all right so 4167 mantua avenue um i will say this we've addressed some of those concerns with
the lower level living. We have direct access from the street for the lower level, as you'll
see from this rendering, and we'll go through it. There's also an elevator lift. So that means
someone who has difficulties walking can actually go down as well. So there's an exterior elevator
list. This is four units, one unit per floor. You'll see my exhibits. There are 11 of them.
we met with the West Belmont Civic Association and we notified 87 surrounding properties of the
meeting. First thing is our notice of refusal. This is our RSA 5 property. It's 1,498 square feet
and we're looking for four units here and we have no dimensional refusals.
We received unanimous support from the community after two meetings where we entered actually into a community benefits agreement where we have a community benefits agreement regarding a trash plan, construction plan, as well as making sure that we are properly vetting our tenants by way of a responsible property management plan as well.
Not out of character to have multifamily on this block. There's 4163 and 65, which are adjacent to us, four units, 4171 Mantua, which is four units, 4141 Mantua, which is four units, and 4153 Mantua, which is also four units.
and these are some of those zoning permits for well those zoning permits for those properties
just to show and then aerial views of this block again we're behind railroad or we're in front of
railroad tracks there's railroad tracks behind us so it would be out of character to have single
family use so close to railroad tracks plus again with all that multi-family that's attached to us
We would be the outlier here if the board was to enforce or require us to enforce single-family use here on a rather large RSA 5 lot.
And then, again, there's a mix of zoning classifications here.
Behind us is I-2 zoning with the railroad tracks, CMX2, RM1.
So there is a mix of zoning classifications here, which further establishes that, you know,
especially with the use on the block, that it makes sense to have this as a four-unit dwelling.
Photographs of the property.
So you can see we're behind new construction to the left and right of us, and all that's multifamily.
So it would be out of character to require us to have a single family here.
Proof of posting.
uh this property has been vacant you know again we go to google street view as far back as october
2009 don't know if it goes back even further but it's basically almost a generation that's
been the vacant lot this is mantua avenue to the right of the property to the left of the property
our plans and drawings again you'll see compared to what's being built there i think ours is much
nicer we have a pronounced cornice line lots of light in there flat brick facade um don't know
how those other properties are you know having the type of use they're having but for our lower level
unit we have direct access with a chair lift to go downstairs to accommodate someone who has
potential accessibility issues and then each floor on top of that is its own unit
These are all two bedrooms, two baths. Square footage goes from 883 to 986 square feet.
So just want to show your rendering of, you know, direct access. Here also is a secondary
trash area too. Each of the units also have either access to the rear, well, the first four unit has
access to rear for trash maintenance and storage. And then each of the units have
trash closets. And you can see here we're going no further than our neighboring property. So we're
trash closets.
And you can see here where they're going.
not taking their light and their way under the circumstances. And then these are the units. So
unit number one is that lower level unit with that chairlift, but it goes direct access. You
have a living room, a kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, another bath, another bedroom. And again, there's
walk out egress wells, and this egress well goes to the exterior rear of the property. Instead of
the lower level unit, you go on the first floor, you would have coming in, you would have a bedroom,
bathroom, nice living area, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom. And again, here's a ventilated trash
closet as well. Second floor is the third floor unit. Again, you come up a flight of steps,
open floor plan of a living room, kitchen, one bedroom in the bath in the front, one bedroom in
the bath in the back. Again, a ventilated trash closet here. Fourth unit is on the third floor,
or I guess, yes, above grade, third floor. You walk in, you have a kitchen, living room, bathroom,
bedroom, bedroom, bathroom, ventilated trash closet. And then here's our roof deck.
Again, it was a very well-attended meeting, unanimous support.
We met with the community on July 2nd after a second meeting to develop that CBA, which was signed by my client.
We met again with, well, we notified 87 properties of this meeting, proof of mailing of that meeting,
or application for repeal that we filed on behalf of Lapstone Capital LLC,
the notice of refusal project information form the deed to the property showing that lapstone
capital llc is the owner of the property and the certificate of tax clearance i will now ask
that jacob virtually raise his hand and be sworn in
coming back in as a panel shortly mr chair okay
Hello, everyone.
Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Yeah, my name is Jacob Catrow, J-A-C-O-B-K-A-T-R-O.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
We'll see you, counsel.
Jacob, you heard everything I had to state today about your zoning matter.
Correct, yes.
is it true and correct what i stated yes and do you adopt as your own testimony
yes i do all right thank you questions on the board
questions from our attorney hillary emerson not at this time mr questions or comments
from the virtual audience i do not see any hands raised for this matter mr chair planning commission
Amy Borg with the Planning Commission, AMI-BOID.
This parcel was remapped from RM1 Residential Multifamily to RSA 5 Residential Single Family as part of a community-led remapping in 2023.
The appellant has not demonstrated that there are unique physical conditions or circumstances of the property that would prevent it from being used in conformance with the zoning code.
The Planning Commission recommends that the Board deny the requested variance for multifamily.
Mr. Chair, can I briefly respond?
Thank you.
That same community voted unanimously in support of this project, recognizing the fact there's significant multifamily structures to the left of us, to the right of us, and I think even to the left and left and to the right and right of us.
We're also behind train tracks.
It would be very difficult to develop this property under those circumstances.
And for those reasons, we respectfully requested the board grant the requested variance for four-family household dwelling.
MI 2025, 001-261-4167, Mantua Avenue, I vote yes.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes.
Brian McAdams, my vote is yes.
Ioan, my vote is yes.
Thank you, counsel.
Awesome. Thank you. Great day. All right. Number 11.
So MI2025-001-246-4024 Ridge Avenue, Eric Budson is the attorney.
I'll be coming back in as a pen of a stroke, Mr. Chair.
Ridge, Allegheny, and Hunting Park, RCO.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chair.
Counsel, how are you?
Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Yes, thank you.
Eric Bodzin, B-O-D-Z-I-N, blank room.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
So, would you want to identify your client in relationship to the property?
My client is the owner, Anthony Massiri, of Radix Property Group, and also joining me
in the audience is Ben Estepani of Pace Architecture and Design.
Do you waive the reading of the refusal to agree with its accuracy?
Yes, I do.
Why don't you start your presentation?
Great.
Wonderful. Can you see my presentation, Mr. Chair?
We can.
Thank you so much. Again, I thank you for your time this afternoon. I am joined by Anthony
Masseri of Radix Property Group. The subject property is 4024 Ridge Avenue. I understand
and we may also be joined by a representative of the RAH Civic Association, which held a meeting
last month, 20 community members, and voted unanimously in support of the subject application
for long-awaited improvements to this property. As you can see here on the aerial image of the
property. The subject building is an existing building on the south side of Ridge Avenue,
which consists of aging row homes that are wedged here between the overpass of Roosevelt Boulevard
And the area is another image from the west. These properties are located if you drive away from East Falls into eastern North Philadelphia, up Ridge Avenue around the bend or ridge, if you will, towards Fairmount Park.
On the left is the recently developed Dobbs apartment complex, consisting of just over 400 units.
And on the right, you can see this stretch of row homes, the eastern most of which is the subject 2040-24 Ridge Avenue,
with the well-known, well-established East Falls Beer Distributor or East Falls Beverage on the
ground floor. These 1920s-era row homes each have ground floor commercial and multifamily on the
upper floors. They predate the zoning code, but believe it or not, the zoning designation has
been for a long, long time, ICMX, industrial, perhaps once intended to spur industrial near
the railroad. Here's another area with the zoning designation I mentioned, ICMX, for
the stretch of row homes. The corridor, Ridge Avenue corridor, is otherwise zoned commercial
up and down the 4,000 block of Ridge Avenue, as well as to the east and to the west.
Here's another zoomed out zoning map where you can see the commercial zoning along the corridor.
You can also see the predominance of multifamily household living on this Google map in the area.
The other notable industrially zoned property that I'm circling here.
notable industrially zoned property that I'm circling here on the screen is also currently
functioning as apartments. Those are the Dobson, I'm sorry, not Dobson Mills apartments. Those are
the Scots and Sherman apartments. Yes, Mr. Chair.
can you hear me Mr. Chair yes I can okay um uh one more note on on the zoning context here uh
the comprehensive plan uh not only confirms and recommends the existing mixed-use multi-family
use of these row homes but actually as you can see in that this circle uh entitled d uh encourages
is updated development befitting of this transit-rich area of the North District.
And here is a transit summary of that area.
This stretch of row homes has access to the 1 and 60 bus lines.
There's also nearby regional rail.
And as I mentioned, we're right under the Roosevelt Boulevard overpass near where 76
connects on the other side of the river.
Here are the bike lanes
in the area. This is right
Kelly Drive
and again
the comprehensive plan recommendation
is not for industrial
neighborhood commercial mixed
use. Here
is the refusal.
As you can see
updating this 1920s era row home by addition requires approval because the ICMX designation
is inconsistent with the block's long-standing condition as, one, multifamily on the upper
floors, and two, without parking access, although there is street parking access along Ridge Avenue.
The ICMX designation would require five off-street spaces, and that condition has not conformed for this entire block over its history.
I'll pull up the plans in a moment, but a word about why this investment is so important to the neighborhood.
As you can see, this is the easternmost row home, and it also contains the least amount of rental units on the block, but it is also adjacent or across the street from and dwarfed by the recently developed 415-unit Dobson Mills apartment.
And as you can see here, it's also adjacent to the most recently developed self-storage complex at 4026 Ridge Avenue.
Here's another angle of both the self-storage complex that is five stories tall, as well as the Dobbs Apartments across the street, both of which now shadow over the row homes on the rest of the block.
The proposed addition would extend the upper two floors to the rear, as you'll see in a moment, and up one floor, but still 18 feet below the top of the self-storage facility.
Here's a street-level view that gives you a good context of what we're talking about.
As you can see, the self storage facility is five stories. The row homes are three stories behind that. And as you can see from the streetscaping, you also have the larger Dobson Mills apartments on the other side of the street with some nice landscape buffering that this project will add to.
Here are additional street-level photos that are supplemented in the exhibits that we submitted before the board.
As I mentioned, preserving East Falls beverage, which has been a longstanding commercial tenant here of 15 years,
was something that was really important to the RAH Civic Association
and an important feature in the collaborative design of this project.
Here is the rendering of the proposed update to this property.
Here is the rendering of the proposal.
You can see that the facade is preserved in its original brick, as is the cornice line.
other than some long-needed repointing of the facade as well as some painting to match
the green color palette that you'd see up and down this commercial corridor.
Beyond that, the updates, as I mentioned, extend the upper floors back to the rear.
I'll bring up the floor plans in a moment.
And again, that's atop the existing first floor of the East Falls Beverage.
And then in addition to extending that property to the rear, a floor is added from above.
Again, that's 18 feet short of the peak of the self-storage facility at 4026 Bridge Avenue.
here are the plans for the ground floor second floor and the third floor as I mentioned a big
component to the ownership group as well as the community of this project is to support
the continued ground floor use by East Falls Breverage and the facade use and configuration
of that ground floor commercial space is unchanged. There is a roll-up dock in the front
that allows for deliveries off the street, which is a continuation of the existing business
operation here. This is a business that's open seven days a week, 10 to 8 on weekdays,
10 to 10 on weekends and more limited 12 to 5 hours on Sunday. This business is always hired
from the community and actually the owners of this property, the Radix Property Group,
Anthony and Damon, are former owners of the beverage, East Falls Beverage Facility and
and very familiar with the owner who is supportive of this project.
Part of the redevelopment plan is actually the execution of a 10-year lease to extend
East Falls beverage on the ground floor of this facility. On the upper floors, you can see the
floor plan here. I'm sorry, let me point out one more thing about the ground floor, which is
The configuration is unchanged except for in the rear, second point of egress is added, as well as a second stairwell and a trash room accessible to the rear.
The trash room, all the egress points and stairwells are accessible to all of the units on the second, third and fourth floor of the property.
The second and third floor are pictured here.
here. One feature, if I can flip back to the rendering of the design of this property,
is light wells that provide nice exposure to all of the units and upgraded windows at
the property. And as the neighbors of 4000 Bridge can attest a nice buffer to the self-storage
facility on the other end of the block. These are the fourth floor and roof renderings with
setback roof deck and pilot houses in the front and the rear.
And this is a summary of how this plan comes together. The pink is the existing
three-story building with the beverage distributor extending this should be pink as well all the way