ZBA Hearing - February 12, 2025

and the additional 12 foot setback at floors five to six just to put this in um in context

it's an unfair context but it actually shows the effort trying to be achieved the laurel on

rich and house square which i believe is the tallest residential building in in philadelphia

is approximately 50 feet away from neighboring Ritzenhaus Plaza at 1901 Walnut Street,

a pre-war building. So every neighborhood in Philadelphia deserves this type of treatment,

this type of respect. And I thank Mr. Chairman and members of the board that we've done that

here in this proposal this refined proposal so in partnership with the design team and in a

enduring reimagining of the site is contemplated uh on the screen before you is the and i'm trying

to talk quickly because i know we're behind so forgive me uh this is like 1.5 speed uh is the

revised zoning plan depicting the structure that calls for that six-story uh building with the top

two floors set back 60 residences 25 parking spaces where no parking is required where no

parking is required uh basement for utilities only planting of street trees the first floor

for accessory parking off of marshall street we'll look at that in a moment interior trash

storage with commercial trash pickup of course out of the public view uh you won't even have to

have the um haulers come out they'll come in and take take it right out gym and lobby lounge along

sixth street creating that active presence along the larger street here you can see the second of

the two zoning plans uh off of marshall street is the proposed curb cut in and out over there um

uh and the streets department has reviewed this i'll pull this up uh shortly for you to see that

as well here are some street frontage elevations uh we're looking uh here from sixth street

um you don't get a great sense of the depth from the way this is presented but perhaps you do of

the the materials the interaction with with the community and the mix of materials particularly

in the immediately surrounding area here we can see off of proposed off of north marshall street

with the car going in to that off street parking there are curb cuts of course at the existing

auto body and towing operation but this will actually reduce that impact i'd also like to

share side elevations you could have properties that go up again i spoke about the desire to see

the infill to see the evolution of the community the respect for what's there and and what comes

the future so you have some setback to allow light in uh plantings which uh thought will go into

what is appropriate now while there is not structure right next to there and perhaps

when something new comes along we change that planting to be more durable for less light

and i love this elevation to the south where these smaller units have these private balconies

and meet the code desire for more outdoor living um a sense of outdoor living if you will in the

urban environment proposed floor plans uh basement is very simple mechanicals and indoor bicycle

parking which is reached via elevator so it's class 1a fully accessible the ground floor

The ground floor plan consists of the residential lobby entrance and lounge, top right, that's off of 6th Street, commercial space intended for the gym.

plan consists of the residential

lobby

You saw some of that equipment in one of the earlier conceptual renderings, the parking off of North Marshall Street, and the indoor trash storage, which is the bottom left, sort of a creamy color for commercial pickup.

moving up to the second floor and above the residential living floor plans do maximize

natural light we saw that in the side elevations for sure windows and balconies 51 studios are

proposed these are not small studios they're they're probably above average in the city

and nine two-bedroom units have been added.

This is the typical third and fourth floors.

And then you'll recall the fifth and sixth floors,

which are set back 12 feet on each side

in addition to the wide, expansive right-of-ways.

This is an opportunity for placemaking transformation,

tying into the hopeful surrounding infill,

the existing properties

both views and i mentioned that the streets department reviewed the

proposal the revised proposal as well fully vetted approved by the streets

department no conditions unusual but

But we were pleased about that.

We also ‑‑ I seem to be missing it for some reason, but I'll just speak to it.

We also ‑‑ I submitted this to the zoning board.

We also submitted a traffic planning and design trip generation study.

Guy DeMartino, a professional engineer, performed a traffic assessment determining that the proposed uses are not expected to exceed average thresholds.

And in addition to that, CH Planning prepared a professional planning report.

Benjamin Cramey, a managing planner of CH Planning, submitted what is a 14-page report to the board.

I would like to call him as a witness to present highlights, executive summary of the report, and then I would –

So let me – as you know, we're about an hour and a half behind today.

Yes, ma'am.

And what I'd like to do is I'm going to call for a resumptive hearing, and I'd like to do it now.

You pretty much gave us a great, nice presentation.

and then what we'll do is when you come back when we come back you can then put your witnesses on

we'll have the board ask questions and then we'll open it up to the public so what i want to do is

and there's a date here of 3 12 25 so we're going to have a resumptive hearing on 3 12 25 at 9 30 a.m

and and i you know i appreciate you coming when you did you know you came on time and things like

that but we're just nothing else we can do today i understand and respect okay all right thank you

very much i appreciate it thank you mr chairman and then we'll we'll start where you left off

very good thank you start with our land planner

we're going to move on to number five mi 2024 003 374 630 west mayfield street

yesina pedillo bellin and jose antonio bellin it's a pro se and i also believe we have an

interpreter could the interpreter come on first good morning interpreter please raise your virtual hand

Yesenia Padilla is coming back in as a panelist shortly, Mr. Chair.

Okay.

Hello.

Hi, Yesenia.

Jason, did we see the interpreter?

Hi, that's my interpreter, Jessie Padilla, my daughter, because I'm not speaking English.

No, we have to have an interpreter that we provide.

that we provide thank you thank you all right all right jason did we see the interpreter

Oh, thank you.

Thank you.

All right.

Jason, did we see the interpreter?

mr chair i do not see anyone in the audience no one's raised a virtual

hand to step in for the interpretation do we have one one minute jason let's see where we are

okay so here's what we're going to do we're going to we're going to come back to this

we'll call you back in a short period of time we're going to see where our interpreter is okay

okay thank you very much thank you

we're going to move to number three mi 2024 001 773 824 north 63rd street verna anastasio is the

attorney um the recommendation of unanimous support from the neighbors of overrook association

Zoning Committee. Five votes in support. Applicant also provided

support signed by approximately 20 neighbors,

12 from the block.

Mr. Anastasio.

They should be coming back in as a panel shortly, Mr. Chair.

Hillary, just so you know, we're looking for the interpreter for the case five.

okay they should they should be here i know they're they're checking right now

so we'll go to vern's case

If you're in the virtual audience, Mr. Anastasio, please accept the invitation to become panelists.

Morning, Mr. Chair, members of the board.

Morning, Vern. Please state your name and spell for the board's phonographer.

Vern Anastasio, A-N-A-S-T-A-S-I-O, on behalf of Leroy Jones.

Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?

I do.

Our board member, Tenetik Ram, has a few questions.

Good morning.

Do you agree to weigh the reading of the refusal, and do you stipulate to its accuracy?

I do.

Good morning.

Okay.

Thank you.

You can proceed.

Thank you.

824 North 63rd Street.

It's a really big single-family home.

and part of my 146-page exhibit is the history of the property. As you'll see, it has a long

history since the 1940s of a three-family dwelling, and then subsequently it was approved

for 12 units as a boarding home, a single-room residence. We initially put an application in

for a four-family dwelling as you can see here in this application for family dwelling in an

existing structure. Through the process we have developed the plan to bring it down to three

families which of course is its original use back in 1949 and it'll be one unit per floor

and I'll bring it right to you here.

i can always pull back in if you'd like you may have you may have to understood

here's the first floor with the wraparound porch and the entry

taking us into a large living room dining eat in kitchen area

and then beyond that we have of course a restroom and bedrooms

and then here on the outside we have a gated protective area that was requested by the rco

for trash and recycling bins one per unit to be stored inside a wall trash area

for protection from pets

and anything else that might vermin.

Here's the second floor.

Large living, dining, eat-in, kitchen area.

And then we have bedrooms.

and then we have bedrooms and we have the same thing on the top floor

excuse me while I'm trying to navigate these here we go

as you can see again large living dining eating kitchen area and then bedrooms

so the use is consistent with the historic use of the property as i said back in 1949 this became a

triplex. Subsequently, it was a 12-room, single-room residence for 12 units, and we just want to

return it to its historic use. Got some photos of the block. As you can see, it's a rather large

block. Public transportation goes right down the middle. Here's some interior photos.

beautiful old building with lots of good bones

it is in need of some repair property of this size

i mean it's it's disrepair is prima facie evidence that a property of this size could

not be adequately rehabbed and occupied as a single family home especially in today's market

not in this particular area

we have lots of photos

and here's the letter that went out to all interested parties

we had a community meeting back in the summer

zoning hearing that was listed here's the addresses

and here's proof of mailing

101 individual households were mailed

we have our poster and proof of posting again i move into evidence the history

long history of the three family dwelling as well as a 12 unit single room residence

here's the zoning map

here's the vote from the rco overwhelming support unanimous

in addition we have folks on the block who have signed the petition in support

of the appeal. Given the overwhelming support of the community and the RCO, given the long history

of the property being multifamily dwelling, and the unique physical condition of the property,

which makes a single-family home rehab in this particular neighborhood impracticable

and unmarketable, I respectfully request the granting of the variance.

and with that i'd like miss yep miss larry jones please raise your virtual hand

they will be coming back in at the pen thank you

hi everyone could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer

um my name is lariah jones um first name l-a-r-a-i last name j-o-n-e-s do you swear or

firm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes please proceed counsel thank

Thank you. Ms. Jones, did you hear my presentation to the board this morning?

Yes.

Is it true and accurate to the best of your knowledge?

Yes.

You adopt it as your own testimony?

Yes.

Thank you. I have nothing further.

Questions from the board.

I have a quick question. So the RCO, they saw the three-unit plan or the four-unit plan?

We discussed, obviously we presented the four-unit plan, but we went down to three-unit.

as a result of our discussions.

as a result of our discussions.

Other questions?

Do all of the units have access to the rear yard?

They'll have access to the, well, yes, but more importantly,

they have access to the trash area on the side of the property.

Okay, and then do they all have access to the porch?

Yes, ma'am.

Okay.

Other questions?

Commercial trick up.

Question. I'm sorry. Did your plan show the square footage for these units or did I buy things a little fast?

so let's take a look yeah

I think they these are just interior layout drawn to scale

I don't necessarily see that so about what size

these are these are big

I guess what I'm concerned about is on the first floor

I think I saw that there were four bedrooms

yeah what size rooms are we talking about here and then on the other floors it's it's

um three bedrooms yeah um so without context i don't know how how big these floors are

and whether these uh what size um these bedrooms

Well, the. I could ask my client to give us a rough estimate as to obviously the bedrooms have to be a minimum of square footage in order to be approved by the building code examiner when we get our certificate of occupancy.

So that's a default question.