yeah good
30 30 time why there's nothing here
what you said
Oh, okay. Yep. Yep. I got it.
Thank you.
we're ready right good morning my name is bill bergman and i will be chairing this meeting of
the philadelphia zoning board of adjustment with me was our vice chair tenetta graham president
mr chairman our board member charlotte l gaston president mr chairman our board member michael
johns president mr chairman board member ty win who should be coming through here any minimum a
moment, and our board member, Ryan McAdams. President, Mr. Chairman. Also, here is our
board attorney, Hillary Emerson, our executive director, Ian Haggerty, and our board administrator,
Lakeisha Dandy. Recording of this hearing will be posted on the ZBA website. By participating,
you consent to be recorded. This is an in-person meeting with remote capabilities. Whether remote
or in person, if you're called to speak, you must state and spell your name and then wait to be
sworn in. Once you've been sworn in, please state your name each time before beginning your
testimony. Any person can enter an appearance. You can identify the case property address
on your Zoom webinar registration. You can see a staff member, or you can call the ZBA
appearance line by the close of business tomorrow. Call 267-270-5548. Leave a message that includes
your email address and the address for the property of the appeal case following guidance
is for our remote attendees when directed you must raise your virtual hand in order to be recognized
to speak if you're called to testify you'll be prompted to join as a panelist please accept the
request and return and turn on your camera third the webinar q a is for questions about the hearing
Do not comment on cases in the Q&A.
And fourth, if you're participating by phone, press star 9 to raise your hand and star 6 to unmute.
For our in-person attendees, please refrain from talking, eating, or drinking during the hearings.
Verbal and physical aggression will not be tolerated.
Restrooms are across from the elevators.
A water fountain is just outside the room to the right.
when speaking on the record you must speak directly into the microphone in order to be heard
by all attendees and the court reporter in the event of an emergency please follow the directions
given over the public address system or by the staff the main exit is through the double doors
at the rear of the room the narrow stairwell is to the left outside the doors in case of
evacuation the rally point is at love park directly across our street please remain there
so we can account for you.
So let's look at our schedule for this morning.
Number seven.
Right with you.
Number 7, MI 2025-005-235, 200 South 2nd Street, that case should continue to March 25th at 2 p.m.
This is not the one we want to take comments on, right? We're okay with this one?
I mean, Ms. Prisker does have her hand raised, although I don't know that the appellant is here in this case,
because she was traveling and I did let the parties know they didn't need to be present for
this matter. Okay. All right. So this case is continued to March 25th at 2 p.m.
number eight mi 2025 006 999 175 west oxford street this case is continued until 5 19 26 at 9 30 a.m
number 10 mi 2026 000 272 118 hillcrest avenue this case will be continued to 519 20
hillcrest avenue this case will be continued to 5 19 26 at 9 30 a.m
and then number 11 um 69 30 ardly street david orphanetes is the attorney mr orphanetes please
come on the city is represented by i think leonard who's going to represent the city in this um yes
he's he's he's online he's on his he's on his shirt okay mr reuter and also um mr knockamson
this is a request for a continuance um we'll start with mr orphanetes mr orphanetes
they're being promoted to panelists thank you
mr knockamson why don't you while we're waiting for money state your name is fellow for this
sonographer alan knockamson a-l-a-n last name is knockamson n-o-c-h-u-m-s-o-n do you swear or
affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do okay let's get we'll get the
hold of mr orphanetes i'm here mr orphanetes could you please state your name and spell for
the sonographer certainly david orphanetes last name is spelled o-r-p-h-a-n-i-d-e-s do you swear
a firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do mr reuter
he's on his way up he's on his way up and i don't think he he i we didn't know that there
were going to be comments requested on this one previously so uh are there going to be
they were going to be taking comments on the continuance relative to the continuance there's
going to be comments okay all right it's okay we'll just we can we'll we'll wait a few minutes
okay leonard's one is you can sit there you don't think about it i mean leonard's on his way up i
think oh mr chair i just wanted to to note for the record on um 700 south second street um was
that that continuance request was that marked must be heard i did not see it was not let me
see you second i i thought that was yeah i thought that was supposed to be marked must be heard okay
Okay, let me see here.
yeah i'm sorry so seven seven oh two south second street which is mi 2025 zero zero five
two three five that case is continued in march 25th at 2 p.m and mark must be heard thank you
mr chair there he is here's the man
we try to get people to take your place they said they can't do it impossible
there's only one there's only one lynn mr reuter could you please state your name is
dealt with the stenographer. Thank you, Leonard F. Reuter, R-E-U-T-E-R.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
I do. Mr. Orfanides, I understand you want to make a motion here?
Yes. I'd like to request a continuance of today's proceeding. One of my clients,
Christina Christou, who is actually the one who herself filed the initial appeal,
had booked a trip out of the country, had to be booked almost a year in advance. It was booked
last April, April 20th, played for book July 15th. And unfortunately, she was unable to reschedule
and what she's away for doesn't allow her to call in remotely through Zoom. I did provide some
additional dates. In my original letter for request, I accidentally put in dates later in
April, which is pretty far out. But I've provided some dates later this month that my clients and I
are available. And then if those don't work, we have dates in April as well. But I can't proceed.
I think her testimony is critical here. I believe that the Property Owner Developers Council is
going to question when she first became aware of this project and the zoning permit in particular.
and so her testimony her husband is here but obviously and he can testify as to
um when um when he learned of it and when he believes she learned of it but obviously
when he learned of it and when he believes she learned of it. But obviously, I believe,
i believe given the
given the procedural history of this about regarding who's at the appellant, I think it's
pretty important that she be available. And I apologize for this. When we scheduled this date
after the last hearing, I was immediately, well, soon thereafter, was advised of this conflict,
was trying to see if there was any chance to have it rescheduled. And unfortunately,
just again, because there's such a long lead time, she was unable to do so.
Mr. Knuckles and I think you have comments.
Yeah, Mr. Chair, this is the second instance where the appellant has not showed up to the hearing.
If the board remembers the first time she had her husband in her stead attempting to represent her as a layperson.
The second hearing, which had to be rescheduled because the board wanted additional time to hear this matter regarding actual constructive notice,
Mr. Orchfinites was there along with his client and we scheduled the hearing for today's date.
I don't understand why then we scheduled the hearing for a date that she knew she was going
to be on vacation. And, you know, we only, the reason why I didn't comment previously,
I was out of the office late last week. So I'm catching up a little bit, but you know,
this late hour to then ask for another continuous request where she can't appear for something that
she's brought which we believe is a frivolous petition is rather concerning so obviously we're
going to reluctantly consent because her testimony is critical um we would ask that this is a must be
heard but before the hearing we did issue a subpoena we asked for a subpoena to be issued
to her as well as to change i think our attorney wants to yeah i i will the the board has reviewed
that request i will be sending a response to all parties this week okay so but before we have the
hearing i would like the opportunity assuming the the subpoena is issued to have you know the the
documents you know sent to us um which is a third party too change.org is you know an organization
where uh there was a petition circulated amongst the community objecting to this pro this by right
project so one of the things we want to see is if the uh appellant participated by signing the
petition and when um and i do think correspondence that she had with other parties including the
council member and other rcos are relevant to these proceedings thank you thank you um mr reuter
uh thank you uh again i apologize for being a little bit late i was under the impression that
continuance had been granted um but the city doesn't have uh any position on whether or not
to grant the continuance i mean it's a little bit inconvenient but uh other than being a few minutes
late i'm just downstairs so okay all right that's that's that's fine thank you um we're going to
continue this one more time and we're this is going to be mark must be heard and we're going to
continue to 4-7-26 at 9.30 a.m. Alan, do you think, I mean, I'm sorry, Mr. Chairman, but
given the, I guess there's going to be a decision issued on the subpoena, I don't doubt that I can
provide a response by 4-7, but with change.org involved in that, if the subpoena is issued to
them, Alan, do you think that, I mean, should we leave that 4-7 and see how you make out with that
if that subpoena is issued yeah i i mean hillary i i mean it hasn't happened i mean that's another
reason for it continues because you did request that and that hasn't even been um resolved yet
so i mean what give me an idea what data you're thinking about i might have a few dates here we
can go to tell me what date you're thinking about and we'll try to agree well so typically when you
have a subpoena assuming one is issued i would think a minimum of 20 days more likely 30 days
for the third party organization to respond will they respond that's another question okay but all
right I think we can keep the date as it is we're going to leave the date as it is okay okay and I
do I do have another long proceeding that morning just if you remember that's the one on Ripka
Street so uh there will be two that morning let me just make sure my April 7th and just
for clarification again this is just continuance just for the question of the
right the lake right right I mean given given the time frame that uh Mr. Nockamson may need
and given that other proceeding that is pretty complicated for the seventh is there any way we
can push it to the 14th or so what we're going to do is we'll take a look and see what we have and
we'll get back yeah okay I'm just concerned about right now it's the seventh okay understood all
right thank you thank you thank you all for coming we appreciate it are there any other requests for
Are there any other requests for continuances?
continuances.
No hands at the time, Chair.
Thank you.
We're going to start with number nine, MI 2025, 007195, 6134 Rear to 46 Wayne Avenue.
Rachel Pritzker is the attorney.
John Wissarik.
Am I saying it right?
Wissarik?
That's good. It's also here from the city.
Number nine.
rachel yep i'm here oh good good morning could you please state your name and spell for the
stenographer yes rachel r-a-c-h-a-e-l pritzker p-r-i-t-z-k-e-r you swear or affirm to tell
the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes um mr zorek could you please state
your name is spelled for the stenographer uh john was zorek w-i-e-c-z-o-r-e-k on behalf of the city
Great. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Rachel, could you identify your client and relationship to the property?
Yes. My client is Mosaic Development Partners, Mathis Holdings LLC, which is the owner of the property.
Okay. So this is an appeal against L and I. So Rachel, why don't you start?
Yeah. Given we have a timing constraint with the representative from SEPTA, I just wanted to allow him to speak first.
i know it's a little bit out of order but he has to leave so i can just allow him to
provide his testimony on the record there's um his name is michael kendall um mr kendall
can that person please raise their hand
they're being promoted to panels thank you
so just to give sort of like a brief very brief and i'll go back through this overview this is
an appeal for from a determination from l and i from a previously issued zoning permit for 6134
r-46 wayne avenue um and basically um there was you know well-documented delays from septa which
has an easement over the property and whose coordination is required before the development
of this parcel can proceed obviously i think uh the board is probably well aware of the various
delays and issues that septa has faced over the last number of years um and so just i'll get into
little bit more detail but given we have um mr kendall here who is the assistant treasurer for
the southeastern pennsylvania transportation authority just wanted to uh share my screen
and allow him to um put his testimony on the record before he uh has to leave and we greatly
appreciate him being here today all right mr kendall good morning can you hear me good morning
yeah we can could you please state your name it's spelled for the sonographer
michael kendall m-i-c-h-a-e-l-k-e-n-d-a-l-l you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole
truth nothing but the truth i do all right if possible could you turn on your video
i'm i'm sorry mr chair i am actually home with a stomach bug today and i prefer to remain off
camera we're fine rachel please proceed uh so sorry i didn't realize you weren't feeling well
so um i just wanted you to just briefly um you know their letter your letter is on the screen
but if you just kind of want to highlight um you know your your statement and your testimony
um and sort of just acknowledge some of the delays that happened as a result you know of the easement
here um good morning happy to enter this letter into the record uh septa remains committed to
working with mosaic development partners to advance this development we think that it represents
a attractive opportunity to create value near one of the stations um it's a multi-layered process
but it is collaborative and it requires cooperation from both mosaic and septa
I know that we have established a great relationship working on this together, and I am in the expectation that we will remain committed to working together with Mosaic to execute this agreement in as timely manner as possible.
i know that we have established a great relationship working on this together and i
Beyond that, I think I really just want to make sure that the letter is able to speak for itself.
And if there are any questions regarding the contents of the letter, I'm happy to answer them.
Rachel, do you have any more questions from them?
No, I think just, you know, just, Michael, just from your perspective, is there anything that was, you know, mosaics, that Mosaic hasn't done to continue to moving forward?
I think the whole point we're trying to make here today that this is sort of outside of their ability to move forward, given the easement and, as you mentioned, the necessary coordination.
So would you agree with that statement that this is really not being held up as a result of Mosaic's delays or their inability to cooperate, but more so as just the need to work together on sort of a complicated easement and obviously all the procedural and prerequisites that are required, in addition to obviously you guys have other priorities than just this site?
yeah rachel i don't want to speculate on um you know mosaic's process i i can't emphasize what's
in the letter and just again reiterate that we are committed to actively coordinating with mosaic to
to bring this development to a timely emergence as timely as possible thank you we appreciate
that michael john do you have any questions of course no questions for mr kendall okay um rachel
the next witness or yeah no i'm just going to go through sort of the timeline of events in our case
here and then and michael thank you very much we appreciate you getting on when you did feel well
thank you very much um so just to kind of dial it back and i appreciate sort of going out of order i
wanted to make sure that he was able to speak um this is the original zoning permit that was issued
back in 2021 uh this zoning permit was issued um after approval by the zoning board of adjustment