the animals are um undergoing medical care for example um typically what we aim to do is for
animals that we rescue um we aim to move them into foster homes as quickly as they can because
that's really where they're happier so even if they're coming back and forth to us for medical
care they're in in a foster home and not in our building any longer than they absolutely need to
be other questions how many vets are going to be on site at any given time um for starters
probably three, three to four. This will provide us an opportunity to expand our team. So we'll
be doing that gradually, but we expect to begin with three to four. And then is there going to
be emergency care services or urgent care services for pets on site? Probably not. Our scope of
services is really meant to kind of take the place of primary care. So we may be able to accommodate
certain clients um urgently during the during business hours but we don't ever expect if you're
asking about after hours services we don't that's not our that's not our role yeah and then in terms
of like are all of the appointments by i mean are all of the visits by appointment only or are there
walk-ins for the most right now all of our appointments all our services are provided by
appointment only um there are certain types of services like vaccines where we will open for
a set number of hours 10 to 12 or you know a few hours in the afternoon where we can accommodate
walk-ins but it's for a fixed period of time and then is this going to relocate your current
facilities or is this going to be an additional facility so we are in the process of really
looking at our overall operation and making those decisions um we we do expect that this will
envelop at least one of our existing locations and allow us to grow okay other questions yes
What are your hours of operation?
We operate, because we care for animals, we operate seven days a week, but typically beginning as early as 8 o'clock in the morning and going until 5 o'clock in the evening as far as serving the public.
We operate, because we care for animals, we operate seven days a week.
Okay. And then when you're boarding the animals, who's with them overnight?
night. So our staff provides care for our animals, depending on the population of animals that we're
caring for, they are, they're not intensive care cases. And so they typically don't require care
overnight. We typically will secure the facility for the evening and come back in the morning and
the animals that we're housing in the facility are, are fine to be to be left that way. But if we,
um if we have emergency cases or intensive cases they're typically moved off-site to a facility
where they can be monitored around the clock and who's going to be using the deck oh that's just
an outdoor space for our staff our volunteers kind of adjacent to a break room area where they can
step outside and just get some fresh air it's just for our team yeah yeah as i mentioned the outdoor
pet yard that there is for the animals not for the staff to kind of enjoy for their personal use
there are 71 parking spaces at this location by zoning code so we are not providing any more or
any less um that constrains the area that's otherwise available for an outdoor space for
the humans here plus the pet yard that is required and associated with the use okay and then i guess
My last question is, okay, so how many patients do you anticipate you might have at any given time?
And what are you doing about the waste from the animals?
Just to give you some context and some track record, we do operate three other facilities right now where we house animals during the day.
We have commercial trash service that comes multiple times a week so that we are able to keep our facilities very clean, the area around them really unharmed or unaffected by any refuse.
But our veterinary clinic can serve between our spay-neuter services and our clinic appointments anywhere from 20 to 50 animals a day by appointment.
Those animals are really not generating any, you know, refuse that aside from disposables that are used during those services.
The animals that we care for are being are being maintained, you know, throughout the day by our staff and volunteers and trash is packaged securely inside our building and then placed in a secure dumpster right outside and then collected.
And does that include your operating on these animals and things? Does that include some sort of biohazardous type waste?
So any biohazardous waste is, is actually maintained inside our building, we have a medical waste removal service. So all of the sharps and things like that, that are the product of our medical services are kept under our kept are securely stored inside as part of that operation. And then the medical waste removal service comes into the building to remove those materials. So they're all in self contained containers that are made for that purpose.
All right. Thank you. Thank you.
Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Emerson?
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience or the present audience here?
I see no hand. No, there's one hand here, one minute.
Jessica, I'm going to allow her to talk.
Did she speak?
Do we have someone?
Hello, can you hear me?
Yes, I can.
Hi, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Yes, Jessica Frye, J-E-S-S-I-C-A-F-R-Y-E.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
And you're from the Gerardus State group, right?
I'm the president of Gerardus State Neighbors Association.
Please proceed.
We enthusiastically support the proposed variances for 21, 13, 29 Oregon Avenue.
The applicant presented to, as she mentioned, a large subset of our community, including
the adjacent neighbors, back in January, and they were met with zero opposition.
As our attorney mentioned, there was just a handful of understandable concerns and requests
at that time that the applicant has addressed promptly and considered in their plans, which
um that the applicant has addressed promptly and considered in their plans which is so considerate
is so considerate.
they've been wonderful stewards of the property um even ahead of construction and we just wanted
to share that we would be absolutely thrilled to welcome them to our community thank you thank you
very much for taking the time the calls we appreciate is there anyone else
i see no hand chair planning commission amy wood with the planning commission the comprehensive
the plan recommends no change in zoning to the existing CA-1 commercial auto-oriented zoning.
The appellant has demonstrated that the proposed site conditions will minimize the impacts of the
proposed use on the surrounding neighborhood and that the proposed use is in harmony with that
neighborhood. The planning commission recommends that the board grant their requested variances
for animal boarding services and non-residential roof deck. Thank you. MI 2025-003-847-2113-29
nine, Oregon Avenue. I vote yes. Michael Johns. My vote is yes. She provided great service to the
city. Cheryl Gaston. My vote is yes. Tannetta Graham. My vote is yes. Ryan McAdams. As an
owner of two rescued animals, I vote yes. Ditto to what Ryan said. My vote is also yes. Look at
that thank you very much thank you um number 11 mi 2025 003 932 1201 205 chest on street augusta
o'neill is the attorney afternoon good afternoon could you please state your name and spell for
the sonographer sure my name is augusta o'neill spelled a-u-g-u-s-t-a last name is o apostrophe
N-E-I-L-L. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
I do. Could you identify your client, a relationship to this property?
Sure. My client is Identity Signs. They are the authorized signage company who's doing signage
for H&R Block, which is a lessee of the property at 1201-05 Chestnut Street. And I do have a letter
of authorization in my exhibit package. Okay. And our vice chair has a few other questions.
Good afternoon. Have you submitted your documents five days in advance of this hearing?
I did.
And do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
All right.
Thank you.
You can proceed.
Thank you so much.
I'm just going to share my screen.
I don't think I was moved to be a panelist to share my screen.
Oh, there we go.
and i saw mention that uh washington square was a unanimous non-opposition as well as
councilman school is not opposition that's correct um i actually don't have a letter
of non-opposition from councilman school but we do oh great that's wonderful thank you
thank you so much members of the board again my name is Augusta O'Neill I'm at the law firm of
Claire Harrison Harvey Brandsburg I'm here this afternoon on behalf of Identity Signs we are here
with an application to install new projecting signage accessory to an H&R block located at
1201 to 05 Chestnut Street this property is zoned CMX5 the building at 1201 to 05 Chestnut Street
Street is a mixed-use building. It's got a 7-Eleven on the ground floor, a retail store for the H&R
block, and there's also apartments directly above the office in the 7-Eleven. So if you were to put
the address for 1201-05 Chestnut Street into Waze or any kind of a GPS, it's going to take you right
to the front of the building. And so I'm going to explain why that's a challenge for the signage
here. And that's why we're asking for the variances that were here before you this afternoon to
request. So this is our, an overview of our building in Ariel. So the building, like I said,
fronts on Chestnut Street, but the HNR block that we're, that's the subject of today's application
is actually located back here. And so, um, as you can see the street that's, so the, uh,
front entrance for the HNR block is actually located on 12th street, even though it has that
chestnut street address so we received a refusal just get a copy of the refusal we received a
refusal because this property is also in the center city commercial area overlay in that
particular overlay we are not permitted to have a projecting sign the code states that projecting
signs are prohibited except on properties fronting market street between front street and fifth
street
so again just some more pictures just to orient the board um and to explain why we're kind of in
need of this projecting signage so this is 12th street our h and r block is located back here
our hr block is located back here so we're kind of dwarfed by the honik honikman center which is
so we're kind of dwarfed by the honickman
on um right across the street from us and here's the front entrance to the building as i've
discussed previously um the projecting signs as you go up and down 12th street are pretty prominent
again this is just another picture of the front of the building
um so i just grabbed from um google images a few other projecting signs that you can see
up and down 12th street this is the pacadeli that's on the same street um and i think that
a lot of personally a lot of these buildings likely have um gotten these projecting signs
because 12th street is such a narrow street when you look on the department of streets street card
for for 12th street it's about 40 feet wide as opposed to chestnut street for example is 50 feet
wide so it's a very narrow street and so um in order to be able to locate any of these businesses
or for example the park um it's at 1201 chestnut i'm sorry 203 south 12th street 123 south 12th
street there's another projecting sign for advertising a park um the mccools has a projecting
sign as well. It just helps with pedestrian orientation to the building. Included in my
exhibit package, I provided a copy of our signage plan. There is an existing flat wall sign on this
H&R block, but if you were to walk by the building, this is pretty much invisible to you as a
pedestrian so here's a picture of that projecting sign and we also have a
rendering showing it I'm sorry showing what it's going to look like it's just
going to be a small projecting sign we're not seeking a variance for the
size the size is going to be 12 inches by 20 inches but with the arm for the
sign it's going to be 12 inches by 24 inches the sign is going to be non
illuminated as you can see from the signage plan it's going to be aluminum
with the vinyl logo the H&R block has been in operation since 2024 there were
quite a few complaints from from customers that would come in that they
couldn't find the store which is what motivated the application that's for us
this afternoon we did meet with the board of the Washington Square Civic
Association the coordinating RCO back on August 26 they did issue a letter of
in opposition as chairman bergman had mentioned earlier which is at page five of the exhibit
package that i submitted my client also presented this application to the art commission
and a letter i'm sorry an email from the art commission noting that the application had been
before them on march 26 and was given preliminary approval was also included in our exhibit package
so just to go through the variance standard very briefly the denial of this application
we believe would result in a hardship because wayfinding would be more difficult for this
particular store for any pedestrians or anyone in the vehicle trying to find this particular
store within that apartment building this hardship was not created by the appellant
This is the least minimum relief to afford relief to my client.
It will not burden the public facilities or cause congestion, and it will have the opposite
effect of, in fact, making this building easier to find, and it will not endanger the public
welfare or endanger or causing a burden to neighboring facilities.
So with me this afternoon is Kayla Reppy.
She's an employee of Identity Signs who's going to be the signage installer, so I'm
just going to have her sworn in and then um take any questions the board may have and we're talking
one sign right it's just one projecting sign that's correct okay um he's he's in the audience
kayla reppy could you please um hit the raise hand button to be identified
we see him in the audience
okay i see no hands chair okay thank you
it's not there not there okay okay okay wait wait i found one okay one minute
oh kyla kyla i gonna allow him to talk okay okay
hi i'm present hi could you please state your name and then spell for the stenographer
kayla reppe k-a-y-l-a-r-e-p-p-e you swear referring to tell the truth
r-e-p-p-e you swear referring to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
the whole truth and nothing but the truth
yep please please proceed counsel hi good afternoon miss reppie did you have an opportunity to hear
my testimony this afternoon yes was everything that i said true and accurate yes and do you
wish to adopt my testimony as your own i do and is there anything that you would like to add for
the board good here thank you okay thank you so much questions from the board
can i see again where the sign exactly is absolutely
this is it so it's going to be right up against this um column of the building
i'm protruding out protruding out gotcha okay thank you thank you all the questions
questions from our attorney hillary emerson
not at this time mr questions or comments from the audience or the virtual audience
i see no hands chair planning commission amy board with the planning commission the
The comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning to the existing CMX-5 commercial mixed use.
The proposal completed its art commission review, which does not reflect an expression of the City Planning Commission's recommendation or opinion regarding zoning variances, special exceptions, or other discretionary approvals associated with this proposal.
The appellant has not demonstrated there are unique physical conditions or circumstances of the property that would prevent it from being used in conformance with the zoning code.
The Planning Commission recommends that the board deny the requested variance for projecting sign.
Thank you.
Can I respond briefly, just to note again that there are some unique characteristics to this building.
The fact that that particular office is so difficult to find for anyone that's a pedestrian on the street,
as well as the fact that fronting on that 12th Street, that 12th Street is such a narrow street,
so anyone who's a pedestrian on 12th Street is going to have a difficult time locating it.
there's obviously a lot of precedent for projecting signs on that particular block
as you can see from the pictures that were in my exhibit package okay thank you so mi 2025 003