SWARTHMORE PLANNING COMMISSION
Meeting Minutes
May 19, 2010

Members Present: Tim Kearney, Chris De Bruyn; Al Federico; Stuart Seidman; Rex Brien; David Virgil

Also in attendance: Elisabeth Knapp, Borough Council Representative

All in attendance reviewed the minutes of April 21st. Stuart made a motion to approve the minutes corrected as noted by Al Federico. David Virgil seconded the motion and the motion carried.

Old Business:

Tim opened the discussions reporting that Helen Speck had attended the regular meeting of the Multi-Municipal Comprehensive Plan of Delaware County. Helen noted that the historic preservation plans for Wallingford and Rose Valley were strongly opposed by their respective residents. Tim also noted that Jane Billings had discussed having Dennis DeRosa, of the DCPD, address the PC. Elisabeth Knapp also noted a DCPD contact as a potential PC resource.

At the request of new members Tim offered a brief synopsis of key issues the PC covered in the last few years including the Town Center Revitalization Plan, and the PC¡¦s discussions regarding preservation of historic resources which ranged from designating the entire town as a ¡§historic overlay district¡¨ to establishing a Central Business District overlay district that all agreed was a shared amenity. The PC developed a number of possible actions addressing the aforementioned issues in the PC¡¦s memo to council from October 08 including the following actions:

ƒx Do nothing
ƒx Demolition delay
ƒx Demolition prevention ordinance
ƒx Historic preservation zoning ordinance and overlay

Al stated the PC was pursuing the latter two items. The PC determined the first two were not viable paths and had no teeth.

Al Federico strongly believes the PC should pursue a demolition prevention ordinance. Al believes this is a time critical issue exposing the town to potentially undesirable demolition. With no ordinance for demolition or subsequent guidelines for rebuilding on a said site the town is exposed to demolition with undesired effects and subsequent unknowns regarding when reconstruction might or would be required to take place.

The Lansdowne Historic District demolition prevention ordinance was discussed and it was noted that its application to Swarthmore was limited due to the town center¡¦s lack of historic fabric. At issue are the criteria governing the review of these actions for demolition and construction. It was discussed that if the language regarding ¡§historic¡¨ were dropped and replaced with language that addresses or refers back to the attributes and characteristics of a formed based zoning the ordinance may be viable.

Tim believes that the review of the demolition ordinance need not be separated from the effort to craft language for a town center overlay district. It was offered that the PC revisits the College Inn Zoning Overlay District Ordinance with the possibility of expanding it to address the Central Business District. The ordinance would have to be reviewed and possibly modified to incorporate language that addresses any other concerns or additions that the commission deems necessary in preserving the character and historic resources of the Town Center. Stuart volunteered to start writing a draft of the BA district zoning which is modeled on the Lansdowne Borough ordinance.

Tim suggested PC members come prepared with specific attributes that they believe should be incorporated into this discussion and potential overlay district language.

New Business:

Swarthmore College cell antenna application?

Adjournment:

The meeting was adjourned at 9:30. A motion to adjourn was made by Al Federico and seconded by Stuart Seidman, the motion carried.

Respectfully submitted,

David Virgil