Mike Weilbacher writes about our historic district and last week's public hearing. However, he also writes that another "well known" yet nameless, faceless developer approached yet another property owner in our neighborhood about purchasing his property to amass enough land to build some other monstrosity of someone else's dreams....fortunately for us, Edward Avery, owner of the Berkley Arms said no thank you. Of course this makes many in this neighborhood wonder who else was approached? Would it be the buildings on Haverford Station Road, up to and including Commerce Bank?

This demonstrates yet again the urgency, yes the urgency of a comprehensive plan. Last evening at the Board of Commissioners, a lady from Gladwyne, Christine Jones, spoke to this urgency last evening. Bob Duncan, Director of Building and Planning got up in repsonse and said if a plan was rushed through, there wouldn't be as much public input. While his point is valid, exactly how many more citizens have to cry for help? How much longer before we get proactive versus reactive?

Hopefully, the historic district will curb appetite in Haverford for development out of step and out of character...but ultimately, what will cure what ails us are laws and plans that give government and governing boards the ability to say "no thank you" as well. And maybe it would help if developers actually got a clue about what people want in their neighborhoods and how they envision their future. They like to say we're NIMBY with BANANA and all that, but for Pete's sake - we LIVE here in these neighborhoods - who better than residents to fully understand the realities, the positives, and the negatives? Walk a mile in our shoes. Joe Duckworth and Arcadia did.

Also to follow is Tom Murray at Main Line Life's editorial and Cheryl Allison's coverage of last week's hearing. Many thanks to our local papers and The Save Ardmore Coalition as well, for giving us the voice we so desperately need...

Haverford Historic District: Still one hurdle left
By Mike Weilbacher

That huge sigh of relief you heard last Wednesday night was the Haverford Station community celebrating its approval as a historic district in Lower Merion. Haverford Station, some 140 buildings strung along the R5 between Haverford's train station and St. Thomas Good Counsel Church, may soon join the centers of Ardmore and Gladwyne as historic districts, the highest protection a municipality can bestow on a community.As documented in today's front page story, the Board of Commissioners wrestled with creating this district for two hours last Wednesday before ultimately voting 11-1 to approve it. For Lower Merion, this is the most important preservation advance since the creation of the preservation ordinance in 2000. This was, simply, huge.

The ordinance creating the district now goes to the state's historic preservation office for final approval. With luck, Lower Merion's sixth historic district and the very first one in almost a full decade becomes a reality in September. Cross your fingers.

For the community and the Lower Merion Conservancy, this is the culmination of 18 months of hard work. Members of the community, greatly concerned about the pace of change in their neighborhood (sandwiched as it is between Lancaster and Montgomery avenues, two of our community's busiest roads), approached the conservancy in late 2005 to work with them on creating a historic district.

....So while a majority of the district's residents supported designation, as last week's meeting confirmed, the notion was not unanimous. Some residents do not want to give up the freedom of rehabilitating their home any way they want historic districts require some changes to be approved by the township's review board. Some residents worry that historically appropriate changes may cost more. Some worry their property would be harder to sell. Even some of the commissioners shared these concerns, and many were unsure about the application of historic districts to commercial properties.

For the conservancy, we only agreed to promote this district once we understood the community supported it this was not a designation we wished to impose on anyone. But we are not shy about the value of historic districts.....In last week's column, we noted density as an emerging hot button for the community, as condo and townhouse proposals are adding hundreds of units of housing to the community across the township, from Rock Hill to Righter's Mill roads. One of the most vigorously discussed proposals, Allaire, is to be built in the center of the new historic district, and Allaire was on everyone's mind at last week's meeting. (It has already been approved, so Allaire will not be altered by this designation.) One after another, residents marched to the microphone to ask historic designation to protect them for the possibility of more Allaires.

Little did I know how urgent that request was. After the meeting, in the hoopla in the hallway after the vote, the owner of the Berkley Arms, a lovely 1920s apartment building on Berkley Road in the new district, confided to me that a well-known developer had approached him to buy his building, plus three commercial properties behind it along Haverford Station Road, and build a multistory condo structure that would occupy a massive block on Lancaster Avenue along Haverford Station Road. Luckily, our plucky owner loves his building and wouldn't sell, as we might have then lost half of Haverford's charming brick town center.,

Main Line Life/Tom Murray: Historic districts: Be careful what you wish for

There's Mike Weilbacher in Lower Merion, Ted Pollard in Radnor and Mitsie Toland up on the western end of the Main Line.These are just three key individuals among the thousands of Main Liners that really care about conserving the land and property on which we live, work and play. They and other preservationists will take on a developer who wants to knock down an 1850 building and they'll raise money when a township wants to buy land to save it from development.

Weilbacher, Pollard and Toland truly care about not only preserving historic buildings, but also making sure our children's children have a park to play in and green grass to roll around on.

That's why it's hard for me to take a stand on this issue that affects the entire Main Line.

I'm talking about historic districts.

A few months ago I made a reference about Weilbacher and Santa Claus, saying how I feel badly when I disagree with some people because they really believe what they are doing is right.

But as an observer of many Main Line issues, I feel it's my responsibility to at least question something when it needs to be.

And converting an area into a historic district does need to be looked at.

I will admit that when I first heard about some of the problems along the Main Line and its myriad issues and growing pains, I took a hard line stance and sided with developers.

If you have read this space in the past, then you know I believe the United States is the greatest country in the world and it was built on business.

Plain and simple.

Good business equals good living.

But I have softened in the past year. One of my kids thinks I am getting mellow now that I have reached my mid-40s, and I now look at developers with a weary eye.

I still think they have the right to do certain things if they play by the rules, but if some of the rules were changed in favor of conservancy, I wouldn't have a problem with it.

What does still get me fired up, however, is when it comes to the rights of private homeowners that I like to call "normal Joes and Janes."

In most cases, these people were smart enough to realize the value of a good education; and they work 60 hours a week and like to play hard on weekends.

They are also homeowners on the Main Line, and 99 percent of them take very good care of their houses.....I guess the simple argument I have with historic districts is this: This is my house and if I want to paint the shutter blue or replace the shingles, then who are you to tell me I can't.

It may not be much of an argument for some who like to quote Jefferson and preach about our history, but that one issue is what has me torn.

Haverford tagged as historic district
By Cheryl Allison

There were cheers last week in Lower Merion Township's board room.After a year when it seemed their neighborhood was pushed from almost all sides by redevelopment, supporters of a new historic district in Haverford had reason to be happy. Township commissioners voted to adopt an ordinance creating the Haverford Station Historic District.

If approved by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission this fall - the agency has already given a nod to the proposal "in concept" - it will be Lower Merion's sixth and largest protected area, the first to be designated in a decade.

The district covers an area on both sides of the railroad line roughly between Lancaster and Montgomery avenues, stretching from Haverford Station Road to Barrett Avenue.

The decision didn't come easy. Although more than 75 percent of property owners had signed petitions in support, a smaller but equally passionate number objected to a move they say restricts private property rights and adds a level of government review and maybe more costs when they want to make changes.

Properties considered "contributing resources" to the historic district come before the Historical Architectural Review Board (HARB). Most significantly, perhaps, those structures are designated Class 1 historic resources, meaning that they can only be demolished by permission of the board of commissioners.

Some of those commissioners admitted feeling "conflicted" by the arguments. But, after an intense three-hour discussion, the overwhelming majority said the scales tipped in favor of "the greater public good" of preserving a part of Lower Merion's legacy.

In an 11-1 vote, Commissioner Phil Rosenzweig was opposed, saying he could not support imposing a regulation property owners could not have anticipated. "To me, it's about choice, about knowing what you're buying and buying what you choose," he said. To step in now "violates my view of government."

The idea of a historic district in this part of Haverford is not new. About a decade ago, the township explored it, but state officials said it needed more definition. Some residents had started talking about it again, when concern about more large-scale developments like the planned Allaire condominiums on North Buck Lane "put some urgency in it," said Lower Merion Conservancy Executive Director Mike Weilbacher.

....Some opponents continue to question the area's historic significance. With the train station as a focus, conservancy historic preservation coordinator Lori Salganicoff explained, however, the district highlights these neighborhoods' growth and survival as a middle class rail suburb. Its eclectic mix of architecture is the work of noted architects and builders of the late 1800s and early 1900s, she said, while it has its own distinctive commercial area.

Rather than any one landmark, "The historic resource is the neighborhood" in total, she said.

While some homeowners objected, including a group on Old Lancaster Road, it was the commercial parcels on Haverford Station Road that raised special questions for commissioners. All seven owners opposed inclusion in a historic district.

After walking the area, and learning from planning staff that potential redevelopment there might actually be more restricted under modern zoning, Commissioner Mark Taylor said he was convinced what's there today represents the properties'"highest and best use."

As a commercial area, it's "unusual in Lower Merion," said Commissioner Scott Zelov. It has the wide sidewalks, the parking, the "village feel" the township is trying to encourage in other areas.

Yes, a historic district carries some restrictions. But, "If you follow Commissioner Rosenzweig's argument," Taylor added, "you might as well repeal all the existing historic districts in Lower Merion."