Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
there are no hands at this time chair planning commission yes this is uh ron bednar the first
name r-o-n last name bednar b-e-d-n-a-r you swear or firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing
but the truth i do proceed sir so property is indicated for residential use on a city plan or
adopted district plan recommends no change to the existing uh existing zoning at this location
The applicant's hardship is not supported with evidence of unique physical circumstances or condition of the property that would prevent it from being used in conformity with the code.
Therefore, we recommend the request for variance not be granted.
Thank you.
MI 2022, 007-219-714 South 16th Street.
I vote yes, proviso.
Temporary variance expires 4-6-26.
Thomas Holliman my vote is yes with proviso James Snell my vote is yes with proviso
Ishmael Shahid my vote is yes with proviso thank you sir thank you
Number two, MI 2022-006-841-1720 Chestnut Street.
Michael Mattione is the attorney.
Letter of non-opposition from the Center City Residence Association with provisos.
Mr. Mattione is coming back in now, Chair.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman.
Good afternoon, Mr. Mattione.
Could you state your name, please, and spell it for the court reporter?
Michael Mattione, M-A-T-T-I-O-N-I.
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i do could you identify your client the relationship to this property sure my client
is 17 chest 20 llc they are a tenant in this building the owner of the property 1720 chestnut
lp okay i represent good our vice chair has a few questions sir sure good afternoon counsel do you
agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy? It's a referral and yes.
Okay. Have you emailed all the required documents and exhibits to proceed with this case
five days in advance of this hearing? Yes, sir. Okay. Thank you. Please share your screen. Thank you.
All right. Good afternoon. And again, I represent 17 Chess 20 LLC. The principal of the organization
is Avram Hornick. We seek a special exception to be able to operate a sports-themed sit-down
restaurant with live music and dancing in the basement in this long vacant space at 1720
Chestnut Street. And in support of the application, we presented the referral, the non-opposition
letter from center city residents association the zoning plan floor plans elevation photographs
lease proof of mailing of notices of the rco meeting tenant is leasing the first floor and
lower level of the building at at 1720 chestnut street and that building
is shown in the photographs yep
And there it is, right there on 1720 Chestnut Street.
Avram Hornick is a successful operator of many restaurants and entertainment venues in Philadelphia,
including nearby establishments, Rosie's Tacos at 2020 Walnut, Harper's Garden, 31 South 18th Street, Noche at 1901 Chestnut, and Concourse Bar at 1635 Chestnut, just to name a few.
including nearby establishments, Rosie's Tacos at 2020 Walnut.
He signed a lease for the ground floor and lower level at 1720 Chestnut Street, like I said, to operate a sports bar and casual restaurant on the first floor,
an assembly and entertainment facility in the lower level for private parties such as rehearsal
dinners bar mitzvahs birthday parties and similar types of celebrations and that will include live
music and dancing in the basement the indoor restaurant use is permitted in cmx4 but because
of the overlay we are required required to seek a special exception and here is the referral
just stating that the proposed sit-down restaurant
is a special exception.
I'd like to move down and show the floor plans.
And this is, like I said, a two-story establishment.
The first floor is here.
You walk in.
This is Chestnut Street.
Stock Exchange Place is in the back.
Here's the foyer when you walk in.
You can walk downstairs to the private party room, or you can walk into the main restaurant area, and you have the kitchen, the restrooms, and another set of steps.
Then if you're downstairs, the private party room with a bar and live entertainment and dancing, and it's specifically provided for in the non-opposition letter from CCRA.
Again, as requested, CCRA is a bunch of provisors in their letter.
they requested that all cutlery and utensils be non-disposable. We agreed. We agreed to all of
these. No music to be played outside of the restaurant and no music audible outside of the
restaurant. Incidental takeout no more than 10 percent of sales. Ventilation for the kitchen
will be through the roof. Dancing and live music will be on the lower level. All deliveries will
be from Stock Exchange Place and deliveries will be after 8 a.m. Monday to Friday and 9 a.m. on
weekends. We have one requested deviation. CCRA asks that trash be stored inside. We would like
to store it outside in dumpsters. As you can see, Stock Exchange Place, virtually every establishment
on the street has a dumpster out in the back where they store the trash. We want to do the
same thing as everybody else. Mr. Hornick, who is an experienced restaurateur, can explain why that
is a better situation than having it stored inside. The restaurant will be ramped, responsible
alcohol management program certified by the LCB. And again, the special exception is a conditionally
permitted use. We believe we comply with the requirements of 14303.7 E1 and E2. Under 7E1,
this is a sit-down restaurant, so it's specifically permitted. And if you look at the street,
This block, the 1700 block of Chestnut Street, there are numerous other restaurants, including Grand Café L'Aquila, the Bruno Brothers, Ancient Spirits and Grill, Just Salad, Kura Sushi, Paris Baguette, 10 Asian Food Hall, Kava, Continental Midtown.
Again, we'll have dining, we'll have a bar, sports theme.
We will have the chef from Rosie's Tacos prepare the menu here.
and in the basement we will have special events with live music and dancing and you know 17 14
30 372 we believe these requirements are met we're not going to cause congestion in the public
streets i mean this is chestnut street in center city it's a commercial corridor it's commercial
use we're not going to overcrowd the land it's consistent with other buildings there's no new
construction here the building is not going to impair light and air to neighboring properties
uh we're not going to burden public facilities it's an existing building in the commercial
corridor again we have non-opposition from ccra will benefit the community by bringing eyes and
ears to this property that's been vacant for about four years so uh and the operation is consistent
with the mixed use zoning um the applicant we believe met its burden to show the restaurant
will not detrimentally impact the neighborhood beyond that what is normally expected from such
use and believe that the special exception should be granted.
I would like to call on Mr. Avram Hornick, Mr. Chairman.
Sir, could you state your name and spell please for the court reporter?
Mr. Hornick, please unmute yourself or wait for the chair.
Hi, sir. Could you state your name and then spell it for the court reporter?
Sir, could you state your name and then spell for the court reporter?
Sure, it's Avram Hornick.
Sure. It's Avram Hornick. A, V as in Victor, R-A-M as in Mary, Hornick, H-O-R-N-I-K.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed, counsel.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And Avram, did you hear my statements?
Yes, I did.
Are they true and correct?
Yes, they are.
Do you adopt them as your testimony?
And did you have any further comment about the trash issue?
I think it's important to indicate that with internal trash storage, the trash needs to move twice rather than once.
My experience has been that if you have in this, if it was a residential area or an area where other retail stores, I think will be different.
But in this case, when it's really a service alley, it's a lot cleaner and more efficient to store the trash in the dumpster because the staff can then put the trash directly in the dumpster, whereas they're going to have to store it inside and then move it outside for trash pickup, which creates, I think, more of a problem and more detrimental to the neighbors on the property than just having the dumpster outside like the rest of the neighbors do.
I have nothing further, Mr. Chairman.
All right, questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Chair.
Questions and comments from the virtual audience?
I see no hands at this time, Chair.
Planning Commission.
Ryan Bednar, City Planning.
The property is zoned for commercial mixed use
on the city plan, given the site's physical circumstances
and the physical circumstances
the proposed use will have no more of an impact
than would be expected to have
or specific anticipated use.
Therefore, we recommend a request for special exception.
Also, the provisos that we see are enforceable.
No exterior music, assembly and entertainment use
only permitted in basement.
Is that okay?
That's fine, Mr. Chairman.
Okay, so MI 2022-006-841-1720 Chestnut Street,
I vote yes, proviso.
no exterior music no assembly and entertainment use only permitted in basement
thomas holland my vote is yes with proviso james snell my vote is yes with proviso ishmael shaheed
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you.
Number three, MI 2022-0007-130, 160 to 64 North 2nd Street.
Ronald Patterson is the attorney.
We have a letter of recommendation of opposition from Old City District
and letter of opposition from council member Squilla.
Chair, Mr. Patterson is coming back in now.
Thank you.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Patterson, good afternoon.
Could you state your name and spell it, please, for the court reporter?
Michael, you have to close your screen, please.
Good afternoon. My name is Ronald Patterson, P-A-T-T-E-R-S-O-N, on behalf of the owner and operator of this project.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
And could you identify your client, please, and the relationship to this property?
Sure. One second, please. Let me get the appropriate name here.
It is 160-64 North 2nd Street, and on behalf of the owner is Justin Vesey, V-E-A-S-E-Y,
if you could have him promoted as well today.
Sure, and our vice chair has just a few questions for you.
Good afternoon, counsel. Do you agree to weigh the reading of the refusal and stipulate to his accuracy?
Yes, I do.
Have you emailed all the required documents and exhibits to proceed with this case five days in advance to our office?
Yes, I have.
Thank you. Please proceed and share your screen.
Are you able to see my screen?
We can.
Okay, great. Thank you.
So as was mentioned, this case regards 160, that's 62 North 2nd Street. It's at the corner of 2nd and Race. It was a one-story building last used as Food and Equipment Service Center that sold restaurant and commercial food equipment and did servicing.
So, as was mentioned, this case regards 160, that's 60.
It was a one-story building and had a side parking lot over here.
This was how it was entered, and the curb cut.
The proposal, we'll just go through some of these photographs so we understand the location.
Sorry about this.
There we go.
So the proposal originally was to demolish the building, which has been demolished, to construct a six-story building,
having on the first floor two commercial spaces fronting on 2nd Street and on Vine Street of 1,285 square feet
and another one of 555 square feet, with a residential lobby on the first floor
and on floors 2 through 6, six residential dwelling units.
There's a history of approvals here that are relevant to the application.
The property is located in a CMX3 commercial zoning district and subject to a handful,
a variety of overlays, and namely the old city overlay is the one that applies here.
So the initial application was reviewed by L&I, and in the review, L&I required on-site
parking spaces in the ratio that turned out to be three parking spaces.
In order to move the application forward, we were able to locate and agree to provide three spaces off-site and nearby 304 Ray Street.
As a result, Alan, I issued the permit dated April 4, 2022, numbered ZP-2022-001706.
So with that in hand, the building was designed for six units.
with the viability projections that included parking.
The poll of the nearby neighbors, the immediate neighbors,
we concluded that parking was scarce and that parking was needed for this project.
The off-site parking turned out not to be viable and practical,
and hence we designed a plan to provide on-site parking on site.
And I'll show you the layout.
This was the original plan with the parking off-site.
It had two commercial spaces, one here on 2nd Street, one here on Vine Street.
The parking plan removed one space, commercial space, which was this space, and provided an interior parking garage for three spaces.
So we designed that and submitted the application for on-site parking.
The building design proceeded with the removed commercial space.
And L&I issued Zoning Permit No. 2, CP-2022-004660, that was issued that approved these three parking spaces.
So further relying on these permits, we finalized the building plans and obtained a building permit.
and during that review the building plans examiner said that we needed well actually what happened
was during that period we went to the historical commission for the building and the historical
commission asked if we could reduce the parapet height slightly which we agreed to do so we went
back in to amend the building permit and during that review the examiner then determined that
But not that the parking was not allowed, but we were violating this old city overlay in terms of not providing 100 percent, 100 feet worth of commercial space for a depth of 30 feet by removing this commercial space here that we originally had.
So the commercial spaces were supposed to flank the street frontage.
flank the street frontage. So the refusal that it was issued, I'll pull that up.
So the refusal letter was issued.
As you see here, we're not providing commercial space, 100% of the ground floor, 100 feet within 30 feet,