Mr. Feldman, could you state your name again and spell for the stenographer?
Brett Feldman, 1835 Market Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19103.
Just for the record, could you spell your name for the stenographer?
Yes, B-R-E-T-T, Feldman, F-E-L-D-M-A-N.
Affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Can you hear me?
Mr. Chairman, I'm actually going to be the one presenting, Leonard Altieri with the law firm of Claire Harrison.
I think that's what Mr. Feldman was trying to inform the board.
All right, thank you.
Mr. Altieri, could you state your name again as spelled for this stenographer?
Hi, Ken, Mr. Chairman. It's Leonard, L-E-O-N-A-R-D. Last name is Alteri, A-L-T-I-E-R-I, the law firm of Claire Harrison Harvey Brandsburg LLP.
Are you a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client in relationship to the property?
Yes. So my client is Quick Lube of Carolina, Welsh Road, LLC.
They are the applicant for the application that we have here, and I am their attorney
of record.
Vice Chair has a few questions for you, sir.
Council, do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits as needed to proceed with this
case five days in advance of this hearing?
I did, Mr. Vice Chairman, and then supplemented that exhibit packet, I believe, yesterday
when we received the letter of support from Councilman Driscoll's office.
Thank you, counsel. Please proceed and share your screen.
Thank you very much, sir.
Are you able to see the screen?
Not yet.
Coming up now.
And you're able to see that now?
We see it now, sir.
Perfect. So thank you very much, Mr. Chairman and members of the board.
We are here, as we stated, for the property located at 9100 Bluegrass Road.
It is currently a former three-lane Bank of America local branch.
To orient the board here is an aerial view.
We have Welsh Road traveling this way and Bluegrass this way.
Again, it is a Bank of America local branch, which is closing.
The property is located in the CA2 auto-oriented commercial 2 zoning district.
It's also subjected to about four overlay districts, none of which are relevant for the discussion this afternoon.
What my client is proposing to do, and we were here before the zoning board probably about two months ago for another one of these applications over on Cotman Avenue.
He's proposing to construct a three-bay, 1,738-square-foot Take-Five oil change facility.
This will be the second location in the Philadelphia market.
They are more a southern and western entity that is starting to break out into this region, both in the suburbs of the city of Philadelphia, New Jersey, and in the city itself.
Just by way of background, Take-Five oil change is a service in which the customer drives into the building.
They remain in their car the entire time and then leaves when the service of their choice is completed.
There are over 800 Take 5 facilities currently in the United States, and Take 5 provides just a limited amount of services consisting of the following.
They do oil changes, windshield wiper replacements, engine air and cabin air filter replacement, cooling exchange, rotating tires, and state inspections.
The year-to-date 2023 average for service is about 11.2 minutes, with a high-volume hour of 10 cars being serviced at a time.
With regards to traffic flow, we are removing an existing curb cut, which is currently on Welsh Road.
This will be a landscape area that will have stormwater retention underground, so the community won't see it, but the stormwater will be housed under there.
They will have access from both Bluegrass as well as onto Welsh Road.
This entrance up here where my cursor is currently showing is part of the larger entrance from
where my cursor is currently showing, is part of the larger entrance from the shopping center,
as you can see right here, and it is an existing entranceway that is currently on the property.
The hours of operation that my client is proposing is going to be seven days a week.
It'll be from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Now, QuickLube is not just an entity that comes in and then,
you know, doesn't become a good neighbor. They've kind of prided themselves on every location in
which they are operating in, they do become a good pillar of the community. They provide
employment opportunities to the local individuals. They try to hire people who are looking for second
chances as well to improve their lives. They also focus on internal promotions to grow and develop
that local talent to take on leadership roles. They also do fundraisers two times a year. One
is for the local children's hospital, which I believe would be the Children's Hospital of
Philadelphia. The second is for a fault of honor, which helps the families of deceased military
members who've lost their lives in the line of duty. This is a rendering of what the Take 5
facility will look like. Obviously, this is void of any of the signage, which is a separate
application, but this is what it would look like. Again, individuals would pull in. There's three
bays that we have here. They would come in. They would get their service of choice of that limited
six that I stated. They stay in their car the entire time, and then they pull out.
The reason why we are here before the zoning board is because the proposed use, personal vehicle
repair and maintenance, is not permitted in the CA2 commercial zoning district. From a review of
the prior zoning history of this property, before the Bank of America came in around 1998, for about
33 years, a gasoline service station was present on the subject property, as is evidenced by the
documents that I provided to the zoning hearing board, the zoning board of adjustment, excuse me,
and the documents that are currently being shown on the screen right now. And the argument that
we would make is that a service station, gasoline service station, which this was a Sunoco,
is similar use to what we are proposing to do with a personal vehicle repair. As I did note,
we did meet with the RCO. We met with the Northeast Community Civic Association on November 6, 2024.
That meeting was very positive. There was no negative conversations that took place there.
There was no negative vote. We did receive a letter of support from Councilman Mike Driscoll's
office, which was provided to the zoning board and which is on the screen right now. With that being
said, Mr. Chairman, that's all that I have with regards to presentation. I do have my civil
engineer, Ms. Lindsay Braylinger from Bowler Engineer. And then I also have a representative
of the ownership group, Mr. Des Roberts, who can adopt that, adopt the testimony that I just
provided. Have your testimony adopted. Have your engineer stand by in case there's a question from
the board. Perfect. So bring on your. Perfect. So Des, if you can just raise your hand on the
screen and we'll get you promoted to panelist. Should I promote Des? Please. Okay. Not, not
panelist. No, we don't need a panelist, do we? No. Okay. Des has been allowed. Just bring them
Sorry about that.
They've been allowed to speak.
Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Yes, this is Des Roberts with Quickly with the Carolinas.
D-E-S, last name Roberts, R-O-B-E-R-T-S.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, counsel.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
Des, were you on the call when I went through that presentation?
Yes. And is everything you heard me say true and accurate to the best of your knowledge, information, and belief?
Yes. The only thing I would say is that the Bank of America is closed, just to clarify, and has been for a decent period of time.
It's not closing now. It has been closed. Outside of that, yes, I adopt everything that Mr. Alteri said and agree and confirm.
Thank you very much. And I'll just say, I said just that last question one more time.
um so you if i was to call you to testify you would have adopted this testimony as your own
yes thank you very much sir that's all i have mr chairman all right questions from the board
the nine uh new parking spaces for customers or are they for cars that are going to be
temporarily parked while work is being done so these parking spaces council member when
And excuse me, the member win just gave you a good promotion.
Promoted again, right?
So remember when the parking spaces that you see here and here are going to be for employees only.
As I noted in the presentation, when you pull in for your service, you don't leave your car at all.
You will stay in your car the entire time and work is performed the entire time while you stay in your car.
the entire time while you stay in your car again the average 2023 year is 2023 year average is
Again, the average 2023 year is 2023.
about 11 minutes for you to get the service to that you choose i should have three bags moving
i have my oil changed i've been in and out in 11 minutes i love it we'd love to have you mr johns
other questions from the board
questions or comments from our attorney
not at this time mr chair the comments from the virtual audience
see no hands planning commission
the comprehensive plan oh amy board with the planning commission
the comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning at this location from the existing
commercial auto-oriented ca2 the appellant has not demonstrated that there are unique physical
conditions or circumstances of the property that would prevent it from being used in conformance
with the zoning code. The Planning Commission recommends that the Board deny the requested
variance for personal vehicle repair and maintenance. MI 2024-006-088-9100 Bluegrass
Road. I vote yes. Michael John, my vote is yes. Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes.
Iowan, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you very much, everyone, and have a good day.
Number 10, MI 2024-006-100, 304 South Street.
Alan Nockmson is the attorney.
There's a letter of support from South Street Head House District,
a letter of non-opposition from Council Member Squilla,
and a letter of support from the South Street commanding police officer, Lieutenant Ritchie.
Also, there's a petition signed by 57 people.
Two are in the media block of 300 South.
Mr. Nockamson.
Alan Nockamson has been promoted.
Alan Nockamson.
Thank you.
Could you identify your client, a relationship to the property?
Yeah, my client is the tenant, Nikki Lopez, LLC.
And in the virtual audience is its owner, Matt Paneth.
The vice chair has a few questions.
Good afternoon, counsel.
The vice chair has a few questions.
Good afternoon, counsel.
Do you agree to waive the reason of the refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits as needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, we have.
Thank you, counsel.
Please proceed and share your screen.
so very excited about this project for the musically inclined people this is the old jc
dobbs on south street um it's had a long history and it's been unused for the last few years so
So, you know, Matt's looking to reinvigorate it through what he's going to do on the first floor, which, you know, again, would be like there's a bar.
And then on the second floor would be live performances like before.
So during our presentation, we'll review the notice of refusal, the letter of support from the South Street Head House District, and a resolution from them as well.
I think there's two provisos that are enforceable, would be commercial trash pickup and no live music on the first floor.
Those are the ones I at least saw, so I defer to the board, though.
Use registration permits.
Again, this has a long history.
I think as far back as 1961 that the CMX2 property has been used as a bar.
And then I think there's further evidence of the live entertainment aspect of it on the second floor.
Again, last use is J.C. Dobbs.
Petition, my client really worked hard on this.
This is really important to him.
He's in the music industry.
And, you know, back in the day, you know, you had bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Oasis, Green Day, at least what I listened to, that started out and, you know, here.
So that I recently went to a Pearl Jam concert myself and he actually mentioned J.C. Dobbs, like remembering how, like, you know, he had a story with Kurt Cobain, where Kurt Cobain, you know, was, I guess, dribbling on basketball or something and broke, you know, through the wall or something.
And then he came and then said Kurt was here.
So it's a really cool venue.
So for anyone who's musically inclined would know this venue.
Letter of endorsement from the Philadelphia Police Department.
so again
South Street
you know
used to be
the spot
the spot where you had like cool establishments like that and you know with jim steak steaks like
where you had
like cool
establishments
like that
and you know
with Jim
reopening in the last few months and now this you know hopefully we get a little more energy on
south street we definitely need that uh next thing is press like you know it's you know this this
venue or proposed venue has already been profiled in the philadelphia inquirer maps of the area
photographs of the property interior photos um just again just seeing what it looks like
not really changing up much um architectural plans and drawings rco media notice application
for appeal the lease you know showing my client has a equitable interest in this property by way
of a lease and a legal interest uh and the certificate of tax clearance again the conclusion
my presentation i would ask that matt just virtually raised his hand and then have a few