David, why don't we, could we concentrate on this building and tell us what you want to do
and maybe show us what it looks like?
I mean, I think we see the area, we understand what you're saying, but why don't we zero in here?
Sure. So inside of the property, you can see it's a large space per the lease. It's 5,890 square feet. The floor plans, the dimensions show that as well. So you have a larger open space at the ground floor, and then you have an elevated space at the one end of the floor.
And then you have an elevated space at the one end of the unit where there's an office.
And I can show you here the floor plans.
And you can show all the ground floor.
You come in.
There's a lobby area.
There's a changing area.
There's bathrooms.
They're probably going to have showers.
There's a place for trash storage.
And then the office is above the first floor.
Right.
Going back to the photos here.
And again, my clients had started moving forward with, they purchased custom material, started installing it, believing none of these things required a building permit related to the CO.
And then they found out that they needed a variant.
So they stopped all of this, but they had already ordered the materials.
And here you can see the view from the office above.
As mentioned, the notice of refusal has those three particular uses that we applied for.
And I did reference the different zoning codes regarding the I2, ICMX, IRMX, and then the commercial classification of C2.
I also include the parking.
You can see from the exterior photos that I have up here that, and you can see it from the aerials as well,
in the middle, there's a large parking area here.
And you can see here the photos from the ground floor level or from the grade.
You can see the parking area.
My client does have access to that parking.
There are a number of spaces that were specifically designated in this lease.
And we believe that we'll have access to it as well during the evening hours and on business hours.
I do include photographs of the surrounding blocks at Exhibit B2.
Granted, these pictures were taken during a snowstorm.
but you will see from these photos that at least on the Wharton Street side, the South 25th Street
side, there is generally parking on both sides of the street. Oakford sometimes can be a little
more parked up, but you can see here there are openings on the block. So there is available
on-street parking. There's available off-street parking. There's a lot of public transportation
located nearby, both on 25th Street, on Washington Avenue, some of the cross streets located nearby.
So we believe that in terms of the criteria for the granting of the variance, that this proposed use will not cause congestion or increase traffic congestion in the streets.
We do believe that because of the change in the neighborhood, that there is a hardship for the property to get a lot of I2 uses that don't aggravate the community.
There was during the community group meeting mentioned that some of the uses at the property, like repair of automobiles, had caused some issues in the community.
And again, these uses that we're proposing not only are in keeping with the variances that have recently been granted by the zoning board across the street, but also variances that have been granted by not this particular zoning board, but past zoning boards for this particular property.
And David, what are the hours of the day?
and so i'm going to bring sean on to talk about that how do we do that sure yeah sean it's generally
after school until the early evening on the week and the weekends sean can you raise your hand or
if he's been identified they're being promoted to panelists thank you
all right i think i'm in good morning sean how are you hey good morning guys how are you doing
could you please state your name and and spell it for the sonographer yeah sean ellis s-h-a-u-n
e-l-l-i-s do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
Counsel?
Sean, can you please explain your position with Sean Ellis Elites, LLC?
Yeah, so I'm the owner.
I handle all of the baseball side with the tournament teams, private training, as well as our holiday camps and 40 summer camps.
And you run the business along with your wife, Nicole, is that correct?
Yes, yes.
So Nicole handles all of the back end stuff as well as the more general operations.
So I do the on field, she does the off field.
So it's a it's a great, you know, mixture of both.
OK. And the chairman asked a question regarding the days and hours of operation.
Can you please explain that to the to the zoning board?
Yeah. So during the school year, we are mostly 3 to 8 p.m.
And then on the weekend, we're more of like the, you know, 9 to 2 p.m.
Same thing in summer.
So we have our after school hours during the week.
And then we have more of like a modified weekend as well as summer hours, which.
And then we have more of like our modified weekend as well as summer hours, which roughly go between 9 and 2 p.m.
And roughly how many children, what are the ages of the children that you provide training for?
So we go as young as five and all the way up through college.
Okay. And about how many children and kids, young adults, do you presently have as clients?
So we have about 1,500 clients that we currently train, and then I want to say roughly 600 of them are from the 191-46 zip code.
And so that's a large number.
It sounds like you're providing a great service to the kids in Philadelphia and their families.
At any particular time, how many kids and staff will you have at the property?
Let's say for private lessons, clinics, the teams, which seem to be the kind of three different categories that your clients fall into or uses of the property.
Yeah. So I handle most of the one on one training, any type of camp or specialized clinic.
We do go five players per one coach. And then for our tournament teams, some of the age groups have two coaches.
some of the age group have four just depending on you know the identity the need and you know
the structure just based around practices okay um and um um do you and where do you where does
where do your teams play we're all over um so we'll go i think let's concentrate on this building
here okay that's not a problem i know he's other places but no that's fine no no i mean
he uses a nearby field in addition so um so and sean how and do um when you have the lessons when
you have the the clinics there do the people usually parks come and park or do they typically
drop the kids off and then leave yeah yeah since a lot of them are from the area um you know
realistically our goal is that they can bike or jog to to the space but uh for the most part they
are dropped off at our facilities okay and and sean you heard the other statements that i made
to the board today were they true and correct to the best of your knowledge yes and um would you
adopt them as your own yes okay um and and just as that if there aren't any i'll let i'll let the
board ask any other questions but i just want to say there's a tax clearance included at tab g
uh posting photographs at tab i and then we did meet with again the community um on february 24th
the certificate of mailing and the notices included at tab j um it was a hybrid meeting
there are people that came in via zoom and also i believe per the letter about 20 people attended in
person okay questions from the board so what is this about the food and so again a lot of times
can you can you let me finish yeah so again i mean like a gym she's letter is what are you
no i'm sorry i thought you were done my question okay um according to the uh uh letter of support
there was a concern about retail sales of food beverage and groceries at the premises as a
primary use so what what what was that about and what are the concerns about this retail sales of
food beverages and groceries as part of this facility so I think Mika outlaws on from GFCN
but essentially there was concern that it could become like a like a corner store could become
like a vape shop something along those lines because a lot of the vape shops put themselves
out there is retail sales of groceries, food, beverages, and groceries. And that obviously
was never the intention. So the intention is like a gym. You can get smoothies, you can get a drink,
you can get a snack, things of that nature for the people that are there training and availing
themselves of the services. So we didn't have an issue making that change to making an accessory
because obviously we don't have any intention to operate a grocery store or a full food store.
It's just going to be accessory to the gym.
And that means what kind of foods are we talking about?
Is this like just vending machine kind of things?
I mean, if you go to the gym, you go to the counter and you can buy sports drinks.
Sometimes they're machines that you put coins in, you know, money in to have or use a credit card.
Sometimes they have, you can get smoothies, they can have milkshakes.
Sometimes they'll have things behind the counter,
like protein bars that maybe you can't sell in a vending machine.
There won't be any cooking, that's for certain.
Okay. All right. Thank you.
um hillary how do we um should we get to the point when we vote on this how are we going to handle
Hillary, how do we, should we get to the point when we...
the uh proviso that grace ferry do we do we want to put that how do we want to do that yes so we
can we can certainly do a proviso indicating that the retail sales of food beverages and groceries
is accessory to the other proposed uses within building queue so accessory
To other uses anything else over.
No, it would just retail sales of food, beverages and groceries use is accessory to other approved uses within building retail accessory to other uses.
Okay, questions or comments from the virtual audience.
Yes, sure. This is Jason hand. We'll be stepping in right now.
I have a hand up from Dominic long. I will promote them.
hello can you hear me good morning could you please state your name and spell for the
stenographer yes dominic long d-o-m-i-n-i-c l-o-n-g do you swear or affirm to tell the
truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes i do mr long are you a neighbor
No, I am speaking on behalf of the Second District Office of Council President Leada Johnson.
Please proceed, sir.
So we are just here to testify in support of this project.
Thank you very much for taking the time to close.
We appreciate it.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
I do not see any further hands, Mr. Chair.
Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chairman, and good afternoon.
David Fecto with the City Planning Commission.
Chairman and board members, the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the I-2 medium industrial zoning in this location.
This portion of the neighborhood still carries its original 1933 zoning.
The proposed retail sales of wearing apparel and food and beverages are substantially similar to other uses already operating on the site.
The City Planning Commission recommends the board grant a proposed use variance for retail sales.
Thank you.
MI 2026-000315-2501 Wharton Street. I vote yes with proviso. Section Q only and retail accessory to other uses.
Michael Johns. Michael Johns' my vote is yes.
No, no, no. So the way that I worded it, I'll put that as the language in the proviso where that particular,
where retail sales of food, beverages, and grocery use
is accessory to other approved uses in Building Q.
Retail, food, and beverages
are accessory to other uses.
Right, other approved uses.
So the proviso is retail sales, food, and beverages
are accessory to other uses.
Right, yes.
Thank you.
uh michael johnson my vote is yes with proviso and we need more programs like this sounds great
that's awesome thanks cheryl gaston my vote is yes with proviso tenetta graham my vote is yes
with proviso ryan mcadams my vote is yes with proviso tyah wood my vote is yes with proviso
thank you thank you is there anyone in the audience whose uh 9 30 case has not been called
you get hot i have a hand up from our maker outlaw i will promote them to speak sure
she's here for the last case she's with gfcn
your case yeah yeah she's she's with the she's with the coordinating rco okay
good afternoon
are you still available i'm here can you hear me yeah good morning could you please state your
name and spell for this stenographer mika outlaw m-e-e-k-a outlaw o-u-t-l-a-w do you swear or
firm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes mika we've already
voted and we voted in favor of this is that okay
yes thank you thank you never that's all right
thank you very much mika we appreciate you taking the time to calls we really
do is there anyone in the audience whose
case has not been called i do not see any further answers to
everybody two o'clock thank you you too sir
Oh, that's not bad, we're good.
Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Bill Bergman. I will be chairing this meeting of the Philadelphia Zoning Board of Adjustment. With me is our board vice chair, Tynetta Graham.
President, Mr. Chairman.
Board secretary, Cheryl L. Gaston.
President, Mr. Chairman.
Board member, Michael Johns.
President, Mr. Chairman.
board member tayo winn president mr chairman board member ryan mcadams president mr chairman also
here is our attorney hillary emerson our executive zoning board director aane hagerty and our board
administrator lakeisha dandy recording of the hearing will be posted on the cba website by
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