So they're really excited about this opportunity in Philadelphia.
They're well-known in social media.
I didn't even know that until I told someone I work with who we're representing, and they
indicated that his wife follows them, and they have a great following on social media.
I wish my firm had this much of a following.
They have 360,000 people on social media, and they're very active as well with emails
and stuff like that to their customers.
Cookies, like again, I think we in Philadelphia
are more familiar with Insomnia Cookies.
Again, similar type of platform.
They're very confident they'll do well here, as well as Insomnia Cookies.
They're very confident they'll do well here
as well as Insomnia Cookies.
And then their reviews.
I mean, they have 4.7 stars based on almost 200 reviews.
Again, everyone's very excited about this.
The maps of the area, as you can see, we're in center, center city.
You know, CMX5 surrounds us.
So what we're offering is not out of character, would not cause more harm than you would generally suspect from an operation of a prepared food shop like this.
And again, you can see from the Google Maps perspective, there's business after business after business that's, you know, similar type, maybe not selling cookies to what tailorship is hoping to do.
And then photographs of the property. Right now, it's a four-story structure. We're looking to take the ground floor of this structure right here, which is approximately 900 square feet.
This is proof of the notice poster. Again, they're very excited. They put, you know, some, you know, again, a flat, what's it called, wrapping around the front, hoping, you know, as soon as they get this approval, to go through the L&I process and hoping to open up well before the end of the year.
And then this is Chestnut Street to the right of the property, Chestnut Street to the left of the property.
And then there are plants and drawings.
This is, again, much improvement to what's there right now, fully glassed up.
And then you can see here they sell some apparel here.
There is seating here, and they'll have both ice cream and cookies that they're going to sell.
This is from different angles.
and then here's just again just from a from more of a floor plan perspective of what those
renderings showed uh our community meeting was May 23rd 7 p.m it was a well-attended meeting
94 addresses were notified of that meeting was the addresses proof of mailing to those addresses
or applications for special exception again we're not seeking a variance we're seeking
a special exception, or a referral, or project information form, or a lease to the property.
It's going to go quickly through it. And most importantly, the tax clearance as well. So with
that being said, I would ask that Doug virtually raise his hand. Could you state your name,
please and spell it for the court stenographer.
Doug Taylor, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Sir, could you state your name and spell it, please?
Doug, D-O-U-G, Taylor, T-A-Y-L-O-R.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed, counsel.
Yes. Doug, you heard everything I had to state today about your zoning matter.
And was it true and correct?
And do you adopt it as your own testimony?
Thank you.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Chair.
No, Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I see no hands, Chair.
Planning Commission.
This is Ron Bednar, City Planning.
The property is zoned for center city commercial use on the city plan.
The proposed proposal should have no more than an impact than would be expected given its specific location.
Therefore, we recommend that the board grant a special exception.
Thank you. MI 2023-001-411-1807 Chesson Street. I vote yes.
Thomas Holloman. My vote is yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you.
Number six, MI 2023, 001-598-1500 North A Street.
Richard DeMarco is the attorney.
We're waiting for an RCO letter.
all right. Richard DeMarco is coming back in as a panelist.
Mr. DeMarco, state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer. Did you do that?
Did I swear you once that I think I did, right? Just state your name.
You're in the 930 case.
Yep. Okay. Just state your name for the record.
Richard DeMarco, D-E-M-A-R-C-O.
Can you identify your client and relationship to the property?
Yes. It's Prestige Design on 8th, and Ophir Kamarian is in the virtual audience.
Okay. Our vice chair has just a few questions.
Ish? I do wave and step. Okay. Proceed. Share your screen and proceed. No problem. Good afternoon, everyone. So this is an existing commercial space that I'll go ahead and share my screen.
I do wave and step.
um it's an existent oh that didn't work hold on there it goes um we are refused uh because the
underlying zoning classification is rsa5 single family residential however the building
is a commercial structure mixed-use structure that uh on a corner property that this board
did grant a variance for a few years ago. We intended, and this board granted a variance for
a grocery store on the first floor. However, COVID hit around the same time. The grocery store never
got off its feet and left the project completely, leaving the existing commercial space empty.
We have tried to market the property for a grocery store, which was the variance originally granted by this board. We could not get a grocery store to locate in the property. This is the property. It is this space here, along with some basement space that is the property at issue. There are apartments above. And again, this was a matter that was granted by the board three years ago.
We tried to market the property for other uses that would be closer to a grocery store or another use than the one we are proposing today.
The only use, this is the basement space, by the way, the only use that was interested in the space was an event space, which was deemed by the owner to be counter to the neighborhood and also his tenants that live above.
That would result in a lot of noise, a lot of additional traffic, and was deemed to be problematic for everybody.
So the proposal is for a nail salon, which is not as intense as an event space.
There is interest by a nail salon to operate there.
This is the site plan.
And this will be just nail treatments, spa treatments, facials, pedicures, manicures, et cetera.
um hours of operation 9 a.m to 7 p.m monday through friday no late night hours no weekend hours
um we did meet with the rco senator kitchens rco uh we met with them last thursday uh the vote was
in favor of the project eight to three i spoke with the senator today she does not have her letter
ready, but she said she will have it by Friday. I spoke with the owner. We agree that the record
can remain open for a week or two, but we ask that we not have to come back and that the case
be voted upon submission of her letter. But the vote was 8-3 in favor, so we don't expect
opposition here. This is the original permit. You can see here on your screen, Mr. Chairman,
That's the calendar number of the original case, which was for a grocery store and three units above.
Obviously, the argument is that the property itself has created a hardship.
It is a legally constructed property.
By the way, for the board's edification, there was a history of commercial use at this property.
So that was the reason why the zoning board granted the variance initially.
we are now have a situation where we cannot get usage of the third floor with other than the use
that's proposed um there'll be commercial trash pickup uh an existing nail salon at seventh and
gerard will be having another operation at this space they are an established business
um and i think that's all i have with that i will ask ophir kamarian to raise his hand
so he can adopt my testimony.
And this is the original decision of the board
back in 2019.
Ophir, can you raise your hand virtually, please?
There's no one listed by that name with their hand up.
We got a Jay Jamison.
That's him.
okay as an officer court um mr chairman i yeah well we will take your we recognize your testament
that's fine questions from the board no mr chairman no chair questions or comments from
the virtual audience here we have jay jameson okay
Here we have Jay Jameson.
Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Yes, my name is Justine Jameson, J-U-S-T-I-N-E, J-A-M-I-S-O-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Are you a neighbor?
Yes, I actually live on this exact hundred block.
Okay, proceed.
um my um comment more so not really a concern is as he stated they did have an event space there
um it was a major nuisance to the neighborhood this is a residential neighborhood it's not a
commercial neighborhood the issue is they're building also these high-rise apartment complexes
and there's no parking so i have a driveway so i've been in several incidents with patrons too
whether it was the event space or even tenants as far as not blocking our driveways and then even
with the trash I understand they said that they're going to have their own trash pickup which
I do notice that he does for his other units however the issue with the trash pickups is
they're not doing them enough or they're not trying to inform their tenants of the proper
ways to put out trash so our neighborhood went from once being fairly clean and you know a nice
place for our kids to play to now you can't walk down the street without being attacked by trash
okay um we we appreciate also well i already spoke on a parking spot step my father's here as well
um we both live on this block and he's saying something about parking as well because there's
no parking behind the facility either so they're going to have to park on our block which we
already don't really have parking i'm not speaking for anybody else when it comes to the parking
though my issue is just the blocking of our driveways because like i said i have a driveway
so street parking you know is up for grabs okay um thank you for taking the time to call in we
appreciate your comments thank you is there anyone else in the virtual audience one brief note mr
chairman for you we did actually have we did propose parking initially in the rear of his
property it was initially approved by this board but the streets department denied the uh permission
because it's against the street it's too close to the corner so we did try to include parking it was
it was denied thank you all right thank you anyone else in the virtual audience
there i see no other hands at this time planning commission it's not a run bednar city planning
the property is indicated for residential on the city plan in 2017 the zoning map was amended
from multi-family to single-family dislocation the pellet has not shown that the property cannot
be used in strict conformity with the code and that variance is therefore necessary to enable
viable use of the property city planning committee city planning commission recommends that the
uh zoning board deny the variance thank you i thought he okay i thought he said the opposite
but okay um so hillary we're gonna we're gonna close this except for an rco letter am i correct
yes mr chair um we can hold it we can hold it for two weeks and then we'll make sure we get
the letter and we'll make sure we get back to you okay fine so that would be um august august 16th
at 2 p.m we'll vote on this case
Thank you, Mr. DeMarco.
Thank you for your time, everyone.
Have a good afternoon.
Number eight, MI 2022-007-292-2524 North 15th Street.
Vito Canuso is the attorney.
We have recommendation of support from the Uptown Entertainment and Development Corporation.
Mr. Canuso, if you're in the virtual audience, please raise your hand.
Mr. Canuso has been promoted to a panelist.
Good afternoon.
Good afternoon, Mr. Canuso.
Could you state your name and spell it for the court reporter, please?
Vito, V-I-T-O, Canuso, C-A-N-U-S-O, attorney for the owners of the property, Ms. Woods and Ms. Yelzmack.
Right.
Do you swear for them to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
I understand we're waiting for a tax clearance certification.
Yes, Mr. Chairman, as a matter of fact.
We're going to handle the case, but we won't vote until we get that, okay?
Thank you.
Our vice chair has a few questions for you.
Good afternoon, counsel.
Good afternoon, Counselor. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal
and stipulate towards that?
Yes, sir.
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that are needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, with the exception of the tax clearance document, which my client, as recently as this morning, has arranged arrangements for additional information to be supplied by one city agency to the Revenue Department, and hopefully that clearance will be obtained shortly.
Understood. And as the chair said, we will hear the case, but hold the vote. Please proceed.
We appreciate that.
If I proceed. Yes, please. With with me in my office here is Miss Woods, one of the co-owners of the property.
I would like to proceed based on the property owner's request and they are seeking to construct on this vacant lot.
And I will be hopefully sharing the screen, being able to share the screen for purposes of showing you the vacant lot that exists there at the current time.
Understood.
Red dot on the bottom, Mr. Knusho.
Yes, yes.