So we are the sub-lessee, but the landlord is the land bank.
and we have a multi-year lease signed by everyone involved. So basically we're taking a
piece of ground that it's unimproved, we're going to improve it and make it more appealing to the
surrounding area, the surrounding neighborhood, and help assist the Met with its performance venue
and make it and have it continue as a world-class venue.
So that's my presentation.
I'm available for any comments or questions.
And my client, general manager of the NET is also available.
And you want, Henry, would you want him to adopt your testimony?
Certainly, Mr. Chairman.
If Matt Rishiati could be unmuted.
Matt, if you can raise your hand.
Sir, may you please raise your virtual hand if you are in the audience.
I think he's on the audience.
Matt, are you with us?
I'm here.
Could you state your name and spell it for the court reporter, please?
Yes. My name is Matt Ricchetti, R-I-C-C-I-O-T-T-I.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed, counsel.
Mr. Ricchetti, have you been on the call during my presentation of these two projects?
Yes, I have.
If you had the opportunity to testify, would you adopt my testimony as your own and as true and correct?
yes i would thank you very much thank you questions questions from the board
yes mr chairman uh counselor do you have a uh site plan a proposed site plan
this is the uh the lot consolidation i'm talking about a proposed site plan that's an existing site
plan well yeah the existing site plan uh is on the left hand side which indicates the lots on
carlisle and ogden and poplar and then to the right which has been stamped uh by the
which has been stamped by the survey district this is the consolidation of the two lots
survey district. This is the consolidation of the two
on poplar and then the six lots on car lot well do you have an architectural site plan
it's showing the improvements no we're going to have to do that with a building we'll have
to do that with a building permit no you're supposed to do that with zoning
yeah i think he's shown quite a number of pictures
well what about the here's here's also another plan
this is the zoning plan i i showed you the wrong one i'm sorry about that mr hollman so yeah this
is the zoning plan indicating the bus parking here and the storage containers down here on the uh
one parcel c that's existing too but you're you're not proposing any landscape
no we're proposing just the fence around the edge and lighting
and there's no landscaping now
because it's all it's it's going to be paved and it's going to be an area for basically the buses
as well as the storage area and it's not going to be seen anyway because we have to have screening
around the entire perimeter to block the lighting from the buses and also viewing the containers
from any residential properties but there is a certain code requirement for
landscape the buffer the neighborhood correct but because of the layout of
this parcel because the fence has to go all the way to the perimeter and the
fence is going to be eight feet high there's not going to be any area to
install the landscaping you could put some landscaping on the fence
you mean like ivy coming over the fence correct that would look terrible it would grow all over
the sidewalk and into the area where the buses pull in and it would be dead in no time
i think it's just my opinion mr holliman
well he could cut back some of the parking space and put some shrubbery
mr clinton could you one more time show an overview what's around
these parking lodges this part this parking what i'm calling parking lots what what's
what's in the area what's around it i mean i know where the met is i just want to see what's behind
it so this is the met i don't know if that's a good enough photograph for you but i will yeah
no that's that's fine that's a good photograph so this is a it was a warehouse this is now
an office actually i was before the board on this property a while ago this is used as partly
commercial party residential in the corner across the street looks to be apartments
there are some homes here and some homes on poplar street but the idea with this layout was
because it's so open right now it's really a disturbance to the neighbors and you know we did
present this to the community group and the thought was instead of having a four foot high fence
make it eight feet and then everything will be self-contained within both b and c and i understand
mr holliman's concern about about the landscaping i mean the idea is on the outside of the fence is
to have the mural arts program or or some other organization to paint murals that are going to
fit in with with the neighborhood and the venue and that's what the live nation does with all
their venues. They try to make, put a mural on the fence so you're just not looking at a blank
slate. And again, that's not shrubbery, but it's not just going to be a blank slate that folks will
be looking at when they walk by. Do you have a picture of the fence? No, because the fence is
going to be either wood or some type of fabric wrap around the fence and then that's going to
be painted and we haven't selected the artist or the group that's going to do the painting
or the actual mural that's going to be there but that's in the works Mr. Heilman
and Mr. Klitt my understanding is the special service district is managing that property back
there too right the renaissance north correct Mr. Vernon yeah so so they're going to be
the renaissance north correct mr yeah so so they're going to be managing the whole property
in and around the area on the outside yeah that's what i'm talking about yeah yeah but again because
because of the nature of this venue you know we patrol and maintain carlisle street as well as
poplar street because we just don't want it to be unsightly mr chairman i would like to request
a proviso for some landscaping or a mural thank you I don't think we can do that we can't force
somebody the mural arts program to do a mural I think they'll do that anyway unless I'm wrong
Mr. Chairman you can correct me um I think you're right Carol yeah Mr. Chairman I'd like to
mr chairman i would like to interject here um i'm sure i would have to agree with um
with a chair tanari mr tanari that we can't request landscaping without a refusal specific to
that um we can for further discussion discuss perhaps visuals that the board would like to
get more of a concept of what defense should be but it cannot be requested here
But they have a refuser for Manscaped.
Mr. Chairman and Ms. Tenere and Mr. Holland, maybe I can cut through this and I can put on the record that we will put a mural of some type.
uh and this is all and mr uh the project manager mr risciotti can confirm this that there will be
a mural or some type of painting surrounding the entire perimeter so that it's not an unsightly
fence that the neighbors are looking at maybe you can put my client back on mr bergman and he can
he can speak to that sure he's already sworn are you still on yes i'm still here good could you
comment on that? Uh, yeah, I mean, yes, we would, uh, we we've engaged with artists in all of our
buildings within Philadelphia and outside. So, you know, murals are a big thing for me personally,
uh, and also our company at large. Uh, so yes, this is something that, that, you know, I take
very seriously and also, you know, from a community standpoint, it really makes the community just a
better place, uh, with that. And that's something that the RCO brought up on their calls. And yes,
we will absolutely have some sort of a mural wrapping the fencing.
Sherman, we can't make it a proviso, but Henry's putting it on the record, right?
Yes, you can make it under these circumstances with the applicant offering to propose a certain type of fence.
That can be something that the board can certainly make part of the proviso.
Okay. All right. Any more comments from the Board?
No, Mr. Chairman. No, no, Mr. Chairman. No, Mr. Chairman.
Comments from the virtual audience.
Seeing no further hints, Mr. Chair. Planning Commission.
Good afternoon, Chair Bergman. David Fecteau. F-E-C-T-E-A-U.
with the city planning commission you swear or firm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing
but the truth yes sir i do chairman members of the board the comprehensive plan recommends uh 1431
ogden and 1420 poplar for medium density residential use owing to its location one
block from broad street bus parking and storage will not provide any residential density and
therefore frustrates the goals of the comprehensive plan and these uses are not compatible with their
residential neighborhood so the city planning commission recommends that the board deny the
use in dimensional variances for 1431 ogden street and 1420 poplar street thank you
MI 2021-004-690-1433 Ogden and MI 2021-004-765-1420 Poplar Street. I vote yes on both with proviso
that the voluntary or the owner volunteered to put up a fence that will have a mural on it as
to proviso. Harold Tenere, my vote is yes with proviso. Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes with proviso.
James Snell, yes with proviso. Ishmael Shaheed, yes with proviso. Thank you. Thank you Mr. Chairman,
members of the board. Number four, MI 2021 004-693-2100-02 Ruffler Street, RCO.
2100 to 02 Ruffler Street, RCO, Letter of Support with Proviso.
Robert Careless.
Mr. Careless has been promoted to panelists, sir.
Mr. Careless, state your name and spell for the court reporter, please.
Robert Careless, C-A-R-E-L-E-S-S, Cozen O'Connor, 1650 Market Street, Philadelphia, Mr. Chairman.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
I do, Mr. Chairman.
The vice chair has a few questions.
Hi, Mr. Keralis, do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
I do on both points.
Thank you. Based on our notes, it appears that you've submitted everything that's required. Is that correct?
Yes, ma'am.
You may proceed. Thank you.
I'm going to start sharing my screen.
Okay, great. We like screens.
Can everyone see my screen?
Okay, thank you. And good afternoon again.
And we're here on 2100 Ruffner Street.
I'm here on behalf of LJG Holdings, LLC.
At the outset, I'd like to just show the refusal here and just set the table for the board as to what we're here for.
This refusal initially or application L&I was refused on two grounds, the proposed general industrial use of the property and also for a proposed roof deck.
Just so the board's clear at the outset here, we have since removed that roof deck component on our application that is reflected in the proviso plans and the plan form that we've submitted to the board.
The proposed use of the roof at all is just now for access to the mechanical equipment that might be up there.
And again, that's in the proviso plans that were submitted to the solicitor and also to within my packet here.
And this redesign was agreed upon with the Marcio, the 13th Ward Committee.
And that is also reflected in their understanding in the addendum to their letter of support that's within our application.
And I can share that.
Here, right here.
So all that remains for you is just the use of the property.
Just to show you pictures of the existing property here.
Let me see if I can zoom in here for you.
My client purchased this property.
Well, as you can see, the property is an existing two-story warehouse building.
The property was purchased by my client in July of 2021.
since purchasing the property and my client has expended time and resources to clean up the
property, which was a former blight in the community and it was vacant. At the time that
he bought the property, he bought the property with the understanding that this was zone CMX2.
As the board may be aware, the property was remapped to RSA5 unbeknownst to him.
um uh so our position here is under under rsa 5 the existing warehouse um is under utilization
of the property um the board as was submitted in my pack my packet here the board previously
granted relief um for the manufacturing use that we're now seeking uh here today um
Um, and, uh, and again, we met with the RCO, um, the 13th ward, um, RCO committee, we have
a letter of support with them.
And again, as I mentioned, we have, um, they understand that, that we were removing the
roof deck, uh, component of this.
And it's all that remains is just for the access to the mechanical.
Um, so, uh, being cognizant of the board's time, I would just assert that this is a minimum
variance.
It is in harmony with the zoning code.
We don't believe there would be any adverse impact to the public health, safety, or welfare of the community here.
We don't believe there is any harm to adjacent properties.
Again, we met with the community.
We don't believe there's any burden here on schools, park, public facilities.
No environmental damage or pollution are significant.
We believe that the requested relief will not order the character of the existing area.
In fact, it's, you know, this will keep the property as a useful part of the community, keeping kind of the status quo of the historical use of the property, eliminate an abandoned and blighted property from the community.
And we would respectfully assert that requiring compliance with RSA 5, such as a single family, one of the few other permitted uses.
compliance with RSA five, such as a single family,
one of the few other permitted uses constitutes
and under the utilization of the property here.
And it is sufficient to justify the hardship
for the variance that we're seeking.
And again, we're simply asking the same variance
that the board has previously granted
for the use of this property.
Mr. Chairman, if I could just ask my client
to raise his hand and come off of you
just to adopt and affirm my testimony.
Lionel Guerra, please.
Mr. Guerra has been allowed to speak, sir.
Would Mr. Guerra need to be sworn, Mr. Chairman or Madam Vice Chair?
Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
Lionel Guerra, L-I-O-N-E-L-G-U-E-R-R-A.
Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Proceed.
um mr garrett did you hear my testimony before the board yes i did and if you were to testify
would you adopt and affirm that testimony as if it were your own yes i would um sir chairman i also
have um our design professional here today and just in case the board has questions about the