imagine are running much more noisy equipment than we are so we don't think you know you'll
really be able to hear what's going on here's you know the our story with the wedding um
they do more than just pickles they pickle a lot of different vegetables they have specialty
runs they have customers all over the tri-state area who we serve
these are their core flavors dill sour sweet garlic onion habanero dill they have limited
runs as well reviews very well reviewed um and you know very popular throughout the city of
philadelphia here's a zoning map you can see the split zoning nature of this property we do run
street to street palethorpe to north 2nd street the palethorpe street side is used really just for
employees those 1099 employees picking up and dropping off their farmers market materials
the larger truck comes in on the front side and that's where
you know the primary face of the business is happening
here's the photo so this is the front of the property and in not great condition needs a lot
of tlc this is the rear from the pale thorpe side posting photos right in the left the right on
the property on pale thorpe and the left on pale thorpe and by the way the architect judy robinson
from continuum architecture is is on the virtual call there are questions from uh for her here's
the interior so obviously not great in there um it's gonna be gutted and you'll see the interior
layout is a two-story layout. Pretty basic, some manufacturing, some retail, a lot of storage,
a couple offices. This is the elevation from the front. Not proposing to do any construction
in terms of additions and whatnot. Exterior lighting at the front and the back.
Here's the floor plan. So this is the second street side. You can see this is that retail
component right here that has a bathroom. There's an area for the truck to pull in. There's pallet
storage here in the middle. There's production up here. There's a large walk-in cooler to keep
all the pickles cold. This is the trash storage on the backside, and this is a garage door right
here that is 9x10, that garage door. That's where the 1099 employees would come in for their
farmer's market pickup on the peltorpe side and then oops here is the upper floor you can see
there's an office and a meeting space in the front there's storage in the middle you know
sort of open space below the top of the cold storage and then just a lot of storage really
the large deliveries that they have are just monthly and that's jars buckets palletized items
Most of the deliveries are done by the team themselves with their own truck, and that
2nd Street garage door is 12 by 12 1⁄2.
Here's the RCO meeting notice.
We met with Norris Square Community Action Network.
They were very supportive.
Their existing location is at 4500 Worth Street, and they've grown out of it, so that's why
they're coming here.
Other retail locations are Wegmans, Shoprights, and McCaffrey's.
The hours of operations for this facility are 8 to 5 on weekdays.
Limited hours on the weekend just for farmer's market pickup.
limited hours on the weekend just for farmers market pickup there's no production happening
There's no production happening those days.
those days um in terms of the scope of the interior work it's just kind of a vanilla box
build out the retail will be more aesthetically pleasing i'm sure and they anticipate basically
like a one-year construction timeline they do a lot of community engagement they donate a minimum
of five percent of revenue to non-profits like phil abundance sharing excess we talked about that
Partnering with the RCO or other community groups that they identify that could participate in the plan like that.
Here's the application for appeal.
The agreement of sale, and there's an addendum in here, which I submitted to Ms. Emerson showing, and I'll get to it in a second,
showing that the agreement is active until the 30th right here the buyer shall have until the 30th
to obtain zoning permit certificate of tax clearance uh and with that i'd i'd um sure
ask my client to be state your name and spell for the stenographer and make sure the mic for
phones on yep so my um birth my full name is domenica toscani d-o-m-e-n-i-c-a last name t-o-s-c-a-n-i
you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth is nothing but the truth i do counsel did
you hear my testimony today was it true and correct yes and you adopted as your own yes and is there
anything else about the operation of the business that i didn't mention that you think might be
important for the board to know nope okay questions from the board yes so you're doing
small batches is that what we're doing here yeah so we prime we sell retail jars there are 32 ounce
glass jars the pickles are actually made in the jar so a day of production would be prep tables
jars on every table and then an assembly line style spices garlic cucumbers poor brine lid
and then they go right in the refrigerator we also produce and sell food service buckets
and then actually what I didn't mention is that we do also host monthly pickling classes it's
part of our efforts to reduce food waste as we bring people into the kitchen and we show them
how to pickle okay so when you say you do this so do you use so once you're done with the jars
right then how are you distributing yeah so right now we're a hundred percent self-distributed
we're self-manufactured and self-distributed we have one commercial vehicle that um and with a
drive and our driver who's out um four to five days a week delivering to currently i think we're
at 160 to 170 retailers in the area um and our intention is so um essentially we're in a multi-unit
warehouse currently so we have one unit within a warehouse um and we've been at capacity for
several years we're a bootstrapped business so it's taken us all of those two and a half three
years to find something that we feel the business can afford and will help us set us up for
sustainable growth um and this we feel this property is just that um and essentially as
Alex had mentioned our retail footprint is going to help with bringing our business some, you know,
much needed cash sales, selling pickles that at an accessible price to those in the neighborhood,
basically pickles out of barrels. So pickles by the pound, cheaper rate. And it'll help us fund
and scale our growth. That cash store. So that's the first stage is open up the store.
and then use the revenue from the store to help us continue to make improvements to our line.
So this isn't automated in any way?
No, no. It is the exact opposite.
We are very much a hand-touched product.
We do intend to make some upgrades.
We cannot make them in our current space, but when we get into this space, as I said,
we're gonna our intention is to open up and move our existing line which is very much like how
people make pickles in their own kitchens at home other than the spear cutter um we will likely in
the 6 to 12 months after we move in start to make some automation upgrades but we are not intending
to um you know displaced hands this is part of what we do we want to be our vision is to be a
regional brand we're not trying to be the next gorillos interesting so how many employees
Right now we have 10 employees, and then it does include, you know, some part-timers in there.
right now we have um we have 10 um employees and then it does
Then we have four 1099 farmers markets, which weren't included in Alex's initial count.
So when you say, I'm not sure what that means.
So essentially in-house, like the people who report to us as W-2 employees, there's 10.
And actually that number includes my husband and I owners.
so then we have four 1099 strictly farmers market vending staff that work twice a month for us
and you're doing all of the distribution such as it is yourselves currently yeah yeah interesting
okay all right thank you yeah any other questions yeah i have a question just about location so
i'm looking because it does look like there's two other auto related businesses on either side of
you and have you spoken to them because it does look like from google earth they're constantly
blocking the driveway well sidewalks they were the first piece and people that we introduced
ourselves to obviously because they're the direct neighbors um we did not discuss parking with them
um i can i but we have a very essentially they were like bring me pickles anytime
so they were very excited about us moving next door but i guess you're not necessarily concerned
about loading and in loading out on Pilto Street or on 2nd Street I'm I'm not I'm I'm not yeah
good question do you still use barrels so we have used barrels in the past we do it less so in
today's operation yeah other questions questions from our attorney I'm not at this time Mr. Chair
questions or comments from the virtual audience there are no exchange planning commission
um i'm so sorry one second i lost my place
the comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning from the current rsa5 residential single
family and cmx2 commercial mixed use the existing structure to be reused is a former industrial
buildings similar to those on North 2nd Street. The proposed artist industrial space is allowed
by Wright in the CMX 2.5 District. The proposed uses are in harmony with the surrounding land
use on North 2nd Street. The absence of parking is in an existing condition. The Planning Commission
recommends that the Board grant the requested variances for artist industrial, wholesale sales
and distribution and no parking mi 2025 007 6 hold on 361 1911 to 13 north 2nd street
i vote yes with proviso per amended refusal date of january 7 2026.
michael johns i don't know how we can vote on this without samples no i'm kidding
I know everybody was thinking that, right? My vote is yes with Proviso.
Fishtownpickles.com.
Okay, all right.
You can't get any anyway.
I know, right?
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Do you have issues with this case?
Ty Owen, my vote is yes with Proviso.
what is this about
so hold on hold on hold on hold on
come on up sit up sit down
you're angry it's in english
Great.
Hi, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Spell, please.
Spell your name.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
A hundred percent.
Pardon me?
A hundred percent.
I do it.
Oh, good, good.
All right.
Tell me what the issue is.
I'm the real owner of this property.
You're the real owner of the property?
I bought the property in 2000.
Two times you bought it?
They didn't do it in 2000.
All right, go ahead.
This is a long history beginning in 2009.
The same day, December.
Somebody accused me for something I never think in my mind.
This is the technique first for putting me in yoga.
to me first for putting me in jail. And this time I go to jail, no money for pay the bill
And this time I go yoga.
too high. And I know somebody in the neighborhood, he tried to hold the person with a problem.
I called my wife, tried to put some little house in the brain or the family route like a
in the court to put it out. The jailer he was looking for, he got in the jail, he tried the lawyer,
the people were ready. I know I understand too many English, I said somebody said,
let me know back on what value is for this people.
Oh, this people say you sell the property for $1,000.
I said, I told the gentleman and the lawyer too,
I don't sell my property.
Because the value of the property now is $70,50.
Only $1,000.
But that's my family support, my job,
because it's a mechanic job.
Right. And I said, okay, no, what about I, I take care of this. No, no, you made new people.
You're going to be here. I decided for this. He never come again. I suppose we stay out of jail
the next day, because the problem is the bill. He's leaving me for 13 days. He tried to push me
for manipulating me. Later he said the separate, I saw my angry, he said my name illegal. And
the general input of the money, $30,000. I say only need $50,000. No, no. This guy only
can borrow $30,000. Because the thing is, he look and I buy this property in the ocean
And the paperwork is through, I sell the property because the price is a little similar.
When I go outside, he say, I swear to God, you don't lose the property.
I try, he put me, pay $500 a month, every month, and then one year, one year complete.
I tried to quit this problem faster. I gave him two months, two months, three months, three months.
One day, I see he happy when I paid some two months together. And one day, I not paid the month.
No. One week, I received an inspector to the court. I have a court. When I go on the court,
he got the paperwork and the lawyer, everything ready for signing. Right. When I take the pencil
for signing, some person inside the court go behind to the lawyer. He say,
I said, I don't want to sign it. He angry. He said, excuse me, defend me because I have the owner of the property. I can't sign it. And in court, in court, in court, he disappeared. He sold the property because he got the paper on the name.
He sent another person to New York, Babylon, New York, for $75,000.
Supposedly the guy come to my shop for putting out the first gentleman to the money and continuing
pay to the value to the 500 to the person it's the deal we go running inside the building
uh in secret he talked i don't understand too many english but when the guy looking at me down
so so let me mr goldberg who owns the property now so the property is currently owned by
1911 and second street lp when i walked in today i became aware of the situation
coincidentally we also separately have represented the individual that nikki is buying the property
from so i i called him said what's this about the property was sold at sheriff's sale in 2023
i'm looking at a recorded deed that i'm happy to submit to the board they've vetted this
transaction through title they're comfortable with the fact that they're buying the property
from someone who legitimately owns the property so so so so sir let me let me let me tell you
what we today we were deciding whether or not this property could be used by this person
deciding whether or not this property could be used by this person for a business and when we we found that if you have issues with someone who you think took the property whatever you're going to have to get an attorney and take that action against that individual.
for a business
But today, we handled one thing.
I understand.