michael phillips is coming back as a panelist thank you
Morning, Mr. Phillip. Please identify yourself for the record.
Good afternoon, Michael Phillips, Claire Harrison, 1835 Market Street, Suite 1400,
Philadelphia PA 19103, here on behalf of Broad Street owner LLC, the owner of 918 North Broad.
And can you swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, for nothing but the truth?
uh and uh do you agree to waive the reading of its refusal and stipulate to its accuracy
i agree to waive the reading and will stipulate to the accuracy of the refusals i will just note
that the refusal notes this is a seven-story building and it's actually an eight-story
building as reflected in the plans okay and have you emailed an exhibit packet with the required
documents proof of ownership proof of tax compliance copy of the refusal or referral
voted in plans five days prior to this hearing? Yes. And have you met with the RCO and have a
letter? Yes. Thank you. Please proceed. I am sharing my screen right now.
All right. So again, good afternoon, Chairman Plaza and members of the board. We're here today
for an application for both a variance and special exception at 918 North Broad Street.
The proposal is for an eight-story mixed-use development with about 2,200 square feet of
ground floor commercial and 49 residential units from the second through eighth floors.
uh we received refusals uh two one refusal and one referral the refusal is for the number of
parking spaces and we are required to have eight spaces due to the size of the uh of the lot which
is a narrow lot that has frontage on both broad and then carlisle to the rear we were only able
to place three spaces um and also a referral because uh above ground parking in the cmx4
zoning district requires a special exception approval. And once again, due to the narrow
constraints of the lot, which is 37 feet wide, it really is not feasible for us to
build underground parking here. I have with me Boris Kaplan on behalf of the owner, and also
we have Carrie Yance with Cano Design. We met with the RCO, Map Holistic CDC,
as well as the Friends of the 47th Ward on September 22nd.
Please do announce we have a letter of support from the RCO that is in the exhibit packet
that Friends of the 47th Ward also joined in on with their enthusiastic support for this project.
We'll just briefly take you through the plans.
This project is to the southwest of Broad and Girard.
There's the CVS that is directly to the north of us, and then we're of the much smaller, narrower lot right to the south of that CVS.
And I'll note that that is proposed for redevelopment, I believe, of 190 units, and there will be underground parking there.
But that's due to the large site and their ability to support that.
These are just some photographs showing the surrounding area. We're right near the Broad Street line. There's bicycle share parking all along that CBS that I believe will still be there at that other development. And this is our current property.
um this is the front is a three-story existing structure that we proposed to demolish this is
the view from the rear um as the RCO notes in their letter this property has been um you know
quite uh for quite some time it's been blighted and they very much look forward to its redevelopment
um just again showing you north broad and this is our parcel right here um everything um to the
north even beginning with this drive aisle belongs to uh the neighboring property
orders of the posting um so here is uh the zoning map see we're zoned cmx4 and we are this one
skinny 160 foot by 37 foot lot um and going to the development plans now
And going to the development plans now.
We are proposing an eight story structure.
There is a vacant retail about 2200 square feet proposed fronting Broad Street and then a residential amenity.
And then here are the three parking spaces that we're proposing in the rear to be accessed off of Carlisle Street.
There's an ADA space, an auto share space, and then a standard space.
Really, due to the width of the lot, this is all we could fit, and obviously, we do not want to put any additional parking that would either be stacked or cause congestion on Carlisle Street, nor do we want to have a curb cut or propose any parking directly accessed off of North Broad Street.
So, again, that's the entire basis for the refusal and the referral.
This is the roof plan.
I'll just take you through some of the renderings in the floor plan.
This is the proposed rendering of the structure along with the neighboring development that's proposed and I believe already has permits in place.
And you see that they are showing some parking off of broad.
and I think that actually might be changed so that everything is just one straight commercial
frontage. And then we go up eight stories. I'll also note that we are utilizing the mixed income
bonus and are making about a $250,000 contribution into the city's affordable housing trust
for purposes of increasing the floor area ratio on this project. And that's how we get to this
eight-story structure, and I know the community was very supportive of that aspect of this project
as well. Again, that is the ground floor plan, and then we're showing units. There's some two
bedrooms, 879 feet, and then that bookend, the property, and then we have one-bedroom units
in the middle for a total of 49. And then this is the roof plan. See, we have a roof deck for
residential use only. And also on the ground floor, we have 14 parking, bicycle parking spaces.
It's just a building section showing the elevations.
once again it's just the south north elevations along with the broad street and the carlisle
street frontage with the parking that would be right below the structure to be accessed
off of carlisle we entered into a memorandum of understanding with the community with a
commitment to working with the community and having minority participation on this project
and community-based subcontractors to bid out the project too as well and have worked closely
with the community to hopefully move forward with this successful project. If the board has any
questions, I'd be glad to answer them and if not, I'd like to call Boris Kaplan to testify and I
believe Reverend Lewis Nash might be on the call as well to mention the community's position.
Go right ahead.
I'd like to call Boris Kaplan.
Present.
Boris,
please identify yourself for the record, sir.
Spear your first and last name.
Boris Kaplan,
B-O-R-I-S
Kaplan,
K-A-P-L-U-N.
You swear to affirm to tell the truth,
the whole truth,
for nothing but the truth?
Please proceed.
Good afternoon, Boris.
did you hear my testimony a moment ago? Yes, I did, Michael. Okay. And would you agree that
everything I stated is true and correct? Yes, I do. And do you agree to adopt my testimony as
your own? I do. I have no further questions for Mr. Kaplan. Thank you. Any other witnesses you
have? I have the architect available if the board has any questions. Otherwise, I have no further
their questions. Thank you. Does the board have any questions? Just the trash plant. What is the
trash plant? Sure. We have, it will be commercial trash collection. And the plan is for it to be,
we have the trash and recycling here, and it would be collected right off of here. We have an 11
foot gap between our curb cuts. Trash would pull up on Carlisle Street heading north,
pull up on carlisle street heading north collect and then continue heading up towards gerrard
collect, and then continue heading up towards Girard.
thank you thank you uh is there anyone else that would like to testify on this matter
i see no hands chair thank you planning commission
good afternoon chair members of the board my name is greg waldman planning commission staff
The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing mixed use commercial zoning at this location.
The site is very transit accessible in close proximity to the Gerard Street station along the Broad Street subway and enjoys good pedestrian access along the Broad Street commercial corridor.
Therefore, the granting of the proposed variance for below minimum required parking spaces would not adversely impact the surrounding transportation network.
Furthermore, the narrowness of the lot creates a hardship for designing a building with underground parking.
Accordingly, we recommend that the Board grant the variance for parking spaces and special exception for surface parking.
Thank you. All right. Calendar number MI 2021-003187918 North Broad Street.
My vote is yes, with proviso, as per amended application, CP 2021-005300.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes, with proviso.
James Snell, yes, with proviso.
Thank you. Good luck.
Thank you very much. Have a good afternoon.
You too.
i believe that concludes uh is there anyone else that feels that we forgot to call their case
i see no hands chair thank you that concludes
thank you very much guys i'll see y'all tomorrow have a good night
thank you phenomenal job great good night thank you yes good job good night thank you have a good
one everyone good night good night good night thank you good night you too thank you