right it's the area that's saying landscape to the left it has two postal addresses but it's
one deeded lot uh the area that i described as not being developed uh this area in white
is part of the lot it's all the same lot okay i would just double check that with city records
because it's showing up as it may be treated as maybe as one deeded lot but as separate tax
parcels or something so it looks like there may be an incomplete consolidation so i would just
i would just check on on that just to make sure all everything's in order with that
i will so all right thank you thank you questions or comments from the virtual audience
chair we have janice tejada larubio they have been unmuted and allowed to speak
why could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer
um janice j-a-n-i-s last name is hyphenated it's t-j-a-d as in david e-r hyphen larubio l-a
R-U-B as in boy, I-O
Do you swear or affirm
and tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Are you a neighbor?
I'm an owner
Please proceed
Yes, neighbor
Sure, please proceed
So this
new building and parking lot
will be right up against my property
I'm the next property over in white
Yes, right there
um and i i have uh i have a couple concerns and my main concern is it's community i mean it is
it's true there are a lot of apartments coming up in roxburgh quickly new building came up on
the corner that's four stories but we are mostly largely single family even though i rent a unit
since i have a big house and no children anymore um but it's a quiet community there's
part of the concern is
for me is going to be the pollution
because my yard is
right next to this parking lot
and all that's going to happen
they can't control the air
and I know they're going to put
trees in but I'll be dead before those
trees take effect in the environment
I've lived here 44 years
and we have a
community you know we have neighbors we take
care of each other an apartment complex
is going to bring
renters that don't stay i'm not saying that renters are bad people for god's sakes i was a
renter too but everybody's not the same and and i think owners take better care of their properties
just because they're theirs my other concern really is the parking parking in anywhere in
philadelphia is crazy this has been a pretty good block even though it's turned into the indy 500
at rush hour. And we are four houses off the corner of Roxborough Mitchell. And the driveway
of Roxborough Mitchell. And the driveway here, which is, I believe is 10 feet. Don't quote me
here, which I believe is
on that. I think that's almost correct. We'll be widened to 18. It's going to be a huge driveway,
four houses off the corner of a city block, which bears a huge amount of traffic.
of traffic and the parking is already i mean you used to be able to come here before the
this apartment complex was put up on the corner by the same builder you could come here any day
of the week busy or no and you could find a parking space there are no parking spaces here
anymore the apartment complex that they're going to put up probably will not allow for enough parking
um at a at a parking space per apartment i mean today you have people that have you know two car
families if not three for however many people are living there what's going to happen with all this
parking where are these people going to go the driveway my concern about the driveway is the
danger of the traffic coming an 18-foot driveway with the traffic coming in and out of this driveway
is going to be uh substantial and my only other concerns are really environmental
they can't stop the air no matter what they do i mean listen they they've tried to work with us i
will say that um but that you can't shut the air down whether you're putting a fence in or not
and we had some issues too with with the with the civic center we didn't really get notified
until the day of and some of us the day after that they were having this meeting so they took
in a large part of the vote without a lot of us not really being there so that's all i have to say
well were you at the meeting did you attend the meeting meeting because we found a handful of us
found out quite by accident like a day or two before this did you raise your did you raise
your issues at the meeting um yes we did yes i'm not the only one who raised that issue no i asked
did you raise your issues at the meeting yes okay all right but you say they did work try to work
with you so the the we i had a private meeting with the builder okay regarding my specific
concerns that if they get these permits we have some other things going forward but we would
still prefer single family if we had a chip we had a vote you know we were able to bring enough
people to to vote and have circa back us up the civic center thank you very much for taking the
time is there anyone else in the virtual audience chair we have alissa butler they have been unmuted
and allowed to speak. Thank you so much. So my name is Alyssa Butler. Please proceed. A-L-Y-S-S-A-B-U-T-L-E-R.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth? Yes. Are you a
neighbor? Yes. Please proceed. So I live right around the corner. I also neighbor Kendrick
rec center, which has been, you know, an amazing resource for the community for children and
family. So I have a few different concerns, pretty similar to Janice. Mitchell and Roxborough is a
very busy intersection. It's also, it seems to be a meeting spot on Thursdays for the sanitation
department. So there's always a lot of sanitation trucks that are waiting there. They wait for all
of their staff and then they leave from there. Um, so I think that will be an issue as far as
adding to the parking. Um, another issue is that there is a church at the corner of Mitchell and
Penn and, um, Roxborough, um, which will also, you know, requires a lot of parking for their
members to go there. Um, and then the third issue is that, um, Kendrick rec center, which does have
a parking lot but there's also a pool at the corner of ridge and roxborough and a lot of our
community rely on the pool and um do use parking on that on roxborough ave from mitchell to ridge
um so as far as the the the traffic being there um there's a a bus stop at the corner of i'm sorry
uh children's like a school bus stop at the corner of mitchell and roxborough as well and
then there's kendrick repp right across the street so there's a lot of children in the area and um as
janice spoke the roxborough av has been you know known to be pretty busy and fast cars and with
you know, known to be pretty busy and fast cars. And with additional cars pulling out of a very
additional cars
long driveway, I just feel like it's adding to, you know, some safety concerns. Okay. Thank you
very much for calling. Did you attend the RCO meeting? I did not. All right. Thank you very
much. Anyone else in the first audience? Chair, we have Michael Albert. They have been unmuted
and allowed to speak
Sir Albert, please state your name
and spell for the court stenographer
My name is Michael Albert
M-I-C-H-A-E-L
Albert A-L-B-E-R-T
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth
the whole truth, nothing but the truth
Are you a neighbor?
I'm an owner
next door, the adjacent property
to the east
476 Roxborough Avenue
please proceed
okay so I'm
in opposition to the proposal
when we first
when this project first began they said a year ago
with their first proposal
when we met with them they originally said
that they could not come down from that proposal
it wasn't until they were shot down
by the ZBA then that they now came
with this new proposal with
fewer units
but the concerns are still the same
this is
uh you know a residentially zoned lot but they want to now have put it at a commercial building
that dissects residential houses now they already have a building which is the first residential
structure from the corner of ridge that is i believe 27 or 29 units and then has a large
driveway dissecting the block now there will be a few houses including mine and then another
traffic lane of multi, you know, uh, dissecting residential houses. Um, they also said that
they're going to be widening the driveway, but not widening the curb cut for the cars to come
in and out. So as it is now, it's barely could fit one car. And then, I mean, also you're going
to have, uh, the trap, the, the, the commercial trash dumpsters coming in and out of that driveway.
I don't believe they're going to fit in that curb cut. Amazon deliveries, all these things,
concerns safety concerns to the pedestrians on the block um i just think it's a lot to ask for
a usage variance and to not comply with the dimensional variances i understand there's a
garage in the back that that doesn't comply now but it's a single story garage this is a multi-story
now looking onto the backyards of garhard street if again they could come back to us with an even
smaller proposal that gets more separation away from the property lines and fewer cars coming up
and down that driveway. I think that they've reworked with it only until the ZBA shot them
down. Consider that again. All right. Did you go to the RCO meeting? I did. And did you put your
on short notice also? Okay. All right. Thank you very much. Anyone else in a virtual audience?
Here I see the other heads. Planning Commission.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman. The comprehensive plan, this is Dan Powers with the Philadelphia
Stadium Planning Commission. The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the residential
single-family zoning at this location. Commission staff are aware of other duplexes on this block
face, but no other properties with 14 dwelling units. The proposal conflicts with the comprehensive
plan is not in keeping with the character of the block, and the appellant has not shown that 14
units are the minimum needed to afford relief the condition of multiple principal structures
appears to be an existing condition as does the parking in the required side yard and smaller than
allowed rear yard depth the city planning commission recommends that the board grant
the request to legalize multiple principal buildings rear yard depth and parking in the
required side yard but limit the grant of multiple units at this property to no more than two
in keeping with the other multi-unit buildings on this block face
okay um
hillary do we have revised plans on this
yes we have one page of revised plans thank you mi 2024 000 817 472 to 74 roxford avenue
i vote yes with proviso revised plan one page stamped 5124
james snell my vote is yes yes proviso ishmael shaheed my vote is yes with proviso
thank you thank you counsel thank you thank you six we don't have number seven mi2024
000 900 2300 market street parcel a peter kelson is the attorney
There's a letter of non-opposition from the Center City Residents Association.
There's a letter of non-opposition from the Center City Residents Association.
Peter Keslin is coming back in as a panelist.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, members of the board, Peter Kelsen, K-E-L-S-E-N.
I think I already swore you in once today, did I not?
And I will continue to tell the truth.
Could you identify your client and relationship to this property?
I can. The owner of the property is 2300 Market Street Owner, LLC, and 2300 Market REIT, as indicated by the deed shown as Exhibit 9 to our package, Mr. Chair.
And our Vice Chair has just a few questions.
Good afternoon, Counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibit that is needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, I did.
Yes, I did.
Thank you, counsel. Please proceed.
Thank you.
I would ask if I could promote Mr. Martin Grigorski, please, as a panelist so he can run the video.
he's coming back in as a panelist great thank you and counsel you'll do the testifying right
he'll just run the machine yeah thank you in fact i'm going to start if if that's okay
give an overview because i know you have a big list so uh good afternoon again members of the
board. The site that we're talking about today is under construction. It is going to be used
as offices and for research and development. It is located, I'm going to need Mr. Grigorski in a
moment to flash the screen. Here we go. It is located on the south side of Market Street,
bounded by 23rd, and Ludlow to the rear.
The lot area is approximately 25,300 square feet.
You can note that from exhibit number two, if we could share that.
The property is zoned.
You get a view of the overall area.
The property is zoned CMX4.
The development itself is by right and, as I said, is proceeding under construction.
The request before the board today is to establish terraces within the property, as you can see on Exhibit 7.
They will require, from a use standpoint, a special exception because it's a non-residential building.
And in this district, accessory terraces or roof decks are not permitted without a special exception.
We are also asking the board to grant a de minimis variance to allow us to modify the setback from five feet per code to three feet at level five and two feet, six inches on level number four.