And so I am a little concerned about congestion without having any option for people to go
inside? Well, the plan is for them to queue to the left in front of the nail and hair salon here.
So let's hope there is 10 or 15 people in line at some time, but that's the plan. And
I think the street activity is exactly what is attractive about this. The sidewalk activity is
is what's attractive here and does your client have a plan to manage the line if it starts to
block the wheelchair access ramp yes uh yeah we don't want to be in angelo's right and make the
news because uh folks who are online causing issues so yeah we've already talked about that
and and he's going to be making sure that that is he's he's running this place uh and he's going to
make sure of that and he's going to be working as a active member of spruce hill uh you know
he's going to be working with them as well on it okay questions for our attorney um vern just to
confirm so this is just on the ground floor and possibly the basement as well of the structure
it looks like it there may be another use above yeah his lease is for the the ground floor only
right okay all right thank you questions or comments from the virtual audience
I do not see any answer Mr. chair planning commission thank you chairman and good
morning David Vecto with the city planning commission chairman and board members the
comprehensive plan recommends no change to the CMX 2 commercial mixed-use zoning at this location
the appellant has shown that the proposed takeout restaurant will have no detrimental impacts beyond
what might be expected the city planning commission recommends that the board grant
the proposed special exception for a take-out restaurant mi-2025-005-860-4529
baltimore avenue i vote yes with proviso no preparation or service of hot foods
michael johns my vote is yes with proviso
cheryl guest and my booty chefs with proviso tenetta graham my vote is yes with proviso ryan
mcadams my vote is yes with proviso hi i win my vote is yes with proviso thank you council thank
you all right number three mi 2025 000 398 13 25 south 23rd street eric botson is the attorney
good morning good morning sir
there's unanimous support from the point brief cdc a total of eight votes
good morning council could you please state your name and spell for the
stenographer but try to get your microphone closed first here you go
good morning uh eric bodzin at eric e-o-d-z-i-n of blank room do you swear or affirm to tell
the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes i do um have you could you identify
your client a relationship to the property yes uh sitting beside me is mr kazim kupa who is the
owner of the property okay our vice chair has a few questions sir good morning have you submitted
your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing yes i have okay and do you waive
the reading of the refusals and stipulate to their accuracy yes i do okay thank you can share your
screen and proceed with your case. Thank you so much. My hand is raised in the virtual
virtual audience. I'm not sure if I'm... Oh, here I am joining as a panelist. Just one
audience. I'm not sure if I'm, oh, here I am joining us.
moment. Members to board.
you're coming up yeah good wonderful uh thank you again and good morning uh members of the board
uh mr chair um i am here on behalf of the owner of 1325 south 23rd street uh seated beside me is
the owner, Mr. Ghazim Kupa. And in the virtual audience is our architect, Ron Arihi, as well
as Isaac Singleton, who's also a partner in the project. I understand that we are also joined
this morning in the virtual audience by community leader, Mr. Al Littlepage. We are, again, very
grateful for uh the unanimous uh community support of the coordinating rco the subject
property or subject proposal i should say is for the much anticipated activation of a
rare one of the few vacant lots around wharton square pictured here at the corner of 23rd and
earp street it is a uniquely dimensioned lot of about 1 000 square feet that has sat
unfortunately vacant and underutilized for more than 20 years at this point
these are this is the before and after pictures of when mr cupa acquired the property last year
As you can see from the after, Mr. Koopa immediately cleaned, greened, and fenced the lot upon acquisition, not to mention quite a bit of snow removal this winter, including the storm right before we met with Mr. Littlepage and the RCO.
so he's certainly been a good steward of the property and the proposal here is to restore
this lot to its prior use before it sat vacant for the last 20 years which was in fact
a corner store with an apart two apartments above it since the 1940s
The only difference in this case is that rather than a corner store, which is the only licensed business use within a few blocks of Wharton Square, Mr. Koopa's proposal is for a locally owned Parkside coffee shop on the ground floor, while Mr. Koopa himself will reside on the second floor and manage both the coffee shop and the one rental unit at the property.
uh this is the refusal a couple of the slide updates
updated on my computer but I'm not sure if it oh here we go uh it's it's now on the screen uh the
refusal is twofold um first that the RSA 5 zoning district uh does not permit a coffee shop rental
unit or both and second uh that a seven not nine foot rear yard is proposed with corresponding
88 percent not 80 percent occupied area that is to afford adequate seating for the unique dimensions
of this lot and of the block in fact where more properties than not have in fact no
unoccupied area here is the
zoomed out zoning map and i'll zoom in in a second to the zoning classifications of the area
as you can see most but not all nearby corners are zoned for commercial mixed use
despite the commercial used history mixed used history of this property it remains zoned rsa5
but of course this is a transit rich corner lot with access to bus lines 7 17 29 bike lanes in
the area and notably i'll pull up the the recent permitting in the area this is a map of the
the prevalent rental licenses in this particular area of South Philadelphia.
um in this particular area of south philadelphia um and by contrast um you'll see here in blue the
scarcity of business licenses as i mentioned um all of the the only business licenses in the
surrounding area for a uh for corner stores and um this is why the community and mr koopa are
confident that a local parkside coffee shop um will at last activate the space and be a benefit
to the community. Mr. Cooper also collaborated extensively with the community on the plans and
design, which I'll pull up now for this property. For with regards to the facade, the in collaboration
with the Point Breeze RCO coalition, the facade has been updated to match the brick of the
neighboring property and to feature exterior cameras, aesthetically pleasing lighting,
plantings and covered meters, as well as more soft and distinct commercial entrance space.
The commercial entrance itself, as you'll see from this diagram and from the floor plans
i'll pull up uh is also now located um not from south 23rd street as pictured here but on these
updated uh first floor plans um on the side street uh of earp street so that it is distinct from the
residential entrance on south 23rd street i'll go back to the floor plans for a second another
Another element that Mr. Koopa and the neighbors worked to update collaboratively is a really thoughtful trash storage plan detailed here, showing physical storage of both residential and commercial trash and recycling, use of disposable containers, since we're right next door to the park, and commercial trash pickup from the rear.
three times a week after 8 a.m. with the commercial trash as you can see in the rear here of the
ground floor removed on plastic totes on rollers out to containers in the rear yard again serviced
three times a week in an area with a six-foot privacy screen to the next door adjacent neighbors
um mr cupa and mr singleton met extensively with neighbors including the adjacent neighbors to this
property um and um in in collaboration with those neighbors um have designed uh this ground floor
layout there were two options that we worked through with um point breeze rco the option on
the left is the one that was preferred with that side entrance on erp street again the design is
to afford adequate seating 10 tables and chairs the preparation of coffee and baked goods bless
you in the prep kitchen to the rear of the premises no commercial ventilation no hot foods
and no deliveries, which is something that was important to the neighbors. This is designed to
be walkable, locally owned, and for the neighbors in this area. Ghazim himself is an experienced
owner who spent his lifetime in the restaurant business. This has been his life's goal to open
up his own uh uh restaurant um and to hire about five employees locally business will be open from
7 a.m to 4 p.m um and gazeen will both manage the property um and the upstairs rental uh property
which if i go back to the floor plans it's about 800 square feet two bedrooms one bathroom um with
a trash storage area um that's that's mapped out in terms of how that trash is is serviced here
um on december 22nd uh mr cupa um mr singleton and mr arehi and myself met with the uh coalition
of point breeze rcos um after a few months of uh meeting with neighbors um uh in the proximity
The Point Breeze Coalition of RCOs voted 8 to 0 in support of the project, and Ghazim
is looking forward to continuing to collaborate with neighbors as he will manage, in addition
as uh he will manage uh in addition to the property the construction of the of the um
to the property, the construction of the project.
property and and he and the neighbors discussed making sure that sidewalks remain clear and
accessible um the construction hours work for the neighbors he gave out a cell phone to all
in attendance and at the meeting and and walking the streets and is really looking forward to being
to living and being a sustainable member of the point breeze community in conclusion
mr chair members the board for all these reasons and based upon the additional plans photographs
and filings that you'll find in your packet this morning we submit that grant of relief
is consistent with the spirit of the code to responsibly activate and restore the prior use
of this parkside lot as a ground floor local business single rental unit run by an on-premises
owner who again will continue to work with mr littlepage and neighbors to ensure that
this property is a benefit to the neighborhood's character congestion public facilities adjacencies
health and safety and built environment again mr chair we want to thank mr littlepage and the
Point Breeze RCO Coalition for their time and support. As I mentioned, on the line is our
architect, Mr. Arihi, as well as Mr. Singleton, and beside me is Mr. Ghazim Kupa, who is here to
adopt and affirm my testimony. So why don't we bring your client on to adopt your testimony.
Once we open it to the board, if we need an architect, we'll bring your architect on then,
and Mr. Littlepage will come on when we call for the audience, correct?
wonderful okay thank you mr could you please state your name and spell for the sonographer
yes gentlemen my name kick real close to the mic my name is gazim kupa g-e-z-i-m-k-u-p-a
and i am the owner of 1325. do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and
nothing but the truth i do counsel thank you very much mr chair uh good good morning mr kupa
Have you heard my testimony this morning in its entirety?
Yes, I do.
And can you affirm that the entirety of my testimony, to the best of your knowledge, is true and accurate?
Yes, please.
And do you now adopt and affirm that testimony as your own?
Yes, please.
Thank you very much.
So, Counselor, when you gave the hours, it's seven days a week?
Seven days a week.
okay all right yes correct all right questions from the board yeah i have a few questions one
i think understanding that this is a coffee shop and um if there's no hot food on service
and they don't want deliveries how are you handling the food that's going to be served on site
in terms of the storage of the food i'm thinking like how is it being created because if you're not
baking on site and you're serving baked goods and you can't have deliveries how how are you
no we're making some cold snacks you know like uh cold snacks and uh juice and coffee and uh
ice cream and things okay so it's not going to be like bagels and breakfast sandwiches and muffins
and not hot one not hot one okay um yeah but they still have to be baked so i think my question is
like if they don't want you to have delivery like most other coffee shops in the city
have deals where they're getting these baked goods delivered from like another wholesaler
like laboos or you know somebody have some some they have something like that but uh the line i
make it just for the neighborhood over there you know not i live upstairs and i will take care you
know as much as we do on the business things like that to keep my expenses lower and to get something
like that like very profitable and then so like if they how are you going to handle just anything
that you need to run the food side of the business if they don't want deliveries is this like local
like small business are you going to the grocery store i think i'm just trying to understand like
no that one i will go and pick up from the big store by myself you know yes i will go to pick
up by my store you know not to bring the big delivery over there or things like that but i
I would go like a Jethro or something like that, Cisco, and pick up what I need.
I'm sorry. To clarify, by no deliveries, what the neighbors were particularly interested in is that to avoid added congestion theory that there's no Uber Eats or DoorDash of that nature, not deliveries to the property.
We did discuss with neighbors potentially a loading zone out in front in South 23rd Street.
They're going to think about it.
If there's interest in applying, Ghazim will be the one who applies for loading zone.
there's interest in applying uh gazeen will be the one who applies for loading zone we talked
about the same for a that makes more sense but we have had neighbors say no deliveries yes it's
something we have had no deliveries of food out of the premises i'm sorry all right and then i think
my second question is just about the plan so it from what it looked like in the plans this is a
three-story with two apartments above and a roof deck but you kept saying one apartment one rental
unit oh so because gazim is the second floor is the apartment there are two apartments uh full
floor hidden square feet the second floor is where gazim himself is is uh the third is a rental
apartment okay and the roof deck um is set back five foot from both streets and so only the rental
tenant is going to have access to the roof deck or do both have access leave both correct yeah
they will do both but mostly i have to be on safe side you know i mean to keep safe side
um i have a question just um did you get the approval of your neighbor at 1923
do you recall talking to your immediate neighbor at 1923 yes yes yes other questions
the plan doesn't show that by this plans it is showing that only the third floor unit has access
to it yeah right right yeah and who's who's using the deck the deck is not attached to the business
right no deck is not attached to the business now there's a separate entrance for the residential
space and i apologize that's correct only the third floor has access to the roof deck
yeah okay thank you and how many how many seats did you say you were gonna have
uh seating for um at least 10 individuals i believe in the updated floor plans there are
like five tables by two people sitting at the time like this right okay and then all of this
is just the cold stuff the ice cream the and the hot hot coffee that we have yes okay yes
okay thank you you're welcome
questions from our attorney um i just want to clarify because i know there was some changes
that you referenced like the facade and the entrances um and you had sent revised plans
is there is there anything in the revised plans that you wanted like we can't stamp the floor
plans part but in the site plan that you wanted memorialized based on the your your communications
with the neighbors? I don't believe so. The exhibit package includes the revised plans. None of those
plans impact the refusal whatsoever. There changes the facade and the location of the entrance was
moved from South 23rd Street to Earp Street if L&I needs to stamp that change, of course. Yeah,
no it's just sometimes when people make changes like that they will ask um to to kind of memorialize
it and you know cement it like yes voting board to stamp it so i wasn't clear if that it was the
situation here um if that you know if that needed if that was being requested because there wasn't
a proviso form so i wasn't sure if the the plans needed to be stamped or it was just kind of
illustrative for the rco yes illustrative and i would love to memorialize for the record that the
the the change in plans is from to move the location of the entrance from um south 23rd
street to europe street okay so if you if assuming the board approves if you want the plan stamped we
could stamp the one the one page site plan not the floor plans um we just need a proviso form
to go with it explaining the changes that would be excellent thank you so much you're welcome
um questions or comments from the virtual audience
mr chair i do not see any hands raised thank you planning commission
thank you chairman and good morning david vecto with the city planning commission
chairman and board members the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the rsa5 residential
single family zoning at this location the city rezoned this neighborhood in 1985 in a council
supported map change there are no unique physical conditions or circumstances of this property the
prevent it from being used in conformance with the zoning code the city planning commission
recommends the board deny the proposed use variance for two dwelling units prepared food