ZBA Hearing - July 12, 2023

So let's go to number five. MI 2023-0009525918 North Broad Street. Justin Crick is the attorney.

There's a letter of opposition received from a concerned community association.

Also, letters of opposition for the local business and churches.

Councilperson Bass is also in opposition.

This is a special exception.

Justin Crick is joining us as a panelist.

Good morning, members of the panel.

Hi.

Could you state your name for the record, please?

Yes.

Justin, J-U-S-T-I-N, Crick, K-R-I-K.

Right.

Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

I do.

um do you stipulate to the reading and the accuracy of the refusal uh yes it's a referral

Yes.

It's a referral.

it's a referral right correct okay um could you identify

It's a referral, right?

Correct.

Okay.

Could you identify your client and their relationship to this property?

Yes.

I have Paulette Starr-Denal, who is the record owner of the property and the owner of the

proposed tenant occupant, self-rented, and her daughter, Cherise Docter.

All right.

Why don't you share the screen?

okay all right thank you members of the panel we're here today regarding the property located

at 5918 north broad street they are seeking to or miss star paulette star and her daughter are

looking to open up and use the property for an entertainment venue essentially for the

gathering for event space, for family entertainment lifecycle events, as well as to host business meetings along the corridor during the day.

The intent of this space is to be more family and business oriented.

Essentially, this is situated, again, back to the referral part of it.

the only referral that was given was that the proposed assembly and entertainment does require

special exception. The idea of having an event space is not in itself against the code. But for

purposes of giving geographical reference, we are situated along the north broad corridor

and Old York Road in the island where the two somewhat converge. And this is a very big

commercial corridor in the area the entire block is pretty much commercial with the exception of

a police station on one side but both sides of the street have a have a a significant amount

of commercial and mixed use occupancy in the area from the street view we are talking about

this property situated to the right of the tree here the two units above are and will be residential

units and continue to be so in the future. The first floor has been vacant for quite some time

and due to the desires of the owner to actually earn some revenue and establish something they

thought long and hard about what would go there and they have decided to create an event space

again for the idea of life cycle events, business lunches, networking events. This is a no alcohol

space as you'll see from some of the renderings on the inside when we get

there the space is limited and the number of occupancy is significantly

limited that this is not intended to be what people fear in that it can turn

into a nightclub but this is again no alcohol no BYOB etc looking one

direction I believe this is the south view and the north view you'll see that

there is businesses again along both sides and and during the time of these

pictures there are some I'd call it dental tooth parking spaces scattered

throughout the applicant did start to create a space here we've had discussions

with the neighborhood about the sign that dealt with their financing but

nevertheless there's no operations happening at the space to give you an

idea of the interior and the size of the space we're talking about just the first

floor space only approximately between it's given between six and eight hundred

square feet, no basement use for the gathering of people. There is only one bathroom, which again,

speaks to the type of occupancy we're seeking. These are not renderings. These are the actual

current situation of the property. And again, the owner took some liberties in kind of sprucing it

up for an intended use, understanding that this was still on the table. But nevertheless, you can

see again from the scope and the design, this is not a place to have a ruckus party with

club music.

The intention is that if someone wants to have a birthday party, a sweet 16, even a

graduation party, anything, or a lunch business meeting, they'll be able to schedule the use

of the space.

They will have to bring their own food and beverage and so forth.

And the intent is to be open from or available for events between 9am and 12am.

they have a private trash pickup that they will schedule and I'll have the

client testify a little bit about her other business operations in the

neighborhood over the last several decades she has been a business owner in

this area backyard is a little fenced-in area that that we do believe may be used

by patrons you know during a gathering or something but it will not be a primary

point of access for in and out but just an outdoor space this is just for

but just some outdoor space.

This is just, for example,

For example, one of the other businesses.

one of the other business accounts

that the applicant has a contract with Republic Services.

We were just trying to indicate

that they have experience running businesses in the area

that would require commercial trash pickup.

So again, with this,

there is one staff member at all times at a minimum

that will act as the person overseeing,

cleaning up and making sure that there are no issues and no alcohol and things of that nature

who will be able to speak directly with the owner or it will be the owner but someone on behalf of

the owner will be present at any event that would occur. The police and fire departments are on the

same block. We are basically right next to those areas and the intent is that this is a neighborhood

facility which means that they promote the use of public transportation as well as just for people

within potentially walking distance you'll note that a lot of the uh opposition came from people

with either concerns about parking or concerns about safety when it comes to event spaces that

they that they say that they have not wanted in the area so we did a somewhat informal little

review of the parking in the area and highlighted in some some of the areas again it's not as formal

as it could be uh but as a referral we believe that there's enough objective evidence to show

that there is ample parking in the area for a business of this type that requires gatherings

that there is no evidence that the type of gatherings that they're seeking to have and

expressly agree to limit themselves to again no alcohol certain times of day and even maximum

occupancy limits according to um to the fire code that this would amount to or exceed traditional

limits of of a gathering space so i broke it down into a few sections this is champlost and north of

champlost within a few blocks our our space is located right here where the uh the icon marker

is and so just from north of champlost you can see there are plenty of parking along champlost

and some of that does agreeably go into some residential neighborhoods but most of this is

long commercial corridor as we come closer to the heart of our block with the exception of right

here this is police parking this section but there's ample parking that any business that

operates within this area may expect at some given time that a patron would have to park within this

zone so i don't think it's too far-fetched we didn't think it was too far-fetched to look at

the amount of parking in the area. And this is south of West Nidro. We just highlighted some

areas that look like they are open parking. Again, not trying to take from residents in the area,

but again, the number and the size of this space is so small that we don't see such a great impact.

We did receive opposition from an exterminating company located where the cursor is shown right

now, indicating that they have an issue with someone being this close to them and their neighbor.

which I think is a little bit misleading considering they are not located necessarily

doors away from our property and that the parking would not again be any more than would be in this

typical use. The other main letter of opposition that we received was from the Philippine Church

which is even further down North Broad Street located where my cursor is now even much further

away uh claiming that this that the parking could impact services but again even if there was an

event on a sunday morning i to to claim that a business located a block and a half away uh in

in this type of neighborhood that it would impact their services and not conversely where you know

they have people coming in parking too would impact ours so essentially you know we did a

little bit of a parking review of this general area and found that from where we're located

to where one and two of the main opposition are located, and then the general community overall having concern with parking,

we believe that, again, this will not overcrowd the street any greater than an assembly or entertainment of this nature.

Again, of this nature, not of one that is related to a bar or a nightclub or someplace that does serve alcohol or food and drinks.

So, again, we believe that we are limited in that and that we do not exceed those objectives.

So with that said, again, we don't believe there's any overcrowding in the streets.

It definitely does not overcrowd the land because we will meet all occupancy requirements

of the city for that commercial space and the other two floors will remain as residential.

There is no impact to the air and light of any other neighbor as no structure is changing.

and as to public facilities there's only one restroom so um in terms of

And as to public facilities, there's only one restroom.

So in terms of utilities and so forth, this will not create any larger use or drain upon any public facility.

Impacting or impairing the use of adjacent properties.

Again, almost every property on this block has a commercial storefront.

There is a PNC bank located nearby, a couple doors down with an ATM machine.

I was going to say Mac machine, but that would date me more.

And I don't believe that the concerns of safety for people using that machine or being able to walk in that area are exaggerated at all by the use of a facility that during the hours of 9 a.m. and 12 a.m. might host birthday parties or, you know, life cycle events.

For that reason, this use as opposed to an assembly and entertainment at a different

type of establishment, we don't believe that this would endanger public health or is inconsistent

with the comprehensive plan.

We can see that Ms. Starr bought this property at a share of sale way back when in, I believe

it was 1999 and has had the property for quite some time and done various things with it but

again i'll have her speak shortly about her experience in the neighborhood with various

businesses and how they intend to address all these concerns i will show you that we did not

actually meet with the oak lane worcester community coalition they were unresponsive

but thankfully even even with opposition we're very thankful that the concerned community

association was able to pick up uh the the pieces and and organize meetings for us in a meeting for

us again albeit with opposition we did do what was necessary posting on the property

and copies of the notice to all neighbors and proof of mailing um with that i would like to

bring on Paulette Starr and Cherise Docter to just adopt testimony, but also to provide some insight

into their history in the neighborhood and why they believe that the concerns of safety and

parking are not sufficient enough to meet the burden of proof that we believe has shifted to

the neighborhood. Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?

do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth

i do is anybody with you yes paulette star dinell hi could you spell your name please

for the court reporter? Paulette. Paulette is spelled P-A-U-L-E-T-T-E star S-T-A-R-R dash D-I-N-N-A-L-L.

He swears from tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth.

I do.

Proceed, counsel.

Thank you. I'll start with Paulette. And just, Paulette, could you tell me, did you hear my

statements to the board? Yes, I did. And were they true and accurate to the best of your knowledge?

Yes, they were. And would you adopt those statements as if they were your own? Yes.

Thank you. Would you kindly tell the board a little bit about, describe briefly,

your experience in business and both living, your history in the neighborhood, please?

okay yeah um in that neighborhood i've been doing business i've done business since

19 i think it's 89 i had a nail salon on old york road road directly behind 59 18

not broad and i had that nail salon approximately for 10 years and then i had a ice uh water ice

place with ice cream and hot dog and i had that for another five years that is directly behind

north broad 18 59 18 broad street and i've never had an encounter with any situation as what the

neighbors are expressing and the fact that the police station is right there normally you know

police they become friends of of ours so i have never experienced any violence and on broad street

i have rented that property out to hair salon and a daycare was there also and i just didn't

rent it again because i wanted to do something where i could get some revenue from for myself

yes and and i grew up i'm 40 this is so now um i'll ask sharice if you could do the same

I'll ask Sharice if you could do the same and just give a little insight.

and just give a little insight i didn't i want the court reporter to

I didn't I want the court reporter to be able to distinguish who's speaking.

OK, yes, I have actually grew up in that area because of the nail salon that she had there.

I'm 43 right now. So, you know, I was there during the period of when I learned to drive.

I'm familiar with a lot of people in the community.

There is a vitamin shop that I still go to and I've been going there for a very long time.

the KFC, the owners there, they're well aware of who I am. So that community is kind of like,

you know, a home away from home, a lot of memories. So we would never do anything to

jeopardize it. It's not like someone who's coming into a community that's not familiar with the

people or the lifestyle or the stores in that particular area. As a matter of fact, I'm one of

the person you know who was on the meeting we my mother used to do her nails so um it's not you

know coming in and trying to delegate a community that we're not aware of we're well associated with

this community okay and would would um sharice would you say in your experience in the area

uh both as an owner as the daughter of the owner of the property and in your experience through

the businesses that you've been to. Do you ever have any difficulty parking beyond what you would

expect of a commercial area in Philadelphia? No, not at all. And I'm not the greatest of

driver. I mean, I've been driving since I was 16 and parallel parking is a little bit like OMG for

me, but I always find parking where I can fit the car and it never really had an issue with

parking there. I also go to a nail salon that's in the area down the street and I'm there every

two weeks and I parked quite okay there. There's a Jamaican store that's down the street as well

too that I still go to that's been there forever. And I find parking quite fine down there. So

it's not been an issue for me else. I probably wouldn't have gone because I'm not a great driver.

and and given the size of the space it are you in agreement that you would you don't likely see

more than 50 people at any given time if that um we're not we're prepared for maybe 30 the most

again my mom owns the biz the building so it's not like we have to pay rent and mortgage so we