I don't know how many Starbucks are in the country I should know that I guess but I don't
I could tell you though when they came out of the court case that held them accountable for a lot of
mistakes they were making. They made a commitment to open up stores exactly like this one,
going deep into the poorest neighborhoods in the country. This is one of the first ones. We got one
in Philadelphia. And the commitment that they made to the RCOs goes beyond hiring. Oh, by the way,
they're building the building from the ground up. Every single job on that construction job they
pledged to be Philadelphia building trades, number one. But more than that, there's a community
center built into the store that the RCOs and other community groups are going to have the
benefit of using. It goes beyond that. They're going to provide accommodations and food and
beverage to really bring together the neighborhood on a regular basis. But if you give me two more
minutes because every day
we're all burdened by these stories
about how bad things are in Philly
can you give me two more minutes
to tell you about something that's really good
that this project
is a part of in a bigger picture
a man named Ken Frazier
that might ring a bell
born and raised in North
Philadelphia walking distance
from this project
went on to become the CEO
of Merck
Hmm. He just retired last year, and he wrote a $5 million check, and he's dedicating a better part of the rest of his life to create the Fraser Family Coalition. Where? Across the street from this project.
I'm the chairman of his board. I'm all in. My family has made a huge financial commitment to his project and this project. And what's he doing? What is this a piece of in the bigger picture? Guess what?
taking on poverty, health equity, food deserts, housing issues, incarceration issues. He's got
a list like this. He hired McKenzie out of his pocket, top team out of McKenzie to put the plans
together for this. So this is not just another generic Starbucks. And that's where I failed you
because i'm italian i'm 100 italian guys and i'm great at telling stories and i failed you because
this is a story that you should be excited about you're going to run point on this story you're
the first point to make it happen and that's where i owe you an apology you didn't have the benefit
and that's where I owe you an apology.
You didn't have the benefit of knowing all that
for them knowing
the last time we came in front of you.
Mr. Nicoletti, that's fine.
We appreciate your conversation,
and we all agree that the former head of Merck
is doing just a fabulous job.
So is there anyone else in the virtual audience
that would like to say anything?
I see no hands, Chair.
Planning Commission.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
David Fecto, City Planning Commission. The comprehensive plan recommends no change to
the commercial mixed-use zoning at this location. The applicant has proven that the proposed
takeout restaurant and non-accessory parking lot will have no more of an impact than those
activities would be expected to have, and so the City Planning Commission recommends the board
grant the special exceptions. Thank you. MI 2022-002-995-2628, North Broad Street. I vote yes.
Carol Tenere, as an Italian, my vote is yes.
I had to, Mr. Chair.
I'm sorry.
That's okay.
Thomas Holloman, as an Afro-American, my vote is yes.
That was awesome.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Mr. Nicoletti, we thank you for the additional information that you shared with the board.
was very helpful and easy to digest definitely because we didn't have that before thank you
thank you everybody thank you okay um rachel are you doing uh 4700 stenton chairman brennan
Saverin will be handling that. Thank you. Okay. MI 2022-001-548-4700 Stanton Avenue.
Letter of non-opposition solo Germantown Civic Association.
And also the coordinating RCO was Wakefield 49ers who convened and participated in the meeting.
There are also four form letters of support from tenants at the property.
Good afternoon.
Could you state your name? I didn't swear you last time, did I?
No, you did not, Mr. Chair.
Could you state your name and spell it for the court reporter, please?
Sure. It's Brandon Saverin of Pritzker Law Group. That's B-R-A-N-D-O-N, S as in Sam, A, V as in Victor, R-A-N.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Could you identify your client in a relationship to the property, please?
Sure. So I represent 4700 Stenton Avenue, LLC. I believe they closed on this property in December
of 2021. So they are the landowner. Our vice chair has a few questions.
oh madam vice chair you're muted you're muted carol
and and again and again hi mr saverin do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal
and stipulate to its accuracy yes i do have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership
tax compliance a copy of the refusal or referral photos under 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 to all of the
above. Okay great you may proceed and please share your screen. Thank you. Thank you.
So if you can see my screen members of the board this is a very sort of zoomed out
zoning map featuring the property. It's actually right where my hand is highlighted in blue which
you can barely see because the underlying zoning is ICMX. So it's sort of blue on purple there.
But anyway, that's where the property is, where my cursor is. We are in Germantown, a few blocks
north of Wayne Junction, which is down here, just to give you some context. The building I'm here to
speak about is shown here. This is a structure that was converted to residential use in 2013.
I'm going to go through the zoning history of the property in a moment, but it is now a multi-family
apartment building that features some on-site indoor parking that has a door here and here
for pedestrians and a vehicular access door here. Here's the refusal to, I'm going to read
through the refusal very quickly, and then I'll go back and sort of give you the backstory of
how this was generated. So we are here, as the refusal states, for you.
So we are here, as the refusal states, for use as multifamily household living, 26 dwelling units in an existing structure.
The zoning code requires 13 parking spaces for that many units.
We are proposing nine, and we are zoned ICMX.
So most types of residential use, whether single family, multifamily, are all prohibited, hence the refusal.
So, this is a zoning permit that was granted pursuant to a ZBA variance in 2013 that was obtained by a prior owner. As I believe I mentioned, my client, 4700 Stanton Avenue LLC, just purchased this property at the end of last year.
In 2013, the ZBA granted variances that enabled the use of this structure as multifamily, and it's a little, there it is, actually, you can see it right where my cursor is for 23 dwelling units across three floors.
This variance also permitted daycare use on the first floor and storage on the first floor.
so the property was already zoned ICMX at that time certainly one of the variances was to enable
residential use that permit was amended through the administrative review process the following
year in 2014 and that basically took the status of the permits closer to what's actually on the
property today. The daycare use was dropped from the scope. Instead, what you had was storage and
parking on that ground floor instead of storage and daycare. And as this administrative review
permit says, there are nine indoor accessory parking spaces. That's exactly how many there
are to this day. So that's already permitted and 23 dwelling units are already permitted.
But lo and behold, when my client was sort of going through the diligence process to purchase this building, discovered that there are 26 dwelling units in the building, not 23.
We don't have the full story of how there came to be 26 units, but there are not zoning permits that enable 26 units.
And for better or worse, all 26 of them are presently occupied and were occupied, I believe, upon the sale of the building.
So the choice here was to either pursue a zoning variance to enable those three extra units
or to evict three people, three families potentially, from their apartments.
So we chose to try to legalize this building, get those three extra units permitted.
Now, I want to thank the couple RCOs that sent letters in.
These are featured in our exhibit packet.
One of those letters is a letter of non-opposition from an affected RCO, Solo Germantown.
Here's their meeting summary.
Four of their board members voted in non-opposition.
They also wrote a letter detailing their thoughts on the matter.
Here is the meeting summary by a different RCO.
This is the coordinating RCO, the Wakefield 49ers Community Improvement Association.
and they actually in their letter sort of accounted for the other groups so this is a
little more complicated but they came out in support as you can see here they also wrote a
letter what these letters detail is that the prior owner of the building did not conduct
property maintenance here in a professional manner creating trash surrounding the building
folks parking on the sidewalk, which I think you saw in the Google Street View image I showed.
So we came into this meeting. My client uses a property manager that is physically based within
the neighborhood. That manager is going to take proper care of this building. And we discussed
that with the community extensively. I want to thank those that attended the meeting for sort
of coming with an open mind and hearing us out, given the poor performance of the prior owner.
And also want to thank them for getting these letters on very short notice as the meeting was
only a few days ago. So in any event, that's the summary of where we are. The building is the
building. It has 26 units. It has the nine parking spaces. We are trying to legalize it. We will get
a new co after we get a new zoning permit that reflects 26 units so this building is operating
fully above board going forward um i believe that um the client's representative um
I believe that the client's representative, Yehuda Angster, he also goes by Judah, should be on to adopt my testimony.
Thank you very much for having me.
Would you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
Yes, my name is Yehuda Angster, spelled Y-E-H-U-D-A, last name Angster, A-M-G-S-T-E-R.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed.
Hey, Judith, were you able to hear the full extent of my testimony today?
Yes, I was.
And was it true and accurate to the best of your knowledge?
Yes, it is.
And would you therefore adopt it as your own?
Yes, I would.
Okay, and are you authorized to represent 4700 Stanton Avenue, LLC?
Yes, I'm the managing member of the limited liability company that owns title and deed to the property.
Okay, thank you very much.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Chair, we have Charles Richardson.
Hi, Mr. Richardson. You've already been sworn.
Yes, sir. Good afternoon again, Mr. Chair.
Charles Richardson from the Office of Councilwoman Cindy Bass, room 312 City Hall.
Councilwoman has no objection to granting the variance for this legalization.
Thank you very much.
Anyone else in the virtual audience?
Chair, we have Rosalind McKelvey.
Could you state your name and spell it, please, for the court reporter?
R-O-S-A-L-I-N-D.
Last name McKelvey
M is in Mary
C-K-E-L-V is in Victor E-Y
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth
The whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir
Proceed
We had a very good meeting with Brandon
And in our neighborhood
There's been so many changes
I am actually the one that hosted the meeting in 2013
and the previous owner did not follow through with what they said and after the presentation
we were in a little fog what the variance was for after the explanation we found out that there's 26
families and if we did not approve that three families would have to go the neighbors did
complain about the trash that's around outside. And due to COVID and the aging residents,
they found it hard to keep up with passersby's and some tenants and some people that aren't.
The parking isn't all officially theirs. And we came to an agreement that they would try to
do diligence and recompense to the neighborhood. They said they will help clean up lots
that are surrounding not just their own property,
which was commendable,
and also put back the sidewalk
that I don't know why the previous owner blacktopped
the entire sidewalk where handicapped people
and people with strollers
could not even go down the sidewalk.
So we thank them.
Well, thank you very much.
Thank you for calling in, ma'am.
We appreciate your information.
Chair, we have a calling user.
Phone number ending in 5555.
Please unmute yourself.