HBA Newswatch
March 18, 2008
MIDDLETOWN PLANNERS APPROVE DRAFT OF GRANITE RUN MALL PLAN
By Bette Auberger Times Correspondent
MIDDLETOWN — The planning commission voted unanimously to recommend council approve a preliminary land development plan for a $35-$40 million expansion/enhancement project for Granite Run Mall.
However, the favorable recommendation is based on the resolution of several conditions pertaining to parking.
They include the number and size of parking spaces as required by zoning ordinance, as well as the requirement that a landscaped island be provided within the parking lot for every 20 parking spaces.
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HOUSING GRANTS FOR PHILADELPHIA
By Jeff Shields
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
A Pittsburgh-based bank today will announce more than $5 million in affordable housing grants for Philadelphia, a boost for Mayor Nutter as he seeks to fill one of the city's greatest needs.
Nutter's first budget has already left City Council members wondering how he's going to fund lofty affordable housing goals - Nutter wants to build 1,000 units a year through the city's Housing Trust Fund - but today's announcement will speed him toward that mark.
The $5.3 million in grants to be announced today by Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh will help build 645 units on projects totaling $77.3 million.
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FED MOVES TO STEADY FINANCES
By JEANNINE AVERSA, AP Economics Writer
WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve is primed to aggressively cut a key interest rate even lower on Tuesday, racing to contain spreading financial fires that threaten an economic meltdown.
President Bush declared “we’re in challenging times” and huddled Monday with top economic officials — including Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox.
On Wall Street investors were still skittish. The Dow Jones industrials, in an erratic session, closed up 21.16 points, after having plunged nearly 200 points early in the day. Other stock indexes fell.
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COUNCIL’S CONCERNS DELAY HOTEL PLANS
By ANNE PICKERING, Staff Writer
WEST CHESTER — A dispute over the air rights to Prescott Alley has put a temporary halt to Zukin Realty’s plan for a hotel on East Gay Street.
Scott Zukin, vice president of Zukin Realty Inc., said Monday the developer was told some members of Borough Council have a problem with the design that calls for building several floors of the hotel over Prescott Alley.
Council members don’t want the hotel to be built over Prescott Alley at all, Zukin said.
“We always knew there was going to be a negotiation (over the air rights), but my understanding is they just said ‘no,’” he said.
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SCHUYLKILL SUBDIVISION EYED
By Brian McCarthy, Special to the Local News
SCHUYLKILL — Applicants for a 51-lot subdivision on the Reeves Property concluded testimony of one expert witness and called another Monday night during a zoning hearing.
Attorney John Snyder of Saul Ewing LLC represented the applicants, Pohlig Builders, while township solicitor Robert Sugarman represented Schuylkill.
Snyder continued questioning John Wichner of Traffic Planning and Design, whom he had established as an expert on transportation and traffic engineering in the previous hearing session. Wichner’s firm conducted a traffic impact study for the applicants’ proposed development, and how it would affect the intersection of Route 23 and the development’s entryway, as well as the effect added traffic caused by the development would have on the intersections of Route 23 and White Horse Road and Route 23 and Dorcester Way.
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