The owners of The Gables restaurant want to turn the old stone house next to the restaurant into a B&B. But the process might not be cut and dried. Mike Shiring, the attorney representing owner Ann Kolenick and her partner, said turning the old historic house into a bed and breakfast is a perfect idea for adaptive reuse, but added that it’s “a complex zoning and historic process.”
Shiring and Kolenick went before the Pennsbury Planning Township Commission on May 30 to discuss the project that will eventually require conditional use approval. Before that, however, Kolenick will need approval from the Historical Commission, along with showing compliance with the fire code and upgrading the sewage system. There will also be at least one more trip to the Planning Commission.
Tom Oeste, Pennsbury Township solicitor, also said there are 22 criteria for B&B and all 22 must be met.
The house, at 1301 Brintons Bridge Road on the corner of Britons Bridge and Route 1, is part of the old Brinton-King Farmstead and was the former location of Brandywine View Antiques. The house was built in stages with the earliest parts built between 1780 and 1795; it’s on the National Register and is a Class 1 Historic Resource in Pennsbury.
Tuesday night’s session was just an overview of the application. The stone house and the carriage house are planned to be used for the bed and breakfast.
A total of 16 bedrooms are planned, eight in each of the two structures. There are no bedrooms on the first floor of the main house, but there would be four on the second and four more on the third floor. The second floor will also have three bathrooms, while the third floor will have two.
Kolenick said she foresees most of the use would be for families attending weddings and receptions held at The Gables. Bedrooms without their own bathrooms would be for use by family members who can share a bathroom.
Another issue discussed was parking. According to Shiring, 19 parking spaces are needed for the main house and carriage house to be used for a B&B, and that is what’s there now. But he added that The Gables needs 95 spaces.
He went on to say there are currently 70 lined parking spots, but they can get an additional 24 spaces in areas of the parking lot that are not currently lined.
When questioned, Kolenick said that, with one exception during a large fundraising event, there have been no complaints from neighbors about overflow parking. She said the restaurant had 1,000 people this past Mother’s Day weekend and there were no problems with parking.
Another issue that needs to be worked out is the interpretation of the township code that calls for a bed and breakfast to be “innkeeper occupied.”
Shiring suggested that an employee could live on the premises because Kolenick lives just on Brintons Bridge Road. However, Oeste questioned whether the innkeeper needs to be the owner. So that will need to be worked out. Ans a use variance might also be needed to use the carriage house, he added.
Shiring reiterated that the use as a B&B “is the highest and best use for the property…Your ordinance recognizes that something like this should be considered.”
The one definite to come out of Tuesday night’s meeting was that the applicant is scheduled to go back to the Planning Commission with more details at the June 27 meeting.
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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