2 group homes seek approval
Sites are on King St. and in Rosedale
POTTSTOWN >> Two group homes have applied for permission to open their doors in the borough.
Both must obtain permission from the borough’s zoning hearing board.
One application, to house 10 residents recovering from drug and alcohol addiction at a home at 441 King St., has a public hearing before the zoning board on Oct. 23 at 7 p.m. in borough hall.
R. Kurtz Holloway, the zoning board solicitor, explained that the applicant, JEM Home Solutions LLC in Harleysville, is seeking permission to house four
more residents in the single family home than the six the zoning code allows. A variance to allow less than the eight off-street parking spaces required by ordinance is also being sought.
Should that relief be granted, the applicants must also obtain a “special exception” from the zoning board for the group home to be allowed.
Ironically, the property is the former home of housing activist Katy Jackson and her husband David.
David Jackson served on the Mosaic Community Land Trust board and Katy Jackson published an anti-blight blog called “The Golden Cockroach,” which often assailed landlords for not maintaining properties or adequately screening tenants. That blog is no longer open to the public.
According to Montgomery County property records, the Jacksons sold the home, which they had renovated, to JEM Home Solutions of Harleysville on June 6 for $107,500.
The other group home application began with a hearing on Sept. 18, was continued to Tuesday night, and is still not complete.
The applicant, Wisnada Dorestan, has applied for permission to establish a group home for five developmentally delayed residents at 444 N. Mount Vernon St, but was denied by the borough’s zoning officer.
The property is in the “neighborhood residential” zoning district which “makes no provisions for group homes,” according to Holloway.
According to the Aug. 30 the legal notice published in The Mercury announcing the hearings, Dorestan “asserts that the ordinance is in violation of the federal Fair Housing Amendment Act of 1988, by not allowing group homes for disabled adult individuals.”
According to Montgomery County property records, Dorestan purchased the property on March 23 from WGL Developments LLC at the cost of $1. The LLC purchased the property on Oct. 25, 2017 from Maack Family Partnerships for $160,000.
The Mount Vernon Street property’s back yard is adjacent to the Wyndcroft School and Holloway said attorney Gerald Mullaney is representing the school and has participated in the first two hearings, opposing the application.
Attorney Richard Linderman is representing a group of residents in the Rosedale section of the borough where the property is located and who are also opposing the application.
Attorney Ken Picardi is representing Dorestan.
Holloway said Wednesday that Tuesday’s hearing, held at the same time as the borough council meeting, went on for several hours and has been continued to Nov. 21 when final arguments and closing statements are scheduled to occur.
He said “there are complicated legal issues involved” in the case and it is unclear whether the zoning hearing board will make a decision at that meeting, or take more time to consider arguments. The law gives the zoning board 45 days to issue a decision after the hearing is closed.
It is not immediately clear if either property owner is a non-profit organization that would be exempt from property taxes.
Borough Council elected to neither oppose nor support either group home application.