It's comprised of four stories.
First two stories are zoned as commercial.
The top two are residential.
That would not change.
But because we fall within the Center City Overlay District and Old City Residential Area District,
And we have a referral over to the board for consideration.
The Mark, we have we have all of your documents and I was going to say photos and my I was going to say my photos and documents that their photos show the exterior of the property along with the zone.
Let's get to that before you say we see you're posted.
uh and i'm going to actually refer because originally this was scheduled for a different
time earlier in the year it got rescheduled till till now and um so we had photos from both
periods of time and the the photos show that the posting it's only one area which would be the
front of the building to be posted and that was posted um more than 21 days prior to today and
can see this photo here shows the exterior facade of the building which there's already an approval
for the construction and that's why you see the the plywood on the windows there for the
construction work that would be taking place in preparation for the anticipated use and there's
also photographs showing the interior and that's what it is right now it's basically it's a it's
It's a box being framed out in preparation for making it into the restaurant.
Somebody yelling.
Okay, keep going.
We had a little issue here.
Oh, okay.
And as I, as I, this, the plans here show the, the, the four floors and how it would appear
and look on each of the floors the layout for the business the second floor would not be used
for this restaurant at this point in time it still is commercial the landlord we don't we
we don't know what his plan would be for down the road on use on that space depending on how
the restaurant does it could very well be that the restaurant could expand to the commercial
use that would be the second floor but at this point your first floor and basement
That is correct. That is correct.
There was a meeting when we first were scheduled that that meeting was with the old city district.
And as you can see, they had light attendance, but there were five that that came out and voted and supported it.
There was one additional attendee and that that was an abstention.
So, you know, like I said, was unanimous for those who voted.
um and uh taxes are current and at this point i would ask uh unless the board has any more
questions of me i would bring my client on to adopt my testimony okay um bring your client on
mr sam you have been promoted to panelists
sir could you please state and spell your name for the stenographer yes hi do you hear me guy
yes hi do you hear me again okay yes good evening everyone my name is sam obaya i'm the
Yes, good evening everyone.
owner for the restaurant sam sam sam hold up sam please spell your name for the stenographer
oh i'm sorry sam no you don't have to be sorry sam obaya s-a-m last name o-b-i-a-h
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
Yes, I do. Please proceed, counsel. Thank you very much. Before I ask Mr. Abai, I do have one additional thing to extend and offer, and that is once the business is approved and opened and operating, it would provide commercial trash pickup consistent with the commercial trash pickup that's currently taking place in basically in this whole corridor there and coordinate.
Mark, do you want to talk about, too, what you're serving?
I mean, you're going to cook food there.
Tell me, why don't you do that, Mark?
The intention of Mr. Obaya is to operate a Mediterranean-style restaurant, eat in and take out.
When we say Mediterranean, it's Middle Eastern food, but a combination.
It could have halal meats.
It could have vegetarian dishes and a variety, of course, based on what the interest and demand of the general public would be.
but it would be consistent with the offerings in what we know is a very popular restaurant.
Mark, let me ask you, you will vent it up to the roof?
Well, yes, we'll vent it wherever it needs to be vented in accordance with what L&I wants and what is needed.
I believe it was already vented that way from before.
Sure. We would just check to confirm. And obviously, we'd have to look at what the existing vetting system was and make sure that it's not corroded or had been deteriorated. But either way.
Why don't you do, Mark, why don't you do this? Why don't you have your testimony adopted by the client?
Yes. Mr. Abai, you heard my presentation of the different evidence and information, correct?
Yes, it is.
And you heard that that was true and correct to best my information, knowledge and information you supply to me.
And would you adopt that testimony as your testimony?
And I will also, at this point, I would move the exhibits in as evidence.
All right.
Questions from the board.
What's the plan for trash storage?
I know you said you're going to have commercial trash pickup, but like where is trash going to be located on the premises until then?
I believe for the most part that would be in the basement of the property.
And would be trash cans outside will be daily.
Every night being taken from the company, which is I have a contract and several business.
We do have franchise in the city.
So the trash is going to be taken every night.
And then what is your plan? Just knowing this quarter pretty well, it's pretty congested.
What's the plan for like Uber Eats and DoorDash delivery pickup?
I do plan to have like that delivery for pickup only because I don't have that big space. So
So my location will be for takeout.
So for delivery Uber and other companies for deliveries, yes, they'll be available for the business.
And then just because the attorney went through it really quick, can you pull up the floor plan of the interior?
I was just trying to understand, like, the takeout to the hostess to the table.
I went through it really quickly.
We'll get back to it.
Thank you for your indulgence.
And did you say you were going to store the trash in the front?
No, no, in the basement.
No, in the basement.
In the basement of the pickup shop.
But it would be taken from the front.
that's the only place that they can go all right so uh if you look to the
to this to the right the second the second um diagram there that would be the first floor
and if you look where it's sort of a hexagon entrance that would be the entrance to the
restaurant i will point out if you look to the right of there where the cursor is
There's actually the door, which would be the door for the upper floor units.
door, which would be the door for the upper floor units. The layout, as you can see here,
shows open space here. That would be the receptionary greeting of the customers coming in.
The pickups, DoorDash, Uber, and so forth, they would get their orders right from the hostess
area there in the front. Got it. So we don't actually have a layout of the restaurant itself.
we just have the that's correct it's it's not it's not a huge space we we anticipate eight or
eight or ten tables total um so depending on the configuration it could be two to four people at
those tables okay and then where's the kitchen going always in the back and it would be to the
right you you see where the stairwell going in the same the same primary space on the first
Correct. That's correct. Yes. Got it. Yeah. That's why that's why you indicate there won't be that much seating space because of the configuration, but there will be some.
OK. And then it does look like right now in the commercial space, there's an internal stairwell that takes you directly to the second floor commercial space.
That's correct. If you do not use that space, how are how is that going to be bifurcated in the future?
That might be a property owner question.
well obviously we we would defer to the the landlord on that um that space that he controls
or would control um our our lease is for the first floor in the basement only when we do the
when we do the build out we'll we'll coordinate and work closely with the landlord on what type of
door or security, he wants to prevent access to that second floor.
Okay. I mean, while I understand you, I feel like legally they're all still considered one
commercial unit, aren't they? Are they not? Like legally, that would be one unit.
I would agree with you in the sense that if there's access to that second floor.
no uh i believe that you see that stairs on the back that's the basement access
that's how you get to the basement yes oh i beg your pardon yeah so if you look at the front of
the the front of the diagram there are stairs there that leads to the second third and fourth
floors those stairs that mr obaye is referencing i hear him i just see them also on the second
floor which is why i think yeah i think it goes from the basement to the second floor which is
why i asked my question and i think the front stairs go directly to the third floor from the
main uh interest yeah yes because there's a third and fourth floor so i'm assuming that there's a
fourth floor residential unit as well yes that is correct yes okay all the questions questions
from our attorney um yes um your client testified now that he this wasn't part of the actually the
application of the refusal that there's takeout service so my question is what percentage is
takeout what percentage is going to be sit down okay there's a side by the wall there should be
a bench by the wall for like waiting area sit down for uh but actually 99 will be take out
Okay. Given that, you're going to have to file, your attorney's going to have to file for an
amended refusal because the application use is for sit-down restaurant.
There's an bench shiver by the wall for the sitting.
But you just said that the majority of your work is take-out.
Correct.
You're testimony. So you're going to have to come back.
Well, no, we can hear and hold.
Yeah, we'll hear and hold.
yeah your uh your attorney's gonna have to get an amended refusal because the majority of it's
going to be um take out take out okay yeah so so we'll we'll we'll submit to get the
to get the amended um we will yeah okay i'm sorry yeah we'll we'll submit the uh application
for the so why don't we do this let's let's get through what we have to get through first
and i just want to clarify it looks like the lease you provided that you actually releasing the um
third floor just as an FYI but I understand the use right now is limited to basement and
first floor I'm sorry second floor is part of the lease and if you want to expand it you're going
to have to come back no it's first floor and basement yeah I misspoke yeah yeah basically
the first floor but your lease actually indicates that you're on the second floor also right but
yeah for you the second floor is zoned as commercial
okay but i just want to let you know that it is part you said you didn't have access to it but you
Okay, but I just want to let you know that it is part, you said you didn't have access to it.
do part of your lease but if you are going to whatever the vote is let's say it's granted and
you do want to expand it to that second floor you're going to have to come back oh yeah i would
not uh expand the second floor yes ultimately not under understood if we if if that ultimately
becomes an uh uh yes yes generation we would need to do that yes okay thank you all right
Um, questions or comments from the first audience that at this time, chair depends on what you want to do.
Oh, yeah, we're just gonna hold as well. What's that?
So you got to give it a result of hearing.
then so i think you're sure she can do a letter letter and if um council wants to give any uh
response that he can do it via a submission a written submission also should i should i do
testimony for sit down restaurant but nothing's going to change for her right no no no what i'm
saying is yeah i know i know that but he's saying i'm doing 99 takeout that's not going to change
unless i say if the refusal is for sit down but they're doing takeout can i say right right so
that's my question she's going to change the change well i don't know what the refusal is
going to say he's going to say probably by the combination but primarily take out probably wait
okay for the amendment okay but we can hold it she's going to hold so we can we can close the
record except for the amended refusal the submission by planning and then if council
wants to submit anything in response to what planning you know indicates afterwards
what was it they submit after after what they say yeah right all right okay i understand mark
do you hear that uh yeah so uh how about a date do we want to we can do it for probably two weeks
to house two weeks mark october 7th october 7th my my my problem is i have a couple things
scheduled that that day and i fly out that evening for europe so um well but i mean i mean i guess
the question would be is you know if you you know if you turn the documents in right that's right we
we need and then the question would be we could handle it other than if planning does something
that you'd want to respond that that would be my only concern well then we'd have to continue it
again that's all if you're not here that's fine so we can give it the seventh um why don't we vote on
the seventh but you have to get everything in beforehand if we can't then i'll have to be
continued get everything in beforehand and we'll vote on the seventh and that's what i was going
to say that i'll work to get everything over you vote on it on the seventh unless something comes
out of left field so to speak and we need to just give it a new date for a vote
only yeah correct yeah okay perfect all right excellent thank you very much thank
you have a good evening thank you thank you everyone let's go to number four to
be sure and then we'll go back
where do you want to get it out now let me get them out
All right. MI 2026 002 255 7352 82 State Road.
um quinzel but there is the um uh the tenant mr quinzel has been promoted to panelists
good evening good evening sir could you please state and spell your name for the stenographer
my name is Quinzel but they l that's q-u-i-n-z-e-l-l-e but they b-e-t-h-e-a and space e-l
all right do you swear we're affirmed to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i affirm our vice chair has a few questions for you good evening have you submitted your
documents and exhibits 14 days in advance of this hearing yes an exception of the uh the sign lease
which was uh submitted a couple days ago okay all right and you understand that you're here
Okay. All right. And you understand that you're here for personal vehicle repair and maintenance?
for a personal vehicle repair.
Okay. And that this is when you're here for a special reception because this use is prohibited in your I-2 zoning district?
Okay. All right. You can just share your screen and proceed to tell us what you're trying to do and explain your pictures if you show them to us.
Mr. Chairman, if I can speak first, I just want to clarify the standing.
we did receive the lease the signed lease but i just wanted to confirm it didn't have a unit on it
so for the uh property of 7352-82 state road you're in unit 104 is that correct yes that is
correct okay because the lease didn't have a unit on it but okay because that's going to be part of