allow, yep, allow, revisit.
Can you see this?
No, we would see it on our screen, too, if you can see it.
Okay, I'm sorry about that.
I don't know why it's not sharing.
we have it in a word document yeah we've been on words like it's not in like the
Chrome tab you know so it's it's just like on the screen thank you okay thank
now that's fine so let's move to number
number nine yep so mi 2025 005 980 3409 goodman street joseph
3409 goodman street joseph barrio is the attorney
the caro joe the caro
he's here because he asked us where are we ready
Joe I don't see Joe oh okay here we go we have a hand raised okay
okay they're being promoted to panelists right
um you've already been sworn just for the record state your name joseph vacaro v-a-c-a-r-o right
and mr vacaro could you identify your client the relationship to the property which case
you want to do uh 3409 or 100 goodman okay 3409 goodman okay i have i have yehdeed wadad and sam's
convenient mark ii okay and our vice chair our vice chair has a few questions for you yes good
morning um have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing
yes i did and following up on my earlier comments about the tax clearance i just uploaded a tax
clearance and i could show it to you during my presentation okay great good and uh do you waive
the reading of the refusal and simply to his accuracy yes i do all right thank you you can
proceed with your case okay thank you if i could start sharing my screen
can you see my exhibits we can sir okay this and this appears to be a if I could
expand it it appears to be a zoning permit could you see that just want to
make sure that we're all on the same page certified tax clearance I'm showing a
certified tax clearance okay so now that I'm now that you've seen the tax
clearance and I could close that out and get to the to the balance of my exhibits
Okay, so that's what I uploaded this morning.
Just so you know, we have two letters of opposition, right, from the RCO and the council person.
No, I understand here.
That has been expressed at our RCO meeting.
So we understand.
okay can you see now what appears to be a zoning permit we do going back to 2021
okay so we're in the right place so mr. Wadad had purchased this property and
going back going back as late as the 1970s there was already a commercial
operation going on at these premises between pizzerias and takeout and previous grocery
stores. Even in July 20th of 2021, when the property was owned by Mr. May, there was already
an approved use of eating and drinking establishments, takeout restaurants, retail stores,
food and beverage and groceries but for a while for a while then the building
had remained empty and it lost the previous variance that it had so when
the when the refusal was was issued for 3409 for use as beverage and groceries
with a takeout restaurant on the first floor. It was refused. And here we are. We did have our
meeting with the RCO. There was opposition. And if I could just address the opposition,
the opposition just seems to have been their concerns about some prior activities,
some prior illegal activities going on at the property before Mr. Wadad had purchased the
property in November 1st of 2024. So I'm showing you the deed.
November 1st of 2024 so I'm showing you the deed showing you the deed I showed
you the refusal you have the application this is an old tax clearance certificate
as well as if I could get to the photographs here's a view from Google
Maps it's at the intersection of Goodman and Rising Sun here's another view from
Google Maps Goodman and Rising Sun so this is the building my cursor is right
over the building it's scroll here's another view and here are some
photographs of what the inside currently looks like. My client's not operating at
that location since he does not have the benefit of the proper variant so he
can't get the appropriate permits. Obviously he's got to clean it out, make
it look more presentable so that he could get to work. Here are some
plans um that i could show you if i could zoom out this is a the footprint of the building
goodman and rising sun there would be a a 13 foot 4 inch by 20 foot 10 inch
uh shopping area consisting of shelves refrigerator restroom storage in the back
Then there's a cash register area over here with a showcase, as well as some additional display area.
And here's another view of the plans.
We have the letter of opposition. And again, what problems that the neighbors
uh seem to have expressed they were personal problems directed at my client as well as directed
at um directed at what was um going on at the property prior to my clients um taking taking
ownership he had nothing to do with what was going on certainly he's going to have
the appropriate security cameras he's going to make arrangements with the police department
so that the patrolman can stop by his store at least once a day.
Surveillance is going to be fed directly to the police
in the event that something nefarious happens.
This property is zoned as a single family,
but considering that this property has been used in a commercial fashion
going back to the 70s it's it's going to be near impossible and very expensive to
reconvert it back to a single family any questions from the board have your
testimony adopted okay Yadid could you please raise your hand so that they can
promote you? There are no hands at this time that are raised. Let me call, let me
call him and tell him to promote himself. Hi, could you, yeah, could you raise your
hand? You don't, all right, well he doesn't know how to raise his his virtual hand.
Let me, I do have, I do have him on speakerphone.
Can you hear him?
Say something.
Yes, yes, I hear him.
Mr. Bergman, members of the board, can you hear Mr. Wadad on my speakerphone?
No, I didn't hear him.
Is that person, their name is Yadid Wadad?
Yes, Yadid Wadad.
promote them to panelists if they could just accept the invite yes accept the invite hello
hello there you are hello hi could you please state your name is spelled for the stenographer
my name is is ed we that y e h d h e h w e d a d
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth full truth and nothing but the truth
i do counsel thank you mr waddad uh are you do you also operate a sam's convenient mark too
yes okay and uh did you hear my presentation to the board yes okay and would you adopt it as your
yes okay and uh did you hear my presentation to the board
own if you were testifying by yourself okay yes yes okay and um and would you agree to have
the appropriate security measures uh and and surveillance that would lead that would be
connected directly with the police yes and the appropriate trash pickup also yes okay members of
the board any other questions one of you did you go to the rco meeting jill yes i attended the rco
why don't you explain again tell us about the rco well they they had expressed a lot of opposition
based on some criminal activity that was going on at that property before mr wooddad had purchased
the property when did he purchase the property november 1st of 24 i included that in my deed
and the criminal activity was prior to that and it hasn't been open since
it's been it has been closed he bought it as an empty shell it still is an empty shell
okay right questions from the board i i'm looking at the pictures you showed this doesn't show an
empty shell shows a fitted out store i said it's an empty shell that's that's not an empty shell
that you showed is what i'm saying the pictures that you show don't show an empty let's go back
there's shelves that there's shelves counters there's no product there's no product but
that's but that's not an empty shell an empty shell it means you've just got walls and nothing
in there it's an empty store is what it is empty store with with with fixtures okay all right
okay because there's two different many of the fixtures would probably need to be replaced
well but it's but it's not and it's not a shell it's not a shell of a building um so so there are
18 18 folks opposed to this um project so clearly there have been a lot of issues around this
location um for i guess a while what is the owner going to do to if approved to try to address
and allay the concerns of the community well number one there has to be much more community
involvement he needs to participate and attend in the meetings of the local civic associations
including this RCO that issued its letter of opposition.
He needs to have a direct line of communication with his surveillance,
with the police, and there needs to be some sort of a live feed
with his surveillance that goes straight to the police.
Has he committed any of this to the community in a community benefits agreement
or anything like that?
I know we don't manage that or have any control of that.
but considering the significant opposition we we have discussed it with the rco uh have we put it
in writing no especially since the rco they were just not willing to let him to let him proceed
they said they stated their opposition and their answer was no okay what's the what's the uh the
plan for the second floor uh he has no plan for the second floor we're just trying to to get this
this store up and running so it could start generating an income for him and
then once once he's able to start generating income we'll see what what
the code permits I have a question about the the style of store so what the
images that we're seeing now is the intent to keep all the products behind
this barrier there no there are a grocery store where you're able to the
customers were able to be able to walk down the aisles themselves correct I
could show you where the plans are right now everything is not going to be
behind the glass let me go to the plans there you go
so there's there's the entrance showcase and a walkway you see the dotted line yep
what's the showcase like what would be in a showcase candies gums and the debt behind the
glass let me show you I mean there would be an area that would be I think we've all seen these
type of stores up so what I'm saying is that the probably the intent right there is to keep that
partition there the plexiglass there which are what you showcase of the candies and oftentimes
And oftentimes, and I guess what I'm asking the owner is, will customers have access to go to the groceries because sometimes those are closed off at doors and you can just see the aisles, but you can't go down the aisles.
and I guess what I'm asking the owner is
So is that the intent of how he plans to operate the business?
No, the way he intends to operate the business is to allow the customers to go to the shelves and pick up whatever product they need to buy.
okay thank you and where's the point of sale where's the point of sale on this plan
well back to the plan on the plan
and i guess we're asking this i guess we're asking this because the layout really reflects
the pictures right to some degree um and so you've got a door at d1 that you know you're going
to let people in to this sort of festival area that has this display you're going to let them
pass this um security door that's shown in the picture and access through this whole area back
to a store that's in the back of this place it's just it's it's it's i hear what you're saying but
in terms of what the how this is laid out it really doesn't make sense right and so that's
why we have these questions right it looks like it's going to remain as a takeout you come to the
front and you ask whatever you want to buy and they go get it they bring it to the front that's
what this looks like right so so i i'm still trying to understand how you're going to make
it work differently well the way that we're going to make it work differently is that the customers
are going to be able to come to this rear area and this other rear area where there are shelves
that are showing product on three different views. And so where's the point of sale? Tell
me what the point of sale is. I buy my stuff here. Where do I pay for it? The point of sale would be
in this area in the corner am i showing somebody somebody am i it's not showing the cash register
but the point of sale area would be in this area opposite of the entrance one one there's only five
feet there you need three foot access i don't know how anybody's going to be there with a point of
sale in that location it's just it's it's it's i'm just to hear what you're saying but
logistically and physically it doesn't work and it doesn't make sense
well because it is what it is we could oh you know we could always come in with some
with some revised plans to uh
to give it bigger or you change are you change what it is that you're requesting and it's a
takeout you know kind of convenience store because that's what you kind of show
but that's that's the only that's the comments i have
before we do anything is there any other issues that people want to raise on the board
Questions or comments from our attorney?
Yeah, Lynn Reidelhuber, I just wanted to clarify that you're just talking about use, correct?
You're just talking about use at this point, because the only use that's permitted right now is as a single family residence.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
there are no hands at the sign chair
planning commission
thank you chair the comprehensive plan recommends no change from the existing residential single
family rsa 5 zoning at this location there is documented use as a retail sales as a retail sales
in the recent past the city planning commission recommends the board grant the requested variants
for retail sales food beverages and groceries use so uh joe i think uh i want you to resubmit plans
right that that adhere a little bit to what the board said at least that we understand it i i
i can't i can't good conscience vote on it now i also know that the the work i've seen the rco
in the past has been pretty good work you know and cynthia barnes i saw sign that letter so i
i think i need more from you right um uh council could we uh could we close it except for plans
plans that he wants to submit why don't we do that right so what i'm going to do is is close it
that he wants to submit, why don't we do that, right?
and then i want you to submit plans that adhere to what you heard today from the board
understood do you have a date in mind that we're going to do that on the 8th of july at 9 30 a.m
to vote it that time we'll vote yep were there any members of the public that that spoke on this
or had anything to say i i i i don't i mean i uh i've i've been concerned since i've read some of
the comments from the board i mean from the rco and i see the council person agreed to it too so
um i think if there was problems in the past what you're shown is what you've showed us
is really the past right so i mean there's got to be a change somewhere right so okay okay thank you
july 8th right thank you all right we'll go to number 11. let's see here