ZBA Hearing - October 20, 2020

will have an adverse impact on the block.

Accordingly, we have no objection to granting this variance.

Thank you.

MI 2020-000073, 1726 North 51st Street.

My vote is yes.

My vote is yes.

My vote is yes.

Good luck.

So I think we go to number six.

Correct me if I'm wrong, anyone.

1505 West Gerard Avenue.

You are correct. Okay. MIA 2020-000366, 1505 West Girard Avenue. Mr. Jinn, I believe, is the attorney.

Good morning. Good morning, Mr. Jinn. Please identify yourself for the record.

Yes.

Zen Jin, Z-H-E-N, J-I-N, 1617 John F. Kennedy Boulevard, Suite 1838, Philadelphia PA 19103, here on behalf of the applicant.

Do you swear and affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

I do.

Thank you. Please proceed.

Mr. Zen Jin, you agree to waive the reading of his refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?

I do.

Also, have you emailed an exhibit packet with the required documents,

proof of ownership, proof of tax compliance,

copy of the refusal or referral, photos and plans five days prior to this hearing?

Yes, we have.

Also, have you met with the RCO and have a letter?

Yes, we do.

That was submitted last.

Thank you.

Please proceed.

Thank you.

Good morning.

This is an application by DTOPS Investment LLC.

I'm going to go ahead and share the information on the screen for the board's review.

I'm going to go ahead and share the information on the screen for the board's review.

We have submitted in this case a copy of the refusal, the support letter from the community,

certificate of tax clearance, deed, application, the project information sheet, photos, and plans.

The refusal on this matter is for two off-street parking spaces. This property is actually located

in a RM4 residential multifamily district. This is on Girard Avenue. The location itself is

currently a vacant lot. As the photograph shown here, this is an overhead view from the Google

maps and this is the actual property itself which is currently vacant. The proposal is essentially

to put up a three-story structure very similar to what is already on the block to be used as a six

family dwelling. I do want to point out that on Girard Avenue with the RM4 zoning the six family

although it sounds like a lot is actually consistent to what is normally there. Under RM4

were required to have two off-street parking spaces. Unfortunately, the only way to accomplish

that would be to put front-loaded garage in this case. And given the makeup of the block and the

amount of on-street parking that is available, the community actually would prefer not having

any garages to provide the off-street parking and keep things as it is. And that is the variance

we're requesting before the board. The plans for the property is shown here. I'm going

to try to zoom in to give the board a better view. Oops. Actually, that didn't work so

well. The site plan, as you can see, we're trying to keep the building's depth consistent

to what is there in the area. There is a rear yard left in the backside and the front will

be flush with the others. Three-story structure with a height.

Could you enlarge? Excuse me for interrupting. Make it a little larger, please.

Let me try to. I'll see if I can zoom enough so it's easier to read. Is this better?

Better. Thank you. Thank you. So we are proposing to have the building essentially the same

depth, height, and overall mass as what is already existing there. There will be a small courtyard

and a rear yard both available to the property. The floor plans as shown here would be a bi-level

first floor and basement front and back units as well as third and fourth floor would be

duplicated units that are front and back but essentially small two-bedroom units that are more

an efficiency type two-bedroom than a full two-bedroom layout but it is uniform on the

third and fourth floor with the design being one front unit, one back unit. This is the

floor plan, I'm sorry, second and third floor. This is a plan that will be replicated both

on the second and third floor of the property. Again, we're asking the board's consideration

in allowing for a variance to not have off-street parking for this particular new construction.

I'm happy to answer any questions from the board.

Thank you. Do you have any witness?

Yes, I believe a representative from the company who is also the owner is here, Mr. Chi-Fan Chen.

I don't know if his name would show up, but Mr. Chen, can you raise your hand so the board administrator can see you?

no hands i'm sorry i don't know i don't know he was with me this morning um and confirmed

here so as an officer of court will stipulate that your client would

agree to adopt your testimony. Let me, before we go any further,

where will it, that courtyard, is that accessible for all six units?

I do not believe the courtyard is necessarily accessible for all six units.

But what do we do about trash? There is, there is a

um there is there is a refuge enclosure um in the back for trash in the rear yard

for all six units i believe it is for all six units because the hallway runs through the first

floor all the way to the rear yard allowing the centralized stairway to be used by all units

So the lower unit, which occupies the first floor and basement, is that a stairwell, do I see, to the left of your drawing for ingress and egress, or no?

No. So once they enter, they would enter their unit, the stairwell to the basements within the unit.

Right. Is there an ingress and egress from the basement?

There's only egress windows on both ends here, both to the quarter as well as to the front and back.

Any questions from the board?

No.

No.

Anyone else who would like to testify in this case?

If so, please raise your hand.

It looks like this might be your client here, but there's no other hands up.

Planning Commission. Thank you, Tanya. Planning Commission.

Good morning. David Fecto, City Planning Commission.

Mr. Chairman and members of the board, this property is indicated for residential multifamily use in the city's comprehensive plan.

This application matches the pattern of development on the block.

We have no objection to granting this variance.

Thank you.

MI-2020-000366, 1505 West Gerrard Avenue.

My vote is yes.

My vote is yes.

My vote is yes.

Thank you.

Next, Coulter Street has already been continued.

We go to number eight.

Is that right, Tanya?

North 53rd Street.

SHARON SALETTA I HAVE NO RECORD OF HAVING RECEIVED EXHIBITS IN THIS ONE SO IS THERE ANYONE

WHO IS HERE TO TESTIFY ON MATTER NUMBER MI2020-001308 2247 NORTH 53rd STREET PLEASE RAISE YOUR

hand if you're here on this case no hands thank you mi-2020-001308 2247 north 53rd street is

continued. Ellsworth Street is next. The attorney on this one is Henry Clinton and we have received

an RCO letter in support. Okay. MI-2020-000837, 2701 Ellsworth Street.

Mr. Clinton.

Morning, Mr. Chairman.

Good morning, Mr. Clinton.

Please identify yourself with the record.

Sure.

Henry Clinton, Queen Memorial Building, 1313 South 33rd Street,

Philadelphia PA, 19146.

Thank you.

You swear to the firm to tell the truth, the whole truth,

and nothing but the truth?

I do.

Thank you.

Mr. Plaza?

Mr. Planner, you agree to waive the reading of his refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?

I do.

Also, have you emailed an exhibit packet with the required documents, proof of ownership,

proof of tax compliance, copy of the refusal of referral, photos and plans five days prior

to this hearing?

Yes, I have, Mr. Plaza.

Thank you.

Also, have you met with the RCO and have a letter?

Yes, I do.

Thank you.

Please proceed.

Ms. Sunke, can I share my screen?

can you see my screen yes we can okay thank you uh i'm here on behalf of cal grace ferry llc

I'm here on behalf of Cal Grace Ferry LLC, the principal of that LLC.

the principal of that

Colin Lahren is on the call with us.

This is my exhibit package containing exhibits AA through A11.

Appearance statement, deed indicating ownership.

This is a notification to the community about our community meeting as well as today's meeting.

This is the refusal.

This project is in an I-2 zone, and we're proposing residential use.

And I want to go right to the photographs, because it'll help put everything in perspective.

So I'll work my way backwards.

So this is the project. It's a triangular piece of ground located on Grace Ferry Avenue,

which is a main artery into Center City and also to Washington Avenue.

Here's Washington Avenue here.

This is Grace Ferry Avenue heading east.

The board may recall, I was just before the board last week on a parcel right here by the same client, which the board looked kindly upon.

This is kind of a continuation of that development in the sense that there's a billboard on this piece of property which is being removed, and there's a billboard on this piece of property that's being removed.

um the proposal is for a commercial on the basement in the basement and on the first floor

and then two units above

here's another view of the existing parcel again heading towards center city you can see liberty

one liberty two the comcast tower the proposal is again here's the project first floor would be

commercial basement would also be commercial there's one unit on the second floor and then

another unit on the third and fourth floor again another perspective of the parcel

more photographs indicating the views on ellsworth street grace ferry

and this is a particular rendering that the community group asked for

because when they initially looked at the plot of ground,

it looked bigger than it really is.

There's huge sidewalks all around the parcel,

12 feet or so on most areas.

And from the apex to the edge of the property,

they're about 16 feet.

So when the community group first saw the project,

it appeared larger than what it was.

Here's the floor plan.

I can walk through it.

I mean, Derek Spencer is on the line with me, the architect,

but I think I can move through this

And if there's any questions for the architect at the end, that certainly will be permissible.

This is vacant commercial space on the first floor.

This is the second floor plan.

It would have one bedroom on the second floor.

And then the third and fourth floor would be another unit, and that would have three bedrooms.

There's also a roof deck, and you can see the derrick and Nome architecture step the roof deck back

so that you cannot see it from Grace Ferry Avenue or from Ellsworth Street.

Another unique thing they did is they did not put a pilot house on top of this structure.

The stairs to get to the roof are interior.

So again, you won't see any pilot house when you're looking at the top of the structure.

These are the elevations.

Really a pretty cool design with a curved front at the apex, a blend of brick and metal throughout.

Here's some other perspectives. I want to go back and show you that we did receive a letter of support actually last evening. We met with RODE, which is a suborganization in the Grace Ferry community, and they fully support this project.

with that i will take any questions uh and i rest and i'll ask mr laran if he's on the call

if he could be unmuted so he could adopt my testimony if he finds it true and correct

hey hey hey good morning again sir please identify yourself with the record spell your

first and least. Colin Lahren, C-O-L-I-N, last name L-A-R-E-N. And do you swear and affirm to

tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth? I do. Please proceed, Henry. Good morning,

Mr. Lahren. Have you heard my testimony today? Yes. If you had the opportunity to testify,

would you adopt my testimony as your own and as true and correct? Yes. Thank you. Mr. Chairman,

With that, I rest. I ask that my exhibits be admitted.

And again, just to recap, this is a residential slash commercial project in an I-2 zone.

And again, just to recap, this is a residential slash

We know that industrial is probably not coming back anytime soon in this area or in the city of Philadelphia.

So we're basically taking a long, vacant, irregularly shaped lot, which is unique in itself, with the existence of a billboard on it,

removing that and putting up a uh i think what the community group considers a beautiful

structure in his place thank you very much um questions from the board no no anyone else who

would like to testify in this case if you if you care to testify please raise your hand

no hands at this time thank you planning commission good morning david effecto city

planning commission mr chairman and members of the board this property is is indicated for medium

industrial use in the city's comprehensive plan we do not believe that the proposal for two units