growing systems, green infrastructure, stormwater management is a great
opportunity for not only the public, but for workforce development to learn about
how those systems work in an urban environment.
okay so you're taking a vacant building you're putting the bathroom on it and a classroom yes
and fix up the vacant building yeah and doing all the the landscape uh uh for the side around it as
well questions from the board I can show you some photos of what it looks like right now it is oh I
snow as you can see vacant that's your vacant building it's vacant yes is there um and as part
of the site plan is there a plan to fence all of the the perimeter of all of the i guess
yeah the entire site again the entire site would be fenced and what what type of fence
are we talking about well currently it has um what do you call the um uh chain link chain link fence
it's late chain link get rid of the metal i i knew that right away there you go that's right
so i mean so would there be plans i guess maybe to green that area or like look i don't know what's
what's what what's the height of the fence now what's that what's the height of the fence now
fences are eight eight foot high so that's the plan is to keep it that way or yeah it's
that yeah um just the reason why i asked is just thinking about if it's like inviting the community
into the space and sometimes those high fences you know want to keep the community out so
is there any other plans um i know there's a lot of greenery already in there but just along the
perimeters to maintain the greenery well the perimeters are adjacent to a driveway as well
as other people's property so um they maintain their property we maintain ours other questions
questions from our uh attorney hillary emerson not at this time mr chair questions or comments
from the virtual audience not at this time to you planning commission amy boyd with the planning
commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning at this location from the current
cmx2 commercial mixed use the appellant has demonstrated that the proposed use will not
caused detrimental impacts beyond what would normally be expected the planning commission
recommends the board grant the requested special exception for community center
thank you mi2025-006-596-6122 lancaster avenue i vote yes
cheryl gaston my vote is yes tinetta graham my vote is yes my mcadams my vote is yes
congratulations keep up the good work thank you very much moving ahead it looks great
All right, so number nine, MI 2025, 006-614-2570 Emerald Street, Bernan Anastasio is the attorney.
There's a letter of support from East Kensington Neighbors Association.
Unanimous.
A non-opposition from Councilman Squillard.
Councilman school afternoon, Mr. chair. Vern, I think I swore you early today. So could you just state your name for the record? Sure. It's Vern Anastasio on behalf of Mr. John Carley and, um, um,
Afternoon.
Palmer places LLC is the same person. Yes. Okay. Our vice chair has a few questions. Thank you.
Good evening. Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
Good evening, yes.
And do you waive the reading of the referral and stipulate to its accuracy?
Okay, thank you. You can share your screen and proceed with the case.
In addition to the letter from the RCO and the letter of non-opposition, support from the RCO, non-opposition from the council member,
I do want to also submit page 40 of my 40-page exhibit of 12 additional immediate neighbors on Emerald, Huntington, you know, Albert, all there.
So I'm putting this in as a support as well.
This is fairly straightforward.
The application is for, one second.
Yeah, my prompt is, I got an error.
There we go.
It's a prepared food shop.
it seems as though it's going in and out do you see the images there or not
they go in and out like they go in and out okay i'll have to reshare excuse me for one moment
that's great we wait we wait for two hours and then this system doesn't work so my apologies for
So as part of the exhibit, it's for a prepared shop with an accessory service window.
Basically, this is going to be a coffee shop, but it's going to be exclusive with service with this little takeout window right here.
And this will be the inside of the shop where the owner will be operating his coffee shop.
The front is an office area that the owner will occupy, and there is a side stair entrance going up to the apartment above.
This is the site plan.
And we'll show you some photos of the interior.
This is the side entrance to the apartment.
This is the rear enclosed area for trash.
So this is a pretty good angle you can see.
Here's the corner portion of the property that will be the front offices.
Here's the side entrance to the living quarters above.
And then the coffee shop will be right here in the rear.
and that'll be the service window.
There'll be exterior lighting and cameras.
There'll be one employee
in a neighborhood that is rapidly growing
and seeing more and more construction.
There is a need for a place to stop and get coffee,
which is why we received overwhelming support
from the community.
across the street is just right now a vacant lot that's owned by the redevelopment, held by the
Redevelopment Authority. It is slated for residential development. These are the proof
of mailing. This is the letter that was sent to all pertinent parties, all the addresses from
the Planning Commission. And again, we've already under separate cover sent the proof of taxes paid,
the deed moving all of that into evidence including the RCO letter and
the councilman's letter as well they'll be commercial trash pickup
letter as well there'll be commercial trash pickup and the hours of operation will uh will end
by 5 or 6 p.m uh so with that i would like to have my client mr john carley uh
raise his virtual hand if he's still with us
john has been promoted to panelists thank you
hello hi sir could you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer
yes jonathan carly a-a-r-l-e-y right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth i do and sir could you turn on your video if possible right now um i could be
missing where that okay well all right fine well verne why don't you want to talk to him thank you
John, did you hear my presentation to the board this evening?
You there, John?
We lost him.
I think we lost him.
He should come right back.
I am here, and I'm here with my wife, Kylie.
There you go.
Look here.
We got the camera working.
All right.
Now we see you.
You said you didn't know how to do that.
Go ahead.
Go ahead, Brian.
Thanks.
I just need Jonathan right now.
john did you hear my presentation to the board i did and is it true and accurate to the best of
your knowledge yes and do you adopt it as your own testimony yes thank you i have nothing further
for now sure questions from the board so what kind of food is this it's coffee coffee and pastry
that's it coffee and pastries and how do you get to this spot all right i'll zoom i'll zoom in
have it like being in the back somehow it seemed like and i
just how would patrons get to the jonathan's wife is going to be able to uh is operating this
i uh so i'm gonna let her explain but uh show so the plan so could you please state your name
and spell for the stenographer hi my name is kylie carly k-y-l-i-e k-a-r-l-e-y i do swear or
affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes could you tell us how this is
going to operate hi carly yeah please explain uh would this be the entrance here so that's the rear
entrance of the building um and you can also access the coffee shop through the front access
through the front door essentially on the corner of emerald street and huntington and that's how
you would enter perhaps us as an employee correct yes there will be no access for customers they
only have access at the service window to place their order correct very good thank you and the
service window is right here where my cursor is so again how how do people get here they
walking from where they they walk they're walking on the sidewalk and they are going to work and on
their way to work they're going to pop over here to the window and they're going to order coffee
okay yeah this board uh approved an identical operation at the northeast corner of 9th and
Catherine called pop's bun shop same concept and it's really what a lot of food service is going to
okay um i have a question uh is do you plan to have like a trash can or trash receptacle
somewhere like near the window yeah there'll be a trash receptacle at least one
i'm sorry okay no go ahead there'll be at least one trash receptacle
put out every morning uh which is per the code as you know and then brought in every night
other questions questions or comments from our attorney not at this time mr questions or
comments from the virtual audience not at this time chair planning commission amy boy with the
planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning at this location
from the current cmx1 commercial mixed use the plan has demonstrated that the proposed
use will not cause natural mental impact beyond what would reasonably be expected the planning
commission recommends that the board grant the requested special exception for prepared food shop
thank you uh mi2025-006-614-2578 emerald street i vote yes with proviso per amended refusal
dated January 16, 2026.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes, with proviso.
Tonetta Graham my vote is yes with proviso Ryan McAdams my vote is yes with proviso
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes, with proviso.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes, with proviso.
thank you thank you Vern thank you and good luck with your project thank you all
you know we only have one case left you know I'll take a while a little later should I just slow
this down that's good number two um so yeah two is the only one we're going to hear number one
a number um what that was this one two we have every oh i'll see all the documents so five
i get nothing to me and then is verne going to come back with that
okay okay all right i'm ready
what's the time is this nice and half this one it's going to get it moving
Good evening, everyone. My name is Bill Bergman, and I will be chairing this meeting of the Philadelphia Zoning Board of Adjustment.
With me is our Board Vice Chair, Tanetta Graham.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Our Board Secretary, Cheryl L. Gaston.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Board Member Taya Nguyen.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Board Member Ryan McAdams.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
also here is our attorney hillary emerson our executive director for the zoning board
ian haggerty and our board administrator lakeisha dandy recording of this hearing will be posted
on the zba website by participating you consent to be recorded this is an in-person meeting with
remote capabilities whether remote or in person if you're called to speak you must state and spell
your name and then wait to be sworn in once you've been sworn in please state your name
each time before beginning your testimony. Any person may enter their appearance. You can identify
the case property address on your Zoom webinar. You can see a staff member or you can call the
ZBA appearance line by the close of business tomorrow. Call 267-270-5548. Leave a message
that includes your email address and the address of the property of the appeal. Following guidance
is for our remote attendees when directed by the chair you must raise your virtual hand in order to
be recognized to speak if you're called to testify you will be prompted to join as a panelist please
accept the request and turn on your camera third the webinar q a is for questions about the hearing
do not comment on the cases in the q a fourth if you are participating by phone press star nine to
raise your hand and star six to unmute. Let's look at our
schedule.
I don't. I don't know if we have a. Wait a minute. Wait a
minute. Yeah, I got it. I'm good. Yeah. Good. All right. Okay,
here. Let's look at our schedule for today. Number six.
MI-2025-005-803-1030, N. 40 A Street. That case is continued until July 22nd at 3.30
p.m. Number 5, MI-2025-005-738-2408, Nicholas Street. Ron Anastasio is the attorney. I
believe we may have a continuance here.
Good evening, Mr. Chair.
Counsel, you've already been sworn, and we know it's Vern Anastasio.
Could you give us an update on this case?
We're ready to go.
It doesn't appear as though a poster came our way, so we're going to need to do this in a few weeks.
Whenever.
Thank you.
I'm giving it for now.
It's what the list shows.
It's July 22nd at 3.30 p.m.
Understood.
You could call the office and see if they can do anything better with that.
Thank you.
Is there any other requests for continuances?
So, number one, MI 2025 003 966 1330 Greeby Street.
No exhibits.
This is the second listing.
The uptown part, Cawley Jr. is the listed owner applicant.
It's a pro se.
somebody's out there with their hand up all right
daniel loza has been promoted to panelists sure