It's downloaded.
We're just looking at it.
If you click on files.
why don't you go out and come back in okay okay we'll try that i apologize no no no no we're fine
chair while we waited we uh called the other one with um the exhibit we can
Okay. That was number five, Mr. Chair, 5027 Rising Sun Avenue.
Okay. MI 2022-003-765-5027 Rising Sun Avenue. Cedric Allen, could you come back in, please?
LaKeisha did we find anything? Yes so they are missing some documents so the case
will have to be continued and ma'am Ms. Joanne I think she would have to be sworn in because
Cedric spoke last time. This is this is Hillary um so yes so these the um we we did find um some
exhibits um unfortunately we are missing a tax clearance um photos of the exterior and interior
of the property yes can you hear us mr allen okay um and we're also missing um a photo showing that
the property was posted um for today's hearing so because we don't have any of those things
we're going to continue this case um to another date but mr allen the case is going to be
continued okay and i and i think for your own sake you should call the office
and they they could help you prepare for the next time okay
mr allen you have to unmute yourself sir
mr allen
hello hi hi mr allen so uh you're missing quite a few pieces of documents that we would need
so what i recommend you do is to call the office and they'll help you prepare for the night no no
you don't have to be sorry it you know it's it's a it's a it's a process that we just have to follow
so call the office and they will tell you what you need to in your packet and then next time
you'll be ready to go okay so MI 2022 003 765 5027 Rising Sun Avenue this case is continued
thank you Lakeisha thank you chair all right Mr. Byrne let's see where we are
Mr. Byrne yes sir okay so can you bring it up now
It's a nightmare.
Pauline, do you have any ideas?
Tell me what we see.
Is it open on your end right now?
Yeah, I'm just seeing the screen, whiteboard, iPads.
I'm not seeing the file, but we try to...
Why do you click on files?
When you click share screen, what are the options that you have?
Dropbox, Microsoft OneDrive, Microsoft Edge, Microsoft Office.
from chrome not under the not under the drop down but if you actually click
the share screen button like not the arrow with the actual button
yeah there you go okay there you go okay and now you just need to navigate to your document
oh there you go okay so sorry okay all right so so so mr burn here's what what i want you to do
let's let i think the easiest thing to do let's we we have all that why don't we try to get a
photos of your property okay i'm scrolling down to that right now uh it's all you had it all mr
burn sorry you had everything okay yeah this is here uh these are the plans um
you can see can you see this down here the um where i'm pointing that's where the old kitchen
is the kitchen that currently exists right um this is the proposal here right so it's it is
slightly bigger the reason that the original plans got rejected was because there is a um
an alleyway uh that's that's open on the ground floor but is uh a livable space on the second
there's considered livable space so because of that that's what put us slightly over the 75 so
so what we see there's there's only a couple feet difference we see it so yeah why you could just
enlarge that photo for us one minute and that way the board can see it so what you're yeah that's
good so you're you have that small place you're going to large it to the one on the right here
right yes yeah okay okay all right okay questions from the board no mr chairman questions or comments
from the virtual audience?
I see no hands, Chair.
Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair.
Sarah Bond, City Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change
to the residential single-family zoning at this location.
The proposed dimensional variance for occupied area
is just under 3% of what the code requires.
The application meets the intentions of the zoning code
and the comprehensive plan.
and granting the dimensional variance will not impair the use of the adjacent property.
The City Planning Commission recommends that the board grant the variance.
Thank you. So MI 2022-001-683-1340 East Columbia Avenue, I vote yes.
Mr. Mary, my vote is yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
Jamil Shahid, my vote is yes.
Thank you, Mr. Byrne, for staying with us.
Thank you for staying with us.
All right. Let's see here. So, okay. So MI 2022 003. This is number nine. MI 2022 003 783 400 West
Shelton Avenue. Steve Masters is the attorney. We have letters of support. We have letters of
opposition. Also, there's a petition of support signed by 750 individuals.
Mr. Masters. Yes, good morning, Mr. Chair. How are you? Can you state your name and spell it for the
court reporter, please? My name is Steve Masters, S-T-E-V-E-M-A-S-T-E-R-S with the law firm of Just
laws, and I'm here representing the applicant. Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole
truth, and nothing but the truth? I do. Could you identify your client and the relationship to this
property? Yes, I represent the tenant events by center stage, and I also represent the property
owner, Philly Office Retail. Okay, our vice chair has a few questions. Good morning, Mr. Master. Do
agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy yes i do have you
emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership tax compliance refusal or referral vote is under
plans of the property vote five days in advance of this hearing and have you met with the rco
and do you have a letter um yes to all of your questions that's great you may proceed
That's great. You may proceed and begin to share your screen.
and begin to share your screen.
Okay, wonderful. I just wanted to first do a really brief opening. So we're here today on a
Okay, wonderful.
special exception for an assembly and entertainment use at this location of 400 West Sheldon Avenue.
This special exception has now been supported by the coordinating RCO and the other RCO that
conducted a separate meeting with us. And the Planning Commission has issued a preliminary
review letter that we've included in our exhibit. In error, because this was the first time we got
a preliminary review letter, we mistakenly labeled that a letter of support. But the Planning
Commission is clear that their preliminary review letters are not letters of support. Nevertheless,
less, they seem to welcome this special exception. The provisos that we have in our exhibit binder
were critical for the community's support. As you know, in a special exception, the issue isn't
whether there will be some kind of a detrimental impact from this use. It's presumed that there
will be some kind of an impact. That's why we're seeking a special exception. But the issue is
whether the impact will be less than or equivalent to the typical assembly and entertainment use
in this location. And the provisos that we've entered into with the community and which the
owner of the property has agreed to put into the terms of its lease with any future tenant
for the event space mean that the potential impact of this use on the surrounding community
is much less than would be the typical use.
The other thing to keep in mind is that this event space has in fact been operating for
three years at this location, admittedly without the proper zoning permit, but the importance
of that is that there's a long track record that the community knows this business, they
know what the impacts are.
Over 740 neighbors signed a petition in support, and we have an analysis that shows where those where the support is coming from.
So I will now open up my screen.
so um you're seeing everything right mr chair yeah okay great all right so um the only referral
that we have is for the Assembly and Entertainment special exception. We have two RCO letters of
support. One of them just came recently because it was the result of continued engagement between
the applicant and the community. This is from the 12-4 Democratic Committee, which is the
coordinating RCO, they had originally taken a position in opposition because there was a small
number of folks who came out from the near neighbors who were opposed to it, and there
were more near neighbors opposed originally than were in support. It was 12 to 8, basically, or 6
to 2 when you look at the near neighbors. But the RCO, in our continued conversations with them and
And in reviewing the proviso, the RCO decided to shift their position to one of support.
And they explained that in their letter, that the concerns that the near neighbors had were basically addressed by the proviso, which was the purpose of creating a proviso to assure the near neighbors that the impact would be less.
And break down, you know, all of the tables. We're limiting the maximum capacity to 49 guests. And that's to lower the impact for the surrounding neighborhood.
There usually is no need for any security at these events because they're very, they're like, they're not events that would require security. But in the event that an event host wants security, we will require that all security personnel not be armed.
We have an effective trash pickup, trash management system where there are usually the city's trash bins and city pickup is sufficient.
But in the case where there's events where there is a larger amount of trash, then there is a commercial hauler who has been under contract and removes the trash.
For sound management, and we'll look at the photos, the sound speakers are located in the deep rear of the property, the farthest point away from the front door.
And there are double pane windows throughout the building that are soundproofing.
So the sound is really much less of an issue than in a typical assembling entertainment use.
And then for parking management, this is a busy commercial corridor. And from time to time, there were complaints that some of the attendees at the events were double parking to enter or exit the space.
And so the applicant is going to add language to the rental contracts requiring hosts to instruct their guests that double parking isn't allowed and to show them a map where you can pull off into a parking lot to, you know, to let people off or pick them up.
um so those are basically the provisos those are actually not basically those are the provisos that
that we have agreed to um with the community there was one additional proviso that west
chelton neighbors asked for that we weren't able to do and that was um number 11 um they wanted a
paid member of our um of the applicant to be present on site at all times during the events
These events can last from the beginning of just set up through breakdown. They can last six or seven hours. And the economics just doesn't work for personnel to be there 100% of the time.
Typically, there is a staff person who is there at the beginning and the end of an event, but in order to accommodate that request, we would have to raise the rates significantly on the events, and that wasn't economically feasible.
So, we have a preliminary review from the Planning Commission, in which I spoke earlier, in which they said that we appear to meet the specific conditions of the use, and that our detrimental impacts appear to be less detrimental than the typical assembly and entertainment use.
um uh we have the proviso many places in our in our exhibit binder um this is our uh these are the
the petitions for support and um rather than really scrolling through uh 740 names i'm going to
um go down to our analysis
actually our first look at the photos so this is the space um what we're doing here is facing
our back is to shelton avenue and we're facing um into the space and right in the back here is where
the the sound system is set up these are the double-paned windows on the side of um which
is morris street we're now looking towards the front towards shelton avenue from the back of the
space. And this is Morris Street on the right. This is a small elevated area in the back of the
space. And this is where this location is. The event space shares a location with a performing
arts dance school for mostly very young girls teaching them dance. And so this is an area where
the dancers are able to look at the mirrors and practice their dancing.
This is another view of the main space.
Here's the front door.
You'll see the signage for events by center stage, the event place where we're here today for,
and then the iconic performing arts academy, which was what we described before.
These are the zoning posters.
This is, our building goes all the way to the middle of this block on Morris Street.
So where my cursor is here, these areas are, this is a street in behind here,
a street and behind here but these are not part of the building it doesn't go that far back
but these are not part of the building.
It doesn't go that far back.
this is another view on Morris street this is from Shelton avenues behind us and we're
and we're facing down so halfway down this block is is where our building ends
and these are more photos of the zoning posters
We have existing uses that I reference that are currently operating at the location, and that is specifically the Performing Arts Center, the Performing Arts Dance Studio is a personal service, and there's also a retail sale of consumer goods.
the um this is a a basic brochure for people to to look at when they're considering using
this event space you'll see the rate the 49 guest maximum seven hour rental what it basically
entails. Here is photos of the space as it's used as a dance studio for the young girls.
One of the nice features of these windows, in addition to being sound blocking, they also
Don't let people outside look in and see inside the building.
So there's privacy and that's a good security for both the little dancers and also for people who are holding events.
Here's the space when it's used for the event purposes.
and here's another example of a of a party that was held at the space
this is just briefly we'll look at this interactive map of the petitions there were
some questions by some people in the community that many of the petitions may have been from
people far away. So here we have this is the location that we're that we're here today for
the little house. Every purple dot is a position signer. Every red dot on top of a purple dot is
multiple signers at that location. So this is this property we may hear from someone from this
property today at the hearing. This property is apparently opposed to the special exception,
but the right next door, which is basically virtually across the street, these signers are
in favor. These locations here are all right down the block. There's an apartment building here
where we had multiple signers. When you click on the red, you see six signers in this apartment
building. At this location, there were three signers right directly across the street.
And then all of these purple spots show petition signers.
These are within up to, I believe, 1,000 feet of the actual distance to the location.
But we have 29 signers that were within the 250 feet.
So I'm going to come back to, here we go.
And then we have some graphs that I thought were helpful, too. So within 250 feet, 29 signers. Between 251 and 500 feet, another 42 signers. And between 500 and a mile, 270 signers. So that's considerably more than the few neighbors who showed up at one meeting and were opposed to it.
We have a tax clearance for the property.
We have the lease between the tenants and Philly office retail.
our application for special exception is in the binder as is our project information form
we had as i mentioned several rco meetings
We did the official mailing for the coordinating RCO meeting, and then we also flyered the surrounding area for the other meeting.
And that, I believe, concludes the Exhibit Minder.
Okay. So I wanted to call my clients to adopt my testimony. Okay, Shantae Doughty, can you raise your hand?
So I wanted to call my client.
Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
good morning shante dowdy s-h-a-u-n-t as in time a-e-d as in dog o-u-g-h-t-y
okay do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i do proceed mr masters um good morning um shante you've heard the testimony that i've given today
do you agree to its accuracy and do you adopt it as your own good morning i absolutely do
um great are there um any questions questions questions from the board
no mr chairman no mr chairman questions or comments from the virtual audience
i see no hands chair oh wait sorry chair okay okay two hands just popped up we have miss