is actually 10 feet less or 11 feet less than in the upper units. So in fact, there's a shorter
distance to get out of these units in case of an emergency than in some of the upper floors.
I also wanted to note that this is a six-unit building. In order to pull these additional
rental license a ceo will need to be maintained so any additional fire code improvements that
So any additional fire code improvements that might need to be made would be made along with
might need to be made would be made along with that
that CO application. This property, like I said, has been used for, while it's zoned RSA 3, has
been used as multi-family housing since 1963. The proper zoning, more in conformance with an RM1
zoning district. Based on the size of this parcel, if it was RM1, six units would be allowed by
right, so it's not radically out of line with the use of the property. It would be a significant
financial hardship for this property if the owner were to lose a third of the units. This is why I
wanted to show this. The building, when he purchased it, was not in great shape. The owner has taken
a lot of time and effort and money to rehabilitate this property in speaking with the neighbors
they all were very happy with the maintenance of this building since my tenant my client has taken
over and want to see the continued maintenance and updates of this property no one's had issue
with the tenants parking anything like that which is why I just want to mention with the civic
association they were not currently holding meetings so what we did um this is the letter
that went out um sorry who is the civic association which was a gnomic civic okay
um so what we did was i talked i gave the whole presentation to the board of um of
was gnomic civic uh and they were perfectly fine with this they were familiar with the building
they have had no prior complaints with the existing use, which is what we're asking for,
is how this building has been used for 60 years. We sent out this letter asking the neighbors to
contact the Registered Community or Wisnoming Civic with any questions, concerns, support,
opposition. I think we sent out 80 notices for this area. Approximately eight people contacted
the Civic Association. All were in support.
Thank you. Do you have any witnesses who wish to testify?
I have the owner, Tim Borton, should be on the line, and I would like to have him testify.
He can unmute himself and wait to be sworn in.
Timothy, you can unmute yourself and wait to be sworn in.
Tim, do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Name and address for the record, please, and please spell your last name.
Timothy Borton.
Last name is B-O-R-T-O-N.
You may proceed.
All right, Tim, I just want to confirm with you, when you purchased the property, it was
six units, correct?
That is correct.
And it was represented to you as a six-unit building?
Yeah, that's what I thought I was buying.
Okay, and there were no garages or off-street parking present at the time you bought it?
Not at all.
Okay, and then I just wanted to say you've heard my testimony here today, correct?
You believe it to be truthful and accurate?
And you adopt it as your own?
Thank you.
Are there any other witnesses?
I don't have any other witnesses.
okay plan does the board have any questions no no planning commission
ryan wendrick city planning this property is indicated for residential use on the city plan
due to the long-standing existing layout of the structure uh we feel that there will be
no negative impact on the surrounding area accordingly we are not opposed to the granting
in variance. Thank you. Calendar number MI 2020. Did you want to see if it was anyone who was
wanted to testify? Oh, I thought Jennifer just said that she had no one else. Is there anyone
else there? I do have one person with their hand up, but David Borton. I don't know if he's related
to the case. Can we find out? David Borton, you can unmute yourself. Okay.
David, can you put your name and address on the record? You're here for 4525 Lardner Street?
yes okay name and address please David Borton 90
Yes. Okay. Name and address, please. David Borton, 9029 Ashton Road, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
19136. That's B-O-R-T-O-N. And do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but
the truth? Yes. Thank you. You may proceed. I just wanted to mention that I am a co-owner also,
and timothy is my son uh everything that has been stated has been truthful and that they're
uh i just wanted to add that to the record thank you no more hands vice chair thank you
is sunk it and the board has no questions no no questions thank you calendar number mi 2020 000
212 4525 lardner street my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes
thank you calendar number mi 2020 dash oh oh two three six eight oh one seven stenton avenue
madam vice chair i have steve bertill returning okay
mr bertill hi can you hear me yes i can name and address for the record uh steve bertill b-e-r-t-i-l
1835 Market Street
Street 14
Philadelphia PA 19103
Thank you. And do you
swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing
about the truth? Yes
I do. Do you also agree to
waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its
accuracy? Yes
Also have you
emailed an exhibit packet with
proof of ownership, tax compliance
the refusal or
referral, photos and
or plans of the property five days in advance of this hearing and have you met with the rco and
do you have a letter yes to the all of them okay you may proceed thank you thanks uh good morning
again uh mr chairman uh madam vice chair and members of the board uh i'm here on behalf of
the owners of 80 17 stenton avenue uh hardiman hall acquisitions llc with me i have uh mr darren
Hardiman and our architects Christopher Johnson and I believe we may also have
Mr. Bruce Hall on the line as well. Let me share my screen.
As I stated, I'm here to present our application and our request for variance for 8017 Stanton
Avenue.
We're here to request a variance for the approval of the erection of a semi-detached structure
for use as a two-family dwelling with two accessory off-street parking spaces in the
rear of the property.
So in the beginning, let me just show you a picture of the current property so you get
a sense of the current condition.
this is this lot is on this RSA 3 as most of the lots are in the area and it
is facing on Stanton Avenue between Gorgas Lane and Vernon Road that it's
currently a vacant lot the current a lot area is 3,092 square feet an existing
lot width is 24 feet and two inches.
This is the zoning area of the property.
The highlighted lot is the lot in question.
And as you can see, most of the area is zoned the same as RSA 3 and RSA 2.
We'll get into why that distinction is not necessarily impactful on this lot in a second.
as I stated we are is that stacked parking no it's not stacked the entire
vacant area I'm sorry I don't understand the question it's the entire what we're
looking at or what I'm looking at is an area one part is manicured the other
is an area one part is manicured the other part is not so is it that whole area oh i'm sorry you're
talking about the fault this photo here yes yeah so did that entire here let me give you a better
aerial shot this is the lot that we're referring to here okay
So, again, facing on Staten Avenue, the proposed project in question is the erection
of a three-story semi-detached structure for uses to family at 38 feet in height on the proposed
plans are to have a unit of three bedrooms and three and a half baths and another unit of three
bedrooms and three baths as you can see from the plans we are proposing rear parking on the lot
as the street is facing the main throughway of Stanton Avenue we're
utilizing the rendering of the project and we're utilizing brick for the
exterior of the project that fits in the context within the immediate neighbors
in the neighborhood as a whole. Here's a photo from the rear of the proposed structure,
main access via side entrance, and here's the spaces for the accessory parking.
Just so you get a sense of the layout of the proposed units,
as you can see on the left, here let me zoom in a little bit so you can
that's too much, David. On the left you can see unit one on the first floor in the lower level
with three bedrooms, two bedrooms on the lower level, one in the first floor level,
and three and a half baths. And on the right you can see unit two
between the second and third floor with three bedrooms in total, one on the second floor,
two on the third floor and three bags now we did meet or the the applicants met with the
registered community group on august i'm sorry yes on august 4th uh the registered community
organization for this uh lot is the 50th democratic ward there were concerns or uh
critiques of the projects raised regarding the style of the building
fitting into the neighborhood and or renters changing the dynamic of the
neighborhood I would like to address both of those issues if you go back I'll
go back to the a wider area so much
of the neighborhood you'll see just to give you a sense of the use of the
context of neighborhood when it comes to multifamily or renters this is the lot
where my mouse is going up and down in question on the same block on the corner
of the block you'll see a the structure here is a four-unit building address 80
25 to 27 Staten Avenue and on the same block on the opposite corner is a two
unit building 901 Vernon Road in addition to that but there are multi-family you
know duplexes sort of separate throughout this neighborhood but more in addition
to you know two multi-family structures being on the same block um not even a block away are four
large multi-family buildings of over 10 units um per building i couldn't get the exact number
because the zoning records weren't clear but there i were i was able to confirm that there's at
minimum 10 per structure uh units in these buildings in addition to that over here is a
commercial mixed-use building that has seems like it's gone through various
changes with commercial uses on the first floor and residential and office
uses in other and the other spaces in the structure. I believe part of it's
used as a community center now with accessory parking. So as such we don't
uh accessory parking. So as such we don't believe our proposed use of two units on this lot is going
believe our proposed use
to change the character of the building as when it relates to renters being residents in this
neighborhood. There are renters all throughout this neighborhood and this is just in the one
block radius of the structure. As I said if you expand even further out it's more of the same.
What did the 50th Democratic Ward say? What was their letter?
Here, I'll scroll down to it.
Oh, that's the notice.
There it is.
Leave.
So the war took a vote.
There were two in support.
court, and I believe not for housing, if this is included or on the attendees.
So they're opposing it. Is there anyone a witness from the councilwoman's office?
We have Hillary Emerson.
Good morning. Yes, Hillary Emerson on behalf of Councilwoman
sherelle parker and um do you do you swear for him to tell the whole truth and nothing about the
truth yes i do thank you all right you're you're welcome um yeah i um i attended um the
the rco meeting um for this case back in august i said my co-worker is still here
i hear yeah i know um the the councilwoman um opposes um the proposal with that family use
um of this property um we feel that it is an overusing of the property um they're proposing
to attach a duplex um to what otherwise appears to be a single family home um and they're also
proposing two three-bedroom units, which is, um, those are very big, um, units. Um, we don't feel
like there's a hardship that this has to be a multi-family unit, especially given that a permit
was issued in 2009 for, to build a single-family dwelling here. Um, I'm not sure why it was not
built, but, um, previously that was, uh, clearly considered. Um, as counsel for the applicant noted,
There are some multifamily in the area, particularly on the corners of the block,
but in the middle of the block, it seems to be twin single-family homes.
It's a very short block.
There's not a lot to go with, but there do seem to be three or four twin single-family
homes in a row in the middle of the block.
We are also concerned about the bedrooms that were proposed in the basement for safety.
and in the unit the basement is below grade. We're concerned about the the massing of the building
while the height is the same as the other it was proposed as the other half of the semi-detached
structure. It's significantly more square footage or volume from what we can see and that just seems
out of character with the neighborhood. And in the design with the there is bricks which we
appreciates but um there's there's glass and and the um i think the angular angular design is
different than a lot of the neighborhood i feel like it's it's the community felt like it stood
out quite a bit from what the rest of the neighborhood um there are also concerns raised
um about having two cars parked um back there because the um the driveway is split with like
it's elevated partway, whereas where this is at the end of kind of the elevation with a retaining
wall. So there was kind of the neighbors were concerned about having, you know, two cars moving
in and out of that space because it's a very narrow driveway and it has that retaining wall
drop off. And I believe that there are neighbors here on the call here or in the meeting here to
express their concerns. So just to summarize, well, we appreciate the applicant's interest in
developing this space and investing in the community. Unfortunately, we oppose the
multifamily proposed library site. Thank you, Hillary. If I could just
go ahead. I want to address some of the comments that Hillary made, but also after addressing that,