the top that is the the commercial pilot house we have to build I'm saying commercial grade because
it needs to be of specific height and structure and width so that we can maintain the green roof
and the condensers that are up on the roof. So that adds, if you go to our elevation sheet,
it adds nine feet to our building. You're allowed 38 feet. That would take us from 55 down to about
46 feet. And then what we're doing by providing parking below, what we found is that the ground
level has water at a water table at a lower at a upper level that's we would like to have been
able to go a little deeper for our parking but there is a water table that prevents us from
sinking too far into the ground at this location so with the desire of providing 16 spaces
for our 31 units where in an rm1 you're not required really to provide any we are sort of
sort of caught for squeezed in the middle we have to have a higher uh pilot house and we have to deal
with the water table below uh rustin do you want to add anything to that and what do you what is
your point with regard to the height uh no i mean i think you pretty much covered it if you look at
the diagrams uh this block of gerard ave which is immediately adjacent to this parcel um he actually
the vacant parcel that rounded their wraps around that's all actually is on cmx2 um there are
permanent buildings um on both of our adjacent sites to us that are over 60 feet tall natalie
if you go rustin before you go if you go down to our last sheet of that a7 okay i'm coming back to
it yeah no problem i would did rustin put his name and address on the record go ahead rustin
put your name I think he did but okay and then all right so Rustin's talking about this SD32 correct
It did.
All right.
So Rustin's talking about this SD32, correct?
Correct.
That we have up in front of the board,
a sheet 11 of 11 in our A7.
Go ahead, explain it.
So the H-shaped building is the building we're talking about.
That's 1223 North 7th Street.
That's what we're proposing.
As Steve had mentioned,
our building is about 46 feet tall with 55 feet to the pilot house.
the pilot house doesn't is can't meet the 120 square feet exception which make it not count
towards the height as steve mentioned because of the building code it needs to be a commercial
stair to access and maintain the green roof our office is actually right next door so it's the
square building that's just the bottom of the page below that and then if you look at the
buildings running on Girard Ave. They're actually always on CMX 2.5. They've currently are vacant
properties, but have recently obtained zoning and are in the process of obtaining building permits
for over 60 foot tall by right structures. One is going to be 67 feet, I think, right up at the
corner of 7th and Girard. The other one's going to be 62 feet next to where our ramp will come down
to provide uh access for the parking correct correct yeah and that's a 62 footer uh and then
i think there's another one next to us it's going to be about what 44 feet or something
that's the lowest one closer down okay so in other words what's planned for this this area
are buildings of a similar height or even higher than what we're going isn't that correct
correct and and and uh as we said the reason uh we're going as high as we are is because we are
providing the extra added bonus that will add to and increase and improve stormwater management for
this property with a green roof correct correct right um now we do have a proviso that we provided
at the very beginning of our packet because there was a little bit of an explanation and
an enhancement that Rustin needed to establish. So, Rustin, could you just explain that to the
board? Yes. At the very beginning of our packet. Yes. So, the proviso doesn't have to do anything
with the building itself, but with the reconfiguration of the ADA ramp up to the first
floor and the drive aisle down to the basement we needed to add additional ada ramp because we had
to raise the first floor up and we had to reconfigure the slope on the drive aisle ramp down to the
basement parking area mainly due to the water table is much higher in this area and because
in addition to the green roof we also have a underground storm water tank on site that has
to tie into the sewer on Marshall Street, which has to be at a certain height due to
the existing sewer depth. So that all came about through our technical PWD review and approvals.
Excuse me, this is Sharon Saleta. I can say that I did review the revised plans and the proviso
form, and these are changes that can be made by revised plans. There is, however, a second
requested proviso regarding that black bricks be used. I don't believe that the board can
add that. Oh, okay. What Sharon is referring to, and it's in our packet, that we
had a community meeting with the registered community organizations and the coordinating
community organization, which was the 14th Ward Democratic Executive Committee.
That meeting was on August 19th, and what happened is we were given support as long as, one, our revised plans did not generate a new refusal, which gratefully, thank you, Sharon, for stating that you believe it won't.
And the other condition was that they wanted us not to use black brick. And I understand that's where that one came from. It's not really something that we've asked for. And I know that that kind of an aesthetic condition may not be something the board can impose, but we will keep the spirit of what we agreed to with the community on that one, even though I know the board can't put it in.
But now Natalie has called up the fact that they all supported our our application.
Now, the next thing that we need, besides the height, is that we need we have, as Rustin's told you about, we have the accessibility ramp that will provide.
We have 16 parking spaces for thirty one thirty one units.
And. There is a provision in the code that says that in an RM1 district, you can't go out onto a street where there if there's parking on this on the side of the street.
And there is a provision in the code that says that.
If we come out on the Marshall Street and you look at our photos that we have, especially our later photos like the 40 through 49, one at the corner, we have a there's a the post office is right at the corner down the street from us.
just a little bit more. That's Rustin's building. There's the post office. That's on 7th Street.
But then as you swing around the building and go to 39, 40, that's the post office. Go to 41.
That's next. That's the post office. Again, go to 42. That's a next door property that's going
to be about 44 feet. Then keep going to 43. That's the last of the, that's another property.
go ahead keep going keep going keep going and that's our our property because we come back
out on to go back to 45 if you can natalie uh and if you look at it with the post office already has
in and out and and and access off the rear of um on the marshall street so we're not introducing
a new curb cut i don't know if i have a picture that shows it but directly across the street from
the um from the post office is a church that uh that has a parking uh area off that right up at
the corner of 7th and gerrard is a um as a auto uh gas station so it's an area that uh well you
know already does have and has existing curb cuts the other thing is marshall street and 7th street
both run north so they both run in in the same direction so we're not going to have access coming
out of the the drive you're going to go into the driveway and you're going to go out the driveway
and make a left so we're not going to disturb traffic and have them coming at each other uh
on the street and uh and therefore we are requesting that we believe that the uh the
conditions are such that there really isn't going to be a burden on transportation given what we are
doing in terms of providing off-street parking, providing accessibility, and that the existing
conditions of this property, we're not trying to be the very first curb cut on the street.
Rustin, was there also, was there a reason for your design to put the ramp this way?
I mean, yeah, you covered it mainly. Seven Streets, a bus route, it's pretty high traffic.
This site originally had multiple curb cuts, both on 7th Street and Marshall Street with
previous structure in use that was there. So we're proposing to close up the 7th Street curb cut,
which would provide on-street parking back to the neighborhood, decrease the slowing down of traffic
because that is a high traffic area there, and the bus route, as I mentioned, and then would bring
all the cars through reduced curbside and off of Marshall Street, which is a service street.
okay and now the final variance that uh we are requesting um i believe is because of i guess
and russ and you can you can speak to this that if you go to our z1 zoning site plan of our a7
packet uh so natalie can get back to the and i'm gonna have you're gonna have to teach me how to do
this because i i'd be at a loss i don't know how to share screens uh which page steve um it's z1
It's like the third sheet, I think. Well, yeah, that one. I don't know if you can see it. There's
a little line. There's like three like on the right hand side of our building, which is the
darker shade. There are like three protrusions in between the first and second. There's that's the
line. That's about seven feet. Well, that's that's 10 feet. And we're more than that. It's where we
protrude out like that, we're at seven feet instead of the nine feet. So, Rustin,
can you explain why we needed to do this?
Yeah, so we are far exceeding the open area for the site, but in those three
areas we are seven feet from the rear yard. We work pretty closely with the
neighboring property owners, one of which is a meet, and we held ample distance
between all the buildings and open area to accommodate light with the new proposed structures
that are coming. But we do happen to be within seven feet of the rear yard. It's due to the
irregular shape and nature of the lot. Okay. So that basically covers the three variances we need.
um we we believe that um we are in keeping with um obviously the the rm1 use we are allowed to
do that we are providing this green roof that is not just saying we're providing a green roof under
It's not just saying we're providing a green roof under the restrictions of the code.
the restrictions of the code you have to
We're going to have to enter into a deed restriction with the city of Philadelphia
that will run in favor of the city of Philadelphia.
So we believe that we're not going to create significant environmental danger.
We believe that we won't, by allowing us to go out on the Marshall Street,
where especially as Rustin's explained, the traffic conditions,
we're not going to be unduly affecting, adversely affecting transportation.
or existing water and sewer. As Russian just explained, we are sensitive to the surrounding
buildings because we're not attached. We're allowing adequate space, so we're not going to
permanently injure their appropriate use or impair an adequate supply of their light and air.
We believe that this requested variance is the minimum variance necessary to afford relief to
allow. There was an existing warehouse on this building that was in blighted condition that
needed to be torn down at our packet in A15. We have the zoning history. It'll show you that
that was a necessary thing that had to be done to take down that warehouse. And so to be able
to build and build according to RM1, the only use refusal really is the parking issue because the
other two issues are dimensional. So with that, we believe that any grant of the variance would
be within the spirit of the code. And that given the water table, given the need, the tradeoff of
providing this green roof, that we believe that we have met the conditions for this board to
consider granting us the refusals based on the, granting us a variance based on the proviso
plans that we've provided. So with that, I will say, Amit, you've heard what I've stated on the
record do you adopt that as your testimony
hello amit
rustin i'm here do you hear what i stated on the record do you
you adopt whatever i've said that may have touched on your
wealth of expertise sorry about that uh this is a meat and i agree with uh
with uh steven pollack's statements okay and this is rustin i do as well
Okay, and I would move for the admission into the record of all our exhibits. And, and my exhibit list is if it was read into the record. And with that, we would rest.
Excuse me, this is Sharon Saleta again. Mr. Pollack, you agree it is if the board votes to approve this, it is three pages that need to be stamped.
I believe that it's those you stamp the proviso uh form and the two and the two pages that we
supplied z1 z z oh wait it's yeah three pages yes you're right three pages okay thank you
yes it's three zoning three z0 z1 z2 I think it is three pages yes okay thank you we do agree
thank you is there anyone who wishes to testify on this matter if so please raise your hand
any questions from the board no no no no planning commission and please identify
David Fecto, F-E-C.
David, you broke up. Hello?
David? David?
David, you're breaking up. Try that again.
Oh, sorry. All right.
David Fecto, F-E-C.
F-E-C-T-E-A-U.
We're in the firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir, I do.
Thank you.
All right, Mr. Chairman and members of the board, this property is zoned residential multifamily.
The comprehensive plan recommends residential multifamily.
We do not believe the proposed use will have a negative impact on this block.
Accordingly, we have no objection to granting these variances.
Thank you. Calendar number 39872, 1223 North 7th Street. My vote is yes with the proviso. Revised plan, three pages approved today.
My vote is yes with proviso.
Yes with proviso.
Yes, we provide zone.
Thank you, Mayor.
Thank you, members of the board.
Appreciate it.
It's been fun, I'll tell you.
You did a good job.
I love you.
Carol, I love that picture behind you of JFK Jr.
Oh, I know.
Isn't that great?
We're in the midst of trying to throw some papers out of the house,
but I came across my Life Magazine memorial of JFK.
And I just, my wife wanted me to throw it out.
I said, I can't.
Has that, you know, his picture when he salutes as the caisson goes by.
It's just.
It's a great picture.
It is a great picture.
Darren, I'm back.
Thank you, Tanya.
Tanya?
I just had a question.
I, there was a case that I sent you because you said I had,
we had until tomorrow to get you the paperwork and I emailed you.
I just hope that keeps us alive for 6130 Pasi Yonk.
Because if you need me to mail this.
That's the offline discussion.
Thank you.
Take advantage while you can.
What can I tell you?