testimony for today.
Can I raise the hand?
Kenny, can you raise your hand?
I got Kenny. He didn't have a last name.
Oh, okay.
We can talk now.
Hello?
Kenny.
Kenny, would you please give me your full name?
Yeah, my name is Haokun Zhang.
Please spell it.
Okay, H-A-O-K-U-N, that's first name.
Last name Zhang, Z-H-E-N-G.
You're swearing to affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
Yes, I do.
Please proceed.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Kenny, you heard my testimony to the Zoning Board and also Mr. Ron's testimony.
Do you verify that my testimony is true and correct and that you would adopt it as your own?
Yes, you do. I do.
Thank you.
Okay, anyone else wish to testify in this case?
If so, please raise your hand.
Here, I have you, Wu.
You can unmute yourself.
Wait to be sworn in.
Hi, this is Rue Wu.
My name is Y-U-E-W-U
and I'm representing Philadelphia Chinatown
Development Corporation, RCO for this case.
My address is-
Can you swear and affirm to tell the truth,
the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Please proceed.
Thank you.
So as RCO for this proposal,
we maintain our opposition position
for the revised plan since the revised plan didn't really have a design change.
The only change was the use of the first floor, which was a restaurant.
And in the original proposal, it was also a restaurant.
So the RCO find it's difficult to have a valid reason to change our position.
And we oppose this proposal.
thank you very much thank you anyone else to testify
in this case nobody planning commission
uh and brian you'll need to identify yourself for the record brian wenrich b-r-i-a-n-w-e-n-r-i-c-h
city planning we're in firm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i do please proceed this property is indicated for high density residential commercial mixed
use on the city's comprehensive plan this proposal has not demonstrated any hardship
for the additional far accordingly we are opposed to the granting of the variance
thank you carol i need that uh i don't have that sheet in front of me calendar number
which wait which 19 arch why don't i why don't i have it i can read it do you want me to read it
out yeah yeah please read it out sharon thank you it's mi 2020 000730 i have it right here
okay uh mi-2020-000730 1019 art street my vote is no my vote is no my vote is no
my vote is no my vote is no thank you calendar number MI 2020-000244 1754 South
Hicks Street I have listed a Catherine
I have listed a Catherine Missimer as the attorney.
Good morning. I submitted the documentation. My name is Steve Bertil. I'm actually going to be
presenting this application. Okay. Can you put your name and address on the record,
please and spell your last name yes uh steve bertill b-e-r-t-i-l uh from claire harrison harvey
and bransburg go ahead sorry uh the address is 18 1835 market street suite uh 14
so call 19103 do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth
Yes, I do.
Do you also agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you mailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership, proof of tax compliance, a copy of the refusal or referral, photos and plans of this property five days in advance of the hearing?
Also, have you met with the RCO, and if so, do you have a letter?
Yes, to all of the above.
Thank you. You may proceed.
Thank you.
With me today, I have the applicant and restaurant operator and owner, Diana Wajojo, and our architect, David Whipple.
At the end of my presentation, I'll ask for them to be recognized so they can adopt and affirm my testimony.
For now, I'm going to share my screen.
All right, so good morning again, Mr. Chairman and members of the board.
As I said, my name is Steve Bertil.
I'm here representing the applicant and owner of 1754 Hick Street, calendar number 39833.
We're here to request a variance approval for the extension of the existing use as a
sit-down restaurant into the second floor of the same building and the erection of a
rear deck slash patio on top of an existing rear one-story addition.
so i'm going to just so you get a sense of the context in the street that we're referring to
here's a photograph of the existing structure as i said the um the address is 1754 hick street
The property is currently zoned as RSA 5 here in this highlighted section of the zoning
As you can see, essentially every corner property in this area is zoned as either CMX2 or CMX1,
except for our property.
I'm not sure why that is.
We'll get into that a little bit later.
But the current use of the property is a sit-down restaurant, Hardina Restaurant, which is nationally or locally recognized restaurant that's been family-owned and operated for 19 years.
I'll have the owner talk a little bit about their business at the end of my presentation to get a sense of who's asking for this variance request.
The property is situated between Moore Street to the north and Moore Street to the south.
Here is a view looking south on Hicks Street.
And here's another view looking east on Moore Street.
The proposed rear roof deck in question will be here. I don't know if you can see my mouse
moving sometimes you can sometimes you can't so in terms of the proposed
application as I said this is a increase of the existing use from currently the
Currently, the use is approved for the first floor and the cellar.
use is approved for the
We're trying to increase the use into the second floor, and then also onto the rear
deck that's proposed as part of the application.
There'll be no change in the existing footprint of the building, no change to the existing
cornice height. And in addition to constructing that, there will be removal of existing pedestrian
level exhaust on the building, which you can see here. It's currently exhausting at a pedestrian
level. It's going to be moved to the roof and also removal of these exterior stairs,
which is which is cutting into the right-of-way of the sidewalk we did meet
with the RCO on May 27th RCO is Point Breeze East Point Breeze neighbors and
show you a letter that was generated. The RCO did vote in support of this
project by a total of 12 votes and two opposed. Some of the concerns that were
raised by, I imagine, by those two that opposed was the privacy of their rear yards or their
backyards from the deck. As such, we did submit revised plans to include a privacy wall onto the
deck. We submitted a separate provisal form and plans with that slight change that addresses
that issue but even with that concern voiced the the registered community group did vote in support
of this project in terms of the refusals that we received for this one we have the proposed used
because the district is rsa5 of any increase in a prohibited use even though it was previously
granted via variance needs variance approval as I said it was already
granted via variance in 2014 we're not creating the use we're just expanding it
to accommodate the growth and business we'll discuss in a second and also the
use itself as I said earlier would be permitted by right if the property was
properly zoned as a commercial mixed-use property as all the other properties in
the area are again I'm not sure what happened here and why for some reason
this one property was omitted but the uses analogous to all the commercial
mixed-use properties in the area in addition to that the roof because the
deck is going to be placed on the rear extension or the existing rear addition
it's deemed as a roof deck and that's roof decks for non-residential use are
prohibited in the RSA 5 district our position is that although this deck is
technically pacified as a roof deck it is on the rear of the building it's in
fact less visible than a rare residential deck because there's no
driveway behind the house you cannot see it from the street frontage it does not
increase the building in the height and there's no roof that access structure
structure of the building. Go back to the zoning map so you can see it.
This is the rear roof deck that we're referring to.
And as I stated, the non-residential roof is not prohibited in most of the
commercial mixed-use districts which is more in line to what this property
should be zoned as. Because this restaurant has been here for close to 20
years, this is something that we think fits within the character of the space
and also the neighborhood. In terms of the restaurant itself, Hardina is a
restaurant that's been nationally and locally recognized as a staple in not
only South Philadelphia but in Philadelphia as a whole due to this overwhelming success and their
Due to this overwhelming success and their, you know, their status as trusted community partners, they've had an increase in business, and as such, they need to, you know, expand the use of their existing space to be able to stay in this neighborhood of Southfield, which they want to do.
they don't want to go to a new location they want to just adjust the location
that they have that they grew and developed in to be able to utilize it
to be able to best serve their customers and also the community so as
such for all these reasons we feel that the the requests of variances are
de minimis in nature appropriate for the neighborhood we don't anticipate any
detrimental impacts on health and safety in fact we feel like it will reduce
detrimental impacts because we're moving exhaust from the restaurant from
pedestrian level up onto the roof therefore you know pedestrians don't
have to deal with that exhaust and also we're clearing more space in the right
of way which is more pedestrian friendly with me I have Diana with Jojo if
Diana, if you could raise your hand so that Tanya can see you.
I'd just like her to affirm my testimony.
So, can you speak?
I'm sorry?
Can I unmute herself to speak?
Oh, hello.
Hi, Diana.
Can you say your name and spell it for the record, please?
Yeah, Diana with JoJo.
D-I-A-N-A-W-I-D-J-O-J-O.
Mr. Chair, do you want to swear?
Ms. Woodrow-Johan?
Vice Chair, can you take care of that, please?
Sure, I can.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Thank you.
You may proceed.
Thank you.
Diana, have you heard the testimony that I provided to the board this morning?
Do you confirm the truth of my testimony and adopt it as your own?
Thank you.
And, Diana, could you just tell the board a little bit about your restaurant
and your family's background with this location?
So we opened in 2001 while my parents started it,
and then me and my sister took over in 2017.
um we yeah we've been in business all this time um and we you know besides doing business we also
try to do uh community work giving back to the community uh we also do like food drives too
um but yeah but our main goal here is to um expand the restaurant so we could have a little
bit more seats and so it could be a little bit comfortable for our customers
thank you diana um if the members of the board has any questions we're happy to answer
um but that will conclude my presentation as i stated um we do believe that the variances
requested are de minimis when you consider the the context of the neighborhood and the
zoning designations of similar properties in the area um and so forth we ask that the board
approves this variance request with the provisal of approving the amended plans
or the adjusted plans that include the secured or the privacy law on the rear
edition I'm sorry on the rear deck
What are you trying to do?
Frank, are you there?
We can...
Audio might be...
It doesn't look muted about that because audio might be gone.
so we're
here can you do an audio check please
okay vice chair can you take over please well i don't know what he's saying at what point are we
You just showed up a sign that said call and vote.
I'm not sure if he's.
So basically, Vice Chair, if you could request if anyone of the board members have questions