with their decal signage superimposed on the beautiful floor-to-ceiling windows.
So zoning notices were posted in accordance with the rules on October 5th.
And here we have a copy of the floor plan and a rendering again that shows the space
with the Recolese signage. So it's important to underscore that Recolese is very conscious of
its environmental footprint and committed to maintaining cleanliness of the neighborhoods
in which its shops are located. Before the RCO meeting that was hosted back in August,
Recolese actually hosted an open house as well to get feedback from the surrounding neighbors
and to understand the priorities. With this feedback, along with their standard practices
at their other locations, Barkerleys has a comprehensive trash management plan. It includes
compostable cups and spoons and wrappers, but the trash is actually limited due to the fact that
most of the items are edible, for example, cones. You can see that the trash and compost cans will be
stored in the basement, which has access on Bainbridge Street, and the compost will be
hauled regularly by a private commercial company. So in response to feedback at both meetings,
waste receptacles will be provided both inside and outside of the shop during business hours
and emptied regularly. And they will have trash sweep before and after they open, before they
open and after they close. And overall, Weckerlees has a track record of pristine business operations
at their existing locations. So as for the nature of their operations, there will be no cooking,
no frying, no venting on site, and all treats will be prepared off-site at their micro-priming.
I'll also mention that the patronage usually results in, it results from regular foot traffic.
So there wouldn't be any undue congestion resulting from their presence at, you know,
in this neighborhood. Here we have the Bella Vista Neighborhood Association attendance and voting,
as well as their letter of non-opposition,
the tax compliance certificate, the application of appeal, as well as the project information form,
and the RCO notice and certificate of mailing. So that summarizes my testimony on the application
i'm also accompanied by andrew satinsky and gene chang who are representatives of the applicant
who will be sworn in are they panelists applicants please raise your hand so you can be uh
you can be sworn in
mr satinsky you can unmute yourself and speak now
oh uh thank you uh i'm here please spell your full name and i swear you in andrew a-n-d-r-e-w
satinsky s-a-t-i-n-s-k-y you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the
truth i do thank you miss lacey okay so um andy did you hear my testimony before the board
this morning yes i did do you have um do you affirm that the presentation was accurate
I do and do you adopt the testimony as your own yes and do you have anything that you'd like to add
uh I'll just add that uh we are um we'll be you price all signage for a little pop shop as well
in the um in the images who uh will be represented in the space as well
with Jeannie Chang representing there also as a leaseholder.
Okay. Any questions from the board?
No, Ms. Kelly.
Anyone else like to testify in this case?
If so, please raise your hand.
Ms. Chang, you can unmute yourself and speak now.
Thank you.
anyone else there are no other hands at this time chair planning commission
thank you chairman de chico ian hegarty for the philadelphia city planning commission members
of the board this is a special exception referral um and the proposed special exception will not
cause detrimental impacts to the neighborhood beyond what might normally be expected for this
use and so the planning commission would recommend that the board grant the special exception thank
you mi 2021-003091 701 south 9th street my vote is yes professor plaza my vote is yes
james now my vote is yes thomas howlin my vote is yes i believe that completes the 9 30 list
is there anyone who feels as though they've not been recognized or is there any outstanding
business for the 9 30 list please raise your hand there are no hands at this time chair thank you
thank you everyone for your help and i will see you all back here at two o'clock you got it see
you guys then see you later see you guys yes and uh we'll wait for the go ahead
nope we're all ready already okay thank you tanya good afternoon everyone my name is frank
de chico i'm the chair of the zoning board of adjustment i'll be participating in today's
hearing along with our board secretary confessor plaza president board member mr thomas holloman
Present.
Mr. Board Member, Mr. James Snow.
Present.
Board Administrator, Yvette Benton, and our Board Attorney, Ms. Sharon, excuse me, Ms. Rebecca Cole, are also in attendance, as is the Zoning Board Administrator, Ms. Tanya Sunkit.
For those of you who haven't yet participated in one of our virtual hearings, I'll go through some of the basics of what you can expect.
First, we will be administering oaths to individual participants prior to their testimony.
Second, we'd like to advise everyone that this proceeding is being recorded and that by participating, you acknowledge your agreement to be recorded and that the recording will be made available to the public by contacting our board administrator, Ms. Tanya Sunkett at tanya.sunkett at phila.gov.
For anyone participating by phone, if you wish to testify, you must raise your hand by hitting star 9 and then star 6 to unmute yourself.
I'll repeat.
For anyone participating by phone, if you wish to testify, you must raise your hand by hitting star 9 and then star 6 to unmute yourself.
Finally, to enter an appearance statement, call Google 267-270 and leave your email address and address of the property at issue.
I'll repeat that.
To enter an appearance statement, call Google 267-270-5548 and leave your email address and the address of the property at issue.
and i'd like to remind everyone please do not attempt to testify in the chat comments questions
or concerns should be directed to our board administrator ms yvette benton having said that
i will now begin by reading off a request for continuance or withdrawals on the two o'clock list
number eight on our list mi 2021 that's 002 899 3237 north 17th street this case is continued
at the request of the attorney number 11 mi 2021 that's 002 910 3900 main street is withdrawn
number 12 mi 2021 that's 002913 5024 race street this case is being continued if anyone objects
to the cases i just read in as to being continued or withdrawn please raise your hand at this time
if you disagree with the cases i just read into the record to be continued or withdrawn
on. Chair, we have Clementa Amazon with her hand up. Ms. Amazon, you can unmute yourself
Ms. Amazon, you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
and wait for the chair.
Thank you.
Good afternoon, Ms. Amazon.
Please identify yourself for the record.
You're still under oath.
Thank you.
Clemente Amazon, C-L-E-M-E-N-T-A, last name A-M-A-Z-A-N.
And I would like to request a continuous for 2435 Pail Thorpe Street.
what is the address again 2435 palethorpe street i believe it's number five on your list
nope you are you looking at the two let me see it might be the three o'clock
case all right west burks number six mr chairman
oh palethorpe street i'm sorry that was number six
okay so mi 2021 that's zero zero two nine one four two four three five palethorpe street
is continued.
Again, I'm asking
if anyone disagrees with the cases that
have been read into the record as being
continued, please raise your hand.
There are no hands
at the sign, Chair.
I will now ask if anyone would like to request
a continuance or
withdrawal on the 2 o'clock
list, please raise your hand.
Chair,
we have ryan boland with his hand up mr boland you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair
you good afternoon mr boland please spell your full name and i'll swear you in
good afternoon ryan boland r-y-a-n-b-o-l-a-n-d 1801 market street suite 2300 philadelphia
pennsylvania 19103 we're affirmed to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
Hello?
You ready for me?
Yeah, please proceed.
I'm here on 1718 Fairmount Avenue, which is meeting ID 2021-3110.
And I'm here.
There's a letter from Daryl Clark's office there.
I also believe that Assistant City Solicitor Ellen Corrigan is also here requesting a continuance.
But, Mr. Chairman, I'm here.
I represent the Appellant Spring Garden Civic Association.
It's an appeal of an over-the-counter permit issued.
And this is a little unique because we already had a really long hearing on this project back in April.
And the reason I'm requesting the continuance is pretty simple.
My wife just had a baby.
We had a son.
I'm out on paternity leave.
I'm not supposed to be working right now.
If this wasn't a matter I was so deeply involved in prior, I would hand it off to someone else.
I just don't feel comfortable doing that, and I'm not supposed to be engaging in billable work.
It's as simple as that.
It's as simple, but it's a little confusing because it's been a while.
I still have a little bit of a hard time to disrespect understanding that in a firm as big as yours, that there was no one else who can handle this case.
And maternity leave, I appreciate and respect that.
But I mean, I don't know. We've all been on leave for almost two years.
Chair, this is Tanya, the administrator. Did you want us to promote the attorney, Mr. Bertil?
Yeah, I'm getting to him next, Tanya. Thank you.
Also, if I can just convey, I don't know if Ellen Corrigan is on the line, but she emailed me last night.
And as you, Miss Corrigan will be representing Ellen and I here.
and she let me know and I also spoke with Len Reuter via email over the past week. What I heard
from Ellen last night is that they don't have an examiner present today. Anyway, Len Reuter
thought a continuance was going to be granted and it's my understanding they want to request
a continuance. I don't want to say gotcha. I don't want to say gotcha. Let's hear from the
other parties and i can all i know is i know you're with the the appellants uh a continuing
which is going to be a couple of months out at the earliest maybe three months uh mr bertill
mr bertill please identify yourself you're still under oath from earlier uh good after good
afternoon mr chair steve bertill b-e-r-t-i-l claire harrison harvey and brandsburg um 1835
Market Street, 14th floor Philadelphia PA 19103. I wasn't on the list earlier today. I was on the
I wasn't on the list earlier today. I was on the list this morning. I don't know if that's okay, if I can go forward.
list this morning. I don't know if that's okay if I can go forward.
Yeah, you were this morning. Yeah. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I think you've sort of identified the crux of the issue here. And I think Mr. Boylan is conflating the issues.
This is a third-party appeal, but by right permit. As the filer, the burden is on Mr. Bolin and his client to establish a legitimate basis for appeal.
They filed an appeal to this permit back in July. They obtained notice of the date of the hearing, I would say in early September.
Um, Mr. Bolin at that time stated that he had a scheduled, um, paternity leave. Um, and I'm,
and I'm certainly sympathetic to paternity leave. I have two young children under seven myself. Um,
but this is not a situation where, um, you know, birth came early or late or whatever the case
may be. This was scheduled months out. And at that time, we informed Mr. Bolin that we would
be opposing that request because this is a buy-right appeal and not an appeal of a buy-right
permit and not a variant. And the permit holder and property owners shouldn't be delayed because
Mr. Bolton is not available, particularly because he's not a solo practitioner. He's at a firm
that has over 200 attorneys that can provide coverage. Furthermore,
this is, in terms of the specific scenario with the, I don't want to get into the substantive
issues yet, but this is a owner-occupied or intended to be an owner-occupied property.
This is going to be the residence. The permit holders are currently living in transitional
housing waiting for completion of this project. At a certain point, as I think everyone here is
aware, when it comes to construction, it becomes prohibitively expensive to move forward under the
cloud of an appeal. And I think Mr. Boland and the board is aware that administratively the
board is backed up substantially. And this is something I spoke to the city about, the law
Department, I believe Ellen Corrigan is on the line, and Councilman Clark's office about
to inform them of the particular situation going on here, that this is not a typical
scenario. And I think most importantly is Mr. Bolin's appeal is, this is not a situation where
there's ambiguous language in the code that needs to be interpreted by multiple, you know,
experts or examiners, et cetera, et cetera, his appeal is based on the facial reading of the code
where literally just reading the sections that he cite will show the board whether he's correct
or not. And so because of that, I don't believe that necessarily needs to be continued at the
detriment of the permit holders to have this cloud hanging over them. Also, my understanding,
I was privy to the conversation with Mr. Bolin and a lot of part of my understanding is that they are not opposed to us moving forward today with and having the respective parties make their arguments.
Now, if the board feels after that they still need to hear from the examiner, maybe a resumption hearing for that examiner could be possible.
But I don't think it's necessary to continue the entire case, particularly because Mr. Bolin is here and he made the claims.
You know, I don't think this is a complicated matter.
I don't think that there is an extensive list of witnesses.
In fact, I don't really think any witnesses is needed on Mr. Bolin's part, because these are just legal arguments about facial reading of the code.
So for all those reasons, I think it would be prejudicial against the permit holders to, you know, kick them into next year because Mr. Bolin is here and doesn't want to stand on the arguments he's made in July.
Thank you. I'm going to rule that we go forward with this case.
And as you spelled out, Mr. Bertil, if need be, we can always do a resumption if we need the city to weigh in on this.
So the request for continuance is denied.
Any other requests for continuances or withdrawals?
I see no other hands, Chair.
If you haven't said that, we'll begin with case number one.
MI 2021-002918, 101 North Independence Mall, number E, or letter E, I guess that's the suite number.
Mr. Jared Klein is the attorney of record.
old city civic old city district rather sent a letter of support as did councilman
Old City District, rather, sent a letter of support, as did Councilman Mark Squiller.
Mr. Klein, please identify yourself.
You're still under oath from this morning.
He's coming back in as a panelist now, Chair.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chair.
Again, Jared Klein, K-L-E-I-N, from Blank Rome, 130 North 18th Street, Philadelphia, 19103.
I believe I'm still under oath from this morning's session.
Yes, you are. But thank you. And Mr. Plaza has questions for you.
The client, you agree to wait to read in of its refusal and stipulate to its accuracy.