I'm just going to reduce that a little bit.
of the plans. Basically, we have the first floor, which contains, well, actually the
first floor is, which has four apartments. This is the front of the building, and you
would walk up the exit here. There's a corridor here, and you can get to each of the one-bedroom
apartments from the corridor here. They're all a good size apartments. They have one bedroom. They
have a living room, a bathroom, and a kitchen area. There are four apartments on the second floor.
On the third floor, there are two apartments. Again, you come up the stairway here and you
can enter each apartment from the corridor there. And on the third floor, we also have two
additional one-bedroom apartments, the same thing. You walk up the stairs here and you can enter
each apartment from the stairs there. Now here is a picture of the posting of the property.
And here is a picture of the property. Basically, it's a commercial. There was a church using the bottom floor up until about a month ago. And the top apartments here were vacant.
uh here's a picture of the back of the building
here's a picture of frankfort avenue um where the building um sits
uh there's a picture of frankfort avenue uh looking north uh there's uh some uh use there
but most of the upper floors of the building on frankfort avenue uh have uh no tenants and are
vacant. Here's a picture of across the street. Again, there are a lot of vacancies there in
this area here. Parking is not a problem currently. Here's a picture of the neighborhood Frankfurt
Avenue looking north down the street. Again, you can see a lot of vacancies, no parking
issues here. Here's the notice that the applicant sent out to the community. They had a meeting,
I believe it was February 22nd of 2022. And the Frankfurt neighborhood advisory committee
They met with the applicant and they did issue a letter of support.
And there are some of the proofs of mailings.
Again the applicant did this and he didn't do the bulk mailing.
And pretty much that's our presentation today.
Can I ask a question, the upper floors were apartments before?
Actually, this was previously approved for a six-family dwelling, and I do believe I have the actual zoning application, I mean, the approval here.
When the client bought this building, it was quite developed, but it did need some work.
But here's the previous zoning approval.
Previous zoning approval, it went to the board in 07.
It went to the board in 07.
It was vacant on the bottom and it was approved for six units.
So, yes, it was cut out previously for six units.
The applicant plans to make additional modifications to make eight units.
And it is his intention to serve this community and have a single family apartments that are affordable for individuals or couples that live in that area.
And still save the commercial on the first floor?
Yes, the commercial will still be on the first floor as desired by that community.
Okay. You want to bring your client on?
Mr. Rodriguez, are you on the line?
mr rodriguez please unmute yourself and wait for the chair
hello morning sir good morning sir could you state your name please and spell for the court
reporter yeah my name is ervin rodriguez e e as an edward r as rover v as an victor i as ice cream
n as nancy uh rodriguez is r-o-d as david r-i-g-u-e-z a zebra
mr rodriguez are you the owner of this property yes i am
mr rodriguez do you swear or firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yes i do proceed counsel mr rodriguez uh are you the owner of this property yes i am and mr rodriguez
Have you heard my testimony today?
And Mr. Rodriguez, did you meet with the Frankfurt Community Association?
Yes, I did.
And did you receive a letter of support?
Yes, I did.
And Mr. Rodriguez, would you adopt my testimony as truthful today?
That's all I have.
Questions from the board.
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
i see no hands at this time chair planning commission thank you chair bergman thank you
chair bergman david vecto thank you very much no we're not done yet we're not done yet
go ahead david thank you chair bergman david vecto with the city planning commission
mr chairman and board members the comprehensive plan recommends a change in the zoning at this
location to industrial and residential mixed use under that zoning designation dwelling units would
be allowed by right. The proposal substantially meets the intention of the proposed zoning and
so the City Planning Commission recommends the board grant the use as variance. Thank you. MI 2021
005092 4324 Frankfurt Avenue. I vote yes with proviso. Use registration required prior to
occupancy for vacant commercial space on the first floor. Thomas Holloman. My vote is yes
with provisos. Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes with provisos. Thank you, counsel.
Okay, thank you, counsel.
Unmute. Okay, we're good. Unmute, please. You're muted.
You're muted.
Okay, I'm catching up.
We're fine, counsel.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
You have your vote.
Right.
Okay, number 11, MI 2022-006-249-6801-R New State Road.
Dan Mita and David Anna-Connor are the attorneys for the tenant.
Letter of non-opposition from Taccone Civic Association.
Chair, Mr. Americana is coming back in as a panelist now.
Thank you.
Good morning, counsel.
Could you please state your name and spell for the court reporter?
Thank you, Chair.
My name is David Americana.
It's spelled A-M-E-R-I-K-A-N-E-R.
I'm an attorney at the law firm of Dwayne Morris here on behalf of the tenant and the
applicant in this case, Orthodox Holdings, LLC.
Thank you.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Our vice chair has just a few questions.
Good morning, counsel.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, although we believe it's a referral, not a refusal, but yes, we agreed to waive.
Yes, although we believe it's a referral, not a refusal, but yes, we...
Have you emailed all the required documents and exhibits in our offices five days in advance of this hearing to proceed with this case?
Yes, we have.
Thank you. Please proceed and share your screen.
Thank you.
All right. Thank you for hearing us this morning. As I mentioned, my name is David Amera Conner with the law firm of Dwayne Morris. We're here for the property located at 6801R New State Road, Parcel D, on behalf of the applicant, Orthodox Holdings, LLC.
This applicant seeks, we seek a special exception for a junk and salvage yard and building use at a property in the I-2 zone.
Junk and salvage yard and building uses are permitted in the I-2 zone by special exception, which requires that the criteria in sections 14-3037E.1 and 14-3037E.2 be satisfied.
This property sits on New State Road between I-95 and the Delaware River. Our client, Orthodox Auto, has operated at this location, this area, for decades.
They have an existing owned property at 5247 Unruh Avenue adjacent to the subject site, where they have been in operation since 1968 in the auto salvage business.
They've seen a recent increase in the need for salvaged and recycled auto parts, and they wish to expand their business.
So when the subject property, which is adjacent to their previously existing and owned property, became available for lease, they entered into a lease and began using the property for the same use as is done on their owned adjacent property.
This application is to obtain a special exception for this use as required under the code.
It is very similar to the uses on neighboring properties and consistent with the neighborhood
generally.
So I've shared my screen and I'll show you some of our exhibits and photos as we walk
through this.
First is our special exception application.
Next, I will move down to the lease.
Just give me one moment.
lease agreement between our client and the property owner.
And next, I will scroll down to an aerial of the subject site.
Most of the operations take place in the building that is outlined in red.
And then I will then go down to some photos of the site.
I'm going to share a different document, if you bear with me for one moment.
Is there some photos of the interior of the site that we submitted in our packet?
And lastly, building layout that we submitted in our packet.
I'd like to now just take a moment to walk through some of the use specific requirements
and 14-3037E.1 and 14-3037E.2.
The code requires that the property be at least two acres.
This property is four acres, approximately.
The code requires that the lot be at least 150 feet
from the nearest residential district.
This is about more than 1,000 feet
from the nearest residential district.
The code requires that any cutting, shredding, compressing, or packing
The code requires that any cutting, shredding, compressing, or packing activities take place
further than 300 feet from the nearest residential district. And as we mentioned,
the nearest residential district is more than a thousand feet away.
The code requires that the use be walled off, that there be a wall.
Most of the uses on this property take place indoors and inside the building, surrounded by walls.
There are also walls on the adjacent properties that provide shielding around the exterior of the site.
The code prohibits open burning, and there is none.
The code requires that the site provide a way of suppressing windborne dust in outdoor areas,
and all outdoor surfaces are paved or are covered with aggregate to suppress wind-borne dust.
And as we mentioned, most of the activities on the site take place indoors.
The code requires that when autos are brought to the site to be salvaged,
that fluids be drained within seven days and disposed of in compliance with applicable law,
and our client does do that.
We also need to demonstrate compliance with specific detrimental impacts in 14-037 E.2, and to show that none of those detrimental impacts will occur.
first the the code inquires as to whether the use will cause congestion on streets in the area
and the answer is no it's consistent with existing uses and is causes very little traffic in the
area the we need to show that the use does not cause overcrowding of land and this is not any
this is not a new use this is not an intensification of any use there will be not any overcrowding of
land. It's consistent with the uses in the neighborhood. Again, we need to show that it
does not impair the supply of light and air to a neighboring property. And again, there's no
new use, no building proposed here, no intensification of the existing use.
It will not burden any public facilities such as water, sewer, school, or park because it's
not residential. We're not bringing any new people onto the property. There's nothing new here,
no intensification of any use. It will be consistent with adjacent properties, as we
mentioned. It will not endanger public health and safety. And this use is consistent with the
comprehensive plan because the comprehensive plan prioritizes grouping uses of similar types,
such as out of salvage yards together. And this would unify this property with the neighboring
property, which is used for the same thing. I would like to now call a client, Nick Evangelist
of the applicant to adopt my testimony. Can I ask the question first? So this 6801R is the
additional space? Correct. Right. Is that what we're looking at on the screen now?
That's the interior. Sorry. You're looking at the interior, an interior photo of the space. Yes,
Yes, that's correct. That's the additional space you're looking at. Correct. Okay, thank you.
Mr. American, what's your... Yes, his name is Nick Evangelist.
Mr. Evangelist, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Yes, hello. Good morning. Good morning. Could you state your name, please, and spell it for
the court reporter. My name is Nicholas Evangelist, N-I-C-H-O-L-A-S, Evangelist, E-V-A-N-G-E-L-I-S-T.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes. Proceed, counsel.
Thank you. Good morning, Nick. Could you please state for the board your position at Orthodox Auto?
Yes, I'm an operations manager at Orthodox Auto. I oversee all the day-to-day activities.
Thank you. Did you hear my testimony this morning?
Yes, I did.
Did you agree with what I said in my testimony this morning?
Yes, I did agree with everything that you said.
Do you adopt it as your own?
Do you have anything else you'd like to add for the board's benefit this morning?
You did a really good job of covering everything. Really, the only thing that I wanted to add was that we've been operating for over 50 years, and we're a proud Philadelphia company. And we really, we provide an essential service of handling these end-of-life vehicles and recycling them in an environmentally friendly way.
Okay, thank you. Questions from the Board?
Okay, thank you. Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Mr. Chair, this is Hillary. I have a quick question for Council.
It was noted in the presentation and the application materials that this was Parcel D, but I did not see Parcel D noted on the refusal.
um would council be opposed to um a proviso specifying that this use is limited to parcel d
on this property since that is a part of the property you are leasing
i believe so let me confirm that hillary very quickly i think that's fine i think that's fine
okay are you is it is it parcel or units i know it's condo units as well condo units yeah it's
unit D. Unit D. Okay. All right. We'll limit it to unit D. It's the board grant. Thank you.
Questions for in the virtual audience.
Chair, we have someone with their hand up calling from the Galaxy S8+.
Paul, can you please unmute yourself and wait for the chair?
Good morning. Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
hi my name is paul garland p-a-u-l-g-a-r-l-a-n-d swear or affirm to tell the truth