by this increased density.
We did meet with the Old Kensington Neighborhood Association and their community, and after
that meeting, they issued a letter of support to give an explanation as to why.
Then, yesterday, we received a letter from the district council member stating their non-opposition to this matter, given the support from the community.
And then we really did make a concerted effort to reach out to nearby neighbors.
Again, I believe while I was transitioning as a panelist, I did hear just before I transitioned over.
that there was reference to the fact of the amount of signatures, but also that we did get signatures, both from the petition as well as letters of support from nearby neighbors, the people who would be most directly impacted by this project.
And the letters were mostly from the people on that 100 block of Westbrook Street.
And then maps of the area, you can see this is a CMX2 portion of the neighborhood, you know,
on our side, but there is no commercial on our side. So you can see right here where there is
no commercial on our side of the street. Again, across the street, there is a shopping center.
uh most of the commercial you're going to see is going to be coming out of you know germantown
avenue we're hoping to support that commercial quarter as well as the shopping center as well
by this increased density and then photographs of the property we're at vacant lots we've been
vacant lot for some time um it would be very difficult for us to put a commercial establishment
mid-block in this more residential area of town and we don't want to divert resources again from
Again, the shopping center across the street, as well as Germantown Avenue, which is a commercial park.
Then Westbrook Street to the right of the property, as you can see from the photos, no commercial components.
Even across the street from us right here, the shopping center is over here, but right here is all residential in nature too.
And then Mr. Steele and his company, they developed throughout the city of Philadelphia, and there's just examples of his workmanship.
And then Mr. Spielberg and his company,
And then our plants and drawings, what we try to do is to have the traditional red brick facade with a modern twist.
I think the community was appreciative of the fact of the windows and having eyes on the street in this respect and the lighting, paying particular attention to this side alley, which is a shared alley next door.
we will be able to storage all unit owners will be able to store their trash in the rear
and and then take that trash from the back of the property to the front of it
and then here's just you know again our elevations our floor plans the first unit is a bi-level unit
the second and third floor units each there's a unit number two which is a second on the second
floor and then unit number three which is on the third floor uh we met with the community on may 10th
37 addresses were notified of this meeting list the addresses
our application for appeal that we followed the cba notice refusal project information form
a deed to the property showing that north square holdings llc is the owner of the property
certificate of tax claims with that being said i would ask that mr steel virtually
mr nackamson just out of curiosity what was in the basement oh sure i can share that again
um i believe this is secondary living area but let me just confirm that
so if you walk into the front of their property there's a vestibule area essentially unit a or
unit one you walk into a living room kitchen dining area there's a bathroom up there and then
there's the bedroom. You go down the flight of steps and it's a secondary living area and then
an office area. Okay. All right. Thank you. You're welcome. Mr. Steele, can you virtually raise your
hands? Steele has been allowed to speak, sir. Hi, Mr. Chairman. This is Chris Steele, C-H-R-I-S-S-T-E-E-L-E.
Thank you.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Proceed, Mr. Nockamson.
Yeah, Mr. Steele, you heard everything I had to say today.
Correct.
Is it true and correct with respect to your project?
And do you adopt it as your own testimony?
Thank you.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I do not see any hands Mr. Chair hi planning commission thank you Mr. Chairman good afternoon
David Fecto City Planning Commission Mr. Chairman and members of the board the comprehensive plan
recommends this property for residential multi-family zoning however after the plan
was released planning commission staff posted a series of public meetings in 2016 to conduct
a rezoning process. At that time, the civic associations asked for commercial frontage along
this block of Burke Street across from the shopping center. The applicant has not shown
that a hardship exists that would prevent the inclusion of ground floor commercial space in
this proposal, and so the City Planning Commission recommends that the board deny the use of
No letter of explanation. Vote was 8-7 in support.
Okay, Mr. Bertil will be rejoining us as a panelist in a moment.
Thank you.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chair, members of the board.
Hi, Mr. Bertil. Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
Steve Bertil, B-E-R-T-I-L, Troutman, Pepper, Hamilton Sanders, LLP, 3002 Logan Square, Philadelphia PA, 19103.
Thank you.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
I do, yes.
Could you identify your client and relationship to the property?
Yes, I represent the applicant SR40 Street, LLC, in equitable honors.
Right. Our vice chair has a few questions.
Hi, Mr. Bertil. Do you agree to waive the reading of refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, I do.
Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership, tax compliance, a copy of the refusal or referral, photos and or 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.
Okay, great. You may proceed and begin to share your screen.
Thank you very much, Madam Vice Chair. Thank you.
Okay, thank you very much. As stated, my name is Steve Bertil and I'm representing
the equitable owners SR 40th Street LLC
of this particular property.
This site is a part of a project
that was presented to the board a few weeks ago,
but because the parcels in the particular project
are not contiguous,
they have to be reviewed under different GP
and application numbers.
And so you'll be hearing about this project
about two more times in the coming weeks for other parcels. You'll recall that this project
is part of a partnership with the Redevelopment Authority for the housing vitalization of vacant
locks on the 40th Street corridor. For this particular project, the parcel in question is
718 North 40th Street, which is this orange rectangle highlighted here in this overview of
the phases for the project. For this particular variance, we have no use refusals. We have one
dimensional side yard refusal with a difference of about one foot. As the case with the last
property brought before the board, this particular site has been selected to be developed into
housing according to a multi-phase plan, as you see here, for a mixed stock of housing options
within the Mantua and Belmont neighborhoods.
The applicant has been identified as a developer
for the market rate and deed restricted
workforce housing component of this plan.
Now, upon application to LNI,
he obtained a refusal for the side yard property.
As you can see, the proposed side yard is four feet
and it does not meet the dimensional requirements of five feet, which I'll get into in a second.
Just to orient the board to the property in question, here's the area of the block in
questions. You can see there's a few vacant properties. The front's on 40th Street and
is currently a vacant lot. This digital area, as you can see, is adjacent to a few other vacant
lots as well that will be the subject of this project that i'm referring to
here's just a street view of the property of the frontage that's on 40th street
there's another angle as you see the the vacancy of lots extends a few parcels deep along 40th street
And where the arrows, where the arrow stretches is the particular part of the large vacant area that's subject to this particular refusion.
Now, as I stated, we're proposing a to construct a ground up construction of a multifamily structure of eight residential units.
the refusal that we have
we saw earlier is for the
What I saw earlier is for the side yard, as you will see in the site plan here.
side yard as you will see
in this
Oops, a little too much. Let's back up a little bit there.
Most of the side yard actually does extend to five feet, as you can see here.
The refusal is generated because there are two portions, both at the rear and the front of the structure,
that extend out. So allowing only four feet due to the ground floor units being ADA accessible
and the extra foot of the living spaces to accommodate the ADA components of those ground
floor units, which you'll see in a second with the floor plans.
as you can see here the ground floor ada units the living the living space of those units are
extended uh out of foot to accommodate the circulation entryways or stairways on the opposite
side to make sure they're not uh basically they're not limited and then in the living spaces of the
ADA units aren't cut short due to the fact of the required stairway and building circulation.
So to accommodate that, we have to extend out one foot only where the living areas are
and maintain the five foot side yard along the structure everywhere else on the building.
And so what we're proposing, as I stated, is a eight unit multifamily building, two
two-bedroom apartments and six one-bedroom apartments. Again, under the zoning destination,
the use, the density of the structure is all by right. We only have the dimensional refusal
of this one-foot side yard difference on these living areas of the ADA units.
Now, we did meet with multiple community groups in this area, and I believe on June 23rd,
There is a copy of the notice letter that went out to all the RCOs and all the required
notice within the community.
And I'm pleased to say that we did obtain the board of support from the community groups.
As I stated, the project itself is part of the larger project, and so the design rendering
It's identical to the rendering seen for the other sites on this project, as you can see, matching the cornice line, the height, the massing, and the materials of the existing structures of the property utilizing brick and maintaining that front covered porch.
And so inclusion would believe that the variance of one foot of those particular sections of the living areas is de minimis in nature and will not adversely affect neighbors or anyone's use of the property or adjacent properties.
And so we respectfully request that the board bring our variance.
The representative for the ownership could not attend here today.
And so I would ask if the board doesn't have any questions, of course, that as an officer of the court, the board recognizes that.
Mr. Betel, that's fine.
That way.
Absolutely.
Thank you very much.
Questions from the board for the council?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, sir.
No, Mr. Chairman.
questions or comments from the virtual audience
i see no i asked mr chair planning commission thank you mr chairman members of the board
david fecto city planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends a change
to residential multiple family zoning at this location under rm1 the applicant would be allowed
seven dwelling units by right, but a minor dimensional variance, let me start that over,
but for a minor dimensional variance, the applicant would be allowed an eighth unit.
So granting this variance will not impair the use of adjacent property, and it would meet the spirit
of the comprehensive plan and of the zoning code. So the City Planning Commission recommends the
board grant the dimensional variance thank you mi 2022 002 207 718 north 40 street i vote yes
carol's nary my vote is yes thomas holliman my vote is yes
james snell my vote is yes yes my vote is yes thank you thank you mr bertill
thank you let's let's let's all take a five minute break come back and we'll finish up the
the 3 30 meeting okay five minute break mr mr chair can we just see if there's anybody else
meeting okay five minute break mr chair can we just see if there's anybody else for the 2 p.m
list we we can nobody else is there anyone yes this case hasn't been heard on the 2 p.m list
i've seen all hands mr chair thank you everybody back in five minutes please thank you yes sir
walk down to the beach
you're back
I can't tell you
how uncomfortable
it's crazy
oh god
I'll be right back
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
That was a grand entrance.
Oh, my God.
Thank you.
Thank you.
It's crazy.
Thank you.
Thank you.