Ahimsa House and community garden (Photo West Philly Local).
Everybody at the Cedar Park Neighbors zoning meeting on Tuesday night lauded the mission of the Ahimsa House, the volunteer run community space on the first floor of a three-story house at 5007 Cedar Ave. The question is, how to make the whole thing “legal”?
The Ahimsa House (“ahimsa” is a Sanskrit word meaning “non-violence”) dates back to 2011, when Meg Ferrigno bought the Cedar Avenue property through the Penn home ownership program. The three-story property had been a triplex and Ferrigno was advised to have it re-zoned as a duplex to qualify. A mix-up at the Department of Licenses and Inspections (L&I) resulted in a single family designation.
The problem is that the property has three kitchens and includes the community space on the first floor and residences in the two floors above. So L&I began levying fines on the property. Now, Ferrigno wants to return the zoning on the property to a triplex to be in compliance.
It’s complicated.
“Essentially the goal is to permit the Ahimsa House to operate the way it has,” Ferrigno said at Tuesday’s meeting, which was packed with Ahimsa House supporters.
The property quickly became a neighborhood hub, drawing people to its first floor space for everything from free yoga classes to classes and discussions on social issues running seven days a week. The food collective Food Not Bombs cooks in the building’s basement for its meal distribution program. There’s a community garden next door. It’s a busy place.
That has drawn the concern of some neighbors who are concerned that the whole thing has become a sort of commercial operation (though the house runs on the “gift economy” and no money changes hands) on a residential block. Even those neighbors applauded the mission, but they say they are worried that Ahimsa House may set a precedent on the block.
“The mission is wonderful,” said one neighbor. “If this is important to you, you need to make some kind of standard. If you want this to stay, you need to make it work. You have to understand that there are rules.”
The Cedar Park Neighbors zoning committee postponed a recommendation, asking Ferrigno to return with a plan that reflected the multiple uses of the property. One recommendation was to apply for mixed commercial and residential use that included a proviso attached to Ferrigno’s ownership of the property. If she sold it, that permitted use would go away.
Stay tuned for updates.
March 20th, 2019 at 10:24 am
I live on this block, and have been involved with the space, for 6 years now. I was at this zoning meeting and I think it’s worth noting that, in addition to the concerns raised by several neighbors, the majority of neighbors who came from the 5000 Cedar block expressed support for the space operating as is. There were multiple testimonies from these folks about the positive effect the house has had on the block, in it’s offering of free classes, gardening space, food not bombs (distributes free food to folks who cannot afford it in the park), block meetings/cleanups, and so forth. In considering everyone’s concerns about this space and in trying to make it work – something that I support and I think should happen – I think that story should also be told.
March 20th, 2019 at 3:58 pm
I missed the meeting, but I’m a supporter of Ahimsa and very happy to have their presence in the neighborhood. Keep it up, Meg and others!
March 20th, 2019 at 5:10 pm
As one who attended the meeting, I truly appreciated the thorough going-over the whole proposal received. The expert questions from the CPN committee members and clarified concerns of the assembled neighbors were truly a “gift” toward making it work for everyone. Good lookin out WestPhilly!
March 21st, 2019 at 1:33 am
I am a homeowner on 48th St who has felt that Ahimsa has been one of the positive presences defining what this neighborhood is about – for many, many years. I can only totally support whatever legal moves help stabilize this presence.
March 22nd, 2019 at 5:00 am
I have known about Ahimsa for a while now. I am moving to west philly in June and am so excited to live near by and be able to hopefully get involved/ utilize the great oppurtunities they provide. I would be beyond devestated if something happened before i even got to really know it!! This is an amazingly positive thing in the neighborhood and every effort should b made to accomodate it!!!
March 25th, 2019 at 1:04 pm
I don’t think it’s fair or accurate to describe the zoning designation as an mixup. The entire block is designated as single family no commercial as is almost every other property within a one block radius. While I do support the work they do in the community they are clearly operating in an area not zoned for such activity. The multiple living units on the property are also clearly at odds with its single family designation.
March 26th, 2019 at 11:17 pm
I think the mission of the Ahimsa House is wonderful but It is definitely inaccurate to call the zoning designation from a multi-family to single-family a mixup and rezoning it to a multi-family unit won’t bring it back into compliance. The property needs to be rezoned as mixed commercial and I for one don’t want a mixed commercial use property on the block. The switch from multiple family to single family was discussed at the above CPN zoning meeting and it didn’t sound like an oversight to me, it was clear that she changed the zoning to single family just take advantage of the Penn Mortgage program, something the board felt was pretty dishonest because she never intended to use it as a single-family home.
Basically, she bought the house and setup an illegal community center without consulting the community. That is crazy to me. So by not going through the proper channels to setup the Ahimsa House legally as a mixed commercial use property the neighbors never got to decided if they wanted they wanted the center on its block. And at the meeting, a lot of the longer term residence didn’t want it on the block. It also came out this trouble started with the City because L&I caught her doing renovations without a permit and when inspecting her property they realized the home was unlicensed community center and not a single family home. There were 4 people living on the property and Meg wasn’t even in the country. This isn’t neighborly at all.