let me see let me go on atlas and see what where we are let's see 920 french
where we are, let's see
i have it under calendar number 40048 i don't believe that i think that's the old version of
how the CBA used to give calendar numbers?
Do you have that, Mr. Chair?
I don't have it on my list,
but we have no problem adding it to the list.
Yeah, I had that.
It looks like it was scheduled for August 18th.
When I'm looking at the calendar,
is that what you see?
Oh, what's it scheduled for last week?
Oh, I had it on my calendar for this week,
so I apologize.
No worries.
and then so that's well did we continue it last week yes i'll put it on the record again uh but
the other one the other case okay the other case mr chair is 59 65 chester avenue
um we would like to be the moving party with respect to that matter
and if i can mention that yeah that's not on our my list either
the first case that was read was 5965 i'm sorry yeah i'm sorry chester avenue
um if if it is listed as attorney continued attorney moving party you will be required
to contact the board within three months to renew your request or it will be scheduled.
So understood. Thank you. Okay, so let me clear the record. MI-2020-000175-5965
Chester Avenue, Attorney Moving Party. And is this correct? Is calendar number 40048?
to not to the nine excuse me nine two zero French Street is being continued
yes that's correct okay and please note to all that once continued the case says
will be scheduled and the dates will be available in a ZBA calendar the following
week. Thank you very much. Thank you. And just have a question. Anyone else seeking a continuance
or withdrawal? Please raise your hand. No more hands up. Thank you. Carol, you're going to call
to get Endicott Street first.
Did you get that?
Carol, you're muted.
I don't have Endicott.
All right, I'll read that one in.
We have to vote this one, all right?
This requires our vote.
Calendar number 39066.
15014 Endicott Street. My vote is yes. My vote is yes. My vote is yes. My vote is yes. My vote is yes.
My vote is yes. Okay, we can proceed with the regular calendar, Carol. Okay. Calendar number
39325 4606 Woodland Avenue. The attorney is Zen Jin.
Still on their oath from this morning, so.
Good afternoon.
Good afternoon.
Name and address for the record, please.
Xenjin, Z-H-E-N-J-I-N, 1617 John F. Kennedy Boulevard, Suite 1838 Philadelphia PA 19103.
here on behalf of the applicant um i'll go ahead and uh okay do you agree to wave the reading of
the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy i do you're still under oath thank you may proceed
thank you um so my client is um aces estate lc who is the owner of this property uh we met with
Southwest Philadelphia District Services. I'm going to go ahead and start sharing the
information related to this case. We met with Southwest Philadelphia District Services for
this application. This is to use the residential portion of the building as a total of five
as a total of five units. They will be smaller units but they are going to be a lot more affordable
units. They will be smaller units by
and based on feedback from the community and Southwest District Services asked us to affirm
that we would in fact make sure that the housing units will be in a range that can be affordable for
people in the area which my client agreed to. We have received their support in this particular
application. Now the CMX2 zoning for this property permits multifamily above the commercial space,
which is a small 30-foot deep commercial space that's essentially an office space.
And the main variance here is based on a dimensional size of the lot. As you can see,
five units will require a much greater number of lots size than what we have available. However,
However, this particular building, I'm going to go ahead and go down to the photographs.
I'm sorry, I jumped to the plans.
Let me scroll back up.
So this Woodland Avenue is a pretty busy corridor with a mix of uses, including commercial,
residential, and mixed commercial residential.
The particular building in question is this one right here in the photo that I'm showing.
This building is in need of a lot of work. It's been sitting vacant for some time.
And it was at one point used as a three family plus a commercial space. Then it was converted to
a variety of other uses over the years. However, it's been vacant for some time now.
Now, the investment into rehabbing this will be pretty substantial.
And one way that both this will work out for the community as far as providing lower price housing as well as working out for the owner is to allow the smaller units because they would work out to be beneficial to both in the way they're structured.
So from the plan standpoint, one of the reasons why my client looked at splitting these levels is because the existing stairwell, the stairwell is actually kind of in the middle.
What this does allow, though, is it allows every floor occupant to be able to separately access the yard.
This is the addition portion that was mentioned in the refusal. That does not trigger an
additional refusal as far as that dimension is concerned. The refusal that we are looking at is
purely the dimensional refusal based on lot size. So what happens with this stairwell is that the
entryway to the first floor is a hallway next to the commercial space that would lead to a shared
stairwell. It also allows us to make access to the side yard and therefore the rear yard for
trash storage pending final trash pickup. The units themselves will be one in the rear
and as you go up you'll be one front one back split. That is how the layout is done. And finally
the stairwell also fully leads up to a shared deck which will be usable by all units as well
as open space above the property. So the developer, the owner wanted to give every space both access
to the rear yard as well as access to the roof deck. This allows everyone to be able to have
some space to themselves or a shared open space as needed. So as a result, also I want to mention
there are no living space in the basement. It's purely for utilities and it would not be used
by any of the units in other than a shared storage space and utility space. So as far as managing
Trash storage and managing open space, this design does allow all units to have open space
and trash. So we would ask the board consideration in allowing this particular dimensional variance
for lot size to allow for the five what is essentially studio units to be in this property.
And again, Southwest, the RCO, which I'm sorry, I don't want to pronounce their name, so let me go back up to their letter.
Southwest Philadelphia District Services, the RCO for the area, again, is in support.
And during the voting, when we discussed it with all the attendees, again, none of the neighbors were in opposition either with this particular proposal.
I'll be happy to answer any questions from the board and any witnesses I believe
I'll be happy to answer any questions from the board.
Any witnesses?
my client should be here I it's it's Alex I'm sorry I don't have the last name
in front of me yes yes
Vaz yes yes hi hi all right please spell your name your full name address and give us your
address yes uh vodgan v a g is a zebra g like gary e like edward and like nancy and last name is
avakian a-v-a-k-y-a-n and the address is uh that i live is 1398 chinkwapin road southampton pa
one eight nine six six we're from to tell the truth the whole truth and
nothing but the truth I do please proceed mr. James thank you
but as you have heard my testimony to the zoning board can you verify that
it's true and correct and adopted as your own yes I I agree to everything you
said this is the project that we have and it was very accurate that you
described. Thank you. Go back to that floor plan, please. Yes.
Counselor. Yes. Can you blow up the floor plan? Some want it
bigger or you know what it shows on yeah a little a little a little bigger bigger okay
uh i don't i don't see any layout like attention tom tom tom tom can't hear a word you're saying
Tom it's your gargles yes yeah we could we can't hear you can you hear me can
you hear me now yes better yeah can you hear me now yes I stopped your video
better okay I don't see the picture layout you mean like fixtures for the
space kitchen kitchen the kitchen rooms they have room as then can you maximize
your screen? Yes. Let me go ahead and do that. I'm looking at the bathroom, 27 square feet,
17 square feet, 17 square feet. That's about the size of a shower.
It's my understanding that they're 25 and 27 square feet based on this particular.
Well, I'm sorry. I'm looking at the number. I apologize. 25, 25. My mistake. I'm sorry.
I'm looking at the number, which says bathroom.
Yes, these are the studio units, relatively small in size.
35 square feet is a size for a bathroom. You have 26.
I'm sorry?
You have 25 square feet for a bathroom.
Yeah, 27, yeah.
7 by 5 should be 35 square feet.
I'm sorry I don't know this these square footage was listed by the by the plan
designer so I'm not sure if that is Vaz would you be able to answer those
questions relating to the square footage? Yeah so about six by five it's a
standard bathroom if you go slightly smaller between 25 and 30 square feet
Between 25 and 30 square feet, that's a decent amount of square footage.
that's a decent amount of square footage.
For the one-bedroom or studio, that's a great size bathroom.
The smallest bathroom you could do is 7 by 5.
I guess that's something we can discuss with an architect and increase it slightly to make it 7 by 5.
because currently it looks like the way the architect drew it is five by five
which is incorrect that's impossible yes so we're gonna have to change it by
seven by five so that will be 35 square foot 25
weeping area 80 square feet it's eight by ten correct there's so there is
something missing i mean we're not showing like as tom said you're not showing a layout of how
the kitchen will lay out there's a lot of uh speculation here uh and my other question uh
then is the storefront or the first floor remains
a storefront
uh yes sir we got a storefront and five apartments
yes sir uh if i may uh the architect told us that for the specific hearing
the very rough drafts uh would be needed because if we wanted to go into full specs of uh plumbing
electric kitchen and all that that's a different type of a joint a substantial more amount of
money they said first find out if that's feasible to do and then we can proceed with other drawings
inspections and so forth that that's kind of like doing it backwards we we need as much
specification uh before we vote on these things uh all right i don't anybody other board member
have questions no now is there anyone else who wishes to testify in this matter if so please
raise your hand no hands chair thank you planning commission good afternoon ladies and gentlemen of
the board david effecto f-e-c-t-e-a-u for the planning commission for your two o'clock cases
yeah you're on the earth from this morning i believe uh i was not here this morning oh i'm
sorry so you swear and tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes sir i do thank
you mr chairman and members of the board this property is indicated for commercial mixed use
in the comprehensive plan this is a primarily commercial block undergoing revitalization
As long as the commercial space is still available for a business to operate in, we do not believe this proposal will adversely impact the block.
Accordingly, we have no objection to granting this variance.
No position on the number of residential units?
No position.
Personally, I don't know about the rest.
I have a problem with the way this thing is being presented.
This plan is being presented.
You're almost asking for double.
at what's 1,500 square feet
is what you're proposing.
I think the requirement's 2,800
and I'm rounding the numbers off.
Yes, I believe the permitted units
by right should be about three units.
That would make more sense to me.
Anyway, just two cents.
The issue here is because the plants
are not really easy to...
there's nothing really to to to look at um or like to maybe have uh some more detailed plans
presented before it makes its final decision i i'll i would i'll agree to that i'll agree to that
but i still don't know if i don't know if i would be still supportive of five units no matter how
you do it so if if by example you came back with three you're going to have to give us more more
specification as how things lay out. Understood. I'll definitely speak with my client and the
architect regarding that. So Sharon, if we hold this, do we, the record remains open or how do
we handle that? Yes, Mr. Jin, how much time will you need to expect? Vaz, I would, because he deals
with the architect more directly in this matter would you be able to come back in three weeks
i would believe that's enough time yes and um tanya can we schedule a specific
And, Tanya, can we schedule a specific time for them to come back to present additional details on the layout of the apartments?
So, we have quite a few cases.
We have already been pushing for three weeks later.
So, go out further if we have to.
So, if we want to do a month, if that works with Mr. Jin's schedule, we can accommodate him that way.
but we have already pushed quite a few cases onto that docket.
Okay, on the following week,
is there a specific date and date and time
that we could now schedule it for announcing now?
We can do Wednesday, the 23rd of September at the same time.
Wednesday, the 23rd.
At two o'clock.
If the zoning board would indulge me for one minute,
um that is fine on my calendar yes we will accept that date thank you so the record will remain
open for you to return on wednesday the 23rd at two o'clock to present additional details regarding