Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
okay chair we're ready to proceed there are 14 attendees in the virtual audience how many 14 oh
Oh boy. Good. So we're going to go back. We have one case left from the 930 list. So it's MI 2016 001 790 302 Market Street. Adam Labor is the attorney. Mr. Labor. Yes, Mr. Chairman. Good afternoon. Could you please state and spell.
mr labor yes mr chairman good afternoon could you please state and spell your name
adam labor l a v as in victor e r do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and
nothing but the truth yes mr chairman would you want to could you identify your client in
relationship to the property yes uh blank room represents rp doe 16 incorporated as well as shah
management company uh they are uh the first entity is the lessee of the subject property
uh the principal is also the owner of the subject and there's a letter of support from the old city
rco and also a letter of support from council member squilla our vice chair has a few questions
good afternoon madam thank you sir hi good afternoon have you submitted your documents
in exhibits five days in advance of this hearing yes miss graham we have okay and this is a referral
so are you ready to read the referral and stipulate to its accuracy yes ma'am all right
thank you you can share your screen proceed with the case thank you
there we go members of the board on the screens before you is a conceptual rendering
of the subject property. 302 Market Street is the second property in off of the corner.
We are proposing the use registration of a new Dunkin, formerly known as Dunkin' Donuts,
location on the ground floor of 302 Market Street. With us in the virtual hearing room is Pari Shah,
who's president and principal of local local duncan franchisee shah management company also
here sitting directly behind me in the hearing room is brian mccauley director of operations
we also have rich villa who i believe is participating virtually the architect of
record from ambit architecture we've appeared before this zoning board previously although
I don't think we appeared before all of you. It's been a few years. Shaw Management is a local
minority-owned business with nearly a 40-year-long public record of investment in the community,
both economically and charitably. Puri has been recognized nationally as Duncan's Franchisee of
the year why am i taking a moment to share this background with you uh in the uh franchise
community uh an honor like this uh speaks to good operations a track record uh and and that
is at the national level locally hurry uh and this group are lead sponsors of philadelphia's
thanksgiving day parade and many other charitable endeavors so really at the heart of the fabric
and i fully recognize at the outset mr chairman and members of the board that there are those
in the community who who love the local business and may not see a uh a national duncan franchise
as local the coffee is going to be consistent across the country the donuts are going to be
consistent across the country. But this is locally owned and operated. Brian was just telling me
that he was out at six or seven of the local businesses today to check in on operations.
That's the way Perry and Brian run things.
Perry's newest Duncan location would be new construction. I had shown you the conceptual
rendering at 302 Market Street, which you can see over here where the cursor is, is off of
not, not at the corner, but the second in off of Third Street. It would complement other Duncan
locations under Prairie's Banner, 808 Chestnut, 1100 Walnut, 1204 Chestnut, among others. And I'd
from personal observation as each of you can not every duncan is run the same not every wawa is
run the same um we know uh in philadelphia for example that unfortunately we've seen
uh wawas leaving uh town uh trying to balance panhandling issues and safety issues well puri
and the team they've dealt with this head on uh they do it through uh positive engagement with
their professionals and ownership in a positive way, not in a negative way, but ownership of
In a positive way, not in a in a negative way, but ownership of clean sidewalks and areas immediately adjacent to their premises.
So here we have the aerial photograph, and if you were to walk by shirt corner is is in that location to keep them going as long as possible.
But Duncan would be proposed in the new in the new site. It's about 1000 square feet, the lot itself.
And it's wedged between two other takeout franchises, Primo's and Hangry Joe's hot chicken.
So you can see Hangry Joe's on the left and Primo's on the right.
Primo's operates, I understand, in 12 states, 120 locations.
hangry joe's 130 nationwide so in the context uh this is very this this certainly meets uh what's
immediately next door now there are also philadelphia gems close by if you go a couple
to the right or to the west is uh alan yin's uh amazing fork restaurant my wife's favorite
restaurant uh which is a philadelphia treasure that's been around but for both locals and for
those visiting our city we need options for everybody uh and duncan provides to the to
the tourists with the kids who are walking from franklin court down the down the street and mom
and dad want their coffee and the kids want something quick as a snack an option for that
And then the sophisticated and those with greater means, perhaps, or just choosing something different. There's the amazing restaurants like Fork and others.
So we believe that this would complement all of that.
The entrance to be I skipped ahead the entrance to the commercial spaces off of Market Street.
There are separately as I'll show in the permit in a moment in the new construction.
There are three residential dwellings above, and those are accessed from the rear separately
and independently off of third street in a really um quaint and classic old city way
uh that preserves the commercial on market but gives the separate entrance in the back
that construction that i just alluded to is fully approved by prior permits that you can see before
you and in fact that prior permit includes the commercial space at the ground floor so why are
we here we have a notice of referral not not a variance as noted previously a request for take
out under the overlay the old city overlay district regulates restaurant uses on this
stretch of market street from front up to north 5th and restaurant uses as you've seen members
of the board are in fact the most common use along that corridor the restaurant use is otherwise
is otherwise permitted by the cmx 3 zoning district where the property is situated nearly every parcel on the south side of market is a restaurant use many including takeout here are proposed floor plans and they depict at the left the basement and at the right
the first floor space the basement is is just back of house storage uh and really duncan's full
operations would be uh at the first floor upon entry into the commercial space customers would
readily place orders via ada accessible self-serve kiosks beyond the kiosks customers will circulate
to the staffed order counter for pickup and interaction with local philadelphia employees
and uh there is on-site trash storage waste will be rolled out as parry has at all of his
uh locations through totes through the plastic bins service which i just confirmed with brian
this afternoon at least three times per week by the existing commercial waste hauler that the team
uses republic it could be more than that but we don't anticipate it and they know they know the
operations quite well incidentally members of the board trash for the
residences also comes out through the back end as I told you before the
residential tenants enter through the back so there's a synergy of interests
for clean good housekeeping as well while keeping Market Street which is a
a national treasure and we welcome visitors from around the world while keeping that clear of this
national treasure and we welcome visitors from around the world while
keeping
type of traffic I just wanted to show you quickly uh some images of other Philadelphia locations
under uh Perry's banner simply for illustrative purposes um each one includes different site
layout of course and I'm sure you're all familiar with this the project was reviewed by the
coordinating rco uh old city district which issued the attached letter that is up before you the
letter indicates the unanimous board support and also other thoughts from those who attended but
it was a relatively small group as you can see several operational details about the project
stood out to neighbors including that the proposed restaurant will serve neighbors as a fully takeout
amenity to both near and upstairs neighbors the restaurant will also hire locally approximately
20 employees at the location with five to ten employees per shift the hours of operation would
be seven days per week this would not be an empty space 5 a.m to 10 p.m proposed providing an active
use at the location crash as previously described would be through rolled totes regularly serviced
at least three times per week deliveries are limited to once per week during midday hours
also by a company that specifically serves duncan i'd like to note that the central district plan
recommends creating quote a vibrant mix of uses end quote that provides quote an energetic and
creative environment for residents workers and visitors in closing the criteria set forth in
section 14 303 7 e1 and 7 e2 we believe have been demonstrated meeting the definition for
use permitted by special exception the grant of a special exception will not cause detrimental
impacts to the neighborhood beyond that which might normally be expected from the proposed use
congestion in public streets or transportation systems should not increase based on a Duncan
at this location overcrowding of land is not at issue this will not impair an adequate supply of
light and air to adjacent property nor will it burden water sewer school park or other public
facilities we do not see this as impairing or permanently injuring the use of adjacent
conforming properties even though side note we have non-conforming right uh nor will this endanger
the public health or safety by fire or other means i should note that there's not a traditional
cooking on premises the nature of the duncan model is too heat no deep fryers no heavy exhaust
uh which uh adds to the uh synergy of interest with the residential above but also high-end
establishments like fork being just a couple properties by and and tourists and others just
having a pleasant environment uh this is uh consistent uh with the comprehensive plan and
i'm pleased to uh speak additionally should the board have any questions the full team is available
as i said why don't you bring your client on to adopt your testimony okay uh i'm going to see if
mr shah is available virtually sure parry shah would you please raise your virtual hand to be
recognized by chairman bergman ryan in the interim would you just step up here because you can do so
if purry is having technical difficulty brian why don't you state your name and spell for the
stenographer yes it's brian b-r-i-a-n mccauley m-c-c-a-u-l-e-y do you swear or affirm to tell
the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do counsel mr mccauley uh you've been present
for the entirety of this uh hearing before the philadelphia zoning board of adjustment correct
yes and would you adopt and affirm the testimony that i've offered as your own
yes i do thank you sir questions from the board stay there what's the intended use for the
basement space the intended use um is when is is just storage and and really um
supplemental storage so you'll have mechanicals down there but duncan really believes that most
of its uh storage and usage will be at the first floor the 1100 square feet and then what's your
and usage will be at the first floor, the 1100 square feet.
And then what's your plan for addressing takeout,
plan for
not individual customers, but like takeout services
like Grubhub, Uber used to like?
This, the Shaw franchise really takes direct employee
education and training, as I had mentioned,
in the context of panhandling issues
that Philadelphia has to deal with quite seriously.
So it's a challenge right in any instance, but working with defined loading zones that are on Market Street and and employee education is the best way to confront that and manage it, I should say all the questions.
yes so you said there's no cooking there's that what i heard there's heating there's there's
there's no frying there the food comes in in a state where it can be heated and finished um
in a very straightforward way so you need preventing is that there will be there really
is not a need for it but there will be venting to the rear um just for best practices but i'm i want
to put it on the record there is no no deep frying no heavy cooking um and that's that's the same
model that we've shared uh in prior matters before the board for duncan so i guess maybe i didn't ask
then so then how do you make these donuts the donuts come in from off-site but maybe brian
can address that better all right because you're not doing it at this thing you're not you're not
rolling you're not doing okay no we we have a bakery in in another oh i'm sorry we have a bakery
in another area outside of the city that that prepares the donuts so that none of that frying
and discarding of grease or any of that needs to be done in the restaurants anymore while keeping
them fresh as possible okay so that's where the delivery comes in yes ah all right okay thank you
but you can miss gaston to be fully clear it's it's at a state where it can be brought in kept
refrigerated and and finished in a way that that has that fresh seriously that has that last
freshness piece to it so it's not it's not sitting around and as i stated before you don't need to
have the delivery every day to achieve that that freshness function okay thank you questions from
our attorney no questions at this time mr chairman your comments from the virtual or the present
audience here um yes chair this is jason hand i will be your co-host for this session
i have a hand up from an ellen yen i will allow them to speak sure
um thank you so much um sure could you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer
yes ellen yen e-l-l-e-n last name is y-i-n do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole
truth nothing but the truth i do thank you liver do you live or operate in the area i um own and
operate um fork restaurant at 306 market street and i am a um homeowner of 258 south third street
and have lived in the area for close to 40 years.
Thank you very much. Please, Rashid.
Thank you so much for allowing me the opportunity to speak.
I actually am neighbors with Shaw Management on Chestnut Street
because I operate High Street, which is at 834 Chestnut Street,
as well as the bread room also um on the same block as the dunkin donuts on chestnut street so
i don't have any complaints per se about the um the applicant however having been on market street
um we are now going to be celebrating our 30th year on market street um and our restaurant has
It's been one of the first restaurants that opened in Old City.
It is a higher end restaurant.
However, what I'm most concerned about is the mix, because what we have right now on
the south side of Market Street is three takeout operations, and I even have a takeout
license.
So I can't say that I couldn't allow a takeout license.
But the problem for me is that what you're seeing along Market Street, which is now going to be the walkway to the new waterfront.
which is now going to be the walkway to the new waterfront park.
And I'm on the board of Delaware River Waterfront Corporation.
And I have also served on the Old City District for many years prior to this.
Is that you see a lot of casual and nightlife type businesses.
And on Market Street between 3rd and 4th, the type of takeout business that Dunkin' Donuts represents is very similar in nature.
And I'm worried because, you know, as the waterfront develops and as we want to see, you know, the historic district have this pathway.
We just invested tons of money on the bicycle path, improving the sidewalk experience for visitors.
I am concerned that too much of the same is an issue.
We have a hangry chicken, which does require security in the evening.
We have a 7-Eleven on the south side of the 200 block of Market Street.
um there are there there's just many businesses that are all purely take out and not dine in
and i feel that that is a negative um direction for old city and i you know we we saw south
street um become go in that direction and now struggling to um you know revive itself
and doing a great job with more independent businesses so you know i just want to voice
my concern okay um counselor you have any questions
i really don't i have tremendous respect for mizian and uh would just like to state on behalf
of my client uh that um this is the issues mizian uh mentions are ones that we're very aware of
and that we take seriously and we think distinguishes our operations
okay thank you all the questions from from the virtual audience no further hands mr chair
um and we didn't ask it hours of operation you didn't ask it but i said it too quickly