Pennsbury Township Board of Supervisors gave unanimous approval to the Gables Restaurant for a bed and breakfast operation in two buildings on its adjacent property. The restaurant will also be changing its name in time.
Approval came after Wednesday night after two sessions of a conditional use hearing. Township solicitor Tom Oeste read a list of 29 conditions that Gables’ owners Ann Kolenik and Alfredo Giannaccari agreed to abide by.
Conditions include having a full-time operator with an operator’s apartment, no more than three employees, no cooking in the guest rooms, and a 14-day stay maximum guest stay.
Other conditions require food service to be limited to breakfast and afternoon tea for guests only, and that no catering shall be done from the stone building. No alcoholic beverages can be served in the B&B, but guests may bring their own.
The applicants had no problems with those conditions and most of the others, but there is one that Kolenik and Giannaccari grudgingly accept, that’s the limitation on the number of guest rooms in the two buildings, the stone building — the former location of Brandywine View Antiques — and the carriage house. The applicants wanted 16 rooms, eight in each building, but the board granted approval for a total of 12 rooms, eight in the stone building but only four in the carriage house.
In explaining the conditions before the board voted. township solicitor Tom Oeste said the 12 rooms were the “maximum permitted but not guaranteed. It depends on whether the remaining conditions can be complied with.”
During the discussion before the vote, there was a brief exchange with the applicants asking the reason for limiting the number of rooms, and Oeste said that was based on the ordinance and that 12 was the maximum the board could allow. He added that if they rejected that condition, the board was prepared to vote against the application.
At one point, Kolenik and attorney Lee Stivale excused themselves for a private discussion on the matter. When they returned, the 12-room maximum was accepted.
Another condition is restoring and maintaining the exteriors of both buildings “in substantial historic accuracy.” Part of that restoration with an eye on history is the future renaming of the restaurant. The Gables was once a creamery and had an exterior mural of a cow. Kolenik said they’ll be changing the name of the restaurant to the Black Cow Bistro.
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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