Galman Property
261 Old
York Rd
Foxcroft / Fox Pavillion /Applebees/
Burlington/ Acme etc ....
THE
OWNERS IN 2017 MAY BE CONSIDERING NEW PROPOSALS FOR THE
PIECE OF GROUND & PARKING TO THE FAR RIGHT OF
THE PARCELS THAT
FRONT ON OLD YORK RD . AFTER MUCH PUSH BACK
FROM RESIDENTS , THEY ABANDONNED EFFORTS IN 2013 TO PUT A
LONGHORN STEAK HOUSE THERE . WE
HAVE HEARD TELL THAT AS OF JUNE 2017
THEY ARE ANTICIPATING SOMETHING AGAIN -
POSSIBLY A WAWA OR ALTERNATIVELY A STEAKHOUSE.
NO DOCUMENTS HAVE YET BEEN SEEN, SO, SO FAR THIS MAY BE
CONSIDERED ONLY "RUMOR" . Stay tuned........
NOTE: The zoning on this property was affected by the
Township -wide zoning that
was passed May 2017. That means that the
property owner now has different used by right . Ask your
Commissioner to explain what has changed.
HERE IS THE 2017 REWRITE
PLAN THAT WAS PASSED
http://www.abingtonpa.gov/home/showdocument?id=6055
YOUR HELP NEEDED
Please call your Commissioner and also your
Township Manager
267-536-1001 Richard
Manfredi, and ask for a
SINGLE PAGE to be created on the Township
website for this issue.
This page would
have all the links to relevant documents,
meetings, and
information on this issue.
And ask
them to video tape all meetings .
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PRIOR
EFFORTS : Longhorn
Steakhouse
The Galman Property near
the Fox Pavillion & Lenox Rd
(Formerly the "Tip Aquisition" now... as of
1-13 the Longhorn Steakhouse"
January
29, 2013
Longhorn Steakhouse meeting--- Attorney for Galman,
Marc Jonas
opened
with a presentation of
the
Longhorn Steakhouse proposal ( Jonas
also happens to be
(the chair of ?) the Montgomery County Planning Commission,
an agency who would be asked for their advice as to whether
to proceed on this project. He also happens to be the
attorney currently for Bruce Goodman in the
Wawa proposal after
the Motor Vehicle
Fueling Center ordinance that was just pushed through
at Baeder road ….)
Here are some rough notes from
1-29-13 the
meeting - if you spot errors please help us correct them
--
Mr. Jonas reminded the
residents that the PB zoning district allows for lots of uses
including restaurants. The
new restaurant will need additional parking
( hence the 1.6 acres that was bought from the trust that
owns the Abington country club golf course one or two holes will
be "assimilated " - i.e.
paved over) Despite the paving over , Mr. Jonas assures us it
will improve what is draining from the site. A resident reminded
him that the Planning Commission had shot down a restaurant.
The resident was told
that the Planning Commission is just an advisory board.
Another resident mentioned that we have very little
recreational zoned property left but acres and acres of
vacant and unused properties. He
asked how it makes sense to pave over recreational property in
light of that? Commissioner
Willis said that the old York Road corridor is where they
want these kinds of Commercial ventures to be
( he did not
address the paving of the greenspace - nor the fact that
these "ventures" abutt residential )
One resident got a show
of hands so that Mr. Jonas and the representatives from Darden
restaurants & the others on the developer's team could see that
everyone in the room was opposed.
I did not see a single hand go up in favor. Mr.
Jonas said sometimes there are trade-offs.
Some people don't like change.
He mentioned there are 30 or 40 uses that could be put in
today including restaurants-by right- and every one of them
could be put right on the site. (To many of us listening,
it was sounded like a bit of a "threat" -- in other words
something much worse could be put in) He said by doing it this
way ( approving more than they had a right to have? )
we're in a position to have much more control.
He called the residents' reactions a knee-jerk reaction.
He mentioned that they were preserving a "finger of
space" - a small
strip- to keep as recreational buffer zone that they
are"willing to provide" to the residents .
One resident later
interjected some humor by acknowledging yes , we recognize
that you are giving us the "finger"........
The humor was appreciated in the tense meeting.. at least
by the residents.
The developer's team spoke about putting in berms
and plantings for screening at the top of the berms, to provide
a buffer-or maybe to provide fencing to manage activity across
that area and to mitigate noise, lights etc.
The site goes from a high elevation to a low elevation
and they plan to excavate from 9 to 2 feet and will " depress
the building into the land " affecting the sight
line.
Most of the storm water would be captured and delivered
to a retention basin-there is going to be a swale or possibly a
basin, vegetated with (water) tolerant plants.
They also have odor
mitigation units that can be added to exhaust fans etc.
They have optional odor removal modules included ( as one
resident later pointed out- the operative word was "optional" )
. The
representative from Bohler ( Engrs? )
said that the basins are
generally 2 to 3 feet deep.
The new DEP regulations have moved away from the ones
that are deeper and don't drain.
The developer's team insisted that new buildings
with storm water management can make things better.
(Although residents have become aware of many places in
the Township where they were told this would be the case but it
turned out to be quite different )
it was explained
that this is not a legal maneuver but a legislative one-they are
asking for a zoning change. Commissioner
Commissioner Willis mentioned that they amended the whole zoning
ordinance for the Motor Vehicle Fueling Center use and
although he opposed it, something like this has a decent
chance of passing as well . T
A
resident brought up the fact that all kinds of promises could be
made for what was being proposed here but once the zoning was
changed, lots of other things could happen - the property could
get sold or someone could go bankrupt and the residents would be
stuck with anything that fit in the new zoning.
Jonas said there are ways to get around that - with deed
restrictions and covenants and such.
Jonas said he spent a year creating the LA fitness site,
working with neighbors and they were hopeful that would be a
catalyst for more development in that area.
A
resident asked whether this was in the Tookany Taconey Frankford
watershed and the answer, by zoning staff member Mark Penecale,
was that yes, it was, and it affected the calculations
involved in how to manage the water . He talked about pumping
past Cheltenham and around into Philadelphia ( an expensive
proposition - we did not hear who absorbs the cost- developer or
taxpayers.... ) Two
of the three watersheds now have new conditions---
One
resident said he lives at the bottom of the hill and in
last two or three years it's gotten so bad --- there is a
huge drainage problem. Another resident suggested that
pipes at the bottom of the hill are broken and need to be
repaired. One
resident said he was unhappy with the pressure Jonas was placing
on the residents in a kind of ultimatum fashion - that you can
either do this and we'll accommodate you or we're
going to do what you don't like.
Others in the room nodded and expressed agreement .
The resident continued by mentioning the number of empty
storefronts and the fact that this would benefit the corporate
entity and be in his favor, but residents would face the
headlights and the odors and all of the downsides.
Mr. Jonas
chided him for taking the glass half empty position
and accused him of twisting words and said that the site
is already zoned PB. Another
resident suggested that Mr. Jonas was reinforcing the resident's
point about his behavior. When
another resident mentioned litigation, Mr. Jonas leaned in
and accused her of changing the tenor of the conversation.
There was a brief
discussion about who owned the golf course which was said to be
owned by the Barnes trustees and I am unclear as to whether the
final result was one or two holes that are gone.
It was suggested that the owner has a plan to put
athletic fields on the other side.
Mark Penecale said there was a resolution that prohibited
the site from having smaller leased portions years ago.
(did I understand correctly? ) and they needed to
keep the golf course in order to keep the greenspace for the
whole Fox Pavilion area. The last development was the
Foxcroft in 2007 or 2008--
the percentages required , apparently, have not
changed and if you develop this greenspace you have to account
for it somewhere else.
The more coverage that goes in, the more greenspace you
have to keep somewhere.
The recreational portion is (or was?)
38%. Not sure I
understood correctly but I think they said they have to maintain
38% green in the Fox development and the 38% was in the RC
district. They knew that
the front half of the development was overdeveloped so they put
in this resolution to make sure the entire parcel stayed
together----- it was a health safety and welfare issue.
A resident said that all of this matters to land values
and speaks to how much recreational space there is in our
area. Another
resident asked about # of seats versus parking spaces and
apparently there are 246 seats planned in the restaurant and 242
parking spaces. This
is over parking for the restaurant- some of it is for the
Pavilion ( I will assume the Pavilion needs a set amount of
parking space in order to meet "number of spaces per square
feet")
There
was then another confrontational portion where Mr. Jonas again
accused a resident of twisting things although the resident had
represented what seemed to be the sentiments of most in the
room. Another
resident asked Mr. Jonas if he was the chair of the Montgomery
County planning commission and he responded that he was on the
board. Another resident commented on the cars being 10 deep just
going through the light at that intersection.
Mr. Jonas was advised by a resident that what he'd heard
tonight was that the residents do not want this .
There are surely some
errors in this account ( honestly I was writing as fast as I
could ). If anyone in attendance would like to send me
corrections please do and I will be glad to post those if you
request me to.
If you hear
anything further on the submission of this project, please let
me know. All residents
should call their Commissioner and ask for two things 1) that
submissions of proposals such as this are immediately posted on
the website with a link to the details as soon as they are
proposed & mailed out to all residents they have emails for
and 2) that all meetings pertaining to this be video taped and
aired for those who cannot make them or those who would like to
review.
I would also like to add a note here :
The situation both in Abington and in Cheltenham with sewage and
storm water is at an absolute crisis. Millions of dollars are
being spent on this problem while developers, such as in this
instance, are requesting to have even more than their normal
rights and paving over greenspace in the process.
The cost of "rerouting" the wastewater and stormwater is
enormous and in no way bourne by those demanding the rights in
excess of what they bought and should be held to. The
continueddecrease of recreational space in a burgeoning township
is yet another affront. Yes – all this is just my opinion
- but I the opinion is shared by many - who simply don't
know how to stop this steamroller. It IS necessary
to participate to keep our communities at all a
ressemblance of the places we chose to call "home" .
Contact me
if you would like to help.
THE FORMER PROPOSAL IN EARLY 2012 WAS FOR RESTAURANT
AND OFFICES
Developer Galman (Owner/Manager of Fox Pavillion and other
properties in the same complex) is applying for a Zoning
Change ( not variances ) to build on a piece
of ground between the Fox Pavillion and Lenox Rd . A
good portion of the property is currently zoned
RC Recreational Conservation District and they would
like to convert it to PB Planned Business Use .
Variances need a hardship. Zoning changes are largely at the
discretion of the Commissioners.
Properties on & near Lenox Rd already experience a great deal
of flooding . Residents are concerned about not only the
flooding , but also about the
type of property that will be built, about the lighting, the
increased traffic, the noise, the reduced green area
township wide, etc. The conversion from
Recreational Use to Planned Business Use is symptomatic of the
"overbuilding" that is being allowed via both
variances and zoning changes .
Residents are
being told that the drainage will be managed
in a water retention pond and with slow release or "time-release" methods".
In other areas of the township where these assurances have
been given, residents have related stories that indicate
multiple problems with these methods.
Feb 28 2012 Planning Commission
agenda wording
The planning commission has been asked to review and
provide comment on the zoning change application of Tip
acquisition LP , owners of the property located at 261 Old
York Rd.
the applicant has requested that the
Township of Abington consider a zoning change for a portion of
the property defined within the meets and bounds description
submitted with the application.
The applicant requests approval to change
the zoning on a 1.697 acre tract of ground currently zoned
within the (RC) Recreational Conservation District to the (PB)
Planned Business District. This application does not involve
any proposed construction or other improvements at this time.
Nov 2011 Ordinance being proposed that
would amend the current zoning and allow for a restaurant
Click
here to view the draft - this may already have changed
. No action has been taken on it as of 2-14-12
Nov 2011 Petition The Lenox neighbors (all but one on Lenox ) and others nearby ,
signed a petition in Nov 2011 saying that they opposed any zoning change to
the parcel that would permit a restaurant or club .
FEMA map (circa end of
2011 ) - This property does
not currently show up as within a Flood Plain boundary. (These
new maps still have not been officially adopted as of this
writing - but they are expected to be . There is a creek
that runs the subject property and to the end of Lenox
showing stream at end of Lenox
TIME
RELEASE WATER METHODS Problems reported with
the time release systems that have previously been
installed include for instance that while some may be
helped, others that never flooded before are now being affected
. And people who live along the creeks & streams where the
water is being diverted often experience the effect of constant
saturation of the ground so when a simple rain occurs the ground
cannot absorb it . The more green space we lose to absorb
water , the more it is diverted into the streams and what was
one person's problem now becomes another's.
USE
THE TOOLS AVAILABLE TO YOU
Ask your Commissioners and your Township manager
(click here)
specifically to :
1)
...post a SINGLE webpage on this with links to find meetings,
updates & all the plans
2) ...tape all meetings on this topic & air them on our public
channel - the devil is really
in the details
-then you can review or catch up on a meeting you missed .
This is actually important .
3) ... post all
the tape
_
USE
THE TOOLS AVAILABLE TO YOU
Ask your Commissioners and your Township manager
(click here)
specifically to :
1)
...post a SINGLE webpage on this with links to find meetings,
updates & all the plans
2) ...tape all meetings on this topic & air them on our public
channel - the devil is really in
the details
-then you can review or catch up on a meeting you missed .
This is actually important .
3) ... post all
the taped meetings on-line with time reference points and
fast forward features
4) .. create an email list for all
updates and - invite ALL residents
via Township & Commissioners
lists to be on it so they can receive updates in their box if
they desire
5) ...provide a meeting space ( already paid by your taxes
) for neighbors to hold their own open
discussions
whenever they choose - not called by or moderated by authorities.
6) ... provide residents a summary of all changes being proposed
in 2 column/compare style
7) Finally:
neighbors, please make
your
own
meetings open to all - if you try to limit
transparency
hoping to benefit only your point of view, then you will find it limited
for yourself --- you will
be part of the problem not the solution
Email me if you need
help contacting others. I also have a great deal of information about
how our processes work and what is happening elsewhere in the
Township that might be helpful to your situation.
__________
Please feel free to
send your information to us and please be sure
to tell us about any information you believe to be incorrect - write
lel@abingtoncitizens.com
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