Maguire Campus remains in limbo

Another Lower Merion zoning board hearing has come and gone, but nothing has changed for the fate of Maguire Campus.

Since the four-hour long examinations that characterize previous zoning board hearings have yet to produce a conclusion, the board has announced that the March. 18 and April. 22 meetings will be reduced to a one-hour time block.

When Merion Community Coalition (M.C.C.) attorney Carl Wiener asked if extended time would be allowed in the future meetings, the board responded that other neighborhood issues also required the attention of the court.

After completing last meeting's marathon cross-examination of real-estate appraisal expert Maureen Mastroieni, which involved the issue of decreases in property value due to campus expansion, the board heard the testimony of acoustics engineer Norman Dotti.Dotti, who measured ambient noise on the Maguire fields, predicted a significant increase in the noise level when the field was filled to capacity, though Dotti agreed that he had not examined acoustic conditions while the facilities were in use by Episcopal Academy's (E.A.) athletics program.

Lydie Brown, a resident of Raynham Rd., later testified that she believed the planned use of the Maguire Campus would surpass the previous levels of field activity. Brown said that even currently, with now organized sports in progress, she has noticed more activity on the fields that when Episcopal's owned the property.

"I see more activity outside and on the fields," she said. "I see people practicing on the City Line Avenue field and I see people on the on the Latches Lane field; there are no organized sports."

When asked to reexamine her answer in consideration of the bussing activity that took place in the early morning hours during E.A.'s use and a heavily attended, bi-annual event commonly called E.A./Haverford Day, Brown said that the event was an exception.

Brown also said that she was unaware of St. Joe's intent to begin new construction on the campus, and would not have moved into her new residence in 2006 if she had known of the improvement projects.

"I think the quality of life will be negatively impacted and I'm concerned with the construction of three NCAA fields with the attendant stadium, bleachers, press boxes, and the amount of people that can be there," Brown said. "I assumed they would be able to make interior changes just like anybody can make interior changes to their house, but my interpretation of ‘no new construction' was that there would be no new buildings built, or any new structures built."

Senior Interim Vice President John Smithson, a former chair of the Board of Trustees at St. Joe's, was also in attendance. Then in the second day of his new position, Smithson did not point to any administrative initiatives to facilitate the hearing process. While the vice president explained that "…this activity falls under my part of the organization," he also said that neighborhood mediation was not directly part of his responsibilities.