um hopefully right now you're looking at a screen that says uh torresdale manor residences 3600
grant avenue um so what you see on the left are existing homes right here this l shape
is the property at question. This is Grant Avenue. And this up here is a Toursdale Union League golf
course. And this golf course is actually the John F. Byrne public golf course. So we're bound on
three sides by golf courses. And we're putting in 30 single family homes, 28 twins and two
standalone homes wow so here's sort of a layout of you know just an overview you can see
here's the uh the zoning you obviously have the golf course here golf course there
um this is and of course please interrupt me at any point in time but since we do have full
support and no one is in opposition i i don't want to waste your time with uh you know unnecessary
details. So this is the L shape of the property that we're talking about. Again, we have a creek
that runs right next to our property. You can see it here. This property currently is deemed
imminently dangerous. It was a very large gym, basically taking up this entire portion of the
property over here with an Olympic-sized swimming pool. That gym has been vacant for some time,
The creek here has been completely sort of fallen in.
We're going to be doing significant creek bed work and are working with the state and the city water departments to reinforce that wall.
This is the type of creek that has quite literally a couch inside of it right now when I just went out to the site.
This property is a large open parking lot with access off of Grant.
and uh like i said a large dilapidated building on this section that i'll go through um right now
as the neighbor said this is the type of property where all the people looking to do bad things
come to congregate um so we're we're we're looking to to uh correct that we have existing
homes right here and as i previously showed kind of up this is actually uh to the west
all existing homes we are building 30 homes with 86 parking spaces each home
We are building 30 homes with 86 parking spaces.
Each home will have two dedicated parking spaces and we'll have additional overflow parking, as you can see.
So these homes, do these homes front on Grant Avenue?
No, so none of the homes front on Grant Avenue.
So Grant Avenue is over here.
Let me, I think I can jump.
I can see where it is now.
Yeah, so here's, this might be a better, so here's sort of the overview. This is Grant Avenue right here. This is, you know, existing public streets going into the existing neighborhood.
these existing homes back up to our property these homes right here actually have alleyway
parking but they do front on on grant we would be building homes all along here here you can
see the building that's been deemed imminently dangerous the creek right here is what's been
fully overgrown and this is the large parking lot that i was talking about so thank you
just kind of summarize that would be helpful
pardon me chair you can summarize yes um so in short we had uh five refusals
um we have cured all of the refusals except two so we've cured three of the refusals which were
just dimensional um the last two refusals we have set up this project as a pud instead of going
through a subdivision for multiple homes it's just much cleaner and easier to develop that way
but that generates a refusal for multi-family use in a single family or twin neighborhood as we're
in so that's one of our refusals and the other refusal we have is that there's existing outflow
pipes and utilities involving that creek we're cleaning all of that up and working with the
Water Department to make sure we clear all of that out. So that's done. As I said, Northeast
Community Civic Alliance. I think Tom Neville, their president, was going to be on today's
hearing. They fully support the position. They're excited to see this property rejuvenated and
redeveloped. We also have a letter of support from Councilman Bobby Heenan's office
and from the union league and from 23 individual near neighbors um so i i think the the size and
scope of this project uh greatly benefits the neighborhood and obviously we've got 130 000
square foot l-shaped property which is difficult to manage if you're required to put in a single
family home um so with that i will uh conclude and i'll just call my witnesses to adopt my
testimony if the board is okay with that you have witnesses plural uh yes i have an engineer
who would testify if the board is interested with regard to the work going on at the creek
it's quite significant and uh a an architect from avatari design who actually did the all the plans
and then Sean Killeen on behalf of the owner
who could testify to any questions
that the board may have.
The board have any questions
for the architect and or engineer?
Okay, so all we'll need is a testimony
from your developer, I believe you said?
Certainly.
Again, he would just be adopting the testimony
that I've already provided.
Okay, we'll stipulate to that.
We'll stipulate that your client
would adopt your testimony.
you being an officer of the court okay all right and so i guess the only thing i would request is
if you would stipulate that the uh my architect and engineer would also um agree with my testimony
and adopt it as their own noted thank you any any questions from the board in general no
anyone else like to testify in this case please raise your hand
There are no hands at this time, Mr. Chair.
Thank you.
Planning Commission.
Good afternoon, Ariel DiLiberto, the Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends this property for both residential and open space use.
We recommend the Board grant the variance.
much MI 2021-000741-3600 Grant Avenue. My vote is yes. Were there any revised plans?
uh yes thank you for uh reminding me uh proviso one page uh my vote is yes with the proviso
Yes, thank you for reminding me. Proviso, one page.
revised plan one page approved today my vote is yes with proviso yes with proviso yes with proviso
yes with proviso you uh do we now go to north 16th street thank you board for your time today
thank you thank you i think we go to number three
yes number three on the regular list calendar number mi-2021-001168 4501 woodhaven road
gussie o'neill is the attorney and we have a letter of support from councilman brian o'neill
and no RCO letter from Northeast Community Civic Alliance.
Mr. Ronald Patterson has his hand raised.
I will promote him to panelists at this time, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Patterson, you have been promoted to panelists.
Please wait to be sworn in, sir.
Mr. Patterson, please identify yourself, spell your full name, and I'll swear you in.
Hi, good afternoon.
Ronald Patterson, Claire Harrison, 1835 Market Street, Philadelphia PA 19103.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Thank you, Madam Vice Chair.
Do you also agree to waive the reading and refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership tax compliance refusal or referral
photos and or plans of the property five days in advance of this hearing have you met with
the rco and do you have a letter uh i have all the above okay thank you you may proceed
oh great i'm going to share my screen please okay all right
can you see that site plan yes yes okay so this regards as you mentioned 4501
woodhaven road it's a shopping center that was once part of franklin mills it was carved off
It's a large shopping center to make sure it is for us.
Can you see this photograph here?
Okay, all on the right-hand side were all the current Franklin Mills stores.
This is the area here that we're in question, and especially in particular this blue area here.
So the overall site plan, you see Woodhaven Road, you're driving north, you turn off of Woodhaven Road, Nice Road, you go on Liberty Road.
This is the property portion that we're talking about.
Over here currently consists of Dick's Sporting Goods that used to be a Walmart, Home Depot,
one or the other. There's a new car wash that the board approved that's going in here. So
what we're proposing here, it's a by-right standalone CVS pharmacy retail store. We have
our permit for that. And what we're proposing is a freestanding sign at this location.
There are three other ones here that I denoted in yellow.
And here's an example of the three other freestanding signs that are located on the property.
Here's a store looking down towards north.
Here's where the building is currently under construction.
We'll see here as we go through here, a construction site back here.
So as the photograph showed, what we're asking here is a construction site.
The sign would be approximately right here at this location, so it could be seen from
Knights Road and Liberty Belt Lane. As I mentioned, it's by right. We have the rest of the signed
package that was approved. This particular sign is the blow of the store located right
here, as I mentioned, in the red dash. We're returning off the Knights Road. This is the
sign is proposed. It's a typical CVS, one of their model signs. It's 24 feet tall,
It's 24 feet tall, double-faced, about 68 square feet per side.
double-faced, about 68 square feet per side.
The refusal here, we're located in a CA-1 commercial zoning district, is that we're only allowed one side per lot.
Now, it seems kind of perplexing, but of course, there's a history to this.
um the property was as part of franco mills was originally and last before the zoning had changed
a ca2 zoning district um and this uh frontage here along between combining franco mills boulevard
and liberty bell is about 1360 feet which is a quarter of a mile for those of you to drag race
um it's a very large shopping center as you can see and at the time as i mentioned was constructed
it was a CA-2, but it was later converted to CA-1. And CA-2, you can see this in the zoning code,
allowed at the time, no limit on the number of projecting freestanding signs,
but you would get one per 15,000 square feet. This shopping center is approximately 1,450,000
square feet which will have allowed 96 freestanding signs it was remapped the property
i'm guessing about five or seven years ago the ca1 was from the codes shows that you're only
per lot so you know in the fact excuse me one minute ron ron i'm sorry if you interrupt someone
has uh their mic open and we're hearing like sounds like dishwashing going on in the background
something. Okay. Please mute. All right, continue, Ron. Sure. So CA1 currently, again, allows only
one freestanding for this large shopping center. We just want to add, as I mentioned, the one
near the property entrance location here in the red, right off of Knights Road and Liberty Bell
Landing. And it's, you know, it's needed that sign to identify the building and to also, you know,
promotes traffic safety efforts when you're turning off of Woodhaven Road to try and find
the location. We believe that it will cause no negative impacts as the property was constructed
considering and presuming there would be more freestanding signs because of the number of
driveways that enter the shopping center. And so, you know, we believe this overrides the
restrictions and the hardship that were caused by the down zoning of this property. As I mentioned,
that was constructed under CA2 in a prior equivalent zoning district that was there.
We did meet with the Franklin Mills Advisory Council.
They are not the registered RCO per se, but they are the selected ones that we were instructed
to meet with per Councilman O'Neill's office, and we did.
We met with them on May 25th, and we have a letter from the councilman.
I'll show you the refusal first
but I didn't show you that
it says one freestanding sign per lot
we do have a letter from
the councilman
advising he has no objection
with that said if you could promote
John Cogan C-O-G-A-N
as my witness
Cogan please identify yourself when you're on
spell your full name and I'll
swear you in. Please raise your virtual hand, sir.
He's been allowed to talk, sir. Are you there, John?
Can you hear, can everyone hear me? Yes, please spell your last name, sir,
and i'll swear you in i'm sorry uh last name is cogan c-o-g-a-n john do you swear a firm to tell
the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes i do uh hi john uh please uh so you're
affiliated with with summit realty correct that is correct and uh summer realty is the developer for
this uh cbs site is that correct yes and uh you've heard and seen my presentation would you agree is
true and accurate and you would adopt it as your own yes i would and so where i'm showing the sign
here on on the screen that's the location of the proposed sign correct yes it is and the sign
package that was submitted was one of the typical sign packages for cvs yes that's correct so the
idea and the purpose and desire for the sign was obviously to locate the cvs because of the long
the winding roads that this shopping center fronts up on, correct?
Yep, that's correct.
And it's typically this freestanding sign would be useful for CVS to identify the location.
it's typically this freestanding sign would be useful for CVS to identify the location of the
building and to promote traffic safety. Would that be your opinion? Yes. Okay. That's all I have for
Mr. Cogan if the board has any questions. Any questions from the board? No. No. Anyone else
like to testify in this case? If so, please raise your hand. There are no hands at this time, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Planning Commission. Good afternoon. Ariel DiLiberto, City Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommended keeping the previous CA2 zoning at this location. The zoning
has since been changed to CA1. We believe the applicant has demonstrated sufficient hardship
as this lot is almost 1.5 million square feet and the existing zoning permits only one
freestanding sign per lot. We recommend the Board grant the variance. Thank you. MI 2021-001168
4501 Woodhaven Road my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes
thank you thank you calendar number I'm sorry to interrupt again um I spoke with Rachel Pritzker
she's asking that the hearing be continued which case that was the um that was number six on the
add-ons, 3613 North 16th Street. Okay. All right. Let me read that in, Carol. MI 2021-000467
3613 North 16th Street is continued. Thank you. Calendar number MI 2020-003174
4701-15 King Sessing Avenue. The attorney on here is Brett Feldman.
Mr. Feldman has been promoted to panelists thank you Jason
Mr. Feldman yes uh good afternoon hi put your name and address on the record please
and spell your last name and then I'll swear you in