corner property uh this is the mathias avenue perspective here's an aerial view so when you're
building up we'd like to consider how it's going to affect our neighbors light and air this series
of photos do a good job of showing the mature trees that surround our property this is when
the pergola was in existence not only do we have letters of support from the property behind us and
to the right but you can see again the mature trees that we're blocking out that were you know
sort of forming a barrier with regard to light and air even before we did this addition or will
continue to complete this addition so there's really no change in the nature of light and air
as far as how it affects the near neighbors there's another perspective large tree here
and a row of trees here here's to the right of the property on wisest mill road
and to the left of the property and to the right of the property on Matthias Street and the left
and to the left of the property
and to the right of the property on my thigh.
of the property and here's our plans and drawings so we just have a few so this is an elevation from
the front of the property with the addition built so it's sort of above these double doors
on this section right here here is a before a before site plan this white rectangle that you
see here is part of the uh was part of the existing building footprint because this is where
the pergola existed and as you'll see in the next slide the building footprint hasn't changed at all
we just sort of filled in that pergola space with uh indoor living space and i'll note that you can
see here uh the three feet and the seven feet combined make up that 10 foot rear yard that is
mentioned in our refusal here's the RCO meeting notice showing we sent notice of our RCO meeting
that took place on October 11th and these are the properties that were notified of that meeting
and here's the list of those properties and the proof of mailing
the application for appeal
the deed of the property showing Mr. Roy Abood is the owner of the property
and finally the tax clearance showing that all real estate taxes on the property are paid
I will unshare my screen and ask Mr. Roy Abood to virtually raise his hand
Mr. Abu, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
Mr. Abu, please unmute yourself.
Yes, can you hear me?
Yes, we can.
Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter?
It is Roy Abood, R-O-Y-A-B-B-O-U-D.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Proceed, counsel.
Hi, Mr. Abood.
Did you hear my testimony today?
And is it true and correct to the best of your knowledge?
And would you adopt my testimony as if it were your own?
Yes, thank you.
Thank you.
We're happy to...
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
questions or comments from the virtual audience here we have a dan finnegan with his hand up
mr finnegan please unmute yourself and wait for the chair
thank you all right mr could you state your name and spell for the court reporter please
mr finnegan
mr finnegan
yes sir could you state your name and spell for the court reporter for daniel d-a-n-i-e-l
finnegan f like fox i-n-e-g-a-n do you swear a firm to tell the truth the whole truth and
nothing but the truth i do are you a neighbor i am thank you counsel no i'm sorry mr finnegan
go with your testimony please excuse me proceed okay i am in opposition to the um
the zoning board request being made by sugar mama's daycare center i live directly next
door to the daycare center um we have had issues with uh excuse me mr finnegan um this is board
counsel hillary emerson um that case i believe is 300 shelton ham avenue and that is going to
be heard on the 330 list we are still currently on the 2 p.m list yeah okay is it the same length
thank you mr finnegan well just hang tight we'll get we'll get to the three here we'll get to that
shortly all right any other comments from the virtual audience we have sharon dennison with
her hand up. Ms. Denison, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair. Hi. Could you state your
name and spell, please, for the court reporter? Yes, I'm sorry. I'm also for a different case.
Okay, fine. That's okay. Thank you very much. Is there anyone in the virtual audience who
would like to make comment relative to 614 Wises Mill Road?
I see no handshare. Hi, Planning Commission. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. David Fecto, City Planning
Commission. The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the residential single-family zoning at
this location. The proposed dimensional variance from the rear yard standards of the zoning code
the proposed dimensional variance from the rear yard standards of the zoning code
is not required to enable the applicant to continue making viable use of this property
is not required.
the city planning commission recommends the board denied the rear yard variance
MI 2022 003731 614 Wises Mill Road I vote yes Thomas Holloman my vote is yes James Snell my vote
is yes. Thank you, Mr. Goldberg. Thank you. All right. Number 10, MI 2022-003-820-3725
Lancaster Avenue. Henry Clinton is the attorney. This is an appeal against an L&I
for an issued permit. Letter of Reuter is also should be coming on representing the city.
Mr. Clinton, if you're in the virtual audience, please raise your hand.
Chair, Mr. Reuter, and Mr. Clinton are coming back in now as panelists.
Okay, thank you.
Mr. Clinton?
He should be popping back in now, Chair.
Okay, thank you.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman.
Hi, Mr. Clinton.
Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
Henry Clinton, C-L-I-N-T-O-N.
Right.
Do you swear to affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Mr. Reuter?
Thank you.
May it please the board, Leonard F. Reuter, for the City of Philadelphia.
that's l-e-o-n-a-r-d last name is r-e-u-t-e-r right do you swear a firm to tell the truth
and hold truth and nothing but the truth i do uh mr clinton would you uh want to proceed
yes can i address mr reuter first uh we may be you most certainly can you most certainly
mr reuter do you think it's uh more acceptable for us to talk offline i think we may have a
resolution of this matter uh well i mean sure uh i don't i'm not sure what's being appealed is the
problem that the only thing on the notice of appeal was the alleged failure to post but then
my main question here before we do that um hank is did anybody notify the property owner developer
that this appeal was taken yes but i think what happened i think he reposted it and then had 30
days of continuous time with the with the demolition permit posted so as an officer of
the court i don't want to take an appeal knowing full well that he reposted okay so i'm happy with
that um if mr clinton and i could maybe go offline and we can uh i can just reach out to
ms emerson and let her know uh what's what's going on and we can maybe just come back later
that's right that's okay that's fine yep i'll tell you what i think i have maybe
two two two cases left on the uh the 2 p.m list i'll check back we'll check back before we sign
off the 2 p.m list all right and mr chairman one of those two cases it is probably my case it's
i think it is all right uh let me see what the next mr chair this is hillary i think it's fine
that we can um just basically continue this case and then if it is resolved we can read the
resolution into the record at another date that's so we don't have to come back to mr reuter or mr
clinton today sure that's fine is that fine henry that's fine thank you okay thank thank the both of
you for doing this i appreciate it no problem thank you and henry why don't you stay on okay
yeah there we go mi number 11 mi 2022 003 683 1701 to 07 south 4th street
henry clinton is the attorney um
let's see here letter of non-opposition from the pensport civic association
although some neighbors are opposed to the application letter of non-opposition from
councilman mark scroller mr clinton you've you've already been sworn could you identify your client
relationship to the property please sure my client is representative of my client is josh
Rosenblum, R-O-S-E-N-B-L-O-O-M, and he is on the call. Okay, and Mr. Holloman has just a few
questions. Good afternoon, counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate
to its accuracy? I do, Mr. Holloman. Do you email all of the exhibits and documents as required,
Did you email all of the exhibits and documents as required, such as proof of ownership, tax clearance, copy of the refusal, pictures or drawings of the property, five days in advance to this hearing, and did you meet with the RCO, and do you have a letter?
such as proof of honor?
Yes, to all of the above.
Thank you.
Please proceed and share your screen.
Thank you, Mr. Homer.
Mr. Chair, this is Hillary. Just to clarify for the record, can you just indicate that that last case, the appeal against L&I, has been continued?
Can you just read it into the record that it was continued?
Sure, I will. Yeah.
Thank you.
So, MI-2022-003-820-3725 Lancaster Avenue. The case is continued. Attorney for the city and also Henry Clinton are in discussion.
thank you mr chair thank you mr chairman may i proceed please uh good evening excuse me good
afternoon mr chairman members of the board henry clinton for the applicant which is jwn2 comma llc
the principal of which is josh rosenblum who is on the call also on the call is the architect
Mark Wallace, and also the entrepreneur who is going to be the coffee shop owner, hopefully,
of this proposal, Mark Capriotti. So this is my table of contents, Mr. Chairman, containing
exhibits AA to A10, which I ask to be admitted into evidence, and I'll walk through each of
the exhibits as we proceed. My appearance statement and the refusal. So this request
is for a coffee shop on the first floor of a building that is under construction at the corner
of 4th and March. The building has already been approved for 25 residential units and what we
propose to do is to remove one residential unit and insert a coffee shop. So it's a one-for-one swap.
As Chairman mentioned, there is a letter of non-opposition from Pennsport Civic as well
as a letter of non-opposition from Councilman Mark Squillow. I think just to give a perspective
of what's going on to the board, I want to show you a couple of aerial photographs. So this is
Dickinson Square, Dickinson Park in South Philadelphia. This is the corner of 4th and
Morris Street. This was an old warehouse, which has been since demolished by my client and has
approval for 25 residential apartments at this location. This is a closer view of what it used
to look like. That is the warehouse that was there. It's been completely demolished. And one
thing I wanted to address with the board is there's a mural facing east. The park is to the
east to the left where my cursor is and when my client acquired the warehouse immediately entered
into discussions with friends of Dickinson Square and Councilman Squill was able to coordinate a
meeting which he actually attended a zoom meeting among friends of Dickinson Square the mural arts
program Jane Golden my client and other interested neighbors and happy to report that there is a
budget in place, and there are plans to basically recreate the mural on the right-hand side of my
photograph onto the Parsons Building, which is almost in the middle of Dickinson Square. The
mural actually will be on the east side of this building because it is a well-received and well-renowned
mural in the neighborhood and no one wanted to lose that view. This is our posting and you can
see that the buildings have now been demolished and we are under construction moving forward with
footings and foundations. Again, some more perspective photographs from the board.
so this is the corner of 4th and Mars Street uh this is the just showing you the site plan with
the rooftop deck this is the renderings of the of the building and this is the location of where
the coffee shop will be so this is the entrance right here there's going to be seating along
the window side facing the park. The park is at the top of the screen where my cursor is.
The prep area will be down on the west side of the location. The coffee shop will be about 650
square feet. It's going to be operated by two local entrepreneurs. The coffee shop name is
Re-Animator. They have several coffee shops in Philadelphia. The closest one is on Morton Street
about around 12th, 13th and Wharton between 13th and Broad. So they are a known commodity in the
So they are a known commodity in the area. It's not a chain. As I said, there are two local businessmen, and one of them, Mark Capriotti, is on the line to talk to the board if need be.
area, it's not a chain.
Again, just another rendering showing the board the location.
And as the park is toward the east, we have nice large windows, so occupants and customers get an opportunity to look out into the park.
And since this was a residential unit where the proposal is that the residential unit there be now made into a coffee shop, we've been told by realtors and particular brokers that of the 25 residential units in the building, this would be the most difficult to rent because of its location on a ground floor.
I think most landlords understand that the ground floor units are the most difficult to rent.
And while we have not actually started renting, we anticipate that it could be difficult renting this first floor unit.
And plus, when the spring of this year, when the park is in full bloom, more people are walking around,
we were approached by a broker suggesting that this might be a good location for a coffee shop.
And thus, discussions evolve with Mark and his partner, and they're very interested in moving into this location.
In terms of operation, typically there's three employees here at a time.
The hours of operation are 7 to 3 during the weekdays, 8 to 3 on weekends.
Trash is going to be internal, but we know trash receptacles, dumpsters of any type on the outside.
The landlord, Josh Rosenblum, will see to it that all the trash is taken internal to the building.
There's an internal trash storage room where trash from all the tenants, as well as this commercial tenant, will be located and then taken out on a daily and sometimes more than daily basis.
Excuse me, not daily basis. Several times a week, trash pickup will occur.
In terms of food, there will be no cooking on the premises.
any of the food that will be dispersed will be already pre-made like yogurt donuts croissants
and pastries you would be able to come into the coffee shop have a seat and have a cup of coffee
and maybe a danish or also take your coffee out we don't expect that this is a destination coffee
shop meaning this is going to be a walk-up situation where we anticipate people using the
park, people from the neighborhood will come in, enjoy the ambiance of a nice local coffee shop.
I'm just looking over my notes.
I wanted to show the board some renderings of the building and the location of the coffee shop.
This is basically the permitted and approved building with 25 residential units. You can
see that the entrances are there. And this is the redesigned building. And obviously, we'll have to
re-permit it where the entrance will be right here on the corner. And these are the seats
along these large windows facing the park to the east. The rest of my documents are the pro forma
documents that one would typically see in a presentation such as this. Tax certification.
I'll just enlarge it. Tax certification, our application,