which is up on the screen, the property that's outlined here is zoned RM1 and sits on Master
Street between North 15th Street and North Sydenham Street. It's roughly two blocks off
of Broad, which you can see here is the CMX3 zoning. Now as this was constructed,
there are nine attached structures. Each one of these structures has three apartments,
So you can see the labels here, 1501 through 1513, and 1405A, 1405B.
So these are nine attached structures.
They're separated.
They each have three units.
Now, despite the fact that they have separate addresses for mailing purposes, they sit on
one lot with one OPA account number.
So because of that, the property itself is considered to have 27 units.
This is also reflected in the permits that I've included here from when the property was first approved. It was approved through two separate permits. One of them reflected the six units, one of them reflected the 21 units, and then it was then later consolidated, so it now reflects 27 units.
Now, I want to drill down just a bit more detail into each of the structures so that you fully understand today's request, because it is a little bit odd and somewhat difficult to explain.
So as I mentioned, each one of these attached structures has three apartments in it.
Each one of these nine structures is set up nearly identically.
identically. If you take a look here at the schematic floor plans that I have up on the
screen, in each one of these structures, two of the apartments are two-bedroom units.
In one of the apartments, four-bedroom unit. So each one of these structures has two two-bedroom
units and one four-bedroom unit. As I'm sure you can already predict, it is the four-bedroom
apartment that brings us before you today because of the one extra person in the four-bedroom unit
that exceeds the code restriction of no more than three unrelated people.
Of the nine structures here, eight of them have a four-bedroom unit. 1513 is not at issue. That
one only has two bedroom units in it. So we're talking about a total of eight people that are
at issue before the board today. Now, in many of the cases the board has seen in the past like this,
the applicant is often requesting a higher number of occupants for the property
than the underlying code might allow. In the case before you today, that is not the case.
out of these 27 total units only eight of them have a four-bedroom apartment with the four
occupants 19 of these units have only two bedrooms with two occupants now keep in mind that all of
these two-bedroom apartments could be converted to three bedrooms or even worse they could just
put two people in one of the extra bedrooms and still comply with the code. That's certainly not
ideal. Then you have people sharing bedrooms. So if you look at this from an overall occupant
standpoint, if all of the 27 units had three occupants each as they are allowed, the total
number of occupants permitted for the property is 81. Because most of these units are two bedrooms,
this property only has 70 occupants. So it's well below what this property could legally have.
So it's well below what this property could legally have.
And this number, this 70, represents one person per bedroom in all of the two-bedroom units
and one person per bedroom in all of the four-bedroom units.
Before moving on, I'll just point out that the two-bedroom units are around 670 square feet,
while the four-bedroom units are around 1,500 square feet.
As you can see in photos that I have up on the screen here, this is new construction having just been built a couple years ago before my client built it.
So these units are very large, very well-appointed units.
Now, with respect to the application, we did receive one referral for the proposed group living use.
You can see in the actual referral that was issued that this was specifically limited to just eight of these units.
As I mentioned previously, we do dispute the designation here as a single room residence.
This is wrong, and we would ask if the board does grant this special exception today that you issue a proviso to confirm that the approved use is group living, not a single room residence.
As is required by Section 3037E.1 through .3 of the code, we do submit that the proposed
group living use in eight of these units meets the definition of a use permitted by special
exception in the RM1 zoning district.
The use will not cause any detrimental impacts to the neighborhood beyond that which might
normally be expected.
We submit this will not cause any congestion or cause any overcrowded. As I mentioned previously,
the property itself is well under the legal occupancy count. Without the application,
the owner could move that fourth person out of the four-bedroom unit and put them in one of the
two-bedroom units instead. This would only result in an empty bedroom in the four-bedroom unit and
likely people sharing a bedroom in the two-bedroom unit. It's also important to note that my
client did purchase the property in its current state and has not made any changes to the property.
The property itself also sits in a very high density area. I've included multiple permits
at tab nine that shows the density of surrounding structures here, which have densities such as 29
units at 1431 North 15, 72 units at 1417 North 15, 30 units at 1407 North 15, and 39
units at 1500 Jefferson. As far as I can tell from the photos and maps, there are no single
family homes anywhere in the vicinity of the property. Accordingly, the density is not only
well within the character of the neighborhood, but the number of occupants existing and proposed
is less than would be allowed. We submit this will not impair light and air to adjacent properties
given no physical changes are proposed. The use will not burden any public facilities
and the existing infrastructure is more than capable of handling the existing building.
We do submit this is in compliance with the comprehensive plan given the area is zoned R-1
and specifically contemplates multifamily residential use. And we submit the uses in
keeping with impacts normally expected from the proposed use. Now, just briefly on one of the
other provisos that was issued, and this is concerning trash and sanitation. So, I do want
to just call up my client real quickly. Ohad, if you can raise your hand so we can get you sworn in.
about to speak oh how are you there name and address for the record please and please spell
your last name oh had feigenbaum f-e-i-g-e-n-b-a-u-m first name is spelled o-h-a-d yes you swear
firm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes thank you so regarding the trash
and sanitation we do have a slight difference in opinion with the community but we are happy to
leave the requested proviso up to the discretion of the board now up until last week ohad had you
ever received any complaint regarding trash no okay we have not now can you just explain to the
board how your your trash management system works um regarding the crews that you send out
can you just give them sense of that yes absolutely i mean we should go back a little
Yes, absolutely. I mean, we should go back a little bit for this property to better explain it. When we bought it in 2018, it was literally our second or third property in Philly. The first time I was personally there, all I could see is trash. There was literally trash everywhere, similar to many other properties in Philly.
bit for this property to better explain
there was no trash service in place when we bought this property. We looked at the situation
and we actually added a trash service. The thing is with this type of properties, it's extremely
difficult to find a private trash vendor because unlike a place when you have a dumpster or one
room for trash here, it's located next to each entrance. They got to spend a lot of time outside
of their truck standing in the middle of the street blocking traffic and take the trash moreover
these are tenants you know they throw the trash not exactly inside the trash can you can clearly
see every sunday night you know there are some issues uh with trash being around the trash cans
and a private trash vendor and we met with a few basically told us you know it's it's it's difficult
Like it's not even a question of cost.
It's just very difficult for a private trash vendor to deal with this type of properties.
And we see this problem across Philadelphia.
This is the main issue.
So what does your crew do?
So what we did, we took our crew and I have a guy coming there every Sunday night to organize
all the trash and bring it to the curb and coming back there every Monday morning after
the city picks it up and bring it back to where it belongs every week we organize it we bring it
to the curb and bring it back every week so and and so the board understands this property is
eligible for city pickup because it is nine separate structures so last week as they usually
do they put the trash out sunday night for monday pickup what happened on monday last week ohad
there is construction on the other side of the street of another property they blocked the street
the city just couldn't access the city vendors could not access the street
and the trust was just left on the curb and that's where that photo you got was taken
so the photo that he's referring to i had spoken with the council president's office and she sent
me a photo that she was concerned about understandably because there was a lot of
trash on the curb, but on the side where the city picks it up. And we explained the fact that,
you know, that's where the trash has to be for the city to pick it up. And so we discussed the
issue and, you know, she fully understood the fact that there was an extenuating circumstance here
related to the street being shut down. And so, of course, a few days later, the street opened
and the trash was picked up. But because of this unique circumstance, the community is requesting
a proviso that they hire a commercial hauler, which OHAD is happy to do and TPA Partners is
happy to do. But OHAD, is it correct that your experience would suggest that hiring a commercial
hauler for this type of property is likely to result in more trash versus leaving it under your
control it will absolutely fail they will not pick up the trash they will just take the can
and everything surrounding around the can is just going to stay on the ground and this is why we
moved to in-house and the ironic the irony here is it's more costly to do it in-house than hiring
a private trash pickup i have no problem go out there and hire a private trash pickup for this
situation it just it's literally gonna hurt our tenants and it's just gonna hurt the community
which i i honestly believe they just don't really understand that we're actually taking care of our
trash and they just give us the same answer they give anyone else that just don't have any service
in place we have service in place if they want us to move to private trash pickup we'll move
trash pickup it's just not going to look as good as it is now so again i mean you know they're
they're willing to entertain it but i just wanted the board to at least hear from ohad based on his
experience uh you know what ultimately led to this request and the fact that you know he does
really have a true concern that the private pickup for this type of property could ultimately create
bigger issue and as you can see here based on the photo i mean these the property is kept immaculate
um and that's that's much to ohad and his team's credit uh so again we assert we've
So, again, we assert we have met all the requirements of Section 3037E.1 through 3 of the Code, a full memo of law, as always, is included with my exhibits, and we therefore ask you to grant the application.
met all the requirements of section 3037 e.
Now, OHAD, you've heard all of my testimony here today, correct?
And do you agree that testimony is true and accurate, and would you adopt that as if it were your own?
Thank you. Happy to answer any questions.
Thank you.
any questions from the board no Mr. Chair no Mr. Chair no no I have a question for you
Meredith and I'll probably ask you Mary Jones as well a few years ago a special services district
was established in that community I believe Master Street may have been within those boundaries
is there not any trash schedule uh that is incorporated with that uh special services
district would you happen to know i don't happen to know that um and and really you know it's never
been an issue for this property because up to up to last week where there was you know a unique
circumstance they've never gotten a complaint here so i did a tour of that neighborhood a few
years ago when i was doing some work for temple and i can understand the frustration of the
neighbors not about your client's properties but the general area the condition of the general
area is horrendous okay i'll ask mary that when she gets on um mr chair this is tanya mary jones
is available to unmute and speak as you wish yes please bring her on now thank you
uh good afternoon this is mary jones great please identify yourself and i'll swear you in
uh mary jones representing council president daryl clark uh city hall room 494
you swear affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i do thank you uh please proceed then i'll ask you a question after thank you of course of course
um the the main thing that I wanted to speak about the fifth council district did uh facilitate
this uh meeting and um I communicated with uh neighbors to get their input and the picture
which I do have um which shows the trash you know all over up a lot of trash on the block
is why we ask that there be commercial pickup.
The city, just as a resident of Philadelphia,
coming from city, center city to outside of center city,
the trash is often delayed.
And from this office's perspective,
as well as the neighbors,
having a commercial pickup would be more consistent.
This is 27 units of trash.
That's a lot of trash.
And we would also ask that the property management company look into getting bigger trash cans to accommodate more trash bags from all these units.
So it won't look like a landfill on trash day.
And then, you know, if it's a few days late, that's multiple days of landfill that you have to see coming down the street.
so those are our that's what is our main concerns and why we requested the commercial pickup change
the commercial pickup thank you I don't know if you heard my question to Meredith are you aware
you're aware of that special services district I believe that I am it's I believe it's administered
by um the north broad renaissance if i'm not mistaken yeah you might be right it's been a
few years for me uh i i just was curious if there's any trash uh uh program that they implemented
i was involved in establishing help establish that special services district again it's been
a few years i just was curious if they ever established that yeah i'm i'm not sure at this
time all right so it's uh your office is uh basically saying no opposition except for a
proviso that they maintain uh retain a commercial trash pickup retain commercial trash pickup and
if we if possible can we ask for bigger trash cans oh if we have any control over that yeah
i think the problem might be depending on the size of the trash can uh where are they going
to keep them you know that that's the other problem and they may have there may be a challenge
to keep a larger trash can inside those units i don't yeah mr chairman i mean that that really
i don't yeah mr mr chairman i mean that that really is one of the reasons why like i said
is one of the reasons
they are perfectly happy to hire a commercial hauler it's cheaper for them but you know they
because they have so much control over it they can you know anything that's not in bags they
can put it in bags they can you know get it to the curb where it needs to go you know with a
commercial hauler that's going to be picking up out of a can it becomes a little bit more
challenging but again we're they're more than happy to accept that okay everybody has good
intentions it's a question of what works best okay yeah thank you anything else miss jones
uh that's it that was well two provisos total the the um no what is it called no no rooming house
no rooming house and then the commercial yeah which we absolutely wholeheartedly agree with
Thank you. Anyone else to testify in this case?
I see no other hands, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Planning Commission?
Thank you, Chairman DiTico. Ian Hegarty for the Philadelphia City Planning Commission.
Members of the Board, comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing multifamily use at this location.
we agree that the proposed special exception will not cause detrimental impacts to the neighborhood
beyond what might normally be expected for this use and so the city planning commission recommends
that the board grant the special exception thank you and meredith before i begin the proviso as
it relates to the group living will that just be a proviso establishing non no group living
no it's the it's actually the opposite the last time you were able to issue the same proviso it
was proviso approved use group living no single room residence okay approved use group living okay
exactly all right thank you uh mi 2021-00231 let's go let me start again mi 2021-002311
1501 Master Street. My vote is yes with the following provisos. Commercial trash pickup