No further hands at this time, Madam Chair.
Okay, so we're going to case number one.
Calendar number 006.
Excuse me, Madam Chair, I believe you're voting the add-on first.
You're right.
Calendar number 3420-2143 Christian Street.
My vote is yes, with revised plans consisting of one page.
Yes, for proviso.
Yes, for proviso.
Yes, for proviso.
Thank you. Now we're going to the regular list, calendar number 0065, 1014 North Marshall Street.
The attorney is David Orfanides.
Mr. Orfanides has been promoted to panelists.
I'm waiting to see him. Mr. Orphanides, can you put your name and address on the record,
please, and spell your last name? Certainly. My name is David Orphanides. The last name is
spelled O-R-P-H-A-N-I-D-E-S. I'm with the law firm Orphanides & Toner at 2 Penn Center, 1500
John F. Kennedy Boulevard, Suite 800, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19102. Thank you. Do you swear
a firm to tell the whole truth and I'll think about the truth. I do. Do you agree to waive
the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy? Yes, I do. And have you emailed an
exhibit packet with the required documents consisting of proof of ownership, tax compliance,
refusal or referral, copy of the plans, photos, five days in advance of this hearing? And have
you met with the RCO? And do you have a letter? It's all yeses. Yes. Okay. Yes.
You may proceed.
All right.
May I share briefly?
No, I can't say yes to that.
I'm not sure I can say yes to that, but I'll try my best.
You know that.
So may I share my screen?
Yes, you may.
Thank you.
Can everybody see my screen?
going to move back up to the top. So again, my name is David Orthonides. I'm here this morning
on behalf of Philly Construction Company, LLC. It's the owner of the subject property, 1014 North
Marshall Street. I have with me in, we're in our conference room here in our office, and I have
with me my clients, Eran and Ila Albuher. They are the owners of Philly Construction Company, LLC,
the owner and then they're also the tenant and operator by a lease dated 9-22-15 open space
studio LLC so they they own it and they lease to that they own it and with their own entity and
they lease it to another entity that they own okay what we're here for today is as we're here
for a special exception so this is you know let's start out right from the beginning this is not a
variance case. I have included in the exhibit materials that I forwarded previously and that
I have up on my screen at tab 15. I can go through that a little bit about what the standards are
just to remind the board very quickly how this should move forward and what the standards are.
But this matter involves an event space. It's a very small event space. I can show you some
photographs of it really quickly and here you see it's a photograph of open space and it's a one
story building um the cellar or basement was previously permitted for a music recording
rehearsal studio um basically that my client uses um he's a musician and um that was previously
permitted by right prior to, I think that was back in 2015, August 5th of 2015, a permit number
629849 for the seller. Back in 2016, I came before this very board and a calendar number
26612 for to permit to secure a special accept
uh for to permit to secure a special exception for the event space on the ground floor
it's the same thing that we're here for today because the result of that hearing was that a
three-year temporary was granted and again that was a calendar number 26612 notice the decision
was dated 210-2016 the permit that was issued in connection was that with that uh granting of the
special exception by the zoning board was issued on february 22nd 2016 and that permit number was
646272 okay so the upstairs of open space is an event space it's an event how many people maximum
so i can show you on the plan so it's 99 people so and it's 99 on the ground floor and then there
some bathrooms to meet the bathroom requirement the rear of the cellar but other than that the
ground floor the cellar is just for the recording studio okay so here's here's a floor plan and and
you know you look at it and you say you know where's where are all the details but um really
the whole front space and i'll show you in a couple minutes what it looks like um it is open
um the back you have a kitchen and i can zoom in here a little bit and i can show you what the
photographs to the rear to the back you have a kitchen you have two bathrooms and then again
the stairs that lead downstairs to the to the additional bathrooms and again we you know we
went we established the criteria for the granting of the special exception back in 2016 and again
the board granted that granted as a temporary I think the idea being because Mr. Albuher has
my clients have functions that at times, and we're going to get into that, involve 50 or more people
where there may be live music or DJs. This is technically a nightclub or private club under
the zoning code. And that's why back in 2016, it required the granting of a special exception.
the recording studio in the cellar. And then again, here's the permit that was issued back
in 2016 by special exception for the nightclub private club, technically what it is, because
on occasion it does have that. Although that's how it was deemed at that time to be a nightclub
and private club, because we weren't sure how the, this was, it was brand new, it was
proposed. And what's interesting is, is that I'm going to show you the definition of a nightclub
and private club and it talks about an operation that regularly has 50 or more people live music
and or and djs um and you'll hear from my client or i'll state for the record um that he does we
don't meet that standard or that threshold of regularly because as you would know from a night
club or private club they're generally open every single weekend weeknights they always have live
music they always have 50 50 or more people they always have djs and that's not the case here not
only in terms of the frequency of events which we're going to get into but also how many of
those events tend to have 50 or more people live music or djs so now when you say the number excuse
me 99 do you mean the music studio the recording studio and the private club would equal 99 or
there could be 99 on the first floor 99 in the basement no the 99 no I mean the recording studio
if you see the pictures it's really for Mr. Albuquerra and his friends but it is permitted
for that but as you'll see here at tab 14 I have the actual certificate of occupancy that was issued
uh November 10th 2017 and that and that was for the ground floor and again the plans I can I can
provide you the actual plans but the floor plans that I'm showing you are based off of the plans
that were permitted with the certificate of occupancy which is just for the ground floor.
But if I were to show you just so we're clear what we're talking about even though again
that was that's permitted by right this is CMX2 zoning district and that's permitted by right I
can show you the interior photographs here's the upstairs from the back towards the front
from the front towards the back you're going to see these sound panels that we're going to talk
about a little bit more as we go along the kitchen which I showed you was towards the back
one bathroom handicap bathroom another bathroom and then the stairs to the cellar and this is
and this is the recording studio i you couldn't it's not massive i mean i know you know your music
the recording studio. You couldn't, it's not massive.
and i know you've probably been in your fair share of recording studios i'm sure
um just by the picture on the back behind you you can see the stones back there
so um but yes it's small it's not you know it's not generally used by the public it's it's really
really just intended for mr and his friends so it's not something he markets um and so in terms
of the occupancy of that space it's not something that uh that affects anybody either at the
property or outside of the property and this is all the seller and seller storage area for the
operation what would the days and hours of operation be so i mean so when we went we went
through previously, and I thought it was in my exhibit book, but with the permits, but so
originally the community group that had jurisdiction over this property back in 2016 was West Poplar
CDC. It's now the 14th Democratic, the 14th Ward Democratic Executive Committee. At that time,
they provided hours that was seven days a week, 10 in the morning to generally 10 a night, 10,
11 o'clock at night, and with occasional special events that you would go to no later than 2 a.m.
And this was not in my exhibit book, but this is from the zoning archives, and I can show you that
letter. And just so you know, like to answer your question, we've complied with this. You can see
the days and hours. By the way, this letter is referenced in the permit that I showed you,
that result that came out of your last hearing on this. You both, your notice of decision and
the permit references this specific letter and in this letter it says up to seven days per week
10 a.m no later than 11 except in the case of special events will should not be the norm
special event hours we know later than 2 a.m okay so we we've maintained that
and i mean to cut to it a little bit in terms of making establishing the standard again that we have
for um for for the special exception case uh if you just give me one minute
so in terms of a special exception i'm just going to scroll to the relevant section of the zoning
code one minute mr rafanidis do those hours include upstairs and downstairs that's this is
that's just about the upstairs because the only thing before the community group was and before
the zoning board back in 2016 and today is the is the the event space downstairs is permitted by
right um okay and it's not the subject of this matter and it wasn't subject then there was a
previous you know i referenced the permit from 2015 permit 629849 it was granted it's allowed
in CMX2, I can show you in the table right here. Here's where nightclubs, technically nightclubs
and private clubs are a special exception. And then if I go to right down here, you can see,
let me switch to a hand, or I can take a box and draw a box around it. You can see here where
radio and television, you can see where I've circled it now, is permitted by right. And that
was that permit so we are we're not here about that at all um we're here simply about to get a
special exception um again for the nightclub and private club uh that's on the ground floor okay
where's trash going to be stored the trash is stored in the rear there's the rear of the property
and there are trash cans to the rear um that's on our property to the rear it's not visible from
the street. It's stored in the back and then brought out to the front. We are permitted under
the city code as a commercial operation to put out x amount of trash on the sidewalk and we that's
what we do and we do it in an orderly fashion when there are events. But back to real quickly
back to just like Ken. So the criteria for the special exception says the applicant should have
the initial duty of presenting evidence and the burden of proof that the proposal proposed use
meets the definition for the use permitted by special exception, that all dimensional
standards are satisfied. We're not talking about changing the height or area of the building
and that it complies with specific use criteria. And then it talks about initial burden being
establishing the following criteria beyond that which normally might be expected from the proposed
used, being a nightclub or private club. Again, this is even a nightclub and private club as it's
presently operating. But we're going to move forward as if it is. And I can talk about whether
it is or isn't. You can make that determination. But we're going to move forward as if it is.
we're going to move forward as if it is. And that talks about congestion in public streets or
And that talks about congestion in public streets or transportation systems.
transportation systems, overcrowding the land, impairing inadequate supply of light or air to
adjacent property, which here, obviously, we're not changing the building as it isn't applicable.
Burdening water, sewer, school, park, or other public facilities, there's going to be, there's
nothing here that would do that. Impairing or permanently injuring the use of adjacent
performing properties, again, beyond that which normally might be expected from the proposed use,
endangering the public health or safety by fire or other means there's there's we meet all codes
regarding fire safety and then the inconsistency with the comprehensive plan of the city of
philadelphia once we establish those which we're going to get into then it shifts over to the any
opposition to go through these things and talk about again that any here we are beyond that which
might normally be expected from the proposed use.
I've already talked about how nightclubs generally-
Excuse me, Councilor.
Can you summarize?
All right.
And Tony, can you speak a little bit louder too?
Oh, okay.
So there's an echo here.
If we understand the code and all of that,
I agree with Mr. Holloman.
The only reason I'm going to this length
is that there were some neighbors
that came to the community group meeting.
We did three 14303 notices for the community group meeting.
And I'm just concerned regarding the record in the event of anything here for you and for you to make the right decision.
My client is here. He can speak to it himself.
But in summary, he has the number of events that he had in 2018, 2019 and 2020 are fairly limited.
And I can run through what they were real quickly, just so you get a sense of the operations.
Can you just give us the number?
So actually, 43 events in 2018, 64 events in 2019.
And in 2020, obviously, with the COVID and the shutdown, he only had 19 events.
So if you look at that, I mean, in 2018, his first full year of operation, he had less than one a week.
in 2019 he had a little more than averaging one a week and obviously in 2020 I mean it's hard to
gauge that but obviously clearly he's had like a third of it now what's interesting is Mr.
Albuquer I asked him the question and again he can adopt my statements in 2018 I asked him I said
of those in 2018 of those 43 events how many of them had 50 or more people music and or DJ his
answer for 2018 was four his answer for 2019 was eight to ten and for 2020 it was none um in addition
to all that Mr. Albuqueron included in my exhibit book has been continuing to work on soundproofing
his property um and so he has a sound compressor attached to the sound system he has a sound meter
at the site. He's, he has replaced the front windows in 2020. He added acoustical panels in
2019. And then there's a proposal that I've included. Where is it? There, here it is. He
has a proposal to have additional work done. There you see the $3,200. And then another one
for $2,400 to have additional soundproofing done, which he's in the process of having completed.
So back to the definition of a nightclub. I mean, first of all, again, as I mentioned,
it talks about regularly. And I would put to this board that this doesn't even, you know,
the amount of events that he is having, that he has had to date, and we don't know what's
going to happen in relationship to COVID, that it's even questionable whether this is a nightclub
and private club if we are and we're fine with that characterization you know we don't necessarily
you know we don't want to make an issue of that we feel that um there has it doesn't meet we've
satisfied the burden the initial burden which is a fairly low burden that we don't create any of