posting for the this virtual hearing, photos of the site and surrounding area.
Yeah. I'm sorry, Ms. Quigley, were you going to share the screen?
Because we don't see it yet. Hold on one second.
Can you see it now? No, not yet. Did you hit the bottom button, green share screen?
There we go, Ms. Quigley. Coming on. Okay.
Maybe I should have one of my kids help me. Now we see it. Oh, okay.
So as I said, we have the necessary exhibits that we've sent to the Zoning Board,
photos of the posting, the deeds, the tax clearance certificates.
I will take us down to the, there are the photos of the postings.
I apologize if it seems to be going slow. Here's a site in the surrounding area.
I'm sure most of you are familiar with this area anyway.
way. So as I said, it's a consolidation of the lot to connect these two buildings for
educational offices accessory to the Germantown Friends School. And here is the site plan.
You can see here's a consolidated lot. This was approved by the City Survey District. There's
the stamp. Here's the floor plan. There are existing three-story buildings, which will be
combined, and you have conference space, a reception area, office use. This is a special
exception, so it is permitted in the RSA 2 residential district, with a special exception
from the zoning board, for educational use. We do have a letter of support from the Penn-Knox
Neighborhood Association, and we did speak with Councilwoman Cindy Bass's office, and they
informed us that they would be submitting a letter directly to the zoning board. So I have not seen
that letter, but presumably the zoning board is in possession of that letter.
I have the Curriculum Vitae of Jamie Unkafor. As I said, he is the architect of record.
Allowing this, granting the special exception for this educational use will have no specific
or general detriments to the community. These are existing buildings. Any work done will be done
inside there's no change in any area of the buildings or to the exterior other
than fixing up but we're not increasing the
size of these buildings it's really internal
improvements again for the educational use accessory to germantown friend
school we believe this is consistent with the
surrounding neighborhood
If, Ms. Sunkit, if you can unmute Mr. Nick Dobrowalski, he's from
Germantown Friends School, so he can affirm what I've said and if he wants to
add anything.
Okay, Nick, you can unmute yourself and wait to be sworn in.
Nick you have on two devices yes or just mute it
okay that better no we still hear it
Let's see if I dropped that at a time.
Does that work?
I just can't.
Let me get out of this.
So if you can just mute the mic on one device, it would allow you to not have that echo.
Still same problem, Nick.
Okay, now we can barely hear you.
Wigley, is there anything in your file?
I'm sorry.
I just need Mr. Dobowalski to affirm that what I said is accurate.
He doesn't really need to testify.
Okay. Well, we'll accept that. You're an officer of court, so we'll accept that he would testify and accept your testimony. All right.
Thank you, Chairman DiCicco.
You're welcome. Any questions from the board?
Anyone else wish to testify in this matter?
Yes, Chair. We have Charles Richardson from the Councilperson's Office.
Mr. Richardson, you can unmute yourself and wait to be sworn in.
Good morning.
Good morning, Mr. Richardson.
Please identify yourself with a record.
Charles Richardson from the Office of Councilwoman Cindy Bass.
We're in firm to tell the truth, all truth, and nothing but the truth.
Please proceed.
I wanted to let
the board know that the councilwoman
has no opposition to granting the special
exception for this project.
Thank you very much.
Planning Commission?
I'm sorry, is there anyone else
before it? I'm sorry. No, Chair,
that's all. Thank you. Planning Commission?
While this property
is currently indicated for
residential use on the city plan,
we feel that
this use does not
pose a negative
impact to the surrounding area accordingly we support the granting of
a special exception thank you calendar number three nine eight two seven three
four dash three six West Coulter Street my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is
yes my vote is yes my vote is yes thank you very much members of the board may I
please move our exhibits into evidence also was that a yes yes okay calendar number 39575 5624
Lebanon the owner is Kimberly McIntosh and this is an application to legalize the use as the two
family household living within an existing structure
this proposed use is not permitted in the rsa 5 zoning district
miss mcintosh you've been promoted to a panelist
you can unmute yourself and share your screen but wait to be sworn in
miss mcintosh can you please put your name and address
on the record miss McIntosh I'm not sure what kind of device you have I don't
Ms. McIntosh, I'm not sure what kind of device you have. I don't see.
Okay, now you can unmute yourself.
I don't see video.
Hello, can you hear me?
We can hear you and see you. Name and address for the record, please.
Hi, my name is Kimberly McIntosh. The property address is 5624 Lebanon Avenue.
okay and do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth
yes okay do you also well no proceed please okay so i purchased this property in september 2018
as my primary residence um i purchased it as a duplex but i i thought it was a duplex
um upon refinancing the property this year uh we ran into some problems with um
uh zoning and they came back to me saying that the property is not
zoned as a duplex it's zoned as a single family uh so i applied for i'm seeking a variance i met
with the community and rco and they support um they support my decision in as far as me
right now the the bottom and living in the top um i have a letter let me see if i can share screen
i have a letter from the rco can you see it or no
no but that rco would be the winfield residents association yes and can you see it now yes okay
here okay perfect so it's pretty much just you know i met i met with the community explained to
them that it is my primary residence and it is a duplex um the listing said that said that it was
a duplex and they um pretty much you know support my decision in uh using it so i haven't done any
structural um fixing up you know to the property because like i said i purchased it as a duplex
i can show you the original listing let me see right here it says a great duplex in winfield
first time home buyer and even had pictures and it showed that it was two bedrooms unit one and
unit two um and like i said i didn't run into problems until it was time for me to
get it refinanced and then they pretty much said it's a single family LNI told
me that the zoning law has changed but I can seek a variance in which pretty
much brought me here with you guys so pretty much I'm seeking a variance that
way I'm able to run out the bottom floor and use it as a duplex these are
pictures of the house okay thank you any questions from the board no no no anyone else wish to
testify in this case no hands at this time chair thank you tanya planning commission
properties indicated for residential use on the city plan given the property's history we have
no objection into granting variance thank you very much calendar number three nine five seven
five five six two four lebanon my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes
okay miss mcintosh good luck thank you thank you calendar number mi2020-000947
and the address is 4513 baker street meredith ferliger is the attorney
i'm sorry i couldn't resist but we're glad you couldn't you're using the baby as a prop
to pull at our heartstrings okay all right i swear i'm not how old's the baby
30 months wow i know time flies right yeah oh he's gorgeous meredith
good morning again mr chairman members of the board meredith ferlger f-e-r-l-e-g-e-r
with delworth paxton 1500 market street suite 3500 e good morning meredith do you swear
Good morning, Meredith. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth and nothing but the truth?
for him to tell the truth nothing but the truth
Let's do it.
I sure do.
Do you also agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
You may proceed. That was a good move.
You know.
You do what you have to do.
I ask Meredith to.
You should save it for a real tough case.
I know. This is an easy one. I really shouldn't have done that.
I insist that Meredith send me pictures with every email or text message.
Good morning. I am here on behalf of my client, Fred Almas, who should be on the Zoom. Our architect
had a family emergency. I don't believe you're going to need any of his input this morning.
um i'll try and keep this as short as possible we have support for this proposal from manny
on neighborhood council the councilman's office i believe we also have support from the planning
commission on this before the board today is a proposal for a new single family dwelling located
at 43 15 baker street the board should have an exhibit packet with 16 exhibits that i will refer
or two. The single-family dwelling is being constructed for my client for his family.
He currently lives in Maniunk and is looking to build a bigger home for his family.
As you can see in the aerials at Exhibit 10, the property sits between Green Lane and DuPont Street
and backs up to homes along Smick Street. As is shown in the zoning map at Exhibit 9,
the property is zoned RSA 5. Photos of the property and the surrounding area
begin at Exhibit 16. The property is is really currently rather strange. You'll
see that it has an existing curb cut that leads to a driveway and a detached
garage all the way in the rear of the property that used to serve the
residents of the adjacent home at 4515 Baker Street. The properties were subdivided since,
so now all that remains on this property, 4513, is a driveway and a detached garage.
If the board refers to the original zoning plan at tab 4, we also have submitted a revised zoning
plan and a revised plan proviso form. The plan calls for the erection of a single-family home
with two interior off-street parking spaces. Tab 8 shows the rendering of the proposed home.
There are several renderings. They're really just for example purposes. He's still working on
what he would ultimately like his facade to look like, but you can get the idea here of what this
home will ultimately look like. As far as the structure itself, the home does comply with the
dimensional requirements of the code. In fact, the home occupies significantly less area on this lot
than would be allowed. The changes that were made from the original application do not impact the
refusals. To summarize, the rear yard depth and area was slightly decreased, but is still larger
than the code requires. The open area was increased from 43% to 45%, and the home was pulled forward,
eliminating the front deck, and the curb cut was reduced from 23 feet to just over 17 feet.
Now, with respect to the application, we received two refusals. First, the home is set back from the
property line by four feet and let me bring up the plan just to give you an understanding
so you'll see the the property line is right here along baker street and the home is set back
about four feet it would be technically it would technically be required to be flush with the two
adjacent homes however we do submit to a hardship because the property is not only subject to
extreme grade changes, they make that do make ingress into the existing curb cut
difficult and would make it even more difficult once a home is built on this
lot. Furthermore, if you refer to exhibit 11, the two adjacent homes actually appear
to encroach somewhat significantly into the right-of-way, we were not able to determine
exactly how much the encroachment is, but you can see the white line here represents
the property line. So Fred would be unable to match his front to them no matter what he did.
So Fred would be unable to match his front to them no matter what he did.
Baker Street is also extremely narrow at only 16 feet wide, with parking allowed on the north side of the street, immediately adjacent to Fred's property.
Accordingly, by setting the house back slightly at four feet, it does allow for safer and more efficient access to the interior parking.
We also received a refusal for the proposed parking, which cannot be accessed from a rear street, shared driveway, or alley.
We do submit to a hardship because the property has had a long-standing curb cut and parking access from Baker Street,
so the parking will remain consistent with the long-standing condition of the property.
Also, nearly 50% of the properties on this block of Baker Street have some form of parking, including 4511, 4525, 4522, 4514, 4512, 4508, and 4502 Baker Street, as well as 131 DuPont Street.
And you can see in the photos, I've tried to document just how many existing garages or parking access there is along this block of Baker Street.
Because there's an existing curb cut, the proposal will not reduce any on-street parking.
We do submit the variances or the least minimum, will not increase congestion, and complies in full with the provisions of Section 14303AE of the Code,
as is further detailed in my full memorandum of law submitted a tab 13. I would be happy to
learn elaborate further if the board desires. Now with respect to the community we did meet
with Maniunk Neighborhood Council. Fred also met directly with a group of surrounding neighbors to
try and work out some of their concerns and he was able to ultimately get their support.
You'll see the results of that meeting at tab 15 with unanimous support for the requested variances.
If I could now have Fred hop on. Fred, if you hit the raise hand button.
Hello, can you hear me?
Yes. Fred, name and address for the record, please, and I believe the chairman will need to swear you.