And with me in the background, they're my client, Mr. Webb, and some of the supporting neighbors of his petition.
Thank you very much.
Our vice chair has a few questions, sir.
Morning, counsel.
Do you agree to weigh the reading of the refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?
I do, Mr. Shahid.
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that's needed to proceed with this case,
five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, I have.
Thank you, counsel. Please proceed and share your screen.
Mr. Chairman, is that visible?
It is now. Yes, sir.
Good. Good morning, Mr. Chairman, again, and members of the board.
Henry Clinton, on behalf of Mr. Webb, who is to my right and your left.
This is a request for an accessory dwelling unit above an existing garage, a garage that has been there at least seven to eight decades, on a rather large lot, which is adjacent to a single-family home that Mr. Webb has lived in all of his entire life.
And I will walk through the presentation step by step.
This is my table of contents, which contains Exhibits A1 through A10.
This is the refusal.
So it's one refusal for use, indicating that an accessory dwelling unit are only allowed on single-family lots, which we have.
It can be detached, which the garage is.
And it's within the interior of a principal building, which could be a detached garage, which we have.
So we have a refusal, and I think we're on the cusp of getting this by right, but the
examiner didn't really say what aspect of the ADU requirements were not met, but I'm
going to have to assume it was the lot size, because if you look at the regulations for
an accessory dwelling unit, typically the minimum lot size is about 1,600, and we're
at about 1,100 square feet.
but I don't want to read into it, but just trying to have candor with the board as to my
interpretation of what has happened here. Because accessory dwelling units, the code has been
loosened a little bit to permit them. And when you look at the reasons why for the legislation,
it's because accessory dwelling units provide a secondary living space. It's typically going to
own a property with a primary home and the primary resident has to live there.
It's usually on a, the entrance has to be one entrance facing the street, which we have.
It has to contribute to the housing zoning stock, which we do and which SASA has recognized
at the meeting because the Graduate Hospital neighborhood is becoming more and more exclusive
in terms of pricing, and having an accessory dwelling unit will allow for a long-time resident
in this instance to again meet one of the reasons why ADUs have been proposed, which is to provide
supplemental income for seniors as Mr. Webb eases his way into retirement. It also is another
issue as to why ADUs were implemented and the rules relaxed is to continue with the diverse
characterization of the neighborhood, which this property will do. And these used to be called
granny flats or, you know, mother-in-law suites, but ADU is the more common jargon right now.
So this is a letter of support from SOSNA, and this request is for a three-story addition above
an existing garage, a garage that has been there, as I said, at least 64 years, which is Mr. Webb's
age. And based on aerial photographs, we believe this property actually
And based on aerial photographs, we believe this property actually predates the code and the original zoning code, as the board knows, was implemented in 1933.
So at the meeting, I think it's worth looking through this letter.
Some people didn't like the fact it was four stories, although I'll show the board there are four story homes directly across the street on Webster Street.
uh some members questioned whether the bearing walls could could support three stories again
that that's a building permit issue and we'll have a structure on engineer on board for that
uh but in general it was well received a nine four three against and then as you mentioned at
the air outset mr chairman we do have a a plethora of signature from surrounding neighbors again
Mr. Webb has lived in a property for all of his adult life.
So he has strong relationships with neighbors, both on Webster Street and on Catherine Street.
So these are all the signatures.
And then I have an aerial photograph and then mark X where all the signatures came from.
As you can see, we have signatures on both sides of the property.
In fact, Mr. and Mrs. Rousseau are here today.
They've owned 21-28 for many decades.
and they asked to be in my office during this presentation.
So this is the front of the property to give everyone some perspective here.
This is Catherine Street where my cursor is.
This is the garage existing in the rear.
It looks like it's attached, but when I show you a top-down view,
you'll see there's separation between the primary residence
and the hopeful accessory dwelling unit.
This is Webster Street, which is the back end of Catherine Street.
We're looking south.
and then you can see there's four-story houses, a mixture of four-story houses
and three-story houses on the block, some of which have garages on both sides of our property.
Just some more photographs. This is looking now north. We're looking from Webster Street where my
cursor is. Catherine Street is at the top of the photograph, and this is the existing garage.
From this photograph, you can see that there are other garages on the block with what appears to be living units above.
There's one here, and I'll show you a close-up photograph of both these garages.
And there's also parking.
Most people who live on Catherine Street, instead of having a rear yard, they use it for parking because parking is at a premium.
Just another view.
And here's the top-down view.
This is 2130 Catherine Street.
it is a detached garage as are some others on the block and again you can see there's
parking on one side of the street and then there's parking at the rear of most of the
properties on catherine street this is a close-up view of the one-story garage
now we're looking uh eastbound on webster street four-story houses across the street
a zigzag garage just a closer view of the garage you can see here this is not really
a good view of the space that's there, but you can walk along the garage and get into
the rear yard if you need it.
This is now a view looking westbound, and the garage is in the distance.
I included this photograph to show you that there are other existing garages on the block.
Excuse me, on both sides of the street, actually.
And then this is 2142 Catherine Street.
This is the back end of 2142 Catherine Street, which fronts on Webster Street.
That was one of the two or three existing garages with what appear to be residences above.
This is 2115 Webster Street.
This has a separate address, believe it or not.
It actually backs on a property on Catherine Street.
These are pictures of the notices that we posted for the hearing.
And here are the plans.
I'm just trying to blow these up a little bit.
So I'll start with the frontside.
So we went in front of the Architectural Review Committee of SASNA, as well as the community group meeting, and we were able to tweak the front facade of the building to really give it a rich look.
It's nicely appointed.
This is a garage door with windows at the above to bring some light into the garage.
limestone, brick, veneer on the second and third floor,
and then a mansert roof with a touch of a setback
so it doesn't appear to give that Grand Canyon look
as you look down Webster Street.
This is the rear of the building.
This is a party board siding,
and then will be stucco at the base.
The floor plans, basically straightforward.
basically straightforward. The first floor will remain a garage. There will be a set of steps
The first floor will remain a garage
leading up to the living room and kitchen. The steps continue on up to a bedroom on the second
floor, excuse me, a bedroom on the third floor, and then a bedroom on the fourth floor. There is
no rooftop deck. We're trying to keep the property in context with the homes directly across the street.
This is our other pro forma documents you usually see in this application, our application for appeal, project information form, tax clearance, the zoning map, again, Catherine Street is all RSA 5, and that's also another requirement of having an ADU.
It has to be either RSA-5 or CMX-1.
Obviously, we conform to the RSA-5 zoning district.
This is the D, indicating Mr. Webb's ownership.
Our notice letter to everyone within 250 feet of the property and our certificate of mailing.
So that is the presentation.
So we're basically requesting that this ADU be approved for all the reasons I outlined at the very beginning, long-time resident of the neighborhood and of this property.
And as the board knows, if this is approved, Mr. Webb will have to have an affidavit and a deed restriction file indicating that he lives on the parcel of land.
He could either live in the single-family home that he lives in now, or he could move into this ADU, and he would comply with the requirements of the code.
And as I said, that has to be recorded with a Philadelphia recorder of deeds.
We are not altering the essential character of the neighborhood.
There's homes across the street that are four stories.
There's existing residences on Webster Street on the north side of the block, which this ADU hopefully will be erected on.
We're not impairing the development or latent error of either property on either side.
It is not detrimental to the public welfare.
We are in harmony with the code because, as I said, the code was relaxed to allow structures like this.
And we are in harmony with the desires of the community group that we appeared before.
So with that, Mr. Chairman and members of the board, I rest my case and I have my client adopt the testimony.
Sure. Why don't you bring Mr. Webb on?
Sure. Mr. Webb is to my right, your left. Mr. Webb, could you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer?
Okay. Mr. Webb, can you spell your name for the stenographer first?
H-E-R-B-E-R-T. First name, last name, W-E-B-B.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Please proceed, counsel.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Webb, you sat here while I presented your project to the board, correct?
And if you had any chance to testify, would you adopt my testimony as your own and as true and correct?
Same as your, yes.
Do you have any changes to what I said?
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
And Henry, I guess the first question, there's four stories right behind here.
Am I correct?
On Webster Street.
Absolutely.
All right.
All right.
All right.
Questions from the board.
Question.
What was the what was your maximum height still at 38? Yes, sir. That's Mr. Johns.
Thank you. I have a question. So one of the RCO's concerns was that the address was inaccurate.
So what would the address be of the new addition to ADU? Would it be a Webster Street address or it still would be Catherine Street?
We're going to we're going to still keep the same address because we're not subdividing this off.
Ms. Graham.
Okay, and I think, was that explained at the meeting?
Carefully at the meeting?
Because that's one of the RCO's concerns
were that it was labeled with the wrong address.
There should be a website.
I think that was Ms. Sucumba who maybe raised that issue.
We're going to keep the same address.
If I show you some of the other photographs
on that block of the existing garages,
This one kept the same address, 2142.
The one down the street has 2115.
Now, we're not intending to subdivide this
because if you subdivided it,
then he'd be able to sell it
and the deed restrictions want to prevent that,
as you know.
Okay, thank you.
Other questions from the board?
Questions or comments from our attorney?
Hillary Emerson.
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Yes, Mr. Chair.
Yes, Mr. Chair, I have a hand.
I have a hand up from Ms. Madeline Shacombo.
She has been allowed to speak.
Good morning.
Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
My name is Madeline Shacombo.
S like in Sam, H-R-K-O-M like in Mary, B like in boy, A.
you swear or affirm to tell the truth
the whole truth and nothing but the truth
I swear or affirm
why don't you please
proceed and testify