sides of the street and what is zoomed in you can see has been a street eatery
whether or not it's still there as of this photo but there's also a blocked
off area on the street where no parking is allowed that also plays a role in
kind of how this business may operate we are looking at the front facade of the
building and another view from the corner again you can see nice wide
sidewalks and areas for for traffic for drop-off and I'll talk more about
momentarily about the operations as you can see this is North Hancock and while
it's small in one way it does still fit a car and down it although we've been
advised by neighbors to just be mindful of when cars are going down it because trash trucks can
kind of log jam the alley and so forth. So before I go into some of the design, the idea being is
that this would be a dog daycare. There is no boarding, no grooming, and no bathing of any sort
at the location. However, the unique part of it is that it is a 24-hour dog daycare, meaning that
they do intend to have dogs in the property for day care services or night care overnight from seven
the property for day care services or night care overnight from 7 p.m. to 7
a.m. but what is different than a boarding facility is that there are no
kennels and no crates these overnight services are provided with staff whereas
normal typical boarding dogs are kenneled or crated and the staff leaves
for the night this is just the same programs run during the day but run at
night because there happens to be a need in the area which I'll go into in a
little bit uh that the applicants have discussed and discovered uh the the plans in front of you
show the layout and dimensions of the first floor basically or of the general overview of the
building and as you can see we have quite a bit of depth in the building this was a sketch that
was taken from something issued for the building long before this applicant but we believed that
the dimensions shown were representative enough to give the board an idea of the scope of the
building in the space this is only a first floor and a basement property just to give you a little
bit about who the well actually this is more for location purposes but the main room clients and
customers will enter through the front doors and there's some reception and open space as you can
see and this is it from the other perspective there will be some renovations done to the
property as well this area is going to be used for what the the applicant calls
Zen pods and they are these just kind of specialized areas for dogs to relax
and spend some time with the caretakers and staff that's on site also you know
large amount of space and back here you can see what is considered the back room
of the of the facility to you be used as kind of a dog run it's actually bigger
than it looks when you look at it from here versus from this perspective and
that's where they can kind of play a little bit more. This is the overnight time daycare
space. It will essentially have similar services to what's upstairs, but the idea of bringing
it downstairs at night is to minimize any noise that is generated. Although again, dogs
will not be barking as if they were crated. So hopefully the staff, not hopefully, but
this is practice that the staff interacting with the dogs, keeping them happy and catered
to keeps the noise levels down there is an outdoor space in the rear this is to
be used only for dog play here and there during the day we've we've heard from
the neighbors as you'll see some provisos regarding operations and hours
outdoors and we're prepared to accommodate those hours dog waste will be
stored in a container on-premises but dogs are not using the outside area for
bathroom purposes so it will not become i guess inundated with dog doings so the dog walkings
will take place throughout the neighborhood and all the staff will bring back anything with them
to the facility to dispose of on site you'll see that the uh here's the gates for the van
so the company offers uh some pickup and drop off services uh the neighborhood has discussed
again the use of the van zone and what they have asked for basically is that
the the van the the van drop-off be done and conducted in the back on on North
Hancock Street and that generally customers walking in coming off North
Second Street so about the company they're trying to create basically a
nice service to the community understanding that dog daycare is a much
growing need in Philadelphia in areas like Northern Liberties and so is
overnight care for the dogs but not boarding again this is some statistics
that they found about almost 50% of the people in Philadelphia own pets and so
forth hours of operation the daytime hours are 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. nighttime 7
p.m. to 7 a.m. there are staggered drop-off pickup times I guess these are
somewhat interchangeable depending on what shift you took but the staggered
drop-off accounts for everybody to have less traffic congestion and that is
managed by the staff in terms of logistics. Keeping the dogs occupied
keeps behavior problems down and the the applicant has agreed to manage ratios of
having one staff for every five to seven dogs even though there's a little bit
more lenient standards at the state level they're willing to go a little bit
lesser smaller ratios there is some limited soundproofing or additional
soundproofing I should say inside the building and there's limitation of
amount of time for dogs outside plus the frequent walks and mental stimulation
should keep sound at a minimum and again dog poop will be collected and brought
back and disturbed you know stored and disposed of at the premises the Northern
The Northern Liberties Association supports the program.
Liberties Association supports the program there are some provisos about
There are some provisos about hours of operation and limits to the number of dogs.
For instance, we've agreed to maximize capacity at 30 dogs, whereas 40 is the legal limit
for this facility.
And again, staff ratios, entryway suggestions, but we're agreeing with them.
And in terms of the outdoor space, there's a limit on number of dogs and how we walk
them so also limiting the number of dogs at 10 at night time so to the extent that the the board
can or or is able to impose any of those provisos we are prepared to accept and agree with it with
them um very quickly here is the two pages pro forma pages of the lease agreement between the
owner and waggy camp limited partnership the execution page copies of the posting
notice to the neighbors of the zoning hearing and RCO meeting and then at the very end as
I indicated we obtained the tax clearance certificate.
We believe that the use will not cause any detriment to the neighborhood or cause any
increase in congestion, overcrowding of the land, burden public utilities, injure any
neighboring parcels endanger public health or is inconsistent with the comprehensive plan.
Why don't we have your testimony adopted? Thank you. If Angela Agnes can raise her hand.
She's been allowed to speak. Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
Hi, my name is Angela Agnes, A-N-G-E-L-A-A-G-N-E-S.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed, counsel.
Thank you. Angela, good afternoon. Did you have an opportunity to hear my statements to the board today?
And were those statements true and correct to the best of your knowledge?
And do you adopt those statements as if they were your own testimony?
Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Questions from the board.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
No further hands, Mr. Chair. Okay. Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair Bergman. David Vecto, City Planning Commission. The comprehensive plan
recommends no change to the commercial mixed-use zoning at this location. The applicant has shown
that the proposed animal services will have no detrimental impacts to the neighborhood
beyond what might be expected. The City Planning Commission recommends the board grant the special
exception for animal services. MI 2022-007-067-707 North 2nd Street. I vote yes. Proviso. Use limited
to first floor and basement.
Thomas Holland, my vote is yes with proviso.
James Snell, my vote is yes with proviso.
Thank you.
Thank you.
You stay one more time, Ish.
Thank you.
You have your vote.
Thank you very much, members of the board.
Number five, MI-2022-007046-2978 Richmond Street.
Al Nockmson is the attorney.
Recommendation support from Southport Richmond Civic Association.
Letter of non-oppositional council member squill.
And also, applicant has provided a letter of support from the adjacent property owner at 2976 Richmond Street.
Mr. Nockamson, you have already been sworn in. Could you just state your name for the record?
Yes, Alan, A-L-A-N, last name Nockamson, N-O-C-H-U-M-S-O-N.
Right. Could you identify your client in relationship to the property?
So my client's a property owner. It's Rose Garden, Phillip, LLC. In a virtual audience would be either of its members, Kerry Borish or Bob Shaw.
Our vice chair has just a few questions.
I'm going to ask the mail counselor, do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal of the stipulating to his act?
Have you emailed all the required documents and exhibits needed to proceed in this case, probably as in advance of this hearing?
yes we have thank you please proceed and share your screen
pretty straightforward project at 2978 richmond street we're in the
port richmond section of philadelphia we'll review the notice of refusal this is a cmx2 property
We'll review the notice of refusal. This is a CMX 2 property as a mixed-use property for commercial and residential above.
be alone.
We're merely seeking an additional residential unit to help support the commercial corridor.
There are some dimensional variances as well, which are not out of character to what you would expect in this part of the neighborhood.
Because of that, we have a letter of support from the Southport Richmond Civic Association at a well-attended meeting.
the community supported our project. We also have a letter of support from the nearby neighbor at
2976 Richmond Street. Again, one of the individuals that would be most directly impacted by our
project is in support of our project. We also have a letter of non-opposition from Council Member
Mark Swilla. Then we'll review nearby CMX properties with full or near full law coverage.
The reason why we're presenting this in front of the board, two of our variance requests deal with open area as well as rear yard setback.
And what we're proposing in terms of variances is not out of character for this part of the neighborhood, as you'll see.
Then we'll review maps of the area, photographs of the property, our plans and drawings, our RCO meeting notice and proof of mailing of that notice.
Our deeds of the property showing that Rose Garden Villa LLC is the owner of the property and their certificate of tax claims.
Again, in a virtual audience, it should either be Perry Borish or Bob Shaw.
I would ask one of them, virtually raise their hand, be sworn in, and then they can adopt my testimony as their own.
All right, so first things first, this is our refusal.
It's a CMX2 property.
What we're looking to do is demolish the current building structure there, put six dwelling units on the second, third, and fourth floors, and put a commercial space on the first floor.
We have several refusals as a result.
First, because of the lot size of 2,400 square feet, we're asking for six units while only technically five is allowed.
It's not uncommon for this board to grant variances in this part of the neighborhood.
Again, this is a commercial quarter that needs the density that's been struggling for years because the trolley has been inoperative.
Luckily, it's going to start operating, but that commercial corridor needs density in order to survive.
And then the other, then we have two other refusals, dimensional refusals, one for maximum allowable occupied area, where 75% is allowed, and we're proposing 87.58%.
But you'll see as we go through our presentation that that's not out of character.
The same thing with the rear yard depth, where 12 feet is required and 10 feet of rear yard depth is proposed, again, not out of characters, but what we're asking for, whether it's five units or six units with commercial use of the ground floor, we need that extra depth for the building to provide a functional floor plan.
And as you can see, time and time again in this part of the neighborhood, these building structures do go deeper.
It also provides a roomier residential unit as well.
And then we have one other refusal about the balconies facing the rear.
We want outdoor space for every single one of the residential units, front and back.
And so we have front balconies. We would like to match that in the rear with rear balconies.
Our letter of support with the Southport Richmond Civic Association, our letter of non-opposition from Councilmember Mark Squilla, our letter of support from the neighbor right next to us on Richmond Street.
And then, again, non-alph character, we're dealing with some of these dimensional refusals in terms of law coverage and rear yard setback.
but we're here and you can see that other properties in the neighborhoods
also run afoul of those issues regarding block coverage and then where we are uh we're at 2978
richmond street again all cmx2 um we're you know we're not that far from 95 we're between indiana
and Anne Street. Again, what we're asking for is to help support that commercial corridor.
This is the current building structure, which we hope to knock down. Proof of notice of the notice
poster being posted to the property prior to today's hearing. And then you can see this is
the trolley line here. There's ample public transportation nearby, the Cleon bus line.
Here's Richmond Street to the left of the property.
And then our plans and drawings.
Again, these are four-story building.
Again, these are a four-story building.
This is a four-story building, commercial.
This is a four-story building, commercial, completely on the ground floor, built on a slab, so there's no residential use in the basement.
And you can see the balconies are for the front and rear of the property.
We're trying to provide all unit occupants on the upper floors that additional outdoor space.
and then just to quickly go through our floor plans uh the commercial unit you can get through
uh the the front of the property um and then you have two and then also by the way there's
a garbage room that has this accessible to all unit occupants as well where we'll have commercial
pickup um you can go up the flight of steps to the landing for the second floor where there's a
unit to the left of us, a unit to the right of us, you go to the third floor, there's a unit to the
left of us and right of us, and then the fourth floor, again, a unit to the left of us and right
of us. The second, third, and fourth floors are identical in nature, and again, there's no
residential use in the basement, and there's a very responsible garbage maintenance plan
for this property. Again, we met on March 8th at 7 p.m. There are 110 addresses which were
notified of that meeting list those addresses proof of mailing to those addresses our application
for appeal that rose garden and philly llc filed with the zba along with the notice of refusal
and the product information form our deeds of property showing that rose garden philly llc
is the owner of the property and then finally our tax clearance showing that there's no money
owed to the city of philadelphia with regards to uh real estate taxes with that being said i would
ask that either Mr. Borish or Mr. Shaw virtually raise their hands and be sorted.
Mr. Borish has been allowed to speak.
Sir, could you state your name, please, and spell it for the court reporter?
Certainly. It's Cary, C-A-R-Y, Borish, B-O-R-I-S-H.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir, I do.
Proceed, counsel.
Yes, Mr. Borish, you heard everything I had to state about your zoning matter.