COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA COMMITTEE ON LICENSES AND INSPECTIONS Remote location using Microsoft® Teams Monday, November 13, 2023 1:00 p.m. PRESENT: COUNCILMAN MICHAEL DRISCOLL, CHAIR COUNCILMAN MARK SQUILLA, VICE-CHAIR COUNCILWOMAN KATHERINE GILMORE RICHARDSON
Good afternoon. To begin the public hearing, I will make the following announcement: Due to the continuing threat of public health from COVID- 19, City Council Committees are currently meeting remotely. We are using Microsoft Teams to make these remote hearings possible. Instructions for how the public may view and offer public testimony at public hearings of Council Committees are included in the public hearing notices that are published in the Daily News, Inquirer and Legal Intelligencer prior to the hearing and can also be found on PHLCouncil.com. I now note that the hour has come. Mr. Golden, will you please call the roll to take attendance. Members that are in attendance will please indicate that you are present when your name is called. Also, please say a few brief words when responding so that your image will be displayed on screen when you speak.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chair. Good afternoon, colleagues. I am present.
Good afternoon, everyone. I am present. Looking forward to starting this hearing.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chair and colleagues. I'm present.
Present. Well, thank you all that's on the call for your patience. A quorum for the Committee is present and this hearing is now called to order. This is the public hearing of the Committee on Licenses and Inspection regarding Bill No. 230569 and Bill 11 No. 230647. Mr. Golden, will you please read the titles of these bills.
Bill No. 230569, amending Chapter 9-4400 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "Responsible Business Operations," to expand the provisions of video monitoring of nuisance businesses and to provide additional enforcement mechanisms in connection with certain nuisance businesses engaged in drug paraphernalia sales, all under certain terms and conditions. And Bill No. 230647, amending Subcode A of The Philadelphia Administrative Code and Subcode PM, the Philadelphia Property Maintenance Code, of Title 4 and Chapter 9-3900, Property Licenses and Owner Accountability of The Philadelphia Code to modify provisions, remedies, including fines, and licensing and certification requirements related to shared retaining walls, all under certain terms and conditions.
Thank you. Before we begin to hear testimony from the witnesses we have for today, everyone who has been invited to the meeting to testify should be aware that this public hearing is being recorded. Because this hearing is public, participants and viewers have no reasonable expectation of privacy. By continuing to be in this meeting, you are consenting to being recorded. Additionally, prior to recognizing Members for the questions or comments they have for the witnesses, I will note for the record at this time that we will use the chat feature available in Microsoft Teams to allow the Members to signify that they wish to be recognized. In order to comply with the Sunshine Act, the chat feature must only be used for this purpose. Mr. Golden, will you please call the first panel we have to testify this morning on Bill 13 No. 230569.
Thank you. And Mr. Chair, Councilwoman Gilmore Richardson would like to be recognized to make comment on Bill 18 No. 230569 before we begin the first panel.
Thank you. Thank you so much, Mr. Chair. And thank you colleagues for your attendance at today's hearing on the Committee on Licenses and Inspections. Despite working aggressively as a body to address the proliferation of nuisance businesses impacting our communities, we are still seeing these stores evade our rules and regulations. Throughout the last two years, my office and I have worked diligently with Licenses and Inspections, Health, Law and PPD to try to end the sale of illegal drug paraphernalia in our communities. Yet the problem persists. City Council has passed nuisance pieces of business legislation including our colleague Councilmember Phillips' bill to overhaul the citation process over the last few terms, and it has shown us that we must continue to use every tool in our toolbox to address this behavior. Adding camera monitoring as a part of Nuisance Abatement Plans is one way to help crack down on all of these activities. By strengthening Nuisance Business Abatement Plans, the City will be able to have more leverage to seize business operations in stronger cases if cease operation orders are challenged in court. This legislation, Bill No. 11 230569, will do three important things: One, it clearly establishes minimum requirements for Nuisance Abatement Plans and specifies the way that video monitoring should be implemented as a part of these plans. It also adds a requirement that businesses engaged in nuisance behavior related to unlawful drug paraphernalia sales must sign an acknowledgement that they have violated the City's zoning requirements. And finally, this legislation states that businesses engaged in nuisance behavior related to unlawful drug paraphernalia sales must remove all drug paraphernalia from the premises. There was already video monitoring language in our code that's applicable to all nuisance businesses, but this bill makes the requirements more specific and geared towards addressing the underlying nuisance behavior and as language to create an expectation that when there are unlawful drug paraphernalia sales, language about video monitoring should be in both the notice of intent to seize and the Nuisance Abatement Plan. The amendment adds language around participating in the City's camera program and sharing footage with the Philadelphia Police Department. I want to thank the Law Department, particularly Kristin Bray, the Philadelphia Police Department, DC Dales and Healy and the entire team for all of their hard work with working with my office and all the teams at L&I and Health so that we can improve and strengthen the Nuisance Business Behavior Abatement Plan for the City of Philadelphia. Thank you so much, Mr. Chair. Thank you colleagues. And in advance, I thank all of the witnesses who have signed on to testify in support of this legislation. To that end, colleagues, I humbly request your support for Bill No. 230569 and the corresponding amendment. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Councilmember, and thank you for your leadership for many years on this issue. Thank you.
The first panel on Bill No. 230569 will be Fran Healy, Deputy Commissioner at the Philadelphia Police Department.
Afternoon, Commissioner. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER HEALY: Good afternoon. Good afternoon, Chairperson Driscoll, Vice-Chair Squilla and other members of the Committee on Licenses and Inspections. As I mentioned, my name is Fran Healy. I'm the Deputy Commissioner of the Philadelphia Police Department and I'm responsible for the Offices of Legal Affairs and Professional Responsibility. First, on behalf of Commissioner John Stanford, thank you for allowing the police department the opportunity to voice its opinion on Bill No. 230569 amending City Code 9-4400. As you know, the Philadelphia Police Department has been closely involved with the development and recent amendments expanding both the scope of the ordinance and the authority of the PPD to intervene with nuisance businesses, which became this past July, I think July 5th, actually when it became effective. As such, the Philadelphia Police Department fully supports the additional amendment set forth in Bill No. 230569. (Background interruption.)
Pardon me, Councilmember Phillips. You need to go on mute. Councilmember Phillips? (Background interruption.) COUNCIL TECH SUPPORT: We got him. Thank you.
Thank you. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER HEALY: Okay. Where was I -- I said these amendments relate to the enforcement of nuisance business based all in part on the business's unlawful sale of drug paraphernalia. Additionally, the amendments expand the requirements for any Nuisance Abatement Plans by incorporating surveillance cameras, as Councilperson mentioned, as well as additional requirements for businesses found to be selling illegal drug paraphernalia. The police support all these efforts and have been working with Councilmembers to accomplish as such. It's important to note, and this is very, very important for a lot of folks to realize, it's important to note these amendments came as a direct result of the collaboration and coordination with the City's Nuisance Committee and the leadership of Kristin Bray from the Law Department working with our committed partners on City Council. As a result of this ongoing collaboration, City Council was able to not only be responsive to the Administration but also able to work through multiple versions of this ordinance in advance to develop a final product you see here today and in record time. With this type of collaboration and coordination between the Administration and Council, that will ensure the amendments recently made to 9-4400 will have a lasting and positive impact on the communities we serve throughout the City. This concludes my testimony and I'd be happy to answer any questions. But I will say this. I just want to make one quick comment. The 9-4400 that was passed in July or actually became effective in July, we have training for all commanders this coming Wednesday at 1:00 p.m. In addition to that, we've actually developed to facilitate exactly what Councilmember Gilmore Richardson mentioned. As a better way of tracking the mechanisms on everything we have to do, we put together a tracking mechanism developed through the PPD, and we'll be doing a demonstration of that at 2:00 p.m. And I welcome any Councilmember who would like to stop up the Police Academy to see what we're doing, to see how we better track everything that we're doing so we can be much more effective. We appreciate the extra authority you gave us in the ordinance, and I just want to show you what that's going to mean in action to the police department, so that offer's out there. That's this Wednesday at 2:00 p.m. at the Philadelphia Police Academy. I'm happy to walk you through the tracking model that we created but we fully support and thank Katherine or Councilmember Gilmore Richardson for her assistance in helping. That concludes my testimony. I'm happy to answer any questions.
Thank you, Commissioner, for your testimony. Are there any questions or comments from the members of the Committee?
Mr. Chair, I just wanted to thank DC Healy and the entire Nuisance Committee for all of their work across government. We could not have done this without you, so we are truly very grateful and appreciative of the hard work of the Committee. You've made our job much easier in drafting and crafting this legislation and explaining it to our colleagues and to the broader public, so thank you very much.
Thank you, Councilmember. Are there any other questions or comments from Committee members? (No response.)
Hearing no further questions, Mr. Golden, would you call the next panelist.
The final panel on this bill will be Crystal B. Morris, President of the Wynnefield Residents Association.
Chairman Driscoll, Vice-Chair Squilla, Councilmembers and interested parties, good afternoon. Thank you, Councilmember Gilmore Richardson, for your continued advocacy in this matter. As stated, I'm Crystal Morris, President of the Wynnefield Residents Association testifying in support of Bill No. 230569. Many Philadelphia communities are being tormented by nuisance businesses that encourage loitering outside their establishments, keep too late hours and create an environment where our residents, many who are senior, are afraid to leave their homes. We have recently found ourselves with three nuisance businesses on the same block. We remain baffled by how something like this could even happen. One business defiantly displayed their drug paraphernalia in the front window so that our children had to see it as they walked back and forth to school. Communities across Philadelphia are overridden with cash-driven establishments with minimal oversight. There are laws on the books, but it is communities that have to rally to get the existing laws enforced. Posting notices regarding working cameras will put patrons on notice that their elicit behavior is being observed and may have consequences. Perhaps this will encourage them to take their business elsewhere. We understand that businesses will have a reluctance to acknowledge problems occurring on their property for fear of being shut down, but the reality is if you're breaking the law you should be shut down. This bill empowers communities to rid themselves of businesses that encourage deviant behavior. If businesses profit from the problem, we expect them to participate in the solution. This problem will not be resolved without a genuine partnership between business owners, police and community members. We need more weapons in our arsenal so proprietors know that we are serious about maintaining safe and healthy communities. This bill is a welcome step in the right direction. Thank you.
Thank you, Crystal, for your testimony. Thank you very much. Are there any questions or comments from members of this Committee for Crystal?
Mr. Chair, I just wanted to say thank you so much to Crystal Morris and the residents of Wynnefield for their steadfast support. We first noticed this issue of the proliferation of nuisance businesses at the start of the pandemic when we had several stores in a two-block radius set up in the Wynnefield community. And Councilman Jones did aptly address that issue with a specific overlay for that area. However, we noticed that this was a citywide issue, but we know that for us the advocacy started in Wynnefield. So I wanted to say thank you to Crystal Morris and to Wynnefield Residents Association and the entire Wynnefield community for your support. Thank you.
Hearing no further questions from members for this panel and there will be no other panels to testify, we will call witnesses on Bill No. 230647. Mr. Golden, will you call any witnesses?
The first panel for Bill No. 230647 will be Sarah Adamo, Legislative Affairs Manager and Zoning Administrator at the Department of Licenses and Inspections.
Good afternoon. Good afternoon, Chairperson Driscoll and members of the Licenses and Inspections Committee. My name is Sarah Adamo and I am the Legislative Affairs Manager of the Department of Licenses and Inspections. Today I am here to provide testimony on Bill No. 22 230647 introduced by Councilmember Phillips, which if enacted will amend Subcode A, The Philadelphia Administrative Code and Subcode PM, the Philadelphia Property Maintenance Code of Title and Chapter 9-3900, property license and owner accountability of The Philadelphia Code to modify prohibitions, remedies, including fines and licensing and certification requirements related to shared retaining walls, all under certain terms and conditions. Under the current code, if a shared retaining wall were to become unsafe or imminently dangerous or ID, the property would receive a notice of violation or NOV, citing the same code section as any other unsafe or ID building or structure. This means that in the event that one of these cases were to be brought to court, it could result in a fine of $2,000 per day, a Class III violation. Additionally, if a violation were to be issued to a property, the violation could present -- I'm sorry, could prevent the issuance or renewal of rental licenses, limited lodging operator licenses or the issuance of a certificate of rental suitability. Due to the nature of shared retaining walls, their repairs are not only costly but also require the coordination and cooperation of all owners of the law. As such, these repairs can take longer to complete than other repairs to unsafe or ID structures. Also, in most cases the presence of an unsafe retaining wall would not create a situation that makes the property unsuitable for rental. This bill, if enacted, would create a separate, unique violation for unsafe or ID-shared retaining walls. But violations for unsafe or ID-shared retaining walls would be subject to a basic fine of $300 per day in the event that a case is referred to court. Lastly, the bill would enable the Department of Licenses and Inspections to promulgate regulations to define conditions where properties could obtain rental licenses, certificates of rental suitability and limited lodging operator licenses. Wall (inaudible) violation for a shared retaining wall was open. The department has no objection to this bill and is prepared to make the necessary updates to our system should it become law. Thank you for the opportunity to provide the testimony of the Department of Licenses and Inspections. I'm happy to answer any questions at this time.
Thank you, Sarah, for your testimony. Are there any questions from our Committee members for this panel? (No response.)
Hearing none from members for this panel and there will be no other panel to testify, we will take a brief break to connect members of the public that wish to testify on the resolution 2 before the Committee today. (No response.)
Darian, are we connected? COUNCIL TECH SUPPORT: I believe there's no public comment today.
Okay. No public comment, move on. So that would conclude the hearing, and I request that we go into the public meeting. There being no further questions from members of the Committee and no other witnesses to testify on Bill No. 230569 or Bill 17 No. 230647, I will ask if there's anyone else present at the hearing whose name we have failed to call? (No response.)
Seeing none, I want to thank the panel and the witnesses for their participation today. We value your opinions. I now invite all panels of witnesses to please disconnect from the hearing before we conclude the business before the Committee today. We will now pause the proceedings briefly as multiple participants leave the hearing. This concludes the public hearing of the Committee. We will now go into a public hearing to consider the action to be taken on the bills before this Committee today. We will now convene the public meeting. Mr. Golden, will you please call the roll to take attendance. Members that are in attendance will please indicate that you are present when your name is called. Also, please say a brief few words so that your image may be displayed on screen when you speak.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chair and colleagues. I am present.
Present. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Gilmore Richardson for a motion on the amendment to Bill No. 230569.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I offer an amendment to Bill 1 No. 230569. A copy of the amendment has been circulated to all members of the Committee. I move that the amendment to Bill No. 230569 be approved.
Noting 8 the second from Councilmember Vaughn. 9 It has been moved and properly 10 seconded that the amendment to Bill 11 No. 230569 be approved. 12 All those in favor of the 13 motion will signify by saying aye. 14 (Aye.) 15
The ayes 19 have it and the motion carries and 20 the amendment to Bill No. 230569 has 21 been approved. 22 Report Bill No. 230569 as 23 amended. 24
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that Bill No. 230569 as amended be reported from this Committee with a favorable recommendation and further move that the rules of Council be suspended as to permit first reading of this bill 7 at our next session of Council.
Was that -- Councilmember Vaughn seconds the motion. It has been moved and properly seconded that Bill No. 13 230569 as amended be reported from this Committee with a favorable recommendation and further move that the rules of Council be suspended to permit first reading of this bill at the next session of Council. All those in favor of the motion will signify by saying aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it and the motion carries. Report Bill No. 230647. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Gilmore Richardson for a motion on Bill No. 230647 as amended.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that Bill No. 230647 be reported from this Committee with a favorable recommendation and further move that the rules of Council be suspended as to permit first reading of this bill at our next session of Council.
The Chair notes for the record that Councilmember Vaughn seconds that motion. It has been moved and properly seconded that Bill No. 21 230647 be reported from the Committee with a favorable recommendation and further move that the rules of Council be suspended to permit first reading of this bill at the next session of Council. All those in favor of the motion will signify by saying aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it and the motion carries. Is there any other business to come before this Committee? (No response.)
Seeing none, this concludes the business before today on the Committee on Licenses and Inspections. Thank you all for your patience today and thank you for your attendance. Have a wonderful afternoon.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, colleagues. (Hearing concluded at 1:27 p.m.) C E R T I F I C A T I O N I, hereby certify that the proceedings and evidence noted are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me in the foregoing matter, and that this is a correct transcript of the same. __________________________________ TANEHA CARROLL