I'm with Baker and Company.
We're at 45 East City Avenue,
Balconwood, PA, 19004.
We're a community-
Excuse me, sir.
Do you swear in the firm to tell the truth,
the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Mr. Patterson.
Is Mr. Faso here?
I have a Ronald Glenn.
All right, Mr. Glenn.
Sure, let's take Mr. Glenn first.
Good morning, Mr. Glenn.
Please identify yourself for the record.
First and last name, and I'll swear you in.
Good morning. My name is Ronald Glenn, R-O-N-A-L-D-G-L-E-N-N.
Good morning.
My name is Ronald Glenn, R-O-N-A-L-G.
Your affiliation with this project?
With Ruggiero Plant Land Design. I work with the civil engineering team. Address 5900 Ridge Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19128.
Thank you. Swear and affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Thank you, Mr. Patterson.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Uh, Mr. Glenn, um, as you stated, you are an employee of Ruggiero plant civil engineers.
That's correct.
And, uh, you've worked on and drafted the plans, both the original and this, um, revised plan that
I'm showing the board now, correct?
Yes, I did. Yep.
And, um, is it true and accurate what I've stated so far that you would adopt as your own? How have
I described, uh, the revised plans?
Yes, I would adopt your testimony as my own.
Okay. And would you agree that, uh, the revised decks, um, eliminate the four refusals noted on
the refusal letter? Yes. Okay. Thank you. That's all I have. Okay. Um, unless, um, so Mr. Baker.
Yeah. Yes, sir. Um, so if you could briefly describe, uh, Mr. Chairman, this goes to our
outreach, uh, program. I just want to let you know the extent of which we've done this, uh,
in addition to you know the the recent CBA version so Mr. Baker could you please please describe
I'm sure you have a list of what your outreach outreach program consisted of
since before our January 29th hearing and continuing to today thank you Mr. Chairman and
members of the board we have we're community relations uh specialists and so we have um
We made numerous efforts to reach out to the community. We attended the first meeting, which was held at the seminary. We then worked with East Main Area to have a meeting that was located on the block so that the local neighbors could participate.
That meeting was then held, and there was a positive vote for the project at that meeting.
After that meeting, we attended the ZBA hearing, and at that meeting, we brought up the idea of having a community benefit agreement and attempted to have a conversation with the neighbors.
That's how the decks got redone.
uh however um we then we then drafted a cba and it was modeled after a cba that we had the
privilege of doing for 4601 market street okay but mr baker i don't think we need to go into the
cba details yeah that's that's the zoning board doesn't make its decisions based on just if you
could i'm sorry just if you could tell us you know what meetings you've had or outreach you've had
We've gone out and knocked on neighbors' doors. We've talked to neighbors. We attended a meeting that was organized by, I think it was East Mountain Area neighbors. I'm not sure that was more of an activist meeting than anything else. But we've gone out, talked to neighbors, attempted to make, to figure out how to be cooperative with them and to deal with their needs.
um thank you can the board see my uh i'm sorry not my letter but the letter from uh councilwoman
best yes okay and so that this is the letter we had received back in august which i'm sure the
board has so that would conclude my presentation on the revised plans if there are any questions
Thank you. Any questions from the board?
Anyone else would like to testify in this case? If so, please raise your hand.
Yes, I have a caller ending in 1020.
Caller, you can unmute yourself and wait to be sworn in.
caller hit star six
hello hi uh good morning please identify yourself with the record name and address
uh glenn falso oh glenn thank you oh okay do you need him run
Yeah, just to confirm my testimony.
All right, let me get Glenn.
Please spell your last name.
F as in Frank, A-L, S as in Sam, O.
You swear and affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
And your affiliation with this project?
the managing member okay thank you mr patterson thank you mr chairman uh glenn uh so uh you are
The managing member.
Okay, thank you, Mr. Patterson.
Thank you, Mr.
uh we'll call the owner developer applicant in this matter correct correct correct and you've
heard my presentation uh just to be brief that you uh agreed it's true and accurate and would
adopt it as if you were your own i do okay that's all i have mr chairman thank you again i'll ask
any questions from the board no okay thank you anyone else would like to testify in this case
if so please raise your hand yes we have a natalie hi this is natalia sariko i'm the executive
director of east mount erie neighbors how long please uh your full name natalia sariko it's s-e-r-e-j-k-o
and you swear and affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
Yes. Please proceed. Sure. So I just wanted to clear up a couple of things. The letter that was just shown from Cindy Bass's office, there was the letter that we sent to the ZBA, which included the meeting summary, which showed that it was a tie between neighbors supporting and opposing this
this variant so it wasn't an approval by the new neighbors or by the neighbors so I just want to
clarify that and then the ZBA should have a copy of that letter that went out
and then another thing that I would like to also clarify is that a letter was sent to the ZBA in
February indicating that the developer had asked the near or the near neighbors to
do a CBA. And then we were waiting for the developer to send over the CBA. And the CBA
was riddled with misinformation. It had the wrong organization. It had the wrong street.
So the neighbors sent the other CBA in response.
and the neighbors have been working with an attorney so they have been asking the applicant
to be reaching out to their attorney for any communication instead of talking to the neighbors
directly and we also sent along today the most revised version of the CBA that again not to
interrupt you but the zoning board doesn't make its decisions based on ZBA between communities
and developers that's that's something that the community groups and the and the developers uh
act on their own we don't take that into consideration okay so um well i just i just
wanted to clarify the record because there was a lot of wrong information that was given and i
just wanted to clear that up first um you know the neighbors have been working really hard to
work on a deal um with the applicant and um what do you say a deal what do you mean by a deal
well as a cba well again we're not that's not for this board to make those decisions we don't weigh
in on those issues okay so um then i don't understand what the purpose of the cba is if
The purpose of the CBA is to listen to the development, the project, weigh any of the issues that cause the refusal, and make a determination whether we agree with the refusals or if the developer makes any adjustments, we decide whether we vote the plan up or down.
The CBA, the community benefits agreement, we have no involvement in that.
okay well the neighbors are still they just sent a new CBA to the developer so it's still
in negotiation again that's it I'm no more discussion on CBA please with all due respect
on CBAs so chair if you wish we can move on if there's no discussion of zoning
yeah Lakeisha you can call the next person as we have a um Mr. Michael
Michael you can um wait to be sworn in sure can you hear me yes sir please identify yourself for
the record name and address Michael Burrell 26 East Sharpneck Street and your spell your last
name please Burrell B as in boy U R R E L L and you broke up a little bit your address again
26 east sharp neck street thank you swearing a firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing
but the truth i do 26 east sharpening how far away is that from 80 east sharpening uh
26 East Sharpnik. How far away is that from 80 East Sharpnik?
Down the street.
Okay. Within a block or two?
Half a block.
Okay. Thank you. Please proceed.
Okay. Since you took off the CBA, because that was the purpose in discussions,
in regards to what the applicant is offering,
we're going back to
the zoning piece
when they had
provided to the zoning board
and the zoning board
denied the variance because of
certain structures and how they
wasn't denied.
We asked them to go back and see if they
can make any revisions and what we're looking at
today is a revised plan.
The board will make a decision
whether we agree with the revised plan or not.
so if your question you have any concerns about the revised plan if you are you're not satisfied
with the revised plan that speaks to zoning we'll listen to you other than that there's no really
we we shouldn't be having any other conversation but that okay so let's let's talk about the revised
plan then so i think it still stayed at six houses um which um still lock still is it's bunched in
And it does not fit the fabric of the neighborhood. We already discussed that and explained that even though they took the back entrance, well, not the entranceway, but the back decks off, the entranceway for the cars is still not viable for cars to even drive through there and the park.
just the term radius is off so the five houses we we actually said would probably will be more
viable than six so um so i am still against with their with their revised plan of putting up six
houses thank you for your testimony thank you anyone else we have a linda bell wow linda bell
You can unmute yourself and wait to be sworn in.
Ms. Bell, please identify yourself, your name and address, and I'll swear you in.
And I would ask that your questions be directed to the issue before us today, the revised plan.
Yes, my name is Linda Bell.
Your address?
For Slocum Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19119.
We're going to affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
And where do you live in proximity to this project?
I live three blocks away.
Three blocks away?
I don't know how far that is.
Okay, please perceive your testimony.
Okay, my testimony is that their neighbor's concern is density
and the increasing density in this area
and that the revised plans, we're not clear of what they're actually revising
because it looks like the same exact plans that were shown to us before.
It's actually been changed.
The rear decks are no longer to full extent of the property line.
They've been reduced, I don't know by what percentage, but it is not the same.
Well, if it was reduced, sir, the real problem with the original hearing was the turn radius into the driveway that was.
How does that impact you and your neighbors, whether somebody has a difficult time getting in and out of their rear of their house, their carport?
Because it's not a carport.
It's a driveway.
A driveway with a garage.
How does that impact your community?
It impacts our neighbors because it ties up traffic.
Okay. All right. Thank you. Anyone else? I would just comment that the plan, of course,
was approved, reviewed and approved by Streets Department. I'm just going to ask you that.
Thank you. Anyone else? Yes, Mr. Chair. We have a Monique Burrell. And we want something new
and different, please. Please identify yourself, ma'am, for the record and I'll swear you're in.
Monique, identify yourself. Please state your name.
She's unmuted, but I'm sure you can move on.
Next case, anyone else, please. Something new and different.
As it relates to the revised plan.
We have a Ms. Campbell.
Hi, this is Kim Campbell. Good morning, Ms. Campbell.
Campbell. Good morning, Ms. Campbell. Please identify yourself with a record, name and address.
Please identify yourself with a record, name and address.
Good morning. My name is Carolyn Campbell. I'm a landscape architect for Studio CCLA.
I live in East Mount Airy within the Emon District. We're in a firm to tell the truth,
the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? I do. And when you say you live within the district,
how far away from this project do you live? A couple blocks. Okay, please proceed.
What is the hardship? Why does there need to be a variance? If there are four homes allowed on this
lot, can there be a reduction of one home instead of five? Could there be four? If I may, we presented
that case on January 29th, and I would incorporate that testimony by reference here. And I'm sorry,
Chair, if I could ask that we get the address of the testifier. Yes, ma'am. Thank you, Tanya. Ma'am,
please give us your address 7144 crittenden street thank you okay anyone else i'm sorry
uh could he just respond to my question oh my gosh and your question again was
oh what's the hardship they're seeking a variance because it's four is by right
Correct, Ron, or am I misspeaking?
Well, yes.
If you read the refusal letter, there were five refusals.
Four had to do with the decks.
The fifth had to do with the size of the lots.
And the decks are no longer an issue.
Correct.
And to summarize the hardship case, and I'll recall it all in detail, we did have detailed testimony on it,
was that four houses are not viable because they would produce wide houses that would be
unmarketable. Not that it's an economic argument, but it would stay vacant because of the sizes of
the homes, plus they were out of contact. So the six were more in line with the widths along the
street on Sharpnack and the depths. And that's what we had looked at. And so which all those