yes i do okay rachel jason have you heard my testimony today in front of the board
yes do you believe it to be true and accurate to the best of your knowledge and do you adopt it as
do you believe it to be true and accurate to the best of your knowledge and do you adopt it as your
your own yes
own yes i do thank you i also would just mention that obviously this is the least modification of
the code possible in order for the variance given it's a commercial mixed-use district
it will not be any more impactful in the surrounding area and we do believe that
we've satisfied the requirements for a variance in this case does the board have any questions
no madam chair no no plan is there anyone in the virtual audience who would like to testify
i see no hands madam chair okay planning commission thank you madam chair members of
the board the lot is designated for commercial mixed use in the comprehensive plan and is
zoned in accordance with that recommendation given the existing conditions of the property
previous efforts to obtain an office tenant and the support of the RCO staff of the planning
commission has no objection to the granting of the requested variance thank you calendar
number 2534 5514 woodland avenue my vote is yes confessor plaza my vote is yes jane snell my vote
is yes thomas holliman my vote is yes okay and stepping out of order i'm going back to number 11
I neglected to get the Planning Commission.
So calendar number 2641-506-10,
Emily Street, Planning Commission.
Sure, no problem.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
This may sound also representing the Planning Commission.
The lot is designated for single-family residential
in the comprehensive plan and is zoned for that use.
The proposed shortcut would cause,
uh would sorry endanger the um one of the very few mature trees on the block and would cause the
removal of two on-street public parking spaces because there's nothing particular to the lot
that constitutes a hardship preventing use and compliance with the zoning code planning commission
staff recommends against the granting of the proposed variance okay um calendar number two
2641-506-10. Emily Street, my vote is yes.
Confessor Plaza, yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
Sorry about that. I was muted. James Snell, my vote is yes.
Thank you, guys. Calendar number 2182-6351-55.
Lancaster Avenue. Rachel Pritzker, you're the attorney.
Hi, Rachel, please put your name and address on the record, spell your last name, and then I'll
ask you a couple of questions. Sure. Rachel, R-A-C-H-A-E-L, Pritzker, P-R-I-T-Z-K-E-R,
1635 Market Street, Suite 1600, Philadelphia, PA, 19103.
you're also you're already under oath do you also agree to waive the reading of the refusal
and stipulate to its accuracy yes 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 rco and do you have a letter yes we have a
letter of support from the Overbrook Farms RCO. I see that here. Okay, you may proceed.
So this is 6351-55 Lancaster Avenue. I'm just going to go up to the refusal.
I know the chairwoman is very familiar with this neighborhood, so it's probably familiar with
this building. This is a long-standing existing multifamily building in the Overbrook Farms
historic area of the city. This property is zone RSD3 despite being a multifamily building since
1927. The refusal is a bit misleading although it is accurate. Essentially what we are looking
to do for this project is just redesign the three bedroom units to provide one bedroom units
Um, the community and my client is trying to move away from having, uh, students and younger
individuals, um, in this longstanding building and wanted to provide for smaller, more updated
modern units, uh, with smaller bedroom sizes.
So, uh, the total unit count will be 33 units.
The refusals are based on the RSD three zoning classification.
Um, however, again, this is a longstanding multifamily building.
As you can see, multifamily is prohibited in RSD-3, but it's been granted many, many times for variances.
granted many, many times for variances. And additionally, it's been a longstanding
And additionally, it's been a long time.
multifamily building since 1927. The property is on a 13,000 square foot lot. And basically,
again, all the variances are related to this RSD3 use. The building was constructed in 1924 and has
remained continuous use since then. It's on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places and part
of the Overbook Farms historic district. Essentially what we're looking to do is the original layout has
nine very large apartment units each in excess of a thousand square feet. These units are really have
been not only difficult to rent out but typically are getting a type of tenant that is not ideal
given sort of the goals of the owner and the community to try to have you know less students
less transient individuals. And while we're not discriminated against those type of applications,
we want to provide units that really lead towards more of a longstanding, less transient
tenant. There's a long history of this building being granted variances by the board for different
variations to subdivide the units in different ways. And we're just basically asking, these are
the last eight units that are basically three bedroom apartments. We're looking to subdivide
them internally to provide 16 one-bedroom units. So actually, although increasing the amount of
units in the building, lowering the amount of people that are actually going to be in the
building, and creating smaller units around 500 square feet as opposed to over 1,000 square feet
with three bedrooms. Do you have a picture of the building, and does the building have a theme?
This is the building. It's the Lancaster Apartments. As you can see, it's a beautiful
historic building um we do have our architect scott woodruff here um to go through the proposed plans
and kind of walk through uh what our intention is um but yeah this is a picture of the building
um i can pull it up as well on the zoning maps um and some time do you have any questions
no madam chair okay just want to go through again this is the property as you can see this whole
block is rsb3 but long-standing multi-family aerial photo of the building one of the reasons
we can't provide the 33 parking spaces is as you can see there's two cut curb cuts on lancaster
avenue however the building takes up most of the square footage and we'd have to demo portions of
it or some of it to provide underground parking the building has never had uh parking for these
units so um it kind of goes with uh what's in in character and again this is preserved on the
the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places,
so no demolition of this building would be permitted.
Okay, does the rest of the board have any questions?
Is there any, I'm sorry.
It's okay, lastly, just we had a meeting with the RCO,
the Overbrook Farms Club on June 14th,
and we have a letter of support from them,
as you can see evidenced in our packet.
Again, they were very supportive of our proposal
and are happy that we're going to be continuing to update the building
and continue to have it serve the community for years to come
and essentially was really appreciative of decreasing the overall occupancy
by making the units smaller in size.
I do have Scott Woodruff here if the board is interested in me going through the floor plans.
I'm not. I would just like to know if there's anyone in the virtual audience who would like to speak.
And if there's anyone here from the Overbrook Farms Club.
I see no hands, Madam Chair.
Is the board prepared to vote?
Yes, Madam Chair.
Thank you.
Planning Commissioner?
Could I just, if...
Have your client adopt?
Yeah, or just as a member of the, an officer of the court,
Thank you. I'm sorry, Madam Chair, this is Tanya, the Board's Administrator. If I could just have the gentleman state who he is on the record, I would appreciate that.
Sure, no problem. I apologize, Tanya. This is Mason Austin, representing the Planning Commission.
Thank you kindly.
Calendar number 2182-6351-55, Lancaster Avenue. My vote is yes.
Professor Plaza, yes.
James Snell yes Thomas Holloman yes thank you thank you um does the board and the court
reporter want to take a 10-minute break yes madam chair that would be very much appreciated
thank you chair okay great so we will return at 4 40.
sound good yes chair sounds great thank you thank you
Thank you.
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Thank you.
is everyone here
we're here hi
yes madam chair confessor i think that was jim yep i'm here
jim is here okay oh jim snell okay
okie doke good afternoon my name is carol tenary and i'm the vice chair of the zoning
board of adjustment i'll be participating in today's hearing along with board secretary
confessor plaza and board members thomas holliman and james snell board administrator fatina l
is also here, and Board Attorney Rebecca Cole is in attendance. For those of you who haven't
yet participated in one of our virtual hearings, I'll go through some of the basics of what
you can expect. But first, I want to acknowledge that Board Administrator Tanya Sunkit is also
present. First, we will be administering oaths to individual participants prior to their testimony.
Second, we'd like to advise everyone that this proceeding is being recorded
and that by participating, you acknowledge your agreement to be recorded.
This is available to the public and on the web.
Third, for anyone participating by phone, if you wish to testify,
you must raise your hand by hitting star nine, then star six to unmute yourself.
To enter an appearance statement, call Google 267-270-5548
and leave your email address and address of the property at issue.
Again, if you wish to testify, you must raise your hand by hitting star nine, then star six to unmute yourself and to enter an appearance statement, call 267-720-5548 and leave your email address and address of the property at issue.
finally the question and answer box is not for testimony any comments or be or to be directed
to miss tanya sunkett and miss patina l are there any requests for continuances today
on the 3 30 list
i see no hands madam chair
Okay. We have no continuances also that would be listed. So I guess we start with number one.
Calendar number 0131, 120 North 53rd Street. The attorney is Bart Levy.
Madam Chair, hi, this is Tanya Sunkett.
Did I do it again?
Well, we do have a notation that there was a request for a continuance from the council person's office.
Is that for number one?
Number one?
No, it's the second listing.
I'm sorry.
Did you see the notation under number one?
I do see it now.
Thank you.
So if it's your call, if we can see if the attorney is available.
Is Mr. Levy in the audience?
This is also the second listing with no exhibits.
Yeah, I think we should dismiss this one, Madam Chair.
I don't see Mr. Levy in the audience, Madam Chair.
okay calendar number 0131 120 north 53rd street this case is dismissed
120 North 53rd Street.
This case is dismissed.
Professor Plaza, dismissed.
James Snell, dismissed.