and a letter of support from JVS Human.
Our Vice Chair has a few questions.
Good afternoon. Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, with exception of the letter from Mayfair Civic Association, our RCO meeting was last night, so that was submitted today.
Thank you. And do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
see well minus the discussion that we just had that there it does appear that it needs to be
corrected to reflect i think it's accessory to the group medical you show your screen and proceed
with your case thank you i still have not yeah i i need can i i need to recuse myself from this i
didn't realize this was on today i'm actually on the board of spectrum so i need to recuse myself
from this case i know it's a better day come on michael
go to andrew i'm sorry i still have not been promoted as a panelist and haven't gotten the
prompt okay i'm sorry um if you could just accept it i sent it out twice there we go
and veronica milbourne hill is here for the ceo of spectrum i just want to make sure that
she is all have her available and then as soon as you're done i'll bring great okay
okay here we go uh as chairman bergman stated that this is a an uh we have letters of support
from a couple of the affected rcos including the mayfair civic association a petition of support
and full support from the mayfair business improvement district and the adjacent neighbor
jevs this is an application for to document an existing fence along ryan avenue which is the
effective rear of the property this is an old theater that has since been converted oh my
screen is lagging. There we go. That has since been converted to multiple uses of Fulton Bank
and then the adjacent suites two or three are the suites that Spectrum occupies. The front
entrance of Spectrum is along Cotman Avenue. Even though this property has a Frankfurt Avenue
address the frankfurt avenue frontage is quite minimal um the cotman avenue frontage being the
primary and the fences along the effective rear of the property uh on along ryan avenue
uh we received a letter of refusal because the uh ryan avenue is considered a street frontage and so
it only allows for a four foot fence and we're requesting a variance for the eight foot fence
uh spectrum is a non-profit that has been serving philadelphia for more than 58 years
uh it's a 501c3 and provides all basic medical care um veronica can talk a little bit more about
the services provided but they have four locations throughout philadelphia and have been at this
particular location for over three years they really renovated the space and in our discussions
with the community the fence actually has enhanced the rear before the neighbors were seeing the the
trash and the just really the rear of the property now it's blocked off a bit with this fencing and
um really uh improved the outlook for the neighborhood um there are some debates about
whether it's the most aesthetically pleasing fence but it's a it's a fence blocking the trash
and um the mayfair uh business improvement district also actually uses the space works
with spectrum to store the temporary fencing that they use for the tree lighting ceremony
and for their Thursday's night market in the summertime.
The property is on CMX 2.5.
And again, really, we're here on this very technical,
a technicality that even though
this is the effective rear of the property,
Varion Avenue is considered also one of the frontages.
I still have a little bit of a lag,
but these are the site photographs.
uh the the this first photograph that i'm indicating is the uh along
This first photograph that I'm indicating is along Cotman Avenue, where the main entrance for Spectrum is, and the other two showcase the existing fence that we're trying to document, and the rear of the property along Ryan.
as we already spoke about uh this is the um in red is the suite that spectrum occupies uh the
fulton bank the financial services occupy suite one and so the fence is along suite three it's
suite two and three that spectrum has occupied the refusal which will ask be corrected
and uh with that i'd ask that veronica be promoted as panel
those fences already up yes yep
and the business group used the same area a little bit for you mayfair yes the business
improvement district they they've they've used the area to us to store their equipment right
so back there are the uh garbage cans and uh electric and it's also a security okay
veronica right yes veronica
veronica if you're with us can you raise your hand oh great hi veronica do you please state
your name and spell for the stenographer veronica hill milborn um v-e-r-o-n-i-c-a hill h-i-l-l hyphen
milborn m-i-l okay do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the
truth i do counsel hi veronica did you hear the entirety of my presentation today i did and i
agree with everything you said you did a fabulous job representing spectrum great it's true true
inaccurate it is and do you adopt it as your own testimony I do and is there
anything else that you'd like to add today tell the board a little bit about
the services you provide yeah thank you so much for giving me the opportunity
to present this afternoon spectrum as our attorney mentioned has been serving
Philadelphia's most vulnerable citizens providing an array of health care
services for over 58 years. We are well respected for the quality of care that we provide. I like
to say that we provide everything that a patient or family would need from birth to grade. So that
includes OBGYN, adult primary care, pediatrics, dental, behavioral health. We have a pharmacy
also at the Cotman Health Center. We provide podiatry, nutrition, infectious disease. And
the beautiful thing about Spectrum as a federally qualified health center is that we never turn
anyone away because of their inability to pay. So we offer patients the option of having
a sliding fee. And in this current climate, when we know that many of Philadelphia's citizens are
losing Medicaid coverage, it is essential to have a provider like Spectrum available to communities
to provide this, you know, health care services and support. We have been very integrated into
to the Northeast community, well received.
Last year alone, we served almost 14,000 patients
throughout Philadelphia, and we have conducted
a number of community outreach programs.
As our attorney mentioned, we're very involved
with the community and quite visible.
This fence has, I believe, enhanced that location prior to our fence and our health center.
There was trash and debris. It was unsightly. As you can see from the photos, it is greatly improved and enhanced.
I know that last night the Mayfair RCO had concerns about our ability to maintain the property.
We take great pride in the aesthetic appearance of our facilities.
They're absolutely beautiful.
I welcome you to come visit us someday.
Thank you so much, Veronica.
With that, we'll take questions from the board.
Questions from the board.
Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Amberson?
Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Anderson.
Not at this time, Mr. chair, questions or comments from the audience to the virtual audience.
No hands at this time chair.
Planning commission Amy with the planning commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning to the current CMX to commercial mixed use.
The appellant has demonstrated that there are unique physical conditions or circumstances of the property.
They would prevent it from being used in conformance with the zoning code, but the fence is proposed at the back side of the facility and serves to screen trash and utilities.
The planning commission recommends that the board grant the requested variance for fence height.
Okay, we're gonna hold the vote on this till we have the chair. I'm sorry to interrupt. A hand just went up from a Donnie Smith.
Okay, they're allowed to speak.
hello everyone uh could you please could you please state your name is spelled for the
stenographer yes sir uh donnie smith d-o-n-n-y-s-m-i-t-h do you swear or affirm to tell
the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes sir mr smith are you a neighbor
i am uh i am a resident in mayfair also the executive director of the mayfair business
thank you very much please proceed yes i just wanted to uh to mention on a few things about
the property itself it's uh even though ryan avenue is considered i guess a frontage it's
very much the rear of the building and prior to spectrum health showing up uh we've had other
businesses you know in that facility and behind there is where the dumpsters and trash and what
heavy whatnot were always placed and having this fence placed in front of those things now greatly
enhances the appearance of the rear of the building itself uh it's a chain link fence with
uh blue strips put place inside of it but you can still see through the fence um
you know it greatly enhanced the appearance of the of the community of the of ryan avenue and
And Spectrum Health has been a great neighbor for the for the community.
And I also wanted to point out that even though 7300 Frankfurt Avenue, 7300 Frankfurt Avenue
one time was the Philadelphia famous Mayfair movie theater.
So just if you've ever been to the company to Mayfair area, you'd be familiar with the
old Mayfair movie theater.
The two businesses that would have the frontage on Ryan Avenue would be Spectrum Health and
JEVS, both of which, JEVS has also submitted a letter of support. So, you know, with your
blessing, I think there shouldn't be any reason why they shouldn't fly through. If you have any
questions, I'm happy to answer. Thank you very much for taking the time to call us. We appreciate
it. Yeah. Planning Commission. Oh, I'm sorry. We're done. We're done. Okay.
Okay. You'll be back when we get it corrected. Okay. Okay. So I'll be in touch to get the date
of the vote or just once you bring it back, we'll vote publicly. Yeah, I'll work on the
corrected vote fees and we'll try to have this voted next week, if not the week after. So
thank you so much. Have a great afternoon. Thank you. Mr. Nockamson, please.
Okay. Somebody was calling me. I wonder
So, Mr. Nockamson, MI-2025-006-268-6204-208 Oxford Avenue.
Mr. Nockamson, just for the record, could you please state your name?
Alan Nockamson.
You've already been sworn, and we have a letter of non-opposition from the 35th Ward Democratic Executive Committee.
Our vice chair has a few questions, sir.
Good afternoon. Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, I have.
Okay, and do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
All right, thank you. You can share your screen and proceed with your case.
uh so i represent um northeast uh oxford realty lp better better known here as uh extra extra space
uh storage uh and to my left is daniel smith one of its member one of his representatives
and we have an unfortunate situation in this respect this has been in this property has been
in this condition as a storage facility since 1987. A couple years ago there was a fire in
a portion of one of the storage structures. We needed to get, you know, to do, you know,
renovation work for that storage structure. Because of that, we now fall within the updated
because of that we now fall within the updated landscaping requirements for our parking lot
landscaping requirements for our park.
uh and because of that and i'll share my i think my screen's being shared right
trying to share it over yeah trying to get in full screen mode sorry uh because of that with
the refusal we're being required to put five trees right as a perimeter abutting a residential
district where like adjacent to to uh affordable housing development we're an i2 property in a
really industrial part of town but we do border uh affordable housing development and then they
want additional 29 interior trees based on on the code requirement all we're trying to do is legalize
the parking lot that's been there for almost 40 years 133 parking spaces um so you know ultimately
we're trying to get a variance uh for something that's existed for forever we have a letter of
non-opposition uh from the community as the chairman stated they don't oppose uh this project
um and then just aerial views like basically this is the parking we're trying to legalize
that's 133 parking spaces we have no room to put any landscaping there uh this is just you know
growth but like there's parking spots on that um and you know we're adjacent uh to a governmental
facility where we cannot like put coverage near our adjoining property line the the government
prevents us from doing that so we can't put it there we're also sublease releasing the place
from pico where there's power lines hovering over our property anyway so we couldn't really put
trees there anyway because and that's the hardship as well and you know i think there is a vested
rights argument and you know a variance by estoppel in the sense it's been 40 years of
this use and we're not changing anything it's just because we had to do reconstruction of
part of the facility due to something outside of our control so and this is what the facility
has looked since you know 2017 and again this is just us right here so we're you know and this is
2008 and then 1996 as far as 1996 so nothing's changed in all this time my client purchased
the facility in 1993 maps of the area we're in i2 property photographs again you know this is an
extra space storage facility since 2007 and you can see all these power lines here so i don't
think it would be conducive to having much landscaping or trees here. And it's the hearing
notice poster. And then this is the subject parking, which has existed since 1987.
And this is Oxford Avenue to the right of the property, to the left of the property,
are plans and drawings. And I'm trying to like kind of expand out here. But like here's Oxford
avenue you kind of go into this common uh you know driveway here uh you have you know basically
the actual storage facility is here and there's a common curb here and then you go into uh where's
the i think oh the driveway is right here and then here are all the parking spaces here it's
just a gravel parking lot but there's really no room you know to you know because it's a two-way
dry vial there's really no room to put any type of landscaping we couldn't put it here either
because you know we need dry vials to get to these storage lockers
and then this is our rco meet it's a testimony about a government agency is there yeah they're
joining us what is it um the naval center oh yeah so i think from a security risk we can't
cover their sight line right so i think that's a pretty big hardship there um and uh we met with
the community on december 3rd right and then we emailed that notice a few weeks beforehand
uh showing proof of mailing of that notice too and we you know it's it's not much density around here
and then proof of mailing of that notice or application for appeal
notice refusal project information form the lease to the property and i did look it does
reference the parking lot and this is an amended and restated lease i think it's 2017 the most
recent iteration of it but if you look at i think use of the premises it talks about a parking lot
for cars trucks boats and recreational vehicles there is some storage within that parking lot as
lot as well nothing's changed in that period of time and the lease goes through 2046.
well nothing's changed in that period of time and the lease goes through
i'm just trying to get through the lease
and then the last thing would just be the tax clearance certificate which eventually is coming
oh there we go let me just go back one there well 72 000 owed is just for this year so it's not
technically due yet so with that being said i would ask uh that uh dan be sworn in sir could
you please state your name could you lean forward a little bit to the mic thank you very much could
you please state your name and spell for the stenographer daniel smith smith daniel smith
S-M-I-T-H. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
I do. Counsel? Yes, Mr. Smith, you heard everything I had to state today about your zoning matter.
Yes. Is it true and correct? Yes. And do you adopt this as your own testimony? I do.