Thank you.
Mr. Thomas Hetty.
Is your client's first name
Michael, Mr. Thomas Hetty?
It is.
Mr. Thomas Hetty has been immuted
and allowed to speak vice chair all righty uh mr tomasetti we're gonna swear you in uh first could
you uh give your name and uh spell your name to the court reporter yes sir it's michael tomasetti
m-i-c-h-a-e-l tomasetti t-o-m-a-s-e-t-t-i okay great uh you agree to uh uh tell the truth the
whole truth and nothing but the truth yes all right appreciate that uh please proceed good
afternoon mr thomas eddie did you hear my uh testimony just now regarding 1319 north 23rd
yes i did do you adopt it as your own i do thank you nothing further okay uh any questions from
from the board no no questions okay no no questions from uh uh council uh hillary emerson
not at this time mr snow okay uh any questions from the virtual audience
i see no hands at this time mr snow okay planning commission thank you sir and good afternoon
David Fecto with the city planning commission board members the comprehensive plan recommends
a change in zoning at this location from commercial mixed use to residential single family the zoning
maps in this part of the neighborhood date to 1933 the appellant proposes no commercial ground floor
in a commercial mixed use district and this proposal matches that recommended zoning the city
planning commission recommends that the board grant the proposed use variants for not providing
ground floor commercial space okay thanks david all right uh mi-2023-006-938-1319
north 23rd street my vote is yes thomas holloman my vote is yes
the baron leonard palmer my vote is yes okay mr consul there you there you have it thank you board
all right number nine you think we're gonna swing this back over to uh vice chair shaheed
i had some big shoes i had some big shoes to fill how'd i go great great number great
I-2023-004889
3360 Stokely Street
John Griffin
is mr griffin in the audience mr griffin if you're in the virtual audience please raise your hand
he's coming back in as a panelist now vice chair thank you
good afternoon mr griffin can you please state your name and spell it for the court reporter
Yes, it is John Griffin, G-R-I-F-F-I-N.
You swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Can you please identify your client?
My client is Anwari, A-N-W-A-R-I, Marweiss, M-A-R-W-E-I-S.
Thank you. Mr. Holliman has a few questions for you.
Yes, sir.
Good afternoon, counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to his accuracy?
I do, sir.
Did you email all the exhibits and documents as required five days in advance to this hearing?
I emailed everything on Monday. I was not able to do it Friday.
There was some other documents that Ms. Emerson requested this morning, and we got over to her probably within the hour on that.
Thank you. Please proceed.
Yes. Can you can everyone see my shared screen?
Yes. OK, Mr. Shahid. Good afternoon. Members of the board. Good afternoon.
This is a matter where we are seeking a use variance as it applies to 3360 Stokely Street.
3360 Stokely Street is a fairly large industrial complex.
There are no residential dwellings that are bordering the property.
What we are looking to do, and I will go through this with you shortly, is to take a small slice of that building, literally 742 square feet, that we are calling, just for our purposes, we're calling Space A.
And we're looking to convert that into essentially a commissary kitchen that will prepare food for carts, just like you see carts that are on the street on many of the city corners that will prepare halal type food for those carts.
Those carts will then be picked up by their owners in the morning and then transported to the various places across the city where there are currently in existence halal trucks that are duly licensed by the city and the health department to properly operate.
So we're not looking to sell food out of this space. This is literally a, these will be my words, this is literally a prep kitchen to prepare the food. The carts will be stored in a much larger area of the building.
And I will show that to you shortly. They will be there very early in the morning to go out.
They will then come back probably late afternoon.
We have purchased and had in existence an eight yard dumpster.
And I will show you that that's going to be moved to the back of the property that will have a secured.
Fenced in area. We have a contract, which I will show you as well, which was designed to have at the end of each day, whatever leftover food there may be disposed of properly.
So we don't have a situation where food might sit there a night or two. And then, of course, that invites all kinds of other issues.
Every single day, there will be disposal and get out.
And then the trucks, not the trucks, I apologize.
The carts will then be cleaned, sanitized, stored overnight, and then the process will repeat itself.
And then the process will repeat itself. There is no Sunday sales.
There is no.
And I think most notably, there are no residential dwellings that are bordering this area at all.
You will see a cover letter that explains sort of largely what I just said that I had forwarded to Mr. Bergman.
Exhibit one is the RCO letter. That meeting occurred last week with a gentleman from my office was present.
We had some concerns that I think and I can say confidently we addressed all of them so that there are no issues.
We have that RCO letter of support that I've just sort of zipped through.
Exhibit two is the L&I refusal.
Three is the floor plan and site plan for this.
If you take a look on the right side where the shaded in area is,
not shaded, but the lined area that I'm focusing in on. This little area right here is what we're
going to call space A. This is the area that we are looking to turn into a commissary or what I
may commonly call a prep kitchen. It is 742 square feet in all. This is the outside of the building.
As we move a little bit down, we see the outside of the area over here.
this is important right here. This is the exhaust system that is required for the building. So
one of the people at the RCO had said, well, geez, don't you really have to have an exhaust system?
And we said we did. And we showed them this right here. And in fact, that person said, oh,
Great. Didn't know that. Thank you. So that is part of that.
Next up is we have the waste removal contract that I just mentioned.
It comes every single day.
So there isn't any issue with food not picked up at the end of the day or whatever is left over from the trucks.
I have talked to the clients and we had mentioned to the community the possibility somehow of whatever may be left over in food for people to come and take it, not necessarily to buy it because it would have been materials that are unsold.
We're trying to figure that out, but trying to do whatever we can maybe for the community and those that may be hungry for sales that just aren't going to be made.
Exhibits 5A through 5E are exterior and interior photos.
Here is a photo of the exterior, also another photo of the exterior.
This is sort of the area that we're kind of focusing on that will be done in a prep kitchen.
Just sort of mindful that after this process, if the use variance is granted, then we move on to the Department of Health that regulates this.
So we are still a number of months away from getting going on this.
But this is the initial step we need to take. The health department, as I think the board knows, strictly regulates this stuff. So there'll be lots of eyes on this stuff.
Uh, this right here is the door, uh, that, that sort of is right there, just so, just so you would know. Uh, and this right here is that it's does not comprise the rest of it.
But this is the area where the food carts, again, we're not talking about the big trucks, the food carts will be situated after they are sanitized.
after they are sanitized. This is the deeds that show ownership. My client is a part owner
along with another family member. There is the real estate transfer tax certification.
uh there is the notice of posting that i think went up on february 2nd i informed miss emerson
of that i i could be wrong it's possible it was february 6th but i put that in an email
my office did tour that's also part of the necessary uh posting this right here and i
think we've all seen these a hundred times um i've forgotten how many times i've ordered from
one of these carts, being in Center City with an office. So that's what the carts look like.
And of course, that's what will go after sanitized each day that will go into this
much larger area, which is secured overnight. And that's that. I hope and I believe
Mr. Anwari Marweiss is on the line with us.
If perhaps we can let him in.
Can we promote him, please?
What is your client's name, Mr. Gregg?
Anwari Marweiss, M-A-R-W-E-I-S.
i see no one by that day vice chair
i i know he was on for a significant amount of time i had been texted religiously
you're an officer of the court so we can take we can take your uh word in
As an officer of the court, Mr. Shahid, I can advise that I have communicated with Mr. Marwise so many times, emphasis on the word so many.
He was aware of this presentation.
That's okay.
He probably couldn't hold on.
So we're going to move on.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Vice Chair.
No, Vice Chair.
Any questions from our attorney, Hillary Emerson?
Not at this time, Mr. Vice Chair.
And Mr. Vice Chair, just let me conclude, just for purposes of the record.
This entire packet was forwarded to him.
We went over it with him, and he had fully adopted everything without any changes.
Any questions from the virtual audience?
chair we have a call in user with the phone number ending at three five five two
call in user please unmute yourself and wait for vice chair
hello yes good afternoon can you please state your name and spell it for the court reporter please
yes adrian fernandez swampoodle neighborhood process association rco
Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Please proceed.
We sent in a letter of support with provisos for this address.
We do support disuse in the I-2 district.
We have four provisos that we're requesting.
The first one is trash and recycling and dumpsters and waste collection to be stored and managed inside the property lines and not on the street sidewalks.
Also, for all food business vehicles to be parked within the property lines, I believe the owners told us there would be about 25 food trucks.
Also, the variance limited to Space A and the related parking for Space A.
And the last thing is that provides with that the exterior exhaust plumbing equipment, fans and other plumbing equipment, be affixed or attached to the vertical exterior walls only
and no exterior exhaust plumbing equipment placed, affixed, or attached on any flat roof surface or structure
to avoid the oil spewing into the air and going to other buildings.
That's the last one.
Hillary, did we get all of those provisos in, and are they all enforceable?
Well, I believe that the – I think I did see them.
the i i think i did see them i looked at them briefly the letter came in this afternoon
I looked at them briefly, the letter came in.
um and there's a lot of things uh several of them involved keeping things within
the property boundaries which i think if there were if there were i mean we can't control the
street street parking um but certainly if anything was happening like on the sidewalks that would
involve streets department approval um and i i believe on the refusal it specifies
space a already so i think it is already limited to um that particular location um at at the
property correct mr uh i i can tell you um i i think for all of that we had talked about and
discussed and certainly have no objections to and just if we'll note uh back here uh the
If I can find it, the waste disposal, we have a copy of it somewhere.
um uh and and that um consistent with concerns is being moved to the rear of the property
uh and that will be in a completely fenced in a little storage area that you typically may see
when you have to dump stuff in a dumpster you got to get through like sort of a gate
uh we're doing that to uh not have that anywhere near the street and cause those issues
so i i respect those concerns and i believe we had addressed them
okay uh is there any other questions in the virtual audience was swan poodle done
i just wanted to know if they could honor the um exterior exhaust being
and affixed to vertical exterior walls only
and now on the roof.
All right, thank you.
That's what we got right here.
Anybody else in the virtual audience?
Vice Chair, I see the other hands at this time.
Planning Commission?
Thank you, Vice Chair, and good afternoon.
David Fecto with the City Planning Commission.
Vice Chair and Board members,
the comprehensive plan recommends a change
in zoning at this location
from I-2 General Industrial to I-1 General Industrial.
This property has a documented history as food manufacturing and distribution.
The City Planning Commission recommends that the board grant their proposed use variants
for commissaries and catering.
Hillary, is there anything we need to add to this proviso specifically outside of Space A?
um i don't you know i don't even think we need to um put space a in there because it's already
on the refusal so that should transfer to the permit i agree get it all right uh number nine
mi-2023-004889 3360 stokely street my vote is yes with proviso
Thomas Solomon
my vote is yes with
provisos
James Snell my vote is yes
with provisos
sir may I be excused
thank you
I dash 2023
dash 006
894-2319
2321 Bridge Avenue
Richard DeMarco
Richard DeMarco is coming back and is the panelist now, Vice Chair.