property and our certificate of tax clearance.
I would ask that Mr. Matheson be promoted again as a panelist.
They're in.
Hi, Mr. Matheson, could you please go and
turn your video on?
hi um hi you were already sworn in once right am i correct a little while ago correct yeah okay
good just state your name for the record kevin matheson council uh mr matheson you heard
everything i had to say today about your zoning matter yes is it true and correct
yes and do you adopt as your own testimony yes thank you questions from the board
it's good to hear no one has to go through a bedroom to go to the backyard thank you i i
i particularly pointed that out because knowing how i noticed we we noticed here we got bedrooms
and bathrooms next to each other was music was music to my ears and i know cheryl's was music
to her ears that she doesn't nobody has to go through a kitchen and living room to get to their
bathroom at the middle of the night i want a different floor to go to the
other questions yeah i have a question just because i know there was a conversation with
the rco can you shed any insight on what happened at the rco meeting well i think it was more of a
discussion of why can't you do single family and we stated that you know it just is economically
infeasible. And we are choosing the least modification possible under the Philadelphia
zoning code because there was a triplex there. And there was a discussion, well, are you saying
there's an entitlement because you had it? There was a triplex previously? I'm like, no, but that
goes into the undue hardship calculation. You look at the property history, you look at the
surrounding area, and you look at the feasibility of conforming to the Philadelphia zoning code.
My client didn't want to choose three units. He chose two units, which was the least modification.
under this philadelphia zoning code um questions from our attorney i just want to clarify you
said resumption i think well we gotta i was okay i just want to make sure oh i'll come back to you
okay i misstated yeah because resumptions yeah yeah yeah yeah sorry no questions then thank you
but i'll talk to you there questions or comments from the virtual audience
the chair do not see any hands raised
amy boy with the planning commission when the district plan was written this area was mapped
when the district plan was written this area was mapped rm1 residential multifamily the
RM1 residential multifamily
comprehensive plan recommended no change however the property was remapped to rsa5 residential
single family the proposed two family drilling units is the least modification and would be
allowed under the recommended zoning the comprehensive sorry the planning commission
recommends that the board grant the requested variance for two family so so here here's i
I thought we could close this except for the meeting with the RCO and the results of that, right?
And would that be, and I think we should give it a month so that—
You want to give it a month, then it would be—hold on one second.
Why don't we wait a month? You could maybe have this finished in a month, right?
Yeah, I believe so.
Okay, the date would be November 4th.
November 4th.
um 2 p.m we'll vote um that's where we are right right okay with you yeah i mean yeah
she's asking you oh yes that's it's okay with me of course yeah you'll yeah you'll get this
done i will our office will immediately email the group and let them know okay who's doing
sixth street and alan if there's any delay behind me out behind you if there's any delay that you
can't get it done in the month you need if you can reach out to us to let us know yeah as soon
as we get a meeting i'll let you know to make sure and if we can't obviously if we can push
it back appropriately thank you thank you um council i think we've talked to you a few times
already today so uh just for the record could you please state your name alex goldberg and this is
MI 2026-003-614-746-S 6th Street. Mr. Goldberg, could you identify your client and relationship to the property?
MR. GOLDBERG, Sure. My client is 746-6th and Fish, LLC, and its representative, Alex Yoon, is sitting to my left.
MR. Right. And there's non-opposition from Bella Vista, non-opposition from Council Member Squilla, and our Board Secretary has a few questions.
uh good afternoon counsel did you submit your documents and exhibits 14 days in advance of
this hearing i did and do you waive the reading of the refusals and stipulate to their accuracy
i do and you can share your screen and begin your presentation thank you you're welcome okay so this
is an exciting, what's that? Not me. Come on, Joe. This is an exciting appeal for a very successful
and well-known Philadelphia restaurant, Little Fish. It's located technically on the border of
bella vista and queen village we were we fell within the boundary of the bella vista neighbors
association who we met with who are not opposed to this application across the street is is queen
village so we're right there um and south street neighbors is close by too right yeah but they
usually just handle the the corridor up there um and and alex is the um not only the head chef
executive chef i don't he'll correct me um but he he started his career working there under the
owner um you know learned his craft uh trained in europe and and other notable restaurants and then
he came back and he bought the building and the restaurant um so he's the owner and and runs the
business um it's a 14 seat sorry it's a 16 seat restaurant that has two seatings per night
that's 32 guests per night not a ton I'm sure some restaurants in the city have 32 guests every hour
so um you know and the the restaurant business is already hard to survive and this restaurant
has been around for a long time successfully what we're trying to do here is um ensure the
long-term health and and economic success of the restaurant by expanding um the business to the
upper floors, but not the restaurant itself. The same 16-seat prefix menu seafood restaurant will
remain there. And we're proposing to put a wine shop on the second floor and a private dining
space on the third floor. And I'll tell you more about that. And obviously, if you have questions
for Alex, you can ask him as well. So we have a refusal. This property is zoned CMX1, which allows
some commercial uses on the ground floor. A variance for a restaurant called Brocco's was
approved here in 2000 before my time but I heard not great things about the
neighborhood and the neighborhood neighbors loved Alex's restaurant there
uh alex's restaurant um there were several near neighbors including a couple that lived directly
were several near neighbors including a couple that lived
across the street that were you know their ears perked up when they heard what was going on and
they came to the meeting and they listened and they they couldn't have like raved more about
his respectfulness for the neighbors and and wishing him success so we have two refusals
one for the restaurant um which you know is existing on the ground floor and legal on the
ground floor, but we're also seeking to sort of legalize that use technically throughout the
building, but really just on the third floor where there will be a small private dining space. And on
the second floor is a wine shop. It's a BYO restaurant. So it was Alex's idea that, hey,
wouldn't it be nice if we had wines and sakes and craft beers, no hard spirits,
for not only patrons of the restaurant to purchase before their meal begins or order from upstairs
while they're at their table, but also just open to the public during the operating hours,
which we'll go over where, you know, if you live in the neighborhood, whether you're eating there
or not, there will be a nice selection of beverages that you can buy on the second floor.
And there's a separate entrance for that. So again, we met with the RCO.
there were several near neighbors that were present and they all voted in support of the
project all four of them here is some information about Alex's restaurant I sort of gave you a
little bit about his bio but I'll tell you more about the restaurant itself they are open sick
or they have seedings at 6 p.m and 8 15 the last seating leaves between 10 30 and 11 staff arrive
around 11 30 to prep and leave around 11 30 p.m they're closed sunday but occasionally they'll have
a private event he's got 10 total employees five per shift so two cooks two servers a dishwasher
and that's what's going on now the basement is unfinished it's just storage and the kitchen
ventilation is through the side of the building you'll be able to see that in the photos he has
a trash pickup schedule on tuesdays and fridays and there's a trash enclosure on the side of
of the building i mean you can see that you know they've gotten a lot of media and press
james beard semi-finalist inquirer infatuation all the sort of um you know three bells all those
all those sorts of things uh reviews 4.8 435 reviews which is a lot and uh people are very
happy um i've been there myself i don't you know it's delicious uh and uh he's you know nothing's
going to change about that um i've included an inquire article as well here's the zoning map so
um we are right on the corner there um zone cmx1 we are cmx1 across the street from us
and and caddy corner to us uh here's a google maps perspective on the corner of fitzwater and
south 6th the entry to the restaurant is right at the corner the rest the entry to the bottle shop
and the private dining space is along the fitzwater facade and you'll see a picture of that
so this is the front this is actually from the south 6 facade so there's a little weather door
here that where you enter in the in the corner for the restaurant and then on the side here
next to where the ventilation is this door right here which we're not proposing any signage with
he might do some something painted on the side of the building or something simple that doesn't
require zoning relief that's where you go into the bottle shop and the private dining space
posting photos to the right and to the left, to the right and to the left. Here's the insides.
This is the second floor where the bottle shop is going to be. It was an apartment
vacant for some time. I think they were just using it as storage and office space for the
restaurant. Here's photos of the inside. This is really the restaurant space, so it's very small.
the kitchen is open you can see it when you're when you're dining there then they serve you know
specialty seafood dishes seasonal local local ingredients okay here's the plans and I think
this will be helpful so again the first floor which is to the left of the screen is not really
in the scope of these plans but it's an existing 16 seat restaurant with you know not a ton of
space, but you know, enough there. Uh, the entry point on Fitzwater is right here where my mouse
is. Um, and that leads you up to the, uh, the second floor. There's a show kitchen here,
which I'll touch on in a second. And then a wine room, that's going to be sort of the bottle shop.
Um, there's also an ice machine and laundry in that vestibule in the staircase there,
as far as the show kitchen goes, and you can ask Alex questions about this, but you know,
The premise is that you can have a private dinner on the third floor, but if you wanted to have...
Um, you know, you can have a private dinner on the 3rd floor, but if you wanted to have sort of, um, you know, a cocktail party, like without seating with just like hors d'oeuvres and wine on the 2nd floor, um, you could do that there, um, up to 20 people, um, mostly just a wine shop.
It's the show kitchen is just sort of accessory to that to heat up snacks. There's no, there's an electromagnetic cooktop. There's no gas cooktops there. No need for ventilation or anything like that. Something like if he's heating up prepped hors d'oeuvres or doing a raw bar or something like that is how he envisions it. And while it's a wine shop, it'll operate as sort of the cash register as well.
and then the third floor going up the stairs is a private dining space these two things won't be
operating concurrently he's going to avoid having like things going on in the wine room and things
going on in the private dining space but the third floor can accommodate parties of up to 20
the same hours as the restaurant he doesn't want to sort of muddy the use of the wine room and the
dining room because of the use of the stairs and thinks that that just won't really make sense or
be feasible for people. In terms of the wine shop, as I said, bottles of wine, sake, and beer
hours 11 a.m. or noon to 8.30, 9 p.m. So the idea would be that they'd open during the day for
regular customers, but they also want to make sure that they're open for a short window before
their seating so that if a customer wants to buy a bottle of wine before their dinner,
they can do that he's going to have one or two employees upstairs no stock room all the inventory
will be on display part of the reason why he's doing this i should have led with this is because
um and i'm not a plcb attorney but you're required to have a certain amount of square footage or an
r license to be able to sell things like this and seats and my understanding is 400 square feet is
the minimum which they don't have on the ground floor the the building footprint is only 640
square feet they don't have 400 square feet of customer space so in order to be able to sell any
alcohol they have to expand upstairs not to mention what I mentioned at the beginning which
is this is going to help them be a little bit more financially healthy because you know again
32 seats with high quality expensive materials there it's very slow margins so that's that's
plans i'm sure there will be questions um we have we met with the rco again they were in
non-opposition we mailed the near neighbors sounds like the council member is in non-opposition as
well the application for the zoning variance and the deed to the property and then finally tax
clearance with that i'd like to call my client to adopt my testimony sir could you make sure the
mike's close to you okay could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer alex
yoon uh y-o-o-n right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the
truth yes council alex did you hear my testimony today yes was it true and correct yes and do you
adopt it as your own yes questions from the board are the is the upstairs going to share
sort of trash pickup and facilities with the restaurant on the first floor yes we have a like
a separate section just for the trash pickup okay and is this going to be the same staff or is there
going to be expansion to staffing at the we we would need to add more staff more staff okay
other questions yeah i think you said that the wine bar or room or whatever and the
on the second floor and the third floor won't operate at the same time so if you're having a
private party where's your alcohol supposed to come from that's a good question if they're having
a private party and they in that party is buying wine i imagine that could be accommodated just in
terms of being of it being open to the public or there being sort of two separate events right
because as i said you could have a cocktail party on the second floor and a private dinner on the
third floor they wouldn't be happening at the same time so so it would be one or the other
oh okay all right thank you you're welcome questions from our attorney
no questions at this time questions or comments from the virtual audience
yeah i do not see any hands raised planning commission amy boy with the planning commission
the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing cmx1 commercial mixed-use zoning at this
location the expand the expansion of the documented first floor sit-down restaurant
into the second and third floor would have minimal impact on neighbors citywide vision
and to the second and third floor would have minimal impact on neighbors citywide vision
recommendation 2.1.1 is to promote center city and university city as a primary economic center of
the region this recommendation includes point a to expand the metropolitan center to washington
avenue to the south which would include this area and point d is to incentivize the retention and
creation of jobs in center city the planning commission recommends that the board grant the
requested variances for sit-down restaurant and retail sales mi 2026 chairman sorry sorry
location um is the use that you're using the basement as part of the restaurant
just storage for the restaurant is that correct no it is part of the restaurant because your
your amended refusal doesn't mention the basement so we might need to include that as part of the
proviso about the use so you want basement use yeah probably for use as sit-down restaurant on
the first second on sorry for use as a sit-down restaurant on the in the basement first second
and third floors only correct with that proviso yeah so you're not including the basement yeah
we are including the basement basement first second and third yes for the approved use of
the sit-down restaurant okay because the other one you're just going to approve it and then the
proviso is use is that only okay all right if there's a problem we can so you just mentioned
basement and i'm like oh wait okay all right so mi2026 003 614 746 south 6th street i vote yes
with proviso per amended refusal dated dated august 11 2026
For a sit down restaurant.
Basement, 1st, 4, 2nd, 4 and 3rd floor.
Included right? Is that okay? Well, I just want to make sure you said, including I just want to make sure that, you know, you have the other use also on the 2nd floor. That's correct. So, correct. Actually, are you using the whole entire.
building for the restaurant there's nothing left yeah so maybe we should just say sure
entire i mean just because you've cut it up into one two and three i just want to make sure like
there's no other floors i'm not trying to know other people yeah so maybe we should just say
you used to sit down russian for entire building yes as well as food beverage and grocery on the
second floor only yes all right come on where are we at what about the same changes three times i
know i'm sorry let's go i know um so so where we are is we we approve it proviso per amended
refusal dated august 11 2026 and the use as a sit-down restaurant is the entire uh structure