Ms. Garstein, I think we'll stipulate that he would accept your testimony as being accurate.
Is there anyone else?
I have a caller with the last digits of 294.
You can unmute yourself by pressing star six.
Wait to be sworn in.
caller ended in 0294 would you like to testify if so unmute yourself by pressing star six
on your telephone otherwise we'll move forward
any other hands
no that's all chair
from the board
no sir
no questions
for planning commission
the caller has unmuted themselves
let's hear from planning commission
that while this site is indicated for medium industrial use on the city plan
given the property's history we support the granting of the variance
Thank you very much. MI-2020-0007682224 North 10th Street, my vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
We'll take a 15-minute break and then we'll begin our 3.30 session.
Thank you.
Thank you.
see you in about 15 minutes thank you we're going to pause thank you good afternoon everyone my name
is frank de chico i am the chair of the zoning board of adjustment i'll be participating in
today's hearing along with our vice chair miss carol tenere board secretary confessor plaza
and board members mr thomas hollowman and mr james snell board administrator tanya sunkett
and board attorney Sharon Saleta are also in attendance. For those of you who haven't
participated in one of our virtual hearings, I will go through some of the basics of what you
can expect. First, we'll begin this afternoon's session by reading a list of cases to be continued.
If you believe any announced case is being continued in error, we will give you an
opportunity to respond. After reading the continuance list and receiving any feedback,
we will take any additional continuance requests or withdrawal requests. Then once we've confirmed
which hearings are being continued, Vice Chair Tenere will begin calling the remaining cases
listed for this session. When a case is called, we ask that attorneys representing applicants or
other interested parties in the matter identify themselves for the record we will then hear the
appellant's presentation followed by any presentation by attorneys representing other
parties interested parties a member of the public not represented by counsel will then be given an
opportunity to testify we will finally hear the recommendation of the planning commission
At the hearing's conclusion, we will either vote the matter immediately or hold it for discussion in an executive session.
Any case held for discussion will be voted at the next scheduled Wednesday morning session.
will be voted at the next scheduled Wednesday morning session.
Please note the following changes related to the virtual format.
First, we will be administering oaths to individual participants prior to their testimony.
Second, for the benefit of anyone participating by phone,
we ask that attorneys and witnesses identify themselves prior to testifying or speaking.
Third, we'd like to advise everyone that this proceeding is being recorded and that by participating you acknowledge your agreement to be recorded.
Fourth, anyone participating by phone, if you wish to testify, you must raise your hand by hitting star nine and then star six to unmute yourself.
I will repeat, for anyone participating by phone, if you wish to testify, you must raise your hand by hitting star 9, and then star 6 to unmute yourself.
Finally, to enter an appearance statement, call Google 267-270-5548, and leave your email address and the address of the property at issue.
I will repeat that as well. To enter an appearance statement, call Google 267-270-5548 and leave your email address and the address of the property at issue. With that said, we can begin, but before Vice Chair Contineri calls our first case, we would like to announce that the following matters are being continued. Carol?
Calendar number 40046, 167 West Susquehanna, calendar number 39556, 2055 North 2nd Street, calendar number 39544, 4715 Green Street, and calendar number 40075, 531 North 7th Street.
I will ask at this time if anyone believes that we call the case to be
continuing in error please raise your hand and if anyone wishes to is asking
for a continuance or withdrawal please raise your hand also I have a Carla yes
Carla and you are the cruel can you allow the board this where you and
please? Sure. I'm an attorney. I'm an attorney representing 2055 North 2nd Street. Okay. Miss
Cruel, would you please spell your first and last name for the record? Carla K-A-R-L-A. Cruel like
mean. C-R-U-E-L. Okay. Do you swear for them to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but
the truth. I do. Please proceed. So we are ready. I'm assuming that it was continued because
my client never received any documentation about it, but he found it on the web himself.
But everything is ready to go. This is Sharon Saleta. I listed as continued because I did not
receive the required exhibits five days in advance of the hearing okay thank
thank you I I'm actually filling in for their attorney so I they just found out
that it was a webinar as of today he didn't receive anything in the mail at
all he just found this out on the internet okay we have we need those
exhibits as a shower point out five days in advance in this case would be
continued and you can speak with Ms. Sunkit about the continuance date. Is it possible for me to get
the contact information so that I can send it since we don't have any documentation here?
Ms. Sunkit will supply you with that information. Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you.
Go ahead, Frank. Anyone else believe that their case, a case has been continued in error?
so we have a regina who has her hand up regina you can unmute yourself and speak to a continuance
okay hi this is regina from the 14th ward we just wanted to make sure that
531 north 7th street um got a continuance because we weren't able to schedule the community meeting
okay regina
yes that was continued
thank you thank you and i'm sorry to hear about your recent loss
anyone else is anyone else can uh requesting continuances or withdrawals
no other hands up at this time chair thank you carol please proceed and yes mi-2020-000-844-171
grape street the attorney is jared klein good afternoon mr chair members of the board
Jared Klein from Blank, Rome, 130 North 18th Street, Philadelphia, 19103.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, I do.
And do you also swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Okay, you may proceed.
Thank you.
Yes, good afternoon.
We are here for 171 Grape Street, and hopefully I've successfully shared my screen.
You'll see on the aerial view, the property is in Manningham, and it's located Grape and Silverwood
Streets, and this is the property here. The property was before this board in 2009,
And at that time, the application was initially for 30 residential units spread out across this bridge view at Manioc Building and a convent that was located to the rear.
As that zoning application in 2009 made its way through, and after some dialogue with the RCO at that time, the board approved a variation of the application, which was 22 residential units in this existing four-story building with 19 open-air parking spaces.
And it's existed pursuant to that zoning since that 2009 time.
The current application is to add an additional residential unit to the building.
There is no exterior construction that's been proposed.
This is a repurposing of an existing interior space.
So the exterior of the building and the envelope, the footprint, the height, none of that will change as a result of this application.
uh in terms of where the unit is going to go uh this is a photograph of the exterior of the
building this area here and i'll explain this in more detail in a moment but this area here
is where the new unit would be located within within the building um the property uh as
originally laid out this is the original plan from 2009 uh the area that we are speaking about
was a storage space. That's how it was identified in the plans. It's this area here.
What we're proposing to do is take this storage area and replace it with a residential dwelling
unit. And that is essentially what the application is for. Because we received a variance for the
multifamily use previously, and this is an increase in what that refusal was, we're required
to come back to the board for the additional unit. We did meet with Manioc Neighbors Council,
and they've submitted a letter of opposition. And I'll take a moment to contextualize that
conversation for a minute. My client, Mr. Ambarrison, who is himself an elected
councilman in New Jersey, and who is familiar with the zoning process and community engagement,
he met with the community himself and there were a number of quality of life concessions that are
not directly tied to this application that he did make and I wanted to inform the board as to what
those were and let you know that he is committed to doing those even though the RCO has voiced its
opposition. The first issue is when my client acquired the property, he was not aware that the
prior zoning variance limited him to 19 parking spaces. And so sometime prior to his acquisition,
additional striped parking lines were placed at the property. So a total of 26 cars had been
parking there. Um, the RCO informed him of that, that issue. Uh, and he has committed to not only
removing the parking spaces that were shown in front of the unit on the photo, but he's going
to remove all the lines except for the 19 approved parking spaces. Um, so even though the situation
on the ground does not show 19 spaces, he will return it, uh, to match exactly what was approved
previously. He's also committed to the community that he will open up the lot.
He's also committed to the community that he will open up the lot for members of the community to park there. He is below parking capacity for what his residents are using, and he's happy when he has that additional space to allow general members of the public to park there.
He's also agreed that he would fence off the trash area.
There is an area within the property you can see with these dumpsters there.
And again, this is another shot of it.
That is not as tidy as either my client or the community would like it to be.
And so he'll be installing a zoning appropriate fence to enclose that trash area.
And he's also been asked to write to the city with regard to a curb cut.
You can see it here, these striped lines.
My client did not put those striped lines on the pavement.
We don't see that.
You don't see the photo?
It's not going to partially on Exhibit 7 or whatever it was before that.
Let me scroll up.
Are you seeing the photo now, Mr. Chairman?
saw it earlier, but right now it's still stuck partly on Exhibit 7. Okay. Well, I will stop my
share, but I will explain what I'm talking about. There is an area on the street that has a white
rectangle with lines through it, the traditional no parking for a curb cut area. Some members of
the community believe that the no parking paint area was larger than was necessary. My client did
not install that, but he was willing to speak to the city to see if it could be shortened.
So we believe that we've made every effort to minimize any impact that would be created by
this additional residential unit. We think that we already have an abundance of parking,
so the additional unit will not create a traffic or congestion issue. And we understand the
community's concern about the parking that was in front of these of the newly
proposed unit location but as I said we've committed to removing that parking
to generate some natural light for that space at this point I'd like to ask my
client to raise his hand and adopt my testimony if he's on the line Ram can
you hit the raise your hand button so that the zoning administrator can
identify it. I just did. And he's there. Rand, can you put your name on the record, please?
Hi, this is Ram Anbarasan. Ram, please spell your name. R-A-M is the first name. A-N-B-A-R-A-S-A-N
is the last name. And your address, please. My home address is 6 Esplanad Drive.
Somerset, New Jersey, 08873.
And you swear to firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Thank you. Please proceed.
Ram, did you have an opportunity to hear my statements?
Yes, Jared.
Do you adopt them as true, correct, and your own?
Yes, I do.
And is there any additional context that you wanted to add, having attended the RCO meeting and being the owner of the property?
Yeah, I'd like to thank the board for hearing us out. As Jared articulated, we are happy to
make the adjustments that we propose and be a good neighbor there. And one of the things that
I like to add is that we have kept the rents the lowest in the town right from the time that we
bought the building. We still maintain one of the, that low was in fact, we did a survey.
So that, I promise that we will continue even the new construction, the new unit will comply
with the same rate that we have in the building. And we are making the investment in the town,
in the area. And we believe that we take the financial risk to do that, notwithstanding the
concerns of the RCO due to natural lighting and partially below grade in that space. We are taking
request for an approval if at all possible. As a councilman in Franklin
Township New Jersey we see these development projects all the time and we
We see these sort of development projects all the time, and we are very business-centric, and we like such developments, and more often than not, they get approved, and I request your support on this. Thank you so much.
are very
Thank you. Questions from the board?
Anyone else wish to testify in this case? If so, please raise your hand.
Here we have John Hunter. Mr. Hunter, you can unmute yourself and wait to be sworn in.
Mr. Hunter, good afternoon. Please identify yourselves by your name for the record.
Good afternoon. This is John Hunter, H-U-N-T-E-R. Address is 4308 Terrace Street, T-E-R-R-A-C-E,
19128, representing Manioc Neighborhood Council.
Swear and affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth.
Thank you, John. Please proceed.
I heard most of Mr. Klein's recount of the questions that we raised.
I just want to start off by saying that really this is a variance on a variance,
as Mr. Klein has pointed out.
Going back to 2009, the various discussions we had with the original developer were for two buildings, and when we thought the proposal for 30 units at that time was overdevelopment because of the size of the school and the convent together on such a small piece of land, filling them with units was overdevelopment.
And at the ZBA hearing, the decision was made to state a number of units that would be approved, which was 22, but not in any configuration or in any particular building.
During the discussions, we'd already said at the zoning board and to the developer that we thought the units at the lowest floor level in the school, which are either at or at grade towards the front and half a level below grade at the back, were unsuitable for residential units.
um when that decision was made by the cba in 2009 what the the developer decided to do was
rather than spread out the units into the two buildings he was going to demolish one of the
buildings which was the smaller building the convent and concentrate on and put the 22 approved
units all in the school building we had no say i knew nothing about exactly what those details were