thorough view in North Philly. Here's pictures of the zoning notifications. We posted up to the
front of the property and also on the side of the property. Here gives you a view looking at
the property. Again, it's situated here on the corner. As you can see, this property has gates
on it. The gates were there when we purchased the property. There are signs on the property. Those
signs are already there when we purchased the property. And as I will dig more into the history
of this particular property to show that it has never been used since 1937 as a residential,
as a 100% residential property. Again, here's another view of the property looking north.
Here is the view of the neighborhood looking west on Lehigh Avenue. As you can see, this is
approximately a half a block west of the property. To the left here in the picture is another
child care center in a property that is zoned RSA 5. So our use is not inconsistent with uses that
are in this particular neighborhood. Again, there's a child care center a half a block down
in an RSA 5 zoned district. Here's a view of the property on the side of our property in the rear
looking south on Garnett Street and again this is a directly across the street from our property
I would want to say southeast of our property there is plenty of parking in this neighborhood
when the parents will be dropping off and picking up their students so there are no houses on this
side of Cesslie Avenue here where folks pull up and will be able to to pick up and do drop-off
again this is across the street from my property is this abandoned uh factory that's been abandoned
pretty much my entire life um and so we're just trying to you know add some life to this corner
um in north philadelphia these pictures here are pictures of a child care center that was actually
already in the facility um this is not current pictures of uh of what we and our design will
look like, but I just wanted to show that this use, I don't know if it was legal or not, but this
use was already there in the center prior to my client's purchasing this property. And, you know,
we had that center, I did not get any complaints from the neighborhood whatsoever. Here is the
notification that I sent out for the community meeting. Proof of mailing.
and here i want to get into a little bit more of the property history um so i'll zoom in um as you
can see uh in 1967 uh this was the first floor was a luncheonette uh with two apartments above
in 1976 it was a variety store with two apartments above
And again, in 1951, it was a two-family unit with a restaurant.
And again, in 1951,
So, again, this property, you know, the history of this property has never been a residential use.
100% residential use, excuse me.
Again, there's another family restaurant and two-family dwelling.
and attaches our, this is our notification letter from the RCO letting us know when our community
meeting was. Again, we had our meeting on Wednesday, December 30th via Zoom, and that
notification was sent out to all RCOs and all neighbors. Here's our letter of support from the
RCO stating, you know, that they support our project. We had our meeting on December 30th,
and we did have some technical issues with via Zoom.
You know, a lot of folks are getting used to this.
However, we were able to have our meeting
and the board of the Allegheny West Civic Association
supported our variance requests.
We also went above and beyond and flyered the block
to have our own meeting, again, with neighbors on the block.
We did have one resident of the block
to participate in this particular meeting as well
and showed her support for our project.
And with that, I'll take any questions.
Thank you, Mr. Young.
Do you have a client with you today?
Yes, Ms. Giovanni Lane should be on.
Lane, please raise your hand.
Mr. Lane, you can speak now.
Hello, this is G.
Good morning.
Good morning.
Spear your last name, please.
Or it's Lane, L-A-N-E.
Thank you.
You're swearing for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Thank you, Mr. Young.
Ms. Lane, have you heard my testimony this morning?
And do you agree with the accuracy of my testimony?
And do you adopt my testimony as your own?
Yes, I do.
Thank you.
Thank you.
any questions from the board no no would anyone else like to testify in this case if so please
raise your hand chair we have a call-in user
caller you have been you can speak now you have to unmute yourself
hello can you hear me okay yeah good morning please identify yourself please identify yourself
first and last name spell your name for the record yes my name is adrian fernandez my last name is
spelled f-e-r-n-a-n-d-e-z my first name is spelled a-d-r-i-e-n-n-e swanford neighborhood parcels
Association RCO and we are one of the one of the five affected RCOs on this for this address you
swear and affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes please proceed
okay um we sent our letter in which I hope was red and we're asking that there be a second meeting
As Mr. Young reported, only one affected address was at the meeting.
The RCO coordinator did not consult with the five RCOs before making the meeting date of 1230,
which is the eve of New Year's Eve, and the notice was sent out on Christmas Eve 1224, which is unreasonable.
There are, the state says there's 29 daycare centers in the area.
We are saturated with daycare centers.
I understand the youth history that Mr. Young described.
However, even on that block, the state of Pennsylvania,
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania says there's daycare at 1927 Lehigh
and there's one at 1937 Lehigh.
One of them is a new construction that was just built.
And in the immediate area, there's almost 10 daycare centers in, say, like a square of Lehigh, the southern block of Huntington, one block south and one block north, which is Somerset.
But we see no hardship to find other uses that are not duplicated in this area, especially where there are two other daycares on the block and they were not at the meeting.
And so one being a new construction by Deliverance Baptist Church, who is a very good neighbor in terms of land use.
in terms of land use. There's no hardship that has been proven that we need a third daycare center here or this entire building being converted away from residential use.
There's no hardship that has been...
I'm unsure because of the documents whether this applicant is going to put one apartment above because we were sent drawings with two apartments which may have been what existed there before.
We're saying that this is overuse of the variants.
And also, we don't understand, is a special exception already existing at this address,
or does the daycare center that's being proposed need a new special exception?
And have the same question about the apartment.
So are we talking about two different – are we talking about a multifamily variant
and a special exception in this hearing?
um hopefully you have a question it wasn't clear so i can answer that question
could you please address the issue of the residential unit or unit yes so the residential
units were previously approved we are not um refused for the residential units we are refused
for the proposed daycare use um and to um reference miss uh fernandez comments regarding
other daycare centers in this particular neighborhood, the census, looking at census
data shows that there is a growing amount of children in this neighborhood. So having a
center here that with a capacity of about 30 children will not put any harm, cause any
detrimental harm to any of these other daycare centers in the neighborhood. Most of these centers
have wait lists for quality centers, what we are going to do is provide a quality daycare center
at this location. I don't think that we can put, I guess, a cap on the number of quality
educational institutions that our children in North Philly have. And in regards to the community
meeting aspect of it, it is the coordinating RCO's responsibility to coordinate the community
meeting um i sent our request in to the to the uh planning commission um and you know it's the
coordinator's rco's responsibility to get that information out um now just i want to show here
uh members of the board i have emails from the planning commission uh december 2nd i asked them
to you know send me uh who the coordinating rco is um i got a reply back stating it has not been
assigned as of december 2nd if the project still was not assigned um on december 21st i received
this email telling us it was assigned to Allegheny West Civic Association, and we scrambled to try to
put together a community meeting in time, which was put together, and I was given the information
on December 24th. That same day, I sent out notices to all affected RCOs, mailed notices out to all
affected addresses, and we proceeded to have our community meeting on December 30th. I think that
is something that is not of the doing of us or my client. We followed the procedures and rules
that were placed in front of us to move forward.
Thank you.
Anyone else would like to describe?
Hello.
Can I please finish?
Hello.
I was still talking when Mr. Young cut in.
I wasn't finished.
No, no, he didn't cut in.
We asked him to explain the uses of the residential issue that you raised.
Yeah, he did, but he also talked about meeting and other things.
I was not finished.
So to respond to that problem, we are asking for a second meeting
because even as of yesterday, Allegheny West Foundation is still excluding RCOs
and not consulting with RCOs because they sent out emails to selected parties,
most of them not even RCOs, saying they wanted to have a meeting for 1915 Lehigh.
So the RCO, Allegheny West Foundation, they're not following the rules.
does not it doesn't justify the other the other four RCOs being cut out of a meeting to get a
notice. I would suggest, ma'am, that you raise this issue with the Planning Commission and the
RCO. I did that. However, we are still asking for a second meeting, especially where there are two
other daycares on the same block. Just in fairness, just in fairness. All right. Okay. All right.
Anyone else would like to testify in this case?
If so, please raise your hand.
Here we have a Tina Marie Russell.
Ms. Russell, you can unmute yourself and speak.
Good morning, Tina Marie Russell, North Central Philadelphia CDC.
You swear and affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Please proceed.
I'd like to, for me, my issue is that, for our issue is that the notification was not done in order of the legal manner.
I'd like to, for me, my issue is that, for our issue is that
So there wasn't enough time.
It has to be enough time for people to receive the mailings.
So from the 25th to the 30th, especially on holiday time, that was not enough time to assume that people received the mailings.
I know that I could not make it on the 30th.
You know, it was just too close.
We just had a ton of RCO meetings and ZBA hearings, and we had a CDR.
So it was a lot going on.
And I really wanted to be able to enjoy one part of this holiday amidst the chaos of COVID.
So I really wanted to ask for continuance because we really wanted to make sure that we had a full understanding about what's happening in the community because it is in our footprint.
And we know that some of the community members, we can guarantee you, did not get notification.
and so that's where we would stand at we would like to see a continuance thank you anyone else
would like to testify in this case something new and different please there are no hands up at this
time chair thank you planning commission good morning chair members of the board uh this property
is indicated for residential multi-family use recommendation in the comprehensive plan um it's
currently zoned rsa 5 for single family use however um as uh mr young has demonstrated
there is a history of commercial use in this ground floor space and accordingly we do not
object to the granting of this variance thank you mi 2020-0020371913 west lehigh avenue my vote is
yes my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes good luck thank you thank you
on the next four and five yeah yes calendar number one nine six oh 1915 south 5th street
and calendar number one eight six nine 1917 south 5th street
michael mattione is the attorney
mr mattione you've been promoted to panelist you may speak now
can you put your name and address on the record and spell your last name for the stenographer
that's uh michael mattioni m-a-t-t-i-o-n-i it's federal reserve bank building 100 north
independence mall suite 5a northwest philadelphia 19106 do you swear from the tell the whole truth
and nothing but the truth i do and you also agree to waive and stip yes have you emailed an exhibit
packet with the required documents uh proof of ownership for both properties tax compliances
refusals or referrals photos and plans of the property five days in advance of this hearing
and have you met with the rco and do you have letters yes you may proceed thank you good morning
Okay, and these are neighboring properties, 1915 is at the corner of 5th and Hoffman,
1917 is one in from the corner of 5th and Hoffman, and I represent Cliff Lasky, he's
also on the call, he's the developer, and we have a real estate expert, Jonathan Torrey
also available to testify. And as you asked the missionary, we did submit the tax clearance
certificate, which I will bring up for both properties. Okay, and we have tax clearance
certificate for both properties. And the refusals are very simple. There are one refusal for
each property. For 1915, it's to have three residential units where one is permitted,
and for 1917, it's to have two residential units where one is permitted. These are residential
for sale condominium units, and again, it's one variance on each property, as I described.
We met with the RCO in November, on November 10th in the rain at an in-person meeting,
and the RCO letter shows support. It was 13 people in support and one person in opposition
for both projects.
Despite this, and despite this vote, the RCO in their letter takes no position.
Despite this,
and despite this,
I will get to that in a minute.
Here is the site plan for 1915.
As I said, it's three units, and we meet all of the dimensional requirements.