First name, A-R-I-E-L, last R-I-V-E-R-A.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm, tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
You support the project?
I do support the project.
Is there anything you could add that hasn't been said?
No, I'm an entrepreneur.
I'm a community member.
I've grown up in the area and I'm in support.
I would love to own or rent a space in this property once it's complete.
Thank you very much for taking the time to call.
we appreciate it next hand please Charles Richardson hi Mr. Richardson good afternoon
Mr. Chair just as you know state your name and spell for the court sonographer please Charles
Richardson R-I-C-H-A-R-D-S-O-N office of Councilwoman Cindy Bass room 508 City Hall you swear or affirm
to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth I certainly do please proceed sir
uh the councilwoman is in support in so much as the uh
The councilwoman is in support in so much as the provisos that the RCO had requested.
If those can be enacted, she will certainly support the project.
That's where we stand.
Thank you, Mr. Richardson.
You have one more hand?
We have one more hand.
Now we have three more chair.
We have Kent Cook.
All right.
Hi, sir.
Could you state your name and spell, please, for the court stenographer?
Good afternoon.
My name is Kent.
That's K-E-N-T.
Last name is Cook, C-O-O-K-E.
Hold on.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, told truth, nothing but the truth?
Are you a neighbor?
I am the next door neighbor.
Nazarene Baptist Church.
Very good.
Do you support the project?
Is there anything you could add that we haven't heard?
Yes. Our main concern is that people from the local neighborhood in the one nine one four zero zip code have employment opportunities.
And that is as respects construction of the property and also for things like servicing the property, for instance, housekeeping, extermination and things like that.
We just know this zip code always tracks into the three most economically depressed in the city of Philadelphia.
So we are 100 percent in support of anything to bring gainful employment to the neighbors.
Thank you very much for taking the time to call. Next to him, please.
We have Renee Norris Jones.
Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court sonographer?
Sure. My name is Dr. Renee Norris Jones.
Are you do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
I do, sir. Are you a neighbor?
I am a community member, yes. I live like two blocks away.
Thank you. Do you support the project or against it?
I support the project.
Is there anything you can add that hasn't been said?
This, as the gentleman just said, this area is economically depressed.
That one block, that one block is just a, there's nothing there. Outside of the church, there is nothing in that block.
The post office across the street looks like it's closed down.
so to have something to have some life come to this block in this community i've been in this
community for 45 years to have some life come back to that block would be a plus i mean i
understand you guys are saying it's going to cast a shadow on a building i think that has less to do
with the mental physical and psychological effect of the neighborhood thank you very much for taking
the time to call we appreciate your input could i have the next person please the last person is
keith marshall hi could you state your name please and spell for the court sonographer
keith marshall please unmute yourself
to williams senior k dot m-a-r-s-h-l-l-w-i-l-l-i-a-m-s-s-r i am the senior pastor
Okay, thank you. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth is nothing but the truth?
Yeah, I affirm.
Robert, do you support this project?
Yes. My chairman, Kent Jefferson Cook, spoke. I don't have anything to add to what he said, but I just want to go on the record that we stand in support and the opportunities that will be afforded to the members of our community.
As a church, we've done all that we can do to to upgrade, uplift our community around the church and the properties around the church.
And we're 100 percent support. Thank you. Thank you, Reverend.
Thank you for taking the time to call. We appreciate it.
Council, before I give this to Planning, do you have a short comments?
Yes, I do. So in regards to the comments that Charles made, he is correct in that we did not have the shadow study prior to meeting with the community.
We've recognized that they expressed concerns regarding light and air, and we put together
the shadow study to ensure that this would not have a negative impact on the surrounding
properties.
So, as you saw when we went through the presentation, primarily impacts our parking lot, the church's
parking lot, and two of the members of the church have clearly expressed support for
this project, and they are, in fact, most impacted.
As Charles, I believe, mentioned previously, along Kerrbach Street, there are residential
properties.
it is 40% vacant. So we recognize that the shadow, if any, would be minimal upon existing structures.
Excuse me. There was mention of a petition during our presentation to the community we had
included a petition. There was some concern that was expressed regarding the fact that it included
some concern that was expressed regarding the fact that it included individuals within the
individuals
boundaries of the RCO, but not necessarily within 250 feet of the property. In honor of
the comments that were made by the RCO, we did not include them in our presentation materials
today, nor were they submitted to the ZBA. So I would like to highlight that. As for the roof
deck, yes, I mentioned properties that are outside of this area. However, I mentioned them because we
believe that this particular community deserves to have similar projects of the same level and scope
to allow to use and exemplify what can be done along germantown avenue roof decks on office
buildings is not uncommon the dba has approved it in the past in order for us to really compete with
other properties that are providing similar use we need to also provide similar amenities
thank you council chairman may i add one detail regarding the roof deck sure um the the owner is
willing to set the roof back back back from the edge of the building if that uh would be seen as
a benefit to to minimize or negate any views of folks on the deck so that the roof deck had not
been designed yet but the footprint of it need not take up the entirety of the building from
parapet to parapet it could be set back if needed thank you um planning commission
thank you chair berkman and members of the board sarah bond philadelphia city planning commission
and and i lost my place if you can that's okay take your time sarah all right here we are uh
the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing industrial mixed use at this location
physical circumstances of the property create hardships for use and dimension therefore the
city planning commission recommends that the zoning board grant the variance thank you
mi 2023-006-107-3935-61 germantown avenue i vote yes thomas holloman my vote is yes
James Snell, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shahid, my vote is yes.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you.
Number three, MI 2023-005-932-824-34 Red Lion Road, David Orfanides is the attorney.
Letter of support from the Greater Busselton Civic Association.
mr orphanetes is coming back in as a panelist thank you good afternoon good afternoon mr
orphanetes could you state your name and spell please for the court stenographer
certainly uh david orphanetes last name is spelled o-r-p-h-a-n-i-d-e-s do you swear or
affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do um could you identify
your client in relationship to this property? Certainly. The property is known as the
Ambassador to Apartments. My client is Jack Beinenfeld, who's, per the deed, is the trustee
of the Jack Beinenfeld Separate Share Trust under the Henry Beinenfeld Third Amendment amended and
restated revocable trust agreement dated October 31st, 2011. That's how it shows up on the deed.
Thank you so much. Our vice chair has a few questions for you, sir.
Good afternoon, Counselor.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?
I do not stipulate to the accuracy, but I waive the reading of it.
Understood.
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that's needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
I did.
Thank you.
Please proceed and share your screen.
Certainly.
Yep. Okay. Let me just move this over here, minimize it. Okay. Again, my name is David
Orphanides from the law firm of Orphanides & Toner, and I'm here this afternoon for the
property located at 828 to 34 Red Lion Road, which is also known as 824 to 34 Red Lion Road.
can you still see my screen oh there we go we can sorry yeah there you go wasn't sure what
happened there um the uh the property in question is located you can see here highlighted in uh with
the red clouding it's located on red lion road on the south side of red lion the southwest side
between Bustleton Avenue and Varee Road.
The property is, it was constructed as an apartment complex back in the mid-1990s.
It was constructed as an apartment complex back in the mid-1970s.
The zoning permit was issued in 1976 for the five structures that you see right here.
It includes a swimming pool and accessory parking.
Again, that was originally 128 units.
It's 127 units at the present time.
there are three signs that exist this is a sign application there are three signs that presently
exist along red lion road on the property they don't project over the footway onto the footway
they're all within the property lines you will see there are two double-sided freestanding signs
here and here, and then an internally illuminated freestanding box sign here.
The application is to replace these two signs and then just to document this sign that's
here on the west end. Here's another view from the north, another view. Now, you can see in
going back to the original Ariel that I showed you, there's an apartment building across the
street, apartment complex across the street, which we're also here for today. That's owned by my
client. There's an apartment complex that's just to the west across the street that is converted
to a condominium. There's a church to the west of us that has a freestanding sign. And then there
are commercial properties that also have freestanding signs that I've circled here.
So as you know, Red Lion Road is a very wide commercial corridor. Cars pass along it pretty quickly. And there is an obvious history in the immediate vicinity of our property of very large freestanding signs, which I'm going to show you a picture of right now.
Now, here are the existing signs that we have at the subject property.
Here's the one that's closest to Busselton, just externally illuminated wooden freestanding signs, very modest, but outdated.
My client is in the process of updating all the signage on the property, building signs for security purposes,
for purposes of identifying, better identifying the building for emergency vehicles.
Also, obviously, for deliveries that we all receive these days.
Now, here's the box sign that you see right here.
My client's office is in this unit, and that's why originally it was 128 units, dwelling units.
It was dropped to 127 with his office.
But here's this freestanding sign of the church that's directly to the west of this property.
There is a shopping center further to the west on the opposite side.
I'll be talking in a couple minutes about the property across the street, another very large apartment complex, but we're also looking to swap out the signs.
This is just a little sign showing that my client does the plannings in the median strip on red line between his two properties.
And then as you head down to Busselton, you can see very large freestanding signs, which are, you know, a stone's throw away from my client's property.
This is coming back on our side of Red Lion.
This is the corner of Busselton.
And then heading closer to our property.
This is the property right next door to our property.
And as you can see, they're very large freestanding pylon signs here.
The application is, again, as I mentioned, let me zoom in here.
Let's see if I can vary.
The two signs, the wooden freestanding signs that I showed you in the photographs that are here and here, is to replace those.
And again, to document this sign, the box sign in front of my client's office.
uh here are the the elevations that were submitted with the zoning permit application
um basically what we have is we have a masonry base upon which they'll be set a internally
illuminated freestanding sign double-sided and again the sign that's in front of his office is
going to remain.
Here's a rendering of the type of sign, the sign that we have.
They are in slightly different shapes
between the two signs that are being replaced.
But this gives you an idea of what the sign will look like.
The lighting actually comes out where there is lighting
around the letters.
The lighting comes out around basically
around the sides of the letters.