and then here's a copy of our petition copy of some of the letters and actually the letter was
signed by james uh gerald welch uh at 1601 added street but we have many addresses close by of
people who signed uh this petition and or uh letters of support and then it's not uncommon to
have visitor accommodations uh nearby and you know we just wanted to show the board that
uh there's a map of properties within a three or four block radius uh so what we're offering
is not out of character to what would be expected in this part of the neighborhood we're not that
far off of from broad street uh so some people don't want to like you know have accommodations
um in center city um and some people you know have family visiting who live in the neighborhood
And this is a good way for them to have some overflow family stay, especially, you know, even if you think about in this holiday season.
And then this is the listing. We want to show you the fact that Mr. Teskew has a 4.9 rating, 111 reviews. He takes great care of his property. And, you know, he really does screen the tenants well.
And then this is the listing. We want to show you the fact that Mr.
and then this is just a zoning map of the area um again you know while our property is rsa5
there are many um other uses in the neighborhood like rm1 cmx1 looks like there's some icmx up
here as well cmx2 over here and then this is just you know you know we're also not that far from
washington avenue so you have public transportation on washington avenue you have public transportation
on broad street so there's ample public transportation as well and then photographs
of the property newly constructed property uh proof of posting of that property and then
and in street to right of the property and in street to left of the property um interior photos
again uh it's a well-maintained property and these are some of the photos that are online that mr
Tesco uses to encourage people to stay in the City of Philadelphia at his home.
And then our plans are drawing very basic you walk in first floor open floor plan downstairs
there's a recreation room with that it looks like a full bath go up a flight of steps two bedrooms
one in the front one in the back full bath third floor is a master suite. And our RCO meeting notice
we met on October 18th at 6.30 p.m. This is proof of email of that notice several weeks
before the meeting, and we send it not only to the RCO, coordinating the RCO for all RCOs,
as well as the council members' zoning aid. Then 172 addresses were notified via mail.
These are listed of these addresses. Proof of mailing to those addresses. Our application
for appeal on Mr. Ntescu's behalf, notice of refusal, project information form, deed to the
property showing that he owns the property, and a certificate of tax clearance. I would ask that
Mr. Ntescu virtually raise his hand so he can be sworn in. Okay.
so your client has been allowed to speak sure could you please share your name
my name is nathaniel atescu that's n-a-t-h-a-n-a-e-l
last name mitescu i t e s c u you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the
truth yes please proceed counsel oh yes mr itescu you heard everything i had to say today about
your zoning matter yes and is it true and correct yes and do you adopt as your own testimony yes
thank you questions from the board no mr chairman thank you chair questions or comments from our
attorney hillary emerson just a quick question for mr knockamson um mr knockamson is yeah the rco
requested uh proviso for a three-year temporary variance um does your client have an opinion on
that um yes we do we we embrace that we we're we're you know we're uh we're in agreement
okay thank you questions or comments from the virtual audience
there are no hands chair leaning commission
good afternoon chair peter bernard for the planning commission
the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the rsa 5 single family residential at this
location we feel the applicant has failed to demonstrate a hardship that would justify
short-term rental at this location accordingly the planning commission recommends the board
deny the variance thank you mi2023 004 198 1603 annan street i vote yes temporary variance expiring
12-1-26
Thomas Holloman
my vote is yes
with proviso
James Snell my vote is yes
with proviso
Ismail Shaheed my vote is yes with proviso
counsel
number three
MI 2023
004-196
11-7-3-1
Caroline Road
safety box magna is the
attorney for the owner
there is a recommendation of support from the Normandy Civic Association no way
recommendation of support from the normandy civic association no explanation
here there's ronald patterson with his hand up okay i'll promote him
he has been promoted i'm mr patterson could you state your name and spell please for the court
stenographer good afternoon i could you state your name please and spell for the court stenographer
sure my name is uh ronald patterson p-a-t-t-e-r-s-o-n
claire harrison law firm 1835 market street philadelphia pa 19103 you swear a firm to tell
the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth uh yes i do would you identify your client a
relationship to this property sure my client is n nancy b as in boyd p isn't paul room numeral
217131 caroline llc the parent company north bridge partners who which is the owner and
developer of the property chair has just a few questions good afternoon counsel do you agree to
the reading under refusal and stipulate to its accuracy? Yes, I do. Have you emailed in all the
required documents and exhibits that is needed and required to proceed with this case five days in
advance of this hearing? Yes, I have. Thank you. Please proceed. I see you've already shared your
screen. Thank you. You can see my screen? Yes. Okay, thank you. As I mentioned, this regards 1131
Caroline Road. It's vacant wooded land as you can see on this aerial photograph
and Northeast Philadelphia Industrial Park area. It's comprised of 12 acres
542,962 square feet. The zoning district is I1 Light Industrial. The
application, here are some additional photographs. The building actually lies
and located next to a Pepsi distribution center.
So this application proposes a single detached building,
small in comparison to the 12 acres of property of 70,310 square feet,
66,543 square feet would be warehouse, and 3,767 square feet would be office with 73 parking spaces.
This is an FAR district.
The allowable was 500, and we're nominal.
We're at 12.9%.
The structure and use and site improvements are all permitted as a matter of right.
This case, however, as you see, it's a wooded area.
It's the removal of three heritage trees.
Useful.
Which heritage trees are trees are more than greater than 24 inches in diameter.
Sure. First, I'd like to briefly, and I'll get to the meat of the matter in a minute, promote Jeffrey Sullivan, who's with the Owner Developers Group.
You can raise your hand, Jeffrey.
could you state your name and spell for the court stenographer
can we see a hand hello can you hear me now i was just on you sir could you state your
name please and spell for the course stenographer my name is jeffrey sullivan j-e-f-f-r-e-y-s-u-l-l-i-v-a-n
do you swear for him to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i do proceed counsel thank you mr chairman uh uh good afternoon jeffrey um you've heard what i've
stated my testimony so far would you agree that it's true and accurate i do then you would adopt
of this if you if it were your own i do uh so you see on the on my screen there's a map with
some properties that are highlighted i do okay um could you describe to the board what this is just
Okay. Could you describe to the board what this is just by way of letting them know how Northbridge has a footprint in this area?
Of course. Northbridge is an industrial fund manager based in Wakefield, Massachusetts.
Northbridge acquired 11731 Caroline in 2021, along with 11601 and 11631 Caroline.
In addition, we own eight buildings, or in total, we own eight buildings totaling over 800,000 square feet on 82 acres within a mile and a half of the subject property.
Great. And could you briefly tell us what the proposed use is here with the warehouse?
At this time, it is an industrial use, and we do not have a specific tenant.
We typically are a speculative developer.
Okay. Thank you. That's all I have for Mr. Sullivan, Mr. Chairman.
we could promote uh catherine weiss w-e-i-s-s okay
do we see your hand this wife should be coming back in as a panelist now chair thank you very much
could you state your name please and spell for the court stenographer
she muted
miss weiss please unmute yourself
okay there you go sorry about that i didn't
your name could you state your name please and spell the court sonographer katherine weiss k-a-t-h-e-r-i-n-e
weiss w-e-i-s all right do you swear for him to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the
truth i do we'll see you counsel thank you mr chairman ms weiss may i call you kate yes all
right thank you um like like i don't know you um tell me your involvement with uh this case
please sure i'm the civil engineer for the project i'm a professional engineer licensed
in Pennsylvania and a principal with dynamic engineering. I have over 15 years of land
development experience. Okay and you've prepared the site plan and conducted the surveys and
addressed the heritage tree issue in this matter and I guess the plan that I'm showing on the
screen here is that accurate? Correct. Could you describe the property for me? Yes so the overall
property is located between Caroline Road and Norcom Road. It has Walton Run that runs from
the northern to the southern portion that essentially transects the middle of the site.
In general, there is a significant portion of the site that is located within floodplain limits
and wetlands and associated wetland buffers. There's a steep slope in the western portion
of the site that grades up to an upland area where essentially the development is proposed here
the entire site is wooded the area the upland portion of the site has a significant amount
of historic fill debris tires material that's been brought in you know in prior years so just
something worth noting that it's not undisturbed um you know area even though there are trees there
you know today um it's an area of disturbance so this proposal is for um an approximate 70,000
square foot building it's got a truck court with 16 loading spaces where only four spaces are
required. It has 71 passenger vehicle parking spaces and bicycle parking as well. Okay, Kate,
and to focus on a few things, it's limited in the area where it can be developed, but what do you
estimate the undevelopable area to be? So of the total 12.5 acre lot, the developable portion is
approximately 5.2 acres which is about 42 percent of the overall lot. And that
area is near the front near Caroline Road is that correct? Correct the western
portion of the site. Okay and in that area where is where we removed or would we
remove a lot of trees and is where the three heritage trees are located? Correct
Correct. So within that area, it is wooded. And we can get into the details of what's there in a little bit. But the heritage trees are located within 75 feet. The heritage trees that we're seeking special exception for are located within 75 feet of the Caroline Road right of way.
so within that area it is wooded and
okay and um what how will you address the tree issue with removal and uh replacement
so there is um a tree replacement strategy here um understanding that removal of trees
and incorporating the development we're not able to replace the trees on site
we've proceeded with the fee in lieu um with the fee in lieu strategy so all of the trees
that are being removed including the heritage trees that are part of this application are all
proposed to be mitigated through the fee and loo process and you know through that the applicant
will be contributing close to 160 000 for tree replacement in the city and the important part
of this is that the building couldn't be developed on another portion of the property but only in the
area where the heritage trees are located is that fair to say correct okay and um on the screen i
have what the standards are for obtaining a special exception for heritage tree removal
so the applicant replaces the removed heritage trees in accordance with the tree replacement plan
and we've addressed that by how so we've calculated um all of the existing trees on
site and the density and we've calculated the amount of of trees that that are going to be
removed and then we've applied the fee in lieu to calculate the total amount of contribution
that the applicants required to provide for the application okay um that's all i have for
miss weiss if there's any questions um we did meet with the normandy civic association as
mentioned, we have a letter of support. I would conclude and say that, you know, we believe we've
met the criteria for the board to grant this special exception. We see no average impact by
removing the three trees. The site conditions actually create a hardship in that we're unable
to develop on areas other than where the heritage trees are. But we have alternative remedial
measures that we described that would mitigate any impact from the removal of this these three trees
as well as add even additional landscaping as you saw on the plans that are substantial and robust
um thank you thank you uh questions from the board no mr chairman no chair
no chair thank you questions or comments from our attorney hillary emerson
not at this time mr chair questions or comments from the virtual audience
yes chair alice you'd have a chance her hand up she's been allowed to speak
good afternoon alice could you just for the record state your name and spell for the court
personographer certainly good afternoon chairman members of the board alice udovich
u-d-o-v-i-c-h on behalf of councilman brian o'neill you swear affirm to tell the truth
the whole truth nothing but the truth i do please proceed the councilman has no objection
to the granting of the special exception at this location thank you very much for taking
the time to call us is there anyone else in the virtual audience
no hands chair by planning commission
good afternoon chair peter bernard for the planning commission
the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing i-1 industrial zoning at this location
given the applicant is paying the in-lieue fee for tree removal we feel the applicant has
demonstrated hardship accordingly the planning commission recommends the board grant the variance
mi2023004196 11731 caroline road i vote yes thomas holloman my vote is yes
james snell my vote is yes ishmael shahi my vote is yes council great thank you
Number six, MI 2023-004-442-4713 North Penn Street.
Alan Nockamson is the attorney.
There's a letter of support from the Frankford NAC RCO
and a letter of non-opposition from Council Member Lazada.
The applicant also provided a petition of support
signed by approximately 18 neighbors,
15 from the 46 and 47 on the block of North Bend along with 18 form letters of support
15 from the 46th and 47th block of North Penn,
along with the 18
Alan knockamson can you please raise your hand uh I'm actually still I guess connected to the
main panel Mr. Knoxon just for the record you've already been sworn state your name please yes
alan knockamson and can you identify your client the relationship to this property
uh yes my client is frankfurt capital three limited partnership and in the virtual audience
is its uh general manager abe silber the vice chair has questions good afternoon council do you
agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy i do have you emailed
all the required documents and exhibits that is needed and required to proceed with this case