Lancaster’s Zoning Hearing Board this week gave its blessing to two nonprofit affordable housing projects in the city to move forward.
With a third member absent, city board members Chris Aviles and Kevin Ember cast a series of 2-0 votes to approve regulatory relief requested by HDC MidAtlantic for its project at the Delp Wing at the former St. Joseph Hospital campus, and by Chestnut Housing for its “Dinah’s Hill Apartments” project at the former Strawberry Hill restaurant complex in Lancaster’s Southwest.
The board’s approval is one of several the two projects have to obtain before they can begin. Both are also still in the process of securing financing.
The Delp Wing
HDC is planning to convert the Delp Wing on the hospital’s southeast end into affordable housing for tenants with incomes from $22,050 to $56,700. It envisions 49 apartments on the top two levels of the building, of which 13 would be reserved as supportive housing for those who are homeless or housing-insecure.
Milagro House, a nonprofit based across the street from the Delp Wing at the corner of College Avenue and West Chestnut Street, will own the building’s first level. It will have 20 units for single mothers and their children, with each unit able to accommodate an adult and up to three minors.
After the hospital was closed, the block was rezoned to mixed-use. That requires a “special exception” for supportive housing, which the board granted.
It also granted a variance to reduce the required parking and a special exception to allow parking off-site.
Normally the zoning code requires one parking space per three beds in supportive housing. The board, however, accepted HDC’s argument that only adult beds should be counted: With 20 of those in Milagro House’s section, that yields seven required spaces, rather than 27 if all 80 beds were tabulated.
Typically, fewer than one in four of Milagro House’s clients have cars, so seven spaces should be plenty, RGS Project Manager Benjamin Morton, who is handling the site planning, told the board.
Including those seven, HDC’s plan requires 59 parking spaces in all under city rules. Of those, eight will be across the street at 838 Marietta Ave., formerly one of the hospital’s parking lots. HDC is planning to develop affordable housing there, too, but it will make sure the eight spaces remain available when that project is undertaken, said Bernadette Hohenadel, the attorney representing HDC before the board.
HDC is pursuing low-income housing tax credits as a major part of the financing for the project. It is hoping to submit its application early next year; if successful, renovations could begin in mid- to late 2026, allowing occupancy about a year later in 2027. The preliminary budget is $18 million.
Dinah’s Hill Apartments
Chestnut Housing, meanwhile, is planning to create what Executive Director Chad Martin described as a “corner hub” at the former Strawberry Hill restaurant at the intersection of Strawberry, Vine and Mulberry streets. It will house Chestnut Housing’s offices, leasable office space for community partners and 11 affordable apartments: Five efficiencies, two one-bedroom units and four two-bedroom ones.
The apartments will be income-restricted. All the households Chestnut Housing serves are housing-insecure, and the nonprofit arranges with partners to provide case management and wraparound services.
The site consists of three properties: 128 W. Strawberry St., 122 W. Strawberry St. and 401 W. Vine St. The board granted variances allowing them to be used for multi-family dwellings, and for two of the efficiencies to be slightly smaller than the 400-square-foot minimum in the zoning code.
Before doing so, the board discussed parking. The complex does not have on-site parking, but the city Community Planning & Economic Development Department has ruled that because the Strawberry Hill Restaurant operated there, which would normally require 25 parking spaces, the site can be considered to have 25 curbside spaces grandfathered in.
That’s more than the new use needs: Each apartment requires one space, plus four for the offices, or 15 total. Martin said Chestnut Housing only expects a third to a half of its households to have cars.
Regulatory compliance aside, Chestnut Housing recognizes that parking in the neighborhood is tight, Martin said, and it will be exploring possible off-street parking options as the project moves forward.
Speaking after the hearing, Martin said he anticipates a 12-month to 18-month design and development process before renovations begin, and about a year of construction work. The project is budgeted at around $3.5 million.
The “Dinah’s Hill” monicker is one previously used for Cabbage Hill. It references a formerly enslaved woman, Dinah McIntyre, who built a log cabin there.