Northwood is a neighborhood that prides itself on single-family dwellings.
In fact, much of the neighborhood falls into a deed-restricted area that prevents businesses from opening.
At last week’s Northwood Civic Association meeting, the membership was presented with a third option.
The Rev. Mark F. Plaushin, a Catholic priest and member of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales, told the neighbors that his order was looking to purchase a twin house at 1202 Harrison St.
The property would house three to seven volunteers, men and women ages 21 to 28, who are seeking applications for ministry placements in the Frankford area.
The volunteers must be single with no dependents and from outside the Philadelphia area. They will have already undergone criminal background checks.
The ministry will not be conducted at the Harrison Street location, and the order will not divide the house into apartments. One room will be converted into a chapel.
The property is zoned residential. Plaushin, a part-time assistant pastor at St. Joachim Roman Catholic Church, needs a variance to house multiple unrelated people under one roof.
CONTACT WITH THE CIVIC
After becoming interested in buying the Harrison Street house, the priest contacted the office of City Councilman Rick Mariano (D-7th dist.). The legislator’s office called Northwood Civic Association Nick Bernardo.
The civic association’s board of directors met and agreed to give a letter of non-opposition to Mariano.
After some neighborhood opposition surfaced, Plaushin agreed to postpone the Nov. 14 hearing in front of the city’s Zoning Board of Adjustment.
At last week’s meeting, Plaushin gave a slide presentation and handed out literature describing the program
He characterized Salesian spirituality as an “optimistic, gentle and humble” approach to finding God in the present moment.
Volunteers, he said, can bring youthful enthusiasm in administration, education, health care, pastoral care or social services to a church, program or agency.
The work can range from the distribution of food to conducting economic or legal analysis.
Plaushin said he wanted to meet with the community before the Dec. 19 zoning hearing.
“My job is to develop a collaboration with the neighborhood, not sneak something in,” he said.
Some folks balked at the proposal, mostly because the neighborhood at large was not contacted.
IT’S ONLY A VARIANCE
Mariano, though, noted that the ZBA will grant only a variance. If and when the order leaves the property, the house’s zoning will revert to a single-family dwelling.
Some neighbors expressed fear that the area would eventually become filled with properties that have variances for one reason or another.
The councilman, though, is an unequivocal supporter of the idea.
“The outskirts of the neighborhood are changing, and they’re bringing in something positive,” Mariano said.
In other news from the Nov. 21 meeting:
Muller was expected to face Al Stuhl for the presidency, but Stuhl dropped out before the election.
Stuhl indicated that he would like to run for a seat on the board of directors but was not allowed because he was not previously nominated.
Muller, a board member, was born and raised in Northwood. She lives on the 4600 block of Castor Ave.
Muller has worked to clean up graffiti, the trash-strewn lot at the Northwood Nursing Home and debris on the Wyoming Avenue circle.
In the next year, Muller would like the civic association to communicate with neighbors better. For instance, she’d like to see residents receive a map of the deed-restricted area and become aware of zoning issues.
Joyce Halley was the only candidate for vice president. She replaces Ceil Ruppert, who did not run again.
Halley lives on the 1000 block of Haworth St., jokingly adding that it’s on the 50-yard line of the nearby Frankford Stadium.
The incoming vice president said her main goal is to prevent the commercialization of the neighborhood.
Seven candidates ran for five seats on the board of directors.
Some neighbors joked that U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals Chief Judge Edward R. Becker, a Herbert Street resident who was at the meeting, should handle any recount.
As it turned out, the balloting was as close as the Florida presidential contest.
Sue Byer and Jim Howarth recounted the votes twice and even had to throw out one ballot because a neighbor voted for six candidates.
In the end, the winners were incumbents Barry Howell and Gina Panchella and newcomers Lisa Morrow, Louis Kubik and Patty Doohan.
Menkevich and others oppose the sale. They don’t want the cemetery’s perpetual care fund used to build a crematory. They want a new board of managers elected by lot holders.
The cemetery, in existence since 1869, is at Adams Avenue and Arrott Street.
Ron Hancock, who was at the meeting, also wants to build a funeral home and a 64-car parking lot on the site.
DeLong, desperate to get away from the decaying cemetery, agreed to sell the land for $1.
However, some neighbors believe he is not the owner and therefore has no authority to enter into a sales agreement.
The real owners, some neighbors say, are the 25,000 lot holders.
The petition that was granted by Lazarus was filed by two of the lot holders, Gloria Boyd and Eugene Stackhouse.
They cited a letter DeLong wrote as part of a 1995 civil action to then-Common Pleas Court Judge Russell Nigro in which he said, “I am strictly a volunteer and not even an employee of the cemetery.”
The next meeting of the Northwood Civic Association will be Tuesday, Dec. 19, at 7:30 p.m., at St. James Lutheran Church, at Castor Avenue and Pratt Street. That meeting will be the last headed by Bernardo.