Plans call for 290 luxury apartments

WEST GOSHEN » Plans to build 290 apartments at the site of the Quality Inn, at the Staunton Road and Route 202 intersection, were pitched to supervisors at the Jan 18 virtual meeting.

“Luxury lifestyle apartments” might replace 144-motel rooms on the eight- or nine-acre property where Township Manager Casey LaLonde said police have recently responded to a “substantial number of police calls.”

Police Chief Michael Carroll said that the type of lodgers at the motel, which hosts a banquet facility and a liquor license, has changed since it opened in the ‘70s.

“It is attracting much more of our attention, much more of our time in the past couple of years,” Carroll said.

Supervisor Ashely Gagne is not in favor of building a 290-unit apartment complex.

“The Quality Inn has been a site of over 600 police calls within the past two years, ranging from drug sales, sexual assaults and overdose deaths,” Gagne said. “I take these incidents extremely seriously, and this issue needs attention.

“Still, I’d prefer to address the problems at the Quality Inn site without building such a large apartment complex.”

LaLonde seemingly prefers a new use.

“Any redevelopment at that property would be favorable,” he said.

The property is zoned

C-3, or Limited Commercial, which would need to be changed to accommodate apartments.

Attorney Lou Colagreco represented builder Branchport Capital.

“We are all aware of what’s going on industrywide with the hotel market and I’m not sure that this site is going to rebound,” Colagreco said.

Currently zoned uses call for retail, personal service, office buildings and wholesale sales, storage or distribution, lab facilities or a medical clinic, forestry, or a learning center.

Colagreco said that the allowed alternative uses were not attractive.

“We feel that this would be rejuvenating this corner … bringing in more permanent residents …” he said. “I don’t know what other options would spur redevelopment

of this property.”

Current plans suggest a 108,000 square foot, fourstory building to be known as the “West Chester Gateway.” Some parking would be located below apartments.

Construction would primarily cover the existing footprint, with 34 percent landscaped green areas and 41 percent paved areas.

There would be one parking space for each of 210-studio, or one-bedroom apartments, and 1.5 spaces for each two bedroom unit.

Traffic for the proposed development was discussed at length. Supervisor Shaun Walsh said traffic at the site is “a nightmare.”

Access is through a single entrance on Route 202, just south of a limited access portion highway. For those traveling south from King of Prussia on Route 202, the hotel cannot be directly accessed. A driver needs to travel past the hotel and then make a U-turn at Skiles Drive.

Route 202 northbound traffic is very heavy and regularly backs up for motorists entering the one-lane limited access Route 202 ramp.

LaLonde noted that PennDOT, not the township, would decide whether to install a new traffic light.

Gagne said that while developing the property will improve the area, traffic is

a concern.

“The influx of traffic from these new units will worsen an already congested and high-traffic area,” Gagne said. “It will create further congestion for all who travel along that stretch of 202, as well as for the residents who already live in the adjacent neighborhoods, especially on the northbound approach to 202.

“This will be the third such complex built in that area in the last few years. And while I certainly welcome new residents to our township, more luxury apartments in an already congested corridor are not what I envision for West Goshen.”

A traffic study performed on the builder’s behalf showed that weekday traffic would total 1,495 trips, with 108 during morning rush and 130 in the evening.

Colagreco said that the planned apartments would not generate “a significant increase in traffic.”

The builder also noted that the hotel currently pays $71,291 per year in taxes, with the suggested development paying $442,400 annually, for a net difference of $371,109.

The plan is listed on the agenda for next Tuesday’s Board of Supervisor’s workshop. The board may then decide whether to move ahead with the requested rezoning of the parcel to allow for apartments.