We have a letter in non-opposition from Councilman Squilla.
Thank you.
Oh, I'm sorry.
I was muted.
Can you hear me now?
Yes, we can.
Okay, I did not realize I was muted. I'm sorry. William Kerr, on behalf of the applicant.
Can you put your name and address on the record, sir?
Yes, yes.
And spell your last name?
Sure. William Kerr, K-E-R-R, 40 East Airy, A-I-R-Y Street, Norristown, 19401.
Do you swear for him to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Do you also waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
And have you emailed the exhibit packet with required documents, including 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?
We met with the RCA Thursday. I sent the packet Friday because we had the letter as of Friday.
So I sent it in four days early. And the only other issue is this property is owned by the RCA or the RDA.
So we do not have a tax compliance certificate because it's city owned.
OK, you may proceed. Thank you. Good afternoon again.
I'm here representing the applicant Human Good East, which is formerly known as Presby's Inspired Life.
Human Good is proposing to develop a 47-unit affordable housing building for seniors that are 62 and over, including some disabled residents.
There is a well-recognized need for affordable housing in the city, and we're hopeful that this can help address that need.
Presby Inspired Life was the former name of Human Good East.
They've been in the city providing this type of housing for many years.
And currently, Human Good, including the Presby entity, is involved with 95 senior apartment buildings,
totaling 7,200 units and about 8,000 senior residents.
Again, I mentioned that this property is owned by the RDA.
So now I will share my screen.
Can everyone see that?
Not yet.
Not yet.
How's that?
We have it now. Thank you.
Okay. So this is my exhibit packet, which was submitted.
I have three witnesses available today.
Biddy Anderson, who's a development director at Human Good Presby, Peter Tantella from Tantella
Engineers, and Martina Editnemi from Kremer Marks. I just need to find my scroll bar here. It's
hidden. There we go. This is our exhibit packet. We do have 13 exhibits. We'll get to the first one.
This is what we're looking to do.
Again, it's 47 units of senior housing, four stories.
Second exhibit, this is a courtyard, an exterior courtyard.
It's part of the plan.
It gives the seniors some outdoor seating space.
Tab two is our refusal.
We have refusal for the multifamily use,
which is not permitted in RSA 5 the maximum height in RSA 5 is 38 feet we're proposing a 48 foot
because we need a fourth floor to make the project viable as a senior housing affordable
senior housing complex we also do not meet the minimum open area requirement of 20 percent
we're proposing 13.7 percent now the fourth refusal we've actually done away with we're
This related to the required bicycle spaces initially.
We're not proposing those because it's a senior building, but we have, in fact, provided for that function at the building.
So that refusal is no longer applicable.
We met with the RCO on two occasions, once on November the 11th and then again last week.
So there were two RCO letters that went out to see the addresses we sent them to.
Here's the second one.
And the next document is actually our RCO report,
which basically indicates that the South Port Richmond Civic supports the project.
and the vote was there were 11 attendees or I guess 13 attendees 11 supported two were opposed.
Okay so this is the project area um this is the 2028
43 Janney Street I can't read that I apologize uh has frontage the main frontage is on Janney Street
Auburn street across Auburn street is a city park which we think will be a nice amenity for the
for the residents and then it also fronts on Weichel to the rear there are five
existing townhomes which will abut our property.
This is a sorry about that a more close-up direct overhead view you see there's just some existing
trees there were some encroachments that the that the surrounding neighbors had had um placed on our
property those have now been removed so the this is a slightly dated aerial photo
tab five these are some photos of the property this is from the corner of weichel um and
there's another view of the property
This is a view of Weichel looking across at Janney Street, showing our posters.
This is looking across Weichel from Janney Street.
This is looking up Weichel towards the rear of the residences that abut on that side of
the property.
And then this is looking again from almost on Janney Street looking across Weichel.
So just to give you a sense for what the neighborhood is.
And this is actually looking back across Weichel to the the park that we had referenced.
This is the site plan.
Just scroll down a little bit. It's a single building. It's a C-shaped building.
The courtyard is in this area, the courtyard that we have showed the rendering.
The main entrance is on Janney Street. The city streets department has approved a
a lay-by lane, which is where folks would come in and be dropped off, move in, move out.
Again, four stories. This is an open area to the rear.
again four stories this is a open area to the rear which is where the bicycle parking would be
located now we'll see in a minute the trash excuse me this excuse me mr car this is sharon solita
is this a revised plan you said that you eliminated the refusal for bicycle parking
oh right right this is a i'm sorry this is a revised plan because we've added this bicycle
parking correct okay have you submitted a revised proviso plans form
No, because it was so minimal, I didn't realize that we needed that, but I can submit that.
It otherwise won't be approved.
So if you could, if it is approved, if you could then save me.
Yeah, I'll get that in to you.
I'll get that in tomorrow.
Thank you.
So, oh, and then the other point is you'll see in a minute on the floor plans that there are trash rooms on some of the floors.
The trash will be stored inside and we'll have one of the employees of the facility who will actually go and trash to bring the trash dumpster out, have it collected, and then take the dumpster back into the building.
I think it would be appropriate at this time if you would summarize.
Summarized, we have 47 one-bedroom units for seniors.
We have our RCO letter.
We have support from the councilman's office.
and I have all three witnesses available
who can answer any questions that the board may have.
Thank you.
I think if you just want to get your client,
if you have your client there,
we can get your client to adopt their testimony.
If not, we'll move on.
Yeah, she's here.
Vidhi Anderson, can you raise your hand?
Ms. Anderson, you are unmuted.
You can speak now.
That's not her.
Think of that.
Vidi, are you there?
Hi, can you guys hear me now?
Yes, please.
Identify yourself, ma'am.
First and last name.
Hi, my name is Vidi Anderson.
It's V-I-D-H-I-A-N-D-E-R-S-O-N.
And do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
And your affiliation with this project?
I work at Human Good, who is the developer and sponsor for the project.
Thank you.
Mr. Kerr?
Yes, Ms. Anderson, have you been online here today for my entire presentation?
Yes, I have.
Do you agree with everything that I've stated?
And do you adopt my statements as your testimony?
Okay, that's all I have?
Thank you.
Questions from the board?
Would anyone else like to testify in this case? If so, please raise your hand.
We have Dominic Chacon. You have been unmuted. You can speak now.
Good afternoon, sir. Please identify yourself with a record name and address by your last name.
My full name is Jose Antonio Chacon, C-H-A-C-O-N.
And my address is 2305 East Cambria Street.
and do you swear and affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i do your please proceed um i'm just i have two objections to the site uh first off it is too
i feel it's too high uh and secondly the rezoning from a single family limit to multi-family unit
uh there's a lot going on in our neighborhood right now a lot of developers are coming and
trying to do this and there are a bunch of us who are against this and unfortunately most of us were
not at NRCF. I will say this, I do understand the good it can do.
But those are my only objections. Appreciate your testimony. Thank you. Anyone else
would like to testify in this case, please raise your hand.
We have no other hands at this time, Chair. Thank you. Planning Commission?
Peter Bernard for the planning commission this property is indicated for single-family residential
in the comprehensive plan however the applicant has worked closely with the city staff in this
project and we do not feel it will have a negative impact on the surrounding community
accordingly we have no objection to the granting of the variance thank you Sharon uh since we have
revised plans but we don't have them physically what do we do we could we vote it with um we have
the plans the only thing that we don't have is the proviso plans form and assuming that mr kerr
is going to submit it and it will show the only change to be the addition of the bicycle parking
i i think that you can vote it and he will provide me with that form that would be one page
can I just I would just like to
Can I just, I would just like to double check with my engineer to make sure that that bicycle parking was the only change.
double check with my engineer to make sure that
that bicycle
I think that it was, but let me, can we just have Pete Tantella raise his hand?
Peter?
Mr. Tantella, you're unmuted. You can talk now.
Good afternoon, sir. Please identify yourself with the record, first and last name.
Yes, Mr. Chair and members of the board.
My name is Peter Tantella, T-A-N-T-A-L-A, and I'm the civil engineer on this project.
And do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Thank you, Mr. Kerr.
Okay, Peter, you've heard the discussion here this afternoon.
Could you just confirm for the board whether the addition of the bicycle parking is the only change to the plan made over the original plan submitted to L&I?
Yes, I have heard the entire testimony, and it is my testimony that the only change to my zoning site plan is the inclusion of the bicycle parking.
Okay, thank you.
Thank you.
Mr. Kerr, if you could get that to me as soon as possible, because it will otherwise delay my submission of the vote sheets.
Right. I'll get that to you tomorrow morning.
Thank you.
So, Sharon, for the purpose of voting this out, when I say revised plan, do I say it's not going to be approved today or does it matter?
I think that it's fine since we do have the plan, actually.
All right. Good enough.
We'll give you the plan information.
That's okay. We'll go for it. Thank you.
MI 2020-0021782843 Jani Street.
my vote is yes with the proviso revised plan my vote is just one page
consisting of proviso yes with proviso yes with proviso
thank you
next one is master are we hearing both together
i believe we should yeah yes you are and again this is a hearing on reconsideration
um could we confirm that ms jones is in the that she is able to present at this point
i know that she had to leave briefly for a meeting him ms jones are you available
she's still showing as an attendee yeah she's available i just promoted her