Zoners Nix Auto Dealer For Swarthmore Collision Site
By Bob Small
The Swarthmore Zoning Hearing Board, Jan. 21, continued its hearing from Dec. 17, concerning Swarthmore Collision Center, at Yale and Rutgers avenues. which was the only business grandfathered’ into this particular residential neighborhood.
Full Disclosure: We have lived almost directly across the street from this business for three and a half decades, with the noise and fumes.
In December, we learned that Swarthmore Collision was selling to Great Renaissance Holdings.
As we live 500 feet away, we received a notice for the December meeting. It came from Linn Architects, the architects for this project, not Great Renaissance.
Borough manager William Webb denied the application on the basis that “automobile sales and preparation of automobiles is not a continuation” of auto repair.
This hearing was for the appeal.
Prior to the hearing, we both had anti-letters in The Swarthmorean .
My project was delivering the meeting announcements to people living on eight adjacent streets.
Linn Architects, after my first contact, regularly emailed and called me to arrange a meeting between them and the neighbors prior to Jan. 21.
Nothing came of that.
Now we, finally, come to the meeting. By the end of the meeting, there were 30-some neighbors in the audience. None of them spoke for the change. The evening started off with some comments from the audience, followed by an extensive and incomprehensible presentation by Linn Architects . At a certain point, a very soft-spoken representative from Great Renaissance Holdings did speak.
Finally, there was public comment; from myself, my wife Paula,Bronstein, Rick Lee, Maryanne Giselle, etc. , all against Great Renaissance.
At the end of all this, the seven members of the zoning hearing board retired for 15 minutes. When they returned they voted on both motions, basically supporting the Borough Manager’s decision.
We were all pleasingly amazed, though aware that this rejection could still be appealed.
Borough Solicitor Bob Scott spoke well for the Borough.. Others from the Borough were Mayor Marty Spiegel and Borough Council President Jill Gaieski.
Zoners Nix Auto Dealer For Swarthmore Collision Site