angles this is just a rendering of what it would look like at night just to show the lighting that
it would take place and then this is the other side of the building yeah i think if you can
summarize i would appreciate that yep so uh due to the unique um conditions of this property both
the location of it the size the natural features we believe that um it is not suitable for the
the uses that are permitted by right under the rsa1 zoning district we do believe that the use
that is being proposed is a low impact use that would allow a reasonable use of the property
and is still consistent with the surrounding area. Due to this type of facility, again,
it's a low impact. We have very little traffic that comes in and out every day.
The number of parking spaces of 105 is excessive for this use. We believe that the reduced parking
not only preserves some of the natural area, reduces impervious, and provides a better site
design but is more typical for this type of use and would request the variances that are being
requested. Do you have a client to adopt your testimony? We do. I do. Mr. John Williams is on
the line. Good afternoon, Mr. Williams. Please identify yourself with a record and I'll swear
you in? Or should I say good evening? Mr. Williams, you can unmute yourself and speak
now. Mr. Williams, please identify yourself with the record, spell your full name, and
I'll swear you in. John Williams, J-O-N-W-I-L-L-I-A-M-S. You swear for him to tell the truth, the
whole truth, nothing but the truth? I do, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. Mr. Williams, were you here
this evening during the presentation that I just gave? Yes, I was. And do you believe that the
statements that I made are true and accurate? I do. And had you provided testimony yourself,
would you accept the statements as your own? I do. Great. I have no further questions for Mr.
Williams. I would mention, and I think you pointed out, we do have correspondence both
from the Franklin Mills Advisory Council confirming the meeting that we had with the RCO and
acknowledging their support for the design and the variances being requested as well.
acknowledging their support for the design and the and the variance is being requested as well
as correspondence from Councilman O'Neill's office. Thank you. Questions from the board? No.
Anyone else would like to testify in this case? If so, please raise your hand.
There we have Alice Udovich. Ms. Udovich, you can unmute yourself and speak.
Good evening, Alice. Please identify yourself with the records. Play your name and I'll swear you in.
Good evening, Chairman. Members of the Board, Alice Udovich, U-D-O-V-I-C-H, City Hall 562, Zip Code 19107.
You swear to affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Please proceed.
Chairman, the Councilman believes that this is an appropriate use at this location.
It abuts Franklin Mills Mall as well as Woodhaven Road.
the councilman is supportive of the granting of the variance.
Thank you very much. Anyone else to testify on this case?
I see no other hands at this time, Chair.
Thank you. Planning Commission?
Good evening. David Fecto, City Planning Commission, Mr. Chairman, members of the board.
The comprehensive plan recommends this property for residential single-family use.
We estimate that the applicant could create 54 house slots by right.
There is no unique characteristic of the lock that would prevent it from being used in compliance with the code.
For such a drastic change of use, the correct remedy is a zoning change, not a zoning variance.
We recommend that the Board deny the requested variances.
2021-001229, 4340 by Berry Road.
My vote is yes with the proviso revised plan, two pages approved today.
my vote is yes with proviso yes with proviso yes with proviso
for 10 great thank you thank you thank you calendar number um strike that calendar number
MI-2021-001228, 6227 Catherine Street.
6227 Catherine Street.
Mr. Squiroff.
I see no one with that name with their hand raised here.
Is there anyone representing 6227 Catherine Street?
okay he was just there he disappeared
who was there
Neil Sklaroff there he is he had disappeared the first time
he's coming back as he's coming back in as a panelist chair
thank you good evening Mr. Sklaroff
Mr. Sklaroff, can you put your name and address on the record
and spell your last name, please?
Neil Sklaroff, N-E-I-L-S-K-L-A-R-O-F-F,
with the law firm Dilworth Paxson,
with an address of 1500 Market Street, Suite 3500E,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19102.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Do you also agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, there are two notices of refusal.
Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership, tax compliance, 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, I have.
I've sent the letter just came this morning and we forwarded that to your council.
Okay, you may proceed.
Thanks.
Can I share my screen, please?
Yes, you may.
We'd love screens.
Good evening, Mr. Chairman, members of the Zoning Board.
I am pleased to represent this evening the Church of Christian Compassion.
their project, a development of 38 affordable senior dwellings.
I normally wouldn't talk much about the applicant, but this calls for some mentions.
The Church of Christian Compassion is not only the property owner,
but the co-developer of this affordable housing.
but the co-developer of this affordable housing building.
It will continue to be the owner of the property and will continue to be the co-developer until its co-developer transfers all title to the church.
The church is a vigorous community actor.
It operates an extensive outreach program, admired not just for the sheer number of programs it supports, but more importantly, for its effect on the community and the maintenance and progress of the community.
A robust series of 165 ministries serve Cobbs Creek and the Philadelphia community.
Not a small portion of those ministries emphasize the health and wellness of the community.
During the pandemic, the church distributed more than one million pounds of food, was a center for COVID prevention, engaged in anti-violence task force with the district attorney, and has numerous senior programs and youth programs.
And one of those efforts is this development of 38 affordable housing units.
It would be hard to live in this city and not know of the critical need for affordable housing, especially when it comes for housing for our seniors.
This development alone will not satisfy the need for senior affordable housing, but it will provide 38 attractive, affordable, and safe dwelling units.
Hopefully for those who have lived in the community for most of their lives and who want to remain in the community when they no longer can maintain or afford their homes.
Joining, hopefully they're still with us tonight, is Senior Pastor Lonnie Herndon, Ava Goldman, an executive with Gardner Capital, the co-developer here.
Gardner Capital has experienced with developing 90 or 40 affordable developments in 13 states.
We're also joined by Blaine Stoddard, president of BFW, the church's consultant, and a dynamic
member of the church's development team. He's a don't-take-no-for-an-answer individual and has
extraordinary energy keeping this project going. We also have Kurt Raymond, the architect on the
development, and Cornelius Brown and Kevin Tatlow, a bowler engineer, the civil engineers. Let's go to
the exhibits. First of all, we have a list of exhibits. Exhibit one is our certificate of tax
clearance Exhibit 2 are two deeds to the property. Seems to have gotten out of order here.
There are two parcels that will be combined for the purposes of this project.
These are the photographs of the posted notices. You'll notice the two orange bases
plus the copy of the notice of refusal. This is 623 to 625 Catherine Street. To the right is 6227
Catherine Street and that building will be removed. Another photograph looking down the block
showing the Catherine Street posting. Again, the Catherine Street posting. This is the Felton
Street posting. The property is the corner of Felton Street and Catherine Street.
This next exhibit shows the context of the site. It's an L-shaped property, the longest part being
on Felton, and the shortest part being on Catherine, only a block from Cobbs Creek Park.
The Planning Commission has agreed with us that the frontage, the primary frontage,
is on Catherine Street. This is a view going north on Catherine Street,
and this is a view going on Catherine Street going, I'm sorry, did I say Catherine Street?
that was going up Felton Street. This is going west on Catherine Street toward the park.
This is east on Catherine Street. In the center is the existing building that will be demolished.
This is a view of the furthest most part on Felton Street.
The green area is part of this L-shaped problem.
The green area is part of this L-shaped property.
To the right are single-family homes that have a shared driveway.
As will be shown later, that driveway is for those homes that are abutting it, but we have no right to use that driveway.
Again, looking north on Felton.
this is the original application and the zoning site plan the property measures about 13 000
square feet and what you see here is the ground floor of a four-story building
where the ground level was not attributed at this point i'll explain that we have been
working with the streets department to come up with access to the property. It will have a totally
green roof. And here is the first refusal that we received. As you can tell from this,
Ellen and I determined that given our 13,000-square-foot lot, the code allows us to provide 26 affordable units.
This is not a mixed-use project, but a totally affordable project, 38 units, 15 of which will be subsidized.
But we need 38 units, and we need four floors to make this pencil out.
The economics of this in today's world requires us to have 38 units.
We also exceed the height.
The height for this CMX2 district is 38 feet.
We ask for 43 feet 2 inches in order to get our four floors in.
We think that's a minor adjustment upwards.
This is our application project information form.
that included the refusal. But we wanted to add parking in a driveway and we requested and
received permission to amend the original application. And this is the application
that was amended. And what we have here are 10 parking spaces under the building,
including one accessible space. To access that we have a driveway 18 feet in width. Again we have
the green roof and this has 38 units. Along with that application was the architect's letter
stating what the changes were. I'm going to skip over this for a moment. This new application
and site plan, generated two additional refusals. The first is an unusual refusal.
L&I considers this, because our side yard is on a property line, to be an attached building.
As far as we know, it won't be attached to anything. It will border some single-family homes.
but in a CMX2 district, they don't allow accessory parking.
We could go into what the history of that is, but we don't have a common shared driveway
and therefore our 10 spaces, which we think are essential for this and for the residents,
is accessory parking is something that we ought to be able to do.
And it's a very unusual set of circumstances that we don't have the right to do that.
The second refusal here, it was at the time of the original application, the minimum driveway width was 24 feet.
And therefore, since we were providing a driveway, drive aisle width of 18 feet, we received a refusal.
However, if we go back to the new code or the current code, there was an amendment earlier this year that allows the access driveway, drive aisle, to be 18 feet in width.
But it's still generated, even though it complies with the current code, it's still generated a refusal.
So those are the four refusals.
This is a rendering of the project.
And the exact architecture is still being worked on by the architect and the church.
But in this vision of it, we're replicating the rhythm of the adjacent row homes.
You'll notice that there are doorways and balconies.
You'll notice that there are doorways and balconies that could be enjoyed, and the rhythm is replicated down Felton Street.
When we get to the floor plans, I'll explain where the affordable units have been put.
This is a straight-on view of the exterior, again, showing 43 feet, 2 inches.
Here's the floor plan.
To the bottom, you'll see a community center.
The church will work with any community group to give them access and to plan activities.
There's a multi-purpose room here.
There's a library.
There's a laundry area.
And there are two residential units. And you'll notice on the right, if you can see it, that the next slide has floors two, three, and four. Each of them have 12 residential units. All of them are one bedroom.
They are accessed by an elevator as well as the stairways and laundry area.
As you'll notice on the right, the 29 one-bedroom units measure more than 500 square feet.
The fully accessible units, of which there are nine, measure more than 700 square feet,
which I think compared to what you've been seeing is maybe it would be too generous to call it
a generous square footage, but more than you sometimes see.
This slide shows why this particular site is an attractive, affordable living project.
There are many, many services in the immediate area.
The park is nearby. There are places of worship nearby, places of commercial activity nearby.
And so affordable living will allow our seniors to access those services.
This was our letter to the neighbors in advance of the RCO.
I'm sorry I put these notices, proofs of mailing.
in, but there were some, I remember it was 125 or so.
And lastly, the project was shown to Eleanor Sharp, the Executive Director of the Planning
Commission, and this letter dated February 5 may not relate exactly to this zoning hearing,
but you'll see it was the opinion of the staff that this met the requirements and the purpose
and intent of the comprehensive plan.
If there are any questions, I'd be glad to answer those.
Thank you.
Any questions from the board for Mr. Sklaroff?
Thank you.
Mr. Sklaroff, do you have someone that you would like to adopt?
I should have said this in the beginning, Mr. Chairman.
I'd like to rely on Section 303.14F,
which if there's no objection to any parties from any parties the statements I've made
can be seen as on behalf of those of the applicant and can be used to create findings
of facts and conclusions of law. So noted thank you. Before we go any further I would like
we have a letter from Councilwoman Gaultier. I'd like to read into the record.
uh councilwoman gaultier is in support of the variance request being presented here today
this is not meant in any way to prejudge or discredit the concerns that we know have been
expressed by near neighbors we understand these concerns and believe that compassion