odd shape that we've got and just jumping to the variants obviously we have a hardship here it's
and just jumping to the
a large oddly shaped parcel but primarily this neighborhood is changing into one of more
of residential nature and you know while it's zoned cmx2 along with the addition the adjacent
properties the commercial corridor is really in a dilapidated state and really cannot support
any commercial activity. Therefore, the additional density is needed to increase the commercial
demand. And to be honest, if we did not have the additional density, we would be here for
a different variance, which would be asking for purely residential with no commercial on the
first floor. This was actually a key point of the RCO was that they need additional density
in and around this block in this area because the commercial properties are failing in that
neighborhood. This is the least minimum variance test passes it. Again, we need the increased
density to support the commercial space. The layout of the building is in context with the
neighborhood. The height is by right. All open space and dimensional variances are by right.
and these are all one bedrooms and at this time you know I have a owner's rep here that will
testify to this as well the larger units are simply not in demand and so if we were to shrink
the number of units we would be putting in product that just simply isn't in demand in this
area and lastly we obviously a huge benefit to the neighborhood is cleaning up this long-standing
vacant lot and getting rid of this recessed auto use the RCO was was very pleased with both of those
there will be additional lighting for pedestrian walking and our property will go right up to the
to the street street frontage to activate the commercial space and you know this of course
is right off major transit from Broad Street and will not adversely impact the neighborhood
in any way. With that, I would ask to introduce our expert architect, Agata Reister, and
Ori Feibusch as the owner's rep here on behalf of the owner.
um let me ask this before do any questions from the board that we would require uh uh answers
from the architect no no no no we can skip over that unless you need that for your
testimony mr whale and go right to the owner's rep uh i would just have uh the architect then
put her name in and she can adopt my testimony. That'll work, thank you.
Ms. Reister, are you on?
Yes, good morning. Good morning. Ma'am, please identify yourself with a record name and address,
spell your name uh agatha reister landmark architectural design the address is 1325
snyder avenue philadelphia pa 19148 and would you spell your name please for the stenographer
a g a t a last name r e i s t e r thank you swear and affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and
nothing but the truth i do please proceed miss reister you've been introduced as our expert
architect on behalf of this property is that correct that is correct thank you and did you
hear all the testimony i provided already um yes and would you agree that in uh it is true and
correct to the best of your knowledge and opinion uh yes i would and would you adopt it as your own
yes thank you very much miss reister that's all i have thank you
Ms. Sunkit, if you could promote Ori Fybush.
Hey, good morning, Ori Fybush here.
You're on mute, Chairman.
Thank you. Good morning, Mr. Feibusch. Please identify yourself, name and address for the
record. Sure. Ori Feibusch, OCF Realty, 1936 Washington Avenue, Philadelphia, PA.
Do you swear and affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Do you swear and affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Please proceed. Thank you.
All right. Mr. Fybush, you're here on behalf of the owners, the owner's rep.
Did you hear all the testimony that I provided so far?
I did, yes.
And is it true and correct to the best of your knowledge and opinion?
It is, yes.
And would you adopt it as your own?
I would, yes.
Thank you. And do you have anything further?
No, I'm just excited as a neighbor to hopefully convert part of what has been a very difficult
and blighted block into something that is more attractive and pedestrian friendly.
Thank you very much.
Of course, if the board has any questions for either Ms. Reister or Mr. Feibusch, I offer
them up to you.
Otherwise, we would rest our case.
Questions from the board?
anyone else wish to testify in this case if so please raise your hand
no hands thank you planning commission good morning David Fechtow City Planning
commission mr chairman and members of the board this property is indicated for residential
multi-family use in the city's comprehensive plan this property was created from a larger
parcel with a plan to erect multi-family town homes in a previous application since then
nothing about the parcel has changed we believe that 42 units is an overuse on a block that has
significant traffic traffic concerns caused by the neighboring medical facility accordingly we
recommend against this variance mi-2020-000862 my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes
my vote is yes my vote is yes
calendar number mi 2020 000 805 you're welcome 2137-39 east somerset street
that's the gestion that dog is burping
Everyone for East Somerset.
the attorney is brett feldman thanks sharon
happy i need your help again for some reason it's not working for me no problem who am i unmuting
Brett Feldman. Brett Feldman you are promoted to a panelist. Thank you.
Mr. Feldman can you put your name and address on the record please? Sure.
Sure. Members of the board, Mr. Chairman, City Planning Commission, Brett Feldman, 1835 Market Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19103.
And I represent the applicant and property owner, Peter Crawford, something Somerset, LLC.
Okay. 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?
i do have you emailed your exhibit packet with proof of ownership tax compliance refusal referral
photos 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 we've submitted all the required exhibits uh including the um letter of
support from the somerset neighbors for better living um as well thank you you may proceed
Great. And if I can share my screen?
can everyone see my screen now with the uh exhibit title page
yes yes okay great uh again brett feldman uh i am the attorney on this matter uh you'll see in
front of you the list of exhibits uh one through nine um which i'd ask be incorporated into the
record. This is an application for a five-unit multifamily building, and we have our deed tax
clearance certificate, OPA printout. So let me just get right through this here.
Deed, tax certificate, OPA printout. Probably most important on this, the reason why we attach this
The property is known single-family, but this is a unique property in that it's almost 4,000 square feet, and it's 54 feet on Somerset by 74.
So this is actually almost like a triple-wide lot, which is why we have the application.
Here's the water department printout, which you'll see how large this lot is, 54 by 74.
And as part of the story, which I'll get to, is we're right up against a large PECO substation.
So even though this is zoned residential, almost all around it is industrial or actually heavy industrial scrap metal plants, car lots, a PECO substation.
So here again, this is our lot here.
It's actually these two lots here.
but IRMX, IRMX, Industrial, I2, ICMX, ICMX, and I'll show you these pictures itself.
This was a kind of nice exhibit that our project architects from Alma Architecture, Matthew Huffman, prepared.
Again, showing our property and showing the scrap metal plant, the PICO substation.
This is us right here.
I use car a lot right behind us.
And then the projects that have been approved, as I'll show you, are actually are multifamily around here.
So, again, our property, the PICO substation, the salvage yard, the scrap metal plant,
and these are some large multifamily 140-unit, 60-unit projects that I believe that this board had previously approved.
Here's the car lot right behind us, the substation.
here's the lot itself uh it is a large lot 4 000 square feet 54 by 75 right up against the pico
substation and then as you go in this direction it's a combination of um single family and duplexes
um going going in that direction here and then as you go in this direction this way
you'll see the heavy industrial again here's the property vacant lot
this is the strong letter of support from the community group we met with them twice
we met with the first time they wanted to meet further so we met again and you'll see the strong
expression of support 18 and support for opposed and it was really again here's the rest of the
the tally a positive discussion the main refusal as i mentioned is multi-family in the rsa 5 lot
we have revised plans but let me just get to the let me just get to the plans themselves
as revised this is the property it's a three-story multifamily building two units on the first floor
two units on the second floor one unit on the third floor with three parking spaces
along the side here parking really isn't an issue in this neighborhood but but we thought it made
sense to provide an additional buffer from the PICO substation that is right
here on my cursor. Here's the floor plans. These are good-sized units, 600, 800, 900,
1,000 type square feet. And then I think what probably shows this the best is this
is a photo rendering that we did showing our building in context, which is
similar to all the three-story over here. We designed ours to match up at the two-story here
as far as at the second level, and then the Pico substation here, and this would be our parking
field over here. Let me just show you a couple different directions what this would look like.
Again, that's a good view of what it would look like. Traditional brick along the first two floors
to match in with the two-story here, and then a mansard roof on the third floor set back
to show the distinction.
Again, that's what it looks like, that's what it would look like.
that's what it looks like, that's what it would look like, and we met with the civic
group twice. Here is our community notice and proof of mailing. With that, I'd like
to turn to the property owner, Mr. Crawford, if I may have him unmuted. Peter, are you
available uh yes i'm here brett okay please identify yourself with the net record name and
address spell your name for the stenographer uh yes peter crawford p-e-t-e-r-c-r-a-w-f-o-r-d
at 1639 north hancock street suite 307 philadelphia pa 19122 and you're you swear
to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes i do please proceed
uh and uh peter you're the owner of the property yes my entity something somerset llc is the owner
of the property okay and i talked about uh i just wanted you to to adopt this but um that this
property is unique and that it's 4 000 square feet 54 by 74 um and when you were looking at this
um you came to the conclusion that what made the most sense because of the unique size of the
property because of it being located right up along the pico substation and all the other
industrial uses along there that as a buffer this made sense as as multifamily correct yes that is
correct okay um and you heard you heard the rest of my testimony talking about uh the way it was
designed in order to be sympathetic and kind of a a bookend to the three-story at the other end of
blocks correct yes i did uh and and was that uh testimony that he provided true and accurate
uh yes and do you adopt it as your own i do thank you okay uh we also have a project architect
matthew huffman i don't know if it's necessary for him to um but let me ask the board if anyone
has any questions regarding to regarding the architectural issue any architectural issues
Great.
And I would just say, when we looked at this, you know, if this was a multifamily, it would yield, I think, nine or ten units.
We have five here.
In all the respects, we're fully code compliant.
Significant open area in the rear, well below what the code would require in terms of coverage, open area, and all those items.
So we thought, and the community group, after our two meetings, agreed that this was an appropriate application for this area, for this unique property in the context of the surroundings.
Excuse me, Brett.
Don't forget the minor change in our plan with the bay window.
Correct, correct.
And I did submit to the board, and we do have revised plans.
We had added a bay window at the third floor that we showed the community group, and there
is a revised plan and a change of proviso form that we have that we passed out and we
submitted.
I don't know if mechanics, but we would ask that that be approved as well, and we did
show that to the community group.
Is that just one page?
Correct.
Thank you.
any questions from the board no no no anyone else who wishes to testify in this case please raise
your hand no no hand thank you planning commission good morning city planning commission david
Mr. Chairman and members of the board, this property is indicated for residential single-family use in the city's comprehensive plan.
This is a primarily single-family block with two- and three-story homes.
The zoning maps for this neighborhood changed in 2017 to reflect the neighborhood association's preferences.
At times, those preferences can change, and evidently here they have.
So accordingly, we have no objection to granting this variance.
very much mi-2020-000805 my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes
my vote is yes we were just asked that that be as per the revised excuse excuse me yeah i left
that out my mistake i'll do that again mi-2020-000805 my vote is yes with the proviso revised plan
one page approved today yes with proviso yes for proviso yes with proviso
yes with proviso yes for proviso yes with proviso yes with proviso as always thank you for your time
and consideration thank you all the best calendar number mi 2020 000 264 2222 north 17th street
the attorney is Sean Ward he's Mr. Ward let's see okay
Mr. Ward, you've been promoted to panelists. You can share your screen as you need to.
Mr. Chairman, good morning. I had submitted a continuance request on this matter because we
have not yet met with the RCO. I apologize. Okay, so granted, does anyone have any issue
regarding the request for a continuance? If so, please raise your hand.
This is Sharon Svaleta. We did receive the request. I apologize, Sean.
yes i have the request from the um rco as well as from mr ward okay no problem then
mi-2020-000264 2222 north 17th street is continued thank you very much have a great day