We start out very slender on Queen, and then we kind of expand out as well.
Here, you'll see from the plans and drawings of how the driveway starts on Queen Lane and then exits out on Lawrence Street.
and then exits out on Lawrence Street and then you can see here that this is where the subway
And then you can see here.
line for Queen Lane is and which is not too far from where our property is located but regardless
we have a one to one ratio between units and parking spaces and then photographs of the property
this is Queen Lane from the front of the property this is proof of us having that notice poster
on Queen Lane, as well as in the rear as well. And then this is West Queen Lane to the right of the
property. You'll see that there are porches in this area. You'll see that from our duplexes,
we try to emulate them. This is West Queen Lane to the left of the property. And these are our
plans and drawings from different angles. This is the view from the north, the west, the east,
and the south but you can see the irregular shape of this lot and then you can see from
basically site conditions the architect of gnome architecture did a great job
showing you know how this building would look if built compared to the surrounding buildings
so this is view from the north on queen lane and view on from the south on queen lane but we really
They did try to keep the height of the building in line with the surrounding properties.
And then this is the site from Lawrence Street.
And as you can see here, again, looking from Lawrence Street, you can look at the height of the buildings that are coming from those sites.
And this is the site interior towards King Street and the site interior towards King Street as well.
And these are the corresponding numbers with those pictures.
As you can see, this is a very undeveloped part of the Germantown community.
And our hope is to develop this to make it as a valuable member of the community.
And then this is the interior towards Queen Street from the lot.
And this is another section of it, a little closer towards facing, this is facing from the locks and looking towards Green Street.
And then this is the inspiration in terms of materials that my client's using that's close by the neighborhood, talking about brick, metals, greenery, brick pavers.
You'll see that throughout the design of the project.
And then you'll also see from the architecture, too, you'll see this is a porch neighborhood.
You'll see the roof line and the arches as well from here, the church here, and the building structures here, these buildings as well as here on King Street.
But we try to mimic the architecture that's there in the neighborhood.
So these are the properties on King Street.
You can see the roof lines.
These are the roof lines that we then try to mimic that's within the courtyard duplexes.
You look at the front door on Queen Street that we're proposing mimics the front entryway on 530 King Street.
And then this is just our property from a site plan perspective.
As you can see, this is, you know, Queen Lane.
You come in. This is Queen Lane. You come into a shared driveway. There's one, two, three, four, five, six cars on the first floor. Here is the common trash room for that.
This is the first building, which is a three-unit building.
You come in, you can come out through Lawrence Street as well, and there is additional parking here for the duplexes.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine.
So there's a total of 15 parking spots for both the duplexes, as well as the three unit apartment building. And each of these duplexes hug the rear of the property. There's one, two, three, four, five, six duplexes. And there's a common courtyard.
guard, it was also important to the community that we buffer these houses on King Street.
So in order to provide light and air and privacy, my client has proposed to do significant
landscaping along the common border between the King Street properties in the rear and
then our property in the rear.
And then this is just the elevations of the property, showing that our properties, actually the triplex goes 31 feet 2 inches.
um actually the triplex goes 31 feet 2 inches which is here
and then the duplexes go 33 feet 6 inches which are these nice
and again this is just the site plan from a landscaping point of view as you can see there's
significant landscaping in the rear to basically buffer off us from the King Street residences,
which are close by, as well as right here on the side of our property, but towards the properties
on King Street. And there's landscaping throughout. There's even like a common courtyard area
in between the duplexes to provide like a sense of community. And then the floor plans for the
triplex are pretty simple or fairly simple you have the entryway which is on the queen
and then they're at each bi-level unit so the second floor and the third floor for there's a
common hallway and there's a unit here there's a unit here there's a unit here and then there's
internal staircases for each of them and then for the duplexes uh you know the typical duplex
these are you know up and down units uh they're each duplexes are each two bedroom two bath for
each of them so for this one you come into a common hallway um you come into the unit uh
unit number one is two bedrooms two bath the first floor is um is an open floor plan of a
living room, and the kitchen. The lower level are the bedrooms and the bath. There is an actual
separate staircase, exterior staircase in the rear, so they have exterior access directly from
the rear as well. And then the second and third floor units for the duplexes, again, you have
a basically open floor plan where you have the living room and the kitchen and a half bath,
And then you go up internal flight of steps where you have two bedrooms and two baths.
And then this is just an aerial view from the illustration.
As you can see, this is the triplex right here.
This is the common driveway where underneath the triplex are six parking spots.
And then you have parking here as well for the community.
And then here are the six units or six duplexes, 12 units.
And then you can look at the materiality that we selected.
Again, it was really important to the community during this process.
We even amended what we're going to use in terms of material.
But, you know, again, we're using brick and then we're using stone as well.
And then there will be concrete paving that would mimic the brick paving that you saw in this community.
And then this is just a rendering looking from Queen Lane.
This is the triplex again, and you can see the parking behind there.
You can see this is the front entrance from Queen Lane, and this is the common driveway as well.
And then this is a closer look where you can see the parking here, and you're going to see closer now to where the duplexes are.
And then these are where the duplexes are.
So this is the three-unit structure.
And then these are the six duplexes.
And you can see the parking here and then the landscaping here.
And then this is looking from, I guess, those parking spaces as you head towards those duplexes.
You can see that there is a courtyard area that was created where people can sit.
And then you can see the porches that are here that mimic the porches that are in the neighborhood.
we're trying to create a sense of community and that's from the back end of queen street
and then again same thing courtyard interior view more towards the back of the property
and then this is towards the the rear rear of the property where this is again where the buffer is
to allow light and air and some space for the residents that border us on king street
and again same thing we did add additional biking here as well uh to you know again provide for
people who don't drive and then it was asked of us to provide knife views um of the property so
from a rendering perspective we did as you saw from the photographs of the property how it
currently exists. It's basically a wooded area that has overgrown trees and weeds. And what
trees and weeds and what we're trying to do is to activate this property now we last met with
we're trying to do is to activate.
the community on may 8th at 6 p.m 110 addresses were notified of that meeting here's the list
of the addresses proof of mailing to those addresses our application for appeal that we
filed on behalf of our clients the notice of refusal the project information form the agreement
of sale, and there's, you know, there's several addendums, but ultimately, you know, we're still
in good standing with this agreement of sale, just waiting for this board to decide, and hopefully
we can purchase the property and close on it. Here are certificates of tax clearance showing
that no money is owed to the city of Philadelphia. So with that being said, I would ask that Mr.
Mr. Schreier, virtually raise his hand.
Mr. Schreier, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Hi, Mr. Schreier.
Could you state your name, please, and spell it for the court sonographer?
Mr. Schreier?
hi can you hear me now we can sir could you state your name and spell it please for the
court reporter uh peter schreier p-e-t-e-r last name is s-h-r-i-e-r do you swear or affirm to
tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth sir i do chair counsel yes uh pete you
heard everything i had to state today about your zoning matter yes and is it true and correct
And do you adopt it as your own testimony?
Thank you.
Questions from the board?
No, Chair.
No, Chair.
No, Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Chair, we have Charles Richardson.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chair.
Good afternoon, Mr. Richardson.
Could you state your name, please, and spell it for the court reporter?
Certainly.
Charles Richardson, R-I-C-H-A-R-D-S-O-N
from the office of Councilwoman Cindy Bass,
room 508 City Hall.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth,
the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Proceed, sir.
The Councilwoman has no opposition
to granting the variance.
Thank you very much for calling in.
We appreciate it.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
I see no hands, Chair.
Hillary, I'm going to have
the Planning Commission step in now.
Yes, Mr. Chair, they can give their recommendation.
Planning Commission, please.
Thank you, Chair Bergman and members of the board.
David Vecto with the City Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends a change in zoning at this location to industrial and residential mixed use to promote transit-oriented development.
This property was remapped in 2015 from commercial mixed use to residential single-family per a council request.
This is a deep plot, about 15,000 square feet, which supports the appellate's hardship claim for multifamily use.
Multifamily use is also roughly consistent with the comprehensive plan zoning recommendation, and the generalized growth strategy of the Upper Northwest District Plan, part of the comprehensive plan, also recommends increasing housing density around the Queen Lane Regional Rail Station.
The City Planning Commission recommends that the Board grant the use variances for multiple principal buildings, multi-family housing, and accessory parking, not accessed from a shared driveway, alley, or street.
Thank you very much.
We're going to hold this for an amended refusal. The record is otherwise closed.
Thank you, Mr. Nogamson.
Okay, we're going back to...
Okay, we're going to go back to number five, right, Hillary?
That is correct, Mr. Chair.
Okay, number five, MI 2023-000-559-230-36 Vine Street.
Reporting in progress.
Richard Presby is the attorney.
Franklin Bridge Neighbors
reporting RCO did not
reach an agreement on this application
Councilman Squill
is leaving it up to the board
Mr. Pressman
Chair we have someone with their hand up
but it's not the name you called I don't see
anyone in the audience with the name Pressman
Mr. Chair this is
Hillary I believe
I spoke to Mr. Pressman earlier
I believe he is with his client
I believe he is with his client who is the person whose hand was raised.
who is the person whose hand
was raised
Okay, fine
We can check and see if that's him.
Thank you.
Mr. Zakin, could you put your hand up again, please?
Chair, Mr. Zakin is coming back in as a panelist now.
Thank you.
Hello. Hi, Mr. Pressman.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman. Richard Pressman.
Hi. Could you spell your name, please, for the court sonographer?
Richard, R-I-C-H-A-R-D, Pressman, P-R-E-S-S-M-A-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir.
Could you identify your client and the relationship to the property?
My client, the applicant is Groom Investments, LLC, is the owner of the property.
And with me to my left is Shimsham Zaken.
He's the representative of both the applicant, Groom Investments, LLC, as well as the designer,
Atrium Design Group, LLC.
Thank you.
Our vice chair has just a few questions, sir.
Thank you.
Good afternoon, Councilor. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate
to its accuracy? Yes, sir. Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits
that are needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing? Yes,
we did, Your Honor. Thank you. Please proceed and share your