front of the building. Just by way of background, Holtz Cigar Company is a family-owned business
that has been operating for over 100 years in the Philadelphia area. They currently have their
Corporate Headquarters and Distribution Center at 12270 Townsend Road, which is across the street
from the subject property. That location also does have retail sales of cigars and a small
smoking lounge area. The applicant is looking to expand the retail sales and make a new smoking
lounge area that would be in a more appropriate location for customers so as not to raise any
conflicts with the existing operations at their location on Townsend Road.
As I indicated, this new location would then allow there to be adequate parking. It would
avoid conflicts with the distribution center as well as employees within the headquarters.
The bakery has been vacant for several years. It's underutilized property, and we feel as though
this would be a good redevelopment and use of this property given its close proximity to
their existing facility.
the applicant is proposing to maintain the existing building they would demolish a portion
of the building currently the building is approximately 20 000 square feet they would
be demolishing a portion of that so that the remaining would be 11 400 square feet they're
also proposing to redevelop the parking area and stripe spaces to allow for 89
parking spaces there will also be four bicycle parking spaces the current
entrance off Southampton Road will shift a little to the northwest away from the
intersection here at Thornton Road the access point along Townsend will remain
in its current as-is state they are also proposing to install landscaping bring up the
landscape plan you can see
here they will be installing the parking lot landscaping to comply with the zoning code as
well as planning commission requirements as part of the irsa permit they will also be installing
a rain garden and installing a sufficient buffer along the perimeter here. This is existing
vegetation that will remain. The plans were revised slightly since those which were submitted
with our application. Minor adjustments, which include the building area, actually has increased.
It was originally proposed to be 11,200 square feet.
It's now increasing to 11,400.
There was also a small bump out at the entrance,
and that is no longer being proposed.
There was also a planter box that needed to be moved.
We did submit a proviso form and would ask
that the Zoning Board accept those revisions.
As part of the improvements, as I indicated,
Holtz is proposing to use this building for retail sales of their cigars and products and also include a smoking lounge, which would also include a restaurant component with the sale of liquor.
The improvements that would be made is upgrading the facade and as well as fitting out the interior for those.
Upgrading the facade and as well as fitting out the interior for those retail areas and restaurant.
What's before you here is a rendering of the proposed exterior facade of the building.
Just take a different view.
Here's another side of the building.
And then this is a rendering of what we're proposing that the interior would look like.
As indicated, since this property is zoned LI Industrial, we are requesting a use variance
both to allow for the retail sales of consumer goods, being the cigar products, as well as
to allow the smoking lounge, which will be used by the customers of the retail sales
This is similar to another location down in Center City.
A lot of the customers that come in, they do look to sit down, enjoy their cigar, have a glass of liquor.
And that's what we're looking to do here with the smoking lounge.
The bakery has been vacant. Property was on the market for quite some time.
There weren't any industrial users that were interested.
The property is located adjacent to residential uses, and given the limited land area of this property, it's difficult to redevelop this property for industrial use that would otherwise be permitted within this zoning district.
As such, we believe that the proposed use is a good use of this property.
It is in close proximity to its current operations.
It also will serve the community and the residents within the area that will be able to walk to this location to utilize the stores.
We did meet with the Parkwood Civic Association, and we did receive overwhelming support.
there was unanimous vote to support this project they were very excited to see that this building
would be redeveloped we did receive a letter of support which was submitted in the packet as exhibit
12. so with that i would like to have my client sathya levin join the meeting as well as max
Bustos and Jerry Roller who's going to adopt your testimony counsel um I would have uh Mr. Levin
adopt my testimony
so I think Levin's been about to speak hi could you state your name please and spell for the
court stenographer. Hi, can you hear me? We can. Name is Sathya Levin, S-A-T-H-Y-A Levin, L-E-V-I-N.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
I do. Proceed, counsel. Mr. Levin, were you present during the statements that I've just
made regarding the proposed project, the improvements that are being proposed, and the
use of the property? Yes. And were the statements that I made true and accurate? Yes. And had you
testified yourself, would you agree to accept those statements as your own? Yes. Thank you.
I have no further questions for Mr. Satya at this time. Do you have anybody else you want to call
council uh no okay thank you questions from the board no mr chairman
no chair uh questions or comments from our attorney hillary emerson
yes mr chair thank you um two quick things one um i noted in the rco letter that they
did request a proviso for hours of operation closing at midnight is that agreeable to the
applicant yes it is okay i'm sorry mr levin could you confirm uh that you would be willing to limit
the hours to uh midnight then please unmute yes okay thank you um and i and i see um alice you
from the the councilman's office has her hand raised but i know there has been some conversation
between me um um in this past and um miss yudovich regarding um proviso language we're still
working through that um and i've advised the parties that we'll hold for one week just to
make sure we get the language uh right where we need to be so okay thank you um questions or
Questions or comments from the virtual audience? Alice?
They've been out to speak.
Thank you, Chairman, members of the board. Alice Udovich, on behalf of Councilman Brian O'Neill.
Alice, just for the record, spell your name, please.
A-L-I-C-E, last name is U-D-O-V-I-C-H.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Please proceed.
Thank you, Councilman. The concern was that the term smoking lounge was a bit too broad, so we'd like to make it exclusively a cigar lounge with the accessory use of eating and drinking, with the concern being that that category would possibly allow hookah lounge if marijuana were legalized, a recreational smoking lounge.
So we would really like to exclusively say Cigar Lounge.
Thank you very much.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
Yes, Mr. Chair.
Jerry Rower with their hand raised.
I have allowed them to speak at this time.
Why could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
I need to unmute here.
Sorry, I am. Mr. Roller, could you state your name and spell for the personographer?
Jerry, J-E-R-Y-R-O-L-L-E-R. Right. Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
I do. My hand was simply raised in support of this post and non-worthy architects for the project.
And we obviously support it. OK, thank you. Thank you very much.
Okay. Is there anyone else in the virtual audience? Mr. Chair, if I may. Yes. Sorry. Just to address Ms. Udovich's comments, and as Ms. Emerson had indicated, we have been working with both of them. We are willing to accept a proviso that the smoking lounge be limited to use of cigar and tobacco products.
Thank you. Plainty Commission.
excuse me mr chair we have one more hand raised from uh a number ending in six four
five eight i will allow them to speak at this time
start six to on you please hi could you state your name please and spell for the court sonographer
Yes, my name is
Donald P. Gordon
D-O-N-A-L
No D on the end of my first name
Middle initial P
Last name Gordon
G-A-R-D-E-N
Do you swear if I can tell the truth?
Listen to me, do you
Do you swear or tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Are you a neighbor?
I live directly across the street from the proposed site.
Please proceed.
I would also like to add that we were told that the property, of course, would be cleaned up
because from the Thornton Road side, it is an eyesore.
I can give you a little bit of a history of some of this property
because I've lived here at this address for more than 43 years.
First of all, the property, Ms. Nassprost is correct.
The property has been vacant since January of 2013.
Secondly, we have had to deal with the vegetation that is adjacent to Thornton Road.
We've had to deal with this literally since the building was constructed, which was between fall of 1983 and spring of 1985.
We have
It used to be originally
And is listed on a 1974
Vintage Scepter Roadmap
As originally being part of
The Philadelphia Penal Farm
Where there has still
Remnants of
There is remnants of a
Scepter barbrier
We want to know is this going to be cleaned up
Sir sir sir sir
So listen so I think you have
Instead of the history
you have a request that the property be cleaned up is what you're saying
am I right
hold on Mr. Chair yeah is he still there okay so please unmute what I want you to do is say
Okay, so what I want you to do is say what you're looking for with this property and not give us a history of the property.
what you're looking for with this property and not give us a
But I appreciate what you tried to do, but we really don't need the history.
We need to know what you see in this property coming.
So what I'm saying is we don't need a history about the penal and all that.
What we need is what do you want to see now?
What do you want to see now?
What I want is that if the property is going to be cleaned up, that the vegetation, the trees remain and is properly trimmed, that the fence that is still there broken down after all these years, that it be removed posts, fence, and barbed wire, and that all the underbrush be removed and cleaned up.
because there are also syringes, crack pipes, liquor bottles,
and even God only knows what from underage drinkers
and also from drug users that have used it as a hideout.
We want to make sure that this is also cleaned up as part of the property rehab.
Thank you for taking the time to call us in and give me your input.
We really do appreciate it.
Thank you, sir.
Is there anyone else in the personal audience?
No further hands, Mr. Chair.
Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair Bergman, Sarah Bond, Philadelphia City Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing industrial zoning.
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 variance.
Thank you.
So this case will be held for one week.
We will vote on 10-18-23 at 2 p.m. to work out proviso language if the record is closed.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you, Chair.
Have a nice day.
Okay. Number two. MI 2023-003-579-414 South 23rd Street. Sean Rex Road is the attorney. There's a letter of non-opposition from the Center City Residents Association. And also the applicant provided a foreign letter of support from the adjacent neighbor at 416 South 23rd.
they'll be coming back in as a panelist there okay thank you
there counsel could you uh state your name please spell for the court's sonography yes
my name is Sean Rex Road uh that's S-H-A-W-N-R-E-X-R-O-A-D right do you
Do you swear to affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, Mr. Chair, I do.
But before we get into testimony, I actually, my colleague, Joshua Eupin, is the other attorney on this matter, and he is here, and he will actually be presenting if we could call him.
Well, okay.
So he's going to handle the case?
That's correct, yes.
We'll say his name again, and we'll call him in.
he's already here he's here okay
sir could you state your name please and spell for the court stenographer
yes thank you mr chairman my name is joshua upin j-o-s-h-u-a-u-p-i-n
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
yes i do could you identify your client a relationship to this property
Yes, the clients are Shelby and Travis Frazier, F-R-A-S-E-R. They're husband and wife, and they are owners of the subject property.
Okay. Mr. Holloman has just a few questions for you, sir.
Good afternoon, counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to his accuracy?