Right on Kensington Avenue.
More photos of it.
Some interior photos, just so the board has a sense of the size and scale of the space, given we're doing eating and drinking establishment, takeout window, artisan industrial space, a coffee roastery and a brewery, sort of a very mini brewery, not to the scale of yards or anything to that extent, just given the space.
but um and the uh team is on here they can tell you a bit more but it's worth noting this is a
minority-owned business and what's very interesting about it is that their presence already in
kensington the community involvement they have through a separate non-profit they do a lot of
service and good work in the community which is why the community group i think was so supportive
of this and also they're going to be bringing a type of uh brood product to philadelphia that
doesn't yet exist anywhere in this country. So pretty unique operation that they have. And if
you've been to their spot currently, I've heard some of the best sandwiches in the city. So
wonderful expansion of this existing business. Again, interior photos.
Giving us that scale. This is just the zoning chart, just to show where we don't comply with
the code. CMX2 contemplates a sit-down restaurant. It contemplates artisan industrial. It doesn't
contemplate a takeout restaurant, although I think all of us would assume that takeout is kind of
an accessory use to sit-down restaurant. So that was the refusal, the refus-
um sit down restaurant so that was the the refusal uh the referral that we have um there's a lot of
other buy right uses that would be permitted by right such as a medical marijuana dispensary
or sundries and pharmaceuticals that would be probably more impactful than putting a takeout
restaurant to service an existing sit down a proposed existing sit-down restaurant
and then the artisan industrial is living industrial so that we can brew and ship off kegs
to other locations and brew them on site so that was the the and there's no really artisan use
besides the artisan industrial which doesn't incorporate the ability to do any kind of kegs
or at the level that we need to for this operation so that was um but as you can see it's in a sort
an industrial sized warehouse so there's plenty of room and the existing character would not be
out of sorts for something like that. We met with the Harrogate Civic Association
on Thursday, April 3rd in person and as previously mentioned obviously we sent out all the required
mailers and we had 16 members in full support of the project, no opposition. A lot of the community
members were very familiar with the tenant and their work in addition to the owners of the
building shift capital and we're very excited to see um all of the the new operation and all the
improvements that will go on with the investment of this site cameras uh green energy options
lighting sidewalk trees um as well um also have a letter of support um for from councilman driscoll's
office uh if i could briefly bring on sasha spriggs from isa just to go through the plans
that we have, that would be great.
Sasha Spriggs, please raise your virtual hand.
I see no hands, Chair.
There she is, Chair.
She's coming back in as a panelist now.
Thank you very much.
for some reason
she's not going over as a
panelist
she keeps declining to be promoted
to a panelist
Ms. Spriggs, when you receive the request to be a panelist, please accept it.
Sasha?
She should be coming back in now, chair as a panelist.
Thank you.
Great.
hello this is sasha are you able to hear me yeah we can sasha could you please uh could you first
turn on your video yes um apologies there is a little bit of a mix up sure we were going to have
brian phillips present from our office um well who's going to do this i just
i'll i'll just do it that's fine okay all right could you please state your name
sure my name is sasha s-a-s-h-a my last name is briggs s-p-r-i-g-g-s
you swear a friend to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i do please proceed counsel um sasha do you want to go through the the plans
sure is if brian's on and he can do it that that's fine i just had both of you listed so my
apologies yeah no that's fine i'm able to do it he'll just listen in from the other room
okay okay so as you can see on our screen this is the plan of the supposed cafe roastery restaurant
it's at the intersection of kensington ave and russell street as rachel mentioned um this is
an existing building that was previously a hub of the community, a skating rink, and then later,
I believe, a movie theater. And we're keeping the exterior largely the same, only reopening some
previously filled openings to let light into the space and reworking two entries, one so that there
will be a primary entry to the restaurant off of Kensington, and another providing a secondary
kensington and another providing a secondary means of egress to the restaurant off of russell as well
means of egress to the restaurant off of Russell.
as a primary access for loading to the brewery you can see this plan is color-coded it provides
a full restaurant with commercial kitchen in that like medium blue tone and north there will also
be a roastery off of Kensington Ave served by, again, a ramp that's expanding on the existing
roastery at Cafe currently. And then there will be, in addition, a full-scale brewery at the rear
of the building. Plan North, there's a trash and loading alley, which will provide access and
storage of trash to the north of the site, and a gate providing access to Kensington Ave so that
all of the trash loading will come on and off of that street.
Finally, you can see in the large letters that say takeout with an asterisk,
the takeout window, which will allow this restaurant to be used in off hours
without having the requirement for the full restaurant to be open.
And there is a little bit of street seething as well.
um are you done sasha sure okay yeah rachel yeah just these are the proposed renderings and i just
uh because it might be asked by the board the ramp and the street seating we're working they
require an ordinance which we already are working on with the council office so while they're not
part of this particular application they're on the plans uh but wanted to mention that just in
event that if there were any questions on that okay um do you want to bring your client on
rachel yeah um testimony is there a greg de fabio
all right fabio's coming back in as a panelist now
mr defabio yes sir hi could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
yes greg g-r-e-g-g the fabio d-i-f-a-b-i-o you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole
truth nothing but the truth yes counsel reg have you heard my testimony today do you believe it
be true and accurate and do you adopt it as your own yes thank you questions from the board
i have a question so the the what is on the second level
it's just a uh greg do you yeah can i talk yep so yes the second level is for is for storage
as well as some mechanical equipment.
Okay, thank you.
Can you walk us through the delivery
and export that will take place at the site?
Where are the trucks loading?
How are they loading?
Is there a loading zone on the street?
Dedicated loading zone.
How is that going to work?
and how often does that occur?
He said you off tomorrow, right?
Greg, do you want...
Yeah, I mean, if Sarah's here, our civil engineer,
she can answer, but I can answer too.
I don't know if Sarah's here.
Is Sarah Poindexter in the audience
or Albert Pack, who is the owner of Cafe Roastery?
Sarah Poindexter is coming back in as a panelist now.
Thank you.
And can you go back to the plan, the site plan, so we can.
Sarah.
It allows us to speak, Chair.
Okay, Sarah, can you state your name as Bell for the sonographer?
Yes, Sarah Poindexter, S-A-R-A-P-O-I-N-D-E-X-T-E-R.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Could you turn your video on?
Yes, if I can figure it out.
She's coming back in as a panelist now, Chair.
OK. OK, I'm here.
Hi. Hi.
Did you hear the question?
Yes, I did. So and I'm wondering if we actually have the zone, the streets department plan included in this.
It might be. There we go.
So so if you zoom in a bit, you can see to Michael Johns, the loading space, you can see a striped in the right of way.
There's like a 30 foot along Kensington Avenue close to where the trash.
So for the trash, the trash can be wheeled out and that's where the pickup is.
But for the loading, this is where the loading truck would park.
They basically have a ramp that's been approved to bring up any types of deliveries.
And then the ramp to the building, both on Kensington Ave and East Russell Street, are wide enough for those deliveries.
And that's one reason why we're going through the ordinance process, to make sure that those ramps can encroach into the right-of-way at a width that would accommodate delivery.
Okay, and will that, the striped area along Kensington Avenue, will that be a dedicated loading zone or with signs or striped paving, or how is that going to work?
So it's a striped loading zone with signage that we're working through with PPA.
But yes, it's been approved by streets, and now we're going through that with PPA currently.
And how often would they be loading and unloading for the brewery?
Is that an all-night sort of thing, or is it certain once or twice a week?
What's the plan?
What do they envision?
This is Greg DeFabio.
I can answer that.
For the trash, obviously depending on the amount of business,
but we would probably have pickups twice a week.
And for loading for the tenant inside, we're talking once daily, maybe twice daily.
And usually on the week, during the week, not the weekends.
Other questions?
Hours of operation for the restaurant.
I don't think we pin down the actual hours right now.
OK. All right. Thank you. Other questions? Yes. What is the roasting room? I'm sorry. I understand a brewery, but there was a roasting.
Right now, Cafe Roasters is going to be the tenant. It's for coffee. So they're going to have a couple of roasters in there. Their current operation is not big enough. So we're expanding that operation.
and the other operation is literally a stone's throw away if you have a good arm yes
okay all the questions questions for our attorney hillary emerson um just one clarification miss
pritzker um the refusal is for a takeout restaurant this but i believe you indicated that
or the referral rather that you already had approval for a sit-down restaurant at the site
and that seems to be what's depicted in your picture so I'm a little bit confused why
you're requesting relief for a sit-down restaurant. I'm not we're not requesting relief for a sit-down
restaurant I had mentioned that we had got a prior zoning approval for the existing sit-down
restaurant the two elements of the project that require zoning board of adjustment approval are
what's on the refusal, but we had included in our plan sort of the whole picture because when we
went to explain this to the community group and also when you explained to the board wanted to
show kind of the full picture, but just the only two elements that we need, zoning board of
adjustment approval, are depicted on the refusal slash referral. Sorry if that was confusing.
Right. No, I just don't understand why you are asking for a takeout restaurant if you're already
approved for a sit down because takeout is accessory to sit down because i yeah because
i believe for whatever reason in the code for cmx2 there are certain uh overlays and considerations
where they were marking this walk up as a um primary use yeah um it wasn't on the same application
so we went back and forth with them on this and that was ultimately what we came up with um
okay hold the it's it it wouldn't cancel out the sit-down use that you already have like it
wouldn't be considered a change of use correct because it's a separate location oh okay it's
Oh, okay. It's not in the same space. Like the sit down restaurant is its own space. And we
not in the same space like the sit-down restaurant is it's
provided a key plan when we did that submission. Got you. Okay. So it's a different part of it's
the same address, but it's a different part of the building is what you're saying. Yeah. The
takeout window, if I can show you is like sort of within the vestibule of the front. Um, it's not
like in the same side of it. Um, so for some reason on the code, see CMX two on the screen.
right right no i understand i understand it's yes so it's just confusing that if you already
had approval for a sit down that you were having a takeout as well but it sounds like the takeout
may be a little bit it's separate from the restaurant it's specifically for the brewery
yeah and to be honest with you there's a number of these because the some of these charts and i've
talked to ellen i and the attorneys the city about this where it's sort of unclear whether
it's a separate thing or together and even if you're applying for it as accessory they kick it
back as you need a variance for it or a special exception for it it's just i've had like six of
these that are like this especially in center city so i think there's a little to your i'm
agreeing with you completely it's just the way that l and i has um decided these things and we
need that that's fine i just want to i'm happy to hear that you had a conversation with l and i
about it because i just wanted to make sure that if if you already had approval for one type of
eating and drinking establishment this wasn't going to mess that up so you've had that
conversation already so that that was my my main concern yes and see the takeout restaurant see
if you can see the window right here it's the takeout window so I think maybe given it has
like an additional separate feature to it where it's a window not just the accessory use it's
they're considering it as another primary use and it would work as Sarah mentioned sort of
independent or greg mentioned independent from um the restaurant whereas they don't have to open the
full restaurant so that that was okay i get it yes no thank you thank you i appreciate the
clarification questions or comments from the virtual audience i see no hands share planning commission
thank you chairman and good afternoon david effecto f-e-c-t-e-a-u with the city planning
you swear affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes sir i do
please proceed thank you sir chairman and board members the comprehensive plan recommends no
change to the cmx2 commercial mixed use zoning at this location the city rezoned this neighborhood
in 2017 and a community requested map change the appellant has shown that the proposed takeout