And then we will provide an enclosed area for trash.
We were provided a letter.
I just received this this week, but apparently it was drafted back in April after our meeting in March with the community.
But similar provisos, a letter of approval, the location for the trash storage, lighting and security.
They talked about a sharing of property-managed contact information with the near neighbors, which we address, and reducing the height.
Again, we reduced the parapet at the front of the building.
We did that community group meeting that we had was led by the Coordinating RCO, the West Philadelphia Economic Development Council, which was designated by the Planning Commission as a Coordinating RCO.
You can see here an email dated December 13, 2023, which is at my tab 21.
We did send out the 14303 notice to the list of addresses that we received from the Planning Commission with their link, which you can see here, including the RCOs, Planning Commission, Zoning Board, and the council person.
And then we did two mailings.
The first mailing was before we had the meeting scheduled with the coordinating RCO within the 20 days of providing the notice from the Planning Commission.
and then we did a second mailing once we knew and had the community group meeting scheduled and you
can see that notice right here and again we have the certificates of mailing for both of those
you can see here for the first one without the meeting date and here's the second one with
we did post the property in compliance here's a copy of the notice that we printed
and then the photographs of the posting of the property
in compliance with the requirements of the zoning code.
I'd be happy to go through the elevations, the zoning plans.
Here's an elevation that shows the different materials
that we presented to the community group.
The revised site plan, again, I'd be happy to go through that
if the board has any questions.
And then here's the revised, the current floor plans.
Again, three units by level and then two flats.
Then the rendering again of what we're presently proposing.
I do have my client on this morning or this afternoon who can adopt my statements.
I believe the architect may be on as well, and he should be able to adopt my statements as well.
So if I can have them promoted to panelists, one is Justin Chabra, C-H-H-A-B-R-A.
And the other one is Peter Elsbeck.
Do we see the hands?
Yes, I just let Justin Chabra.
I didn't promote him.
I just allowed him to speak.
All right.
Justin, could you please state your name and spell for the courts that I refer?
Yeah, sure.
My name is Justin Chabra, and the last name is spelled C as in Charlie, two H's, A, B as in Bravo, R, A.
and i'm the sole owner of a column of estimates you swear or firm to tell the truth the whole
truth and nothing but the truth yes please proceed counsel um justin did you hear the
statements that i made to the board today yes and are they um true and correct to the best of your
Yes. And are they true and correct to the best of your knowledge? Yes. And would you adopt them as your own? As your own? Yes. And then I'm not sure if Peter.
knowledge.
Is the architect on? Yes. I'm going to allow Peter Elsbeck to speak. Sir, could you please state your name and spell for the court sonographer?
hi my name is peter elsbach p-e-t-e-r last name e-l-s-b-e-c-k right do you swear or affirm
to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes sir please proceed counsel
peter good afternoon now did you hear the statements that i made to the board
yes i did and are they true and correct to the best of your knowledge
Yes, sir.
And would you adopt them as your own?
Yep, absolutely.
And just real quickly, you prepared all the architectural materials for this project, the zoning plans, the floor plans, the elevations, the renderings, correct?
Yes, I did.
You were at the community group meeting along with Justin, correct, and me?
Yes, yes, sir.
Thank you.
I have no further questions of either of these individuals.
Again, members of the board, I feel that given the remapping of the property from RM1 to RSA5, after my client purchased the property, the long-standing blighted condition of the property, the blighted condition of the remainder of the block, and the concessions and the revisions that my client and the architect have made based upon the input of the community,
that we meet the criteria for the granting of the requested and required variances in this matter
set forth in the revised amended notice of refusal dated 8-6-2023. And I welcome any
questions that the board or any members of the- Questions from the board?
No, no questions. Just a comment. I just want to say that I appreciate the way that the development
17 worked with the community to come up with a plan, at least the facade and a scale that works with the rest of the walk.
Thank you. Thank you. Other questions from the board.
Did he say that there were other multifamilies on the block?
uh i do not i do not i could not see any evidence of multi-families on this particular block
um there are right around the corner quite a number of more on market street though
the questions from the board
uh how many are vacant how many properties on this block are vacant at this time do you know
So there are 10 lots on each side between Ludlow and Market.
The two up at the corner are Market Street addresses.
But there are four vacant lots, including ours, four of 10 on our side, and then three of 10 on the opposite side.
So on the west side, four of 10.
On the east side, three of 10.
And long-standing.
And long-time vacant.
oh yeah yeah as far as i mean like i said it's been at least again going back to the um
the street view images at least back to 2009 the lot next to us has been vacant and this was ours
was a flighted building i can't go i couldn't get back any further to see how much longer
before that our building was a vacant boarded up building thank you questions or comments from our
attorney i i just want to note that we did receive a copy of the the corrected amended
refusal which was issued yesterday thank you any questions or comments from the virtual audience
there are no hands any commission
good afternoon good afternoon board this is keith davis with the philadelphia city
Planning Commission. It's K-E-I-T-H-D-A-V-I-S. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth? The
whole truth is nothing but the truth. Yes, I do. Please proceed. Thank you. The comprehensive plan
recommended the RSA 5 residential single-family zoning at this location. Further up the block
facing Market Street, the corner lots are zoned to allow the multifamily use, but aside from those
two lots. There's no evidence of multifamily use on this block, let alone on the properties adjacent
to 20 South Ruby Street. There's no unique physical condition or circumstance to this property that
would prevent it from being used in conformance with the zoning code. City Planning Commission
recommends that the board deny the proposed use variance for the three dwelling units.
Thank you. MI 2023-006-519-20 South Ruby Street. I vote yes with proviso per amended refusal
Per amended refusal, dated 8-6-24.
dated 8-6-24.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes with proviso.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes with proviso.
Tsunetta Graham, my vote is no.
James Snell, my vote is yes with proviso.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes with proviso.
Tywin, I'm going to recuse myself because I signed on in the middle of this and didn't hear the full presentation.
but also wanted to let you know I am in attendance, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Thank you, Ty.
Okay, so thank you, counsel.
Number two.
Thank you.
MI 2024-000-314-9745R, East Roosevelt Boulevard.
David Tashoti is the counsel.
Letter of support from Northeast Community Civic Association Alliance
and the letter of non-opposition from Councilmember O'Neill.
David Tashutti has been promoted.
Good afternoon, Council.
Good afternoon, Council.
Good afternoon. How are you?
I'm good. Could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Sure. It's David Schutte, silent T, and it's spelled T-S-H-U-D-Y.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client in relationship to the property?
My client is Walmart Real Estate Business Trust and is the fee owner of the subject property.
Our vice chair has a few questions.
Counselor, do you agree to waive the read another refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, I do.
You know, then all the required documents and exhibits that is needed to proceed with this case in advance of this hearing.
I did, with the exception of a letter from Councilman O'Neill was received on Monday, which was provided as an updated exhibit package to the board on Monday.
And then yesterday, we received a request from the board council to provide photos of the interior of the building, which we did and provided another updated exhibit package to the board yesterday evening.
Thank you, counsel. I believe we've received everything. Please proceed and share your screen.
Thank you.
Hey, again, my name is David Schutte of the Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders LLP. In the virtual audience right now is Kelly Halstead, and she is with the Walmart Legal Department.
My firm represents the Walmart Real Estate Business Trust and it's the fee simple owner of the property at 9745R East Roosevelt Boulevard.
The property is currently improved with approximately 150,000 square foot Walmart store.
Counsel, counsel, counsel.
Why don't you share your documents so we can look at them?
I'm trying to.
Thank you.
There you go.
Thank you.
My apologies. I thought I clicked on the right buttons there.
Okay. So, as I said, the property is improved with an existing Walmart store. The property is located in the CA1 zoning district, and it's part of a larger shopping center, which is fronted on the west front, Roosevelt Boulevard.
and the east fronts up Bluegrass Road, located in the northeast portion of the city.
The CA1 zoning district does not permit for personal vehicle repair and maintenance uses.
However, since the opening of this store in 2004, a portion of the building has been used as a Walmart auto care center.
I'm not sure how that was permitted in that time, but currently it is not permitted in the zoning district.
Recently, Walmart received notice that it does not have an auto repair license from the city.
And when it applied for the license, it was directed to obtain a zoning use permit for this use.
And that use was then that request was then I refused.
Here's the refusal from December 21st, 2023.
That refusal was then appealed to this board.
uh, to this board. And then, and then, uh, we've continued this case, uh, two or three times,
And then we've continued this case.
I think one or two times actually, in order to meet with the, uh, meet with the community group
to discuss the matter and to also, uh, and to also, uh, make sure that we had all of our
administrative ducks in a row as well. Uh, and, uh, as, as, uh, was mentioned, uh, we did receive
We did meet with the community group, the Northeast Community Civic Alliance, on July 3, 2024, and at that meeting, we received very positive feedback, and here's a letter of support from that group.
The meeting with the board was properly advertised and noticed, and those notices are in Section Exhibit 10 of the exhibit booklet that we provided.
We also received a support letter or a non-opposition letter from Councilman O'Neill, which is also in the exhibit booklet, as Exhibit 14.
The, as I mentioned, this use has been on the property for approximately 20 years, and as to any kind of variance being requested here, the building was built for this purpose, as you can see in the originally approved site plan.
I'll pull that up real quickly here.
I'll try to zoom in a little bit here.
this use. You can see the driveway right back here into the auto care center. This is still
existing today as shown on the plan. So it was built for this use. It's been there for 20 years
and as a result, the building really can't be adapted for another use other than this use.
And I'll show you the, then the, and then as you can see, this is the entrance that was shown on the, on the site plan.
And then this is the interior photos that were requested by the board council yesterday of the, of where the use is taking place.
Are there any questions? Why don't you bring your client on? Sure. Adopt your testimony. Okay. Can Kelly Halstead be brought on, please?
Kelly Halstead is allowed to speak. Hi, could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Yes, sir. My name is Kelly Halstead, K-E-L-L-Y-H-A-L-S-T-E-A-D.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, counsel.
Kelly, what is your position with Walmart?
Lead counsel.
And did you hear the presentation that I provided and review the exhibit booklet that was provided to the board?
I did.
And do you adopt the factual statements that I made on behalf of Walmart Real Estate Business Trust?
I'll go for their questions
Questions from the board
Questions or comments from our attorney
Hillary Emerson
Not at this time Mr. Chair
Questions or comments from the virtual audience
Yes Madeline
Shacamba will be allowed to speak
Hi could you please state your name
and spell for the court stenographer
Can you hear me?
Yes, I can.
I'm not speaking on this
particular thing. I wanted to speak
on another.
We'll get to you.
When you hear your case called,
you can get on that, okay?
Thank you.
Other people in the virtual audience?