Thank you.
I'm sorry, I was speaking.
Chair, we have 28 attendees, and I want to just reach out and see if any of them are our court reporter.
If you're our court reporter, please raise your virtual hand.
I'M PROMOTING OUR COURT REPORTER TO PANELIST NOW, CHAIR.
LEARMAN?
GOOD MORNING.
THANK YOU SO MUCH.
GOOD MORNING.
WE CAN PROCEED AS YOU WISH, CHAIR.
GOOD MORNING.
MY NAME IS BILL BERGMAN.
and I will be chairing the ZBA hearings this morning. With me is our Vice Chair, Ismail Shahid.
Present, Mr. Chairman. Our Board Member, Thomas Holliman. Present, Mr. Chairman. And our Board
Member, James Snell. Present, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. Also present is Hillary Emerson,
our Attorney, and our Executive Director, Tanya Sunkit. Here's our virtual format. Be advised,
As the proceedings are being recorded, a video will be available by contacting anyasunkit at philip.gov.
For the benefit of our court stenographer, we ask attorneys and witnesses to identify themselves before testifying.
If you're participating by phone and you wish to testify, press star 9 to raise your hand and star 6 to unmute.
To enter an appearance statement, call 267-270-5548.
Leave your email and address to the property in question.
And finally, the question and answer box on the screen is not for comments or testimony.
All comments should be directed to our executive director, Tanya Sunkin.
Let's look at today's schedule.
Number one, MI 2023-005-139-626-30 North Delaware Avenue.
That case is continued.
Hold on a minute here.
Number two, MI 2023-004-509-1329 South 22nd Street.
That case is continued.
And number four, MI 2023-005-160-319 Cherry Street.
That case is continued.
Are there any comments relative to the three cases that I've continued?
Good morning, Joe.
This is Nadia.
I will be your co-host today.
We have a Michael Mattione with their hand raised.
I'll allow them to speak.
Good morning, Mr. Chairman.
Good morning, Mr. Mattione.
Could you state your name for the record, please?
Michael Mattione, M-A-T-T-I-O-N-I.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
I do, Mr. Chairman.
I continued your case.
Is there anything you want to add?
Yeah, I did want to add a couple things.
I do represent Biagio DeSimone, the owner of 626 North Delaware Avenue.
While we have no objection to the continuance because Mr. Reuter is out of the country, and I can't oppose the continuance with that, we are requesting that this be rescheduled as soon as possible.
This matter involves a permit for a 14-story, 96-unit mixed-use building.
Developers spent over $300,000 in reliance on the permit,
and we're just requesting that this be resigiled as soon as possible,
given the circumstances of the case.
Mr. Mattione, I appreciate your phone call.
We will work with the staff afterwards to see what we can do, okay?
But we do have your comments.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Is there anyone else requesting it continues?
I see no hands.
We're going to move to number three, MI 2023, 004-726-113 Bridge Street, number 3F1.
113 Bread Street, number 3F1.
Matthew Monroe is the attorney.
There's a recommendation of support from the Old City District
and a letter of non-opposition from Council Member Squilla.
They have been promoted to panelists.
Thank you.
Good morning, Mr. Monroe.
Good morning, Chairman Bergman. Can you see my screen?
We can. Could you put yourself on video, too, please?
Okay. Thank you. Could you state your name and spell it, please, for the court sonographer?
Yes, Chair. My name is Matthew Monroe, M-A-T-T-H-E-W-M-O-N-R-O-E.
right do you swear for him to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i do um could you identify your client
uh i'm pleased to be here today with my client caladrino um owner of the property uh and the
um and uh yep in mr caladrino and his uh partners are planning to build out our our vice chair has
a few questions for you yes good morning counsel do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal
and stipulate towards accuracy yes have you emailed in all the required documents that is
needed and required you with this case five days in advance of this hearing yes and yes thank you
counsel please proceed and share your screen um good morning uh again chairman bergman members of
board um so i'm presenting a a case this is similar to a case that mr calendrino and i brought
back in september um this was actually a a plan that we uh that were filed around the same time
and we'd hoped to present together because they were related projects in the same condominium
building but uh because of some differences in uh the timing that we received the special exception
or the referral for special exception from lni uh we were unable to calendar them at the same time
The previous application was for, I believe it was 112 North 2nd Street. I may be wrong about the exact address, but this is a similar project by the same owners and Mr. Calendrino and his partners have owned a few of these commercial condominiums in the National at Old City.
and during COVID we saw a lot of retail leaving the area and after being unsuccessful in finding
a tenant with an existing building or an existing business to fill the space, Mr. Calendrino and
his partners went to work and looked at needs that they believed were needed for the residents
of the National, the residents of Old City and anybody who might be coming back. They lost some
businesses like Pinot during the pandemic and a few others. But what they're planning on doing
is bringing in specialty Italian foods and selling high-end Italian wines. They have some
great partners that they're working with on this and are excited to bring some of these uses to
the neighborhood. Just as a quick note, this is a referral for a special exception, which as the
board knows is a different standard than a hardship. It's effectively just demonstrating
that there's a do no harm issue here. And we believe that this project clearly does that.
So this is 113 Bread Street, number 3F. And we're seeking to program the space for as an eating and
drinking establishment. Effectively, a sit-down restaurant in Old City requires a special
exception, and that's why we're here for the board. We put together in our table of contents,
we have the deed, the referral for a special exception, application to the board. We met with
the Old City District RCO, and as the chair noted in the opening, we have a letter of support.
We properly posted notice. We don't have a site plan on this. This is a use change only.
so that's uh just wanted to make a note of that but we do have some context photographs and
the tax certification as well as the letter from the old city district just scrolling quickly um
i'll go down through uh some of the here's the deed and the board documents um but the um uh
the issues that we presented uh to the uh to the board that that came up and were answered
satisfactorily uh were related to how is um uh how is trash going to be stored it's going to be
stored internally and there's going to be a commercial pickup as there would be for any commercial.
as there would be for any commercial property.
There's a special-
Mr. Monroe, could you get closer to your mic?
I just want to make sure our court reporter can hear you.
No problem.
There you go.
Here you go.
Thank you.
Please let me know if I need to adjust the-
No, that's fine.
There's a, yeah, this is an existing commercial space in a structure.
The proposed use is effectively, you know, no greater impact than you could have for a by right use.
In the past, there's been there was a gym in the in the space, you know, that's got a lot more high, high foot traffic in the area than presumably a specialty food store would in it.
you know different times of the day um they're they're looking just to activate this space um
and and bring you have better safety more eyes on the street and when you have an activated retail
of the ground floor um and it's going to provide an amenity to the the residents of the uh the
national condominium there's uh close to 300 over uh two buildings and um there is a need for this
type of use. And we've gotten some positive feedback and good support from people who live
in the condominium building. The last time we were here, the condominium had voted in support of
the use of the space. Just going through and understanding that a lot of the questions for
these types of presentations can simply come after the presentation can come from the from
Here's the post-it notice as well as the existing space. You can see that it was a fitness space.
Here's the zoning context. It's in a CMX3 zoning district, so commercial use is permitted and
required. And here's some more context photos. Some interiors of the space obviously is going
to be built out differently, but just to show sort of like the breadth of space, there's plenty of
room to support a specialty grocery store and wine store. They may be doing some classes. They've
partnered with a local chef who would come in and do some demonstrations, but this is not going to
be a heavy cooking type of thing. It's more just prepared foods and that sort of thing. They're
talking to other local partners, Carlino's, and a few others. So, with that,
understanding the board has a full docket ahead. I don't want to take up too much of your time.
Why don't you bring your client on and adopt your testimony?
All right. Mr. Calendrino, can you click to raise your virtual hand?
they have been allowed to speak good morning sir could you please state your name and spell
for the court stenographer calendrino s-t-e-p-h-e-n-c-a-l-a-n-d-r-i-n-o
you swear for him to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
The seat counsel.
Mr. Calendrino, did you hear the factual statements that I made in my presentation?
And were they accurate?
Do you adopt them as your testimony?
And I guess just a quick housekeeping matter.
What was the address for the North 2nd Street Project?
I think I said 1112 North 2nd.
That is 1112 North 2nd.
the unit number is five a is an apple one thank you just wanted to clear it up for the record
questions for questions from the board no mr chairman questions or comments from our attorney
hillary emerson not at this time mr chair why should your comments from the virtual audience
there we have one hand and adam marcus and they have been allowed to speak
Good morning, sir. Could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
I can. Can you hear me okay?
I can, sir.
Yeah, my name is Adam Marcus. My attorney ID number is 62104. I am here this morning representing the National Old City Condominium.
Okay. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Proceed.
Thank you. Good morning, Mr. Chairman, members of the board, Mr. Monroe.
I am here on behalf of National and Old City Condominium, and just so the record is clear, I'm not here necessarily in favor of or in opposition to this use, rather just to specifically protect the association's interest and get some clarification.
rather just to specifically protect the association's interest and get some clarification on a number of different issues.
So there are a number of different questions that I would have for the applicant.
And if I am allowed to, I would proceed with those questions at this time.
Why don't you raise your questions first? Have you raised these questions at the RCO meeting?
No, I was not aware of the RCO meeting. We did not participate in that, to the best of my knowledge.
Why don't we hear your questions?
So the questions primarily relate to, you know, the impact as it relates to the residential units within the condominium association, specifically as it relates to the issue of cooking, exhaust fans, odors, smells, trash, use in terms of the restrictions under the governing documents, limiting it to no outdoor seating, no takeout windows, hours of operation.
So there was a reference to no heavy cooking. I think the association's concerned as to what that cooking could potentially include. So it's really a matter of getting more specificity as it relates to the potential use to ensure that its impact does not have a detrimental impact upon all the residential uses within the building.
Mr. Monroe, can you handle some of them questions?
I can, Chairman, and I believe that Mr. Calendrino has stated both at the RCO meeting for the first project that we brought through and this one as well.
There are specifics in the condo documents related to no cooking with exhaust, and they understand that that is a requirement, and so they're going to adhere to those guidelines.
There are restrictions related to no outdoor seating.
We are not applying to do outdoor seating here.
That would be a separate license.
And this is in any regulations in the condo docks requiring or limiting the hours of operation.
They will adhere to that as well.
Um, and, uh, I would just say for this board that the, um, uh, that the questions related
to, uh, uh, what the condominium documents permit and, uh, any restrictions therein
are not directly related to, um, the question of the special exception.
Um, those are separately enforced, uh, or, you know, by agreement.
I understand.