And we did receive a letter of support from the RCO, Point Brace CDC.
And we also have the support of the immediate nearby neighbor at 2141 Titan Street,
as well as other neighbors within this block. And this is just our proof of mailing.
so with that i'd be happy to answer any questions that the board may have
questions from the board
no no would anyone else like to testify in this case if so please raise your hand
and miss pietra gamble has raised her hand do i uh make her a panelist or allow her to speak
allow her to speak okay good deal I want to talk right now Mr. Chair
Ms. Gamble yes good morning Ms. Gamble please identify yourself with the record I'll swear
you in good morning my name is Petra Gamble I'm part of the coordinating RCL
from to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes I do thank you please proceed
Yes, I'm from Point Breeze, CDC, and I just wanted to go on record saying that we do approve, we do, we are
Point Bree CDC, and I just wanted to go on record saying that we are in support of this property, I'm sorry, with the provisals as mentioned.
And what are the provisors?
The provisals are to remove the second floor deck and add cameras to the front, side, and rear of the property.
Ms. Amazon, are those reflected in the plan?
Yes, I have them on the screen right here, and they are reflected on the plan as well.
It's not a revised plan, is it?
It is.
It is?
I'm sorry.
So how many pages?
It's just one page.
One page.
Thank you, Ms. Gamble.
You're welcome.
Thank you.
Planning Commission?
Oh, I believe my client's also on the line, if I could just have him.
Sorry about that.
Thank you.
Sean McLaughlin, if he's on the line.
CMI, we'll go home to talk right now.
Mr. McLaughlin, are you present?
ms amazon as a officer of the court will uh stipulate that your client would adopt your
testimony thank you thank you planning commission good morning david effecto f e c t e a u with the
philadelphia city planning commission and do you swear and affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth yes sir i do thank you mr chairman and members of the board this property
is indicated for single-family use in the city's comprehensive plan this is a primarily single
family block we have no objection to granting these variances thank you very much mi2020-000699
2143 titan street my vote is yes with the proviso revised plan one page approved today
yes with proviso yes with proviso yes with proviso
thank you excuse me this is sharon salata can i ask that we take a um
one to two minute break in order for me to speak with the board
we'll be back in five minutes
calendar number mi 2020 000233 2241 north 15th street
um this is sharon saletta i do not have exhibits for this and we have a um
we have a letter from the rco requesting that it be continued or dismissed or denied
because there has been no meeting
right and no hands were raised for that madam chair so perhaps announce it is continued
as opposed to dismissed yes calendar number mi 2020 000233 2241 north 15th street this case is
continued. Calendar number MI2020-001590. Strike that. These cases are being held to the end.
and we are at case number 10 calendar number mi 2020 001 092 1931 south broad street
i believe the attorney is michael molloy
Mr. Michael Molloy, he is present, his hand is raised, and I will promote him to our panelists immediately.
Thank you.
Please wait to be sworn in, Mr. Molloy.
Good morning, Mr. Malloy. Are you present?
Good morning, Mr. Mangoy, are you present?
Good morning. I'm sorry. I had to unmute myself. Good morning. Mike Malloy with Obermeyer,
Redmond Maxwell, Hipple for the applicant, TrueMark Financial Federal Credit Union.
Okay. Sir, do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
And do you also agree to waive and stip?
I do. Thank you.
Did you put the address on the record of Obermeyer?
the address of Obermeyer? Yeah. No, but I can. It's 1-4 Falls. I'm sorry. I'm giving you my
Concha Hocken address. Hold on. Let me get the Philadelphia. Just get the Philadelphia address.
Sorry. I'll just give it. It's 1-4 Falls Road, Suite 625, Concha Hocken, Pennsylvania. I'll just
give you that. Thank you. Thank you. You may proceed. And if I could just say, I don't see
him on the list, but I believe my witness, Kevin Murphy, the Vice President of Facilities for
True Mark Financial, should be on the line. And if he's not, I'll text him during my presentation
and see what's going on. If I could share my screen, please. Okay.
And before he speaks, he'll have to be sworn in. Yes, thank you.
so uh true mark uh is is at the corner essentially of broad and east past yonk avenue and
at 1931 um they've experienced a high volume of homelessness and um drug use that they've
observed on their property um and so they have sought uh to install a security fence around the
property. The use itself of a fence is actually permitted up to four feet. So what's before the
board is a variance from section 147044A.1 to allow for the additional height of now what is
proposed at six feet, seven inches. And basically the fence would extend around the perimeter of
the parking lot at True Mark and would, you know, provide them the security that they need.
And what I'm showing you has been marked as exhibit C in the exhibit packet. And it's
basically showing the height of the fence relative to, you know, a five foot eight person there. And
And the community, the South Broad Street Neighborhood Association and the applicant
met several times about the design of the fence.
The fence has gone from being eight foot high with a curvature to a six foot high fence
with a straight fence.
And as you see on the renderings, they're still attached as exhibit C in the packet.
we've also incorporated as the community group wanted some philadelphia themes um into uh the
fence and they'll be affixed to the fence uh you see the city the liberty bell uh that sort of
thing so the need is there i think this is kind of categorized as a dimensional variance um true
mark has by the way worked with both city council and worked with uh the area police district
uh endlessly and they they you know if kevin were to testify he would testify that they have
you know tried every every avenue except the fence and if the need for the fence ever went away they
would certainly uh not need it um part of the conditions and the provisors is as you're seeing
there's a uh an old mural that sits on east pass yonk and true mark has agreed to um to restore
that mural and maintain that mural for the duration of the time certainly that they own
the property and accepts it as a proviso to the zoning application you can see the mural
it's in pretty good shape and the community group gave us some ideas of who was responsible for
installing it there's also a proviso in in the and I'll go back to exhibit a which is the letter
from support from the RCO, sorry, that we restore the mural, replant, and maintain an existing tree
pit at the sidewalk, and the proposed height and lack of curvature, and that we agreed to repair
and maintain the fence, including the removal of graffiti. So that's all the testimony that we
would offer in support of it. You know, it's a dimensional variance. I'm not here to make
you know necessarily make new law today but i believe that you know what we're seeing is a
I believe that, you know, what we're seeing is a financial hardship.
financial hardship it's a
It's a hardship for TrueMark to continue to have security and remove people every day.
It's a hardship for their customers.
It's a hardship for their employees who are scared and, you know, want to work with the
community and want to interact with the community, but at the same time need the security, you
know uh during the day you know to keep people out and congregating at night so it's a dimensional
variance for the additional two feet seven inches and uh um with that i i did not text kevin i'm not
sure if he's on if he could raise his hand um if not i just asked the zba to um uh indulge me and
that the testimony that I gave is true and accurate.
And you do have support from Anthony Brutiniti
with, I think, South Broad Street.
That's right.
And that's exhibit A under the proviso list.
Anthony is supportive of the zoning variance for the FAS.
Under the proviso that I explained.
Sorry, I'm sorry.
Ms. Lelettic, can we accept all four of those provisos?
You can't. I believe is the height of the fence actually being revised or is it proposed at six feet, seven inches proposed at six feet, seven inches.
But I mean, I believe that's a revision from the original height of eight feet, which we which we asked for originally, maybe.
So they could provide it could be added stating maximum height, six feet, seven inches.
And that's all. That's it.
and that would be on Pashonk Avenue and Broad Street
we show the different elevations
it's Broad Street
corner
East Passium
does the board have any questions
no planning commission good morning david fecto city planning commission
madam vice chair and members of the board this property is indicated for commercial and
residential mixed use on the comprehensive plan we have no objection to granting this variance
thank you i'm sorry madam chair yes i'm not sure if you were going to but um the community
um might want to weigh in okay great is that the rco or individual community members
um i was just thinking if we can request anyone who wishes to um put testimony on about this case
they'd be allowed to raise their hand it sounds good i have a kevin murphy whose um hand is raised
if you want me to go home to talk yes and kevin is our witness he's the vice president of
facilities for truemark good morning can you hear me yes mr murphy do you swear or affirm to tell
the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes i do can you put your name and address on the record
please yes kevin murphy uh 72 28 charles street philadelphia pa 19152
okay you may proceed yes kevin if i could just ask you some questions i did you hear
the testimony that i gave today yes and was it accurate yes it was then would you adopt it as
your own yes thank you I mean I'll let Kevin add whatever he wants but I think that's that's all
we have to offer right now including our exhibits which we'd ask to move into to the record okay
Ms. Sunkett is there anyone else who would like to weigh in on this I see Ms. Amy Boyd with her
hand raised. I can let her speak. Great. Miss Boyd. Hi, can everyone hear me? Yes. Can you put your name and address on the record, please? Amy Boyd, A-M-Y-B-O-Y-D. My address is 832 South Street, 3R19147. I'm an intern at the
passion avenue realization corporation okay do you spare a firm to tell the whole truth and
nothing but the truth i do okay you may continue um my boss submitted a written testimony
I'm Brian Fenstermaker, and I'm just making sure that that was received on behalf of the RCO.
um brian fenstermaker and i'm just making sure that that was received
Do we have that?
We did receive a letter from the RCO.
Is that what you're referring to?
Yeah, it's from Passchunk Avenue Revitalization Corporation.
It wasn't the hearing RCO, but it is a public space organization that has jurisdiction over
this neighborhood.
So we submitted our testimony written.
Was that received?
Does that RCO support this?
We submitted that the zoning board should not approve.
Do you want to summarize your position, please?
yeah sure may i read the letter it's only a few paragraphs that would be fine thank you
um please find this letter regarding true mark's zoning appeal for the erection of offense
at 1931 south broad street passion avenue revitalization corporation hereby submits
our opinion that the zoning board should not approve the variance request as a non-profit
real development and public space maintenance and enhancement organization park has a responsibility
to encourage that the public realm serves the community in the best way possible. Such offense
would damage this mission. We are submitting our opinion at this stage because we were not
notified of the zoning appeal through the mail, nor were aware that the RCO meeting was taking
place and its subsequent negotiations. As owners of the adjoining property at 1934 East Pashank
Avenue, it was Trumark's responsibility under the city code to have done so. We would have also
hope that the applicant had reached out to us as a community organization serving the neighborhood
and one that cleans their sidewalks six days a week and removes weeds from their tree pits.
Over the last decade, our organization has worked to create a neighborhood that residents and
businesses enjoy and want to invest in. Despite our long history of managing commercial property
in the neighborhood, no other property owner has made such a request, erecting a large fence,
especially on such a visible property on South Broad Street, sends a message to the community
and visitors that there are safety concerns on East Pashyunk Avenue. Maintaining the property's
visual harmony with the neighborhood would send a message of inclusiveness and worthiness of
investment. The true marked property is key in the vibrance of East Pashyunk. It sits across from
a public plaza which was renovated to support public life. The plaza draws pedestrians who
relax and utilize the indigo bike chair while serving as eyes on the street and activate our
public space creating a vibrant neighborhood this activity is much more comprehensive
equitable productive way to promote security that true mark seeks if true mark were able to
separate themselves from the neighborhood it would spark fear and property owners to do the same
further walling off for community we therefore ask that the zoning board deny true mark's
Request to Erected Fence at 1934 South Broad Street and signed Brian Fenstermaker, who is the Executive Director of PARC.