Our vice chair has a few questions.
Good morning, counsel. Do you agree to wait to read another refusal or stipulate towards accuracy?
Yes, I do.
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits as needed and required to proceed
with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, I did, with the exception of the tax clearance certificate, which my client was
able to obtain yesterday, and I forwarded that to the board yesterday evening.
Thank you very much.
Please proceed and share this one.
Thank you very much.
Share my screen.
For my exhibit, there we are.
Can you see the red building?
So essentially, this is an application to permit this establishment to be used as a restaurant for eating in as well as dining out.
The package consists of the refusal application with project information form the lease.
My clients have the property pursuant to a commercial lease, which expires on 2026, termination date May 3rd, 2026.
So hopefully as things progress and go forward, they should be able to easily obtain an extension of the lease.
They should be able to easily obtain an extension of the lease.
We have the plans of the property, which shows the first floor.
If I could zoom in on that.
Approximately 411 square feet of dining area.
This is a corner property showing the corner door.
with a food prep area consisting of 156 and a half square feet and a 164 square feet
kitchen area in the back with an accessible restroom. Scrolling down, this is a three-story
building. My client only has access to the basement for storage as well as to the first
floor. They have nothing to do with, I believe its residence is on the second floor, but they
have nothing to do with that. They had met on August 12th with the 35th Ward Executive
Democratic Committee. There were some discussions, and the RCO had requested that the takeout
portion of this application would be for a trial period of one year, hours of operation 8 a.m. to
11 p.m. with the restaurant being closed on Tuesday. Commercial pickup for trash with an
enclosed dumpster, no liquor license and no BYOB, and the used oil needs to be stored in the basement
until commercial pickup. My client has absolutely no problem, no issue with these requests, and we
could have them put in as provisos should the board be gracious enough to grant the variance.
the letter that went out to the near neighbors with proof of mailing
but scroll down and head to the photos
okay we're starting with as i said this is a corner property bill code door with
access to the basement poster on the building
additional photos of posters on the building
Inside view of the kitchen.
One, two, three, four dining tables, actually five dining tables.
And considering the chairs, no, they're not opening up a casino at the spot with a restroom.
And their Instagram page, type of food, Latino food, chicken stew, pork, carne frita.
Rice and beans, mangoes, soups, etc.
Now that it's 11.30, we're probably all thinking about lunch.
The tax clearance certificate, it's not in this main packet, but my client was able to obtain it yesterday, and it was forwarded to the board.
I do have, sitting to my left, Liz Marie Paz, the president of I'm Hungry Restaurant, Inc.
Liz Marie, could you come closer?
Good morning. Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
My name is Crystal Lease, K-R-I-S-T-A-L-I-Z, last name is P-A-Z.
Did the stenographer pick that up?
Chair, I was just about to unmute myself and ask if she could do that again.
Could you please do that again and raise your voice a little bit?
Okay, my name is Chris DeLiz. First name will be K-R-I-S-T-A-L-I-Z. Last name P-A-Z.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, to hold truth, nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, counsel.
Thank you. Ms. Paz, did you hear my presentation?
And would you adopt it as your own if it were your own testimony?
Okay. By the way, who else would be working at the restroom?
yeah you're gonna have to get closer we can't hear you that'll be my mother and my grandmother
and myself
do you have anything okay questions for the questions thank you questions from the board
can i see the layout here again sure please thank you gladly let me just scroll up
Crystalis, could you open up the door for your mom, please?
So there was a, you showed a kitchen.
I showed photos of the kitchen.
You asked for the layout.
I'm just scrolling up to there.
Well, layout in the kitchen.
So how, okay.
Make it a little bit bigger, Mr. Vaquero.
Make it a little bit bigger, Mr. Vaquero.
Yeah, it's a little bit bigger, thank you.
So here's the dining area and the kitchen.
I'm going to have to move.
Hold on.
There you go.
And here's the kitchen area.
And can I see those pictures again?
I'll just scroll down.
Just one moment.
look the here's a photo of the kitchen okay oh all right okay let me see if i have another one
no these are the outside no that's the only photo i have of the kitchen man
okay and then the dining area sure scroll down okay and then the i guess
wherever whoever is coming out with this food is this set up like with the counter where people
would yes order and then um come up and get their food when it's done or are they going to have
waitress service are you going to have waitress services yes she says yes okay so then the kitchen
would be
I guess toward me.
It's not
in the picture. Right.
The kitchen is toward the back.
And if we go, if I
could scroll up to the plans again.
So the kitchen area is
over here where my cursor is.
Toward the back.
You have a food prep area
where my cursor is over here.
There's a little bit of a
of a separation wall, where my cursor is here, counter dining space, where my cursor is.
All right. So what I was seeing was basically just that dining space in the one picture
and part of the kitchen in the other picture, and this whole prep space was not in the pictures,
correct? Correct. Correct. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Question. The drawings here were
prepared for what, the health department? Well, they were prepared in anticipation of the
zoning proceedings too. My client was operating, minding their own business until
one day a city inspector said that they're not zoned to be operating a restaurant at this
location. So they had to start the process to legalize this restaurant. Okay. So just a couple
things that the bathroom although it looks nice this doesn't comply with what the drawing says
in terms of the handicap accessibility i guess the other concern around that is do they have the
appropriate width for the entrance doors for somebody to get into a wheelchair that that
would be my concern but the drawings show that it's wheelchair accessible but the pictures don't
understood and if they have whatever processes and procedures that they'll have to follow to
get that into compliance that will have to follow the the first application that's always use
so is this use permitted um god willing um hopefully if this board would would permit this
use then they could put in for all the other appropriate applications such as getting that
restroom into compliance with the ada requirements gotcha
and if it means and if it means additional construction work later on it'll
that's just what they'll have to do yep i got you questions or comments more attorney
um just a couple of things so mr recaro you said this is
just the this use is just on the first floor and basement correct yes the basic storage
right right right um the the refusal is only for a sit-down restaurant now um this is where i got
a little confused by the um rco's letter because while you can have accessory takeout as part of
a sit-down restaurant the primary use here is a sit-down restaurant um so there's no i think it
would be difficult to proviso a takeout piece when that is not the primary use and i wasn't
clear if something had changed at the rco meeting but you're representing now that the that sit down
restaurant is what your client is requesting but there will be takeout service well that's
let me let me confirm that with with the client because i was not at the rco meeting
uh when did the when did the discussion of takeout restaurant start was that at the rco meeting or
start was that at the rco meeting or was that it started at the rco meeting
was that it started at the rco
did you hear that but it's actually a sit yeah it's a sit-down restaurant it's actually a sit-down
restaurant yeah take out capabilities take out capabilities yeah okay
questions or comments from the virtual audience
chair we have samia hannibal they have been unmuted and allowed to speak
could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer yes samia s as in sam a m i y y
a h last name hannibal h-a-n-i-v as in boy l-e you wear a firm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth. Yes. Are you a neighbor? Yes, I am. I'm directly next to the restaurant
897 Marcella Street. Please proceed. Hi, yes. I believe I may have been the only neighbor who
attended the RCO meeting. The takeout conversation came about because I was opposed to a restaurant
being next door, sitting on restaurants in my home. And we came to an agreement that only and
only if the board agreed to a temporary one year that they will only do takeout it wouldn't be a
sit-down restaurant um and we were opposed because myself and my neighbors uh were aware that all of
this work started to the building without the proper permits at all i've been notifying the
city for the last two years the occupancy of this building changes every single year and it's a
nuisance the parking they're parking on the payments they're out there until two three in
the morning the construction was going on up until three and four in the morning
with no permits and they were actually operating without the proper licenses
they just stopped operating the last month and a half
so i'm a restaurant okay thank you very much
if i may hold on let's don't miss carol let me see if there's anyone else in the audience all
right other persons in the virtual audience
chair we have tanya solomon they have been unmuted and allowed to
hi could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
yes tanya solomon t-a-n-y-a s-o-l-o-m-o-n i'm at 879 marcella street
Do you swear or affirm the tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Please proceed.
I'm also a neighbor, again, on the block.
And since I've been on the block and I purchased my home in 2010, that property on that corner has been a nuisance.
It's been, again, like Samia said, it's been about seven or eight things going on on that property. Trash is always out there. Trash is being left out there. They're on again. We thought they was just we thought people were in there just running that for other businesses and not what it was supposed to be intended for.
When I started here, it was an ice cream parlor.
Then someone was staying in there.
Then it was somebody that had a nail salon.
So it goes back and forth.
The parking is ridiculous.
We've already had our parking taken away from PGW on the opposing streets.
So there's really nowhere to park at anywhere.
So, and again, the traffic is horrible.
People are coming there.
They're all hours of the night.
The music is blasting all hours of the night.
So that's why we're opposed to this.
Thank you very much for taking the time to call us.
Anyone else in the virtual audience?
I see no further handshake.
Yvette Cara, do you want to respond before we go to the Planning Commission?
Yes, thank you.
With respect to whatever may have been taking place at this property before,
I'm showing you the first page of the commercial lease,
which states that the occupancy date is May 23, 2023.
So these applicants have only been there for a little over a year.
Whatever may have been going on, those were previous tenants.
So that should not be imputed onto Ms. Paz
and the current restaurant that's there.
Second of all, when I apologize for the fire trucks passing by. One moment.
Okay. Thank you. With respect to when they moved in, there already was a kitchen in there.
So my clients have taken over a spot that had previously been used as a restaurant, and they seek to continue to use it as a restaurant, which can be a benefit to the neighborhood.
So my clients have taken over a spot that had previously.
they're not going to be operating at all hours of the night the opening and closing hours were
discussed and they're agreed to and um and um we ask for this opportunity to to be able to operate
and to be a benefit to the neighborhood thank you planning commission
amy with the planning commission the comprehend recommends no change in zoning at this location