David Vecto, City Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends a zoning map change to RM4,
multi-family residential, at this location.
Under the proposed zoning, the proposal would be closer into compliance
than under the existing commercial mixed-use zoning.
So the city planning commission recommends the board grant the use variance for 1,003.
so the city planning commission recommends the board grant the use variants for 1003 and 1005
north 40th street thank you mi 2022 003 541 1003 north 40th street and
where's the other one here be right with you and mi 2022 003 542 1005 north 40 street
i vote yes with proviso hold on one minute
i vote yes with proviso revised plans one page stamp by zba on october 19 2022
Harold Tenere, my vote is yes with proviso for both cases.
Thomas Holliman, my vote is no with both cases.
James Snell, my vote is yes with proviso for both cases.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes with proviso for both cases.
Thank you, Henry.
Thank you. Enjoy your trip there, Henry. Okay. MI 2022-004-233-3001 Chestnut Street. Letter of support from Patent Village Civic Association. Council Member Jamie Gauthier also supports this request.
jared klein is the attorney
mr klein will be coming back in as a panelist thank you good afternoon mr chair uh if the
board could actually promote peter kelson he's going to be the attorney uh leading the president
i'm just going to share my screen today mr mr kelson
you had this hand raised a moment ago okay
all right here it is
good afternoon mr kelson he's coming back in as a panelist okay thank you jason you're welcome
Mr. Kelsen?
Thank you, Jason.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, members of the board.
Peter Kelsen on behalf of Spark Therapeutics.
It's K-E-L-S-E-N, Black Rome, LLP.
and I have not been sworn, Mr. Chair.
I'm going to swear you right this moment.
Do you swear, affirm, tell the truth, the whole truth,
nothing but the truth?
You've already identified your client.
Our vice chair has a few questions for you, sir.
Absolutely, Ms. Denary.
Hi, Mr. Kelsen.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal
and stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed the exhibit packet
with proof of ownership tax compliance,
a copy of the refusal or referral, photos and or plans of the property five days in advance of this
hearing, and have you met with the RCO, and do you have a letter? Yes to all of those. The exhibit
package is in, and our provisor plan package is in and has been in for at least five days.
We have support of the RCO as well as the councilwoman. Thank you so much. You may proceed
and begin to bring it's good to see you good to see you as well uh if i may mr chairman i would
like to promote cynthia pucinan please uh from spark therapeutics because she's going to affirm
my testimony okay all right but i'll begin while that's happening so once again good afternoon
members of the board really delighted to present to you the application um regarding 3001 chestnut
Street. The site, as you will see, consists of a vacant lot located and bounded by Chestnut Street,
30th Street, both upper and lower, Ludlow, and the Railroad High Line, which is immediately
adjacent as indicated by the cursor. The site is zoned I-2 Industrial. Anecdotally, this used to be
the site of Abbott's Dairies many, many years ago. It was a former industrial use.
It's currently used as an open air parking lot and has been for
It's currently used as an open-air parking lot and has been for quite some time.
The lot itself consists of approximately 93,000 square feet of area.
And what we are proposing is to reuse this parcel and to construct a state-of-the-art six-story, 415,000-square-foot structure, which will be utilized for a state-of-the-art gene therapy manufacturing, research development, and office facility.
Let me show you a little bit about what we propose to do at the location visually.
I should point out while we're going to get those renderings up, the property will be served by 199 below grade parking spaces.
That's one of the variances before you today, the parking ratio, as well as seven loading docks, and also one of the variances today.
So if you look at Exhibit 5, currently existing is the vacant parson, as indicated at the top.
Below that, as we scroll down, you're beginning to see the proposed development.
This will be, as I said, brand new construction, lead silver, and will offer the opportunity to manufacture transformational gene therapy products by Spark Therapeutics.
A couple of illustrations as we scroll down, giving you different views.
chested at 30th street views, an interior lobby view. And this is important, I think, for the
board's perspective. The building has been designed purposely to enhance visibility from the outside
as well as from the inside, to create a connection between people walking by the building,
viewing the building from the outside, and those within the building.
And you can see that the lobby itself has been designed to also create connections within the space to facilitate collaborative efforts.
But the whole idea is to show the public the science that's going into creation of this gene therapy programming.
It's critical. Here you have an illustration of how the building abuts the high line, the freight line.
And then one more shot of the facility.
So what are we here for today in terms of variances?
Well, the subject property, the proposed use is by right under the I-2 designation.
But the code requires, from a parking perspective, that because of the nature of the uses, manufacturing, offices, research, and development, that we would provide 413 parking spaces.
As I mentioned earlier, we are providing 199.
The code requirement is excessive.
It's actually counterproductive because what we'll be doing if we were to meet code, we would be creating a tremendous amount of traffic congestion, negative environmental impact, and there is absolutely no rational reason to have almost 100% additional parking required.
Incidentally, members of the board, as you are well aware, this property sits in a sweet spot when it comes to public transit.
30th Street Station, regional rail, numerous bus and other local transit amenities abound.
So in terms of the other variants required, it's loading, something you and I have discussed with other similar facilities.
The code requires 12 loading spaces. We are providing seven. Those are more than enough to meet our needs with regard to deliveries and transportation of product.
I should point out, we control, we spark, control the operation, and therefore will fully control delivery times and access to the loading facilities.
Parking will be accessed, if we could just stay on that last slide for one moment. Parking will be accessed off of 30th Street. And the loading will be accessed off of Ludlow Street.
Parking will be accessed. If we could just stay on that last slide for one moment.
I would also point out to the board, the loading, parking, streetscape have all been extensively reviewed and are continuing to be reviewed by both the streets department and PENDA.
There's mutual jurisdiction.
part of our exhibit package contains at exhibit six the proviso plans there are some slight
changes that have been incorporated in the proviso set virtually all of them if you review
the proviso plan form are streets issues minor changes that are not impactful of zoning there
There are maybe a handful of zoning changes.
They're extraordinarily minor.
They relate to augmentation of a setback in order to accommodate streetscape off of Ludlow.
Slight changes to the building footprint, again, driven by streets comments.
Streets actually asked us to make one of the loading docks 60 feet, which we have done.
And that's shown on the plan.
And then lastly, they've asked us to augment, and we have augmented the footprint very, very slightly. You can't really even tell the difference between the revised plan and the original in order to accommodate certain street furniture and fixturing.
Finally, I would point out to the board with regard to streets department involvement, they have actually instructed us to remove certain street trees in planters that were located on Chestnut Street because of utility and interference.
So we have taken those off from the original plan.
And with that, let me discuss the benefits of the proposal.
Members of the board, this facility will create a cutting-edge manufacturing facility supporting the gene therapy programs that SPARC has undertaken and is actively involved in in Philadelphia.
In fact, surrounding this site are numerous SPARC facilities.
It will take a vacant, underutilized parcel and create a gateway project within the core and entryway to the university city.
It will be heavily supported by public transportation.
And I think equally importantly, it will promote job creation at virtually every level, literally, from dock workers, warehouse staff, individuals that will be given the opportunity to qualify for certificate programming,
not having a college degree, but getting a certificate to allow them to participate and
gainfully employed in the manufacturing process. And then we move up the chain to PhDs and so forth.
So this is really something that will activate the community, enable the local community to have
meaningful, life-changing jobs, again, I repeat, at every level of the operation.
Members of the board, I will actually say that in a case like this, the denial of the variance
relief will work a hardship to the property as well as to the community. Overpopulation
of vehicles is not a healthy thing. It's not necessary. And it will also undermine our ability
to achieve the highest levels of sustainability that Spark not only aspires to, but has designed
to. And with that, I will certainly answer any questions. I will point out, thank you,
Jared, for putting this up. We've had a number of meetings with Palton Village as the convening RCO.
They've taken a position of support for this project. We've introduced a number of elements
into our project operation and design. And I'm proud to say that we'll have continuing dialogue
with Palton and with our neighbors, including the University City District.
with Palton and with our neighbors, including the University City District, as the project evolves
and as operations continue. We are really delighted at the reception we've gotten from the community
and we will look forward to, we have been looking forward to working closely with the
Councilwoman's Office and the Councilwoman with regard to local hiring initiatives and that
educational programming I spoke about before. Very important to all of us. And with that,
I would ask the board if you're disposed to grant their relief, the proviso plan
has been submitted as well as the project form. If the board has any questions, I have available
Our design team from Jacobs Engineering, excuse me, as well as our civil engineer.
And I'll have Cynthia Boussinen from SPARC also be available to answer any questions that you might have.
Mr. Kelsen, will you want your testimony adopted, please?
Yes. Can we, Cynthia, are you in the room, so to speak?
Cynthia, could you raise your hand?
There we go.
Cynthia, it's been a lot to speak.
Can you hear me okay?
Could you state your name and spell it, please, for the court reporter?
Certainly.
My name is Cynthia Pusinan, C-Y-N-T-H-I-A.
Pusinan is P-U-S-S-I-N-E-N.
All right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed, counsel.
Thank you. Ms. Bucinan, are you employed by Spark Therapeutics?
And have you heard the entire presentation I made with regard to this matter today?
Yes, I have. Thank you.
And if you were to present this matter to the board, would you have presented it in the manner that I did and with the facts and conclusions that I provided?
Yes, I would have, Peter.
Would you adopt my testimony as your testimony before the board?
Yes, I will.
Great. Thank you very much.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Sir, I have Deborah McCarty with her hand raised.
I have allowed her to speak.
Hi, could you state your name and spell for the court reporter?
Sure, Ken.
Hi, this is Deborah McCarty, D-E-B-R-A-M-C-C-A-R-T-Y.
You swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
Yes, I do.
Proceed.
Hi, I just wanted to, I'm the president of our civic association, Pelton Village Civic Association,
And I just wanted to reiterate what was stated in our letter, you know, the public art and the interactive pedestrian experience is important as well as the whatever plan or streets department will allow on the benches.
the commitment to local hiring and support of scientific education with our local public schools
is a really welcome part of this project, as well as the financial support for UCD
and supporting improvements of the public realm in the area. And so we are hoping that
this is granted and we welcome the continuing dialogue with SPARC. Thank you.
Thank you very much for calling. We appreciate your comments. Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
I do not see any hands, Mr. Chair.
My planning commissioner.
Thank you, Chair Bergman, David Fecto, City Planning Commission, Mr. Chairman and members of the board.
The comprehensive plan recommends a change of zoning to commercial mixed use five at this location.
This is one of our densest and most lenient zoning districts.
With that zoning, the applicant's proposal would be short only approximately 10 parking spaces from the required parking count in the zoning code.
So the applicant has demonstrated that the proposed loading requirement will also be impractical if applied to this location.
And so the City Planning Commission recommends that the board grant the use variances.
Thank you.
MI 2022, 004-233-3001 Chestnut Street, I vote yes with proviso.
Revised plans, two pages, stand by ZBA, October 19, 2022.
October 19, 2022.
Carl Sennari, my vote is yes with proviso.
Carl Stenari, my vote is yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes with proviso.
James Snell, yes with proviso.
Yes, yes with proviso.
Counsel, thank you so much, members of the board.
Counsel, thank you.
Exciting project.
Thank you, members of the board, for making it happen.
All right, thanks.
Thank you again.
Bye-bye.
Number 11, MI 2022-003-469-750 South 10th Street, Adam Laver is the attorney, letter of non-opposition from Vela Vista Neighbors Association, letter of non-opposition from Council Member Mark Squilla, and two emails of support from property owners and or residents of the block.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, members of the board.