There were apartments that were purchased and made into dorms and underneath there is
a nurse's station that is used for the community and the students.
There is a lot of activity at that corner.
There is a lot of activity at that corner.
If you don't live there.
If you don't live there, you don't know.
You have 18 wheelers that are coming up and down the street now because 20th Street was closed.
And Worcester Street has now become a parking lot.
If you look at the building, they're talking about deliveries in the building, in the rear of the building, where?
Because that's on Nidro Avenue.
And so we we really are happy that this building is being, you know, made alive again.
But we just feel also that the number of offices should be reduced along with the other provisos.
Thank you very much for your for your phone call and your interest. Mr. Richardson, do you want to come on now?
Yes, sir, I am here.
Okay. So just to be plain, there were agreements that were made and provisos that were offered
that were accepted during the meeting by the developer. And that's how it stood at the very
end of the meeting. These new provisos that had been offered by ACCA and by BANA were put together
after the fact, and they were not agreed to by the developer in any shape, form, or fashion.
And the councilwoman's office, you know, it looks for fairness in these proceedings.
Both of the RCOs are situated a half mile away, and all the people that actually attended the
meeting, because we had no near neighbors that attended. And I actually did a major flyering of
that neighborhood specific within the 250 foot range and no one attended. The folks that did
attend are also a half a mile away. So we're just trying to be fair and make sure that everything
goes as it should go within these proceedings. Councilwoman has no opposition to granting the
variance with the original two provisos. And anything that you might see on the ACCAs, you
can you know most definitely uh implement that but uh she has no opposition to granting it as
as as stood at the end of the meeting thank you very much is there anyone else in the virtual
audience other than me no mr chair okay i've seen only this year um mr anastasia you want to
quick yes mr chair yeah first i'd like to thank the coordinating rco uh for hosting us and for
Council Member Bass for supporting our appeal for six offices. These are not open to the public.
These are nine to five operations. The only deliveries would be paper. You know, these are
spaces large enough for a desk, a chair, a filing cabinet, and maybe a copier, a tabletop copier.
I think there's a fundamental misunderstanding, at least with two of the groups, as to what the new gig economy and post-pandemic situation is as it relates to office space.
There are lots of folks in that immediate area who are working from home, who have reached out and communicated with my client, who's not a developer, just a woman who owns a piece of property, and who said that they would love to be able to have an office where they can go.
And so their mail goes there, not their home.
My clients are going to furnish each space, and they're very small, just enough for a desk and a chair and a copier and a filing cabinet.
There is no in and out. There's nothing open to the public.
We agree to that as part of the proviso, as well as the hours of operation.
And I believe that's why Faith CDC, Ms. Love, the coordinating RCO, and the council member support our request for the six spaces.
It is the least impactful, least impactful commercial use we could put on a corner that everyone agrees should be commercial. So that's, that's all I have to say.
Thank you very much.
MI-2022.
Mr. Chair, this is Hillary.
Can I just ask a question?
Vern, as I read the refusal, it says two offices on the first floor and six above for a total of eight.
Was there a change down to six?
I'm sorry.
There's eight total.
That's correct.
I just wanted to make sure that anything hadn't changed.
Thank you.
Mr. Chairman, Mr. Chairman, I have a question for a counselor.
Counselor, can you tell me how many square feet the building is total?
Counselor, can you tell me how many square feet the building is total?
I can.
I did end my presentation, so if you just give me a moment, I'll be able to get that again.
16 the building itself is approximately 2500 square feet thank you yep first floor is a little
longer than the top two? No, Mr. Chair. Okay, thank you. So MI 2022, 001-396-5813 East
Worcester Street, I vote yes with proviso that was agreed upon by all RCOs and the
Council's Office. Hours of operation Monday to Friday, 9A to 5P. Thank you.
Carol Tenere, my vote is yes with provisos.
Thomas Holliman, my vote is yes with provisos.
James Snell, my vote is yes with provisos.
Thank you.
Thank you all.
Number three on the original list of add ones.
MI 2022, 001, 057, 3215 Fox Street.
This case is continued one week till next Wednesday at 2 p.m.
Am I right?
Yes, that is correct, Mr. Chair. We will vote on the case at that time. This is a request from a council for the applicant to hold the vote one more week, and that request is not opposed by Councilwoman Bass.
Thank you. Cases continued. Okay, we go to our regular list. MI 2022-003-670-2337-41 Pennsylvania Avenue. Sean Ward is the attorney. Letter of non-opposition from the Spring Garden Civic Association based on revised plan.
Mr. Ward. Mr. Ward is coming back in as a panelist.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, members of the board, Sean Ward, S-H-A-W-N-W-A-R-D, attorney for applicant.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
I certainly do.
Do you identify your applicant and the relationship to the property?
My applicant is Reuven Mosheyev, R-E-U-V-A-N, Mosheyev, M-O-S-H-E-Y-E-V, doing business as MMR Investments, and they are the owner of the subject premises.
And our vice chair has a few questions, Mr. Board.
Hi, good afternoon. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
I most certainly do.
Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership, tax compliance, refusal, referral,
photos under plans of the property five days in advance of this hearing, and have you met with
the RCO, and do you have a letter? Yes, to all of the above. That's great. Can you proceed, and
the screen's up, so that's good. Very good. Thank you, Carol. Mr. Chair, I've submitted my typical
exhibit packet. I represent MMR Investments, Inc. They are the owner of the subject property.
2337-41 Pennsylvania Avenue. Today's calendar number, MI-2022-003670.
A1 is the notice of refusal. It was amended on 9-22-2022. The application calls for the
complete demolition of an existing and the erection of a new attached structure. The
property has already been demolished. It will include roof decks for two family dwelling and
six off-street parking spaces. I would just point out that the two-family dwelling is basically two
single-family homes that are attached, and it would be a planned unit development. Resulted in
five refusals. The original refusal had nine refusals. The amended refusal reduced that down
to five, two of which deal with the vehicular ingress access for the off-street parking. Each
each unit has a three-car garage. The two-family use is prohibited in the district. However,
we submit that these are actually two single-family homes. There is a fourth floor setback,
7.5 feet required, whereas five is proposed. And the height, 38 feet is allowed, whereas 39.11
is proposed, which is pretty much identical, if not similar, if not identical to the existing
properties to the left. So we seek use and dimensional variances to date. A2 is the ZBA
A2 is the ZBA application of appeal, A3 project information form, A4 proof of ownership, A5 proof of tax clearance, A6 is the site and elevation plans, A7 are revised proviso plan form, A8 are the renderings.
application of appeal.
With regard to the revised plans, we had much back and forth discussion with Spring Garden Civic, and I believe Justino Navarro was present today on the call to speak to that.
So the plans have been revised somewhat from the time of the amendment on 922, pursuant to our discussions with Spring Garden.
A8 are the renderings. A9 are photographs, the posting, the subject property, aerial views, and street views.
A9 is the letter of support from Spring Garden.
If Councilman Clark's, President Clark's office has submitted a letter, I would ask that that be marked as A10.
Again, A-11, the relevant zoning history, again, in 2022, actually, complete demolition of the existing structure.
1974, it was a law office and two dwellings with two vacant lots next door.
And back in 1965, the property of 2337 was demolished.
It was a vacant house.
So A-12 is the zoning map.
A-13 is the aerial photograph.
So very quickly, again, we've reduced the number of variance requests to five, the first and second being egress and ingress is prohibited on on the parkway, despite the fact that this really isn't on the parkway.
It's on Pennsylvania Avenue. However, it falls in that district and loading from the front street is prohibited to family.
again, we submit that these are two single family homes. And then we have the dimensional
requests. Again, five variance requests. So we have our application of appeal, our project
information form, the original refusal. Again, you'll see we had nine refusals on that one.
We've reduced those. My transmittal letter to the board, a copy of the deed from January of this year.
Moving right along. Proof of tax clearance. We actually have a credit of $53.69.
With regard to the actual site plan.
So basically what you have here is running up and down the page on the left would be Pennsylvania Avenue.
we propose an 18-foot depressed curb for access to the interior parking. Each unit would have
three parking spaces interior to the structure at the rear. There would be a first floor space
in front of that garage, and then access would be provided to the backyard from the ground floor.
With regard to the elevation, again, Pennsylvania Avenue would be out here to the left.
First floor, there is some interior living space, the garage to the rear, second, third, and fourth floors, a roof deck with a pilot house atop that, and a small deck at the second floor rear for some outside recreation.
And they do have a finished basement.
Looking at it from the front, again, we have the renderings.
I'll show you those in a second, but it will be a mixed masonry facade.
It would have a common driveway gated for access to the interior parking spaces.
Again, from the rear, a small deck at the second floor of what is presumably the kitchen with some access doors to the garage area and access doors to the first floor garage.
So, with regard to the site itself, previously existing on site was an existing two-story
office building, and it was a law office and a residence.
Here's an aerial view of the property included on the plans.
As you can see, it's the two vacant lots and the former structure there.
This would be a street view.
the structure was the law office and residence which has since been demolished and here's
another photo that's on the plan. As far as the renderings go again we're proposing a mixed
masonry facade on the front with some light gray metal siding at the fourth floor level.
The siding was designed specifically in that shade to blend in with the sky. It kind of fades away
and it's not pronounced as much as other materials would be.
There's just another rendering of the streetscape.
This would be from the rear.
This would be from the rear. There is a mature tree located in the rear of the property for
There is a mature tree located in the rear of the property.
buffering from the adjoining neighbors. And we would propose also the fencing for privacy and
safety. This rendering just shows a cloud image of the tree in front of the rear facade.
again another we have brick brick all around
this gives you a dimensional scope of the size of the structures to the left
so we are pretty much identical if not extremely similar to the height of those buildings again
that discussion went back and forth with many iterations I think there was eight different
plan iterations until we came to the agreement with Spring Garden. Copy of our posting
on the front of the lot. Aerial view, as you can see, the property. The parkway is down here. We
are closer to Eakins Oval. It's in the Spring Garden section of the city. Again, just another
Google angle shot of the property. These are the structures to the left that I said that we would
match the height. There we go. Again, just another Google Earth street view of the subject
property now vacant lot. And here's your street views. At the other end of this block, there
are numerous garage and curb cuts. So it's not something new on this block. Again, just
another shot facing towards the Art Museum of Pennsylvania Avenue. This is the letter
of support from Spring Garden Civic Association. As you can see, they clearly indicate the
support for the application pursuant to the revised plans. I'll let Justino discuss that
in more detail if need be. This is the zoning permit for the complete demolition, again
issued in 2022. Pardon my typo on the summary. Again, this was the demo plan showing the
location of the demolition. The zoning permit from 1974 for the residents and the law office.
The 1965 permit for the vacant land at 2337.
and the zoning primer from 1965 for the vacant house at 2337 and again our zoning map I've
already showed you the aerial photo so that is the sum and substance of the application
I do have Matt Milan who is our project architect on the line as well as Reuven Mishayev
so if the board has any questions why don't you have the owner adopt your testimony all right
Reuven, if you could raise your virtual hand so that they can allow you to speak.
There he is.
Hi, could you state your name and spell for the court recorder, please?
Reuven Moshev, can you hear me?
No, speak up a little bit.
Can you hear me now?
A little louder, just a little bit more.
Can you hear me now?
Okay. Could you state your name and spell it for the court reporter?
Sure. My name is Ruben Mosheyev. It's R-E-U-V, like a Victor, A-N. My last name, M-O-S, like a Sam, H-E-Y-E-V, like a Victor.
Do you swear, affirm, to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Affirm.
Proceed, Sean.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Reuven, you've heard my representations to the board today?
I did. Are they true and correct? Are they true and correct to the best of your knowledge,
information, and beliefs? Yes, they are. And do you adopt them as your own testimony?
Yes, I do. Thank you very much. Questions from the board? No,
Mr. Chairman. No, Mr. Chairman. Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
we have justino navarro okay
hi could you state your name please and spell for the court reporter yes good afternoon members
of the board mr chair my name is justino navarro j-u-s-t-i-n-o-n-a-v-a-r-r-o and i am the
representative of the spring garden civic association thank you do you swear or firm
to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do proceed mr ward
I have no questions. Just so you know, I was going to just comment on the position of Spring Garden.
I have no questions
Justino is going to just comment on the
Yeah, I just want to represent, we sent the letter accordingly, as Mr. Ward indicated, but I want to indicate that the Spring Garden Civic Association and its only committee met with the developer, Mr. Ward, and the developer's architect, and 25 nearby neighbors attended the meeting as well.