Okay, great.
Is there anyone in the virtual audience who would like to testify?
So please raise your hand.
I see no hands, Madam Chair.
Okay, Planning Commission.
Hi, this is Mason Austin, representing the Planning Commission.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Thank you.
okay and mason can you spell your last name for the court stenographer sure no problem a-u-s-t-i-n
thank you great thank you madam chair and members of the board um property is designated for single
family residential use in the comprehensive plan and is zoned for that use because the proposal
would not reduce the supply of on-street parking or negatively impact the use of adjacent properties
and would improve the existing conditions of the wall in question the staff of the planning
commission has no objection to the granting of the proposed variances thank you calendar number
1792 1402 castle avenue my vote is yes and my name is jane snell my vote is yes
Thomas Howellman, my vote is yes.
calendar number 1829 1600 north 52nd street joseph vaccaro is the attorney
Calendar number 1829-1600.
mr vaccaro is coming back in as a panel thanks
Mr. Vaccaro, can you put your name and address on the record, spell your last name?
Yes, good afternoon. My name is Joseph Vaccaro, V-A-C-C-A-R-O, attorney for the applicant.
My address is 5918 Torsdale Avenue, Philadelphia, 19135.
to my left do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy
yes i do and who is to your left mr sammy tater he will be uh he is the uh the client the tenant
at the property who is the proposed operator of the proposed store okay excuse me this is
sharon saletta mr vicaro did email me this afternoon a letter of support from the rco
and miss aletta did you get the tax clearance certificate that i sent you this morning
i did thank you mr vicaro okay thank you so so sir you do have support from the community and
that's good have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership tax compliance refusal
referral photos under plans of the property five days in advance of this hearing and um
We know that you've met with the RCO and there is a letter.
So you may proceed after you answer.
Yes, thank you.
I did send everything.
I did submit everything on time.
Saved the tax clearance certificate.
I was only able to send that yesterday.
And I finally received the letter of support from Parkside today.
And I forwarded that.
So that's all good.
Thank you.
Thank you.
How do I share my share screen?
Don't ask me.
Mr. Baccaro, do you have your documents up already?
I'm looking to put them up.
Okay, so...
So put them up first and then click share screen.
Okay, I'll do that.
now I'm looking for there we go there it goes coming up you got it open up your
document okay let's start with the application this is an application we
can hear you and I'm sorry can you hear me now yes we can hear you but we're
wait for your documents to open. We'll do that. Are you seeing the documents? No, that's why I
would think that you might want to unshare, then open your documents and have them present on the
screen, then share, and they should come up. Okay. Okay. So we'll open the documents first.
they're opening. So once they're visible on your screen then go to the green share
screen button. Okay. Now we'll go to the green share screen button and then I click on share,
correct correct okay so we got it okay so let's see here let's minimize this so i could find the
okay this is what 1600 north 52nd street looks like right now it is an empty shell
Well, before my client took over this building from Mr. and Mrs. O, the current owners, there
was a beauty shop, and that beauty shop had been closed for many, many years.
As I had just testified, this building has been empty for quite a few years, and my clients
would like to open up a retail hot and cold food beverages and grocery store on the first
floor of this building. The plan is to use the second floor, the basement, as well as
the third floor for storage of whatever products they plan to sell, as well as supplies. Mr.
Mr. Tahir, who's sitting to my left, is the proposed operator of the store, and he is involved
But Tahir, who's sitting to my left, is the proposed operator of this.
in the operation of two other stores, two other similar stores to the one that's planned. One is
located at 6856 Elmwood, known as the Elmwood Deli and Grill, and I'm showing you pictures of
what the Elmwood Deli and Grill looks like, the external as well as the internal, the inside of
the store. And what they have planned at Elmwood, what they are operating at Elmwood as well as
their other store on South 4th Street is what they plan for 1600 North 52nd Street, the empty shell
that you have just seen. Right now I'm showing you photos of their store at Elmwood Street.
You may notice that there are some tobacco paraphernalia at the Elmwood Street store.
It is not their plan to be involved with tobacco in any way at the North 52nd Street property, the property at issue.
So this was Elmwood Street.
Then I have, this is their store on South 4th Street.
the address is 630 South 4th Street. That's their menu for the products that they sell.
You'll see smoothies, sandwiches. Let me see if I can show some other.
I can maybe move. There we go. I can move this. Various salads, fries, sandwiches. This is more
than just a corner bodega. Fresh fruits, fresh yogurts, parfaits. You see some fresh fruits
and vegetables in their refrigerated case. And again, here, what they're doing on 4th
Street and Elmwood, as well as the Elmwood store, as well as the 4th Street store, is
what they plan on doing on 52nd Street. Here I have my notice to the neighborhood of the
meeting which was held on July 28th, as well as the certificates of mailing, if I could find those.
Here they are, certificates of mailing.
We have the refusal. The reason for the refusal is that this use, the proposed use, is not
permitted in this district. It is zoned residential, but again, by way of history of this property,
no one has lived in this property for many years. Here's the lease agreement. Mr. Tahir
has possession of the place from Mr. and Mrs. O, the landlords, pursuant to a commercial
lease. We had submitted the application. And again, here's our tax clearance certificate
showing that my client is valid and cleared.
The project information statement with its details. And here's the sign that I had put up of
today's zoning hearing. I put that poster up on August 9th. This is the Jefferson Street side.
and then you see the other sign on the 52nd Street side.
It's a corner property.
And then I gave us a close-up of the hearing notice for today.
And you've met with the RCO?
And we've met with the RCO on July 28th.
Who is that RCO?
Parkside Community.
the Parkside Association of Philadelphia. And how did they vote? Five, nothing in support,
no opposition and no non-opposition. Okay. I have Mr. Tahir to my left.
Sir, can you put your name and address on the record and spell your last name?
uh sammy tayher last name t-a-h-e-r uh 1600 north 57th philadelphia 19131
you swear for him to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do thank you
yes sorry can't hear you we cannot hear you
Mr. Vaccaro, we can hear you.
Mr. Tahir, did you hear my presentation?
He said yes.
And would you adopt it as your own testimony if you were to testify?
And would you adopt it as your own testimony if you were to testify?
Did you hear that?
Yes, we did. Thank you.
Mr. Tahir, what days of the week do you plan on operating?
We plan to operate seven days a week.
What are the hours?
Approximately from seven to five, maybe to six, 10 to 12 hours a day maximum.
Do you plan on hiring anyone in the neighborhood?
Yes, that will be our first choice is to hire from the neighborhood.
And we've already spoke to the community, the community board that we spoke to Parkside Association on dropping off applications, job applications at their location first, just in case they have anybody in mind.
Where will you store the trash?
we cannot hear you i'm sorry there was can you hear me now now we can okay there was discussion
about trash i'll show you where will you store that i don't want to hear a discussion about it
where will you store it in the back there's a back area i wanted to show you the photograph
of where the trash is proposed to be stored.
So here's the empty shell of the inside.
Let me just scroll down so I'll get to the area
where the trash would be stored.
And will that be commercial trash pickup?
Correct.
Here we go.
Let me enlarge this photograph.
That looks great.
Well, the plan is to clear it out.
the plan is to put in a better fence so no one in the neighborhood or no one will will illegally
dump anything in that area right and once that's done that's basically where the trash will be
stored correct okay great thank you no thank you word of any questions no madam chair
um is there anyone in a virtual audience with questions
I see no hands, Madam Chair.
Planning Commission.
Madam Chair and members of the Board,
property is designated for multifamily residential use
in the comprehensive plan and is zoned for that use.
However, given the history of commercial use
and the non-opposition of Parkside Association,
staff of the Planning Commission has no objection
to the granting of the variance.
Thank you.
Calendar number 1829, 1600 North 52nd Street,
my vote is yes and my name is carol tennari
thomas hollivan my vote is yes james snell my vote is yes thank you and good luck thank you
have a good day thank you too calendar number 1831 1703 montrose street matt monroe is the attorney
Mr. Monroe is coming back in as a panel.
Hello, Madam Chair, members of the board.
Hi, Matt.
Hi, Mr. Monroe.
Can you put your name and address on the record, spell your last name, and I'll swear you in.
Matt Monroe with Monroe Law.
We're working out of our South Philly offices at 2030 Pemberton Street, 19146.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
I sure do.
Do you agree to wait for reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Absolutely.
Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership tax compliance, refusal referral,
photos under plans of the property five days in advance of this hearing,
and have you met with the RCO, and do you have a letter?
I did, I did, I do.
Okay, and I see now that the South of South Neighborhood Association
has given you a letter of support with the proviso
for asking insurance for any damage to adjacent property,
which is unenforceable.
Understood.
My client's happy to do that, but we understood.
That's the board's province.
but okay so your client will do that on his own sure my my client intends to pull the permits and
abide by the code anyway okay so you may proceed okay great and um i know it's been a long day so
hopefully we can uh get through this pretty quickly i'm madam chair members of the board
again i'm matt monroe happy to be here on behalf of my client and neighbor eileen o'donnell who i
know is on the call as well whose property is at 1703 montrose street um she's been in the
been in the neighborhood since 2013. And back in June of 2019, she got some unfortunate news
neighborhood since 2013 and back in June of 2019.
that there'd been some jackhammering by her house and a sheer wall of her home just kind of
came clean off. That afternoon, Ellen and I determined that her house was in imminent danger
and slated it for demolition and knocked it down. A few days later, she had basically an hour to get
her stuff out. There was a reporter in the news. And here, all she's trying to do is rebuild her
home in Graduate Hospital 1703 Montrose. She has very minimal refusals here. She has a very small
lot size. The lot's 540 square feet. This is an RM1 zoning district. And as we're probably very
well familiar, in RM1 zoning district, minimum lot size is 1,440 square feet. So when you're
look at 540 square feet, you're not dealing with a whole lot. Well, you're dealing with an entire
lot, but it's not very much. The refusals are all related to dimensions in the rear yard.