Due to our close relationship, we considered them an affiliate.
And in discussion with our in-house attorneys, we thought it was an okay thing to do.
We put the ad up, and then that ad ran for quite some time before we heard anything.
I'm going to say it ran for probably a couple of years or a year and a half at least.
So in other words, even though Mr. Rutter is here to represent the city, the entity or the governmental entity that said anything about what message you were sending on this sign was the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.
Is that correct?
Yes, sir.
And what happened as a reason?
What did you do in response to that?
Well, the letter offered some options to appeal this, that. The other thing, I opted to just reach out to Ms. Parkins and struck up a conversation. And she, after several conversations and emails, she asked me directly, why is it that the union did not apply for an off-premise advertising permit from the beginning?
And I said to her, well, from what I understood, they were limited and that PennDOT almost never grants them.
And she said, well, you're correct.
She said it's almost impossible.
But nonetheless, throughout our discussion, she had done her own legwork and explained to me, and I could hardly contain how happy I felt in what she was saying.
But she said from where she's sitting.
Note the objection to hearsay.
Say again, sir?
Just keep talking.
Objecting to hearsay.
Tell us. She gave you some advice. And as a result of that advice, how did it change your attitude towards possibly seeking use of changing the message so it would be not only accessory, but also non-accessory?
You can tell us.
Tell us.
She gave you some.
She said that from where she's sitting, there is no reason why PennDOT would have any reason to deny our project or attempts to get a variance for off-premise advertising.
She said we were the proper distance from the highway, the signs, residential.
She went through all of the different things that we had, the criteria that we had to meet.
And she said she would even, she even offered to help us in any way that she could.
Okay, now let's show the board 36, 37, 38. Let's go to 36 first. No, that's 34. Go down. 36. There you go. Next to the sign. Next to the picture of the sign. No, go up, Nico. Oh, you got him. You're showing him. You're showing him all. 36 through 41 are your trail of emails with Ms. Parkins. Isn't that correct?
Yes, sir.
And that that continued, I guess, through May 6th of 2021.
Keep going through.
May 7th, May 10th, May 12th.
May 12th.
Go back up.
OK, so she on May 12th, she says before that,
Go up to what you wrote in May 10th. Go back down a little. Let's get what Joe wrote in May 10th.
You know, good morning, Joanne. Thank you for your email. I wanted to let you know that the POND ad has been removed and we are seeing if there's anything on compliance.
I will keep you the speed on progress and have a great day. And she writes, good morning.
Then you ask, I just wanted to ask you about the date in your email for our application of 524.
Would that be an application for an off premise permit and then go up?
And she responds, yes, if you were to apply for an off-premise advertising, however, I did close the record on the sign notices you indicate the violations were corrected. You then write, yes, everything has either been removed or adjusted, so please let me know if this means no deadline to pursue the 524. She says, yes, that is correct, and keep going.
then you have good morning joanne's and checking in the things we spoke it's our intention to try
and get the off-premise off-premise permit we need it appears we will need a variance and i
believe you might even have stated that my question is will pendot still approve it was done
by obtaining a variance thanks uh hi it depends what the variance was issued for i knew we do
not accept zoning variance for zoning purposes otherwise it may be perfectly fine i'll need some
specifics uh but you're also testifying that uh and that that would uh thanks joanne this would
be for the zoning district go ahead and it's you sent she sends you that it's in cmx3 correct
yes okay and then go up i think that's the last one we get or no there's one more
and then she says may 18th you do not need a variance for zoning for oad which is a
an outdoor advertising device permitting purposes as long as the zoning is of commercial or
industrial nature is acceptable. I'm not sure what other issues you're having, but it should
not affect the permitting process. And how did you take that permitting process with PennDOT?
Is that how you understood it? Yes, absolutely. Okay. Great. Thanks for your help. And she said,
of course, you're very welcome. That was May 18th at 925 a.m., correct? Yes, sir. Okay.
so I can't the chairman is speaking but I can't hear him oh we can't yeah chairman you're muted if
you're we didn't hear you at all chairman you were muted
you're still muted Mr. Chair you're still muted there you go Mr. Park let me ask you this how
many more witnesses do you have um two I have our engineer yes so I think I'm I'm
I think what we're going to do is we're going to have a resumptive hearing for this.
We have several other cases today.
And the other thing is, could you make sure that anything you have, you send to Hillary?
We've never seen that squill a letter.
Well, it just came in.
I mean, it was addressed to you, not to me.
I understand.
I understand.
I understand.
And I'm just asking you, could you please, whatever you have, please send to Hillary.
And we'll be in touch.
And, Mr. Coach, I appreciate your time, but I think we're going to have to move on and we'll continue this at a later date.
and Mr. Coach, I appreciate your time
but I think we're going to have to move on
and we'll
All right, Mr. Pollack.
Oh, that's fine, Mr. Chairman.
As I said, we just want to we just want to have a chance to make a record.
That's right. You'll you'll get a chance and we'll continue that.
OK. All right. Thank you. Thank you very much, sir.
Chair, Mr. Chair, I would ask it just as a courtesy.
So it's on the record, Mr. Pollack, to the extent that the city would be in the case.
uh if if we we would ask that uh whatever was submitted to the board that we all that the city
oh absolutely absolutely absolutely hillary will send you everything we have okay great thank you
very much thank you very much okay that concludes my business uh wait i think there may be one other
case so so what we're going to do is we have one more case on the uh on the two o'clock list and
we only have one or two cases on the 330 list we're going to take a five minute break court
reporter can get straight things like that and we'll be right back what what letter what one do
you have uh it might be continued it's very similar to the last one 2901 uh south randolph
street i think that was going to be continued it is they they've requested to continue they
request okay yeah we wouldn't yeah i don't have an objection to that okay so then five minutes
everybody we'll be right back that concludes my business uh maybe thank you appreciate you
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
okay you're sure i changed my i changed my entire location
i carried everything throughout the house you got your lucky thing behind you again
all right i just can't do it in that other room we got we got we got one here and then
we got one or two and then we're done we're going to move pretty good here
Number 10, okay.
good afternoon hi hi how are you good area we should be starting in a few minutes sorry for
as you like. My presentation is super simple. I don't know how I always get stuck behind the
longer cases. Two minutes, I'll be done. Maybe people should put up their hands. I have a
simple one. Can I say something? Yeah, yeah. Gosh, we'll knock on wood. Hopefully it remains a simple one.
lakisha how do we look
we're ready when you are chair i'm ready
Okay, number 10, MI 2022-001-340-8258 Tarsdale Avenue, letter of support from Upper Holmesburg
Civic Association. Counsel, could you state your name and spell for the court reporter?
Sure. Augusta O'Neill, A-U-G-U-S-T-A. My last name is spelled O-N-E-I-L-L.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client and relationship to the property?
Sure. My client is Gene Starin. He is the owner of the property.
Our vice chair has a few questions.
hi do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy
i do have you emailed the exhibit packet with required documents consisting of proof of
ownership tax compliance refusal referral photos under 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 the above
okay you may proceed you have two minutes thank you so much
members of the board i'm here this afternoon representing the owner of the property at 8258
torsdale avenue this application is to legalize an existing auto repair business that's at the
property my client has owned the property since 1992 but there's been an auto repair business
at this location since probably about 1958, as best we can tell, which is when the building was
first constructed. So an auto repair business has been operating the whole time at this location
An auto repair business has been operating the whole time at this location since my client
since my client has.
has owned it without issue since about 1993.
There appears to have been some kind of an oversight, which was just caught back in December
of 2021 by L&I.
My client was operating under the impression that a previous tenant had gotten all the
permits in place for the auto repair use.
I've enclosed a copy of that historic permit with my exhibit package at page five, just
showing again that this auto repair use have been applied for. And so it was it was an oversight
on everyone's part. And in fact, OPA has records which also show that this property is an auto
repair shop. So let me just pull up a picture. So I just got to shrink this down a bit.
so just for context this is a picture of the outside of the property it's an auto sales
business but then there's this auto repair shop in here as well because as a natural part of
selling cars there are auto repairs that have to be done so things like brake work or oil changes
but I did want to note that there's no auto body work that's done here so there's no use of saws
or lab machinery to do the type of work.
It's simply accessory to the auto sales business
that's operating there.
The property is zoned RSA 3,
but I included an aerial in my exhibit package.
I'm sorry.
At page 12, just showing that on this corridor
of Torresdale Avenue,
there's quite a few auto repair businesses
and other commercial uses.
And in fact, we're just down the street from the old site of the Holmesburg prison.
So we did meet with neighbors of the property on two different occasions.
At the first meeting that we held with the RCO, the Upper Holmesburg Civic Association,
some neighbors expressed concerns related to operations.
And so we met with them again to further discuss concerns that had come up at the first meeting.
And following those meetings, we did enter into a CBA with the RCO.
I provided a copy of the CBA to the board solicitor.
And as a result of entering into the CBA, the RCO has agreed to support our application.
A copy of the letter of support was provided with my application materials.
And with that, I would like to call for Jeff Starin, who is part of ownership of the property.
So, Jeff, if you could hit the raise hand feature to adopt my testimony.
hi could you state your name and spell it please for the court reporter
hi could you do it one more time we couldn't hear you sure jeffrey stern j-e-f-f-r-e-y
last name stern s-t-e-r-i-n right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth i do counsel jeff did you have an opportunity to hear my testimony this
afternoon i did and was everything that i said to the board true and accurate to the best of your
knowledge yes it was and would you like to adopt my testimony as your own i would thank you um
i'm sorry questions from the board no mr chair no mr chair questions or comments from the virtual
audience. Chair, we have someone by the name of Stanley with the last name ending in C.
Sure. Hi, could you state your name and spell for the court reporter? Stanley Sawinski, S-T-A-N-L-E-Y
C-Y-W-I-N-S-K-I. Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing
about the truth? I do. Proceed. I am the president of the Upper Hansburg Civic Association.
I'm also the zoning director for the 6th Councilmatic District. We did meet with the owner of
the property, and after multiple sessions, we agreed to a community benefits agreement
that i believe satisfies most it's not all the requirements the neighbors were looking for
so um we do support this initiative thank you thank you very much for calling thank you for
calling in we appreciate it anyone else in the virtual audience so you know the handshake
planning commission mr chair members of the board this is mason austin representing the
Planning Commission. The property is designated for single-family residential use in the
comprehensive plan and its RSA 3 zoning matches that designation. The property is also on a strip
with several other auto-related uses and the opposite side of the street is zoned for medium
industrial uses. Given the record of long-time vehicle repair uses on the site and a lack of
Given the record of long-time vehicle repair uses on the site and the lack of opposition
opposition by the RC.
by the RCO, the Staff of the Planning Commission has no objection to the granting of this variance.
Thank you very much.
MI 2022-001-340-8258 Torresdale Avenue, I vote yes.
Harold Tannery, my vote is yes.
Thomas Howellman, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Thank you, Counsel.
Thank you so much.
i appreciate it thank you we're going to start the 330 list so i'll just go over