We do submit that these are the least minimum variances. The new developments in this immediate
two-block area have fundamentally altered the character of this area, particularly those that
have received variances from this or former boards. Now, this is not to suggest that prior variances
that prior variances should dictate the board's grant of future variances.
should dictate the board's grant of future variances.
Yet in this case, given the mid-block location of this property, which is also directly to the rear
of North Broad Street, this property is uniquely impacted and burdened by the mass, the changing
mass of the surrounding neighborhood as it relates to the prospect and viability of a new project
to fill in this last remaining vacant lot. The proposed height and density are well in line with
and in many cases significantly less dense and high than other recently built structures
on North Carlisle and North Broad Street. We would further submit that the dimensional variances
requested are de minimis and relate directly to unique property considerations. We submit that
this proposal will not increase congestion, harm neighbors' properties, or impair light and air.
In fact, the additional height will ensure that the residents of this new building will benefit
from the maximum light and air possible, given the extreme height of many surrounding buildings.
Further analysis, as always, is provided in my memorandum of law submitted to the board at
exhibit 17, and I would be happy to touch on any point in particular detail. Now, with respect to
the community, as noted, this developer worked very closely with this new community group over
the last couple months, and we're very pleased to have received their letter of support this morning,
which is now at tab two. So at this point, I would call Rick Biddle to adopt my testimony
if the administrator can find him.
Mr. Biddle, you can unmute yourself and please wait for the chair.
Unmuted.
You're muted, Mr. Chairman.
Hi, could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
Rick Biddle, R-I-C-K-B-I-D-D-L-E.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed.
thank you uh rick have you heard all of the testimony and information i provided to the
board today i have and would you agree that that testimony is true and accurate and would you adopt
it as if you had given it yourself i would thank you we're happy to take any questions questions
from the board no mr chairman no mr chairman no mr chairman questions or comments from the virtual
audience? Yes, Chair, we have Thomas Griffith. Okay. Hi, sir. Could you state your name and
spell it, please, for the court reporter? Hi, my name is Thomas Griffith. That's T-H-O-M-A-S-G-R-I-F-F-I-T-H.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
um yes proceed sir so um excuse me if i'm not sure about the procedure this is kind of my first
time engaging in civic type things like this um i live directly behind the proposed development
and i hate to be one of those like not my backyard people but i do have a couple concerns
about this being issued and how this is proceeding sure um
um i guess i would have liked to see this whole pdf document sooner just would have had no idea
where to find it to more like prepare remarks for today um a little bit concerned about this
back alley and how wide it will be um just for safety reasons like for example being able to
exit in an emergency um i i can address that question if you would like
sure sure so so the um the alley is being uh revised in in conjunction with the city plans
unit and mr griffith do you own the property behind or you rent there i rent there but i did
tell the landlord i was attending today okay because uh i believe my client was in touch
with the owner of the property as it related to relocating this alley. So the alley is going to be
three feet wide, which is the standard size of an alley in Philadelphia. That's what's required by
the fire department. So, you know, this alley will be more than sufficient to provide safe and proper
egress gotcha um and sorry i'm just having a hard time seeing i video meetings right um
looks a little blurry um is this alley going to be on the left or the right side of the building
looks a little blurry um is this alley going to be on the left or the right side of the
uh depends it depends which perspective if you're standing the front if you're standing
on carlisle street the alley will be on the left hand side i feel like it might make more sense for
it to be on the right just because um that's where it's like more accessible to both this property
and the neighboring property? So it already was on the left-hand side. And that's why when it was
revised, the city plans unit specifically asked that it be moved in this location. It already
was there. So the only change to that alley is essentially to add a portion of the alley in the
rear yard. Gotcha. Additionally, I'm concerned about the whole parking situation. I hear what
you're saying about the difficulty of implementing that, but just as a result of some other recent
developments has added a lot of additional parking pressure on the streets around here
over the last few years. While I know it's not so fair for them to be able to get away with this
sort of thing uh i am concerned about how that could make things more difficult for anyone who
lives within a three block radius um and also i guess like some of the parking provided by the
other large apartment buildings tends to be very overpriced and then people decide not to use it
we certainly appreciate that and that was i i don't believe that you attended the community
meeting that you know went through this project but that was one of the topics of discussion
and that is why this owner did commit to the community that you know he was going to do
everything in his power to work with one of the nearby garage owners to ensure that there are
spaces provided for these residents um who are the nearby garage owners uh because if this is like
several blocks away i don't think it makes much of an impact on the current situation
Well, as you know, this property has many, many public garages in the area. It was not something that the owner was in any position to be able to start those negotiations until after this hearing.
But again, I mean, that that was something that we we did discuss with the folks that attended the community meeting and and, you know, they understood that this property does have unique challenges as it relates to providing parking.
so we certainly appreciate that it didn't seem like it was so much of a problem for
a similar development that's about one block north of here
i can't comment on any other developments especially we do we
we understand we understand your position with parking is there anything else you would want to
state um yeah so just kind of wondering about what times of day and at what point is this
construction going to start just because i don't think anyone living in any of these surrounding
properties would like to be awoken very early in the morning or be hearing very loud development
happening late at night so i i i would say that most developers notify the neighbors of when
construction is going to start and when it ends. And I don't think you'll see this project
going late in the night. So it's as simple as that. You're correct. And there's also certain
code requirements as it relates to construction. And Mr. Griffith, if you would like to reach out
to me after this, I would be very happy to put you in touch with the owner of the property
so that you can coordinate with them directly for any advance notice.
Okay. Thank you. Is there any way you could send me that contact information?
um i don't know if i can put that into the chat i can try
if she can get it in the chat she'll put it in the chat thank you mr griff thank you very much
is there anyone else in the virtual audience this is hillary i also wanted to note that
the contact information for the applicant should be on the zoning poster at the site as well
that is that is true thank you hillary anyone else in the virtual audience
good afternoon mr chair i do not see any further hands at this time thank you thank you planning
commission thank you mr chairman good afternoon david vecto city planning commission the
comprehensive plan recommends no change to the residential multi-family zoning at this location
the applicant is asking for 14 dwelling units where seven are allowed the dimensional variances
sought could be reduced if the allowable seven units were built the applicant having failed to
show that a hardship exists in units the city planning commission recommends that the board
units. The City Planning Commission recommends that the board deny the use in dimensional
deny the use in dimensional variances
variances. Mr. Chairman, if you don't mind, I just want to quickly respond to that. That position
is inconsistent with positions the Planning Commission has taken on several of the other
developments. In fact, I did include some of the staff comments for Civic Design Review on some of
the other projects that were recently built. So I did want to just point that out. We do believe
that we've more than established our case here so mi 2022 mr chair sorry this is hillary um
if if the chair um and members are inclined to um vote in support of this project i wanted to note
in addition to a proviso for revised plans um given the error and then creating a consistency
on the refusal um the board would uh should do a proviso maximizing the number of units
just for clarity thank you
and that max unit is 14 14. okay that that is how many is being requested but it's
Incorrectly listed on the refusal in one part as 16.
Correct.
MI 2022-003-275-1314 North Carlisle Street.
I vote yes.
Revised plans, one page, stamped by ZBA on October 5th, 2022.
And additionally, no more than 14 units.
Carol Tsunari, my vote is yes with proviso.
Thomas Solomon, my boot is yes, with provisos.
James Snell, yes, with provisos.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
I'm sorry, excuse me.
This is the court reporter.
Could I ask...
Is, could you go over that one more time?
You've trailed off a little bit.
Can you hear me now?
Yes, with provisos.
Thank you.
thank you thank you counsel mi2022-003-458-1727 south street darlene treat is the attorney
letter of non-opposition from the center city residents association
okay sir mr street will be coming back in as a panel soon thank you
good afternoon commissioners darling how are you please and spell for the court reporter
Darlene Threat, D-A-R-L-E-N-E, Threat, T as in Thomas, H-R-E-A-T-T.
Right. Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Could you identify your client in relationship to the property?
Well, my client is really a corporation, SJ Enterprises, but I have the purveyor of the
businesses, Mr. Don Salarelli, with me today, as well as the architect, Justin Myers.
Okay. Our Vice Chair has a few questions.
Hi, Ms. Threet. Do you agree to waive the reading of the 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?
All of those are yes, except I may not have submitted the package exactly five days in advance, but I did submit all the materials.
Okay, you may proceed and begin to share your screen.
Can you see my screen?
Good afternoon, Commissioners.
My name is Darlene Threatt, and I'm representing 1727 to 1729 South Street.
I have submitted an exhibit package.
My exhibit package contains 45 documents, which I won't be going through all of them,
but I will go through the pertinent ones.
Commissioners, I want to give you a little background about this application.
We are asking for an expansion of a tattoo shop.
Previously, three years ago, we came in from the board to get a variance for 1729 South Street, which is an existing tattoo parlor.
1729 has been in existence now for about three years, operating pretty good within the community.
1729 has been in existence now for about three years.
I'm just going to scroll down to the pertinent parts of my presentation here.
I wanted to just show you a history of 1727 South Street. It's always had commercial use.
Actually, the use now is a little less than it was before.
Previously, you'll see the use was a flower shop and a three-family dwelling.
Currently, we're asking for a commercial on the bottom, and I believe there's only a two-family dwelling existing.
You can see from prior zoning applications that the flower shop and three-family dwelling had been approved previously.
Here is the decision from back in 2019 when we came before the Zoning Board of Adjustment asking them to approve the tattoo shop at 1729.
Now we would like to extend the tattoo shop to 1727.
I leave this on the actual decision because I want to note the provisals here.
We have agreed to the same exact provisals for 1727 that we agreed to in 1729 for the tattoo shop and body piercing.
Those provisals were no deliveries or trash pickup before 8 a.m. weekdays and 9 a.m. weekends, commercial trash pickup, trash stored inside.
Additionally, commissioners, I would like to note that we do have a trash pickup for the needles, and that pickup is as necessary by a sharp pickup agency.
Here, in fact, is the actual use permit that was granted to 1729 South Street back in 2019.
commissioners this is the existing site plan for the building uh this is existing 1729
we like to use 1727 in conjunction with 1729 uh over here in the corner uh i have a couple
pictures of how the place looks currently and you can see a little uh plot plan of where the
property sits in the middle of the block. Here we go. I'm going to scroll down a little further
for you now, and here is the actual zoning plan. If anyone has any specific questions about it,
Mr. Myers is on the line. But basically, here we have 1729 South Street and 1727 South Street.
these are the basements of both of the properties. In this room, we'll have a tattooing studio.
This room currently has a tattoo studio in here, and I'll show you some pictures in a minute.
They both have about four chairs in them. If we go over here, we have a layout of the first floor
for both properties. Currently for 1729 South Street. This is where we enter.
This is where we enter. We have a reception area on the first floor, and then we have
some tattooing rooms that we would like to do. I have put in some pictures of the South Street area.
We have a large parking garage across the street.
There are actually no businesses directly across the street from us here.
If I slide down a little more, this is how the entire two buildings look.
We're not asking for new signage at this time.
Currently we have signage here in the window, stencil signage.
it's just another picture of the property and the signage to the left on 1729 here we have the
first floor of the tattoo studio at 1729 and it is said that the next door would kind of look
pretty similar as you can see we have a receptionist area here we have a little waiting area here and
we have some art on the wall and some really fancy floor with some acrylic painting there
it's just another long shot you can actually see some of the tattoo in studio
in the back of this shot here.
in the back of this shot here
Some of the artwork in the reception area
at the existing 1729 studio.
And this is the basement.
We have two rooms and a little outside back over here