And chair, we have, I'm sorry, it's still going.
And Chair, we have 38 attendees, and you can start as you wish.
Thank you.
Good morning, everyone.
My name is Bill Bergman, and I will be chairing this morning's meeting.
With me is our Vice Chair Ismael Shaheed, our Board Member Cheryl L. Gaston, our Board
member, Tanetta Graham. Present, Mr. Chairman. And our board member, Taya Nguyen. Present,
Mr. Chairman. Also present is our attorney, Hillary Emerson, and our executive director,
Ian Hagelin. Here's our virtual format. The proceedings are being recorded. With your
participation, you agree to be recorded. A video will be available by contacting
ZBA Executive Director at phila.gov. For our court stenographer, we ask attorneys and witnesses to
identify themselves before testifying. If you're participating by phone, press star nine to raise
your hand and star six to unmute. To enter an appearance statement, call 267-270-5548. Leave
your email address and the address of the property in question. And finally, the question answer box
on the screen is not for testimony. All comments should be directed to zbaexecutivedirector
at phil.gov. Let's look at our schedule for today.
Number nine.
One minute, please.
number nine mi 2024 006 033 2601 to 31 north 20 a street william kerr is the attorney there's a
request for continuance from council member young's office and also we have no exhibits for this case
Mr. Kerr. This is Nadia, and I'll be your co-host today. William Kerr has been allowed to speak.
Yes. Good morning, Mr. Chair. Can you hear me? I think I got muted.
No, I hear you, Mr. Kerr. Could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Sure. William Kerr, K-E-R-R. I'm an attorney with High Swartz LLP, and I'm representing the applicant in this case.
All right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth, sir?
OK, so the council member's office has requested a continuance, but we also notice we have no exhibits for this case.
Yeah. Yes, Mr. Chair. Let me give you a little background.
This is a proposal to renovate the Long Vacant Walton School to an affordable housing complex for seniors.
and requires financing for phfa we did meet with the rco on november the 14th and a week or so ago
they notified us they'd like to meet again it was raised at the at the meeting we weren't certain
but they did indicate they'd like to meet with us again we have scheduled another meeting for
january the 9th and we're willing to do that so i was also going to request a continuance this
morning the one trick with this is this is this project requires phfa financing they have an
annual appeal deadline for the financing applications of february the 11th so if there's
any way that we could we could have a rescheduled hearing either the week of january 13 january 20
or january 27th that would that would help us get in for this round of financing for 2025
and avoid having to wait until 2026 so again if we can continue with this for either of those weeks
13th 20th or 27th of january it'd be much appreciated so so mr carl we we we hear you
and we'll take note of it
and we'll see exactly what we can do with that, okay?
Yes, I appreciate that very much.
So MI 2024-006-033-2601-31 North 28th Street,
the case is continued.
And Mr. Kerr, please reach out to the ZBA office
to let us know about your deadline
so that the staff can see what can be accommodated.
Thank you.
Is there any other requests for continuance?
I see no hands.
Thank you. We're going to start with number six, MI 2024-002-892-2100 Robbins.
Thank you.
We're going to start.
Henry Rojas Lopez is the owner. This is a pro se.
There is support from the RCO.
Henry Rojas is coming in as a panelist.
Chair Henry Rojas is in as a panelist.
He just hasn't shared his screen or anything.
Good morning, Mr. Rojas.
Could you unmute, please?
Could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Yes, Henry Rojas, H-I-N-R-Y-R-O-J-A-S.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
So this application is for artist studios and artesian industrial and wholesale sales and distribution,
making chocolate items and distribution at the basement in the same structure with a single
family household living above. That's correct. The proposed use of artists, studios, and artesian
industrial is prohibited in the RSA 5 zoning district. The proposed use of wholesale sales
and distribution is prohibited in the RSA 5 zoning district. Multiple principal uses on a lot are
prohibited in the RSA 5 zoning district. Our vice chair has a few questions here.
Yes, excuse me, Mr. Chair. I just want to clarify one thing for the record that the refusals in this case are only for the artist studios and multiple principal uses on a lot. There is not a refusal for a wholesale sales and distribution on this application.
Okay, may I add that.
wait wait wait wait one minute wait mr rojas wait one minute go ahead good morning sir have you
emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that's needed to proceed with this case five days
in advance of this hearing yes i have provided all the information thank you please proceed
and you can share your screen okay thank you
okay so good morning uh i just want to show you
weekly the information that we have provided just in case you
want to confirm that we provided that which we don't see your screen yet you haven't shared
your screen mr rojas oh sorry sure
is it there now it's coming up now it's coming up now sir
we have that sir thank you you can okay okay perfect so yeah you i just wanted to confirm
that you have all of these documents which are the ones that we provided right um authorization
task clearance meeting with the rco uh the pictures of the property this was for the uh orange posts
and some pictures of the property per se?
We don't see pictures.
Oh, sorry.
You haven't moved on.
Can you see that?
We have summary notes from the Zoning Board of Adjustment.
Do you see the pictures of the property?
No, we do not.
We see what the RCO sent.
okay well you should you should have something about the basement there
i i i don't i don't see anything but you you gotta you gotta move your documents
yeah it should be showing right now
see again
can you see anything not yet we we we see the the information from the uh rco
mr rojas you may need to unshare and then reshare your screen and select the photos it's okay okay
Let's see.
and you would click the share button again which would say unshare now i'm gonna stop sharing there
you go and share again and you see them now we see basement yep okay so this is the main area
that we would use for the as you mentioned the retailing and the selling of the product
and this is of course right now how we have it right now because we're trying to
improve it a bit more with just just just on preparation
and this is the area that is the original uh part of the house which has the utilities and
everything we will not we will not touch anything about it um for you to have an idea also of what
we do uh we basically it's like edible arrangements edible gifts made with fruit
and all we would do is just make the preparation and deliver from there we also have some balloons
and some cards as i mentioned we would do the delivery on our own we will barely use some
services like 10 just in high volume times like christmas or valentine's day and this is pretty
much the area right now. We wouldn't need to do any changes on the electrical area because
everything, it worked fine with what we have so far. And all we would add just some desks,
a sink so we could be able to wash everything and some tables where we would work there.
mr rojas do i understand you're going to put a dumpster outside did they say that
the rco required requested that yes they say we need to put our dumpster outside
we agree you have a picture you have a picture of the rear of the property outside
uh the re yeah there's a show the picture this area here yes that's that's your rear
property, right? Yes. So the dumpster would go in front of the garage and you wouldn't be able to
park a car there? No, we wouldn't be able to park a car there if we put the dumpster there.
That wouldn't be a problem. And this block is totally residential? Single families?
totally residential in this area uh one where one block from bustleton bustleton is totally commercial
okay is there is there anything else you want to add mr rojas um again we we want to do this
as you can see so we could work on that area is uh not a dangerous
procedure. We will not be cooking anything. There's no stove. There's no oven, anything like
that. Everything is like they call a cold kitchen. It's more close to what Rita's than anything else
because everything just needs to be cold. It needs a cold environment. You don't melt the chocolate?
Yes, but we use a melter for that. That's an electric device. It is not
something major. All right. Questions from the board? How many employees do you have?
Right now, we're just my wife and me. We don't have that much volume.
Other questions from the board? Yes. You said that you're going to use the space as it is.
you what are you going to do about uh the fruit comes from somewhere is that going to oh yes of
course that they're operationally speaking we buy the fruit we would buy the fruit one day or two
days in advance just to make sure they are fresh enough and we would put them in uh fridge to store
them um as you can understand fruit gets wasted really fast so we we cannot have like one week
of fruit because it would be wasted so fast so we pretty much would do daily or two two days uh
And it's okay. So is this something that would have to be a.
Okay, so is this something that would have to be approved also by the health department?
Yes, we, after you gave us the zoning, we would have to go then and make any adjustments we require and go to the health department to get an approval from them.
Yes, like they would do with any other kitchen.
Gotcha. So you would have to have the three-bay sink. You'd have to have commercial versus domestic equipment for this process. You would have to have your food safety type licenses and someone's site.
Yes, I do have the safety management so far, because we are working right now in what they call a shared kitchen.
So that's already happening.
In that case, as you're mentioning, now the property will need to pass the health inspection.
Exactly.
All right.
So, but you haven't done that yet because you're doing this elsewhere at this point.
Yes, we haven't done that related because we will need first your approval on the zoning.
Okay. All right. Thank you.
No problem. Thank you.
Any other questions from the board?
Yes, I have a question.
You have said that this is the basement of the property,
but from your interior photos, it looks like it's a converted garage.
Is the garage door still in operation?
Yeah, the garage door is still in operation. It works.
The garage and the basement, is it both spaces?
Or is the garage going to still be retained for vehicles?
no the garage is no longer used for vehicles it cannot be used for vehicles anymore
so it's been permanently closed off sorry i said it's been permanently closed off
what i mean the the door opens and closes but just because we want to make sure we can enter
you know the things that we would require there um like fridge equipment anything like that but
But we are not using that area for parking.
That's why when the chairman mentioned about the dumpster, that wouldn't be an issue because there are no cars being parked there.
So where is the plan?
Like, where are you planning to place the dumpster?
I don't think I have.
Well, basically in that area, well, basically next to the dumpster that is already here.
but this is a bigger dumpster so it would be on the side next to the to the door of the garage
the one that it's in the driveway okay so is it going to completely be on the asphalt or would
it also be on the grass no it would be on there on this area that is path on the paved part on
the paved part yes okay and then are you planning to do anything on the garage door in terms of
signage or pick up windows no we don't want to we don't want to do pick up windows or anything
we might do some sign i mean like something that shows people that we are here especially
drivers if they come to pick up because as i mentioned before we it would be it wouldn't be
like a store where you would go in and buy something you would need to order online
okay and then any people coming in on art that way okay understood and then my my last question
is is the garage sprinklered is the garage sorry sprinklered like does it have fire fire sprinklers
not right now no is there a plan to install them i didn't have any plan but if it's required by
the health system we would have to do anything that they require okay thank you no problem
good questions from the board questions or comments from our attorney hillary emerson
i just wanted to clarify one thing mr rojas excuse me um in the rco letter they did give
their support based on this being a delivery only service um but it sounds like there would be
deliveries but people would also be picking up orders is that what you're proposing
what what i mentioned to them it's in very few cases we would use a service we do want to do
the deliveries on our own we don't want to disturb the neighborhoods around we don't want to take any
parking spaces for sure and they said yes of course but i did mention in cases when we need
like very small, we might use one or two persons to help us with these delivery services.
So you're proposing delivery only and people would not be coming there to pick up?
So you're proposing delivery only and people would not be coming there to pick up?
Yeah, we would do the ones, the deliveries.
Someone could come by, like walking, or if someone could park around the area and come pick up one thing, but it's not our main objective.
All right.
Thank you.