We've done some images trying to capture some of the cultural aesthetics we're trying to achieve.
It's an opportunity to do something inside.
It's a big, wide open space with a row of columns down the center.
In the corner of the image, we've come up with a little twist, which is a tree.
we want to actually put a live short tree that goes up through the ceiling hopefully not through
the roof although right now could be watered by the corner of the roof just to achieve a little
bit of a catch in the in the entrance a couple others have some more slides maybe yeah just a
just a quick idea the interior working with Muhammad what we were trying to achieve showing
you know typical tables for a banquet type of a setting whether that's the exact light fixture
don't know but the idea is the thematic approach of trying to make this an upscale type space i
think there's one more maybe yeah that's just a picture without the furniture to give you a flavor
and you can see the columns i referenced in the middle um there will be a folding partition down
the center allowing this to become one space or two spaces because you don't want to rattle around
in a big space for a smaller event when you come in the front foyer i think we have a floor plan
maybe yes uh when we come in the front four give it one second to load there we go uh we've created
a a new uh weather type uh lobby vestibule with a carter if you will a white carter back to the
second space uh coat room uh two spaces with the folding divider down the middle and obviously a
right aid has a single toilet room so up upgraded enhanced toilet rooms uh a an office for a manager
and a little office if there's somebody such as a bride that wants to come in there and have a
private space, mechanical room, bottom corner. No magic, just repurposing the almost 12,000 square
foot on the interior. And a warming kitchen, is that right? The deliveries? Warming kitchen,
you can see the little canopy roof I referred to earlier to allow us to bring in a catering truck
and load the kitchen. Great, thank you. Bob, you're familiar with the standards for reviewing
and granting a special exception in the city of Philadelphia?
And in your expert opinion, will this proposed assembly and entertainment use cause any detrimental
impact to congestion in the public streets beyond what would normally be expected of this use?
No, I don't believe so.
And the wording is, this board knows quite well, you know, special exception isn't a variance.
We are not in the capacity of proving a hardship.
We're simply in the capacity of proving it's basically a use by right with provisos, if you will.
And the provisos include that we can't have an adverse impact on the community.
And the actual wording in the Philadelphia Code, as you certainly have heard read many, many times or read,
is we need to present evidence that the proposed use will not cause a detrimental impact on the health, safety, and welfare of the neighborhood,
exceeding that, which normally might be expected for the proposed use.
And you have the questions that Andrea is asking is your sections 14, 303, 7E.1 and 0.2, where it talks about the specific bullet points, if you will, of us going through the list to indicate that we don't have anything that would be exceptional to the normal impact of this particular special exception use.
Thank you. So no congestion in the public streets beyond what's typical of this use.
correct um no overcrowding of the land beyond what's typical of this use no and again we're
not expanding the building in any capacity or any of the footprint of the building or any
impervious surface so there's really no change to what's been there same with impairing the
adequate supply of light and air to adjacent properties the same response follows through
same for uh burdening the water sewer school other public facilities
right um so no impairing or injuring the use of adjacent conforming properties correct um
or endangering public health or safety i believe that's accurate and no inconsistency with the
comprehensive city plan no and it matches the comp plan and the cmx 2 zoning which allows by
special exception for this particular use and you've been part of this process um from the
beginning uh the community has been engaged prior to hear this hearing relative to this project
but quite a bit significantly down to muhammad literally walking door to door um a very robust
rco engagement on this project there's multiple rcos um uh uh you know uh craig and i never never
get his name right melodizian i'm glad you thank thanks for i appreciate it uh he's been really
really instrumental in helping us orchestrate dialogue with the RCOs. We had a fairly almost
fairly almost a two-hour meeting on february 23rd with the rcos and craig has stayed in touch with
a two-hour meeting on February 23rd with the RCOs.
us on several different interfaces throughout the course of the last month so it's been a
a successful process sometimes it's not as streamlined with the rcos this has worked very
well thank you bob um so we we also have a few event photos of prior events that muhammad has
assisted that are emblematic of the type of events and life cycle events cultural
enrichment events that he's envisioning for the space that's a community asset that will be open
to all for for use the rest of the exhibits include the relevant provisions of the of the code
our application for appeal and the project information form
our RCO notice of the community meeting, and certificate of mailing, our posting photos,
and finally a zoning memorandum. I'll just ask that Mohammed step back up to adopt the rest of
my testimony. Quick question, have you agreed to all the provisos that were put forward? Yes.
Thank you. So, and this, and my conclusion, 30 seconds, this is a really good adopter for you.
These Rite Aids, I'm working on three of them, are not easy buildings to repurpose.
They're just, they're not big enough and not small enough.
They're right in the middle.
Most of them are not in good condition.
That's well, that is cool as well.
It's just a great, I mean, the worst thing you can have in a community, any community,
wherever I go, is a vacant building.
It's just a magnet for all kinds of wrong things.
So I'm pleased to be part of this.
I think it's a very positive initiative.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Thanks for your time.
Muhammad?
one for you oh it's literally good counsel muhammad you saw the rest of the presentation that that
bob and i provided and is it true and accurate to the best of your knowledge yes it is and do you
adopt it as your own testimony yes i do thank you so much questions from the board yeah i have a
question just regarding the event facility is there a basement or on-site storage and what's
the plan for things like furniture I noticed the renderings have a lot of photos but a lot of times
people come in and bring their own furniture and things in for an event so just want to know like
what's the load in and load out plan for events very very good question um there one of the things
everybody forgets to include in a facility that's a uh an event facility of any kind or a public
meeting room is a a closet you can roll tables and chairs so we have our own table and chair
set up and you can see that closet being traced by thank you yeah it just looked small which was
why i asked important thing is to have something that's long enough that you can get in there with
double doors you can roll at least three carts uh there's also some additional mechanical room
in the back which has a lot of extra storage available um the idea is that most things will
be here the people will not be bringing things in from the outside to to be a part of the process
so we're attempting to get you some self-enclosure if you look at the mechanical room in the back
corner it has a whopping two electrical panels on a water heater so it's a very large room with a lot
of capacity to score as well okay does that help that does okay sorry and then i think my second
question is when there's an event do you have like a management plan for traffic or like cars
yeah so there's a parking agreement in place we have the law event staff that will be staffed
full-time by by muhammad will be there and uh we're working a parking agreement so that there's valet
for additional parking and you're going to manage the staff close so you're not going to like
have a third party operator you're going to be managing the whole facility on your own yes
directly okay i'm going to save to another question for her oh no yeah i just uh the question was
about about the fence so that's the fencing that you showed in the rendering is the fencing that
you're looking to install? Yes. Yes. In fact, we will have one other feature, not even if you
look at anything. You know, this is a decorative fence. The idea is not to have a six-foot fence
with wire wire. It's just to be a barrier for those of us who keep out 43 feet. And we will
have some brick pillars in the corners wherever we get to the intersection. We call it a street
wall. It's a technical term we use in the business. It's one little street wall with brick corners
at the intersections where the gates will come in as well. Yeah. Okay. And the last question I have
it's just a green plan um so i don't know if these were existing trees that are there or these are
trees that will be planted um they they will be planned there's actually a very specific uh
landscape plan rogerio and plant does a lot of our uh landscape architecture and they actually
did a plan which right now we have weeds is what we have um and that plan is very specifically with
species on it um we'll notice some street trees on the streets and then some bushes inside the fence
some street trees on these streets and then some bushes inside the fence um the fence is
about four feet inside the sidewalk which is where the right-of-way line ends so that plan
will be part of the record that we will install exactly this landscape plan i got one more
question i'm sorry just about just pedestrian access um um like i don't see any demarcations
here on the plan so as a pedestrian you know just making sure they're moving safely uh with the cars
parking um yeah i mean just that real quick i think you know you do the bus stop on woodland
uh which is great um which which actually is pretty robust right next to where the little food cart is
um and um as a pedestrian how would i get to this event space safely like if i park into the interior
like you know how would i get there safely without getting hit by any of the cars that are parking
We will likely stripe a walkway across it. You've got wide driveways on both the west and the south. And the little red thing, of course, is the entrance tower. There's only one entrance, so there's not a lot of confusing patterns. I don't think anybody will have much difficulty that does not arrive in a car and getting to the front door. Although a little striping work. People do identify with that.
Okay, so my question is about the parking plan here at a lot. So this includes the dry vials and what have you. So how many spaces are you really going to have? I know it will be 48.
There's 48 that are currently striped. We don't intend to change that. And that includes an accessible space.
um uh we are going to keep the dumpster in the back corner okay a little little uh l-shaped
u-shaped enclosure in the back it's 48 on the site there's actually the opportunity for a few
more spaces up the uh the old exit aisle to the um driveway no which are not straight under that
would be above 48 okay and then this um uh i don't know whether you're going to call it a canopy or
whatever so this is where you're going to have these what is it the trucks that are going to
come in yes that's existing it was the former Rite Aid drive-thru the pharmacy drive-thru so
we're repurposing it to be used for deliveries for caterers and furniture and that's the only
spot where you can have that it's a spot that seems to make the most sense because the roof
is there and that's not really a you utilized driveway aisle and the kitchen is inside that
location on the corner so that was the location that seemed to be the best place to service the
other building from okay and then uh what do you have in terms of um like uh washing facilities
like separate from the bathrooms like for um sinks or basins or whatever that's going to be
part of this because you're going to need to wash the floors and the tables and the chairs and what
have you. There is a janitor's mop sink in the mechanical room. Okay. We will also, of course,
have to comply with the City of Philadelphia's health department requirements for the kitchen.
Exactly. You know, you need the separated hand wash and there's more than likely going to be a
grease trap because, you know, you don't want to put grease down the triple bay sink. It's not a
cooking kitchen it's a catering kitchen so that product isn't being cooked there just warm there
and brought it so there's there's not a hood or anything you'd see in a traditional restaurant
it's strictly a um a location to bring in prepared food from a caterer and then be able to serve it
from that kitchen okay so there will be refrigeration yes there will definitely be refrigeration and
commercial yes refrigeration we're not we're not going to sears to buy our refrigerator okay all
All right, yeah, any questions. Thank you questions for our attorney.
Um, I just wanted to note for the board. I did go through the, the provides those and you saw, you saw the language. Okay. Yep. So just indicating that the hours of operation, the no nightclub and public entertainment venue use.
And if the board wishes to do a temporary special exception, um, if they grant, they can do that. So just want to note for the record that those are what were viewed as enforceable. Thank you.
questions or comments from the virtual audience or the present audience
planning commission amy boyd with the planning commission amy all right sorry to interrupt
jared since he and hegarty i believe we have craig meladosian who wish to make a comment he has
hand raised okay craig he's coming back in as a panelist
Thank you.
Craig.
yeah i'm i'm here chair bergman sure you've already been sworn just state your name for the
record craig c-r-a-i-g last name melidosian m-e-l-i-d-o-s-i-a-n sure please proceed i i
didn't want to belabor the point uh i did want to thank mr lynn for his kind words regarding me but
more so regarding our entire team. We've worked on multiple nightclub and assembly and entertainment
applications since prior to COVID. This is absolutely the best one that we've seen so far.
We also share his experience regarding repurposing these types of facilities.
This is one of two Rite Aids that we're working on, along with a vacant CVS.
This is perhaps the highest and best use across multiple areas in terms of not just positive economic impact, but welcoming and anchoring the commercial corridor of Woodland Avenue, which is an important component within the Africatown concept.
probably in the future, we'd be looking for perhaps two more because the corridor is quite
long running all the way out to Island Avenue. We did take a look at the issues of parking
and egress. One of the concerns we've raised with Andrea that they will keep an eye out on are the
issues of stacking of vehicles going in and out since we're along the trolley
pathway there so that the plan is absolutely beautiful compared to what
we've seen or what we see there regularly the pallet of materials that's
currently there will not be changed other than to clean it up and brighten
it up we had some trepidation when we came to this and our practice is to come
unanimously when we support a project that doesn't mean that's what goes on
behind the scenes but there's been extraordinary thoughtfulness that's
going into this including conversations as late as seven o'clock
last night which delayed preparation of our final submittal to you we have every
confidence that this is going to be a successful project that we have a an
excellent operator here and we even asked for one additional thing which is
not included but we'll share with you I think it's important shows the
spotlight on our Muhammad based on the long term of this facility with a 10
year of proviso in part because of the significant amount of funding going into
this we asked them agreed that if there was a change in the managing partner
because that's who we've been dealing with Muhammad or a change in the
ownership that that information within the 10-year timeframe that information
will be shared with both the council district office as well as the RCOs. So
we're excited to see how this pans out. The area has been difficult for us even
prior to Rite Aid's going out of business and as I said of the three that we're
looking at for repurposing this type of building this is absolutely the best
uh that's been presented to us the entire development team has just been outstanding
to work with okay thank you anyone else in the audience sure come on up oh cheer okay i have one
here could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer so my name is uh musa trawale
First name M-U-S-A, and last name T-R-A-W-A-L-L.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth.
Please proceed.
I represent the African Cultural Alliance of North America.
We have a letter from that thing, right?