Thank you.
Sherman Toppin, S-H-E-R-M-A-N-T-O-P-P-I-N, and our address is 1800 JFK Boulevard, Suite 300.
You're already under oath, but do you agree to await the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
That's correct.
Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership, tax compliance, refusal, referral, photos, and or plans of the property five days in advance of this hearing?
And have you met with the RCO? And do you have a letter?
Yes, we do. Yes, I have. Yes, we do.
Thank you. You may proceed.
I should be joined on our presentation with Mr. Malik Jones. He is the owner of the property. Perhaps he can raise his hand at this time.
Mr. Jones, can you put your name and address on the record and spell your last name?
Malik Jones, that's M-A-L-I-K, last name Jones, J-O-N-E-S.
And do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Mr. Toppin, you may proceed.
Okay, I am opening up the documents as we and I'll share my screen in one moment.
And the 13th Ward sent a letter of support.
Yes, so I can share my screen. I'll be working on that right now.
Is my screen visible to everyone?
Yes, we have it, Mr. Topkins, but we have your Zoom on the screen.
Okay, let me go ahead and shift the, are we in the right place now?
No, we're building forward with confidence, though.
yeah i think i think you might want to um open up your document and then unshare
yeah i have that i let me go ahead and just go back to
is that now share no you okay yeah now we have it okay yeah i have like too much open i'm sorry
about that okay so we're here today for um the property located at 46 10 to 12 north broad street
this is a property that is uh zone cmx 2.5 as you can see in my cover picture here this is the
exterior to the property facing north broad street the property has a rear side that will also be
visible and i'll move down to our pictures in just a few minutes um here's our exhibits we're going
to be sort of walking through these exhibits very quickly for the board um some of it has already
been presented as far as the refusal we actually there's a referral in this particular case so we
have that there um our second exhibit just our zoning registration how we got here uh third we
have our project information sheet which is already there of record um our application for
special exception is our next exhibit um here's our deed a little crunched up but we do have a
deed for the subject property which is here and as we move down we've got um tax certificate for
Mr. Millick Jones. It is good as of this moment and through the course of its ballot through 519,
2021, as you can see. And exhibit number six, this is the bird's eye layout of the property.
I want to take some time to sort of talk about this and the pictures that will follow.
So the property is a one-story structure. The structure sort of takes on a, has a little elbow
there north broad is facing this this side so you enter the property from north broad you would be
in there's this wide open empty space in this area here the visual is i can let me turn it around
okay so if you're coming in north broad you'd be coming into what's called restaurant seating area
it's about 18 feet wide by 42 feet long and then it takes an angle a short angle and this is the
proposed back side of the property so just to give you a sense of what is proposed here
as it exists today if you're on the beltville side this is the entrance there's a large commercial
kitchen that is existing already it just needs to be refurbished basically as you move through this
door there's a bathroom that needs to be refurbished and then there's the wide open area so there's not
and then there's the wide open area. So there's not much to the inside. The only thing needed
much to the inside
here is interior finishings, and we'll see some pictures in just a few minutes. What we're seeking
to do with this particular zoning application is for there to be in this restaurant
seating area. We're looking for, of course it's a different matter, but this is going to be
a catering scenario where the commercial kitchen will serve the folks that will be seated in this
area. The business, Mr. Malik Jones, operates currently a, you know, he's a vendor that
operates a chicken and rib establishment that will, I guess, a kiosk and grill outside in this
area already and has been doing so. And then so this family is now moving the operation indoors
and that's what's going to be accommodated by this zoning application. And so this is the
picture of the zoning notice that's posted on the property currently on the front and back. Now this
is what the inside, okay, this picture is upside down, let me turn it around. This is the inside of
the restaurant seating space. This is what it looks like right now. As you move down, this is
that elbow that turns around as it moves, so it takes an angle. This is that hallway as it angles
over. This is all in as it's conditioned right now. This is the bathroom, one bathroom that's
there, and this is the commercial kitchen that is existing. As you can see, everything kind of
needs an upgrade, and that's what the family would like to do upon getting zoned to proceed.
Here's another picture of that hallway. You can see that the bathroom is in this door that's in
the front and then this is the little pathway to the open seating area that i just showed you
and then this is the side of the establishment that faces belfield right here and so the family
was known as you know they served out of this out of this load historically there's no indoor seating
in this space they just cook here and basically have a vending of food outside so what is and
this is the north broad side so the two entrances depending on which side of the street you're on
you're looking at this side entrance or this entrance the north broad so basically in the
north broad this is where the family will have new signage new door entry completely prefurbished
and they'll go into the establishment and have seating for however many the the fire code permits
and that that's something that the fire code has up in their fire marshal and ellen i will be
determining when they have their their plans for whatever interior build out they're going to do
there but there will be no effect nothing but cosmetic increases to the outside of it and the
inside itself and so when we was there a question yeah if you could summarize it would be helpful
Oh, sure, sure. So at this point, we've had an RCO meeting. In that RCO meeting, we presented this to the RCOs and to the members of the community who are present.
All the members of the community unanimously approved this. This is our notice list.
They unanimously approved this particular zoning application.
Mr. Karn, who is the head of the RCO on the 13th Ward, provided a letter of support.
This establishment is right next to a very well-known other, you know, Mr. Sid Booker's establishment.
Everyone, very many people are familiar with that corner and that establishment.
And this is his neighbor.
We have support from everyone around.
And I simply would like to have Mr. Jones on at this time just to confirm what we've talked about as of this moment in time.
So, Mr. Jones?
Mr. Jones, please identify.
I think you already identified yourself.
I'm sorry.
You're already sworn in.
So, Mr. Jones, you've been listening to what I've been talking about
and describing the use of the property and the presentation of the property
as it exists today.
And do you agree that the things that I've been saying about this particular
property and this loan application are true and correct?
Would you like to add anything that I haven't mentioned or make any amendments
to anything that I've said?
No, I believe you kind of summed everything up.
And would you like at this time for the board to adopt what I've testified to as your testimony?
Thank you.
And that said, if there's any questions, we'd like to entertain those.
Questions from the board?
Anyone else would like to testify in this case?
Anyone else would like to testify in this case, please raise your hand.
Please raise your hand.
Mr. Chair, Mr. Charles Richardson has his hand up. I will allow him to speak right now.
Good afternoon, Mr. Richardson. You're still under oath. Please identify yourself.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Charles Richardson from the Office of Councilwoman Cindy Bass Room, 312 City Hall.
I have on the line Charles Karn who was having a hard time getting in so he's on on my phone
right now he has some questions and so I guess you can swear him in. Mr. Karn could you hear me?
Yes sir. Okay spell your last name please.
Charles Karn. C-A-R-N. Okay first name is Charles. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole
truth nothing but the truth yes sir thank you sir please proceed sir um we did we did share the
meeting for the um 4610 uh north broad street uh we looked over the plans one of our concerns was
to the um owner and to the rep was if you look at the property next door is sit bookers and to the
north of it is a daycare center we asked what was the capacity to be included um in his plan
there wasn't there was no capacity the owner and the representative was supposed to contact
the 13th Ford RCO so we could discuss what was the fire coup for that building
That never happened. The last conversation we had was that they wanted to continue the last ZBA hearing, and this is the first I've heard that the meeting was going to be today.
Well, two things, Mr. Karn.
There's a letter of support from your ward.
Yes, sir.
And the capacity, that'll be determined by L&I and the fire marshal.
And that's not, we as a board can't, we can't make those decisions.
It'll have to be done by the fire marshal and L&I.
Yes, sir.
But that was one of our concerns, and we were under the belief, as a courtesy, that we would have been involved because of the last email that I received from the lawyer, I mean, from the representative, that they would give back to us, and we were assuming prior to the CBA meeting.
Mr. Topkin?
Yeah, in our packet of information, I do appreciate Mr. Karn. Mr. Karn is correct. We did get back to Mr. Karn. I emailed him in, I guess, our Exhibit 12. Our Exhibit 12 was an email to Mr. Karn in which I mentioned to him that L&I is not coming out to visit the property to determine its zoning until the use is approved.
And we actually, Mr. Karn, requested a proviso, which I included in that email, and the proviso was that the maximum capacity for the proposed use shall be determined by L&I and or the Philadelphia Fire Marshal's Office based upon the square feet of the premises, its configuration and use, and shall be posted accordingly on the inside of the premises.
So this was agreeable to Mr. Karn, and because we were not able to, you know, get a predetermined capacity from L&I.
And so I apologize if there was more, if there was other communication expected from Mr. Karn, but I did believe that we made that effort, and we did cross this bridge and discuss it.
Yeah, and that's the way, Mr. Karn, I mean, it's part of the testimony, but it's also the way occupancy gets approved, as I said, and it's been in Mr. Toppin's testimony.
That'll all be determined by L&I and the fire marshal.
Chairman, okay.
We can definitely agree with that.
We do want development in the 13th Ward.
that was our conversation and Mr. Toppin did say right that we were looking for further
conversation towards that however we do support the variant. Okay well thank you for your time
Mr. Richardson do you have anything else uh yes Mr. Chair the council has no opposition
thank you very much planning commission
good afternoon board Peter Bernard for the planning commission
uh please identify yourself spell your first and last name pete
Please identify yourselves by your first and last name.
P-E-T-E-R.
Barnard.
B as in boy.
A as in apple.
R as in Roger.
N as in Nancy.
A as in apple.
R as in Roger.
D as in dog.
You swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Thank you.
Please proceed.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change at the existing CMX 2.5 at this location.
the proposed special exemption will not cause detrimental impacts to the neighborhood beyond
what normally might be expected for this use the planning commission recommends that the
zoning board grant the special exemption thank you mi 2020-002-568-4610 north broad street my
vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes all right carol 13
Calendar number 1171, 541 East Worcester Street. The attorney listed is Sean Whelan.
Mr. Whelan, can you put your name and address on the record and spell your last name, please?
please? Certainly. Sean, S-E-A-N, last name Whalen, W-H-A-L-E-N, here from Vintage Law on behalf of
the owner and applicant. Address is 6 Coulter Avenue, Suite 1000, Ardmore, PA, 19003.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do. Do you also agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, I do.
And have you emailed an exhibit packet with proof of the ownership tax compliance, refusal, referral, photos under plans of the property five days in advance of this hearing, and have you met with the RCO, and do you have a letter?
Yes, yes, and yes.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. You may proceed.
Thank you very much.
My name is Sean Whalen.
I'm here on behalf of the owner and applicant for 541 East Worcester Street.
I'm going to share my screen.
Given the hour and the length and complexity of this case, I'm going to do my best to try
to be brief, but summarize things for you in a way that I think clarifies everything.
So I can't see what's on your screen. Can you guys see an aerial map from the city?
Okay. So what I'm showing you is an aerial map. This is the LaSalle neighborhood, the larger LaSalle neighborhood.
You can see all the LaSalle buildings here. This is sort of the heart of part of their neighborhood.
And I just thought it appropriate. This is kind of zooming in.
This is a LaSalle apartment building. Our project is actually just right here, so you'll be able to see it, but I thought contextually it would help here.
So this is a very large industrial property right here. It is currently vacant and I presume ripe for redevelopment, which would likely involve heavy residential use.
This is a large LaSalle apartment building that received a variance just shy of 10 years ago.
This is a large apartment building, and there's another large apartment building right here,
all that received variances in the last 10 years to do multifamily.