So one of the issues was this rear drive. We agreed not to have any deliveries through that.
There's only a handful of deliveries a week, maybe two to three trucks tops,
and they will have to unload on Ridge. It's not ideal, but it's far better than having
and they will have to unload on ridge it's not ideal but it's far better than having uh the
Thank you.
residential parking spaces be taken up with that um let me just want to give you a look at the view
i'll rotate this and so you can see the building it's an existing structure okay and that's it let
me just ask jb um and again we stand by the provisory agreement with the neighbors we'll
divide by that but we understand uh hillary's issues with some of the items and let me ask jb
to raise his virtual hand and adopt my testimony
please unmute yourself and wait for the chair
hi could you state your name as bell for the court reporter please
joshua riebstein r e i b as in boy s t e i n like that's right do you swear a firm to tell
truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth jb we didn't hear you did i hear did you hear them
no hi you're still with us i am here can you hear me can anybody hear me now we can yes
do you swear for him to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i do proceed mr demarco jb were you able uh were you able to hear my factual statements
and can you do you agree that they are true and accurate yes and yes okay and can you adopt them
as your own testimony yes mr chairman i have the uh the two letters of support from the rco
this is the wissa hicken neighbors um almost unanimous of course after we agreed with the
provisos and we stand by the provisos and with that i can turn over to the board for questions
for questions from the board no mr chairman
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I see no hands at this time, Chair.
Planning Commission.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
David Fecto, City Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the commercial mixed-use zoning at this location.
The property has a documented history of commercial use.
So the City Planning Commission recommends that the Board grant the use variances for a sit-down and a takeout restaurant.
Thank you. MI 2022-000642-5312-18 Ridge Avenue. I vote yes with following provisos. Hours of
operation 6A to 8P. No music outdoors. Commercial trash pickup four days a week. Expansion of
tenant space limited to hatched area on attached plans stamped by ZBA on July 13, 2022. Rear
parking lot for accessory residential parking only thank you
i am unmuted carol tenary my vote is yes with provisos
james snell yes with proviso
thank you mr demarco thank you have a good afternoon
14. MI 2022, 001-811-637 North 40th Street. Steve Bertil is the attorney.
Recommendation of support from Mantua Civic Association.
Mr. Bertil is coming back in as a panelist now, Chair. Thank you.
good afternoon uh mr chair members of the board hi hi could you state your name and spell for the
court reporter please sure steve bertill b-e-r-t-i-l counsel for the applicant uh trotman
pepper hamilton sanders 3002 logan square philadelphia pa 19103 you swear or firm to tell
truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do could you identify your client yes i represent
the applicant and equitable owner of the subject property sr 40th street llc thank you our uh
vice chair carlton area has a few questions hi mr bertol do you agree to waive the reading of the
refusal and stipulate to its accuracy i do madam western have you emailed the exhibit packet with
proof of ownership, tax compliance, a copy of the refusal or referral, photos under plans of the
property five days in advance of this hearing, and have you met with the RCO, and do you have a letter?
Yes, to all of the above.
Thank you. You may proceed and begin by sharing your screen.
Thank you. You may proceed and begin by sharing your screen.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Okay. Thank you, Madam Vice Chair and Mr. Chair.
As I stated, I represent the applicants and equitable owners of the property 637 North 40th Street.
This property, the property in question that you see here, is part of a partnership with the
Foot Offer Redevelopment Authority for housing revitalization of vacant lots on the 40th Street
corridor in the Belmont and Mantua communities. We are seeking approval for variance relief from
the occupied area requirements of the zoning code. The subject property has been selected
with other vacant sites to develop into housing, according to a multi phased plan for mixed
housing options in the in the communities I just referenced. The applicant has been identified
as the developer for market rate and deed restricted workforce housing component of
the plan. I'll get into that in a second. But I just wanted to orient the board about
the property that we're referring to. As I stated, where the address is 637 North 40th Street,
as you can see here by the aerial. Here's another shot. The property is currently vacant. It
fronts on 40th Street, as you can see. The block that it's on is mostly vacant parcels.
Here is just a street view of the property, so you can get a sense
it's there
there's another angle looking down 40th street
this is the corner of the block more vacant lots and this is the frontage of the subject
property where the arrows um are where the where the arrow icon is where it's the specific property
in question. As I stated, we do have a refusal. We have no use refusals, though we have a
dimensional refusal for the occupied area under the zoning district. We are required to have a
25% occupied area, while the proposed project has an occupied area of a little under 18%,
17.8 um looking about a seven percent difference um in occupied area um which can be explained when
i uh get to the the zoning plan to show you why we have that discrepancy of the of the seven percent
here you can see the site plan of what we're proposing which is a four
unit multifamily use structure. The uses are all by right. The difference in the occupied area
is due to the fact that we have a covered open porch on the property. If we did not have that
covered open porch, we would not have that dimensional refusal regarding to the 7% difference
an occupied area, but the inclusion of that proposal, excuse me, the inclusion of that porch
to match the existing character and design of the existing buildings and the design for this area
and block created that discrepancy of seven percent of occupied area. And you'll get a better
sense of that with the rendering. As I stated, we're proposing a four-unit structure.
on the ground floor we have two units and then on the third and fourth floor we have two more split
level units for a total of four units one studio one one bed one bath and two two beds two baths
it's just a layout of the ground floor this is a layout of the
additional two units that are split level
Now we did meet, excuse me, here's just a rendering of the the exterior of the property
as I referenced earlier. As you can see we're matching the aesthetic, the material, the
the roof style, the cornice, and the front porches that are up and that are existing
going to block. This is the property in question. This is the properties on the corners for a
different parcel, obviously, but that's under a different application that you will be seeing
shortly in the coming weeks under this same project that I'm referencing. We did meet with
the community. We met both of the affected RCOs and the coordinating RCOs together, and we do have
um and we do have a letter of support that was stated earlier for this specific parcel um and
a letter of support that was stated earlier for this specific
for other parcels that will be coming before you uh soon as i stated just so you have a sense of
what we're talking about here um this project is part of a multi-phased uh conceptual plan
in response to RFP from the Redevelopment Authority for mixed income housing stock along the 40th
Street corridor. It's a multi-phase project. We are part of the market rate and workforce rental
phase of the project, and that's what this site and the additional sites will be.
And this is just so you get a sense of kind of the skill of the project. As I stated, we are
phase one um and so this project in a larger context will be part of a larger um a larger
availability of housing stocks of many different income levels but ours is focusing on the market
rate and the workforce um as i stated we have a letter of support excuse me my uh
file is freezing for some reason um but as i stated we have a letter of support from the
community group. And as such, we would ask that the ZBA, the board and the chair grant variance
due to the de minimis nature of the occupied area refusal and due to the fact that the
creation of that refusal is due to matching and matching not only the aesthetics of the existing
structures uh but including the functional component that's prevalent in the area um with
me i have representative from the ownership of or the excuse me the uh the the equitable ownership
mr tye smith who can adopt and affirm my testimony um if the board does not have any
additional questions why don't we adopt your testimony right now mr smith uh yes
Hi, could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
Tayyib Smith. That's T-A-Y-Y-I-B-S-M-I-T-H.
All right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Counsel, proceed.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Smith, did you hear the testimony that I provided to the board this afternoon?
Yes, I did.
Do you adopt the testimony or affirm the truth of it?
thank you very much questions from the board and mr chairman no no mr chairman questions or
comments from the virtual audience chair we have jihad ali mr ali you can unmute yourself and wait
for the chair please oh hi mr ali you've already been sworn today so proceed hello thank you i'm
I just wanted to say, Tayyip Smith, I'm very familiar with the Habitat for Humanity.
Tayyip Smith is one of our up-and-coming developers of UpColor in our neighborhood.
He's committed to achieving equitable footing on behalf of in the real estate market.
I support this project.
Thank you very much.
Any other questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Clint.
There are no hands at this time, Chair.
Planning Commission.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
David Fecto, City Planning Commission.
Mr. Chairman, members of the Board,
the comprehensive plan recommends no change
to the residential multifamily zoning at this location.
The Commission is aware that this property is part of a package of parcels
proposed to be redeveloped as part of a redevelopment agreement.
Those agreements are conditioned on receiving approval from the zoning board.
The applicant has shown that the variance is related solely
to the design of the front porch a feature which is in keeping with the other homes on the block
city planning commission recommends the board grant the variance for open area thank you david
mi 2022 001 811 637 north 40th street i vote yes harold tenary my vote is yes
james now my vote is yes ishmael shaheed my vote is yes thank you counsel
thank you mr chair members of the board number 15 mi 2022 001 827 737 north 42nd street
alan knockamson is the attorney um recommendation of support from belmont alliance civic association
NEW SPEAKER 1 GOOD AFTERNOON, ALLEN OFFINSON.
NEW SPEAKER 1
could you could you please identify your client and the relationship to the property
CAN YOU PLEASE IDENTIFY YOUR CLIENT?
NEW SPEAKER 1
uh we're going for the trifecta this is kumas homes as well ep property llc um just happened
they're not all planned together there were some continuances um and i have mr as a as their
representative um our vice chair has a few questions hi mr knockinson do you agree to
with the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy? Yes. Have you emailed the exhibit
packet with proof of ownership, tax compliance, a copy of the refusal or referral, vote is under
plans of the property five days in advance of this hearing and have you met with the RCO and do you
have a letter? Yes in all respects and we have a letter of support. Okay great you may proceed
and you know the drill.
I'm sharing my screen.
I will make it as brief as I can,
but still preserve the record.
This is 737 North 42nd Street.
The notice refusal is pretty simple.
This is CMX2 property.
We're allowed two residential units
and a commercial.
All we're asking to do
is eliminate the commercial components,
which makes sense
because there's no commercial component
on 42nd Street.
We are adjacent to Lancaster Avenue
where there is a commercial corridor
We want to help preserve and enliven that commercial corridor by just having residential use here
and not diverting that residential use away from a commercial corridor that needs a little bit of TLC.
And that's our only refusal.
So we have a letter of support.
It was a well-attended meeting.
We met with the community, and we have support from that community,
uh you know showing that um nearby uh there is a two-family dwelling uh similarly situated
so again if you walk by the property filter uses proposed as a stick alicus or thumb or is it
something that fits within the fabric of the neighborhood here it's something that fits
within the fabric of the neighborhood uh you can see other examples of cmx2 properties which are
solely residential uh 1717 north 41st street so two examples just nearby uh again this is where
we are we're cmx2 but this is really all residential this is the commercial corridor
of francaster avenue we want to support that commercial corridor by not diverting uh commercial
use uh away from there so as you can see we have ample public transportation and trolley
buses and such. This is a property. It's a vacant lot. It's been a vacant lot for, you know, as far
back as Google Earth will let you see it, May of 2009, and we're looking to develop it into a
multifamily structure. North 42nd Street to the right of the property, North 42nd Street to the
left of the property. You've seen the pictures about Kuma's homes. You've heard what I said about
homeless homes uh still all true and accurate and here's our plans and drawings again traditional
uh brick facade um a flat panel uh very tastefully done and as you can see some same plan