client is wellington way developers and the principal of which is ryan stawaz s-t-a-w-a-s-z
and Ryan is on the call.
Our vice chair has a few questions.
Good afternoon, counsel.
Do you agree to waive the reason of the refusal
or stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed in all the required documents
and exhibits that is needed to proceed with this case
five days in advance of this hearing?
We have, but I know recently
Council President Johnson also sent a letter in.
I don't know if the board has it,
but it's in my pack.
We do.
We do.
Thank you, counsel.
Please proceed and share your screen.
Thank you, Mr. Shaheed.
Is that visible, Mr. Chairman?
It is.
Again, good afternoon, Mr. Chairman and members of the board.
I'm here on behalf of Wellington Way Developers.
Ryan Stawaz is on the call with me.
This is my presentation package containing Exhibits A1 through A11, which I asked to be admitted into evidence.
And just in candor to the tribunal, we do have a support letter from Councilor President Johnson, a support letter from SOSNA,
And we have a half support from NOAC, and I believe Madeline Sucumba is on the call to address that.
The remaining documents are self-explanatory, and I'll walk through the presentation.
A refusal, certainly the key document.
This is an RSA 5 zoning district, and what we're asking for is a rear parking space in the property.
and the third floor, as is typical in the Graduate Hospital neighborhood, instead of having the
eight-foot setback, the preferred dimensions of a mansion roof are what is acceptable and
what is supported by both community groups. This is similar to a project that I presented to the
board in December of this year at 2209, Catherine. It's the same architect, the same renderings,
in the same parking space, so there's a little bit of redundancy here.
The RCO letter from Council President Johnson, support letter from SOSNA, and SOSNA, as the board may know, they have an architectural review committee that we went through and we decided, based on their recommendations, to make a number of changes to the cornice, the internal gutter, the windows, and also the transom windows.
The RCO letter from Council President Johnson.
have, excuse me, window have been changed all in based on suggestions from SOSNA and actually from
NOAC also. So there are two components to this. One is the mansert roof and the other is the
parking space. SOSNA supports both. This is a letter from north of Washington Avenue, NOAC.
They support the mansert roof, but they do not support the parking space in the rear.
photographs of the 2200 block of catherine street we're looking east here our property is three
doors in we're going to keep the facade or the first floor we're going to remove the aluminum
siding reveal the cornices there and basically keep the context and the the concept of the first
two floors but change the the third floor to make it into a mansard roof actually similar to what's
on the corner already. This is just an aerial view. Now we're looking north. 23rd Street is
where my cursor is. Again, we're three homes in. That's the property that's going to be renovated.
We'll remove the awning. As I say, keep the facade and do some other things. This is a photograph
looking eastbound on, this is Fulton Street. It's really not a street per se with the city.
It's really a thoroughfare or an alley.
It is wide enough for a vehicle to transgress.
And there is parking already on both sides of Fulton Street.
And our project that we presented back in December of 2209 also has a parking space in the rear.
This is the corner property that also has a parking space.
This is our posting of the placards on the front of the property, as well as the rear of the property.
Again, this is Fulton Street looking westbound.
These are our proviso plans, if the board looks kindly behind this application.
And again, here is the front facade that we're trying to keep, changing the windows, keeping the cornice line.
And that's really the main change that we have from the original submission of this to L&I back several months ago.
Now, this is the floor plan that was presented at the community meeting, and I just want
to go to, yeah, this is the floor plan presented at the community meeting.
Again, we have basement, first floor, second floor, third floor, and rooftop deck.
The mansion roof is here.
There's certain dimensions that both Nowak and Sazen prefer.
We hit all those marks, including the elevation on the side, as well as the slope of the roof, the internal gutter, so it's not visible from the front of the property.
Redoing the front of the property, keeping the windows double hung, and then the mansion roof on the third floor.
we also have streets apartment approval for the rear parking space as we did with 2209 catherine
street this is the application tax clearance indicating there's actually a tax credit on
this property our zoning map you know ironically this block is rm1 but most of the properties on
the block are single family. The deed indicating ownership, certificate of mailing, proof of
mailing. And then this is a zoning record from our permit from December of 2023 for this property at
the end of the block, which is really a mirror image of what I'm presenting today. Again, the
front facade was kept, third floor mansard, and then a rear parking spot with a turning
radius and we also had street department approval for that particular project i can walk through
the floor plan if the board or chairman desire or i could have my client adopt my testimony
i also have the architect andrew menu here to answer any questions mr clinton is there
other parking in the back in the back alley yes not only 2209 but i'll go to an aerial photograph
not only for our project you can't even see on this aerial photograph but yeah there's
there's parking on both sides of the street here and also on this side of the street which is our
and also on this side of the street, which is on Catherine Street.
on Catherine Street
And then on the corner, there's also a parking spot.
And we have a parking spot here, and it looks like there's a parking spot here.
But not all the cars are in place.
I think this is a parking spot too, but there are cars that park on both sides.
They come down Fulton Street from 22nd and then go in the rear property on both streets.
Why don't you bring on your client?
Ryan, can you unmute yourself?
Ryan Stawaz has been allowed to speak.
Sir, could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Ryan Stawaz, R-Y-A-N, last name S-T-A-W-A-S-Z.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
i do please proceed counsel ryan were you on the call when i presented your project
yes and if you had the opportunity to testify would you adopt my testimony as your own and as
true and correct yes and would you second my testimony that there are cars that park on both
sides of fulton street behind catherine street yes thank you questions from the questions from
the board. Can you flip back to the floor plans? Is that visible, Mr. Johns? Yeah. Okay. I'm good.
Okay, thank you, sir.
Any other questions from the board?
Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Emerson?
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Yes, Murray Spencer.
He will be allowed to speak.
Hi, could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
can you hear me yes could you please state your name is spelled for the court stenographer
uh murray spencer m-u-r-r-a-y s-p-e-n-c-e-r i am chair of the sasna zona committee the sasna
hold on a minute you do swear or firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
I do. Please proceed, sir.
The SOSNA zoning committee supports this project wholeheartedly, both the parking and the application for the originals to the housing.
They met with the architectural review committee and they're using the master roof standard that we like.
They're maintaining the corners. We're very thankful that the applicants are not raised in the house.
They're keeping the front facade, but just gutting the back, which is something that we like.
We're trying to maintain the streetscape in these neighborhoods on these two story streets.
And they're doing just that. So we're happy to support this project.
There were 11, 11 neighbors, four and two against as far as I can remember.
And I'd like to know, chairman, if you actually received our letter.
or you didn't mention it in your opening.
I thought I did. I'm sorry.
You did not, but I'm sure you got it.
Okay. And thank you so much.
Thank you so much for calling in.
We appreciate it. Thank you. Okay.
Anyone else in the virtual audience?
There are no hands.
I'm sorry, Chair, but never mind.
Madeline, keep putting her hand up.
So there are no more hands.
All right. Planning, Commission.
Thank you.
this is keith davis philadelphia city planning commission uh the comprehensive plan recommends
no change to the property's rca5 zoning uh regarding the the request for a parking space
variance fulton street qualifies as a rear street because it is in the property's rear and it is
designated as a local street um accessory parking is allowed if accessed by a rear street uh there
is no hardship request or sorry there is no hardship for the request to forgo the third
floor additions required for the setback planning commission recommends approving the variance
request for the rear accessory parking space with the proviso that the third floor must be set back
eight feet from the front property line thank you mi 2024 002 934 22407 catherine street i vote yes
proviso revised plan one page stamped by zba on august 7th 2024.
michael johns my vote is yes with proviso
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes with proviso.
Tana Graham, my vote is yes with Proviso
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes with proviso.
Taya Nguyen, my vote is yes with Proviso
James Snell, my vote is yes with Proviso
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes with Proviso
Mr. Clinton, could you please stay on, please?
So number 8, MI 2024-002-938-1720 Cater Street
Letter of support from South of South Neighborhood,
letter of support from North of Washington Avenue,
and letter of opposition from an adjacent neighbor on Bain Street.
Letter from a adjacent neighbor on Bain Street,
also expressing support for the setback and variance
in opposition to the maximum occupied area.
Applicant also has four form letters.
Mr. Clinton, could you identify your client
and their relationship to the property?
Sure. My client is Alex Clark, the homeowner, and he's on the call.
Vice Chair has a few questions, sir.
Good afternoon, counsel. Do you agree to wait to read another refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that's needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
I did email all the documents, except today we submitted four support letters.
There's also a letter from Council President Kenyatta Johnson, and then three days ago, we provided proviso form with a revised plan.
Thank you, Council. Please proceed and share your screen.
Good afternoon again, Mr. Chairman, members of the board, Henry Clinton for the homeowner, Alex Clark.
This is my presentation package containing Exhibits A1 through A10, and I'll walk through each document and ask that they be admitted.
This request is for a mansert roof in lieu of an eight-foot setback on Cater Street.
It's consistent with the community and the RCO's design of what they like to see on the third floor as evidenced by two support letters and as evidenced by the support of the council president.
The other issue is open space. We're six percentage points off of what the requirement is. We're 81%. The code calls for 75%. And I'll explain why I believe this is the minimus variance and why it makes sense considering the depth of the other properties on the block.
This is the RCO, excuse me, this is Council President Kenyatta Johnson's support letter.
This is SOSNA's, South Neighborhood Association's support letter, which was written by Murray Spencer, who I believe is on the call.
Again, supporting the mansert as well as the depth of the property.
And north of Washington Avenue is also in support of this project.
as Henry I know Henry one minute Hillary you don't have the council presidents do you
I don't believe we received that and Henry if you just sent that to us this afternoon we may
not have seen it yet I will make a note of it thank you Miss Emerson yes I received it today
so as soon as I received it I sent it out and I do have it in my presentation here
these are the letters of support from the neighbors at 1706 1710 1714 and 1724 and i
understand that that one or both of the neighbors on either side of this property
at 1718 and 1722 are on the call
so photograph so the property is the green door uh we're going to keep the facade it's
it's a nice, it's a beautiful facade. We don't want to do away with that. We're going to gut
the inside of the building and expand the rear of the building, similar to the depths of other
properties on the 1700 block of Cater Street. You'll note that there's an alley, some call it
a Baker's Alley, that gives you access to the rear yard for trash and also to bring, you know,
furniture or whatever through the property. What's unique about this particular alley is that it
provides also apparently an easement for individuals on Bainbridge Street to literally
exit their rear yard, walk through this alley, and then put their trash in front of my client's
property. This is a view looking east. If you know Cater Street, it's one block south of South.
To the left is a parking garage for Penn Medicine. It's a four to five-story high
garage with a beautiful garden in the front that's maintained by a neighbor on the block.
This is an aerial view, again, directing your attention to our client's property with the
Our client's property with the black roof, you can already see there's already one other mansert on the block, and you can see down toward the corner, there's four or five houses that are three stories high and almost approximate 38 feet, which is the height of the maximum height you're allowed for an RSA 5 zoning district.
black roof. You can already see there's already one.
So a three story with a mansert is not going to be an unusual occurrence on the block.
An aerial view, just to show the board and anyone in the audience, the rear yards of the homes on Cater Street.
Again, we're here with a black roof. We're going to square off the back of the property.