at issue. I will repeat that as well. To enter an appearance statement, call Google 267-270-5548
and leave your email address and the address of the property at issue. With that being said,
we can begin. But before Professor Plaza reads our first case, we'd like to announce that the
following matters are being continued. MI-2020-000835 621-25 Reed Street.
M-I-2020-000811, 490 Conroe, C-O-N-A-R-R-O-E Street,
count M-R, excuse me, M-I-2020-000863.
Let me do that one again.
MI-2020-000863-2063 Dickinson Street, and calendar number 38981-1829 Kinsey, K-I-N-S-E-Y Street.
In addition, MI-20, those cases I just called will be continued.
the following case is being withdrawn. MI-2020-000849, 409 Bud Street, B-U-D-D Street is being withdrawn.
If there's anyone who believes the case has been called to be
continued in error or withdrawal, please raise your hand now.
And if you have any other requests for continuances or withdrawals, we will accept those now as
Mr. Nockerson, you can unmute yourself and speak to a continuance.
Yes, this is Alan Nockerson of Nockerson, PC, 123 South Broad Street Suite, 1600 Philadelphia,
PA, 19109.
I have two related matters that we requested continuances at the request of the neighborhood, 1109 and 1111 South 53rd Street.
Okay, let me read those into the record.
There's MI-2020-000802, 1109 South 53rd Street, and MI-2020-000803, 1111 South 53rd Street, are being continued?
That is correct.
Any other matters?
Thank you.
Is there anyone else who is requesting a continuance or withdrawal, or believes we
call the continuance an error? If so, please raise your hand at this time.
Hi, my name is Petra Gamble. I wanted to speak on the property of 2063 Dickinson Street.
Ms. Gamble, would you please spell your first and last name and give us an address, please?
Sure. My first name is Petra, P as in Peter, I-E, T as in Tom, R-A. My last name is Gamble, G as in game, A, M as in man, B as in boy, L-E. My address is 2305 Federal Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19146.
And you swear in the firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
Yes, I do.
And what case are you speaking on?
2063 Dickinson.
that case is
that case is uh is uh there's a request for a continuance yes that was one of the ones that
you called yes i'm sorry it went so fast i didn't even hear it no problem am i allowed to speak on
a property that you're hearing at 3 30 or do i have to wait until then you have to wait till 3 30
there may be other parties okay okay thank you okay talk to you 3 30 thank you all right
Anyone else? Continuance, withdrawals, or believe we called the case out of a mistake.
No hands, Chair. You can proceed. Thank you. Confessor, please begin.
yes mi 2020 000 836 4665 paul street
attorney is steve r bertill esq
Mr. Bertil, you've been promoted to a panelist. You can share your screen as
necessary and unmute yourself to be sworn in. Thank you. Good afternoon, members of
the board. Mr. Bertil, do you swear in a friend to tell the truth, the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth? Yes, I do. Name and address for the record. Steve Bertil,
b-e-r-t-i-l uh clara harrison harvey and bransburg the address is 1835 market street
uh 14th floor one nine one zero three and do you agree to waive the reading of his refusal
and stipulate to its accuracy uh yes i do before you begin mr battell and excuse me woman confessor
i see all my notes that the planning commission has a letter is that uh being requested to be
read in to the record now i i included their pre their the letter that was sent to me as part of
the exhibits but um if they have a more updated letter i'm not opposed to uh it being read into
the record i imagine that um it's similar but the letter that i that i have is included as part of
the exhibit okay well we'll proceed and then at the end if the planning commission uh wants to
weigh in they will thank you excuse me this is sharon saletta just to be clear that um it was
not a CDR letter, it is a letter in support. Okay, thank you.
I'm gonna, if the board will allow, I'll go ahead and share my screen with the PDF package.
uh are you able to see my screen
not yet no my apologies take another shot at it
how about now yeah we have it now okay great uh once again good afternoon members of the board
and chairman gichico uh we i am here on behalf of frankfurt community development corporation
representing an application for 4665 hall street i'm sorry mr burtel i'm getting um information
from panelists that you're not speaking as loud as they would like could you speak a little closer
to the mic oh my i'm sorry thank you very kindly is that better sounds better all right uh i'll
start over uh my name is steve bertill i'm here on behalf of frankfurt community development
Corporation, representing an application for a variance request for 4665 Paul Street.
With me, I have Kim Washington, the Executive Director of Frankfurt CDC, and also Kurt Raymond,
the architect. We're here to request variance approval for alteration and renovation of an
existing fire damage uh structure into a mixed-use structure with commercial space
on the first floor um and cellar and four residential affordable housing units on the
second and third floor so i'm going to just scroll to the zoning map here we go so the
Here we go. So, as I said, the property is 4665 Paw Street. It's currently zoned as CMX2,
As I said, the property is 4665 Paws 3.
commercial mix use 2. The property is situated on Paw Street between
Frankfort Avenue to the north and Meadow Street to the south.
Here are some photos of the existing condition of the property. As I said,
uh it's currently vacant a fire damage three-story mixed-use property see if i can try to make this
bigger for you and that's a a photo of the front of the property a photo here's a photo looking
down from frankfort avenue you can see the exterior and the bracing
here's a photo looking up from meadow uh street um the property is currently sandwiched between
the current uh offices for the frankfurt cdc and another vacant mixed-use building um that will
also be renovated um for affordable housing by the cdc but currently we're only here for
4665 but will be that likely for 4663 as well it was just a closer shot of the
exterior of the buildings I'm talking about now the proposed development that
we're referring to was part of Frankfurt CDC's reimagining Margaret Orthodox
initiative the RMO initiative the focus of this initiative is to reimagine
reclaim, and rediscover. More detailed, it means the reimagined sort of arm of this is to engage
the community, to plan community-centered revitalization of Frankfurt, and the reclaim
is to transform abandoned and vacant properties into usable spaces that benefit the Frankfurt
community. And lastly, the rediscover is to encourage residents to explore what Frankfurt
has to offer. So, as I stated, I'm going to scroll.
Our desire is to maintain the current footprint and height of the building.
we don't anticipate any um we're not increasing the height or changing the footprint whatsoever
um we're designing this as close to the cmx two set standard as we can uh be to meet the intent
and purpose of the code but to provide as much affordable housing density as we can
um the renovation we're going to continue to maintain the first floor as a commercial uh
slash retail space and the upper two floors will be residential the let me
zoom that in so it's better here you can see a floor plan of the proposed
renovation we have a little over 1,100 square feet of retail space the bedrooms
range between 512 square feet to 576 square feet and under the code as written we're permitted
three units by right and we're here to attempt to get the additional
unit so we can maximize the space for affordable housing resources
We held a community meeting that was organized by Councilwoman Sanchez's office because
Frankfort CDC is actually the coordinating RCO for this property, and to avoid a conflict of
interest, the community meeting was organized by the Councilwoman's office on August 20th.
There were 20 attendees, and there was no opposition to the project.
The refusal that we're here for are one for the four units as opposed to the three units
the density and additional dimensional variances for the occupied area in the
rear yard deck now the required occupied area under the code is written it's 75
percent for the current condition of the property as the current the current size
but the current condition of the property as the current um the current size of the property
uh is 81 now we're not increasing or changing any existing condition this is just the existing
condition of the building that we are renovating within the same goes for the rear death variance
that's required per the code under the zoning district we require nine feet but the current
condition of the property currently has two feet and seven and a half inches again we're not
reducing the rear depth we're making any changes to the square footage or the size of the building
excuse me um we are just renovating within the existing condition um as such uh we believe these
variances are de minimis in nature as as we they were not created by the applicant there as um as
the current condition is, and the only variance that we're requesting that's actually created
by the applicant is the slight increase in density from the three units that are by right
to the four units that we're requesting.
In terms of, in addition to the RCO meetings, the additional support that we received for
this rehabilitation stems from not only the planning commission, but state representatives
jason dawkins in the 179th legislative district and also when you see the letter of non-opposition
from the local councilwoman herself um it is both our position and per the letter we received from
planning commission in support of our applications for this project that this project supports the
2035 district plan because it maintains housing and eliminates vacancy and has a focus on transit
oriented uh projects and developments as it is a stone's throw away from the market frankfurt line
now just so anyone so everyone has a better sense of
what our desired end result is here's a photo of a rendering uh again we're only here for four six
And as you can see, this is our desired result for that entire section of Paw Street at the
end of both the projects that are going to be before you.
We do not anticipate any increased congestion of the public streets or the transportation.
As I said, it is a stone's throw away from the Market-Frankfurt line, and it was previously
utilized as a flower shop with residential housing above it. And we don't anticipate any detrimental
health or safety or welfare impacts to the community. In fact, we believe this is a net
benefit in almost every respect due to the increase of housing and to the eradication of
blight and vacant properties. Now, with me today, I have, as I said, Kimberly Washington,
the executive director of the frankfurt cdc um so if kimberly if you can raise your hand
so uh miss sunkett can find you i would like to have her um
confirm and adopt my testimony and then provide an additional testimony of her own
can you hear me i guess we can please identify yourself name and address
kimberly washington um executive director for the frankfurt cdc the address is 4667
paul street philadelphia pa 19124 you swear to firm to tell the truth the whole truth and
nothing but the truth i do mr bertell thank you uh miss washington have you heard my
testimony this afternoon in this entirety yes i did you confirm the truth of my testimony and
adopt it as your own yes i do thank you and if there's anything you would like to add to the
testimony please do so now i don't have anything additional to add um just thank you all for your
time and if you have any questions i'm here to answer any questions about the project itself
very much uh questions from the board no no no thank you anyone else who wishes to testify in
this case if so please raise your hand now no hands share thank you planning commission
hi mr chairman and members of the board uh mason um you you have to swear you in so sure i
apologize sorry give us your for the for the court reporter your name full name mason austin
you work for yes i'm representing the city planning commission
We're in the firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
we're in the firm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
yes i do thank please proceed
Yes, I do.
Please proceed.
While the property is designated for commercial mixed use in the comprehensive plans,
the proposed project would address a critical need for affordable housing in this neighborhood.
Further, the requested dimensional variances do not exacerbate the existing conditions.
Therefore, the Planning Commission supports the approval of all requested variances.
Thank you very much.
MI-2020-000836
4665 Paul Street.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
Good luck.
Calendar number 39666
2846 Belgrade Street.
Sean Ward.
Nolan, are you out there?
I don't know what happened.
It's gone.
Well, why don't we do this?
Oh, there we go.
There we go.
I got a still shot of him now.
All right.
Sean, can you hear us?
I can hear you.
Can you hear me now?
Yes, we can.
Sean, you affirm and swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
And do you agree and waive the reading of refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, I do.
Thank you.
Please identify yourself for the record.
Sean Ward, on behalf of the applicant for 2846 Belgrade Street.
I'm going to share my screen now if I can, Tanya.
Sure, you can.
While you're doing that, for the record, there's a letter of support from Southport Richmond Civic
and a letter of non-opposition with councilman mark squilla
okay do you see my uh pdf screen that's your nail yep okay uh again this is my typical exhibit