Ms. Nackamson, we apparently have lost
him. You're an officer of the
court, and we will accept your testimony.
Questions
from the board?
I do have a comment. I just want to say that I appreciate the use of the brick on the facade for this new addition. I think overall, this is probably a welcome project for this neighborhood and appreciate the fact that you put the stairway on the inside because that truly was an eyesore.
And it seems like the detail that you've used on the ground floor does complement the neighborhood.
Question, where will the trash be stored?
And does the owner intend to do outdoor seating?
So in terms of the trash, there would be a ventilated trash closet in the residence.
So that's where the trash would be stored for the residence.
There would also be trash compactors and garbage disposals.
For the restaurant, I can take a look at the floor plans.
I would assume it would be in the basement level and then obviously commercial trash pickup for the commercial.
But let me just take a look to see where the trash is being stored at the lower level.
Confirm that.
it's not really it's not differentiated the kitchen area but um i would state that it would
be stored in in the lower level and you said there will not be or there will be outdoor seating
oh whoa i didn't ask that answer that question sorry um it was actually mentioned at the community
Oh, whoa, I didn't answer that question. Sorry. It was actually mentioned at the community meeting. His intention is to do that, but he wants to get up and running first and then, you know, see how it plays out. And so with that, he would have to reach out to the community as well to, you know, to get community input as well. So if we do do that, we would have to go back to the community.
Thank you.
Questions, additional questions from the board?
i have a question sure uh not like the rear yard space
two feet three inches i think two yeah two three inches yeah so um yeah so this was a
non-conforming building to begin with um and in order to move the staircase inside that's
unfortunately what we had to expand that non-conformity and that's why we're asking for
the roof deck is for that additional space for the occupant of the, of this, of the residents.
I'm thinking of trash for the restaurant. Like, you know, I know that Shannon may be some space
in the basement, but, you know, some outdoor space for boxes and stuff like that. I'm just,
yeah, that's it. Hi, you have a question? Yeah, I actually had two. One, where are we
expecting deliveries to be made as a commercial business. I think similar to the questions about
the trash, I also have questions about commercial deliveries.
Yeah. So in terms of commercial delivery, well, where the delivery is going to be,
I don't know the answer to which street it's going to be, whether it's fall or if it's going
be haggard um so that that i cannot answer um and what was the second question that was well i didn't
ask the second question yet my second question is is the roof deck exclusive to the residential unit
or is it also accessible for those that are in the commercial restaurant no it's exclusive to
residential unit. Only the residential unit has access to it.
I have no other questions. Thank you. I have a question. You say this is going to be like
a restaurant. What kind of food are we talking about serving? Are we going to be doing any kind
of cooking that would require a venting of some sort and if so where will the uh the venting be
so i think it's going to be like if memory serves me right um american pub pub food um
and the venting would be through the roof okay questions from our attorney hillary emberson
They need to show that on the plan.
They don't.
It doesn't show on a plan.
Exactly.
To the building.
I agree it needs to be, but I didn't see it on the plan.
So I can again take a look at what was actually, you know, file to make sure that it is on the plan.
and this this is hillary um i did have a one comment but i the venting may not be i don't
know if the venting is because only site plans are required at the stage in the process so i
don't know that venting would be required um on the the site plan but i i'm sure will be required
um later you know in the process with with building plans and such and will probably require
uh other permitting um i i didn't want to note that um in on the revised plans it appears that
the height of the building came down a little bit um but that's right it didn't actually
yeah it wasn't yeah it wasn't on the proviso form so if the board does approve we do need
an updated proviso form just noting that the height reduction in the building oh miss emerson
what i can do is i can have my you know we can get that to you before you know i don't know how
many more matters are before the board but i'm sure it's like a a two-second thing that my board
my team can get that to you thank you questions or comments from the virtual audience
i see no hands planning commission thank you chair bergman and good afternoon david vecto
with the city planning commission chairman and board members the comprehensive plan
recommends no change to the commercial mixed-use zoning at this location this property has a
documented history as a restaurant with a single family dwelling the maximum occupied area and
rear yard depth are existing non-conformities however the appellant has not shown that the
However, the appellant has not shown that the additional height is necessary to afford the appellant economic relief.
additional height is necessary to
The City Planning Commission recommends that the Board grant the proposed dimensional variances for maximum occupied area and rear yard depth and the proposed use variance for a sit-down restaurant, but deny the proposed dimensional variance for additional height.
Mr. Chair, may I answer that?
Yeah, please, sure.
Yeah, and Ms. Emerson actually reminded me of that.
to the roof line we're now at 31 feet originally we were at 38 feet and the original design was
four stories and i i actually talked to my client about it i unfortunately wasn't involved when it
was submitted to lni and i thought it was a better use of the property to make it a three-story
structure with higher ceilings make it more comfortable and so we're really at the roof
line 31 feet high it's it's a technical refusal for height because of the size of the pilot house
which we reduced and reoriented to more so in the middle of the building structure.
For all those reasons, I respectfully request that the board grant the variances in totality.
MI 2024, 002, 036, 2436 Gall Street.
I vote yes with a proviso.
Revised plans, one page, stamp by CBA, June 26, 2024.
for question can can can there be a proviso to to for the duct for the exhaust to be within the
building can that be a proviso um i think that's building code isn't it hillary
say that again we're we're because we can request and we have in the past requested that the vent
either be out the roof or out the side to a particular street um where were you requesting
the venting out the roof out the roof okay yes we can say venting through um roof that we can do
can there be a proviso that they store the trash for the restaurant in the basement yes okay we
could do interior trash trash storage it has to be inside somewhere so let's let's let's start
over here so mi 2024 002 036 2436 wall street i vote yes with proviso revised plan one page
stamp izba on june 26 2024 venting out through the roof and interior trash storage
my vote is yes with proviso james snell my vote is yes with proviso michael johns my vote is yes
with proviso uh tanetta graham my vote is yet with yes with the proviso tya win my vote is yes with
the provisos.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes
with provisos.
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Nockelson.
Number 16,
MI 2024
002-196
934-44
East Pass Shunk Avenue.
Stephen Pollack and Ryan Thomas are
the attorneys.
Letters of non-opposition of enveloped
this to Neighbors Association. Letter of non-opposition
received from Council Member Squill.
Mr. Pollack.
I'm clicking off everything.
I'd like to say to the board, first of all, I know Alan Noxamson, and I'm not Alan Noxamson.
I'm Steve Pollack, and I've been in front of this board since 1976, so this is my 48th year.
I welcome Ms. Graham and Ms. Wynn and Mr. Johns, and I have a special feeling for Ms. Gaston, who for many, many years, she and I were co-chairs of the Philadelphia Bar Association Zoning and Land Use Committee.
So welcome, everybody, and with that, Mr. Chairman, we're ready to move on.
Thank you, Mr. Pollock. Mr. Pollock, just for the record, state your name and spell for the stenographer.
My name is Stephen Pollack, Stepan, S-T-E-P-H-E-N, and Pollack, P-O-L-L-O-C-K.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
I do, Mr. Chair, members of the board.
Could you identify your client and relationship to the property?
My client is the Asian Bank.
They are the owners and operators of the Asian Bank.
I have with me today Mr. Chris Nardo, who is the Chief Operating Officer of Asian Bank.
And I also have Philip Rogers of Lenhot and Rogers, our architect, who designed the accessory sign that we're here for today for permission.
And our vice chair has just a few questions for you, sir.
Thank you.
Good afternoon, Mr. Pollard. Do you agree to weigh the reading of the refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?
Good afternoon, Mr. Pollard. Do you agree to weigh the reading of the refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?
I do, Mr. Shahid.
Have you emailed in all the required documents or exhibits, I mean, and exhibits that is needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
We have.
Thank you, counsel. Please proceed and share your screen.
Mr. Chair, members of the board, if I may, I don't know if Ryan, as you said, Mr. Chairman, if I can have Ryan Thomas be joined as a panelist.
He's my associate. And unlike the other people, I've never decided how to master sharing a screen.
So I depend on the kindness of others. That's fine.
Ryan, are you hopefully on? Ryan Thomas is coming back in as a panelist. Great.
Yeah, I'm here. Sorry. OK, so let's go to the refusal first, just so the board knows.
This is a simple, hopefully a simple matter. This is an application for an accessory sign to the Asian Bank. Asian Bank has a sign that we're in a C2 district. The use is allowed. Our sign is allowed but for the fact that we have a situation where you're not allowed to have a flat wall sign that is the lower of the roof line or the second floor windowsill.
We will show you pictures that show our roof line. We then have a parapet and we are under that parapet and the parapet is dictated by we have a accessibility ramp that lifts up our main entranceway on that side.
Then we have our entranceways and our windows. And so this is where the sign fits just above.
And you'll see from our drawing that Mr. Rogers can talk about that our proposed sign is probably about two thirds within the distance and one third above where the roof line is up into the parapet.
So with that, this is our, Ryan showed you our list of exhibits A1 through 14. Instead of going through all them, I will just assume that we've read them into the record and they are exhibits. This just is our refusal that verifies that, as you can see, that we are refused for the fact that our flat wall sign is the lower of those two.
So let's go to our A1, A4, our site plan first.
A1, our site plan.
So we can show the board.
Those were the posters.
Here we go.
Let's go back.
Go back.
Well, there's the site plan.
Do you want to?
Here is our plan.
We have two.
We are a triangular shaped lot that has frontage, tiny frontage along Carpenter Street.
And the main entranceway is along Pass Yonk.
And the other side is along Seventh Street.
Maybe from the pictures you'll see, there is a fabulous Isaiah Zagar mosaic on our rear wall and on the walk near our parking lot that we were able to preserve when we renovated this property from a Napoli pizza place to the Asian Bank.
So I've circled in the upper right and blue ink the sign, which is a three foot by 12 foot flat wall sign that goes above the our main entranceway along past Yonk.
And as you can see just below, there is a handicapped accessibility ramp and then our frontage and then the sign.
The sign itself is the one in the lower left Asian Bank.
It actually matches the sign that we have along the frontage along 7th Street, as you can see.
So those are those. Now, let's go to our pictures at A1 and A2.
Again, the site plan, the interior plan, if you wanted to see it.
So when they had a temporary opening, they put up this white sign up above.
So this is exactly where the proposed flat wall accessory sign will go.
And you can see the accessory ramp that leads into our main entranceway along Pass Yonk.
And as you can see, it's a very, it's a, it's a wet, we're like a wedge building and we preserve the wedge building.
So go to the next picture, Ryan.
That's the same sign that's on 7th Street right now that we're going to be putting onto the frontage on Pass Yonk.
So if you want to go through just to give the board a look at the rest of the pictures real quick, just to see, that's the frontage along Carpenter.
That's along 7th Street. Keep going, 7th Street.
I'd love to see if we can show the board some of the mosaic that we were able to save.
Maybe you're starting to see the mosaic in the back. There you see it again. Keep going. We saved the mosaic on our side of the wall, too, so that there were no rear entranceways or anything breaking into that to detract from this iconic kind of wall that's there in the neighborhood.
Maybe you're starting to see the mosaic in the back.
There you see.
If we want to, let's go to A41 and A42 just to show.
There's some more shots of where we're going to be putting this.
That's from Pass Yonk, looking down Pass Yonk.
That's an interior shot of the bank, looking at a carpenter, some interior shots.
This is what Napoli Pizza was, and you've seen what we've been able to do to this building.
Now, let's go to what we have is we do have a letter of non-opposition from the Bella Vista Neighborhood Association, Neighbors Association.
Let's go to A13, our sign calculation chart, because we're in a C2 district.
We are allowed on that side of the street, on the Pass Young side.
These are all our certificates of mailing.
I think we had about 144 locations we had to mail to.
Sorry about all that.
That's our notice letter to the neighbors.
There's Bella Vista's letter of support and the neighbors who were in attendance and go to the next one.
This is our sign calculation chart.
We are allowed about 234 square feet of signage along this frontage because it's on multiple frontages.
We only have with this proposed sign, we'd have 37.1 square feet on the 7th Street side where we're allowed 324 square feet.
We only have 40.9 square feet.
So we only have, even with the new sign, if you grant us permission, we'd have 78 square feet of frontage. So we believe where we probably could have about, looks like about 550 square feet of front of signage.
So we believe that this is the least minimum variance necessary to afford us relief, given the physical characteristics of a triangular shaped building and the requirement of having a handicapped accessibility ramp in the front, right in that same facade.
And in fact, if you look at the RCO support letter that fellow architect Lawrence Weintraub wrote, Lawrence Larry also recognized that as a flat roof, it's surrounded by a parapet wall, and the parapet wall has been slightly extended not only to map the sign, but he says, and architecturally indicate where the entrance is along this lengthy store frontage facade.
So we are saying, in essence, that those are our hardship and our reason. We feel that since it's a use that's permitted, we're not going to be detrimental to the public welfare and that we are obviously not altering the essential character of this neighborhood.
And so with that, I would like to call up Chris Nardo, who is the COO of the Asian Bank.
Yes, this is Chris Nardo, Chief Operating Officer for Asian Bank.
My first name, I'm sorry, could you just spell your name for the court sonographer?
Sure. Chris, C-H-R-I-S, Nardo, and as in Nancy, A-R-D-O.
You swear to firm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?