COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA COMMITTEE ON RULES - - - Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Wednesday, October 17, 2007 10:20 a.m. - - - PRESENT: COUNCIL PRESIDENT ANNA C. VERNA, CHAIR COUNCILMAN DARRELL L. CLARKE COUNCILWOMAN JANNIE BLACKWELL COUNCILMAN WILLIAM GREENLEE COUNCILMAN JAMES F. KENNEY COUNCILMAN BRIAN J. O'NEILL COUNCILWOMAN BLONDELL REYNOLDS BROWN COUNCILWOMAN DONNA REED MILLER BILLS 070437, 070674, 070675, 070676, 070677 and 070678 - - - V A R A L L O Incorporated Litigation Support Services Eleven Penn Center 1835 Market Street, Suite 600 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103 215.561.2220 215.567.2670 2
Good morning, everyone. This is a public hearing of the Committee on Rules. I would ask Mr. McPherson to please read the title of Bill No. 070437. MR. McPHERSON: An ordinance to amend the Philadelphia Zoning Maps by changing the zoning designations of certain areas of land located within an area bounded by Grant Avenue, Frankford Avenue, Pearson Street and I-95 Expressway.
Good morning, Chairman Verna and members of the Rules Committee. I am William Kramer, Acting Division Director of the Development Planning Division of the Philadelphia City Planning Commission. I am here today to testify on Bill No. 070437, which was introduced by Councilmember Krajewski on May 24, 2007. This ordinance will remap a 3 10/17/07 - RULES - BILL 070437, ETC. large area of land in an established neighborhood from various zoning designations, including R-2, R-3, R-5 Residential, Recreational and IDD, Institutional Development District, to various zoning classifications, including R-1A, R-2, R-3 and R-5 Residential, Recreation and IDD, Institutional Development Districts. This is in the East Torresdale neighborhood and the remapping is located within an area bounded by Grant Avenue, Frankford Avenue, Pearson Street and the I-95 Expressway. The purpose of this bill is to discourage existing lots to be subdivided into lots that would technically meet the requirements of the Zoning Code, but would be out of character with the existing development patterns for the neighborhood. The City Planning Commission at its meeting of September 18, 2007 considered and approved Bill No. 070437. At the request of the Law 4 10/17/07 - RULES - BILL 070437, ETC. Department, I have amendments to two of the proposed maps to address some technical issues. I have copies of the maps for your consideration. This concludes my testimony. I appreciate the opportunity to appear before you today and would be pleased to answer any questions you may have.
Thank you, Mr. Kramer. Are the properties within the proposed area for rezoning currently being used for residential purposes?
The primary use in this entire area is residential. There is a large area of recreation that is Eden Hall Park, but the primary use in the neighborhood is residential. Almost all residential. The real change here was from R-5, which is a lot size of 22 foot, to R-2 in certain blocks. What was 23 going on is, there were developers 24 purchasing more than one lot, combining 25 them together and then subdividing it to 5 10/17/07 - RULES - BILL 070437, ETC. create what was considered one lot they'd be able to build five homes on. And the neighborhood came to us and asked us to look at it to take those classifications down to prohibit that from happening.
To your knowledge, has there been any community opposition to the proposed changes?
Exactly the opposite. I was personally at two meetings of the East Torresdale Civic Association and received numerous e-mails from different residents of the East Torresdale area asking questions about it and then subsequently supporting the decisions we made here.
Thank you. Are there any questions from members of the Committee? (No response.)
Any comments from members of the Committee? 6 10/17/07 - RULES - BILL 070437, ETC. (No response.)
Do we have anyone that would like to testify on this bill? (No response.)
Seeing no one, I would ask Mr. McPherson to please read the title of Bill No. 10 070674. MR. McPHERSON: Bill No. 12 070674, an ordinance amending Section 13 14-1600 of The Philadelphia Code, by adding a new section, entitled "30th Street Special Controls District," all under certain terms and conditions.
Mr. Kramer, before you testify, do we have copies of your testimony?
Yes, ma'am. Good morning, Madam President and members of 7 10/17/07 - RULES - BILL 070437, ETC. the Rules Committee. I am William Kramer, Acting Director of the Development Division of the Philadelphia City Planning Commission. I am here to testify on Bill No. 070674, as well as the other bills associated with this Cira South development, which were introduced by Councilmember Blackwell on September 20, 2007. These bills would allow for the development of the site located in the block bounded by 30th Street, Chestnut Street, Schuylkill Avenue and Walnut Street. Bill No. 070674 proposes adding a new section to the Zoning Code establishing a 30th Street Special Controls District. These controls will establish zoning controls for the area bounded by 30th Street, Chestnut Street, Schuylkill Avenue and Walnut Street. These controls would enable the site to be developed with two mixed-use towers containing modern office space, a hotel component and residential units, as well 8 10/17/07 - RULES - BILL 070437, ETC. as a parking garage. The project would also be used to relocate the IRS offices from their current site in the Northeast section of the City to the West Philadelphia section of the City, maintaining about 5,000 jobs in the City. As originally introduced, Bill 9 No. 070674 raised concerns at the Planning Commission due to the significant effect this bill would have on the incentive system provisions in the C-5 zoning classification. Therefore, with the cooperation of the developer and their legal representatives, an agreement has been reached, and we jointly offer an amendment to Bill No. 070674. This amendment establishes a set of criteria for bonus floor area for this project that retains the original base and maximum FAR in C-5 while outlining a menu of public benefits to be included in the project consistent with the original C-5 zoning designation. These public benefits provide for a public space at 9 10/17/07 - RULES - BILL 070437, ETC. grade, investment of lighting and sidewalks as part of the new streetscape surrounding the project, street-level retail use and environmental sustainability standards as a basis for granting the additional bonus floor area. The amendment allows for design review of the facade of the parking garage, and, in addition, the developer will put forth and promote the ideas contained in the Penn Connects plan and a Sasaki design concept for the streets and open space located between the Post Office and the 30th Street Station. This plan will create a framework for future public and private investment in public amenities, landscaping, lighting and paving for the area. Madam Chair, my testimony was originally intended to have all five bills at once. If you want, I can break it out.
No. 25 That's fine. Then we should have 10 10/17/07 - RULES - BILL 070437, ETC. Mr. McPherson read the other bills.
If that's the way we're going to do it. Mr. McPherson? MR. McPHERSON: Bill No. 8 070675, an ordinance authorizing Brandywine Cira South, LP, owner and developer for the Cira Center South, to construct, own and maintain various encroachments to be installed in conjunction with a mixed-use development, under certain terms and conditions. Bill No. 070676, an ordinance 16 establishing a no parking regulation on 30th Street between Market Street and Walnut Street. Bill No. 070677, an ordinance 20 to amend the Philadelphia Zoning Maps by changing the zoning designations of certain areas of land located within an area bounded by 30th Street, Chestnut Street, Schuylkill Avenue and Walnut Street. 11 10/17/07 - RULES - BILL 070437, ETC. Bill No. 070678, an ordinance 3 regulating the direction of movement of traffic on 30th Street between Market Street to Walnut Street.
Continuing, Bill 7 No. 070677 rezones this site from a designation of G-2 General Industrial to a designation of C-5 Commercial. Bill No. 070675 is a bill 11 allowing for encroachments on the public right-of-way, including rigid canopies onto the south footway of Chestnut Street and the east footway of 30th Street, an architectural entrance canopy east of 30th Street and a proposed sidewalk cafe at the southeast corner of 30th Street. Bill No. 070676 establishes a no parking regulation on the east side of 30th Street between Chestnut and Walnut Streets. Bill No. 070678 regulates traffic direction on 30th Street between Market Street and Walnut Street, permitting two-way traffic. Currently, 12 10/17/07 - RULES - BILL 070437, ETC. traffic direction is one way south. I have been advised that representatives of the Streets Department are here to testify on Bill Nos. 070675, 070676 and 070678. All of these bills are required pieces of legislation to facilitate the development of this very important site in West Philadelphia. These bills were considered and approved by the Philadelphia City Planning Commission at its meeting of October 16, 2007, with the condition that Bill No. 070674 be amended as agreed upon. This concludes my testimony. I appreciate the opportunity to appear before you on this important issue and would be pleased to answer any questions you may have.
It would be very nice if we had a copy of the proposed amendments so that we could review them. 13 10/17/07 - RULES - BILL 070437, ETC. Mr. Kramer, please explain what Subsection 4(a) of the new Code section 4 is attempting to do. Do the agreed-upon amendments clarify these proposals?
As originally constructed, Subsection 4 would have basically allowed the C-5 classification, additional gross floor area, to be simply added onto this development. That was what caused the Planning Commission staff a fair amount of concern. The amendments that have been proposed -- and we were working these out as late as yesterday, so pardon -- as a matter of fact, Mr. Beauvais brought them with him this morning. What we did is then changed the way that the area regulations were to be done so that the base FAR stayed the same, so that you would still be able to have C-5 as a 1,200 percent of the area of the lot be developed for floor area ratio, and subsequently amend the bill to allow you to gain additional floor area 14 10/17/07 - RULES - BILL 070437, ETC. ratio by providing a different set of criteria, by meeting what we're calling the incentive floor areas under No. 7 in the amended documentation, and some of those would include LEED certification; LEED certification at higher levels; providing a green roof; providing public access to that green roof; providing ground-level retail; providing community room or rooms; a transportation component because of the location of this development to central locations of public transit, 30th Street and the regional rail lines to name just one; provision of public open space and design criteria for streetscape, as well as others that the developer then has an opportunity to pick which ones up to eight he can gain that additional FAR, which would then allow this project, but it's not just giving that FAR for no 23 public benefit whatever. And that was the essence of what we were trying to get to in the amendment, and that has been 15 10/17/07 - RULES - BILL 070437, ETC. worked out and that's why the amendment is here.
Thank you. For the record, can you tell us what the total cost of the proposed development will be?
I do not have that figure with me. The representatives of the project are here and I'm sure they'd be able to answer that for you.
I'm sure they'll be very happy to testify. Any questions from the Committee of Mr. Kramer? The Chair recognizes Councilman Clarke.
I just have one other question. I'm sorry. I just have one other question. Are any of the properties 16 10/17/07 - RULES - BILL 070437, ETC. impacted by these bills in a Keystone Opportunity area?
Not to my knowledge, no, ma'am. If they are, I am not aware of it.
Madam Chair, Darwin Beauvais. I represent the developer. We can fully explain --
Are you going to testify now on behalf of the developer?
I would ask if anyone on the Committee has any questions of Mr. Kramer.
Councilman Clarke. 17 10/17/07 - RULES - BILL 070437, ETC.
Just one quick question just for clarity. Adding the new section to the Zoning Code, are you establishing a new classification called the 30th Street Special Controls District?
Yes, sir. It would be consistent with creating another overlay.
-- and not similar to like what we did earlier, we did a --
This is specifically designed as an overlay to be applied to this one particular property. 18 10/17/07 - RULES - BILL 070437, ETC.
Okay. Good. I just wanted to clarify that. One other question. Will any of the legislation that's being referred to today have an Equal Opportunity Plan attached?
In fact, one has already been executed, and we actually negotiated this with --
Darwin Beauvais. I represent the developer. And we can make a presentation as soon as we bring the developer on, but as it relates to the EOP, we actually worked in conjunction with the District Councilperson to craft out numbers per the ordinance that was enacted this summer.
That will 19 10/17/07 - RULES - BILL 070437, ETC. be an attachment to the legislation?
I think we ought to have the Streets Department come up next, if they're here.
Good morning, Chairwoman and members of the Committee. My name is William Mautz and I'm a Construction Engineer with the Streets Department. I'm here to offer the following testimony for Bill No. 070675. This bill authorizes Brandywine Circa (sic) South, owner and developer for the Circa Centre South building located at 2970 Chestnut Street, to construct, own and maintain various 20 10/17/07 - RULES - BILL 070437, ETC. encroachments to be installed in conjunction with a mixed-use development project. The encroachments consist of three rigid canopies respectively over the south sidewalk of Chestnut Street east of 30th Street, the east sidewalk of 30th Street south of Chestnut Street, and the north sidewalk of Walnut Street east of 30th Street. In addition, an open-air sidewalk cafe is proposed for a future tenant at the southeast corner of 30th and Chestnut Streets. The Streets Department has reviewed the preliminary construction plan and cafe plan. As the encroachments do not adversely affect the public right-of-way, the Streets Department recommends passage of this bill.
I know that there are two other bills. However, before we go on to the other bills, with Bill No. 070675 that you just testified on, do you see a problem with the way this bill is written, the title 21 10/17/07 - RULES - BILL 070437, ETC. of the bill? You would never know from the title of the bill the encroachments would be on Chestnut Street, 30th Street and Walnut Street.
Yeah, it is rather general in the title. Within the text of the bill, the scope of the encroachments and where they are are described exactly.
Personally I feel very strongly that it should be in the title of the bill.
Part of the issues, we actually met with the Streets Department, and the location of the property actually sits on a bridge. There's actually a lower portion of Walnut Street, a lower portion of 22 10/17/07 - RULES - BILL 070437, ETC. Chestnut Street, as well as upper portions of both streets. As it turns out, in our discussions with PennDOT -- in our discussions with the Streets Department, they did acknowledge that we will have to engage in discussions with PennDOT, because those portions of upper Chestnut and Walnut Street are bridges. And we have engaged in discussion with PennDOT. The Streets Department has deferred their ultimate decision because the actual highway occupancy permit will have to be issued by PennDOT and not by the Streets Department. So as it stands, we are looking to seek approval from the City in order so we can move forward with PennDOT.
That doesn't have anything to do with the title of the bill.
Well, with one of the issues -- and we can get into the design of the actual encroachments once the developer and the team comes before 23 10/17/07 - RULES - BILL 070437, ETC. us. We looked at what we could possibly do in order to satisfy the Streets Department, and in putting forth this ordinance, we figured what would be the maximum allowable encroachment that we can get prior to going to PennDOT.
Just a quick question of Mr. Mautz. I think the basic question is, in these kind of ordinances where you're talking about encroachments, is it usual that you actually put the streets on there that are affected? I think that's the Council President's main concern here. Is this unusual that they're not putting the -- it says Cira Centre South, but it doesn't say Chestnut Street, Walnut Street, whatever. Is that unusual or do you usually put the streets in the title of the bill?
Normally the bills 24 10/17/07 - RULES - BILL 070437, ETC. that I deal with are of a much smaller scale, so it would be very, very specific about location, address, things of that nature. Because of the scope of this project and the fact that you're talking about multiple encroachments, multiple --
I'm sorry. You're going to have to speak louder.
Because you're talking about a large project, a large building with multiple encroachments over the public sidewalk, it's described generally in the text of the bill -- I mean in the title of the bill, but as far as the actual text of the ordinance as drafted, it's very specific about the locations of the overhang.
But still would it be that much more to put the actual streets on there? I know you're not going to put every single definition on there in the title. I understand that. But I guess it's just a little 25 10/17/07 - RULES - BILL 070437, ETC. question of why the streets aren't -- I don't know if it's a huge deal, but it does --
It's unusual. I suppose the bill could be amended to reflect -- it can't be amended?
This ordinance 11 was actually vetted through the Law Department as well. It's my understanding -- I personally had conversations with the Law Department. They understood the general statement of the title of the bill, but they too, as Bill Mautz indicated, were satisfied that the details within the --
Well, it's nice that everybody is satisfied, but I don't know that the Committee here is satisfied with it.
Yes. 10/17/07 - RULES - BILL 070437, ETC. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Brown.
Good morning. Given the complexity of this unprecedented initiative, how difficult would it be today to address the issue raised by President Verna now?
You would have to introduce a new bill with the title actually specifying what it is we're doing. How long would it take you to have a new bill prepared?
Well, I would -- I'd have to do something today, and I have certain attorneys that I deal with in the Law Department as far as drafting encroachment ordinances. Like Darwin had mentioned, in terms of drafting of this particular bill, that was done directly with the Law Department. I'm certainly aware of the project as well as the 27 10/17/07 - RULES - BILL 070437, ETC. encroachments and the need for an ordinance. So if it's going to fall on me to get this done, I'll have to do it today.
Mr. Mautz, while this particular bill is being heard in the Rules Committee, this is a bill 11 that could actually be held in Streets; am I correct?
So with respect to the timeline as opposed to the notification process, which traditionally we do three weeks in Rules, we can do something in the Streets Committee.
We could expedite it. That's no problem. Councilman Greenlee.
Basically I think that addresses -- if the issue is 28 10/17/07 - RULES - BILL 070437, ETC. just putting what the streets are in the title, it doesn't really change -- we're not talking about changing the potty of the bill. I guess in some ways, although it could be maybe a big matter that it's not in there, putting in the words in the title doesn't sound to me like it's a big deal. I know I'm not a lawyer. Lawyers like to make big deals about everything. Sorry, Darwin. But it doesn't sound like it should be that big a deal.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Kenney.
Thank you, Madam President. In an effort to play devil's advocate here, it is pretty specific within the body of the bill where all these encroachments are going to be, I mean, down to the specific width and 29 10/17/07 - RULES - BILL 070437, ETC. height and location. So I don't know what is accomplished by -- I think part of the reason why it's not in the title of the bill is because it's so specific in the body of the bill that the title would be three pages long if we needed every single item in there.
I don't know what the title would read differently than what happens from Section 1 on down. I don't know how more specific you could be.
If I may, Madam President. Two things. In researching in how to draft this bill and in conjunction with the Law Department and with our concerns -- and we can definitely make a presentation as to what these encroachments entail -- we have seen ordinances that have had titles just like this and --
I 30 10/17/07 - RULES - BILL 070437, ETC. have never seen titles that have not been specific.
If the Committee so likes it, we can take a moment during the presentation and I can go and find these various ordinances. But you will see where the encroachments are. You will see how specific we have been, how well thought out the design has been in order to get the ordinances to where they are now.
If we do need to do a different bill, why can't we just in the title of the bill reference the 30th Street Special Controls District; therefore, that references the entire site? Wouldn't that be appropriate? And then you talk about the text of the bill, the specific encroachments in the text of the bill.
Truth be told, I'm not a hundred percent sure if we can 31 10/17/07 - RULES - BILL 070437, ETC. reference a special control district.
Councilman Kenney brought up the fact that if you reference the specific nature of the encroachments, the streets, it would be a pretty extensive title, and I'm just simply suggesting that maybe this reference, the project plan site in the title, and then you get into the specific language in the text of the bill; therefore, not having to have a very lengthy --
But if I may, if we can bring the developer and make their presentation, in that presentation you'll see the encroachments and then, if possible, we can revisit this issue after their presentation.
One other question. Are we considering that the whereases prior to Section 1 is part of the title or not?
No, it's not. 32 10/17/07 - RULES - BILL 070437, ETC.
It's not. But it's all in the same bill and the record --
I don't think we ought to make a federal case out of this. I think that maybe after we see the schematics, we'll be able to make some determination. But as long as I can remember, the title of the bill had to be very specific, no matter what the contents of the bill were. So we'll get back to this. Okay? I would like the record to reflect at this time that we do in fact have an established quorum. To my extreme left is Councilwoman Blondell. Next to her is Councilman O'Neill, and to my left is Councilman Greenlee. To my extreme right is Councilman Kenney and Councilman Clarke. We will now consider the next street bill, Bill No. 070676.
Good morning, Chairwoman, members of the Committee. My 33 10/17/07 - RULES - BILL 070437, ETC. name is William Mautz and I'm a Construction Engineer with the Streets Department. The Streets Department Traffic Engineering has reviewed this bill, and as the bill has been amended, the Streets Department recommends passage of the bill, has no objections to the passage of the bill.
I would like the record to note that Councilwoman Miller is now present. Any questions from members of the Committee regarding this bill? (No response.)
Seeing none, we will now consider Bill 22 No. 070678.
Good morning, Chairwoman, members of the Committee. My name is William Mautz and I'm a 34 10/17/07 - RULES - BILL 070437, ETC. Construction Engineer with the Streets Department. The Streets Department Traffic Engineering Division has reviewed Bill 6 No. 070678 and recommends passage of the bill based on the amended bill.
I was just wondering -- and, again, I know anything of this scope -- and I think it's a good project, so I'm not trying to nitpick here at all, but obviously traffic flow is something just when you first see this thing, you realize there's going to be some issues. Could you be a little bit more specific on what exactly this does, how it improves things, how it addresses what problems there are, that kind of thing?
Unfortunately, 35 10/17/07 - RULES - BILL 070437, ETC. Councilman, I can't provide any information. This isn't really my area of expertise. I'm actually providing testimony on behalf of Traffic Engineering.
I understand, but shouldn't somebody from Traffic Engineering be here? I know it's not your fault. I'm just saying. Again, I don't think I have any problem with it. I just want a little bit more specifics.
Members of the Committee, we actually have our traffic engineer.
Just a moment, please. Good morning. Please identify yourself for the record.
Yes. Good morning, Chairman, members of the Committee. My name is Mark Washington and I'm a Traffic Engineer with the 36 10/17/07 - RULES - BILL 070437, ETC. Philadelphia Streets Department.
Councilman Greenlee, would you please repeat your question?
Thank for all your help all these years, by the way. I was just wondering if you could be a little bit more specific in what these regulations do to address what problems there may be. As I was saying, I think this is a very good project, but adding this much to that area, obviously it's already a tight area driving-wise and whatever. So I just want a little bit more specifics on what this bill does and how it improves the situation.
Unfortunately, I was pulled in here at the last minute. My boss was supposed to be here. He couldn't make it. 37 10/17/07 - RULES - BILL 070437, ETC. I believe this was in reference to some traffic pattern changes on 30th Street, and from speaking with my colleagues before I came over here, I was informed that our position is we have no 7 objections to the traffic pattern change on 30th Street.
Yes. And we do have our traffic engineers here. We did meet extensively several times throughout the summer and early this fall regarding the traffic pattern.
I just thought the City had an official position, but that's okay.
Yes. It's in 38 10/17/07 - RULES - BILL 070437, ETC. support of our project.
And as a result, we also have amendments, as a result of our meetings with the Streets Department.
I think we have enough. Would you please read the suggested amendments to the bills, please, for the record.
You would like from myself? 39 10/17/07 - RULES - BILL 070437, ETC. With Bill No. 676, what we're looking to amend is that originally the bill requested that the parking be restricted on both sides. In discussion with the Streets Department and also in consultation with our neighbor, DC 33, we've agreed to amend the bill to allow parking on the east side only. And also with this amendment, we talked about timing, because with construction underway, demolition to be imminent, we would like this bill to be enacted 90 days after passage. With Bill No. 678, we are -- that's the directional ordinance, making 30th Street two way. Originally we wanted the two-way traffic to extend from Market Street to Walnut. Now, after extensive meetings with the Streets Department, we're now looking to make that only from Chestnut to Walnut.
Yes. 40 10/17/07 - RULES - BILL 070437, ETC. Councilwoman Blackwell.
We've been involved in discussions with the unions, with Streets Department and certainly with Brandywine in this regard. So we have been involved in these amendments being prepared so that everybody has kind of come together in a compromised fashion, and that's why we have these amendments. So everybody agrees.
Thank you. With the amendments, Bill No. 21 070678, it also indicates that the ordinance shall take effect 90 days after becoming law.
Okay. 41 10/17/07 - RULES - BILL 070437, ETC. Any questions from members of the Committee? Councilman O'Neill.
This is, I guess, really for Brandywine. This is a spectacular-looking project. The one thing that strikes me is that the building sits right on the sidewalk. We haven't exactly been pillars of design in Philadelphia, so I'm not using any local history here, but in Chicago where there is some really nice design -- I haven't seen any architectural tours of Philadelphia yet, but it's a big part of going to Chicago. That city has gotten away from worrying about how high a building is or how short it is to worrying not about height but about setback, public space and what that setback does to the urban feel. The Cira Centre, the original one, is connected to 30th Street. There's nothing else there except a parking lot. This is in an area that is 42 10/17/07 - RULES - BILL 070437, ETC. very pedestrian friendly. I think it's going to have more and more residents in the area, at least that's what I'm told. I was just wondering why with this great design it wasn't given more of a setback and a green front. It's very hard to find issue here, but you got this big sort of glob in the middle between these two buildings, and I guess that's the parking, but you have this building sitting right on -- and it seems kind of yesterday rather than tomorrow. And if someone from Brandywine or Planning Commission can talk about that. I'd just like something on the record; that's all.
Councilman, we have the lead designer of the building here and of the project and we can address all of those issues.
Just one last thing before we get away. I would like to put on the record we would love to 43 10/17/07 - RULES - BILL 070437, ETC. have all of these bills with the rules suspended should we decide to have them reported out of Committee. With that, I would like to introduce the developer, Mr. Jerry Sweeney. I believe he has with him our lead architect, Mr. Mark Shoemaker, and we would love to show you the project.
Council President, Councilman Greenlee thanked Mr. Washington for all his help over the years, and I think on behalf of every member that's ever dealt with you, same thing. I'd like to repeat it.
Thank you, Madam President. Mr. Washington, since Councilman O'Neill brought this issue up 44 10/17/07 - RULES - BILL 070437, ETC. about the setback -- and I'm actually looking at the taller building -- it brings to mind a particular development in my councilmanic district at 18th and Sansom that is a significantly sized building on a commercial block, and I'm looking at the closeness of this tower to the street. And I can recall -- and I think we're still in the midst of this whole issue about street closures. As I'm looking at this, I have to believe that there's a strong likelihood that there's going to be significant street closures or lane closures to construct this building. Would you agree, based on the 18th and Sansom episode?
No. See, I'm looking at it where 18th and Sansom, the street is pretty narrow. I believe this is Walnut Street.
The upper 45 10/17/07 - RULES - BILL 070437, ETC. level of Walnut Street. Pretty much you have a situation, you have two different City blocks. With 18th and Sansom, Sansom Street is pretty much feet in width, 7 18th Street is 26 feet in width. Here 8 you have Walnut Street, which is one way, 9 and you have at least like three travel 10 lanes in one direction. So you're pretty 11 much in a situation where the worst 12 scenario is, yes, you will have to close 13 it, but in a perfect world, most likely 14 you'll probably have only one travel lane 15 being able to be maintained through that 16 location. And that's based on the width 17 of the street. 18
Can we make 19 sure that we don't replicate the problem 20 that we had where we actually had the 21 original architect and the engineer for 22 the project say, No problem, we don't 23 have to close the street, and then they 24 changed contractors and we didn't -- "we" 25 the City -- didn't really do a real 46 10/17/07 - RULES - BILL 070437, ETC. analysis ourselves. We kind of, to some degree, depended on the traffic engineer. Can we make sure that early on in the process --
-- that we're in it so we'll know what streets or what lanes will have to be closed so we don't run into this issue where there was some potential cost overruns on the project. Because this is a wonderful project and I'd love to see it take place. I just don't want us to get caught up in this process about lane closures, because I have to believe that there are going to be some significant lane closures for a period of time.
So early on can we make sure that we know what's going to happen?
Yes. And I 47 10/17/07 - RULES - BILL 070437, ETC. will discuss all this with the Chief Traffic Engineer, Charlie Denny, when I return back to the office.
And in order to shed some light, with our meetings with Mr. Denny and other people in the Streets Department, we did talk about how we can schedule and minimize the impact of construction, and those are going to be ongoing discussions.
All right. But I just want to make sure that we, the City, are in that loop early on so we don't get caught up in what we did at 18th Street.
One of the things that sometimes is maddening about construction site projects is, it seems 48 10/17/07 - RULES - BILL 070437, ETC. that an extra lane or lane is taken for parking for the workers. If you work in an office building in Center City, you come in, you park at a parking lot, you pay your fee, monthly or daily, whatever it is, but it seems that in projects around Center City, I know in Jefferson Hospital projects, I see trucks and private vehicles parked inside the construction fence that probably could be parked at a parking lot or at a meter, but for some reason, we wind up using extra running lane space to accommodate people who are working on the site, which I don't really think is fair to the commuter or fair to the person driving their car through Center City. I've seen that time and time again. And, again, with the location that you have here that's so heavily traversed, I don't need an extra lane for guys with Jersey tags parking in the running lane, because usually they're Jersey tags, which is another whole subject we could talk 49 10/17/07 - RULES - BILL 070437, ETC. about, but that won't be done here. So I would really just like to make a note that we could try to find, if there's a need to find parking contractually for these workers, that we can find it somewhere else and not in the running lane behind a construction fence.
Councilman, in response, I just took a moment to talk to Jeff Weinstein, Vice-President of Construction from Brandywine. As I understand it, they make it a policy that they don't allow parking on the site, and he also --
It's a 50 10/17/07 - RULES - BILL 070437, ETC. regular thing. We've all seen it. I mean, it's just maddening sometimes when you're sitting and trying to merge two lanes into one and people just want to use that extra lane so they can park their car for free all day. So if you just make a note of it in your planning, it would be helpful.
Thank you. Any questions from members of the Committee? (No response.)
Gentlemen, thank you. Somebody from the Streets Department should remain until the conclusion of the hearing, please.
Thank you. 51 10/17/07 - RULES - BILL 070437, ETC.
At this time, we would like to introduce you to the developer.
My name is Jerry Sweeney and I am President and Chief Executive Officer at Brandywine Realty Trust. First of all, we'd like to thank the Committee for including us on the agenda. We understand that it's an important project for us and certainly we appreciate the time you're spending. We also, before we get into our presentation, would like to thank our District Councilperson, Councilwoman Blackwell, for her strong support of both the first building at Cira Centre as well as this expansion of the Cira concept. Additionally, we would certainly like to thank the City Planning Commission, the Streets Department and 52 10/17/07 - RULES - BILL 070437, ETC. the Water Department for the collaboration we've had with them during this entire process relative to crafting the ordinances. I think of particular note, we're delighted that working with the Planning Commission we're able to structure a bonus arrangement that provides us with the appropriate incentives and rewards for complying with certain items that the Planning Commission felt were very important in terms of the LEED certification, public space, et cetera. So we think it's a good framework for moving forward. We certainly have members of our development team here today to talk about the project in some more detail after some overview comments. In particular, to my left is Mark Shoemaker, who is a principal with the firm of Pelli Clark Pelli, who is the architect on Cira Centre One and we have retained as the executive architect for -- or the design architect for the Cira South development. 53 10/17/07 - RULES - BILL 070437, ETC. We've also taken the liberty of passing out to the Committee members a booklet that we'd like to use as a guide for the presentation, and we'll go through that in just a moment. I would like to just, if I could, make a very brief overview comment. One of the things as we look at this development is, it truly is an opportunity to continue some of the great work that's already happened in West Philadelphia and on the west banks of the Schuylkill River. So as we were going through the planning process for this and thinking about the overall constructs of how to create something that could create great value for both the City and for the neighborhood, we actually did reference a lot of historical documents that the City put together. One of the interesting things about this plan is that it really does begin to realize some of the visions that were put forth originally back in the 54 10/17/07 - RULES - BILL 070437, ETC. 1930s when 30th Street Station and the 30th Street Postal Service building were first built, and, in fact, the original renderings for those buildings outlined those buildings surrounded by other developments. So we certainly think that with what we're doing here and some of the other stakeholders in University City, this is a movement towards realizing that vision from the past and, more importantly, given the bias towards smart urban development, reliance on mass transportation, we also think it speaks very well to what the vision for that part of the City could be for the future. We certainly hope during our presentation to answer the questions, Councilman O'Neill, that you raised relative to design, and Councilman Clarke. Madam President, you had asked a question relative to the size of this development. Upon build-out, we anticipate that this project will be 55 10/17/07 - RULES - BILL 070437, ETC. between $750 to $800 million of total investment, which would rank it among one of the largest private development undertakings in the City in recent history. If we might turn to the booklet before we get into the design development, the first page really gives an overview of the site. Madam President, with your permission?
Thank you very much. And for those of you that can't see, there's pages in the book. S. Postal Service Annex building. S. Postal Service facility at 30th Street, which 56 10/17/07 - RULES - BILL 070437, ETC. Brandywine purchased from the University of Pennsylvania back in late July. This project here does not need any zoning relief and will be the home of the new Internal Revenue Service midlantic operations and will house between four and five thousand employees. This project will proceed under a historic rehab, and the IRS signed a lease for 862,000 square feet, thereby preserving a number of jobs in the City. One of the reasons for the need for quick cooperation from the City agencies was that one of our obligations under the provision of that lease is to provide parking for the IRS employees. So looking at change in the zoning for the annex site. The annex site itself has three component pieces that I think accomplish some of the key goals we set out to do, and actually some of the goals reference the City Planning Commission report on West Philadelphia dating back to 1994, 57 10/17/07 - RULES - BILL 070437, ETC. and that was to do fairly high-density development, provide that on a mixed-use basis, activate the streetscape and proceed with a program that would create good pedestrian corridor access both north and south, as well as east and west. The other opportunity this project has is, it really serves as a gateway to West Philadelphia, University City to the number of travelers that come along the northeast corridor and the regional rail system. One of the items that sometimes we don't focus on in the City is that 30th Street Station is the second busiest train station in the country, second only to Penn Station in New York. Between the Amtrak lines and regional rail lines, there's over 1,100 trains a day that come through this station, and, in fact, just shy of 20 percent of Amtrak ridership nationally embarks and disembarks at 30th Street Station. 58 10/17/07 - RULES - BILL 070437, ETC. So I think one of the longer-term objectives that we would hope to achieve, and certainly worked with the other University City stakeholders, is that we can actually start to take a better advantage of this existing mass transit infrastructure. Councilman O'Neill, you raised the question relative to setbacks and decking, and I'll certainly defer to Mr. Shoemaker for a more robust presentation on the development components, but one of the challenges that this site faces, as well as what we faced with Cira Centre One, is the existence of the rail lines. So as Mr. Beauvais indicated earlier, this part of the City is really built on a platform. So the viaduct level of Chestnut Street, Market Street, Walnut Street and 30th Street and Schuylkill Avenue, frankly, are about 30 feet above grade. Now, we're using that to our 59 10/17/07 - RULES - BILL 070437, ETC. advantage in the planning process, because we're actually going to be achieving our objective of doing all of the loading for these buildings below viaduct level, thereby keeping the heavy loading, et cetera, off of the main street level. The challenge, though, is given the proximity to the northeast corridor of Amtrak, given the fact that those lands are controlled by Amtrak and not by us or any other institution, they're not available for overbuilding at this point to create a setback or a plaza area off of Schuylkill Avenue. So what we tried to do as part of our overall development was to create a couple of innovative public spaces in a fairly tight urban environment. One of the major components we look at here is on top of the parking garage, there will be a green roof that will have access from the residents of the Chestnut Street tower and residents 60 10/17/07 - RULES - BILL 070437, ETC. of the -- and office users in the Walnut Street tower, and that will be almost an acre and a half open space.
And our hope is, working through security concerns, we might be able to actually open that up on a programmatic basis to community members for functional events. But it certainly is going to be an exciting undertaking for us to be able to create an acre and a half park on top of a parking structure that will provide a nice buffer for the harder edge of the urban environment. We also broke up the massing of both elevations by creating what we call Cira Place, which is a public space that sits between the garage and the Walnut Street tower. In addition to that, the setbacks from the building are significant enough to provide for a very active retail arcade going north to south on 30th Street. So I think given within the tight constraints of the site, we've done as fine a job as we can in terms of 61 10/17/07 - RULES - BILL 070437, ETC. identifying how to comply with good urban planning principles. In addition to that, as testimony was indicated earlier, we also engaged a master planning firm, Sasaki Associates, who has looked at the entire grid from Arch Street on the north, Walnut on the south, Schuylkill Avenue on the east and 30th Street on the west as a master planning module in terms of creating some open public spaces that will facilitate pedestrian movement and really reflect what we're hoping to be a very vibrant mixed-use development. At this point, Mark, if you don't mind, I'll turn the presentation over to you.