Rebecca, did you record the proviso?
I just want to make sure we have the proviso unrecorded.
Ian, state it again, please.
City Planning Commission's recommend.
Ian Hegarty for the City Planning Commission.
Recommended proviso for 5231
Westminster Avenue is
that the sign be permitted
only to legalize the existing sign
with no change to the size
or illumination.
Thank you very kindly.
Tanya, are we ready with this other case?
If, Ms. Hintz, we did review and realize that you sent documents.
However, all required documents wasn't sent.
So the case is going to have to be continued.
A deed is necessary.
There was only one photo.
And we would need more.
So all documents would need to be presented the next time you come before the board.
Are you thinking?
All right.
And you have to ensure that your documents are emailed to both the RCO box and Ms. Saleta.
You can email the RCO box to get further information from the ZBA staff, okay?
Okay, thank you.
And because this was just a minor glitch, we're scheduling in June.
If you reach out to us with a request to go earlier, I can accommodate, okay?
All right, thank you so much.
Thank you, Ms. Hentz.
Thank you, Tanya.
Thank you.
MI 2021-003213-1910-Chestnut Street.
Mr. Michael Mattione has been promoted to panelists, sir.
Mr. Patterson and Mr. Mattione.
Mr. Chair, I'm going to hop off.
Thank you, sir.
good morning mrs israel good morning i'm sorry chair this is tanya i hate to keep interrupting
but could we put on record um ismail shaheed left and reputes himself thank you chair
good morning good morning um both attorneys have been sworn i think where we left it mr
Mattione, you're ready to present your case?
I believe that's correct,
Brown, is that you agree?
Yes, Michael.
Thank you. I'd like to give a
little opening, Mr. Chair.
Sure. I represent the board
of directors. I'm sorry.
I was going to say, I got,
I'm sorry,
Mr. Gross had notified
me to ask the board
if he, as not my witness,
if he could speak at some point
in response to Councilman Clark.
statement okay so why don't why don't we do this why don't we start with Mr. Mattione let him do
his opening and let him present I think he said yesterday he has three or four witnesses
okay thank you I'm sorry did I miss swearing then maybe I missed it well they were sworn yesterday
if we we think they need to be sworn again this is a continuation yes they have to be
All right, so Mr. Mattione, Mr. Patterson, do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
All right, I represent the Board of Directors of the William Penthouse and Michael Niederman individually as resident of the William Penthouse and as president of the Board of Directors of the William Penthouse.
I provided exhibits last week to the board, including CV and report from Ira Rosen, an entertainment industry expert, the CV and report from Steve Schneider, a traffic engineer, CV and report from Joe Vanderslice and Russell Collins of KSG Security Group, petitions with 227 William Penthouse residents signatures on them, 200 residents opposing, 26 not opposing, and one other vote, a memorandum of law.
and yesterday I submitted one additional document, a follow-up letter from Steve Schneider.
As I said, I have four witnesses, Michael Niederman, Ira Rosen, an entertainment industry expert,
Steve Schneider, a traffic engineer, and Joe Vanderslice, a security and risk assessment expert.
William Penthouse is at 1919 Chestnut Street, and it's one of the most impacted neighbors
regarding the proposed bankroll development.
The front door is almost directly across the street from the William Penthouse.
bankrolls front door. There are more than 800 residents of the William Penthouse and
There are more than 800 residents of the William Penhouse, and they overwhelmingly oppose the bankroll project assumed by the petitions that I have labeled as Exhibit A.
they overwhelmingly oppose the bankrolls.
William Penhouse will present testimony that bankroll, show that bankroll cannot meet the requirements to show that the use will not have specific detrimental impacts on the neighborhood that exceed those to be expected from a 400-seat restaurant.
William Penhouse will present expert and fact witnesses who will testify that the proposed use will have an adverse impact on the community.
and specifically on their building that far exceeds that which is expected from a restaurant use.
The testimony will show that there is a high probability of substantial injury to the public interest
and that this justifies denial of the requested special exception.
The testimony will establish that bankroll project will have a much greater than anticipated adverse impact
on the quality of life at the William Penn House.
The testimony will establish that bankroll will have a substantial detrimental impact
on the health safety and welfare of the community that exceeds what is expected from a 400 seat
restaurant and as a consequence the testimony will show that bankroll should be denied the requested
special exception i'd like to start with my first witness michael niederman
and i'd like to share my screen
is my screen up it is yes all right thank you
Mr. Niederman could you state your name and spell for the court reporter
sure Michael M-I-C-H-A-E-L Niederman that's N like Nancy I-E-D-E-R-M-A-N
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Thank you, sir.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Michael, what is your relationship with the William Penthouse?
Well, I'm a resident of the William Penthouse, and I'm also the president of the Board of
Directors.
Would you please briefly describe the William Penthouse, what it is, how many units it has,
whether it has parking facilities, and who manages the parking facilities?
Okay, the William Penthouse is a cooperative apartment building.
We have approximately 525 units, maybe close to 800 people who live here.
We do have a garage.
The garage is a part of the building that we own, but it is actually operated by another company called SP Plus.
And please describe the present neighborhood where William Penthouse is located.
Well, we're kind of mixed use neighborhood.
there's a lot of commercial space right on Chestnut Street, but there's an awful lot of
residential space as well. On our, just on our block, as I said, William Penthouse has
maybe close to 800 people. There are stores along Chestnut Street, and above many of those stores
are rental apartments on the other side of chestnut street on the south side we have a
large apartment building called the harper um and then there is a condo i think at 1920 not as big
a building but nonetheless a residential building and on the corner of 20th and chestnut there's
another large apartment building. And how far from the bankroll facility is the William Penthouse?
Well, we're more or less directly across the street. And as a resident, is it fair to say
you're familiar with the general traffic and vehicular use on Chestnut Street, the 1900 block?
Yes, it is because I'm on Chestnut Street a lot. And based on your personal observations,
would you describe traffic conditions and typical uses well it's a pretty busy street because um on
the south side of chestnut street there are three different bus lines you know that use that lane
the middle lane of the street is traffic and then the lane closest to the north side of chestnut
street is there is some parking there's some dedicated bicycle space um there's a streetery
so there's no traffic can use that lane of Chessna Street. Based on your personal observations and
knowledge of the needs of William Penthouse's residents as well as the surrounding neighborhood
what questions or concerns did the proposed bankroll use raise in your mind? Well we're
concerned about safety and security of our residents specifically as concerns large groups
of people coming out onto Chestnut Street from the bankroll, you know, establishment late at night.
establishment late at night. I am very concerned about the congestion on Chestnut Street since
I am very...
that's the streets that is used for emergency vehicles. So I fear that there could be a problem
with emergency vehicles getting to our building in the case of emergency. And were you part of
the stakeholders group with CCRA? Yes, I was. And did you have the opportunity to review the plans
for bankroll? Yes, I did. And have you reviewed and discussed the bankroll project with bankroll
representatives? Yes, I have. And as president of the board of the William Penthouse, did you
discuss the bankroll project with the board in residence? Yes, many times. And did the board of
the William Penthouse placed a petition in the building to attempt to determine the sentiment
of the residents of the William Penthouse.
Yes, we did.
It was at our front desk, which is a place that all our residents pass by frequently.
Of course, I did that wrong.
But up on the screen, when I finally get around to getting the right view, let me stroll down
Is this the copy of the petition?
Yes, it is.
Did you have the opportunity to tabulate the results of the petition?
I personally did not, and I believe the results are like 227 signatures and 200 of those signatures
opposed the project.
There were 26 that supported it and one abstention.
Did the Board of Residents raise concerns regarding bankroll?
Yes, they did. I mean, the same concerns that I mentioned, people were worried about noise of large groups of people coming out of an establishment, especially late at night.
I was going to ask you the next question. As a result of the concerns, did the William Penthouse retain experts to review the project and what impact it would have on the neighborhood?
Yes, we did. We engaged the services of a traffic person, a security person, an events person, to help us realize whether or not our concerns were really valid concerns or not.
And did you receive reports?
Yes, we received reports from each of them.
and did you um what did you do as a result of the reports received well they were distributed to the
members of the board of directors we reviewed them and then we met to discuss them um we all
all being the board of directors um you know felt that those reports substantiated the concerns that
we had that this property or this business that's proposed to to open bankroll is is an okay business
but not here not in a neighborhood that's so residential um and where their patrons may cause
uh you know congestion on the street and block the street etc and did you have an opportunity
review a memorandum of agreement that bank rolled and entered into with several other nearby
stakeholders? Yes, I did. And why is this memorandum not adequate to protect the interests
of the William Penhouse? The memorandum, in my opinion, was a good one for a lot of purposes,
but it didn't address our main concerns, which was safety on Chestnut Street and large groups of
people um exiting a business you know this business we were told will be open until 2 a.m
even though like food service will stop around midnight so we could have a large a large number
of people exiting uh after possibly drinking i can't swear to what they're going to object to
speculation but we are told that the um liquor control board their license will allow them
to be open until 2 a.m. So that is a concern for us that a large number of people could
be exiting onto Chestnut Street at that hour with not only the people but the vehicles that
they may need to use to exit. Where do emergency vehicles serving the William Penthouse stop?
Well there's a loading zone right in front of our main entrance at 1919 Chestnut.
Do emergency vehicles use Ludlow Street to service William Penthouse?
Do emergency vehicles use Ludlow Street to service William Penn House?
I live in the building 15 years, but it is something I have not seen, that emergency vehicles use that entrance.
There are times when the loading space is occupied by vehicles not serving the William Penn House?
Correct.
What impact do you think, in your opinion and your observations, will Bankroll have on the emergency vehicles serving the William Penn House?
Well, as I stated before, I fear that the street at a busy time will be so congested that an emergency vehicle wouldn't be able to get to our main entrance, which is where they come.
We have an aging population in our building.
It's not unusual that we have an emergency vehicle like an ambulance come to the building.
excuse me i'm going to i'm going to inject an objection to the last statement as an opinion
in summary uh please state you know your personal basis based upon your observations and what you've
heard and seen for the opposition of william penthouse as chair of the board or president
of the board to this bankroll proposal it's your lay lay opinion your lay statements as to the
opposition okay so we're concerned about the size scope the hours of operation um in addition to any
other issues that i mentioned um because like other restaurants and all are not open that late
this would be something uh or different for for that space so it concerns us that that our um
our space in front of our building would be blocked if we needed it we retained the experts
to kind of corroborate what we felt we're just lay people but we had concerns about what this
establishment might do how it will affect us so that was why we engaged these experts
we didn't just do it off the top of our head and we believe that the reports from the experts that
we engage kind of corroborated the fact that you know there's kind of a a hardship for us
as a result of this uh establishment. I have no further questions for Mr. Niederman. Thank you.
Um if I may I have questions for Mr. Niederman. Okay. Michael you mind if I share my screen now?
no no no i think i think ron i have to uh exit my screen yeah okay you're up thank you
as we saw yesterday oh hi mr neederman nice to see you again hi um a few questions um
you were you were just testifying about some of the residential buildings on that block
And you mentioned the Harper Building.
You're aware that this proposed restaurant is located within the Harper Building project, correct?
Correct.
And you stated that more or less the William Penthouse is located across the street from 1910 Chestnut Street?