And lastly, will the modification of the property as it currently exists to develop the new lower school create any negative impact as a result of building in areas that had previously been disturbed from a Wissick and Watershed standpoint?
No, it will not.
I have nothing further of this witness.
Mr. Miller.
Miller.
I just have one brief question, if I may. Do your impervious coverage calculations include the Timmons School in the overall concept, or is it reviewed separately?
No, it does include the Timmons. The parking field up there does fall within the WW01 area, and so that is included within our impervious coverage.
Okay, that's all I had.
Thank you.
Mr. Kelson, do you have enough witness?
I can do the following.
I don't believe you need to hear from Mr. Talley.
I think that's clear in terms of the architectural and design.
Do you want me to call Mr. David Al forward to affirm my testimony now?
Why don't we do that?
Why don't we do that now?
Can we promote Mr. Hal David Al, please?
mr david al please unmute yourself you're free to speak okay can you hear me i can could you
Mr. David Al, please unmute yourself.
You're free to speak.
please state your name and spell for the court reporter yes my name is hal david al h-a-l-d-a-v-i-d-o-w
right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i do mr kelson thank you good afternoon mr david al um mr david al what's your position with
the William Penn Charter School? I'm the Chief Financial Officer. How long have you been there?
27 years. Are you familiar with the project that's before the Zoning Board today? Yes, I am.
Have you been actively involved in previous projects that went to the Zoning Board,
maybe a different Zoning Board, with regard to developments on the campus, such as
the Performing Arts Center, the Wellness Center? Yes, I was. As part of the current
application that's before the board, did you interface with the community organizations
that surround the site? Yes, I did. And approximately how many years or so have you
been engaged in public discourse about the master plan and specifically the lower school and Timmins
project? So the master plan goes back about eight years and I've been involved from the beginning
of that plan and more recently with of course this project including Timmins. As part of the
discussions that you've had with your neighbors, both on the organized community association level
as well as individual neighbor level, did you have the opportunity to meet and discuss
concerns that were raised by residents living on the Oak Road? Yes, I did.
and um were any modifications made to the original plans uh as a result of of concerns
or comments raised by such individuals uh yes we did we um moved the we removed approximately 30
spaces and moved the parking area further back from the oak road and created a park for the
neighborhood and created birming to to basically hide the parking lot um is there currently access
directly off of the oak road into the um william penn charter campus uh yes into the parking lot
okay and is that intended to be closed off as part of this proposed development yes it is okay
Have you also had discussions with the with individuals on the Oak Road with regard to Timmins House lighting and site features.
Yes, we discussed the down lighting that would not create an additional lighting issue for the neighbors.
OK, I have nothing further. But now, Mr. David, now you got some real work to do.
You've heard me make numerous statements regarding the proposed development of the new lower school and Timmins parking at today's hearing. Is that correct?
Correct.
And have you been part of the virtual hearing from the inception of this application?
Yes, I have. Yes, I have been.
to the best of your knowledge and information the statements that i've made are they true and
correct yes they are if you were to make those statements yourself would you adopt them
and consider them to be accurate and correct yes i would and finally the revised plans that we've
submitted uh to the zoning board um you are actively involved and know these plans from
firsthand knowledge yes i do okay mr chairman i have nothing more for mr david how i don't know
if mr miller wants to mr miller uh yeah just very briefly uh mr david good afternoon uh could you
tell the board how the timmons house property is used by the school currently um yes it's uh it's
It's used by our development office and our business office, and we occasionally have events at the property.
And when you say events, what kind of events are you talking about?
Uh, faculty, uh, uh, faculty meetings, faculty gatherings, uh, parent gatherings, alumni
Faculty meetings, faculty gatherings.
gatherings.
And, uh, you know, uh, can you, what's the intensity of that use as it currently is?
How often is it used for those types of events?
Uh, well, COVID has changed things, but I would say between, uh, five and 10 times a
I have nothing further.
Um, further. Thank you. You're done. You're done with your case, right? Yes. Subject to cross
examination. Yes. Thank you. Okay. Mr. Miller. Chair, if I may, um, we are coming, um, close.
I want to, I want to, I want to get Mr. Miller on to see how long his case is going to be.
And then we'll make a decision after we do that, Lakeisha.
Mr. Miller. Yes. How many witnesses do you think you have?
It would just be two. It would be the two residents, the owners of the property that I represent. And it depends how you would like to do it. I can run through a summary of the slides were prepared by my client. I would share those and go over those. My client can be better able as the resident to try to discuss those, or I could summarize them and then have them speak to any additional comments that they may have.
well i i think we're in a position now that you know we have numerous cases left
sure and i think what we're looking at we're going to have to have a resumptive hearing
uh we just we just can't get it because i think there are people in the audience too
that i want to have some things to say etc so uh peter i think there's no there's no way we can get
go much longer with this you're basically your case as a whole is done we'll come back
Mr. Miller will do his case whenever we resume and then we'll take it off to the audience for
people to say what they have to say and then we'll go to planning all right Mr. Chairman
Lakeisha we're going to have a resumptive hearing for this yes is that okay Hillary
yes that is totally fine Mr. Chair okay all right and and thanks both you for your time I mean I
think we made a lot of gains with this and hopefully when we come back we'll be resumptive
here and there we can finish up okay great and we'll get a date uh from that's right well we'll
we'll i'll talk to them about a date for both of you okay and we uh do have a date available um
no november 30th oh that's that's good that's um let me just uh get the time for you guys one
second that would be great now hillary do we have to repost since it's resumptive
um because we're so in some cases we do when there is a lot of interest from the community
so the board may be sending you um additional posters to put up with the new hearing date
um but part of the reason we announced it on the record is so that um those who are here for this
hearing are already aware of it um but i will discuss with the staff but we may be sending
additional um posters for the for the next hearing thank you mr kelson and mr miller thank both you
okay thank you and the time will be 2 p.m 2 p.m i'm sorry 2 p.m november 30th correct thank you so
much thank you case number eight mi 2022 003584 704 pine street adam labor is the attorney
LETTER OF NON OPPOSITION WITH PROVISORS FROM WASHINGTON SQUARE CIVIC ASSOCIATION
COORDINATING RCO LETTER OF NON OPPOSITION WITH PROVISORS FROM THE AFFECTED RCO SOCIETY HILL
ASSOCIATION LETTER OF NON OPPOSITION FROM COUNCIL MEMBERS SQUILA
good afternoon hi Mr. Laver you've already been sworn to state your name for the record
Adam Laver L-A-V-E-R right could you identify your client and the relationship to the property
certainly Blank Rome represents Lisa and Greg Milhauser M-I-L-H-A-U-S-E-R they are the owners
of 704 pine street the subject property thank you and our vice chair has a few questions
thank you mr laver do you agree to wave the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy
yes if we are uh referring to the corrected refusal of august 3rd 2022
August 3rd, does everybody have that, I have.
It was submitted to Ms. Emerson and.
It was submitted to Ms. Emerson and to the board. It's a corrected refusal.
Mr. Laver, I do have that refusal. I did not realize it was corrected from a prior refusal
for this case. So if the board grants, we should note that as a proviso that it is per the August
3rd refusal. Thank you for letting us know. Absolutely. It just reduced the number of
refusals by one. Okay. All right. Sounds good. We'll make sure we have that one on record.
Thank you. Adam, have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership, tax compliance,
refusal, referral, voters 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, we have, and the coordinating RCO,
as well as the other impacted RCO have submitted letters of non-opposition,
which have been confirmed also by Council Member Squilla's office. So non-opposition from all
official parties. Okay, thank you so much. You may proceed and share your screen.
Thank you. Hopefully up on the screen before you, you see an aerial photograph of the Society Hill section showing the subject property. We're looking at Pine Street running back from there.
The property is located sort of in the border. It's within the Washington Square West and
Society Hill sections of the city. Here's another aerial photograph looking at the property from
the rear where the hand icon is. On the screen now is a zoning map. The existing Pine Street
property appears very elegant from the outside. Here we are on Pine Street. But inside, it's
become quite deteriorated, unfortunately. When Greg and Lisa Milhauser purchased it this past
February, quite recently, they found sagging floors, holes in the walls, broken systems.
The property itself is zoned RM1. It could accommodate multiple dwellings, six or more on
the lot. The lot runs from Pine through to Addison. It's large. However, the Millhousers,
a young family with children, are in the process of restoring this once grand home to raise their
family and to live in it as a single family residence. The existing property, as you can
see on the screen, is four stories high, just under 51 feet tall. It's an existing non-conforming
structure, which as a matter of law is burdened through its historical designation on the
register. Lisa Gregg and their two young children currently live around the corner. They love the
neighborhood. Their new home on Pine Street presents an opportunity to stay in the neighborhood,
to restore a historic home for long-term use, and as Gregg has said, to bring it up to a condition
befitting the neighborhood. You can see in the photographs on the screen some existing conditions
along the beautiful Pine Street block.
And now moving to the next set of photos
to the rear along Addison Street.
The subject property can be seen
in the lower left-hand corner,
identified by the blue door set into a concrete wall.
It is dissimilar to many of the other properties
that have had more buildup conditions
that you can see along the block.
And that's what we're going to be proposing and discussing. In sum, the proposal is to erect
a rear detached garage at the rear of the property along Addison Street with accessory only
a dwelling unit above it, an au pair suite, grandparents, et cetera, right above it,
accessory to the Pine Street property. And in addition, there are some small additions to the
Pine Street property, which I'll show you in a moment, not visible from Pine Street. The entire
proposal, and just some more photographs along Addison, the entire proposal has been approved
by the Philadelphia Historical Commission. I have that up on the screen for you at the moment.
This is the site plan. I'll show you more specific drawings in a moment, but this is showing
the property running from Pine Street through to Addison. Here are some conceptual renderings
beginning at the back along Addison Street. So you'll recall I had shown you the blue doors
the blue doors and the concrete wall. The proposed addition, this is to show you massing,
and the concrete wall. The proposed addition, this is, this is
not details. This is what it will look like, very similar to the scope and scale of what is along
Addison Street currently. And again, another view along Addison with that massing in there,
providing a sense of scope, scale, sizing, context, context. Getting to the refusal,
the heart of the case. Refusal number one, for an extension of the non-conforming building height
along Pine Street. Well, this is technical in nature because there's an existing non-conforming
structure. This presents a de minimis variance. Refusal two, for the proposed accessory dwelling
unit along Addison at the rear. As proposed, this would be prohibited under the zoning code.
However, the specific nature of the proposed accessory dwelling unit better meets the scope
and spirit of the code than the much more significant density that would be permitted
as a matter of right if the property were to be carved up into multiple residences instead
of a single family use.
Furthermore, if the Addison Street portion of the property were treated as an independent
parcel, which it recently was, this refusal and the proposed height refusal would go away.
Refusal three, a minor technicality. A garage depth along Addison Street is proposed at 27 feet. 25 feet is the code maximum. This will have no impact whatsoever on neighbors or the surrounding community.
The deep depth of the parcel itself that runs from Pine to Addison allows for this minor deviation from the code in a way that's different from the more standard-sized parcels perhaps contemplated under this code provision.
Similarly, refusal four pertains to the proposed 20 feet garage height, which is necessary to allow adequate living space, the one floor above the garage, comparable to the photos that I showed you along Addison Street, in particular to 706 Pine Street property that runs through, meeting the scope and scale of the block, and as recognized by the Philadelphia Historical Commission.
This exhibit, I think, is really very helpful in a nutshell in showing you what I've just described.
The green is what's new.
So on the left is the existing structure in gray on Pine Street.
To the right would be, again, that blue wall along Addison.
The green is what's proposed.
So you see to the right the garage with the one-story accessory dwelling unit above it, rising 20 feet in height comparable to what's there.
In between the garage and the existing historic structure on Pine Street is a garden area.
and at the back of the pine street in green are some proposed additions to the existing historic
house as approved by the historical commission to allow for this family to live in this home
for many years to come this is an interesting slide as well also showing in green the uh if
you go to the right just for the interest of time what we're proposing addition wise the garage and
additions at the back none of this can be seen from from pine street minimal impact from addison
street here is an addison street elevation so uh the middle elevation is showing what you would see
off of addison entrance to the garage the brick uh accessory dwelling unit above and then in the
background uh the existing pine street property with the additions to the right is as if you're
standing in that garden courtyard very close looking at the back of pine street and to the
left if you were walking out of the pine street property through the garden and up into the
dwelling unit the accessory dwelling unit that is floor plans uh at the bottom uh the basement is
not worth going over, standard rec room, et cetera. To the top is the first floor showing
the two-car garage, the garden area, and the first floor layout of the home. Second floor
layout here at the bottom. Second floor above the garage is the accessory dwelling unit that
I had mentioned, specifically accessory, third floor plan at the top, and the fourth floor plan
is the last. There is, as we mentioned, extensive support documentation beginning with the non-opposition
unanimous from the coordinating RCO, Washington Square West Civic Association.
from the coordinating rco washington square west civic association
with proposed provisos i should note that washington square west civic association
society health civic association council members will have all submitted the same
request for provisos which we have no objection to in the washington square west letter they note