Narberth Government Takes Small Step Toward Accommodating a Coffee Shop

At the urging of a handful of residents—and a commercial landlord who says he can probably help—the Narberth Economic Development Committee passed a motion Monday night asking Borough Council to explore the zoning changes that would be necessary to allow a coffee shop in downtown Narberth.

While some , parking availability is already tight downtown and under current zoning rules—which mandate a certain amount of parking spaces, based on square-footage, be available before a new business moves in—getting a cafe wouldn't be feasible.

There are several different avenues the council could take to circumvent these hurdles, but committee member Bob Wegbreit said the easiest route would be for the council to write a specific usage definition for a coffee shop—one that presumably would have a lesser parking requirement. Such redefinitions are common, he said.

"There are dozens of communities that have a usage called 'coffee shop,'" said Wegbreit, who emphasized they wouldn't be reinventing the wheel.

Borough Manager Bill Martin said the motion will be considered by the council at its July 11 meeting after which, if approved, the request will be passed to the Building and Zoning Committee, where the parking implications of the cafe would be evaluated and the definition written.

The question of who would actually open and operate a coffee shop was also addressed at Monday's meeting. During public comment, Dan Cook—the owner of several retail properties on Haverford Avenue—told the committee that one of his tenants wants to get out of a lease and that he has an "established" coffee-shop owner who wants to get in.

"I stand before you as a businessman, a businessman who can make that happen in 30 to 60 days," Cook said. "If you want to make it happen, it'll happen."

Cook added that the borough has to act fast though: he said he "doesn't know how long he can keep this guy" and that he won't sit around with an empty store waiting for a rezoning to happen.

Committee member Nancy Lotz offered a sort of dissenting opinion. Though she ultimately voted in favor of the motion, Lotz said that while she personally would like to see a coffee shop downtown, she felt that making zoning exceptions isn't smart policy.

"When you look at zoning, you don't zone for today. You really want to take a look at what the future holds," she said. "Things evolve, and for a large part, the downtown of Narberth isn't what it is today because of the interventions of council."