There's also a letter from the RCO, Viola Street Residents Association,
and Centennial Parkside CDC, letters of support with one proviso.
um chair you might also want to call the um next case with that they're related mi 2020
thank you mi 2021 that's zero zero one six one five one two one three north 41st street
both are represented by mr marionni
mr marionni can you hear me
Mr. Mattione you're muted there you go sorry about that hi how are you can you put your name
and address on the record and spell your last name please thank you I am well Michael Mattione
that's the federal reserve that's m-a-t-t-i-o-n-i federal reserve bank building 100 north
independence mall suite 5a northwest philadelphia 19106 do you swear a firm to tell the whole
truth and nothing about the truth i do do you also agree to waive the reading of the refusal
and stipulate to its accuracy i do and lastly have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof
of ownership tax compliance refusal or referral photos and 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, yes to everything.
On both of these cases? On both cases, yes. Thank you, you may proceed. Thank you. Again,
and I am representing Eugene Nidovich on both of these cases. He's the end developer and like I
said, he submitted the tax clearance certificate and a change in plans form as requested by the
RCO on both cases, whoops, that's 12-13. Okay, so for 11-32, we have again their letter of support.
There's two different RCOs, Viola Street residents, and they had one proviso that we have six units
and 38 feet in height. We agreed to that. We submitted change in plans form. As you can see
from the summary, there was 13 attendees with those changes who all supported it, and no
one did.
The same is true of the Centennial Parkside CDC, so we completed that.
We have the revised plan form, we have the revised site plan.
this project is in the RM1 zoning district. We're seeking six residential units where four are
permitted. Again, we met with the community. They supported this with the changes that we made.
We have six units at the lower level. We have bi-level units on the lower level on the first
floor and then upstairs we have one bedroom units. These are two bedroom units at the lower levels
and then at the second and third floors they are one bedroom units or approximately 500 square feet
each. The height will not exceed 38 feet as requested by the RCO. Everything in this area
is multifamily. There are as many as seven units in structures in the neighboring this or nearby.
We have two vacant lots next to us. Across the street is multifamily. The buildings next to the
where there are buildings near us, they are all vacant and dilapidated. The building across the
street does have multifamily in it. And we have our floor plans as well. Again, at the lower level,
We have bi-level units upstairs.
We have one-bedroom units on each floor.
We meet the open area height and rear yard requirements.
And my client has a long track record of responsible development in this community,
as shown by the unanimous letter of support.
The area where the property is located does not have much development in it.
The area where the property is located does not have much development in it.
These are not that...
These are not that far off from Gerrard Avenue. The density will add to the development of Gerrard
Avenue as well. It won't alter the character of the neighborhood. It's a multi-family area.
It won't endanger the public health, but it'll benefit by getting rid of this vacant lot that
is an area where dumping happens and make it less likely and bring life to this part of 41st Street
that doesn't have any, and it will not have a negative impact as shown by the support
we receive from the RCO.
I would like to bring up, and this is similar as well, on 12-13, we have a support letter
again, 13 in support, we've changed down to six units, we agreed to that, the plans reflect
that we have revised site plan that shows again units and again this this property there there's
basically nothing around it except for a couple other multi-family structures
it's got a long history back to 1952 as a multi-family structure so
you know surrounding it is basically vacant properties and again we have a similar type
type development of bi-level units on the lower level in the first floor and then in second and
third floors we have two one-bedroom units each they're slightly different floor plans but similar
I would like to bring up my client Mr. Nidovich
afternoon mr naidovich when you get on would you please spell your full name and i'll swear you in
hello hi mr manadovich please spell your full name yes my name is eugene
E-U-G-E-N-E, last name is N-A-Y-D-O-V-I-C-H.
You swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Thank you.
Mr. Mariani.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Mariani, did you hear my comments about these properties?
Yes, I did.
Are they true and correct?
Yes, they are.
And have you agreed to the provisos or changes requested by the RCO?
Yes, we agreed to provisos and also one of the things that's not in there is they wanted a
better mix of one and two-bedging units, which is also something that we did as well
to get their support. And do you adopt my statements as your testimony?
I do. I have further questions for the witness. Thank you. Questions from the board? No.
no okay anyone else would like to testify in this case if so please raise your hand
and we have a reuben asia
i'm on for a different matter okay thank you anyone else would like to testify in this case
please raise your hand no more hands here thank you planning commission
good afternoon board my name is nicole ozdemir from planning commission staff n-i-c-o-l-e-o-z-d-e-m-i-r
do you swear and affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
I do. Thank you. Please proceed.
A comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing residential multifamily zoning at these locations.
There are documented histories of three-unit buildings at the properties from the 1950s.
There are two other multifamily structures on the block.
The three row homes on the west side of the block are all set back from the edge of the sidewalk to accommodate front porches.
There are no unusual conditions of this property that would prevent it from being used in conformance with the code for units with a front setback.
The applicant could build up to two additional units by right for a total of six units if the mixed income housing bonus was used.
Therefore, we recommend that the board deny the requested variances.
Anyone else? I think I already asked that.
Nothing from Gaultier's office.
all right uh no i did receive an email from um andrew goodman but only to point out that um that
Andrew Goodman, but only to point out that Centennial is actually the coordinating RCO, not Viola Street.
centennial
Thank you. MI 2020? I'm sorry.
I'm sorry. Just a recommendation that if you should vote to approve this, each property is with revised plans, one page.
And though it's reflected in the plans, you might also want to add a proviso saying maximum six units because it will then be shown on the permit as well.
I have that in my notes. Thank you. Thank you. MI 2021-001613, 1132 North 41st Street. My vote is yes with the provisos. Revised plan, one page approved today, maximum six units.
and MI 2021-001-615, 1213 North 41st Street, my vote is yes with provisos, maximum six units,
one page revised plan approved today. My vote is yes with provisos on both cases.
My vote is yes with provisos. My vote is no on both cases.
you um so somebody will have to read the um notes um i don't think so there were three to one
it's three to one it's three one we have a majority thank you mi 2021-001497
2309-13 north broad street there's a letter from the rco the uptown entertainment and
Development Corporation, and also a letter of support from Council President Darryl Clark.
I believe Ms. Dina Bleckman is the attorney of record.
David, are you here for Dina?
Good afternoon.
Yes, I'll be in place.
Thank you.
Please put your name and address on the record and spell your last name.
Thank you.
My name is David.
The last name is Guest, G-E-S-T.
I'm at 1735 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA1.
I'm 103 with Ballard Spar.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Do you also agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed the exhibit packet with the required documents consisting of proof of ownership, tax compliance, 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.
You may proceed.
Thank you very much.
Good afternoon, everyone.
As I mentioned, my name is David Guest.
I'm an attorney with Ballard Sparr.
I'm here on behalf of YouthBuild Philadelphia Charter School,
the equitable owner of the property, and the applicant.
Here with me today is Dina Blackman, my colleague,
who will actually be sharing some slides.
if you're able to give her permission to do that that would be great thank you
also with me here today from youth build philly our executive director scott emmerich and cfo
adesanya karate we also have the project architect at canulsion shade architects
that includes sam olshin and paul abazir as well as david horner with horner and cantor associates
um as was mentioned we've submitted all of our exhibits i won't go through them in detail i'll
reference them very briefly i'd like to just briefly go through the proposal and then we have
as i mentioned scott emmerich from youth build and sam olshin from the project architect available
to go into more detail as needed in brief let me yes we have the picture there so this is the
building located at 2309 north broad street this is a rendering of the proposed condition
the proposal is to reuse this building which has long been vacant formally historically used as
pico offices many years ago and as a few other uses over the years for use as a charter school
by youth build philadelphia youth build philly was actually founded back in 1991 now has a 30-year
track record of tremendous support for high school aged youth in Philadelphia who dedicate
hundreds of hours of community service in the area.
They would be moving from their existing rented space, which is currently located farther
down on Broad Street, and they're very excited to establish a permanent home in the area
and continue to serve the local community.
As I think you heard, I'm very happy to report that we've received very strong support from
the community for the proposal.
There are actually two coordinating RCOs for this project.
One is Uptown Entertainment and Development Corporation.
the other is the 37th ward rco we held a joint community meeting with them and we received full
The other is the 37th Ward RCO.
We held a joint community meeting.
support from them we also as you heard received a letter of support from council president clark's
office just to note that the rco letters of support are at exhibit 14 in the exhibit book
and the council president's letter came in a little bit after but you received that by email
So just very briefly, to elaborate on what you see here, the proposal is to reuse the
building as classrooms and offices to construct a small one-story addition on top of the existing
two stories, which you can see somewhat here.
It would be set back to allow for the use of the area above the second floor as a garden
terrace for students.
We've got a terrific architectural firm, as I mentioned, at Conulsion Shade working on
project which has lots of experience reusing older buildings and they can show you some more
details about that. Also mentioned that the property also fronts Watts Street at the rear
and that is a smaller back street that will accommodate the loading and trash pickup needs
of the school. The design as you can you'll be able to see accounts for this. Technically there
are three refusals generated even though the site is located on Broad Street it's actually zone CMX
2.5 so technically we have the educational use itself generates a refusal the use of the portion
of the roof area for this garden terrace for students generates a refusal and the fact that
we will not be providing parking on site generates a refusal the parking just to mention briefly of
course there's an existing building there there's no room to fit parking on site or below grade
but the good news is of course we're located on north broad street we're along the broad street
line we're close to septa regional rail multiple bus lines so we know that the vast majority
of students and faculty will be accessing the school via public transit and for your reference
we have a parking study at the end of the exhibit book that shows that when you have the public
transit access combined with a lot of on-street parking in the area there's more than enough to
accommodate the needs of the school. So, you know, there are lots of other schools, there are several
other schools in the immediate area, and we really feel that the proposed educational use will be of
great benefit to the community, as shown by the support we've received. We have Scott Emmerich
from YouthBuild, as well as Sam Olshan, as I mentioned, who can go into that in more detail.
I could have them each come up and just kind of run through for two or three minutes what the
proposed program is and the design if that would be acceptable to you yeah you can do that and it
could be i think brief unless the board has any specific questions we can move quickly thank you
okay thank you yeah i think scott and sam we can keep your your testimony extremely brief
and maybe scott if you're there and if i could see you on video
i don't know if scott's uh showing up as a panelist yeah can you hear me okay
oh there we go scott scott please spell your full name and i'll swear you in
sure first name scott last name emmerich e-m-e-r-i-c-k you swear for him to tell the
truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do thank you please um scott can you please just
just to confirm do you agree with my testimony as i've said it so far i do that is accurate
and you can adopt it as your own. Yes, I can. Thank you. So you can just, Dean, you can advance
the slides and Scott, you can just do a very, very quick overview of the school. Thank you.
Yeah, real briefly, young people are 18 to 20 years old. They previously left high school. They
come to us. One of the previous slides mentioned that we do a lot to focus on an environment of
love and support and respect for young people. We think that has a very positive impact in terms of