Thank you.
Thank you.
Mr. James, we're looking good to go.
All righty, thank you.
Okay, good morning.
My name is James Snell, and I'll be the acting chair for this morning's zoning hearings.
Board member Thomas Holloman and John Monlech from the Department of Planning and Development will also be participating.
Board Administrator Tanya Sunkit and Board Attorney Sharon Saleta are also in attendance.
Before we begin, I'd like to take note of the following changes related to the virtual format.
First, 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. That's star nine to raise your hand
and star six to unmute yourself. Fourth, we ask that you not attempt to testify
in the chat room. You should instead wait until your case is called and raise your hand only when
the board asks for witnesses to come forward. Okay, before calling the first case, we would
like to announce the following cases that have been continued. All right, for the 930 session,
Number two, calendar number MI 2021-000-458-1504-West Erie Avenue.
Attorney Henry Clinton, this case is to be continued.
Number three, calendar number MI2020-001957, 2212 Bryn Mawr Avenue, Attorney Byrne Anastasio, this case is to be continued.
Case number four, calendar number MI-2021-000-360-2338, North 16th Street.
This case is to be continued.
uh number five calendar number mi 2021 000333 3353 emerald street excuse me um mr snow that's um
you'll want to call that up separately it was no exhibits but there was right my mistake you're
right. Thanks, Sharon. Sorry about that. Okay. Uh, let me go to, uh, number 10, uh, calendar
number MI 2021-000-369-7219 Woodland Avenue. Uh, attorney Jermaine Harris, there's a, uh,
continuance requested by the RCO. This case will be continued. And
number 12, calendar number MI-2021-000332-906 East Shelton Avenue. This case will be continued.
if anyone would like to request that another case listed for today
If anyone would like to request that another case listed for today be continued, please raise your hand.
Yes, we have a Melvin.
Yes, yes, sir.
Good morning. I got registered today to my case, my case for 9.30 a.m. The number for my case is NI-2021-00376.
Is that Jasper Street? Yes. 3871 Jasper? Yes, sir.
I should just wait till your case is called later. This is only for continuing.
okay thank you yes uh this is just for uh continuing continuances if anyone has a
continuance that uh they would like to bring forth we have mr ernest yes i was told by city council
that this case for 2210 and 2212 brenmar has already received sufficient uh continuances
and they are disallowed from having any further continuances.
They've already been continued more than once.
And I was told...
I'm sorry, this is Sharon.
It's really the board's call on that
and they have told the attorney for the applicant
that it would be continued.
Okay, so in other words,
Curtis Jones' office was lying to us.
I'm just asking.
They were not lying to you, I'm sure.
It was likely a misunderstanding.
We can, though, if the board chooses,
they can make it must be heard so there will be this will be the final continuance. Okay I was
told prior also by speaking with someone from the board that he had exhausted all of his continuances
because every time the neighbors sign on to protest and they then see it they then file
continuances and we're continuing to take off work and adjust our schedules to address this grave
issue. I'm, I apologize for that. I can only guarantee that this will be the last one.
That's what we were told on the last hearing. Okay. Um, the continuance was requested by the
attorney Vern Anastasio. Can we check to see if Mr. Anastasio is present?
Mr. Byrne, can I unmute yourself?
Yes, good morning.
Good morning.
I did request a prior continuance.
It was not marked, must be heard.
I understand that the second continuance would be marked, must be heard.
It's only for 2212.
22110 is not listed.
I don't know what to say other than I'm trying to get compliance on my end,
which is why I don't have an exhibit packet together.
uh it the position of the rco is you know although i respect their position it's not relevant to my
case um you know i have to as you all know we proceed with our cases all the time with opposition
from rco members so uh again i ask that uh this because it's a compliance issue that i'm trying
to work out that we we do have this as a attorney moving party but it would be in fact must be heard
all right let me let me uh back up on that one okay we'll uh we'll make that a must be heard
okay thank you so uh calendar number mi 2020 dash 001 957 2212 brimmar avenue must be heard okay
thank you attorney moving party yes that's my request okay okay attorney moving party
excuse me mr snow did you see my message in the chat yes i did okay i did i'm not sure if that's
it but any other uh continuances anyone have their hand raised
Mr. Stanley, you can unmute yourself.
good morning good morning sir hi how are you please state your name and address
Good morning, sir.
Hi, how are you?
Please state your name and address for the record.
Stanley Perry, 1515 Market Street, Suite 1200, Philadelphia PA, 19102.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Okay, please proceed.
I represent IB contractors on case number MI-2021-000357804 East Toyota Street.
We're asking for a 30-day continuance.
Excuse me.
If you are granted a continuance, there is no guarantee that it will be 30 days.
as you will be put on the list
for continuances and informed
of the date.
All right. Anyone else
in the audience wants to speak on this?
804 East
Tioga Street?
Ms. Tioga Street?
Yes. 804 East Tioga
Can I interrupt for one moment? The man who spoke, Mr. Stanley, is it? You are the attorney for the applicant. I have another attorney listed.
I am the attorney for IB contractors, LLC.
And I'm sorry, can we please call Rachel Pritzker if she is present?
Ms. Pritzker, are you out there?
I do not see her in attendance.
Since Mr. Stanley does not represent the applicant, if we could move this request back for a few minutes so that I can contact Ms. Pritzker.
Thank you.
I do represent the applicant.
So, okay, you do, and are you replacing Ms. Pritzker?
Uh, yes, I did. I didn't know that Ms. Pritzker was on the case. I'm sorry.
Oh, no, that's not a problem. I just wanted to be sure that you were the attorney for the applicant.
Yeah, Rachel's listed.
Why don't we just, you want to push this one back a couple minutes?
Yes, just a couple of minutes.
Thank you.
okay we'll come back to that case any other uh continuances anyone else with their hand raised
mr earners are you trying to request a continuance
no that would be all uh acting chair i'm just trying to find out how do we know the date
of the continuance for brenmar avenue how will we find that out it will be posted online or you
can always um email the rcozba inbox okay and what's that email rcozba at phila.gov rcozba
at phila.gov yes okay and i just want to be clear so i don't have to keep interrupting or
I don't mean to be a problem. Is there nothing listed for 2210 Bryn Mawr? Because there are signs posted for that property.
Sorry, you have to talk about that offline. Chair, you can go on.
Chair, I did contact Ms. Pritzker and she confirmed that Mr. Stanley is the attorney.
She is not representing the applicant, so that can be continued if you'd like.
Okay. All right. So, calendar number MI 2021-000-357-804 East Tioga Street will be continued. Okay.
All righty. If there are no hands raised for any more continuances, which I don't think there are, we're going to move forward and call our first case.
Calendar number MI-2021-0004001334 North 29th Street.
The RCO is Brewery Town, Sharswood Community Civic Association, and I believe there's a letter of support.
Ms. Dixon, can you please unmute yourself and state your name for the record? Spell it also for our stenographer.
yes can you hear me yes we can miss dixon awesome state your name and address for the record that
would be great okay my name is shanara dixon c-h-e-n-a-r-a last name is d-i-x-o-n the property
address is 1334 North 29th Street, zip code 19121. Okay. Please proceed. Can somebody swear
her in, please? Oh, yeah. Yeah, I'm sorry. Ms. Dixon, do you agree to waive the reading of the
refusal? Stipulate to its accuracy? Yes, I am. All right. Have you also, have you emailed an
exhibit packet with the required documents, proof of ownership, proof of tax compliance,
copy of the refusal or referral? Yes, I have. And plans and photos five days prior to this hearing?
Yes, I have. And have you met with the RCO and do you have a letter? Yes, I do have the letter
and I did send it to attorney's letter. Okay, great, Ms. Dixon. You can proceed.
And may you also swear her rent, please?
Yes, I just did.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
I'm sorry.
I thought I already did that, but go ahead.
I purchased this property last year and the previous owner has the property set up as a duplex.
I just wanted to legitimize it through the city of Philadelphia to be recognized as a duplex
the plan is for me to live in the bottom unit on the first floor and rent out the top unit
but I just wanted it to be recognized by the city so I did get community support
through a sign-in and I did go before the RCO and they approved it as well so
I just want to make sure it's legitimized
okay we appreciate that thank you anyone else uh in the audience like to speak on this
yes we have a catherine catherine you can unmute yourself
can you state your name and spell it hi my name is Catherine Mejia first name is k-a-t-h-e-r-i-n-e
last name is Mejia m-e-j-i-a
Ms. Mejia uh could you provide your address also for the record? Sure my address is 1323
North 29th Street apartment 2 Philadelphia Pennsylvania 19121. Okay and do you swear
or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth? I do. Okay great please
proceed. Yeah. So good morning, everyone. I just wanted to come on to recognize my support for
Shannara Dixon. I am a neighbor across the street. I have been witnessing the work that's been
done on the property. I actually also live in a duplex that also has a special use permit that
was not originally a duplex, but was split when the owner bought it. So I just wanted to come on
to recognize my support. I think it's also much Shannara is doing to the property. I know that
the property was originally already split when she purchased the property and she's just been
in the process of updating the property and beautifying it. So as a neighbor, I just wanted
to say that I do support Shannara. Okay, great. Anyone else in the audience have their hand raised
like to speak about this uh property no more hands here okay uh planning commission
morning this is uh ron bednar city hey ron could i swear you in first uh name and address for the
record first name is ron r-o-n last name bednar b-e-d-n-a-r with the philadelphia city planning
With the Philadelphia City Planning Commission.
Commission. Okay, do you swear to tell the truth?
Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Thanks, Ron.
Proceed.
This property is indicated for residential on the city plan.
Given the use history, we recommend that the requested variance be rent.
Calendar number.
Excuse me.
Excuse me.
Oh, I'm sorry.
Any questions from the board?
Any questions from the board?
no questions no okay great thanks thanks tom all right calendar number mi-2021-000400
1334 north 29th street my vote is yes
my vote is yes my vote is yes okay great okay thanks miss miss dixon
Thank you, guys.
All righty.
Calendar number MI-2021-000370-3409 Goodman Street.
Attorney is Zen Jin.
He's coming in now as a panelist.
All righty.
Good morning.
Good morning.
Please state your name and address for the record.
My name is Zen Jin, Z-H-E-N, last name J-I-N, 1617 John F. Kennedy Boulevard, Suite 1838,
Philadelphia PA 19103 here on behalf of the applicants. Great. Mr. Jen, do you swear or
affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? I do. Do you agree to
waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy? I do. Also, have you emailed an
exhibit packet with the required documents, proof of ownership, proof of tax compliance,
a copy of the refusal or referral and plans and photos five days prior to this hearing?
I have.
Okay. And have you met with the RCO and do you have a letter?
Yes, we have met with the RCO. The RCO voted in opposition. I will discuss that during my
presentation.
Okay. Yeah, we have that here. Yes. There is a letter of opposition from
the Nicetown Tioga Improvement Team.
That's correct.
Okay. Please proceed.
Thank you. If I may, I'm going to share with the board the information related to this case.
What I have up in front of the board right now, it's the refusal. We have submitted copies of
related documentation, including deed, proof of ownership, other things that are related to this
case. I want to point out my client is a tenant under lease at the property. The property is
owned RM1, and the application is for use at the food, beverages, and groceries with a takeout
restaurant because they're proposing to have hot food involved with the grocery store.
The refusal indicates that, of course, RM1 does not permit the use. I'm going to go ahead and
address the opposition from the RCO first. So the Goodman Street business was actually
purchased by my client, who was not aware that the zoning was not valid on the property. They
started the business, it's been around for a while, but they started doing their portion of
the business and found out that it is not allowed to be used because of the RM1 zoning.
When we met with the RCO, there was maybe five attendees, and someone indicated that
they're a neighbor and that there are illegal activities going on outside the property. However,
I'm not aware of any evidence of such illegal activities. This was just being said that
something was going on. Because we had the meeting and because of that feedback, I had my client
actually go out and reach out to his surrounding neighbors to clarify what's going on and also to
see if he can obtain a petition in support. Attached with the submission is an extensive
petition in support. As you can see, many of the neighbors on Goodman Street, 11th Street,
all the streets surrounding this particular store has signed in support of this application
of this application because the grocery store beverages itself, the use itself is not new at
because the grocery store beverages itself.
that location. And for the most part, most of the neighbors, as you can see, there are plenty on
Goodman Street here, are fine with the operation. I do also want to point out another point. I'm
going to share a different document with the board, and that is the history of this property.
The Goodman Street property, if the board can just bear with me for one second, this property has a use history, pretty extensive use history, going back quite a while, which I am going to pull up and share with the board at this point.
So this is not a new use. This property was actually zoned for restaurant grocery back in 96 by variance.
There's nothing in the record that tells me necessarily that it was abandoned. However, I do know that when the city reviews these applications, if there was no record on the permit for a while, the city automatically assumes that it was not used or was abandoned.
However, that's not necessarily the case here, as far as I know, the client purchased, my client purchased what he thought was an ongoing business.
So I'm going to go back now to the documentation relating to the case itself.
So, again, we have multi-page petition here that is attached with the application.
as you can see, quite a lot of the neighbors. The other point here is that there's an existing
hardship to the condition of the property in that this is not an RM1 structured property.
It certainly was not used since 96 in any way as a residential property. And structurally and
internally set up, the property is completely a commercial unit on the first floor. Even if
If the use wasn't permitted for this specific application, the owner would be forced to
come back to the board due to the fact that it would be extensive renovations needed to
make this into a residential property because it's been, since it was at one point a legal
non-conforming use, it's been a commercial-type property.
The case law has been pretty clear in the Commonwealth that where there is a pre-existing
non-conforming use, continued use, or even a reasonable expansion of such use, generally would
be permitted by the courts. The Gross v. City of Philadelphia is one such case where the courts
found that pre-existing non-conforming use of this nature, as long as it is not abandoned,
would be generally permitted. And in this case, even though the community has raised the argument,
perhaps there is some kind of nuisance activities, I do want to point out that nothing was ever
provided to me of such. And a quick search does not seem to show that there are nuisance type
violations shown for this property either. So as far as I'm concerned, there's no evidence of such
activities as far as actual evidence within the record. So based on all of the foregoing,
what we're really asking the board to do is to permit the continuation use of a use that was
at one point approved, was somehow lost within the years from the city records as having been
a good variance, and therefore we're trying to reinstate that use. The client, not knowing what
is going on with the zoning aspect. Actually, what I want to do is I want to provide the lease
to the board to review real quick. The client signed the lease for 10 years, which thinking
that, of course, this is an ongoing business concern and he's purchasing an ongoing business
concern. Therefore, he would be able to operate. I want to point out that he purchased the property
in July of 2020 and signed the lease starting in August. So not long after, he discovered the
issue and then filed an application. So this has not been a business that he's been doing for
years illegally. He just didn't realize that he's buying a business that no longer has a
use permit that is in the record. So based on all of the foregoing, and I understand the
community's position of taking a non-supported position, I would ask the board's favorable
consideration in this case. I'm happy to reshare any information the board wants to see and answer
I'm happy to re-share any information the board wants to see and answer any additional questions.
any additional questions.
Thank you.
Counselor, I saw you had quite a few names on the, I guess, those in support of a variance change.
Were they not at the RCO meeting?
They were not at the RCO meeting.
Part of the problem was the RCO meeting was lightly attended.
It was a Zoom meeting.
um we and because of the feedback from the rco meeting is why i asked my client to reach out to
the surrounding neighbors and actually get a petition because i felt that there there's
probably people that knows of the store but did not actually want to attend that particular meeting
um as you can see he did reach out and there are multiple residents within the area on the block
in fact, that is in support. This is Sharon. I just wanted to put on the record that we also
did receive a letter yesterday from Councilman Clark's office in opposition. Okay. All right.
I want to go ahead. I want to see if my client is present. I don't know if the board have any
direct questions for him. If he's present, bring him up. Okay. Mr. Alcedi, can you raise your hand
in Zoom if you're present so you can confirm my testimony?
me? No one hand is raised at this time. I'm sorry, if as an officer of the court, I would be
willing to stipulate that he would verify my testimony. Okay. All right. So is the,
has this place of business, has it been, has he been operating at all? I mean.
He has been. When he purchased it in July of last year, he was, he, he went in and started
operating. Once he realized that there's a problem with the permit, that is when an application was
made. So yes, he was operating. How long was he operating for? He acquired it in July. So about
six months. That's six months? Six months. How was business? Well, we would be here applying if
there was no business. Naturally, he feels that he can continue to do the business, which is why
he made the application. Now, I can't speak to the prior operator. It could have been the prior
operator did have some issues with the neighbors. I'm only here for my client, who's the new
operator. And as far as I know, he has not had issues with his immediate, I mean, not all
immediate neighbors, but some neighbors must have issues. Otherwise, we would not have the
letter in opposition that we received. Okay, give me one second here. I just had a little technical
issue here.
okay sorry about that i hit a hit a button and everything went dark all right you're
you're back on the screen uh okay well uh is there anyone else that would like to speak on
this case uh in the audience any hands raised no hands at this time okay
board have any questions yes mr chairman all right will there be will there be a exhaust
hood included in the plan uh let me mr holliman let me go ahead and go back to the plans
real quick i i believe there would be um a hood system it would but i just want to make sure
whether that was on the plants.
Because I didn't zoom in,
I know it's a little difficult to see the
actual plant at the time.
This is the electric.
I don't see a hood system
marked in the plants.
Okay, thank you. What is the trash plant?
The existing business has commercial trash pickup, and that will continue.
They also have access to the side and rear of the property.
They have a storage area, but there's a side area to the property where...
storage area, but there's a side area to the property where trash can be stored.
So the trash would be picked out by commercial service. It would be stored. All that has been
part of the operation of the business from before. And I do want to point out trash was not the issue
that was raised by the community because it has been handled by this business even in the past
without issues thank you thank you what was the nature of the issues if it wasn't trash what was
the nature of the community loitering they were claiming that there was loitering in front of the
property there that you know the illegal activities such as potentially drug sales were taking place
and that the business owner did not make active efforts to stop such activity
any color any kind of uh police uh log at all i i i don't again no one provided any evidence of
such issues um there was no lni has not certainly has not found the newest to my knowledge at this
location within the last year um and there's no we don't see anything from the police side and
again, this is why when he went for a petition, I think the other neighbors are more than happy to
sign because they're not aware of such activity. It's not the first time that neighbors have
pointed out activities that they thought were part of a particular business that might have
actually been a mistake from another business or across the street. In this case, what I do know
is that we have not seen any evidence of actual nuisance activities. Does your client have all of
his health uh licenses to operate business here i i don't know the answer to that because i don't
have that information in front of me i do understand that in order for him to even if he
gets zoning he would still have to get all the health department clearances in order to continue
to operate do you know if he had them when he was operating six months ago um i don't have again i
don't know the answer to that. I don't have the information. Sharon? Yes. Sharon, so if we were
to approve this, I mean, then the applicant then has to take the next step going to get his health
license? He would be required to have all necessary licenses, I believe, before getting
a certificate of occupancy okay okay thank you uh once again any any uh hands raised anyone
in the audience have any comments about this case
no hands at this time if i could just make a quick point and it's i just pulled it up on google
map so I can see the property. I didn't realize he had photos, so I apologize. But if he goes
back to the photos, Tom, there is a hood system. I'm not sure how interested you are in that,
but it seems to vent up above the second floor. It's visible on Google. I assume it's still
in the property and usable. It doesn't look like it's in bad condition.
thank you no problem thank you okay there's uh no other comments we're going to go to uh planning
commission this is ron bednar city planning while this property is currently indicated for
multifamily residential use in the city plan given its use history we recommend the request
sit there and speak for you. Okay. Calendar number MI-2021-000370-3409 Goodman Street.
My vote is yes. My vote is yes. My vote is yes. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. All right.
Board, I'm going to go back to number five.
Okay, I should have called number five.
So let's go to five.
Calendar number MI-2021-000333-3353 Emerald Street.
This is a second listing and there's no exhibits.
Is there anyone here on this case?
Any hands raised for this case?
No hands at this time.
Okay. All right, board. My vote is to dismiss. Dismiss. Before y'all do that, Ms. Sharon, didn't you get the email stating that they asked for a continuance?
All right, board.
My vote is to...
I am not sure that I did, but in any case, this is the second listing, no exhibits, and they really should have been here to request that.
Mr. Snell, I could check for emails now and forward them to you if you would like to review
those before deciding whether to dismiss. Okay, we can do that. Okay, thank you. Thank you.
Okay, why don't we, let's move on and I'll wait until I get those emails and we'll go back to
that case. So let's go to number seven, calendar number MI-2021-000426-3639 North 19th Street.
Michael Lambert is the attorney.
there's no hands at this time also not seeing him in attendance
all right we'll uh we'll give the attorney a few minutes we'll come back to that
okay just now if i could i could read you the email on the last case sure please be advised
that I am respectfully requesting a continuance in this matter. The reason for this request is
that despite multiple messages left with the RCO Harrowgate Civic Association, I have yet to
receive a response regarding a meeting to discuss this zoning issue. So, of course, you're calling.
Oh, we can do a must-be-heard, you know. Okay, thank you. We'll do that. We'll do a must-be-heard.
All right, we'll give them a continuance.
So calendar number MI-2021-000333, 3353 Emerald Street, that case will be continued.
We'll slide down to number eight.
calendar number mi-2021-000376 3871 jasper street
is there anyone in the audience for 3871 jasper street yes melvin they're coming in now as a
panelists. All righty. Good morning, everyone. Good morning, sir. Please state your name and
address for the record. Yes, my name is Melvin Barbarena, and the address is 3871 Jasper Street,
Philadelphia. Okay, do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the
truth? Yes, I swear, sir. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its
accuracy? Yes. Also, have you emailed an exhibit packet with the required documents, proof of
ownership, proof of tax compliance, copy of the refusal or referral, and plans and photographs
five days prior to this hearing? Yes. And finally, have you met with the RCO and do you have a
letter? Yes. Okay. Thank you. Please proceed. Mr. James, let me ask something. I asked for
the translators. Did you guys have it? If you're not, I got my daughter and with me,
he can talk. I was unaware of that. Lakeisha, do we know anything about a translator?
No, we do not.
Okay, sir, I'm sorry about that.
Maybe a mix up there, but you say you have your daughter present?
Yeah, my daughter, he can translate it to me, whatever I explain to you.
Okay, that's good.
Excuse me, this is Sharon.
Do you believe that you can, you will be able to understand and participate because otherwise
you will be able to understand and participate
because otherwise we would need a court certified interpreter.
otherwise we would need.
If it's not my wife, Maricela,
she's in the owner for the house too.
She can tell later for me.
She is also on the deed, so that's fine.
All right.
Could your, excuse me,
could your wife, if she's going to be partake in this,
translate, could she give her a name and address for the record? Yes, my name is Maricela Barberena.
I live in 3871 Jasper Street, 19124. Okay, and do you swear or affirm to tell the truth,
the whole truth and nothing but the truth? Yes. Okay, thank you very much. Okay, proceed.
Buenos dias a todos, primeramente. Good morning to everyone.
The reason why we tried to make this meeting
is because we are trying to do a parking lot in our space.
When we had the RCO meeting,
they didn't approve of our meeting.
our plans, but they told us that they didn't want to get
involved in this.
That's the reason why we're here.
We did our best of getting everything you asked for
in order for us to be approved to our plans.
I'm going to show you on the computer pictures.
This is the part in front of our house.
3871 Jasper Street.
Our plans are to do our parking lot in our space.
As you can see, that's the front of our house.
and that uh where you see the garden that will be the space where we wanted to use to do the
parking lot these are the plans this is our property that's the front view
that's the part we want to make the parking lot we have like 26 feet
as you can see
give me one second please
La otra parte del plan, donde se puede notar cómo el auto entraría en este espacio.
That's the plan that it shows you that the car will go through with no problems.
Y si ustedes pueden ver, el espacio que queremos hacer no va a interferir con el sidewalk.
There's no interference with the sidewalk.
Y esa es la razón por la que queremos el permiso, porque se tiene que hacer una rampa para que el carro pueda entrar.
The reason why we're asking for your permission is because we need to do a ramp so the car can go through the street lamp.
Y para eso nosotros hemos pedido permiso no solamente a ustedes sino también a los neighbors.
uh we ask not only for your permission or the rbc but our neighbors let me show the list for the
people
okay this is the list of our neighbors that
sign as a proof that they have no problems with us making the parking lot in our space.
in our space in every meeting we have sent this list to to you
because we want to make sure that they agree and um you as you can see they all sign up this list
nobody has um reject our plans and nobody thinks that it's going to affect uh our community or our
area. Mrs. Moreno, may I, since you are not a court, you're not a certified court reporter,
but you are an owner of the property, could you just confirm that you adopt all of the
statements you have made on your husband's behalf as your own testimony? Yes. Thank you.
Could you go back to the, I believe, the first picture that you had shown of your
front lawn there, the front of your house? Sure.
Here's one. Okay. Yeah, that's it. Thank you. Okay.
so my you know just looking at the picture one of my concerns would be
you know the car hanging over onto the sidewalk at all
is your is the street uh one way or or is it both directions yes both directions both directions is
there parking on the opposite side of the street do cars park on that side uh yes they do they do
on the street on the street right on the street yes yes
let me show you again the the plan uh the reason why we show the plans to um the construction is
because we wanted you to see that there is no way it's going to interfere with that's coming
out and inside the parking lot see that will be the way we'll go in
yeah and in front of our house there is a
like a business so there are no houses in front of our house like dealer car yeah so we don't
interview for nothing are there any other uh homes on your on your block on the street that have
something similar to this?
No, we're the first
to solicit this
because the other neighbors
don't have the space to make it.
So we have the space to
we got the space to make this.
But the reason for doing this
is because in the last year
the city is not safe.
We got, we sang in the document
the picture, the car is vandalous.
you know and now it's not safely so that way we try to make this permit to make the parking in the
house is there anyone else uh in the audience that wants to comment about this case please raise your
hand? Yes, Agustina? Yes, Chichir, the applicant. Agustina, you can unmute yourself. Yeah, I'm here.
okay and the applicant i support this okay please state your name and address for the record
agustina moreno 31 38 71 jasper jasper street philadelphia pa 19124
and and you said did i hear you say you are the applicant
and and you said did i hear you say you are the applicant i'm the applicant yes
i'm sorry but the applicant is always considered to be the property owner right
would you like to say anything on this matter
no i support those because i see the house i see the play and i see everything as well for
the parking lot because they have enough space um he shows me the photo when the
when the car was vandalized we go when the architect to do the playing i i support to
to take the measurement and everything um i check and i think i i don't know how the city
no approval i think everything is worth for the for people the the parking lot from the house
okay thank you
is there anyone else i'd like to make a comment about this case
no more hands no more hands thank you lakisha uh does the board have any questions
yeah no i have two questions uh do you have any uh photographs of the rear of your house
with you
um i can't show let me show you i have one but i don't know if i can help you too much
let me see i guess what i'm trying to figure out is there's an alley behind your house
yes we have it in the back in the back we had the alley because the other okay let me try to
And I guess I could ask, you don't have to spend a lot of time looking for it, but is
there?
I know.
I'm sorry.
It's okay.
Is there parking in that alley?
We do have the space to make it in the back, but there is a light pad that it's preventing
us to put a driveway in the back from the city.
okay the alley would not look like a public right-of-way but um they you know could have
been at one point yes um and my other question is whether or not you have streets approval
because there's a zoning aspect to parking on property but the streets department approves
curb cuts to allow essentially the dip in the curb to drive over it for a business or
a residence or for whatever.
And so I'm wondering if you have had any conversations with the streets department?
No, not when the street department, we got some company, you know, when we got some professional
people to make the, because we know, you know, that's what we have to make the permits.
We can do by ourselves.
so we got some company he's coming to see the project he know what is the pie you know for
the water pie for the gas pie and we check everything you know but we don't talk it when
the department okay i don't have any other questions okay tom any questions no okay
it. All right, let's go to the Planning Commission. Ron. Ron Bednar, City Planning.
This property is indicated for residential use on a city plan. The applicant's hardship is not
supported with evidence of unique physical circumstances or conditions of the site.
Our adopted district plan does not support front-loaded parking without access to a rear
yard. In this particular case, we believe that there is ability to do that. Therefore, we
recommend that the requested variance not be granted. Okay. Calendar number MI-2021-000-376-3871
on Jasper Street.
My vote is no.
My vote is no.
My vote is no.
OK, thank you.
Thank you.
uh excuse me this is sharon i did um i called mr lambert's office he is trying right now to
Excuse me, this is Sharon.
I called Mr. Lambert's office.
log on he was getting a message saying that they were waiting for the host to let him in
if there is another case remaining and that you could call before his okay no that's fine sharon
we'll we'll go on i believe we might have uh one more case left and then we can go back to
Mr. Lambert. Okay. All right. Let's go down to number nine. Calendar number MI-2020-003521
400 to 418 North 5th Street.
Is there anyone here from North 5th Street? Morning. Good morning. How are you?
Good. Catherine Missimer, M-I-S-S-I-M-E-R, 1835 Market Street, Suite 1400, 19103.
Okay. Thanks, Catherine. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth? I do.
All right. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
I do. I'll just make one note. We believe that L&I should have additionally issued a refusal
for signage above the second floor. So we did notice that in our RCO notice, and we advised
the RCO as well that we would be seeking relief for that as well. Okay. All right. Also, have you
emailed an exhibit packet with the required documents, proof of ownership, proof of tax
compliance, and the copy of the refusal or referral and plans and photographs five days prior to the
hearing? Yes, I have. Okay. And finally, have you met with the RCO and do you have a letter?
We've met with the RCO. I'm not sure whether the board received a letter. We weren't copied on a
formal letter. Right. I don't believe we received an RCO letter. We did meet with them in two full
public community meetings. We also had several committee meetings thereafter. We've been working
with the rco on this since september of 2019 who who is the rco northern liberties okay excuse me
this is sharon we did not receive the rco letter directly but we do have um a letter from councilman
squilla in opposition that refers to the rco opposition letter i don't have a copy of it
we weren't copied either so but i do have sort of a timeline of all of our interactions with
RCO I can share with the board. I did submit that in advance as well. Okay, thank you. All right,
please proceed. Thank you. If you allow me to, I will go ahead and share my screen.
Can you see our exhibits? Yep, yes we can. Okay, great. So as I mentioned, I'm here on behalf of
the property owner YSI2 LLC and CubeSmart self-storage. With me today are Ryan Dougherty
of CubeSmart, as well as George Marks and Eric Gehring, our project architect, and Chris
Danoulis, our project engineer. Just to briefly orient everyone, this is an existing CubeSmart
self-storage location fronting on Callow Hill Street between 5th and 6th Streets. And as you
can see we are south of the Target Center on Spring Garden and directly adjacent to the Vine
Street Expressway. This application is for the construction of a new addition to accommodate
the expansion of the existing self-storage operation. The current property owner purchased
the property about 20 years ago with the existing self-storage building located and operating
there on. The current building is at 90% lease rate, and we're anticipating that the demand in
this neighborhood for self-storage is only going to continue to grow, and that's really what's
driving this proposal to expand our footprint here. The proposed addition would be situated
on the current vacant parking lot. As you can see here, that would activate 6th Street. Right now,
that's just blank parking, and here's our zoning plan to sort of give you a closer view of what
we're proposing. We would accommodate in this new building, we would be able to relocate
our existing leasing office from the existing building to the new building. We'd also be
able to bring our loading to the interior, our loading and unloading for cars, box trucks
of customers, etc. We'd also be able to move the current trash storage on site interior
to the building, which I think will really improve the landscape and the walkability
of 6th Street to the extent that pedestrians are walking up and down 6th.
This site is currently zoned CMX 3, while self-storage is...
This site is currently zoned CMX3. While self-storage is not permitted in CMX3 by
right, it is complementary to several CMX3 uses. And we feel that since there's been a long-standing
use of self-storage on this site, it makes sense to accommodate the expanding demand for this use
here. What we like about self-storage, and I'm sure that the board has heard several self-storage
use cases recently since this is a growing area, there's little effect on the surrounding
neighborhood. It drives little traffic to and from the site. There's little demand for
neighborhood resources such as schools and other improvements, and it does provide not only
a large footprint of UNO tax revenue for the city, it also provides, in a new addition like this,
good family-sustaining construction jobs to build such a large addition, where otherwise it's a
vacant parking lot that sits and remains undeveloped. In addition to the use variance,
this proposal generates a few technical variances, and that's what we want to discuss.
based on the current reading of the code, the calculation for parking on a self-storage
building is based on square footage, not necessarily the actual use of the building.
So in many of these cases, we do generate a parking refusal because we don't have the
commercial parking associated with the square footage of the building.
In our experience in operating these types of facilities, and my client can speak to
this, the proposed 12 parking spaces is certainly sufficient for an operation of this size because
as you're aware, many of our lessees aren't visiting their property on a daily basis.
You know, you have one or two customers come in a day, maybe pick something up, drop something
off. You have a new lessee come in to open a unit, but you don't have people coming in and out
throughout the day to access their belongings on our location. Additionally, another technical
variants that's similar in nature is that bicycle spaces are also required based on the commercial
use here. Again, we don't see too many of our customers riding their bicycles to drop off their
belongings in the building. So we do provide two bicycle spaces, which we feel would be sufficient
in the event that we have staff members that are maybe riding their bikes to work, or maybe one or
two lessees that are just visiting to pick up something small or drop off something small to
their unit. But we have found that this is really sufficient for our type of operation.
And then lastly, as I mentioned, the reviewer did not issue a refusal for signage above the
second floor. That's an existing condition on site. And as you could see from the aerial,
in the event that our signage was located below the second floor, it would be blocked by the
Vine Street Expressway because it sort of cuts off, it's raised in that location. So it sort of
cuts off the view of our building. And as you can see there, if we had signage at the second floor
level, you wouldn't be able to see it because it'd be blocked by 676. So that is the last of our
refusals. I do want to speak briefly to our interaction with our RCO. We did meet with
Northern Liberty's Neighborhood Association. We had two full public community meetings,
And we did also agree to participate in a design review committee thereafter. A lot of the comments
we received were about the design of the building. While that's not really a zoning issue, we wanted
to sort of accommodate some of the requests the neighbors did have. And this view sort of shows
you the changes we made from our original proposal based on all those comments. You'll note that we
added the brick banding. We added several more windows and glass materials. We also added a
punch-out panel system, which imitates the look of windows to sort of, you know, accommodate some
of the requests the neighbors had, while keeping in mind that, again, we are a self-storage company,
so we do have a national branding that we have to maintain on our buildings that looks consistent
that you would recognize, obviously, that it's a CubeSmart location. So that's really what we
tried to do there um these are our posting pictures you can see on the existing building
and then this is a view sort of of the parking area where the new building would be located
this is the surrounding area we're next to the philadelphia ball bearing factory
this is the target location that's to our north this is a good side view this is 676 cutting
through. This is where the new building would be situated. This is the front along Callow
Hill. You'll note that Callow Hill is four lanes of traffic here because this is where they're
entering the expressway. So again, it's not really a walkable retail corridor. This is more, you know,
So, again, it's not really a walkable retail corridor. This is more, you know, appropriate for a benign use like self-storage because, again, we're right up against the expressway.
Again, our refusal, we spoke about the three refusals that were issued as well as the signage refusal we believe should have been issued in this case.
And then lastly, this is just a summary of sort of the communication we've had ongoing with the RCO to date.
Again, we initially met back in September of 2019 with their leadership. They felt the proposal made sense at that time because, again, we were operating already over 20 years of self-storage at this site. We owned the property.
um we did have several meetings with them thereafter before having two full public
community meetings they asked us in february to participate in a design review to see if we could
design our building to be more you know camouflage of the neighborhood if you will or
accommodate the context of the neighborhood um we did participate in that process we did make
all of the changes that were bubbled on those renderings um but we still couldn't reach a
consensus here and you know typically we don't like to move forward absent a neighborhood
consensus but really our hands are tied it's either we're able to continue operating and
accommodate the demand here or this remains a parking lot and we'd really like to see it become
a useful useful aspect for the neighborhood because the demand here is so high and we've
really had good success in this neighborhood and we'd like to stay so with that I will sort of
you know, and my testimony here, I'd ask that Ryan Dougherty, my client, be promoted to panelists to
confirm my testimony.
Ryan, are you available?
Yeah, just give me one second.
Thank you.
And this is Sharon, if I can interrupt for a minute.
we did now receive a letter from the RCO, which I am forwarding to the board by your email.
Can everyone hear me? Yes. This is Ryan Doherty. Mr. Doherty, please state your name and address
for the record, please. Sure. Ryan Doherty. Address is 5 Old Lancaster Ave, Malvern, Pennsylvania,
one nine three five five okay do you swear to affirm do you swear or affirm to tell the truth
the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes okay great uh please proceed ryan have you heard
my testimony today yes i have would you agree that it's true and correct yes would you adopt
it as your own i would great so ryan remains available should there be operational questions
as well as our architects to speak to the design
in the event that that would be helpful as well.
Does the board have any questions for Mr. Daugherty?
Is there anyone in the audience
that would wish to speak on this property?
We have a Larry Friedman.
Hi, can you hear me?
Yes, Mr. Friedman.
Please state your name and address for the record.
Yes, I am Larry Friedman, the Northern Liberty Zoning Chair, and located at the Northern
Liberties Community Center at 700 North 3rd Street.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Okay, Mr. Friedman.
Great.
Please proceed.
um well first i was a little bit taken back but you didn't receive my letter which i sent in
yesterday morning and i did receive a response from tanya but anyway you got it right
mr friedman this is sharon if you could i prepare the summaries for the board
just going forward if you could copy me on any letters okay thank you absolutely and i apologize
I did not have it, but I have now forwarded it.
All right, can I share my screen?
That would be helpful.
Okay, how do I do that?
I think I have to stop share, so I'll do that, and then Larry should be able to share.
Okay, so if I hit you, hi, Catherine.
So if I hit share screen.
yes if you hit share screen after you have the document open that would work best yeah i do have
the document open i got i got a bunch oh boy um i got a bunch of uh exclamation let me see
hold shift to select multiple
Goodness, I can't wait, files.
goodness okay
It's definitely, it's on my desktop.
Desktop, I have an exclamation point and like a triangular sign.
When you hit share screen, is that where you're seeing the exclamation point?
Say that again, please.
When you hit the share screen button along the bottom of the screen, is that when you see the exclamation point?
Yeah, I hit share screen.
Let me close it.
I mean, I share my screen all the time.
I don't know what's going on.
I'm seeing a bunch of the iPhone, iPhone cable.
Oh, here, let me close my eyes.
Let me see if that sounds like this.
All right, look, I...
What's on your mind, Mr. Freeman?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know.
I'm sorry, I'm delaying everything here.
Well, because what I, my, my, all right,
if you have the letter there
with all the pictures and everything,
then I'll proceed and I'll just refer to mine
so I know what I'm talking about, okay?
Yeah, sure, go right ahead.
Great, thank you so much.
our position is that
we oppose this project
basically
there's no hardship
for building what they want to build
but I want to tell you
what's going on down there in this neighborhood
and then I also want to talk about
our compromise that we
proposed to them which we felt was
totally reasonable
and in 2015
2015, when we met with the Planning Commission to talk about remapping this entire neighborhood,
the neighborhood I'm talking about is called Northern Liberty South, which goes from Spring
Garden to Callahill, 6th Street to 2nd. We had a couple of meetings and we agreed that CMX3 for
the entire neighborhood would make the most sense. Kind of a commercial, residential, mid-level,
uh not high rises but mid-level um for the for that look uh this is kind of the cmx look
um and that was in 2015 nothing much happened between then and literally may of this year
we saw four projects in may four cdr projects and i i went uh we could skip my letter it doesn't
matter i'll get the point if you look at that first picture it says 200 spring garden street
yes um all right that i'm just i'm just not going to discuss these projects if that was the first
project that we saw in may uh that's right at second is spring garden street that's a cmx3
by right project behind that is this all open space for the community very cool project
the second one is at 412 north second basically that's at second and tallahill so that's right
down the street there. That's another project that we saw reviewed. As a matter of fact, the
CDRs are going on right now. Obviously, I can't make it for that. The next project is at 5th and
Spring-Gordon. And actually, you can see right across the street yards is right across the
street here. So that's the third project we saw in May. And finally, that bottom project there
is at 4th and Tallahill. These are the CMX3 vision that we discussed that day in 2015
as actually coming into play right now. We're seeing all these projects that are going to be
built. The problem that we're having and that we had in our discussions with the applicant's design
and, you know, we've been doing this a long time. We would never come to a ZBA meeting and say,
we would post something on design. However, the use, which is not allowed, is about the only use
that we could come up with that would translate into a multi-story building with no windows.
And we just keep describing this project that they're presenting as a fortress.
It's, you know, from every which way. So we also agreed with Catherine that it's, look,
as far as the use goes it's not like there's trucks and smells and all kinds of weird stuff
we're not opposing saying this is the terrible use we're saying because of the use it it gives
us this building that doesn't fit into the character of what is a cmx3 zone so i wanted
to tell you what our reasonable compromise was we said if you could give us something
We said, if you could give us something, you're building from scratch, that looks kind of like a CMX3 typical building, we'll support you.
You're building from scratch that looks kind of like a.
And so I want to take you down to the next picture, I think it's number seven, and eight.
And here are two CubeSmart buildings that look like CMX3 buildings that would fit in to this corner and into that neighborhood that we said, give us something that looks like that.
We'll talk to you about it.
You know, we have to have enough parking in case you're up and go someday.
And, you know, somebody can move in here and convert that into a residential commercial use.
So you don't have to tear the whole thing down, which is a total waste of money.
And we can work together on this.
And they kept coming back with the same white building.
They added a window here, a little bit there.
But really, look at that building and look at what we're doing here in this neighborhood.
That's why we're opposing the use.
Because what other use could you have where you don't need windows in a five-story building?
And I'm not sure why, but this building would work in an industrial zone someplace.
We're not denying that people use self-storage.
I use self-storage.
But it's going to be a deal killer for what's starting to happen in this neighborhood.
This vision is awesome.
We saw this in May, all four of those buildings.
In one month, we're out of our minds trying to keep up.
But this is starting. So our reasonable compromise is to let's talk about a project, a building that looks like that.
You already did two in these pictures and there's more. So this is not something new to CubeSmart.
And we hope that you understand our point here, that this building on a super important corner of this neighborhood now starting to develop would really kind of kill it.
And there's no hardship.
Somebody who's going to come in and build a building there that looks like any of these other buildings that are proposed is very popular.
Things are really starting to kick down there.
And we really want to see something there that fits into the character.
We don't oppose on design.
Everybody knows that.
But we feel that's a really reasonable compromise.
And we hope you understand where we're coming from on this.
um and if you have any questions for me i'd be i'd be glad to answer
thank you i'm just curious did uh did this go in front of cdr it did not okay okay if i could
just respond briefly and we do appreciate a lot of what larry's saying and we did that's why we
were so open to working with their design committee to try to reach some kind of compromise here a
couple things just to point out that every property is individual and unique, especially one
that already has a long-standing operation on it. It's not like we're looking at a ground-up
construction and proposing self-storage on a site that hasn't been self-storage for the last 25
years. A lot of the projects that are coming that Larry's speaking of in that CMX3 realm are up on
Spring Garden Street. That's a different pedestrian experience than Callow Hill at the base of 676.
So while we appreciate that Northern Liberty South is changing and growing, a lot of that is
only increasing the need for us to expand our existing footprint there because so many more
people are coming to that area with a need for self-storage. And because we're property owner,
we're not planning to up and leave the location, but we do want to give them a building that fits
in the context. Are existing buildings there? So what we're proposing is complementary to what we
have on site. And we did go ahead, and I'll bring up the view again, if I may, to show you the
changes we did make based on those comments, because we did go pretty far from our standard
white box, as Larry was describing. We've got the additional banding. We've got brick. We've
got a panel system to mimic the look of windows. We've added more glass. We put a retail frontage
all along Sixth and Callow Hill there at that corner to mimic what we have on our existing
building. So while we do appreciate their, you know, vision for the future of the neighborhood,
Spring Garden Street is not four lanes of traffic at Callow Hill next to 676. So I think we have to
be a little bit cognizant of the existing condition and the fact that this is an existing
property owner that's been operating in this neighborhood for a long-standing period,
despite the remapping that happened well after we purchased the property.
Can you still hear me?
Yes, Mr. Friedman.
Yes, Mr. Friedman.
All right, thank you.
All right. Thank you. Look, I showed you four pictures.
Look, I showed you four pictures.
Two of them were on Callahill. I'll go back and we'll go look back and look at those pictures.
One's at second in Callahill and one's at fourth in Callahill.
We weren't copied on your letter, so I haven't seen any of the photos that you've shared.
But I will say that some of the CubeSmart locations you shared are in other markets like Seattle and other places where they're ground up construction.
I don't know what the labor costs there are or materials costs.
They're probably very different than Philadelphia and they're not an expansion of an existing location.
I'm sorry, but the building that looking at this picture right here, the existing building has windows.
Looks like, you know, a typical factory building that could be converted into into a residential like, you know, is done every day in the city.
the building you're proposing back there is ground up that's not an addition that's ground up if the
uses it is is an extension but it's ground up you're building from scratch down over there
you're in a parking lot build a building that that has the character of course every building's
unique but when we create a vision whenever anybody creates a vision and we spend a lot of
time on this stuff with the planning commission you try to like at least get into the ballpark
This is not in the ballpark. You're coming down 6th Street there. It looks like a giant fortress. It doesn't fit. The use allows for a windowless building. That's the point I'm making. You came back. We assigned two people to this project to work with Claire Harrison.
What I'm hearing here is just throwing this into left field here.
Yes, sir.
Yes, I can hear you.
Mr. Chair, I think you may be frozen.
Mr. Now you'll have to go out and come back in.
I'm sorry.
i'm sorry we're i got i think i got muted there i was going off excuse me sir um the chair just
needs to go out and come back in because his video froze oh okay
hello can you guys hear me yes i don't know what happened everything just froze up i had to uh
I had to leave and go back on. I apologize for that. I have no idea what happened. So
last I heard, Mr. Friedman was stating his opposition. So I'm going to ask, is there
anyone else in the audience that would like to comment on this case?
Any other hands raised? No hands at this time.
yeah catherine is there is there any way you think possibly uh maybe another meeting with
the rco might might help uh help northern liberties uh you know become more friendlier
to your project we had hoped so that's why we've um requested two continuances of this hearing in
the past to accommodate future meetings um based on our last correspondence we supplied you know
what you're looking at today and we were our design committee meeting was canceled and told
that we hadn't done enough to accommodate you know their requests and frankly you know we've
we've gone above and beyond for really non-zoning issues these are design requests and we've made
you know several changes to the storefront that we think really respond to what's going on here
and frankly you know as a property owner with seeing this type of demand for our business
we really want to be able to utilize our existing property otherwise it again it remains a vacant
parking lot with with no improvements and that's not you know serving anybody including the
neighborhood okay is the uh does the board have any questions no no okay what are we talking about
here is it is it is it what's the mr friedman what's what's what's the real uh the issue at
the issue at heart here is it windows yeah it's windows you know all these curlicues and all that
part here is it windows yeah it's
stuff i don't know what yeah it's like you know we really put a lot of time in this we assigned
two people to work with them we we gave them pictures we offered those buildings that they
had already done i don't know what's going on in seattle that's so different than philadelphia
everybody likes a nice looking building everybody if it's cmx3 you're looking at it you know what's
this it's the reason you pick cmx3 is because most most of the projects are going to be like
the four projects i showed you and that's what we offered so i could tell you this that the last
correspondence they gave to us was hey do you guys want to uh mark this up like help design it
We're like, we're volunteers. You guys have architects. You know, we gave you everything we can. We gave you, you know, like, you know, one of the people I assigned is an architect. We gave a kind of directions. You know, we're not going to design the building. And we're very open. We do this stuff all the time. We always compromise. We always figure out a way to get both sides to be sort of happy at the end.
And I think that, yes, I would appreciate if you said to them, work with us and come up with a project that fits into the character of what we're designing here in this neighborhood.
We're not talking about a use.
We are talking about a use.
It's not allowed.
There's no hardship.
where you're looking at this building in this parking lot somebody was going to if we saw four
in may were you going to see something come up you know that's going to look really really handsome
and fit in and you know these are by right these people are coming in by right we just see the cdr
we just really appreciate that if if if you would you know just say hey let's get together
and give us something that would make sense.
We appreciate that.
In the spirit of my friend, Frank DiCicco,
who's always trying to provide compromise
amongst the parties.
I mean, I guess I'll ask one more time
and is there any chance of a compromise here, Catherine?
If not, we're going to take a vote.
Appreciate it.
I can let Ryan speak to it
if there's any room for further compromise
on CubeSmart's end.
But again, we're not talking a vacant ground up construction like Larry speaking to the other projects in the neighborhood.
This is not a separate property. This is an existing developed property that we own outright.
Ryan, do you want to comment on whether there's opportunity for further change to design?
I don't know that there is from a corporate perspective, given all the changes we've made, but I'm, you know, happy to let you weigh in here.
Sure. Thanks, Kate. Based on what Kate has gone over, we feel as though this is a compromise, what we've put together. Those white vision panels in between the brick that we added, the brick piers going up in gray, have the ability to convert to windows in the future if it were ever converted.
So you wouldn't have to demolish the entire building if it were to be converted to a different use. But that's all I have to add. I believe that we had many conversations. It's documented in the information that Kate provided. And we feel as though this is the compromise.
um so that's my statement i'll just pull up you know the original proposal started here
so this look has really changed quite a bit since day one um if you can see you know below
this is all new so all of these things have been added based on our you know almost two-year
process with the community at this point again we started meeting with the community in september
of 2019 we've continued our hearing twice to allow for additional meetings and it's now you know
july of 2021 so typically yes we we would welcome the opportunity for further compromise i just
don't know that you know there's again room in this particular case given the unique circumstances
um especially since you know it's an existing existing use on an existing site because it was
remapped after we've already owned it and operated, you know, that doesn't change our
longstanding history here. All right. If there's no other hands raised, no one else wants to talk
about this property. Is there anyone else out there? No, Chair. Okay.
is there anyone else out there no chair okay no uh questions from the board no okay uh we're
going to go to planning commission go ahead ron this is ron bednar city planning this property
is indicated for a community commercial mixed use on the city plan and our adopted district
plan recommends no changes to the existing cmx zoning at this location we believe the
applicant's hardship is not supported with evidence of the unique physical
circumstances or conditions at the site therefore we recommend the request of
variance not prepared. Okay. Calendar number MI-2020-003521-400-418
north 5th street my vote is no my vote is no no thank you okay thank you all right we're going
to go back to uh number seven uh mr lambert is is on the uh is on the call now hopefully
uh case calendar number mi-2021-000426-3639 north 19th street
mr michael lambert there i see you okay hi good morning i'm sorry i'm uh that's all right
that's all right let me give you the 30 second version good morning everybody i
So please state your name and address for the record.
Michael Lambert, ID number 88422.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Absolutely.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Absolutely, sir.
Also, have you emailed an exhibit packet with the required documents, proof of ownership,
proof of tax compliance, copy of the refusal or referral, and plans and photos five days prior
to this hearing? I had to be quite frank with you. I'm not sure because we're asking for a
continuance. Unfortunately, I went down the 1600 arch believing that it was in person through
back here, and I'm now coming before. Sorry for an inconvenience not being in the beginning,
but i was uh unfortunately believing i should be downtown doing a live uh hearing and now i'm back
so i apologize for mission the earlier request to ask for continuance and i'm requesting that
at this particular moment okay simply asking for continuance okay all right um we'll grant
you that continuous thank you so much calendar number mi-2021-000426-3639 north 19th street
uh we'll continue this case i'll be expecting the date in the mail for an email thank you so much
maybe excuse yes you may have a great day
to everyone on board. Bye-bye now.
All righty.
It looks as though that's the last case for the 9.30 session.
I'm going to ask, did I miss anything?
Is there anyone out in the audience that needs to bring up a case,
or does anyone have anything, any comments they'd like to say?
Any hands raised?
yes one chair um mr earnest okay mr earnest you can unmute yourself
hello good morning sir
to find out in reference to 2210 Bryn Mawr avenue where can we get a date for that property
because the owner doesn't have that listed.
Sir, the only address that was on the calendar today was 2212 for M.R. Adams.
No, no, no. Right. I understand.
But there's another sheet for 2210, but it's on private property.
So I'm just trying to find out where could I get that information.
It's right next door. It's the same owner.
Again, sir, I spoke to you in the Q&A, and I spoke to you on here.
You have to email the ZBA office for that information.
You can continue, Mr. Snow.
Any other, anyone else in the audience need to bring any issues?
anyone else in the audience need to uh uh bring any issues up or any comments no no hands
no okay all right guys and gals uh i guess that'll close at the 9 30 uh session
and uh we'll see everybody back at two o'clock okay great job
Good afternoon. My name is James Snell, and I'll be the acting chair for this afternoon's
zoning hearings. Board members Thomas Holliman and John Monleck from the Department of Planning
and Development will also be participating. Board Administrator Lakeisha Dandy and Board
Attorney Sharon Saleta are also in attendance. Before we begin, I'd like to note the following
changes to the virtual format. First, 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 the 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.
That's star nine to raise your hand, star six to unmute yourself.
Fourth, we ask that you not attempt to testify in the chat room.
You should instead wait until your case is called and raise your hand only when the board asks for witnesses to come forward.
uh before calling the first case we would like to announce the following cases that have been
continued all right we've got a couple of them okay the following are our cases to be continued
Uh, uh, number one, calendar number MI-2021-000459-1502 West Erie Avenue.
Uh, Henry Clinton is the attorney. This case will be continued.
Number three, MI-2020-001262, 321 East Worcester Street. Mr. Clinton is also the attorney for
this case, this case will be continued. Number four, calendar number MI-2021-000374-3204
Vare Avenue. Counsel for this case is Brendan Lucas. This case will be continued.
uh number six calendar number mi-2021-002502 3948 to 3950 west gerard avenue adam labor
oh well let me back up uh yeah this case will be continued adam labor is the uh attorney for this
All right. And we also have number nine, calendar number MI-2021-002261-7234 Woodland Avenue.
Steve Masters is the attorney, and this case will be continued.
are there any are there any objections out there to continuing the announced cases
any objections to the cases that I called to be continued no hands chair okay if anyone
would like to request that another case that's listed for today be continued please raise your
hand. And I have a Mr. James. Mr. James you can unmute yourself. Good afternoon members of the
board. James Panko for the city. I believe the board is aware of this but just for the record
The city is requesting a continuance for 3519 Hamilton.
James, can you state your name and address for the record?
James, can you state your name and address for the record?
It's James Panko, P-A-N-C-I-O, and I'm an attorney with the city.
Okay, do you swear or affirm to tell the truth?
Do you swear to affirm or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Okay, proceed.
yeah i i believe this has already uh been brought to the board's attention but just for the record
the city is requesting a continuance for 3519 hamilton um mr panko this is sharon saletta um
mr james i'm sorry um we we did receive the email from leonard reuter i responded saying this would
be moved to the end of the list in the hope that he would be available by that time so it will be
called then if um if he has completed the hearings at the lni review board perhaps he can sign on if
not the board will consider whether to continue it okay thank you thank you
okay uh once again are there uh any other listings that you wish to uh continue
mr chairman this is paul bonnie can you hear me sure mr bonnie go ahead thank you i just wanted
to um mention that paul real quick i'm sorry uh can you state your name and address for the record
Yes, it's Paul Bonney. My office address is 325 Chestnut Street, Suite 1109. I am the attorney for the appellant in 3519 Hamilton Street, which Mr. Panko just and Ms. Zuleta just spoke about.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
okay proceed mr bonnie i apologize i should have asked that both you and mr rafanidis be
called up to state your position on the continuance request that i i i just wanted to
let the board and the solicitor know that we're working very hard to settle this case in the
coming minutes if not the coming hour or something so we we appreciate being put at the end of the
list and we may have some good news um before you get to us we we like good news mr bonnie
we're trying so if keep trying if we if we can't get it done then I guess I'll weigh in on the
continuance um at the when we get when we get there if that's okay thank you very much everybody
thank you and Mr. David is available also
good afternoon Mr. Orphanides please state your name and address for the record
sure David Orphanides Orphanides in Turner to Penn Center 1500 John F. Kennedy Boulevard
suite 800 philadelphia pennsylvania 19102 thank you sir do you swear or affirm to tell the truth
the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do sir okay proceed so uh in terms of i i concur with
what mr bonnie stated i don't need to weigh in on the continuance request at this time
we are working on trying to settle the case and have it removed from the end of your list
um with that i'm going to ask i'm going to basically jump off of this so i can concentrate
on that i'll get back come back when uh we're hopefully finished with this because we are
very close to a final draft if for some reason i'm not on the call when our case is called i
would just ask if somebody could just notify me um so that i can concentrate on trying to get the
uh the settlement agreement finished um mr orfanides just so that you know there are so
many continuances on the 330 list i believe there are only two cases before yours um there's not
many. I'd be glad to let you know when to sign back on. That would be great because the more I
can concentrate on that, the better rather than half listening and half trying to edit. I think
it'll serve all of us. So I appreciate you doing that, Ms. Saleta and Sharon, and I will sign off
now and get to work. Concentrate. Thank you. Focus, focus, you guys. Good luck. Thanks.
okay uh any other hands raised anyone else wish to uh continue their their uh their case
no chair no more hands okay and we'll call the first case on the list uh this is uh
calendar number, number two, calendar number MI-2021-001413-2441 Aspen Street.
And this is a second listing. There are no exhibits for this case. Is there anyone in the audience?
There are no exhibits for this case. Is there anyone in the audience for 2441 Aspen Street?
Mr. Kirk, are you here for this case?
I am here for this case. Thank you. The exhibits have been sent in weeks ago.
The initial issue with exhibits on the first hearing was dealt with.
They were sent three days before the first hearing, so it was relisted for today.
Almost immediately after that initial hearing, the package was resent to all the parties that need it.
Sir, can you state your name and your address for the record?
I apologize. Yes, Justin, J-U-S-T-I-N, Crick, K-R-I-K.
My address is 1500 JFK Boulevard, Suite 630, Philly, PA, 19102.
Sir, do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Okay, sorry.
Go ahead, proceed.
Yes, so I was just responding to your comment that there are no exhibits.
I have sent the exhibits on more than one occasion at this point to all the parties,
especially in light of the last hearing, which the exhibits were sent a day or on Monday before the Wednesday hearing,
and the matter was continued for that reason.
Okay, Mr. Crick, can I interrupt you for one minute?
I know what went wrong.
I have a paralegal who assists me with doing the list.
She only has access to the Soletta ZBA
that is in the instructions for all exhibits to be sent to.
You sent them both times, I believe,
to my other email address, which she did not check.
I do have them.
If the board is agreeable, you can go forward.
But please, in the future,
if you could send them to the other email address, please.
I understand.
I will double check that.
I believe I send them to more than one of yours because I know we've had that issue in the past.
But I will continue.
I will check on that again.
But I appreciate you acknowledging that you have them if the board is prepared.
Yes, I'm looking at your 712 email and it is to my other email address, but that's fine.
Thank you.
Thank you.
All right.
Well, we'll continue with this case.
All right, Mr. Crick, do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Unfortunately, there's an extra, there's a typo in it, and I just want to make that known to the board.
If I may, the refusal states that it's 20,000 square feet.
There's an extra zero in there, and I just want to make that clear.
Otherwise, I do stipulate.
Also, have you emailed an exhibit packet with the required documents, proof of ownership, proof of tax compliance?
copy of the refusal or referral, and plans and photographs five days prior to this hearing?
And I can confirm that he did indeed.
And finally, have you met with the RCO, and do you have a letter?
Yes, we do.
Okay, thank you. You can proceed.
I do not, at the moment, see the ability to share the screen.
My apologies. I just want to come back in as a panelist.
thank you thank you very much all right so this is let me pull it up this matter involves the
property located at 2441 aspen street the the applicant is seeking to have a prepared food shop
in this area, and the prepared food shop would be approximately, not to exceed the 2,000 square
feet, it's approximately 750 square feet. There will be no more than 20 seating arrangements for
patrons. They may apply for some outdoor use in the future. There is no cooking appliances
in this application which require exhaust. The property already does have existing two-family
household living above and there is no sign on this application so the the applicant Mr. Harding
is the principal of Cafe Musette LLC he is available to testify at the conclusion of my
presentation the the application generated a referral and Mr. Harding met with the Fairmount
Civic Association in April and discussed the fact that the property would be open from the hours of
about 6 a.m. or 7 a.m. to about 3 or 4 p.m. on weekdays and 8 to 5 roughly on weekends. There
will be commercial trash pickup and the use of this property for prepared foods will not
overcrowd the land, burden the public facilities, harm public safety, or have a detrimental impact
on the neighbors. At the meeting with the Civic Association, there was overwhelming support or
At the meeting with the Civic Association, there was overwhelming support or non-opposition
with a 25 to 3 vote from near neighbors and a 35 to 3 vote in favor from the broader neighbors in
the area. I'm going to show you geographically just a little bit about where the property is.
It's situated at the corner of North 25th Street and Aspen Street.
Here's a photograph of the property. It's a nice corner space with windows on both sides for the
patrons. There's adequate sidewalk, very wide sidewalks in this area too, and the RCO did not
have an issue with the potential use of outdoor seating so long as the seating is brought in.
Here are the intended floor plans of the property. As you can see, most of the kitchen area is here.
It's all, again, prepared food, baked goods, and cold foods, salads, parfaits, et cetera.
uh the meeting that took place this is the the letter from the board showing the non-opposition
in votes in favor as well as pictures of postings and we did repost the property from the last
hearing we we did add and i'll jump to those in a moment we added additional postings for this
hearing since the original one was postponed tax clearance certificate is attached and my client
is intending to lease the property from the record owner, and here's an excerpt of the
first page of the commercial lease with the relevant information. At this time, we do not
believe that the property will cause any damage to the neighbors, and we are requesting a granting
of the referral. If you are so willing, Mr. Harding should be on the line and is prepared
to adopt my testimony. Mr. Harding, if you could raise your hand. Yes, Mr. Harding, you can unmute
yourself. Hello. Mr. Harding, can you state your name and address for the record? My name is Michael
Harding, and the address is 2441 Aspen Street. Do you swear to affirm to tell the truth, the whole
truth and nothing but the truth? I do, sir. Yes. Thank you. Proceed. Mr. Harding, have you had an
opportunity to hear my statements to the board today? I have. And would you adopt my statements
to the board and testimony as it was your own? Yes. And do you have anything else you'd like to
add to the application at this time? I do not. All right. I do just, I would like to add, I had
in my notes, I do want to make it clear that Mr. Harding is also has an extensive experience in the
food and beverage industry and believes that he will be able to adequately address the needs of
the customers as well as the neighborhood in running this business. Thank you. And this is
Sharon. I can confirm that we also have a letter from the RCO in non-opposition. Okay. Is there
anyone else in the audience with their hand raised that would like to speak on this property?
there's no hands at this time okay and and uh mr harding did i hear that there's no hot food
you don't need an exhaust correct okay i i i will speak for him on that okay
okay uh does the board have any questions no questions no no okay uh planning commission
members of the board uh this is mason austin representing hold up one second i'm sorry i
didn't know ron was gone uh can i just swear you in real quick please sure no problem uh can you
state your name and address for the record sure absolutely uh mason austin um m-a-s-o-n-a-u-s-t-i-n
and my address is 1515 arc street 13th floor philadelphia 19102 okay do you swear or affirm
to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Yes, I do. Thank you, sir. Proceed.
Sure. Thank you. The property is zoned for commercial mixed use is designated for that
use under the comprehensive plan. The proposed prepared food shop would not have an impact
greater than what one would normally expect from that use. Consequently, staff supports
the granting of the requested special exception. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Calendar number
MI-2021-001413, 2441 Aspen Street.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Good luck.
Bye-bye.
We're going to go to, we're going to skip over Hamilton Street.
We're going to save that to last.
We're going to move over to number seven.
Calendar number MI-2021-001242.
dash 2021 dash zero zero one two four two six six thousand lime kiln pipe
uh rachel pritzker is the counselor
and she's coming in as a panelist all righty
good afternoon sorry i'm i've lost my voice so please bear with me a little bit today
That means we'll have to make it quick, right?
Yes, yes, absolutely.
Good afternoon.
Rachel, we'll do our best to limit your speaking.
Can you just state your name and address for the record?
Rachel, R-A-C-H-A-E-L, Pritzker, P-R-I-T-Z-K-E-R, 1635 Market Street, speed 1600, Philadelphia, PA, 19103.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Also, have you emailed an exhibit packet with the required documents, proof of ownership, proof of tax compliance, copy the refusal or referral, and plans and photographs five days prior to this hearing?
Okay. And finally, have you met with the RCO and do you have a letter?
Okay. Thank you. Please proceed.
Thanks.
I'm going to share my screen.
So as the board can see, this is the property ahead of us.
This is 6,000 line Kiln Pike.
This is the legalization of a personal auto repair and maintenance shop on a triangular
5,640 square foot lot.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Thank you, sir.
Please proceed.
The RCO in the area is not functioning at the moment, so we were required to do a community
meeting, and the Councilwoman asked me to host a community meeting with the folks in
the area to hear about this case.
that took place on July the 15th via Zoom.
There were 19 folks in attendance.
Some of the members of the non-functioning RCO were present
and they did ask that the applicant
agreed to certain provisos that were presented prior to the meeting
with the addition of another that said no dogs to remain
on the premises after hours.
The applicant did agree to do so, and there was a vote of non-opposition.
So there were six non-near neighbors, and there were nine near neighbors, and they were all voted in non-opposition.
The councilwoman is not opposed to this, granted this proviso.
Yeah, as far as the provisos, there were eight listed, and like Ms. Pritzker said earlier,
i think the one proviso uh it's number four on this list uh we wouldn't be able to uh accommodate
you with that proviso right vehicles parked in the street but i guess the other seven you know
would would work i think for us yes chairman okay amenable to that all right uh is there anyone else
in the audience that would like to speak on this uh on this property on this case yes chair i have
Ms. Sandra, you can unmute yourself.
Good afternoon. Can you hear me?
Yes, I can hear you.
Could you please state your name and address for the record?
Yes, my name is Sandra Broadus.
I represent ACCA.
We are the RCO that was not able to host the meeting
but did participate in the meeting.
Our address is 5801 Ogons Avenue, Philadelphia PA 19141.
Ms. Broadus, do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Okay, thank you. Please proceed.
This meeting was escalated, so we were rushing against time just trying to get all of our communication with the community together.
there was an RCO letter submitted at a late hour requesting three additional provisors
that I'd like to review. One of the concerns at the meeting was the fact that the applicant was
told that, or basically the community was told that it didn't matter what was in the lot,
how many cars that the applicant had in his lot as long as they were in the lot it was really
none of the community's business the community members were trying to speak to the applicant to
let him know that as a new business that's been operating since the beginning of the year actually
without a variance they were concerned if he's doing routine maintenance that usually requires
cars in and cars out at the end of the day so many cars um in the lot at this time um we did
ask Ms. Pritzker not to use the photo that she used of the lot which is when it was vacant
and instead use one of the photos that we provided which I'm unable to share my screen because I am
computer illiterate um excuse me Ms. Broadus if I can interrupt um to the board members I did email
you those photos and the letter if you'd like to check your email okay so so there there are
so are you agreeing to the additional provisos that as well there were three additional provisos
so um just to weigh in a little bit and mr richardson can weigh in as well
okay well can i can i just finish the the we were requesting we are the community is concerned
because the property is so close to exactly next door to a residential block um that there be
professional trash removal um to minimize the uh you know the uh the trash impact on the neighborhood
there is there are two entrances to the property and the owner was kind enough to say that they
were extending the courtesy not to use the champ law street entrance which is exactly next door
to a residential home and extends into the residential block.
to a residential home and extends into the residential block we would like that to be
not just a courtesy but a proviso on the use and then um we were wondering and we did make an
a formal inquiry as to whether or not there the board had the ability to um actually extend some
form of limitation on the number of cars that are in the lot, and that the community is not
interested in zoning a junk shop in the middle of their neighborhood. They are willing to work
with this applicant, but we are asking that there be some consideration for the community as well.
Those were the three requests. Is there any way that the number of cars can be limited
and on the lot can they have professional trash removal and can it be ruled that they use the
line kiln pike entrance instead and not use the champlot street entrance those are the things
that we're requesting so we had already agreed chairman to the proviso about the commercial
trash pickup we we're not going to agree to the amount of cars based on uh you know we're allowed
to have as many cars uh based on the requirements of the code and there's no um specific specific
number um we were had explained at the meeting that all the lot all the properties at the end
of the day or all the cars at the end of the day are brought on the lot um so to get them off the
street and that depending on what services people need sometimes parts have to come in and things
of that nature so it fluctuates i have the photo on the screen showing uh what the lot looks like
full and I think maybe at most there's like eight to ten cars but I think limiting a business's
ability to utilize their own lot to provide it it's not a junkyard they're not stacked up
those are not the photos that we have taken that represent the lot I have okay Ms. Brodus
Ms. Burtzker has the floor right now you'll have you'll you'll be able to respond in a second
um so i have the photos up in front of you i wanted to just show the ones that were submitted
to the packet which do show the lot as it's functioning and they were taken within 21 days
of of the hearing um as required with the zoning notices so they are recent photos so the board
can see um i would have to defer to the client on if he's okay with the proviso about the second
door i don't know how that would limit his business i know he's been doing that generally
and had no problem i just don't want to put something in we we weren't we didn't have that
conversation with him at the uh community meeting and these extra provisos i think were sent to me
today so i didn't have a chance to to review it with him the first you're seeing those provisos
yes okay same with the council office as well okay sharon are are you there i am i have a question
about the, I guess the, there were three provisos added, the trash, I think they're on board with
the trash, but the other two provisos, I don't think we're able to, are we able to address them
as a board? I would like to know Ms. Pritzker's position on the vehicular access, but I believe
that you can add a proviso uh saying no vehicular access from champo street as for the um number of
cars on the lot maybe but you would have to i mean that would require coming up with a reasonable
number that the applicant agreed to and that's not something we had discussed i mean a lot can
only fit so many spots and honestly again this is a business that's trying to survive in kind of
tough times and so to limit their ability to put certain cars on the lot I don't really think is
fair especially because we've only discussed it today and it was not uh we didn't have a chance
to discuss it prior um Edgar's on so he could certainly discuss and and whether he's amenable
to the request on Champler I don't want to speak for him because I don't know how that will affect
his business but you do agree Miss Pritzker all of the cars will be on the lot yes the cars are
on the lot yeah absolutely thank you you said your client is is in the audience yes
would he like to speak yeah i think uh trying to get him to to do so
i'm gonna call him
hey hey are you i'm gonna i'm actually i'm on the zoom meeting i was trying to i raised my hand
okay well i just have you on speaker so i need you to state your name
for the record and your address and then you'll get sworn in and you can add your testimony okay
for the record and your address and then you'll get sworn in and you can add your testimony okay
sure yes uh Edgar Gutierrez please spell your last name sure uh g-u-t-i-e-r-r-e-z
okay and your address uh six thousand long kill pike one-on-one put it up in pennsylvania one-on-one
sir do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
yes sir okay proceed uh so edgar did you hear the additional provisos about number of cars on the
lot um which i don't think that we can agree to but um maybe we can compromise with agreeing to
not utilize the champlard side of the street i just wanted to hear if there was any way that
that would affect your business um yeah so so you know um i i definitely heard it
and since we've been here in january we have yet to use that that that side of the street um
you know as as a as a courtesy to the neighbors we have yet to use it the only issue i have with
that is in case of an emergency i cannot have that block it's it was there you know it's an
entrance the sidewalk has you know um a driveway it's literally a driveway so excuse me that could
be added as an exception it could be no vehicular access except for emergencies is that okay with
you if it says that's that's fine i mean but once again like i said you know we've done this as a
courteous you know being encouraged as to the neighbors so we haven't used this since but i
just don't want to limit you know in case of an emergency okay yeah i think that uh the board
understands that and we would be amenable with that additional language that uh miss saletta
recommended and as far as the amount of vehicles in a lot you know i can't you know we're keeping
them off the street um you know to to once again make sure that we are in good faith with the
neighbors and not pick up any space um i you know i just don't you know i the whole purpose is to
get the vehicles in and out not to hold them in but everybody knows we're in tough times because
of covid and they're they're you know parts are delayed um you know these parts stores don't have
much drivers and so far you know it's it's it's definitely not we don't store the vehicles
you know because we want to understood understood so so out of the three added provisos
the uh professional trash removal yep and then the uh vehicular access uh just for line come pike
and not on uh sham sham how you say that sham sham law street yeah um except for an emergency
see you guys are okay with that yes chairman okay miss broaders are you there i am here
and i i just would like to say that um the the purpose of the community is to have dialogue i
mean the meetings are to have dialogue with the owner and i'm hoping that the owner hears that
the community is not happy with the present the present use of the lot with all the cars in it
The complaint is not that you're moving the cars in at night, is that the cars are always there. And we've had an opportunity since the beginning of the year to witness how the lot is operated.
So there is a concern about cars sitting in the lots and just staying there as the permanent housing for that lot. We don't want that presence in the community in that manner.
the car should be in and they should be out it should not be a garage looking like a junkyard
which is what happens when the cars sit there long term as they have been witnessed by neighbors
which they were trying to express to you at the community meeting that is the concern
that the car is not moving understood with all due respect this is a car and auto repair shop
the properties are being kept on the lot and so it's not outside the scope of the business and as
you can see we've agreed to a significant amount of other provisors related to the operation of
this business in a you know in an effort to work with the community and we will continue to have
those conversations. Ms. Pritzker so as you stated it's an auto repair shop so as the cars get fixed
they go off a lot he doesn't make money keeping the cars on the lot I assure you of that I also
believe there's some folks from the community direct near neighbors who are here to speak
in support of the project as well, if they're able to have an opportunity to be heard.
Is there anyone else in the audience with their hand up that would like to speak on this case?
Hello? Can you hear me?
Ms. Gardner?
Yes. Can you hear me?
Yeah, I can hear you. Can you please state your name and address for the record?
Ms. Gardner?
She was muted.
Yes. Can you hear me?
Yes, we have you. Can you state your name and address for the record, please?
Yes, Shadena Gardner, 1612 West Champloss Avenue.
And do you swear and affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Okay, you may proceed.
Yes, I just wanted to, as a neighbor that's immediately across the street from the property that we're discussing,
I'm in favor for the property to be there and for it to be used as intended.
We've had no issues with them as a neighbor.
They have not, no cars have been on the street.
We don't feel like it's being used as a junkyard.
The business has been nothing but friendly and admirable to the community.
We haven't had any issues, no loud music, no dogs barking, none of those issues.
So I'm just advocating to saying that I'm in favor for the business to be used as intended purpose.
I haven't had issues with parking since they've been there.
And they've just been great neighbors.
And I've actually can say that I was very hesitant when the business opened and did not want a business right there.
But since it's been there, it's been a pleasure with them being there.
And we haven't had any issues.
I haven't had to, like, call the police for anything or had any, you know, riffraff or anything like that.
And I don't feel like it's being used as a junkyard.
I don't think it should be a capacity for how many number of cars they can have over there.
They've been using it for their intended purpose.
And also, it's never even been loud.
And I'm directly across the street.
If you look at the pictures, you can see my house in those pictures that you have.
Thank you.
Thanks for your comments.
Is there anybody else with their hand raised that would like to speak on this case?
Yes, we have Jermaine.
Yes, can you hear me?
How you doing, sir?
Can you please state your name and address for the record?
Jermaine Fitchett, 1618 West Champlaw Street.
Okay. And do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Okay. Thank you. You may proceed.
Just to piggyback off of what Ms. Garner said, I've never heard any noise from that shop over there.
There's never a problem with the cars on the street, if there are any cars on the street.
um and you can actually see my house in that picture as well um i've never had a problem
with parking no noise at all from the shop i didn't even know they were open until uh a couple
of days ago when i went to go get an oil change um but besides that it's no problems at all uh
from that shop over there i think they're doing a great job okay thank you chair uh we also have a
Pinkett?
Yes, I'm here.
Miss, could you state your name and your address for the record, please?
My name is Mimi Pinkett.
I live at 6001 North 17th Street, and I live in one of the apartments in the building.
Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Thank you.
You may proceed.
um i've been living in that apartment um for about two and a half years so i was there before
um they took over it's been nothing but a joy to have them in the neighborhood i know that
myself and my daughter have brought our cars there they have been nothing but respectful to
anybody i see them interact with in the community um the cars have not been a problem
um there has not been any noise sometimes i have to check to see if they're open and i too uh my
apartment is visible from the pictures so i'm really really close and it has been nothing but
a problem i think they've been great um really helpful and like everyone else said who lives
nearby um it's just been it's pretty quiet there you can't really even hear anything it's really
really clean. They've been great. Okay. Thank you. Thanks for your comments. No problem. Thank you.
Anyone else? Oh, go ahead. We have two more hands. A Galaxy Tab A.
you can unmute yourself hello good afternoon could you pre-state state your name and your
You can unmute yourself. Hello?
address for the record my name is daryl reddick i live at 1609 west negro which is like right
down the street from the shop okay and do you uh swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole
truth and nothing but the truth yes okay thank you uh proceed um again um feedback off what
everybody else said them guys are amazing they're very clean they're neat uh they're very respectful
of the community anybody that need help they're willing to help um and um it's permanent that walk
a lot you know i do own a vehicle but even walking by there um i see them shoveling i don't have to
worry about walking in the street uh nothing like that it's always clean i'll listen to what y'all
say about professional trash removal um they do a very good job of disposing of parts and everything
like that um i have never witnessed anything and again the noise is it is a repair shop you know
i'm talking about prior to when before them when it was a transmission shop before them when it
was another mechanic shop and uh this is the neatest that i've seen it and i've been living
around here almost uh seven years now you know um and uh again you guys are amazing okay
thank you thanks for your comments you're welcome and i think we had one more hand up
yes logan
hello hello uh could you miss could you please state your name and address for the record
marcia logan m-a-r-c-i-a logan l-o-g-a-n 1506 west grange avenue okay and do you swear or affirm
to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes i do sir great uh thank you uh
proceed. I don't know if this is appropriate or not, but I just wanted to let you know that the
comments have been wonderful, but we have to be mindful that that's not a new neighborhood.
There are people who have been in that neighborhood longer than I've been on the planet,
and these people, the elderly people who are not computer literate, they're not being represented
it by the Zoom meeting. I just want you to know there were people in opposition and it's not fair
to everybody that she's put on here or that have spoken have been young. I can tell by how they're
speaking and by what they're saying. That's a very old neighborhood and to not take
into consideration what they feel based on technology, this digital divide which keeps
their voices should be at least thought of and that's all I wanted to say thank you for your time
I believe I believe the councilwoman uh councilwoman bass held the community meeting
were were any of those neighbors at the meeting it was a zoom meeting okay they were able to uh
call in and we did have people that did call in okay and just to um just uh echo the comments
Ms. Logan, we also did add every proviso except one that the community asked for in order to be
considerate of some of the concerns around trash, hours of operation, entering and exiting the
premises, keeping vehicles on the premise, things of that nature in consideration for the community
concerns expressed at the meeting. So I just, I don't know if you were aware of that, but just
wanted to add that for the record out of 11 provisos um i guess we're you're agreeing to 10
of them yes chairman okay all right is there anyone else in the audience that wishes to uh
speak on this no hands okay uh does the board have any questions no no questions
okay all right uh planning commission hi members of the board uh mason austin representing the
planning commission property is indicated for multi-family residential in the comprehensive
plan and is owned for that use the district plan recommended reinforcing multi-family residential
at this location and directing commercial development to nearby commercial corridors
however given the historic use of the property and existing structure and the non-opposition
of neighbors and the district council office planning has no objection to the granting of
this variance with the request provisos okay uh and i'll go over these provisos these these 10
uh provisos excuse me chair um yes i did i did email a list of the provisos i tried to abbreviate
them but um they aren't much shorter oh did you just email them i did okay hold on one second
we like them short no I think I eliminated maybe five words but it's the best thing to do
okay all right you did shorten them up all right so uh it looks like one two three four five six
seven looks like uh council shortened them up to eight okay I mean but they're all included the
one you agreed to. All right, so I'll read off the eight provisos. Number one, vehicle repairs only.
Number two, all vehicles stored on premises and all work performed are to be done indoors.
Number three, no storage of tires. Number four, waste oil or fluids are to be stored inside
and picked up by licensed disposal service. Number five, hours of operation Monday through
Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., closed on Sundays. Number six, no dogs on the lot after closing.
Number seven, commercial trash pickup. And number eight, no vehicular access from Champlos
except in an emergency. All right. Did we miss any there? I think that covers it all.
Yes, Chairman.
Okay. All right. So we're going to vote. So with those eight provisos, my vote is yes.
my vote is yes with proviso my vote is yes with with provisos and just for the record that was
for uh calendar number mi-2021-001242-6000 lime kiln pipe all right okay
Okay. Let's vote one more time, just so we're clear. That's a yes with proviso.
Yes, with proviso.
Are you muted?
I'm muted.
Hey, Tom?
okay he was a yes we heard him he was he was a yes i just wanted to
get that address out there again so okay thank you
get that address out there again so okay thank you that case is done okay
Mr. Holliman if you could hear us you might want to leave and come back in
okay here we go we're going to move on to calendar number mi-2020-000658
715 West Lycoming
Street
anyone here for 715
West Lycoming Street
yes we also have
an interpreter for this case
we have a
letter of support from the RCO
as well
Good afternoon.
Good afternoon.
this. Mi nombre es Ester Salazar.
Should we wait a minute or two to get the interpreter?
Yes, they're coming in now as a panelist.
Okay, no problem.
interpreter if you can unmute yourself good afternoon panel and mr chairman my name is
certified spanish interpreter would you be able to spell your name for the stenographer
gladly first name d-a-m-a-r-i-s last name f as in frank i g-u-e-r-o-a
previously stated good afternoon my name is esther salazar interpreter will briefly request a second
to introduce herself to the client if i may okay thank you buenas tardes señora salazar mi nombre
es la marisa estaré sirviendo como interpretar español interpretaré todo lo que diga y lo
Muy buenas tardes. Mi nombre es Esther Salazar. En mi dirección, 178 West Thelma Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 191 40. Y bueno, yo soy la dueña de la casa 715 West Lycoming Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 191 40.
Gracias. Good afternoon. My name is Esther Salazar, 178 West Helma Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
19140. I am the owner of the property located at 715 West Lycoma Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
919140. And could you ask, I have a few questions here. Could you ask your client,
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Tengo varias preguntas para usted. Juramente ella firma que usted ha de decir la verdad,
solamente la verdad y nada más que la verdad. Sí, toda la verdad. Yes. All the truth.
and we'll be able to us wearing this um interpreter as well yes well we're going to do
that right now thank you uh interpreter um miss figure out uh could you uh you already stated
your name i'm not sure did you state your address for the record gladly sir because i have been
subcontracted subcontracted i will state that i have been rehired by globo language and um the
The requester may gladly request my address if they so choose to provide it because of bridging confidentiality is that I don't state it, but I am a local interpreter in Pennsylvania.
And do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
I do, sir.
Interpreter has been signed in.
we're going to ask a couple more questions uh of your client uh do you agree to waive
the reading of the refusal and stipulate to attack your seat
Usted está de acuerdo con que nosotros obiemos y saltemos y no leamos todas las estipulaciones listadas con respecto a este caso?
Sí, estoy de acuerdo.
Excuse me, Chair.
This is the court reporter.
Was the owner of Ms. Salazar sworn in?
I, I believe that did I? Well, let me do it again. In case I didn't. Interpreter, I'm not sure. Did I swear in your client?
I believe.
Did I?
I do not recall. So, thanks, John. I appreciate that. Thank you. If you could, could you ask your client if she swears or affirms to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
yes i do swear to say the truth and only the truth okay great great uh another question
for your client also uh have you emailed an exhibit packet with the required documents
proof of ownership, proof of tax compliance, copy of the refusal or referral, and plans
and photos five days prior to this hearing.
usted es propietaria, todo lo que tenga que ver con los impuestos, copia de haber rehusado
y cualquier otro documento pertinente con cinco días de anticipación?
Sí, todo fue enviado, correcto.
A favor, please, ma'am.
Madam Interpreter, please ask a question.
Compartir la presentación del paquete en la computadora, por favor.
Kindly, Madam Interpreter, please request this favor on my part.
Please ask Ms. Marisa Cadillo to share screen on my favor.
Okay, in one minute, I got one more question for you,
and then we're done, and then we can proceed.
Claro, en un minuto, si me permite, tengo una pregunta más para usted, y de ahí proseguimos.
Está muy bien.
Okay, and the last question, have you met with the RCO, and do you have a letter?
Muy bien. La última pregunta, ¿se ha reunido con el equipo de la RCO, y tiene usted una carta?
Sí, sí me he reunido.
Yes, I have. I have met.
This is Sharon. I can confirm that we did receive a letter in support from the RCO.
Sharon, can I confirm that we received a letter from the RCO team?
Okay, thank you very much. Now you can proceed.
Thank you very much. Now you can proceed.
Lo que me trae aquí es legalizar mi propiedad en la dirección 715 West Lycoming Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 191-40.
Gracias, señora. Un segundo para interpretar.
Interpreter reminds client to kindly pause to allow proper interpretation.
The purpose of my presence here is to be able to legalize the ownership of the property on 715 West Lycomen Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19140.
Okay, gracias.
Ya está bien.
En duplex.
Cuando compré.
And Sharon, we do have a letter of support, correct?
That's correct.
Sharon, si tenemos una carta de apoyo, correcto?
Okay. Is there anyone else in the audience? Do they have their hand raised, would like to speak on this case?
Yes, no, folks.
Mr. Folks, you can unmute yourself, wait to be sworn in.
Good afternoon, Mr. Snell.
Good afternoon, Mr. Fultz. Could you state your name and your address for the record, please?
Yes, sir. Sloan Fuchs, S-L-O-A-N-E-F-S and Fire O-L-K-S. Office of Councilmember Maria
Quinones Sanchez, Room 508, City Hall. And do you swear or affirm to tell the truth,
the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Yes, sir, I do. All righty. Please proceed.
Yes, the applicant, having met with the RCO and having received a letter of support, the council member offers no opposition to this variance request. Thank you.
thank you okay that was no opposition mr chairman interpreter speaking may
That was no opposition.
Mr. Chairman, interpreter speaking, may I interpret it?
interpreter proceed interpreting the previous statement or should i uh ignore
you can you can pass along the statement sure that is no opposition mr snow okay thank you
thank you el señor sloan folks representando a la señora maria quiñones sanchez juramente
y afirma que ha de decir la verdad, representa el apoyo recibido de parte de la RCO y declara
que no hay ninguna oposición. Gracias. Thank you, Your Honor.
Thank you, Mr. Fulks. Is there anyone else with their hand raised that would like to
speak on this case? No more hands, Chair. Okay, no more hands. Any questions from the board?
no no all righty planning commission
apologies it took me a minute to get it going uh members of the board uh mason
office representing the planning commission uh the properties uh zone for single family
residential is indicated that use of the comprehensive plan there is no unique
physical condition that would prevent this slot from being used however given the historic use
of the property and the non-opposition of neighbors and the district council office
planning has no objection to the granting of the variance by the time thank you calendar number
mmi-2021-00 oh strike that that was the previous case strike that
Calendar number MI-2020-000-658-715 West Lycoming Street.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
Thank you.
Have a great afternoon.
Aprobado la dirección 715 West Lycoming Street
in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Hemos terminado con su caso.
Que tenga linda tarde.
Gracias.
Thank you.
A million thanks.
Forever grateful for everything.
No problem.
Have a great afternoon.
okay moving on interpreter speaking would interpreter be excused at this time or is
there any other case that you would require my assistance sir i believe you can be excused thank
you very much for your service thank you very much interpreter disconnecting have a good afternoon
Take care.
All right.
I believe we're down to one last case.
This is calendar number MI-2021-0015773519 Hamilton Street.
This is a case we were talking about earlier with Mr. Orphanides, Mr. Bonnie.
I could let Mr. Orfinetes and Mr. Bonney know.
Maybe they'll have good news, Sharon.
That would be great.
Good afternoon.
This is Paul Bonney.
I think I'm still-
Good afternoon, Paul.
Could you give your state your name and address for the record, please?
Paul Bonney, 325 Chestnut Street, Suite 1109.
And I'm the attorney for Pound Village Civic Association, the appellant in this matter.
And do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yeah, this is an appeal against L&I.
So I don't think there's a risk.
Yeah, okay.
my mistake. Okay. But Mr. Chairman, we're, you know, I think we're minutes away to having a
deal here. We're down to the logistics. I wish you had a 3.30 list that you could put us on.
Well, let me ask you this. If we gave you 10 minutes, is that enough time?
Is Mr. Orfanides here? Because he's the one that's doing the logistics.
uh it's actually trying to um facilitate some sort of online zoom notary notary where i guess
he's actually trying to
everyone shows their driver's license and then the notary somehow electronically notarizes things
um if i might this is leonard reuter for the city uh as it turns out it probably would have
worked if we did go earlier uh notwithstanding that we wanted to give time for them to work
out an agreement because my conflict with the board apparently not really a conflict because
they're only on the third case of their list so and i'm like 24th on that list so uh that being
said if the issue is literally just uh confirming that the parties agree to whatever has been
written couldn't you just put it on the record of this hearing i mean it seems to me we're already
on zoom this is already recorded it's a public record uh you can't make unsworn falsifications
to authorities i mean it's just a suggestion i don't have a you know a pony in this race
uh as far as the settlement goes uh at least i hope i don't because david how many minutes
that we need. I just texted my clients right now. I'm waiting to hear back. But I mean,
the documents are being circulated for electronic execution and notarization right now. But
I can't leave this today with this matter, this case not resolved. So I don't know if there's a
question. Do me a favor, just state your name and your address for the record. Certainly. David
Orphanides, again, Orphanides and Toner, 2 Penn Center, 1500 John F. Kennedy Boulevard Suite,
800 philadelphia pennsylvania 19102 you you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing
but the truth i do okay great so again you know we are you know they're out being circulated
um right now for execution i can't i've just asked how long um can we put it on for tomorrow's um
list and then just you know
Mr. Bonney it could be added as
an add-on to tomorrow's list
if it is simply going to be
that the board will be accepting withdrawal
of the appeal
right that worked for me
what do you think Sharon
I mean I know Tanya's not
here right now you think we'd be able to get them
on early
we can't do another
hearing tomorrow but
if they're saying that we're only waiting, they're going to sign the papers and withdraw,
then you could announce that tomorrow morning. I'll put it on. Okay. Relatively simple procedure.
Okay. Leonard, can you do me a favor? Just state your name and address for the record,
and then you can. Sure. Leonard F. Reuter, R-E-U-T-E-R, Senior Attorney for the City of
philadelphia i'll also note for the record that my colleague james panko p-a-n-c-i-o is also
present um you you can make him a panelist uh but um i do want to say that if the hearing were to
proceed today that would be difficult at this point we have learned that one of the main city
witnesses has a hard stop at 3 30 anyway uh that would be mr ribikoski so i'm not sure we wouldn't
be able to conclude the hearing today anyway um if we went on with the with the with the other
witness or whoever you know mr messrs bonnie and orphanetes were planning on presenting um so just
as a practical matter it sounds like uh literally everything's done but the signatures so i'm not
no problem with just putting this on tomorrow's list
just to announce that there's been an agreement.
Is that a fair representation, guys?
I think it's to announce that the appeal's been withdrawn.
I think that's what's going to happen.
Unfortunately, I can't announce that just yet.
So if you told me, then we'll be good.
Thanks, Aaron.
Are we okay doing that?
Yes, that's fine.
If you could just confirm before the hearings start tomorrow morning
that you have reached an agreement
and um mr bonning you will be present to withdraw is that correct yes i mean or i could
send you a letter send everyone a letter tonight that would be fine too thank you all right thanks
everybody and that'll be announced see that was quick and painless right we'll see hopefully
that'll be announced at the 9 30 list yes at the start of the ninth degree list yeah yeah it's about
as few words as you're ever going to get out of me there you go that's a record and you didn't
have to dig into all my exhibits either so yeah it's a great day for you guys it's really i already
have oh sorry sharon i tried all right so we'll we'll uh take care of this matter tomorrow morning
all right so we'll we'll uh take care of this matter tomorrow morning we'll make they make the
we'll make they make the
announcement um so gentlemen that's it i believe uh yeah you guys are finished david thank you
great thank you thank you bye see you tomorrow and the city witnesses you can go obviously
sorry oh could we mr snell could we just ask if anyone is absolutely i'm just getting ready
to do that. Is there anyone else in the audience that needs to still make a comment on any of the
cases today, or do you have anything you'd like to say? Just raise your hand.
No hands at this time, Chair. Wow, no hands. Okay. Well, I guess that
that is
that's a wrap as we said
so good job
just want to say thanks
everybody did a great job and
you know boy that was a
nice treat with David and Paul
so we're going to stop
it now and go home so listen
thanks for everything guys
good night
everyone did a great job we'll see you tomorrow
good night
good night
See you later.