The Bunting House at 5901 Ridge Ave. itself is gone, but local civic associations continue a fight to make sure it didn't go down in vain.
An appeal to the Philadelphia Zoning Board of Adjustment took place last week, despite the fact that the building in question was demolished, Central Roxborough Civic Association President Ed Hotham said at the group's Jan. 3 meeting.
The CRCA—along with the Manayunk Neighborhood Council, Wissahickon Interested Citizens Association, Ridge Park Civic Association and Wissahickon Neighbors Civic Association—fought to preserve the Victorian home throughout the fall. In December, a Court of Common Pleas judge ruled against an injunction, and property owners Giovannone Construction exercised their legally acquired building permits and demolished the Bunting House, along with 5905, 5907 and 5909 Ridge Ave.
Hotham said the civic associations' attorney, Hal Schirmer, offered to continue the case in order to establish precedent for future demolitions.
"Hal wanted to follow through and make sure something like this shouldn't happen again," Hotham said.
The legal battle was in response to the developer securing permits and questioned whether the city should have issued them to begin with. Kevin Smith, of the Manayunk Neighborhood Council, attended the Jan. 2 hearing and said the zoning board seemed attentive.
Although the civics expect to lose the city case, Hotham said the groups were interested in appealing at the state level. Schirmer has offered to work pro bono, but funds are needed for filing.
Whether or not the neighborhood groups succeed legally, the Bunting House awoke a sentiment to get ahead of future projects.
Resident Bob Spear said neighbors, led by Kay Sykora, have set up a meeting with the City Planning Commission to discuss Roxborough's options—including a potential zoning overlay that would make demolition tougher.
As for the Bunting House - I think that it's demolition was a shame. Giovannone Construction booted out a viable tenant, then claims that they could find no one interested in the space. Now we have a large empty lot, with no specific plans, because of a construction company who is obviously in the process for just the money. They may have ignored the community, but the community also has the right to ignore them when it comes time to hire a contractor.
A group of neighbors led by Kay Sykora is organizing to influence the zoning process and identify other "at risk" properties. If you would like to join us and help preserve Roxborough's architectural heritage, please contact Kay Sykora at ksykora@manayunk.org. We are having a meeting to discuss options as a follow up to our conversation with the Planning Commission on Friday. If you'd like to attend, please let us know and we'll give you the particulars. Questions can be directed to ksykora@manayunk.org.
You must be impaired if you though it was better back then and from the fact that you can't spell RESPECT. Troll else where little man.
http://www.publicstuff.com/pa/philadelphia-pa/building-construction/demolition-time-and-clean-up-87956 I also added the fact that they keep extending the fences and we're losing more and more sidewalk and with the Rox Ave side still covered in bricks and trash.
I'll let folks know tonight and see how much noise we can generate. If the construction crews are violating city ordinances for starting too early, they should be fined.
I have called 311 last week and created and online request as well. My guess is that someone must have said something to them cause yesterday since they started at 6:38, then stopped, then started again about 5 minutes before 7am. But again today they started at the earliest to date at 6:20ish so I'm not sure anyone said something. Everything I've read says they have to wait till at least 7am, 8am on weekends, but the person I spoke to when I called 311 wasn't quite sure. I haven't heard back from any Department either. And I assume they will be held to fix and clean up the curb across from 5901 on the Roxborough Ave side....
Here's a piece of advice... If you want people to understand you and take you seriously, learn how to spell and put complete sentences together. And then, don't insult them by calling them impaired cause they don't understand you. Heck, after reading your post below I think I'm impaired. And you shouldn't need spell check for “Respect”.
I stopped by the site today and asked them to wait until 7:00 to start. They all acted like no one was in charge. So, I asked Josh Cohen at Councilman Jones' office to get in touch with the proper authorities to get them to comply. I hope that helps!