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Judge rejects challenge to Swarthmore home for cancer patients

Swarthmore's council "acted properly in approving that use for the property," the judge said, turning away a challenge from some neighbors of the planned house.

Cheryl Colleluori, the founder of Headstrong, at the home she and others are rehabbing in Swarthmore for use by out of town cancer patients and their caretakers while the patients are being treated at area hospitals.
Cheryl Colleluori, the founder of Headstrong, at the home she and others are rehabbing in Swarthmore for use by out of town cancer patients and their caretakers while the patients are being treated at area hospitals.Read moreMichael Bryant / Staff Photographer

A Delaware County judge has affirmed approval for Nick's House, a home for cancer patients that became the center of a heated neighborhood debate in Swarthmore.

On Thursday, Judge Spiros E. Angelos denied an appeal that challenged the Borough Council's OK of the plan in December, according to the law firm Ballard Spahr, whose attorneys represented Headstrong, the nonprofit that plans to run the house.

"Headstrong will be able to pursue its mission of helping people who are sick, hurting, and away from home," attorney Matthew N. McClure said in a statement. "The evidence showed the Headstrong home will not have a material adverse effect on the community, and that the council acted properly in approving that use for the property."

James J. Byrne Jr., an attorney for eight couples and two individuals who live in the neighborhood and challenged the borough's approval, said his clients were "very disappointed."

"It is our belief, me as well as the neighbors, that there has never been any discrimination in this case. This case is a zoning case," he said.

Last year, Delaware County-based Headstrong purchased the seven-bedroom property at 200 S. Chester Rd., next to Swarthmore College's campus, and said it planned to use it to house as many as seven cancer patients at no charge.

Some neighbors  cited concerns over traffic, parking, and zoning issues pertaining to having so many unrelated people in a home.