Mr. Bonney?
I just had one last point before I—
Why don't we—Mr. Bonney, are you there?
Okay, what's your last point?
so again i'd like to re-request the ability to cross-examine the rabbi the reason i wasn't
allowed to at the last hearing was because my client and i weren't in attendance i think we've
established the reason for that was that we were expecting lombard muse to be in opposition only
to find out the day of the hearing they're in favor of it right so i if if you don't want me
to cross-examine i could hand up my cross-examination questions you can consider whether
you want me to ask of them it's up to you but i do want to i feel like we've established the
ability to do that um no we're not we're not going to do that i mean i understand you you
weren't here the last time but uh we're we're not going to allow that okay okay then i have nothing
for all right um mr thompson could you give us an idea how long you think you would take
maybe five minutes if it's five minutes we will gladly take your testimony thank you very much
thank you uh as i said my name is edward thompson i am here representing myself i am an attorney
i am also along with my wife who spoke for the public uh one of the co-owners of 530 south 8th
street which is an immediately uh adjacent property um to the property at issue um i'm
to go ahead and try and share my screen um not but there's there's somebody can help you yeah
So, I mean, told I need to raise my hand to be made co host, so I can share my. Okay.
And now, what's the attorney's name?
Edward top set.
Doreen, this is Ian. I believe he's logged in under Jordana Greenwald.
Yes. Yeah, that's sorry. It's my wife. Thank you.
It's okay.
Join the panelists.
Thank you. Thank you.
Okay. I am now sharing my screen. And this is actually one of their exhibits. It is their supplemental exhibits that for the rehearing that they submitted for May 19th.
I'm using this because I want to make it clear where I live.
That building that you see immediately to the left of the structure there with the two little windows up there and the big window there, that's a depiction of my home.
That's where I woke up this morning.
That's where I'm going to bed tonight.
And I've done the same for the last 19 years where I've lived there.
Those two little windows at the top, that's my bedroom.
And the big window underneath that, that is my living room.
And if you if you look next to it, this is their depiction of the property.
I would like to point out that, as depicted, it doesn't quite reflect the density because the vantage point from this would be inside the Bradford.
There is no grass sitting out in the front across the street.
This would have to be this vantage point is like 25 feet with inside the Bradford.
I'd also like to then, if you look at how they've depicted my home, well, what's going to be next to my home?
that's on the next page uh my home my my living room and my dining room is on the second floor
and if you go to their plan on the second floor in the southeast uh the southeast corner which is
right next to my house um is a kitchen it is a commercial kitchen that will be serving a
cafeteria and it will be serving an auditorium um suffice to say this is why we have zoning a lot
people have come and a lot of people have talked about the children but i have children and my
children sleep in this house and my children live in this house and for the fire concerns and the
noise concerns i respectfully ask that we not have a commercial kitchen sharing a wall with my living
room and my dining room the second point is you look up on the third floor what's going to be next
to my children's room a second grade classroom i would respect i i love my children and they've
both been through second grade. I've lived there for 19 years. My older son is 13 and my younger
son is nine. They were both born and raised here. They are also Jewish. And they celebrate these
holidays and they get a Jewish education. We go to a different synagogue. I would like to point
out that if this was my own synagogue, I would still be opposed to it because it doesn't need
to be adjacent to my wall. It doesn't need to have a second grade classroom sitting next to my son's
bedroom it doesn't need to have a second grade classroom sitting next to my bed sitting next to
my bedroom it doesn't need to have a commercial kitchen wall to wall with my living room and my
dining room that's why bringing it back to the zoning code that this is supposed to be a detached
structure and that's what it's about it shouldn't be it should be a detached structure it should not
be wall to wall with my family and my home as an adjacent structure um i'm gonna scroll down again
Here, you can actually this is probably a more accurate representation of what you will see in the street and the density, and you can see my little home sitting here next to this at that window from my kitchen that I look out.
I can see the street and you've had people touch base on the traffic issues and the noise issues, but this actually shows the left hand turn lane how quickly that turns into a left hand turn lane.
I'd like to point out the 47 bus runs down there. The city of Philadelphia's website describes the 47 bus as the busiest bus in the city. That's true. It runs every 8 to 12 minutes, and it has to stay in the right lane directly across because it drops passengers off on the right lane.
It can't get into the left lane to move around the traffic that would be here also because it's a left-hand turn only lane.
I'd also like to speak about the agreement that was just referenced. There are accessory uses in that agreement, and I'm going to put it up here for everyone to see what my neighbor Sean testified to is actually exactly accurate to clarify that objection that was made.
says there shall be no outdoor amplified or loudspeaker music on the property or any evening
after 8 p.m. We're not talking about indoor amplified music. This is a limitation on outdoor.
Well, I share a wall. I just showed. I share a wall. My living room and my dining room and my
children's bedroom, my bedroom, all share that wall. And the limitations on outdoor amplified
or loudspeaker music, which when you see that there's no limitation referencing on indoors
at there. And there's limitation outdoor space. We roll down and this is the limits on the type
of activities that we're talking about. And it does say that it's a parochial style private school.
that we're talking about and it does say that it's a parochial style private school um but it
also refers to accessory uses accessory uses as permitted by the zoning code which says no parties
or celebrations and the non-rest past 8 p.m except so first of all we're going up we're allowing
amplified music up till 8 p.m wall to wall with my property there's an annual fundraising banquet
that's going to go after 8 p.m uh annual week-long celebration of the holiday of suku uh which also
includes outdoor activities and indoor celebrations of all jewish holidays my family celebrates these
holidays too in a residential setting and at our synagogue um they are a joyous affair they are not
quiet and there's there's there's a number of them many of them last eight days uh passover is eight
days hanukkah is eight days sukkot is eight days the time period between russia shana yom kippur
is 10 days we're up to 34 days of celebrations wall to wall with a commercial kitchen to my home
I'd also like to point out in the in the next they do. They do say no liquor shall be sold in any portion of the property, but the school reserves the right to serve liquor on the property.
Now we are wall to wall with a commercial kitchen serving alcohol to a cafeteria and a large 200 purse auditorium.
This is exactly why we have a zoning code, because of these accessory uses and a commercial kitchen that protects property owners like myself, 19-year resident, homeowner of Philadelphia, family of four, two Jewish kids who love their faith.
But as I said, even if this was our own synagogue, we would oppose this.
I'll conclude by saying it should be a detached property.
That's what educational facilities are zoned for, is to be a detached property.
we've had lots and lots of people come up here and speak in favor of it not one of them said
why it needs to be attached to my home it should be a detached property it should be if they're
going to build this project it should be built to code and that is why i'm in opposition to this
project as thank you thank you very much you have any questions
yes all right um mr bonnie you have any questions
no i just wanted to let you know i was here i thought okay you're going to ask me a question
all right good all right but it's up thank you so i i think where we stand now i think we should
take closing arguments in planning planning all right planning is actually going to hold for a
letter okay um we should take closing arguments right how how much time do we go to give them
for this i would say not much because given our schedule well how about two weeks
written that's what i'm saying written closing argument arguments how much longer how
when do we want to have it in is what i'm saying
what's that two weeks is fine two weeks and then the week after we'll
We'll bring it in for a vote.
Give me a date.
We'll do it on a Wednesday.
Leonard, do you have anything you want to?
August 12th would be two weeks, so it would be the 19th.
The 19th, we'll vote on that at 9.30 a.m.
And thank you all.
Thanks for everyone who's been here several times,
and we appreciate everybody's input, okay?
We're going to take a five-minute break as people exit,
so then we'll get set up for our next case, okay?
So we're back.
So MI 2026-000-000272-118-Hilcrest, Dawn Tangrady is the attorney, Sean Whalen is also here, and also Leonard Reuter.
Did we get Dawn of time?
Oh, okay.
Dawn? Oh, okay.
Thank you.
good morning counsel good morning could you please state your name and spell it for this
stenographer? Sure. Dawn Tancredi. That's D-A-W-N. Last name is T-A-N-C-R-E-D-I. Do you swear or affirm to
tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Yes. Mr. Whalen, could you please state
your name and spell for this stenographer? Sean Whalen, W-H-A-L-E-N. Right. Do you swear or affirm
to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes i do and uh mr reuter thank you may
please the board leonard f reuter r-e-u-t-e-r senior attorney city of philadelphia you swear
or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do um um
dawn i understand you have three witnesses am i correct yes and i have two available today
Hi, Mr. Chair. I'd have James Henry and Shandor Zalais.
Okay. Why don't we start with your first witness?
Thank you. I would call James Henry.
James Henry is coming in as a panelist.
james henry has been promoted good morning sir could you please state your name and spell it
for this phonographer yes james henry j-a-m-e-s h-e-n-r-y all right do you swear or affirm to
tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes counsel thank you and
may I share my screen please
okay are you able to see that james yes okay all right thank you and um james could you
please state your name for the record? James Henry. Okay, and where do you work?
Ruggiero Plant Land Design. And what is your background and training? I am a
professional land surveyor. I've been licensed in the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania since 2001. I'm also a licensed surveyor in three other states.
okay and are you a member of any organizations with um related to survey i'm sorry you broke
up a little bit there i i believe you said am i a member of any organizations yes the
pennsylvania society of land surveyors and then some other you know trade
groups that are um related to the industry chairman if if i may i'm willing to stipulate
his credentials and we don't need to go they all have to stipulate that he's an expert surveyor
but counselor get here okay thank you yes i would um ask the board to recognize mr henry as an expert
in surveying and maps okay thank you okay i'll proceed uh mr henry did you have a chance to
review materials and prepare a report in this case? Yes, I did. And bringing the
board's attention to tab number three in the materials, is this a copy of the
report that you prepared? Or do you recognize this? Yeah, yeah, that was a
letter I prepared for Mr. Dingfield back in November of 2022. Okay, and could you
tell the board what you prepared here and what your letter states? So it's
basically reviewing documentation from some surveys that were prepared by my
firm which was known as Ritter and Plant back in 2013 where they had visited the
site and prepared you know surveys and maps to understand the relationship
between the the stream in question the 200-foot setback as it relates to the
Wissahickon Watershed Overlay. I had gone in back in 2022 at the request of Mr.
Um, I had gone in back in 2022 at the request of Mr. Dingfield to, to review that information,
um, and then prepare, you know, my own survey and documentation of, of the situation.
Bringing the board's attention to tab number four in the materials, do you recognize this?
Yes, this was, um, so this was taking the survey that was done in 2013,
by my predecessor at the firm, and we had overlaid their information, which is in red,
onto the zoning site plan that was submitted for the 118 Hillcrest property.
And could you describe the radius on this plan, both the red radius and the black radius?
So, the red radius is the 200-foot setback from the bank of the stream, which is located
on the other side of Hillcrest Avenue on the Arboretum property, where the stream enters
a culvert indicated by, at the bottom of the page there, you can see it labeled headwall.
Now this is upside, the reason this is upside down is because of the plan orientation.
We wanted to make sure everything was lined up.
our plan had had a north going up this zoning plan has north down with the street at the bottom so
that's that's the reason for the upside down writing but anyway um so it says head head wall
survey located and then coming from that there's an arrow um dimension line that says 200 foot
setback from regulated water course and that's the uh the bold dashed red arc
okay could you describe what is within the red arc on the proposed plans
well it looks like the proposed improvements uh are indicated within that arc
and taking your attention to
the next page of exhibit four could you just describe what this page is as well
Yeah, this is essentially the same overlay, but with a broader view showing the headwall of the stream, the red dashed arc that I mentioned before.
The zoning plan is in black writing, and then you can also show on here the outfall of the stream, which is located to the right of the plan where there is a second arc.
So that would be the arc of the 200 foot setback where the stream daylights at the other end of the culvert and then becomes a stream again.
And do you know where the black arc on the approved plan was drawn from?
No, I don't. I didn't prepare that plan, so I can't speak to that.
okay are you familiar with atlas philadelphia atlas yes yes and what is it uh it's basically
a city's uh gis mapping system to um you know look up various property information anything from
you know property owners to zoning information um you know i believe there's also some different
tabs in there for, you know, voting districts and things like that. It's basically a geographic
information system that the city has various information available. And taking your attention
to this screenshot from Atlas that I did submit as additional materials to the board and council
yesterday do you recognize this screenshot yep yeah that's your typical uh atlas screenshot with
you know the the uh just standard mapping as the background with building footprints and
and roads road names things like that and does this screenshot show 118 hillcrest avenue
yeah i think that um i can't quite read it but it looks like it's it's basically so where that
indication that um that blue arrow is should be the 118 hillcrest property as indicated by the
the label on the left and does this screenshot show the stream
yeah so the blue the blue line would indicate the location of the stream in this in this particular
the blue line would indicate the location of the stream in this in this particular map layer view
and what does this screenshot show if you know so that's basically the same you're looking at
the same view but it's a different layer of the map which shows an aerial background which um
you know just typically will give you a little bit more context of what's going on because it's
an actual real photograph of the land does this photo show the stream yes you
can see the stream and it's a little bit nuanced because you have to be familiar
with how streams look on aerial photographs but the stream is actually