Is it good or bad to be king? Have you asked those affable Radnor Friends Quakers how they feel about the spite fence erected on Conestoga Road where the development debate involving Historic Ithan rages on? What spite fence you say? Have you driven by? Is it just conincidence that the Quakers said no thank you to Wildwood style condomaximums across from them on Conestoga, and now after decades they can't park extra Sunday Meeting vehicles where the once did? Guess the fence was cheaper then the policemen who were guarding it one Sunday? Isn't that ironic since Quakers are peaceful people?

So....life is funny. There are names that are familiar locally that will pop out in newspaper articles. Sometimes more than once in a week. Such is the case this week with a well known Main Line developer....and the news is not particularly flattering...well, unless you count the press release around Bono's recent visist to the City of Brotherly Murder.

First comes the article on page 9 of Main Line Life for 10/3/07 (can't find it on line):

O'Neill's Plan Denied by Board by Cheryl Allison
"Reviewing the first land development application to come forward under new zoning for the Rock Hill Road corridor, Lower Merion's planning commission Monday night found it "uninspired".

Saying the proposed office building didn't match either the intent of the Rock Hill Overlay District ordinance (ROHO) to create a new gateway to the township, or specific requirements, members voted 4-3 to reccomend denial."

Didn't this plan get bumped on Wed at committee meetings too?

Anyway, next up is a small but pertinent story on p. 16 of 10/3/07 Main Line Life (Business page):

Business Briefs:O'Neill Properties Group Files Lawsuits against Conshohocken
"....has filed three lawsuits against Conshohocken Borough challenging conditions attached to a land development...for a proposed 309-unit townhouse develolpment called "The Stables" and a denial of a variance to reduce parking requirements...O'Neill Properties Group filed the lawsuits in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court against council and the Conshohocken Zoning hearing Board, which denied a request on Aug. 13 to allow 1470 parking spaces while current regulations require 1,647 parking soaces."

Oh? Hmmm? This article was also in the King of Prussia Courier... Public records search on www.montcopa.org show:

2007-22606 ONEILL PROPERTIES GROUP LP P 9/13/2007 Appeal from Zoning Board (Non Gvmnt) WASHINGTON STREET ASSOCIATES IV LP CONSHOHOCKEN BOROUGH ZONING HEARING BOARD

2007-22694 ONEILL PROPS GROUP LP P 9/14/2007 Appeal from Zoning Board (Non Gvmnt) WASHINGTON STREET ASSOCS IV LP CONSHOHOCKEN BORO COUNCIL

2007-22696 ONEILL PROPS GROUP LP P 9/14/2007 Appeal from Zoning Board (Non Gvmnt) WASHINGTON STREET ASSOCS IV LP CONSHOHOCKEN BORO COUNCIL

What will happen? Will Conshy stick to it's guns or fold it's hand?

Then you Google some more and all of a sudden, the same developer is mentioned in a couple articles in New England:

Newport Daily News: (Online Tuesday October 2nd)LOCAL NEWS HEADLINES
PCC alleges ethics violation by official
By Joe Baker/Daily News staff

"Portsmouth Concerned Citizens has filed a request with the state Ethics Commission asking it to review whether Planning Board member Edward T. Lopes Jr. has violated the state's Code of Ethics.

In a letter sent to Ethics Commission Chairman James Lynch on July 31, PCC President Lawrence J. Fitzmorris alleges that Lopes, senior vice president for development for O'Neill Properties' New England division, on two occasions recused himself from discussing an O'Neill application to the board and then represented the company in the meeting....O'Neill Properties, which owns the exclusive Carnegie Abbey Club in Portsmouth, is developing adjacent luxury housing at Carnegie Harbor Village, Royal Cottages and the 21-story Carnegie Tower and plans to develop marinas at Weaver Cove and the former Weyerhauser timber-shipping facility."

then...

Providence Journal: Portsmouth arson ruled out
01:00 AM EDT on Thursday, September 20, 2007
By Richard Salit
Journal Staff Writer

PORTSMOUTH — Fire officials have concluded their investigation into a July blaze that destroyed a pier at the Mount Hope Marine Terminal, but still haven’t determined what caused it.

They did, however, rule out arson.

“With the information we have available to us right now, we believe it was an accidental cause,” said Chief Jeffrey Lynch. “The point of origin appears to have been below the pier.”

Lynch said officials found no evidence of accelerants and no indication that electricity or fuel started the fire. Witnesses’ statements failed to pinpoint a cause, he said.

“We’ve exhausted all of our investigatory options,” Lynch said.

Deputy Chief Philip Simmons, who took part in the investigation, echoed the chief, saying, “The cause was undetermined ...because of the lack of available forensic evidence and the amount of damage to the pier.”

Because no cause was found, the case remains open, he said....The pier, about a mile south of the Mount Hope Bridge on the west side of Aquidneck Island, was once a deep-water port where the Weyerhaeuser Corp. unloaded Douglas fir shipped from the West Coast.

O’Neill Properties Group purchased the 44-acre Weyerhaeuser property and plans to build a total of 152 units of luxury housing that would be an extension of the Carnegie Abbey Club immediately to the south. The old pier, which Simmons said was once the largest all-wood structure of its kind on the East Coast, was to serve as the core of a new marina at the development."

Want to read more? Check out Philadelphia Magazine's article from September 2006. and check out what these folks in Belmont, MA have to say ...and don't forget to re-read this opinion....so, life is interesting isn't it?

Maybe some weeks, it's hard to be king?