that's why i'm confused hillary that yeah yeah the current owner right yeah we should be dealing
with the current owner right um so i will have to review that because it gets tricky when there's a
change of ownership in the mid middle of a zoning um appeal but mr schless cannot speak for the
prior owner because he is not an attorney okay so um i don't know if anybody submitted exhibits
but it sounds like we may have to continue this case so here here's where we're going to be we're
going to continue this case we'll be in touch with you with a future date but i think the current
owner should should contact our office and talk about what will be needed for this case
mr chair yes mr chair i will um i will be um in touch with um with actually both parties who
here today to let them know who should be moving forward who needs to be submitting exhibits and
what may be an updated paperwork that we need since there's been a change in ownership
thank you very much i will hand that all right thank you all right so i think we're at the end
of the list is there anyone in the virtual audience whose case has not been full
i see no hands chair all right thank you everyone we'll see you at two o'clock
okay okay
bye i will be cheering
my name is bill bergman and i will be chairing this zba hearings this afternoon with me is carol
is carolton airy our vice chair present ishmael shaheed our board secretary
our vice chair. Present.
present thomas holliman our board member present mr chairman and james snell our board member
present mr chairman also here is our executive director tanya sunkett and our attorney hillary
Emerson. Before we start, here's our virtual format. Be advised, the proceedings are being
recorded. By participating, you acknowledge your agreement to be recorded. A video will be available
by contacting tanyasunkett at phila.gov. For the benefit of our court stenographer,
we ask attorneys and witnesses to identify themselves before testify. Three, if you're
participating by phone, if you wish to testify, press star nine to raise your hand and star six
to unmute. To enter an appearance statement, call 267-270-5548. Leave your email and address
and the property, the address of the property in question. Fourth, please note the question
and answer box is not for testimony or comments. Any comments should be directed to Tanya Sunkett
our executive director. Now, let's look at continuances for the two o'clock meeting.
Number nine, MI 2022-000-474-298-Delmar. Number 10, MI 2022-001-644-448-52
Rawn Street, Parcel D. Number 11, MI 2022 001 642 448 242 Rawn Street. Number 12, MI 2022 001 641
551 Raun Street. Number 13, MI 2022-001-638-451 Raun Street. Number 14, MI 2022-001-637-518
Hartel Avenue and number 15 MI 2022 000 479 8917 Revenue Street these cases will all be continued
does anyone have any questions or statements relative to these cases
i see no hands chair also number six mi 2022 000 480 2623 west arrived avenue
melanie lacy attorney i believe this case is being continued now is miss lacy here
is lacy you are allowed to speak please unmute yourself
hello can you hear me yes good morning name and spell for the court reporter yes melanie lacey
that's m-e-l-a-n-i-e last name l-a-c-e-y do you swear for him to tell the truth the whole truth
and nothing but the truth i do i understand the rco's meeting with you is after today that is
correct all right so this case is going to be continued is that okay with you well they have
agreed they have consented to us um presenting this this afternoon i'm not sure that we have
any exhibits melanie i submitted those exhibits um to the board last miss miss lacy uh this is
hillary emerson um it's been the board's policy not to proceed um with hearings no more no here
no uh resumption hearings if the rco meeting has not been held i know the rco agreed to it but
that's not the board's policy uh it's it's my understanding that um that that's been
permitted in the past and so long as rco um agreed it was permitted in the past but that's
not any longer the case okay melanie we'll we'll be in touch and we'll try to get this
listed as soon as possible. Okay. All right, here we go. Okay, so MI, that was, just so everybody
knows that was mi 2022 000 480 2623 west rod avenue that's continued
right regular any other continuances
Any other continuances?
Chair, we have Brandon Savron.
Savron, excuse me.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chair.
Good afternoon.
So your case is 228 North 63rd?
That's correct.
Do you want to continue that?
Yes, I'd like to request a continuance.
All right.
So MI 2022-000-477-228-North 63rd Street,
Parcel A is continued.
Thank you.
Any other cases?
I see no hands, Chair.
Wait a minute, Chair.
I'm sorry.
We have Ms. Washington.
could you could you state your name and spell it for the court reporter please
hi yes sorry i was getting on mute my name is radisha washington it's r-o-d-e-s-h-a-w-a-s-h-i-n-g-t-o-n
you swear for him to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
I do. What case? I'm speaking on the one just mentioned, 2021-009944 or 2228-963rd Street.
Yes, that case is continued. Yes, I just wanted to mention just on behalf of, I'm actually speaking
from the Office of Councilman Curtis Jones Jr. on behalf of the Coordinating Registered Community
Organizations opposing the variants, and I just wanted to mention that we are standing, the office
is standing with the groups in opposition, but we do support the continuance and for them to have
time to speak with the groups. All right. Thank you very much. I appreciate your call. Thank you.
Any other continuances? I see no other hands, Chair. Thank you. Regular list. MI 2022-000-487-1102
germantown avenue ronald patterson attorney
mr patterson is coming back in as a panelist thank you
i'm here hi good afternoon mr patterson could you state your name and spell for the court reporter
sure good afternoon ronald patterson p-a-t-t-e-r-s-o-n at claire harrison law firm 1835
market street philadelphia pa 19103 on behalf of the owner and the tenant for this use
do you swear for him to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i do could you identify your client uh sure our witnesses would be a justin vc that's v-e-a-s-e-y
okay and our vice chair has a few questions for you sure hi good afternoon mr patterson
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, I do.
Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership tax compliance, copy of the refusal or referral, photos and or plans of the property five days in advance of this hearing, and have you met with the RCO, and do you have a letter?
Yes, to all of the above.
Okay, great. You may proceed.
Great. Can I share my screen?
Sure. We love screens.
okay and you can see my screen yes right okay so uh this case uh regards um
1102 germantown avenue uh its location is slightly i would say south of
of Gerard and Germantown Gerard being over here. This is the building is currently going up. It's
a it's a by right structure that was received a by right permanent 2020 for six stories with the
first floor being commercial and the floors two through six having 50 residential and dwelling
units. And I just say that because this proposed use here is the piazza is the building here the
proposed uses proposed occupy the first floor this is the piazza this is second street going south
and there's a better rendering of the building
rendering of the building.
Girard Avenue, part of the Piazza and our building here.
The property is located in a CMX 2.5 commercial zoning district and also
subject to a handful of overlays, one being North Delaware
overlay. And because what we're proposing today is a restaurant, the overlay requires us to
come to the zoning board for special exception approval.
So what is, again, as proposed as a restaurant, the floor is a little peculiarly configured.
Again, it's just a triangular shape, as you can tell by the building when I showed it.
The concept is a two-floor restaurant in the cellar and on the first floor occupying about 6,000 square feet with occupants, 72 occupants, the first floor, 158 on the second floor.
The concept is it is a restaurant, but we call it like a vibe restaurant where the vibe of the restaurant is driven by the music that's being played.
If you're maybe happen to see or familiar with what I would say called Bagatelle, which is in New York City, Miami, and also in L.A.
It's that kind of restaurant.
It's kind of a new wave where you have a restaurant and you enjoy the background music.
That's there predominantly a DJ, no speaking on a microphone, but just to set the mood and maybe also some background music as well.
This is another rendering.
Our local architect, James Morrissey, who's also on the line if we need him to testify.
There's a mezzanine level.
Little bar area here.
You get the drift.
So, you know, we we we come before the board because we're in the overlay.
If you know the history of these overlays is because back in probably the 2000s, there was a proliferation of nightclubs that snuck in to various neighborhoods, including this neighborhood and on Delaware Avenue as a restaurant and turn into a nightclub.
and the tables would be removed at 10 p.m.
And now your occupancy load doubled or tripled
from what it was meant to be causing fire hazard
and also secondary effects along the neighborhood.
So restaurants proposed in Northern Liberties
where we are, and for example, in Old City
and in Center City on Chester Street, Walnut Street
and South Broad Street brings the restaurant to the table
to show, hey, this is my restaurant.
This is what it is.
it's not an empty vacant warehouse type of room uh we're going to have nightclub festivities or
rave clubs so that's the general idea uh the it's proposed to be open from monday tuesday wednesday
until 11 p.m thursday to 12 p.m friday and saturday to 1 30 a.m sunday 10 p.m with with brunches on
the weekends um we have a put together oh i thought i mentioned as it was a request from
liberties that we have venting ventilation renting to the roof of the building from the
restaurant here's our ventilation plan various locations we put together a fine list menu with
with brunch lunch and dinner and certain i would call custom cocktails if i could i'd like to
to promote Mr. Vesey, V-E-A-S-U-Y,
so he can briefly testify about our matter here.
Mr. Vesey, please unmute yourself
and please wait for the chair.
hi Mr. Vesey yes could you state your name and spell for the court reporter
Justin Vesey J-U-S-T-I-N-V-E-A-S-E-Y you swear for him to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth yes proceed uh hi justin hi ron you've uh you've heard my presentation
You've heard my presentation. Would you agree that it's true and accurate?
would you agree that it's
And you would adopt as if it were your own testimony?
All right. A few additional questions. The trash will be stored inside as agreed to with the Northern Liberties Neighborhood Association and removed by commercial trash pickup when the trucks arrive. Is that correct?
Where is that located in the building trash stores area?
um so if you put the plan on the main floor it's right out of the kitchen toward the back to the
left of the stairwell okay around here yep okay um and uh if you would is there anything else you'd
like to add about the concept that you're pursuing here uh pretty much you covered it but again it's
it's a upscale vibe dining concept which pretty much the whole goal of the place is whether you're
on a date, a business meeting, we want you to leave with the overall experience of getting
good quality Italian food with a steak twist and also enjoying great music to where it
vibes the room and you would possibly meet or bump into someone that you wouldn't have
met not being in the concept.
So I think it's a really good fit for the neighborhood and really looking forward to
And Justin, we met with the Northern Liberties Neighborhood Association.
Correct. And we've discussed that we're also seeking the liquor license and we're agreeing to a conditional licensing agreement.
But the the the the association also had and we discussed issues like crowd control and no outdoor seating, no sound escaping the building, all that.
And the ones that were only related, Mr. Friedman reduced to writing. Can you see that on the screen?
Yes. OK. And are you OK? You would agree to those provisos?
yep okay uh i have no further questions ron mr patterson leave them up in a hillary okay with
the provisos thank you mr chair hillary emerson i'm looking at them now um i think i i guess the
hours are okay um i know the liquor license hours could be um different but i think the applicant
could close earlier if they wanted to um is this isn't considered a special assembly occupancy is
it uh paterson yes it will be okay so i think yeah you can't have the noise ordinance already
prohibits sound i think more than 100 feet beyond the property line but i would say i know outside
music um you i would proviso um that um the occupancy is set by um lni upon reviewing the
plans uh for the certificate of occupancy um so i would leave that to lni um and the trash room
being on an easement uh that would be a a private agreement um for the use of the easement between
property owners so i don't know that that could be provisoed but definitely no outdoor music in
the hours yeah i think the point is we wanted the board to know what we were agreeing to and whether
it's included in the zoning proviso or not we're going to agree to it with the association whether
it's by agreement or special assembly uh submission or the cla i missed maybe mr
Friedman's here as well and he could testify to this. I'm not sure. And could you, Mr. Patterson,
could you forward a copy of this letter to me? Because I didn't receive it. I got your packet,
but I think the packet that I received did not have the letter. Yeah, the letter came
late on Monday. Okay. All right. If you can forward a copy to me, that'd be great. Thank you.
Mr. Friedman is available to speak. Mr. Friedman, state your name and spell for the court reporter.
Larry, excuse me, Larry Friedman, L-A-R-R-Y, F-R-E-E-D, M-A-N, 700 North 3rd Street.
All right. Do you swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed.
Thank you.
We did meet. We did come to this agreement, as stated in this letter.
I think it's important to understand that, on a special exception, we have discussions with the applicant because restaurants, which are very important to the neighborhood, of course, we have found over the past many, many years, approving 50 restaurants,
that occupancy, sound, trash, and all these other things that are stated are key with
keeping control of restaurant use, especially when it's going to have a special sound liana.
of restaurant use, especially when it's going to have a special assembly and an LCB license,