along the entire sidewalk along his property,
and he cleans up in the gutter in the street as well.
One of the suggestions was from one of the company
or nearby the Washington Square community organization,
which was not part of this really,
but he's more than happy and he expressed,
you know, sure, I'd pay someone for a few weeks
to come in and keep the place clean
and that will keep people, you know, kind of with a learning experience, hey, don't drop stuff.
You got somebody out here that that's all they do. We talked about trash cans on the outside.
He keeps one on the inside. Trash cans on the outside encourage loitering.
And we're looking, you know, maybe the city would put one up. We then met with the Lower
Moyamensing. And the number of people at that meeting were the 10 board members and five
residents. Two of the residents, I believe, were a married couple. And again, their issue was
trash. And you'll see, and he didn't know I was coming to pick up, you know, coming to take
pictures on these days. But you can see the place is clean. You know, sure, is there a can or
is there a can or something that somebody occasionally leaves?
something that somebody occasionally leaves, and he goes out and he checks and he makes
And he goes out and he checks and he makes sure.
And he cleans in the morning, he cleans during the day,
and he cleans in the evening before he closes.
And they are not open late.
They are open to, I believe, 8 p.m. during the week and 7 p.m. on Sundays.
And the area you will see is, while it is very residential and it is RSA 5,
There are a significant number of businesses.
This is across the street.
It is a laundromat, a large laundromat, and he is willing.
He doesn't have access.
There was a complaint by one individual that said, oh, people go over there and drink while
they're doing their laundry.
Well, he's more than happy to go over there and say, hey, guys, you can't do that.
But he doesn't have a right to do that.
He doesn't own that property.
We've been trying to get in touch with that owner to say, hey, you know, we're happy to
work with you to try and keep, you know, if they come out and they're drinking a soda
and having a sub, that's, you know, great.
But they can't sit outside, even on, I don't even know if they can on private property
in Philadelphia and drink.
And actually, I guess they could, if they're sitting on their own porch, they could be
having a beer out there.
So that's not really within his control.
um there was one instance that someone raised uh that there were uh two individuals hanging
out front drinking right right by the store in front of the 710 property and i spoke to my client
he would he would verify this through testimony that at the time it occurred based on when these
pictures were taken it was back in february he and his wife and family were out of town
at a funeral out of the country, and they had somebody running the store for about two weeks.
So, yeah, there might have been a couple of hiccups, but they are well-liked in the neighborhood,
and as I said, we had five neighbors show up, and based on those five neighbors,
that, and I guess the board, that is what incurred their refusal, and I should note,
And I can show one of the exhibits is an email between myself and Todd Schwartz, the zoning board guy at Lower Moyam-Ensing, where when we got off, when we were getting ready to sign off from the community meeting, I said to Mr. Schwartz, I said, Todd, you know, if there's, give me some parameters.
Give me something, you know, that my client could do what you would like to do, you know,
clean four times, whatever it happens to be.
Give me some proposals that my client and I can look at.
We can get back to you and see if we can come up with an agreement so that, you know, my
client is able to operate a good, safe business or continue to operate.
And, you know, we can go from there before we get to the hearing.
And this hearing was on March 11th.
one of my exhibits notes March 14th, but it was March 11th. I followed up with him. I never heard
back from him. Um, and you will note that the date on the refusal letter is, um, a couple of days
ago. So we had no idea we've had no contact. We've, you know, my guy has made effort, but, um, we've
gotten nothing back. I will also note that we have over 400 signatures from people in the area,
customers in the area and the neighborhood in support of this zoning application. So we have
some 400 people, I believe it came out to 414, that are in support of this, yet only five people
showed up at the community hearing or at the community meeting.
So I'm not sure, I don't believe that this expansion of the variants is detrimental to
the neighborhood.
In fact, because of the way the beer deliveries are, because of the closeness in the business
in the event of any emergency, it will actually make it more safe for the citizens and the
neighbors and the customers in that area because it will allow more space, more ability to handle
the customers. And at the same time, it's promoting residential by having the apartments upstairs.
So why don't you have your client adopt your testimony?
I can have him do that.
Let me have him do that.
Mr. Yuan, have you heard each and everything that I have said?
Yes, I have.
Has each and everything that I have said been true?
It's true.
And is there anything I misstated or said incorrectly?
No, you said correctly.
So what has happened and what you stated.
Is there anything that you would like to add?
I think one thing that I would like to add is when the beer is from outside, at outside
I think it's
one thing that I would like
when we unload the beer, the thing is we have people stealing and people robbed.
It means right there you stay in front of me and walk away.
You can do nothing about that.
It's called small problem.
And when we call to police 9-1-1, they say, no, don't follow up.
I mean, don't follow them.
Don't check them.
Just let go.
Believe it or not.
That's dangerous for us.
And have you had a lot of theft?
Yeah, we have when the VA is outside.
And let me ask you one more thing so that the board understands.
What is the condition of these two buildings, 704 and 710?
I think it's an old house, an old building, so right now we need to do a lot of repairs.
It's not just repairs, just take the whole thing out, like the floor, it's a wet shape.
We need to repair the floor, the wall, and also the roof, it's been leaking, so the roof.
Would it be fair to say that you need to take everything out of these buildings and rebuild to make them usable?
And safe?
It means that we better do it that way.
So based on this, everything that we have presented is true and correct.
Best of your knowledge.
My knowledge, yes.
So questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Chair.
Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Emerson?
not at this time mr chair questions or comments from the virtual audience
yes chair i have a hand up by the name of jill tropea has been allowed to speak
sure hi could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer
hi my name is jillian tropea j-i-l-l-i-a-n-t-r-o-p-e-a right do you swear or affirm to
tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do are you a neighbor yes i am i live on
7th street diagonal diagonally from quarter beverage please start your conversation um my
husband owns a garage right next to maytag laundromat so normally we park our truck there
and i don't know if i could turn my camera around to show you but um this is the truck in front of
my house why i can't i can't see it but just give me an idea what the what the problem is tell us
what the problem is so he has people going in the store they call me out they stand in front of our
garage that we're trying to currently sell and they pee on our wall they were peeing on our
trucks or throwing the beer bottles in the truck i mean it's just a mess i'm not just claiming
porter beverage because it's seventh and snyder so so it's not just one it's it's it's both i mean
And right now, I'm currently standing on my step, and I'm watching two Mexican guys walk up, and one has a beer in his hand.
And they're going to drop.
And they're coming from Sevenths and Porter.
Yeah, Porter, Beverly.
All right.
Well, thank you very much.
We appreciate your input.
Thank you for calling.
Thank you.
Who else do we have in the virtual audience?
There are no more hands.
Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair Bergman, and good afternoon. David Vecto, F-E-C-T-E-A-U, with the City Planning Commission.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir, I do.
Please proceed, David.
Thank you, sir. Mr. Chairman and board members, the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the residential single-family zoning at this location.
This property has a documented history as ground floor commercial with second floor residential.
And the multifamily use appears to be an existing condition at 710 Porter Street.
However, even without the desired expansion, the appellant would still be able to operate their business and derive value from their property.
So the City Planning Commission recommends the board grant the variance for multifamily use, which documents an existing condition,
but deny the expansion of the retail sales of food, beverages, and groceries.
Well, we're going to take this under consideration.
I'm going to back on next Wednesday and talk in an executive session with the members of the board,
and we will vote next Wednesday at 2 p.m. on your request.
Thank you very much. We appreciate it.
and thank you to the interpreter for standing by
and we appreciate your help.
Thank you.
All right.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Okay. Number three, MI 2023-005-925-1715 of the rear of McKean Street. Jared Kline is the attorney. There's a letter of support from the East Point Breeze neighbors.
Number three.
Jared Kline has been promoted.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chair, members of the board.
Counsel, could you state your name and spell, please, for the court stenographer?
Certainly. It's Jared, J-A-R-E-D, last name Klein, K-L-E-I-N, from Knockamson, PC, 1 South Broad Street in Philadelphia.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Could you identify your client, the relationship to this property?
Yes, my client is a brewery ARS, and they are the tenant of the first floor of this property.
And our vice chair has a few questions, sir.
Certainly.
And as a nun, counsel, do you agree to weigh the reading of the refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, I do.
Have you emailed them all the required documents and exhibits that is needed five days in advance of the hearing?
Yes, I did.
There was some technological issues with the transmittal, but I spoke to Ms. Emerson this morning and believe everything is in order.
Great, great. Thanks, counsel. Please proceed to share your screen.
Thank you very much.
So we're here on behalf of Brewery Ars, which is an existing brewery in Philadelphia.
They have a tasting room and brewing facility in the West Paschalk area.
And they're moving into or proposed to move into a location that I actually was before the board last week on.
This this this property, as I mentioned, used to be the Abbott's Dairies building.
It was then a cabinet manufacturing facility for the the last lengthy time period.
The cabinet facility has moved out and the building is being repurposed into these types of of maker spaces.
The refusal that we got is for a sit-down restaurant.
The site is zoned I-2, although everything around it, it does not share the industrial zoning.
This particular parcel remains zoned I-2.
And the proposed use of the brewery, the brewery standing alone with the manufacturing of beer would be an approved use.
But this concept also includes dining to go with the brewery.
There is a Mexican restaurant that is going to also accompany them in the space and provide food service, and that's what's driving our refusal here.
To orient the board, just for context of the site, this is where we are here.
As I explained, this is McKean Street down here, 1715 R fronts onto McKean here.