Do you have another handout?
Yes, one more.
Marie Winfelder, I'll allow them to speak.
Hi, could you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer?
Marie Winfelder, please unmute.
Marie Winfelder.
you can go ahead mr chair thank you um planning commission
amy boyd for the planning commission this testimony is for 3313 north 16th street and
3315 north 16th street the comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning at this location
from the existing residential single family rsa3 the property was previously granted a variance
for four families. The appellant has not shown that seven units is the least minimum to afford
relief. No off-street parking is characteristic of the neighborhood. The appellant has not
demonstrated that there are unique physical circumstances or conditions of the property
that would prevent it from being used in conformance with the zoning code for side yard,
rear yard, and occupied area. The Planning Commission recommends that the board grant
the requested variance for multifamily with provisor for four units, grant the requested
variance for no off-street parking, and deny the requested variances for side yard, rear
yard, and occupied area.
Do you mind if I respond, Chairman?
Okay, I just want to make note that the four units was approved in 2019.
There's an incredible amount of vacancy in this area and on this block, which does show
that there's no viable way to provide four units or a single family home. And as mentioned, the
most recent zoning permits and variances that were granted on this block in particular were
six and eight unit, sorry, seven and eight dwelling units. So we're in character with what was there.
Thank you. I'll load these both together. So number eight, MI 2024-005-
Excuse me, Mr. Charris.
I just want to note, in addition to the revised plans, there were also provisos requested by the RCO.
The ones that are enforceable if the board decides to grant this and would like to add them are maximum seven dwelling units, trash stored in rear, and commercial trash pickup.
Then in that same proviso that we put, piled houses removed from each?
That is in the revised plans.
We don't need to add that.
All right, that's perfect.
Perfect.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Okay, so let me start again.
Number eight, MI 2024-005-507.
Number eight, MI 2024, 005-507-3313 North 16th Street, and MI 2024, 05-508-3315 North
6th Street, I vote yes.
Maximum seven dwelling units, trash stored in rear, revised plans, one page, stamped
by ZBA on November 13th, 2024.
And that is for both, correct, Mr. Chair?
I said for both.
Yep, for both.
Okay, thank you.
Oh, I'm sorry.
Yeah, sure, that's okay.
I forgot, Michael, that slipped away.
Okay, Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes, with provisos for both.
Tana Graham, my vote is no.
Iowen, my vote is yes with provisos for both.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes with provisos for both.
Thank you.
Thank you.
All right.
So the number, we're here, we're going to do 11 and 16 together.
MI 2024-005-512-1213 Cressy Street and MI 2024-005-612-1211 Cressy Street.
A letter of no position from Fishtown Neighbors Association.
Applicant provided a petition of support from over 100 signatures.
an applicant provided six to eight letters of support.
Counsel Catherine Mismer.
Mr. Chair, I just want to clarify for the record on 1213 Crease Street,
the letter from Fishtown Neighbors was in support
where it was a letter of no position for 1211 Crease Street.
Thank you.
katherine could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
yes it's katherine misamer m-i-s-s-i-m-e-r 1835 market street suite 1400 19103
we're a firm to tell the truth to hold truth and nothing but the truth
i do could you identify your clients in their relationship to the two properties
Yes. With respect to 1211 Cree Street, here on behalf of co-applicants Denise Petrino and Mark Getson, co-trustee of the Myra Getson Vocable Trust, which is the owner of the property at 1211, and on behalf of 1213 Cree Street, the owner of the property at 1213.
Vice Chair has a few questions.
Good afternoon, Council. Do you agree to weigh the reading of the refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?
i do i will just make a note i did raise this with the chair as well i'm sorry with board
council as well that the refusal on 1213 which reflects the small proposed addition
does state that it's above the existing two-story structure when in fact it's in front of and i just
want to make that clear and all the plans reflect that it's located to the front of the existing
structure rather than on top of the existing two-story structure
okay no problem um i believe we should be able to correct that internally um have you emailed
in all the required documents and exhibits that's needed to proceed with this case
bodies in advance of this hearing we have yes thank you please proceed to show your screen
are you seeing the screen now yes we can great might want to make it a little bit look just a
little bit bigger it's a little a little bit of an eye test that's better thank you we'll go back
and forth because i think the plans will show up much bigger so just please correct me if you need
it adjusted so thank you um we're here today with an application for the use of two buildings on
crease street for a child care center um as stated there is a posed small addition to the 1213 crease
Street building, no change to the 1211 Cree Street building, and again, the only refusal on each parcel
is for that child care use. I have with me today Denise Petrino, who is the head of Fishtown
Montessori School, and project architect David Whipple. This is really a community-centered
project and embraces the sense of community and civic duty that is a pillar of the Montessori
method. The Fishtown Neighbors Association issued a letter of support in no position with respect to
these applications. And as we'll scroll through, he was able to obtain a petition of support with
applicant was able to obtain a petition of support with over 80 individual signatures
over 80 individual signatures.
supporting this request, including the properties on either side of this parcel.
I do attach a map for you visually to see the concentration of support in the immediate
neighborhood. The green star is the location of these two parcels, whereas the yellow dots
are all of the support letters that were received um and i did include uh in our full exhibit
package all of the support but i will not scroll through that today in preservation of our time
but i did want to make reference to the fact that there's overwhelming support from the community
here um i did want to note 1224 marlboro is directly related to the existing fish town
montessori location at 1212 marlboro street they are in support as well as the two cree street
parcels on either side of the proposed parcels that are at issue today, 1209, and then 1215 Greece.
I do want to note that the proximity of support is vital here because 90%, almost 90% of the
families that attend this school do walk their children to school. So this is a really a
neighborhood-based school. It's an amenity in the neighborhood and a resource for many of the
families that live here. So I wanted to start sort of on the Marlboro Street side, just to
familiarize everyone. Some of the board members may recall back in 2021, we were here with an
application for the building you see on the screen. This is a former church, and this is the
home of Fishtown Montessori School. It's in connection with this use that we're here today.
So, as you can see from this aerial, this is the existing Fishtown Montessori School in the church building.
These are the two Cree Street properties. And as you can see, the rear yards are directly adjacent.
So it's a unique opportunity to naturally expand this use and give the students some more and much needed space.
um there's a growing wait list at fishtown montessori and nowhere for the school to expand
to host those students um as you can see here it's a historic church building it really can't
handle and accommodate in addition to host additional students and they really need to
preserve this outdoor space for a play area obviously with children in preschool and lower
ages, they need that outdoor space as part of their everyday education and play.
The Cree Street properties, on the other hand, are directly behind this play yard, as you can
see from the aerial, and could accommodate the required space for those extra students that are
looking to join Fishtown Montessori School. The main entrance will remain from Marlborough Street.
No children will be accessing the school through Cree Street. They will, through the main entrance
here. And if their classrooms are in either of these buildings, they will process through the
yard to their school. Crease Street Corridor is unique. As you can see from some of the photos,
these are the two buildings we're talking about. This is 1211 Crease. This is 1213.
The proposed addition on 13 would bring it in line with the orange 1211 building.
so it's basically duplicating what's there to bring it to the street frontage it does give
back a parking space on crease street as well as there would be no parking in front of the building
on crease um this is the 1213 building i'm sorry 1211 yes 1213 orange is orange is 11 gray is 13
just for reference this is the rear of the 1213 building this is directly across the street on
even side of crease street this is a community garden further up the block on this same block
on crease street um this really is a community centered block these neighborhood institutions
are vital to the growing and family neighbor nature of this of this neighborhood today's
proposal includes that small addition referenced on 1213 to bring it in line with the neighboring
structure at 12 11. no changes are proposed at 12 11. both properties would then be used for
expansion of fishtown montessori school serving as an additional office space and classroom space
so you can see these are the zoning plans and i'll make this a little smaller so that you can see
them chairman um these are the zoning plans submitted in connection with the expansion of
1213 again it's a small two-story addition that would bring it in line with the orange to 1211
building this is the proposed layout the first floor of crease street would be a classroom
small restroom area. And this is the access to the rear yard. Again, that's when children would
be coming in and out and leaving the school through that rear yard that connects to the
through that rear yard that connects to the existing 1212 Marlboro location.
existing 1212 Marlboro location.
Upstairs would be another classroom similar layout with a restroom and a small office to the rear
for staff. And then there is no proposed addition to the 1211 building. It would be used in its
current form but again it would be a small nursery space on the first floor and office above and this
is vital to the neighborhood. There isn't a shortage of daycares and child care centers that
are currently enrolling infants. And many of the families currently enrolling older children in the
Fishtown Montessori school have advised that there is nowhere to send their infants and younger
children in the neighborhood. So this is, you know, an urgent need in the neighborhood as these
families continue to grow and want to stay here in Fishtown. I did want to let Denise Petrino,
head of school, sort of speak for a moment on Montessori, Fishtown, Montessori, their success
at the Marlboro location and why these two Cree Street properties are ideal for the natural
expansion of the school. Denise, can you raise your hand if you're in the audience?
could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer hello my name is denise
spetrino and my last name and my name is spelled d-e-n-i-s-e s-p-e-p-e-r-i-n-o
refer to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do please proceed counsel
Thank you. Denise, did you want to walk through the overview of Montessori that we've prepared? We'll keep it brief in mind of the board's time.
Of course. Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today. This slide demonstrates how much children love our center and families love our center. Moving on, we want to briefly go into the level of quality of care that we're offering, which has recently been recognized for us with an award for excellence in education in Philadelphia.
We really are a valuable resource in the Fishtown neighborhood. We're a commodity in the neighborhood that parents rely on for high quality care.
Moving on, our program is unique. I myself am a lifelong educator. I've been in early childhood for 30 years with a principal certification, a master's in teaching, learning and curriculum.
and I'm currently getting my Montessori administrator certificate. The level of
quality that we are offering is unparalleled in this neighborhood, and it is highly desirable,
which is reflected in the demand that we have. We serve currently 85 children and their families,
and we want to grow to provide more seats to the to the children. The parents are relying on us.
This is a picture of a picnic that we had at the end of last year. It's really a community
resource and one that we're proud to offer. Moving on, the zoning variants,
your approval today will enable us to offer 25 more seats for three to six-year-olds
and offer up to 10 seats for infants, which is in Philadelphia, I believe there's only one other
Montessori infant, and that's all the way by the Navy Yard. So this level of care is not even being
offered really in the city, and we're proud to offer it. We want to offer it, but we need your
approval to do so. We're also offering really high-quality jobs. Our jobs that we have,
they qualify for the Philadelphia Quality Jobs Program. We have right now employing 25 staff
members over 30 hours a week. And we would like to offer more quality jobs. I think the zoning
would at least offer 10 more quality jobs in the neighborhood. For people who are dedicated to
early childhood education and wanting to grow, we support that learning for our staff as well.
We are a neighborhood resource and we are a as as evidenced by the numerous letters of support, we are really impacting the neighborhood in a positive way.
We're really mindful of our impact as well. We have met many sustainability measures in order to reduce our trash and we're going to be using the Marlboro Street for all of our trash, which we have a commercial account with.
And, you know, finally, if we just want to scroll through these last slides, we're offering something that's super unique, super high quality and something that we're just grateful to be able to do.
And something that we're just grateful to be able to do, but it's really in high demand and there's and this is the only reasonable location for us to to do this.
But it's really.
There's nowhere else for us to do it. We have this opportunity right now and we're asking for your support and your go ahead to help make it happen.
So thank you very much for allowing me to take the time to to share our beautiful program.
And you can see the smiling children here.
You're going to really help facilitate that in the city.
So thanks so much.
Thanks, Denise.
Chairman, I just have a few minor points and then we can wrap up.
Let me ask you a question.
Should she adopt your testimony?
Yes, she can do it now or when I finish.
Either way, it's time while she's on it.
Denise, have you heard my testimony today?
Yes, I have.
Would you agree it's true and correct?
Yes, I do.