Mr. Consul, you've already been sworn, just for the record, state your name.
Joseph Consul.
That's Joseph Consul.
Right. Could you also identify your clients in relationship to these two properties?
Yeah. The owners are Roger and Olga Lydia, and Roger Panaglia is on the call today.
Right. Our vice chair has a few questions for you, sir.
Good afternoon, counsel. Do you agree to weigh the reading of the refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that is needed and required to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
Thank you.
Please proceed and share your screen.
All right.
All right.
So I'm here for 1301, along with 1303 through 1305 West Finango Street.
I'll just kind of orient you.
It's this entire building here.
So it's like one, two, three properties sort of smushed together.
My clients purchased these properties in April of 2023.
When they purchased them, they were set up as seven units total.
I'll show you all the meters that have been there.
They are unaware as to when these units were converted to seven units, but the fact of the matter is, is they've been converted to seven units and they are, is my packet up now or is my?
I see, I see blank space right now.
That's my packet. Okay.
But they were converted and they were purchased by my clients as seven units.
So we've got 1301, and this is its own OPA number. We have a lack of footprint in order to support the number of units, as well as a lack of commercial space on the first floor, which would be required under the CMX2 code.
I'll note that the property was built and approved as it takes up the entire footprint, so it was approved without a yard, so the building's a little bit bigger than the footprint would actually suggest, so I think that that lends some credence to approval of these extra units.
For 1303 through 1305, we have a refusal that is similar. There's no commercial space on the first floor, and we're lacking some ground floor square footage that's required for approval of those units.
So 1301 is three units. 1303 through 05 is a total of four units.
As mentioned, we got approval at the Nicetown Tioga improvement team, the RCO.
As you mentioned, there were several provisos that they mentioned, although we don't believe that they are necessarily enforceable.
got some photos so the way it's kind of laid out and maybe it's better if I show you on a map
let's see if that actually if that helps yeah okay so we've got an entrance to 1301 on the left
we've got an entrance to 1301 on the left 1303 in the middle 1303 and then 1305 and then i'll show
you the floor plan so you kind of get an idea of what the building actually looks like inside
the floor plan we'll go to the as built first floor plan first floor floor plan
The first floor of 1301, which is to the left, is a studio. 1303 in the middle is a studio. 1305 is a one-bedroom on the first floor.
Moving on to the second floor of each of the buildings, 1301 and 1303 are both bi-level units, and so they each extend from the second floor to the third floor, and you've got three bedrooms on the third floor for each of them.
So 1301 is a studio and three bedrooms. 1303 is a studio and three bedrooms. And 1305 has one unit on the first floor, one unit on the second floor with two bedrooms, and then on the third floor, another unit with two bedrooms.
So it's a total of seven units broken down, as I just described.
There's two of the meters.
Here's two more in the basement.
And there's four more for a total of eight meters, one being the common meter.
We also supplied all the other required documents, proof of mailing.
and tax clearance certificate.
I would submit that conversion back to a CMX2 approved property would not be feasible
as my clients purchased it as such.
The meters are set up and the properties, for the most part, are occupied by tenants
as they were at the time of purchase.
Furthermore, we have support from the community.
They appreciated the reasonable rents and the fact that my clients have been, you know, decent, if not licensed landlords since they started this journey back in April of last year.
With that, I'll call my client, Roger, to raise his hand and adopt my testimony.
Mr. Roger, can you please raise your virtual hand?
there he is i will allow him to speak sir could you please state your name and spell for the
first name is roger r-o-g-e-r last name honey i was e-a-n-i-a-g-u-a you swear or affirm to tell
the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes sir please proceed counsel
good afternoon roger did you hear my testimony just now regarding your two properties at 1301
1303 to 1305 west venango street yes do you adopt it as your own
do you agree with what i said just the addresses are backwards on the explanation
okay but those are my properties and my wife's here meaning the floor plans that i showed
would have been 1305 on the left and 1301 on the right that is correct okay my apologies
questions from the board no mr chairman no chair no chair questions or comments from our attorney
hillary emerson not at this time mr chair questions or comments from the virtual audience
there are no hands here planning commission
good afternoon chair peter bernard for the planning commission
um peter just for the record um spell your last name
My name is Peter Barnard, B as in boy, A as in apple, R as in Roger, N as in Nancy, A as in apple, R as in Roger, D as in dog.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
I do, Chair.
Please proceed.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing CMX2 commercial mixed-use zoning at this location.
We feel the applicant has a demonstrated hardship and the proposed is the minimum necessary variance.
accordingly the planning commission recommends the board grant the variance
I'm going to do these both together.
i'm gonna do these together yeah so excuse me um peter
Excuse me.
Peter, was that recommendation for both of the properties?
Sorry, Hillary.
Thank you for clarification.
Yes, that recommendation is for both properties.
Thank you so much.
MI 2023-006-166-1370.
T-01 Venango Street.
And MI
006163
1303205
West Venango Street. I vote
yes for both.
Thomas Holloman
my vote is yes
for both.
James Snell my vote is yes
to both.
Thank you.
If no Shahid my vote is yes to both.
Thank you.
Number five, MI 2023, 006171611 South Street.
Alan Nockamson is the attorney.
No RCO letter, but a meeting was held South Street Head House District on 11624.
Excuse me, Mr. Chair.
We missed number three.
Oh, I'm sorry.
MI 2023-006251, 701 South Broad Street.
Michael Phillips, Stephanie Boggs-Bagnett are the attorneys.
Letter of non-opposition from the Hawthorne Empowerment Coalition.
Ms. McNatta has been promoted, Chair.
Good afternoon, Counsel. You've already been sworn. Could you just state your name for the record, please?
Yes, Stephanie McGonaghan.
Right. Could you also identify your client and relationship?
Yes, my client is Hightop Broad Acquisition LLC. They are the owner of the property.
All right. And our vice chair has just a few questions.
Good afternoon, counsel. Do you agree to weigh the reading of the refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, I do.
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that is needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, I have.
Thank you. Please proceed and share your screen.
Thank you.
so the property is 701 south broad street obviously it's a long south broad street
between bainbridge and kennelworth street it's occupied by an existing seven-story building that
was previously approved with commercial retail space at the ground floor and uses visitor
accommodations above here is one of the vacant tenant spaces that is located at the corner of
South Broad Street and Kenilworth Street. That's the subject of this application.
A local franchisee who has experience with Papa John's restaurants is looking to open a new
location at this tenant space at the corner. It's currently vacant and obviously will be fitted out
for the new use if it's approved. Specifically, it would be limited to Space C, as shown on the
key plan here. Use for a Papa John's restaurant, I'm sure everybody's familiar with Papa John's,
but it's classified as a takeout restaurant under the Philadelphia zoning code.
It does require a special exception in the overlay for this district, so we are asking for approval for that reason.
The only change of use that's proposed with this application is for the takeout restaurant at this tenant space on the ground floor,
specifically Space C at the corner of Broad and Kenilworth.
All other previously approved uses of the building are to remain the same.
So we are proposing a proviso plan that was submitted with our exhibit package to document the location of the specific use that we're seeking approval for.
We did present this application to Hawthorne Empowerment Coalition on January 3rd.
Their letter of non-opposition is included within our packet.
it. The franchisee, as I said, has experience with other, they are a local franchisee, but they have
experience with other Papa John's restaurants that they own in the region and in the city. So they
are familiar with best practices for hours of operation and operating this business. Specifically
at this location, there are existing building facilities that will be utilized, such as indoor
trash storage and loading pickup off of Bainbridge Street. This restaurant will utilize those
facilities in connection with their operations they have also taken steps to you know mitigate
any potential traffic concerns that we discussed with hawthorne in particular they will be using
e-bikes for their delivery services as well as obviously offering offering opportunity for local
hiring to the local neighborhood so they are looking for this not only to be an amenity to
Looking for this, not only to be an amenity to the building, but compatible with this location and the broader neighborhood. But with that, I will ask Chris Patel, who is the franchisee, to raise his hand, and he can answer any operational questions, if there are any. We also have Ryan Lobauer from Hightop here as well, if there are questions for ownership.
the building, but compatible with this location.
Chris, can you please raise your hand if you haven't done so already?
Hi, Chris has been allowed to speak.
Hi, could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Hi, board.
Chris Patel, C-H-R-I-S-P-A-T-E-L.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, counsel.
Hi, Chris.
Did you hear the statements I made to the board just now?
Was everything correct?
Correct.
Would you adopt them as your own?
Statements?
With that, we'll be happy to answer any questions.
All right.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
no chair
no chair
questions or comments from our attorney
Hilary Anderson
not at this time Mr. Chair
questions or comments from the virtual audience
no hands chair
planning commission
good afternoon chair Peter Bernard for the planning commission
the comprehensive plan recommends
no change to the existing CMX-3 commercial mixed use at this location. We feel a proposal would
not have more impact than could reasonably be expected for the use. Accordingly, the Planning
Commission recommends the Board grant the special exemption. Thank you. MI 2023-006-251-701 South
Broad Street, I vote yes with proviso. Use limited to Space C as per key plan stamped by ZBA January
31st 2024. Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes with proviso. James Snell, my vote is yes with proviso.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes with proviso. Thank you, counsel. Thank you. Okay, number five,
MI 2023-006-171-611 South Street. Alan Notkinson is the attorney. There's no RCO letter,
but the meeting was held on South Street Head House District on 116-24.
Mr. Nockmson.
Alex Goldberg is coming in as a panelist, Chair.
Mr. Chair, I have two brief updates on this.
So we received a copy of a signed good neighbor agreement.
It was signed between the South Street Head House District and the applicant in this case.
And we just received a letter of non-opposition from Councilmember Squilla, provided that the applicant follows through on the Good Neighbor Agreement.
Thank you very much.
Mr. Goldberg, please state your name and spell for the court stenographer.
Alex Goldberg, A-L-E-X-G-O-L-D-B-E-R-G-H.
Right.