...and we're not sure it is anything to brag about in hospital town, err, Bryn Mawr...you know, that town that tore down essentially all of the affordable housing and small neighborhoods?

Posted on Tue, May 6, 2008
Big plans for Bryn Mawr almost a reality
By Cheryl Allison

It wasn't an easy task that Bryn Mawr and Lower Merion Township set for themselves: to craft comprehensive new zoning for the downtown that would both "preserve Bryn Mawr"and "renew Bryn Mawr," as Commissioner Scott Zelov likes to put it.But they could be very close to that goal. After a public hearing next week, Zelov and his fellow commissioners are expected to vote on adoption of a Bryn Mawr Village Zoning ordinance and related zoning map amendments.

The hearing takes place Wednesday, May 14, beginning at 6:30 p.m., at the Township Building, 75 E. Lancaster Ave., Ardmore.

If it happens, after months of public discussions and revisions, the action will result in what Building and Planning Director Bob Duncan said is arguably the largest rezoning in township history.

A rezoning of areas in Merion in the 1980s may have covered a larger area, Duncan said. But beyond numbers, the Village Zoning concept represents a different approach to zoning and land planning.

More than 200 business and residential properties are affected, in a roughly mile-long area along Lancaster Avenue, from Lee Avenue in Bryn Mawr to the township line in Rosemont.