Birmingham Township Supervisors Tuesday night suggested an applicant find another location in the township for what he wants to do. Panos Kollas, representing what he called a public benefit corporation, was asking supervisors to rezone a residential property at 1245 Creek Road for commercial use by a PBC.
(According to https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/public_benefit_corporation “A public benefit corporation is a corporation created to generate social and public good, and to operate in a responsible manner.” PBCs can be either private or created by a government. Kickstarter, Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream, and the Patagonia clothing brand are examples of private PBCs.)
Kollas said his group, which includes several government entities, NASA and the National Science Foundation being two of them, is a “discovery incubator. It incubates new ideas, new science, new technologies.”
He said the site would be used as an office and educational center with usually only about four people on site unless there was a conference.
Kollas said he’s doing part of the fundraising and, to satisfy Small Business Administration qualifications, he told the board that properties must be zoned commercial.
Township solicitor Ari Christakis told Kollas that a previous owner took advantage of a Pennsylvania tax program after agreeing not to develop the site so that if any subsequent owner did any development or used it for any commercial purpose, that new owner would have to pay the money back to the state.
“If the property were to be put back toward a commercial purpose and used for commercial use,” Christakis said, “that money would be owed back to the state, plus back taxes. So, there’s some penalties, interests, and fines.”
Supervisors’ Vice Chairman Mike Shiring said it would be awkward to make the requested zoning change.
“The board would have to make a legislative decision to essentially take one residential/agriculture parcel and change it to commercial. There are legal concerns about doing that, especially when you’re making an island of commercial in the middle of all that residential/agriculture area,” he said, adding that those sites are the most protected by zoning.
Christakis agreed, saying doing that type of change would be spot zoning.
“Creating one parcel that is by itself commercial in a sea of residential is not legally a sound way to go forward. It would be subject to challenge if we did that,” Christakis said.
He added that there could be ways to explore a change, but that would be very involved and would necessitate bringing the Planning Commission into the mix to determine the type of use, how many people would be on site, what the bathroom facilities are, what type of laboratory facilities are needed. And that would only happen if the Board of Supervisors would consider the request. Christakis then said it might be better if Kollas looked for another location.
Shiring added that time and money might be better spent looking for another location that’s already zoned to accommodate the proposed use.
Supervisors’ Chairman Scott Boorse agreed with Shiring, adding that if the board did go the exploratory route, it would be “asking for a lot of outrage by residents, and it would be a very large hurdle and challenge. I’m not sure I have the appetite to move forward with it.”
Other business
Supervisors approved a request from Stillman Volvo to construct a new 600-square-foot storage facility for cars already prepped for delivery to customers. The building would eliminate three parking spaces but would hold two cars, resulting in a net loss of one parking space.
Shiring also reminded attendees that the 245th anniversary of the battle of Brandywine would take place the weekend of Sept. 24 and 25, with an estimated 400 reenactors taking part in the two-day event at Sandy Hollow.
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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