Woodmere addition approved despite dissent

by MICHAEL J. MISHAK

The Chestnut Hill Community Association's Land Use Planning & Zoning Committee (LUPZ) voted to support Woodmere Art Museum's planned addition in a contentious three-hour meeting last week.

The unanimous 7-0 vote, which granted conditional approval with several provisos, sends the project to the CHCA's Development Review Committee next week.

The museum needs a use variance from its residentially zoned status for the 25,000-square-foot addition designed by Venturi, Scott Brown & Associates.

LUPZ member Larry McEwen moved to support the project after the committee wrestled with the 11th hour criticisms of neighbors Robert and Heidi Shusterman. John Kimberly, of the 9200 block of Germantown Avenue, joined the Shustermans in adamant opposition.

Presenting each committee member with a litany of concerns, Robert Shusterman took issue with the process of gaining neighbor approval. "There has been no reaching out from the CHCA or from Woodmere to neighbors," Shusterman said. "There was never any give and take."

While the Shustermans said they support the idea of Woodmere's expansion, they object to the planned addition, whose "scope and nature" they deemed "too much for the site."

"The fabric of our residential community will be so frayed it will lose its vibrancy," Robert Shusterman said. "[The addition] is too big within the context of a historic community."

Heidi Shusterman, a landscape architect, also criticized the project's size, citing a plan her firm worked on in 1995 that was half the size of the Venturi addition and had provided more parking spaces.

But Woodmere Director Michael Schantz said Robert Shusterman's motivations were personal, citing a phone message Shusterman left in his voice mail in July 2001. "You said you wouldn't be interested in anything Bob Venturi designed," Schantz said, addressing Shusterman directly. "This is a smoke screen for the fact that you have some personal objection to the man or his ideas."

Shusterman said his comments were "taken out of context," and insisted that his concern was for the community. "It's such a major change that we worry about the effect on the community fabric."

Joe Nicholson, Woodmere's board president, said the museum spent nine months, three times the traditional duration, in the programming stage, carefully considering all aspects of the project and its effects on neighbors.

"[The addition] is not over generous," Nicholson said. "It's as tight as a drum. Not only does it meet our needs, but it will also benefit the entire community."

The addition is designed to "increase the quality of the experience," he said, alleviating "the unreasonable demands" already placed on the existing space.

Still, some remain opposed.

Though neighbor John Kimberly admired Woodmere's appeasement efforts, which included Schantz taking photos from the couple's bedroom to visualize the project's impact, he objected.

"The character of the corner will change substantially, from quasi-residential to institutional," Kimberly said. "[The addition] will affect our quality of life and the value of our property."

Kimberly challenged Woodmere's claim it does not expect increased attendance as a result of the expansion. "I find it virtually impossible that a $20 million expansion will not generate a substantial increase in activity," he said.

He also said he fears further development.

As hours passed patience grew thin, even among the most levelheaded.

"I don't feel any need for a rebuttal," Nicholson. "This process has been open and transparent. We've made every attempt to include the neighbors and we have attempted to answer all your questions."

When the LUPZ delivered its subcommittee report on Woodmere's planned addition last month, it noted few of the institution's neighbors had yet to officially adopt a position on the project.

Though Woodmere's expansion plans date back two decades and neighbors were first notified of the institution's proposed 25,000-square-foot addition nearly three years ago, only about half of the 16 neighboring residences had weighed in on the project at the time of last Thursday's meeting.

The residences received approval-objection letters from Woodmere via Federal Express beginning February 9, Schantz said. CHCA manager Marie Lachat left subsequent phone messages for those with listed numbers.

Even architect Robert Venturi exhibited frustration when LUPZ member Elizabeth Masters questioned the scale of the project.

"The scale is greater because it's not a house," Venturi said. In an attempt to assure both the committee and the neighbors his addition did not eclipse the existing mid-19th century building, he cited his own reputation and experience. "I created the concept of context," Venturi said. The design, he said, considers the landscape.

Pointing to Shusterman's report, LUPZ subcommittee member Joyce Lenhardt openly wondered if some questions had been left unanswered.

Though the present parking design exceeds code requirements, Lenhardt requested a parking management plan that would address overflow.

"The general rule in planning is you don't plan for the worst 10 days of the year," Venturi responded.

Schantz said the museum may exceed parking capacity for its special events, but those instances are rare and brief, totaling about 40 hours per year.

Subcommittee member Larry McEwen said many of Shusterman's complaints had already been discussed and resolved. He questioned the document's authorship. "Does this really represent the entirety of the neighborhood?" McEwen asked.

Shusterman said he sent a draft to five or six neighbors who agreed with his assessment. "I think the subcommittee should have contacted the neighbors," he said.

But McEwen said public discourse had been sufficient, with several public meetings and continuing coverage in the Local font-family:Times'>, notwithstanding Woodmere's private invitations to its neighbors to view the plans.

Some neighbors disagreed.

"How can there be a resolution with so many issues not settled," said Brien Tilley, of West Bells Mill Road. "There has to be a little more community say."

After considerable discussion among its members, the LUPZ moved to support Woodmere's request for a use variance, but not without requiring the project's architects to devise a parking management plan and detailed landscape plan for presentation at the June 15 DRC meeting.

McEwen plans to meet with the Shustermans and other neighbors who feel their concerns have not been addressed.