Corsdale Morrill Park Civic Association with 86 total votes all in favor letter
that announced the property zoning map photographs
and the interior plans as well as the site.
and the interior plans as well as the site plan for the whole shopping center so um just uh just
to orient everyone here 3200 red lion road is also known as academy plaza which i think some
of you are familiar with um it's in there for a significant amount of time uh this is a ca1
drone shopping center uh it's at the intersection of academy and red lion road and it's right next
to northeast airport um there are several other there's many businesses in the shopping center
including acme right aid and a giant fitness and several other restaurant takeout businesses
including aritas dunkin donuts wendy's a chinese food restaurant and a pizza shop so let me just
go back to here um our proposed use is as a takeout restaurant specializing in italian
specialty sandwiches like meatballs, chicken cutlets, roast pork, as well as some eggplant
parmesan, pasta, etc. These are all created with the Santini's family's recipes. They have extensive
background in the food business as a family. Paul Santini, he was here with me today, himself has
over 20 years of experience running restaurants, both as an owner, manager, banquet manager,
as does many other members of his family who are also partners in this business.
The proposed hours are 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily, and those are regulated by the shopping center
themselves, so that would not really change. Let me get to the plans so I can show you them.
All kitchen equipment is going to be ventilated through the roof in the exhaust fan. I know that
that's always good. Trash is stored. There are shared commercial dumpsters managed by the shopping
center that are part of the lease for this restaurant to use. So that's the basic gist of
what's happening here. Let me just get back to, I'll show you this. So like I said, this is a
special exception, which is the standard of will not cause specific detrimental impacts to the
neighborhood beyond which normally might be expected for the proposed use. Here we have a
takeout restaurant, any shopping center, lots of parking, lots of access from major roads, so there
should be no congestion issues. There should be no detriment on conforming properties adjacent to it
because, again, this is exactly the type of business you would expect to be in this area.
um no impact on public safety it's a small business um that's going to have reasonable
operating hours um and for those reasons i think that is why the neighborhood was pretty much
universally in support of having another um food option for themselves and like i said on march
3rd there was 86 people at the west toursdale moral park civic association meeting and they
all unanimously voted to support this special exception. So with that, I wanted to just bring
Paul on to adopt my testimony.
What's your client's name, Ms. Bozidlo?
I'm Paul Santini with an S.
Mr. Santini, if you're in the audience, can you raise your hand, please?
please mr santini please unmute yourself and wait for the chair
could you state your name and spell for the court reporter my name is paul santini p-a-u-l
s-a-n-t-i-n-i do you swear or firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i do proceed um mr santini did you hear my test county here today and believe it to be truthful
and accurate yes and would you adopt it as your own yes great and then questions from questions
3200 red line road i vote yes thomas holliman my vote is yes
ishmael say my vote is yes sorry that that uh james snell my vote is yes thank you thank you
mi 2022 000 394 3501 island avenue
chair melanie lacy is coming back in as a panelist now
good afternoon again uh mr chairman and members of the board melanie lacy m-e-l-a-n-i-e last name
l-a-c-e-y i'm with claire harrison harvey bransburg 1835 market street suite 1400 philadelphia pu
thank you you've already been sworn today could you identify your client and the relationship
to the property yes i am accompanied by darren russ from giant direct which is a tenant of the
subject property mr holliman has a few questions for you good afternoon counselor do you agree to
waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy i do did you email all other exhibits
as required such as proof of ownership tax clearance copy of refusal pictures or drawings
of the property five days in advance of this hearing did you meet with the rco and do you
have an rco letter yes to all of the above please proceed and share your screen thank you are you
seeing my screen yes okay great so um once again i am uh representing giant direct uh which is
seeking relief for an accessory flat wall sign located above the second floor windowsill and
the property is located at 3501 island avenue so this is a fairly simple sign application we
received a refusal letter on january 6th because the location of the sign is prohibited in the i2
Zoning District. As mentioned, we did meet with all of the RCOs affected by this application,
five of them to be exact, and the meeting was hosted by the Coordinating RCO, which is the
Ward 40 Republicans. That meeting took place on March 7th to discuss the application, and they
submitted a letter of support to the ZBA yesterday, which I've included here.
As you can see, the establishment is primarily surrounded by other industrially zoned properties, and there aren't any residential properties in the immediate vicinity.
It also falls within the airport hazard control overlay district.
So here are some aerials to help situate the property.
the building is a giant direct corporate headquarters, and it's located near the
Philadelphia International Airport on the east side of Island Avenue, just north of the intersection
with Bartram Avenue. Brewster Avenue is also at the rear of the property. And so this portion of
Island Avenue has four lanes with two going in either direction, and then you have these parallel
theater roads that provide safe ingress and egress to the industrial park which i'm hovering over
here and here's a closer view you might also notice that the building is slightly lower than
the causeway which is another motivation for the height of the sign and the relief that we're
requesting so i'd like to clarify that this is a replacement sign this isn't a new sign
that's being requested, there's an existing zoning permit for a 13 by three foot accessory
flat wall sign in the very same location that was issued in December of 2010.
And I've highlighted it on the accompanying zoning plan, which you can see here.
And we also have the current zoning plan that accompanies the current sign application.
As you can see, the location is identical.
on the 2021 zoning plan, as well as the 2010 zoning plan that was approved previously.
Now, this is, here are the sign drawings. So there are two signs, one on the far left that
has a G Philadelphia headquarters. That is not a sub, not subject of this application. The giant
direct sign that I'm hovering over on the far right-hand corner is a subject of this application
due to the fact, as mentioned, that it's above the second story windowsill.
story windowsill.
So here are the sign dimensions.
The current sign that's being proposed is 15.5 feet by 4.8 feet.
As mentioned, the old sign was 13 by 3, so it's very similar.
And the design of internally illuminated channel letters is similar as well.
and lastly or almost last I have a photo of the building when it was occupied by the previous
tenant prior to the 2010 approval that I referenced earlier as you can see the wall sign is in the
same location as well above the second story windowsill so it's been over a decade and at
least two tenants since the sign has been affixed to the building in this exact location
here we have um photos of the zoning notice that was posted 21 days before this hearing
and compliance with procedures and that summarizes my testimony and the application i'll also mention
that i'm accompanied by mark weaver and ed mccann from inside as well as bob millett from advanced
signs and displays who are available for questions if need be but i will have darren russ from giant
direct adopt my testimony so if you would um promote him um he can be sworn in mr russ please
unmute yourself and wait for the chair could you state your name and spell for the court reporter
please yes darren russ d-a-r-e-n-r-u-s-s you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and
nothing but the truth i do proceed thank you darren did you hear the testimony that i provided
to the board this morning or afternoon great do you affirm that my presentation was accurate
i do and do you adopt the testimony as your own i do is there anything else that you would like
to share briefly concerning uh this application yes thank you so you know with giant direct we
do firmly believe and you know as we become a part of a community and serving our communities
with which we operate within as part of that we work to hire within the local community as well
the sign package as proposed would not only ease with the identification of the building
but also the pride our team members feel for both their employer and their work location
so I just wanted to say thank you for your time today as we review this this application
thank you questions from the board no Mr. Chairman no Mr. Chairman questions or comments from the
virtual audience. I see no hands at this time, Chair. Planning Commission. Thank you, Mr.
Chairman. Members of the board, David Fecto, City Planning Commission. The comprehensive plan
recommends no change to medium industrial zoning at this location. The proposed sign and its
placement would not impair the use of adjacent properties and is the type of identification sign
that a reasonable person would expect to see in an industrial district.
The City Planning Commission recommends that the board approve the signed variants.
Thank you.
MI 2022-000-394-3501-Island Avenue, I vote yes.
Thomas Holliman, my vote is yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shahid, my vote is yes.
Thank you.
Thank you.
MI-2022-00400-4131 Woodland Avenue.
Chair, Mr. Pollock is coming back in as a panelist now.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Here we go. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, members of the board.
Stephen Pollack, S-T-E-P-H-E-N, P-O-L-L-O-C-K, on behalf of the applicant, Pozell Enterprises.
Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
I do, Mr. Chairman.
Could your client, could you tell us the relationship to this property?
My client is the owner of this property.
I have with me the executive vice president, David Hess, who will join us as a witness.
And I also have my associate, Nico Rialbuto, who I would appreciate if he could become a panelist,
Because unlike some of these younger attorneys, I have trouble chewing gum and showing my.
Unlike some of these younger attorneys, I have trouble chewing gum and showing my screen at the same time.
So if you could give me that courtesy, that would be appreciated.
We certainly will.
Mr. Redding, who's coming back in as a panelist now?
And we shall wait, I guess.
So I see he's, here we go.
This is a, this is a.
Hold on one minute, Mr. Park, hold on one minute.
Mr. Holloman has a few questions.
Good afternoon, counsel.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to his accuracy?
I do, Mr. Holloman.
Did you email all other exhibits as required, such as proof of ownership, tax claims, copy of refusal,
pictures for plans of the property five days in advance of this hearing did you meet with the RCO
and do you have an RCO letter all of the above we have done Mr. Holloman thank you please proceed
okay Mr. Chairman members of the board this is a surface parking lot non-accessory on Woodland
Avenue down from where from the Penn Vet School and right next to the what was the University
of Sciences campus. This lot exists because of two temporary variances granted since 2008.
Stop right there, Nico. 2008 by the Zoning Board of Adjustment. So our last temporary
variance has expired. We came back in front of the Spruce Hill Civic Association.
What happens is we have this big office building up at the corner at 600 Chester Avenue.
and it has this lot was to provide parking for commercial tenants. One of our major
tenants recently was the University of Sciences. The University of Sciences as it retrenched
has withdrawn from that building leaving my client with about a half a building of about
22,000 square feet of vacant space. And the hope is that to have this continue for non-accessory
parking. We met with Spruce Hill Civic. I believe you have the letter from its chair, zoning chair,
Barry Grossbach, where they recognize that we are now at a point negotiating a third
time, restricted variance for a 12-year period is requested by the applicant.
And Barry goes on to say why they didn't want to give it, although he says at the end,
my own sense is, that should things remain in good standing at the end of this 12-year period,
and should Pizelle still be in the property operator and owner, then consideration should
be given to a more permanent change. That's a personal observation, as Barry notes,
and not one discussed with or endorsed by the Spruce Hill Committee.
But on behalf of the Spruce Hill Committee, they supported a 12-year extension of the variance.
So we've lived up to all the conditions.
Can I have Mr. Hess get on for a moment, Mr. Chairman?
David Hess.
Mr. Hess, can you please unmute yourself and wait for the chair?
Hi, can you hear me?
Yes. Could you state your name and spell it for the court reporter?
David Hess, D-A-V-I-D-H-E-S-S.
I'm the executive director for Pozell Enterprises.
the history of this property and its continuing hardship since it's been allowed to be used as a parking lot now for about 13 years.
Is that correct? Yes. And do you adopt what I stated also as your testimony today?
Yes. Okay. With that, Mr. Chairman, members of the board, we have our exhibits.
We would ask for them to be admitted into record and we would rest.
Absolutely. Questions from the board? No, Mr. Chairman.
no mr chairman questions or comments from the virtual audience
i see no hands at this time commission
thank you mr chairman uh members of the board david fecto city planning commission
the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the residential single family zoning at this location
the parking lot does exist so we think a reasonable compromise would be to allow the
parking lot to continue to exist under the grant of another temporary variance. And the City Planning
Commission would suggest that that would be reasonable to limit to another six-year variance
and the applicant could come back later if they needed further grant extension. Mr. Chairman,
if we may be heard with regard to the issue of six years, and Mr. Hess, can you explain,
because we went back and forth with the Spruce Hill Civic Association with regard to that.
Can you explain the thinking behind asking for 12 years?
David, are you still on or?
I don't know.
David?
Mr. Hess, can you please unmute yourself?