Residents: Home Depot’s
taking the low road

By William Kenny
Times Staff Writer

In January 2006, officials representing Home Depot assured Somerton residents that all truck traffic for their proposed local "big box" store would enter the property off of Bustleton Avenue.
But now that the home improvement retail giant is nearing its grand opening in the Leo Mall, neighbors have found that the opposite is true about the trucks.
All construction vehicles have been expressly prohibited from using the Bustleton Avenue entrances and instead are being funneled onto narrow, residential Hendrix Street for access to the store site.
Meanwhile, City Councilman Brian O’Neill says he’s been told that, once the store opens, all of the delivery trucks will use Hendrix Street, too.
Predictably, neighbors are furious at what they view as Home Depot’s broken promise. They want the store to downsize or remove its Hendrix Street entrance and restrict trucks to Bustleton Avenue, a busy four-lane state highway.
With last month’s Somerton Civic Association general meeting cancelled due to snow, the neighbors instead met at the Engine 58 fire station on Feb. 20. Home Depot officials showed up, too, but residents got no satisfaction.
The Northeast Times contacted several Home Depot corporate officials for this article, but none took responsibility for commenting on the issue.
Now, O’Neill (R-10th dist.) is proposing a city ordinance that could legally ban the side-street entrance.
Bill No. 070016 would prohibit certain larger shopping centers from placing parking lot entrances within 60 feet of any residential property. Council’s Committee on Streets and Services passed the bill on Feb. 28.
The full Council could vote the measure into law as early as Thursday, March 8.
During last week’s committee hearing, O’Neill testified that neighbors were shocked when they started seeing traffic patterns around the new store after construction began months ago.
"As construction ensued, it became clear (that the Hendrix entrance) would be a major entrance and exit for people who wanted to avoid Bustleton Avenue, which is everybody," the councilman said.
The Hendrix Street curb cut, which is 30 feet wide, has been in place for decades, but it wasn’t really a problem until Home Depot showed up.
Kmart used to be the Leo Mall’s main anchor. The department store was configured facing north with Hendrix Street at the rear of the building and most vehicle traffic using the Bustleton Avenue entrances.
The Hendrix entrance was at the rear of the store and seldom used.
Home Depot’s arrival signaled major modifications to the Leo Mall layout, however. Officials for the new store wanted their building to face west so it would be more visible to Bustleton Avenue traffic.
As a result, the old Kmart was demolished, along with a strip of small storefronts, including one used for years as state Rep. George Kenney’s district office.
The property’s existing commercial zoning permitted the changes as a matter of right. But likely because of the sheer size of the project, Home Depot officials briefed neighbors in advance of the project during a Jan. 10, 2006, Somerton Civic meeting.
Residents generally welcomed the project that night, although they voiced concerns about traffic and other nuisance issues in the immediate area.
Store representatives reported that they planned to create a buffer zone at the rear of the new building to screen it from the backyards of Centennial Square West homes. Also, they said, tractor-trailers and flatbeds that frequent Home Depot locations would enter the property via Bustleton Avenue.
The Northeast Times reported on the meeting in its Jan. 19, 2006, editions.
Today, however, trucks that attempt to enter the construction site from Bustleton Avenue are greeted by a temporary fence and bold signs stating, "All Construction Vehicles Must Use Hendrix Street Entrance."
Neighbors claim that store officials told them that, once the place opens, delivery trucks will also use Hendrix every day. Neighbors figure that the Hendrix curb cut will remain as a primary patron entrance, too, as it leads across the face of the store directly to its front doors.
A handful of local residents attended last week’s Council hearing to endorse O’Neill’s bill. They submitted a petition to that effect containing 60 names.
One neighbor, Larry Tevelson, testified, "It’s going to be their main entrance and exit because it’s right in front of their property. All of their customers and contractors will be dumping right out into Hendrix."
That will tie up the small street with traffic and bring excessive noise to neighbors’ doorsteps, they claim. Also, it will create a safety hazard for local people, particularly children and senior citizens, as well as those who frequent a city park down the street.
"We have people living literally across the street. They could reach across and touch it," said Tevelson, who previously worked nine years for another Home Depot.
Another issue that arose from the firehouse meeting, O’Neill said, is that other Home Depot stores use loudspeakers outdoors when cueing construction contractors for early-morning pick-ups.
Charles Denny, acting chief traffic engineer for the city’s Department of Streets, testified against O’Neill’s bill, saying that it could set an unmanageable precedent for shopping centers around the city. The Streets Department had no data on how many centers the ordinance might impact and where they might be.
O’Neill claimed that the City Planning Commission has begun that research and found preliminarily that most of the affected centers are in his Far Northeast district. ••
Reporter William Kenny can be reached at 215-354-3031 or bkenny@phillynews.com