of Philadelphia. Along with me today is the proposed owners of the property,
Ross and Marta Pillop. They are looking to purchase this property
pursuant to this agreement of sale, which is subject to zoning approval by this board.
the owner of the property did pay real estate taxes recently for 2019 they're in a payment
plan for 2020 I'm trying to get that documentation I figured I would just present that to the board
during the supplemental hearing to confirm same exhibit 3 is the notice of refusal this is an
to confirm same. Exhibit three is the notice of refusal. This is an I2 property. What we're
looking to do here is put an application for commercial vehicle repair and maintenance,
as well as sales and rental of vehicles in a pre-existing structure. This lot is over 125,000
square feet. The building structure is 20,000 square feet. Because we're in the far northeast
overlay district, we're here today merely for the use of the property for repair and maintenance.
We're allowed to sell and rent vehicles, but we're here because of the repair and maintenance of
vehicles. A little bit about the owners. They own, and you'll see in the packet of materials,
Pillops Custom Inc. They sell and rent and repair and maintain first responder vehicles,
essentially. Ambulances, handicap vans, things of that nature. They're currently located in
in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania. Both Marta and Ross grew up partly during their childhoods in the
northeast section of Philadelphia. My understanding is that Marta's family still lives in this part of
Philadelphia, and they're looking to move their operations to Philadelphia.
I will also point out that if you look at license number 285641, there was a license almost 20 years ago for automotive products.
So the type of use that we're asking for in terms of repair and maintenance is not uncommon to this property.
Again, this is an I-2 property. In addition, I am providing you the application for appeal
along with the project information form. And again, as you can see, this is a massive property
in the northeast section of Philadelphia, 125,000 square feet, 20,000 square foot
building structure. As you can see, there's off-street parking. There's approximately
30 spaces here. And what they intend to do is display their vehicles that are either for sale
or for rent in these parking spaces and to perform all of the automotive repairs and
maintenance inside. Again, this is the pre-existing building. They don't plan to do anything to this
this structure. You can see this is a massive parking lot from both the aerial view as well as
the view from the ground. And as you can see, this is an industrial part of town.
Here's a copy of the proof of posting in the front of the property as well as a closer view
of the zoning poster, as well as the notice of refusal that's on the notice on the zoning
poster. And again, just a little bit about Pillops Custom Inc. They've been around for over a decade.
They have, you know, three or four employees at all time who are on site. You know, it's a light
use. Their hours of operation would be 8 to 3 p.m. Most of their sales and rentals are actually done
online. They don't have a lot of people who actually visit the site very often. And usually
the vehicles, they'll have one example of each for people who would like to see it, but most of
their sales are online. For the most part, they maybe have one or two individuals visit the site
once a week, but this is a really light use. Obviously, they have been busy during this
pandemic, and this would be an asset to Philadelphia to have a company like this to
move into Philadelphia. And this is their current location. You can see it's kept very clean
and organized. And like I said, you know, October 28th, we plan to meet with the Greater
Busselton Civic League. That would be my presentation at this moment. I would, you know,
take questions. I can also have the owners of the property substantiate my presentation as well as
taking any further questions. Why don't we get your clients on and I'll square them in and then
and I'll ask for questions.
Okay, Ross and Marta, can you virtually raise your hand?
They can abuse themselves and be sworn in.
They can abuse themselves and be sworn in.
Can you hear us?
Please identify yourself first and last name for the record.
My name is Rostik Pillip, R-O-S-T-I-K Pillip, P-I-L-I-P.
We're going to affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, Mr. Narkinsen.
Mr. Pillip, you heard everything I stated today.
I did, yes.
and is it true and correct everything is true yes and do you adopt as your own testimony
i do yes okay thank you um questions from the board no no anyone who would like to
testify in this case if so please raise your hand
no hands at this time chair thank you planning commission
Good afternoon, Chairman, members of the board.
Ian Litwin, Planning Commission staff.
This parcel is zoned I-2, medium industrial,
and is indicated for industrial uses in the comprehensive plan.
Therefore, we have no opposition to granting the variance.
Thank you.
MI 2020-001280-260-62.
Geiger and Road, my vote is yes.
Oh, Mr. Chairman.
I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
I remembered. I remembered. I'm sorry. I apologize.
Mr. Chair, Mr. Chair, the other thing is, can we have a date,
when's the date and the time for this supplemental hearing?
We're going to get that right now. I apologize.
So, Chair, we're pretty much swamped.
I think we had, Alan, were you coming back in November?
I come back. I'm here every day.
um so i thought we just did one for you for resumption harry oh you did november 4th
yes can we do the same day yeah november 4th at 9 30. yep both worked for me okay thank you tanya
thank you all right let me go through that again i got ahead of myself mi-2020-001280
260-62 Geiger
Road. This hearing will
be resumed on November
the 4th at 9.30
a.m., at which
time we will consider any feedback
related to the RCO's
position. Thank you very much.
Thank you.
MI number 2020
000013
2321 North Broad Street
Attorneys Vern Anastasia
Mr. Anastasia, you've been promoted to panelist
Thank you, Ms. Sunken
good afternoon mr chairman members of the board i believe i'm still sworn in from earlier
that is correct thank you thank you verne anastasio 1315 walnut street suite 1006
philadelphia pennsylvania 19107 representing mr shy argaman the developer for the subject
property site 2321 north broad and with that i asked if i could share the screen
Vern, have you emailed an exhibit packet with the required documents, which are proof of ownership, proof of tax compliance, copy of the refusal or referral, photos and planes five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, I have.
Also, have you met with the RCO, and do you happen to have a letter from them?
Several times, and yes, we do.
Okay, great. One last thing here. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate
to its accuracy? Yes, I do. Great. Thanks. You may proceed. Thank you, sir. Folks, we're looking at
2321 North Broad Street. It is a one large open space right now that is part of a larger campus.
This is the former Dropsy University campus on North Broad.
It has several buildings, as you can see, that were all once on the same parcel.
We have a building here in the back that is of some historic significance.
We have two other buildings here.
This front one used to be a retail store, and this section here is one large courtyard.
is one large courtyard. These are the two modestly sized prop buildings that we are
These are the two modestly sized.
proposing to build, one on either side of the courtyard.
I'm going to show you. The application was initially for 56 units. When we talked with
the community on several occasions. We brought that down to 48 units, 24 units per building.
First floor would have commercial as is required. We also dropped the height of the property.
It was initially going to be 55 feet, which we could do as a matter of right. We've reduced
it to 49 so that it's more consistent with the other properties that surround it on the campus.
Now we're here not for any refusal that's significant. It's one minor refusal of a side
yard and the architect will discuss why that is. But we're only here for a special exception,
which obviously means that it is assumed that what we propose to do here is compliant by code.
We just need to show you that we're not going to be a detriment to the community.
The special exception referral was triggered only because of one reason, two buildings on one lot.
We could have, in fact, built one giant building and avoid this altogether.
However, the Historic Commission wanted us to come up with a design that would respect the sightline of this historically significant building in the rear, so that when people drive or walk by, they can still appreciate the beauty of that building.
As such, we've decided to put the two buildings either on both sides of the courtyard, which can be enjoyed.
you. The architect is going to go over interior layouts with you and design, but I do want
to show you what it would look like. As you can see, there's that historically significant
building in the center. Folks driving by can still enjoy the site. First floor of each
Each of our buildings will be commercial and then residential above.
This is a rendering of what it would look like in relation to the surrounding buildings.
As you can see, it's completely consistent with North Broad Street.
what's you know unusual is what what's there now which is
obviously just one large open space that's not enjoyed by anybody
there's the interior courtyard with the proposed north building
and then this is the significant building that we want to preserve the site
We have proof of posting, proof of mailing, the deed, and the tax certification.
I'm going to unshare this for a minute in order to share with you one of the RCO letters.
If I can find it.
do you see this one
do you see the rco letter folks yes could you enlarge it sure this is from the 30 world 37th
Ward RCO. As the letter states, this project has been going on for several years, and they support
the project. Now, I do need to put on the record my legal argument because the question, does the
construction of two buildings on one lot trigger one of the following, beyond that which would
normally be expected. Does it cause extraordinary congestion for the public streets or public
transportation? Obviously not. Broad Street is a very active street. This is a very empty space.
So, adding these two modestly sized buildings are not going to add congestion to the streets or the broad street line.
So adding these two modestly sized buildings are
Would it be overcrowding of the land? Again, that's pretty apparent that it won't be because of that large space of shared courtyard that we will continue to maintain as part of the former Dropson University campus.
Will it impair light and air to any adjacent property? And the answer to that is absolutely
none. As you saw, there was one large commercial property on the corner, and then there's empty
space on the south of the South Tower. Would it endanger the public health? Again, there's
absolutely no reason to believe that it would endanger the public health any more than any
other building on that block. In fact, it'll be brand new quality construction, and one could
argue that it would actually be safer than many of the properties up and down North Broad.
Finally, is it in line and compatible with the city comprehensive plan? The answer to that is
obvious. Yes, it is, of course. That's why we're here asking for a referral and not a refusal.
with that i'd like my client to raise his hand so that he could take my presentation as his own
testimony shy or any of the partners yes this is shy hey how you doing hello shy could you put
could you put your name and spell it uh on the record for the for the board yeah shy argument
It's S-H-A-I, last name A-R-G-A-M-A-N.
I reside at 1267 Serota Place.
It's S-C-R-O-T-A place, Philadelphia PA 19115, and I'm the owner of the lot.
Very good.
You swear and affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
I affirm, yes.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Shai, did you hear my presentation to the board today?
Yes, I am.
okay and was it true and accurate to the best of your knowledge yes it was and would you accept
it and adopt it as your own testimony if need be yes i am thank you very much shy thank you
mr chairman if you'd like we could uh ask rich to raise his hand and he can go through the plans
with you if you'd like hold off a minute let me see if there are any questions yet from the board
no no okay um is there anyone who would like to testify in this case if so please raise your hand
chair we have mary jones from the council person's office
thank you good afternoon ms jones please identify yourself and you're still under
oath from this morning good afternoon my name is Mary Jones from council
president Darrell Clark's office after a review of this project the council
president does not support it unless there is an inclusion of affordable
units uh also like a provisal that it will be market rate and that some of them will be set
aside um for uh low or yeah set aside for um affordable uh to be made affordable for low
income tenants
sir anastasio during your uh time involved with this case has that issue ever come up and has
have been addressed or could you give us some background on it has not um up until you know
i think it's fair to say 15 or 20 minutes prior to today's hearing starting um it had not written
been brought up in the past um i had not discussed this with my client i would like to say as a
matter not to get into it too much but as a matter of course the units are all studios so
they certainly would be more affordable than you know one and two bedrooms uh and i'm not sure
that the board can attach a condition on the use uh because we're not here for the use
and we're here because there's two buildings on one lot so i'm not quite sure and maybe attorney
soletta could weigh in on that this is sharon soletta um no those are not conditions that you