understand that this use is seeking a use variance, correct? Correct. And the use variance is, you need
to prove unnecessary hardship in order to obtain a use variance, correct? Correct. And isn't it true
that a use variance by nature means that the use is prohibited in the district, correct?
That is correct.
But your testimony is that the use is consistent with the area, right?
So, Ms. Pena, how could a use that is prohibited by the zoning code be consistent with the
zoning in that community?
Because what's happening around in that area, there are homeless people in need of care.
All right. So your testimony as to the alleged benefits of this use are because it's going to provide services to homeless individuals, correct?
Services to the community, yes. And the homeless are part of that community.
Well, the people who, by definition, the person who is homeless does not live in that community, right?
Yes. They don't have a place to live. That's correct.
But do you live in this community?
I do not live in this community.
Okay, but yet you've offered testimony as to what this community wants or needs, haven't you?
I have, yes, because I do work all over the city. I'm well aware of what happens all over the city.
Okay, but your testimony is not about the adverse impacts of a potential group living use.
It's more about you're testifying about the benefits of servicing homeless individuals, correct?
No further questions, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Chairman, I wanted to redirect on that.
Ms. Pena, when you said it was consistent with uses in the surrounding neighborhood,
were you also referring to existing shelters or group living, including Jamie's place that's literally a block away?
Yes, because other shelters offer services for women and children.
Yes, because all our shelters offer services for women and children, but not for men.
No further questions.
One other redirect.
Ms. Pena, you're aware that this use as a house of worship does provide certain services to homeless individuals.
Are you aware of that?
I am aware.
Okay, thank you.
Mr. Preshman?
We have certain witnesses are out there that want to make statements at this point, Mr. Chairman.
So they're not going to be my direct witnesses, but they would like to make statements on the record, including.
How many people do you have?
How many people?
Three people would like to make statements.
Mr. Brown, Mr. Broadnax, and a council person from his office.
Mr. Goodman, I think, is here.
Yes, to make statements.
Okay, please call your first witness.
Do you want Reverend Broadnax to get up?
Do you want to raise your hand, sir?
Reverend Broadnax, you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Good morning, Pastor.
Please spell your full name and I'll swear you in.
First name, J-J-A-Y.
Last name, Broadnax, B-R-O-A-D-N-A-X.
you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i so affirm thank you please proceed uh chosen 300 is is a proven organization and i believe
that they are making a major impact for good in the community around issues of poverty
uh their core sorts their core service of feeding as well as the other wraparound services they
provide are exemplary for actually doing something about changing people's circumstances and their
lives. Now, I appreciate and agree with members of the community that are concerned about homelessness,
vagrancy, and security concerns that go along with them. But if we really want to do something
about homelessness, which quiet as it's kept still persists in our community, we want to see
less people with nowhere to go and with limited hope, then I believe that this model that's being
proposed, which is not a shelter, but a very structured program with clear guidelines for
participation, is exactly the type of program that we need to allow space to operate.
The Youth Chosen 300 is proposing is an extension of services that they're already providing
very successfully. They have expertise in working with this population. Many organizations learn to
work with this population from Chosen 300, and the goal is simply to logically extend those services
by providing a selected group with the opportunity for an overnight stay to better serve those
clients.
Chosen 300 already has made significant changes to the plan for the facility to accommodate
safety concerns, including increasing entry and egress, and they've made changes to the
model and terms of use to accommodate community concerns.
They have a demonstrated commitment to ongoing interaction, monitoring and oversight by
members of the community with benchmarks for review. And I feel that the proposed use represents
an opportunity to significantly benefit the community by taking people off the street and
working with them to impact their circumstances and transform their lives. So I stand in support
of this project, noting that the proviso has already been provided that if granted the variance
that Chosen 300 will continue to work with the community in a manner that's responsive to their
concerns thank you very much i i don't have questions mr chair but i didn't get an address
from where this church individual church is located in relation to the reverend could
reverend please give us your address yes sir 428 north 41st street and what's the distance to this
location uh about four blocks three three or four blocks thank you no questions
Thank you.
Mr. President, your next witness.
Pastor, Mr. Kevin Brown.
Mr. Brown, you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Good morning, Mr. Brown.
Please spell your first and last name, and I'll swear you in.
Good morning, Mr. Chairman.
Kevin Brown, K-E-V-I-N-B-R-O-W-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Thank you, Mr. Pressman.
Mr. Brown, do you want to give a statement or do you want me to ask you questions?
Questions are fine.
Mr. Brown, was there an RCO meeting held on June 14, 2021 with regards to this application?
Yes. And are you the manager of the People's Emergency Center, also known as PEC?
And are you the manager of the People's Emergency?
Yes. And are you the coordinating RCO for this area?
Yes, correct. And can you tell the members of the board what transpired with regards to that meeting, with regards to both electronic participation as well as in-person participation at Chosen 300?
certainly uh so we did a hybrid a hybrid what we would call a hybrid a zoning community zoning
meeting on zoom and at chosen 300 uh we had about um maybe about 15 people on zoom and about 20
something people won um in person at at chosen 300 at which time um there we did a video
sort of exploration of the building, the basement, the egress, et cetera, and then people were able
to ask questions, and then we did a vote. With the individuals that were in person
at Chosen 300, did Mr. Jenkins pan the group with the video to show the people were seated there
at the sanctuary? Yes, he did. And how was the vote handled electronically? Were people able to
on their computers uh identify uh who they were um or they just voted electronically
they voted electronically um and i asked people to identify it but basically we did it through a
zoom poll and you were asked to ask them to identify their relationship to the to the
applicant and where they lived in the neighborhood and then um to vote or to abstain if they were
say for example one of the lawyers or someone else you would abstain otherwise if you were
community men or you would vote. And then also the people that were in person did it on a written
balance. And the written balance, were they obtained and sent to you at the conclusion of the
June 14th meeting? Yes. And how were they sent to you, sir? He was scanned to me through email.
And then you prepared a letter with the results of the voting on June, dated June 14th, 2021. Is
that correct correct and you submitted that to the zoning board to chairman uh to chico correct
and do you recall how the vote came out uh yes um there were the people in person um 23 of them
voted in favor of the uh of the project uh in person there were six people who were in favor
of the project six people who were opposed and then it was nine of us who upstate and and therefore
was the uh the coordinating rco's position that the uh uh their support from the community for
this project correct and has that changed since uh june 14th 2021 no i've got nothing further for
you. Mr. Brown, thank you. Two questions, Mr. Chairman, if I may. Mr. Brown, thank you.
You had testified earlier, and I believe Mr. Jenkins testified as well, that he submitted to
you the names and addresses of the individual at his property who voted on the project. Is that
right correct so those individuals who allegedly cast a vote uh were not submitted directly to you
by them it was through mr jenkins we agree could you say that again you're yeah i'll rephrase it
sorry uh the individuals who cast a vote at who are present at the property at chosen 300
were submitted to you by Mr. Jenkins they did not vote directly correct so you're saying they did
not hand me their they it was impossible them to hand it to me because it was virtual right so he
okay right so there's no way that they could personally hand me their their application
their um their ballots so no okay but we agree the information was submitted to you directly by
Mr. Jenkins, correct? Right. Fair enough. So Mr. Jenkins was the one who provided those
individual addresses also, correct? Well, they filled it out by hand. The ballots were filled
out. So they wrote them in themselves. Each individual wrote it themselves. Okay. They
submitted a form? Yes. Each person had their own ballot and signed it. Okay. And each of those
individuals voted in favor of the project, correct? Correct. Right. And the vote of the
people who attended the Zoom meeting was a tie vote, not including the individuals submitted by
was a tie vote for the not including the individuals submitted by mr jenkins the vote was
Mr. Jenkins.
tied on the news right you posted that thank you you posted that result uh after the at the end of
the meeting yes okay and did you uh did you review the the addresses of the individuals who did you
check uh the addresses of the individuals who filled out the form did you review them yourself
i did okay so but for the so this is my last question mr i appreciate your testimony
the the individuals who voted on the form submitted by mr jenkins are what made the
vote in favor of the project because the vote was tied on the zoom call do you agree yes fair enough
no further questions mr chairman thank you what one question and redirect mr chairman um mr brown
do you um have any doubt that the votes that were submitted in paper were uh genuine and valid
not at all thank you mr pressman you have one more witness i believe yes we're going to call
out um mr andrew goodman from uh from uh councilman gotier's office
good morning and wait for the chair good morning mr goodman please identify yourself and i'll
swear you win yes andrew goodman last name spelled g-o-o-d-m-a-n here representing the
office of third district council member jamie gaudier room 586 city hall
We're firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth.
Yes, I do.
Thank you.
Mr. Pressman.
Mr. Goodman, are you familiar with this matter?
And is Ms. Councilwoman Gautier familiar with this matter?
Yes, I've been attending the RCO meetings personally and been briefing the council member, you know, at all junctures.
And what is the councilwoman's position and the office with regards to this project?
Councilmember Gaudier supports the granting of this variance.
And was that also submitted in an August 13th, 2021 letter to the zoning board?
Yes, yes. Councilmember thought it was important to get a few things on the record.
First and foremost, certainly the support, the granting of variance, the kind of respect and admiration that the council member has for anyone who's taking it upon themselves.
to better support those who are most vulnerable in our communities.
We also have been pleased and reassured because we do know that many of the community organizations
that we work with very actively expressed concerns a few months back,
and we've been pleased by the responses that Chosen 300 provided in terms of providing more detail
clarification about their intake process, how staff are trained, and just their commitment to
bettering the community around them more broadly. And we also want to make sure, because it came up
in previous, I guess the initial hearing in June, also want to make sure that it is very clear and
on the record that a hybrid approach to voting, while non-traditional, is very much accepted and
has been a common practice used by many RCOs in our district during this kind of pandemic time
that allows for electronic as well as in-person voting. As from Councilwoman Gautier's office,
Mr. Goodman, did you review Mr. Jenkins' letter dated June 29, 2021 that he sent to your office
with regards to responding to the objections that were raised by various non-coordinating RCOs in the
area. And was that what you were referring to earlier with regards to the concerns were addressed?
Yes, that's exactly right. Yes. And what is your understanding of the work that specifically is
done by the applicant in the neighborhood and in the city with regards to assisting people in need?
i mean it's it's um it's broad and it's essential um we know we know chosen 300 as one of you know
many organizations in our district that go above and beyond um and not just to serve those who are
faced with homelessness but also to kind of make the community of west philadelphia
a better place to live and work.
Thank you, Mr. Goodman.
Thank you, Mr. Goodman.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Before we begin, let the record reflect that the board is in,
confirms that we have a letter from the councilwoman,
which I will read into the record before the conclusion of this hearing.
Or I can, if it's preferred, I can do that to save you the time.
If you'd like to, that would be helpful. Thank you.
I do have just a brief question.
whatever you want let's get let's let mr goodman read the letter into the record and you can
proceed with your questions okay um dear zoning board i'm writing today in support of appeal
number zp 2020 007485 located at 3959 lancaster avenue i have great respect and admiration for
those who take it upon themselves to those to support those most vulnerable among us
Homelessness has only gotten worse during the pandemic.
People need somewhere to go and get the help they need.
Chosen 300's application has gone through multiple rounds of review, has been out in
the public more than most variance applications are.