uh sure my name is meredith ferliger with dilworth paxton f-e-r-l-e-g-e-r and can you
identify your client the relationship to this property certainly my client is potter's house
mission which is the owner of the property and with me today from potter's house is reverend
Kathleen Jones, the executive director. Okay, and our vice chair has just a few questions.
Good afternoon, counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal or stipulate to its
accuracy? I do. Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that's needed
to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing? I did. Thank you. Please proceed.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the board, as mentioned, my client today is Potter's House
Mission, represented by their executive director, Reverend Kathleen Jones. She is here today and
she is authorized to speak on behalf of this wonderful nonprofit organization. Just by way
Just by way of administrative, if the board is so inclined to grant the request today, there is an amended refusal that was issued on December 19th, which I will address, but I just want to make sure that it's very clear that it is based on that amended refusal, not based on the original referral that was issued back in May of 2023.
of administrative, if the board is so inclined,
The request before the board today seeks to correct a minuscule error in the zoning permit for this property that has carried forward since the property was first permitted in 1999.
Although slightly more technical, as I'll explain, the request ultimately looks to document that the property has seven bedrooms for occupant use, not three.
We did meet with Cobbs Creek several months ago, and their letter of non-opposition was just submitted to the board yesterday, and your counsel should have that now.
The board has my exhibits, which contain 14 sets of documents.
At tab four, the deed shows that Potter's House Mission acquired this property from the Philadelphia Housing Development Corporation in December of 1997.
The property includes both 524 and 526 South 52nd Street.
Tax clearance is included at Tab 3.
On the zoning map at Exhibit 7, you'll note that this property sits at the corner of South 52nd Street and Hazel Avenue.
It is zoned CMX 2.
I did include some aerial images at Exhibit 8, but for better context, I will jump right to the photographs at Exhibit 14.
These photographs show that the property is an existing two-story structure of roughly 4,000 square feet that you can see extends fairly far back along Hazel Avenue.
As you'll notice, the property has multiple points of entry and egress, but the only main entry point is at the corner and through this door to the left of the building here.
The property sits along South 52nd Street, which contains a mix of commercial and residential uses, as you can see in the photograph on the screen.
And just looking the other way, again, you can see the existing commercial uses.
Through Reverend Jones's leadership for many decades, Potter's House Mission has been providing transitional housing for senior women.
This 52nd Street facility allows senior women to live independently for a maximum of one year.
Some on-site services are provided, but the ladies predominantly handle their own affairs while they live at this location.
As the interior photographs show, there is an on-site computer lab as well as lounge areas.
There is a communal kitchen where the women prepare their own meals.
Out of respect to the women living there at the time of my visit, I limited photographs of the living areas.
But you will see the hallways and the bedroom doors in the photograph up on the screen.
There are also communal laundry facilities and bathrooms.
I was able to photograph one bedroom where you'll note the typical bedroom arrangements.
Each bedroom is furnished in substantially the same way, with each of the bedrooms able to comfortably accommodate two occupants.
The first floor plans are included at Exhibit 5 and show the general layout that is reflected in the photographs.
The front office...
I'll scroll right back through.
the front office has security cameras and the facility is locked to outside visitors
to ensure the safety and privacy of the occupants photographs of the zoning posters that were posted
December 26th are also included delving into the main issue at hand at exhibit nine let me zoom out
So, I've included a copy of the original zoning permit that first approved this facility.
The board will note that the zoning permit approved three non-housekeeping units to accommodate a maximum of 14 persons.
It specifically notes the occupants are capable of self-preservation and self-sustaining.
The Certificate of Occupancy that I have included at Exhibit 6 was issued in 2002 following a substantial interior renovation to the building.
That CO notes the use as a boarding home for 14 persons.
Importantly, you will note that this building is fortunately equipped with sprinklers throughout.
Importantly, you will note that this building is fortunately equipped with sprinklers throughout.
The issue, as you may now see, is that the original zoning permit references three units, which is supposed to equate to the number of bedrooms.
However, the property has always had and will continue to have seven bedrooms, not three.
Even though the overall number of occupants is not proposed to change from the originally approved 14 occupants.
When Potter's House Consultant first filed a zoning application to correct this discrepancy,
L&I seemingly misunderstood the nature of the use and issued a referral for a personal care home.
Per Zoning Code Section 14601-2B.1, a personal care home use is really intended for a residential use
where the occupants require assistance or supervision in matters such as dressing, bathing, diet, or evacuation from the residence.
Clearly, this facility is not one that meets the personal care definition, as the women living in this facility are largely independent.
Accordingly, I requested that L&I issue a corrected document to reflect the appropriate use as the now-defined broader group living category.
which is the catch-all category in the code now that includes uses such as a temporary overnight
shelter. Unfortunately, the group living use is not permitted in CMX2 and also generates a refusal
for insufficient parking, both which you can now see on that corrected refusal that's included at
Exhibit 1. Regardless of the use category or the type of relief generated from the request,
the important fact for the board to consider is that absolutely nothing is changing about the facility that has operated for over 20 years.
Very briefly, the applicant submits to a significant hardship given this variance request is generated simply as a result of a paperwork discrepancy
that is critical to fix to ensure that the Potter's House facility does not inadvertently jeopardize its critical funding sources,
which, as the board knows, is predominantly through city funding.
This is a classic example of dissimilar definitions that we and Ellen and I often grapple with
when comparing the use of property originally permitted under the old zoning code versus
compared to the post-2012 zoning code.
There's no longer a boarding house category under the modern zoning code.
Regarding the parking, the property has never benefited from on-site parking spaces, and it would require removal of a portion of the building to add parking.
Realistically, building constraints aside, parking could not be added to the site without generating additional variances.
The proposed variance is the least minimum, given nothing is changing about the structure or the use.
It will not create congestion or endanger the public, but will instead continue the longstanding and incredibly important public service to provide transitional housing for senior women.
Since the structure is not proposed to change and is in line with the adjoining two-story structures, the proposal will not impair light and air, nor will it harm neighbors, given this use has coexisted for multiple decades without incident.
The applicant therefore asserts it has met the requirements of Section 303AE.1 of the Code concerning entitlement to a variance and therefore asks that the board grant our application.
I'm hoping that Reverend Jones can hit the raise hand button to unmute herself so she can adopt my testimony.
Reverend Kathleen Jones.
reverend jones has been unmuted and allowed to speak uh good afternoon everyone uh it's a good
opportunity to have oh my name is uh reverend kathleen jones i'm the executive director of
potty's house mission uh for over the past 21 years hold on hold on one minute hold on one
minute could you stick when you state your name could you spell it please for the court stenographer
Yes, Kathleen, K-A-T-H-L-E-E-N, Jones, J-O-N-E-S.
And Reverend, do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Please proceed, counsel.
Thank you.
Reverend Jones, you're the executive director of Potter's House, is that correct?
That's correct.
And you're authorized to speak on their behalf?
Yes, I am.
Uh-huh.
Did you hear all the testimony that I offered before the board today?
Yes, I do.
Yes, I did.
And would you agree that that testimony was true and accurate?
And would you agree that that testimony was true and accurate?
And would you adopt that testimony as if it were your own?
Yes, I do.
Wonderful.
We're happy to take any questions.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Chair.
Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Emerson?
Not at this time, Mr.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I see no hands, Chair.
Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair Bergman, and good evening.
David Fecta with the City Planning Commission.
Chairman and board members, the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the commercial mixed-use zoning at this location.
This property has a documented history as group living with no off-street accessory parking.
The current application conforms with this prior use.
The City Planning Commission recommends the board grant the proposed use variants for group living with no off-street accessory parking provided.
Thank you. MI 2023-003-760, 524-26 South 52nd Street, I vote yes with proviso. Her amended refusal dated 12-19-23.
Thomas Holliman, my vote is yes with proviso.
James Snell, my vote is yes with proviso.
Ishmael Shahid, my vote is yes with proviso.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you.
Number three, MI 2023, 003753, 2651 Buckeyes Street, Michael McElhenney and Paul Toner are listed as attorneys.
Please. Letter of support from the Bridesburg Community Action Alliance contingent on applicants
signing a CBA that addresses concerns raised by the neighbors. Chair Paul Toner is coming back in
as a panelist now. Good afternoon, Mr. Toner. Could you state your name, please, and spell for
the court's stenographer? Good afternoon, Mr. Bergman. Paul Toner, T-O-N-E-R, with Orphanities
He's in Toner. We're counsel for the applicant in this case, All Saints Development, LLC.
All right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Our vice chair has just a few questions, sir.
Good afternoon, counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?
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?
Thank you. Please proceed and share your screen.
Thank you, members of the board.
We're here today for a partial change to a previously approved mixed-use development in the Bridesburg neighborhood.
Back in 2016, my client secured approval to convert the old All Saints Parish campus into a mixed-use development of shared offices and a total of 46 residential rental units.
Part of that mixed-use development was Building 1, which my cursor is now going over.
This was the former church building that was approved for the shared office space.
The concept approved was essentially the Benjamin's Desk shared office concept.
What we're here for today, and we have one refusal, we're here for today is to convert a portion of what had previously been approved for the shared office space into a craft market.
And there was only one use refusal here.
we have no dimensional refusals. The current property, I'm going to show the board what
we have marked as Exhibit 6. This is the existing church building. Since 2016, my clients have
focused the majority of their attention on converting to residential units. And after
a long period of construction, including through the COVID period, the occupancy of all those
residential units was recently completed and my clients are now looking to activate the former
church space. Our exhibit packet at exhibit three, four, and five are three renderings of the church
space when it's converted to the craft market space. And the concept for the craft market space
is to create 46 separate craft market stalls.
And these stalls will all house local vendors
and vendors from outside the community.
But the predominant intention here is to create a community hub.
All Saints development was proposed and has been developed to create a vibrant live-work play space.
All Saints development was proposed and has been developed
to create a...
And the craft market is intended to work in conformity with the remaining shared office space.
So right now, the interior is still in a state of partial demolition.
And the shared office space, which was fully approved back in 2016, has been partially framed out.
And we're essentially now waiting for approval from this board to move and reactivate the space.
So once my clients submitted their current zoning application, I'd like to go over some of the presentations and the process we followed.
First of all, we've met with the Bridesmaier Community Action Alliance on two separate occasions, on November 7th and on December 21st.
As the board indicated at the beginning of the presentation, we do have a letter of full support from the Bridesburg Community Action Alliance.
And that predominantly is based upon our agreement to enter into a community development agreement.
My clients have worked closely with not just members of the RCO, we've also worked closely with representatives of Councilman Michael Disclal's office and have tried to address as many of the concerns of the community as possible.
Now, since we're building a mixed-use development within a Bridesburg community that is a dense residential community, there are concerns with issues like parking, traffic congestion that were present when we got our approvals back in 2016 for the conversion of the church space into a shared office space.
And they were present when we presented this craft market application back in both November and December of 2023.
I would like to note in their letter of approval that was circulated to the board last night, the final paragraph of that letter makes this telling note.
And Ms. Stevens, the president of the Bridesburg Community Action Alliance, notes many of the
concerns that residents listed are going to be addressed in the community benefits agreement.
And we do think that is the case.
And I believe there will be some residents here after my presentation who are going to
express some concerns.
But I would like to go over some of the core components that my clients have tried to address
through the community benefits agreement.
One, they're agreeable to a temporary variance, and they're agreeable to a five-year temporary variance.
And in conjunction with the temporary variance, they've also made an agreement to participate in no less than four RCO meetings each year.
So we're constantly updating and addressing community concerns as they come up.
We've agreed to manage and control any issues with people illegally parking on the sidewalk and addressing parking controls as great as possible.
Appogant has agreed that any new structural improvements to the property will incorporate green elements.
As part of the conversion process, my clients fully replaced the roof of what is an important community asset, the former church building.
And one of their requests was that we could have solar panels on the roof.
Because the roof is entirely new structure, my clients intend and want to address the community desires for solar amenities.
But we just ask to do it when we go ahead and make new improvements, that we make the new improvements with consideration of those new green elements.
And this is one of the most important concerns that the community had.
They want local vendors to be given priority and a clear role in this shared market space, and that we have agreed to, and there will be clear provisions that priority will be given to qualified local vendors, but also the RCO will be given one craft vendor space so they can support and pursue civic projects as part of the craft market.
Exhibit 2 is the zoning plan that identifies the craft market.
The blue shaded area in Exhibit 2, this is all the area that's going to remain the mixed or the business shared office space.
The partially framed out cubicles that you saw in the image of the interior of the All Saints structure, that is where my cursor is right now.
And so what we're doing is in this open floor space, which had previously been intended to be like shared desk space.
This is where the market stalls, the craft market stalls.
And again, a total of 24 craft market stalls.
And again, a total of 24 craft market stalls.
Those stalls.
Those stalls will each be approximately eight by nine feet.
The total area of the craft market will be 3,975, give or take, square feet.
All of the existing improvements to the ingress and egress points are all already complete under the prior approvals, not just the prior zoning approvals, but also prior building plans.