since the hearing we have not heard back from the coordinating RCO despite multiple attempts
we did have an originally a community meeting date in February we didn't get the zoom information
until a few days before the community meeting that's when we sent out our notice they asked us
to postpone it because many residents did not get the community meeting notice which is completely
understandable given you know the situation in the mail service nowadays um but you know my client
has been waiting for some time to have this heard i would ask that if we can you know have a new
hearing date within a month or to have a resumption hearing um i would respectfully request that
i guess there's the answer to the question about by the end of the month it's probably a no but
No, not the end of this month, obviously.
I mean, within a month.
No special listing by Friday, but I meant within a month because I know that there's
a lot of development going on around there and, you know, Strawberry Mansion, you know,
so we're not faulting them, but we do need to have this matter heard in front of you.
Understood.
Ms. Sunkit?
No, Chair.
Unfortunately, we're scheduling in September.
the best way we can do this is a resumption hearing is that correct or hear it and then
yes and if we do we can do a resumption for june 9th at 2 p.m all right just before we get to that
before we do that mr knockinson let's wait till we get to your case and we'll see if anyone else
is on the line for that all right thank you all right thank you anyone requesting a continuance
or withdrawal, please raise your hand.
I see no further hands at this time, Mr. Chair.
I see no further hands at this time, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you.
Okay, thank you.
With that, we can go to our 2 o'clock list, the add-on.
MI2020, that's 003245, 2406 North 2nd Street.
We were waiting for a letter from the RCO.
Sharon, we're okay on this case, correct?
This was, you know, in, I'm sorry, you must not have received the email that I sent right
before the hearings. This one, you're going to hold for another week before voting.
I'm sorry, do I have a specific date or just till next week's executive session?
Next Wednesday at two when you are there.
So this case, MI 2020-003245, 2406 North 2nd Street. This hearing is held until
what was that next tuesday you said next wednesday next wednesday i'm sorry wednesday is the may
what is that date
but i can't believe it's
it's may 5th
thank you may 5th at 2 o'clock p.m okay and here i did find the um exhibits for cumberland
they went to the wrong email address but i have them now okay thank you very much uh
i believe with that we can begin our cases number two carol okay did we do all the add-ons 1 5 6 11
and 12? No, there's only one. Right. I see. I misread it. I totally misread it. No problem.
Can everybody hear me okay? I can. Okay, cool. Yes, you sound fine, Chair. Okay. Thank you,
Ms. Sunkett. Calendar number 2521-1300 South 50th Street. The attorney is Sherman Toppin.
All right, Mr. Toppin's hand does one up, and also a Ms. Diane Settle's hand went up.
Do I make them both panelists?
No, just the attorney.
Okay, right away.
Mr. Toppin has been promoted to panelist.
Thank you. Mr. Toppin has to be unmuted. Mr. Toppin, can you put your name and address on
the record and spell your last name, please? Yes, my name is Sherman Toppin, S-H-E-R-M-A-N-T-O-P-P-I-N.
The address is 1800 JFK Boulevard, Suite 300. Do you swear for him to tell the whole truth and
nothing but the truth? I do. Have you mailed? Do you also agree to wave the reading of the
refusal and stipulate to its accuracy? I do, yes. Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof
of ownership tax compliance, a copy of the refusal or 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?
I have, yes, and we have. Okay. We do have letters and two that we'll be discussing
uh throughout the course of during the pendency of this uh proceeding okay great you may proceed
um well good afternoon mr chair and members of the board um i do have my client
on taisha church she is to be she should be somewhere already in this holding
i'm not sure if we can do this i have her hand raised okay or panelists uh no what is she needed
for sherman oh i just want to make sure that she was present okay just you can just unmute her
jason okay she's ready okay um members of the board this matter is a this is a refusal for
the purposes a particular property at 1300 south 50th street is a two-story structure it's at the
it's an end unit of an on a residential road street the the top floor is basically a two-bedroom
apartment that doesn't concern our particular zoning application the lower floor is what concerns
our particular zoning application the lower floor is what concerns this lower gap lower this
this lower
application in the lower floor we have we are pursuing um two p two changes one uh the way the
particular property is configured on the first floor mr toppen excuse me uh did you have to
share your exhibits with us oh i'm sorry i'm sorry can i um i have them right here
is it to be short screen share let me see here there it is i see the button now
can you see my exhibits at this point yes yes we can okay so this is the subject property 1300
south 50th street uh miss church who i just mentioned is the owner of this particular
her property her family has owned this property for over 30 years and this and we'll just kind
of walk through the exhibits that we've got here so in front of you is the exterior of the property
the zoning application that we are going to be discussing concerns the first floor where it says
1300 in that in that first floor there we will go our exhibit one is basically the refusal and in
refusal we are seeking we're proposing the use of assembly and entertainment with personal service
on that first floor and we'll begin to talk about exactly how that first floor is configured
in just a few moments um excuse me mr toppen i'm sorry for interrupting but
i just want to note that the refusal that's included in your exhibit packet
is i believe not the current refusal that was from 2019 there is one after that i have a copy of it
but there were two bases for refusal it was personal services and assembly and entertainment
that is correct i'm sorry my parallel it's the same exact refusal i think i think it's the same
the same questions we're looking for same but yes no it's fine i just wanted to be sure you
got both variances uh that both of them are before the board okay great thank you so i
I apologize for this particular exhibit,
which is outdated here.
Our application for appeal is here,
which we've already discussed.
Well, I'll move to the pertinent part.
And the pertinent part of our exhibit really begins,
this is our deed.
I'll travel downward.
I wanna travel to the pictures.
And then we can begin to talk about the uses
that we're seeking.
Okay, this is our tax cert.
Okay, so here, this exhibit here shows the floor plan of the premises.
Here, this is a sheet A1.
Here, you can begin to see from the second floor again, it's just an apartment which doesn't concern our particular zoning application.
But the bigger picture that runs along in this area is where all of the action is.
here where it says the property is 16 foot wide there's a there's an open door that goes into a
wide a large what's being marked as an event room in this event room is where my client conducts
dance studios she's a has a profession she teaches dance to children into different groups
in this open area it's just there's no construction needed in this application it's just an open
area it's about 40 to 50 people if it's when there is an event in this space but it's just
wide open and we'll show you some pictures in a moment as you move back to the property there is
a kitchen a commercial kitchen that has historically been there for um back in really over in the 80s
the mother had this as a takeout sandwich shop and that kitchen has been there historically
and is still there today and what they're using this kitchen for is when there is an event and
there's not a dance school or dance class being taught then they can do small gatherings for you
know church events or or children's events that happen that arise out of the people that she
teaches dance to and then there's the backyard and garage so that is the length of the place
the partition of personal use will be happening in the event room area and the the second the
assemblies and the assemblies portion of our application is when there is an event in that
same area where it says event room is where there will be small gatherings of some of a different
variety involving generally the children and the folks in the community who will want to rent this
particular space. I've also have as a second part of plan site plan a2 here is just a basement where
is just a basement where no activities or change will occur. In this particular,
no activities or change will occur in this particular
and we met before the RCOs, we basically discussed at length exactly what will be
happening and there will be no activities happening in any space but the top floor.
So here's a picture, if it's in front of you, of what the inside of that open space looks like.
So here is the dance studio. Simple, open area, mirrors on one side, and the dance apparatus is there. This is where the personal use will be. The picture beneath that is the commercial kitchen, which is immediately behind this wall.
So if you swivel around 180, you will see the dance studio on one side, and you go around it, and you see the kitchen on the other.
That is the extent of the operation.
There is no other area that this application pertains to or will be used for.
Here are pictures around of the premises, front, side, rear.
All of these pictures are just to give context as to what's there.
and when we first when we received our refusal and this particular this particular case has had
two rco meetings the first rco meeting was earlier in february and in that meeting we met before
members of the community as well as the lead rco which is southwest uh philadelphia district
services and also concessing area civic association there were those probably two rcos
where they had the most presence in that particular meeting.
It came to be that we did not have the client did not post the orange poster on the premises
because they didn't get it and they didn't realize it.
And so we postponed and continued this to today.
Since that time, the client received, timely received the zoning hearing notice poster,
posted it on the premises, and this particular notice to applicants was sent
to the the the numbers of individuals that had to be receiving it uh giving them information
as to the time place not only this but also of the rco meeting and here is the letter and these
are the addresses which came straight directly from the website where you uh these address these
addresses were pursued were basically populated as you would expect right from the website and all
I think 82 different residents received notices of the zoning RCO meeting, and in fact, both of them.
And we certified to that in Exhibit 12 here.
And this is our verification of our notice sent to all of these near neighbors.
So in the RCO meeting, I would like to sort of give the chair an overview of what took place and the issues that were encountered.
It was over two and a half.
Excuse the interruption again.
Could you make that a larger?
Oh, okay.
I'm sorry.
I can do that.
Excuse me, Chair.
I just emailed the three letters for this to each of you, if you're able to open your email.
So this is a letter.
this this last this last letter here that I just opened up is my confirmation email to Mr. Mike
Ross who is the president of Southwest Philadelphia District Services in which he at the end of that
meeting required us to sit basically to list out the five points of the proviso that we negotiated
in almost 45 minutes of the two and a half hour RCO meeting. In that meeting the members of the
community i think that there was a vote of all the members there it was unanimously in support
except and one abstained so i think there was 12 people on the call um one abstained and the rest
voted favorably all rcos were involved in this particular meeting they they did not want there
to be any hookah bar use on the premises they did not want alcohol served on the premises they did
not want they wanted security to be present on the premises for any events that would take place
half to 10 p.m. no more than 50 persons in any of the events that would be there and their hours
of operation would be limited on um on the monday through friday no longer than 10 or i'm sorry
sunday through thursday no later than 10 and on the weekends no later than 12 a.m and in that
particular meeting all issues were discussed as far as my clients her business what she does there
the children and folks that she teaches dance to there, what events would look like, who would be,
you know, what members of the community could come there to participate in her events and services.
Her, she's let her, she's articulated in that RCO meeting that her premises
would be open to community events of any kind, even not involving the dance, but just as it
would be open to community events of any kind, even not involving the dance, but just as a venue for neighbors and the local church.
She mentioned also that there would be no alcohol served on the premises and she would not permit people to bring their own.
She also, we spoke a lot about parking. There were issues in the RCO meeting about parking restraints in this area.
all the RCO members that were present and the members did talk about that there was some parking
issues in the neighborhood but people were out or people had to you know park where they could
she has been she has not had any issues with parking there is no parking on her particular
site and there's no designated parking elsewhere there's a school lot that's left open that some
people park at at nights which alleviates any parking issues it's not you know relevant to
to my client's particular use but it is present there she mentioned that most of her most of her
kids are dropped off by parents who leave and don't park and then others can take public or
uber to her site so parking was not an issue uh as we presented it and even though it might be an
issue with the community people do not perceive it to be an issue the way she plans to use the
premises. And as a result of all of our presentation to the RCO and dealing with their particular
concerns, this proviso language was discussed in the meeting, written down, and we received a vote
in support. And I think the letter from Southwest Philadelphia District Services in support
articulates that. What I received a day ago, April 26, 2021, at 1 a.m., was a letter from
diane settles i guess who voted in favor and to approve the proviso and the use in the rco meeting
a day ago i received a letter in which she reverses her support to oppose with with a
rationale that does not that doesn't that basically lists the same issues we discussed
that brought about her favorable vote originally and and i don't know if there was another
a meeting of concessing area civic association after the fact where we were not invited to come
and present to whatever whoever persons were involved in the reversal but we were surprised
by this vote because diane settles herself voted in favor of this and negotiated the proviso on