So with that, Mr. Chairman, I'd open the floor to questions or comments. And Mr. Gio Loretta.
Why don't we adopt your testimony first?
Mr. Gio Loretto, can you unmute yourself and or raise your hand?
I think Jerry is participating by telephone.
It's fine.
Yes, I am here.
Could you state your name and spell it, please, for the court reporter?
First name, Jerry, J-E-R-R-Y. Last name, Jalloretto. G as in George, I-A-L-L-O-R-E-T-O.
First name Jerry, J-E-R-R-Y.
Last name Gio Loretto.
G as in George.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed.
Mr. Jalloretto, were you on the Zoom call or by phone and listened to my testimony concerning your project at 1620 Oregon Avenue?
and if you had the opportunity to testify would you adopt my testimony as your own
and would you state that my testimony was true and correct yes thank you jerry uh henry one one
question did you say the second floor bay windows are being eliminated uh yes okay thank you
questions from the board no mr
questions or comments from the virtual audience
i see no hands chair planning commission
mr chair and members of the board uh this is mason austin from the
planning commission um this property is designated for commercial
mason do me a favor spell your name for the court before
absolutely m-a-s-o-n-a-u-s-t-i-n thank you do you swear or firm to tell the
truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? I do, and I apologize, I'm a little rusty. No, no,
no, no, proceed, proceed, Mason. All right, thanks. This property is designated for commercial
mixed use in the comprehensive plan, and its CMX1 zoning matches that designation.
While the requested dimensional variance is justified by the hardship inherent in the
unusual curved shape of the rear of the property, the requested use variance is not, whereas up to
three units would be permitted by right through participation in the mixed income bonus program,
granting that the second units by variance would impose additional density not supported by the
comprehensive plan without any commensurate public benefit associated with an additional
affordable unit. Therefore, staff of the Planning Commission recommend denying the requested use
variance. Thank you. MI 2022-001-583-1620 Argonne Avenue. I vote yes with proviso. Revised plan
one page stamped June 15th, 2022.
Carol Scenery, my vote is yes with proviso.
Thomas Solomon, my vote is yes with proviso.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes with proviso.
Thank you, Mr. Clinton.
Thank you, Mr. Bergman, members of the board.
Thank you.
MI 2022-001809-2300 South Woodstock Street.
um ron patterson's the attorney letter of opposition from jurada state neighbors
letter of support from councilman johnson and letter of support from coordinating rco jurada
state area neighbors. Okay. Mr. Patterson? Yes. Good afternoon, Ronald Patterson. Hi, Mr. Patterson.
Spell your name for the court reporter, please. Sure. Ronald, R-O-N-A-L-D, Patterson, P-A-T-T-E-R-S-O-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth? Yes, I do.
Could you identify your client and the relationship to the property?
Sure. I represent the owner and proposed operator, which is an LLC, Susie Q 2300 LLC, and its principals, Joseph and Philip Baldino, and Joseph is here today to testify.
Thank you. Our vice chair, Carol Tenere, has a few questions.
Hi, Mr. Patterson. Do you agree to wave the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, I do.
Okay. Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership tax compliance, a copy of the refusal or referral, photos under plans of the property five days in advance of this hearing, and have you met with the RCOs, and do you have letters?
Yes to all of the above, except I'd like to address the tax certification quickly, if I may.
Okay, sure.
And then you may proceed and share your screen, but your screen's up.
You see it now? Okay.
So, this property, the Suzy Q, my time, recently settled on the property in May of 2022. And you'll see here, based on this line, 1304, that city taxes were paid some back taxes. I checked. Can you see this next screen?
yes okay you'll see that um there's no taxes due on the real estate now so i think that was
kind of that was a holdover from the prior owner so i don't know if you're satisfied with that or
not but um mr jerry this is hillary i want to jump in so first the thing we're looking at is
the value not the tax balance on atlas um the screen that you just had up mr patterson that's
um the screen that you just had up Mr. Patterson that's just showing the value that was not the
just showing the value.
tax balance um yeah that's the assessed value of the property
okay there's there's one owed here 2021 but as I was showing you our our tax our HUD sheet shows
that 21 and 22 was paid so yeah so i so mr patterson this is this is hillary i did check
with because there's no principle showed owing but there's penalties and interest a little bit
for each year owing i asked um the city to to verify whether the the payment that was made at
settlement last month covered all of the costs. And it didn't, but they weren't clear whether
they're researching for me, whether the additional money's left, if there was any sort of agreement
to waive penalties and interest, or if that was just added because the payment was made on June
1st. And so penalties and interest from June 1st had just accrued for the next month. So I'm still
getting clarity you know on that but so so we're going to go we're going to go on with the case
until we get the tax okay thank you shall i proceed proceed okay thank you so uh this
application as you mentioned it regards 2300 south woodstock street located in south philadelphia
here you see here this photograph it's at the corner of wool street but it also faces passion
Galvenue, which is on the left of this particular photograph. I'm showing you Phillip's Steaks for
a reason. Two blocks away is Phillip's Steaks, which is owned and ran by the Baldino family
since 1983, particularly now Phillip and Joseph. Phillip's is fortunately enough to have been
selected to operate the Steak Sandwich concessions. Two of them at the link for the Eagles games,
games, home games, and at the Philadelphia Union Soccer, the official cheesesteak concession
of the union.
So this is all relevant, and Phillips freshly slices its ribeye meats daily.
So for those concessions that are added to their small shop here, there's no room to
do this freshly slicing, which brings us to 2300 South Woodstock.
um this building's two blocks from the phillips steaks shop it was last used and has been used
since 1962 as a private social club known as the first republican ward
there's another picture of it here
right here private social club meaning that it can operate sell alcohol till 3 30
in the morning. As you see, there are little or no windows on the first floor. We'll talk about
the dilapidated condition it's in, but the permit is still valid. It was listed for sale as a private
social club. It's located in RSA 5 zoning district, but we believe that it's not viable to convert
to a single-family dwelling unit, and there lies the hardship to viably use the property for what
it's either for what it's zoned for, and certainly we prefer not to use it as a private social
club, which would be a more dense and more impactful use than what we're going to describe
here today. So what's proposed is on the first floor to do some slicing of the ribeye meats,
which would only occur on one day before each of those concession events that I mentioned,
and that would only last for one to two hours. The kitchen would be compliant with Department
of Health requirements, food licenses, of course, lots of stainless steel for sterilization.
Pickup and delivery, the meats will be delivered to Phillips Steaks and then transferred to
a private work van brought here, delivered in front on here on Wolf Street,
sliced, and then picked up within the next day. We are proposing because there were some
issues about congestion which I don't see where congestion would be for one particular van
because it's not a retail establishment nor a hotel wholesale sales establishment to perhaps
get a loading zone here from the parking authority for a limited number of hours and during the day
maybe from 10 a.m to 3 p.m so that the residents could continue to park there on off business hours
Trash, similarly, will be picked up quickly.
I'll show you.
There's a plan that was submitted, I believe, somewhere.
Sorry, I think it was submitted separately.
Sorry, I think it was submitted separately.
It shows interior storage of trash on the first floor.
Sorry, okay.
Which will be removed by commercial trash pickup within 24 hours after the slicing had occurred.
Noise, it would generate no noise.
We believe it would generate no congestion in some compared to the private social club,
which can sell alcohol and operate to the morning, we believe has a lesser impactful use.
We did meet twice, two two-hour meetings on Zoom with the Girard Estate Area Residence,
otherwise known as GEAR, the coordinating RCO, and also in attendance
was Girard Estate Neighborhood Association, GENEP.
I wouldn't say it was well attended. It was attended. A handful of parties opposed,
but for reasons that were uncompromising, and you'll hear based on unfounded beliefs,
such as traffic congestion and vermin infestation, reduction in property values, and more impactful than a private social call.
Based on the comments, however, that we heard at the meeting, and to offset some unfounded beliefs about what actually is going on here,
We put together a complete list of proviso conditions, which GEAR had agreed to. And although many of these may not be, I guess, approvable by the zoning board, we agreed that GEAR could, this would be enforceable between the parties.
So, for example, operation limited to their business and the related office on the second floor that we would like to do, limited to meat deliveries, prohibited uses would include no cooking, no grills, no deep fryers.
This is all meant to box into use so that it doesn't turn into what was, again, reported and stated this was going to be a second retail location, which it would not be.
um deliveries by way of the van that i mentioned loading as i mentioned trash pickup there's really
no trash generated other than the cardboard or the cases containers that the meat comes in
any any turnings or or or leftovers is actually reprocessed into hamburgers
the permit conditions we wanted to make clear that we would agree with gear to terminate this
variance and the associated zoning permit should Suzy Q or the Baldino sell this property
for whatever reasons. So, you know, there were, we did submit an array of signed petitions.
We understand there are, you know, opposing petitions. As I will get to, we find that
they're a suspect for reasons that I will unveil by witnesses and cross-examination. But basically
that the people signing the petitions, at least that we know of, in opposition were told about
the operations that were completely unfounded and not true. So these petitions and oppositions
are suspect not being based on accurate facts such as it would be a retail location. So with
that said, I'd like to promote Mr. Baldino as my first witness. Mr. Baldino, state your name and
spell for the court reporter. Yes, hi. My name is Joseph Baldino, J-O-S-E-P-H, B as in boy, A-L-D-I-N-O.
Do you swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth? Yes, sir. Proceed.
uh hi joseph you you heard my uh my testimony my opening would you agree that it's true and
accurate yes and and you would adopt it as if you were if it were your own yes sir um and in your
own words if you could briefly describe the building condition and what your proposed
renovation to it will be yes yes so um initially as mr patterson had stated uh myself and my brother
Philip were looking for somewhat of an expansion to help with dry goods and preparation because
we received the honor and the life-changing opportunity to be part of the Lincoln Financial
Field and also the Subaru Stadium. And we were searching for a location. We came across 2300
Woodstock a few months back, and it was operating as such. A bar, members only, with a full kitchen.
If you were to pull that up on the MLS today, the pictures are still there. It is an absolute
commercial building that has been operating since, Mr. Patterson said, 1962. What myself and my
brother Philip proposed was to change what I can only call a dilapidated building.
to change what I can only call a dilapidated building and, you know, make much better the
exterior and interior of said building. Meaning, as you can see, there's no windows on the first
floor. When myself and my brother Philip first purchased the building, we walked a generalized
contractor through, obviously licensed and insured, to go over exactly how we were going to tackle
the matter. I was informed at that point, the roof was literally collapsing and caving in
so that before anything could be done, I've already replaced and put a brand new roof
on top because I'm sure everybody could agree that, you know, building.
Let me just interrupt. So what we're getting at is you're proposing to completely renovate the
building to accommodate your use, correct? Correct.
And on the first floor would be the storage.
Yeah, so the first floor, we are hoping to have a, what I'm calling a commissary, which I would have refrigeration, freezers, and an automatic meat slicing machine, which would obviously automatically, you know, cut the ribeye steak, which some of the big guys like Pat and Gino's already have.
It takes one man to operate the machine, and approximately for the amount of sandwiches we anticipate to sell, like Mr. Patterson said, would take somewhere between an hour, possibly two.
There would be some waste, but it would be minimal, and we have drawings to support that we will keep the trash inside the first floor location and have a 24-hour pickup the following morning for any cardboard boxes and things of that nature.
The second floor, we are hoping to have a standard office. I have nowhere to conduct business at this time. It would be nothing elaborate, simply desks, tables, chairs, you know, a bathroom, you know, on the second floor.
Joseph, in addition to this proviso letter, which you would you you agree to these proviso conditions, correct?
Absolutely. Yeah. And in addition to that, you you you, I guess, scoured the neighborhood and interacted with neighbors to explain what you wanted to do here and ask if they would support you with petitions.
I did. Yes.
OK. Anything like to add about that?
um yeah yeah so um originally i'm i'm i'm born and raised in the south philadelphia area i grew
up about two blocks from 2300 woodstock i grew up on 1925 wolf street so south philadelphia being
with it is um i'm familiar with a lot of the neighbors uh over the years and so is my family
i took it upon myself to go door to door because i was told um unfortunately i'm new in this
But I was told that, you know, letters of support would be helpful in this matter.
I guess I took it a little prematurely that I would be welcomed with open arms with all the neighbors, considering that it's been a bar since 1962 that I would certainly be for it.
I mean, you know, for obviously all the reasons you don't want to live next to a bar.
That being said, I've received a tremendous amount of support, which is, I believe, on the record in the fall.
Yes, we did. I submitted it.
There was some opposition. Some of the opposition I gathered and I had some of the neighbors that were originally opposed that are now in support, which I had those addresses, was based upon false information.
False information, meaning initially neighbors were told or a rumor was spreaded that we were looking to use this as a retail location.
That is in no way, shape or form correct.
Also, DoorDash, Internet deliveries, Grubhubs, neighbors were told we were going to use this location because Phillips Stakes currently operates 24 hours a day.
That was false information.
I believe a lot of the signatures that were gathered, minus some, as Mr. Patterson said, I completely agree. Not everyone is in support of said, you know, building this permit, but I believe the overwhelming majority of the neighborhood is in support, minus, you know, I would say a vocal six to ten people.
Thanks, Joseph. Any questions for Mr. Baldino?
You, Mr. Patterson, just just I would have it.
I have a couple more minutes, Mr. Chairman.
One of the documents that that I saw, it mentions that this cutting machine is like eight by eight, eight foot by eight foot.
Could you talk a little bit about that and about the noise issue and things of that nature relative to it?
Could you talk a little bit about that and about the noise issue and things of that nature relative to it?
Joseph, can you address that?
The machine, does it have any noise?
Joseph?
I'm sorry. Can you hear me?