Please proceed.
So I am here to agree with you that we don't want to have a continuance on this particular property.
Today, I come here and I represent six RCOs who participated in this particular RCO meeting.
Also, one of the participants was Mr. Donatucci, who was a long-term business owner in the community who supported this project.
I think one of the things that you see and may see here through some of the testimony today, just as the first gentleman said, he doesn't have any skin in the game, but he came to speak against a project and asked for a continuance.
SOSNA is an exclusive club in our community.
And if you talk to Mr. Feinberg, since he just spoke, he said that they didn't have any notification.
But if you read his blog a month ago, he spoke on this particular project.
The reality of it is that they seem to want to have an exclusive club and want to come and extend their boundaries so that they can continue to tell us how to operate on the north side of Washington Avenue.
But when they talk about the projects that they have done in the community, one thing you will notice that they've never, ever sent us any notification to participate in any of our meetings.
But when they asked us, could they meet with us to speak on this project, we opened our doors to them.
And when we went on to Zoom, you know what the members of the organization, you actually received a letter from the gentleman today.
They asked us, why were we there?
Why are we there?
Because this is an exclusive club.
I believe they want you to have ID to walk in their neighborhoods.
So I agree that we shouldn't continue this.
The community has spoken.
And I think that you have spoken.
So thank you.
Thank you.
The case is not continued.
We will hear this shortly.
Thank you.
At number 13, MI 2024-006-896-2600 West Montgomery Avenue,
case is continued to 7,925.
Are there any other requests for continuance?
I see no hands.
And number seven, MI 2024-006-823-5329, North 13th Street.
This is the first listing, no exhibits.
Natasha Watson is the listed applicant.
Ivory and Elizabeth Jones are the listed owners.
Are they present?
Natasha Watson has been promoted to panelist.
She's on the screen.
Hello, I am present.
Yes, my name is Mrs. Braynetta Wallace.
I am actually the property owner for 13th Street.
That was my grandparents' home.
Hold on a minute.
Hold on a minute.
Please state your name and spell for the stenographer.
Sure. It's Raynetta Wallace. That's R-A-Y-N as in Nancy, E-T-T-A, last name Wallace, W-A-L-L-A-C-E.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
So help me God.
Are you the owner of the property?
This is the first listing. We have no exhibits.
That's correct.
All right.
So this case is going to be continued.
And before the next case, call the office.
We'll make sure you know exactly what you need.
So this case is continued till 7, 9, 25 at 2 p.m.
And thank you for calling in.
We also have another Natasha Watson.
That may be the actual applicant as well as Emmanuel Wilkerson from the
council district's office.
hi could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer
natasha
yes i'm sorry natasha um watson n-a-t-a-s-h-a w-a-t-s
Watson, N-A-T-A-S-H-A, W-A-T-S-O-N.
Do you swear or referring to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Are you the applicant?
Yes, I am.
We do not have any exhibits.
The case is going to have to be continued.
What do you mean by the exhibits?
Like all of your paperwork, everything that you're supposed to have here within five days of the case.
We don't have anything from you.
i've turned in everything that was supposed to be turned in we we don't have anything there
ma'am please contact the zba office and they will help you
get everything together that you need for your next hearing date
okay that's it pay for uh um expedited so i don't have to wait till july yeah i think
you should talk to the expediter that you approached, okay?
Or you hired. Is there anyone else
warm for this case? Ms. Watson, you can
discuss scheduling with the ZBA staff as well.
Are you here for this case?
Come on forward. Chair, we have Emmanuel Wilkerson on
that Zoom.
Hi, Mr.
Could you please state, woman,
could you please state your name as spelled for the
court stenographer? Yes,
Emanuel Wilkerson, E-M-A-N-U-E-L,
last name W-I-L-K-E-R-S-O-N
with Councilman Anthony Phillips' office.
I just want to make sure for the record that
the Councilman's office is in opposition of
this development.
Hold on a moment, Mr. Wilkerson.
Do you swear or affirm to tell
the truth, the whole truth? I'm just jumping to God.
my apologies. No, no, you don't have to do. Please proceed. I do. Yes. I just want to make
sure that the councilman's office's opposition for this development, and then also that you
receive the exhibits from residents of the North 13th Street petitions. I want to just make sure
that was submitted. Mr. Wilkerson, I believe there's a woman from the 13th Street standing
in front of me. Thank you very much for taking the time to call us. We appreciate it. And could
you please sit down and state your name and spell for the stenographer. My name is Michelle
M-I-C-H-E-L-E. I'm sorry, Mr. Chairman, I cannot hear the witness. Sit down and try to get closer
to the bike. Michelle M-I-C-H-E-L-E, last name, two letters, E-L, pronounced eel.
okay do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
um please please get the mic close to you and um this case is continued and so it's going to come
at another time but if you want to make a short comments about it it's fine but it is going to
come at a later date yes okay i just wanted to say that the residents on north 13th street
strongly oppose. They've sent me with the six-page petition for all of the people who
oppose this. I'm the abutter to that property. We are the contingents to that property. My
husband and I have been living here since 1997. We know that we're connected to that
property and we strongly disagree strongly disagree and we actually think that we have a
lot of older citizens it was hard we got them in the library today the ones that could come
and we don't know if we can gather everybody again like that but this is going to be it's
put off until july but thank you very much we appreciate your comments and we'll take note of
Thank you. Ma'am, I just wanted to note for you and, excuse me, for you and the neighbors, we did receive a copy of the petition and your letter and exhibit. So we do have everything on record. So if people are not able to attend a hearing, the next hearing, we do have all of your information and regions for opposition on file already.
so thank you thank you thank you for coming down we appreciate it um we're going to go to our
add-on list i'm sorry chair we have one more hand neighbors of 5300 north 13th street
i i think the case is continued and that the there will be another hearing on the 9th of july
thank you very much um we're going to our add-on list we have one case
MI 2024-000-593-29-East Mount Erie Avenue, TA-27907.
I vote yes with proviso.
I vote yes with proviso. Her refusal dated 8-22-24. Revised plan, one page, stamped by ZBA, February 19th, 2025.
Her refusal...
My vote is yes with proviso.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes with proviso.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes with proviso.
Hi, Owen, my vote is no.
Thank you. We're going to start our regular list. Number eight, MI 2024-006-828-1741 South Street. Alex Goldberg is the attorney.
There's a letter of non-opposition from the Center City Residence Association with proviso.
i'm mr goldberg could you please state your name as spelled for the court sonographer sure alex
goldberg a-l-e-x-g-o-l-d-b-e-r-g you swear referring to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth i do could you identify your client in the relationship to this property
sure my client is lazaro's dining room which is the tenant of the first floor of 1741 south street
halima's dairy is here as the representative of of lasaro's dining and our vice chair has a few
questions good afternoon council do you have you agree to waive the reading of refusal and
or stipulate to his
do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal or stipulate to his accuracy
i do we got we got a new refusal relatively recently i believe that was included in our
submission materials so thank you having emailed in all the required documents and exhibits as
needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing yes thank you council
please proceed shoes okay um so should be there we are um again my name is alex goldberg i'm here
with Halim Azdari, who's the representative and owner of Lazaro's and the tenant specifically for
1741 South Street Lazaro's dining room. This is the right side, which I've noted on the screen
of Lazaro's. This is not exactly a unity of use because the 1741 and 1743, which is not
a subject of the zoning appeal, are owned by different property owners, but have the same
tenant and have been operating essentially the same business um since 2009 um lazaro's is an
institution on south street it's been there since 1999 and uh this zoning appeal it you know was
initiated um due to violations that were resolving uh hopefully um uh essentially based on the fact
that 1743 south street has active zoning for eat-in and takeout um 1741 did not so we're seeking
those uses. Although, as you'll see in my presentation materials, really 1741 is just
essentially the seating for the operation and sort of where the takeout boxes are being made and
where his drivers hang out when they're waiting to go on call. So just go through my presentation
materials. We have a letter of non-opposition from CCRA, the coordinating RCO. My understanding
is that the council president's office is on the line to offer their non-opposition as well.
The zoning permit that's shown in the file is for 1743, which references that approved
eat-in and take-out, which we're mirroring here at 1741.
Zoning maps, photographs, including photographs of the interior.
Architectural plans showing a basic floor plan of both sites to give you an understanding
of how the business operates.
The meeting notice, the application for appeal, the lease, which is active until 2028 with
options to renew as well as a certificate of tax clearance here's a notice of referral again this
is a special exception which carries a different legal standard than a variance that special
exception applies to the takeout portion of this only the sit down portion is as of right
again as i mentioned as you'll see in the photos this is really just seating for the the operation
of lazaro's here's that letter of non-opposition from ccra we met with them last month it was a
well-attended meeting as it always is for ccra we don't have a vote count which is typical
but we do have non-opposition from the rco they didn't have any major concerns they just wanted
to understand the hours of operations and the trash pickup schedule which i'm happy to go through
during this hearing. Here's a zoning permit for 1743 South Street that was obtained specifically
Here's a zoning permit for 1743 South Street that was obtained specifically to legalize an existing flat wall sign, but I'd point your attention to the second page, which references a luncheonette, which is not a term in the zoning code anymore, but it does reference the eat-in and take-out use that we're sort of mirroring here, although this is not exactly a unity of use.
we're trying to sort of permit this as if it was this is a cmx2 property obviously along a
prominent commercial corridor of south street just near the corner of south and south 18th street
the photographs this is the front of the property in its current condition
the left side is 1743 the right side is 1741 here's the zoning notice poster
here it is in 2007 again this business opened in 1999 um at the time you know as far back as i
could go on google street view you can see is 2007 where it was just the left side business
was doing well i presume permitting was was okay for 1743 um expanded over sometime between 07 and
2009 to sort of occupy both of those spaces and that the business has kind of been the same ever
since here's to the right of the property on south went to the left trash storage is in the rear
we have commercial trash pickup currently we're happy to agree to proviso for that commercial
trash pickup it happens uh six days a week if i'm not mistaken every day except sunday
so trash is well taken care of it's stored in the rear there's no puncture of the party wall
here between the two properties but there is access between the two rear yards the trash is
in these rollers that you see on the screen and they come through the 1741 side to the front of
the property there's no breezeway or anything so that's how the trash makes its way from the back
to the front here's the interiors this is the 41 side just seating and you'll see it in this photo
here you know there's boxes back here where the boxes get folded for the for the takeout pizza
here it is on the 1743 side where the kitchen is where the food is being made where there are no
tables there's just coolers a counter an atm and just standing room there it is from the inside
looking out plans and drawings excuse me so the right side is the ground floor of both properties
1741 is the one with all the tables again there's a there's a bathroom in there there's storage in
the rear the left side is the kitchen area there's doors in the rear that both access a walk-in
refrigerator and the trash storage area the basements are just for storage use also not
connected underneath um and and you know there's no use for any customers down there whatsoever
before i go to this notice i just want to mention the hours of operations monday through thursday
11 a.m to 8 45 p.m friday to saturday 11 a.m to 9 45 p.m sunday noon to 8 45 p.m he's got six