COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA PUBLIC HEARING COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC PROPERTY AND PUBLIC WORKS - - - - Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Wednesday, October 6, 2004 1:15 p.m. - - - - BILL 040703 - An Ordinance authorizing the Commissioner of Public Property to execute and deliver to the Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development ("PAID"), without consideration, a deed conveying fee simple title to a certain tract of City-Owned land with the buildings and improvements thereon, situate at 2815 Ridge Avenue... PRESENT: COUNCILMAN DARRELL CLARKE COUNCILWOMAN DONNA REED MILLER COUNCILMAN RICHARD MARIANO COUNCILMAN JACK KELLY COUNCILMAN FRANK RIZZO COUNCILMAN JUAN RAMOS - - - - V A R A L L O Incorporated Litigation Support Services Eleven Penn Center 1835 Market Street, Suite 600 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103 215.561.2220 215.567.2670 I N D E X BILL 040703 KENNETH SIPOS, Public Property........ THOMAS DALFO, PIDC, PAID.............. WILAMINA BROWN, Komplete Welding...... ALFRED BROWN, Komplete Welding........ 3 10/06/04 - PUBLIC PROPERTY - BILL 040703
Good afternoon. We're convening the Committee on Public Property for public hearing today. Would the Clerk please read the bill?
Bill No. 040703, an ordinance authorizing the Commissioner of Public Property to execute and deliver to the Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development without consideration a deed conveying fee simple title of certain tract of City-owned land with the buildings and improvements there on, situate at 2815 Ridge Avenue, generally under the subject to the terms and conditions of the Philadelphia Industrial and Commercial Development Agreement between the City, the PAID, and the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation.
Please note for the record we have a quorum with Councilman Rizzo, Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller, Councilman Mariano, Councilman Kelly and Councilman Ramos. 4 10/06/04 - PUBLIC PROPERTY - BILL 040703 Would you please proceed with the testimony. State your name for the record.
Good afternoon, Chairman and Members of the Committee. I'm from Public Property and Public Works. My name is Ken Sipos. I'm a real estate specialist in the Department of Public Property. I'm here today to testify in support of bill 040703, an ordinance authorizing the Commissioner of Public Property to execute and deliver to the Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development a deed conveying title to a certain tract of City-owned land with the buildings and improvements there on situate at 2815 Ridge Avenue, generally under subject to the terms and conditions of the Philadelphia Industrial and Commercial Development Agreement between the City, the PAID, and the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation. This bill will enable the sale of this City asset to Komplete Welding, owner of a business located at 924-926 North 19th Street. They will use the site for business 5 10/06/04 - PUBLIC PROPERTY - BILL 040703 expansion. Proceeds will be deposited in the City's General Fund. The Department of Public Property supports this measure and, accordingly, I respectfully ask that the Committee approve Bill No. 040703. I also ask that the Rules be suspended so the ordinance may be passed upon the second reading at Council. Thank you. I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have.
Thank you. Any questions of this witness by members of the Committee? (No response.)
Three being none, thank you for your testimony. Anyone to testify on this bill?
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman and members of the of the Committee. My name is Thomas Dalfo. I'm a vice president with the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation. I'm here to represent the Philadelphia Authority for Industrial 6 10/06/04 - PUBLIC PROPERTY - BILL 040703 Development. I'm here today to testify in support of Bill No. 040703. As testimony has already indicated this bill authorizes the City to convey a parcel containing approximately 1.3 acres of vacant land at 2815 Ridge Avenue to PAID. After acquisition by PAID, this property will be sold to Komplete Welding, a private company currently located at 924-26 North 19th Street. Komplete Welding is a manufacturer of ornamental iron work. This company intends to construct 10,000 square foot building to house its expanding business, shop, and offices. Komplete welding projects to double its workforce as a result of this move 9 to 17 employees. 18 The bill also authorizes PAID to negotiate an agreement of sale with Komplete Welding in accordance with the terms and conditions for the Philadelphia Industrial and Commercial Agreement between the City, PAID and PIDC for the land bank. This sale will be based on two independent appraisals of the property and its use as industrial site. The 7 10/06/04 - PUBLIC PROPERTY - BILL 040703 appraisals are underway and should be completed later this month. Net proceeds from the sale of this land will go to the General Fund. I would ask that the Committee consider this bill favorably and that the Rules be suspended to permit first reading at the next regularly scheduled meeting of Council. Thanks for the opportunity to testify. And if I can answer any questions, I'll stay around help.
Thank you. Any questions of this witness? (No response.)
There being none, thank you for your testimony. Any other witnesses?
Good afternoon. I'm Wilamina Brown and this is Albert Brown, and we're owners of the Komplete Welding. We'd just like to thank the Committee today for taking this bill under consideration and conveying the property to PAID so that we can 8 10/06/04 - PUBLIC PROPERTY - BILL 040703 expand our operations. As indicated, we've been on 900 block of North 19th Street since 1987. And we would like to take our current operation and move it into a larger building so that we can expand what we're currently doing, which is miscellaneous structural and supply of steel operations.
My understanding is that your operation has grown to the point where you essentially outgrown your space.
It has been stunting our growth because we normally have to outsource 9 10/06/04 - PUBLIC PROPERTY - BILL 040703 or subcontract products that we could build but we don't have the space in our present location to do it in-house.
Have you been doing any work for any of the municipalities, any government agencies?
We acquired quite a few contracts with the Philadelphia Housing Authority. We've done Schuykill Falls as an example of Martin Luther King through Kenny Gamble and that project downtown. We've had quite a few RDA projects that we're working on. Part of the expansion is I come from railway manufacturing background. We're looking at SEPTA, the Transit Authority to do retrofit parts, also Boeing Aircraft and the defense industry.
Boeing Aircraft? I think we need to give you a bigger space. The employees that you currently have, are they from the surrounding neighborhood?
They're from the 10 10/06/04 - PUBLIC PROPERTY - BILL 040703 community. That's one of the things that we want to continue to do when we move over to the other facility is to increase our staff by using people from the neighborhood and making sure that we have an economic infusion in the neighborhood from people who are working there.
Also, we have a co-op with the Dobbins Randolph Skill Center. We hire their senior or we give them on-site training. So we've been involved with that program for about the last 10 years.
I think you'll have the support of my colleagues who happens to be an alumni of Dobbins.
Sounds good. Any questions from members of the Committee of these witnesses?
According to 11 10/06/04 - PUBLIC PROPERTY - BILL 040703 Dalfo's, testimony he says that you're planning on increasing your workforce from 4 to 18 employees. Is that correct? 5
Now you need the 7 room for them to work; is that correct. 8
No questions. I just want to commend you both for the work that you're doing. Good stories sometimes are rare around here and then we get them in bursts. It's good to come down here and hear a good neighborhood story of economic development and expansion and job creation and picking up the kids from Dobbins Tech, my alma mater, so I commend you for the work you're doing.
Thank you for your testimony. Anyone else to testify on this bill? (No response.)
That concludes the public hearing. - - - - 13 COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA PUBLIC MEETING COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC PROPERTY AND PUBLIC WORKS - - - - Wednesday, October 6, 2004 - - - - Public meeting conducted by the Committee on Public Property and Public Works, held in Room 400, City Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on the above date, to consider action on the following: BILL 040703. PRESENT: COUNCILMAN DARRELL CLARKE COUNCILWOMAN DONNA REED MILLER COUNCILMAN RICHARD MARIANO COUNCILMAN JACK KELLY COUNCILMAN FRANK RIZZO COUNCILMAN JUAN RAMOS 14 10/06/04 - PUBLIC PROPERTY - PUBLIC MEETING
We now enter into the public meeting. Councilman Ramos, please make a motion.
I make a motion that Bill No. 040703 be reported out of Committee and the Rules be suspended so we can hear this at our next session of City Council with a favorable recommendation. (Duly seconded.)
The bill is reported out of Committee with a favorable recommendation and the Rules will be suspended and will be read at the next session of Council. This concludes the public meeting. Thank you very much for your time. (Council adjourned at 1:24 p.m.) - - - - 15 C E R T I F I C A T I O N I HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing proceedings of the Council of the City of Philadelphia of Wednesday, October 6, 2004, were reported fully and accurately by me, and that this is a correct transcript of the same. RE: COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC PROPERTY AND PUBLIC WORKS _________________________ Lisa C. Bradley, RPR