New Community Center Gets Green Light from Zoning Board
Swarthmore United Methodist Church, the future home of the Park Avenue Community Center
At the November 30 Swarthmore Zoning Hearing Board meeting, the board approved a joint application by Swarthmore United Methodist Church and the nonprofit Swarthmore Community Center, Inc. for a use variance to permit the center to operate a new community center—to be called Park Avenue Community Center—on the church’s property. The application requested the variance both for 129 Park Avenue (the existing church building) and 131 Park Avenue (a residence owned by the church). Board members questioned whether it was appropriate to grant the variance with respect to the residence, citing code criteria that require a demonstration of hardship. The co-applicants requested a short recess to confer, during which they decided to withdraw the residence at 131 Park from consideration. With that sticking point removed, the Board swiftly approved the application for the use variance with respect to the church building.
A long neglected, uninhabitable house at 4 Ogden Avenue in Swarthmore. Photo: Greg Hoy
At the same meeting, the board also considered a request from Rick Lee, of R.S. Lee Construction, Inc., assisted by former Swarthmore Mayor Guy Smith, for a variance of the rule limiting coverage of new construction to 12 percent of the building lot, in order to construct a house at 4 Ogden Avenue that would cover 15 percent of the lot. (This is a substantially undersized lot that currently does not conform to zoning regulations, on which stands a long neglected, uninhabitable house.) The board initially took note of an error in calculating the square footage of the lot—which was then corrected—and heard concerns expressed by a resident neighbor of the lot, Carol Menke, about the proposed footprint and setback, then unanimously approved the variance.
At the end of the meeting, Guy Smith shared an amusing anecdote. Back when he was the borough’s solicitor and was helping to write its zoning code, he had learned that the town was originally laid out by Swarthmore College engineering students: “What’s funny about that,” he said, “is that Haverford Avenue is one of the shortest streets in town, and Swarthmore Avenue is one of the longest—because they hated Haverford [College].” To which board member Robert Richardson responded, “But the joke is on them, though, because it’s a beautiful street!”
The next meeting for the Swarthmore Zoning Hearing Board will be held on Tuesday, December 7, at 7 p.m.
