Here, these are the approved plans which show the building at 41 feet, which is approved.
And as you can see from the photo I showed you, there's only two steps here.
So the additional, the compounded error was that the framer just built the building on top, up too far.
So if anyone has any questions with that, I'll keep moving.
Did we lose Mr. Boland?
Can anyone hear me?
I can hear you.
All right.
You hear me.
I think we lost Mr. Boland.
Mr. Chairman I think I'm back I'm back Mr. Boland yes I don't know if anyone else was not able to
hear you uh did the rest of the board hear Mr. Boland's testimony before I jumped in
That was just me then.
Okay, continue.
I stopped talking when we had what the existing front elevations are.
So just in sum, what we have here is we have a refusal with a height, which right now is 42 and a half feet.
A building permit was issued at 41 feet to the current owner, which we believe we satisfy the legal requirements for vested rights.
is it me can anyone hear me I lost we could hear you we can hear uh Mr. Bolin
I lost him again
we lost him
Mr. Bowen
anyone figure out
what's going on here
It appears as though he's here.
I just don't know if something happened.
I requested him to put his video on, and I'm just waiting.
If you wish, Chair, we could cut this case and move it to later in the 2 o'clock listing
and move on to another one as you wish.
Let's do that. We'll go to the next case. MI 2020-001958-2653-61 Salmon Street.
I would request that everyone put their hands down unless they're here for Salmon Street.
And there goes Mr. Boland.
and there goes mr boland let's go back to mr boland then mr chairman i'm just on my phone
my computer i don't know what just happened i'm sorry for the sorry i think i i think we got the
gist of what you can just summarize yes um so the real issue here is that my that with vested rights
is that um a client was unaware that there was any issue with the height because the framing had
been approved by L&I. It wasn't until he went to get his final CO. Everything's done that he became
aware of this. So now in order to comply with the code, it would cost hundreds of thousands of
dollars. The client acted in good faith. And I'll just move along, Mr. Chairman, because I know you
have a long list. But we believe we meet the five elements for vested rights, and we also meet the
five elements necessary to grant a variance. If Mr. Frank Conlin can please raise his hand.
Conlin, are you out there?
If not, we'll stipulate Mr. Bolin that you're as an officer of the court, your client would
adopt your testimony? Yes, Mr. Chairman, he would adopt my statements. He would also explain that
he is a licensed contractor. However, he has no experience with new construction as of this time
so that he was completely ignorant of the zoning code because the only renovations he had ever
dealt with were completely interior renovations questions from the board no no no anyone else
would like to testify in this case if so please raise your hand sorry if i could um request that
the only individuals with a hand up should be those regarding this case livingston street case
patina you can continue
we have a pete boyer
you can good afternoon sir please identify yourself with the record name and address
Pete Boyer, 2670 Livingston Street, Philly, PA, 19125.
You swear to the firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth.
Yes, sir.
Thank you.
Please proceed.
I believe you're setting a bad precedent by letting this go.
By him being...
How do you know what we...
We haven't voted yet.
We haven't voted yet, sir.
That's why we're asking questions.
Please proceed.
okay pete you can unmute yourself and speak to this case
mr boyer did you wish to continue testimony if not we will move on
here you can move on anyone else to testify on 2657 livingston street we have a john beset
Good afternoon, sir. Please identify yourself with the record. Name and address.
Can you hear me? My name is John Bazette. I'm 2668 Allman Street, Philadelphia, PA.
My property is...
Excuse me, excuse me. Spell your last name, please.
Bazette. B as in boy, I-S-S-E-T-T.
You swearing for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Please proceed.
hi um my i i'm on almond street but i have one of the uh the property runs street to street so my
garage is uh three doors down from this property um most of the houses on the block they've at some
point split the uh split the property in half and and you know build on the other side um i would
like to someday do that with my garage and, you know, build the tallest house I'm able to because
that's what you do. And my concern is that if this thing stays at a higher level than I'm ever able
to build, it's a straight, it's directly in the line of sight of the city skyline. So it, you
know, permanently would deprive me of having that view on my property. It's a different problem than
everyone else in the neighborhood has because they're worried about setting a precedent but
i would just ask that if this does get to stay at 42 feet that i would be allowed to do the same
at 42 feet that I would be allowed to do the same when I go to build a house.
when i go to build
Well, we'll have to address that at that time.
I might not even be here.
I don't know who else on the board will be here.
But this will not set a precedent.
It's an unusual situation the way I see it.
But again, we have on occasion this board approved heights of buildings
that are taller than 42 feet.
it's every case we hear every case and decide on every case individually
so at some point in your life if you decide that you want to go up above
the 38 foot which is a by right that's why we have a zoning board we'll make a decision then
can i just ask how that would go i would get the i would if i were to get an approval that
be before i would do any construction absolutely sure yes okay yes but i mean that's my only
objection to it okay understood thank you all right anyone else
we have dominic aspetay dominic you can meet yourself
Dominic you're the expediter correct that's correct Mr. Chairman are you testifying in
this case I am not Mr. Chairman I registered someone else to testify okay thank you thank
you question I already asked questions from the board planning commission
good afternoon board Peter Bernard for the planning commission
This property is indicated for residential single-family use.
Do not feel the proposal will have a negative impact on the surrounding community.
Accordingly, we have no objection to the grantee of the variance.
Thank you very much. MI 2020-001514. My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
Thank you. MI 2020-001958, 2653-61 Salmon Street.
Good morning, or good afternoon, Mr. Chair, members of the board, Alan Nockamson, Nockamson, PC.
you're still on the oath from earlier uh alan carroll please proceed yes yes you agree to
waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy i do and have you emailed the
exhibit packet with proof of ownership proof of tax compliance a copy of the refusal or referral
photos and or plans of the property five days in advance of this hearing and have you met with the
RCO and do you have a letter? I have and I do. Thank you. You may proceed. Okay. I'm going to
share my screen. Okay. All right. So in front of you is a packet of materials which include eight
exhibits. The first exhibit is the deed to the property, showing that Salmon Street Holdings
LLC owns the property. Salmon Street Holdings is a holding company for Metropolitan Group.
Metropolitan Group owns approximately 200 units in the Philadelphia region.
They've been in existence for well over a decade.
The company is owned and operated by Jordan Brody, who's been in the real estate development industry for well over a generation.
His company also, he also owns a company called Metropolitan Property Management Group.
His property management company manages, amongst other things, all of his properties.
So all of his properties are self-managed and taken care of throughout its existence.
After the deed, we have the tax clearance certificate or proof that there is no taxes owed as to the subject property.
Oops. After that, we have the notice of refusal. So this is an ICMX property. Currently, and
Currently, and you'll see from the pictures, it's a one-story property that goes street to street, from Salmon Street to Emory Street.
you'll see from the pictures, it's a one-story property that goes street to street.
The property itself, the lot size, is well over 5,000 square feet.
By code, we're allowed to build over 60 feet high in the air.
This is a predominantly two-story block, single-family in nature.
although I would say that the zoning board did grant a variance at the end of last year at 2656
Salmon Street where they allowed 16 dwelling units. So this portion of the block is a little
bit different than the remaining portion of the block which tends to be residential in nature.
Most of the block on Salmon Street go where the houses are the properties are cut off where half
the half of the houses face Salmon Street and then the and you'll see it from the zoning map
and the other half of those houses face Emory Street. So our proposal is to kind of do what is
typical of what you would see on this block on Salmon Street. What we're proposing is to put
eight dwelling units in this one-story structure by adding a second story to this structure
where you'll see from the from the renderings essentially even though it says eight dwelling
units multi-family they're really eight single family homes two story in nature matching the
roof lines of the single family houses you're not the only exhibit we have in front of us is the
notice of refusal yeah i'm going to go through that i just want to give a little bit of a
generalization so the only reason why we're refused here is because this is an icmx property
So requesting eight dwelling units in the ICMX property is not allowed under its zoning,
as well as requirement of parking where if again under ICMX technically parking is required
where we propose no parking. Again, not uncommon to what is in the neighborhood.
After this is our application for appeal that we followed with zoning board of adjustment.
along with the project information form and here's our zoning map again if you look at
it this is where we are we're just short of the 95 overpass our property is this large
property right here this is across the street where the zoning board granted a 16-unit apartment
building as you can see the properties are cut in half where the some of these single-family
structures face Salmon Street and some of these single-family structures face Emory.
What we're proposing is in line with what is on the block.
So you'll see from our pictures, this is the structure right now. Again, it's a one-story
warehouse structure. It's an ICMX property. And this is the property from Emory Street.
properties to left and properties to right on Salmon Street as well as to left and right
on Emory and here's a copy of our notice zoning posters and then this this is what we propose
so as you can see even though it states in the refusal that we're asking for this to be a
multifamily structure of eight units it's how we designed it we try to keep the single family
nature of the block in line by having each of the units four on Salmon Street and four
on Emory to have its own entrance. Again, equally important, we're only adding, we're
repurposing this one story structure by adding a second story and the roof lines would match
what's the second story of the nearby properties.
and this is what it looks like on Emory Street.
I'm going to decrease the size a little bit.
Each of the properties will have its own roof deck even with the roof deck and the pilot house.
If you count at the top of the pilot house, it's only 30 feet high even with the top of the pilot
house. So we really try to keep in scale with what's in the surrounding neighborhoods.
And then this is the floor plans. No basement living for any of these units. Again if you
just go as an example you know just you know any of these units it's an open floor plan,
kitchen, living room, dining room. Each of each of the units after we talk to the community group
Each of the units, after we talked to the community group, one of the contentions was
that there was no place to store the garbage. We're not using any, there's no basement living,
so what we did was we created a significantly sized trash closet in each of the properties.
Again, because we're repurposing the first floor, the one-story structure, which goes,
which has full lot coverage.
So we don't have a benefit of an outside space.
And then if you look at the units,
after the open floor plan,
you can go up a flight of steps
and all the units except one or two bedroom, two baths.
Now we did meet with the coordinating the RCO,
old Richmond Civic Association they administered the meeting I would say
that like again there were more people who are not in favor of this project
that were in favor of this project I would point out particularly if you read
the letter it says though ORCA has has taken the position of opposing this
project in line with the community can you enlarge that letter oh yeah sure
100 can you see it now Mr. Chair a little bit bigger please a little larger is that better
my eyes yes all right good all right so
So first thing is, we presented to the community.