The Zoning Board of Adjustment has changed its mind and given the go ahead for a Subway restaurant to be located in a vacant storefront at 4533 Baltimore Ave.

The Board voted on Feb. 1 to approve the Subway, reversing a decision it made last month to deny the application because of concerns of nearby neighbors about additional traffic in the alley behind the proposed location.

The Board’s decision followed a “plea for reconsideration” from the Spruce Hill Community Association and the Subway franchisee’s attorney. In a letter to the Board dated mid January, Barry Grossbach, who heads a committee that considers zoning issues for the SHCA, wrote that the Subway would provide a stable tenant for the storefront property and that the Association was “at a loss” about the previous decision to deny Subway a take-out certificate that would enable it to open.

The Subway would be the first chain restaurant on that section of Baltimore Avenue, where many businesses are locally owned.

“‘Mom and Pop’ businesses are often operating at the margins and while they remain the central and cherished fabric of our neighborhood commerce, we are always fearful that what is here today might be gone tomorrow,” Grossbach wrote. “Subway … promised a degree of stability that any corridor would welcome.”

More than a dozen nearby residents wrote letters to the Board to voice their opposition to the Subway, including state Rep. James Roebuck, who lives on 46th Street.

“I live a block from this location and I too share these concerns about the impact a Subway would have on my community,” he wrote.

Appeals of the decision can be filed until March 2.

Plans for a Subway restaurant near 46th and Baltimore are in serious jeopardy. The Zoning Board of Adjustment recently rejected a takeout certificate to an out-of-town franchise owner.

The franchise owner, who proposed a Subway location at 4533 Baltimore Ave., has 30 days to appeal the decision, which was handed down on Jan. 11.

Several community members and nearby residents protested the proposed restaurant, saying the increased traffic would affect properties adjacent to the proposed location.

Wilhelmina Herbert, president of the Garden Court Community Association, recently sent a letter notifying nearby residents of the decision and praising them for speaking out against the plans.

“Without community support this would not have been possible,” she wrote in a letter dated Jan. 18. “We have shown that we can come together to ensure the safety of our children, to protect our properties, and for the overall good of our neighborhood.  Our voices have been heard!”

The Subway franchisee’s application for a takeout certificate, which is required for any restaurant, was originally approved by the Spruce Hill Community Association in a December meeting. Herbert and others, many of whom said they were never notified of that meeting, asked that the ZBA postpone a decision in December to give them time to discuss the proposal.

Many residents who commented on neighborhood e-mail lists and an earlier story here opposed the Subway because it would have been the only chain restaurant among several locally owned businesses in that area of Baltimore Avenue. But residents who lived near the proposed locations, which has been home to several short-lived businesses in recent years, insisted that their primary concern was increased traffic.

The city Zoning Board of Adjustment (ZBA) today postponed a decision on granting a takeout certificate to a proposed Subway at 4533 Baltimore Avenue to give the Garden Court Community Association, which borders the store’s location, a chance to review the proposal.

Several people who live near the storefront where the Subway is proposed attended the meeting at 1515 Arch St. and expressed concern about the increased traffic that would likely accompany the sandwich shop. Residents were led by Wilhelmina Herbert, president of the Garden Court Community Association, who lives nearby on S. 46th Street. She and other residents were concerned about the likelihood of increased traffic – from both customers as well as delivery and garbage trucks – along an alley that borders the rear of the store where neighborhood children often play.

“My issue is there is no parking,” Herbert told the ZBA.

Other residents – about 20 in all –  accompanied Herbert to the meeting. Many in attendance live on the west side of the 500 block of S. Melville and said they were not informed about a zoning meeting on the Subway proposal at the Spruce Hill Community Association (SHCA) earlier this month.

“Not one person from the 500 block of S. Melville was aware of [the meeting],” said Herbert.

The Spruce Hill Community Association today approved Subway’s application for a takeout certificate, which is required of all businesses that serve food, with stipulations that include the building a 6-foot high fence in back of the storefront to enclose the restaurant’s dumpster. The storefront, which is about 1,000 square feet, has the proper zoning and only the take-out certificate, which is usually a routine matter, is all that is needed for the business to open.

Much of the opposition at the Spruce Hill meeting was leveled at Subway because it was a chain, according to Barry Grossbach, who oversees zoning issues for the SHCA. A letter released a few hours before today’s meeting laid out the Association’s position (it is available in full below). In it, the SHCA zoning committee writes that the committee has no legal standing to reject the application simply because Subway is a chain.

“Spruce Hill has no authority to declare a corporate operator off limits no matter the feelings of individual committee members,” the letter states. “There is no stated policy about chain operators on Spruce Hill’s commercial corridors.”

The SHCA position includes stipulations about Subway’s use of the rear alley, lighting, painting and “general aesthetics.”

But nearby residents fear, once open, that Subway will not be able to control the traffic in the alley.

Ronald Patterson, the attorney representing Subway, tried to persuade Herbert to admit that the community opposition was really because Subway would be the first franchise restaurant on that part of Baltimore Avenue.

“You want to create a commercial avenue, this is what you get – you get higher-end tenants,” he said.

Herbet responded that she had “nothing against Subway.”

The Garden Court Community Association will have a meeting on the Subway proposal likely during the second week of January (the exact date is forthcoming). In the meantime, concerned residents can direct their concerns to the chair of the Zoning Board of Adjustments:

Lynette Brown-Sow
Chair, City of Philadelphia Zoning Board of Adjustment
1401 John F. Kennedy Blvd. 11th Fl.
Philadelphia, PA 19102
The Spruce Hill Community Association position (pdf) SUBWAY ON BALTIMORE AVENUE

Spruce Hill Community Assocation – Proviso

When it rains it pours. Here are three meetings dealing with zoning and development issues coming up today and tomorrow:

• Cedar Park Neighbors will host a community zoning hearing for a proposed ice cream shop to go in the former Philadelphia Federal Credit Union building at 4610 Cedar Ave. Yes, this is the same building that Domino’s Pizza was interested in. Philly Flavors will outline their business and building  renovations plans. The meeting begins at 7 p.m. at the Renewal Presbyterian Church at 4633 Cedar Ave.

• The ongoing conversation about the commercial development of 52nd Street will continue tonight as well. The City of Philadelphia has had its eye on redevelopment projects on the street for a while, sparking protests among some street vendors. To catch up on the issues involved, go here and here. Tonight’s meeting is at 6 p.m. at the White Rock Baptist Church at 5240 Chestnut St.

• The focus will continue to be on 52nd Street on Thursday as Cedar Park Neighbors hosts a meeting to discuss the proposal to convert the empty Apply Storage building at 780-782 S. 52nd St. (near Willows Avenue). The building’s owner, Apple Iron Stone, plans to convert the building into loft apartments with first-floor retail and parking in the rear. The meeting begins at 7 p.m. at The Wayland Memorial Baptist Church at 5126 Baltimore Ave.

Former Pickles & Pies storefront. (Photo West Philly Local)

A deal is in the works to bring a Subway franchise to 4533 Baltimore Ave., the former site of Pickles and Pies. Franchise representatives reportedly shared plans with members of the Spruce Hill Community Association last night.

No zoning variance is required for the location, but there is a Zoning Board of Adjustment hearing scheduled for December.

Barry Grossbach, who handles zoning issues for the Spruce Hill Community Association,  said that the Subway franchise has applied for a takeout certificate, which is required of any restaurant. The Subway will likely have limited seating.

“Our zoning committee is still discussing the application for a take out certificate,” said Grossbach by e-mail. “[A zoning hearing] is scheduled for December 21st. We expect to have a decision before then.”

The zoning hearing will likely be at the regular ZBA spot – 1515 Arch St., 18th Fl.

 
Developers unveiled plans to community members last night to transform the squatters’ paradise at 49th and Locust, the Croydon Building, into a 127-unit apartment building.

The Croydon has been an eyesore rising to the west of the West Philadelphia High School football field for years and was the site of 2007 murder. Extensive renovation work on the building, budgeted at about $10 million, could begin as early as late winter. The developers, the West Philly based Orens Brothers, still must get zoning approval, which is expected in January. Orens Brothers bought the building in July.

About a dozen community members perused plans last night during a public meeting at the Community College of Philadelphia’s West Regional Center at 48th and Chestnut. The renovation will include street lighting around the building, which will help light up the section of Locust Street on the building’s north side. Orens Brothers is interested in renovating the small blighted playground adjacent to the Croydon at the corner of 49th and Spruce, possibly turning it into a community garden. The School District of Philadelphia currently owns that piece of land.

“If we’re going to make the Croydon look like this,” said Scott Orens, pointing to an artistic rendering of the renovated building. “We don’t want something next to it looking like that.”

The renovated building will include one-, two- and three bedroom apartments and the market-rate rents will range from about $600 for a small one-bedroom to $1,300 for a three-bedroom. Amenities will include a 24-hour door person.

Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell has supported the Orens Brothers’ efforts to acquire the building, which should help facilitate the zoning process.

“I really don’t think we could have asked for a better organization to do this,” she said.

One resident, who lives on St. Bernard Street, voiced some concern about Orens Brothers’ plans to acquire the city-owned parking lot on the south side of Spruce Street to use for Croydon parking. She is worried that the cars parked in the lot during services at nearby churches will be forced to park on St. Bernard, which she says won’t be able to handle the additional traffic.

Orens Brothers sought to acquire the lot after community members during a meeting over the summer said they were concerned about the possible influx of cars that might accompany the renovation of the Croydon.

The Croydon has a checkered history. Known by squatters as “Paradise City,” the building’s rooftop was the site of a murder in 2007 after a squabble between two squatters. The school district was also briefly interested in acquiring the building as a site for the new West Philadelphia High School, but instead built on a nearby site at 49th and Chestnut.