chairman is miss uh marks renting the space i am currently not renting the space you're the owner
Again, we didn't know anything about that, and our name is not on that.
Yeah, just a point of clarification. I didn't say that the 13th Board was involved with that
variance. I just mentioned that it existed in 2003, but just to help show that it's not uncommon
that there were commercial or are commercial. I also just want to address the comment about
this being a residential block. As we all are aware, we live in the city of Philadelphia.
Most blocks, or at least every other, every third, every fourth, do have a combination
of commercial and residential.
As a city, we like to have amenities, especially on the corners of neighborhoods, so that people
don't have to necessarily travel far away to have any kind of amenities in their neighborhoods.
So it's just not an uncommon thing to have, and it doesn't affect the character, given,
And again, this has been longstanding as some type of a commercial use or was sitting vacant.
I also did address the fact that it was originally being used improperly, which is why I pointed out the awning.
The client was just not I wasn't involved at the time, obviously, and the client was not aware.
So the second that she was made aware, and we do appreciate any of the efforts that the 13th Ward RCO took to help with any issues related to that, but sometimes people are just not familiar with the rules as they didn't go to law school or not as familiar with how to read the different ordinances in the code.
So what we're just trying to, again, do is provide an amenity in the neighborhood, on a building, on a corner that has always had some type of amenity, whether it be if it was vacant since 2016 before, then it only helps the hardship to show that if a single family home could have been there, I think somebody probably would have purchased it and did the necessary demolition in order to revert it to a single family.
it's also significantly larger as it is almost a hundred percent law coverage than any of the
small two-story single-family homes on that block um but uh and again i wasn't at the first
council let me go back to the virtual audience to see who else wants to have a comment about
okay so who else in a virtual audience would it like to state a comment or talk about it
mr chair we've got um mr charles richardson with his hand
mr richardson please wait to be sworn in good afternoon mr chair afternoon mr richardson
state your name and spell for the court reporter charles richardson excuse me r-i-c-h-a-r-d-s-o-n
office of councilwoman cindy bass room 312 city hall do you swear a firm to tell the truth the
whole truth and nothing but the truth. I do. Proceed, sir. Okay. Ms. Pritzker mentioned
amenities, grocery store, a luncheonette, a barbershop. That does not include an event space
that will have up to 100 people. The space was opened illegally. We received two petitions
that were submitted, one that was prior to Ms. Pritzker's involvement, second one after. The
first had a majority of people that were not anywhere near the 250 foot range and they were
not near neighbors. The second, assuming that, you know, that Rachel did coach her, did have
some folks that were within the 250 foot range. It was stated that it's just an opinion that
this place would not have any type of a negative effect on the neighborhood.
that it's just not what i said charles what was it that you said rachel i said it wouldn't be
devastating no you did say you consider it to be an opinion and you did say that can we please
let me charles why don't we get to the point you know the point is the count the councilwoman feels
that this would not be a good fit for the neighborhood and that it will have some
negative effect on the neighborhood as well so um she is opposed to granting the variance
thank you very much and thanks for calling in who else in the virtual audience
miss lucy carroll with her hand raised i don't know how to speak at this time
miss carroll could you state your name could you state your name and spell it for our court
reporter my name is lucy carroll l-u-c-y-c-a-r-r-o-l-l right do you swear for him to tell
the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes i come i was born and raised and grew
up in the neighborhood too and we had a lot of different things going on but in the years we
haven't had anything and by her openness and event hall not only just like people
And by her openness in event hall, not only just like people thinking it's going to be a party in a big old club,
I'll talk to you later.
she also wants to give back to the neighborhood and allow the space also to be used for children and youth for different things that help them.
Like as far as education and different ways to get jobs or just meeting places to come up with things to better the community.
And I don't see anything wrong with it. And I really think that she needs to have a chance to open her building and see where it goes for the community. And I'm okay with it.
Thank you, Ms. Carroll. Thank you for calling in and your comments. Anyone else in the virtual audience?
Mr. Chair, Ms. Jessica Murray with her hand raised. I will allow her to speak at this time.
could you please state your name and spell for the court reporter yes jessica murray j-e-s-s-i-c-a
m-u-r-r-a-y you swear for him to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
yes proceed um the october zoom that uh rachel was speaking of um i was in attendance there
and there was overwhelming support and even at the end of the call we were told that it was going
to be passed and the community voted yes. So when this came out saying that it was opposed we were
all confused because we all thought that this was going to be a very good opportunity for the
community like previously stated. Thank you thank you for your call. Anyone else?
Mr. Abu Edwards, with his hand raised, I will allow him to speak at this time.
Good afternoon, everyone.
Hi, could you state your name and spell for the court reporter?
My name is Abu Abu, last name Edwards.
I'm here in support of Tamika Marks opening that place, the event place.
I grew up in that neighborhood, you know, mostly all my life.
and you know for years you know when she said that she's from that neighborhood she's from
that neighborhood families are from that neighborhood and I've seen this young lady
give out hundreds of book bags feed the community that's why she has the support I ask that the
board look at you know what has been submitted today and look what's on paper versus what's
verbal what people are talking about I've seen this process unfold for the last two years and
it is not a fair process and i hope that you know with you guys being the overall body to make this
decision that you look at all the facts and if something doesn't look right then you ask questions
before you make the decision because it's wrong to deny someone to open up a business right in
their own neighborhood especially when they're just trying to give back to their community we
all know what that community looks like we're trying to bring the property value up we're
trying to decrease the crime in that neighborhood. So opening up a place like that for the kids to
have a place to go to after school, to work with organizations to create some type of programming
for the community. Why would we want to address that? We have bigger issues in our communities
like these tobacco shops popping up due to a loophole in our zoning codes. We have made more
issues to focus on than to be focusing on opening up an event place that's going to bring the
community together and is going to help that particular community that's that that needs it
so i i hope that we all look at this and make the right decision as we move forward
thank you mr edwards any other comments
ms katrina moos has her hand raised i will allow to speak at this time
hi could you state your name and spell for our court reporter
i'm sorry i had dental surgery this morning so it's kind of hard for me to talk sure but my name
is latrina lewis i put it in the question and answer what i was going to say okay do you could
you spell your name out for our court reporter please l-a-t-r-e-e-n-a l-e-w-i-s right do you
swear a firm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes your comments ma'am
so i reside at 44 44 48 north grass street and i was present at the first zoning meeting and the
second one and i just wanted to let you guys know that there were not non-council people at that
meeting it was two and there were more than four people from the neighborhood that voted and
supported the project i myself have always been in support of this project because i feel it would
be a good asset to the community, a place where people from the community can have functions
close by and not travel so far. And I think it would be good for the different things that she's
close by and not travel so far. And I think it would be good for the different things that she's
trying to incorporate for the youth and not only just for event purposes. Thank you very much.
Chairman, would it be okay as a proviso if the council office would be okay with this to suggest
a five-year temporary variance so that we would have to come back after that time and revisit it
so that it's not something that the community
would be stuck with permanently if they have concerns?
I think that we probably would have a hard time
debating that right now with counsel,
with the council person's office.
I believe that Charles-
I'm sorry, Chair.
I'm sorry, Rachel, to interrupt.
This is Tanya, the administrator.
Mr. Richardson would like to speak again on the record
and testify about a proviso if you allow.
let let rachel finish and then we'll call mr rich go ahead rachel yeah i mean it seemed that
mr richardson in the chat wrote that he would uh be willing okay good okay good yep good
mr richardson you've already been sworn
you've already been sworn sir just state your name again okay i just unmuted charles richardson
from the Office of Councilwoman Cindy Bass.
Actually, we would accept that,
but another that we would offer
would be limited hours
that 11 p.m. would be the end of the day
for that venue, if you do pass it.
Mika, I don't want to speak
to how to operate her business.
I think we would be amenable, of course,
to the five-year.
I just would like her to speak on record
about the hours
because, again, I'm not as familiar with her business.
Tamika, can you raise your hand again, please?
Thank you.
She's been allowed to speak.
Am I, are you able to hear me?
Yeah, just state your name.
You've already been sworn in.
Tamika Marks.
Tamika, do you have,
Do you have, so what Mr. Richardson offered was he would agree to a five-year temporary proviso, which would mean we would have to come back in front of the board in probably four and a half years, which is a lot of time for us to have to operate the space.
He had also offered a second proviso to have the hours of operation end at 11. Do you have any concerns with it ending at 11?
Is it possible that we can at least have 12 o'clock and then we can clean up and get everything together for people to leave?
That seems reasonable to me. Charles, would it be okay if it closes at 11 with cleanup to start at 11?
Close at 11 and clean up by 12.
You're cutting into event space.
I'm sorry, Chair. I'm sorry. This is Tanya, Administrator.
may i make a request if it's okay um suggestion um that we hold the vote for a week um so that
a discussion yeah that's where i originally was and miss the letter can review the provisals to
determine if they are allowable thank you chair that's perfect chairman and we're more than
amenable to that okay um i'm fine with that um do we want the uh well let's let's let's
let's let's do this we'll we'll continue this what what kind of time frame you have tanya
um so i would say no not a continuance but um the vote the board can vote right next week
as you wish and then they can submit documents regarding this particular proviso issue
to be submitted to the board so that you can review this letter can review before the vote
is held next week and we don't want to do the planning commission till that time too um it's
your call i think we wait for the planning commission too so they would at least know
what the provisos are okay sounds good chair chairman can we can we um put a deadline on
the on the letters i'm sorry who's speaking it's ishmael oh it's ishmael i'm sorry ishmael could
you just state your name please for the record oh yeah sure so ishmael shaheed one of the board
members. Can we at least put a
timeline that
we need the letters in for the
provisos, please?
Sure. I think Tanya said
we do this next week.
We do it next week. If the letters
can be submitted by close of business
Friday, Mr. Shahid, is that good?
Yes, that's good. Thank you.
Okay. Thank you, Chairman, members of the board. Thank you, Charles. Thank you.
Thank you, chairman
and members of the board.
here we go
number 10
mi 2021 004 531 5708 ridge avenue richard demarco
rco central roxburgh letter of support
Mr. DeMarco has been promoted to panelists, sir.
Mr. DeMarco, state your name and spell it for the court reporter, please.
Good afternoon, everybody.
Richard DeMarco, D-E-M-A-R-C-O.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
i do thank you mr howellman has a few questions for you good afternoon counselor do you agree to
the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy yes i do according to our records you
have submitted all of the required documents is that correct yes please proceed good afternoon
everybody um i'm happy to uh tell you that there's uh full support for this application so i'm going
going to be as brief as I can. This is a request for a special exception for an animal hospital
and veterinarian offices within an existing commercial space with a building that was
fully approved. Let me go ahead and share my screen. I'll run through the critical exhibits.
The referral case does not require a variance. The reason for the referral, this would be a use that
would be normally permitted within the cmx 2.5 district but because of the ridge avenue overlay
requires a special exception from this board um you know in a moment i will invite
mr altmeyer who is the veterinarian the head veterinarian uh for the use just so you can see
the actual space that is this that i'm framing with my course first of all can everybody see my screen
Are you seeing my screen? OK, we can.
Yes. OK, thank you.
Sorry, I just want to make sure.
We are having also having some signage.
The signage is marked again.
This is the suite that will contain the use.
Let me show you the floor plan.
Mr. DeMarco, break it up a little bit. Yeah.
Yeah. Sorry.
This bike's a little tricky. All righty.