Historic Gladwyne Barn Seeks Home

The Building and Planning Committee of the Lower Merion Township Board of Commissioners on Wednesday night recommended that the full board consider a preliminary open space subdivision plan for 1345 Conshohocken State Road and 1325 Club House Road in Gladwyne, which would involve the subdivision of a 9.3-acre parcel into five new lots and a preservation area.

Christopher Leswing, the township’s assistant director of building and planning, said one of the township’s main concerns is the preservation of the historic Cunningham barn, which must be removed from the property if the proposed subdivision’s five homes are to be built on the site.

The Planning Commission recommended that the preliminary subdivision plan be approved subject to several conditions, including one which states that the barn shall be made available in its entirety to anyone who wishes to reconstruct it on another property, prior to its removal from the site.

“If anyone out there would like a barn, please contact Mr. Weiss,” Leswing said, referring to the applicant’s attorney Ross Weiss of Cozen and O’Connor.

Weiss expressed optimism about the barn finding a new home.

“It’s a barn, and it has a certain personality…” Weiss said.

Another condition which the Planning Commission stipulated calls for emergency access on the subdivision’s Lot 5 remaining on the plan.

Township staff said neighbors had expressed concerns about that emergency access for the subdivision, but Rogan said she agreed with the Planning Commission that having only a 200-foot lane to use for emergency access to the cul-de-sac (where the subdivision would sit) is dangerous for the people who live on the road.

“I think it’s a really dangerous thing not to have emergency access from two ways,” Rogan said.

The Planning Commission also recommended that waivers for the project be approved.

The Building and Planning Committee unanimously voted to recommend that the Board of Commissioners consider three waivers of the Natural Features Code in order to disturb slopes 15 percent and greater for the installation of the common seepage bed, substitute evergreen trees for some of the required compensatory trees, and substitute deciduous shrubs for some of the required evergreen shrubs.

The committee voted 10-1 to recommend that the full board consider approving continuation of waivers which were granted with the tentative sketch plan: a waiver of a subdivision and land development code to create irregular lots on both the yield plan and the subdivision plan, and a waiver of another subdivision and land development code to not submit the preliminary plan within 12 months of the tentative sketch plan approval.

Commissioner Jenny Brown cast the dissenting vote. Before the vote, Brown said she would oppose the continuation of the waivers because she had opposed the waivers the first time they were up for approval.