MI 2021-003519-3632 North 16th Street.
I vote yes.
Harold Tenere my vote is yes. Thomas Holloman my vote is yes. James Snell my vote is yes.
Ismail Shaheed my vote is yes. Thank you. All right Vern please stay on a minute.
Yes sir. MI 2021 003 385 4321 Tyson. No RCO letter received at this point.
Tyson, no RCO letter received at this point.
You've already been sworn in.
Our vice chair has a few questions.
Thank you.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Do you know if the required documents have been submitted?
I submitted everything but for the RCO letter.
I would like to be able to have the RCO weigh in on this.
So at the board's discretion, I'm offering either to either continue the matter so that we can continue to talk to the RCO and get their input or present our case and have a resumption hearing where only the RCO letter would be read into the record prior to the board's vote.
I would leave that up to the board at your discretion.
Why don't we do that?
Why don't we do that?
the latter yep thank you
may i proceed yeah sure thank you this is an application at 4321 tyson
for using a two-family dwelling in an existing structure um i will pull out here and show you
what we're proposing
here's the property itself and it has a detached garage in the rear
the basement would be for utilities only the first floor would be one
large apartment and the second floor would be an apartment as well
and i'm going to show share some photos
property's been vacant for a few years now
and my client purchased it and would like to make it a duplex the property is large enough
and there are other multi-family dwellings on the block
we did meet with the RCO there's the letter that went out to Taconi Civic Association and all its
immediate neighbors we met with them and also invited everyone to today's hearing
there's proof of mailing 80 individual part of pieces of mail went out to different households
we have tax clearance certification again we do not have a position letter yet from the rco
but uh we would respectfully request the relief because this is a particular block on the 4300
block of Tyson, has several multifamily homes. This property does need to be rehabbed. And my
client believes it's best and highest use would be a two-family dwelling at approachable price
points, one on the entire first floor and one unit on the entire second floor. And with that,
I'm going to have my client raise his hand, Zong, G-Z-O-N-G-I, me, M-I, Zhu, Z-H-U.
Mr. Zhu, are you up present? Please raise your hand.
Chair, I don't see anyone with that name with their hand up at this time.
He was present, Mr. Chairman.
Hold on a moment.
Mr. Zhu, you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair's instructions.
state your name and spell for the courtroom word please uh okay uh k-o-n-g-m-i-c-s-u
do you swear for him to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing about the truth
thank you mr zoo did you hear my presentation to the board today
yes is it true and accurate to the best of your knowledge
yes and do you adopt it as your own testimony yes thank you mr chair i have nothing else if
there's any questions questions from the board no mr chairman no mr no mr chairman oh mr chairman
okay questions from the virtual audience
i see no hands at this time chair playing planning commission
Thank you, Chair Bergman. Ian Hegarty for the Philadelphia City Planning Commission.
Again, a comprehensive plan recommends no change to the RSA 3 zoning. The applicant's hardship
claim has not been supported with evidence of unique physical circumstances or conditions
of the property. City Planning Commission recommends that the Board deny the variance.
Tanya will resume this for a resumptive hearing, waiting on the RCO.
Tanya will resume this for a presumptive hearing, waiting on the RCO. Thank you.
Thank you.
Do we have anything in place for a date, Mr. Anastasio?
I ask for maybe another 30 days.
I'll try to get them to produce their letter.
Would that be okay?
So this is January.
We'll do February.
the third week in february does that work for you let me get the date or record yes it does
i'm only here i mean that's only the place i'd be okay so okay i just didn't want to make sure
we don't have a conflict with you but i can do
tanya we have the 15th and the 16th that week thank you um madam vice chair
We can do the 15th at 9.30, Mr. Anastasio.
Thank you, Ms. Sanket.
Okay, thank you all.
MI 2021-003351, 527-37 West Rod Avenue.
Paul Turner is the attorney.
A letter from South Kensington Partners with revised plans.
Mr. Toner is coming back in now as a panelist chair.
Mr. Toner.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
Could you state your name and spell for the court report, please?
Absolutely. Paul Toner, T-O-N-E-R. I'm the attorney for the applicant, 527 West Gerard, LLC.
Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
The vice chair has a few questions.
Good morning. Do you agree to wait the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
We do, yes.
have you emailed all of the required documents in with the exhibit packet
we have yes okay you may proceed thank you very much mr
mr chairman um what i've now shared on the screen is the proposed rendering for my clients
uh repurposing a preservation of an historic structure at six and gerrard this property
does not look like anything close to what's in the rendering right now.
In its current condition, the property has sat in a state of disrepair for a number of decades.
As you will see, and as is revealed through the zoning archives,
this property has seen a number of uses over the years,
including plumbing supply, batting cages, check cashing uses, dance halls, bingo parlors,
a whole array of uses that really led to the ultimate disrepair of this property.
So what my client is proposing to do is to take the existing structure,
maintain all the historic components of the existing structure,
including the cornice, the windows, and the overall outline of the building itself,
and build an addition to the rear of the property
that has already been reviewed and approved by the Historic Commission.
so we have received a total of three refusals um that are at issue before the board today
and each one of these refusals uh relates to the new addition that's going to be
constructed constructed in the rear of the property those refusals are minimum rear yard
death which right now there is a hundred percent lot coverage on this building and because we're
proposing a new addition under the zoning code we would have to comply with the existing code
provisions for a new addition, but it is important for the board to know the existing features of
this building have 100% lot coverage. The number of dwelling units. By code, we're in the CMX2
zoning district, which allows by right 21. Our refusal is for 41. After meeting with the
community, we have been able to reduce the number of units from 41 to 38, which we're going to
discuss a little bit as we go through the exhibits and testimony here today. And finally, the third
refusal is for height. In the CMX2 zoning district, the maximum height is 38 feet. What the refusal
was issued for was 82. 82 includes the stair towers, which under 14701-6 should not have been
included within the maximum height refusal the actual max the actual height of this building
the actual max the actual height of this building is 73 as was originally submitted to lni again
is 73 as was originally
after extensive neighborhood input and consultation we have reduced the height of
the new addition structure from 73 down to 66. this property has um it has a long history itself
in terms of this specific proposal proposal it also has a long history and as the board's aware
is aware, the South Kensington neighbors have issued a letter of support, actually a very
strong letter of support. And we believe the letter of support reflects the amount of concessions,
discussions, and understandings that my client has agreed to with the neighbors,
all in an effort to preserve the historic structure. With us on the Zoom today is two
representatives of my clients, Matt Samola and Alan Delphiner, as well as a project architect,
Judy Robinson of Continuum Architects. And within our zoning packet, we have both revised
zoning plans, revised floor plans and schematics, as well as relevance documents from the zoning
archive, our original zoning plans for comparison purposes. We have our RCO 14303 notice packages
for both our first RCO meeting, which took place in October of 2022, as well as the second RCO
meeting, which took place in January, two days ago of 2022. Those RCO proof of service are
included as 15 and 16 in our zoning packet. We also have a proviso form that indicates the
changes being made. Going back to what's being presented today.
The existing structure, while the outline remains of its historic character, it's fallen into
disrepair. The proposal after going through the historical commission has a number of significant
changes. First of all, the windows, which are not currently in an intact condition, are all being
restored. The historic commission have requested that we remove all the paint from the window
archways right here which are going to be done in the new in our proposal. The transoms along
with the intricate window work are also all being restored. And then in the center of the property
is a Celestri that right now is,
I'll give you a current view of Celestri.
Right here has been built over and essentially destroyed.
My client's proposing to bring back that Celestri to life
and restore it to its original condition.
In terms of the historic commission,
This property has received full review and approval as of July 13, 2021, based upon the plans before the board today.
But it's actually the second time in the past two years that this proposal has been before the Historic Commission.
The legal owner, Mr. Berger, made an application contemporaneous with the nomination of this property for placement on the Registry of Historic Places.
As included in Exhibit 5, Keeping Society nominated this property in 2019.
Oscar Beisler was the nominee himself and appeared before the Historic Commission.
After extensive review, the Historical Commission granted approval in February of 2020, which is included within Exhibit 5.
The nomination itself includes some additional pictures of the historic property, as well as some aerials to help show exactly what we're doing.
So right here where my cursor is, this is the section of the property that's going to be demolished.
The rear of the property is not visible currently from either 6th Street, which is to the left here, and Girard Street, which is to the bottom of my cursor here.
And when the Planning Commission granted their approval in August of 2020, their conceptual
approval, this is what was before them.
The prior owner had proposed four different scenarios, and the Historical Commission had
and the historical commission had approved the first two which included as you can see in scenario
approved the first two, which included
two six eight or ten story the historic commission ultimately stipulated they wanted a six-story
building and as the board is before the board today is my client's proposal which is less than
what the historic commission approved conceptually back in 2020. this is a rendering of what the
Historical Commission had conceptually approved. And this is the eight-story addition that they
thought would be appropriate for the property. Although this is eight stories, but the six-story
is right here, which the Historical Commission thought would be appropriate for the property.
Exhibit 6 includes our zoning plans along with elevations. I just want to walk through those
plans real quick and our architect is also here who can answer any questions but just to highlight
some of the more important areas um first of all on the right here you see an outline dotted outline
this property in addition to repurposing and preserving all the historic elements is going
to include a pretty vast solar array to have a green element to the property it's going to be
situated all in along the front of the building facing gerrard avenue and there's going to be a
second solar array on the new addition, and this is tucked away in the back left-hand
corner. The proposal is going to have an open courtyard area in the center, and this is
actually going to allow for an increase in open area. As I mentioned before, right now
in its existing condition, there's 100% lot of coverage.
My client's proposal includes opening up the center portion
to allow air and light to all the units in the front here
and to create a courtyard environment.
And in the second page of Exhibit 6, the elevations,
you can see how the open courtyard is going to be situated
in the back of the existing structures.
And then again, on the drawer elevation, which is the third page of Exhibit 6, you can see the
railing areas, the planter boxes, all that will be included within the open courtyard.
I also want to direct your attention to the height of the building.
The existing structures are all 42 feet in height. My client's new addition on the back
is proposed at 66 feet in height, with the top of the stair towers at an additional 9 feet.
But per the code, the height is 66 feet.
Moving to Exhibit 7, which are the floor plans, as well as the schematic section.
Beginning with the upper left-hand corner floor plan, which includes the first floor plan,
there is going to be a large storage area for bicycles, including e-bike for charging
stations. Originally, we had proposed 14 bicycle parking areas. This includes 20 now. There
is a dedicated trash storage area right to the north, or I guess this would be the east
of the bike parking area and that is going to be for all the new units it's going to be accessible
through the open courtyard onto gerard there'll be a private private trash collection service
the units themselves before the board today is a proposal of 38 total units
those units are all going to be a similar size the majority will be in similar size
and that's ranging from 486 square feet to 871 square feet. So all these units are going to be
of a good healthy dimension. They're all going to be situated as a mezzanine style, loft style
apartment unit that is intended to go with the garden flow of the property open area concept.
Moving to the second floor floor plan, again, the center will all be open below.