I would equate them with a Starbucks of bubble peas where there's no cooking on the premises.
Any food that's on the premises is merely being warmed up and there is no need for an exhaust.
With this location, there are some seating and we'll go through that, but it's mostly transient in nature with a point of sale system.
And again, you can see from the notes that this space has been used as a restaurant establishment many, many times over the years.
So what we're asking for is not out of character for this space.
Letter of non-opposition.
Again, there's only three options that the Washington Square West Civic Association gives.
Opposed, non-opposed, and abstained.
So they don't give letters to support.
The best they do is a letter of non-opposition.
14 members of their board heard our presentation, and 14 members voted in non-opposition.
And after hearing the commentary of the community at a well-attended community.
And then Boba King, a little bit about their story.
Again, it's, you know, two individuals who are entrepreneurs who are looking to, you know, who have a love of bubble tea, who have been successful to date at the location at Drexler University, and they're looking to expand their operations to Center City, Philadelphia.
and then just their menu just in general again all they focus on is bubble tea and they do have
some pastries and desserts but nothing just warming up nothing is cooked on the premises
and then the map of the area as you can see it's a cmx5 part of the city which you know
the zoning codes accounts for this type of use which is conditionally approved and we're hoping
to get the approval of the zoning board like we got the approval of the community for this
particular use. And again, as you can see, we're in the commercial corridor, essentially on
Chestnut Street and the photographs of the property. Again, our office is not far from here,
so I'm very familiar with this building. Before that, there was like a sandwich shop here. Can't
remember what was before that but again what we're proposing is you know fits within the character
of this space and the neighborhood in general and then this is uh our property uh or our space from
13th street point of view and then chestnut street to the right of the property chestnut street to
left of the property 13th street to the right of the property and 13th street to left their property
The former Wawa, which was on the corner of 13th and Chestnut, well, at least that space is across the street that Wawa is no longer operating.
operating and then we just want to give you a feel of like you know this style of boba king
And then we just want to give you a feel of like, you know.
like what you're going to see in terms of hopefully fixtures and and the look and feel
this is their location of at 3200 chestnut street and you know that's a much bigger space but you
know it's playful you know community oriented having people you know hang out there we do have
limited seating at this location but we still hope that people will sit down have some bubble tea
you know check their emails on their phone and you know go back to work essentially or home
but here's just additional photos from the 3200 chestnut street location
and then just our plans and drawings uh trash is gonna be stored in the basement we have an
open basement here um and it's picked up daily uh through the building again this is a pretty
massive large apartment building and there's a commercial pickup on a daily basis as part of our
lease the landlord you know we utilize the landlord's commercial hauler uh and then in terms of
our floor plans uh pretty basic you can get in one of two ways either whether it's chestnut street or
13th street there's a counter point of sale system uh there's you know places to sit like for high
tops that face the window and of course there's a you know an ada compliant backer
and then just talking about some of the fix some of the finishings on there which would be very
similar to what you saw at 3200 chestnut shift a modern feel and touch uh you know classy
and something that hopefully will be a great addition to the corner of 13th and chestnut
and then our meeting notice
we met on february 22nd at 7 p.m 48 addresses were deemed within the affected area by the city
planning commission these were the addresses and this is our proof of mailing again the the community
meeting itself was well attended i believe i think even the letter of non-opposition stated
it was 25 to 30 people that were there so as well attended meaning here's our application
for special exception showing that boba king cc llc is the applicant our notice of referral
a project information form our lease to the property and a certificate of tax clearance
In addition, just some additional information about the establishment, they plan to have
approximately 20 employees there, and they expect to be operating from the hours of 10
a.m. to 9 p.m. on a daily basis.
With that being said, I would ask that Mr. Choi virtually raise his hand so he can adopt
my testimony.
hi mr choy state your name is spelled for the court reporter
hi isaac choy i-s-a-a-c last name c-h-o-i right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the
whole truth nothing but the truth i do proceed counsel uh yes mr choy you heard everything i
stated today yes is it true and correct yes you got there's your own testimony yes thank you
questions from the board no no mr chairman
questions or comments from the virtual audience
i see no hands chair planning commission thank you mr chairman members of the board david facto
City Planning Commission. The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the commercial mixed use
five zoning at this location. The applicant has shown that a prepared food shop will have no more
of an impact than such a shop would be expected to have. So the City Planning Commission recommends
that the board grant the special exception. MI 2022-000-490-1232 Chestnut Street, I vote yes.
Carol on mute
Sorry, Carol Tenere, my vote is yes
Thomas Holland, my vote is yes
James Snell, my vote is yes
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes
Thank you very much
Thank you
Good luck
MI 2021-003-787-1244
Ellsworth Street. Letter of non-opposition from the RCO Pachunk Square Civic Association.
Tam Yu Lam is the owner and applicant pro se.
Mr. Lam is coming back in as a panelist.
Mr. Lam is coming back in as a
panelist. Thank you.
Hi, Mr. Lam.
Could you unmute, state your name
and spell for the court reporter, please?
K-A-M-Y-U-L-A-M
Do you swear
or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth
and nothing but the truth? Yes, all
this property is yours am i correct yes okay our vice chair has a few questions for you sir
yes good afternoon do you um have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership
tax compliance a copy of the refusal or referral photos under 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 i have all i've
letter as well now position to my existing deck thank you okay great you may proceed and begin
by sharing your screen okay uh you want to see the uh is total share the screen yes okay yes
okay that's the picture
one on the front door and the other one is the uh any so i have having my my my friend
helped my computer last time it's not good so can you see that one of the uh this is the
the uh front roof deck
hello yes we're looking at your deck sir okay thank you and the uh go ahead then then the uh
we feel the review so letter that's the uh they say that
and also the yeah oh no this one this test certification of the
test clearance and the letter of support funded can you help me good but that's the map
i send as well
okay that's the that's what the house i have on here
hold on that's the uh the df uh rear deck
that's the root root root root that party house suppose be uh suppose be uh the uh 60 inch right
now is the uh 40 56 inch is is the uh six inch is uh it's four inch offset of a requirement okay
and yeah i can get a letter of now position can you help me okay
where's what you said what where's the thing you
hold on take your time okay sorry
look i told you before where is the uh on the
okay yeah yeah i find that okay thank you sorry
all right
sorry okay sorry so so you're non-opposition the rco non-opposition yes thank you it's a long time
so so mr lamb you you you currently have the deck and now you're trying to legalize it am i right
yes yes yes please okay all right okay um thank you okay questions from the board no mr chairman
no mr chairman no mr chairman no mr chairman mr chairman it says there's no deed oh i have a d
I sent a deed this morning hold on thank you sorry I thought that was in the updated notes
yes I did receive the deed this morning we're all good thank you okay thank you thank you thank you
thank you meeting everybody all right all right questions are planning commission
thank you Mr. Chairman David Fecto city planning commission uh members of the board the
The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing RSA five zoning on this block.
The proposed dimensional variances are minimal and do not conflict with the purpose and spirit
with the purpose and spirit of the zoning code.
of the zoning code.
And so the city planning commission recommends that this deck.
And so the City Planning Commission recommends that this deck be approved.
Thank you, David.
MI 2021-003-787-1244 Ellsworth Street, I vote yes.
Carol Tenere, my vote is yes.
Thomas Solomon, my vote is yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Thank you, Mr. Lamb.
Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you, everybody.
thank you good oh my god m m i 2022 000 478 2636 north 22nd street mr demarco
letter of support received from coordinating rco all in the family cdc with provisos
good afternoon mr chairman members of the board can everybody hear me okay
We can. Just state your name and spell for the court reporter, Mr. DeMarco.
Richard DeMarco, D-E-M-A-R-C-O.
Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Could you identify your client in relationship to the property?
Yes, the client is Smalls Real Estate Properties, LLC. Mark Smalls is the proprietor. He's with me today.
Our vice chair, Carl Tenere, has a few questions.
Hi, Mr. DeMarco. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, I can do that.
Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership tax compliance, a copy of the refusal, 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 the above, except we reached an agreement with the Revenue Department since the submitting of the exhibits.
And we have a signed agreement which would apply your requirements under the code.
Thank you. You may proceed.
I can show you that.
Sorry, this is Hillary.
I just wanted to confirm that we did receive a copy of the agreement from Mr. DeMarco for the taxes.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Okay, so I can, if I can share my screen, I'll show you the agreement reached.
Please.
This is the agreement. You see here's the owner right here, Smalls Real Estate Properties, LLC.
Here's the property address.
Skip right to the signature lines.
Mr. Smalls worked on this since the time we submitted our exhibits.
As you can see here, signed by the taxpayer, there's the line barger signature.
Mr. Chairman, members of the board, this is the site plan, floor plans, excuse me.
This is a long-standing commercial property that went vacant.
It was a corner property.
It was a corner property.
It was zone C2 commercial in the past, was rezoned to residential, but has an interior layout of a commercial space on the first floor and a single residential unit above.
so therefore we require a use variance to utilize it in that manner. We did meet with the neighbors
and by the way I did submit with my zoning of documents the zoning archive this property was
a Democratic Party headquarters for a long period of time in the 70s. It was also a church
with a residential unit above and again it went vacant and it is a shell and we're proposing to
reuse it. And we did meet with both the Swamp Poodle RCO and the All-in-the-Family RCO.
We had two meetings. One was by posting. The other one was pursuant to the requirements of
the code with the mailing. We got two letters of non-opposition and support from them.
The provisors would be, and by the way, the commercial space, we are proposing
either an office use or a use consistent only with the cmx1 zoning but office is the primary
intent and a single unit above we agree to the provisos no basement living uh hours of operation
limited to 7 a.m to 7 p.m trash storage for the tenant there will be full access
to the rear because it's a corner property so you can access the rear yard in the back here
and there will be trash storage for the single tenant.
And I believe those are the critical provisors.
We agreed to all the provisors in both RCO letters.
I'll show you a photo.
This is the corner property here, Mr. Chairman, members of the board.
It is not in great condition.
It is not in great condition.
My client will need to spend some considerable funds to get the property into a usable state.
My client will need to expend some considerable funds to get...
It has had quite a long period of vacancy.
These are the postings of the RCO notices.
Again, it is not in great condition, but my client is going to sink some money into this and get it up and running to be part of the neighborhood.
We will work with the neighbors on this. Mr. Smalls did. Let me show you this. I'll rotate back. Mr. Smalls did go door to door for just the near, the very immediate neighbors and the neighbor next door and behind the property is okay with the reuse.
um what else i'll ask my client to participate in a moment here's our certificates of mailing
for the mailing i'll just show you the um history the unusual history someone did try to legalize
a grocery store that was unsuccessful we're not going to propose a grocery store today this is
merely for officer cmx uh one use with those hours of operation as agreed to with the neighbors