ZBA Hearing - May 13, 2026

really quickly like this was an application for one tenant that tenant backed out after we got

community support my client was lucky enough to secure this other tenant so we're hoping to

My client was lucky enough to secure this other tenant. Um, so we're hoping to, like, you know, maybe.

From some of that stuff up, you know, between now and the community meeting and from the board.

All the questions Hillary, we're going to go right through the process. So, right to and right questions from our attorney.

It's Emerson not at this time, Mr. Chair, questions or comments from the virtual audience or this audience here.

i do not see any hands mr chair planning commission madison matera planning commission

staff the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing rsa 5 residential single family

zoning at this location this property received a variance for new construction multi-family with a

vacant commercial space in 2020. before the planning commission recommends the board grant

the requested variance for prepared food shop hillary we're giving the data we're just going

when it comes back so alan if we did um if we scheduled the vote for june 17th do you think

that would be enough time or do you think you need more time we need the community meeting so

i'm not 100 community meeting 617 right oh do we no i think it was on may 27th

so yeah june 17th would be great okay you also have to put in the request and get the amended

refusal so that's right too so we'll do that we'll seek you know leave of the board to do that too

yep okay all right let's go yeah june yeah we'll go with um we'll schedule the vote for june 17th

june 17th uh at 2 p.m will be the vote thank you well to leave it open for community yes right yes

so we'll so we will leave the record open one for the amended refusal and two for the results of the

rco second rco meeting so if they want to send a letter they can do that and then you can send

a response that's right if necessary so that's what we'll leave it open for

otherwise you're doing you're doing number e2 uh that would be uh 1959 bridge street yes i am

All right. MI 2026-000-229-1959 Bridge Street. Alan Nockamson is the attorney. Mr. Nockamson, could you have already been sworn just to state your name for the record?

Alan Nockamson.

And Mr. Nockamson, could you identify your client and the relationship to the property?

My client is 1959 Bridge Street, LLC, and to my left is Mike Ripka, its representative.

And we have a non-opposition from Wissahickon Civic Association

and non-opposition from Council Member Lozada.

Our board secretary has a few questions, Mr. Nogles.

Good afternoon.

Did you submit your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?

Yes.

And do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to us accuracy?

I do.

then you can share your screen and begin your presentation thank you

all right so we're here oops i went always the back so let's go i was just looking at

things while prepping so let's go always the front all right here to present uh 1959 bridge street

It's a corner property at the corner of Gilepsy and Bridge Street.

It's been a vacant lot for as far as you can go back in time because Google Street View only goes as far back as 2007.

Although this is an RSA 3 property, the surrounding area, you know, both has RSA 3 and RSA 5 properties.

They're multifamily and there's multifamily nearby.

So what we're requesting and the variances we're seeking are not out of character.

in general so we have 11 exhibits uh you know 24 7 design is the architecture firm uh in charge of

this project uh if necessary christopher johnson the architect's representative is here to answer

any questions and like i said to my left is mike ripka the owner's representative this is 2 000

square foot lot we have designed this property to be an rm1 property which is more appropriate

under the circumstance than RSA-3.

You'll see surrounding us is RSA-5 and RM-1.

There is some RSA-3 nearby.

I just think it would be inappropriate

given all the multifamily use nearby.

So we're seeking five-family dwelling.

There is no basement.

It's a corner property.

And we have the following refusals.

The first is the rear yard death.

We're following the RSA 3 requirements of 20 feet.

We're proposing 9 feet, which falls more in line with RM1.

I will say this, we have a setback that we need to comply with as well on the front, which is over 17 feet wide.

which is over 17 feet wide so between the two combined setbacks we're over 26 feet setback in

So between the two combined setbacks, we're over 20.

the front and rear combined if we didn't have to comply with the front setback we would be more than

able to uh to comply with the 20 foot rear yard setback but we have these circumstances that we

need to comply with and we wanted to not disrupt the the facade layout from property of the property

We thought it was more appropriate to have a refusal for the rear setback than to have one for the front setback.

Second refusal has to do with multifamily household living where five is requested.

There's 1966 Bridge Street, 1958 Bridge Street, 1930 Bridge Street are all multifamily just on that block, so not out of character.

The next refusal has to do with the occupied area. We're required under RSA 3 zoning to have half of the lot occupied, that means half open, where it's occupied at 73.3%, which is more in line with RM1.

i looked it up the other non-conforming lots that are you know under similar circumstances 1969

bridge street is full lot coverage 2001 bridge street is full lot coverage in 1943 bridge street

is full lot coverage and then the final refusal has to do with parking while we're in rsa3 property

we're required to have a one-to-one ratio in terms of our parking it would be impossible our our

width of our lot is 20 feet wide we couldn't even put a parking spot not even one from a street

perspective even though we're a corner property because it would be almost impossible to have

even one parking spot and it would be out of character no one else even the multi-families

on that block have off-street parking so for all those reasons we're requesting these variances be

granted we have a letter of non-op oops keeps going back I don't know why it won't show it but

we do have a letter of non-opposition from the community and then letter of support from nearby

neighbors so we did a group like a map showing all the people who are in support of this right

so 1951 19 uh 1957 uh i think it's 1957 1953 1955 bridge but also 52 10 jackson so all the people

that surround us who would be most directly impacted from a light and air perspective

are in support of this project, right?

We've talked about rear yard setback.

We talked about maximum occupied area.

They have no issues with their effect of light and air.

Secondarily, all the people who are affected more so about the density

who are nearby, you can see, are in support as well.

So we have the backup petition.

We have the backup letters of support.

My client diligently did it himself.

And then the aerial view of the property, we're just showing that we're a corner property. But you can also see some of these, like, just as an example, here is full lot coverage. I don't know which Bridge Street property it is, but apples to apples, we have another corner property, which we're not full lot coverage, but, you know, they have full lot coverage there.

so and you can see that here too 1967 would be a non-conforming building structure as well

then maps of the area again if you look at it if we're on the other side of this block city block

and we were here instead this would be a buy right project if this was an rn1 property

and you can see we're across the street from rsa5 and here's some more rm1

we also have ample public transportation to 25 to 26 to 73 to 84 and the 426 photographs of the

property this is the front of the property from bridge street this is the property you know as

far back as google street view goes which is 2007 so it's never been really used at least what we've

seen maybe they had some past as as some residential component this is bridge street from

Gillespie Street this is the two zoning hearing notice posting photos one from

Gillespie one from Bridge. Bridge Street to the right of the property to the left of

the property Gillespie to the right of the property to the left of the

property. Architectural plans and drawings as you can see here this is the

front setback that we need to conform with which hurts us in terms of the

rear yard setback but you'll see for you know these two floors go up you know to

you know for entryway for four of the five units this entryway is just for one

of the units in the rear and again no basement living and then you can see

here in the rear we are providing for outdoor trash storage so that would be

a provide so that we would request that's what we presented to the to the

community and you can see even though you know well you can see our front yards over 350 square

community and you can see even though you know

feet our rear yard is 180 square feet and then in terms of our plans so you can see that from here

we go in this is unit number one which is a one bedroom one bath ample windows so there's plenty

of light and air each of the units have a washer and dryer they're in that utility closet for each

of the units uh instead of uh and then by the way you'll go up to the second and third floors but

here's the entryway direct access for unit number two that's also one bedroom one bath again ample

light and air with all those windows and again you see the utility closet which also includes the

the washer and dryer that's the first floor second floor you go up a flight of steps and the same

thing is one bedroom one bath for units three and units four again ample windows for light and air

also utility closet for washer and dryer in both units and then the final unit is a three bedroom

three bath and you can see it takes the whole floor and again lots of windows bathrooms that

have a separate laundry facility here we met with the community it was actually a well-attended

meeting mr goldberg told me that i think there were i think at least 10 people there i don't

know if the letter of support i don't think it mentioned how many people voted but it was a

well attended meeting we met on March 31st at 6 p.m. we sent it to 87 addresses

that notice proof of mailing of that notice or application for appeal our

notice of refusal which included that in within the application or for appeal our

project information form our deed to property showing 1959 Bridge Street LLC

is the owner of the property and then our certificate of tax clearance I would

ask that um mr ripka be sworn in sir could you uh should make one your microphone yeah could you

get close to the mic could you please state your name as spelled for the stenographer

uh michael ripka m-i-c-h-e-a-l r-i-p-k-a do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth

nothing but the truth yes counsel yeah mr ripka you heard everything i had to state it today about

or zoning matter yes is it true and correct yes and do you adopt as your own testimony i do

specifically would you agree to provide so that trash would be stored outside in the rear

yes thank you questions from the board how are they accessing the trash from the for the outside

from the upper units they have to go downstairs go around the back of the unit and around the

corner and go to the back yes that's correct board member johns i do believe they all also

have i believe the units have ventilated trash closets as well but we would expect that the

the occupants would store the trash in the rear by going outside can you can you go back to the site

clean and what's the what's the building height the building height is 32 feet 5 inches

and where is the so the the front facade matches up with the front facade of the adjacent property

That is right. And we're approximately set back almost 18 feet in the front.

Yeah, the one unique feature about this block is that all of the buildings have porches, and this building proposes no porch whatsoever.

so in terms of context it's it's sort of out of context i'm just looking at the picture

my site plan and i i have not looked carefully but if you look at the picture that's on my site

plan next door to us doesn't and and mike owns in the neighborhood too like i think you actually

own next door right correct i i don't know if that has a porch i think it has a landing

it had a porch the porch it had a porch clearly and the roof was taken off or fell off or whatever

but it had a porch but if you if you pan around the rest of the block every building has a porch

so contextually it just doesn't fit for that block face

Well, I think if, yeah, I can't speak to that. I would say that if the board feels so inclined for us to add a porch, you know, would you have any objection to that?

I would have no objection to that.

so we thank you we can update the site plan to include that that would but the only thing is

i would defer to miss emerson that would would would that that would create a greater

variance because we have an open area refusal or occupied area refusal is um

yeah assuming you're not moving the building we can't I mean like assuming

you're not moving the building anymore too so the rear yard depth that's

already proposed to be the same so if assuming that they include the porch as

part of the area of the building then yes that would result in a higher

occupied area so we'd actually have to do an amended refusal in that case yeah

so I defer to the board if the board feels so inclined and strongly about it

we would our office would have no objection to seeking leave of the zba to file an application

to the amended for amended refusal all the questions yeah what's happening with the is

the garage part of this that white garage part of this parcel uh that's going to be taken down

it is because oh it looks like it was it is part of the parcel but it's going to be taken down

that's going to be because it looks like it's in the rendering yeah that was not intentional like

If you look at our site plan, which just happens to be up, there's no indication.

Can you zoom out, Alan, so the entire plan is visible?

Let me get back here.

Other questions?

Okay, so just to be clear,

the property line ends at the back wall of the garage or is it that alleyway behind the garage

i believe it goes back another two feet another two feet behind the garage okay and so are you

just going to abandon the existing curb cut i would okay i've never used it since i've owned

the property and then trash is going to be in that enclosure at the rear that's correct

okay i don't think that questions any other questions questions from our attorney

not at this time mr chair questions or comments from the virtual audience

Here I have a hand up from a Greg Melvin. I will promote them and they should be back in shortly.

Sure.

Please accept the invitation to panelist Greg Melvin.

red

hello can you hear me hi hi i can could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer

first name is greg last name melvin that's g-r-e-g-m-e-l-d-i-n

right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth

yes sir bregg are you a neighbor yes okay please proceed with your testimony

well um i've been living in blue street for i think the past five to six years now and um mr

mike is a very good intelligent person and he helped us like when you got snow storm he

shove up the snow for us you know bring his his plow so snow for everybody in the block and

i don't think like um parking would be an issue also and because um when the shop they don't close

up the mechanic when close up there's a lot of parking and bridge street and i think what he's

trying to do it'd be a perfect fit for the community you know a nice uplift lifting for

community and i think his idea is pretty good all right greg thanks for taking the time to

cause we appreciate it is there anyone else in the audience yes i have a hand up from a steve dobson

i have allowed them to speak they will be coming back in shortly do you have any other hands after

do you have any other hands after this

um one more from a ryan hipsman okay all right

One more from our

steve dobson has been allowed to speak sir could you please state your name is spelled

footage sonographer yes absolutely steven s-t-e-v-e-n dobson d-o-b-s-o-n we're a firm to tell