COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA COMMITTEE ON LICENSES AND INSPECTIONS - - - Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Thursday, May 25, 2006 1:40 p.m. - - - PRESENT: COUNCILWOMAN JOAN L. KRAJEWSKI, VICE-CHAIR COUNCILMAN DARRELL L. CLARKE COUNCILMAN JACK KELLY COUNCILMAN BRIAN J. O'NEILL COUNCILMAN JUAN RAMOS COUNCILMAN FRANK RIZZO COUNCILWOMAN BLONDELL REYNOLDS BROWN BILLS 050790, 060091, 060161, 060339, 060340, 060345 and 060346 - - - V A R A L L O Incorporated Litigation Support Services Eleven Penn Center 1835 Market Street, Suite 600 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103 215.561.2220 215.567.2670 2
Good afternoon. Thank you for waiting. I'm sorry. The Committee on Licenses and Inspections is now in session. Will the Clerk please read the bills.
Bill No. 050790, an ordinance amending Chapter 9-1800 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "Use of Electronic Scanners for Customer Checkout," to extend the requirements for licensing to include all electronic scanners which are used for sale transactions to the public, and to increase the penalty for violations of this chapter; all under certain terms and conditions; and Bill No. 060091, an ordinance 20 amending Chapter 10-400 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "Noise and Excessive Vibration," by adding and making changes to certain definitions, all under certain terms and conditions; and 5/25/06 - L&I - BILL 050790, ETC. Bill No. 060161, an ordinance 3 amending Title of The Philadelphia 4 Code, The Philadelphia Building Construction and Occupancy Code, by prohibiting the placement and maintenance of certain temporary fences in certain positions of the City, all under certain terms and conditions; and Bill No. 060339, an ordinance 11 amending Chapter 9-1000 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "Trades," by amending Section 9-1004, entitled "Contractors," by clarifying the exception from the contractor license requirement for property owners who perform work on their properties, under certain terms and conditions; and Bill No. 060340, an ordinance 20 amending Subcode PM, Property Maintenance Code, of Title 4, Building Construction and Occupancy Code, of The Philadelphia Code, by adding a new Section PM-307.1.2, entitled "Construction Excavations," requiring certain measures to ensure that 4 5/25/06 - L&I - BILL 050790, ETC. construction excavations be made safe where no work has been done within the past six months, all under certain terms and conditions; and Bill No. 060345, an ordinance 7 amending Chapter 9-600 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "Service Businesses," to add new provisions to prohibit the sale from certain retail establishments of "blunts," "loosies," cigarette papers, cigars and other items that may be otherwise legal but that are commonly used as drug paraphernalia, under certain terms and conditions; and Bill No. 060346, an ordinance 17 amending Subcode A, Administrative Code, of Title 4, Building Construction and Occupancy Code, of The Philadelphia Code, by amending section A-302, entitled "Permits," by requiring the posting of certificates of insurance along with posted construction permits, under certain terms and conditions.
Thank 5 5/25/06 - L&I - BILL 050790, ETC. you. I believe that Bill 060345 will be held at the request of the sponsor. Thank you. Good afternoon.
Good afternoon, Councilwoman Krajewski and members of the Committee. I am Otis -- are we reading 050790?
I am Otis Haigler, Jr., Director of Legislative Affairs for the Department of Licenses and Inspections. Today I'm here to provide testimony on Bill 050790, which, if enacted, will amend Chapter 9-1800 of The Philadelphia Code to expand the requirements related to the licensing of electronic scanning devices to non-food retail establishments, under certain terms and conditions. The Pennsylvania Consolidated Weights and Measures Act as found in Title of The Pennsylvania Consolidated 5/25/06 - L&I - BILL 050790, ETC. Statutes provides authorization to conduct inspections of all weighing and measuring devices within Philadelphia County to the City through the Department of Licenses and Inspections' Weights and Measures Unit for the purpose of determining compliance with the Act. In addition, the Act stipulates that this authorization be memorialized in a Memorandum of Understanding between the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture and City Licenses and Inspections. Further, Title 70 of The Pennsylvania Code, Chapter 5, regulations adopted to enforce the Act, mandates annual inspections of Universal Product Code, UPC, scanning systems and Price Look Up, PLU, devices that are used to determine item price in retail establishments for the purpose of determining accuracy of the devices. In 1992, the City of Philadelphia enacted local legislation to establishing licensing and other 5/25/06 - L&I - BILL 050790, ETC. regulatory requirements for electronic scanning devices that are used in large retail food establishments, primarily supermarkets, where the devices are used to determine the price of items sold to the public. At the time when this legislation was enacted, electronic scanning devices were largely limited to retail food establishments. Since 1992, although the use of electronic scanning devices have become more pervasively utilized in all business transactions to determine the price of items sold to consumers, the Department has been limited to assess license fees only for devices located in food establishments. Bill 050790 seeks to expand the licensing provision currently applied to food establishments to other retail establishments for the purpose of covering the costs incurred by the City to perform state mandated inspections of these establishments and provide 5/25/06 - L&I - BILL 050790, ETC. equitability to the code enforcement program as currently administered by the Department. The fee structure to license non-food establishment electronic scanning devices is less than what is levied on food establishments due to the fact that inspections of electronic scanning devices in non-food establishments are conducted by the Department once on an annual basis as opposed to the current requirements under local law mandating four inspections within a 12-month period for food establishments. The Department respectfully requests the Committee's favorable consideration of Bill 050790 and that the rules of Council be suspended in order to permit first reading at its next session. Thank you for the opportunity to testify on this bill, and I will happy to answer any questions at this time.
Thank 9 5/25/06 - L&I - BILL 050790, ETC. you. Would you please read into the record the rest of the bills that are on schedule here.
Sure. Bill 13 060091: Good day, Councilwoman Krajewski and members of the Committee. I am Otis Haigler, Jr., Director of Legislative Affairs for the Department of Licenses and Inspections. Today I'm here to provide testimony on Bill 060091, which, if enacted, will amend Chapter 10-400 related to "Noise and Excessive Vibrations" to add a definition for "Concert Venue" and amend the definition for "Residential Property." The Department of Licenses and Inspections offers no opinion on this 10 5/25/06 - L&I - BILL 050790, ETC. bill, as it believes the requirements of Bill 060091 governing noise emanating from both of these occupancies in such a manner as to cause a public disturbance is a matter for Police response and enforcement. We will, however, based on referrals from the Police Department, take appropriate action relative to a licensed business entity that is found to have violated the provisions of this Chapter as permitted through our enforcement of Chapter 19-2600 related to the business privilege license for the entity. Thank you for the opportunity to give the Department's testimony on Bill 060091. I'll be happy to answer any questions at this time.
Bill 060161: Good day, Councilwoman Krajewski and members of the Committee. I am Otis Haigler, Jr., Director of Legislative Affairs for the Department of Licenses and Inspections. Today I am here to provide testimony on Bill 060161, which, if enacted, will prohibit the installation of temporary fencing on properties in the 10th Councilmanic District except in conjunction with the issuance of a building permit. We offer no objections to the enactment of this bill since the intent is to discourage activity that would adversely affect the aesthetical composition of the surrounding community where the temporary fence would be located. We would, however, like to offer an amendment to Bill 060161 that has been approved by the Law Department, which would allow temporary fencing for situations that either protect the public from becoming exposed to a hazardous 12 5/25/06 - L&I - BILL 050790, ETC. condition or is installed as part of a public works project where the issuance of a building permit would not be required. In both of these cases, we would require the immediate removal of the temporary fence once the hazardous condition has been abated or public works project has been completed. Thank you for the opportunity to provide the Department's testimony and I will be happy to answer any questions. As part of the other bill, 161, as part of our enforcement, if we were to receive any complaints from the community or Council office, we would, as part of our enforcement activity, issue a $75 ticket to the violator for the temporary fence if the fence was placed not to address either a safety condition or was placed not as part of a public works project or as part of a building permit.
$75 each time the inspector goes. So it would be $75 per 13 5/25/06 - L&I - BILL 050790, ETC. day. So we are called every day to go out, it's a $75 ticket.
060339: Good day, Councilwoman Krajewski and members of the Committee. I am Otis Haigler, Jr., Director of Legislative Affairs for the Department of Licenses and Inspections. Today I am here to provide testimony on Bill 060339, which, if enacted, will amend Section 9-1000 related to "Contractors" by clarifying the provisions exempting property owners from having to secure a contractors license for work performed by the owner on his or her primary residence. The Department of Licenses and Inspections offers no objections to the 14 5/25/06 - L&I - BILL 050790, ETC. enactment of this bill, as this bill 3 codifies regulations of the Department that are currently enforced. The referenced regulations were adopted by the Department on September 11, 2003. Thank you for the opportunity to provide the Department's testimony and I'll be happy to answer any questions. Bill 060340: Good day, Councilwoman Krajewski and members of the Committee. I am Otis Haigler, Jr., Director of Legislative Affairs for the Department of Licenses and Inspections. Today I am here to provide testimony on Bill 060340, which, if enacted, will amend the Property Maintenance Code to add reporting and protective requirements for construction excavations that have remained open to public access beyond the six-month period after a permit has been issued for the excavation. We absolutely have no 24 objections to the enactment of this bill 25 since the intent is to protect adjacent 15 5/25/06 - L&I - BILL 050790, ETC. properties from damage that could be caused by the unattended excavation, as well as to protect the public from a potential safety hazard. Thank you for the opportunity to provide the Department's testimony on this bill and I'll be happy to answer any questions. I believe 345 is being held?
060346: Good day, Councilwoman Krajewski and members of the Committee. I am Otis Haigler, Jr., Director of Legislative Affairs for the Department of Licenses and Inspections. Today I am here to provide testimony on Bill 060346, which, if enacted, will amend the Administrative Code to require the posting of insurance certificates along with building permits for properties where construction, demolition or alteration work is being performed. We offer no objections to the 16 5/25/06 - L&I - BILL 050790, ETC. enactment of this bill, as this will expand our current requirements related to the posting of building and zoning permits to the posting of insurance information. We believe this will provide persons contracting to have the work performed on their property, as well as adjacent property owners, with important information that may be useful should damage be caused to the property or adjacent property by a contractor performing work in conjunction with the issuance of a construction permit. Section 9-1004 of The Philadelphia Code sets forth the requirements of the City for persons who are licensed as contractors. As part of those requirements, persons desiring to be licensed must maintain certain types of insurance in amounts approved by the City's Office of Risk Management and Law Department. The addition of the requirements to have the insurance information posted on properties under 17 5/25/06 - L&I - BILL 050790, ETC. permit will cause no additional burden on the Department to enforce, and violations of this provision, once enacted, will be handled through the issuance of a Code Violation Notice, CVN, or ticket in the amount of $75 to contractors, developers or property owners who fail to comply with the requirements for posting. The Department has, however, upon further review of Bill 060346, found one technical issue that we would like to address through an amendment. Our concern is found in the last sentence on of the bill where the issuance of a Certificate of Occupancy for the building or space is tied to the posting of insurance information. We request that this sentence be deleted from the bill since the issuance of a CO, Certificate of Occupancy, is the final process to the legal occupancy of a building after construction activity has ceased and the failure to post building permits or insurance certificates would 18 5/25/06 - L&I - BILL 050790, ETC. have been matters cited through the issuance of the ticket, as mentioned before, by one of our building inspectors while the construction activity was still in progress. In addition, the Department issues Certificate of Occupancies for properties or spaces in buildings where construction work is not performed and, therefore, the need to have either a permit or insurance information posted does not exist. Thank you for the opportunity to provide the Department's testimony on Bill 060346. I will be happy to answer any questions at this time. I think that's it.
Thank you. Are there any questions from members of the Committee? (No response.)
Is there anyone here to testify on any of 19 5/25/06 - L&I - BILL 050790, ETC. the bills? Please come forward. Good afternoon. Please state your name for the record.
Good afternoon. My name is Tom Sanders. I'm from Country Lane Homeowners Association. I have some pictures I want to submit. I also have a set of petitions that were signed by all the homeowners on this matter. I have a prepared statement also for the Council.
Before we continue, I'd like to recognize members of the Committee. We have to my left Councilman Rizzo, Councilman Kelly. To my right, I have Councilman Ramos and Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown and also Councilman O'Neill, who is sitting in. You can continue.
Don't be nervous. 20 5/25/06 - L&I - BILL 050790, ETC.
My name is Tom Sanders. I represent 96 homeowners and the Board of Directors of Country Lane Homeowners Association. We're a private urban development, known as a PUD, in Northeast Philadelphia. I am here to support Councilman Brian O'Neill's bill 9 on temporary fencing. I represent all 96 homes. We attained petitions over the weekend and were able to get everybody signed but seven homeowners who don't speak English. I'd like to start off with a small history of the piece of land in question. Until three years ago, every homeowner was sold their home with the knowledge that this land belonged to the Association. I've been there for 20 years and it's always been community park. We as the Association have maintained this ground with lawn maintenance, planting of flowers, shrubs and trees. We've had community events 21 5/25/06 - L&I - BILL 050790, ETC. here, garage sales and many concerts by homeowners. We've opened this ground to everybody, never posted a "keep out, trespassing" sign. We paid the first year ground taxes on this property when Carmen Calvanese, our builder, turned the Homeowners Association over to us with a check written on our Homeowners account, along with a letter protesting the taxes on the land. The City cashed our check and we never heard back from anyone from the City. About three years ago, we found out this land had been sold in sheriff's sale. We claimed we were never notified of the sale. The Sheriff's Department claimed they posted it. I have 96 homeowners who say they never saw anything posted. We go to the Court of Common Pleas and we get the sale set back. We win. Wachovia Bank and the new builder, Vlad Cutler, went to the State Supreme Court where two judges ruled we 22 5/25/06 - L&I - BILL 050790, ETC. never owned the property. It seems Carmen Calvanese never transferred title to the new Homeowners Association even though the plot plans filed with the City show it as one piece of property. The two judges wouldn't even hear of this. I've learned that the word "intent" in law doesn't mean anything. Now for the anger. We as a development are angry at the City because it has done nothing to help us with this fencing problem. The City has allowed the builder to put this fence up and not made him maintain the property. We as an association have urged our members to contact CLIPs, which is a City agency that will make him come out and cut the grass, but only after the CLIPs people call him. The grounds are so overgrown that you can't see the creek bed or the water basin anymore. This is affecting our home values and the sales in the development. 23 5/25/06 - L&I - BILL 050790, ETC. The builder is angry at us for fighting with him. We were not fighting with him. We were fighting to keep the land that we thought we owned for 6 years. The builder put the fence up to 7 teach us all a lesson not to fight him. 8 I can take you to five active 9 building sites in the Northeast right 10 now, three are within two blocks of us 11 and the other two are within a mile of 12 us, where there's no fencing up. You 13 see, the builder can't obtain building 14 permits for this ground as it is. The 15 property cannot be built on. 16 In closing, the entrance to our 17 development is an eyesore caused by a 18 vengeful builder. The City needs to make 19 the builder remove the fence, make the 20 builder maintain the entire property and 21 finally inform him the ground is a 22 landfill and not able to be built on. I thank you for your time.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I would just like to thank Mr. Sanders for coming down and for working so hard to get all his neighbors on the petition. They've had a couple of years of frustration here, and I think it is a spite fence, a different kind of spite fence than we're used to, because the developer who bought the ground for next to nothing at sheriff's sale found that it was not a buildable piece of ground. And this is a construction fence without a construction permit, with no 23 building permits, construction permits, L&I permits, because you can't build on it. 25 5/25/06 - L&I - BILL 050790, ETC. It's between the street and a creek and it's a narrow piece of ground. In fact, if you go up Northeast Avenue, you'll see that Country Lane has a covered bridge that was put in by the developer in the early '80s because of the creek. The Streets Department allowed him to do that. The homeowners have to maintain the covered bridge over the creek. So it's just the ground in between the creek and the street itself. The original developer, Carmen Calvanese, should never ever have done what he did. He knows better. He's been in the building business for a lot of years, and for him not to transfer ownership of this to this Association is just unheard of. I mean, you just can't imagine somebody doing this. But this will give L&I the authority they need, because we just don't have anything on the books to deal with this kind of problem, and it basically says if you have a construction 5/25/06 - L&I - BILL 050790, ETC. site, you can put a fence around it during construction. And as Otis testified, there's an amendment that there will be an exception if it were a safety issue or a hazard, some kind of hazard that L&I would want a fence around it until the hazard or the safety issue were corrected. So this is just to stop a fence from being basically blight on the community. And we'll keep working with CLIP to try to get it cut more regularly. Thank you.
I don't imagine how he was allowed to get away with this for so long. I am familiar, as Councilman O'Neill knows, with that area, very familiar, and I happen to agree with you 100 percent.
We appreciate it. Like I said, I represent my entire development, and we appreciate anything that you can do for us.
I'm 27 5/25/06 - L&I - BILL 050790, ETC. familiar with it.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to ask the Councilman or you, Mr. Sanders, who presently owns the land right now?
Yeah. We've tried to deal with this guy. We've tried to talk to him. We've tried everything. He's real upset that we fought him originally. But we really weren't fighting him. We were fighting the fact that this land never was transferred, and he was part of it, but he's out to teach 28 5/25/06 - L&I - BILL 050790, ETC. us a lesson, and it hurts.
I want to tell you something. Since I live in that vicinity, I pass it on Northeast Avenue quite a lot.
I think you're absolutely right. I think it's hideous the way they put up that fence, and anything we can do to really remove that, I think that Councilman O'Neill and I'm sure the Chair and the Committee here will do it.
Councilman O'Neill, my only concern is, if he has 29 5/25/06 - L&I - BILL 050790, ETC. deep pockets, what could he do? Could he take down the construction fence and then put a stockade fence up? An appropriate fence, I think he can go, what, to six, eight feet?
Four feet. It has to be at least 50 percent transparent.
There's money involved in that. I don't think there is, but if there is, we'll correct it with another bill. But I want to say to Mr. Sanders, Councilwoman Krajewski is in a district right next to mine and probably has more relatives in my district than I do, but you have four at-large members -- you're not going to find that too often -- that all represent 30 5/25/06 - L&I - BILL 050790, ETC. Country Lane as well as I do, Councilman Ramos, Councilwoman Reynolds Brown, Councilman Rizzo, Councilman Kelly and so --
They don't only want to help you, but they also represent you directly.
Good afternoon. Let me echo Councilman O'Neill's sentiments. You are a citizen, you are a taxpayer, and you do not have to apologize for being a voice for the community that you come from. And so Councilman O'Neill said it clearly, we hear it and we get it and we're prepared to support you and your neighbors and the District Councilperson on this matter. 31 5/25/06 - L&I - BILL 050790, ETC. But you never ever have to apologize for being a voice for citizens who believe that they've been poorly represented.
That's well taken, but you don't have to be nervous either. Thank you.
Thank you. Is there anyone else to testify for any of the bills being heard? (No response.)
Hearing none, the hearing on License and Inspection is now adjourned. We will go into our meeting, public meeting. The Chair recognizes Councilman 32 5/25/06 - L&I - BILL 050790, ETC. Ramos on Bill 050790.
Thank you, Madam President. I move that Bill No. 5 050790 be reported out of Committee with a favorable recommendation and further move that the rules of Council be suspended to permit first reading of this bill at our next Council meeting. (Duly seconded.)
Therefore, Bill 050790 will be reported out of this Committee with a favorable recommendation. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Brown on Bill 060091.
Sure. Madam Chair, I move that Bill No. 060091 be moved out of Committee with a favorable recommendation and further move that the rules of Council be suspended to allow first reading at the next scheduled 33 5/25/06 - L&I - BILL 050790, ETC. session of Council. (Duly seconded.)
Therefore, Bill 060091 will be reported out of this Committee with a favorable recommendation, with a suspension of rules so as to permit first reading at the next session of Council. The Chair recognizes Councilman Kelly.
Madam Chair, I would like to move for the adoption of the amendment to Bill No. 060161. (Duly seconded.)
34 5/25/06 - L&I - BILL 050790, ETC. Opposed? (No response.)
Bill 5 060161 as amended will be reported out of this Committee with a favorable recommendation, with a suspension of rules so as to permit first reading at the next session of Council.
Madam Chair, I move that Bill No. 060161 as amended be reported out of this Committee with a favorable recommendation and further move that the rules of Council be suspended in order that this bill may be heard at the next session of Council. (Duly seconded.)
Therefore, Bill 060161 will be reported 35 5/25/06 - L&I - BILL 050790, ETC. out of this Committee, with a suspension of rules so as to permit first reading at the next session of Council. The Chair recognizes Councilman Rizzo on Bill 060339.
Bill No. 8 060339 I'd like to be reported out of this Committee with a favorable recommendation and a suspension of the rules so that this could be heard at the next session of Council. (Duly seconded.)
Therefore, Bill 060339 will be reported out of this Committee with a favorable recommendation, with a suspension of rules so as to permit first reading at the next session of Council. 36 5/25/06 - L&I - BILL 050790, ETC. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Brown.
Madam Chair, I move that Bill No. 060340 be moved out of Committee with a favorable recommendation and further move that the rules of Council be suspended so as to be heard at the next scheduled session. (Duly seconded.)
Therefore, Bill 060340 will be reported out of this Committee with a favorable recommendation, with a suspension of rules so as to permit first reading at the next session of Council. The Chair recognizes Councilman Ramos for the purpose of Bill 060346 as amended. 37 5/25/06 - L&I - BILL 050790, ETC.
Madam Chair, I move that the amendment as previously described regarding Bill No. 060346 be adopted. (Duly seconded.)
I move that Bill No. 060346 as amended be reported out of Committee with a favorable recommendation and I further move that the rules of Council be suspended to permit first reading of this bill at our next Council hearing. (Duly seconded.)
Those opposed? (No response.) 38 5/25/06 - L&I - BILL 050790, ETC.
Bill 3 060346 as amended will be reported out of this Committee with a favorable recommendation, with a suspension of rules so as to permit first reading at the next session of Council. I do believe Bill 050790 was not reported out with a suspension of rules.
As 39 5/25/06 - L&I - BILL 050790, ETC. amended, yes. Yes. But I just want to go on record with Bill 050790 to be reported out of this Committee with a suspension of rules so as to permit first reading at the session of Council. All those in favor? (Aye.)
Thank you. That concludes our -- yes, sir. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: What did you say about Bill 060345?
That's being held at the request of the sponsor. All right? UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Which means?
That is not being heard today, but it's being held. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Thank 40 5/25/06 - L&I - BILL 050790, ETC. you very much.
It's not dismissed. It's just being held. Thank you. That concludes the License and Inspection Committee. Thank you. (Committee on Licenses and Inspections adjourned at 2:10 p.m.) - - - 41 CERTIFICATE I HEREBY CERTIFY that the proceedings, evidence and objections are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me upon the foregoing matter on May 25, 2006, and that this is a true and correct transcript of same. ______________________________ MICHELE L. MURPHY RPR-Notary Public (The foregoing certification of this transcript does not apply to any reproduction of the same by any means, unless under the direct control and/or supervision of the certifying reporter.)