450-unit plan gets preliminary approval

LIMERICK » With no comment or discussion, the Limerick Township Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the preliminary site plan for 30-acre project that will bring more than 450 new residences and a traffic circle to the intersection of Ridge and Swamp pikes.

The is a large development project with more than 300 senior living units and 160 townhomes at the intersection of Ridge Pike and Swamp Pike and is proposed by Ridge Swamp Associates LLP.

In addition to the townhomes and the 308 senior units — comprised of a mixture of independent living, assisted living and “memory care” units — the plan also calls for three retail buildings that have 32,000 square feet of space on the first floor, with

apartments above.

The vote moves the project into the next phase in the land development process. Supervisor Patrick Moroney was absent.

The development and engineering of a final site plan, which must also be recommended by the township planning commission, must also win another approval from the township supervisors before construction can begin.

PennDOT and the Montgomery County Conservation District will also be involved in providing permits and approvals.

Called Limerick Town Center and Arcadia at Limerick Pointe for the senior

housing portion, the project was made possible by changes the supervisors made at the developers’ request to the township zoning code to allow the three uses on the same parcel, said Robert Brant, the attorney

representing the developers.

In exchange, the developers agreed to extend Lewis Road north through the property to Swamp Pike, thus allowing northbound drivers to

avoid having to make a right turn onto Ridge Pike and then the very sharp left onto Swamp Pike, and vice versa.

However, the plan now includes a traffic circle, for the intersection of Swamp

Pike, Lewis Road and the proposed new road, Arcadia Drive, which appears to be popular only with the PennDOT engineers who required it.

The first phase of the project to be built will be

the senior living building, followed by townhouses and then finally, the commercial, Brant said previously.

DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA FILE PHOTO This later drawing shows how the townhouse portion of Limerick Town Center were re-arranged to address concerns voiced by the township supervisors.

DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA FILE PHOTO This sketch plan shows an earlier layout for the proposed Limerick Town Center/Arcadia project, with the senior housing units at the center and right, the three commercial buildings along Ridge Pike and the 160 townhomes to the north, along Swamp Pike.