will only be a foot and a half higher
than what would a by-right building height be
for a house that is built 38 foot in height
plus 42 inch parapets,
3 foot 6 inch of parapets,
which gives us 41, as it says here,
41 foot 6 massing.
And what we're proposing is 43.
And again, for that reason,
working with the Neighborhood Association and the neighbors,
we got the support for the height of the houses.
And Mr. Zakin, you met with the RCO three times, is that correct?
And the first time was before you filed anything with LNI for any approvals.
It was a concept meeting.
That was a concept meeting to show them what is now approved
and what I'm ready to break ground with.
and what I'm proposing, and there was a full support
and a unanimous support for our new proposed design
versus what was approved before.
And with that information, we proceed and got the refusals
from L&I, and we are today in front of the zoning board
of adjustment after meeting with the neighbors again
for slight adjustments that they were requesting,
and we complied with all of them.
with the project as presented to you.
And you went back at the end of the month
and showed them in August the revised plan at that meeting.
And then finally, in February, we had the official RCO meeting
after the zoning refusal was granted.
Is that correct?
That is correct.
And then if you go to exhibit 11, sir.
This is 11.
11. No, 11. Not the slide 11.
Oh, okay.
Right here.
Yeah. And this is a letter received this month from the RCO, Northern Liberties Neighbors Association?
And it's a letter of support. Is that correct?
That is correct.
I have no further questions in Mr. Zakin. Is there anything you wanted to add, Mr. Zakin?
no i'm happy to answer any question questions from the board no mr chairman
questions from the board no mr chairman no chair questions or comments from our
attorney hillary emerson not at this time mr chair questions or comments from the virtual audience
yes chair we have one hand bob pfeiffer and they have been allowed to speak
sure hi could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer
Bob Pfeiffer, B-O-B, last name Pfeiffer, P-F-E-I-F-F-E-R.
Right. Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Are you a neighbor?
Please proceed.
I just want to confirm whether or not there are any encroachments or setbacks that are being affected, or is that all by right, Jimmy?
This is all by right as far as the position of the buildings on the land.
So there's no encroachments on the streets or sidewalks.
Everything's going to be in line.
That is correct.
Actually, there was one of the requirements or requests from the neighbors not to encroach into the sidewalk of Litgo Street in particular because it's a very narrow street.
and we made sure to not have any element
projecting out of the property line
into Viggo Street.
Thank you.
No further questions, Chair.
Thank you for taking time to call us.
Anyone else in a virtual audience?
No hands.
Planning Commission.
Shemin, you want to answer?
Thank you, Chair Bergman.
Sarah Bond, Philadelphia City Planning Commission.
And just a second. Computer jumped on me. Okay.
Okay. Thank you. Sarah Bond, Philadelphia City Planning Commission. In 2014, the zoning map was amended from ICMX, industrial mixed use, to RSA5, residential single family.
the proposed lot dimensions are consistent with nearby properties but in terms of the proposed
height variance the appellant has not shown that the property cannot possibly be used in strict
conformity with the zoning code and that a variance is therefore necessary to enable its
viable economic use the city planning commission recommends that the zoning board grant the
variance with the proviso that the height variance is denied.
Thank you.
MI 2024, 000103, 836 North 4th Street, I vote yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Mr. Snell
Counsel, you have your three votes
That includes my business
May I be excused, Mr. Chairman
Yes, thank you very much
Number six
MI 2023
004-599
488 Byberry Road
Michael
McElhenney is the attorney. There's a letter of support from Somerton Civic Association
with a proviso.
Counsel, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Michael McElhenney, M-C-I-L-H-I-N-N-E-Y.
You swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Could you identify your client in a relationship to this property?
The client is Agim, A-G-I-M, and his wife, Zali, Z-A-L-I-E, Bajrami, B-A-J-R-A-M-I.
They are the owners of the property.
All right.
Our vice chair has just a few questions for you, sir.
Good afternoon, counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, we do.
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that is needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, I have.
Thank you. Please proceed and share your screen, counsel.
Thank you.
a little slow on dragging it over today okay there we go
members of the board uh my exhibit packet that was presented um just the prerequisites
the tax clearance is at exhibit 14 the deed to my client from june 13 2022 is at exhibit 13
the deed to my client from June 13, 2022 is at Exhibit 13. Our 14303 notices are at Exhibit 12.
The property was posted and those photos are at Exhibit 11 and our zoning appeal with the PIF
form is at Exhibit 10. Mr. Chairman, you did reference that this did go to the community group
at Somerton and a letter of support, unanimous letter of support was provided, that's at Exhibit
one. My client's zoning refusal is at exhibit two. And the request here is to take the existing
parcel, which is an L-shaped oversized lot. We're asking to relocate the lot lines to create two
lots from one lot, and then to build a single family home on each of the two lots. One lot will
have an off-street parking for one space, and the second lot will have off-street parking for two
cars and it will be a buy right in terms of the height and three yards of the space of the proposed
structures. The refusals that we generated here are for one of the two lots, mainly a flag lot
that will be created. We have a refusal dimensionally for the front yard for the minimum lot
width because the width is taken off the dry vial we're creating and I'll show that on the plan
And then what is calculated as the front yard for the lot number one is eight feet on our plan, but 15 feet is required.
And on our plan, I'll show you, although it's the front yard, in practicality, it's the side.
I'll flip Exhibit 3.
There it goes.
Our zoning map is at Exhibit 3.
the property zoned RSA 2 single family. The properties around us to the north are similarly
zoned RSA 2 and immediately behind us is RM 2 which is currently used as a multifamily development.
Exhibit 3 also has some aerial photos just to orient the board
of the conditions on the ground. As you can see the properties along Byberry Road are single
family houses on both sides. And behind us is a dry vial for the multifamily development. And
I'll show that clearer on the site photographs. I can jump right to the exhibit four.
Is this are the site photographs for the subject property?
The property is currently a vacant lot with an existing dry vial curb cut in between two
single-family detached single-family houses on the south side of Byberry Road, the 400 block.
The second photograph is a view from the back of my client's property from the rear yard looking
out towards Byberry Road. I apologize for the delay the computer's giving me a little bit of a
flag. And there we go. The properties to the east of the subject property, again, are just
existing detached single family homes. Turning to page super slow. Page four are photos on the
side of Depew Avenue, which are the multifamily homes directly behind my client's property.
and then at the end of page five are properties on the north side of Byberry Road. Again,
there are a bunch of single-family homes along the 400 block of Byberry Road and when I get the
photograph page seven, these are photographs of the properties to the west of my client's property
on the same side of Byberry. There are just a series of single-family houses and at the end
of the block is Audubon Avenue where it intersects and that multifamily development perhaps around
this block of Byberry Road. Exhibit 5 is the actual subdivision plan that we're presenting.
The top left corner is the existing lot conditions, and I realize that's hard to see. The frontage
currently is 62.5 feet on Byberry Road, and at the rear property line, as I said, it's
107.5 square feet. The length is 160.750 square feet. This is a lot that consists of 13,230 square
feet. And we're proposing to create a one parcel that's in keeping with identical to the other
properties. And the property on the west has a 15 foot wide dry vial that we're proposing
to create the the lot on the westernmost lot which would be the flag lot. The lots will end up
at 7,020 square feet for this flag lot and the lot to the east is 6,210 square feet.
the lot to the east is 6210 square feet in the rsa2 district the minimum is 3150 square feet so
both of these proposed parcels are way larger than what's required under the code to create such lots
and i would say in looking at very road most of the neighboring properties are between
50, 600 square feet and 50, 800 square feet. So these are larger than most of the other properties
on this block of Byberry Road. And I should mention we do have a revised zoning plan after
meeting with the community. They did ask us to move the house back three feet and I'll show that
on the revised zoning plan. So we're going to zoom in. So looking at the screen, the property
at the top of the page is what we've designated as lot one on this plan, and that has a 15-foot
drive aisle leading to the single-family house with one car parking. The refusal is because
the zoning code looks at this 15 feet as the lot width, and it doesn't take into account
the 45 feet at where the property is actually situated. The second refusal is for the front yard.
The line that is behind 482 by Barry, this yard, although the house will be fronting,
looking east at the house to the bottom of the page the side this is not a side yard on the
right of the house that is actually the front yard under the code so we have an eight foot
setback whereas the code requires a 15 foot setback if we were to comply with an 18 foot
setback that would put the house over the rear property line there wouldn't be any room for a
side yard at the left side of the property. The subdivided lot would also have all the open area
at the bottom of the screen, which is behind what's known as lot two.
Lot two itself, again, we would have a two-car off-street parking on this property. It's
dimensionally compliant. The RCO, because there is an active sidewalk use here, in order to have a
buffer in case there's oversized trucks we did move the property back to 21 feet from the front
of the property whereas 18 is required by the code and that again changes the rear yard depth
of this property from 46 feet to 43 feet so there's tons of open space we're preserving a bunch of the
trees that are there and replacing the ones that are being removed to bring two properties that are
in keeping with the other properties on this block of Byberry Road. Exhibit 8 is our proviso plan
form which is pretty basic here it was as i just mentioned just to push the property back from
18 feet to 21 feet off the the front front curb line and to decrease the set the rear yard by the
same amount of three feet and both properties will consist of four bedrooms two baths each
the property and i will mention that this is on this i just noticed a scrivener's error
before we logged on this is stated as lot one on exhibit eight which is the floor plans
this is really lot two as we just discussed the front loaded garage for two cars
we have a full formal dining room full kitchen with eating kitchen a full living room an office
or den, and the upper floors consist of four bedrooms and two bathrooms.
And then the westernmost lot, which is identified on the floor plans as lot two, and on the
site plan as lot one, has that one car off-street parking, a full living room, full dining room,
full kitchen, laundry room, bath, and the upper floor is the same as the house next
store that we're proposing which is four bedrooms and two baths each and I'm going to zoom out a
little bit and the renderings as you can see looking at the front of the property the picture
on the screen right now which is the fifth page of the floor plans is a view of the lot two which
is the two-car off-street parking. And as you can see, it's in keeping with the other houses on
both sides of Byberry Road. And then the next photograph is the flag lot house that will have
one car off-street parking and again a two-story structure, four bedrooms, two baths each.