yes my name is frank turner um i'm uh i represent a read and lively development
mr turner is still a little bit weak okay um i've turned everything up as much as i can
and i'll just that's good that's good that's good great and let me set my video um
so i can't get the video to come on the zoom it's different than
Okay, here we go.
He's coming back as a panelist.
Okay, there I am.
Thank you.
I apologize about that.
So there aren't really any exhibits.
Sir, can you put your name and address on the record, please, and spell your last name?
Absolutely.
My name is Frank Turner.
um my address my office address is 30 south 15th street 15th floor philadelphia 19102
do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth
yes i do and do you also agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its
accuracy yes is there any way you can increase the volume because we can barely hear you right
that's what um i've been told what reporter can you hear him i'm trying to uh um is there a way
you can get closer to the microphone yeah i believe so here is that is that better yes that
is a little bit better okay i'll just try to speak up if that's okay have you emailed the exhibit
packet with the required documents proof of ownership tax compliance i'm emailing that to
Ms. Saleta currently. Well, it's due five days in advance of this hearing, and what is due
is the proof of ownership, tax compliance, refusal referral, photos and plans five days in advance
of this hearing, and have you met with the RCO, and do you have a letter? The letter from the RCO
should have been sent, and there was an RCO meeting, and I believe that we have the support
of the RCO. My client, the owner of Reed Lively Development, should be logged on here.
Travis Lively, and let's see if I can see him here.
Ms. Saletta, what documents do we have?
Well, I will check my email now, but until this morning, I had
nothing and the case summaries went out indicating that we had no exhibits.
chair call chair we can um continue this case um um i can i can yeah i think we need to continue
i can yeah i think we need to continue this case i do too we're gonna we're gonna give you a
this case i do too we're gonna
an extra time which is unusual because it's already been continued but given the circumstances
we will continue this case um i believe i can get all the documents to you guys but i yeah but we
have other case we just can't wait for that so we'll have to continue it five days in advance
be recorded five days before your hearing date you can um send it and somebody will reach out
to you with a continual date. All right, thank you. All right, so MI 2020-000654-1455 North 29th Street
is continued. Calendar number 2195-1740 Blava Street.
Ms. Harvey, are you for this case?
Yes. Good morning. My name is Sharon Harvey.
My last name is H-A-R-V-E-Y.
My address is 140 West Maplewood Avenue, Philadelphia, PA-19144.
Thank you. Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Do you also agree to wave the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
And have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership, tax compliance, refusal, referral, photos, plans, five days in advance of this hearing?
And have you met with the RCO? And do you have a letter?
Yes. We emailed the packet five days in advance, but the RCO packet got kicked back twice.
The other ones did not.
I just sent the supplement for the tax clearance and the letter from the RCO.
and i cannot get my video okay okay you may proceed now we can't see it i just promoted
to a panel that she's coming back in and she'll be able to um start her presentation thanks
location hello yes ma'am you should be able to um share your screen and um start your video if
like okay there okay i'm sorry i uh mr chair um this vice chair am i free to uh proceed
yes you may proceed okay all right so can i share my screen okay all right where are we
Blavis Street is in the 13th Ward, and we are here requesting a variance from the refusal.
The property is a funeral home, and we have posted our notices.
The variance that we are requesting is to conduct commercial business in the neighborhood, which is listed as a RSA 5.
I provided a copy of the deed.
And the floor plans.
The building is a house and it's two stories.
this is the basement first floor and the second floor the uh building the first floor is a
reception area um the mortuary service area and yes we don't see the uh drawings you don't see the
drawings okay okay do we see them now because it says i'm sharing my screen oh no oh there
is that better yes it is okay i'm sorry all right uh the uh basement first floor second floor
uh the first floor uh is the entryway reception area lobby and the waiting area
the second uh first floor also has um the embalming area behind those curtains
and then the second floor consists of a conference room
And then the second floor consists of a conference room and a office.
The property is located, again, on a residential street.
However, it is the only house on that particular block.
Sorry.
This is the exterior front view.
This is the exterior side and rear view of the property.
And this is a photo of the backyard, which faces Cuyahoga Street, which is a warehouse.
This is the rear view of the backyard.
And it's a small backyard of less than 100 square feet.
The property located directly across the street is a parking lot in which my clients actually lease the space.
from uh of the the parking lot uh and i think there's a copy of the lease in the property
uh in the packet uh my clients also provide uh security in the form of uh they have a lighting
uh in the front and side of the building and they also have security cameras inside the the
establishment and uh and the exterior of the uh of the property and they also can monitor the
property when they're off-site. They operate the business on nine to five Monday through Friday
and by appointments only. The surrounding properties, again, this is a view from across
the street and this is a view from 17th Street looking towards 18th Street and this is a side
view of my client's property right there the two adjoining properties right next to my client this
is my client's property here the two adjoining properties are owned by one by the redevelopment
authority and one by the city of philadelphia and from since 80 1984 and 1970 this is what the lot
Hezbollah. Going back towards 17th Street, this property is actually the rear of a property
located on Cayuga Street. And then this property also is next to that property, the rear of
Cayuga Street. The only other property on that side of the street is 1714 through 20,
which houses a couple RVs and this large lot is the rear of this building on Cuyahoga Street
and this is a view of 18th Street and there is a commercial or a closed garage also on 18th Street
my client's property is located here this is an aerial view of the property
uh they and all these are other abandoned or owned by uh commercial entities this is just
another view this is this is the subject property uh we received the refusal um or mortuary services
and religious assembly my clients only perform uh mortuary services they are not asking for any
religious services um they uh uh perform uh uh embalming of uh services and prepare the uh
person's body for uh service at either church or uh uh cemetery uh they see clients at the
business and then um they then arrange to have the body picked up take the brunk back to the
mortuary and then uh prepared and then move forward um for final disposition your your
application says for 20 seat seating who's sitting there i'm sorry who's who's sitting there if there
are no religious services there there are no religious services and they never they applied
for this before they hired me so they so this is what was before uh uh l and i but they never had
any plans for any religious services because the building is just too small uh and so but also the
refusal is because uh this is a rsa 5 uh residential and non-commercial building uh
Ms. Harvey, is it safe to say that this is going to function more or less like a funeral power?
So you're going to have people who are there once the body's prepared, sitting, if family members and whoever will be sitting there for a certain amount of time, but there's no religious services.
So you're going to have people who are there once the body's...
That's correct.
There will be a viewing.
Not at that location, no.
But once the body's prepared, the family will come in and view it, and then it will be moved out.
but it's not like somebody can sit in view and just 10 or 20 people sit or sit there well that's
what that's why the vice chair was asking because the application says with 20 seating right there's
no seating there's no i don't know if that'll make a difference either way but i just want to
make sure we're clear on the fact yes and as far as the uh two required parking spaces they do have
a lease and they lease the parking lot across the street which holds up to 15 cars but they never
have more than three or four people in the building at the time um and then the other one
it's it's uh the proposed multi-principle uses is prohibited in the zoning which is it is zoned
for residential and non-commercial all right if you can summarize it would be helpful uh we request
that the variance so that the mortuary services can be performed at the location. It would cause
a hardship on my client's part because they have actually renovated this building that has been
vacant since my client bought it in 2017, but it went to share of sale prior to that. And so we
request that the variance be granted we have the rco letter i don't know if i said that how can i
i can't stop sharing this screen and share i have another screen where is that
the rco letter um can you see that i can't say them we do have an rco letter um well as an
officer of the court will stipulate that there is a letter and we may have it in our file. Okay
and not opposing the variance and we do have to tax clearance. Excuse me this is Sharon Saletta
we do have letters from Passiunk Square and from Councilman Squilla in non-opposition. No it can't
be that case. You're still on Passiunk Avenue. I am I'm sorry.
no there's no one here okay and my client is here able to specify you want to get your client to
adopt your testimony get a client's full name and i will swear your client in okay just one second
i'm sorry oh all right right running i'm sorry uh we're on two different levels of my client and
So, let's run downstairs.
Well, if your client's not available, again, as an officer of the court, we'll stipulate that your client would adopt your testimony.
All right.
Any questions from the board?
Anyone else would like to testify in this case?
If so, please raise your hand.
Yes, Chair, I have a Mr. Charles Richardson.
Mr. Charles, you can unmute yourself and be ready to swear in.
Good morning, Mr. Richardson.
Can you hear me?
Now we can, yes.
Okay, Charles Richardson from the Office of Councilwoman Cindy Bass, room 312, City Hall.
Do you swear and affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Thank you. Please proceed. I have a question for Ms. Harvey. Back in 2019, we had reports that were actually complaints that your client had opened without having the proper licenses and things along those lines. Have they taken care of their license issues with L&I?
as far as i know yes uh the license issue was that they did not receive a variance
to be able to operate but they were already operating at that point actually in fact they
had uh placed on that city lot next door they had placed a screening uh that had different
they had placed a screening that had different photographs of things in the neighborhood.
photographs of uh things in
And they actually had taken a photo of our office showing Cindy Bass's district office as though we were actually endorsing it.
And that's where we got a lot of complaints because it was like, how can you endorse this place because of the fact that they're open without any licenses and things along those lines.
In fact, the 13th Ward at the time was one of the major complainants because they'd received a lot of complaints as well.
So since that point, I do see that you have a letter from the 13th Ward where they are supporting.
So we will have no opposition to it at this point, but just wanted to find out whether or not they had taken care of their licensing issues that had been existing.
Okay. So as I said, the only licensing issue I know of is that they haven't received the variance so that they can't get a permit to operate.
but they were already operating though yes they and as i said i wasn't initially this is a
legalization yes yes all right um any other anyone else would like to testify in this case please
raise your hand i see no more hands here thank you planning commission
thank you cherry chico members of the board the comprehensive plan recommends uh sorry
ian haggerty philadelphia state planning commission comprehensive plan recommends no
change to the existing residential zoning at this location however we would recommend that the board
approve the variance uh with the proviso that no religious assembly use be permitted at this
location thank you mi 2020 that's zero zero two one nine five one seven four zero blavis street
my vote is yes with the proviso no religious services at this location excuse me chair this
is sharon saletta um so it isn't strictly limited to religious services could it maybe the proviso
There'll be no viewings or funerals related services.
Okay, so noted.
Yes, with all the provisors.
Yes, with provisors.
Yes, with provisor.
Yes, with all the provisors.
Thank you.
Calendar number 0707200 West on Cannon.
Thank you.
Thank you.
We have a Mr. Kurt.
Mr. Kurt, you can unmute yourself.
Good morning, members of the board.
Good morning. Can you put your name and address on the record, please, and spell your last name?
Yes, my name is Justin Crick, K-R-I-K.
Address is 1500 John F. Kennedy Boulevard, Suite 630, Philadelphia PA 19102.
And do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Do you also agree to waive and stip?
Have you sent in the exhibit packet with proof of ownership, tax compliance, copy of the refusal and referral, photos, plans, five days in advance of this hearing?
and have you met with the RCO and do you have a letter? Yes, to all. Did I swear you in?