Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership, tax compliance, photos, and or plans of the property,
the referral, five days in advance of this hearing, and have you met with the RCO, and do you have a letter?
Yes, yes, and yes.
You may proceed.
I think I have all the yeses.
You got it all right.
I may proceed.
All right.
Okay, 100,000.
First of all, welcome, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you.
Pleasure to have you here.
And again, my name is David Orfanides.
May I share my screen?
I don't know if I've already done that.
Let's see.
Can you see my screen?
Okay, great.
Again, my name is David Orfanides.
I'm with the law firm of Orphanides & Toner, LLP.
We're at 1500 John F. Kennedy Boulevard, Suite 800, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19102.
I'm here this afternoon on behalf of Mike or Misha, who's also known as Misha Gelfand,
who spoke up, raised his hand earlier.
Apologize, Hank probably was a little surprised to have him raise his hand and then have me
jump in on top of that on this hearing.
We apologize for that interruption.
So you've already heard from my client earlier today for a moment, and he does business as Pops Automotive LLC.
He's a tenant at the subject property, 4418 Holmesburg Avenue.
He's operating an auto repair shop there.
We, as mentioned, we do have a letter of non-opposition from the Holsberg Civic Association dated November 26, 2021.
As mentioned, we do have a letter of non-opposition from the Holmesburg Civic Association.
We did check in with Councilman Heenan's office.
He is the councilman within whose district the subject property is located.
And they emailed us yesterday afternoon that they support the community of Holsberg and the decision not to oppose.
I'm showing you a copy here.
This is not in my exhibit book, but it came in after we had submitted it.
but I did want you to see that. As I mentioned, there are two referrals in this case. The reason
I asked for two is because initially there was one that was issued because there was a question
regarding the existing vehicle repair, personal vehicle repair maintenance at the subject property.
As I can show you from the zoning archives, back in 2009, the current owner of the property,
Patrick Marino, zoned the property for an auto repair shop with oil changing in the existing
structure, just as my client had been using it. But the Department of License and Inspections
could not find any record of a certificate of occupancy having been issued for that use.
So as a result, I had to, originally my application was just to add personal vehicle
sales and rental to the existing personal vehicle repair and maintenance. But because
Ellen and I and the current owner, Patrick Marino, my client's landlord, could not find a
certificate of occupancy for the personal vehicle repair and maintenance, we had to add that to the
application. And we need a special exception approval for that, as well as the addition of
the personal vehicle sales and rental. Again, both are special exceptions. We do not have a variance
in this case um the subject property 4418 holmesburg avenue this is a tab three of my exhibit
book um you could see here's the property uh in question it's located along at it's a dead end
part of holmesburg avenue it dead ends right in here into penny pack park with the creek located
over here we have we're bounded on the one side by holmesburg avenue by the park at the other end
railroad tracks on the other side of us opposite homesburg avenue and then other
light commercial uses auto repair uses abutting us on the opposite side the property across the
street is used a zone for residential it's probably it's the only one the only residential
use on this portion of homesburg avenue but it also includes vehicle parking and animal husbandry
they have horses there. Here's a close-up of the property. This is the existing one-story
structure that was referenced in the permit back from 2009 and that my client is presently using
for his auto repair business. There is no proposed change to the height or area of this building.
This lot, the open area, is part of our property. It's presently fenced in. My client presently
uses it to store the vehicles he's working on and that's the area where he will have the vehicles
for sale here's a close-up again going back here you can see the railroad tracks on the one side
and the park on the other and then the house with the parking and the uh and the horses on the other
side 3d images of the subject property from all sides it's very remote you can see on the up even
on the other side of the railroad tracks here we have non-residential uses it's not till you get
um on the other side of this property across the railroad tracks from us it's non-residential
use uh like commercial light industrial uses here that you get to residential properties
and then further up Mill Street that passes underneath the railroad track.
The property is zoned ICMX.
You can see here, again, you have on the opposite side,
you have the RS of the late commercial property.
On the opposite side of the railroad tracks from us, you have residential,
and then you have industrial ICMX properties extending along Holmesburg to Frankfurt Avenue.
and here are pictures of our property existing on the left here's holmesburg here's the lot
um that i showed the open area that's our property where my client
we had a site visit with the community group and basically there's going to be no change to what
you see right now um there'll be cars parked there that he's working on and cars parked there
that'll be selling.
According to my client,
most of the sales of used vehicles
of used vehicles with an operation such as his um take place through the internet uh you don't it's
with an operation such as his
take place through the
not going to generate a lot of traffic and as you see it's it's a dead end even at our end so there's
no through traffic here um and most of the sales are through the internet by appointment people
come so it's not where people are necessarily parking driving here parking to browse so when
we get to the criteria for special exception, you'll see that we do meet those criteria and
meet our minimum burden. And then moving around, and here's the existing one-story structure
that my client's operations are located in. And then I mentioned the other auto repair uses that
are located in the buildings and budding us on the same side of Holmesburg Avenue. And here are
photographs of their operations, and then a view with the dead end at our back, our property to
the left, looking back towards Mill Street and the other end of Holmesburg Avenue. And just to
quickly scroll through, this is the view up underneath the railroad tracks that pass behind
us on Mill Street, homes further up Mill Street on the opposite side of railroad tracks, and then
other commercial late industrial uses on holmesburg avenue there is this cell tower back here too
and then here you get out to the other end opposite the dead end of frankfort avenue
and then coming back the opposite side and here's i think where you have the horses the animal
husbandry opposite of us extending back to our property and again the dead end of holmesburg
avenue at the far end um as i mentioned um these are the zoning archives for the prior use from
09 and the permit that was issued at that time um typical auto repair on the inside um a couple
office's copy of our application. Our application for special exception points out many of the
things that I just stated regarding Holmesburg Avenue, the existing conditions and uses on
Holmesburg Avenue in the immediate vicinity, and the project information form, both of which were
submitted within the applicable appeal period from the issuance of the notice of referral.
So you've heard mention already today about the – there have been a couple special exception cases today,
which is kind of a little unusual that you have so many.
So you have some experience with them.
I'll have your memory refreshed, but down at the bottom, it talks about the specific conditions of the use,
that the applicant shall have the initial duty of presenting evidence,
and the burden of proof that the proposed use meets the definition for a use permitted by special exception.
And I can show you those uses, which, again, are personal vehicle repair maintenance and personal vehicle sales and rental.
That all dimensional standards are satisfied.
Again, it's an existing structure.
We're not proposing any change to the height of the area of the existing structure or any additional structures.
And that the application complies with the criteria and meets all the conditions applicable to the proposed use, including all applicable use-specific standards in 14603.
And I've included those, and we do and will comply with those.
The specific detrimental impacts on the neighborhood, through what I've stated and what will then be adopted by my client, we do not believe that the granting of the special exception will cause the following specific detrimental impacts to the neighborhood beyond that which normally might be expected from the proposed uses,
which is, again, personal vehicle repair and maintenance and personal vehicle sales and rental.
And that would be in terms of congestion in the public streets or transportation systems.
You saw that our property is located at a dead end of Holmesburg with train tracks on one side,
park and woods on the other side, residential use opposite of us with the horse farm.
Not much traffic coming down there at all.
No overcrowding of the land.
We're not changing the height or area of our building that's there.
The existing conditions that have been there for the past 10-plus years will continue in terms of the use of the land.
Again, no changes to the building, so there will be no impact or impairment of light and air to adjacent properties,
no burdening water, sewer, school, park, or other public facilities.
We will not be injuring the use of adjacent conforming properties, as the uses that I've indicated,
and we're not going to be endangering the public health or safety by fire or other means.
And here are the specific use standards from 14603 for vehicle repair and maintenance.
And here are the specific use standards from 14603.
And again, we will be complying, do and or will be complying with those conditions.
The deed for that, we have authorization from the owner to proceed with this matter.
And here is the deed showing that he owns the property.
May have passed it.
That's Patrick Marino, who had originally had the permit back in 2009.
And then a copy at Exhibit 14 of the lease between Mr. Marino and my client, Mr. Gelfand, along with its authorization to proceed with this matter.
Photographs, just some housekeeping matters, photographs of our posting of the notice for today's hearing, along with the July 15th notice of referrals at the subject property.
and then the correspondence from the planning commission from august 23rd confirming the
holmesbrook civic association as a coordinating rco our 14303 notice and um of the meeting that
we had on oops of today's hearing on december 1st and then um oops yeah and our meeting with
homesburg civic on october 12th along with the list of addresses um to which we mailed them
and the certificate of service a copy of the notice of referral was included as well and
here's a copy of our certificate of service back from september 14th along with the list of
addresses to which we mailed it and those addresses were for the from the planning commission's
website. So with that, I would rest. I would just ask my client to again be allowed to speak
so that I may have him adopt my statements. Sure.
Misha, Gelfand, could you raise your hand, please?
He's been allowed to speak.
Okay. Thank you.
Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
well hello once again uh again thank you for uh for having me on and uh allowing us to uh
uh give us uh give you our application of course do me a favor state your needs go ahead
of course uh michael misha m-i-k-h-a-i-l uh last name is gelfand g-e-l-f-a-n-d
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
Yes, of course.
Thank you.
Mike, did you hear the statements that I made to the board this afternoon?
Yes, of course.
And were they true and correct to the best of your knowledge?
Yes, they were.
And would you adopt those statements as your own?
Yes, I will.
Okay, thank you.
The one thing, members of the board, and I apologize for not bringing this up at the beginning, I should have,
is that we do not have a tax clearance, so I just ask that this matter,
that's the vote in this matter be held until we do provide that to you
Karen yeah if you can give me a minute to check on the revenue site
maybe I think there is one more case to be heard if you could move on to that
with that I rest so it's just could we maybe sharing it has some access that we
we haven't been able to get a clearance yet so
excuse me mr chairman yes this is thomas holliman i'll be signing off
okay yes sir thank you thank you and chair we do have individuals who wish to weigh in on this
whenever you're ready okay so let me do the questions from the board first yes sir no
Okay. All right. Questions from the people that are in the virtual audience.
So David DeLugos had his hand raised. I have allowed him to speak, sir.
Yes, sir.
Hello. Can you hear me?
Yes. Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter?
Yes. My name is David DeLugos, spelled D-L-U-G-O-S-Z.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
yes thank you um so i'm the zoning chair for the holmesburg civic association so i just wanted to
be here to say that we you know obviously you should have gotten the letter of non-opposition
and i just wanted to i had a question for mr orfanides earlier just to verify that plans
were not required from this special exception before the board and to verify that and if they
were to make sure that we get a copy because he said they were not required or they weren't
produced for this yeah just for just for the record to answer that we did not submit any to the zoning
Yeah, just for the record to answer that, we did not submit any to the zoning to LNI because it was just a use application of the existing structure, and we have not produced any throughout the process to provide to you or to provide to the zoning board.
So we are plan-free.
Thank you.
Anyone else with their hands up?
Mr. Michael Williams.
his hand up i've i've allowed him to speak sure williams please unmute yourself i'd like to be