Mr. Piaz, are you saying someone else should own this property?
Why don't you do this?
Why don't you concentrate on why you don't want this
and not what other people are doing?
So you're saying they're not involved in the community is what you say.
They're not.
They do nothing for the community.
What else?
Other than that, like I said, we feel like there should be better uses.
There are better uses for that building.
And we do not believe, and why would you only let your congregation live there?
Okay, thank you.
And hold on one second, sir, one more thing.
There are other options to getting those elderly people to the congregation.
They have buses.
They have shuttle buses.
Right.
All right, Mark, thank you very much.
Brett do you want to
you want to cross
is there anyone else in the virtual
in the virtual audience
yes chair
I have a hand up by the name of
Charles Richardson
they have been promoted to panelists
good morning Mr. Richardson
Mr. Richardson
good afternoon mr chair hi could you please state your name as bell for this stenographer
charles richardson r-i-c-h-a-r-d-s-o-n office of councilwoman cindy bass room 508 city hall
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
I do. Please proceed.
Councilwoman is
on the
results of the RCO meeting.
The councilwoman is not
opposed to granting the variance.
Thank you very much for your call. We appreciate it.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
I see no more
here at this time, Chair.
Brett?
You said
do you do you want to follow up i mean yeah no absolutely um david can you again um are you out
there still david no david gantz you're saying yes i'm here okay i don't think you had ever
adopted my testimony um uh you heard my testimony yes uh and is it true and accurate it is
and do you adopt it as your own i adopt it as my own great great and uh ian are you are you still
out there in the in the universe yes i am i'm here okay okay let me just ask you this question um and
maybe i mischaracterized it but this is not you know we talked about a senior living over 55 unit
over 55 age. What we're looking to do, though, is to have an area here where older church members
can live on the premises and conduct their...
can live on the premises and conduct their,
their work with the church in the community.
And we can certainly get into that and also internationally and domestically,
correct? Yes. Yeah. And there are spaces within the, within the,
within the complex that we talked about where they can meeting spaces,
where they can recreate, correct?
That's a part of the plan. Yes. Okay. Okay. And,
And if there's any further, we heard some zoning board members who had some concerns that maybe some of those spaces weren't delineated enough or we hadn't, you know, put those all specifically on the plan.
If there's any concerns, we could certainly update the plans and provide those to the zoning board, correct?
Absolutely.
Great.
Great.
But again, the idea here was to have this space for church members who had provided service to the church.
And you heard the ballots of my other testimony and do you adopt it as your own?
yes and is it true and accurate yes great thank you thank you all right um
we've had a lot of testimony on this yeah we're going to take this back to the executive session
um next wednesday we will vote on this at
oh i'm sorry planning thank you i had a little longer than i thought planning please
thank you good afternoon mr chair dan powers with the city planning commission
the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the rsa 5 residential single family zoning at
this location the proposal is for a multi-family housing and an event assembly facility on the
grounds of the incarnation church first church of our lord incarnation of our lord school the
church appears to have been present since at least 1910 and seems to blend well with the neighborhood
residential character. The property also has an entrance along Olney's North 5th Street business
corridor. Multifamily household living is a common use throughout Philadelphia to repurpose older
schools and churches. This proposal matches the comprehensive plan's recommendation to preserve
and reuse at-risk historic anchor buildings. The City Planning Commission wrote the definition for
event assembly facility for situations like this where a facility would not be open to the general
public and would not charge admission as opposed to nightclubs and public entertainment venues.
The city planning commission recommends that the board grant the proposed use variances.
Thank you very much.
And Mr. Chair, if I may, just, we passed up a full hardship memo to the board, which
I'd ask to be incorporated into the record.
It's incorporated.
And all of our exhibits, one through 13, be incorporated.
Right.
Also within there, I mean, we have all the analysis on least minimum variance, that it's
conformity with the with the with the city plan uh that it won't permanently or substantially
enjoy the appropriate use of adjacent conforming property or impair the adequate supply of light
and the adjacent conforming properties because we're not adding any more bulk or mass to this
but i would ask that the board um review that memo and we can certainly provide additional
supplementation on that i'd also ask the board there are federal uh and state um anti-discrimination
organization, especially on religious grounds, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and also
at the state level, that are also in that memo that we would provide, because there was not
supposed to be a substantial burden placed on churches in the free exercise of their religion.
So I would add that as well. All right. So we're going to hold this. We're going to sit in the
executive session next Wednesday, and we will vote on this at 9.30 a.m. I thank you for your
testimony, sir. Thank you for coming here and staying so long. Thank you very much.
thank you one number 13 mi 20 sure number 13 mi 2024 005 523 13 20 to 22 north fish street
Vern Anastasio.
Afternoon, Mr. Chair, members of the board.
I think I swore you once today, didn't I, Vern?
Yes, you have, yeah.
Could you identify your client and their relationship to the property?
Ben Reisman, his wife, Gia, the owners of the Mass Building, 1320 North 5th.
Do you stipulate to the reading of the refusal and agree with its accuracy?
Why don't you start your presentation?
And my understanding, this is going to be a hear and hold.
Am I correct?
That's correct.
Thank you.
Please proceed, sir.
And I am asking that we, the hear and hold go for two weeks, two weeks from today.
If the board can make that happen, we would greatly appreciate that.
13, 20, North 5th, right here is the building in question.
It is buffered, sandwiched between RSA 5 and IRMX 1.
It is buffered sandwiched between RSA 5 and IRM.
Sorry, hold on.
Yep, right here, sandwiched between RSA 5 and IRMX.
We are here on a special exception.
And I have 119-page exhibit packet.
I won't go through it all, considering the time, but I want to make sure that you get all the more important items.
For the use of assembly and entertainment, and as such, because it is zoned IRMX, the use is already considered compatible with the code.
We know that. That's why it hasn't been refused. But because it's a special exception, we must show that there will be no more greater impact than what would be expected for the use of this project.
So with that, the MESS building is a gathering facility, a place for the artistic community to gather, to workshop, to rehearse, to perform.
They would like to host events like weddings on a regular basis.
And in order to do that, we must seek the special exception.
uh the mass has been as a important community building um and community-minded neighbor for
years not only just for the kensington neighborhood but citywide they host eighth grade graduation
luncheons for the public school they host open friendly uh friday evening events for the community
at large that is open to the public they host fundraisers rallies uh and other events for
local organizations and groups and non-profits to raise money uh they've even hosted the 18th
democratic ward uh in their special events uh why don't you uh why don't you put it up
so we can see it as you talk about it yep let me show you the plans
this is existing space as you can see here's the proposed assembly and entertainment area
there's a caretaker residence already there
this is the space in question
we'll also get to photos for oh by the way we also had and i'm going to get to this in a minute
a sound engineer come out and give us a laundry list of items that we can work on to mitigate
any sound issues we've used this sound engineer report as the basis for our community benefits
agreement. We've been in constant communication with the Old Kensington Neighbors Association
and Miss Annie Moss. We do have an agreement. The reason for the hear and hold is simply to
get the CBA in writing, and then they will send their position. This is the front gate
to the building. Some photos. Here's some interior space.
This is the assembly and entertainment spot that was highlighted on the plan.
And for many years, like a rec center or a church or a library, this building has become a focal point of the community.
uh and it is celebrated uh which 23 pages of the last 23 pages of my exhibit packet
are all signatures and letters of support uh by all relevant parties in the community
and beyond this is the letter that went out to
all the neighbors
invited to not only the RCO meeting on the 13th
there was actually several RCO meetings
but nevertheless
and then today's zoning hearing
here are the addresses
and we have proof of mailing
from Vista, 134 individual households were mailed.
134 individual households were mailed.
So as I've said, we've been going through the process of crafting a community benefits
agreement with the RCO for quite some time.
We believe the care and the effort going in to have a sound engineer and a report made
And using that sound engineering report to build in the provisions of a community benefits agreement demonstrates and meets the burden to show, in fact, that my clients would not operate this facility in a way in which it would impact the community any differently or worse than any other property and operation of its kind.
And here are proof of postings, my apologies. Now let's get to the overwhelming support.
Starting on page 98, we have more than 40 signatures of near neighbors in support.
additional. We have letters from the Philadelphia School District, principal of the public school
in the area. We have a local Montessori school, also in support for their efforts at the building.
We have the 18th Ward Democrats, who pledged their support for the special exception.
Lauren Rinaldi herself, the ward leader, signed the letter of support. We also have residents of
1326 North 5th, 1340 North 5th, 1320, I'm sorry, 1342 North 5th, 1315 North 5th. Additionally,
Matt Graziano, who lives across the street and is also the RCO leader of an affected RCO that's
been involved in the meetings and discussions as well, all support unanimously the special
exception here we love philly play arts iron i think i think we've seen a lot of the letters
thank you thank you with that because we've met the burden uh to show that my clients will operate
uh this facility in a way in which that it would not impact adversely the community any more than
one would be imagined because of the overwhelming community support and our commitment to building
a CBA with the RCO, we do respectfully request the granting of the special exception.
I would like my client, Ben Reisman, who I believe is actually in person, to take the
stand and raise his hand.
There's no one here.
Well, then maybe he's online if he could raise his hand.
Ben Reisman, he has been promoted to penalist.
Wonderful. Thank you.
Hi, sir. Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Yes. Ben Reisman, spelled B-E-N-R-I-E-S-M-A-N.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, counsel.