No sweet surprise

With last week's announcement that Temple University is returning the Sugarloaf Conference Center to the Greenfield Foundation, Chestnut Hill suddenly finds itself wondering what will become of a huge, 32-acre swath of land in the heart of the neighborhood's west side. There are many possible scenarios, sale and subdivision, further use as a conference center or donation to another local institution (such as Fairmount Park, which abuts the property) among them.

The foundation isn't saying what their plans will be at this point, but, for some old-timers, the situation recalls the case of the Morgan Tract, bequeathed to Temple University by the estate of Randal Morgan in 1950. Unable to use the land (approximately 60 acres of which lay in Chestnut Hill), Temple decided to sell it to a developer in 1954, who eventually built what we now know as Chestnut Hill Village and Market Square.

In light of the Sugarloaf situation, it seems ironic that such a hoopla has been raised in recent months over the Woodmere Art Museum's proposed expansion directly across Germantown Avenue. The sudden wildcard status of Sugarloaf may soon dwarf Woodmere as an issue for this part of the Hill, but, for the time being, the sudden turn of events provides a useful object lesson for the Woodmere debate.

For one thing, it underscores what the museum has always tried to emphasize -- that despite the area's residential zoning designation, this part of Chestnut Hill really does turn on its heavy institutional presence, and it's foolish for anyone to pretend that Woodmere will somehow "damage" the character of a portion of the Avenue that has successfully weathered major hospital expansion and the Great Chestnut Hill United Methodist Church Parking Lot Controversy (to cite two recent examples) without seeing property values plummet.

Secondly, however, it reveals that, at least on one point, the neighbors are absolutely right to be concerned. The problem of overflow parking, so central to the neighbors' case against the proposed addition, was supposed to be mitigated by an agreement with Temple University to use the Sugarloaf Center. So much for that. Just as neighbors should not exaggerate the impact of what Woodmere is trying to do, institutions should not act as if neighbors' doubts about promises related to parking, screening and other matters are not valid, given the risk that certain agreements could fall apart as circumstances change.

James Sturdivant