ZBA Hearing - April 15, 2026

questions or comments from our attorney i'm sorry could you pull up the floor

could you pull up the floor plan again then sure just once so you said that there is a

Do you have 0 step clearance? Is it a 0 step clearance? Because you've got a wheelchair accessible bathroom, but it's a 0 step clearance into the.

Right, we're going to have a, um, an aluminum ramp for wheelchair access.

Okay, that's going to have to be something that's portable.

Okay, all right, that was a question.

Hilary Emerson our attorney so this is um proposed on the first floor and basement

of the existing structure yes okay thank you questions or comments from the virtual audience

chair we have a hand up from Madeline Shacumba okay 35 people hi Madeline

can you hear me i i most certainly can could you please state your name and spell for the

phonographer? Madeline, M-A-E-E-L-I-N-E, Shikumba. S-H-I-K-O-N-G-S. You swear you're referring

yourself to the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Yes. Please proceed.

Please proceed. We are not really objecting to this. I'm president of North Washington Avenue.

We are a legislative community organization. We originally supported this. However,

We feel that this owner has violated the regulations of the zoning board.

He has opened this restaurant before he even got official approval on his variance, okay?

And we haven't – I saw nothing that was given to us that showed that he had such a hardship that he couldn't wait to have the ZBA authorize this variance.

And we feel as though he violated rules and regulations and that have ignored other people may do so the same thing.

We wish that, we don't know if there's any penalty for this, but we wish that some type of penalty should be indicated in order to prevent this from happening again because that's what we have regulations for, okay?

and this was a clear violation. It's difficult for us to believe that the applicant did not

understand the seriousness of his action and chose to deliberately do this. He has a lawyer

that was sitting next to him, and I'm sure the lawyer made the applicant aware of the

rules and regulations regarding this matter. We recommend that this request be suspended

or something be done, and the guarantee of the variance be temporarily denied, and the

applicant may at some time later seek approval. We think some type of punishment be imposed

regarding this deliberate act of defiance to deter and prevent others from doing so.

this is the only reason why we are objecting to it okay thank you thank you very much for

This is the only reason why we are objecting to it.

Okay. Thank you very much.

your interest you're you're you're always there thank you thank you is there anyone

else in the first audience yes sir we have a hand up from murray spencer

i'm mr spencer

mr spencer yes hi sir could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer

murray spencer m-u-r-r-a-y spencer s-p-e-n-c-e-r do you swear or firm to tell the truth the whole

truth and nothing but the truth i do please proceed sir i am the chair of the saucers owner

committee and happen to be a near neighbor of this cafe we're so happy to have it um i have

been on this block for 50 years, raised two boys. That vacant first floor has been vacant for

probably 20 years at least. The upstairs has been occupied and unoccupied, but we're just so glad

to have something there that the community is really enjoying. Yes, they have been in business

and people are enjoying it tremendously. I mean, I see people coming from across Washington Avenue

and up and down Christian Street to go to this establishment. They're very nice people. I've

met arian and um and the man that's testifying today they run a very nice business um yes we're

very happy to have that uh on the on this block and in this neighborhood all right mr spencer

thank you as usual you are very welcome appreciate it is there anyone else in the audience

no hands at the sound chair planning commission amy boy with the planning commission the

comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning at this location from the existing cmx1 commercial

mixed use the appellant has demonstrated that the proposed use will not cause detrimental impacts

beyond what reasonably expected the planning commission recommends the board grant their

requested special exception for prepared food shop mi 2025 007 379 1700 christian street

i vote yes with proviso first floor and basement only michael johns my vote is yes with proviso

cheryl gaston my vote is yes with proviso tenetta graham my vote is yes with proviso

my mcadams my vote is yes with proviso i win my vote is yes with proviso thank you mr clinton

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, the members of the board.

Thank you.

All right.

We're going to go to number 11, MI 2025, 007381, 4369 Crescent Street.

Rachel Pritzker is the attorney.

They're being promoted to panelists here.

good afternoon

a council could you please state your name and spell for us

yeah rachel r-a-c-h-a-e-l pritzker p-r-i-t-z-k-e-r you swear affirm to tell the truth the whole

truth nothing but the truth yes did you identify your client in relationship to the property

sure my client is alex shanfeld on behalf of funny monk emporium and they are the tenant

of the property and i see that the one neighborhood group is in favor and the

many uh they're non-opposition my understanding the um manny young neighbors council was the

coordinating rco here um mine says a letter of opposition am i right i know that so that's from

the manny young development corporation manny young neighborhood council sent a letter of

non-opposition i just thought the way it was on my thing it's yeah we never we never met with the

development corporation they're okay we're not involved with the process all right um our vice

chair has a few questions sure good evening have you submitted your documents and exhibits five

days in advance of this hearing yes and do you waive the reading of the refusals and stipulate

to their accuracy yes okay thank you you can see your screen and proceed with the case thank you

Okay.

You see my screen?

We can.

Yes.

Okay.

So this is the property at 4369 Crescent Street.

This is the refusal.

The property is on CMX 2 1⁄2.

It already is legalized for retail sales,

but the additional use of drug paraphernalia sales on the ground floor, the existing structure

with existing uses is what's triggering this refusal. Drug paraphernalia is not permitted

in any zoning district, and it's not permitted in CMX 2.5. All the refusals that were generated

as a result of it have to do with, again, the special use of drug paraphernalia sales

prohibited when a thousand feet of another existing regulated use it's next door to a

tattoo shop there's only three properties on this whole block and they're all commercial mixed use

and one is a tattoo shop drug paraphernalia says not a lot of 500 feet the nearest lot line

coordinating any protected use residential you'll see from the zoning maps it's front it's on

crescent street but next to it is gay street which is residential retail sales drug paraphernalia

prohibited in the zoning district as mentioned and then drug paraphernal sales within 500 feet

of any residential district again it's sort of the same as the one before

Gay Street is a residential district they're zoned RSA 5.

Just to orient you to the site this is the certificate of tax clearance for the tobacco

retailer so we're in compliance everything else this is a lease for the property this has been

a long-standing tenant at this property on the commercial ground floor for many many years with

a lot of familiarity in this neighborhood and on this block in particular this is again just the

tobacco products license this is the block of crescent street right here this is leverington

Street, and then this is Gay Street right here. So commercial mixed use on Crescent Street,

which is fronting on those rail lines right there. And then there's just three properties

really on this block. And this property in particular is this smaller one, one in from

the corner, which is 4369 Crescent Street. Just an aerial view. This is the entirety of sort of

that block are these properties right here. This gives you a sort of a better aerial view. Again,

this is the property right here. Next to it's a tattoo shop and another commercial mixed use

on the right. Again, just highlighting which one is the property we're talking about,

this sort of small intermediate lot. This is a front shot of this property. Again,

a really small narrow business that's been um in the neighborhood for for quite some time

what triggered basically needing to get this drug paraphernalia is there were a number of lni

calls made from various neighbors really just all of main street and a lot of the these types

of uses and so lni came in and uh looked around a lot of these businesses and so um

The option is just continue just the retail sales without any of the drug paraphernalia, which I'll go into the detail and the definition of that, or go through and get support for this drug paraphernalia additional use.

These are the zoning posters and the refusals on the property and the notice of appeal.

Again, just some exterior photos of the property.

business has a very good reputation in the community amongst the neighbors even on the

residential blocks this is from this angle again I was mentioning it's kind of an odd block that

has this rail line is sort of this small little commercial mixed-use block there's a units above

but again fronting on Crescent Street this is interior photos of the shop what you would expect

from a property like use like this assortment of different retail items

this is from the back of the shop to the front as you can see it's a really small space it's not

very massive this is just the permit so it's already been licensed for a long time for the

retail sales consumer goods which allows most of the products in there however in order to

In there, however, in order to really sell glassware, in particular, among a few other limited items, and we have a proviso that we've agreed upon with the RCO to limit some of the other definitions contained in the drug paraphernalia use, we need to get this additional use classification.

really sell glassware in particular

But again, this has kind of been the same way since at least 2011.

Here's the definition of drug paraphernalia.

So if you sell any one of these bong, dab ribs, decarbon, loxy machines, sorry, I don't know what that is, glass pipe bowl, grinders, herbal infusers, and these items, you have to have, in addition to retail sales, you also have to have drug paraphernalia.

And really what triggered a lot of this, which my client can weigh in more eloquently than me, is a desire to have a glassware, any kind of bowls or glass pipes.

There's a lot of local artists in the Maniunk area that make beautiful pieces of art for this type of use.

And you can't have any of that without this drug paraphernalia additional use in addition to retail sales.

So, as mentioned, we've agreed for provisos to limit some of these items that he doesn't plan on selling anyways.

Here's the chart that points out drug profanity, and it's not allowed in really any zoning district, certainly not any of the CMXs.

And also because it's a regulated use, it comes with all these additional limitations.

And again, we're near a residential area and also next to a tattoo shop, which is another

regulated use.

As mentioned, we met with the Maniunk Neighborhood Council, which is the coordinating RCO for

this area, and they sent us a letter of non-opposition.

They just basically wanted to understand, you know, what we were proposing, the type of additional products.

And then we, like I said, we agreed to a list of provisos.

As you can see, it was 11 people not opposed to the project and other notified neighbors and other attendees not opposed to the project.

So the applicant has operated for many years without incident.

the applicant is offering to limit the types of items they will sell to bongs dabbers glass pipe

screens tabletop vapes and water pipes bubblers and intends to submit a list as provisos

for eventual approval and the community group supported that proviso

also made sure to go around and get letters of support from the near neighbors and so

we got a significant number of letters of support on the surrounding blocks

and on Gay Street in particular,

given that's the directly adjacent residential block.

So this is Crescent Street next door.

This is the 100 block of Gay Street.

More on Crescent.

Baker Street, Crescent Street.

More on Gay Street.

Leverington Street, which is right next door, Morongay Street, Leverington, and the list

goes on.

just to quickly go through floor plans

I can see my screen so as mentioned this is a really small space

And so as you walk in the front door, you kind of what you saw visually, the register and the desk, the retail area, office and storage and stairs to the basement in the back.

And then there's a completely separate entry to the second floor apartment.

They don't go through the retail space at all.

and then we just had put together a faq and we spoke with the neighbors just

hours of operation um 12 to 8 monday through friday saturday 11 to 8 sunday 11 to 6 and then

just security and id verification id verification with purchase 21 plus signage and you know it's

768 square foot space with 15 years of experience again i just want to mention the proviso which was

the the use will be limited to the sale of bongs dab rigs glass pipes in parentheses bowls grinders

glass pipes in parentheses bowls grinders pipe screens tabletop babes and water pipe

pipe screens, tabletop babes, and water pipe.

bubblers again the property has been there and retail sales and it's just looking to kind of

make sure we have all of our bases covered otherwise it limits the use on this small

business and again this tenant has been here for a long time without incident so helping to support

small business in in the area um it's if um alex um shanfeld could be promoted

i'd like to have him swear in my testimony they're being promoted to panelists thank you

rachel they use the basement too um i believe he uses the basement for um

or where the bathroom is in storage. Yeah. Okay.

Yeah.

Sir, could you please? Good evening. Can you guys hear me? I can. Yeah.

Could you please state your name as spelled for the sonographer? Of course.

I'm Alex Hanfeld, A L X S H A N F E L D.

Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?

I do.

Counsel?

Alex, just to have you swear on my testimony and then ask you a question.

So have you heard my testimony today?

Do you believe it to be true and accurate, and do you adopt it as your own?

Yes.

And then did you hear the chairman's question?

Do you use the basement as well for storage?

We do not use the basement, no.

The basement has, like, so there's the two apartments above us.

I'm not affiliated with those besides being a neighbor, but their boilers and their heating equipment is down there.

It's just mechanical, so it's just limited to the first floor.

Your use would be limited just to the first floor.

Correct.

Okay.

Is there anything else you wanted to add that I didn't go over?

No, I'm here to answer any questions or concerns, but your testimony was accurate and I do adopt it as my own.

Thank you.

Questions from the board.

questions or comments from our attorney hillary emerson just to clarify this is the only uh use

on the first floor there aren't other businesses i couldn't tell by the pictures no this is the

only use on the first floor correct thanks questions or comments from the virtual audience