unit. You know, you're keeping all the old fireplaces and details to maintain the integrity
of the house. And then you have unit one, which is roughly 680 square feet.
is there there is a basement um view but uh there's no dwellings that are uh there's no
residential uses in the basement is that correct no the two units do have access to the basement
that's going to be to service utilities okay
all right now we're going to proceed to the second floor
yeah so there's three units on the second floor um unit four is in orange it's again 800 square
feet uh it's a one but they're all one bedrooms unit five is in yellow that's roughly 670 square
feet again a one bedroom and then unit three this is the smallest unit and it's around 535
five square feet. Okay. Also one bedroom.
And these are existing views of those spaces? Yes.
All right. I think now we're coming up to the third floor. Yeah. And third floor just has
two apartments on that floor. Unit six is about 670 square feet. Unit seven is 700 square feet.
And then this is the carriage house layout, and on the second floor you can see the roof
is somewhat steep pitched, so the dormers are necessary to be able to have a bathroom
and bedroom that you can stand up in there.
You can see in the picture that the roof there.
In view B?
Mm-hmm.
for the photos can you just um guide us as we as we look at these photos as to where we are
in the structure sure this is the common stair that's going to be uh remain um as this that
means egress throughout the building another view from the third floor looking down
this is the outside staircase that was necessary for the school egress it will remain
although not necessary for it to be an egress component for the new use
the existing carriage house.
That's the side elevation.
That's the rear elevation.
That's the corner of Wayne and Johnson looking at the building.
These are the first floor photos.
You can see the existing fireplaces, finishes.
the previous owner tried to do some renovation there's some remnants of that in these photos okay
and then there's the front
and the the front will be restored cleaned painted
again first floor photos
this is their landing this is one of the you know that's that's not going to be
grooming so first floor photo and first floor details third floor
Is your third floor photos
The second floor photo is here.
And second floor photos here
Thank you.
That's the common space photo here on the first floor.
That's going to remain common space for the building.
So does that mean that all the residents will have access to that?
Yes, it will be common.
okay now i'm going to show you an aerial view for context of this property with its neighbors
um so here we have the eight units in in your property here um can you describe to the board
what what we're seeing to the left uh of of the screen here yeah to the left is a building of
similar size and scale to 6401 wing and it's also a seven unit building and that building has
access through 6401 wing through our parking area back there and it is driveway access
we will maintain that access to be good neighbors okay and then we have it looks like one single
family house next to that uh two next to it and then there's a three plus units
uh to the on the end of that block
these um the 361 west johnson that's what we saw in the in the petition signatures right
i i don't recall but i could be right across the street from your property
uh it looks like it's 13 condos and 50 apartments
i believe so i believe 50 is in the new building to the to the uh right there okay and the old
building has 13 okay and then to round it out there's fairmont park um on the west side and
and a school. Yep.
And this
view shows
the parking areas? Correct.
And you said that you're providing
driveway access to this other
seven apartment
building. Does that go somewhere
this way?
Yeah, the tree
is blocking it in the
all right um we have our zoning poster uh
jim i think i am i'm completed with my with my questions for you did you have anything that you
wanted to add about the architectural aspects of the project no just just that this use is
consistent with the neighborhood and it's a great way to preserve a building like this great all
right i wanted to call um walt king next steve is he your owner is he a client yeah okay thank you
walt king has been allowed to speak sir could you please state your name and spell for the
court stenographer. Hi, everyone. My name is Walter King, W-A-L-T-E-R, last name King, K-I-N-G.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
I do. Please proceed, Mr. Masters. Sure. Can Mr. King be promoted to video?
Sure. I'm promoting him to panelist now.
mr king proceed mr masters great thank you um uh walter i wanted to um ask you a few questions
to understand um how you how you developed the the the design and the and the the concept for
this project sure um so can you can you share with the board why you chose to make this project
multi-family and instead of single family um yeah just some notes before i get started uh like jim
i'm also a neighbor um i've grew up a few blocks from here and all you know our development work
is in is in this neighborhood really focused on you know restoring old properties uh you know to
you know have been vacant for years to exist you know to new uses that kind of
so the reason we chose to do multi-family here is just it's just a pure economic decision as
to do multifamily here is just be just a pure economic decision as uh i think as jim my partner
i think as jim
mentioned this is almost a seven thousand almost eight thousand square feet with the carriage house
um with you know renovation costs that's you know over a million dollars of renovation
in order to preserve the building uh zoning really allows us to you know the economics to work
for us to rent such a renovate sprinkler kind of bring all the systems up to up to code um
And then we have, you know, really activate a corner that has been vacant.
You know, I think the school moved out almost at least a decade ago, as far as I can tell.
So it's been, you know, vacant for over 10 years.
So really to activate an important corner in the kind of the Mount Airy Germantown section of Philadelphia.
Thank you.
Why did you choose to put one of the units in the carriage house?
Again, for really two reasons.
The first reason to get to preserve what we find is a pretty architecturally interesting unit.
We want to, if there's a unit in there, again, it's going to get renovated in all of, you know, all the systems be brought up to code.
And also, again, helps the overall economics of the project where, you know, we have the ability to invest in the entire project and make the numbers work to renovate.
um so you're proposing eight units in a combination seven in the main building one in
the carriage house is that um is that the minimum number that you feel is is necessary in order to
make this project work yeah we the minimum number and and also you know again without squeezing the
units i think the average unit size is a little over 700 square feet across all eight units
which is a little oversized for one bedrooms so again we're not trying to squeeze the maximum
number of units in this as jim mentioned you know we're looking for long-term uh you know
tenants in this space that's really who rents in this neighborhood which is a um you know that's
for our other apartment buildings that's that's who we find as tenants um so we want to have
long-term tenants and have you know very livable uh you know kind of gracious one bedrooms
um so am i correct that you went around the to the neighbors with the petition and spoke to them
i did and yeah i've got all i didn't speak to anyone who was opposed um i did it under
you know two weekends of saturdays speaking to near neighbors um and yeah so i everyone on that
list i i spoke to directly uh you know again most most folks are excited um to have you know again
a vacant property in their neighborhood be renovated with neighborhood developers so most
most folks in uh in that little neck of the woods know jim and i as uh as good stewards and good
developers so um walter you heard my testimony earlier today um is it in your opinion true and
correct and would you adopt it as your own i would all right thank you um i have no further uh
witnesses or questions. Mr. Masters, before I go to the board, how long has the property been
vacant since the school closed? We believe it's well more than a decade. Okay. Thank you.
Questions from the board? No, Mr. Chairman. No, Chair. No, Chair.
Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Emerson?
Not at this time, Mr. Chair. Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Yes, Chair, we have Charles Richardson.
Hi, Mr. Richardson.
Good morning, Mr. Chair.
How are you?
Afternoon, rather.
Could you state your name and spell it for the court sonographer, please?
Charles Richardson, R-I-C-H-A-R-D-S-O-N, Office of Councilwoman Cindy Bass, room 508 City Hall.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Please proceed.
Councilwoman has no opposition to granting the variance.
Thank you for taking the time to give us a call.
Is there anyone else in the first audience?
I see no hands, Chair.
Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair Bergman, and good afternoon.
David DeFecto with the City Planning Commission.
Chair and board members, the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the residential single-family zoning at this location.
The appellant proposes to rehabilitate a former group home.
planning commission staff views the proposed use as equally or less intensive than the prior group
home use in terms of impacts on near neighbors the refusals for parking and rear yard are
incidental to pcpc's frontage determination and conform with the spirit and intent of the zoning
code so the city planning commission recommends the board grant the proposed use variants for
multifamily use and a residential zoning district the extension of a non-conforming structure in
The extension of a non-conforming structure in the rear yard, the presence of two primary structures, and the associated parking variances.
the rear yard, the presence
Thank you.
MI 2023, 005-708-6401 Wayne Avenue, I vote yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
ishmael shaheed my vote is yes thank you counsel thank you so much may i be excused
you can sir thank you number nine mi 2023 004 617 155 west palmer street
uh oleg sokoloff is the attorney um letter of support from south kensington community partners
A letter of non-opposition from Council Member Lozada.
Good afternoon, Chair and members of the board.
Oleg Sokolov here on behalf of the applicant Palmer Places LLC.
You've already been sworn, so our vice chair has just a few questions for you.
Good afternoon, Counselor. Do you agree to weigh the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Good afternoon, Mr. Shaheed. Yes, I do. Thank you.
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?
I have the only change to my exhibit packet is the RCO letter of support,
which was received after the packets were due last week. So that's been added.
Understood. Thank you. Please proceed and share your screen.
Thank you very much.
One second. I apologize.
All right. Is everybody able to see that?
We can, sir.
Once again, thank you for your time, Chair Bergman, members of the board.
As stated, I'm here on behalf of 155 West Palmer Street.
The reason for the refusal is the erection of a rear addition.
If I can give a little context, my clients purchased this property with the existing condition as it is.
They did no construction to the property.
You'll see from some pictures that I'll show that many of these properties on this block have ostensibly a bump out in the back.
The property was purchased without information as to the fact that this was a non-conforming portion of the structure.
They began to do some renovation work to repair some rotted joists in this back area.
and as work was ongoing, received a violation to then undertake this variance process.
So nothing has been done by the current owners to create this condition,
and they're just here to seek the board's approval to legalize the existing condition.
So you'll see here the properties located in RSA 5,
adjacent to some RM1 properties and near some ICMX properties. Here is a picture of the property.
This property was vacant and abandoned for years. My clients actually live on the block as they'll
testify. So they have been walking by this property. They knew that it was in a deteriorous
condition and purchased it with the intention to, they're newly married, they purchased it with the
intention to renovate and move into this property as it's a little bit bigger and gives them the
opportunity to perhaps start a family in this home. So they began the renovations, and if you'll
see here from the satellite imagery, this is the property we're talking about. Where I'm circling
is the area and bump out in question. You can see that 167, 169, 147, I believe 161 here,
And a number of properties on the opposite side of the block have this similar, I guess it was an extension of the kitchen area originally, but we're not sure how long this condition has been existent, but it's certainly been their way before my clients purchased the property.
Here's the deed to the property. It was purchased in February of this year.
here's the parcel once again some better imagery of the various I'll call them again bump outs but
I'll call them again pump outs, but non-conforming portions of a property that basically impact the rear yard setback requirement.