Hearing for ‘sober living’ group home postponed

POTTSTOWN » A scheduled hearing for a “sober living facility” in the 300 block of North Charlotte Street has been postponed until January.

The hearing was originally scheduled for Wednesday, Dec. 27, at 7 p.m. at borough hall, but the applicant has requested a postponement until Jan. 17, according to Kurt Holloway, solicitor for the Pottstown Zoning Hearing Board.

“The applicant has asked for a continuance of the hearing until Jan. 17 due to the opposition by Borough Council,” Holloway wrote in an email sent to The Mercury on Friday. “The (zoning hearing board) has agreed to continue the hearing. No new notices will go out to the public.”

Holloway said the zoning hearing board will announce at 7 p.m. on Dec. 27 that the matter will not be heard until Jan. 17, but he wanted interested residents to know ahead of time that they did not have to attend next week’s hearing.

The zoning application was filed by Carey Ballou and Shirley Borders for the property at 306 N. Charlotte St. According to the legal notice published in The Mercury, Pottstown’s zoning ordinance allows “group homes by special exception” but the applicant is seeking variances to the borough’s parking requirements.

The facility would house eight people and no staff at the site. The borough reqires four off-street parking spaces for such a facility.

Pottstown Borough Council voted unanimously on Dec. 11 to send a letter to the zoning board opposing the application on the basis of parking.