Condo Development Team Responds to Community Feedback
At last week’s meeting of Swarthmore Borough’s Planning Commission, many residents voiced public comments about the 110 Park Avenue Project. The Swarthmorean has archived videos of each public comment. Excerpted comments from the meeting appear in this recap, and we’ve also published a post-meeting statement from the project’s developers, Bill Cumby, Jr. and Donald Delson below. The Swarthmorean invites readers to weigh in with their comments about the project and its potential impacts on the Borough. As the project evolves we intend to provide ongoing coverage, including letters from our readers and others offering various perspectives on the project, and information on the zoning and land use entitlement processes.
We thank all of those residents who took the time to attend the October 20th planning meeting to share their thoughts on the proposed development at 110 Park Avenue. As long-time residents of Swarthmore, we value community feedback, and appreciate how civically engaged many Swarthmoreans are, so it was gratifying to see that engagement in action at last Wednesday’s planning meeting. We had the opportunity to hear from a number of residents who offered a range of feedback, much of which can be organized into five key themes. We wish to take the opportunity to provide some context and comment in response to the concerns raised.
Environmental: A number of attendees spoke of their hopes and suggestions for the building to minimize its environmental impact. We share their aspirations and appreciated and noted a number of helpful suggestions that we hope to incorporate into the project design as it is completed. We have extensive experience in sustainable building, and our goal for 110 Park is for it to be an example of environmentally sustainable development.
Traffic and safety: We heard a number of concerns about traffic, parking, and pedestrian safety. We take this concern very seriously and have hired a traffic engineer who specializes in these issues and whose report and feedback will be included in subsequent submissions to the borough. We are balancing goals to both minimize the impact on surrounding areas by providing residents optional vehicle storage, and to maximize the retail area. We will be significantly improving the streetscape and developing a state-of-the art safety system around the garage entrance.
Demolition of the existing 102 Park (Celia) Building and the temporary dislocation of the current tenants: Our initial goal was to preserve the Celia building, and we examined the feasibility of incorporating it into the new building. Ultimately this plan was not feasible, due to structural, accessibility, and stormwater management complications. We are very conscious of the disruption that will be caused to the few office tenants in 112 Park and the six residential tenants and two retail stores in 102. We have committed to doing everything we can to help the retail tenants relocate while 110 Park is being constructed and offered them space in the new building should they choose to lease there.
Building façade and scale: We acknowledge that 110 Park will be a significant building when it is completed, but we also believe it can be designed to be a significant asset to the current mix of buildings in the Town Center. The current Town Center Zoning District regulations were the culmination of years of work and the submitted design complies with the code, including specific building area and height limitations, streetscape requirements, and setbacks. That said, we acknowledge the input we received at the planning commission meeting and are making design changes to the façade and building massing in an effort to address some of the concerns we heard, going well above and beyond the zoning requirements.
Affordable housing: One of the findings of the Swarthmore 2030 Task Force, which recently worked with a number of resident groups to look at ways to best shape our town’s future, was that while there is a plethora of relatively inexpensive rental units (currently ranging from $700-$1,400/month), there are currently no premium living opportunities in the Town Center. What we have learned in the short time we’ve been working on 110 Park is that there are a number of current Swarthmore residents who no longer need or want their single-family home but would very much like to stay in Swarthmore, preferably in Town Center. 110 Park would only begin to fill this significant need and would certainly bring a more diverse housing mix to Town Center. We acknowledge that 110 Park will impact six relatively inexpensive housing units, but estimate that impact to be less than a 2% reduction of this type of housing, while bringing the first significant growth in housing supply to the Borough in decades. If the Borough’s goal is to bring true “affordable housing” to the Town Center in the way it is typically defined, we fully support any effort to do so. This is beyond our expertise, however, in that it typically involves working with affordable housing developers who are familiar with the government programs and subsidies required for such projects to be feasible. If that is part of the vision of the town we fully support anyone who wants to lead that effort.
