ZBA grants variance for 30 W. Highland

by Walt Maguire
Posted 7/29/21

On July 7, the Philadelphia Zoning Board of Adjustments granted a variance for the new housing development at 30 W. Highland Avenue. The decision had been expected.

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ZBA grants variance for 30 W. Highland

Posted

On July 7, the Philadelphia Zoning Board of Adjustments granted a variance for the new housing development at 30 W. Highland Avenue.

The decision had been expected. At a meeting of the ZBA June 23, Carl Primavera, representing property owner Henry C. O’Reilly, announced that agreement had been reached. The ZBA expressed their intent to vote in favor but postponed their vote in order to process the paperwork on the revised plan and pending a final L&I review.

Negotiations between neighbors and the developer, Henry O’Reilly, had continued up to shortly before the hearing. It had been a sometimes contentious process over the months since the project had been announced, but at the June 23 hearing Henry Clinton, representing the West Highland Neighbors group, said  “It’s been arduous, it’s been tortuous, but we’ve crossed the finish line.”

With an increasing focus on Chestnut Hill as a residential and shopping district based on foot traffic, an office and garage just five doors off Germantown Avenue, E.B. O’Reilly and Associates, HVAC specialists, had proposed in late 2020 replacing their office at 30 West Highland Avenue with eight townhouses. The neighbors had expressed concern the newer buildings would be out of character for the Chestnut Hill style.

Archived records of the plans are at chestnuthill.org, under Archived RCO Variance Projects.

30 W. Highland