And number 14 is MI 2025-004-82-5830-Overbrook Avenue.
And number 16 is MI2025, 005356-5800-Overbrook Avenue.
All three we're going to hear together.
There's unanimous non-opposition from the Winfield Residents Association, 22 total votes.
So, Mr. Anastasio, could you please handle all three together?
Yes, sir.
Vern Anastasio, A-N-A-S-T-A-S-I-O.
On behalf of the Bawah Mujahideen Fellowship Mosque, we have three properties that are together, owned by the fellowship.
And my clients just want to put fences around each.
And because they are the fences that they would like to put are over four feet, we need to come here and get relief.
And that's why we're here.
So this is the aerial that shows the three properties in question, 5800, 5820, 5830.
left to right, and here is an aerial view.
there it's okay
went blank again you might have to go out again
I'm sorry about that. I don't know what's going on today.
5810, 5800, 5820, and 5830.
Each refusal is in this exhibit packet for the installation of a fence in the front and rear yards of each detached structure.
Each refusal is in this exhibit packet for the institution.
The refusals are all for the same. We've got only allowed four feet in height, and we're proposing six.
um the fence height in the front end of the back is four feet again against six
and opaqueness were uh well permitted 50 we're asking for a 100 opaque
i'm going to pull out here
this is property number one
this is the six foot high chain link with the privacy slats is what we're proposing
and the front
and then this would be the rear
same thing on the second property
And same thing on the third.
this is some renderings that would this is what they would look like in general and then of
course there would be slats for privacy installed such as that
We met with the community association and all relevant stakeholders seem to be unanimous non opposition. There are other gates in the neighborhood that have this privacy.
And especially given this current climate, the fellowship believes that the privacy
fence is needed.
There's your proof of posting.
We also move into evidence, the letter that was mailed, letters that were mailed,
Pursuant to all three properties
With proof of mailing
With that, I'd like to call Mr. Jeff Shodes
I'm sorry, Jeff Sheard
To testify, he is a member of the team
Putting this together for the mosque
Mr. Jeff Sheard
jeff sheard is being promoted to pain thank you
jeff good morning
Good morning, sir. Could you turn your video on if possible?
It says that it's on.
Oh, yeah, you're on now. You're on. Thank you.
Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Certainly. My name is Jeffrey Sheard, J-E-F-F-R-E-Y-S-H-E-A-R-D.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Counsel?
Thank you. Jeff, did you hear my presentation to the board?
I did.
True and accurate to the best of your knowledge?
Yes, with the caveat on opaqueness.
Okay. You want to clarify?
Yes, the 100% opaqueness, that referred to the rear-facing and one side of 5830, which is the chain-link fence, which would have the privacy slats.
All of the frontage on 58th Street and Overbrook Avenue would be the fence that you showed with no privacy slats.
So we'd have 10 percent opaqueness there. Very good. Thank you.
And do you adopt my presentation as your own testimony? I do.
Thank you. I have nothing further questions from the board.
Thank you for clarifying that, because that was literally going to be my response.
Thank you for clarifying that, because that.
This is a beautiful neighborhood with stately, gorgeous homes.
And right down the street from you is estate fencing that is just is very nice.
And it would be a shame that you would even think or consider to put chain link fence with those privacy slats.
It would make it look like a used car dealership or a dump is happening behind there.
It's not agreed.
Thank you.
I think that's for sure the right thing.
Your neighbors appreciate that, too.
Thank you.
That was it.
I just had to get that out, Vern.
That's why I have the client, right?
He's on a roll today, Vern.
I'll tell you right now.
What's that?
I'm on a roll.
I was on a roll today.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Other questions from the board?
Questions or comments from our attorney?
I'm not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I see no hands at this time, Chair.
Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair Bergman.
Sarah Bond, Philadelphia City Planning Commission.
I'm going to read my testimony for all three properties
and also going by what the information that was given on the refusals, even though the client just
expressed something a little bit different. The comprehensive plan recommends no change
to the existing residential single-family detached zoning. A six-foot-high fence at the front of the
property conflicts with the characteristics of the surrounding neighborhood. The city planning
commission recommends that the zoning board grant the variance. The fence in the front shall be no
more than four feet high and no more than 50% opaque. The rear fence shall be no more
than 50% opaque.
All the other front fences are at least six feet. So what we were proposing will be consistent
with that and in taking with the beauty of the neighborhood. Thank you.
And I'm sorry, did I mishear you? Did you say grant the variance or not?
She said yes.
She said grant with proviso, and the provisos were for the type and opacity.
All right.
So, Hillary, I'll vote all three of this at once, okay?
So, number six, MI 2025, 002-789-5820 Overbrook Avenue.
Number 14, MI 2025, 004-982-5830 Overbrook Avenue.
And number 16, MI-2025-005-356-5800-OVER-HOOK-AVENUE, I vote yes to all three.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes to all three.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes to all three.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes to all three.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes to all three.
Ty Owen, my vote is yes to all three.
And Vern, we have one more we had to go back to, is that right?
We don't have the posting photo.
i just received a an email from my staff saying that so i'm going to continue we have an old
photo but not the current okay thank you so number two mi2025 001 198 6610 ashbrook avenue
at cases continued to june 17th at 9 30. thank you counsel
here with you in one minute
come on up yeah i think right number julie bernstein right there you go i'll be trying
to get your attention mi 2025 005 004 13400 fillmont avenue julie bernstein is the attorney
counsel could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer uh julie bernstein
it's j-u-l-i-e last name bernstein b-e-r-n-s-t-e-i-n do you swear or affirm to tell the truth
the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do could you identify your client and the relationship
to the property my client is cavalry chapel of philadelphia um and they are the owner of
the property and we have a letter of unanimous support from somerton civic 45 votes
and a letter of support from council member o'neill um our vice chair has a few questions
good morning have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing
uh we did submit all of our exhibits and i did supplement um we had submitted proof of
tax payment last week we got the certificate yesterday and submitted it yesterday
Payment. Last week, we got the certificate yesterday and submitted it yesterday. And then just currently right before this started, my client mentioned to me that he did actually have approximately 40 letters of support from the community, and we did just submit that as well.
Okay. And do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Okay, thank you. You can share your screen and proceed with your case.
Great. So good morning. Julie Bernstein again. I represent the applicant, Cavalry Church of
Philadelphia. Connection with our request seeking approvals to permit the church to improve the
property that's at issue here with a new chapel for religious purposes. The property is zoned
I2, which is the industrial district, which doesn't permit any religious uses, which is
principally why we're here this morning. I've quickly shared an aerial of the property. You
can see that 13400 is the one that we're here for. It's approximately 1.2 acres located on the
south side of Philmont Avenue and just west of Busselton Avenue. It's kind of surrounded by that
blue box that we can see there. The parcel is surrounded to the east, south, and west by
approximately 12 and a half acres of property that's also owned by cavalry chapel and is
currently being used for and actually has been used for decades for religious purposes it includes
a church and a christian academy on the property the surrounding neighborhoods kind of outside of
this church property are all residential um forest hill cemetery you can kind of see in the the plan
northwest corner of this aerial just for context i did include this is exhibit a7 i'll run through
them quickly but we included some street views along with this just to give you a sense of what
the neighborhood really looks like you can see that so the left side of the street when you're
driving westbound that's all church property and the academy and then at the very kind of
distance, you start to see a red kind of stucco-ish building. That's the property that we're talking
about right here. And it's currently improved with this structure that is vacant. It's 4,197
square feet. It was previously used as a veterinary office and hospital. And the goal here is to
remove this vacant building and construct a small chapel on the property for religious uses
and in addition to that there'll be 57 new parking spaces and new landscaping the goal here is to
remove the kind of access that's there and then utilize the two access driveways that serve the
church and we've created proposed easements to allow for kind of internal circulation for the
three parcels that are all owned by the property um we've included i'll get to it quickly
see at a11 just some illustrative rendering so you have a sense of what they're looking at um
here so this is kind of what the proposal is again this is illustrative the inside of what
the chapel would look like and then here again this is done by the architect but so you have
a sense of what the scale would be as compared to the existing building on site um again just
another rendering that we've included here at exhibit a a11 um flipping kind of back to the
zoning plan so you have a sense of what's going on here more specifically um so this is the plan
to have this new kind of smaller chapel on site and these new parking spaces again i mentioned
they would utilize the two driveway accesses that serve the church generally and would be able to
serve this property as well we've also kind of included just so you can see quickly the tree
preservation plan as you can see by doing this and allowing for kind of the shared access easements
it allows for more street trees going all along the property line and there'll be some new
landscaping here as well so we're here really as I mentioned at the beginning because
the property is zoned for industrial uses ostensibly the way the property functions
right now is as an industrially zoned island a very small island in the middle of religious uses
and then residential uses kind of surrounding that interestingly the residential zoning that's
most immediately adjacent kind of on either side of the same side of
Belmont is zoned RSA 3, which would have actually permitted this religious assembly use.
Philmont is zoned RSA three, which would have actually permitted this.
We're also seeking technical relief from Table 148031. This requires an 18-foot minimum drive aisle width.
It is being provided for these spaces that you can see right here by this driveway access.
so we've included with this um which all of this has been submitted to L and I as well um uh let's
see if I can get to it the proposal closer to the mic Julie oh yeah is that better but yeah okay um
so we've also included the proposed easement so you can say see there's easement a and easement
B easement a is really what would serve and provide for the driveway aisle to access these
spaces and so it's really kind of a technical request because the function of the property
will serve adequate access to those parking spaces um as i think you brought up somerton
civic association did hold a public meeting on this application on october 14th they unanimously
voted in support of the application and the requests they actually noted um not just support
but they said that this will really put a long vacant space into use that's in support of what
they they deem as a successful institution in the neighborhood um i do have a representative
with me from the church gary gordon um who can answer kind of any questions about the use
i also have colleen ziger from church architects who did these plans um the team she's i believe
remote in case there were technical kind of questions about the plans themselves
I did include kind of in this exhibit packet, just running through very quickly, the permit application that we initially submitted in 2024 as A1.
The notice of refusal is at A2. This was after kind of reiterations of the plan were submitted.
And then application for appeal to the ZBA, which was filed in July of 2025 at A3, our project information form of the same date is at A4, the deed showing that they are the owner of this property.
At A6 was the tax clearance information. This was just showing. We have all of your things. And so then more recently we included this tax certificate and then a series of letters of support, which all show that they, that the community really is in support of this change.
So why don't you bring your client on to adopt your testimony? Gary, can you be smart?
There's a Mike one test test. Yes, my name is Gary Gordon G. A. R. Y. G. O. R. D. O. N. Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing about the truth? I do counsel. Gary, did you just hear my description of this application in the proposal? Yes, I did. Was it true and accurate to the best of your knowledge? Yes. And would you adopt my testimony as if it were your own? I would. Thank you. Questions from the board.
questions or comments from our attorney Hillary Emerson
um I just wanted to note that um I just wanted to note that oddly in the description of the