ZBA Hearing - June 9, 2021

Okay. So again, you'll see in 1960, retail, grocery, and delicatessen, one family dwelling.

That's as though that's what's in front of us today.

That was the property in 1960. If you look in 1955, this was a beer distributor and one family dwelling. And if you go in 1998, this was a barbershop in a single family.

And then I didn't find any use permit for the church, but its last use was as a church. So at

no point ever in this history has the property ever been used on the first floor other than,

at least according to the history, a commercial component, non-residential.

So here's our application for appeal that we filed to the ZBA along with the notice

refusal in the project information form here's the zoning map again a mixture between cmx2 and

rm1 but you see the shape of this of this property this would you know this screams that this would

be a cmx1 or cmx2 and we're only trying to use it as cmx1 not cmx2 if this was a cmx2 property

though food beverage and groceries would be allowed as a right so this would be as a right

project and it's not typical you see an RM1 property with this type of shape it's more of a

of a mixed-use type of property uh again you know we're on the corner of Glenwood and uh Reese

Street right here on Fifth Street and Sixth in the Harrogate section of Philadelphia

um photographs of the property you'll see it from you know the front of the property

you see the right of property on North Reese to left of the property on North Reese you can see

commercial across the street to the right of the property on Glenwood because we're in the corner

of Glenwood and Reese to the left of the property on Glenwood and then our plans I definitely need

to enlarge these but you know there's a separate entrance for the residential component here's the

commercial component again the corner like again you have those jagged edge corners you see a lot

of those in South Philly as well where this is typical you walk in you walk in there's the you

know cash register you have the whole retail area where there is you know the food and and whatever

again no on-site cooking it's merely a corner store like a deli that was in 1960 how this

property was being used. And then we have the letter. Now, we had two meetings with Hase.

So, you know, as part of the project, you know, they have a pre-community meeting,

and they always ask, well, can you get nearby neighbors to, you know, sign a petition if

possible, which we did prepare. Now, this is a heavily Latino or Spanish-speaking population.

So when we first did the petition, we only had it in English. There was an allegation that some people signed the petition not knowing what they were signing. So I asked for a second meeting, and then we had the petition also done in English and in Spanish. So there would be no issue.

We also had them review the petition beforehand the second time to make sure we translated it correctly and there was no issue with regards to that.

So, you know, again, you know, we embrace the fact that, you know, the people at the community who showed up, the seven individuals are against the project, but there was nothing really zoning related.

But there was nothing really zoning-related.

We try to work with the...

We tried to work with the individuals in the community who were against it, who stated they just were against it.

They're like, these type of convenience stores are nuisances to the neighborhood.

We're going to be there all hours of the night.

And we indicated to them, and we would agree these form of proviso, first of all, commercial pickup.

Secondly, the hours of operation would be seven days a week, 8 a.m. to 11 p.m.,

and we would be willing to see if that's acceptable to the board. We would put cameras,

and this is not a zoning-related thing, but we would put cameras and appropriate lighting to

make sure that this does not become a nuisance area. And again, indicated that the owner is going

to live there and is going to work there so i know that zoney runs with the land but you know

that's you know what he wants to do in terms of his profession and investment so what again is

his intention with the commercial space it's just a corner store it's well food beverages

food beverages and groceries you know that's that's all with no cooking on premises and again

in 1960 that was what this property was permitted for. 1955 it was a beer distributor. 1998 it was

a barbershop and most recently it was a church. But all he wants to go is refer back to the 1960s

where this was food, beverages, and groceries. So as you can see this was the second form of

the petition but you can see it's in English and in Spanish. And the other thing that was

really important to the group was to get nearby neighbors so this is on north 5th street it's on

reese it's on glenwood these are all signatures within the block radius so here's the first page

the second page then here's additional signatures because of different parts of you know of that we

got in english as well from the first time but there's like you know almost over 50 signatures

60 signatures of people nearby um i can't speak to the people who were there uh you know who

attended the community meeting but we really did try to work with reasonable provisors

especially given the history of the property and the intended use just here's um our letter that

we sent to the community and again we had two separate meetings so you can summarize mr yeah

that's it that's it i mean so the point the point is is that we're i think this is a responsible

use. We are agreed to grant her reasonable provisos. The bottom floor has never been used

as a residential in its history. And the use that we're requesting, the property has been

used that way in the 1960s. I have my client, Ayd Syed, who hopefully is still on the line.

I'm not sure. It's been a pretty long list. But if he's not, as an officer of the court,

i would you know state that everything i state is true and correct noted any questions from the board

no no anyone else would like to testify in this case if so i see your client now i do too as well

you can get on and spell your full name and i'll swear you in

yes good evening how are you guys my name is yad saeed do you hear me yes please spell your name

e-y-a-d s-a-y-d-e thank you you swear if i'm to tell the truth the whole truth or nothing but the

truth yes i do thank you mr knockinson yeah and before i have him adopt my testimony one other

thing when he when mr saeed purchased the property it was represented to him this was a multi-unit

structure he he was he didn't understand that zoning requires certain uh there are certain

limitations in zoning so what's multi-unit doesn't mean that you can put anything in that unit

so his understanding was that given the especially configuration of and the the signage and the

history of the property that he can put the the the his his grocery store in there so anyway with

That being said, Mr. Saeed, you heard everything I stated today.

Yes, I did.

And is it true and correct?

Is it true and correct?

We're having technical difficulties.

I'll go back to what I said.

We'll stipulate you being an officer in court, he would adopt your testimony.

Anyone else would like to testify in this case?

If so, please raise your hand.

Here we have Mr. Foulkes. Mr. Foulkes, you can unmute yourself and speak.

Here we have Mr. Folk. Mr. Folk, you can unmute yourself and speak.

Mr. Foulkes, good afternoon. Please identify yourself for the record.

Good afternoon, Chairman DiCicco, members of the ZBA board. My name is Sloan Foulkes, representing the Office of Councilman Maria King on the Sanchez Room 508 City Hall.

We're affirmed to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth.

So, yes, sir. The applicant has met with the coordinating RCO and received a letter of opposition, actually.

At the community meeting, the residents and neighbors that were present expressed concerns, which included parking, trash, loitering, and other quality of life issues.

Our office shares those concerns. Therefore, we are not in support of this variance request. Thank you.

Mr. Folks, was your office aware of the petition that the applicant submitted?

Actually, I was at the community meeting, Chairman DiCicco, and that was a basic point

of contention um i i uh miss amazon was the um representative uh from the mr knockamson's office

there one of the issues that came up came up and um i'm sure that um uh mr um noxin's not

knockamson's uh client would agree was that uh at the time of this meeting with hasse

uh there were neighbors near neighbors across the street who had concerns about um not speaking or

or the actual applicant not reaching out to them.

I'm not going to speculate on whether he did or didn't,

but that was a point of concern with neighbors

that were directly across the street at the time.

As Mr. Nackamson said, yes, seven of your neighbors opposed it,

but there were 33 neighbors that were at the meeting.

And as Mr. Nackamson has a position of 50 people,

this is a small block,

so i'm pretty sure 50 people don't live on those blocks um 33 people they were you know strong

opposition from the 33 people that were there so yes our office is aware of it uh we did take that

the councilman did take that in consideration um when uh she uh formulated her opinion um

i'm i'm able to answer any other questions sir yeah so i don't know where when mr folks was

because there were two meetings so again there was some issue with the first meeting because

our petition was only in English. That's why we asked for the second meeting to have an

opportunity to put a petition in English and in Spanish. And this property technically really

intersects three streets, Glenwood, Reese, and Fifth Street. And that's where we got all of

our signatures. Originally, there was an issue because we didn't, I don't remember if it was

Glenwood or Reese, we didn't get signatures. So when we had a second bite of the apple with the

multilingual petition um that's when we actually got names on of the other streets i think we just

got reese street and we didn't get glenwood and then they asked for that and i had the letter in

front of me and it's online right here in front of the board we only there were only seven people

opposed there were 30 33 people in the meeting but only 20 only seven voted and in the letter

they indicated they have no issue with commercial use they just don't want a grocery store in there

So, again, that's Mr. Saeed's profession.

And in terms of trash and loitering, again, we'll agree to reasonable provisos.

Understood.

Again, I just want to make sure Mr. Fulks was aware of the petition, which basically counters what the RCO was putting out there.

All right.

Anyone else to testify?

i see no that he is at this time too thank you planning commission good evening david

fecto city planning commission mr chairman members of the board the comprehensive plan

recommends this property for for commercial mixed use there is documented history of commercial use

of this property dating to 1955 we recommended the board grant requested variants thank you

MI 2021-000379-3338 North, Reese Street, excuse me.

My vote is yes with the following proviso.

Commercial trash pickup, hours of operation, Monday through Sunday, 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.

My vote is yes with proviso.

Yes with proviso.

Yes with proviso.

Thank you.

You're welcome. Are we going on to number eight, calendar number MI 2021-001-229-4340

Bybury Road. The attorney is Zachary Berger, and we have a letter of support from Franklin Mills.

And we have a letter of support from Franklin Mills Advisory Council and also from Councilman Brian O'Neill.

I don't see an attorney by that name, Madam Vice Chair.

You can do Carrie Nace Post. It might be her.

Okay. He's coming back in as a panelist. Thank you, Tanya.

hi carrie can you put your name and address on the record and spell your last name

hi good evening at this point uh carrie nace paust c-a-r-r-i-e-n-a-s-e-p-o-u-s-t attorney with

the law firm of fox rothschild 2700 kelly road suite 300 warrington pa do you swear a firm to

tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth? I do. Do you also agree to waive the reading of

the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy? I do. Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof

of ownership, tax compliance, refusal, or referral, photos under plans of the property five days in

advance of this hearing, and have you met with the RCO, and do you have a letter? Yes, I do.

Okay, you may proceed. Thank you. Can I share my screen? Sure, you may.

Okay, you can see that here, great.

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

I know this has been a very long hearing, so I will try to be brief to the point, but

address all of the pertinent information here.

I represent the applicant for this project at SafeStore Byberry LLC.

On the line with me today is also John Williams, who is a principal of the applicant, as well as Dan Mattson, who is the civil engineer.

Safe Store Byberry LLC has this property under agreement.

I did include a letter of authorization as Exhibit 5 in your packet.

I do also have here this afternoon the first page of the agreement of sale, as well as the signature page, which I'd like to mark as Exhibit 5A, and I will submit to Sharon Saleta and the board following the hearing here.

But we do have a letter of authorization that was submitted from the property owner confirming that the applicant has the right to file this application.

the property that's before you this this afternoon is 4340 Byberry Road as well as

4301 Woodhaven Road pull up a copy of the aerial plan

this property is uh total it's comprised of two parcels the total area is 12 and a half acres

approximately. It is zoned RSA 1. It's located along Byberry Road. You have Woodhaven Road to

the south. Up in the northwest area is the Philadelphia Mills Shopping Center, and then

it's bordered to the east by the Pequessing Creek. 4340 Byberry is actually improved with an existing

house as well as an outbuilding, both of which are vacant and are being proposed to be demolished.

4301 Woodhaven Road is back here. It is all vacant and contains natural resources.

The applicant is proposing to develop this property with a three-story building that will

be used for self-storage facility. Due to the zoning of this property, which is RSA1,

it is not permitted within the zoning district, so we are requesting a variance for the use

as well as the number of parking spaces in front of you here is the refusal so we do have a variance

for the use parking spaces 105 are required 25 are proposed loading spaces five are required and

four are proposed we did submit a zoning site plan i'm sorry which is here you can see the building

we're proposing approximately 105,000 total square feet, the 25 parking spaces. We do have

two points of access on Byberry Road. We did meet with the Franklin Mills Advisory Council as well

as the RCO. Also, given the size of the project, it did require us to go through the CDR review

process. We did meet with that committee last week. We received comments both from LNI as well as

We received comments both from L&I as well as, in terms of our zoning review, as well as the CDR.

They did recommend the project, but had a few recommendations, which we took into consideration.

And I will show you, we have a revised plan.

Let me just get that here.

Apologies, let me make it a little smaller so we can actually see it.

I actually submitted another revised plan here.

So based on the comments that we received from the CDR, we included a street light along

the frontage.

We also included some sidewalk along the frontage along Byberry.

I'm actually going to pull up the rendered site plan, which is easier to see.

Here we go.

So this sidewalk here along the frontage of Byberry, that was added at the request of CDR.

As I said, there's one additional street light here, which we added.

We also designated one of the parking spaces for a green or share car parking space, and they also asked for bike rack, which we added here.

During the meeting, they also made mention of the number of trees that were being removed, so we did agree to add some more landscaping in this area for reforestation references.

So, if the Board does choose to grant the variances that are being requested, we would ask that there be a proviso that they accept the revised zoning plan, which was submitted to Ms. Aletta yesterday afternoon.

How many pages, Ms. Pels?

There are two. There's a zoning plan and a landscape plan.

On the revisions?

Yes.

Two pages. Okay. Thank you.

in front of you here is a rendering of what the building will look like this is one of the side