Yeah, she went off.
She's fine.
That's fine.
We're good.
She got in through my name.
is there anyone else in the virtual audience there's no one else mr chair all right planning
commission thank you sir good afternoon mr chairman members of the board david effecto
city planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends a change in the zoning at this location
from residential single family to commercial mixed use the proposed sign would be closer in
compliance with the zoning code under the proposed zoning so the city planning commission recommends
of the board grant the proposed variances.
Thank you.
We're going to hold a vote on this
until we have the tax certificate, okay?
It is very much appreciated.
Happy holidays to everybody.
Thank you, Mr. Powell. We appreciate it.
Enjoy.
Thank you, Sam.
Thank you very much.
Mr. Chair, this is Hillary.
I just want to note that the record is otherwise closed
except for receipt of the tax certificate.
The record is closed except for the tax certificate.
Thank you very much.
Have a great day.
Bye-bye.
Number 11, MI-2022-004-650-1525 Chestnut Street.
Melanie Lacey is the attorney.
Letter of non-opposition from the Center City Residents Association with enforceable provisos.
Okay, Ms. Lacey will be rejoining as a panelist, sir.
good afternoon mr chairman members of the board hi could you good afternoon could you state your
name spell please for the court reporter yes my name is melanie lacey that's m-e-l-a-n-i-e last
name l-a-c-e-y right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the
truth yes i do could you identify your client in relationship to the property yes i'm accompanied
by David Wachnien, who is a member of the owner entity, DO Holdings USA LLC, as well as Christina
Dizik, who represents a tenant, Sonder, and I'm also accompanied by Michelle Klesik from Parallel
Architecture Studio LLC. Okay, our vice chair has just a few questions. Okay. Hi, do you agree to
waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy? I do. Have you emailed the exhibit
packet with proof of ownership, tax compliance, a copy of the refusal or referral, photos and or
plans of the property five days in advance of this hearing, and have you met with the URCO,
and do you have a letter? Yes, all of the above. Okay, great. You may proceed and begin to share
your screen. Are you seeing my screen at this time? Yes, I am. Okay, great. Thank you. So we're
here seeking special exception relief for two proposed roof decks located at 1525 Chestnut
Street. As mentioned, the proposed tenant and operator would be Sonder, which manages short-term
luxury apartment hotels, and there are a number of holdings here in the city.
So the visitor accommodation use was previously approved earlier this year,
but since the property is zoned CMX5, we must seek special exception relief for the non-residential
use of the proposed accessory roof decks. As mentioned, we met with the Center City
As mentioned, we met with the Center City Residence Association on October 25th, where the project received overwhelming support, and the CCRA submitted this letter of non-opposition, which I'm presenting here.
And the site is the historically designated A. Pomerantz building located at 1525 Chestnut Street.
It's at the center of the block between South 16th and South 15th Street.
And the property was previously the corporate headquarters of that furniture store, and it's been vacant for several years.
So if approved, it would be adaptively reused as a Sonder Hotel, as mentioned.
Here are additional photos of the property.
The street view.
This is the rear.
I'm just going to stop or pause for a moment because it looks like the images aren't showing.
Hold on.
okay let me share
okay are you seeing it once more it's up now yep okay i apologize for that
okay i don't know what's going on with the glitches so i'll just have to
make do without the fancy bookmarks. So once again, here is the rear of the property,
additional views of the rear of the property. And this is a view from the roof deck,
from the proposed roof deck area, and an aerial.
So, as you can see, so these are additional photos of the existing conditions actually,
and I'll show you the elevation. The roof decks are located on the eighth and tenth floor. It's
a small portion here right behind the cornice stone, and this inset portion that I'm hovering
over if you can see my mouse yeah on the 10th floor um and it isn't visible from the street
level uh because you have these elevator shafts that essentially block the view so um neither one
of the roof decks are visible at the street level that's something that i want to emphasize
and i'll go back to the floor plan so that you can also see the smaller uh roof deck which is
approximately 490 square feet as well as the larger roof deck which is this entire area that
I'm hovering over and it measures 1,435 square feet. And I'll show you the renderings. The roof
decks are elegantly designed, consistent with the Sonnet brand and this portion of Chestnut Street
you can see here. I'll show you a third photo as well. And I'll highlight the spaces won't be used
as a bar or nightclub. I know that's always a main concern. Hours of operation would be from
8 a.m. to 10 p.m. There would be no alcohol or food service. The roof deck will be an amenity
for guests at the property only, and common area furniture would be secured down.
You can see some of it here. The cleaners would maintain the outdoor area on a regular basis and
upon need, and the building is self-entry. So they have saw-till locks at the front door,
unit doors and amenity doors and these doors have codes that are uniquely generated for each guest
and those codes expire after their checkout time. So Sondra can control access to the amenity spaces
based on time and as mentioned the roof decks would close at 10 p.m. Sondra would turn off
access for the guests at that time and they can also see people moving throughout the property
you know there's plenty of security any incident would be captured and there's normal camera
monitoring systems on the exterior of the building. So that summarizes, I won't belabor
the point, that summarizes the application in conclusion. The roof deck won't be any more
negatively impactful for the surrounding area than any other roof deck use. It would be used
as a lounging area with limited hours of operation, no service of food or beverages, and it would not
be used as a club, it's not meant for large parties or loud music, and the project has
and the project has overwhelming community support.
overwhelming community support.
We'll go back to the letter.
You want to have somebody adopt your testimony?
Yes, but as a last point,
I'll say that it satisfies the standards of special exception,
accompanied, as mentioned, by David Joaquin to adopt my testimony.
So if you would promote him, he'd be sworn in.
to walking it's been allowed to speak okay could you state your name please and spell for the court
reporter my name is david walkney d-a-v-i-d o-u-a-k-n-i-n-e right do you swear or affirm
to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i swear proceed counsel david did
hear the testimony that i provided to the board this afternoon yes do you affirm that my presentation
was accurate yes do you adopt the testimony as your own yes thank you that concludes my presentation
questions from the board no mr chair no mr chairman no mr chairman questions or comments
from the virtual audience mr chair i have a miss michelle classic with her hand raised she is okay
hi could you state your name please and spelled for the court reporter
i bumped something i didn't mean to raise okay that's fine thank you that's fine
um questions from the board we're okay questions from the virtual audience
i have another hand up by mr wade albert sir okay hi could you state your name please and
spell for the court reporter absolutely wade albert w-a-d-e last name is a-l-b-e-r-t right
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do appreciate
thank you so i am counsel for the center city residents association i'm with the law firm
stevens and lee um i just want to reiterate that we do not oppose this project and we've asked for
some provisos that have been mentioned uh previously in this hearing um and if you i
read them into the record if you would like if not i think our liquor i i i will read them in
the record when when in fact we vote okay thank you mr chairman sure absolutely thank you um
anyone else in a virtual audience no those that are on my hands sir all right planning commission
thank you sir and good afternoon david facto city planning commission the comprehensive plan
recommends no change to in the commercial mixed use of zoning at this location the applicant has
shown that roof decks would have no more of an impact than roof decks would be expected to have
so the city planning commission recommends the board grant the special exception for roof decks
thank you MI 2022-004-650-1525 Chesson Street I vote yes with provisos no food or beverage
service on roof decks no live or amplified music on roof decks no access to roof decks after 10 p.m
Carol Taneri, my vote is yes with proviso.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes with provisos.
James Snell, my vote is yes with provisos.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes with proviso.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you.
All right.
Number 14, MI 2022, 004538, 1839 South 23rd Street.
Joseph Consul is the attorney.
Applicant provided email from Point Breeze Community Development Coalition
indicating that the vote was 6 in support, 11 opposition.
They have a letter forthcoming.
Mr. Chair, this is Hillary.
We did receive a meeting summary form from Point Breeze Community Development Coalition,
and it had a recommendation of support.
Mr. Consul.
Hello.
Good afternoon, board.
Could you state your name and spell it for the court reporter, please?
It is Joseph Consul.
That's J-O-S-E-P-H, last name C-O-N-S-O-L-E.
Right.
Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir.
Could you identify your client in a relationship to the property?
My client is Mr. James Brand, and he is the owner of the property.
Okay. Our Vice Chair, Carol Tenere, has a few questions.
Carol?
is she there it appears she dropped out um chair if you want me to do it mr chairman
Is she there?
please uh council good afternoon first of all good afternoon agree to waive the reading
of the refusal and stimulate to his accuracy yes did you email all other exhibits and documents
as required such as proof of ownership tax clearance copy of the refusal or referral
pictures or drawings of the property five days in advance to this hearing and did you
meet with the rco and do you have a letter yes tom i thank you please proceed and share your screen
that work
okay I am here
on let me get that right
South 23rd
Street my
client is Mr. James Brand
he is the owner of the property
property is at the corner of
and Mifflin Street. Here is what the property looked like prior to my client purchasing it.
This property is a 1,133 square foot property that is zoned CMX2. The reason why we're here
is my client purchased the property in 2019,
rehabilitated the property over the years 2020 and 2021.
All those permits are in Atlas
and has since that time been unable to find a commercial tenant
for the space in the front of the property
that's required to be commercial for CMX2 zoned properties.
So when he testifies later, he'll testify to his attempts
at finding a commercial tenant and how that's been unsuccessful
and the reasons for that, which I'll bring up in my presentation.
So it's one refusal, and that's to use the space set up
a commercial space as a living space. As mentioned, in November we went in front of the Point Breeze
Development Coalition and they voted in support of the project. They noted that the nearby neighbors
within a two-block radius as well as themselves and their zoning committee supported the project.
um the the opposition we uh was from uh the a different rco that was in attendance at at the
meeting but we believe that the letter and the vote um shows that the community itself supports
what we're trying to do here uh namely namely because um i'll flip over to atlas here um
the the last time that this property had any commercial use was as a grocery store
in 2006. And since that time, we believe it was vacant for approximately 10 years prior to
my client rehabilitating it. And it was just an eyesore on a block. And the reason I showed you
the previous photos is just to give you an idea of what it was like in 2019. And in a second,
I'll run through the photos of how it looks now. But it was an eyesore. It was sitting there.