it's four feet out of the ground so there's you know there is some light in there down there
we would ask that the board consider allowing us to have basement living the board under similar
circumstances did the same recently I think about six months ago on that block individual trash
closets they we have one on each floor for the second and third floor units we have I believe
on the first floor we have trash stored outside we you know we we think there's adequate room
outside for trash laws for storage outside but if the board feels so inclined obviously we we
leave it to the board's discretion as to unit number one household storage we think there is
adequate household storage or it's not unreasonable what we're proposing so we think the floor plans
are adequate as is and um we we have no issues stating on the record here today that what we
presented to the community and what we are presenting to zba today is what's going to be
built and i think that's what they're asking of us excuse me with item five next uh that's just
a previous letter so we presented from the board 1838 north van pelt street where again extraordinary
mansion community concern was in non-opposition this board granted i think it's almost exactly
the same provisos excuse me uh review granted this the variance request that we're asking for today
nearby comparable recently granted variances so 1846 uh again multi-family living three units
and you can see here has the same type of refusals regarding rear yard depth and occupied area as
12 which is next door thank you uh again would have no adverse our our application would have
no adverse effect on that project either 1838 again multi-family living again you look at the
refusals uh very similar to what we're seeking uh today uh eight i think it's still 1838 uh 1812
north band pell street also multi-family living i can't see that it's so small 43 1843 uh 1816
1816 around the corner 2108 buck now aerial views. You can see, like, we're trying to fill in this block, you know, property by property. Um, and so again, it's, you know, we're hoping that the board grants the variances. So this block could be further developed, uh, to provide affordable housing. Uh, here's the aerial view. Again, you can see, again, just the building structures. This is from Atlas, but there's not as many building structures here that there should be.
around the corner 2108 buck now ariel
so we're hoping to fill in the block maps of the area while this is an rsa5 zoning classification
block based on the you know the history of the properties nearby and what's being built there
this is really multi-family in nature and there's mixed zoning as well nearby rm1 and such
photographs of the property it's vacant lot then this property has been vacant for some time you
can see their war structures there at some time as far back as 2009 nearby but they're not there
now uh our hearing notice poster of trying to put you know uh focus on showing the actual
language in there uh north brand pell street to the right we've told all of our clients so some
of them you know you'll see it more and more now uh north brand pell street to the right of the
property to the left of the property and then our plans and drawings uh again the rendering
you can see it's really raised out of the ground uh the height of the building is 37 and a half
feet again we purposefully to give as much light and air downstairs as possible uh next uh again
just a site plan again confirming you know if we can zoom in to show the four feet out of the ground
all right there we go showing the four feet out of the ground window wells um showing the height
as well we can go zoom out a little bit showing the 37 and a half feet that we're within the
height limits and then this is unit number one oops you're number one you come in um you have
a kitchen and dining room area you have a light well that was specific to make sure that there's
enough light you know for the downstairs unit as much as possible so creative architecture to help
when you're mid-block it's really hard to get as the light in the basement so we're trying to
by way of this light well and then there's a bedroom and there's actually two bathrooms and
you know the bathrooms are close to the bedrooms right so that's a good thing uh who are you
talking to i don't know i see miss gaston and there's a hallway leading to the rear yard mr
johns that's right there's a hallway so we're not going to bed we're not putting a hall you made
them both smile exactly so all right uh and then we have some bedrooms down there as well um but
you know an extra living area but with the light well i think it's going to be helpful plus the
we're out of the ground so we have the light in the front and the back as well all right uh bedroom
two pretty straightforward you have you know the windows in the front you have the kitchen you have
the living room uh you have the light well kind of going up there as well the two bedrooms and
again the bathrooms are right next to the bedrooms and then finally and there's washer and dryers in
all the units um and then you can see the trash closet in there as well and then the third unit
is just like that i don't believe that yeah we don't have a a roof deck access structure obviously
to you know you know to respect strawberry mansion and their concerns as well all right continue
uh we met with the community on september 14th
and uh we emailed notice of that community notice and just going back to the envelope
how we try to like we're very flexible our firm and our clients you know it's asked of us to make
sure that you know a lot of times unfortunately these notices look like trash mail and so what
we put in there we try to whatever the community asks us within reason and they asked us to put
public community meeting information so it doesn't get trashed hopefully next and then we sent it to
uh 131 addresses this notice these are the proof of mailing to those addresses the addresses
behind it our applications for zoning variance along with our notice refusal and the project
information form the deed to the property showing van pelt properties llc is the owner of their
property and then filing our tax clearance um i would ask that colby virtually raise his hand
colby you're allowed to speak now
sir could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
hello this is colby kennedy uh c-o-l-b-y last name kennedy k-e-n-n
uh c-o-l-b-y last name kennedy k-e-n-n-e-d-y do you swear or affirm the tell the truth the
whole truth nothing but the truth yes counsel colby you heard everything i had to state today
about your zoning matter that's correct yes and what i stated was that true and correct
yes and do you adopt it as your own testimony yes thank you questions from the board can you pull
Pull up the plans again, just 1 more pull up the site plan. Yeah, no, that's a plan that basement plan. The 1st floor plan.
Okay, I'm trying to figure out. I'm trying to figure out how the units work out.
Sure, can you walk us through the sort of how the meeting went? Cause it seems that they had a number of concerns and provisos, and I just want to see how they're being addressed.
were you aware or okay with the provisos that they suggested well some of them a lot of them
are not enforceable provisos um what i said only two yeah so i um again the trash one is always
i i think i specifically acknowledged i can't remember the other one that would know household
living in basement yes well i and i addressed that too like the one i think yeah yeah that's
why I addressed each one separately during the presentation. I personally gave that
community meeting. It was not well attended. But again, getting a letter of non-opposition
from strawberry matching community concerns speaks volumes about the viability of what
they think of this project and the merits of it. So the other, you know, again, I think
we address those concerns, just like the other variants request, but a project, which they
supported as well. And I think in that one, they mentioned nothing about household living in the
basement. We can pull that up. But it's a mirror image that the presentation, where we're four
feet out of the ground. I think that one didn't even have the window, the well. So like, I think
the light well, the light well, yeah. So I thought that was a great job by Justin to like, kind of
get as much light in there and there um i just wanted to know because i mean to me to have no
household living in the basement objectively changes what we just looked at and so it's still
a recommended proviso from them which is why i wanted you know your team to address it yeah i
think it's you know it's something we could still do the project without household living in the
basement i think it's the way we designed this is a really interesting unique way to get as much light
in there down there and can we see that basement yeah i guess just to clarify because it looks at
me that there's two bedrooms in the basement is the first unit a three bedroom three bath or a
four bedroom three bath yeah i don't know if that's i think yeah the label it's a four bed three bath
yeah i mean that's what's drawn yeah okay yeah
how are you getting light into i'm trying to figure out the light well so you've got the light
well on the first floor going up but there's no light well in the basement yeah i think in that
same location i think there may be a mislabeling there obviously there could be a reconfiguration
with that light well there's more than enough light uh opportunities down there to have that
light well so i do see or or or a skylight or something you know what i mean a ceiling you know
somewhere okay i just i just couldn't because i didn't see it sort of going all the way down to
the basement so i'm trying to figure out where where it landed okay if if you want we can promote
justin uh coleman who's the architect for the project and he can further explain no i'm i'm good
i i can i understand it now just i didn't see it so i was trying to figure out how that how that
work so your your your living room for the first floor for the first level unit is in the basement
and the kitchen and dining is on the on the upper floor yes and this was asked of us the last time
we presented in front of strawberry mansion community concern and this board granted these
are the i think they may be the exact same floor plans other than the light well um you know i
i don't know the dimensions are different for this property versus the other but i do think
that we can definitely like look at you know making sure that we we mimic uh the light well
in the basement so all the questions questions from our attorney
i don't think so at this time questions or comments from the virtual audience
Yes, I have strawberry matching community concern.
They will be allowed to speak.
strawberry mansion community concern you're free to speak you hear me good afternoon hi can you
hear me sure could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer good afternoon
chairman bergman and the board um my name is bonita cummings b as in boy o-n-i-t-a is the
first name cummings c-u-m-m-i-n-g-s is the yes i do we're referring to tell the truth the whole
truth nothing but the truth i do please proceed okay um our position i'm i'm i'm not sure if you
all received the the letter um we have it okay so our position is non-opposition with caution
and recommended provisos we recognize that the board approved a similar development at 1838
north van pelt street on this same block in april which um if you review was with no basement living
um so we had an extensive conversation about that and why it would be today that
it we you know we discussed no basement living so they're saying something different than what
was presented however we want to emphasize that our non-opposition should not be interpreted as
an endorsement of these dimensional departures lni requires a maximum occupied area of 75
93 is proposed the required rear yard is nine feet only five feet is proposed our concern
The concern extends beyond this property what happens to Philadelphia's future housing when substantial dimensional requirements repeatedly become exceptions.
Rare yards and open space are not simply numbers on a zoning form.
They affect sunlight, air circulation, ventilation, separation between buildings, and the quality of life of existing and future residents.
The community should not have to choose between welcoming new development and preserving
reasonable living conditions.
We therefore ask the board to carefully consider these consequences and if approval is granted
to incorporate the provisos contained in our written decision letter into the approval.
Of course, it seems that it's going to be three units, but we talked extensively about
this basement living particularly we're cooking in the basement 38 was without any basement living
from my understanding of the uh granted all right thank you very much for taking the time we
we appreciate your your input is there anyone else in the virtual audience there are no other hands
planning commission good afternoon liz fuselay on behalf of the philadelphia city planning
commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the rsa 5 residential single family
zoning at this location the city rezoned this neighborhood in 2014 in accord with recommendations
in the comprehensive plan this block face contains a mix of single family and multi-family dwelling
units the city planning commission recommends that the board grant the proposed use and
dimensional variances with a proviso for three units mi 2026 002 946 1844 north van pelt street
i vote yes with proviso maximum three dwelling units interior trash storage michael jonathan
my vote is yes with proviso cheryl gaston my vote is yes with proviso tenetta graham my vote is yes
proviso brian mcadams my vote is yes with proviso tywin my vote is yes with proviso
taylor bibi my vote is yes with proviso thank you who's doing number four
are you leaving him yeah i figured that yeah number four mi 2026 002 987 200 uh monastery
avenue um alex goldberg is the attorney mr goldberg you've already been sworn just for
the record could you please state your name alex goldberg okay um could you identify your client
a relationship to the property sure my clients are the equitable owners of the property justin mendez
and kirsten helmuth and i believe justin is in the virtual audience um we're going to hold this
i need to stand for a corrected refusal i did i wasn't aware of that oh i checked with ellen i
about the refusal a month or two ago they I thought there may have been a
mistake in it they told me I was wrong and it was correct but I guess I was
right but sorry Lynn Reidel Huber board council yes I was gonna tell you you
um yes i was going to tell you you needed to get a correct refusal because the parking
needed to get a correct refusal because the parking
is that that's what i i did i asked her about it i'll be blunt outside inside and both of them
are they were on your plans so they were there but they weren't noted in the refusal but before
you do that um we're going to advise you to go to streets to get approval prior to seeking the
corrected refusal okay we aren't i mean understood our site plan isn't asking for a surface parking
space there's there's room for a car there so okay for the whether it's understood regardless
it park a car somewhere got it which i honestly and the rco raised it at the pre-community meeting
and i reached out to ellen i yeah i saw it on the plans first and then i read the rco okay all good
like there's not parking so um is l and i going to issue that automatically or is there something
i need to request okay okay i can do that they want you to request we don't request anymore for
i understood so we're going to hold it for that okay our uh vice chair has a few questions good
afternoon have you submitted your documents and exhibits 14 days in advance of this hearing i have
and do you wait that we know your issues also stipulate to their accuracy with the exception
of the one we just spoke to i do okay thank you see your screen and proceed with the case okay
uh so this is a single family home my clients are residents of manny on groxborough they're
renters there now and this is a lot that they own and and hope to be homeowners and build this uh
this home and my client justin is uh he owns his own construction company so he'll actually
be building it himself as well um we have we we will have three refusals but the notice of
refusal is showing too. The first one is for minimum side yard width. This is an irregular
shaped lot, so we have a varied side yard width that at its smallest point is the minimus variance
of 13 inches, 3 feet 11 inches where 5 feet is required, but at its largest it's 9 feet 9 inches
with plenty of space to sort of get front to back and back to front. The next refusal is an odd one
because of the position of this lot um the code is essentially asking us to match the front our
front setback to the side setback of a detached garage of a property that is on a different street
we are not right on the corner but we're the last monastery property before fleming street which
i'll show you when we get to the map and fleming street has a decent amount of frontage on
monastery there's a detached carport there and um the code is asking us to match the front of
our building with that detached carport um we are significantly set back i actually would object to
the to the accuracy of this refusal saying it's a zero foot setback um and and we'll i'll show you
what that looks like when we get to the plans we met with crca they had the same questions about
the refusal um and you know generally they were supportive of having a young couple being
homeowners in their in their neighborhood um area of views this is what our property looks like so
essentially this is the fleming street property um this is the detached garage and then on the
other side we have a lyceum property uh which fronts you know which the home is back here and
you essentially have this very uphill rear yard so we don't have a monastery property on either side
the code looked to the Fleming Street property, which would certainly make more sense than
matching a setback of the Lyceum property. And that's how we got that second refusal.
And then here's a map view where you can see all the same things.
There is a history of parking here. This property was approved for
parking and storage of personal items in 2012. So it's not sort of like a clean curb cut. It's
of like a depressed gravel entry but there's a history of legal parking on this property
and there's a history there's also many examples of parking on this block which you'll see