By William Kenny
Times Staff Writer
Was it merely a zoning dispute or something else?
Residents of Somerton were left to mull over that question and others in the aftermath of an at-times heated meeting of the Somerton Civic Association at Walker Lodge 306 on Oct. 14.
Tensions peaked during the meeting when an estranged member of the association called its executive board to task for its handling of a proposal by a Montgomery County developer to erect a Walgreens pharmacy at the site of a popular local catering hall.
Jim Weldon, who early this year led the creation of a new civic group within Somerton, claimed that the SCA overlooked or ignored an opportunity to block the generally unpopular pharmacy project.
Weldon and other residents formed the Citizens Alliance of Westwood to oppose the proposed extension of the Woodhaven Road Expressway, a project that the SCA has long supported strongly. Weldon is the sitting president of the Westwood group, as well as a member of the SCA.
The new Walgreens is planned for the southwest corner of Bustleton Avenue and Byberry Road and would replace Arthur’s Catering. The current owner of the land and catering business, Arthur J. Weiler, has an agreement of sale with Moreland Development of Bryn Mawr.
At a Sept. 9 meeting, SCA officers reported to residents that the civic group was essentially powerless to block the pharmacy project because the ground in question was already zoned for commercial use.
Last week, Weldon challenged that assessment, reporting that the SCA could have taken issue with proposed signs that would violate the city’s zoning code. At a Center City hearing of the Zoning Board of Adjustment earlier on Oct. 14, the ZBA issued Moreland Development a variance for the signs.
SCA board members did not attend the hearing but submitted a letter of non-opposition to the project, as did City Councilman Brian O’Neill (R-10th dist.). Weldon said he decided to attend the hearing on his own after learning about the signage issue a few days before the session.
Weldon reported that the proposal calls for 12 signs, including three new signs on an adjoining barbershop and a 25-foot-high sign on the front of the pharmacy. Weldon thinks the SCA board should have known about the signs and told neighbors about them in September.
“The one problem I had was why this organization (as a whole) wasn’t notified that the signage would be a problem,” Weldon said, adding that illegal existing signs along Bustleton Avenue have been targeted by the SCA for months.
SCA zoning chairman Dominic Ragucci has led an ongoing effort to force local businesses to alter or remove signs that are too big or located improperly, particularly if they pose a visual obstruction to motorists.
Weldon claimed that the zoning board expressed a willingness to postpone its hearing on the Walgreens signs because of his opposition. But after meeting with representatives for the development company outside of the hearing, Weldon formally withdrew his opposition, he said.
“I did (object), and I was able to get it continued,” Weldon said at the SCA meeting. “If I wanted, I could have stopped (the variance).”
Moments later, Weldon said that he was less concerned about the signs and “more disturbed by the inappropriate actions of the board of this organization.” That’s why he didn’t pursue the postponement.
Ragucci, the SCA zoning chairman, reported that he had been told by the developers that the new signs would look like those on a nearby Walgreens at Bustleton Avenue and Red Lion Road.
“(The signs) are not obtrusive and they’re not affecting public safety,” Ragucci said. “I received assurances that the signage they’re going to put up would not obscure the traffic signal or obstruct the view of oncoming traffic.”
SCA president Mary Jane Hazell expressed doubt that the sign issue could have stopped the entire project, even with a postponement of the zoning hearing.
“If there was any way we could stop them from building a Walgreens, I guarantee you, we would have tried to stop them,” Hazell said. “Because we don’t need another drugstore.”
She also accused Weldon of bringing up the whole issue just to make the SCA board look bad, rather than inform residents. Otherwise, she claims, he would have notified her about the issue prior to the zoning hearing.
“This isn’t about the signs, Jim. You know that, and I know that,” Hazell said.
Ragucci agreed, saying, “You’re going out of your way just to sharpshoot at the way this organization functions.”
Weldon also criticized the SCA on Oct. 9 at a public meeting hosted by state Rep. George Kenney (R-170th dist.) to discuss the redevelopment of the former Byberry hospital grounds. Weldon said the SCA fails to properly update the community on important issues or its meeting agendas in its monthly newsletter.
“The SCA has basically been involved in all decision-making processes in Somerton. And the only way people in this community are going to know what’s going on is to come to the meetings,” Weldon said.
“That’s the only way you’re going to be able to hold that organization accountable for its actions.”
Members of the SCA and Weldon’s Westwood group also clashed in June when the SCA initiated several pro-Woodhaven Road demonstrations along Bustleton Avenue and the Westwood group responded with counter-demonstrations.
The Woodhaven Road issue remains unresolved as the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation prepares a final Environmental Impact Statement covering several proposed alternatives for the project.
In other Somerton Civic Association business:
• Ann Marie Boyle, chief of staff to Councilman Brian O’Neill (R-10th dist.), presented the group with a $2,500 activities fund grant.
• Boyle told residents who have received notices raising their property taxes for 2004 to fax (215-686-1939) or mail (City Hall, Room 562, Philadelphia, PA 19107) copies of the notices to the councilman so that he can forward them to the chairman of the Bureau of Revision of Taxes and request reductions.
Many residents who won property-tax appeals this year had their taxes improperly raised again, Boyle said.
• Hazell, a Democratic committeewoman in the 58th Ward, reminded all residents to vote on Nov. 4, regardless of their preferred candidate.
• Rocky Citrino, an aide to state Sen. Mike Stack (D-5th dist.), reported that the proposed renovation of Benjamin Rush State Park has been delayed because all of the contract bids received by the state exceeded the $2 million cost budgeted for the project.
Plans for the site, on the northeast corner of Roosevelt Boulevard and Southampton Road, are being redesigned. There is no timetable for their completion.
• City Councilman Frank Rizzo (R-at large), who is running for re-election this year, had the best one-liner of the night regarding the audio surveillance devices planted in Mayor John F. Street’s office as part of a federal corruption investigation.
“I warned Mayor Street about the bugs in the office,” said Rizzo, the son of former Mayor Frank L. Rizzo. “I said, ‘Mister Mayor, don’t eat lunch at your desk. You’ll get bugs.’”
• The next SCA meeting will be Tuesday, Nov. 11, at 7:30 p.m., at Walker Lodge 306, 1290 Southampton Road. ••
Reporter William Kenny can be reached at 215-354-3031 or bkenny@phillynews.com