with the board at the last hearing.
Here we are, not at our site, but just showing you 4430 North Broad Street, a similar type
of roadway with a takeout and drive-through use.
We're not proposing a Taco Bell. This is illustrative only. And here we are moving to actually Broad and Girard. So another section of Girard that shows a takeout use with much wider curb cuts than what we are proposing, as previously mentioned to the board.
This is across the street at Broad and Girard, again, just illustrative.
And here, for the record, is a support letter from Mr. James Brown, whose work prevents him from attending the hearing today.
But he mentions, and this was submitted for the record, that AVIT's tone of communication and partnership with a predominantly African American community are appreciated.
And he notes the job creation possibilities by this proposed use.
at this point in time i would like to call mr savage our traffic planning engineer to speak
to the transportation impact assessment that he performed in this case mr savage if you would
please raise your virtual hand so that you may be sworn in
Mr. Kevin is available.
Hi, yes. Can you hear me?
Yes. Please identify yourself for the record.
First and last name. Spell your last name for the record.
Kevin Savage. Last name is S-A-V-A-G-E.
We're going to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth.
Thank you, Mr. Laver.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Savage, for being with us today.
Sir, you are a licensed engineer in the state of Pennsylvania, is that correct?
Yes, that's correct.
And did you prepare a transportation impact assessment at the subject property?
Yes, I did.
Thank you.
I'd like to turn your attention, if I may, to page 13 of your transportation impact assessment,
which has been submitted to the board, and specifically to your conclusion.
Would you be kind enough to read the first sentence of your conclusion to the board?
Sure. Based upon our traffic impact study as detailed in the body of this report,
it is the professional opinion of dynamic traffic llc that the adjacent street system of the city
of philadelphia and penn dot will not experience any significant degradation and operating is there
an excuse the interruption is there an exhibit with that yes there is please bring it up please
sure one moment
I don't mean to make you, uh, give you motion sickness, I'm just
moving to the page
that Kevin was reading from.
Please reread that sentence, if you would, Mr. Savick.
Please reread
that sentence if you would, Mr. Savick.
Sure. It is the professional opinion of Dynamic Traffic LLC that the adjacent street system of the city of Philadelphia and PennDOT will not experience any significant degradation in operating conditions with the construction of the project.
Thank you, sir. And prior to the issue...
Excuse me, counselor. Is there a diagram for the site traffic flow?
excuse me yes mr holliman one moment
mr savage um mr holliman a member of the board has asked
be pointed to a diagram. Could you please suggest the page in your report that would be helpful?
Yes, it should be figure five, which I believe is five pages
further along than your cursor is right now. Thank you. Mr. Holloman, I'm moving forward in the
report here. Here we are to figure five site-federated scripts. It may be helpful at this
point in time for mr savage to just provide a brief overview regarding uh his report and what
he observed at the site and then i'll follow up with some specific questions enlarge that a little
bit please yes thank you sure please proceed mr savage thanks mr letter so as part of our
transportation impact assessment, we had a chance to review the adjacent roadway network and the
proposed layout of the site. And as part of that transportation impact assessment, we looked at
traffic data at the adjacent signalized intersection and along the adjacent roadways.
And from that, we were able to develop what we call no-build conditions. So those are,
current conditions without the construction of the project.
From there, we surcharged our site-generated traffic onto the adjacent roadway network
and, again, performed an analysis to get what's called our build conditions.
And then from there, we were able to compare the no-build conditions without the project
to the build conditions with the project.
and we found that there's little to no change in operational conditions at the signalized
intersection and on the surrounding roadways. The site driveways operate with good levels of service
and also as part of that transportation impact assessment, we provided three specific
recommendations for incorporation with the project. Please pause for a moment, I'm going to bring
those up so that the board can see them. Sure. Please proceed. There you go. Go right ahead,
Mr. Savage. Sure. So the first recommendation is to restrict the egress driveway along West
Deroid Avenue to a right turn egress only movement. So this would not allow for left
turns out. Secondly, we recommend installing an audio or visual warning device at the egress
driveway to warn pedestrians of exiting vehicles. And third, we recommend installing pedestrian
push buttons at the adjacent signalized intersection and also working with the streets department to
upgrade or update the pedestrian timings to provide adequate walk and flashing don't walk
times at that intersection. Thank you, Mr. Savage. And Mr. Chairman, members of the board,
when Mr. Savage shared his initial findings with David and with me, which actually came to the
conclusion that this site was suitable for the use, David and I said to him, what would you
recommend above and beyond this analysis to really improve the existing situation
and future situation at this site and in this neighborhood. And at our request, Mr. Savage
provided these recommendations, which you see before you. And we would ask the board
If it is inclined to grant requested relief, special exception relief for the proposed takeout use, that these be considered provisos to any zone.
that these be considered provisos to any zoning board of adjustment relief.
Mr. Savage, I think it would be helpful for the board just to underscore the type of usage
that this site might see in terms of in and out traffic.
Could you speak to that for a moment?
So based on the size of the takeout restaurant, especially being the small size,
we anticipate uh approximately uh 25 entering and 25 exiting vehicles during the morning peak hour
and a little bit less about 20 entering and 20 exiting during the evening peak hour so that
equates to about one vehicle in or one vehicle out about every two to three minutes thank you very
much sir thank thank you counselor yes mr holliman um we we of course have mr savage available for
further questions. We also have Mr. Chandler and members of the board, Veronica Blum, the commercial
real estate broker who had worked unsuccessfully to market both of the commercial spaces at this
site. She's prepared to testify if the board wishes to hear from her. And in addition to Ms. Blum,
we have a couple near neighbors who would like to speak in support of the project.
But I defer to the board regarding timing and the additional testimony desired.
Why don't we bring your supporting witnesses, the near neighbors, and get them on the record?
Very good.
I would like to call then Ms. Latia Jones of 3962 West Girard Avenue.
Ms. Jones, would you kindly raise your virtual hands
so that your opinion as a near neighbor
may be recognized by the board?
Ma'am, identify yourself, name and address.
I don't see no hands, Chair.
Anyone else, Mr. Laver?
Well, I'd be happy to.
Mr. Charles Simmons of 4216 Parkside Avenue.
Sir, if you're with us, would you kindly raise your virtual hand?
I see Mr. Simmons is on mute.
Mr. Simmons, would you kindly unmute, if possible,
so that the chairman may ask you a question and swear you in?
it seems like we're having some technical difficulties so as an officer of the court
Mr. Labor will agree that Mr. Simmons and Ms. Jones would be testifying in support of your
application yes Mr. Chairman and that is in addition to the letters of support that have
been submitted by others who are unable to join us I regret that these individuals due to
technology are not able to participate, but I thank you for allowing me to put that into the
record. And again, we have Veronica Blum only if the board wishes the commercial real estate
broker. I don't think we need that just yet. I'll leave that up to the board. I'm going to ask the
board if they have any questions. No. No. Okay. With that, is there anyone else who would like
to testify? If so, please raise your hand. Hi, I had inadvertently raised my hand earlier.
I apologize. Please identify yourself, spell your first and last name and provide us with
your address. Certainly. My name is Alexandra McFadden. It's A-L-E-X-A-N-D-R-A, McFadden,
capital m c f as in foxtrot a d d e n i'm the president of centennial parkside community
development corporation and i'm also a neighbor i live in east parkside and i've lived here uh
for the better part of the last 30 mumble mumble years okay you swear in the firm to tell the
truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do thank you please proceed miss mcfadden um so i
submitted my letter of a protest against this property. I emailed it. I'm not sure which date.
So I hope that you've received it. And I'm speaking on behalf of Centennial Parkside.
But first, I want to say that we've been working with Mr. Goldstein for the last three years,
as of April, regarding this property and how to get tenants into it. And one of the challenges that
we found with his initial and subsequent market rate, his requests for prices are drastically
there's requests for prices, the prices are drastically higher, I think maybe by $8 to $10
higher.
per square foot higher than what the market actually will bear, if you look at similar
locations in West Parkside, et cetera. But I want to focus my testimony on three particular issues.
I recognize that there was a traffic study done, which we have, of course, not seen since I believe
the date that it was completed was the 22nd or 23rd. And one of the things that our last meeting
that we said that we would love to see a traffic study, because according to the marketing that
Mr. Goldstein has been doing, it says that the traffic count is 19,000 cars per day.
This also does not account for... Pardon me. I just, an objection for the record. No disrespect to
McTadden just for the record must have generated those statements. I couldn't hear everything you
said Mr. Laver, but I don't remember hearing it. You said 19,000 cars a day? Yes, on the real estate
on the real estate, what do you call it, the listing, it says the traffic count is 19,000.
That's how many cars you're saying past this intersection? Yes, that's what that's according to
what Mr. Goldstein has been putting his his his real estate agent at least has been has been
advertising. Yeah um and um so there are three things that we are um most that we most that
we're most concerned about um the first is substantial increase in congestion um so that
intersection is really five it's a it's three streets so it's uh 40th street a major artery
Girard Avenue, a snow emergency route, and Parkside Avenue, another major artery. And they
all kind of combine into one unholy union right there. And additionally, there is a school across
the street, the School of the Future, and they have about 500 kids there. And we have across
the street, I want to object to something Mr. Labor said, it is not a dollar plus. It is in
fact an empty building and has been vacant for many years. And Mr. Goldstein owns that building
as well. So I'm surprised that he doesn't know that it's vacant. And one of the, and then there
is the, the, the old Spiro's location. It is a high pedestrian location, which is according to
Vision Zero, a high injury network street. We've had two pedestrians hit by cars in the last three
years. I believe there were no fatalities, but it is a very dangerous intersection, especially
with Parkside Avenue, the traffic turns left. There are trolleys, there are buses, there are two bus
routes that go across that intersection, and again, the 19,000 cars, which is, it's a weird
situation because during the year, the school year, for instance, it's not necessarily
high traffic during the middle portion of the day, but when it's summertime and the
the zoo, the police church museum, the park,
and the man music center are all activated.
We're looking at, we get 2 million visitors.
So it is an extraordinarily high traffic area.
I, my house, there's an empty space.
So I hear all of the accidents that happen on Gerard Avenue.
I've heard on numerous occasions, several times per week,
accidents that happen because of people making turns
that are just very, very terrifying.
I've seen them. I've almost been involved in them. So we're concerned about, number one,
pedestrians. We have a number of people who are seniors, who have disabilities, and also children
who will be crossing the street. The street is so dangerous that we have police presence to ensure
that the kids can cross the street without being hit. And I mean, kids are going to be kids. They're
high school students. They dart to and fro a lot. And the fact that they're going to come to any
sort of building and when you add in the additional of a drive-through that's just one more place for
more children to be hit by cars and I don't think any of us want that. The second thing that we are
very very concerned about is increased air pollution. As I mentioned we see more than two
million cars, two million visitors to the zoo and the other attractions per year. There is a
tremendous amount of idling that happens. And when you have a drive-through, that's only increasing
the amount of idling. And I recognize that they're saying, you know, only 50 cars or so per day. But
when you add the amount of cars that will be stopping, as construction occurs on Gerrard
Avenue, it's a very high construction spot, apparently. We are going to see more cars that
spot, apparently, we are going to see more cars that are stuck, trapped. And I know that many of
that are stuck.
the people in my neighborhood, we have asthma. I live near one of the most beautiful parks in the
world, and it is difficult to breathe on many a summer day because all you smell are car fumes.
The third, and not final, but just to keep it as brief as possible, we look at the benefits to our
neighbors and also i'm very surprised that um mr brown uh voted uh in that wrote a letter in favor
because when we last spoke he was actually opposed during our community meeting so i'm really shocked
that he changed his people have opinions they changed it maybe something he saw in the revised
plan that he made it uh palatable for him yeah but in our in our first meeting we had i don't want
Let's not let's discuss your okay. He changes mind is fine. But we had 44 people who were we
had 44 neighbors who came to our first meeting and there were 44 oppositions. At our last meeting we
didn't take a vote but our two RCOs, Zendale Parkside, we are the coordinated RCO and East
Parkside Residents Association are both opposed to this, in part due to the benefits to our
residents. Number one, the idea of another takeout restaurant in our community, we have several.
As Mr. Labor showed, we have a Chinese food restaurant. We also have Encore. We have a
number of delis and other quick food places that sell sandwiches and hot foods. We don't really
need another takeout restaurant. What we would love to see is something that shows the character
and culture of our neighborhood. We've been talking, we've been in long talks with several