we'll see my clients you know going to think about it but like that could be a bathroom
but we thought a home office would be better and there's a lower level where you have the washer
and dryer you go up a flight of steps though instead uh you have the you have two bedrooms
you have a bathroom here and then you have uh the open floor plan of a living room dining room
kitchens for units two and three and then this is just a side view of how things look talks about
grades again this is an existing structure but it does go out of the ground pretty deep i mean
three feet eight inches is pretty good and obviously we have to put egress wells
where appropriate you know to have legal living down in the basement
we met with the community as well attend the meeting on august 24th
we mailed that notice uh it doesn't say on there how many addresses oh 199 addresses
these are the addresses proof of mailing to those addresses
our application for zoning variants along the notice of refusal in the project information
form deed to property showing Mr. Dang owns it so he's not hiding behind the corporate LLC
and then certificate of tax clearance I would ask that Mr. Dang virtually raise his hand
I have a few questions for him and then we would love to take any questions the board may have for
us oh Mrs. Dang sorry
And she's raising her hand.
Hi, could you please state and spell your name for the stenographer?
X-U-Y-E-N-D-A-N-G.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Counsel?
Xu Yan, you heard everything I had to state today about your zoning matter.
Is it true and correct?
And do you adopt this as your own testimony?
Yes, I do.
Thank you.
Helen, why don't you put the drawings up?
Oh, yeah, sure.
Questions from the board.
Yes, did you say the trash for the first floor would be stored outside?
In the rear.
Oh, in the rear, okay.
Yeah, in the rear.
And the basement is used for what?
It's just an open floor plan down there.
It's a full bathroom down there, isn't it?
There is a bathroom down there.
They would prefer to have extra living down there.
What's the ceiling height?
It's 7 feet 10 inches.
This is all existing.
So while they would prefer to have a higher ceiling,
that's what they're working with.
Let me just see.
Where does it say?
Ceiling height.
Oh, here it is.
so if you can see oops uh three foot eight out of the ground you're saying it's three feet eight
out of the ground so I'm I last time I tried to pull it off like expand it but this is the
ceiling height right here seven feet ten inches and above grade is right here you can see it it's
really tough I don't want if I expand it out I lose the page sometimes yeah yep I see it
is the egress for the basement
only the front
of the house
well egress the only
things he's showing out of the basement is the
stairway that goes up to the first
floor there are absolutely no windows
well double windows on the plane
what's the plan
for egress let me
well they're going to put egress
wells along the side on Hicks
on Hicks isn't that Hicks
street it is it's on the side there's a corner property this is hicks and dickinson right that's
right yeah so if you see here this is hicks so there are one two three windows showing okay
why don't they show it i'm sorry why don't they show it if they're going to do it i mean they
did this you know these illustrious plans and why did they not show the egress well yeah yeah yeah
why not you know i i ask that question every day about i i because when i was prepping today i was
like where are the egress wells and i and they said oh we're gonna you know obviously we have
to add it for the construction phase obviously to get a co and then what's the current status
what's the current status of the property it's not occupied i don't think it is occupied it's
of the property it's not occupied
a pretty bad shape yeah okay you see the pictures i did yeah it's a pretty bad people yeah that's
why i know clarifying um i guess i have the question i have is really about the facade so
like what is being proposed is pretty different than some of the existing conditions so are we
reconstructing the entire facade is that the so i have the architect if ping can virtually raise
his hand i would defer to him but it's definitely like you know yeah there he goes what's his name
ping yeah all right sir could you please oh hi everyone photographer sure um so my name is
Tren Ping Wang, C-H-W-E-N dash P-I-N-G. Last name is Wang, W-A-N-G. Do you swear or affirm to tell
the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth, sir? Yes, I do. Counsel one of you. All right, so
Peng, you heard a board member, uh, Wayne, uh, it's definitely, it looks a lot different than
the existing site conditions. So can you just explain what your intention here is with regards
the facade and such um sure so um we're planning to um um let's have a a um um new brick facade
and we're gonna use like metal panels as well okay so we're gonna do new brick on
on the existing brick so we're doing brick veneers
yes but we're going to take right currently is flagstone about 13 feet and then it's red
existing brick and you're showing the concrete block of about let's call it six feet and brick
so that's like a very different facade so is this being applied to the existing facade are
taking this down and rebuilding the facade oh we're taking the facade down and then and then
having a new break on it okay so then my next question is then why are we keeping the openings
i feel like this facade and the floor plan you have is it's okay but like if we're doing that
much reconstruction you had the opportunity to get rid of this blank wall at the corner and like
introduce new windows and do something different with egress to allow it to be
better more livable for it already doing the expense to take everything down and
change so much like why didn't we just change change it for the better I'm just
trying I guess it's from a hardship standpoint at this point like we're
doing major construction, to put it kind of exactly back the way it is, just slightly different.
Well, I think from a cost perspective, it's very expensive to build in the city of Philadelphia.
Yeah, especially brick.
It's going to be very expensive to take down all that brick and essentially rebuilding it.
I don't know that that's what you're going to do, right?
I just don't think that makes sense, right?
It's just cost-effective-wise.
It's just you tear it down before you take every facade off and rebuild it.
you're just not going to do it maybe veneer or something like that but yeah I think that
that that's I agree with her she does that makes that's well I think the intention is to is to
match it to the best of their ability I am not the construction guru I don't know how much it's
going to cost to change that but the intention is to have a 850 square foot rear addition to
mimic the rear addition of 1518 and to put three units which are sizable and for each unit to have
outdoor space wait so we're mimicking the house next in terms of the rear for the rear sure but
that's not what like the drawings show that there's currently a house and the third floor does not go
all the way back to the current rear of the building and it sort of recurrent this drawing
makes it look like you're just filling in what's already there like it's going to come to the same
rear of the existing building the building next door if that's what we're referencing is about
eight feet deeper into the lot than that one it's like it's actually like a very different
volume i i get to say i our rear facade is not going any deeper than the rear facade of the 1518.
Can I add something? I'm sorry. So what I said previously was wrong. And I want to correct it.
And I want to correct it, so we're planning to wash the bricks that are there and the
new portion of the building, we want to match the brick color of the bricks that are there
already.
So that's the plan.
I mean, that's kind of what I figured, I mean, because you clean it, you take off
that veneer that's put on there, clean it up, and just repair what you can.
But the issue is you're going with a three-unit building, right?
That's the goal here, right?
Correct.
That's the request.
Which, again, this property has a long history of three units,
two residential and one commercial.
Got it.
And we're not out of character, and actually that's something I didn't bring up.
1518 is three units 1514 is three units 1542 is five units uh 1500 is three units and then if
you go in the 1400 block 1441-43 is three units and 1423 is four units so we're we're not different
than what's next door to us and next next door to us in terms of unit count and then everyone you
the ones i stated it's not out of character for these properties look i'm i'm good you're not
going through the bedroom to go to the backyard i'm good and we have bathrooms next to the bedrooms
yes not all of them not all of them so um can can we see this floor plan sure again yeah let's do it
Hold on. Let me get back. Come on. Let's do this. Let me try. Hold on. Come on. I'm trying to get. I see 29, maybe. No, 28.
All right, there we go.
Do you want me to walk you through it again?
And then so this by level here is what would have been the commercial space that is correct.
That would be my understanding. I would think that the commercial space would be on the first floor.
All right. Thank you. You're welcome.
Questions from our attorney.
you um just one question uh with regard to your posting it was kind of hard to see but um that
you were posted correctly for this hearing but could you attest on the record that the property
was posted I definitely can attest to that I beg my clients to get that up at least 21 days
beforehand just just in the future yeah and we've been telling everyone this we need to see it you
what i mean like a lot of times people take pictures i don't know like 50 feet away i don't
understand take it up close then do it you know what i mean like i'm not saying you necessarily
but so we can tell so noted in the future we'll make sure that we have a zoom out and zoom in
that's all we're asking thank you um questions or comments from the virtual audience
not at this time chair planning commission madison matera planning commission staff
The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing RSA 5 residential single family zoning at this location. This is a long vacant property with a documented history of two family use. Multifamily use is common on this block. The planning commission recommends the board grant the requested variance for three dwelling units.
MI 2026-003-245-1516-Dickson Street, I vote yes.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes.
Tywin, my vote is yes.
Thank you very much. Have a great night.
All right. We hope we get home for the night. Sorry.
All right. Number 16, MI 2026-003-334-24-30 Bank Street. Vern Anastasio is the attorney.
Vern Anastasio has been promoted to panelists.
Thank you.
good evening mr chair good evening members of the board i guess i swore you in early this morning
do i remember you did yep okay all right just for the record could you please state your name
yeah it's verne anastasio a-n-a-s-t-a-s-i-o on behalf of grand crew cafe llc all right and our
vice chair has a few questions sir thank you good evening have you submitted your documents
and exhibits 14 days in advance of this hearing i did yeah and you have uh this is a special
exception so you need a referral do you weigh the reading of your referrals and simply to your
accuracy i do all right thank you can see your screen there's non-opposition opposition from
council member squilla and non-opposition from the rco that's correct uh this is uh pretty
straightforward this is a uh in the 237 chestnut is exactly where the space is located uh it the
front will be a uh coffee shop cafe the center will be grab and go uh sorts of uh you know
prepared food and the rear is going to be uh a wine bar with taps here at the rear
we have our drawings here we have a 3d rendition basement is for storage and for staff restrooms
and we are going to
the application itself was uh this is a takeout restaurant in an existing building
And it is a referral because the takeout is subject to the overlay with the Center City District and Chestnut and Walnut Street, as well as the Old City overlay.
The hours of operation will be Monday through Sunday, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.
our uh the staffing will be mostly uh uh local we're looking at uh maybe eight folks working
in the cafe here's some photos of the existing uh space it's emptied right now uh we'll have uh
maybe six uh up to six folks for service table service another uh eight for the wine bar
this is on chestnut by the independence hotel there maintenance and cleaning will be another
three people i'm going to move all 68 pages of evidence of exhibits into evidence we'll have
commercial trash pickup and as a result we've gotten unanimous support nearly unanimous support
from the rco and of course a letter from councilman squilla's office as well this operation will be
done by the folks who brought us pork goes which is a very well-known pork sandwich shop on