with an with the required documents proof of ownership proof of tax compliance copy of the
refusal or referral photos and plans five days in advance of this year we did submit the package
as for tax clearance i do represent the equitable owner of the property and a redacted agreement of
sale is enclosed have you met with the rco and have a letter we did meet with the rco we were
able to reach an agreement with the rco we don't have a letter in hand but i believe that miss
Sharon Wilson is available here today, and there may even be other representatives of the RCO to
speak on their behalf. Thank you. You may proceed. So thank you. As I mentioned, I'm here on behalf
of Bright Partners, the equitable owner, an applicant of 6301 North Broad Street here today.
The board did grant a brief continuance of this matter to allow us to continue to meet with OLCA,
and we were able to reach an agreement with them, and we do have their support for this project.
With that being said, there may be other people that are present here today
that are not supporting this project, so I would like to go through the entire case.
Okay, so with me here today is Carl Wright, principal of Wright Partners, Bill Browntree,
the director of development for Wright Partners. Marissa Price, who is also with Wright Partners,
and she will serve as the property manager and point of contact for the Oak Lane Community
Action Association. Greg Newell is the engineer with Nave Newell, who prepared the plans,
and Marshall Cook, a general manager of AutoZone, is also here.
I would ask that the packet that we submitted be incorporated into the record,
along with the additional memo and exhibit submitted here today.
Ms. Sunkit, I would ask that you please share the screen of my associate, Greg Heleniak.
He has some renderings and plans to show.
Can you raise your hand? Okay.
He's been promoted to a panelist.
he's been promoted to a panelist he can now share his screen
He can now share his screen.
Thank you.
I wait to be sworn in.
Greg, you can open your mic so you can be sworn in.
hi this is gregory heleniak of zarwin bomb 2005 market street my name is spelled g-r-e-g-o-r-y
last name h-e-l-e-n-i-a-k learn from to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i do thank you please proceed okay so what we have here today um oh excuse me as for the accuracy
of the refusal. We can waive the reading of that refusal. However, there is a typo.
The proposed and the required footage for the side yard depth is reversed. Each column is
reversed. So it's a typo. So what we have here today is a plan to revitalize the corner of Broad
Street and Madari Avenue. Currently, the property consists of a one-story dilapidated structure
defaced with graffiti and a parking lot that is filled with non-working damaged vehicles,
old tires, and weeds. It's essentially a junkyard. The property is situated on North Broad Street,
which is a PennDOT regulated state highway consisting of multiple lanes of
traffic in both directions north and south. The site is surrounded by an
abundance of auto related uses including gas stations, used car lots, auto repair
car garages, collision shops, car washes, and tire shops.
The history of this property shows that it's been used for auto-related uses since the
inception of the zoning code in 1933.
At that time, the property was used for a gas station.
Over the years, the property was used for new car sales.
in 2005 the zoning board approved the very same use that we are here for today sales of auto parts
and that was for an advanced auto parts at the time so the proposal here is to clear the site
completely and make improvements to the site and its surroundings a beautiful new masonry building
will be constructed for a thriving auto zone business and before i ask the engineer who
prepared the plans to go into details about the plans i'll provide some of the highlights of this
project the plan includes construction of a stormwater management system we are adding
street trees and landscaping we're adding security cameras and lighting we are addressing
environmental issues on the site. We are restricting access after hours. We are replacing
all of the public sidewalks within the property boundary. We are eliminating three curb cuts,
which adds parking to the street. One of the curb cuts being eliminated is on Broad Street,
and two curb cuts being eliminated are on Madari.
we are adding 16 to 20 full and part-time jobs and on that note autozone's model is community
focused most notably autozone is a successful and growing company with a commitment to hiring
local residents autozone entry level employees have been promoted to the highest levels of the
organization. We will be replacing the fence on Broad Street with a decorative black fence.
Marissa Price from Wright and Partners will serve as a point of contact for OLCA.
We are modifying store hours so that this business would close at 8 30 pm every day.
We have agreed to turn off the Mederi facing sign at 8.30 each night.
We've agreed to turn off parking lot lights at 8.30 as well.
My client and AutoZone have reiterated their commitment throughout this process
to keep the parking lot clean, the sidewalk clean, and to secure this site for the neighborhood.
They've agreed to place signage both inside and outside of the building, prohibiting repairs
They've agreed to place signage both inside and outside of the building.
in the parking lot and the surrounding area.
And my client continues to agree to work with the city and neighbors on solutions to these
ongoing concerns.
And with that, I would ask Greg Newell, the engineer, to introduce himself.
And Ms. Tanya, would you allow Greg Newell to share his screen, please?
Okay, Greg has been promoted to panelists.
He can share his screen and unmute his mic and wait to be sworn in.
Thank you.
Newell, would you please spell your first and last name?
Greg, you have to unmute yourself.
Greg Newell.
Try that again.
Sorry, I thought I had that.
There we go.
Let's get the video as well.
Sorry.
Gregory, first and last name.
Gregory, G-R-E-G-O-R-Y, Newell, N-E-W-E-L-L.
you are you're here you're interested in this application i'm the uh civil engineering
consultant and land planning consultant for the project thank you and you swear to the firm to
tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do thank you please proceed ms team
thank you and greg can you put your address on the record sure it's 900 west valley road wayne pa
Thank you. And you've described your role with this project. Can you briefly discuss
your experience as an engineer? Sure. I've been added a little older than I'd like to admit,
but I've been added as a civil engineer since 1983. I'm a licensed professional engineer and
have been since 1985 or 6. I believe I've probably appeared as an expert witness in
some are approaching 500 different zoning hearing and different testimonies of that matter through
the years. And were you involved in preparing the plans for 6301 North Broad Street? Yes, I was.
Okay. And is an auto-related retail sales the only viable option at this property?
Yes, it is. And can you describe for the board and for everyone the reasons for that?
And what you did to, what you took into account for your analysis.
So take, when we started, we start right from the beginning and look in the site,
and the site geometry frequently plays a key role in what happens on a site.
This particular lot is fairly small for a commercial lot, 120 feet by 160 feet.
So we work with AutoZone and their prototypes to fit a layout that works for them.
recognizing that there is a use variance here we took into account and looked at what other uses
are permitted here and what would be the challenges of going on and it's key to remember in this that
in our discussions with the neighborhood community that we couldn't have access onto midair at this
point and we've agreed to eliminate that access so that really restricts how you use the property
and how you maneuver inside right excuse me on that note can you pull up the plan and show
everyone the plan that you're referring to um do i have that or does greg heleniak um let me see
where am i right from my office can share it i'll share my screen again
so the plan here shows a building that's facing uh midairi street with a single access add-on
to broad street as was discussed we've closed uh the other entrance on broad street which was
further north and closed both entrances onto the dairy it was very clear in talking to the
community that they did not want access out on the dairy for a variety of reasons especially
the idea of a commercial use turning down into the neighborhood so that quickly restricts the
options for what can go on this site and how it's used uh examples of things that might be
available on this site would be a building supply store and excuse me
Greg when you say available you mean permitted under the zoning code yes I'm
sorry what's permitted on the zoning code an example of building supply store as a
As a practical matter, that's typically building materials that are delivered on tractor-trailers.
practical matter that that's typically materials building materials that are
delivered on tractor trails
A typical tractor-trailer delivery type arrangement would need roughly 130 feet to maneuver to get around,
and they would have to be doing that on an almost daily basis to bring those supplies in.
This lot's, candidly, way too small for that type of use.
You have other uses that are permitted.
An example would be a convenience store type thing where food and grocery type things could be bought, sandwiches and so forth.
The traditional stores for that area require a much more larger parking arrangement to accommodate those uses.
The other thing is they're getting deliveries all day long.
And so they need a site where it's easy for them to park, to unload and to access.
and this site at a small dimension just doesn't allow that room to do that.
Other uses that are permitted that, again, would struggle is a pharmacy.
So that's a printed use on this site.
The problem is, and it's really accentuated now with the whole quarantines
and restrictions and COVID-type stuff in that people want to be able to drive up
to the pharmacy due to a drive-up window.
It's good for both reasons.
The people who are sick don't want to get out of their vehicle,
and the people who are healthy don't want them in the building, candidly.
There's just no way to fit a seven-to-nine car stacking lane
to accommodate a drive-through window,
especially when we only have single access.
You can see here those buildings are usually significantly larger
than what's proposed here.
So that makes it really hard.
That's the same thing like a use, like a Starbucks type of deal.
a coffee shop at Dunkin Donuts you need to be able to have a drive aisle and this lot is just
too small to allow that drive up window again customers today are looking for the ability to
maybe minimize their interaction socially where they don't have to and so that use is a struggle
another use it's permitted it's really a challenge would be a daycare in that particular case
It would be fair to have a drop-off area, a safe drop-off area coming in rather than being on the street
and then allowing them to walk in.
Can you get into the property?
Because we don't have an access out on the dairy, we can't loop around that,
and we really don't want to be stacking up traffic down on the dairy type of deal.
And then where would I put the building and the play area?
So we just kept going for all the various uses, and logistically, the size of the lot
and the limited accessibility options made it very difficult to find a way
that was a successful use on the property.
Thank you and can you describe the plans and the fencing
around the property? Sure, so um as seen on the screen there's a
building facing the dairy the building butts up against the
property line along Broad Street and towards the rear there on the north side
of the setback there the five yard setback from back there we have 17
parking spaces as shown and it's just a double row kind of your traditional
arrangement here we do have turnaround areas so people could back out in those
last spaces and turn around and get back out effectively so people coming in
customers coming in can maneuver and accommodate that arrangement. What we provide is, I talked
about the single access to add on the Broad Street, that will have a gate at night, and there's
actually a fence that ties from the building. It goes down along Broad Street, makes the turn on
the Mederi. A key item to point out is in our conversations with the residents, they really
like that fence along Mederi, and they asked us to keep that, and the applicant has agreed to keep
that fence in place so that'll remain there's also a retaining wall along the eastern property line
with a fence above that and the applicant has agreed to maintain that fence as well
we are upgrading and providing sidewalks along both frontages as you see
an important item to note is really dramatic as the pictures as greg had shown earlier the
pictures of the site it's a dramatic improvement on the aesthetics by the
landscaping that will provide and we're doing that in several different ways
there's straight trees along Broad Street that either we're keeping one or
upgrading and along the same thing would you be seeing down along the dairy so
you have street trees there then adding to the impact to really help the screen
the and minimize any impacts and residents along the dairy we provide on
the other side of the fence a row of trees and with them is
a row of trees and with them is in between them is shrubbery so that we're providing a really
significant upgrade and improvement to the landscaping so you get almost a triple row
effect of landscaping the street trees along the road the trees behind the fence and landscaping
in that area so the shrubs will block and minimize any impact from the headlights
and the trees will block the view of the building so it really does a full landscape package i did
want to note we are also providing it was in discussion with the neighbors providing some
additional shrubbery along broad streets so that the landscaping in that area also buffers
the visual impact of cars so candle leaves you're going by only if you're an angle will even
recognize um much of what's going on in this property so it'll be a little bit of a green
oasis that we're creating there we do provide a loading area along the side of the building
but overall and and just going back and clarifying is that that gate will close with committed to the
applicants committed to closing the gate on broad street after business hours so that this property
is not accessible to to the public i should say referred is only accessible during business hours
and otherwise it's fully gated off with no activity permitted during that time period
thank you and greg can you describe the impact of this type of retail use compared to other retail