that is going to, you know, affect parking, which as, as, as my counsel stated again,
that the hours that we're going to be operating will not affect that volume at all in no way,
shape, or form. We'll be open when people leave for work. We'll be closed before people come home
from work. And we were also open to sharing the parking spot. Even Craig Melendosian of the 40th
War Republican, you know, first suggested that, you know, we put a loading zone there so that
people could, I don't, you know, it's not about the park and it's not about, you know, what the
neighbors are making it about. You know, it's more so about this community needs something.
it has nothing you know in this area you know so again to answer your question again we have not
looked in a residential but we were open to working with the neighbors in any way shape or
form um but now we get in pop-ups with refusals that you know that didn't exist in the beginning
um this has been going on chair this has been going on for almost two years now
you know with uh postponements and and i have no problems you know postponing to work with
our neighbors i've lived on that block for probably 12 years before i moved to island avenue i'm still
a resident of southwest you know so you know we're open to to to negotiating and everything but like
you know at the at the 25th hour we're getting hit with refuse that we i mean we're getting
blindsided with stuff and i don't think that's fair to the community that wants this and we
care it's it's it's human out here it's it's conversation going on i mean i'm sorry it's
humidity going on you know my roof fell apart at my other restaurant because i've never had
conversation like this ever all of my duct work is just saturated in conversation i've i've been
outside talking to these neighbors and as many you know signatures that they have i have the same
amount to back that people want this at my other juice bar i have over a hundred signatures of
community people they might not be affected neighbors but there are people that frequent
my juice bar and say and sign off and say that they want to see this in southwest so you know
council i know you have a job to do to you know protect your client but i have a duty to my
community as i said i'm on a board of barton's guard and i'm i'm a southwest leader you know
this is my job to protect Southwest. Thank you. Bart, if I may ask, since there was no
investigation into a single residential use at this location, would it be correct to state that
any hardships there might have been to putting a single family use there was not investigated by
uh by your firm i would object because the rco or the actual political actually we're actually
in the area of six rcos and two political organizations and the political or city the
political organization that is running this had said that they were in favor of a three unit
Is that correct, Jin?
That was a concession towards not...
Excuse me, this is Hillary.
Mr. Jin, you asked a question.
Mr. Shermer, are you objecting to his question?
I am asking a clarification to the question.
The RCO actually said we support three units,
and that was not what was represented by the question.
Okay, okay.
So I don't believe that's the intent of the question.
The architect can answer the question.
Please answer Mr. Jin's question.
If you can, if you can.
Absolutely.
Can you just repeat that one more time?
Sorry.
Since you guys did not investigate
a single family use at that location,
is it fair to say that you have not looked into
any hardships of the property that would have
that would prevent you
from putting a single family house there.
And I would ask again that-
No, and he's going to answer the question
and we take note of your objection.
But it's improper to have somebody
ask a leading question.
Well, you're overruled, Mr. Shermer.
Mr. Shermer, you're overruled.
And please answer the question, if you can, sir.
Please answer the question, if you can, sir.
Yeah, sorry, Mr. Jin.
Yeah, sorry, Mr. Jin. Respectfully, the questions are relevant. You know, we get hired to design what our client wants. And so we've never even gone down any road to that path to do so. So I unfortunately can't answer that for you.
Okay, thank you. So I guess I would ask Mr. Shermer's client the same question. Is there a hardship to your property that would prevent you from using it consistent to the zoning that it is zoned for?
That you're aware of?
Yes, can you guys hear me? Can everyone hear me?
Yeah, proceed. Go ahead, sir.
Okay. Yeah, sure. Chair and, you know, everyone else. So, yeah. So the comps wouldn't support, honestly, a single family home at this location. The comps around there might go between, you know, 120 to like 180 grand. I'm not really sure, but I'm almost 99.9% sure that the comps wouldn't support that.
But I also want to speak about, you know, that there is hardships with the, if you can see in one of the photos that Bart put up on Google Maps, there is like bush that grows there uncontrollably. There are caterpillar trees that grows there uncontrollably. And the cocoons, they nest and they drop, you know, moth-bearing caterpillars all throughout the summer and spring.
There is an issue that I had when I owned a property that my tenants still have that live at the adjacent property that people from the back alleys come and drop trash there.
Contractors come and drop trash there.
Right now on that block, there is illegal.
I mean, I'm sorry, not illegal, but abandoned vehicles.
Stickers are outdated.
People just come there and drop trash on that corner.
So the hardship is real.
The hardship is imminent.
It's been there for the longest.
And these are the kinds of things that the neighbors are not taking into account that, you know, we're going to put, you know, commercial, you know, dumpsters back there.
We're going to make, you know, there won't be a really, you know, huge garbage issue because the only thing we're putting in there is, you know, juices made from, you know, my other restaurant that are in glass bottles that are recyclable produce boxes that can be broken down and compacted.
So we're limited. So it's actually a win win for the neighborhood because that corner won't, you know, continue to look like that.
People won't continue to dump trash, you know, out there if they see a beautiful existing structure in a storefront.
The property next that your tenant lives in now, what is the use of that property, the one that's next to this lot?
It's a single family. It's a single family home.
Thank you. Mr. Chairman, I would just like to state that, you know,
this is a residential neighborhood. This is a residential single-family home lot that was
actually subdivided from a residential single-family house, providing a new lot for the
applicant. While we understand that, and this is where the consortium was trying to be flexible
and supportive of development, we understand an absolute requirement of a single-family house may
be difficult on this lot, but we firmly believe that a commercial and two additional residential
units in a reduced size lot in the corner here, surrounded otherwise by residential properties
is an overuse of the property. From the zoning standpoint, the code requires that when we're
looking at a use variance, that the variance would be needed due to some kind of hardship to the land
due to the location, size, and structure.
I do not believe that standard is met here.
In addition, even though the testimony is that the impact
would not be a detriment to the neighborhood,
certainly commercial use with trash and commercial trash pickup, traffic,
all these things would potentially pose a negative impact to the neighborhood.
And therefore, my client's request for this variance not to be approved is soundly placed under the zoning law, and we would ask the board to deny this variance.
I would like to have Mr. Craig Meldosian certainly come on and verify my representations and answer any questions if needed.
if i can question mr jim since before his statements are approved that there's
commercial use at 70th and chester there are restaurants at 69 we're asking for a restaurant
a small essentially bodega at 69th Anchester there is a existing
There is an existing bodega at 68th and Chester, and there is an existing...
Mr. Sharma, hold on one minute, because Mr. Jin is not done yet, and he's bringing his witness on.
So let his witness come on, and then we'll go from there.
Well, he's speaking, not his client.
so i want to ask him not the client who's going to say that everything that he said is true
i'm asking the person who spoke rather than the person who's going to say that everything that
he said is true uh it's up to you i don't think that i can i think i have a problem i think i
have a right to ask i don't i think we're going to bring i don't i don't think you need the
question, Mr. Jinn. I really don't.
Well, he spoke everything.
He's the person
who's...
Yeah, he's representing clients.
He's saying what the client did, and the client's
coming on.
We're bringing the client on.
Chair,
Craig Melladossian has
two devices. Please put your hand
up on the one you wish to be recognized on.
He's been allowed to speak,
Chair. Okay. Hi, sir. Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Craig C-R-A-I-G, last name Melidosian, M-E-L-I-D-O-S-I-A-N. Right. Do you swear or affirm to
tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? I do, Chairman Bergman. Mr. Jinn.
Thank you. Mr. Maldosian, can you identify your relationship to the Ward 40 RCO?
Okay. It goes back first to...
I'm sorry, your personal position with the Ward 40 RCO.
All right. Well, it comes from the 40th ward. The Republican ward, since Hal had, I should call him, Shermer mentioned earlier, 40 A and B. The Republicans and Democrats, we operate our wards a little differently. The Democrats have an A and B. The Republicans, we've consolidated it.
So even though committee of 70 had whatever they have, that's not the way the Philadelphia Republican City Committee or the city commissioner's offices looks at it.
I am the ward leader for the entire 51 divisions that are in the 40th ward.
As part of that, some years ago, based upon legislation developed by Marion Tasco and Janie Blackwell, they gave the wards an opportunity to integrate into the RCO process.
So I'm going to say these are two great Democrats and what they've done for this process has been great.
And that's how I stepped into that. And part of the reason for me taking it over is I have a real estate background going back to 1979,
including residential, multifamily, neighborhood shopping centers, primarily in University City, strip shopping centers,
other larger ones such as Brookhaven Mall including high-rise office buildings in the
Center City Business District and at one point I was the vice president of Research Park Incorporated
which was at that time the residential arm or I'm sorry the real estate arm of the University
City Science Center so it seemed like I was the perfect guy to give the zoning work to
I was selected as coordinating RCO by Councilman Johnson's office, and I've been doing it since the time of Steve Cobb, continuously up through now.
I'm with my fourth zoning liaison at this point, so I assume they have a basic satisfaction with what I do.
It's the other thing I'll indicate so that it's understood.
As the coordinating RCO, really, I'm a glorified clerk.
I'm the guy that does all the paperwork. I'm the guy that ties everyone together. I'm the guy that pulls people in. I'm the guy that sets up the Zoom meetings and tries to get a pulse from everyone.
Councilman Johnson is absolutely assiduous in making sure that everyone has an opportunity to participate in this.
And that's why we went originally for the first continuance.
And then he joined in with me on the third continuance so that we made sure that the applicant had every opportunity to meet with and address the issues.
There was no intention of holding anybody up.
Thank you. I wanted to have you first.
have you first, did you hear my representations and testimony before the zoning board?
Did you hear my representations and
I did.
Can you verify that what I've represented as the position of the 40th Ward RCO is true and correct
and adopted as your own testimony?
Thank you.
Mr. Shermer, do you have any questions?
Well, yes.
The Committee of Seventy says that there is a 40th Ward A and a 40th Ward B, and I am wondering...
oh let me get that there we go sorry uh the committee of 70 lists the 40th war has been
being splitted into 40th a and 40th b so i want to know whether mr melodian
And Lucien is actually in charge of this area.
And since there are, since the committee of 70 says that Craig is in charge of 40B and 40A is vacant,
therefore there is no majority.
How can you have a decision by award with less than a quorum?
um i'm going to be honest the uh information that you're referring to
is not reflected what the philadelphia city committee views as the 40th ward nor does it
reflect the bylaws that we submitted to the city commissioner's office that they have approved
and if you wanted to uh i don't want to make it a moot point but this is the 25th division
the 25th division sits in 40b you're not in that division you're not here the 25th you're here
the 40th if you want to be for if you want to be 25th division that's the lady that you appointed
who went out and got all this all of the decisions against so we have the democratic committee had
no problem with this, didn't say anything, didn't get involved. The Republican committee, even
the Republican ward leader, doesn't like this, and made a point of this by reciting everything
that he posed about this at every single meeting. And then the Republican committee woman that was
appointed by craig went out and get every single neighbor that they could to oppose this not based
on reality but based on we don't like anything and we think this lot should be remain a vacant
lot rather than being developed so i want to know why is it that there's a 40th a and a 40th
I don't care about the ward leader. I want to know whether 40A and 40B, how can you have a 40th ward decision with only one person?
Mr. Shermer, stop a minute. Mr. Shermer, Mr. Shermer, stop a minute. Craig, can you answer that question?
Yeah, I was elected by committee people that are in both 40A and 40B.
And the reference to this Republican committee woman, she's she's not my committee person and nor nor has she ever been a committee person.
She has in the previous previously worked on the election board, which is totally different than the word structure and the other simply how did she do it?
She's the block captain on Regent Street. She and the co-block captain were against it and wanted to know what they could do.
And I said, well, I think what you need to do, because we see it with regularity, is people go out and they get petitions that either support or oppose something that's before the board.
And I said, it's your responsibility to go out and get petitions and send them into the councilman's office.
You didn't actually sign that petition. That's not your signature.
You weren't involved when 0404, 2016, Craig Melodian, you just testified under oath that you didn't propose this person and you actually signed for them and filed it in court under oath.
I'm sorry. Who were you referencing?
I'm sorry. Who were you referencing? These are people who long ago were on the election board.
These aren't committee people. Excuse me, Mr. Chair. I need to interject. This is going much
far afield of the zoning matter. We need to be focusing on the zoning case, the project in front
of us and what the objections are related to zoning. The legitimacy of the RCO in the ward
structure is not an issue here. Mr. Schirmer, do you have any questions relative to zoning?
Unmute him, please. Do you have any questions relative to zoning?