Frederico Almas.
Frederico is F-R-E-D-E-R-I-C-O, last name Almas, A-L-M-A-S, and I'm the owner of 4513
Baker Street.
Tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Thank you.
Please proceed.
And Fred, have you heard all my testimony here today before the board?
Yes, I did.
And would you agree it's true and accurate, and would you adopt that testimony as if it
were your own?
thank you uh mr chairman members of the board if you have any questions we'd be happy to answer
them my you may have you may have mentioned this i apologize if you did uh my notes say that we're
still waiting for a letter from the manny up neighbor council no we do we do have in your
okay i may have missed that one yeah it's a tab okay no worries no worries all right uh questions
from the board no no no planning commission so this property is indicated for residential use
on the city plan given the pre-existing site conditions you have no objection to the granting
berries. Thank you. MI-2020-0009474513 Baker Street. My vote is yes. My vote is yes. My vote
is yes. My vote is yes. My vote is yes. Thank you. I told you I should have saved the baby for
another case absolutely next time thank you thank you calendar number three nine six one nine
seven two three oak lane the attorney is stephanie james
stephanie james are you here you have to raise your hand
i don't see stephanie james
well we'll do um just in case it's a technical issue we'll go to the case
uh for north 8th street the one we said we'd hold to the end and then come back to uh oak lane if
that if the person's having a technical issue.
I will try emailing the property owner now.
I will try emailing the property owner now. I know she and I had a few emails back and forth, so I'm surprised that her attorney isn't here. I'll check.
I know she and I had a few
We'll go to calendar number 39421, 4800 North 8th Street. Tanya, did you want to say something?
I have a name here. I don't know if it's for this case or not. I'll allow her to speak. Martha Lewis, are you here for the case mentioned?
Yes, I'm here.
Can you hear us?
Can you hear me?
Yeah, Ms. Lewis, you're here for which case?
8th Street?
No, 723 Oak Lane.
We just couldn't get our picture up.
We didn't know how.
My attorney is here.
Okay, I'm here as well.
This is Stephanie James.
Okay, wait one minute.
One minute, please.
Okay, can you tell us if you can hear us now?
We can hear you.
Okay, great.
That's why you could not hear us before.
We had technical difficulties.
We don't have a child here to help us.
So the idea is that the name was not Stephanie James.
So I'm going to now promote you to a panelist, okay, where you'll have the authority to share
your screen.
Okay, thank you.
So is there an attorney with this case?
And is it Stephanie James?
Okay, now you have been promoted to panelist.
Now you can share your screen. Unmute yourself to answer the question of the vice chair.
Is there an attorney with this case, and is it Stephanie James?
Martha?
Can unmute yourself.
I just did it. Did it work?
I hear you now.
We can hear you. Is Stephanie James there?
Yes, I'm here.
Can you hear me as well?
Yes, I can.
Can you put your name and address on the record, please?
Martha, I'm going to ask for you to stop clicking the computer because we're limited here.
My name is Stephanie James, S-T-E-P-H-A-N-I-E, J-A-M-E-S, 725 Kenmore Road, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
I am here today, as I was in the past, representing Martha Lewis on the property located at 723
Oak Lane Avenue in Philadelphia. Thank you. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth and nothing
but the truth? Yes, I do. And do you also agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate
to its accuracy? Yes, I do. Okay, you may proceed. Good morning to the chairman and the members of
the board, we thank you for this time. It's in this strange world that we're now living in and
I guess we all have to get used to this. I'm not doing very well. However, you have received our
exhibits and again I'm here on calendar number MI2020-00969 on behalf of Martha Lewis for the
property known as Martha's Kitchen. We are here today and we miss Lewis was granted a three-year
proviso. We're just asking for that to be made permanent. We've had lengthy testimony
and prior hearings under your original calendar number. We have submitted to you a number of
exhibits, which does also include the meeting summary from the RCO that was held. We have
letters of support from OLCAA and the board president, Kimberly Robinson. We have petitions
and signatures and support from members of the community, state representatives, and the RCO.
We also submitted to you prior to that proof of the mailing, proof of photographs of the postage
of the orange signage, so the zoning permits for the original date and for this date as well.
And we're basically here in terms of time and saving time and effort, and we do thank you
for scheduling this as soon as possible, basically to grant Mrs. Lewis the right to
use her building as she purchased it. There has been no changes to the outside or interior of
this structure. She purchases as such as being a mixed use. Not only to her, it was never properly
zoned, although it has been always utilized in the same manner that she is using it today.
So again, I would like to ask Mrs. Lewis
if she has any comments that she would like to make.
We have a number of witnesses again.
As you know, I usually represent people from churches.
So this is a church member.
This is a very sensitive issue.
This place is used for off-church activities,
baby showers, small repasses, birthday parties, weddings.
Birthday parties, weddings. So it's and it's using a Christian base. And as I said, prior to this, unfortunately, when she purchased this in November 2015, and never made any changes to the outside or interior of this building, to the speaker system to nothing here. She did not know that it was not properly zoned as such.
so it's not and it's using a
so Mrs. Lewis I'm going to ask you do you have anything that you would like to say
at this time no I'm going to ask you that you've heard my presentation today knowing that I'm
going to request that all of our exhibits be made part of the record and accepted by the board
do you adopt my testimony as your own yes okay are you sure that there's nothing else that you
would like to say no yeah okay so if the board has any questions we'll take them we have a number
of witnesses that I do want to thank, members of the community, members of our church group,
members of the RCO, that I do want to thank you for standing by since about nine o'clock this
morning. We do appreciate it. We ask that all of you remain well and COVID-free.
And that's about all we have to say for us. Thank you. Questions from the board?
no no i i understand uh that there are a number of witnesses based on the testimony we just heard
uh with all due respect we do appreciate the time may be taken to be on this call
uh but i would ask if there's anyone who objects to this uh application uh to please identify
yourself. Only those who may be objecting to this.
No objections at this time, Chair.
Thank you. And it's okay. Yep. I'm sorry. What?
We do have Hillary Emerson from the council person's office.
Thank you. Ms. Emerson.
You can unmute yourself and wait to be sworn in.
Good morning, Mr. Chair, members of the board. Can you hear me?
yes yes okay excellent um hillary emerson h-i-l-a-r-y-e-m-e-r-s-o-n
what office are you from sorry the office of councilwoman cheryl parker
you're a firm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i do please proceed hillary um yes um the councilwoman is um not opposed to
the granting of a permanent special exception in this case. As Miss James
noted in her testimony, this has been a banquet facility, a small one, for some
time on a small commercial strip in East Oak Lane when Miss Lewis purchased it.
Unfortunately, the prior owners had not legalized the use, so Miss Lewis
legalized it and the community initially asked for a temporary special exception
which she agreed to and the board granted. Now she's asking for a permanent which
we support. Our office has not received any complaints over the past three years to our
knowledge about this property and the community is in support. We also want to note that Ms.
lewis is a valued member um of the community both in east oak lane and in long crest in our
our district and so we're happy to um see her and make this permanent um with her business
thank you thank you okay again if there's anyone who objects to this to please raise your hand
i see no objectors thank you and again miss james thank you for your testimony
unless you find it necessary to have anyone
come on? No, I do not
at this time, pending the board's approval.
Thank you. Planning Commission?
Yes, this property
is indicated for neighborhood commercial
mixed use city plan.
We have no objection to granting
the special exception.
Thank you. Calendar number 39619
Oak Lane. My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
thank you Tanya we ready we can do the 4800 North 8th Street now yes that's
fine thank you so very much thank you thank you hopefully all of you remain
calendar numbers calendar number 394 to 140 800 North 8th Street is there an
attorney with that case? No, it's not. It's the applicant. Give me one second. This is the case that you
applicant give me one second this is the case that you originally called as continued
um there was actually already a hearing on it the rco refuses to meet and the applicant is back
today requesting a vote okay marusha's i'm muted he's available so uh do we need sharon do we need
to hear testimony again on this no you don't you only held it for uh feedback on his efforts to
reach the rco i don't know if you have a recommendation from the planning commission
that might be the only thing you would need let's see yeah tanya i'm sorry but i if i could just
state that charles richardson from the council person's office i believe is here on this with
his hand up. Okay, let's hear from Mr. Richardson first. Mr. Richardson, you can unmute yourself and speak to this case.
maybe he's not available his hand is up but mike is um okay we can go back to him thank you so
let's go back to the gentleman whose name i apologize uh from earlier who's uh here on this
case 4800 north 8th street yes it's mirosh tsenai do you need to swear me in again or no you've been
sworn in earlier but just spell your name again for the record sure it's uh mirosh m-i-r-u-s-h
Last name's Sinaj, C-E-N-A-J.
And you're here on calendar number 39421-4800 North 8th Street.
That's correct.
I can show my packet again if you guys need me to.
So just could you tell us you've reached out to the RCO and they're not willing to meet with you?
That's right.
I've actually been in contact with the RCO since December of last year.
And even since back in May, they said that they won't be holding any meetings until the coronavirus pandemic subsides.
I emailed them after our – so I had a hearing on the 11th of August where I was heard, and then you instructed me to reach out to the RCO to schedule a meeting.
I reached out to them on the 12th, which is the day after, and they're not willing to meet virtually.
I'm not sure what the reasoning is, but I did submit an email to Ms. Saleta and Ms. Sunkit showing that,
and I did copy Mr. Richardson on it as well so that he is aware, and they're just not willing until this subsides,
which I hope you can understand that it's been nine months since that we
submitted this application, this appeal back in early December.
So if we wait until this thing subsides, I think.
Yeah, we understand that, but so we, I don't,
we don't have any notes in front of us.
So could you tell us because we had it down as a continuance,
just brief, a brief description of what the application represents.
Sure. Sure. So this is a corner property.
It's a CMX1 zoning. I can share my screen to show you some of the photos.
That would be helpful. Thank you.
Ms. Sunke, can you promote me, please?
Okay, Marouj, I promoted you to panelists, and then the board can recognize that Charles
Richardson is available and unmuted as you wish to speak to him.
can you can you all see my screen yes okay so um this is the property here in the corner of eighth
and ludon it's um it's a corner store it's a very large property it's currently vacant it's been
vacant the second and third floor have been vacant for about 30 years we are