submitted by the client. Actually, we reorganized. For some reason, the sharing stopped. Let me try
again. Can the board see my presentation on their screen? Yes. Yep, we can see it. Great. Thank you.
Yep, and we do have your documents, and we also have a letter of unanimous non-opposition
from Lower Moyamines and Civic Association and a letter of non-opposition from Councilmember
Squilla. Thank you. Good morning. This is an application for use at 2654 South Elder Street
as a sit-down restaurant in an attached structure. This restaurant actually has a history as a bar
going back 30, 40 years. This property has been used as such as a bar restaurant for all that
time the cmx1 zoning doesn't permit the new concept which is less of a bar more of a actual
restaurant service they're moving from just a bar to like a sushi sushi bar restaurant where there's
going to be sushi sit-down service although when you see from the plan the space itself really
isn't going to have substantial change as far as the kitchen location and other things the
the owners met with the rco and obtained their support everybody knows the history of the
property being a restaurant bar all these years so this is a consistent use to what's always been
there so there are no new concerns that would be raised based on the change of use this is the
posting this is cookies tavern which is the current operation name and it's going to be
changed to a new operator who's going to operate it's a japanese restaurant and bar the interior
as you can see does include a bar section bench seats and kitchen bathroom and storage so the
actual uh building has two floors all of the building basement first floor second floor is
all part of the tavern and will remain part of the commercial use uh the second floor is actually
accessed from the stairwell outside and it's only used for storage and uh when needed office space
for the uh business the basement is only accessed through belco doors uh located on the side of the
building, and that's only for storage as well. All the main operations are going to be on the
first floor, including the kitchen, the bar area, which will remain, the seating area,
which will remain, and the storage that already is within the space. So in order to manage trash,
the owner actually proposes to have the commercial pickup increase to three times a week
from its current uh two times a week uh the as far as the operation itself hours of operation
and the number of workers uh they anticipate regular restaurant hours uh from 11 to about 10
and with the bar service probably longer on the weekend uh the they're anticipated to be
three to five workers within the space between the bar the kitchen and service itself so again
this is a continued use of the space with a slight different concept it is still essentially going to
be a restaurant bar with more focus on the restaurant side of sushi food rather than
more focus on the alcohol side of the bar itself so that is basically what we're seeking before
the board because it's zoned cmx1 it is not permitted to be a sit-down restaurant however
uh it is not permitted to be a sit-down restaurant however we believe given the history of the use of
we believe given the history of
the property and the neighborhood's understanding of the use and its its acceptance of its use
throughout the years uh we believe that this would not cause um hardship to the community
once it is converted to a restaurant sit-down restaurant permit at this location um i believe
my client is here to verify my testimony okay you can bring him on sure i'm going to stop sharing
for a second uh salvatore can you raise your hand virtually on zoom to be identified
hi good morning can you state your name is phillip for the record it's salvatore
denubale that's s-a-l-v-a t as in tom o-r-e last name is denubale it's d as in delta i n as in
nancy u b as in bravo i-l-e okay and do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and
nothing but the truth i do okay counsel thank you uh salvator did you see my presentation on your
screen and hear my testimony before the zoning board yes uh can you verify what i have represented
be true and correct and adopt it as your own testimony i do thank you okay thank you questions
from the board yes the floor plan that you showed is that an existing condition or is this what is
proposed new construction uh this is an existing condition okay um i guess the question i have is i
i think the try to convert the you know mostly bar to a sushi bar seems like a really smart
conversion i think there's not a lot of things that you can convert bars to and is any additional
construction going to be needed to sort of make it uh more available as a as a rest as a full
service restaurant um i believe the kitchen before served food and the sushi preparation and sushi
hot dish preparation even for the japanese restaurant doesn't require any change to the
existing kitchen so no there won't be any construction uh needed to start the operation
itself okay and then what's the plan for trash storage uh so there's a storage unit on the i
mean a storage space on the plan yeah well that's not for trash itself um the basement's accessible
from outside to velcro doors for some of the trash and they also have an exterior stairwell that leads
to a second floor which has storage as well so trash normally wouldn't be left outside
they will have trash cans outside while it's open to make sure you know if people eat they're not
just going to walk down the street but those cans will be taken in at the end of the day
and again we're going to try to have pick up three times a week to avoid gathering up trash
and this is dine-in and takeout it's a primarily going to be dine-in but accessory takeout would
be part of the restaurants. If somebody finishes or do not finish their food and want to take it
out, that would be how it would work. It's not primarily going to be takeout. So it's not going
to be primarily like Uber Eats or Grubhub door rash. Okay. No. I don't think I have any additional
questions. I don't know that much about what you have to have in terms of kitchen equipment
for sushi so are we talking more refrigeration are we talking prep area what what so so the
the uh the refrigeration that's there there's there are refrigerators in the space that would
hold the uh meat and sushi uh because it's sushi it's actually delivered pretty often so that it
you know you can't really hold it for many days the only cooking that'll be done will be for
example, teriyaki dishes, that heating of the food there, those are cooked. Tempura would be on the
fryers, but that would be really, most of the dishes, sushi are always cold, but most of the
dishes that are hot would be tempura, teriyaki, those kind of dishes. Okay, thank you. Thank you.
Questions from my attorney? No questions. I just want to note that we didn't receive the floor
plan that you showed so if you could forward that to us for the record that would be great
thank you oh sure i i thought it was actually submitted through the portal yesterday morning
so i um i will definitely email that yeah i just checked we had everything else that you showed
but we didn't have that so just if you send that that'd be great thank you absolutely questions
from our virtual audience i see no hands at this time chair planning commission thank you chair
and good afternoon david fechter with the city planning commission chair and board members the
chair and board members the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the cmx1 commercial
comprehensive plan recommends no change to the CMX-1.
mixed use zoning at this location the city rezoned this neighborhood in 1996 and a council supported
map change this property has a documented history as an eating and drinking eating and drinking
establishment the city planning commission recommends that the board grant the proposed
news variants for a sit-down restaurant thank you mi2025004243 2654 south alder street my vote is
yes michael johns my vote is yes cheryl gaston my vote is yes hi mcadams my vote is yes hi i win my
vote is yes okay thank you thank you um is there any other uh cases on the 9 30 list that have not
been heard or called. I see no hands at this time too. Okay, thank you. See everybody at two.
Thank you.
good afternoon my name is Tanetta Graham and I will be chairing this meeting of the Philadelphia
Zoning Board of Adjustments with me today is board secretary Cheryl L. Gaston present madam
chairman board member Michael Johns present madam chair oh you're getting at board member
Tyra Wynn present madam chairman and board member Ryan McAdams present madam chair also present
are board attorney hillary emerson zoning board director ian hegarty and board administrator
lakeisha dandy a record a recording of this hearing will be posted on the zba website
by participating you consent to be recorded this is an in-person meeting with remote capabilities
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your email address and the address of the property of the appeal case the following guidance is for
our remote attendees first when directed by the chair you must raise your virtual hand in order
to be recognized to speak second if you are called to testify you will be prompted to join as a
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Please remain there so we can account for you.
Okay, we're going to look at our afternoon hearing list.
Okay. Case number three, MI-2025-007117, 1650 to 60 Van Dyke Street.
This case has been continued to 6, 10, 20, 26 at 2 p.m.
Okay. And then we have one case with no exhibits, our first listing here.
um mi4 i mean no i'm doing number four now mi2025007187118 let me do that again mi202500
7-1-1-8. Let me do that again. MI-2025-007118, 4634 North Front Street. Yolanda Deleez-Zarario
is a listed owner applicant. This is a no exhibits first listing. Is Yolanda here?
Good afternoon, Madam Chair, this is Doreen, we'll be at the house this afternoon, Yolanda
Watson.
Hi, can you hear me?
Okay, this is Yolanda?
Okay, could you state, wait a minute, could you state your name and spell it for the record?
Yolanda Deliz Arroyo. Y-O-L-A-N-D-A-D-E-L-I-Z hyphen A-R-R-O-Y-O.
Okay. And do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
okay so we have no exhibits um for this case you want to tell us uh what how you'd like to proceed
i uploaded the exhibits uh yesterday i do have a presentation
okay i believe yesterday is not enough time um their attorney addressed that yes um so i'm sorry
miss odoreo um we did not receive the exhibits are due five days in advance of this hearing so
that we can review that they are complete and we did not receive them so unfortunately we will need
to continue this matter I understand I requested a continuance last week an email was sent to me
on Monday stating that I can still present and we can continue based on the missing clearances
because that's in the email I stated I didn't get the tax certificate clearances so I requested
for it to be continued but I was told in an email that I can still present and with the
contingence that the tax clearance will be submitted later. I don't know that we've received
any of the documents. My notes indicate no exhibits at all not that we're missing just a
couple things so unfortunately we're not going to be able to hear this at all today
so okay we will we will reschedule it and the chair will give you the new date thank you all
right thank you so mi20250071184634 north front street this case is continued to 6 10 20 26 at 2
p.m um are there any other requests for continuances
good afternoon you want to state your name and spell it for the record
stephanie magania stephanie s-t-e-p-h-a-n-i-e last name is magania m-a-g-a-g-n-a okay and do
you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes i do okay
What case are you here for? I'm here for case number one, MI-2025-004-371, 8226 Germantown Avenue.
We submitted a request for a continuance via email yesterday that comes amongst others that
were submitted for this case. So I represent the owner and the applicant for this case.
We have been working on obtaining support from our near neighbors for several years now that's
culminated and we are very close to finalizing a development agreement with our one of our budding
neighbors and that will come with other letters to support that have been promised from other
near neighbors kind of contingent on that agreement. We are very close but we're not
there yet. That neighbor Bowman Properties is represented by Ballard Sparr. We have been in
touch with them. We understand that they're supportive of this request and we've also been
in touch with Chestnut Hill Community Association. They are the coordinating RCO. Their board actually
votes on this case tomorrow so we don't have their official vote as of today they are also
generally supportive of our request for a continuance so that they can vote and we are
also formally aware of their contingencies to the extent they have any conditions on their vote
they did ask for a traffic study as one of those at their preliminary meeting we're in the process
of working on that but that is going to take us several weeks so for that we think the record
today is incomplete as a separate matter we have another next door neighbor um mr peter fox who's
also represented by mr demarco he has submitted a request for continuance based on questions he
has concerning an easement here while we disagree with his position on that matter
position on that matter, we're supportive of his request for the continuance and will be looking to work out an amicable solution with him.
we're supportive of his request for the continuance and will be
Mr. Len Reuter on behalf of the city, because of Mr. DeMarco's concerns, I believe, was also looking at this.
I understand he's not here today, but he expressed to us his intention to request a continuance of this matter if he was here or if it was going to move forward.
So he's aware of this as well. So for all of those reasons, we would like to request an additional continuance.
um notwithstanding where we stand with with neighbors we feel very confident we're going to
have many letters of support at this point but we'll be fully ready to proceed when the board
reschedules this case okay thank you um Hillary you have anything to add to that no no I've I've
been in touch with Mr Reuter as well and understand he's uh because there was a request um from uh
Mr DeMarco um on behalf of his clients about the refusal um and so that that's why Leonard got
involved is to to review that um with that concern about the refusal so but yes he's not he's unable
to be here today but he is looking into this matter so hopefully we'll have everything worked
out by the next day yes okay all right thank you mi20250043718226 germantown avenue this case is
continued to 6 10 20 26 at 2 p.m. any other requests for continuances thank
you counsel is this Doreen trying to speak yes you can't hear me yes we can
hear you clear now do you have any other yes yes I have a hand up by Richard
demarco and i will promote richard demarco is coming in now
mr demarco sorry my my computer takes forever to join forgive me okay could you just state your
name and spell it for the record? Sure, Richard DeMarco, last name D-E-M-A-R-C-O. And do you swear
or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Yes. Okay, so Counsel
Stephanie Box just requested a continuous. She said you were in agreement. I guess this is why
you came on. So the case has been continued to 6-10-2026 at 2 p.m. Yeah, I appreciate that. I
just would ask to be copied on these requests. I was unaware that the applicant was requesting
a continuance, so I had to fully prepare for today. I would ask all the parties to please
copy me on that. I'm definitely agreeing with the continuance, and I'm glad to hear from Hillary
that Len is involved. I'm just finding that out right now, so please include me on your emails.
I am representing a very interested party in this case, so going forward, let's have full disclosure to everybody, please, and thank you.
We have some affirmations here.
We have some nods of an agreement.
I appreciate that.