anything like that it was very positive meeting so um this is that letter from the rco there were
a couple things that they asked of us which we were agreeable to including um just making sure
that our leases are tight regarding trash control and noise not that these things are issues just
because they wanted to make sure we were doing a good job and then there's also a dead tree in the
front of the property dead street tree that they asked us to remove which we were agreeable to
here is a zoning permit from 86 the one i referenced where it references to family
living in a commercial unit at the time it was a vacant office
zoning map despite the zoning here this block again is not commercial
Maybe there's a zoning change, you know, in waiting happening here.
I would think that RM1 is more appropriate.
Here's a Google Maps perspective as well.
You can see that we're very close to Broad Street and the Broad Street line.
Photos.
This is the front of the property.
This property was actually designated as historic in 2000.
My clients have kept it up well.
Here's a notice poster.
Here's to the right and to the left.
um interior photos so uh currently my client lives in the first floor unit uh it's a one bed
one bath there's a studio and a two bedroom um above and the studio has been actually vacant
since they purchased the property so almost 20 years the plan if we are able to get through
this process successfully is for russell's son to um you know move into that studio apartment
And there's an existing tenant in the two-bedroom unit, which is considered 2F.
There's two individuals that live there.
Plans and drawings.
No basement living.
It's an unfinished basement.
It is accessible only through the first floor unit, which is owner-occupied.
There's rear yard access from this hallway right here, not from a bedroom.
There's a bathroom very close to this bedroom right here.
common entry point at the existing front door takes you upstairs where there is a landing you
make a left into a studio that has a rear deck or right into a bi-level unit that has kitchen living
and a deck and laundry on the second floor and then bedrooms and a bathroom on the third floor
above because the it's owner occupied it's it's um it's it's actually a combination of self-manage
But they employ the assistance of a professional management company, Welker Real Estate, just to insist.
they employ the assistance of a professional management company welker real estate just to
insist in collecting of rent and maintenance related reasons but obviously russell living
there gives him very close eyes on the property and with that i will share that the notice posting
we met in early october with spring garden civic we mailed notice to over 100 neighbors here's the
proof of mailing application for appeal here's the deeds you can see that these gentlemen own
the property in their own names they're not developers of any kind they just own an investment
property they purchased it they've owned it for almost 20 years uh and tax clearance so with that
i'd ask my client to be sworn in sir could you sit forward near the mic yes hi could you please
state and spell your name for the stenographer? Richard Kalman, R-I-C-A-J-R-D-K-A-L-M-A-N.
Do you swear or affirm that tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth? Yes.
Counsel? Richard, did you hear my testimony today? Yes, I did. Was it true and correct? Yes.
Do you adopt it as your own? Yes, I do. Questions from the board?
Questions or comments from our attorney? No comments at this time, Mr.
chairman questions or comments from the virtual audience there are no hands chair planning
commission michael gall with the philadelphia city planning commission the comprehensive plan
recommends no change to the current cmx2 commercial mixed-use zoning at this location
there are no other commercial storefronts on this block base and the configuration of the current
building is not conducive to an active commercial use with other multi-family uses adjacent to this
building as well as across the street the variance from multiple residential uses would be contextually
appropriate for this location city planning commission therefore recommends the grant be
requested for active ground floor use and variance sorry the variance be requested for uh
active ground floor use and multi-family household living mi2026-004-211-676 north 15th street i
vote yes michael giles my vote is yes cheryl gaston my vote is tenetta graham my vote is yes
by a win my vote is yes layla bb my vote is yes thank you thank you poplar street thank you thank
Thank you, sir.
Oh, now you need it.
Oh, Mr. Not going to send.
You've been sworn and testified several times today.
But just for the record, could you please state your name?
Alan Nockamson.
Mr. Nockamson, could you identify your client, the relationship to the property?
Yeah, my client is 213-19 Poplar LP, the owner of the property,
and to my left is Jim Maransky, one of its representatives.
Letter of support with provisos from Northern Liberties, am I correct?
That is correct.
Our vice chair has a few questions.
Good afternoon. Have you submitted your documents and exhibits 14 days in advance of this hearing?
We have.
And do you waive the veto of your refusals on this case
and stipulate to the accuracy?
Yeah, I think this one's correct.
All right, thank you.
You can show your screen and proceed.
It is amended, though.
It has been amended.
I think that was self-inflicted.
All right, let's do this.
So another property in Northern Liberties.
so so jim is a well-known developer in town does amazing work a lot of adaptive reuse but once in
a while who do new construction and i think that this project is obviously appropriate for this
site the main reason is the amount of units already been approved we have a 38 unit building
approved under under for a zoning permit the only thing we're essentially trying to do is swap out
the commercial component this is a cmx two and a half project for parking and i think that the
residents were more than happy for us to do that there were some other conditions which we'll talk
about but if you think about it this way we're allowed 38 units we're trying to get 38 units
he's not trying to get any more units it's the same amount of units the first floor we're mid
block on poplar street on the 200 block of poplar we don't think it's appropriate to have a humongous
commercial spot there. And instead, we want to swap out and put parking on the street.
I think that makes sense. We hope so, that you do as well. So we have 11 exhibits. And then
at the conclusion of my presentation, you'll swear, Jim, and then we'll have some questions.
I also have Judith Robinson, the architect, that can answer any technical questions you may have.
that can answer any technical questions you may have let me just do one thing let me just
Let me just do one thing. Let me just un-share myself.
unshare my screen it's blacking out something so for some reason stop sharing let's re-share
that let's see if that works all right that works now all right so the refusal uh so the first
refusal is this this is the one refusal that's different than what the buy right project we have
so jim is putting in or wants to put an elevator in um you know so the code only allows for a
roof deck access structure of 125 square feet when you have an elevator you definitely need more
space than that so he's asking for a little bit larger it's not affecting anyone's light in there
and i think it's appropriate for a building of this size again he you know he has a zoning permit
for a smaller one it's just not as effective second one is you know again the parking where
we originally proposed to have 21 the reason why we have an amended refusal is because we made some
modifications based on community comments so the first one was we originally had 21 parking spots
they wanted 19 actually because they felt some of the parking spots came too close to the
residential structures and they didn't want the fumes there the smell of the fumes so they said
can you just have 19 we're like fine um and then we also got the rid of the rear yard setback
refusal the the next refusal on this notice of refusal is the cmx two and a half uh zoning
classification requires to have a commercial unit on the ground floor you know and we have you know
a refusal in that respect um and you know for the reason to have the parking instead that's why we
have that refusal and then the fourth refusal is the occupied area again this is a refusal that was
at the request of the community we'll show you but we had like uh the garage on the first floor
was kind of open air and they wanted us to close portions of it because of a sound barrier like
they thought it would create a more sealed sound sound barrier so we we put a roof on the over the
first floor. So that created an occupied area for a portion of the building, which we didn't have
before, which created an occupied area refusal. But again, this was at the request of the community,
which we agreed to do. So we have a letter of support. Here's what they agreed to, right?
Toters should not be stored on the sidewalk for pickup. We don't plan to. They should be staged
inside the building and rolled out by the hauler after 6 a.m so i think that was a miss on their
part because we actually had like you'll see in the garage area we have a staging area for where
all the garbage is going to be stored and again jim manages many many um commercial uh excuse me
apartment buildings nearby and you know he has a you know used used his commercial trash pickup
does it more than once a week so like he may even go into the garage itself with a smaller van
to pick up the garbage where they're being staged.
The second refusal, we do not support a loading zone in the front of the building.
So there was a discussion during the community meeting,
maybe having a loading zone in the front to deal with the trash.
And we said they were not for that.
And so we said, okay, we won't put a loading zone in there
or try to put a loading zone.
They wanted us to change the balconies in the front on Poplar Street
to Juliet balconies, which we agreed to do, which is part of our design.
We reduced the parking count to 19, which is part of that amended refusal.
So that's the next thing.
Now, they did say they would prefer for us to have 35 units.
We can't agree to that.
And we told them that.
And they issued the letter of support regardless.
But we told them that we're not agreeing to 35 units.
We have a buy-ride option of 38 units.
we're not changing anything on floors two through five this is a merely a swap out of the commercial
component for parking um you know again that's you know for the board to decide um but we wouldn't
do the project for 35 units we would just do the buy right option and i don't think that's
for the best of the community uh the next uh item that the that was discussed um was to make the
garage doors opaque, which we agreed to do, and no projection screens or monitors on the
pilot house. So they thought we're going to do movie nights up there. And we said, no, we have
no intentions of doing that. So, but that's, you know, again, some of these are enforceable,
some of them aren't. And the ones that were enforceable, that's why we have the amended
refusal, reducing the parking counts and things like that. This is our, you know, zoning permit
for the allowance of a 38-unit apartment building,
no off-street parking,
and to have a commercial component,
and to have a commercial component which you can see right here and we also have 13
which you can see right here.
class 1a bicycle parking spaces here and on the drawings that are part of this variance request
it's not again it's not uncommon to have parking on the 200 block of poplar street so i want to
give you a couple examples 211 poplar street 239-41 poplar street this is really the crux
of our case to that refusal and then nearby which an intersecting street is 829 north american
street maps of the area i mean there's no dispute that we're a cmx two and a half property and
there's high density zoning classifications nearby so we're between second street and
north american street as you can see and we're just off of brown street photographs of the
property. This is the front of our property. This has been a vacant lot for as far as Google Street
View goes back in 2007. This is our orange hearing notice posters.
This is Poplar Street to the right of the property, to the left of the property.
Our architectural plans and drawings. Again, you can see the Juliet balconies now. You can see we
We made the garage doors opaque.
I'm trying to think what else we did that they asked for.
I think that's basically it, other than the 19 parking spots.
The curb cut here is 15 feet wide, worth 8 1⁄2 feet high for the parking doors.
I'm trying to think of what else is there.
You can see the bicycle room, you can see the common lobby here, you can see there's
a package room here, you can see where we store the trash here, we're 18 feet wide for
the parking aisle.
oh let me just
there the basement here there's no living in the basement it's just mechanicals and storage down
there let's see and then i just figured i'd just highlight this because it is an example of a one
bedroom, a two-bedroom, and a studio. But there are six studio units, 27 one-bedrooms, and five
two-bedrooms. So let's just look at the one-bedroom here. You walk in, there's a washer and dryer,
kitchen, living room, bedroom, and then bathroom. And then this is the two-bedroom here. So you can
see your walk-in, the washer and dryer, big open area for living room, kitchen, and dining room.
you have two bedrooms here you have a bathroom here everything's nice nicely laid out and then
this is the studio right here so you'll kind of walk in you have a kitchen and a little dining
area and then you have a sleeping area and then you have a bathroom with a washer and dryer
why is it not moving just take this out for a second
just trying to you know all right stop sharing for a second
all right let's do it again
all right
all right and then you can see here's the roof deck access structure so this also has a green
roof or substantial the roof deck access structures and then also this is the refusal right here
but the roof deck is 1200 approximately 1200 square feet and it has a large green roof so
Jim is well known he has a green roof company himself and it's it specializes in that and put
that for this project as well we mailed notice of the community meeting to 175 addresses these are
the addresses we mailed it to along proof of mailing to those addresses we have the notice
the zoning variance application along with the notice of refusal and the project information
form we have the deed to the property showing that jim's company 213-19 poplar lp is the owner of it
and then finally we have the certificate of tax clearance showing that the entity is in good