And I have one of the principals of that entity on the call with us today, David Badouk.
And you can see the deed here, the legal description, the notary's acknowledgement,
The front page of the deed, the realty transfer tax cert, another realty transfer tax cert, and exhibit nine is our tax clearance, which we ran on October 8th with regard to DSR developers, and they are in tax compliance.
And I have with me on the call, David Badouk of DSR developers. David, are you there?
hello ah there he is okay i'm sorry i didn't uh didn't realize i have to uh unmute me
okay afternoon sir please identify yourself with a record name and address spell your full name
David Badouche, D-A-V-I-D. Badouche is B-A-D-O-U-C-H. My address is 1224 Noork Road, Philadelphia PA 19115.
We're informed to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Thank you, Mr. Slepner.
Yes, thank you. David, did you hear the testimony that I offered to the board today?
Yes, I did.
And was it all true and correct to the best of your knowledge?
Yes, it is.
and would you adopt that testimony
as though you were offering it yourself?
Thank you.
I have nothing further for my client.
Thank you.
Questions from the board?
Anyone else would like to testify in this case?
If so, please raise your hand.
Yes, Chair.
I have Sloan Folks.
Good afternoon again, Mr. Folks.
Good afternoon, Chairman DiCicco, ZBA Board.
Sloan Fuchs, S-L-O-A-N-E, F-S-A-F-I-R-O-L-K-S, Office of Councilwoman Maria Quinonez Sanchez,
Rule 508, City Hall, 19107.
The Councilwoman would like to have this statement written to the record, and it is as follows.
The Councilwoman would like to have...
The applicant and coordinating RCO were scheduled to meet Wednesday, August 12, 2020, but due to unforeseen circumstances, the coordinating RCO canceled the meeting.
Although the applicant has not met with the coordinating RCO and community, they have submitted a letter making the following declaration.
We are requesting that the developer be allowed to continue through the ZBA without a community meeting, while NSCA RCO is neither in favor nor against the mentioned developments on Randolph Street.
We have all completed our best faith actions towards informing the community and attempting to hold a meeting to inform and show the future developments.
In observance of this letter, the Councilwoman is submitting the letter of non-opposition.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
anyone else to testify in this case please raise your hand no hands chair thank you planning
commission this is paulic burns with the city planning commission uh we have no objection
thank you mi-2020-000122 2029 north randolph street my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is
yes. Okay, number 13. Excuse me, this is Sharon Saleta. After this, if you could return to
number nine, I believe it is. 5900 NL 5th Street.
This is, I could at least check to see if Mr. Harris is signed.
We've already on number nine. You're asking, is there anyone here for
5900 North 5th Street.
So I thought we were going to hold that to the end, Sharon.
Oh, I'm sorry. That would be fine. Just as long as you call it again.
Yeah, we'll call it. We'll do number 13 and then we'll come back to 9.
Sheldon, the number MI2020-000122
2029 North Randolph Street.
Isaac Slepner, is that him again?
that's the one we just heard yeah we got to do uh 2209 south 63rd i apologize
no problem mi2020-000724 2209 south 63rd street
anyone here for 2209 south 63rd street
that's not right uh tanya i have a number that i assumed was the other person oh four
oh four all right so no no hands are up well i do
i'm sorry stuff going on
Are you here for this case
Please unmute yourself
Phone number 0493
Phone number ending in 0493
You have to unmute yourself
If you're here for 2209 South 63rd Street
Hello. Yes. Oh, yes. I'm sorry. I'm here for 5900 North 5th Street.
All right. Just hang in there. We'll get to you next. 2209 South 63rd. Only anyone who wishes to
testify or I'm sorry, we have an attorney or the applicant for 2209 South 63rd. Please raise your
hand. This is Sharon Saleta. I have no record of having received exhibits. Okay. And no hands are
coming up for this. Thank you. MI-2020-000724-2209 South 63rd Street is continued. Now confession
go to number nine now. MI 2020-000722-5900 North 5th Street.
Hello. Okay you're on now we need please identify yourself spell your full name.
Okay, you're on now.
We need, please identify yourself, spell your full name and address.
Yes, Jermaine Harris.
I'm an attorney for 5900 North 5th Street, Philadelphia, 19120.
And my address is 100 South Broad Street, Suite 1523.
And it's Philly, 19110.
would you please spell your first and last name uh jermaine that's j-e-r-m-a-i-n-e
harris is h-a-r-r-i-s and do you swear and affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and
nothing but the truth i do and do you agree to wait for reading of its refusal and stipulate
to its accuracy we only stipulate to the fact that this is not a refusal but it's for a special
exception okay and have you emailed an exhibit packet with the required documents proof of
ownership proof of tax compliance copy of the refusal or referral photos and plans five days
prior to this one yes i did and have you met with the rco and have a letter yes i do please proceed
okay uh first of all i'd like to apologize i was online on the computer and for some reason
i was having i don't know why i can't uh i could see and hear the whole proceeding for this whole
entire afternoon but for some reason i can't link in no no worries sir no worries just okay all right
so this is uh basically concerning a special exception that we're seeking for uh a school
for a church. And I have what I believe with me is a member of the board, Wayne Geyser,
and also a pastor, I believe, who answered earlier. But what we're looking for is a school
on the first floor. Now, I did submit exhibits which had a floor plan, but essentially we're
talking about 2300 square feet of uh the school it would be for right now uh seven we're talking
about seven children that would be there um and six mr harris i have to interrupt i apologize
do you happen to have any exhibits you can share with us uh how can i how would i be able to
I can be able to do that.
Excuse me, this is Sharon.
Hold on, hold on, please.
This is Sharon Saleta.
I did email some of the exhibits to Tanya.
I don't know if she's able to share the screen.
I can see if I can pull them up.
If you can't, we'll just go on with the oral testimony.
If you're not able to, don't worry about it.
Thank you.
Thank you, Tanya.
Mr. Harris?
Yes, are you able to see the photos?
Could you, is it possible you could give me a second because I'm able to go on to the screen,
but for some reason I can't participate on the screen.
So I could walk through it with you, what we're talking about.
and you can you know what you i think i would get the picture here you can summarize as best
you can that'll be helpful okay so what we've attached is we've attached the uh
the the referral we've also attached the letter of support from gpass which is the community
organization uh greater philadelphia asian social services we've also attached the letter of
non-opposition from the Councilwoman Councilwoman Parker's office as to this
particular project but again what we what we're looking for is a Sunday
school I'm sorry a school or right now we're talking about seven people that
that would be enrolled and we have no opposition and we have community support.
We have no opposition and we have community support and we would ask that you take a look at the photos that shows the layout of the building and the area that we're looking to have the school in.
It needs to be done right now, and if this special exception is approved, then they would be looking to start immediately.
I would certainly open it up to any questions that you may have.
Okay. Do you have any witness you want to put on?
Yes, I do. Mr. Geiser, are you there?
Hello? Is anybody here from 5900 North 5th Street? Hello?
We'll accept you as an officer of court. We'll stipulate that your testimony is accurate
and true and that your client would adopt it. Questions from the board?
no no anyone else who wishes to testify in this matter please raise your hand
i have ruth harley ruth you can unmute yourself and wait to be sworn in
miss harley please identify yourself for the record your name and address spell your full name
Ms. Farley, are you there?
Okay, Chair, I also have Priscilla Strap.
Priscilla Strap?
Hello?
Please identify yourself, your name and address for the record, spell your full name.
my name is priscilla strap p-r-i-s-c-i-l-l-a-s-t-r-a-p-p i am the head of school of
the sofia academy that is hoping to be in this location i don't know why um you can't hear from
the um saint the 5900 people but i'm willing to answer any questions that anybody no problem i
just wanted to i'll just swear you in and then we can move on you swear and affirm to tell the
truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes all right uh your attorney uh you heard his
testimony yes i don't know if he's still on mr harris i'm still here i'm gonna ask your client
if she adopts your testimony do you mr do you uh did you hear the testimony that i just presented
to the board yes i did do you adopt and accept that as true as if i were to call you that that
would be the summation of your testimony? Yes, everything was what I understand the 5900 people
want, yes, and we want them. Okay, thank you. All right, anyone else? Yes, we have
Wayne Geyser. Okay. Hello. Hello. Yeah, good afternoon, Wayne. Please identify yourself for
the record name and address. Spell your full name. Good afternoon. My name is Wayne Geyser.
My address is 421 North Sterling Road, Elkins Park.
I'm a member of St. Paul's Lutheran Church Congregation.
Wayne, would you please spell your last name?
G-E-I-S-S-E-R.
Thank you.
Please proceed.
Mr. Geiser, did you hear the summarization that I gave for what was presented to the board?
I did.
Do you have anything that you would like to add that you would want the board members to hear?
Yes, I do.
I want to say that St. Paul's has been at that location for 100 years.
The deed that's included among the exhibits that should have been presented shows that we purchased that land in July of 1920.
20, and we've been continuously at that location for all those 100 years.
St. Paul's has been what I'll call a bastion of that community for that entire 100-year
period of time.
There's been thousands of people that have been members of that congregation over the
period of time.
What we're trying to do is to utilize a portion of our Christian education wing to rent it
to Sophia Academy, which is a small Christian school that currently have seven students,
but they do hope to expand their student population.
their student population. So I want to make it clear that it's not just seven students
So I want to make it clear that it's not just seven students.
that, you know, we're looking to deal with here. There's, excuse me, 2,300 square feet of space.
So you can imagine that's a lot of space for seven students. So we're anticipating some growth over
the next period of time. It is in the former education building that we used, and we still
use it for an education building. To clarify, it's on the ground floor level of the building.
It's not on the second floor as the notice of refusal indicates. That was an error that was
made by the person from L&I who apparently prepared this. But it's on the ground level,
2,300 square feet of space for Sophia Academy, which is set up for kids with special needs at
the high school level and we do have floor plans if you'd like to see those i think we're good
thank you any other anyone else something new and different no no other uh no other evidence
other than the exhibits that's been presented in the testimony thank you planning commission
here we also have hillary emerson from the council i thought hillary was passing us okay hillary
hi good afternoon i'm mr chair members of the board hillary emerson on behalf of councilwoman
cherelle parker we're in a firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i do um yeah just as you saw i had i had uh had email correspondence with mr harris about the
property but didn't put in a formal um letter to the board um the councilwoman is not um opposed
to the proposed use here there's there's fire there's plenty of space um and there are prior
uses um school uses at this property overflow from the local elementary school and such um
we do ask that there be a proviso that um you know within the next six to nine months that
the church obtain a certificate of occupancy because as as um from best we can tell from