Planning Commission.
Good morning, Chair Bergman, members of the board, Ian Hegarty for the Philadelphia City Planning Commission.
board members in 2014 the zoning map was amended in this area from rm1 to rsa5
in accordance with a recommendation from the comprehensive plan the city council office
comprehensive plan recommends no change to the zoning board members the only hardship
presented here is an economic hardship which as you know is not a legal basis for granting a use
variance applicant has not demonstrated any unique physical conditions associated with the lot that
would actually prevent the use of these properties in conformance with the zoning code.
We recognize that a lot of the surrounding properties have been developed by variants
and are existing non-conforming uses.
However, we don't think the applicant has met the criteria for establishing hardship
in this case.
And I would just note for the board also that the affordable housing provisions that have
been promised are not recorded against the deed of the property in a way that's enforceable
by the City of Philadelphia.
The City Planning Commission recommends that the board deny these variances.
Counsel, do you have any comments?
I do, and I can.
It's not an economic hardship per se that you say, hey, look, I can make more money here and there.
A Court of Common Pleas judge upheld the argument on this specific property.
These these five properties, when they approved it in twenty twenty one for three family dwellings.
And if you bear with me, I have those on my computer and I can actually pull.
I can tell you what some of the case law is that supports it's not indicating that it's an economic.
It's basically there's no viable economic use as a single family residence due to the fact that if you on the underlying appeal to the court of common pleas for the same five properties, the there was a expert report that was submitted by I think it was Carlos.
Give me one second.
Let me just actually pull these up.
I didn't think that this was going to be necessary, but I am prepared to recite those cases.
Why don't you just give us an overview?
Well, the overview is, look, if you're going to build this property, it's going to cost over $500,000.
You can't sell a single family residence that's on a 22 by 100 foot block for over $500,000 in this neighborhood.
They're only going for about $200,000 at best for single-family resins.
So to build it, it's economically not viable to do so.
There is case law, and as I stated, I mean, I can pull my, you know, I actually have it.
I just pulled it right before.
The only thing that I didn't do, I printed out the arguments, but without the actual case law itself.
I printed out the arguments, but without the actual case law itself.
You've submitted this.
I did not submit those.
What I submitted were the previous.
So do me a favor.
Make sure you submit that to Hillary Emerson, our attorney.
All right.
And what I'll do is I'll submit also the judicial order ordering the board to grant the variance for three units.
Okay, I'm going to vote this with all five together. So number one, MI 2023-001-589-1716, Master Street. Number eight is MI 2023-001-590-1718, Master Street.
Number 16, MI 2023-001-588-1714, Master Street.
Number 17, MI 2023-001-563-1710, Master Street.
And number 18, MI 2023-001-603, I'm sorry, wait a minute, number 19, I'm sorry, number 19.
mi20230019581712 master street i vote yes to all five thomas holloman my vote is no
to all five james snell my vote is yes to all five ishmael shaheed my vote is yes to all five
thank you counsel you have your votes thank you may be excused you can okay um number two
MI 2022-002-908-740-44 South Street. Darlene Dreet is the attorney.
We have a letter.
We have a letter from the South Street Head House, which is the Coordinated Guard CEO,
requesting that this board hear the case
but hold it for 60 days
to resolve issues related to odors from the use.
The applicant is in agreement with this request.
So you to be rejoining as a panel shortly.
Okay, sure.
Good morning, counsel.
You unmute yourself.
Good morning, Commissioner.
Darlene Threatt.
Good morning.
Good morning.
Good morning.
Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Darlene Threatt.
D-A-R-L-E-N-E.
Threatt.
T-H-R-E-A-T-T.
Great.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client in relationship to this property?
My client is a proprietor of Cleopatra Cafe.
his name is Michael Zaker and I believe he's on the line today okay our vice chair has just a few
questions good morning counsel do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate
to its accuracy yes I do all the required documents and exhibits that is needed and
required to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing yes I have
Can I share my screen?
Please.
It's taking its time, but it's coming in.
good morning commissioner can you see my screen it's starting to come up now
We don't see it yet.
we don't see it yet
You're up.
Let me just scroll that up.
All right, here we go.
I apologize. Commissioners, I submitted a package to the board, which contains 13 exhibits.
The exhibits are the refusal, the appeal, the property information form, a deed, a lease,
tax information, tobacco retailer permit, tobacco products license, food prep license, plans,
pictures, the specifications for the air cleaner purification center system, excuse me, the
community flyers, as well as a proof of mailing. Commissioners, I wanted to give you a little
little background on this case before I started. My client, Michael Zeka, operated the Cleopatra
Cafe at 42nd and Chestnut for approximately 11 years from 2009 to 2021. In 2021, the building
was sold to the university and Mr. Zeka had to find a new location for his cafe and smoking
lounge. Mr. Zeka actually contacted the city of Philadelphia, inquiring as to where he could
have a tobacco license and a retailer permit. He was given the location of 742 South Street.
Mr. Here is the refusal here. Mr. Zeka opened up his cafe in December of 2021, only in February to
be given a violation indicating that he needed a special exception to open a smoking lounge
at that facility.
Thereafter, Mr. Zaker hired myself and I applied to the board to have a smoking lounge in conjunction
with the cafe here at 742 South Street.
Attached is a copy of the refusal that's presently shown on the board.
We filed the appeal, which I put in the package.
I'm just going to slip through.
We have the property information sheet.
We have the deed.
and I also wanted to put a copy of his lease in here. I didn't put the whole lease in here,
but I just wanted to show you that we did enter into a lease. It was a five-year lease from October
21st, excuse me, from October 15, 2021 to October 15, 2026. Mr. Zeka,
the tax balance is zero here. And I just wanted to flip down to show you that Mr. Zeka actually
applied to the Philadelphia Department of Health for his tobacco retail license. And this license
was granted to him at this location, 742 South Street.
Thereafter, in conjunction with the proper operation of his business,
he also applied for a tobacco products license,
and this license was issued to him originally in 2021.
It has been updated, and you'll see it currently has an expiration date of 2-29-24.
In being a good business owner, he also applied for a food service permit. He currently has a current food preparing and service license. This license has been in good standing since he opened the business in 2021. And you can see here, it should be renewed in November of 2023.
Mr. Zeka has taken every effort to comply with the laws of Philadelphia.
Here is a picture of the actual cafe.
I'm going to show you a color picture in a minute so you can really see what the cafe looks like.
It's a simple straight back cafe.
Cafe. You enter from South Street here and on both sides straight to the back, you have some
You enter from South Street here and on both sides.
booths up against the wall. These are tables here. These are chairs here. On the other side,
you have the tables here. You have some booths up against the wall. And on each side, you'll see
when I scroll down a little further that we have some televisions attached to the wall for
entertainment. There's one restroom in the location. The certificate of occupancy is for
50 persons. And here is where we sell and distribute the tobacco hookah products. And
now we are serving finger food. There is no food cooked, excuse me, food is prepared on the
premises in an air fryer. We don't have a hood. We don't use ovens or any of those
types of apparatuses. I'm just going to scroll down very quickly. In conjunction with that plan,
I just really want to show you the picture. Here is the picture of the Cleopatra Cafe.
As you can see, you would enter the establishment right here. We have the tables. We have the chairs
against the wall. We have sitting chairs over here. We have the tables here. We have the seating
located against the wall. And right here, I don't know if you can make it out expertly,
is where the hookah pipes would go and the hookah stands. I'll show you some additional pictures.
That's our original posting for the original meeting. We had a second meeting.
And there's a second posting in there somewhere. Here it is here. Here's the second time for the
second hearing, excuse me, that we posted this property. That's, again, a picture of the cafe,
a picture of some of the art in the front of the cafe. That's another picture of the cafe.
You can actually see the hookah pipes here that are used by the patrons.
additional picture of the back area and this is where we sell and serve the finger food
i didn't mention that there are three employees located on the premises at all time
mr zeka also is on location at the premises at all times not at all times but every day
The cafe is open seven days a week from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m.
There's a letter at 2 a.m., and it's my understanding that it's been insignificant.
There have been no noise complaints.
There have been no noise violations.
We do play music, but from an iPhone and a speaker, there have been no fights.
no arguments, no gunplay, no police have ever been called to the establishment. We don't play
live music. We don't have live bands. Frankly, most of Mr. Zeka's clientele is his clientele
that moved over from 42nd and Chestnut. That's just an additional picture of the bathroom.
That's another picture of refrigeration where we keep the beverages in the rear of the property.
That's just a general picture of South Street on the block in which it's located.
It's a very busy street.
There's a bar at the end of one street.
There's a Domino's that stays open to 4 a.m.
Mr. Zaker, again, closes at 2 a.m.
Our trash is stored in the back of the building.
We have a dumpster.
We have commercial trash pickup in conjunction with two of the other neighbors on the bus.
That's just another picture of the houses across the street, directly across the street from the Cleopatra Cafe.
I just want to give you some general pictures to see what it looks like.
I'm going to scroll down a little bit more here.
Now, when we went to the first meeting, I don't really know how many were in attendance, but there was concern about smoke emanating from the building.
Specifically, a neighbor indicated that there was this ventilation pipe in the back of the building and that smoke was coming from the back of the building.
Now, we did indicate to the neighbors that this vent is not used and we don't use this vent.
If we were to have a hooded system where we would cook, it would be attached to this vent, and it would vent to the outside of the building.
But because of the concern of the community, we did cap this vent, even though we don't use this vent because we don't have a hooded system in our building.
Even though we don't use this vent because we don't have a hooded system in our building, which we cook with.
What we do have in this building, just a couple more pictures of that vent closed up, is the Dayton 3-Speed Air Cleaner.
This is a state-of-the-art air filter and cleaning system recommended by License and Inspections.
It does not vent to the outside of the building.
It's self-contained.
It has charcoal filters.
It cleans the air and it recirculates the air. And this type of system was designed to clean air, dust, smoke particles out of the air.
That system has been in operation in our building since we have been in business.
And this is just some further specifications of the system.
The what's left in the package is I did notice a meeting with the community three times and I sent out three letters and I did three mailings in an effort to work with the community and work with the community concerns in regards to the operation of this business.
Now, we had a meeting on Monday and Mr. Harris of the head house district asked me if I would ask the board to hold the vote for 60 days because they wanted to do one other thing that I'm not completely sure of.
But I have no objection to it. We want to work to satisfy the community.
my client is a good businessman and he wants to be a good neighbor and be accepted in that
community. Now we were given the, we were refused with a special, for a special exception and I
believe the provisions of the special exception indicate that our use should not harm the health
welfare, or safety of the community. And I will submit to the board here that we've actually been
in operation for approximately two years. We did work with the inspector who indicated that
he would let us stay open until we traverse the zoning. But I like to say that his actual
operation over the last two years has proven that he has not been harmful to the health,
to the safety or the welfare of the community.
There's no smoke emanating from this use.
There's no loitering at night.
There's no noise pollution.
There's been no noise complaints in regards to safety.