and when on looking at the development when completed you can see that there are certain
anomalies in terms of zoning permits that don't meet the zoning code I mean in terms of the
parking landscape buffers and building permit regulations for the wall that you can see in the
middle photograph I think if you can see it which was the wall of the convent and that acts as a
retaining wall to the parking which is about four or five feet above the sidewalk that there's no
guardrails there so in our response to the applicant for this variance we pointed out those
deficiencies and other things such as the exposed trash containers and the fact that the striping
outside the curb cut was for three lengths of cars rather than the one length for the
the curb cut, which was losing two valuable parking spaces on the street. Those were just
observations of things that were not in accord with what the zoning code required and were not
conditional on any review of the proposal to make the storage space at the rear of the property on
the lower floor into a unit. For the actual proposal to put a unit there, you can see the
photograph that we supplied in our letter to the ZBA following the RCO meeting. You can see that
two things that jump out. One is that the original approval in 2009 was for 22 units and 19 parking
spaces there are now 27 parking spaces on the site and some of those parking spaces are right
up against the rear of the building in front of the windows particularly the windows of the store
which is would be proposed to be converted so we just think in total that space as we thought in
2009 and still do is unsuitable for a residential unit. Where the photograph was taken that's in our
a residential unit where the photograph was taken that's in our accompanying our letter
accompanying our
was taken with the back to the church wall which is at 90 degrees um to the sorry parallel to the
to the school building and it's about 25 feet away uh the windows are half are sorry the room is about
three to four feet below. The floor level is about three to four feet below the
surrounding hardscaped area where the parking is. It's facing northeast, it
never gets any sunshine. As we told the applicant in the general review, there is
not one blade of grass on the whole area of this lot. There's no landscaping, no
grass, nothing. And if what we suggested he did was an environmental audit of the area,
because the architects that he used to drop the plants who their offices are immediately next
door are environmental specialists. If he wanted to improve the area and provide the community
with an asset, then maybe if they did an audit and came back with some proposals, we would
consider them. But as it stands, as we said in 2009, this particular unit we think is unsuitable
as a residential unit. Mr. Klein, listening to Mr. Hunter, I think in your testimony,
did you not say that the parking area, on-street parking area would get reduced
from the whatever that is 30 feet or whatever or so what we committed to was contacting the city
to get permission to reduce the no parking lines if we're allowed to we we didn't paint those lines
so we're not clear on whether we can erase them but we're happy to make the effort to talk to the
city and explore that okay the other question i had was mr hunter again mentioned something about
the trash containers being visible are they the gray the green the trash
containers in your photograph to the right yes that's your property and we
can make I can make those I'm sorry is that the parking area as well yes this
area opens into the parking area okay I don't know what the height of that
concrete wall is as it matches up against the dumpsters are they extremely big
dumpsters or I can't make it out why are they protruding that far above the wall
and if they if if those are the containers that are appropriate is there
a way of camouflaging yes so I think that my client can speak on specifics of
this if you'd like but his idea was to move them slightly away from the fence
and to enclose them with some sort of additional fence
so that they would be screened from view
to either the street or the parking lot.
Yeah, you did say that.
I just was curious how he is attempting to do that.
Is he putting a screening above that concrete wall,
an existing concrete wall,
or is it just relocating them away from the wall?
I don't know the specifics, but if Rahm is still on,
I'm sure he can share some context.
You can unmute yourself to speak, Ron.
Yeah, thanks for the question.
The garbage, the trash area is right at the entrance of the parking lot and we plan to
enclose it.
We have another issue, I think I mentioned it to John on our meeting, because it's easy for other residents in the neighborhood just walk across and put their garbage in there.
Oftentimes, every couple of months, we get cited by Philadelphia, and I've been paying fines, considerable fines, because of overflowing trash from the neighborhood.
but we have taken pictures of people who illegally dump on our space
and we have warned them, but there's nothing we can do to enforce
unless I enclose that area with a fence either on the wall
or directly around it and put a locked gate there
so that it provides, I guess, an enclosed space
and a secure space for our tenants.
I do not plan to move that anywhere else
because the trash truck that comes in
The trash truck that comes in cannot turn anywhere else.
So they just pull in there and they empty the trash and then they go out back on the street.
So I apologize if it was in your remarks, Mr. Klein, but I don't know.
Mr. Hunter, was that an issue for the community, the visibility of those trash containers?
i i believe that and mr hunter will i'm sure correct me if i'm wrong i think what he was
saying is that that was sort of a quality of life concern that they raised generally but
not necessarily tied to the application
uh john do you have any comment about that
i mean i'm looking to see if there's something that the developer could do
to address some of these issues.
Obviously, this parking on the street getting reduced
until it meets with the city's approval,
cleaning up that area.
I wouldn't like to be looking at those trash cans
if I lived across the street as well.
And Mr. Chair, the other thing that I just wanted to reinforce
that Mr. Hunter had referenced the parking stripes and parking
that was in front of the proposed unit.
And just to confirm again, we will be removing these lines
and making sure there are only 19 strike spaces on site right got that thank you
uh john are you still on
john you have to unmute yourself i thought i had yes and i i meet you back when you're not speaking
okay we hear you now john
John, did you hear my questions to the attorney and the developer?
Looks like John is still muted.
Try again.
There he is.
I would say in response that those observations were really made to the applicant because he told us in his introduction letter that he'd only bought the property two years ago.
And these were things that, as I said, in 2009, the zoning code required that in residential areas, there should be a residential buffer between the street and the parking, and there isn't one.
And the wall that you're asking about where the containers are, the parking area is substantially raised over the sidewalk.
So if you stood by the side of that wall, it would come up to about your thighs.
And so, therefore, there is by code a requirement, a 42-inch high guardrail required there.
Those are just things that we were pointing out to him were zoning or building permit issues separate from the issue of the lumber can't use it.
I think if we really considered the unit we would be looking for more substantial improvements in
terms of landscaping and particularly the landscaping or something around that residential
area to improve. That was our hint to the applicant to suggest that he might make those
sort of improvements but even so I don't think we would be... I'll make that a direct question to
Mr. Klein and Mr. Ron. Not to belabor this any longer than we have to, but it sounds to me,
and I could be wrong, that maybe if Mr. Klein and your client had a little further conversation
with the folks in Lanny Young, John Hunter, and whoever, about those couple of issues that I
raised to enhance the appearance of the parking lot area and maybe doing some greenery, maybe
it's planting trees or something around the perimeter of the building, I think it may lend
to get some support. I don't know that for sure, but from what I can see, I think that's something
that would be, it's not unreasonable to be asking over development. And Mr. Chairman, you know, I'm
always for continued dialogue with community associations. So if the board wanted to hold
its vote and allow us to engage in some further discussion, I'd certainly be open to that.
okay I mean that's my recommendation any questions from the board no no no
Planning Commission good afternoon board you have to identify yourself please my
name is Peter Bernard I'm representing the Planning Commission this afternoon
My name is spelled P-E-P-E-R, B as in boy, A as in apple, R-N-A-R-D.
Don't be swear and firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
Do you swear and firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Yes, I do.
Thank you.
Please proceed.
This property is indicated for multifamily residential on the comprehensive plan, and
the Northwest District Plan recommends RM1 zoning for the property.
Even with the additional unit, the proposal meets the RM1 requirements on density.
Accordingly, we have no objection to the granting of the variance at this location.
Okay, thank you.
Sharon, I'm going to go to you again, just to keep the record open.
and I forget the rest of what the announcement should be.
Sharon there? Yes. I just got back on. Sorry, my power went out. No problem. Did you hear what I
said? I did not. We're going to hold this open. The applicant is going to go back and speak to
Mr. Hunter and his
RCO folks about
a couple of issues as it relates to
the aesthetics and maybe
the functionality of where the
trash containers are.
We want to hold it. I don't know
when, Mr. Hunter, when you guys will be able
to meet up, but
we're here next week,
but we're not here the following week.
The earliest, I would say, would be the week after
Labor Day.
If you guys can come, if you can all come to
some agreement to have another
zoom meeting or whatever it is you need to do to address some of those issues that I raised.
Sure if the if the board wanted to calendar this for a vote on your return after Labor Day and
if we're able to reach a quick resolution we'll advise Tanya and Sharon. Okay and just so that
we are clear it is not merely a vote the record will remain open there will be a limited hearing
for you to report on the progress yes thank you and i apologize for my dog mr hunter
uh if you hear me uh hopefully you heard what was just uh uh put on the record and i look forward
to hearing from you sometime the second week uh the week after labor day at the at the latest
okay thank you thank you mr chair members of the board have a good afternoon thank you sure you
too calendar number 39472 2513 north 5th street the attorney is zen jin
hello hi can you put your name and address on the record yes zen jin z-h-e-n j-i-n 1617 john f
County Boulevard, Suite 1838, Philadelphia PA 19103, here on behalf of the applicant.
The applicant is actually...
Do you swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth?
And you also agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Thank you. Proceed.
Thank you. The applicant in this matter is a corporation, EML Capital LLC. The representative
for the corporation is here with us, Mr. Alexander Mortas. That is spelled M-O-R-D-A-S.
I'm going to go ahead and share the documentation with the board for this matter.
So this is an application in essence to legalize a two-family dwelling in an existing structure.
2513 North 5th Street has been set up as a multifamily duplex for as long as most of the
people can recall certainly as long as my client has owned it he purchased the property in this
condition and was seeking to obtain the neighborhood's support in legalizing the
existing condition because converting it back to a single family structure will be at a substantial
cost and beyond what was expected when he purchased the property. So we met with the RCO and they did
ask quite a bit of questions about this property, the intended layout and the intended use as well
as some questions about cost of the units, etc. But ultimately the neighbors that were present
as well as RCO did both to support this matter. And let me go to some of the photographs,
which will give us a better feel for what the property looks like. So this is an existing
property. My client actually took these photos and laid out some of the plans he has for
renovations. This again is on North 5th Street. There's a church that's also nearby, a large
a large church the properties on the block are a mix of single family and some existing duplexes
Church, the properties on the block are a mix of single family and some
multi-family use as you can see the property itself is already in a structured it's already
laid out and structurally put together as a usable duplex my client showed the community
and i'm showing the board here another property he renovated this is the goal what it should look
like once renovations complete but as it sits there will be banister repairs
painting floor finishing there are existing two kitchens that will be
renovated and replaced with new cabinets the bedrooms will be repainted
refinished the bathrooms here one key item I want to point out to the board is
there are existing two electric meters heaters utilities they were all
separated prior to its purchase about two years ago and as you can see these are not new meters
they've been there for some time so this property has been in this condition for quite some time
what the existing layout looks like and this is my client's plans based on existing condition
I'm sorry it's not to scale but it does lay out the exact way the property is set up at the present
So the first floor entrance is here. Once you enter, you can enter the first floor unit, which is basically a one-bedroom unit. The second and third floor, the second floor is a full-size floor, but the third floor is a half, contains a total of three bedrooms, kitchen and bathroom, and a living room.
The way it's kind of set up, it's not really easy to convert this back to single family without restructuring some of the walls, which will really increase the cost.