reporter. May I have a one minute pause in place? Take five. I, I, okay, thank you.
Thank you.
We'll now go to case number 12, MI 2021-002121, 4528 Green Street.
Vernon Anastasio is the attorney of record for the applicant, and Ms. Yvonne Haskins is representing the Protestants.
the 12th ward rco 12th ward democrat committee um sent a letter of my opposition
and it's my understanding i guess mr roger will speak to this on i corrected a decision
changing uh the uh refusal from a refusal to a referral uh so let us begin mr anastasio
please identify yourself and i'll swear you in morning mr chairman verne anastasio
A-N-A-S-T-A-S-I-O, 1315 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, Suite 1006-19107, on behalf of the operator at the subject property.
at the subject property we're a firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
We're a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth.
i do this scenario has some questions for you hi mr anastasio do you agree to waive the
reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy i do have you emailed the exit packet
with proof of ownership tax compliance refusal referral photos and plans of the property
five days in advance of this hearing and have you met with the rco and do you have a letter yes
thank you excuse me this is sharon can i ask that um mr reuter also be promoted and that
he and ms haskins be sworn in
yeah ms haskins ms haskins uh i'm gonna swear you and mr reuter identify yourself but he's
already on the room from earlier
ms haskins
Ms. Haskins are you in the virtual audience Ms. Haskins please raise your hand
do not see her sir i'm sorry say that again jason he doesn't see her
I'm probably thinking she has a later hearing.
I'm going to try contacting her.
I see her in the attendees list.
Yes, but she has to raise her hand to be promoted.
Peter Merzbacher has raised his hand, sir.
No, just Ms. Haskins we're waiting for.
Understood.
so has since has been about to speak hello miss haskins please identify yourself and i'll swear
you in yvonne b haskins i'm sorry um jason please promote her to a panelist she's presenting
that has been done now haskins you swear for him to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth hello miss haskins do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth i do and i'm very sorry for the no worries no worries we're all having
technical problems from time to time um so shower we're ready to begin correct
correct yes thank you thank you mr chairman and let me before you begin uh mr reuter do you need
to get on first i know you have another appointment um i i think i my my appointments uh i have
you know till 12 ish um but i i guess maybe i should just speak first uh again members of the
board uh may please the board leonard f reuter reuter for the city of philadelphia the reason
why i'm attending today is because um as the board is now aware and i believe all of the interested
parties are aware um an error uh when this matter was being reviewed by the planning commission staff
for their uh recommendation an error was discovered in the mapping for the property
and with your i i don't know if you need to know more about it um but uh i think if you would like
uh ian haggerty is here and he can probably explain better if if you'd like to hear that
first i think it's fairly short um and uh let's go to let's go to ian and then uh we'll get
whatever information we need on the record from him sure okay thank you chairman dechico thank
you len um yeah just very briefly for the board um this property was incorrectly shown on atlas
as having uh atlas which is the online uh zoning map that's available to the public
as having and which lni uses to um the underlying database to determine the zoning districts uh
indicated this property as being within an rsa 3 zoning district however based on an ordinance
that was passed in 2010, which is ordinance number 100195.
100195, this property was in fact remapped to what was then C-3 zoning classification
This property wasn't factory mapped to what was then.
pursuant to the 2012 zoning code revisions. That's the equivalent of today's CMX-3.
And I think that copies of the ordinance have been provided to all parties on this case.
L&I has issued an amended refusal to recognize that this property is within a CMX-3 zoning
classification under which the proposed use is permitted by a special exception rather than
variance. Thank you. Thank you, Ian. And again, I think Mr. Anastasia is already sharing the screen
which shows the corrected notice of now referral for the matter. I'm not taking any position on
how the board uh wants to handle this i mean this has occurred very rarely in the past um but you
know we in the occasions where it's happened in the past law department uh for the city has
determined that uh the city council ordinance obviously um takes precedence over anything
and while atlas is certainly a useful tool and can be relied on for the map in you know 99.9
of cases are actually greater than that there will occasionally be an error um and uh and we
apologize but that's what happened here uh i'm you know again i think the rco's already met i
think the issues for the rco for the i'm sorry for the community and the rco as well as the applicant
or in in terms of what they would have discussed in their public meetings it would have been the
same uh the notices are probably the same so uh you know it's i don't know if ms saletta has an
opinion on whether they can just move forward with this but i it the city's not taking a stance on
that right now excuse me mr reuter given that this um the mistake wasn't due to any fault on
the applicants part and that the effect of the revised notice was to reduce rather than increase
the standards that were the applicant was required to meet um there's been no there's been no change
in the project i believe the case can go forward right and and i i personally would think that
makes the most sense i mean again applicants often will ask the board for permission to amend
an application go back to l and i and remove a refusal or even occasionally will reduce it to a
referral so i think this is essentially the equivalent to that so um if that's the case
and assuming um neither mr anastasia nor ms haskins have any objection um i don't really have
any need to participate further unless the board or anybody has any other questions about about this
well there's a general question of mr anastasia and ms haskins even find any need for mr reuter to
uh continue to testify in this matter no i don't mr chairman um i think we should proceed
again our burden now is negligible um and uh if it were reversed uh there would be
uh probably a good argument to continue this case but it's not that's not the case here
yes do you have any objection well we we do have a problem with the special exception not showing
all of the use now perhaps that can be handled during our testimony on opposition but we we we
do know that other uses are taking place in the in this site that are not mentioned and that
are prohibited from being approved as a special exception, it would require variance.
Could you address that?
Yeah, I have no idea what they're talking about, you know, period.
If you would like, I can present that information so that we can determine
if this is a variance case after all.
The application is for vehicle repair and maintenance,
period uh any other use that would be uh legalized if need be we would have to return and get a
variance this is what the application is for and only for this mr chairman at the rco meeting
the applicant presented the fact that he is also using the site for vehicle painting
vehicle painting is expressly excluded from commercial uses the board can address that
not to interrupt it we can address that and put in okay we've already agreed to a proviso
We've already agreed to a proviso of no pain, Mr. Chair.
we can handle that as by way of provide
We can handle that by way of proviso once you present your objections to this application, Ms. Haskins.
All right.
All right.
We can proceed.
Thank you, sir.
I just want to share this separately because it didn't make it into my exhibit packet prior to sending it over to the zoning board.
But the property is now, in fact, zoned CMX3.
We're here for a referral.
The application is for personal vehicle repair and maintenance in an existing structure.
I'm going to enter that into evidence, stop sharing that, and then share the rest of my binder.
Oh, sorry about that.
I think that's, oh, wow, where did my binder go?
Okay, sorry about that.
Hold on.
I'll get it right this time.
Here we go.
So this was the inaccurate refusal. And here are the plans. It's a very large property on Green Street. On one side of it is a multifamily dwelling. On the other side of it is a vacant lot. And then next to that was a former drug and alcohol rehabilitation center.
these were the plans as provided my client has been in this in this operation for quite some time
he purchased the operation from a Paul Pham who had been operating for many years the history of
this property historically has been auto and vehicle repair repair and yes painting my when
my client purchased this business and took it over from Mr. Pham, he was under the impression
that all the proper permits had been secured. He subsequently found out that they were not.
There were some, you know, back and forth a little bit with hiccups with how he should
handle this. He came to me. We spoke to the community that we have others of non-opposition
from both RCOs because my client serves the neighborhood. My client is a good neighbor.
There were some items that needed to be addressed that my client agreed to. He's going to put
additional exterior lighting outside the property for increased safety. He'll ensure that there is
no painting on the premises. He'll ensure that there is no automobiles on the sidewalk at the
premises. And he will maintain his staff of 10 people, almost 100% of them coming from the
community. I believe we even have some here today to testify how he and his operation and his
business have helped turn some lives around. He's not going to adversely impact the health, safety,
or welfare of the neighbors.
Again, we did have an RCO meeting
and we had two mailings.
Both were 44 individual pieces of mail.
This is September 21st.
We also had an August 10th.
We have a 12th ward.
They want more lighting.
They'd like some trees.
We've agreed to that as well.
Here's a letter from Ted Stones.
non-opposition here's a solo germantown civic
non-opposition and he's been working with the community ever since this these meetings this
meeting uh in order to make sure that uh in their words not my clients uh that it's important to
keep a minority-owned business in the community he's of the community and they would like to
continue to support him with the provisos that he's offered. Additional lighting, exterior,
no painting, no sidewalk work. And with that, I believe I've shown that this particular proposal
with the aforementioned provisos will not pose a threat to the health, safety, and well-being of
the immediate neighbors. If they had, I would assume, I think rightfully so, that the RCO
i would assume i think rightfully so that the rco would be opposing this as such i'd
would be opposing this.
like to have my client lavon williams raise his hand and be recognized
That name out there
He was logged on
Mr. Anastasio, you being an officer of court, we'll stipulate your client would have adopted
your testimony. Very well, sir. Thank you. And I'm open for questions.
Miss, any questions from the board before we move on to Ms. Haskins?
No. Ms. Haskins?
Yes. Yes, sir. Good morning.
um good morning members of the board mr chairman uh i i would like to um inform you first that we
have several businesses that are adjacent to the site available to testify i will probably bring
only one of the business and property owners on in the interest of time I want to show photographs
and so I'd like to share the screen so that you can see that we have taken photographs as late as
October 7th which still showed illegal parking on the street during rush hour
which shows cars that have been parked there longer than the two weeks that the
code requires people have smell paint coming from the premises and so we are
opposed to a permanent we're opposed to a permanent special exception we'd like
to say at the outset that we're certainly um aware of the balance that the board is faced with here
there's a a business that is has grown in volume and this business is probably going to grow even
further because it seems to be very successful however the site itself is inadequate for the
amount of business and the future growth of this business he is parking on the
sidewalk he's washing motors on the sidewalk and he is also parking cars
illegally along Berkeley Street which is a very very tight and well-traveled
street especially during rush hour there's in fact signs posted saying no
parking during rush hour from 4 to 6 30. I'd like to share my screen if I can and I hope I can do
this with facility. Yeah Mr. Anastasia I think your screen is still up. Yep I'll yield the screen
I'll be happy to yield the screen. Thank you. Now do I have to click start video at the bottom of
my screen? Ms. Haskins you can do that if you want your picture to be visible to all of us
however in order for you just to share your screen you're just going to have your documents
open and available they're open hit that green share button at the bottom of your
um screen i don't see a green scare wait a minute maybe that's under more
um are you on a share screen i see it okay click on that okay and then click on your
documented it should open for you okay is it opening not as of yet oh dear um all right let
me i thought i had to to do something a little more than um typically just hit that green share
button which would allow you to share the documents that you click on after oh i see okay here we are
here it is coming up for you now okay there we go we got it thank you okay i i think the first
photo that you're seeing is the traffic that is um going along at rush hour and you'll see
along here is where the site is that's green street there's the traffic light right there
and these are his cars parked here most without licenses I can go to some of the
cars that are parked on the sidewalk here's a car that's parked
Cars that are parked on the sidewalk, here's a car that's parked on the sidewalk without
a license.
There's the photo that shows no stopping during this time.
Let me see if I can keep going to the, for some reason it's.
Mr. Chairman, I just want to respectfully object.