Proceed, counsel.
Yes, Lords. You heard everything
I had to state today.
Is it true and correct what I stated?
And do you adopt it as your own testimony?
Thank you.
What questions from the board?
Mr. Chairman, not a question, but a comment.
It says kitchen permitted in basement, so you can't have a kitchen without an apartment.
I just want to make a comment that I noticed that, Tom.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Right.
Questions or comments from our attorney Hillary Emerson?
yes i just had a quick question for mr knockamson um how many parking spaces did you say there were
Yes, I just had a quick question for Mr. Nockmson.
because this is rsa3 so there should have been a note about the parking spaces on the refusal
there there's one it's it looks like one of those common driveways that you would see in like the
northeast where it's just basically a common driveway and everyone goes right or left behind
their wherever their building is right right yeah i did see the common driveway i just wasn't clear
it wasn't clear from what i could see how many spaces there were because there it may have been
that there should have been a refusal for not having if there's not three spaces for not having
three spaces as well i can't say three yeah i didn't look at the width of the property i i didn't
look at the width of the property so i i don't know i definitely saw one no one parks right right
now so okay i did you know okay okay thank you um questions or comments from the virtual audience
here i see no hands at this time planning commission thank you chairman and board
members david fecto with the city planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends
no change to the residential single-family zoning at this location this property has a
documented history as a duplex dating to 1991. However, there is no indication of a third legal
unit. There is no unique physical condition or circumstance that would prevent the property
from continuing to be used as two dwelling units, and this is a primarily single-family block.
The City Planning Commission recommends that the board deny the proposed use variance
for a third dwelling unit. Mr. Nackas, and what I want to do is really talk to the other board
members about this case in executive session next week. We'll vote on this next week at 2 p.m.
Yeah, I appreciate it. One other point I just wanted to reference.
Sure. And I just thought about this. So in 1991, there was a legal change in the use of the
property to a duplex. It allowed for a bathroom in the kitchen in there. And when my client
purchased it in 2015, that was in existence. And I don't know if Mr. Holloman was trying to get at
this. But like, ultimately, there is a third unit there. It's never been used as such. And that's
why we're trying to legalize that. That's why we're going to sit and talk about this next week.
All right. Thank you. All right. Thank you.
Number seven, MI 2023-003-644-2411 to 43 North 11th Street. William Mafuchi is the
attorney. There's a recommendation of support from the 37th Ward RCO and a letter of support
from Council President Darrell Clark. William Napucci, if you're in the virtual audience,
please raise your hand. He's coming back in as a panelist now, Chair.
Good afternoon, counsel.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
How are you, sir?
Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Certainly. William Maffucci, W-I-L-L-I-A-M. Maffucci is M-A-F-F-U-C-C-I.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Could you identify your client, the relationship to the property?
Yes, my client is the Philadelphia Housing Authority, the owner of the property.
Okay, thank you. And Mr. Holloman, our board member, has just a few questions for you, sir.
Good afternoon, counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to his accuracy?
Yes, I do.
Did you email all of the exhibits and documents as required five days in advance to this hearing?
Yes, I did.
Thank you. Please proceed and share your screen.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the board. With me today are members of the development team that the Philadelphia Housing Authority has put together. I'd like to identify them for the Philadelphia Housing Authority.
we have Zia Rockman, Senior Construction Manager, Michael Leger, Project Engineer,
Neil Berger, Program Manager, and Nicole Ward, Architect. From the architectural firm JKRP
Architects, we have Glenn Werner, the principal of the firm, George Connell, Senior Project Coordinator,
Mark McWilliams, the designer. From the civil engineer, Stantic Consulting, we have Kevin Smith.
From the civil engineer, Stantic Consulting, we have Kevin Smith.
And from the project manager, Dale Corporation, we have Jeff Isberg.
We're here seeking relief from two refusals issued by L&I in connection with our application
for the first phase, Fairhill Apartments Phase 1 of Philadelphia, of PHA's project
to redevelop and revitalize a beloved area in the heart of Philadelphia near Temple University
immediately east of Favreau Square. The PHA's master plan in three phrase phases will cover
355 residential units. Most of the units will be in two existing since 1962 high-rise buildings
on North 11th Street, which will be completely renovated and committed to senior housing.
The others will be in low-rise units, most in the same location as the existing buildings
along Cumberland Street, 10th Street, New York Street today.
Keep on that page.
Critical to the PHA's plan is the breakup of the superblock
and the dedication of land for New Street, Boston Place,
running east to west through the center of the block.
Go to the next screen number three.
Screen number three.
You can see Boston Place is shown on the right side,
on the right screen is the proposed New Street.
uh the city a city ordinance has passed approving the creation of boston place um and
in connection with the subdivision required for this now this screen shows phase one is everything
north of boston place everything in the front of this screen you see the house the existing high
rise is on the right uh the the low rises are to the left there'll be a community center uh
i think what appears there is the north uh the the the top left corner our zoning application
for phase one resulted in two refusals uh one regarding the floor area ratio far and one
regarding the proposed bicycle parking space uh bicycle parking spaces let us address the latter
refusal first go back to slide four go to slide four four right no four
uh go go go ahead go forward
where's the slide
looking at slide number four which shows the bar it's which the by the parking spaces yeah it's
not on that list uh you're getting i apologize mr chairman we had
while she's looking looking for the slide which actually shows you the location of the park
shows you there we go there we go the the bicycle parking spaces have been
Mr. Maffoot we don't see it you may see it but we don't see it I'll just share the screen there
while she's scrolling to that the the uh the parking spaces um the the refusal that was issued
by the examiner reads as follows. 10 class 1A parking spaces are required for the 30 proposed
dwelling units, whereas 28 class 2 bicycle parking spaces are proposed. Again, we've outlined,
we circled in red where the existing bicycle parking spaces are proposed as of this drawing.
I've conferred directly with the plan examiner, Matthew Wojcik, and he could explain that the
refusal did not regard the number of spaces or the location of the spaces but instead only the
type of the bicycle parking spaces proposed. We contemplate what are known as class two spaces
which are open air but he reads the the the code is the code table is requiring class one a spaces
which are enclosed. Now, as a preliminary matter, I think he may have been in error in interpreting
the code provision, the table, which is table 148041, as requiring any parking spaces.
His refusal reads, makes reference to 30 dwelling units, which correlates to the low rise
in a single and double family units that we propose, which numbered 30.
which numbered 30.
Table 14-1804-1 does not require any bicycle parking
Table 14, 1804.
for the low-rise units
or for any buildings comprising fewer than 12 parking spaces.
In any event, when we went to the RCO,
many residents participated,
and all of them were unanimous
in preferring that the bicycle parking spaces be open.
One of them made a comment,
those enclosed spaces would be of no use to us. And in any event, it's important to keep in mind
that the importance of the bicycle parking spaces is diminished here in a project such as this one,
which will be dedicated principally to senior housing. With regards to the refusal regarding
the FAR, the floor area ratio, the fact that the FAR exceeds 70%, of course, is not a condition that
is being created by the development it's a pre-existing historical condition that was created
that is created by the presence of the high rise which was constructed in 1962 many many years
before the adoption of the far uh neither is the far changing substantially with the construction
the pha's master plan will essentially replicate the existing building footprints uh go back to
to slide five uh it's possible that uh the creation of boston and the dedication of boston
pay place increased the far slightly solely by virtue of uh of of decreasing the size of the
footprint of the result in lots but again boston place is a critical component of pha's master plan
it was one of the very first features that was addressed it's been approved by by city council
and it's essential to the success of the revitalization of this area.
In any event, with regard to hardship, recognizing that the hardship warranting relief we submit
is consistent with decisions of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania in Marshall versus City of Philadelphia
in Zoning Board of Adjustment, and of the Commonwealth Court in Davis versus Zoning Board of Adjustment,
Both of which mandate relief from the strict application of zoning requirements, particularly as here dimensional requirements, to promote the reconstruction and revitalization of communities.
Let me walk very quickly through the exhibits that we've submitted.
The first is the zoning permit application.
We've submitted the zoning refusal.
Go to the...
Keep going down.
Here's the zoning refusal, the project information form.
Slide down one more.
Our application for repeal.
Keep sliding down.
The next page should be the certificate of tax clearance and the next two you can slide
through.
We've mentioned already, we have the support of the coordinating RCO of the 37th Ward.
letter of support from uh city council president daryl clark um the zoning posters uh with that
you know we've taken three sets of zoning posters the first of which was 21 days before this hearing
flip on down the um some more about zoning posters
that should be about it right there
took a lot of pictures
took more posters than I thought
with the city
so 14 people
attended the meeting
it was unanimous
yes it was
more people than that
attended but
the vote was unanimous
Here's the letter.
Skip on down to the next plan, the subdivision plan.
Just keep pulling down.
Pull the round down.
Keep going down.
The next is the city ordinance approving the dedication of Boston Place.
The next document is a city plans division depiction of Boston Place as approved.
to slip down, all right.
Here's the Boston place as depicted by the streets
to the city planning commission.
Two quick aerial photographs.
This is the existing conditions you'll see.
One way down, this is a depiction of the completed space.
And then we're not going to go through all of these,
and I apologize, there's so many of them.
And all these properties were acquired between 1958 and 1961 through condemnation proceedings or through agreements in law of condemnation.
The vesting deeds date back that far.
There were 400 pages.
We submitted them all, and we apologized for the technical problems caused by the volume.
There was no deed that merged them all together after they were acquired.
I'd rather be a tax parcel was assigned based upon the merger of title under the merger doctrine of law.
I would like to ask my client, Zia Rockman, who is here to just affirm my testimony.
Thank you.
Mr. Rockman, could you please state your name as spelled for the court reporter?
Ziaur Rahman
Z-I-A-U-R
last name
R-A-H-M-A-N
you swear or affirm
to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
proceed counsel
thank you Zia, you were next to me
did you hear my testimony?