We'll give Jason and whomever time for us know when we can begin.
We're ready to start here.
Hey, thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Frank DiCicco. I'm the chair of the Zoning Board of Adjustment. I'll be participating in today's hearing along with our vice chair, Ms. Carol Tenere.
I'm sorry, Confessor Plaza, our board secretary.
Present.
Board member, Mr. James Snell.
Present.
Also in attendance is our board administrator, Mr. Jason Hand, and board attorney, our board
attorney, Ms. Sharon Saleta.
Also, our zoning board administrator, Ms. Tanya Sunkett, is also present.
For those of you who haven't yet participated in one of our virtual hearings, I'll go through
some of the basics of what you can expect.
First, we will be administering oaths to individual participants prior to their testimony.
Second, we'd like to advise everyone that this proceeding is being recorded
and that by participating, you acknowledge your agreement to be recorded
and that the recording will be made available to the public
by contacting Ms. Tanya Sunkit at tanya.sunkit at phila.gov.
For anyone participating by phone, if you wish to testify,
you must raise your hand by hitting star nine and then star six to unmute yourself.
I'll repeat, for anyone participating by phone, if you wish to testify,
you must raise your hand by hitting star nine and then star six to unmute yourself.
Finally, to enter an appearance statement, call Google number 267-270-5548
5 5 4 8 and leave your email address and the address of the property at issue. I will repeat
leave your email address and the address of the property at
that. To enter an appearance statement, call Google 2 6 7 2 7 0 5 5 4 8 and leave your email
address and the address of the property at issue. And I'd like to remind everyone, please do not
attempt to testify in the chat. Comments, questions, and or concerns should be directed
to Mr. Jason Hand, today's board administrator. With that, I will go to the first case, which is
an add-on. No, before I begin that, let me ask. The following cases have been requested to be
continued. Number two on our list, MI 2021-003290, 1300 North Howard Street. Number 10 on our list,
MI 2021-001633, 5928 Walnut Street. And number 11 on our list, MI 2021-003
336 627 East Thompson Street. If anyone disagrees with the continuance request for the three cases
I just read into the record, please raise your hand at this time. Only if you have a
concern about the request for continuance as I just read into the record.
There are no answers, Mr. Chair. Thank you. I will now ask if anyone would like to
request a continuance or withdrawal on the two o'clock list anyone would like to request
a continuance or withdrawal for the two o'clock list please raise your hand at this time
once again no hands at this time sir thank you sir all right we'll go to the first case which
is an add-on case. MI 2021-0003196134R, I guess that's rear, dash 46 Wayne Avenue. This is a
variance request. Ms. Pritzker is one of the attorneys and or Mr. Brandon Sovran for the
applicant, Steve Masters for WCGN, the appellant in the case against L&I. The appeal against L&I
was denied on November the 3rd, 2021. We're returning today to hear discussion regarding
a variance. So Ms. Pritzker and Mr. Severin, please identify yourselves for the record,
then I'll get to Mr. Masters, and then we'll proceed.
Good afternoon, Rachel Pritzker, R-A-C-H-A-E-L, Pritzker, P-R-I-T-Z-K-E-R, 1521 Locust Street,
Suite 605, Philadelphia, PA, 19102.
You're still under oath from earlier today, Mr. Severin?
It's B-R-A-N-D-O-N, S as in Sam, A, V as in Victor, R-A-N, also a Pritzker Law Group
at the same address you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yes i did okay mr masters
you're muted steve you're muted yes i noticed that good afternoon mr chair members of the board
steve masters from the law firm of just laws i represent west central germantown neighbors
or from to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do all right how do we begin here
I'm trying to remember how we left off.
Yeah, so Chairman, this is our variance case.
As you mentioned, the additional, the L&I appeal was denied.
And so we are just here for one refusal.
So I'm going to share my screen.
We have a number of individuals that are going to be testifying on our end.
And I will introduce them and ask that they be sworn in and allowed to speak.
I'm first going to start with our refusal. This project is for an existing RM3 property.
We are looking to put a multi-family building. We again utilize unity of use as it is a rear
property with the street fronting on Wayne Avenue and the only, we'll go through the plans,
but the only refusal that we have is for tree replacement requirements pursuant to section 14705.1f.
And other than that, we don't have any other refusals for this project. The unit count is by right.
Other than that, we don't have any other refusals for this project.
The unit count is by right, the height is by right, the massing is by right, the parking is by right, and we're just here for tree replacement.
I'm going to bring on Sarah Poindexter, who is our civil engineer, so that she can go through the site plan.
So if she could be promoted to a panelist.
Before we begin that, does this have to do with heritage tree replacement?
uh no it's just tree replacement requirements in general okay because there's legislation
moving through council or will be regarding heritage trees and i do have a client that
heritage tree is impacting its development so if it's not heritage trees i'm okay
mr chair it is it's our understanding that it is a heritage tree issue um specifically i thought i
read that somewhere so uh i apologize but i'm going to recuse myself from this because to be
clear we don't have a refusal for any heritage trees it's tree replacement requirements the
heritage tree section is a completely different provision in the code and we did not trigger the
heritage tree special exception we triggered the variance for tree replacement mr chair if it's of
any help um we will we have an arborist who's going to be one of our witnesses and um after
his testimony i think um you may if you're comfortable now that's of course fine but that
may provide more um ammo for your decision of whether or not to recuse but i just want to go
on record uh if in the event that i have to recuse myself you'll understand why yes understood okay
all right steve yes absolutely great to hear from the office okay thank you okay so bring on sarah
poindexter i'm gonna jump to um our site plan
he's been promoted so this is just the aerial um showing that it's rm3 surrounded by other rm3
properties and as the board's aware from the lni appeal it's this odd rear-shaped parcel
with this kind of dog leg that comes out onto wayne avenue um if we can get um sarah sworn
and I believe the site plan is 181 yeah. Sarah's last name? Poindexter.
Poindexter? Yes. Please spell your full name and I'll swear you in.
Sarah Poindexter, s-a-r-a-p-o-i-n-d-e-x-t-e-r. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth,
the whole truth nothing but the truth thank you yes thank you uh rachel okay uh sarah if you could
just go through the site plan um and the existing conditions um on the site
sure so you have the site up now and um as explained this this project was um designed
And to the most part, as of right, we had some definite design challenges on the property, including steep slopes, which you can see in the red diagonal areas shown throughout the site, which resulted in the configuration that you see here.
And the design team worked really closely to come up with a thoughtful design that we feel, you know, meets the intent of a transit-oriented parcel.
Unfortunately, there are large trees that are – that some were unavoidable in this configuration.
So that's what brings us here today.
And my colleague, Laura Hansplant, is going to speak more about those.
thanks sarah and sarah can you just confirm that you are the engineer that prepared the site plan
that's currently on the screen yes i'm the engineer of record on the site plan okay thank you
case where we had some issues regarding a wall or something of yes chairman you're uh you're
correct we were discussing the retaining wall and the setback at the lni appeal
so if we could bring on Laura Hansplant she is our landscape architect for this project
so that she can go through and talk more about the tree replacement variants that we're requesting
Hansplant please raise your virtual hand and wait to be sworn in
Good afternoon, ma'am. Please spell your full name, and I'll square you in.
My name is Laura Hansplant, spelled H-A-N as in Nancy, S-P as in Peter, L-A-N-T.
We're firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
We're firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth.
Thank you, Ms.
Thank you.
Ms. Pritzker?
Laura, can you just share with the board a little bit about your expertise and specifically the role that you played for this project?
Pardon the interruption.
Did we not have this testimony at the first hearing?
We did not bring in any testimony related to trees.
Okay, thank you.
Please proceed.
Yes, I'm a registered landscape architect in the state of Pennsylvania.
I've been working as a landscape architect and as a specialist in sustainable site design for over 25 years.
And my role on this project was to support the team in configuring the buildings and the development with respect to the trees
so that we could preserve as many as possible and to help prepare a planting plan and strategy to replace as many trees as we could
and as appropriate to the character of this site.
We'd like to qualify Laura as an expert in landscape architecture unless the opposing
council has any issues with that or questions for Laura.
I don't at this time.
So now, Laura, I'm going to be going to the landscape plan that you prepared for this
project.
Just give me a minute to zoom out.
And if you could go through the plans once I get it zoomed out and explain the process that went into the, I guess, first of all, talking about the existing site conditions that were on the site and then going into the plans and the way that you reviewed this to prepare for our application and the considerations relative to the tree replacement hardship that we have.
based on the code. Yes, thank you. So this is, Sarah mentioned, this is a wooded site. Any
development on this site will impact trees to some extent. The existing site is, has a mix of trees.
The predominant species are silver maple. They're quite large, mature to over mature,
with secondary, but also with sycamore maple. Sycamore maple are not native. The silver maple
are. Secondary species include Norway maple, walnut, box elder, and elm. It's my observation
that the silver maple are fairly old, as I mentioned, and the young trees that are coming up
are the sycamore maple and the Norway maple. These are not native species, unfortunately.
They are invasive. They are unfortunately fairly frequent throughout the woodlands in the city.
And without intervention or active management, unfortunately, they would increasingly become the dominant trees on this site.
So one of the considerations we brought to our landscape management plan was how to reintroduce a greater diversity of native species appropriate to the edge of the Wissahickon.
When we looked at the trees on the site and considered how to advise the team on the placement of buildings, we also looked to trees that I think contribute to the character of the site, how it is perceived relative to its neighbors and to the value of these trees as a whole.
So if you look at the large tree that you see in the sort of center of the plan, I don't know if you're able to point, Rachel, that, yes, that is a large London Plain tree.
We also, we put a high priority on that.
We put a high priority on the trees in the top right corner of the site plan that you see.
And we put a priority on the trees just below that in the bottom right of the plan.
That's correct, between the buildings and the station drive.
We also put a priority on the trees on the wooded slopes that you see on the left-hand side that help screen the buildings from the station, the Tulpa-Hawken Station.
And on the landscaped area that is shown in white on the left-hand side of the plan, that's a flat lawn area that the community uses.
we were told that the community likes to use as an open space.
So it was important to us to be respectful of those existing features on the site.
The landscape plan that we put together departs a little bit from conventional planting.
Conventional planting would place evenly sized trees at, say, 20, 25 feet on center.
and it probably would have
And it probably would have a handful of species. This plan looks at instead using a range of planting sizes so that we could plant trees more closely together and pair fast-growing trees next to slower-growing, longer-lived trees and quickly recreate a layered planting arrangement, tree community structure, which is characteristic of the Wissahickon
a handful of species.
This plant
and characteristic of wooded sites. So in that respect, this plan not only aims to replace a
wider range of native species, which would be appropriate to the Wissahickon, but also to
recreate the density and the structure that are emblematic of the wooded character of the
Wissahickon. And in that sense, we are able to also put in a higher number of, replace a higher
number of trees. So we're putting back, if we are 125 trees were inventoried, 49 removed that count
towards the zoning calculation, we're putting back 188 trees. And we're putting them in as
densely as we can with respect to good horticultural practice. Laura, this is Brandon
Saverin. So, you know, and I don't know whether you or Jason is in the better position to speak
to this but um you know just going right off your comment there about the um you know large number
of trees that will be on the finished site um can you speak a little bit as to why even that does
not satisfy the tree replacement requirement and whether it would have been possible to under you
know, some other reasonable plan. Yes, thank you. The zoning code requires replacement of trees
and the replacement is measured in caliber inches. So if you remove a 20-inch tree, you have to put
back additional trees that's equal 20 inches in caliber or 20 inches in diameter. So the total
replacement inches required based on the arborist report is 903 inches. We get credit for both
preserving existing trees and for replacing trees. The actual number of inches that we're putting
back is 942. That's more than we're taking out. However, because of the way the code is written,
you get credit for trees preserved up to 12 inches. So if you preserve a tree which is
12 inches in diameter or 24 inches in diameter or 60 inches in diameter, the credit that you get
is capped at 12. So although we are putting back 942 inches, sorry, although we are preserving
and replacing in combination 942 inches in diameter inches we are getting credit for 766
and that leaves us short. This is also a wooded site so we have spaced the trees as closely as
we thought was responsible horticulturally but we run out of room.
so um as a expert in landscape architecture when you looked at this um and the tree replacement
requirements it in your opinion would it be um appropriate or in good practice to
jam on more more trees just to meet the code requirements instead of what the site
needs to yield or what is uh responsible and respectful and uh landscape architectural
practices. I'm going to object that that's a leading question. Can we rephrase that?
We can rephrase it. Laura, is, would you have. This is Sharon Saleta. The rules of evidence
don't apply. This is an administrative hearing. So, Laura, can you, do you want me to state it
again, are you able to answer the question? I can answer. We thought very hard about how
closely we could space the trees in order to replace as many trees as we could. We have spaced
the trees very tightly, and I do not believe as a design professional that it would be responsible
to place them any closer. Okay, thanks. And Laura, just to recap one specific element of your
testimony there will be uh more trees uh newly installed on the site than are being removed is
that correct that is correct okay um i'm gonna ask you to hold on just for a second um you
referenced an arborist report so i just want to briefly bring on that arborist jason to give a
So I just want to briefly bring on that arborist, Jason, to give a real short version of sort of
what that report is and how it's compiled. So we're looking for Jason Lubar to be sworn in.
And I do have some cross-examination when it's appropriate.