height exceeding the required height uh so just to be clear we do not have a refusal for height
we are not seeking any additional height we will build below 38 feet which is the allowed height
in the neighborhood and i'm happy to bring up the refusal just to be clear um
I hope you can see it on your screen right now.
i i hope you can see it on your screen right now i've just pulled up the refusal
I've just pulled up the refusal.
We have one refusal for multifamily use.
There is no request for additional height
and we're building by right in all ways dimensionally.
Okay, thank you.
Certainly, thank you.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Chair, we have another call-in user with the hand raised to allow them to speak.
Please press star six to unmute yourself, sir or madam.
No, I was just following up.
It was just me stating that we do support a single-family home here, okay?
We did not say we did not support development at that property.
Yes, it has been there a lot for a while, and we do support single-family home.
But the thing about it is, at this particular point, we feel that he states that below 80 AMI, what, below 80 AMI as far as the city would be $170,000.
And you have not, you will not, you're not selling that at $170,000, are you?
Is that what you're saying?
And then so we're not, and we're not, we're not dealing with that.
We're not the totality of the price range.
if you're going to bring in about lumber and supplies
and Lella and I are going to allow you to talk about that
then we should have the right to talk about the tax impact on this too
and that's the point I want to
thank you for your comments
anyone else in the virtual audience
no further answer
planning commission
thank you chair Bergman
and members of the board
David Vecto
city planning commission
the comprehensive plan recommends no change
to the residential single-family zoning at this location. There is no unique physical condition
or circumstances of this 1186 square foot lot that would prevent it from being used in conformance
with the zoning code. We also note that the promised bus shelter is located in the public
right-of-way and so cannot be tied to the issuance of a zoning permit. The City Planning Commission
recommends that the board deny the use variance. There's been a lot, Mr. Whalen, there's been a lot
of testimony. I'm going to take this back to the executive committee next Wednesday and we'll vote
for it at 9 30. Okay. Thank you. Mr. Chair, this is Hillary. We'll vote it. We'll vote at 2 p.m.
on this one. Oh, 2 p.m. Okay. Yeah. Thank you. All right. Thank you. And Chairman Bergman,
I'm remiss. I forgot one point for the height for Mr. Holloman's comment. We did agree with
the community to, so as the chair knows, you can build to 38 feet in height, and then you build a
parapet wall above that for your roof, so it actually goes up to 42 feet in height. We agreed
to remove that additional height to try to even further reduce the impact of the height on the
block. Okay. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you very much. Number seven, MI 2022-005-112-905
South 9th Street. Mike Gumbel is the attorney for the owner. Janet Stetschman. Letter of non-opposition
from Bella Vista Neighbors. Letter of non-opposition from Councilman Squilla.
Mr. Gumbel is back in as a panelist, sir.
Hi, counsel, could you please state your name and spell for the court reporter?
Good afternoon, chairman and committee members.
Mike Gumbel, M-I-K-E-G-U-M-B-E-L.
Right.
Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
could you identify your client the relationship to this property my client is janet deckman and
she is the owner of the property individual and our our vice chair ismail shaheed has a few questions
good afternoon counselor do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal instead to its accuracy
we do have you emailed all the exhibits that are required to move to proceed with this case
five days in advance to this hearing we have thank you please proceed and share your screen thank you
are you able to see that yes we're fine okay um good afternoon again my name is mike gumbel
i'm representing janet steckman who's the owner of 905 south 9th street this property is located
in the 9th Street Market area, a couple doors south of Christian. This is one of the visitor
accommodation variances that we're seeking for short-term rental of the property.
Here you have the refusal, and the only refusal is for
Here you have the refusal, and the only refusal is for the visitor accommodations.
There are no construction or anything other than an actual use variant that we're seeking for this.
The property itself has commercial on the first floor, which is currently a dog grooming business,
and then there's a single apartment on the second and third floor, so it's a bi-level apartment.
The property has been owned by Ms. Steckman for a couple decades now. It's been in the family. And there's a tax clearance certificate posting.
So several years back, I actually represented Ms. Steckman as a realtor trying to lease this property out.
and we had difficulty trying to find typical long-term tenants because of its location in the
market. Some of the issues that we encounter are the noise from the market on a daily basis,
the trash, the traffic, and so it was very difficult to try to get this rented out as a
long-term rental. At that point, her son and her decided to try to do a short-term rental and do
Airbnb, which they've done for the last several years, and as you can see, they've got almost 200
reviews for this particular property, almost five stars. So they've done very well with it.
And it's been an excellent addition to the neighborhood in that your typical Airbnb guest
is somebody coming in from out of town who's a tourist who wants to see the area. And really,
there's no more iconic area in Philadelphia than the market itself. And so this is a great
marketing opportunity for the market, for the businesses in the market. They have
partnerships with several of the businesses to be able to provide some of the local items and
flair from them to the tenants that are coming to stay at the apartment. Miss Steckman also is the
owner of Anastasia Seafood, which has been a longtime occupant of the market itself, formerly
at 9th and Washington, and now several doors up. So her family has been involved and is intricately
involved in the market and seeing its success uh this venture for them has uh done very well
and it's something that they would like to continue to do and for that reason we're seeking
the variance uh to convert this to visitor accommodations and short-term rental uh while
keeping the first floor unit as commercial would you want to have your testimony adopted by your
client yes please i'd like to promote janet stephman
please raise your hand if you're still in a virtual
could you state your name and spell for the court reporter please
they're waiting for the razor hand mr chair
deckman
Janet she told me she was in the room all right mr. Gumbel you're you're an
officer of the court we will accept your testimony I'd like to proffer that
testimony as exciting questions from the board no mr.
questions or comments from the virtual audience
no further hands mr chair planning commission thank you chair bergman and members of the board
david vecto city planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change to
the commercial mixed use zoning at this location there is no unique physical condition or
circumstance of this property that would prevent it from being used in conformance with the zoning
code. The city planning commission recommends that the board deny the use of variance.
MI 2022-005-112-905 South 9th Street. I vote yes with proviso. Temporary variance expires 2-1-26.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes with proviso.
thank you counsel yes we're proviso thank you thank you thank you all take care okay number
eight mi 2022 005086 1600 west gerrard avenue melanie lacy is the attorney um
Um, letter of support from United Neighbors Alliance Civic Association.
This will be returning as a panelist, sir.
good afternoon mr chairman members of the board my name is melanie lacey that's m-e-l-a-n-i-e
last name l-a-c-e-y i'm with claire harrison harvey in bransburg 1835 market street suite 1400
philadelphia you swear a firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do could
you identify your client and relationship to this property yes i'm accompanied by kane patel who is
a member of LCB Ventures LLC doing business as Liberty Grounds, as well as Sal Guerrero from
Boxwood Architects. Our vice chair has a few questions. Good afternoon, counsel. Do you agree
to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy? I do. Have you emailed all the
required exhibits into our office five days in advance to this hearing? I have. Thank you.
please proceed and share your screen okay are you able to see my screen yes yes okay wonderful
okay um as mentioned um by the chairman uh we met with well first of all this this application
relates to um property located at 1600 west gerard avenue um and i will get into the reason
for relief in a moment. So we met with the United Neighbors Civic Association in person on November
9th, where the project received overwhelming support. They submitted a letter of non-opposition
dated November 17th. And we are here seeking special exception relief for a proposed special
assembly use at 1600 West Girard Avenue. So the establishment is called Liberty Grounds,
And it's a restaurant bar with mini golf and other recreational games, duffel board, ping pong.
And these recreational games are classified as special assembly uses.
They were previously approved back in 2019.
I'm currently showing you the prior approval under permit number 1005925.
And this took place right before the pandemic.
Thankfully, Liberty Grounds has done quite well in spite of the odds, and we're here today because they're seeking to expand the existing use within a neighboring vacant commercial unit next door.
So here is an aerial showing the location. It's at the corner of Westward Avenue and 16th Street, North 16th Street.
here is outside of the building exterior. It's behind these gray bay windows and the space that
they're seeking to expand within are these two below these brown bay windows that I'm hovering
over if you can see my mouse. So they would expand from this area all the way down
to the corner below the civic sign. And the civic are the apartment residential units
upstairs of the commercial units at the ground level. This is another image of the exterior
and the intersection. So I'll show you the expansion area. So this is the interior of
expansion area. And it's been unoccupied since the building conversion. The building was previously
the former hospital building, and it was converted, as I mentioned, into the civic
apartments with commercial space at the ground level. Here are additional photos of the vacant
space in its current condition. And I will show you photos of the existing establishment next door.
So as mentioned, mini golf, games,
and dining space. And they do have private rooms that can be reserved to host events.
Here is a key plan and I'll have to zoom out. So this is this existing sit down area. This
is the expansion area on the first floor and then this is the existing sit down area and
game room in the basement. It's bi-level.
and here is the floor plan for the showing the expansion area as well as the existing
and here is the floor plan for the
i will tell you a little bit about um liberty grounds before um we go into the relief being
sought um they currently employ 25 to 30 people including waiters bartenders hosts dishwashers
line cooks, and they provide a platform for local breweries, and their food is locally sourced
for their menu of Asian fusion cuisine. The majority of patrons dine in, and a very small
fraction of sales relate to takeout and delivery. And Liberty Grounds is open Tuesday to Sunday
and closed on Mondays. Weekdays, they close at 11. Friday and Saturday close at midnight. Sundays,
they close at 9 p.m., and they've never had any noise complaints. They're committed to
keeping the interior and exterior of the establishment clean and litter-free and they
often host charity events, sporting events for local teams and offer event space as mentioned
for private parties. Their Sundays are actually designated as family-friendly hours. So in
conclusion, the special assembly use won't be any more negatively impactful for the surrounding
area than any other special assembly use along this portion of the West Girard Avenue
corridor it's been amenity an amenity to the apartments above it as well as the greater
neighborhood and it will continue to operate as a restaurant recreational and private event space
the project has overwhelming community support as you can see from this letter and it's the
application satisfies the standards of a special exception so with that i'll ask that you promote
my client, Kanae Patel, to adopt my testimony.
Could you state your name and spell it, please, for the court reporter?
Hello, can you hear me?
Hi, could you state your name and spell it, please, for the court reporter?
Yep, Kanae Patel, K-A-N-A-Y, Patel, P-A-T-E-L.
Right, do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed, counsel.
Okay, thank you.
Did you hear the testimony that I provided to the board this afternoon, Kinnick?
And do you affirm that my presentation was accurate?
Do you adopt the testimony as your own?
Thank you.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Do not see any further.
Hi, Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair Bergman and members of the board.
David Fecto, City Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the commercial mixed-use zoning at this location.
The applicant has shown the proposed assembly and entertainment will have no more of an impact than such a use would be expected to have.
And so the City Planning Commission recommends the board grant the special exception.
Thank you.
MI 2022-005-086-1600 West Sherrod Avenue.