to address that question okay could you
what's his last name uh stork s-t-o-r-c-h okay
okay thank you sir could you please state your name is spelled for the stenographer hi my name is
hi my name is eli storch uh e-l-i-s-t-o-r-c-h do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole
Eli Storch, E-L-I.
truth and nothing but the truth yes i do please proceed council good afternoon eli can you hear
me okay yes i can and were you able to hear mr norris's question regarding the driveway
council hold on a minute could the architect please turn his video on
I do not see where I am being allowed to. I only see an audio option.
Hold on. I'll promote them to panelists right now, Mr. Chair. Please assist me.
All right. How's that?
That's great. Thank you. Proceed, counsel.
Wonderful. Eli, were you able to hear Ms. Norris's question regarding the orientation of the driveway?
Yes, I can. And to answer it, there is an existing curb cut. We are moving it only a couple of inches just to accommodate the building structure and make the property work.
The area directly across the street from Rosewood is not part of our property. It's part of the Constitution Health Plaza. There is a rear alley there that serves the back of the Constitution Health Plaza. So it's simply not part of our property to get access via that section of land.
Thank you.
anyone else in the virtual audience
no mr chair no further hands planning commission
thank you chairman and good evening david fechto with the city planning commission
chairman and board members the project completed its civic design review in december 2024
4. the civic design review committee's advisory recommendations are not an expression expression
of the city planning commission's recommendation or opinion regarding zoning variances special
exceptions or other discretionary approvals associated with this proposal the comprehensive
plan recommends a change in zoning at this location from rsa5 residential single family
to cmx3 commercial mixed use the proposed cmx3 zoning would allow this proposal to be built by
right the city planning commission recommends the board grant the proposed variance for parking
and all use and dimensional variances thank you mi2024006169 1900 south broad street i vote yes
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
Thank you, council.
Thank you, members of the board.
MI 2024
006170
649 North
17th street alan knockamson is the attorney
mr knockamson you've been here several times today could you just state your name you won't have been
sworn sir alan alan knockamson and could you identify your client the relationship to the
property yeah my my client is lisa blot black the owner of the property she's to my left behind me
Okay. Our vice chair has a few questions.
Good afternoon. Counselor, do you agree to read another refusal or stipulate to his accuracy?
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that's needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of the scaring?
Yes, we have.
Please proceed and share your screen.
And, by the way, there's a letter of support here from the Spring Garden Civic Association, and also the appellant also has a petition of 18 signatures and also nine letters of support.
Just rejoining the webinar.
All right.
Do you have your tabs on?
do you have your tabs on me too all right it's a long day all right uh some let's see um let's get
Me too.
All right.
to that one I so 649 North 17 Street. This is another
beautiful project. It's really I want to live here. And by the
way i don't live far from here um think about like taking a pilot house and putting on steroids
uh and that's what it is it's really really pretty it's um the architect has evolved like a
an up-and-coming architecture firm in town and with the help of the community like we changed
the color of it i think it looks a lot nicer as a black material and stuff lisa lives in the
property with her husband she's the plant whisperer in the neighborhood i didn't know that at the
time i live in fairmont she lives a little bit closer to broad street um and you know this time
of year it's really hard to keep her plants outside so she's storing she even told me at the
you know in the hearing room she's keeping two mango plants in one of the closets and her husband
was like okay we need to find another spot for that and she's hoping through this greenhouse
on the fourth floor and you look at this picture too there's a smokestack this is an adaptive reuse
but there's a smokestack to the right of us for a property like a little small apartment building
and all we're doing is hugging this little greenhouse structure to the left of us so no
we're not taking anyone's light in there the property to the left of us they're in support
of it they have a and they're the ones most directly impacted and they they're in support
of it they have a letter of support and sort of the people across the street so i'll try to make
this short uh we have a notice refusal review correspondence from the spring garden civic
Association. They're fully in support of it. We worked with them. Another sophisticated group
where, again, we worked through just the design aspects of this. We have a petition, which includes
neighbors to the left of us, across the street from us, and many others. Zoning permit. I wanted
to show that given the refusal that we have, we have two refusals. We have a non-conforming
structure that we're increasing that structure. That's one of the refusals. And the heights.
Like typically you're not going to get a height variance here. We're looking for 46 feet, six inches, but to the right of us, it's much, much higher. So, and we're like complimenting that use again from a shadow effect. We're not really taking the person to the left of us launch and they're in support of it and we're collaborating with them. So, and this is for someone who lives in a neighborhood. And again, we want to embrace people wanting to stay in Philadelphia.
of you. So the zoning permit has all to do to the property to the right of us. Zony map, maps of the
area, you know, photographs of the property or plans and drawings or meeting notice along proof
of mailing that notice or application for appeal or deed to the property showing that Lisa is the
owner of the property and our certificate of tax clearance. She's here behind me. You know, we'll
I'll ask her to be sworn in and adopt my testimony as her own.
But we also have Sam Turner from Evolve Architects who can answer any technical questions you may have.
Notice refusal, again, two of them.
We're expanding a non-conforming structure by just, again, putting that fourth story on there.
The three stories already are non-conforming from a rear-yard setback.
And the second refusal has to do with the fact that we're going forty six feet, six inches high.
Again, not out of character. The property to the right of us is even higher in some respects.
Correspondence from the Spring Garden Group, again, fully in support of it.
They worked with us diligently and just, you know, softening up the project to make sense.
uh petition from nearby neighbors which includes the neighbor to the left of us
a few neighbors in front of us along with the like letters of support from some of those individuals
our zoning the zoning permit to the property to the right of us and we got this off of atlas but
you'll see the heights the height i think here saying 50 something feet high uh maps of the
area so we're 17 we're considered 17th street property this is 17th street um but uh there
it's really really on melon street it's kind of weird and you know what we're not taking anyone's
light in there because there's a parking garage right here on going on fairmont street and then
there's this there's a really interesting uh historic building here uh which has a bank and
which has a bank and apartments and a brewery in there, which is much higher in height.
apartments and a brewery in there which is much higher in height
So contextually, we're really good in that respect from a variant standpoint.
And you can see here, we're really on Mellon Street.
But for whatever reason, when this, I guess, this property got split from other properties, they gave a 17th Street address.
Photographs of the property.
So here's our property.
Here's that parking lot on Fairmont.
So even if we go high, we are not taking anyone's light and airway.
And here's some commercial buildings on Fairmont, which are higher in nature than even us.
Maps, excuse me, proof of our posting for today's hearing.
And then this is our property right here.
But you can see adaptive reuse to make these single-family structures.
And you can see this building structure to the right of us, which we try to complement.
and then this is from Fairmont
this is our property back here
and then just some pictures
of Lisa and what she does
this is older obviously
they took down the railing
they're hoping to get this approval
and those plants are not here today
because it's 20 something degrees
and then this is her rear yard
again she's again
known in the neighborhood
for her growth of
exotic plants
and vegetation.
And then this is her project.
She's going to have a green roof here,
a little area, a sitting area.
And again, I think the black is a much better use
than what was like, it was more of like a beige.
So it complements the front of the property.
And I think it's even more of a dark gray.
You see a lot of vegetation inside.
You can't see her property from Fairmont.
You see the other property.
You see the back of her property from Fairmont.
Yeah, I'll show you a picture back.
I'll go back.
This is her property right now.
This is the pilot house that's currently existing right now.
So what she's doing is she's demolishing that pilot house
and just expanding it to a whole floor.
So it's...
and then this is just the floor plans um you know very interesting she's actually even gonna
have a tree you're gonna have a tree right she has trees plant plant to be in in this in this
greenhouse um you know it's like a feng shui type of place like you know have a shower in here you
have a sauna and the green roof, like, you know, she has some some skylights in here
to allow for the vegetation to grow.
There's just some elevations here.
And then, you know, we met with the community on December 5th, we emailed notice to the
community a few weeks beforehand, to community organizations show proof of mailing of that
notice that went to 114 addresses.
Those are the addresses we mailed it to. That's the proof of mailing, the application for appeal, the deed to the property, and the tax clearance certificate.
Technically, it's not overdue yet, so she's in good standing with the City of Philadelphia.
I would ask that, Ms. Black, if you can hit the green button, if it's not green already, or hit the button so it is green, then you can be swearing.
Could you please state your name and then spell for the stenographer?
Lisa Black, L-I-S-A-B-L-A-C-K, just like the color.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Oh, yes.
Proceed, counsel.
Ms. Black, you heard everything I had to state today about your zoning matter.
And is it true and correct?
It is.
And do you adopt this as your own testimony?
Thank you.
Questions from the board.
What's the setback from the street?
Let's go back to the plans.
And I have Mr. Turner on if you want to virtually raise his hand.
All right, let's see what I got here.
And is the structure the same height as the building to the right, or is it slightly shorter?
My understanding from looking at the, it's slightly shorter because we got from Atlas the zoning permit for that adaptive reuse.
you know we got from atlas the zoning permits for that adaptive reuse of into an apartment building
to the right and the elevation was over 50 feet according to uh that drawing and ours is 46 feet
six inches and the setback is is five feet according to this site plan in the front
other questions from the board yes um since this is a greenhouse that's going on the roof i was
wondering if you could talk to how water is being managed at that roof line and how it's being
sealed for weather during the winter yes um well i think the architect would probably have a little
bit more technical details but um we already have a hosing up there we already have pipes
and we we have a pretty extensive plant collection um we've got a really great
drainage on that roof the original architects who developed it and then partners did a fabulous job
of that and we're using some pretty innovative techniques to incorporate cooling and and warmth
without completely blowing an electrical grid we're trying to incorporate as best as we can
some of these greener aspects.
I would ask
if Mr. Turner can
virtually raise his hand and maybe
elaborate as further.
Mr. Turner?
I better not to speak.