Obtaining Philadelphia’s Zoning Special Exception for Federal Donuts

Securing Special Exception Approval in Center City

In general, a special exception is a type of use that is allowed only after the applicant has demonstrated that the intended use does not have any detrimental impact on the surrounding neighborhood.

After we received a Notice of Referral from the city of Philadelphia’s Department of Licenses and Inspections (L&I), we filed a governmental application with the City of Philadelphia’s Zoning Board of Adjustment (ZBA) requesting that the issuance of a special exception under the circumstances.

Working together with their architecture team as well as our client, we put together a presentation for the community which received overwhelming support.

In addition to illustrating how the restaurant establishment would be configured, we highlighted the experience and exemplary reputation of our client as a restaurant operator.

Unanimous Approval and Ongoing Partnership

We then presented the merits of the application for the special exception to the ZBA and it unanimously granted the application for the special exception.

Federal Donuts now has eight (8) current locations throughout Philadelphia (including at Citizens Bank Park and Wells Fargo Bank) and we have handled all of their special governmental approvals they have had to obtain from the ZBA (including their soon-to-be location on Fishtown).