no that's okay that's okay i can see from the floor plan yeah there we go we can't change
anything through permitting until the variance comes through i understand thank you uh is there
anyone else here that would like to speak in this matter from the public i'm sorry if i may just
mr hollman if you could see it's only a two-story existing building so you have classrooms on the
Two classrooms on the first floor, two classrooms on the second floor.
I see.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
We have Charles Richardson.
Please unmute yourself.
Thank you.
Mr. Richardson, please identify yourself.
You still on the road?
Good afternoon again.
Charles Richardson from the Office of Councilwoman Cindy Bass Room, 312 City Hall.
the councilwoman is not opposed to granting the variance as long as they do uh follow through
with the proviso uh with with the agreement of meeting with the near neighbors to talk about
the repair of the uh retaining wall okay i don't think that's an enforceable issue is that correct
uh sharon i believe it's it's it's it's an agreement though that they made okay
right they do put that on the record that they have agreed to thank you yes and as i said we
there is a meeting already scheduled for tomorrow thank you with the neighbors thank you anyone else
i see no more here thank you planning commission thank you mr plaza ian hegarty for the philadelphia
city planning commission comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing commercial
mixed use zoning at this location this proposed use is consistent with recommendation in the
comprehensive plan to encourage community serving uses along major commercial corridors educational
uses are also common in this area and so the proposed use does not conflict with existing
uses in the neighborhood city planning commission recommends that the board grant the variance
Thank you. Calendar number MI 2021-001-965-5323 Germantown Avenue. My vote is yes.
Thomas Holloman. My vote is yes.
John Munlock. My vote is yes. Good luck. Thank you very much. May I please be excused?
Sure. Thank you. Have a wonderful day. Likewise. Thank you.
MI 2021-001-719-5708, Bridge Avenue.
Good afternoon.
My name is Al Fiscaldo, representing the applicant.
Can you identify yourself for the records for your first and last name, please?
Alfred Fiscaldo, F as in Frank, U, S as in Sam, C-A-L, D as in David O, 613 Patriot Lane, Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, 19460.
Alfred Fiscaldo, F as in Frank, U, S as in Sam, C-A-L, D as in.
And you swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
And do you agree to waive the reading of its refusal and stipulate your attack, Harrison?
And have you emailed an exhibit packet with the required documents, proof of ownership, proof of tax compliance, copy of the refusal or referral folders and plans five days prior to this hearing?
I have.
Thank you. And have you met with the RCO and have a letter?
We do. We have two letters.
Thank you. Please proceed.
Thank you. I'm in the process of sharing my screen.
My name is Al Fiscaldo, as I mentioned, represent MHP Roxborough, LLC.
They are the applicant and tenant at this property, which is currently under construction at 5708 Ridge Avenue, which is at the northwest corner of Ridge Avenue and Shurer's Lane.
The building under construction is a multi-tenant building, and my client will occupy the corner at Shurer's Lane and Ridge.
Attached to the exhibit package at tab one is a copy of the lease, and I'm going to put to the site plan quickly so you can see Ridge Avenue is to the right.
Shurer's Lane is the bottom of the page, and that's the building under construction.
And my client will be locating, if the relief is granted, in the yellow outline portion of the building below.
So we're here before the board seeking a special exception for the use, which is a urgent care use, which under the zoning code is falls under the medical dental health practitioner group category.
Again, it's permitted by special exception in the CMX 2.5 zoning district.
We also need variance relief because the property is also located in the neighborhood commercial overlay district, which limits the signage at the property to 25 square feet per frontage.
And as you'll see from the photos, which I'll show later, this is a commercial corner with Sunoco gas stations and as such at the various corners.
And so we're just seeking signage in conformity with the rest of the neighborhood.
also the signs were proposed to be illuminated illuminated signs are not permitted in the
overlay district but as you'll see as we progress through the application after meeting with the
civic association we've significantly reduced the requested signage and i've also eliminated
the illumination uh in two of the three signs and replace that with uh with gooseneck lighting
uh tab three are copies of the uh applications of appeal for the special exception and for the
variances and the project information forms um just flipping to the pictures bear with me
uh copies of the zoning posters uh at the property under construction here we're looking
north on ridge avenue the property is is to the left behind the fencing uh this is across the
street looking at the property which is on the west side of Ridge Avenue under construction
you'll see the stone facade and as you'll note in the Central Roxborough Civic Association letter
that facade was an accommodation to the Civic Association by the developer of the property
as we went through the process with the civics to change that from a stucco facade to a stone
facade, more in keeping with the aesthetic that the civics were looking for. And that aesthetic
was also in mind as we reduced the signage and changed the lighting from internally illuminated
to gooseneck. Again, looking at the property from the west side, here's the corner of the property
where American Family Care, which is a national urgent care provider with 260 facilities
nationwide, and for which my client is the exclusive franchisee for Philadelphia and
Montgomery counties. That's the corner where they'll be located. Here again, we're looking
uh looking south on ridge avenue towards the corner um and again you'll see the uh this is
the commercial neighborhood and the type of signage that that um is present um at the corner
um tab five is uh again this is the zoning plan that was approved by l and i uh for the for the
property um and this is this is the sign package which we had originally gone to the board with
showing the AFC urgent care family care signage on the Ridge Avenue.
care family care signage on the um uh the ridge avenue side and also on the uh if you see item b
at the bottom on the surest lane side and also to the rear of the property where the parking is
located again that was the signage that was uh proposed after going through extensive uh discussions
with the civic association we reduced the signage extensively almost in half um to reduce the sign
on uh on ridge avenue from um 147 square feet to 80 square feet so almost in half uh and that
that sign will now be uh lit with gooseneck lighting um as you'll see uh in this photo
or in this rendering uh the signage on ridge avenue was changed um i'm sorry the signage
So Unsure's Lane was changed from the full design to just the AFC Band-Aid logo.
That's the only sign that's going to remain internally illuminated and for which we would need variance relief from the internal illumination prohibition.
And at the rear of the building is the AFC Urgent Care Family Care sign package.
That time was reduced from 35 square feet to 15 and a half square feet, so more than half.
So the total reduction in signage after meeting with the Civic Association was down to 131 square feet for the entire use.
And the number of illuminated signs, internally illuminated signs, was reduced from three to one.
Attached at tab eight to the application are letters of support from the Central Roxborough Civic Association and also from the Roxborough Development Corporation.
That was an email that's included at the packet and from which the board and Ms. Saleta and the council person were copied.
And then the tax clearance certificate is attached as Exhibit 9.
My only witness here this afternoon is Matt Mayorino.
He is the founder and sole member of MHP Roxborough LLC, the applicant and its parent company, Marion Health Partners.
um and so i would ask uh matt if he could raise his hand uh and uh be sworn okay
mr marino you can unmute yourself and please wait for the chair
good afternoon sir please identify yourself for the records by your first and last name
yes uh matthew mayorino last name spelled m-a-i-o-r-i-n-o
thank you you saw affirm itself the truth the whole truth for nothing but the truth
yes okay you may proceed thank you uh mr mayorino were you present for the presentation that i
provided to the board this afternoon yes and was the presentation that i gave a true and accurate
yes it was and do you accept that presentation as your own testimony yes i do um and in and i
Do you also agree that the proposed use of special exception is as you propose it and as was approved in a similar application before this board in Toursdale satisfies the criteria for the grant of special exception under the zoning code?
Thank you. I have nothing further for the board other than just to say that in the proviso plans form and the attached exhibit at tab six, the sign package that was attached has a different revised date on it than was approved by the Civic Association.
that was an inadvertent error on my part the plan set is otherwise exactly the same but for the
revised date um and so uh with the board's permission and and mr letta's permission i'll
just email uh mr letta a an amended uh exhibit six with the correct uh sign package uh attached
which is the one that's referenced in the crca letter dated may 2020 may 20th 2021.
thank you does the board have any questions no excuse me mr fiscaldo did you say that you
submitted a revised plans form completed i i i will i have it teed up to send to you as soon
as as soon as you okayed it i just wanted to make sure that that was okay with the board
it's exactly the same exactly the same uh uh exhibit that was attached at tab six to the
exhibit package, which I sent last week. The only thing that's different is the last revised date
on the plans. I'm not sure why that was even generated. So I'm just going to, just for the
sake of accuracy and conformance with the CRC letter, I just wanted to send you exactly what
they approved. Okay, and just so that I understand, the plans that they approved are
they approved. Okay. And just so that I understand, they
different than those that were reviewed by ONI, is that correct? They are. We reduced the signage
significantly, and we eliminated some of the internal illumination, so the sign package that
attached to that form is what they agreed to support. Okay, and how many pages? It's seven.
seven pages that's an unusually large number um yeah there was there was there was there
were renderings of each of the of each of the proposed signs as well as um the schematics
of each one so i apologize for the size of it but that's what's what was submitted when i
initially no that's okay if it's necessary it is thank you what do we do shan we hold this or
Or is it okay?
I think that you can vote it with revised plans, seven pages.
Seven pages.
Thank you.
Is there anyone else here that would like to speak in this matter?
I see no hands.
Thank you.
Planning Commission?
Thank you, Secretary Plaza.
Ian Hegarty for the Philadelphia City Planning Commission.
Members of the Board, this proposed use will not cause detrimental impacts to the neighborhood.
beyond what would normally be expected for the use and the commission appreciates the reduction
in sign size and illumination to comply with the purpose of the code and the ridge avenue overlay
the city planning commission recommends that the board grant the special exception and sign
Thank you. Calendar number MI 2021-001-719-5708 Bridge Avenue. My vote is yes with proviso.
Seven pages approved today. Thomas Holloman. My vote is yes with proviso.
John Munlock. My vote is yes with proviso. Thank you. Good luck.
Calendar number MI2020-000835-621-25 Breed Street.
Mr. Phillip, you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, for nothing but the truth?
Frank, you're back.
i am back to let you know that i will not probably be on this case as well
uh okay i've got some contractor issues going on so thank you you've got it uh can you please
identify yourself for the record sir um michael phillips uh philillips 1835 market street 14th
floor, Philadelphia PA 19103 here on behalf of 621 Partners, the owner of property at 621-25
Reed Street. Again, this is a resumption hearing at the request of Chairman DiCicco at the original
hearing that was held in November 17, 2020. Okay. So there's a resumption hearing you said?
Yes. So just briefly to refresh everybody's recollection, we had come before
the we had come before the board back in November with a proposal to convert the ground floor of
the property at 621 Reed Street from vacant commercial to four residential units. We had
prior approval for the second through fourth floors for 12 residential units and it secured
a buy right permit. We, to get to those 12 units, utilized the low income affordable housing bonus
and my client paid $120,000 into the affordable housing trust and a permit was issued.
During the pandemic, he encountered significant difficulty leasing the ground floor space to a commercial tenant.
So our proposal was to convert that ground floor commercials into four additional residential units for a total of 16 at the property.
At the hearing, there were concerns raised about parking and providing additional parking at the property, and Chairman DiCicco asked us to go back and see if we can add any parking.
us to go back and see if we can add any parking and incorporate that into the plan so we did that
went back and after you know a lot of back and forth with the architect came up with
a plan that provides four compact parking. Excuse me Mr. Phillips I'm sorry to interrupt you
but just came to my attention that Mr. Monblack was not here for the original hearing the two
board members who are present would not yeah right so we can go through with this and hold it a week
for Mr. Monblack to read the a week or it might take longer to get the transcript but he could
get the transcript and then vote, or I can check to see if Mr. DiCicco is going to be back on at
any point and we can push this case back a bit. Yeah, we could do that, especially since Chairman
DiCicco, you know, this was specifically, we looked into this at his urging. I think it would
be best if either we see if he can if he would be uh available um to uh to hear this either later
uh you know i can wait and let some of the 3 30 lists go on um or um you know or even i don't know
what the scheduling is like in terms of getting back uh quickly since it's just a resumption
hearing um why don't we hold this for now take a break as you generally we generally do between
the 2 and 3 30 cases I'll contact Mr. DiCicco and see if he's available to do this at the start of
the 3 30 session okay will that be okay that's okay with me okay okay so uh I believe this
conclude is there anyone else in the audience that felt that we missed their case or didn't
call their case for the two o'clock listening i see no hands okay then we could take uh
tanya's a 15 minute break okay sounds wonderful and we'll see you guys back in 15 minutes
all righty bye-bye thank you
Yes, we are ready to go.
Good afternoon, everyone, my name is Confessor Plaza and I'll be the acting chair for the
this zoning hearing. Along with me are board members Thomas Holloman and also in attendance
John Montlock. Before we begin, please be advised that this proceeding is being recorded
and that by participating you acknowledge your agreement to be recorded. Second, for
the benefit of anyone participating by phone, we ask that attorneys and witnesses identify
themselves prior to speaking or testifying. Third, for anyone participating by phone,
if you wish to testify, you must raise your hand by hitting star nine, then star six to
unmute yourself. Again, to raise your hand, press star nine, then star six to unmute yourself.
Before calling the first case, you know what? I'm going to read a couple of the continuances for
3.30 hearing. I believe MI 2021-001-482-5155 North Hutchinson Street.
That case will be continued. I believe that's it. Is there anyone else here
that needs a continuance or withdrawal? Please come forward now.
We have Charles Richardson. You may unmute yourself, Mr. Richardson.