Cases continue to 7.3025 at 9.30 a.m.
And number 14, oh, on 14, we already took care of that.
Okay, so we're going to go to our add-on list.
number one mi 2024 005 975 92 30 cambridge street i vote no
michael johns my vote is no charl gaston my vote is no tenetta graham my vote is no
I win. My vote is no.
Thank you. Number two, MI 2024-006-135-6147 Market Street.
I vote yes with proviso. Hours of operation, Monday to Thursday, closed at 10 p.m.
Friday to Sunday, closed at 11 p.m.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes with proviso.
Charles Gaston.
My vote is no.
Tana Graham, my vote is yes with Proviso.
My vote is no.
Thank you.
Number one on our regular list, MI 2023-001-365-2108 to 12 North 6th Street.
Adam Laver is the attorney.
Don't worry, do you have comments before we start?
only we'll just want to note in general for today because we had to start hearings later
due to the delayed opening we may have to a lot shorter time to cases and have more resumption
hearings because of that so just wanted people to to be aware we may not be able to take as long
per case as we normally do mr laver could you please state your name and spell for the sonographer
Mr. Chairman, members of the board, Adam Laver, L.A., Villas and Victor, E.R., Blank Rome, 1Logan Square.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Yes, Chairman Bergman, I do.
Our board member, Tenetta Graham, has a couple questions for you, sir.
Good morning. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal, and do you stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, Member Graham, I do.
we proceed and someone right can someone show me how to do that so mr labor just for i can't hear
you can't hear you mr johns can you hear me now much better yes all right mr labor before we start
there is a letter of opposition from apm and also a letter of opposition from council member young
but there is also six letters support sent in
thank you chairman bergman
We're almost there.
Thank you for your patience.
Thank you.
I'm looking to join right now.
Mr. Laver will be rejoining as a panel shortly.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
Did I have audio and video on?
Again, let me...
All I begin screen sharing, please.
on the screen before you mr chairman and members of the board is a conceptual rendering of the
proposed project that i'd like to share with you today
I'm here on behalf of 2108 North 6, LLC, which does business as Fringe Development Group.
Excuse me, Mr. Lever, I'm sorry to interrupt.
I just want to note for the record that Mr. Johns, Board Member Johns, is recused from this matter.
Thank you.
Sorry, proceed.
Not at all.
Principals Alan Nadav and Jordan Leibowitz are local Philadelphians participating virtually.
They have appeared with me before this zoning board previously.
They have established themselves as invested, hands-on landlords who care for the people and communities in which their properties are located.
Within just five blocks, for example, of the subject property, the subject property is at 2108 North 6th Street.
But on the screen before you, you can see Allen and Jordan's apartments at 1613 Germantown Avenue, which I'll touch upon later.
This project is a testament to their high standards and to their reputation for quality development.
Allen and Jordan purchased the Sixth Street subject property about four years ago.
Their vision is to transform the 12,000 plus or minus square foot underutilized parcel, which is auto repair and towing, both nonconforming uses, I'll note, into productive uses.
uses that serve the community and i'd submit truly affordable luxury to borrow a phrase
that we uh hear a lot about you can see uh existing photographs of the subject property
here we are looking at the view from sixth street and here from marshall street as the property
runs through in addition to alan and jordan whom i have mentioned also with us in the virtual
hearing room are francis villanueva who's the project manager designer of sandbar design
mark paul principal architect with pomegranate llc and benjamin cromey uh who is a managing
partner with ch planning land use uh experts uh who have appeared before this board before
I'd like to move to some street view photos. As you can see, the subject site simply is not serving the highest and best use. In the upper left hand corner is the subject property that you saw a moment ago, and I'm trying to give you a sense of the surrounding photographs.
As noted at the outset of the hearing by counsel for the board and Chairman Bergman,
the proposed redevelopment of the site has elicited divergent opinions. We recognize that.
But I'd like to note that this came particularly before revisions have been made to the proposed
uh proposed project and we have revised proviso plans that have been submitted to zba council
project, and we have revised proviso plans that have been.
during the course of lengthy dialogue with various stakeholders development plans were refined the
plans presented today have been revised to reflect input from community members civic design review
suggestions etc notedly the community engagement process herein began in march of 2023 which is
nearly two years ago looking at the calendar but i'd like to bring to the board's attention some
notable changes which i'll go through with you number one the proposal has seen a reduction in
overall residential dwelling unit count from 80 residences to 60 residences the addition of two
bedroom units throughout the project which is about 15 percent of the overall mix which i'll
share with you in detail also balconies for a sense of outdoor space connection with the streetscape
etc we have also added class 1a bicycles to the project 66 spaces which effectively eliminates
the original refusal for bicycle parking green space has been added in green roof and greening
along the side sides of the property not to mention of course streetscape itself along the sidewalks
with street trees as well importantly for this project uh alan and jordan have embraced uh the
housing choice voucher program and opening the door for all and really would like to see this
development as a model for for that program uh in this neighborhood and in the city in the civic
design reviews advisory recommendations of december 20th 2023 the committee noted in part
that the front setbacks proposed materials and density were appropriate for this site
i recognize that those are advisory recommendations but very much touch upon the points uh the issues
that this board considers and i would submit that the input of of that body is important in this
respect on the screen right now you can see some aerial contextual images um on the right of the
screen where it says germantown avenue that is the portion that actually for this subject property
is sixth street uh six uh meets germantown as you can see in the photo and board members probably
know and uh the property runs through to marshall street a more residential street uh at the rear
and that's something that the plans uh take into consideration the parcel itself is quite large
Rather than design a by-right multifamily proposal, which would probably involve oversized, too large homes, challenging affordability in the community and without parking, Allen and Jordan have instead worked to meet the scope and spirit of the zoning code, rather than the black and white letters of the code, designing residences for the community.
uh here is a photograph that shows the subject property sort of off in the foreground to the
left and you can get a sense of the mix of existing structures uh that if they were built today
actually would not uh meet the the code uh here uh is one last photograph that i wanted to share
at this time we're looking from marshall street towards sixth street the red and blue roof would
be the subject property in delving into this application we believe that this board will
properly find that sufficient hardship exists to grant reasonable variance relief turning to the
specifics of the proposal before you as residential living has expanded throughout this neighborhood
the subject property the current uses uh really speak to underutilization
of course there's a need for uh auto body shops uh inappropriate locations the existing auto body
shop fronts on sixth street at the top of the photograph runs through to marshall street the
red part at the back here we have some conceptual renderings for the board's review the team
The team has proposed, we're looking from 6th Street being the front, the pedestrian entrance to the proposed property.
has proposed we're looking from 6th street being the front the pedestrian entrance to
The team has proposed a new six-story residential building designed by Philadelphia Team Sandbar to include the 60 residential units that I mentioned, the reduced number.
Ground floor commercial off of 6th Street, you can see some exercise bicycles, some fitness facilities.
right now it's proposed for a gym uh and 25 off-street automobile parking spaces 66 class one
uh bicycle parking spaces uh here uh is the view from marshall street superimposing the conceptual
rendering into the existing conditions and the team has very much thought about what happens
hopefully after this project gets built what is built on either side what's existing the
interplay with all of that the resident experience from inside but the community experience from the
outside so there's a sensitivity in the setbacks which i'll go into greater greater depth on from
marshall and from uh sixth street and also on each side the um the balconies and the use of windows
and light with the recognition that hopefully something comes we don't want to see uh communities
don't want to see empty unused spaces on either side and we actually have explored um unsuccessfully
to this point uh some coordination with some city agencies that have interests in properties
close by to potentially be a part of um greening uh playgrounds etc even though we haven't been
able to achieve that result at this time we are invested and hope to do it in the future and again
as we have this discussion with you members of the board i really go back to the fact that alan
and jordan are not new in philadelphia's communities and the proof in the pudding is what
they've done so far we regret that not everyone's on board we hope to get them on board in the
future the dialogue doesn't end on this day zoning map the site itself is owned cmx2
with nearby rm1 as well you can see that rm1 to the left across marshall street the existing uses
as we know are non-conforming let's get to the heart of the case and the zoning refusals i've
taken the liberty of adding some highlights to try to pinpoint uh the the topics refusal number one
25 residences are permitted based on this footprint 60 with the updated plans have been
proposed the subject property is located nearby to historic residential housing stock local
businesses that are desperate for patrons as we try to emerge from the pandemic the proposed
development would enhance and create positive synergies and why this number because more
reasonably sized residences definitely provide number one greater density to meet the goal of
housing affordability to create homes designed for the community and density to support local
entrepreneurship so yes we could go to down to the concourse level and probably get an
over-the-counter permit that does not meet the scope and spirit of the code or the goals of
this administration the proposed multi-family housing use is most consistent with the residential
character of the surrounding neighborhood more than steadfast adherence to non-conformities at
this location um i'd like to just take a moment to touch upon transportation and if you have this
density coming into the neighborhood it certainly has an impact well how is how how are we positioned
to address this potential impact we are actually naturally transit oriented at this site not
officially so but uh but naturally so the 47 bus stop is steps from the front door of the proposed
residences and off to the left in green you can see it's within walking distance of the scepter
railway getting back to the refusals as the plans have been refined the class 1a bicycle parking
has been provided at more than twice the code requirement so that refusal has effectively
so that refusal has effectively been eliminated so if we have that off the table let's go to
been eliminated. So if we have that off the table,
the second refusal which is maximum occupied area maximum occupied area of the lot is 75
for an intermediate lot more for a corner lot as the board knows uh we we have current conditions
as to this refusal which create an existing non-conformity the proposed 95.92 percent
lot coverage does actually fit contextually I would I would submit within the community within
the surrounding area if you look as I did at housing stock and other structures close by and
you saw that perhaps to a certain extent in some of the aerial photographs that I shared earlier
which I'm happy to bring up later if the board wishes.
This is an urban development.
It's designed to interact and interface with the surrounding area, with the public realm.
It is the antithesis to an insular suburban development.
That doesn't mean that the team doesn't want to provide green space,
but to do it in a creative urban context.
And that is what has been done, as noted by CDR and others, with the green roof, with the greening on the sides, and with, although it isn't formally reviewed at zoning in most instances, to put in as many street trees as possible.
so we all know that we have to work with uh utilities and such but uh more is better rather
than less when it comes to that and uh that's what allen and jordan have done with their
with their other developments final refusal the third refusal is the code height limit of 38 feet
significant issue i recognize the proposed development shows on the refusal up on your
screens 75 feet to the to the highest point uh to the roof however what has been designed and
refined along the way is to have setbacks on the top two floors and those setbacks are really
artfully i would suggest thought out because it respects the scale of the um neighboring
properties and the variety of heights of surrounding structures sometimes i appear before
this board and it's very clear on a street that every other uh residence is two stories
that's not the case here um site context and massing really needs to be taken into context
look on the right of the screen at the property across the street not a new one been there for
at for a very long time i don't have the exact height but you can count you can count the stories
and you'll see in a moment in the plan that uh has been prepared by the design team how they've
really tried to to address uh the height here's a longitudinal section on the left uh is marshall
street that more residential street and on the right is uh sixth street and germantown avenue
and unfortunately let me see i feel like some of the plan is not showing on your well i don't think
there's anything i can do about it but on the right where we see all of us you would be seeing
on the plan that structure that i just showed you in the photograph rising to a little bit
above 51 feet six inches or so and on the left you can see uh that marshall street is is is lower
it it varies but that this property with these setbacks does try to take that into consideration
situation, particularly for the pedestrian experience. Here's a great plan, I think,
to give us a sense on this height issue. So we are looking at 6th Street, and 6th Street
is a 77-foot right of way. That's really large. Most Philadelphia streets do not have that.
So how am I getting that number? The cartway is 52. The sidewalks are 13 and 12. And then,
in addition to that, on the top left is the setback that I mentioned, which is a full 12 feet.
Not five feet, as is often the case in plans that have been presented before this.
is often the case in plans that have been presented
before this board, but 12 feet.
So you really get a sense of wide expansiveness,
particularly on Sixth Street.
And in this plan, you can see what I was trying to show you
on that last plan, but it was cut off the 51 feet,
six inches on the right,
which is what we're trying to relate to
before we do the top floors setback let's also look at marshall street i don't want to hide
every anything i want everything here to be uh completely transparent marshall street um
is actually still a pretty uh wide street 50 foot right of way uh with the 26 plus 12 plus 12