Well, here it is, another fine article from Sam Strike at the Suburban. Sam gets small neighborhood....and another person who "gets it"? Daylin Leach. Ironically, the Suburban this week also features an editorial by him regarding PA HB 904. Hopefully the developers for 236 N. Aberdeen Ave will just abandon this senseless plan. If they do not, can we predict that the sleeping giant that is this small neighborhood is fully awake? These folks seem to wish to preserve their 'hood and good for them!

Posted on Thu, May 15, 2008
Development comes to ‘Little Chicago,’ where change is seldom
The recalculation of floodplain lines key to subdivision
By Sam Strike

On paper, stormwater is all about calculations.

But in real life, it’s a subject of inch-high anecdotes and soggy stories of the worst kind of neighborly offense: problems that flow from multiple sources.

In the North Wayne neighborhood long nicknamed Little Chicago, where a number of people are second-generation residents, a proposed two-lot subdivision is causing concern over density, neighborhood fabric and of course stormwater.

The property in question is on the 200 block of North Aberdeen Avenue, a partially one-way street, where half of the homes (most with front porches and no driveways) have properties that slope down to Gulph Creek.
Across the creek are the back yards of homes on Willow Avenue.

There, a little more than a century ago, was the Wayne Natatorium, a fresh-water pool created there by damming the creek. Today, that history is still evident in soggy yards, flooding basements and an eroding streambank.

The proposed subdivision would cause the teardown of the 1888 home of Jonathan D. Lengel, a builder who constructed many homes and well-known buildings in Wayne during its first naissance.

What the would-be developers want to replace it with are two twin homes, both with two-car garages, which would double the impervious area on the property. To those on Willow, this brings fear of increased flooding. To some on North Aberdeen, it means a large structure with no architectural similarity to the majority of the neighborhood homes and the loss of at least three needed parking spaces.....What makes doubling the impervious coverage possible in this dense, waterlogged area is the adjustment of floodplain lines originally established by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

In this case, the proposed change to the line moves it about 40 feet towards the creek bed, nearly in the creek bed.....So, on paper, the floodplain for this part of the creek is nearly in the creek.

Fiorello explained that the North Aberdeen side of the creek (where the proposed subdivision is) can be about four feet higher than the Willow Avenue side, meaning when waters rise, they rise on Willow first.

The township’s zoning code requires plans to be sent to FEMA in order for the floodplain line to be moved....One neighbor had asked the Radnor commissioners to do that, saying that the “flow rates” used in the reconfiguring must have changed since the last time it was done due to more water runoff in the creek.

The commissioners were presented with the proposals, and its opponents, Monday at the caucus section of their meeting, where no votes are taken.

As for the design of the proposed twins, longtime North Aberdeen resident Rose Hyatt told the Planning Commission earlier this month, “To build these homes in our neighborhood, it looks like a joke. This isn’t a neighborhood for big houses and garages like this.”

Before we get to Daylin's editorial, take a virtual tour of this neighborhood.

Here is Daylin's AWESOME editorial:

Posted on Thu, May 15, 2008
Guest Editorial
Development moratorium: So towns can catch their breath!
By Daylin Leach

Anyone living in a suburban community in Pennsylvania in the 21st century knows what the phrase “suburban sprawl” means. As the term has entered our lexicon, its manifestations have become more ubiquitous. We see rampant overdevelopment, increased traffic congestion and a severe strain on all sorts of government services, including public schools, police, fire, sewer and stormwater management.

Over the past few years the legislature has tried to ameliorate the situation in a number of ways with varying degrees of success. However, as a member of the House Local Government Committee I recently voted to send to the floor what I believe will be one of the most effective tools we’ve ever considered. House Bill 904, introduced by Rep. Bob Freeman, will allow local municipalities, under certain conditions, to impose a short-term moratorium on development.

The moratorium option is crucial if local communities are to gain any control over the development occurring within their borders. Constant breakneck development allows no opportunity for a town or a borough to catch its breath and plan for the future. New applications are always pouring into the clerk’s office while bulldozers are busy wherever one looks. A moratorium will give elected officials and planners a chance to pause, assess their macro-situation and make intelligent development decisions for the future.

In crafting this legislation, Representative Freeman and we on his committee were mindful that this bill not be (and not be seen to be) an effort to end or unreasonably delay development. We don’t believe that all development is bad and we certainly respect the rights of property owners to develop their land and of communities to move forward and grow. All we ask is that this growth is done intelligently and thoughtfully.

In an effort to ensure that the moratorium option is a limited and reasonable one, we wrote a number of safeguards into the bill. First, we limited the duration of the moratorium to one year in most cases. Further, after the first moratorium expires, a municipality may not enact another one for at least three years....It is important to remember that the relief described in this bill is optional. No municipality is required to enact a moratorium. And where a moratorium does occur, it will be passed by the elected officials of the municipality in question. These officials are accountable to the people who elected them, which makes it unlikely that we will see these development time-outs except in places that really need them.

House Bill 904 is a thoughtful, moderate and responsible effort to enable local communities to grow in a manageable and sustainable way. I am hopeful that we can send this bill to Governor Rendell this spring. There are many communities for whom this relief can’t come soon enough.

Daylin Leach (D-Montgomery County) is a Pennsylvania state representative