have to accept everyone we can decline a large group of people um you know we're trying to accept
smaller groups and understood understood um so in terms of safety you intend to have
a staff on and present at any event is that correct yes because we put a lot of money there
and we intend to put more and we don't want our business our building to be vandalized
so we do have cameras there to make sure that someone is looking as well as there's going to
be a staff member there as well at all times to make sure that, you know, there are no alcohol
or anything that is not in the contract of them having the space for the time that they're having
it. Right. And just to be clear, there would never be a time where alcohol is permitted.
No. Okay. And food is also separate. It's bring in, it's self-cater? Yes. Okay. All right. I don't
have any further questions for them at this time but would reserve the right if there's a question
asked in opposition quick let me answer this question how many people attended the rco meeting
um i don't have the exact number of that but i would say there were there were i mean it was a
full screen it didn't go on to two screens sort of situation but there were people present okay
all right thank you questions from the board
i'm a chairman questions or comments from the virtual audience
i see no handshake wait a minute we have charles richardson chair
hi mr richardson just state your name for the record please good afternoon mr chair uh charles
Richardson, Office of the Councilwoman, Councilwoman Cindy Bass from 508 City Hall.
Proceed, sir.
As indicated, the Councilwoman is opposed to this project.
The applicant prematurely renovated the space without knowing that the fact of whether the
community would be supportive of that just seems to be an attempt to jump on the bandwagon
and a lot of other folks that have tried to create event spaces, even within a couple blocks of there.
And you guys have heard those cases within the last few months, and they've been denied each time.
You know, as they continue to talk about the fact that how nice.
you know, as they continue to talk about the fact that how nice things are, but the things that
they're doing are during the day, and they don't have any real idea of how things go in that
community in the evening. And the type of events that they might be having up until midnight
actually would have some kind of other effect on the community there. So, you know, and I did let
Justin know ahead of time because he reached out to us trying to find out about, you know,
what the temperature was in the community with regard to an event space.
And I did let him know that others had been rejected quite frequently.
So, you know, the councilwoman is against it.
And just wanted to clear that up for you.
And also just wanted to also say with regard to Oakland and Worcester,
everything had been scheduled by them, but they unfortunately were not unable to attend.
So it did not go as rough or choppy as it might have been indicated.
Thank you. Thank you for calling it. May I have a question, Mr. Krip?
Well, I would just like to indicate that the idea that, and I'm happy to show them again,
the idea that the applicant went ahead and did some renovations prematurely is not without
their knowledge that this may not be granted and they may have to repurpose. She's the owner of
the property and she has the full right to get a head start, even if it's not guaranteed. And we
know that the second part though is that that to to indicate that others have been uh declined in
this area um i think it's important to note that they may have had different circumstances and
being this is a referral and a special exception if they're all being denied then what is enough
that doesn't raise to excessive beyond the normal amount of an entertainment venue so i think this
is based on its size and the characteristics that are there's no liquor license no intent of alcohol
i think it is distinct from any other event space and and and can't get more de minimis to
not burdening or or uh you know not harming those objective standards i don't think that
that there's been an objective uh proof met that this use would exceed the ordinary use
of an event space is there is there anyone else in the virtual audience
Here we have Robert Young.
Mr. Young, could you state your name, please, and spell it for the court reporter?
Yes, my name is Robert Young, R-O-B-E-R-T-Y-O-U-N-G.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Are you a neighbor?
Yes, I am.
Proceed.
I've listened to all the comments. My concern as a local resident is the traffic on O'York Road and Broad Street.
Even though the pictures show basic Broad Street traffic, there has been no mention of the C bus that comes down Broad Street.
We have another bus that actually turns off of Old York Road and crosses Broad Street.
You do have the bank.
There's a lot of stop-and-go traffic, and even though the facility itself is to be used for those type of situations,
I think the neighborhood just reflects the parking concerns.
uh broad street is broad street there are businesses on all york road you have the
police station that takes up a spot uh the businesses on all york road they have to stop
and go traffic so when you have a situation where you want to have an event the overflow of parking
and i understand maybe 50 people i don't know how many cars that brings but the overflow will be
onto the residential streets and as much as the concern of what type of facility it is
the neighborhood i feel that the overflow of parking during certain hours will be an impact
to the neighborhood thank you mr young thank you thanks for taking the time
is there anyone else in the virtual audience here we have sharon mcclain
hi miss mcclain could you state your name and spell please for the court reporter
okay i'm i am this is it's my phone but my daughter vernee handy uh she's a daughter of
of uh monday handy who owns the handy's barbershop she wants to make a statement so i'll let her talk
hi could you state your name please as bell for the court reporter yes my name is vernee handy
v-e-r-n-e-e last name h-a-n-d-y do you swear or firm to tell the truth the whole truth and
nothing but the truth yes your business is in the neighborhood yes my father's business
Yes. Your business is in the neighborhood? Yes, my father's business in the neighborhood. I've lived in the neighborhood my entire life. Proceed, sir.
um it's a ma'am actually i'm actually in favor of this event space um i do commend
the uh woman for wanting to expand her business um as before she's rented the business to a church
on the uh in the same building that she's in so i don't know what any difference there would be
as far as parking uh as the members of the church attended i'm sure it would be the same amount of
people at the event space also across the street adjacent across from the 35th district there is a
bar myspace bar so there are all already liquor on the block i think you guys should give this
woman a chance and her daughter to have black-owned businesses in the community and i congratulate her
and i pray that it goes through thank you thank you anyone else in the virtual audience here we
have bill williams mr williams please state your name and spell for the court reporter
name is bill williams b-i-l-l-w-i-l-l-i-a-m-s right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth
the whole truth nothing but the truth yes are you in favor or against it i'm against
could you tell me real quickly why my concern is all the people that's going to be coming
And actually, we have three event spaces within three or four blocks that's on the agenda right now to be made into event spaces.
All of them claim they're not going to have liquor.
They're not going to have this.
But you're inviting people from all over the city to come to a place where we're already having a whole bunch of problems.
We're just inviting more problems, I think.
Mr. Williams, thank you very much for your input.
We appreciate you calling in.
Is there anyone else in the audience?
I've seen no more hands, Chair.
Hi, Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair Bergman, and good afternoon, David Fecto with the City Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the commercial mixed-use zoning at this location.
The appellant has shown that the proposed assembly and entertainment will have no detrimental impacts to the neighborhood beyond what might be expected from this use.
The City Planning Commission recommends the board grant the proposed special exception for assembly and entertainment.
Thank you.
MI 2023-000952-5918 North Broad Street. I vote no.
Can you repeat?
yes so i i vote no tom
okay thank you jim james snell my vote is no
mr kelly you get both votes the little three votes
chair i'm afraid i have to ask mr holland yeah that's fine tom could you vote one more time
Unmute, Tom.
Your vote.
Tom, could you just say yes or no?
Mr. Chair, I believe we also have Mr. Shahid back on.
Ish, could you vote, please?
Yes, Ishmael Shahid, my vote is no.
Thank you.
Mr. Crick, could you stay on, please?
We have another case with you.
Thank you very much.
Number six, MI 2023-001-042, 10 South Front Street.
recommendation of support from the old city district and a letter of non-opposition
from council member squilla um you've already been sworn just for the record state your name
yes justin crick j-u-s-t-i-n-k-r-i-k right and could you identify your client the relationship
to the property yes my client is anas hamed and he is the owner of the tenant he's the applicant
owner of the tenant um uh the victoria free house which which will be later known as lily's ferry
um ish could you follow up with a few questions sure
Sure. Good afternoon, counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate
good afternoon council do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal
to its accuracy? Yes, I do. Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that are
needed and required to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing? Yes. Thank you.
Please proceed and share your screen. Thank you. Members of the board, my name is Justin Crick,
and we are here for this matter is an application for the property located at 10 South Front Street.
The applicant, Anas Ahmed, would like to, as an occupant, continue and expand the proposed
restaurant use that he has in this first floor of this property already. So this is for an assembly
and entertainment and smoking lounge with sit-down restaurant at the second floor of this building,
which already exists, his sit-down restaurant with assembly and entertainment on the first
floor. There is no sign on this application. So essentially, the proposed assembly and
entertainment is not allowed in the district and the sit-down restaurant and smoking lounge
generated special exceptions in this area. For geographic purposes, this is located right along
South Front Street you may all be familiar with the parking right as you
get onto this ramp on to 95 we are about the fifth building in along that way and
as you can see we're located right here first floor and then we're trying to
expand to the second the occupant has no control over the third and fourth as
residential but does have the landlord's approval to to expand the first floor
dining and assembly entertainment to the second floor as well as the smoking
lounge upstairs so another vantage point of the property you can see there's
already some parking and as an old city you know parking there's parking garages
and the neighborhood didn't seem to concern with that aspect of it and we
also have their support this is the the layout current situation of the second
floor of the property it's empty and not in use but will be laid out very similar
to the first floor without the bar some seating along and tables along the sides essentially
this is the the number of seats at the bar and the layout of on our system didn't quite have an
exact layout so we're using the the the seating crm to show you about how many two seating tables
two top tables can fit along each wall of the second floor after meeting with old city district
They supported this unanimously with, you know, all seven out of the 10, seven board meeting members and 10 other attendees all supporting this matter.
Here is an exemplar of the lease, again, the Victoria Free House and Anas Ahmed.
He will be opening and operating this, I believe, under the name Lily's Ferry when it is open.
the staff the intent is to have hours of operation from 4 to 12 on Sunday through
Thursday 4 to 2 a.m. Friday Saturday and a little bit of actually and some again
with the restaurant some music over the speakers maybe maybe someone with an
instrument walking around to provide ambiance uh it will be mediterranean cuisine there are about
approximately 42 seats on the first floor i'm sorry uh and uh and i believe that's it again
with with the um with the approval of everyone they understand that he's just trying to expand
the existing operation from the first floor to the second and to add the smoking lounge to that
second floor uh we do again have the support and notice and proof of mailing is attached
as well as a tax clearance certificate for the victoria treehouse
i have an assamed on the line if he can raise his hand i would have him adopt the testimony thank you
hi could you state your name please and spell for the court reporter
Please unmute yourself.
Can you hear me now?
Yes. Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
Sure. My name is Anas Hamed, N-S-A-N-A-S, H-A-M-E-D.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
I will say the truth, nothing but the truth.
Okay. Proceed, counsel.
All right, Mr. Ahmed, have you had a chance to hear my testimony to the board today?
And would you say that my statements were true and correct to the best of your knowledge?
And would you adopt my statements as if they were your own?
Do you have anything else you'd like to add?
Do you have anything else you'd like to add?
No, sir.
No, sir.
Thank you.
Questions from the board?
No, Chair.
No, Chair.
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
Right, thank you.