my vote is yes. Brian McAdams, my vote is yes. Ty Owen, my vote is yes. Thank you, Counsel. Thank
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, members of the board.
Number six, MI-2025-001-536-2311, South 13th Street.
Al Nockmson is the attorney.
There's a unanimous support from the Lower Moimensing Civic Association.
There's a letter of non-opposition from Council Member Squilla,
but we do have a letter of opposition from a household on the block.
Mr. Nockamson, could you please state your name as spelled for the court stenographer?
Alan Nockamson, A-L-A-N, last name Nockamson, N-O-C-H-U-M-S-O-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client, your relationship to the property?
So my client is Citi Diggs, LLC, and to the left of me is one of its members, Gage Johnston.
Right. Do you waive the reading of the refusal and the referral, and do you agree with their accuracy?
Please start your presentation.
Thank you.
I have to be promoted to a panelist, please.
Have we promoted Mr. Nockamson?
Thank you.
You're coming up.
All right.
So I'm here to present 2311 South 13th Street, which is at the corner 13th and Dorfor in
South Philadelphia, just off of Broad Street.
In my presentation, you'll see 11 exhibits.
We have a letter of support from the community.
We mailed notice of the community meeting to 152 addresses.
We also have a letter of non-opposition.
Again, at the conclusion of my presentation, I would ask that Gage, you know, be sworn
in and I have some questions for her.
So our notice of refusal, there's a notice of refusal and a referral here.
So we are a CMX1 property.
So first we're seeking a referral for the prepared food shop that's going to be proposed here,
which would be a coffee shop on the ground floor.
And then the refusal has to do with the artist studios that we propose in this adaptive reuse of a church building at the corner 13th and door 4th.
Again, we had unanimous support from the community. Seven in support, zero in opposition. It was a well-attended meeting. We also have a letter from them. They do have provisos. I don't believe they're enforceable, but we will stand by them to have bike parking somewhere on the premises, an enclosed trash receptacle, which we do have at the exterior of the building.
an enclosed trash receptacle which we do have at the exterior of the building in the rear
we're going to preserve the stained glass windows we'll have two to four trees planted outside we'll
coordinate with the fairmont park commission on that we'll put some window boxes around the
corridor of the building no tattoo studios no smoking or vaping paraphernalia or other related
businesses, and no exterior illuminated signage.
We also have a letter of non-opposition from the council member as well.
We have a well-rounded petition of nearby neighbors as well as letters of support.
Maps of the area, again, we're not that far from Broad Street.
We're across the street from a CMX3 property.
Again, ample public transportation.
uh i would equate this building to a mini bach building uh it's for creatives for the artist
studios and also to have a coffee shop there there are many creatives that live nearby who
are very excited about this project including many members of the neighborhood who appeared at that
community meeting uh gage is also a creative so this is really dear to her heart as an owner of
this building uh photographs of the property again this is an adaptive reuse of a two-story
church building. And that's from both 13th Street and Dorfor. Here's our proof of our postings
for today's hearing. This is, and I can't see right here, but this is 13th Street to the right
of the property, to the left of the property, Dorfor Street to the right of the property,
to the left of the property. Interior photographs of the property as well.
um you know again we bought this property um some time ago and now we're looking to uh rehab it
and then our plans and drawings and by the way in the virtual audience is judy robinson
our architect i believe she presented another matter before but these are elevations of the
property uh this is the lower level so we plan to have um let me just confirm this 12 artisan
studios uh we have a few in the lower level um we also have artists in studios on the first floor
the ground floor and the second floor uh these were our trash bins will be held um we also have
three forms of egress out of the building here actually four here here here and here
and two ways to basically get into the coffee shop you can go through the main entrance and
come in through an interior hallway and come in here or the there's a separate entryway to the
left of the building that's created as well for the proposed cafe you can see we have ample seating
here we have a you know point of sale system no cooking on the premises obviously because this is
a prepared food shop and then we have artisan studios here as four five i think it oh wait
actually i'm sorry can't see five six seven and eight and then you have artisan studios up here
as well. Again, our proof of our community meeting notice, June 10th at 6 p.m. we met
with the community. They also asked us to provide an additional document, which we did,
which contained Zoom information, proof of email of that notice, and then we mailed it
to 152 addresses. These are a list of the addresses. Proof of mailing to those addresses
Our application for appeal that we filed on behalf of the corporate owner of the property, along with the notice of refusal and referral, as well as the project information form.
D to the property, showing the City Diggs LLC is the owner of the property.
And then finally, our Certificate of Tax Clearance.
Just some information for your knowledge.
We intend to have three to four employees in the cafe.
Hours of operation would be 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.
And we don't intend to have any outdoor seating or amplified music.
I would ask that the board now swear in Gage so I can ask her a couple questions.
Could you pull the mic close to you?
And your mic has to be on.
Now pull it all the way right next to you.
Yeah, that's it.
All right. Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Gage Johnston.
You've got to come a little closer.
Gage Johnston, G-A-G-E, Johnston, J-O-H-N-S-T-O-N.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, told truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes. Mr. Notcomson? Yes. Gage, you heard everything I had to state today about your zoning matter.
Mr. Nockamson?
Yes. Gage, you heard everything I had to state today about your zone email.
Yes. Is it true and correct? Yes. And do you adopt it as your own testimony? Yes. Thank you.
Just out of curiosity, this was not a church, if I remember correctly. This is where the priest or
the nuns lived. Am I right? I don't have that history. No, I don't think it was a church.
Oh, okay. I mean, it looks like in the inside. Yeah, it was. I think it was right near where
the church was okay questions from the board yeah on your drawing did you show a ramp uh to get into
the coffee shop is there a ramp or were there steps so i would um ask that uh judy robinson
the architect uh walk us through the uh floor plans to better and more accurately state them
hi chair judy robinson has her hand raised and is being promoted to panelists sure thank you
judy um you've already been waiting to see here
hi everybody judy already been sworn just state your name and start your testimony please um
judy robinson please proceed counsel oh yes mr robinson you heard uh board member graham
ask a question about if there's a ramp associated with the coffee shop yes and the answer to that
That is yes. Over to the side through the garden. The main entrance for the cafe is through the garden, either through the stairs that come up or if you walk through the garden area towards the center, we are creating an accessible ramp.
And that is where people can come in if they're in a wheelchair. And we're also renovating the bathrooms to make sure that we have an ADA compliant bathroom on the first floor. So this will be fully ADA compliant.
it and i don't know uh judy if you see my cursor but i'm circling around this and it says ada ramp
on here this is what the campus all right thank you that's correct yes so the question wait a minute
so if if i'm using the ada ramp i'm going through that door and i'm coming down i'm trying to see
i'm going to the coffee shop so take me to the coffee shop yeah so i'm coming here right i believe
this is door four and you're going up this ramp you see this door right here and then we're just
going in the internal hallway and then the coffee shop's right there thank you you're welcome so
good for clarity the garden is the current driveway so is the curb cut being eliminated
uh that is correct okay and it's going to be i guess paved and replanted and then what's happening
on the second floor of the building so the second floor is just additional artisan studios
so only the first floor is ada accessible so wheelchairs would only be operating on the first
floor of the building that's correct okay and then for the studios are these independent businesses
so are these going to be commercial subleases or leases or are these more like artists are
going to pay rent and they're going to be like painting in them versus doing point of sales
i would ask miss johnson gallery uh i i believe they're independent it's kind of similar to what
the what you see with the bach you have them independently leasing space probably for no more
than i would say a year at a time these individuals is that correct that's correct well the reason i
ask is because bach has retail sales as one of their uses and this is currently not a use under
this permit which is why i was asking yeah we don't intend to do retail sales i would there
was discussions about open houses and things like that to bring the community into those spaces but
there is no intention to actually do it's really more about art making and art display more so than
art because that is very specifically at bach they are selling things so that's why they're
also manufacturing things which is why i asked yeah that yes you're correct but no we're thinking
more of just the maker space maker not selling all the questions questions from our journey
actually i did have one more question my question is actually about exhaust because now that you're
dealing with artists oftentimes a lot of art production deals with a lot of byproducts and a
lot of chemicals and have you thought about how that's going to be worked out in the hbc and as
well as trash plan for the building well the trash plans we have exterior trash storage right here
specific to both the commercial space that prepare food shop as well as the artisan studios
in terms of exhausting i would defer to judy about that because she'll be handling that
aspect of the project exhaust and management i guess for the architect because there are
certain things that are going to be byproducts of art production that cannot be put into regular
trash to be totally honest once we get more detailed on who will be taking these spaces
those types of items will be addressed um i i from my
Those types of items will be addressed. I, from my understanding right now, it's not going to be any, anything that's too, what would be the word, too stressful on the space or the building, but we'll have an MEP engineer involved.
and they of course will help with the exhaust requirements and in terms of the trash if
something came up that was uh more stressful on the building we would definitely handle it
um but to be honest we just haven't had that kind of detailed discussion yet okay i would just as a
recommendation make sure that you put it in the tenant leases because i'm thinking like
even when you're dealing with paint things like turpentine there's certain materials
that have to be disposed of properly even though they're not biohazard and that right now would
not be covered based on just the current layout thank you other questions questions for attorney
hillary emberson not at this time mr chair questions or comments from the virtual audience
hello chair i do not see any hands why any commission
thank you chairman and good afternoon david effecto with the city planning commission
chairman and board members the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the cmx1
commercial mixed use zoning at this location the city rezoned this neighborhood in 1996
the appellant has shown that the proposed prepared food shop will have no detrimental impacts beyond
what might be expected regarding artist studio and artisan industrial the code contemplates this
use as low impact and compatible with a residential neighborhood with no discernible
external impacts in terms of noise vibration odor hours of operation or traffic the city
planning commission recommends the board grant the proposed use variants for artist studio and
artisan industrial and the proposed special exception for a prepared food shop thank you
MI-2025-001-536-2311 South 13th Street, 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.
Iowyn, my vote is yes.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Councilor, could you please, I think we have one more.
MI-2025-001-550-1424 West Venango Street.
Um, unanimous support from Nicetown Tioga improvement team with, um, uh, two provisos.
Uh, good afternoon, Alan Nockmson.
So Nockmson, can you identify your client and the relationship to this property?
Uh, yes.
My client is BSL limited properties, the owner of the property.
And, uh, to my left is Adrian Verloo, one of its members.
Do you waive the reading of the refusal?
Do you agree with its accuracy?
Start your presentation.
Thank you.
So this is the property at 1424 West Venango.
There are 11 exhibits in my packet.
We met with the community.
we notified 96 properties of the community meeting and we have unanimous support as the
chairman indicated. So we'll go straight to the notice of refusal. This is an RSA 5 property,
almost 1,500 square foot loss size. My client purchased this property as a five-unit building
for all intents and purposes. It was built that way and it was advertised that way. And he's just
looking to legalize the use. A couple highlights here. There's no basement use. Garbage is stored
in the basement. So we would agree to two provisos, trash stored indoors, as well as no living in the
basement. All right. So we have six people who voted in support, none in opposition. I see the
proviso as commercial trash pickup, trash stored in the basement, and no basement living. The
The chairman stated that there was a second proviso.
I had no household living and basement commercial trash.
All right.
2035 plan said that this should be an RM1 property.
So it should be an RM1,