space was allocated to living rooms and kitchens and everything else, we were more sensibly able
to get it down to 30 bedrooms. So like she said, it was a reduction in total sleeping rooms, but
an increase in the number of front doors. And again, in order to keep the same amount of
usable space and to make this work, we did need to pick up the additional first floor
lot coverage, which impacted yard setbacks and all of that. But on the upper floors,
we kept it the same. Rachel, did I pretty much hit on everything that you were looking for there?
Yeah, you did a great job. I just also want to show that we did add the trash,
enclosed trash, which was really important to the community as well.
So I just want to make note of that, that that was incorporated also.
And we were able to get the interior bike parking spots, which previously had that
need to be put outside. And it's a total of seven spots, not eight.
I apologize seven spots, including the ADA spot. Yep. So I mean, I don't have much more than that,
truthfully, Mr. Chair, members of the board. I know that the councilman's office issued a
letter of opposition. Again, we do have eight additional letters of support from near neighbors
and it was a five to seven vote and we specifically redesigned this project based on
the community meeting that we had. So it was just a little caught off guard when they still did not
support the project. But again, this was really a strong effort and collaboration from September of
2020, all the way until now. And we went back through the process and had multiple meetings in
order to, you know, incorporate this, there's always going to be issues with parking, but this
was on a lot like this, this is as best you're going to get, as we've already heard from the
board how expensive underground parking is and that's just not reasonable on a site like this so
again RM1 and happy to take any other questions. Had the opportunity to share those recent letters
with the councilwoman's office? We just got them and I didn't even know that the councilwoman sent
a letter because I wasn't I was told to me by the by Ms. Saleta so I wasn't even aware that
there was a letter but we did get those letters today questions from the board yes yes the
counselor why are you doing it on bedroom counts because one of the main concerns in areas like
this close to the schools is bedroom count for students a lot of the near neighbors consider if
you do three or four bedrooms that it's specifically for student housing so when you can't when we
reduce it to the bedrooms but have more units it just made it so that we had less actual beds
so that we could help ensure or at least show that the goal was not to get students
well can't you can't you reduce the density by reducing the number of units
well the number if we reduce the number of units with the 80 percent lock coverage you're still
getting really large units and to do that plus parking to make a feasible project it's a little
bit difficult okay no questions from the board no anyone else willing to testify in this case please
Anyone else who would like to testify in this case, please raise your hand.
Mr. Chair, I have a...
I'm sorry, Mr. Young just said to speak a moment ago.
I don't believe so.
Right. His hand is raised. I will allow him to speak right now.
Mr. Young, you have been allowed to speak. Please wait to be sworn in, sir.
Thank you. Good afternoon, Mr. Young. Please identify yourself. First and last name and your address.
Good afternoon, members of the board. Jeffrey Young, 3900 Ford Road, Suite B, Philadelphia PA, 19131.
I am here representing
Jeffrey just let me swear you in please
you swear in the firm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth
please proceed
so I am here representing
my sister who lives
whose address is 630
North 32nd Street
which is
not even a half a block down the street from this particular
project
we are here today to voice our opposition
to this project
a question again rachel the buy right is how many units 10
and two bedrooms no it's 10 units there are three to four units but you can put more beds
all right you could do 35 beds as opposed to 16 units gets you 30 beds because the lot is so large
and oddly shaped okay all right again we did go through this as a buy right project and it it's
they're ridiculously sized okay all right thank you thank you jeffrey anyone else would like to
testify can i ask mr young a question is jeff are you there yes i'm here was the concern uh i know
you were at the original meeting so you you do you do notice that we did make changes for the trash
issues and parking as well? Yes. So we do note that there's internal trash storage now,
which is appreciated. However, again, given that it's going to be 16 units, that is the concern.
We understand your architect mentioned that the size of the units allow it to be more sensible.
But from our perspective, we believe that a lower unit count would be more sensible here.
We do not feel that the 16 units, albeit two-bedroom, is feasible here in this location.
Your client owns a property next door with much less units, and it still affects the quality of life for the neighbors in this particular neighborhood.
We're talking about just this property in particular. I just wanted to make sure that
you had no... Right. But given the density, I'm just talking about the density here. The property
next door is less dense than the proposal here. It's a lot smaller of a site. It's not even a
quarter of the size of this site. Again, I'm just speaking to the quality of life, the welfare of
the neighborhood. Again, with this added density here, my client feels that this
uh project um would have an adverse impact on her quality of life okay i i just wanted i
understand that and i just wanted to make sure that you saw the revisions that were made and
that you know all this the term sensible was just more so that three and four bedroom units with 35
beds is is a little bit more impactful on the community than 16 units with 30 beds to help
address that concern the counselor i agree with you on 35 beds correct if you're doing it by bed
counts you don't have to do it by bed counts you could deal with density by units right and we had
gone through with the buy rate which was 10 units and so why so in our perspective it was to to be
able to accommodate um less more units but less bedroom count in smaller units you have to increase
the number of units based on the square footage. So yes, theoretically, we could put two units here,
but if by right it's 10 units, and now they wanted us to add parking and enclosed trash,
and in addition to consider less density, the way we could accommodate all of that was
less bedrooms and a little bit more units, but less people overall, which typically
what we actually see from, in a lot of cases, as I know the board's aware, is less density,
less density but then they pack in more bedrooms so how can you pack in more bedrooms if you have
but then they pack in more bedrooms. So it-
How can you pack-
less units because if we go down to less units units are larger but your site is
irregular it won't accommodate but we couldn't then also accommodate parking and trash and then
you don't have a site that's economically feasible either well so it's a matter of economics it's not
a matter of economics. It's a matter of wanting to make less, the bedroom number less so that
it doesn't appear to go for students, which was the biggest concern in the neighborhood,
add in enclosed trash and parking, and also keep a building structure that makes sense
to support the additional accommodations here. That all ties into it. So it was a balance of
all that, so much so that, again, we specifically redesigned this and work with the streets
department to try to fit parking on a really odd site that talk about quality of living i think the
i was more concerned that putting trying to now get cars on this site was going to be concerning
but that's what you know the neighborhood had wanted so you can't ask a developer to come down
to less than the buy right number and also then accommodate all of this stuff it really has to be
well then that developer can build this project by right then and i mean i understand that you know
that the 10 units hold on one again i'm representing my client here and these are my
the feelings of my client um so i know it's just one of the time not to interrupt i apologize
finish jeffrey um so again even with the the 10 units being by right um and uh ms persker stated
that there could be three or four bedrooms and the concerns for students um even if that concern
is for students with the larger bedrooms, the zoning code stipulates that no more than three
unrelated people can be in a unit. So if they are four bedroom units, then it would be for
somewhat of a family structure, which I don't think the neighbors, my client would not have
an issue with it being more of a family structure in this particular property. Again, her concerns
are uh the number of units um and the uh the scale of the project
rachel this this project is 47 feet four inches uh yeah i think it's 47 four and a half
i'm a little and by right is 47 no no by right it was 38 in order right in order to accommodate
parking right you had to go up before correct and that's why we had to do leave of the board to
amend because we had to now generate all these additional refusals to accommodate those concerns
how many units if you didn't have the parking and the trash area which is an accommodation i'll
grant you that how many units would be allowed in the 38 foot by right 10 units and that's where
you get the number of beds correct and i if the architect can can maybe it would be more helpful
than coming from me can explain the size of those units because we did do the exercise of and you
can see clearly in atlas we went through by right and it was just so it was it wasn't about being
sensible it was i understand all right it's large yeah no matter which way you turned you got a
problem all right yep um okay you can't make everything everything work i had to get 90
percent of the way there anyone else like to testify please raise your hand
is there anyone from councilwoman got the a's office mr goodman by any chance
he did send me a letter in opposition in case he couldn't be here okay i knew they
sent i didn't know if he was making an appearance uh planning commission
um good afternoon greg walden planning commission staff this property was part of a rezoning in 2017
that we zoned the property to multi-family residential use the applicant has not demonstrated
undue hardship created by the nature of the parcel we believe 16 units and the additional
nine feet in height is an overuse of the property whereas 10 units are permitted by right accordingly
we recommend that the requested variance not be granted. Thank you. MI 2020-000447,
646 North 32nd, my vote is no. My vote is no. My vote is no. My vote is no. My vote is no.
all right rachel uh we have uh we're going to go back on the record everyone
uh on your first case 1401 1400-02 south fifth
calendar number three oh i'm sorry
calendar number three oh i'm sorry
there's something pinging
jim you're breaking off real bad buddy
how about now now you're good calendar numbers go ahead and let me do it because i have the
letter from Squilla, all right? MI 2020-003041-1400-02 South 5th Street. My vote is yes with the proviso.
Excuse me, Chair, I don't believe that we got a recommendation from the Planning Commission.
But let the record reflect that a letter was submitted by Councilman Squilla to work with
the developer on establishing a parking zone just let the record reflect that yes but i don't believe
we got a recommendation from the planning commission before and oh i'm sorry planning
commission i'm sorry i'm sorry what case is this for number one at 1400-02 south 5th okay
the daycare center one one second um sorry about that sorry
Okay, the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing commercial mixed-use
zoning for this property. The planning commission supports the RCO in their request for a reduction
in use based on potential impacts to parking and lack of on-site open space for children.
accordingly we recommend that the requested variance not be granted at this time
thank you uh anyway uh i think we voted my vote was yes uh with the understanding that there's
a letter that the applicant uh through the attorney for the applicant will work with the
councilman's office on establishing a parking loading zone my vote is yes with proviso yes
with proviso yes with proviso excuse me no you can't it's not a proviso this is this is Sharon
excuse me you can't add that as a proviso um it's too it's not specific enough you can put on the
record that there is an understanding that yeah that's right that's what I meant it to be not a
proviso I said there's a letter of uh from Councilman Squilla to work with the applicant's
trying to establish a parking load a loading zone thank you my vote is yes my vote is yes
my vote is yes
all right i think that concludes the two o'clock list yes it does uh we'll take a
let's see it's 4 25 so the uh 20 or 5 15 minutes pauline
there's somebody has their mic open i hear some noise in the background
uh if you can mute it that would be helpful good afternoon everyone my name is frank di chico i'm
the chair of the zoning board of adjustment i'll be participating in today's hearing along with
our Vice Chair, Ms. Carol Tenere and her dog, Board Administrator, Board Secretary,
Professor Plaza, and Board Members, Mr. Thomas Holloman and Mr. James Snell. Also, Board
Member, Jason Hand, and our Board Attorney, Ms. Sharon Saleta. For those of you who haven't
yet participated in one of our virtual hearings, I'll go through some of the basics of what
you can expect first we will be administering oaths to individual participants prior to their
testimony second we'd like to advise everyone that this proceeding is being recorded and that
by participating you acknowledge your agreement to be recorded and we will you will be able to
available to the this will also be available to the public on the web or otherwise participating
by phone if you wish to testify you must raise your hand by hitting star nine and then star six
to unmute yourself. I repeat for anyone participating by phone if you wish to testify you must raise
your hand by hitting star nine and then star six to unmute yourself. Finally to enter an appearance
statement, call Google 267-270-5548 and leave your email address and the address of the property
at issue. I'll repeat, to enter an appearance statement, call Google 267-270-5548 and leave
your email address and the address of the property at issue. I would also like to ask everyone to
I would also like to ask everyone to please do not attempt to testify in the chat.
please do not attempt to testify in the chat.
Any comments should be directed to the Board Administrator, Mr. Jason Hand.
Before we begin, do we need some time for hands to go up?
He'll let me know, Jason, when we're ready.
Okay, so the first hand that is up, that is raised, is Mr. Pasquale Olvita.
I'm not going to go to that yet.
I just want to know.
We'll get their hands up.
Now I'm going to read off a list of cases that have been requested to be continued.
MI 2020-002343, 1150 South 52nd Street.
MI 2020-002408, 1518 West Tioga Street.
mi2020-000233 2241 north 15th street and mi2020-001432 32 excuse me 329 north 11th street
if anyone objects to those any of those cases i called to being continued please raise your hand
at this time. And if anyone else is requesting a continuance or withdrawal, please raise your hand
at this time also. Okay, Mr. Chair. Mr. Pasqua Colavita had his hand raised. I will allow him to
speak right now. Good afternoon, Mr. Colavita. Please identify yourselves by your last name,
and I'll swear you in. Good afternoon, Pasqua Colavita. On behalf of the last one you called
on your list of continuances. I just wanted to make sure that it went through. It's 329 North
11th Street. There's also a companion case, 327 North 11th Street. I thought that it was going to