does make it quite challenging.
However, again, providing for an adaptive reuse.
Additionally, it's got a location close to a lot of transit,
which is beneficial from a residential perspective.
And again, most of this area, as you can see,
even is struggling with just single-family home, multifamily uses, but that's mostly what the area
is zoned for. We met with, let's see, we met with APM. This goes into more detail about, you know,
the city's plan, both Riverward's plan and the Lower North District plan, both kind of stating
that there should be allowances in consideration for industrial conversions. I also did see an
article the other day that Philadelphia is outpaced almost every other city for preserving
industrial buildings with an adaptive reuse. So I thought that was a nice note given some of the
other stuff Philadelphia gets slammed for. Additionally, like I said, it's surrounded
by all residential and a large vacant city-owned lot. And more photos of the building and the
zoning posters that we have. See, as you can see, Chairman, part of the building is different in
size. Yep. And as you can see, it's fallen into quite disrepair over the years of not having a
use in it. The refusal we got for parking, we'd have to demo part of the structure to be able to
provide additional parking. We are utilizing the space that we have in the building for 10
parking spaces, so we are providing parking, but we would have to demolish portions of the structure
to be able to fit 30-some-odd parking spaces. We met with APM back on the 16th. Oh, no,
that's today's date. We met with APM back on the 3rd of November. We submitted the letters and
certification of the letters to the near neighbors. There were 79 letters sent out, and we have a
letter of support from APM. They were really happy about us
rehabilitating the structure. They also liked that we were doing
multifamily, providing, you know, some screening related to
security and lighting for the property, as they had mentioned
that there was some concerns in the neighborhood about vacant
buildings and vacant land and not having lighting and people on
the street and eyes on the street. They also liked the idea
of the commercial space, but requested that we set aside some
space for community gatherings which we have incorporated into the revised plans um and you
know again we're really happy because this has been an eyesore um and we're supportive of the
project especially because it does provide workforce housing units that's just what this
developer does um but and is not obtaining any bonuses or anything to do that's just part of
their plan i'm going to um send it over to ray rola who's our architect just so he can go through
the plans as I'm not an architect. And I just want to make note that we did submit a proviso
plan form where we added south-facing elevation. We reduced the commercial space on the ground
level to add some room for the community space. We deleted the floor plans of the upper floor,
enlarged the floor plans, ground level, and additional detail that was requested of us
for parking loading in a trash room, and deleted some other things on the prior plans that were
not relevant. So we do have four pages of stamp plans submitted to the board with this proviso.
What's your architect's name? Ray Rolla.
Mr. Rolla, please unmute yourself and wait. He's coming back in as a panelist here.
Fine, that's fine. Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
Ray, are you able to unmute yourself?
Ray, are you able to unmute?
Yes, now I did.
Hi, could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
Raymond Rola, R-O-L-A.
Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed, counsel.
ray are you able to share your screen or would you like me to do so just to go through the plans
um uh yeah why don't you you share your screen and i'll go through it okay
make sure okay the board see that
yes okay i also want to point out for uh member holloman board member holloman that there is
no basement that we're using as well thank you council that should be a benefit absolutely
so ray uh can you see my screen i have the elevations up and the site plan um yes i can
see uh z1 which you have on your screen and z1 is the site plan that basically identifies the
different parts of the building uh there are basically two main parts uh it was actually
probably added to at some point but there there's a four-story portion that is only it's four
stories because we deleted part of a floor to make bi-levels it was five stories and then there's the
the true high ceiling five-story portion that wraps around it um and then there's a two-story
portion over here and you can see there's three uh overhead doors in the back underneath the
L. And one of them is for trash storage. Trash storage is inside and you'll see that on the
next sheet. And yeah, you can go to the next sheet then. So we have a loading zone that's
also used for trash pickup and a trash room that is accessible from every floor. We'll
have a trash room that will bring the trash down to the lower level and then taking out
commercial trash pickup. We have parking. There's two overhead doors kind of on each end and we
split it up with four parking spaces on one side and five on the other with the ADA accessible
parking as required by the code. We also have a bicycle storage that you can see here. There's an
elevator located here basically the main entrance is off of eighth street there is a ada ramp as
well as stairs that kind of brings you into a porch which was a loading dock at one point
off of eighth street so it makes a nice entrance we'll be redoing the canopy there there's a large
lobby space with a with mail room and a wide corridor that leads to a community room
and also a commercial space that's sort of in the middle of the plan.
And the rest is really just notes we had to make to comply with the streets department
turning radiuses. And that's basically it. I also just want to briefly mention for the board and for
the planning commission that we are including commercial space. So we're not trying to get
way from trying to request the minimum variances necessary. We are trying to incorporate some of
the uses required by the base zoning by providing a commercial space as best we can. Do you want
to have your testimony adopted, counsel? Yes. Is there a Judah Angster on the call?
If not, chairman. You're an officer of the court. We will take your testimony.
Yeah, he has his hand raised.
Hello.
Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
My name is Judah Engster, spelled Y-E-H-U-D-A, last name Engster, A-N-G-S-T-E-R.
Right.
Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
You see, counsel?
Thank you.
Judah, have you heard my testimony today?
Do you believe it to be true and accurate, and do you adopt it as your own?
thank you happy to answer any questions chairman well one quick one rachel what's the history of
the place i believe it was used i have it's written down i believe it was used for um
industrial and so it was a last permitted for warehouse and storage but the last
permit we had on it was from 2004 okay in bacon since at least 2004. okay all right all right
questions from the board no mr chairman all right questions or comments from the virtual audience
can't remember I see no hands hi planning commission please
Okay, I see no hands.
Hi, Planning Commission, please.
Thank you, Mr. Bergman and members of the Board, David Fechto, City Planning Commission.
The Comprehensive Plan recommends a change in the zoning of this property from industrial commercial mixed use to commercial mixed use 3.
Under that zoning, the residential and commercial units would be allowed by right.
The City Planning Commission recommends that the Board grant the use and parking variances.
Thank you.
MI-2022-003-934-1422-30 North A Street.
I vote yes.
Chairman with Proviso for a stamp.
I'm sorry.
My mistake.
Carol Tenere.
Report Proviso, revised plan, four pages,
stamped by CBA on November 16, 2022.
to. Harold Tenere, my vote is yes with Proviso. Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes with Proviso.
James Snell, my vote is yes with Proviso. Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Thank you, counsel. Hey everybody, let's take a five-minute break, give our court reporter a
chance to regroup, and then we'll be back and we only have a few left, okay?
Mr. Chair, can we just, I think that was the end of the two o'clock list, can we just make
sure there's no outstanding. Is there anyone still in the audience whose case has not been called
for the 2 p.m. list? I see no hands. Hold on. Thank you. Diane Monroe has her hand up. Okay.
Ms. Monroe, you can unmute yourself or wait for the chair.
Hi, Ms. Monroe. Could you state your name and spell for the court report, please?
diane monroe right uh d-i-a-n-e monroe m-o-n-r-o-e i could have fallen asleep
on this since two o'clock it's 11 28 well listen wait a minute do you swear for him to tell the
truth the whole truth is nothing but the truth hello you can unmute yourself miss monroe
okay yes i did in what case were you interested in 1128 mount vernon street i must have went to
sleep i'm i'm sorry about that we uh we uh that case is over oh god lord was it approved uh it
was approved with a temporary variance oh wow i fell asleep i've been there i'm sorry
I'm very sorry
about that, Ms. Munro.
All right.
See everybody in five minutes.
Oh, my God.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
We can show you how we doing.
Court Repelter, are you back?
Yes, ma'am.
I'm back.
Thank you for the break.
LaKeisha, are we ready?
Yes, Chair.
Start recording, please.
And we're recording.
Yes, sir.
We're all ready to go.
Good afternoon.
My name is Bill Bergman, and I will be chairing this afternoon's 3.30 ZBA hearings.
With me is Carol Tenere, our Vice Chair. She's here. Ismael Shahid, our Board Secretary.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Thomas Holliman, our Board Member.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
And James Snell, our Board Member.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you. Also here is our Board Attorney, Hillary Emerson, and our ZBA Hearing Supervisor, Lakeisha Gandy.
Before we begin, be advised the proceedings are being recorded.
By participating, you acknowledge your agreement to be recorded.
A video will be available by contacting TonyaSunkett at phil.gov.
For the benefit of our court stenographer, we ask attorneys and witnesses to identify themselves before testifying.
If you are participating by phone, if you wish to testify, press star 9 to raise your hand and star 6 to unmute.
to enter an appearance statement call 267-270-5548 leave your email and the address of the property
in question and finally comments are not to be made to the question answer screen on the on the
on the to the box on the screen all comments should be directed to our executive director
Tanya Sunkett. Let's take a look at our continuances for this afternoon. Number one,
MI 2022-003-546-30 Quinn Street. That case is continued. Number eight, MI 2021-003-593-4829
Longshore Avenue. That case is also continued. Is there anyone who has a question about those
two particular cases? I see no hands, Chair. Are there any other requests for continuances?
Chair, we have Joseph Consul with his hand up. Okay. Mr. Consul, please unmute yourself or wait
for the chair. Mr. Consul, could you just state your name and spell for the court reporter?
Yes, I'm Joe Consul.
That's J-O-S-E-P-H-C-O-N-S-O-L-E.
Right.
Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Mr. Consul, are you talking about 504 North Pleasant Place?
I am, sir.