that there is, yeah, one residential caretaker unit.
I forget what the actual zoning is.
All right.
Thank you for taking the time to call us.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
There we have Oscar Beiser.
They're coming back in as the panelists now.
Oscar?
Hi, Oscar Weiser.
Hi, sir.
Could you please state your name and spell for the sonographer?
Oscar Weiser, O-S-C-A-R.
Last name, B as in boy, E-I-S-E-R-T.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Could you please turn on your video?
Yes, I can.
Hi, Oscar.
Oscar, are you a neighbor?
I am a resident.
I'm not a near neighbor, but I live I live nearby. You live in Germantown. I do. OK, please start your testimony.
Hi, I'm Oscar Beisert. I also represent the Keeping Society of Philadelphia.
Hi, I'm Oscar Beisert. I also represent the Keeping Society of Philadelphia. We're a preservation.
We're a preservation nonprofit, and we authored the Germantown Urban Village nomination.
As you already probably know, this building is part of that district,
and this building is also about a block from Market Square, which is the 17th century center of Germantown.
I did want to just state, while I respect the near neighbors, you know, points of opposition and others that oppose,
I do think this is an ideal project for this building as a preservationist.
There's no new construction being added.
They're adding, you know, historically appropriate windows, and they're using the open lot for
parking, which they're going to landscape.
I just wanted to also mention that I know that a lot of us feel very sad when we see
industrial or manufacturing uses discontinue.
But as the person who researched this building, I can assure you that it has not been used for manufacturing since it was turned into a garage in 1930.
So I did just want to state my support for this project and hope the owners can, you know, find some amenable point with the near neighbors.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you very much for taking the time to call.
Is anyone else in the audience?
Chair, we have Charles Richardson.
He's coming back in as a panelist now.
Mr. Richardson
Okay I'm back in
I think
I had you this morning right
didn't we
did I swear you in this morning
No we actually didn't have
I had a case but it got continued
but it's okay
Could you please state your name and spell for this
Charles Richardson
R-I-C-H-A-R-D-S-O-N
Office of Councilwoman Cindy Bass, room 508 City Hall.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Please proceed.
Councilwoman has some reservations with regard to the property because of the fact that we have two different RCOs.
One is opposing and one is in non-opposition, but we also have to note that there is opposition.
to the uh property and you know to the conversion of the property and there was
some disappointment that they did not uh come back and um you know and speak with the community any
further uh the councilwoman if you know it is is going to uh go with the uh coordinating rco
in uh objecting to the project uh it is a nice project and it it does does some marvelous
marvelous things as there's this oscar had uh alluded to but again she's sticking with the
community at this point you have any questions okay no mr chairman i mean again i'll just i'll
just point out the fact that the though they took a position of opposition that the votes were
fairly clearly you know neutral all right mr richardson thank you very much is there anyone
else in the audience here we have jim dragoni he's coming back in as a panelist now hands do
you have he's the last one all right thank you hi sir could you please state your name and spell
for this thermographer he should be coming in in a minute chair
uh hello hi sir could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
yes jim dragoni it's d-r-a-g-o-n-i like dragon with i at the end yeah sure okay do you swear
or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do jim are you a neighbor
yes i'm a neighbor i live about um just about a half a block away on church are you in favor
this project or against well i have a question about the process a question about why because
of a statement that was made earlier well why don't you tell me what your question is
okay a statement was made earlier saying specifically saying that so many were for
and so many were against in that meeting that we had right we had one meeting right most of the
participants in the meeting voted to have another meeting. They weren't ready to take that vote.
So I think it's disingenuous to refer to that particular vote and leave out all the people
And leave out all the people that were at the meeting that said they didn't want to vote yet.
that were at the meeting that said they didn't want to vote yet.
They wanted to have another meeting.
So, so, so, Jim, I think that testimony was a result of letters that were sent.
And that one letter that was sent was three to three.
And the other one, I did not see the count, but they were like, I believe, four to one.
And that's what they were.
Well, I didn't, I didn't get any, I didn't get any letters.
Well, they sent the letters into the zoning board.
well i don't know if it's okay or not well well thank you very much for calling in i appreciate
it is there anyone else no further hands here planning commission amy boyd with the planning
commission the comprehensive plan recommends a change in zoning at this location from i2 medium
industrial to irmx industrial residential mixed use the proposed use would be allowed under the
proposed zoning additionally the citywide vision recommendation 8.1.2 point c calls for the
conversion of historical buildings historical industrial buildings into new uses the proposed
residential use is also in character with the surrounding neighborhood the planning commission
recommends that the board grant their request variance for multifamily okay um thank you um
i'm going to hold this so that the whole board can talk about it i mean we've had a lot of test
money back and forth and will be the 29th am i correct hillary the 29th we'll vote on this
two o'clock and we'll obviously go over it in the executive session in the morning
thank you both understood thank you all right um
number eight and number ten uh daniel might is the attorney come on
so number we're we're going to hear these together we're going to vote on them separate
So, come on in. So, number nine is MI 2025 003 337 6801 New State Road, number B, and number 10 is MI 2025 003 344 6801 New State Road, number C.
um i i believe there's non-opposition from taconi civic association and counselor could you start
off by stating your name and spell for the stenographer certainly uh can you hear me okay
i can no problem uh my name is dan meta that's spelled m-i-t-a m as in michael right do you
swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth, sir? I do. Could
you identify your client, the relationship to the property? Yes. Uh, our client is the applicant,
um, uh, 6801, uh, new state, uh, pardon me, uh, Orthodox 6801 state road, BNC LLC.
Our Board Secretary Cheryl L. Gaston has a few questions for you.
Good afternoon, counsel. Did you submit your exhibit packet five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, I did.
And do you waive the reading of the referral and stipulate to its accuracy?
We do.
You may begin your presentation, share your screen.
Thank you very much. Just a moment.
And that's for both properties.
Understood.
You're coming up.
We're good.
Okay, terrific.
All right. Thank you for the indulgence as I technically stumbled through this. For ease
of reference, I'll just note by way of context, number one, we thank the board for preempting
our request of consolidating the review okay uh these two parcels uh b and c are uh abutting one
another uh they are subject to this identical i2 industrial zoning and uh we are asking for the
same relief for each uh which is uh by way of background uh we are looking for a uh junkyard
salvage use which is permitted in I to by way of special exception which is
why the application was referred to this board will just note I think what's
uh we'll just note i think what's helpful is and i'm glad to go over any of the exhibits or
helpful is
background uh that the board uh would like to go into but as a matter of efficiency
i'm just going to pull up a picture uh of the subject property here because i think
This is probably the best kind of explanatory context of the current use and the background.
I'll just note that by way of background, the owner is an affiliate of Orthodox Auto Company, which has been in operation since 1968 by the Evangelist family.
they now have the second generation under the roof operating this business and they've been
at this general location since the early 80s their main business started just next door
at 5247 unruh which you can kind of see in this general area if you follow my cursor to the left
of the building here and this property was acquired both parcels b and c circa 2021
and has been effectively an expansion of that use in this area for those that might be familiar
this this general area you can see interstate 95 right up around here
to the, I'll say, northwest direction.
Can folks still see?
We can.
Okay, terrific.
It's just north of the Tocconi-Pamala Bridge in the Tocconi area.
And this general area, which is east of the I-95 corridor,
where industrial development is encouraged by the Comprehensive Plan,
has been historically an industrial area dating back to the mid-19th century
with the old historical distant sawmills.
So right now, the subject properties, B and C, are being used as storage,
which is consistent with the I-2 current zoning,
and they're looking to expand that to a junkyard salvage use,
which would be consistent with the permitted use at the adjacent property, not a pertinent, but proximate, at 5247-57 Unruh.
Okay, questions from the end.
So the RCO was in favor when you went there?
Yes, we met with the Ticcone Civic Association on September 3rd and got a letter of no opposition.
Could you have your testimony adopted?
Absolutely.
I'd like to bring up at this time Nick Evangelist.
Nick, could you please come forward and speak with them, Mike?
My name is Nick Evangelist.
Last name spelled E-V-A-N-G-E-L-I-S-T.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
please proceed council great um mr evangelist did you hear my entire testimony and recitation of
facts uh yes i did and uh do you believe them to be true and accurate i do in all respects yes
and what are you willing to adapt uh such testimony as your own yes i am questions from the board
okay um how close is the nearest residential property it's uh on the other side of uh i-95
it's well outside of the thousand foot distance requirement as well as outside of the 300 uh more
circa distance requirement okay and it says here there was some mention of uh of fire at the
location uh not at the subject property um in recent recollection i should note based on
historical use um but i know with any any incidents that have come up have been you know
dealt with in in the course of their business with ellen i in the city and uh worth probably
noting the the company also has contracts with the city of philadelphia and does business with
So what kind of, you know, what kind of materials are we talking about in terms of this junk and salvage?
Sure, I'll do my best in the Nick and Corrector supplement, but it's generally taking autos of cars and disassembling them and recycling the parts and extracting from them either just whole parts that could be wholesale back or sold through brokerage kind of medians,
or it could also be salvaging the precious metals or other usable metal.
or it could also be salvaging the precious metals or other usable metals on premises
that can then be, you know, likewise sold on wholesale or to other buyers.
Nick, anything?
Yeah, that's correct.
We process end-of-life vehicles.
That's what we do.
Okay, so this is akin to a chop shop, but legal, correct?
Correct.
correct we we like to use the term uh recycling and salvage uh but
i i can say that we certainly appreciate the candor if not the connotation
but it's it it's not where autos go to live on uh if you will all right and then uh and and
And is there, so you make, you retrieve all these parts and what have you.
You're not, there are no sales or anything on the property, correct?
I don't believe, Nick, do we do any sales?