CHAIR, WE HAVE 36 ATTENDEES IN COUNT.
YOU CAN PROCEED AS YOU WISH.
THANK YOU.
GOOD MORNING, EVERYONE.
My name is Bill Bergman, and I will be chairing this morning's EBA hearings.
With me is our Vice Chair, Ismail Shahid.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Our Board Member, Thomas Holloman.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
And our Board Member, James Snell.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Also present is Hillary Emerson, our Attorney, and our Executive Director, Tanya Sunket.
Here's our virtual format.
Be advised, the proceedings are being recorded.
The video will be available by contacting TanyaSunkett at phila.gov.
For the benefit of our court stenographer, we ask attorneys and witnesses to identify themselves before testifying.
If you're participating by phone and you wish to testify, press star 9 to raise your hand and star 6 to unmute.
To enter an appearance statement, call 267-270-5548.
Leave your email address of the property and also the property address of the property in question.
And finally, the question answer box on the screen is not for comments or testimony.
All comments should be directed to our executive director, Tanya Sunken.
Let's look at our schedule for this this morning.
Number 13, MI 2022, 001-365-9212 Delaware Avenue, cases continue.
Number 17, MI 2023-001-775-3213 Clifford Street, that case is continued.
And number 18. MI 2023-000274-3630 Wharton Street, that case is continued. Are there any other requests for continuances?
Good morning, Chair. This is Doreen Blakely, and I will be your co-host today, and I see no hands.
Okay. We have a few cases that we do not have exhibits. MI 2023-001-784-1953, Locust No. 1F. Christy Sangle is the owner. This is the first listing. We do not have any exhibits.
I see no hands, Chair.
So MI 2023-001-784-1953, Locust No. 1-F.
That case is continued.
Mark must be tried.
Also, No. 11, MI 2023-001-810-1327 McFerrin Street,
bernice mars is the owner this is the first listing we do not have any exhibits
no hands chair so mi 2023 001 810 13 27 mcferrin street that case is continued mark must be tried
And number 12, MI-2023-001-837, 1953 Locust, Apartment 3, Christine Sengel from the original case.
This is no exhibits, second listening.
No one appeared the first time.
No hands, Chair.
So MI-2023-001-837-1953, Locust, Apartment 3. This is the second listing. No one appeared the first time. I vote to dismiss.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is to dismiss.
James Snell, my vote is to dismiss.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is to dismiss.
Thank you. And number eight, MI-2023-000265, 1625 North 32nd Street. That case has been withdrawn.
We're going to go to our add-on list here.
Here's our add-on list. MI 2021-004819, 2900 Distance Street. This case is being continued until 11-1 at 9.30 a.m.
Here's our add-on list.
and Mr. Chair this is Hillary I just want to note that this is a resumption hearing
so it is the resumption hearing that will be held on November 1st at 9 30. Thank you. Thank you
and number two MI 2023 002 919 932 New Market Street I vote yes
James Snell, I vote yes
They should give a vote yes
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes
Thomas
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes
All right, we're going to go to our regular list
I'm going to start with number nine
MI-2822-005-179-9568 Wally Avenue.
Josa and Persa Munkin are the owners.
This application is for the erection of an accessory detached structure shed at the rear, accessory to existing single-family dwelling sign and location as shown in plans.
zoning refusal side yard shall be a minimum of 10 feet and side yard shall total 25 feet
thus the side yard between the shed and lot shall be a minimum of 13
feet nine inches a total of 25 feet whereas the plans call for a side yard of six foot three
there's a recommendation of support from greater bustleton civic like
Mr. Munkin
Mr. Munkin
Could you state your name please
and spell for the board stenographer
Josa Munkin
Could you spell your name please sir
M-U-N-C-A-N
the last name
and the first name
J-O-S-A
Do you swear or affirm
to tell the truth
the whole truth
and nothing but the truth
our vice chair has just a few questions for you sir okay good morning sir have you emailed in
all the required documents and exhibits that is needed and required to proceed with this case
what was it i'm sorry we didn't catch that oh sorry i made a little divorce
Have you emailed in all the required documents that is needed to proceed with this case?
Yes, we did email everything.
Thank you.
Please proceed and share your screen.
And screen button at the bottom of the screen.
You need to hit the share screen button.
Share this screen button?
What does he need us to share?
but i guess share the the documents that we have them in the computer right exactly correct
you can do that go ahead which which ones well we begin with the with the path plan
has this has this shed already been built this shed is there for four years when i bought
what i want you to listen to me why don't you show us a picture of the shed okay go ahead
anyone this is this is pictures this is from the back of the property right okay this is that's
the front that's the front of your house in front of the shed there the back of your home that's
the back of the house okay all right show us another photo okay go ahead one by one all the
photos this is from my um from my back of the house a side of the shed towards the back okay
um this is the distance six feet three inches between the property line okay and the shed
go next picture okay um this is the distance between the shed and my um a smaller shed that
was in the property when I purchased, so you have access with the pickup truck to go on the back of
a property if it's any cleaning or anything like that. Right, okay. It's the same. All right.
All right, and you went to the Greater Busselton Civic League? Yes, I did. And you made your
Yes, I did.
And you made your presentation, right?
presentation, right? Yes, I did.
Yes, I did.
Okay, and they were in favor of you?
Yes, they were in favor.
13, that one.
Which one?
Yeah, you have a, bring it up over here.
Which one?
Close this one, and one by one go.
I don't know which one it is.
No, that's your revised plan form. Okay. Yes. No, that's true. You can bring that one. That's this. That's the no, no. Yeah. It might be there.
there's the meeting summary second at the end it's here chris see it rca meeting summary
we're looking for apologies
it's it's all like this this is the one i don't know how to okay all right okay
what's your vote 13 to 1 16 the three okay thank you thank you very much
questions from the board no mr chairman no chair um questions or comments from our attorney hillary
emerson not at this time mr chair questions or comments from the virtual audience
no hands chair planning commission thank you chair bergman and good morning david effecto
f-e-c-t-e-a-u with the city planning commission what was it oh he's with the city plan do you
swear or firm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes please proceed let
this man testify go ahead proceed thank you mr chairman uh um chair and members of the board the
comprehensive plan recommends no change to the residential single family detached zoning at this
location the appellant seeks a dimensional variance related to legalizing a shed the side
yard is approximately half of what is required by the code this is an unusually deep and narrow lot
and although the shed appears to have been built without the benefit of permits it is not a
habitable structure so the granting of this dimensional variance will not injure the use
of adjacent property and so the city planning commission recommends the board grant the
proposed dimensional side yard variance thank you mi 2022 005 179 95 68 wally avenue i vote yes
thomas holliman my vote is yes
gang snell my vote is yes
if you do that one more time we can't we'll hardly hear you
Thank you. Sir, you have your votes.
Number 10, MI 2023-001-803-5644 Pine Street.
Daniel Muckiewicz is the attorney for the owner.
There's a letter of non-opposition from Cobbs Creek Neighbors Association, and we also
have comments from Councilperson Gauthier.
Daniel Malkiewicz is promoted.
Good morning, Chair.
I'm sorry, Chair.
It looks like they declined to be promoted.
Daniel Malkiewicz.
I promoted him.
My apologies.
You hear me?
Yeah, good morning.
Good morning.
Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Good morning.
My name is Daniel McClevage.
My last name is spelled M-U-K-L-E-W-I-C-Z.
I'm here today on behalf of the appellant Chestnut Street Enterprises.
My client is here with me today along with the proposed builder of the property.
All right.
Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
And our vice chair has just a few questions, sir.
And I would note, too, that there's no opposition, non-opposition from Cobb Street Neighbors Association.
And I would note, too, that there's no opposition, non-opposition from cops, Greek neighbors.
Yes. And if I'm unable to answer the questions due to any technical nature, the builder is here.
Okay. So our vice chair has a few questions.
Good morning, counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, I do.
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that is needed and required to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, with the exception of the RCO, Letter of Non-Opposition, I received that just yesterday, but I did provide it when received.
No problem.
Please proceed and share your screen.
All right.
Now, should I, I can, I'll share my screen and I'll run through the exhibits with the board.
You're on.
We're here today.
My client intends to erect a semi-detached structure with a roof deck.
It's intended uses as a single family home.
So what we're seeking is a variance of the zoning code, which requires an eight foot side yard, as well as the requirement that there be a designated parking space for this for this property.
This is in the zone of RSA three. As you can see, my client is the is the record owner of the property, which he purchased in 2020.
Uh, this is, uh, it's an LLC, uh, court's indulgence, uh, as you can see, my, I provided the requisite tax, uh, clearance certificates, um, more recently, I provided one, uh, uh, with submission, uh, that you can see that the tax clearance is valid through November 13th, 2023.
I had my client posted the zoning notice upon receipt.
You could see that the timestamp date of September 11th, 2023.
You could see up top is the zoning notice and below is the refusal.
As you can see behind the zoning notice, this is my client's property.
It's currently a vacant lot, which is on the right side is a is a property.
And on the left side, you'll see in greater detail and pictures to come that there is another property.
However, there's a side yard between the two.
You can see that this is the this is the property that I referenced.
And this is a this is the side yard.
um this is a another time stamp date which shows September 19th
um and this is another time stamp photo which shows the uh the the the date of October 12th
which is last week and my client is here and he can testify that the the zoning notice is still
posted to this day
All right. Board, this is the proposed building plans for the structure. As you can see, it's a three-story property with a roof deck.
uh the current plans provide a uh that the structure is uh 15 and a half feet uh in uh in
width um the this the lot itself is 19 and a half feet uh according to uh the office of property
assessment um on the top you'll see there's a roof deck uh on this side of the property is
the side yard and uh on the right side here is where the uh structure which it'll be adjoined to
uh the as i said earlier the the build the builder is here and he can testify as to
you know the the methods he would use to um you know secure and seal uh the property to
adjoining property um now and it's my understanding that it won't be necessarily
you know secured to the joist but it will be sealed and um you know to prevent any water infiltration
uh these are these are plans of the floor dimensions
these are these are plans of the floor dimensions this is third floor and this is the roof deck plan
as you can see there's uh there are plans for the the basement the first floor
second floor third floor and uh again the roof deck plan
um board what i hope you'll see is that you know the variance that
variances that we're requesting um will not in any way deviate from the character of the
neighborhood uh what I'm showing you here is a picture from uh Philadelphia Atlas um there
the property is currently vacant however you could see that there was formerly a structure
as indicated in this in this drawing um that structure has since been demolished
However, you could see that it was attached to the 5646.
And as you could see, again, there is this side yard between 5644, the subject property in 5642, which is the neighboring property.
This is a picture of the dimensions of the lot, as I said earlier, 19 and a half feet frontage, 80 feet in depth.
uh this is a more recent picture uh from philadelphia atlas which shows uh the vacant lot
and again these are current pictures of the front edge of the property again obtained from atlas
um as you'll see uh again my client intends to build the property essentially in the footprint
of the the the property that that that was uh that was standing prior um as you can see none
of these properties has a uh has a designated parking spaces street parking uh in front of
these properties as as best we can tell um we'll show we'll show other pictures of neighboring
properties which do not indicate that there's any driveway access or any garage you know essentially
underneath the home or any designated parking space so again that's not a deviation from you
know the existing character of the neighborhood this is a 2010 picture of the the property which
again shows that the side yard and uh that the property was connected uh to the 5646
these are pictures of uh the uh 5638 and 5640 pine street um you know what i would like the board to
see is that you know the dimensions that my client's building calls for will you know there'll
be a four foot side yard on his side um that matches and my client can testify this as well
as well as the builder that that matches what you know the the neighboring properties have already
in place um so it as far as the the nature of the side yard it's my understanding that
the other neighboring properties have the same dimensions.
And again, which is what my client intends to do.
He intends to build in the footprint of the previously existing home.
Again, this is a side yard of other neighboring properties, 5636 and 5634.
Again, you can see it's similar as far as the dimensions go.
50 is the sidewalk between 5632 and 5630.
Again, my client, again, can testify as to the dimensions between the properties.
However, it's it's what we believe is, you know, for about approximately about four feet on each side, which is what my client intends to build on his property as well.
This is a letter we sent to the community.
Um, and I, I did provide, uh, uh, notice of mailing from, uh, notice of mailing to the community, proofs of mailing to, to council.
Um, um, so again, I just want to reiterate, um, that, you know, we're seeking the variance, uh, of the side yard from eight feet to four feet.
That, you know, we're seeking the variance of the side yard from eight feet to four feet, and we're seeking that, you know, the city approve a grant of variance so that we're not required to have a parking space.
As you can see from the pictures, none of the other properties in the neighborhood have a similar designated parking space or driveway.
So, Council, why don't you bring on your client and have your client adopt your testimony?
Yes. Now, Mr. Montessor and Zach from Built Modern, if they could raise their hand.
Are they the owners of the property?
My client, Mr. Montessor, is the owner of the property.
What we need is your client that owns the property.
Sure. And he's not with me, but he's here virtually.
So if he could raise his hand so he can be identified.
Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
It's M-U-N-T-A-S-E-R.
My last name is Q-T-A-I-S-H-A-T.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed, counsel.
Mr. Kuntishat, did you hear my testimony to the board?
yes i did did everything uh appear to be accurate yes okay uh would you adopt that testimony as your
own yes um now did you have a uh you're familiar with the uh the reasons for the refusal uh of
zoning right i think i think you've covered that council and he's adopted your testimony
You've got it. You're okay. So why don't we do this?
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Chair.
Questions from our counsel, Hillary Emerson?
Yes, Mr. Chair. Thank you.
So, Mr. Muckowitz, or Muckowitz, sorry, if I said your name wrong, the council office indicated that they would, if this is granted, they would like to see a proviso stating that there would be no visitor accommodations or limited lodging.
Now, visitor accommodations would require a separate variant, but limited lodging is an accessory use, so that wouldn't necessarily require additional permitting. So the board could put a limit on that? Does your client have a position on what's being requested by the council office?
okay uh i mean so as far as i'm aware uh this is just intended use as a single family home i
you know i'd have to discuss that with my client but um is that something that the board needs an
answer on today yes or uh or if that will continue the case no we'd look we'd like uh you know not
to have this continued um uh would it be possible to have a breakout room with my client so i i can
just briefly discuss it with him or i i see he's unmuted himself yeah i'm still here uh mr kutishat
did you did you hear the um request for proviso from uh from board council i don't i didn't
understand what that mean you're not going to run an airbnb no no no what do you mean
do you intend to get an airbnb out of the property no no okay this intends to be
used as a single family home a single family home yes okay okay you'll be comfortable with that
you'll be comfortable with that right yes okay counsel you're uncomfortable right you're
comfortable yes yes i i just wanted to make that confirmation with my all right okay questions or
comments from the virtual audience? Yes, Chair, I have a person with the last four numbers ending
3057. I will allow them to speak. Okay. Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell for the
court stenographer good morning i'm sorry i pressed the key for the wrong address i'm trying to um
comment on 5617 market so i made a mistake sorry that's fine ma'am thank you um any other comments
any other comments from the virtual audience yes a person by the name of yassin i will allow
from the virtual audience yes a person by the name of yes
hi could you state your name please and spell for the court stenographer
hello hello can you hear me hi could you state your name please and spell for the court
sonographer. Yes, my name is Yassin Jouichet, Y-A-S-S-I-N-E, last name J-O-U-I-C-H-A-T-E.
You swear or for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I agree. Proceed, sir. I just sent a message regarding the previous question regarding zoning.
I was going to answer. I am the representative for MedDCD Group working on the architectural
plans for 5644 pine street but it looks like you guys have addressed that question already
so okay thank you thank you thank you for your interest um planning commission
thank you chair bergman and good morning david effecto with the city planning commission
chairman and board members the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the residential
single-family zoning at this location. The proposed dimensional variance is comparable
to other houses on the block, as is the proposed condition of no parking spaces provided.
So the City Planning Commission recommends that the board grant the proposed dimensional variance
for the side yard and the variance from the required parking standards in the code.
Thank you. MI 2023-001-803-5644 Pine Street, I vote yes, with proviso. No limited lodging.
Thomas Holliman, my vote is yes, with proviso.
James Snow, my vote is yes, with proviso.
Thank you, Counselor. You have your votes.
My vote is yes, with proviso.
Thank you, Board. I appreciate it. I appreciate your recommendation.
you. Thank you. Number four, MI 2023-001-806-2915 Tulip Street. Christopher Dean is the attorney.
Recommendation of support from Southport Richmond Civic Association. Vote was eight in support
and three opposed. Letter of non-opposition from Council Member Squilla.
Christopher Dean has been promoted.
Good morning.
Could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
mr dean there was a delay that's fine christopher dean d-e-a-n right do you swear or affirm to tell
the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes could you identify your client the relationship
to this property? Yes, my client is G.J. Holdings, LLC. The principal is Josh Kravitz, who is present
today, and I believe David McArthur, the design professional, is also present today. Our vice
chair has just a few questions for you, sir. Good morning, counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading
of the refusal and stipulate to a back receipt? Yes. Have you emailed in all the required documents
and exhibits that is needed and required to proceed five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, I did. Thank you. Please proceed and share your screen. Sure.
Good morning, Mr. Chairman, members. Again, my name is Christopher Dean. I have the pleasure
of representing G.J. Holdings. Josh Kravitz, who's here today to discuss 2915 Tulip Street,
which is a vacant lot in Port Richmond between Ann and Cambria Streets.
At Pictured, I'm going to go through the presentation,
and if there's any specific questions about the build,
then my client, who's also going to be the general contractor of this project,
he can answer, and any specific questions about the design
that the Board of the Public I have that I can't answer,
David McArthur should be able to handle.
So Pictured is what it looks like today.
It's a vacant lot. It's roughly 15 feet in width and 118 feet deep.
This is what we propose. It's going to be a three-story.
We're attempting to convert a single-family use to a three-story triplex, a multifamily.
Prior to beginning this project, before even applying for the permit, my client did go through the area.
this project before even applying for the permit my client did go through the area to get to to
to gauge whether they would support such a project and he actually did receive overwhelming support
and that's why we've moved forward with this this is just a 3d rendition it could be subject to
change but we we felt uh the majority of the black and you can sort of see um does have the gray there
was a gray stucco so that's why we went with that design but that could be subject to change but we
We wanted to have it look as realistic as possible.
This is a picture of the zoning notice time stamped on September 11th, posted to the fence.
And let me zoom in.
This is my client's deed from May of 2020.
You can see GJ Holdings, LLC.
This is a copy of the refusal of refused because of multifamily dwellings are prohibited in the RSA 5 district.
This is our application for appeal.
And these are the plans.
So I'll generally go through the plans.
The entrance will be the front door.
You walk into the foyer, and there will be two staircases.
Well, the first dwelling will be the first floor in the basement with the bedrooms on the first floor.
It will have a rear porch deck, and there's about 40 feet.
It's going to be 40 feet deep of actual patio space in the back.
You walk up to the stairs to hit the second dwelling.
There is a rear deck for living quarters of the second floor.
And on the third floor, the third floor will also have its own separate entrance and a roof deck.
And we do propose trash.
These circles you see here, here, and here will be every unit is going to have their own trash storage as well.
Zoom out.
okay so here's my client's tax certificate tax clearance good through november 5th
as i mentioned my client did canvas the neighborhood um to get a general
sense of feedback of the project he formalized that recently with both immediate
yeah excuse me area the neighbors immediately impacted and those in the surrounding area so
these are the surrounding areas. These are 26 in support. And then the immediate areas,
including the adjacent neighbors. My apologies. So we have 19 immediate neighbors who are directly
impacted supporting. And these are the 19 letters, including the two directly adjacent ones that
seen in the rendition. My client is a, as I alluded to, he's also going to be the general
contractor. So he's going to be on site most days. And for about 10 years now, he's had
continuous relationship with all his subcontractors, local subcontractors. That's very
important to my client. My client's already talked to the neighbors about protecting their
property during construction too, including adding them as additional insured and giving
them an access and indemnity agreement so they're protected. As the chairman indicated,
we did meet with Southport Richmond Civic Association last week. We had an 8-3 positive
vote. We got pretty good feedback from the neighborhood at the meeting. This was a copy
of the zoning notice for today.
And these are all for you
with all of this, but all the proof of mailings for today's
zoning meeting. We also submitted the RCO
to Ms. Emerson, the RCO meeting and proof of mailing to Ms. Emerson
I believe it was yesterday or Monday. So
with that, there's a couple things
things to highlight about what my client intends to do with this and why we think a triplex is
the right time for it. The area itself does have, there is some blight in the area.
Vacant lots are being trashed. This will eliminate that. It is a deep lot. It can fit a property of
this size. And we're going to be able to allow much more affordable, in a time where interest
rates are now, I believe, 9% on single-family homes. Having a triplex with multiple bedrooms
is going to be allowing, I think we're looking at about $1,200 for rent for the units. In a time
And in a time where, you know, rents are just going up, we want to offer affordable housing in an area that supports it. And my client is actually working with the Ukrainian Church of Philadelphia to house refugees.
where rents are just going up, we want to be real.
So he's already met with them numerous times, and that if this is approved and when this is built, that they will – that will be the first call to see if there is a housing need for any Ukrainian refugees.
And with that, that concludes the presentation.
Counsel, let me ask you a question.
Are there any other multiple units on the block?
There are.
There is a – there is.
So it's a lot of – the area is RSA-5, and then there's CMX-1.
So 23, 23rd in Cambria, there was a conversion from a CMX one to a to a triplex.
Thank you. You want to bring your client on? Sure. Josh, could you?
Josh has been allowed to speak.
Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Hi, my name is Josh Kravitz. That's J-O-S-H-K-R-A-V-E-T-S.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed, counsel.
Mr. Kravitz, you heard the testimony I just elicited?
Do you agree to adopt that testimony?
Is there anything else you want to add to the testimony for the board's consideration today?
Just the fact that I've spent numerous days walking through the neighborhood.
I've talked to countless neighbors.
I've tried to knock on every door.
The amount of people that are in support of what we're trying to do here is great.
I tried to get everybody's signature.
They provided phone numbers for contact.
It was overwhelming, the type of feedback I got.
That's basically it.
And can you also just, because I had mentioned your relationship with the Ukrainian Church of Philadelphia, you could just touch on that.
So I have a pretty close relationship with the head pastor of a Ukrainian church based in northeast Philadelphia.
they have um he has a lot of ukrainian families coming in that are uh have nowhere to go right
now um we've we've been able to house them in previous projects that includes uh projects
at 16th and style street 7th and diamond street um uh gerard and 18th these were all multi-family
projects that allowed these families who do not have the means to, you know, obviously
buy a huge new construction house or move into a new construction house, these were
a lot, it basically gave them the opportunity to move into something practical for what
they need.
You done, counsel?
Yes, Mr. Chair.
Thank you.
Questions from the board?
no mr chairman um questions or comments from our council hillary emerson
not at this time mr chair questions or comments from the virtual audience
yes chair i have jennifer bazit low with her hand up i will allow her to speak
hi uh this is jennifer bazidlo b-a-z-y-d-l-o um i just i'm an attorney um and i just hold on do
you swear or firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do proceed uh just
as a point of clarification the permit uh the variance that was granted for 2301 cambria
Street. I represented a neighbor, a near neighbor, in appealing that decision, and the Common Pleas
Court has overturned the granting of that variance. Thank you for your input. Thank you.
Thanks for the information. Mr. Sherrod, this is Hillary. I want to add to that. I was just
advised that that case has subsequently been appealed to Commonwealth Court, so it is still
litigation. Correct. All right. Thank both of you. Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
Yes, I have a person by the name of Dominic. I will allow him to speak. Okay. Good morning. Could
Good morning. Could you state your name, please, as spelled for the court stenographer?
you state your name, please, and spell for the court sonographer? My name is
My name is Dominic Chacon, C-H-A-C-O-N.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir.
Please proceed.
I am a neighbor of this property. I was actually approached by Josh on Monday, so I will say he did go in the neighborhood. Kudos to him.
um we fought very hard to make everything rsa5 in this neighborhood we're still fighting for that
uh we have 900 units or more coming up like four blocks away uh this isn't needed and we really
need affordable single family homes that's really what i have to say uh i know he said that there
was interest in this um i'd be interested to know how many people were against it uh the zoning board
the SPO, or sorry, SOPA, SOPO, was very late notice. I got it on the 2nd. The meeting was
on the 11th. It just wasn't enough time. Thanks for listening. Thank you for your input. Anyone
else in the virtual audience? There are no more hands, Chair. Planning Commission. Thank you,
Chair Bergman and members of the board. Good morning, David Fecto with the City Planning
Commission. The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the residential single-family zoning at
this location. The zoning on this block dates to 1973. During a 2017 zoning map change,
the single-family zoning on this block was left unchanged. There is no unique physical condition
or circumstance of this lot that would prevent it from being used in conformance with the zoning
code. The City Planning Commission recommends the board deny the proposed use variance for three
dwelling units. Thank you. MI 2023-001-806-2915 Tulip Street, I vote no. Thomas Holliman,
my vote is no. James Snell, my vote is no. Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is no. Thank you,
counsel. Thank you, Everson. We're going to go back to the beginning of the list here. Number
1. MI 2023-001-870-5617 Market Street. Henry Clinton is the attorney. Letter of support from
Achievability. Mr. Clinton has been promoted. Good morning, Mr. Clinton. Could you just state
your name please and spell for the court stenographer sir good morning mr chairman yes
henry clinton h-e-n-r-y clinton c-l-i-n-t-o-n right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth
the whole truth nothing but the truth i do our vice chair 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 i don't have you know then all the required documents that is needed to require
yes except for the letter of support from the community that came in uh prior to the five days
so everything else is is in thank you mr planton please proceed thank you mr chief
can you see my screen mr chairman the
no henry we have a bunch of the emails we're saying here it is now it's up now all right
thank you uh good morning mr chairman members of the board henry clinton on behalf of uh the two
owners of the property i'll spell their names for you marzina m-a-r-z-e-n-a urbaniak u-r-b-a-n-i-a-k
and Wojtek, V-O-Y-T-E-C, Splato, S-P-A-L-D-O.
And also Brian Murphy may be on the call
because I understand that Wojtek and his wife
are at the doctor's for some unknown reason
I found out this morning,
but Brian Murphy is also on the call.
So this is my table of contents
containing exhibits A1 through A11,
which I ask to be admitted into evidence.
It contains a typical document you would see
in a presentation such as this. The refusal has to do with the use, Mr. Chairman. This property
is in the shadow of the L at 5600 block of Market Street. I was before the board in 2018
on the exact same project with the exact same refusal, but as a result of the pandemic and
rising material costs and labor costs, my client did not get a chance to start the project.
Therefore, his zoning permit after three years lapsed.
So we're back in front of the board basically asking for the same thing that the board
So we're back in front of the board, basically asking for the same thing that the board approved four years ago, except we have a better, in my opinion, a better rendering for the front and side of the building.
And I think you'll see from the letter of the community group, they agree with that.
So basically, this is a use issue.
It's an RM1 zoning district.
And we're asking for commercial on the first floor.
The reason being, as the chairman may recall, in 2010, the L was finally finished after a 10-year project.
During that 10-year period, businesses were decimated on Market Street below and underneath the L, and the community wants to see if they can reinvigorate that commercial use.
And so my client is stepping in and suggesting commercial use on the first floor with three dwelling units above.
That's the background.
This is the Achievability's letter, and as you can see, that we did make extra efforts to design a structure closely aligned with the culture and design of other properties in the area.
Achievability is attempting to revitalize the commercial district in West Philly, and that's one of the main reasons they were supporting this project.
And the letter speaks for itself.
This is what the area used to look like about three years ago, four years ago, at the first time around, a dilapidated house next door.
This is my client's lot to the left.
People were dumping trash and debris in the front of both properties.
Since that time, the property next door has been completely renovated.
It's now a duplex.
The lot's cleaned up.
And in the background, there's a building.
This is 5619 Market Street.
This building is a four-family dwelling.
So we're going to be situated in between a four-family and a duplex.
Again, just some more photographs of the board for perspective.
And here's the L, obviously running east-west on Market Street.
My client's vacant lot is right here where my cursor is.
Again, some more photographs showing the posting of the notices.
Our plans are rather straightforward.
In the basement and first floor, that would be commercial.
We have a handicapped bathroom.
There's access to the rear yard for trash.
On the second floor will be a one-bedroom.
On the third and fourth floors, this is a bi-level.
Third and fourth floor rear will be one unit.
Third and fourth floor front will be another unit.
Each unit will have two bedrooms.
And then each unit, the reason this was done by the architect,
I think, rather smartly, was so that each occupant on the second, excuse me, on the third and fourth floor would have access to a rooftop deck.
So they would have some open space, as would the second floor unit getting out to the rear yard.
This is the elevation.
Again, really a lot of nice detail by the architect.
Limestone at the bottom, all brick facade.
protruding bays with pilasters, some nice cornice work at the top, the same thing on the front of
the building. It really does have a nice stately look. So in that sense, the project is new and
improved, to use an iconic phrase, because when we presented the project back in 2018,
this is what the project looked like. It wasn't as much detail as there is now,
and the project wasn't as rich as it is now.
This is the zoning use permit that the board granted back in November of 2018
for the same thing that we're asking the board to, again, grant a variance.
Today, three dwellings with personal services or business offices
on the first floor, basically, of commercial use.
And this was a notice of decision.
I was the attorney back then, and I had the same client, the same architect.
that. This is the refusal from 2018, basically the same verbiage as today. And then I just
wanted to show the board that the remaining documents are the pro forma documents, the
application for the appeal are indicating that there are no real estate taxes owed with
regard to the property. This is the deed concerning ownership, a notice letter to everyone,
and the RCO meeting. They also pamphleted the area. And then the zoning records. I mentioned
that across the street at 5619 was a four-family dwelling. This is proof that in fact there is a
four-family dwelling there. Mr. Chairman, this request is basically what it was three years ago.
Nothing has changed. The neighborhood is slowly increasing in viability, as you can see from the house next door that was completely renovated.
that was completely renovated we're not going to impact any uh developments later air uh we're in
We're not going to impact any developments later here.
harmony with the plans for the neighborhood or market street and we're in harmony generally
with the code so with that mr chairman i'd like to rest and uh i can have my client adopt my
testimony please have your client come on okay uh voytech are you there were you able to get
back from the hospital and if not brian murphy are you on the call can you raise your hand
your virtual hand
Mr. Murphy
I don't see any hands raised
how about
I'm sorry I do see Brian Murphy
his hand is not raised
Mr. Murphy can you raise your hand
could you state your name
and spell please for the court stenographer
Brian Murphy, B-R-I-A-N-M-U-R-P-H-Y.
Do you swear if we're going to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Proceed, counsel.
Thank you, Mr. Murphy.
Mr. Murphy, you were on the call when I presented the Voightech's project.
And you're here on behalf of Voightech because he and his wife were both at the doctor's, correct?
And if you had the opportunity to testify on Voightech's behalf, would you adopt my testimony as your own and as true and correct?
Thank you, Mr. Murphy.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
Yes, Chair.
So, Mr. Clinton, if I heard you correctly, there's only one commercial on the first floor, and then you have three units on the second, third, and fourth floor, or are we just going to three stories?
Yeah, there's a commercial on the first, and then there's three units above, under 38 feet, but there is a fourth floor.
So there's a floor which is under 38. Okay, no problem. Thank you.
Thank you, man. See you.
Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Emerson?
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
yes chair i have a caller with the last four numbers 3057 i will allow them to speak
okay hi could you state your name please and spell for the court stenographer
please unmute yourself and wait for the chair hi state your name please and spell for the
court stenographer please my name is yvette carr that's y b as in victor e-t-t-e car c-a-r-r
I own the property at 5601 Market Street, and I did hear them say that they, someone say, that they went around and got community support.
No one asked me how I felt about this, and I do have some questions because we've had a bad problem with when it was a store at 5605 Market Street, and it was a smoke shop, and they had a lot of problems.
They closed it down.
It's been closed now for a little over a year.
But my problem is what I want to know is with this 5617 market is what type of businesses and professional and personal services are going to be on the first floor?
That's my first question.
My second question is for these apartments where they said they're going to have one bedroom on the second, and I thought I heard them say that they want to have two bedrooms on the third.
And the way I read this notice is I'm assuming that the fourth floor is going to be these roof deck accesses, whatever they are.
And also, I wanted to know, are they going to have private trash collection?
Because we've had a problem in this neighborhood, as I said.
5605 was a smoke shop.
It's since been closed because they had a lot of drug dealing around this corner at 5605.
for two years straight it was torture now 5609 which is a couple of doors from 5617 what they're
trying to do 5609 is a duplex i assume and a lot of the guys that were in this neighborhood selling
drugs live in 5609 so i want to know and they're still doing what they did and and 5605 was such
torture that they just, the drug
boys just took that store over
and it's closed now, thank
God. 5535
The 5535 market is now a smoke shop, too, and it's the same problem that it was at 5605.
Market is now
a smoke shop too and it's the same
problem.
So that's why I really want to know what they're doing at 5617.
So I want to see who else has issues in the audience, and then we'll have the attorney can respond for us.
Thank you.
Appreciate you coming in.
Is there anyone else in the first audience?
No, Haynes Chair.
Mr. Clinton, would you want to respond before planning takes a position?
Certainly. On the refusal, it does indicate business or professional use. It's not going
to be a retail location, so it's not going to be a smoke shop. And if we have a use beyond
professional and business, we'd have to get a use permit and basically come back before the board
and back before the community again. And this was the type of question that was posed by the
community group and and my answer there is the same as it is today it's it's going to and we
said to the community if anybody has any use that they could use or anybody wants to use the the
building on the first floor we don't have a tenant so we're looking for somebody okay thank you very
much planning commission thank you chair bergman and board members good morning david vecto with
the city planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the residential
multi-family zoning at this location this property has been zoned multi-family since 1971.
there is no unique physical condition or circumstance of this property that would
prevent it from being used in conformance with the zoning code the city planning commission
recommends the board deny the proposed use variances for personal services and business
and professional offices. MI 2023 001 870 5617 Market Street I vote yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Thank you, Councilman.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the board.
Number two, MI 2023-001-872-105 West Oxford Street,
Jennifer Brazillo is the attorney.
There's a letter of opposition from South Kensington Community Partners
and a letter of opposition from Councilmember Lozada.
Jennifer Bezidlo has been promoted.
Good morning.
Good morning, Counsel.
I think I already swore you today, right?
You did?
So, could you just state your name for the record?
Jennifer Bezidlo, B-A-Z-Y-D-L-O.
And could you identify your client in relationship to this property?
my client is dylan thompson sevick uh and he is the property owner and applicant and our uh
vice chair has just a few questions okay good morning counselor do you agree to
read the reading of the refusal and stipulate to exactly i do and you know then all the required
documents and exhibits that is needed and required to receive this case i believe in advance of the
hearing? Yes, the RCO letter was mailed in after that, but I had submitted proof of the meeting
five days in advance. Fair enough. Fair enough.
One second here. All right. Okay. So, like I said, I'm here today representing the property owner,
Mr. Thompson Savick. He owns the property and is currently living in it. So we're just going to
run through the exhibits and then I'll come back to the ones that are relevant to my presentation.
But I just want to show the refusal. It's just one for visitor accommodation.
Here you can see that Dylan is the property owner.
and we have no property taxes owed on the property. This is the letter from South
Kensington. We'll come back to that as well as the proof of mailing. There's our zoning notices.
We'll come back to these photos as well. Photos of the property, aerial views of the property,
the zoning map for the area. We're going to come back and talk about the financial analysis as well.
Our house rules. And then this is just showing the floor plans of the property. It's a single
family home, set up as a single family home. So let's just come back to, sorry, let me get back
to the pH I want. All right, so here we have, so 105 West Oxford.
All right, so here we have, so 105 West Oxford is an RM1 property.
The lot is about 750 square feet.
It could be two units by right, but right now it is only one unit.
The home itself is a little under 2,000 square feet and set up as a five-bedroom, two-bath home.
As I said, Dylan and his wife Sarah are currently residing in this property as their primary residence,
But they are looking to purchase another property in the immediate area and use this property for visitor accommodation.
So I know that we have a residential zone property that we're asking to be used as Airbnb or visitor accommodation.
But I want to talk about why this is a reasonable application given the location of this property.
Um, so if we look, uh, here, um, this is the property immediately across the street from my
clients. Uh, this is a, this property is, um, zoned IRMX, uh, Airbnb, a visitor accommodation
is a by right use in this property. Uh, right now this property is a, uh, mix of commercial
businesses and 114 residential rental units. Every single one of those units across the street can be
an Airbnb by right. If we then look to also see the property that's immediately adjacent here to
my clients at 101 West Oxford, as you can see, this is a property that is a really large CMX 2.5
property. This is the rear of my client's property. You can see that this, and this is the back of
101 West Oxford here too. It completely encapsulates my client's property. We can go to the
aerial view. As you can see, this building wraps, this commercial building wraps all the way around
his. And the only other two properties on this block, other than this large IRMX and this large
CMX 2.5, are these two RM1 properties. We also have a parking lot for the nearby elementary
school. So we have something that's really not a residential block at all, and we have a property
that's absolutely surrounded by commercial uses.
If we go also a little bit further out
and we look at what's going on
on the immediately adjacent block,
which is Front Street here,
let's just go back to show the photos
of where we're located on the street.
So like I said, this is my client's property.
This is looking west down Oxford.
And this is looking east from his.
As you can see, we're right by the L.
is the property immediately adjacent to the properties on Front Street.
So we go to the zoning map here.
As you can see, if we look a little bit further out on the immediate blocks adjacent on Front Street,
we have more IRMX, which again is Airbnb visitor accommodation by right.
This building, this is the large 114 unit building we were discussing previously.
And then we have CMX3 on the other side of Front Street over there, which again allows for visitor accommodation by right.
So as you can see, while this property is zoned RM1 for residential use, we are surrounded by commercial properties.
And the other, there are only two other homes on this block, and it is mostly large rental and mixed use commercials and the immediately adjacent blocks under the L are also commercial industrial mixed use, many of which allow this use by right.
So if, you know, we're talking about, we understand that there's concerns about Airbnbs in residential neighborhoods, but this is not a residential block.
It's surrounded by the commercial properties, and we're allowed to look at the surrounding uses of a property when determining what is an appropriate use and determining if there's a hardship for granting a variance.
I do want to also note that our request to use this as a single visitor accommodation unit is the minimum variance necessary to afford relief.
We're going to talk a little bit more about some hardship later, but I just wanted to mention now, again, this could be two units by right under the code in RM1.
We are sticking with one unit and one visitor accommodation unit.
So let's just go back to the RCO letter.
One second here. All right. So we did meet with the RCO on September 27th. 81 properties were notified of this meeting. There were two community members who came to the meeting.
One second here.
All right.
So we did meet with the RCO.
Both were voted in opposition. However, I wanted to note that these were not the property owners of the adjacent residential property and were from farther out in the community.
they had a couple of the general opposition was a general opposition to Airbnbs and not
specifically to my client in general. There was some concerns, again, about some of the issues
that Airbnbs can cause. To that, I wanted to talk a little bit about our proposed house rules.
So let me just go there. Next. One second. So these would be the proposed house rules to help
control any sort of problematic behavior. We have a minimum of two night stays. That usually helps
to eliminate a lot of like the party rentals. We also have a minimum age of 21 plus. All guests
that are going to be at the property must be listed in their one booking. And there will be
strict quiet hours, trash regulations, and also a strict no party policy. Fines and penalties in
place should those things occur. And any violations of the rules and regulations would
be grounds for termination of the rental through Airbnb. I do like to mention at this point that
if you have a problematic Airbnb guest, it is much easier to get them out of the property than
if you have a problematic long-term tenant. I do understand the concerns. However, I think it's
worth noting that we've all experienced bad tenants for long-term rentals too, and they
were impossible, you know, that we had to deal with for years and years and years. Anyway, so I
want to go back to some of the other issues brought up by the RCO. One second, sorry, I just
left my place in my notes. So again, the other general opposition was just that, you know, this
is a residential property and should be used for residential purposes. As I presented earlier,
While this property is zoned residential, it is surrounded by commercial uses and properties that with this use would be allowed by Wright.
Literally, if this variance was denied, we could have a single family home facing a 114 unit Airbnb, while they are not allowed to have that same use themselves.
The other issue that was brought up was that they would like to obviously see this as a long term rental instead of a short term rental.
So at this point, I would actually like to turn this conversation over to my client, Dylan, who's going to go over why that's not a financially viable option for this property.
So, Dylan, if you could raise your hand so that they can unmute you.
Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Dylan Thompson-Sesek, D-Y-L-A-N-T-H-O-M-P-S-O-N hyphen S-E-V-C-I-K.
All right.
Do you swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Council proceed.
So, Dylan, I just want you to discuss a little bit.
I know you did some financial analysis about what the cash flow would look like on a long-term rental versus a short-term rental.
And if you could just walk us through those numbers and how you came up with them so that you concluded that it was not financially viable to have a long-term rental in the property.
Absolutely. Jen, do you mind scrolling up to the long-term one or down?
Yeah, sure.
Yeah, right there.
So the two immediate single-family homes adjacent previously are occupied by long-term tenants.
The one immediately adjacent, however, did just sell.
And at the time, they were renting for about $2,550.
And that's what I used as the projected monthly income there.
The house next door to that one, so two doors down, also on the same block, was renting for about $2,600, a little bit bigger of a property.
So I based off the $2,550, and this is kind of what I included.
the PITR or principal interest taxes insurance on the property is about $2,300. And with vacancies
and repairs and everything like that, it ultimately came out to a little bit of a net loss on a
monthly, as you can see under the monthly cash flow with the negative $75. And that was accounting
for uh approximately five percent vacancy and five percent um maintenance as well uh for the short-term
um uh maintenance as well uh for the short-term rental numbers uh uh doing the same analysis for
the most part with the primary principal taxes insurance uh and everything like that and also
including uh utilities and everything like that i have the monthly expenses at about 3200
uh and then i based the monthly income off of air dna data which pulls data from airbnb
and any Airbnbs in the local area.
I primarily based off a property
called Palmer in the Park
and they had about 60,000 in revenue,
60 to 70,000 in revenue.
And that's where I generated that monthly income,
which shows the monthly cashflow there of 2,800.
That's all I have, Jen, for that.
Great, thank you.
I just wanted to add to the, that I forgot to mention before, in terms of regulations, my client would be providing contact information to the local RCO, as well as counsel if there was any issues to get a hold of him for guests.
And with that, Dylan, I just want, I need you to adopt my testimony.
So did you hear my testimony here today?
And do you believe it to be truthful and accurate?
Yes, I do.
And would you adopt it as your own?
yes i do great thank you questions from the board no mr chairman no chair no chair
questions or comments from our attorney hillary emerson not at this time mr care questions or
comments from the virtual audience yes chair i have megan riley with the hand up i will allow
her to speak i could you state your name please and spell for the court stenographer
Hi, my name is Megan Reilly, M-E-G-A-N-R-E-I-L-L-Y.
Sorry.
All right.
Do you swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Please proceed.
So I am the property owner of 107 West Oxford Street, so the property directly next to this building.
I am proud and fortunate to have just bought this neighborhood.
and I've been renting for the past two and a half years in the adjacent area based on the zoning I
bought the house with the understanding that this is a residential area not that I could potentially
be living next to a makeshift hotel. I don't think it's fair to compare Front Street which is
commercial to the side streets off of Front which this house is on and further apartment companies
often ban short-term rental use so I don't believe that the apartments adjacent to the area could
be actually used for short-term rentals. I also have concerns similar to the neighborhood
organization about increases in litter, increases in noise disturbances. Many short-term rentals
in the city have been used to host frequent large loud house parties. And especially considering
that we share an alleyway that opens up to both of our backyards, I have concerns about property
damage as well as personal safety due to the short-term rental. Thank you for taking the time.
I have a few questions for Ms. Riley. Sure. Were you aware that the building across the street
was zoned so that it would be allowed Airbnb use was allowed by right when you purchased the
property? Yes, I'm aware that the two buildings are apartment buildings. I'm just saying based
off of my experience with apartment management companies, they often put it in the lease that
they are not allowed to use Airbnbs. Okay, so that would be for individual tenants, not for the owner
of the property, correct? That's good. Yes, that's all right. Thank you. Thank you for your input.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience? No hands, Chair. Planning Commission. Thank you,
Thank you, Chair Bergman and members of the board. Good morning, David Vecto with the City Planning Commission. The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the residential multifamily zoning at this location. The appellant has presented an argument related to local economic conditions. However, for a use variance, the appellant must show a unique physical condition or circumstance, which we've not heard. The City Planning Commission recommends the board deny the proposed use variance for visitor accommodations.
questions thank you MI 2023 001 872 105 West Oxford Street I vote no Thomas Holloman my vote is no
James Snell my vote is no thank you counsel thank you okay number three MI 2023
Thank you, counsel. Thank you. Okay. Number three, MI 2023 001 838 1700 to 32 North Front Street. Adam Laver is the attorney. There's a letter of support from the South Kensington Community Partners, a letter of support from Fishtown Kensington Area Improvement District, and a letter of non-opposition from Council Member Lozada.
adam laver has been promoted good morning mr laver could you state your name please and spell
for the court stenography good morning chairman bergman and members of the board adam laver
l-a-v-e-r of blank rome one logan square you swear for him to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth yes mr chairman i do could you identify your client in relationship to this
property blank room represents 1700 north front owner llc which is the owner of the subject
property at 1700 north front street our vice chair has just a few questions questions
good morning good morning counsel do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate
to its accuracy good morning mr vice chairman yes i do have you emailed in all the required
documents that is needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing yes
I have. Thank you. Please proceed and share your screen, Mr. Laver. Thank you, Mr. Shahid.
Very good. As stated, Mr. Chairman and members of the board, Adam Laver of blank Rome on behalf
of 1700 north front owner llc which is known by its doing business name the fishtown collective
which is the owner of the subject property at 1700 north front street as you can hopefully see
in the aerial image in front of you this is a large parcel which is under construction
with frontages on front street as well as on hope street i'm indicating with the cursor
Cecil B. Moore Avenue, Palmer Street as well.
This under construction project is by right and previously approved.
Principals in the development team include Roland Cassis and Jason Nussbaum, who have appeared before the board many times and are local presences in the community.
They are partnering with IRBY, U-R-B-Y, a hospitality partner.
Here you can see some examples of the development team's projects, which are well-known and
well-regarded in the community.
The development itself, which is underway by way of background, it's been previously
approved for a five-story structure with 200 four-dwelling units, very active, connected
ground floor commercial spaces that interface with the surrounding area.
We're really proud of what has been approved and is under works.
And here are some current contextual photos of that construction underway.
You can see that this is transit-oriented mixed-use prime adjacent to Philadelphia's L
or elevated line.
The site itself, seen here in purple, is zoned CMX 2.5.
You'll also note across Front Street, you have a large swath of CMX 3.
The notice of refusal before you, Mr. Chairman and members of the board.
There's one issue.
The proposed use visitor accommodations in the same structure with other previously approved uses requires zoning board of adjustment review.
It's very important for me to point out this visitor accommodations request is a component to the previously approved multifamily residential with that amazing active commercial space on the first floor.
So the dwelling units have been approved, 204 of them. However, occupancy for 204 units is uncertain in today's market, and a visitor accommodations component to the project would appropriately allow for a viable economic use of the property.
But more than that, respond to a demand for quality visitor accommodations within this section of the city. Quality regulated, appropriate within an integrated community.
This is compatible with the commercial character of Front Street.
character of Front Street. This would be permitted across the street, as the zoning map depicts.
This would be permitted across the street as the zoning.
This is not a request to increase the number of units, but rather to designate less than 15%,
approximately 24 units out of 204 for visitor accommodations. I'd like to walk you through
floor plans that have been previously approved to really demonstrate what I've just shared and also
the tight controls for this integrated community with Irby managing it. So on North Front Street,
you have this beautiful landscaped area with an entry in for apartments and for what will be an
amenity, we believe, to residents and to the surrounding community to have Irby managed
visitor accommodations as a small portion of the project. 24-7 staffing with a lobby,
with security, et cetera. And the visitor accommodation use is dispersed through the
property. I would submit that this is an added incentive for the ownership to carefully ensure
peaceful coexistence with long-term tenants. Here you see a sense of what I'm talking about.
Second through fourth plans outlined in yellow would be visitor accommodations coexisting with long term.
So you may be a young person who has one of the smaller units and have your parents coming in from out of town to stay for Thanksgiving, for example.
You can take a unit here in your own residence.
Or you may live in the neighborhood. People hear about the vibrancy of the neighborhood scene, want to come in, and this is an amenity. They don't have to go into Center City, for example.
Here is the fifth floor plan showing the three units at that level.
IRB itself is highly respected in mixed-use hospitality settings. The presence of visitor
accommodations really becomes an amenity for everyone in the surrounding area. They are
national leader in boutique visitor accommodations. Their program is for longer
stays within the short-term space, if you will, for the security checks for the on-site coverage
that I mentioned. And that's why I think that you see this type of non-opposition and support,
Mr. Chairman, that you mentioned. On the screen before you, Council Member Lozada
expressed her non-opposition. Here you see from South Kensington Community Partners,
the coordinating RCO, and I just highlighted, the highlights are mine. They issued a position of
support, and they noted in their letter the representations that have been made to the
community, which, again, folks like Roland Cassis and Jason Nussbaum, along with a well-respected
partner like Irby stand behind.
Haja, here we have, as submitted, the additional RCO, the Fishtown District, Fishtown Kensington
Area Business District, engaged in several discussions culminating in a support for this
use, noting in their letter, there has been a growing demand in our district for more
shorter stay or hospitality accommodations.
In the instant application, the 24 visitor accommodation units would be spread amongst
the remaining apartment dwellings so that they are integrated into a residential experience.
IRB would be providing branded management for all units, and there would be onsite personnel
to assist guests 24 hours a day, seven days a week. I read that into the record to simply
share with the board that these representations that I've been making have been made to the
entire community. Mr. Chairman and members of the board, this proposal fits into a dynamic,
vibrant commercial corridor in this surrounding neighborhood, the transit-oriented nature.
Those variants would represent the minimum variants that would afford relief.
It will represent the least modification possible of the regulations at issue.
It's an appropriate de minimis component to the overall large placemaking project.
The grant of variants relief will not substantially increase congestion in the public streets,
increase the danger of fire or otherwise endanger the public health, safety, or general welfare.
No change in density overall is proposed. This will not adversely affect transportation or
unduly burden water, sewer school park, or other public facilities. There are no environmental
issues. We have the full team here to answer questions. Roland Cassis is available at the
appropriate time to adopt and affirm. We're also grateful to have had the opportunity.
to adopt and affirm we're also grateful to have had the opportunity to have spoken in advance to
share our proposal with the philadelphia city planning commission which of course will speak
for itself you want to have your testimony adopted counsel very well uh mr cassis would you please
raise your virtual hand and wait for further instructions from chairman bergman roland cassis
If for some reason Mr. Cassis is not available or not able to log in, Tom Hallinan can raise
his virtual hand from the ownership group as well.
Tom Hallinan, I will allow him to speak.
Could you please state your name and then spell it for the court stenographer.
Sure. Good morning. First name Tom, T-O-M, last name Hallinan, H-A-L-L-I-N-A-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Proceed, counsel.
Thank you. Good morning, sir. Have you been present for the entirety of the virtual hearing in this matter?
Yes, I have.
And would you adopt and affirm the testimony that I've offered as your own?
Thank you.
questions or comments from the board no mr chairman chair questions or comments from our
attorney hillary emerson not at this time mr chair questions or comments from the virtual audience
no hands chair planning commission thank you chairman and members of the board david fecto
with the city planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the commercial mixed
use zoning at this location. The appellant has presented an argument related to local economic
conditions. However, for a use variance, the appellant must show a unique physical condition
of circumstance, which we've not heard. The City Planning Commission recommends the board deny the
proposed use variance for visitor accommodations. Thank you. MI 2023, 001-838-17038 North Front
street i vote yes thomas holloman my vote is yes james my vote is yes which no shaheed my vote is
yes mr laver could you please stay on please yes sir thank you so number five is mi 2023
001 839 1351 to 59 frankfort avenue um there's a letter of support from the fishtown kensington
Area's Business Improvement District. Mr. Laver, just for the record, state your name.
Adam Laver. Yes, Mr. Chairman, Adam Laver, L-A-V-E-R. And could you identify your client
and relationship to this property? Yes, Mr. Chairman and members of the board.
Blancrom represents 1359 Frankfurt Associates LP, which is the owner of the subject property.
and our vice chair has just a few questions certainly read away the reading of the refusal
and stipulate to its accuracy yes mr vice chairman have you emailed in all the required documents
that's needed to proceed with this case yes sir i have all right please proceed continue on with
your double bubble for today one more after this mr she'd uh thank you um as as mentioned
Adam Laver of Blank Rome on behalf of 1359 Frankfurt Associates LP, which is the
owner of the subject property, 1351-59 Frankfurt Avenue. I have some aerial photographs on the
screen. This property runs from Frankfurt Avenue through to Crease Street at the rear,
And the ownership team once again does business as the Fishtown Collective,
including Roland Cassis and Jason Nussbaum, Tom Hallinan,
who just appeared before the board, is present on behalf of the ownership.
Here are site photographs.
The site is under construction for previous approval.
And here you see an aerial of a conceptual rendering as previously approved.
for 61 apartments and three retail spaces along the commercial corridor, Frankfurt Avenue.
Two of these retail commercial spaces comprise the subject of this application. Here we are with a
view of the concept from Frankfurt Avenue, and you can see one retail space outlined in red,
one retail space outlined in red one retail space outlined in blue i'll get to them each in a moment
one retail space.
and another view and here we have the zoning map this property is located in the cmx2
commercial zoning district is subject to the neighborhood commercial area overlay district
North Delaware Avenue. This generates the takeout restaurant use referral. This is not variance
relief use referral. There's a notice of referral. Here it is in front of you. One issue. These two
restaurants require special exception relief. Moving to the proposal, you can see a floor plan
once again with the red outline and the blue outline. The fit out of a 2200 ground floor space
for Shake Shack on the left, delineated in red, is proposed, and a 2500 square foot space to the
right in blue for Sweet Green, two known and well-liked restaurants. Each space also includes
a courtyard garden off the street. So here for sweet green, you can see with my cursor,
the outdoor space, and here for Shake Shack, an outdoor space, which is a wonderful thing
that people have come to love. And it also takes congestion off of the public streets.
I'd also like to point out at this moment in time that there is an indoor trash room
and a path for commercial trash going out of the property in as minimally intrusive a way as possible.
Once again, you have a sense of the Shake Shack plan with ample seating, sweet green as well.
and these are just conceptual renderings of what the spaces might look like from
the pedestrian vantage point along Frankfurt Avenue and interior what you might expect
coming into these these two spaces this is a aerial showing the concept with the courtyards
And I'd like to point out that there's a real synergy of interests when we talk about restaurant uses.
We think of noise. We think of odors sometimes.
Well, the Fishtown Collective has a vested interest in making sure that their residential tenants do not view these two restaurants in objectionable ways and rather as amenities.
And every effort is being taken to to make that happen.
and their track record attests to their ability to make that happen.
Here you can see some nice renderings of what those outdoor areas would look like.
The project is supported by the Fishtown Neighbors Association
and the Fishtown Kensington Area Business District.
Here you can see the letter of support from FNA, the Coordinating RCO.
and it references the support for the special exception. It notes that, or allow me to note for
the record, proposed hours of operation, Shake Shack 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Sweet Green 10 a.m. to
10 p.m., and you saw the seating plans that show ample seating, and we also looked at the commercial
trash pickup, the interior storage of trash. No alcohol is proposed, Mr. Chairman, members of the
board. There's venting through the roof, which is very important. Here is Fishtown, Kensington Area
Business Improvement District's letter of unanimous support, noting that the neighborhood
oriented retail along Frankfort Avenue meshes nicely with what's proposed. It's respectful to
Crease Street in the rear, which is more residential. There is one additional retail
commercial unit that's not before the board right now. We believe that that will likely
fit within what's permitted in the district without special exception or other relief.
And we're grateful for the collaboration with the two community organizations. The proposal fits
into the surrounding neighborhood as evidenced by the neighborhood support, speaks to the granting
of relief being of a benefit to the public and within the spirit of the zoning code uh i'll
pause right now we do again have the full team including tom to adopt and affirm at the appropriate
time mr chair okay one of you bring one uh mr hallinan would you please uh once again raise your
Mr. Hallinan, would you please once again raise your virtual hand?
virtual hand
There he is.
You've already been sworn. Just state your name for the record.
Sure. Tom Hallinan.
Proceed, counsel.
Mr. Hallinan, you've been present for the entirety of this virtual presentation, I believe. Is that correct?
And would you adopt and affirm the testimony that I've offered as your own?
Yes. Thank you.
So are you comfortable with the proviso? Outdoor dining areas to close by 11 p.m.?
Yes, Mr. Chairman.
Okay. Questions on the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions or comments from Hillary Emerson, our attorney?
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Questions from the virtual audience?
yes i have robert everett with his hand up i will allow him to speak
sir could you state your name please and spell for the court stenographer
yes good morning first name robert last name everett e-v-e-r-e-t-t do you swear or affirm
to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do please proceed i'm a member of
the zoning committee of Fishtown Neighbors Association, just confirming what Mr.
Labor presented and agree with the proviso as well.
That was discussed at our meeting.
Thank you very much for taking the time to call.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
Yes, Chair.
Mark Palazzo has a hand up.
I will allow to speak.
Hi, could you state your name, please, as spelled for the court stenographer?
Certainly.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mark, M-A-R-C, last name Collazo, C-O-L-L-A-Z-Z-O, and I'm executive director for the Fishtown-Kensington area bid.
All right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, sir?
I do, I swear.
Please proceed.
Thank you, and I think we're all in agreement here.
As someone who is entrusted with running a corridor that's in the middle of the neighborhood, it is wonderful,
And I applaud the development team for their careful consideration of the design of this building and preserving the neighborhood components on Cree Street, bringing new density to this prime part of the area, but also finding the right type of retail dining establishments to put here.
It's no accident that Shake Shack and Sweetgreen were chosen in that we're, you know, in building a place with new family density.
It's great to have new luncheon options.
Also, there are hours of operation confirmed with that type of audience.
We concur with Mr. Everett and Fishtown Neighbors to support this project with the provisos provided.
Thank you very much for taking the time to call in.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
no hands chair planning commission thank you chair bergman and board members david effecta with the
city planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the commercial mixed use
zoning at this location the appellant has shown that the proposed eating and drinking establishment
will have no detrimental impacts beyond what might be expected the city planning commission
recommends the board grant the proposed special exception for eating and drinking establishments
Thank you. MI 2023-001-839-1351-59 Frankfort Avenue. I vote yes with proviso. Outdoor dining areas to close by 11 p.m.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes with proviso.
James Stelman, my vote is yes with proviso.
Mr. Laver, please say yes.
Mr. Laver, my vote is yes with proviso.
Thank you.
Mr. Laver?
Yes, Mr. Chair.
7 MI 2023-001-894-1148-62
Frankfurt Avenue. Letter of non-opposition from
Council Member Squilla. Letter of
support from Fishtown Kensington Area Business Association.
And there is also a letter of opposition from an individual
about the roof deck.
correct mr laver just for the record state your name yes mr chairman adam laver l-a-v-e-r blank
room could you identify your client in relationship to this property certainly blank room represents
1148 frankfurt partners llc which does business as altera property group a leo adamondo company
And our vice chair has just a few questions, sir.
and our vice chair has just a few questions sir
counsel do you
Counselor, do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, Mr. Vice Chairman, I do.
Have you emailed in all the required documents that's needed to proceed with this case?
Yes, sir, I have.
Please proceed and share your screen.
Thank you.
As stated, we represent 1148 Frankfurt Partners, LLC, which is known as Altera Property Group, owner of the property at 1148-62 Frankfurt Avenue, with frontages on Frankfurt Avenue, Gerard Avenue, and Dunton Street.
Henry Sullivan is here on behalf of the ownership.
We have previously appeared before this board concerning aspects of Altera Property Group's reimagining of this important site.
You may recall that the subject property includes the historic Kensington National Bank Building, which is here, left portion of the site, where I'm indicating with the cursor.
This historic property is approved for retail, commercial, professional office uses.
And here you can see the rich historic imagery of this site, which actually poses several challenges to its redevelopment.
But Leo Adamondo and Altera Property Group have invested a lot and are committed to investing more to work with the Philadelphia Historical Commission and stakeholders to preserve this important resource in Fishtown for the long term and to find ways for adaptive reuse into the future.
Here are current contextual photos. It was last occupied by Wells Fargo. However, board members, you may recall that Wells Fargo is moving into a new construction portion of the property that would surround the historic building over on Dunton, which is under construction right now.
Now, this is just giving you a sense of the property itself that we'll be talking about
concerning the roof deck.
The site itself is in the heart of the vibrant Fishtown-Gerrard Avenue commercial corridor.
It is zoned CMX 2.5.
Here are conceptual renderings that were shared with the board and other matters to depict the
end project, if you will, being this new construction wrapping around. Not before the
board now, but I just wanted to refresh the board. And there's that Wells Fargo that will be relocated.
so back to the historic kensington national bank building which is approved for retail commercial
professional uses and uh focusing on this lower portion of that the one story portion of that
historic uh property here's the notice of refusal on the issue before the board mr chairman as you
mentioned at the start of the hearing, Leo has proposed the erection of a roof deck at the
second floor level of the existing structure for non-residential purposes. So this would be
accessory to the vibrant office commercial that Altera is trying to attract to the corridor.
and roof decks for non-residential uses are prohibited in the CMX 2.5 zoning district
without zoning board of adjustment review. Altera has worked and they're good at what they do.
They're known in the community for attracting high quality tenants. What they're hearing is
that commercial tenants in an adaptive reuse of historic property like this are looking for
outdoor space. Frankfort Avenue itself is a business district. Proposed variants would be
harmonious with the characteristics of the surrounding area. More importantly, for purposes
of the board's review, no dimensional relief is sought. What do I mean specifically about that?
All setbacks and dimensional requirements for the deck are met under the zoning code as shown in
the plans. And here in the lower right-hand corner, you can see the proposed roof deck
with an existing door right out onto the deck itself. Furthermore, although not directly
Furthermore, although not directly relevant to ZBA review, the Historical Commission has its own concerns about what is seen from the pedestrian right-of-way.
relevant to ZBA review.
So we are meeting all dimensional requirements of the zoning code, and if this project is to be approved and get a building permit, we'll have to meet the requirements of the Philadelphia Historical Commission, which we are absolutely prepared to do.
uh council member squila designated fishtown kensington area business improvement district
as coordinating rco their letter which is a long one that actually uh and i appreciate mr collazo
giving the full history to the board but i've highlighted the relevant sections for the board
on the final page there is support for the project there was an initial meeting on may 17th regarding
this proposed roof deck request and there was a public meeting on June 28th and I hereby certify
to the board and I've shared this information with council that there was full public notice
and that's in the file of the zoning board right now.
Now, Council Member Squilla has, I just found out this morning, issued a letter of non-opposition
following the designation of the bid as the coordinating RCO and recognizing that.
Mark Collazo is here and will likely wish to speak.
I would like to recognize one thing, Mr. Chairman and members of the board.
You have a letter of opposition from a respected member of the Fishtown community, a noted accessibility rights advocate, and we have engaged in discussions with him.
Altera Property Group continues to speak with him regarding the challenges of making the historic protected property accessible.
Although this is not at all a zoning issue before the board, I would like to publicly recognize in this public forum Altera Property Group's commitment to this issue and to working to not only meet all existing code requirements, and I'm not talking zoning code, I'm talking about accessibility and building code, but if possible to exceed those.
And we will do that outside of this forum. I wanted to mention that for the record. We take
that seriously. Leo takes that seriously. This proposal fits into the dynamic, vibrant commercial
corridor of the surrounding neighborhood. Opposed variants would represent the minimum variants to
afford relief and represent the least modification possible of the regulations at issue. The grant of
variance relief will not substantially increase congestion in the public streets, increase the
danger of fire, or otherwise endanger the public health, safety, or general welfare.
There is no change in density to the new construction portion of the project. This
doesn't impact the new construction. In fact, specifically, this is about creatively finding
ways to preserve a historic property with its inherent challenges. This will not adversely
affect transportation or unduly burdened water, sewer, school park, or other public facilities.
There are no environmental issues. At the appropriate time, Mr. Sullivan, on behalf of
the ownership, is prepared to adopt and affirm. And we are all here to answer any questions the
board may have. Can you have your testimony adopted, please, now? Certainly. Mr. Sullivan,
would you please raise your virtual hand? Henry Sullivan.
There he is.
Good morning, sir.
Could you please state your name and spell it for the court stenographer?
Yes, Henry Sullivan, H-E-N-R-Y-S-U-L-L-I-V-A-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir.
Please proceed, counsel.
Thank you.
Mr. Sullivan, have you been present for the entirety of this virtual hearing before the Zoning Board of Adjustment?
I have.
And would you adopt and affirm the testimony that I've offered as your own?
I would.
Thank you.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Chair.
No, Chair.
Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Emerson?
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
yes i have mark collazo i will allow to speak mr collazo just for the record state your name
you've already been sworn certainly good uh good afternoon i'm sorry good morning mr chair
Certainly. Good morning, Mr. Chair. Mark Collazo, M-A-R-C-C-O-L-L-A-Z-Z-O.
mark collazo
Please proceed, sir.
Thank you. And again, I appreciate the time this morning to speak on this project.
I'm Executive Director of the Fishtown-Kensington Area Business Improvement District, who had been designated as the primary RCO for this matter.
And as Mr. Laver correctly put it, we were, I sent a letter highlighting all of our activity.
We've certainly been involved on this project from day one with all the great uses that come with it, as well as the challenges of preserving the historic nature of this Frank Furness building.
This property falls in the heart of our commercial corridor.
So what is essential for us as we see it is to ensure that the historic use is preserved, while also facilitating bringing in office or retail space, which is necessary for our corridor to grow.
As you all know, the way that everyone works post-pandemic is very, very different than what it used to be.
So what we have seen, certainly in our district, in creating spaces that pull in maybe larger corporate clients, certainly as like Live Nation or Red Bull, they're not looking for necessarily just the traditional, here's an office with desks and so forth.
They want to create a creative environment for their employees to thrive.
And part of doing that is actually, and I've had the privilege of seeing this space, Mr. Chair, is to utilize an outdoor space for their employees to use that will allow them congregate together, not only decompress, but also collaborate.
And nothing better than, to be honest, that to be on a space that overlooks what we feel is one of the best corridors in the city of Philadelphia.
It does so without any disruption to any other use.
We certainly appreciate the neighbor who will testify here, as Mr. Lever correctly pointed out.
He is a respected member of our community.
He's not only a colleague, he's a friend and a wonderful advocate.
And I certainly appreciate the property owner's willingness to speak with him to see what, though, again, it's not a zoning issue.
There's no zoning denial here on that, but to try to find something that I think that can provide more accessibility.
But other than that, we 100% support this application.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Any other requests from the virtual audience?
no hands chair okay um planning commission thank you chair bergman and board members good morning
david vecto with the city planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the
commercial mixed use zoning at this location the appellant's proposed non-residential roof deck
is substantially in keeping with the commercial nature of the frankfort avenue and gerard avenue
commercial corridors. The City Planning Commission recommends that the board grant the proposed use
variants for a non-residential roof deck. Thank you very much. MI 2023-001-894-1148
to 62 Frankfurt Avenue. I vote yes. Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes. Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
thank you mr chairman and members of the board thank you very much um we're going to number 14
um mi 2023 000 276 69 26 east roosevelt boulevard thomas kenny is the attorney for the owner
we do not have feedback from the coordinating rco
we do have three letters of support from parents who have used her services in the past
mr kenny thomas kenny is promoted
good morning mr kenny could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer
Mr. Kenney?
Excuse me, Mr. Chair.
I see Jacob Reeder has their hand raised.
Mr. Reeder is an assistant to Mr. Kenney, so Mr. Kenney may be with him.
Thank you.
Good morning, Mr. Kenney.
Unmute yourself, please.
Thank you. Good morning, Mr. Kenny.
Thank you. Good morning, Mr. Kenny.
Good morning. Thank you.
Good morning. Thank you. I was not able to hear some of the dialogue because when I was getting promoted, some of it got caught off.
So why don't we do this first? Why don't you state your name and spell it for the court stenographer?
Representing appellant is Thomas Kenny, bar number 77611, K-E-N-N-Y.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
I do. And the dialogue I mentioned was we do not have anything from the coordinating RCO, but we do have three letters of support from parents who have used the services.
Yes. Mr. Kenny, could you identify your client in relationship to this property?
board and chairman i have the pleasure today of representing uh miss steers uh she is the owner
of the property of 6926 roosevelt boulevard uh mr reader is my paralegal and i'll have him
if he's allowed to have access as well he'll pull up the documents i think he can pull the documents
up for you but before we do that our vice chair has just a few questions for you sir yes
good morning counselor do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to his
accuracy i do sir have you have you emailed in all the required documents that is needed to
proceed with this case five days in advance of the hearing yes we have thank you please proceed
and share your screen thank you very much um sir as i said i do represent miss steers
She is the owner of this property, 6926 East Roosevelt Boulevard.
I'd like to point out to the Honorable Board that about two months ago, I represented a
similar client in a similar situation.
This is a somewhat, I don't think it's a controversial issue.
There's no construction going on.
She is a small business owner.
She's got the right to have six young folks in a daycare center.
That's what she has the right to do.
She's got the permits.
This is the title, and we can just pull up after that.
Jacob, if you go to the permit from DHS, so she's permitted by the state of Pennsylvania to do this business.
And what she has is she's asking for the right to make this a 7 to 12 additional students, kids that can be in her place.
okay stop right there great so she's already she's already licensed by the state she complies
of all the rules and regulations what happened here was she'd like to expand to make the 7 to 12
again like i said there'd be no construction changes uh there would just simply be the right
to have the additional folks we did submit a letter and it's in our package about contacting
RCO. We made over five attempts to have a meeting. I can only presume by them not,
meaning that they really didn't oppose. Sometimes silence means consent. I have no
other way to interpret it other than that. I will say that my client speak in a few moments.
She is a mother of eight. She raised eight children successfully.
Her voice might be a little cracky in a few moments. She just lost her mother
on Sunday night I asked her if she wanted to continue today because she's obviously in the
grieving process she says no my mom is the one who inspired me to bring this program and start
this company many years ago so she does want to speak in a few moments and I'll have her speak
they're really like I said I don't I don't have we have some folks here witnesses I have a letter
support from
a picture of the
property? Yes.
Could you show the picture?
Okay, why don't you bring your client on?
Ms. Steers, can you raise your hands?
Ms. Steers has been allowed to speak.
Can you unmute yourself and wait for the chair?
Good morning, Ms. Steers.
Could you state your name and spell, please, for the court stenographer?
p-a-t-r-i-c-i-a last name is s-t-e-e-r-s i will apologize about my voice that's okay
that's okay do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yes proceed mr kenny thank you chairman
Proceed, Mr. Kenney.
Thank you, Chairman.
Ms. Steers, before I ask you to adopt my testimony, are you feeling okay?
Are you okay going through with this right now?
Yes, I am.
I explained to you this morning that my mom, I lost my mom on Sunday, and my mom was the reason why I aspired to do this dear care.
She named it, so I do want to go on with it.
Okay. Ma'am, if any reason during this, if you want to stop, I'll be glad to ask the chairman for a continuance, okay? Do you adopt everything I've said? Have you heard the entire everything I've said so far?
And everything I've said, is it true and accurate to your best belief?
Yes, it is.
I have some witnesses ready to say some other things but would you like to tell the board why
you feel this would be a good change for the community in addition I've been doing this for
16 years I'm a single mom and I adopt seven wonderful kids all my kids are grown they're
doing excellent and I just want to get back to services and help other single moms teens I deal
with parents that are in the shelter to try to help them to help their kids and plus make their
life better and easier. I love my job dearly, and I just want to provide more help for the community.
Thank you, Mr. Kenney. Chairman, may I call the witnesses briefly? Well, how many witnesses do
have i have a list of a few i have uh i can call the neighbor mr uh peter touches uh who's the
adjoining neighbor and he can maybe shut some light mr kenny why don't we do this i'm going
to open it up to the audience and they can come on then okay great thank you quite questions from
the board no mr chairman no chair questions or comments from our attorney hillary emerson
not at this time mr chair comments from the virtual audience
no hands raised yet chair okay
oh there's one um it's diana diana alamo i will allow to speak hi could you please
Could you state your name, please?
It's spelled for the court stenographer.
Hello?
You have to unmute yourself, ma'am.
Hello?
Hello?
Hi, could you state your name, please?
It's spelled for the court stenographer.
I'm sorry.
Giana, L-M-O, G-I-A-N-N-A, A-L-A-M-O.
Do you swear or affirm, tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Please proceed.
I forward.
I'm sorry.
I'm going with this.
I forward.
Well, let me ask you this.
Are you in favor of this property, of this project?
All right.
And you've used the project in the past?
Mr. Kenney, I think that's enough.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
Yes, Chair Brenda Adair.
Could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Brenda, could you state your name, please?
is there anyone else in the virtual audience
hello hi good morning my name is brenda brenda g-a-r-c-i-a right do you swear or affirm to
tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i swear are you in favor of this project
yes okay and have you used this project in the past yes okay um thank you very much for taking
the time to cause is there anyone else in the virtual audience yes kelly burnett
is that one of yours too mr kenny yeah kelly burnett was the applicant who got a successful
application a few months ago. There are colleagues in this work, and she would also make a favor.
Could you state your name, please, Kelly, and spell for the court stenographer?
Hi, good morning. My name is Kelly Burnett, K-E-L-L-E-Y-B-U-R-N-E-T-T.
Hi, good morning. My name is Kelly Burnett, K-E-L-L-E.
Right. Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Are you in favor of this project?
Definitely. Her passion is shown through just being here with all the things that are going on with her family.
Okay. Oh, thank you so much for taking the time to call in. We appreciate it. Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
Bernadette, Bernadette Grauber.
Is this one of your clients too, Mr. Kenny, your witnesses?
Yes, sir.
Yes, sir.
Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Yes, my name is Bernadette Grauber, G-R-A-U-B-E-R.
You swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Are you in favor of this project?
Yes, very much.
Are you familiar with this operation?
Thank you very much for taking the time to call us. We appreciate it. Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
Yes. It was a caller. There we go. Caller at the number ending 5782 has been allowed to speak.
Could you state your name, please, and spell it for the court stenographer?
Good morning.
Rhonda Jordan.
Hi, could you spell it for the court sonographer?
Yes, R-H-O-N-A, and last name J-O-R-D-A-N.
Okay, thank you.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Are you in favor of this project?
And are you familiar with this project?
Thank you very much for taking the time to call us.
We appreciate it.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
no more hands chair planning commission thank you chair bergman and board members good morning
david effecta with the city planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change to
the residential single family zoning at this location the appellant has shown that the proposed
group daycare will not cause detrimental impacts beyond what might be expected the city planning
commission recommends the board grant the proposed special exception for a group daycare thank you
MI 2023-000276-6926 East Roosevelt Boulevard.
I vote yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Thank you, counsel.
You have your votes.
Thank you, folks.
Have a nice day, everyone.
Number 15, MI 2023-001804-6024.
On 1300 Federal Street, John McCreech is the attorney.
So, letter of non-opposition from Council Member Squilla and a letter of non-opposition from the Patch Young Square Civic Association.
But there is a letter of opposition from a group of neighbors.
Mr. McCreech.
He's been promoted.
Good morning, Mr. McCreish.
I'm sorry, I had it on mute there.
Okay, good morning, Mr. McCreish.
Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Yes, John McCreish, attorney ID 68944.
I represent the applicant, 1300 Federal Street.
Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, yes, sir.
Okay. And our vice chair has a few questions for you, sir.
Good afternoon, counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that is needed and required to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, I didn't email them in yesterday.
The tax clearance I had from the OPA site,
but my client did send me a certificate of tax clearance this morning,
which was not included, but I can email that right after this meeting.
But in the packet is the OPA site showing no taxes are owed.
Okay, please proceed and share your screen.
And yeah, if you could email that over to our attorney, that would be helpful.
All right.
with it you need me okay um i'm sorry i just have to get what i sent
You need me?
i'll open
you can share your screen now though we can still proceed with the case i understand i
understand i just uh okay i'm not that good on the zoom where do i do the share oh share screen i got
it okay i apologize share okay so i have uh the we sit we know we've we've seen that we have a copy
of that okay okay so that this is just the application the pictures you have a copy of
everything but we want to see the photos okay the photos are the photos are the d there's the deed
um there was 500 owed for commercial trash go back to that taxes are your taxes okay
yes uh hold on and i have i have i have a tax clearance this morning okay good all right
There was a $500 commercial trash or something, and he paid that yesterday.
Okay, good.
Thank you.
And that's connected.
There's just a plan.
It's a small building, and there's the photos.
It came out sideways a little bit.
And then the non-opposition from Pachyong Square with three provisos.
They didn't want any plexiglass.
They wanted two trees planted.
They have been planted.
You can see them in the pictures.
They're small, but no metal gates or windows.
They still have them up, but they're going to remove them upon approval of this, hopefully.
But that's part of the provisos.
And there's a follow-up letter from between Mr. Goldfarb of the Pasch Young Square with Mr. Squilla's office about that the trees have been put up and that they've complied with what they're supposed to do.
That was a follow-up email.
why don't you bring your client on adopt your testimony okay um
the client's adam zoo is he how do how do i bring him on i know he's waiting well he should raise
his hand and we'll swear him in for you okay all right adam can you hear that can you raise your
hand adam is allowed to speak please unmute and wait for the chair morning sir could you state
your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer. Good morning, sir. This is Adam
Xu, A-D-A-M, last name X-U. Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth,
nothing but the truth? Yes, I do. Proceed, counsel. Mr. Xu, you heard my testimony in front of the
zoning board? Yes, sir. Okay. And you adopt all that testimony as your own?
Yes, I do.
All right. And you agree all that is true?
Yes, I do.
All right. And you met with the community, Mr. Goldfarb, and you agreed to, you wouldn't have any plexiglass?
Yes, I will follow exactly what we agreed with the community and with the provisor, all the provisors, including the plastic glass, the trees, and also the business hours and so on.
And the security gates.
No metal security gates.
No matter security case, that's correct.
I have no more questions.
Thank you.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
I'm here, Chair.
Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Emerson?
Just briefly, Mr. Chair.
Um, Mr. McCreech, um, can, can you just identify who Adam Zhu is in, um, relation?
Can you just identify who Adam Zhu is in relation to the property?
Because he's not who is listed on as the owner and the deed.
Mr. Zhu is a tenant.
I think I actually maybe I didn't.
I thought I attached the lease.
No, you did not.
So please, please.
Yeah, please forward that to us as soon as possible.
that's my yeah that's that's my that's my fault i'll i'll uh i'll say i'll send the lease over
and i'll say i'll send the tax certificate over but yes questions or comments from the virtual
audience yes chair emily gates good morning could you please state your name and spell for
the court stenographer hi my name is emily gates e-m-i-l-y g-a-t-e-s right do you swear
or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do uh are you a neighbor
i am um please proceed i live at 1177 south 13th okay which is uh you know kitty corner from that
establishment. And I have just moved in and I own the property. And I had a question for the
property owner, but I also wanted to voice my wholehearted support for the opening of this
establishment as it is stated in the permit. So I had a question, which was,
is this intended to be a sit down restaurant?
Adam, you can, can you answer that, Adam, what you're, I have to unmute again.
I'm sorry. Okay. Yes.
Great. That is great news. I'm very encouraged by that. Thank you.
Thank you. All right. Thank you very much for calling in, Ms. Gates. We appreciate it. Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
no hands chair mr chair i just i just want to note quickly um because the applicant in this
matter is a tenant and we do not have the lease we will need to hold the vote until we receive
the lease sure absolutely thank you planning commission thank you chair bergman and good
afternoon david vecto with the city planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends
no change to the commercial mixed use zoning at this location this property has a documented
history as food preparation and serving dating to at least 1998. the city planning commission
recommends the board grant the proposed use variants for eating and drinking establishments
thank you council as you you've heard we're going to hold the vote on this
um hillary can we shoot for next wednesday at 9 30. um yes we can mr chair as long as
If we get the documents, we'll vote on this next Wednesday at 9.30 a.m.
Okay, Mr. McCreish.
Yes, that's fine.
Hillary, do I have your email?
I'm sorry.
Maybe.
If you send it to board council.
Board council.
I'll do it as soon as we get finished here.
All right.
Thank you.
Thank you, everyone.
We're going to move to number 16, MI 2023.
Thank you.
Thank you.
MI 2023-001-770-1022 Dickerson Street.
Vern Anastasio is the attorney.
There's a letter of non-opposition from Passion Square Civic
and a letter of non-opposition from Council Member Squilla.
Vern Anastasio is promoted.
Good morning.
Good morning, Council.
Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Sure. Vern Anastasio, A-N-A-S-T-A-S-I-O, on behalf of, I represent Joe Cofone, who's the owner of the property.
Okay. Do you swear for him to tell the truth, tell the truth, nothing but the truth?
Our vice chair has just a few questions, sir.
Thank you.
Good morning. Good afternoon, counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to his acquisition?
have emailed all the in all the required documents that is needed and required to
proceed with this case yes sir thank you please proceed and share your screen thank you
members of the board i just before i share my full exhibits i want to share with you the
property history uh which is sent was sent to the zoning board under separate cover but i'm
going to move it into evidence as well this here was a permit from 2016 the first floor was a
This here was a permit from 2016.
The first floor was a commercial space, a residential unit in the rear of the first floor, and a residential unit on the second floor.
So the history here is of commercial plus a two-family dwelling.
And I'm going to stop sharing this and share my binder.
I can get everything to work. Okay, great. So, 1022 Dickinson, our application is strictly for
the two-family dwelling. There is no commercial use in this proposal because the underlying zone
and classification is now RSA 5. Obviously, it created the refusal, and that's why we're here.
Let me show you. The property is very unusually shaped, certainly a unique feature, as you can see here.
The basement is just mechanicals, washer, dryer.
Here's the front door, and you go into the left.
You have an open concept dining room and kitchen, a living room and a bath.
and second floor you're going to have
bedroom and then here living room
and dining room and kitchen
this is the property as it exists
my client literally just purchased it this year
believed that it was a compliant to family dwelling
and as it turns out it is not
here's the shared area for trash storage
which was of major concern to the passion square civic association here's the interior photos
there's the block in which it sits there's the property in question as you can see the unusual
size double wide and comes into a triangle triangle there's another multifamily right
next to it adjacent proof of posting we've got these rco letter that went out to
138 individual households and the result of that meeting was a letter of non-opposition
from passion square and i understand that councilman squilla was kind enough
to forward a letter of non-opposition as well because of the unique uh features of the property
in question because of the long history of it being commercial mixed use with multi-family
And because my client reasonably relied on the marketing of this just months ago as a two-family dwelling, I respectfully request the granting of this variance.
And with that, I'd like to call Mr. Joe Cofone, if he's still with us, to raise his virtual hand.
He may no longer be on.
He's on. Mr. Cofone, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Good morning, sir.
Chair, could you state your name, please, as spelled for the court's sonographer?
Joseph Cofone, please unmute yourself so you can be heard.
Mr. Cofone?
Counselor, you are an officer of the court.
We will gladly accept your testimony.
Thank you.
Questions from the board?
no mr chairman no chair no chair questions or comments from our attorney hillary emerson
not at this time mr chair questions or comments from the virtual audience
no hands chair planning commission thank you chair bergman and board members good
afternoon david effect of city planning commission the comprehensive plan
recommends no change to the residential single-family zoning in this location
this property has a documented history as two dwelling units
and so the city planning commission recommends the board grant the proposed
use variance for two dwelling units thank you
mi2023 is 001 770 1022 dickerson street i vote yes
thomas holloman my vote is yes
if you know shaheed my vote is yes thank you you have your votes thank you
is there anyone in the virtual audience whose case has not been called
yes chair joseph consul has a hand raised okay
yes chair joseph council has a hand raised
good morning mr consul excuse me that's not joseph consul that's joseph caffon he is the
owner oh i'm sorry i yeah i pronounced that wrong joseph caffon
hi mr caffon your case is over and you have your votes oh okay thank you thank you sure
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
No hands, Chair.
Okay, Sierra, you want to two o'clock.
Thank you.
We can start now, right?
Yes, we already have 51 attendees.
Good afternoon.
My name is Bill Bergman, and I will be chairing the ZBA hearings this afternoon.
With me is our Vice Chair, Ismail Shahid.
I'm present, Mr. Chairman.
Our board member, Thomas Holliman.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
And our board member, James Snell.
Present, Chair.
Also present is our attorney, Hillary Emerson, and our executive director, Tanya Sunkett.
Here's our virtual format.
Be advised if proceedings are being recorded.
The video will be available by contacting tanyasunkett at phil.gov.
For the benefit of our court stenographer, we ask attorneys and witnesses to identify themselves before testifying.
If you're participating by phone and you wish to testify, press star 9 to raise your hand and star 6 to unmute.
To enter an appearance statement, call 267-270-5548.
Leave your email and address for the property in question.
And finally, the question and answer box on the screen is now for comments or testimony.
Well, comments should be directed to our executive director, Tanya Sumpkin.
Let's look at our schedule this afternoon.
Number four, MI 2023-003-487-90 Rochelle Avenue.
This case is continued attorney moving party.
Are there any other requests for continuances?
Good afternoon, Chair.
I see no hands.
All right.
Thank you.
And then number 13.
Number 13.
MI 2023.
004-266-1458 North 30th Street.
This is the first listing.
Listing.
No exhibits.
The applicant is Herman Herman.
Kevin Bryan is the listed owner.
no hands chair okay thank you so mi 2023 004 266 1453 north 30 street this case is continued
mark must be tried let's look at our add-on list
with you
MI 2023-003-246-2990 Southampton Road. This case is continued until next Wednesday.
We will vote on this at 2 p.m.
MI 2023-003-182-2832-34 East Pacific Avenue.
I vote yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
If you know Shaheen, I'll vote as yes.
Number three.
Hold on one minute.
Three is.
Number three, MI 2022-004-487-6016, Bingham.
I vote yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
James Snell Shaheed, my vote is yes.
We're going to go to our regular list.
Number one.
MI 2023-002-336-251 Granaugh Street.
This is a resumptive hearing.
Alan Nockamson is the attorney.
Alan Nockamson is the attorney.
Sorry. Okay. I'm sorry. Proceed.
Alan Nockamson has been promoted.
Alan, could you state your name and spell, please, for the court sonographer?
Good afternoon, Chair. Members of the Board, Alan Nockamson, A-L-A-N, last name Nockamson, N-O-C-H-U-M-S-O-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Okay, so this is a resumptive hearing. It's going to be limited to the discussion of the steep slope criteria in the zoning code.
and for the Planning Commission to provide their recommendation on the application with
response from the applicant. The record is otherwise closed. Thank you. Again, good
afternoon, members of the board. Alan Nockmson of Nockmson PC. May I share my screen? You most
certainly can, sir. Just to give a quick background because it's been a few months,
So we're looking to put a single family structure on this RSA 5 property.
And just as a matter of background, let me just go to the last refusal.
We have four refusals for this matter.
Three of them, or actually I think five.
Yeah, we have five.
Three of them deal with off-street parking.
We're seeking to have a front-loading garage in its structure.
and the reason why we're asking for front-loading parking is that there is no parking allowed on
that side of the street and this is one of the few occasions where there's no street in front
of our property we're actually creating a portion of the street from scratch so even if there was
parking allowed on this side of the street which there's not there is no street where we're in
front of. We're actually creating two parking spots across the street from where we're creating
this street that don't exist. And we're asking for a curb cut where we're not taking an off-street
parking spot off of to create one curb cut for that front-loading garage. The other two refusals
have to do with the earth-moving plan and the steep slope. And because our steep slope
is between 15 and 25 percent steep slope. We're required to do an earth moving plan. At the time
of the original hearing, we did not have one. We have since provided an erosion control plan
that has been also reviewed by the Philadelphia Water Department, and that's part of your package.
And we received conceptual approval from the Philadelphia Water Department.
And then the fifth refusal has to do with the fact that we're over 25% steep slope in certain areas, and we have earth disturbance of over 1,400 square feet.
So in the virtual audience, I have first the architect in the project, Zamir Garcia.
I would ask that he be allowed in and be sworn in, and I have some questions regarding the steep slope.
Okay, thank you.
Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court sonographer?
Hi, yes, my name is Zamir Garcia, Z-A-M-I-R.
That's my thing.
Okay, I'll do that.
i'm sorry should i repeat why don't you repeat that please sir uh my name is zamir garcia um
c-a-m-i-r last name garcia g-a-r-c-i-a do you swear for him to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth yes i do please proceed counsel i will let me just uh change the size of
my exhibit so I can, the board can see it much better.
Okay, let's get to share it this way.
So in terms of, again, going back to the earth disturbance refusal, and that's the second of
the two refusals that have to deal with earth disturbance. We're providing over 1,400 square
feet of earth disturbance on this steep slope property. Samir, is there a possibility
uh property um zamir um is there a possibility for us to conform with this deep with this
requirement uh given the conditions of this property can we do less than 1400 square foot
of earth disturbance under these circumstances no and why is that the case um the big significant
contributing earth disturbance to the overage is the creation of the street, which currently
does not exist. As you can see on this exhibit, that area that's highlighted in red includes
the developed new cartway that connects to the existing street, the sidewalk up along the curb
there and then there's the extension of the red part into the property line which includes an area
to allow the building to connect to the sidewalk so that area that you're talking about in terms
of earth disturbance where the street is going to be essentially created anew by our client
is 1,231 square feet. Is that right? Yes. Okay. Yeah. So in essence, then we would only have 169
square feet of earth disturbance allowing our client to build a building structure.
Correct. Okay. So in essence, it's almost impossible for us to comply with that section
of the code. Yes, it is impossible. Thank you, Zamir. Oh, and then the other thing is one more
thing. In terms of the protections that you have built in to your design regarding the steep slope,
can you explain what protective measures you have placed to make sure that this is a responsibly
built property uh yes so the majority of the home um actually the whole portion of the mass
of the building footprint is supported above this the steep slope on um clusters that go
into the ground so everything's the whole home is floating above the steep slope so that it can
it doesn't sit on the grade because the grade is sloped such that the street part is the highest
portion you you're actually coming in to the home on the third floor and then the rest of the home
there's one floor above that and then the rest of the home is below the street level
RESTING ON THE FILLERS.
GOTCHA. AND I THINK WE HAVE ANOTHER EXHIBIT WHICH KIND OF GOES
TO SHOWING THE STEEP SLOPES. SO LET ME JUST TRY TO GET TO THAT ONE.
I THOUGHT THAT WAS HERE.
LET ME STOP SHARING MY SCREEN FOR A SECOND.
I'm going to take a little bit.
All right.
This is a plan that was prepared by Rogerio Plant as part of our steep slope presentation.
You indicated that our building structure is, if you look in the screen, essentially right in this section of the property, right?
Yes, that's correct.
And the steepness of over 25% is more towards the front and the rear portions of the property. Is that correct?
Yes, that's correct.
So you purposefully focus situating the building structure in the least steep part of the property.
that is correct and you also then put footers in that portion of the property to make it
structurally stable yes um i have no further questions for for samir and um i i also have the
um individual who prepared the erosion plan if the board feels so inclined to ask any questions
about the erosion plan why don't you bring them along we'll hear his testimony we can okay
Thank you.
Would that be Kyle Dowdy?
He's been allowed to speak.
Good afternoon. My name is Kyle Dowdy.
Kyle, could you spell your name for the court reporter?
Certainly. First name is Kyle, K-Y-L-E, last name Dowdy, D-O-W-D-Y.
Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, counsel.
Thank you.
Kyle, I'm going to reshare my screen here, if you don't mind, Mr. Chair.
This is a document that you prepared in connection with the soil erosion plan.
Is that correct?
That is correct.
Okay. And what does the pink portion of this plan indicate?
This indicates any slopes steeper than 25%.
Gotcha. And that is in the front portion of the property where it's a majority of the front
portion of the property and then the rear portion of the property. Is that right?
That is correct.
um i have no questions um for okay uh for kyle if the board has no further questions
any questions from the board no chair no we're fine now
um so hillary my understanding where we'll go next is uh planning right and then alan
will have a chance to respond to that yes mr chair okay planning commission this is uh ron bednar
city planning first name ron r-o-n last name bednar b-e-d-n-a-r do you swear a firm to tell
the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do please proceed right so the comprehensive plan
recommends no change to existing industrial zone mixed use zoning at this location uh recent
zoning remapping has sought to limit the expansion of residential uses adjacent to i-95 for the
purpose ron ron i it's this is not the case you excuse me this case is uh
uh 251 green all street it's you know that's okay got it
hold on one second right
Okay, the property is indicated for residential use under city plan.
Hardship demonstrated here where the lot is likely undevelopable without disturbing its
steep slope. Therefore, we recommend the request for granted to be granted.
To be granted? Yes. Thank you.
Alan, do you want to respond? I agree.
Okay. All right. Okay. What we're going to do, Alan, we're going to
hold this until next week. We're going to vote on this next Wednesday at 2 p.m.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you very much.
Number two.
MI 2023-001-286-152-58 West Logan Street.
Brandon Saverin is the attorney.
There were two meetings with the RCO.
We do not have a letter from the coordinating RCO.
We have a letter of opposition from Solo Germantown, but attached to it is enforceable provisives.
The applicant also had a petition support of 29 neighbors, along with 27 form letters of support.
Brandon Saverin has been promoted.
Good afternoon, Council.
Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
Yes, my name is Brandon Saverin, and that's spelled B-R-A-N-D-O-N, and then S as in Sam, A, V as in Victor, R-A-N as in Nancy.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
But do you identify your client in relationship to the property?
So my client is Three Square Developers, LLC.
They are authorized by the city of Philadelphia to pursue this variance.
The property is currently owned by the city.
Okay. Our, our vice chair has a few questions.
Our vice chair has a few questions.
Good afternoon, counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to accuracy?
I agree to waive the reading, but I do not stipulate to its accuracy, Mr. Vice Chair.
You want to explain why?
I'm sorry. I didn't, I didn't hear you there. Could you repeat that?
Could you explain why?
Oh, we believe that one of the four refusals was issued in error, and I'll explain that in a moment.
Understood.
Have you emailed all the required documents and exhibits?
Yes, with the exception of a letter from the coordinating RCO, which, as the chairman mentioned, I don't believe anyone has seen.
Got it.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
All right. Good afternoon, members of the board. So I am here to discuss a property, 152-58 West
Logan Street in the Germantown section of the city. This is one property, despite the dashed
address. It is owned by the city and it is managed by the land bank. The land bank, through
its process of selecting developers has allowed my client, Three Square Developers, to pursue
today zoning variances. And then if we're successful, next building permits in order
to develop this lot. And if we are successful in getting all of those permits and variances,
we will be able to purchase the property from the city. And what the project proposes is to
develop 12 single-family homes and 12 parking spaces, one serving each home. So I will start
by showing you a portion of Exhibit 12 of the 12 exhibits that I sent to the board last week.
Whoa, that is too far zoomed in, sorry. So this is an informal site plan, which ultimately led
to our official zoning submission, which I'll show you in a moment. The reason I'm showing you
this informal site plan is because this is what was proffered to the land bank as part of its
selection process. So this is what the land bank selected my client to attempt to develop. It's
what it wanted to see happen with the property. This is the same image that we showed the
affected RCOs at both RCO meetings. And it is what the current zoning plan is based on. So that's all
just to say that we've been very, very consistent with all involved parties about what we're trying
to develop throughout. I think that it's also a good opportunity just to illustrate what the
project is. So here on Keeser Street are 10 of the 12 row homes that we're proposing to develop.
And here along Logan Street are two others. And here is a shared parking lot with 12 spaces. So
So the concept here is that we're not going to legally subdivide the property, but would instead, if we're lucky enough to obtain the variances from you today, sell these homes as either condominium units or probably more likely planned community units, which is commonly known as an HOA.
So these are going to be homes for sale in an HOA, and the HOA will own and maintain the parking lot and the landscaping features around the edges of the site.
To show you a little bit more about the context, I will go to Exhibit 8.
So these are images from atlas.phil.gov.
This is a parcel map here, and then on the next page, these are aerial photos.
from Atlas, and they just show the extent of the property. It's at over 22,000 square feet.
It occupies, I would guess, about a third of its block. And the, you know, sort of
outer extents of the property are highlighted by the tips of these red arrows that I put on this
image. And then here at exhibit nine are zoning posters. These are actually the posters for the
first hearing that we continued in order to host a second RCO meeting and hear additional community
concerns. Later in the packet are the posters for this hearing, but I'll just kind of
Later in the packet are the posters for this hearing, but I'll just kind of leave you with this image because this image, I think does a good job illustrating sort of the large size of the site.
This is looking, I believe, eastward from Logan Street.
This is from Keeser Street, again, looking eastward.
And then finally, I'm going to pull up the refusal, and then I'll sort of end up passing the presentation to our architect and then take it back to discuss what I believe are our hardships.
This is Exhibit 2B. It's our notice of refusal. So to address the refusal that I believe was issued in error, we are not subject because we are on an RSA-5 property that is adjacent to other RSA-5 properties.
I don't believe we're subject to the code section cited in this refusal, 147051-D and 147051-E. So I think that that requirement or those two requirements are not applicable to this project, and therefore that particular refusal is erroneous.
The other refusals are, I think, technically accurate, but written up in what is perhaps an accidentally misleading way. So this is not what you would call multifamily housing, but the second and third refusal, what happened here is because we're not legally subdividing the property,
The examiner seems to have taken one of the banks of the 10-row homes and considered it a 10-unit apartment building and then taken the other bank of two-row homes and considered that to be a two-unit apartment building.
So critically, these are, again, single-family row homes.
They will be for sale, not for rental.
They are going not to be staffed.
They are not connected in their interiors.
They are traditional Philadelphia row homes.
And I think the refusals are accurate because we're not subdividing.
But to use the word multifamily, I think is a little confusing.
And then in the last refusal, and I'll get into this more in a moment, it is not the
case that any of the proposed homes have no rear yards.
Now, it is the case that one of them has an insufficiently deep rear yard, but even that particular home is a yard, and I'll show you that in a second.
So I'm going to stop there for the moment, and I would ask for Jimmy Hare to be allowed to testify as the project architect and walk through the plans quickly.
Hello. Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Yeah, my name is James Harre, J-A-M-E-S-H-A-R-R-E.
Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
I do. Proceed, counsel.
Thank you. Jimmy, rather than question you, I'm just going to invite you to, you know, give a presentation of a minute or two to the board showing, I would say, the renderings and the floor plans,
and then maybe also the location of our driveway curb cut.
Sorry, Brandon, I lost you there for a minute as I was joining as a panelist.
Oh, I understand.
I just said if you could please share the floor plans, the renderings with the board,
and maybe also just discuss the location of our curb cut.
Yeah, we'd be happy to.
Thank you.
I just want to confirm everyone can see my screen now.
Great.
So what we're seeing here is just a rendering from the corner of Logan and Kaiser Street.
You can see the 10 homes along Kaiser Street to the right here.
And then you can see in the left-hand side, the two homes that front Logan Street.
Here's our site plan again that Brandon was showing you.
Our curb cut entry here.
It is approximately 40 feet away from the curb cut for the rear driveway of the homes along Knox Street.
Again, it's about 40 feet.
and as brian mentioned 12 individual parking spaces uh the floor plans for all the homes
are fairly similar um they really only change slightly in the sense of the end units having
these bays here that you can see as well with a mansard that wraps the whole way instead of just
the front but as we look through these you can see we have the entryway coming into living area
a dining room and then a kitchen in the rear with a rear yard access
that goes into the rear yard and the parking way as we go up we have two
That goes into the rear yard and the parking way.
As we go up, we have two bedrooms and two bathrooms on the second floor with our mechanicals.
And on the third floor, we have an owner's suite with a den slash working area.
Here are side views of the elevation.
So again, this one being the sides of the end units and then the front with the mansard and the bays kind of poking through.
um all of these again are are more or less the same and here is um front on elevations again
kaiser street here at the bottom you can see how the um home step with the sloping of the street
and then logan street uh here and then again our driveway access in the middle
um views uh from the parking lot looking out and then also um seeing how the homes interact with
the driveway against Knox Street and then those homes and then again here's just another rendered
view of this area as well again our driveway in the middle the Knox uh street homes driveways to
our left here and Kaiser Street to our right thank you Jimmy that that was the question is it it's so
Oh, it's 12 parking spots and then it's a van lot, a spot for a total of 13?
No, it's 12 spots in total, one of them being the ADA accessible spot.
Because we have 13 accessory surface parking spots.
Brandon can speak to this, but we did notice that after the refusal was issued and we do have revised plans.
Yeah, that's right.
Great. So, Jimmy, if you just leave your screen there for one moment, Mr. Chairman, I believe that what may have happened is the examiner confused the handicap accessible aisle that you see hatched there with a parking space.
So we do have proviso plans. And one of the changes on those plans is to specify that there are 12 spaces.
all right jimmy could you um actually stop sharing your screen and i'll sort of wrap it up from here
thank you so uh members of the board thank you for your patience just going to make a couple
comments to close so um on my screen now um is our um proviso zoning plan which is one page this is
exhibit three in my exhibit packet. And I just wanted to walk you through, if we're building
single family homes, you might be asking yourselves, why are we here? Why do we need a
variance? And I wanted to address that. So with a 22,000 square feet lot, we have enough surface
area to build 15 homes under the zoning code. We also have probably a little bit more of a
constraint would be the width of each home. But as you see on your screen, we have adequate width
to build 12 homes because these are 16-foot wide homes. So that meets the zoning code standard.
Essentially, the main reason we need a variance is because without a variance, we would have to
subdivide the property, and I'm going to use my cursor here. If we were to subdivide the property,
there can't be any sort of unowned space. So because of that, and to meet minimum lot area
requirements, these homes along Kaiser Street, the lots would be almost double as far back.
Each person would own up to about where my mouse is now, if you can see that. They'd be over 80
feet deep. And we would still be able to propose, theoretically, a drive aisle here. But that drive
aisle would cut through every single person's backyard on Keeser Street. So what you'd have is
a very odd situation where the driveway is owned in chunks. And maybe we could have something like
an easement agreement or something to that effect. But it would be owned by at least 10
different homeowners and there'd be no organized mechanism to maintain the dry vial, what we're
going to have here is a community association that owns the dry vial and the parking lot.
And let's just say that we have sort of a bad actor among this future group of 12 homeowners
that is blocking the dry vial. With an HOA, there's no need to take that person to court.
All you have to do is put a fine, an additional assessment into their HOA fees to basically convince that person, please play by the rules for the benefit of all.
to basically convince that person, please play by the rules for the benefit of all of your neighbors.
And absent the need to fine anybody, the HOA will have very, very low monthly fees
that will take care of cleaning the drive aisle and the parking lot,
and also pruning and caring for the landscaping at the perimeter of the site.
You know, if we were to subdivide in order to avoid the variances, that taking care of that landscaping would basically fall on whatever homeowner happened to own that space.
So this is just a much more organized setup that is going to result in a cleaner, easier, more peaceful environment for everybody involved.
involved. And the last thing I'll sort of say, this home right here, which is the furthest north
on the property, this is the one that the examiner marked as not having a rear yard. And you can see
here that it does in fact have a rear yard. It's just that the corner meets the lot line and that's
what triggered the refusal. But this is not someone's home directly beyond the lot line.
This is a paved driveway that serves as a rear alley to these homes on Knox Street that are dozens of feet away, the buildings are.
So just wanted to sort of call that out again.
Didn't want you to think no one was going to have a rear yard.
Everybody has a rear yard.
Is your client here?
Last thing I wanted to say, Mr. Chairman, there's additional support for the arguments I've made and others in our memo of law, which is Exhibit 1.
You did mention the letters and petitions of support from neighbors, which are in our packet. And with that, that concludes our presentation. And Anthony Drake is the client I expect to adopt our testimony.
Okay. Mr. Drake?
Hi, Mr. Drake. Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Anthony Drake.
A-N-T-H-O-N-Y-D-R-A-K-E.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do. Yes, sir.
Please proceed.
Thank you. Anthony, are you authorized to speak on behalf of Three Square Developers, LLC?
Yes, I am.
Did you hear my presentation in your zoning case this afternoon?
Yes, I did.
Was it true and accurate to the best of your knowledge, information, and belief?
Yes, it was. I think you did a very good job.
Thanks, Anthony. And finally, would you therefore adopt my testimony as if it were your own?
Yes, absolutely.
Thank you.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Chair.
Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Emerson?
um yes mr chair um a couple of things um first um a letter of opposition from the coordinating
rco the 12th democratic board um was just forwarded to me um brandon i just forwarded that to you as
well um so they so they did submit well we have now received a letter of opposition um i've also
received a uh email from charles richardson and councilman bass's office who indicated that while
the councilman is in is not opposed to the project she is leaving the decision to the board
um so we have those two letters of the other thing um in and brandon in listening to your
testimony about the refusal and reviewing the refusal on my own um i think um i think the board
should have the uh have you request that the refusal be amended because i think there's a
number of errors on it and um i think it should have only been one multi-family household living
refusal for all 12 units instead of split 10 and 2 there should be multiple principal buildings
um on there um you mentioned the rear yard being an error and i understand there were some changes
too in the revised plans i think the height was i saw something in one of the rco letters about
the height and the stall number is wrong the number of parking stalls right so um um sorry
first of all hillary i don't want to cut you off do you have any other um no that i think i think
that was it between the things that you mentioned and the things that i had noticed i think there
should be a refusal that's most likely amended since there are revised plans as opposed to just
corrected but it will need to be corrected as part of the amendment process okay okay we can
certainly pursue that um that no change in height by the way not certainly may have commented on
the hype but no change in height um okay thank you hillary we're going to go we'll we'll hear it then
Thank you. Hillary, we're going to go. We'll we'll hear it demo. Yes. Yeah. No, we just I think we need given the number of things that are going to be incorrect on the refusal.
we'll yeah
I think we need something that's corrected slash amended based on changes. We'll open it up to the virtual audience and planning if they want. Right.
Yeah, no, absolutely. Absolutely. I don't think we need to do a resumption. I think it's just, I think it'll be making sure everything that was presented today is accurately represented on the refusal. Brandon, did you, sorry, did you have any other comments?
No, I think that that's probably a wise idea. Frankly, I was hoping that talking through it and presenting a proviso form would solve it, but I definitely respect your desired approach here.
i think thank you i think that would just make it a lot easier for everybody okay
questions or comments from the virtual audience
yes chair i have a caller with the last five numbers five last four numbers five five five five
sure i could you state your name please and spell for the court sonographer
Are they muted?
I allow them to speak.
I don't see them.
And then I have another hand up by the name of Jill Santa McCrary.
All right.
Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court sonographer?
no santa mccrary can you please unmute oh yes can you hear me now okay could you state your name
yes j j o j o s a n n a last name mccray m c c r a y do you swear for him to tell the truth
the whole truth nothing but the truth yes please proceed yes i'm i'm um was on all the meetings
that had uh taken place and our biggest concern is the our driveway um which someone just stated
was like an alleyway it's not an alleyway it's our private driveway behind our homes
So our concern is that the 12 houses, it's only going to be one car per house and people have more than one car now.
They have two, three, four. Then they have visitors. We do not want the back of our house.
We don't want people parking in the back of our house.
So all we asked for was either a gate or polls that would say, you know, this is private area, no parking.
So we seem to as neighbors, we were meeting resistance with that proposal.
And I don't really think that's asking too much. We want to see a development there.
Of course, we want to see, you know, something there, but we do not want our driveway compromised because we use our driveway.
So we don't want to come out. There's cars parked back there.
We don't know who they belong to. And that's not going to be good.
So we are really, really that is a major, major concern for our block.
All right. Thank you, Ms. McCray, for calling in and we appreciate your input.
Is there anyone else in the first audience?
yes chair allison weiss has a hand up
miss weiss
yes hello hi miss weiss could you state your name please and spell for the court stenographer
allison weiss a double l i s o n w e i s s right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth
solo germantown civic associate okay do you swear we're firm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth please proceed yes yes um we are an affected rco and um we did send in a
letter which you acknowledged and i do uh think that it's a good decision to have an amended uh
refusal and at the meeting there was indication that in the third meeting that the height was
reduced the overall height was reduced by one foot so i'm a little concerned that now we're hearing
The height is not altered, since that was a major issue, was the height of the buildings.
the height is not altered since that was a major issue
When this was first acquired through the land bank, it was for two-story buildings.
Then it somehow changed to three-story buildings, and many of the neighbors at the meetings were concerned,
especially with the twins on logan street that the height would interfere with their
light and quality of life so there was concern over the height of the buildings
okay which is why they reduced it to one foot um i mr chairman would you like me to have our
architect confirm whether why don't why don't we why don't we see who else has something to say
Okay. Ms. Weiss, thank you. And I also noticed that you sent in provisos. Am I right?
Yes, we did. In case the board.
Okay. Thank you. Thank you so much for calling in. We appreciate it. Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
I see no hands here.
Okay. Brandon, do you want to respond before?
Yeah, sure. So the buildings are certainly of a by-right height. There's no variances requested with regard to height.
My understanding is that the concept of three-story buildings was presented to the land bank, but it's important to note that we have not actually acquired the property.
That's at the land bank's discretion after obtaining permits. And then, Jimmy, if you're still available, please do share with the board if we agree to reduce the height by a foot, because, you know, I may have misspoken if that's the case.
Yes, we did discuss at the last RCO meeting to reduce the height by a foot.
I was under the impression when we discussed the height changes that we were talking about the full level change that was discussed.
As mentioned, originally being two stories up to three stories, and it's been three stories since it's been in front of the RCO.
So, I mean, they're all three-story buildings.
And I think, Mr. Chairman, what we'll do is, as part of obtaining an amended refusal, we're going to submit our latest and greatest plans back to L&I, and that'll sort of finalize the height of each building.
Thank you.
Planning Commission.
This is Ron Bednar, City Planning.
The City Planning Commission has no objection to the use and yard variances.
However, we strongly object to the granting of the variance for parking lot landscaping. Relief from the parking lot landscaping requirements is available with an administrative waiver by the City Planning Commission.
The applicant refuses the opportunity to apply for the City Planning Commission's administrative waiver.
Therefore, we believe that the planning, the parking lot landscape requirements fail the minimum necessary variance test, which is essential test for all variances.
The applicant failed to pursue an available administrative waiver in order to sidestep the waiver and payment in lieu process.
Granting the variance will deprive the city of funds used for plant replacement trees in areas where they are most needed.
In summary, we recommend the board grant the multifamily use and dimensional variances, but deny the parking lot landscape waivers, variances.
Could I offer a quick response, Mr. Chairman?
Please.
What we'll do is, as part of obtaining the amended refusal, confirm whether or not the property is subject to any landscaping requirements.
I was not under the impression that it is. Therefore, I was not under the impression that we could obtain a waiver. If we determined that we can obtain a waiver, we will discuss that with the Planning Commission. It was not our intent to essentially sidestep payments to the city. That was an accident if it did occur, and we will correct it.
All right. Thank you. So, Hillary, once this is all corrected, we'll bring this back, right?
yeah so we'll just we will bring it back just for a vote um the record will be closed
right i did want to except for receipt of the amended refusal um mr saverne i just want to
ask one other question um you saw the provisos um suggested by solo germantown does your client
um suggested by solo germantown does your client have a position on those um i'm pulling it up as
and have a position
we speak interior trash storage interior mailbox and mail storage no we would not object to those
thank you thank you thank you number three mi 2023 004 324 414 to 16 south 20 street stephanie
box magna is the attorney uh letter of non-opposition from the center city
residents association petition of support signed by numerous neighbors
counsel? Stephanie Magna has been promoted. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Michael Phillips
from my office is actually going to be presenting this case. Okay. Thank you.
invite him to join as a panelist. Mr. Phillips.
Michael Phillips has also been promoted.
Hi, Mr. Phillips, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Good afternoon. Michael Phillips, M-I-C-H-A-E-L-P-H-I-L-L-I-P-S, Claire Harrison Harvey Bransburg, 1835 Market Street, Suite 1400, Philadelphia PA, 19103, here on behalf of RLDL 20th Street, LLC, the owner of 414-18 South 20th Street.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
our vice chair has a few questions for you sir
yes i do mr uh vice chair and uh i will just note that uh we have proviso plans that were
provided to board council uh that actually eliminate one of the refusals however as stated
the refusal was accurate yes thank you thank you may i share my screen please
Okay. So, good afternoon. I am here on behalf of RLDL 20th Street, LLC,
to present a three-unit planned unit development at the southwest corner of 20th and Waverly
streets. This case has a very long and drawn-out backstory. Board members Holloman and Snell may
recall a series of hearings two years ago on an appeal of a by-right permit that was obtained
for this property, which has culminated in years of litigation and disputes with the near
neighbors. The plan that's being presented today was a result of a lot of hard work and compromise
with the community to find a development that works in the context of this neighborhood.
You will note within the packet, we have a letter of support from CCRA,
as well as petitions of support that are signed by 45 near neighbors, all strongly supporting this project.
I will quickly just go through the refusal.
We are proposing, as I noted, three single-family townhomes.
However, similar to the prior case, we have not effectuated a formal subdivision,
So there is a refusal for multifamily, as it's noted and viewed prior to the subdivision as a three-unit multifamily.
However, these do function as three single-family townhomes.
The refusals that were issued are for parking.
There is parking that is along Waverly Street, but there's also a proposed curb cut on 20th Street.
Waverly Street, but there's also a proposed curve cut on 20th Street, and since 20th Street
is not a rear street, a refusal was issued on that ground.
And lastly, there were some dimensional variances sought.
For height, we are seeking 42 feet.
We're 38 feet is allowed.
We are not proposing a rear yard, and initially, the refusal was issued for open area, 20% required
11.5% provided. However, the proviso plans that we'll go through actually eliminate this refusal
by changing balconies to a deck and decks are not included for purposes of open area. So it
brings it down just a shade above that 20% threshold. I have with me here as well, Ryan
Lobauer with High Top Real Estate and Development, who was the project architect. I will quickly
run through the plans and open it up to questions. But just for context, this is the site. It's the
former Kim's Dry Cleaners, as well as a single family home, were located on this site.
Way back in 2019, a permit was pulled for a 60-foot structure with a ground floor fresh food bonus,
a fresh food market and four residential units above, and that utilized at the time the fresh
food bonus for a 15-foot height bonus as well as a payment in lieu to the city in the amount of
$60,000 to receive an additional seven feet. That permit has been under appeal, although it has
been upheld by both the Zoning Board and the Court of Common Pleas. It remains on appeal to
the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court. In an effort to resolve that appeal, we actually had a variance
plan that was scheduled to go before the board around the time of the pandemic. And that plan
reduced the height to 45 feet and eliminated the fresh food market. Now, despite having the
overwhelming support of the community, there was a near neighbor at the time who appealed,
and I apologize that my computer is running slowly. I'm going to close out of an application
and hopefully that'll speed things up, but I'll keep going. And so as a result of that, neighbors
appeal, we were not able, or that neighbor's opposition, we did not pursue that original
variance plan. That neighbor recently sold their house, and
that created the opportunity here to try to think of a new way to end this litigation with the
community and to find the project that works for everybody. And that's the plan that I will
be showing you today. It provides three townhomes. Here's the perspective. So there are three townhomes
all fronting Waverly Street. There is a curb cut here on Waverly that allows two-car parking for
this most interior home. And then we have a curb cut along 20th Street, which is not totally out
of context. You'll note right here, the property right across the street also has a front-loaded
garage along 20th Street. This was one thing that was important to the community was to not
inundate Waverly Street with more than one curb cut and to still maintain that walkability.
Uh, the height was dropped to 42 feet, which matches and is consistent with the property directly across at 2001 Waverly. So contextually, we are in line.
Here are elevations showing the roof deck, pilothouse, and the facade.
These are the original zoning plans, and you will see the two-car parking here, and then the other units access the parking along 20th Street.
The change that was made as a result of the proviso plans is initially we had two balconies coming off, and you'll see, click over to the proviso plans.
And now it is one consistent deck that goes across.
and now it is one consistent deck that goes across. That was the only change that was made,
That was the only change.
but as I noted, that did actually eliminate the occupied area variant. And then continuing on,
you've seen the revised zoning plan,
and there's our proviso plan form this is actually the the prior variant that we were seeking uh that
was ultimately withdrawn and you'll note this is you know way back in in um 2019 at the time we
were proposing 45 feet nine inches um there was only three percent uh open area um we had you
know an oversized pilot house and you know this did have the community support here here are the
visual and renderings here. But like I mentioned, due to the objections of one near neighbor who
this would affect, we did not proceed with it, however, that neighbor has sold, which created
this opportunity. This is a project that has the strong support of the community and is
the unique situation where the community prefers this as opposed to strongly the plan and permit
that was pulled in 2019. So this was a true compromise. It took a lot of negotiation,
a lot of fighting back and forth over this litigation. But ultimately, what has come from
that is a plan that everyone can be happy with
and that actually fits and works in today's market.
So I would like to have Ryan Lobauer
be promoted as panelist to adopt my testimony
and provide any additional context
that the board may require.
hi sir could you state your name and spell please for the court stenographer
yes my name is ryan loebauer it's spelled r-y-a-n l-o-h-b-a-u-e-r right do you swear
affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do proceed counsel
Ryan, have you heard my testimony in this matter?
I have.
And do you agree that everything I stated is true and correct to the best of your knowledge, information, or belief?
Yes, it was very well described.
And do you agree to adopt the testimony as your own?
I have no further questions for Mr. Lobauer and would entertain any questions from the board.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Emerson?
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Yes, Chair.
I have a hand up from Richard DeMarco.
I will allow him to speak.
Can you hear me, Mr. Chair?
Mr. DeMarco, I can hear you.
Could you just state your name and spell it for the court reporter?
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman.
Name is Richard DeMarco, last name spelled D-E-M-A-R-C-O.
Do you swear to affirm, tell the truth, told the truth, nothing but the truth?
Please proceed.
Mr. Chairman, I'm here on behalf of Nancy Gilboy and Phil Harvey, who live at 2022 Waverly Street, which is just down the street from this.
We were involved in a number of the appeals that Michael described.
described. We are in full support of this compromise plan. We compliment the developer
on engaging in very, we would agree with Mike's characterization, very hard negotiations. This is
a win-win for everyone. It's appropriate. The variances are appropriate. It's more in tune
with the neighborhood than the prior plans.
So on behalf of Nancy and Phil
and the other neighbors who I've represented
in a number of the historical appeals
regarding this property, we're in full support.
We urge the board to grant the requested variances.
And Nancy is available to speak,
but I believe she's allowed me to speak for her.
But she was-
That's fine.
Thank you so much, Dr. Mark.
Thank you very much.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
No hands, Chair.
Planning Commission.
Mr Bednar you are muted
Ms. Bednar, you are muted.
Ron Bednar city planning property is indicated for neighborhood commercial mixed use
on the city plan we recommend that a question use and dimensional variance to be granted
provided denial of front-loaded parking variance
i 2023 004 324 414 to 16 south 20th street i vote yes with revised plans one page
stamp by zba october 18 2023 thomas holloman my vote is yes with proviso
James Snell my vote is yes with proviso
thank you thank you very much members of the board so number five MI 2023 001 213 301 Delmar
Richard DeMarco is the attorney Paul Toner is also involved in this case
there's a letter of opposition
from the Ridge Park Civic Association
applicant did provide a petition
in support from 11 neighbors
Richard DeMarco is coming back in
good afternoon Mr. Chairman
can you hear me okay
I can Mr. DeMarco
you've already been sworn to state your name
for the record
Richard DeMarco, D-E-M-A-R-C-O.
And could you identify your client in relationship to this property?
Yes, the client is Adva Epstein, who is the property owner.
Okay, and our vice chair has just a few questions.
Can you agree to the reading of the refusal and the stipulating to the faculty?
I can agree and waive, yes.
Thank you.
Have you emailed them all the required documents and exhibits that's needed and required to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
Thank you, Mr. DeMarco.
Please proceed and share with you.
Hold on one minute.
Mr. Toner?
Is Mr. Toner on?
Yes, he's been promoted here.
Mr. Toner?
Yes, Mr. Bergwin, can you hear me now?
How are you?
Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
Yes, Paul Toner, T-O-N-E-R, with Orphanese and Toner, LLP.
We're counsel for the registered Civic Association, the Ridge Park Civic Association.
Okay, thank you.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Mr. DeMarco, do you want to start?
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I'll share my screen.
Can you see my screen okay, Mr. Chairman?
It should be coming up any minute.
Yeah, I froze for a minute.
Can you see my screen okay?
Yeah, we're good.
All right.
So you should see the refusal on the board on the screen, Mr. Chairman.
This is a case which would be probably one of the most compelling cases for unnecessary hardship that you're going to see in a zoning context.
I have the refusal up.
This is an RSA 5 property, and what you'll see in a moment is unusually shaped, uniquely shaped, has unique topography.
And we aver that when you've heard all of our testimony, you will agree wholeheartedly that this property cannot be developed without the variances that are being requested.
We are providing a permitted use, a single-family home, consistent with the zoning classification of RSA 5.
The only variance from the original plan that can be considered a use variance would be the front
parking has been removed pursuant to a revised plan. We are no longer proposing a front-loaded
garage, so that refusal is no longer applicable as part of our packet. The revised proviso plan
form has been submitted reflecting the change and the revised drawing is one page. So we'd ask for
a decision incorporating that revised plan as proviso since we will not be requesting the
variances for the parking. So there are dimensional variances that are necessary. This is a classic
case under the Hertzberg case, which your attorney will be familiar with, which provides
case under the herzberg case which your attorney will be familiar with which provided that when
All right.
an applicant is permit is pursuing a permitted use the dimensional variances that are necessary
for that use are of a lesser standard and should be granted in order to allow the property to be
used so as you can see there's a porch variance there's a steep slope variance which we'll get
to in a moment. Our engineering firm is going to testify about that. There's a rear yard and
front yard variance and a deck variance. So let me go ahead and get right to the point.
Let me show some photos. This is our zoning notice.
My computer's a little slow.
That's the zoning notice.
So as you can see, Mr. Chairman, the lot is flat in the rear, but it is sloped.
So now let me go to. So this is a side view along. Let me rotate.
You can see the topography that we're dealing with. The property is incredibly sloped.
It has trees which extend over the right-of-way, creating a very dangerous and difficult scenario for the owner.
A number of the trees do that.
You can see the extreme steep slope to the front.
There's an incline along the property.
There's no sidewalk along the property.
These are the front portion of the property.
as you can see, the trees extend over the right of way, creating a very difficult situation for
the owner. And this piece right here, indicating with my mouse, would be the only area that is
somewhat flat. And that is exactly where we are proposing the home, to mitigate as much as
possible the steep slope. This is the original plan, which is just submitted for reference only.
You see the garage. This garage has been removed, but you could see here, Mr.
Chairman, a triangular aspect of this property.
The property dramatically thins at the front along Del Mar to a width of only two or three feet,
but then widens towards along Silverwood.
And we are proposing the home, Mr.
Chairman, in the only place that it can go, which is to the rear portion of the property,
which has the greatest width, which can support the home.
This is the revised drawing, which we would ask you to stamp. You can see that the garage has been removed. We have no height variance. We have no bulk variance. We have no occupied area variance. The property is complying in all aspects with every requirement, save for the ones that are necessary because of the triangular shape and the steep slope.
I'll skip the revised plan form. I want to show you the steep slope analysis, which was performed
by our engineering firm, Aqua Engineering. As you can see, Mr. Chairman, the green and the yellow
are not, if you build on that, you do not need a steep slope variance. The red is the steep slope,
which would require a variance if you were to build on it. As you can see, just from the naked
eye and not being a layperson, you can see that the green area will not support a property.
Therefore, variances are required in order to build the permitted use, which is a single family
home on this lot. Within your packet, Mr. Chairman, are a number of cases for your attorney
to consider if she wants to um this is uh without a doubt consistent with case law this commonwealth
which which holds very unequivocally that if this the land is sloped in such a manner that you
cannot avoid building upon it those variants are variances are necessary and required to
be granted and fulfill the legal standard for unnecessary hardship um let me go back to the
site plan. Just one more comment before I think I'll ask my engineer to testify first, Jake
Sheridan. But in the meantime, as you can see, Mr. Chairman, we have only one option, which
will be the front along Silverwood. We will put in a new sidewalk. But we have no room
to meet the rear yard because the property has to sit in the rear and there needs to be a rear
yard i mean there is a rear yard but because the property is so thin up here we get a rear yard
variance and again we have plenty of open space we don't need a variance for open space but we don't
meet the rear yard depth we can't meet the front yard setback because we have to
the rear yard depth. We can't meet the front yard setback because we have to front along
Silverwood. If we were to try to front along Delmar, we still would need the rear yard variance.
If we were to try to include the rear yard variance, it would push the property into the
thinnest portion of the lot, which would be undesirable and would be a greater impact on
the steep slope. The choice was clear to put the property in the rear portion of the lot to minimize
the variance for steep slope and to kind of pick your poison. We would need variances no matter
what. We chose to mitigate the steep slope variance as much as possible, but obviously the
rear yard variance and front yard variance are unavoidable. So let me go ahead and ask, I think
i'll call jake sheridan first before i call uh miss epstein so jake could virtually raise his hand
and i have a few questions for him
can you state your name please hello my name is jake sheridan j-a-k-e-s-h-e-r-i-d-a-n
do you swear or firm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
Please proceed.
Mr. Sharon, I'm going to leave the slope analysis up on the screen, but let's start with this.
What firm do you work for?
Aqua Economics.
What does Aqua Economics do for a living?
We specialize in land surveying and civil engineering site design.
And what do you do for Aqua?
I'm one of our project managers.
I am an engineer in training.
What does that require for you to be an engineer in training?
Four years of a college education and passing of the EIT exam.
And how many design projects have you worked on in your career as an engineer in training?
I would say well over in the, with this company, I would say with at least 100 or more.
Have you testified and given an expert testimony before this zoning board before or any zoning board for that matter?
How many times?
A handful of times in the city, at least.
I'm offering Mr. Sheridan as an expert in engineering and to comment on the accuracy of the plans that he provided for this case.
Mr. Chairman, may I answer a few questions?
Mr. Sheridan, what professional licenses do you hold?
When did you graduate from college?
After college, what level of education did you obtain?
Just a bachelor.
I just have a bachelor's in engineering.
have you ever been admitted in a court a court of common pleas as an expert
negative have you ever been admitted in a federal court as an expert negative
have you ever been admitted before the philadelphia zoning board of adjustment
as an expert? Uh, yes. In what case? Um, it would have been for 6605 Lincoln Drive.
And what for you? I'm sorry, continue. I was, I was just going to say, um, that was for,
I believe, dimensional variances as well. I was testifying, uh, also just to confirm
stormwater compliance. Was that case contested? Yes, by the neighbors, but it eventually received
approval. Okay. Were you cross-examined? I believe so. You believe so? Do you know if you were or not?
There was a lot of cross-examination from multiple different parties within that matter.
you personally were cross-examined
I believe so
it was at least
two and a half, three years ago at this point
how long have you been
an engineer in training
January
of 2018
And what's left to be accomplished in order for you to become a licensed engineer?
I just need to take the professional engineering exam.
I just need to take the professional engineering exam and pass, obviously.
I have completed the time requirement as far as working under a professional licensure.
How many times have you not passed a professional examination?
I'm going to object to the qualification of Mr. Sheridan to be admitted as an expert engineer.
So, Mr. DeMarco, did Mr. Sheridan do work for you in this case?
Worked for me?
he prepared all the drawings that's what i'm saying he did that okay so he could testify
he could testify to what he did but i'm not going to take him as an expert
okay i would just let me put something on the record here uh mr chairman sure absolutely uh the
the mr sheridan has been qualified as an expert before this board before um he's uh greater than
okay i understand i understand that but i'm not going to do that today he can testify to what
he did for you all right fair enough um all right well note my objection mr chairman just for the
record absolutely okay so mr sheraton did you did you prepare um did aqua first of all did aqua
prepare the zoning plan the slope analysis uh for this uh property that's correct and the earth
moving plan and the earth moving plan right and did you were you the ones that were you the
individual that prepared those plans i assisted our other design engineer kenny was preparing
the plans okay and were you the person that's most familiar with these plans and drawings yes
that's correct okay um did you also provide provide the revised plan that removed the parking
proposed parking from the original plan that's correct we did okay and does this uh property
have unusual topography yes um what briefly what what is unusual about the topography
just the steep slopes incumbent like landlocking the only you know buildable
parts of the property with respect to steep slopes as they're defined by the city.
And we'll get to this slope analysis in a moment, but is the property unusually shaped as well?
Yes, that is correct. And explain to the board briefly why that is.
The triangularly shaped lot with a narrow approximately two foot of frontage on the
addressed frontage of the property kind of creates, you know, an inhabitable size and shape for
a large portion of the lot. So I have the slope analysis that you and your firm prepared on the
screen. Can you explain to the board whether this property can be developed for the permitted use
of single family home without impacting the steep slope? Mr. Bergman, I just ask that Mr.
should Mr. Sheridan be required to put his video on?
Sheridan, could you put your video on?
Yeah, could I have access? If you can, sure.
I only have a mute, a microphone button here.
Oh, he has to be a panelist, I think, to do that.
Could we promote it to panelists?
Thank you.
Mr. Sheridan, are you still with us?
Yes, he should be coming in.
Oh, there he is.
Hello, everyone.
Thank you.
So do you remember the question?
Can you repeat it?
Can you rephrase the question?
I'm sorry.
I can repeat the question.
So I have the slope analysis that your firm prepared that you were involved with on the screen.
Can you see it?
Yes, sir. Yep.
Can you explain to the board whether it is possible to develop a permitted use, the single family home, on this property without impacting the steep slope?
I do not believe that it is possible because you would have to disturb some portion of anywhere on the steep slopes to access any of the green or yellow portions that would be permitted to be built on.
Okay. Can you build a home? First of all, is the green and yellow portion of the drawing that's on the screen, is that a non-variance steep slope?
Objection. It's beyond a scope of his competency as a non-expert witness.
Yeah, that's just not the standard. That's the incorrect standard to apply. He has much greater than a layperson's understanding. He prepared the drawings. The board already agreed that he'd be able to...
mr toner will let him answer the question okay can you restate the question mr demarco sure uh
Can you restate the question, Mr. DeMarco?
Sure. Is it possible to fit a home on the green and yellow portion of the steep slope analysis drawing?
Not without disturbing the steep slopes and not a home that would be anywhere near habitable.
As far as the triangular nature of the lot, why don't we leave?
Well, let's put the plan up.
So can you see on your screen, Mr. Sheridan, the zoning plan?
All right. Is this document that you prepared?
Yes. Aqua Economics prepared that plan.
All right. So, is it possible to construct a home on the site without impacting either the rear yard variance or a front setback variance?
I do not believe so, no.
And why is that?
just due to the size of you know a standard single family house with the requirements of
the setback requirements and the shape of the lot the triangularly shaped nature of this lot
and the angles that it has it forces the house to be situated on the rear portion and trying to
capture and build on as much of the non-steep slopes areas as possible it's kind of you know
forcing the house to be situated where it's shown.
And as far as there's a porch variance that was included in the refusal,
is it possible to include a porch without incurring a porch variance
for the front setback?
Objection.
What's the objection?
It's beyond the scope of this competency as a testifying non-expert.
do I need to respond he can answer the question we'll weigh his expertise but he can answer the
question Mr. Bergen can I just have a running objection to any person Mr. Toner you can that's
fine uh the question is about the porch variance Mr. Sharon is it possible to comply with the
the porch setback is similar to the same the earlier question is it possible to
comply with the port setback variance as well?
I do not believe so.
Can any deck be designed on this property without a variance?
I do not believe so.
And do you reach the opinions that you've reached today
with a reasonable degree of professional certainty?
Through my experience, yes.
Do you believe, having done these drawings, that there's any possibility of developing a home on this property without steep slope and dimensional variances?
I do not believe so, no.
I have no further questions.
Mr. Toner?
Yes, thank you, Mr. Bergman.
Mr. Sheridan, you just testified that you did not believe it is possible to comply with several zoning provisions that were the subject of the refusal issued by L&I.
By means of example, you testified that it's not possible to comply with the front porch setback requirements.
you didn't actually prepare any plans that showed um an attempt to comply with the front
front porch setback requirements did you well we don't prepare the architectural plans we just
prepared the site layout of what was provided okay so on the screen uh mr demarco showing a copy
of the zoning plan that was submitted and it's part of the proviso plan what's the square footage
of the structure um the square footage of the structure is
we are proposing where is it
sorry just trying to find it here 1545 square feet
Mr. Sheridan, did you prepare a plan that had a lesser dimension than 1,545 square feet?
I don't recall.
Mr. Sheridan, were you ever asked to reduce the size of the building footprint?
it i don't recall but we wouldn't been able to anyway because we're not
I don't recall, but we wouldn't have been able to anyway because we're not architects.
Okay. Were you ever asked to draft any plan that considered a smaller building envelope?
I don't recall.
Mr. DeMarco can you please put your the aqua economics um slope analysis plan on the screen
actually let's start with the aqua economics earth moving plan
Mr. Sheraton, do you see the earth moving plan that's now shared on the Zoom screen?
Yes, sir, I do.
Is this the final earth moving plan?
Can you, am I having a, the clarity isn't as clear and I can't see the date on that plan.
I'm going to try to blow it up.
Note my objection, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Sheridan did not answer questions about this plan, but I want to make sure that's clear.
Can you see it better now, Mr. Sheridan?
Is it a plan dated, I believe, September 9th of 2022?
That's correct.
Is this the final version of the earth moving plan?
To my knowledge, yes.
Were there were there prior versions of the earth moving plan? Not to my knowledge, no. Now, on the right side of the earth moving plan, there's a key. And one of the keys is proposed grass area. Do you see that? Yes. And you'll agree with me that a majority of the proposed grass area falls outside the actual meets and bounds of 301 Delmar Avenue?
of the the majority in my understanding your question is the majority of the grass area falls
outside of the boundary it falls outside the lot that is 301 Delmar no I disagree with that question
or that I disagree with that statement the building that's proposed for 301 Delmar
um it's built on the side lot line isn't it i didn't hear the question repeat it please
the the building that's proposed for 301 delmar it's designed to sit on the side lot line isn't
that correct the side yard lot line to the right of the plan view currently correct yes and below
So what would be the bottom of the building envelope is additional grass area, correct?
No, that's to me, that's clearly triangularly hatched as concrete as shown in the legend.
That's indicating the proposed sidewalk within the right of way.
Is it possible for me to access this plan, Mr. Bergman, so I can use my marker?
I don't know how we can do that. I mean, I'll certainly leave it up.
Can we both share the screen?
I'm not that tech savvy. I'm sorry.
Is our tech person on?
only one person can share at a time okay okay let me see if I can do this ask it a different
way uh Mr. Chardin you see the word silver silverwood street on the plan and then right
above silverwood there's some area that has a uh diagonal uh line before the deck space
plan for 301? And those diagonal lines are also before the main residential structure plan for
301? Yeah, those diagonal lines are the proposed contours. Yeah, and that's actually not located
within the lot that is 301 Delmar, correct? That's within the public right-of-way, yes.
Yeah, so it's completely outside of the real property that's issued in this case, right?
That's correct, yes.
And so your total earth disturbance calculation of 4,530 square feet, that includes area outside the building, or I'm sorry, outside the lot that is 301 Del Mar, correct?
That's correct, yes.
generally when we're when we're preparing plans we need to consider because of potential PWD
requirements we need to consider all earth disturbance in and out of the right of way or
all earth disturbance in and out of the right-of-way or the property itself.
And the area at the corner of Silverwood and Delmar,
on your zoning plan, that depicts a ADA ramp, correct?
That's correct, yes.
And on your earth moving plan, there's no depiction of the ADA ramp, is there?
not for the purposes of the earth moving plan now and if there if your zoning plan was superimposed
over your earth moving plan the ada ramp would be squarely within the grass area identified on
your earth moving plan correct if you actually the grass areas you mean the concrete the sidewalk
area no i'm referring to the proposed grass pervious area no it would the proposed ada ramp
would fall within the concrete area within the right-of-way.
Mr. Sheridan, did you review the deed 301 Del Mar as part of your preparation of these plans?
Our survey draft person would have, and our licensed surveyor would have.
But did you yourself review the deed?
I can't recall at this time.
Mr. Bergman, may I share my screen?
I'm going to show the witness what we sent to the board and pre-marked as Exhibit 1.
We'll call it Intervenor 1.
can you see this meets and bound legal description mr sharon uh yes can you see in the situate
paragraph do you see that paragraph okay yep situate in the 21st ward of the city of philadelphia
and described in accordance with a consolidation plan of the property made february 28 2017
by Euron Surveying and Mapping, LLC, as follows to WIT.
Are you familiar with the 2017 consolidation plan?
I believe I am, yes.
Has that consolidation plan been approved?
I'm not certain.
At this point, I'm going to object, Mr. Chairman, how is this relevant in any way?
It certainly is a record document.
It's a copy of the 2018 deed to the zoning applicant, zoning appellate in this case.
It references a consolidation plan, and certainly whether this lot has already been consolidated with another adjacent lot is certainly relevant to whether this remains a separate building lot.
Mr. DeMarco, I'm going to let him ask the question, but I don't know that he seems to know the answer anyway.
Right, exactly. It's not relevant to it. Go ahead.
i'm i'm not certain whether juron surveying and mapping llc had gotten the consolidation approved
or not did you take into consideration the existence of the consolidation plan when drafting
either your zoning earth moving or steep slope analysis we took into consideration the existing
conditions plan that was provided to us did you do any research into prior uses of 301
Delmar F? Objection to relevance.
I'm going to let him answer the question. I'm not certain
at this time. I want to draw your attention to
the second-to-last paragraph of the 2018
Meets and Bounds description of 301 Delmar.
Being part of the same premises with which
William Winokur and Esther, his wife,
by deed dated September 22, 1870, and recorded May 25, 1872, in deed book JAH 253, page 120,
conveyed unto John Connor. Are you familiar of any use made of the property by John Connor?
Objection. How could he possibly know? Where are we going with this? I mean, come on.
Mr. Berkman, he's asking for a reasonable use. This is a property.
Well, so I think what he wants to know, was there any other use of this property? Am I right, Mr. Turner?
Okay. If you know, Mr.
I do not know the answer to that question, Mr. Turner.
Okay. Were you asked to consider any other uses for 301 Del Mar other than the single family home that's included and depicted within your zoning?
other than the single-family home that's included and depicted within your zoning plan,
your steep slope analysis, and your earth moving plan? Negative.
Mr. Sheraton, are you familiar with a
The order to comply by agreement dated July 16, 2019, between the City of Philadelphia and Adva Epstein.
Objection. Relevance?
How could he possibly know about that?
Mr. Bergman, this is an order to comply violations that was entered in City of Philadelphia v. Epstein at docket number 2019, number 03737.
Mr. Turner, answer that to the best of your ability.
No, I am not aware of that document, Mr. Turner.
The record reflect, I'm going to show the witness what we've pre-marked as Exhibit 3.
so I have a feeling that Mr. Turner is going to proceed with something that is utterly irrelevant
to these proceedings he's going to put information before the board about an enforcement case which
was which we is ongoing and on appeal and is a subject of a different litigation that has nothing
to do with the hardship to the property the physical hardship my client's been subject to
uh excessive an excessive fine with regard to this a default initially was a default judgment
there's ongoing litigation so it's just not not relevant to this case it's about the hardship
here's here's the thing he's shown it to him and if he doesn't know anything about it he doesn't
know anything about it i mean i think very well that question very well but note my objection
Mr. Chair. Okay. Mr. Chardon, first of all, do you see the document that we've now shared on
the Zoom screen and marked as Exhibit 3? Yes, I do see the document. I represent to you,
it's an opinion from the Philadelphia Court of Con, please, dated April 20, 2023. Have you ever
seen this document before? Negative, sir. I won't ask you any questions about a document you haven't
seen before, but I want to direct your attention to some of the exhibits that were included within
this document. And for the record, we've pre-marked this document as Intervenor Exhibit 3 and its big
number at the bottom center, beginning at 3-001. I want to direct your attention to-
Mr. Chairman, note my objection. He doesn't know this document. He's never seen it before.
He can't comment on any attachments. So I could be wrong. I think the question is,
He wants to show them things that were put in the document.
Did he know those things?
Correct.
Same objection, though.
Okay, I hear your objection.
Mr. Sheraton, let the record reflect.
I've shared on my Zoom screen, Intervenor 3-018.
Does this refresh your recollection as to whether you've seen the order to comply violations by agreement?
No, sir. I have not seen this document before, to my knowledge.
Okay. Let me direct your attention to the second page, which is Exhibit 3-019. And I'm going to identify certain requirements imposed by this order. And I want to know whether you're familiar with those requirements and whether those requirements have actually been met.
the first let me eject again mr chairman mr toner i understand cloud sorry mr chairman
mr chairman mr mr toner stated that he understood that i hadn't seen the document
before and he wasn't going to ask me questions about the specific document itself but these
are questions about the specific document itself you're mr chardon if you can't answer the question
don't answer the question yes sir excuse me excuse me this is Hillary I just had a question
um Mr. Toner is there anything in this document that has to um that is relevant to the development
of the property as opposed to addressing existing violations at the vacant property yes and I'm
getting to that right now Hillary so the first agreement part of the order by agreement that
It was signed by the owner of the property provides that the owner shall refrain from further work unless a water management plan is submitted to and approved by the water department and licenses and inspection.
So this let me do an objection. Mr. Toner is trying to confuse this board by citing orders that were entered that are currently under appeal.
by citing orders that were entered that are currently under appeal he does not know the full
extent of what went on in the court of common pleas he's trying to cherry pick certain orders
that are under that are tested explain what you're trying to do yeah so um there was an agreement
reached by the owners property that they would prepare a water management plan and have it
approved by both the Water Department and L&I. They're asking for variances from the steep slope
requirement. This requirement that they submit a stormwater management plan is directly related
to the steep slope area and whether anything can be properly and safely developed on the steep
slope area. And since this was an order of the court that the owner herself agreed to,
So this is certainly part of what should be expected by this board in terms of, is the owner proceeding in a matter that's intended to protect the public safety and welfare?
But, Mr. Jonah, the question is, the issue is, did he have anything to do or did he know anything about this?
And I think he's already answered that.
Yeah, and I just want to know if he's aware of the requirement that they prepare a water match.
I need to be heard eventually on this.
He's absolutely mischaracterizing what went on in the court.
I need to put something on the record, Mr. Jim.
I'll be brief. You can put it on the record, but I think he can answer the question. If he doesn't
know, he doesn't know. I just want to tell you, the owner was given two options on how to comply
the violation, one of which is to go through this process to get a variance. I got it. I got it. Okay.
All right. Mr. Tony, your question is? Yes. Mr. Sheraton, are you aware of the requirement that
the owner have a stormwater management plan approved by the water department no i'm not
aware of this requirement but i would like to state for the record short of the approval by
the water department we meet like if you if you reference the earth moving plan we still meet
what they're even asking here you'll i would point your i would point your attention to the
cfs pink line type along the curb line that stands for compost filter sock and i believe
that that's what they're referring to in but mr sheridan you just testified that you weren't
familiar with this document and you weren't familiar with its requirements so how do you
know what the the parties believed or understood to be the requirements objection that's not reading
that i'm reading what's in front of me mr toner so mr sheridan let me just simply ask you
Is there a stormwater management plan within your records that has been approved by the water department?
Governor, how much longer do you need with Mr. Sheridan?
Not much, Mr. Sheridan.
Mr. Bergman.
actually i i have no further questions for us thank you mr demarco uh
other witnesses well briefly a redirect okay do the redirect and then i think we're going to
resume have a result of hearing for this because all right whatever yeah whatever
I have eight, nine more cases.
I understand.
I understand.
Thank you.
My question for Mr. Sheridan is, is the stormwater management plan, please stop the screen share, Mr. Toner.
Thank you.
Mr. Sheridan, is the stormwater management plan required for this property under current regulations that you're familiar with?
No, not to my knowledge, sir.
And if you were to have developed, pursuant to some of the questioning by Mr. Toner, if you were, I'm going to put the site plan back up on the screen. If you were to have developed a smaller house, would that avoid rear yard, front yard, and side porch variances?
Objection. This calls for speculation. The witness on cross that he didn't consider or was asked to prepare any other.
Mr. Chowder, Mr. Chowder, Mr. Chowder, we're going to let him answer the question.
My final question.
You understand, you understand the question, Mr. Chowder?
Can you repeat it, please?
Yeah, if you were to have designed a smaller structure for this home, would you have been able to avoid rear or front yard setback variances?
Objection.
Well, we would not have designed the house. If we would have received plans for a smaller house, it would have had to have been a much smaller house in order to comply with those requirements.
Can you build a functional house if you complied with the front yard and rear yard setback on this property?
Can you build a functional house if you complied with the front yard and rear yard?
Objection.
Go ahead. Answer that, Mr. Chairman.
To my knowledge, no.
That's all I have, Mr. Chairman.
Okay. So, Mr. DeMarco, how many more witnesses do you have?
I have the owner, Adva Epstein, and that's all I have.
Why don't we do the owner just to adopt your testimony?
is that your testimony she can but i did want her to expound on a couple things
we can do that another here i think what we're going to do is we're going to have a result that's
fine that's fine all right yeah if you could if i could just ask for the hearing to be held as
soon as possible uh we will gladly try to get this in back as soon as possible okay thank you
and thank you i understand yeah okay thank you mr chair we mr chair we do have a date for the
resumption hearing well let's hear the date thank you december 19th at 9 30
all right thank you again december 19th at 9 30
number six mi 2023 004 799 1101 to 53 chestnut street stephanie box magnet is the attorney
a letter of non-opposition from council member squilla letter of non-opposition from washington
square west civic association our commission approval for sign already received
thank you counsel did i swear you before or did we just stop all right why don't you state your
name and spell for the record sure stephanie magna m-a-g-a-g-n-a um claire harrison harvey
Brandsburg, 1835 Market Street, Suite 1400, Philadelphia PA 19123. You swear a firm to tell
the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Yes, I do. Could you identify your client
and relationship to the property? Yes, I am here on behalf of Thomas Jefferson University, who is
the ground lessee for this property, as well as National Real Estate Development, who is the
developer for the project. Our vice chair has just a few questions. Thank you. Good afternoon,
council do you agree to raise the reading of the refusal no i do not um the refusal has a typo on
it um notes the proposed height of our sign is 87 feet seven inches above the ground it is 37 feet
and seven inches above the ground so there is a typo there um also i'll note this sign is proposed
along chestnut walk which is a private pedestrian pathway um street between the eastern portion
development site of this lot and the western portion development of this lot so it is a private
street and it's interior to the lot so we don't believe that we require a zoning permit for the
proposed sign because this is an interior portion of the property however in the alternative we
are seeking the requested variance for the sign as listed on the refusal.
Understood. Have you emailed in all the required documents that's needed to proceed with this
Yes, I have.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I'm going to share my screen.
So this site is 1101 Chestnut Street.
It is the location of the new specialty care pavilion, which will be named the Honigman Center for Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson University.
The construction is nearly complete at the site.
These are some existing site photos of the exterior grounds that are here.
and you can see we have some interior pictures as well
that kind of show where we are in the process.
We are nearing opening of the facility,
which is very exciting,
and are in the final stages
of getting our accessory signage approved.
So most of the accessory signage here
was approved last year, composed by Wright,
submitted collectively along with the sign
that's before you today to the Art Commission.
We do have a letter of approval
from the Art Commission back in 2022
that's included in the packet for the design of this sign as well.
This sign is the last of what's being proposed. It is a wall sign, what has been deemed as a
building ID sign along the property that's facing the west elevation, facing South 12th Street and
Chestnut Street. It's located near the entrances for that building and identify,
I serve to identify this building and specifically the Hanukkah Center for pedestrians that are
traveling along that chestnut walk pedestrian pathway along the building that connects the
project to the rest of Market East, as well as currently with the second phase of development
on the eastern portion of this site, or I'm sorry, western portion of this site, kind
to be, or I'm sorry, western portion of this site, kind of later for a phase two, undeveloped,
of later for a phase two.
this sign will face Chestnut Street and South 12th Street. So it's been designed to be appropriate,
not only with the existing signage package that exists with TGU campus, but also to allow way
finding for pedestrians traveling along the pedestrian path, in addition to visitors and
patients that are coming by car that can see this now along Chestnut Street and South 12th Street.
So we are asking for a refusal for the height of this sign. As I said, it was deemed a building ID sign by L&I. The minimum height for a building ID sign is 150 feet, whereas this sign is only 37 feet above the floor, above grade, I'm sorry.
We did present this sign at a community meeting to Washington Square West.
We do have their letter of support included in the packet as well, noting the typo that is on the refusal,
that this sign is only 37 feet 7 inches above grade and not 87 feet 7 inches above grade as was listed on the refusal.
But again, we're asking for relief so that we can have this sign be of the appropriate height and scale
to assist pedestrians and visitors
to the building to identify this building
as they're traveling through it.
And with that, I'll ask Charles Norman
to identify himself.
He's with National Real Estate Development.
Charles, if you can raise your hand
and identify yourself for the board.
Charles Norman is allowed to speak.
Could you state your name, please,
and spell for the court stenographer?
Good afternoon.
My name is Charles Norman, C-H-A-R-L-E-S-N-O-R-M-A-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, counsel.
Thanks, Charles.
Have you heard my statements to the board this afternoon?
Stephanie, I did.
Do you believe they're true and accurate to the best of your knowledge and belief?
Accurate and a very good presentation.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Do you adopt them as your own statements?
i do adopt them as my own testimony yes thanks thank you um questions from the board no chair
no mr chairman no chair questions or comments from our attorney hillary emerson
i'm not this time mr chair um questions from the uh virtual audience
i see no hands chair planning commission ron bednar city planning uh the property
is indicated for center city commercial mixed use on the city plan we recommend the request
for advance be granted thank you MI 2023 004 799 1101 to 53 Chesson Street I vote yes
Thomas Holloman my vote is yes
James Snell my vote is yes
thank you counsel thank you number seven mi 2023-003-273-4030
spruce street christopher brown is the attorney letter of non-opposition excuse me mr chair um
can can we move to number nine next please for scheduling um we have someone that is running
short on time. Thank you. Okay. MI 2023 004 372 901 to 05 North 45th Street. Alan Nockamson is the
attorney. Letter of support from Mill Creek Advisory Council. Unanimous.
Alan Nockamson is returning.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chair, members of the board, Alan Ockhamson.
Yeah, just state your name.
You've already been sworn.
Alan Ockhamson.
Could you identify your client and relationship to this property?
My client is Dream Chasers, LLC, and in the audience is James Drayton, its member.
Our vice chair has just a few questions.
Do you agree with the reading of the reference or stipulate through the act of seal?
I did not hear that, but I would say yes.
Have you emailed in all the required documents to proceed with this case in advance of this hearing?
Yes, I have.
Thank you. Please proceed to hear your screen.
All right. Thank you.
all right uh pretty straightforward matter 901 uh north uh 901-05 north 45th street
uh this is a project of mixed-use development uh in the uh west philadelphia area uh just off of
uh west philadelphia area uh just off of lancaster avenue uh during our presentation we'll review
Lancaster Avenue.
several matters first a notice of refusal uh then the letter of support for mill creek advisory
council uh then nearby recently granted similar variances uh the show what we're offering is not
out of character then maps of the area photographs of the property our plans and drawings or rco
meeting notice where we had a well-attended meeting in front of the Mill Creek Advisory
Council, our application for appeal, our deed to property, and our certificate of tax clearance.
At the conclusion of my presentation, I would ask that Mr. Drayton virtually raise his hand,
be sworn in, and then I have a few questions for him to answer. First things first, this is
are known as a refusal. This is a CMX2 property. You know, we're not asking to make any type of
use variances here in that we have a commercial unit on the ground floor, we have residential
above, but due to the irregular shape of our lot, we are asking that the board
grants several variances regarding dimensions and the amount of units. So first, given the size of
the lot, we're asking the board to allow us to do five units rather than two. That seems like a lot,
but given the unique nature and configuration of and shape of the lot, it's something that
fits well within this property. And if we were more of a regular shaped lot, we're either square
or rectangular, given the dimensions of this property, given the width and length of it,
this would be an as-of-right project. Second refusal has to do with the occupied area.
We are asking for 100% occupied area. Again, given the configuration or the shape of this lot,
it would be very difficult to meet the 80% occupied area restriction for this property.
So that is our hardship there. And again, you know, we've met with the community and the community thought that this was a positive project to help support the commercial corridor on Lancaster by providing that extra density, which is needed through that occupied area.
And then the third refusal has to do with the rear yard depth. Again, you'll see from the shape of the law, it would be rather difficult, if not impossible, for us to comply with this requirement. And again, given the circumstances of helping try to support this commercial corridor on Lancaster Avenue with this increased density of residential use and the support of the community, we hope that the board also grants this variance request.
So we did meet with Mill Creek Advisory Council.
It was a very well attended meeting.
I believe there are at least 20 members of the community in attendance.
And my understanding is there was overwhelming support.
And the Mill Creek Advisory Council in their letter stated that they have they've given us their full support.
So not just non-opposition, not just support, but full support.
So I think they were very taken aback by the quality of this project.
Not that this is a zoning issue, but my client also does affordable housing, and his intention here is to do that as well at this location.
uh again we also looked at you know projects that this board has considered over the years
and there are two in particular 4408 lancaster avenue this board granted a nine unit development
and given the size of a lot it's it's very comparable to what we're asking for in terms
of the variance as well and then also 4434 lancaster avenue again i looked at projects
that this board has considered over the years,
given the size of the lot
and the amount of units here asked is four,
which is, I believe, a little smaller lot
than even ours.
I just want to confirm that.
Well, it's comparable to our lot.
It's actually 1,419 square feet,
while ours is 1,240.
But they're asking for four units.
We're asking for five.
But given the circumstances here,
we believe that that's comparable as well.
And then our zoning map, as you can see here, this, our lot, is just a regular shape.
You know, it's rectangular in shape, and it'd be rather difficult under the circumstances to meet any dimensional requirements, such as occupied area and rear yard.
Next one.
And then this is the map of the area from a Google Maps perspective.
So you can see we intersect several streets, Westminster, 45th and Lancaster.
So we're like on the tip of a very heavily populated commercial corridor that is in desperate need of occupants nearby, which are.
um that is in desperate need of occupants nearby which r5 units would allow for
and then photographs of the property uh this is our the current condition of the property right
now it's an unoccupied commercial business there business structure there
and then this is 901-05 north 45th street from westminster again irregular shaved lot
And then this is our hearing poster showing proof of posting for this property from both 45th Street as well as Westminster.
And then this is North 45th Street to the right of the property.
North 45th Street to the left of the property, you can see this is where the commercial corridor is.
Westminster Avenue to the right of the property.
Again, you can see the commercial corridor here.
And Westminster Avenue to the left of the property.
And then our plans and drawings.
As you can see, we're not asking for any height.
We're not going to let me do this actually.
Stop sharing for a second.
Just having technical difficulties.
All right, so this is 45th Street, the project on North 45th Street.
So this is the Westminster Avenue perspective.
Again, we're not asking for any height variance.
This is Lancaster Avenue perspective, and there you can see, you know, what we're dealing with in terms of this is a regular-shaped lot and this tip here on Lancaster Avenue.
And then this is 45th Street perspective for the property.
And then you can see here as well the regular-shaped portion of the lot.
If this was squared off here, based on my calculations, we would be allowed, and this is my calculations on Atlas, five units, and that's what we're seeking here.
But because of the irregular shape, we are limited in some respects, and that's why we need the additional occupied area, as well as the elimination of the rear yards to allow us to build a functional building structure.
And then these are just our floor plans here.
I want to highlight the fact that we have a trash room that comes off the street.
So that's a responsible use of the property.
Our client also plans to do commercial pickup as well.
The commercial space is the first floor and the lower level.
And there's a unit on the first floor and the lower level.
That's one unit.
And then the second and third floor each have a unit on there as well.
There is no roof deck.
This is our hearing post or excuse me, our community notice for the meeting that took
place on September 11th at 6.30 PM.
This is proof of the email that went out, which attached that notice to, you know, which we sent to both the coordinating RCO, as well as other RCOs, as well as Andrew Goodman, which is the council member zoning aid.
And then this notice went out to 126 addresses.
List of the addresses, proof of mailing to those addresses, and then our application for appeal that we filed with the ZBA, along with the notice of refusal that went with the application for appeal and the project information form as well.
And then our deed to the property, showing that Dream Chasers LLC is the owner of the property.
And then finally, our Certificate of Tax Clearance, showing that our client owes no money to the City of Philadelphia.
They're actually part of a payment plan here, as you can see.
So, with that being said, I would ask that Mr. Drayton virtually raise his hand.
So with that being said, I would ask that Mr. Drain.
Mr. Drayton, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Mr. Drayton, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
Good afternoon.
My name is James Drayton, J-A-M-E-S-D-R-A-Y-T-O-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I affirm, sir.
Please proceed, counsel.
Oh, yes.
Mr. Drayton, you heard everything I had to state today about your zoning matter.
Yes, sir, I did.
And is it true and correct?
Yes, it's true and correct.
And do you adopt it as your own testimony?
Yes, I would adopt it as my own testimony.
All right.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Sherman.
No, Chair.
questions or comments from our attorney hillary emerson not at this time chair questions from the
virtual audience i see no hands chair planning commission run bed north city planning while
this property is currently indicated for neighborhood commercial mixed juice uh on the
city plan given the physical circumstances of the site and nearby area use character we recommend
your question. Thank you. MI 2023-004-372-901-05-North 45th Street. I vote yes. Thomas Holloman,
my vote is yes. James Snell, my vote is yes. Thank you, counsel. Thank you. Have a great day.
Number seven, MI 2023-003-273-4030 Spruce Street. Christopher Brown is
The Attorney, Letter of Non-Opposition from Spruce Hill Community Association.
Christopher Brown has been promoted to panelist.
Good afternoon.
Christopher Brown.
Could you spell it, please, for the court stenographer?
Christopher Brown, C-H-R-I-S-T-O-P-H-E-R-B-R-O-W-N.
Do you swear a firm to tell the truth and nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client in a relationship to the property?
Daniel O'Sullivan is here from PKB 17 LLC, the owner of 4030 Spruce Street.
until um they actually just sold it as of august 15th 2023 um but it's the part of this part of
the sale is contingent on this uh permit our vice chair has a few questions for you
good afternoon council do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its
accuracy yes sir yes sir have you emailed in all the required documents that are needed to proceed
with this case five days in advance of this hearing uh sir i uh sir i submitted them yes
but okay you've received everything so far uh so please proceed and share your screen
all right is did i do that correctly i i think i might my screen should be shared now it is
So, as I said, I'm Christopher Brown. In 2015, this applicant was approved with a proviso for a temporary use permit to allow for group living at 4030 Spruce Street, specifically a fraternity with a maximum of 12 residents.
The proviso was three years. So in 2018, at the expiration, we were again approved, this time with a proviso of five years, which would have expired August 1st, 2023.
In approximately April, Dan O'Sullivan began attempting to further extend the permit, and we were first in touch with Spruce Hill Community Association, the RCO in this case, the main one, who by a letter agreement of May 1st, 2023, agreed to continue to support this use.
Then on May 31st, 2023, we were issued a notice of referral, and we filed this appeal on June 6th, 2023.
The Spruce Hill Community Association, and that's referencing the screen you're looking at right now,
after meeting with us and inspecting the house further, issued a letter.
After meeting with with us and inspecting the house further issued a letter on September dated September 27th, 2023, continuing their support of this this use.
So we're we're here today hoping for an extension for another five years.
and now i'm sharing my screen um this is part of the uh application that was submitted and it's
part of the exhibits um several pages in this is the letter agreement um from may 1st between
the spruce hill community association and pkb 17 llc's members um agreeing to allow them
to continue with the use as a group living
fraternity house.
And these are photos of the premises.
And we also sent notice to all the neighbors
participated in the community meeting that led to
the letter of the 27th. We posted photos of the zoning board poster. And with that, I have Dan
O'Sullivan here. If he could raise his virtual hand, hopefully he can do that. I would like to
have him sworn in to testify to what I just said.
dan o'sullivan is allowed to speak
sullivan could you state your name and spell please for the court stenographer
yeah my name is dan o'sullivan d-a-n first name last name is o'sullivan o apostrophe
s-u-l-l-i-v-a-n do you swear for him to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
Proceed, counsel.
Mr. O'Sullivan, did you hear everything I just said on the record here?
I did.
Okay, Chris.
Is everything true to the best of your knowledge, information, and belief that I said?
It is.
And would you adopt my testimony as your own?
I would.
With that, I have no further questions.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
no chair no chair questions from our attorney hillary emerson um yes mr chair um mr brown
do you know why the refusal says group living as opposed to a single room residence which it sounds
like this is um my best guess is that it has to do with how things were worded in the 2018 and 2015
decisions. I asked because it I mean correct me if I'm wrong but given the fraternity use that
sounds like a single room residence which actually requires a variance as opposed to a special
exception in the RTA1 zoning district. So I think the refusal may be incorrect and it may have been
incorrect for a while um the the the notice we received most recently that i submitted was
actually a notice of referral i don't know if that's right that's a special exception but
special exception so the general category has a special exception um in the rt1 zoning district
as well as a personal care home but if this is a single room residence it would need a variance
which you still need to come before the zoning board but it just means that the the information
listed on the refusal may be incorrect oh i i i see um well i accept your explanation um counselor
so so what we may need to do have an amended refusal yeah we may need to just send the
refusal back to l and i and have it corrected so that it accurately reflects the the use and
the relief um that's being sought in this case um we can get that done pretty quickly because i
understand there is a pending agreement of sale um well yeah yes yeah and we we have until november
30th to get this relief so we can yeah we can we can easily have that resolved well before then
so but i think we need to have it yeah we'll have it we'll have it corrected um i will i will reach
out to to lmi um and then the board once we get it the board will vote on it and everything else
will be closed um but we'll continue with we continue uh mr chair with public testimony and
planning um is there anyone in the uh virtual audience or comments
yes chair i have a person with just an issues ob
Yes, Chair, I have a person with just initials OB.
Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Hello?
Please unmute yourself.
Can you hear me?
Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Yes, sir, I can.
Thank you.
My name is Olivia Bullock, O-L-I-V-I-A, Bullock, B-U-L-L-O-C-K.
Right. Do you swear for them to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed.
So I am not in support of the extension of the zoning for a fraternity house.
I live adjacent to the property, and I have had in the past, since school opened up in September, there have been three instances where public safety has had to be called on the house because of underage drinking and disturbing of the peace at that house.
I have heard them at 2 o'clock in the morning on weekdays screaming obscenities outside my window, screaming disgusting, vulgar, sexually explicit things.
And I can't say that I am in support of it continuing to be a fraternity because I don't think that these issues would be resolved if that were the case.
I have contacted UPenn about it, and obviously, having had to call the Penn Public Safety three times, that doesn't seem to be doing anything.
So just for the record, I don't think that this should continue to be a fraternity.
Thank you for taking your time. Mr. Brown, do you have any questions?
Are you aware of the prior zoning approvals before the temporary permit was granted back in 2015?
Insofar as you've just stated in your testimony, yes.
So are you familiar with the 1950 zoning approval?
I don't believe so, no.
Okay. In 1950, the prior zoning granted two housekeeping units and three non-housekeeping units. When this relief was sought originally in 2015, it was done in contemplation of the fact that if they couldn't do it for a fraternity that has to abide by certain organizational rules,
It would be used for multiple apartment rentals. And the overwhelming opinion of the expressed to us from the community association was that, you know, they prefer an organized group that could be gone after and be on a lease, as opposed to three to five separate groups that would more than likely be college age students anyway.
that was the logic that went into that um and that was the reason for my question um thank you
ma'am i don't have any further questions thank you for calling in we appreciate your input
planning is there anyone else in the virtual audience no more hands chair planning commission
planning commission is going to wait on the updated refusal okay that's fine okay we'll look
for the updated so then mr chair we'll need to have a resumption hearing yeah okay on that so
So we will get the refusal done quickly
and have that scheduled next month
so that we can meet the deadline
with the pending agreement of sale.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Number eight, MI 2023-003-470-1214 South 31st Street.
Henry Clinton is the attorney.
There was a meeting held
by the Grace Ferry Community Residence Association
but i don't believe we have the letter
mr chair this is hillary in that case um just today um mr clinton forwarded a letter of support
from the tasker morris neighborhood association um okay maybe he can he can explain why they
they sent a letter because i didn't have them indicated as one of the rcos um but yes he did
forward a letter of support. Mr. Clinton. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman. Henry, you've already
been sworn. Could you just state your name for the record? Sure. Henry Clinton, H-E-N-R-Y,
Clinton, C-L-I-N-T-O-N. Right. And could you identify your client and relationship to the
property? Sure. My client is 1722 Master Street, LLC. And the sole member of that is Brian McKiernan,
V-R-I-A-N, McKernan, capital M-C, capital K-E-R-N-A-N, and Mr. McKernan is on the call.
Could you address Hillary's point?
Yes. In the Grace Ferry neighborhood, there's actually four RCOs and Tashka Morris, as far as I was under the impression, were the designated RCO.
In the Grace Ferry neighborhood, there's actually four RCOs.
And we met with them. The president of Grace Ferry Community Council, Carmine Zouli, was at that meeting, as I think was Mika Outlaw, the president of RUDE.
so and and also representatives of thrive so i went to who i thought was a designated representative
uh and we had our full meeting and everybody there was a unanimous support our vice chair
has a few questions for you yeah i just want just briefly chime in on that so i i was just confused
because i had looked at um the letter that you sent to the neighbors and i believe it listed
Grays Ferry and Rode as the coordinating RCOs. So that's why I was confused when I saw the letter
from Tasker Morris. No, I agree, Hillary, because what ends up happening is whatever particular
part of Grays Ferry the property is in, sometimes the other groups defer to that individual. So
Mr. Reeves is the president of Tasker Morris, and 31st Street is in his bailiwick. So that's
the way it ended up happening. Got it. Thank you.
So, okay, I think we're good. So council, do you agree to read another refusal and stipulate to
its accuracy? I do. Have you emailed in all the required documents that is needed to proceed with
this case five days in advance of this hearing? Yes, except for the letter we just discussed,
which just came in today. Yep. Please proceed and share your screen. Thanks, Mr. Sheed.
Is that visible, Mr. Chairman?
It is.
Mr. Chairman, is that visible?
It is. It is.
All right, great.
So good afternoon again, Mr. Chairman and members of the board.
Henry Clinton on behalf of 1722 Master LLC and Brian McKernon, who is on the call.
This is a table of contents. This is a request for a two-family dwelling on a vacant lot that
has been vacant at least 20 years, according to my review of the Atlas records and also aerial
views, and possibly been vacant for 30 years. My table of contents contains exhibits A1 through
A11, which I ask to be admitted into evidence, and I'll walk through the presentation
step by step. So this is an RSA 85 zoning district. As I will show the board,
there are other multifamily on the block. There's commercial on the block and directly across the
street is a former supermarket, which is now a GoPuff delivery site. And if the board is familiar
with GoPuff. They basically will deliver food, non-alcoholic beverages, treats, chips, potato
chips, typically on weekend evenings, late at night from 11 a.m. all through the evening. So
it's a very busy site late at night. We do have an RCO letter from Tasker Marsh Neighborhood
Association. Mr. Charles Reeves is the president. He was in the hospital last week, and I think that
was the delay Ms. Emerson and the board on getting the letter in, and it was a unanimous
support at the meeting, and I can explain why they supported it as I moved through the
presentation.
This is the current vacant lot.
Behind it is a large new storage facility that's being built on Grace Ferry Avenue.
This property is on the block between Grace Ferry and Wharton Street.
another photograph of the lot there's also a vacant lot next to our to my client's lot
which during the presentation ironically some of the neighbors on the block asked Mr. McKiernan
could he buy the lot next door and build on that also he has tried but we cannot locate the neighbor
excuse me the owner but this is an aerial view looking west okay so the the storage facility
is being built behind the properties on 31st Street to the east. This is the GoPuff facility,
a former supermarket purchased by Aldi. Aldi closed it down. It was vacant for a number of
years, and now it's a GoPuff site. Again, that's a delivery site. There's a two-family existing
dwelling right here, three-story property, and there's a three-family dwelling in this three-story
property down closer to Wharton Street. At the far right
is a commercial establishment, food, candy,
food, candy, sandwiches, and there's parking in front of that building. And my cursor is now
sandwiches, and there's parking in the
showing you Grace Ferry Avenue. If you continue it west on Grace Ferry Avenue, you get to that
large intersection at 34th and Grace Ferry, where the Pennovation Center is. Also on Grace Ferry
Avenue, it's a heavily traveled road, and it's also a major, major thoroughfare for mass transit.
And that was one of the comments that we got at the community meeting, that a two-family dwelling here would be good for, you know, a couple, maybe an individual who maybe works in Center City or needs a transit that's readily accessible here on Grace Ferry Avenue.
Better shot of Grace Ferry Avenue here leading west and east.
And here's the lot where the arrow is.
Again, just some more perspective shots.
you can see directly across the street. There are no homes. That's the landscaping for the GoPuff
facility. The plans are pretty straightforward. Again, Grace Ferry desires and wants all brick
facades, typically. Mr. McKiernan's office is in the neighborhood at 26th Street,
and he has basically mirrored what he's done with his building, which is all brick,
cobbled brick at the cornish line of the house next door. So it's kind of a carryover.
So there's a little bit of a transition between the two-story house and the three-story house
that Mr. McCarron intends to build. This is a cutaway view. You can see in the rear of the
property, there's a small, excuse me, a small deck for some outdoor space for the resident
on the second floor. Floor plan is pretty basic. Basement of first floor will be apartment one.
Second floor and third floor will be apartment two.
Apartment one has access to the rear ER for open space.
Second and third floor have access, which is one unit, have access to the rooftop deck for open space.
This is the appeal forms that you would typically see.
Again, Mr. Chairman, in a presentation such as this, tax certification, zoning map.
You can see that we're surrounded by ICMX, CMX2 across the way.
And this is really just a sliver of residential along with some residential on Titan Street.
The deed indicating ownership.
Our notice letter to everyone in the community, we sent out 40 pieces of mail because there's really not that many residential in the area.
Mr. Reeves asked us after our pre-meeting, because Tasker Morris and the other RCOs in Grace Ferry typically have two meetings, an initial meeting, then a community meeting.
At the initial meeting, he asked us to send mailers to the residents on the 30-hundred block of Titan Street, which is just down the block, which we did.
These are zoning records, as I said at the outset, 1224 South 31st Street, just a few doors away.
It's an existing two-family. It's been in existence since 2015.
It was actually a three-family dwelling, and they downsize it to two-family.
And then this is further down the block at 1246.
That was the three-family dwelling I showed the board from that aerial photograph.
And this is the multifamily, three-family dwelling.
So, Mr. Chairman, that is the presentation.
I'm looking for relief for this long, abandoned and vacant lot that my client purchased recently.
Again, the adjacent lot next to him has also been vacant for at least 20 years.
There were suggestions that Mr. McCarran had purchased that lot because they'd rather see.
One of the comments from the near neighbors, actually, I almost quoted was they would rather see a two-family dwelling on this lot
than see it go vacant and empty
for the remainder of how many more decades?
I really don't know.
There's other existing multifamily on the block.
We're not impacting any adjacent properties later here.
We're in harmony with the uses on the block.
We're not overusing the property.
It's not detrimental to the block.
And it's surrounded by a commercial across the street,
commercial at the corner,
industrial slash commercial behind it.
and two other multifamily properties on the block.
And with that, if I could have my client unmute it
to adopt my testimony.
Yes, sir.
And then entertain any questions, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. McCurney, can you unmute yourself, please?
Good afternoon, sir.
Good afternoon, sir.
Mr. McKernan?
I know he's on the call.
Can you hear me?
Yeah, could you state your name and spell, please, for the court stenographer?
Yeah, my name is Brian McKernan.
B-R-I-A-N-M-C-K-E-R-N-A-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Please proceed.
Mr. McCarronin, were you on the call when I presented your project to the board?
Yes, I was.
And were you also at the community meeting?
And at the community meeting, did I quote properly the neighbors on the block who expressed some desire for you to acquire the other adjacent vacant lot?
Yes, 100%.
Okay. And what was their reason for saying that, Mr. McCarronin?
Well, they're just saying how the lot is like vacant and it's just a plight in the area.
And they would be so happy to have something built there.
And like you stated, they actually would like me to try and get the one next door, which I've been looking for the past year.
And I can't, I can't require that one, unfortunately.
And Mr. McKiernan, if you had the opportunity to testify today, would you adopt my testimony as your own?
And that's true and correct.
I would, yes.
Thank you, Mr. McCarronin.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Chair.
Questions from our attorney, Hillary Emerson?
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Questions from the virtual audience?
I see no hands, Chair.
Planning Commission?
From Bednar City Planning.
The property is currently split zoned on the city plan.
the applicant's hardship is not supported with evidence of unique physical circumstances or
condition of the property would prevent it from being used in conformity with the code therefore
we recommend the quest of variance not be granted my 2023 003 470 1214 south 31st street i vote yes
thomas holliman my vote is yes dame snell my vote is yes
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, in arms of the board.
He has support with provisors from an RCO, the RCO.
Chair, I have Augusta O'Neill with her hand up.
Should I promote?
Thank you.
Augusta O'Neill has been promoted.
Good afternoon.
Hi, counsel. Could you state your name and spell, please, for the court stenographer?
Sure. My name is Augusta O'Neill. That's spelled A-U-G-U-S-T-A. My last name is O-N-E-I-L-L.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client and relationship to the property?
Sure. My client is Scott Scuderi. He's the principal of Scuderi RE 5900-02 Germantown Avenue, LLC, and he's the owner of the property.
our vice chair has just a few questions sure good afternoon counsel do you agree to waive
the reading of the refusal is signaling to attack her i do have you emailed in all the required
documents and exhibits that is needed to proceed with the case of these in advance of this hearing
i did thank you thank you so much
Thank you, members of the board. As I stated earlier, my client is the owner of the property at 5900 Germantown Avenue, as well as the property that's located at 11 West Rittenhouse Street.
The property is zoned CMX2. This application is to adjust two lots, the lots at 5900 Germantown Avenue and 11 West Rittenhouse Street, so that we can add accessory parking to 11 West Rittenhouse Street.
The property that's at 5900 Germantown Avenue is the property that I have a picture of up on my
screen. This is a multi-family building with 20 dwelling units inside of it. We are using the lot
that's at 11 West Rittenhouse Street, which you can see here, and we're going to be proposing an
application. The application before you today is to put parking accessory to those multi-family
the application before you today is to put parking accessory to those multifamily units in this location.
So my client could have used the property at 11 Western House in order to add more units,
but instead we wanted to add some parking as an amenity to all the tenants that are in the building at 5900 Germantown.
Just by way of background, when my client began construction on this multifamily building that you can see at page 59, my exhibit package, there were less stringent landscaping requirements in the code.
But by the time that he purchased the slot, the code did change so that there's more stringent landscaping requirements.
And so the change in the code generated two of the refusals, which we're seeking relief from today.
The first refusal relates to section 14-7051E of the code with the requirement that there be a yard
tree, but as you can see from the site plan that I've included at page 59, I'm sorry, page 13 of
my exhibit package, we are proposing a tree that's in the landscape buffer off of West Rittenhouse
street that's buffering the parking from the street, but we didn't comply to the letter
of the code to have that tree in the parking area just because we want to maximize the
area that cars have to circulate and to park, because as you can see, this is pretty tight,
which is what's creating the hardship here.
The other refusal that was generated, which we are asking for relief from, which relates to the parking, or I'm sorry, the landscaping, is relief from section 14-8035E, which requires that the interior landscaped area be calculated as a minimum of 10% of the total area of the parking spaces.
Again, as you can see, we aren't providing any interior landscaping, but that is, again,
a function of the fact that we are so limited in space where we're proposing the accessory parking.
According to OPA records, that parcel at 11 West Rittenhouse is only slightly over 2,000 square feet.
I'd also like to submit to the board just that my read of the code is that those landscaping
requirements are really intended for much larger parking areas like you would see in a shopping
center. I don't think it's appropriate to require, or I would submit to you that's appropriate to
require the amount of landscaping that we'd be required to live up to the letter of the code
when we're working with such small space and the parking is so desperately needed in this neighborhood.
The last two refusals that were generated by this application just relate to the location of the
parking. There's a refusal because the parking is in the proposed rear yard, as well as the
fact that it's not accessible from a shared driveway or alley. But again, due to the size of
the lot, I can't stress this enough, due to the size of the lot, and given that the alternative
would have been for my client to add more units, we feel that this is the most appropriate submission
for the neighborhood, and that this is something that is more beneficial than adding more units
would have been. Just to ride the board with some context for the location of this property,
we are located in a very busy commercial corridor. This is where the property is at.
We're located at the intersection of Germantown Avenue and West Rittenhouse Street.
Parking is always an issue. And as you can see from the other pictures that I provided
in my exhibit package, these were pictures that were taken, you know, during the daytime. And as
you can see, there isn't a single parking spot to be had either on Germantown Avenue
or on West Rittenhouse Street. West Rittenhouse Street only provides one lane of parking. So
So we did meet with the affected RCO for the property, the West Central Germantown neighbors.
A letter of support was provided with my exhibit package.
They were in support of the application, and we met with them back in August, I believe.
And what we heard from them at the meeting was that they were generally in support of an application that was going to provide parking.
again, because they voice their frustration with the number of multifamily buildings that go up in
their area that are just compounding the parking problem that's happening in Germantown. In the
addendum to the letter of support that we received, just wanted to flag for the board,
there was a request for a proviso that the parking lot be created to be made available
to be made available at no charge, and that it be made available on a first-come, first-served
at no charge and that it be made available on a first-come, first-served basis.
basis. I did speak with your solicitor about this, and I don't believe that that's enforceable,
and it's my understanding that the board solicitor feels the same way. That's really more of a
private agreement kind of an issue. I don't think that's something that LNI would be interested in
enforcing. I would also submit that perhaps number two of the provisos is going to be an issue from
an L&I enforcement standpoint. But again, overall, the community was supportive, as I said,
of this because of the parking situation and the fact that my client is working to alleviate that.
We also have a letter of support from the Mount Zion Baptist Church of Germantown.
I provided that at page 11 of my exhibit package. I just wanted to call out something that was
noted in the letter, which is that parking is very limited and oftentimes non-existent
when apartment complexes are built in this section of our city.
Therefore the Baptist church was in support of a variance being granted for the parking.
It's my understanding that the church also reached out to my client and is on the line
today so that they can voice their support.
Also with me this afternoon is our project architect, Logan Dry, to the extent that the
board has any questions about the plan that was submitted. But with that, I would like to call
forward my client, Mr. Scuderi, just to adopt my testimony. Thank you.
Excuse me. Mr. Scuderi, if you're in the audience, raise your hand, please.
He's been allowed to speak. Could you state your name and spell, please,
for the court stenographer? Yes. Scott Scuderi, S-C-O-T-T, S-C-U-D-E-R-I. Do you swear for him
to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? I do. Please proceed, counsel.
Mr. Scuderi, did you have a chance to hear my testimony this afternoon? I did. And was everything
that I said true and accurate? Yes. Okay. And would you like to adopt my testimony as your own?
i will thank you questions from the board no chair no mr chairman chair
questions or comments from our attorney hillary emerson not at this time mr chair
um sorry i just wanted to um ask what was i correct with my summation about the issues with
this proviso yes that that is correct okay thank you so much um questions or comments from the
virtual audience no handshare planning commission they're on bednar city planning the property is
indicated for neighborhood commercial mixed use on the city plan the applicant's hardship is not
supported with evidence of conditions of the property what prevented from being used in
conformity with the interior landscaping and yard tree requirements of the code therefore we
recommend request for variance not be granted um mi 2023-003-502-5900 germantown avenue i vote yes
thomas holloman my vote is yes king snell my vote is yes
thank you council thank you so much appreciate your time so number 11 mi 2023-003-490-7218
Edmond Street, this is a pro se, who have a non-opposition from the RCO.
Hillary, what's the owner's name?
I see his hand raised, Oscar Ventura Penalo.
He'll be joining us as a panelist.
Oscar?
can you hear me now yes we can i yes i can sir could you state your name please and spell for
the court stenographer okay good afternoon mr chairman and uh members of the board my name is
uh oscar ventura penalo right so please yes o-s-c-a-r ventura vs and victor e
N-T-U-R-A
Penalo
P-E-N-A-L-O
Square or firm
to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
Could you turn your video on, please?
Could you turn your video on, please?
Yeah, that's what I was looking for.
Yeah, I was looking forward to saying that.
Thank you, thank you, Sean.
Thank you, thank you, sir.
All right, our vice chair has just a few questions for you, sir.
Mr. Chair, would you like me to read the refusal into the record first?
That would be great.
Thank you.
This application is for the erection of an addition above an existing one-story
semi-detached structure and the erection of a detached structure for use as two-family
household living in the semi-detached structure for use as accessory off-street surface parking
and a business and professional office in the detached structure. There are three use refusals
and two zoning refusals. Parking in the RSA 5 zoning district is prohibited unless it can be
accessed by a shared driveway or alley or rear street. Two-family household living is prohibited
in the rsa5 zoning district business and professional office is prohibited in the rsa5
zoning district um for the zoning refusals no more than one principal building per lot is permitted
in the rsa5 zoning district and there's also insufficient minimum rear yard depth for the
detached structure nine feet is required whereas two is proposed um can i share my screen you you
most certainly did you ish did you talk to him yet
no i was waiting for a reason go ahead go ahead sir sir have you emailed all the required
documents in that is needed to proceed with this case obviously the man from the hearing
yes uh in exception to the deed which i sent today and the photo showing the uh postage date
so which i guess as well hillary we did we did get that
yes we did he's all set all right thank you sir please proceed and i'll share your screen okay
let me know if you can see my screen
Hold on, let me, I guess this is causing you not to share.
Give me a second here.
Share.
Open system preference. Are you able to see my screen?
There should be a green button on the bottom of the screen.
Yeah, when I hit share the screen, then it asks me for open system preference.
I click on that and then nothing else pops up for some reason.
so let me let me see if i can uh plug in my uh other screen maybe perhaps you'll allow me to
do it that way it's very only one second please let's see
Let's see, hopefully that works.
allow soon to share your screen open system and security okay maybe that
now he's saying soon may not be able to record the content of your screen until it's quit maybe
let me see if i hit later i'm not sure if that's going to take me out
are you able to see it now or no no so so let me say this much i have a couple more cases
see if you can figure it out and i'll come back in about 15 minutes
okay sounds good thank you all right thank you yep number 12 mi 2023 003 494 926 west
sedgly sheet. Henry Clinton is the attorney. A letter of support from 12th and Cambria Advisory Board.
A letter of support from Twelfth and Cambria Advisory Board.
Mr. Clinton.
He's coming back in as a panelist.
Thank you.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, again.
Mr. Clinton, as you know,
you've been sworn already.
Just state your name for the record.
Sure. Henry Clinton, C-L-I-N-T-O-N.
Thank you. Could you identify your client and relationship to this property?
Sure. The client is Sedgley Properties, LLC or LP rather, which is the owner. And the principal is Joe Williams, who is trying to get on the call. He was just at a doctor's appointment.
Okay. Our vice chair has a few questions for you.
Good afternoon, Mr. Clayton. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to a bad person?
yes i do mr shee have you emailed them all the required documents that's needed to proceed
yes i have thank you please proceed
we see it henry all right good afternoon mr chairman members of the board again henry
clinton for sedley avenue properties lp uh the principal of which is joseph williams
who I believe is going to be on the call.
This is my exhibit package, table of contents A1 through A10,
which I ask to be admitted into evidence.
This is the refusal.
So here's a little bit of background.
My client owns a property.
He leases it to a charter school.
The name of the charter school is Laboratory Charter School of Communications and Languages.
It's been in the building since 2009.
In fact, the board granted a variance in 2009 for the charter school to occupy this industrial building.
It's in the I-2 zoning district, so a variance was required.
That variance allowed the school to occupy the second and third floor.
In 2019, the school then asked that the first floor be occupied by students, so enrollment was growing.
It was up to almost 700 students.
And the board again said yes.
Well, the school then did the renovations, failed to get a CO.
So my client became aware that a CO wasn't obtained when he went to get the CO.
L and I basically said, well, wait a minute.
You're asking for a CO, but your zoning permit expired.
So we're basically back for the same thing that we were given in 2019.
And here it is in a nutshell.
The original educational facility use was approved in 2009.
The proviso specified it was located on the second and third floor with a maximum of 350 students.
Then there was an application for the use of students for the first floor was authorized in 2019, but expired due to inactivity.
So we're back asking for what was already approved previously.
And this is proof that in 2019, actually the permit was issued in early 2020, that there was an expansion of an existing educational facility to the first floor within an existing structure with existing accessory parking spaces as previously approved.
And you can see the prior use before the application in 2019, there was a school counseling offices on the first floor, second floor was charter school, third floor was charter school, and then the request was charter school on the first floor, second and third floor for a total of 700 students.
It's K-5. It's very well recognized in a neighborhood. That's why when you see the letter, and actually it's an email of support from 12th and Cambria Advisory, I think there were 17 people there at the recreation center. I was there, and it was unanimous support.
Here's a letter, short and sweet, to the point that people in attendance want the school to stay in our neighborhood, so as many children as can attend it will get a great education. 17-0.
These are just some photographs of the school. It is a laboratory school.
Photographs of the exterior of the school showing the zoning. Notices are properly placed. Here is
the school where my cursor is. Three-story former industrial building. It's been renovated completely.
Windows exterior. I'll show you some interior photographs of the first floor. Again, this is
typical of the first of the three floors of the building, but these are photographs of the first
floor. Basically, we're adding 12 classrooms to the existing 20.
Basically, we're adding 12 classrooms to the existing 24 classrooms, so there's going to be close to 40 classrooms with attendant laboratory facilities, offices, meeting rooms, and the first floor is also a gym.
So it's been in operation. It's been used. It's just that mechanically, they didn't follow the steps to get the CO. When my client found out when to get the CO, Ellen and I said, your use has lapsed. So we're back. We're back to it again.
here are the plans again there's this is already built out this is the first floor again mr chairman
and members of the board indicative of classrooms uh meeting places offices uh and also a gym
this is the second i don't think i have to go through the second and third floor plan mr
chairman why do you bring your client on mr yeah if he's here mr williams have you been able to
contact and get on the call.
Tax clearance,
Sony map, you can see I2.
I see no hands.
This is the deed.
Notice of mailing.
Dr. Williams,
can you get on the call, please?
He didn't get on, Henry.
Yeah, he's not there.
Mr. Clinton, you're an officer of the court.
We'll gladly accept your testimony.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and questions from the board.
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Chair.
No, Chair.
Thank you.
Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Emerson?
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
No hands, Chair.
Planning Commission.
Ron Bednar, City Planning.
While the property is currently indicated for industrial, on a city plan or adopted comprehensive plan, recommended ICMX, use change in existing zoning, which allows educational facilities by right.
Therefore, we recommend that the request of variance be granted.
Thank you.
MI 2023-003-494-926, West Sedgley.
I vote yes.
thomas holloman my vote is yes dame snell my vote is yes
my mute button yeah my mute button was working ishmael shaheed my vote is yes
thank you counsel all right thank you mr chairman of the board mi 2023-003-483-4951
on West Thompson Street. Joseph Consul is the attorney.
There's a lack of letter of
opposition from HMC Squared.
Council Member Gauthier is also in opposition.
Mr. Consul.
Good afternoon, Board. Could you state your name and
spell it for the court stenographer, please? Yes, it's Joseph
consults j-o-s-e-p-h last name c-o-n-s-o-l-e do you swear for him to tell the truth the whole
truth and nothing but the truth i do could you identify your client in relationship to the
property yeah my client is 644 elm street llc uh the representative max yablonski is on the call
okay um our vice chair has just a few questions good afternoon counsel do you agree to waive the
reading of the refusal and stipulate
to its accuracy. I do.
I've emailed them all the required
documents that is needed and required to
proceed with this case five days in advance
of this hearing. I have.
Thank you. Please proceed
and share your screen account.
That work?
Yes. Okay.
Joe Consul, 4951
West Thompson Street.
We're here because
we are seeking
to, well, originally my client was seeking to legalize six residential units in this property.
It's CMX2. He purchased the property in May. It was already set up as six units. I'll show you
guys that in a second. He was seeking to legalize those units. We only have 2,264 square feet,
which is enough for four residential and one commercial. We went in front of the RCO. They
didn't want to hear anything about adding um those two extra units to make it six um we're not
here to demand six units we understand that that uh might be a lot and my client can
attest in a minute but this block is not set up for commercial space
But this block is not set up for commercial space.
We're hoping that the board would consider five units with no commercial space that would allow him to have a fully leased building on a block that really needs it.
So first off, we have a look at the zoning here.
Our side of the block is all CMX2.
It abuts on – behind it is all RM1.
the other side of the street is all rm1 if this was rm1 we wouldn't have a need for this variance
we'd be allowed to have five units by right because you get uh four for the first 1440
plus 480 after that so that would give us five here we don't get those initial four at that cost
so we have to so we're about 140 square feet shy of having five units by right plus a commercial
unit and what we're hoping uh the board can consent to is five and no commercial space
here's the block on either side it's a mishmash of vacant and boarded up properties
looking at it from this angle here on the rm1 side of the block you've got
some properties that are strung together one commercial spot but that's really the only
commercial space that i see on this block this is looking down the block uh again no commercial
spaces it's all just boarded up old apartment buildings going to our presentation like i said
we met with the rco they said we don't want to offer you guys anything um we want commercial
on the first floor but when pressed and we talked about how this space was not set up for that how
it's all set up as apartments and making it into a storefront or something like that would not really
make any sense given the nature of the rest of the block and no one seemed to really want commercial
space they just didn't want to grant my guy any any kind of concession here so that's the outside
of the property. We included the layouts as my client had purchased the property. There's two
units on each floor as it's set up now. So it's two, four, and six. Here's the meters in the basement.
Here's what the property looked like. It was purchased sort of midway through some folks
working on it um but i think like the the takeaway is he can't he can't have commercial space on the
first floor and we're hoping that the board is able to help with that uh you know if there's a
max unit proviso that would be fine we understand six is above and beyond the scope of what the
square footage allows and we're hopeful that five and new commercial is something we're able to do
So, and to that extent, I'll call my client to just speak briefly about his experiences with the property and what he's looking for.
Max, could you raise your hand?
You said his name is Max?
Should be under Max, yeah.
It says 644 Elm Street, LLC?
Yeah, that's him.
Okay, I will
Sir, could you state your name
And spell for the court stenographer
Hi, can everybody hear me?
Yes, could you state your name
And spell for the court stenographer
My name is Maxim Yalanovsky
That's M-A-K-S-I-M
Last name
Y-A-B-L-O
N-O-V-S-K-I-Y
Do you swear for him to tell the truth
the whole truth is nothing but the truth i do proceed counsel good afternoon max um could you
describe to the board the condition of the property and of the block when you purchased it
uh over the summer uh the property and uh when i was originally looking to buy the property all
the neighbors were telling me that there's a major sewage problem with the property that the sewage
is backing up and the that was a an understatement to say the least when i had purchased the
The property, the basement, was constantly filling up with sewage, attracting bugs and a horrendous smell.
And the sewer problem, we had abated it much to the happiness of all the neighbors that had said.
And regarding the block, as Joe pointed out, it doesn't have commercial problems.
uh as joe pointed out it doesn't have uh commercial properties um on it midway through the block
this building is set up as uh all six apartment buildings so it's a two two two and it's um
you know the only commercial space on that block is really the corner grocery store
yeah that's that's what i showed the board um earlier just that one spot here
um yeah and so would it in in your estimation would there be any benefit to the block or to
your ability to lease the property if this space was commercial on the first floor
um as far as being commercial it's um it would be it wouldn't be a it wouldn't be possible the
commercial space i think it'd be a detriment to the block to have a commercial space there
and in addition to that it's set up as an apartment like the front unit in the first floor
is that the commercial space we're talking about it's set up as an apartment just like any other
apartment i mean it's it's a fallen apartment to come to come to a commercial space will be
extremely prohibitive and you know next door apartments across our apartments and i think
given the fact that i i wanted to do affordable housing with this you know i'm a part of the
section a program it will be better for the for the block as well okay i have nothing further
just in conclusion we believe this space would function well uh the the six units we understand
that that might be an overreach based on the square footage but if this was rm1 we would have
five amply and if it was cmx2 we're only 140 square feet shy of being allowed to have five
residential units um i'll close that questions from the board no mr chairman no chair
no chair what students or comments from our attorney hillary emerson
no mr chair um questions or comments from the virtual audience
yes chair there are two hands up the first one is mark harris i will allow him to speak okay
hi sir could you hi mr harris could you state your name and spell for the court reporter please
mark m-a-r-k harris h-a-r-i-s right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth i affirm yes i do proceed are you a neighbor i'm uh the president of the
cathedral park community develop association yes i'm your neighbor i live right down the street
I'm very familiar with this property.
All right, please proceed.
This is a nuisance property, a quiet nuisance property.
We had a long-term problem with there being refuse in front of it, particularly when it was actively used as an apartment house.
Right now, there's not a lot of refuse, but there's construction debris, which repeatedly appears there, irregardless of trash day.
and the gentleman was trying to state that the sewage problem has been uh he used the term
abated it does continue we've had a problem for some time with this basement having to be pumped
out into the curb which is a pretty stinky not not nice neighbors uh let me address the
commercial aspect for a minute and then get back to my notes uh it is not true that there's no
commercial here there's no fewer than four uh contractors yards on the block plus a junkyard
there was a basement uh restaurant fully legal uh at the 49th street and there was a
butcher shop bacchetti's there is a hairdresser there's also a tire shop and right around the
corner, three churches and a bar on Lancaster Avenue. Going back east, not quite across the
street, there's a home catering business which operates, and there was a daycare. That was at
49-18.
Going west,
we had a large
hairdresser at the
intersection of St. Bernard.
There's currently a deli,
and there's a medical office on the other corner.
Going down to 50th Street,
there is
a bar on the northwest
corner, a smoothie shop
on the southwest and on the southeast.
I think you've made your point.
Yeah. And as a new point, where do you stand with this, this request?
Absolutely opposed to it. The neighborhood neighbors are totally against it. And we know we note that from what our understanding of the zoning is, they could operate four apartments.
From what our understanding of the zoning is, they could operate four apartments without a variance.
So there's no hardship here whatsoever.
It would just be a bigger nuisance for the neighborhood if they're granted the variance.
And we have to note that the first four commercial area was illegally cut up into apartments, as effectively was testified there.
But that's illegal.
And they continue to have workers going in there every day.
We see them.
There's no permits of record.
These people are scofflaws.
They don't respect the neighborhood.
They don't respect the law.
Mr. Harris, thank you very much.
We appreciate you taking the time to call us.
Thank you.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
Yes, Eloise Young.
Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
My name is Eloise Young, E-L-O-I-S-E, last name Young, Y-O-U-N-G.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Are you a neighbor?
I am not.
I'm the facilitator of the convening RCO.
Okay, proceed.
And I just want to affirm what Mr. Mark Harris just said.
Basically, there's no unnecessary hardship.
the community did express desire for a new business on the block and frankly the property
has not been well maintained by this applicant or his predecessor and those are my comments
all right thank you so much for taking time to close is there anyone else in the virtual audience
no more hands chair waning commission this is uh ryan bednar city planning the property is
currently indicated for neighborhood commercial mixed use on the city plan our adopted comprehensive
plan recommends change to residential zoning at this location we therefore recommend no ground
for commercial space provide maximum four units legally licensed units to be provided
9-20-23-003-483, 4951 West Thompson Street.
I vote yes with proviso.
Maximum four units, no commercial on first floor.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes with proviso.
James Snell, my vote is yes with proviso.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes, with proviso.
Thank you, Gordon.
We're going to go back to number 11, MI 2023-003-490-7218 Edmond Street.
He's coming back in as a panelist.
Thank you.
Good afternoon.
Put your video in, please, sir.
Okay, how'd you make out?
There you go.
You're okay.
All right, proceed.
Let me leave out the other screen, because I had two just in case this didn't work.
There you go.
I had another computer just in case this one didn't.
Okay, proceed.
Okay, perfect.
All right.
All right, so this is pretty much the exhibit here.
So let me go with the taxes.
Pretty much up to date.
This is the deed here.
Just a recompose of three continuous slots.
Let's see here.
Here's a refusal, I guess let me first give you some background here what I'm what I'm
trying to do here so pretty much this is a one story single family in RSA so I'm trying
to get a variance for a multi-family to add two additions so essentially will be a three
story house with a uh garage um so let me go to the plan so i can better visualize this here let
Let me make this smaller.
i went to a different one
okay are you able to see my uh the plans here we should okay perfect so pretty much this is what
the architect was able to do as a rendering so pretty much what i'm asking here is on the review
so um i was getting that i need um nine feet clearance to do the garage um as you can see i'll
be able to show you pretty much this is my next door neighbor so as you can see his garage is
pretty much a standard all the way to the back. I'm asking for two feet clearances. And the
reasons for that is if I stand nine feet, that is going to cover the only window that I have
on the kitchen. And I literally have no use for pretty much leaving this space here behind. So
there won't really be much use for that. And there's definitely six properties within this
block that already have the garage and four of those have the garage all the way to the back
like that so um let me see in addition to there's already a built-in carport that came in with the
purchase of the house if i were to move in the garage towards the front nine feet that means
that i would have to demo the carport and most likely uh some portion of the concrete there
um this is some of the interior of the house so that's the the bathroom front bedroom rear bedroom
here of the first floor unit um these are these are the floor plans so um so this essentially is
the space that i was talking about here of leaving uh two feet from the uh neighbor i had spoken with
grace which owns pretty much i think hers is like four lots and she has no problem with me building
the garage there i also have her signature of support i will show you later the same thing
with mary and peter which leave next door to me i i show them the plans and talk to them about it
And they had no opposition with me building the garage there.
The curve is already existing.
The driveway is already existing.
Fencing around is already existing.
So pretty much if you can see on the neighborhood here, pretty much most of the houses or pretty much all of the houses except mine are two stories.
at least two stories so mine's the only one uh with one story this is directly next to gray's
house uh behind me those are multi-family so there are six within this building and right next to it
there's another multi-family right next to that one on let me see that is a commercial uh venue
space there this is uh peter's house where's your existing structure what do you have now
okay let me show you so this is the house the front you want to put a second floor on that
yeah second for second and third floor addition
okay and you want to build a garage behind that not behind the house so essentially
right here in this area so right right where that car is pretty much uh right now so let
Let me see if I have a better picture of that.
Well, let me see.
So pretty much right behind that carport, which is right next to the property line.
Your house, does it have multi-units on that block now?
Yeah, so right adjacent, mine is semi-detached to all of this multifamily here, which essentially are duplex.
so there's about like 12 of them there um i also have um support from the owner of this building
here and you want to put a second you're going to put a second floor on top of your home yes
second and third floor yes and then you're going to have a duplex there yes and then you're going
to put you're going to build a garage yes and then what i'm trying to do with the garage is
just for personal use. But on the second floor, I'm trying to add two office space there. So I am
an accountant and I also own a home improvement company. So I would like to, instead of bringing
uh company so i would like to instead of bringing people to my house with this home office here i
people to my house with this.
would rather have some space there where i can bring in my customers and and show them um what
we do you're going to build two offices on top of the garage essentially one one office with two
uh separate offices one for me one for my fiance to to work out of okay um so essentially i can
show you that on the plan so that will be essentially this here so a garage for two cars
and then on the second floor of that garage that will be used as an office space
are there commercial spaces along there where you live i mean are other people
doing work out of the place so here let me show you um so that is a one commercial space right
at the end of this block and the other commercial property here is this one which is a grocery store
in an apartment on the second on the second floor right in front of this one there's another
commercial property if we go to tulip which is the next read over let me see if i have some more
commercial here this is a multi-family right on edmond um let me see i don't think i put the
picture on here but on tulip there is a body shop right on the corner right behind this building
here is this a body shop right in front on the other side there is a um church and then there's
some businesses as well so it's a pretty pretty uh mixed use uh neighborhood here all right
all right um so i think we understand what you want to do okay okay so questions from the
questions from the board no chair no chair no uh chairman questions or comments from
our attorney hillary emerson not at this time mr chair
questions or comments from the virtual audience
yes chair I have a hand up
first name J last name ending in C
he's allowed to speak
okay sir could you state your name please
and spell for the court reporter
hello mate is this me
yes yes could you state your name
and spell for the court reporter
j-o-e c-o-c-c-i-o right do you swear for him to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the
truth absolutely proceed sir uh what uh the gentleman trying to build the property he hasn't
said is that he didn't get any support from anyone on the back side of those properties
where he's already built a big giant half of a garage and had to be stopped because he didn't
it oh wait wait no no no no no no no no let him testify you'll have a chance at the end to respond
okay sorry and uh you know there's been body work being done in the yard openly and that's been
turned in so he's left the whole exposed side of this cinder block half wall with this giant
industrial gate that looks like something out of a warehouse on what was a residential street
that's being slowly turned into a host of auto repair businesses
that shouldn't even be there,
as well as a construction business that shouldn't be there.
And those have all been turned in as well.
So he's a little misrepresentation going on there.
And whatever he builds, if you give him the okay,
which I hope you don't,
I sure as heck hope that they do a finished side to that building
so we don't have to look at this big gobs of cement
hanging off the cinder block that's there now.
Thank you.
Thank you for taking the time to call in.
I appreciate it.
I'm going to see if there's anybody else
who has something to say.
You'll have the last word, okay?
Is there anyone else in the audience
who wants to make a comment?
No more hands here.
Oscar, do you want to comment?
Yeah, so it seems like he's confusing me
with the neighbor on the other side of the street,
which he was going through something as well.
I don't have a body shop in here.
I don't have a gate.
like he's saying um so it seems like he's confusing me with the the uh i don't know the
the number on the house but i think it's um somewhere closer to the corner here on edmond
so he must be confused as okay all right thank you planning commission from bednar city planning
the property is indicated for residential use on the city plan are adopted district plan recommends
no change to the existing zoning at this location the applicant's hardship is not supported with
Zoning at this location, the applicant's hardship is not supported with evidence of unique physical circumstances or condition of the property that prevented from being used in conformity with the minimum requirements in the code.
evidence of unique
The plan represents an overuse of the site, therefore we recommend the request for variance not be granted.
MI 2023-003-490-7218, Edmond Street, I vote no.
Thomas Holliman, my vote is no.
James Snell, my vote is no.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is no.
Thank you, sir.
Can I have some words?
It's over now, sir.
All right.
I'm sorry.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Why don't we take a five-minute break?
We'll come back.
We'll go through the list.
We only have one case to hear, okay?
So let's get our court reporter to get a break.
Five minutes.
We'll be right back, all right?
Mr. Chair, can we make sure there's no one else on the 2 p.m. list that we've missed?
Is there anyone in the virtual audience whose 2 p.m. case has not been heard?
No hands, Chair.
Okay. Five minutes.
Thank you, Chair.
My name is Bill Bergman.
Good afternoon. My name is Bill Bergman, and I will be chairing the ZBA 330 hearing list.
With me is our Vice Chair, Ismail Shahid. He's here.
He's present, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you. Our Board Member, Thomas Holloman.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Our Board Member, James Snell.
Present, Chair.
Also present is Hillary Emerson, our Attorney, and our Executive Director, Tanya Sunken.
Here's our virtual format. Be advised, the proceedings are being recorded.
The video will be available by contacting tonyasunkett at phil.gov.
For the benefit of our court stenographer, we ask attorneys and witnesses to identify themselves before testifying.
If you're participating by phone and you wish to testify, press star 9 to raise your hand and star 6 to unmute.
To enter an appearance statement, call 267-270-5548.
Leave your email and the address of the property in question.
And finally, the question and answer box on the screen is not for comments or testimony.
All comments should be directed to our Executive Director, Tanya Sunkin.
Let's take a look at our schedule for this afternoon.
Number one, 2023-001-904-1201-203 Princeton Avenue cases continued.
Number two, MI 2023-000084-2007 South 10th Street, Cases Continued, Attorney Moving Party.
Number four, let me get to that. Number four, MI 2023-000072-6400 Harbison Avenue. Cases
continued. Attorney moving party. Number five, MI 2021-005-123-931 South 18th Street. Case
is continued mark must be tried number six mi 2022 006 279 52 46 to 50 bellfield cases continued
and number seven excuse me mr chair um with number six we don't have any exhibits it was
previously continued in march this is the second listing we have no exhibits this time and no
continuance request. Okay. I thought you listed. All right. Here we go. All right. So MI 2022-006-279-5246-50
Belfield Avenue. No exhibits. What is it? The fifth listing? It's the second listing, Mr. Chair.
Previously, we had a request for continuance, but we received no correspondence this time.
Okay. Is there anyone in the audience for that case?
no hands chair
MI 2022
5246 to 50
Belfield Avenue
I vote to dismiss
second listing
Thomas Holloman
my vote is to dismiss
my vote is to dismiss
my vote is to dismiss
number seven
MI 2023-001-885-2248 North 2nd Street.
That case is continued.
That case is continued.
We'll go to case number three.
We'll go to case number three.
MI 2023-001-888-2219-421, North 4th Street.
Meredith Verlager is the attorney.
Meredith Verlager has been promoted.
Evening.
Good afternoon, counsel. Could you state your name and spell, please, for the court sonographer?
Sure. Meredith Ferliger, F-E-R-L-E-G-E-R of Dilworth Paxson, 1500 Market Street, Suite 3500E.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client and relationship to the property?
Certainly. My client here today is 2219 LTD Philly LLC, which is the owner of the property and is represented here today by either Ben Reese or Adam Feinstone.
We have a letter of support from NARS Square. Did council person send the letter?
No, not to my knowledge.
okay Hilary where do we have our information from so we received a letter in opposition from
the council office but um I maybe Sloan folks um from council member Lozada's office can comment
on this but it may have been an error it referenced um it referenced the RCO letter in opposition but
the RCO letter was in support so that's why I think there may there may have been an error
Yeah, Mr. Chairman, believe it or not, I actually have another case with the same address that's scheduled to be heard next week. It's on 2nd Street instead of 4th Street, and that one does have a letter of opposition, so I'm guessing that what Hillary is saying is probably correct.
Our Vice Chair has a few questions for you.
Good afternoon, Counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed in all the required documents? Of course you did. That is five days in advance of this hearing.
I certainly did.
Thank you. Please proceed and share your screen.
All right. All right, Mr. Chairman, members of the board, the proposal before the board today concerns a new seven unit multifamily dwelling
in the NARS Square section of North Philadelphia. In your packet at tab 14, you will note a letter
of a unanimous letter of support from the RCO NARS Square Community Alliance. The board has
all of my exhibits which contain 15 sets of documents. Starting first with the zoning map
at Exhibit 7. This shows the property at 2219-21 North 4th Street is roughly mid-block between West
Susquehanna Avenue to the south and West Nevada Street to the north. The property is currently
zoned RSA 5. As I will touch on a bit more later, the property was previously zoned RM 1.
In the aerials up on the screen at Exhibit 8, the board will begin to get an understanding of the relatively unique character of this block, which is largely comprised of a mix of multifamily residential structures, with some commercial and even automotive industrial uses.
If I flip to the next page, which is the east-looking view, you'll see that the opposing side of this street still has some fairly intrusive automotive and commercial uses.
The remapping that I referenced a moment ago will be particularly relevant to this unique condition that now exists on this small block.
At Exhibit 15, I'll briefly walk you through some photos to provide additional context.
The property in front of you today is currently a vacant lot, which has been vacant for many
decades. Historic maps and permits suggest that this lot was last used as a multifamily dwelling
with a minimum of four units as early as the 1940s and continuing at least until the maps
and permits end around 1962. It is not clear when the prior structure was demolished.
If I walk through the photos, you'll notice that this side of the street is predominantly residential structures with quite a few vacant lots still interspersed.
And again, this just gives you a view towards West Nevada Street, where you'll see some existing residential structures.
And again, this just gives you a view towards West Nevada Street where you'll see.
Now, if we turn across the street, you'll see that this first photo shows a currently vacant lot directly across the street, which was just approved for a significant multifamily proposal, which I will address.
On either side, you'll notice the warehouse and automotive facilities.
And again, this just gives a better view of the somewhat strange conditions of this block.
You'll note that the commercial uses still occupy a significant portion of the block.
In addition to some vacant lots, there are still some dilapidated structures with no active use whatsoever.
And again, just looking down towards West Nevada Street.
So if we turn to the zoning site plan, which I've included at Exhibit 5, my client is proposing to erect a new three-story building that will contain seven dwelling units.
From a zoning compliance standpoint, the board should note that this building not only fully complies with the dimensional restrictions of the code, but is in fact significantly underbuilt.
specifically the building is only three stories and 33 feet three inches high where 38 feet would
be allowed the building leaves about three percent more open space than is required
and accommodates a 50 15 foot rear yard instead of the minimum nine feet in addition and i'll
flip to a rendering so you can see this better the building provides a unique three foot wide
passageway from the rear yard out to the street in terms of open space for residents there are
balconies on the front of the building to contribute to the activation of the street
there is a roof deck that will be exclusively used by the upper floor units
the floor plans are shown at exhibit six no basement is proposed for this building
Four of the units will be two-bedroom units of around 840 square feet.
There are then also two one-bedroom units that range from 462 to 575 square feet.
There is also one studio on the first floor.
If you refer specifically to the first floor, you'll note that one of the benefits of designing this building without a basement
is that the design is able to accommodate the first floor units being designed as type B ADA
adaptable units, meaning that they can be easily converted to accommodate the needs of a disabled
tenant. You'll also notice on the first floor that there is a small mechanical room in the front,
which will allow the utility meters to be shielded, which is something that
is so desired with new construction these days. And again, you can see that mechanical room with
access from the front here. The rear yard will be reserved with trash storage and bike storage
areas. And again, this was something that the community really liked to see with the bike
storage in the back in light of that three-foot passageway that really will accommodate active
bicycle use for these tenants. As you saw, the artistic rendering is included in the packet
and you'll note that the building was designed to resemble two adjoining structures instead
of one larger building. Now regarding the refusal, because the property is currently zoned RSA 5,
we are required to seek a variance for the multi-family use. The applicant submits to
several hardships in erecting new single family homes on this lot for a variety of reasons. First
and most basically, this lot is nearly double the size of most of the lots on this block,
totaling around 2,700 square feet, instead of other comparable lots that are between 900 square
feet and 1,200 square feet. And the zoning map can give you a sense of the scale of this lot
in comparison to others. Additionally, as I mentioned earlier, this property was previously
zoned RM1. Although the rezoning alone might not support a hardship, absent other compelling
evidence, the rezoning of this block is unique as it relates to the hardship. At tab 10, I've
included a copy of the remapping ordinance bill number 170516 from 2017. What the board should
take notice of is the map of the then existing zoning that existed prior to the rezoning effort.
You'll notice that this block of 4th Street between Susquehanna Avenue and Nevada at one time had zoning that included RM1 multifamily, I2 industrial, and CMX2 mixed commercial, all on this one block.
You'll notice that this block of 4th Street between Susquehanna
Upon the rezoning, everything was rezoned to single-family.
Despite the rezoning, as I'll show, the block still has considerable mixed uses, which logically stems from the way it was zoned in the past.
at exhibit nine and i've included a an easy reference map here uh i've included the zoning
permit history for adjacent structures surrounding the property marked in green are the current
industrial or commercial uses marked in pink are all the multifamily uses as the board can see
nearly every single property surrounding this one is either multifamily or commercial,
not single-family residential. Many of these uses were granted by variance,
either because of the previous industrial classification or the more recent RSA 5
classification. Most recently, as I mentioned earlier, the property directly across the street
at 2214 North 4th Street, the board approved the erection of a new development that will add 16
residential units to that lot. Further up the street, the board recently granted a variance
at 2231 North 4th Street, which is shown here, for an industrial use, which we understand to be
a brewery. A previous board granted a variance for one of the commercial operations within the
prior residentially zoned area. So the board can hopefully see that this block has become
quite a melting pot of variance-based uses. Of all of the uses contained in this one block,
the only new residential uses have been multifamily structures, similar to the one
that we are proposing today. This combination of factors, including the unique size, the historical
use, and the diverse makeup of this block, establishes it would be a hardship to use this
property in compliance with its single-family use. We also submit that the requested variance is the
least minimum variance. There are no dimensional refusals associated with the request, and the
proposed density is largely consistent with the allowances of the former RM1 zoning and is further
consistent with the density of the multifamily uses of surrounding structures. The first floor
units in particular were designed to meet that type B ADA adaptability, and in addition, the
proposed density will allow for the inclusion of affordable units, including those with housing
choice vouchers. Given the diverse uses on this block that resulted from that prior mixed zoning,
it is the least deviation from the code to propose a use that is most consistent with the existing
character of the block. New single-family development of this street that contains
significant automotive and industrial uses is simply not viable. The proposal will not increase
congestion, and in fact, it is the existing automotive uses that are causing any congestion.
So encouraging future residential development will help to mitigate those conditions.
Although parking is not a requirement, the applicant submits it would be extraordinarily
challenging to provide parking for this development as a result of the property's
location mid-block with no other access point other than 4th Street. Finally, the proposal
will not impair light and air. As I mentioned, it is designed to be three stories and underbuilt
from a height perspective. The board saw that this design includes significant open space for
residents and does not include a basement to further mitigate any impact to surrounding
structures. The applicant submits that this proposal and the requested variance complies
in full with the requirements of Code Section 3038E.2, and as always, a full analysis is
provided in the memo of law submitted to the board at exhibit 11 uh and as mentioned the community
did unanimously support that so i i would expect that uh the councilwoman probably just had the
addresses confused which is understandable because it's been very confusing for me as well
uh so at this time i would ask either ben or adam whoever is here to raise your hand to adopt my
testimony wishy hands
we see hands adam has been allowed well they're both adam finestone has been allowed either one
either one doesn't matter
hello hi could you state your name and spell please for the court stenographer
yeah adam finestone a-d-a-m-f-i-n-e-s-t-o-n-e right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth
the whole truth and nothing but the truth? Yes.
Thank you. Adam, you are a member of 2219 LTD Philly LLC, correct?
Yes. And you've heard all of the testimony and evidence that I offered before the board today?
Yes. And would you agree that that testimony was true and accurate and would you adopt it
as if it were your own? 100%. We'd be happy to answer any questions.
questions from the board no mr chairman thank you Jim okay we got three no chair thank you
I thought you heard me questions or comments from our attorney Hillary Emerson not at this
time, Mr. Chair. Questions or comments from the virtual audience? No hands, Chair. Planning
Commission. Ron Bednar, City Planning Properties Indicator for Single-Family Residential Use
on the City Plan. Proposal represents an overuse. The Planning Commission recommends granting
a variance provided maximum three units only. Mr. Chairman, we would submit that. That's not
even consistent with how it was historically used, and it's certainly not consistent with
the density that we've presented today of similar newer proposals on this block.
Thank you.
MI 2023 001 888 2219 to 21 North 4th Street, I vote yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
James, my vote is yes.
This is no Shaheed. My vote is yes.
Thank you, Councilman. Thank you, Board Members.
Okay. Is there anyone in the virtual audience whose 3.30 case has not been called?
No answer.
Thanks, everyone.
Thank you.
A little bit of a longer day, but thank you all very much.
Thank you.
I appreciate it.
Take care.
No problem.