the layout of the proposed units yes thank you thank you thank you sharon and tanya thank you
Calendar number 39638, 154 West Walnut Lane. Constance Kapp Winters is the owner.
This is an application for use as a three-family household.
Well, it's an application for three-family household units in an existing structure.
This proposed use is refused because multifamily household living is not permitted in the RSA-1 zoning district.
Ms. Winters, you can share your screen as necessary, and you can unmute yourself and wait to be sworn in.
Ms. Winters, you can unmute yourself at this time.
can you hear me now hello yes yes i'm sorry i'm not uh very adept at this
uh join the crowd join the crowd can you put your name and address on the record please
my name is constance c winters um 154 west walnut lane philadelphia 19144 and do you swear or affirm
to tell the truth and nothing but the truth yes i do okay you may proceed well i um submitted i
had an architect submit all the required materials i didn't i don't have a presentation
like the lawyer just gave for the past case i wasn't aware that i was supposed to actually
show them do you have what was submitted before all of you
Can you hear me?
Yeah, we don't.
We, the board, do not have that material.
Staff has it, and I believe our council has it.
Well, I could give you a verbal description.
I didn't know that I was supposed to have documents that I actually don't know how to do it.
I'd have to hire somebody to do it.
All right. Before you go any further, Sharon and or Tanya, are you able to share any of the
information that was in the fault in their file?
I am emailing it to you right now. I'll also email it to Tanya. Tanya,
if I send you the file now, are you able to open it?
can you see me on your screen no no I don't know we can hear you but okay on
it um so connie yeah at the bottom of your screen what kind of device are you using
uh it's a map there you go there you go we see you oh okay thank you uh miss winters um do you
swear for him to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes i do thank you
uh we're waiting to see if we can get take a look at your file would you like me to give a verbal
description well just just hang in there a minute if we get the file up then we can
walk you can walk us through it okay
Okay, I just emailed it to Tanya.
While we're waiting, Ms. Winters, maybe you can just give us a description of what the
rest of that block looks like in terms of single-family, multi-family.
Well, it's a west central Germantown or the Topohockan Historic District, and it has a
lot of very large homes. I've lived in this one since 1986. When we bought it, it was zoned four
units. And the reason I remember that so well is because I lived on Tulpa Hawkins Street and the
previous owner tried to downgrade the zoning to seven units and I objected. So it had originally
four units. One of them has been converted to the office where I am now and then there's still
two apartment units in a wing off the house that was built in 1885. The house was built in 1858
so most of the block is large Victorian houses that were built over say a 30 or 40 year period.
Is that a good enough description?
Well, yeah, yes and no.
Are there other multifamilies on that block that you're aware of?
Yes, there's, I live next door to a school or across the street from a school that was converted into five units.
And there are, there's a large apartment house in the middle of the next block.
There's another seven unit building in the next, in the middle of the next block.
you're here today really to legalize a multi-family yes
i mean i actually didn't know that it was zoned single family
seems ridiculous but i'm refinancing my house because i put a new slate roof on it
and i've done all the work to this house over the last 30 some years by refinancing but they
never required zoning so i just honestly i was unaware okay tanya if we can't get it up but
i think we can go forward
so any board members have any questions no
no no anyone else who wishes to testify in this matter if so please raise your hand
Could I say one other thing?
Yes, please.
Well, the apartments are actually in a wing of the house.
The body of the house is owner-occupied and single-family and always will be.
So the three-family dwelling obviously includes your residence where you live?
Yes, which is two-thirds of the property.
okay we actually have your file coming up now
unless we can get to the floor plan or the
site plan that would be helpful
that's the basement
the living quarters in the basement correct no none
so what's coming up now shows um the first first floor apartment
in the wing that sticks out over the left hand side of the house if you're facing the house
the architect i think submitted a lot of pictures of the interior
Actually, the wing was built in 1885 for Grover Cleveland, who stayed here while he was president.
Well, he was president.
That's the second floor apartment.
The presidential suite.
Not for current president, please.
No, the...
Quite some time ago.
All right.
How did I know?
I was going to comment on the first
going for Cleveland, then I
couldn't help myself.
Those are all interior
shots of my living space.
Beautiful home.
Thank you.
It's a labor of love.
Sure it is. That's why you keep refinancing.
That's right.
Wow. Look at that house.
It has a brand new slate roof.
Oh, God.
30 years in the making.
do you want to sell the house because i'm always moving no never my children are going to inherit
it and live here that's good for you all right i think uh i think we've seen enough unless the
board has any other questions no i don't is there anyone who wishes to uh testify in this case if
so, please raise your hand. I have one other question. How do I let my bank know your decision
as soon as possible? You'll get Tanya. Tanya, speak to Tanya. She'll give you.
So what will happen is, depending on the decision, you will get a document through the email of the
board's decision and utilize that to take to L&I, who would work on your permit, and then you can
use the actual permit that you receive to take to your bank. Do I go, do I, how do I go? I'll provide
the number for you to contact our office or email, and then we can pass further. Okay. Okay, all right,
and no one else, anyone else to testify in this case? No chair, no hands is up chair.
Planning Commission, Mr. Chairman and members of the board, this property is indicated for
residential use on the comprehensive plan. The existing home may actually be eligible for
accessory dwelling units because it is an historic property. Since this is a legalization,
we have no objection to granting this variance. Thank you. Calendar number 39638154 West Walnut
Wayne my vote is yes. My vote is yes. My vote is yes. My vote is yes. My vote is yes. Thank you and we'll see you in 30 years when you
Thank you very much. So Ms. Winters. We'll still be here. So Ms. Winters I have chatted with you my email address all questions should come to me. All right thank you very much. You're welcome. Have a good day. Good luck to you. Thank you. Bye.
Bye-bye. Next case, MI-2020-000851, 1300 Fairmount Avenue. The attorney is Michael Molloy.
Mr. Malloy, you have been promoted to a panelist where you can share your screen as necessary
and unmute yourself to speak.
Thank you very much.
Let me just ask you to put your name and address on the record.
Thank you very much, Madam Vice Chair. My name is Michael P. Malloy, Jr., and I'm with the law
firm of Obermeyer, Redmond, Maxwell, and Hipple, and we're at Center Square, 1500 Market, Suite
3400, Philadelphia PA 19102. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth and nothing but the truth?
I do. And do you also agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Then you may begin.
Thank you very much.
I appreciate it.
And with me somewhere in the list of names here is Jeff Carson, and he's from City Signs,
and City Sign is your applicant today, and they're acting on behalf of the property owner,
which is 1300 Fairmount LLC.
And essentially, I'm going to just share my screen here for a second.
Let me find.
and essentially let me just adjust the this property is directly
hold on one second let me just move it okay so this is a this is a property that is now the current
Okay, so this is a property that is now the current Aldi supermarket, and although the address is 1300, fair amount, it's really closer to miraculously described at the corner of Broad and Ridge Avenue.
and it's directly next to what was formerly the Divine Lorraine Hotel, and the Aldi is an existing
building. They're moving towards finalizing construction, opening the building, and we're
here to talk today about the signage, and it's essentially the signage that fronts that broad
and ridge frontage on the west elevation of the new construction, which consists of the Aldi
building, the supermarket, some associated space inside that building, plus a new luxury residential
directly behind the east. We're dealing with five signs today, and those will basically advertise
the supermarket and some of the other tenants in the building. We were lucky to get Chesterbrook
Academy as one of the tenants already. Two of the signs consist of an Aldi logo.
One consists of a more of a marketing sign, which is says fresh, and that it basically identifies their commitment to providing fresh food, fresh groceries, fresh produce to the community at that location.
The signs are, and you can see on the on the shared screen, F, G, H, J and N.
All of those signs need relief because they're all above the second floor.
Signs F, G, and H need relief because their maximum square footage, which is the maximum
is 100 square feet, are 160, 243, and 120 respectively.
And so they exceed the maximum for signage.
The signs on a whole in the aggregate are 643 square feet, where only 438 is permitted
by the code.
The community, we attended community meetings, showed them the plan.
The community provided in the exhibit packet as Exhibit A, and I could show it to you, but letters of support and letters of support from Councilman Clark.
And I would just say the community and the councilman are both extremely supportive of the grocery store.
We think the signs, given the scope and scale of that block, the scope and scale of the uses next to that, the Divine Lorraine, the large residential, given the unusual configuration of the intersection,
Aldi is really asking for probably the most reasonable sign package to advertise the grocery store, which everyone is very supportive of.
and wants to see succeed. So I think it's a reasonable package. The community
letter states things like no impact to the community, residential, the nearest residential
is a block away, and it's going to improve the quality of life for the community. So with that,
I have Jeff Carson from CitySign. I can go through my other exhibits that show
the location you know we have existing conditions we have uh the letters of support um all in the
exhibit uh packet uh that is i i can maneuver and uh present to the board as as necessary
unless the board thinks otherwise i i don't think it's going to be necessary unless the board
disagrees with that uh seeing no objection then why don't we just move on and get your witness to
accept your testimony
and then we'll vote.
Terrific. Is Jeff around? Jeff Carson?
Maybe we can unmute him.
Jeff, you can unmute yourself.
Can you hear me now?
I apologize. Sorry about that.
Yes, please spell your full name
for the record. Spell it.
Yes, sir, Chairman. My name is Jeff, J-E-F-F, Carson, C-A-R-S-O-N.
Do you swear and affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
I do, yes, sir. Thank you.
Jeff, you were present on the Zoom call for my testimony?
Yes, sir, the entire time, yes, sir.
And can you affirm that it was true, correct, and you would adopt it as your own if you were to testify?
Yes, I would.
I have no further questions for Mr. Carson.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Anyone else who wishes to testify in this case? If so, please raise your hand.
Anyone else who wishes to test?
I'm sorry.
Not planning committee.
Anyone from the board?
No hands at this time.
Thank you. Planning Commission.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman and members of the board.
This property is indicated for commercial mixed use on the comprehensive plan.
We do not believe the addition of illuminated signs will have an adverse impact.
However, we do recommend the signs above the second floor not be granted because they may impact the residential units in the neighborhood.
Thank you.
MI-2020-000851.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.