From Doug Bryant, President of the Frankford NAC
Our zoning meeting for tonight has been cancelled. We didn’t have any zoning cases.
Tag: NAC
Shopping Center Controversy
Both Developers Need a ShopRite
The issue that has caused the Hankin Company to oppose the Shoppes at Wissinoming comes down to the ShopRite. There were plans for it to go into the Arsenal but they have now signed a non binding letter of intent to go into the Wissinoming center. Both centers need a supermarket and ShopRite appears to be the only one interested.
To be sure there are legitimate issues with the site of the Shoppes at Wissinoming which would be located on the old SKF plant at Tulip and Aramingo.
At the NAC meeting on November 14th, the shopping center feud continued. An engineering company report critical of the design of the Shoppes at Wissinoming was discussed. The issues are safety, environmental and traffic congestion. The center will attract as many as 1500 new cars to the neighborhood. That part of Aramingo Avenue is already congested with the overflow of traffic coming onto local streets to bypass I-95 reconstruction. It will also create about 500 permanent jobs.
Carl Freedman of the FC Development Group LLC, the developer of the Wissinoming center, responded to the report.
(a) Traffic congestion – Carl had a traffic engineer study the traffic situation and that the area would not be more congested than usual. The city is studying the implementation of speed bumps ant changing the flow of traffic on the side streets entering the Shopping Center. This could in fact improve traffic over what it is now.
(b) Neighbors directly across the street from the development are thrilled about the added lighting and security the development would bring.
(c) Water runoff – With the of implementation of Green Technology there will be an added improvement of that concern.
On the safety and environmental issues, the audience seemed satisfied. However, the is no arguing that there will be more traffic going into the shopping center. However Freedman points out that this if from the local area. It is not a regional shopping center like the Arsenal that will bring in shoppers from long distances.
There is some question as to whether the local neighbors are fully aware of the impact of the development will have on traffic on their streets and some were not aware that a development was planned.
Mark Hankin from the Hankin Management Company spoke on behalf of the Shopping Center at the Arsenal. The Arsenal center will be three to four times larger than the Wissinoming center, however it is located far from a residential area. It will create as many as 2,000 permanent jobs when fully built out.
The NAC had previously voted to support the Wissinoming development and indicated they have no intention of changing that decision. The audience supports having both developments moving forward.
To get more information about this issue, there is a meeting on Tuesday, November 19th at 7PM at the Chateau Caterers at 5121 Tulip Street. This is sponsored by the Hankin Company.
Frankford NAC Says Yes to New Church for Frankford
By: Doug Bryant, NAC President
Our zoning meeting was held at Second Baptist Church on October 10, 2013. The first property to be considered was 5020-5028 Leiper St. Mr. Mike Dilmore, the owner of the property and Pastor John Kennedy, were requesting a variance to renovate two detached storage buildings into one, to form the main church sanctuary of the Shepherd House Ministries. Community concerns raised centered on issues of parking and the exact nature of services to be offered. The Pastor explained that there would be off street parking for upwards of forty vehicles and that only worship services with no type of separate, standalone outreach programs were planned. With no further questions raised a vote was called and the variance was granted.
The second property listed for consideration was 5458 Tacony St aka 2251 Fraley St. Ms. Cheryl Gaston, Esquire represented Mr. George Martinos the owner with a through presentation. But a series of questions surrounding past code violations, current usage of the property, length of time that activity had been taken place and notification of surrounding neighbors could not be addressed to the board’s satisfaction. The variance request was not granted and instead a continuance was issued. With no other properties listed the meeting was adjourned.
November 25th we, along with the Wissinoming Civic Association, had a joint zoning meeting at Wissinoming Presbyterian Church. The developer Carl Freedman of F C Development Group gave a second presentation on the progress of the Shoppes of Wissinoming. This development will be located at Tulip St. and Aramingo Ave. ShopRite will be the anchor supermarket of the development. He is in the process of obtaining an Urgent Care Facility, 
restaurants and merchants who are interested in upgrading their businesses.
The existing buildings will be crushed on site and recycled. Green Technology is planned to be a major part of this development. Storm water management and Hi Tech Green Roof Technologies are some of the examples of such. He is talking with Septa to bring in a bus stop. A retaining wall and fence will be constructed to stop access to railroad traffic. Plenty of security cameras will be implemented with a direct link to local authorities.
This construction will create 200 to 350 union jobs and after construction will create 400 to 500 long term jobs. Completion of this development is planned for the Spring of 2015.
Frankford NAC to Vote on New Parking Garage
The NAC will discuss the proposal for a parking garage at First Philadelphia Preparatory Charter School on Tacony Street.
NAC Meeting Update
The Frankford Neighborhood Advisory Community Zoning Meeting was held on August 8th at 2nd Baptist Church.
- There was a zoning procedures review covering the code of conduct and catchment areas
- Property applicants for 3959 Frankford Avenue had 3 votes yes. 1167 Bridge Street had 1 vote yes. 1950 Bridge street had no votes one way or the other and therefore there is no opposition. 5010 Cottage Street did not present so there were no votes.
- There was a discussion of the Homestead Exemption program from the Office of Property Assessment. Property owners should apply for the exemption by September 13th.
- Simone Smith made a presentation on how to purchase city property.
John Loftus of the Northeast Times has a report on the details of the meeting at this link.
The next NAC meeting will be held at 2nd Baptist Church at 1801 Meadow Street on September 12th at 7PM.
Frankford Neighborhood Advisory Community Zoning Meeting
