There is a lot going on to the west of us: Ugly Self Storage proposed for historic North Wayne, a seeming vote of "no confidence" in Paoli kills a controversial mixed use project, and a Delco judge reversing a subdivision order in South Wayne. Plus there is the rumor floating around and we wonder, will the Wayne get stuck with a big box like BestBuy?

Why do we wonder about all this to the west? Simple: we are poised for an awful lot of development and an awful lot of money is being spent on planning. And all this emphasis is being put on oodles of development, including transit oriented. Size wise, the Arc Wheeler project that now seems dead on arrival for Paoli could be the only plan to come close to the amount of development some want in Ardmore and it was less units then we are discussing ad nauseum. So when we say "less is more", redevelop, but please proceed with caution are we all wet here or could we be right in the end?

We don't know, but you know what? If you don't pay attention to what is working and not working in other municipalities, can it be said you are wasting taxpayer resources and time?

Municipalities seem to forget far too often the power of the people. If government would only listen a little more closely...sigh....sometimes when you ignore the plurality it comes back to bite the government in the butt.....read these articles in the Suburban and Wayne Times:

Sotry Number 1 or Ugliness for North Wayne:
Self-storage units pitched for North Wayne locale
By Sam Strike

A development company will be requesting relief from Radnor Township’s zoning code so it can construct a three-building self-storage facility on the site of the former L.K. Burket and Bro. Property in North Wayne.

There are no other such businesses in the township.

While Rosedon Development Co. LLP will request physical, property-related variances from the township’s Zoning Hearing Board, the warehouse-type use for the parcel is allowed there.

Pennsylvania Avenue, which runs parallel to the R-5 rail line on the north side of downtown Wayne, contains a mix of small offices in old houses, residences, small businesses and industrial commercial uses....On Monday, Radnor’s Planning Commission reviewed the developer’s sketch plan and issued general feedback, as it does on all proposals before coming before the Zoning Hearing Board.

“It’s a tremendous amount of zoning relief that’s being requested,” said planning chair Dottie Ives Dewey.

The sketch plan cites four zoning requests; township engineer Dan Malloy said after reviewing it that Rosedon may need to seek as many as seven.

Some planning members also commented on what they saw as an undesirable organization and design of the proposed storage site. Developer reps explained that the sought-after zoning relief would solve those issues....self-storage is “something you see along the interstate.”

Planning member Matthew Marshall followed, saying that storage warehouses by definition bring people from far away to the location.

“It’s sort of counter to what we’re trying to do in Wayne,” Marshall said.

Rosedon is scheduled to appear before the Zoning Hearing Board at its meeting Feb. 21.

Articles 2 and 3: Never Underestimate The Power of the People:

‘Lack of support’ demolishes ARCWheeler project
Daylesford neighbors long opposed the mixed-use proposal
By Dan Kristie

What many residents regarded as the most controversial development proposal in Tredyffrin Township is dead. ARCWheeler, a Philadelphia-based real-estate developer, sent a letter to township officials recently announcing that it was withdrawing plans to build a high-density, mixed residential and commercial development near SEPTA’s Daylesford Train Station.

In the letter, Hal Wheeler, the company’s managing principal, wrote that ARCWheeler was withdrawing plans because of “lack of support.”

Since the summer of 2006, when the developer first unveiled plans for the project, it has met with heavy resistance from the neighbors in the Daylesford area.

In August 2006, these neighbors formed the Daylesford Neighborhood Association, whose primary goal was to stop the ARCWheeler development....Due to neighborhood resistance, the developer continually shrank the project — the most recent plan showed 108 residential units and 20,000 square feet of commercial space.

But the neighbors wanted no such project in their neighborhood. They said it was too dense, would generate too much traffic and would “ruin the character” of Daylesford.

And, they said, they didn’t see the need to take a fully functioning neighborhood, demolish it and build a new, denser neighborhood there....“While we still firmly believe the residential TOD plan will add tremendous value to the community, we cannot successfully proceed without the full support of community groups and the town supervisors,” Wheeler wrote.

When asked if the decision to withdraw had anything to do with the declining housing market, Jill Friedman, ARCWheeler’s director of operations, referred a reporter to the letter sent to Tredyffrin officials. This letter made no mention of the housing market.

Judge reverses decision on subdivision in South Wayne
By Sam Strike

A Delaware County Court of Common Pleas judge has issued an order to reverse a 2006 subdivision approval by the Radnor Township Board of Commissioners.

But, like the history of the proposal for the .8-acre parcel on Lansdowne Avenue in South Wayne, it doesn’t appear to be that simple.

Judge Joseph P. Cronin Jr. also ordered the case remanded back to the township board “to develop a full and complete record… including but not limited to a transcript of testimony and other evidence and exhibits presented at the hearings.”

There are no “testimony” transcripts taken as part of a normal land-development proposal (although the meetings are recorded and could be transcribed at a cost)....A brief history of the case: the two-lot subdivision proposal was submitted to the township in December 2005 by resident Gail Blauer. After it was denied by the commissioners in a 4-to-3 vote in May 2006, a modified version was submitted and approved in split vote that November.

A group of neighbors, who had from the beginning conducted an aggressive and thorough campaign against the proposal, then appealed the approval to the county court.

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