Spot Zoning

Frank Kelly, Collingdale's mayor for 22 years, has for the first time exercised his power of veto over the Borough Council. Kelly shot down a new zoning ordinance at the council's Monday night meeting because, he said, council members "were in total confusion over the measure," even after they unanimously approved it. He signed the veto at the meeting, but he said afterward that he was willing to withdraw it if the council could come to...

After a presentation by an attorney for adjacent property owners, the Marple commissioners denied a developer's request to rezone a residential tract near Springton Reservoir Monday night. Vincent Mancini, who said he represented residents of Media Line Road whose properties abutted the 4.74-acre Springton Cove tract owned by Darrell A. Pennington, used an enlarged zoning map to show the commissioners that surrounding properties were zoned R-A. Changing the zoning from R-A to R-B - as Pennington has petitioned the township to do - would allow him to build four houses on the plot instead of two. Rezoning would constitute "spot zoning," Mancini said, which is not permissible by law. Ben Mitchell, a resident of Media Line Road, said allowing Pennington to put smaller houses in the area would adversely affect the values of area houses, whose owners had "all invested a significant amount of money in erecting structures" that comply with R-A regulations.

A group of Blenheim residents has vowed to fight a proposed zoning change from residential to general industry if Gloucester Township officials approve it, even if it means going to Superior Court to have the decision overturned. The residents contend that the proposed rezoning of seven lots on the north side of Fairview Avenue would adversely affect the neighborhood by bringing noise, dirt and, eventually, more industry. They also think the plan would be illegal spot zoning, a change in zoning carried out solely for the gain of people making the request.

Although it is popular with residents and council members, a zoning change proposed for Washington Township may face an uncertain future in the courts, according to planning board Chairman James McMonigle. "We could be taking a multimillion-dollar hit over this," McMonigle said. At issue is a proposal, first made by residents of Spring Lake Farms, that aims to block a 10,000-square-foot banquet hall that a developer, Peter Costanzo, wants to build along Fish Pond Road. Residents have said they are worried about the potential for traffic and noise.

For 37 years it was used as a summer day camp, this open, green spot in Aston now surrounded by housing developments. And now its owners have entered into an agreement of sale for the land to be developed for more housing. Neighbors of the property, off Trynes Road near Concord Road, are not happy. "I want to make it clear that we (the residents) are opposed to any housing development on the tract. Aston is already overdeveloped, and the development that has taken place has been poorly planned," said one, Pat Simpson.

Mayor Goode holds produce vendor Barry Esterman's fate in his hands, but the mayor wasn't talking. Goode had until tomorrow to veto a bill that would force Esterman, 24, to move his vending truck from its location on Bergen Street outside the Bells Corner Shopping Center. The center's anchor, Holiday Market, requested the bill to eliminate competition from Esterman, who lives in the neighborhood. The mayor's press secretary, Karen Warrington, said Goode would have no comment.

Will developer John Fisher's perseverance pay off in Sadsbury Township's first cluster-housing development? Six months ago, the Board of Supervisors rejected Fisher's request to group houses on 1-acre lots instead of the designated 2.3-acre properties in the woodland conservation zone east of Compass Road. And three months ago the Planning Commission dismissed another Fisher proposal. But at a special meeting Monday, the board and the commission again looked at Fisher's clustering plan, which requires amending the zoning ordinance.

A Lower Merion resident has filed an appeal in Montgomery County Court, challenging the validity of a township zoning ordinance that more than tripled the required building lot size on property he owns. Morton J. Berman, who lives at 451 N. Latches Lane, one block off City Avenue, filed the appeal Monday, calling the rezoning "discriminatory," "exclusionary" and a violation of both the state and constitutional rights of landowners. The petition also alleges that Berman had been "harmed and aggrieved" by township actions, because the new zoning requirements would more greatly limit any subdivision of his nearly 142,000-square-foot property, which contains a single-family dwelling, a carriage house with apartment, a pool and tennis court.

A proposed amendment to Buckingham Township's zoning ordinance would allow landowners to build "low density" offices along major roads on some tracts currently zoned for residential or agricultural use. After a brief public hearing Wednesday night on a proposal to add "neighborhood village office" to the township's zoning classifications, the Buckingham Board of Supervisors agreed to run legal advertisements of the measure. It was conceived as a way to create a "transition" strip between parcels zoned residential or agricultural and tracts zoned for commercial use, said George M. Collie, board chairman.

The Northampton Township Planning Commission Tuesday night unanimously voted to recommend a list of about 160 properties to be included in the new "country-residential" zoning district. But the panel included a request that the supervisors consider exceptions sought by five property owners who attended the meeting to oppose the zoning change on their land. The plan to create the new zoning district with a minimum building-lot size of two acres was passed by the board of supervisors with little controversy on June 13. That left it up to the planning commission to recommend which lots should be included in the district.