Yes, I do.
Mr. Whalen, proceed.
Thank you. Councilman, you're here as the duly designated representative of City Council, correct?
That's correct.
And did you hear all of the testimony that I presented today?
Yes, I did.
And do you believe it to be true and correct to the best of your knowledge, information, and belief?
Yes. And would you also adopt it as your own? Yes. Thank you. Is there anything further, not duplicative, but further that you believe relevant for the board's understanding of this matter today?
And would you also adopt it as your own?
Thank you.
No, I think I think the argument that you have made on my behalf and on behalf of my constituents is right up, you know, everything, everything it should be.
All right. Thank you very much. With that, board chair, unless you have any questions for the councilman, we would rest.
Mr. Ward, do you want to bring your client on?
Yes, I would. I have both Ben Maness in the audience as well as John Higgins, our code consultant. I would first ask Ben Maness to be able to speak.
Sir, could you state your name and spell for the court sonographer?
yes sir can you hear me uh i can go on as well i'm not sure if you can see me uh it's r-e-l
benjamin manis a-r-i-e-l first name benjamin common spelling manis michael adam nancy nancy
edward sam um resident owner 4100 orchard lane you swear for him to tell the truth the whole
truth, nothing but the truth. I do. Please proceed, counsel. Thank you. Ben, you've heard
my representations to the board today? Yes, sir. Are they true and correct at the best of your
knowledge, information, and belief? Yes, sir. Absolutely. And would you adopt them as your
own testimony? I do. Thank you very much. Mr. Chair, very briefly, if I can have John Higgins.
Okay. Mr. Higgins, could you state your name and spell please for the court stenographer?
uh john higgins h-i-g-g-i-n-s right do you swear a firm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth i do please proceed counsel uh john could you please state your
occupation for living i mean for the record currently my occupation is a co-consultant
or better known as an expediter to secure L&I permits.
Okay, and prior to that, did you work for the city of Philadelphia, Department of Licenses and Inspection?
Yes, I did for about 25 years.
And at the conclusion of your career there, at what level did you reach?
Code Administrator 3.
Okay. You've heard my representations today to the board?
Yes, I have.
Are they true and correct at the best of your knowledge, information, and belief?
Yes, they are.
And would you adopt them as your own testimony?
Thank you.
Mr. Chair, I just have one item to just clarify, if I may.
With regard to addition versus structure, I would just refer the board back to the actual residential building permit.
The permit authorizes the erection of an addition for a one-story and two-story structure.
And I would leave it at that.
okay um questions from the board no mr chairman
hillary do you have any questions not at this time mr chair okay um so look we've had a lot
of testimony you know this is a little bit of a different approach what i want to do is
talk to the board about this in an executive session hillary what's our what's our next day
that we come back or tanya maybe one
i believe it's january 10th okay um is that a wednesday that is a wednesday yeah okay um
And we will vote on this January 10th at 2 p.m.
Thank you.
And thanks, everyone, for their testimony and their presentations.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you very much, Chairman and members of the board.
All right.
Thank you.
So we're going to turn two, four, and six over to Ishmael.
Mr. Shahid?
Mr. Shahid?
Looks like he's having audio trouble, Chair.
Mr. Shahid will pop out and come right back in.
Thank you.
can you hear me now
yes perfect
okay I had to log on
I heard you all but
you can get it
pull the case back up
Okay, so we're going to call on number two, four, and six, MI-2023-004928, 2032 Diamond Street,
along with MI-2023-0049302100 Diamond Street
and MI-2023-0049292033 North 22nd Street.
Michelle Reinhart, see you in the audience?
Michelle Reinhardt, please. Okay.
Okay. They have been promoted to panelists. They will be rejoining the hearing shortly.
Hearing shortly.
While we're bringing them in, we have already received a letter of support from Councilman Daryl Clark,
And we also did receive the letter from the RCO stating non-opposition 52-2-2.
Michelle, I believe we've already sworn you in.
Just state your name and just spell it for the court reporter.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Michelle Reinhart for the City of Philadelphia, last name R-E-I-N-H-A-R-T.
can you please identify your client and your relationship to yes my client is the city of
philadelphia who is the property owner for each of these three properties
mr holliman can you please
yes mr chairman good morning council do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal
and stipulate to its accuracy?
Did you email all of the exhibits and documents as required
five days in advance to this hearing?
Yes, and there was an additional lot adjustment plan
stamped by the Planning Commission that was also sent yesterday,
which I would like to incorporate by reference as Exhibit 14 as well.
Thank you.
Please proceed and share your screen.
Thank you.
I'll go through the exhibit packet in a moment, but just by way of background, this is a proposed
public safety project, which includes a police station, a police athletic league center,
as well as public outdoor and indoor spaces.
There are three parcels involved in this proposal as one single parcel is not large enough to
accommodate both the proposed building as well as the required parking. The building itself
as proposed is located at 2100 Diamond Street, which is the center of three adjacent properties
with the two adjacent side properties represent or that would be the
with the two adjacent side properties represent or that would be the accessory parking to support the required the requirements of the code.
The use of the multiple parcels to meet both the building and parking requirements is what has caused this request for variance,
as well as a proposed refueling station on 2033 North 22nd Street, which again promotes the
public safety use of this property and is an existing use at the current police station
that will be moving to this location. Specifically, the reason this site was chosen is because
it's centrally located within the police district, so it will contribute to improved response times
within the district. And it is located on Diamond Street, which provides
safe access as well in order to quickly move through the district.
um the proposed uses are allowed uh or rather the proposed public safety building
is allowed as a use uh however um and if it was distributed as one building on each
of the three parcels um it would be allowed by use without having to request a variance for
the parking. However, that is an unmanageable way to try to structure the building, as you will say.
Rather, the three adjacent parcels accommodated
the required 28 spaces for parking and are distributed among the adjacent parcels.
I wanted to note as well, there was reference that the RCO letter stated that the RCO
RCO was unopposed to this project. However, they actually wrote in support, indicating that there
were 52 community members who voted to support the project and none voted in non-opposition.
The RCO meeting was very well attended as it reflects that there were 54 members of the
community who were available. I note that we made the zoning application for a lot adjustment
and non-accessory parking and the refueling station. The lot adjustments were approved
by the Planning Commission as indicated in what has now been marked City Exhibit 14.
the we made the application for the variances in august of this year
um building density as proposed is not an issue within um the code the rear the required side and
rear yards of neighbors will be maintained and the new facility will include a pal center for
this community which also once again promotes both the community safety and um involvement
that is central to the intention of this project.
Moving to City Exhibit 4, I'm showing you an aerial view that is from the ATLAS database.
The blue icon in the center is 2100 Diamond Street.
I note that 2032 Diamond Street is to the right and to the left is 2033 North 22nd Street.
These are vacant lots that front Diamond Street.
However, as you can see, they cannot be consolidated as there are streets in between them.
um streets in between them this is an additional uh view of the properties um i note as well
there are churches across the street um and this is a residential neighborhood um as i believe you
will hear later in the public comments, there is support of the neighbors. And as you can see from
the RCO letter, there is general support.
is that all council i apologize i am having an issue resizing um part of the
exhibits so um i will move to the site plan are you able to see this on my screen yes okay um this
describes further the uh plan specifically the north central public safety building um again is
on the middle lot uh i'm sorry i did not hear what that was
I didn't say anything.
Half of the building will be dedicated, as I said, to the Police Athletic League Center, and we'll have spaces for the community inside the building, and half of the space will be for the police station.
Specifically, there will be a parking lot to the right for the Police Athletic League.
And there will be outdoor green spaces provided as well, as well as plaza seating.
To the left is the parking that will support the police station.
There is adequate parking intended to prevent police vehicles from parking on the street and crowding the neighborhood.
there is a fueling station proposed here again in order to support the public safety use of
this property it will be screened off so that it is not visible from the sidewalk
and again there is plaza seating planned in order to both promote air quality
and community involvement in the area. The public spaces on the first floor are in this rendering.
As you can see, there is a gym and there are additional homework rooms, computer rooms,
and game rooms. Here are interior renderings that show what the space is intended to look like,
as well as the exterior views of the building.
The grant of the variance will not adversely and substantially affect the implementation
um for the plan for the area in fact it supports the both the community um as a whole and promotes
public safety um the hardship in this instance is that um we are otherwise unable to uh locate
this project so that it is centrally located within the police district um while providing
for the adequate parking required and thieves um for that the property will
is in in fact inspected in fact expected to require um specifically both the building
and the parking being required on the same lot is an unlikely challenge that we would otherwise be
able to find. We appreciate the support of Council President Daryl Clark. His office sent a letter of
support yesterday, as well as the St. Elizabeth RCO, the heritage community.
as well as the St. Elizabeth RCO, the Heritage Community Development Corporation,
and Reverend Darnell Deans of the 32nd Ward. Specifically, he is the 32nd Ward leader,
which is the location of this project.
This project will not alter the essential character of the neighborhood.
The public safety use is permitted. The question here is the location of the parking and the fueling station.
At this point in time, I would like to call my first witness, Pedro Pinto.
He is the project manager of the city of Philadelphia Department of Public Property.
Pedro Pinto is in the virtual audience.
he's been allowed to speak hi can you hear me yes morning sir can you please can you please
state your name and spell it for the court reporter yes Pedro Pinto P-E-D-R-O P-I-N-T-O
you swear to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes I do
please proceed counsel thank you um Pedro excuse me one minute this is Hillary can we
um make sure mr pinto has promoted the panelists so that he can turn on his camera thank you
has he been promoted panelists yes i'm on the camera now yep there you go
all right council thank you uh mr pinto did you hear my complete presentation
yes uh is it accurate to the best of your knowledge yes would you adopt the statements
as your own testimony yes i would is there anything further to add uh no no i think we're
i think i'm good thank you thank you um i would let next like to call mr stephen bartlett the
architect for this project mr bartlett mr bartlett if you're in the virtual audience
please raise your hand and wait to be sworn in
they will be rejoining as a panel shortly thank you um i'm not sure if we want to also uh
promote mr carl st pierre um who will be my next witness after mr bartlett
Mr. Bartlett, please state your name and spell it for the court reporter.
You have to take your phone off mute, sir.
Please unmute Steve Bartlett.
Hello, my name is Steven Bartlett.
Can you hear me?
yes can you spell your name and spell it for the court reporter please
s-t-e-v-e b-a-r-t-l-e-t-t steve bartlett do you swear to tell the truth the whole truth
and nothing but the truth i do thank you counsel please proceed thank you uh did you hear my