the list that case is
also being uh there's a request to continue that case as well okay thank you all right
thank you you can move forward chair okay uh we're starting with number two uh yeah yes
uh yeah yes okay this print is very small calendar number three seven nine six seven
the address is 1501 north 33rd street the attorney is rachel pritzker
ms pritzker you've been promoted to panelists you can share your screen
as you wish name and address for the record rachel good morning good morning rachel r-a-c-h-a-e-l
pritzker p-r-i-t-z-k-e-r 1635 market suite 1600 philadelphia pa 19103 do you swear or affirm to
tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes do you also agree to waive the reading of
refusal and stipulate to its accuracy? Yes. And have you exhibited an email packet with all the
required documents, proof of ownership, tax clearance, a copy of the refusal or referral,
photos and plans of the property five days in advance of this hearing? Have you also met with
the RCO? And if you have, do you have a letter? So we did meet with them. We don't have a letter.
I have emails from me and from the owner reaching out many times asking for the letter.
And so we don't have a letter, but we did meet with them.
Okay, you may proceed.
All right.
Let me share my screen.
Okay, so this is 1501 North 33rd Street.
Just to give you some context, this is the site here on 33rd Street across from the park.
As you can see, it's sort of a dilapidated structure at the moment.
It is kind of oddly shaped.
It's triangular in nature with the train tracks to the rear.
And as we'll get into it, there's also an easement running through the property from an active sewer line that feeds some of these homes on Natrona Street.
We were refused for this site just for parking, so the site is on RM1, we're proposing 17 units with 13 parking spaces, although RM1 does not require parking, given the issues with parking in general in the city, but also on this block in particular, given the additional density that we are proposing by right,
we would like to provide parking and as I'll go into there are some limitations
to the site not only but the size and shape of the site but the current
location of the curb cut and the easement that make it so that parking
can only be located at a certain place I'm just showing this photo so you can
see that there's obviously traffic issues and parking issues on the street
there's no ability to park on this side of 33rd Street it's prohibited by the
city and the only parking permitted is on our side of the street on 33rd street although it's
limited by a fire hydrant and a bus stop so again we're utilizing an existing curb cut to the order
to provide parking the two refusals we got were the proposed off-street parking access by a front
street is prohibited and surface parking in the required rear yard is also prohibited if i can
move forward. Here's the tax clearance. There was a balance. It was paid. We've
submitted this to the board. Here is the deed showing the ownership, 1501 North 33rd.
And again, this is our site right here, triangular in nature. This is the abutting
train tracks and as you can see it's sort of a triangular shaped lot at the
corner or I guess a quasi-corner zoned RM1. Again here's an aerial view of the
site. Here is the zoning posters and sort of the existing conditions on this
site. As the board probably knows the sidewalks and all that will get cleaned
up as a result of the development but just so you can kind of get a feel for
the existing conditions of this site as it's been kind of underutilized and
underdeveloped for quite some time. Moving on to the parking situation,
obviously you know RM1 you cannot do parking access by a front street.
However on this site there's really no other place to approach the site. There's
no ability to come from the rear as the train tracks. This is the nearest rear
street that you can't drive into the train tracks and so we're proposing a
and so we're proposing a front-loaded parking and as i'll go into in a minute there is also
front-loaded parking and also go into in a minute there is also an easement
an easement that runs through the property so we're not able to build on around 30 feet near
that easement as a result of discussions with the water department which i have included in
our packet we've tried to discuss relocating it and removing it because some of the concern with
the community was around parking just where to put the parking but again we're really limited
on this site. And again, it's not buildable 30 feet from this easement. And we cannot relocate
it because it is an active sewer line. So we are limited to putting parking in another location on
our site. These are my emails going back and forth. This is as early as the 22nd, trying to
get the RCO to respond to our emails to see if they would provide the letter. And even I reached
out beginning May, March, March, October, trying to meet with them again, given some of the concerns
that they had. Mostly their issue was density. I think they didn't love that amount of density
and were complaining about maybe parking, but the only way to put the parking is there. Some of
concern was also the traffic study. They wanted a traffic study done, so we actually went and
met with Chris Renfro at the streets department. As you can see, this is the Amtrak train. This is
the water line that goes through it, so the building has to be set over and can't be built
on 30 feet right here, so kind of again limits where we can put parking and even where we can
put the by-right structure. It was determined by the streets department that given there's only
going to be 17 parking spaces and 17 return trips in the morning, 17 trips in the morning,
17 trips at the evening. That is a total of 34 trips. Does not require a traffic impact study.
Typically, the Philadelphia Streets Department requires a site that generates 3,000 trips a day
or 1,500 vehicles per day and 100 trips per peak hour. That requires a traffic study. However,
in order to appease the concerns of the community, we went and got a traffic study done,
which is included in your packet and basically what it says is that this is the safest place
to put the curb cut that there won't be any adverse impacts that there won't increase any
issues with traffic and that actually will help eliminate a lot of the congestion that we're
seeing as you can see from the previous photo I put up there is traffic congestion so adding 17
units by right with zero parking is not going to benefit us or the community in any way additionally
as you can see from atlas there are people that are parking on the sidewalk
so trying to again not provide any off-street parking for 17 units by right we didn't think was
was beneficial we do have letters of support from near neighbors so i have that included in the
packet as well because we wanted to make sure that those who actually live on the
block and behind the property were supportive of the parking variances that
we're requesting again the only thing we are requesting is for parking so here
we have 1401 North Coralise Street, we have 1444 North Myrtlewood, we have 1463 North
Coralise, we have 1510 North Hollywood, again another owner of 1444, 1519 North 33rd. I also
received one today um that was 1533 um north 33rd street as well i didn't get a chance to include
that in the packet as i got it this morning i want to just bring up the plans for the project
um so that the board can see the parking
So, we're asking to utilize an existing curb cut to be able to provide again 13 off-street
parking spaces. Again, the only way to access the site is really from this existing curb
cut. There's no ability to do it in the rear or on the other side. And again, we're limited
by the water department's easement um and sort of the the odd shape of the lot again 13 parking
spaces 17 units by right six bicycle spaces um and i have our architect here as well um ian smith
And I have our architect here as well, Ian Smith, if the board is interested in sort of the floor plans or layout, but all that is included in your packet.
And again, we're just here to discuss sort of the two variances for off-street parking, surface parking and parking access by a front street.
so i'm happy to take any questions that the board has or dive more into something in particular
um if the board has any questions i also have our um our the owner keith aliats here as well
and ian smith um our architect thank you um questions from the board no no no no
anyone else wish to testify in this case please raise your hand
here we have mary jones from the council president's office mary you can unmute yourself
thank you good morning ms jones please identify yourself with a record
good morning my name is mary jones i work for council president clark's office city hall room 496.
You're swearing a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Please proceed.
Based on information that I just received from people who work closely with the Strawberry
Mansion CDC, we don't have any indication that the RCO has approved this project or is in support
of this project. And we just either oppose or hope that you can hold your vote until we get
word from the rco on what the feedback is at this point we don't have a letter from them and um we
just don't have any notification on what their opinion is about this uh project thank you um
can i address that comment yes please yeah um so we reached out as you can see by the emails a
of times there was a meeting in which there was opposition I don't believe it
related to it was a try the concerns about a traffic study we went out of our
way to go get a traffic study and we provided that to miss tenetogram I also
reached out to our number of times asking if she had any questions or
wanted to go over it or if we could schedule another meeting and we didn't
get any feedback even the owner has reached out so at this point again
we're just asking for and the ability to provide accessory off-street parking
for a site that's going to have 17 units by right there's no other place to put it there's a clear
hardship and i don't know that having another meeting where we discuss issues outside of the
parking concerns um are going to be productive for this site and again if the board or the community
doesn't support this then there'll be a project with 17 units with no parking on a street that
obviously has you know congestion issues um already oh okay well we i still want to have the
opportunity to reach out to the um to tonetta um it's unclear if she was aware of the the project
being rescheduled for today i'm sorry can i interrupt please miss jones yes we do have
tanetta on the line okay in the zoom meeting if you wish her to speak about this i do i mean i
didn't know she was here so that's perfect here we have tanetta graham for you to swear in miss
graham good can you guys hear me yes and miss graham please spell your first and last name
and give us your address sure my first name is tanetta t-o-n-n-e-t-t-a last name is graham g-r-a-h-a-m
The address is 2829 West Diamond Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19121.
Do you swear and affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Thank you.
Please proceed.
I apologize, you guys.
I'm just jumping in on the phone call because I did not know that the zoning was going to be heard today for 1501 North 33rd Street.
I will say that there has not been a community meeting held for this project,
So I don't know who or what has sent notices to, but I have not scheduled a community meeting for this project.
Now, we did have a small development coalition discussion with the developer who at that time was going to go back to the drawing board,
do some more drawings because we didn't like the idea of the concept of the building and was going to do a traffic study.
I have, and we have, but other than that, we have not had a community meeting with the community at large, had an opportunity to hear about this project.
Ms. Pritcher?
Ms. Pritchard?
Yeah, that's not my understanding of this matter.
Yeah, that's not my understanding of this matter.
When I got involved, there was another attorney handling this,
and I was told that, and the owner who was actually at the meeting is here as well,
so he could, and so was the architect, so they could speak to it.
I did also reach out to Tanetta multiple times via email that I've provided to the board.
I've called Tanetta.
I have her phone number.
I actually provided her with the traffic impact study as well and asked, you know,
are there any questions?
When can we get something together?
Multiple times.
so there was a meeting I wasn't personally at it because I wasn't the
attorney representing at the time Michael Phillips was so and he can tell