ZBA Hearing - September 27, 2023

as a three-family dwelling. He doesn't know the exact amount of time prior to it since he just

purchased the property, but what I will do is I, in the short period of time that I've been able

to represent him, in between other court appearances, I was able to obtain zoning for,

zoning archives on three properties that are within a block of his property. Attached as,

again is exhibit d uh just to go through again there's in its present condition what the the

problem in retrofitting this property to a single family dwelling the problem would be is it would

cost about 50 to 75 000 per floor the property in its present condition has um each has separate

utilities. It's a single entrance, but you'll see from photographs, there are three mailboxes.

He didn't learn about this until, unfortunately, number one, he purchased it immediately. It was

in February of this year. As soon as he found out when he went to go get a renter's license and was

denied. That's when he made the application. It was listed as a triplex, as you can see

in the shared screen. And we scroll up further. The OPA actually indicates also

three-story masonry apartment three um and again at exhibit j uh 1936 west ontario streets at

three-family dwelling and let me scroll down um show it's three-family dwelling and if i continue

to scroll down 2022 west ontario street um for the board if if i'm going too fast if i'm scrolling

too fast please let me know it's also a uh three family dwelling i think you've made your point

that it was used as a three family dwelling all right and i know that i had well obviously here's

letter of support there were 20 i think there were 22 members that appeared at this hearing

and it was none against the members of the board are all in support

and photographs of uh the poster being put up there

as i said i mean he purchased a property for 162 500 to to remediate or retro it to a single

family residence would would cost in excess of 150 to 225 000 well in excess of the property

council were the utilities originally separated they were they were and as you can see okay what

i wanted to do is i'm going to stop sharing the screen for a second and share the um

photographs of the actual

property itself. I had it.

It's

okay.

So that's

18 here's the property itself so this is um and i can go through the years i mean if you say it

even okay i mean i think i understand this was used as a multi-family dwelling and the chevro

there's a few other houses on the block that are also multiple family am i correct you are correct

you are correct and and it's again it's a three-story um there's a two-bedroom and two

one-bedroom properties uh the basement is utilities and why don't why don't you bring

your client on and adopt your testimony absolutely mr peterkin can you raise your hand so the panel

can bring you on mr peterkin please unmute yourself and wait for the chair

Hello, can you hear me now?

Hi, yes.

Could you state your name and spell, please, for the court stenographer?

My name is Ernest Peterkin, E-R-N-E-S-T-P-E-T-E-R-K-I-N.

Right.

Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

I do.

Please proceed, counsel.

okay mr peterkin did you have an opportunity to listen to my testimony today i did uh would you

Okay.

Mr. Peterkin, did you have an opportunity to listen to my testimony today?

adopt would you agree that it was accurate and would you adopt it as your own testimony i do

is that sufficient thank you uh questions from the board no mr chairman no chair

questions or comments from the virtual audience

yes chair we have charles richardson

mr richardson you've already been sworn to state your name for the record and proceed

can you hear me yeah i can okay mr chair charles richardson office of councilwoman cindy bass

room 508 city hall richardson r-i-c-h-a-r-d-s-o-n councilwoman has no opposition to granting the

variance. Thank you very much for taking the time to call. Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?

I see no hands, Chair. Planning Commission. Thank you, Chair Bergman, and good afternoon.

David Vecta with the City Planning Commission. Chair and board members, the comprehensive plan

recommends no change to the residential single-family zoning at this location. This property

appears to have been converted to multiple units without the benefit of permits through no fault

of the current owner. The appellant has shown that converting this property into a single

family dwelling would present an economic hardship, and so the City Planning Commission

recommends the board grant a proposed use variance for three dwelling units. Thank you.

MI 2023-002-737-1814 West Ontario Street. I vote yes.

my vote is yes thank you ishmael shaheed my vote is yes thank you thank you counsel

thank you very much maybe excuse yeah you can't you can't all right so number 13

MI-2023-003-582-7500 Central Avenue.

Eileen Quigley is the attorney.

There is a letter of support from the Fox Chase Civic Association.

Ms. Quigley is coming back in as a panelist.

Good afternoon, Chairman Bergman, members of the board.

How are you? Just state your name and spell for the court reporter, please.

Yes. Eileen Quigley, E-I-L-E-E-N. Quigley, Q-U-I-G-L-E-Y.

Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?

I do.

Could you identify your client, a relationship to this property?

Yes. So just to make a formal introduction, Eileen Quigley, Bowers Bar, LLP, 1735 Market Street, 51st Floor, Philadelphia 19103.

We're here on behalf of Temple University Health Systems, Jeans Hospital Campus, and I just want to confirm our Temple University Health Systems team and the project and design teams are on for this hearing right now.

our vice chair has a few questions for you good afternoon council do you agree to wave

the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy i do may i share the screen oh i'm sorry

have you emailed them all of the required documents and exhibits that are needed and

required to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing yes i have um please

Please proceed and share your screen.

We did receive a letter from Fox Case Cancer

Civic Association.

Thank you very much.

Letter of support.

Can everyone see the screen?

Hi, can everybody see the screen?

Yes, yes.

Okay, great.

So as noted, we did submit our exhibits packet to the board.

We have the portions of the signed lease, certificate of tax clearance, and photos of the posted zoning notices at exhibits A through C, as well as a notice to the RCO and neighbors at exhibit I, and the letter of support from Fox J Civic Association at exhibit J.

as noted we did have a an RCO meeting which was well attended on September

13th they are in support of this project this project entails an infill

This project entails an infill, actually, of an existing space.

actually

Here's a photo of the area.

Here's Gene's Hospital here.

The expansion will be within the campus.

It's to the right of the existing emergency department.

So it'll be an infill project right here to the right of that emergency department.

The reason why we're here today is Ellen and I issued a notice of referral because the expansion of the emergency department back in 2005 required zoning board approval, so any expansion of that previous approval needs to come back to you, and that's why we were here.

this infill project for the expansion of the emergency department is a little

over 3,000 square feet of new gross floor area it will allow for an

additional nine exam rooms for the emergency department here's an up close

this will be the rear of the emergency department expansion right here as you

can see these are the zoning plans and you can see that the expansion is right

here in this cross-hatched area it's at least 300 feet away this is the corner

of the jeans hospital building it's at least 300 feet away from Central Avenue

over 300 feet away at Hartel I mean Hasbro and this is Hartel Avenue back

here so it is within the campus renderings of this expansion can be seen

here this is what it will look like once it's done

and I would like to have Matt Shelak from Temple University Health Systems

promoted to a panelist so he can adopt my testimony as well as provide

additional testimony as to the importance of this expansion for not only Temple University

Health Systems, Jeans Hospital, but for the community. Mr. Shelak, you're free to speak.

Mike, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?

Sure. Matthew Shelak, M-A-T-T-H-E-W-S-H-E-L-A-K. You swear or affirm to tell the truth,

the whole truth, nothing but the truth. I do. Proceed, counsel. Yes. Thank you, Mr. Shilak.

You heard my testimony, my presentation about what this expansion is going to look like

and the purpose of this expansion. Would you say that that presentation was accurate?

I do. Yes. And if you were to testify, would you adopt my testimony as if it were your own

if you are testifying. Yes, I would. Thank you. And I want to just ask Mr. Chilak if he can state

before the board the reason for this expansion for Jeans Hospital, the critical nature of this

expansion, and why we're here requesting this special exception for the expansion.

Thank you, Eileen. And thank you for hearing our case today. So currently, the Jeans campus

emergency room has 19 patient bays. An ED, when planning an ED, an average ED bay can see about

1,600 patients per year. So the 1,900, the 19 bays that we have really gives us capacity for

30,000 emergency room visits a year. Last year in fiscal year 23, at Jeans, we saw 38,000

patients come through the ED. This year, we're expecting close to 42,000 to 43,000 patients

coming through our ED. So right now, we're over capacity, and we've been for the last several

years. So this expansion will give us nine additional bays that will allow us to accommodate

the existing volume and the increase that we're expecting. What this will do for us,

we'll be able to bring on additional providers, physicians, nurses to work our peak hours.

What that will do is that will increase our throughput time in the ED, which is the time

from a patient hitting the door until a medical decision is made on whether to admit them and how

to treat them, as well as it will decrease our hours of divert, which is when due to volume

constraints, we have to notify EMS ambulances that it's difficult for us to take some of those

911 calls. So for us, this expansion, the additional nine bays will take us from 19

to 28 bays and allow us to accommodate our growing patient volume.

to 28 bays and allow us to accommodate our our growing patient volume so it'll be a benefit for

the community uh and we're happy that the project will not encroach on any of our existing green

space it will not change our traffic patterns on campus it will not take uh up any existing

parking spaces so that's why we are here today asking for your consideration thank you Mr.

Shelak and with that chair Bergman and members of the board we would like to note that this request

for a special exception does meet the criteria under the zoning code as we don't anticipate any

detrimental impacts and as Mr. Shelak said this is actually a benefit to the surrounding community

and the city at large thank you council questions from the board no chair no Mr. Chairman questions

or comments from the virtual audience i see no hands chair planning commission

david thank you chair bergman and good afternoon david fechto with the city planning commission

chair bergman and board members the comprehensive plan recommends no change

to the special purpose institutional zoning

and the residential single-family zoning at this location.

The proposed hospital addition is consistent

with the comprehensive plan's recommended zoning,

which is an expansion of a longstanding use on the property

and will not injure the use of adjacent property.

So the City Planning Commission recommends

the board grant the proposed extension

of the previously approved use at this property.

Thank you. MI 2023-003-582-7500 Central Avenue, I vote yes.

Thomas Holliman, my vote is yes.

Ismail Shaheed, my vote is yes.

Thank you, counsel. You have your votes.

Thank you, Chair. May I also move our exhibits into evidence?

You most certainly can. Thank you.

That concludes my business. May I please be excused?

You can. Thank you. Thank you. Have a great.

Good. Number 14, MI2023, 002-695-600 Hellerman Street.

Henry Clinton is the attorney.

Letter of non-opposition from Long Crest Community Association with a proviso.

Mr. Clinton is coming back as a panelist.

Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, members of the board.

Hi, Mr. Clinton, you were already sworn today.

Could just, for the record, could you just state your name?

Sure.

Henry Clinton, C-L-I-N-T-O-N.

And could you identify your client, a relationship to this property?

Sure.

My client is Cedar Grove Christian Academy, and there's two representatives here.

The principal, Jeffrey Howard, H-O-W-A-R-D, and Paul White, W-O-I-T-E.

Okay, thank you.

and our vice chair has just a few questions for you sir good afternoon counselor do you agree to

weigh the reading of the refusal and stipulate to attack receive i do have you emailed in all

the required documents and exhibits that is needed and required to proceed with this case

five days in advance of this hearing yes except this afternoon we were able to finally get the tax

certification because of a glitch at the city's end.

Okay, no problem. Please proceed and share your screen.

Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, members of the board again. Henry Clinton for the applicant,

Cedar Grove Christian Academy. Cedar Grove Christian Academy has been educating the youth

of Philadelphia since 1968 and at this location since 2016. Basically elementary students. These

are my table of contents, exhibits A1 to A10, which I move into evidence, and I'll walk through

each document. So the refusal, we have six refusals, and I'd like to say the refusals to the

end, Mr. Chairman, because my presentation will be able to explain why our proposal will

necessitate the the alleviance of the onerous code in these six sections okay sure so as you

mentioned at the outset we do have a letter of non-opposition at a very heavily attended meeting

from the longcrest community association you can see there were 38 individuals in attendance and

We got a vote of 38 to 0, non-opposition.

There were some issues with regard to use of our proposal,

and our proposal is for a freestanding sign that's really replacing a...