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Week of March 31, 2008
On the House: To-do list sprouts for spring
By: Al Heavens, Philadelphia Inquirer
This pronouncement may be coming too early in spring, but I think we've made it through another winter virtually unscathed. I say too early because winter weather can return even in May.
For the last few years, I've decided against writing comprehensive "getting your house ready for winter" stories in the fall, because no one seems to pay attention.
Our species tends to react to situations rather than anticipate them. Hence the long lines for shovels and ice melt, for bread, milk and eggs 24 hours before any major weather "event."
Still, I plead here for you to pay some attention to spring maintenance chores before the weather gets too warm. These fall into three categories: time savers, entertaining, and upkeep/beautification.
A time saver: Install an automatic watering system. This can be as complicated as putting in an underground sprinkler system, or as simple as adding a timer to the outdoor spigot, then hooking up a hose and an above-ground sprinkler.
There are too many variables involved in an underground system to be covered here. You might want to hire a professional to do that job anyway, since it involves a lot of digging and measuring.
Above-ground drip-irrigation systems, however, are easier and efficient, and are especially good for vegetable gardens that will need to be watered during long stretches of summer vacation.
Route 611 to get more development
By: ANNIE TASKER, The Intelligencer
The grassy expanse at Easton and Paul Valley roads is one of the last undeveloped plots along Warrington’s Route 611 corridor.
That might not be the case for long.
Plans are in the works to build on up to 70 acres of that land with more than 260,000 square feet of retail space, restaurants, housing, a gas station and a hotel.
Plans for the so-called Paul Valley Town Center show retail buildings ranging from about 14,500 to 105,000 square feet. Also proposed are two 200-seat restaurants, an 80-room hotel and 80 residential units, with an alternative plan for a 120-unit assisted-living facility.
An agreement of sale is in place for the property known more commonly in Warrington as the Penrose tract, said Thomas Porsch of central Pennsylvania-based Caldwell Development Co.
Porsch said he is not at liberty to say which businesses might move into the Paul Valley Town Center, since the company is in talks with several retailers. Rumor has it that a supermarket is planned, but Porsch would not confirm that Caldwell Developers was considering a grocery store.
Phila. ponders how best to plan
By Patrick Kerkstra, Philadelphia Inquirer
There are few municipal functions more basic than zoning and planning, the rules and process that dictate what can be built, where it can go, and how it should be done.
In Philadelphia, most agree, that system is badly broken. An ancient zoning code and fickle political forces make building here a risky proposition for any big developer. And the Planning Commission is so weak that even skyline-changing towers can be erected with little to no meaningful input from public planners.
But momentum is clearly building within City Hall for a top-to-bottom overhaul of Philadelphia's haphazard approach to zoning and planning.
A commission formed last year is rewriting the nearly half-century old zoning code. In January, Mayor Nutter swept away all but one of Mayor John F. Street's appointees to the city's three most critical zoning and planning boards and commissions. And this month, Andy Altman started work as Philadelphia's first deputy mayor for planning and economic development.
Record 24th straight drop in housing pushes overall construction down in February
Construction spending fell again in February as home building tumbled for a record 24th straight month.
The Commerce Department reported Tuesday that overall construction activity dropped 0.3 percent in February, reflecting weakness not only in home building but also in nonresidential activity. Only government building projects showed a gain in February.
Residential construction fell by 0.9 percent in February. Residential activity has fallen every month since March 2006, a record period of declines that underscored the severe downturn going on in housing.
Breakthrough on housing
By J. Taylor Rushing, The Hill.Com
Senate Democrats and Republicans are edging closer to a bipartisan housing bill after a surprise breakthrough Tuesday on the top issue facing Congress.
Under the deal, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and ranking Republican Richard Shelby (Ala.) are to produce a product by noon Wednesday that can patch up the country’s tattered housing industry.
Disputed Bryn Mawr rezoning up for a vote
By: Diane Mastrull, Philadelphia Inquirer
For more than five years, the Main Line village of Bryn Mawr has buzzed with talk of an ambitious revitalization - of mid-rise hotels, promenades lined with outdoor cafes and boutiques, and blocks shared by offices, townhouses and pocket parks.
Yet in the business district, change so far has amounted to just a few new awnings and some fresh splashes of paint. In an adjacent working-class neighborhood, only grass sprouts on 18 lots where homes were razed almost two years ago to make way for a parking garage and rows of retail topped with housing.
Nothing the planners envisioned has been built, nor can it be. Downtown Bryn Mawr is not zoned for revival.
That could change tonight.
The Lower Merion Township commissioners are expected to endorse a zoning district that would replace 1920s-era building rules and lay the foundation for the town's new look. The proposed Bryn Mawr Village District stretches a mile along Lancaster Avenue and reaches into residential areas on both sides of the commercial corridor.
Existing properties could remain as they are, but the zoning would call for new businesses and residences to sit side by side and allow some structures to rise as high as five stories where only single-family homes are now permitted.
Unsold Homes Tie Down Would-Be Transplants
By LOUIS UCHITELLE, New York Times
Dr. Michele Morgan migrated last fall from Detroit to Phoenix, taking a job as a psychiatrist. She expected her husband, Sam Kirkland, to soon join her, since he was accepting an early retirement package from his employer, General Motors. But he cannot move, he says, because he has not been able to sell the four-bedroom family home.
“As things now stand,” said Mr. Kirkland, who is 51 and intends to seek work in Phoenix, if he ever gets there, “my wife might decide to give up her job in Phoenix and come back to Detroit for a while, until we can sell the house.”
The rapid decline in housing prices is distorting the normal workings of the American labor market. Mobility opens up job opportunities, allowing workers to go where they are most needed. When housing is not an obstacle, more than five million men and women, nearly 4 percent of the nation’s work force, move annually from one place to another — to a new job after a layoff, or to higher-paying work, or to the next rung in a career, often the goal of a corporate transfer. Or people seek, as in Dr. Morgan’s case, an escape from harsh northern winters.
