advisory group 11 people attended letter of non-opposition from council member lazada
property is tax compliant
good afternoon council
Good afternoon, Chair. I just sat back down. Who was the council person?
Darcy Ann.
Okay, thank you.
I promoted Darcy Ann.
Dorothy A. Hamill has declined. Her name is in here like four times. I'll try it again.
Okay. Can Ms. Hamill, who is the counsel, raise her hand so we can promote the correct
person. Thank you. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, members. My name is Dorothy Hamill, D-O-R-O-T-H-Y-H-A-M-I-L-L.
I'm here on behalf of the
How about
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth
The whole truth and nothing but the truth
Could you identify your client
The relationship to the property
My client is M&B
Philly 8
Do you waive the reading of the refusal
And agree with its accuracy
I do. And has all your exhibits been in within five days prior? Yes. Please proceed.
And has all your exhibits been in within five days prior
Here we go.
Let me share my screen.
Can everyone see my screen? We can. Okay.
Okay. My client is M&B Philly 8 LLC. They're the owner of the property. They bought the property
approximately five years ago. It was in some rough condition. And
there was, there had been a hair salon on the first floor,
and then became vacant, and there are six apartments that were previously approved.
The application is for a, it's under assembly and entertainment.
It's a 30 to 35 space that holds approximately 30 to 35 people at 700 square feet.
The proposed use is for an entertainment space for baby showers, sweet 16s, family-oriented parties.
So that required, that use caused the issuance of a referral.
There was a second proposed use, wholesale warehouse distribution storage that requires a refusal.
Unfortunately, I think there wasn't something specific enough for what she was planning, so we had to file under the broad wholesale distribution storage warehouse.
In addition to having an event space, the tenant in the premises is she also rents party equipment, tables, chairs, linens, lighted signs, chairs, like throne chairs, benches, bigger items.
However, none of the larger, and I should add, you know, some fog machines, bubble machines, things like that.
None of the larger items are stored in the premises.
The only items that are stored in the premises are smaller items such as linens, chandeliers, table centers, flowers, things of that nature.
utensils all of the larger items are stored in an off-site facility. So there
is our appeal. Deed showing ownership of the property. We filed, we sent the
notices as required to the Neighborhood Association. Here's proof of mailings.
There's a letter of support from Frankfort Neighborhood Advisory
Committee. I have included pictures of the zoning notices being posted and the
person who took the picture um why don't you just bring it in a little bit so we can see yeah i'm
just trying to bring it in a little bit now uh there i go that's that's the outside that's this
is the outside so um and the chair that you see in the window is the you know the kind of throne
chair that that she uh also rents but again none of these big ticket items are stored on the
premises uh they're in another facility and as you can see on the window she identifies the
type of events that she hosts birthday parties baby showers engagements game night gender reveals
um there are two um she does events like a mommy and me or daddy and me type events
type events, some like painting with a twist kind of events, very community-oriented events.
This is the rear of the property, which is fenced. This is where trash would be stored.
this is across the street
this would be uh you could see her property her space uh next to the church there there's a
there's an alleyway uh in between the two this is looking down the other side of the street
and this is inside what the spaces would look like decorated. I'd like to point out that
the operator of the premises is a resident of the neighborhood. She lives
um just a couple blocks away from the facility she has lived there for about 20 years so she's
very invested uh in the community and becoming a part of the community
in fact during our meeting with the rco they had requested that we put out some information
to some of the local groups, the sports groups, children's sports groups, things like that,
to let people know that this kind of facility is available in the neighborhood.
This is what the inside would look like for baby shower, children's birthday parties,
engagement parties this is sorry it's a little small but this is sort of what the empty space
looks like these are all pictures of decorated space I also have included this isn't the bathroom
for the facility there is a bathroom for the rental space but I also wanted to include there
are six rental units in the building. And when my client purchased the property, they redid
five of the six units. They're looking to upgrade the sixth unit, but the resident in that
unit has been a longtime resident and is not particularly interested in the disruption of
of an upgrade so you know we're just working with them see what they'd like to do
they change their mind so this is the updated bathrooms updated kitchen
is this in the units upstairs correct is there a kitchen on the is there a kitchen on the at the
in the facilities do they cook in the facility there's no cooking in the facility people bring
in their own catering. Uh, there's no liquor license. Uh, people would be permitted to bring
in liquor if they would like. However, um, they have to have a licensed bartender
to serve, um, at any event and, you know, any insurances or requirements with the PLCB would
have to be met, but that's not something I think we anticipate too much of. The hours of operation
would be Monday to Friday, noon to 11 p.m., Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 11 p.m.
We expect a lot of the events will be either early afternoon for children's parties or later
afternoon into the evening for adult parties but uh which we anticipate will probably you know
each event probably lasts somewhere between one to four one to five hours um trash is stored
outside. There'll be closed trash cans. Trash is picked up by the Philadelphia Sanitation
Department. The tenant is, as I said, very involved in the community. And you'll see
in the letter of support that we received that, you know, the community noted,
that, um, you know, the, the community noted how clean the premises is, uh, and, you know,
which is, can be difficult along that stretch of, uh, Frankfort Avenue. So, um, he, let's see.
previously you know just to give you a little bit of history on the property there were
there's been a number of uses there spas furniture stores takeout restaurants delis
as far as transportation and traffic we don't anticipate that this will produce any excessive
of traffic on frankfort avenue there is parking um along frankfort avenue um because it is a local
we anticipate this is going to be predominantly local use um we anticipate you know people coming
from the neighborhood coming together in groups there's also um public transportation that's very
convenient to the location. There's a number of septibuses that stop on the corner of the facility.
In addition, obviously the elevated train runs right in front of the property and the Bridge
and Pratt stop, which is the end of the line, is approximately two blocks from the premises.
uh if you have any questions i'm happy to take any questions i have why don't you bring your
client on sure i'd like to bring dj babalola
you may come up as iodj
BJ, if you are in the virtual audience, please raise your hand.
He's coming up.
Well, I think this may be under your name, Dorothy Ann Hamill.
I guess that's why I'm coming up multiple times.
Sorry.
I don't see anyone in the audience by that name.
so i know he's here
hi i am here but i'm under my attorney's name
hi could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
my name is ayodeji babalola is a y o d e j i and last name is b a b a
L-O-L-A
You swear or affirm to tell the truth
the whole truth and nothing but the truth
Please proceed counsel
Mr. Babalola
have you heard my testimony
and the exhibits that I presented
to the board this afternoon
And you've heard the testimony that I've given
and do you
agree that my testimony
is true and correct and would you adopt
it as your own
questions from the board
yeah I have a couple questions
my first question is
so the trash that you were talking
about you said it was going to be stored out
in the rear is that the same place
that the tenants store their trash
the tenants bring out the trash
on trash day
The trash is primarily just for the tenant, for the event tenant.
So where is the trash being stored for the event and for the tenants?
The trash for the event will be stored at the back of the building.
But the trash for the tenants, they bring out their trash on trash day.
Okay, and has there been any issues with trash since you've had the location of the property?
Has there been any issues with trash, with the tenant's trash that you know of?
No, no.
Since we bought the property, actually, when we bought the property, we noticed a lot of trash in front of the building and just around the block in general.
And we've made it a point.
As a matter of fact, a tenant can testify.
why she cleans in front of that building every day,
just to make sure the appearance of the building
stays neat and clean every day.
Just worry about this, because of the dense space,
just worry about this, because of the dense space, there may be more trash. So have you considered
there may be more trash.
So have you considered like.
like commercial trash pickup? I don't think that there, oh, sorry. What I was going to say is I
don't believe that commercial trash pickup is an option because there's no place to store a dumpster.
okay all right and the other question is is there a separate sink on in the event space
because you didn't show us the bathroom but is there a separate sink like so folks can like
get water wash their hands outside of the bathroom
yes there is a sink in the back of the uh behind the bathroom
so there's a so i guess let me go back so um
in this picture can you show us where the bathroom would be
not the bathroom we're looking for where the sink is the extra sink right a sink separate
to distinct from the bathroom sink so where would that be so here's if you look at the exit and i
don't have a picture of that i could certainly get that but looking at this picture um dj
is the bathroom behind that black door yes so it will be the space the bathroom and then another
a small section where they would call the warming area with a little sink and a microwave
and then a back door that leads to the trash area.
So I guess the question is, is there an area, you said that the caterers would bring in
whatever food, whatever.
Is there like a food prep area that you have in the space?
Yes, that would be the room in the back where I'm referencing, the sink area.
Where there's a sink and a counter and a microwave.
Okay, a sink, microwave.
Is there any kind of refrigerator or anything there?
I think the tenant is also on this call and she can confirm the refrigerator.
but I'm certain on the sink
and I want to say there's a refrigerator
there as well
I'm just
thinking you need to keep
whole foods cold
you need some
way to make sure that
whatever the caterers
are bringing that they can
serve it at a temperature that will
make sure that
no one gets sick
from what happens
She's on this call if you want me to put her on to confirm the refrigerator, but I want
to say yes.
Her name is Rosalyn McNeil.
She's probably under my name, too.
Why don't we do this?
Is everyone done with this?