the site layout itself holds 12 cars in total. I'll just highlight the different points that I
mentioned. So the pay window, you can see my cursor, or I'm sorry, the order window is right
here. This is where that 44 feet stems from to the residential property behind us. It'll come
around the building to the pay window and then up to where you can pick up. We also have 12
parking spaces on site um and they can you know you can see the overall configuration um we are
requesting if the board is inclined to grant relief in this matter approval subject to revised plans
um richmond street is a state road penn dot had comments on the circulation of the site
particularly um wanting one-way traffic on the what's on screen left that entrance we have a
two-way exit on the other side these changes are directly from pendat i'll say that we have a full
revised plan set in the package that was submitted to the board i'm just showing you the site plan
to highlight the actual change none of the changes affect the landscaping that was previously
approved by the planning commission although we've updated the landscaping plan simply to reflect the
new underlying site plan but if if there are questions about that of course revised plans
seven pages make sense this is seven pages okay yeah it's our full set to make sure that the site
plan is accurately reflected on each page this is our proviso plans form um and again we have
our site layout um with that i would like to bring up gabe howard um on behalf of richmond street
donuts and introduce him i do have a few questions for him as well before we move on all right sir
could could you move forward a little bit closer to mike so mike one hello right could you please
state your name and spell for the stenographer gabriel howard g-a-b-r-i-e-l right do you swear
or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes counsel thank you have
you heard the statements i made to the board this afternoon yes okay are they true and accurate to
the best of your knowledge yes would you adopt them as your own yes okay very quickly if i might
um can you give a very very short explanation of your background in the industry to the board so
they understand who the uh franchisee is at this location yes i'm gabriel howard i am a third
generation franchisee in dunkin donuts uh i live in philadelphia um i am in our stores in this
neighborhood already um i'm there every day um and um we're very active in the neighborhood
in all the local schools all the local foundations we have amazing uh partnerships with um phil
abundance and we hire locally. We do a ton of word of mouth, you know, hiring just from the
neighborhood. And I think we've been great neighbors for over 40 years. And do you want
other locations in the neighborhood? So we have three other locations along Aramago Avenue in
19125 and 19134, all in that same area. I have two locations between them just on Aramago Avenue.
we're very entrenched in the neighborhood and we've been there a really long time and we're
happy to present this to the board i mentioned to the board that we can we have the option to
control the volume on the speaker since we are going to be less than 50 feet from the adjacent
residential neighbors is that correct that's accurate okay and that's for day and nighttime
okay and that's for day and nighttime hours as well as proximity absolutely um just for anybody
hours as well as proximity absolutely
Right.
Right.
who's unfamiliar with dunkin donuts or less so can you give just a short what is the approximate
time for each customer to come through the drive-through line once they're at the uh order
board it's we have a standard of two minutes and 30 seconds that would include a window time of
30 seconds, meaning that every 30 seconds, a car should be leaving. And I think that we're
almost the industry standard and quicker than most other fast foods in that category.
And what are your peak hours? 7 a.m. to 9 a.m.
Okay. And private trash pickup? Private trash pickup.
So just to summarize again, I think given the hours of operation, there is no seating at this
location. It is primarily a drive-through. And because of the nature of Dunkin' Donuts,
we actually think this will have less of an impact than other drive-through takeout restaurants
and we believe we've accommodated in the site plan design to offset the dimensional variances
that we're asking for okay um questions from the board so i know you said primarily um uh driving
but would pedestrians come to this yes so there is a walk-up window um right here in the front
so that anybody who's on foot or traveling by bicycle there is this pathway here to the rail
station next to us on the right hand side of the screen there is a walk-up window so you would have
pedestrian access and that again would service anybody who's parking and then walking up instead
of using the drive-through okay all right thank you does this include signage of some sort this
application does not no okay but you're planning to have some kind of correct so to the extent
there's relief for signage that would come back to the board oh all right okay thank you so
pedestrians won't go inside the store they would just be there's a walk-up window i believe it's a
small lobby area okay um i have a floor park and just out of curiosity is there any particular
reason why you chose no seating at this location yes uh primarily number one is space is that okay
please answer her question unfortunately we had we removed um you know seating from one of my other
locations we had some issues just local issues with the seating and i would have loved to kept
it open but to make things quick and fast everybody's in a hurry want to get more room
for our employees to make these drinks and have space and not knock into each other and um but we
have one down there down the street that has great indoor seating and and you know a nice ambiance
this is more people jumping on 95 you know that they would get in get out and and maybe you can
help us out is it duncan donuts or is it duncan now yeah we what are we we're hearing different
things whatever you want it to be called you're drinking duncan there's a lot of people that get
paid a lot of money in the marketing okay so they'll call it whatever they want we're just
happy to serve duncan the lobby is on the screen so on the right hand side here you can see the
the the entranceway for walk-up orders and then the interior small lobby area for anybody who's on
foot any other questions questions more attorney no questions at this time comments from the
virtual audience there are no hands chair planning commission good afternoon liz fuselay on behalf of
the philadelphia planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends a change in zoning
at this location from ca1 auto oriented commercial to cmx1 neighborhood commercial mixed use district
the proposed use is not dissimilar to the prior use as a convenience store
the audible device distance from residential zoning from the residential zoning district is
de minimis the proposed stacking lanes do not meet the required setbacks and the proposed takeout
uses in keeping with the neighborhood fabric and uses the planning commission recommends that the
board grant the requested noise variance as de minimis deny the stacking lane variance as there
is no unnecessary hardship keeping the proposal from meeting the existing standards and grant the
special exception for a takeout restaurant as this use will not cause a detrimental impact
to the neighborhood beyond that which normally might be expected yes um just for the record
the stacking lane variance is specifically related to the left-hand side of your screen
here in our setback from the sunoco gas station that is to the left you can see the size of this
site the narrowness of this site and the need to provide this orientation in order to provide
adequate parking on site as well so respectfully we disagree with the planning commission thank you
mi 2026 000 498 32 22 to 48 richmond street i vote yes with proviso revised planned
seven pages stamped by zba on july 22nd 2026.
Stamped by ZBA on July 22nd, 2026.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes with proviso.
Cheryl Aston, my vote is yes with proviso.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes with proviso.
Layla Beebe, my vote is yes with proviso.
Thank you.
Thank you, counsel.
For a point of information, number 15, MI 2026, 0004997355,
line complaint will be heard at 2 p.m is there anyone left in the audience whose case has not
been called no hands chair thank you see everybody at 2 p.m
okay we are about to begin so we will be quiet in the room
Good afternoon everyone. We have one case left from this morning. So it's MI 2026-000-499-7355-Lympilm-Pike.
Xin Jin is the attorney and he's coming in now as a panelist here thank you
good afternoon good afternoon counsel I'm sorry we had a
take you to this, uh, tonight afternoon. We got a little busy today. Could you please state your
name as spelled for the stenographer? Sure. My name is Zen Jin, Z-H-E-N, last name J-I-N.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
I do. Counsel, could you identify your client, the relationship to this property?
Yes. Uh, my client is Anna Chenney, uh, Chenney, sorry, uh, property owner.
right i see there's unanimous support for your project our vice chair has a few questions
good afternoon have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing
yes and do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy i do thank you
you can share your screen and proceed with your case thank you i'm going to share with
the board what was previously submitted it should be coming up on the screen at this time
Can the board see my presentation?
We can, sir.
Thank you.
Good afternoon.
This is an application for use of this particular address at 7355 Lime Kiln Pike as a laundromat.
It falls under the use, maintenance, and repair of consumer goods category in the zoning code.
This application was refused due to the fact that this property, for some reason, is zoned RSA 5.
But as the community's letter and also the photographs and plans will show, this particular property, as far as we know, has never really been residential.
It is a corner triangular property, and the building was used as a laundromat prior to my client purchasing it back in 2014 for a long period even before that.
so for well over 20 years as far as the neighbors know and as far as my client knows
this has been a commercial property it certainly is designed and in every way looks like a
commercial property and there's no history that shows that it was residential at any time
my client found out through just inquiring with realtors about her property that for some reason
it was never property zoned for the laundromat and that it's zoned rsa5 knowing other business
owners have recently been caught and given fines daily fines for zoning not being in place she took
it upon herself to go ahead and apply to get it legalized and that is the purpose that we're here
before the board today again this is a pre-existing condition that has been at this property for as
long as my client has owned it and for a long period even before my client owned it. As you
can see from the plans, this is a very simple and relatively small laundromat. It's an area
laundromat that service the residents that live in the area for the most part. It simply contains
a small office, restroom area, and then washer and dryers. And it's not a large operation,
So it's mostly local community people coming in to use the laundromat itself.
The laundromat is only really manned by my client or one additional person at most at any time.
or one additional person at most at any time it's a self coin operation type laundromat so it
doesn't really require a lot of people to be on site mostly just to make sure that if a machine
didn't operate properly someone's there to help the property itself is in a good maintenance
condition as you can see from the photos on the outside it does have security cameras and lighting
and has never caused any problem in the community.
And as such, the community was more than happy to support our request.
There was a little confusion from the community about the use as it was written on the refusal.
They had thought that it was going to be changed to some kind of clothing repair shop,
which is not the intent here.
We simply want to continue to have the drop-off and on-site laundromat service.
So that is essentially why we're before the board.
We're asking for legalization of this laundromat that exists at this location and allow its use to be continued as a variance to this particular site.
My client should be here to verify my testimony, and I'm happy to try to answer any questions from the board.
What's your client's name?
And it's C-H-E-N-N-I is the last name.
anna can you raise your hand virtually to be identified anna
good afternoon mr chair and council this is jason hand i will be your uh co-host for this
afternoon i think i see the person in question so i will go ahead and promote them at this time
coming back in now yes
anna yes hi hello hi could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
Yes, my name is Anna Cheney, A-N-N-A-C-H-E-N-N-I.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Yes, truth.
Thank you. Anna, did you hear my representations before the zoning board and see the presentation on your screen?
Can you verify that everything I have represented and presented is true and correct and adopt my testimony as your own?
yes thank you questions from the board
questions from our attorney no questions at this time
or comments from the virtual audience
mr chair i do not see any further hands raised planning commission
i'm report with the planning commission amy boyd
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do
please proceed the comprehensive plan recommends a change in zoning at this location from the
current rsi 5 residential single family attached to cmx to commercial mixed use the proposed use
would be allowed under the proposed zoning the planning commission recommends that the board
grant the proposed variance my 2026 000 499 7355 line called pike i vote yes
michael johns my vote is yes cheryl gaston my vote is yes tenetta graham my vote is yes
layla bibi my vote is yes thank you thank you council um we're gonna start our 2 p.m list
good afternoon everyone my name is bill bergen and i will be chairing this meeting
with me is our vice chair tenetta graham president mr chairman board secretary cheryl
l caston present mr chairman board member michael johns president mr chairman board member layla
beebe president mr chairman also here is our attorney lynn reuter uber our zoning board um
director ian haggerty and our board administrator lakeisha dandy this this uh hearing is being
recorded and will post it on the zba website by participating you agree to be recorded this is
an in-person meeting with remote participation whether in person or on zoom if you're called
to speak please state and spell your name and then wait to be sworn in once you're sworn in
once you're sworn in after you before you testify make sure that you mention state your name first
And before you testify, make sure that you mention.
to enter an appearance indicate the property address on your zoom webinar speak with a staff
member call the zba office by the close of business tomorrow call 215-686-2429 and and and
and also your give them your name your email and the case address remote participation raise your
virtual hand in order to be called on to speak once you're called on make sure you click join
as a panelist button use the q a only for procedural questions nothing to do with the case
if you are if you are joining by phone press star nine to raise your hand and star six to unmute
in person participation if testifying get close to the mic so that all attendees in the court
reporter can hear you no talking eating or drinking during the hearing aggressive behavior
will not be tolerated in the case of an emergency follow staff directions the double doors at the
rear are for the exit and also to the left is the stairwell if we have to evacuate please go to love
park which is across art street and remain there so that we can account for you so let's look at
our schedule for this afternoon.