ZBA Hearing - June 26, 2024

It's just where the pilot house is located.

it's saying that our height that we're requesting is 64 feet high. From the roof line, we're 51 feet

high. And then we're set back another nine feet. So it's really 60 feet high. But then they're

counting the pilot house, which I think is slightly above the highest roof area. But again,

from a light and air perspective, we set back the building in a way that's not going to affect

nearby properties um we're also at 50 almost 50 open area um and we're mindful of that as well

and you know at the community meeting uh that we did have um which was well attended two of the

neighbors who would be most directly impacted by the height of the building came in enthusiastic

support of the project they're looking for something to be done here this problem this

property um has been a problematic property for some time my client recently purchased it

And it's been working diligently with the nearby neighbors in terms of design and just communication.

And they appreciated that and they're looking forward to having a multi-family building of this sort to them.

And then in addition to the community voting overwhelmingly in support, along with the letter that we received from the coordinating RCO,

we also received a letter of non-opposition from Council Member Lozada as well.

And then maps of the area, as you can see here, yes, we are RSA 5 zoning.

We're not that far from Frankfurt Avenue, but there is a diversity of zoning in addition to RSA 5, ICMX, RM1, I2, CMX2, RSA 3.

So given the size of the lot and the unique location it is within the neighborhood, I don't think we're causing any harm to the neighboring properties.

These two properties right here, these RSA 5 properties at Griscombe, those property owners actually attended a meeting, and they're the ones who spoke most loudly in support of the project.

To the left of us is the cemetery.

So, again, you know, we're not going to have any issues in terms of light in there from the left side of our property.

And then you can see here where we are.

Again, we're on Frankfurt Avenue.

There's a ton of public transportation, and there is somewhat of a commercial corridor there as well.

Photographs of the property.

This is the front of the property from Griscombe.

This is the zoning hearing posters that we posted 21 days before today's date, notifying nearby neighbors of today's hearing.

This is Griscombe Street to the right of the property.

As you can see, there are non-residential buildings here.

This is Griscombe Street to the left of the property.

As you can see, these are the rather larger buildings here, which have a mix between industrial and residential use, as well as some industrial use that's across the street as well.

And then these are our plans and drawings.

Again, one of the things that we want to make sure is that we have ample parking.

That's why we have a curb cut here for a common parking lot of 15 parking spaces here.

We wanted a well-defined entry point, which will have also a dedicated trash room for commercial trash pickup.

You can see here from the rendering that we are set back from the RSA 5 properties to the right of us.

And again, the individuals who own those properties specifically showed up to the community meeting and enthusiastically supported this project.

But we were very mindful when we developed the property to, you know, to reach out to them because obviously they're going to be impacted, you know, at least their light and air were going to be impacted.

And it was important to them and to us, you know, to make sure we had a side yard here in addition to the fact that, you know, we're doing something with this property that's been a nuisance to the community for some time.

And then this is just, you know, again, our site plan here.

You can see from here, you know, our entry point for off-street parking.

And you can see just the amount of open area here.

50% of the lot is open.

So we really didn't want to overburden a lot with more than we had to.

So we really didn't want to overburden a lot with more than we had to.

And you can see here from the elevation to side elevation, this is 51 feet.

We actually set it back.

We have a communal roof deck area for the residents with an elevator.

And then there's some more living up here that's set back, and that goes up to 61 feet, I believe.

And then these are the floor plans. Specifically, there's no bedrooms in the basement. There's no living in the basement. This property is built on grade. So that's going to help from an accessibility standpoint. And we actually have an elevator in the building as well. That means all the units will be readily accessible.

We met with the community on June 13th at 5 p.m.

We email our community notice to the coordinating RCO and the relevant parties to this property,

and we do that a few weeks beforehand, and we send them an email,

which includes our proof of mailing in the notice itself, which went to 75 individuals.

It was mailed to these addresses.

This is the proof of mailing to those addresses.

This is our application for appeal that we filed on behalf of the property owner, along with the notice of refusal.

The project information form, the deed to the property, showing that they own the property.

And then finally, the certificate of tax plan showing no taxes are owed.

With that being said, I'm going to unshare my screen.

I would ask that Mr. Goddard-A-7 virtually raise his hand and be sworn in.

Mr. Nockmson, are those two homes the only two homes on the block?

Yeah, I believe so.

But if Mr. Addis Evans here, he could, you know, again, he's diligently worked with the neighborhood.

But, yes, I believe so.

Two homes on the right, smaller.

And then the rest of it's like it's more in scale to what we're offering.

What was the vote?

Oh, it was unanimous, I think.

Yeah, I could take a look at it.

But from what I saw, because I don't think they voted in front of us, but I got a sense that it was unanimous.

It may say in the letter. I can take I can pull the letter up.

Thank you. Sir, could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?

Yes, my name is Ghazi, G-A-Z-I. And the last name is Ataseven, A-T-A-S-E-V-E-N.

The address is 2424 East York, Suite 100C, Philadelphia, PA 19125.

You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?

Yes, I do.

Please proceed, counsel.

Yes, Mr. Ades-Evon, you heard everything I had to state today about your zoning matter.

Yes, I have heard that.

And is it true and correct?

Yes, absolutely correct.

And do you adopt it as your own testimony?

Yes, I will.

Yeah. And specifically, I mean, the outreach that you made to the members of the communities, those homes to the right of you, you know, you were at the community meeting, right?

Yes.

Confirmed. They were well in support of this project.

Yes. Especially as you pointed, the two neighbors will be affected on this project. I met them in person. I met them in their backyard.

We went through all the projects, and they were so happy about the project that's coming to the neighborhood.

As far as the RCO chair mentioned, there are two houses, just that house on the block, nothing else.

Just the church on the left, two houses on the right, and when you go down, there is a huge building, I think industrial, other than there is no house over there.

okay questions from the board

I have a question go ahead sorry what is the ratio of bedrooms uh in the um the units the 46

units so of the 46 units 22 units are one bedrooms and 24 units are two bedrooms

and and that was also something that was discussed at the community meeting there's a lack of one and

two bedrooms in this neighborhood um and they were you know again as people age out of some of

their row homes you know nearby they were looking for more accessible units and smaller units as

well and and did the uh owner explore um in uh building single family plots that like the two

houses that are already there uh yes yes but unfortunately it wasn't economically feasible

um and and his business model is more so about rental of apartment building so it's not something

that he typically does either hey teneta michael

All right.

Michael. Michael, you have a question. You're muted. Sorry about that. I didn't realize. Sure. Yep. You have a large open area in the rear of the building. What are you used? How are you using that? Will the tenants have access to that space?

space. Good question. I didn't look at the floor plans, but Joe, I would believe there's a common

opening in the rear. Yes, that's the common. Yep. And then I think in the back, there must be some

access to the open area. As you said, we didn't overuse the lot. We tried to provide the parking

as much as we can and then give the more open space for the tenants. How did the tenants access

that and we go back to the floor the site again how does the tenant access the the rear yard space

let me see what we got here

is it

so there looks like through the through the parking garage there is opportunities to put

access in that part um i'm not yeah i think that's where you would have it you would probably

have to create a hallway um there's here's the common area where the elevator is um it looks

like there's an opportunity to put a hallway here that leads to the rear there is some living on the

first floor there's like three units on the first floor let me just try to i don't want to do that

so so you walk through this common lobby area and you know you have this area where their trash

room is and there's three units here there's an elevator here um we could probably make some type

of common walkway through the garage area uh into the rear yard there's also a side yard too by the

way i think there's like a seven foot side door back right here as well where people access uh

through the rear as well yeah it seems it seems like the the if you've got this huge amount of

yard space and these units that are here

and I don't see, this is zoning, but I don't see any

amenity space inside or on the roof, so I'm imagining that

that's really going to be their amenity space, but it doesn't appear as

they really got great access or good access for the tenants to

get there, so I would just advise that you kind of take a look at that

so that folks have easy access to that outdoor space.

I appreciate that commentary

but there's one thing

there is a roof deck

on the fifth floor

and maybe I glossed over that

but there is an actual

and it's actually

in the rendering itself

let's see

let's see

where is it rendering

right here you can see

there's the roof deck here

okay

yeah

So it's a common roof deck that's accessed through an elevator.

Okay.

But if you don't have an access, I think that, thank you so much.

It's a really good advice.

We can definitely open access based on whatever the plans allow us.

Other questions from the board?

Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Ambers?

Two things just briefly, Mr. Chair.

one. I just want to note for the record that this project is on a consolidated parcel that

has already been approved, but the refusal, unfortunately, didn't indicate it as a temporary

parcel. So I just wanted to note that for the record so that there was not confusion there.

I also want to note that Board Member Gaston has now joined us. Thank you.

I do have one more question. You mentioned that there was a desire for this property to be used

for potentially seniors and folks that are sort of needing smaller unit sizes. Are there income

restrictions? Have you identified any low-income benefits or bonuses or whatever for affordable

howling yeah i mean it's definitely a candidate for the four bolt uh housing uh tax credits so i

definitely my client's looking into that assuming you know hopefully we get this approved and that

would definitely be a candidate for it no not meant with respect to the zoning bonuses

Oh, there's only bonus. Well, we can use his only bonuses for that because this is an RSA 5 property. Gotcha.

oh the zoning bonus well we can't use the zoning bonuses for that because this is an rsa five

Chairman, I have a question. Sure. Most certainly. Okay. What is the height of the building, including the pilot house with access to the roof?

So, let me go back to the drawing. So it's 51 feet. Hold on. Let me just get there.

okay here

so if you look at it it's 51 feet here right in the front facade then you add another

nine feet which is the roof line here it's sloped downward i don't know what the elevator

overrun is i would think that's probably another three feet because that's how the refusal reads

64 feet. I think this is usually eight to ten. No, but that's not a pilot house. This is just

the elevator overrun. Yeah, but the elevator overrun is still typically eight to ten feet

because the parapet is usually one and a half to three. So the question I have is, did the client

ever consider capping the building's height at the 38 feet that is pursuant in the RSA 5 zoning

regulation, because in addition for a use, this would also then be higher than what is typically

permitted in that zoning classification. We did look at it. We also looked at trying to make it

a more compact building just, you know, for the open area. There is some RSA-5 behind us, but

we're also nearby ICMX and I-2 zoning, so we kind of geared it towards that type of zoning

classification. The scale of the building doesn't differ from some of the buildings that are

nearby, as I showed in the photos. So what we're asking is not out of character to what's in the

neighborhood. Do you know what the max height on the surrounding block is itself, as opposed to the

expanded neighborhood? I do not. I don't. Well, there's not much development on that block.

You only have. There's a lot. Part of what I asked. What? I said, yeah, that's part of what I

Yeah, no, I don't think there's much development on that block.

And this property has been vacant for some time as well.

Again, we were very mindful of the height.

That's why we actually reached out to the two property owners that actually had houses next door to us.

And we diligently worked with them in terms of setbacks and such.

And then was it ever considered to work with the council person's office to do a zoning change as opposed to seek a variance for this lot?

No, we did not. We did reach out to the council member during this community input process, and through that, we received a letter of non-opposition.

But we didn't ask them to actually change the zoning for the property.

I have no further questions. Thank you.

Thank you. Questions or comments from the virtual audience?

I see no hands.

Planning Commission.

Good afternoon, Chairman and Board Members. David Fechta with the City Planning Commission.

Chairman and Board Members, the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the residential single-family zoning at this location.

The zoning on this block face dates to 2012 during a community-supported map change.

Given the consolidated parcels, the appellant would be able to build fewer than 46 dwelling units.

So 46 are not the minimum number needed to afford relief.

City Planning Commission recommends the board deny the proposed 46 dwelling units.

So we've had a lot of input.

Go ahead, go down.