I don't recall this case that I just called up.
I don't remember saying that was continued.
No, I think you said one, but did you say a different address?
Yeah, I said the address, the number two, I think.
Correct. Thank you so much, Chair.
So I'll read the continuance request again. Number two on our list, MI 2021-003290, 1300 North Howard Street. Number 10 on the two o'clock list, MI 2021-001633, 5928 Walnut Street.
and number 11 on our two o'clock list, MI 2021-003336-627 East Thompson Street.
Those are the only requests that we had prior to beginning this hearing.
Is there anyone who would like to request a continuance or withdrawal for the two o'clock list?
All hands Mr. Chair. Thank you so now go back to case number one MI 2021-003291-12002 East
Roosevelt Boulevard. Mr. Brett Feldman is the attorney of record. Somerton Civic Association
sent a letter of support. Yes good afternoon members of the board Mr. Chairman again Brett
feldman 1835 market street philadelphia pennsylvania uh i represent the uh property owner
provco good bybury lp with me today is mike cooley mr feldman please spell your last name and i'll
swear you in i'm sorry feldman f-e-l-d-m-a-n you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth i do thank you is miss tenary still available if she is i have i have
been. I've been in a coma. Do you also agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate
to its accuracy? I do. I do. Have you emailed an exhibit packet with the required documents
consisting of proof of ownership, tax compliance, a copy of the refusal or referral,
photos and or plans of the property five days in advance of this hearing? And have you met
with the rco and do you have a letter uh yes to the exhibits uh yes to a letter from the community
group we also have a letter from the district council person uh brian o'neill thank you you
may proceed and uh mr chair can i ask the court stenographer to strike that comment i made about
being in a coma oh he can't hear me i think he's muted i muted yes i got that and you'll let us
know when you're ready you'll be leaving shortly i understand uh at three oh gosh no 420 okay yeah
thank you strike that statement that i made
please because i may be the third board member not being here
we're still the video carol so oh that's right god okay can i begin you may proceed
Thank you. Again, Brett Feldman. I represent the property owner applicant, Provco Good,
Bybury LP. With me today is Mike Cooley, a member of the ownership group. We also have
George Hartman, who is the project engineer from Bowler Engineering, who testified many
times in front of the board. And I think out there is Alice Udovich from Councilman O'Neill's
office. I'll get right to it. We passed up these exhibits one through 10, which I'd ask
be incorporated in the record uh you'll see at uh four we have a community letter of support we
have a letter of support also from the council person um our refusal letter and um some of the
board members were here two weeks ago um we had a case on one of the properties that makes up this
so let me just uh let me go right to the location this is the property um this was the nabisco the
massive Nabisco site all the way up, way up Somerton. This is Roosevelt Boulevard. This is
Byberry here. This was what was Nabisco. And in 2016, we first came in front of the board
to demolish the Nabisco plant. At that point, we presented significant testimony talking about the
At that point, we presented significant testimony talking about the hardship on this industrially zoned property.
hard show.
That factory was outdated, outmoded, was obsolete, and it had closed.
The area around here has become increasingly retail commercial.
We provided additional testimony on the hardship and why the industrial zoning no longer made sense at this location.
The board granted the relief back in 2016.
This is a Wawa that was built with the Zoning Board's approval back in 2016 in the corner.
We then came back in front of the Zoning Board in 2019 for the rest of the site.
Here, this is under construction as we speak right now.
This is Topgolf.
This is the golf facility, nationally known, well-regarded, that is well underway.
You go under here, you hit the balls, here's the net.
And then the other part of this site was approved by the board was a Chick-fil-A.
That's this pad site here.
That's under construction.
And then there are a couple of retail commercial buildings that are on this location here.
And you'll see right now under construction, the pipes and the utility lines being put
in for the Chick-fil-A and also for the commercial buildings here.
We were here two weeks ago for the Chick-fil-A for some minor alterations.
And we're back in front of the board today.
for these three buildings um we and i'll let me just go right to the the rendering um that would
help the board uh understand what is being proposed here what is what is being built this is the
rendering um again that's the approved um top golf that's the wah-wah we're here for the uh some
minor modifications to the chick-fil-a this is these are the retail commercial buildings that
we got approved in 2019. And all we're asking for right now is some very minor modifications to
these, the buildings here. And I'll go right to the plan. But basically, when we got these
approved, we didn't know exactly who the tenants were. And then COVID came along. And what we have
to do now is we're asking the board's approval is to show you right here. Let me go right to it.
These are the three buildings that were approved back in 2019, 13,000 square foot building,
a 6,000 square foot building, and another 16,000 square foot building. We now have identified
tenants for these buildings, and I'll go right to the plan here. Here is the change.
Building number one, we were, a second here, a second here. You see we approved for 13,496.
We're now asking for $16,000, which is made up almost entirely of outdoor seating area.
We have two great restaurants on the end caps.
Obviously, because of COVID, now they would like an outdoor seating area.
So that basically adds up to the additional square footage.
It's under a roof, which creates the additional square footage.
So that's the only, that's a major change here for building number one.
building number two another COVID related change we're adding another outdoor seating area
to to this building number two and then building number three we had that approved as a supermarket
but we didn't have a tenant we're really pleased to now that we have a tenant we actually have a
real grocery store versus kind of a you know we talked to the community about obtaining a grocer
We now have a grocer that looks like it's going to be moving into the location, and they have their own prototype, which requires a different layout, which requires different loading areas.
So the 16,000 square foot grocer is now 19,000 to accommodate the actual tenant that we have that we hope to bring into this shopping center.
the only reason we're back at the zoning board is once as you know once the zoning board approves
a project we have to come back to the zoning board for supplemental approvals unless these
we're all getting smaller you know they're not smaller they're slightly larger so we needed to
go through this whole process to come back in front of the zoning board and ask you for your
approval we've during the whole time we've worked closely with Somerton Civic we met with them in
September. You see their letter of support at exhibit tab four. We continue to work closely
with the councilman, and we have his letter of support at exhibit tab four as well. So that
So that that really is in a nutshell what we're what we're looking to do here.
really is, in a nutshell, what we're looking to do.
And I guess with that, I would ask if the zoning board has any specific questions, but it's you can bring on your client for it to adopt your testimony.
Yeah, I don't know if Mr. Cooley is still available.
Well, if he's not, we'll stipulate you being an officer to court, he would have adopted your testimony.
Yes, I am fine with that in this case.
um i also have uh george hartman i don't think it's necessary but uh he's our project engineer
and he would he would do the same but let me let me ask the board board have any questions
no sir no okay uh anyone else to testify in this case please raise your hand
spell your full name and i'll swear you in this alice udovich had her hand raised i have louder
to speak sir good afternoon alice please identify yourself spell your name and i'll swear you in
Good afternoon, Chairman, members of the board.
Alice Udovich, U-D-O-V-I-C-H, from Councilman Brian O'Neill's office.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Thank you. Please proceed.
The Councilman supports the granting of the variants at this location,
and we look forward to these tenants coming to that site.
Anyone else to testify in this case?
i see no other hand sir i hope when that top
golf gets set up to take a few strokes off my
you're muted mr chair my computer's so sensitive i apologize again uh planning commission
good afternoon chair peter bernard for the planning commission
the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the i1 industrial use at this location
this proposal went through civic design review process in 2019 the cdr committee recommended
that the site plan become more cohesive to better connect buildings activities and pedestrian
circulation as a unified destination instead the proposal includes a wraparound drive-through
creating a hostile pedestrian environment additionally proposals that differ so
significantly from the zoning should be handled
through the re-zoning process.
We feel this applicant has failed to demonstrate a hardship.
Accordingly, the Planning Commission recommends
the board deny the variances.
Thank you.
MI 2021-003291-12002 East Roosevelt Boulevard.
My vote is yes.
Carol Tenere, my vote is yes.
Confessor Plaza, yes.
James Snell my vote is yes thank you go to case number three am I thank you Mr. Chairman and
thank you for your service oh thank you MI 2021-003093 1730-38 North 2nd Street
Michael Phillips is an attorney uh as is Melanie Lacey uh South Kensington Community Partners
my notes indicate we have not yet received the letter
but you'll let us know if you have one
you can submit it to us
so Mr. Phillips and or Ms. Lacey
Good afternoon
Mr. Chairman, members of the board, Michael Phillips
1835 Market Street, Suite 1400
truth Philadelphia PA 19102 Claire Harrison here on behalf of 1730 North Second Street LLC the
equitable owner of 1730 of 54 North Second Street. Could you spell your last name and I'll swear you
in? P-H-I-L-L-I-P-S. You swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth?
I do. Is Miss Lacey representing someone or she? No she's yes she's uh one of my associates. Okay
Thank you. Ms. Tenere has a few questions for you.
I'm Michael. Do you agree to weigh the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed the exhibit packet with the required documents consisting of proof of ownership, tax compliance, refusal, or referral,
photos under plans of the property five days in advance of this hearing, and have you met with the RCO, and do you have a letter?
I have, and yes, there is a letter of support that was sent in the revised packet to the
board yesterday.
That's great.
You may proceed.
Thank you.
I have with me as well Nathaniel Darman, who is here on behalf of the equitable owner, 1730 North 2nd Street, LLC, as well as Barr Levy, who is the project architect with Sandbar Design.
I have with me as well Nathaniel Darman, who is here on behalf of the...
Matt Kearse and Nick Lewis at Bowler Engineering are here as well in case the board has any questions for them.
So I will take you through the plans, but in a nutshell, this is on North 2nd Street and South Kensington in between Berks and Cecil B. Moore.
There's been a lot of activity in that block, and this plan proposes a six-story mixed-use building with about 9,000 square feet of ground floor commercial, 115 residential units, 27 parking spaces, and 42 bicycle parking spaces.
We are here for two refusals. One is the use of multifamily in the ICMX zoning district, and the other is height. We are proposing 70 feet instead of the 60 feet that is max, but as you'll see in the plans, the portion of the building that goes up to 70 feet is really de minimis, and we're not proposing any pilot houses and have sufficient setbacks.
We went through CDR and completed the CDR process two weeks ago on November 2nd,
and there is a letter in the packet indicating preliminary CDR completion. I also want to note,
because it's very important for this project, although we are not in the American Street
overlay and there is not an affordability requirement, we have agreed with South
Kentington Community Partners, and at the outset, let it be known that we were going to implement
an affordability component into this project. And as such, we are proposing that 10% of the units
be maintained as affordable at 60% of AMI. So in other words, it's the moderate income
threshold. And we have agreed to that as part of a memorandum of understanding with South
Kensington Community Partners that is in the packet and will agree to that as a proviso.
At Exhibit 2, here is a letter from South Kensington indicating their support.
You will note that they did note a few provisos, including 10 percent of the units affordable
at 60 percent AMI, that we will provide an easement to certain neighbors on Phillips
street to allow them access for deliveries and trash collection and that we provide lighting and
surveillance and greenery along the northern edge of the property where there will be a pedestrian
path and we've agreed to do that as well. I believe their ultimate boat as reflected in the
package is seven to one. I will quickly just take you through the plans and the development.
This is the existing site right here. It is currently a warehouse. This is North 2nd Street, and here is North Phillips Street, which we don't have any record of being opened, and as part of our plans, we're agreeing to turn this into essentially an outlet street so that car from our development can enter through what will be the parking lot and then utilize this as outlet.
This was one of the major discussions with the community of avoiding a lot of bottleneck and congestion on the street.
As you'll see in the plans, there is another development proposed at 1705 North American that was approved that similarly utilizes Phillip Street solely for an outlet.
Going on, there's more pictures of the current site.
we have
the sun
solstice and I show this only because it's
important that you see when the
orientation of the building
we have focused it so that we
maximize sunlight to the units
and to the courtyard
that you'll see. So here's our
proposed massing. Again we have
our ground floor commercial
and then the residential
component is from the second to sixth
floors we have seven town homes that you'll see on the next slide fronting north phillips street
and we've created a number of setbacks uh so that we have this area here that will be a courtyard
there will be a pool and some roof decks and the portion that is you know 70 feet is this
minor portion right here at the top the sixth floor level that is set back 30 feet from phillips
Street. And again, we're not proposing any pilot houses as part of this. Here is the massing from
the opposite view along Phillips Street. And you'll see these are all the other projects that
have been approved that are coming online in the surrounding area to give you a sense of the height