Thank you.
You're welcome.
Mr. Anastasio, you've already been sworn.
Could you just state your name for the record, please?
My name is Vern Anastasio on behalf of the owners of 2049 Randolph.
um do you agree to the the stipulation of the reading of the refusal and its accuracy
i do please uh please start your presentation thank you
wasn't expecting to be called so quickly oh well that never happened that never happened
So 2049 North Randolph Street, we have an exhibit packet comprised of 59 individual exhibits, and we'll walk you through them relatively quickly.
The application is for construction of an attached structure, ostensibly for a two-family dwelling.
The reason why we're being refused here is because the adjacent home is an anomaly.
It's a very unfil...
I guess it was a Philly thing back in the 70s.
It's the only home on the block that has a setback in the front.
And as a result, the code requires this new home to have a setback because the adjacent
home has a setback.
The fact of the matter is, that whole side of the block was built out as one sort of development, and they all had been built out back in the 70s or 60s with a setback.
All of those homes are gone.
They've all been knocked down, and new homes have been built, mostly many of them multifamily and approved by this board.
The house adjacent to us is the only one left.
And it, of course, triggered the requirement, which is why we're here.
And with that,
we'll get to the plans.
We'll get to the plans.
This is a front elevation.
As you can see, it'll be a three-story home.
Here's the rear elevation.
this is the plot plan
this is the layout
i'll zoom in i think miss gaston's gonna ask me to move in any move in zoom in a little anyway
that's right
I think a couple of us may want you to
she usually is the first one
don't make me get out my magnifying glass
you and me both
so here we have the lower level
basement with the
there's a bedroom, there's a hallway
on the first floor
has living space,
a dining room.
Second floor plan.
Is there any way to close
the part of this page
that says pages?
Is there any way to close that
so it makes the drawing bigger?
Yeah, now if you can zoom down
so we can see the whole plan,
that'd be better.
All three of the floor plans together.
You want me to zoom out like this?
Out, yeah.
So there's a basement and first floor?
Still can't see the whole basement.
Still can't see the whole plant.
A little bit more.
I think you got to go the other way.
You got to make it smaller.
Yeah, yeah, that's fine.
Yeah, okay, good.
Now we can see it.
But Ms. Gaston is going to ask me to zoom in again, I tell you that.
But here's the second floor unit.
So this is one unit here.
basement and first floor and second and third floor is this is the second unit
that's ostensibly the plan so the really nice size here's the street I'm going to zoom in on
the photos this is the block itself and all of these are new construction all approved by the
board. That's the lot where the property will go. And across the street, we're actually facing
rears of properties. So it's not really conducive to a whole lot of single-family
development. But this is what we look at across the street. Here's the letter that went out to
all immediate neighbors, inviting them to the August 21st RCO meeting, Norris Square.
And here are all the addresses that were mailed.
I'm going to zoom out for this one.
172 individual households were invited.
It was pretty well attended.
is the poster, and we have proof of posting.
I'll zoom in for that.
Right there.
And as you can see, that's the house that sets back.
Here's a history of the property,
the long history of a two-family dwelling,
going back to 1949.
So our use, our new use will be consistent with the old use.
We have the deed and the tax cert being moved into evidence.
As you can see, there is some vacancies,
some significant vacant lots still surrounding the property.
and most importantly north square is kind enough to give us a unanimous support
for the project
because the proposed use is consistent with previous uses uh when there was in fact a
building there because other like similarly situated properties and uses have been approved
by this board relatively recently on the block and because the adjacent home that
relatively recently on the block and because the adjacent home that triggers the refusal is the
only one left and very well likely will be demolished and uh and uh rebuilt themselves
uh we respectfully request the granting of the variance want to bring your client on yeah i think
Mark Bennett, I believe, should be
on here today. Let me take a look.
If not Mark, then Andrew Friedman.
Andrew Friedman, if you're in the audience, please raise your hand.
I see no one by that name in the audience.
Mr. Anastasio, as an officer of the court, we'll accept your testimony.
I appreciate that. Thank you.
Questions from the board.
You have a question. Can you hear me?
Yes, sir.
On your plan, are you planning for a parking spot in the back? Is that what it is?
On the...
Can you go to the same plan?
Yep, I'm going there now.
so you're planning for a parking space in the back
it's not part of the application mr it's showing it's showing a curb cut and uh
oh i'm sorry it is part of the application one accessory surface parking space
can you go back to the site planning yep
is that an alley in the back or is that a street in the back
that's a rear street and is there no parking north reese is there parking on that street
or no parking on the street how is that because i'm looking at your your your your car you know
turning radius to get into a park this parking space which is kind of odd because it tucks under
the building but and then it's that is that a pavement in the back on the back street it'll
there'll be a sidewalk and a curb cut because it's hard it's hard to tell what the dimensions of the
parking the parking pad is yeah it did not come up under the review of the of lni right so but
it's in our first their first paragraph doesn't say that surface parking space no the application
says it yep a proposed curb cut at existing curb cut location see included drawings for the city's
standard okay and do do houses front on that back street north preston or is that a is that
a alley street um north reese is an alley street so that so that's an alley that's essentially an
alley street okay um i have a question the the first unit um is the only bedrooms of that unit
in the basement that's what it looks like let me pull back yeah the living space is on the first
floor and the lower level has the bedrooms i guess that's that that's always a concern with
the living space in the basement the other issue i'm sorry i'm sorry remember to grant you good
i was going to say the same thing but go ahead there's egress wells uh yeah yeah yeah no the
issue is if what's the height of the basement what's the what's the depth of the basement below
the grade you know we we find some situations where you know you literally go eight you eight
feet below grade doesn't look like you are here it's hard to tell no elevation so that that's
a concern with it if the architect is on i'd ask him to raise his virtual hand right and i and of
course i raise the same issue i raise a lot of times in these plans when the plans generally
don't work well for living space they don't show furniture and your living your living dining room
area is like 12 by it looks like 10 with a kitchen and it's a three-bedroom house right a three
family dwelling. No, it's a duplex. No, no, no, no. I'm saying it's a three person dwelling,
right? A minimum of a three person dwelling. So if you've got a family, you could have two kids
in each room, right? I'm just saying the living- Theoretically, yes. Right. There's not a whole
lot of living space. You got a three bedroom house, basically a three bedroom apartment
with a very small living space for families to gather.
with a very small living space for for families to gather that's my concern with this with the unit
with the unit size and you don't show furniture so we have no idea whether the bedroom really works
whether you can put a bed in there whether you can put furniture in there so that's
always a concern for me and and the size of the bedrooms are all over the standard size they do
they do they do they do but for example in your dining this says dining room where's the living
room see on your plan here it says dining room where's the living room where's the family going
to live is that is the living room someplace else maybe that's just the error on the plan
but i think so because this is the this is the kitchen area right and this is the living space
here right so i guess everybody's got to eat at the counter i don't know oh no there would be
there could be a kitchen table right here yeah that's a hallway i'm i'm i'm i don't want to get
into the detail of the plan it's a four foot looks like it says four foot or i can't tell
it looks like i don't know it looks like it said 11 feet but you know whatever it's the issue is
livability right real livability i have two issues issue with the bedrooms in the basement
and the depth of the basement below grade because we get some terrible snowstorms now
and if those windows get covered up these people are stuck in the basement literally and god forbid
there's something else that happens so the higher you can make the basement uh bedrooms out of the
ground the better for in my opinion okay okay the other thing is making units that it was if you're
going to do a three-bedroom unit to me in my opinion your living dining room should at a
minimum be the same size as the one you have upstairs i don't know and you don't show furniture
so that's a problem for me but those are all those are my issues i've raised those issues every time
why don't we do this
I only see two bedrooms Mr. Johns
unless I'm missing something
floor there's not a bedroom
first floor there's a bedroom behind the bathroom
bedroom one
I see it now
bedroom two and bedroom three
and this here is the living space
correct
so listen the owner wasn't here why don't we do this hillary why don't we have a resumptive
hearing let the architect and the owner come in i appreciate that that that would be helpful thank
you i'm not quite sure why we'll go from there and then you then then vern you're not trying to
figure out what the architect did yeah and i didn't i didn't make the plans and i didn't submit
them so yeah i was gonna say there's a david mcarthur with his hand raised is that the
architect yes it is i was hoping that the architect was here um to be able to get our
questions answered now at least some of them yes i'm still okay with the resumption hearing though
so we could maybe even put some furniture on these plans for you david mcarthur is allowed to speak
uh yes sir could you please state your name and spell for the course sonographer uh my name is
David McArthur, D-A-V-I-D-M-C-A-R-T-H-U-R.
We're affirmed to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth.
Counsel, please proceed.
Mr. McArthur, did you hear some of the concerns of Mr. Johns today?
Yes, I did.
Please address that.
First, I'd just like to say that that dining room space is a typo.
That is the general living space at the rear of the first floor there.
We do realize it's about an 11 by 15 space.
if that's a little tight and it would be preferable i think one of those rooms in the
basement could be converted to a rec room or living space to um enhance that if it would be
more favorable to the board do you want to discuss uh how much above grade is the basement right
right um yes the um house currently is about the basement slabs about six feet below grade
and has an eight feet ceiling so um you have about two feet of um headroom in the basement
that would be above grade before you hit the ceiling in the basement what's the maximum height