Relief denied for Wynnewood Shopping Center restaurant plan

By Cheryl Allison callison@mainlinemedianews.com

The Lower Merion Zoning Hearing Board voted Sept. 16 to deny Federal Realty Investment Trusts request to modify conditions imposed in 1953, when the property was being developed with a John Wanamakers department store.

The vote, in which members Kenneth Brier and Charles Davidson participated, was based in part on jurisdictional issues. However, the board also determined that relief to add several thousand square feet of building space was not warranted on the basis that the Lower Merion Board of Commissioners, apparently unaware of the building limits, had earlier approved a development plan for a new restaurant pad site.

The case goes back to 2013, when township commissioners, in a hard-fought decision, approved Federal Realtys preliminary plan of land development calling for demolition of an unused postal service building in the rear parking lot. Construction of a restaurant building with a large covered outdoor seating area, nearly doubling the size of the existing building, was proposed.

Federal Realty appealed that decision, which imposed limits on hours and a ban on outdoor music, among other conditions, in response to concerns raised by neighbors about the proximity of the restaurant to homes in the Shortridge neighborhood. (The restaurant tenant, a Mad Mex restaurant and bar, recently opened in a different location in the shopping center, inside the former Borders Books building.)

Related: View photos of Mad Mex at Wynnewood Shopping Center.

It was only after the plans received approval that the 1953 conditions were rediscovered. Federal Realty then appealed Zoning Officer Michael Wylies determination that the conditions still applied, even though other expansions had occurred over the years, exceeding the 1953 limits.

The company asked the zoning board to eliminate or modify a number of the old conditions, leading to lengthy hearings at which the township, represented by its solicitor, Gilbert High, and the Shortridge Civic Association vigorously opposed the request.

In March, the zoning board grated partial relief, permitting existing square footage to remain, also allowing a previously approved but unbuilt elevator addition. But it ruled that Federal Realty would have to return to seek further relief for the restaurant expansion, pending court action on the appeal.

Instead, the shopping center owner withdrew its appeal, accepting the conditions of preliminary plan approval. Saying that it wanted to pick up where it had left off on the restaurant plan, and applied for the additional relief. Hearings were held on the matter over two nights in July. Continued...

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Relief denied for Wynnewood Shopping Center restaurant plan