Can you hear me?
David, did you hear? I wanted to have you discuss how I stated that we went back and forth with the Spruce Hill Civic Association and hit upon the 12 years because of certain economic realities that you face as a landlord in the office market facing this post-COVID world.
Can you describe your thoughts and why Bozell is asking for 12 years?
I'd be happy to yes and Spruce Hill supported the 12 years and I'll explain the background
this parking lot supports the office building that's a few homes down on the same block
and this neighbor what makes this neighborhood unique is there are not on street parking is
very difficult and there are not other parking lots that are open to the public or pay for
lots as you might find on Market Street. And therefore, there are no options even if you do
want to pay for parking. And we have a 50,000 square foot office building. And it's critical
that the office tenants have parking as limited as it may be. And that lot is the difference between
being able to lease this building and not lease this building. We currently have over 20,000
square feet of vacant space there and the feedback that we receive is that um is that from tenants
who who cannot move here because we can't offer enough parking so this lot is absolutely critical
to keeping this building occupied and the reason for the timing was because 10 um a typical deal
with uh an office space of this size and the amount of build out and capital that needs to
go into it paid for either whether it's by the tenant or landlord uh these this caliber of
tenant for large spaces like this don't sign six-year leases the leases they're signing are
upwards from 10 years to 25 years in length and so for us to be able to offer space of this building
we need to be able to offer parking for an amount of time that is equal to or exceeds that
okay um thank you very much mr chairman members of board that would be my
questions for mr hess with regard to the six-year issue okay thank you
mi 2022 000 400 i vote yes temporary variance for 10 years 20 32 may 1st of 2032
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes, with proviso.
James Snell, yes, with proviso.
Okay, thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the board.
Thank you.
Thank you.
can you hear me
yes sir we can hear you okay yes mr chairman believe i believe
number nine was continued.
Number 10 was
continued.
Here we go.
MI 2021
004521
8430 Ardley Street.
Chair, Mr. Brennan is coming back in as a panelist now.
Mr. Brennan, state your name is spelled for the court reporter, please.
Robert Brennan, R-O-B-E-R-T-B-R-E-N-N-A-N.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client and the relationship to the property?
I'm actually the owner of the property, purchased in June of 2021.
Okay. Mr. Holloman has a few questions for you.
Good afternoon. Did you email all of the exhibits as required?
such as truth of ownership tax clearance copy of refusal pictures or drawings of the property
five days in advance of this hearing did you meet with the rco and do you have rco letter
yes to all of the above thank you please proceed and share your screen
i'm sorry chair this is tanya may i ask a quick question sure um mr brennan are you the sole
owner of the property? Yes, me and my wife, Elizabeth. And you're listed on the deed alone,
your name and hers? Yes. Thank you very kindly. You may proceed. Thank you.
My name is Robert Brennan. Me and my wife, Elizabeth, purchased the property in June of
2021. It's an existing two-and-a-half-story, four-bedroom, one-bath house of approximately
1,950 square feet. There is a detached one-story, three-bay garage set to the rear of the property
abutting the Chestnut Hill Parking Foundation lot,
entered off of East Highland.
The previous owners had installed a small toilet room
and a forced HVAC unit.
This is the structure we're seeking to use a variance for.
Is it permissible for me to have our architect
offer testimony on our behalf,
or do I need to present?
I think you present,
and if we have questions, we'll go to the architect.
Perfect.
As you can see,
the first floor of the house
is 21 feet, 8 inches wide. It's 43 feet long and 6 inches in length. Essentially, there are four
rooms in a row from the front of the house to the back. There is a living room, a foyer,
a dining room, a kitchen, and a back deck on the first floor. On the second floor, there is one
large bedroom and two small bedrooms, one shared bath, and the third floor is a finished attic
with a low head height as a single space. The house and garage date to approximately 1922
and they are contributing structures on the Chestnut Hill National Historic District inventory.
We are interested in converting the existing detached garage into an accessory dwelling unit
which is not allowed by right in the RSA 3 residential district. We would like to have a
home office and entertaining space with the option for guests to stay there on occasion.
We do have out-of-state family who are older and have mobility issues, and there are no
bedrooms or bathrooms on the first floor of the main house.
The accessory dwelling units are not allowed by right in the detached historical structure.
The accessory dwelling units are not allowed by right in the detached historical structures, but the exception is limited to those structures listed on the Philadelphia Historic Register.
So we are creating more than one principal use and creating more than one dwelling unit and are seeking these two variances.
The lot size and existing building locations, as you can see, based on a 40-foot overall lot width, and there's an 8-foot side yard setback.
It would be difficult to create by right an addition to the house to serve the same purpose as requested for using the existing detached garage.
And any additions, as we'll show, would not be the same size as the garage and still take up a significant portion of the backyard.
As you can see here in red, this is only a third of what the actual garage space would be and would still take over 50% of the backyard.
In addition, equivalent to the footprint of the garage would also require the removal of two
mature trees and significantly reduce the shared open space of the existing rear yards for the
south side of the 8400 block of Ardley. It would also significantly increase the amount of impervious
coverage. The mature trees are this Japanese maple here as well as this cherry tree here.
The public utility of the existing garage is also very limited as it is now.
It is now used primarily for storage.
We can actually not park our car there.
While the garage has three bays of space, the West Bay is completely inaccessible to cars, as you can see here, due to this mature locust tree here.
The middle bay is also very difficult to pull into, again, because of the mature locust tree.
and this bay here actually does not open because the previous owners put in a small powder room
right here so it cannot be used currently for cars. Public benefit of permitting the conversion
of the garage into an accessory dwelling unit allows the retention of the shared open space
of the rear yard, shared common view from backyards and allows the retention of the existing
mature trees and landscaping and keeps the existing impervious coverage of the lot the same size.
For context for the neighborhood, we are surrounded by some single and twin homes. To the north of our house is 84-32, which is a single home, and to the south is two twin homes at 84-26 and 84-24.
The back of the garage abuts the Chestnut Hill Parking Foundation lot, as you can see here.
our plan for the garage would be to convert the garage here at the back of the property the
garage currently is 35 feet four and a half inches wide by 23 feet five inches deep the garage sits
three to four feet off the rear property line and three feet off the west property line and a foot
and a half off the east property line there is sufficient space for the required two off-street
parking spaces on the existing driveway. There is space for one car to turn around within the
existing driveway. There is no change in the building footprint and no proposed expansion
of the existing structure and minimal proposed exterior changes. The vast majority of the work
would be inside of the garage. Proposed materials, the existing, the three doors inside the three
existing garage openings would be removed and the two openings to the right would be
infilled with operable French doors, and the left-hand opium would be infilled with solid
doors that would match the style and proportion of the French doors. The existing sides and rear
of the garage would remain unchanged. The existing sand finish stucco is painted in a warm beige
color. The window trim and windows are painted in olive green. These colors would also remain
the same. The existing spotlight down lights on the face of the garage have been replaced with
Here are the letters of support.
We went through the Chestnut Hill RCO process, meeting with the HDAC, LUPZ, and DRC committees
and getting their recommendations for supporting the variants and unanimous support of their
recommendations, as well as getting unanimous support from the CHCA board at their January
meeting.
There are two provisos as part of the support that we agreed to.
In summary, granting the requested variances will allow the full use of an existing historic structure with minimal changes to its architectural character and defining features, save the existing mature landscaping and save the shared open rear yard space enjoyed by the neighbors, granting the requested variance does not create any new or objectionable uses for the property and has minimal impact on the rear neighbors, near neighbors and the neighborhood.
The closest neighbors all support the approval of the variance request.
Mr. Johnson, could you mention what the provisos were?
The provisos were for one of the properties to be owner-occupied and for no long-term
rentals.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
I'm sorry, Chair.
This is Tanya.
may I ask a question? Sure. Sir did you email the documents that were required
such as your deed lease or agreement of sale? Yes and I have that all those documents are also
in our exhibits which were emailed by our architect Matt Milan and that was also copied
on those emails. Okay can you bring up that a document please? That's the document that I'm
showing here um which has uh the exhibits that were submitted
within this could you just put the the lease agreement of sale up on the screen just for
confirmation yep
Thank you so very kindly.
Thank you.
So I'm sorry, again, Robert Brennan and Elizabeth Brennan.
That's perfect.
Thank you, cause I can't see it in my records.
I appreciate your accommodation.
Nope, thank you.
And if there's anything we need to email over,
just let us know.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions from the virtual audience.
Chair, we have Charles Richardson with his hand up. Mr. Richardson, you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Good afternoon again, Mr. Chair.
um zoning decisions cannot be based on the form of ownership so these uh provisos would not strictly
speaking be enforceable okay thank you m i 2021 004521 8430 r lee street i vote yes
thomas holliman my vote is yes jane snell my vote is yes
thank you Mr. Brennan thank you so so I'm going to go back one minute here to
2227 Bryn Mawr did Mr. Orphanidis ever contact us
Mr. Orphanidis is coming back in as a panelist okay thank you
M-I-2022-00456-2227, Bryn Mawr.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman.
David Orphanides, Orphanides & Turner.
Could you spell your name for the court reporter, please?
Certainly.
Last name is Orphanides, O-R-P-H-A-N-I-D-E-S.
My address is 2 Penn Center, 1500 John F. Kennedy Boulevard, Suite 800, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19102.
Do you swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client and relationship to the property?
Our clients are the owners of this property.
Give me one second.
Confirm that.
so that's the um the church of the church of god is uh the name of the uh owner in the in behalf of
a number of trustees it's uh denis walton roy watson and lennox smith as trustees for the church
of god and constituting the local board of trustees of the church of god at philadelphia
thank you mr holliman has a few mr holliman has a few questions sir good afternoon council
do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and simulate to its accuracy uh i do
did you email all of the exhibits as required such as proof of ownership tax clearance copy of
refusal pictures or drawings of the property five days in advance of this hearing did you meet with
the rco and do you have rco letter we met with the rco and i apologize for not being on at the
beginning of the two o'clock list but i'd like to request that and uh like to request a continuance
of this case uh we did meet with the community group at a properly advertised uh community group
meeting in accordance with 14 303 12 of the zoning code and we received a lot of feedback from the
community so my clients and i particularly my clients and the architect and the engineer
have gone back to the drawing board what they can do to address as many if not all the concerns of
the community group possibly coming back with a buy-right application.
So as such, I'd request a continuance and that I'd be designated as attorney moving party.
That's granted.
Thank you.
And again, I apologize for anybody being on this list sooner.
Is there anyone else in the audience from the two o'clock meeting that the case hasn't
been called?
okay we're going to take a five minute break come back for the 3 30 list
thank you very much okay have a good day all right
here we go let's see what i have here
3.30 minutes.
Thank you.