Proposed home draws controversy
Birmingham Township supervisors are less than a week away from voting on whether or not to issue a recommended Certificate of Appropriateness for a proposed new home at 1236 Birmingham Road.
Supervisor Bill Kirkpatrick thinks the board will vote on the matter during its Aug. 3 meeting.
Most such recommendations, which are made by the township’s Historical and Architectural Review Board (HARB), pass without incident. This one is drawing some controversy because it’s being challenged by a group of residents — including a former resident — and others who think the proposed home along Birmingham Road is inappropriate for the historic district. The property is owned by Anthony Diver.
Doug and Kate Marshall, who live on an adjacent, historic property on Meetinghouse Road, have previously questioned the size of the proposed home as well as the removal of large, mature trees that would landscape the property and protect views from Birmingham and Meetinghouse roads.
Former Meetinghouse Road resident Lloyd Roach, who now lives in Bedford County, said in an e-mail the planned home is not in keeping with the historic nature of the area because it’s “modern.”
Roach, a former chairman of the township’s Board of Supervisors, Zoning Hearing Board and Historical Commission, also called into question the fact that the architect hired to draw the plans is Tony Webb, the chairman of the HARB.
Also concerned with the proposal is David Shields, associate director of the Brandywine Conservancy and Museum of Art.
Shields wrote to the township this spring to say the conservancy, which owns the Birmingham Hill property, one property south of the Diver property, is concerned about the visual impact the new house would have on the neighboring properties.
He said the conservancy wants the township to require the applicant to use best efforts to protect the existing landscaping trees and to carefully review the application to make sure the structure is appropriate for the historic and architectural character of the district.
The HARB recommended the certificate in June, but the supervisors decided during their July 6 meeting that the HARB still needed to write a formal report as required by township code. The report was finalized earlier this month, and it was sent to the supervisors.
From Kirkpatrick’s perspective, the situation is straightforward.
Anthony Diver purchased the property that had an existing house on it. He applied for and was granted a demolition permit for that home and wants to build another, using the same basic building footprint.
The previous home was a ranch-style residence of approximately 2,500 square feet. The proposed home is multi-story with a garage. The ground floor is 2,506 square feet, the second floor is 2,843 square feet, and the garage, on the northwest side of the home, is 1,298 square feet.
Diver retained Tony Webb as his architect for the project. Webb is also the chairman of Birmingham’s Historical and Architectural Review Board, which is responsible for recommending certificates of appropriateness for construction and renovations within the historic district. The property in question lies within that district.
Kirkpatrick acknowledged the concerns of the neighbors, but said the supervisors’ job is clear.
“What we have to do is assess the rights of the property owner against the existing laws and see if the arguments have enough merit to say we’re going to violate his rights,” Kirkpatrick said.
He said the township wants to make sure the house meets current codes and ordinances and added that code enforcement officer Rich Jensen, also a member of HARB, has reviewed the plans “and it appears we’re OK.”
The Marshalls disagree. Doug Marshall said in an email that HARB has acted irresponsibly in recommending the certificate and that it should be concerned with protecting existing vegetation and following township code for site planning, landscaping, and overall building size.
In a telephone interview, Marshall said the upper story of new home would be visible from his home. The former house was not visible because it was single story and because it blended in.
Marshall continued by saying the new owner wants to take down all the plants, which would result in “a naked structure. Too many old trees will be cut down and he was only going to plant four fruit trees. That would never cover up that kind of house.”
He contends that HARB has not followed township code and that the proposed house is more in the style of a French chateau and, therefore =, inconsistent with the historic nature of the area.
As for concerns that the house is too modern, Kirkpatrick disagrees.
“I’m not an architect, but this is not what I would call a modern house,” he said. “It’s a pretty nice-looking house… If you drive down Meetinghouse Road and look to the right as you approach Creek Road, you’ll see the ‘alien space base,’ which is a modern house.”
(That house is outside the Birmingham Corridor.)
He also addressed the seeming conflict-of-interest of Webb’s being Diver’s architect while also serving as HARB chairman. Webb recused himself from any deliberations on the matter, yet did attend HARB meetings where the application was discussed. Kirkpatrick said there’s nothing intimidating about that, and it makes sense for Webb to attend.
“I would be surprised if the applicant’s architect was not there to explain and answer questions for his client…,” Kirkpatrick said. “Tony Webb has done work within this township for years and sat on the board at the same time. No one complained before even though he had those [professional] relationships.”
Kirkpatrick acknowledged that some trees have come down for construction purposes, but said critics are wrong when they say the character of the community would change.
“Fundamentally, the view from Birmingham Road is pretty much the same because the driveway remains the same and the trees are the same,” he said.
Kirkpatrick reiterated what the township has to do at this point and added his own opinion:
“As a township we are required to assess the application based on the ordinances and laws that are in place at the time of the application is made, not the rules and ordinance we’d like to have. Diver and Tony Webb have met those rules.”
The matter might not be resolved even if the supervisors vote to grant the Certificate of Appropriateness because Marshall said he plans to file a suit against the township should supervisors grant the certificate.
About Rich Schwartzman
Rich Schwartzman has been reporting on events in the greater Chadds Ford area since September 2001 when he became the founding editor of The Chadds Ford Post. In April 2009 he became managing editor of ChaddsFordLive. He is also an award-winning photographer.
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