Hilary, can you hear?
Yes, I can.
Can you hear me?
Yes, I could.
Hold on.
Hold on.
The chair may not be able to hear us.
I'm not hearing anybody.
Okay, sure.
The chair is going out and coming back in again.
He cannot hear any of us.
can you guys hear me by the way
yes yes great i've been having audio issues this week but thank you
Good morning.
Good morning.
Good morning, Chair.
You feel wonderful.
Can you hear us okay?
No, it must be a problem.
Sure it does.
All right.
Do you have any idea what's going on? I can't hear anybody.
Okay. All right. Hold on.
You may want to make sure Zoom is using his speaker down by the microphone.
There's a little carrot. You click that or you're able to select the speaker you want to use.
um is this bill i'm sorry on yeah i'm sorry it's no okay yeah okay um so i'm talking to two bills
at the same time um so you were saying to check to make sure his speaker is selected
yeah at the lower lower left of the screen there's a little microphone and there's a little
carrot right next to the microphone if you click that up it shows what mic you're using and what
speaker zoom is using oh okay okay all right so bill do you see the the microphone down at the
bottom that all right go ahead
um dpv zoom bill um i'm i'm gonna message you directly um the chair's number and give him a
call because he there's multiple options and he's not sure if one of them needs to be changed
so and i i can't see i i can't see what he's looking at right so um so i will message you
his number. Give me one second.
Hillary, can you hear me?
I can hear you.
I can hear you.
Can you hear me?
Can you hear me?
Just hit another button.
Just hit another button.
Yeah, I'm good.
Oh, you're good now?
Okay, great.
I hope so.
LeBaron, can you hear me?
Yes, I can.
All right, we're good.
We're good.
I don't know how that happened because I had the same system on before, but okay, we're good.
Sometimes things get switched.
I've had that happen on my computer, too.
Okay, we have 37 attendees, Chair. You can proceed as you wish.
Thank you. Good morning, everyone. My name is Bill Bergman, and I will be chairing this morning's EBA hearing.
With me is our Vice Chair, Ismail Shahid.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Our Board Member, Thomas Holliman.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Our Alternate Board Member, LeBaron Leonard Palmer.
Good morning, Mr. Chairman.
Also, here is Hillary Emerson, our attorney, and also our executive director, Tanya Sunkett.
Be advised, these proceedings are being recorded.
The video will be available by contacting tanyasunkett at phil.gov.
For the benefit of our court sonographer, we ask attorneys and witnesses to identify themselves before testifying.
If you are participating by phone and you wish to testify, press star 9 to raise your hand and star 6 to unmute.
To enter the pyramid statement, call 267-270-5548.
Leave your email and the address of the property in question.
And finally, the question-answer box on the screen is now for comments or testimony.
All comments should be directed to our Executive Director, Tanya Sunken.
Let's look at this morning's schedule.
Thank you.
Number four, MI-2022-005-219-4212 Parkside Avenue.
Meredith Ferlicker is the attorney.
good morning mr chair this is jason hand i will be your co-host for this morning
miss ferriger has been allowed to speak good morning council could morning council could
you state your name please and spell for the court sonographer sure meredith m-e-r-e-d-i-t-h
Ferliger, F-E-R-L-E-G-E-R. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth,
nothing but the truth? I do. The council member has requested a continuance. I understand. Are
you in favor of a continuance? Absolutely, Mr. Chairman. And in fact, we're intending to submit
a request for leave to amend this application to basically just reflect the legalization of
the existing use instead of requesting the addition of any additional unit.
So, yes, we're very much in favor of a continuance.
Thank you very much.
So MI 2022-005-219-4212 Parkside Avenue, that case is continued.
Number five, MI 2022-006-705-2000 Larry Street, this case has been continued.
Number seven, MI 2023-000629-1447 West Cayuga Street.
That case has been continued.
And number nine, MI 2023-006-880-3200 Copman Avenue.
That case is continued.
Are there any other requests for continuance?
Mr. Chair, I have a hand up from a Jack T. Nguyen.
I have allowed them to speak.
Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Jack T. Nguyen, please unmute and wait to be sworn in.
Mr. Chair, this individual may be having technical difficulties on his end, so we'll go to the next person.
All right, is there any other requests for continuance?
Yes, Devin Ukta has their hand raised.
I've allowed them to speak.
Good morning, Chair.
Good morning, Counsel.
So, sure. Could you state your name, please, and spell it for the court stenographer?
Devin Ukda, D-E-V-I-N-U-Q-D-A-H.
Devin Ukta, D-E-V-I-N-U-Q-D-E-V-I-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir.
Counsel, are you here for 5900 Pulaski?
I'm here for multiple address, but yes, that is one of them.
Okay, so we have no exhibits on number three, 5900 Pulaski Avenue, and this is the third listing.
yeah chair so i'm asking for a containment i took over this case from prior council
so i'm still gathering the information okay so mi 2022 003 966 5900 plastic avenue
cases continued mark must be heard and what other case sir um i also have
1447 uh west cayuga i i already called that that case is being continued sir
and then i have 1307 west susquehanna avenue okay 1307 west cut you want to continue that too sir
yes sir okay so mi 2023 000 633 1307 west susquehanna avenue
Cases continued, Mark, must be heard.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Are there any other cases for continuance?
I don't see any further answers, Mr. Chair.
I have two cases for withdrawal.
Number one, MI 2021-004-544-4900 Reno Street.
That case has been withdrawn. And number two, MI-2022-003-457-623-39-North-39th Street.
That case has been withdrawn. We're going to go to our first case, which is number,
We're going to hear number 12 first.
2023-006-885-27 North 3rd Street.
Eileen Quigley and Meredith Trego are the listed attorneys.
There's a recommendation of support from Old City District,
and a letter of non-opposition came from Council Member Squill.
sir eileen quigley will be rejoining as the panelists shortly
good morning counsel could you please state your name it's spelled for the course sonographer
yes good morning chair members of the board eileen quigley e-i-l-e-e-n quigley q-u-i-g-l-e-y
right do you swear a firm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
Could you identify your client, a relationship to this property?
Yes, I will.
First, as you said, I'd like to introduce my colleague as well, Meredith Trego, T-R-E-G-O.
Meredith is M-E-R-E-D-I-T-H.
Our client is your agency, a nonprofit, and founder Meg Saligman, who is here with us.
They own the property.
All right.
Is Meredith going to be testifying to?
No, Your Honor.
Okay, good.
good good all right our vice chair has just a few questions for you ma'am
good morning council do you agree with the reading of the refusal or stipulate
we have one comment to make about the refusal on the refusal it notes that
it requires a special exception however this assembly and entertainment use
requires a variance because of the overlay at 14502 and just for the board and council's
information the RCO was aware that it was a variance case we did include the variance
explanation in the notice letters and also posted those notice letters at the property when we posted
the other zoning notices. So there was notice of the variance request. Okay, thank you. Have you
emailed them all the required documents and exhibits as needed to proceed with this case
five days in advance of this hearing? Yes, we have. Thank you. Please proceed and share your screen.
Thank you very much. So as I said, and as the chair said, I'm here today on behalf of your
agency, and I'm with my colleague, Meredith Trego. I would like to thank Ms. Emerson for
allowing us to go first due to an emergency I greatly appreciate your
accommodation we would like to also introduce Mike Salomon Saligman who is
here today on behalf of your agency the nonprofit that owns the property and we
that owns the property, and we are here with, and just to back up, Meg Seligman, as you may already
are here with and just back up
know, is an internationally renowned muralist and artist, and among other murals, she created
the Common Threads Mural at Broad and Spring Garden, and we are also here with Brian Schneider,
the architect from the design team from Heckendorn Shiles Architects.
As I said, we are here to request zoning relief for the assembly and entertainment use,
This use is required based on our discussions with L&I because the existing use of the property is an art gallery, and in order to allow for artistic expression and performance, the assembly and entertainment use is required.
that's why we're here seeking the variance as you all know we're very
fortunate to live in a city with so such robust and renowned history and
artistic and cultural institutions and we are proud today to be here on behalf
of your agency seeking this variance this is an existing art gallery as I
said and in order for it to be used to its fullest potential as a space where
full artistic performance can be experienced we require this special
accept this variance for this assembly and entertainment and this will also
allow your agency to meet its mission and its purpose and intent as I said
this is required for performances pursuant to our discussions with L&I
this is not for a nightclub the reuse of this existing building it's an existing
bank building known as a manufacturer's national bank this was previously used
as an office but this building has been vacant for many years um it's historically designated
and it's one of the most miss quigley are are you are you sharing or is miss trego sharing
oh we don't see anything yeah may i that's okay yes absolutely thank you that was an opening
comments i'm sorry i kept on going i just that's okay i'm excited about the art gallery and this
performance space, so it completely left my mind. Can you see my exhibits? We see here.
All right. Thank you so much, Ms. Emerson. I apologize, and I appreciate your note to me.
So before I continue any further, we did submit these exhibits. These are our exhibits.
I hate to retread, but we have the necessary required documents, tax clearance certificates,
exceed. But to get back, let me show you the exterior. Here is the Manufacturer's National
Bank building. And as I said, this was used as a, the last use was an office, but it's been vacant
for many years. And it's one of the oldest and substantial banking institutions in the city.
And allowing for this reuse to allow the art gallery to also move into physical artistic
performance through the variance for assembly and entertainment really allows
Meg and your agency to continue the care and preservation of this building
through Meg's loving care and restoration that's executed by Bryant
at Heckendorn Shiles. These improvements that were approved by the
historical commission let me find my floor plans here will allow for full accessibility for