ZBA Hearing - January 22, 2025

again as you can see despite these lot sizes being slightly under the required 1100 I'm sorry

1,440 square feet. These are still fairly large homes. GFA ranges from between 1,474 to about

1,700 square feet. I also provided in my exhibit package unique to this property, just a picture

just showing the current conditions. Again, this is another vacant lot that we're putting those

beautiful single-family homes on. I also did just provide an aerial again just to show that this

proposed residential project is consistent with what is in the area.

My client did meet with the affected RCO for this property back in December. That would be the 14th

community organization RCO. Just wanted to draw the board's attention to some of the comments that

were made um in the letter rco wanted to note for the board that the proposed smaller lots were

found by the community to still be sufficient in size for the purposes of the proposed use

all questions that the community raised to my clients were satisfactorily answered and after

the presentation by my clients a vote was taken by the community the result was unanimously in

favor of the proposal. Councilman Young also provided a letter of non-opposition for this

application, which appears at tab three of my exhibit package, page seven of the PDF for anyone

who's following along with their own PDF. And again, just to reiterate the variant standards,

I believe that this application certainly meets the standard for a variance in that

um it's going to be a huge boon to the public to get good to have this additional single family

housing and the affordable homes in this area um there's going to be no uh endangerment of the

public health safety or welfare we are not going to be injuring the use of adjacent property

or impairing light and air supply and it will not adversely affect the transportation uh routes

again it's a net positive for the city so um with that being said i would like to call my

client board on this application as well

is it mr frankel mr frankel

mr frankel just state your name you've already been sworn sir

zachary frankel will be rejoining us as a panelist hi good afternoon

mr frankel just state your name you've already been sworn sir zachary frankel

please proceed counsel uh mr fringell did you have an opportunity to hear my testimony on this

application related to 647 to 67 north 10th street i did and was everything that i said true and

accurate it was and would you like to adopt my testimony as your own yes i would thank you

It was.

Would you like to adopt my testimony as your own?

Yes, I would.

Thank you.

Members of the board, myself and my client are available for any questions that the board may have.

Questions for the board.

Yeah, I have a question.

Is there a site plan for Parcel Inn?

The site plan is part of the site plan, which if I could just refer back to my notes, I believe it's at page 34 of the exhibit package.

Yep, I was right.

So, if I may, as the owner or applicant, this functionally is really still three homes that match the contacts in the existing neighborhood.

the the difficulty with this parcel n is that at some period in time the city demaps this this

portion of melon street um so that these homes are front on so um i'm not not entirely sure why

they demapped it um we did deal with city planning um and a councilman's office for a brief moment

to try to get this remapped.

However, remapping it proved to be a much more difficult

and time-consuming process rather than creating this planned unit development

for these three homes that will also be responsible

for this common area on Mellon Street.

And then just to be clear, what's going to be the legal address

for the three homes at Parcelona?

They'll each have their same legal addresses on Mellon Street, so I guess it would be something along the lines of 9-something-something Mellon Street.

We haven't created the pod yet.

Okay.

I think that's the only question I have.

Other questions?

Questions from our attorney, Ryan McSherry.

Ryan McSherry is now working as our attorney here.

Thank you, Chair.

No questions.

Thank you.

from the audience questions or comments from the virtual audience i see no hands at this time chair

thank you chairman and good afternoon david fecto with the city planning commission

chairman and board members the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the rm1 residential

multi-family zoning at this location this property is part of the city's turn the key program which

provides enforceable affordable housing west poplar was the target of extensive city-sponsored

redevelopment while the proposed lot area and minimum side yard width do not match the character

of the immediately adjacent blocks they are in keeping with the character of the older blocks

in the neighborhood not cleared during urban renewal the city planning commission recommends

that the board grant the proposed dimensional variances for side yard width and locked areas

Thank you. MI 2024-006-472-647-67 North 10th Street, I vote yes.

Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes.

Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes.

Ty Owen, my vote is yes.

Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.

Thank you. Thank you, counsel.

Thank you so much, members of the board.

All right. Number seven, MI 2024, 005199, 7000 Holston Street, Murdeth Trego is the attorney. No RTO letter, but the summary was sent to neighbors with proof of mailing. Letter of support from a next door neighbor.

Good afternoon, counsel. Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?

hi uh good afternoon members of the board my name is meredith trego of ballard spar spelled m-e-r-e-d-i-t-h

last name is trego t-r-e-g-o do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and

nothing but the truth i do uh could you identify your client a relationship to the property yes

we are here representing pfs 24 llc who is the lessee of the property at 7000 holstein avenue

units five and six uh and they are the lessee the property is owned by holstein pa 7000 llc

our vice chair has a few questions thank you good afternoon council do you agree to

weigh the reading of the refusal or stipulate to its accuracy we do have you emailed in all

the required documents and exhibits that's needed and required to proceed with this case

five days in advance of this hearing we have thank you council please proceed thank you

Sorry, it looks like I'm still not able to share.

Yep.

Thank you.

um mr chairman and members of the board we are here today for a request for a special exception

for the use of the property at 7000 holstein avenue as an animal crematory which will be

held within an existing building in an i2 medium industrial zoning district i'm joined today by

Richard Slobodian, who's the owner-operator of the proposed use, seated here with me,

as well as Daniel Addis in his capacity as project manager, Mr. Mike Burwell, who is the CEO of the

company that manufactures the equipment proposed to be used as part of the business. Our exhibits

filed with the board include everything that's required, including our tax certificates in

Exhibit 2, proof of mailing for neighbor notices in Exhibit 7, and our proof of our zoning notice

posters in exhibit eight we are also aware that a letter of support was very recently provided

by email to the board from the southwest philadelphia consortium of rcos

i'm going to turn to exhibit three which is our notice of referral

the the use that we're here for today is a household pet crematory services use

which is part of a subcategory of the boarding and other services subcategory of animal services

So this subcategory actually also includes live animal uses, such as stables, animal boarding, and animal hospitals.

And we note up front, and it's included in our Exhibit 3B, a proviso form, that the community has requested.

And we are happy to agree to a proviso that limits our any special exception approval to the household pet crematory uses only and, you know, not allow other live animal uses at this property.

we further note that those zoning plans were required as part of this use application

turning to exhibit nine which has some zoning code excerpts so the household prep

household pet crematory services use is permitted by special exception in the i1 and i2 industrial

districts we are located in the i2 which is a medium industrial district and we just point out

by background interestingly that a human crematory use is actually permitted in a much permitted by

right in a much wider array of zoning districts throughout the city including several commercial

cmx 3 4 or 5 zoning districts we also note in exhibit 9 the standard for special exceptions so

as we will show today the proposed animal crematory use satisfies the requirement for

a special exception because it does not create a detrimental impact on the health safety and

welfare of the community exceeding that which might normally be expected from such use

Looking at Exhibit 10, which includes our zoning map, you can see here we are an I-2 district surrounded entirely by other industrial and auto-oriented uses.

We note specifically that we are roughly one-half mile to the nearest residential zoning district.

And then looking at Exhibit 11, our aerial maps.

So this site, that 7,000 Holstein, is located in southwest Philadelphia, where that blue dot is.

Zooming in a little bit closer gives a sense of the type of industrial and auto-oriented uses that surround the site.

And then another aerial view.

And then zooming in to the building itself.

So this building is an eight-unit condominium building.

the use is proposed to be located in units 5 and 6 which is located in roughly the middle of the

building looking to exhibit 12 which are additional photos of the site so this is a view looking north

from Holstein Avenue the building is off to the right hand side of the photo another view from

south 70th Street the building the back of the building with the garages is off to the left hand

side of the photo here is a picture of the front of the building units five and six are located

square in the middle and some additional photos just going through of the site and the building

itself sorry for the loading speed here's a site of the garage so this unit has a garage

loading speed here's a site of the garage so uh this unit has a garage and loading dock that's

entirely internal to the building some more photos

um so we're gonna turn to exhibit

13 which includes some interior photos of the site

the interior will be fit out with office space on one side

this is some of the existing conditions of the office space

as well as this is the warehouse area where the crematory equipment will be housed

and this is the garage area where the loading and unloading will occur

so i'm just going to walk through a few facts relating to the operation of the business

so primarily it's anticipated that the business will provide services directly to veterinarians

and animal hospitals and that business will not be driven at the retail lover level so we don't

anticipate that individual pet owners will be reaching out directly but rather they will be

marketing their efforts and their operations to you know animal hospitals and those types of uses

regarding deliveries the facility will own its own delivery and pickup vehicle likely a small van

that will conduct pickups and drop-offs to veterinarian facilities and animal hospitals

throughout the region on a scheduled basis so it's anticipated that the vehicle will be out

and traveling around the area during most operating hours animals will be transported to the site

and unloaded within the completely enclosed garage.

And from there, animal remains will be stored in a commercial cooler

that will be housed entirely within the building until the time of cremation.

At that point, the remains that are cremated will be shipped back

to the referring veterinarian or the owner of the pet.

The hours of operation are planned to be Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

and we note that operation of the cremation equipment will not happen daily to start we

anticipate it will run two days a week operating 9 a.m to 5 p.m the facility will be managed by

mr richard slodian who is seated here he will be the designated full-time manager and intends to

work on site overseeing all aspects of the operations of the business regarding employment

it's anticipated that the facility will begin operations with one additional full-time employee

and then working up to potentially two or three additional employees as the operations get going.

It's important to note that the requested special exception and an eventual zoning permit,

if approved, is only the first step here.

If the zoning permit is granted, the facility will need to obtain the required building permits

for the fit out of the space, as well as comply with all fire code requirements

and environmental regulations that pertain to this use and this property.

So we cannot even apply for those approvals until we have a zoning permit in hand.

We do want to note, and it's included in our Exhibit 16, that Air Management Service Regulation 11 governs all the requirements for animal crematory uses.

And so this regulation requires that we have both an installation permit as well as a license to operate.

And as part of that license to operate, we will be required to undergo a stack test, which is an emissions test.

And that includes testing for things like particulate matter, visible emissions, and other air contaminants that are regulated by the Air Management Services and the DEP, or Pennsylvania DEP.

Stack tests for crematory uses must be redone every five years, and all of our testing methods must comply with regulations of both the Pennsylvania DEP and the EPA.

so any approval granted today cannot go into effect until and unless all those additional

permits and approvals are granted so as such we note that the grant of the requested special

exception will not create a detrimental impact on the health safety and welfare of the neighborhood

exceeding that which would normally be expected from the proposed crematory use

with that i'd like to elevate mr richard slavodian as who's the applicant as a

So, sir, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer and move forward and put the button on if you don't mind.

My name is Richard Slobodian, R-I-C-H-A-R-D-S-L-O-B-O-D-I-E-N.

l-o-b-o-d-i-e-n. Do you swear or affirm that tell the truth the whole truth is nothing but

Do you swear or affirm the tele...

the truth? I do. Counsel? Mr. Stolbodian, you have just heard what I said. Can you affirm that what

I've said is true and accurate and adopt it as your own testimony? It is, and I do. We have two

additional witnesses that we'd like to call up to document our record for this special exception.

First, we'd like to ask questions of Mr. Daniel Addis, who I believe is joining us by Zoom.

Mr. Addis?

Dan Addis has been promoted to Penalist.

Hi, sir. Could you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer?

Hi, my name is Dan Addis, D-A-N-A-D-D-I-S.

do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth

i do please proceed counsel thank you uh mr addas can you please tell us a little bit about

your professional background and experience yep um i earned my professional degree in architecture

as well as my master's in science in architecture engineering and construction management from

carnegie mellon university um i've worked at onion flats architecture for almost 12 years

as an architect, and I have the title of project manager.

In the time that I've worked there,

I've worked on a variety of different project types

at all different phases of project delivery,

from zoning to building permitting

to construction administration

to certificate of occupancy.