and we actually were in communication with the individuals on 18th street side and they had no
objection we originally were looking into potentially reventing through the roof and we
were told they didn't want venting through they meaning the community organizers they want not
want venting through the roof they wanted venting on the side of the property so we said if you're
going to do venting on the side of the property, then it would make sense to keep the venting
here, because if we would move it to Glenwood, it would actually cost my client potentially
in excess of $30,000 to move the venting.
And, you know, I don't, so that's our presentation.
But that was a major contention, Mr. Chair, about where it would be vented.
And ultimately, we came to the decision, we would just use the pre-existing position
of the former pizza shop.
You want to get your client on?
Mr. Waddle, can you virtually raise your hand?
Hello.
I'm here.
Good morning, Mr. Waddle.
Please identify yourself for the record.
Spell your last name.
Good morning.
My name is David Waddle.
Last name is spelled W-A-D-D-E-L-L.
Do you swear and affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Okay, Mr. Notkinson.
Yes, David, you heard everything I stated today.
And is it true and correct?
And would you adopt it as your own testimony?
Any questions from the board?
Would anyone else like to testify in this case?
If so, please raise your hand.
I'm sorry. Yvette? Yes. Could you just open up their audio? Just unmute them. Not promote
them. Okay? Okay. We have a Tina Marie Russell. She's been unmuted. Good morning, ma'am. Please
identify yourself with a record spell your name and provide us with your address sure as tina
marie russell um north central philadelphia cdc rco 1631 west susquehanna avenue we're in a firm
to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do please proceed okay so first let me
apologize in saying that i don't have the letter um out to anyone i could not i'm having technical
difficulties with my computer is unbelievable. It's like, I don't understand what's happening.
So anyway, I couldn't PDF anything and I felt uncomfortable about that, but I did send a
summary that I'm hoping to be okay because that's not PDFed. So bottom line is we did have a meeting
like the attorney expressed on two occasions. And to summarize it in a nutshell is the fact
is the fact that there's three hardship issues that we feel that are going to be happening.
that there's three hardship issues that we feel that are going to be happening.
One is the time of the applicant's business is going to be, he wanted to, he indicated he wanted
to go from 10 a.m. to 2 o'clock in the morning. We did reduce it to 1 o'clock in the morning.
However, as anyone knows from our community, because he's one of the few, he's maybe one of
the only establishments open at that time at night in this area people are going to flock there
especially if the food is good which means that the community because they're not used to this
but they haven't been exposed to for a while they're going to be exposed they may not recognize
or may recognize which is one reason why we have rcos to show the big picture um the amount of
um oversaturation of community of people coming out to the establishment at one or two o'clock
in the morning as we know just because you close the doors don't mean people leave because once
they have their food if you look at the location of the of the site there's a a garden directly
across the street takes up a vast amount of area so there's always some place to pull over
for people to socialize while they're eating their food um so we look at that oversaturation of of
pedestrians at that point in time until wee hours of the morning and this is a working community so
So just therefore, we have that.
The second issue is that the lighting will be there.
The owner is considerate to be putting cameras as well as lighting around the building.
Well, it's great if you end your business at 9 o'clock or 10 o'clock in the evening.
But if you're going to 2 o'clock in the morning with those type of penetrating lights, now
your neighbors directly across the street on 18th Street will have a harder time getting
rest because the lighting will be, you know, to a community that's not used to having that
lighting on that area um thirdly we do have an issue with the vent first of all you said you
were going the advocate indicated that he would put he was thinking about he was he thought he
would have to put the venting on the roof which is going to cost substantially more money than
moving the vent from the 18th street side to the glenwood side and the rationale behind doing that
is just purely not just consideration not just consideration but it's a health issue as well um
And as well as a noise issue, venting after a while, especially if it's not maintained correctly.
And over time, we do get lags. If you look at most businesses, reality is reality.
They make a steady hum, and that hum will be invasive because it's not such a big street that people directly across the street and homeowners directly to the side of him will constantly be bombarded by from 10 o'clock in the morning to 2 o'clock in the morning by the noise level,
as well as by the smell as well as by the um as well as the lighting situation so that's a long
time so what is the recommendation of the rco and as we let me finish please what is the
recommendation of the rco as it relates to the time the time wise we ask we reduce this time
to 10 no longer than 10 8 10 p.m in the evening that's the latest that we recommend
and and the exhaust we had recommended that if he had the funds in his mind and his budget to
move it to the roof then he should have the same okay financial support support systems to move it
to the glenwood side as opposed to the um 18th street side i don't know what the cost would be
uh what the difference between roof mount and moving it to 18th street would be i i suspect
the roof mount would be less expensive because that's where it's it's it's exiting uh the that
you have the uh the wall mount right there and then you'll have to do is put up uh the uh the
flue or whatever to get to the roof i would think that would be less expensive and typically that's
what this board generally recommends that to be roof mounted exhaust as for the hours of operation
You're saying 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.?
That's the latest we think.
But we also have another RCO, one of the other affected RCOs, who like to give testimony as well.
Okay, we'll get to that next.
Thank you.
Mr. Chair, may I address her three points?
Yes, please.
Okay, hours of operation I have according to my notes.
We presented to the community Sunday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
And Friday and Saturday, we presented 10 a.m. to 1 a.m.
and again this is merely a takeout pizza shop yeah we're there there's no seats in there so
we're hoping people do not congregate um in terms of the the lighting and the security
again i would think that they would want security 24 7 so that wouldn't affect anyone
i would agree and in terms of the lighting typically neighborhoods we're not going to have
neighborhoods we're not going to have like lighting that you would see on the temple campus
like lighting that you would see on the temple.
but most people would prefer to have some type of lighting to like line up a block we we heard
a lot during our five hours of discussion with this community that this you know community has
some challenges in terms of safety uh and i would think that an appropriate amount of lighting would
help all involved um in terms of the venting that was our initial stance was like i know the position
the board they would want and i stated that clearly and tina marie would would hopefully
confirm this that the board wants to have the venting through the roof that's the appropriate
thing when they indicated they wanted to have side venting uh we indicated then we could repurpose
the venting that's that that's there to move it all the ways to glenwood would be a much more
significant costs and and that's what we still told them so uh that's our position as to those
three matters thank you anyone else would like to testify in this matter please raise your hand
and if you are testifying please give us something new and different chair we have a call-in user
they've been unmuted
i believe that's adrian fernandez is that adrian it has no name yes
Good morning, Ms. Fernandez.
Please identify yourself with a record by your last name.
Adrienne Fernandez, F-E-R-N-A-N-D-E-Z, Swamp Little Neighborhood Parcels Association, RCO.
And we are effective.
And do you swear and affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes. So we did send our letter in to ZBA and had concerns which were stated at the meeting by ourselves and neighbors about crime and safety, parking and traffic congestion and parking on sidewalks and hours of operation.
As far as the parking, the owner suggested parking on a parcel that he does not own, and we said we were just totally against that.
So the parking problem and traffic congestion was never really resolved.
And also there's been an increasing problem of parking on sidewalks.
And neighbors also reported that there are some streets in this area with permanent parking and some without.
So it creates more congestion and just more people scrambling to figure out where to park when you have a business where people are pulling up, you know, parking temporarily and pulling off as a takeout business does.
As far as the we're asking for denial. However, if the board does not vote to deny, we're asking for provisos.
The main one that maybe spent a lot of time talking about because of safety and crime.
There was a pizza shop there years ago that was closed because it was a nuisance as reported by the neighbors, long term neighbors.
So we're asking for hours of operation from Sunday to Thursday, from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Friday and Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
And we're also asking that all grease containers be stored indoors.
We have a horrific problem with blackening of bricks and blackening of sidewalks because of takeout businesses that have grease containers, and they do not clean their areas.
They put them there, and they just don't clean, and it's disrespectful, not to mention it's a nuisance.
Also, we're asking that all trash, dumpsters, and recycling be stored on the property.
They said they have a large backyard that can be accessed from Glenwood, even from the street, as far as a dumpster pickup.
So we're asking for all trash, dumpsters, and recycling to be stored on the property in the backyard.
And the problem of the exterior plumbing being installed on the exterior wall on West Glenwood Avenue.
You know, on that wall, the grease cleanup is totally confined so that the owner, he can easier clean up the area.
And the grease is not going to be falling by gravity as with roof insulation of fans.
It won't be falling on other people's properties and on other homeowners' bricks, which we have a huge problem with because these takeout stores, it's like all they care about is their money.
They don't act like their corner family story that's part of the neighborhood.
And they just come in, make the money, and they drive back to the neighborhood.
Okay, thank you.
We're asking for installation on West Glenwood Avenue so it can be solely on his responsibility and any damages is restricted to his property.
Anyone else?
no chair that's all thank you planning commission good morning david effecto f e c t e a u with the
No, Chair, that's all.
Thank you.
philadelphia city planning commission morning david do you swear and affirm to tell the truth
the whole truth nothing but the truth yes sir i do thank you sir thank you sir mr chairman and
members of the board this property is indicated for commercial mixed use in the city's comprehensive
plan we have no objection to granting this variance but we ask that the applicant please
consider screening the dumpster from the public street uh thank you uh mi 2020-001752
1800 west glenwood avenue my vote is yes with the following provisos trash to be stored in your
rear yard and with commercial pickup roof mounted exhaust and hours of operation Sunday through
Thursday 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday 10 a.m. to 12 midnight. Thank you Mr. Chair.
My vote is yes with Proviso. Yes with Proviso. Yes with Proviso.
Excuse me, this is Sharon Saleta.
Chair, can I just be sure that I have the provisos right?
Trash stored indoors, roof mounted exhaust.
In rear yard.
No, in rear yard.
They have space in the yard for trash.
Commercial pickup.
Commercial.
Roof mounted exhaust and hours of operation,
10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday,
10 a.m. to midnight, is it?
Friday and Saturday. Thank you. Okay, thank you. Thank you. Have a great day.
Calendar number 0268, 1528 Porter Street.
Attorney's engine. Engine. He's been unmuted.
I just promoted him to panelists. Thank you. Good morning.
Good morning. Can you please state your name and address for the record and spell your last name?
Yes. Xenjin, Z-H-E-N-J-I-N, 1617 John F. Kennedy Boulevard,
Suite 1838 Philadelphia PA 19103 here on behalf of the applicant.
Thank you. Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
I do. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
i do and also have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership tax compliance
the refusal or referral photos and or plans of the property five days in advance of this hearing
and have you met with the rco and do you have a letter uh yes i believe we did submit everything
ahead of schedule as well as included the letter from the community okay thank you may proceed
Thank you. I'm going to go ahead and share the documentation with the board relating to this case.
So we have submitted to the board a copy of the refusal, the community letter, photos, plans, two rental licenses, which we will address as part of this request for legalization,
e-tax compliance, the property agreement, as well as the appeal application, project information
sheet, and hearing calendar. I want to point out directly that the community did vote in
opposition of this case. This is actually a legalization request for what is a RSA 5 zoning
district, but to legalize the use of the property as a three-family dwelling. I want to point out
that one of the reasons my client believed that he was purchasing a three-family dwelling is
because rental licenses have been available for this property as three units from 2018 when he
purchased it and then he as the owner was able to again acquire in 2020 three-unit rental license
but then after that someone must have called L&I and said there's work being done in the property
or people are renting it so they came out and issued a violation saying that no this is not a
three-family because it is zoned single family however my research into this property even from