Leslie or Ron, if you're here, please raise your hand so that you can be identified.
Ms. McDevitt, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Hi, could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
Leslie McDevitt, L-E-S-L-Y-M-C-D-E-V-I-T-T.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed, counsel.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Here we have Wade Albert.
Mr. Albert, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Could you state your name, please, and spell it for the court reporter?
Wade, W-A-D-E.
Last name is A-L-B-E-R-T.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed, sir.
Thank you.
So my name is Wade Albert.
I am counsel for the Center City Residents Association, and I'm attorney with the law firm of Stevens and Lee.
I just want to get on the record to explain the position for some of our provisos, which are a little bit different for things that that CCR usually does.
um we held our rco meeting on june 28th of this year and at that meeting there were a number of
members of the community who uh gave their input and uh they were against this project for a number
of reasons um principally relating uh to their belief that the the the it would be inappropriate
to have a food services business at the proposed location, because it would be out of character with the neighborhood.
And hearing those concerns, we spoke with the applicant, and the applicant agreed that they would be willing, as as as Council stated earlier, to agree to particular two of the provisos that we requested.
and he actually agreed to all of them um but in particular what two that i think are important
that would ally a number of the uh the neighbor concerns that were raised would be to specifically
limit in the license that the the um the use that they're seeking is limited to the retail sale of
baked goods that may be baked on premises and no fryer allowed on the premises and uh and like i
said we believe that uh ccra itself did not find that the use that's requested in this application
uh would be problematic in any way but those particular um provisos which i believe could
be enforced by lni uh would go a long way in um resolving any concerns that the neighbors had
and in addition we also would respectfully ask for the other provisos dealing with trash and
other matters so thank you thank you mr albert for calling in we appreciate your input is there
anyone else in the virtual audience? Chair, we have Amy Shuttleworth. Ms. Shuttleworth,
please unmute yourself and wait for the chair. Thank you. Hi, could you state your name and
spell it, please, for the court reporter? Amy Shuttleworth, A-M-Y-S-H-U-T-T-L-E-W-O-R-T-H.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
I am the first neighbor on Latimer Street, and I have a lot of issues with it.
They are offering that they will be dating and that there will be exhaust and intake
for them.
That will affect my daily life.
It's a very quaint Belgian block street.
we there's parking in written house square is difficult we have had issues with rodents and
pests and we feel that all i feel that this will exacerbate this certainly the smell from the
the exhaust fans the heat the exhaust fans will be over the sidewalk which is really where the
of Latimer Street residents walk up and down the street.
There are safety concerns on such a client
residents on the street,
and that's really why I'm hugely opposed to it.
Thank you very much for calling in with your input.
Thank you.
If I may address one of the concerns raised by the-
So in the original plan,
there is discussion of venting for the heat. So these are baking ovens. What would be venting
would be the heat. However, after our initial meeting with the community and based on that
concern with smelt and venting, I have been advised by the gentleman who is working in
consultation with my clients to install the equipment that it can actually be done without
exterior venting because it's just heat dissipation. There's a way to use the air
conditioning system to do that. And we're willing to, if the board would be more comfortable
saying that no exterior venting, because it's also a historical building. So I believe
exterior venting is going to be a difficulty no matter what. We can actually accomplish the goal
of opening the shop without needing actual venting to the outside. Thank you, counsel.
Thank you, council. Thank you. Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
Thank you. Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
I see no hands at this time, chair. Hi, planning commission. This is Ron Bednar, city planning, first name Ron, last name Bednar. First name Ron, R-O-N, last name Bednar, B-E-D-N-A-R.
Do you swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? I do. Thank you. Proceed, Ron.
So while this property is currently indicated for residential in the city plan, given the physical circumstances of the site and its documented use history, we recommend that the variance be granted.
Thank you. MI 2022-001-798-251-S 21st Street. I vote yes with the following provisos.
interior trash storage, use limited to retail sale of baked goods that may be
baked on the premises and no preparation of fried food on the premises.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes with provisos.
Gates Snell, yes with provisos.
Thank you counsel. Thank you. May I be excused? Yes. Thank you. Have a good day.
Number six. MI 2022 001 777 61 601 North 56th Street. Justin Crick is the attorney.
Letter of support from HMC Squared. Chair Mr. Crick is coming back in as a panelist now.
Thank you.
Good afternoon, members of the board. One moment while I just get the technical parts together.
Thank you very much. Good morning. Mr. Crick, could you state your name and spell for the
court reporter, please? Yes, Justin, J-U-S-T-I-N, last name Crick, K-R-I-K. Address is 1500 JFK
Boulevard, Suite 630, Philadelphia PA 19102. Right. Do you swear a firm to tell the truth,
the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Yes, I do. Could you identify your client and
the relationship to the property? Yes, my client is 601 Real Property, LLC. They are the record
owner of the property, and I have Michael Grant, who is the principal, with me today.
thank you our our board secretary has a few questions good afternoon council
do you agree to waive yeah do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to his
accuracy i do did you email all the exhibits and documents as required such as proof of ownership
tax clearance copy of refusal or referral pictures of pictures or drawings of the property five days
in advance of this hearing yes did you meet with the rco do you have a letter yes to all
great please proceed and share your screen thank you
all right members of the board i i'll presume for a moment you can see the screen with the
materials on it is that correct yes thank you very much um we are here today for an application
for variance for the property at 601 North 56th Street. The property is located in a CMX1 district
and it is currently, the first floor is currently used as a sit-down restaurant allowable use and
the applicant seeks to extend the sit-down restaurant from the first floor through to
the second floor in the existing structure with no sign on this application. In the district CMX1
typically required is some residential use on that second floor. This owner has purchased the
property in August of 2018, but the restaurant has been operating for several years and currently
for about four under the direction of this applicant. But the purchase was in August of
2018. And at the time of the purchase, the property was in the exact condition that it is now,
uh with with the which i'll show you in a moment the the kitchen is actually installed on the
second floor of the property and the remainder of that second floor while it was originally made
for uh restaurant seating and and a bar it's just been used for storage but the kitchen has been
used in order to keep the business running um but for so in a sense there may be a legalization
aspect to this but that is uh but otherwise the second floor has not been in use as a restaurant
But in general, just for geographic purposes, the property is located at the corner of 50.
But in general, just for geographic purposes, the property is located at the corner of 56th and Wyalusing Avenue.
Zoning wise, several corners in the area have that CMX designation to promote the commercial use in the area.
This is a photograph from the corner of our subject property.
You can see the first floor and second floor where there's one entrance at the corner.
and then there is a back staircase that is evident from this picture over here with the
fire escape and so forth. What's notable again is that you'll see that there's an exit door in the
kitchen of the property to the exterior and the fire escape for clarification and for transparency
that is located in the rear of the second floor of the property. That's just where it had always
been located as far as recent time that we're aware of. This is a little bit of a rough sketch
of what the area will look like and it will be a little bit clearer for you in a moment with
the pictures, but the kitchen area is set toward the rear of the property and the staircase comes
up the side and then most of the rest of the area is open for seating. This is definitely not drawn
to scale as you'll see in these photographs uh the kitchen is in the back here staircase down
to the main restaurant um and the rest has just been used for storage as some of these photos will
show uh for this current business and not used as a residence and they have again this is not
intended for private parties or catering of any sort uh this is the other angle or direction of
the second floor, which has just been used to store items. And this is that kitchen on the
second floor that we were talking about. So we met with the RCO and discussed the circumstance.
And they were in agreement that the restaurant itself has not, I don't want to put words in
their mouth, but the restaurant itself is not the issue. And they did not have an issue with
it extending to the second floor so long as it wasn't necessarily there for private parties and
so forth. They recognized that it would be very difficult, if not a hardship, for the applicant
to restructure the entire building to bring that kitchen downstairs and use the first floor solely
as the restaurant use. And essentially, it would cripple the business to have to do away with the
kitchen altogether since it is a bar with some food preparation and restaurant as well.
Ultimately, the applicant has been compliant in other ways with the community in that the
restaurant operating hours are okay. They have not had issues with the neighborhood and they'll
maintain their current trash pickup and other operations as usual. And we are just simply
asking that it be extended to the second floor and we be granted the variance to alleviate the
residential requirement. Lastly, we do not believe that this will impact the neighborhood
to any detriment, either in taxing of utilities or even congestion or any near neighbors in any
other way. Would you want to have your testimony adopted? Yes. Before that, I'm sorry to go through
it again. Just to give you, this is the exemplar copy of the deed showing the purchase in August
of 2018 by 601 Real Property. This is a copy of the food license that was recently issued
in February of 24 with the city. Copies of the posting on the property, tax clearance certificate,
and the remainder of the packages, the RCO notice, as well as the proof of mailing.
But just to show you again, this is the eight support, three non-opposition vote from HMC
square community association i have michael grant if he would like to if he could please raise his
hand hi mr grant could you state your name it's spelled for the court
yes michael grant m-i-c-h-a-e-l-g-r-a-n-t do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the
truth and nothing but the truth yes you see counsel thank you mr grant um are you authorized
to speak on behalf of 601 real property llc yes and are you the member and principal of that
company yes and have you heard my testimony to the board today yes has it been true and correct
to the best of your knowledge yes and will you accept and adopt my testimony as if it were your
own. Yes. Thank you. Questions from the board? No, Mr. Chairman. No, Mr. Chairman. No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience? Chair, we have Marvin Robinson with his hand up.
Mr. Robinson, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Hi, Mr. Robinson. Could you state your name and spell it, please, for the court reporter?
Mr. Robinson, could you state your name and spell it, please, for the court reporter?
Yes. My name is Marvin Robinson. M-A-R-V-I-N-R-O-B-I-N-S-O-N.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed, sir.
Yes, I am a committee person in the 4th Ward in the 15th Division, and also I'm the second vice president of the 4th Ward, which Curtis Jones is our ward leader.
And all I can say about Mr. Mike and his wife, they had brought a very beautiful establish to our community.
And I'm very proud to be able to say and be on his behalf of saying that I'm glad that he came to the community because since he bought the building,
he has been following all the codes and regulations from the city to do the zoning.
So on my behalf, as a leader and representing the community as well, I'm proud to say that I'm glad to have him in our community to serve the people that need to be served in a very comfortable, comfortable establish, very comfortable establish.
So that's all I can say. And thank you, Mike.
Mr. Robinson, Mr. Robinson, thank you for calling in. We appreciate your input.
Yes, sir.
Thank you.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
I see no other hands at this time, Chair.
Planning Commission.
This is Ron Bednar, City Planning.
The property is indicated for commercial mixed use on the city plan, given the physical circumstances of the site.
We have no objection to the granting of the variance.
Thank you, Ron.
MI 2022-001-777-601 North 56th Street.
I vote yes.
Thomas Holland my vote is yes James Snell my vote is yes
Ishmael Shaheed my vote is yes thank you counsel thank you very much number seven MI 2022
001 780 907 Gilham Street Sean Ward is the attorney letter of support from the Philadelphia
you Chinese Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Chair, this is Hillary. Mr. Ward is in a community meeting
right now. He's excusing himself from that and hopping on over. Okay. So we'll just give him a
second. We're fine, Hillary.
Thank you.
He is at an RCO meeting right now.
No, no, no.
The Philadelphia Chinese Chamber of Commerce, that's the RCO up in that area there?
That's one of the RCOs in that area.
All right, thank you.
Mr. Ward should be coming back in as a panelist now, Chair.
Great.
all right how are you could you name and spell it for the court reporter please
sean ward s-h-a-w-n-w-a-r-d attorney for the applicant address is three three one east street
road trevos pa 19053 thank you mr chairman i'm pulling double duty today i was well in an rco
meeting which i'll go back to but you do you swear for him to tell the truth the whole truth