Whitemarsh Planning Commission Supports River Walk

A proposed boathouse condominium at the Whitemarsh Rowing Club hit a snag hit on Tuesday as the Whitemarsh Planning Commission opposed a variance that would allow the group building the condo to bypass building a walking path along the river.

The Commission heard testimony from Lois Hines, the owner of the Hines Rowing Center, which is currently located along the Schuylkill river at 801 Washington Street.

Hines said that allowing access to the river in front of the proposed boathouse condominium would create issues of safety for those using the path and security problems for the people who use the rowing club.

“You can’t have people walking along in front of where these boats are going into the water,” she said. “You can’t let people walk right up to these boats. There is going to be [millions of dollars] worth of property that anyone could just walk right up to. No one has access to the river at boathouse row.”

While the possibility of a pathway around the facility was discussed, members of the planning commission decided that not having a path along the river would go against the township’s riverfront development plan.

“The essence of the whole riverfront plan is a path along the river,” commission member William O’Donnell said. “We want the people of this township to walk along the river. It is incongruous to the concept [not to have a path].”

Commission member Richard Leonard was also in favor of keeping a path along the river.

“One of the objectives of [our plan] was to create open space along the river and allow public access to that space.”

While the commission did object to the requested variance allowing eliminating a path along the river, it did approve of several other architectural and parking variances the group would need to move forward with its proposed condominium.

The proposal, which is to build a 150 foot structure on an existing foundation, will go before the Zoning board for decision in September.