Have you emailed the exhibit packet with the required documents, proof of ownership, tax compliance, refusal, and or referral, photos, plans, five days in advance of this hearing, and have you met with the RCO, and do you have a letter?
You may proceed.
Thank you.
So this is 2316 South Street.
The property is owned RM1 and is located on the 2300 block of South Street.
It's currently a three-story building on a 1,336-square-foot lot.
We're proposing to partially demolish the rear of the structure to erect a new rear addition,
include a roof deck at the rear second floor and a roof deck with an access structure on the third floor.
We also intend to convert the structure from a triplex to single-family
and utilize the existing curb cut to service a parking garage for one accessory off-street parking space.
our project was refused as you can see from the refusal on the screen because off-street parking
is not permitted for any one family use located in the residential parking control area of the
center city overlay district unless accessed by a shared driveway rear alleyway and park and for
this project that's not an option there's a pre-existing curb credits this location as i'll
go into in addition there's no on-street parking allowed on this side of the block
so the property's use of the curb cut does not cause the loss of an on-street parking space.
Additionally, according to the Planning Commission's Central District Plan,
the availability of on-street parking in Center City is severely limited,
which may deter visitors from visiting commercial districts such as nearby portions of South.
which may deter visitors from visiting commercial districts such as nearby portions of South Street.
The provision of an off-street parking space at the property would lessen the degree to which the property's inhabitants would contribute to the on-street parking congestion.
In addition, the proposed garage fits in the context of the block as the properties at 2312, 2320, and 2322 South Street on the same side of the property's block also have off-street parking in the form of front-loaded garages.
i'm just going to quickly go through our application um the deed
um as i mentioned this is uh where the property is as you can see it's rm1
along the cmx2 commercial corridor i'm sure the board is very familiar with this
part of the city it's a very small block the 2300 block so not a ton of people but
most of which we've sent in letters of support as the board can see this is a photo back from
I believe 2009 it shows the existing conditions of the garage it still looks this way as far as
the interior of the building is concerned it's been sort of retrofitted a little bit on the
outside it's also a lot of damage to this property so this will help rehabilitate it
it is it does have steel interior and things of that nature as far as the garage is concerned
is concerned and as the board can see um had sort of this front the frontage similar to these other
neighboring properties that all have front-loaded garages on south street as well um zoning posters
as i said it was sort of retrofitted given the damage um additionally as you can see from the
property it has a long-standing history of uh garage this is back from 1976 where it was a
four family dwelling garage for storage of uh one car um we're reducing it from three units uh to
a single family home we met with sasna um i'm sure the board has seen this letter and essentially
what i want to point out um although sasna was in opposition was that you know the near neighbors
where there was two were in support and none of the near neighbors were in opposition mostly those
in opposition were from um the sasna zoning committee although one was in support none of
them are near neighbors of this project um and the community at large um none of the opposition is
from any of the near neighbors the reason i point that out is because those who are actually uh
living near this property we have over 20 letters of support from those who actually live on this
block and who live nearby so none of those who actually voted in opposition at size's meeting
live on this block were considered near neighbors i appreciate that a lot of their concerns were
some broader planning things however um you know this is we're talking near neighbors specific to
this property so 2310 south street 2312 south street 2312 south street 2316 south street unit
2, 2316 Unit 3, 2318. He commented that he's been renting this location since 2005. He also
owns a private home in the neighborhood, and this property had a garage at the first foreign
existing curb cut when he moved here back in 2005. 2322 South Street, 2326 South Street,
2315 naudane uh 600 south 24th street 2311 south street apartment 203 2324 south street
2300 south street i believe uh mr nussbaum is here to speak and support the project as well
2217 to 2225 South Street, 2201, 502 South 24th Street, 510 South 24th Street, 2311 South Street
apartment 301, 2318 South Street. So I mean, the point of this is just to show that those who
actually live nearby and on this block are in support of this project. And those who voted,
i guess six people who voted in opposition none of which were the two neighbors who voted in
support and actually who live on this block and and live nearby um that that's sort of all i i
have on my end i i'm happy to have our um architect speak as well um and then you know i think there's
a bunch of people in addition to the owner of the property who's here to speak in support of this
project want to get the owner to adopt your testimony then we'll move on with the questions
Yes, Mr. Chairman. Jason, do you see a Ryan McManus?
Jason, do you see a Ryan McManus?
I see you made sure I will talk.
Thank you.
Good afternoon, Mr. McManus.
please identify yourself with the record spell your first and last name please
hello my name is ryan mcmanus r-y-a-n-m-c-m-a-n-u-s do you swear in the firm to tell the truth the
whole truth nothing but the truth thank you uh rachel ryan have you heard the testimony that i
provided for the board i did uh in your opinion is it correct and accurate and do you adopt it as
your own? I do. Is there anything else you wanted to add? I know that maybe you've prepared
something for the board. Sure. I'll keep it brief. In essence, we're simply reactivating
the former use of the property. It has a steel platform on the first floor. It has a curb cut
on the street. There are garages, multiple garages on the same side of the block,
as well as across the street where my family currently park right now so the ability of
having a parking garage in a building that we're going to create for ourselves is of extreme value
to me as a homeowner as it would be to anybody else who would buy this house not to mention we
are drastically improving the streetscape through the overall curb appeal of a brand new house we're
to tear off the stucco, replace the original brick, and simply reactivate the building as it
used to be. It's the reason we bought the building in the first place, because it had the support
for a garage. And there were examples of other garages on the street. And as Rachel pointed out,
all of my neighbors on the block are in support. Some of them are even here on the Zoom to support
us. And it's simply a house that I'm building for my family. With the convenience of parking,
we went from two cars to one as a family because of having this garage. So now you have
one less car on the street. As a result of going from two cars to one, and as a result of turning
the building from a triplex into a single family, you'll now have two less families living in the
building that are circling the block looking for parking on the street every day as well as
uh two less households of trash going out on sunday nights etc so less density it's a residential
block um and uh that's all thanks okay uh any questions from the board no no no no no anyone
else like to testify in this case if so please raise your hand so i have a daniel mcglone i can
if you want i may i can allow him to speak yes please good afternoon sir please identify yourself
in the records by your name and provide us with your address hi everyone my name is daniel mcglone
address 2030 Webster Street last name spelling m-c-g-l-o-n-e you're swearing the firm to tell
the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes I do thank you sir please proceed good
afternoon everybody as I said I'm Daniel McGlone I'm co-chair of the South of South Neighborhood
Association Vision Zero Committee I'm also a member of the board of directors we work to make
our streets safe for all users an emphasis on pedestrian cyclists and those who are mobility
impaired. South Street is a major thoroughfare for bikers riding from the University of Pennsylvania
in Penn and Chop with over 1,200 riders per day. The sidewalk is also an essential way to cross
the river, sees volumes as high as 6,000 per day on each side of the street. This applicant claims
near neighbor support that may be relevant on a small block, small alley in the neighborhood.
It's not relevant on a significant city arterial used by thousands of people per day, many from
outside the neighborhood as well. A driveway might only be used two times a day or so by the
owner, but others will undoubtedly pull into the driveway or the space in the bike lane
in front of it for quick drop-offs, as is very common on other blocks with intermittent driveways.
Blocking the sidewalk interrupts the flow for pedestrians who would need to access the bicycle
lane and avoid cyclists. The change in elevation of the slope is uncomfortable for walking and is
challenging for people with mobility and eyesight issues. The vertical delineators, which we have
currently installed are meant to keep drivers
are meant to keep drivers from pulling into the bike lane but we see this happening in intersections
from pulling into the bike lane.
But we see this happening in intersections where Delinda
where delineators are removed and delineators will have to be removed for this project that
wasn't they weren't showing them in the photos that you saw um from from rachel but there are
currently delineators that were installed on south street which would have to be removed because of
this project removing a delineator or two to accommodate one person's access puts many more
people in danger when there's no enforcement the applicant claims there's a pre-existing curb cut
but that is not its current use. Right now there are delineators blocking the curb cut which as I
said would have to be removed. In the future we want a bike lane on South Street that's completely
separated with a concrete buffer similar to what you see in other cities. If we allow this curb cut
we can never get that critical permanent protection here. The bike lane was installed as a connector
between the center city bike lanes and 22nd street. It's an essential way to cross the
Schuylkill River and use the neighborhood. It's our neighborhood's prime pedestrian and bicycle
transportation connection to university city and we should not sever that with a new curb cut
finally the parking argument is irrelevant taking one vehicle off the street with this garage does
not outweigh the negative externalities this curb cut and garage creates for the entire neighborhood
we strongly oppose this project with its ground floor garage and curb cut thank you just want to
point out for the board mr mclone mentioned he lives at 2030 webster um which is several blocks
away from this i am these buddy speaking over here coalition i'm just curious sir uh what do
you what do you say about the curb cuts that exist for uh the curb cuts that um handle the
existing garages well this property does not currently have a current support the other ones
on the block there are other garages on that block aren't there there are two other garages on that
block and right now the delineators are spaced so that they don't block those but what this would
require is removing additional delineators and it's a problem as cars pull over yep go ahead
sorry i'm just i'm gonna interrupt you understood but you talked about what your desire is going
forward about a concrete barrier was it that's right many other cities and philadelphia is
working on this as well is installing a concrete barrier we would never be able to get that on this
block um well would you be able to get it with the two existing curb cuts for the two existing
garages we would be able to get it partially on this block but not in front of the garages so
adding an additional garage means we have to take away additional space that we could never get that
permanent protection installed in okay understood thank you just so the board knows it's 20 it's
23 12 23 20 and 23 22 that all have uh garages so it's kind of contiguous it's not yeah it's not
it's not it's it's not separated it's three of them together thank you anyone else would like
to testify in this case mr chair and nicole uh kodiker has her hand raised i can allow her to
speak if you wish he's from sasna as well hello hi please identify yourself spell your first and
last name and provide us with your address sure uh first name is nicole n-i-c-o-l-e last name
Kodeicher, K-O-E as in Edward, D as in David, Y-K-E-R. I'm the Executive Director for South
of South Neighborhood Association. Our address is 1901 Washington Avenue, Unit B.
I'm sorry. Go ahead. Do you swear and affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the
truth? Yes. Thank you. Please proceed. So SOSNA zoning committee and the community wrote a letter
opposition to this project due to the input heard at our community meeting on february 25th
some of the concerns stated were the strong concern and strong opposition to the curb cut
and garage which is counterproductive to the work that our neighborhood has done to implement the
bollards and delineators that daniel had been talking about and the protected bike lane
and the future of transit in the neighborhood
that's used by thousands of people every day.
There was also concern from nearby businesses
about the reduction of a single family
from a multifamily to single family for density reasons.
More people usually means more businesses.
Mostly the concern was not around the project as a whole,
the building is fine and works the way that it is. Single family is fine for most of our zoning
committee. There was a strong opposition to the garage for the reasons, many of the reasons that
Daniel, my colleague, had mentioned a little earlier. And while the people in attendance to
our meeting that night may not be next door neighbors to the property, this is an arterial
road in our it's a border to our neighborhood association and
road in our it's a border to our neighborhood association and to say that it's isolated and
the curb cut only affects the neighboring properties doesn't apply to this situation.
We have people from all over the city including all of the people that live on that block and
all the way down to Washington Avenue in our neighborhood that use this block including
seniors and people with disabilities who would have difficulty and be more unsafe walking on
this sidewalk if there is that curb cut and potential for a car to back out from that
from that garage or for bicyclists or for bicyclists who pull up who have to go into
traffic to navigate around parked cars in front of their in the bike lane and as a personal
bike rider, I use this, I use this arterial every time I'm going into the office and going into the
neighborhood. And I know that people park in between the bollards anyway, especially when
there is an interruption in them because of garages, there's more room for FedEx trucks and
UPS trucks to use them rather than the loading zones. So another interruption of the delineator
posts uh makes me have to ride out into traffic where south street people are coming off of the
interstate at a very high speed on south street um so that was uh the reasons that we the zoning
committee wrote our letter of opposition um and we had uh the neighborhood uh business association
and our vision zero committee also uh in opposition to the project thank you anyone else to testify
Mr. Chair, there is a William Berger with his hand raised. If you wish, I may allow him to speak.
Thank you.
Good afternoon, Chairman.
Good afternoon, Mr. Berger. Please identify yourself, spell your last name, and provide us with your address.
My last name is Berger, B-E-R-G-E-R, and my address is 2318 South Street, apartment number two.
do you swear and affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i affirm so thank you please proceed um so i i want to um um add to what mr mcglone said
um we've already lost bollards on uh the bike lane um due to construction at uh 2322 and 23
uh 20 um this would further erode the bollards on uh south street um that um i'm an active cyclist
um and use the street um uh use this this arterial uh frequently um so that's that's the first uh
concern i have um and secondly the application description on the website i wasn't at the
meeting i apologize um but it it asked for an erection of an additional uh rear uh with a roof
deck. And I just don't know how that's going to affect the ambient light that gets through to
the property next door. There's already been construction at 2320, which is to the west of
2318, which has diminished the amount of ambient light that 2318, where I live, gets. And I would
I'd just like to raise concern that if the addition to the east is similar, it will substantively diminish the amount of ambient light that the middle unit owned by Patrick O'Connell, and to which I am a current tenant, will receive.
Thank you.