August 31, 2006 Issue
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Classified Chestnut Hill Local Online Editor Don't Miss an Issue, Tell us what you see or ©2006 Chestnut Hill Local Winner of One |
Commerce, community reach compromise The Chestnut Hill Community Association and Commerce Bank seem to have come to an agreement on the design of the branch at 8600 Germantown Ave., ending the 10-month-long battle between the two parties leading up to a Zoning Board of Adjustment hearing on Tuesday morning. During a half-hour recess, the bank and CHCA deliberated and concluded that at least part of the building’s height would be raised about 10 feet, to reach the 25 feet minimum required by the Germantown Avenue Special District Controls. The building originally was designed as a 15-foot, 4-inch building with a 22-foot, 6-inch tower on the corner. The CHCA agreed the 25-foot height could run along the façade side, facing Germantown Avenue, leaving the rest of the building behind it at a shorter height, but Vito Canuso, Commerce’s lawyer, said the entire building may end up being 25 feet high, which would please the CHCA further. The building will also be situated on the property line, which abuts the pavement, to fit with the other buildings along the avenue. The agreement, once put into writing and signed by both parties, will be voted on by the ZBA to make it official. No more hearings will be necessary if the agreement sticks to the stipulations set at Tuesday’s hearing. The heightened building will not include an additional floor, as suggested in the CHCA’s proposal to Commerce Bank on August 8, nor the suggestion of a café on the upper rear of the building. The compromise was made between the two parties’ lawyers — Vito Canuso and Darwini Beauvais for Commerce and Alice Dubow for CHCA — at the bidding of the ZBA board, who wanted a decision at Tuesday’s hearing. The August 29 hearing had been a second continuation. At a hearing on August 8, the board had demanded the two groups meet and come up with a compromise. They did meet directly after that hearing, but since Commerce Bank’s decision makers were not present, a compromise was never reached. No Commerce Bank representatives were present at the August 29 hearing. CHCA president Ron Recko said at the meeting on August 8 that the bank’s lawyers promised officials would get back to them within a day or two, but the bank did not contact the CHCA until last Friday, August 25. “They flat out rejected everything we asked of them and did not offer a counter proposal,” said Recko at a community meeting the evening before Tuesday’s hearing. “When we had our meeting with them, I said you can either negotiate with us and come into a friendly environment or you can choose not to negotiate and come into a hostile environment. And the result was it just fell on deaf ears. They are a very arrogant group, and unfortunately they feel they can bulldoze their way into a community like this.” David Auspitz, chair of the ZBA, echoed Recko’s claim. “This has been a fiasco since day one, in it’s arrogance and it’s nastiness,” said Auspitz. “This is the second time around with this nonsense and quite frankly it’s frustrating.” The ZBA recently heard another case of a community against Commerce Bank, which is currently in negotiation stages. The Wissahickon Interested Citizens Association is currently battling the bank to scale down a branch planned for Roxborough, on the corner of Ridge Avenue and Hermit Street. Chris Roller, the association’s vice president, was present at the CHCA’s appeal hearings to watch the action and prepare. He said he expects the bank to come after them when they are finished dealing with Chestnut Hill. During Tuesday’s hearing, ZBA member Samuel Staten Jr. said the CHCA and bank had to stop dwelling on the past (though there were quite a few attempts from both parties to bring it up again) and focus on the problem at hand. “The bank is basically a hole in the ground, we have to be realistic here,” said Samuel Staten Jr. “We should be looking at the building itself now.” The building’s design will include the Chestnut Hill schist, a local stone used primarily in Chestnut Hill architecture, and will accommodate the design modifications discussed with the CHCA last summer, before construction even began. Construction at the site has been halted since October, when the CHCA saw that the bank’s construction exceeded previous conversations and informal agreements on the building’s design. The Department of Licenses and Inspections halted the work, and the bank has since evaded communication with the CHCA on the building’s design, applying for permits to legalize the demolition work done without following the Germantown Avenue Special District Controls. Larry McEwen, the CHCA’s land use and planning committee chair, passionately explained how the avenue controls helped bring people to the community and the avenue. “It gives a sense of community and brings more eyes to the street,” said McEwen, who was in City Hall when the council approved the controls in 1995. While McEwen was advocating for the second floor apartments and café additions to the bank’s branch, he was satisfied with the compromise on Tuesday, having drawn a quick sketch of the agreed-upon building himself. No date was set for the ZBA to take a final vote on the proposed agreement. Contact Kristin Pazulski at 215-248-8819 or Kristin@chestnuthilllocal.com. |
