Commissioners Approve Preliminary Plans For Shopping Center at Old Quarry Site

The Haverford Township Board of Commissioners on Monday night unanimously approved the preliminary land development plans for a proposal to build a 30.644-acre shopping center on the .

The preliminary land development plans from the developers, David Crockett of the Quarry Center LLC, and Eric Mallory of Eureka Development, call for a 24-hour Giant supermarket with a gas station, a Lowes home improvement store and three smaller businesses to be built at the site of the former Llanerch Quarry Reclamation.

The proposed shopping center still requires final approval from the Board of Commissioners, Board President William Wechsler told the Haverford-Havertown Patch in an interview. 

The township’s approval of the preliminary land development plans allows the developers to move forward with various required studies concerning the development, but the developers will need to go back before the board once the studies are completed in an estimated six to 12 months, Wechsler said.

No one from the public commented on the shopping center proposal on Monday night, but about 40 people attended the meeting. 

Wechsler looked out into the audience after public comment and said he was going to move the development proposal up on the list because he saw Upper Darby’s chief financial officer and several residents of Haverford and Upper Darby townships in the audience who were interested in the issue.

Township officials from both communities have previously said that residents of Upper Darby, which is across the street from the development, and Haverford Township, have expressed concerns about the development in regards to issues such as traffic, trucks, noise and light pollution.

Commissioners expressed their concerns about the proposal before they voted on the plans.

Commissioner James McGarrity said he had asked at another meeting that the development proposal be pulled if the developers could not get approval for a connector road running behind the existing and the proposed development out to Westchester Pike.    

“Has that been resolved?” McGarrity asked.

The developers’ land use attorney, George Broseman, said that the developers just obtained an easement from the owner of the Kohl’s property site, Kimco Realty, that will allow a connector road to be built.

Wechsler questioned Broseman in regards to the developers’ intentions.

 “Getting the easement’s one thing,” Wechsler said.  “You’re going to build it right?”

Broseman said yes, they planned to build the connector road. 

“They intend to build it if we can get all of the other approvals (for the road) from all the other governmental agencies,” Broseman said.

Jennifer Walsh, senior project manager for McMahon Associates, Inc. and the traffic engineer who was hired by the developers, said, “The connector road will definitely relieve traffic in that area.”

Several commissioners said they were concerned about the development increasing traffic.

Commissioner Stephen D’Emilio questioned why traffic studies of the area do not include Interstate 476, which he referred to as the “Blue Route.”

Walsh said typically a traffic study would not extend that far out because traffic tends to dissipate with distance from the shopping area.

D’Emilio said he was in favor of the development but he is concerned about the impact the development will have on residents in terms of traffic and trucks.

D’Emilio said the development would be placed in a “highly residential area” and questioned what the goal was.

Commissioner Larry Holmes responded that the goal was for Haverford Township to find a marriage between the residential and the commercial.

Holmes said Lower Merion Township uses business tax revenues for the benefit of the residents while Haverford Township residents are “saddled” with taxes.

Holmes said he understood residents’ concerns about the project, “But we can’t stifle the development … because we’re afraid of a few more trucks coming down the road.”

In response, D’Emilio said again that he was not against the development.  He said he was also concerned about how the development, which would have a Giant supermarket, would affect the business Manoa Shopping Center, which has a Superfresh grocery store.

Commissioner Daniel Siegel said it is not the township’s job to protect or not protect businesses in the community.

After expressing their concerns, the commissioners voted unanimously to approve the preliminary land development plans for the shopping center. Commissioner Robert Trumbull was absent from the meeting.

In addressing residents of Haverford and Upper Darby townships after the board approved the preliminary plans, Wechsler said, “Getting here was an arduous process.”

He said the board’s vote was the start of the approval process. 

“This is the beginning.  It’s not the end,” Wechsler said. “It’s the preliminary land development approval.”

Wechsler said the board would continue to oversee the process.

“We will be vigilant,” Wechsler said.  “We will be tough.”

Wechsler also thanked Upper Darby elected officials and residents for their input and guidance over the last six to 12 months.

In addition, the Board of Commissioners also unanimously approved a motion to adopt a resolution authorizing the township manager to execute a consent order and agreement with DEP on the gum factory site.

The board’s vote on another issue failed to be approved.

The commission voted 6-3 against a proposal to adopt the first reading to amend an ordinance which would limit vehicle sales, while making it legal for up to three used vehicles to be sold on non-residential properties, such as gas stations and auto repair shops. Commissioners McGarrity, Chris Connell, and D’Emilio voted in favor of amending the ordinance.

D’Emilio said some residents had complained about the amount of cars being sold at gas stations and the ordinance amendment would allow gas stations to sell cars legally.

Commissioner Mario Oliva, who voted against the ordinance amendment, said he would rather not restrict auto repair businesses from selling cars on their properties because “they’re just getting by in this economy.”

Oliva said customers will bring in a car for repairs but not pay for work after it is done, forcing the shop to sell the car to help recover the costs.

“I want them to be able to continue to do what they’ve been doing for years and years and years,” Oliva said.

During a continuation of the citizen’s forum at the end of the meeting, Bryn Mawr resident Richard Houseworth said he was opposed to any cars being sold at gas stations.  “A gas station is a gas station,” Houseworth said.

Houseworth questioned what would stop a car dealership from giving gas stations a few cars at a time to sell on their business lots.

In other matters, Commissioner Jeff Heilmann spoke publicly at the end of the meeting about the funeral for 3-year-old Joan Elizabeth Logan of Bryn Mawr, who drowned in a pool at the St. Albans Swim Club in Newtown Square on May 28.

“They happen to be friends of mine,” Heilmann said of the family of the girl, who he referred to as “Joanie.”

Heilmann said several people in the community made a “horrible day” easier and he wanted to thank them.

“It was a pretty trying day,” Heilmann said.

Heilmann thanked Haverford Township Police Chief Carmen Pettine for conducting traffic control and leading a police-motorcycle funeral escort from the church to the cemetery. 

In addition to Haverford Township police, police from Springfield and Upper Darby townships, and a Delaware state trooper attended the funeral, Heilmann told Patch.  The funeral was held in Bryn Mawr at Our Mother of Good Counsel Church, according to the child’s obituary.

The community also helped to create additional parking for funeral attendants, Heilmann said.

Harcum College President Jon Jay DeTemple opened up 400 to 500 parking spaces at the college, and the Acme in Bryn Mawr moved construction fencing at its lot, which opened up about 70 additional parking spots, Heilmann said.

Lower Merion Township Commissioner Scott Zelov also helped to arrange for extra parking spaces at Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church, Heilmann added.

“We had about 500 people outside the church,” Heilmann said.

It was a hot day and paramedics showed up with cases of water to distribute to people in line, who were waiting outdoors in the heat, Heilmann said.

Heilmann thanked the paramedics.