ZBA Hearing - November 4, 2020

property zoning was recently changed as part of the 2017

Manchula zoning remapping. Planning Commission staff worked with the

community through multiple community meetings to address growth

that did not match the goals of the community. With the revised plans

and the community's approval, we do not have any opposition to granting the

variance for multiple units. Thank you very much.

MI-2020-001180

3602-04 Brandywine Street. My vote is yes with a proviso. Revised plans. One page stamped today.

Yes with proviso. Approved today.

Yes with proviso. Yes with proviso. Yes with proviso. Thank you. Thank you. Have a good day.

uh i think that's it on the uh add-on list is that correct we complete that's correct thank you

now we go to uh oakland we're going to hold to the end

oakland oakland oakland oakland and

And which case do we start with, Sharon?

Number one?

Number two should be next, Preston Street.

Number two.

I know you told me earlier, Tanya.

I apologize.

I moved all my paperwork around.

No worries.

847 North Preston Street, number two on your list.

Okay.

Professor, let's see.

MI 2020-001375, 847 North Preston.

P-R-E-S-T-O-N Street.

Chair, I've promoted Attorney David Guest for this case.

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

That's David Guest with Valorant Spar.

Mr. Guest, please spell your last name for the record.

Yes, it's G-E-S-T.

Thank you.

And do you swear and affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?

I do.

Thank you.

Please proceed.

Thank you.

Ms. Sunke, if we could please have the following people promoted.

my colleague Dina Bleckman from Ballard Spar, applicant and property owner Ken Weinstein,

and tenant David Rosencrans.

and tenant David Rosenkranz.

So who's gonna present?

So Dina Bleckman will be doing the slides

and the others will be speaking.

So I will promote Ms. Bleckman and the others,

if they raise their hand,

I can allow them to have audio testimony.

Great, thank you.

So hopefully I don't see Ken and David,

but hopefully you're out there and you can raise your hands

and we can get going.

Thank you. So, Dina, hopefully, if you can share your screen and put up the first slide

so we can have some context before we get started, that would be great.

Can you see the presentation?

Yes. Mr. Chair and others, you can see the presentation?

Yes, we can.

Great. Thank you. So, good afternoon again. As I mentioned, my name is David Guest.

I'm with Ballard Sparr here on behalf of property owner Preston Street Development Associates

and Philly Office Retail.

And as I mentioned, Ken Weinstein with Philly Office Retail and David Rosenkrantz, the proposed

tenant, are here with us as well.

And you'll hear from them shortly.

I just wanted to put on the record to refer to the exhibits that we submitted earlier,

which include various required documents, such as the tax clearance certificate, the

deed, various photographs, neighbor notice letters.

and we do have a letter of unanimous support from the RCO.

We held our RCO meeting on October 22nd,

went very well and received the support of everyone.

And that's the Belmont Alliance Civic Association CDC.

And I believe Ms. Betty Ferguson

may be in attendance this afternoon.

We may hear from her later.

I'm gonna give you a brief overview

and then I'll turn it over to Ken and David

to go through a few of the details,

but we can be relatively brief here for you. This is a request for a variance to reuse

an existing building in the Belmont neighborhood of West Philadelphia, as you can see here.

The building actually has been around since approximately the 1950s and has been used

for manufacturing and industrial purposes since that time. We have some documentation

of that in our exhibits. And really the proposal here is simply to rehabilitate the building

and reuse it for what's currently categorized as limited industrial and office use in a very

similar nature to what has been used there historically. Although it has been historically

used for that use, the building has actually been vacant for several years, so a variance is

technically required for the reuse because the property is located in an RSA3 zoning district,

and it's actually been located in a residential zoning district for many years as well. So it's

kind of a a building that's just been around for a long time in this spot and we're and we're reusing

it that's kind of the simplest way to put it and putting it back into productive use um as you'll

hear shortly uh from mr weinstein and mr rosencrans um the proposal includes the rehabilitation of the

building a lot of cleanup of the surrounding area things uh quality of life issues like

installation of security cameras uh proper loading unloading and trash pickup facilities

As you'll see in some photographs, the building already includes loading facilities because it

was used for these purposes in the past. There will be minimal impacts of any kind to the

surrounding area. In fact, there will be an improvement to the surrounding area because

of the cleanup that will occur due to the new use and the fact that the building has been vacant

for several years. And you'll hear that we have had some discussions that have been productive

with RCO about the details of that cleanup things like installing planters on the surrounding

sidewalks and things like that and as I said the RCO is unanimously in support

so briefly to wrap up my portion of this I'll you know just to confirm that denial of the

application would in fact cause an unnecessary hardship for the applicant as the building has

historically been and remains currently suited for industrial and office use and it's not suited at

all for any sort of residential use due to its layout and configuration you'll see in the

photographs that as I mentioned there already are the loading dock facilities you'll see in the

interior there's already an open floor plan there are thick walls and minimal windows to

keep any sounds within the building and it would be a hardship not to allow the reuse of the

existing facility in the manner that it has been used historically and has been approved of

historically. There will be no adverse effects on nearby properties and in fact, as I said,

the proposal will put a vacant building into productive use to benefit the neighborhood

and really improve the surrounding area. So with that, I will turn it over to Mr. Weinstein

who can go through a little more detail about the proposal and the discussions he's had with the

uh can go through a little more detail about the proposal and the discussions he's had

with the community and dina just asked you to flip through the photos so the

board can see them as mr weinstein is presenting thank you great thank you david um do i need to

be sworn in yes you do please identify yourself name name spell your first and last name for the

record? Ken Weinstein, K-E-N-W-E-I-N-S-T-E-I-N. And your involvement with this project? I am the

president of Philly Office Retail. We are the owners of the property. Thank you. You swear and

affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth? I do. So I have obviously appeared

before the zoning board several times. Philly Office Retail is a mission-oriented real estate

developer based in northwest philly we have owned this property for several years

preston street is a 28 000 square foot uh building uh currently vacant uh looks like

warehouse and office space we purchased philly office retail purchased this property in february

of 2018. It was originally built in the 1950s as a pump and valve manufacturing facility.

And as David said, it's zoned RSA3. The pump and valve company, CPV, sold it in 2014,

and it's been mostly vacant since that time. So we're seeking a zoning variance to once again

use it as an industrial building, in this case for the manufacturing of Pilates equipment.

So after listening to Belmont neighbors and seeking their input, we did make a number of promises to the community.

And in return at the RCO meeting, they did unanimously support this project 14-0.

In terms of lighting and security, we agreed to carefully place exterior lighting security cameras around the perimeter of the building.

The tenant agreed to, in terms of hiring, Gratz Industries agreed to seek employees from the neighborhood when possible by contacting the Civic Association every time there's a job opening to interview qualified local residents.

Gratz Industries, while they're not a Pilates instructor, they welcome the opportunity to explore partnerships with the local community to provide Pilates training and encourage participation.

In terms of beautification, Gratz Industries will be a good and responsible neighbor by keeping its sidewalks clean and green on a daily basis.

In terms of parking and traffic, the existing building is designed to accommodate off-street loading, and there's adequate parking available for employees.

And finally, in terms of trash and recycling, it'll be stored inside the building and picked up at the loading dock area on a weekly basis.

So let me turn it over.

We leased this building a couple months ago, but obviously the tenant cannot make the necessary improvements or occupy it for light industrial use without the zoning.

So let me turn this over to David Rosencrantz.

He will testify to what would be the nature of his testimony?

David Rosencrantz is the CEO of Gratz Industries and who will be the tenant occupying the building.

So, Mr. Chair, I'll just say, as Mr. Weinstein just said, it's the proposed tenant, but if you, you know, he can go into more detail as needed.

I don't know if you have a concern about that or anything.

I think we get the gist of everything here, and if you have one of the tenants, whoever it may be, or the owners that adopt your testimony, we can move on from there.

If there's anyone from the community, I'll ask if they have any.

Sure. I think that works for us. Mr. Rosencrantz, if you're there, if you could just do, would you agree to adopt the testimony of myself and Mr. Weinstein as your own?

I'm sorry, but...

I need to swear him in.

There's no one with their hand raised.

All right, no problem. So being an officer of the court, we'll stipulate that your client would be adopting your testimony.

Okay, thank you.

all right so i'll move on uh questions from the board no no anyone else would like to

testify in this case if so please raise your hand

no hands at this time thank you planning commission

No hands at this time.

Thank you.

Planning Commission?

Good afternoon, Chairman, members of the Board.

Ian Litwin, Planning Commission staff.

Although zoned for single-family residential use, this is an existing warehouse building.

The building could not be easily converted for residential use.

Therefore, we do not oppose granting the variance.

Thank you.

MI 2020

that's 001375

847

North Preston Street

my vote is yes

my vote is yes

my vote is yes

didn't mean to rush you

but I think we got we understood

where you were going

thanks very much understood we appreciate your time

thank you

take care

is the next case going to be Woodhaven

tanya am i am i calling woodhaven yep that's what i see

okay i'm going to double check thank you mi 2020-001384 4501 woodhaven road

i have promoted attorney stephanie boggs and chair before ms boggs starts we have a letter

of non-opposition from councilman o'neill and if this is approved it is with revised plans three

pages thank you thank you good afternoon again miss boggs i understand you're as you know you're

already sworn in but please just identify yourself for the record yeah sure stephanie boggs bo ggs

1835 market street suite 1400 um i have with me today um hardy trolla who is a representative

of sam properties the owner of this center um christopher vernon from mercer management who's

the tenant and operator representative,

and Justin Giannetti from Dynamic Engineering,

who is our project engineer, should there be any questions.

But as you said, this project is at 4501 Woodhaven.

It is specifically for a condo unit two.

I can turn my screen.

The site is, this is condo unit two on the right.

This site is an existing shopping center

that's been in need of refurbishment

since our client purchased the property a couple years ago, and he has been working to do that

and to bring new tenants to the site. So we are proposing, we are requesting a use variance for

an interior car wash facility to be put at the existing building that's located at unit two

to create an addition to that building and refab it for an interior car wash. The car wash that

we're proposing is all going to be interior. So the mechanical equipment that will be there,

the vacuums, the parking spaces for the customers internally will be located within the site.

You can go into that in more detail. And there is also ample accessory parking in the parking lot.

This is in the CA1 zone. And car washes are specifically defined as a personal vehicle

repair and maintenance use. We are requesting a variance for that approval. As mentioned earlier