to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing uh yes i have thank you council
please proceed and tell us about this beautiful project yes um i will ask that if someone can
give me the council member uh richardson's uh letter i did not include that as part of my packet
it. I never received it. So I just wanted, you know, I would also ask that this be a resumption
hearing. We do have a meeting hopefully scheduled with these, with the coordinating RCO and other
members of the community. So we're hoping to, you know, hopefully enter into some type of
community benefits agreement and that one of the members should be on line. You want to make a
presentation and we post the vote that's right that's right okay and and my understanding is
that we agreed to with the dba's administrator for the first wednesday in june which i believe
is june 4th to have this as the resumption hearing date i i talked to mr haggerty okay i i did not
receive that information but doesn't mean you're wrong i don't know if um miss dandy can confirm
that yes all right so this is really not this is a nice project i mean i i don't know how many of
you go down City Avenue. I don't go as much. My wife is from Hevertown. So when we're going to
her parents' house, we'll drive down there. So somewhat familiar. My father-in-law used to be,
well, he was a mechanic before he retired. So his shop was a little bit further down.
So familiar with this area. And actually I've seen this property on many occasions and it's
been abandoned essentially for like eight years. Uh, my client, um, is looking to put a beer store
in here, not a beer distributorship, a beer store, um, in terms of having a more boutique
opportunity, um, to sell a beer and, and, and like maybe seltzers, alcoholic seltzers and stuff.
So Nick, can you just start with the notice of refusal? All right. So this is a CMX two and a
have property um oh my objection is the fact that you know i believe that the use should be food
beverages and groceries i i looked on and see and i looked at other beer distributors there is an
example of a beer distributor actually in my neighborhood on callow hill the 1800 block of
callow hill where it's they had food beverages and groceries as as part of to be a beer distributor
So I would say that if that's the case, my client should have this, the use, forget about the everything else, but the use should be as a matter of right.
Is that that's stones?
Yeah, I think so.
I mean, if you, Mr. Augustin, if you're going to, if you want to make that argument or have L&I reconsider, we'd need to get L&I involved and have Mr. Reuter involved.
The board can't decide to change the use.
No, I hear you. And maybe I'll reach out to Mr. Reuter and give him an opportunity before the June resumption hearing in that respect.
Yes, I would recommend doing that if you're going to contest that the use and the refusal is incorrect.
So maybe we'll have Mr. Reuter show up in June to give a determination. But I do believe that that's a buy-write option.
Now, what my client's doing is he's taking this one-story structure, which last was a furniture store in, I think, 2017-ish.
and he's expanding that that structure and you know so we have some issues in terms of
the non-conformity of the building structure we're expanding it out and that's refusal number one
um the trash collection you know in terms of the loading zone uh is i guess refusal number two
because we're 50 feet from a residential zoning district again the trash area isn't closed
and you know they'll you know we're hoping you know that the board understands that we're trying
to be have a responsible use of the property the third refusal has to do with the use which we can
test but regardless we think that this is a cmx two and a half property it's on a commercial
corridor, it's not out of character to have similar type of use.
And you'll see across the way, there's a wine and liquor store on the Montgomery.
there's a wine and liquor store on the montgomery montgomery county portion of city avenue
then you look at the landscaping requirements to adding about your you know trees and some other
parking requirements i think there was a misunderstanding in the original submission
we were not changing the parking at all in that property we're going to obviously clean it up
like have lighting, have security, but the parking already exists. So Nick, can you go to the next
page? So, and again, there's additional refusals about the parking, which is not changing at all
from its current condition. So next. So again, this is what I looked at the zoning code,
you know, for food, beverages, and groceries uses that sell or otherwise provide food or
beverages for off-premise consumption, which a beer store does, including grocery stores and
similar uses that are incidental and accessory food and beverage services as part of their
primary retail sale business. In addition to serving, you know, beer and alcoholic seltzers,
there'll be like, you know, selling of candy and other things. So it fits within the definition of
food, beverages, and groceries. Now, comparison, the next page, you know, what Ellen and I believes
we fall under is wholesale uh sales and distribution uses engaged in the wholesale
sale bulk storage and distribution of goods um and and it says such issues may also include
incidental retail sales here all we're doing is retail sales you know you know we're selling
you know once in a while a keg but like for the most part i think you want to get this on the
record but i think this will be something you'll have to explain the next yes okay all right thank
you next and that's just the permit from the previous next
and we did meet with the community honestly i actually thought it was a very productive
community meeting um i thought that they there was a good dialogue between us and the community
in terms of talking about like what restrictions we can have in terms of hours of operation
A lot of community benefits in terms of our hiring practices, having a livable living wage, having security, limitations on matters that were life quality issues.
um unfortunately at the conclusion of my presentation uh it was stated by uh council
member richardson while that's all fine and dandy we don't like alcohol in our in our community
period um i you know again there was a previous presentation about a restaurant at that same
location and they were against it because it was alcohol they were against it because there was
consumption of alcohol at the premises. Here, it's a little bit different. There is no consumption
of alcohol at the premises, obviously. And then their second issue had to do with we're near
some universities and we fear that students are going to purchase alcohol here. And again,
we can't sell to minors. So we explained that. Continue, Nick. And then obviously the district
council member fell in line with the community because they're against it but i'm glad that
they're now willing to talk to us about potentially having community benefits agreement next
and then we did try to do some outreach especially with people on that block of city avenue next
and again to do some cleanup here i think there was a submission that was misinterpreted about
how we're using the existing parking lot the existing parking lots to remain there's no
changes to the existing parking lot next
next all right so are we out of character where we are uh in the neighborhood the answer is no
here's across the street on the montgomery county side a liquor store so one of the things that was
mentioned with the community is they were frustrated they're like not only do we not like
liquor, and they were talking about cannabis as well, we feel like everything's thrown on our
side of the street. Well, that's not the case here. Across the street, there is a wine and
spirits store. I will say that Alex Pugman, he lives in Valley Kenwood. He lives blocks away
from here. He's very familiar with this property. He's known he's been vacant for some time.
A little bit of background. Alex and his family have been in this business since 2013. They have
a location in Hatfield, a beer distributorship, more the traditional one that you would see.
They have one in Hatboro, same thing traditional. They're opening up a location in Chestnut Hill.
They have one in Hatboro, same thing, traditional.
They're opening up a location in Chestnut Hill.
And that's a different business model.
That's not the distributorship model you would think of.
It's more of what you're seeing here, where it's a boutique beer store, where you're selling
craft beers.
It's more of what you would go when you go into Giant, right?
Like, you know, down the street from here.
It's more of a boutique.
You're not like getting huge kegs and everything like that.
So I'm just giving you a little bit of background.
about that. Next. Nick, can you go to the next page? Hey, Nick. All right. Good. All right.
Cool. Aerial views. You can see we're on our own little island on like City Avenue. We are near
some residential but it's not uncommon right you have all city avenue that you know backs up to
uh you know there's residential that backs up to that not uncommon next again our building
structure we're expanding out slightly still pretty set back in comparison to say the building
structure to to the left and right of us next and then we're cmx two and a half property commercial
use i think this is a light commercial use and if you think about what's upsetting the community is
to have people who are drinking and driving where there's a problem apparently in this community
in that respect is that the spins is that saint joe's uh i believe so so um but again i think
the concern is is that we're going to sell the students we can't you know he again and and that's
the other thing you know this is a zoning board of adjustment whether the use is allowed you know
or should be allowed we go look at the philadelphia zoning code and whether we met our burden of of
undue hardship he this business is heavily regulated by the the plcb and he's been in
business for you know i guess now going on 12 years at multiple locations there was a submission
recently sent to the ZBA, I think it was last night, about violations by an entity that's
City Avenue Inc. or something like that. My client's purchasing the liquor license from
that entity. He's not that entity. So I just want to make that clear because it was what was
kind of trying to be said between the lines is he's a bad operator and he's not. Those violations
have to do with a completely different, separate entity.
He's a good operator.
And then this is just from a Google Maps perspective.
And then photographs of the property.
So during a community meeting, it was referenced.
What's in it for us as a community, right?
You know, you're putting alcohol in our neighborhood.
So unlike the restaurant,
people are not going to be consuming alcohol on the premises.
He's also heavily regulated by the PLCB.
These are the things that hopefully we'll talk about
in the community benefits agreement, jobs.
So we're hoping that a community benefits agreement
will have a living wage where it's $15 an hour
for the people at least who are working there.
There's sales tax, there's business taxes,
and most importantly, property taxes
and taking a property that's currently dilapidated
and activating it.
That property has been vacant for seven years.
I have Nick Giganti, who is the listing agent for this property.
I'll ask him a few questions of how difficult it is to market it.
The only two people who have been under contract to purchase this property is a restaurant
with seeking a liquor license and this beer store that Alex has been trying to put in there.
Otherwise, there's not much of a market for this property.
And there's just a different angle.
you can see now the the parking lot that's currently there next is alex the owner so alex
he's part of the family so his dad is the one under contract so when we incorporate when he
incorporates you know obviously he'll be working there but alex has been working with them as part
of the family business for you know the whole time 12 years out of the seven years how long
had that family had the property oh so this is not my client's looking to purchase this property
he doesn't own this property he's under agreement to purchase this property and that's the other
thing it's owner occupied so it's a little bit different when you're renting a property versus
when you're owning this property alex lives in valley kinwood and you know i'll ask him how far
he lives from the property um but yeah they're looking to purchase it and make it owner occupied
um but yeah they're looking to purchase it and make it owner occupied this is their first owner
this is their first owner occupation
occupied first owner occupied location i i believe he rents the other locations well we'll ask that
question real real quick are you running the same issue with chest on hill for the classification
as this no because it's in a shopping center and and and the zoning is different so that's why we
didn't run into that yeah so thank you yeah i think it was like ca3 or something like that
something crazy um next and then this is city avenue to the right of the property deceiving
most people would recognize the cvs over there uh next
to the left of the property next our plans and drawings so this is just a rendering of how we
envision the property you can see it's much nicer and better but again we're repurposing
the parking lot next and this is how we envision the inside of the property again i kind of equate
it to like what you would see on at the wegmans or something like that um again more of a boutique
not a beer distributorship next uh that's just the site plan next and then you by the way hold on
go back you see the bottom part that's the addition right so you know we currently the
building structure is 4,274
square feet. We're adding approximately
like 2,000 square feet
in the back to square it off. Next. So will you be
cutting into the parking? No.
No. The parking is... Go back, Nick.
Parking is to the left. A few other
businesses that is inside of that plaza are there.
So you're going to share parking with the businesses
on the side? That's our land.
there's only 12 parking spots there at least there is i think currently eight parking spots
so you're saying between that and the businesses on the side no but this is just we own we're just
purchasing this property which will have eight parking spots we don't share any parking with
anyone else so this will be completely solely my client's parking lot yeah so and again we don't
see people who are going to be like staying there a while they're just going to buy alcohol and
leave this you know the point the transaction is not that long so next and then this is the
inside from a floor plan perspective so if you go left to right start with the left you you're you
know you got the check you got the main checkout area and then you have aisles of of like you know
whatever six packs and such there are warm not cold and then you have the coolers to the right
hand side and by the way near the checkout too is kind of like you know candy and other things just
potato chips i'm sure food um non-perishable stuff and as you go further in the back
there's a beer cave i guess maybe a little bit more exotic beers um and then you know to you'll
see two ADA compliant bathrooms. There's some storage in the rear. Again, it's more open.
It's not expected to be a huge amount of actual volume on the shelves. Next. So we met with
the community on March 5th at 630. Next. Next. Next. There was only 24 addresses. It was
well attended i mean so um next our application for appeal um next notice of refusal project
information form the agreement of sale which we're under you know you know for a while next
and then our um tax clearance certificate uh with that being said i'll have a few questions
for alex and then um i know that nick giganti who's the realtor will give some testimony as well
all right could you please come forward make sure it's on and pull close here