Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Chairman, by way of background,
as Ms. Emerson mentioned at the outset,
Rustin Ohler, who is the architect of record
from Harmon Deutch Ohler architecture,
will be doing the walk through each of the exhibits
and I'll do the narration.
So again, thanks for the accommodation.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, members of the board.
With me is Rustin Ohler, as well as Damian Breen,
the principal of the applicant.
We're here today on two projects, 1003, 1005, North 40th Street.
These two properties, just by way of background, are long vacant lots, at least 10 years or so.
They're large lots.
They're 16 by 95, and they're just off the corner of 40th and Wild Losing Street in West Philadelphia.
A search of the zoning records really wasn't very helpful to tell me what the properties used to be used for.
I can tell you that the properties are in the CMX1 zoning district, and across the street is also CMX1.
Unfortunately, behind these properties, not unfortunately, but it's the residentially zoned, and they've been long vacant lots also.
And as I walk through the presentation, it'll become clear why I'm pointing these things out.
40th Street, just for a few more comments, is a commercial corridor.
its own CMX1, and the community also desires to have 40th Street commercial, but as East Parkside's
letter of support indicates, they felt it's really not ready for commercial yet, which is why we're
presenting a residential multifamily proposal for both properties. So, Rustin, if you could,
I just want you to show the table of contents, which shows exhibit AA to A10, which I asked
to be admitted into the record.
Then, Russell, if you could go to exhibit A1, which is the refusal for both 1003 and
And you can use your cursor to show the board, the zoning district at the top middle, CMX1,
both 1003 and 1005 or CMX1, but you can see the notation by the L&I examiner.
The CMX1 zoning district is attached to an RSA 5 zone. Therefore, this
resulted in a refusal, which indicates since the lot is attached to an RSA 5
zoning district, multifamily household is not permitted. And that's both with
regard to 1003 and 1005 next exhibit would be let's go to the letter of
support yeah correct the RCO is East Parkside Residence Association and we
have unanimous conclusion by the RCO in support of the project 14 to 0 what's
Significant is their letter, and Mr. Ola,
that's the next document, which is the explanation letter.
And in the second paragraph,
and in the second paragraph uh i think i'd like to point out to the board yes the vote was 14 to
I think I'd like to point out to the board,
zero but what the community wanted most was that the second and third floor to be in line with the
rest of the properties on the block in other words have a setback which when we get to the elevations
we will show you that we did uh and also along with that we reduced the height of the building
to match the cornice lines and also to almost match all the window elevations.
And then the second sentence there in that second paragraph, or the third sentence in
that second paragraph, commercial usage on the first floor was very important, but we,
that is the RCO, felt we are a few years away from a few more businesses moving up from
Girard Avenue to Poplar.
And if the board will recall, and I was involved in several projects with Mr. Orr five to seven years ago, on Ridge Avenue, we had similar situations where we would present projects that were commercial, but because commercial wasn't viable at that time, the idea was make the first floor look commercial.
And as Ridge Avenue changed to commercial, the residential use, which was a variance back then, the residential use could be converted to commercial.
And that's kind of the mindset that the RCO had here.
They wanted us to have a commercial use.
I shouldn't say they wanted us.
They were accepting a commercial use on the first floor with the understanding that we had to design, and Mr. Owe did a great job on this, had to design the first floor to look commercial so that when the avenue or 40th Street started to change, that the residential use could be converted to commercial use.
And that's what the idea is.
And I'll show you the elevations, and Mr. Oler can explain that to you when we get to the photograph.
But this is really the background here is even though it's CMX1 and commercial is allowed and permitted on the first floor with residential above,
because you have a condition that we're attached to an RSA 5 zone, the residential multifamily is ruled out.
And then the community agreed commercial was too early.
It's premature.
So let's make the entire building residential.
If and when 40th Street changes to commercial,
you then have a situation where you don't have to knock down the front to side.
You can just simply switch out the residential for commercial.
The next photographs, excuse me, next exhibits, Mr. Ohler, are A3,
which are aerial photographs of 40th Street.
Let's just look at the first one.
That's a top-down view, indicating 1003 is one off the corner of the small street, which is why we're losing, and then 1005 is to the left or to the north.
Next photograph in the packet is a closer view, just to show the board that if you look to the far left, there's a grocery store there, so you can see where commercial is starting to creep down toward Poplar.
The other buildings are residential.
And then to the right, you also can see a two-story and three-story residential.
The next ground-level photograph is we're looking north on 40th Street.
Again, you can see the vacant lots to the left.
You can see that even the residential structure to the immediate left has somewhat of a commercial look to it on the first floor.
And maybe that's the idea that that owner will have.
As the 40th Street changes, perhaps that will become commercial.
But when you see our elevations, you'll see that it's more defined for commercial use.
On the right-hand side, there's a large vacant lot, which is used for commercial parking.
The next photograph is a photograph, again, showing a streetscape and the vacant lot to the right,
the commercial parking lot to the left.
final photograph is just evidence of the fact that we did post the notices for the zoning
hearing uh today then mr or can you go to let's start off with sd 0.1 which is the the site plan
which shows uh the surrounding uses of the properties on 40th street
it's up sorry zero i got it you got it so this is the site plan members of the board again 40
street it's a very wide corridor uh very attuned for commercial use at some point on the left you
can see an existing commercial parking lot and on the right hand side in blue are the two subject
properties you have no variances for open space rear yard height or any dimensional issues
rear yard, height, or any dimensional issues whatsoever.
whatsoever it can't be
It's simply a straightforward use consideration today.
And you'll see that behind the properties, there's a number of plots that are in green.
They're all vacant lots, and even adjacent to our client's properties are vacant lots.
So I think in the mind of the RCO, they're seeing this project hopefully as a jumpstart
to 40th Street as we move away from Girard to Poplar.
And then you can see it directly across the street on Wyalusing at 945 North 40th Street,
this existing multifamily, which our property hopefully will be.
And then to the top of that site playing at 1013 North 40th, you can see that the existing
mixed-use structure, that's the only one so far on east side of 40th Street.
And again, the RCO's hope is that that mixed-use approach will work its way further toward
Clappler Street over time.
Mr. Orr, I think maybe...
Henry, pardon me, Henry.
Where was the market at?
It's 1013.
Okay, thank you.
Mr. Orr, can you move to SD2.0, the elevations?
I'm there.
And can you explain to the board, you do it far better than I do, the architectural features that will warrant this someday being commercial?
Sure. Yeah, the image on the right is the front facade of North 40th Street of what we're proposing.
At the request of the community group, we've modified this to bring the building down to grade
so it could have a future commercial ADA entrance and that first floor front unit
is accessible and wouldn't need any future adaptation as well as enlarging the windows
so it's a larger storefront type entrance and then our original application had the
entire building all the way to the street base and what we've done is we've recessed the second
and third floor backs and aligns with the neighboring properties to the south of us
So this front portion is a one-story commercial aesthetic, and then the residential facade is pushed back in line with the neighbors, lining the cornices as well.
Thank you, Mr. Orr.
And then, Mr. Chairman and members of the board, we could walk to the floor plans.
We have two bedrooms on the first floor and basement.
we have one bedroom on the second floor two bedrooms excuse me one bedroom on the first floor
at the rear of what hopefully will be the commercial space one day on the second floor
two bedrooms two baths and on the third floor uh two bedrooms two baths
mr or is there anything that you'd like to add that you think maybe i omitted or should have said
uh no i'm okay i have a question i have i have a question if it's going to be commercial if it's
going to be commercial one day why do you have living space in the basement uh because it's
residential uh for now until the neighborhood uh can turn around so that means you got to do
rebuilding for both first floor and basement so it wouldn't require any structural changes just
just aesthetics i that's a very expensive uh renovation it depends on the tenant you know
it would suit an office use as is without any modifications uh it would suit a retail
tenant with back of house storage or office space in the basement without any changes
thank you
thank you mr
um henry do you want to have your client do you want to have your testimony adopted
yeah i just mr general i just want to do a quick summation on the legal aspects um so
what we have here is a somewhat unique conditions really on 40th street we have the zoning uh
designation is CMX1 and we have the RCO with a commercial vision one day. It's surrounded by
residential. So we're proposing, you know, the residential use, hopefully with one day become
the commercial. And each Parkside's letter, you know, acknowledges that the area is really not
ready for commercial. And the best approach would be, let's start, excuse me, the letter acknowledges
It's not ready for commercial, and the best approach would be, let's start with residential
and move to commercial, hopefully, one day.
and move to commercial hopefully one day so we maintain that this current proposal is necessary
So we maintain that this current...
for the viable use of the property we have a large long vacant lot that is not being used in
any way there's a hope that this would jump start development in the neighborhood we're not altering
the essential character of the neighborhood the neighborhood is residential with some mixed use
It will help the block.
It will help spur development, hopefully.
It's not impairing the development of any adjacent properties, most of which are vacant.
It's not detrimental to the public health or welfare.
The proposed projects are in harmony with the code.
There's no impact on light and air on adjacent properties, and we see no adverse impact on 40th Street itself.
So with that, I would just ask the Board to keep in mind the flexibility of this project
and the ability for it to adapt as circumstances warrant.
And with that, I would rest and ask my client to adopt my testimony.
Damian Breen, can you raise your hand, please, virtually?
Breen has been about to speak.
Hi, my name is Damien Breen, D-A-M-I-E-N, D-A-M-I-E-N, Breen, B-R-E-E-N.
All right, do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Proceed.
uh mr bream were you on the call when mr oler and i presented your two projects to the board
yes and if you had the opportunity to testify would you adopt my testimony and mr oler's
testimony as your own and would you verify that that testimony is true and correct yes
thank you mr green thank you so so henry one one one quick point could you show the drawings of
first floor i think it would help thomas to visualize what that would mean if you have to
adjust it in the future certainly does that make any sense back up yes sir yeah i i pulled it up um
so that the first floor front unit and back unit um are shown here first floor front is by level
to the basement. The front entry door and unit door are both commercially compliant ADA accessible
as well as the entire first floor unit is also on accessible route and path so that the building
would not have to be altered in any way to meet ADA compliance in order to access that unit in
event that it becomes commercial later uh excuse me bathrooms and kitchens are in the basement
uh right now the kitchen is at the first floor um and then there are two bathrooms in the basement
at the moment there's no kitchen in the basement i can't see the drawings that well but no there's
no kitchen in the basement none no okay just two bait two mechanical and two bathrooms
you have mechanical the hot water heat is the furnace and mechanical laundry two bathrooms
and two bedrooms that's a lot to relocate thank you mr holmer mr chairman can i ask mr holer
question yeah yeah so mr or the layout of the basement you have bedrooms and closets do you
believe that they could be used by an office or perhaps a commercial use other than an office
they would be code compliant for office or storage or they're also non-load bearing
demising partitions which could easily be removed right so in the event that more open space is
needed or that area in the basement needs to be reconfigured,
those partition walls could easily be removed
and would not affect the structural integrity of the building.
Correct?
Correct.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Mr. Sop.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chair.
No, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
So, no further answer, Mr. Chair.
Aye, Planning Commission.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman and members of the Board.