was renovated if it were if it was approved yes this is this is what it will look like when it's
renovated there were some other renderings though i believe that you had could you show those to the
board oh the before pictures you couldn't see them no no the there was some some drawings that
were done to show what the space would look like once it was all you know decorated and ready for
people to come in okay let me can you see this yes okay this is what it would
look like complete and could you talk about entrances and exits for us yes
there's if we can't see it back there all the way back where the stage is on
the right hand side would be an emergency exit door can you pull up any
of where the bathrooms would be that's a different part and then to the to the last row of seats
there would be an entrance door all from cedar street side
how many seats do you have there how many seats are in there yeah i'm this is just a drawing but
probably 50 50 or 60 seats right okay anything else you want to tell us about your update did
you go back to this to the rco can you go back to it did the rc the rco changed their vote
they're now in favor of it okay tell us tell us what happened there i honestly don't know when
when we went to the meeting with the neighborhood it was voted against right we came in front of the
board a few months ago and we went over everything explained everything it sound good and then the
board just said they would like pictures of what the inside would look like completed
so all we did was we went on the computer and computerized those
images of what it would look like to present to you guys
And did you see the provisos they've requested of you?
Three-year temporary variance, hours of operation.
Three years temporary?
Temporary variance for three years, they said.
Hours of operation Sunday to Thursday.
Events end by 8 p.m.
Friday and Saturday events end at 11 p.m.
Okay. I mean, that would be good.
i don't have anything against doing that okay questions from the board
excuse me i quite we have a board's going to ask you some questions oh okay
i'll also say so do you have exterior photos of those um uh exits and entryways that you talked
about on the uh rendering not at this time i thought that was something that the board was
asking for like the actual photos of the exits and entry to the building we don't we don't have the
uh pictures of entrances and exits because there's only one exit in there as of now until zoning
approves us then we have to get a building permit to put another entrance in okay so do you have an
actual picture of where that that one exit is so that we can and maybe you can give us direction
that one exit is so that we can and maybe you can give us directional
guidance as to where you want to put the other egress i thought i saw outside there was a two
doors what was that oh no that was a that was the other side of the building we have a bunch of
pictures now if you if you look on this picture down at the two bathrooms there's a wall
there's a door to the left that actually an exterior picture of the door that's what i'm
saying do you have an exterior picture of the door to build an outside just take a picture
of where someone would yeah i have it from cedar street right yeah
that's that's far the corner that's fine is that it yeah yes
and then the other door you said you're going to have to cut into the wall
yes we'd have to cut a door in
and that's the right of the stage am I correct yes
any other questions and that and that that door Lee will lead to uh what uh cedar street
The pavement on Cedar Street. Both doors, the existing door, leads to Cedar Street, and the door that we will install will lead to Cedar Street.
The one that's there would basically become an emergency exit, and the new one we install would be a double door for the main entrance.
What are your proposed hours of operation? How many days a week do you plan to operate?
I mean, I would like to make it seven days a week, but depending on the venue.
Here's the proviso.
Sunday to Thursday, events end by 8 p.m.
Friday and Saturday, events end at 11 p.m.
Thank you.
Other questions?
I guess my question is, so people are just going to come in,
they're going to see the show and then they're going to leave is that it you're not serving food
you're not having um beverages you're not this is just a venue for people to come and see
whatever entertainment you're offering is that what's going to go on here and is that what you
told the community i'm i'm sorry but i could barely hear anything you're saying i said is this just a
venue where people come in they're going to see whatever entertainment that you're offering and
they're going to leave you're not offering food you're not offering beverages you are just this
entertainment yes okay your rendering shows a concession consists concession would be for like
not non-alcoholic drinks so it is drinks nothing alcoholic though we're not applying for a liquor
license my my my question didn't mention liquor my i asked you who are you going to be offering
um food and beverages okay as part of this oh yes just snacks okay all right and uh
how many how many people is this that you say you're gonna have in here you you you really don't
no is that is that what you're saying no i i would have to get a law for occupancy which
i can't obtain either until this is either approved or i don't know what the law for
occupancy would be for their they go by a square footage right what's the square footage of your
space it's roughly 5 000 square feet 5 000 square feet and depending on the size of your stage i
if you got fixed seats or non-fixed seats you're over 300 people that can technically be allowed
in this space it's just just a quick rule of thumb right so i don't have no i no plans on
having 300 people to me at 300 people being in there seeing how it's going to be set up
would really be way too many people have you have you run anything like this before
What's your background? What's your experience with running an establishment like this?
Well, I manage four buildings for the same person that owns this building.
So in our buildings, we have event halls. We have a gym. We had a boxing gym.
And the other one, we have a, if you ever heard of stateside, Vaca, they're in one of our buildings.
and the other one we have
if you ever heard a state
So your experience is in managing properties where there are events and things.
Is that, okay.
and so does that include the scheduling the you know the advertising the all of that that goes
along with this yes sometimes sometimes it involves that okay all right and then of course
my question is always about um fire and safety so what are your plans for um the hardwired
smoke detection well the building this building's already hardwired in we're monitored by
who is that alert one we're monitored by alert one we have a sprinkler system in the the entire
building and it is zoned okay and you have that but at as of this point you don't have the two
means of ingress and egress right now we only have one if it's approved we'll install the other one
And then Alert 1 is on board to come put pull stations in any new doorways or any entrances or exits.
Any emergency lighting?
They have to add all that.
Right now, this is basically a warehouse.
So you don't have to have as much if we change the zoning to what we want.
Obviously, we're going to have to add some fire things, pull stations.
but the sprinkler system is already in the building the only thing we would have to add
that i was told is when we turn in our plans to redo the area we'd have to be up the code with
pull stations strobe lights things like that but again we are already monitored the entire building
by alert one who monitors the system for the whole building if there's a low pressure if
anything goes off if there's a fire alarm they alert me and i come right down all right thank
you thank you questions from the board questions or comments from our attorney hillary emerson
not at this time mr chair questions or comments from their virtual audience
i see no gains at this time chairman planning commission good morning chairman david effecto
f-e-c-t-e-a-u with the city planning commission do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the
whole truth and nothing but the truth yes sir i do please proceed thank you sir thank you sir
chairman and board members the comprehensive plan recommends a change in zoning at this location
from i2 general industry to icmx industrial and commercial mixed use assembly and entertainment
would be allowed in the proposed icmx zoning the city planning commission recommends the board
grant a proposed use variance for assembly and entertainment thank you mi 2025 0004 2848 chatham
street i vote yes with the following proviso three-year temporary variance that would expire
8 20 28 hours of operation sunday to thursday events end by 8 pm friday to saturday events end
at 3 11 pm also use limited to area 3 and a certificate of occupancy to be obtained
michael johns my vote is yes with provisos cheryl gaston my vote is no
tennetta graham my vote is yes with provisos
brian mcadams my vote is yes with provisos thank you sir
we're going to go to number one mi 2204 002 293 6201 north 15th street
jermaine harris is the attorney this is a resumptive hearing
Jermaine Harris will be rejoining
as a panelist.
mr harris yes good morning good morning sir yes good morning here you go please stay
yes good morning good morning sir yes good morning there you go please state your name and spell
for this yeah sure jermaine harris and i am uh counsel for appellant russian basely uh my name
is spelled j-e-r-m-a-i-n-e h-a-r-r-i-s do you swear or firm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth i do so mr harris we're going to this is a resumptive hearing and it is
there'll be a presentation by you of updated information yes questions from the board
will be public testimony or updated information only and and planning commission will make a
recommendation my my remembrance of this case is that uh the rco was not in favor and no the rco
was in favor it was in favor yes how about the council person the council person uh was not in
favor okay the rco was in favor okay um please proceed with your update sure let me share my
screen can i can i go back james harvey committee person in the 17th ward testified in opposition
is that correct? I don't know what his I don't know what his position I don't know what his
position was but we had a community meeting uh all right we had a community meeting with who
who was this hold on so why don't you start your why don't you give us the whole update of where
you stand with this? Yeah, sure. Yeah, we had a community meeting with Oak Lane Worcester and
Community Coalition, and that was on January 28th, and there was support for this project.
And if you may recall, this is requesting for a variance for the use of property at 6201
north uh 15th street uh for a daycare it's on the first floor uh also concurrent with the approval
my client got a petition signatures of 50 uh of 50 signatures of nearby neighbors which was also
uh submitted and is also attached here but let's go back to the project itself so
my client is the tenant of the owner and she wishes to use this property uh for daycare this
is a posting of the today's resumptive hearing this is the least evidencing that
and this is the photo of what the front would be this has the gate of it but this is the front of
the building there's another vantage picture of the front this is another picture of the front
a different angle. This is the side of the building. This is the side of the building.
Another picture of the front. This is the driveway which would be used for people when
they would be dropping off uh for dropping off the children this is a backyard and then this is
the interior now the interior it's actually two separate playrooms so to speak we're talking
about 2 000 square feet and so we have
one open area right here which is open area one we'll call it open area one that's where you walk
in through the main door the main double doors that we uh just saw pictures of from the street
so you walk in and this is the area right here and that's where the larger uh that's where the
larger children would be at and then we have exiting from there we have a smaller room
which is uh right here which is behind that the larger room is 879 square feet
The larger room is 879 square feet.
The smaller room, which is for the smaller children, is 608 square feet.
Now, this building, it does have, although it has a capacity of 49 people, my client doesn't plan on having that many people there.
I believe, and she can testify to this, but I believe that she was talking about 20, but ultimately the state is going to make a determination as to what would be acceptable to them based on the accommodations and the square footage of this.
there's also fire alarm system with this uh as reflected on the as reflected on the plan
the plans here again it's about 2 000 square feet that we're talking about
this is the larger of the interior room this is the smaller this is the smaller room
Minus the furniture, of course. So, this is a hallway.
and again we have uh we have the art we have the rco the summary meeting the meeting summary
from oak lane which evidence is that this was take uh that this community meeting took place
on january 27th and there was support along with the signatures i know uh also there's tax
clearance also of this and then this is the notice of refusal would have the I would have
the board know that this space has been used for years as a commercial space it has it was used
first as a looks like a pharmacy then it was used as a plumbing heating office back in 1980
uh looks like a ladies looks like a clothing store back in 87 so what we are asking for
is we are asking for this variance to be approved and we would open it up for any questions
that this board may have
do you want to have your testimony adopted sure uh may i have uh miss rashaun bailey could you
please raise your hand so you can be promoted as a panelist
rashaun basically has been promoted to panelist
okay miss basely can you hear me yes hi okay wait wait wait wait one minute
hi please state your name is spelled for the stenographer yes my name is rashaun basely my
the spelling of it is r-a-s-h-i-a-n last name b-a-s-l-e-y you swear or affirm to tell the
truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes please proceed counsel okay so miss basely did
you hear the testimony that i gave to the board for the past 10 minutes yes okay and
do you agree with the testimony that i have given to the board yes and you don't necessarily have
to but is there anything you would like to add to the testimony that I've given to the that I've
given to this board no not at this time okay and so we would have open it up for any questions if
anyone has regarding this particular project questions from the board uh yes um at the last
hearing here I had asked about the rear area here is that where the children will be
entering or playing there's an adjacent business from what I understand maybe oh okay so through
the back entrance we will not be playing back there but you we will allow if we need to far
as the parking in that area you will be able to come through the front and also through the back
for drop off and pick up we're going to have indoor play for the children it won't be outside
All right. And we, I think the concern was, again, a better idea of the exterior area here.
all right and uh we
Now you've shown the front, but the back is where, where will the children be entering?
Through the front door. Through the front door. Yes.
ones with the pull down yes correct okay and there's a door there and there's windows yes
it's a door there and there's two large windows right there actually three i'm sorry three large