Again, Mr. Minister, it's not to put pressure on you.
We do have a time constraint.
Well, we had asked Mr. Chair for this to be a dedicated hearing, and that was, I think, stated on the record,
but it ended up being put into the regular list.
And that wasn't our intention.
And our understanding was that we were actually
going to have plenty of time.
Chair, this is Tanya.
I'm sorry.
It was the only way we could accommodate having this hearing.
There is no other time for specials until January.
Just so everybody's clear.
We're fine to proceed again, Mr. Chair.
This is just on the issue of parking.
So maybe Mr. Masters can attempt to limit his witness's testimony to the relevant refusal.
Ms. Pritzker, we understand what your variances are, and that is the focus of this hearing.
But to say that it's just about parking is trivializing both the opposition of the council president and 99 people.
Mr. Masters, not to interrupt. We're having some technical problems.
Everybody froze there for a moment.
Tanya was trying to speak.
She froze.
And we didn't get all of your statement either.
So we are having some significant technical difficulties.
Ms. Sunkit, you wanted to speak?
Oh, I'm sorry, Chair.
I thought it was heard.
I was just letting everyone know that in order to accommodate this hearing, this was the only scheduling and that no specials could be listed until January 2022.
that was why we had to push it into this spot yeah i think you made reference to that uh when
we decided to uh schedule it for today all right let's not belabor that point so mr masters try
again hopefully you will um sure are you able to hear me now mr chair yes okay i i was just saying
that um we of course understand the issues of the variances in this hearing and we um
vehemently disagree with the applicant's counsel's attempt to trivialize the opposition of the
council president, the 99 people who signed the petition, the three RCOs that have come out
against it to say that it's just about parking. We're going to be having testimony as to why this
is a terrible idea on this block, something that Mr. Holloman was able to demonstrate.
I'm going to object to any reference of Mr. Holliman's testimony given he's recused himself and any testimony is provided is now mute.
Well, he doesn't testify, Ms. Pritzker. He's a board member and he engages in-
He has recused himself, Mr. Masters.
He was on the record. We have the transcript from the first hearing.
He has recused himself?
He has, but he was on record from last time we heard the case, yes.
do you want to go you want to go over from the beginning rachel because of no no no no no
Do you want to go over from the beginning, Rachel?
No, no, no, no, no.
see you're eating up the clock you know okay um kayla um franks jenkins are you
Cedar.
are you um has she been elevated to these speakers yes and she can be sworn in now chair
and chair you're muted
it. Mr. Tachiko, can you unmute yourself, please?
There we go. We got you, Frank.
I went out completely. Can you hear me now?
Yes. Yes.
Thank you.
um he probably missed it mr tachico we have someone that you need to swear in
could you speak please ma'am yes my name is caleb franks jenkins
miss jenkins please spell your name k-a-l-a last name is hyphenated it's f-r-a-n-k-s
there's j-e-n-k-i-n-s and do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but
the truth yes wow mr masters um yes miss um frank jenkins um you testified um to some extent
at the last hearing um and we're just gonna um complete your testimony now um you had testified
previously about the 99 petitions that you that you took around the signatures that you got on
the petitions and uh showed us a bunch of photographs uh talked about the the situation
on on the block um did you have an occasion to speak to an lni inspector over over the summer
about this project yes and do you remember the name of that inspector brian wright and um would
it be correct that you that you reached out to him or spoke to him approximately on the third of
june of 2021 yes and then you had multiple conversations or or communications with him
between june and september of this year yes um can you tell the board um what it is that you
were talking to mr right about and what it is you learned we're not we're not asking you to
say about hearsay we're asking if you would listen to my question rachel then maybe that
would help you with your objections. What I said was, what I asked was, what did you learn after
you communicated with Mr. Wright? And that is not hearsay and that is admissible. It's admissible,
please. The plans that I had asked him about was whether or not what I was seeing at that time was
a driveway. It did not have the finishing that's on there now. He stated to me that the plans that
I had told him, which was the driveway. He said that his plans did not have a driveway. He said
that it was completely closed up and there was no anything that had like a carport or a covered
garage of any sort. And then he told me that they could do this basically right now until they
entered the last stage of inspection. So based on your communications with
L&I Inspector Wright, did you come to a conclusion about what the building plans that were submitted
to L&I, whether they provided for these carports or not on the building plans?
They did not. I was told that what I showed him and what he had was two different things.
He could not provide me the plans because of security issues.
you're talking about the the right to know kind of um yes limitations so um as far as you know
um miss franks jenkins has there been a certificate of occupancy issued for any of
these properties no not that i know of and when miss pricksker had mentioned the patio
that was not even discussed in the rco meeting
um are you how long have you lived um in in this in this neighborhood my whole life 34 years
and did you grow up on on north krosky street yes um and are you familiar or very familiar with
um north 22nd street and cecil b more and the and the septa um buses that travel along those
those routes yes are you aware if there have been any um accidents with septa buses um recently
and have you seen any of them personally?
I did see a septibus, it hit a light pole on the corner of 22nd, it seems to be more.
I've also seen multiple accidents, more or less, on Montgomery and 22nd, and currently
and currently there's potholes and sinkholes on 22nd street
there's potholes in St. Crohn's.
do you um did you uh hear the provisos that i read um in the beginning of today's hearing that
were created by um by board member holliman yes do you support those provisos yes um did you hear
my testimony earlier and did you do you do you adopt it as your own and say that it's true and
correct? Yes. I have no further questions. I'd like to ask Ms. Franks Jenkins a question
briefly. Ms. Jenkins are you an expert in planning? Do you have a background in plan review
traffic engineering traffic planning i'm objecting to this um on the basis of relevance we're not
introducing her testimony as an expert she's a fact you got her on the record talking about
traffic and other issues that could impact her neighborhood we understand she's not an expert
and i don't mean that disrespectfully so i think we'll allow that miss franks jacins can you answer
the question and if you need me to restate it i'm happy to do so no i said no okay um are you uh
and your residence is on crossview street not 22nd correct yes okay i don't have any further
questions okay um second witness i have is mary jones
good afternoon miss jones just identify yourself with the record you're still under oath from
earlier today? She may have to raise her hand to get acknowledged. Oh, there she is. Okay.
Hello, this is Mary Jones, Council President Gerald Clark's office, City Hall, room 494.
uh yes so yes the council president sent a letter um back in may um opposing all of these variances
uh and that um opposition remains um just out of not only does the the community is against this
installing these curb cuts will disrupt the pedestrian right away and jeopardize the safety
of the residents. While no one is disputing the fact that property owners do have standing
in cases like this, obviously residents of the neighborhood are impacted
differently than someone who just merely owns property there. And our office takes very
seriously the concerns of the community and the safety of the residents there, regardless of
whether they happen to live on the actual block. This is a much-used block. It's at the intersection
of Stephen Klein Wellness Center, of MLK Recreation Center, and other major bus lines, such as the 33.
And so people, obviously, more than just whoever lives on this street will be impacted by this
disruption of the sidewalk. Further, the applicant has
um presented no hardship whatsoever to um to justify the granting of this variance
in fact he's built the property so there's no argument that um this variance is creating an
unnecessary excuse me there's no argument that there's any physical circumstances of the land
that makes use of it impossible because they're using it now. And we do also want the
zoning board to take into consideration the neighborhood character and the detriment to
the public welfare that allowing this disruption could cause. And to please take seriously the
people who live there and will be affected by this project. Thank you.
Ms. Jones, I have a couple questions for you.
So you go to many, many RCO meetings since you were the zoning council for the council president,
and you hear many times neighbors complaining about the lack of parking.
and you hear many times neighbors complaining about the lack of parking and and upset about
proposed developments because they don't have parking what is what is it about this project
that um that you that your office and the community um based on the the community folks
that have reached out to you what what is what is the reason why you are so opposed to these parking
spaces um well still speaking on behalf of our office um in this situation there is not being
any there's not any added parking for the neighborhood these parking lots will be for
the residents of these new properties um in fact will take away parking spaces from the general
neighborhood. This is also, again, an intersection where there is two main bus lines. I forget the
one that goes down Cecil B. Moore to Broad Street. So the residents here, residents,
they may have cars, but it's also very easy to get around the city. So this particular corner,
um again with the adjacency to the recreation center where children um come and go to partake
of those services this corner is not good for um this kind of uh parking so is it safe to say that
that that it's the location the specific location of these lots and the location of these driveways
and curb cuts that has the council president so opposed to this and the neighbors so opposed to
this? Yes. There were some of these developers have submitted letters in support and their names
are Joe Quinonez, Emmanuel Ligudakis, and Arum Dotti. Have you been approached by any of them
who have reached out to your office to ask you to support this project?
no no one's been in contact with me or as far as I know our office either to support this project
have you received communications from neighbors and community groups in opposition to the project
yes and I was also present at the RCO meeting for this project it was quite heated and
And this was discussed also in the previous portion of this hearing, where the residents were very clear about what the applicant has the right to do on that property versus what they were asking to do, what they need permission for.
and the um community was not happy um and the way that our office works we respond to
the community's concerns and that's what we've been doing this entire time
I'm gonna um put on the screen the four provisos that um board member Holloman proposed at the
last hearing um and i believe you've you've seen these um before um are these provisos
something that the council president would be in favor of to to allow the developer to maintain
those um those uh parking areas outside of uh of these of these buildings but to reserve
them for bicycles and to restore the the curves um put some landscaping in
So essentially, as long as the community is supportive of this and there are no curb cuts involved, the council president doesn't have any issue with it.
Mr. Ministers, has the community had an opportunity to look over these provisors?
We have, the next few witnesses, Mr. Chair, are going to be the heads of the RCOs and so they can address that.
I'm going to call.
I'd like to ask Mary a few questions,
but I also want to keep in mind that our other witness has to leave in six
minutes. So I wanted to make sure he at least had an opportunity.
I'll ask Ms. Jones and then we'll move on and we'll get your other witness.
Ms. Jones,
did you receive a meeting summary from the RCO for the meeting that was held
on this?
Jones?
Rachel, why don't we move on to the other witness who has to leave.
Oh, here's Ms. Jones.
I think she's back.
Ms. Jones?
You're muted.
Yes, I'm back.
I'm sorry. There you go.
Yep. Ms. Jones, I just had asked if you had received a meeting summary from the RCO after
the RCO meeting?
I've received a letter.
But there was no meeting summary stating how many votes were taken and how many were in
opposition or support, correct?
No, I did not receive a meeting summary.
Okay. Just because we're going to make statements that everybody was in opposition?
we don't have a meeting summary to support that.
And just for the record, I don't have one as well.
So I didn't know if you had received one
and was curious to see if you had.
No, I made that statement based on
the sentiment expressed at the meeting.
And you had mentioned that the meeting was heated.
Could you explain why the meeting was heated
and if all of that had to actually do with parking?
that I think that there was some concern
about the ability of the property owner
to build in the neighborhood,
build extensively without having to come
before the neighborhood.
And I believe that you covered some other issues