Bowman Properties withdraws project from CHCA consideration
By KATIE WORRALL
Bowman Properties’ proposed project for 8401-8403 Germantown Ave./3-9 E. Gravers Lane, has been withdrawn from consideration by the Chestnut Hill Community Association board of directors.
Richard Snowden, general managing partner of Bowman Properties, told the Local at press time that the project had been withdrawn from consideration by the CHCA and that if the neighbors want to meet with him before the next board meeting and to do the project, they should call him. “I’m waiting for the phone to ring,” Snowden said.
The project was approved by the CHCA Land Use Planning & Zoning, Aesthetics and the Development Review committees, as well as the Chestnut Hill Historical Society’s Historic District Advisory Committee, and was scheduled for a vote by the CHCA board on August 19. Maxine Dornemann, CHCA president, said at that meeting that Bowman Properties wanted another chance to meet with neighbors before it is considered again by the CHCA.
Plans called for the demolition of a one-story colonial-style addition that was built on Gravers Lane in 1964, and the erection of three retail locations and two bi-level condominium units. Plans included three terraces on the second and third levels, two accessory parking spaces and a six-foot high wall on Gravers Lane designed to block the view of the cars from Gravers Lane.
Philadelphia’s Department of Licenses & Inspection gave the project zoning refusals because the building would be subdivided into separate units, which are not interconnected by a common entranceway to other floors or units, according to the department’s notice. Variances are needed for legalizing the area and width of an existing inner court between 8403 Germantown Ave. and 8405 Germantown Ave. and for a fence wall in a setback from Gravers Lane. The use was refused by L & I because only one principal structure or use can be permitted on a lot and more than three decks in the side yards are not permitted in the district, the L & I notice states.
Jim Dunn, a neighbor, told the Development Review Committee at its August 17 meeting that neighbors were concerned about parking issues, the type of retail businesses and the duration of the project, stressing that the neighbors support the project, want Snowden to be a neighbor and believe the construction will be good for Chestnut Hill. (Dunn could not be reached at press time for further comment after the Local learned the project had been withdrawn.)
Snowden told the Local that he had made arrangements with Chestnut Hill Parking Foundation manager Peggy Hendrie to rent four spaces for use by construction workers.
At the DRC meeting, committee chair Greg Woodring questioned the compatibility of a restaurant in the retail space, given the presence of an “underutilized” 56-60-seat restaurant across the street. Wendy Kern, one of the project architects, said that Snowden would not rent the space to a restaurant as long as he lived upstairs but that he did not want to limit the use because that would limit the value of the property.
Discussing the duration of the project, Woodring suggested limiting the project to one year but Stan Runyan, another project architect, said that Snowden would not agree to a time limit. After Woodring suggested that dumpsters be prohibited from the street, Kern said that Snowden had agreed to place them in the back of the property.
“The property will be developed one way or another. It’s in a C-2 zoned area. As a matter of right, you could use the same footprint and add stories. He wants to be a good neighbor,” Kern said.
Dunn told the Local last week that he was pleased that the vote had been delayed because the neighbors’ initial meeting with Bowman Properties about the project on August 2 was followed in quick succession by the CHCA committee meetings and because he was concerned about vacationing neighbors who do not know about the project.