I vote yes.
My vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you, counsel.
So number nine, MI 2022-005-081-2860 Kensington Avenue, number TC435854.
Alan Nicholson is the attorney.
Letter of support from IMPACT, letter of non-opposition from Council Member Lozada.
Coming back in as a panelist, Cap.
Thank you.
good afternoon mr chair members of the board alan knockamson a-l-a-n last name knockamson
n-o-c-h-u-m-s-r-n mr knockamson you've already been sworn could you identify your client a
relationship to this property yes uh the client my client is the property owner tl kenzo llc
And then the virtual audience is Lenoit Cherniak, who is the member of that organization.
Our vice chair has just a few questions.
Good afternoon, Mr. Nackamson. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to his accuracy?
Have you emailed all the required exhibits that are needed five days in advance to our office?
Yes, I have.
Thank you. Please proceed and share your screen.
Thank you.
um so this is a very straightforward project at 2860 uh kensington avenue uh we're underneath the
l um and we're helping support the commercial corridor through the development of this property
alan could you come a little bit closer you're you're kind of sure can you hear me better yeah
All right, cool. Yeah, so this is a pretty straightforward project. We have a vacant lot on the commercial corridor, has been for some time. It's irregularly shaped, and we're asking for a few de minimis variances here. So we have the notice of refusal, which we'll go over.
We have a letter of support from Impact CDC. While I was transitioning over to, as a, as a panelist, I heard there may be another letter that I haven't received. Is there another letter that the ZBA received with regards to this project?
Ms. Maxon, you may be referring to the letter of non-opposition from Council Member Lozada.
Okay. Yeah, the councilman was non-opposition, sir.
Okay, great. Thank you. So we also have councilmatic support. So with regards to the refusals, we're going to address them. We're going to look at nearby properties with more than 75% lot coverage.
We also have support of the neighbor to the left of us and right of us on this commercial corridor, maps of the area, photographs of the property, our plants and drawings, our RCO meeting notice, we had a well-attended meeting, our application for appeal, our deed to the property showing that TL Kenzo LLC is the owner of the property, and our Certificate of Tax Clearance.
Again, in the virtual audience, Illinois Terniak, the member of this LLC, at the conclusion of my presentation, I would ask that he virtually raise his hand.
He'll be sworn in and he can adopt my testimony as his own.
Our notice of refusal.
So this is a CMX2 property.
We're looking to put an attached dwelling, we see an attached structure with a roof deck, two roof deck access structures.
a commercial property on the ground floor and four dwelling units above uh we have a refusal
first for the heights which is a misnomer um this is cmx two and a half property we're allowed to
have a building height of 55 feet we do have a building height of 55 feet but because of where
the roof deck access structures are situated the height of the roof deck access structure is
counting towards the height of our building but as you will see in the presentation materials
to the roofline. We're 55 feet high. The second refusal is the maximum occupied area where 75%
is allowed and we're proposing that a little over 95%. This is a property that goes street to street
and is irregularly shaped. So we're trying to have active eyes on the street from both sides
of the property, which is also important to this section of Philadelphia. We're in the Kensington
section of philadelphia from a safety perspective it makes sense to have almost full lock coverage
here and um it's not out of character either to have you know lock coverage that exceeds
the zoning code requirements as you'll see in our presentation and then the final refusal has
to do with the fact that in the rear of the property uh we have an indentation of approximately
a foot, a little over a foot on two sides. One to help us, you know, we'll have a landing area
for people who are going to get out from the rear if necessary. So that helps us. The second
indentation has to do with the landing, essentially an exterior landing for the trash removal. So it
would make it easier than to have a door opening to a public sidewalk. Plus from an architectural
point of view, we thought we'd add some architectural interest by having these
two indentations. So these are de minimis requests that we
would ask the board to approve. And then here's the letter
of support from the coordinating RCO
in PAC CDC.
And then my understanding, again, is the district council member also has
a letter of non-opposition for this project. So
Addressing specifically the lot coverage issue, we did an analysis of nearby properties to look to see which properties, if any, had that ran the power of the zoning code requirements.
As you can see, it's a decent amount, especially on the Kensington Ave corridor.
You can also see our property and you can see the fact that we have been in a regularly shaped lot, which makes it difficult to conform to the zoning code.
Plus, we wanted to have eyes in the street, not just on Kensington Avenue.
plus we wanted to have eyes in the street not just on kensington avenue but east cambria so we
we had as much log coverage as possible to accomplish that task for safety purposes
and then 2864 that's next to us and 2858 that's next to us on kensington avenue each signed
the letters to support and support this project and then there's the zoning map as you can see
we're not asking for any used variances. These are all dimensional variances, and you can see
from the irregular shape of the lot, it's really difficult to conform to Philadelphia zoning code
from a lot coverage perspective. And then just maps of the area. Again, we're on a commercial
corridor. We're underneath the L. So by activating this property, it has many benefits to this
commercial corridor. And then photographs of the property. As you can see, this is a vacant lot.
you can see the L right here, or at least the structure of the L. We try to, again, always show
that, you know, proof of posting. So here it is from this angle from Kensington Avenue, and then
the other side on East Cambria Street. And then as you can see, like this property has been a
vacant lot for some time. So the picture that we got as late as July of 2015 shows it as a vacant
lot from kensington avenue and it's a vacant lot showing today as well as back in july of 2015
it has a vacant lot and then this kensington avenue to the right of the property again here's
the underbelly of the owl kensington avenue to the left of the property cambridge street to the right
of the property and as you can see like many properties on cambridge street goes to because
it's a public street, go to the front of that property, and then Cambridge Street to the left
of the property. And then our plans and drawings, again, we have a structure that will fit well
within the commercial corridor and help support the commercial corridor. We're not just providing
a commercial space, but much needed residences that will help support the commercial corridor.
And then this is just from the Cambridge Street side.
As you can see, these are the indentations, which are the subject of the refusals.
Just trying to give a landing in architectural interest, though, for the residents who can access the property from the rear.
And then this is where we're going to have the trash room, again, to give a landing rather than taking the trash out and you're on the public sidewalk.
I'll just give a little bit of a landing so for right-of-way purposes and then this is another
view of our property from Kensington Avenue and from East Cambria and again same thing from East
Cambria and then this is just our site plan as you can see if you add up the numbers we're at 55
feet high this is a good elevation which shows the commercial space on the ground floor
and there's a unit on each floor as well and as you can see where the roof deck access structure
is situated because it's situated at the rear that's where the refusal is coming in for the
height because they're counting the top of the roof deck access structure for height purposes
and then this is just floor plan showing uh our property the commercial component takes the full
ground floor with you know obviously stairwells in the front and the back from the front from
kensington as well as east cambria and again floors two through five are two bedrooms
each of them have two bedrooms uh and two baths and in particular each have its own
trash or ventilated trash room and they actually have a trash sheet as well so we really want to
make a responsible trash management storage and removal plan
so we met on December 14th with the community 153 addresses were notified
list of the addresses proof of mailing to those addresses our application for appeal
showing that TL Kenzo was LLC as the applicant, notice of refusal, project information form,
deed to the property, showing that TL Kenzo LLC is the owner of the property,
and then finally our certificate of tax clearance showing that my client owes no real estate taxes
with respect to the property. I'm going to unshare my screen. I want to ask that Mr.
attorney act virtually raise his hand
uh virtually raised his hand
could you state your name please and spell for court reporter
hi my name is leonard chernyak and the spelling is l-e-o-n-i-d-c-h-e-r-n-y-a-k
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i do proceed counsel yeah mr chernyak you heard everything i had to state today regarding your
matter i did and is it true and correct it is and do you adopt it as your own testimony
i do thank you questions from the board no mr chairman
no mr chairman thank you questions or comments from the virtual audience
i see no other hands mr chair planning commission thank you chair bergman and members of the board
david fecto city planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change to
commercial mixed use zoning at this location given the configuration of the lot we would
argue that the relief from the dimensional variances of the code is warranted the proposed
transparency at the rear of the lot is likely to benefit the public realm on east cambria street
so we believe that this should be taken into account when deciding on the merits of the case
the city planning commission recommends that the board grant the proposed dimensional variances
thank you MI 2022 005081 2860 Kensington Avenue number TC435854 I vote yes
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you.
Number 11, MI 2021, 004-829-5604-06 Utah Street.
Adam Laver is the attorney.
um councilwoman bass is not opposed to the granting of the variance
two letters of support from neighbors and a letter of support from the 12th ward
democratic committee rco with one enforceable proviso
yes good afternoon chairman bergman members of the board
Hi, could you just state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
Adam Laver, L-A-B-O-Z-N-V-T-R-E-R, Blancrome, L-L-P, 1 Logan Square, Philadelphia, 19103.
Do you swear or affirm and tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do, Mr. Chairman.
Could you identify your client in relationship to the property?
Blancrome represents RFC Holdings Group, LLC, the owner of the subject property.
our vice chair has just a few questions good afternoon council do you agree to waive the
reading of the refusal and stipulate to his accuracy good afternoon mr vice chairman uh yes
i do have you emailed all the required exhibits of yes five days in advance to today okay yes
Proceed to share your screen, and please show your video.
Thank you.
Chairman Bergman and members of the board, as stated, we represent RSC Holdings Group, LLC.
With me today is Ryan Tieford, T-E-A-F-O-R-D.
Lieutenant Tieford is well known in this community.
He is a member of the Philadelphia Police who started his career in the 14th District in Germantown.
And he is now a lieutenant.
In addition to being a well-respected member of the force, he is known in the community.
And it's very nice to have that background going into this type of case.
Also with us today from core design architects is Matt Elson, the architect on this project.
We have submitted an exhibit package with 17 exhibits to counsel for the board.
However, I'm not going to go through all of those exhibits.
The application before the board, as stated, is supported by the coordinating RCO.
RCO, and Councilmember Bass stands behind the community offering her non-opposition.
The photograph on the board shows the subject property here at the rear of Utah Street at
the curve.
I'm going to go through a few photographs to give you a further sense of the property.
I'm going to go through a few photographs to give you a further sense.
Here you see the property on the left-hand side of the screen.
Again, the curve coming around Utah.
And here, a view from the property looking down the street.
Ryan purchased the property about 13 months ago.
here is a zoning map once again showing that curve and the subject property outlined it is
zoned rsa5 single family it's subject to the eighth district overlay within one block of
the property as members of the board can see there's a surrounding mix of cmx1 and icmx
zoning. I'm bringing up now an aerial photograph. And again, to orient you, it's this mass of
trees as we're looking at a vacant lot. We are on a short loop street. This is an atypical RSA 5
property. It's 5,208 square feet in size, whereas adjacent properties on Utah Street, and I'm using
the cursor to indicate the adjacent properties, are approximately 750 square feet in size.
This is an atypical location on an interior corner with minimal street frontage. There's
very limited potential for subdivision, for example. Due to the location of the subject
property on the bend in the street, the property has relatively little frontage. The frontage on
Utah is only about 36 feet. Historically, the site was home to horse stables going back
many years, and the property has been vacant and unimproved for many, many years now. At the time
of purchase, the property was illegally being used for short dumping purposes, unfortunately,
and neighbors have reported that it was an escape route from Utah out to the rear where there's
commercial for drug dealing activities. Immediately upon purchasing the property, Ryan had the site
cleared of garbage, and he's been working with interested neighbors since that time regarding
the proposed transformation of the site. With just the 36 feet of frontage that I mentioned,
and with a 16-foot-wide minimum code requirement for lot width, only two single-family dwellings
would be permitted on this very large lot pursuant to the code. This would be completely
out of scope and scale with the existing 750 or so square foot Utah street homes. Due to the
severely constrained street frontage, single family use by subdivision or otherwise is just
impractical. Here are some additional aerial images that I'd like to share with you. And again,
to orient the board, I'm showing in that bend in the street the massive trees where the subject
property is located. Adjacent uses at the rear of the property where the cursor is include a
Philadelphia Fire Department firehouse and retail sales along a busy commercial Cheldon Avenue.
Utah Street, however, is residential. There are neighbors who are invested in residential living.
and we've worked with them. From a planning perspective, the development team believed early
on that multifamily at this site provides a very appropriate buffer between the commercial activity
that I showed you to the rear and the single family along Utah at the front. Here's another
photograph taken. You can see advanced auto parts here in the foreground. You see the fire station,
the subject property right here in between that retail commercial, the commercial uses,
and the residential along Utah. The original zoning application called for a three-story,
12-unit property. However, we've worked very closely with the community over several months,