Rezoning

About 150 acres in the western end of Edgewater Park Township bordering Perkins Lane would be rezoned to low-density residential use under an ordinance that the Township Committee will consider Wednesday. Under the new zoning, a property owner would need 40,000 square feet of land to construct a residence. The tracts are now zoned for medium-density residential use, requiring 20,000 square feet per house, or if there are no adjacent water or sewer lines, 25,000 square feet per house.

About 400 people filled the gym of the Ardsley Community Center this week and continued to protest plans to build houses on a wooded section of Hillside Cemetery. After an evening of testimony, peppered with criticism from residents, the Abington Township Board of Commissioners closed the Monday hearing on rezoning 23 acres of the property along Susquehanna Road. Board Chairman Richard Fluge said the board would announce its decision next month. The rezoning would limit the number of houses built on the lot at the western end of the cemetery.

Anticipating future commercial growth, officials in Monroe Township have proposed a series of zoning changes to govern development of small businesses and offices throughout the township. The proposed zoning changes would affect more than 100 lots throughout the township. The proposals include the rezoning of land to regional-growth community commercial and regional-growth planned office districts along about 10 roads, including parts of the Black Horse Pike, Routes 322 and 555 and Cross Keys Road.

A City Council committee yesterday approved the rezoning of a section of the Delaware River waterfront to make it easier for developers to build housing, hotels, retail shops and office buildings there. The rezoning of the triangular patch bounded by Spring Garden Street, Delaware Avenue and Interstate 95 must be approved by the full Council before it becomes official. The rezoning will be on next Thursday's agenda. The 25-acre area is zoned industrial, but most property owners agreed that that is outdated because of the decline in port activity.

Despite the intense opposition of three board members, the Upper Dublin Board of Commissioners has approved a plan to rezone 33 acres to accommodate 240 apartments. The property, about half of which is flood plain and cannot be developed, is bordered by Dreshertown Road, Limekiln Pike and the Pennsylvania Turnpike. During a meeting Tuesday night, the board voted, 4-3, to approve rezoning the property from residential to multiple dwelling. An additional two acres bordering the turnpike, previously zoned commercial, also was rezoned multiple dwelling.

Cinnaminson Township officials last night considered rezoning a piece of property so that local truckers would have a place to legally park their rigs. Under a two-year-old ordinance, tractor-trailers cannot be parked in residential areas in the township. But the law has created a hardship for independent truckers such as Thomas Bell, who said he had parked his rig outside his Fork Landing Road home for 17 years. Bell said he had twice been fined $50 since the new law took effect.

The Warrington Planning Commission has recommended that the township's three office/residential parcels be rezoned to office/professional in an effort to discourage residential development along Route 611. The Planning Commission made the recommendation Thursday night, based on a proposal by the Industrial Development Advisory Board. The advisory board has proposed rezoning most of the lots bordering Route 611 as well as undeveloped tracts along County Line Road to attract more office and light-industrial development.

The Falls Township Planning Commission has recommended the rezoning of 141 parcels to limit the manufacture and transportation of hazardous materials. The ordinance would bar the manufacture of chemicals and heavy metals in the areas and prohibit the transportation or storage of hazardous materials, medical waste and toxic substances. The vote was 4-0. About 20 affected parcels are near Old Tyburn Road and Old Bristol Pike near the Pennswood Mobile Home Park. The parcels are zoned "transportation terminal.

The Newlin Township Board of Supervisors has approved the rezoning of 9 acres in Mortonville from commercial to residential, clearing the way for the construction of three houses. Peter Zimmerman of Birchrunville was seeking the change to develop an 80- acre parcel off Strasburg and Fairview Roads. The 9-acre portion is in Newlin and the remainder of the property is in East Fallowfield. The supervisors voted, 3-0, Monday night to approve the zoning change. Zimmerman's plans call for the construction of three houses on the 80-acre tract, which would be deed-restricted from further development.

What had been expected to be a tempestuous hearing on a proposed rezoning in the Norris Square community ran smoothly Wednesday, although some residents claimed that City Councilwoman Maria Quinones-Sanchez was trying to "fast-track" the rezoning to limit a development project. "The bill is an attempt by Quinones-Sanchez to block the progress of the Norris Square Civic Association's housing development known as St. Bonnie's, while impacting housing alternatives to current homeowners of large residential properties," Patricia DeCarlo, NSCA's executive director, said of the development at the old St. Boniface church site.

Zoning reform may likely inspire yawns in many, but last Tuesday's editorial, "Council shouldn't delay zoning overhaul," showed that it is really exciting stuff. The careful work of the Zoning Code Commission has shown that Philadelphia is a first-class city. But we need to avoid the "Philadelphia Shrug" - "yeah, whatever" - and go the distance to make the code a reality. City Council should approve the overhaul and oppose any effort to short-circuit the remapping process. Citizen input is also needed on detailed issues of land use in neighborhoods.

For more than five years, the Main Line village of Bryn Mawr has buzzed with talk of an ambitious revitalization - of mid-rise hotels, promenades lined with outdoor cafes and boutiques, and blocks shared by offices, townhouses and pocket parks. Yet in the business district, change so far has amounted to just a few new awnings and some fresh splashes of paint. In an adjacent working-class neighborhood, only grass sprouts on 18 lots where homes were razed almost two years ago to make way for a parking garage and rows of retail topped with housing.

Patriot Equities LP of Wayne says it has agreed to buy the Inquirer and Daily News headquarters in Center City and will seek to rezone and refurbish part of the underused complex for retail services. "We're the selected buyer for the building and the lot and garage behind it," said Patriot president Erik Kolar. The property stretches from Broad to 16th Streets north of Callowhill Street. Kolar said he expected the deal to close within the next three months. Philadelphia Media Holdings, which owns the building along with the two newspapers, the Philly.

The owner of the Ramblewood Golf Course and Country Club in Mount Laurel said yesterday that he would ask a state court to overturn a township zoning decision that blocks development of the property. John Goodwin said he wanted the township to buy the land - based on its development value for housing - and lease it back to him to operate as a golf course. But at a heavily attended meeting Monday, the five-member Township Council voted unanimously to rezone the golf course from a residential zone to an outdoor recreation and conservation zone.

Pennsbury Township is at war with itself again, as the supervisors move to circumvent a court order blocking a proposed town-center development along Route 1. A residents' group opposed to the development, Pennsbury Village, thought it had won in August, when a state judge said township land crucial to the deal could not be used for it. Without that tract, the site is too small for the housing density the developers want. On Monday, the supervisors are expected to decide whether to change the zoning to allow the original housing plan on the smaller site.

The Medford Township Council tonight will consider a tentative agreement with Stephen Samost that would end almost a decade of sometimes bitter litigation with the developer, who had planned to build two major commercial and residential developments in the township. Under the proposed agreement, Samost's Eayrestown and Easttown would be designated a redevelopment zone. The tracts, which total more than 300 acres, would be put in the hands of a new developer, get new design plans, and be rechristened Medford Crossing North and Medford Crossing South.

It appears to be a tale of two very different cities within one small Shore town. Where some working-class families - mostly Latino and Asian immigrants - and longtime business owners see a neighborhood with decent housing and shopping opportunities, city officials see a blighted area of dilapidated buildings and overcrowded housing in need of a drastic remedy. "Something has to be done," said Mayor Tim Kreischer, a lifelong resident of the two-square-mile town that borders Atlantic City.

Valley Forge National Historical Park is not out of the woods. While the federal government's $8.5 million purchase in July of 62 acres from Toll Bros. will keep one luxury subdivision from rising inside the park, yet another privately held tract within its borders could be in play - and, park supporters fear, vulnerable to development. The Archdiocese of Philadelphia owns the land, 106 acres of meadows and woods next to St. Gabriel's Hall, its school for troubled boys, in Valley Forge's north end. Because of its size, preservationists say the parcel probably holds a greater trove of artifacts from Gen. Washington's encampment than the Toll property a half-mile east.

After two public hearings, hours of comment from the interested parties and the public, and pages and pages of studies and statistics, Medford's rezoning of Route 70 has been accomplished. The Township Council on Tuesday adopted two ordinances that prohibit certain kinds of development on Route 70, including a 146,267-square-foot Home Depot once planned at Hartford Road. The ordinances - one for the environmentally sensitive Pinelands side of Route 70 on the south and one for the north side - limit new commercial buildings to no more than 35,000 square feet.