at Germantown sent a letter of non-opposition. Just so the board has it, I wanted to just show
a quick version of sort of the floor plans, but mostly the interior of this so that the board
can see, it is just an empty warehouse. Sorry, we're upside down here. It's just an empty warehouse.
And again, just looking to wholesale sales distribution and limited industrial.
I wanted to get my client on if possible.
Is there a Mitchell Ellman in the virtual audience?
Yes, they have been allowed to speak.
Good afternoon.
Good afternoon.
Just please confirm if you can hear me.
So state your name and spell it for the court stenographer, sir.
State your name and spell it for the court stenographer, sir.
Mitchell Ellman, M-I-T-C-H-E-L-L-E-L-M-A-N-N.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
We affirm to tell the truth and nothing but the truth.
Please proceed, counsel.
Mitchell, have you heard my testimony today? Do you believe it to be true and accurate, and do you adopt it as your own?
yes thank you um chairman i'm happy to answer a question i do want to allow for calvin harris who
is the tenant um an opportunity to speak if he would like to um let's bring him on now great
they've been about to speak why could you please state your name and spell for the sonographer
good afternoon guys this is calvin harris uh c-a-l-v-i-n last name harris h-a-r-r-i-s
you swear or affirm to tell the truth told truth nothing but the truth
yes i do please please proceed counsel calvin i just wanted to give you an opportunity to speak
if you wanted to um i just want the board to be aware that you know this is really what the city
is all about and supporting the expansion of a Black-owned business in a neighborhood.
And I just want to give you an opportunity to speak if you'd like to.
Yes, absolutely.
And I appreciate that opportunity and a good afternoon to all.
So Yudane Cultural Solutions, this is a company that was established 22 years ago in the heart
of Germantown Avenue.
Our first location in Germantown was 23 years ago on 5532 Green Street.
We were there for 11 years, and then we were right on the corner of Shelton Avenue for the remaining 12 years.
So we've been a staple in the community for quite some time.
Our mission isn't just doing business.
We have worked with many reputable state reps and city councils such as Sidney Bass.
We've worked with Fox News.
We've worked with Germantown Friends School where we've always offered the opportunity to give out free cosmetics that were chemical free, helping to promote health and awareness in our community, especially Germantown, giving so much support to the company and to the brand.
We also give the opportunity for a lot of the minorities in that area to have jobs and employment.
For those who were not able to find employment, we've always offered that opportunity of employment.
We've also worked with the Covenant House over there in Germantown, and we've always given them opportunities for the children that come there in the Covenant House in Germantown to have an opportunity to work with our company.
We always extend ourselves with employment to them. So it's really good networking with the people in that community.
We are also known for the distribution of natural hair and skin care. Just want to make sure that I put that out there.
We're a chemical free company. We do not condone the use of chemicals, which is hazardous to the community or to the residents in that area.
We're fairly known for that. And our mission is greater than just a financial mission. It's more so of a mission to ignite awareness in natural hair and skincare usage because we've had family members within our families that were affected by different things like cancer, breast cancer, because of the use of chemical-based cosmetics that was being used under their arms for women.
so we fight against those things and we really try to create awareness in our community so
we love being in germantown we love working with the community we've always been community
activists we've always been people who dedicate ourselves to being a humanitarian a company that
practices humanitarianism more than just you know making sales you know from a local retail store
it's more than that for us and in regards of like this warehouse the warehouse use is
definitely just for the packaging and the supplies as well as letting people come in and take tours
and see what type of cosmetics we have we um give out free cosmetics from the warehouse is is our
is our mission to give out free cosmetics from the warehouse uh every quarter of the year this
is something that we do and we also stage events in philadelphia as well to give out free cosmetics
to the community of philadelphia as well thank you calvin chairman i'm happy to take any questions
that the board may have so uh council before i go to the board um are you comfortable with the solo
german towns provisos i don't know what the solo german towns provisos are chairman to be honest
so it said yeah it says interior trash storage hours of operation monday through friday 9a to 6p
We never discussed hours of operation, so no.
we never discussed hours of operation so no okay close
Closed Saturday and Sunday.
We didn't discuss any of that either.
And temporary variance.
Three to five years.
Thank you.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
lebaron are you on
i am yes no questions questions or comments from our attorney hillary emerson
um just uh two quick things um miss pritzker mitchell ellman was a representative of the
owning entity is that correct correct yes owner okay thank you and then um you noted that the
refusal incorrectly states the zoning district as rsa5 instead of rsa3 just in just in the um
in where they talk about the the use refusal not on the top of the document the top of the
document is correct yes no i just wanted to note that because it is known to rsa3 there they
probably missed your refusal for parking um but that is included if the board grants today so i
I just wanted to put that out there for the record.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I believe the council office is also in the audience.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Yes, Mr. Charles Richardson, as the hand raised, I'll allow them to speak, sir.
Sir Richardson, I think I swore you earlier this morning, if I remember, am I correct?
You did, Mr. Chick.
Just state your name and spell for the court stenographer.
Certainly.
Charles Richardson, Office of Councilwoman Cindy Bass, Richardson, R-I-C-H-A-R-D-S-O-N, room 508 City Hall.
Please proceed.
The Councilwoman has no objection to granting this variance.
Jardine is a longstanding and much respected business within the Germantown community.
And we support, we do not support any of the provisos that have been offered up by Solo, unless you want to do something with regard to interior trash storage. But other than that, the rest of them really are erroneous.
Thank you, Mr. Richardson, as usual. Anyone else in the virtual audience?
Yes, Deneen Brockington with their hand raised. I've allowed them to speak, sir.
Hi, could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
My name is Deneen Brockington. It's D as in David, E-N-E-E-N-E, Brockington, B as in boy, R-O-C-K-I-N-G-T-O-N.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Are you a neighbor?
I am a neighbor.
Please proceed.
But I'm also the chair of the Penn Knox Neighborhood Association, which is the RCO in which this business is in the boundaries of.
And while we weren't coordinating RCO and we did not send an official letter,
I did want to go on record in saying that, yes, we agree that Yadin is a very responsible business to the community and asset.
However, based on the provisos that were submitted by Faith Community Development from the community meetings that happened, I do want to say that we are in support of this with the provisos that were submitted in that letter.
We agree with what was submitted by Faith Community CDC.
Okay. Thank you for taking the time to call us. We appreciate it. Is there anyone else in the first audience?
Yes. Joseph Bray, I have allowed them to speak.
Hi. Good afternoon. My name is Joseph.
Please proceed with your name and spell it for the stenographer.
Sure. My name is Joseph Bray. Last name is B as in boy, R as in Robert, A-Y. First name Joseph, J-O-S-E-P-H.
I'm an adjacent neighbor at 58 West Queen Lane.
Thank you.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
I do, yes.
Please proceed, Mr. Bray.
I'm speaking today because there was no mention in the provisos that were discussed in the multiple RCO meetings.
In the letter that was referenced from Faith-Based Community RCO, it was mentioned on this call that the Faith-Based RCO, Faith Community RCO meeting noted that there were seven individuals.
in favor. However, having participated in this call and as the PennNOx RCO met
However, having participated in this call, and as the Penn Knox RCO Met referenced, there were, of those seven that were in favor, approximately five of those people had provisions, and those provisions were put forward by SOLO.
However, it appears, for what was just described there, that the faith-based community RCO letter was put forward, not mentioning those provisions.
So the community is in favor, albeit there are some who are not, with provisions.
And it's worrisome that the faith-based community RCO put forward a letter of recommendation, not mentioning the provisions, and SOLO had to submit that on our behalf.
So let me interject here. Sorry, this is Hillary, our board counsel. Faith CDC did send some provisos in their letter. However, they were not enforceable provisos. That's why they were not listed.
The provisos that were listed from Solo Germantown's letter, there was a number of them listed there.
Only the ones that were enforceable were mentioned by the chair.
So if the CDC did send a letter with provisos, it's just that they were not enforceable.
Is it enforceable to when a landlord is completely operating in a manner in which it does not consider the community or take into consideration code?
If there are code violations, those are enforced by the appropriate agency, not the Zoning Board of Adjustment.
Okay, so there were no – the provisions that were put forth by SOLO were the same – should have been the same provisions that were put forth by the faith-based community RCO.
The lists were similar, but there were more for SOLO Germantown.
okay would it be appropriate that they were mentioned or who were no because it was presented
here is that there that there were none put forward and that there was a resounding seven
approvals which was not what occurred on the call and there are other individuals who are adjacent
neighbors on this call that can agree with that statement i'll be we agree that yadane is a good
member of the community and having them in that space is good for the community. However,
provisions and considerations of the community is what the neighbors are looking for,
given the significant investment in this residential community in the last number of
years, including real estate transactions in excess of $4 million adjacent to this property.
So it is a very much a live and well residential community.
Mr. Bray, there are not many streets in this block.
Mr. Bray, Mr. Bray, we understand your comments.
We do not believe what faith CDC put forward was enforceable.
And we're going to move on to see if there's anyone else in the audience has comments.
But thank you for taking the time to call us.
Other comments from the virtual audience?
Yes, Pamela, Bracey, I have allowed them to speak.
Hi, could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Good afternoon, Pamela Bracey, P-A-M-E-L-A, Bracey, B as in boy, R-A-C-E-Y.
Do you swear or firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Are you a neighbor?
Yes, I'm not a near neighbor, but I am a neighbor.
Can you please put your address on the record, ma'am?
My address?
Yeah, I'm in 5,000 block of Green Street.
Okay, Ms. Bracey, are you in favor of this project or against the project?
I'm a member of SOLO, so I stand with what SOLO had to say.
But I do recall at the two meetings that were held, hours were discussed.
And Mr. Harris also mentioned that his employees had been threatened somehow.
Now, I don't know what that was about, but he did mention that and we were concerned that everything we may discuss this on the RCO hearing.
I did not interrupt you, Ms. Pritzer. I did not interrupt.
Listen, listen to me. Listen to me. So we understand what you're saying.
And I hear Ms. Pritzker say that that was discussed, but we appreciate the information and we're going to move on to the next person.
okay? Thank you. Thank you. Questions or comments from the virtual audience again?
Yes, I have Allison Weiss with the hand raised. I have allowed them to wait there. I'll put their
hand in. I'm Ms. Weiss. Could you please state your name? No, sorry. They must put their hand up
by mistake there. I'll just put it down. Allison, okay, thank you. Anyone else? How many hands do
have jason i've raised five yes okay calvin calvin who's my uh who's the tenant i don't need
Okay. Thank you. Calvin, Calvin, who's my, uh, who's the tenant. I don't need, he does. Calvin, you don't need to respond to this. Let the board handle. It's okay.
Give me the next, next person, Jason.
Tanya Mack has been allowed to speak.
Hi, could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Hello, my name is Tanya Mack. That's T-O-N-Y-A-M-A-C-K.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Are you a neighbor?
Yes. I come from the area of 65 Maplewood Mall, Philadelphia, PA. I have been-
Hold on one minute. Are you in favor of this project or against the project?
Against.
Okay. Thank you. Is there anything that you could offer other than what's already been said?
um i just want to say yadane has been amazing for years i'm a long lasting i'm sorry i meant
to say in favor i am in favor okay all right thank you i'm sorry about that no that's okay
i just want to say um i have supported them for years they have also supported the community
um as well it's been nothing but positivity with dealing with them and working with them
hand in hand um they've always any issues we've had they have always contributed to our local
fundraisers community as well all right thank you very much for taking the time to call in we
we will keep your comments and note next hand yes mr chair a regina holloway i have allowed
them to speak hi could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer
Sure. Regina, R-E-G-I-N-A, last name Holloway, H-O-L-L-O-W-A-Y.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
I do, sir.
Are you a neighbor?
I am. 56 West Queen Lane, right across the street.
Okay. Are you in favor of this project or against?
I'm against.