two percent emergent transfer rate at our volume that's maybe one transfer per year um and the
reality is most birth centers aren't transferring emergently you're you're filtering people out who
would need to be in that situation. Most people are transferring into the hospital from a birth
center for pain management, and we don't offer anesthesia at a birth center, so they transfer
into the hospital for that. The property is also near many major public transit lines. In addition
to on-site parking, we have a lot of clients who come to us who maybe don't have cars, who walk
within the neighborhood to our current office. We have a lot of people who walk to our group that
we offer weekly. So we plan to be low volume and therefore will not affect nearby traffic
or parking patterns. Like I mentioned before, all parking can be on site. So birth centers
in Pennsylvania are held to a very high standard and require yearly auditing and licensure to keep
our doors open. So this means our property will be kept in mint condition at all times. We have
to do that. We get audited twice per year in order to maintain our licensure. We also get
accreditation from the from a birth center organization that accredits birth centers
birth centers nationally that's located here in Pennsylvania. Birth centers are staffed by
nationally that's located here in Pennsylvania. Birth centers are staffed
licensed healthcare professionals. I mentioned certified nurse midwives who currently work in
the hospital setting or in birth center settings. We also would have nurses on staff, folks like
myself to do auxiliary care. And yeah, I mean, birth centers are statistically noted to be
just find safe options for people to give birth and to receive care. We can bill insurance. We
currently take all insurances, including Medicaid, state Medicaid. As far as community goes, we went
door-to-door to every near neighbor, and during our RCO meeting, we garnered a 92% support rate,
and like Julianne mentioned, we have the support from the local organization of Clifden,
which we've been developing a relationship with just to kind of learn more about the
historic nature of the property and to do our best to to preserve and maintain that
thank you very much okay thank thank you questions from the board no mr chairman no mr chairman
no mr chairman
questions or comments from the virtual audience
i see no hands at this time chair planning commission
Thank you, Chair. Ian Hegarty for the Philadelphia City Planning Commission. Board members, the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing RSA-2 single-family zoning at this location. However, this large building on a large lot has a record of prior uses, including a six-unit apartment house and an 11-room group residence. The proposed use is consistent with the building's prior legal uses and with its interior configuration, and so the City Planning Commission recommends that the board grant the variance.
Thank you. MI-2022-003-484-245 East Johnson Street, I vote yes.
Carlton Erie, my vote is yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
Thank you. Thank you, Counsel.
Thank you.
Is there anyone in the virtual audience whose case has not been called?
I see no hands.
Thanks, everyone.
See everyone at 2 o'clock.
Great.
Good job, everyone.
Thank you.
Good afternoon.
My name is Bill Bergman, and I will be chairing this afternoon's ZBA hearings.
With me is Carol Tenere our Vice Chair. Present Mr. Chairman. Thank you. Ishmael Shahid our Board
Secretary. Present Mr. Chairman. Thank you. Thomas Holloman our Board Member. Present Mr. Chairman.
And James Snell our Board Member. Present Mr. Chairman. Also here is our Board Attorney Hillary
Emerson and our ZVA Hearing Supervisor Lakeisha Dandy. Here's our virtual format. Proceedings
are being recorded by participating your knowledge agreement to be recorded. The video will be
available by contacting tonyasunkett at phillith.gov. For the benefit of our court stenographer,
we ask attorneys and witnesses to identify themselves before testifying. Three, if you
are participating by phone. If you wish to testify, press star nine to raise your hand and star six
to unmute. To enter an appearance statement, call 267-270-5548. Leave your email and the address
of the property question. And finally, the question answer box on the screen is not for
comments or statements. Any comments should be directed to our Executive Director, Tanya Sunkett.
Let's look at our continuances for this afternoon.
Number one, MI 2022, 004-589-1825 North Taney Street.
That case is continued.
Number four, MI-2022, 004-583-1730 North Taney Street, that case is continued.
Number eight on our list, MI-2022, 004-584-5824-26 North Broad Street, that case is continued.
Finally, number 13, MI 2022-004582-0045.
MI-2022, 004582, 1712 North Taney Street, that case is continued. Are there any comments
relative to those four cases?
I see no hands at this time, Chair.
Any additional requests for continuance?
i see no hands at this time chair thank you so we're going to go to our add-on case
mi 2021 002 920 3245 north 27th street i vote yes with provisos interior trash storage
and temporary variance expires 12-1-25.
Harold Tenere, my vote is yes with proviso.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes with provisos.
James Snell, my vote is yes with proviso.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes with proviso.
We're going to go to our regular list and we're going to start with number 12.
MI-2022-003-931-9101, Germantown Avenue.
David Guest is the attorney.
We have a letter of support from Chesson Hill Community Association,
letter of support from Chesson Hill Conservatory,
letter of support from Councilwoman Bass,
and also applicants provided letters from numerous parts of Cheston Hill and Neighbors.
David Guest is the attorney.
Good afternoon.
Yes, could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
Yes, David Guest, D-A-V-I-D-G-E-S-T.
Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Our vice chair has a few questions.
Mr. Guest, do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed proof of ownership, tax compliance, a copy of the refusal or referral,
photos under plans of this 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.
Okay, great.
You may proceed and begin sharing your screen.
Mr. Guest, my mistake, I should have mentioned this earlier.
could you identify your client the relationship to the property yes my client is the owner of
the property the wood mirror art museum thank you well great thank you um my colleague devin beverly
who needs to be added as a panelist will be sharing a brief presentation if you could please
find her devin beverly and we will also need to have uh william valerio teresa ball and mark
de monte as panelists why don't we start with your your assistant your your associate first
right sure absolutely can they please raise their hand to be promoted devin yeah devin if you can
i can i can start coming back in as a panelist now chair okay thank you
is she going to testify mr guest no she's just going to share
yeah um thank you okay perfect thanks so much oops um
so once again david guest i'm an attorney with ballard spar here on behalf of the woodmere art
museum the owner of 91 germantown avenue i have with me here the people i mentioned in addition
to jeff krieger from krieger and associates and darren damon from andro pogon i will provide you
with a brief overview of the project and the requested variances and then i would like to
just very briefly speak with our three witnesses to round out the presentation as you heard we
have widespread community support for the project which includes support from the coordinating rco
and from the council member if you could please go to the next slide
As many of you may know, Woodmere has successfully operated a highly regarded art museum in Chesa
Hill for over 100 years. In March of last year, Woodmere learned that the Sisters of St. Joseph
planned to... Sorry, could you just... Yep, stay on that slide. Thank you.
Thanks. That the Sisters of... Looks like we're having a few technical difficulties.
i'll just keep i know where you're we know where you're talking about yeah thank you um which is
located one block from woodmere's existing facility which you can see here and at the
prompting of neighbors who wish to save the approximately 150 year old building and grounds
woodmere did raise funds to acquire the property last year you can go to the next slide please
woodmere proposes to convert this former convent into a museum to be known as francis m mcguire
museum to be known as Francis M. Maguire Hall that will make available to the public the
hall that will make available to the public the collection strength
collection's strengths in 20th century art, which include American Impressionism and Modernism
as they evolved in Philadelphia specifically, enabling Woodmere to exhibit great masterpieces
that currently remain inaccessible and in storage.
The renovated building will include a small addition housing a cafe, restaurant, as well
as a small detached auditorium for lectures and screenings, and a children's play area,
all accessory to the main museum use and here you can just see a little bit of
imagery related to that although the existing building has been on the
property for well over a hundred years because the property is located in an
RSD 3 zoning district the proposal technically generates the need for three
variances one is for the museum use also known as libraries and cultural
exhibits two is for multiple buildings on the same lot meaning the museum use
and the small auditorium and if you could go to the next slide please the
The third variance involves the small addition at the rear of the building for the cafe restaurant,
which will disturb a small human-made area of steep slopes, which generates a variance
for steep slope disturbance.
Our exhibits filed with the board include all the required information, such as the
tech clearance certificate, deed, and photographs of the property.
There's also a lot of detailed information justifying the need for the variances, including
affidavits from the project architect and project engineer, which you can see at exhibits
six and seven most significantly i'm happy to report as you've heard that we've had this
widespread community support there's been a very robust community engagement process for over a
year which has included seven public meetings which are listed in exhibit 11 and many additional
conversations with near neighbors regarding the proposal as well as many articles about
the project in the chestnut hill local which you can see listed in exhibit 36. so in addition to
the coordinating rco and the council office you heard we have support from the concert chestnut
conservancy friends of the whistahickon and many others including many near neighbors and you can
look at exhibits 13 through 22 for that information i want to note specifically that during the
community engagement process we negotiated a list of specific parameters that limit the scope of the
accessory restaurant use which woodmere has agreed to and which are listed for the record in exhibit
12. to document our record for the appeal and the variances we'd like to have the three experts i
mentioned speak to introduce their testimony i'd like to very quickly go through a few facts about
the property the property comprises one entire block bounded by germantown avenue hampton road
green tree road and sunset avenue the property is very unique for philadelphia and distinct from
most other properties in chestnut hill due to its size location and topography and notably the
existing building on the property which will be converted to museum use since around 1850 the
property has contained this approximately 10,000 square foot mansion, eventually
occupied by a convent. The existing building was constructed well before
the Philadelphia zoning code and the establishment of the current zoning on
the property. Very significantly, the building itself is located approximately
169 feet from Germantown Avenue, 173 feet from Hampton Road, 108 feet from
Greentree Road, and 100 feet from Sunset Avenue. In other words, all of the work
is really going to be located toward the center of the property. And Woodmere
has worked diligently in consultation with the neighbors to include robust landscape buffers
around the proposed use so as i've said the property is uniquely situated and specifically
there's a wide variety of landscaping mature trees and moderate to steep slopes and due to the size
shape topography and steep slopes of the property combined with the vast size of the existing
building strict compliance with the requirements of the zoning code would cause an unnecessary
hardship so consequently the project meets all the variance criteria including but not limited to
As you will hear from the project architect, the applicant has worked hard to make the
minimum changes to the property and the minimum adjustments from the zoning code required
to allow the property to be converted to museum use.
As you'll hear from the project engineer, the applicant has worked to minimize the minor
amount of steep slope disturbance and will overall actually improve the stormwater management
system for the property and ultimately the granting of the variances will be a great
benefit to the community by creating a new publicly accessible asset in the form of a
museum and will preserve a historic building and its grounds that's the conclusion of my portion
of the presentation if you would allow me i'd like to just very briefly have the three people
i mentioned come up introduce themselves adopt my testimony and answer a couple of very brief
questions yeah that's fine thanks very much so first it would be uh bill valerio the executive
director of woodmere sir could you please state your name
i'll mute yourself first state your name and spell for the court reporter
i just want to make sure uh mark i see in um i'm not seeing mr valerian have mark there you have
mark yes please unmute yourself and wait for the chair
Mr. DeMonte, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
So we could, if you'd like, we could start with Mr. DeMonte and then we can...
Sure, sure. Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
Sure. Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Mark DeMonte, M-A-R-K-D-I-M-O-N-T-E.
Right. Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Okay. Proceed, counsel.
Great. Thank you. And I'll just say I got a phone call just now from Mr. Valerio. So, Devin, if you could please reach out to him or Ann, I think others are, he might be trying to get on. So, but I'll call.
Why don't we handle that?
Sure. I'll proceed with Mr. DeMonte. Yeah. Thanks very much. Mark, your CV is listed at Exhibit 29. I'd like to introduce you as an expert in civil engineering. If you could please very briefly describe your relationship to this project and your professional background.
Sure, absolutely.