authorized person of Bustle Center HDLC?
Yes. And you're the owner of the property?
Yes. And were you present while he gave the
testimony a few minutes ago? Yes. And is everything
that you heard true and accurate to the best of your knowledge, information
and belief? Yes. And if I was to call
you to testify, would you adopt that as your own? Yes.
Thank you very much. Counselor, what he
prepares there, will he be shipping that
anywhere or everything he prepares stays right there i'll stay right there okay other questions
from the board yep um so the rco letter reference like noise from the machine read that you'll be
using uh do you anticipate like any like noises from the fans or any machine read that you'll be
using especially because and i'm trying to make this clear if i can miss graham uh at the rco
meeting that'll be that that electrostatic air cleaner is installed internally and it gets vent
that externally so the noise would be if there is any noise from it which they said is similar
to a commercial air conditioning unit would be inside you know where the baking is taking place
i have a few questions one i see there's an existing parking lot but it doesn't look like
there's a curb cut at the sidewalk um how do you access the parking lot as a vehicle
i believe there is a curb cut but i might be okay it is there is it just doesn't look like it from
map view yes so it's right of course it's cut off but is there an existing curb cut there yes
there's a curb cut okay and then um so a few questions i have one so you said there's no
frying so you're not making any like donuts or fritters on site ever no no frying okay um and
then my other question is about hours of operation. I know most bakeries open very early in the
morning. And was that addressed at all in the RCO meeting with neighbors? Yeah, I mean, it was
addressed, Ms. Wynn, with regards to, we told them what the hours of operation would be, that baking,
we expect our employees would probably start arriving around 6 a.m. We told them, you know,
that is just kind of the standard with baking, you know. But outside of that, there was no
follow-up questions with regards to the hours of operation for our employees. Okay. And then are
are most of the customers going to be individual like residents or are you
doing larger scale orders to things like other restaurants or other food
establishments?
Yeah. So I think, and I'll let Hashim answer this,
but the idea is to start off as individuals, right? I mean, listen,
if it's, if it, if it becomes like cupcake boss and he starts, you know,
doing really well, God bless him and good for him.
But the intention is not to do a wholesale distributor.
It is really just to do individuals who are coming in,
maybe like a family party trice will be probably the largest to that extent all the questions yes
and should you grow to the point where you need the wholesale distribution that's another category
where you'd have to get permission anyway and and and i enjoy coming before this board and i will
make sure that we are here okay so my other question now how far is this school from the
bakery it is right next door next door so if you look at it from the satellite view
miss gaston um here is the bakery right here where it's a saint luke orthodox ukrainian church
where my cursor is the school is located right here so we share a property line all right um
and i guess uh my other questions are about the delivery so how are we doing the deliveries
there is doors there are existing doors in the back and so our proposal is to have it again come
in drop off the deliveries and take off or leave okay and you're not going to be having uh the baked
goods picked up and delivered anywhere that is correct that is not the intention okay and then
so then people will come in and they have to kind of find some place to stand around in there well
Well, yeah, it's going to be like, you know, any other bakery that you would go into. So I'll show you the floor plan again. So you would go in, you, there's a small grocery area here where we'll have some pre-packaged materials. But then you have here the cake refrigerator and the other shelves, both in the back and also in the front.
yeah it's going to be like you're right you know any other bakery that you would go into so i'll
I'll show you the floor plan.
so you would come in if there's not something that you already see on any of the shelves
and let's say you're waiting for something to be made then you would just stand around like you
would at any other you know deli counter if you will um until your order is is prepared
and we did originally propose to have like three or four chairs so that if someone comes in last
minute says hey i want to get a family tray and they need to go out in the back and make more
um that they had a place for them to sit but the rco was very adamant about having no
seating um and congregating okay and and what other kinds of things are you going to be selling
i mean what's on these shelves so it'll be hummus it'll be olive oils it'll be coffee which will be
ground fresh and daily um and then you know those are kind of the high level ones but it's
mediterranean themed yeah so that's what you mean by mediterranean themed uh okay all right thank
you other questions questions or comments from our attorney hillary emerson not at this time
mr the comments from the audience or the virtual audience i see no hands planning commission
thank you chairman and good morning david effecto with the city planning commission
chairman and board members the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the rsd3
residential single-family detached zoning at this location. The zoning in this neighborhood
dates to 1978. This property has a documented history of commercial uses dating to at least
1962. The proposed use is in keeping with the nature of those previously approved uses.
The City Planning Commission recommends the board grant a proposed use variance for retail sales of
food, beverages, and groceries. Thank you. MI 2025-000309-10151, Busselton Avenue, I vote yes.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes. Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes. Taneta Graham, my vote is yes.
Ayawen, my vote is yes. Ishmael Shaheem, my vote is yes. Thank you, Councilman. Thank you very much,
everybody. Number 10, MI 2025, 000334, 2523 to 41 North Bear Hill Street. Meredith Verlicker
or Brandon Sabrin are the attorneys. There's a letter of support from APM and a letter of
non-opposition from Council Member Lozada. Hi, everybody. Good morning.
Good morning, Brandon. Could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Yes. My name is Brandon Saverin, spelled D-R-A-N-D-O-N. Then S as in Sam, A, V as in Victor, R-A-N as in Nancy.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
But you identify your client and the relationship to the property.
Sure. My client is the property owner, Fairhill Lofts, LLC, and is represented today by one of its principals, Simon Shane.
Our vice chair has a few questions, sir.
Good morning, counsel. Do you agree to wave the read and other refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, I do.
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that's needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
Thank you, counsel. Please proceed. Share your screen.
Good morning, members of the board. One thing I'll just point out right off the bat is that there was an error in the original refusal. So seven days after its issuance, we received this amended or corrected refusal, if you will.
So if you are inclined to grant the variance, it might be helpful to have a proviso noting that it is per an amended refusal dated December 24th, 2024.
So with that, I am here to speak to you today about a building that is brand new, nearing the completion of construction, but has never been occupied.
And it was built over the course of the past year or so as a 22-unit apartment building.
And what we are here seeking today is permission to rent the units both on a long-term basis,
as is permitted by Wright, and on a short-term basis. And what you'll see on your screen
and on a short-term basis. And what you'll see on your screen is that this refusal identifies the
I don't know.
short-term use, which needs a variance as visitor accommodation, and the long-term use,
which is already permitted as household living. And we're looking for permission to do both. So
really, the concept for this is it is a furnished apartment building where all of the units will
have appliances and furniture. And we're right at the point where we would begin to install those
items based on the outcome of the hearing today. This is really a concept that does exist in some
other neighborhoods, but certainly not here in Fairhill in eastern North Philadelphia.
And the benefits to the community of this kind of facility, I'll touch on more in a moment, but really allow people who might be visiting relatives, people that are between longer leases to have somewhere to stay.
that is more of an apartment building than a hotel, although it does have some hotel-type
amenities, which we'll walk through, which make it appropriate for this and able to handle it.
Further, there is a need sort of on my client's end for the flexibility to get folks into this
building who may want to try it before committing to a long-term lease. Because as I'll show you
here, when my client began planning for this project a few years ago, it sort of knew that
this was a tough block. So we're one and a half blocks below Lehigh. The street at the top of our
block is Huntington, and then one more would be Lehigh. And this is a block, and I'll sort of
verify this with some aerials in a second, where we are surrounded by vacant land. Vacant land
is really used in a very sort of unsavory way with the parking of chopped up vehicles, dumping,
etc. And that's our side of the street. On the other side of the street are largely auto chop
shops and garages, very few residential uses. So my client's hope was that by the time we got to
this point, other folks would have taken what are some other large lots like ours and developed
some more residences to continue the transition to a residential neighborhood because it is zoned
RM1. So the zoning allows for residential use. That's why our building was by right.
But that hasn't happened. So that's why we are making this sort of late in the game request
to allow short and midterm rentals, because we are fearful of our ability to fill this building
with folks putting down a security deposit and committing to an entire year lease.
Because whether you know this block or you don't know it and you're seeing it for the first time,
there's a good chance you'd have some hesitation about living here and really committing to a full year lease.
So what I'm going to do is introduce you to the building,
and then I will touch on some of the benefits to the community again.
And you just sort of heard my pitch about why my client is pursuing this for its own aims.
And I did draft a memo of law that sort of translates that into a hardship argument.
But I really want to focus on the building and the needs of the community for the rest of the presentation.
So real quickly, as the chairman mentioned, I attended two meetings with APM with my client.
The first was a closed door preliminary meeting and the second was the public meeting.
um that this was robust community support um i think folks saw this as something that could
benefit them as community members without negatively affecting them because again there's
very few homes on this block so the folks that came out to this meeting they might live a few
blocks away you know but um they understand sort of what this block is and how it would be um you
know difficult to sort of operate a normal long-term only building there at this time
so of the 17 folks that voted at the meeting 14 voted in support I then corresponded with
Sloan folks in councilwoman Lozada's office told him a little bit about the project and
how the RCO meeting went and we ended up with this letter of non-opposition from the councilwoman
And we ended up with this letter of non-opposition from the councilwoman.
Thank you.
Now to show you the building and the property.
So here's the zoning map.
As I mentioned, it is on this block, zoned RM1.
The next block up, you'd have CMX2 zoning on our side of the street.
This is a series of a few aerial photographs.
So you have kind of evidence of what I mentioned earlier.
our block, especially our side of the block is just not in a good way right now. We unfortunately
only own a few feet sort of beyond the walls of our property. And we're going to fence that and
take care of it. The folks who are staying here or living here are going to have a private rear
backyard that is fenced in, but we just simply do not control most of this area. And it is used for
illicit purposes sadly uh a lot of dumping a lot of dumping um just to show you a few more angles
and across the street i'll show you street levels in a moment
on the other side there are garages so just aerials from different angles
and that's the back street reese so here's what the building looked like as of a few days ago we
got very recent photographs for you as I said not occupied but nearing construction so forgive the
plywood over what is going to be the front door there under the canopy here's the back side with
the fence that I mentioned there are Juliet balconies on the units there is no roof deck
and there is no balcony on which someone could really hang out
Again, with the boat and the cars here, but this is the backside.
Photos of our notice posters.
So this is what's across the street from us.
It's not necessary to sort of touch on the conditions of the building or the spray paint.
That's sort of beside the point.
What I really want to highlight is these are all automotive garages for the most part.
That's the point I'm trying to make.
They're not residences.
And again, my experience has been that folks that own these sorts of facilities, they tend to sell them when given the chance.
So my client was really hoping that sort of things would change here since it started the planning for this.
It just hasn't yet.
And this is directly next to us.
There's also a really large garage on our side of the street directly to the north there.
more garages to the south there's one home as I mentioned there are a couple homes
uh our side of the street to the south uh this is Reese directly behind us and yet again it's just
it's another uh automotive use and I I'm assuming they may be connected to the cars in the lot there
but there's the garage um so this is um the uh well i'll go i'll go a little out of order here
let me actually jump to the the plans and i'll come back to the interior photographs
okay so this is a part of the loop that wasn't right all right that one more time so so brandon
i i think one of the i appreciate the plans but i think oh okay where where you might want to be
with this i think your your actual words it's like a hotel right so could could you explain why
it's like a hotel yeah it's your thoughts about that okay absolutely yeah it's it's um it's not
a hotel it has some amenities that are um maybe typical of a hotel or a high-end apartment building
and i think you'll actually sort of see that the use of the word high-end is not hyperbole when i
show you the interiors of the units. But it's not a hotel. But I'm saying, I think you used that
term. Well, yeah, just I was specifically going to write here what I'm showing you now, Mr.
Chairman, which is that we're going to have on the first floor, a lounge space where folks can,
you know basically congregate or reserve it it will be locked behind a key card door but to the
extent they want to gather with folks and cook a meal it's going to have a kitchen so that could
have been a unit but we turned that into sort of an amenity we do also have a small lobby that's
going to be open at all times and we have a trash room which has direct access to the side yard so
that trash is, you know, collected and not sort of taken out through the front doors or anything
like that. Other than this lounge, though, so I'm sorry if I got carried away with that description.
It really is just an apartment building. It's just a furniture apartment building. So
let's just take a look quickly at the building permit plans.
Let's just take a look quickly at the building permit plans.
So these are the building permit plans to which this is currently under construction.
This is the floor I already showed you.
I do have our architect, Tim, here from Design Blends, if you have any questions.
But all of the units on the ground floor are two-bedroom.
And then as you go up, I think the remaining three floors are very similar to one another.
and you have one bedroom unit and five two-bedroom units on each of those.