As we often do, we were perusing the ZBA calendar the other day and noticed that owners of 1204 S. 12th St. were hoping to construct six new single-family homes with carports and a shared driveway. It was only when we swung by this address that it occurred to us that this was the not-yet-completed final phase of the Latona Court homes, a project we last checked in on about a month ago.

The lot

New homes under construction to the south

According to Passyunk Post, the original plan for this parcel was a large single family home. Because of this unexplained change of plans from developer Gagan Lakhmna, the Passyunk Square Civic Association zoning committee came out in opposition to this plan. Neighbors were apparently concerned about added traffic, and trust issues with the developer did not help matters.

Site plan from Passyunk Post, design by Qb3 Design

Despite the misgivings of the community, it appears that the ZBA approved the application on March 6th. Some provisos were included as a requirement for ZBA approval, but we’re not sure what those might be. Passyunk Post tells us that the plans for the homes include 2,500 sqft of living space, two-car parking, and a list price of $459K. While some neighbors might not be pleased to see these additional homes get built, we keep coming back to what they are replacing, and feel pretty good about the development as a whole.

Let's all agree this was much worse.

Could appeals be in the future for this site, or will the community eventually get behind this new plan? We’ll see, but we’d wager that it will receive support, though perhaps begrudgingly.