Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client and relationship to the property?
My client is Walmart Stores East LP, and it is the ground lessee of a portion of 2200 Weisheif Lane.
Mr. Holman has a few questions for you.
Good afternoon, counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to his accuracy?
Did you email all the exhibits and documents as required five days in advance to this hearing?
I did, and then the exhibit package was updated twice, once yesterday and once this morning,
yesterday to include the letters of support from the Harrogate Civic Association
and from the City Councilman's Office, and it was updated this morning
to answer some of the Board Council's questions as to the location of the property.
Okay, please proceed and share your screen.
Okay, let me share my screen.
And. Can you see my screen now? No, you cannot. OK, I'm trying. OK, it's coming up now.
All right. All right. Good afternoon. My name is David Schutte. I'm with Troutman Pepper and we represent Walmart Stores East LP in the virtual audience.
We have Kelly Halstead, who's with the Walmart Legal Department, and she'll be affirming my testimony at the conclusion of the presentation.
Our client has an existing store at 2200 Wee Sheaf Lane.
And at that store, it desires to start an online tire sales program.
where customers will order tires online, go to the store to pick them up, and then take them to their home
or to an auto repair store off of our property to repair or replace their tires.
Because the property is located in the CA2 zoning district, we're seeking a special exception for the use of vehicle equipment
and Supplies, Sales, and Rental. I'll tick through the
exhibit booklet for you. We have our
first exhibit is the Notice of Referral
dated December 26, 2023. Again,
the use is permitted by special exception in the
CA2 Zoning District.
And then, this is our application, is Exhibit 2.
and the project information form is Exhibit 3.
Exhibit 4 is a deed into the property owner,
which is IBDP Realty 2 LP.
And then Exhibit 5 is the ground lease between the landlord and our client.
Get down to that here.
Zip through here if we can.
And as pointed out by...
And as pointed out by the board's council this morning, this exhibit did not have all of the exhibits to it, identifying where the property is.
So we attached exhibits 14 and 15 to the exhibit booklet this morning, which is the memorandum of lease that has a meets and bounds description of the lease premises, and also exhibit 15, which is the site plan of the project from the approved development in 2011.
11. And we'll zip through. The lease is quite lengthy, so we'll zip through this as well.
And then exhibit six is the tax clearance. Exhibit seven is the zoning map showing that
The property is located within the CA2 zoning district.
Exhibit eight is the photos of the posting of the property.
And then
Exhibit 9 is photos of the surrounding area, showing that it's generally a commercial area.
And exhibit 10, the RCO notification letters.
We sent out two of them.
One to notify the neighboring property owners of the petition.
And the second is to notify them of the specific date of the RCO meeting.
And then we have an affidavit of service signed by Donna Brooks, a paralegal at my firm.
And then, a second here, and Exhibit 13, as I mentioned earlier, which was added to the exhibit package yesterday, are the letters of support from Harrowgate Civic Association, which was the RCO, and from the Philadelphia, and from a council member, Driscoll.
As I mentioned earlier, this is merely to allow for the use of the property for the online tire sales service in which, again, customers order tires online and then pick them up at the store.
There's no new exterior development, no construction related to this application.
Rather, we're just looking for the special exception to allow for this additional commercial use.
Why don't you bring your client on for Adopt Your Testimony?
Absolutely.
Kelly Halstead, if she's still in the virtual room.
Kelly Halstead, she has been allowed to speak.
Hi, could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Hi, this is Kelly Halstead, and that's K-E-L-L-Y-H-A-L-S-T-E-A-D.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir.
Please proceed, counsel.
Ms. Halstead, did you listen to my presentation this afternoon?
I did.
okay and it is everything that i said uh uh true and accurate on it is okay thank you questions
from the board no mr chairman
sorry about that no no that's fine jim i i i got it uh no questions all right thank you
Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Emerson?
Not at this time.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I see no hands.
Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair Bergman.
Sarah Bond with the Philadelphia City Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing auto-oriented commercial zoning.
The proposed use will not cause detrimental impacts to the neighborhood beyond what might normally be expected.
The proposed use will not cause detrimental impacts to the neighborhood beyond what might normally be expected.
The City Planning Commission recommends that the Zoning Board grant the special exception.
Thank you. MI 2024-000-426-2200 Weesheath Lane, I vote yes.
Thomas Holliman, my vote is yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
Thank you. You have your votes, Counsel.
Thank you very much.
All right. Number 12, MI 2024, 000428, 1102 Germantown Avenue. Ronald Patterson is the
attorney. We do not see an RCO letter at this point. Ronald Patterson is coming in as a panelist.
Hi, Mr. Patterson, could you state your name and spell, please, for the court's sonographer?
Hi, good afternoon, Mr. Chairman.
Ronald Patterson, R-O-N-A-L-D, P-A-T-T-E-R-S-O-N, Clare Harrison Law Firm, 1835 Market Street.
Right.
Do you swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Could you identify your client, the relationship to this property?
Sure. I'm here on behalf of the owner, SDG, 1102 Germantown Avenue, and the tenant, the newsroom restaurant.
Okay. And Mr. Holloman has just a few questions, sir.
Good afternoon, counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and to restipulate to his accuracy?
Yes, I do.
Did you email all the exhibits and documents as required five days in advance to this hearing?
Yes, I did.
Thank you. Free for a seat and serious claim.
Okay. Can you see my screen?
Okay. Great. Thank you. So this regards 1102 Germantown Avenue. It's actually here,
this is 2nd Street in Northern Liberties. And as you go towards the right where I'm depicting,
we are at Girard Avenue. So it's Germantown Avenue kind of slices through here and creates this corner.
So this building is a fairly new building.
It's a six-story building having 50 residential dwelling units above.
On the first floor, there are two, we'll call it commercial spaces.
We were here in 2022 for a restaurant along this area here called SIN, S-I-N, Southern Italian Nightlife.
So today we're here for, there's a small space in the rear, 1,936 square feet.
uh the entrance is back through here which will show in this next photograph
we would walk down to the back of this building and enter the entrance there
this is from the opposite end of the building you see sin sin here this is a shared driveway in the
rear this is a view germantown avenue towards second street again the rear driveway and this
This is relevant here. It goes back in this area. You'll see there's an enclosed area
here where trash will be placed for a pickup once it's picked up from the inside of the
building. Entrance is showing the zoning posters. There's an interior photograph of the build
out coming along, and here's the area where the trash will be picked up in the rear.
It's an overall site plan just to get acclimated at Germantown Avenue. Here's the entrance area I
was just showing you, this easement area. This portion back here is not part of the property.
The entrance down this walkway, and here's the area here, small little area.
So the use is called the newsroom, which will be a speakeasy restaurant theme with an Asian fusing cuisine by a Michelin star chef, Michael Calantes of Solesky, Florida.
It's a full service restaurant, even though a small restaurant.
Here are some interior renderings with the six or seven tables, bar area, very handsomely appointed. Of course, not a nightclub, it's a very high-end bar lounge for that particular area.
This matter is a refusal, I'm sorry, referral for a takeout, I'm sorry, for an Indian restaurant.
I'm sorry, referral for a takeout. I'm sorry, for an Indian restaurant. And we're here for special exception approval because the property is in the North Delaware Avenue overlay, which requires special exception.
We did meet with the Northern Liberties Neighborhood Association, and I guess they didn't submit a letter, but I do have an email somewhere I could show you that there was support for the application.
Um, we believe that this, uh, special exception is justified. Uh, the use will not create any adverse impacts on the public health, safety or welfare, and or would it create any impacts that would otherwise be expected by a permitted use. And that's all evidenced by the fact that the civic group was in favor and as well as a neighbor. So with that said, I would like to promote Mr. Mike Kanoveski with a K.
Mr. Patterson, could you make sure Hillary gets a copy of the email?
And bring your client on and we'll have your testimony adopted.
Mike Kinovetsky, please raise your virtual hand.
Sir, could you state your name, please, and spell for the stenographer?
The full name is Ilya, I-L-Y-A, Michael Konefsky, and everything stated is true.
Do me a favor. Could you spell your name out for that?
Yeah, it's I-L-Y-A-M-I-C-H-A-E-L-K. The last name is K-A-N-E-V-S-K-Y.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Please proceed, counsel. Thank you. Mr. Konefsky, what is your relationship to the tenant?
I'm the owner of the restaurant. Beautiful. And you've heard my testimony. Would you agree that
it's true and accurate? Yes, everything's true. And you would adopt it as if it were your own?
Yes. You want to briefly explain to the board the nature of the use here,
if it's any different than what I've explained?
We're a small 50-seat restaurant.
We have a nice chef.
It's actually a Latin-Asian fusion.
We noticed the neighborhood does not have this type of cuisine,
so we think we'll be a great addition to the neighborhood.
Do you have another location?
Yes, we have a current location in Long Island City, New York.
It's doing really well.
We have over 4.5 star reviews everywhere, and because it was taken so well by the neighborhood here, we wanted to expand and open a new one.
Okay, that's all I have, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
sorry chair no questions thank you
questions or comments from our attorney hillary emerson not at this time mr chair
questions or comments from the virtual audience
i see no hands planning commission
Thank you, Chair Bergman. Sarah Bond with the Philadelphia City Planning Commission.
In 2014, the zoning map was amended from CMX 2.5 at this location in accord with recommendations from the comprehensive plan.
The proposed use will not cause detrimental impacts to the neighborhood beyond what might normally be expected.
The City Planning Commission recommends that the zoning board grant the special exception.
M.I. 2024-000-428-1102 Germantown Avenue, I vote yes.
Thomas Holloman, I vote yes.
James Snell, I vote yes.
Thank you, counsel. Thank you.
Number 13, MI2024, 000430, 1935 Cater Street.
Henry Clinton is the attorney.
Letter of support from South of South Neighborhood Association.
Nowak was concerned about the use of basement.
um mr clinton you've already been sworn uh could you just state your name for the record
sure henry clinton c-l-i-n-t-o-n could you identify your client their relationship
Sure. Henry Clinton, C-L-I-N-T-O-N.
Could you identify your client, their relationship to the property?
Sure. My client is Philip Conway. He is to my right, your left.
He is the principal of the LLC, which owns the property.
And Mr. Holloman has just a few questions.
Good afternoon, counsel.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to his accuracy?
I do, Mr. Holloman.
Did you email all of the exhibits and documents as required five days in advance to this hearing?
Yes, we did.
Thank you. Please proceed and share your screen.
Is that visible, Mr. Chairman?
Yes, it is.
Again, good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, members of the board.
Henry Clinton for owner 1798 investors, the principal of which is to my right, Mr. Philip Conway.
Table of Contents A1 through A10.
Again, this is a proposal to demolish a very small home on the 1900 block of Cater Street and to rebuild it as a single-family home with a mansert roof in lieu of an eight-foot setback, similar to another property that's already been done that way on the block.
And we see this more and more in Sazna.
The design that we have prepared, you'll see we've made numerous changes to comport with the neighborhood wishes.
And this is the preferred method of doing a third floor in the neighborhood.
We have two refusals. One has to do with occupied area, maximum occupied area. We're only five percentage points off. And the second refusal is what I just referred to. If you build a three-story property between abutting lots that have two-story homes, the code calls for an eight-foot setback.
But the neighborhood certainly doesn't prefer that design, doesn't like that design, and the homes are already small.
And if you have an eight-foot setback, it makes the home even more unusable than it already is.