I believe a five of our original packet we don't have that in front of us so we're only able to
see what's on the screen so could you make that a little bit there you go okay thank you so here
Mr. Chair on the left hand side there was a proposed rear deck Natalie keep going to the next
so we can show the rendering again if you look in the on the right hand side Mr. Chair of this
next exhibit you'll see the grayish building that's the rear and you can see there's a deck
that comes all the way out to the to the rear wall property line we are totally eliminating that
so that we are no longer taking up 100% of the rear yard at all or nor are we
having the vertical supports. Now, Natalie, if you could go to that last A20 slide now
that shows the revised plans, we'll give the board a feeling for what we're doing to eliminate
anything regarding the rear yard. So as I said, Mr. Chair, our position is going to be
that in the RSA 5, you need nine feet of rear yard space. Here's the revised. This is the
building the proposed building uh if you go if you can see it i guess it's a little flipped
Uh, if you go, if you can see it, I guess it's a little flipped, but I don't know if you can see that brownish, uh, there it is.
but i don't know if you can see
The spiral, instead of a deck that's going to go all the way to the back now, we've replaced it with just this little landing off the sliding glass door from their dining area, uh, with a spiral staircase down to the rear.
So by doing that, and if you look at our revised site plan, Natalie, maybe you can get that one up and we can zero in on it.
That's just the review. There it is, I guess.
Rotate the view clockwise. Here we go. Go over to the left-hand side of it. Go over.
Okay. And then focus in. If you can see, Mr. Chairman, members of the board, what we've done is there's a bubble, a little violet bubble that shows like a two-foot-six landing.
And you can see the dimension is from that edge of the landing to the rear yard.
It's rear wall. It's nine feet, six inches.
We're only required to show it's nine feet. I'm sorry, nine feet.
So we're only required to have a nine foot rear yard.
There is an exception in the code in for decks,
because we think that the landing may be technically a deck,
even though it's two feet, six and not that very big.
It's a square two feet, six by two feet, six,
that even if that's the case,
staircases aren't included in taking up space.
However, we still are meeting the nine foot,
the rear yard opening area,
which will prevent us from impairing any light and air
to the adjacent neighbor behind us.
And I'll have Carolina Pena identify herself
when the time comes to architect just to confirm,
you know, because I do have an ESQ after my name,
but I'm certainly not an AIA or an RA.
And so with that change, that's the change we're making after having received the concerns of the Fishtown neighbors.
Now, the other thing that we'll raise is this.
They're concerned about a large apron in front of the garage.
So if you go to the front, go down, we have a front yard.
We're set back seven feet, five inches.
Now, the interesting thing about this is that under the Philadelphia zoning code, when you're in the RSA 5 residential district, you are required, if there is a building, a principal building on a lot next to you, you are required to match the setback on the closest building to the subject property that is on the same block face.
If there is no minimum, then the front setback is zero. And that's at 14701B of the Philadelphia Code. And Natalie, if you would go to our pictures, we'll now show the board.
This is the front of the property as it is along Earl Street.
Now, just go down, scroll down to the next ones.
Mr. Chairman, hold on, go back a little bit.
Go back one, two, there's the zonius.
If you see just above our building, Mr. Chairman, members of the board, that stucco building in the back,
that's the candy factory condominiums that are front on Columbia Avenue behind us.
The gray building to the right is the 1133 Columbia multifamily dwelling also.
The interesting thing about that is by pulling back and creating the nine feet of open area for the rear yard,
we are pulling ourselves legally away from blocking any light and air to this stucco area of the condominium homes that are there at the candy factory.
Now, Natalie, go to the next picture.
Next picture.
Now, here's the interesting thing. In between us, because we're where those dumpsters are, Natalie, yeah, those dumpsters and the ones in the front, you'll see that there's like an off ramp, right, where Natalie has next to the car, to the left of the car.
there's a ramp that goes down for 1133 columbia that runs all the way
the service the underground parking lot for 1133 columbia so the closest building to us
is this house at 1126 earl that is already set back and we're matching their setback and has
an off-street parking garage and we have that at a19 in your packet
we show that the prior approval was granted through a variance for that that garage way back
when so keep going with the next pictures through five and and you'll see it again in six go to seven
there's the ramp going down at 1133 uh go to the next picture
And there's that home that we're matching up our setback. So that has a front apron. And if you look at the concern of Fishtown neighbors, was that we were creating this large apron in the front.
now there's that home that we're matching up our setback so that has a front apron
Thank you.
Well, the reason why we're creating the large apron in the front is we're compelled to have a large apron in the front because of the provision of the zoning code at 14701B that says that if there's a principal building in an adjacent lot or the next lot after that, you have to match up to that.
So we didn't get a refusal for setting back so far, and that's why because we're matching up to this.
Now, the interesting thing is to our left, and Natalie, you'll just cycle through number nine, number 10.
That shows you the ramp going down next to us that leads back to 1133.
It goes through 12th.
That goes up to Girard Avenue.
And then you see the garage again at 13 and then 14.
What I need us to go to now would be to go to our photos 49 through 63 at A14, 49 through 63, because what we're going to show you, and I'm going to get this, is you're starting to see at 49, just to the left of all the dumpsters, there's like a black iron wrought fence, and you can see the parking space.
Now go to the next one, 40, 50. That is the parking lot, the surface parking lot for the Candy Factory condominiums, which are where Natalie is highlighting again, the stucco, two-story stucco right behind our lot.
That lot runs directly from Columbia Avenue back to Earl Street.
So, go through the next couple of photos just so we'll give the board a flavor for this parking lot that's next to us, 53.
Go through through 63.
Just again, you can see the house.
You can see our lot.
Keep going.
You keep going to 57 and 58 and 59 and 60, 61, 62, and 63.
And that way, so you have a flavor for what we're next to.
So we are wedged between the surface parking lot with the curb cut for the candy factory
that runs from Columbia Avenue and a ramp curb cut that goes up and down and provides ingress
and egress for another property at 1133 Columbia. And then right next to us is another setback for
with a parking garage for a single family home. So what we're trying to say is, and I'm going to
have Mr. Azoulay confirm all this because I don't want to be too much of a talking head,
but I want to condense it because I know the board's spent a lot of time today.
So that what we're saying is this neighborhood has a lot of curb cuts on it. Now, directly across
the street from us, Natalie, if you were to show us pictures 45 through 57, I think we would be
able to show there's a curb cut that allows 10 houses. Keep going. Keep going. That's
That's just that down again, the ramp and the difference between the ramp down into 1133 Columbia that's next to us to show you.
That's the property that's next to the parking lot for Candy Factory.
Keep going.
That's our property again.
Go up to 53.
And I guess I have other pictures that show right across the street.
We also have at A19, I did a little map that I call the East Earl Curb Cuts.
It's A29, rather.
I'm sorry.
It's A29.
I want our bait stamp, Natalie, if you could get to that.
And that would show that right across the street from us, it's entitled 1124 East Palmer.
there's a curb cut directly across the street from us that services 10 single-family homes
that are built on a perpendicular to Earl Street running over to East Palmer Street.
Now, keep going.
This is a – keep going.
Keep going.
You see the houses are – keep going.
The houses are right across the street from us, those gray and white.
And you can see maybe where you see the – there it is.
That's directly across the street from us.
That is 1124 East Palmer. There are 10 single family attached homes that have garages that access off of that.
But that's curb cut directly across the street. So what our our position is that and parking.
I know, Mr. Chairman, you asked about parking at another 1122, which was the East Oak Lane property.
There is parking allowed on the opposite side or the north side of Earl Street, but there is no parking allowed on our side on our block face so that any curb cuts.
on our side on our block face so that any curb cuts the new proposed curb cut that we're putting
in would not take away any street parking also with having set back the building
it gives us a little extra added turn to get into the into the garage so we won't block traffic
entering and exiting the property as you can see possibly from the site plan that we've shown
We do have the street breakdown, and Earl Street is a 8-foot sidewalk, 16-foot cartway, and another 8-foot sidewalk for 32 feet.
So that's where we're headed with that.
So really, basically, we feel that by addressing the rear yard and taking away that deck and just putting that spiral and creating the open area and the rear yard that is needed to give light and air to the property behind us.
And because of the requirement of the code that we already have to set back seven feet, six inches and create an apron, that we're down to two issues for Fishtown neighbors.
One is no viable living space on the ground floor, reducing eyes on the street.
If we go back, Natalie, to 20 and show our rendering, you'll see that, yes, we have a garage on them.
if you go to the rendering uh we have a garage
on the on that'll be facing it we're going to put cameras in the front and cameras
are probably a better deterrent or better way of finding out what's going on on the street
especially when you're stuck between a surface parking lot and a ramp that goes down to a
multi-family dwelling building on another another lot the other thing that's interesting about this
property is we have an easement along that sidewalk to the if you see the fence there's
right where natalie is there's a sidewalk and we put it in your packet is we have an easement
agreement to allow us to use that so that there's going to be a side entrance way to the house when
you come in you'll come in off the side rather than to the rather than off the front so that
that is our you know that's where we're at so that it really comes down to fna's comment that
they are generally opposed to off street parking lacking a demonstrated hardship we're going to
maintain that this is a unique property because of how we're situated with curb cuts as I said
curb cuts to the left of us curb cuts curb cuts to the right of us we're just surrounded by curb
cuts and that would impinge on our ability to enjoy the you know to even use the property
because of all these different curb cuts in and out so with that Mr. Chairman we're left with just
the general opposition we feel to whether or not we should be allowed to have parking in a situation
like this. As I said, with all these different curb cuts and access issues, by having the apron
and having this garage, we will, instead of maybe giving somebody a reason to just park on the
sidewalk and block the pedestrian right away, we'll give people a reason to pull their car inside
and not block the pedestrian right-of-way.
So it's a long-winded way to say
we're trying to address what we got
from the Fistown neighbors,
but given the uniqueness of this property,
we believe that we have a real hardship.
So with that, I would like to call up Amit Azouay,
who is the owner of and the developer
and builder of this property.
Amit, will you unmute yourself
and let the chairman swear you in.
hello hi this is a good evening uh please identify yourself spell your first and last name
good evening my name is amit that's a m as in max i t as in tom azulay a z o u l a y
thank you swear and affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yes i do thank you mr pollack yes amit can you uh you've heard what i've stated on the record
do you adopt that as your testimony yes yes i do okay now can you just briefly tell us tell the
board what went into your thinking about trying to put up a put in a an accessory to two car garage
interior totally for this property given the location next to these curb cuts no disrespect
i think we get we get it okay i'll leave it up to my board my fellow board members if they have
any questions all right okay we would just ask the board that if they're if you're so inclined
to vote yes on this give us based on the proviso so that we can you know a limb we've with that
chose the revised plan we've submitted that to miss saletta i think we may have to make a little
adjustment to our uh explanation but if the board is so inclined we would appreciate with how many
how many pages it's it's the the uh it's two pages plus the plan the uh the application form
two to revise play uh pages two revisions two pages yes thank you thank you so with that mr
Thank you. So with that, Mr. Chair, I would call on Carolina Pena real quick, the architect, just to hopefully just to affirm what I said, but Mr. Chairman, we'll let it go.
and i i would call on carolina
We'll let it go. Thank you. Questions from the board?
No, sir.
Anyone else would like to testify in this case? If so, please raise your hand.
No hands at this time.
Thank you. I only want one question, Steve.
The revised plan, was that made available to Fishtown?
No, they just made their letter available to us yesterday on Election Day at about 2 o'clock.
All right, okay.
We didn't have time.
Thank you.
Planning Commission.
This is Ron Bednar, City Planning.
Ron, please spell your name for the stenographer.
uh r-o-n-a-l-d last name bednar b-e-d-n-a-r
so uh the property is indicated for residential use ron i'm sorry my fault do you swear and
affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do thank you please proceed
property is indicated for residential use on a city plan given the severe kite site constraints
and based on the proposed plan revisions we have no objection to grounding or variance
Thank you. MI 2020-001103, 1122 Earl Street. My vote is yes with the proviso. Revised plan, two pages approved today.
Yes with proviso.
Yes with proviso.
Yes with proviso.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the board. The only good thing about this hour is Michigan is now in Biden's camp.
I heard, I heard, I heard. He'll be at 270 for sure.
Okay. MI 2020-001191, 2534 East Somerset Street.