This is the view from Dickinson Street.
And again, the main entrance to the restaurant here,
the sidewalk cafes, the neighbors who are gonna come
and look for and take out will come into this door and then the commercial drivers will use
this window for commercial pickups and uh this is a floor plan for the restaurant
and a more uh three-dimensional rendering uh for they have roof mounted ventilation
yes the ventilation we discussed that with um with the community is going to be
um up in um on this edge of um of the property um so that's all right yes
all right and you can summarize that would be helpful um absolutely and this is just a photo
of the property so um mr molino can he uh can can the the applicant be given privileges so that i
could have him adopt my testimony. Mr. Merlino has been unmuted. Good morning, sir. Please identify
yourself for the record. Spell your last name and I'll swear you in. Good morning. Anthony Merlino,
M-E-R-L-I-N-O, address 1915 Annan Street, Philadelphia, EPA, 19146. We're in firm to tell
the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth? Yes, sir. Please proceed, Mr. Masters.
um thank you um mr merlino you heard my um testimony and presentation this morning do you
um agree with it and adopt it as your own testimony yes i do
we arrest mr sheriff thank you any questions from the board no no no no anyone else would
like to testify in this case if so please raise your hand
chair we have petra gamble good morning again mrs ms gamble you're still under oath please
identify yourself with the record and proceed good morning chairperson this is petra gamble
a member of the court needed rco i just wanted to go on record saying that we are in support
of the project with the provisos that mr masters mentioned previously okay thank you
planning commission good morning david fecto city planning commission mr chairman and members of
the board this property is indicated for commercial and residential mixed use in the
city's comprehensive plan we have no objection to granting this variance thank you uh mi 2020
020-000494 1439 1439 south 20th street my vote is yes with the following provisos
hours of operation 11 a.m through 11 i'm sorry 7 a.m
Hours of operation, 7 a.m. through 11 p.m., commercial trash pickup, roof-mounted ventilation.
And correct me if I'm wrong, Sharon, I don't know if any of the other provisors are enforceable.
I don't believe they are.
They aren't specific enough or they aren't enforceable.
You just sent me a text, okay.
Trash to be stored on 20th Street.
is that correct that's correct on the 20th street side of the property yes thank you
thank you okay my vote is yes with those provisos i just read into the record
yes with provisos yes with provisos yes with proviso yes with proviso thank you
thank you very much members of the board have a good day uh am i
Chira, you muted yourself?
I think we're going, are we going to number nine now?
He is muted.
Try again.
Is it better?
MI 2020-000735, 2100 Benson Street, B-E-N-S-O-N, Benson Street.
Chair, I have Kathryn Missimer.
Good morning again, Ms. Missimer.
You're still under oath from earlier today, but please identify yourself for the record.
Good morning, Chair and members of the Board.
Kathryn Missimer, 1835 Market Street, Suite 1400-19103.
Could you just spell your name for the stenographer, please?
It's M-I-S-S-I-M-E-R.
okay carol yes do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy
i do i'm assuming you've met with the rco and you have emailed your exhibit packet five days
prior to this hearing we've emailed the exhibit packet at the beginning of the hearings we did
discuss that we have not held the meeting with the rco given their overturn in leadership we've
agreed with the councilman's office to hear the hearing today and hold that meeting at a later
Okay, and in the exhibit packet, there is a proof of ownership, tax compliance, refusal
and referral, photos and plans of the property.
Is that correct?
Thank you.
You may proceed.
Thank you.
I'd like to begin just by orienting everyone with the site.
As you can see on the aerial on your screen, this is a large corner site at a busy intersection
of Busselton, Hofnigel, and Benson.
It's a large trapezoidal site.
It's about 47,000 square feet. It is zoned RSA 3. What's interesting about this site is that
today's proposal is to really reinstate what has always been here. In the late 50s, early 60s,
a multi-family building was constructed on the site for 51 units with some accessory parking.
Unfortunately, there was a fire that destroyed that building and it was never rebuilt.
Our proposal today is to restore the prior building essentially in the same footprint
with 56 units and 31 parking spaces.
So what I wanted to discuss are a few refusals that this does generate. Again, because the
building was not rebuilt and the zoning does remain RSA 3, the multifamily use at this site,
even though, as historically always been used, multifamily does generate a refusal. Additionally,
parking generates a refusal. This would require a one-to-one ratio. We're proposing about one
to two units, which historically was what was at this site. We do present revised plans today
that do remove the height refusal, so we will be within the 38-foot height of the traditional RSA3.
And what I want to start with is a look briefly at the zoning plan for this area because as you
can see the zoning map, all the other corners here are CMX2. For whatever reason, this large chunk
remains RSA3. So even though we've got density on these corners as well as the PGW building across
the street. For whatever reason, this has remained untouched at RSA 3, and I do believe
And I do believe it's because previously that building did exist on this site,
it's because previously that building did exist on this site and there was no need
and there was no need to rezone it, given that multifamily was already here.
This page is interesting because we're showing all of the multifamily in this area.
As you can see, there's quite a few. I'll just zoom in a little bit. The large Samuel Tabis
senior apartment complex is right around the corner with hundreds of units at that location.
And there are several others, as you can see, that are nearby.
This is the current zoning plan.
As you can see, we're taking advantage of the wide space we do have to provide parking
and access.
These are the elevations.
Again, we're projecting about 35 feet in height, so we do no longer need the height
refusal that it was initially issued.
these are a rendering of what it would look like and this is interesting because i'd like to show
what the previous building looked like and the improvements we've been able to make
so what you're seeing on your screen now is this is the original building that was destroyed by
fire as you can see on the first floor these apartments were below grade with new construction
and modern building we're able to bring them above grade still within the height requirements so we
that really creates more usable apartments at this level that are no longer below the ground.
And here's some other photos of the prior building and again the large site that we're working with.
So I would just ask Brian Miller who's our owner's representative and available on the line
to be promoted to speaker.
is okay brian miller he's been unmuted mr miller can you please put your name and address on the
record brian miller m-i-l-l-e-r office address 1218 green street philadelphia pa 19123
Mr. Miller, have you heard my testimony today?
Hold on, please.
Do you swear and affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Thank you.
Please proceed.
Mr. Miller, have you heard my testimony today?
I have.
Would you agree that it's true and correct?
Thank you.
And I'll also add that Jed Morgenstein of PSA Architects is also available if there are questions on the proposal of the new building.
Thank you.
any questions from the board no anyone else would like to testify in this case if so please raise
your hand we have three hands up chair i am uh unmute and ken patkin at this time
mr patkin you're free to speak can you hear me yes sir please identify yourself for the
the record, spell your last name and address. Give us your address. Yes, my name is Kenneth Patkin,
P-A-T-K-I-N. I live at 2141 Hofnagel Street, which is on the block that the building is
proposed to be built, and there's very significant opposition. Do you swear and affirm to tell the
truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth? Yes, I affirm. Thank you. Please proceed.
um there's a lot of opposition among the neighbors on this block we were
plagued with a um apartment building that was there for many many years um the bradford arms
apartment building we um found that the the people living there were um were troublesome
to the neighborhood we with all due respect sir that was then this is a new application
I understand that, but we were traumatized by that event and the people that live through it don't want to live through it again. I understand this is another building, another time. We're concerned with property value being lowered. We're concerned with Section 8 housing being there.
We're concerned with tenants who don't care about the neighborhood in the same way that the people that live in the twin homes, which are on both sides of the street, single-family homes, care about the neighborhood.
And we found that our neighborhood wasn't respected before.
And there's, well, being organized, there's a lot of people that are opposed to it.
And we want to see that this thing isn't built.
And that just regular homes that are the same as what we have, twin homes, single-family units,
are built in that space rather than multifamily housing.
Since we are zone, it right now is RSA 3, we want to keep it that way.
and we do our best to make sure that zoning isn't changed.
the zoning hasn't changed. Thank you. I understand that Councilman O'Neill might be on the
Thank you.
I understand that Councilman...
line. If you can get to him next, that would be helpful. Thank you.
Sure, Chair. He's been unmuted and ready to speak. Good morning, Mr. Councilman O'Neill. Please
identify yourself with the record. Spell your last name and then I'll swear you in.
Okay. Councilman Brian O'Neill, Councilman for the 10th District, which includes 2100 Benson Street.
we're in a firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes i do thank you
um first of all i strongly object to hearing and hold it is a terrible disadvantage for the
community um that is solidly opposed to this and is asking the board to um respect the current
zoning, which contrary to the presentation of the attorney, there are single homes
zoned exactly like this site, this vacant site, this empty site, however you want to call it.
There's nothing on it. There are twin homes across the street. There are twin homes next to this
on two different streets, the front and the back.
Busselton Avenue is a wide, busy street.
But what's on the west side of Busselton Avenue
has nothing to do with what is on the east side.
The zoning that is there is perfect for this community.
And this is a case that is going to be strongly opposed.
It will need counsel.
Witnesses should be prepped.
this COVID has caused the problem. And I know how long the board is on, you know, dealing with
continuances. Both State Senator Sabatina and myself are trying to put together the RCO to
build it back up. They had a great president. His wife died of cancer earlier in the year.
and before COVID he moved to be closer to his daughter. He's no longer in Rondhurst,
the area that we're talking about. And I also want to vehemently object to counsel testifying
that this case is being heard today with an arrangement with my office. The only thing my
office agreed to is to work with counsel to set up a future meeting with the RCO. That is not a
slight mistake to say that we agree to the hearing today. And I strongly object to that and would
like the record to be corrected. I not only didn't agree to it, I strongly object to a hearing and
hold because what's the use of having the hearing if you have to have the whole hearing again
because there's no way you can you can justify to the community that you come in and state your
objections to something that isn't before the board that day and no one is there and the attorney
wasn't there for the protestants so i i ask that that this this entire case be continued i know
there's been some testimony by the attorney. I know that there's somebody waiting from the
management company. This is under agreement of sale. We're in COVID. It's extraordinary
circumstances, but it's also even extraordinarily extraordinary because we have an RCO president
who moved after the death of his wife earlier in 2019. And the vice president who's become the
the president. He's incapable of, he doesn't do emails. He doesn't have any technology.
Senator Sabatine and I have agreed to build up this RCO. And I would ask for at least a couple
of months considering the holidays and considering when you knock on a door, it's to ask somebody
something, whether it's to sign a petition to join the RCO as a board member, it's really
tough to get people to answer the door. And this is a case where it's a huge variance. This is not
a minor variance. This is going from single family to multifamily. And whatever was there before the
fire in 2008 or 2009 and the demolition in 2009 is irrelevant. There was three years where this
could have been rebuilt as an apartment. It wasn't. That's the law. The zoning applies to this ground.
That's the law. The zoning applies to this ground and it is adjoining twin homes, front and side and Busselton Avenue on the other side.
This community and the zoning here should be respected. And this is not a small variance case.
This is a major variance case, and I just plead with the board to give us time to get back, try to get the senator and myself to get this RCO up and running, and correct today's record that I agreed to a hold in any way, agreed to a hold here and hold on a matter.
On a minor matter, I don't have a problem with that kind of thing.
This is major.
And I would just ask that this be a brand new hearing when we come back in the new year.
Thank you.
Councilman, and correct me if I'm wrong, Sharon and or Tanya,
I thought at the onset we agreed that we would go forward with the hearing,
but we'd have a specific date set at which time we would then consider any feedback from the RCO.
that is correct chairman the rco representatives any member of the community who wishes to testify