Bryn Mawr Buzzzzzzzz

Submitted by The Developer on Mon, 2007-07-23 12:30.

Buzz, buzz, buzz...Bryn Mawr is a buzz....Bryn Mawr Master Plan, TRID, proposed BID (business/Bryn Mawr improvement/investment district a la Ardmore Initiative), the hospital....and to be sure this post will get some skirts in a bunch, but hey, you no what? Opinion and comments are allowed, unless this is Soviet Russia?

Rumor has it, Bryn Mawr is more fragmented than ever and can it be said the organization that is supposed to be equally representing all businesses isn't listening to what business owners want? Will factions and special interests and players behind the scenes cause the village of Bryn Mawr to implode?

And speaking of "village", the definition of a village is:

A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet, but smaller than a town or city.

So, just asking but what will be village-y if Bryn Mawr gets buildings up to 8 stories before incentives?

And let's talk BID for a minute. It takes a while to get one set up correctly (Ardmore Initiative did not happen overnight, and when it came to all as Ardmore2000 in 2000, it took a couple years of planning, right?) Do these organizations pay for themselves? No. Is a BID in Bryn Mawr what businesses want? Do the businesses in Bryn Mawr want to pay what amounts to a tithing to sustain it? And who is the driving force and why?

The natives are restless and the rumors are flying. Input welcome. After all, it would be a shame to see Bryn Mawr become even more fragmented....especially when most of the store fronts are looking so much better....and how many actually belong to the Bryn Mawr Business Association? Is Midge McCauley accomplishing any more in Bryn Mawr than she did in Ardmore, because let's be honest, what did she do really for Ardmore other than spend a lot of taxpayer monies?

In the end, does Bryn Mawr want to remain Bryn Mawr or some urban Disneyland? Should a betting pool be opened now as to which "village" will survive more intact? Bryn Mawr or Ardmore? Ardmore seems to be in a better place, doesn't it? Does it, in the end, have to do with the cooks in the kitchen? And in the end will the name be changed to "hospital town"?

See:
Bryn Mawr wrestles with a makeover
To renew, or to preserve?
By Jeff Shields
Inquirer Staff Writer

Please excuse Bryn Mawr, the once-contented belle of Main Line life, if she's having an identity crisis.
A backhoe is razing a half-dozen grand old homes to make room for a hospital parking garage, and empty storefronts on Lancaster Avenue hint that her business district has some catching up to do.

Narrow sidewalks, zooming traffic and awkward parking discourage the very shoppers she needs to survive, planners say.

But as Bryn Mawr mulls her planned transformation from a sometimes drowsy hamlet to a bustling hub, she seems unsure if she's ready for the makeover.

The controversial $62 million expansion of Bryn Mawr Hospital now under way required the demolitions of homes....But some villagers fear the loss of Bryn Mawr's character - its mix of consignment stores next to shops selling $15,000 gowns, its soaring oaks and modest storefronts, its downtown rowhouses up against Main Line mansions.

"There's this thing about 'the future is growth' - and I'm not so sure that's true," said Hank Wilson, president of the Bryn Mawr Civic Association. "Some of us think Bryn Mawr is pretty nice the way it is."

Vacant shop windows next door to Wilson's Creative Way Needlepoint suggest something else to Charles Waters as he looks out from his Suburban Hardware store, a Main Line institution.

"The direction we're going in right now is definitely not working," Waters said. "You look across the street and say, 'Is this town dying?' "

...As Bryn Mawr negotiates its long-term strategy, attorney Vincent S. DiCioccio, president of the Bryn Mawr Business Association, hopes to take on the vacancy problem by establishing a Business Improvement District.

If approved by business owners, it would collect additional taxes, controlled by the members, to be spent on marketing downtown. "My intention is to bring the town into the future," DiCioccio said. "Or if not that, at least into the present."

Business Improvement District eyed for Bryn Mawr
By Cheryl Allison

With a new master plan in place, new zoning in the works, and the new economic development tool known as TRID under consideration, the village of Bryn Mawr is poised for change.But there is also a "certain inertia" to break through, and a need to manage the change that's coming.

Bryn Mawr Business Association President Vincent DiCioccio and some other members of the organization think they've found the mechanism to do both.

In recent months, they have been researching the establishment of a Business Improvement District. At a meeting last week, they said they are ready to form a steering committee to move the idea forward.

A BID is a local authority enabled by state legislation, the Neighborhood Improvement District Act, enacted in 2000. It's a newer alternative to the Business District Authority, familiar in Lower Merion through the Ardmore Initiative for Ardmore's commercial district.....To pay for such efforts, commercial properties within the boundaries of a BID are subject to a special assessment. The rate of the assessment and the annual revenues it produces depend on the number of properties included.

Emphasizing that a Bryn Mawr proposal is "very preliminary, " the business association, working with Lower Merion Township Economic Development Specialist Eric Persson, has mapped out boundaries for a district extending from Lee Avenue on the east to the McDonald's in Rosemont on the west, along Lancaster Avenue, down Bryn Mawr Avenue to the five points intersection at County Line Road.

Only commercial properties would be subject to the assessment. Using those "theoretical boundaries, " the group has identified 213 properties that could potentially participate, with a total assessed value of $100 million, said business association Treasurer Charles Waters.

Based on a projected annual budget of $300, 000, which would include hiring an executive director, Waters said an assessment of 003 mills would be needed. At $3 per $1, 000 of assessed value, an individual property assessed at $100, 000 would pay $300 per year to support the BID; for larger, more valuable properties, the assessment could be several thousand dollars per year.

By comparison, Waters said, Ardmore's Business District Authority assessment is $350 per year for a property assessed at $100, 000.

DiCioccio said non-profit organizations in a BID are not assessed. However, they can volunteer to participate. Fundraising activities might bring in additional revenues.

DiCioccio, an attorney who is a Bryn Mawr native, has been president of the business association for two years, having previously been president of the Elmwood Business Association in Philadelphia.

....Anyone interested in volunteering to serve on the steering committee or learning more about a Business Improvement District in Bryn Mawr is invited to e-mail DiCioccio at