The Conshohocken Recorder, November 21, 1963

              HOAC & SONS BOOK BINT
SPRINGSPORT,
Y
Proposed Apartment 'Height' Stirs Whitemarsh
There is a very unusual chain of
apartment buildings going up at
Ridge Pike and Spring Mill Road.
Sometimes they shrink from four
stories to three. Sometimes they
grow from three stories to four.
On other occassions they are three
and four stories at the same time.
"Harry Kravitz has pulled a
slick trick on both the township
. and state governments," an irate
resident of Whitemarsh exclaimed
at a meeting of township super-visors
last Thursday. "By telling
the state that he was building
three floors and getting a permit
for four floors from the township,
Kravitz was able to make money
on both ends.
"It all goes back to the Penn-sylvania
Code of Fire and Panic
which forces builders to use steel
if they go over three stories.
Kravitz told the state that his
buildings were three stories so he
could use cheaper materials and
a different type of construction.
"But when he turned to the
township, Kravitz claimed the
basement as a fourth residential
floor. This allowed him 50 per
cent more dwelling units under
Ordinance 151."
Ordinance 151, enacted Jan-uary
25, 1962, allows no more
than 10 dwelling units per acre
to apartment buildings 35 feet
from the ground to the rafters or
three stories high, "excluding the
basement." Buildings from four to
six stories are allowed 15 units
per acre upon special permission
of township supervisors.
"This township has issued a
permit that is not in accordance
with its own ordinance," the re-sident
said. "Kravitz is getting
15 units per acre without special
permission of the supervisors."
"Kravitz was sharp enough to
cram four extra residential floors
down someone's throat," another
resident exclaimed.
Township solicitor John Kauff-man
said that an amendment to
Ordinance 151 was proposed as
soon as township supervisors were
informed of what Kravitz had done.
"A new addition to the ordin-ance
will make it illegal to use
a basement as a residential floor
in the future," Kauffman said.
"Does this mean that Kravitz
will still be getting 50 per cent
more dwelling units?" someone
protested.
"R does," Kauffman said.
William E. McLaughlin, chair-man
of the Board of Supervisors,
said, "I think that a mistake has
been made. The ordinance was
interpreted a little differently than
we assumed when it was originally
passed. The supervisors thought
that it would be from the ground
up.
"Speaking for myself, I am
setting about to see if it can be
corrected. As supervisors we are
mainly Interested in doing what is
best for the township.
"At the time that the permit
was issued we took the advice of
Mr. Menges, our former soli-citor."
"Menges wrote this ordinance
and recommended Kravitz's per-mit
at the pivotal point," some-one
protested from the floor.
McLaughlin said that citizens
can appeal through the Zoning
Board of Adjustment and petition
a hearing on the issuance of the
permit.
Kravitz's permit was issued in
June, 1962 after a request to re-zone
33 acres into an apartment
district was granted by White-marsh
supervisors.
A group of residents
immediately appealed to the
Zoning Board of Adjustment, pro-testing
the change from AA to
apartment district zoning. But the
Zoning Board was forced to dis-miss
the appeal because it can-not
act on legislation of township
supervisors changing the zoning
of ground.
The residents appealed to the
Montgomery County courts which
upheld the zoning change.
Finally the residents took their
case to the Supreme Court. Three
weeks ago that body upheld the
original decision and refused a
request for rehearing.
JhuUtiuiiM thr (ClirHlnul^ill frraliV
Conshohocken -West Conshohocken:— Plymouth, Whitemarsh & Springfield Townships — ChestnutHiS£
Vol. 9329 THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1963 it A COPY
Kennels Overcrowded,
SPCA Starts Drive
A plan to provide a new look,
with modern up-to-date facilities
is currently in progress at the
Conshohocken Shelter of the Mont-gomery
county Society for the Pre-vention
of Cruelty to Animals.
Entering the second consecutive
year of its rebuilding program, the
Board of Managers of the Society
again appealed for support.
Urgently needed is additional
kennel space with outside runs to
accommodate the large, adult dogs.
A continuing increase in the num-ber
of unwanted and stray animals
brought to the shelter necessitates
the need for augmenting the pre-sent,
over-crowded kennels.
Of primary importance is the
placement and adoption of all pets.
Every effort is made to find the
best home for each pet, and the
best pet for each home, in hun-dreds
of cases, through the co-operation
of local police depart-ments
and accurate records kept
at the shelter office, lost pets
are returned to their owners.
Mrs. Charles Harper Smith, of
Hatboro, president of the Board
of Managers, in stressing the im-portance
of the request for addi-tional
funds, points out that all
contributions received during the
annual spring membership drive
are used for the operation and
maintenance of both the Consho-hocken
Shelter and the Upper
County Branch Shelter.
The Society is requesting all
those interested in helping to send
their contributions to the Mont-gomery
County S.P.C.A., 19 E.
Ridge Pike, Conshohocken.
All contributions are deductible.
Ladies Ready Bazaar
Rotary Club Hears Scout Leader
SCOUT WORKERS - Boy Scout officials meet with sponsoring organizations at conclave held in the Consho-hocken
No. 2 Fire Company, to promote closer cooperation. Left to right, are: Ray LaPenta, chairman of
the Rotary club's boys' work committee; George Snear, club president; Kenneth OUver, of the Valley Forge
Council, and William E. Brown, Jr., vice president of Philadelphia National Bank, who served as chairman
for the evening's program. (Phot by Anthony)
LADIES HANDIWORK - Members of the Women's Guild of St. Philip Neri
Church display the "Christmas Magic" of items they have made for the
annual Christmas Bazaar (November 23). Left to right are Co-chairmen
Mrs. James ward and Mrs. Richard Mitchell, and Mrs. Joseph Tighe,
of the Handicraft Booth. (Photo by Anthony)
Pike Is Open;
Will Stay Open
During Clean-up
The new section of Germantown
Pike will not be closed during
final operations and inspection,
a spokesman from the Haverford
office of the Pennsylvania Highway
Department said today.
Final inspection will take place
within the next two weeks. Mean-while,
workers will be dressing
driveway slopes, cleaning out the
railroad channel and clearing bank
slopes. All this will be done while
traffice moves over the new
roadway.
The Germantown Pike detour
was opened to traffic on Tuesday
evening after nine months of con-struction.
The contract called for
completion after 80 working days.
The contractor completed the Job
in 78 charged working days, a
spokesman said. The reason the
work was spread over a longer
period was due to railroad men
working on the crossing, bad
weather, and a two month strike
of the Operating Engineers Union.
"The striking operators didn't
Salvation Army Honors
Whitemarsh Women's Club.
The Whitemarsh Women's Club
was honored with a plaque for five
years of continuous Volunteer
Service to the Salvation Army
organization.
Mrs. George Krammer, Salva-tion
Army Chairman for the White-marsh
Women's Club, introduced
Miss Helen Hatt, assistant direc-tor
of the Service Extension De-partment,
serving Southeastern
Pennsylvania. Miss Hatt made
the presentation of the plaque to
Mrs. Krammer and Mrs. Raymond
Storck, the club's president.
Certificates for five years
Volunteer Service were awarded
to Mrs. Krammer, Mrs. Emil
Schurr and Mrs. John Thompson.
Mrs. Myra Olley, Director of the
Central Volunteer Bureau of
Phila., was also introduced. Miss
Hatt and Mrs. Olley gave a brief
resume of the early days of the
organization, listing the service
It renders to the less fortunate.
Mrs. Rodman Heckman, Pro-gram
chairman, introduced Miss
hurt us much," the spokesman
said. "Although all heavy equip-ment
was unavailable for two
months, we managed to keep
moving with small equipment."
Geraldine McCormick, who pre-sented
a talk-demonstration en-titled
The Changing Years. A film
featuring events that took place
during the first 60 years of our
century highlighted Miss McCor-mick's
talk.
Mrs. Robert Boice, a charter
member, was presented a rose
corsage by Mrs. Storck, on behalf
of herself and the members in
honor of Mrs. Boice's 50th Wed-ding
Anniversary, Nov. 19.
Mrs. Peter Weglarz, Com-munity
Affairs chairman, thanked
the members for their generous
gifts for the Norristown State Hos-pital.
Mrs. Norman Cowgill announced
the next garden department meet-ing
would be held today at the
home of Mrs. David McCaffrey,
3059 Kerper Rd. Guest speaker
will be William F. Russell, who
will speak on "Chrysanthemums."
Mrs. William Sickinger, Mem-bership
Chairman, introduced two
new members, Mrs. Norman Mel-vin,
4043 N. Warner Rd., and Mrs.
George Musser, 4133 Plymouth
Rd. Mrs. Storck presented each
with a corsage made by Mrs. Wil-liam
Sickinger.