So, Bill, do you want to come up?
Bill, can you just state your name?
Get closer to the mic.
State your name and spell it for us.
Bill Bascarello.
Can you spell that?
E-A-S-Q-U-A-R-E-L-L-O.
Do you swear or affirm that tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, counsel.
Bill, just a few questions I have for you.
You are the authorized owner of 239 South 10th Street, LLC.
Correct.
And were you present in the room when you heard the testimony being made by myself and Tim?
I was.
Is everything that you heard true and accurate to the best of your knowledge, information, and beliefs?
And would you adopt that testimony as your own?
I would.
questions from the board. Yeah, I have a question. I'm sorry. I have a question about the garage.
How does that, how is that garage going to, going to work?
Well, I guess the, the, the garage is going to be used for the client has a plumbing business.
And so it is only going to be used for his trucks. It's not going to be used for the actual
residents of the property it's for his um the trucks that he has for his plumbing business
okay thank you other questions is it just the trucks or is there also going to be material
and equipment storage some some equipment some light equipment and material will be stored there
okay and then has the is the curb cut already been approved by the streets department
No, we're not yet.
There's an existing one.
There's an existing one in the rear of the property.
But this is not, this is where the entrance, this is not the garage entrance.
This is the apartment entrance, correct?
The RCO wanted to provide some interior trash storage.
So where was the trash plan for the units?
We're going to have all the trash is going to be stored in,
we're going to have a space for it in the garage all the tenants going to have access to that
garage that's my understanding correct bill just to the we're going to it's not on the plan but
it's it's going to be there's going to be a room framed into that garage where there'll be two
dumpsters where they can dispose their trash of they'll have access from the steps from the steps
okay and is this lab on grade yes all the questions um
yes uh the garage doors there in the front there used to be a lot of outcry about those kind of
things um is that the only yours will be that'll make it two in this area are there any others
like that on this block or is there any other garages that also face on that block
and you're also kind of limited because the space next to it obviously
is the banks parking lot um and we're just making it consistent and again understanding
that it would be too but making it consistent of what's there now okay
thank you all the questions i'll come up and show you where i'm thinking and we could put it
Gotcha.
Who's that talking about?
That was Vern. I think he got a mute.
That was Vern, I think.
Okay, thank you. Questions from our attorney, Hillary Emerson.
Not so much a question, but I just wanted to note that if I understand the non-accessory parking, if you're just parking vehicles, but if you have other equipment and materials that you're storing there,
you may need to permit a use permit for like a like equipment and materials storage yards and
buildings um so that may be something you want to discuss with l and i so that you don't get
a violation later understood questions or comments from this audience or the virtual audience
i see no hands share okay planning commission
amy boyd with the planning commission amy boid
you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i do please proceed the comprehensive plan recommends a change in zoning at this location
from ca1 commercial auto oriented to cmx2 commercial mixed use the multi-family proposal
would be allowed under the proposed zoning the appellant has demonstrated that the proposed
deviations from the dimensional parking requirements are in harmony with the surrounding
neighborhood and will have minimum impact on the surrounding properties the planning commission
recommends that the board grant their request variances for multi-family non-accessory parking
occupied area accessible parking parking ratio and access driveways mi 2025 003 658 2039 south
10th Street, I vote yes with Proviso.
Interior trash storage, commercial trash pickup.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Teneda Graham, my vote is yes with Proviso's.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes with Proviso's.
Iowyn, my vote is yes with Proviso's.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you very much, everyone.
Number five, MI 2025-003-847-2113-29, Oregon Avenue.
Stephanie Magna is the attorney.
There's a letter of support from Gerard Estate Area Residents,
a letter of support from Gerard Estate Neighbors Association.
Counsel, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Yes, Stephanie Magna, last name M-A-G-A-G-N-A.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Could you identify your client, the relationship to this property?
My client is the Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society.
They're the property owner here, and I have with me Melissa Levy.
She is the executive director of PAWS.
Vice Chair has a few questions.
Good afternoon.
Have you submitted your documents five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, I have.
And do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, I do.
Okay, thank you.
You can proceed.
Thank you.
I'm in the process of being promoted, so give me a second to share my screen.
there we go there we go can you see that now there we go okay um so this property is at the corner of
22nd street and oregon avenue um it's zoned ca1 which you can see we also have frontage on south
21st street and we are right next to the auto zone that's located here as well um
forgive me one second here's a copy of our zoning map that you can see here you'll see that the
site is zoned CA1 we're adjacent to other commercial and CA1 uses in this neighborhood
but somewhat uniquely we have an RSA3 row of single-family homes directly behind us as well
which has created some unique challenges for this site so this site has two existing buildings that
are located here. One is a retail strip property. You can see that that has been there as well as
an office building. These buildings prior to my client purchasing the property earlier this year
have been vacant for some time. It's our understanding that the tenants that were
formerly located in this building vacated sometime during COVID. It was a COVID casualty here.
So the retail strip that you can see here, as well as the office building that's located next door, has kind of been a source of attractive nuisance in the area, has attracted some graffiti, and in general the buildings as they stand today are in disrepair.
These are just some more site photos.
The property in and of itself has been the subject of other interest from other developers prior to my client purchasing the property.
I'll give one example because my office was involved.
There was a proposal to put a Wawa at this location. I believe it was in 2024, 2023. That proposal was for a Wawa as well as a gas station. That use met with considerable opposition from particularly the rear neighbors behind us, the RSC3 lots behind us.
There was a proposal to put a Wawa at this location.
I believe it was in 2020.
Given the challenges that are presented by having such an intensive use, particularly one with gasoline and the traffic that would be generated by that type of commercial use right adjacent to single-family homes.
So that application has fallen through.
So there's been some challenges in trying to figure out what to do here on this site, given the existing condition of the property, as well as its proximity to the homes that front along Shung Street.
So my client, the Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society, purchased this property earlier this year with the intention of redeveloping the site to put a new two-story building here for a new vet clinic as well as a rescue facility.
They are a nonprofit organization that takes care of pets in need as well as offers veterinary services to the neighborhood and a rescue facility.
We met with the neighbors in the neighborhood earlier this year, very, very early in PAW's process to design this building back in January, and presented our initial plans for the building and particularly the use operations that were here.
We were seeking feedback very early in the design process on what types of considerations from a site plan standpoint would address any questions or concerns that the neighbors did have related to this use.
And because of meeting them very early in the process, we were fortunately able to encompass a lot of those feedback and comments into our final site plan design that's shown here, which we'll discuss in a little bit.
So we did submit our application, and the application is, again, to build a new structure, to take down the existing vacant structures, put a new two-story building here that provide adequate parking on site.
The use is classified under the zoning code as animal services, but because of the rescue operations that will operate out of here, they necessarily have to be able to have some temporary boarding facilities for the animals that will be in their care.
That classifies this particular use as a boarding and other services, which is a subcategory of the animal services uses.
So while animal services is generally permitted in the CA1 zoning district, boarding facilities in and of themselves require a variance in the CA1 district.
We are also seeking a variance relief for the roof deck that will be accessory to this use that we're proposing as well.
As I said, we met with the community here very early in the process.
I'm very happy to include letters of support from both our coordinating RCO, the Girard Estate area residents.
Here's an email correspondence from them, as well as a general letter of support.
We can touch on these if the board has any questions.
But we also have a letter here from Gina, the other affected RCO here.
so i'm very happy to include their letters of support as part of this project um so again just
getting into um the comments i made so again the site design here was care was taken to make sure
that any questions or concerns that the neighbors particularly our neighbors along shung street had
regarding this use was addressed as part of how this site was laid out meeting them very early
in the process let us incorporate that into design so key points to factor this is only a two-story
building we have approximately a 60 foot setback in the rear from our neighbors and along the rear
property line as well there's an eight foot fence and a landscaping buffer a robust landscaping
buffer that will include evergreen trees as well as other trees there to kind of shield the real
real neighbors from this use they do have a driveway immediately behind the rear property
line so their homes themselves are further set back but there is a significant setback here along
the rear property line we also have our trash storage that's shown here along the rear that
has an eight-foot fence shielding that area as well that is our commercial trash storage
all medical waste is stored inside the building deliveries happen here Monday through Friday
nine to five normal operating hours approximately three times a week but I'll let Melissa provide
some more details if we have them other key things to point out is that we have adequate
parking provided on this site we're not providing any more we're not providing any less so we're
providing adequate parking while also having a building that will allow us to accommodate the
existing operations and serve this neighborhood, as well as allow for some future growth of the
organization. This is intended to be their new headquarters, so that the building itself has
been designed with that in mind. And I'll also point out that we have the roof deck that is
being proposed is intended for use by the volunteers and the employees of PAWS. The outdoor
space that's shown here to the rear is a pet yard that is reserved for the animals so the roof deck
is intended to be outdoor space for the people that will be here because we have reserved the
outdoor space at the ground floor for the animals that the youth will serve that out roof deck is
located be in front of the second floor of the building so the rear property line where our
the second floor of the building so the rear property line where our neighbors our residential
neighbors, our residential.
neighbors are located will have no visibility to the roof deck because it is shielded by the
second floor of the building we have significant side yard setbacks that you can see as well
and again we have a very significant front yard setback with the landscaping and the landscaping
plan in general that's been approved by the planning commission in concept these are our
building elevations um as well as a copy of our landscaping plan um so again in general we think
that this use is a very beneficial use to the community that pause serves and i'll let melissa
speak a little bit more to the organization itself um but this won't present some of the
other challenges that other uses that have sought to be put here in the ca1 district would create
generally beneficial use to the community um and as as well as meeting the other zoning
requirements related to parking and landscaping that we're proposing here, we do think that this
will be a consistent use with the neighborhood without bringing any detrimental impacts to the
neighborhood overall. With that, I'll let Melissa introduce herself and say a little bit about
POD. Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer? Sure. Melissa Levy, M-E-L-I-S-S-A-L-E-V-Y.
Do you swear or affirm, tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth? Yes, I do. Please
proceed council melissa thank you um did you hear the statements i made to the board this afternoon
yes i did are they true and correct to the best of your knowledge and belief yes would you adopt
them as your own i would thank you is there anything you'd like the board to know about
pause and its mission i'd just like to take a moment to explain who we are as an organization
if that's okay um we are 19 years old um we um serve two primary functions in philadelphia one
is to rescue animals who are in danger in other shelters we make them well we find them loving
homes and then we fill their spaces with other animals who are waiting for that chance and a
another very important piece of what we do is to serve pet owners in our community who can't
access the services that they need for their pets otherwise so veterinary care pet food
counseling, other support services, ultimately to enable those individuals to care for their
pets and keep them as part of their families and then keep those animals out of shelters.
So we really are trying to come at the problem in Philadelphia of vulnerability among pets and
people from those two perspectives. And we have been growing very steadily over all of the years
that we have been at this and really see this property as an opportunity to invest in our
own future, but also to serve the community more fully, because the need really does far
outstrip what we are able to do right now.
Thank you.
Questions from the board?
Yeah, I have a question.
So what's the average boarding stay for a pet?
It can vary literally from a couple of hours to a few days, in some cases a few weeks if