uh city hall room 496 philadelphia pennsylvania um we're in a firm to tell the truth miss jones
and all truth and nothing but the truth yes i do thank you please proceed right so i i just
kind of wanted to clarify the position of our office um i i did send a letter in this afternoon
to support the RCO's position on the project itself however I did not I
However, I did not, as far as I know, our office has not made a position about whether or not to continue this case.
didn't know as far as I know our
That's just not, I was told that it was going to go forward today.
So I just wanted to clarify that we hadn't taken a position on it.
Thank you for clearing that up.
I misspoke.
I was somewhere along the line.
i thought i got we got a letter the board got a letter saying that the councilman was in agreement
on the continuous but thank you for clearing that up i'm gonna say that was my mistake not
the chairs okay no problem mr chairman it's cleared up yes yes mr milton in in very very
brief rebuttal the mailings that were made that are part of our requisite submissions are all the
notice that is required. That mailing notified all of the immediate neighbors, all of the people
within the zone that requires notice of the RCO scheduled meeting and of the hearing before the
ZBA. That's what's required. And those events are routinely rescheduled and a new notice is not
required. All that is required is that you repost and that you notify the RCO, which is exactly what
has happened here. But it's fascinating that Mr. DeMarco's rigid adherence to the zoning code
that he's urging the board today, I wonder if he will insist on that rigid adherence in the next
matter in which he represents an appellant i suspect we know that he won't but the fact is
the board and the city planning department have encouraged all parties to employ alternative
means to have these rco meetings we tried we begged we asked and we finally got it in july
and they sent their letter and the matter is ready for hearing. Thank you.
Someone, Mr. DeMarco or Mr. Beller, whomever, speak to the issue about if this case
gets continued, when will there be, when will the next, when will be the earliest
that the Spring Garden folks could have a meeting regarding this case.
And then I have a question for Mr. Miller after that.
Mr. Chairman, this is Ryan Boland speaking.
I haven't asked that specific question of my client.
I know there's a couple of representatives on the line right now,
but I suspect that there's no reason,
given the flexibility of the Zoom platform,
that we couldn't do something in two weeks notice so my question to mr miller is is your client is
this time sensitive in terms of any financial negotiations or whatever do they own the property
are they in the process of buying mr chairman my client purchased the property over a year ago
my client went through the historical commission process that process left us requiring three
variances we are before you now what the reason this is time critical is because it's a burden
to carry this property without construction moving forward and we're very very concerned
about the deadline for the abatement. If this drags much longer, we risk the December 31st
deadline for the abatement, which would be a crushing penalty because of the delay. We paid
for an expedited hearing. We got an expedited hearing and through no fault of anyone, we are
where we are. However, through the fall of the RCO and through the fall of the next door neighbor
and her counsel, the RCO didn't proceed as was agreed. And then they issued their letter last
Thursday. So they've already issued their letter of opposition. I don't know what, and that's a
very, very detailed letter. It's probably six or seven pages long. I don't know that they're going
to say anything new if we delay. Yeah, I apologize if I had you repeat some of the comments that you
made earlier. I got distracted, so I apologize when I asked you if your client owned the property
or whatever. I apologize for that. Okay, I understand, Tanya, there's a couple more people
Okay, I understand, Tanya, there's a couple more people on the phone.
on the phone.
No, Chair, that's all.
All right, that's all.
I know Mr. Bowen tried to answer, maybe didn't give me the answer I was looking for.
Is there anyone who has been a party to the request for a continuance?
Could you give us an answer?
if this case gets continued could you we get this case continued for two weeks
is that a question for me to hear it's no it's a question well i guess it is for you also
tanya not unless you want to do a special day yeah i'm thinking because this is going to
probably take time but so i'll ask the general question to mr bowler mr demarco whomever is
representing those folks who are requesting a continuance can if this case is continued for
two weeks does that give you ample time to get the meet another meeting of another meeting
or another meeting with your clients and the applicant mr chairman this is ryan boland since
we're not dealing with having to use any space or anything like that i see no reason why we can't
hold a meeting within the next two weeks. We just want to make sure that the physical mailings go
out as soon as possible so that we can get this on the agenda and have the RCO schedule a Zoom
meeting. Mr. Miller? Mr. Chairman, we're not obligated. I mean, we spend the mailing. I know.
I saw you perk up with the mailing issue. Yeah, right. We've done the mailing. We've satisfied
the requirements and when things are rescheduled, I'm sure the RCO has a comprehensive email list
that will be far more effective and far less costly. I would agree that Spring Garden, I do
believe, has the resources to be able to do this virtually. So I don't know, again, I don't think
we can enforce another mailing i would ask that you do it virtually like you you want to do the
meeting and have done meetings in the past uh with planning commission and or whoever the other
departments i think there's some other uh places that you've had uh virtual hearings again because
you have the wherewithal to do that so i i would not make that a requirement that meaning i would
not make a requirement for a set another mailing other than virtual mailing emailing or whatever
So, having said that, Tanya, any idea when we can have a special hearing and I got to
make sure we have a quorum also for that.
Frank, I think you tell us, we'll have a quorum, and she said already that it's up to us, you know.
All right, I just don't know who, let's say in the 20th, Thursday.
That's much further out, isn't it?
That's three, four, that's almost four weeks.
Anything sooner?
uh say the second week in august anything available then
i mean if you guys want to do it on a thursday
what what would be the date on that thursday the 13th
13th confessor will you be around on the 13th that you're aware you make it work
Tom? Chairman? Hold on. No problem. Okay. So anyone have any concerns about that date?
I just have a scheduling issue, Mr. Chairman. Can you hear me? Yes, I can. I have, if it's late in
the day, that probably could be okay. I have a 9 30 a.m. mediation, which is going to go at least
four or five hours uh so if it's a little later in the day i can make it well it may go longer
it may go longer right i'm so i'm sorry about that it's a pre-scheduled prepaid uh long mediation
in a major civil case um okay i can do earlier i can do later i'll even do it during my vacation
the next week if i have to when you say earlier you mean earlier in the day or sooner the date
sooner an earlier date i meant earlier in the week so um what about the sixth
So, what about the 6th, which is next week, Thursday, a week from this coming Thursday?
Gives you seven or eight days, eight days, roughly.
Well, my schedule is open on the 6th, but I would defer to the RCO about whether they could get the Zoom meeting in time.
But I could do the 6th, yes.
Is there someone from the RCO who can speak to that?
I mean, again, as bad as the virtual stuff is, we can, you can really get people together a lot
quicker. True. Mr. Chairman, I'm not sure whether Patricia Freeland or Justina Navarro are on the
line, but that week would actually work much better for my schedule. I won't have much internet
access on the 13th. It's the two days of vacation I have scheduled for the summer happened to be
then and i'm gonna happen to be when i'm not clear does the six six i i'm saying the six works much
better for my schedule all right then we're all on the same page okay mr miller yes we're gonna
hold it it's roughly eight days or so all right and then we'll get back so uh calendar number
let me see if i have it here what's that calendar number confessor give it
2nd calendar number 39837 2000 spring garden street okay calendar number 39837 2000 spring
garden street is continued till august the 6th at what time are you going to do this time in 9 30
10 o'clock 10 o'clock and that'll be a special correct yes yes great okay everybody agree agree
all right thank you all thank you very much thank you good afternoon thank you
i think that's it huh let me see
oh we got yes that's it oh that's it i'm looking at the other sheet okay sorry but
all done Tanya yes chair it's a wrap thank you guys tomorrow all right thank you everyone
Be safe.
Stay safe.
Bye-bye.