restaurant will have no detrimental impacts beyond what might be expected regarding limited
industrial this category is contemplated to have limited impacts in terms of noise vibration odor
hours of operation and traffic however this does not mean no impact the city planning commission
recommends the board grant the proposed special exception for a takeout restaurant and grant the
proposed use variance for limited industrial with a three-year temporary variance placed on the
limited industrial use. MI 2025-001-485-3423 Kentines Avenue, I vote yes. Michael Johns,
my vote is yes. Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes. Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes. Ryan McAdams,
my vote is yes i win my vote is yes thank you thank you uh rachel stay on please so
mi2025-001-506-14 jefferson street um rachel just for the record please state your name
yes rachel pritzker right you've already been sworn um could you identify your client
relationship to the property uh yes so can you see my screen i can
The client is Joe Lockwood on behalf of 14 East Jefferson LLC, who is the owner of the property.
And there's a letter of support from the Fishtown Neighbors Association.
The vote was 38 in support, one opposed.
Non-opposition from Councilman Young.
Do you agree to the, do you waive the reading of the referral and agree with its accuracy?
Please proceed, start your presentation.
Yep, and if we can promote Joe Lockwood just in the interest of time, and Judy Robinson
is our architect.
So this property is zone CMX3.
It is, as mentioned, on 14 East Jefferson Street, and we are proposing the use for assembly
entertainment in an existing structure.
From the location when they render to the building?
The property is owned CMX3 and is located on a block that is CMX3 and CMX2.
These districts allow a range of uses that are likely to generate similar or greater congestion.
these districts allow a range of uses that are likely to generate similar or greater congestion
again this is a referral again such and certain things like hospitals grocery stores
what we're providing providing is a live music venue assembly entertainment with a 75 person
capacity hosting approximately 20 to 25 events a month to the scale that would not disproportionately
affect local traffic or public transport systems with a small maximum attendance of 75 people
between 20-25 events. And it already is situated within an existing commercial block that includes
other commercial establishments like a hair salon, a sit-down restaurant. And what we're proposing
has similar, we believe we'll have similar foot traffic, but will not, would be in harmony with
what's already there given the CMX3 zoning classification, in addition to access to SEPTA
half a block away, the 25 bus route, and the East Jefferson and Frankfurt stops.
This was the project information form.
Again, this is the zoning map.
It's in an area that is CMX3.
It's zoned CMX3 and has CMX2 and CMX3 around it.
It is half a block from Frankfort Avenue, which is a major commercial corridor, just
aerial views of the site.
Existing structure as you can see from the aerials.
Here's the property, show you kind of the inside of it as why this is sort of a small
impact venue.
It's worth noting that Joe and his fiancee live above the property and they are the
property owner posting of the property see the location to the L so I think the
neighborhood's a little bit used to noise the internal view of the site
here's where in the zoning code we trigger a special exception for assembly and entertainment
again it's a live music venue not a club or a nightclub we met with the fishtown neighbors
association sent out the required notices and they issued us as mentioned a letter of support
they included some information about our conversation hosting a small hall for jazz
and pop show more than 75 guests we have music acoustic tiles on the walls to reduce sound
for any neighbors especially directly adjacent included you know information about the expected
shows which is four to five times a week 20 per month hours of operation i will be for studio
No rentals to rent the space out to other musicians, 10.30 a.m. to 9.30 p.m.
Shows Sunday to Thursday, 6 p.m. to 9.30 p.m.
Event shows Friday and Saturday, 7 p.m. to 10.30 p.m.
And we were agreeable to the hours of operation being included as the proviso, as mentioned
in bold, if the board grants the special exception.
38 in support one opposed and four abstaining so vast majority of support this was the vote sheet
and then we also uh joe also the owner went and got letters of support from your neighbors
that were included in our hearing packet
Let me go through these.
I don't know how many there are, but there's a good amount of support for this project.
I just wanted to share this as well. The idea is to call it Nostalgia Fishtown, just to be able to have an intimate performance and rehearsal space for creative music and artists located on the first floor of Joe's residence.
Joe and his fiance are both local musicians and university arts graduates.
So this is sort of their bread and butter.
Joe is currently a music educator and trumpet player.
He works at the Kimmel Center as a teaching artist and leads his own band.
and Morgan is an arts administrator and vibraphonist.
And Morgan is an arts administrator and vibraphonist who began working at Temple University Tyler
School of Art after the unfortunate closure of University of the Arts.
We included the hours operation and a lot of detail about how this would work so that
no neighbors felt like it was very thought through and considerate.
it. We talked a lot about noise reduction and different things like the acoustic tiles
to help insulate the sound. It's also worth noting that we will not be serving any food
or alcohol at this site. It's not a club or a nightclub. There's no eating or drinking,
especially no alcohol in the space. And there will be able to manage trash using sealed
table label trash and recycling bins additionally they live in the residential space above and on
site so they're going to live above this so they'll be there you want to monitor any trash
and issues and obviously because they live there they'll want to make sure that the neighborhood
is kept clean as it's their home and they live on that block this was a floor plan that our architect
did just to kind of show the layout of this space and obviously um if we're able to move forward
with this project we'll be submitting um documents to lni from a co perspective um and all the life
safety considerations fire and exits bathroom stuff of that nature happy to um if the board
would like for judy um robinson to come on to go through the plans as i am not an architect um
You want the architect to go through now?
Yeah, please, Chairman.
What's the architect's name?
Judy Robinson.
I'm yes, Chair.
Judy Robinson will be promoted shortly.
Hi, everybody.
Can you hear me?
Judy Robinson, J-U-D-Y-R-O-B.
I-N-S-O-N.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Could you please turn to your video one?
Thank you.
Proceed, counsel.
Judy, are you able to go through the plans?
Yes, absolutely.
It's pretty straightforward.
One of the things we are proposing is to remove the garage door key.
I guess you can't see my cursor, can you?
You need to share your screen.
I have mine shared.
no it's okay at the front at the entrance you'll see a pair of doors yes um that's a garage door
right now we are proposing putting in a pair of doors um it'll be at grade for ada accessibility
and as one comes in the front door there is the entry place where tickets would be taken
a small lobby area then a seating area and in the very back on the south side is the stage area
important to note too that where that stage is located directly behind it is
actually another building it's not like somebody's yard so it's kind of
enclosed in terms of the sound if that makes sense and that's it it's pretty
straightforward the building is existing and that the only modification we're
gonna make is to those entrance doors to get rid of the garage and provide a
more uh accessible entrance thank you do you want your client to come on please
counsel what is the client's name joe lockwood
i'm sorry but i do not see that person in the virtual audience this afternoon
i think i'm already here joe could you please state your name as bell for the stenographer
sure my name is joseph lockwood j-o-s-e-p-h-l-o-c-k-w-o-o-d do you swear or affirm to tell
the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do please proceed joe have you heard my
testimony today do you believe it to be true and accurate and do you adopt it as your own
Thank you.
Questions for the board?
One comment.
The architect mentioned that the door would be replaced to make the entrance accessible, but the bathroom that you show, the toilet room that you show is not accessible for wheelchair.
So I imagine that you'll want to do that if you want to have folks in wheelchairs come to visit the place.
And do you want to do you want me to comment on that, please?
Please. Sure. It might be part of the future work for right now, based on code, because it's an existing building, we are spending 100 percent of our construction budget on making the building more accessible.
It might be part of the future.
And the way the code is written is if you spend at least 20 percent of your construction budget, not all elements of accessibility have to be met with the understanding through L&I that every time work is done in a building, it becomes more accessible.
So. Right now, the toilet room is not accessible, but in the future, it may be.
I understand that. I understand the code. I just feel bad that your first wheelchair visitor has to go to the bathroom and go, right? So that's something worth spending some dollars on from the business, regardless of what the code allows you to do. Thank you.
I too was going to point that out. I think also it's in a location that makes it hard to adapt it to be wheelchair accessible and keep the same line that you guys have for storage and keep it tucked under the stairs. So you'd have to like absolutely completely move it someplace else, which would change the entire floor layout of what is already a very narrow space. It really becomes one of the main things that organizes this space.
I think the other thing is, while you're showing, you know, flexible seating, you've said that you were going to have tickets for 50 people, you only have seating for 35. And so my question is, is the idea that the other 15 people that have tickets are always going to be standing room when you've got room at the rear?
and then I have a question sort of about equipment because I see storage but like as a person who
used to play music myself there's usually a lot more behind the scenes and on like you know side
stage space that's left for amps and microphones and lighting and other things that allow you to
have a music venue and I think my third question is really around sound attenuation I know you all
talked about acoustic tiles, but that's sort of like the bare minimum. And did the neighbor at 12
Jefferson sign a letter of support? Because I think when you guys were going through your support,
I saw a lot of addresses that are a couple blocks away, and definitely in the neighborhood,
but none that looked like they were your immediate neighbors on that block.
joe are you able to address those comments yeah absolutely um i guess i'll start with um i know
there's a lot of questions there we can start with the next door neighbor um so the row home
next to us is uh i believe a two apartment buildings within the row home um so uh we've
met all the tenants that have come and gone in that row home over the last few years that we've
lived at 14 Jefferson Street. And we haven't had any issues. It wasn't until the Fishtown Neighbors
Association meeting where a new tenant brought up some concerns. So between that meeting and now
we've made contact with them, we gave them our number, we gave them our email. And like Judy
was saying, this is a work in progress. We've been working on this private studio of ours for
um you know two years now so uh things like the bathroom um depending on uh what l and i says
with the occupancy we're willing to put it in the storage room and make the storage room the
current bathroom um and you know pretty much following all the guidelines in terms of
the bathroom um i answered the question about the next door neighbor um what was the other question
equipment space she was with equipment oh sure yeah so um the stage area pretty so what i like
to tell people um is um our concept is kind of like a tiny desk concert i don't know if you're
familiar with npr tiny desk so if you look at the the pictures in the the presentation um pretty
much all the equipment is already on stage um it's already set up um you know to not be you know
moved around um and where the storage space is that's where performers are going to put their
personal belongings like cases um and bags things like that um that that storage room used to be our
our laundry room so it's a pretty substantial room underneath the stairs um so things like uh storage
like you said like for musicians it's important to have a place for all that gear so that's why
we have that storage uh place in the front other questions so um you said that you weren't going to
have any food or drink in here you uh we're not going to serve any food or drink uh we have a
great relationship with um you know other businesses around the corner walkworks pearls
um, you know, other businesses around the corner, Walkworks, Pearls. Um, so we encourage people to
So we encourage
bring food or drink for the, um, for the events. Um, but we, uh, we want to focus on the music.
We don't want to serve any food or alcohol. So then who's cleaning up after folks and what are
you doing with the trash? Oh, so, um, so we clean up after the, the events. Um, and, uh, you know,
it's just our trash system um and we have two really big trash bins that we already use for
our trash and recycling and um and we keep it within we keep it in that storage room
at the moment and then when it's time for our um our friday trash day we bring this stuff out
um and uh and same thing with outside trash um you know everything we're gonna have things for
if anyone's smoking a place to put their cigarette butt um and uh and things like that so um like
like i said in in the presentation you know we live here we've been living here for a few years
um and you know we want to we want to uh show the neighborhood that we like we like to keep
it clean because we're residents here so all right thank you questions or comments from our attorney
i just want to clarify um one thing about the the proviso for the studio hours is that
daily the studio rental 10 30 to 9 30 joe uh so it uh it's by appointment and yes it is uh going
to be the times we said so um 9 30 is going to be the closing time on sunday through thursday
and 10 30 is the closing time on uh right you know that was for the events it's just the studio
rental just says 10 30 a.m to 9 30 p.m oh yes it wasn't clear if it was if that was intended to
be every day uh intended to be available every day it depends on okay gotcha right it's not by
appointment understand thank you yeah no problem questions or comments from the um virtual audience
here i have a hand up from robert everett sure i will promote them
hi mr everett
all right i think i'm mr everett how are you sir
i'm good as usual all right could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
first name robert last name everett e-v-e-r-e-t-t you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole
truth nothing but the truth i do please proceed my usual you have our letter and our community's
support uh thank you for taking the time to cause we always appreciate you there's not many meetings