Mt. Airy Times-Express, May 9, 2001
A New Supermarket for Mt. Airy
Position Paper on the Proposal for a New Acme Supermarket In Our Community
West Mt. Airy Neighbors (WMAN), Mt. Airy USA, (MAUSA), South Mt. Airy Task Force (SMATF)
Mt. Airy needs and deserves a new, first-class supermarket. Why?
- A supermarket in our community is a necessity for neighborhood residents, especially those who come to the existing Acme on foot or by bus.
- Mt. Airy has the buying power to support a new first-class supermarket. Today, a majority of Mt. Airy residents do their grocery shopping elsewhere—often outside the city—where they have access to new stores that, unlike the current Acme in Mt. Airy, are clean, well-designed, stocked with fresh food, staffed by trained, courteous employees, and able to provide many of the services found in the best contemporary supermarkets.
- Not only will a new first-class supermarket be a much better place to shop, it will also stimulate other business activity in the historic Germantown Avenue commercial corridor.
- The construction of a new store will provide many new well paid, unionized jobs.
Community organizations of Mt. Airy are determined to bring such a supermarket to our neighborhood. Over a year ago, Acme Markets first put forward a proposal for a new supermarket for Mt. Airy. In the last year, the community organizations of Mt. Airy have been working to encourage Acme to improve their plan. The most recent plan put forward by Acme meets some of our expectations. Yet, despite our enthusiasm for a new supermarket in Mt. Airy, and our appreciation of Acme’s recognition of the commercial opportunity here, we have serious objections to their current proposal.
The fundamental question for us is the location of the new store.
Acme proposes to place a new grocery store in a wooded lot that is now zoned for residential use and that abuts a large number of homes on Sedgwick Street and Mower Avenue.
Our position as community organizations in Mt. Airy is:
- First, a supermarket in the location proposed by Acme would destroy a potentially attractive wooded area, dramatically reduce the buffer between commercial activity and the near neighbors of the store, require a zoning change, and violate a commitment to the neighborhood that was made when the site was originally developed.
- Second, a new supermarket placed closer to Germantown Avenue would best contribute to the commercial revitalization of the Avenue and to the commercial streetscape of Mt. Airy. The location of the building in the current Acme proposal makes access to the store difficult for pedestrians and bus riders. The view from Germantown Avenue will be of a large parking lot, rather than an inviting store. Acme has proposed a suburban plan inappropriate to Mt. Airy’s historic, urban environment.
Acme Markets claims that, for financial and other reasons, they cannot put the proposed store any place other than in the wooded lot. While we have listened to Acme’s changing reasons for this conclusion, we remain unconvinced. Before we can agree to Acme’s proposal, we must hear a substantial and detailed explanation of why it is impossible to build a new store on Germantown Avenue. If the difficulties of putting a store in this location involve construction and other expenses, we expect Acme to share with us their cost estimates so that we can evaluate their claims fully and fairly. It is possible that some public subsidy could be found to help reduce the costs of building a supermarket that best suits the community as well as Acme. But no such subsidy will be forthcoming if Acme is unwilling to provide the community with the information to justify it.
Since, as we detail below, the current Acme proposal fails to address several basic issues that would prevent its approval by regulatory bodies in the city, this is an appropriate time for Acme to work with us to evaluate the various alternatives for a new store.
We reiterate that we very much want Acme to build a new store in our community. And we are prepared to support their proposed location if, after a thorough review, we are convinced that there is no alternative. But we do not believe Acme can expect our support for a proposal that is not clearly best for either the community as a whole, or the near neighbors, without engaging with us in honest, open, and extensive consideration of all reasonable alternatives to it.
Even if Acme Markets were to convince us that there is no reasonable alternative to placing the store in the wooded lot, several other community concerns must be addressed by Acme to ensure support from the Mt. Airy community:
- All health and safety concerns of the community must be satisfied. Informal analyses of the current proposal by local residents and by officials in the City Planning Commission have raised serious concerns. Acme plans to have large trucks back into loading bays from Sedgwick Street even though current Street Department regulations for new construction state that such maneuvering of commercial vehicles may not take place on city streets. This feature of the plan will block an important thoroughfare in our community much of the day. It will interfere with a route frequently used by the fire engines from the Mt. Airy station and will obstruct the emergency entrance of the Germantown Home. It will create hazards for children who use a school bus stop near the proposed loading bays, who walk on Sedgwick Street to the library or playground, as well for those who live on the block. In addition, the noise and exhaust fumes from the trucks on Sedgwick Street will create a terrible nuisance for many near neighbors, one that is likely to dramatically diminish their property values. Acme must revise their plan so that all trucks move off Sedgwick Avenue before backing into the loading bays. To ensure that the loading and unloading of trucks does not disturb the neighbors, we also expect Acme to keep to its agreement to limit the hours during which such operations will take place.
- In addition to the problems with the location of the loading bays, we believe that the entrance to the parking lot closest to Germantown Avenue also violates current city code for new construction.
- We oppose the use of this site for a gas station or fueling bays. Gas pumps, under any name, will create traffic problems, potential environmental hazards, and nuisance conditions for the near neighbors. There are other sites in our community that are much better suited for a new gas station. We are willing to work with Acme to help them find such a location.
- We are concerned that new development in the wooded lot could create water drainage and settlement problems for the near neighbors. It is also possible that a properly designed development could ameliorate the difficulties the neighbors currently face. We expect Acme to submit detailed proposals for dealing with these problems for evaluation by independent experts and to abide by the reasonable conclusions of these experts.
- It is critical to the future of the streetscape of Germantown Avenue that the additional (or, in the current jargon, pad) store or stores proposed by Acme be built on the Avenue, with the front of these stores facing the street. It is also important that we bring new kinds of businesses to our community rather than businesses that duplicate or compete with those already here. To ensure local community control over this important project, we want Acme to lease the land for the pad site to Mt. Airy USA for development.
- The design of the new building and associated signage should be respectful of the Germantown Avenue historic district. We are pleased that Acme has agreed that there will be no sign on the side of the building facing Sedgwick Street. A large, freestanding sign looming over the corner would not be appropriate on this site.
We note that most of these problems would not arise if Acme were to agree to place the new store on Germantown Avenue.
We hope and believe that after continuing discussions and negotiations a revised proposal can be created that serves the interests of both Mt. Airy and Acme Markets. We can create a store that will serve the neighborhood, be profitable for Acme, and contribute to the development of a vibrant, commercial corridor, on historic Germantown Avenue. We expect our elected officials to work with us and Acme to create a store that meets the requirements of our community as outlined in this document. We reiterate that we want to work with, and not against, Acme Markets. However, should that prove impossible, and should Acme decide to close and sell their current store, we expect Acme to give organizations or people in the local community the right of first refusal on the site. By doing so, we can ensure that, if not Acme, then another company will build the kind of supermarket Mt. Airy needs and deserves.
WMAN (215-438-6022), MAUSA (215-844-6021), and SMATF encourage all residents of Mt. Airy to contact them to share their opinion about the Acme plans.