once a year so i do have that okay and the kiln is in the basement okay how is that being exhausted
uh there's a venting system and it goes up through the roof or through you know the basement window
okay um i think that was the bulk of my questions oh when there's not a class is the
is it like are the doors locked can people walk in at any time no it's not a member model so um
the only time that there's people that are there that are like have been ongoing students is during
these two periods of time on Wednesday Tuesday and Wednesday okay um and so otherwise it's like
my workspace so like when those tables aren't full of people and materials I might have like
a big project laid out and then you know when I'm done for the day I just take it off and store
it um so all those projects or a lot of those projects you saw were created in my studio
that said a lot of the work we do like with schools um we're firing tiles and we're
fabricating on the site of the school got it okay so like a lot of the work is done outside
of the studio understood how many employees do you have if any i do this all myself okay i have
I have college interns
like I started a college intern program
now I do
have people from time to time
who they're like
arts they're teaching artists
so if I need someone to teach my class
or if I need it we had a viral
video happen a few years ago
that the classes
were like crazy so I did
have someone come on to like help with those
classes
questions from our attorney
no questions at this time questions or comments from the virtual audience
i've seen no hands planning commission michael gall with the philadelphia city planning commission
the comprehensive plan recommends a change in zoning of this location from its existing cmx1
neighborhood commercial mixed use to cmx5 commercial mixed use the proposed use artist
studios and artists and industrial would be allowed by right under the recommended cmx 2.5 zoning
and this appears to be the legalization of a long-standing business that has been operating
in the space for many years without issue this neighborhood was remapped in 2019 but this block
was excluded from the remapping at that time this is an active commercial block in mount airy and
should have no major impacts on neighbors beyond what might otherwise be expected therefore the
city planning commission recommends the board grant the requested variants for artist studio
and artisan industrial use mi2026 003 444 6780 germantown avenue i vote yes michael johns my vote
is yes. Sheryl Gaston,
my vote is yes. Tanetta Graham,
my vote is yes. Tywin, my vote is yes.
Ayla Bibi, my vote is yes.
Thank you.
Your presentation was very good.
I hope it went a little long.
Powerpoint. Oh, my God.
All right.
MI2026-003-501-2627-29
Germantown Avenue.
Come on up.
We have a lot of Germantowns today.
There's another Germantown Avenue, 40 blocks away, but.
Could you please pull the mic a little closer to you?
You just pulled the whole thing right towards you.
That's it.
Could you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer?
Diamond Young, D-I-A-M-O-N-D-Y-O-U-N-G.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Right.
we have APM's giving you
unanimous
approval
also non-opposition from
council member Young
our vice chair has a few questions
good afternoon
have you submitted your documents and exhibits
14 days in advance of this hearing
and you are here
and you understand you're here for retail sales
beverages and groceries
and you understand that you have like two
zonings your property zone
You don't, you have to have, you have to get permission here because you're, it's not allowed
what your use is, it's not allowed in that area.
All right.
So I think you asked for staff assistance, right?
All right.
So you can just, when they start showing your documents, you can explain them to us and
let us know what you're trying to do.
should be up any minute okay there you go all right so this is the uh a bit closer
Should be up any minute.
There you go.
All right.
So this is the.
sure that's this is the front of my building with the uh zoning sign that they asked me to provide
um this i'm just trying to do a produce market uh the front of the building was cmx2 i believe
okay and um the parking lot was cmx one so that was the issue the parking lot that's the parking
lot right there and it has the zoning uh placed on a gate so the neighborhood can see it
is right off lehigh avenue yes okay this is the checkout center
the front this used to be a dentist's office and it was uh it was a bank first and then it
was a dentist's office and now i'm changing it into a produce market so it's like similar still
you can see the uh the where the chairs was on it uh the floor yeah yeah the dentist yeah
yeah oh that looks nice i just tried to do my best
and this is just going to be a wholesale at the moment for produce i mean not wholesale just
uh selling fruit and vegetables that's it no cuts no uh smoothies no none of that at the moment
okay so when i first open i'm just going to sell a whole fruit and produce
so right there is the parking lot um the main concerns for the parking lot
there we go okay so i the main concerns was the neighborhood
the park well the block that the parking lot is connected to i believe um
there we go
call these energy routes
is that what it says
yes energy routes
so yep that's
Hutchinson Street yes
so I believe
the concerns was the traffic
for the parking lot
in the block
in the block area
but it's three
entrances through that parking lot
I would have
security addressing the
parking lot if it get too full i would have security while i'm open period but the main
concern is why the parking lot is open through the back i would have security back there got
in the cars that will come in and out um and making sure that if it do get full they have
parking on germantown avenue as well so they do not have to park on that block um i went to the
neighbors on that block and let them know if there was any concerns or problem that they can come to
me um the neighbor on the right side he actually came to the uh meeting the rco meeting and he uh
voted yes okay
and they just everyone is excited and everyone want this in their community
and this is actually my community that i grew up in
okay um have you done this before no
okay all right questions from the board you said that a little yeah so no how do you
where are you going to get this produce from and okay so um actually i i worked in save a
life for 10 years in produce um so i uh not i'm familiar with produce i worked in it but i never
did my own produce market um i met up with a farmer john um if y'all familiar with her i met
up a great person yes so um she's helping me out a lot and she's guiding me so okay all right okay
hours of operation uh from eight to five okay and uh and that's every day no on sundays it's
gonna be from uh eight to two all right okay and then uh you're gonna set this up for the
fruits and vegetables and vegetables and things okay and then um i'm not sure what you need to
have health department comes out yes just health department approval right yeah yeah yeah refrigeration
water yeah yeah huh yeah yeah come think about it yep wow i just want to clarify it's only
fruits and vegetables so you're not doing any dry goods any shelf stable products no no is
Is there a plan to do that in the future?
there a plan to do that in the future um i want to see how this go first
I want to see how this goes first.
But right now, my vision is on just fruit and vegetables.
I guess it doesn't matter because it's the same zoning designation.
So what do you do with the produce that you don't sell or can't sell?
Well, the produce that's gone bad, I mean, we have to throw it out.
But I do have an account with the trash people
to come out twice a week and pick up the trash.
Okay. All right.
Could you just describe,
and I think this diagram here shows the parking lot,
just how are cars maneuvering in and out?
Okay, so we're showing that now.
They can come through there.
They can come in that way.
And then if you see where it says out, they can go out.
Because this used to be a bank,
So that was a drive-thru where you see in and out, go around.
But where it says in at right there, I was going to keep that closed.
And would you have to, like, make markings on the ground so that people will know how to flow?
Well, it was already markings there, but they're kind of old.
I just have to.
Thank you.
Where are the trash receptacles for the business?
If you can go up a little bit, it's in the back.
The back area right there where the gate is open, right in that corner.
Oh, that's the back.
Yes, the rear.
So people are actually going to approach it from the front of the building,
not from the parking lot?
What, the trash?
No, anybody.
Oh, yeah, they come through the, yes.
And then just a suggestion, because you're only using organic produce,
you might want to consider doing compost.
Oh, yes.
It's a building next door.
It's a lot, and I was trying to get this off the ground first,
and then I was going to focus on that.
It's an empty lot next door.
to grow my own fruit and vegetables and take off fear get that but i would because i know
just like a lot of health food smaller health food stores like i think i mean on the extreme
it would be like an arrow one but like a lot of the smaller um businesses that do this i think
like there's a long history of like community composting in philly and there's not a lot of
community composting infrastructure and it might be something that you could also leverage in your
business okay i'll look into that i know people pay to like go in and couple stuff so i don't need
that thank you the other thing is is this rodents anytime you've got vegetables and anything like
that and things going bad you get draws rodents that's it say that one more time please i said
wrote in this vector like vector control okay questions from our attorney no questions at this