and a letter of support from Councilman Brian O'Neill.
Mr. Foscaldo, can you hear me yet?
I can, yes.
Name and address. Please spell your last name, and I will swear you in, and then I ask a few questions.
Thank you.
Alfred Fiscaldo, F as in Frank, U, S as in Sam, C-A-L, D as in David O, 613, Patriot Lane, Phoenixville, Pennsylvania.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and not think about the truth?
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 i do and i have yes okay you may proceed thank you madam
chair i'm going to share my screen as this is loading um i represent uh mhp torsdale llc
They are a subsidiary of Marion Health Partners, which is the exclusive franchisee of the American Family Care Urgent Care franchise in Philadelphia and Montgomery counties.
AFC has over 260 urgent care facilities across the United States, and this is an application to permit an AFC urgent care use at 9998 Frankfurt Avenue.
My client has executed a lease with the property owner.
The building is under construction.
It's previously been approved by the city.
There will be two tenants at the building.
The AFC will occupy approximately 3,000 square feet,
and the other 2,100 square feet will be a Citizens Bank branch.
The urgent care use falls under the health practitioner group use category under the zoning code.
it's a broad use category the use is permitted by right in the ca2 district in which the property
sits although it is not permitted in the far northeast overlay which also surrounds the
property we provided an exhibit package of 10 exhibits to uh to the board uh including uh the
lease of the notice of refusal i'm just going to page through this to get to where i need to get to
um project information uh form and pictures of posting apologies let me just page through this
get to it quickly i know the board has had a long day
half a long day half a long day exactly um pictures of posting this is the site under
construction. It's adjacent to Dunkin Donuts. And you get to the site map. So here's a plan of the
the plan of the property you'll see the urgent cares to the right side of the screen the citizens
property. You'll see the urgent care. So the right side of the screen, the Citizens Bank is all
bank is on the left side of the screen um we met with the uh the civic association the west
torresdale moral park civic association we met in person which was nice uh it was heavily
attended meeting um and they overwhelmingly uh uh uh it was overwhelmingly supported and well
received um they said that this is a use that the community uh very much wants and needs uh they
issued a letter of support, which is in the exhibit package as Exhibit 8. There were three
conditions which they attached to that letter of support, all of which we agreed to abide
by should the Board grant this variance, those being that the grant of a variance is limited
to permitting an urgent care facility use only at the premises, that no narcotics be
dispensed or prescribed at the premises, and that the premises not be used as a drug treatment
or drug rehabilitation facility,
and those are all fine with my client.
We also received yesterday a letter of non-opposition
from Councilman O'Neill's office.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Ms. Saleta, with those requested provisos?
You cannot add a proviso saying that a drug treatment
will take place at the facility.
Okay, that's what I thought.
Okay, does the board have any questions?
no no is there anyone in the virtual audience who has questions or would like to testify
i'm sure i have a person with a hand raised whose number ends in 6680 i can speak if you wish
caller please unmute yourself hello my name is gertrude sullivan and i am calling excuse me
excuse me can you can you please spell your last name and then i will swear you in
Yes. My last name is spelled S-U-L-L-I-V-A-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
I most definitely do.
Okay. And can you give me your address, please?
3364 Chesterfield Road, Philadelphia, PA, 19114.
Is that in Morrell Park?
It is in West Tarsdale.
Okay. Thank you. You may proceed.
I am here to testify against the West, the prejudice that was displayed by the RCO and
Excuse me, excuse me, excuse me. All I want to know is why are you opposed to the project?
I am opposed to the project because we have more than enough urgent care centers in this area.
We also have Jefferson University Hospital, whose urgent care was put in a different location, and we wanted to discuss this openly at the RCO meeting.
Okay, well, the RCO meeting was about this project.
Yes, about the urgent care.
Right, so why are you opposed to it? Because there are too many in the area?
it is a very congested area and it is not the best location okay thank you very much we wanted to
discuss go ahead chair you can move forward in efforts of time madam chair if i could um just
call my uh call my my one witness matt mayorino he's the uh the owner of of the applicant and
founder of the applicant just to accept my testimony as his own absolutely absolutely
matt could you raise your hand for the board he's been allowed to speak sir madam chair uh yes
hi sir can you put your name uh and address on the record and i'll swear you in yes uh my name
is Matthew, M-A-T-T-H-E-W, Mayerino, M-A-I-O-R-I-N-O, 710 Glengarry Road, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
19118. Thank you. Do you swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Yes. Thank you. Go ahead, Mr. Fiscaldo. Mr. Mayerino, are you the managing member of MHP
toursdale llc the applicant yes and were you present for uh my presentation to the board this
afternoon yes and was my representation were my representations true and correct and do you accept
those representations as your own testimony yes i do and could you do briefly just in response to
the last caller um could you just briefly advise the board as to uh how uh the number of urgent
the number of urgent cares in the vicinity
care is in the vicinity.
and whether this truly is a need in the community
as the RCO represented?
We met with the RCO.
The RCO voted overwhelmingly in favor
of having this use in the community.
And that's mainly due to the fact
that we do purposely locate next to hospitals.
we are seen as a substantial discount to going to the ER. We can perform the vast majority of
what an ER can perform in terms of anything that's not life-threatening. If something is
life-threatening, we would suggest someone go to the ER. However, UCA, Urgent Care Association of
America Studies, would suggest that we can perform as much as 80% of what an ER can do
at a fraction of the cost. So the average cost of a visit to an ER is roughly $1,354.
The average cost of coming to an urgent care is typically no more than $150. Our average is $135.
And oftentimes people would only have a small copay to pay, you know, towards that amount
that's due. So people see this as a tremendous value. We're also roughly a 10-minute drive in
this location to Roosevelt Boulevard. Roosevelt Boulevard is where all of the competing urgent
cares have chosen to locate. The Urgent Care Association of America would also tell you that
urgent care is typically, you know, people are seeking it, you know, within a 10-minute drive
due to the urgency of their needs. So with that in mind, we're actually roughly 10 minutes
from the nearest urgent care. And in addition to that, our goal here was to bring urgent
care to the neighborhood and make it a convenience to the folks in in these neighborhoods nearby.
Thank you. Thank you.
Planning Commission. Thank you, Madam Chair. Ian Hegarty for the Philadelphia
the City Planning Commission. Madam Chair, this property is within the far northeast overlay
district which prohibits a wide variety of common community serving uses. Group medical practitioner
uses are typically permitted in the CA1 zoning district. City Planning Commission recommended
against adoption of this provision of the overlay because it arbitrarily restricts establishment of
several classes of low-impact businesses even in commercial areas and so the City Planning
Commission recommends that the board grant this variance. Thank you, Ian. Calendar number
0980-9998, Frankfurt Avenue. My vote is yes. My vote is yes. My vote is yes. Thank you
very much. Sure. Thank you. That concludes the 930 hearings. Good job. Yes, Chair. See
you back at two. All righty. Take care. Okay.
You're recording. Thank you. Good afternoon. My name is Confessor Plaza and I'll be the acting
chair of this afternoon zoning hearing. Along with me are board members Thomas Holloman and
James Snell. Also participating, it's board administrator Tanya Sunkit and board attorney
Sharon Saleta. Before we begin, I'd like to note the following changes related to the virtual
format. First, please be advised that this proceeding is being recorded and that by
participating, you acknowledge your agreement to be recorded. Second, for the benefit of anyone
participating by phone, we ask that attorneys and witnesses identify themselves prior to speaking
or testifying. Therefore, anyone participating by phone, if you wish to testify, you must raise
your hand by hitting star nine, then star six to unmute yourself. Before calling the first case,
I will read out a list of continuance for today's cases.
calendar number mi 2021-000177-1423 grace ferry avenue is being continued
calendar number MI 2021-001-317-3837 Wallace Street. It's being continued.
3837 Wallace Street. It's being continued. Calendar number MI 2021-001-260-3843 Wallace
Street. I believe they're all together. Also calendar number MI 2021-001-314-3841 Wallace
Street, calendar number MI 2021-001-315, 3839 Wall Street, and calendar number 2021-001-259-3845
Wall Street also will be continued. Are there anyone else that is requesting a continuance?
excuse me chair um we did have two third party requests for continuance swamp poodle neighborhood
organization has um requested that number five on your list 28 29 north 23rd street be continued
if we could ask mr sklaroff if he is present and if anyone from swamp poodle is present to
Well, we'd like Mr. Skaroff to say whether he opposes the continuance.
For calendar number MI 2021-000-958-2829 North 23rd Street, there's been a third party request.
Mr. Skaroff, can you please come forward?
Yes, sir. Can I be heard?
Yes. Can you please identify yourself for the record?
Certainly. My name is Neil Sklaroff with the address of 1500 Market Street, Suite 3500E,
Philadelphia 19102 with the firm Dilworth Paxson LLP.
So are you starting to tell the truth the whole truth for nothing but the truth?
Yes I do.
And excuse me, before you begin Mr. Sklaroff, could we also ask if there's anyone present from
the Swampoodle RCO since they've made the request.
And could I also ask, I'm sorry, Mr. Sklaroff, if you could spell your name for the record?
Thank you.
Absolutely.
N-E-I-L-S-K-L-A-R-O-F-F.
Thank you.
And I represent the School District of Philadelphia with its Project TM Pierce School.
We oppose any continuous. We could outline all the community contact we have at this time, or we can wait until the president we present our case and our exhibits. But we intend to go forward and think we have complied appropriately and with great respect to Swampoodle.
this is Sharon if I could add that we have also today received a letter in support from
Councilwoman Bass on this project we do have Tina Marie Russell she can unmute herself and
wait to be sworn in Tina please identify yourself for the record please
tina unmute yourself please
okay chair no answer we can continue okay we will proceed with this case mr scurv
where you're turning we'll call you up thank you sir
You're welcome.
Anyone else?
Mr. Plaza, we also have a request, another one that came in today, for number four on your list, 2246 North 21st Street.
Alan Nockamson is the attorney.
It is the RCO that is requesting the continuance.
Calendar number MI2021-001278, 2246 North 21st Street.
Mr. Nockamson, please come forward.
Yes, good afternoon.
Good afternoon.
Please identify yourself for the record.
Yes, Alan Nockamson, N as in Nancy, O-C-H-U-M-S-O-N, 123 South Broad Street, Suite 1600, Philadelphia, PA, 19109.
Thank you.
You're sort of fine to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Thank you.
I think there was a third-party request to continue this case?
Yes, in the spirit of compromise, we have no objection to the request.
Yes, in the spirit of compromise, we have no objection to the request.
The only thing we ask is that this should be, the next listing should be, must be heard.
Okay, will do.
So for this case, calendar number MI 2021-001-278-2246 North 21st Street.
This will be continued, must be heard.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
Okay. Sharon, is that it?
Yes, it is, except that as we discussed, Mr. Plaza, since there are only three members
present, I think the add-ons listed with the exception of number two, which is fairly
straightforward, should be continued an additional week.
Yep. Okay. So for that, it'll be one, what is it, one, three, four, five, right? Is
that correct?
Yes, that's correct.
So for calendar number MI-2021-001-0004204 Parkside Avenue, along with MI-2021-000999-4206
Parkside Avenue, we will continue this case for one more week.
also calendar number three yes 2020-000730 30 west highland uh avenue or street
we will continue this case till next week