would like to see more corner businesses in the interior of the neighborhood, which is exactly
what we're proposing today. It also talks about how Washington Avenue really does not allow a lot
of viable uses because of its industrial zoning, which is also a problem. So I'm not sure what
Greg is going to have to say in a moment, but I would say that the central district plan seems to
me at least to sort of promote putting our type of business within this neighborhood, despite the
residential zoning of our property. So with that, I will ask if I can bring on Tammy to adopt my
testimony.
Tammy Murphy has been unmuted and allowed to speak, Chair.
Could you state your name, please, and spell it for the court stenographer?
Tammy Murphy, and it's spelled T-A-M-M-Y-M-U-R-P-H-Y.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, Counsel.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Hi, Tammy. Were you able to hear my testimony over the last few minutes in your zoning case today?
Was my testimony true and accurate to the best of your knowledge, information, and belief?
And would you therefore adopt it as if it were your own testimony?
Okay. Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Questions from the board?
No, Chair.
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Chair.
questions or comments from our attorney hillary emerson
not at this time mr chair questions or comments from the virtual audience
i see no hands at this time chair planning commission
greg i noticed that they're sending questions your way before even at your turn here i'm
that was in the day uh yeah um yes i uh i i don't know if there was a preliminary preliminary
zoning uh meeting but i was not part of that but i'll just speak to the um the recommendation that
i have um good afternoon chair members of the board the conference plan recommends no change
to the existing residential single-family zoning proposed personal services use exists in the
redacted reuse of the historic church structure the city planning commission recommends the zoning
board for at the variance. Thank you. MI 2023-003-839-810-South 23rd Street, I vote yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes. Ishmael Shahid, my vote is yes.
Thank you.
Number 10, MI 2023-002-937-5610 Lancaster Avenue.
Carrie Nass Poust is the attorney.
Let her support from the Overbook West Neighbors Incorporated.
Carrie Nass Poust is coming back and is a panelist now, Chair.
good afternoon could you state your name please and spell for the court stenographer
good afternoon my name is carrie nace paust i'm an attorney with law firm of fox rothschild
last name n-a-s-e hyphen p-o-u-s-t you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth yes i do could you identify your client a relationship to the property
yes my client is family dollar stores of pennsylvania llc and they are the tenant at this
property our vice chair has a few questions good afternoon council do you agree to wave
the reading of the refusal and stipulate to his accuracy yes i will note that it is a referral
thank you uh have you emailed in all the required documents that is needed and
required to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, I have. Thank you. Please proceed and share your screen.
Thank you.
Can you see my screen? Great. Thank you.
This property is located at 5610 Lancaster Avenue.
we did submit our exhibits five days in advance of the hearing we included a copy of the notice
of referral application of appeal the project information form a redacted copy of the lease
confirming standing for this property as well as confirmation that the taxes have been paid for
this property we also did submit copies of the notice that was sent out to the neighbors as well
the certificate of bulk mailing confirming such mailings. The property in question as I indicated
is 5610 Lancaster Avenue. It's highlighted here on your screen on the aerial. It runs along North
56th Street on Lancaster Avenue which runs along the bottom. This property is zoned CMX3 and is
also subject to the fourth district overlay commercial review area. As you
As you can see, this property is improved with an existing shopping center and is leased to several other commercial tenants.
can see this property is improved with an existing shopping center and
It is also surrounded by other commercial uses as well as residential uses on the other side of North 56th Street as well as 57th Street.
family dollar currently leases the end cap of the shopping center this is a copy of the leasing plan
you can see here the two existing buildings family dollar is currently here on the plan west end cap
of the building. Shown here in front of you are photographs of the existing conditions
of the property. You can see here is Family Dollar. To the right of the screen is the
remaining of the shopping center. This photo just shows a view looking down towards Lancaster
Avenue away from the store. This photograph shows across the street looking at 56th Street.
This photograph looks up 56th Street away from Lancaster Avenue.
And then this photograph shows the other side of the existing Family Dollar store.
A Family Dollar has been leasing this space since 2004. We've submitted in our exhibit packet a copy
of the Certificate of Occupancy that was received when they initially started occupying the space.
Since that time, the space adjacent, you can see here in your photograph,
previously occupied by a child care facility, has become vacant. Family Dollar is looking to
amend their lease or has amended their lease to expand the existing store into the space adjacent.
Family Dollar is proposing to open one of their combo stores, as they call it, in this
location, which would be a Family Dollar as well as a Dollar Tree store.
This would allow them to expand the merchandise that they offer.
They would additionally include seasonal items, some party supplies, stationery, houseware,
kitchen items and as well as some arts and crafts submitted in the exhibit
packet and shown before you here is a copy of the floor plan this area here is
the existing space and then this area here would be the space that they would
be expanding into the expansion will allow for the existing store to be
refurbished let me just pull up here for you see this down here in the lower right again is the
existing conditions this above that is the elevation of what the store will look like
when it's combined they will be refurbishing it they will be painting the exterior cleaning it up
as well as doing a new interior fit up and upgrading it as well as coming up with a new
layout. Their hours of operation are 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. And although the existing store does have
a certificate of occupancy and is permitted under the zoning, the expansion into the new space
is requiring a separate permit for that additional space to allow the retail sale of consumer goods.
Under the underlying CMX-3 zoning district, this use is permitted by right.
However, the fourth district overlay does require special exception approval to allow the retail sale of consumer products.
The overlay district prohibits uses from operating between the hours of 11 p.m. to 5 a.m.
As indicated, the hours are 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.
And as such, the applicant would agree to a proviso that would limit the hours pursuant to the overlay district.
We don't believe that the proposed use would have a detrimental impact to the neighborhood.
In fact, to the contrary, we believe that it would be a benefit as it will provide a wider range of merchandise for sale to the community,
as well as cleaning up an existing underutilized space within the shopping center.
Furthermore, the proposed use will also be located within an existing commercial space
and will be an expansion of an existing use.
And as such, we do not believe that it would create any overcrowding of the land
It would create any overcrowding of the land or cause undue traffic congestion or impair the supply and light of the air.
or cause undue traffic congestion.
We did meet with the RCO, which is the Overbrook West Neighbors Community Association.
They did have certain concerns regarding the current operations.
We met with them on two occasions to address those concerns.
and as a result of those meetings, we did receive a letter of support, which was submitted again to
the zoning board and in our exhibit packet. Based on the foregoing, we are respectfully requesting
that this board grant a special exception to allow the additional space to be used for retail sale
of consumer goods. And with that, I do have my client on the line. And I would like to have him
be admitted, Sergio Sangelapur. Chair, Sergio Sangelapur has been unmuted and allowed to speak.
Sir, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
yes uh sergio chanelport s-e-r-g-i-o the last name is s-c-i-a-n-c-a-l-e p as in peter o-r-e
we're referring to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
Yes. Please proceed, Council.
Thank you. Mr. Shailenpour, were you here this afternoon during the statements that I've just made with regard to the property and the proposed use?
I was.
And do you agree with the statements that I made and were they true and accurate?
They were and I did.
And had you provided testimony yourself, would you agree to adopt those statements as your own testimony?
I have no further questions at this time
and we request that the exhibits be moved into record.
They were moved in.
Questions from the board?
No, Chair.
Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Emerson?
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
there we have a gregory allen with their hand up they have been muted and allowed to speak
sir could you state your name please and spell for the court stenographer
yes sir chair my name is gregory allen g-r-e-g-o-r-y last name is a-l-l-e-n
you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth sir
I do. Are you a neighbor? I am the president of the RCO. Okay, please proceed. And a neighbor,
but not a near neighbor. Okay, that's okay. Okay, so first I want to compliment Carrie and Sergio
on the time that they took to hear our neighbor's concerns about the quality and other issues that
were related to store operations. They did that on two occasions, on the second meeting coming
with another group who were actually the team that would work in the stores. So I want to give
that compliment. And I agree with everything else that has been said. Our neighbors had
no questions about the store related to zoning. The only concern I think that hasn't been addressed
was the trash. There was concern about it being outdoors, and there was a comment that the trash
might be able to be moved indoors, or that there would be a compactor. Because what happens in
that area is that people will see a dumpster, they'll bring their trash to the dumpster,
And then vermin are attracted to that trash and the residential parts of the store are, the residential is really close to the store.
So a lot of neighbors were concerned about vermin entering their homes from the commercial property.
thank you very much
let me see if there's anyone else
in the virtual audience
and I'll let counsel respond
yes sir
thank you and thank you for taking the time
to call us is there anyone else
in the virtual audience
we have David
David Friedler
they have been unmuted and allowed
to speak
sir could you state your name
sir could you state your name and spell it please for the court stenographer
and spell it please for the court stenographer.
my name is david friedler thank you chair for allowing me to speak
could you spell your name please for the court stenographer david d-a-v-i-d friedler f-r-i-e-d
l-e-r you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yes i do are you a neighbor i'm not a neighbor i'm one of the owners at the property
um i just wanted to do your client
i'm sorry this is your account client counselor i know this is the landlord my client family
dollar the tenant all right all right thank you proceed sir okay i just wanted to address um what
the what the gregory was saying regarding the trash i spent um thousands of dollars to have
the trash it's it's in a special department in the shopping center there has not been any trash
problems in the past um i would say eight to eight months to a year since i've done that it's
gated off it's locked every day we make sure that the trash is clean and i don't foresee any issues
with the trash going forward um everybody has a separate garbage bin we have cameras on the
location we watch it on a constant basis and there should be no issues with the trash and if
there ever is we are more than willing and able to to handle it and take care that there should
be no trash going forward and no trash problems going forward that's that's just what i you know
that's all i wanted to say thank you thank you so much for taking the time to call so we appreciate
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
I see no hands at this time, Chair.
Planning Commission.
Good afternoon, Chair and members of the board.
This is Greg Walton for Planning Commission staff.
We comprehensive plan recommends no change to the commercial mixed use zoning at its location.
The appellant has shown that the proposed retail sales of consumer goods will have no detrimental impacts beyond what might be expected.
The City Planning Commission recommends that the Board grant the proposed special exception for retail sales of consumer goods.
MI 2023-002-937-5610 Lancaster Avenue, I vote yes.
The 4th District Overlay requires proviso limiting the hours of operation from 5A to 11P.
Thomas Hollis, my vote is yes with proviso.
James Snell, my vote is yes with proviso.
Ishmael Shahi, my vote is yes with proviso.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you. Have a nice afternoon.
Number 11, MI-2023, 003-954-3753 North 18th Street.
Alan Nockmson is the attorney.
There is a letter of opposition from the 13th Board RCO Committee.
Mr. Nockmson.
He's coming back in as a panelist now, Chair.