an entirely new permit and trigger an entirely new set of variances i believe this was a critical
point of clarification for the community when we attended the meeting the refusal itself as you can
see is abundantly clear that this is only for the use and in fact it notes that it is open air
so the only possibility of operating this lot as a restaurant is with the off-site physical
restaurant location continuous grants of temporary approvals have required Sarah and her father to
returned to the board now four times and add significant operational costs that are not
in this case supported by any legitimate basis to support that temporary relief under the
circumstances that we've presented. As always, we submit that the variance is the least minimum
and now seeks to continue a five-plus year use of the lot, which has been maintained in a
perpetually vacant state with no evidence of a single-family use for at least the last 80 years.
The unusual shape of the lot and its orientation would also render a new single family development challenging, particularly since it faces an unopened street.
The use itself has no evidence over its lifetime of creating congestion, harming any neighbors properties or impairing light and air.
Although it did start during COVID to support the restaurant, the operations themselves have become wildly successful and of huge community benefit.
it the property is maintained in a clean well landscaped and condition and is fully compliant
with all of the rco conditions in this case the zoning code itself ensures that no unintended
consequences can result from a permanent approval and we would respectfully request that the board
allow jerry's bar to move forward without the burden of requiring future relief under temporary
conditions. As always, I did submit a memorandum of law at Exhibit 11, providing a little bit of
additional argument if necessary. At this time, I would ask Mr. Chairman to swear in my client
to adopt my testimony. Could you turn your mic on and get a little closer to the mic?
Hello. It's all right. And could you please state your name and spell for the sonographer?
S-A-R-A-P-R-O-U-D. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth,
nothing but the truth counsel i apologize chair this is the reporter i did not catch the spelling
okay come on come on and get a little closer and say your name again please sarah proud s-a-r-a
p-r-o-u-d thank you counsel thank you uh sarah you are uh authorized to speak on behalf of proud
american llc the owner of the property correct yes uh and this you you've heard all of the testimony
and evidence that I offered in front of the board today. Yes. And would you agree to adopt that
testimony as if you had given it yourself? Yes. Thank you. Questions from the board.
Yes. When does it close? Is it open just the hours that the restaurant is open or is it
how do you secure it? There's a list of provisors here. Yeah, there's a list of,
here we go let me bring this up so the hours of operation I have up on the
screen Monday's closed Tuesday Wednesday Thursday 3 to 10 Friday 3 to 11 Saturday
9 to 11 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. and Sunday 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sarah are these the same
hours as the bar or these slightly different hours than the bar and we want
have these hours in here just to cover all bases but we really use the garden for um just small
little events it doesn't run every single day so it really just depends um on what's going on
throughout the week all right thank you and where does the food come from it comes from jerry's bar
which is is also their uh restaurant which is diagonal from i'll show you sarah i don't know
if you want to address just the logistics of yeah walking across the street it's across the street
yeah across the street okay and um so it would just come from our restaurant kitchen oh okay
Okay. All right. And, okay, no more than 35 seats.
Okay, no more than 35 seats. Okay.
And you agreed to all of these provisions.
Yes, questions from the virtual audience.
I see no hands at this time chair commission.
Michael with the Philadelphia city planning commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing 5 residential single family attached zoning at this location.
The property has a documented history of use as an outdoor eating and drinking establishment, including 3 temporary variance proof approvals granted by this board between 221 and 2024 for the same use.
The appellant has demonstrated that the proposed use would not cause undue detriment to the neighboring community beyond what might otherwise be expected. Therefore, the city planning commission recommends the board grant the request of special exception for eating and drinking establishments.
thank you uh mi 2025 007 032 1007 to 13 new market street i vote yes with proviso maximum occupancy
35 no live amplified music daily commercial trash pack pickup hours of operation monday closed
Tuesday to Thursday, 3P to 10P, Friday, 3P to 10P, Saturday, 9A to 11P, and Sunday, 9A to 10P.
Excuse me, Jared, but I believe it might have been a typo on the notes.
I believe that Friday it's 11, 11PM.
So Friday would be 3P to 11P.
Is that right?
Thank you.
Thank you.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes with provisals.
Cheryl guest and my vote is yes with provisals Ryan McAdams. My vote is yes with provisals. My vote is yes with provisals.
Thank you. Thank you both.
Okay, number 15, MI 2025-007-232, 5050 Parkside Avenue, the attorney is Michael Agnell.
Letter of support from Parkside Association and a letter of support from Council Member Jones.
Chair, I see no one in the audience with that name.
E-G-N-A-L?
Yes, Chair, that's correct.
how about anybody from um a a l e f tower limited
if anyone is in the audience for 50 50 parkside avenue please raise your virtual hand
okay um so mi 2025 007 232 50 50 parkside avenue
excuse me so i just want to note that i believe we are technically we are ahead of ahead of schedule
so i i was unsure if perhaps we'll go to the next one yeah i think we should give them just a few
minutes how about that we got one more left here
and that guys I may retract that statement that's that's all we have left
why don't we do this why don't we take a five minute break okay and then we'll come back okay
that way that's fair right you know we for me all right number 15 mi 2025 007
232 50 50 parkside avenue michael egg now is the attorney
chair michael ego will be promoted to panelists thank you
hello can you hear me i i can sir we we got like a little ahead of ourselves today and we
uh we we almost missed you but um please state your name is spelled for the sonographer
please state your name is spelled for the sonographer yeah absolutely sorry my uh my audio
Yeah, absolutely.
i'm having a hard time hearing you so let me let me mess with this i messed with a little bit
okay it's a little quiet but you can hear me okay i i hear you perfect okay can you hear me now if
we speak up yeah yeah yeah i might have to ask you to repeat yourself but i can hear you let's
let's do so could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer my name is michael
eggnall m-i-c-h-a-e-l-e-g-n-a-l right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and
nothing but the truth i so swear and could you identify your client a relationship to the
property uh my client is the owner of 5050 parkside avenue unit 101 um and i am the attorney
for my client and you have support from the parkside uh avenue parkside association and
also support from council member jones our secretary has a few questions for you
Good morning, counsel. Did you submit your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
I did.
And do you waive the reading of the, I'm sorry, referral and stipulate to its accuracy?
Then you can share your screen and begin your presentation. Thank you.
Okay. Okay. So I can't see what your view is, but can you see zoning board hearing presentation?
okay okay so uh my client uh is an adult daycare loaded located uh in the parkside
uh community and this is a view of the the front of their business they work with seniors
during the day to provide activities enrichment meals with people not just in the very localized
community or even West Philly, but across the region. Our referral today relates to an application
for an event use at the premises. The desire of ownership is to utilize the space, which I'll
take you through shortly, to host activities for this same community. So the idea would be an 80th
birthday party um sort of after hours after the daycare ends um would be an example of the sorts
of activities that they want to have there and let me uh it's it's a large facility and it has
a dedicated parking lot here here's the view from the rear the adult daycares entry at the rear is
all the way in that back left corner where there's a yellow sign but this is the parking lot for the
entirety of of this um this commercial space here's an overhead view to give you a sense
um the front of the business is up towards the top there along parkside avenue um facing um the
the park sort of near the man music center uh if if you can imagine where that is and to the rear
through all these parking lots there's a lowe's and there's large commercial um development behind
there. And this is the parking lot sort of in the center of the picture to give you a sense of the
layout and where things are. Here's a picture. This is set up as a condominium. There are three
different condominiums. One is a goodwill, one is a medical provider, and the third is this adult
daycare, which is the third of the three spaces all the way to the right here. So this is the
space and this is the parking lot to the rear of it this is a layout of the adult daycare
there's administrative offices on the right hand side is parkside avenue and all the way to the
left behind there would be the parking lot to orient you so there's a a large interior space
where a lot of events happen you can see two columns there and then sort of down into the
left there's another large event space and then all the way to the left there's a large commercial
kitchen so this space it's got big open areas it's got a commercial kitchen it already you know
is enjoyed by the community during the day for the seniors and the idea is to allow them to
and the idea is to allow them to utilize the space in the evening we had two meetings with
utilize the space in the evening.
We had two
the community i'm going to take you through just a few pictures to give you a sense of the the
finishes and what the space is like it's a big open space that's adjustable with tables and
chairs and a stage that the seniors use all year long we had two meetings with the community to
get comfortable about the hours of operation utilization plans for parking all of it and
And as you can see from the letter from the RCO, the community was quite satisfied and they're very excited for this business to now add on an additional use to, you know, work with this population.
I think that's substantially what we want to say here.
The ownership wanted to join in and, you know, forgive me for not prepping them to hop on a little bit earlier, but I think they're tied up right now.
actually i i gave them an expectation to hop on in like 45 minutes so i i don't believe they're
available to answer any questions but if you have any specific questions uh i'm available
to answer them now counsel you're an officer of the court we can accept your testimony
questions from the board yeah hours of opera operations so these this the event space is used
That'll be every weekend and when will they close?
That's a good question.
So we spoke with the community and the idea would be that potentially during the week, you know, these are seniors and it's day entertainment.
So the activity during the week here would cease, you know, when normal business hours cease five, six o'clock.
So potentially there could be, you know, an anniversary party or like a Bible study, maybe at six, seven, eight o'clock.
But no events would happen. Everything would be shut down and cleaned out before 10 o'clock any day of the week or weekend.
You know, this population doesn't want to be up late and the community doesn't want a ton of activity around there anyway.
going very late at night and I just I want to point out one thing looking at the frontage here
this is a very retail kind of space if you look this is facing west there's a parking lot there's
a charter school down there going west from here and and to the east it's sort of I don't think I
have a good picture well yeah you can sort of see that you've got a park to the north and
commercial and retail here so that there isn't a great concern about traffic and activity here
nevertheless we're curtailing activity um sort of late evening and there's nothing late night
okay and so but you're not this is not an age restricted event space this because it's open
to the this will be up into the public though right that's right okay so yeah okay
all the questions is there a commercial kitchen on site or catering kitchen on site
yeah i i don't have pictures of it specifically but i i don't know how zoomed in this appears
for you there is a very large commercial kitchen um that's been fully licensed and overseen by the
department of health uh for years here for this use so um it it's there they serve hundreds of
meals every week. It's fully set up, all the way to the left, to the rear here.
I see. I understand that it's on site for the Senior Center, but will it be available for this
event space? That's my understanding. Okay, that was not clear. Okay. And then who's going to be
managing the event space? Is it a separate staff person or will it be the existing staff of the
senior center? I understand that the substantial staff and I understand that they'll coordinate
with the users and potentially scale up and bringing in their own people depending on what
the activity is and if there's help needed based on the number of people or the use that's
intended but my understanding is it'll be managed by the same people who are currently owning and
managing this place now. And then I know most of the photos you've shown seem to be of this like
big interior space where the two columns are shown on this plan. How much of this floor are going to
be available for the event space? I think, so if you see this sort of smaller sectioned off rooms
at the, around the perimeter of the image, those are largely administrative offices or things like
that so those would not be available and to the bottom these are these are large
bathrooms for men and women across the bottom besides that that's between that
I'm talking about the large room that's between that space and the kitchen.
space in the kitchen the two large room
The two large rooms that are between that space and the kitchen is primarily what I was inquiring.
Yes, that's right.
The main room would be the intended use, right?
Yeah, but the two large rooms between that room and the kitchen, are those also going to be available for the event space?
I believe so.
i believe everything that's not an administrative office potentially could be used and do you know
how those two other rooms are being used now because we did not see photos of them yeah i i
regret that i didn't take photos because i i toured through there with the owners it's it's
the same idea it's a large space where there's some seating and it looks like classes maybe
happen there or entertainment or activities it's it's the same idea as what you saw but slightly
smaller okay and is the so then leads me to the main question is there a plan to
have more than one event happening at a time no there is no plan for that single
single event would be the plan okay all the questions not a question but a
comment I travel by this facility church and back from church and I never
realized that it was a senior center I know there's a daycare around there it
looks like in a school so there is a traffic during the time of drop-off and
pickup of the kids so are these when this is operating what what what hours
is it operating so that we're not talking about that kind of traffic so
you're you're you're talking about the the current operation like what the
current operation hours are yes okay I I'm gonna Google it so that I'm accurate
but I think it's what you would call normal business hours the website says
seven to six i know i've been there at around eight or nine a.m and there are sort of shuttle
buses bringing seniors from various facilities so i i would say normal business hours in my
experience and it's closed during the weekend um this this this facility right yeah yeah you don't
usually see that but um uh there is a a school or a daycare near there where you know there's a lot
their traffic um if it's if it's during the week and what have you so um just to say um i'm not
sure how much the use of the parking lot you know would help with that but it doesn't appear to be