clarification question for Mr. Patterson. On the refusal, it indicated that the restaurant use
would be in the basement and first floor but on the plans it looked like the basement was
visitor accommodation and storage not restaurant use so i just wanted to to make sure that uh was
clear where this use would need yeah yeah thanks all right i think and mr wilson could jump in the
the basement will be used for um uh prep work stores and the like but not occupied by
any customers is that correct
maybe he's still on mute
sorry I just got on mute
yeah I believe that the basement for the commercial
space is mainly for storage
okay thank you so much
for the clarification thank you
questions or comments from the virtual audience
no Mr. Chair
all right planning commission
good afternoon chair bergman david effecto city planning commission
Good afternoon, Chair Bergman, David Fecto, City Planning Commission.
Mr. Chairman and members of the board, the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the commercial mixed-use zoning at this location.
The applicant has shown that a sit-down restaurant will have no more of an impact than a sit-down restaurant would be expected to have, and the same goes for the roof deck.
So the City Planning Commission recommends that the board grant the special exception for a sit-down restaurant and the special exception for a roof deck.
Thank you.
MI 2022-002-550-69-71 North 2nd Street.
I vote yes.
Carol Taneri, my vote is yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Great.
Thank you.
Great afternoon.
We're going to go to 15 and 16, and Tanya, then we'll come back at the end.
15 MI 2022, 002553, 7500 State Road, and MI 2022, 002552, 7500 State Road.
Stephen Pollack is the attorney, letter of non-opposition from the Holmesburg Civic Association in both cases, and letter of support from Councilman Driscoll.
Mr. Pollack will be returning as a panelist, sir.
Thank you.
Here we go.
Good afternoon, Mr. Pollack.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, members of the board.
A pleasure to be seen by you and to see you tonight.
Could you just state your name and spell it for the court reporter?
Sure. Stephen with the P-H-S-T-E-P-H-N, Pollack, P-O-L-L-O-C-K.
I am the attorney for the applicant Sweet Lucy's Limited Liability Company, which is the probably well-known Sweet Lucy's Barbecue up on State Road, just above Cotman Avenue in the northeast part, or the Holmesburg part of it.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
I do, Mr. Chairman.
Our Vice Chair, Carol Tenere, has a few questions.
Yes, sir.
Hi, do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
In both matters, yes, I do.
In both matters.
Yes, I do.
Okay. Have you emailed the exhibit packets required for proof of ownership, tax compliance, the refusal and referral, photos under plans of these properties five days in advance of this hearing, and have you met with the RCO, and do you have a letter?
Yes, we have to all questions, Madam Vice Chair.
Great. You may proceed and begin to share your screen.
Okay. If I may, if I could have my associate, Nicholas Realbutu, also promoted so he can share the screen. Because as I say, I'm an old horse that doesn't want to learn the technology.
Okay. Mr. Rigoboto, we'll be joining you as a panelist.
And on our call with us, and we'll bring them in when it's the appropriate time, members of the board, is Brooke and Jim Higgins, who are the gastronomical force behind Sweet Lucy's since 2005.
So this is Sweet Lucy's Barbecue. We are coming here to expand the existing portion that this occupies of this property at 7500 State Road.
And to expand it into the two-story portion of this industrial-like building, the board granted a variance back in 2003 to allow this property to have a barbecue restaurant in a smaller portion.
But let's just go through the picture so you get an idea.
And we're also asking, we had to split up the signage request from the use request.
that's why we have two applications uh the use where you see in this picture that little white
sweet lucy's barbecue smokehouse well you'll see where we want to put we want to replace that with
some new signage so nico if you could go and and go forward uh just to show you this is what it
looks like right now as we're headed northbound on state road um and here is a look at the building
we're right at this corner where Nico is showing you with the hand. And this is where this is the
driveway into the property. And this is as we go along. So about where the awning is, is what was
the original grant of the variants. And then we are not really wanting but extension. And then as
we go up, we're really trying to occupy all of this lower level, all the way to the edge. Now
our adjacent neighbor at 7600 State Road is Northeast Treatments Methadone Clinic. I personally
is Northeast Treatments Methadone Clinic. I personally represented Northeast Treatment
They represented Northeast Treatment.
many years ago, and we got that approved. To our south is another industrial building
that is going to become a gun range as well as hopefully a gymnasium. And I believe
Mr. Sean Ward may actually be on to testify and hopefully show his support because he represents
It's the gym that's coming in next door to us on the south.
The area where it says, if you can see in photo 45, where it says ring company and you see a car and then you go down to 46 and 47, we're going to, that'll be an entranceway to the catering.
And we had to call this assembly and entertainment under the code because this is what's happening.
Jim and Brooke do a lot of catering off premises, but they've had calls for having on premise weddings, parties, events like that of that nature, and they'd like to have the facility to do that on premises, which is why we've sought the expansion.
So, Nico, if you could go to that Z100 plan, we could give the board a sense of, and if we can blow this up a little bit, I don't know if we can go up. Yeah, down. So, the original restaurant, Mr. Chairman, members of the board, occupies about 4,300 feet.
We're talking about expanding the existing expansion one, which would be also to have the existing restaurant expand.
Expansion two allows us to have this catering area, and we'll show you what it looks like right now interior.
So we're talking about this would allow us to expand and modernize a kitchen that was really put in back in 2005.
So we'd like to upgrade and modernize even the existing facility.
This, as you can see from the plan, is the only portion of the building that is a two-story building. The rest of it is about an 18-foot high, as it shows on this plan, 18-foot high, one-story industrial building, and we're at about 27 feet where we are. We will not be using anything in the second floor.
So that is sort of like the expansion area and explains what we're saying when we're saying we're trying to expand the existing restaurant.
The assembly and entertainment was merely because we don't want to have a situation where somebody brings in a group at a wedding and people start dancing that we would run afoul of the requirements, not out of the zoning code, but also the special assembly occupancy permit that you need from the city.
So that's why we have put that all in. This was all presented to the, you know, Holmesburg Civic Association. And as they have taken a position not to oppose, that is what's what's happening.
The physical characteristics of this building were sort of dictated by allowing the original restaurant to go in on the left-hand side or the south side.
And so the hardship is the second floor is unusable in this portion.
The storage and industrial use, which was like some office equipment and office shelving, has moved to the back of the building, leaving this space vacant.
And so given how we have been occupying it, it's a necessary kind of expansion into this area.
So, Nico, if you want to go back to the photos that show the interior, this is what the place looks like right now.
If you came in, there are our message boards.
We do have at A74 the existing menu for the barbecue.
And this is where the existing restaurant is.
and then go then we the bathrooms but now this is where you break through and you go to the area
where um we would be using it for the uh weddings catering events of that nature um and so that as
you can see it's just sort of been storage and things of that nature so that basically is and
just go through real quick that would be the north side that's closest to the 7600
The windows, we'd be breaking through that to go to this little outdoor area on the north side. And that's another shot along that, our north end. So it would allow for a cleaner operation, a fuller integrated operation, and it's connect, there is an interconnection between the existing restaurant and going through to the catering.
Now, if we can go back to our plan so we can show the board what we have in mind with regard to the signage.
What we propose is this. The reason we are refused is in this district, an I-2 industrial district, technically the sign would have to be at the first floor level, not up at the second floor level.
We are showing it. We are asking to make it more visible and to make it so that anybody headed south.
To make it more visible and to make it so that anybody headed south on on State Road could see us and not be blocked by any expanded industrial buildings that would block their vision and northbound the same thing if you want to switch to show the northbound side, that would be where the sign is and if you want to harken back to what we're sort of replacing just like a really nondescript flat wall sign.
that that has been there over the years. So the harsh that would be why we are asking to just
have it raised to the second floor level. We have had all our exhibits are marked a one through a
11. And as you mentioned, Chairman Bergman, there is a very nice letter that we've received from
Councilman Michael Driscoll with regard to this. And also, as we said, as you pointed out,
Mr. Chair, as we have it at number 11, we have a letter not to oppose both applications.
And so our hardship is that we need to expand an existing use that was here by variance,
but has outgrown its space. We'd also like to be able to take advantage of business opportunity
that's presented itself over the years, because they do a lot of catering, but all the catering
has been basically off-premises, except for fitting it into our existing space, and we'd
like to be able to expand into that other portion that's part of the building that has
been removed and vacated from any kind of industrial use.
I know this is anecdotal, but when we talk to
Holmesburg Civic, I know they are very much interested in seeing if they can change the
zoning classification from I2 to an industrial commercial classification, maybe it's ICMX or
something like that, because they realize that State Road has become a very mixed bag of
commercial uses and the old days of it being a total industrial corridor have sort of been
changing and evolving. So with that, I would rest. And I think this is the least minimum variance
because all we're doing is sort of expanding sideways and staying within the footprint of
the building and not trying to expand and take up this entire industrial building that is backed up
by the regional rail and Conrail line that runs all the way up to New York. So with that, can I
call Brooke and Jim Higgins up, Mr. Chairman, to stop my testimony? We're here. We're here. Hello.
Hello. Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
My name is James Higgins, J-A-M-E-S-H-I-G-G-I-N-S. My name is Brooke Higgins, B-R-O-L-K-E,
H-I-G-G-I-N-S. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir. I do. And Brooke and Jim, Brooke and Jim, you guys started this with a sort of like a
truck in the parking lot. Isn't that correct? Back in like 2003, 2004? That is true. And then you've
evolved into what you are today. Is that correct? At this location, the Sweet Lucy's? Yes, just
keeps growing. Okay. You heard what I stated on the record. Do you attest that that is true and
correct? Yes. And your days and hours of operation are going to be, you are on Monday through
Thursday from about 11 o'clock to about nine o'clock. Friday and Saturday, you go from about
11 to about 10. And Sunday, again, is the same as the Monday through Thursday hours, correct?
That's correct.
And you employ, you probably have about 10 people that, 10 to 12 employees on a shift, and you do give employment to about 50 to 55 people in this town, correct?
Yeah, at least.
All right.
So you've heard what I stated, and you've said it's true and correct.
You adopt that as your testimony as if it had come out of your own mouths today.
Yes, sir.
We do.
With that, Mr. Chairman.
Questions from the board.
Questions from the board.
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
no mr chairman questions or comments from the virtual audience
mr chair mr sean ward has his hand raised i will not
i'm here i am mr ward did have i sworn you yesterday or was that yesterday uh that was
yesterday well i was here for a continuance but i don't think i was sworn i do i do swear
and affirm to testify truthfully could you just state your name please for the court reporter
yeah my name is sean shawn last name ward w-a-r-d
Yeah, my name is Sean, S-H-A-W-N, last name Ward, W-A-R-D, Esquire.
I am the attorney for the adjoining property owner at 7430 State Road, which is 7430 State Road, LLC.
Do you swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
I most certainly do.
Go see, Mr. Ward.
I'm here on behalf of my good friend and colleague, Steve Pollack.
You know, I've represented many clients up and down the state road corridor in Holmesburg, upper Holmesburg, East Tarsdale.
I do represent the adjoining neighbor.
We were approved by this board for a gun range and gun training facility next door.
We will be coming in in two weeks for another application, which has nothing to do with today's hearing.
But we, on behalf of my client, we do support Sweet Lucys.
They are becoming an institution in the Holmesburg section of the city, and especially on State Road, as Steve has, you know, so prominently indicated that it's becoming more of a mixed use commercial industrial corridor as opposed to its former past as a industrial corridor.
So we are here to fully support this application and ask that the board grant the requested relief.
Thank you, Mr. Board. Thank you for calling in. Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
Thank you, Sean.
I see no further hands, Mr. Chair.
Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair Bergman, David Vecto, City Planning Commission.
Mr. Chairman and members of the board, the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the I-2 medium industrial zoning at this location.
the proposal for an expansion of a takeout restaurant with assembly and entertainment
and catering and commissary services. The restaurant has been operating under a use
variance granted by the board in 2004. So industrial businesses continue to operate in
the adjacent properties. And we can conclude that neither the restaurant nor its expansion
will impair the use of adjacent industrial properties. So the city planning commission
recommends to the board grant the use variances for takeout restaurant assembly and entertainment
commissary services and the associated sign variants thank you number 15 mi 2022 002 553
7500 state roads and mi 2022 002 552 7500 state roads i vote yes for both
Carol Tenere, I vote yes for both.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes for both.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes for both.
Thank you, Mr. Pollack.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Members of the board, have a great day.
And this concludes my business.
May I be excused?
Yes, you can.
Thank you.
All right.
All right, Tanya, number 11.
Chair, we've tried to chat with her and reach out her in all forms.
Ms. Smith, are you there?
she's there muted