Hunting Park House Church

4223 North Franklin Street

Philadelphia, PA 19140
Tel. 215/228-9777

May 20, 2015

Honorable Julia Chapman, Chair
Zoning Board of Adjustment
Municipal Services Building, Room 1130
1401 John F. Kennedy Boulevard
Philadelphia, PA 19102-1687
RE: 532 W. Annsbury Street - Calendar #24548, Application #580863
Dear Chairwoman Chapman:
Greetings! My name is Andrs Fajardo and I serve as the Lead Chaplain at the Esperanza Health Center
(with three locations, one of which is in the Hunting Park neighborhood at 4417 N. 6th Street). I also
previously served as an Elder and Assistant Pastor at Spirit and Truth Fellowship, a long-standing church
in the Hunting Park neighborhood at 4400 North 6th Street. I am also the Pastor of the Hunting Park
House Church, a church started by Spirit and Truth Fellowship. Finally, I have lived in Hunting Park since
1999 (16 years).
Principally in my role as the Pastor of the Hunting Park House Church (almost all of whose members
live within four blocks of the 532 W. Annsbury Street site) I am writing on behalf of our church to
state our opposition to the zoning appeal for 532 W. Annsbury Street, which will be heard by the
Zoning Board of Adjustment on May 20, 2015 at 5pm. The applicant cannot satisfy the burden of proof
required by 14-303(7)(e)(.1) and, therefore, I request that you deny appeal #24548 on the following
grounds:

14-603(9)(b) states that "Junk and salvage yards and buildings may not be located within 150
ft. of any Residential district." A significant portion of 532 W. Annsbury Street is within 150 ft. of
a Residential district.

14-603(9)(c) requires that "a masonry wall, not less than eight ft. in height and not more than
12 ft. in height, shall be constructed and maintained in good condition around all property
boundaries abutting a zoning district other than I-3 or I-P. There may be no stacking of
material above the height of the masonry wall... ." The entire front, rear, and much of the
westerly border of the property at 532 W. Annsbury Street has no masonry wall of any kind and
is therefore in violation of this requirement. Moreover, the applicant is currently stacking
material above the height of the incomplete masonry wall which does exist.

14-603(9)(d) requires a junkyard to be "landscaped in accordance with 14-705(2)" which

states "At least one street tree per 35 ft. of linear frontage shall be provided. The front of 532
W. Annsbury Street is 140 linear feet and provides zero street trees of the three required by
Philadelphia zoning code 14-603(9)(d).

14-603(9)(f) states that "No outdoor industrial processes involving the use of equipment for
cutting, shredding, compressing, or packaging may be conducted within 300 ft. of a Residential
district." The entirety of 532 W. Annsbury Street is within 300 ft. of a Residential district.

Moreover, 14-303(7)(d) requires the applicant to show that the granting of a special exception will not
cause detrimental impacts to the neighborhood through burdening schools, parks, or other public
facilities and 14-303(7)(e) seeks to prevent the impairing or permanently injuring of the use of adjacent
conforming properties.
In regards to this last requirement, as I am sure has been mentioned to you by numerous others, the
applicant has already conducted itself in a manner for many years which causes negative physical and
social effects for our neighborhood. These include processing and dealing with toxic substances (e.g.,
recycled gasoline, Freon, other coolants, oil) in unauthorized and negligent ways, being threatening and
uncooperative with neighboring properties, damaging adjoining walls to other properties, and having
amassed an enormous quantity of unpaid city taxes, which hurts not just Hunting Park but the entire
city!
In addition to these technical disqualifications for the applicants proposed use of 532 W. Annsbury
Street, please know that the Hunting Park community overwhelmingly opposes this application on the
grounds that it is inconsistent with Hunting Park Neighborhood Strategic Plan 2022 developed as a
collaborative community effort and formally accepted by the Philadelphia City Planning Commission.
Our Hunting Park House Church strongly urges you to turn down this proposed use of 532 W. Annsbury
Street. Thank you for your time and attention.
Sincerely,

Pastor Andrs Fajardo

Hunting Park House Church