By Sharon Eckstein, President, Save Ardmore Coalition

The Save Ardmore Coalition's mission statement asserts that our grassroots organization is dedicated to the revitalization of Ardmore's business district based on community input, consensus building, sound and comprehensive planning and the preservation of our architectural heritage. Accordingly, we support the swift enactment of a comprehensive plan for Lower Merion Township, a full town plan for Ardmore, and an updated Municipal Planning Code for the entire Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

The Save Ardmore Coalition ( SAC) appreciates the outreach from SW Land Associates, developers of 130 Cricket Ave. and values the ongoing dialogue that we have been having with them. Nevertheless, SAC is opposed to the proposed development of 130 Cricket Ave. as it is currently being discussed.

SAC supports the creation of and maintaining of truly affordable housing in Ardmore. We realize that without housing diversity a community loses its vitality. A community is most vibrant when it has housing opportunities for people at different stages of life and with different socioeconomic backgrounds, when those of different means can call one neighborhood their own.

Developer incentives to create affordable housing generally allow developers to build more units than the zoning ordinances allow. As a "reward" for promoting the societal good of affordable housing, they are permitted to increase the project's density. The proposed development of 130 Cricket Ave. involves the building of one condominium building with approximately 37 units rather than the straight, recently re-examined R6A zoning maximum of approximately 12-15 units because the developers are including approximately 18 units of "subsidized units" -- primarily one-bedroom units selling for $320,000, as we have been told. In Ardmore, for that amount of money, we assert that those who would truly need this housing would be looking for a single family home or even a townhouse, not a one bedroom condominium apartment.

The developers are choosing to interpret that the requirement of a state subsidization program that is met by applying the terms of the Pa Housing Finance Agency Keystone Loan Program, a loan program with the highest income limits. This state program allows first time homeowners to purchase loans with low interest rates if the maximum income for their one- or two-person household is $72,000 and the maximum purchase price of the home is $320,000. This program does not provide any down payment money, nor does it require that the home purchased with the Keystone Loan be restricted from resale at the Fair Market Value to any individual ( even those who would not qualify for this loan program) after one year.

In other words, the developer of 130 Cricket is being permitted to build close to three times the zoning limit because they will be selling half of his one bedroom units for $320,000 to first-time homeowners with income limits of $72,000 for their one- to two-person household and enough of their own down payment money to secure the purchase. These first-time homeowners can then sell their unit 12 months after purchase to anyone. The unit is no longer "subsidized."

Is this the scenario that was intended by those who crafted the affordable housing incentives? Did they intend that developers should be permitted to build a project that far exceeds the zoning limits because half of the units will be restricted to first-time homeowners who do not have low incomes or down payments? Did they intend that units could be flipped in only one year so that theoretically no affordable housing remains in the project after 12 months? We do not believe so.
Clearly the codes must be rewritten so that projects like this reflect the spirit of the law, and not just the letter of the law.

SAC is also opposed in general to the teardown of a well maintained Victorian home intrinsic to the fabric and history of Cricket Avenue in a residential neighborhood for the building of a large project approximately three times the size of the R6A zoning limits. This might, through affordable housing incentives, be to the letter of the law, but clearly is not embracing the full spirit of the law. The neighborhood's infrastructure will not contain the additional parking needs of condo residents and their guests as well as the additional traffic. In addition, what also needs to be considered is the overall effect on some of the other basic infrastructure issues such as water, power, sewer and gas service.

The MUST Ordinance, passed to promote density in the inner rings near the train station and restrict it to those areas, purposely did not extend into the residential neighborhoods of Ardmore. The Cricket Avenue Condominium project is outside the MUST zoning overlay.

SAC sincerely hopes that Lower Merion Township does what is necessary to protect this Ardmore neighborhood and neighborhoods like it at risk throughout the township. We urge the developers of 130 Cricket Ave. to reconsider their project as currently being presented and to honor the concerns of the Ardmore community.