All right. So the record's closed. The board will render a decision at tomorrow morning's executive session.
Mr. Colavita, could I ask, too, that you submit, that you send me a copy of the RCO letter so that we have it in the record?
Thank you.
And that was Ms. Saleta?
No problem.
I'll do it immediately.
Thank you very much.
All right.
So do I excuse?
Thank you.
Sharon, do I need to read those calendar numbers in?
Not necessarily, no.
You can read them in when you vote tomorrow.
Sounds like a plan.
Thank you.
thank you very much good luck okay next one is mi 2020-000688 1302 north 18th street
that's uh leo move here
Leo, good morning. You still under oath from this morning. Do you agree to wait for reading
of its refusal and stipulate to its accuracy? I do. Also, have you emailed an exhibit packet
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 i have also have you met with the rco and
have a letter i do great please identify yourself for the record let me clarify i have met with the
rco we met uh several weeks ago i have not yet received a letter from the rco one way or the
I have not yet received a letter from the RCO, one way or the other, and I'm unsure whether
And I'm unsure.
the RCO forwarded a letter to the zoning board itself.
Thank you.
You may proceed.
I'm seeking to share my screen at this point.
Okay, members of the board, this is for 1302 North 18th Street, R-E-K-R-L-L-C.
This is the applicant in this matter.
What we're seeking to do in this instance is build a two-family dwelling on an existing empty single-family lot in an area that is mixed single-family and multifamily, whether two, three, four, or more units.
I've included in my packet here the refusal, appeal, and project information form at page one, area zoning maps at page seven.
deed at 8, commercial activity license at page 13, tax clearance at 14, zoning notification
letter and proof of mailing at 15. We have not received an RCO letter. I have photos of the
property at 18, plans at 34. So members of the board, I have the refusal up on the screen right
now. This is for the address 1302 North 18th Street, currently a vacant lot. We received a
the refusal of asking for two family living.
On your screen right now at page seven
is an area zoning map showing this area.
My understanding this was previously zoned RM1,
had been remapped to RSA-5 some time ago.
And in the time it's been remapped to RSA-5,
there have been a number of properties in the immediate area
which have received variances for multifamily.
And I'll go through all those once I get to the plans
because we have an excellent diagram
that's been prepared by our architects, Hartman-Doy-Toller.
that shows the proximity of all those variances that have been granted by the zoning board.
On the screen right now are my client's commercial activity license and tax clearance at 13 and 14.
Zoning notification at page 15 and 16. Proof of mailing at page 17. Now I'm going to go to single
page up. At page 18, members of the board, this is a photograph of the lot. Adjacent to us is
an existing multi-family building, as you can see via the multiple mailboxes at 1300 North 18th
Street. This is looking southbound. You can see new multi-family construction here,
indicating to the right of the screen on page 20.
This is an additional photograph of the property immediately adjacent, which is multifamily.
This is the lot itself. It's a little overgrown at this point, but our lot
extends from the left to about halfway through the screen. These are other vacant lots that do
not belong to us. Looking northbound, you can see new construction with roof decks. Those are
multifamily. Again, looking northbound and slightly more to the east, you can see new
construction with roof decks. Many of these are multifamily. Directly across the street,
catty corner, southbound again, another northbound photograph.
These are additional structures around the corner, showing new construction,
much of which is multifamily with roof decks.
and again further new construction up the street multifamily at the intersection of Ingersoll and
18th members of the board this is page 34 this is the initial pack that was submitted by my
architect showing the site itself showing photographs both aerial and zoning
page 35 for the record members of the board I think this is the most telling here
for purposes of our request for a variance,
which we are seeking due to a hardship in this case
because, frankly speaking,
building a single-family home on this lot of this size
in the area that has so many mixed-use opportunities
presents a hardship for the applicant.
So we have 1811 West Cabot as two dwelling units,
1244 North 18th as a church,
1810 West Thompson as two dwelling,
1814 West Thompson is 2 dwelling, 1816 is 2 dwelling, 1819 is 4, 1815 is 3, and you can see, I'm not going to read them all, but for purposes of the record, the structures that are indicated in dark gray are all multifamily dwellings that are existing.
Other lots that are indicated in light gray are single family. The lots that are simply plain outlines are vacant lots at this point.
Going to the floor plans numbers of the board from left to right. We have basement through third floor and then the roof deck as well and
from left to right we have basement through third floor and then the roof deck as well
we're going to zoom in on the floor plan beginning in the basement so ultimately we're proposing two
dwelling units each three bed three bath dwelling unit one which is in the basement and in the first
floor is approximately 1500 square feet there is trash storage in the rear yard in the basement
we have bedroom one with the light well to the front the utility closet bathroom bathroom to the
rear and the rear bedroom with a full walkout egress stair to the rear of the property that
goes directly into the rear yard. Entering from the street, you come in off the recess entry,
which would have likely our mailboxes here. Go into a common hallway and enter the property for
bedroom three, a bath in the middle, kitchen, and then living slash dining area to the rear,
along with stairs to get you into the backyard with trash storage. As you go into the main
entrance and proceed up the stairwell you'd get into unit two unit two is a little bit larger
about 1700 square feet again three bed three bath bedroom to the front small balcony bath in the
middle kitchen in the center of the unit dining and living to the rear with a projected deck for
some outdoor space third floor bedroom in the front bedroom in the rear baths off of each of
the bedrooms and a laundry spot in the middle. Going up the stairwell to the roof deck, we
end up on the roof deck, which is set back from the street as required by code. The pilot
house itself is set back from both the front and the rear of the property as required by
code. And that provides for outdoor space for those units as well. What we have here
are now members of the board is a projected elevation,
page 37 of my packet.
What we tried to do is essentially match the roof line
of the existing structure as well as the window heights.
It's not 100% on, but it's just not as close
as you can get with new construction.
So we're not going up to the full 38 feet necessarily.
We're matching what we have next door.
We have some more modern materials, some synthetic wood,
some metal paneling, large windows to allow in light.
And what we have here is just an additional zoning plan that was submitted to the city showing the overall elevation and your yard.
As you can see, we have a substantial rear yard for the use of the downstairs unit is 18 feet deep, 16 foot, pardon me, 16 foot, eight inches wide.
So members of the board in this instance, due to the existing multifamily structures already in the block, we're not doing anything that messes with the character of the neighborhood.
our height is what within what's allowed under the zoning code we tried to match
in terms of total design the adjacent property as well the hardship here is
simply that this lot is better suited for two-family use we're a single-family
home constructed of this size and dimensions on this lot it would also
become relatively unaffordable compared to having two units with the
construction costs as they exist today with the market prices what they are
today. When we held this community meeting, members of the board, I believe it was with
the Friends of 47th Ward, it was an outdoor meeting that was socially distanced, and I was
told to call into the meeting, which I did. As I understand, this meeting was run by Dorothy Kelly
and Ms. Louise Bundy. I did make a phone call. I answered, to the best of my abilities, any
questions that were asked of members of the community who were present. The meeting was
held outside in front of the storefront in the 1600 block of Cecil B. Moore. And I did my best
to accommodate the RCO's request with respect to dropping off 25 packets of the zoning materials
that I've shown to the board today, as well as making myself available by phone or by email for
any additional questions that members might have. I believe that Rustin Ohler is on the line right
now. Rustin, if you might raise your hand so you can be sworn in.
hello uh chairman members of the board how are you
hey rustin will you please state your name spell your last name and give your address to the record
yeah rustin oler o-h-l-e-r harman deutsch oler architecture 1225 north 7th street philadelphia
EPA, 19122.
Rostin, are you swearing a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Thank you. You may proceed.
Rostin, you've heard my presentation today.
Have you been involved in any other development in this area?
Has that development involved multifamily, whether two or three family or more?
And have you received prior variances for other properties in this immediate area from this zoning board?
Is there anything you'd like to add with respect to my presentation today?
Is there anything you'd like to add with respect to my presentation today?
And do you adopt my testimony otherwise as your own?
Thank you.
Members of the board, we're happy to take any other questions you may have at this time.
Frank, is your audio out?
Yeah, he's going to come back in.
All right, I'll just hold.
does the board has any questions until frank gets back yeah i'm back can anyone hear me
yes we can i know i have to there's a second time this morning i had to leave and come back in
all right questions from the board no anyone else anyone else who'd like to testify in this case
please raise your hand here we have mary jones from the council president's office
you miss jones you are still under oath please identify yourself
yes hello mary jones um from council president daryl clark's office room 494
um we just ask that the decision be held until uh we can get a letter from the rco unless it's
been sent um i plan to follow up with them uh today and they said it was on the way thank you
so again we do not have a letter from the rco is that correct tanya and or sharon
i don't have anything i don't either members of the board this is leo mulvihill speaking again
I had been in touch with Ms. Kelly and Ms. Bundy after our presentation, and after a presentation that I had with this board last week for the property at 1800 Master, they indicated they would be sending a letter in last week for both properties.
I haven't heard anything from either of them since, though.
Okay, so what we'll do is we'll resume this hearing on, could we do it next week, Tanya?
Really, it's more about getting a letter from the RCO than anything.
Do our chair.
All right. So, M-I-2020-000688-1302 North 18th Street. This hearing will be resumed on Tuesday, October the 20th at 930 a.m., at which time the board will consider any feedback related to the RCO's position.
Thank you, members of the board. I will be present for that as well, then.
Thank you.
Thank you. Have a good day.
You do like this. Thank you.
Okay, next one up is MI2020-000546-3008-Clifford.
And our attorney is Jeffrey Young.
this is sharon saletta revised plans have also been submitted for this i've reviewed the form
if you should approve it it would be revised plans one page one page thank you yes uh good
Morning. You swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, for nothing but the truth?
Yes. And do you agree to waive the reading of its refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes. However, as Ms. Saleta mentioned, we have submitted revised plans that would eliminate
the dimensional refusal. Okay, great. Have you emailed an exhibit packet with the required
documents, proof of ownership, proof of tax compliance, copy of the refusal or referral,
folders and plans five days prior to this hearing?
Yes, the documents were emailed.
However, we have been having difficulty
of obtaining a tax clearance.
We asked that the board hold a decision
until we cleared this hiccup up.
Excuse me.
Great, great.
Also, have you met with the RCO?
I'm sorry, confessor, I didn't mean to interrupt.
I can check on the tax status