out how are you are you planning to move the property line or i can speak you can't have
windows on the property line yeah that is that is correct wait a minute wait a minute who's
talking evan is the project architect we can all right evan could you please state your name as
bell for the stenographer sure it's evan litvin e-v-a-n-l-i-t-v-i-n you swear or affirm to tell
truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do counsel please proceed i think mr johns had a
question go ahead yes um actually andrea if you could go to the rendering i think it might be
helpful to explain yeah that that uh ariel one if you go back there we go perfect so actually
there are not windows on the property line the existing masonry has openings and we're going to
leave them open but the fire separation distance will be maintained as you can see these are
existing openings where the building is actually right up against the property line the openings
are filled in so it's open to a light well and to an exit passageway only
okay okay okay okay okay okay i see it now got it
Yes, I have a question about the rear yard and is it, how is it accessed by the tenants? Because I see there's a courtyard for the sort of rear building with that interior stairwell. So they each, every unit has the two egresses, but how are they accessing the patio?
the patio is only accessible to the ground floor unit that's a private unit so all egress is going
to go out through the front and that's what that's the purpose of the exit passageway on the first
floor to the is the door missing here or is it oh is that a sliding door through the yeah slider
yeah understood okay but everybody does have access to the courtyard and the plaza and then
the roof decks yes okay perfect other questions
questions from our attorney hillary emerson not at this time mr chair
since your comments from the virtual audience
planning commission madison matera planning commission staff the comprehensive plan
recommends no change the existing rsa 5 residential single family zoning at this location
two existing buildings sit on this 3500 square foot lot and there is documented history of
previous multi-family use given the size of the lot seven units is in character with the
surrounding neighborhood the building on fairmount ave is currently non-conforming at 38 feet and six
inches the pellet has not demonstrated that the proposed height of 46 and a half feet is the least
minimum the planning commission recommends the board grant the requested variance for seven
and dwelling units and grant the requested variance
for height with proviso max 38 feet, six inches.
If I may, I'll just respond quickly to the height. Because we are adaptively reusing the rear, the additional height allows us to get back the GFA that we're demolishing in the rear of the property, but also level the floor so that they match up with the front of the, of the prop, of the front structure.
If I may, I'll just respond quickly to the height
because we are adoptively re...
all right so mi 2026 000 234 329 to 31 fan round avenue i vote yes with proviso revives plans four
pages stamped by cba on march may 13 2026. michael johns my vote is yes with proviso
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes, with Proviso.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes, with Proviso.
Diane Wynn, my vote is yes, with Proviso.
You have, let's see, your number 10.
Thank you very much.
Who's doing 10?
Oh, I'm doing 10 and 11, yes.
Oh, okay.
All right, I got it.
All right. MI 2026-000-236-56-69 East Armat Street. Council, could you please state your name? You don't have to spell it, just state your name.
Yes, Andrea Solomon, and my client is here, Kyle Leslie, so I'll ask him to step up. I'm also going to switch over, if that's okay, to plug my computer.
whatever you want to do you have the 12th ward with uh serious support and council member bass
has also sent a letter of support
our our board secretary has a few questions uh good afternoon council did you submit your
documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing we did and do you waive the reading
of the review home stipulate to its accuracy i do and you can share your screen and begin your
presentation thank you thank you very much okay this application is for the change of use at the
ground floor of an existing structure to add artist studios the there's no proposed changes
to the height or to the the existing structure the property is located in a commercial auto
commercial zoning district and so the proposed use for artist studios is not allowed
as chairman bergman stated we did receive the support from cindy bass actually and my client
kyle leslie is here and he can speak to this they're working with the councilwoman's office
to find tenants community-based tenants for this space
we also received the support of the coordinating rco the 12th award democratic rco
The property is at the corner of Kenyon Street and East Arment Street. It has 46 parking spaces. It is a large 14,000 unchanged square foot property that formerly housed child care facilities.
and I believe it was also a foster office that they helped adoptive parents and foster parents.
It has then, since they left, has been sitting vacant. My client acquired it about a year ago
and has not been able to find a single tenant that is able to occupy this large space. As you
can see it's set quite set back from the commercial corridor of chelton avenue and it's in front of
this extra space storage facility across kenyon street and on the other side it is facing a
warehouse for verizon wireless so not a lot of foot traffic and a difficult place to find tenants
So, what we're proposing, and here are the images of the street frontage, Kenyon Street, Armit Street.
This is Armit Street, one of the entrances to the lower parking level.
What we're proposing is in this corner of the ground floor space to add artist studios and break up for smaller tenant spaces.
What we're proposing is in this corner of the ground floor.
We're envisioning really community driven asset, and that this becomes an asset for for local artists to be able to come in, set up shop, emerging artists to really have a place where they can create.
This is the interior of the property. It's quite vast. This is the actual space that would be subdivided into the artist studios and more images of the interior of the property. It has a large storage space in the back.
um we did actually get a permit for the second floor of this for an adult
care facility that tenant has since dropped out but the the vision for this is to really be
community spaces and it's been difficult to rent out such such a large structure in this location
the it's just for the one part of it over this is just for the one part of it yes i have the
our application
here we go so this is the ground floor level
again there's 46 or so parking spaces and this corner of the ground floor level
level is what we're proposing for the subdivided artist studios
We've seen this model be successful in other areas in Philly.
This is the former U of Arts building and they're renting, subleasing these spaces for, for studios of smaller footprints so that they can come in and create the posting notices.
so that's that's the proposal um if we can swear callan i'm sure we can talk a little bit about
the green light on the bottom yes all right could you get close that's fine could you please state
your name then smell spell it for the stenographer calfani leslie k-h-a-l-f-a-n-i
leslie l-e-s-l-i-e do you swear referring to tell the truth told truth nothing but the truth
yes counsel uh mr lovely you saw my presentation is it true and accurate to the best of your
knowledge yes and you adopt it as your own testimony yes anything else you would like to add
um yeah actually i think uh i've had other projects that have been solely more residential
mixed-use developments and this was one that honestly i'm struggling with because
the use for it is is not really a network i have which i think would be beneficial for
the community city organizations to use vast amounts of this building in different ways
So this is just one concept that is proposed as an idea, given that this space is available specifically and work needs to be done in this part of the building anyway.
But this is a small portion of the building where other offices, community-based organizations could be involved and pretty much share the space.
the intention is not really to you know build a giant structure at the at this location it's
really to use it for what exists in that neighborhood and i just don't have those
kind of connections within the city or to get this in front of them so artists is and that's
why you've been working closely with the council's office to to find community-based tenants right
correct so that's that's really the goal for this building i think of i'd love for organizations to
take a look at it because then they would understand the scale and how it could actually
be used so this is the first step okay questions from the board yeah what are the other uses that
are happening right now the rest of it is vacant so we're only talking about this portion as artist
studios and then whatever's coming next is still tbd yeah offices businesses again we had the we
had the second floor was going to be an adult care facility but that tenant dropped out hopefully we
can find a similar entity and the artist studios are only happening at the first floor level or
first floor level or like yes
like, yes.
okay other questions nope so i just thought something just as you talk as you talk that
this is a way to get this building activated on the first floor okay all right and that's
been the the input from council and and in the community okay i got it i mean i think
so have you interviewed or talked to any artists in the planning of this i have you have yes okay
because i will just say um your comparison to the via building is it's a wide comparison because
like both locationally but the building the other building also has a lot of other wraparound
support spaces for the artist um i'm one of the tenants that's going to be in that building
or I should be moving, at least starts on Friday.
And like most of the building is not individual artists.
The draw is all of the like other space.
There's a gallery space.
There's like things that artists need.
Whereas this looked very utilitarian, like the matrix.
It was a bunch of cubicles.
I also feel like artists typically need a lot of like water,
right, like most art things either need water.
And like, I didn't see a lot of water hookups
on this building.
So I do question a little bit how this is going to function as a really great studio space. They also need lots of light. These are very tiny windows and fluorescent lights. So like the things that typically artists would want, or that most fine artists would need, the building currently doesn't look like it's supporting. And so I'm a little curious, like without some of those other supportive spaces, how this is going to function as an arts community.
yeah it's so it's it's been vacant and i i think you're right the hope is that we have all these
other bigger tenants that are drawn it becomes a really community-based space that makes sense
most of that has little to do with the use and more with the layout of the space but i do think
like as you're developing it that's something i would i mean think about their options here i mean
if they we have multiple units designed to make it you know affordable attractive but they can be
larger occupy more of the window spaces when we construct it we do have water hookups at two
locations within that area but they weren't shown on that plan that we plan to incorporate
overall this idea essentially came from uh interested tenant who wanted to do a print shop
That would make more sense, because those operate very well on things that look like
basements.
Right.
Well, we didn't even show you that portion of the building, but it's like a warehouse
space.
And that was where the print shop would have been, and you could have walked from the print
shop to these artist studios, and those were students that would come into the building.
So then it would start becoming this kind of environment that supports all of these
So after school programs, things like that.
And that print shop is the business support, which is by right, but is part of this application.
Got it.
Questions from our attorney, Hillary Emerson.
It doesn't sound like the buildings come divided into, like, units or suites,
so it probably wouldn't make sense if the board granted to put a proviso for a specific area,
the way it's set up now, anyway.
Right. It's not subdivided yet. I think we had applied for it on the ground floor.
Okay. Yeah, it doesn't specify that on the refusal, but that that's fine.
So, okay. Thank you. Just ground floor only when we do it.
If the board wishes, yes, we can specify the ground floor. Yep.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I do not see any hands, Mr. Chair.
planning commission thank you Madison Matera planning commission staff the comprehensive plan
recommends a change in zoning at this location from the existing CA1 auto-oriented commercial
to CMX3 commercial mixed use under the recommended CMX3 zoning artist studios are allowed by right
planning commission recommends the board grant the requested variance for artist studios
and my 2026 000236 53 to 69 east armat street i vote yes with proviso ground floor only
michael johnson my vote is yes with proviso cheryl gaston my vote is yes with proviso
i am mcadams my vote is yes with proviso i win my vote is yes with proviso
thank you for coming in sir good luck with your project thank you appreciate it um
So, MI 2026-000267, 1935 Huntington Street.
Andrea, just state your name. Andrea Solomon. And could you identify your client, a relationship to this property? Yes, my client is LOD LLC, and here on behalf of LOD LLC is Evan Lipman, who was already sworn in.
Andrea, just state your name.
Andrea Solomon.
and i see a letter from council member squilla and also there's uh east kendington neighbors
association am i correct great our our um board secretary has a few questions
good afternoon council did you submit your documents and exhibits five days in advance of
this hearing we did and do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy
I do. Then you can share your screen and begin your presentation. Thank you.
Okay. Thank you very much. This application is for the demolition of the existing structures and a lot line adjustment of two parcels, 1935 East Huntington Street and 1944 Herald Street, combining the two parcels and then readjusting to subsequently create three parcels.
uh we received the support from ecna
this uh parcel is located on hunt it fronts two streets huntington and herald street as you can
see it is an oversized and irregular lot that is zoned for RM1. Sorry, so many today.
It's zoned for RM1. We're proposing to more regularly subdivide the lot and
follow the context of the neighborhood to create more regularly sized parcels. The refusal is due
to the fact that even though the parcels will be similar in size to the others existing on
the block and in the neighborhood, they will be below the required lot size. This is East Huntington
and Harold Street streets where the proposed lots are, the existing structures that are proposed to be demolished, and again, it's a primarily RM1 block.
There is various zoning, but you can see the parcel sizes are really similar along Huntington Ave.
Here, there's other very similarly sized RM1 lots.
We're proposing this lot area diagram breaks it down further and the more immediate blocks, including, in addition to the lots that I just showed,
are very similar in size. The three resulting lots that we're proposing,
K, L, and J, will be in conformity with the other existing parcels, also zoned RM1.
The zoning site plans gear the lot lines as existing and as proposed,
and elevations of the eventual proposed development which would be by right
here they are again a little bit more closely and i'm happy to
turn the mic over to evan for more questions but it's the again the the refusal is just for the
resulting lot sizes nothing to do with the what's going to go on yeah okay bring evan on
evan yes evan just for the record could you please state your name you've already been sworn
sure it's evan litman okay council evan you saw um my presentation
And is it true and accurate to the best of your knowledge?
Yes, it is. You adopted as your own testimony.
I do anything else that you are you would like to add or
i think we can we can take questions for from the board any questions that you have
so once these are subs once the slot is subdivided will the rear yards comply yes