Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell for the stenographer?
Call her with the phone number ending in 7-4-0-9.
Please unmute yourself.
You're free to speak.
Hello?
Chair, they may be having technical difficulties.
The number has disappeared.
Okay, so MI2024-000899-5231 Greenway Avenue.
This case is continued.
Mark must be heard.
Number 11.
Mr. Chair, for that one, I just want to note for the record that an attorney is required in case someone is listening involved in this case because the property is owned by a trust.
Thank you.
Thank you.
So, number 11, MI 2024-000-969-3801 Woodhaven Road, cases continued.
And number 13, MI 2024-001-079-3015 West York Street.
council member young's office has requested a continuance is peter kelson in the audience
chair peter kelson just raised his head he'll be unmuted and allowed to speak okay
good afternoon mr chairman good afternoon mr kelson could you please state your name
and spell for the stenographer? Absolutely. Peter Kelsen, K-E-L-S-E-N, blank room LLP.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
I do, sir. This particular property that council members has asked for continuance,
he said the RCO has not spoken with the applicant. Mr. Chairman, if you don't mind,
could you give me the address of that property? So we have, we have 3015 West York street and we
have your, we have your name next to it. Right. Mr. Yeah. If I may, I believe the confusion
comes from the fact that Mr. Klein, Jared Klein had been handling this matter prior to his departure
from our law firm. Okay. And, um, he would be counsel. I assume he continues to be counsel
of the record on that case thank you mr kelson my pleasure thank you is mr klein in in the audience
jared klein mr chair we also have a hand from a danielle harbison for that case all right yeah
sure sure the hand was raised for yeah when we announced this case so i i don't know if
this individual how this individual involved why don't we bring everyone
Daniel Harbison has been unmuted and allowed to speak.
Hi, my name is Daniel Harbison.
Can you hear me?
Good afternoon.
Could you spell your name, please, for the stenographer?
D-A-N-I-E-L-L-E-H-A-R-B-I-S-O-N.
Are you involved in 3015 West York Street?
We are not.
I'm here with Mark Rosenberg, who also tried to unmute at one point for the 90 Red Lion Road case that was just continued again.
Yes, yes.
that case has been continued the attorney just got out of the hospital yes we heard that so
this is the third time it's been continued is there anything else that we can do at this time
to get the case i i think i i mentioned that uh it was marked must be tried must be heard the next
time okay okay okay thank you but thank you um jared klein in the audience chair i do not see
his hand up so we're going to go mr knockam sorry mr knockamson has his hand raised he may be able
to speak on this case jared klein is with his firm mr chair members of the board
do you swear for him to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i do are you involved in the 30 is your firm involved with 30 15 west york i am not sure
but mr klein is a member of our firm so unfortunately he's at he's at a trial today
so i will investigate that so 30 15 york street you said 30 15 west york street i'm going to
continue with the council's office has requested a continuance as the RCO has not spoken with the
applicant yet. Okay. Thank you. All right. This is the first listing for this matter. Right. So
MI 2024-001-079-3015 West York Street cases continued.
30-15 West York Street cases continued.
And number three,
MI 2023-006-510-1232 East Kelowna Street.
It's Mr. Sokoloff in the audience.
Mr. Sokoloff, if you're in the audience,
please raise your virtual hand.
i see no handshare so mi 2023 006 510 1223 east colonna street there's no exhibits for this
second listing cases continued mark must be heard
and i think we're ready to start here
number two we're going to go to number two and i just reach here before you go to number two
mr feldman has his hand up well bring him on because he's he's number two oh okay thank you
thank you he he's quick to the draw here mi2023 003 775 3148 west berk street
brett feldman is the attorney he's coming back in as a panelist now chair
good afternoon mr chair mr fellman this is the one you were well i i i actually have two items
on the agenda um 3148 west burke street i believe is also on the agenda that's what i'm ready to go
with okay so that's that you beat me to it but um we have been asked uh again by the um the district
council person to request a continuance in that matter. Number two. Yes. All right. Okay. So
MI 2023-003-775-3148 West Berk Street. Cases continued. Mark must be heard.
Mr. Truman, if we can not be indicated that way, we haven't requested these continuance. I was,
I was ready to go today. Well, I'm doing it for both sides, right? Okay. Okay. Okay. But I just
want to put that on the record. I submitted it. Okay. We thank you. You have another case that's
going to be continued? No, I have another case that I would love to do right now, if possible.
I will get to you very shortly. That would be great. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Number four,
MI 2024-000-797-208-10-Rex Avenue. Meredith Verliger is the attorney.
there's a letter there was an rco meeting we do not have an rco letter but the chestnut hill
community association has a letter of support
counsel you sorry mr chair just to clarify that that is the letter initially we did not have a
letter of support but they sent it in separately so that was that was an update so we do have the
our seal letter of support. Okay, good. All right. Counselor, you've already been sworn. Just state
your name for the record. Sure. Meredith Ferliger, F-E-R-L-E-G-E-R. Could you identify your client
in relationship to the property? Sure. My client is the Howell Group LLC, which is the equitable
owner under an agreement of sale. Vice Chair has a few questions. Good afternoon, Counselor. Do you
agree to waive the reading of the refusal or stipulate to its accuracy i do i do have emailed
in all the required documents and exhibits that is needed to proceed with this case five days in
advance of this hearing yes yes thank you counsel please proceed are you also hearing an echo
we hear you twice sometimes when you talk okay if it if it continues let me know and i'll sure
Yep. Okay. Okay. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, members of the board. Again, my client this afternoon is the HAL Group LLC, and my representative from the HAL Group is Mike Stanton. As I mentioned, the HAL Group LLC is under agreement of sale, which we have included at Exhibit 3.
to address a few additional administrative matters first the board has my exhibit packet
which contains a total of 23 exhibits tax clearances at exhibit two and at exhibit three
the board has sections of the agreement of sale between my client the how group llc and the
current owners of the property at 208 through 10 racks avenue hewson and virginia baltzel
today's application is the very happy culmination of over six years of failed attempts by prior
developers to design an economically viable proposal for this historic gem that compromises
to meet the desires of community stakeholders and city approval agencies to quote the chestnut hill
and city approval agencies to quote the chestnut hill community association letter of support to
Community Association.
the board this is the third development proposal that the community has seen for this historic
property over the last several years and is the only one that has met with community support
prior to coming before this board the proposal was granted final approval by the philadelphia
Historical Commission on April 12, 2024. That approval letter is also in the packet at Exhibit
13. By way of brief overview, the proposal the Board will see today includes two new single
family homes, the conversion of the existing mansion into four condominium units, and the
addition to the back of the mansion for one additional condo unit. I'll start first with
an overview of the property. The property before the board today is located at 208 through 10
Rex Avenue. Currently, the property includes three separate lots that are proposed to be
consolidated into one large lot of 61,505 square feet. The lot consolidation plan is included and
shown up on the screen at exhibit 11a. So you see there are two lots along wrecks and there's one
small sliver that's in the rear that runs along the train tracks. The zoning map is also included
at exhibit 5 and shows that this property is zoned RSD3. Aerials are shown at exhibit 7
and this is just a general far away view and I'll zoom in a little bit.
the property at 208 rex avenue is a corner property at rex avenue and creffield street
in chestnut hill philadelphia the property currently houses a large historic mansion
with a circular driveway that you can see along rex avenue that also has openings on both rex and
creffield the property is surrounded by predominantly single-family homes with a
large apartment complex just to the south across the rail lines. And again, this is just another
view of the general aerial. In the photographs at Exhibit 8, the board will see the historic
Hearst-Dooring mansion, which was first constructed between 1857 and 1860. The mansion is over 8,000
square feet, and while it has retained its historic aesthetic, is in significant need of
renovation and revitalization. The next view of the site is from Crefield Street, where the board
will see the site is largely obscured by overgrown vegetation. The next couple of photos show the
circular driveway, which has been a notable feature of this site since 1876. Surrounding
this site are other beautiful Chestnut Hill single-family homes. At Exhibit 9, we've included
a few nighttime photographs which also reflect the proper posting of the site
prior to today's hearing and again just another view a couple more
these photographs identify the extent of the of the significant but historically respectful
modifications that are needed to the structure to restore it to its 1800s glory we've also included
a few existing photos of the interior.
Let me just bring those up.
There we go.
Okay, so again, these photographs at Exhibit 17 show a couple of additional close-up views of the mansion, and again, you can see the extent of the renovations that are proposed to be made to this structure in accordance with the approval of the Historical Commission.
And again, these are some of the interior photographs showing the current interior of a portion of the building.
for additional context as i walk through the proposal this application received three refusals
two of which are quite similar the application was refused because no more than one principal
structure is permitted on an rsd3 lot where three total separate structures are proposed
similarly the rsd3 zoning would prohibit what is classified as a multifamily use
even though the seven total residential uses are characteristically single-family in nature.
Finally, the application was refused because any site clearing and earth moving is prohibited
Finally, the application was refused because any site clearing and earthmoving is prohibited.
where the slope is greater than 25%.
As the evidence will show, there are several areas on the site that will violate this prohibition.
Exhibit 10 shows a variety of rendered views of the proposed development.
As you can see on the first rendered site plan, the historical semi-circular driveway
will be restored and improved, and will provide parking for eight vehicles. To the west side of
the site, two new single-family homes will be constructed, each with a garage space and one
additional parking space. The mansion will be converted into four units, and one additional
unit will be built at the rear. The addition will have two dedicated parking spaces. Overall,
for seven residential units uses 14 parking spaces are provided i'll briefly also walk you
through some artistic renderings of the proposal and again these are the two two single family
homes that were shown to the back you can see the addition that will be added and of course
this shows the proposed renovation to the mansion itself
the formal zoning plan is included in the packet at exhibit 11b
at exhibit 11c the board has a revised zoning plan that we are requesting the board stamp in
conjunction with the revised plan proviso form that was submitted and if i flip quickly you'll
actually be able to see what has been changed it's extremely small but if you look at the location of
this house in relation to the mansion it has now been shifted slightly south to better align with
certain historical landmarks on the mansion so a very small change regarding the four condominiums
to be constructed within the mansion as well as for the addition in the rear floor plans are shown
at Exhibit 19. Each of the units within the mansion will be a bi-level unit of roughly
2,500 to 3,000 square feet. The elevations at Exhibit 18 show the proposed rear addition
is designed as a natural extension of the existing building,
and as it pertains to the two single-family homes,
Each home will be roughly 3,500 square feet. Elevations and floor plans for the single-family
homes, if the board cares to see them, are at Exhibit 20 through 23. The entire site will be
converted into a planned community that will have a homeowners association to manage the site.
In addition, the units within the mansion will be further divided into individual condominium
for sale units. The Homeowners Association will manage all aspects of this site,
including trash collection, maintenance, snow removal, and all other aspects that would normally
be the responsibility of an HOA. Regarding landscaping, an existing features plan is
shown at Exhibit 11E. As the board saw in earlier photographs, this site benefits from significant
it mature foliage, and it was the developer's goal to retain as much mature tree coverage as
possible. Unbelievably, this site currently has 89 trees. Over 90% of the healthy trees on site
will be retained, and the seven dead, dying, or invasive trees will be removed. Of the healthy
trees to be removed, 50% of the required tree caliper will be replaced, with another 50% being
waived by the city planning commission with a payment in lieu by the developer a preliminary
landscape plan is included at exhibit 11f reflecting the current landscape design that
will certainly continue to be further refined during the entitlement process for reference
the developer engaged a landscaped architect and arborist to prepare the landscape plans before you
today and his summary cover letter is included at exhibit 12. should the board desire it we are
happy to submit the detailed report as well. However, none of the requests for relief today
pertain to landscaping. With respect to the refusals, in light of the evidence provided
concerning the details and history of this property, the applicant's hardship is already
well established. However, I will briefly summarize. Regarding the refusal for multiple
principal structures and the proposed multifamily use, these refusals stem primarily from the
necessity to preserve this property as a single operational unit instead of subdividing individual
lots. While subdividing might eliminate the multiple principal structures refusal, it would
it would diminish the overall necessity of preserving the property as a solitary unit,
diminish the overall necessity of preserving the property as a solitary unit.
particularly preserving the historic semicircular driveway that would have to be removed to
accommodate a true subdivision. In light of the proposed plan unit development, the three
structures will, in fact, be three independent legal unit ownerships, which is not something
the Philadelphia Zoning Code has the ability to account for. Preserving the property as a solitary
zoning unit also furthers the desires of the Historical Commission to minimize on-site paving
and preserve the visual integrity of the mansion. Furthermore, at least as it relates to the two new
single-family homes, these homes only constitute multi-family due to their situation on one zoning