ZBA Hearing - September 30, 2020

and the rear elevation on page 15. The floor plans are on pages 16, 17, and 18. Again,

the first floor is commercial as required under CMX 2.5 zoning and you see the entrance to the

commercial space with the entrance to the apartments. Each of the floors has two apartments,

one in the front and one in the rear. Here's the third floor and then the staircase here to the

deck so there's a roof deck uh for each of the apartments on the third floor

if you're on the second floor you don't get a deck um the uh we met with the rco there were about 25

members who participated in a virtual meeting and it was a unanimous vote of nine members

in support of a variance. The variance is for the, from this point on Main Street from actually

one building further, one building to the south would be 4326. From 4326 going north up to Green

Lane, all of the properties consume the entire lot because the lots are shallow. They go from

main street to the canal so what is proposed is rebuilding in the same footprint as the building

that was demolished a few years ago the building was unsafe so there the maximum occupied area is

not satisfied in the rear yard depth is not satisfied but those are conditions that were

never compliant and are not continued not be compliant along this section of main street

And it's a topographic condition where the, not topographic, it's a lot configuration issue, which imposes a hardship on the property.

Let me introduce Steve Osheski.

Mr. Osheski, would you give your name and address?

Spell your last name, please.

Steve Osheski, O-L-S-Z-E-W-S-K-I.

Address is 4127 Main Street.

and are you one of the managing partners of Baker Street partners yes did you hear my testimony yes

you accepted and adopted as your own yes and is it truthful yes I was going to swear him in but

we'll take your word for it uh questions from the board

no no

anyone else wish to testify in this case if so please raise your hand

no hands thank you tanya planning commission

good afternoon this is dave munson with the city planning commission this property is indicated

for commercial mixed use on the comprehensive plan. We feel that this use does not pose any

negative impacts on to the surrounding area. Accordingly, we have no objection to the granting

of the variants at this location. MI-2020-001154-4328 Main Street. My vote is yes.

My vote is yes. My vote is yes. My vote is yes. My vote is yes.

good luck thank you thank you thank you may be excused yes you may have a good day stay safe

all right calendar number mi 2020 000 285 2210 east allegheny avenue

Attorney Sean Wellen, you've been promoted to panelists.

Sean, can you put your name and address on the record, please?

Certainly.

Thank you.

Sean, S-E-A-N, last name Wellen, W-H-A-L-E-N, address is 6 Coulter, C-O-U-E-E-R Avenue.

Address is 6 Coulter, C-O-U-E-E-R, Avenue, Suite 1000, Ardmore, PA, 19003.

Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?

I do.

Do you also agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?

I will with one caveat.

Somehow it got listed as 2210 East Allegheny.

The property address and all the underlying documents are 2202-2214, East Allegheny.

I'm not sure where that 2210 came from, but I went back and checked.

Everything else says the correct address of 2202-2214.

Have you emailed an exhibit packet with proof of ownership, tax compliance,

refusal referral photos and plans of the property five days in advance of this

hearing and have you met with the RCO and have a letter yes to everything okay

thanks you may proceed all right if it may please the board I will skip with

the pleasantries given the late hour and the bedraggled nature of myself let

alone anyone else on this list much appreciated all of the all of the

required documents were provided in the exhibit package I'm happy to answer

questions that the board might have with regard to those i actually have a fairly simple case for

you today um a very large 110 000 square foot uh property is what we're talking about today

here you go 2202 to 2214 East Allegheny it is this you know sorry for my artwork I'm not very good

it is the entirety of this block going all the way up off of East Allegheny which is right here

and across from a bus depot for the school district going and abutting the train tracks there

It is in an IRMX district and let's see, you can see here's some of the photos of the property.

Right now the property is vacant although it's been a long-standing parking lot and has been

for decades. The proposal today is actually just a change of use requested by L&I. It only requires

a special exception it does not require variance relief. So what you have is this is the property

right here you can see going right up to the train tracks. The overgrowth has been cleaned up

and some of the site has been better maintained. So this is the bus depot right across the street

and I'll just go back up to the overall property so you can see that so this property has long

used as a parking lot the owner actually is a modular manufacturer as well as a developer so

what you're seeing here are two pictures of what modular building units look like they're

manufactured primarily at his factory here in PA, and then they're put on these truck

trailers and delivered.

We previously, to COVID happening, used this site to store these truck trailers for them

to be used at other developments in and around the city.

You may have seen, this is VVC Construction, they've done two of the major developments

at 42nd and Chestnut.

So, we were using this in this fashion, and then last year, L&I came out to us and said,

you know, do you have a use for this?

We said, well, the whole property is zoned as a parking lot.

They said, well, does that work?

We said it was sufficient.

They then asked us to just do what they called a more appropriate use, although they didn't

issue a violation or find that the parking lot use was not really appropriate.

They just asked us to submit this application for a equipment and material storage use because these were being parked here for the short term for use off-site.

We went before the RCO and for a number of non-zoning reasons, the RCO voted us down.

Here's a copy of the RCO letter from the Harrowgate Civic Association.

we got voted down 17 to 1. Essentially, the near neighbors raised some very legitimate concerns,

which are on us and the client. It has not been properly maintained, and as you can see, was over

It has not been properly maintained, and as you could see, was overgrown.

That was all changed.

Basically, it hasn't been used because of the development slowdown during COVID,

although it will be used going forward.

Somehow, it slipped off of the property management list and landscaping list

that the client maintains and has its people go around to.

That has been rectified, so that will no longer be an issue.

and essentially the neighbors didn't like the use even though it's a permitted use and this is only

seeking a special exception to show that it's not more burdensome than any other similarly situated

use. The RCO and the near neighbors thought that this attracted homeless people. They wanted the

entire site redeveloped and not just cleaned up and maintained. We are actually proposing today

ironically, a short-term use as equipment and material storage because we have already presented

L&I with a development proposal and application to redevelop the entire site as a mixed-use

development, which is what the neighborhood ultimately wanted anyway. We provided the CDR

package to Ryan Keller at Harrowgate Civic Association. That is going to proceed in the

ordinary course before L&I, but again at L&I's behest, they asked us to proceed and get this

change in use. So we are going forward even though it's just in the short term while we're

waiting with that pending application. So what you'll see in the way that we will take care of

this is obviously with trailers like this, that's a lot of monetary value sitting on a trailer,

and they need to be in pristine condition when they get carted over to whatever development site

is being built in Philadelphia. Accordingly, when this starts getting used again, the site will be

very much more cleaned up than it is even now, and there will be 24-hour security. All of the

gates and locks will be fixed so that no vagrants or any other trespassers can access the property.

Again, there will be 24-hour security.

The site will be active and well-maintained and cleaned regularly.

And again, this is just for a short-term use for special exception, not a variance.

With that, I will happily answer any questions that the board may have that I obviously was going quickly through.

Otherwise, I will introduce my clients and be done.

Let's introduce your clients.

all right thank you uh bill mcgrority are you on

and michael pisarczyk please raise your hand as well gentlemen when you come on would you

please identify yourselves name and address spell your names for the record

my name is michael pisarczyk m-i-c-h-a-e-l last name spelled p-e-s-a-r-c-h-i-k

We're in a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

I am.

Thank you, Michael.

And you're here as an employee of the developer and VBC companies, correct?

That is correct.

And did you hear all the testimony I presented today?

I did.

And would you agree that it was true and correct to the best of your knowledge and belief?

I do.

And would you adopt it as your own?

I will.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

and mr mcgrority are you on yes i am it's uh william mcgrority it's mc capital g r o a r t y

address is 6128 ridge avenue square and firmly tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but

the truth i do and mr mcgrority you are here on behalf of the owner today that is correct

and you heard all of the testimony that i presented i did and would you swear and affirm

that it was true and correct to the best of your knowledge and belief yes and would you adopt that

as your own testimony yes i would thank you very much uh members of the board i i present myself

and uh mr smogority and this our chick for your questioning thank you questions from the board

No. No. Planning Commission. This is Dave Munson with the Planning Commission. This

property is listed for industrial residential mixed use on the

comprehensive plan. We feel that this use does not pose any negative impacts to

the surrounding area. Accordingly we have no objection to the granting of the

exception at this location. Thank you Dave. MI-2020-000

thank you dave uh mi-2020-000285 220-14 east allegheny avenue my vote is yes

my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes

sorry did you say two two i i put on what the uh mr whalen said that there was a mistake

uh property runs from 2202 to 14 that's correct it doesn't matter we have to stick to what we

have okay okay this is sharon i don't think there's any concern since it falls within that

range within the the same boundaries right yes okay and just to be clear that is the uh the

correct address is on the notice of referral for special exception okay well why don't we

just let me do it i'll do it over again mi-22 excuse me mi-2020-000285

2210 east allegheny avenue my vote is yes

my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes

okay thank you and to the stenographer we have two more cases you want to take a break now

We have two left?

Yes.

Okay, I'll try to hang for the two that's left.

Hopefully they're short.

Thank you, board members.

And then we'll take the break.

We'll be able to work the rest of the evening.

Thank you, likewise.

Okay.

Tanya?

Yes?

You about to say something?

No.

Oh, okay.

Thank you.

Carol?

Carol, you're muted.

it's the dog again i know calendar number mi 2020 001185 2215 east tioga street

rachel pritzker is the attorney

miss pritzker you have finally been promoted to a panelist thanks you're scary that you need to

yeah um rachel pritzker r-a-c-h-a-e-l p-r-i-t-z-k-e-r 1635 market street suite 1600

Philadelphia PA 19103. Thank you. Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but

the truth? Yes. Do you also agree to wait the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its

accuracy? Yes. And have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership, tax compliance,

refusal, referral, photos, and or plans of the property five days in advance of the hearing?

Have you also met with the RCO and have a letter? Yes. I'm sorry, court reporter, if I'm going too

quickly okay you may begin okay show my screen oh gosh yeah I know just okay

this is 3215 East Tioga we have the refusal which is for the proposals for

For the erection of a one-story and two-story addition of an existing structure, East Tioga

Street, for a lobby, tenant entrance, and amenity space to the first floor in the same

building with 35 multifamily units from the second floor through third floors with 14

Class A bicycle spaces and an accessible route.

And for the erection of one detached structure at the north end of the property with 12 dwelling

units for the creation of 17 parking spaces. This is a total of 47 dwelling units, all

which fit into the moderate income and workforce housing range. Property is zoned ICMX, and

we were refused for the multifamily use and for the landscaping, screening, and for the

rear yard depth. I'm going to have Scott Woodruff, our architect, present the

plans. I just want to bring note to the zoning maps. As you can see, this is a

corner we front on Tioga, Whitty Street, and Janney Street, and it's this large

ICMX property right on East Tioga. It's an existing warehouse that's been

vacant for quite some time so we're renovating the existing structure adding on a small one-story

addition for amenity space and a lobby and I believe an access ramp and then we're going to

have properties in the rear as well in addition to some landscaping and parking.

properties in the rear as well in addition to some landscaping and parking

as well which you'll see on the plans this is an aerial photo of the site it